Coming back at you with another chapter! So, I'm sorry for the delay. I've been dealing with some real life shit. Life sucks ya know? But hey! I have my writing to keep me sane. Or in this case, insane. Mwahahhaha! Yep. I know I'm lame.

Thank you to the amazing beta that puts up with my horrid grammar! You literally make this story 10 times better! Love ya Scarlet Dewdrops!

Chapter 4

Hermione's inquiry broke the comfortable silence of her room, "Hey Cas. Do you think life is important?"

A monotonous, "Of course," was the immediate, almost reflexively automated response. Someone else might think he was just saying it because he had to, 'cause, you know, angel and all, but she knew better.

Hermione looked down to her cards and pursed her lips as she thought for a moment. "Then why is it so short? I was thinking it would hang around a bit longer."

She placed a card on the pile and the angel took his turn, staring at the cards in his hands intently before picking one to place over hers. His reply was simple, "So people wouldn't take it for granted."

Hermione nodded. "You're probably right." Another play of cards. "Hey Cas. Why are you always visiting me?"

Castiel paused for a second, halfway through the motion of putting his card down before he completed the halted action. He then looked up at her and stated, "You seem lonely."

Her head tilted to the side slightly, like a bird studying something it wasn't sure about, then told him as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "That's because I am lonely."

He looked up at her and the game was momentarily paused. "Does that mean you enjoy my company?"

Hermione's serious expression morphed into a bright smile and she leaned forward to ruffle the angel's hair. "Of course I do! You're fantastic company." The angel looked to her with a taller posture and prideful eyes. He probably didn't notice, but his wings also fluffed out in pride too. She just had to let loose a giggle. The angel looked so dorky. Well, as dorky as a straight faced heavenly warrior could look wrapped up in a businessman.

It was a sunny morning with beautiful rays of golden sun shining through the windows. It made Castiel almost look….wait for it…..angelic! She just had to have a laugh over her cheesey joke. But it did make Castiel worry for her mental health. Well, more than he already worried. He never really understood why heaven considered the girl a threat. Other than the magic, she was fairly harmless and quite rational.

Hermione threw down her cards and proclaimed loudly, "You won!"

His brow furrowed in confusion at how exactly this victory had been accomplished, "What were the rules of the game?"

Hermione shrugged with a laid back grin. "I don't know, the nargles told me you won, so you win." Seeing his concerned reaction to this, she rolled her eyes and waved him away lazily, "Not-of-this-world-reference. Really, I was just throwing down cards and then you joined. But you are definitely the winner." He didn't question further.

They shared a companionable silence for a few minutes, Hermione studying the wall as Castiel studied her, before she decided her question was worth asking, because she couldn't imagine up an answer on her own. "What do angels do when they're bored?"

"I don't know. Some of us enjoy watching the humans' heavens."

She frowned at the thought of someone watching her most precious moments because they didn't feel like doing angel-duties at the time. "Isn't that intrusive?"

"They don't notice us."

There was a line between intrusive and intruding. It seems angels just don't notice the line while they're flying around willy-nilly. "Still." Hermione laid back on the ground and looked up to the ceiling. "Breakfast is soon and I'm bored again."

Castiel searched around the room. "We can work on the project you told me about."

She shot up from the ground with a huge smile. "Smart angel!" She reached under her bed and pulled out a marked up bible. There were colorful notes sticking out and some pages were folded. "We're almost done." She opened the book and grabbed a pen. Jon allowed her to have them in her room. He said she was stable enough to not harm herself or others. Which made her happy, of course. Making notes with crayon was difficult.

They worked on notating her bible for the last hour until breakfast. Castiel would tell her what was real and what was just ridiculous, lost in translation or purposely edited in or out of it over time. He even pointed out some of the people he personally knew and told her interesting facts and stories about them. Like how one of the disciples liked telling inappropriate jokes and how Moses was a very talented singer. She liked to hear those stories. But her favorites were the ones where he would tell her of how life began. It was hard for her to wrap her mortal mind around, but she tried.

In her alone time, she would do research on angels. Gathering information as she read. She got bored sometimes and doodled angel wings and such on the pages instead of the sticky notes. She hoped God didn't mind. Though, he was probably much too busy to worry about a single bible. Hermione paused in thought and decided to ask Castiel about that. But they were doing Bible fact or fiction this morning, so it wasn't really time to ask questions. Besides, it was almost breakfast time and she wanted to get other things done. So, she scribbled the question down on a sticky note quickly and placed it inside the cover of the holy book with her other sticky note wonderments to be asked later.

Soon their hour was up and Castiel had to leave for heaven duty. She told him goodbye and he promised to visit again, as usual. As Hermione mushed the pile of cards into something resembling a deck, Jon walked in and scolded her playfully, "You can't play cards all day. Breakfast started without you." She finished picking up the cards and put them in the pocket of her robe.

"Sorry. I was playing cards with Castiel." He held the door for her as she walked out. But before she could completely leave the room, he cleared his throat. Hermione sighed in annoyance. "You don't skip a beat, do you?"

"I've been with you for a while." Jon smiled knowingly and cajoled her, "Put your shoes on."

She looked down to her bare feet, toes a-wiggling, and whined petulantly, "But they make my feet all sweaty."

Familiar with this behavior, the doctor merely smiled and nodded in understanding. "Well that's just too bad. Rules are rules and the rules say that you need to wear shoes." She muttered curses under her breath and moved to slip on the damned uncomfortable canvas-y shoes. As they walked to the dining hall, Jon asked, "So, Castiel. Your angel friend, right?"

"Yep. We were playing cards and working on my bible notes." A fond smile graced her face as she thought back over the amicably spent morning.

"Ah. Yes. Did you bring that with you to breakfast?" She smiled and pulled the book from her robe. Jon had sewed in a pocket on the inside just so she could keep it close. The man was incredibly talented in the art of sewing. He'd even made her a pair of gloves when she complained about the cold.

"You know me too well." He held out a hand to ask for the book and she gladly handed it to him. He liked to see the research, and she couldn't blame him. It was fascinating. "We worked on the later pages. Cas had some funny stories. Did you know Moses liked to sing?"

Jon shook his head in amusement. "I did not." Jon had long since gotten used to the crazy sounding things his patient told him. He never once believed she wasn't telling him the truth. One defining characteristic of Hermione was her brutal honesty. She would tell him straight up if he was being stupid or had a bad attitude. She never held back. Which is part of the reason she was still held in the hospital.

On evaluations she would always tell the truth. She had a friend, an angel, named Castiel that needed her help in watching over two monster hunters. She was a witch from another world. She had casual conversations with Death. He didn't understand why she didn't just lie. Her response to that was always the same. "I have no reason to. What else do I have in this world besides you?" And of course that would make him feel sad as well as honored. He mentioned Castiel as an answer to this, but she'd only laughed and told him that 'angels aren't of this world, silly'.

She once told him of her plans once she was free. Well... plan, really. Which consisted of only having a good meal instead of the horrid hospital food. She didn't know what to do. No ideas on a career or school or anything. She knew she would be free one day. And that day would be on her terms. She could disappear any time she wanted, after all. But she chose to stay. And why? Because all she had in this strange new world was her doctor, Jon Talmer.

He returned the book after taking a glance at a few new notes. "You'll have to tell me more later. The secrets of life are intriguing to say the least."

Hermione grinned, "I can't tell you too much Doc. They are secrets for a reason." He only nodded in response. They reached the dining hall and separated. She traveled to her table by the window after retrieving her slop lunch. Oh, how she wished she could just eat something delicious for a change. She wasn't picky. Even a greasy american burger would make her cry tears of joy. Jon was quite fond of them. He always told her he would buy her one some day.

Hermione ate her paste-like, tasteless food quickly and pushed the tray aside. Her bible and pen were out in seconds and soon she was enveloped by the stories of God. Everything was so interesting and the parables were quite useful life lessons. Though, she disliked how some people misinterpreted or took facts too seriously.

The day went by fairly quickly after that. Mentions of monsters at night, patients dying, and what not. Dante was leaving them today. He could finally be slowly introduced back to normal life. She didn't know what his condition was, but she was happy for him. Hermione even went as far as to shake his hand and tell him congratulations. Which may not have been the best choice of action because she forgot that Dante was quite frightened of her.

It was in her experience that magical beings gave off a heavy vibe of sorts. If Luna Lovegood were to walk into a bar of angry bikers, they would suddenly feel the sensation of calm wash over them. Hermione smiled at the thought. She could probably get anyone to smile. And that was all because of her magical aura. But it was different for Hermione. Her aura was plagued with dark intent and frightening feelings. It tended to make people give her a second glance then go out of their way to avoid getting too close to her.

No one sat at the table with her. The seats next to her in group were always the last to be filled. Years ago that might have made her feel like the last kid picked for a team again, but now she simply accepted that she made people uncomfortable and moved on. Besides, Jon stopped squirming around her months ago.

She believed that the reason angels seem so heavenly is because of their magical aura. If one were to walk upon the earth it would surely cause a few people to stare. Just because people's senses were very intuitive. Animals and babies even more so. Which kind of made her upset because animals wouldn't seem to like her very much. Well…...cats were the exception. She liked cats. Cats were little devils with the looks to please. It was a match made in hell.

Lunch rolled around after another day of therapy and boredom. But during that lunch, she could feel the watchful eyes of the paranoid patient Martin. It was starting to get on her nerves. It's not like she ever does anything suspicious! She didn't snoop around or mess with the other patients. As far as the other patients were concerned, the only things odd were her uncontrollable bursts of magic and anger...Okay. She could see why she would be suspicious.

Finally fed up with the icky feeling of his stare, Hermione turned her gaze to Martin and narrowed her eyes. No matter how shady her actions were, it gave the man no right to stare at her for the entirety of her meals.

She was surprised when for the first time in forever, instead of looking back down at the table after being caught, he looked past her. And she was just curious enough to see what could be so darn interesting. And even when she spotted what his eyes were directed at, she didn't understand. There were two newcomers in her field of vision. One gigantic size and the other still pretty tall. Maybe a two inch difference. They had some resemblances in places. The main thing being the eyes. Not color or anything. Those were still different. But the sadness they both held. It literally radiated off of them. She decided with a mental shrug that they weren't her problem and went back to her bible markings. At least Martin was staring at them, not her. For once.

"Sam. Dean." Her ears picked up the names and stored them for later. But she didn't find anything else of interest as Martin called the two over to him. She decided to keep to her studies. It was definitely more interesting than old friends reuniting in the loony bin, of all places. So, she flipped the page she left off on and let the consumption of knowledge drown out the ambient noise.

"Martin?" The older man nodded and offered the two seats in front of him. Dean asked, "It's been a while. How've you been?"

Martin twitched nervously with the response, "As good as I'll ever be. I'm glad you boys are here." The two leaned in closer and got down to business.

"So, tell us what's been going on?"

Martin explained, "There have been suicides going around. I don't think they're suicides though. Patients are saying they're seeing a monster. I believe 'em." The two looked around. A lady was dancing with an invisible partner and a man was singing to himself.

Dean muttered under his breath, "Credible eyewitnesses I see."

Martin brought back their attention with his next sentence. "But there's another case." Dean felt a heavier weight upon his shoulders. Two cases in one crazyhouse? Great. More work. Like one bad guy wasn't bad enough. "There's a patient here that has some strange things happen around her."

Sam asked in interest, "Strange things?"

"Well. Just last week we had to replace a window that shattered when an orderly angered her. Electronics short out around her when she gets nervous. Random things combust when she gets emotional. Are you seeing what I'm getting at?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah. But I don't know anything that has that kind of power."

Sam wracked his brain for an answer. "I don't remember reading anything in any lore books." Sam focused back on Martin. "Which patient is she?" The man hesitantly pointed to Hermione. She of course was in her own study land and oblivious to everything. One of the only times she let her guard down around the others.

Dean looked at the girl unconvinced. She looked pretty pathetic to be a super powerful monster. She just looked horribly depressed. Complete with dark circles under her eyes and sagged shoulders. At the moment, she seemed to be studying a book. Dean looked back to Martin and asked incredulously, "Her?"

Sam interrupted the conversation. "It doesn't matter. Are you sure about this girl? We can't go swinging a sword at a random chick."

Martin looked nervous again. "Are you really going to make me prove it?" It wasn't even a whine, it was just… pitiful.

Dean sighed. "Look. If you can, that'd be great." Martin took a deep breath and shaking rose from his seat. His walk was unsteady as his breathing became uneven. The boys were starting to regret their request. But they couldn't kill an innocent girl. This was the only way.

Martin got to the table and took out one of his crayons from his pocket. Her attention went to him in a surprised gaze. Martin had never walked up to her before. He only stared at her. This behavior confused her. And then, the unthinkable happened. The nervous and hesitant, paranoid patient Martin, took his crayon and scribbled on her current bible page. Hermione watched in horror as all her work was covered in disgusting red.

Almost as if on autopilot, she grabbed his arm and heard him gasp in pain. Her eyes were ablaze with fury as she looked to her bible. It was ruined! Her perfect notes. The notes she worked so hard on. Every page was pristine and organized. Even the folded ones and the ones she'd drawn on, they were done by her, at least. And now…..it was destroyed. She couldn't even use magic to fix it. She couldn't control her magic yet! She still needed to re-learn how to use her magic and practicing by fixing this page was out of the question. It was unlikely that, with her anger issues, she'd manage to get the crayon off without burning it the whole thing to ash. She could feel the rage bubble up as her hand crushed Martin's arm.

"You bastard." The lights in the room shook and flickered as she looked straight into the man's eye. "You damn bastard!" She couldn't help it. The lights shattered and she bent his arm back with a snap. The orderlies were on her in a second. She was quickly sedated as the nurses came to Martin's aid. Sam and Dean watched in a bit of horror as the officials acted like this was an everyday occurrence.

The orderlies all sigh in annoyance as the nurses shook their heads whispering things like, "Why don't they just send that girl away" and "I've never seen such violence. Even in the worst patients" as well as "Might as well be a demon."

Hermione's outburst had gone from frequent to rare. Most people had learned not to rile her up because of her short fuse. And any hallucinations she had she usually knew how to handle. Jon was of course her doctor and had given her techniques to determine what was real and what was not. Some things still scared and or pissed her off to the point of violence. But that wasn't an every week occasion anymore.

Usually patients of her temperament were put into a different place with the doctors that could handle her. But Jon kept insisting that he was close to a breakthrough. And Hermione didn't want to leave Jon so she gave it her all to get better.

However, getting better took up most of her time and energy. Which, left magic on a back burner. She

The brothers looked to each other and held out their arms. Dean stated in almost a dramatic fashion. "Winner takes monster. Loser takes freaky over there." Sam set his eyes in determination.

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"

Dean looked to his choice. Rock. Sam usually went for rock too. So they would have to draw again. But alas. He looked to Sam's hand that lay flat out. Paper. "Dammit." Sam smirked triumphantly in return. Damn this hunt was going to suck.