When Gabriel saw Hermione's petite form go flying and heard the sickening crack of her skull slam into the column, he stopped thinking straight. White hot rage filled him to the brim, and he acted on instinct. He stepped between the two witches, effectively shielding Hermione who he heard slide to the floor. He kept his eyes trained on the crazy bitch who had just attacked the love of his considerably long life.

"Listen here, you piece of trash." He sneered at her. He lifted a hand and Rowena started coughing. "Right now, you're gonna be feeling a little hot." He smiled cruelly and continued. "That's because the fires of hell are catching up to you." He closed his hand into a fist, and she started glowing from within. She screamed and squirmed, but Gabriel didn't relent. She tried to lash out at him with her magic, but it was no match for the power of an Archangel, however subdued it might have been. The magical surge she sent at him might have killed any lesser being, but to Gabriel it merely felt like small crackles against his skin.

"You're going down, you bitch and you're staying down." He spat as cracks started showing in her skin and a bright light shone through. Slowly, the dark witch started to disintegrate leaving behind a horrified silence amongst the people who had previously been occupied by the show put on by their British friends but had been drawn away by the spectacle Gabriel had created.

"I'll visit you in Hell to make sure they treat you the way they should." He assured with a sneer and kicked the smouldering remains. He felt completely drained and knew he had no grace left whatsoever. He turned around to be met with the sobering sight of four panicked men sitting around his curly haired witch, evidently trying to stabilize her in some way. What worried him the most was the way Castiel sat by her head with two fingers on her forehead and a deep troubled frown on his face.

He opened his eyes and looked at Gabriel with confused anguish "I can't heal her, Gabriel"

Gabriel knew that his brother was trying all his best, but he couldn't help but explode "What the hell do you mean 'you can't heal her'?"

"I- I don't know." He responded and he really did look bewildered.

Gabriel kneeled by her head and put his own fingers on her, but predictably he couldn't feel anything. He was completely out of juice. He sat back in despair and watched as her brothers looked her over, checking her pulse and generally working as a team to help her. He supposed they had seen enough injuries to know the basics. The Auror Eric was waving his wand around over her, looking frustrated.

"Is there a healer present?!" He yelled at the crowd standing a distance, but no one volunteered. Ginny, George and a few others he didn't remember the names of, were shoving their way past other witches and wizards in an attempt to reach them, but Gabriel knew that none of them were healers either.

"I found a pulse," Sam announced in relief. "It's not very strong though. We need to get her to a hospital."

Eric nodded "I'll lift the wards and we can transport her to the hospital." He went to work quickly, making complicated wand movements and incantations. However, as soon as he had lifted the wards and they were about to transport Hermione, the nearest fireplace erupted in green flames and an irate Harry Potter stomped out, followed by a seriously formidable looking man in purple robes and Gabriel's least favourite red head.

Harry looked around in obvious disbelief. "What the hell ha – "

"Where is president Quahog" The formidable looking man's voice boomed, amplified by a spell. The authoritarian presence reminded Gabriel of his father. Not like Chuck as he was nowadays, but more like the good old times of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. That guy was pissed, and Gabriel did not envy whoever would be the target of his retribution. He couldn't be bothered by that though. Instead, he called out to Hermione's pseudo brother even though he and Hermione's other, more annoying friend were already jogging in their direction.

"Harry! We need a hospital. Now."

Ron gasped and Harry took one look at his other best friend and addressed the purple robed dude. "Kingsley! It's Hermione! We need to get her to a hospital!"

A murmur spread amongst the crowd

"Hermione? Is it Hermione Granger?"

"Is she okay? Who was the other broad?"

"Hermione Granger, that war hero from Britain?"

"I need to stay here." Eric looked at the others pointedly. "We only stunned Ironwood and the others are hopefully still trapped in that room. One of us needs to stay here to clear things up and I'm the only American Auror here."

Ron frowned, seemingly torn. "I should probably stay to help. But you keep me posted Harry, or so help me, I will send mum."

Harry gulped "Do what you need to do." He nodded at his friend. Gabriel hadn't expected that the Weasley he disliked so much would be able to put duty above something like this. His respect for the red head went up a couple of notches. It was hard for it to go any lower, but it did go up, nonetheless. He knew he wouldn't be able to leave Hermione in the condition she was in himself.

"What's the floo address for the nearest hospital?" Harry asked Eric.

"That'll be Manhattan Magical Medical."

Harry waved his wand and made Hermione float in the air as if she were lying on some sort of invisible stretcher. Gabriel turned to Eric. "Have you got anything I can transport this in?" He asked, gesturing at the pile of human remains that used to be Rowena McLeod.

Eric shrugged "I can conjure something, but you can leave it here as well. I can dispose of it."

"I'd really rather have it with me where I can keep an eye on it" Gabriel frowned at the lumps of charcoal and Eric raised an eyebrow at him.

"Hey, whatever floats your boat." He shrugged and pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket which he transfigured into a drawstring bag with his wand.

Gabriel scooped up the ashes into the bag and ran to catch up with the others. He caught Eric and Ron approaching the purple robed dude out of the corner of his eyes. He hoped they would come to the bottom of the case and that the dick would pay.

…

Harry was trying hard to stay patient. The poor mediwizard looked ready to pee in his pants. Apparently telling the Boy Who Lived that they didn't know what was going on with his best friend was a daunting task.

"What do you mean 'you don't know'?" he ground out, trying to refrain from yelling. The other four people who had accompanied him and Hermione to the hospital didn't seem to be faring much better. Sam was pacing, Dean was playing with a hunting knife in a way that was probably supposed to look casual, but Harry suspected that it would be lodged in the throat of the next person who brought bad news. Maybe it wasn't Harry who struck fear in people's hearts after all.

Gabriel was sitting in a chair with his head in his hands and Castiel was standing next to him with a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder.

"We don't – We can't get any proper readings on her, Mister Potter. It's like there's interference." The mediwizard huffed

"What sort of interference?" Harry growled.

"That's it – we don't know" the man halfway sobbed hysterically "No one has seen anything like this. Ever! Every damn healer in this entire hospital has taken a look at her and no one has any idea. They're calling in other healers from all over the country, they've even got some ancient shaman coming from the fucking Himalayas! But at the moment we haven't got a clue" the guy broke down.

"But she's not… dying, is she?" Castiel broke in with a frown.

"I don't – she's breathing. That's all I know. I'm sorry." The wizard shrugged.

Thuck – The large knife was suddenly stuck in the wooden doorframe, exactly an inch from the mediwizard's face. Dean stalked towards him and stood, looming over the man as he forcefully pulled it out. "Listen here. You're gonna go back and you're gonna find out what the hell is going on with my baby sister. I don't care how you're gonna do it, but 'I don't know' and 'I'm sorry' ain't good enough." He threatened, with a scowl, waving the knife in front of the poor guy's face.

"Dean." Sam chastised exasperatedly. "He can't do his job properly if he's terrified."

Dean let go of him with a huff and the mediwizard scrambled to get away from the five men in the waiting room.

"Can we at least go see her?" Harry called after him.

The only response he received was a whimper, which Harry took as a yes.

The others evidently did so too, because Gabriel stood, and they began moving towards the door. Harry stopped them by stepping in front of them with a raised hand.

"We'll go see her, but first I need you to explain to me exactly what happened."

They told him how Hermione had been kept for weeks on weak charges by Ironwood. How Eric had busted her out, or what she had told them at least. Then Sam went on to explain how he had been stunned and Gabriel supplied with recounting how he had been frozen in place and had essentially witnessed the very unprofessional invasion of the Men of Letters' bunker in Kansas. He agreed to an official review of the memory if it was deemed necessary in the upcoming investigation.

"You can use my memories too" Sam offered. "That guy, Ironwood, said some things during that interrogation. I don't know what all of it means, but if you can use it, it's yours." He tapped his head and shrugged lightly.

Dean then launched into explaining the rescue mission, the parties involved and their strategy. How they had found Sam and Hermione and how they had escaped.

Harry nodded along, obviously in Auror-mode.

"But then what happened in the Atrium? It looked almost as if there'd been a show-down."

Gabriel's face soured and he threw a drawstring bag on the floor which gave off a small puff of dust.

"Rowena" he growled at the thing.

Sam stepped over and carefully nudged the bag with his left foot as if he expected it to explode into a pile of snakes. Harry raised an eyebrow at his peculiar behaviour.

"She can regenerate" Castiel sighed with a helpless shrug.

Harry frowned at the angel. "As in come back to life?"

Dean hummed and nodded in confirmation.

Harry sneered at the bag of remains "Not on my watch. Billie!" he called out.

The reaper came casually around the corner and leaned against the doorframe. She ran a finger over the hole left behind by Dean's knife and raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"You rang, master?" she teased Harry with a sarcastic smirk.

He rolled his eyes. "We have a deal. I'm still not ready. I need you to do something for me though. In this bag is the remains of a witch who has attempted to cheat death and has done so successfully in the past – am I right?" He looked at the other men for confirmation. Dean, Sam and Castiel all nodded.

Billie frowned disgustedly at the bag, as if her dog had had diarrhoea and she had been told to pick it up. Nonetheless, she did so and walked towards the door.

"Until next time, boys" she sing-songed with a smirk at Dean and Sam and then she was gone.

"Rowena won't come back this time." Harry assured them.

"Wow. You've got friends in high places "Dean snarked.

Harry snorted. "With the risk of sounding boastful, I think you're forgetting that I am the one in the high place, so to speak. While I certainly consider Billie to be a friend, I'm also technically her boss. If anyone has friends in high places it would be you." He pointed out with a certain amount of bitterness.

...

The bed itself looked old and the paint on it was peeling. It almost looked like some of the beds in the various condemned asylums they had visited when dealing with hauntings. In fact, Hermione herself was so pale and frail looking she might as well have been close to being a ghost. Harry had conjured up chairs for all of them, but Sam didn't feel like sitting down. He was pacing, full of restless energy.

He felt guilty. They had been caught together, tortured together, together when Rowena had attacked and yet he'd been useless and unable to help her. He had more experience with Rowena and should have been able to deal with her.

He would feel forever indebted to Gabriel for saving her when he couldn't do it himself. It wasn't his place to approve of her boyfriends, but that led him to another train of thought.

"Dean, where's Ketch?" he wondered "He should probably know she's here."

Dean looked at the floor and Sam frowned. Something wasn't right.

"He uh – he didn't make it. He was captured. Along with Charlie." He cleared his throat.

"Charlie?" Sam's eyebrows went high on his forehead.

"Yeah, well. Other Charlie I suppose." Dean looked down at his fidgeting hands.

"Dean, what the hell happened?" Sam needed to know. He wasn't the only one, judging from the looks Gabriel and Castiel sent Dean's way.

Harry merely looked confused. "Who is this 'Ketch', and why does he need to know why Hermione is in the hospital? I thought she was with that guy." He gestured at Gabriel.

The archangel growled, "she is," and returned to staring at her face.

Sam sighed and rubbed his forehead "It isn't really our story to te-"

"He was her parental figure while growing up in traumatizing conditions provided by the British Men of Letters. She has been avoiding him until recently because he's a cold-blooded assassin." Castiel provided in his usual blunt fashion.

"Huh. He sounds delightful." Harry deadpanned with a wry smile.

Dean frowned at him and leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed. "What, no disbelief? No feelings of betrayal? My guess is that you didn't know about this and has been lying to you for years."

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair, making it even more messy than usual. "Don't get me wrong, I'm slightly disappointed that she felt she couldn't tell me something like this, but I knew something was... off. I couldn't be in this profession if I couldn't sense these kinds of things," he tapped the Auror-logo on the robes he was still wearing, "I knew Hermione was hiding something. Particularly after the war when she didn't look for her parents. I might not know all her secrets, but I know her, and Hermione would stop at nothing to help those in need – especially the people she loves. If that didn't include her parents, then something would have had to be very wrong. If anything, I should be angry at myself for not asking."

No one seemed to know what to say to that. Sam finally sat down to wait for something to happen.

...

An hour after they had been let in to see Hermione, they were joined by Ginny and the entity that was Luna Lovegood. Gabriel was happy to notice that he was still able to sense her presence with his eyes closed, even though he didn't have any grace left. He wondered it was just him or if others were comforted by her strange aura too.

"They're not. They often find me disconcerting."

"Maybe it has something to do with the way you listen in on people's thoughts?" Harry suggested with a shrug and a bemused smile.

Luna looked at him with wider eyes than Gabriel thought possible. "It's really not my fault when their thoughts are so loud, Harry." She defended.

Harry chuckled fondly.

"Sorry, Luna. I'll endeavour to think quieter." Gabriel conceded.

Luna squeezed his hand "Don't worry, Gabriel, you think the nicest things."

Dean coughed violently.

Luna walked past Gabriel and lowered her head, so she was almost nose to nose with Hermione's unconscious form. She smiled gently at her friend.

"So, doc. What's the verdict?" Gabriel half-joked.

"She's not dying." Luna announced with a smile.

"No shit, Sherlock." Dean snorted and gave a grunt when he was elbowed in the stomach by his brother.

"They did say she was stable." Castiel pointed out.

Luna rolled her eyes but didn't elaborate.

Ginny had sat down on Harry's lap in the meantime.

"Kings asked me to tell you to take the statements off this lot." She told him.

"Already did that. Can you take this to him?" he gave her a small vial of memories containing the little impromptu interview-session he had with the other men. "Also, can you tell Ron that Hermione is okay? I meant to send a Patronus earlier."

Ginny smiled gently and stood. "I'm just happy she's going to be okay."

"Technically we don't know if she's going to be alright, Gin." He warned with a sigh. "She might not be dying at the moment, but we don't know if she'll wake up again."

Ginny's mouth pressed together in a thin line. "She survived Dolohov and she survived Bellatrix. She'll survive that bitch too." She nodded determined.

"She survived a lot more than that." Dean grumbled darkly.

Ginny frowned but didn't ask him to elaborate.

"Luna, are you coming?"

"Of course. I think Rolf must be wondering where I am. We were supposed to go on an expedition yesterday. I forgot to tell him where I was going." She smiled at Ginny. Their conversation continued as they left the room.

"Who on earth is Rolf?"

"Oh, he's my husband."

"He's your what?"

…

Another two days went by. Dean and Sam were helped by Harry to find a place to sleep nearby. Gabriel insisted on staying with Hermione and Castiel stayed to protect his brother.

Gabriel's condition was fragile. He had lost all his grace but refused to acknowledge the consequences such a depletion had.

"Gabriel, you need to sleep." Castiel tried to remind him.

"No." Gabriel grumbled, not taking the eyes of his girlfriend. He was sitting in the same hospital chair he had occupied for the past few days. Every few minutes, his eyes would stay closed a bit too long when he was blinking and he would droop to the right, only to jolt awake and start all over again.

Castiel worried deeply about his brother. For being a known pragmatist, he was infuriatingly stubborn. He would 'angel' him to sleep, but even without his grace, Gabriel was still a powerful enough entity that he wouldn't be able to do it against his will. Especially when said will was so set on looking out for Hermione.

He rubbed his forehead in exasperation "At least eat something then." He demanded, waving a chocolate flavoured protein bar in front of Gabriel's face. He snatched it out of his hand, opened it, took a bite and grimaced at the taste, all without moving his eyes from Hermione even once. Castiel then tried to tempt him into rehydrating with a lukewarm bottle of Fanta but didn't have much luck.

"Still nothing?" Dean asked with a frown as the two Winchester brothers entered the room for the day.

Castiel shook his head. He hoped Hermione would wake soon. He had come to care for the witch, but Gabriel also needed her. With the way he was neglecting himself, his vessel would die before his grace would replenish itself enough to heal him. He had never seen his brother so subdued. Perhaps only when Lucifer was cast from heaven and then when their dad had left.

…

It was another day before they had more news from MACUSA. Eric walked into Hermione's hospital room, closely followed by Ron. They both looked terrible.

"You okay there, buddy?" Dean asked when Eric tried to sit down on one of the chairs but missed and landed on his bottom.

Rather than getting back up, he leaned against the leg of the chair he had tried to sit down on.

"Man, I don't even know where to begin." He yawned and rubbed his face. Stubble was showing prominently and there were dark circles around his eyes. Ron didn't look much better. He had always been pale but now he looked almost grey, making his bright orange hair look even brighter.

"We've only scratched the surface." Ron moaned.

Eric gave a hollow humourless chuckle. "I thought we might have a small group of people acting on their own. Maybe this Rowena had something on the Chief. But it's turned out to be much bigger than expected."

"How much bigger?" Sam asked with a worried frown.

"The President was killed a week ago. We think by Chief Auror Ironwood. We also suspect that this was a part of a larger coup to seize power here in the States." Ron supplied.

Eric snorted "Yeah, but we can't know for sure, right? Because the Wizards are backwards thinking old idiots who won't develop any sort of surveillance." He spat bitterly.

"So, what, he's just gonna walk?" Dean asked incredulously.

Ron waved him off "No, not entirely at least. We still have him for abduction, falsifying evidence, wrongful imprisonment and assault. When it came to the Cruciatus, he was unfortunately smart enough to get another one to perform it, so technically, his hands are 'clean' so to speak."

"What do you need?" Gabriel asked from his place near Hermione's bed, without moving his eyes from her.

Eric sighed heavily. "Other than 18 hours sleep and a bathtub-sized espresso? I'm afraid nothing you can provide. We need to do some more Auror-work and interrogate some people. You're needed here. We just wanted to update you guys." He got to his feet with a large grunt of effort.

"That, and I wondered if you'd seen Harry?" Ron requested.

Dean thought of the way Ginny had found them the night before. She had broken into the motel-room the brothers were staying at and had more or less pounced Harry when they came through the door. Then they had disappeared with a crack, but it looked deliberate, so he didn't worry too much about it.

"Nope. Sorry, haven't seen him" He denied. Sam raised an eyebrow at him, but he didn't feel like telling the guy that his best friend was most likely boning his sister.

Ron frowned. "Well, if you see him, can you tell him that I'm looking for him? We need to settle some details with Kingsley. He's stationing us here for a bit to help out the Americans. The International Confederation of Wizards is pulling Aurors from all over actually. I thought it could be nice to hang around here, with Hermione being - " He nodded in her direction and sighed.

He and Eric left the two sets of brothers again and they fell into a quiet sort of vigil.

A while later – it might have been an hour, it might have been a week, the silence was interrupted by a soft snore.

Dean looked around to see who of them had fallen asleep and was relieved to see that Gabriel had slumped forwards and finally succumbed to the needs of his body but he was surprised to notice that the snoring didn't come from him, but from the small figure on the bed.

Hermione had shifted slightly, and her neck was bent at an angle that made her snore. He felt a small sliver of hope. If she had moved, it wouldn't be long before she would wake up. He didn't want to disturb her but wanted to share his excitement with Sam and Cas, however, when he turned his head, Cas was gone, and Sam was asleep too.

He was sitting in his chair and leaning against the wall. Dean gleefully fished his phone out of his pocket to take photos of his siblings. They actually looked a lot alike in the way in which they drooled in their sleep.

...

Thank you for staying with this and thank you so much for the amazing reviews. I'm quite humbled by them and I really appreciate you taking the time to write some feedback. I honestly blushed from some of them.

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