Exorcising Demons at Gettysburg

Part of the Insomnia Project

What is the Insomnia Scrabble Project?– Not a project for one thing. On occasion, I have trouble sleeping. Recently I've taken to playing Scrabble with myself on those nights but to make it interesting, write stories as I put the next word on the board. This is one of those stories. The only thing that they have in common is I must use the words in the order that I play them (as I'm writing the story along the way) and that I must finish the story before the game is over. Also – I give myself leeway in terms of how the word is used (meaning though the word is "paint" I used "painting in the story). I have more of these that I'll probably post as I type them. When I say write – I mean using pen and paper so retyping them takes a bit as I can sometimes not understand my own handwriting – particularly when things are written at 2:00 am!!

More will come as I have a few in the books and they are mostly Harry Potter however I will probably have others. Ther's one already for the anime "Ghost Hunt".

This is the word list for this story: Cannon, knew, nice, colt, wet, liver, stay, paint, girl, beep, while, soon, easy, armor, after, rune, move, fear, quiz, laid, soda, ready, mug . They will be bolded in the story just to point them out.

Synopsis – Harry Potter, Curse-Breaker, is on assignment Gettysburg, PA. He "meets" the Winchester Brothers the night before a meeting with his unknown contacts for the case he is on. Will meeting Dean finally allow him to put Severus' ghost to rest? HP/Supernatural. Harry/Dean, past Harry/Severus.

Exorcising Demons at Gettysburg

Harry woke to what he thought was the sound of a cannon. And for all he knew, it could have been. This was his first trip to the Civil War Battlefields in the U.S. and the re-enactments were going to begin soon. That is in fact why he was here. He wondered about the noise. Maybe they were testing them..in the middle of the night…Yeah…somehow that didn't sound right.

He rolled over with a grunt and turned the lamp on low before getting up to investigate. As he neared the door to the connecting room, he heard the soft murmurings of two distinctly male voices – punctuated by an occasional grunt and heavy breathing.

He knew who they were – well not knew exactly. But he had seen them earlier. Two very handsome men had entered that room as Harry returned with some Chinese take-out. One man was tall with dark brown, soft hair and matching eyes. He had a lean build although it was hard to tell with the grocery bag and the long coat he was wearing. The other man was short, although still taller than Harry, with short, light brown hair, almost spiky, and what looked like soft, full lips and lighter colored eyes. He also had a butt to die for. He had thought at the time they would be good subjects to draw later if he couldn't sleep. He always kept a sketch pad nearby for nights when insomnia ruled.

'Nice,' Harry thought grimly 'I get to sit here listening to that after twelve hours of traveling.' He tried not to think the real reason for his sadness, the aloneness he still felt after two years of being without Severus. It never helped to remind himself that he'd had eight good years with him before his lover had finally succumbed to that last and final curse from Voldemort. And he'd been grateful he hadn't wasted any of that time but now he was lost without him. Severus had urged him to move on after his death although Harry hadn't wanted to. Hadn't wanted to stay in the wizarding world where everyone queued up now that "The Chosen One" was available again. Thank God Shacklebolt had sent him on overseas assignments most of the time.

Harry was irritated for getting himself lost in these thoughts again. He went to the mini-fridge and pulled out one of the small bottles of whiskey. "Engorgio!" Harry enlarged the bottled and thereby increased the amount of whiskey in it. He downed the first couple of gulps without even blinking until his conscious reminded him that he really had to remember that alcohol was not the right way to stop moping about. Oddly his conscious sounded a lot like Hermione which made him laugh a little to himself. He missed her. Even with cell phones and e-mails which functioned now that they were both working outside wizarding London, he felt a sudden need to see her in person. 'After this assignment', he promised himself.

Another loud crash sounded next door. That was where the "cannon" sound that had woken him earlier had come from. Without really deciding to eavesdrop, he nonetheless went up to the door and sat his bottle on the dresser next to him. At least it would distract him from his own thoughts. Plus he had to admit, the two young men were really very handsome and he couldn't even remember the last time he'd found anyone that attractive. Not that he hadn't had sex. He had a few times, generally in context with whatever his assignment was and usually there was some alcohol involved. The term 'whore' came insultingly to him since he'd used those men (and once a woman) to resolve cases but he dismissed his own insult realizing that he in fact hadn't had to force himself to go through with it and it had been therapeutic in its own way even if unsatisfying and depressing. He had found though, in those cases, he had had to top. The thought then of anyone other than his Severus being in him was too hard to handle. He wondered if that would always be the case.

"Ugh…Sammy, pull a little harder. Yeah…ooh that's it. Oh God – fuck!" A nice throaty voice with a hint of gravel commanded the other man. It sent a shiver up Harry's neck reminded him a little of Severus' gravelly tone. The images of what the two men might be doing begin to play in his mind. It sent a wave of heat through him unexpectedly.

"Shh..shh Dean – you'll wake up everyone. The walls are thin," the other man whispered harshly.

"Yeah, yeah, but I gotta get this Colt …oh.." A long pause, "Uggh – maybe some oil?" the first man asked.

"How did you get this stuck there anyways?" The man called Sammy asked quietly and Harry could hear he was trying not to laugh. The sounds of a bag being rustled through could be clearly heard. Little tinks, dings, and rustles sounded until finally a quiet "Got it" was said.

Harry wondered what type of toy "Colt" was. He began envisioning an anal plug or Dildo of some sort that maybe was more than the first man could handle. But could they get stuck? Maybe it was anal beads which had a broken string or something else inserted. People used all sorts of strange things as toys.

He wasn't sure which man went with which voice but he began picturing the shorter of the two since he'd had a better glimpse of both his face and his ass earlier. Harry had liked his easy-going grin when he had glanced over his shoulder and Harry had smiled shyly back. Of course Harry had then blushed at being caught looking at them and quickly went into his own room.

So now he was picturing the shorter man. Not only because he felt he'd had a better view, but the taller one was too close to Severus with his darker hair and intense eyes, lean build and, of course, his height. The shorter one was safer to think about. Not as likely to morph into his dead lover in his imagination.

And it worked. Harry was half surprised at the quickening in his boxers as he imagined 'Dean?' naked and writhing as 'Sammy?' played with the toys in his ass. His hand wandered down to his groin and he palmed himself thinking of the toys he himself enjoyed in the past. Not these days though. Can't travel with them. Had to settle for his own hands and fingers.

He lost track of the sounds next door as his own fantasy took over. One hand grasped and twisted his cock and he found another hand sliding down behind him to stroke his own hole pretending it was Dean's. He wasn't sure when he had replaced Sammy in this fantasy, but he didn't care. Stroke, stroke. His mind pictured his hand, calloused and firm, grasping Dean's flushed cock and making him beg for more. He raised the hand from the back and licked his fingers. His boxers slid down passed his hips then, as his knees began to buckle a little, they shifted further down to greet them.

He had just slightly dipped a wetfinger into his own hole seeing himself preparing Dean when he heard a throaty voice growl "Yes..yes…finally, oh yes. Man that feels so – oh man it throbs!"

Harry gulped at that as a sudden rush of desire went through him and his finger slid in more than he intended. He moaned rather loudly just before the force of his entry moved him forward. The boxer around his knees tripped him up and he began to fall over. He reached out to grab the dresser with the hand that hand been on his prick but only managed to knock over the sign with the motel information on it creating a noisy "clank" and then fell over head first.

"OOF!!" The air knocked out of him, he suddenly realized the absurdity of him lying on the floor, bare ass in the air with one finger still inside himself and boxers around his knees.

He then noticed it was very quiet in the room next door. He flushed in mortification. It must have been obvious he'd been listening considering how close he was to the door. He couldn't believe he had moaned that loudly first of all. They had to have heard him. He'd have given his liver to have never had them see him earlier. They must think he's a first rate pervert, which, under the circumstances, he had to admit he was.

A soft knock came at the door. He quietly stood up and backed away from it, as soon as his boxers were back in place. Another knock. He stared at the door like it was a boggart come to life. If only a 'Riddikulous' would work. Instead he just felt ridiculous.

A soft, smooth voice asked quietly, "Are you okay?" Harry stood frozen in silence willing them to stay away. Yet another knock "Hey – is everything alright?" the voice sounded a little more insistent this time and he knew he should answer and yet he found himself still, like a painting.

Then a gravelly voice chimed in with a hearty laugh "Sammy – don't bother him. Maybe he's still…busy." There was a definite dirty undertone to the man's statement that both aroused and annoyed Harry and shook him out of his panic.

"Um…Yeah – I'm uh fine.. I just…uh..tripped coming back from the uh..bathroom…thanks." Harry had squeaked out at least an octave higher than he had hoped. 'Great – how manly am I?' Harry thought.

The other man that Harry pictured as Sammy just said 'Okay then. If you're sure..." But Harry could hear "Dean" snickering quite clearly.

Harry felt not only humiliated but dismayed that he had also ruined the other mens' intimate encounter. He was surprised that one of them hadn't kicked down the door and beaten Harry unrecognizable. Certainly Severus would have done that had anyone ever dared disrupted one of their evenings.

How, at 29, could he still be a "babbling, bumbling baboon" in the words of his former Head of House?

Deflated, he just turned and got back into bed. He needed to try to get some sleep after all as he was meeting his contacts in the morning. The girl at the ministry had made some very specific arrangements and he was not to miss them. There was not a lot of time to resolve this case.

He finally drifted off into an unsettled sleep and before he knew it, the soft beep of the alarm went off.

Harry didn't hear his neighbors that morning, much to his relief. He quickly, and quietly, got showered and dressed for the day. He still had another hour to go before he was to meet his contacts at the diner. He decided he'd take his bike for a drive while he waited.

Dawn was still, well, dawning, as Harry began to ride the back country roads. The warming charms helped offset the chilly breeze going through his jacket. He loved riding. It was the next best thing to flying on a broom but that would hardly go unnoticed by the early muggle commuters. The bike and the jacket were the last things left to him from his godfather, Sirius after the sales of both "Grimmauld Place and Spinner's End." Severus and he had lived mostly at Hogwart's while Severus was alive with very rare outings to either residence. Snape hated both places and they had discussed selling them but Harry had hesitated. After Severus' death he did sell them as a way to finally give Severus one last thing he had asked for. Or second last thing. Harry hadn't yet been ready to give him that last thing yet. Now he kept small lofts in London and New York as his homebases, but rarely stayed in either of them as he traveled so much now.

His work focused on breaking dark curses and counteracting dark magic so he wasn't strictly an Auror anymore but he did report directly to Kinglsey Shacklebolt in the Auror's office. While he had tried being a normal Auror, it never worked. He could never find a partner that worked after Ron left to work with his brother at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Everyone else either made him do all the work or set out to prove they were better than him. It often made situations far more dangerous than they should have been so he almost left the auror's office like Ron until Kingsley asked him to specialize and sent him on his first mission with Bill Weasley. Bill basically apprenticed Harry in breaking dark curses for a year and then retired himself to teach at their former school.

Harry had found he enjoyed the work and he and Severus would often discuss the challenges the assignments presented him. He quickly became well known for his ability to understand how to break those curses. Truth be told –Severus had a lot to do with his first successes. With his understanding of dark magic, he had real insight and managed to teach Harry how to think "as dark wizards do" as Moody used to phrase it. While he had officially apprenticed with Bill, he also considered himself apprenticed to Severus.

This mission was interesting. It was one of the first times he was supposed to work with American muggles called "Hunters". Seems they specialized in hunting demons and other monsters without having any innate magic. He had been so surprised to hear that they existed. No hint of their existence had ever been mentioned. Kingsley had said that was because no one wanted wizards who had issues with muggles going after "Hunters" as they certainly would have. There was a long standing magical contract that prevented hunters and Wizards of learning of the others' existence. If one ever came into the other's presence, they would forget their special abilities as soon as they were removed from each other's presence. Wizards would forget the term "Hunter" and "Hunters" would forget about magic. In the rare instance of the two working together, the Unspeakables would see to it that both parties were obliviated afterwards.

Wizards and Demons also had a generally "hands-off" policy due to a long standing agreement. The discovery of a violation of that agreement could result in dire consequences. Wizards could not prevent demons from acting upon the muggle world with the exception of where it might affect the Wizarding World. Harry couldn't actually go after demons, even if they were a threat to every muggle in the world unless of course it threatened wizards too.

He had wondered about that but Kingsley just said the agreement was made during a time when the general consensus from the wizarding world was that muggles were inferior and they didn't really cared what happened to them so long as demons left the wizarding world alone. The agreement has stood for centuries and Kingsley was not going to be the person that broke it. But he was willing to bend it since there was very dark magic that he knew the hunters wouldn't be able to handle it alone.

In essence, the hunters would handle the demon after Harry broke the curse on the object that was required for defeating the demon. The demon had powers to resurrect the dead and not in a good way. Rumor had it he was planning to resurrect the dead Civil War Soldiers to make the 'Reenactment' not so much a "re" – but an actual "act" which could result in a lot a real dead people. While only muggles would probably be affected, Kingsley said that a world overrun by muggle zombies wouldn't be fun for wizards. Harry knew that was just a justification as he also stressed that no one could know of Harry's involvement in this matter.

So the contract had been nullified on both Harry and his contacts for this mission. And Harry was curious to see what a muggle hunter would be like. He imagined someone gruff like Moody – big, stern, and scarred.

He was happily lost in his musings as it kept his mind off his humiliations from the previous evenings. Hopefully those men were only staying the one night. If not, Harry could always switch hotels. On the other hand it had been a slight relief to banish the ghost of Severus for just a little bit. Maybe soon he would be ready to move on. Maybe he would finally be able to grant Severus' last wish.

---

All too soon it was time to go to the diner. The fresh air had actually made him hungry. He parked his bike in the garishly lit lot and pulled his helmet off. The helmet irritated him as it would be easy to do a cushioning charm to prevent injury but he had to blend in. He wondered if he could develop a glamour that would make it look as though a helmet was on his head. He opened his jacket so the red "Weird Sisters" tee-shirt showed clearly. This was what would identify him to his contacts.

He didn't like unzipping his jacket. When zipped, it felt like armor to him. Sirius had weaved his own protective magic throughout the dragonhide leather. Since Harry was his rightful heir, the protective magic worked for him as well. Harry then added his own charms to it. It wouldn't block a crucio, but it could deflect or weaken the power of lesser curses.

After a second cup of black coffee, he was beginning to wonder if his contact was going to show. He'd taken to translating the runes he'd already been given for another project.

He was deep in thought when a gruff voice said "Move over." Harry looked up pushing his glasses back onto his face. Yet again he wondered why he kept them (and thank god he hadn't been wearing them last night) except that Severus had loved them for some reason. Loved that Harry only took his glasses off for him and that no one else could see directly into Harry's eyes except him. Harry couldn't bring himself to change that.

But looking up found him looking a little too closely into the hazel eyes of the man that was staying in the room next to him. 'Dean?' Harry thought dimly as he realized that the man in question was sitting down next to him and trying to shove him over with his hip. The man's dark brunette partner was standing at the end of booth him rolling his eyes. Harry flushed but didn't budge. "Er…Sorry – I'm waiting for someone.." Harry said in a rush.

Dean swung his hip harder into Harry's forcing the smaller man over. "Yeah, you're waiting for us," Dean grinned heartily. Sam raised one eyebrow, reminiscent of Severus, and then sat down across from him.

Harry considered quickly 'Is this some weird way to get back at me for last night? Or some weird pick-up?' 'Cause certainly these guys couldn't be hunters? Could they?' he wondered. Harry coughed and turned a little towards Dean, "I fear you're.."

"Never fear!" Dean grinned again, "Harry, is it?" His grin turned into a smirk and he put a warm hand onto Harry's thigh and squeezed firmly.

'It is a pick-up' Harry thought grimly. And of all times. Maybe they thought he'd be an easy third party or something. He wasn't sure why they'd be interested in him other than to get back at him even if he was suddenly and surprisingly tempted. But he had a job to do.

"Really, I appreciate the thought but I really am waiting for.."

Harry felt Dean's hand relax a little but then it slid just slightly higher and stroked the inside of his thigh.

"Sure you are…Harry." Dean almost purred.

Sam finally cut in "So have you seen the Weird Sisters in concert. They're wicked." At that Harry froze. They were in fact the hunters he was meeting as that was the "code greeting" that was given to him. He wanted to die of embarrassment. On the other hand – he also knew what they had been up to so hopefully it leveled the playing field.

With a quick gulp of Gryffindor courage and black coffee, Harry agreed "Oh – well then I guess you are. I'm.."

"Harry Potter – yes. Nice to meet you. Dean Winchester," Dean had drawled out the word "meet" and removed his hand from Harry's thigh and raised it to shake hands. Harry tried not to note the firm grip that held on just a bit long and the thumb that stroked the back of his hand in a soft caress.

After a moment of staring into Dean's smiling face Dean nodded towards the other man, "That's Sammy." He looked over to see Sam reaching out his hand.

"Just Sam," he corrected as he shook Harry's hand.

"Nice to meet you Sam. What's your last name?" Harry asked.

"Same as mine Harry. He's a Winchester!" Dean interjected.

"Huh?" Harry was perplexed. Maybe same-sex marriages were legal where they were from.

Seeing the puzzled look on Harry's face Sam added, "Dean's my older brother."

At that Harry flushed even more. He wished he hadn't had such pale skin because inevitably it gave him away. He wasn't sure he heard right. They were brothers? Brothers that did…

"Did you say brothers?" he squeaked out.

"Yeah – this a quiz? Do we get parting gifts?" Dean smirked.

"Oh no, I just, oh I'm sorry. I didn't realize." Harry looked away not quite knowing how to act.

Sam gave an irritated look at Dean then turned to Harry, "Are you ok?"

Dean eyed Harry suspiciously. Harry could feel him staring and saw him tap his lip out of the corner of his eye. Harry moved slightly away from him.

Dean shifted closer and then leaned in over his shoulder and whispered in his ear. "Harry – don't be embarrassed about last night. I mean we didn't think anything about you knocking things over or all moans we heard. I mean – you could have been doing anything," he paused and smiled, " I'm sure it wasn't what it sounded like." Dean chuckled and Harry flushed even deeper.

Swallowing a deep breath Harry turned "We should discuss the job."

"Isn't he adorable?" Dean asked the waitress as she stepped up and he put his arm around Harry. She smacked her lips and rolled her eyes at the three men. "Yeah – precious..," she stated sarcastically, "so little brother gets the pancake plate or what?" She obviously thought they were all related and had no time for them.

Dean took the plate from her and handed it to Harry and pointed the egg-white omelet/turkey sausage plate to Sammy. 'At least Harry boy, you'll get to eat properly and not that vegecrapatarian plate Sammy guzzles. I ordered for you," Dean handed Harry a plate full of pancakes and bacon, just like Dean's plate.

The waitress left them to their breakfast. "It's not crap Dean. And I don't eat it all the time. I like a good burger as much as the next guy," Sam sent a slightly amused look at his brother, "You know some vegetables wouldn't hurt you every now and then."

Dean grinned as he bit off a large piece of bacon. "Yeah – maybe – but why chance it? I'll stick to pork products."

Harry started on the pancakes. It was surprisingly good but then he realized "Hey – why am I the little brother?"

"Dude – you're like 5'6" and you look all of 20 years old. Can you even drink yet? In the US I mean." Dean grinned around a mouthful of his own syrupy pancakes.

"What! I'm 28!" Harry knew he looked young for a muggle but that's because wizards lived so long. But it irritated him when everyone still thought he was a teenager.

"Really? Weird," Dean paused for a bit to get a few more mouthfuls. Then he continued, "So anyways about last night."

Harry interrupted, "Let's stick to the job." Harry put down his fork. He'd never be able to eat with this conversation. He decided to try juice.

"In a minute," Dean pressed, "you know we had something happen last night too." Harry almost spit out his juice but spluttered and coughed lightly instead.

Dean was smiling as Harry turned and whispered, "What?'

Dean raised his left hand and waived the red and swollen pointer at Harry. "Look at that. Still hurts like a son of a bitch."

Wide-eyed as an embarrassing comprehension began to dawn, "What happened?" Harry asked.

At that, Sammy pulled the Colt out and laid it on the table between them. "My idiot brother got his finger stuck in the colt. He's just lucky he didn't shoot it off."

A sudden rush of relief, then mortification as he realized what he had heard was nothing like what he thought it was – and then the thoughts that led him to do… he paled a little.

Sam reached over to him and touched his hand. "Hey – you okay?" Harry realized that Sammy seemed to ask him that a lot. He must think Harry is a real berk.

Dean laughed really hard. "Yeah – he's fine. He just thought you got laid last night!"

Sam looked puzzled then seeing the renewed flush on Harry's face he realized what Dean had meant. "You thought that – that Dean and I?" Sam's dark eyes widened "But..but we're brothers!"

"I didn't know that!" Harry exclaimed rather swinging his hands wildly to the annoyance of the other diners and the loss of Dean's soda. He stood suddenly to grab napkins to clean it up.

Sam stared "And we're not gay!" Harry paled at this. Sam noticed "Er..uh sorry no offense."

"Don't mind him Harry." Dean smiled sweetly, "He's rude that way."

Dean then grinned at the room "Sorry folks!" he waved to them and everyone returned to their own meals. An uncomfortable silence followed as the irritated waitress returned with a new glass for him.

They returned to eating but shortly Sam looked up and said "Are you ready to look at the box?"

Harry nodded and moved his plate and coffee mug aside.

Sam pulled out a small square wooden box with intricate runes carved into it and a complex looking lock. Sam was holding it using a small cloth. "Don't touch it directly," Sam warned Harry.

Harry looked at it for a bit and tried to understand the runes. The box was clearly cursed and couldn't physically touched by a human without consequences. According to the runes – a mere touch would burn you to cinders. Surreptiously Harry pulled his wand and both Dean and Sam maneuvered their bodies to hide the view from the other diners, although Harry put a "Do Not Notice" charm on the booth now so no one would pay them any attention.

Harry waved the wand and considered. After a good five minutes Harry became aware of Dean leaning right behind him and gazing over his shoulder at the box. "So can you?" Dean whispered.

Harry glanced back to see intense hazel eyes watching him closely. A shiver went through him even though he could feel Dean's body heat soaking into his side. He had the sudden itch to slide backwards into it but kept his concentration by biting his bottom lip. He remembered Sam's statement, "We're not gay." He wondered if Dean was making fun of him.

"Yeah – I can, but I'm gonna need some time and privacy with it."

Sam nodded. "By tomorrow? The re-enactment starts then."

"Wish I'd had more time but yeah I think so…"

"Sorry - We just found it two days ago." Dean said. "I'm surprised you got here so fast."

"Wizard's secret." Harry smiled. In fact Kingsley had learned of this demon's plan last week and they'd been determined to figure out how to stop it. He knew of the Stone of Containment but wasn't sure where it was. He did know of the protective curses surrounding it. The History of Magic talked of the magical box that could imprison dark wizards and demons alike but Enfrigo the Devourer didn't care much for the possibility of being imprisoned in it so set about to curse it since it could not be destroyed. He cursed it so no humans could open it and at the time no wizards associated themselves with humans so he felt himself secure. In fact he had been secure from that. Another demon hunter had managed to banish him from the realm, but that left the stone on this plane.

So if Harry could break the curse, find a way for the brothers to open the box near the demon Nyxtil and teach them the proper spell, for lack of a better term, to engage the stone, then Nyxtil would be stopped, yet no wizard would be directly responsible for killing him thus keeping the agreement intact. In fact, no one would ever need know that Harry Potter had been involved at all as he would have to stay away from the battlefield this time and let the Winchesters handle it.

Sam motioned the waitress for the check then got up to take care of it as Harry put the box into his satchel. Dean got up and turned to help Harry up out of the booth. As he stood, Dean plastered himself right behind Harry and Harry felt Dean's hands tug on his hip back into him. He then whispered heatedly into Harry's ear. "So Harry – which one of us were you jerking off to last night?"

Harry gasped as he turned a little towards Dean "Wha?"

Dean grinned widely "I sure hope it was me 'cause honestly I'm bi. I like anything that's pretty – girls or boys. And you - you're the prettiest boy I've seen in a long time. Just don't tell Sammy yet!" And Harry felt Dean's right hand slide from his hip to round over Harry's bottom and pinch it slightly just before he pushed him towards the front door.

Epilogue

Two weeks later Harry was home in New York. He had heard everything went to plan and that Nyxtil had been imprisoned. Shacklebolt had left Harry with his memories of the hunters although he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. He couldn't keep the thought of Dean out of his head. He felt the heated breath in his ear and the firm grip on his thigh. He always hardened at the though of that hand on his bum. He knew that they had probably been obliviated and would never remember him. He spent the better part of the time drawing various images of them before he forgot the details of their faces. Part of him regretted not having time to enjoy getting to know them more (and by them he meant Dean), the other part still felt like he'd been betraying Severus. He supposed he did need to move on and that he was ready to even if it wouldn't be the first man that had actually interested him since Severus. Hermione of course loved hearing about the brothers. She had longed for him to be able to find someone new. Encouraged him and assured him that finding someone new was in no way a disservice to his former lover, but rather a compliment that Severus had been so good to him, he wanted that again. Reminded him that Severus' last wish was that Harry would find love again and allow himself to have it.

Being an Unspeakable, she knew about Hunters. Normally she couldn't usually discuss her dayjob. All he knew was she worked in the Unspeakable office as some sort of liaison to the muggle world and that kept her traveling quite a bit. She could, however, share this with him. Her giggles reminded Harry of Lavender Brown from their sixth year as she viewed the rather interesting sketches he had done of the hunters.

---

Several months later, after he had managed two other assignments in Turkey and Brazil, he was back in New York and was surprised to hear from Hermione who was once again in New York.

He was meeting her for dinner that night. After dressing in slim black trousers and a dark blue shirt, he headed out to meet her at a new place that had opened recently called "Travitas". She was working on a project nearby so it was convenient for her.

She was waiting for him when he got there. She had certainly become a beautiful woman. Harry wondered more than once whether he might also be bi but he would never risk their friendship in case he learned he was truly, truly only interested in men.

"Harry! I'm so glad to see you." She raced up to hug him, her hair flying behind her in her enthusiasm. She felt so good to hug. His favorite person currently in the whole world since his Severus was in another.

"Hermione – you look wonderful. Have you been working hard?" Harry grinned brightly at her.

She nodded as expected. There was nothing like a good puzzle to bring that excited flush to her face. "Harry – you know this case I'm working on is kind of complicated. I would appreciate some assistance," she grinned back.

She took his hand and led him through the restaurant. "Of course 'Mione – but won't you get in trouble?"

"No, no. I have approval to get whatever help I need on this one. I've already recruited a couple of other people. They'll be joining us tonight."

Harry's heart sunk. He really wanted "alone time" with his best friend but instead they would be working. But she needed him and that is what he would do.

The restaurant was crowded and dimly lit. It was hard to see anyone's faces, but Harry admitted the food smelled exquisite.

Hermione slowed and they approached a table that had two men sitting with their backs to him. As Hermione brought him around, she introduced them, "Harry Potter – I'd like you to meet Dean and Sam Winchester who will be helping us on this assignment."

Harry stood in shock for a moment and glanced at Hermione who had the biggest smirk on her face. Both men stood slightly and he first shook Sam's hand in a warm two handed grasp. "A pleasure Sam," he smiled. He then turned to Dean after getting a bit of composure and then broke into a wide grin as he saw a spark of recognition in Dean's eyes as soon as he took Harry's hand. Harry held it a moment too long and rubbed his thumb over Dean's skin. Obliviation didn't always take hold and sometimes a small jolt could bring a strong memory back. Dean smiled warmly back with an even wider grin. "And very nice to meet you Harry Potter," he drawled, with a special emphasis on "meet".

Harry loved Hermione.

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