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The taxi stopped next to an old, but well cared for, black car parked near the entrance of a seedy-looking bar.
“Here?” Ginny asked, sounding skeptical.
“This is what Felix is telling me,” Hermione confirmed.
“I'm starting to have second thoughts about this plan,” the redhead murmured as she, Hermione, Angelina Johnson, and Katie Bell climbed out of the taxi.
“Then next time you decide you're going to throw someone a surprise birthday party and give them a lucky potion, do it a bit closer to home and not wherever they happen to be on their book tour. But you said we should go where Felix tells us, and Felix is telling me to go in this bar,” she said, walking confidently towards the door. There was no doorman, it wasn't that type of bar, most of the surprisingly large crowd for a Thursday night were blue-collar workers there to unwind after a long day. People sat in groups at tables around a small stage where people were doing karaoke, mostly women near the front with men on the perimeter. Hermione and her group found a table to one side that didn't invite them to draw attention, but would allow them to watch the room. They ordered drinks from a waitress and sat in awkward silence, waiting for the dose of Felix Felicis they had given Hermione to dictate their next move. Hermione took a shot, then sat back with her drink and started scanning the crowd. The potion had directed her here, so there must be a reason, and it was as her first drink was getting low that she was sure she had found it.
He was sitting a few tables away, only one other man at his table. They were dressed similarly, jeans, boots, flannel shirts, and jackets, but while the other was taller and leaner, the one that caught her eye was still quite tall and muscular, with dirty blonde hair and an enticing amount of stubble. For a moment his striking green eyes met hers, and she smiled coyly before she could stop herself. He replied with a smile of his own before both their attention was drawn in by a woman spectacularly failing to hit a high note. When Hermione looked back the man was smiling again, this time at the pretty waitress. Deep inside Felix told Hermione a bold move was in order, one she would never take otherwise.
“I'm going to sign up,” she said, standing up.
“For what?” Angelina asked. “To sing?”
“Yeah, why not?”
“Now I know this was a bad idea.”
“Or she's not really Hermione,” Katie chuckled.
“Felix wants what it wants,” Hermione smiled before striding to the book of songs by the emcee. She shut the book, ran her fingers along the pages until one felt right, opened it to that page, and chose the first song she saw. Since she wasn't exactly keeping up with Muggle music she had never heard of the song, nor the singer, but the emcee informed her there were six acts in front of her, so she knew she had time. Without a thought to her friends she stepped outside and pulled the song up on her phone, listening to it twice in preparation. Her friends had gotten her another drink and another shot while she was gone, so she downed the shot for liquid courage and had finished half the drink when her name was called to the stage.
The song was different than what most of the people had been singing all night, it was fast paced and modern while the crowd had been sticking to classic rock, country, and the occasional ballad, but no one had a chance to complain. Felix prompted Hermione to dance as she sang, moving her body in sultry ways she never would have dreamed herself capable of. On any other night she'd be completely mortified with her actions, but this was one night in a bar she had never seen before and would never see again, filled with people who would most likely forget her after that night, and so she had no care at how she was dancing. By the time she had finished the first chorus people were cheering some of her moves, and the energy of the room skyrocketed. Feeling completely emboldened she sang the final chorus directly to the man, even winking at him as the song ended and the room erupted in cheers and whoops. A few people gave her high fives as she made her way back to the table and sat back down.
“That was unexpected,” Ginny said, looking at her wide-eyed.
“Yes, but I think it worked,” Hermione replied as she looked up. The man had gotten up from his table and was making his way over, and Hermione pulled out the chair next to her in invitation.
“That was some show, sweetheart,” he said, taking the seat next to her.
“I'm glad you liked it,” she replied.
“Dean Winchester,” he introduced himself.
“Hermione Granger,” she replied with a smile. “These are my friends, Ginny, Angelina, and Katie.”
“What's up?” Dean nodded at them, but immediately turned back to Hermione. “So, you karaoke often?”
“First time, actually.”
“Well, you're a natural, then,” he smiled. “Ten times better than any of these other acts.”
“Compliments of several people around the bar,” the waitress cut in, placing a line of shots in front of Hermione.
“I guess you're not the only one who thinks so,” she smirked, passing the shots around.
“So you don't sound like you're from around here,” he said.
“I'm just here on a book-signing tour. It's my birthday, and these three decided to detour my travel plans for a night.”
“It's your birthday? Happy birthday.”
“I'm hoping it will be,” she smiled and took another drink. “How about you? Are you from around here?”
“Nah, my brother and I are here taking care of some business. Hopefully it won't be too much longer, but I'm totally free tonight.”
“Brother?” she glanced back at his table where Dean had been sitting. The other man there gave them a wave with a sarcastic smile.
“Yeah... that's Sammy. Excuse me a second,” Dean stood and went back to his table.
“Who are you and what have you done with Hermione Granger?” Ginny asked.
“This is the Hermione Granger who has not had a man touch her since Ron broke up with her. Felix seems to be taking care of me for the night on that end.”
“Good job, Felix,” Angelina toasted.
“Are you gonna last much longer?” Katie asked.
“No, I doubt either of us are interested in doing the small talk thing too long,” Hermione shook her head.
“Sorry about that,” Dean said, sitting back down next to Hermione.
“No need to apologize,” she replied. “How about we finish these and see where the night takes us?”
“Sounds like a plan,” he smiled.
XXXXXXX
The night had taken them only as far as the backseat of the same black car the taxi had dropped Hermione off next to, but Felix had not disappointed her in the slightest. They had attempted for the night to take them back to Hermione's hotel room, but they had only made it as far as a forest preserve halfway there. Dean was good enough that Hermione was considering suggesting that the night was still young and it might take them somewhere else when she was searching for her bra and came up with an odd piece of paper.
“Dean?” she asked, studying the markings on the yellowed piece of paper.
“Yes, sweet... oh, don't worry about that,” he said, reaching for the paper but Hermione held it out of his reach.
“Is this yours?” she asked.
“No, it has something to do with the job we're working, but we're not sure what yet.”
“Has someone had a really bad day around here recently?”
“Several someones... how do you know?”
“I studied ancient runes... this is a spell.”
He immediately looked suspicious. “How would you know that?”
Hermione looked at Dean's tattoo. “You're a hunter!” she said.
He raised an eyebrow. “Takes one to know one?”
Hermione bit her lip, and was thankful she still felt the potion nudging her in a direction that omitted the magic part for now. “Not exactly, but I have studied this sort of thing, and you have a big problem.”
“We figured we did, but we couldn't figure out exactly what kind of big problem. Sam said that spell doesn't seem that bad, and it looks like kids wrote it.”
“Well, it would look like that in certain translations, but the problem is there are some small, subtle differences... Do you know what it's like when you use one of those internet translators to translate something and then translate it back but it's not quite the same?”
“Yeah?”
“It looks like whoever wrote this was trying to summon fairies and, well... how much do you know about fae?”
XXXXXXX
6 months later
“You know that some of these potions take a full month to brew, right?” Hermione muttered as she sat on the bed next to Dean's bruised and bloody body, though as she watched the lacerations started to heal and the bruises started to fade. “You're really testing my abilities.”
“But I know you have the skills, my beautiful witch,” he said, trying to hide a wince as he lifted up on one elbow, nudged her hair to the side with his face, and kissed her neck.
“Speaking of potions, I have something for you and Sam,” she said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out two small flasks on chains to wear around their necks. Dean took one and opened it up, seeing a golden liquid within. “Felix Felicis,” she explained. “Liquid luck. One small sip is enough for a day, there's enough for three each. Don't waste them, you can't use it too often.”
“Liquid luck?” Dean asked skeptically. “Does it really work?”
“Remember the day we met?”
“How could I possibly forget even a moment of that? You on that stage... I still have good dreams about that.”
“Have you noticed that I have shown zero interest in repeating that performance?”
“Well, we have been kind of busy...”
“I took some Felix Felicis before going out. Second time I've ever had it. The first time I survived a battle against Death Eaters.”
“And the second you got me, so I guess it is liquid luck.”
“Arrogant prat,” she chuckled, kissing him.