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Dean had a book Sammy had given him for Christmas once. Dean wasn’t much one for books but “Good Hunting: How to catch the trickiest prey” had become a bit of a bible for him, a good guide to catch tricky prey, and with the slippery prey he was currently hunting, Dean needed all the tips he could get. Coincidentally that same year Dean had gifted Sam with a guide to pulling and it was remarkable how many tips were similar and shared between the two. They used to play a game of guessing which book a particular tip had come from: Get to know your target, their habits, preferences, habitat. Approach them where they are comfortable where they feel relaxed. Shoot once and shoot sharp.
Harry was visiting Forks in Washington in the USA for the first time having decided to take some time out to travel by himself after he’d finally completed his NEWTs. After going through the Potter and Black vaults and sorting out the contents of Grimmauld Place he’d discovered that he had family in the USA and he’d been delighted to discover that he didn’t even need to hide that he was a wizard since they were a family of shapeshifters! Harry enjoyed racing his broom as they ran through the huge dense pine forests in the sparsely populated area.
Be open to new opportunities. You might be hunting your regular prey when you notice a new trail or footprints which don’t match. You have a choice; choose to follow these new tracks and you may find something new and interesting to excite the seasoned hunter bored of their regular prey.
On a tip off from Bobby, Dean had found himself in the dense forests of Washington on the trail of some vampires. What he found instead surprised him. Before he had a chance to kill the vampires who had killed several people in a nearby village, Dean was surprised to find them already dead! What could possibly have taken down these powerful beings. Another hunter perhaps? No the evidence pointed to… werewolves! But that wasn’t what killed the vampires…. There was magic used here! A witch and recently!
Using all his skills and knowledge, Dean tracked the werewolf pack down to a nearby beach. What was a witch doing with werewolves? Having a campout!? Unlikely.
Harry was relaxing around a campfire with his friends on La Push beach when the wolves on patrol alerted them to the approach of danger. Harry quickly sprung to his feet, brandishing his wand when he was shot at by a bullet. A part of him was impressed that someone had outshot him whilst at the same time he was screaming in pain. He looked up to see a tall, muscular man in a checked shirt reaching down towards him with a pair of cuffs. Quickly, Harry whipped out his wand and temporarily petrified the man before escaping to tend to the, thankfully minor, wound.
That night he dreamt he was being pursued by the man again although he couldn’t remember much more about him than a quick glimpse of green eyes he had the odd feeling in his dream that he wanted to be pursued and what is more to be caught! Harry was however determined that whoever this might be they would not get to catch him.
Get to know the natural habitat of your prey, map out their landscape and make it your home. Immerse yourself and become one with your surroundings. The expert hunter knows how to truly camouflage himself.
It was surprisingly easy for Dean to enter the lair of the witches. Actually it was more of a town or a city even that he ended up in after following a witch. He discovered that they called male witches “wizards” and they generally assumed he was a “squib” a member of their community who didn’t have magical abilities. He watched how others behaved and copied their movements, surprisingly similar to those of ordinary people in any other city he had been in. His stakeout paid off as he spotted his quarry exiting a shop and trailed him into a bar.
Harry had a feeling he was being followed and so quickly nipped into a crowded sports bar called “The Elusive Snitch”. He pretended to be enjoying the atmosphere with all the dramatic quidditch scenes being played out on posters around him. Whilst he looked to see which reporter had been tracking him and deciding whether he was really in the mood for an interview. He would have avoided the wizarding city altogether had it not been for his need to post a letter and he had yet to purchase a new owl since Hedwig.
Harry took a quick glance over his shoulder and spotted those green eyes in the crowd, zeroing in on him.
Quickly he turned and dived into a crowd. “Paparazzi” he shrugged and nipped into the toilets where he donned his invisibility cloak and used it to slip out of the bar before apparating away.
Safely back at his cousin’s house Harry quickly tried to figure out who this green-eyed man was and why he was following Harry. He’d heard of hunters -muggles who hunted werewolves and shapeshifters but did they hunt wizards too? He had looked rather threatening in a rugged sort of way but he had been surrounded by other wizards, so why hadn’t he gone after them?!
Perhaps he was a paparazzi or something who was trying to get an exclusive interview. Made more sense to him than anything else.
Dean was not sure what trickery the witch/wizard?! Had used to get away from him but he did pick up some vital intel. He now knew his quarry’s name and after flirting with a group of friendly looking witches he learned a lot, lot more about Harry Potter and he knew where he needed to settle to catch his quarry.
Watch for migratory patterns. Don’t get fixed on the idea that your prey will always revisit the same spot. Do your research and find out more about them and their habits of movement. Be prepared to up sticks and follow, perhaps even globally, if you are serious about catching the trickier prey.
Having established his new identity as a squib Potty (as the fanatical fans of Harry Potter are known), with the help of the girls he’d got chatting to at the sports bar he managed to score tickets to a sporting match where it was rumoured Harry would certainly be in attendance. By listening in to the crowd attending the match, Dean learned all about Kwideats and how Harry’s ex (certainly hoped she was his ex!) was playing. Apparently Harry never missed a match when Holyhead Harpies were playing at home and so Dean found himself in a damp, drizzly corner of Wales, trying to seem unimpressed by witches zooming around on old-fashioned style brooms as though this was an ordinary sight for him, although it turned out from some of the gasps from the crowd that these weren’t ordinary sights but impressive stunts and some epic failures.
It took Dean and the “Potties” a while to spot Harry who was sitting amongst a family of redheads. Dean looked for an opportunity to approach Harry and found one when queuing up to buy some snacks. There were two queues moving forwards at the same time towards a centrally located stall, and Dean noticed his quarry in the other queue. He counted how many people were in front of each of them and, being seemingly gracious and considerate, he allowed a family with young children to jump ahead of him, which if his calculations were correct would place him and Harry arriving at the snack stall at the same time.
Harry was queuing up with Ron and George to get their pumpkin pasties, when he felt the feeling again. Someone was watching him. He glanced up and saw the man with the dark hair and green eyes, quickly looking away, seeming to be studying a programme. He felt his face heat up, clearly with fear as he felt the urgent need to be anywhere else. He muttered his request to Ron and nipped out of the queue and to the toilets.
Harry had escaped him again. But now Dean had another chance. When he got to the snack-stand he got chatting to the two brothers, friends of Harry. Through his skills in conversation, he subtly gleaned from them the information that George ran a sort of joke/trick shop, and they were in need of an occasional assistant. Dean played up his “squib travelling from the US” card and was lucky enough to be offered a trial run at the shop.
When setting a trap, it is important that it does not appear to be a trap. It must appear to be an ordinary item one might come across in that environment so that the target does not become suspicious.
As a shareholder in Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes, Harry enjoyed evenings in Diagon Alley, getting to try out the latest products. George and Lee were very creative and always had something new for him to try out. They were especially excited because their new assistant of couple of months had had blinder of an idea! Even better, he’d helped them come up with a plan to trick Harry with it.
It was unusual for the stockroom door to be closed, and something about the situation, the closed door and the lack of presence of the proprietors made Harry nervous. As he approached the closed door he brandished his wand. He reached out, turned the handle and....
Found himself in a tiny cleaning cupboard with the hunter! His instincts were right and he thanked his quick reflexes as he stunned him before apparating away! Who was that man and how had he managed to almost trap Harry
Never underestimate the power of a good bait. Find out what your prey’s favourite food is and use it to lure him in.
Dean wasn’t inexperienced at baking but he struggled to keep up with the recipe as Molly Weasley enthusiastically threw ingredients into a giant cauldron. He did consider the option of just buying some but he’d never actually seen treacle tarts for sale in any bakery and there was just something more special about making them himself. He had decided that this time he wasn’t going to try to trap Harry or surprise him or anything like that but that he’d try wooing him the old-fashioned way, with a box of treats! That would surprise Harry.
Harry was surprised to receive a box of treats, his favourite treats, however he was also incredibly suspicious. Who just randomly sent a heart shaped box of treacle tarts to someone. It had definitely been mentioned in Witches’ Weekly that it was his favourite and there had been a while when he kept receiving random boxes from witches however that was last year and it hadn’t been mentioned by anyone for a while. So why would he receive treats now. With that hunter trying to track him down they could be poisoned, or worse still, sugar free!
And so he binned them, along with the note which was under them and which went unread. A note in which Dean had tried to explain how he had come to admire Harry from afar and wished to get to know him better.
Know when to stop. You are not giving up hunting that prey forever but do take some time out to rest and enjoy your surroundings. You never know, when you least expect it, your prey may come to you.
On Christmas Eve, Molly and Arthur always loved to gather friends and family together for a party. Harry had come to stay for the festive period and Molly chattered away as she swished her wand around, stirring, whisking, pouring as she baked, “We’ve a lovely new neighbour just moved in, you’ll meet him later. Do be kind dear, he’s a squib but you wouldn't know it, he’s a wonder with runes and charms and such like, did a fantastic job of gnome-proofing the garden he did. American too, not that there’s anything wrong with that, just we don’t get a lot of them round here. Arthur is very taken with him as he’s a dab hand with muggle thingies and has been helping him sort out the old Ford Anglia. He has his own car you see which he dotes over almost as though it were a person. They’re probably having fun together in the garage now.”
Harry continued to hear praise about this new neighbour from all the Weasleys. Ginny blushed as she described his arm muscles, “he’d make a wonderful beater,” and George told him about how he was almost as good as Fred had been with runes and charms in the shop. “We took him on just to give him a helping hand. He’s a squib you know, and from America too! Can’t be easy for him and he seems like a nice bloke, but it turns out you don’t need magic to be able to draw runes and he’s awfully clever!”
He was beginning to get rather curious about this newcomer who he had heard so much about, but somehow was yet to meet, when he did finally meet him as they sat down around the table. Harry was sat down next to Ron and was engaged in a rather long-running debate with him and Hermione when he accidentally bumped into the man sitting in the chair next to him, who’s back was turned as he was plotting something out with George on a piece of paper (slightly reminiscent of the way Fred and George used to be found plotting together at every opportunity) Harry turned to apologise at the same time as he caught a glimpse of the tall, dark and handsome stranger and more so at the eyes which he had seen in his dreams. He felt a fluttering in his chest as something he’d ignored rose to the surface.
“This is Dean Winchester, our new neighbour and George’s employee!,” grinner Arthur from across the table, “Dean, this is Harry Potter, although I’m sure you already know that.”
“but-but, you’re a Hunter!” stammered Harry blushing bright red, “You hunted me.”
“and my did you take some hunting.” Drawled Dean with a lazy smile as he leaned across to pick up his glass, “but the best prey is worth the hunt.”