CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: (dedicated to Jessie_Baby for being such an awesome reader!)
Hermione's POV:
The remainder of Sunday passed quickly. Bella and Edward hung out in her room, while I did some studying. The muggle curriculum was proving to be similar to Hogwarts, in a number of ways, and I was finding it fascinating. I was already anxious about the finals, seeing as I was approximately three terms (plus a few years) behind everyone else, but I was still confident. The subjects I'd chosen were subjects I was good at, and already had a higher then rudimentary knowledge of, albeit in a slightly different manner.
Dinner was a quiet affair. Charlie ordered take-away, seeing as by then my poor jet-lagged sister was practically dead on her feet and certainly in no condition for cooking. And like Charlie, my own knowledge of cooking was rudimentary- I was better when I could use magic to assist me, but that wasn't an option, with my father hanging around.
During dinner Charlie notified us that Jacob called, inviting Bella over after school tomorrow to visit. Due to the fact she was still grounded, she needed express permission from Charlie to do so. Lucky for Jacob, Charlie fully agreed with the idea.
After dinner, Bella retired straight upstairs and was probably asleep within minutes. I studied some more, then laid down in bed thinking- mostly about Alice. I'd be seeing her tomorrow, for the first time since we kissed. I was anxious, though I wasn't exactly certain as to why. It could be the fact I hadn't dated in so long, or more likely because she was a vampire, except... I snort softly when I realize it's more the former then the latter.
A soft popping noise switches me into battle mode in a split second, and I surge into action. Within a heartbeat, the person who apparated into my room finds themselves with my wand pressed against their throat, and I'm ready to curse the spit out of them.
"Hermione- it's me!" The intruder chokes, and, squinting in the darkness, I manage to make out scruffy black hair and two wide green eyes. I instantly relax, sitting back down on my bed.
"Don't scare me like that Harry." I groan, and he sits down next to me, a sheepish look on his face.
"Sorry, love." he says.
"You better be." I sigh. "What are you doing here, anyway?"
"Time difference," he reminds me.
"Right." I realize. "So Ginny's back at Hogwarts for the night?"
"Yep, as of about an hour ago." He sighs, flopping backwards.
"Tired?" I ask, raising an eyebrow, and he shakes his head.
"Nope, just... drained." He admits, "I missed Forks, over the weekend. It's so much less... complicated here. Moving here was a really good idea on your part."
"I agree." I sigh, flopping down next to him. He entwines our fingers, turning his head so we're looking each other in the eye.
"Excited about seeing your vampire tomorrow?" he asks in a teasing voice. My cheeks turn bright pink. "Busted!" he grins. I glare at him.
"Is it really so amusing?" I demand. He thinks for about three seconds then nods.
"Yes. Definitely. You've never believed in love at first sight, but you're absolutely head over heels for someone you've known for a week."
"I'm not in love with Alice!" I exclaim, "I just... I just like her, okay! We share a lot of the same interests- I mean, we practically have the exact same class schedule, she loves reading, she loves shopping, she..." my voice trails off and my cheeks flare an even brighter red as I realized I'd been gushing.
"If you're not in love now, it won't be long until you are." Harry grins and I groan, turning away from him, trying to control my blazing cheeks.
"Let's go flying." I suggest- I can't blush when I'm in bird form, after all. Harry thinks for a few seconds then shrugs.
"Sure, why not."
The sky is a deep, inky blue and thick, grey clouds hide the stars and the moon. The air feels glorious, ruffling through my feathers, and I follow Harry, swooping and soaring, as he races ahead.
We're gliding over the forest in a wind current when I notice the blurred white shape, and the superior eyesight of my Animagus form picks up individual features my human eyes wouldn't be able to- features like dark hair and a vaguely humanoid body. I immediately swerve, changing my flight so I'm angling towards the vampire racing along the ground.
The vampire stops in a clearing, and my heart just about sings as I recognize Alice. I glide towards her, pulling up and settling myself down on one of the old pine trees, surrounding the small clearing.
Alice is looking up at the sky, a soft expression on her face. She looks as beautiful as she always does, dressed simply in a pale blue cocktail dress, her hair ruffled by the wind. Her bright eyes turn to meet mine, and she tilts her head slightly as she takes in my form.
Oh dear, I cringe internally. My Animagus isn't exactly a native species in Forks, Washington. I quickly start preening my feathers, trying to act as bird-like and unassuming as possible. Alice looks away again, and I let out an internal sigh of relief.
I perch there, watching Alice as she pulls out a sketchbook and a set of pencils. I stare, entranced, as she starts sketching something down. I can't exactly see the picture, can only watch the movements of her hands, flying over the page at an inhuman speed.
After maybe a half hour, Alice stands up and I almost fall off the branch when I realize what she drew, and in perfect, stunning detail- me.
Well, by 'me' I mean my Animagus form, but still... a touch on the alarmed side, I decide enough spying on Alice for the night, and launch myself up into the air, flying away as fast as I can back to my bedroom.
Harry's already back there, an amused expression on his face. I give him a dirty look as I clamber through the window, then cast a few quick silencing charms, so Bella's vampire can't hear us talking.
"Not a word." I warn him.
"I wasn't going to say anything!" He quickly defends himself, pulling an innocent expression on his face. Upon seeing my skeptical look he sighs, and rolls his eyes. "Okay, I was going to say something, but I wasn't going to tease you."
"Now that would be a first." I remark, dryly, and he snorts.
"I was just going to give you some advice." He says, and my heart sinks.
"I know, Harry," I interrupt him, knowing where this is leading. "She's a vampire, it's not safe, etcetera." Harry gives me an amused look.
"Actually, I was going to say go with your heart. You obviously have feelings for Alice- don't let what she is and what you are ruin what might be." I blink at him, several times, unable to speak. After nearly a minute passes, Harry starts looking concerned. "Hermione?" he asks. I stay silent for a few more seconds, digesting what he said.
On one hand, Harry is a complete and utter danger magnet, even more so then Bella, and any advice he gives should be taken with a grain of salt. On the other hand, he has matured quite over the last year and a bit.
"You sounded a lot like Dumbledore then." I finally say, and Harry laughs, somewhat ruefully.
"What can I say, I spent a lot of time with the man." He said, before he patted the bed beside him. "I want to ask you something." Slightly confused, I slid into bed beside him, pulling the duvet up over me.
"Ask away." I nodded when I was comfortable, and Harry looked me squarely in the eye.
"Hermione Jane* Granger, will you be my best man?" he asked, in a voice that was dead serious. I kind of just looked at him for a few seconds, my eyes wide.
I was so touched by his request that I could feel a suspicious moisture pooling in my eyes, and start trickling down my cheeks.
"Oh Harry," I murmur, wrapping my arms around him and holding him tight. "I would be beyond honored to be your best man," I tell him, my mouth twitching into a watery smile at my words. "But..." I say, pulling away so I can look him seriously in the eye. "But I can't do that to Ron. I know that at the moment we've drifted apart from him, me in particular, and as much as I'd love to stand beside you on your wedding day, I don't want to drive the rift between the three of us any deeper then it already is."
Harry sighed, the expression on his face both disappointed and accepting. "I was expecting you to say that," he admitted, a small smile on his face.
"Then why did you ask me?" I demand, punching his shoulder lightly.
"Ow." He grumbles, rubbing the area I punched him. Okay, so maybe it wasn't that light. "No need to get violent! I was expecting you to say that, but I wanted to ask you anyway, because I do want you to be my best man, Hermione. You're my best friend in the world."
"And I'm flattered, Harry, but my answer is still no." I tell him, gently, before a yawn escapes my lips.
"Go to sleep." He tells me, kissing my cheek gently. "I'll keep trying to convince you in the morning."
"Good night, Harry," I tell him, sleepily, "and my answer is still no."
-
Morning came far too quickly, but at least I managed to sleep without dreaming. As usual, Charlie had already left for work, and my wards notified me that Bella's vampire had already left. I fixed myself a cup of coffee, as well as a spare one for Bella- Harry probably wouldn't wake up until noon.
By the time Bella emerged, running ten minutes late, I was ready for school, and she most decidedly... wasn't. "I overslept!" She panted, skidding into the kitchen. I rolled my eyes.
"Stand still." I told her, pulling my wand out of my pocket. She froze in position, squeezing her eyes shut, and I resisted the urge to laugh. "You can open your eyes." I tell her, amused. She opens them, a sheepish look on her face, and a few simple beauty spells later she was ready to leave.
"Thank god for magic." She commented as we stepped outside.
"You know, muggles invented this handy thing for non-magic users like yourself. It's called an alarm clock." I told her, dryly. She laughed, tossing me the car keys. Her hand-eye coordination, however, is worse then Neville's, and her throw was wildly misplaced, leaving me to go fetch the keys from the ground.
"Whoops." She offered and I rolled my eyes, something I seem to do a lot of in her company.
We were one of the last cars to pull into the parking lot, leaving the only spare space next to (surprise, surprise) the Cullen's. The bell started ringing before we'd even left the car, and we parted ways, me hurrying off to art, while Bella walked- if she tried running, she'd undoubtedly end up tripping- to her English Lit.
The class was already started and I offered Miss Galbraith a quick apology, explaining that Bella over-slept, before slipping into my seat next to Alice. "No problem at all!" Miss Galbraith says cheerfully. "We're exploring watercolors this lesson, and if you've got time afterward you can start on your final's piece. Everyone else already has, so you'll have to work quickly." She advises, "It will consist of 65% of your total mark for this class."
Resisting the urge to gulp nervously, I remind myself that I'm only taking this class in lieu of the therapy that was suggested by one of the St. Mungo's healers in my physical evaluation, Post War.
"Hi." I greet Alice, as Miss Galbraith wanders over to the other side of the classroom, to talk to one of the other students.
"Hi to you too." Alice smiles brightly at me, "how was England?"
"Wet." I tell her.
"So no different from Forks?" She asks and I laugh.
"No, not really." Alice has set up the water colors between us and has already laid out a spare paintbrush for me. I give her a grateful look, before beginning my piece.
We work for the first half of the lesson in silence, my full concentration going into my artwork, while Alice seemed preoccupied.
"That's kind of eerie." She commented, on my work, about an hour into the lesson.
"Yeah, it is I guess." I agree, my eyes not leaving my work- a scarily realistic water color of the Dark Mark; a glittering green skull with a snake protruding from its mouth, set in deep contrast with the dark sky. As I'd painted it, Arthur Weasley's words, from years ago at the Quidditch World Cup, kept echoing over and over again in my mind.
'...You-Know-Who and his followers sent the Dark Mark into the air whenever they killed. The terror it inspired...you have no idea, you're too young. Just picture coming home and finding the Dark Mark hovering over your house, and knowing what you're about to find inside... Everyone's worst fear...the very worst...'
Well I'm certainly not too young anymore, Arthur... Shaking my head slightly, trying to clear my mind of the memories, I turn to give Alice a strained smile. "So, how was your weekend?" I ask her, not even trying to be subtle about the subject change. "I forgot to ask before- that was quite rude of me, sorry."
"It was boring." Alice shrugged. "Are you okay? You seem... distant." She added, her shiny teeth worrying her bottom lip. A bottom lip I suddenly had the insane urge to take between my own teeth. Embarrassed, I ducked my head down so she couldn't see how red my cheeks turned. Unfortunately, she took it the wrong way. "Have you... changed your mind?" she asks, her voice a slightly higher pitch then it usually is, "about us... being an us?"
"What?" I ask, surprised, looking up. Her expression is carefully guarded, but I can see the fear in those beautiful golden eyes. "No, not at all!" I assure her, "I'm just kind of... recovering from England." Alice looks relieved.
"So you're still happy with our plans to go out on a date? I thought Friday would be nice." I smile at her.
"That sounds wonderful, Alice."
After all, Harry told me to follow my heart. And at the moment, my heart is leading me towards a certain dark haired, pixie-like vampire with the brightest smile and the warmest eyes I've ever seen.
-
After school we headed over to the reservation like planned, with Bella driving. We pulled up outside Jacob's place, a small wooden place with narrow windows. The dull red color of the paint made it resemble a tiny barn, and despite its simplicity, it was nice.
Jacob bounded out to meet Bella, pulling her into his arms and spinning her around. "Hi Hermione." He greeted me, as an afterthought. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at him and waved.
"Hi Jacob. I don't want to get in your guys way, so I'm going to go have a look around the reservation," I told them both.
"Okay." Jacob quickly agreed, more then happy to spend some one on one time with the girl he loved, who was still painfully oblivious to the fact. Bella seemed less happy about my plan, but she nodded anyway.
There weren't many people about, and I decided to head over to the beach. I vaguely remembered its location from one of my various nighttime flights in eagle form, and had very little trouble locating it.
The waves crashing against the sand was peaceful, in a way. I sat down, pulling my knees to my chest, and just watched the ocean. It reminded me of the time I'd spent at Shell Cottage. I'd truly bonded with Fleur during that time, starting off because she was the only female I'd spent any time around in months, and then because I found I genuinely liked her, and she genuinely liked me.
Sudden movement on my left snatched my attention, and had me leaping to my feet, falling into a defensive stance, my hand diving for my wand. I relaxed, though, when I recognized Leah, the only female-shifter, hesitating in the beach entrance, her dark eyes flashing with some indecipherable emotion.
Sitting back down on the sand I offered the beautiful woman a small smile. "Hullo Leah." I greeted her. She looked at me, not saying anything, and my heart clenched in pity. Bella had shared her whole tragic backstory, and the young woman didn't deserve any of what had happened to her. "Come sit down?" I offered, patting the sand beside me.
"I'll leave." She said, in her husky accent.
"Please? I'm rather bored waiting for my sister to finish with Jacob." I grimace at the thought, "It's actually painful how oblivious she is- she has no idea how head-over-heels stupid he is for her." I say with a light scowl, already fed up. Leah's face relaxes into a small smile, and she walks over to me.
"Yes, believe me, all the Pack know exactly just how sickeningly taken he is with her." She says, gracefully lowering herself down next to me. She curls her nose, slightly. "You smell like leech."
"A hazard that comes when your sister is dating one." I say. And when you might be kind of actually dating one too. Leah laughs, the sound short and slightly abrupt, like she hadn't been expecting to. "Going to the loo's a nightmare," I add, "knowing he can hear every single bloody sound. No pun intended."
Leah laughs again, then looks at me, curious. "You're a lot different then I thought you'd be." She comments, and I flash her a smile.
"Oh I know- I'm amazing."
"You're definitely very different from your sister." Leah observes, "she's very... shy."
"Bella likes to talk a lot," I muse, "but only when she knows people very well. She did tell me a bit about you, though." Leah automatically stiffens.
"Did she tell you I was some kind of stone-hearted bitch?" She asks me, only half joking.
"No, she told me you were bitter." I say, softly. Leah's features harden, and I keep talking before she can, "she told me that your heart was broken and now, just to rub it in, you have to listen to how much Sam loves your cousin, every time you phase."
"Well, thanks for reminding me." Leah basically snaps, and she rises to her feet, face angry and hard again.
"I can help you with that." I offer. She snorts, derisively.
"Sure you can."
"Actually, I can." I tell her, calmly, "Can you keep a secret?" Leah points to her head, angrily.
"Gee, I'd love to, but thanks to the fact I'm a genetic freak, I transform into a huge furry mutt and every time I do my thoughts are completely up for grabs!" She snarls.
"What if I had a way to stop that." I say, keeping my voice soft and calm, for her sake. I can see she's getting emotional, and that's never good for a shifter. "Would you not tell anyone how I did it?" Leah looks at me with narrowed eyes.
"How exactly can you stop them from reading my mind?" she asks, her voice less hostile and more curious, with just the slightest hint of hope.
"You know how certain vampires have Gifts," I say, and she nods, warily. "Well, before a human is Turned into a vampire, they still possess their Gifts, though drastically minimized. For example, Edward reads minds, which he couldn't do when he was human, but when he was human he was intuitive enough to guess most of the time what people were thinking."
"What are you saying?" Leah asked, sharply.
"I'm saying that I have a sort of latent Gift too... except it's not that latent at all. It's a special... skill I have. I can set up shields in people's minds- I can set one up in your mind so that while you'll still be able to communicate with the other wolves in your pack, you'll be able to keep your thoughts separate from them. It goes both ways though- they won't be privy to your mind, and you won't be privy to theirs. All communication will have to be through direct intention."
"How does it work?" Leah demands, basically falling into a crouch on the sand beside me. "You better not be shitting me!"
"Just close your eyes." I tell her, "I'll do the rest." She hesitates for a few second, and then nods, closing her eyes. I pull out my wand, and murmur "Legilimens."
The second I'm inside Leah's mind, I'm basically assaulted by the sheer force of misery and self-hatred she's carrying. The pain from Sam's rejection of her loveand then the betrayal of her childhood best friend and cousin Emily, the sense of responsibility for causing her father's death, for her mother's grief at being a widow... it's all churning inside her, the weight of it turning her thoughts bitter and depressed.
But Leah was a strong woman, and it took very little magical aid from me to help build the Occlumency walls in her head to protect her memories and her mind, guarding them from the Pack, but it was a painstakingly slow and thorough process.
When I pull out of her mind we're both exhausted, me more so then her, and I slump down on the sand, stashing my wand back away before Leah sees it. Nearly thirty minutes has passed since I went into her mind, and I wonder if I look as pale and exhausted as I feel. "Try phasing." I tell her, in a shaky voice.
Leah looks exhausted too, and her russet skin looks shades lighter then it's supposed to, but she manages to stumble to her feet and quickly strip out of her clothes. Her body begins vibrating, before exploding outwards into a massive grey wolf. I watch wolf-Leah sit down, head cocked, for several minutes, before she phases back.
I make a point to turn my back, obviously more embarrassed by her nakedness then she is. "I'm not worried about you seeing me nude." She says, in a voice that's trembling slightly.
"I'm a lesbian," I tell her, still looking away, "you're really hot and looking at you naked makes me feel like a pervert."
"Okay then, I'm dressed." Leah says, her voice sounding amused, and I turn back to face her. She's back wearing her baggy shorts and exercise top, and her eyes are wide. "I can't believe that worked." She said, shaking her head slowly, "I thought you were kind of nuts, to be honest, but when I phased... I couldn't hear everyone's thoughts. Not until they actually started speaking to me, asking why they couldn't hear my mind."
"What did you tell them?" I asked, curious and slightly anxious. Leah grins at me, her face looking much brighter.
"I told them I went to a yoga class and learned how to meditate." I laugh at that, and she joins me.
"What were their reactions to that?" I ask, when I finally stop laughing.
"They didn't believe me, obviously, but I phased back before they could keep asking questions." She said, smugly, before she focused again, fixing her eyes on mine. "You're not telling me the truth. That stuff about vampires and humans with Gifts might be true, but that's not what this was."
I feel a prickle of anxiety and give a sort of nervous laugh. "Of course it is, what else could it be?"
Leah looks thoughtful. "I'm not sure, but I won't ask. It's your business, and I'll keep the secret."
"Thank you," I tell her, relieved.
"Want to come back to my place for dinner?" She asked, looking at her wrist, where a bulky watch rested.
"What time is it?" I asked, curious.
"Nearly six." She said.
"I'd love to, then." I told her, "let me just go tell Bella first." She readily agrees, and we made our way back to the Black's house, where Billy has rolled his chair out to the front lawn, his face pulled tight. I quickened my step, scanning the area for my sister and immediately noting that both she and the Chevy were missing. "Where's Bella?" I demanded, fear flaring up inside me.
"She and Jake argued." Billy said, his voice heavy. "Bella left about ten minutes ago and Jake phased and went off into the woods."
"What the hell did he do to her?" I yell at Billy, furious. For Bella to have been so emotional that she actually left without me meant that something serious had happened.
"I don't know." Billy said, helplessly.
"Well that's just not fucking good enough!" I shouted at him. The phone inside the house started ringing and Billy wheeled himself back into the house to get it, while I just about trembled with rage. Leah grabbed my hand and squeezed it gently, eyes concerned and fierce.
"I can give you a ride back." She said. "Then I'll phase and go kick his stupid ass." I smile at her, shakily, as my mind races.
"Hermione?" Billy calls, from inside the house, "it's for you!" I hesitate, and then realize it's likely to be Bella calling- I haven't got a phone yet, so it makes sense that she'd ring here to contact me.
I hurry into the house and Leah by my side as a pillar of support. I hastily grab the phone from Billy, purposefully not looking at him. "Bella?" I ask, holding it to my ear.
"Hey," Bella says, in a voice that's raspy from crying.
"Bella, what the hell happened?" I demand.
"Jacob said... he said..." Bella burst back into tears before she could finish her sentence, and suddenly it was Alice's voice on the other end of the line.
"Hi Hermione, Bella's safe. Edward got her after she crossed the treaty line and brought her back to our place." She chirped.
"Okay. Good." I sighed, raking my fingers through my hair.
"Do you need a lift?" Alice asks, "I've already rung Charlie and told him that you're helping me with my homework, and Bella came along for the ride. He's fine with it."
"Um... can I meet you at the treaty line?" I ask her.
"Sure." She says, and I can basically hear her smiling, "we can do our physics homework." She suggests, and I feel myself brighten up.
"Good idea. See you in ten?"
"Bye Hermione." Alice says, and she hangs up.
Leah is looking at the phone, a somewhat twisted expression on her face. "Can we do a rain check on dinner tonight?" I ask her, "I need to go check on Bella. Apparently she's at the boyfriend's house, though I'm guessing you heard from the conversation." Leah nods, wryly.
"That's fine. Why don't we do dinner tomorrow. You can bring Charlie and your sister." She suggests
"Great." I smile, happy at the idea that I might have made a new friend. "Um... could you give me a quick ride to the treaty line?" I ask, and suddenly her smile is somewhat mischievous.
"I could just manage that." She says, in a teasing voice. Slightly nervous about the expression on her face, I follow her out the front warily, not giving Billy a single glance. Out on the front lawn, Leah turns to face me and winks. "Jump on." She says, before stripping out of her clothes, bundling then into a cord attached to her ankle, and phasing into a huge, grey wolf.
The wolf kneels down, and tilts her head. I hesitate, then awkwardly climb onto her back, thankful for my experience riding a dragon and hippogriph. I grip onto the scruff of her neck, tightly, my legs gripping her sides. She lets out a bark of laughter, before taking off through the forest. I press myself down against her soft, thick fur, enjoying the heat that's radiating from her body as she moves at what feels like the speed of light.
A joyful howl escapes from her, and I can't help but laughing and mimicking the sound. We reach the treaty line in no time, and she kneels against so I can slide off her, before phasing back. Once again, I turn away until she dresses. "The road's up here." She smiles.
"Thank you Leah." I say, and she surprises me by wrapping her arms around me, tightly.
"No, thank you Hermione." She says, her voice mock-stern. I laugh.
"I'll see you tomorrow then."
I walk for a few minutes in the direction Leah pointed out, and quickly come across the road where a bright yellow Porsche is idling. Smiling, I picked up my pace and the passenger door swung open as I approached. "Hi Alice." I greeted the pixie, sliding into place in the passenger seat. Alice's nose automatically wrinkled.
"Oh, wow, that's gross!" She grimaced, "you stink like a wet dog!" I laugh, doing up my seat belt.
"Yes, well, I spent some time with Leah." I tell her, and a small growl escapes her lips, as she presses down on the accelerator. My mouth curves into a grin as I recognize her problem. "Oh, are you jealous, sweetheart?" I ask her, in a teasing voice.
"No." she grumbles, even as her hands tighten on the steering wheel hard enough to leave deep hand-shaped indents. I laugh.
"Relax, Alice, I'm all yours." I tell her, before my cheeks erupt into a brilliant scarlet as I realize what I just said. Alice visibly relaxes and turns to give me a decidedly seductive smile.
"Is that right?" she purrs. I scowl at her.
"Oh, you know what I meant."
Alice laughs as the car swings into the long driveway of her house. I have to look down to hide my smile. "Don't worry Hermione, I do." She says, as she pulls into the garage. I smile at her in thanks before stepping out of the car, my entire focus now on finding out what had been done to upset Bella so badly.
*to the nitpickers out there (of which I am one of) who say Hermione's middle name is Jean, well, you're sort of right, but not entirely. In 2004, JK told us her middle name was 'Jane'; however she then changed it to 'Jean" in Book 7, possibly so that Hermione and Umbridge wouldn't share the same middle name. Until the last book came out, I knew her as Hermione JANE Granger so I always write her surname as so, because for years that was who she was to me, and who she always will be.