No POV
The next morning the Pack had all woken up and prepared for the day. Now they were sitting in the common room.
"Hey, so I was thinking we should all sit at the different tables today. You know so the students can get to know us and won't be afraid to come to us with any problems." Emily suggested from her seat on the love seat next to Sam.
"Yeah and then Seth can get to Know Hermione." Embry sang the last part before he was hit in the face with the pillow Seth threw at him.
After a quick glare to the older boy Seth turned to Emily with a smile. "I think it's a great idea." There were similar consents around the room.
"So it's settled then. Jacob and Seth can sit with the Gryffindors, Leah and Paul with the Slytherins, Embry with the Hufflepuffs, and Emily and I will sit with the Ravenclaws." Sam designated tables as he looked around the room.
They all filed out of the room and made their way down to the great hall.
Seth POV
We walked into the great hall I looked around the lion's table for her head of bushy curls. She was sitting by herself away from the rest of the students and had her eyes downcast looking at the table. I frowned at this and shot a look to Jake. She looked sad and alone. Not for long, I won't let her feel alone.
I walked to the table in quick strides with Jake following behind me while the others went off to their own designated tables.
Jake and I sat on either side of her. "Hi there. I'm Seth." I said smiling at her. She turned to look at me, seemingly shocked that I was there.
"And I'm Jacob but most people call me Jake."
"Umm" she looked Flustered as she glanced back and forth between the two of us.
"Normally the next step is to tell us your name." Jake prompted her as I gave her what I hope was an encouraging smile.
"Hermione" she whispered. "What are you doing here?"
"What?" Jake asked in mock shock. "Can't we just talk to a pretty girl?" If it were even possible she went even redder and didn't seem to know what to say.
"We're gonna be around the school so we thought we'd come and make a friend. That is if that's okay with you?" I rested a hand on her shoulder. She looked at me for a moment as if she didn't believe what I had just said.
"But, why me?" I didn't expect that question and from the look Jake gave her he hadn't either.
"Why not you?" Jake fired back at her.
"Well back at home I didn't really have any friends. All the kids I went to school with thought I was weird and nobody wanted to be around me and the girls in my dorm don't want anything to do with me either." Her blush had gone by this point and a defeated look covered her face instead, I preferred the blush.
I squeezed her shoulder to get her to look back at me. "Well I think that's their loss and anyone would be lucky to be your friend. So what do you say Hermione, friends?" on her other side Jake nodded along. She looked at both of us again before a smile graced her lips.
"Friends" she agreed.
"Great!" Jake summed up. "So tell us about yourself, new friend. What was life like before you found out you were a witch?"
"Well I didn't really have anyone to hang out with so I read a lot." she admitted.
"What about your family?" I asked her. Wanting to learn more about her.
"I'm an only child and both of my parents are dentists. What about you two?"
I went first. "Well I grew up on the La Push reservation in Washington. I have one sister, Leah who's also part of the pack, and my mom Sue. Dad died a few years ago." She looked sympathetic for a moment but before she had a chance to say anything Jake started talking.
"I grew up on the La Push reservation too. I have two older sisters, Rebecca and Rachel, and my dad Billy. Mom died when I was little."
She looked even sadder now."I'm so sorry for both of your losses."
Jake shrugged his shoulders with a friendly smile directed at her when I replied. "We miss them but life goes on. You just have to be happy with the people you care about while you can." she nodded along to what I said in agreement.
An inquisitive look crossed her face and she seemed to debate whether or not to ask a question. "Can you tell me more about the pack?"
"Sure" Jake told her. "Well there's me and Seth, Leah, Sam, Paul, and Embry then back home are Brady, Colin, Jared, and Quil. When we shifted we got stronger and faster and when we're in our wolf form we can hear each other's thoughts. We started shifting a few years ago with Sam being the first and Colin being the last. We started shifting when vampire's started coming around La Push, we're the reservations protectors."
I cut in wanting to add my own input. "Not all of the vampires were bad though. There was the Cullen Coven who are vegetarian vampires, so they only drink from animals, and we have a treaty with them to keep the peace but recently some of us became friends with them. Anyway they moved away and there haven't been any vampires coming around since so that's why most of us were able to come here."
"Wow, that's amazing." we both laughed at this. Jake cleared his throat to gain attention. "Now it's my turn to ask a question. How old are you?
"I'm eleven but I turn twelve soon."
"When?" he asked.
"September nineteenth."
"Wow that is soon." I said.
She giggle. "How old are you guys?"
Jake answered this one. "I'm seventeen, Seth is fifteen, Leah and Paul are twenty, Embry is seventeen, and Sam and his Fiance Emily are twenty-one." she nodded again and was about to speak when Professor McGonagall walked up to her.
"Miss Granger, your time table." the stern witch handed Hermione a sheet of paper and the girl in question let out a small thank you before turning to look at it, Jake and I reading over her shoulders.
She examined her schedule and then glanced over to the clock hanging on the wall. She had ten minutes to get down to the greenhouse for herbology. "Well I guess you better head to class and we'll see you later, yeah?"
She smiled the brightest I've seen her smile, even brighter than when she was sorted into Gryffindor. "Yeah" and she got up grabbed her bag from Jake who held it up for her and was out the doors.
All of the students were in class by now and Jake and I met back up with the rest of the pack. We were currently walking the halls working on getting ourselves better acquainted with the layout of the school.
"So how'd it go with the imprint Seth?" Embry threw his arm around my shoulders as he spoke.
"She's great." I said, another admittedly dopey smile breaking out on my face. That seems to be happening a lot lately.
"Yeah but she's lonely. It doesn't take a whole lot of effort to see that." I sobered up at the reminder of just how alone my girl was but I would change that and from the look on Jake's face he would help too.
"She was sitting away from all the other students and told us back home she never had any friends and now the girls in her dorm don't want any part of her either."
"Oh the poor girl." Emily said sympathetically. "But that's going to change now because she has you Seth and the rest of us too. She's going to be around now and we're going to make her feel welcome."
"Why don't we all sit at the Gryffindor table for dinner and meet this girl, show her she doesn't have to be alone? I think we all knew what that felt like at one point." Leah suggested and after a moment everyone agreed. She was right, when we first started to shift, when we had no idea what was going on, every single one of us felt alone before we found out what was happening.
After what felt like an eternity- but Sam assures me was only a couple of hours- it was finally time to go down for dinner.
I spotted Hermione just sitting down and made my way over with the others all following behind me. I sat on her left and Jake on her right. To my left was Paul and across from us sat Emily, Sam, Embry, and Leah.
"Hey there Hermione." I greeted her.
She looked around at everyone that had just sat down with her and her eyes widened before looking to me and seeming to relax. "Hi." she mumbled in reply looking down so as to avoid seeing the others looking at her.
"Hermione, let me introduce you to the rest of the pack. On the Seth's other side is Paul, and across from me is Seth's sister Leah, Embry, and Sam and Sam's fiancé Emily." Jake introduced as he pointed out each person. She looked up now and they greeted her.
"It's so nice to meet you Hermione." Emily told her sweetly. "Seth told us about this amazing girl he and Jake met and we decided we had to meet you ourselves."
Hermione blushed when she heard this but smiled despite her obvious embarrassment. "It's lovely to meet you all... but you really don't have to stay here. I'm sure you have better things to do." By the end of her sentence her smile dropped and she still would not make eye contact.
"Hey" I said gently, throwing an arm arm over her shoulders. I waited until she turned and looked at me. "We're here because we want to be, okay? Besides, Paul has no life anyway." I joked and she let out a giggle along with the others, aside from Paul who just glared at me.
Emily was the first to compose herself. "Now Seth there's no need for that." though it was pretty obvious she thought it was funny considering she was laughing seconds ago. "And Hermione, Seth is right. We know we don't have to be here but we want to." Emily was right and I was going to make Hermione believe it too.
NO POV
"And Hermione, Seth is right. We know we don't have to but we want to." Emily said gently, looking at her with a somewhat sad look in her eyes. She couldn't help but think that the young girl had horribly low self confidence.
"So now that it's clear that we are all sitting where we want to be why don't we get to know each other a bit." Leah suggested. "I have a story about Seth that you're just going to love."
Seth grimaced and turned red as Leah went on to tell the story of the time he was annoying her when her friends were over so they duct taped his arms to his sides and over his mouth then locked him in the closet but she forget about him when her friends left. He ended up in there for four hours before they're parents got home and found him. She was grounded but still says it was totally worth it.
In retaliation Seth told Hermione about the time he put crushed dog in the cookies he and his mom were making when she wasn't looking and made sure Leah got the first one.
It went on like this with everyone telling stories throughout dinner. Jacob, who has no shame, proudly told her about how his two older sisters used to dress him up and do his make up then make him have tea parties with them. Embry told her about some of the trouble he used to get into with Jacob and Quil and the others told her about some of the tribe stories.
In turn Hermione told them some stories of her accidental magic growing up like turning her neighbors dog pink and making books fly to her from the top shelf she couldn't reach.
By the time Hermione finished her last story everyone was in hysterics and they were getting several odd looks from students and teachers alike but none of them noticed. They were too caught up in their conversation.
Their laughter was finally dying down as dessert disappeared and people started getting up to leave but they made no move to get up. They asked Hermione about her first day of classes and her face lit up. "It was amazing and, and, well magical. I never thought I'd experience anything like it. Professor Snape isn't exactly what I imagined as a professor though." The pack didn't need to ask what she meant they had already heard about Snape and even about Hermione's class that day when some students were talking in the halls that afternoon, all on top of actually meeting the guy themselves. Needless to say he wasn't the favorite person of any of them.
"Well what about the other students, did you make any friends in your classes?" Emily questioned cautiously, remembering what Seth had told them about her social life earlier.
"Er, well not really. I don't think any of them really like me." her face dropped again so the subjet was quickly changed and soon enough he was smiling again as they continued to talk until they were the last in the room.
"Well Hermione it was very nice meeting you. We'll have to do this again." Sam told her, making her face light up at the aspect of more friends. "I'd like that." she told them all honestly with a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe she won't be totally alone after all.
Paul nodded in agreement smirking while the others all agreed and Embry went so far as to shout out "TOTALLY!" Hermione giggled once more before getting up and following the flow of students out of the hall and back up to the Gryffindor common room.
After speaking with Dumbledore and the professors for a bit the pack finally retired back to their own common room.
"Well Hermione certainly seems like a very nice girl." Emily noted.
"Yeah but she obviously has major self esteem issues." Leah added in.
"Well can you really blame the kid?" Paul pointed out. "You heard what Seth told us and what she said herself. She doesn't have any friends. The kids at home were horrible and it doesn't sound like the ones here are any better. She's lonely."
Everyone went silent as they thought this through. Suddenly Seth sat up straight with an idea. "Hey Jake remember when she told us her birthday was on the 19th?" Seth asked the older wolf.
Jacob looked at him with confusion. "Yeah I remember that, but what does it have to do with anything?"
"Well what if we do something for her, show her that she may not have had friends back home but we're her friends now? We could throw her a little party."
The others started muttering before Sam coughed to get all of their attention. "That's a great idea Seth. We can make it a surprise."
With that decided some ideas were tossed around and then everyone went to bed.
