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Hermione never broke the rules until she met Harry, and even then she'd done it more in the past six months than she had in her entire life. At the moment she was breaking curfew heading towards the library to read up on Horcruxes. Harry had told her everything Dumbledore had told him but she wanted to know everything possible. But when someone stepped out in front of her,appearing from the shadows she knew she'd been busted. She sighed heavily before she actually looked up at the person to see who it was and saw none other than Jacob Black.
"You shouldn't be walking the grounds alone at this time of night." he said watching her and Hermione raised an eyebrow at him. She hadn't spoken to him since they first met outside the dark forest, mostly because she hadn't left the castle, except for the Quidditch game but even then she wasn't near the woods.
"Did Dumbledore give you permission to roam the halls after hours?" she asked trying to counter him but he just smiled slightly. He was actually wearing a shirt but she was so close to him she could still feel the heat radiating off his body.
"You'd be surprised what all Dumbledore had given us permission to do to protect you all." Standing in front of him made her realize exactly how big Jacob was. Her eyes were about level with his shoulder and he could probably grip both her wrists in one hand. Not to mention the heat that radiated off his body and when he flexed, stretching out slightly she couldn't help but notice his biceps looked like they had tennis balls in them.
"I was just heading towards the library. I'm sure he'd understand why I need to research some things." she said cooly looking up at him and his eyes danced slightly, the smile never leaving his face.
"Yeah, I'm sure he would." he said and Hermione stepped to the side to walk past him but he turned around and started walking with her.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm protecting you."
"From what? There's nothing inside the castle."
"Not that you know about, and nothing anyone's sure of anyways. But Dumbledore told us to keep a special eye out for you and Harry." he said looking around. Hermione could only see about ten feet in front of her because of the moonlight streaming in through the occasional windows before everything was black until the next window came.
"What about Ron?" she asked keeping her eyes trained forward but she could feel Jacob keeping up beside her.
"The Ginger kid?" he asked and Hermione turned her head and scowled at him. Jacob smiled slightly before he shrugged. "I guess he's not as important as you or Harry."
"Harry is all that matters. As long as he survive the rest of us still have a chance, without him the wizarding world would crumble to pieces." She looked both ways before she entered the library, heading straight for the restricted section. "Silencio." she murmured quietly.
"But he needs you. You're just as important as him."
"Rubbish." she said using her wand to lift a spell book from a shelf a foot or two out of her reach but before she could even pull it out all the way Jacob reached up and grabbed it, holding it in his enormous hands not offering it out for her to take.
"No it's not rubbish. Dumbledore's told me and the rest of the Pack all about how you've helped him through the years. What happened with the basilisk thing in the chamber of secrets and there is no way he could've made it through the Biwizard Tournament without you."
"The Triwizard Tournament." she corrected and he nodded finally holding out the book. Hermione took the book from him and wondered just how much Dumbledore had told Jacob about.
"Yeah, that. He needs you so much more than you realize and without you he won't make it out alive."
"Well thank you for your opinion." she mumbled opening the book as she sat on the floor. She leaned back against one of the shelves propping the book on her knees. Jacob sat across from her after a minute, folding his legs in a rather uncomfortable looking position because they were to large to let them stretch out between the two shelves, but he didn't complain.
"You don't really have to sit here you know." Hermione said after around ten minutes. It wasn't because she wanted him to leave, it was because she was having such a hard time focusin on what she was trying to read with him around.
"I know."
"You just don't look to... comfortable." she added and Jacob glanced down at his legs like he hadn't noticed until then. He looked back up at Hermione and shook his head.
"Oh I'm fine." Hermione watched him for another minute before she nodded and attempted to read her book again. If she didn't know any better she'd think he was asleep. She was able to focus more when he closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the shelfbut she couldn't stop from glancing at him occasionally. It was like sitting by a fireworks but trying to study instead of watching the show, almost impossible. "Is something wrong?" he asked and Hermione jumped slightly.
"What?"
"You stopped reading." he mumbled and Hermione looked back down towards her book.
"No I haven't."
"Then you've been on the same page for the last 10 minutes." Hermione was glad his eyes were still closed because she could feel her cheeks turn bright pink. He was more observant than she'd thought. For the past 10 minutes she'd been lost her train of thought once she saw him lick his lips. Hermione had nevevr felt like a hormonal teenager like Harry was around Cho and Ginny or how Ron was with Lavender but at the moment she was struggling to keep her emotions in check.
"I was rereading."
"Oh... So what all did those books say about me and the rest of the Pack?" he asked opening his eyes and lifting his head to look at her.
"What makes you think I researched you?"
"I dunno, I was just assuming you did. Dumbledore said you're 'the brightest witch' of your age, with 'an incredible thirst for knowledge'." Jacob said rolling his eyes slightly. "And from the look on your face the other day you didn't know there were wolves like us, so I thought you might be curious."
"I haven't found anything useful yet."
"Well you don't need a book or a computer to tell you about werewolves when there's one right in front of you that's more than willing to answer all of your questions." Jacob smiled at her warmly and Hermione stared back for a minute before she pushed herself to her feet.
"I should probably be heading back to bed." she said and Jacob nodded slightly. They walked back towards the painting of the Fat Lady silently and just before she went in she turned on her heels to look at him. "What about tomorrow?"
"I could do that." A huge smile spread over Jacob's face and Hermione couldn't help but smile back at him
"I'll meet you after at four by the lake."
"That sounds great."
