A/N: I hadn't planned on updating this for a couple days, but I got this idea earlier today and couldn't wait to write it down. And once I started I couldn't stop until I was finished, so you get this new chapter a little earlier than I expected.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed so far. Edward'sGirl, I'd love to answer all your questions, but I don't want to give too much of my future story away. You'll just have to keep reading. I will tell you that Rosalie and Emmett are on their way, they're just taking their time getting here. Probably next chapter, I have to decide which way I'm going with Rosalie's reaction. I'm interested in hearing what you think about the last sentence, as it is somewhat random (so I've been told).

A few of you have commented on how I wrote Esme. I love her, and I think she's a horribly underplayed character in the books. She seems like the mother all the kids want to have, and I can't imagine her not being intuitive about what's going on with her family and being able to tell what they're thinking and feeling (to some extent, not mind-reader like Edward or anything like that). Sort of a 'super power' if you will.

By the way, I put in the obvious, cheesy casting joke. Couldn't resist. Enjoy!

He stood in front of the closed entrance to Diagon Alley with Molly, Ron, and Ginny behind him, but he couldn't push himself to tap the stone and open the entrance way. Instead it was Molly who had to do it, and, predictably, a large group of people noticed him entering and rushed over to give him their congratulations, thanks, and condolences about Hermione.

"Way to go, and I am truly sorry about Ms. Granger. She was an inspiration to us Muggle-borns," an old witch shook his hand vigorously before moving on to Ron. That seemed to be the preferred method. First Harry, then Ron. Despite being at the battle, Ginny and Molly were lost in the background.

"I can't believe you pulled it off," squeaked a tiny girl, clinging to her mother's robes.

"Excellent work," a middle-aged wizard said, coming back for his third round.

As the crowd started to thin Harry felt like he couldn't pay attention to what was being said to him. He shook hand after hand, the faces blurring together, and wished for nothing more than the end of the line so he could do his shopping. He glanced at his watch. Hagrid would be along in five minutes, he would get the crowd to move along.

Ron seemed especially perky when two beautiful girls, who Harry recognized as Hufflepuffs from a year below theirs, came up and gave them each a hug and kiss on the cheek. Good, he thought. Ron could use a little self esteem boost.

Suddenly something ice-cold grasped his hand. He gasped and looked up into the familiar golden eyes of Edward.

"Thank you," his velvety voice cut across the excited chatting surrounding them. Harry felt something slide into his pocket, and saw the quickest wink from the vampire as he moved towards Ron. He repeated the simple thanks without shaking Ron's hand and was gone quicker than he appeared.

"Who in the world was that?" Ron said, craning his neck to try to get another view. "He looked an awful lot like Cedric Diggory, don't you think? Maybe a cousin or something."

"He was quite handsome," Molly said, also glancing around for the pale white skin.

"I'm... not sure," Harry said hesitantly, and next to him Ginny's face whipped towards his. He checked to make sure Molly and Ron were distracted before mouthing 'vampire' to her. She looked shocked for a moment, but recovered before her mother noticed. Harry wanted to pull the note out, to read it right there, but there would be no hiding it from Mrs. Weasley and he didn't want to risk it.

"All righ', everyone!" Hagrid's voice boomed over the crowd as they parted to let him pass. "Break it up! Harry wants ter do his school shoppin' without bein' bothered by you lot. Move along!" No one seemed to question him.

"Thanks, Hagrid," Harry murmured as they made their way to Madame Malkin's.

"Oh, my goodness!" the shopkeeper cried as they entered the store. "Come in, come in! Whatever you boys want, it's on the house."

Harry looked sheepish, but Ron looked positively excited at the prospect of having school robes that hadn't been worn by several of his brothers. Harry slipped Ginny a few galleons for new robes of her own when it was obvious the offer extended only to the now Golden-Duo.

Harry was first up for alterations, and luckily Madame Malkin conjured up a large cloth barrier so the people looking in the window couldn't gape as he stood on the stool. It was over mercifully quickly, the magical measuring over almost before the robes were draped around his shoulders. He didn't care about how the new robes were hemmed or anything, he just wanted to get to the note in his pocket.

Ron hopped up for his fitting next, and Harry saw his chance. Grabbing Ginny's arms and muttering something about dress robes he wound his way to the back of the store. They crouched next to a display of second-hand robes and Harry pulled the note from his pocket.

Ritz hotel, Prince of Wales suite, tonight at seven if you can make it. Come alone.

-Hermione

"Well," Ginny huffed as Harry slid the note back into his pocket. "You most certainly will not be going alone."

"She told me to come by myself," Harry protested. The last thing he wanted was for Ginny to be in the room if Hermione lost her control. Besides that he had no idea how many vampires they would run into, the more that would be there the farther away he wanted her.

"Too bad. I know about it, I'm going."

"Goin'?" Hagrid's voice came from above. "You two aren' thinkin' of runnin' off ter have another adventure, are you?"

"Wouldn't dream of it. We're... um... sort of planning..." Harry couldn't think of an excuse.

Luckily Ginny was a quick thinker. "A double date!" she said, a little too loudly. "With, um, Seamus Finnegan and Parvati Patil."

"Oh," Hagrid said, still looking suspicious but not arguing.

Harry didn't like lying to Hagrid, who trusted him so implicitly, but this was important. And, thanks to Ginny, they had the perfect reason to miss dinner that evening.

It didn't take much to convince Molly that they wanted to go out on a date, they even dressed up slightly to look the part, but the hardest part had been Ron's face when he heard the word 'date'. It took as much strength as Harry could muster to fake a smile as they walked out the door. They left the grounds and quickly Apparated to the alley behind the hotel. They hurried around to the front of the building, up the elevator, and were knocking at the door five minutes early.

"Good evening," Edward opened the door with a smile.

"Oh, good evening to you, too" Ginny said, unable to stop herself from checking him out. Harry pushed past them, there was only one face he wanted to see at the moment.

"Harry!" her now-musical voice sounded excitedly as he was enveloped in ice cold arms too quick for him to see.

"You're crushing me, 'Mione," he muttered, and she let go and took a step back, smiling widely. Hermione groaned as Ginny came around the corner.

"Wow, 'Mione," Ginny breathed, looking over her friend. "You look fantastic for a dead woman."

"She knows?" Hermione hissed at Harry.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I just couldn't keep it in any longer. I..."

"I understand completely," she said kindly, going to hug her friend. "How are you, Ginny?"

"A little nervous, to tell the truth," Ginny muttered.

"Don't worry. Hermione is doing fantastically," Edward said, gesturing them to sit on one of the two couches facing each other. He and Hermione took the other, his hand automatically grasping hers.

"You're on an all-animal diet?" Harry asked, looking at her.

"I had a couple slip ups," Hermione muttered sadly, and Harry and Ginny straightened up. "Two Snatchers I found in the woods on my first day. But since then it's been all..."

"Acromantulas and hippogriffs?" Harry smirked, relaxing slightly.

"Hagrid figured it out, did he?"

"He said he's found nine dead spiders and two dead hippogriffs. Thinks it's some kind of creature, he doesn't suspect a coven of vampires living nearby, probably since animal-eating vampires are a bit rare."

"The hippogriffs were Esme," Hermione smiled slightly. "She's my new mother, so to speak. And she doesn't care for spiders, the way they move creeps her out. But Alice, Edward, Jasper, Carlisle and I all stick with the Acromantulas. We've gotten about fifteen so far, Hagrid probably hasn't found them all."

"Well, Ron will be happy you're getting rid of them."

Hermione bit her lip. "How is he?" she asked after a moment's silence.

"He's upset."

"He's downright depressed," Ginny cut in. "He really misses you, Hermione. You should tell him what happened."

"I'm planning on it. In due time. It's just..."

"What?" Ginny asked, sounding slightly annoyed. "It's just you're with him?" she glared from Edward to their entwined hands.

"I'm not!" Hermione said, pulling her hand back to herself. "Well, not like you think, anyways. It's complicated, Ginny."

"Really? Because what it looks like is that you got over my brother really damn quick..."

"I'm bad for your brother!" she shouted, standing up. Ginny followed suit and the two women glared at each other. Edward and Harry were immediately up after them, each with a hand around a woman's waist. "Don't you see? I'm a bloody killer! Yes, I can control myself now, but what if I lose control? 'Oh, I'm sorry I killed Ron, Ginny, but that's okay, you still have four brothers left'."

Ginny struggled against Harry. "And he has nothing to do with it. You have no feelings for Edward at all?"

"Of course I like Edward!" Hermione hissed back, but she stopped quickly, and looked into Edward's face. He pretended to be focused on the couple standing across from them. "It's complicated, and I'm not quite sure I've figured it out yet."

Ginny stopped struggling but took another step towards Hermione, close enough she could feel the vampire's cold breath on her skin. "He deserves to know the truth, and you know it."

"I do know it, but I want to give him the complete truth. I don't want to give him hope if there is none. I don't want to break his heart even more."

Ginny seemed to consider these words for a moment. She then nodded, and returned to sitting on the couch, arms crossed, glaring at Edward.

"I didn't want it to be like this," Hermione looked sadly at Harry. "I knew that a happy reunion was somewhat out of the picture, but I never meant to upset you two."

"It's hard not to be upset," Harry muttered bitterly. "It's not fair. It's not fair to you to have to feel like you can't be around us, that you have to make choices," he shot a look at Ginny, "that would be difficult to make even if you were still human."

"That choice would be easy," Ginny spat.

"Would it? You of all people should know your brother isn't the easiest person to deal with, could you imagine trying to be with him?"

Ginny's eyes wandered towards the floor. "If anyone could have put up with him, it would have been you, Hermione," she said softly.

"But things are different now," Hermione whispered. "I can't give him what he wants most. I can't give him a family. It's not fair to ask him to be the tolerant one, to tell him he has to be careful around me because if I let myself get too thirsty I could... It's not fair for him to give up his dreams for me."

"But you know he would."

"And that's what scares me about seeing him. He's going to insist that there's a way to deal with this, like Lupin and Tonks dealt with it. It's a completely different set of circumstances but he won't see it that way. I want him to be over me before I reveal that I'm still around."

"You don't think that seeing you then might cause all his emotions and suffering to come back?"

"I do. But hopefully he'll be better prepared to deal with it."

The group said nothing for a while, each staring at the same tile on the floor.

"If we're going, we need to get moving," Edward muttered, looking at his watch.

"Go where?" Harry asked.

"It's the week before the train leaves, right? All the stores are open until nine. I need to go to the Apothecary to pick some things up. I want to go here because the owner's half blind and probably won't recognize me, and I wanted to go late to minimize how many people will be on the streets."

"Oh. Okay. Apparate, then?"

"One of us can't," Hermione said, looking at Edward.

"Have you tried side-along with him?"

"And risk splinching? No."

"He's pretty tough. I bet he'd come out okay."

Hermione looked towards Edward, who shrugged. Harry and Ginny Apparated, then she pressed herself to him. He tensed at the sensation of Apparation, but they landed in Diagon Alley without any problems.

"Alright there, Edward?" Harry asked, walking up to them.

"I prefer running," Edward muttered back as they started walking down the street.

"So do I, but it's pretty convenient."

"If I've survived this long without it, I think I can live without it."

"How old are you, anyways?" Ginny asked, though the politeness in her voice seemed somewhat fake.

"I was born in..."

"Granger?" a low snarl sounded behind them as they passed Knockturn Alley. Hermione, Harry, and Ginny all grabbed for their wands and spun about. Draco stood alone in the entrance, holding a few parcels and looking completely shocked. "I must say, death becomes you. You've never looked a pretty as you do now, even if you are a..."

"Don't say it!" Ginny cried, wand raising. Draco stopped before uttering the word.

"Get out of here, Malfoy," Harry said, pointing his wand. Edward stood arm around Hermione, fangs bared slightly, letting off an almost inaudible growl.

"Either I'm having a bad dream, or Hermione Granger didn't really die at Hogwarts. How interesting. Feel like returning to the Muggle world and not coming back, and figured your death would be a good way to escape?"

"It's none of your business, Draco," Hermione hissed.

"But I know someone who could make it their business. Rita Skeeter..."

"You keep that vile woman out of this!" Harry spat.

"But this is too good to pass up. The Mud..."

Several things happened at once. Edward noticed that Hermione's mind was suddenly open, though only enough for her to say 'I'm not going to kill him' quickly, directed right at him. Before anyone was aware that she had moved Hermione had Malfoy by the hair, leaning as far back as he would go, her mouth dangerously close to his neck.

Harry and Ginny moved to stop her, but Edward hissed "Trust her," and they stopped.

"The thing is, Draco," Hermione breathed, and Draco whimpered as her cold lips brushed his skin. "A prerequisite to being a Mudblood is that you have to have blood," she finished. In the next moment he was standing back up, and she was back in line as if nothing had ever happened.

Draco's wide eyes flashed from Edward to Hermione in sudden realization, and he turned heel and ran back up Knockturn Alley.

"I'll go Obliviate him," Ginny muttered, running after him.

"That was dangerous," Edward muttered as Hermione reached for his hand.

"That was priceless!" Harry laughed.

Ginny returned, panting slightly. "Give me some warning before you scare the pants of the Ferret next time, okay, 'Mione?"

Hermione laughed. "I controlled myself pretty well, didn't I?" Hermione smiled, pulling Edward in for a hug. His lips met her forehead as he breathed her in. He stopped inhaling mid-breath. He couldn't believe it. If he was close enough he could still smell her human scent on her. Waves of excitement rolled over him, but he showed none of it as he released her reluctantly and they continued walking as Ginny recalled the Ferret story for him.


On the other side of the world Jacob Black imprinted on Bella Swan.