Chapter 11:
Draco popped at the edge of the woods, way beyond the wards and took his time covering the short distance, emptying his thoughts and adopting his blank façade, where anyone looking his way thought nothing could affect him.
His peace was short-lived though, for the minute he stepped inside tent, he was bombarded with questions galore.
"So who is the girl?"
"Is it one of the African cats we met? Godric were they hot!" "How did Astoria take it?"
"Think she'll give me a date?"
Draco smiled internally at his new friends, they were nosy but they were friends he finally acknowledged, but pulled an irritated sneer on his face and replied, "I'm not telling you that yet," he replied looking at Ginny and then moved ahead to look at every person as he answered their questions. "How I wish!" He said to Harry and then to Hermione, "Astoria took it surprisingly well." Last, he turned to Ron, "And not on your life Weasley! Even if there was a remote chance that I'd introduce you to my ex, which there isn't, you don't stand a chance with her, especially because the minute our betrothal was broken, our dear Oliver Wood swooped down and plucked the pretty flower away. The guy is so smitten with her that not only did he come for her not half hour after she'd set foot at the Manor but he's apparently following her around like a love sick puppy much to Tory's amusement!"
Hermione smirked, "Good for Wood. He needed someone in his life to take his focus away from his Quidditch obsession."
Ginny whistled. "Good for Wood? Mione, have you seen Wood?! Any girl that Adonis takes a shine to is the lucky one."
"Well, that's true. The guy is gorgeous!" Hermione conceded with a teasing smile.
"Okay, that's it with all the Wood loving. I've heard enough a lyrical waxed about him to last me a lifetime! Now, unless the guy is spoken about with reference to Quidditch, I'd rather not speak about him at all."
"Seconded! I'm the saviour of the world and yet he is the one beating me to the top post of Wizarding Britain's hottest Wizard," then at Hermione's evil eye Harry quickly added, "Not that I care about such stupid titles, but it'd be nice to know women want me for something beside my stupid scar."
Hermione and Ginny both snorted in unison.
"So, what's been happening here?" Draco asked, looking around expectantly for updates. "Silence at the Cullen end," Ron sighed.
"Crazy at the wolf side," Ginny sharply winked.
"Speaking of crazy at the wolf end," Harry started, taking care to avoid the general vicinity of where Hermione was standing, "Embry is taking Ron and me out for cliff jumping, you want to come along?"
Hermione's mouth fell open but before she could speak, she heard Ginny say, "Oh, that sounds fun. I was supposed to go out with Seth, but we could tag along with you guys. I'd at least like to see you do crazy, even if I don't participate." Then she heard Draco, "Sure, why not. Seeing you two make a fool of yourselves might take my mind off stuff for a bit."
"Have you all gone mad?" Hermione asked askance.
A sentiment she repeated like a mantra when she got her first look at the cliff from the road as they all drove to it, packed as they were in a truck Embry had borrowed from Sam, until the time Harry and Ron stripped down to their boxers in order to ready themselves for the plunge.
"You can't be serious!" Hermione looked warningly at her two best friends who were increasingly mimicking adrenaline junkies the longer they stayed at Forks. "No! I refuse to allow this!" She pressed, despite knowing her words were all falling on deaf ears.
"Come on Mione, lighten up. It's just a bit of harmless fun," Harry squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.
"Harmless fun..." Hermione parroted with incredulity written all over her face.
"After everything we've done, Mione, this doesn't even crack up to the first twenty on the list of crazies," was Ron's wise crack at her.
"There you go the," Embry encouraged, "don't give too long for the nerves to set in."
"No!" Hermione tried again, then turned to Draco for help only to see him standing by the cliff's edge in his boxers as well.
"You can't be serious!" She whispered more to herself than to anyone else. "Malfoy! You too?" She asked him disbelievingly.
Draco shrugged his shoulders carelessly, "I don't see why l should miss out on the fun, Granger."
Taking advantage of her current distraction, Harry took the leap followed closely by Ron and seeing them, down went Draco like a cannon ball. Embry hauled and clapped, moving towards the edge of the cliff to see the three wizards falling down. Ginny clutched on tightly at Seth's collar while he tried to hide his smile.
Hermione stood frozen by the edge for all of five seconds before her brain unfroze and went into over-drive. "Tell them I will haunt them for the rest of their days if I die trying to save their sorry asses," she threw at the group around her, took a few steps back, turned and then ran towards the cliff's edge and leaped through the air.
"Hermione! No!" Ginny screamed. But before she could coax Seth into action she saw Hermione waving her wand around and the four of them flew to the water's edge and even from the distance Ginny could see Hermione's hair sparking. "They're so dead. Let's get there quickly," she urged the two boys with her and the trio made their way to the spot where Hermione had the three boys pinned under her acidic glare while they coughed and spluttered around on the beach.
"You freaking dunderheads! Who does that? Why would you even..."
Her long chastising speech was cut suddenly short when she felt a sharp pull on her wrist, the grip was tight enough to make her wince and she just knew she'd be sporting bruises all colors of the rainbow by the evening.
The sharp tug had her wincing and turning mid-speech and suddenly she found herself nestled tightly between strong arms and warm chest and her mind suddenly filled with images of thick tomes, old parchments and sunny patches on flower-filled wildernesses.
"You okay? You had me worried," Jake pulled away from Hermione and looked at her thoroughly scrutinizing her for injuries. But when he saw none and was positive she was alright, irrational anger rode in the wake of his worry. "Do you know how irresponsible that was?! Jumping down from the cliff like that... I don't think I've ever seen anyone do something stupider than that! Well, may be except Bella. Are you trying to fight her for the 'most clumsy belle' award? And here I was led to believe you were smarter than that! Smartest witch her age, my ass!" Jacob rambled on.
"I'm sorry.." Hermione stared at Jake, confused with his ever changing emotions in infuriatingly quick successions.
"Do you really think an apology will make it all go away?" Jake asked her, his eyes narrowed in warning.
"I'm not apologizing to you, you moronic wolf! I'm taking offence at being compared to the nit-wit who is falling for a vampire's allure. And don't you dare take that tone with me, mister. This entire thing is your fault."
"My fault?" Now Jacob was thoroughly confused. I wasn't even around until she fell off the cliff! "How d'you reckon?"
"You stupid wolves think you all are invincible because of your speedy healing powers. But guess what? You're not! And even with all our magical potions and healing spells, there's only so much that can be done to bring back life into a broken body. So stop taking your genetics for granted, respect your place as your tribe's guardians and for the love of Merlin, stay the bloody hell away from suicidal games!"
"It's not a game. Well, not really. It's more of..."
"Does it really look like I care what you term the suicidal activity? I've had with all you guys acting like dumb-asses and behaving so carelessly."
"Careless? You think I am careless? When you are the one who jumped off a fifty feet high cliff with not even a slice of wolf-gene or any other speedy recovery mechanism in your body? Did you even spare a thought about what would happen to me if something untoward happened with you? You're really exasperating, you know that!"
"My friends needed me so I..." Hermione stopped and looked frowningly at Jake. "Wait.. what do you mean what would happen to you if something happened to me?"
Jake could pin-point the exact moment when Hermione connected all the dots in her head and something in her eyes changed, her body sagged, he felt it because he was still holding on to her, he realized belatedly, and she took one minuscule step back, taking her body mere centimeters away from his, but he felt it. He felt the loss, even as his grip on her wrist slacked.
Hermione craned her neck to search his eyes and what she saw in them clinched it for her. "You didn't..." she whispered disbelievingly.
Jake gulped. Fuck! This wasn't his plan. She wasn't supposed to find out, at least not till he was ready to accept the whole thing himself!
"You did..." Hermione answered her own question when no sound escaped Jacob's pursed lips. "When?" She asked.
She saw his Adam's apple move up and down his throat again, but before he could answer, Harry moved towards her, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Mione. Leave him be. It had nothing to do with him."
How wrong Harry was, Jake thought, eyes glued to the brown ones that had wreaked havoc in his mind since he'd seen them.
Hermione registered the company they now had and quickly drew in a breath and continued, "If I ever hear a word about cliff jumping ever again from any one, wolf or otherwise, that guy is gonna be on the business end of my wand and trust me when I say this, I will hex him into the next week. You get that, Jacob Black!"
Then she pulled at Harry's hand and popped away appearing in front of a large white glass house. "I'm done playing the waiting game. We need to find out what they know and start our training accordingly and soon. Something tells me we don't have a lot of time and this is not going to be easy. There are too many non-magicals involved to shoot spells every which way. We need to hone our skills."
That said, she tugged his arm and pulled him towards the house, locking her new learnings from just a few moments before into a separate place in her heart and mind to visit it later when she had time to herself. Everything is just getting too messed up.
"Not that I mind the haste," Harry cut in, "but it would have been nice to visit with the vamps while wearing some clothes. While I'm not too conscious of my body, they are vampires – physically perfect and all that..."
Hermione gasped and apologized quickly, bending down to remove the small beaded bag she always carried on her person and pulled out a faded jeans, a simple t-shirt and a jacket for Harry to wear, from it.
While he was busy tugging on the clothes after spell-drying his boxers before pulling the jeans on, he half turned to face Hermione who was standing a few steps away from him, her back turned to afford him some privacy as he clothed himself. "Wanna tell me what just happened?"
"You jumped off a cliff, is what just happened Harry Potter! I saw you, Ron and Draco falling to certain death and snapped and jumped in after you all. You three had barely hit the water when I reached close enough to spell all four of us out."
"Mione.." Harry turned around completely, now all dressed as he zipped his jacket halfway up. "You know what I was asking about. What happened between you and Jacob? The large guy looked about to break when you apparated us out."
"He did?" Hermione suddenly felt very guilty. Of course he did! He imprinted on you, and he's probably gonna end up thinking you rejected him! An image of a sobbing Leah flashed in her mind when she remembered how the wolves felt if they thought they'd been rejected. Her hand flew to her mouth. "Merlin, what have I done!" she gasped out loud.
"Mione," Harry braced her, "want to clue me in? What's wrong? What's happening?"
"We need to go back," Hermione whispered to him, tugging at Harry's hand to make him turn around, away from the glass house only to have the door open behind them when they were no more than twenty paces away.
"I'm glad you finally decided to drop in. I've been waiting for you two since the past three days," came a sing-song soprano voice from the door as the little pixie-vampire smiled her welcome at the two teenagers.
"We'll sort it out once we're done here," Harry patted Hermione's back, urging her forward with him.
I just hope it's not too late by then, Hermione thought, then looked up at the vampires standing on their porch. "I know it's too much to ask after how we parted but can I borrow a cell phone? I need to call one of the wolves and it's urgent."
Edward heard the urgency in her voice and knew in his gut it had something to do with Bella's best friend. He was beside her in a flash, handing her his small black phone. "It has Sam's, Seth's and Jacob's number. Call anyone you need," he said and offered her a small smile.
She accepted his phone and returned his gesture with a small smile of her own. "Thank you," she whispered and excused herself to go to a corner to make the call. Harry wisely stayed outside the house, throwing a wandless silencio at Hermione to give her privacy. He knew she did not need anyone privy to her private call.
"Thank you," Hermione mouthed at him as the call rang.
"What do you want?" Jake barked into the phone, pissed beyond reason to have Edward Cullen of all people, calling him!
"I'm sorry I dashed away like that. Don't do anything rash. I'll be back soon and we can talk then, okay?" Hermione gushed out quickly into the phone.
"Why are you with Cullen?" Jake's temper was hitting the roof again. "Did you really leave me to go talk to go talk to the leech?" Was this going to be the story of my life?
"What! No! And don't you dare use derogatory names in front of me! You really are a piece of work, you know that!" Hermione all but yelled at Jacob.
"Then why are you calling from his phone?"
"I had work with the Cullens. All of them. Remember the war a crazy she-vamp is raging against your alleged best friend? I'm here to talk about that with them. Not that I need to give you any explanations..." she trailed off, biting her tongue. This wasn't gonna be easy.
"No... I guess you don't. Look I'm sorry for being an ass right now but honestly there's only so much lack of self-preservation and careless stupidity I can handle in an hour! Just.. just wait there for me, I'll be by in a few minutes."
"Look, Jacob, I don't need a guard dog. I only called because I realized my hasty exit might have hurt you and I did not want you to be hurting because of me."
Though she did not see it, Jake smiled on his end of the line. She cared enough to borrow the leech's phone and call me, when even Bella had never shown that much concern for him when she was around the bloodsuckers.
"Thank you," was all he managed. "Now, wait there till I come. Don't go in."
Hermione groaned. "No. How about you take this time to grow up and we see each other in the evening when I update everyone about what is about to happen here," she said instead and clicked the call off.
Jake held his own phone in his large hand and stared at it. She had clearly asked him to stay away and yet how could he when she was willingly walking into the vampire's lair. He fisted his hand around the phone and scowled for the wolf within wouldn't, couldn't, not follow his imprint's direct command and yet it was the same wolf in him that was roaring at him to go get her back from those dangerous beings. "They won't hurt her... They can't hurt her..." He repeatedly mumbled to himself. She's gotta be the most difficult imprint of them all, he thought to himself, rubbing his face in exasperation as he stripped his shirt and pants off, phased and ran into the woods. He wouldn't step in and defy her, but he'd be damned if he left her unprotected amongst the vampires.
Hermione snapped the flip-phone shut and turned around, walking back towards Harry and the others. "Thank you," she said again as she handed Edward his phone.
He smiled. "I'm sorry for trying to attack you that day. Wasn't the right thing to do," he apologized first.
"Me too. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions when I saw you with your singer."
"Fresh start?" he offered her his hand.
"Fresh start," Hermione nodded.
"Get in, and we can talk peacefully over tea and biscuits that I've freshly baked for you two," Esme called from the door.
"How did you know we'd be coming today?"
"We didn't. Well, not today in specific. Alice can see the future and she saw you two coming over, we just didn't know when that'd be. Esme's been baking since the very first day," Edward cleared for the two.
"Oh!" Harry and Hermione said together, both touched by her sweet gesture.
"Shall we?" Edward held the door open for the two and ushered them inside then looked out at the woods. He smirked and whispered under his breath, "Want me lay out a bowl of milk for you too, Mutt?" He chuckled softly when he heard and answering low growl and a few chosen words in his mind coming from the russet wolf hidden in the woods.
Shaking his head, Edward entered his home, making it a point to keep the door open to not threaten the guarding wolf's sanity.