A/N: I don't know why, but I have writers block when it comes to my other two stories, but this one keeps flowing in my brain. I'm going to put it on hold until I can update my other two, which I'll hopefully do by the weekend.

This seems like a whole lot of transitional chapter, but it does serve a purpose, I promise.

Charlie, Ron, and Harry Flooed to a wizarding resort near Olympia National Park the next day, dressed as Muggle-like as they could look. It was the closest public Floo to Forks, and Charlie wanted information before they continued on. The girl behind the desk, who kept smiling at Harry, gave them information on how to get to Forks, and the location of a friendly fireplace just outside the town.

"It's in a witch couple's vacation home," she explained. "When they aren't there they let people Floo to it to get closer to the ocean. They're really good about leaving maps about the town and nearby area, but I'd be careful if I were you. Don't go wandering in the woods without your wand. There's supposed to be some giant bear-like creatures around there."

"We'll keep an eye out," Charlie said, thanking her and heading back towards the fireplace.

"So, what, we're going to Floo there and wander around until we find her? Or are we going to go up to someone and ask where the vampires live?" Ron sounded irritated.

"We could owl Hermione and ask her to come meet us," Harry suggested.

"That could take time if she's not home, and that's assuming an owl could find her. I say we go wander a bit. If it doesn't look like we're having any luck..." Charlie started, but Harry smacked himself in the head as if he had remembered something really obvious.

"The big bear creatures, they aren't bears, they're wolves," he whispered so the girl wouldn't overhear.

"You mean the pack Hermione went to go see?" Ron asked, also keeping his voice down.

"Wolves?" Charlie looked confused.

"Oops," Harry gave an awkward smile. He had left the detail out about why Hermione wanted to go to Forks out of their talk last night. "Werewolves, but not real ones. Like a pack of non-magical animagi that all turn into big wolves. They're for defending their territory against vampires."

"And you think they would lead you towards one?" he sounded as if Harry was being thick.

"Hermione came here to work with them."

"But you don't know if they agreed or not?"

"No," he admitted.

"Then let's proceed on the assumption that they still aren't getting along, and saying we're friendly with the vampires might get us in a heap of trouble, okay?" Charlie rolled his eyes. "Now lets get going, or we'll never find this place before dark."

"But lunch..." Ron grumbled.

"We'll get something in town," Charlie replied, picking up a handful of Floo powder and ending the conversation.

They Flooed to the witches' house, picked up a map and left their names in a book, and headed towards the town proper. They had to walk along the highway a little bit through the woods before they got into town. After walking fifteen minutes, just as they saw the buildings in the distance, Harry noticed something grey in the woods off to their left. He looked over, but whatever it was disappeared into the brush. He didn't say anything, they continued walking, but a minute later he saw it again. It definitely looked lupine this time before disappearing again.

"Charlie..." he muttered.

"I know," Charlie replied. It's been following us for about five minutes now. "I think it might be one of those wolves, because it's not attacking us. We must look a little strange, walking down this highway with no town for miles. But I don't know where there's a safe Apparation point, so just keep your hand on your wand."

Harry obeyed, but he had nothing to worry about. Soon enough they were out of the woods and walking down the main stretch of highway through the city. Harry took a glance back at where he had seen the grey creature. There was a wolf's head sticking out from between two trees, but as soon as it saw him looking it disappeared.

"Now what do you propose we do?" Ron asked, taking a whiff of a nearby cafe. His stomach gave an audible rumble.

"Fine. We'll eat. I'm not sure how much Hermione and her family let the town know about themselves, so for right now let's not ask questions."

They walked into the cafe and were seated at a table. Harry sat back to back with two police officers who were halfway through their meals. He didn't pay attention to their conversation, instead talking strategy in hushed voices with Ron and Charlie as they ordered and put their food in. The plan sounded like it was going to be to split up, look for any sign of Hermione or Edward, to communicate via Patronuses if they found anything, but meet at the local hotel at eight if they didn't for a night's rest and another strategy session. As Ron and Charlie were looking over the map and plotting routes Harry caught something behind him.

"I heard the Cullens were back," one of the police men said.

"Yes. My Bells has been hanging around Edward an awful lot again," the second replied, before taking a long drink of coffee.

Harry pounded his fist on the table to quiet Charlie and Ron, nodding pointedly towards the police men to indicate why he needed quiet.

"That must be rough. Heard she had a bit of a time last time they left," the first one was saying.

"I'll kill him myself if he does that to her again," the second one said angrily.

"My boy, Oliver, he's a freshman at the high school now. Says one of the girl Cullens started coming again a few days ago, but that the boy's been here a while."

"Alice," he sounded a little happier at that thought. "I think Edward came with this new girl. Don't remember her name, it's kind of weird. Henrietta? Something starts with H. Met her while he was studying abroad in England. Said his family took her in after she was left without parents. I met her the other day. She's the one driving around that new Mustang..."

"Ah, I've seen that. It's a nice car."

"It's the Cullens. They all have nice cars. She seems really nice. Kind of brainy, too. Said she was up here studying some rare element they could only find around here, but I couldn't remember what if you asked me to. Let me tell you, the way Billy's boy Jacob looks at her, I wouldn't be surprised if he asked her out."

"Nah. He wouldn't do it. The only folks that dislike the Cullens more than the folks in town are the tribe members out in La Push. If she's a Cullen he won't touch her."

"That always pushed my buttons. Yes, I know they're a little intimidating, but they seem like a nice enough group of folks."

"Don't need to tell me twice. I think they're the only teenagers in town I haven't had to tell to behave. Speaking of which, I was up at the hospital on a call earlier. They said Dr. Cullen isn't back."

"Edward made it sound like they were up there alone," the second man informed him.

"Are they old enough to be living by themselves?" the first asked, sounding surprised.

"Edward's eighteen, I think. That new girl, I don't know how old she is, but I overheard Bella mention some sort of battle she was in, so she's got to be over eighteen, too. Doesn't look like she was in any kind of army, but I don't know anything about England. I could check about Alice, but I'm inclined to let them be."

"You're the chief," the second one shrugged. At that moment a call came over the radio. They put some money on the table and stood to leave.

"Excuse me," Harry said, standing and turning to face the second man.

"Yes?" the man asked, waving the first one to go answer the call.

"I didn't mean to listen in, but I heard you talking about the Cullens. My name is Harry Potter, and these are my friends Charlie and Ron Weasley."

"Police Chief Charlie Swan," the man nodded.

"We're good friends of Hermione Granger, the girl who came over with Edward. We were on our way to meet her, but we're not sure where she lives."

"Didn't give you a map? Or a phone number?"

"Our car broke down," Charlie said quickly. "Couple miles up the road. The rental company said they'd have it towed, but they said it'd be a few hours. Rather than wait we just walked. We passed a sign saying it was only a few miles. We left the paper with her phone number and the map to her house in the car and we really don't want to walk all the way back there."

"I see," he said, considering them. "I can give you a ride out to your car to pick up the paper. Or I can drive you to my house. There's a good chance Edward's there. It was a half-day at the school."

"We'd really appreciate it," Harry nodded. He threw some money for their just arrived meals on the table, and they followed him out to the cruiser. Harry took the front seat while Ron and Charlie sat in the back.

"Where you boys from?" Chief Swan asked as he pulled onto the road.

"Ottery St. Catchpole," Ron and Charlie responded in unison.

"London," Harry said.

"I've heard of one of those places," Chief Swan said with a smile. "How do you know Hermione?"

"We went to school with her. She decided to come here to do her work while we're finishing up secondary school."

"You're all still in school?" he asked, shooting a look in the rearview at Charlie.

"Not me," Charlie replied. "I work as an animal trainer in Romania."

"What kind of wildlife do they have out there?"

"Bears, wolves, lynx, stuff like that. I work in re-habitation. Trying to get sick or injured animals into appropriate, but supervised environments."

"That sounds exciting."

"You have no idea," Charlie muttered under his breath.

"What brings you out to Forks?" Chief Swan asked.

"Hermione said she'd come visit us for Christmas, but she's trying to ditch out. We're here to convince her to come," Ron answered.

"That's a long way to travel for a little convincing."

"It's worth it. We haven't seen her in a while, and we miss her like crazy."

"You her boyfriend?" he asked, giving Ron a glance while they were stopped at a sign.

"I was," he replied, turning pink.

"Just as I thought," Chief Swan announced as they turned a corner. On the street outside his house was the silver Volvo. "Can't get rid of that boy," he muttered as he parked in the driveway.

They all climbed out of the cruiser as the front door opened and Bella and Edward appeared.

"Look what I found wandering around town, Edward," Chief Swan smiled.

"Harry, Ron," Edward smiled, jogging down the steps to shake their hands. "Great to see you."

"Anything you kids need?" he asked Bella.

"No, dad," she shook her head.

"Here's some money, in case you need to order a pizza or something," he said, handing her a couple bills. He then bid goodbye to the group and left in the cruiser.

"This is my older brother, Charlie," Ron introduced.

"Should be easy enough to remember," Bella gave a half-smile. "I'm Bella, that Charlie's daughter," she said with a nod towards where the cruiser had been.

"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked, looking behind them.

"She's back at our house," Edward mumbled, looking embarrassed. "Bells, why don't you take Charlie to the store for some food, and meet us back at my house? I need to talk to Harry and Ron alone."

"Okay," she said. She didn't give him any signs of affection, instead she motioned for Charlie to follow her to the truck. Edward led Harry and Ron to the Volvo and started, driving much more slowly than normal, towards the white house.

"What's going on?" Harry demanded.

"I... dumped Hermione," Edward replied sheepishly.

"You did what?" Ron shouted.

"I thought I would be able to see Bella again without the feelings I had for her, but I couldn't," he explained quickly. "Hermione made me choose between her and Bella, and then pretty much told me to go with Bella. I did. But that's not what I need to talk to you about. Something happened with Hermione."

"What?" Ron growled, sounding murderous.

"You know those mongrels... sorry, werewolves?"

Harry and Ron nodded.

"They do this thing that I can only describe as love at first sight. It's called imprinting, and they do it when they find their soul mates. And then they follow that person around like the puppies they are for the rest of their lives. One of them imprinted on Hermione. She's been seeing him for a little while."

Ron let out a wounded sound.

"But what's that matter to you?" Harry asked angrily. "You ditched her. She should be able to see someone else if she wants to."

"But he could kill her. Or she could kill him. Either way, if one hurts the other it violates the treaty and could mean war between us and them."

"So if they break up there's going to be a war?" Ron sounded shocked.

"No, not like that. If one of them physically hurts the other the pack could take it as a violation."

"And if they sleep together she could hurt him," Harry said in realization.

Edward scowled at the thought. "I'm not sure how literal on the translation they're going to be, but I don't want to chance it."

"What do you want us to do?" Ron asked.

"Talk to her. You're her friends, the ones she trusts more than anyone else. Maybe she'll listen to you," he said as they turned into the driveway of the white house. They parked in the garage, and Harry and Ron followed Edward in.

"Where is she?" Harry asked, looking around.

"Upstairs, working on her antivenin. One of the wolves will be up there, too. Second door on the left," he said, motioning them up the stairs.

They climbed the stairs and walked to the door. Inside they could hear voices, then a small explosion.

"Bloody hell," Hermione said loudly.

"Did you get hurt?" the second voice, a man, asked urgently.

"No. I guess that's a no on the monkey spleen, though."

The second person laughed. "You'll get it," he said, in a reassuring way.

"It's just bloody frustrating. Like I'm missing something I should know."

"Don't beat yourself up," there was the sound of footsteps. "You'll get it soon enough."

"Aren't you confident?" she said playfully.

"I have all the confidence in the world in you," the man said, and the voices fell silent.

Harry opened the door to see Hermione and a tall, russet skinned man breaking apart as if they had burned each other.

"Harry!" she recovered, looking happily surprised. "Ron!" she added as he entered into the room. "What are you doing here?"

"We came here to talk to you about Christmas," Harry said, eyes not leaving the man. "Who's that?"

"Harry, Ron, meet Jacob Black," she said, standing next to Jacob and pushing him towards her friends.

"Hey," Jacob said awkwardly, giving a short wave.

"Hey," they responded just as awkwardly.

"Do you want some time alone?" he asked Hermione, looking lovingly down at her.

"Just a few minutes. Why don't go you drop your stuff off at home and meet me back here? Billy's going to be suspicious if he doesn't see you every so often," she replied in a low voice.

"I'll be back before you know it," he said, bending to kiss her. He shot another look at Harry and Ron before leaving.

"So, how long have you been seeing him?" Ron looked a little angry as he stared at his feet.

"Not too long," she responded, saddened by the less than warm reception.

"How serious...?"

"If Edward put you up to this, tell him to bugger off and leave us alone," she said, slamming some of her ingredients into her cabinet. "He's done nothing for the past few days but try to talk me out of seeing Jacob. I understand his concerns, but I'm not budging. And if Alice doesn't manage to get him to quit I'm moving across town."

Harry and Ron shot each other looks that clearly said there was no point in trying to convince Hermione of anything.

"So, lovely place you got here," Ron said, sitting on a chair. "Didn't spend enough time in the potions dungeon at Hogwarts?"

"It helps me think when I'm in a familiar environment," she said, finishing putting her things away.

"It helps you to be reminded of Snape?" Harry said, looking horrified.

She shot him a look. "The man was a brilliant teacher."

"Don't argue with her, mate," Ron smiled. "Her boyfriend will beat you up."

"I don't need Jacob to do my dirty work," she smirked. "I could take you both by yourself with my wand behind my back."

"We believe you," he smiled. "But you can't take the all powerful wrath of my mum, so you're coming for Christmas."

"The all powerful wrath of Molly Weasley?" she raised an eyebrow.

"You saw what happened to Bellatrix when she got mum angry," Ron's eyes misted over as he remembered the moment. "And that was just because she was thinking of cursing Ginny. You're abandoning family at Christmas. That's about ten times worse."

Hermione turned to Harry, "Is there a point arguing any part of that idea with him?"

Harry shook his head. "Nope, because we brought reinforcements. Don't make poor Charlie come all the way here to get you just to go back empty handed."

"Charlie's here?" she sounded shocked.

"Yeah. Edward sent him food shopping with Bella. He came along to come get you, and George told us to invite you to his New Years bash. He's rented out the ballroom and a couple floors of the Wizard Park Hotel and insists you come." He rummaged in his pocket until he pulled out an official invitation.

Hermione studied the invitation, then her friends. With a little fake sigh she said, "I guess I'll come for Christmas and go to this party."

Harry and Ron both beamed in delight. There was the sound of a car door slamming outside.

"That's Charlie," she announced.

"Food!" Ron shouted, leaping off the chair and making a beeline for the door.

"He certainly thinks with his stomach, doesn't he?" Hermione chuckled as they walked to the stairs. They walked down as Bella and Charlie entered, Edward following carrying several large bags of food.

"Hermione," Charlie smiled sadly at her as he stepped cautiously forward to give her a hug. "I thought Harry, Ron, and Ginny might have gone nutters, but I guess they weren't lying."

"Good to see you again, Charlie," she said, smiling back at him. "How're the dragons?"

"Ornery. As always."

She laughed, then noticed Jacob standing in the doorway, motioning for her. She excused herself and walked outside to talk to him. He pulled her out the doorway and shut the door behind her.

"What do your friends want?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her.

"They want me to come for the holidays. I said I would."

"Oh," his face fell.

"Billy will certainly know something's up if you run off to England for Christmas," she pointed out. "But I'd bet Sam would figure it out before him."

"I know, I know," Jacob grumbled.

"Maybe we can make an excuse and smuggle you over there for New Years," she suggested.

"I think I'll just have to live without you for a couple weeks," he sighed.

"Whatever you want. Come inside, you should meet Harry, Ron, and Charlie properly." She took his hand and started towards the door, but he didn't budge.

"There's... something else," he said.

"What?" she looked up at him.

"I need to phase," he said, walking into the woods. She stood on the front step, eyes constantly scanning the tree line. He appeared less than a minute later, pulling a shirt back over his head.

"She doesn't know about us, so let's tone it down," he said as she reached for his hand.

"If one of your pack is coming here, it's going to be hard to make everyone inside forget," she said.

"Just work with me, alright? I don't want her to get too angry right now," he barely whispered as Leah appeared from the woods.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked, looking from Leah to Jacob. Leah looked to him as if he should be the one to tell her.

"She's imprinted," Jacob told her.

"Oh, Leah," Hermione looked excited. "Who?"

"That's why I needed to talk to you," Leah muttered her reply.

"It's your friend, the shorter red-head," Jacob told her. "She needs you to introduce her."

"Charlie?" Hermione looked delighted. "Of course I'll introduce you! Come on in!"

"Not so fast," Jacob said, reaching an arm out to stop them. "She'll introduce you, but there's something I need to tell you before you go in there. Hermione will only introduce you if you promise to not speak or think a word of this to anyone. You know I don't give orders often, but keeping this secret is a direct order."

"It must be bad if you're going all Alpha on me," Leah replied.

Jacob looked at her, stone-faced.

"Fine. Whatever it takes to get me in there."

He took a long, deep breath, then said, "I've imprinted, too."

"On who?" she sounded shocked.

Jacob worked his mouth, but no words came out.

"Me," Hermione announced. In the next instant she felt herself getting shoved to the side. She placed her hands in front of herself to block her fall, then stood up, drawing her wand, and turned to see two giant wolves facing each other, growling and ready to pounce.