A/N: Here it is! I hope you enjoy this!
Disclaimer: I don't own this. Obviously.
Hermione was standing on the Cullen's wooden balcony, her forearms resting on the banister and her long, messy curls falling over her shoulders, brushing past her hands. She smiled when she felt Harry step up beside her. She didn't need to look at him or hear him to know it was him. She just knew.
"How are you holding up?" He inquired.
"Perfectly fine," she responded.
He sighed and pushed all his weight onto the banister, his hands resting on either side of his hips, still facing the house. "Don't lie to me 'Mione."
She breathed in deeply, shutting her eyes for a moment. "I- the truth is Harry after the Final Battle I thought our fighting was over. We came here to escape the limelight and have a relaxing few years. Now here we are, preparing to head off to another war."
Harry grinned. "That's just... Us. We can't not get involved if we feel there's an injustice, which here there clearly is," he glanced at the house before leaning in close to her, so that his lips were almost brushing her ear. "Between you and me, Hermione, I don't think we'll end up having to actually fight. Just stand there and say we support the Cullens. Besides they've never been in an actual war. Fights? Yes. Small battles? Possibly. A war? No. Only Jasper can honestly claim having fought a war."
"The Southern Vampire Wars," Hermione nodded. "Of course, we learnt about those in History of Magic, fourth year."
There was a minute of silence before she spoke again. "I truly hope you're right. I don't fancy being in an other war."
Harry pulled Hermione into a strong and long hug, his voice quiet in her hair. "Think of this as a battle, not a war. We're much stronger than a vampire army. We did defeat the Darkest Wizard of all time after all."
This made Hermione smile as they seperated, watching all the wolves arrive back, Jacob accompanied by two new wolves. Edward and Bella had returned the previous day with the Denali Coven and today the residents of Fork's were expecting the arrival of an Egyptian Coven that Esme and Carlisle had gone to appeal to. Suddenly Alice appeared before the two wizards her face grave, Jasper by her side.
"Jasper and I are leaving," she stated. This caused Harry to stand up straight.
"Why?"
"We don't have time to waste, we must leave now. I've left a note for the others, just know that we'll be back in time for the confrontation," Jasper told them, his figure strangely tense.
"Have a safe trip, then," Hermione wished them.
The pair nodded in acknowledgement, disappearing from sight miliseconds later. Hermione shared a glance with Harry as Jacob phased and moved up to them, glancing into the distance as he heard Carlisle and Esme approaching with the new vampires. The other wolves transformed as well, getting dressed quickly as the five vampires appeared. Two of the four Egyptian vampires tensed and hissed immediately upon arrival, glaring at something behind Harry. Hermione looked and saw Sanguini standing ramrod straight by the doors.
"He is not a threat to you," Harry declared.
The vampires eyed him curiously. "And who might you be, human?" The woman demanded.
"I am Harry Potter and this is Hermione Granger."
The vampires glanced at each other as if wondering if they were supposed to react in some way to his statement. Finally, the youngest looking one shrugged and strode into the house confidently, grinning at the pair. Everyone else followed and all the covens regrouped inside the living room, murmuring between themselves from time to time. Silence fell when Carlisle stood up, Bella and Edward beside them with Renesmee.
"We are honoured to welcome all of you to our home. We will not force you to fight for us, we would never ask you to risk your lives for us if you didn't wish to," Carlisle stated, sagely and calmly. "We are just grateful that you agreed to listen."
Edward chose that moment to step forward with a pained frown on his face. After a relatively long speach that left the wizards present very uninspired, he paused, and went on. "Carlisle might not ask you to fight, but I will. For the sake of my family but also for yours and for the way you want to live."
There was a brief silence while the Covens exchanged looks, silently debating on whether they would stand by the Cullens. Finally, Jacob stood up, grinning roguishly at Hermione.
"The Packs will fight. We've never been afraid of vampires," he muttered.
The Denali's followed suit, closely copied by the wandering vampire Garrett, the Egyptian Coven, with the talented young vampire smiling arrogantly as he stepped forward. Hermione rolled her eyes at Ginny when Bella stood forcefully and uselessly, a pained expression on her face, almost as if she wanted everyone to look at her. The small jungle Coven announced their cooperation at the same time as the Irish Coven. The two Romanian vampires stood in the far back, looking on the proceedings smugly.
"That didn't take long," the blond one joked to his friend.
"Let's hope it won't come to that," Edward spoke, turning to his wife and daughter.
"So what's happening right now?" Hermione inquired, following Jacob to the edge of the forest where there was a gathering of vampires.
"Bella's going to try and spread her shield in order to protect others," Jacob explained the conversation that had taken place before the warlocks had arrived this morning with Sanguini in toe.
Said vampire was close to Hermione's side as the pair walked forward. "Why is he always around you anyway?"
"Because I'm the only one that's polite to him."
"I don't trust him."
"And he can hear you, so stop whispering," Hermione muttered.
The pair of them sat down on a fallen log to watch Bella's practise. After a few tries, Hermione was giggling uncontrollably due to Jacob's snickers everytime Edward Cullen was electrocuted.
"I'm sorry!" Bella exclaimed, as Edward crumpled from the pain. "It's those two who keep distracting me!"
Hermione quickly sobered up but Jacob continued his joyous chuckling. "You can't expect me not to laugh!"
"Perhaps you should take a break Bella... Edward could use one too," Emmett said, eyeing his brother. "In the mean time the others can show us their little tricks."
One by one, the vampires shared their talents with the others, showing the extent of their abilities. Kate stood beside Jacob and Hermione, looking down at them with one of the Romanian vampires by her side.
"Who are you actually?" She asked.
"Hermione."
The vampire looked frustrated and shook her head. "No, I know that. Perhaps I should have been more clear. What are you and your friends doing here? You're human."
The word was hissed like an insult and Hermione grinned. "Not just human."
Benjamin was currently creating a mini tornado in Nessie's hand and stood up to his full height as it became bigger and bigger starting to circle around the young child's body.
"Really? Are you a secret weapon then?"
"Something like that," Hermione mumbled.
"Can we see what you can do at least?" Kate scoffed.
Hermione tilted her head, slowly looking the blond lady up and down, with a thoughtful expression on her face. The vampire next to Kate seemed to be deep in thought.
"What did you say your name was again?"
"Hermione Granger."
The vampire raised one graceful eyebrow, seemingly looking at Hermione in a new light. "Is that true? My my, we have heard a lot about you these last few years."
"Is that true?" Hermione replied, repeating his very words.
"And your friends? Is one of them Harry Potter?" He demanded.
"I'm Harry Potter, yes," Harry said, from his spot against the tree.
The blond snapped around, his dark haired friend jumped at the words. "Are you really?" He appeared at Harry's side with vampire speed, hand held out to shake.
"You have no idea how much we've heard about you," Stefan told him.
"Indeed, You-Know-Who was very vocal about his opinion of you," Vladimir agreed.
Suddenly four wands were pointed at the pair while Draco and Blaise visibly tensed. "You were on his side?!" Ron snapped.
The pair chuckled. "Have no worries. The Gods know we have no intrest in your kind's political wars. Second one in a century, second man wanting to recruit our services for his cause."
Warily, the four warlocks put away their wands, Hermione slipping hers into her boot leg and wrapping her arms around Jacob.
"As fascinating as this conversation was, I still want to see what's so special about you," Kate challenged, glancing at the hidden wands curiously and obviously confused.
Hermione nodded at Harry, Ron and Ginny, urging them to offer a demonstration. She quickly noticed that Harry and Ginny were otherwise occupied, clearly forgetting they had an audience while Ron sighed and waved Hermione over. She stood, smirking at her best friend.
"Are you sure you want to duel me, Ronald?"
"I can take you," he said confidently.
"That wasn't the case in the Room of Requirement," Hermione goaded.
"I told you that I let you win!" And with those words he waved his wand.
Hermione was quick to flick her wand upwards, casting a protego. As the shield settled in front of her she waved her wand in a complicated pattern, sending three consecutive spells at her friend. Her expelliarmus was blocked by his own shield, her stupify crashed his protego to pieces, enabling her to throw a Bedazzling Hex at him. He easily cast it aside and sent her his modified Slug Hex, planning on making her barf out Sardines instead. After an intricate wand movement on Hermione's part, his spell simply vanished in thin air, and she threw an Instant Scalping Hex his way. Not waiting a moment longer she raised her arms at her sides, rocks and bolders floating up behind her, distracting Ron enough for him to forget to protect himself from her hex. He groaned as he felt all his hair fall to the floor, Hermione grinned victoriously in response and violently sent all her projectiles his way. His eyes widened as he caught sight of them all speading towards him. Ron glared at the bushy haired girl before turning on the spot and disappeared.
All the vampires stood, slightly shocked by the display of magic that had just taken place. Hermione went to go back to Jacob's side, thinking she had won just like she always did against Ron, when suddenly he re-appeared right behind her, wrapping a firm arm around her and pushing his wand into her neck.
"Do you give in?" He demanded.
Hermione sighed, dejectedly, raising her arms, her wand held backwards in her hand in a clear sign that she was giving up. "You win."
After that training session, the vampires left the wizards alone, almost staying away from them completely. They seemed to be apprehensive, knowing they couldn't do much against prepared wizards.
Hermione and Ginny were sitting outside, the wolves surrounding them while Bella stood in front of them, a frustrated glare on her face.
"It's not working!" She claimed.
"Well it's never going to work if you keep saying that everytime it fails," Ginny scolded.
"Now, try again," Hermione ordered.
"How do you know it will even work?" She demanded.
"Because your shield can be controlled just like our magic," Ginny informed Bella. "Look, we've been over this before haven't we?" She snapped, loosing her patience.
"Alright, let's start again slowly," Hermione appeased. "When I want to expand the reach of my magic I have to do a number of things. Things, that when I started, felt impossible and demanded a lot of concentration but that I can now do with a snap of my fingers."
Hermione shuffled forward. "Let's try again, shall we?" She ordered cupping her hands in front of her.
"Start by closing your eyes," Hermione said, narrating her actions. "Let everything around you fade away into nothing. Turn noises into a dull buzz in the background. Breathe in deeply. Relax your whole body and mind. Concentrate solely on your power. And then push it out of your body."
As she spoke a small ball of pure power formed in her hands, growing in size as time went on. The orb was a dark emerald and no one but Hermione could control it.
"Bloody Hell 'Mione. Who would've thought you were a Slytherin on the inside!" Fred exclaimed as he joined the group accompanied with all the other wizards.
"Even my power isn't that green," Blaise admitted, cupping his large hands and allowing his power to burst free.
Everyone present silently compared the two balls until Draco started laughing uncontrollably. "With magic like that, how is it you weren't sorted into Slytherin?" He sneered.
"Because I'm honest," Ron started choking at her words and Hermione turned her head towards him with a cheeky grin. "Well, when it counts," she allowed with a one shouldered shrug.
"I'm curious to see Potter's magic," Blaise announced, making them all turn towards said wizard.
Sighing Harry also cupped his hands, creating a bright white ball of power. George shook his head. "What with his patronus, I can't say I'm surprised."
All the lights disappeared as all three wizards called back their magic. "What was that?" Jared inquired.
"Our power source I guess you could say," Harry shrugged.
"It's like our magical core," Hermione explained. "You can only pull out a certain amount at a time as it's a very draining magic, unless you call it back. Only the wizard to whom the magic belongs can control it. It's what our kind calls Core Magic and it can only be used by someone that has full control of their power."
Bella nodded her eyes wide. "I think I might get it." She shut her eyes, relaxed her body and as a frown formed on her face everyone could feel some type of force fall over their body.
"Whoo! Vampire Girl did it!" Embry yelled, calling Bella by her old nickname, a grin on his face. "Well now I feel safe, how 'bout you guys?"
"Don't move," Jacob's deep voice murmured in Hermione's ear as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind after plucking a bug from her hair.
"Thank you, my hero," she joked as he flicked the bug away.
He smiled broadly as he pressed open mouth kisses to her neck. Hermione breifly closed her eyes, enjoying the sensations washing through her and linked her fingers through his. Biting her lower lip she clutched his hands in hers and twirled away from him, ducking under his arms and leaning away, trusting he would hold her up.
"What are you doing, Mia?" He laughed.
Hermione pouted her lips, holding back a smile. "Not really sure."
She lifted a foot of the ground and released one of his hands in an effort to head back to the Cullen house before dark. With a jerk of his arm Hermione was once again spinning across the ground, her hair flying around her until she landed against his chest, her hands splayed across him to soften the hit, his arms wrapped tightly around her.
"Just one more minute," he whispered on her lips.
One of his hands caressed her cheek as he pressed his lips firmly against hers. Hermione whimpered weakly as she forced herself to pull back.
"Jacob," she moaned.
He rested his forehead against hers. "Yes?" He replied, a teasing glint in his eyes.
"Lets head back to the others," she told him sternly.
"Hermione," Jacob all but whined.
"To wish them all a good night," Hermione added.
"I can live with that."
Hermione grinned at him, pulling away from him slipping her hands into his and stepping backwards slowly, leading him back to the large white Cullen home.
Much later that night, while almost everyone but the vampires slept, somewhere far away, Alice gasped, jumping out of Jasper's arms.
"They're coming. They're on their way."
"When will they be in Forks?" Jasper demanded, we must warn the others.
"At dawn."