I apologize for the delay since it took a while for me to update this fic. My friend and I are working jointly for this story and she just gave me the draft of the plot two days ago. I had to work on it a bit and add some of my own plot into the story…and voila! Chapter 21!

Also, I would like to inform my readers that it may take a while for the next chapter to be put up if this was an indication. As I am actively working on my Harry Potter/Naruto story, I already gave the plot of chapter 22 to my friend and she would be working on it to add some of her bits into the story. She would then pass it on to me to finalize before posting it here in FF.

Expect a month for that to happen since she is as busy as I am.

Anyway, enjoy chapter 21!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Twilight

Harry Potter: A Life After Hogwarts

Chapter 21: Wolves on a Welcome Leash

Ever since Bella found out about the wolves, it was decided among the elders that they would refrain from going to the Den to keep the English Blacks a secret. Besides, it was better for the pack to refrain from mentioning their presence due to Bella's rather inquisitive nature. They wouldn't put it past her to put two and two together to finally realize that there was something different about the Den and its inhabitants.

Also, since it was impossible to tamper with Bella's memories at this point, it was better to play it safe and make sure she doesn't discover anything they wouldn't want her to.

This meant that she was barred from ever stepping foot inside the boundaries of the Den until further notice. Leo talked to Jacob about that, ordered and threatened the teen with a gender change if he so much as brings Bella into the compound.

Jacob vehemently agreed since he didn't want to become a girl anytime soon. He loved being a guy, thank you very much.

One interesting development that happened was Quil phasing for the first time. They were completely caught by surprise since it happened differently as compared to the rest of the pack's situation.

As it so happened, Quil Sr. was berating his grandson on something that the teen just went berserk. Thankfully, Sam was phased at that time so he was able to control Quil enough to avoid mauling his grandfather and scarring him for life. Afterwards, Quil was brought to the Den where the explanation immediately followed.

Unlike the other shifters, Quil was happy to become one, considering his ability to shift into a gigantic wolf to be 'cool' than a curse. He was considered as the joker of the pack who oftentimes liked to play rounds of wolf wrestling with Embry and Jacob, and by extension, Sam and Paul. Jared wisely stayed out of the whole thing since he was quite busy with his own imprint, Kim. Leo joined once and completely kicked everyone's butt but the wolves all banded together to kick his. It was a fun time for everyone though they needed to fix the grounds afterwards since it was totally destroyed.

They definitely had to fix it since Freya was practically growling at them when she saw the mess they made on her garden. They might be stronger than her but a Freya controlled by her rage was not something they wanted to see or feel firsthand.

Speaking of imprint, Kim, the shopaholic teenager, was Jared's. They were classmates and sat beside each other in class. In truth, it was quite funny since Jared never gave her any attention though Kim admitted that she had a crush on the young Quilleute. When Jared shifted, he immediately imprinted on the girl much to her happiness. Of course, she was brought into the pack secret due to her status.

Thankfully, the shifters and the elders decided to keep the magical world a secret except for a chosen few, like Emily for example since he was the Alpha's mate so she needed to be in the loop as the wolves' official 'mother hen'.

The pack was also expected to grow some more when Leah and Seth showed signs of shifting. It was quite a surprise considering that there were no records of a female shifter or one as young as Seth. They, however, took it all in stride and decided to just monitor the situation.

However, this occurrence worried them for a bit since new shifters would equally mean more vampires. Leo and Freya vowed to have a…talk with the Volturi to keep their charges on a much tighter leash or face extinction under the hands of two overprotective Battle Scholars.

On the Bella front, it was a surprise that she took everything calmly. The magical assumed that she was supernaturally inclined considering that she hangs out with a family of vampires that could easily tear her limb from limb. She didn't even bat an eyelash at the wolves. In a way, she was a supernatural herself due to her mind shields, a rarity in muggles and was often termed as psychics by the non-magical masses though in a passive form.

They didn't know how she would react to the existence of magic and they decided to keep her in the dark for their peace of mind.

Of course, Jacob was ecstatic and kept grinning like a loon when Bella got the hint and discovered the secret on her own. He no longer needed to hide and be with the 'love of his life' every day after that.

However, Freya burst his happy bubble when she informed him that he didn't imprint on Bella so it's better to control his…crush to avoid making a mess in the future.

As predicted, Jacob quieted after that and vowed that he would NEVER imprint. Leo and Freya just gave him a condescending look but kept quiet. They knew better that imprinting was uncontrollable and would only be triggered when you make eye contact with your perfect mate. Jacob's life mate was still out there not gracing them with his or her presence.

Besides, If Jacob imprints while being with Bella then it would be a Leah-Sam scene all over again.

One positive note from that event was Bella revealing more about the Cullen family to the wolves which they dutifully relayed to the English Blacks. The magical knew that vampires tend to have powers aside from their supernatural strength, speed, limited invulnerability (they were very immune to fire) and beauty. There was no way to determine what their abilities were unless they tell you themselves.

Thankfully, Bella was in the know so now the Quilleute family knew too. This in turn placed the English Blacks into the loop.

Edward Cullen was a mind reader; something similar to Legilimency but targets more than one person at a time though the girl did reveal that Edward couldn't read her thoughts. This got Freya worried since Bella's boyfriend could literally read the wolves mind like an open book; this spurned the enchantress to come up with a method to block the mind-reader's talent which would be added to their accessories soon. The magical werent's worried because all of them had mind shields to protect their thoughts though they vowed to put up a protection for Teddy since the boy was too young to be taught Occlumency at this point in time, not that they would be putting the young metamorph within range of any vampires if they could help it.

The shifter were of a like mind since they considered Teddy as part of the pack thanks to the boy's wolfy nature.

Alice was a seer though her visions were subjective. She could only 'see' the future based on a person's decision. Leo surmised that this ability was more on prediction that any form of prophecy which was usually set in stone only if the parties concerned gave it power. The prophecy between him and Voldemort came to mind when that information came up.

Jasper was an empath, able to sense and manipulate the emotions of others. This didn't concern them much since the magical were protected from its influence. The wolves' rage could easily counter such influence if necessary.

Emmett had the strength of a newborn vampire so he was stronger than your average bloodsucker. Leo itched to try Griever out at the guy to see who was stronger before Embry smacked the notion out of him much to everyone's amusement.

Leo was clearly the strongest in the relationship but it was awe-inspiring on how Embry could control him easily thanks to their imprint-soul bond, not that Leo minded of course.

The other two females, Esme and Rosalie didn't have their own supernatural talents; though according to Bella, Esme retained and amplified her kindness; while Rosalie amplified her inherent beauty when she was still human. According to Bella, Rosalie had the looks that would make a supermodel drool with envy. Freya merely raised an eyebrow at that before looking down at her perfect figure.

Carlisle, the head of the Cullens, was said to be immune to human blood which was the reason why he worked in a hospital; which according to Freya was a weird occupation for a vampire that needed blood as a form of nourishment.

Among all these abilities that the Cullen family possessed, it was Edward's that made everyone worry though Freya promised to come up with something to counter that. That ended the worry since everyone knew that Freya was talented when it came to her craft.

With the situation with Bella under wraps, life in La Push settled down in normalcy, well except for Jacob who can't keep his mouth shut about Bella and the pack was starting to get annoyed at the bombardment of anything remotely Bella in their mind link to the point that Paul had to bite Jacob's rump just to make the boy realize that he was giving everyone a headache.

Embry was currently enjoying a relaxing day in the garage. There weren't any customers around but they needed to be on duty just in case someone comes along that needed their services. Only he and Jacob were in the shop since Quil was with Sam to teach the new shifter a few teamwork drills they employed on vampires. The young Atera was only a few days old and needed to be taught properly if he was to contribute his abilities to the Reservation's protection.

The imprinted teen was brought out of his reverie when he heard Jacob mumble about his non-imprint lover. Curious, he stood up from the bench and silently walked over to the teen who was fixing a broken bike, the one that Bella ruined during their test drive.

"Stupid Leo. Why can't he just mind his own business? It's not like he's part of the pack." grumbled Jacob to himself, unaware of Embry who was narrowing his eyes at him due to his statement. "He's just an outsider. Why in the world is he ordering the pack around?"

Anger flared inside Embry and his wolf was straining to lash out at the grumbling teen. Not wanting to wreck his lover's business, he slowly counted one to ten while slowing down his breathing to reign in his anger. It worked, but only just.

"You know, Jacob Black, for one who claimed to be smart, you sure are dumb." said Embry in a cold tone.

Jacob whipped his head around and saw his best friend standing a few feet away from him struggling to hold back his wolf. Jacob could see the anger in his best friend's eyes and it was directed at him.

"What are you talking about, Em?" asked Jacob, confused as to why his friend was angry.

"You spout your nonsense saying that Leo isn't part of the pack. Well, Jacob, he is part of the pack as we all are. He is part of the Reservation." whispered Embry in a cold voice though Jacob heard it quite clearly.

"You're just saying that because he's your imprint. Obviously, you're taking his side." Jacob fired back, also shaking in anger at being caught in his ramblings. Thankfully, he didn't shift to his wolf form considering that he was as volatile as Paul was when it came to their tempers.

"No, you're the one who doesn't understand, Jacob." said Embry in anger. "You just phased a few weeks ago and you're already saying that you know everything? Sure, you were told the secret and about magic but you don't know everything."

"Well, why don't you tell me, oh wise one." Jacob said sarcastically.

Embry proceeded to do just that. It was time to bring Jacob Black to heel before he causes more trouble for the pack.

"Before I shifted, Paul was attacked by a vampire; he was dying because he was bitten. I think you already know that it's a death sentence for us to be bitten by one."

Jacob paled at this since he knew the consequence to a wolf when bitten by a vampire. It was instant death. How in the world was Paul alive? Embry's next statement answered this question.

"He should have been dead but Leo and Freya came up with a potion that destroyed the venom. That was the time that they revealed their secret to the elders. After that, he healed your dad's spine so he could walk. He also healed old man Quil's limp. He helped La Push by putting up new businesses to jumpstart our economy. And most importantly, he and Freya put their heads together to make sure that the whole Reservation is protected. The map, the patrol, the accessories you are wearing right now…everything is because of them."

Jacob was shocked by the revelation. He didn't know these things. Sure, he knew that secret of the Quilleute legends and magic but he didn't know about the things Embry just revealed to him.

"You're selfish, Jacob." growled Embry, volume rising. "Because of your stupid infatuation of Bella Swan, you allowed our secret to be revealed to an outsider that has no connection to the pack except for being friends with them through Billy and you. You said that Leo is not part of the pack? Your dad and Leo are blood relatives, they share a common ancestor. Heck, he is even related to old man Quil and Harry. Even Sam through his father. Also, he is your many times cousin, Jake. And what did you contribute to the pack? Huh?"

Jacob was quiet as he processed everything but Embry wasn't finished, far from it.

"You let our secret be known to a person that loves a vampire, the sworn enemy of our ancestors, not to mention befriending a whole coven of them. For what? Because you love her? No, Jacob Black, you don't love her. You're infatuated with her. She loves Edward Cullen and not you. When he left, she came to you; and you, in all your infinite wisdom, started seeing her in a new light because she showed you a modicum of interest. For what? So you could fill a hole in her heart that the vampire caused? She's not even your imprinted for crying out loud. What if you went into a relationship with her and you imprinted on someone else? Are you going to turn her into another Leah? Huh?"

Jacob's eyes turned mutinous at the thought of imprinting on another other than Bella.

"I will never imprint. That will never happen." declared Jacob though he inwardly winced at the idea of his beloved Bella turning into a bitter harpy like Leah Clearwater. He couldn't deny the Leo gave a lot of the Reservation but he would try his best to deny the last part. He would never imprint if he had anything to say about it.

"What do you know, Jacob, that you are so you sure that you won't imprint?" questioned Embry, anger already subsiding to be replaced by cold indifference.

"I know I won't let it happen." Jacob said with determination in his voice.

Embry nodded at that statement, accepting it though he knew better. Nothing can stop the imprint bond. More so if that imprint bond was reciprocated by a magical soul bond like what happened to him and Leo, not that he minded of course since he already liked the man even before he shifted.

"Good. If you won't imprint then that is your belief. However, there is a rule in the pack that our secrets would remain a secret and can only be told to an elder, a fellow wolf, or an imprint; though the elders amended that to include the English Blacks since they are now part of La Push's protection. Bella is not your imprint, so why did you let her in on the secret?" Embry stressed, wanting to get through to his best friend from destroying himself.

"Bella has the right to know the secret, Em." said Jacob. Embry could have sworn that there was pleading quality to it.

"She does? Well, why is it her right to know then?" asked Embry. He didn't get any answer from Jacob. "I get it. You want to tell her because you love her. You love her enough to disobey the rules of your heritage. So what would you do Jacob if Bella tells the Cullens about us?"

"She won't." Jacob said adamantly. "The Cullen's won't be coming back."

"If that is the case, then that's good. But what's stopping her from telling them or from finding out through her?" asked Embry, pushing further to make his friend realize. Jacob was silent, avoiding Embry's gaze. "Just remember, Jacob. This isn't a game we're playing. We are the protectors of the Quilleute Tribe from vampires. If the Cullens ever come back, you mark my words, she will go back to them. And if that ever happens, where will you stand Jacob Black? Will you stand with Bella and the Cullens or will you stay with the pack?"

Embry didn't give him time to answer since he just turned around and left for the outside since he was not in the mood to face his best friend right now, leaving Jacob in the company of his thoughts as he pondered on his best friend's words.

March 16, 2006

Jacob Black was deep in his thoughts as he drove home in his Rabbit. He just left Bella's house after taking her home. When they got there, he immediately smelled the presence of vampires in the property. Considering that he was the one who was predisposed in handling vampires, he checked it out with Bella trailing after him. He was right; a vampire was there and was preparing himself to attack when Bella's reaction surprised and angered him at the same time.

The vampire in Bella's house turned out to be Alice Cullen who came back to check up on her. This surprised him a bit considering that the family just packed all their things and left, leaving Bella alone which resulted in her zombie-like state.

What irked him, however, was how Bella seemed to have forgotten all about it and was quite excited to see the vampire. It hurt a lot that the girl he loved chose the vampire over him, to the point that she defended the visiting Cullen when he was balefully staring at the intruder.

Of course, he let her chose between him and the vampire; which was a mistake on his part since Bella chose the vampire instead of him. This hurts a lot and was too much for the werewolf to take so he got out of the house. However, instead of leaving immediately, he stayed around and listened to their conversation.

From the sounds of it, Edward Cullen thought Bella to be dead since Alice, who seemed to have the power to see the future, reported to her family that the girl died after jumping off a cliff. He left immediately when the two decided to go to Italy to head off his wayward boyfriend from making a big mistake.

Embry's words haunted his thoughts as he drove. His best friend was right. No matter how much he tried, he would never have Bella's heart. Bella's world revolved around Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black was just a temporary fix to plug up the hole that her boyfriend left in her heart.

Sighing, he made a split-second decision to head over to the Den since he didn't want to go to his house with full view of the garage where he spent a lot of time having fun with Bella Swan.

A trip to the English Black's private beach might help him get over his depressing thoughts and alleviate the pain in his aching heart.

While Jacob was busy nursing his aching heart, Leo was relaxing in the Den's private beach, for once, not wanting to study after spending two days combing through Salazar's Journal nonstop. It's been weeks but he and Freya weren't even halfway to finishing the new addition to their library. He decided to take a day or two off from the damn thing just to relax. Since Embry wasn't around due to his training with the pack, he had to spend his impromptu R and R alone.

He was in the middle of weighing the pros and cons of taking a swim (Griever didn't like to get wet which transferred over to Leo as an animagus trait) when Freya's otter patronus broke through his musing to deliver a message.

"Leo! Get your butt here to the Clearwaters immediately! Harry just suffered a heart attack when Leah and Seth phased during the commotion. Need Griever's help stat! I can't help Harry while trying to control Leah since she is taking the whole thing badly."

Surprised at the alarm in his sister's voice, he immediately apparated back to his room at the Den, put some of his clothes on and apparated at the backyard of the Clearwater home. What he saw there was pure chaos.

Fenrir was currently facing off against a lithe gray wolf with a sandy brown wolf trying to pin the former down. Sue was out in the porch nursing an obviously unconscious Harry. Leo didn't wasn't any time shifting into Griever and released a loud roar that shocked the two new wolves out of their wits.

Considering that Leah and Seth didn't have the pack accessories that would enable him and Freya to communicate in their wolf forms, Griever decided to take the direct approach to contain the two, and from the looks of it, he would just have to settle his sights on Leah since Seth was busy standing in the defensive in front of a very confused looking Fenrir while giving him looks of apprehension.

Despite being a very small wolf, Leah was fast…very fast. Griever couldn't pin her down no matter how much he tried. The lion animagus played cat and mouse with the wolf for a few minutes before deciding to call for reinforcements.

"Sam!" Leo hollered over the mental connection he shared with the wolves while Griever was trying to swat Leah who simply swerved out of the way with amazing agility.

"Leo? What's wrong?" Sam's voice came through the link.

"Get your furry butt down here at the Clearwaters now! Leah and Seth phased but Leah is running wild! I don't have a mental connection with her yet so I need your Alpha abilities to help her calm down before I decide to take some drastic actions."

"On it!" Sam hollered back and Leo could feel Sam shift into his wolf through their mental link.

Whatever Sam did must have worked since Leah stopped before she and Seth cocked their heads to the side as if listening to something from a distance. If the situation wasn't serious, he would have laughed himself silly from the comical sight in front of him.

It didn't take long for Sam, Jared, Paul, and Embry to enter the garden from the forest. The appearance of the four huge wolves scared the new shifters though Leah snarled at Sam, clearly knowing who was talking to her. Leo, through Griever's eyes, noticed Fenrir shift back into Freya before dashing over to Harry and started treating him.

Considering that the situation was handled, he shifted back to human form and eyed the new shifters, observing them.

Leah was obviously the gray wolf since it was her eyes clearly reflected in those brown orbs. Seth was the sandy wolf. Leah's wolf form was lithe and small, clearly built for speed instead of strength and her display at dancing around Griever's efforts to pin her down was an indication of that. He didn't see Seth fight but he knew that the teen needs to grow up a little to fill out since he was quite gangly. It was quite obvious that both shifted prematurely, not enough time for their unique magic to finish with the physical change.

He did, however, notice Seth eyeing Freya. He inwardly snickered knowing what just happened. The drama that would follow was not to be missed if he was to amass a bit of blackmail material that her sister had on him in spades.

What happened next caught everyone off guard.

Canis, who must have sensed that something was amiss from where he was, apparated into the scene. The crack of his apparation made Leah turn to him. Both locked eyes and Leo knew that the female shifter just imprinted on his dear godfather. Without warning, Leah turned from his communique with Sam and lunged at the startled Canis who immediately shifted into Padfoot before being barreled down by the she wolf. Leo noticed that both were the same size.

A bit of tussling and romping ensued before Padfoot was pinned down by the somewhat stronger she-wolf. He was then showered with a lot of licks that left the poor dog in shock.

The scene was so funny that Leo barked out a laugh followed shortly by Sam and the rest of the pack.

It didn't take long for the commotion to die down. Thanks to Sam, both Leah and Seth were able to gain control of their wolf side to shfit back to their human form, followed shortly by Canis who had a look of both wonder and bewilderment on his face.

Of course, Canis fainted on the spot when he saw Leah in her birthday suit (butt naked for everyone to see). It was too much for the old dog so he fainted on the spot with a goofy grin on his face. It was obvious to everyone that he definitely liked what he saw.

The newly turned she wolf simply smirked with a smug look on her face as she eyed Canis downed form though Leo could see the loving undertone in them. His godfather finally found the love he deserved after years of suffering.

Of course, Sam was glaring at the unsconsious man with such intensity that it would have burned Canis to ashes if such a look merited that ability. Leah saw this and immediately protected her paramour. She glared right back, as intense as the ones Sam was giving the downed dog animagus.

Seth blushed and his entire body gave testament to that when he shifted back naked. He turned around to hide whatever dignity he had left from Freya who was giving the boy's backside a speculative look. Leo knew that his sister got an eyeful of Seth's bits and the look Freya was giving the boy promised a lot of…looking in the future.

After conjuring a set of clothes for Leah and Seth and instructing them to cover their modesty, everyone entered the Clearwater home and used the kitchen as an impromptu meeting place. Leo had to levitate Canis from where he was lying much to the bug-eyed looks of the new shifters since it was first time to see magic in action.

After depositing Canis in a spare sofa in the living room, Leo turned to Freya who was fretting over an unconscious Harry.

"How is he, sis?" asked Leo in concern.

"He is going to be alright. Good thing you came just in time to take care of Leah so I was able to reverse the effects of the stroke." Freya informed him as he propped Harry's head up and fed him a couple of his capsules, rubbing the man's throat to help him swallow.

"What happened anyway?" asked Leo, wanting to know what happened before explaning magic to the new addition. Sam was currently explaining the entirety of the Quilleute Legends to Leah and Seth in th kitchen.

"I don't know to be honest. I was in the kitchen with Sue preparing lunch when a fight broke out in the living room. From the sound of it, Leah was having a shouting match with Harry over Sam while Seth was hollering in the background trying to get the two to calm down. After that, I felt the two shift into their wolf forms and I managed to bludgeon the two of them into the backyard before sending you a patronus. When Harry saw his children shift, he suffered a stroke. You saw what happened after that." Freya dutifully informed his brother.

"I see," Leo said with a nod. He knew from their research of the Spirit Wolves that rage and anger was a catalyst to the change. When Freya reported the increasing amount of magic in Seth and Leah's body, they surmised that they had a month to prepare before the actual change would take place. Leah and Seth's bout of anger changed that and now they had to find out if those two were alright since they shifted prematurely before their bodies could properly adapt. "Any idea what the repercussion would be to the two since they changed prematurely?"

"I don't know." Freya said with a shrug. "Once the hubbub dies down, I want to bring them into the Den and run a thorough scan on them just to be sure. I'm sure nothing bad would come out of it since their inner magic would take care of any problems given time."

"That's good." Leo said with a sigh of relief before his faced turned mischievous. "From the looks of things out there, Seth was quite…smitten with you and you were staring at the boy. It didn't escape my notice how he defended you from me when I shifted to Griever and I also noticed you liked what you saw."

"Oh shut up you." Freya said with a blush on her cheeks. She definitely saw what Seth has to offer. Considering the boy's…equipment, there would be a lot of fun for her in the future. "He imprinted on me when I looked at him while I was Fenrir and my magic immediately established a soul bond. Besides, from Leah's reaction to seeing your godfather, the same thing happened to them."

"Amazing." Leo breathed out. "Two new shifters and two new imprints. The Clearwaters really knew how to get the balls rolling. Poor Padfoot. I'm sure he was shocked when he was practically given a bath by a she-wolf."

Freya giggled at that when she remembered what happened to the older wizard.

"Yep. I'm so going to use this as blackmail material. I don't have one for him yet." Freya declared with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

Leo raised an eyebrow at this.

"So you mean to tell me you have blackmail material from everyone?"

"Of course, brother mine. A girl's got to do what a girl's got to do." she purred causing Leo to look at her in fear.

"Why do I get this feeling that you're going to be using these blackmail of yours to make our lives a living hell." Leo pointed out with a bit of apprenhension.

The innocent look on Freya's face spoke volumes of how correct he was in his assessment.

End of chapter 21.

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