A/N: There's some langauge in this chapter, but not enough to bump it past a T.

So, I was asked about the Volturi. I didn't forget they existed, I just didn't see a reason for them to know Hermione is around. Yet. She was staying under the radar, staying away from other vampire's territory, anyone who knew about her wasn't going to run off and tell them (Malfoy's memory was erased after he saw her, if you remember). So as long as Hermione stayed out of the spotlight, the chances of the Volturi hearing of her existence were slim. But slim is not none, as we'll find out in this chapter. It's a short one, but vital, I believe.

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Harry woke up the next morning and checked the clock.

"Damn it," he muttered, rolling off the couch. He and Ron had gone in search of bed the night before and found that there weren't any in the house. They each selected a couch, which were large and comfortable, and had sacked out expecting to be up early. He had bewitched a clock on the wall to chime at seven, but he must have done it wrong, since it was now almost eight.

"What's wrong?" Hermione's voice sounded next to him. He looked up to see her and Edward sharing a chair, looking over a book.

"Where did you get that tripe?" Harry said, rolling his eyes as he read the title of the book: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the Golden Trio by Rita Skeeter.

"Magical shop in Seattle," she replied, closing it. "And it might as well be 'Rita Skeeter has a giant crush on Harry Potter'."

"She didn't have much of you in there, did she?"

"Yeah, and I died for crying out loud!" she smiled.

"Speaking of Seattle," Harry smelled food and started eyeing the kitchen.

"Ron's already up and eating, we were going to wake you up in five minutes," Edward stated before Harry could ask the question.

"It's creepy how you do that," Harry muttered before turning and heading into the kitchen. There sat was someone he could only assume was Ron, he only saw red hair over a large mound of food.

"Hey, Harry, look at the spread," Ron peeked around a stack of pancakes. "Almost like at Hogwarts."

"Without the elf enslavement!" Hermione's voice carried from the other room.

Harry chuckled. "Did you do all this?"

Ron shook his head as he shoved a piece of bacon in his mouth.

"Edward did," Hermione smiled, appearing next to them. "A hundred years can really help you hone your cooking skills."

"I thought you didn't eat," Ron looked at her in confusion.

"No," she shook her head, looking longingly at the table.

Edward was suddenly next to her. "Sometimes you get bored, though. And I don't have guinea pigs to try my cooking all that often."

"It's really good," Ron nodded enthusiastically before reaching for his fourth helping of pancakes.

"Eat up, we've got to leave soon," Edward smiled awkwardly, as if almost humbled by Ron's enthusiastic endorsement.

The boys each downed three plates of food, then Hermione cleaned quickly.

"Um," Harry murmured, looking around the living room. "Where's our stuff?"

"Already packed," Edward replied, grabbing his keys and wallet from a table by the door. "Ready to go?"

They all packed into the silver Volvo, Edward getting into the driver's seat. They sped through towns, Harry and Ron looking a little terrified in the back seat. As they passed through the little town Hermione had gotten stopped in before Edward pulled to a halt at the same light she had blown through.

"Your other boyfriend is over there," Edward murmured, nodding at a cop car parked in the lot of a restaurant next to the highway.

Hermione turned, and as she did the policeman turned to look at her. She waved playfully, winked, and blew a kiss as Edward floored it through the now green-light.

"You're going to be the death of me, Hermione," he growled.

She laughed. "I bet I made his day."

"He's thinking of pulling me over and hauling my ass to jail."

"Like that would make me throw myself at him," she rolled her eyes.

"I doubt he could catch you," Ron grumbled as he noticed Edward was doubling the speed limit.

Not soon enough for Harry and Ron they pulled into the long-term parking at the airport, and Edward easily slid the Volvo between two large SUVs.

"Non-moving land!" Ron said as he got out, falling to his knees in a fake show of appreciation.

"I'll never bad-mouth Apparation again," Harry said, standing by the trunk.

Edward rolled his eyes as he gathered all the bags from the trunk. A large crowd passed them, and they followed them towards the main terminal. The plan was that there were four first-class tickets to Pennsylvania, a one-night layover for Edward and Hermione to hunt while Ron and Harry stayed in a nice hotel, then a private jet from Pennsylvania to London. In London Harry and Ron would be able to Apparate back to the Burrow while Edward and Hermione headed north to see their family.

While they walked in a group of frat boys in the group ahead of them kept turning to stare at Hermione.

"You've got a fan club," Ron murmured.

"It's because she looks like a damn model," Harry smiled.

At this she placed her hands on her hips and took several long strides in front of them, posed three times, then with a flip of her long hair turned to meet up with them again. Ron and Harry were laughing, Edward caught her, dipped her low, and pressed his lips to hers.

"As long as we were giving a photo op," he muttered, causing her to smile.

"Oh, shit!" Ron muttered as a passing car sprayed him with water.

"Hold still," Hermione murmured. She looked around to see if anyone was nearby or watching and, seeing no one, she pulled her wand quickly and dried his outfit.

"Thanks, 'Mione," Ron muttered as she stashed her wand again.

"Don't mention it," she muttered as they started back towards the terminal.

Their whole walk in Edward was ignoring the voices around him. Had he been listening he might have realized that the small group was being watched.

She was leaning against a cab, red hair rustling in the wind. The cab was hers, for now. The owner was some unmarried middle-aged man who wouldn't be missed for at least a few more days. She would use the cab to find her next meal, then ditch it in some parking lot. No one would be any the wiser. She needed to feed soon, she was planning on leaving Seattle for a while. She had to make her plans, and she didn't want to arouse suspicion too early by killing too many before it was necessary.

As she was skimming the crowd, looking for some business man or woman who she could pick off and not gain attention for a day or two she caught his scent.

A snarl played in her throat for a moment after she smelled him. It was the one. He had hunted her mate down, and he and his family had killed James. The one whose mate she was going to kill.

She didn't smell the girl, however. She followed the scent, light on the wind, and moments later the scent of another vampire. This one was strange, unfamiliar to her. She sped up, probably moving a little more quickly than she should have, but she had to catch up with them.

She caught sight of him through a couple cars in a parking lot. She crouched low, knowing the wind wouldn't carry her scent towards them, but hoping he didn't hear her thoughts. He was walking with three others, the unknown female vampire and two humans. The girl didn't look familiar, either. It was none of his family members, nor was it his girl from before. She watched in curiosity as one of the humans said something. The girl did an exaggerated model walk which caused the humans to laugh.

And then he did something very interesting. He took the unfamiliar girl in his arms and kissed her passionately. So he was no longer with the human. That made things a little more difficult. It was always more difficult to destroy a vampire than a person, but it wasn't impossible. She knew immediately she had a new target.

She moved to get closer, to try to find out as much about this newcomer as she could when the girl did something amazing. Her friend got soaked by a passing car. She pulled a stick from her pocket, waved it, and the boy was dry. How interesting.

She knew that she was in over her head. There would be no way for her to get to the girl if her suspicions were true. If she tried she'd probably wind up with dear James before she was able to kill the girl. That's okay. She knew some vampires who would be very interested in her information. Her old plan could easily be scrapped, that's okay, there was a good chance with that plan she would have wound up dead before she could carry it out anyways. This was much safer, at least on her end.

She hurried back to her cab, and as she was climbing in a man with a cell phone attached to his ear came running up to her.

"Are you free or not?" he asked curtly.

"Absolutely," she smiled sweetly as the man dropped himself in the back seat.

"I always knew I deserved to be in the lap of luxury," Ron stretched as they got off the plane in London.

"Don't flatter yourself," Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I'll flatter myself all I want to, thank you very much. It's bloody Christmas," Ron smiled, pretending to listen to the carols being piped through the public address system.

"What's the plan?" Edward asked, realizing Alice was waiting for them outside of customs.

"Are you comfortable coming to the Burrow?" Harry asked nervously.

Hermione sighed. She was torn. She wanted to see her friends again, she wanted to see Mrs. Weasley, to show everyone that she was okay. If she could survive the chaos of the Burrow at Christmas she could consider going back out into public. But at the same time she was afraid that she wouldn't be beyond temptation, and the last group of people she wanted to be around if she lost control was the Weasleys. Slowly she muttered, "yes, if Edward is there to stop me."

Harry and Ron nodded grimly, they knew what she was talking about.

"Why don't we plan on being by at around two in the afternoon?" Edward said, catching a glimpse of his pixie-like sister by the exit.

"Won't your family want you around?"

"My family can celebrate in the middle of the night. It's not like we're going to be sleeping," Edward shrugged. "That way we can be with them most of Christmas, before and after we visit you. That should make everyone happy."

"We'll be happy at our house," Alice announced, bouncing up to the group.

"Hello, Alice," Hermione smiled. "From what I've heard you were the one who sent Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dumber to America to get me?"

"Hey!" Ron smiled. "As a member of the Weasley family I can un-invite you for Christmas."

"No, you can't," Harry shook his head. "If your mother found out..."

Ron made a face. "Howlers would be preferable."

"Howlers would be letting you off too easy," Hermione smiled. "We'll see you at two on Christmas."

The group said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Alice led Hermione and Edward out to a waiting Land Rover, and let Edward drive. She started drilling them about Forks, the wolves, and the potion, but skated around Bella. As she was talking about Jasper she suddenly went silent and rigid.

"Alice?" Hermione asked in concern, waving a hand in front of her sister's face.

"She's getting a vision," Edward informed her, sounding equally nervous.

They rode in silence for a few moments as Alice's eyes focused on something no one else could see. Without warning she came out of it. She looked, wide-eyed, at Hermione. "Someone knows," she whispered.

"What?" Hermione asked, equally quiet.

"She saw you at the airport. She saw your wand, she saw you do magic. She knows."

"Who knows?" Edward snapped.

"Victoria," Alice whispered.

Edward swore and sped up. Alice sat in the back seat, informing a terrified looking Hermione about the incident with James and Bella.

"What's she going to do?" Hermione whispered.

"Tell the Volturi," Alice replied.

"What should we do?"

"We act like we don't know," Edward muttered. "She might think we're back in Forks. Only you and I are. They don't know about us being in the UK yet, we'll be safe for a while."

"I'll keep an eye on it," Alice nodded. "As soon as they make a decision about coming, I'll make sure you get back to the UK as fast as possible."

Hermione nodded, but deep in the pit of her stomach she couldn't help but feel guilt for the danger she was putting her new family in.