CHAPTER FIFTY


Summary: Hermione is running. She is running from rogue Death Eaters bent on revenge, the fame that surrounds her after the war and an overbearing ex-boyfriend and his mother, insisting that they marry, regardless of her ex being a cheating weasel. She finds a quiet town in the States and meets a handsome young man, one that gives her a new outlook on life and a new love. The kind of love she had craved.

Disclaimer: I do not own canon events and characters; they belong to J.K Rowling and Stepenie Myers. I am not making a profit from writing and posting this fanfic. As for the descriptions of appearances for the Twilight characters, all my research is based on the books and not the movies.


Saturday 16th September 2006

"What is it?" Seth grumbled tiredly, pulling Hermione more closely to him in his half-asleep state.

"I have to go," she said, pulling away from him and sitting up in bed.

"It's..." Seth looked to the clock. "Three in the morning, where do you have to go?"

"Paul wants to meet, it's the first time he's contacted me since the night he..."

"If he touches you I'll kill him," he muttered.

"No you won't," she replied. "I'll be back soon."

She leaned over and kissed his cheek, before climbing out of bed. She dressed in the first items of clothing she found, slipped on her shoes and made her way out of the tent, being mindful not to wake Jacob who was sleeping in the spare room, whilst Leah was patrolling the border lines of the magical wards.

Once she was a little ways away from the tent, she spun on her heel and apparated to the meeting place.


She saw him stood there in the distance, looking down at the ground, his hands in his pockets and scuffing a foot against the rough ground of the woods.

She took a deep breath and approached him slowly, reminding herself to remain in control of her emotions should anything occur like it had the last time she'd saw him. Had it really only been a week? It felt like much longer. She couldn't wait for the mess with the pregnancy to be sorted out and everything would hopefully go back to normal.

"Paul, it's good to see you," she said with a small smile.

He looked up from the ground, a smile appearing on his face at seeing her. She'd expected him to be a little awkward, to look a little guilty or sad, but he didn't. In fact, he actually looked... happy.

"Hermione," he grinned. "I wasn't expecting you to reply so quickly."

"Well, seeing the time of night, I assumed you'd just finished patrols and would be tired, so I didn't see any point in making you wait any longer. The quicker I replied, the quicker you could get the much earned sleep you deserve. So, what do you need me for? Please tell me you haven't run out of potions."

His grin widened and he shook his head. "No, I've barely used a single vial."

"That's brilliant," she praised.

"Sam wanted me to speak with you and ask if you've learned anything new. He's becoming more insistent the Bella die and we find a way to break through your wards, despite knowing we can't."

She rolled her eyes. "When all of this bloody mess is over and done with I'm going to slap him, Alpha or not."

"Now that I can't wait to see," Paul replied, amusement laced into his words.

"As for my research, no, I haven't learned anything new, but I've bought us more time. Bella was originally due to give birth in less than a week due to the accelerated growth of the thing inside of her, but I gave her some potions which have decelerated the aging and growth and reverted her back in her pregnancy a few weeks, buying us another month before she goes into labour. I've called in reinforcements to help with the research. Charlie should be here any day now, he knows more about vampires than anyone I know, so if anyone can figure this out it's him. I'll let you know as soon as I can. Alright?"

He nodded. "The pups miss you," he said and she felt a tug in her chest. She missed them too. "When they learned I'd been asked to meet with you, they wanted to come too but Sam refused to allow them to."

She nodded. "I'm glad he's keeping his promise and keeping them out of this."

He snorted. "He's scared of you, he doesn't wish to see what you'd do to him should he let the pups get anywhere near this."

"Smart man," she replied. "I'll be right back."

Before he could question her, she had disappeared from view, returning minutes later with two books in her hands.

"Give them these, it should keep them occupied until I see them again," she handed them over to him. "Right, I suppose I better get back and get some rest before I continue with my research."

"Before you go..." he reached out for her arm to stop her from leaving. She looked down at his hand on her arm warily. "There's something I want to tell you."

"What?" she asked cautiously.

He grinned at her. "I imprinted."

"What!" she said dumbly.

He laughed. "I imprinted, last Sunday."

She stared at him, before a squeal of happiness erupted from her and jumped over to him, hugging him tightly. He chuckled and hugged her back.

"I can't believe it, who is it, you have to tell me?"

She pulled back from him, her smile matching his.

"Rachel Black, Jake's sister, she's just graduated college and returned from Seattle."

"Huh, that explains so much," she mused. He raised an eyebrow. "Jacob disappeared for a few hours last Sunday, when he returned he seemed agitated, but after we got some food in him and he'd gone for a walk, he appeared to have calmed down a lot, I take it he knows."

He nodded. "Billy told him."

She gave another sudden squeal of happiness and hugged him tightly again, and his laughter grew louder.

"I'm so happy for you. You have to tell me all about her. Is she pretty? Smart? Kind? Please tell me she's not a bitch, I'm already surrounded with Bella, Leah and the Ice Queen." He snorted at her. She frowned. "What the hell are you still doing here talking to me? Go home and get some sleep so you can spend the day with her tomorrow. I want to know everything and in order for that to happen, you need to get to know her better. Go on, you need to be well rested to work that charm of yours on her. Off you go," she shooed him away with her hands.

"You're so bossy," he muttered.

"Yes, I am, you should be used to it by now. Everyone else is; they don't bother questioning my actions or words anymore."

"It's easier to just listen to you, we've come to learn you're always right," he replied, and she suspected his words had a deeper meaning.

"Yes, I am," she agreed, before turning to walk away, only he caught her arm one final time and turned her to face him.

"I still love you," he admitted. She kept her eyes on his. "And I know that I'll always love you, there was no supernatural bond influencing my emotions with you. Despite that, I love Rachel now."

"More than you do me, as I said you would. Honestly, Paul, I couldn't be any happier for you and now you understand why I couldn't betray Seth in that way."

He nodded. "I do, I don't know how he hasn't tried to kill me yet, if the roles were reversed and he'd gone after Rachel, knowing I'd imprinted on her, pack mate or not, I can't imagine it ending well."

"Seth has a remarkable kind and calm nature, which I'm grateful for. Now go, you need your rest and I need to get back to Seth before he comes looking for me. I know he's been worried about me and it's not fair on him that I remain out of his sight for too long, knowing he likes to be nearby should I need him. I'll see you soon and if I discover anything I'll let you know."

He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you."

"For what?" she asked confused.

"For being you."


"Everything alright?" Seth mumbled, pulling Hermione to him after she climbed back into bed.

"Hmmm," she hummed, snuggling into him and placing her ear over his heart, listening to the rhythmic beating. "Sam asked Paul to meet with me; he wanted an update on the pregnancy situation. Paul said Sam's becoming more agitated as the days go by and he's more insistent that the pack finds a way to break through my wards and kill Bella. We may have to double up patrols just as a precaution."

"He didn't try anything, did he?"

She shook her head and a smile appeared. "No, he's imprinted."

"He has?" Seth said surprised, suddenly more awake than before.

"Yep, and on Rachel Black, Jacob's sister."

"That explains so much," Seth mused and she nodded in agreement.

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about him going after you or making you uncomfortable anymore."

"I'm so happy for him, he deserves to have someone love him and take care of him. To protect him from himself and help him with his anger."

"I doubt he'll change much, he's always been a cocky asshole, only now he'll be a cocky asshole who's in love."

"Fair point," she snorted. "What are you doing?" she asked, barely containing her amusement when she felt his hands beginning to wander. "We should be sleeping."

A huff of surprise left her when she found herself lying beneath him with him hovering over her.

"I'd much rather do this instead," he replied.

"Merlin, what have I created?"

She laughed as he attacked her neck with kisses.


Back and forth. Back and forth. Hermione paced in the living room of The Cullen's house, having had enough of hitting a dead end with her research.

"Sit down, you're making me dizzy," Emmet said.

"You're dead," Hermione replied distractedly, tugging at her hair in frustration.

"You're going to wear a hole in the flooring."

"Maybe you could, but it's virtually impossible for me to do so, it'd take years."

"Your legs will fall off if you keep doing that."

"No they won't. Stop being so dramatic, and I swear, if you make another comment, my future responses will be far less pleasant."

Rosalie, Jasper and Jacob snorted at her, whilst Emmet appeared amused, looking as though he were deciding if it would be wise to push her buttons when she was so clearly agitated.

"Don't do it, even you're not that stupid," Jacob spoke.

"Thanks, I think," Emmet replied, much to the amusement of Carlisle and Esme, who both watched Hermione, whilst Edward was with Bella in their room.

"Has your brother received your letter yet?" Jasper asked.

She continued pacing. "He should have by now, and I have no doubt he'll come to help. I know he's due time off from work, it's just arranging transport that can be a bit of a bother since it needs to be approved before use. He'll just show up unannounced, he loves to make an entrance."

"I'm well aware," Jacob snorted. "I hope he leaves his little pet at home."

"Yes, so do I. I can't be watching Benji to ensure he doesn't escape or accidentally hurt someone."

'Hermione?'

'What's wrong?' Hermione questioned Seth, bringing her hand up to her necklace.

'Nothing's wrong, Charlie's just arrived, about a half a mile west from the tent, I can hear him grumbling to himself.'

'Alright, thanks for letting me know, I'll collect him and meet you at the tent, you contact Leah and let her know, I'll tell Jacob.'

'Okay, I'll see you soon.'

She stopped her pacing and turned to face Jacob. "Charlie's here, Seth just contacted me. I'll collect him and meet you at home in about thirty minutes. Do you mind taking the couch? I have no doubt Leah and Charlie will want to be together and it's not fair to have you anywhere near them."

He grimaced. "I'll sleep in a dumpster if it gets me away from them."

She snorted. "Luckily for you, you don't have to." She then turned to The Cullens, seeing them all staring at her. "My brother's here. I'll let him settle in before bringing him to the house in about an hour, hopefully he can shed some light on the situation we're in."

Not giving them chance to reply, she left the house, moving into the woods and apparating half a mile west from her tent. She landed smoothly on her feet, before she began making her way through the woods, hoping to run into him before she resorted to Tracking Magic.

It was ten minutes later when she found him.

"Benji, you can't set fire to the trees," Charlie scolded.

Hermione brought her hands to her temples and began rubbing, knowing Charlie had done exactly what she'd hoped he wouldn't.

She took a calming breath and moved forward, Charlie and Benji coming into her view. The root of a tree was smoking due to the fire that had clearly been put out, and Benji flapped his wings in the air, keeping him eye level with Charlie as he continued to scold the friendly dragon.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing bringing Benji with you?"

Charlie spun around to face her, not bothering to look apologetic about his actions. Instead, he smiled and opened his arms wide as he approached her.

"Little Sis, how you doing, I've missed you?" he said, engulfing her in a hug and ignoring her splutters and chiding.

"Charlie, let me go so I can shout at you for bringing Benji. What were you thinking?"

Charlie pulled back from her and pouted. "But he missed you; he's starting to go off his food again since it's been too long since your last visit."

"He looks perfectly fine to me," she replied, crossing her arms over her chest and lifting her chin higher, her eyes raking over the not so little dragon.

Whilst Benji was now half the size of a small car and it was evident that he'd grown, he was still small for his species, but that was to be expected. With him refusing food after his first few months of hatching which set back his development, dragons also tended to grow slowly their first year, before they'd suddenly sprout in size before you knew it.

Benji flew over to her and being too large to sit on her shoulder, he landed on the ground and wrapped his tail around her legs, nuzzling his head against her thigh. Hermione sighed and unfolded her arms, lowering her hand to scratch at the dragon's head.

"I missed you too," she begrudgingly admitted, her mouth twitching when the dragon let out a strange sound that was similar to a purr.

"See, besides, we're dealing with vampires -which I want more information on-, they know of the existence of dragons," Charlie shrugged.

"Only four of them know of my status as a witch, we've been keeping it a secret."

"Oh, oops," he said sheepishly.

She rolled her eyes at him. "The only reason they know is because they were present when Ronald found me."

"Don't worry, I've heard all about it from the twins and Bill. He's lost his Auror badge, due to his status as a War Hero it's been kept out of the press and he's been spared a sentence in Azkaban, unless he hurts you again that is. But when I get my hands on him he's going to lose a few body parts too," he promised, a dark look taking over his face.

"Just don't kill him," she said, seeing no point in trying to convince him to leave his brother alone. Charlie was the most stubborn of The Weasley bunch.

"It's not me you have to worry about," he replied, looking down at Benji.

"You can't kill him either," she told the dragon. He gave a growl of disagreement and Charlie snorted.

"He's rather protective of you; you are his Mummy after all."

"Oh, ha ha, you're just hilarious."

"Of course I am, someone had to teach the twins everything they know," he said smugly.

"Idiot," she rolled her eyes. "Come on, let's get you back to the tent, they're waiting for us. I'll explain everything later, though it's going to be easier to show you. What we're dealing with is... well, to be honest, fucked up." He raised an eyebrow in surprise at her language. "We'll have to keep Benji away from the vampires."

"That's going to be difficult," he replied, looking at the way the dragon was curled around her protectively.


They entered the tent, Leah, Jacob and Seth were there and their eyes widened when they saw the dragon fly in after them, landing on the sofa and curling up into a ball.

"I can't believe you actually brought him," Jacob laughed.

"It's not funny, it's going to be difficult keeping him away from The Cullens, particularly since Carlisle, Esme and Edward don't know of my being a witch. How are they going to react to seeing a dragon?"

"It is funny," Jacob laughed.

Hermione threw her hands up in the air in frustration, before storming out of the living room and towards the spare bedroom so she could change it back to the original layout of only one set of furniture. A few minutes later, Jacob, Seth and Benji entered the room, likely having greeted her brother and allowing him and Leah a little time together.

They stayed in the room for fifteen minutes before leaving and moving back to the living room, seeing Charlie and Leah sat together on the couch and both looking a little tussled.

Seth grimaced, Jacob smothered his laughter and Hermione hid her smile, before gesturing for the couple to move off the couch so she could transfigure it into a large bed to perfectly fit Jacob's large frame.

"Right, we better show Charlie what we're dealing with," Hermione said.

Charlie noted the way the three shifters shuffled on their feet, before following them out of the tent and towards the house. He didn't bother taking in the details of the house environment, knowing Hermione had asked him there for a specific reason and that was what he had to focus on.

Hermione entered the house first, followed by Seth and Jacob. Charlie followed after him and surprisingly, Leah followed behind Charlie. She'd only set foot in The Cullen house once for no more than five minutes since they'd been pulled into the situation, but Hermione knew she was protective of Charlie and wanted to be close by for his safety. He might not have been her imprint, but he was her boyfriend and he was important to her.

Charlie's eyes quickly flickered over the occupants of the room and he immediately became aware of his magic warning him against danger. From a single glance he knew there to be seven vampires staring at him and one human not looking to be doing so well. Despite himself, he felt his hand moving to his back pocket where his wand was hidden.

"Before we explain why we need your expertise, I'll introduce you. We have Jasper and Alice, Emmet and Rosalie, Carlisle and Esme, and Edward and Bella."

Charlie wasn't oblivious to the change in her tone when introducing him to the occupants of the room. With the first four Hermione seemed friendly, with the next two she seemed respectful as you would with parents, and the last two had been spoken with clear dislike. He wasn't the only one to notice.

"Carlisle is a Muggle doctor and he's been responsible for tracking and documenting Bella's health."

The vampire in question stood up and approached him. "We thank you for coming on such short notice. We need all the help we can get and Hermione has told us you're the best at what you do."

Carlisle held his hand out, Charlie eyed it before placing his hand in the vampire's and shaking it, aware of how Leah shifted closer to him. He allowed his hand to fall away from his back pocket and he shifted it until it brushed against Leah's, feeling her calm slightly at his touch.

"I am," Charlie replied.

"And so modest too," Hermione rolled her eyes.

Charlie removed his hand from Carlisle's and pushed Hermione. She reached up and slapped him over the head in retaliation. They both stared each other down, Hermione with her hands on her hips and her eyes narrowed, whilst Charlie had his eyes narrowed and his hands crossed over his chest. Several people in the room were amused by the display, others not so much.

"When you're done being so childish, maybe you can actually get on with the reasoning for involving another human."

"Stop being so bloody moody, you sour disco ball. You're the reason you're in this mess in the first place."

Emmet's laughter boomed and Charlie blinked in surprise.

"I know, he reminds me of you too, a giant walking, talking teddy bear," she told Charlie. She then took a deep breath. "Right, prepare yourself."

"For what?"

Hermione looked to Bella and Edward helped her to stand, her blanket falling from her lap and revealing her large, pregnant stomach.

Charlie stared.

He looked to Hermione, to Bella, around the occupants of the room all watching him carefully, back to Bella and then back to Hermione.

"I know," she said softly, knowing he was feeling the exact same way she had.

"Please tell me she's just fat," Charlie said quietly.

"Pregnant," Hermione said gently.

"Vampire? Please tell me it's not, please tell me it's a human father," he pleaded.

"Vampire," she replied.

The room plunged into silence, their eyes glued to Charlie as he stared at Bella in horror. His face paled and then he darted to the kitchen, emptying the contents of his stomach into the kitchen sink.