CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE


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.

AN

Alright guys, we're at the point in the story now where I can say we're approaching the end. We're almost done with this one, and I'm aiming to get it completed in around 5 chapters, maybe a few more depending on the content and chapter length.

Q&A

Inferius57 - To be honest, I'm not sure how it's possible, Bella being pregnant is part of Twilight cannon, as is Jacob, Seth and Leah breaking away from the pack, but I have altered several canon events in the past.

Bookluv22 - Don't worry, I have surprises in place to make this very different from canon. Without saying too much, you won't be getting your false happy ending.

I hope this chapter provides answers to many of the questions I've been asked.


Saturday 16th September 2006

Hermione appeared beside Charlie with a glass of water ready for him. He lifted his head and stared at her in horror, before taking the glass from her.

"Why did you call me in, you know what's going to happen?" he spoke quietly, being well aware that everyone but the human in the room could hear him, and from the corner of his eyes he noticed them all standing and staring at him.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I didn't want to believe what I was seeing, so I forced it out of my mind and I focused on finding other possible outcomes. I've cross referenced hundred of books, I've read thousands of extracts and gone over countless other possibilities," she replied, her voice as equally as quiet as his. "I've suspected from the very beginning that the rumours were true, but without any evidence I couldn't be sure."

He put the glass down on the side and turned his body towards hers. "You know what we have to do next," he muttered.

She closed her eyes tightly. "I'm scared, Charlie," she whispered.

"You and me both," he said quietly, as he reached over to pull her into him, hugging her tightly and resting his chin on top of her head.

"I don't want to do it."

"We don't have a choice. You and I both know that we have a duty to our people, to protect them from something such as this."

"What the hell is going on?" Rosalie finally demanded, getting bored of listening to their hushed conversation and not getting answers due to their vagueness.

Hermione and Charlie pulled back from each other, before he took her hand in his and pulled her back over to the gathered group, the vampires, human and shape-shifters all watching them expectantly.

"Well?" Jacob asked, a lot kinder than Rosalie had. He didn't like the way she and Charlie looked to each other for support, apparently trying to figure the best way to break the news to them, or even if they should break the news to them.

They both took a breath and closed their eyes, visibly collecting themselves and once they opened their eyes, they stood taller, still hand in hand, and their faces were set in a blank mask of indifference.

"Hermione and I have both heard rumours regarding a situation similar to the one we are dealing with now," Charlie spoke, choosing his words carefully.

"And? Given that your reaction matched Hermione's exactly, it's not good it is?" Alice spoke, her tinkling voice quiet and her hand held by Jasper as they stood off to the side.

Hermione lifted her eyes and they locked onto Jasper. He raised a questioning eyebrow and she shook her head slightly, indicating that it wasn't good. The others were too busy looking at Charlie to notice their small interaction. Jasper closed his eyes before wrapping his arm around Alice's shoulder and pulling her into his side protectively.

"The rumours that we've heard are not pleasant," he admitted, feeling the entire atmosphere in the room plummet to something cold and frightening, something so tense and unwelcoming that Hermione shivered.

"But that does not mean that they are correct," Hermione added, unsure if she were trying to convince them or herself. "As we said, they are rumours and we all know that rumours can't be trusted. I've come to a standstill regarding my research and nothing I have come across has been even remotely helpful."

"So what's the next step?" Carlisle asked. "Bella is due for labour in a matter of weeks."

Hermione and Charlie looked to each other before they nodded in agreement, but neither of them looked to be pleased with their next course of action.

"There is someone we know," Charlie said. "Someone that may be able to tell us everything we need to know."

"And that is?" Jasper asked curiously.

"We don't know," they both replied.

"Where are they?"

"We don't know," they repeated, to the many frowns of confusion in the room.

"But you just said..."

"I know, we know of someone, the only problem is we don't know who they are or where they are, but we have a starting point."

"And that is?" Esme asked with a slight crease in her forehead.

"We can't tell you," Hermione replied. "We've already said too much."

"You haven't said anything," Edward snapped.

Hermione narrowed her eyes on him. "You can't blame anyone but yourself for this mess. What the bloody hell were you thinking? She's human, you could've killed her!"

"But I didn't," he snarled.

"Barely, I bet you left bruises, didn't you?" All eyes were flying between her and him. "That's what I thought. You think you're something special, don't you?" Her voice had taken a chilly tone and she released Charlie's hand and took a step forward. "Well let me tell you, Mind Reader, you are not the only being in the world that is able to read the thoughts of others, if we so wished it, both myself and Charlie could easily force our way into your mind and see every thought you've ever had. Maybe we should do that, maybe we should see how you like it."

"Hermione," Seth said softly, trying to calm her before things escalated.

"You think you're the only vampire to have taken an interest in a human? You think you're the only vampire to have slept with a human?" She saw his eyes widen slightly. "God! You actually thought that!" She couldn't help the laugh that left her. "You're a vampire, but you're not special. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to fix the fucking mess you've made!" She snapped, before storming out of the room, down the steps and outside.

The room remained silent, until Emmet burst out laughing, his booming laughter surprising Charlie and startling the others.

"To be fair, you deserved that one," Emmet laughed and shrugged. "You've been a pain in the arse for decades; it's about time someone took you down."

Charlie cleared his throat. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I better make sure she doesn't set something on fire, and then we're going to plan our next steps. Hopefully we'll be out of here by morning."

"Hold on, what do you mean?" Seth asked with a frown.

"If we want to find out if the rumours are true, we need to go straight to the source. Hermione and I will be leaving in the morning, we know the starting point and the rest will fall into place. So, I better get going so we can get ready for leaving."


"Charlie said you're leaving in the morning," Seth spoke, drawing Hermione's attention.

She put her book down and turned to face him, seeing him leaning against the door frame of the bedroom door.

"Yes, we are," she said with a sigh.

Seth stepped into the room and closed the door behind him before walking over to the bed and climbing on beside her. The moment he laid down she was snuggling into him and listening to his calming heart beat.

"How long will you be gone?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "We honestly don't know who we're looking for or where they are, but we do have a starting point. Once we get there, we'll follow the trail and hopefully it'll lead us to where we need to be and we'll get the answers we're looking for and we'll know what to do."

"Do you know what it is?"

Hermione took a deep breath and held Seth tighter.

"Yes, and hopefully I'm wrong."

"We all saw your reaction to finding out about the pregnancy, and we all saw Charlie's too. Just how bad is it?"

"Bad, it's really bad," she whispered. "And honestly, I'm afraid of learning the truth."

Seth looked down at her when he felt her body shaking; at first he thought she was having another tremor, but there was no sign of pain on her face, only fear.

"You're scared, aren't you?"

"Terrified," she whispered.

"I'm coming with you."

She shook her head. "No, it's better that only Charlie and I go, we don't want to risk drawing any unwanted attention, and the less people that go, there is less chance of someone getting injured, because where we're going is dangerous. I don't want you anywhere near this, and I told you before, I'm not letting your education suffer because of them. I love you and I only want what's best for you."

"I don't like it, I don't like that you're leaving and I don't know where you're going," he muttered.

"Trust me, Seth, if this wasn't our only option, Charlie and I wouldn't be going either. If the Dragon Tamer's afraid, then it's cause for worry."

"You won't have me for protection."

Her mouth twitched. "Not this time, but let's not forget I'm a witch with a magical wand, I have my Dragon Tamer brother with me, and we're taking Benji with us. He won't let anyone within twenty feet of us if he thinks we'll be in danger. You can't always be the one to save me, My Wolf."

He sighed. "You'll be gone for your birthday," he said and she nodded. "Mom will be disappointed; she was planning a dinner in your honour."

Hermione felt her mouth pull into a smile. "I may be back in time, and if not, we can always do it another time, a time when we're not all too busy focusing on saving bloody Bella Swan's life."

"I suppose I better give you your gift now," he spoke.

He shuffled himself away from her and climbed off the bed, making his way over to the desk and digging inside of his jacket pocket that was hung on the back of the chair. He pulled out a rectangular box and headed back over to the bed, sitting beside her and handing her the box with a smile.

"What is it?" she asked, as she took the box from him.

"Your birthday present, open it."

Hermione removed the lid from the box and her eyes widened slightly at the sight that met her. A bracelet. It was a simple silver chain that consisted of only a small love heart that matched the design of her promise ring, and it was accompanied by a charm, a carving of a wolf.

"Why do you insist on buying my jewellery?"

His mouth pulled into a smile. "Because you're not a materialistic person, and that makes me want to give you everything. There's no point in me buying you books, the chances are that anything I bought you you'd already have, and I know your family would resort to books, so I thought I'd get you something you didn't have," he answered, taking the bracelet from the box and fastening it around her wrist. "Happy not yet your birthday."

She laughed at him and pulled him into a tight hug.

"I'm going to miss you," she sighed. "But I'll come back to you.


Sunday 17th September 2006

"Please look after each other," Hermione said, her eyes darting between the three wolves.

"We'll be fine," Jacob rolled his eyes.

"I don't believe you," she replied, earning snorts from Leah, Seth and Charlie. "We'll keep in contact; I'll make sure to check in regularly so you know we're fine. And I set up a meeting with Embry and Quil, you can relay to them everything you know, and be sure to inform them that once we return, we'll reveal everything we know. Alright?" They nodded. "Good, now, you boys need to get to school and we had better get going too."

They said their goodbyes, before Charlie and Hermione left the tent with Benji following after them.

"You have everything sorted?" Charlie asked her as they trudged through the woods.

"Yes, Harry's managed to acquire us a temporary port keying license, we'll be able to port key as many times as we wish without having to inform The Ministries every time we do. That'll keep them off our backs and us from breaking the law."

"That'll come in useful," he nodded in agreement.

"We're going to need it, our first stop is Norway, and hopefully we'll be able to follow the trail and it'll lead us to where we need to be in a matter of days. We don't have long left, labour is set to happen soon, and to be honest, I don't know how much longer Bella has left."

"Judging by the look of her, I'd stay a week, maybe two at best. If the rumours are true, whatever is inside of her is slowly killing her, draining her life force and taking it for themselves, which would explain the accelerated development of the pregnancy." Hermione shivered at his words. "We have no time for messing around; we need to focus on our task and nothing else."

"Agreed," Hermione said, before halting at a stop and pulling out the first port key of their travels. If she had placed the correct coordinates on the port key, they would land somewhere in the middle of the Norwegian forests.

"We be careful and we watch out for each other," she said.

Charlie nodded. "If anything were to happen to me, you leave and you get yourself to safety."

She nodded and took a deep breath. "And the same goes for you."


Friday 22nd September 2006

Days had passed since Hermione and Charlie had left to discover the secrets and truths behind the rumours. Days of port keying, of hiking and traipsing through woods and forests, of following leads and finding dead ends.

Days of sleeping in the middle of nowhere with only a Warming Charm, a sleeping bag, Hermione's wards and Benji for protection against the cold nights and the dangers that lurked in the dark.

Days of eating tinned food and drinking water conjured from a wand, of reading and pouring over books they knew would not be the slightest bit helpful, but they continued to do so anyway.

Days of only having each other for company, of only having each other for protection and only being able to trust each other. Days of only being able to take out their anger on each other.

Hermione sighed when Charlie kicked an empty tin across the ground in annoyance of falling into another dead end. They were currently in Algeria, their seventh destination in the week that had passed. They'd only been there a couple of hours when they realised that the trail they had followed to their current location led them into another dead end, and this wasn't the first time it had happened.

"Charlie," she muttered, putting down her own tin of soup which she had heated up with a Warming Charm. "I know you're frustrate.,"

"No, you don't!" He snapped. "You can't possibly know that, you can't possibly understand what I'm feeling!"

He paced back and forth in front of the fire pit they had created to keep them warm in the dead of night, and the fire reflected in Hermione's eyes.

"You're right, I can't possibly know how you're feeling, I mean, it's not as though I've been with you every step of the way or anything," she replied, her voice void of any emotion. "It's not as though I haven't ran into the same dead ends as you, is it? Or that I'm not sleeping in the same conditions as you, or that I don't have the foggiest of what we're doing or where we're heading, it is?"

He stopped his pacing and turned his body to face her, the annoyed look on his face softening slightly.

"It's not as though I've been in a similar situation before, is it? Where I've been on the run, trying to complete a mission that would help to save the Wizarding World? That's nothing like what we're doing right now."

He sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

"You're right, I'm sorry and I shouldn't take my anger out on you. You've done nothing wrong."

"Glad to see you can pull yourself together without me babying you," she replied.

He snorted and moved to sit on the log opposite her, putting them on either side of the fire. Charlie lifted his eyes to her, his mouth twitching when he saw that Benji was curled up against her with his large head resting on her thighs and his tail was wrapped around her legs.

"It's too bad he's not big enough to ride yet," he commented, nodding to Benji.

"Not a chance in hell, I've had more than enough experience riding a dragon, thank you very much."

He chuckled and shook his head, being well aware of the dragon she had flown out of Gringotts. News had reached Romania even before he had been called to England for the Final Battle.

"Let's go over everything we know."

He groaned and dropped his head into his hands. "We've done this hundreds of times over the last week."

"Then once more won't kill us," she replied. "So, we're definitely sure that we're looking in the right continent, just the wrong country. We should stick to Europe. We know that the person we're looking for is a vampire themselves, but we still don't know their name or whereabouts."

Charlie sighed and lifted his head up. "We definitely know they're not in Norway, Belarus, Spain, Latvia, Poland, Ukraine or Algeria, so we can cross those off the list. For some reason, we're always finding a trail that leads to a dead end, which means whoever this is, doesn't want to be found. But why? What could this vampire possibly fear?" He mused out loud.

She bit her lip in thought. "That's a good point. Why are they in hiding? And why have they been in hiding for so long? And judging from the time line we've managed to create, these rumours first started around two thousand years ago."

"Which would make this vampire, as far as we're aware, one of the oldest in existence. So we can assume they're one of the first to be discovered," Charlie said and she nodded in agreement.

"So, where was the first vampire discovered?"

He shrugged. "Everyone knows that."

"Transylvania," they spoke together, before a sudden metaphorical light bulb went off above their heads.

"It can't be," she said. "It's so simple, so obvious."

"Which is why it's perfect. Hiding in the most obvious of places would give you the protection you wanted. No one would think to look for you there, especially since the whole muggles discovering vampires fiasco back in the fifteen hundreds. No vampire has dared to set foot anywhere near Transylvania."

"Which makes it perfect," Hermione agreed.

"Well, I guess we're heading to Romania. Bloody hell, we could've saved ourselves a lot of time and energy if we had figured this out sooner," he groaned. "Well, if we pack up now, we can head to The Reserve and spend the night at my place. Once we're rested we can head straight over to Transylvania, it's only a couple hundred miles from The Reserve."

"Sounds like a plan."


Saturday 23rd September 2006

'And you're sure you're fine?'

'Seth, I am perfectly healthy, Charlie's been taking good care of me, there's nothing for you to worry about,' she promised her boyfriend through their own mind link.

'I'm just worried about you,' he replied.

'I know you are, but I'll be back before you know it. Charlie and I think we have a lead.'

'You've been saying that for the last few days,' he said, and Hermione could practically hear the pout in his voice.

'I know I have, but I mean it this time. This lead might actually take us to where we need to go, and if we're right and all goes to plan, we'll be back in the next couple of days. Now, enough of that; how is everything?'

'Things have been tense since you left, Edward seems to be arguing more with Rosalie, Jasper, Alice and Emmet, and Esme's doing her best to be the mediator as usual. Carlisle's worried about Bella's development, but he's still giving her your Nutrition Potions regularly, though she still looks as though she's going to die at any given moment. Jake's been storming about the place, he's worried about you and he's deliberately picking fights will Edward to keep him distracted so he's not worrying about you. Leah's been quieter than usual, so I know she misses Charlie. Jake set up a meeting with Sam, after they'd finally calmed down enough to listen to each other, Sam's agreed to step back until you return, hopefully with a solution. He's placing his trust in you.'

'I haven't let him down and I'm not going to start now,' she replied. 'Now that I know how they're doing, how are you doing?'

'I miss you,' he sighed.

'I miss you too.'

'It's really quiet without you, things don't feel fight, and not just because of me, but Jacob and Leah are acting differently too.'

'Hopefully I'll be back soon with a way to fix all of this mess and the pack can get back together and everything will go back to normal. How's school?'

'The same as usual, but I did get an A on my Chemistry test.'

'That's brilliant,' she exclaimed in pride.

'Well, I've spent so much time watching you in your potions lab that I was bound to pick up on a few things.'

'Well, I'm really proud of you. I've got to go, Charlie's just got back with Benji; we're off now. Just remember that I love you and I'll be back with you soon enough.'


"Are we sure about this?" Hermione asked Charlie, as her eyes darted about the forest they were currently traipsing blindly through.

"No, but it's the best lead we've had so far and this actually has something to it. I think this may be it, I've got a feeling."

"Yeah, me too, and I don't like it," she replied, pulling her coat closed and crossing her arms over her chest, her wand gripped in her hand just in case.

"I thought it was just me," he replied with a frown, noticing her actions.

"Do you get the feeling we're being watched?" she asked quietly, her eyes seemingly everywhere, and he found himself mirroring her actions with his own wand in his hand and his eyes darting about.

"Now that you mention it..."

A sudden rustling of leaves had Hermione halting in her steps and spinning around.

"Did you hear that?"

"Just the wind," he waved her off.

The sound of several twigs snapping filled their ears.

"And that? Was that just the wind?" she hissed.

"I hope so," he muttered, not wanting to admit it but Hermione was right, there was something strange about the forest they were in. Something just seemed...off.

Hermione felt the wind being knocked out of her as she was suddenly sent flying to the ground, her knees banging off the floor and her palms scraping against the rough foliage beneath her.

She felt Charlie touch her shoulder before his presence was suddenly gone from beside her and the sound of a loud 'thud' echoed in the forest. Panic and fear filled her, and she reached for her fallen wand, feeling the comfort of it wash over her when it was in her hand. She pushed herself up onto her feet, her eyes darting about before they landed on Charlie and his form crumpled to the ground beside a tree, and there was not a single sign of Benji.

She rushed to his side, dropping onto her knees and quickly checking for a pulse. He was alive, just unconscious. She breathed a sigh of relief before standing and taking a defensive position, her eyes darting about her surroundings and her body slowly turning to see from all angles.

"I'm not stupid, I know you're there. You may as well come out and make an appearance. I promise, I will be far easier to deal with if I'm not forced to resort to drastic measures."

There was silence. Even the wind seemed to have fled as she could no longer hear it or feel it against her skin.

A sound of a twig snapping in half drew her attention and she spun around with her wand pointed, only to be taken off guard when a force slammed into her from behind, sending her barrelling into a tree and smacking into the ground.

Her head throbbed, her mind was fuzzy and her eye sight went blurry, before everything went black.