This is for all my lovely readers who took the time out of their busy lives to drop me reviews that made me write this chapter for them!

To,

SereniteRose, fairyblue1132, loukritia, lighting one, mandorakat, faytiaa, AmethystRoseMalfoy, Glorificus26, sakiy, TwistedWorldsExist, crazyKate92, suziq968, catalina05, CallaRose4ever and tbirdstar...

Thanks a ton guys, you are the very motivation every writer needs!

Chapter 6:

Hermione was not really surprised the next morning to see the two beefy guys from the beach at Paul's home. What did surprise her though was that one of them was bent over the stove and the other was lugging around stuff, that curiously looked like construction gear, but she did not even feel like identifying any of it so early in the morning. Paul, she saw, was bent on some papers. House plans…

"What's happening?" Hermione pinned the three large men with her creased eyes, making the trio halt their work to look at her. Such venomous was her tone.

"And a very good morning to you too, Sunshine," the man in the open kitchen replied. "I'm Jared, by the way. And that one there is Sam. And of course, you know Paul, quite intimately, I hear."

Paul's eyes darted quickly from Jared to Hermione, all the while he was working hard to not let the colour in his cheeks show. His packmates would not let him live in peace otherwise!

"Real funny," Hermione scowled at Jared before turning to glare at Paul. "What's all this now?" she asked gesturing at the helmets and the numerous other paraphernalia that was loitering around the large hall.

"I just wanted to mend the house for you. My friends are here to help me."

"Oh, for crying out loud! Did I not tell you I'll get to it soon! Merlin! What world is this where a woman can't even grieve in peace, without having weird construction implements greeting her in the morning before breakfast," Hermione sighed. "Paul, you simply work on getting edible food on the table, on time if possible, I'll take care of everything else. I did say that yesterday, didn't I?"

"Merlin! But boys and their aggravating toys!" Hermione muttered under her breath, though every wolf in the room heard her. "You'd think age would grant them some wisdom, but no! Their crazy obsessions are gonna be the death of me some day!" Hermione pottered around the large room taking everything in.

"I'm doing this immediately simply because it's got your knickers in a twist. But make sure the breakfast is freaking worth it for me!" Leaving it at that, Hermione again turned a critical eye around the room.

"Now, what did you have in mind?"

"Nothing as of yet. I was looking at the plans when you…"

"A man with no plan!" Hermione said through clenched teeth, as she regarded her soulmate.

"What's your favourite colour?" she asked next.

"Ehm.. green?"

"Fucking perfect! I'm married to a freaking Slytherin-wannabe."

She closed her eyes to picture the room in her mind before she could yield her wand but she quite clearly heard the collective gasp of the room after she'd uttered the m word. Well, tough! For all intents and purposes they were married and she refused to sugar-coat it for anyone.

Pulling her wand out of her bun, getting her hair to cascade down her back, unintentionally mesmerising a particular wolf, Hermione threw a few different splashes of green on the wall in front of her.

"So, which one do you like best?"

Hermione turned around only to find three identical looks on the men in front of her. All had their jaws hanging unbecomingly open and were staring at her with eyes that seemed ready to pop out of their sockets.

"What?" she shrugged her shoulders in question.

For a few seconds all was quiet. Too quiet. Before a plethora of noises exploded. Utensils fell. Food splashed across the uncarpeted floor. Sam moved menacingly in her direction. Paul jumped in front of him, pinning him to the wall behind. Quite unintentionally, Hermione's instincts kicked in forcing her to sound-proof the little house.

"She's a threat," Sam growled at Paul.

"You touch her and I'll rip you limb-by-limb," Paul warned, a strange aggression in his eyes that made even his Alpha rethink his course of action.

"What is happening?" Hermione butt in again.

Jared had dashed to his packmates' sides and helped Paul retain Sam while also patting Sam to help him keep his wits about. "You're a witch," he said, mild accusation colouring his tone, making Paul growl at him too.

"Yes, thank you," Hermione's tone was exasperated. "What about it?"

She seemed so calm about the entire wand flaying thing, and yes, they now knew it was a wand that held her hair, that the energy from the three wolves zapped down with her serenity.

"You knew?" Sam growled in her direction, taking care to keep his tone even.

"That I can yield magic? Do you even hear yourself? Of course, I knew! Why? Didn't you know you change into rather large wolves?" she sassily questioned Sam back.

"I.. We.. But.. … How..?" Sam was quiet literally rendered speechless.

"I'm gonna go on a hunch and say you had no idea about magic?"

All three men shook their heads. Hermione whistled.

"Well then. Here goes. I'm a witch. And I can yield magic with my wand." She flicked the wand in her hand for emphasis and left the bit about wandless magic out for now. "Did you guys really think you'd be the only ones with magic in their blood in this entire world?"

"Uhm.. Well.." Jarod cleared his throat. "We never really thought about other magical beings out there."

"I'm not a magical being, you three are. I am, like I said, a witch. And if push comes to shove, I'd have to admit that there are definitely infinitely more of me than of you. Shape-shifters barely make up a tiny percent of the magical population. Witches and wizards on the other hand are past the 80% mark. Magical beings and creatures in general, are such a small fragment of our population, that everyone usually just discounts them or abuses them. I work, well I used to work in a department that tries to change the treatment accorded to the likes of you."

"So.. there's more of you where you came from?'' Sam asked, finally wetting his throat enough to actually string words together.

"There's more of me right here in the US. The MACUSA is the largest magical governing body in the world today. Did they not tell you guys any of this?"

"We don't know anything about the MACUSA," Jarod said, his brows furrowed.

Hermione's eyebrows quite literally disappeared in her hair.

"How did you guys phase and all then? I mean, what happened after the first phasing? Did no one from your ministry come to explain things to you?"

The idea of someone coming over with brochures to explain their condition to them sounded so foreign that all the three men snorted in unison. "No. Our tribe elders spoke to us. They shared some legends and we inferred all the information from them."

And everything just suddenly clicked in Hermione's head, all the jumbled pieces falling finally in place. Paul hadn't said anything because he himself didn't know anything! It was then Hermione noticed that Paul had kept completely mum all through this new debacle, too. Simply pinning his freakingly large friend to the wall when he thought she might be threatened. He had honestly meant no harm!

"Choose a colour," Hermione said catching Paul's eyes and tilting her chin to point at the paint splashes that had started the entire debacle in the first place. "Let me quickly finish this and then we can discuss everything over our breakfast."

Nodding, Jarod and Sam walked to kitchen, now more than ever wanting to get the cooking done to understand exactly what was happening.

Paul on the other hand walked cautiously close to Hermione. He stared at her intently before breaking his gaze and looking at all the colours splashed on the wall. "This one," he said, finally pointing at a light mint green shade. Hermione nodded. "Do.." he cleared his throat and tried again. "Do you like it too?'' he asked then.

"Yes," Hermione softly whispered. "I only showed you the shades of green I am willing to live with." And then she turned away from him, her wand dancing in her hand as she had the walls colour themselves. A few more twists and flicks from her had the stuff splattered across the hall rearranging itself, until finally a sense of decorum settled over the newly done-up hall. "I'll work on the tit-bits later, alright?" Paul nodded, offering her small smile.

Jarod whistled from the kitchen. "Not bad at all, missy."

Hermione smirked her response and turned to Paul again. "So, you really did not know.. that day.. what was happening..?"

"No," Paul emphatically shook his head. "Please, please believe me, Hermione. I honestly had no idea," he continued, enveloping her dainty hands, wand and all, in his large warm ones. "I don't know if I could have stopped my wolf from coming out to play like that, but I would never have done it without speaking to you first. Please, believe me… I…"

"Paul.." Hermione cut in. "I believe you. I.. I'm not angry on you anymore. And I'm.. I'm sorry for everything I said. Sometimes I let my temper get the best of me. And I know I have a vindictive side," she grimaced.

"No.. No, don't apologize," Paul said, tugging their entwined hands closer to his chest.

Their eyes met, each looking intently at the other. Seeking answers, assurances.. and something a little more deeper.

"We'll get through this, right? Everything that life's dealt us with.. Your magic and.. and mine?"

Paul nodded. "I'll do everything in my power to make your life here happy. And if you don't want to stay here, then we'll move anywhere you want to go but we'll make this work, Hermione. Magic or no magic, you'll always be mine and I'll take care of you. I'll love you. I'll protect you. If you only let me…."

Hermione rose up on her toes and then pushed herself up a little more before her lips finally met their destination. She awarded Paul's words with a sweet, albeit small, kiss before coming back down on her feet again. The twinkle of his eyes and the rather big grin he was sporting was enough of a proof for Hermione that kissing Paul had been the right thing to do.

"I will. We can do this. Let's. Together."

"Yes, together.." Paul loved how that word sounded. Especially when it came from his little witch...

...

Author's Note: Let's just say they all sat down for breakfast and caught each other up on the tribal legends, tribal elders and their roles and the MACUSA. A few years down the line I see Hermione establishing a small office affiliated with the MACUSA that works with such smaller fractions of the magical population by educating them about themselves, others like them and most importantly about the government that directly or indirectly governs them!

Paul is obviously already crazy about our heroine but over the course of time I see them actually falling in love with each other for what they are instead of some magical bond forcing them into it. They'd be married and have a few kids, three sons I think (therefore Hermione's decision to work in a smaller self-owned office rather than at the Ministry itself). I see the elder one as a complete Paul Jr. down to his swooning ladies since his cradle. The second one would be a Paul look-alike again but be a complete mumma's boy behaviour, taste and interest – wise. The last one I see as the baby of the family. Pampered by the entire reservation! Kind of like a junior version of James Potter the Senior, you know, kind yet mischievous, adorable but arrogant but a loyal friend till the end? And maybe a surprise pregnancy might come along and the happy couple might finally be blessed with a little girl, that the two parents were secretly craving, who would definitely have her father and her brothers wrapped around her tiny little finger since birth. In turn, she'd be the most protected girl in all of Forks, over the reservation and obviously at Hogwarts as I don't see her brothers letting her off the hook even there. Oh! And yes, Hogwarts because I can't see Hermione sending her kids to any other school!

There! That's for you all my readers! Thank you for all your love and support!

Love,

Crazy Ana