CHAPTER 15:

She had moved.

She had finally gone ahead and done it.

The house was set. Molly had packed her enough food to last through the first month, putting stasis charms on them so they'd keep that long. Then, she had kissed her best friends and her pseudo-family goodbye and portkeyed it out with a sleeping Teddy in her arms.

"Just you and me, boy," Hermione smiled at the slumbering baby and entered her new home.

"TADA!" warbled Alice's musical voice. "Welcome.. oh crap!"

"PROTEGO MAXIMUS!" Hermione screamed, shielding Teddy with her upper body as the sheen of bluish hue went up between her and the vampires, her wand clutched tightly in her hand.

"I warned you about scaring a soldier!" Jasper whispered, knowing his mate would hear him despite his quiet voice.

"Hermione, it's just us," Alice tried to calm her.

"Shit Alice!" Hermione swore, "Don't you ever do that to me again. I've just faced war not six months back and I've been fighting for my life for the past seven years! My adrenalin rush might just be responsible for setting your sparkly ass on fire!"

Alice laughed. "You'd never harm me. Rosalie and I are going to be your two other girlfriends and we're gonna be closer to you than the mutt's girl and Ginny."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Have I ever told you that I hate divination and every other such hokum related to it?"

"How is he still sleeping?" Rosalie asked cutting their banter, her eyes trained solely on the baby in Hermione's arms, since the minute she'd walked in through the door.

"I put a mild sleeping charm on him when I left England. I didn't want him panicking during portkeying," Hermione smiled looking down at the baby. "Well, now that he is sleeping, everyone please take a good look at him, this is his natural face. He tends to change it when he's up and about. So, if any of you ever decides to take him out in public with muggles around, make sure he has a hat on because he loves to turn his hair blue and if he is trying to please you, he will turn his features to match yours, don't let his sweet face fool you."

"He can change his features?" Jasper asked impressed.

"You'll let us take him out?" Rosalie asked in shock.

"Yes, and yes, why not? You guys are a part of my family now, if you want to, you can take him out to the parks and stuff. Though I must warn you that you'll need to be careful in front of muggles," Hermione shrugged.

"Have you thought of what you'll do with him when you're out at school?" Rosalie asked, steering the conversation in the direction she wanted to, knowing she had to do it now or she'd lose her nerves.

Hermione scrunched her nose. "That's actually something I wanted to discuss with you all. Do I have to attend this school? If I'm given the texts, I can just study it all at home and give my exams privately. I'm doing that for my NEWTs anyway."

"What are NEWTs?" Emmett asked.

"Nearly Exhausting Wizarding Tests. We graduate after giving those in our seventh year. Since I missed mine because of the war, I'm giving them privately at the end of the year, just before Christmas. Can I not do something similar with the muggle exams too?"

"You could," Carlisle agreed, "but it will be better if you attend Forks High. The more people see you around, the lesser they will suspect anything. It's best to mingle in."

"I don't particularly mix well," Hermione pouted. "I'm terrible at making new friends and everyone usually hates me in school."

Everyone chuckled. "Plus, I've heard some pretty nasty things about high schools and their students," Hermione mock shivered, shaking Teddy with her.

"Nonsense! I want my best friend with me in the final year of my school," Alice pouted.

"I thought Bella was your best friend," Esme teased her.

"I thought I was your best friend," Jasper frowned at her.

Hermione shook her head, "You're quite like Ginny, you know. Full of theatrics. But I have to think of Teddy too and I'm really not comfortable just leaving him at a day care with muggle kids."

Rosalie bit her lower lip and prepared herself. It's now or never. "If it's only about Teddy, I can watch him for you while you're at school or busy elsewhere. In one of our older schools I've even done pediatrics and Esme can help me cook him healthy meals and I never get exhausted, I don't need rest and I.."

"Rosalie, Rosalie.. Stop. Breathe. Now tell me, do you really mean it? It's a big commitment and I would completely understand if you…"

"No, no. I absolutely mean it. There's no place else I'd rather be."

"What about your school then?"

"Just passed out last year."

"Great! You're it! Thank you so much," Hermione moved around a little and hugged Rosalie tightly, uncaring of her freezing body. "You don't know how much you've done for me."

"No," Rosalie shook her head, "you don't know how much you're doing for me by allowing me to be a part of Teddy's life."

"You were gonna be an important part of his life anyway. But now, thanks to you, I can actually concentrate in school knowing you're there with him. I know you will protect him and care for him and that's all any mother asks for anyway."

"You don't mind that I'm a.."

"Absolutely not. And I wouldn't even have cared if you were a red eyed one. Our blood doesn't appeal to you and I can hardly point fingers at you guys when even we kill to feed ourselves, don't we? People just forget about the lives they take and begrudge others their lifestyles. I am not one of those, neither is anyone else from my family. You all will always receive the respect that's due to you, along with our gratitude for helping us with everything."

Rosalie smiled. A true, genuinely happy smile and Emmett stood beside her looking gob smacked. He had never seen her that happy in all the long years they'd been together. If Hermione could make his Rose happy, he'd protect her and her godson with everything he had in him. He'd do anything to keep Rosalie smiling like that. Anything.

That night when everyone left to let Hermione catch up on some sleep with Rosalie promising to swing by early the next day to meet the little boy, Emmett hung behind, moving out last out of the house and he hugged Hermione tightly, kissed both her cheeks and thanked her with all his heart.

Smiling, Hermione shut the door behind her and walked up to Teddy's room, laid him down on the bed and pecked his forehead, telling him how much he was loved by their new family already.

…

Meanwhile, to ensure Edward stayed away from the brunette witch that was moving in that evening, Bella had planned a double date for them – with her best friend Jacob and his imprint Luna. Much to both the boys' annoyance.

"Do we have to do this?" Edward groaned even as he stepped out of his car after parking it at an empty spot neat the town's diner.

"Yes! He is my best friend and you need to play nice with him," Bella admonished and pulled him along with her into the crowded space.

Jacob and Luna weren't particularly difficult to spot, though, what with her silver hair and neon orange dress!

Should have got my glares, Edward murmured to himself. Bella moved around him and slid onto the bench, pushing inside while Edward sat on the outside across Jacob who had Luna sitting on the inner side of their bench, the table between the two couples.

"Luna," Edward smiled in greeting. "Mutt," he nodded at Jacob.

"Leech," Jacob deadpanned.

"Bella," Luna smiled, probably the only one who actually thought the evening could be enjoyable.

Everyone gathered there had an agenda except her. Jacob wanted to prove to Luna that he was over Bella, not that she ever asked him anything about it. Edward wanted Bella to stop pestering him about everything. Bella wanted information. Something she had come to realize the witch sitting in front of her had in spades.

During dinner, Jacob downed all of his food and when Edward discreetly pushed his plate towards him, he smirked and downed it's contents too. The girls cut up their food daintily and ate as slowly as they could for some reason. Edward amused himself with everyone's thoughts. Especially the couple in front of him.

Luna kept looking around thoughtfully every now and then and wondered in her head if one magical creature or another was flitting by while Jacob first thought of devouring his food and when he realized his nemesis was in his head, he thought of all the things he planned on doing to his beautiful imprint once they were locked up in his truck.

If he could have, Edward would have turned red at the graphic details he saw in Jacob's head before he could pull himself out of it, scowling.

Once done, Bella tugged Luna along for a quick trip to the fresh room. When they were in, she turned to her and smiled coyly. "So, uhm.. I wanted to ask you a few things, actually, but I don't want to be overheard. Could you.. do you think you could take care of that?"

"Sure," Luna smiled and pulled her wand out of her clutch and placed privacy and silencing charms on the washroom. "Tell me, Bella, what is it?"

"Uhm.. I just wanted to know what you were saying the other day, when we were at Hermione's place.."

"About mating?" Luna asked, smiling pleasantly. She had been wondering why they had been asked for a double date, now she knew!

"Yes. What did you mean when you said that the bite works only for mates and that Edward and I could have sex but…?" she trailed off at Luna's knowing smile.

"I meant what I said, Bella. There are many vampires that take humans to bed. They might end up injuring them quite bad, what with their obvious superior strength and no requirement of sleep or respite, so they tend to tire out or sometimes even hurt their human partners, but a vampire and a human getting together isn't as uncommon an occurrence as you would believe. Though I must warn you, most vampires are only out playing with their food before they eat it. They'll toy with you first and drain you dry once they are done." Bella dry swallowed her fear. "Hey, don't worry. Edward won't drink you dry. He is a vegetarian remember?" Luna said, placing her cool pale hand over Bella's warm one.

Bella dry swallowed for a whole new reason.

"So, uhm.. what about the marking then?"

"That happens only with soulmates. Like Jacob and I for example. It's pretty much binding. While I'm not sure how it works for muggles, with us wizarding folks, it's as good as a marital binding. Once marked, a witch or a wizard can't be pregnant with or impregnate, as the case be, anyone else. It's just the mated pair for each other from then on. They live together, for each other and die together, with each other. One can't survive without the other for too long, after being marked."

"Once a magical creature recognises and accepts his or her mate, their life only revolves around them. They show their care through all their gestures, big and small. They have eyes only for their mate and feel an incessant need to touch and feel their mate every few minutes, it calms them and keeps their protective instincts at bay. They can not stop themselves from loving their mate, even if their relationship has a rocky start. It's actually quite like every romance filled muggle moving pictures Jacob's made me sit through," Luna giggled.

"In fact, the magical creatures get so helpless and downright suicidal without their mates that the Magical Ministries all world over have specific laws to ensure that they keep their mates. Not that I wanted to, but even if I did feel like rejecting the bond with Jacob, my ministry and his, would've ensured that I could do nothing of that sort and stayed with him."

"The magical creatures are also blessed that way, that they instinctively know what their mates want and need, so wooing their mates is never really a task for them," Luna gave an uncharacteristic smirk at that, as if smiling on a joke only she was in on.

"That actually quite matches what I feel for Edward, right down to me getting suicidal for him," Bella said happily.

But Luna shook her head. "Bella, if you were his true mate, he would never have had the will to leave you and go away. It just doesn't work that way. He literally would have needed you in touching distance to function. The magical creatures are nothing by themselves, once they accept their mate."

This time Bella shook her head. "You are mistaken. I am his mate, I know it. He left me for my protection and that is his instinct, protecting his mate, you said so yourself."

"Bella," Luna rubbed her hands tenderly, "when he finally accepts his mate, his sole focus is going to be turning her. He will not be able to picture eternity without her by his side and he will do his damnedest best to convince her to turn for him. That's how their protective instincts work. They only want to keep their mates with them, throughout. If it was you, you wouldn't have had to wait for so long to turn, he would've have ensured it even before the thought crossed your mind. But your case is quite the opposite, isn't it? He is still opposed to your turning, is he not? With his mate, he won't be able to do that, he'll go down on his knees if he has to but he'll ensure she changes for him."

"No," Bella shook her head. "He won't have to. I'll turn for him anyway, he doesn't need to beg me to do it. You'll see.. it is me who stands by his side all through eternity. You'll see.."