Chapter Eight

"I'm Bella," said the young, dark-haired woman with her dark crimson eyes. Meeting those crimson eyes for too long made Hermione edgy, but she struggled to tamp down those thoughts.

"Hello, Bella. I, as you know by now, am Hermione. I'm so glad to meet you at last. I can't even begin to express how relieved I am to have found you, all of you. You don't know how I searched and searched for something, anything, that would help Luna, and now I have the answers before me." Her voice broke here and she took a couple of deep breaths, pulling herself together.

Sam was both impressed and yet immensely bothered by how quickly she got herself back under control. He was impressed that she managed it in the first place under the circumstances – he'd be flipping out in her place – but he was bothered by the fact that her fear and pain and worry were still there, beneath the surface of her calm. She seemed like a person who hadn't allowed themselves to give in to their emotions for far too long, and he knew firsthand how detrimental it could be to continue to keep so much emotion bottled up.

There was something about her that bothered him. Rather, there was something about her appearance that bothered him, something that wasn't right. As he watched her, it was her eyes that gave him his first clue that something was seriously wrong with his imprint. There were dark circles beneath her eyes, and their agate-colored depths hid dark, terrible secrets. Her face was pale and thin and pinched, her cheeks kind of hollow; she was exhausted, and looked like she hadn't slept in months. Sam allowed his gaze to wander over her slight frame, discreetly, of course, and what he saw in her body did nothing to alleviate his concerns. No, in fact, they were made worse as he realized how thin she was. She looked almost anorexic, and she held herself tightly, arms wrapped closely around herself and her posture held stiff. And so her words did not ring true for Sam. Yes, she had the answers to her problems with her friend, but the shadows in her eyes spoke of suffering that went far beyond worry over the rape of a friend. This woman had been afraid for a very long time and had given practically everything she had to fight her fear.

Before anyone could say anything in response, a sudden ear-piercing noise split the air, causing Hermione to start violently. So quickly even the vampires were surprised, she was on her feet, her wand raised as her eyes darted back and forth around the room, searching for the source of the noise. It wasn't until she heard Bella's voice say, "Hello?" that she realized the noise was the ringing of a cell phone.

Feeling extremely foolish, she put her wand away once more and lowered herself to sit down again. "Er, sorry about that," she said meekly to the vampires, all of whom were staring at her. "I'm a bit jumpy these days."

Jake privately thought that was an understatement – he'd never seen anyone so jumpy, not even his pack-mates when they'd phased for the first time – but he said nothing. He'd prefer not to risk Sam getting irritated with him for insulting his imprint.

"That's perfectly understandable," Carlisle told her. Then he added, "Would you care to bring your friend here? I can examine her wherever it is you are staying in Port Angeles, but it will be easiest to monitor and care for her here."

She nodded. She glanced up at the wall and her eyes found the clock, and she said, "Actually, yes. I hadn't realized I was here so long, and even though I left Luna a note telling her where I'd be, I hate leaving her for so long. I'd best get back to her now. I'll bring her back with me in a bit as soon as I've had a chance to explain everything to her. Don't be alarmed if we appear out of thin air in your front yard."

Carlisle nodded his assent. Her eyes swept the room once more and softened. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you for listening to me, for not trying to attack me, for agreeing to help me. I'll be back soon."

When Sam made a move as if to follow her, she turned to him. "Stay with Jacob and…Paul, was it? I'll be back soon. As quickly as you can run, I can still make it to Port Angeles, explain everything to Luna, and come back with her before you could make it from here to there. And I promise we'll have a chance to talk today."

He stood there indecisively for a moment. "Trust me," she said. "I know that's asking a lot given the fact that we don't know each other, but you've got to trust me. You've seen me produce a flock of birds out of thin air, what makes you think I can't make it to Port Angeles and back in less than twenty minutes?"

Though his logical mind was whispering a constant stream of warnings, the wolf within his head was anxious, both trusting in her to keep her promise and worried by the idea of being away from her for any length of time. But what else could he do? She'd already demonstrated that unless her wand were taken away, she would do what she pleased, with or without his consent, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. The thought terrified him, and he knew with a certainty he'd never felt before that he needed to have this talk with her, to make her understand that despite the fact that she could clearly look after herself, he still felt compelled to protect her and could not do so if she were constantly leaving him behind.

He nodded his agreement, and barely suppressed the urge to beg her to hurry back to him. If there were any way to make him look desperate, that would be it. "See you in a little while," he said instead.

He was rewarded with a quick but genuine smile as she turned on the spot and vanished with a pop.

He was tempted to start counting the minutes, so in order to curb that tendency, he decided he'd go out and run the perimeter of the Cullens' territory, perhaps join Paul and see if he'd seen anything. He let Jake know, who nodded, relieved that he wasn't being asked to join and was free to spend time with Nessie.

He also told Carlisle, who nodded as well before he and Edward went upstairs to set up a room to examine Hermione's friend.

Sam stepped outside and disappeared into the same bunch of bushes Jake had used earlier. He stripped off his clothes and phased, and when the transformation was complete he took a moment to stretch his large canine body before starting off toward the perimeter of the territory at a lope.

As luck would have it, Paul happened to be approaching from the east at the same moment, so Sam waited to speed up until Paul had caught up with him, and then black and silver ran together.

Leaving your imprint behind already? Paul asked, a faint snide note in his voice. Sam tried not to let his irritation take over, reminding himself that Paul had the same snarky attitude regarding all outsiders in general.

Instead of rising to the bait, Sam answered evenly. Or rather, he answered as evenly as he could in the face of his anxiety over his imprint leaving him behind, for however short a time. Nah, she's gone to pick up her friend. Doc's gonna examine her so they can figure out how to help her. They'll be here soon.

Paul had no answer. So instead he asked, So, what'd I miss?

Well, you missed her announcement that she is in fact a witch. Apparently there's this whole secret world of witches and wizards that have existed for probably as long as ordinary people, and they have governments and neighborhoods and schools and hospitals and everything. They even have class systems like ordinary people do, too, and wars over different beliefs. Apparently there was this one tyrant who started making a name for himself while he was at school some fifty-odd years ago who had issues with people who don't have magic and the witches and wizards born to such parents. He gathered up a bunch of followers and they tried to create a society where witches and wizards like her would have very few rights, and where people without any magic would have no rights at all. Kind of like Hitler and the Holocaust, I guess. And there was this prophecy… He explained everything Hermione had told him, Jake, and the vampires to the best of his ability, knowing that he was probably getting some of the details mixed up. She'll probably end up explaining everything all over again when it's time for her to meet the pack and the elders and the rest of the tribe officially.

When Paul expressed doubts – You realize how insane all this sounds, right? – Sam also explained what had happened with Nessie and the birds, as well as the silvery wolf she'd produced. When Paul heard about how sometimes the form of the silvery thing changed and how hers had apparently changed from an otter to a wolf, Sam could almost hear his eyebrows come up in surprise.

Well, I guess that means she feels the imprint, too. Or at least, her magic feels it.

Sam agreed. They ran in silence for another few moments, and soon they were in view of the house again. Sam slowed down, heading toward the bushes to phase back, and was about to tell Paul to go ahead and head back to La Push and the rest of the pack when a crack echoed through the forest. It sounded similar to the noise Hermione had made when she'd vanished in the middle of the living room. The two wolves drew to a halt, listening. It sounded as if the noise had come from the end of the driveway near the road. He and Paul melted back into the trees, making sure they were out of sight of the driveway.

Cullen? Sam called mentally.

"We heard it," came the mind reader's voice in a murmur. "It's not Hermione, she and her friend just got back through the fireplace."

Sam almost stopped short at that comment, but dismissed it as yet another oddity of the world his imprint came from and concentrated on the matter at hand. Well, don't say anything to her. I'm going to go check it out. I'll stay phased, though. Can you pick up anything? As he spoke to Edward, he moved silently through the trees, parallel to the driveway and heading towards the road-end of it.

"No," Edward murmured back, only just loud enough for Sam to hear. "Static, just like Hermione."

Fuck. No telling if they're friendly, then. How about your sister? She see anybody coming?

"No, she didn't. Hermione caught her by surprise, too, when she first appeared. We thought it was because of your presence, but it seems it might be the magic that's clouding her sight."

Double fuck, Paul swore.

Then Sam heard a voice that made him panic. "What's going on?" Hermione asked. "Who are you talking to, Edward?"

"Nothing," Edward lied smoothly. "Just Sam letting us know that he and Paul are going to run the perimeter another time or two, just to be safe."

"Nice try, Edward. I can tell when I'm being lied to, even by a vampire like yourself. I've spent far too long afraid for my life to trust what I hear. Now if someone doesn't tell me what's going on, I'm coming outside to find out for myself," she announced, her voice steely.

Now that made him panic. Tell her she can protect Luna better if she stays there, whatever you want, Cullen, but I don't want her coming out here! We don't know who this is! He began to move more quickly, still silent, but needing to get to the end of the driveway before her.

He heard Edward take his suggestion, and tried not to let his fear overcome him when she replied, "Nonsense! I'll not have a Death Eater anywhere near Luna or your daughter. You can tell Sam to go fuck himself, I'm not going to wait here like a sitting duck for death to find me! I did enough of that this year and I'm done!"

With that there was a soft pop from inside the house. Sam didn't wait for anything else. He peeled out of there, knowing he wouldn't beat her to the driveway but it was better than sitting here and letting her face an unknown danger by herself. He might at least get there at the same time.

He had just come into view of the end of the driveway and the black-robed figure of a man with dark hair and a deathly determined expression on his face when there was another pop and a flash of red light aimed right for the black-clad figure.

Sam allowed himself to hope for a fraction of a second that she'd managed to catch the man by surprise, but that hope was dashed when the man raised his wand and slashed it down and to one side, causing the red light to veer off to the side and strike Sam across the shoulder. He felt a burning sensation like fire and the pain of it made him howl in rage as he leapt at the wizard.

The man was a blur of black as his wand flashed. Sam's legs suddenly stopped working and he tumbled nose over tail, losing his control over the wolf form even as the man's wand twirled again and Hermione's image shuddered into view, her wand torn from her grasp as she was hauled gracelessly into the air by the ankle, fighting ferociously to get free.

"Now is that any way to greet your old Professor, Miss Granger?" a familiar deep voice drawled silkily.

Hermione instantly stopped thrashing about in mid-air, going limp with surprise as she was still suspended upside down. "Severus?" she asked, incredulously.

"Indeed." He waved his wand again, and she was gently turned right side up and lowered to her feet. He held her wand out to her, and she took it, but instead of putting it away, she pointed it at him.

"What was the first thing you said to me when I found you alive in the Shrieking Shack?" she demanded, eyes narrowed. Sam rather thought that was an odd question to ask, though given what she'd revealed about the results of the Final Battle, he assumed she was trying to ensure that this man was in fact a friend.

He smirked. "Miss Granger, kindly cease your inane prattle. My head is pounding with the force of a jackhammer," he quoted.

She lowered her wand and stepped up to him, throwing her arms around his middle. "Good to see you, Severus." Then she stepped back, opening her mouth to berate him for having traveled so far when he was still supposed to be limiting his activity. But her attention was diverted by Sam, who was sitting up with a groan, clutching his head.

"Sam!" she exclaimed. She forgot all about berating Severus and instead rushed to kneel beside Sam.

She put one hand on his shoulder to steady herself as she leaned over a bit, trying to peer into his face. "Are you all right? That was quite a tumble you took there. What on Earth made you jump at him like that?" she asked him.

"You were in trouble," he muttered. After a moment, he added, "And he hit me in the shoulder with something that felt like fire. It pissed me off and I lost control of my anger."

She shook her head in disbelief even as she checked him over for injuries. "We'll have to give you and the rest of the pack…and the vampires, too, most likely…a crash course in some of the less pleasant things witches and wizards can do with a wand. You can't go jumping blindly at just anyone wielding a wand who makes you mad. You're lucky Severus only hit you with an Impedimenta to stop you in your tracks," she told him as she framed his head in both hands and moved it forward and back and from one side to the other so she could make sure he had no head damage. "He could have been a real Death Eater, who might have hit you with an Avada Kedavra to stop you permanently or with a Crucio to drop you like a rock and make you feel as if you were burning alive from the inside." She thought for a moment, and added pensively, "Although, you were also hit with a rather strong Stunner and instead of getting, well, stunned, you just got rather angry. It would seem you're rather more resilient when it comes to being affected by magic in your wolf form." She waved her wand once more, and for the second time that day, clothing appeared on his form. This time he wore a dark red tee-shirt and a pair of jeans that fit well.

Before Sam could say anything in response – indeed, before he could do more than realize how nice it was for his imprint to be coddling him – a snide voice spoke up. "And exactly who is this…pup?"

The wolf in him recognized the tone, and didn't like it one bit. His head snapped up and he gave a soft growl at the dark man, who regarded him stoically, unimpressed.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the man. "Severus, this is Sam. He is one of the members of the Quileute tribe from La Push."

"Ah yes," came the man's drawl as he folded his arms across his chest. "Yes, the pack of shape-shifters."

"Yes, he's their Alpha. Their leader," she explained. And then she raised an eyebrow at the man and said archly, "And I think your sneering and scowling and sarcasm are rather lost on him. He deals with quite a few angsty teenage boys and young men on a daily basis, so I don't think your efforts to intimidate him are going to work." As if to prove her point, he climbed to his feet, unfolding his six-foot-six body and offering her a hand to help her up in turn. He realized with a tiny sense of self-satisfaction as he stood behind Hermione that he had a good three inches and probably a hundred pounds on the other man.

She turned to him and said, "Sam, this is Severus Snape. He was the Potions Professor at Hogwarts." She left it at that, but Sam understood. During her explanation of the war, she had also explained the people who'd had the most vital roles on either side of the war, including the dark man before them now whose true loyalty had been a mystery up until after they'd thought him to be already killed. Sam also understood that the man was intensely private and would prefer his role in the war not be brought up.

The two men sized each other each up, not bothering to be particularly discreet, and Hermione noticed. She huffed. "When the two of you are finished with your male posturing, you can find me in the house. I'm going to find Luna so I can actually have a chance to introduce her properly to the people who will be helping her." With that, she flounced away.

The two men watched her go. Severus was the first to turn his attention back to the matter at hand and was irritated to note the raptness with which the…boy?...watched Hermione, as if he couldn't move his eyes from her form even if he wanted to.

"Eyes over here, boy," he snapped.

Sam looked away from the hypnotizing sway of his imprint's hips with extreme reluctance. He fought back the urge to demand what the other man wanted, or to continue watching his imprint just to piss the other man off, or do any number of deliberately rude things. For one thing, Hermione appeared to view this man as some sort of mentor. Or at the very least, she highly respected and liked him. For another, he knew that if this was a man who not only had taught his imprint magic but had also kept the majority of adult witches and wizards guessing at his loyalties for twenty years, then it would be foolish in the extreme to antagonize him, especially given that he could actually force Sam back out of his wolf form, which otherwise made him more resilient.

"Just what are your intentions regarding Miss Granger?" the wizard asked, folding his arms and cocking a forbidding eyebrow. Sam was reminded rather oddly of Chief Swan, Billy Black's friend and father of the newest vampire Bella Cullen, nee Swan. The Forks Chief of Police had the same don't-fuck-with-me-or-I-will-fuck-you-up demeanor when he was dealing with criminals and hooligans.

Sam debated what to tell this man. He finally decided on a half-truth for now. "I don't have any intentions right now. She's worried about helping her friend, and her friend should come first. Maybe later, when they've figured out how to help her friend and she has a chance to relax, I'll start by seeing if she wants to get a coffee or something. If she doesn't want anything more than that coffee, fine. If she does, that's fine, too. It's all going to be her choice."

The dark man – odd how that was how Sam viewed him, when his own hair was just as dark, his own skin quite a bit darker – said nothing, just met his gaze unblinkingly. Suddenly Sam had a feeling that those eyes, as black as his own, were seeing straight into his soul. It was a highly disconcerting feeling.

Just as he was starting to feel the urge to squirm, the other man finally blinked. "How…enlightening," he murmured. He raised an eyebrow again, his lips quirked in a slightly cruel half-smile. "Hermione hates the idea of anyone's will being taken away from them, even by nature…she'll be absolutely thrilled to learn that you're bound to her, that you must go wherever she goes or risk unimaginable agony…but I don't think I'll tell her. Instead, I will leave that to you. I cannot wait to see her reaction to this…imprinting."