A/N: I'm so sorry I didn't post a chapter yesterday! I have a really big science project to do….but to make up for it I'm giving you guys some action – hope you like it!

Chapter 10: Long time no see

Renesme POV

Where is Jacob? I thought. He left with Ginny three hours ago! The preparation for the potion only took about thirty minutes.

Just then Professor McGonagall walked into the homeroom.

"It's time to go into your dormitories and sleep," she said.

I bit my lip. Where could Jacob be?

I slipped into the dormitory. Danielle was brushing Tara's hair and Maggie was reading her Potions book.

"Can I ask you guys a favor?" I said softly.

"Yeah, sure," Maggie answered. "What is it?"

"Can you……..cover for me? I really have to go find Jacob and Ginny. They're still not back yet."

"Oh, of course!" she answered.

"Good," I sighed, and jumped out of the window. I ran as fast as I could to the trees. I ran up and down, but caught no sight of Jacob or Ginny. I started worrying. What if something had happened to them?

I suddenly stop dead in my tracks. In front of me, a few meters away under a tree, lay Jacob's potions cauldron. I walked over to it; their potion was ice cold. They had only put in water; they hadn't even added the Wickleweed.

Jacob's scent was on the cauldron, so I focused on it to try and find him.

While putting my nose on red alert, I caught a smell – a vampire smell.

I quickly ran up into a tree and watched for a sign of the vampire. The tree should be able to hide my scent. Edward said my scent was the hardest to track out of everyone he had ever met. Carlisle thinks it is because I am half-human and half-vampire – the smells sort of cancel each other out.

The wind blew, and it started raining. I could smell the vampire scent coming nearer – it wasn't anyone I knew. There was another person with the vampire, a human. I could hear the heartbeat.

Suddenly I saw the two figures; walking towards the lake. I would probably be able to get out of here once they were there. I could hear them speaking.

"Karkoroff," a velvet voice said. I knew straight away that it was Aro.

"Do you think I can leave Marcus at Durmstrang while move on to Hogwarts? Tanisha is about ready to come here. She is very excited about Hogwarts – apparently it is the best Wizarding school in the world."

"Yes, Marcus will do fine," Karkoroff answered. "May I just ask, Aro, why you want the help of three Wizarding schools just to take down a family of ten?"

"This is no family of ten!" Aro replied. "They have a new daughter, and are in allegiance with the shape shifters of La Push, which have now grown to 37. They are much more trained, and even though we are a stronger army, they have particularly special gifts. They have the advantage of protection, mind-reading and the future. This family also has many allies in the vampire world which are growing."

Karkoroff grunted. "May apologies, Sir."

I could feel my stomach doing somersaults. They really were creating an army to challenge us! How could we ever stand a chance? It was true that the werewolves in La Push had grown to a pack of 22 and a pack of 5, but the pack of 23 currently wanted nothing to do with protecting a family of vampires.

Karkoroff and Aro were now half way between me and the lake. I got ready to run, but another wave of wind blew through the trees and I caught the scent – Jacob's scent.