It was 30 minutes before sunrise, and Pam and Eric were finally back together in their hotel suite. Pam had been out shopping, while Eric had gone feeding and looking for more leads about Godric's whereabouts. Pam rest her head in her maker's lap, sighing as he ran his fingers through her locks, "How is it that a human has gotten under our skin, making us care about her wellbeing?"
"I am unsure about that but I do know that she is meant to be a large part of our undead lives," Eric leant his head on the back of the lounge, "Do you think that she can look after herself? I had Bill yelling at me about what he would do to me should Hermione get hurt, no matter that I'm his Sheriff."
"She'll be fine; it's those morons at the church I'd be worried about. By this time tomorrow, we will have my Grandmaker back with us," Pam stated with certainty.
"Even if I have to drag him here by his hair," Hermione's voice said from the door to her room, making the two vampires jump in fright slightly, "Just remember to have Isabel and Stan to have his house completely darkened or shall I bring him here?"
Eric shook his head at his own inability to hear the girl approach, "Here shall be fine, at least until it is dark again. As for Hugo…"
Hermione interrupted him, "He gets in my way, and I'll just send him back. Just don't touch him until I get back here, no matter what."
"Okay"
The witch saw that the first tendrils of sun were peeking through under the door, "You should both get to bed, I'll wake you if I return before sunset."
"Goodnight Hermione," both vampires embraced the witch before rushing off to sleep.
Hermione stretched her body, and decided a shower was needed. After getting out, the brunette smiled softly at her expanded abdomen, rubbing it softly and whispering, "Harry, give me a sign as to when I can continue living. Please, for our children at least."
She laughed lightly at herself, knowing that there was another side didn't help her in being able to start moving on. Shaking off her silliness, the teen go dressed in the clothes Pam had picked out for today. It was very basic, a white peasant style dress that went to her mid-calf and a pair of white ballet flats. As she was supposed to act as a conservative woman, Hermione simply left her hair down, just brushing the knots out, and wore no makeup. The only jewellery she had on was a pearl earring and necklace set, and the wedding and engagement rings that Harry had given her.
Before even thinking of leaving the room, Hermione stood in front of the mirror and placed as many protective charms on her dress, mainly the section around her growing twins, not matter what happened she was not going to risk her babies. Her wand was then holstered in her thigh holster, which she had previously changed the colour to being white so it didn't show through.
Looking herself over, making sure that there was nothing wrong, the witch took up her purse, its form changed from the beaded purse it usually was to a white leather one with a long strap, and left the suite. When she entered the lobby, the witch found Hugo anxiously waiting for her, "Good morning Hugo."
"Good morning, are you ready to head off?"
"Actually I would like to get in a few bites of food before we leave, I don't think it will hurt anyone," not waiting for a response, Hermione head into the bar where breakfast was being served.
Incredibly hungry, as she had been since her morning sickness had abated a month earlier, Hermione got herself a large plate of food. As she ate it, her mind instantly went to the meals she used to have at Hogwarts with her best friend and husband. Unlike when she thought about the supposed Golden Trio, Hermione only felt a lightness in her heart and soul, remembering the good times as they were supposed to be remembered. Hugo was sitting across from her and watching on in interest, "Do you always eat this much?"
"No, it comes from having to eat for three," the teen looked down at Hugo's hand, "You don't have a ring on."
"Oh, wait, I have one here," the man fumbled through his pockets in search of it, pulling out a white gold band victoriously, "Got it."
Hermione just rolled her eyes subtly and went back to her food. Once she was finished, she stood, "I feel much better now. How long does it take to get to the church?"
"We should be there by 10 if we leave now," the Muggle didn't touch Hermione as they left the hotel and entered his car.
Getting comfortable in her seat, the brunette just watched out the window as the landscape shot by her. Sick of that after an hour, she faced her fake husband for the mission, "So how long have you been together with Isabel?"
"3 years now. And you've been with Eric for how long?"
"Oh no, I'm not with Eric, I just work for him. He's like an older brother to me," Hermione was sick of people getting the wrong idea about her relationship with the Swedish vampire.
"My apologies," Hugo said quickly, "Considering we're supposed to be married, I guess we should talk a little about ourselves, you know, in case we're asked."
It made sense but Hermione still didn't trust the man so said the basics only, "My birthday is September 19th, wow I'm actually going to be 19 in a fortnight. I was actually born in Bon Temps but my folks went back to London when I was 4 months old. I used to come over here to visit my Gran and cousins every year, a couple months at a go, but that stopped when I was almost 12 and head off to boarding school. Umm, my parents are deceased, as is my husband but don't say that bit. And I live in Bon Temps, just up the road from my Gran, with a man who is like a second father to me, his baby boy, and one of my best friends in Louisiana."
"Okay. Well first, my last name is Ayers, and I was born in Austin 27 years ago. I'm a card carrying member of the Bar Association, but haven't practiced since getting together with Isabel. My parents are alive and living it up in Florida, I haven't seen them in a few years. I have no siblings, and no children," Hugo shrugged, "As for our cover story, perhaps we should say that we met after you came over from London last year. It was at a church dinner and we clicked. Married 5 months ago, private ceremony. Want to change churches so that our children will be brought up away from the abominations in the world. How does that sound?"
"Very good," the witch forced a smile on her face but inside she was concerned with how pleased Hugo was when he called vampires abominations, she would definitely have to keep an eye on him.
An hour later, they were pulling into the gates of the Fellowship of the Sun church and training grounds. Looking around there were numerous people around and it looked as though they were at a boot camp, not at church. Hugo must have seen her looking and stated, "They are students of the Light of Day Institute, the future fighters of the vampire menace."
"Wonderful," Hermione said sarcastically, then she spotted a blonde woman dressed in bright yellow and white, "Who on earth is that?"
"Sarah Newlin, the wife of Reverend Steve Newlin. Come on," Hugo hopped out and assisted Hermione, now acting the proper husband.
Sarah Newlin bounced over to the pair, and eagerly shook their hands, "Good morning and welcome to our blessed church. Are you the Ayers'?"
"Yes ma'am, I'm Hugo and this is my bride Hermione, and it is a pleasure to be in your presence"
Hermione nodded in agreement, "I just cannot believe that we are talking to the Mrs Newlin, it is an honour."
As she spoke, the witch locked eyes with the blonde and dove in. What she found was a woman who seriously hated the life she was currently in, one that had no love from her husband in it. Had she not been a despicable person, Hermione might have actually felt sorry for her.
"Oh nonsense, we're all just God's children. Now what has brought you both here today?"
"We just found out that our reverend was a," Hugo looked around and then leant in to whisper, "Vampire sympathiser."
Sarah gasped and placed a hand over her mouth, "That is awful, a man of God caring about those monsters."
"Yes, it is distressing. We don't want to raise our twins in such a blasphemous church," Hermione placed a tender hand on her stomach, "And what place is less likely to have a sympathiser than the Fellowship of the Sun church?"
"Ah, my apologies for not noticing sooner, please, let's get you out of this hot as hellfire heat," the blonde walked them into the air-conditioned building, "How far along are you?"
"4 months, a boy and girl"
The woman placed her hands over her large bosom, "That is just precious, you must both be so happy."
Hugo wrapped an arm around his fake wife's shoulders, "Ecstatic."
"There's my lovely wife," a male voice called out from their left.
Hermione spun and saw two men walking their way, one she had seen on the news and must be Steve Newlin, while the larger man, she had no idea. As neither were looking into her eyes, the teen was unable to get an opening, so just smiled pleasantly despite the gnawing feeling that something bad was going to happen.
"Steve," Sarah gasped as he picked her up and spun her around, "These are two prospective congregants, Hugo and Hermione Ayers."
"A pleasure, I'm Steve Newlin, the reverend at the Fellowship of the Sun, and this is Gabe, he's the head trainer here."
Hermione and Hugo shook both men's hands, "Hello."
"So you want a tour around our church?"
"That would be wonderful Reverend Newlin," Hugo said with a dreaminess to his voice.
The witch heard it but the man had his head facing away from hers. When the man began to lead them towards a door, she became even more distressed, which didn't get helped at Steve's words, "You're in for a treat. We have caught ourselves an actual vampire ancient who we are going to make meet the sun after our lock down tonight. You won't want to miss that, but would you like to meet him?"
"No thank you," Hermione turned to Hugo, "Love, I think I need to sit down. These babies are really having a go at my stomach."
"There's some chairs downstairs," Gabe grunted from behind her.
Coming to a complete stop, the witch adamantly said, "I can't go down there at the moment."
"Gabe," Steve motioned.
Seeing that, Hermione reached for her wand only to be knocked out by something very heavy.