Chapter 16: The Last Letter

August 11th, 2007

Neville, Hermione, Harry, and Ron all accompanied Bella the following weekend to help retrieve her belongings and withdraw from the muggle university. It would have taken less than an hour, but Ron somehow accidentally wandered into a women's loo, and Hermione had to modify a few memories.

"Nice one, Ron," Harry joked as they rolled the suitcases toward an empty supply closet.

Ron turned even redder than Bella would have. "Sod off, Harry."

Hermione placed a reassuring hand on her husband's shoulder. "Relax, Ron. It could have happened to anyone. You're a pureblood and didn't know about public lavatories. I blame myself, really." Bella couldn't place it, but the witch almost seemed to be glowing as she smiled at him.

"Well, Neville didn't go off into a women's toilet," Ron grumbled.

Harry glanced at Neville, who was currently shrinking Bella's luggage to the size of doll furnishings. Bella looked over as well, and he peered up in the same moment, gazing at her with that unfathomable depth that made her shiver.

"He's got other things on his mind, mate." Harry grinned.

Hermione beamed at the pair. "So are we all set?"

"Uh, I've actually got to stop by the post office and get my mail forwarded, or cancelled, or something."

"That's no problem," the witch continued to smile. "I'll go with you, Bella, and you boys—" she swung around to face Harry, Ron, and Neville, "—stay out of trouble until we can meet for lunch."

Ron brightened considerably at the mention of food, and the five of them scrambled out of the supply closet.

Hermione hailed a taxi as they reached the edge of the campus, and the two began the short drive to the post office.

"So you and Neville seem to be getting on well," the witch remarked after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah, we are. He's—" ...strong, talented, intelligent, encouraging, kind, powerful, handsome. "—great. I don't know what I did to deserve him."

"I'm sure he knows," Hermione reassured her. "Neville's been through so much. We all have, and I'm so glad you found him, Bella. I'm so glad you found our world." An uncharacteristic tear slid down Hermione's cheek, and Bella couldn't help but puzzle over her strange behavior.

"You've been smiling all day, you look like you're glowing, and now you're crying…" She suddenly connected the dots and gasped, "You're pregnant, aren't you!"

Hermione's hand flew over her mouth. "I just barely found out. I haven't even told Ron yet! Do promise you won't tell anyone, Bella. Please?"

"Of course," She promised without blinking. Keeping life-altering secrets was old hat to Bella. She wouldn't have any trouble keeping this one.

They arrived at the post office, and Bella had a surprising amount of mail waiting for her. She set her mail to be forwarded back to her old address in Forks and proceeded to open each letter.

"Who's Jacob Black?" Hermione paused as she helped sort the envelopes into piles. "He's written quite a lot."

"We used to date…" Bella frowned. Why would Jake be writing?

"Well, he's written three times, all postmarked within the last two weeks. You'd better read these now – the most recent letter is marked as urgent!"

"Urgent?" Bella snatched the letters quickly and opened the first:

Hey Bella,

I know we haven't talked in a while, but no one's heard from you, and we're getting worried…

It was a generic 'I hope you're okay' letter. She set it down and immediately tore open the second:

Bella,

The little black-haired Cullen is here looking for you. You know I hate vampires, but she said she had some kind of freaky vision of you disappearing in the future. I'm worried about you, and your dad's going pretty nuts too. Please let us know you're okay.

Jacob

She felt a sense of foreboding as she picked up the last letter. Jake would never bother with extra postage if he didn't have to. Slipping the paper from the envelope she finally began to read:

Your leech friends said they saw you. Where are you Bella? Charlie's talking about going to London and hiring a bunch of private investigators and cops to get you. If you've got something you need to tell him, then come home and say it to his face. Don't just disappear, Bella. Don't leave without saying goodbye.

Bella held the letter with a trembling hand. She'd been so selfish, putting her own desires ahead of everything, including her own family. She could imagine Charlie, trying to keep it together on the surface but growing more panicked with each passing day.

Hermione gathered the rest of the mail and sat beside her. "Bella, what's wrong?"

She peered up at the witch sadly. "My dad's worried about me. I–I have to go home and let him know I'm okay."

"Oh." Hermione pressed her lips together with apprehension. "I understand. Family is something that can't ever be taken for granted." She looked conflicted and sad. "I'm certain the boys will understand as well. Let's go tell them and – make arrangements."

Bella knew the boys meant Neville, and as she thought about going back to Forks, she felt a little piece of her heart break.