JPOV
She stares at me, her brown eyes like saucers. I stare back, desperate for an answer. Could she do it? Can this young woman, who has done so much, is capable of so much, whose world is an incredible place where almost everything seems to be possible - can she make me human? Can she restore a humanity that I believed was lost for ever, can she give me freedom?
I am so tired of immortality. I want to feel pain again, I want to feel hot sun and cold wind, I want to be able to eat human food, drink human drinks, and never again have to look at a human and think of them as food. I want to taste something that isn't blood, I want to feel hunger and the satisfaction of a good meal. I want to look at animals and humans, and not have them curl away from me, knowing that I am dangerous. I want to look at young women, and imagine their soft skin under my hands, and not have to know that with a flick, I could kill them. I want to walk down a busy sidewalk, and not be in constant pain, I want to feel the sunlight on my skin. But most of all, I want to know that one day, I will die an old man, with children and grandchildren.
She is still staring at me.
"Let me get this straight. You are asking me if there is a Potion that could undo your immortality. You are asking me if there is something I could make or cast to make you human again."
"Yes."
"Is this a hypothetical question, or a genuine desire, Jasper?"
"It's what I want, Hermione. What I need. Hermione, listen. Try and see this from my point of view. I have lived for one hundred and fifty long years. The chance of me ever being able to die is slim. I will never live a normal life. But at the same time, that is what I want. To be human, to do human stuff, to sleep, to dream, to eat and breathe and blink. I want to run and get out of breath, and I want to feel pain. I want to feel emotions that are exclusively mine, and not wonder if they are just coming from somebody else. I want to feel my heart beating again."
"Yes. It is possible."
"There is a way?" I say, hope leaping up. "You are saying that there is theory on it."
"Yes, there is theory on it. And it has been done once before, in the past. But there were side-effects. And this is not the time to discuss it. I have neither the time nor the information available to explain it to you, not to mention explaining the risks and the possible outcomes of such an act."
"But you will explain it to me?" I persist. I can't, won't, let this go.
"Yes, Jasper, I will explain it to you, but this is neither the time nor the place to do it. And anyway, we're about to land."
She doesn't speak to me, or anyone, on the way to Volterra, to which we drive at high speed. It's faster than running, especially with Hermione. She needs to be as calm as humanly possible. The drive is not a long one, and Alice points the city out.
"Volterra. Beautiful, isn't it?"
"Oh, very. But the most beautiful things can often be the most dangerous. There is evil here."
"Centuries of it."
"Shit," Carlisle says, flatly. He so rarely swears, I turn to him in surprise. Then I turn back to road, the only road into Volterra, and see three black figures standing, sentinel-like, in front of the city walls. Carlisle stops the car - as if he ever had a choice. We all get out, Hermione included. The sun is hidden behind thin cotton clouds, which could break any moment.
"Have you inherited the gift of prophecy, Jane? You seem remarkably prepared for our arrival - even outside, when the sun could break at any moment."
"In five minutes," Alice says, quietly.
"We're only here to escort you all to Aro. You were spotted, Carlisle, at the airport. We have our contacts."
"I am aware of it, Jane. Perhaps you forget that I too, once stayed here for a time. I expected that."
"You bring a human."
"Yes."
"I assume you have reason."
"Reasons which are none of your business. I will explain to the necessary parties, and you are not one of them."
"We will take you there. Felix, Demetri - the girl." I see the flash on Hermione's face, and shake my head at her. She must not react, not yet.
"I will come with you willingly, and I will thank you to remove your hands from me. I am here for a reason, and a reason that must be explained or we are all at risk, therefore I am hardly likely to make a break for it. Not, of course, that I would get very far." Her gaze is clear and steady, and even Felix steps back slightly. Demetri smiles, and comments something to him, too quiet for Hermione to hear, but plenty loud enough for the rest of us. I feel my fists clench. Emmett clamps a hand down on my shoulder.
"Simmer down, Major. We don't need to parade in there with little bits of Demetri on our clothes, as satisfying as it might be. Besides - Hermione can handle herself, I'm sure."
She can. She doesn't even flinch when we are shown into the chamber, and twenty vampires inhale. They have a point. She smells good. Aro demands peace, and the crowd parts. The three are seated on their chairs, and Hermione raises her eyebrows. Edward chuckles quietly, and I realise that Hermione is not using Occlumency. Vampiric memory can come in handy for remembering her little spells. I'll have to ask her what she thought later.
"Carlisle, welcome back to our little city. It has been too long, my friend."
"Perhaps. But I am not merely making a social call, Aro."
"No, I did not expect so." Aro breaks off, and Caius leaps into the breach.
"You have brought a human to us. You know the laws, Carlisle - or are you so lacking that you must bring her to us?"
"I know them, but first you must hear what she has to say, and then you will understand why neither you, nor I, nor anyone else will harm her. This is Hermione Granger."
"Gentlemen."
"Delightful to make your acquaintance, Miss Granger." Aro holds out his hand for her to shake. Her lips quirk, and she places her hand in his, and shakes. He hangs onto her, and his face creases. "How very - odd."
"Aro?" Caius asks, even managing to make a name sound threatening.
"She is silent to me."
"Because you have not yet heard what I have come to say. I will not remain silent to you for long, but first you must hear my story."
"That is impossible," Marcus breathes, half-rising from his chair. "That is impossible."
"And yet, it is not. Edward can hear me now."
"Confirmed. She's thinking that you should listen."
"I have only your word on that, Edward," Aro replies, smoothly.
"It must be enough," Hermione snaps, and Aro looks surprised. "Can I, or can I not, tell you what I have come to tell you?"
"By all means," Aro says, and there is a mocking tone to his voice. "You have the floor, Miss Granger."
"I come from another Reality," she begins, calmly. "I come from a different world. Believe me or not - but you may all be in mortal danger, danger that would effect even you, the undead. I have theories - theories about five different worlds, and a Gap between them. That Gap is the seat and root of everything evil in the universe. Once, something from that Gap - or so I believe - fell through a Pathway, which is a rift in Reality, and ended up in my world. They called him Voldemort, and he was truly evil. He tore his soul seven times, and gave himself seven chances at life. He killed countless people for being of the wrong bloodline. He killed hundred, thousands, in order to take over my world. He killed for fun.
"In order to truly understand, you must know that there are five Realities, or so I believe. A God once existed, a God who made the worlds. He had five sons and a daughter. The daughter gave up her immortality for mortality and magical powers, so she could spend her life with the man she loved. There are five Realities. My world had the daughter and the Son of Water. This world has the Son of Time. There, in theory, three more worlds and three more sons. The Son of Fire, the Son of Air, the Son of Earth. I fell through a rift in Reality, and I have twelve days to return to my world or be stuck here forever - unless I can find, enter, and neutralise the Gap. If I do not accomplish this task, Reality will collapse and the Worlds will fall. You will all die." She pauses, and looks around. There is deadly silence. "Emmett, step forward. This man is the Son of Time. An immortal, no less. I have told you that my world had the Son of Water - various sites of religious importance around the world, all featuring water - and the only daughter of the Reality God, who exchanged immortality for mortality and magical powers."
"Miss Granger, you cannot seriously expect us to believe any of this exaggerated nonsense. Gaps, Gods, Pathways, magical powers - you are insane." Caius spits his words out, a sneer ever present.
"You remind me of my Potions professor, at Hogwarts - my old school. He too had a viciously limited imagination and a fierce dislike for whatever he failed to understand. He also wore the same self-righteous, stuck-up sneer you now wear."
"How dare you speak to me like that -"
"I dare because I am right. If you want me to prove it, I will."
"Please do."
"Very well. Jasper, how big and impressive should I make this?"
"Oh, very. Big as you can, but remember what we said about fire."
"Will everybody please clear me a space." She draws her wand from inside her jacket pocket, and waves it. She says nothing, but the next thing we know, we are no longer inside the hall at Volterra. We are in a forest, and Hermione has disappeared. Cries of disbelief echo around us. Suddenly, Hermione's voice echoes eerily from somewhere in the darkness beyond the clearing we are gathered in. "Welcome to the Forbidden Forest, a forest in the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I advise you not to touch anything. The forest is merely an illusion. I appreciate that it is disorientating. Now, watch closely, and remember to touch nothing. The forest may be an illusion - but perhaps not everything is."
Everything suddenly seems to spring to life, trees seems to move and shriek, howls rise from the darkness, galloping hooves can be heard, and a long scream is rushing closer. Seconds later, a skeletal animal burst through the trees, and rears onto it's hind legs. It looks like a horse, but with immense wings, and, well - a skeleton. I feel fear from all sides. Alice cries out, a timid sound that falls so eerily into the dark that she stops immediately. Arrows rain from all sides, arrows that dissolve upon hitting the ground into puddles of water. The crowd draws together, as skinny wolves begin to crowd into the clearing, snapping at retreating robes and howling in triumph. Finally, Hermione emerges from the trees, and puts a hand onto the head of the closest wolf. The wolf leans into her hand, growling in it's chest.
"Are you convinced, Aro? Shall I continue my little illusion? If it really is an illusion. That's the thing, isn't it? Finding out what is real and what is not. Funny - because the wolves seem pretty real to me. I can do things you cannot even imagine, Aro. I have done things you cannot imagine. The creature you see is a Thestral. They can only be seen by people who have seen death, and I would wager we have all seen that. Shall I continue? There are more tricks." The darkness visibly thickens, draws in until it is tight around the crowd, and not even we can penetrate it. Hermione and the wolves are now invisible, but the howls are almost tangible. I fancy that were I to reach out, I could touch the darkness, feel it as an organism, living and breathing beneath my fingers. A wind springs up, screaming through unseen branches, magnifying the howls and the screams and screeches of creatures I cannot see, and ripping through clothes and hair. Alice is now physically cringing against me, Edward unseen in the darkness.
"Stop this!" Aro shouts. "It is enough!"
As quickly as it came, the forest vanishes. But Hermione is gone, and instead a golden eagle is perched on Aro's throne. It spreads an awesome wing span and lets out a screech, before taking off into the air. It lands on the floor, and transforms from the feet up into Hermione.
"My Animagus form. An animal I can choose to become." Everyone is staring at her. Finally, Aro clears his throat.
"What do we have to do?"