JPOV

"Hermione's recovery will be slow, but I hope it will be a full one. Her progress so far has been unbelievable - the only thing worrying me is her eyesight, which so far shows no improvement. However, if all she carries away from this is a pair of spectacles, none of us have any right to complain. Her actions saved the world, and she can be proud knowing that." Carlisle is quiet for a moment, before drawing a sheet of expensive looking paper from his pocket. "However, we have another problem. I received this missive from the Volturi. Apparently, the jolt we all felt was felt world-wide. We already know that human scientists are completely baffled, but as no adverse effects have yet been felt, it's falling of the map. Other things are becoming news. Aro, while he may fail at many other stances, is not an idiot. He's worked out that something Hermione has done caused that jolt, and he wants to know that she has done what she came to do. However, he also wants Hermione out of this world. He is coming here, and nothing we can do will stop him. He wants Hermione gone, and I'm not prepared to let him."

"There's no way we can send her back. Not without ripping apart the skin of the universe," I say. "And even if there was, I will tear the Volturi apart with my bare hands and entirely on my own to stop them. I know, the world knows, that my name will carry weight forever, so God help Aro if he tries to touch her, because I will kill him, regardless of what that will do to the world order. So you write to that smug, pretentious bastard, and you tell him that he goes through me before he gets even close to her." I have to leave after that, because I know I'm dangerously close to losing my temper. And besides, I always go and visit Hermione at this time, and she'll be expecting me.

"Come in Jasper, don't lurk in the door."

"How are you today?"

"I'm in less pain."

"Is that because Carlisle drugged you up, or did you wake up in less pain?"

"I woke up in less pain. He did drug me though, and he has some good drugs."

"Can you see me better?"

"Not really. I know you're there, and I can tell it's you."

"Has it improved that much?"

"No, but I can smell you. You smell like fresh grass after it's rained, and peppermint. You all smell different. Alice smells like soap and lilacs, Carlisle smells of the hospital in a good way. Esme smells like washing powder and toast, Emmett smells like sawdust and motor oil, and Rose smells like oil and perfume. Simple."

"That's a very cool bit you got going on there. Anything I can do for you?"

"I'd appreciate a drink, thanks."

"You're good to have anything in this fridge, right? Well, then there's lemonade or juice."

"Lemonade, please." I hold the straw for her so she can sip at it, but she raises her arms feebly, and manages to hold it herself.

"Look who's showing off their mobility," I say, laughing. She giggles.

"I should be out of bed soon. Then I can finish up with the Healing spells." She puts her crochet to the side, and looks at me. "So, why are you really here?"

"We've had a letter. From the Volturi. And you're all over the papers. Well, not you personally, more what you did. Don't know if you noticed anything, but there was this jolt, after you - after you did what you did -"

"After I jumped into a fire and burnt myself alive, yes, yes, continue."

"Yes, that. The whole world felt the jolt, literally the entire world. And you shunted us a fraction of a degree further from the sun, initiating a one degree average temperature drop. They don't think it'll impact too much on the environment too much though. But you've got scientists absolutely baffled."

"The world will realign itself in a year or two. Nobody will even notice, I expect. Who was the letter from?"

"Aro."

"Which one was he, the depressive, the psycho or the stuck-up pretentious moron?"

"The stuck up pretentious moron. He's coming here - and he'll bring the other elders with him and probably some of the guard."

"Well, won't that be fun. What does he want while he's here?"

"He wants to check that you accomplished your task, and he wants you out of this world. He wants to send you back to your own world."

"Then we will be telling him that that is impossible, and if he doesn't like that, then I shall be forced to enforce the point."

"I'll join you."

"Jasper, why are people scared of you?"

"What makes you think people are scared of me."

"Lots of things. You get this look on your face sometimes, this fire in your eyes. And on the plane to Italy - when you told me about Maria. People can't do what you and I have done without being feared."

"That's why people are afraid of me. I was the most feared soldier in the Vampire Wars. People spoke - and often still do - my name with a fear. I was the ultimate threat. There's actually a very famous civil war legend in Texas about me. They got it pretty accurate - they call me the man who the undead fear to speak of. And as the undead are generally seen as fearless, its pretty much the scariest ghost story going." She laughs at me, so I decide to go on with it. "Apparently if you stand in front of a mirror on a night with a full moon, and say a rhyme, I'll appear and rip your throat out."

"In my world, there is a similar story. About a woman named Bloody Mary - once queen, she burned 300 people at the stake for being the wrong religion. If you chant her name in front of a mirror three times, she appears and gouges out your eyes."

"Does it work?"

"It does not. I tried it a couple of times with friends at sleepovers, and it never worked. Although the second time, we did it in the bathroom, and her brother dragged his nails down the bathroom door when we'd done the chant. We freaked out so badly, one girl actually wet herself with fear. Does yours work?"

"It doesn't, to the extent of my knowledge. Although, once, I did appear for a second behind a group of boys doing it for a laugh. They saw me reflected, but when they turned around, I'd gone. They screamed so loud."

"That's wicked," she protests, laughing.

"I felt obliged to knock them down a peg or two. They all claimed they weren't scared of anything. I think one of them's in therapy now." She shakes her head at me.

"When's the next full moon, you naughty boy?"

"Three weeks today."

"Ah, good. Plenty of time to recover and get working."

"On what?"

"Your Potion, if that's what you still want."

"Hermione, that's not important. What's important is getting you recovered - fully recovered. I've waited over a century - I can wait another few months."