"Hermione!" Harry yelled as he raced into the hallway. Forgetting that he was just wearing socks on the hardwood floor, he slid into Hermione, knocking her into Luna's arms.
"Harry!" Hermione cried angrily. "It's just Luna!"
"Yes, well I didn't know that! We can't just rush into this sort of situation. We have to approach it delicately!" Harry responded, running his hands through his increasingly wild hair.
Hermione groaned. "Yes, yes, I know you're right." She stood up and removed herself from Luna's arms. Luna just stood, watching her two friends with an amused smile on her face.
"You don't need to be worried about me, 'Mione. My imprint wouldn't do anything to harm me."
Hermione whirled around, surprise shining in her eyes. "How did you figure it out?"
Luna smiled dreamily. "His colors were very warm, like a sparkling gold. It was hard to look away from."
"Speak of the devil," Harry muttered. Hermione peeked over Luna's shoulder and saw a fully clothed Paul, and the other boys from the supermarket, walking towards them. Quil and Embry were looking at Luna suspiciously, Jacob held a self-satisfied smirk of amusement on his face, and Paul? Paul looked like a blind man seeing the sun for the first time.
"Hello, Paul!" Luna greeted him warmly, sticking out her hand for him to shake. He took her small hand into his instantly and grabbed onto her like a lifeline.
Hermione cleared her throat and stepped down off of the porch. "It's good to meet you guys! I'm glad we finally met our neighbors," she said, trying to draw Paul's eyes away from Luna.
Paul was just staring at Luna, his mouth agape. "How did you know my name? We've never met."
"Of course we haven't met! I could sense it."
The young man named Quil barked out laughter. "You could sense it? What are you, psychic or something?"
Luna nodded. "Yes, something like that."
Embry stepped towards Paul and smacked him on the back. "Way to pick another crazy one, man."
The mood changed instantly. Luna's smile fell from her face. She wrenched her hand away from Paul and sprinted back into the house. Paul grabbed after her, but she was too fast; she slipped right through his fingers. Paul turned to glare at Embry, and Jacob pulled them apart, looking concernedly at Harry and Hermione. Hermione glared at the boys and was about to unholster her wand when Harry grabbed hold of her arm.
"Mione, Luna needs you right now." He spoke softly.
Huffing, Hermione shot one final scathing glare at the boys and disappeared into the house after her friend.
Paul began to walk towards the house, but Harry pushed him back. "Perhaps this was a bad idea."
Embry snorted. "So she's actually crazy then?" Quil murmured in agreement.
Harry turned to glare at Embry, and Embry's blood stopped cold. "Luna has a very beautiful, open heart. You should know as well as I do that bad things can happen to very good people."
Paul began to shake. "What happened to her?" He forced out, his teeth gritted.
Harry sighed, sadness overcoming his face. "She was abused back home by some very bad people. We all were. And your friend here," he said, looking pointedly at Embry, "just discovered her trigger word."
Paul lunged towards Embry, snarling, and Jacob jumped on top of him, pulling him back. "Go!" He barked to Quil and Embry, who turned and ran without any hesitation. Paul continued to shake.
Harry had turned back towards the house and was walking away when he heard Jacob call out after him. "Look! I'm sorry, what's your name?" He asked, jogging over.
"Harry."
"Jacob. Listen, I'm sorry we had to meet like this, and that our friends are assholes, but we'd all really like the chance to get to know you guys – you know, since we're neighbors and all," he added quickly.
Harry smiled sadly. "I think we'll need some time before we're ready to try this again."
Jacob nodded resolutely. "Take all the time you need. I'm really sorry for what happened to you guys."
"You'll take care of her?" Harry heard Paul spit out from across the lawn.
"Of course," Harry admonished him. Paul shook his head tightly, whirled around and ran off from where he came.
"Sorry about this," Jacob added. He took off after Paul. Harry sighed, rubbed his eyes with his hands, and entered the house in search of Luna and Hermione.
He didn't have to go too far; he found Hermione holding a crying Luna in her arms in the library. Sitting on the other side of the couch, he pulled Luna into his arms and held her as she sobbed while Hermione continued to rub her back.
They stayed that way for quite some time. Finally, Luna began to speak.
"I'm so sorry; I don't know what came over me-"
"There's nothing to apologize for," Hermione cooed, pulling Luna back into her arms.
"I just forgot how horrible it is to feel crazy, just because I see things differently than others."
Harry grabbed her hand and held it tight. "Luna," he said, kneeling down in front of her so he could see her eyes, "you have a gift. Your Sight is one of the most amazing things to have happened in the wizarding world during our time. You are not crazy, and never let anyone tell you otherwise."
Luna began to cry again, but this time the tears streamed silently down her face and she looked at Harry with admiration.
"You don't ever have to see those guys again if you don't want to," Hermione growled.
Harry looked at her chastisingly. "Mione, they don't know everything about the world that we do. I'm sure once they do know everything, this will fix itself."
Hermione grumbled, but Luna cut in. "I would like to share my part of the story, when the time comes. But as of right now, I don't think I want to see them for awhile. I just hope Paul will be okay."
Harry grinned. "I think after a nice long talk with his pack, Paul will be just fine." Luna seemed appeased by this explanation, but she missed the wink Harry shot Hermione and the smirk that overtook Hermione's features.
A nice long talk, indeed.
Across the town, Jacob and Sam were trying their best to keep Paul away from Embry.
"Paul, enough!" Sam hollered. Unable to resist his alpha any longer, Paul sat down across from Embry, shaking in fury the entire time.
"Now, what happened?"
Jacob sighed, starting the story again. "We went over to meet with Paul's imprint and her friends. His imprint greeted him by his name, even though he hadn't shared it with her yet, and this one-" Jacob shot a meaningful glance at Embry, who had the decency to look ashamed, "called her crazy. She ran inside, and the guy that she lives with said that she had been through some sort of abuse. That they all had. You know the rest."
Sam turned to look at Billy Black, who was seated next to Paul and was currently holding a vice-like grip on his shoulder. "It is good that your young lady and her friends came here, Paul. Perhaps they will find the healing they seek." Billy said, speaking in calming tones.
Paul continued to shake. "It's killing me. Not knowing what's she been through, not knowing where she is, not being next to her-"
"I know how hard it is," Sam replied, sitting down next to Paul. "I have imprinted too. So has Jacob. We will help you through."
Paul gritted his teeth. "I don't know how much longer I can wait."
"Unfortunately, you don't have a choice in the matter," Billy added. "She will need some time, after this afternoon's events." He shot a glare at Embry and Quil. "I hope you two learned your lesson."
"Yes, sir!" The quickly jumped in.
Sam sighed. "Paul, why don't you and Jacob go for a run? That might help you relax. You could even run nearby her house – but you can't stay for more than five minutes," he quickly added as he saw Paul perk up at the mention of "her".
"Don't worry man," Jacob added. "We'll work it out. Bella will help, I'm sure. We can visit her after our patrol."
Paul shifted into his wolf form without replying and raced out the door. Jacob followed suit, and Sam turned to look at Billy Black as they ran away.
"Perhaps we should consider inviting the girl's friends to come with her to our next meeting."
"I think that is an excellent idea."
Hermione, Harry and Luna spent the next few days lounging around their house. They watched countless films in their theatre – Luna was absolutely fascinated by the concept of musicals – and they organized and reorganized the laboratory in the basement until Luna was completely satisfied with the arrangement. Harry and Hermione made taking care of Luna their priority, and before long, Luna was back to her happy, confident self.
Draco Malfoy, however, was not having as wonderful of a time. The first few days in the big city had brought him nothing but headaches. He quickly learned that his site manager was incompetent, and so he spent the better portion of the first few days re-configuring the site manager's work, ordering different materials, hiring different designers, and finally hiring a new site manager.
It seemed like construction on the Palais was finally on the right track that Friday as Draco headed into the city for lunch. Stepping out of the Palais, he followed his familiar track through the alleys into the heart of the city, grateful for the silence that surrounded him – construction was an unpleasantly loud business, he found. The less time in the field and the more time I can spend in my office back home, the better. He thought. Huh. That house in Forks already feels like my home –
His thoughts were stopped in their tracks by the sound of voices. Instinct taking over, he ducked behind a dumpster in a side street and stood stock still, listening.
"Ahhhhh Rabastan, it has been too long."
"The pleasure is mine, Fenrir. I'm glad to see you are still thriving in your pathetic existence."
Ice raced through Draco's veins, and he felt the cereal he ate for breakfast quickly moving back up into his throat.
No. It cannot be. It's impossible –
"Going to pay a visit to the Malfoy boy, are we?"
Rabastan snorted. "Please. That flea isn't worth the time to takes to say his name."
Fenrir laughed a guttural laugh. "Heard any news about Wonder boy then?"
"Bits and pieces. Aro heard he's somewhere on the West Coast. We're going to make our way over there eventually; the pieces are almost all in place."
"Good, good. My children and I are at your beck and call."
Rabastan scoffed. "As you should be. And the next time you want to make a social call, find some place a little more pleasant. The alley behind this pathetic muggle restaurant is hardly appropriate."
"Of course," Fenrir hissed.
"Expect to hear from me soon." Draco heard two distinctive pops echo throughout the alley. He glanced out from behind the dumpster and saw that the alley was empty.
Breathing a sigh of relief, he glanced down at his hands. He was holding his wand tightly in his right hand, and it took several minutes – and several deep breaths – before his hands had stopped shaking and he had his panic under control.
Turning around quickly, he apparated back to the Palais, told the project manager that he would now be solely consulting from his home, and disapparated back to Forks in the blink of an eye.
Earlier that Friday, Hermione found herself and Luna walking through the forest, looking for natural North American potion materials.
"See anything?" Hermione called from across the forest. They had decided, after forty unsuccessful minutes of working together, to split up, hoping to cover more ground.
Luna stepped softly across the forest floor. "I found some shadow silk!" She called back.
"Brilliant! Grab as much as you can; I found the purple algae you were looking for. It's a few more feet away though, so holler loudly if you need me!"
"Okay!" Luna chirped back. She turned around, whipped out her potion knife, and began to cut away at the shadow silk, humming all the while.
The sound of moving leaves froze her in the middle of pouring the silk into her portable containers, and she turned around to find herself staring at a great chestnut colored wolf.
The colors around the wolf turned into that sparkly gold color she had only seen once before.
"Paul," she whispered. The wolf appeared shocked and stumbled backwards. Luna reached out her hand. "Don't be afraid. I won't harm you. You remind me of a friend of mine – well, I'd like to think he would be my friend someday."
The wolf, appearing somewhat reassured, slowly approached Luna. She smiled. It's all right Paul, you can keep this secret to yourself a little while longer. Finally within an arms reach, she ran her fingers gently through his mane, and the wolf moaned.
"See? I won't harm you," Luna smiled softly.
"Luna!" She heard Hermione scream. The wolf tensed up, growling instantly.
"Hermione? What is it?" She turned to look at Hermione, who was frantically waving her over.
"Come here!" Hermione hissed.
"What is it?" she whispered back. Stepping lightly past the wolf, ignoring his growls, she walked over towards Hermione.
"There is a giant pack of large wolves staring at you!"
"Large pack?" Luna asked. She turned around to look back at Paul and saw that there were, in fact, about seven other wolves staring at them.
"It's okay, Hermione. They won't hurt me. I know it."
Hermione's brow furrowed in worry. "I trust you. I'm just not sure about them yet."
"Hermione! Luna!" They turned at Harry's shout and saw him racing through the woods, oblivious to the branches and other fauna hitting him in the face.
"I got your Patronus! Are you all right?" He gasped, reaching Hermione's side.
She elbowed him in the ribs. "We've got company!" She spat out in a low voice.
Harry glanced up and cleared his throat. Grabbing Luna's arm, he started to head for home. "Come on Luna, let's go back; the woods aren't safe right now."
"Really, Harry, I'm quite all right." Luna stood still in her place. The wolf closest to her – Paul, Harry guessed – began to walk towards them, growling. The largest wolf of the pack, who was the color of midnight, barked out a warning, but Paul kept advancing.
"Please, Luna, let's go back," Harry begged. The wolf walked faster until it was standing directly in front of them.
"Luna." Harry whispered. Luna was frozen, gazing down at the wolf with wonder in her eyes.
"Paul," she whispered again. This time, the pack of wolves turned, looked amongst each other, and began to move closer. Paul's wolf began to shake violently.
"Luna, step back!" Hermione cried. She pulled Luna back and the wolf leapt.
Draco Malfoy apparated into the clearing just in time to see Hermione collide with a sickening crack against a great Oak tree.