I know, I suck at updating! To tell the truth I had almost completely given up on this story but the reviews just kept coming and so this is for all of you that have asked for an update despite it being months since the last one!
Hermione Granger was waiting rather nervously for some sign of life all the while muttering under her breath about the vampire's she was about to spend the better part of the next few years with. With a deep sigh she quickly cast a protection spell around herself as well as simple cleaning spell, after all sandals were not really forest attire and she had no wish to leave the impression that she was anything other than what she was. She was a powerful, well brought up witch, with manners!
Why did they keep her waiting?
Nerves once again wracked through her and though she was certain that she really hadn't been waiting for more than a few minutes those passed very slowly.
She once again reminded herself that there really was nothing to be nervous of considering the fact that she could defend herself and surely Severus would not truly send her into a dangerous situation? Then again that might just be what he would do if he felt it was the best way. She knew that there was something more to this hiding away than a marriage law, the debacle at the airport had assured her of that. But was there really anything that she could do from half a world away? Severus obviously felt that she couldn't deal with the situation and a small burst of anger filled her at that thought. Hadn't she helped defeat the most evil wizard of all time? Surely a few Death Eaters couldn't be worse?
She glanced up at the building before her thinking how modern the house looked compared to the home she had been used to since the age of eleven. It would be quite a change to live in such a muggle building for more than a few weeks at a time, her summers with her parents had always been cut short what with staying at the Burrow and Grimmauld Place. Perhaps this would help her get back to her roots a little and there was the added bonus that even though her parents were no longer with her they would be proud of the fact that she had returned to 'normal' school.
It was at this point in her thoughts that the door was opened by what Hermione could only describe as a Greek sculpture come to life, the man (or rather vampire) was smiling widely and if she didn't know better she would have thought that from the sparkle in his eye he was related to Professor Dumbledore. His white blond hair fell across his forehead but did not cover the amazing golden eyes staring at her.
"You must be Hermione Granger," he spoke welcomingly, "my name is Carlisle Cullen and it is an honour to welcome you into our home."
Well, she thought, if the entire family was similar to this man then she might very well enjoy staying here, "Thank you so much for agreeing to take me in, and you're correct I am indeed Hermione, I hope you managed to receive my letter? We were unsure whether the owl would approach a… well a …you know," she concluded quietly, reaching forward to shake his hand, "may I enquire about the colour of your eyes? I had read in 'Vampire's, misunderstood or malicious' that all vampire's possessed red eyes without the help of muggle contact lenses, but even with lenses surely they would not be such a light golden shade?"
Carlisle smiled widely as he answered, pleased that she had shown an interest in who he was and wondering how she had managed to find a book written about his kind, "It's actually a side effect of our particular diet and we did receive a letter, thank you, it was…certainly a unique experience."
Hermione returned his smile and had the sudden feeling that here was a kindred spirit.
"Carlisle," a female voice called out, "do let the poor girl in I'm sure she would like some refreshment after her long journey."
"Please," Carlisle continued, "come through to the kitchen and meet the rest of the family."
Hermione followed shyly, she had never felt entirely comfortable greeting new people, making friends had always been rather difficult for her being slightly….bookish and quiet. Grateful as she was to have made such good friends during her years at Hogwarts she was well aware that it had not been easy at first to do so.
She glanced around as she followed Carlisle Cullen through the house noting the beautiful décor and large open look of the house due to the floor to ceiling windows. Slowing her gait she paused at the door as she spied the rest of the family peering at her in confusion. Had they not been notified of her coming?
"Hermione," a beautiful vampire with caramel coloured hair moved forward with one hand stretched out, "I'm Esme, Carlisle's wife and we hope you will feel right at home here. Such a pretty girl," she added in almost a sad whisper before continuing, "I confess I'm very much looking forward to being able to have a legitimate reason for using this kitchen.
"Esme reminded Hermione of Mrs Weasley in her motherly nature, if not her looks, for Esme Cullen looked far to young to be anyone's mother, however there was a sense of motherly affection that seemed to surround her.
"I hope you will allow me to help," Hermione smiled, "its been a long time since I used muggle appliances."
"Muggle?" a huge male asked, Hermione would have been more intimidated if she knew she couldn't defend herself.
"A non magical being or in this case appliance," Hermione answered quickly, "it took me quite a long time to get used to all the new terms that were brought into my life when I discovered my magical abilities, of course Hogwarts soon acclimated me to my new world. They're rather good at that," she laughed nervously, it was one of her more nervous traits along with talking far to much.
"I'm Emmett by the way, the good looking one," he grinned widely, immediately making Hermione feel even more welcome, though leaving her with a strange feeling that Fred and George were with her.
"That's debateable," answered a different blond vampire, "Jasper," he nodded towards her and Hermione noted a hard look in his eye making her believe he probably had been through something traumatic in his past, she sensed he was accustomed to evil in all its forms.
"Rosalie," a stunning blond woman nodded, Hermione would have been much more in awe of her had she not met Fleur Weasley, Hermione smiled slightly towards her before breaking out in a gasp as she was suddenly hugged in cold, vice like arms which almost immediately sprung away from her.
"I'm Alice," the pixie like, dark haired vampire gasped in shock.
"Bloody hell, I'm so sorry," Hermione cried out, "I completely forgot, hang on a moment," and so saying she removed the protection charm from herself, "it wasn't anything personal but the last few years have been quite…um…difficult you know, especially for a muggle born like me and an all over protection could never truly hurt you. It was just…..well there were death eaters at the airport and then I had to wonder if they knew where I was going to be hiding and…."
"Breath, Hermione," Jasper twitched his lip in amusement, "its understandable that you would feel the need for protection when entering a house of vampires."
"Thank you," Hermione sighed with relief, "and it's nice to meet you Alice."
"You too, I can tell we're going to be great friends," Alice spoke happily, "but I'm going to go now and get your room ready. Coming Jazz?" Alice then turned and spoke to Carlisle, "We'll be staying."
"Staying?" Hermione whispered to herself.
"Yes," came another voice from behind Hermione, "the family has been undecided about staying in the same house as a ….human."
"This is Edward, my son," Esme introduced the boy with bronze hair.
Hermione again smiled slightly although inside she couldn't help but feel that she knew him from somewhere, "Is it because of my scent? Severus assured me that the potion would reduce it considerably, but of course the was no guarantee that the Doxie wings would actually work as it was an untested potion. For myself I can smell no difference."
"Severus?" Carlisle frowned, "is that the dark professor?"
Hermione suddenly interrupted into peals of laughter, "Is that what you call him? I suppose it is an apt description. Do you know I once tried to get him to wear blue, a very dark blue mind you, and he completely shot me down."
"I can't say I'm surprised by that, to be honest the thought of him being…..friendly is quite difficult to comprehend," Carlisle laughed lightly, "and it appears as if the potion is a success as you truly have no scent at all, it's remarkable."
"Severus is not easy to get to know," Hermione frowned thoughtfully, "although he is very loyal. I'm afraid his past has left him disappointed in mankind and so he wears a mask of indifference almost permanently."
"I confess I don't know him well at all but the idea that he is friends with a young girl seems unbelievable."
Hermione laughed lightly, "I'll have you know it took a lot of nagging on my part for our friendship to form."
"Um, question, who is Severus?" Emmett asked.
"That would be the wizard I owe an enormous debt to," Carlisle answered, "however I have only just learnt his name."
"He's a Potions Professor at Hogwarts, not very well liked I'm afraid, but ingenious, cunning and shrewd. I'm afraid nothing gets past him," Hermione added.
"Would you happen to know what occurred to render Carlisle in his debt?" Edward asked quietly, frustration evident on his face.
Hermione took the time to focus on him more now that he had asked her a question and noted how very young he looked, how very familiar too. She knew that logically she had never seen him before but the feeling would not leave her. There was no denying that he was beautiful as were all vampires and she had the saddening thought that he had probably been changed at a far to young age.
"I'm sorry, but no," she answered truthfully watching as his face fell.
"I can't hear it in Carlisle's thoughts," Edward continued, "which Carlisle believes it to be hidden with magic."
Hear it in his thoughts? That was something she would have to think about later.
"This is not something I'm qualified to deal with. Messing with peoples memories is dangerous," tears welled in her eyes as she thought of her parents and how they would never know they had a daughter. Even Severus had been unable to reverse the spell she had cast on them.
"I think it's time we got you settled in your room dear," Esme spoke softly, gently placing an arm around Hermione's shoulders and leading her from the room, "we've given you the spare room next to Edward's as it was the largest one available, unfortunately we haven't had time to order you a bed so Alice is bringing up a sofa from the living room."
"I'm sorry if I've inconvenienced you…" Hermione started.
"Don't worry about that," Esme brushed off, "we just want you to feel welcome."
"Thank you," she whispered as she was shown into a large but plain room. There were floor to ceiling windows lining one wall, all the walls were plain cream coloured with pine wood skirting boards. Esme pointed out a door to one side that led to her own bathroom which was for her use only as no one else residing here really needed it. A dark blue sofa sat along one wall with built in wardrobes covering the opposite side.
"You feel free to make this room your own," she was told, "do you have luggage arriving?"
Hermione shook her head and pointed to her small bag, "everything is in here. Do you mind if I change the sofa with magic?"
Esme's eyes widened, "of course not, but would you mind if I watched?"
"Not at all," She withdrew her wand from her sleeve and quickly transfigured the sofa into a large bed complete with duvet covers and pillows.
Esme clapped her hands excitedly, "wonderful," she smiled happily, "and you say everything that you need is in that bag?"
It was quite some time later that Hermione was left to her own devices after having shown Esme Cullen the wonders of her little bag and she couldn't help but feel a grateful for the time alone. Everyone had made her feel welcome but there was an air of worry that surrounded them, no doubt they were just as concerned about her staying with them as she was in return. It was not entirely impossible that most of them had never met a witch or seen magic.
She flopped heavily back onto the bed, the tears that she hadn't allowed herself to fall earlier flowing down her cheeks silently. She had lost everything. Her parents no longer knew her, one of her best friends was in a magical coma and Harry….he was gone.
She now had to face the fact that she would not see any of her fellow war survivors for several years, there would be no more late night floo calls with Luna, no more snarky conversations with Severus, no more teasing Draco…
A heavy sigh escaped her and she angrily brushed the tears away. She was relatively safe, had a lovely home to stay in and would be able to catch up on muggle schooling. This was no time to start feeling sorry for herself. Standing abruptly she decided that now was the time to unpack, after all this would be her room for quite some time and so thinking she started to pull items from her bag. She placed a light ward around her room allowing her to use magic without it interfering to much with the muggle electronics that this home was sure to have. Her clothes were easily enlarged and a quick spell ensured that they would be hung up neatly, moving on she pulled out her book case once again enlarging it and moving it towards the wall with her wand.
A short while later the room was unrecognisable as pictures of her friends and family were placed around the room (the magical ones waving happily at her), all her books were neatly put away (in alphabetical order) and her potions kit was set up along with her cauldron on a small table in the corner. The room soon filled with items to make her feel more at home, the Nargle catcher which Luna had made her floated above her bed, various magical plants were placed in front of the windows (all of them needed in potions) and her favourite item she placed beside her bed where she would be able to see it every morning. The small clock was almost a replica of the one the Weasley's kept in their home except this one had her friends on. Severus had given it to her after the trip to her parents so that she would at least know how they were doing even if she could not be with them. There were also hands for Severus, Ron, Luna, Neville and Draco. Currently her parents were pointing to 'home', Ron's had not changed from 'sleeping' since the beginning.
"Oh no," she whispered as she noted three of the hands pointing to 'mortal peril'. Her own was understandable due to the vampire's below, but surely Severus and Draco should be safe? What on earth were they up to? Now she knew for certain that this was more than just a marriage law escape, but how could she discover anything from here?
The truth was that she couldn't, unless she could find the magical community nearby. It was another thing to add to her 'to do' list. Along with finding out what she was supposed to learn for school of course. As her list became longer she found her mind wondering again back to the hands of the clock, what were those two doing? Her frustration grew as she knew she would not be able to find out.
"WHY CARLISLE?" the sudden shout came startling her out of her thoughts, grabbing her wand she made her way back down the stairs.
"You think this is wise?" the voice continued, "keeping a human in this house? You gave us almost no notice and we're expected to just be okay with it?"
Hermione recognised the voice as belonging to Rosalie, "I don't want her here!"
"This is not a choice you have Rosalie, if you're unhappy with the situation I suggest you go off with Emmett for a couple of years," Carlisle answered. Not wanting to be caught eavesdropping Hermione made her presence known.
"I can leave if I'm an inconvenience?" she stated stiffly.
"Oh, Dear of course you're not, I for one am looking forward to getting to know all about your world," Esme smiled.
"Don't worry about Rosalie, she's always like this," Alice insisted.
"Yes, because this is such a normal thing!" Rosalie fumed, "what if she gets hurt? What if she bleeds? What will happen to us if someone has an accident?"
"I'm more than capable of looking after myself," Hermione said, "and if I should happen to bleed I could heal myself instantly and still have time to throw you away from me."
"Man, I'd love to see that," Emmett sighed with a far away look in his eyes.
"We're leaving," Rosalie stated grabbing Emmett and stomping up the stairs.
"But…" Emmett started.
"I said now!"
An uncomfortable silence filled the room before Carlisle spoke, "Hermione I want to assure you that you are most welcome here, in fact the majority of us are very much looking forward to getting to know you."
"Thanks," she whispered, "I've finished unpacking, I hope you don't mind that I've put all my things out."
"Not at all and I'm willing to bet that you'll have a lot of visitors to your room myself included," Carlisle continued.
"I'd be happy to show you," she smiled, "in fact I have a picture that you might quite enjoy."
Carlisle, Esme and Alice followed Hermione up to her room making her wonder where the other two males were but they were soon forgotten as the gasps of delight filled the room. The next couple of hours were filled with questions as they asked about the various things that were dotted around her room and served to make her feel a little bit more welcome than she had been feeling.