Okay, another update. Hope it's good. This story has been written in chunks all out of order; I had part of the first chapter, the second half of this chapter (chapter 3), and most of the next chapter written long before I had any ideas on how to connect chapter 1 and the second half of chapter 3. I'm still not sure where entirely I'm going with the plot - I have a general direction but no specific destination, so most likely I'll be making things up as I go along. My other story, The Elements, is better plotted out, though what I've written so far is probably only about half the entire story if that.

Disclaimer: Nothing in this chapter is mine. HG and SS are JKR's, and Charlie is Ms. Meyer's. All that's mine is the idea for the cabin in the woods. Too bad it's not a real place. It's just the kind of place I could see spending an indefinite amount of time on a vacation away from the world.

Chapter Three

~Finding the Coven~

Hermione awoke to a vaguely familiar room. It took her a couple moments of looking around to figure out where she was, but she soon realized that she was in her cousin's room. She remembered the visits she and her parents would make here in years past; she stayed with Bella in her room while her parents stayed in the guest room next door.

She supposed she must have cried herself to sleep as Uncle Charlie held her and most likely he'd brought her up here to let her rest. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and rose to her feet, pausing to make sure vertigo didn't bring her right back down, and she quickly made the bed back up – force of habit from living first in a dorm with other girls and then in a tent with two boys – before heading back out of the room.

She came downstairs, stepping into the kitchen, to find that Severus and Uncle Charlie were sitting at the kitchen table, both with mugs of coffee in their hands as Severus explained some of the lighter aspects of life in the Wizarding World. She made a face when she realized he was explaining to a laughing Uncle Charlie her mishap in second year with the Polyjuice Potion and her brief stint as half-cat due to her mistaking cat hairs for the hairs of another student.

"I wasn't sure whether to laugh at the sight of her with fur all over her face, pointy ears, and a bushy tail or be impressed with the brilliance of a twelve-year-old being able to brew that potion successfully." At Charlie's raised eyebrow, Severus nodded and said, "Oh, yes, the potion was a success. Had she simply identified the hairs correctly and fixed her mistake before taking the potion, she would have transformed into another student. The sheer brilliance of the whole situation – and the sight of her with fur and a tail – made it easier to not mention the fact that the whole fiasco was how I knew she'd stolen from my ingredient stores in the first place."

As the two men spied her near the stairs, Severus looked at her with one stern eyebrow raised, though Charlie was interested to note the almost imperceptible twitch at the corner of his mouth. "Just don't go thinking that continued brilliance in your brewing will allow you to get away with future theft, Miss Granger," he told her silkily as Charlie stood to pour his niece a mug of coffee.

Apparently she also caught the same tiny sign of amusement, or she wouldn't have answered the way she did. "Yes, Professor Snape, sir," she snarked, rolling her eyes as she accepted the mug from her uncle.

"I don't know what plans the two of you have for today, but if you want I can take you and show you around town. It's my day off," Charlie explained at Hermione's inquiring look.

"Well, that sounds nice. Perhaps after that you can tell us everything you know about what's going on with Bella, and Severus and I can start looking for her," Hermione suggested.

"I will have to meet briefly with Minerva at some point today to inform her of the situation," Severus added. "So you can show us the town and then tell us about your daughter, and then while I meet with Minerva, Hermione can start organizing all our information so that we can set to work finding your daughter."

Charlie, his eyes alight with hope, agreed, and they headed out as soon as they had all finished their coffee.

Charlie first showed them the majority of the town, including the police station where he worked, the school, the town courthouse, the post office, and the local grocery store. Then, after they had seen all that, they stopped at a small restaurant, which Charlie said he would come to for a hot meal at least once a week. It seemed he was still a poor cook.

After lunch, Severus had a thought. "We will need to find a place to stay," he said. He saw Charlie open his mouth and held up a hand to forestall any offers he might make. "It would be best if it were a cabin in the woods, out of sight of the town or the roads. If necessary we can build one by magic. The main reason is that we will need a place to perform our magic freely, so we will need heavy wards to ensure maximum privacy. Some of the protections involve repelling those without magic, and such protections would not make sense at your home. For another thing, we will also be keeping an eye out for Lucius Malfoy, and in order to do so, we – or Hermione at least, as she has access to multiple forms while I only have access to one – will be shape-shifting to perform patrols. It would be an imposition for various animals to be constantly coming and going. We will, of course, be warding your house as well as we can without using the ones that repel those without magic."

Charlie seemed to think about it for a moment, but then he agreed. "Okay, then. There should be a good place in the woods between Forks and La Push. Couple of smaller areas where the trees are far enough apart for a cabin. There's been talk of a group of something, bears, wolves, we're not sure, but if you can protect the place enough to keep people from even noticing the place, you should be able to protect it from bears or wolves or whatever."

Severus and Hermione nodded, and so Charlie took them back toward his home, where they all changed into clothing more suited for hiking in the woods. Then Charlie led them into the forest, where they hiked due west for about two hours. Finally they came to a spot like Charlie had described, where the trees weren't so close and the ground was fairly flat. It was too small to be properly called a clearing, but it was large enough to allow for a small cabin.

Severus nodded at Hermione; she took her wand out as did he, and together they set to work erecting the cabin while Charlie watched with interest. Hermione laid the foundation while Severus waved his wand in a series of complicated movements before stepping back and motioning for Hermione, who was just finishing with the foundation, to do the same.

Charlie exclaimed in surprise as the clearing was suddenly filled with the trunks of small trees and branches from larger ones, all the pieces being the same size. They assembled themselves rapidly, stacking up in formations over the foundation Hermione had laid, and in a matter of minutes, Charlie found himself staring in shock at a fully erected log cabin made from Douglas fir trees, complete with glass windows Hermione had conjured out of nowhere and a raftered roof covered with shingles made of bark.

The logs had been shaped by magic so that there were no gaps anywhere and they fit together almost seamlessly. The door consisted of a single piece of wood and consisted of no ornamental carvings or windows; Charlie was just thinking that the door was rather plain and boring, when out of the corner of his eye he saw Severus nod to Hermione again, and she stepped forward, wand raised.

She began chanting various incantations, her wand constantly moving, and as she cast, Charlie realized that many different symbols were tracing themselves, as if by an invisible hand, on the suddenly not-so-plain door. Though each symbol was different, they were close together and there was a sort of almost-uniformity to them that made the whole thing seem less like writing on a door and more like a sort of vine-like ornamentation.

As Charlie watched the symbols trace themselves into the door, he felt the air shift and bend around him; the sensation caused the hair on his arms and the back of his neck to raise uncomfortably. As the set of symbols in the middle of the door finished tracing themselves, though, the air seemed to stop changing, and though he could still feel the difference, the odd sensations crawling across his skin stopped.

It seemed as though the carvings on the door were the last bit, because when Hermione finished and lowered her wand, she stepped back to stand between Severus and Charlie as they all gazed at the cabin. She and Severus looked at it to inspect their work; Charlie looked at it to confirm with his own eyes what they had just done. It was by far the biggest bit of magic he'd seen from the two of them. If seeing his niece turn into a giant cat earlier hadn't convinced him that witches were real and were absolutely nothing like the creatures little girls liked to emulate on Halloween, then seeing her and her companion erect an entire log cabin in the space of ten minutes just had.

"What are the symbols on the door?" he found himself asking.

Despite the fact that it had been Hermione casting the spells, it was Severus who answered the question. "Runes," he responded. "They contain all sorts of protective magic. Hermione's talents in protective spells are unparalleled, far above the normal skill level for a witch her age. They rival the abilities of even the teachers who helped create the wards and spells protecting the school." He looked sideways at his former student and gave a fond smirk at the blush staining her face at his uncharacteristic praise. "It's true," he told her. "If your abilities were less than they are, you, Potter, and Weasley would have been found and captured much, much earlier than you eventually were."

He turned his attention back to the door. "The set of runes here in the middle of the door are the source for the wards which now encompass the area around the cabin. Surrounding the cabin in an area with a radius of about four hundred meters is a series of overlapping layers of protective enchantments. Each layer is a different enchantment, and the fact that they overlap means that any wizard who tries to break them will have to break two or even three at the same time, which is exceedingly difficult to do.

"The outermost layer will simply alert whoever is inside the cabin that a living being is approaching, whether it is human or not. The very next layer is attached seamlessly to the first, though they don't overlap, and it tells us whether the approaching being is magical or not. The third layer will tell us whether or not it is dangerous. Should the intruder continue to approach, the next several overlapping layers consist of a powerful set of repellant wards, all designed to do different things but all with the objective of keeping dangerous intruders away.

"The wards are designed to recognize and admit only those who have permission from either myself or Hermione to approach the cabin; you will be one of the few people so admitted. Everyone else who approaches will be subtly repelled by the wards so that instead of encountering an invisible barrier, they will simply forget what made them approach the area and will feel an urge to go elsewhere. If a witch or wizard realizes the urge is a product of protective wards, it will still take them a very long time to make any headway breaking them. It will give us enough time to prepare for a potential fight or to get away."

By the end of Severus's little speech, Charlie's mouth hung slightly open, and so Hermione took pity on him. She took over explaining the runes on the door. "The rest of the runes are standard enchantments carved onto the doors of any wizarding household. The ones at the top of the door are designed for the residents of the home. They are sort of like wishes for good fortune, happiness, cleanliness, protection against accidents, bad intentions, or bad luck, that sort of thing. Every wizarding family puts different runes on their doors depending on what they desire in a happy home. For example, mine include runes for knowledge, clear thinking, hard work, and fruitful labor, since both Severus and I place great importance on the ability and desire to learn and work hard for the good things in life. They also include runes for bountiful food, since Harry, Ron, and I know all too well what it's like to go hungry, and runes to protect against nightmares since I've been prone to them. It's not as bad after my time in the rainforest, but my dreams were horrible right after the war. The runes at the bottom of the door are ones that are more designed for the well-being of any guests we welcome. It might seem like a bit much for a temporary home, but I don't know how long it will take until we even find Bella, not to mention how long it will take to help cure her of whatever is wrong with her."

With that, she stepped forward, approaching the door, which Charlie was extremely interested to note had no handle. But he watched in surprise as Hermione simply rested her palm against the door, where a soft green light flared up around her flattened palm before the door swung open before her. Before entering, she paused to explain to Charlie, "That will happen for anyone admitted by the wards. It's sort of the last stand against intruders; only those admitted by the wards can open the door, otherwise, how can they get in with no doorknob? They'd have to break it, and this door won't break easily." With that, she disappeared into the home.

Charlie and Severus followed her inside, and the door swung closed behind them. The cabin was simply designed and sparsely furnished. The inside consisted of five rooms. The room they had entered was a living room, which consisted of only a futon with a small, simple wooden table with a small lamp on each end and a low coffee table before it. The hardwood floor was covered by a large woven rug with stripes of varying widths and shades of brown varying from beige to tan to chocolate as well as muted, earthy shades of green and red. The cushion of the futon was a dark, forest green with two pillows at each end, a larger brown one and a smaller beige one, while the two lampshades were the same rich, earthy red seen in the rug. The wall across from the futon was largely taken up by a large, as-yet-empty wooden bookshelf with a three-foot-by-three-foot window on either side; he wondered how long it would take them to fill the bookshelf.

The living room was divided from the kitchen by only a low half-wall; people in either room would always be able to see those in the other. There was a long desk along the half-wall in the living room with space for two people to work comfortably.

The tiny kitchen was also sparse, containing a small table in one corner for no more than four people and the requisite number of chairs. Along one wall of the room ran a wooden counter top, polished with a hard coating of some sort to protect it and make it non-absorbent, and the bottom of the counter consisted of a series of cabinets. At one end of the counter there was a cook-top stove, raised off the wooden part by a porcelain base. He saw nothing that looked like a pantry, so he assumed the non-perishable food items were in the cabinets. There was, however, something that resembled a fridge on one wall, though he figured it, along with the counter-top stove and the lamps in the living room, ran on magic because after all, there were no power lines in these woods. And built into the other wall, the one across from the half-wall between the kitchen and living room, was a brick oven. Both the lower opening for the firewood and the upper opening for the actual baking were covered by iron doors, while a chimney directed the smoke outside so as not to fill the room with it.

Leading off the living room was a very short hallway, with one door on either side leading to the two bedrooms and another door at the end leading to the shared bathroom. The two bedrooms were furnished more sparsely than the living room, with only a bed, a bedside table with a lamp, and a wardrobe.

"Obviously the longer we stay here, the more we'll put in the cabin to make it more homey," Hermione stated. "For now, though, let's go back to your house and you can tell us everything you know about what's going on with Bella and her husband. To save time, we'll Apparate back, if that's all right. You'll come with one of us, of course. It's a bit uncomfortable at first but you'll be safe."

Charlie looked apprehensive, but Severus realized that Hermione's Gryffindor bravery was apparently a family trait; Charlie squared his shoulders and set his jaw and nodded. So Hermione tucked her hand into the crook of her Uncle's arm and spun the two of them away while Severus followed instantly.

Later that afternoon, just fifteen minutes after Severus had Apparated back to Hogwarts for his brief meeting with Minerva and Charlie had been called in to the station to help sort out a problem with another sighting of the bears or wolves or whatever they were, Hermione decided it was time to find her cousin. Uncle Charlie had told her and Severus everything he knew about what was going on with Bella and her husband and his family, and after what he'd told her, she was worried about him. He was beside himself with worry over his ill daughter, who kept putting off allowing Charlie to visit.

Apparently last time Bella had spoken to Charlie, she'd said the Cullens thought she was getting better and that she wasn't contagious, but then she'd turned around and said that they still didn't think it was a good idea for her to visit or have visitors herself. Hermione had absolutely no idea what was going on with her cousin, but obviously there was more going on than Charlie could guess at, probably more than anyone would ever be able to guess at. And Charlie was nearly frantic.

Hermione decided she'd follow this lead – the Cullens – and see if she could find out what was wrong with Bella. After all, she was a witch who had some experience with minor healing, and more than that, she was travelling with a Potions Master who, due to the need for absolute secrecy, had learned from necessity to heal himself after meetings with Voldemort had not gone in his favor. Between the two of them, they'd figure out how to heal Bella where these Cullens had failed.

She'd found out from Charlie where the Cullens lived, and despite his having told her that they and Bella were out of the country, she decided to follow a rather powerful instinct that told her to start there. She wrote a note to both Severus and Charlie telling them where she was and stuck it on the refrigerator door before Disapparating.

She appeared a fraction of a second later in the midst of a clearing of trees in the woods, and her eyebrows rose in surprise when she saw the large, stately house rising before her. Glancing to her right she saw what looked like part of a long, winding driveway that curved around one side of the enormous house and disappeared behind it. To her left were more trees, as thick as the Forbidden Forest back at Hogwarts but not nearly so ominous-looking. These were, for one thing, far greener and healthier-looking.

Straight ahead was the porch leading to the front door of the Cullen residence. She immediately noted that none of the windows had drapes or blinds drawn over them, so she knew someone was home. Without another thought, she strode forward purposefully up to the porch, up the steps, and to the front door, where she rang the doorbell.

Moments later, the door was opened to reveal a very handsome fair-skinned man with blonde hair and golden eyes seemingly in his late twenties. It was the golden eyes that made Hermione blink, but a tingle she felt in the fingertips of her currently empty wand-hand (which she'd just used to answer the doorbell) that made her frown momentarily. Something was very off about this man.

"Hello," she said before he could speak, pushing away the feeling that told her something was wrong. "My name is Hermione, and I'm looking for my cousin Bella. I was told she was staying here and I hoped I could come see her. Sorry for the short notice, but I had planned it as a bit of a surprise. Is she here?" She spoke casually, careful to sound earnest and open.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hermione. My name is Carlisle. I'm afraid Bella is very ill and is currently being treated out of the country at the moment. But if you like I can let her know that you called on her next time I speak with her," the man said. The moment he started speaking Hermione realized exactly what was wrong, and dread settled in the pit of her stomach. She knew exactly what kind of creature possessed a voice like that.

"Well, if you could perhaps tell me where she is and provide me with some contact information so that I might speak with her myself, I'd appreciate it. I haven't heard from her in ages and I miss her," Hermione responded, fully aware that any information he did give her would be false. Out of the country my arse, she thought. He's hiding something, and probably her as well. Damn! Why didn't I wait for Severus? He probably has far more experience dealing with vampires than I. Wonder what the issue is with the golden eyes.

Before Carlisle could say anything, however, a shocked voice sounded from somewhere inside the house. "Harmony?"

It was feminine, and very weak-sounding. Hermione almost didn't recognize it as belonging to her cousin. When a glance at the man's – Carlisle's – face showed her a lack of reaction other than a faint shift in his gaze and the fact that he seemed to tense ever so slightly, the tingle in the fingertips of her wand-hand spread throughout her entire arm.

Hermione peered over Carlisle's shoulder and caught a glimpse of a familiar face peering at her from a sofa in the living room beyond.

Horrified, Hermione realized that Bella was paler than usual, except for the dark circles beneath the brown eyes they shared, eyes they had inherited from Charlie Swan and his sister, Hermione's mother. Bella was also far too thin. Merlin! And people told me I was too skinny after being on the run so long! That was nothing compared to this!

Her senses and reflexes honed to pin-point sharpness, Hermione also took extremely brief note of the other occupants of the house, most of them gathered about the sofa upon which Bella reclined. Though for the most part they all had differently-colored hair, they all shared the same golden eyes and pale skin as Carlisle, and they all stood unnaturally still.

The realization of exactly what the Cullens were hit her at almost the exact same moment that Bella decided to slowly and painstakingly haul herself to her feet. Instantly Hermione's expression morphed to one of mingled shock, horror, and fury.

So...? What did we think?

Now, in the Elements I said I wouldn't be telling you at the end of each chapter what goes on in the next one, but since I've got most of the next chapter written already, I think I'm safe. Basically, Severus and Hermione meet certain immortals and find out exactly what is wrong with Bella after all.

RP13