Oh, look, a blue moon! And another update in less than 24 hours! Wow! Of course, I cheated. I already had most of this chapter written, even before the first part of the previous chapters. See, my inspiration often comes in chunks - I come up with certain scenarios, get them all written down before they escape me, and then build a story around them. And then sometimes, as with the Elements, I have the first few chapters thought up and written out in order and at the same time get ideas for scenarios further along in the story, and then have to come up with a way to connect them. So my updates with my stories will usually be patchy - sometimes two or three in a period of just a couple days, other times two or three weeks between one update and the next. Just be patient with me; there's madness to my method.

Literally nothing in this chapter is mine except some of the plot. Everything else belongs to Ms. Rowling and Ms. Meyer. Not even all the writing is mine. There is a chunk of this chapter were certain lines of text are taken directly from Breaking Dawn. I've marked each line with an asterisk *. Normally I wouldn't borrow text and dialogue, but it just seemed to fit.

Chapter Four

~Conversing With the Coven ~

Without further ado she shoved past Carlisle into the house and positioned herself close to a shocked-looking Bella, drawing her wand as she moved. "Which one of you bloodsuckers did this to her?!" she demanded of the room at large. She stood protectively in front of her cousin, her posture half-crouched and intended to leave no doubt in anyone's mind that she would aggressively defend her cousin with every fiber of her being.

Her eyes flitted restlessly from one occupant of the room to the next, waiting to see who would be the first to attack. When both the male with wild bronze hair and the female with luxurious blonde masses both moved forward, she raised her wand, the tip of which was beginning to glow, and opened her mouth to start hexing.

"Hermione, no!" shouted another voice. Out of the corner of her eye a black blur caught her attention, and when she looked up to see Severus Snape bearing down on her, things happened rather quickly.

Another blur of movement out of the corner of each eye caught her attention again, and then there were two successive bangs, each accompanied by a flash of light that blinded even the vampires. Several voices exclaimed in surprise. Once everyone's vision cleared, they could see large holes in the eastern and western walls of the room. The blonde female and the bronze-haired male each lay among the rubble scattered about the base of each hole, having been thrown through the walls by the force of Hermione's spell. A second male, bulky with dark hair and prominent muscles, lay dazed in the middle of a small crater in the living room floor about five feet in front of Severus.

The dark wizard sighed and rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "You really should not have attacked," he said to the three vampires who were sitting up, looking about with dazed and confused expressions. "As you no doubt have seen, Hermione doesn't take well to those who believe they can catch her by surprise. Often they themselves are the ones taken by surprise instead, as evidenced by the dazed expressions on your faces, a look which, I might add, does not suit vampires at all."

"What the fuck just happened?" the dark-haired vampire asked as he and the other two got to their feet. His tone was one of surprise more than anything else as he climbed out of the hole in the living room floor.

"A witch happened. You moved to attack, so she moved to defend."

"A witch?" asked the bronze-haired man incredulously.

Edward moved once more toward the two human girls, but the shorter one, the petite stranger with her masses of wild curls and a deceptively harmless-looking stick in her hand, scowled fiercely at him, raising the stick higher and pointing it right at him. "Back off!" she snarled, her brown eyes – the same color as Bella's, he noted – sparking.

Edward glanced at the human man, who met his gaze and raised one eyebrow as if to say he wouldn't be responsible for the consequences of Edward's refusal to heed the girl's warning. When Edward attempted to read the thoughts behind the look, he was astonished and frustrated to hit a wall of seemingly solid, completely opaque mist. He was further astonished to see the smirk on the man's face as he tapped a single forefinger to his temple. He decided it might be best to heed the warning, at least until he knew what these people were.

"Yes, a witch," the man responded with forced patience. He spoke slowly, as if he rather thought Edward was a bit slow. "Hermione is a witch and can cast spells and brew potions, among other things. She wields a wand and is a rather…formidable opponent, even for witches and wizards who are older and more experienced than she. Add to that the fact that she has just played a key role in a war in which she was a primary target to a rather deranged despot who wished to take over the world. Her reflexes and senses are extremely sharp."

"Are you going to tell them everything about us, Severus?" she demanded sharply. Though she spoke to him, her eyes never stopped roaming about the room, keeping tabs on its other occupants.

Before he could answer though, a rather distressed and weak-sounding voice spoke up from behind Hermione. "Wait…what? Witches and wizards? Harmony, what's going on? Who is that? And why did you attack Edward, Rosalie, and Emmett?" Bella asked plaintively, using the nickname she and Charlie had given Hermione, who had always been the peacemaker in the family, when the girls were young.

Frowning, Hermione glanced over her shoulder at her cousin but didn't turn around. "Yes, Bella. Witches and wizards are real. I am one. But surely knowing about the existence of witches and wizards shouldn't be that much of a surprise given the present company! Or did you never wonder why they move so impossibly fast, why their skin is hard as granite and cold as ice, or why they are so inhumanly strong? And what do you mean, why did I attack them? They're vampires. Look what they've done to you!"

"I know what they are, Harmony," Bella responded, her voice sounding insistent, weak and ill though it was. "But how do you know what they are? And they haven't done anything to me! I married Edward and now I'm going to have a baby, that's it!"

At this, Hermione lowered her wand and spun to face her cousin, mouth agape in shock and disbelief. As she moved, she caught a glimpse of the bronze-haired male vampire rolling his eyes. "That's it?" she said incredulously. "You married a vampire and he got you pregnant and that's it? What about the part where you married a vampire and are now pregnant with a half-vampire baby that will most likely tear you to shreds as you attempt to deliver it?"

"Please, Harmony, you don't understand! He's good, all the Cullens are! They don't drink human blood, they don't harm humans at all! That's why their eyes are golden! Come on, you noticed their eyes, right? You had to have noticed them," Bella pleaded. The look on her face was open and earnest as she spoke with her cousin.

Severus watched the proceedings with interest while the vampires watched with wariness. Bella's insistence that Hermione had to have noticed the vampires' eyes struck a chord with Severus. It sounded as if Bella understood her cousin very well and knew that Hermione would pay very close attention to such details and that what Hermione didn't understand about such details, she would endeavor to find out. The way Hermione had spoken to Bella made him think that she'd expected Bella to be far more sensible and practical than to fall in love with and marry a vampire.

But when he saw by the expressions on the faces of everyone, vampire and human, in the room that the tension was mounting, he knew that an argument between the cousins would only make things worse. So he intervened once more.

"Hermione, it looks to me as if there is far more to the story than it would seem. Whatever the situation is, the fact remains that your cousin is pregnant and the stress cannot be good for her," he said to the witch, who looked suddenly ashamed of herself. Then he addressed the room at large. "Might I suggest we all sit down and hear the entire story from the beginning? It appears there are things Hermione and I need to understand before we make hasty judgments. And there are things that you need to understand about Hermione and I before you judge us in turn."

Everyone else agreed and moved hesitantly to sit down. Edward darted in to help Bella, and when Hermione would have objected, Severus's firm hand gripping her shoulder stopped her. She looked at him, frowning, and he shook his head.

Then, before she could sit down, he said to her, "Before you sit, I believe there are some repairs that need to be made."

She frowned, momentarily puzzled, but when she realized what he was talking about, her eyes narrowed and her jaw set mulishly. But he merely raised one eyebrow at her, and eventually she caved under the power of the same Professor Snape expression that had cowed her in school. Rolling her eyes at him – something she never would have dared in school – she turned, drawing her wand, and went over to stand before one of the holes she had made launching the two vampires through the walls. Her wand waved about in the air in silence, and the scattered debris from the walls flew back into place, sealing the hole completely. She repeated the process with the other wall and then the floor until there was no evidence that anything had been launched through either of the walls or driven through the floor, and then she went to sit beside Severus on the loveseat he'd settled in.

Edward had helped Bella settle onto the sofa, where she leaned back against the arm, her feet held in Edward's lap as he sat beside her. The other vampires all placed themselves in various spots around the room.

The oldest-looking of the females, who appeared to be in her mid-twenties (though Hermione knew they were all most likely much older than they appeared) and who had soft billows of just-past-shoulder-length dark brown hair that looked like something out of the nineteen forties, settled in one of the plush armchairs.

The golden-haired man who had greeted Hermione at the door, Carlisle, stood behind her, his hands on her shoulders. They shared a brief glance that was actually somewhat reassuring to Hermione. It was a familiar look filled with a deep, unconditional love; she'd seen the same look on the faces of her parents as well as Molly and Arthur Weasley.

The beautiful blonde female who had attempted to attack Hermione settled as far away from the witch as she could while remaining in the same room, and stood in a corner near the fireplace. Hermione noted that her position, while far from Hermione, was still fairly close to Bella, and Hermione figured she'd placed herself there so that if she thought she needed to, she could still place herself between the pregnant Bella and the witch.

The dark-haired male sat himself on a chair brought from the adjoining dining room, placed between the armchair where the older female sat and the loveseat supporting Hermione and Severus. As he brought the armchair over, he watched the witch and wizard warily out of the corner of his eye, and Hermione struggled to keep from smiling in amusement.

A third vampire female, this one with short dark hair and a pixie-like facial structure, perched upon the arm of the sofa against which Bella leaned, and Bella leaned her head back against the vampire's lap. She was much more petite, closer in size to Hermione than to the other two female vampires or Bella.

The final vampire was another blonde male, not as tall as the bulky, dark-haired male but taller than both the bronze-haired male and Carlisle. His expression was more guarded than the expressions of the rest of his coven. He positioned himself off to one side of the group, simultaneously isolating himself a little and ensuring that he could see the facial expressions of everyone present.

Once everyone was seated, Severus spoke again. "Now then. Mrs. Cullen…it is Mrs. Cullen, correct, not Miss Swan?" When Bella gave a tired nod, he continued. "I think it would be best if you told us from the beginning about how you came to be married to a vampire. Then Hermione and I will explain the Wizarding World she and I are a part of."

Before Bella could begin to explain, however, Carlisle decided introductions were necessary, and briefly introduced the witch and wizard to the rest of his family members. In turn, Hermione clarified for the rest of the Cullen family that she was Bella's cousin, and introduced everyone to Severus.

After the introductions, however, she fell silent. Severus could see in her expression, however, a mixture of fear, concern, protectiveness, and even guilt. No doubt the witch felt her cousin would not be in such a situation if she'd protected her better. But Severus could also see what the over-protective, somewhat biased Hermione could not; Bella Cullen, nee Swan, and her husband Edward were deeply in love.

Bella could see the same expressions in her cousin's face, and though she could understand to some degree why Hermione felt the way she did, she still didn't understand why Hermione's emotions were so powerful, or how Hermione even knew of the existence of vampires to begin with. But she and the dark man had said something about being a witch and a wizard and being part of another world. Maybe contact with the kind of vampires that attacked people was more common in their world. For all Bella knew, Hermione might have witnessed such attacks herself, which would then explain why the presence of vampires in her cousin's life was so disturbing to her.

But the Cullens were nothing like the vampires who attacked people. They were, for lack of a better word, incredible. Everything from their reverence for human life to their tight family bonds was completely different from other vampires. Clearly Hermione didn't know that, and so Bella strove to do justice to the Cullens in her explanation of how she'd met Edward and his family and fallen in love with him. She explained in detail about Edward's struggle and incredible self-restraint when they'd first met, his subsequent efforts to save her life or protect her several times over, the drama with James, Victoria, and Laurent, and the Cullens' feeding habits. She didn't mention the time Jasper had nearly killed her, Edward's resulting decision to leave her, the months she'd spent in a deep depression as a result, the Quileute wolves (she didn't mention the wolves because it wasn't her secret to share), or the encounter with the Volturi in Italy. She briefly mentioned Victoria's creation of a newborn vampire army, and hastily reassured Hermione of the Cullens' successful defeat of said army and destruction of said female vampire when the other girl looked murderous. Then she explained the deal she'd made with Edward that he would change her if she married him, as well as her desire for a real honeymoon before the change caused her to be consumed by bloodthirstiness, and the pregnancy that resulted.

When she finished her explanation, Hermione stared at her, absolutely torn. She realized now how much Bella and Edward loved each other, but she was horrified by Bella's insistence upon a real honeymoon while she was still human and refusal to be patient and wait until the bloodthirstiness passed. That had been the biggest difference between the two cousins, who in many ways were eerily similar; while both were highly intelligent and mature for their age as well as immensely practical, Bella had always been the more impatient of the two, while Hermione seemed to have an endless supply of patience.

She also realized, however, that Edward would never truly harm Bella, that the intense familial bonds between all the Cullens meant that none of the others would harm Bella either, and that the Cullens truly were, in every sense of the word, good. She sighed, rubbing her temples to rid herself of the headache that was blossoming behind her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, her voice low. "It's quite clear to me now how much you all care for Bella, and for one another, and that all of you would do everything in your power to keep her safe and happy. I suppose that's all I can ask for my cousin. It seems I overreacted without understanding all the facts. But as you will see, my fears aren't unwarranted. I have witnessed vampires commit atrocities that would make Victoria's newborn army seem docile, all in the name of a hypocritical despot who sought to purge the world of what he saw as its impurities."

Then she narrowed her eyes and turned her gaze on Edward, who tensed ever so slightly. It would seem he wasn't used to being thrown through walls by such a small slip of a girl. "As for you," she said severely, and Severus didn't know whether to be amused or terrified by her striking resemblance just then to Professor McGonagall. "I hope you realize just how lucky you are that I understand my cousin as well as I do, and that I've come to realize you would never intentionally harm her, or I could have a lot to say about you giving in to her insistence on a real honeymoon while still human." She shook her head, one hand over her eyes. "What you were thinking, Bella-bee!" she exclaimed, using the nickname she'd called Bella by when they were little. "I was supposed to be the one more inclined to do stupid things, not you! For all your impatience, you were still always the more level-headed!"

The petite dark-haired vampire spoke next. Her eyes were on Hermione, brows arched in surprise. "If Bella is supposed to be the more level-headed of the two of you, I'd hate to think of the stupid things you're inclined to do," she chimed.

It was Severus who answered her. "You have no idea. The way she charged in and confronted a room full of known vampires wasn't enough of a clue? Trust me, getting involved with a coven of vampires such as yourselves would seem almost mundane, no offense, compared to the dangers Hermione and her two friends are constantly putting themselves in," he said, ignoring Hermione's glare.

"Well, with a cryptic statement like that, you've managed to make us all curious. Please, we're all anxious to hear more about your world," Carlisle said.

And so Severus and Hermione took turns explaining the Wizarding World from differing perspectives, as well as their respective roles in the war. Both downplayed their own roles in the war, but had much more to say about each other. The Cullens and Bella were coming to understand that neither gave credit where it was not due, and so as Hermione praised Severus's immense skill as a spy and master duelist and Severus insisted that it was her intelligence and resourcefulness that had kept Harry Potter alive long enough to bring about Voldemort's end, the Cullens also came to realize that they were in the presence of two war heroes who had seen and done things that put even Carlisle's four hundred or so years of experience to shame. As their explanation went on, the Cullens began to understand not only Severus's comment about the dangers Hermione and her friends were always putting themselves in but also Hermione's intense reaction to the discovery that her cousin was involved with vampires.

Jasper had wondered initially, once he'd had a chance to examine the witch and wizard, how two mortals could be so scarred. His own violent experiences left him with a tendency to notice the effects, both physical and emotional, that war and fighting had on people; naturally, he noticed their scars, and was puzzled by Hermione's scars in particular.

As his eyes traced the words carved permanently into her flesh, he inquired as to their meaning, and his entire family noticed the changes that came instantly over both Hermione and Severus. Hermione's expression went dull, almost lifeless, her eyes not seeming to see anything in the room; Severus's expression remained neutral, but the quiet rage that flared to life in the depths of his black eyes gave him away. All the Cullens noticed how he shifted almost imperceptibly closer to the witch, his body language conveying a sense of protectiveness.

Hermione's voice was flat, almost monotonous, as she explained with almost clinical detachment the widespread prejudice against witches and wizards born to non-magical parents as well as the meaning of the words, and finally the torture she'd experienced at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange. Her back was ramrod straight as she spoke, and her right hand was clenched into a fist, her nails digging into her palm, while the fingertips of her left hand traced over the word "mudblood" carved into her skin.

Despite the monotony of Hermione's voice, the look on her face would haunt her cousin for the rest of her life. Bella listened, her heart in her throat, as Hermione finished with a quiet, subdued explanation of the other, hidden scars that had resulted from Bellatrix Lestrange's torture. When Hermione told them, her hands subconsciously clutching her lower belly, how her womb and ovaries had sustained irreparable damage from the prolonged torture, Bella's heart shattered for her cousin. Reflexively she put a protective hand over her own belly.

She took a deep, nearly silent breath of surprise when she felt a gentle nudge against her hand, the gentlest motion she'd had from her unborn child yet. It was almost…comforting.

Bella looked back up to find Hermione's eyes resting on the spot where she'd touched her belly. The witch's eyes were full of pain, though her face was still mostly stoic.

Everyone noticed where Hermione's eyes rested, and Jasper suddenly found his mind bombarded with a mixture of emotions. From Esme he felt a peculiar sensation centering in his chest and realized she felt as if she could almost feel her heart breaking for Hermione; from Carlisle he was getting a mixture of shock, compassion, and relief, and was puzzled by the last emotion. He'd have to ask. Alice was radiating waves of sadness while Emmett was highly disturbed. Rosalie and Edward were both enraged, and he could practically feel his own mouth filling with venom as theirs most likely were. And Bella's emotions were the most complex, likely due to her relationship with Hermione. Shock, grief, fury, and helplessness warred with things Jasper couldn't as easily name. A sense of protectiveness, perhaps, as well as…relief? Relief that Hermione had survived with mind and body intact? Relief that Hermione had someone to help her recover?

The pregnant Bella, who had silent tears running down her face, slowly got to her feet and ignored Edward's silent protests. Then she made her way over to her cousin and pulled her into her arms for an embrace. Meanwhile, Hermione's eyes were dry, and as she and her cousin held each other tightly, nobody was entirely certain who was comforting whom.

After a few moments, they released each other and Bella returned to her spot on the couch next to Edward, who pulled her feet back into his lap. Hermione sat back down on the loveseat next to Severus, who, Bella was extremely pleased to note, moved closer so that their sides were pressed together and took her hand, linking his fingers with hers. Jasper was extremely interested by the intense feelings of protectiveness and possessiveness, along with something else Jasper wasn't sure he had a name for but that felt very much like what he felt for his wife Alice.

The vampires all seemed to sense that the war was a topic neither the witch nor the wizard cared to discuss any more, and so they began to ask more questions about life in the Wizarding World in general. Jasper was greatly interested in the Ministry of Magic, while the competitive Emmett was eager to hear about Quidditch and other Wizarding games, including the Triwizard Tournament, though when the telling of that particular tale ventured too close to the subject of Voldemort's return and the start of the second war, the Cullens dropped that topic. Edward and Carlisle were particularly interested in the different classes offered at Hogwarts, while Esme loved hearing about the holiday feasts and traditions, and when Alice picked up on the faint note of derision in Hermione's voice as she mentioned divination and inquired about it, she scoffed at Hermione's explanation, clearly sharing Hermione's sentiments about the general unreliability of divination as a whole.

"That is not predicting the future. I predict the future. That's a load of nonsense that anyone with half a brain and a penchant for theatrics can learn." Then, upon seeing Hermione's curious expression, she explained not only her powers but also Jasper's and Edward's abilities.

When Edward was explaining his abilities to read the minds of anyone he encountered, Severus smirked in triumph at the nearly imperceptible note of frustration that colored Edward's voice as he spoke. Hermione saw his expression and, thinking she knew what might have triggered it, she asked Edward with a shrewd look in her eyes. "You can't read either of our minds, can you? And it frustrates you to no end, doesn't it?"

He sighed, running his fingers through his wild bronze hair. "No, I can't, and yes, it does," he replied.

"Don't feel too badly," Severus advised. "I am a master at the magic that allows me to block my thoughts from people trying to read them. I have had to be, in order to keep my role as a double agent for the Order of the Phoenix a secret from Voldemort. He was a master Legilimens."

When the vampires looked at him in question, he elaborated. "Legilimency is a kind of magic that enables one to enter the mind of someone else and know their thoughts. Occlumency is the magic that counters Legilimency and enables one to completely conceal one's thoughts. Against an accomplished Occlumens, a Legilimens is rendered effectively useless. As for why you are unable to read Hermione's mind, there are two possibilities. One, she, like myself, has become a master Occlumens and that is all there is to it. Or two, the genes she shares with Isabella indicate that her mind would probably be closed to you even without the magic of Occlumency."

Edward contemplated this for a while, but then Jasper spoke up. "If you can block people from reading your thoughts, why am I still able to pick up on your emotions?" he asked.

The witch and wizard pondered this for a moment. Finally Hermione answered, speaking thoughtfully. "Probably the same way you're able to pick up on Bella's emotions. Emotions are controlled by the brain, yes, but they're much more elemental and involve the body much more than thoughts do, which is why fear, anger, and excitement all cause the heart to pound and blood to flow faster and why sadness brings tears. Thoughts are much easier to consciously control, since they're purely a product of the mind. You can't force yourself to feel happy when your body is telling you you should be sad." After a moment, she added, her gaze far away as if she were caught up in a memory, "Though sometimes we become good enough liars that we can fool ourselves into believing nothing is wrong, the sadness is still there, hidden."

Of course, Jasper immediately picked up on the very sadness she spoke of, as did Bella and Esme. Of course, Esme was uncommonly compassionate and Bella was similar enough in personality to her cousin that they understood each other perfectly even without having seen each other in so long; neither of the two Cullen women needed Jasper's special abilities to pick up on the sadness hiding in Hermione's gaze. It was a sadness that had actually been there since she'd started explaining the war, but it had intensified just now. What none of the three Cullens understood was why.

Severus, who also saw the sadness there, was the only person who understood the reason for her sadness. Though he hadn't been there with her while she and her friends had been on their Horcrux hunt, he understood that this sorrow had been there ever since she'd removed herself from her parents' lives with two very powerful and completely irreversible Memory Charms.

Esme spoke up in hopes of cheering everyone up. "Severus, Hermione, have either of you eaten?" she asked. "While we ourselves don't eat, we do keep food in the house for Bella. Of course, she hasn't been able to keep anything down, so we still have quite a bit that will spoil if it isn't used. We can make anything you'd like."

Severus declined, replying that they had eaten lunch around one that afternoon, while Hermione shook her head with a distractedly murmured, "No, thank you." She frowned thoughtfully as she stared hard off into space.

The Cullens, Bella, and Severus all noted her strange behavior; Severus and Bella were the only ones who shrugged it off, knowing that this particular habit of hers precluded an announcement that she had to either "go to the library" or "go look something up" and they understood that they wouldn't get any explanations until after she'd figured things out.

This time, however, when she emerged from her staring contest with the wall, she focused immediately on her pregnant cousin. "You haven't been able to keep anything down at all? Since you got pregnant?"

Bella shook her head. "No, nothing. For whatever reason, the baby's rejecting everything I've tried."

Hermione frowned harder. "This sounds awfully familiar, but I can't think…wait!" She whipped her head around to look at Severus and said, "Tonks!"

He stared, then replied, "You're losing it, Hermione. I'm Severus, remember?"

She shook her head impatiently. "No, no, Tonks had a similar problem when she was pregnant with Teddy. You know, what with Teddy being half werewolf and all?"

The Cullens and Bella all stared in shock. "What?" Bella asked incredulously.

"Our Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor from my third year, a friend of Harry's parents when they were in school, is a werewolf, whose transformations only occur on the night of the full moon and are uncontrollable. He takes a potion once a month that makes him harmless, though. But anyway, he married a woman named Nymphadora Tonks – she hates her first name, so everyone calls her Tonks – and she became pregnant with his son, and when she did, she said that she couldn't keep anything down except for raw steak – Merlin!" she exclaimed, interrupting herself with a gasp.

"What?" Severus and Bella demanded at the same time, both of them impatient with Hermione's tendency towards eloquence when she was working out a mystery.

"Teddy Lupin," Hermione began, trying to force herself to stay calm and not gag, "is half-werewolf and though he doesn't transform, his mum could only eat raw steaks when she was pregnant. Your child is half-vampire! What if -"

Edward was the first to catch on. "It's thirsty!" A tiny spark of hope lit the eyes that Hermione had noted early on looked duller than those of the rest of the Cullens.

Bella blinked. "Oh. Oh." *

Hermione nodded. "I don't know that I've ever heard of a half-vampire, half-human, but it seems logical that such a being would be able to consume both blood and human food, but would probably prefer blood, which is why you've been unable to keep anything down. Similarly to the way human babies cause their mothers to crave certain foods, Teddy Lupin gave his mother intense cravings for rare meat and an inability to stomach anything else, though since he was born she's been able to revert to her normal diet. It seems logical that your baby, who is half-vampire, would give you cravings for blood."

Carlisle looked thoughtful. "Hmm. I wonder…and then, what would be the best way to administer…" *

Rosalie, the blonde female vampire, spoke up for the first time. She shook her head impatiently. "We don't have time to be creative. I'd say we should start with the traditional way." *

Bella nodded slowly. "I've got to drink it," she murmured. "I can do that. Practice for the future, right?" Her colorless lips stretched into a faint grin as she looked at Edward. He didn't smile back. *

Hermione's lips flattened at the reminder of Bella's intent to become a vampire, but she reminded herself that the rest of the Cullens were good. They'd be able to help her get over her craving for human blood. It was then, knowing full-well what newborn vampires were like and how difficult they could be to control, that she made an instantaneous decision. And so will I. If I have to keep her under a full body-bind until she learns to control herself, then I will. I will not let my cousin take herself off on a murdering rampage she would regret for all eternity if I can help it.

Rosalie started tapping her foot impatiently *, and the sound began to grate on Hermione's nerves. Hermione was really starting to dislike the blonde female, and was tempted to launch her through the wall again. But she really did like Esme and Carlisle, and though she knew she could easily repair any damage she caused to their home, she saw no need to cause them undue stress by further antagonizing a member of their family. So she gritted her teeth and kept her mouth shut and her wand to herself.

Severus, of course, felt no such qualms. "Will you cease that infernal tapping?" he hissed with a deadly glare at the blonde vampire. "Your kind may not get headaches, but some of us mere mortals have ears just as sensitive as yours, and we do have a tendency towards cerebral pains when forced to endure such an onslaught to our eardrums."

Rosalie complied with a glare, and Hermione was interested to note that such a glare coming from such a pretty face was indeed formidable, but it seemed not even a vampire could match the sheer venom for which Severus's glares were famous.

"If we're done sniping at each other," Edward snapped irritably, though his hold on Bella remained gentle.

"So who's going to catch me a grizzly bear?" Bella whispered. *

Carlisle and Edward exchanged a quick glance. *

"What?" she asked. *

"It will be a more effective test if we don't cut corners, Bella," Carlisle said. *

"If the fetus is craving blood," Edward explained, "it's not craving animal blood." *

"It won't make a difference to you, Bella. Don't think about it," Rosalie encouraged. *

Bella's eyes widened. "Who?" she breathed. *

Hermione's and Severus's eyebrows snapped together in mirroring frowns. "Hold the bloody phone," Hermione snarled. "I thought the intent would be to provide her with animal blood. As much as we want to help, we will not sanction murder to satisfy the craving of an unborn child! There has to be another way to get her what she needs!"

Carlisle held his hands up in a gesture of peace. "We already have blood on hand, all donated. No one is going to die. We were reserving it for after Bella's transformation, in order to help her resist the need to kill anyone."

Mollified, Hermione sighed. "Fine. You have it here?"

Carlisle nodded and replied, "I'll be right back." He turned and left the room in a blur of motion, returning seconds later with a plastic bag filled with a red liquid.

Vampires, Hermione thought to herself. If vampires had any particular trait that she envied, it would have to be their speed. Of course, witches and wizards had a number of different means of speedy travel, a couple of which put a vampire's speed to shame, but she did enjoy running every now and then, and it would be nice to be able to run with such speed.

Carlisle vanished into the kitchen and reappeared a moment later with a foam cup topped with a lid and an opaque straw; Hermione understood that the purpose of that was to cause Bella as little stress as possible.

Carlisle hesitated, the hand with the cup half-extended. Bella eyed it, * looking nervous.

"We could try another method," Carlisle said quietly. *

"No," Bella whispered. "No, I'll try this first. We don't have time…" Her hand fluttered feebly against her stomach. * Hermione's lips twisted into a half-grimace, half-smirk. Of course Bella would be more concerned for the half-monster destroying her body from within than for herself.

Of course, Hermione couldn't truthfully say she wouldn't feel exactly the same in her cousin's position. I'd probably feel even more protective, she thought, a whisper of sadness tingeing her thoughts as she was reminded yet again that she'd never know what it was to feel protective of any child, however harmful, growing inside her belly.

She watched as Bella took the cup from Carlisle, her hand a little trembly. She lifted the cup to her face and sniffed at the end of the straw. She flinched, and then made a face. *

"Bella, sweetheart, we can find an easier way," Edward said, holding his hand out for the cup. *

"Plug your nose," Rosalie suggested. Of all the inane suggestions…Severus thought in annoyance. As if plugging her nose now will allow her to forget the smell now that she's had a whiff.

"No, that's not it. It's just that it -" Bella sucked in a deep breath. "It smells good," she admitted in a tiny voice. *

Hermione struggled to keep the distaste from her face and couldn't help but think of the irony. Her cousin, who'd once upon a time gotten dizzy just at the idea of having her finger pricked, now about to drink blood from a straw.

"That's a good thing," Rosalie told Bella eagerly. "That means we're on the right track. Give it a try." *

Bella shoved the straw between her lips, squeezed her eyes shut, and wrinkled her nose. She sipped at it for a second, and then moaned quietly with her eyes still closed. *

Edward stepped forward and touched her face. "Bella, love -" *

"I'm okay," she whispered. She opened her eyes and stared up at him. Her expression was…apologetic. Pleading. Scared. "It tastes good too." *

Her stomach churning at the idea, Hermione stood. "And that's my cue to leave the room. I'm sorry, Bella-bee. While I recognize that it may help you now, I've also seen far too much blood spilled over the past several years, and far too much havoc created using blood as a tool of dark magic. I'll be back when you've finished. For now, Severus and I need to speak with Carlisle, and Edward as well if he doesn't mind."

Carlisle and Edward both nodded, though Edward lingered with Bella for a moment, uncertain, until she shooed him off, saying she'd be fine, that Rosalie, Esme, and Alice were there if she needed something.

The two vampire males approached Hermione, who asked, "Is it all right if we use the dining room? Obviously I don't want to be too far from her to react if necessary, I just can't deal with the blood at the moment." It was one thing she'd never told Severus, but one of her worst nightmares was of him lying in a pool of his blood after Nagini had bitten him, only in her nightmare, she couldn't save him.

Carlisle gave his consent and they all went into the dining room, though none of them sat. "We need to decide what to tell Uncle Charlie. If it were up to me, I'd tell him the entire truth. Severus and I told him this morning about witches and wizards and magic and he took it fairly well. I think he deserves to know the truth about what's happening to his daughter."

Both vampire males frowned, Carlisle in thought and Edward in protest. "Does it make sense to get his hopes up? Let him see her as she is now and convince him she may pull through only to have his hopes destroyed if she doesn't make it?" the younger male asked.

He flinched when Hermione shot to her feet and glared at him, leaning forward with her hands braced on the table. "You listen here. She's not going to die!" she hissed at him with more venom than any vampire, careful not to raise her voice and distress Bella. "I don't care if we have to induce a coma and remove the baby by magic and then use your venom to turn her, but I won't let her die!" She sounded absolutely furious, but there was a desperation in her eyes that gave her true feelings away. She was scared.

More calmly than she had, Severus rose, placing a firm hand on her shoulder and gently urging her back into her seat. "Calm down, Hermione. We will do what we can," he told her. He turned to Edward and Carlisle and said, "I'm not sure if you understand the magnitude of the sacrifices Hermione has made in order to protect everyone she loves so that our side would win the war, but for all intents and purposes, Bella and Charlie are the only family she has left. I would advise not suggesting that someone she loves is likely to die until after she has done everything she can, and failed, to save them. As for doing what we can, we do have a few connections who may be able to help. The nurse at Hogwarts School is an extremely competent healer. Hermione herself has skills in protective spells that are unparalleled. I am a Master at brewing Potions for everything from curing acne to curing sexually transmitted diseases, from inducing a coma to bringing someone back from one, from increasing a woman's fertility to terminating a pregnancy. Between the three of us, we will be able to come up with something."

Annnndddd...there we go. And again, I have a lot of the next chapter already written, so I have no qualms about telling you who we'll meet next. We briefly will encounter a particular havoc-causing Death Eater, and will have a much lengthier powwow with a group of rather, er, lupine young people. And the following chapter is where the M rating comes into play as things get...heated...between our favorite witch and wizard. How do you like my innuendos?

RP13