Oh, wow, another update so soon after the last! Yay! I must say, it's been fun reading everybody's comments after the last chapter and seeing your theories regarding the bombshell I'm fixin' to drop (not in this chapter, but the next one - which I will have up today as well, so sit on your hands and be patient).

Disclaimer: I'm a twenty-three year old girl from Texas, not a mother from either Britain or Arizona. Ergo, none of this stuff is mine, just the cabin.

Chapter Nine

~Explanations of One Sort or Another~

The next evening saw Severus and Hermione preparing to Apparate to the Cullen residence. As Severus was dressing – they'd both just recently come out of the shower where they'd enjoyed each other thoroughly before getting down to the business of getting themselves clean – Hermione, fully dressed herself, regarded herself thoughtfully in the mirror.

She'd heard that the changes were visible in a girl who'd recently had sex for the first time, and wanted to know how much of what she and Severus had been up to over the past twenty-four hours the Cullens or the pack would be able to figure out. She hoped the shower had been sufficient to keep the vampires and the wolves from being able to smell it, but she knew it was a flimsy hope at best. It was always difficult to smell oneself, but her heightened sense of smell picked up the changes in her own body easily enough when she concentrated. She really just hoped that at least none of the vampires or the wolves would show that they noticed. She and Severus were both intensely private after all.

She couldn't really see any difference in her face or eyes. Well, perhaps her cheeks were a bit pinker, but then, whose weren't after a bit of rigorous physical activity such as what she and Severus had partaken in? Other than that, though, she couldn't see anything that might give away what the two of them had been up to. Nothing that wasn't covered up by her clothes, that is.

She was quite glad that the weather in Forks called for warmer clothing – the dark red turtleneck she wore to cover up the mark Severus had left on the side of her neck yesterday could be easily explained as being due to the weather. If that particular mark were visible, then the vampires and the wolves would most definitely figure things out.

She was interrupted from her musings by Severus's emergence from the bathroom. "Ready?" he inquired. She nodded, and they walked together out of the cabin and through the wards surrounding it.

Just before they stepped through the last of the wards, however, Severus stopped, his nose twitching. Hermione was about to ask what was wrong when he swung his head in her direction and bent slightly, bringing his nose closer to her person. He inhaled deeply through his nose and frowned, his expression similar to the one he wore when he was trying to identify something.

"What is it?" she asked, but he just shook his head.

"I don't know. Something about you smells…different." He frowned again. "Better…not that you haven't always smelled good, but now, for whatever reason, when I catch your scent, I have this instinct that I should feel proud. I've never felt that way before. It's odd."

Though she agreed with him that it was odd, she gave him a slight smile as something else occurred to her. "Perhaps it's just your heightened senses and what you're smelling is simply a combination of your scent mixed with mine. We have gotten quite a bit…closer…over the past twenty-four hours," she told him.

"Hm. Perhaps, though it's only partly a combination of your scent and mine. There's something else, too. Oh, well. I suppose as I get used to it, the answer will come to me. For now, let's go before we're late."

Once they were outside the wards, they both turned on the spot and vanished, reappearing an instant later on the Cullens' front porch. Hermione was lifting her hand to knock on the front door, knowing it was likely the Cullens had heard the crack of Apparition and knew they were here, when it swung open.

"Hermione, Severus," Carlisle greeted warmly. "Welcome." He was about to move aside to let them in when he spotted something over their shoulders.

"Ah, the pack is here as well," he stated, and the witch and wizard turned to see the horse-sized wolves emerging warily from the trees surrounding the Cullen residence.

"You are all welcome," Carlisle called. "Please, come in," he invited, moving aside to allow Hermione and Severus to enter.

When Hermione saw that the wolves were hesitating, eying the door suspiciously, she sighed, thinking she knew what was on their minds. She waved her wand over the door, and to the astonishment of everyone but Severus, the door visibly widened so that it would easily accommodate something as tall and big around as the wolves.

She turned to look at them. "There, now you don't have to worry about shifting to human form just to get through a door," she announced. Then, more under her breath, despite the fact that she knew very well everyone present could still hear her, she muttered, "Heaven forbid you trust a vampire, even a good one, or a witch enough to shift to a form that makes you more vulnerable just to go through a bloody door." With that, she walked inside, followed by a chuckling Severus.

Carlisle, smiling, still stood by the door. "Please," he called. "Come in. Let's put our differences aside for tonight and simply agree to listen and learn."

The werewolves exchanged glances. Finally, after what Carlisle knew to be communication that went on solely within their minds, the russet wolf he knew to be Jacob stepped forward. It was a strong tactical maneuver, one that Carlisle suspected had been Jacob's idea. Second in command of the pack, Jacob was strong enough to care for himself, but should something happen to him, the pack's Alpha would still be around to lead.

Jacob climbed awkwardly up the porch steps and paused to give the door a look of deep mistrust. Well, here goes, he thought, and he took a deep breath, deciding to take the bull by the horns – or the witch by the wand, he guessed – and strode through.

When nothing happened, Sam called, Jake? You good?

Yep, the beta replied. I don't seem to have been turned into anything. Still got all the right body parts. Four legs, fur, a tail.

"Fleas," a voice drawled. It sounded like Mr. Snape.

I'll have you know I don't have a single flea on my body. I'm as clean as a lapdog, Jake replied loftily.

The pack took his ability to make jokes as a good sign, and one by one they filed through the door, still rather dubious about all being able to fit into the house but no longer worrying about the door having any nasty surprises. Once through, they found, to their shock, that the interior of the house appeared to have been expanded to a couple times its normal size in order to accommodate the entire pack. The living room appeared to be the size of a high school basketball court.

Hermione and Severus sat together on the loveseat, while Bella reclined on the sofa opposite them with her legs across her vampire husband's lap. The rest of the vampires all stood in various places around the room. The blonde female stood at the end of the sofa nearest to where Bella reclined against one of the sofa arms. The blonde male stood a short distance away from the others, near the fireplace, while the dark-haired male stood protectively near, but not right beside, his mate the blonde female. The taller, older dark-haired female stood a couple feet away from the loveseat where Severus and Hermione sat, while the small dark-haired female was the only one not standing in a fixed place. She was dancing in from the kitchen carrying an opaque Styrofoam cup with an opaque lid and straw. She passed this to Bella, who gave her a grateful look, before going over to stand next to her blonde mate.

Despite the fact that the cup was opaque, the wolves could smell its contents, and it caused all of them to raise their hackles, upset.

"It's donated," Hermione said to them, noting their increased tension. "No one died for it. And it's the only thing Bella can keep down, so don't worry about it."

When the wolves didn't relax quite enough to satisfy her, she rolled her eyes. "Her half-vampire child is causing her body to reject other foods. It's happened before. I've got a friend who is a true werewolf, with the full moon and all, and when his wife was pregnant with their half-werewolf son the only thing she could keep down was raw steak."

The wolves looked disturbed at this, but their hackles slowly came down. The wolves slowly arranged themselves about the room, and it didn't escape either Hermione or Severus that they had arranged themselves so that they had easy access to the doors leading outside in case they needed to make a quick escape.

Jake actually ended up between one of the side doors leading outside and the loveseat where Hermione and Severus sat. As he settled himself so that he was sitting comfortably but still able to get up quickly, he caught a whiff of something odd coming from the loveseat. He discreetly took another sniff, and wondered at what he was smelling. Their respective scents were off, hers more so than his. Though it was faint and somewhat masked by the smell of soap, as if they'd showered recently, he could smell them all over each other. Didn't have to be a genius to figure that one out, he thought, suppressing the urge to make a face at the thought of the two of them having sex.

But even more than just the fact that he could smell them on each other, he realized that Hermione's own individual scent had changed a bit. For one thing, the smell that had driven him to attempt to dominate her and mate with her in their canine forms yesterday had changed. It was still there, but it was different now, and no longer brought the same reaction from him. He was indifferent to it, he realized. He guessed that his inner wolf figured that since she had already been mated by another male, there was no sense in going after her anymore. There was still something about her scent that alluded to her body changing gradually over time, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what it was supposed to mean. Nor could he figure out why he should care, so he decided to stop thinking about it before it gave him a headache.

He couldn't know it, but the vampires had all smelled the same change in Hermione. They, however, had already figured out the significance of the change, but none of them knew how to broach the subject. Thus, they left it alone for the time being.

The wolves all arranged themselves and, as one, turned their attention to the witch and wizard. Hermione and Severus realized that they would have to start, and so they began.

They decided to forego most of the history of the Wizarding World, and Severus began with a brief summary of his troubled youth. He explained his less than stellar parents, his friendship with a girl born to non-magical parents called Lily Evans, the start of their school days together at Hogwarts, the long tradition of Sorting the students into the four houses which caused the very beginning of the rift between the two friends, Severus's frequent conflicts with the group of Gryffindor boys known as the Marauders, particularly his rival James Potter, and his increasing involvement with those who had taken an interest in Dark Magic.

Severus then went on a brief tangent with a short explanation of the rise of Lord Voldemort, a despot reminiscent of Hitler with his ideas that those born to non-magical parents were inferior and ought to be exterminated. He continued with an explanation of his initial decision to follow Voldemort and become one of his Death Eaters, showing them the faded Dark Mark on his forearm as proof. But he ignored the way the wolves bristled at the sight of it in favor of the way Hermione took his hand in hers when he lowered it and began to gently rub her thumb over the marked flesh.

He began to frown as he told them of overhearing part of the Prophecy concerning the Dark Lord and not waiting to hear the entire thing before taking the information off to Voldemort, not realizing he was sealing the fate of Lily Evans-Potter and her family. By this point, he was speaking to the floor, his shoulders hunched and his head bowed in shame at the memory. He went on to explain, his voice quiet and containing traces of the pain and guilt he'd finally begun to let go of over the past few days with Hermione's help, the events that followed, including his defection to the Order of the Phoenix, and the deaths of the Potters.

Seeing the look on his face, Hermione stopped him, silently squeezing his hand to get his attention before briefly and gently touching his face when he looked at her, letting him know that she would take over from this point. She picked up the explanation with Lily's sacrifice as Severus clasped her hand between both of his, linking the fingers of one hand with hers and using the fingertips of the other hand to stroke the skin on the back of hers. It was a gesture she knew was meant to comfort himself more than her, and she gently patted his hand with her free one in understanding.

She spoke about Lily's sacrifice for her son Harry, the rebounding of the Killing Curse the Dark Lord had aimed at the boy, Voldemort's apparent defeat, the celebration of the Wizarding World, and Harry's shipment off to his non-magical maternal aunt and uncle. She told them how the next ten years were a time of peace, and then Harry had gotten a life-changing letter from Hogwarts. The following seven years were told from her point of view as one of Harry's two best friends, present through just about every danger Harry had faced, and as a Muggleborn witch who had been subjected to ancient prejudices and who'd had to prove herself worthy of the wand she held a thousand times over.

She told them of how she and the two boys had met, the encounter with the troll that had first cemented their friendship, and the discovery of the plot to resurrect Voldemort using the Sorcerer's Stone.

She told them of the following year, of the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets and the basilisk that lived within, of the attacks on Muggle-borns, and of the diary that seemed to be imbued with Voldemort's sould and that had possessed Ginny, sucking the life out of her.

She told them of Sirius Black, the escaped convict that turned out to be innocent, having been framed by someone he'd thought was a friend, and turned out to be Harry's godfather.

She told them of the Triwizard Tournament and the return of Voldemort at the end of that year with the help of a Death Eater disguised as a teacher.

She told them of Dolores Umbridge, the connection between Voldemort's mind and Harry's, Dumbledore's Army, the trouble at the Department of Mysteries, Sirius's death, and the Prophecy.

She told them of Harry's forays under the guidance of Professor Dumbledore into memories that provided insight into Voldemort's past and information on Voldemort's efforts to ensure his own immortality using Horcruxes, and of the attacks on various people that turned out to be attempts on the Headmaster's life. But she faltered when she reached the events of the end of that year and looked at Severus, who nodded, squeezing her hand. It seemed to the wolves that he was giving her permission for something. So she continued and told them of how that year ended with the attack on Hogwarts by a group of Death Eaters and the killing of Albus Dumbledore by Severus Snape. That caught the wolves' attention, and half of them started to rise in fury, until Hermione shot to her feet, pulling out her wand and demanding that they listen or she'd reduce them all to a pack of puppies.

When they calmed and settled reluctantly, she sat and continued. She told them of the decision she, Harry, and Ron had made not to return to Hogwarts, of their long, lonely, and dangerous hunt for the Horcruxes, the destruction thereof, and the Final Battle that claimed many lives on both sides, including, or so everyone had thought at the time, Harry Potter and Severus Snape. She told them of Harry's miraculous return to life, Neville's destruction of the snake Horcrux, Harry's defeat of Voldemort, and her saving Severus's life.

Severus soon pulled himself together, and though the majority of the explanation was hers, he still interjected from time to time, either with bits and pieces of the story she couldn't provide or with snide commentaries on some of the adventures she'd gotten herself into as a student. It was clear to everyone present that none of the things he said were new, as they were delivered with a smirk and received with nothing but a roll of her eyes.

When she finished her recounting of the past years, Severus took over once more with a more detailed explanation of the memories he'd given to Potter. As he explained his vow to Dumbledore, to kill him in Draco Malfoy's place when the time came, and the fact that Dumbledore was dying anyway from the injuries he'd sustained trying to destroy the ring Horcrux, the last traces of doubt left the wolves' eyes.

The wolves listened intently, and with varying degrees of individual interest in different things. As Hermione and Severus spoke, the Quileutes forgot some of their unease, many of them sitting or laying down to be more comfortable as they all asked questions, with Edward speaking aloud for everyone's benefit. When the explanations of the important events were over, the wolves asked for more explanations of things regarding the Wizarding World in general.

Sam, the Alpha, seemed to have taken an interest in the changes in Wizarding Law and the triumphs and failings of the British Ministry of Magic. Leah had taken an interest in hearing about Hogwarts and the classes in magic; Quil and Embry, like Emmett had earlier, wanted to hear more about the games and competitions. Jacob was particularly captivated by the colorful descriptions of the people the witch and wizard knew and were close to.

Inevitably, she was asked once more about her scars. For the second time the vampires watched as the emotion fled her face; this was the first time the wolves had seen it, and what they saw was vastly different from what they'd witnessed in the clearing. They were all impressed with her poker face, but her eyes gave the game away. They were dead, and the wolves knew that what they had heard in the clearing had been an abridged version. They were about to get the full tale, and they knew it was probably going to be one of the worst things they'd heard all night.

Hermione drew a breath, once again clenching her left hand into a fist and wrapping her right hand around her wrist, though the cover was unnecessary due to the influence of the long-sleeved turtle-neck she wore. "I was tortured. I told you yesterday, in the woods. It was in the Spring during our hunt for the Horcruxes, sometime after we'd destroyed the locket with the sword of Gryffindor, when we were captured by Death Eaters and taken to the manor of the man I was hunting earlier, Lucius Malfoy, one of the highest ranking Death Eaters alive. He and his sister-in-law, a clinically insane woman who was Voldemort's staunchest supporter, wanted information about our plans, so they decided to send Harry and Ron down to the dungeons and try to torture the information out of me.

"One of their torture devices was a highly illegal curse, the extensive use of which can warrant life in magical prison, called the Cruciatus Curse. It is the pain curse. One word, and you are filled with a pain you can't even imagine. It's a fire consuming your body, and yet, being tossed into a fire would be almost better. Ten seconds under the curse leaves you shaking and breathless for several minutes. Thirty seconds leaves you shaking and weak for hours. Five to ten minutes can cause the victim to experience painful seizures for months afterwards without proper treatment. And fifteen minutes can leave the victim with permanent brain damage that not even magic can fix. Any longer and their mind is lost completely, if the blood vessels in their brains don't burst and kill them. I was under for fifteen minutes and I'm still not sure how I managed to survive without brain damage.

"Their other torture device was a cursed knife that Bellatrix Lestrange was especially proud of – wounds caused by that knife will heal naturally, though more slowly than ordinary wounds, but the scars themselves never go away, nor can they be concealed by magic or by Muggle cosmetics. The word Mudblood means dirty blood, because it is believed that children born to non-magical parents have no magical blood in our veins. So our blood is tainted and we are inferior, fit for nothing more than death or slavery. And to try and get information out of me, Lestrange used her cursed knife on me to carve hateful words into my skin. Mudblood. Whore. Slut. Dirty. And the scars will never go away."

She paused for such a long moment that everyone thought she had finished speaking, but then, to the surprise of even Severus, she continued. "Bellatrix Lestrange was killed by Molly Weasley in the Final Battle for nearly killing Molly's daughter Ginny. Most of the surviving Death Eaters were rounded up and locked away in Wizarding Prison. Lucius Malfoy managed to escape and went on the run. We think he is somewhere in this area, and I won't rest until we find him and he is either dead or imprisoned for life."

Her dead eyes suddenly flared to life, and across the room she met Sam's gaze. He nearly flinched. "You said yesterday that I attacked him as if I had something personal against him, and I said that I do. The truth is, the fact that he watched his sister-in-law torture me in his own living room and tried to kill my friends two years before that doesn't completely explain it. But the fact that he tried to rape me does. As bad as Bellatrix Lestrange's torture was, I'd still take it over what Malfoy would have done to me, what he tried to do to me. Just when I thought I was lost, Harry and Ron came for me." Just as it had when she'd spoken silently to Severus yesterday, a gleam of humor suddenly entered her eyes, and the corners of her mouth quirked up, to the surprise and relief of everyone else. "They caught him literally with his pants round his ankles. I'll never forget the sight of that man hopping around trying to pull up his trousers and dodge hexes at the same time."

The comic relief brought on by that image had been sorely needed. But while everyone else chuckled, Jacob Black was frozen with horror and a crippling sense of guilt. Never mind that he hadn't entirely been in control of his own mind and body at the time, he'd tried to rape a woman who not only belonged to another male but who had experienced the terror of nearly being raped once already. And all because he'd felt lonely, heartbroken, and sexually frustrated. He suppressed an unhappy whine, but did not manage to resist the urge to shrink back.

He was suddenly overwhelmed with the need to get out of there. Ignoring the looks sent to him by his pack and Edward as they all heard his thoughts and read his guilt, he decided to make his escape. But before he could even get to his feet, his attention – and that of everyone else in the room – was suddenly caught by a loud crack, followed instantly by three more and a loud female voice demanding, "Where is she?"

Ooh, cliffhanger. So, have we guessed what the bombshell is? Now, I've got another chapter update today, so just hold onto your hats and be patient.

RP13