Usually whenever a Cold One bites, you have one chance to survive. If then, you transform into a Newborn; furthest thing from a newborn baby. This type of Newborn is more like a tadpole that eventually grows into a frog, and is governed by other frogs named The Volturi. Blood lust involved. Minus the frogs, this is what usually happens when a Cold One bites.
Hermione Granger is far from "usually".
By age 11, our heroine brewed a polyjuice potion so potent that it turned her into a cat. Miss kitty then defeated a three-headed dog. Kitty cat turned into the brightest witch of her age. She went on to outsmart and overcome..in general: jumbo sized reptilians. The largest one was a wizard known by the name of Voldemort. Aka Tom.
And Jasper Hale? He was the youngest major in the Texas Cavalry! More importantly, Jasper had a golden heart, long before it stopped beating. Most people in his county would say the lad was a very empathetic young man. That 'human empathy'' translated into a dangerous Empath ability, after Maria so graciously Turned him.
After he was Turned, Jasper's natural empathetic abilities were heightened to a point that he could both feel and manipulate emotions. Maria expertly led on Jasper's emotions. Jasper did a lot of things he couldn't take back, in the name of love.
Until he decided to stop. He left Maria, but the war never stopped. Jasper Hale waged a second-by-second battle with himself, his bloodlust, and the abilities he never wanted. That battle never ends. That cursed battle forced him into hiding. Poor Jasper somehow believed that a change of Nations would make beasts taste better. He desperately hoped European Forests harbored much less humans. Wrong. Things went south the moment he entered a Forest that was very Forbidden.
Hale and Granger have one thing in common: they're heroes. They're overaged heroes now stuck in grade school detention. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, to be exact. And they both refuse to look at each other.
Hermione chooses instead to focus on the familiar comfort of her former Ancient Runes classroom. Hermione's chocolate brown eyes were content to count the tiles, graze over the old bookshelf collections, and look out the same window she used to cast hexes toward Ron, when they were still students. The Weasley now-Auror had a knack for sleeping through all the important classes. Which were to Hermione; every class.
Hermione's gaze lingered everywhere except the seat next to her. The tall, dark, and brilliantly handsome mugglefied mystery was..breathing. Whether marble pale or sunkissed olive, Jasper Hale was intoxicating.
The bit of brilliance sat next to her, both as silent and equally as frozen.
Jasper simply looked down. No other direction but down. He knew what he did. It's just that simple. Doesn't matter what she is and where he was. It happened. And he's more than willing to take responsibility for it. For what really happened out there in the Forest.
It wasn't long before Headmistress Mcgonagall nearly blasted the class door open, followed by the never-aging Madam Pompfrey.
"Granger. Explain." Mcgonagall fumed. She glared at the curly haired 'internationally acclaimed' transfiguration professor, her former Gryffindor pupil, and supposedly the 'brightest witch of her age'.
Really Ms. Granger, sustaining injuries from a VAMPIRE!
"Ma'm I-" Jasper started before Hermione overspoke, with a louder more stern voice. Her willpower was stronger than his resolve to remain honest.
"Professor. I was collecting rocks that I'd planned to use for my transfiguration students. I tripped on a jagged rock." Hermione stated fact after fact. She turned over to glance down at Jasper, who looked forward, silent- but at attention. Hermione fought back another blush.
"This is Mr. Hale. I'm certain we all know he is a 'Cold One', as they refer to in the States. He happened to be hunting when I tripped and-"
-and right then Jasper rose from his seat. Vampire or not, Jasper effortlessly commanded the attention of the Room. The three bewitched witches waited in unintended shock until he spoke.
"This young miss has it all wrong. She didn't just step on me like I'm some lonesome marble rock." Jasper tried to start again.
"Right. It was my ankle." Hermione quipped, regaining her wits. Before Jasper could fit in another word Hermione flung her left ankle on top of a wooden chair and hiked up her red wizarding robes. Jasper reflexively turned away, feeling the first blush he's felt in centuries.
"You can very well see I am not in pain, nor has my skin tone changed. (Other than shades of red, she mentally noted)." Merlins beard. Its resorted to this.
Mcgonagall blinked at her ankle and moved to speak until Hermione stubbornly persisted.
"Yes, I've acquired a... scar. Harry's is a lightening bolt and mine are ridiculous teeth shaped moons! As daft as it sounds, aesthetics on my behalf have been my only injury." Hermione tried her best to downplay the situation.
The last thing the Ministry of Magic needed was a full report on an impending conflict with The Volturi. Hermione knew Professor Mcgonagall could also foresee it. They were merely arguing on how to prevent such a conflict from occurring.
Mcgonagall pinched the bridge of her nose.
"And as for Mr. Hale?"
They finally addressed the fully breathing, blushing, handsome olive-toned elephant in the room.
"Well I-" for once Hermione didn't have an outright answer.
"Well I'm alright." Jasper reassured them. It was a three word sentence that Hermione Granger had blown into an entire soliloquy. What a different kind of girl. She coulda just said that she was fine without going into shapes and sizes of rocks...without a French can-can dance to boot. Jasper coughed down his own chuckle. That girl really was a mouthful.
No one else was laughing. Alright? Alright isn't nearly sufficient. McGonagall steeled herself against this... Jasper Hale.
"You will not be leaving the confines of this school, until we find either a solution or a resolution to the problem you may or may not have." Mcgonagall huffed. In all her decades as a Hogwarts guardian she's never had to say such a preposterous sentence.
"Yes ma'm." Jasper immediately agreed. Above everything, Jasper was a strategist. Alice Cullen is involved. Jasper couldn't allow her to see...or feel him in this way. He witnessed first hand Edward's suffering for being in love with a girl he wanted to hunt down. Jasper wouldn't inflict an inch of pain on Alice. He'd stay in this Hog's wart until whatever this transformation was could wear off. Or until he could find another Cold One to Turn him back.
Forward. That curly one right there had to go and steal his thunder. She stood between him and McGonagall as if to prevent an imaginary fist fight!
"There should be no reason why we should discriminate against Mr. Hale's current nature. That would be equivalent to disposing of someone like Rubeus Hagrid. Mistakes should not be repeated. He has the right to leave." The girl with the curls was adamantly trying to kick him out. Hermione would ruin the plan. Jasper looked down at the mass of curls with determination. She stared ahead.
"It's Jasper. Just Jasper. And I'd like to speak to more than just your ankle, Miss." Jasper forced them to lock eyes. Chocolate brown met hazel. And in that single moment time slowed. Hermione childishly bit her lip as Jasper offered a small lopsided grin. Yep. He still had it.
"I can't apologize enough for the trouble I caused. I have received an invitation from your mistress. So I'm taking it. Please just trust me, I'll fix this." Jasper smiled at her beet red cheeks. She still had blood to blush with. Good sign. He was secretly glad that he wasn't...the only one affected. He had blood too, ya know.
McGonagall coughed. The headmistress was only too familiar to these types of interactions. They hadn't the time for any Yule Ball type bollocks!
"It has been decided, then. Your priority is to remain unidentified until we resolve this. Miss Granger, you are to take the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. While you are here as an international professor, Mr. Hale will be play the part your..internist." Mcgonagall hit the nail into the coffin of moon-shaped-ankle Granger.
"The lodging-" Hermione's eyes became owls.
"Remains the same as it has since the beginning of Hogwarts." Mcgonagall stated. You've made your bedrock, now lay in it. The wise witch resisted her own humor. Decades of Voldemort gave her an acquired taste for the irony of such things.
Jasper caught on fast.
"Pardon me but I don't believe it's appropriate to stay in the ladies quarters." He politely declined the "since the beginning of Hogwarts Rule".
Jasper's American. Land of the free..dom to choose. An infinitely tense silence filled the room. He obviously lost his emotional impact. Jasper quietly realized he wasn't in America, and this wasn't a human-type world.
"Well alright. I'd like my own bed. My own shower." Jasper bargained, he knew how to negotiate losing battles.
"Certainly." Mcgonagall soothed,
"Most certainly." Hermione emphasized, wand already at the ready. The Headmistress walked away followed by a relieved Madam Pompfrey. She didn't have Potions for any of that mess!
"Good night. You've both an early day of teaching and a late evening in trying to resolve your..mystery." McGonagall's voice echoed.
Jasper and Hermione looked forward, sadly watching their chaperone's shadow melt into the distance. Hermione fixed her eyes into the distance until she felt Jasper stand next to her. He was so much taller, so much...more of everything.
"Shall we?" Jasper instinctively offered Hermione his arm. Hermione glanced at it before pointing her wand forward. Lumos, she lit the room as she reached for his extended arm.
"I suppose we shall." she sighed as she grudgingly accepted the gentle grasp. Bearing with Major Hale's chivalry was the least Hermione could offer for changing his existence and jailing him to a school. They walked in silence.
Hermione Jean Granger was positive that it was her fault for catching Jasper mid-hunt. He didn't try to kill her. At least he had the restraint to stop after the bite. Jasper knew better. He knew exactly what he had done.
Unfortunately, truth is neither black or white. The vampire and the witch would spend the next few months living in the gray. Together they entered the international teaching quarters. It was completely plain. One bed, white walls. No furniture.
Hermione blushed at the king-sized bed complete with amenities for two. Jasper's lopsided gin emerged in full force with matching raised eyebrow.
"Er, this room gradually changes to accustom itself to the Owner's needs. I'm certain we'll have two bed and separate quarters in no time." Hermione swiftly mumbled more to herself than Jasper.
"I'll sleep on the floor." Jasper was already on the cold ground. It felt cold, to his mild delight! Hermione cocked a raised eyebrow. Really. They weren't twelve and certainly not sixteen.
"The bed is large enough for the both of us." Hermione spoke to the air, she could feel Jasper staring. She was met with silence. Hermione fake-coughed to break the silence as she grabbed the toothbrush and her share of amenities from the bed.
"Well I'm getting ready for bed, you may choose either side of it." she concluded, half running to the bathroom: their only avenue of separation.
Jasper was about to seriously SLEEP. And he'd do this with a witch-girl who was still a girl. If Alice didn't see this one coming then he knew for sure he didn't have a future once she found out. Jasper instantly regretted having run away from Forks. But he was very used to regretting a lot of things.
This feeling of...happiness was unfamiliar. Jasper was secretly happy about everything. For once his senses weren't so sharp, he couldn't hone in on heartbeats, and he had to actually guess what people were feeling! Most of the time he was wrong. How utterly amazing.
Jasper actually felt sleepy, so he rolled over into a burrito shaped blanket and closed his eyes. People probably don't smile when closing their eyes. After centuries, Jasper couldn't stop grinning. He nearly drifted off when he felt Hermione's presence shift on the bed. It was calming, reassuring. She slept next to him a few good and proper feet away. But even then, she felt so warm.
During the night they inched closer and closer..until her ankle touched his. Warmth against warmth.
Warmth. The official beginning of a reTurn.