Yes, I have no regard for my update schedules and I'm a horrible person. But, I'm also a good writer so I have good news - This story is completely figured out! It will have three parts, the pairing will be Hermione/Damon on and off, though not for the reasons we think. It might stray into Season 3 but I can't say for sure. I will try to update again in early March, but no promises. This chapter looks like a filler, and it sort-of is. But quite important for things to come later. This is Beta-ed by the lovely lavanyalabelle - do check out her storied if you're into Marvel pairings. :)

Thanks for all the reviews and favorites and follows! I love you all, and I will reply soon too, but keep it coming coz I love to hear from you guys. Happy reading!

Re-edited on: 4/23/16.

Chapter 5

Hermione had dropped Jeremy and the rest of the ride had passed in a blur, as she was focused completely on analyzing the information she had gained that day.

First, there was Damon. Still suspiciously absent, or avoiding her for some reason, and 99 percent sure a vampire. He had tried to kill Mason the day she had arrived, but had seemed sincerely interested in helping her. Inadvertently almost, her thoughts had wandered towards what kind of a person he was. He seemed conflicted, for sure, when she recalled the things Jeremy had told her about; but the first day she had talked to him, she actually felt like maybe he wasn't that bad – even though he had just tried to kill a guy. Damon Salvatore was a grey area.

Then there was Stefan Salvatore. Had apparently been dating Katherine Pierce for a time. There was some friction with his brother, the reason for which could or could not be Elena, and then his fake fight with Elena, which was confusing, because she had thought Damon was the reason behind that, but it wasn't. What exactly was going on there?

That reminded her of Jeremy. Innocent kid, but had apparently teamed up with Damon to most probably eliminate Mason. From what she had heard and experienced of Damon Salvatore, he was a paranoid guy and wouldn't let go a chance to finally kill Mason. Hermione wasn't sure she liked the idea of that, but then she had remembered Jeremy's conversation with Tyler and his knowledge of the Aztec Curse.

Now, assuming that Jeremy's knowledge was indirectly related to Damon's, everyone was apparently aware about the Aztec curse. But she was also sure that they only knew about the fake curse as there was no way they could know about the sacrifice. So, there could be two reasons for Damon trying to kill Mason – the general and admittedly childish reason of him being a werewolf (thus his natural enemy), or for knowledge about the moonstone. Tyler had given the moonstone to his Uncle Mason, so now there were two possibilities.

Either Mason had the moonstone somewhere, or Damon and Co. had managed to find out it's whereabouts from Mason. Mason's sudden disappearance, announced by Stefan no less, could only mean that.

But why did Mason need it? His whole story stunk of Katherine's involvement. Could it be that Katherine had hid it the last time she was in Mystic Falls and was now taking it back? But why come back now after so many years? And if Klaus followed her here, and found the moonstone…

An involuntary shiver went up Hermione's spine as she thought about that. No no no. That couldn't be allowed. It just wasn't possible. Things could not get that far. She didn't want to think about it, but slowly, things were setting into place in her mind.

There was a werewolf in town. There was a vampire available. And there was the moonstone.

But the witch and the doppelganger still remained. No, that was completely impossible. Doppelgangers were very rare and it would be quite a job to keep something like that hidden in a small town like Mystic Falls. And well, she was quite sure she would have been aware if there was a witch in town, most importantly because her cover would be blown anytime he or she spotted her. So no, that wasn't the case.

There had to be another reason for Katherine being back in town. Her history with the Salvatore brothers should answer some questions. Yes, that was probably the reason. She needed to talk to Katherine, or the Salvatores, or someone who could provide her with information about what exactly had happened in 1864. The last thing in Klaus' archives was him receiving information about Katherine Pierce in 1864, but before he could act on it, the wizard from the Ministry had overpowered him and taken him out of action for a few months.

Planning to help break the Hybrid Curse was just too farfetched, even for Katherine, Hermione decided, as she parked the car into the garage by the house, mentally picking off the wards.

It was evening and Hermione was sitting cross-legged in the back garden, a few pages of the archives strewn in front of her, and a cauldron bubbling on her left. Crookshanks was running around lazily near the back wall, which was almost green with the plants that had grown through it over time. She had only attempted to clean those areas of the house that were of use to her – the bar, for example, was as dirty as ever. She had found some very old bottles of malt whiskey and elf wine, and had stored them away in the guest room to take back with her to Harry and Theo.

The back garden, which was dirty and completely overgrown when she had arrived, had now some space for her to sit and brew. She had pruned off some bushes but let some other plants like dittany, fluxweed and mistletoe grow. She had also taken the liberty to plant some nettles, vervain and wolfsbane. The last two were especially compulsory plants to have in your back garden when living in Mystic Falls. With all the supernatural creatures, she could never be too sure about suddenly needing to brew a Blood-Replenisher or a Calming Draught, even though she had a cabinet full of all potions imaginable in the kitchen.

The back garden look half like a graveyard because of what she suspected had been Crup and Clabbert skeletons, which she had wasted no time in cleaning out. The house was full of such infestations - she had still not gotten rid of the Fairies and Doxies hiding in the bushes in the front yard, purely because she liked the magical environment and the creatures were harmless anyway. There was a pair of Jobberknolls in the back garden as well, and even a few gnomes present by mistake, but she had not had the heart to throw them out. For one, they wouldn't survive in the non-magical environment, and secondly, their presence gave the place a feel like the Burrow, which was a part of home she missed very dearly.

So she had simply cast a shield which prevented the gnomes and birds from getting to her side, and had commenced making the Wolfsbane potion two days ago. The ingredients were not easy to get hold of, but she had the initials to start with. She had decided to owl Luna for the rest as soon as possible, since she figured that she wouldn't really be able to apparate to Diagon Alley whenever she wanted.

The thought of making the potion had entered her mind a long time ago, but she was now sure of her decision when she had learnt that Mason Lockwood was related to a kid in the town. That meant the gene had passed down to him, and even though she wasn't sure what kind of a werewolf he was, or if he even was one or not, she was pretty sure the potion would come in handy. If the kid didn't change, it would be a huge help for Mason the next full moon, if Damon didn't kill him by then.

Within the week she had been in town, she hadn't heard of any unusual disappearances, or bodies drained of blood, or people missing. This lead her to believe that the vampires were laying low, and was still unsure if an alliance with them would mean anything for her search of Klaus; though if Katherine was in town, Klaus should not be far away. One thing was nagging at her mind a lot – the completely lame cover-ups of a few incidents over the past few months. Like the fire in which the mayor had perished, the 'accident' that included the Sheriff that Stefan and Mason were talking about. And most of all, the firing on the church in 1864. She knew she was missing something huge there – and the only way to find out the truth was make clear to this lot that she knew about them, so that they could talk openly about all the things.

Hermione was frowning hard, her thoughts miles away, staring at the papers in front of her, when her phone suddenly rang, and she jumped, accidentally touching the cauldron, which was burning hot. The skin at her left elbow sizzled, and she hissed at the sudden pain. She quickly got up, and walked to the sink in the kitchen, holding her burning arm, the phone still ringing irritatingly in her pocket.

After cooling off her arm in the cold water for a few seconds, she fished out her phone, and stared at the unknown number, before shrugging and answering it.

"Hello?"

"Hello? Er, Granger?" The voice on the other side was very familiar – it reminded her of a spicy something… perfume maybe?

"Uh, yeah? Who's this?" she replied, turning off the tap and frowning to herself.

"It's Zabini, bushhead."

"Oh!" she exclaimed, as Blaise Zabini's handsome dark face flashed into her memory and that spicy perfume he always wore, the snobbish git.

"Yeah, I got Harry's letter yesterday. Apparently, you got a phone and sent the number, but Potter still doesn't own a cell phone so he just sent it to me. How long do you think before he flips out again?"

Hermione smiled at Blaise' jab at Harry's inability to keep a phone on himself without frying it, and the constant upset it caused to everyone around him, but ignored it. "Well, get him a new one and we'll find out. But why did Harry have to send you a letter? I thought you were still at Grimmauld Place?"

"Oh no. I came back the day after you left. I have classes to attend, unlike some other people I know."

"Right right. How's college going then? I suppose your exams must be near?"

"Yeah they're in March though – lots of time in between. Thank Merlin I'm good with Cellular Biology, because the classes are hopeless."

"Huh? Why's that? I thought Culver had brilliant Professors? That's why you got in their special."

"Oh they do. The Professor's brilliant. So brilliant that it's distracting, if you know what I mean."

She let out a huge laugh at that, walked back to the garden and settled back on the ground, though the burn was still smarting, "Did I hear that right? Blaise Zabini has a crush on his Professor! Well this is just too hilarious to pass up. I think I'm going to owl George…"

There was a faint screech at the other end and the unmistakable sound of someone colliding with something, before Blaise spoke again, with a voice more irritated than ever, "Seriously Granger? I just about destroyed a very important project because of you and don't you dare! If anyone gets wind of this, I will strangle you. So don't dare breathe a word to them."

"Yeah well. It's not like I can. You're the only one I've heard from in this week." She said, just a little sadly, her eyes trailing Crookshanks as he pawed the invisible wall of the Shield Charm."What's her name?"

"Elizabeth Ross. She's hot, Granger, and she's too bloody brilliant at the subject. She has a boyfriend though." He added offhandedly, though she doubted that little fact put him off.

"How do you know that?"

"I asked her."

She chuckled again, and there was silence for a moment, before a sound of a door opening and then closing.

"So how's your Secret Mission going?" he said, voice suddenly serious and losing it's playful tone. Hermione wasn't surprised though. Blaise didn't do small talk – he mostly just stuck to the facts and talked straight business. Theo was the one who could banter and talk uselessly for hours.

"It's fine. I haven't had much trouble till now, but I doubt that's going to last. Where are you?"

"I'm in my room. I can talk openly now and I wanted to ask, have you performed any magic yet? Used your wand?"

Hermione frowned, and tried to recall the times she had had to use her wand since she had arrived in Mystic Falls. "Well, I think the first day… or second, I think it was to clean the place a bit, repair some stuff. Oh, and wards. I've used it mostly for wards. Why?"

"Well, I didn't come to know until after you'd left that you were somewhere in America-"

"How do you know that?! You're not supposed to!"

"Oh be quiet. It was Theo who told us, he did refuse to tell the exact place, but he told it was in America. Now listen-"

"When did he tell you? Who else knows?"

"Calm down Granger. It was Potter and Draco's idea. Well, mostly Potter. He gathered everyone back together the day you left and wanted to put together everything we know about your mission or whatever, so that we know what and where to look for – just in case."

"Oh." Hermione wasn't very shocked, she realized. She had expected this of Harry – he wasn't one to let go that easily, and she would bet anything that the idea for a contingency plan was originally Draco's. The ferret was very wily and protective when it came to her - she had learnt that the hard way.

"Yeah well nothing much useful came out of it – though we eliminated Seattle from the list. Anyway, Luna kept quiet about the topic of the books you collected, though she did hint that it's about some supernatural creatures for sure. Big help that one." He finished sarcastically.

Hermione hummed at the information, and then remembered what had initiated the topic in the first place. "So what about using a wand? You were saying something?"

"Oh yeah. Listen, when we shifted here permanently, we got a letter from the American Ministry a few days later, telling us to register with them if we were to continue living for some more time. They said it's not the trace, just that they have the record of unusual magical signatures and wand magic, and will keep having it until we register ourselves in their database. They'll issue a wand permit if we need to use wands and there was a shitload of other formalities and everything."

This was new information. She hadn't even thought about the American Ministry of Magic since she had arrived here, and immediately decided that it had been a stupid move. She had never felt the need to read up on the American Ministry, and only remembered that they were even more paranoid and better in hiding than the British Ministry and wizards. There was definitely an American Congress though... and a President? The headquarters were in New York - that she remembered reading somewhere.

"Well, what do I do now? Do I contact them myself?"

"Well, we got our letter after 7 days, but I guess yours could just be taking time or something. Or they let you off because you're the great Hermione Granger?"

"Shut up, you know that's not true." She scoffed, "And anyway, I have to do something about this. I can't just keep on using magic without authorization, and I can't just stop either."

"Well why don't you just keep using it? You're Hermione Granger – maybe they do decide to let you off for a few more days."

"I have to be sure. I can't just live with the threat of an American wizard, or the Ministry swooping in and tell me to stop using magic suddenly at any time. It's going to become dangerous. And no one knows about me here. Without magic, I'll be very vulnerable, and of virtually no use to the case I'm assigned."

There was silence from the other end, and she pursed her lips, thinking. "How about I write a letter to them, requesting a meeting? That'll address the situation quicker, and I can get back to working properly."

"Hmm… that is an idea. I only know that their Ministry is in New York. So there's no permanent address I can provide you with. Or wait… I can look for the letter I received, and give you the name of the person in charge of that office?"

"Yeah, that sounds good. I can owl them and ask for a meeting and get this over with."

"But… listen, I think you should wait another two-three days. They could actually be letting you off easy, and what do you know about these people? What if addressing them directly makes them think you're trying to… I don't know, dominate, or something. They could see that as a threat."

"Okay – I get what you're saying, but doesn't that seem a bit far-fetched Zabini? You sure they are that paranoid?"

"Oh yeah I'm sure. They're really weird, those people at the Ministry. Nutters, the whole lot of them."

"Well, okay then… If you're so sure, I'll wait. But I can't just stop using magic now, can I? How am I going to manage without using my wand?"

"Well, you could try wandless magic for a while. I haven't tried it myself but you're Hermione Granger – you can handle it."

"Okay, stop with the name. I think have a few books about it–"

"Of course you do. All I know is, it's supposed to become easier with practice – but, Draco's the expert. I only remember it because Padma used it a lot in the start of term."

"Wait- what?" Had she heard that right? Padma Patil? How did Blaise know her?

"Uh… what?"

"You said 'Padma' used it a lot in the start of term.' Padma Patil'?"

"Uh… yeah. Why is that so shocking?"

"Umm because last I heard she was supposed to be back in India with her parents, taking time off the wizarding world? Bonding with the family?"

"Oh! I haven't told any of you! Shit. How did I forget that?"

"Well, you obviously did. No one else has mentioned it either so I guess you've missed telling us all. Now what is this about?"

"Well, Padma and Parvati were both apparently very interested in completing graduation, but their parents were against this, so they just decided to do it on their own. We talked about it at Hogwarts and when I decided to enter Culver, I told them, and they strung along too. I never really realized I hadn't told any of you… although, I think Lavender might know."

Hermione hummed again, and watched as the sun hung lower and lower in the sky, the evening light fading to a dark orange. "So they've been going to college with you all this last year, and it just skipped your mind to tell us?"

"Yes." He said condescendingly, "It was an honest mistake – not something I did deliberately."

"Alright alright. No need to get cold on me. When will you tell the others?"

"Oh… hmm, now that you mention it, I had another thing to ask you."

"Yeah, go on."

"Uh well, just remember that this is not deliberate, and purely a matter of circumstance, and we'll completely understand if you say no, right?"

"Okay…" Hermione could hear uneasiness sweep through his voice, could imagine the boy cricking his neck uncomfortably, as he usually did in stressful situations.

"Well, since Padma and Parvati went against their parents last summer, they kicked them out of the house. And since they've been living on campus since then, they have no place to stay for the summer. So… uh, I was wondering if they could crash at Grimmauld this year?"

Hermione had already started talking before Blaise had finished, knowing how painful it must have been for him to ask permission. He was a tad bit too arrogant to ask Harry directly.

"Of course, of course, it's absolutely fine. I think Harry's not going to have any problem with it, I certainly don't. He always likes to have people over, even though it gets cramped and whatnot, he loves when everyone comes over, especially to stay. I'll write to him about it, I'm sure he won't mind. Consider it settled."

She heard a sigh of relief on the other end and almost chuckled. Of course Harry didn't always 'love' when people came over, to stay or otherwise. She knew her best friend, he liked his alone and undisturbed hours, but they all knew he had enough of them throughout the year. Otherwise, he welcomed company whenever he could, and there was no denying he was a gracious host – at least when he was not in one of his moods.

She knew Harry wouldn't say no to the Patil twins, especially after learning that they had no other place. He would sleep in the Drawing Room himself but he wouldn't ever say no to anybody who needed his help. She knew her best friend that much.

For that particular reason, they had added more bedrooms to Grimmauld Place after it's reconstruction, because Harry wanted the place to work as a pseudo-orphanage for Hogwarts kids. As such, there were plenty of rooms to house their entire class, with the complete Weasley family, so there was not going to be a problem.

"Are you sure?" Blaise said unsurely, bringing her back to the present, and she nodded, then realized he couldn't see her.

"Yes yes I'm sure. Don't worry about it. I don't have any problem with it, so Harry won't either, but I will still write to him. It'll be nice to meet them again."

"Okay good. Good. I'm glad. Thanks for that Granger."

"No problem. Though listen, I just remembered something, about the American law thing…"

"Yeah?"

"What about Apparating?"

"Oh…" Blaise seemed to think for a second, before replying, "I have no idea. We didn't need to apparate anywhere, and honestly, I wouldn't advice trying now. Just avoid using excessive magic while you can, Granger."

"Okay… I guess I will have to lay low for a while then. I forgot to ask in the letter - anything new with the Auror office? Did Harry and Ron get any news after I left?"

"Nothing yet. It's going to be a year next month - Kingsley's not very happy - apparently the others seem to be taking a smarter approach to this than Travers and Selwyn. Skeeter's going to crow a lot about it in the Prophet as soon as Feb hits."

"Ugh, I almost forgot she still existed. Like Umbridge alone wasn't enough for the Ministry's reputation. Can't Seamus do something about the bug?"

"Nah, he's still finding himself in the ranks. The editor's not too happy with his insistence to not interview you guys for every little firework that goes off in every remote corner of the world. Thomas dropped by before I left - he told Potter all of that."

"That's bad - Seamus and Dean are always trying to guilt trip Harry into everything."

"Oh please. Potter is easier to manipulate than a bloody pygmy puff. I bet he talks about this 'no Death Eater caught for a year' deal."

"Oh, you're on Zabini. How much?"

"2 galleons he'll give in by the end of the month. I forgot, why are we betting on Potter's potential when you're on a secret mission, Bushy?"

"Because I'm bored? And you're on. And don't you have class or something?

"Yeah, it's gonna start soon - so everything's fine on your mission front, I hope?"

"Yeah it's been alright till now. Listen, where is Theo these days?"

"I think when I last spoke to him, he was in London – why?"

"Well, it's just that… you remember that old SUV he said he bought? The one he showed us in July last year? On Harry's birthday?"

"Yeah, the one with those hideous tattoos and everything."

"Yeah, that one. Well, it's here in America."

"What? You saw it somewhere?"

"No, I didn't see it somewhere." She hesitated. "Uh, I asked him to get a place for me to stay and he did, but he also left the car at the house for me. I've been using it for the last week."

Blaise was silent for a while, thinking over the information perhaps. It had bothered Hermione for a while, the reason why Theo had made the car he used almost daily so easily and suddenly available in America, but she hadn't had a chance to address her doubt till now.

"Well, that's suspicious. So you think he's been working in America for a while?"

"I guess so. I mean it has to be that, right? Or was he recently working in America? Or still is?"

"Hmm… I don't know what to make of this. He didn't tell me he was here. He always does tell."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to ask him then, won't we?"

"Yes- well, first of all, there's no 'we'. I'll figure this out and tell you, you concentrate on your work, you already have too many dangerous things to do I reckon. And secondly, I hope you got rid of those tattoos."

"You're right. I agree with only the first part though, because they make it look dashing. Now don't say another word about it, ok? I happen to like the car as it is."

"Alright, fine. I have work to do Granger. Get back to your super spy stuff or whatever it is you're doing there. Goodbye."

"Okay, say Hi to everyone from me. And if you happen to go back, just call me once so I can talk to someone else besides you. You're not that great company."

"Oh whatever. Still, take care of yourself. Try not to get dead or anything. Bye."

"Bye." She said with a smile.

The conversation with Blaise had put some things into perspective for her – though immediately after cutting the conversation she had realized that wandless magic was the worst idea in this case, as it left the most amount of magical signatures. And if the Ministry was tracking magical signatures, she was doomed, as the house would practically appear as a huge blip with her name slapped on top.

The only solution she could think of was to use her wand less, or avoid using it. There was no way that she would lower the wards, so it would have to be limiting the use of her wand. That meant limiting her magic to simple spells - no charms or transfiguration, as those two disciplines were particularly impossible to perform without a wand.

Next morning, two packages had arrived for her – one by a huge, creamy bird that was carrying a heavy, wrapped package, presumably from Luna, and the other by Errol, who had crashed headfirst into her mirror, creating a crack right in the middle of it. He was carrying one package of almost everything that George owned, along with two large muggle guns, which she hoped to fill with wooden bullets. There was another small package that included some things she had mentioned to George – wires, connecting cables, small flasks, glass bottles, etc; things that could be used to make bombs and booby traps. Vervain-bombs to be specific.

She spent the whole day in the basement, where she had kept all archives and vampire-related documents and things, going over the things George had sent and going through Luna's books, settling them in the bookcases lining the wall. Her thoughts churned all the while, her mind running around in circles about her current situation.

Then she had remembered Jenna, about how she had helped her in the Ball preparation, which was scheduled to take place this weekend. She had not even called Jenna to thank her and it was too late at night. In fact, it was almost morning. She hadn't heard from Jeremy either – so was unsure what had become of Mason.

Hermione decided she needed to do something to hint Damon and Stefan of her knowledge, so she could finally have a conversation unhindered by secrets. That was when she remembered the Blood Pops George had sent with the prank wands, Love Potions and such. She had been careful to put that away, but a brilliant idea had formed in her mind…

She still needed to call Jenna, though.

Next morning, she spent an hour trying to get to Jenna, but her call went straight to voicemail. It was the same three hours later, and Hermione was starting to wonder if something was wrong. Sure, she wanted to thank Jenna, but she was also one of her ways to talk to Elena, who was dating Stefan. If she could get to talk to her, maybe some things could be cleared up relating to Katherine's intentions.

She picked up her phone and idly searched through her contact list, there was Damon… No, he was avoiding her for some reason.

Jeremy. Yes, she could call Jeremy. She pressed the call button and waited as the boy answered after four rings.

"Hermione?" His voice was surprised as he answered, and Hermione flinched at the implication.

"Hey Jeremy. How are you?" she replied, trying to sound as cheery as possible.

"I'm fine. What are you doing today?"

That threw her off-guard. Why was Jeremy wondering what she was doing? "I'm home. I was busy with a few things – why?"

"Oh, nothing… so what's up? You need help with some research?"

"Uh, no actually. I was wondering where Jenna's been? I've been trying to call her all morning – I wanted to thank her for the-"

"But Jenna's in the hospital - didn't you know?"

What? Jenna was – "What do you mean? No one told me – How? What happened?"

"She – uh, she walked into a knife."

There was silence for a moment and Hermione wondered why the hell Jeremy was lying to her about something this serious.

"She walked into a knife." She deadpanned.

"Yeah…" Jeremy sounded very uncomfortable – even more proof that he was lying.

"Okay, Jeremy please don't insult my intelligence by lying again. What really happened?"

"W-What do you mean? Jenna really did walk into a knife. Her and Ric were cooking and a knife was poking out of the shelf and she accidently walked into it. She's been in the hospital for two days."

Hermione breathed deeply and counted to ten in her head. Why was Jeremy so insistent on lying about this? Unless… unless someone else had attacked Jenna?

"Can I meet her? Is she awake?"

"Yeah. Yeah sure. Elena's already there. Her and Ric are taking turns to stay with her."

"Alright. I'll check on her in an hour. Thanks Jeremy."

Hermione shut the phone, frowning heavily to herself. She was sure that Jenna had been attacked – Jeremy was a really bad liar.

The following magical creatures' description is from 'Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them' by Newt Scamander:

Crup - Closely resembles a Jack Russel terrier, except for the forked tail, loyal to wizards and ferocious towards muggles, great scavenger, eating anything from gnomes to old tyres, Crup licences have to be obtained from the Ministry

Clabbert - Tree-dwelling creature, in appearance something like a cross between a monkey and a frog, smooth and hairless skin is mottled green, hands and feet are webbed, has pustule on forehead that flashes red when it senses danger

Jobberknoll - Tiny, blue speckled bird, occurs no sound until the time of it's death when it lets out a long scream made up of every sound it has ever heard, regurgitated backwards

DISCLAIMER - Recognizable things belong to their owners.

Review please? What do you think she'll do next?

PS: There is a gap of seven days between the preparation for the Ball and the Ball itself according to official timeline, so we won't be on the next episode for some time. But that doesn't mean things won't get interesting...