CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Summary: Sent to Volterra in order to negotiate terms of an alliance to end the war, Hermione's life is turned upside down as she is brought into the world of the Volturi, better known as the Vampire Kings. There she is made a part of a new kind of family and a most trusted member of the guard, whether she likes it or not, and surprisingly, she does. Rated M for language, violence and sexual content.

Disclaimer: I do not own canon events and characters, they belong to J.K Rowling and Stepenie Myers. I am not making a profit from writing and posting this fanfic. As for the descriptions of appearances for the Twilight characters, all my research is based on the books and not the movies, but I may have changed a few things regarding Alec's height and age.

Page count: 8

Saturday 16th May 1998

"You're what!" Ron yelled, springing to his feet and from his seat on the couch.

"Leaving," she repeated calmly.

"What the hell d'you mean you're leaving?" He demanded.

Hermione sighed and her eyes flickered about the room, which was filled with Weasleys, Kingsley and Harry. She stood in front of them as they were perched on couches and chairs, and Alec and Demetri were stood a little ways behind her whilst Demetri busied himself with keeping the wriggling child in his arms occupied but his eyes and ears were trained on the red-faced Ron.

"I can't say this any simpler, I. Am. Leaving," she said slowly.

"Where are you going? When? Why?" Harry asked with a frown, his eyes moving between her and the vampires behind her suspiciously.

"I am leaving with Alec and Demetri in the morning and I'm going back to Volterra with them."

"It's dangerous, even you can't be stupid enough to..." Ron never had the chance to finish his sentence as he was hit with a Silencing Charm.

"Hermione? Where's your wand?" Bill asked her, eyeing her strangely.

"In my room," she answered calmly, knowing he was surprised by her use of wandless and non-vernal magic. It was quite the feat, after all. She rubbed a hand over her face. "Volterra may be dangerous for others but it's not for me, and if you ever call me stupid again, I'll turn you into a pumpkin patch, and we all know the disgusting things that are found there," she warned Ron whilst he silently fumed at her. "I need to leave Britain. I need some time away from here, some time to grieve and come to terms with the changes in my life. I want a new start for me and Teddy. Volterra is rich with beauty, culture and history and it's as good a place as any to start over."

"Don't be ridiculous, Hermione, what you need is..."

"For the love of everything that is sacred, stop talking, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione interrupted, pinching the bridge of her nose as Mrs. Weasley gasped at her and the others' eyes widened in surprise. "You've been giving your unwanted opinions for far too long and quite frankly, I don't care what you think I need or what you think I should or shouldn't do, it's my life, not yours and only I will dictate what I do. And you need to stop trying to intervene with my guardianship of Teddy, not only am I not stupid, Kingsley told me. I have news for you, Mrs. Weasley, you will never be able to break the bond between Teddy and I, as Remus, Tonks and Andromeda made me his guardian on their death beds. After their funerals, I accepted and initiated the old rights." Gasps and mutters filled the room. "I need to heal so I can be the mother Teddy deserves, and I can't do that here. I'll be leaving in the morning and there's nothing that can be said or done to stop me from going."

"Kingsley, don't just stand there, do something!" Mrs. Weasley's voice rose.

"I won't interfere, Molly," he told her firmly. "Hermione is doing what she feels is best for her and Teddy."

Mrs. Weasley narrowed her eyes at him. "You knew, you knew she was leaving," she accused.

"Yes, I did, she told me last night and I've been helping to get her affairs in order, ready for her leaving tomorrow." He turned his eyes to Hermione. "Everything has been taken care of."

"Thank you, Kingsley, I owe you one," she said before she turned and headed up the stairs and to her bedroom, Alec and Demetri followed her.

"That went a lot better than we anticipated," Alec commented lightly, sitting himself down in his chair.

"They're in shock, give them a few minutes and they'll be arguments and shouting in no time," she replied.

"You didn't tell them of the contract," Demetri noted. "Why?"

"I'm not stupid enough to bring it up," she shrugged. "That would've made everything worse, and they would've tried to harm you so they can take their anger out on you and I wanted to avoid that."

Just as she flopped onto the bed, there was a knock on the door.

"Hermione? Can we talk?"

"It's open, Harry," she called and the door opened and then closed.

He approached the bed, eyeing the two vampires before climbing onto the bed beside her. Hermione cast a Silencing Charm around the two of them to keep their conversation private.

"You're leaving," he said sadly.

She sat up and turned to face him, seeing his heartbroken expression.

"Yes, Harry, I am," she said softly. "I need to get away from here, away from the memories, away from everything. I want a fresh start, I need it and so does Teddy."

"But why do you have to leave the country? Can't you just move to another part of England? Maybe Manchester or Liverpool? Or even Yorkshire? You like rural areas, what's more rural that Yorkshire?"

She smiled sadly. "No, Harry, I can't. There's something I have to tell you. This morning I was asked to attend a meeting with Professor McGonagall, during this meeting she revealed that..." and as Hermione gave Harry a quick explanation of her being a Sorceress and what it meant, Alec and Demetri watched them interact closely, watching every widening of the eyes, twitch of the mouth and frantic waving of hands.

"Bloody hell, Hermione," he whispered in surprise after she'd finished her explanation.

She chuckled. "I know, Harry, it's a lot to take it. I don't just want to go to Volterra, I feel as though I need to be there. I don't know why but I have to follow where my magic is taking me. However I am to change the world, I need to be in Volterra to do it."

"But it's Volterra, Hermione!" His voice rose slightly.

"I know, and I'm going to be perfectly safe, Harry. My magic is instinctual, even if I'm away with the fairies and my head's on cloud nine, my magic will be alert and I'll never be unprotected. As well as my magic, Alec and Demetri have sworn a vow to protect both me and Teddy, and they are the type of men you can take at their word. I trust them, they've earned it and you and I both know I don't give out my trust freely."

He sighed. "I don't want you to go," he said sadly.

"I know, Harry, and I'm going to miss you so much, but it's what's best for us. No matter where I am in the world, you'll always have my support and love. You're my little brother," she nudged his shoulder and a sad smile crept onto his face.

"How long will you be gone for?"

"I don't know," she lied, "But I'll make sure to visit every few months, I promise. And we can owl back and forth all the time. We all need to focus on healing and moving on, I've done all the healing I can here; I need to leave so I can move on."

"I'm going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you, too," she hugged him tightly. "But you'll have plenty to keep you busy and when I return for a visit, I want to hear everything that I've missed, and if you're not back with Ginny by then, I'm going to smack you."

He laughed at her.

"I'm working on it, she's still pissed."

"Ah, Ginny Weasley," Hermione shook her head, "She knows how to hold a grudge," she laughed lightly. "Harry, please don't tell anyone about my being a Sorceress."

"I won't," he promised.

"Including Ron?"

He frowned. "But it's Ron."

"Exactly, he's a rubbish secret keeper and when he's mad or had something to drink, every secret he has is spilt and made known to the world. This is one secret that must be kept for my privacy and Teddy's safety."

"I see your point," he conceded, "I won't tell anyone, including him."

"Thank you, Harry."

~000~000~000~

"Harry? Hermione's asleep," Demetri said, after answering the knock on the door.

"I know; I wanted to talk to you, to the both of you."

Demetri stepped back and Harry stepped into the room.

"Look, Hermione trusts you to keep both her and Teddy safe, and Hermione's the most compassionate person I've met but she's not stupid and she doesn't give out her trust blindly. You've earned hers and I trust her judgement implicitly. She's my sister and one of the most important people in my life, and if it wasn't for her protecting me, a lot of the things I've done wouldn't have been possible."

"Is there a point to this?" Alec drawled in a manner similar to Snape, as he snapped his book closed.

Harry narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "My point is, Hermione's very important to me, if anything should happen to either her or Teddy because you failed to protect her, hell itself won't be able to protect you from what would be coming your way. I may have had help but I still defeated Voldemort, and there's not just me, there's an entire room filled with people downstairs that would protect Hermione, particularly Ron. He's angry but he loves Hermione. And Ginny, well, she's more frightening than her mother, and that is my only warning," Harry finished, turning and leaving the room without a second glance.

"Was that supposed to frighten us?" Alec asked Demetri with an arched eyebrow.

"I believe so," Demetri nodded slowly, moving over to the bed where he crouched down and Teddy automatically latched onto his finger in his sleep.

"Well, I give him points for effort, not many would be so foolishly brave to speak to us in that manner," he said.

Demetri snorted. "In all honestly, I am more afraid of Hermione than I am of him."

"Rightly, so," Alec chuckled. "The others have no idea what's coming their way."

"No, they don't," agreed Demetri. "But life in the castle is never going to be boring with Hermione around."

~000~000~000~

Sunday 17th May 1998

"I can't believe you're leaving," Harry said quietly. "I just hoped it was a bad dream and I'd wake up and nothing would've changed."

She smiled sadly. "It's happening but I'll be visiting before you know it. I promise I'm not abandoning you."

He sighed. "I know, you're the only person that hasn't, even when I was a giant pain in the arse."

She chuckled. "You're forgiven. Goodbye, Harry," Hermione said softly.

"Bye, Hermione," he said sadly before hugging her tightly and reluctantly pulling back.

"You take care of yourself," Ginny ordered as she hugged Hermione. "I'm jealous, if all of them look the way those vampires of yours do, well, I'd want to go back, too."

"Ginny!" Hermione scolded through her laughter but as she pulled back, Ginny didn't bother looking embarrassed or guilty, she just shrugged in response.

The twins swooped in and hugged her tightly and she laughed when she felt them slipping something into her robe pockets.

"Don't go easy on them," Fred whispered.

"Yeah, give them hell," George agreed.

"Promise," she muttered.

"Good, because we may have slipped some products into your luggage when you weren't looking this morning, we wouldn't want them to go to waste," Fred said and she laughed.

When they drew back she reached up, placing her hands against their cheeks and she smiled up at them.

"Thank you," she said softly. They gave her lopsided grins. "If it wasn't for the two of you, I would still be a barely functioning shell of a human being. You understood, you didn't push me and you gave me space. You truly are the beacon of light and hope this world needs, and I have no doubt that you'll continue to bring laughter and joy to the world. You were the hope during the war and you're destined for amazing things. Thank you for saving me from myself."

She reached up and placed a kiss to each of their cheeks, ignoring the quiet snarls that came from behind her. She stepped back from them and smiled sadly when she saw that Ron was stood in the corner of the room and he refused to look at her.

"I'll visit once I've gotten settled, goodbye," she said to everyone before she picked up her beaded bag and slipped it into her robe pocket, she then picked up the cat carrier and turned to leave.

"You're betraying us."

Hermione paused but didn't turn around.

"No, I'm not, but if I were to stay I would be preventing Teddy from having the life he deserves, and I would be betraying myself, not you. And I'm sorry you feel that way, Ronald, hopefully, you'll think differently after having some time to process my decision." With that, she left out the door with Alec and Demetri following her.

She led them over to the trees and then stopped, placing the cat carrier on the ground and opening it up before she released a loud whistle.

"Crookshanks," she called softly. "It's time to go."

They waited a few moments before a meow was heard.

"What is that thing?" Alec whispered to Demetri, eyeing the fat orange fur-ball with the squished face as it stepped into view.

"I believe it's her cat," Demetri replied, also looking at the cat with a strange look on his face.

"There's my Crooksy," Hermione cooed, picking the cat up in her arms and she pressed her face into the cat's fur as it let out a purr and rubbed his head against her cheek affectionately. "I know, I missed you, too, but we have to go, we're leaving now and where we're going, there's going to be plenty of rats for you to chase. So, let's go," she put the cat down and rather than it walking into the cat carrier, like she had obviously expected, he sat down and licked at his paw lazily, his eyes locked on hers.

"Crooks, we have to go, get in," she instructed. The cat looked at her as though she were stupid and Alec and Demetri quickly summarised that he wasn't a normal cat. "Crookshanks, we don't have time for this. What's your problem? It's your favourite carrier, it even has your favourite bed and treats inside," she set her hands on hips as she stared down at him

Crookshanks meowed loudly and Hermione frowned in confusion before quieter and weaker meows answered. Her eyes widened when five tiny kittens appeared beside Crookshanks, rubbing themselves up against him as he licked at their fur.

Two of them were pure orange with barely any markings except for a black spot around one eye and its tail, and the other had a black spot on its paw and on one of its ears. One of the kittens was covered in markings of black and orange, giving it a similar appearance to a tiger. One of the kittens was mainly black with a few orange markings on its paws and back, and the final kitten was jet black and the fluffiest of them all. And judging by their size, they can't have been older than eight weeks but it was clear to Hermione, Crookshanks was the father of the kittens.

She blinked several times.

"Well, Crooks, you've been busy whilst I've been away, haven't you?" She questioned and he meowed in response.

She shook her head and chuckled before kneeling down on the ground. Crookshanks walked over to her and rubbed his head against her hand and the kittens followed, climbing over each other to get to her and she laughed as they all fought for her attention.

"I suppose we best give you all names," she said, not seeing Alec's and Demetri's smile at her laughter.

"Let's see," she picked up one of the orange-coloured kittens and held it out in front of her before checking the gender. "A boy, let's see," she appeared thoughtful. "Wesley," she mused, the kitten meowed and she smiled, placing a kiss to its head and it rubbed its head against her cheek before she put it down and picked up the second orange-coloured kitten. "You're a boy, too." She laughed when it wriggled out of her hands, jumped onto her and ran up her robes, snuggling itself against her neck.

"And mischievous, I know the perfect name for you, Wheezer," she said and the kitten meowed as she petted it before putting it back on the ground and picking up the tiger-like kitten. "And I see you're a boy, too. Hmmm, how about Archie?" The kitten meowed and she petted it before putting it down and picking up the black kitten with a few orange markings. "What a surprise, you're a boy, too, let's see. I have a feeling you're going to be the leader of the litter," she said, seeing that he was the biggest of them all. "Simba," she said and the kitten meowed back. She petted it and then picked up the final kitten, the jet black fluffy one.

"It seems you're our only girl, and you're outnumbered." Hermione chuckled when the kitten didn't look pleased with her statement. "We'll call you, Midnight, I think." The kitten meowed in response and after petting it she put it back on the ground. "Alright then, everyone, in you go," she gestured to the cat carrier, and one by one, the kittens strode inside.

Crookshanks eyed up Alec and Demetri and he walked over to them with his bushy tail swishing in the air. He sniffed at them before giving them a haughty look and turning and heading into the cat carrier, rubbing himself against Hermione as she made to lock the carrier door.

"Does he like us?" Demetri asked.

"What did he do?"

"Sniffed us, gave us a rather terrifying look and then walked away."

"Congratulations, boys, he likes you, if Crookshanks likes you, then you're good, he's an excellent judge of character."

"Lord Aro, assumed there would only be one cat returning with you," Alec spoke amusedly.

"So did I," she shrugged. "I didn't know Crookshanks had fathered a little of kittens, I was just as surprised as you when they turned up. But to be fair, he doesn't know I'm returning with a baby either."

"The shock might've killed him if he weren't already dead," Demetri replied and she chuckled.

"Yes, I believe you're right."

"How are we travelling to Volterra; I'm assuming it's magical transportation?" Alec asked.

"Yes, it is. I need to head to Gringotts Bank before we can leave. Kingsley has made arrangements that all of my belongings and purchases are to be waiting for me there. And whilst I'm there, I need to make sure my banking information has been transferred over to the Italian Gringotts branch. We'll be flooing to Italy and then I'll apparate us to the castle. Teddy is too young for port-keying and it could hurt him, so this is the only option available to us, so, if we're ready, we better go."