CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

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 Stephenie 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: 11

Monday 7th September 1998

Two weeks passed surprisingly quickly for Hermione and she'd like to say she'd spent the time being rushed off her feet, but that wasn't the case. Hermione had been ordered by the Lords to do nothing but rest and take care of herself for the entirety of her pregnancy.

Hermione was regretting bringing Snape into the fold as the Lords found it useful to have another magical practitioner in the castle, not only because they found his dry sense of humour and his monotonic insults amusing –as well as his lack of fear as to who he insulted, vampire or not- but because they'd had him ward her potions lab against her and she'd been unable to break through them. Not because she didn't know how to but because she literally couldn't as they were specifically keyed into Snape's magical signature; only he would be able to remove them.

They'd tried to have him ward her library, too, but that's where Hermione put her foot down and kicked up a fuss, stating that if she had to rest, she at least needed her books otherwise she wouldn't hold back her temper or her magic. They'd been wise not to argue with her afterwards, in fact, they'd relented out of fear as Hermione's magic had acted up, the windows in the room shattering into thousands of pieces with a simple narrowing of her eyes. That day everyone had given her a wide berth.

No one but a select few knew about the pregnancy as they wished to keep it a secret until they knew what they were dealing with. Those that knew were only the Lords themselves, her husbands, Jane and Felix and Aro's and Caius' wives. Hermione never interacted much with the wives as they tended to keep to themselves and away from the Guard, spending their time shopping and in the gardens. But when they'd discovered the news Hermione had spotted them following her around and after only a day of it happening, she lost her temper and accidentally blew a hole in one of the stone walls. Since then they left her be but she was never alone.

There was always someone with her, whether it be her husbands, Snape, Felix or worse, Marcus and Jane, of who seemed to be the most protective of her. They never stopped asking her if there was anything she needed, if she was hungry or in need of a drink. Or if she wanted more pillows or a softer blanket that didn't irritate her skin. And while Hermione knew it all came from a good place, it did annoy her somewhat but she always kept her mouth shut, unfortunately, she couldn't control her facial expressions which always seemed to amuse her husbands.

With nothing else to do but wander the gardens and rest, Hermione spent most of her time in her library doing research with whoever was in there that day, trying to find more information about a human-vampire pregnancy but nothing else had been uncovered. All they knew so far came from Snape and the diagnostic charms he cast several times a day, and the experiments he ran on her blood and her husbands' venom.

He'd become her personal healer since arriving at Volterra and while he often complained and made thinly veiled digs at Hermione, she wasn't blind to the fact he'd settled into life at Volterra almost as well as she had. He could make fun of her all he wanted but she knew he valued knowledge almost as much as she did, and her current predicament was a challenge to him. He was in his element spending most of his time researching in her library or carrying out experiments in her lab.

And due to her being unable to brew any potions without being made to feel nauseous, or that she no longer had access to her lab, Snape was the one to brew all of her prenatal vitamin potions to ensure that not only did the babies get the health care they needed, but that she did, too.

As each day went by, the symptoms of pregnancy made themselves known and Hermione suffered quite badly with morning sickness, so much so that she pretty much carried a bucket around with her just in case a sudden wave hit her. It wasn't just smells that effected her; it was sights and thoughts, too. Once she'd dreamed about scrambled eggs and the moment she woke she had to dart to the bathroom. She couldn't handle it. She craved a specific food and it would be given to her, but barely half an hour after eating she'd throw it all back up. Even an image in one of her books had made her nauseous and Hermione couldn't wait for her to pass her first stage of pregnancy, and right now, she was only one week away from that.

At eleven weeks pregnant, Hermione now had a baby bump and while it wasn't noticeable when she wore slightly too big t-shirts or robes, it certainly was when uncovered. In only two weeks Hermione's flat stomach had turned into a mountain. Alright, maybe that was an exaggeration, but still, it was certainly large considering not only was she having twins, but she had a small, slim build and it made everything look bigger.

Demetri and Alec, who had both processed the development of pregnancy, could often be found always touching her in some way or other, no matter where they were. It may be holding her hand, touching the small of her back, playing with her hair, hooking their arm around her shoulders or waist or even just brushing up against her when they walked the halls. And every night when she went to sleep and every morning when she woke, it was always to cold hands and fingers being pressed against her stomach. She couldn't love her vampires anymore if she tried.

Hermione couldn't deny that the pregnancy was making her grouchy and irritable and yet they took everything with a pinch of salt, simply nodding or smiling at anything she said; it didn't even matter if she was scolding them or insulting them, they never took it to heart. She supposed she could understand why, though; her being pregnant was a miracle and they didn't want to take anything for granted and that included her bad moods and uncontrollable magical outbursts.

And they were gentle with her, too, for fear of hurting either her or the babies. She'd had one of the most awkward conversations of her life with Snape after Alec and Demetri had insisted she talk to him about sex during pregnancy. She'd told them it was fine giving they'd been having sex before they'd even found out she was pregnant, but they'd been adamant. Hermione wasn't easily embarrassed but she'd come away from that conversation red in the face and sweating so badly, she'd taken a bath. She hadn't been able to look Snape in the eye for over a week and she'd almost accidentally set Caius on fire for his teasing. What made it worse was he didn't even have the decency to pretend to be afraid of her; he just laughed it off, so much so that if he were human he'd probably have passed out.

"What a surprise, you're here," drawled a snarky voice.

Hermione shook her head of her memories and placed her book down in her lap, looking up at the door to see Snape stepping inside.

"It is my library," she reminded him. "And you don't have a leg to stand on; you're here as much as I am. The only reason I'm here is that I'm bored and not allowed to train or brew any potions. It's too hot to be outdoors and the library is the only option."

"Excuses," he rolled his eyes, sparing Marcus a brief glance as he sat across the room in an armchair with his head buried in a book.

"I take it you have some news," she said, noting that he didn't search the shelves for a book or take a seat, rather he stopped in front of her, looking down at her sprawled position on the couch.

"I believe so, I've finished my experiments."

"Alright then, we better head to the chamber room and inform the others of your results," she said, putting her book off to the side and before she could stand, Marcus was beside her ready to help her up. She was nowhere near big enough to need help just yet but she knew telling him so would have no effect.

The three of them left the library and journeyed to the chamber room, stepping inside to see that they looked to be finishing up a meeting with the Guard. Upon their entrance, the rest of the Guard baring her husbands, Felix and Jane –who just happened to be feeding Teddy a bottle- were excused and Hermione silently placed a Silencing Charm around the room.

Marcus continued over to the dais and took a seat on his throne and Alec and Demetri moved to stand on either side of her, Alec slipping his hand around hers and Demetri's arm found purchase around her waist.

"Snape's finished his experiments," Hermione informed the others and all eyes snapped to him expectantly.

He rolled his eyes, let out a sigh and pulled his wand, conjuring a stool and an examination table. Without needing to be told, Hermione crossed over to it, hopped up and got herself comfortable, lifting her t-shirt for better access. She wasn't blind to the eyes that darted to her baby bump.

The room was silent for several minutes whilst Snape went about his routine of checking over the health of the babies as well as Hermione's before he sat back and lowered his wand.

"Everything seems to be as expected with both you and the babies," he said and Hermione released the breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Each test he ran always came back with negative results but that didn't stop her from worrying that the next one would be different. "As far as I can tell, you're no longer experiencing an accelerated pregnancy but despite that, I can't give an exact due date, my best estimate would be late December, early January."

"And your experiments?" Aro spoke up, drawing their attention.

Snape looked to the raven-haired vampire before tipping his head in respect. "There's a few more I would like to carry out but for the time being I've discovered that these babies will be unlike anything we've seen before."

"Meaning?" Caius asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Meaning, that unlike humans who have twenty-three pairs of chromosomes, and vampires who have twenty-five pairs, the babies will have twenty-four."

"And how will this affect them?" Demetri asked, his eyes darting down to Hermione's stomach worriedly and then back to Snape.

"I can't answer that for certain, not until they're born and I can examine them, but the results of my tests lead me to believe they'll be a hybrid, part human, part vampire, but not just that; they'll be wizarding born, too."

"Are you certain?" Aro asked.

"Yes, I am," Snape replied confidently before muttering under his breath and pointing his wand to Hermione.

As a result, three misty beams of smoke hovered in the air above her, twisting and forming into swirls and patterns. One was a lot bigger than the others and a bright silver colour; the other two were smaller and duller in colour, one being silver and the other gold.

"Those are magical signatures, the largest and brightest one belongs to Hermione, the other two belong to the babies. Hermione is different, not only due to her being a fully grown witch and her magic being more powerful, but to her also being a Sorceress. Her magic is stronger, but the magic of the babies is still developing and growing."

"Why the different colours?" Alec asked, eyeing them in a way as if he were transfixed by their movements.

"Gender," Snape said simply.

"You mean to say there's a boy and a girl?"

"Yes, I do."

Alec's eyes darted to Jane briefly before they fell back down to Hermione's stomach, a smile pulling at his mouth.

"Witches' magical signatures tend to be silver and wizards' gold, the brightness and shade depend on the strength of the magical aura. It's said to date back to the time of the Gods, Artemis and Apollo, the Goddess of the Moon and the God of the Sun, hence the colour differences."

"So we know we're having one of each, we know the babies are hybrids with magic and we know my pregnancy's no longer accelerated," Hermione surmised, "But what do we know about my symptoms? Why can't I keep any food down?"

"You have cravings, yes?" Snape asked.

She nodded. "The majority of the time it's red meats."

"And you like it a little on the raw side?"

"Yes," Hermione frowned, wondering just what he was trying to get at.

"Would you even say bloody?"

"Well... I..." Her words cut off and her mouth snapped shut as her eyes widened, but the others just looked confused.

"Exactly, you're growing hybrids. The food you're able to keep down settles the human side of the babies but not the vampire side. Vampires need blood for survival."

The penny seemed to drop as eyes trained on her stomach in understanding.

"You're saying I'm starving my babies," she whispered, horrified.

"No, I'm certain that if you were starving them you'd definitely know about it through your cravings or worsening of symptoms. I'm simply saying you need to cater to both parts of the babies," he replied. "They need human blood."

Hermione's face scrunched up in disgust. "I don't think I can bring myself to do that," she admitted. "The thought alone is making me nauseous."

"Nauseous? As in you're going to be sick or as in you're so hungry that you feel sick?" He questioned.

"I..." She trailed off, not knowing how to answer.

"Let's just give it a try and if it doesn't help, we know we're wrong," Snape encouraged.

Before anyone could ask where he intended to get human blood from, he waved his wand, a glass appearing in front of him as well as a blood bag.

"You are aware there's a hospital not too far away, yes?" He asked, seeing the expressions of confusion on the vampires' faces before rolling his eyes, perforating the blood bag and pouring some of it into the glass.

Hermione's face went sickly-grey as she accepted the glass and held it up in front of her, her nose scrunching up in disgust and her mouth clamping shut at the metallic smell that invaded her senses.

"That smells awful," she commented.

"You can smell it?" Snape asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, quite strongly," she answered. "Why?"

"I've been watching you closely as you know, but over the last week, I've been noticing some strange happenings. You look to a door and not long after someone enters. You squint your eyes when in direct sunlight and you pull a face at the smell of food even before it's brought to you."

"You're saying her senses have strengthened?" Demetri mused.

"I am, and due to this, I believe the babies will have the advanced senses of any regular vampire once they're born. They're channelling it through you, just like they do their magic which makes your magic unstable and difficult to control. In any case, we need to see if this is what the babies want, so suck it up and drink."

Hermione glared at him as she brought her hand up to her nose and pinched it closed. She brought the glass to her lips and took a sip, gagging after swallowing it.

"That's disgusting," she complained, bringing her hand up to her mouth and wiping it with the sleeve of her cardigan.

"How do you feel?" Snape asked.

"Disgusted, horrified..."

"Do you feel nauseous?" He cut her off.

She glared at him before a frown pulled at her face and she focused her attention on herself, trying to decide exactly how she felt and how to put it into words.

"Yes, but no," she answered. He raised an eyebrow, telling her to explain herself. "It's like... I feel disgusted with myself, I feel like I should be sick but I can't physically do it."

"And does your stomach feel settled?"

"I... suppose so, yes," she admitted.

He nodded. "As I thought, you need both human food and human blood to satisfy both the human and vampire side of the babies. I suspect that from now on you'll be able to keep food down as long as you ingest human blood."

"But I'm almost over my first trimester, morning sickness usually disappears afterwards."

"We have to take this day by day, for all we know you might suffer from morning sickness until you go into labour, or it may stop entirely now that we now you need both human blood and food."

"Fantastic," she muttered, eyeing the glass still in her hand with dislike.

"And my contact's sent word, he believes he's found information that may just tell us what we're dealing with," Snape said.

"And?" Aro prompted.

"On Wednesday someone will be arriving here at Volterra, I don't know the identity or time we shall expect them, just that we should expect them and they'll hopefully have the answers we're searching for."

"Very well, we will have our scouts keep watch," Aro replied. "Until then, continue as you would," he instructed.

"I require more venom samples, preferably from vampires that are without a gift."

"Why do you require such a thing?" Caius arched a curious eyebrow.

"I would to like to see if I can determine if the babies will be born with a gift. With Hermione being a Sorceress and Alec having a gift, it is possible they may have gifts, too. In order to do so, I need to see the different markers in the venom between a gifted vampire and a non-gifted vampire."

Aro looked far too pleased and Hermione would be lying if she said it didn't worry her. He already had her as an ally and upon discovering her pregnancy, her value had increased, but if either of her babies or both had gifts, too, she could imagine her family becoming invaluable to him.

"We will have samples ready for you by the end of the day so you may begin your experiments," Aro agreed before he leaned over in his seat while Marcus whispered something into his ear.

Frowning, Hermione's eyes watched them carefully and when Aro's gaze darted over to Snape and then to Jane, she raised an eyebrow and she turned her eyes on the little blonde vampire, too.

Despite Snape having been at Volterra for two weeks, Hermione knew Jane hadn't actually met the grumpy Potions Master yet and today was the first time she'd actually laid eyes on him. Looking to Jane, she saw her sister-in-law watching Snape intensely with her bright red eyes and her head tilted to the side slightly.

Hearing a snigger, Hermione turned her eyes towards her vampires, seeing Demetri to be the one laughing and Alec had a less than pleased look on his face as his gaze darted between Snape and Jane, very much looking like an older, overprotective brother. Her eyes widened when the pieces fell into place.

"Lord Marcus senses a bond between them," Demetri muttered quietly into her ear.

Hermione blinked slowly before her mouth pulled into a smile and a little giggle left her. Alec turned his eyes to her, scowled and then turned his attention to glaring at Snape, who was completely oblivious to everything happening around him.

"It's fated," she said quietly so Snape wouldn't hear. She shouldn't be the one to tell him. "The only reason he's here is because of the babies, otherwise they never would've met. I was meant to fall pregnant. As each day goes by I'm becoming more and more convinced the babies are a blessing in disguise."

~000~000~000~

Wednesday 9th September 1998

"Hermione?" Alec called as stepped into their rooms.

She popped her head out the door of the bathroom, still with a toothbrush in her mouth and he chuckled at her.

"The scouts spotted someone looking for a way into the castle, they've collected him and are in the process of bringing him to the chamber room," he explained. "From what they can tell he's human."

Nodding, Hermione finished with brushing her teeth before leaving the bathroom, grabbing a cardigan and slipping it on and they left their rooms and headed to the chambers. Upon entering, she and Alec both bowed their heads to the Lords sat on their thrones with Marcus tending to Teddy. Demetri smiled at her and moved until he stood beside her in the centre of the room, Felix sent her a wink earning a scowl from Demetri, Snape rolled his eyes and turned his attention to looking out the window and Jane's eyes continuously darted between her and Snape, amusing her.

"Human?" Hermione questioned.

"He has a heartbeat," Marcus answered.

"But that doesn't mean he's fully human. Werewolves, veelas, sirens, they're all classed as beings but are only partially human. If this man's been sent by Snape's contact, it means he's magical at the very least and we don't know if he's friendly or not."

"Which is why we have Felix and Jane present, as well as Alec and Demetri," Aro responded. "We will not allow anyone to harm you or the children."

"My magic's unstable, not unresponsive," she replied. "I just brought it up so everyone remains cautious."

They all turned their eyes to the doorway when the man was escorted into the room by Marius and Nikoli before they were dismissed. The man stood before them all, his dark eyes looking about the room cautiously, his nose looking as though it'd been broken one too many times and his dark hair greying and cut short. His skin wasn't quite tanned but not quite pale either and he buried his hands into his well-worn jeans, which was paired with a dirty pair of boots, a t-shirt and a brown leather jacket.

"What is your name?" Aro asked.

The man's eyes continued to flicker around the room, his eyes briefly locking on Teddy wriggling away in Marcus' arms before moving to Aro.

"Ranulf," he responded, his voice gravelly.

Hermione eyed him carefully; he didn't so much give off a magical aura as it was covered by something else.

"You're a werewolf, aren't you?" Hermione spoke.

He turned his eyes to her, a smirk pulled at his mouth and his eyes flashed amber.

"I am," he responded.

A snarl sounded from behind her and she sent a glare over her shoulder and straight to Caius, a warning that he shouldn't test her or be rude to their guest.

"And you're a witch," he tilted his head to the side, his eyes trailing her in a way that had Alec and Demetri moving closer to her and wrapping their arms around her protectively and they sent looks of warning to him. He smirked in reply. "You're the reason I'm here?"

"Yes," she said, moving to open her cardigan and given her t-shirt wasn't all that baggy, her baby bump was evident.

"How far along are you?" He tipped his head.

"Technically five weeks, but development-wise eleven weeks."

"Hmm, that's interesting," he mused.

"What do you know?"

"You're different," he spoke.

"Meaning?" Hermione frowned.

"This has happened before," he nodded to her stomach. "I've witnessed it." There was not a sound to be heard in the room. "A witch was raped; my pack found her and took her in. Within two weeks of the attack, she'd given birth."

Hermione frowned and looked down to her stomach. "But..."

"Exactly," he nodded. "The child developed at such a rate that it was born completely healthy within only two weeks. She showed all symptoms of pregnancy and was only able to ingest human blood. The child was unlike anything we'd ever seen and throughout its development, it almost killed the witch. When she went into labour, she so was so weak and fragile that her spine snapped in two; she only survived due to being injected with werewolf venom as it kept her alive long enough for me to turn her during the full moon."

Eyes darted between Hermione, her stomach and the werewolf, them all looking worried and horrified.

"But you're different," he repeated. "I can smell it." He tipped his head to the side curiously. "You're stronger; your magic's not only keeping you safe and apparently healthy, but the baby, too."

"Babies, I'm having twins," she corrected.

He arched an eyebrow. "I reckon you'll survive the birth, in fact, given that you're not even out of your first trimester and you don't seem to be suffering from the accelerated symptoms, I'd say for you this might just be a regular pregnancy. You don't seem to be suffering the way my packmate did."

Hermione frowned slightly. "My pregnancy accelerated to six weeks within a period of three weeks but has since slowed down. All our tests indicate that the babies are developing at a normal rate and I'm due late December, early January. I suffer from nausea but we believe it's due to my senses having improved with the babies channelling them through me. I can ingest food but I need a pint of human blood a day. My health's as good as it can be, as is the babies'."

"I can see that," he muttered, his eyes falling to her stomach.

"What came of the child?" Marcus asked.

"Within three months of birth the child was almost six years in age, physically, mentally and emotionally, but as they continued to age the process slowed. Once seven years after the birth passed, they were fully matured and stopped ageing entirely."

Hermione's hands came up to her stomach and she frowned.

"And the child, are they a danger to others?" Hermione asked quietly.

"This particular child, no. But it is like any other child, it is nature versus nurture. I imagine that should the child have not had the support and care it did, it may have given in to their urges and harmed many. If you do the same with your children, as I suspect you already plan on doing, I can't see why they wouldn't be harmless." At his words, Hermione released the breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "I can't say whether or not your children will age as the child did but given your circumstances now I would think not. The child smells both of vampires and humans, but the vampire scent overpowers the other. With you, I can smell both but they're perfectly balanced. What that means I don't know, you'll have to wait and see."

"And abilities, diet?"

"Again, I can't say for certain as you're different, but the child does have the normal abilities of all vampires, only they don't appear to be as strong. As for the diet, they can survive on both blood and food."

"Thank you for your help," Hermione said.

"That child, he's part wolf," he said, gesturing to Teddy with a tilt of his head.

"Yes, his father was a werewolf and his mother his wolf mate."

"That's uncommon," he mused, looking to Teddy in intrigue. "Why is he here? I didn't detect any other wolves nearby."

"They died as did his Grandmother, I'm his Godmother and I initiated the old rights during their funerals."

"Powerful bit of magic, especially when there's a wolf-pup involved," he commented, eyeing her curiously. "You know, I'm sure I've seen your face before."

"Hermione Granger," she said.

The werewolf blinked before a slow smile crept up onto his face. "Now it makes sense."

"You are aware we cannot let you leave if you intend to divulge anything you've seen, heard or learned here, yes?"

He snorted. "I've no intention of doing so, the children you're carrying are precious, a gift, and they need protecting. Should word get out and information be distorted and misheard, it will bring danger to your doorstep."

Hermione watched him with cautious eyes before slowly nodding. "Thank you, you've been most helpful. We'll have Felix escort you out of the castle."

"Good Luck, you're going to need it," he said, nodding to her stomach before turning on his heel and following after Felix.

Once he was gone, Hermione turned to face the Lords. "Do you believe him?"

"His heartbeat remained steady," Marcus answered her.

"He told the truth," Snape piped up for the first time that morning. "He was offered a beverage, of which I laced with Veritaserum... Truth Potion," he added for the sake of the vampires. Hermione rolled her eyes at him while the others looked impressed. "Despite the information we now have, it may still be irrelevant. He has personally witnessed an occurrence such as this and his experience was vastly different. Your magic, you being a Sorceress is likely to be why you are in such good health. Your magic is protecting both you and the children. We're still unaware of what may happen after the birth."

"Yes, but we know the babies will be harmless," she interjected. "I don't care about the rest of the unknown at the moment; all I care about is knowing they're harmless and healthy."

"I can't imagine any child of Hermione Granger becoming the next Dark Lord, hybrid or not. Now, we must focus and ready for the birth," he said in reply, before turning away from the window and leaving the room, his robes billowing behind him.

Hermione let out a sigh. She hoped the months flew by. She hated the unknown, the part of her that craved knowledge needing answers, but the other part of her just wanted to now focus on ensuring she remained healthy and that she prepared for what was to come in just a few months time.