CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Summary: After completing her Masters in Potions and Herbology and adopting her godson, Teddy Lupin, in the wake of his Grandmother's death, Hermione decides a change is in order. She packs up their belongings, says goodbye to their loved ones and moves across the pond to La Push, where she meets a handsome man and his strange friends.

Disclaimer: I do not own canon events and characters, they belong to J.K Rowling and Stephenie Meyers. 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.

Q&A

Aesir21 – I will be ending this fic after the newborn army battle, but I have no intentions of writing a sequel covering Breaking Dawn, but I will tie up a few loose ends. I just feel like doing something different as I've already written about it in 'SMMW', and I'll be covering it in 'EID', too. So I think ending it about then will be a nice change, especially with the epilogue scene that I have planned.

SereniteRose – I might not have them all making a reappearance, but maybe one or two of them in the coming chapters.

Saturday 13th May 2006

"Are you sure you don't mind doing this?" Hermione asked Sam, biting at her lip and her eyes darting between his face and his hand that he had pressed against the counter, his palm facing upwards.

"I don't mind," he promised, "But you'll have to be quick or it'll heal before you have chance to take a sample."

Nibbling at her lip she nodded her head before reaching for the knife and bringing it to his palm, slicing through his skin until blood poured from the wound. Sam lifted his hand clenched it into a fist, holding it above the vial until it filled about half of the way and he pulled his hand back, already seeing it beginning to heal.

"Is that enough?"

"Should be," she answered, putting the stopper in the vial before moving over to the skin to properly wash and disinfect the knife.

"You wanna tell me what you need my blood for?" He asked curiously.

"Not yet, I'm running a few experiments and won't know the results until I've added your blood and tested them out."

"And what are you hoping to achieve?"

"I don't want to tell you until I've succeeded, I don't want to get your hopes up or even mine for that matter, so until then it remains secret," she answered and he raised eyebrow as she turned around to face him. "I've been working on these experiments since before we even met and I'm hoping your blood will make all the difference."

"Alright, and how are you feeling?"

"A little antsy," she sighed, pushing her hair back from her face. "I hate having to put you all through this."

"It's not your fault," he said softly. "You can't blame yourself for what happened and you can't control that it happens either. We've all come to terms with that and instead focus our attention on trying to make things easier on you."

"How do you think they'll react?"

"I don't know, probably the same as the others. Their bond with you prevents them from feeling any negative feelings towards you; they could never hate you even if they wanted to."

"That makes me feel better," she muttered.

He chuckled and stood from his stool, walking over to her and pulling her into a hug.

"It'll be fine, Hermione. You know Seth loves you and Leah's found her new best friend in you," he said, a slight grimace pulling at his face.

She laughed. "Your worst nightmare, your ex-girlfriend and your current girlfriend being friends. Thankfully she never talks about you and your relationship because I'm not sure if I'll be able to stop my wolf from biting her if she did. Her being pack makes it a lot easier than it would be if she were a stranger, but my wolf's very protective of you."

"I've seen," he said amused, his mind going back to last week when they'd gone grocery shopping and he'd received a few glances from a group of teens.

It had made it even worse that Hermione had been able to hear their comments and pick up on the scent of their attraction for him. Sam hadn't complained though because as soon as they'd arrived home, she'd dragged him to their bedroom and spent half the day proving that he belonged to her.

"You're just as bad," she fired back, thinking of the time they'd gone shopping a couple of weeks ago.

They'd gone not only to get Teddy some new clothing as he'd gone through a growth spurt recently, but to also find Embry a birthday present as last week he'd celebrated his seventeenth birthday. He hadn't been impressed with the eyes of the teenage boys that followed, nor had he been with their vulgar comments. All it had taken was one glance at the murderous look on his face and they soon quieted down and left.

"We're both as bad as each other," he shrugged. "Anyway, I'll make dinner tonight so you can spend more time in your lab and work on your experiments."

She looked at him gratefully and he chuckled, before their attention was pulled when Seth walked into the kitchen with Teddy walking beside him as he held his hand, and the now two year old's hair was a dull blonde and he was rubbing at his eyes as he cried.

"What happened?" Sam asked, pulling away from Hermione and moving over to them.

"Teddy had an accident," Seth answered.

Both she and Sam looked down to Teddy's jeans, seeing that there was a dark patch. They'd recently started potty training and while he seemed to have the hang of going to the toilet when not wearing pants or jeans, he still struggled when wearing clothing, but they knew they had to be patient with him. Persistence was the key after all.

"Did you forget to go to the potty?" Sam asked, crouching down in front of Teddy and the toddler nodded his head, his cries turning into hiccups. "That's okay, Teddy," he said softly. "Let's get you changed and try again," he said, reaching out for him and picking up, Teddy wrapping his arms around Sam's neck and crying into his shoulder as they left out the room, Sam's footsteps being heard on the staircase.

"Are you okay?" Seth asked.

"Fine, why'd you ask?" She replied, pulling out the makings for dinner and flicking her wand to start prepping it for when Sam returned.

"You just seem to be quieter than usual and you look tired," he said, a worried frown pulling at his face.

"I'm fine, I promise," she said, walked past him and patting him on the shoulder as Sam came down the stairs with a much happier looking Teddy who was now wearing clean jeans. As she crossed their path she pressed a kiss to Teddy's cheek and headed for her lab.

~000~000~000~

Sunday 14th May 2006

"Where do you think you're going, Pup?" Paul asked, standing in front of the stairs with his arms crossed over his chest and preventing Seth from getting past.

Seth shuffled on his feet and his eyes darted over to the kitchen and Paul's mouth twitched in amusement at the look of fear on Seth's face, and at hearing the grumbles coming from Hermione. It was the day of the full moon.

"Nowhere," he muttered.

"Great, then I suppose you better get back in the kitchen and eat your breakfast," Paul said.

"Seth, get your arse in here! Sam didn't stand and cook you bloody breakfast for you to walk away with a half eaten plate!" Hermione's voice carried over and Paul had to try very hard to keep in his laughter.

"I'd get in there if I were you, today's not the day to mess with her," he said amused.

"Why?"

"You'll see soon enough."

Paul reached up and put his hand on Seth's shoulder, turning him around and guiding him back to the kitchen. As he stepped inside, everyone had amused looks on their faces as Hermione paced back and forth muttering to herself and Leah sat at the breakfast, leaning back in her seat and eyeing Hermione as if she'd just escaped a mental asylum.

"Leah, eat your breakfast!" Hermione said, a growl wrapping around her words. Leah picked up her fork and slowly began to eat but she didn't take her eyes off Hermione.

"I've got it," Paul said, pushing Seth into a seat and heading for the blinds when Hermione's head snapped up and she glowered at the sun light in the room.

When the toaster 'dinged' Sam moved over to it, pulling the toast free and covering it in chocolate spread before handing it to her with a cup of tea. Hermione let out a sigh as she breathed in the scent of the chocolate and she reached up to press a kiss to Sam's cheek before leaving out the kitchen.

"I thought I was bad at that time of the month but she wins," Leah said suddenly.

A growl sounded from the library. "I heard that!"

Leah blinked in surprise and they all sniggered at her, apart from Seth who still looked confused and terrified.

"Watch what you say to her," Sam warned. "She might actually bite you."

"And why would she do that?" She raised an eyebrow.

"You'll soon see."

~000~000~000~

Later that night found Hermione pacing back and forth in the woods, the majority of the pack hating what they knew would soon be happening and Seth and Leah watching Hermione cautiously as she muttered to herself, tugged at her hair and scratched at her skin irritably.

"I hope this works. Please let this work." She muttered repeatedly for several minutes straight.

"Is someone going to tell us why we're out here?" Leah asked for the third time that night, but still didn't receive a straight answer.

"You'll see, just be ready to phase when we tell you to," Jared said, watching Hermione's every move with sad eyes.

She came to a sudden stop and looked up at the sky and they followed her gaze, seeing the moon being high in the sky.

"Phase now," Sam ordered and although they were confused, Seth and Leah phased along with everyone else, just as Hermione dropped to the ground and screams tore from the back of her throat.

'What's happening to her?' Seth asked in a panic, making a move to step closer but a growl from Sam stopped him from doing so.

'Going through the transformation, it'll be over soon,' Jacob explained. 'Now fall into the empty spaces,' he said, and the two new wolves moved to fill the two empty spots as the pack surrounded Hermione.

'What transformation?' Leah asked, her eyes glued to Hermione's writhing and screaming form and then widening upon seeing her bone structure visibly changing and it was soon followed by fur, claws and...A tail. The strange looking wolf stood on its hind legs and howled to the moon. The full moon.

'She's a fucking werewolf!' Leah whispered.

~000~000~000~

'Well, shit! She fainted,' Paul spoke through the mind link, sounding both amused and surprised as he stared down at the large wolf that was laid out on the ground. 'She's the first to do that and I certainly wasn't expecting her to be, I had my money on it being Embry.'

'Shove off,' Embry fired back and chuckles rang through the mind link as they all watched as Hermione slowly approached the unconscious wolf and sniffed at her.

'Seth, submit to her, get down and offer her your neck,' Jared instructed.

Seth was surprising quiet, in fact, they couldn't hear anything from him over the mind link and they couldn't remember the last that had happened, but despite that, Seth did listen and lowered himself to the ground, not moving as Hermione approached him, sniffed at him and gently bit his neck before stepping away and heading for Sam, ploughing straight into him as she rubbed herself up against him. The others amused comments flittered through the mind link and Jacob moved to sit beside Seth.

'You okay?' He asked the younger wolf.

'She's a werewolf,' Seth muttered.

'She is,' he agreed.

'Like a real life werewolf,'

'We know,' he replied amused.

'It all makes sense, her strange behaviour, the growling, the flashing eyes...'

'Yep,' Jacob nodded. 'Welcome to the pack. If it makes you feel any better, you fared better than Leah,' he said, looking over to the large heap of limbs and fur that was Seth's sister.

'But she's a werewolf!'

Jacob let out a loud rumbling growl of laughter. 'You'll get used to it, it happens every month after all.'

'I don't want to ever see her go through that again,' Seth said quietly.

'None of us do but we need to be here for her, so we learn to deal with it. Now watch out, she loves to play fight,' Jacob warned, before darting off to the side just as Hermione and Jared barrelled into each other, taking Seth down with them and laughter erupted.

~000~000~000~

Jacob had left with Embry for the first patrol of the night, Leah had come back around and was now laid down by the foot of a tree, watching as the other wolves played with Hermione whilst also ignoring the teasing comments that were thrown her way for her fainting at the discovery of Hermione being a werewolf.

Sam was on the other side of the clearing, also watching the wolves play fight and with him laughing whenever Hermione used her smaller size and speed to her advantage and pounced on an unsuspecting wolf. And she's just done that, barrelling into Quil and knocking him to the ground, gently nipping at his tail like a puppy.

One moment she was playing and the next she was on the ground, howls of agony leaving her as she rolled around and writhed.

'What's happening!' Quil asked in a panic.

'I don't know,' Jared said, sounding equally as confused and worried and Sam was beside her instantly, looking down at the smaller wolf, only he noticed something strange.

'She's changing back,' he muttered.

'That's not possible,' Paul said, looking up at the moon which had only been up no more than a couple of hours.

'I know that!' Sam snapped and they all flinched away from him. 'But she's changing back. Her fur and claws are fading and her bone structure's changing.'

As Sam said that, human screams of agony sounded and echoed in the otherwise silence of the woods. The older wolves looked to each other in confusion and surprise before Paul phased back and grabbed Hermione's bag, pulling out the robe, blanket and potions and moving to kneel down beside her as she went through the last phase of her transformation. As soon as it was over he covered her with the blanket and helped her into her robe and the rest of the wolves surrounded her, looking to her in surprise as tears fell down her face and Paul helped her to take her potions.

"What the hell was that, Hermione?" Paul asked her.

"It worked, I can't believe it worked," she whispered, snuggling into the large black wolf that laid on the ground behind her, supporting her weight and offering her more protection from the chill of the night.

"What worked?"

"My experiment," she muttered, before her eyes closed and her breathing evened out.

~000~000~000~

Monday 15th May 2006

When Hermione next woke it was dark outside, she was in her bed and surrounded by the comforting presence of Sam. Turning over in bed she came face to face with him and she gave him a sleepy smile.

"What the hell happened?" Sam asked her. "And don't lie to me, you scared the hell out of me, and Jared was beside himself. Paul had to lock him in his office because he kept messing up the prep work for an upcoming job. Embry got sent home from school, Seth's barely spoken all day, Leah's been a moody bitch and Jacob and Quil have been standing guard outside the bedroom door since they've gotten home from school."

Hermione frowned before shaking her head slightly. "It was my experiment, it worked," she said.

"What experiment?"

She climbed out of bed and disappeared into the closet, returning wearing a t-shirt and a pair of leggings before leaving the room with him following after her. She led him down the stairs and after letting out a whistle, the rest of the pack all gathered in the living room, coming from various parts of the house.

They all spoke over each other and she winced before silencing them with a single glance and they all took seats in the room, looking at her expectantly.

"I'm sorry for worrying you all, but I didn't want to tell you my plan until I was sure it would work and I wasn't expecting it to, to be honest. I'm sure you've noticed I've been spending a lot of time in my lab lately, and I haven't been brewing potions for the hospital or any of my other clients. I've actually been working on a few experimental projects and you witnessed the results of one. Since I started my Masters in Potions, I've been working on something to help other werewolves but I was never able to get it to work, at least until now. I found the missing ingredient."

"My blood," Sam spoke up, looking to her from his place sat on the couch with Teddy in his lap and playing with a toy dragon.

"Not your blood exactly, rather something that was in your blood. The shape-shifting gene. I was able to extract it from the blood sample you gave me and I added it to one of my experimental potions. My intentions were to see if I would be able to control the transformation. I'm a shape-shifter like you only I can't control myself, but with the potion I've created, I've just discovered it is possible. I changed back before sun rise which means I can stop myself from transforming altogether, I won't ever have to face another full moon again." They all stared at her with wide eyes and expressions of disbelief and surprise. "I've done it, I've not created a cure for lycanthropy but I have created a potion that will give us control of our phasing. I imagine it'll take some practice to learn to change at will and I plan to do so in the coming days, but I'll hopefully never have to face the full moon again."

"But that's..." Paul trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"Our DNA was the key?" Jacob asked.

"It was," she nodded.

"If this works for you, will it work for others?"

"I'd imagine so, but I had no intention of distributing this potion without proof of it working, without your permission or without your knowledge. I can imagine that this potion will help a lot of people, but it can be dangerous, too. Not all werewolves are good and those with ill intentions will be able to get their hands on it and could use it for nefarious purposes but that's the risk we must take to help others."

"If it'll stop you from transforming, what will happen to your wolf?" Embry asked, frowning slightly.

"She'll still be there, but I'll have better control of her. I'll be able to pull her forward whenever I want or need to, and I'll be able to contain her whenever I want or need to. I'll have to run a few tests on myself but from what I can tell, I'll still have my advanced senses and I'll still suffer the symptoms of the full moon only I won't go through the physical transformation."

"That's amazing," Jared muttered in awe.

"No more pain, no more worry and no more forced transformations. I'm free. The moon doesn't control me anymore."

Hermione burst into tears and she was soon surrounded by her pack, offering her words of comfort and praise. She'd just created a never before seen advancement in the curing of lycanthropy and with her discovery she'd go down in history for more than just being a War Heroine.

~000~000~000~

Tuesday 16th May 2006

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Sam asked, looking up from his breakfast and everyone else soon followed his gaze, watching as Hermione silently stared out the kitchen window.

"Something's happening," she said quietly, her voice sounding as if she were in a world of her own.

"Meaning?"

"Something's happening," she repeated. "My magic, I can feel it."

Sam shared a worried glance with Jared and Paul before their eyes turned back to Hermione.

"What can you feel, Hermione?" Paul asked.

"It's happening,"

"What is?"

As he said those words Hermione stepped away from the kitchen window and moved over to the front door, pulling it open and stepping out onto the porch. The rest of the pack followed closely behind her as she descended the steps onto the beach and looked off towards the woods.

A sudden gasp tore from her and she collapsed, Sam rushing to her and catching her just before she hit the ground and she shook in his arms.

"Hermione? Hermione!" He said, unable to hide his worry or panic.

She took a deep breath and fell forward, pressing her hands into the sand and bowing her head as she breathed deeply.

"Check my back," she whispered.

Sam frowned but moved to grip the bottom of her t-shirt, pulling it up to reveal her spine. His eyes raked over the names tattooed on her spine before widening when he saw not one, but two newly added names.

"Well?" She asked.

"You felt them going through the transformation," he muttered.

"Them?" Jared frowned.

"There's two names, not one. Collin and Brady."

"I've a second cousin called Collin," Jacob spoke.

"And I've a second cousin called Brady," Quil added.

"That's it, the Black and Ateara bloodlines," Hermione said, pushing herself up until she was leaning back into Sam and her eyes were locked on the woods.

"But for them to go through the transformation at the same time, that's odd," Paul commented.

"It is, very odd," Hermione agreed.

"What if they triggered each other?" Embry suggested. "They're neighbours and have been best friends since they were born, there's only a few months between them in age. Their parents were friends from school and they both lost their mothers in a car accident when they were three. They live with their fathers."

Hermione took a deep breath and her hands clenched into tight fists at the news, her heart breaking for her new wolves.

"How old are they?" She asked, dreading the answer.

"Thirteen," Jacob answered.

Hermione's eyes closed tightly. "It's getting closer, the battle I was warned about, it's coming and I can feel it. I don't want the pups anywhere near it."

"We'll keep them away from it," Sam promised, his arms slipping around her stomach and they just sat on the ground, watching the trees and waiting for someone to exit them and it happened a few minutes later.

Two large, beautiful wolves stepped out from behind the trees and slowly approached the house and gathered pack, eyeing them curiously. They had dark eyes and long fur, and while one looked to be a dark ashy-brown colour, the other one appeared to be a reddish-brown colour that darkened around the face, legs and tail.

Hermione disentangled herself from Sam's hold and she stood, slowly approaching the two wolves until there was only a few feet between them and they stared down at her.

"Hello, Collin, Brady. I'm Hermione," she said softly. "I know you're very confused but I promise it will all make sense soon enough and before it is all explained to you, all I have to say is welcome home, welcome to the pack."

At her words the two wolves let out whines and they dropped to the ground on their stomachs and Hermione approached them, kneeling down between their large bodies and gently running her hands through their fur. It was clear they felt comfortable with her as they shifted closer to her and leaned into her touch.

"Sammy," she said softly, not wanting to upset her two new wolves, especially given that they were so young. "It's before school, chances are their fathers were nearby when this happened."

His eyes widened in understanding and he nodded. "I'll alert the council to the new additions to the pack and we'll check to see if they were accidentally injured or if they witnessed anything. At any rate, we'll have to convince them the pups need to stay with us for the time being."

"It's a good job we've got a spare bedroom," Hermione mused. "Though they'll have to share."

Sam nodded before phasing right in front of them all and the new wolves startled at the sight as he ran off into the woods.

"That's right boys, you're not alone, everyone here is a wolf," she smiled down at them. "And we'll teach you to control it just like they can." She looked up to the rest of the pack, seeing Paul struggling to contain Teddy as he tried to break free and run to the new additions to the pack. "You can put him down," she said and Paul sighed in relief at being able to do so, especially after Teddy had just kicked him in the ribs during his struggle.

The toddler giggled and squealed as he darted over to them, immediately hugging the dark wolf and pulling back to hug the reddish-brown wolf and they both blinked in surprise.

"Boys, this is Teddy, and I promise you're going to love him," she said to them, before turning back to the remainder of the pack. "Right, Leah you better go or you'll be late for work and you boys better get a move on, too, or you'll be late for school," she said to Seth, Quil, Jacob and Embry who had all been cleared to return to school and had been attending for a couple of weeks now. Nodding, they all headed inside to collect their belongings.

"It's my turn," Jared said and Paul looked relieved that he wouldn't be on puppy sitting duty, so he went inside to get his things before leaving for the office.

"Right then, it seems it's just going to be us, Jared and Teddy. Let's get inside and give you your answers, but I promise you, I have the feeling you're going to love what we're about to tell you."