"Dumbledore asked for you and I to meet him at Hagrid's tonight. He said he has something to show us." Harry said shifting in his seat anxiously and Hermione looked up from her book of spells at him. She'd been in the library for the past few hours reading up on protection spells until Harry had come in and sat beside her.

"At Hagrid's?" she questioned raising an eyebrow. Everyone at Hogwarts knew it was getting more and more dangerous in the dark forest so they stayed clear of it. Walking the grounds even sent even more chills up some of the students spines than usual now because they never knew what was out in the woods watching them.

"Yea, apparently he has some important news for us."

"About Voldemort?" she asked quietly and Harry shrugged slightly, staring at the wall behind her head intensely. She could practically see the gears turning in his head as he thought it over.

"I dunno. I just can't figure out why he told me to tell you but not Ron." he finally said. He'd thought about telling Ron anyways but he figured if Dumbledore had told him specifically to bring Hermione but not Ron it was important that he didn't say anything. Besides that Harry knew it would only upset Ron that he was being left out. Hermione on the other hand had no idea why Dumbledore would want her but not Ron. They were both important to Harry and though Ron had his... moments, he was always a loyal friend who would do almost anything for Harry.

"That is strange."

…...

They were standing outside Hagrid's hut, by the edge of the dark forest as the sun set but Dumbledore didn't seem to be worried about anything dangerous coming out.

"Harry, Hermione, this is one of Hogwarts' newest guards, Jacob Black." Dumbledore said motioning to the boy in front of him. The boy had a deep set tan and dark brown eyes that looked almost black in the lighting. His jaw had a slight cleft in it and he his hair was black and cropped short. He was huge. He stood easily over six feet tall and he had broad shoulders with enormous biceps. He was so toned it looked like someone had carved him out of stone. Hermione had never seen someone so muscular and perfect looking outside of one of her mother's fitness magazines.

After a minute Hermione realized she was staring at him and she noticed he was staring back. Hermione glanced away as she felt heat rise to her cheeks and he grinned slightly, showing off his pearly white teeth.

"It's nice to meet you Jacob." Harry said holding out his hand, dragging the attention off Hermione and Jacob smiled at him before he shook his hand.

"You too. Dumbledore has told me and the rest of the Pack all about you." the tan boy said glancing at Dumbledore before he turned his attention back at the two in front of him.

"Are you American?" Hermione asked and he nodded looking back over at her.

"Yeah, I'm from Washington."

"I've heard it's lovely there." she said and he nodded slightly smiling at her.

"It's nice."

"Jacob and the rest of his Pack were more than willing to help us. It's their duty to protect their tribe and other innocents when ever possible." Dumbledore said breaking a part the tension that had been building in the air.

"No offense but how exactly are you supposed to help us. I understand that you're strong on the full moon but and you could maybe counter Greyback but to my understanding when you're having… a moment, you aren't exactly in control of yourselves." Harry asked as politely as possible. The last thing he wanted was to seem rude to someone Dumbledore had personally picked out to help them.

"Jacob isn't the type of wolf you've been taught about in Severus's class." Dumbledore said simply and Jacob nodded in agreement. Over all the years Hermione had studied she'd only heard of two types of werewolves. One being the fictional wolfman and the other being the creature Proffesor Lupin turned into. Looking over Jacob again she knew he wasn't like anything she'd read about in bestiaries.

"For the most part I have myself under control." he added. Hermione felt like his gaze locked her into place, keeping her from looking away from him, not that he wasn't nice to look at. The longer he looked at her the more she felt like she was going to melt right on the spot, especially when the corner of his mouth turned up in a half smile. She'd have to check if wolves like him lured in their victims through physical attraction.

"For the most part?" Harry asked. The night Lupin had changed over the full moon was forever in his mind and he didn't want to repeat it with a whole Pack of wolves.

"It's nothing you need to worry about. I would never hurt you." he said looking at them both, but Hermione couldn't help but notice he was focusing more on her than on Harry.