Green & Gold

Sunday December 19, 2003

“HARRY!” Hermione beamed when she stepped out of the fireplace in Washington and immediately threw herself in her best friends arms. “Oh we’ve missed you so much!”

Hermione was surprised, but pleased, when Harry’s arms briefly hugged her back. She pulled back to look at him and smiled even harder when she saw physical proof of what she had suspected from his letters.

Harry looked happier.

He was still too thin, and the bags under his eyes were too dark; but his face had filled back out some. He had color in his cheeks, and it looked like he had even gotten a haircut recently. His hair was just as messy as ever, but it was more of a clean and purposeful messy look as opposed to the long and lank mop of hair it had been before. Overall, he looked loads better than he had two months ago when she saw him in person last. He stood a little taller, held himself a little more confidently, and he didn’t look like he was desperately trying to make himself disappear so much. He had a light in his eyes that she hadn’t seen for what felt like eons.

And, thank goodness, she couldn’t smell a drop of alcohol on his breath.

Though, she would wait until she came for a surprise visit to confirm if he’d really quit drinking himself to sleep every night.

“I’ve missed you guys! Where’s Ron?” Harry peered at the fireplace over Hermione’s shoulder, searching for the missing part of their trio.

“He’s coming,” she assured him. “He was getting our bags. Come sit down! I want to hear everything!”

Harry laughed, actually laughed, and let Hermione pull him to his sofa.

“Calm down, breathe,” he teased her, teased her. “Wait for Ron or he’ll just make me repeat myself.”

“Fine.” Hermione let out a huff as she sank down on the sofa beside Harry. She looked around his sitting room carefully, searching for any changes, when a familiar ding startled her.

“Harry,” Hermione drew Harry’s name out as her eyes widened at the device in his hands. “Is that a cell phone?”

“Er... yes?” Harry scratched the back of his neck with his free hand and looked sheepish. “I know you said they don’t work-“

“YOU HAVE A CELL PHONE?!” Hermione interrupted Harry with a shriek, causing Harry to jump and drop said cell phone. “Do you have any idea how much I’ve always wanted one?! Oh my goodness. How does it work around your magic?”

“It doesn’t,” Harry frowned as he nervously fidgeted with the phone. “I broke five of them in a row before I realized I can’t have it in the same room when I do magic and it definitely can’t be in the same pocket as my wand. Burnt my arse doing that, didn’t I?”

“Why are we talking about Harry’s arse?”

“Ron!” Harry leapt to his feet and let Ron enthusiastically clap him on the shoulder. “How are you?”

The boys exchanged greetings while Hermione eagerly picked up Harry’s phone and began playing with it. She had always, ever since her Mum first got a cellphone for work, wanted one for herself. But everything she read had said that muggle electronics don’t work in areas of high concentrations of magic. She had never thought to test it out and see if one would work during her summer holidays with her parents.

“Ooh, you’ve got a text!” she cried as the phone dinged again. “I want to send texts! It’s from-“

And before Hermione could do more than read the contact name and first couple of words in the message, the phone had been abruptly snatched from her hands.

“That’s... er... oh. It’s just Rose. Here,” Harry thrust the phone back to her and she noticed his face was turning a bright shade of red. “Sorry.”

Ron threw himself on the floor in front of the sofa and grinned up at Harry. “Who’d you think it was from?” he asked perceptively, apparently coming to the same conclusion Hermione had.

“No one,” Harry said hastily. He sat back down beside Hermione and sent a shifty look towards his phone. “How’s your family?” he said in a classic Harry deflection.

One that certainly didn’t work on Hermione.

“They’re good,” Ron said. “Mum sends her love and said to tell you that if you aren’t there on Christmas Eve that she’s coming here and ‘dragging you by the ear’.” The boys laughed and Ron filled Harry in on all the events going on in the Weasley family. The edited and pre-approved events to share anyway.

Hermione and Ron had a long talk before they came to spend their break with Harry and had decided that until they knew how his mental state was, it was best to keep information about the magical world superficial. Harry had suffered more than any other person during the war, and had gave away more of himself than any other person, and Hermione did her research and knew he had what muggles called PTSD and Survivors Guilt. He’d been horribly traumatized and there were a lot of topics that triggered his episodes, episodes that she couldn’t always guess at what form they would take. So until Harry was in a good mindset, they would avoid any tricky topics. Topics such as George reopening the shop after the school year ends, Teddy’s aches he was beginning to develop during the full moon, or Ginny dating one of the Slytherin quidditch players.

Hermione kept her ears perked for the boys’ conversation, ready to jump in if Ron accidentally brought up something he wasn’t meant to, and in the meantime she happily explored Harry’s phone.

She opened up Harry’s photos, not expecting to truly find anything, and was surprised to see there were loads of them in his camera roll.

Harry and a much taller guy with pale skin, golden eyes, and equally golden hair sitting on the side of a mountain cliff together. Harry and that same guy, along with a short and dainty girl with spiky dark hair, sitting on the hood of Harry’s car in a parking lot. Harry, the golden guy, and a muscular guy with curly brown hair playing what looks like American football.

... and on and on it went. Harry had hundreds of photos in his phone, and most of them looked to be with this golden guy (who really looks more like a man now that Hermione squints at the tiny screen). A few of them had Harry and Jacob Black with what looked like Jacob’s friends, but most of them were with the other teens with the much paler skin. And in almost all of them with the golden guy, Harry looks relaxed and... happy.

Harry looks happy in these photos.

Hermione felt a pressure building behind her eyes and willed herself to not cry. It was just so hard! There was a photo of Harry sitting with the golden guy, the spiky haired girl, the muscular guy, and a blonde girl that Hermione just knew had to be stunning in person- and Harry was beaming.

She hadn’t seen him smile like that in years.

“Who are they?” Hermione asked Harry after she swallowed down the knot in her throat.

“Who?” Harry glanced at the phone then grinned. “Oh yeah. You told me to make friends, remember? So I did. That’s Alice-“ the spiky haired girl. “Rose-“ the blonde. “Emmett-“ the muscular guy. “And that’s Jasper.”

The golden guys name was Jasper.

The same Jasper that Harry had mentioned a few times in his letters. Which wouldn’t mean much, except Harry hadn’t mentioned anyone else by name.

And also Hermione was not an idiot.

“Their other brother Edward was taking the photo. Alice said we needed to ‘make memories’, so we’ve been taking photos when we hang out together. Well,” Harry laughed again and Hermione and Ron exchanged a quick smile at the sound. “Alice usually takes photos, then she sends them to me.”

And Harry saves them.

“When can we meet them?” Hermione asked Harry. She silently handed Ron the phone and subtly raised a brow to indicate the significance of the photos on the screen. Ron twitched his pinky in response before he too began flipping through the photos, mimicking Hermione’s swiping motion to see all of them.

One of the many, many, things that Hermione loves about her relationship with Ron is their ability to silently communicate. She didn’t know anyone, save Harry to a much lesser extent, that she could have a whole conversation with and not have to say a single word.

“Er, they wanted to meet you guys, but I wasn’t sure if you’d want to meet them?” Harry looked surprised, which was just so typically Harry.

As if she didn’t want to meet Harry’s friends. And Jasper.

“Course we do,” Ron grinned at Harry as he returned the cell phone. “Why wouldn’t we?”

“Well... they’re muggles,” Harry said slowly. “And it’s tricky being around them because you have to watch everything you say and do.”

“Harry, I literally spent my summers in the muggle world. We can handle it,” Hermione rolled her eyes but she laughed too.

“Alright, well I’ll see if there’s a day during the next couple of weeks- ding- oh.”

Hermione leaned over Harry’s shoulder (yes she knew she was being nosy, but this was Harry!) and read the message out loud for Ron.

“Hey! Have R or H ever been skiing? Let’s go tomorrow! XO, Alice.”

Ron laughed and winked at Hermione, “Guess we can finally see those ski skills you learned back in fifth year, eh?”

Hermione shushed him, and instead nodded her head slightly to the bashful smile on Harry’s face as he typed back a response.

Hermione didn’t care if she fell a million times and made a complete fool of herself, meeting the guy who was making Harry so obviously happy would be worth it.

***

After a long night spent wrapped up together on Harry’s couch, gossiping in to the late hours of the night, Hermione was practically vibrating with glee as Harry pulled in to the ski resort where they would be meeting Harry’s new friends.

“I thought you didn’t like skiing,” Harry said after Hermione jumped from the car and quickly started grabbing their winter gear from the trunk.

“I don’t,” Hermione admitted. “It’s just a good day, isn’t it?” Harry sent a dubious look up at the cloud filled sky, but Hermione hadn’t meant the weather.

Obviously.

Last night, after Hermione and Ron had filled Harry in on what they’ve been doing since they last saw him, Harry told them about his life. He talked a little about school and his increased grades, and he’d looked shyly pleased when he said that his teachers were recommending he be moved to the standard 11th grade classes after Christmas break. He told them about watching Jacob build a car, which Harry said looked ‘hard as hell’. They all laughed when Harry mentioned his neighbor drug him on a fishing trip and he fell out of the boat. But mostly, he talked about Jasper.

Alice and Jasper.

Jasper and Rosalie.

Emmett and Jasper.

Jasper and Edward.

Jasper.

Jasper.

Jasper.

And Hermione was dying to meet the guy who Harry described as his ‘best muggle friend, but don’t be jealous though because it’s different with him’.

Of course it was different with Jasper, it didn’t take a genius to notice the flush in Harry’s cheeks or light in his eyes when he mentioned him. He’d certainly never looked that way when he talked about Ron.

So yes. Hermione was very excited for today and skiing had nothing to do with it.

“Come on then,” Ron scooped up some of the supplies from Hermione’s arms, pulled a purple hat down over her ears, and kissed her nose. “Think we can get away with a warming charm?” he whispered.

Hermione, who was rather cold despite the coat she’d gotten this morning from a store in Forks, nodded. She grasped the wand in her pocket and made sure there were no muggles in the parking lot before she pulled it out and cast two silent warming charms.

“You too Harry?” she asked.

Harry shook his head and shrugged, “I’m fine.”

Which was absurd, because along with the cloud filled sky and snowy grounds, the temperature couldn’t be a single degree above 15. But Harry was a grown wizard, and she wasn’t going to argue about it. If he wanted one, he certainly knew how to cast it himself.

“Let’s go then!” Ron cheered. The three of them linked their arms together and headed for the lodge cabin to purchase ski passes and meet Harry’s friends.

And- oh.

As soon as they opened the doors and were greeted by a puff of warm air and the smell of hot chocolate, the dainty girl, Alice, came dancing right up to Harry and threw her arms around him.

“You made it!” she sang.

Hermione suddenly felt quite plain compared to this girl. This girl was beautiful. Her skin was smooth and flawlessly white. Her golden eyes were large, but in a way that only made her more attractive, and framed with perfectly long and dark lashes. Her smile was charming, perfectly straight white teeth, just the kind of smile that would put Hermione’s parents out of work. Even the way she stood was perfect. Alice didn’t resemble a marshmallow the way Hermione did in her puffy coat and winter trousers. She looked like a model, even with her diminutive size.

“And you must be Hermione Granger the ‘bloody smartest person in the world’.” Alice turned her smile on Hermione, who immediately blushed and smacked Harry lightly on the arm.

“I don’t know about that, but yes, I’m Hermione. This is Ron-“ Ron who was rudely staring at Alice with a puzzled frown. Hermione elbowed him, but Alice didn’t even skip a beat before greeting him.

“And you’re the best chess player in all of England, right? I’ve heard so much about you both!” Alice said.

“Uh... nice to meet you,” Ron said, his ears beet red from the way Harry had apparently been bragging about him. “Harry talks a lot about you.”

Which was a stretch, because Harry didn’t talk much in general. But they have both heard Alice’s name in a lot of the stories Harry did share.

Hermione had been so distracted by Alice and her beauty and the way that Harry had told her about them that she missed the tall, fit, graceful guy who walked up to them at a much slower speed than Alice had run.

Wow.

Jasper, because this was definitely the golden guy in Harry’s photos and stories, was stunning.

He was tall, an inch or so taller than Ron, and had an athletic build; thin, but clearly muscular, much like Harry had before the war. His face was so flawlessly smooth that Hermione had the odd itch to feel if someone’s skin can truly feel that silken. If Ginny was here she would describe his cheekbones as ‘to die for’. But it was his golden eyes, a shade or two darker than Alice’s that had Hermione captivated.

No wonder Harry had so many photos with him, who wouldn’t?

“Hello,” he spoke in a soft voice with the smallest bite of an accent Hermione didn’t recognize. Hermione’s knees suddenly felt a bit weak. “My name is Jasper Hale, pleased to meet you.”

This time it was Ron who had to nudge Hermione to bring her focus back where it belonged.

“Hello, Hermione Granger.” She offered Jasper her hand and barely bit back a gasp at his cold hand. What was with him, Harry, and Alice all not wearing gloves? It was frigid outside!

“And I’m Harry‘s best mate, Ron,” Ron stuck his hand out with a stubborn set to his jaw and a challenging look in his eyes. Which Hermione thought was as adorable as Harry apparently found it embarrassing.

“Ron’s never been skiing before,” Harry said hastily. “Neither have I, so we might suck at it.”

Which, as it turned out, was both untrue and unfair.

Harry and Ron were naturals.

Hermione huffed and puffed a bit as they literally skied circles around her, but both boys had pink flushes in their cheeks and constant smiles on their faces, so she put up with their bragging. She was dismayed, but not surprised, to see that Alice and Jasper were just as naturally athletic as her boys were. She followed them along the trails and slowly, and carefully, tried to maneuver her way down the slopes without falling flat on her face.

She didn’t mind sticking to the back of the group, she waved the others ahead of her so she didn’t slow them down, it gave her an opportunity to observe Harry and his friends. Harry kept up an almost constant flow of conversation with the others, once more showing his innate ability to bring people together as he brought Ron in to his conversations with ease. Harry, Jasper, and Alice talked about music, and cars, and a lot of muggle activities that had Ron looking bewildered. But even though Harry talked with all three of them, it was Jasper to who his eyes kept sticking on.

And Jasper’s eyes hardly left Harry’s face.

“They’re cute,” Hermione whispered to Ron when they were on the ski lift together. Harry and Jasper were in front of them, and Alice behind them. It was her first chance to gossip with Ron about it.

Because, despite the masculine image he loves to portray, Ronald Weasley is a terrible gossip. Hermione imagines he inherited it from his mother.

“Bit unnaturally though, aren’t they?” Ron said.

“Ronald!” Hermione smacked Ron’s arm as hard as she could and frowned at him. “Why would you say that?!” What a disgusting and rude thing to say about their best friend. Hermione was incredibly disappointed.

“What?” Ron looked startled at her sudden anger. “People aren’t supposed to just look like that Mione! It’s not normal!”

Oh. Hermione flushed at the reasoning behind Ron’s statement and grabbed his hand in apology as she understood their miscommunication. “I’m sorry love, I thought you meant Harry and Jasper together was unnatural.”

“Harry and Jasper? Why would I think that was unnatural?”

Hermione skimmed past his question, not wanting to discuss discrimination when there were more important topics to be covered. “Never mind that, I’ll explain later. But it’s sweet, right? Harry looks so happy.”

“He does.” Ron looked at the back of Harry and Jasper’s heads, conspiratorial bent together. Harry’s black hair mixing with Jasper’s dark blonde hair in front of a snow covered landscape would have made an adorable photograph.

...if Hermione had a cellphone to take that photograph.

“I don’t think I like it though.”

“What?” Hermione turned from the sweet scene in front of her to Ron’s thin lipped frown. “Why?”

Ron bent closed to Hermione, an unnecessary precaution since the wind was blowing away any drift of their conversation that the others could hear.

“You don’t think there’s anything weird about him and Alice?” he whispered. Hermione furrowed her brows as she subtly turned in her seat to glance at Alice.

“I mean, I guess they’re both very pretty,” she turned back around to Ron. “But-“

“But that’s exactly it!” Ron whispered quickly. “It’s not normal Mione! Girls aren’t meant to look like that.”

“Excuse me?” Hermione said, her tone suddenly as frosty as the wind on her face. “Maybe you should go see if Alice wants to put up with you insulting her then.”

“Hermione.” Ron reclaimed the hand that Hermione jerked away from him and gave her an earnest look. “That’s not what I mean. I mean Alice and Jasper both are just... they’re just different, aren’t they? You really don’t notice a weird vibe?”

“No,” Hermione snapped, her feelings still rather hurt. “I think they’re both lovely.”

Ron shook his head, but remained silent until they were getting ready to drop off the peak of a slope.

“Just so you know- I think you’re the most naturally beautiful woman I’ve ever met.” Ron gave her a lopsided grin and a wink before he jumped out of the lift and took off down the slope.

Hermione’s cheeks felt very warm when she jumped from the lift and happily followed behind him.

“Harry told me you guys have been friends since you were 11?” Alice had left nearly an hour ago. Hermione called it quits not long after Alice left and went inside the lodge to warm up and get a drink. She had been perfectly content to watch the three boys ski, but Jasper said that he was cold and came inside a few moments ago, opting to sit beside Hermione and watch Harry and Ron run around on skis and throw snow at each other outside the large bay windows. Jasper had a faint smile as he watched Harry act much more youthful than usual, but he finally turned to Hermione and asked her about Harry, something she’d been hoping for since he first came inside.

“Is this the part where we both try and subtly get answers about Harry from each other while denying that we’re doing that?” she asked him with a sly smirk. A smirk that grew at the momentary flash of surprise in the back of Jasper’s eyes.

“I’m afraid I can’t answer that as it would give away both my subtlety and my denial, ma’am,” Jasper drawled. “But, hypothetically, I can’t imagine anything I’d know about Harry that you don’t.”

“Hmm.” Hermione took a sip of her drink. “You might not have noticed this, as much as he tries to hide it, but Harry’s rather reluctant to talk about himself. So I’m afraid I don’t really know too terribly much about how he’s been since he moved here.”

“Hmm.” Jasper mimicked Hermione’s hum and they both sat in silence for a few moments, neither willing to be the first to divulge anything about Harry. “Would it endear me to you if I said that my siblings and I have been tutoring Harry?” Jasper finally asked.

Hermione laughed, clearly Harry had discussed her love of academics with his friends. “A bit,” she admitted. Anyone who could get Harry to focus on his studies had to be at least a little endearing... and terribly patient, as she knew full and well.

“Enough that maybe you’d tell me more about Harry’s past before I told you about his present?” Jasper smiled, rather charmingly, at Hermione and she blushed and felt much more relaxed beside him.

“Harry’s been through a lot,” she said carefully. “He had a hard life, but he didn’t let it change who he is, not like how it would have changed other people. He’s not bitter, or angry, he’s just...”

“Sad,” Jasper finished in a soft voice. “I think that would be understandable. I know he lost his godfather a few years ago and his parents when he was young. He’s doing better now. He’s been happier. I- we- Alice and I have been trying to make him happier.”

“Do you care for Harry?” Hermione asked baldly. “Really and truly, do you care about him?”

Jasper’s eyes were shining with honesty when he replied. “Hermione, I have never in my existence cared about someone like I do him. I can’t imagine a future where we aren’t together. I hope that brings you comfort, because for as long as I live I’m going to dedicate my time to making sure he’s happy.”

Hermione would have swooned at such a romantic and passionate vow, but she tapered it down in favor of turning back to watch her boys play in the snow.

“He’s so oblivious,” she laughed lightly. “You’re terribly in love with him and he has no idea, does he?”

Jasper turned back to the view outside the window and shook his head. “None.”

Hermione smiled as Harry was bent over, clutching his stomach, and laughing hysterically at something Ron said. “He’s always been oblivious about people’s feelings. If he thinks you might hurt him, he’s alert as can be. But someone caring about him? It took Ron and I years to convince him that we cared about him for no reason other than just because he’s Harry.”

Just Harry. Her best friend.

“I’ve got time,” Jasper replied evenly. “I’ve got all the time in the world to convince him of how I feel.”

Hermione turned her head and saw that Jasper was watching Harry with a lovesick expression that she thought suited his features very well.

“Harry told you that I’m top of our year at school, didn’t he?”

Jasper must have been surprised at her abrupt change in topics, but he just nodded slowly. “He did.”

“Good.” Hermione took another drink and kept her eyes on her boys as she spoke. “Because I need you to know that I’m incredibly intelligent, Ron is a strategic genius who comes from a very large and very loyal family who all care quite a bit for Harry, and Harry is still one of the most universally well-liked people in our community. So, I feel as if it’s only fair to warn you that if you ever hurt him, we will find you and we will kill you.”

“Yes ma’am.”

***

Hermione was up late, sneaking in a bit of studying despite Ron’s teasing about it. She wasn’t going to ‘ignore Harry’ or ‘ruin her own holiday’ during their trip, but NEWTS were incredibly important. But they’d been there for a few days already and she hadn’t studied once. And you can bet that Corner hadn’t spent his break not studying. As if she’d let a boy like that beat her final grades. She didn’t care how many Death Eaters he claims to have brought down in the Battle of Hogwarts, he was still incredibly rude.

Ron was sound asleep in Harry’s little guest bedroom, and Harry had excused himself to go to bed a couple of hours ago- Hermione immediately jumped on the chance to pull out her stack of potions books, one from each year she’d been a student, plus the ones assigned the five years before then, and continue her revision.

“Hermione?”

Hermione jumped in her seat with a surprised squeak and had her wand brandished high before she realized whose face it was she was pointing it at.

“Harry! Don’t do that!” She slowly put her wand back on the countertop while she willed her heart to slow down. “Merlin.”

“Sorry,” Harry mumbled and opened the fridge, casting a light across the counter. “Want some water?”

“Sure, thank you.” Hermione took notice of Harry’s heavy eyelids and slumped posture when he gave her a bottle of water and sat beside her.

“You’ve been putting silencing charms on your room, haven’t you?” Hermione couldn’t believe it took her nearly four nights to notice it. Of course he hadn’t just magically started sleeping again. Harry shrugged, not denying it, and gazed down at the countertop as he idly traced patterns in the cool marble.

“Is it getting better?” she asked him softly.

“During the day, sometimes,” he answered. “But at night I’m just- I-“ Harry looked up at her and Hermione’s heart ached at the torment in his eyes. “I’m alone, aren’t I?”

Hermione reached over and grabbed one of his hands tightly with her own. “You are never alone Harry. Ron and I are always only a floo call away.”

“Thanks,” Harry tried to force a grin, but thankfully he dropped it quickly. The two of them sat in a comfortable silence with their hands clasped up on the counter for a couple of minutes before Hermione tentatively broke it.

“Harry, do you want to come back with us? I don’t mean Hogwarts,” she said hastily, “but you could stay at the Burrow? Or Shell Cottage? I hate thinking you’re so lonely here.”

“No.” Harry shook his head, looking quite a bit like Sirius did when he was shaking his fur out like Snuffles, a comparison she’d keep to herself. “I like it here,” he said. “It’s not so bad during the day really, I just-“ Harry looked across the kitchen blankly as he blew out a heavy breath. “I’m fine. Sorry Mione.”

“Don’t apologize,” Hermione said quickly. “I want you to talk to me. I want to know what’s going on with you. Not just the good parts with your friends, but the bad parts too. That’s what I’m here for Harry.”

“I know. Thanks.”

Hermione figured that was as much as she was going to get out of Harry tonight, which honestly was much more than he usually shared, so she tried to lighten the mood instead.

“Plus how could you be alone here with Mister Tall Blonde and Gorgeous?” she teased Harry. Harry turned a shade of red that she usually associated with Ron and tried to blink innocently at her.

“Who?”

“Jasper of course!” she laughed. “Merlin Harry. He’s positively mad for you, isn’t he?”

“Jasper? No he isn’t,” Harry rolled his eyes.

“Oh Harry,” Hermione shook her head at her friend. “You can’t be that oblivious. Do you like him? Do you?” Hermione tried reigning in her excitement, it was just so wonderful! Ginny was her friend, so she’d never say this to her, but she never thought her and Harry made a very good couple. They were too similar, both all fire and passion. Harry needed someone calm to match him better. She’d only met Jasper the one time, but she thought he seemed like he had a soothing personality.

“Er- he’s my friend?” Harry stammered. “I mean, we hang out a lot?”

“Well tell me more about him,” she said. “Do you guys have a lot in common?”

“A bit.” Harry sounded reluctant, but he was also smiling so Hermione thought that was a good sign. “Did I tell you that he was adopted? His parents died a long time ago so Carlisle, his Dad, adopted him and his sister.”

“Oh...” Hermione had meant hobbies, but it was good in a morbid kind of way that Jasper had lost part of his family too, he would understand Harry much better. “Were they very young?”

“They don’t like to talk about it,” Harry frowned. “But Rose says it was a long time ago, so I guess so.”

“Rose?” It was Hermione’s turn to frown now. “Wait- isn’t Alice his sister?”

“His adopted sister,” Harry explained patiently. “Rose is his t-twin sister.” Hermione hadn’t missed Harry’s stammer over the word twin, and maybe she should have taken the chance to remind him that Fred’s death wasn’t his fault, and that George was slowly getting much better, but something was bothering her.

“Their eyes,” she blurted once she realized what it was. “Jasper and Alice. They have the same color eyes. They aren’t related?”

“Nope. All of them were adopted, but they have the same color eyes. Edward said it’s a common color.”

“Gold,” Hermione deadpanned. “Edward told you that gold is a common color for eyes? How many people with eyes that color do you know?”

“Er... Zabini?” Harry said slowly. “I thought it was an American thing?”

“Hmm.” Hermione chewed her lower lip for a minute while she pictured the similarities between Jasper and his sister who he’s apparently not related to. “Can I see a picture of the rest of them?”

“Alright then.” Harry went to grab his phone and tossed it to her. “Want something to eat? I’ve got loads of snacks. Rose reckons I’m too skinny and keeps sending food over here.”

“You are too skinny,” Hermione muttered absently. “Whatever you’re having is fine.” She pulled Harry’s photos back up and scrolled through them more carefully. She’d been distracted by Harry before, and hadn’t noticed that Jasper’s siblings all looked alike. “This one-“ she pointed to the picture of the gorgeous blonde, “is Rosalie?”

“Yeah.” Harry slid a bowl of strawberries on the counter and munched on one. “You’d like her. She’s always on me about being careful and eating more and all sorts of nonsense.”

Hermione made a noise of acknowledgment as she kept flicking through the photos. Jasper, Alice, Rosalie, Emmett, and Edward were all much too similar in looks to not be related. Smooth pale skin, perfectly straight white smiles, and golden eyes. But why lie to Harry about it?

“Do you want company while you study? If not I might go lay back down.”

Hermione looked up from Harry’s phone and shook her head with a small grin.

“You’d just distract me,” she teased him. “I’ll go to bed soon. I just want to get through my fifth year book tonight.”

Harry gave her stack of books an exasperated look, but wished her goodnight and wandered off to his room. Hermione was relieved to see that he did look a bit more relaxed than he initially had. Perhaps he’d be able to sleep now.

Hermione grabbed a few of the strawberries and turned her attention back to her textbooks. But, just as it always happened when there was a mystery surrounding Harry, she couldn’t stay focused. Either Jasper’s father happened to adopt three kids and a set of twins who all happened to share a lot of similar physical characteristics (though she didn’t think that Jasper and Rosalie had the same facial structure at all. Jasper had sharp cheekbones, a strong nose, and more almond shaped eyes while Rosalie had softer cheeks, a dainty curved nose, plumper lips, and round eyes.) or...

Or what?

Or they were lying about not being related? Perhaps to make Harry, an orphan, feel better about not having a biological family? But they couldn’t all be siblings if Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett were in 12th grade, and Edward and Alice in 11th with Harry. So...

So what?

“There’s something weird going on here.” Hermione grit her teeth in annoyance. Ron had been right when they met Jasper and Alice, there was something off about them. So Hermione did what Hermione did best-

Research.

At least this time it isn’t a basilisk, she reassured herself. In fact, this was Hermione’s first muggle mystery to solve since she was 9 and someone kept stealing her books out of her backpack. Plus this time she had a whole muggle library at her fingertips!

“I really need my own cell phone,” she muttered to herself as she opened Harry’s internet browser.

Where to start?

Hermione typed in ‘Jasper Hale Forks, Washington’ and thrummed her fingers impatiently on the counter as the webpage results loaded. She scrolled through the results and sighed at the lack of information. It couldn’t just be simple.

‘Rosalie Hale Forks, Washington’ had no relevant results either.

In fact, it wasn’t until Hermione searched ‘Cullen Forks, Washington’ that she found anything interesting at all. It was a link to a Forks General Hospital ‘Meet Our Staff!’ page. There, in the middle of the photos of the nurses and doctors who worked at the local muggle hospital, was Doctor Carlisle Cullen. Doctor Carlisle Cullen who supposedly adopted his kids, but looked very much like them.

And terribly young.

‘Doctor Carlisle Cullen has been a general practitioner for six years. He joined our staff in the summer of 2002. He is a graduate from Yale School of Medicine year of 1996. In Doctor Cullen’s free time, he enjoys camping trips with his wife and five children.’

Hermione squinted at the screen and stared hard in to the photo of Doctor Cullen. Specifically, in to his light golden eyes and flawless pale skin that were both so incredibly identical to his ‘adopted children’s.’

Perhaps Hermione had been wrong. Maybe Cassidy Morgan stealing her library books back in her grade school had been her last muggle mystery.

***

The moment her feet touched the stone floor in the Burrow’s sitting room, Hermione took off to Ron’s room where her trunk was.

“Hermione? Dear? What’s the rush?” Molly called after her.

“She looks like she’s going to study.” Hermione heard Harry laugh after he came through the floo.

“I just need a few books, I’ll be back!” Hermione yelled as she ran up the stairs. She could multitask. She could enjoy Christmas Eve and Christmas with Ron’s family and do research.

Plus, this was an emergency. She only had a little over a week before she had to return to Hogwarts and she needed to make sure there wasn’t anything terrible going on in Harry’s life first.

Hermione dug through her expanded trunk until she found the book she wanted. By the time she returned back downstairs, it seemed as if the rest of the Weasley’s, save for Ginny who would be floo’ing home that afternoon, had gathered in the sitting room. Ron was sprawled across the floor and Harry was squished between Bill and Charlie on the sofa.

“Ugh,” Ron curled his nose up when Hermione sat on the only open chair left and he saw what book she had. “Lockhart? Really? I thought you hated fiction?”

“It’s not all fiction,” Hermione said defensively. “Just... Just Lockhart’s part in it.”

The Weasley’s all laughed and thankfully turned their attention away from her. Unfortunately, for Harry, they decided to focus on him instead.

“Tell us about America,” Charlie said. He slung an arm over Harry’s shoulder and gave him a conspiratorial grin, “Are they all just falling over themselves for the Man Who Conquered?”

Hermione blocked out their chatter as she began skimming through her book. According to Voyages with Vampires, Lockhart had been traveling in Italy when he ‘met a roguish appearing vampire’. He attacked him and was preparing to ‘curse him with deadly fire’, when the vampire begged to be spared. ‘I’ll be a vegetarian! I swear!’ the vampire had cried. And Lockhart, ‘a generous and loving soul’, gave the vampire a second chance. He told the vampire that he would be back to check on him, and would keep an eye out for any victims in the meantime. The epilogue said that Lockhart checked up on the vampire again years later, ‘fulfilling the promise he made both to the dark creature and himself’, and ‘saw the proof in the vampires eyes of his vegetarian lifestyle.’ Which he believed was lettuce.

Honestly. Hermione cringed when she remembered how excited she had been to read these books when she was younger. They were just so... so filled with drivel. Even the true events, from the actual witches and wizards who experienced the events, had been romanticized to the point where it was much more fictional than realistic.

Except...

Except for Lockhart’s description of the vampire once ‘he’ encountered him again.

The vampire stood firm in front of me. Nearly as devastatingly attractive as I am. His shirt sleeves were short, the white silk blending with his pale skin. He could have dazzled anyone with the sparkles coming from his skin in the daylight, if he had not been such a dark creature. But it was his eyes. His eyes that showed me the proof of his fear of me. The proof that he had followed through on his promise. Those dastardly eyes were no longer a glowing red, the color of the blood of his victims, but had turned to a golden hue that matched the contents of my vault of hidden treasures. ‘I’ve changed,’ the vampire said. ‘Please Lockhart, I’m a vegetarian now. Please don’t kill me!’ I told him I’m a man of my word, and as long as he keeps eating lettuce instead of blood, then I’d let him live.
For now.

Vampire. A vegetarian vampire.

Hermione beamed as she closed the book. She would test her theory of course, but she was certain that was the answer! It explained why the Cullen and Hale’s all looked alike, why their eyes were all the same golden color (because it absolutely was not a common color).

Though, her smile slid right off her face when she saw Harry talking with George.

Vampires.

How on Earth did Harry fall in with a clan of vampires?! And why, why, was it that every time she left him alone, Harry found some terribly dangerous situation to be right in the middle of?

She didn’t think that vampires were inherently ‘dark creatures’ any more than she thought werewolves were. Neither of those populations had any say in what they were, they couldn’t help it any more than she could help being a muggleborn.

But that didn’t mean they couldn’t be dangerous.

Except... except they hadn’t been so far; had they? They’d been alone with Harry loads of times and they hadn’t harmed him once. In fact, they seemed to worry about him as much as Hermione and Ron did. They made him eat, and took him to do activities he’d enjoy, and were even tutoring him in school.

Which left Hermione in quite a predicament.

A predicament that she couldn’t solve just then because the Weasley’s floo chime went off just moments before Ginny stepped out...

... immediately followed by Nolan Coffey, the Slytherin seeker that she’d started dating last month.

“Hey guys.” Ginny reached down and grabbed Nolan’s hand. “This is Nolan- my boyfriend.”

The room went deathly silent. Everyone gaped at Ginny with various levels of shock on their faces. Molly let out a small whimper and all eyes flew from the dark haired Slytherin boy standing next to Ginny to Harry.

Harry who was smiling easily.

“Hey Nolan, you’re on the quidditch team, aren’t you??”

Nolan looked surprised for Harry to be speaking to him. Though, whether that was because of Harry’s celebrity status or because he was a well-known ex of Ginny’s, Hermione wasn’t sure.

“Yeah,” Nolan said softly. “Seeker.”

“Yeah?” Harry raised a brow at Nolan. “Guess Gin’s got a type, huh?”

Nolan chuckled good-naturedly, and the tension from their arrival was broken. Ginny yanked Nolan to the floor beside Ron and everyone began talking happily once more.

Over dinner though, George decided that teasing Harry and Nolan was the best way to lift the gloomy mood that had began to descend on the Weasley’s who were celebrating their first holiday without Fred.

“Sooo, Harrikins,” George leaned his chair back on two legs and smirked at Harry. “Who does Nolan have to thank for today?”

“What?” Harry had been pushing some pudding around his plate and looked up curiously at George. “What d’you mean?”

George let his chair slam down, and leaned across Charlie to better watch Harry.

“I mean, we all thought you were about to kill Nolan, didn’t we?” Nolan gave Harry a shifty look and George grinned wickedly. “I was getting ready to help you hide the body you know-“ Nolan gulped lightly and Ginny aimed a kick at George beneath the table. “But then you’re just as calm as can be. Sooo, who is it?”

“I’m not going to kill you,” Harry told Nolan. His voice was steady, but he did look more amused than really was reassuring to poor Nolan. He turned back and cocked his head at George, “And I don’t know what you mean.”

“You do have someone!” Bill pointed an accusing finger at Harry and beamed. “I knew it! Pay up Ron!”

“They aren’t together,” Ron said, his voice muffled from the mouthful of pie he’d been working on.

“What-“ Harry blinked around the table at the Weasley’s and narrowed his eyes. “What are you on about?”

“Bill bet Ron that you’d come back by the end of the school year in a relationship,” Ginny explained. Hermione and Molly both scowled at the boys. Honestly. Who bets on their friends love life? Especially when Harry’s been going through such a hard time?

“Well I didn’t, so I guess Ron wins,” Harry shrugged, his cheeks beginning to turn the faintest shade of pink.

“Then why are you blushing?” Charlie asked.

“Leave Harry alone,” Arthur told his sons firmly.

“Harry likes to be teased, reminds him he’s one of us,” George waved his hand airily at his father and Harry’s eyes gained a sparkle in them.

Hermione sometimes, in the very, very, back of her mind, thought that if she didn’t love Ron so fiercely that she might have accidentally fallen in love with George instead. He had such a natural talent for making other people happy that was quite charming.

“But....?” Bill looked at Harry expectantly.

Harry shoved his plate away and gave a put upon sigh. “But what?”

“You are being coy,” Fleur told Harry. “Who eez in your life zat is making you ‘appy?”

“No one,” Harry denied. Hermione giggled as she imagined she could practically feel the heat coming from his face from where she was sitting.

”*Cough*, Jasper Hale, *cough.*” Ron shared his brothers mischievous smile as he easily threw Harry under the bus.

The Weasley’s spent the rest of the meal swapping between teasing Harry about Jasper and teasing Ginny and Nolan. Hermione normally would have tried to get them to cut it out, but Molly and Arthur looked minimally less sad as they laughed along with their family. And if Harry, Ginny, and Nolan didn’t mind, why would she?

Except there were a few times when she had to bite her tongue to keep from blurting her suspicions about Jasper. Particularly when Harry said that ‘he didn’t know Jasper’s favorite food’ because apparently Jasper and his siblings ‘think muggle school food is disgusting’.

Which, from Hermione’s memories of primary school, it was. But she thought maybe that wasn’t why the Cullen and Hale ‘teens’ didn’t eat school lunches. She prodded a bit more, carefully though as she used the Weasley boys’ teasing to mask her intentions, and discovered that Harry had never ate dinner with the odd family. He also mentioned that the entire family went camping on sunny days since ‘they were so rare in Forks’.

By the time everyone retired to their rooms, Hermione and Harry crowding Ron’s little room, Hermione was 100% confident that Jasper Hale was a vampire. It just all added up! His looks, his family, his behavior, even the way that of course Harry’s new friends and crush would be vampires. Harry was a magnet for trouble. She just wasn’t sure what to do about it...

The three of them laid in their beds, Harry on the cot that might as well be his by now, and Hermione and Ron in Ron’s bed, and whispered quietly.

“Your mum looked happy,” Harry said softly.

“I think she’s doing much better,” Hermione told him. “Holidays will be hard, but I think she was happy that everyone would be together. We’re a family you know.” Harry had a wistful look on his face and Ron tightened his arms around Hermione before he chuckled quietly.

“I’m surprised mum didn’t throttle Ginny,” he said. “I bet she stays up all night knitting a sweater for Nolan.”

Hermione and Harry both laughed along with him, as they were sure he was right.

Sure enough- when everyone was opening gifts the next morning, there was a bright green and grey sweater wrapped up with Nolan’s name on the tag.

Hermione thought that the best surprise beneath the tree was an apron with ‘WORLD’S BEST GRANDMA’ written on it that Molly opened. The room had exploded in joyful shouts, teary eyes, and a flurry of conversation as everyone congratulated Bill and Fleur on their pregnancy.

But she had been wrong. That hadn’t been the best surprise at all. Because the room went quiet as they all watched Hermione open a small square package from Ron with knowing looks in their eyes.

Hermione gasped at the dainty, princess cut, diamond that was settled in a simple gold band. A ring identical to the one her mother once told her that she was saving for when Hermione got married one day. She tore her eyes away from the ring and looked right in to Ron’s warm eyes.

Ron’s face filled with love where he was now kneeling in front of her.

“Hermione Jean Granger,” Ron grabbed both of Hermione’s small hands in his own larger ones. “You are one of my best friends in the entire world. I have been mad about you since we were thirteen. And I know we’re young, I know I don’t have a whole plan for everything yet, but I know I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I know I love you more than anything in the world. Will you marry me?”

Hermione could hardly respond as the tears in her throat choked her. She simply nodded and threw her arms around Ron.

And nobody had congratulated them as joyously as Harry had.

***

On their last night at Harry’s, Hermione laid in the guest bed with Ron and twisted her new ring around her finger as she thought about the dilemma she needed to find a solution for before leaving.

Harry was obviously incredibly happy. He was practically a different person now, and everyone could see it. Molly had brought it up to Hermione in private and said that she didn’t know what was ‘making that poor boy come out of his shell’ but she ‘heavily approved’. Hermione didn’t think ‘the power of love cured Harry’s problems’ or anything ridiculous like some people may believe, but she thought that Harry was falling in love was beautiful because he was doing it despite those problems.

Nobody deserved a true love as much as Harry did. There was nothing that would make Hermione happier than to know that Harry had someone that meant as much to him as Ron did to her.

And Jasper loved Harry. He swore to Hermione, in what she could now see was a very particularly worded vow, that he was going to spend the rest of his days making sure Harry was happy. And Jasper had plenty of days to do it, because Jasper was a vampire.

And Harry clearly had no idea.

Because Harry was a wonderful, amazing, positively oblivious idiot.

He was her idiot. One of the two most important people in the world to her. And she didn’t want him to get hurt, but did that mean she should tell him about Jasper? She didn’t know if it would change Harry’s feelings and send him right back to his crippling depression. A depression that she worried would end up killing him.

And he hadn’t cared about Professor Lupin, once they knew he wasn’t in leagues with a man trying to kill him anyway, so would he care about Jasper? She didn’t think that he would, but should she take that chance when Jasper may be the only reason Harry hadn’t killed himself yet (a terrifying thought she had worried about constantly those first six months after the war ended)?

The thought kept bugging her, so she did what she usually did when she had a problem that couldn’t be solved with books, and nudged awake her other idiot sleeping beside her.

“Ron, I have a problem,” she said softly after his snores ended and he sat up with a bleary eyed look of patience.

“What is it love?”

“Let’s say... let’s say that someone you know is hiding something from someone else you know. And you don’t think it’s something that’s going to hurt the other person, but the other person has no idea at all. Should you tell them?” Hermione twisted the blanket anxiously in her hands while she chose her words with care. If she mentioned Harry’s name then Ron would demand to know the details, which she would share because they didn’t like to keep secrets from each other, and then he might do something rash.

What she didn’t expect was for Ron to snort and lay back down on his pillow.

“You mean how Jasper and his sister are vampires and Harry has no idea? I say we stay out of it love. They aren’t hurting anyone, definitely not Harry anyway, and Harry’ll figure it out eventually when he stops being so bloody wrapped up in misery, or whatever. Love you.”

Hermione gaped down at the back of Ron’s head- frozen in utter shock. She began to thaw when Ron’s snores once more filled the room. Trust Ronald Weasley to say something so incredibly surprising then fall right asleep. She shook her head in disbelief and snuggled down under the blankets beside him.

Hermione wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tightly. Ron always had a way of making her most daunting problems seem simple. She glanced at the ring on her finger and smiled. If Harry was gaining a love even a fraction as great as the one that her and Ron shared, then she would follow Ron’s advice and ‘stay out of it’.

But if Jasper hurts a single hair on Harry’s head, then she would make good on her promise to him as well and kill him.

It wasn’t as if she didn’t have plenty of experience at this point in her life.