AN: I am sorry about the lack of updates but my life until this virus madness, was exactly that, madness... Now I have until June to catch up and write ahead, before the madness starts again.

They made it back to the castle around midnight. Caius walked with her to her rooms.

"Even though it is Sunday, tomorrow morning we have a morning for meetings with other vampires who come and bring their issues to us. We are of course able to receive any guest everyday all day but it seems that many prefer to have set times like these. After that we have a trainings session for the elite guard. I'm guessing you would be very interested in both."

"I am." Hermione said with a nod.

"Then, I will pick you up in the morning to take you to the throne room." Caius said with a nod. "May I suggest for you to wear a black cloak while present? It will ensure that everybody knows your position within the Volturi."

"I have a cloak with me." Hermione said with a nod. She opened the door of her room before turning back to Caius. Suddenly she had butterflies in her stomach. He was looking at her with such an intensity that had her shaking with emotions.

The silence between them grew. The air grew thick with lust, emotions and fear. It wasn't fear for each other's capabilities. It was fear for rejection and the unknown. As Hermione locked her eyes with Caius's almost black ones she realized what was happening. She was falling for this vampire. Falling hard, that is. It left her even more unsure of the whole situation. Any type of relationship between her and Caius would cause complications. A romantic or sexual one even more so. Her quick mind was already creating more and more doom scenarios, while her heart was trying to overrule everything.

Caius felt it as well. The lust, the desire and the fear. He wanted her, badly. After tonight he was sure he was in love with his strong, brave little warrior witch. The mating bond was already pulling at him and he was almost sure Hermione was feeling it as well. Yet, he feared to proceed. He feared her reaction, her rejection would destroy him but he wasn't too lost to not realize the complications any relationship between them would cause.

After a few minutes Caius was the first to move. He leaned forward and kissed Hermione softly on the cheek. It took all of his strength to not kiss her senseless but he couldn't leave without something.

"Thank you for your company." He whispered.

"No, thank you, Caius. I had a wonderful evening." Hermione said a little breathlessly.

"I will see you around nine." He said and kissed her cheek again before leaving.

Thanks to the amount of wine she had drunk Hermione slept through the night but she would be the first to admit that it wasn't very peaceful. In fact she woke up tired and worried. The whole night she had been dreaming about Caius in one way or another. It was easy understand her dreams, she was worried that he was making her feel things to influence her. She was truthfully worried that they were trying to influence her objectivity.

For a long time she tossed and turned thinking about what had happened the night before. She truthfully had a lovely evening with Caius. It was nice to speak with somebody who wasn't involved in the magical world while still being able to speak freely. Normally she would have to lie to the muggles or get annoyed with the hero-worshipping from the magicals. With Caius there was the awe and all when she told him her story but after a minute of praising her he went back to the discussion they had. Caius's intelligence was par with hers and his very quick mind made him a brilliant conversationalist.

Hermione closed her eyes in the hope that the inside of her lids would give answers but for the first time in her memory her brilliant mind failed her. The only thing she could think about was how Caius looked in that garden and how his lips felt on her cheek.

With a groan Hermione sat up and picked up her wand. She needed to be objective to do her job and all these butterflies and desires were not helping to achieve that. She checked the time and noticed that it would be six thirty back home. Harry would be awake. Maybe he could help her with this. He normally had a way to make her see sense.

She casted a privacy ward to prevent all the vampires in the building to hear her talk and dialled the number.

"Potter." A sleepy voice said after a long time.

"Hey Harry, it's Hermione."

"What is wrong? Are you hurt? Where are you?" He immediately asked. The sleepiness was completely gone and he almost growled.

"Nothing is wrong Harry. I'm physically perfectly fine and I am still in Voltera." She said with a sigh.

"Bloody hell, Hermione. Don't scare me like that." Harry sighed.

"You always assume something is wrong?"

"It's Sunday morning before the crack of dawn. Of course I'll assume that something is wrong." Harry stated.

"Oh shit." Hermione groaned. "I am so sorry, Harry. I forgot it was Sunday. I thought you were already up and getting ready to go to work."

"It's already alright." Harry said. Hermione heard him boiling tea while he talked to her. She could do with a nice cup of tea as well. Maybe that would get her brain to work. "So what is so important that you are waking me up?"

"Uhm…" Hermione started but not sure how to continue.

"You are not in any trouble are you?"

"No, not really." Hermione sighed. "Don't laugh but I have something I hope you can make sense off."

With a deep breath Hermione told him about her experiences with the three kings and especially her evening with Caius. She explained to him her worries and her feeling.

"You see… I'm completely unsure of what to do! And my brain is failing me."

At the other side of the line Harry was laughing.

"You should have called Ginny with this. I'm a guy, utterly useless in feelings and stuff."

"But Ginny doesn't have a phone." Hermione reasoned.

"Alright." Harry gave in. "Let's see if I understand this correctly. You have two issues. One is that you are worried about the kings being honest with you. The other is that you are falling in love with one of them for some unexplainable reason and that it is influencing your objectivity and therefor compromising your work. Is that it?"

"Yes." Hermione said.

"However when you asked Caius about the first issue he explained it to you." Harry pointed out. "Are you still doubting his honesty?"

"Well… not really. It's just throwing me off. It is not what I prepared for."

"Hermione, you cannot be prepared for every single situation as well as you want to be. If anything, the war should have taught you that. If it wasn't the war I think your year with the wolves would have shown you that." Harry said. "And maybe you should just accept Caius's explanation and take your time to see for yourself. If they are pretending they will eventually falter somewhere."

"That is true." Hermione conceded.

"As for your other issue. How bad is it? How deep in are you?"

"Enough to make me forget it is Sunday." Hermione stated. "Deep enough to not recognize my own feelings. I think I am falling fast and hard. There is this pull towards him that I cannot understand but also not ignore."

"And you are sure that it isn't the lure?"

"Yes, my shields are constantly up. I do not feel anything like the lure as Sanguini showed me. This is more, more deeply ingrained in me." Hermione said. "I feel like a teenage girl full of hormones and butterflies again."

"Hermione there is nothing wrong with falling in love." Somebody else than Harry suddenly said on the phone. She recognized Remus's voice immediately. "You are on speaker by the way."

"Nice." She hissed.

"Seriously, Hermione. If anyone deserves to find love and be happy it is you. You have put your whole life on hold to fight for others. Maybe it is time to start thinking about your own happiness."

"It's not the issue of falling in love… with a vampire." Hermione stated. "It's the issue that it might compromise my work. Nobody will take my advice seriously if I come back home with a vampire in tow."

"You are the smartest witch of our age. You are a war hero, a celebrity. Use it!" Remus stated. "Can you imagine the boost of faith people will get if they saw that you could overcome racial differences in such a way?"

"I don't think that will work. Some in the Federation already has issues having a woman do this work."

"Nonsense. They asked you to do this job." Harry stated. "Besides they should know by now that you can keep work and private life well separated. They didn't make a fuss over you using Remus for your research into the werewolves."

"This is different, Harry. This is a life decision."

"No, it isn't Hermione. This is just a woman falling in love with a man. Something that happens daily and you should enjoy it. Even though I am unhappy that it is a vampire." Harry sighed. "Go enjoy your time there, learn all you can, write your report and if you still have doubts at the end of it all than I'll come to Italy and do a review of your result. The two of us combined will be able to sway the Federation."

Hermione sighed and groaned. It wasn't like her just to go with it. She had always been well prepared. Well, not always but most of the time she had at least something to hold on to. This was completely new territory for her. Yes, she had been in love with Ron in the beginning but as they were separated during the first year of their relationship, the extreme butterfly feeling had worn off by the time she and Ron started to really be together.

"Just go and enjoy it while you are there, Moine." Harry repeated when she didn't answered.

"I'll try." She sighed finally.

"Don't go over analyse things. Just feel for once. Trust your instincts." Remus said.

"Again, I'll try." Hermione said. Suddenly there was a knock on her door. "I have to go. I'll call you on Tuesday."

"Okay, bye."

Hermione hung up and removed the wards. She opened the door and saw a tall vampire holding a tray of food and tea for her.

"Master Caius asked me to bring this to you and remind you that at nine he will come to take you to introduce you to the whole guard before the visitors arrive."

"Thank you." Hermione said and took the tray.

The vampire immediately left again so Hermione took her time to eat and work out some notes. As she was in a non-magical area she could use her laptop. She settled herself down in the small seating space of the balcony, pulled her laptop out of her bag and placed the charger in the socket. The laptop and a brand new Ipod were the only muggle gadgets she had bought for herself. Back home she also had a small radio. As she preferred to read and listen to music, a television was very unnecessary.

Balancing her plate on her knee she started typing. She made note of everything she had seen, heard and learned so far. She made specific observations for each vampire she had met so far. She had used the same system when she had been with the wolves. Each member of the pack got their own sheet, in this case each member of the coven. She also had a template set up for species characteristics and one for important observations.

Hermione slowly worked her way through all she remembered without her notes while eating and enjoying the early morning sun. She was so engrossed in her work that she never heard the knock on her door.

It was only when her magic started to tingle that she noticed she had a guest. Caius was leaning against the wall smiling at her. He was dressed in a black suit, dark grey shirt beneath it, a golden Volturi pendant and a black cloak. With his pale skin, red eyes and carefully styled blond hair he looked exactly how she had imagined the youngest of the Volturi kings to look. The only think was lacking was the aggression all vampires talked about. Instead he was smiling softly at her.

"I would have loved reading what you are writing but your magic isn't letting me any closer." He said.

"Good morning Caius." Hermione said while she saved her documents. "It's good to know that my magic protects me from spying vampires."

He smirked at her is such a way that had her heart stuttering. Her initial reaction was to close off to these feelings of butterflies and desire. She normally protected herself behind books, knowledge and professionalism but Harry's words rang in her head. Perhaps she should take a chance and do as any other hot-blooded woman would do.

"Are you ready?" Caius asked once he was finished laughing.

"Yes, let me grab my cloak."

Quickly Hermione put away her laptop, placed her bag on the bed, took her notebook and took her black cloak from the wardrobe. She quickly slipped on her pumps. Together with the black with lace skirt and black with grey blouse she looked professional and not out of place.

"Let me help you." Caius said as she was about to put on the cloak. He stepped forward and took the cloak from her hands. Expertly he wrapped it around her shoulders and fastened it at the base of her throat. His cold fingers softly touched her skin, it was like ice on fire. Hermione bit her lip to prevent her from making any sound as her magic flared around them.

If he noticed it Caius wasn't showing it, instead he held on to the fastening of her cloak with one hand while with the other one he pulled out a golden fastening pin. With the speed only a vampire possessed he placed the pin over the simple brass one. "There, now everybody will know you are under the protection of the Volturi kings."

"Thank you." Hermione whispered as looked down at the pin. It was the Volturi emblem in a smaller version than the pendant Caius was wearing. It had rubies and moonstone as decoration. Hermione thought it an odd combination as both stones has such a difference in magical properties but she reasoned that these vampires didn't knew much about magic and therefor just used the stones as decoration. "It is beautiful."

"It's a gift. You can keep it for the rest of your life." Caius said softly and held out his arm for her to take. "It suits you really well. Pica selected it for you."

"Pica?"

"The nickname for Aro's wife." Caius explained. "She thought that moonstone and rubies would fit you best, though I have no idea why."

Hermione nodded and took his arm. Together they left for the throne room.