PLEASE DON'T SKIP OVER THE AUTHOR NOTES FOR THIS CHAPTER. I don't care about you skipping other ones, but this will explain where it picks up and all that.

A/N: Hello, everyone. Welcome to my second crossover. First, the formalities. I am not JK Rowling, nor am I Stephanie Mayer. I don't own anything from Harry Potter or Twilight. I make no money off this, I'm doing it for the fun of it all.

Second, this story was requested by several readers of my other story For Their Greater Good. They thought that there might be something more to Hermione and Jacob than what I had written, and many asked me to make a spin-off where they are together rather than Hermione/Edward and Bella/Jacob. I decided to keep the original story up until Chapter 17 of FTGG with one notable exception: Jacob never imprinted on Bella. Where that story left was Hermione and Edward entering Forks, but before they met the pack. So, if you haven't read FTGG, at least up until Chap 17, you may want to read that before starting this.

As I always like to remind readers, any reviews are greatly appreciated. I do take suggestions into account, I have written quite a few ideas given to me by readers in the past (read: this whole story is springing from reader suggestions). So, like it or hate it, please give me an opinion.

Enjoy!

He was frustrated.

There had been times he could remember being pretty frustrated before, but nothing held a candle to this. He had been trying for months, watching her, looking at her from each and every way possible, but nothing worked.

And so, Jacob Black was frustrated for two reasons. The first was that he could not force himself to imprint on Bella.

And second was that even if he did imprint on her, she would never give him the time of day. Because he wasn't bronze-haired, cold, pale, and because he did have a pulse.

He could never have Bella. Not as long as Edward still wandered the Earth somewhere. They hadn't heard from the Cullens in months, there was no reason for them to return, and yet Bella could not dig herself out of that hole. She couldn't stop loving that damn leech.

And so he pined for her. Did everything he could for her. Helped her get as far out of that hole as he possibly could. But no matter how far he lifted her, she'd always be just out of reach of the top. Whoever said that time healed all wounds was an idiot. If months hadn't healed this wound, hadn't even stopped the full-on hemorrhage that had become Bella's life, it would be impossible to fix. Charlie even knew it. He wanted to send her back, send her away... no, he didn't want to. But he felt like he needed to. The time his daughter lived with him was some of the happiest of his life, but he was trying to sacrifice his own happiness for Bella's. As if that would work.

Things were not any less dramatic for him even when Bella wasn't around. The pack was strong, but being part of a group where privacy was non-existent would be hard on anyones emotions. It was like being part of the most over-involved fraternity ever. It was nice to be part of the group, but it sucked having to be a wolf to be a part. Things seemed so much less dramatic before he started phasing, though going from sixteen to twenty-five in a matter of weeks is a bitch, especially all the emotions and hormones flowing through him.

He was teased on occasion. Quil and Embry would call it good-natured ribbing. But it wore him that they constantly pointed out his reluctance to look at other girls. As much as he wanted to imprint, he didn't want to imprint on anyone but Bella, and so he avoided looking at anything with breasts to make sure it didn't happen.

"Hey Jake," Paul announced his arrival by taking a bag of chips from their pantry and throwing himself across the couch. "See Rachel?"

"She went to the store," Jacob shot back in annoyance. "Someone has to go out and buy all that food you're eating."

"Don't talk to me about big eaters. I've seen you down an extra large pizza with everything and a two liter by yourself."

"But I paid for it," he growled. "You sit on our couch, eating our food, and leering after my sister."

"Your sister is hot."

"I'm so glad you like the person you imprinted on. By the way, keep it down at night. Billy pretends like he doesn't hear you, but he's thinking of killing you."

Paul laughed. "Sorry if I'm disturbing your beauty sleep, God knows you need it. Where's the leech's girlfriend today?"

"Off doing schoolwork. Charlie's on her ass about not finishing assignments because she spends all her time over here. Says she needs to find a balance."

"Isn't that what we're all looking for?" he muttered, popping a chip into his mouth.

"What about sitting around, watching TV, eating, seeing Rachel, and occasionally doing pack work is needing balance in your life?"

"Don't be jealous. Your time will come."

"Yeah, sure," he muttered, slamming his book shut and heading for his room. He locked the door and laid across his bed, staring up at the ceiling. There was something in Paul's words that had rung true. For some time he felt like something was about to happen to him, something big. He had been dreaming of running towards the horizon, knowing something, maybe someone, was waiting for him there, but never being able to find what he was looking for. Every time he awoke after having the dream he tried to get back to sleep, to see if he could find what he was looking for. The dream was a hint, Billy had always told him there was something to his dreams and to pay attention. He knew it was trying to tell him about the feeling he had. He wanted that dream so bad he willed himself to sleep.

This time he was getting farther than ever, running through the woods towards the sun, looking for that thing he knew was out there. But something different was happening. As he ran he started to get cold. The farther he ran, the colder it got, chilling even his hot skin to the point where he was shivering. And still he pressed on, though the forest never changed, never gave any indication of the freezing temperatures around him. He saw something running through the wood, but it was fast, impossible for him to get a good glimpse of. He darted through the trees, after whatever it was that was moving in front of him, but it was hard to keep up, the thing seemed to be able to jump from place to place as if it had disappeared into thin air, then reappeared. His lungs were aching with the effort of trying to run while the air was trying to freeze them, and he reached forward, called for the thing to stop.

And suddenly he was in a clearing. The thing had stopped in the middle. Staring back at him, amber eyes unblinking, was a pure white wolf. He reached for it, tried to touch it, but when his fingers were inches from its perfect fur it turned on the spot, and was gone.

He awoke with a start, panting on the bed, drawing his sheets up around him in an effort to get warm. He swore as he reached over, turned off the fan which must have been what was making him so cold, and turned back over to fall asleep again.

He had never had the urge to turn around a car more in his life. H knew what awaited him in Forks, and it was nothing good.

A choice. Something that seems so simple. People do it dozens, maybe hundreds of times a day. Extra cream in my coffee, or no? Do I take the longer way to work with less traffic? What am I making for dinner? Trivial, petty things. Not very many choices most people made day to day effect the lives of at least three different people. Someone would have to get hurt, there would be no avoiding her.

He had slept with Hermione. He loved her. He wanted to be with her, emotionally and physically. But there was a small part in his mind, a lone dissenting voice telling him that he was trying to convince himself that he loved Hermione by giving in and sleeping with her. That Hermione was nothing more than an attempt to run further from Bella, to convince himself that he didn't need what he had left in Forks. As much as he tried to quiet that voice, as many other voices that were saying his feelings towards Hermione were genuine, that lone voice always caused his stomach to clench.

He glanced at Hermione, who was looking out the window at the tiny town with a sort of interest and excitement one might expect when a young child gets a toy they've been pining for on Christmas. Her eyes darted every which way, taking in the small part of his history. It was this sort of excitement and passion for new things that he loved about her.

He spotted her before Hermione, and his stomach dropped. Feelings that he hadn't had came flooding back over him as he looked pointedly in the other direction. That love, that intense, deep love he felt for Bella came crashing back over him, threatening to drown him. He felt a sudden, overwhelming guilt as he heard, through her friend, that she had been unhappy since he had left, despite today being an okay day. He tried to focus on something, anything else, forcing himself not to look at the dark-haired girl who was now turned towards the car they were riding in.

He sped down the road, keen to get as much distance between Bella and them as possible. He thought, foolishly, that he'd be able to outrun his feelings, leave the guilt at the stop sign, have every emotion go flying out the window as he took a sharp turn.

"Was that Bella?" Hermione asked softly, playing with her hands.

"Yes," he replied shortly.

She stayed unusually quiet. He didn't need to see her mind to know that normally Hermione would be spouting question after question, trying to get every bit of information she could from him. As he turned into the driveway he had gone down so many times before he stole a glance at her, and was shocked by an emotion he had never seen her wear before.

She looked defeated.

The trip to Washington had excited her. She wanted to see the wolves for herself, to find out as much as she could about them, to see what she could do towards making her antivenin. Edward obviously didn't want to come, and while she didn't want to force him, he had insisted because she would probably be killed the moment she got into town if she wasn't with one of the Cullens. She felt guilty he had to come along on a trip he was so against, but was glad he had come because he was her one chance to get close enough to the wolves without worrying about getting killed. As much, at least.

But a new worry had grown in the pit of her stomach, ever since they had crossed into Washington and Edward had suddenly gotten so suddenly sullen. She knew he wasn't worried about the wolves, that he believed so strongly in their treaty and the fact that, as long as he obeyed the rules, they would both be safe. It might take a little quick talking, but they would be okay.

No, he was getting testy because he was nervous about seeing Bella. The one he left behind. The girl he had been so much in love with he was willing to let her go for her own safety. Or whatever that romantic crap was.

Hermione Granger might be a lot of things, but stupid and unobservant were not on that list. She knew he was nervous about seeing Bella. And if he was nervous about seeing Bella, it was because he was afraid of what his feelings might be when he saw her. And if he was afraid of his feelings, it was because he still had them, and he knew it.

Part of her wanted to never go into Forks. To turn around, say there must be another way to make her antivenin, and put any idea of going to Forks off until Bella was well out of the picture. But then there would always be that doubt. Was he only with her because he felt he couldn't be with Bella?

And so they pressed on. She did what she always did when she was afraid she was going to get hurt, or when she thought things were going wrong in her life- she read. She didn't talk to Edward, she didn't even look at him all the way across Washington state. He had given her instructions when it came to entering the town, and she agreed because of the antivenin. Entering the town might mean losing Edward, but it was all for the greater good, right? It's not like she had never loved and lost before. There were plenty of fish in the sea, right?

She saw him catch sight of Bella, caught the quick glimpses of emotions running across his face after he had seen her, before he looked in the opposite direction. She gazed out at the girl who was causing all those emotions, and saw a curious, then scared looking face staring back at her. This was it- the girl Edward had run halfway around the world to avoid.

Edward sped off, moving down the road quickly, and she could tell he was trying to avoid the sight of Bella. And she realized something at that moment.

"Was that Bella?" she asked, playing with her hands, hoping beyond hope that she was completely wrong, that his emotions had come back for a slightly different reason.

"Yes," he replied softly, as if he were saying something he knew would hurt her, but trying to put it in a way that didn't completely destroy her.

She exhaled, feeling her body deflate slightly. She had lost him, and she knew it. Even if he didn't yet.