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Of Lions And Lambs - Part Four	By : Marblez Category: Harry Potter Crossovers > Slash - Male/Male Views: 9326 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Twilight and I will not make any profit from writing this story.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
Chapter Fourteen

Pulling his head out of the flames Draco ended the call and settled back onto his bottom, brushing his hair out of his eyes with one hand whilst the other rubbed at the uncomfortable churning feeling building in his stomach.
“Draco?” Jasper murmured worriedly, crossing the room to crouch down beside his husband, his cool hand coming to rest between the wizard’s shoulder blades. “What’s wrong? Did you forget to take your potions the morning?”
            He shook his head.
            “No,” he responded softly. “It’s not morning sickness.”
            His current feeling of nausea couldn’t be explained away so easily.
            This wasn’t part of his pregnancy.
            This was guilt.
            “I’m fine,” he murmured, smiling somewhat sadly at his husband as he leaned into the gentle touch. “I just…can’t wait for all of this to be over and done with.”
            This.
            Such a simple little word, used in this instance to describe the potentially dangerous situation they had currently found themselves in, a situation that he was now responsible for dragging his parents back into with one little fire call…
            “Draco! I’ve been meaning to call you for the last couple of days to let you know how things have been going. We’re still being inundated with owls but now they’re mostly letters of congratulations for you and Jasper, although some of them have been less than pleasant but I suppose that’s to be expected after everything…Draco? Dragon, what’s wrong?”
            “Mother…”
            “You’re not ill again are you? I thought everything was getting better now…”
            “It’s Renesmee.”
            “What’s wrong with Renesmee? She’s not hurt, is she?”
            “No, but…a vampire with a…I guess you could call it a grudge against the Cullen’s saw her and assumed, incorrectly, that she was is an Immortal Child…”
            “Nonsense. Anyone who’s met her can tell that she is anything but.”
            “I know, mother, but unfortunately Irina didn’t stick around long enough to find out. She went straight to the Volturi…”
            “The Volturi!”
            “Yes.”
            “Draco…”
            “They’re coming. For her…for Renesmee…for us…”
            “Your father is currently at the Ministry dealing with...well…business but as soon as he gets back we will join you. I will not let anyone hurt that child or you, my little dragon. Not again. Never again…”
            His mother would hear nothing of his protestations.
            She knew the dangers.
            She knew the risks.
            “My parents will come as soon as they can,” he announced, his voice thick with emotion. “My mother was most upset at the thought of Renesmee being the one most in danger from the Volturi.”
            Bella let out a relieved sigh.
            “Thank you, Draco.”
            Draco smiled tearfully.
            One day his parents would be permitted to live out the rest of their lives in the peace and quiet they so deserved.
            One day.
            “Hey,” Jasper murmured softly, pulling him into his arms gently and pressing a kiss to the top of his head. “I don’t like it when you feel like this.”
            Draco sighed,
            “I know. I’m sorry. I just feel so guilty, dragging them back into the path of danger when they’d just returned home…”
            Jasper knew that there was nothing he could say that his husband wasn’t already thinking through himself the vampire chose to offer him the silent comfort he needed instead, holding him close and pressing a series of soft kisses to his hair.
            A short time later Draco pulled away from his husband, wiping away the tears which had built up in his eyes as he moved back towards the fireplace and used his wand to start another call, speaking his request clearly,
            “Zabini Manor.”
            Once the flames had roared to life Draco placed his head inside the fireplace, closing his eyes briefly as the spell opened up the link.
            “Blaise?” he called out, leaning through as far as possible as he looked out into the large antechamber of his friend’s family home. “Blaise?”
            A house elf appeared with a *pop*.
            “Maudie is sorry to tell you that Master Blaise be staying in his flat now.”
            Draco smiled.
            “No need to be sorry, Maudie, I’ll try and get hold of him there. Thank you,” he reassured the nervous creature before pulling his head out of the flames, ending the call with a flick of his wand before immediately opening another.
            “Zabini’s Awesome Lair.”
            Jasper snorted.
            “I know,” Draco chuckled, shaking his head. “Blaise had to register the fireplace in his flat as something and apparently he decided to be a prat about it.”
            Once again he was greeted with the sight of an empty room.
            “Blaise?”
            Nothing.
            “Blaise?”
Still nothing.
            A second glance around the room he noticed that the curtains hadn’t been opened today despite the fact that it must have been about four o’clock in the afternoon back in London and that there was a rather impressive collection of letters piled up on the floor beside the fireplace.
            Draco sighed.
            It had been Emmett, of all people who had come up with the idea of gathering their friends and allies to stand with them when the Volturi came…
            “Well, we can’t run. Not with Demetri around,” Emmett announced, sounding more annoyed about the possibility of having to run away from a fight than anything else. Draco frowned, trying to remember who Demetri was…
            “Demetri is the Volturi’s tracker,” Edward explained softly, his hands resting comfortingly on his wife’s shoulders. “Once he has caught the tenor of your mind you can never lose him. He will find you.”
            “The tenor of…?” Draco trailed off with a frown. “Never mind. More important things to discuss at this moment in time like–”
            “And I don’t know that we can’t win,” Emmett continued, interrupting the wizard with a smile. “There are a few options to consider. We don’t have fight alone.”
            Bella didn’t react well to that suggestion,
            “We don’t have to sentence the Quileutes to death, either, Emmett!”
            “I second that opinion,” Harry piped up, his eyes pained at the thought of losing the one he loved. “I’d quite like my mate to continue living, thanks very much.”
            “Chill, you two,” Emmett muttered, shaking his head. “I didn’t mean the pack. Be realistic, though – do you think Jacob or Sam is going to ignore an invasion? Even if it wasn’t about Nessie? Not to mention that, thanks to Irina, Aro knows about our alliance with the pack now, too. But I was thinking of our other friends.”
            Draco froze.
            “Other friends we don’t have to sentence to death,” Carlisle’s voice was little more than a whisper as he added his own protest, speaking the words which had already been echoing through Draco’s mind.
            “Hey, we’ll let them decide,” Emmett said in a placating tone. “I’m not saying they have to fight with us. If they’d just stand beside us, just long enough to make the Volturi hesitate. Bella’s right, after all. If we could force them to stop and listen. Though that might take away any reason for a fight…”
            He sounded most put out about the prospect of their not being a fight.
            Typical Emmett…
            “Yes,” Esme had spoken up eagerly. “That makes sense, Emmett. All we need is for the Volturi to pause for one moment. Just long enough to listen.”
            “We’d need quite a show of witnesses,” Rosalie’s voice was as brittle as glass as she spoke, her expression carefully neutral so as to hide her emotions.
            “We can ask that much of our friends,” Esme said. “Just to witness.”
            “We’d do it for them,” Emmett said.
            “We’ll have to ask them just right,” Alice murmured, her eyes glossing over for a moment as she slipped back into another vision, her hand clutching at the strong arm of her mate. “They’ll have to be shown very carefully.”
            “Shown?”
            Edward glanced pointedly down at his daughter in answer to Jaspers question just as Alice gasped, her eyes glossing over for the second time in less than a minute.
            “Tanya’s family,” she announced, her voice trembling as her eyes flickered back and forth, sorting through the visions she was experiencing. “Siobhan’s coven. Amun’s. Some of the nomads – Garrett and Mary for certain. Maybe Alistair.”
            “What about Peter and Charlotte?” Jasper asked, sounding almost afraid of the prospect of his friends being dragged into another battle.
            “Maybe.”
            “The Amazons?” Carlisle asked. “Kachiri, Zafrina and Senna?”
            Alice seemed too deep in her vision to answer.
            “And what about us?” Harry asked, gesturing towards Draco, Pansy and Charlie. “And our friends and allies? Our family? They’ll be willing to come.”
            Alice shuddered.
            “Alice?” Charlie asked worriedly, using a gentle finger under her chin to tilt her face up towards him just as she blinked once, twice and then her vision returned to normal. “Are you all right, love?”
            “I can’t see,” Alice murmured.
            Charlie frowned.
            “I couldn’t see…I…” Alice continued, frowning worriedly. “I couldn’t…”
            “What was that?” Edward demanded, his voice almost painfully soft. “That’s part in the jungle. Are we going to look for them?”
            “I can’t see,” Alice repeated. “I’ve always had trouble seeing visions about the magical world but normally I…I don’t know why I couldn’t see any more about the jungle. We’ll have to split up and hurry – before the snow sticks to the ground. We have to round up whomever we can and get them here to show them.”
            Her eyes glossed over once more and Draco couldn’t help but feel sympathetic for his tiny friend, finally understanding all the times she’d talked about the visions sometimes appearing to more of a curse than a blessing.
            “Ask Eleazar,” she said. “There is more to this than just an immortal child.”
            And so here they were, the following morning, each of them planning how they would get in contact with their friends or in Draco and Harry’s case already trying to make contact using the two fireplaces at their disposal.
            Pansy was awaiting her turn.
            Impatiently.
            “He wasn’t there,” Draco explained to his audience as he emerged from the fire and ended the call. “It looked like he hadn’t been there in a couple of days.”
            “Then he’s probably still at Theo’s,” Pansy offered from where she was sat at the breakfast bar drinking a bright pink fruit smoothie. “Theo told me that Blaise has been having a bit of a personality crisis and has been spending a lot of time at his.”
            “A personality crisis?” Draco repeated with a frown.
            “Yeah,” Pansy sighed. “Something about not feeling like himself anymore.”
            “I wonder why he hasn’t told me,” Draco murmured with a frown. “We used to tell each other everything when we were at school.”
            Turning back to the fireplace he opened up yet another call and request “Knott Manor” before sticking his head into the flames once more.
            “Draco?” Theodore Knott, known as Theo to his friends, greeted him from where he was drinking a cup of tea whilst reclining on a chaise lounge to the left of the fireplace, a large leather-bound book open in his lap.
            “Theo,” Draco greeted him with a smile, reaching up to brush his hair back out of his eyes. “I don’t suppose Blaise is hiding around there somewhere?”
            “He’s still sleeping off last night,” Theo chuckled, nodding towards the ceiling. “And yes, I know what time it is but you didn’t see the state he got himself into last night. Let’s just say I’m never letting him drink that much firewhiskey again. It wasn’t pretty. It was, however, highly amusing. Was it something urgent?”
            “Technically…” Draco sighed. “We’ve got a spot of trouble over here and we’re gathering witnesses to stand with us when the time comes.”
            “Sounds serious,” Theo murmured, frowning worriedly as he used an antique looking bookmark to save his place before setting the book aside. He then placed his cup of tea back in the saucer resting on the floor beside his seat and moved to kneel gracefully in front of the fire. “What’s happened?”
            “Have you ever heard of an Immortal Child?” Draco asked softly.
            Theo flinched backwards in shock.
            “You can’t have been so stupid…”
            “No,” Draco interrupted the other wizard quickly, willing the younger boy to believe him. “No, we haven’t created one. Renesmee is…different. She was born, not turned. She grows more and more each day. She’s not mad with blood lust. In fact currently she’s more inclined to go mad for chocolate.”
            “Oh…”
Theo’s frown deepened as the most studious member of their little group obviously tried to work out how such a thing was possible.
“She was born, you say? How did that happen?”
            “Muggle mother, vampire father.”
            “Ah…” Theo hummed, nodding as this information met with his approval. “Yes, that would make more sense. And she’s growing naturally, you say?”
            “Yes. Well, a bit faster than naturally,” Draco admitted. “She’s only a couple of months old but she has the mental and physical attributes of a six year old.”
            “Fascinating…” Theo breathed, his eyes shining with blatant interest. “So why the trouble? If she’s not an Immortal Child then surely…”
            “Unfortunately at a distance that’s exactly what she looks like,” Draco explained. “She was seen hunting. And unfortunately Irina, the vampire in question, didn’t stick around long enough to find out the truth.”
            “And she’s the one who reported you?” Theo asked.
            “Yes, to the Volturi,” Draco answered, brushing his bangs out of his eyes. “Aro, the leader of the Volturi, collects special vampires and is going to use this as an excuse to further his collection whilst also wipe out a growing threat.”
            “…you don’t do things by halves do you, Draco?” Theo chuckled, shaking his head as he settled back with his bottom resting on the heels of his feet. “And so you need people to help you fight back against the Volturi? Is that what you’re after?”
            “Fighting is the last resort,” Draco said, his eyes filled with pain and worry as he imagined the death toll such a fight could bring. “I’ve had enough of fighting…”
            “I know how you feel.”
            Theo’s hand moved almost absentmindedly to rub at the tattoo on his left forearm concealed by the long sleeve of his dark grey shirt.
            The Dark Mark.
            “How…How is your father?” Draco found himself asking softly, his hand moving to press against his own mark. “I heard about what he said during his trial…”
            Theo winced.
            His father had always been something of a fanatic, a true believer of the Dark Lord who had attempted to groom his son to be the perfect little soldier.
            Thankfully Theo took after his mum.
            “He’s scheduled to receive the kiss in the New Year,” Theo answered, his voice purposefully emotionless. “He’s asked to see me.”
            “You’re not going to go, are you?” Draco asked worriedly, thinking once again how lucky he was that his parents hadn’t fallen under the Dark Lords spell. “Theo…”
            “I don’t know,” Theo admitted, his breath hitching almost painfully. “I know what he is. I know what he’s done. But…he’s still the only family I have left and that’s got to count for something, hasn’t it?”
            Draco couldn’t answer.
            “In regards to your current situation I’ll wake Blaise, force feed him a hangover potion and we’ll join you as soon as we can,” Theo announced, his back straightening as he regained his composure. “I’ll see if we can round you up some more witnesses as well. I’m guessing the more people you’ve got to stand up for you the less likely it is that things will be reduced to a battle?”
            “Something like that…”
            Theo smiled.
            “I’ll see what I can do but if all else fails me and Blaise will be with you sometime this evening…or I suppose that would be this afternoon to you.”
            “Thanks.”
            He went to pull his head out of the flames but was called back by Theo.
            “Are you really pregnant?” his friend asked, his position suggesting he’d had the urge to find out just as he was starting to stand up. “I never believe anything I read in the Daily Prophet until I’ve had the chance to confirm all the relevant facts.”
            Draco smiled.
            “Yes. I’m pregnant,” he admitted, his hand moving to rest on his stomach. “Which is another reason I want to make sure the Volturi believe that Renesmee isn’t a threat as my child will probably be exactly the same.”
            Theo smiled.
            “Then I think congratulations are in order,” he murmured, obviously genuinely happy for his friend. “Well I guess I’ll see you soon then.”
            Draco nodded and pulled himself out of the flames, ending the call as he once again allowed his husband to pull him into his strong arms.
            “They’ll come when they can,” he announced to the room. “Theo’s going to see if he can convince anyone else to come as well.”
            Bella smiled thankfully at him.
            “Are you done then?” Pansy asked, crossing the room until she stood looking down at him. “Only I need to call my girls to see if they’re willing to come.”
            It was somewhat painful to stand after spending so long on his knees, the joints locking in protest as he stumbled across to the nearest seat.
            “What’s the matter, Draco, getting old?” Pansy chuckled as she effortlessly dropped down into his recently vacated spot in front of the fireplace, already starting up a call with a flick of her wand. “Davis Lodge.”
            The flames flashed an unnatural blue colour before cutting out entirely.
            Pansy sighed, shaking her head.
            “I swear every time I try and get hold of her that girl is blocking up the fireplace chatting with her latest fling…” Pansy huffed loudly, starting up another call. “36 Rue de la Baritte, Tribehou, Normandy.”
            Draco frowned.
            “Who moved to Normandy?”
            “Millicent,” Pansy answered, leaning towards the flames. “After her parents were found guilty she moved in with her maternal grandmother.”
            Her face was almost in the flames when Draco cleared his throat loudly.
            “What?” she demanded, looking back over her shoulder at him.
            He smirked.
            “Probably not the best skirt to wear whilst fire calling, Pans,” he chuckled deeply, nodding to the short black skirt she was wearing. “Nice knickers though.”
            “I wore them just for you, Drakey-Poo,” Pansy announced, smirking back at him as she wiggled her bottom somewhat provocatively. “Now if you’ll excuse me…”
            “Drakey-Poo?” Bella snorted.
            “Old joke,” Draco explained, rubbing at his stomach as the churning feeling continued. “Pretty much everyone assumed, wrongly, that she and I were betrothed to be married to each other like something out of a Victorian novel. Rather than correct the idiots which delighted in circulating such rumours we’d have as much fun as possible, overplaying our roles to a tee before finally having the biggest fight and breaking up just because we could. It was a lot of fun.”
            “Hence Drakey-Poo…” Bella concluded with a smile, finding it very easy to picture a younger version of her friend doing just that.
            “And Pandy-Wans,” Draco laughed loudly. “Horrific pet names go both ways.”
            “How old were you?”
            “When we first started pretending?” Draco countered, waiting for her nod of response. “We were in our third year so thirteen. By which time I was pretty certain I was gay and Pansy was determined to marry out of the pure-blood bullshit so it worked out quite well for us, actually. Pretending to be a couple for so long kept people off our backs and left us free to…explore.”
            “We don’t want to know about your explorations thank you very much,” Bella put in quickly, covering her daughters ears with her hands. “I think it’s time to change the subject before you scar my child for life.”
            Draco smirked.
            “Should I be concerned that you’re talking about scarring people for life?” Harry chuckled deeply as he and Jacob stepped into the room from the back porch, Teddy and JJ held comfortably in their arms.
            They were followed by a bushy haired young woman and a young man wearing far too much orange for someone of his natural colouring.
            “Nope,” Draco answered with a grin. “We were just talking about mine and Pansy’s relationship, or rather our fake relationship, to be precise.”
            “But now we are changing the subject,” Bella reiterated firmly, running her fingers through Renesmee’s luxurious hair. “Hello.”
            Ron and Hermione smiled across at her as Harry led them inside for the necessary introductions with the people they hadn’t met before.
            “These are my oldest friends, Ron and Hermione,” Harry directed his introductions mostly towards Carlisle and Esme who, as ever, were more than welcoming to their guests. “They’ve come to help.”
            “Thank you,” Esme murmured, smiling brightly towards her guests. “Are either of you hungry? I could make some sandwiches if you’d like?”
            “My husband will never say no to free food,” Hermione chuckled, leaning against her husband side whilst patting his stomach. “Sandwiches would be lovely. I don’t suppose you’d have such a thing as marmite, would you?”
            “We do, as a matter of fact,” Esme answered. “Harry introduced us to the delights of marmite. Now would you like anything else in your sandwich or just marmite? And would you prefer brown bread or white?”
            “White. And just plain marmite sounds wonderful…”
            Esme nodded in response to the young witch’s breathless statement.
            “I’ll eat anything you’ve got,” Ron announced with a shrug. “I’m not fussy.”
            “He’s really not,” Harry added. “I didn’t know you liked marmite, ‘Mione.”
            “Oh, I didn’t until recently…”
            The shy smile she shared with her husband caught Draco’s attention.
            So did the hand which moved to rest almost protectively on her stomach.
            It couldn’t be…
            “Before we go any further, mate,” Ron piped up suddenly, fixing Harry with a serious look even as his wife turned to place a warning hand on his chest.
            “Ron, not now…” she murmured.
            “If this thing does come down to a fight I don’t want Hermione anywhere near it,” the redhead announced, covering her hand with one his own.
            “Ron…”
            “No arguing with me, love. Not on this,” he murmured. “You are not putting yourself or…you are not putting yourself at risk like that.”
            “Steady on, Ron,” Harry protested. “Hermione saved both our asses on more than one occasion during the war, don’t forget. She knows what she’s doing.”
            “Yes, but she wasn’t pregnant then, was she?”
            It seemed that Harry Potter could do a surprisingly good impression of a goldfish when the situation called for it, his mouth dropping open in shock.
            “Congratulations,” Draco piped up. “And commiseration. Granger, sorry, Weasley – welcome to the sitting on the side-lines whether you like it or not club.”
            Hermione smiled brightly.
            “Thank you,” she responded softly before turning to smack her husband on the arm. “What happened to keeping it quiet until we’d told your parents?”
            Ron shuffled his feet, looking more than a little bit sheepish.
            “Wait, you told us before you told your own parents?” Draco asked, shooting Ron a look of commiseration. “It was nice knowing you, Weasley. I’ll be sure to put flowers on your grave after your mother kills you.”
            Hermione giggled behind her hand.
            “Me? It’s Charlie she’s going to kill!” Ron protested loudly, holding out his hands as though in surrender. “He hasn’t even told her that he’s a vampire yet.”
            “Seriously?” Harry asked incredulously. “He still hasn’t told her?”
            Ron shook his head.
            “I only know because he let it slip in a letter about…well, something else,” he explained. “Otherwise none of us would know. You think mums going to be upset about not hearing about the baby first, wait until she finds out he’s been immortal for the last few months without telling her.”
            “Oh God…” Harry chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck as he turned to his best friend. “Duck and run?”
            “Definitely.”
            Ron frowned suddenly.
            “Hey, where is Charlie?”
            It turned out to be a very valid question as everyone suddenly realised that they hadn’t seen Alice or Charlie since the night before.
            “Where could they be?”
            “You don’t think…something pre-emptive?” Edward murmured worriedly. “Would Alice have had time to see if they sent someone for her?”
            Emmett cursed loudly.
            “Draco, can you…would…” Bella gasped, her voice shaking ever so slightly as she crossed the room to deposit her daughter onto her best friends lap. “Watch Renesmee until we get back. I need to know what…where…”
            “Go.”
            She was gone before Draco had even finished speaking.
            Edward nodded his silent thanks to Draco before hurrying after his young wife, closely followed by Carlisle, Esme, Emmett and Rosalie.
            Jasper didn’t move an inch from Draco’s side.
            “…was it something I said?” Ron asked, obviously trying to lighten the mood from where he and his wife were now sat sharing a plate of sandwiches.
            A small hand moved to press against Draco’s cheek.
            Looking down his eyes met the piercing gaze of the littlest vampire in their group Draco found himself suddenly gazing through the eyes of said vampire, looking up into the smiling faces of Alice and Charlie.
            “Yes, mummy and daddy have gone to look for Auntie Alice and Uncle Charlie,” he murmured, nodding as the vision being projected into his brain by the talented little girl changed to one of Ron and Hermione.
            He could feel her confusion.
            “Those as some of her Uncle Harry’s friends,” he explained, running his fingers through her long hair in a soothing manner. “Ron and Hermione Weasley.”
            He was shown a brief image of pink sparks appearing at the end of a wand.
            “Yes, they’re from the magical world,” he confirmed with a smile as his vision cleared. “They’ve come all this way to meet you. Would you like to say hello?”
            Nodding eagerly the little girl wriggled her way down off of his lap, skipping across the room until she was stood directly in front of Ron and Hermione.
            “Hello.”
            Draco couldn’t stop himself from gasping softly, his mouth dropping open in shock as he heard the little girl’s voice for the first time, sharing a look of surprise with his husband who looked equally as amazed.
            Until now Renesmee had only spoken out loud to her parents, choosing instead to use her gift to communicate with everyone else.
            “Hello,” Hermione responded, crouching down until she was eye level with the vampire-human hybrid. “My name is Hermione and this is my husband, Ron.”
            Ron waved down at the little girl.
            “We’ve been looking forward to meeting you, Renesmee,” Hermione continued with a warm smile. “I hear you’re a special little girl.”
            Renesmee smiled sweetly, reaching out slowly to place her little palm flat against the beautiful young woman’s smooth cheek.
            “Oh...” Hermione breathed, her eyes going almost impossibly wide, shining brightly with wonder and amazement. “That is…fascinating…”
            Ron smiled down at his wife.
            “Well that’s Hermione entertained for the foreseeable future,” he chuckled softly, moving over to stand in front of his best friend, arms outstretched. “Now give me my godson, I need to get some practise in with babies before it’s too late.”
            Harry chuckled, happily passing little JJ over to his friend.
            “Could he look any more like you, mate?” Ron laughed, his loud voice waking the baby he cradled in his arms who let out an unhappy cry. “Whoops.”
            It seemed that Ron was going to be something of a natural when it came to babies as it took him only a couple of minutes to placate the unhappy child, making silly faces down at him and bouncing him in his arms.
            “That’s better,” Ron announced happily once the little boy was content within his arms, blinking sleepily up at the wizard holding him, his little fist curled around the neckline of Ron’s jumper. “Huh. I was expecting those peepers of yours to be green like your daddy’s but that’s not going to be the case is it? No, it isn’t.”
            “What do you mean?”
            Harry’s voice was filled with confusion.
            “His eyes are turning brown, mate,” Ron pointed out, nodding down at the baby in question. “Look. Blue…no green in the middle, brown around the edges.”
            “Just like his fathers,” Harry breathed, smiling across at Jacob where he was helping Teddy set up his current colouring in project. “My beautiful little boy…”
            “Um…where’s everyone gone?”
            Pansy’s confused voice came from her position in front of the fireplace.
            “Alice and Charlie had disappeared,” Draco explained, paraphrasing ever so slightly to make it easier to put across. “Everyone’s gone looking for them.”
            “Oh. Ok,” Pansy murmured, shrugging absentmindedly before turning back to the unlit fireplace and opening up another call. “Millicent is going to try and join us but her grandmother is feeling particularly clingy at the moment, something to do with Millie disappearing for a weekend with a boy and not letting her know. Anyway she’s going to try. So, next call... Greengrass Towers.”
            “So how did you do with your list, Draco?” Harry asked, leaving his son in the safe arms of his godfather and moving across the room to sit beside Draco. “I got some mixed reactions…”
            “I managed to get hold of Theo, Theodore Knott,” Draco answered, rubbing his hand over his stomach. “Blaise has apparently been staying with him for a while and they’re going to gather some of our other friends before joining us.”
            “Molly and Arthur will be coming as soon as Arthur gets in from work,” Harry explained, counting on his fingers as he began to list the people he had managed to contact. “George and Lee are leaving the shop in Angelina’s capable hands and will be here by the end of the day. Bill is currently trying to talk Fleur out of coming and Fleur is trying to find a suitable baby for Victoire whilst arguing against her husband.”
            Draco chuckled, shaking his head at the mental picture that created.
            “Luna had to finish writing her article about her latest discovery into the lifecycle of a Dabberblimp but she was more than happy to come,” Harry continued. “Neville has to get someone to cover his classes before he can leave and Percy has a meeting with the Minister of Magic tomorrow but will be coming as soon as it’s finished. Ginny has practise but will join us as soon as it’s finished.”
            “Your list is significantly longer than mine…” Draco mumbled uncomfortably.
            “Gryffindors are always going to be more touchy feely than Slytherins, Draco, it’s the way we’re wired,” Harry answered somewhat sympathetically before continuing with his list. “Padma and Parvati had a quote social engagement unquote to fulfil before they could head out here. And I saw way too much of Seamus Finnigans arse before they noticed I was in the fireplace and stopped…well, just stopped but he and Dean will be here within the hour.”
            Draco smirked.
            “Oh, and Hagrid is coming as well.”
            “Hagrid,” Draco repeated, the smirk falling from his face. “Is that a good idea? I mean he’s not really supposed to do magic, is he?”
            “No, but he is half-giant and can look pretty terrifying when he wants to,” Harry explained his reasons for inviting the Hogwarts groundskeeper. “He’s also one of the most loyal people I have ever met…”
            Draco had to concede that Harry had a point.
           “Alice and Charlie have gone,” Carlisle’s voice preceded his entry into the room, followed by the other vampires all of whom wore the same look of concerned disappointment. “The passed through the Quileute land early this morning…”
           “What?” Jacob gasped, looking up from the drawing he’d been helping Teddy. “What about the Pack? They wouldn’t just lest vampires cross their land…”
           “They were stopped by Sam,” Carlisle explained, taking a folded piece of paper from his pocket. “Alice left a note for him to give to us.”
           “What does it say?” Jasper asked softly.
           “Don’t look for us. There isn’t time to waste. Remember: Tanya, Siobhan, Amun, Alistair, all the nomads you can find and all the witches and wizards you can gather. We’ll seek out Peter and Charlotte on our way,” Carlisle read out loud. “We’re so sorry that we have to leave you this way, with no goodbyes or explanations. It’s the only way for us. We love you.”
           “She doesn’t say why they’ve gone…” Draco murmured worriedly, reaching out to take hold of his husband’s hand. “Do you think she had another vision?”
           “Quite possibly,” Carlisle answered.
           “Now what?”
           It was decided that, in order to gather their allies as quickly as possible, they would need to split up and go their separate ways.
           Carlisle and Esme were going to go to go to the various covens, sending those who were willing to come back to Forks to meet Renesmee.
           Rosalie and Emmett were going to search for the nomads.
           The others, Harry and Draco included, would stay behind and continue to gather more witnesses through whatever means they could.
           Of course Bella’s most important task would be introducing her daughter to each of the witnesses whenever they arrived and convincing them that she was worth standing up to the Volturi for.
           It was as Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie and Emmett were preparing to leave when the front door opened and Narcissa’s voice sang out,
           “Yoohoo! Draco! We’re here!”
           The we she spoke of was not just herself and Lucius for when she stepped into the living room, immediately moving to hug and fuss over her son, she was followed by quite a large collection of witches and wizards.
           “We found them loitering outside,” she explained brightly as her husband gestured for everyone to move further into the room. “They were unsure whether or not they had the right address, you see?”
           They were Molly and Arthur Weasley, their daughter Ginny, Luna Lovegood, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan and unexpectedly Cho Chang.
           It was Seamus Finnigan who eventually spoke first.
           “All right, Harry? Let’s get a peep at the little munchkin,” he demanded, his Irish brogue as strong as ever as he crossed the room and snatched little JJ out of Ron’s arms. “Well aren’t you a handsome little chap?”
           “I apologise for Seamus,” Dean spoke up with a long suffering sigh. “His social skills are a little lacking.”
           Esme smiled.
           “Thank you all for coming so promptly,” she murmured. “I’m Esme Cullen and this is my husband Carlisle. I don’t know if you met our children when they attended the Memorial Day party earlier in the year.”
           “We met briefly,” Dean answered with a smile, nodding to the vampires in question before turning his attention back to Esme. “I’m Dean Thomas. I attended Hogwarts in the same year as Harry and Malf…Draco. As did Seamus, Seamus Finnigan, my boyfriend.”
           Draco inclined his own head in response to the other boy’s use of his first name, knowing just how difficult it had been for him to stop calling Harry by his surname all the time.
           The first words out of Mrs Weasley’s mouth were actually quite predictable,
           “Harry, dear, you’re looking awfully thin again. We must get some more food inside of you. I know how much pressure there is to lose ones baby weight as quickly as possible but starving yourself is not the way to…”
           “I’m fine, Mrs Weasley,” Harry chuckled loudly, retrieving his son from Seamus. “I’m not starving myself, I promise.”
           Luna stepped forwards next, an explosion of colour moving to stand directly in front of Carlisle as she looked up at the top of his head.
           “You’ve got nargles. I’ve never met a vampire who had nargles before.”
           Draco snorted.
           Luna would never change.
           Her waist length hair was currently a mixture of blues, greens and purples, all of which clashed brilliantly with her cherry red blouse, a sleeveless knitted cardigan in light blue, a necklace of gold bells, a lime green skirt, purple tights and pink shoes.
           “Luna, don’t be rude,” Cho murmured softly, pulling her fellow Ravenclaw back to stand beside her. “Sorry. She doesn’t always remember about the importance of personal space. I’m Cho Chang and this is Luna Lovegood.”
           “No apology necessary,” Carlisle reassured her with a gentle smile, running his hand through his hair. “Although I would like to know what a nargle is but perhaps that conversation can wait until a later date.”
           “I didn’t know you were coming, Cho,” Harry said softly, remembering how painful it had been for the young witch when she’d met Edward at the party what with how much her resembled her beloved Cedric. “Thank you.”
           “I’m on the same Quidditch team as Ginny,” she explained softly, nodding toward the other young witch. “She told me what was going on, about you’re need for a little magical support so I offered to come as well.”
           “So where’s this little miracle girl who’s behind all the fuss, then?” Ginny asked brightly, briefing her vivid red hair over her shoulder.
           Bella beckoned to her daughter who detached herself from the game she’d been playing quietly with Teddy, allowing her mother to lead her into the centre of the room where she stood smiling up at her new audience.
           “This is Renesmee, mine and Edward’s daughter. As you can see she is not the Immortal Child the Volturi believe her to be.”
           Renesmee smiled up at the group.
           A loud roar of flames interrupted the group’s further introductions as the fireplace burst into the life.
           The flames were green, prompting all of the witches and wizards to move everyone back out of the way just as the first body shot out of the flames across the floor, leaving a thick line of soot behind them.
           “Sorry,” Blaise apologised as he climbed to his feet, brushing more soot off of his clothes. “I’ll clean that up once everyone’s arrived.”
           Everyone was yet another collection of witches and wizards only this time they all had one thing in common – Slytherin.
           Esme greeted the second group just as warmly as she had the Slytherins were obviously a little surprised by the unexpected kindness being shown to them.
           They, like Draco, were used to being greeted with suspicion and wariness more than anything else.
           “Blaise,” Draco nodded towards his friend, hiding the concern he felt at seeing the state the dark skinned boy was in, his clothes messy, his hair unkempt and his expression unusually guarded. “Theo. Thank you for coming.”
           “Draco,” Theo responded with a nod of his own. “I’m sure you remember Cassius Warrington, Adrian Pucey and Terence Higgs from Quidditch?”
           “Yes,” Draco confirmed, his eyes moving across to meet the chocolate brown eyes of Terence. “No hard feelings?”
           Terence smirked.
           “None,” he responded, his voice surprisingly deep considering how light his voice had been back in school. “Getting kicked off the team actually did me some good. Had to find something else to be good at, didn’t I?”
           “What did you choose?” Draco asked, trying to hide his relief.
           “Magical Law.”
           “Oh,” Draco murmured. “That sounds…rewarding.”
           Terence’s smirk grew.
           “Why would there have been hard feelings between you two?” Bella asked softly, a confused frown marring her perfect complexion.
           “When I bought my way onto the house team I replaced Terence who was, admittedly, a much better player than me,” Draco explained.
           “Ah.”
           “Don’t worry. Like I said there’s no need to worry. I’m only a junior partner in one of the most successful wizarding law firms in London and I already make more money than your typical Quidditch player does at the start of their career so the career move has definitely worked out for the best,” Terence announced, his smirk becoming something of a cheeky grin. “Plus I’ve found I quite enjoy using my knowledge of the law to rip idiots to shreds. It’s very rewarding, as you said.”
           “And I’m sure you all recognise these lovely ladies from school,” Blaise announced, his cheerful tone sounding almost forced as he slung an arm around each of the identical twins. “Flora and Hester Carrow.”
           “Carrow?” Hermione all but hissed, her accusing eyes flickering back and forth between the twins. “Not…”
           “No, we are not related to those Carrows,” Hestia, identified by the letter charm necklace she wore, interrupted her sharply. “It is merely an unfortunate coincidence that we share the same family name.”
           “If need be we can produce a copy of our family tree as prrof,” Flora added somewhat coldly, reaching into her jacket pocket and producing an envelope. “We have all taken to carrying a copy around for situations like this.”
           “Oh, no, I’m sure your word is more than good enough,” Hermione murmured, obviously flustered by their logical response to her assumptions.
           “Who are the other Carrows?” Emmett asked with a frown.
           “Amycus and Alecto Carrow,” Draco answered, shifting uncomfortably as he remembered the many times he had been forced to interact with them during the Death Eater meetings. “A brother and sister pair of sadistic Death Eaters with a talent for torture and discipline.”
           “They taught at Hogwarts during the war,” Ginny added. “Well, I say teach. They spouted anti-muggle propaganda like it was going out of fashion and took charge of student discipline like we were inmates in a prison. Most of us have still got the scars to show for it.”
           Tilting her head she moved her long red hair out of the way and showed the group of parallel scars about four inches long on the side of her neck.
           Without prompting Dean and Seamus showed off some of their own scars.
           “What happened to them?”
           “Azkaban.”
           Draco felt his husbands arm tighten around his shoulders as the vampire found out just what sort of people he’d been wrongfully imprisoned alongside.
           “They’re scheduled to get the Kiss soon,” Theo added softly, his eyes sad. “Around the same time as my father is due to get his, actually.”
           “The Kiss?”
           “The Dementors Kiss,” Hermione answered. “The Dementors act as guards inside Azkaban and when required can literally suck the soul out of a person leaving nothing more than a shell behind. It is considered to be a humane alternative to the death penalty although I personally do not believe that to be true.”
           “That sounds awful,” Esme gasped, her sympathetic gaze moving to Theo.
           “He’s a Death Eater,” he explained softly. “And a murderer. And…so many other horrible things. Unspeakable things. He deserves whatever he gets.”
           Esme’s sympathy remained firmly in place despite his statement.
           “We’d love to learn more about the child in question,” Flora announced suddenly, changing the subject rather tactlessly. “It is a fascinating case.”
           “That won’t be a problem,” Carlisle agreed with a smile. “However the four of us really should be–”
           “Blaise?!”
           Seth’s shocked voice came from the patio doors leading out onto the wooden decking where he was stood, flanked on either side by Leah and Paul.
           Frowning slightly Blaise turned to face the newcomer.
           “…Seth?”
           “Y-Yes. I…W-What are you doing here?” Seth asked softly, his whole body trembling as much as his voice. “I mean…why did…”
           Leah reached out to touch her younger brothers shoulder gently, her hard eyes firmly fixed on Blaise who shifted awkwardly.
           “I’m here to help. With the evil vampire thing. You know…” Blaise answered.
           Seth seemed to deflate.
           “Oh,” the teenager sighed sadly. “So, you’re not here to see me?”
           Blaise smiled softly.
           “That’s an unexpected bonus. Maybe we can revisit…”
           “Oh, no you don’t!” Leah snapped, rushing forwards and literally pushing him away from her brother. “You don’t get to play with his feelings again, you bastard!”
           “Hey! Who said anything about feelings?” Blaise responded with a frown. “We had a good time. I thought we had a good time, didn’t we, little wolf?”
           Seth literally shuddered as he heard the nickname he’d missed so much.
           “I feel like we’re missing something important here,” Seamus announced.
           “The little wolf and I hooked up a while back,” Blaise answered, struggling to sound completely casual. “No need to read anything more into it than that.”
           “No need to…” Leah’s face was practically purple with rage as she moved to stand between the dark skinned wizard and her brother. “You fuck a fifteen year old bot who, might I add, was drunk at your friend’s wedding reception, allow him to Imprint on you and fuck off back to England without a care in the world and you think there’s no need to read anything more into it?!”
           A shocked silence fell over the room, both Harry and Bella covering their children’s ears with their hands in an attempt to block out the worst of the foul language being used.
           Eventually Blaise responded.
           “You’re fifteen?!”
           Seth sighed almost tearfully, biting his lip as he mumbled his answer,
           “Sixteen…now…but, yeah, when we…I was…”
           “Then why in Merlin’s name did you tell me with were eighteen, little wolf?” Blaise asked softly, his hand moving up to rub at the back of his neck. “Even I have rules I won’t cross and sleeping with someone who is underage is one of them.”
           This time when the explosion of rage happened it was directed in her brother’s direction, Leah spinning round to glare accusingly at the younger boy.
           “You told him you were what?!”
           “I didn’t want him to think I was some stupid kid,” Seth protested, wringing his hands in front of him. “He was my Mate! I wanted him to like me!”
           “So you slept with him?!”
           “Yes!”
           “Seth…”
           Blaise cleared his throat loudly, drawing the sibling’s attention back to him.
           “Hold up a second, please,” Blaise muttered, frowning deeply. “Mate?”
           Seth paled.
           “Mate with a capital M?” Blaise continued softly. “Mate as is…soul mate?”
           Slowly, with everyone looking at him, Seth nodded.
           “Huh…”
           All of a sudden Blaise’s entire demeanour changed from one of confused indifference to delighted understanding, his posture straightening, his eyes regaining some of their usual sparkle as he laughed.
           “Well that it explains a lot…”
           “…what does?”
           “Us being soul mates,” Blaise sighed, clapping his hands together. “That’s a two way bond right? Nature’s way of pulling two people together that she ships as a couple and ensuring that they’ll be perfect for each other?”
           “…I think so…” Seth answered with a frowned, not entirely familiar with the terminology the man he loved was using. “But what does it explain?”
           “The shitty way I’ve been feeling lately and my unexpected and unplanned swing towards a life of celibacy,” Blaise announced, spreading his arms wide. “I’ve been feeling off for months, literally, and I could not figure out why.”
           “Celibacy?” Draco couldn’t help but snort. “You?”
           “Yup,” Blaise answered almost sadly. “Not for lack of trying just…couldn’t perform to my usual standard, as it were…”
           “Little too much information, Blaise…” Theo sighed, covering his eyes with his hand as his mind supplied him with the unwanted images of what his friend meant. “Perhaps we should give the two of you some privacy?”
           “Yes, perhaps we should,” Esme agreed brightly, turning to the group of newcomers. “How about we give you all a quick tour of the house? We’ll have to figure out where to put you all, I’m afraid we don’t have that many beds but I’m sure with your magical abilities we can sort something out.”
           “Some people can stay with us,” Harry offered immediately, rescuing his son from Seamus as the little boy fussed in what was now a familiar manner. “Sounds like someone’s getting hungry…”
           “So…I’m your soul mate,” Blaise murmured, moving around the slightly stunned Leah to stand in from of Seth while the newcomers tried to discretely follow Esme and Carlisle out of the room. “And you’re my soul mate.”
           “Y-Yeah…” Seth breathed, his body trembling like a leaf as Harry nodded a silent farewell to everyone before heading outside, Jacob picking up a grumbling Teddy before following. “Sorry…”
           “Hey, no apologising for something which is part of your nature,” Blaise ordered, reaching out to cup the young shape-shifters jaw with one hand. “I remember reading all about werewolves, well, wolves in general and their one true mate. I’m guessing that’s how it works with your…group?”
           “Pack,” Seth corrected automatically. “We’re a Pack.”
           Blaise smiled softly.
           “And we call it Imprinting,” he continued softly, his hand moving up slowly to press against the one still cupping his jaw gently. “When we find our perfect mates…our soul mates. They’re called our Imprints…”
           “Imprint, huh?” Blaise chuckled deeply. “How…territorial of you.”
           Seth frowned worriedly.
           “I like it…” Blaise whispered softly, leaning forwards to press a kiss to the tip of Seth’s nose, the action stealing the breath out of the shape-shifters lungs. “How about we take a walk, get to know each other a little better?”
           “I’d like that…”
           “If you think I’m leaving you alone with him any time soon then you’re delusional,” Leah’s voice was as cold as ice, her body rigid as she obviously fought the urge to wage in and rip her brother from the wizards grasp.
           Looking back over his shoulder at the female shape-shifter Blaise shot her one of his trademark smiles, all dazzling charm and perfect teeth.
           “You’re welcome to join us…” he trailed off, glancing back to Seth with an obvious question on his handsome face.
           “Leah,” Seth supplied softly.
           “Leah,” Blaise echoed cheerfully, turning his head to look at her once more. “We are practically family now, after all. We should all get to know each other.”
           Leah literally growled, showing all of her teeth.
           “Please…?” Seth begged softly, his hopeful gaze meeting his sisters.
            Now Draco had experienced some serious puppy dog eyes in his time, mostly from Pansy when she wanted something to happen her way, but that was nothing compared to the pleading look Seth was using on his big sister.
            Emmett snorted.
            “Puss in Boots…” he muttered, looking down at his wife who merely rolled her eyes in response. “Don’t tell me you can’t see it. The eyes, woman, the impossibly big, ridiculously shiny eyes.”
            Draco couldn’t help but snort himself as his mind happily supplied an image of the animated cat from the hilarious muggle film standing in Seth’s place.
            “…fine…but don’t expect me to like him,” Leah eventually muttered, moving towards the wooding decking. “It’ll take a lot more than some pretty words to make up for everything he’s put you through.”
            Seth smiled thankfully at his sister before pulling his Mates hand away from his face, linking their fingers and using their joined hands to lead the wizard outside.
            “Well…that was interesting…”

A/N So…many…extra…characters…Why? Why did I start this? LOL! Anyway, hope you enjoyed the latest update. I’ve promised myself that this story will be finished sooner rather than later so hopefully the next update with come along reasonably quickly. Comments and Suggestions are always welcome. X

Chapter Fifteen

            Esme was not pleased when they returned from their travels five days later to discover that they had underestimated the number of people who would be willing to come to their aid and, as such, had been forced to set up what could only be described as a tent city in the space between the Cullen house, the Potter-Black house and Bella and Edwards cottage when they ran out of space.
            “Magic can only go so far before the structural integrity of the building becomes too unstable to function,” Hermione explained their reasons logically.
            “But don’t worry,” Draco put in quickly. “Those aren’t your average tents and as such everyone’s been more than happy with the sleeping arrangements…or loitering arrangements in regards to the vampires who don’t actually require sleep.”
            Carlisle moved across the wooden decking to stand beside his wife, his keen eyes moving around the spread out campsite.
            “How many have come?” he asked softly.
            Hermione reached into the small beaded bag she carried with her everywhere and withdrew a large roll of parchment, spreading it out and revealing an extremely detailed list of who had come to their aid.
            She’d even made a note of when they arrived, whether or not they were a vampire, a shifter or from the magical world and whether or not they possessed any special gifts which could be of use to them in the final battle, should it come to that.
            “Twenty-one vampires, thirty-six witches and wizard and one half-giant, half-wizard,” Hermione announced having consulted the equally complicated tally at the bottom of her list. “Oh, and the Quileute Pack but they have thus far been quite secretive in regards to their overall numbers.”
            “Nine. The Uley Pack, as they prefer to be known, currently has nine members,” Edward supplied the information calmly, smiling when Hermione immediately drew out her quill and began adjusting her list. “They had eleven members but two have defected, in Sam’s opinion, to join Jacob’s Pack.”
            “Who?” Bella asked with a frown, looking around at the wolves patrolling the edge of the large camp, noticing for the first time that there were more than there should have been. “Who switched Packs?”
            “Embry Call and Quil Ateara,” Edward answered, nodding towards the two wolves in question before turning back to Carlisle. “And yes, Sam is still willing to stand beside us when the time comes.”
            “That makes seventy-two…no, wait…including your family…and Draco…oh, and Harry...eighty-one," Hermione announced, her quill still scratching away as she jotted her latest calculations down. “Eighty-three if Alice and Charlie return in time.”
            “The Volturi won’t be expecting such numbers,” the Cullen leader finally breather, his voice filled with relief as he leaned heavily on the wooden railing surrounding the decking. “I…we may survive this after all…”
            Draco smiled.
            He wished Carlisle and the others had been present to witness the arrival of all of the witnesses, to see the very different groups of people react both to each other and, most importantly, to the miracle that was Renesmee Cullen.
            Each and every one of them had reacted differently.
            Most were instantly taken with the adorable little girl who was becoming more and more vocal with each passing day, chatting easily with them whilst eagerly demonstrating her special gift.
            She was particularly taken with Luna, of all people, and followed the young witch around like a shadow, listening eagerly to the tales the blonde would spin.
            Bella had been surprised to find herself as popular as her daughter.
            “A very talented family,” Eleazar had announced shortly after meeting all of them, once he and the rest of his family had allowed Renesmee to project her thoughts into their minds. “A mind reader for a father, a shield for a mother and then whatever magic this extraordinary child has bewitched us with.”
            Draco had turned to Bella with a confused frown,
            “What did he just call you?”
            “I wonder if there is a name for what she does, or if it is the norm for a vampire hybrid,” Eleazar had continued as though Draco hadn’t spoken. “As if such a thing could ever be considered normal! A vampire hybrid, indeed!”
            “Excuse me,” Edward had interrupted firmly, reaching out to take hold of the stunned vampires shoulder. “What did you just call my wife?”
            “A shield, I think,” Eleazar had responded as though that should have been obvious. “She’s blocking me now, so I can’t be sure.”
            “A shield?”
            Edward had sounded rather bewildered but suddenly it made sense to Draco.
            “Come now, Edward! If I can’t get a read of her, I doubt you can, either,” Eleazar had pointed out even as Draco took a moment to strengthen his own mental shields now that he knew there was another telepath, of sorts, in the room. “Can you hear her thoughts right now?”
            “No,” Edward had responded, still sounding rather puzzled. “But I’ve never been able to do that. Even when she was human.”
            “Never?” Eleazar had sounded rather impressed by that little titbit of information. “Interesting. That would indicate a rather powerful latent talent, if it was manifesting so clearly even before the transformation. I can’t feel a way through her shield to get a sense of her at all.”
            “Occlumency,” Draco had murmured to his friend with a smile. “It takes us years to learn what apparently comes natural to you.”
            “That thing you do to keep Edward from reading your thoughts?” Bella had responded, blinking in surprise. “I can…I can do magic?”
            Draco’s smile transformed into an outright grin.
            “Yet she must be raw still – she’s only a few months old,” Eleazar continued, once again oblivious to the other conversation taking place. “And apparently completely unaware of what she’s doing. Totally unconscious.”
            Draco had elbowed his friend in the ribs gently,
            “Not anymore…”
            “Ironic,” Eleazar had laughed heartily, his eyes bright than Draco had ever seen. “Aro sent me all over the world searching for such anomalies, and you simply stumble across it by accident and don’t even realise what you have.”
            Draco had excused himself shortly after that, leaving the rest of the group discussing the various details of Bella’s gift and the possibility of teaching her to use her gift to shield the other members of their group.
            There had been some surprising arrivals over the past few days as well.
            A young vampire had followed the somewhat guard Egyptian Coven into the house, attempting to keep the shadows and out of everyone’s way.
            He’d begun his introduction with an apology which was rather unusual however, when they found out what he was apologising for, was very welcome.
            “Um…hi…” the young vampire had murmured once the Egyptian Coven had finished greeting their old friends. “I…um…I’d like to start by apologising…”
            Edward and Bella hadn’t been present at the time, visiting with her father, or else the telepath would have reacted the moment the young vampire had entered.
            Instead it was left to Draco to ask,
            “For what?”
            “I was created as part of Victoria’s Army when she challenged you earlier this year,” the young vampire had explained softly, shifting nervously. “I…I left before the battle. I didn’t…I didn’t want any part in what they had planned.”
            Jaspers next question had taken everyone by surprise.
            “Are you Fred?”
            The young vampire had blinked behind his unnecessary glasses for a long moment, his frightened gaze flickering around the mixed group before him.
            “Yes. How…how did you know that?”
            “We found a young woman after the battle, a member of Victoria’s Army who had somehow managed to survive the fighting,” Jasper had explained, settling into his military leader pose as he spoke. “She was sentenced to death by the Volturi for her actions. Edward, another member of our Coven is telepathic and he heard her thoughts about you before…”
            “Before what?” Fred had interrupted, his voice filled with a surprising amount of panic. “Do you…do you know what her name was?”
            “I’m sorry, we never learned her name…”
            “Um…was she…was she short and…kind of pale…with long brown hair…?”
            Draco nodded.
            “Oh no…” the young vampire had whimpered, rubbing at his eyes as though tears were forming despite that being physically impossible before turning his pleading gaze to Jasper. “That’s Bree. She was my friend and she didn’t want to be there any more than I did. How…how did she die?”
            “She didn’t.”
            “…but you said…”
            “We could tell she didn’t want to be there,” Draco had announced, stepping forward to stand beside his husband. “And I don’t like the Volturi so pissing them off was just an added bonus.”
            “Draco…” Jasper had murmured warningly.
            “I banished her,” he’d continued calmly, drawing his wand from his jeans and twirling it around the fingers of his hand almost casually. “To a place where I knew she’d be safe…er. And we haven’t heard anything since.”
            “So she’s…alive?”
            “She’s still undead, if that’s what you mean,” Draco had responded with a smile. “Although, like I said, we have no idea where she is now.”
            Fred had been overjoyed.
            He’d agreed to stand as witness without even meeting Renesmee so long as Draco or one of the other witches or wizards agreed to “banish him too” in the hopes that he would be able to pick up his friends trail and find her.
            Gabrielle DeLacour had arrived along with her sister and brother-in-law.
            “But…you’re just a child…”
            “I am fifteen years old,” Gabrielle had protested, tossing her platinum blonde curls over her shoulder as she glared across the room at Bella who had been the one to voice what they had all been thinking. “I am not a child. I am ‘ere to ‘elp.”
            “You’re still too young,” Bella had insisted, shaking her head as her grip on her daughters shoulders tightened. “If we end up having to defend ourselves against the Volturi you could get injured or worse and I won’t…”
            “No. I am not too young,” Gabrielle had interrupted her firmly. “I lost friends during the Battle of ‘ogwarts who were no older than I am now. They fought and they died for what they knew was right. This is right and so I am staying.”
            “Don’t bother,” Bill had added when Bella had opened her mouth to try again, shooting his wife a somewhat exasperated look as he continued, “We’ve been trying to talk her out of it ever since we got word that you needed help but if there’s one thing I know all about it is the stubbornness of the DeLacour women.”
            “Gabrielle and I know the risks and we are staying,” Fleur had announced.
            And that was that.
            Viktor Krum’s unexpected arrival shortly after that had caused a stir for a completely different reason as most of the women (and some of the men) found themselves drooling over his impressive physique.
            He only had eyes for one person however.
            Leah.
            “��…” he’d breathed almost reverently in his own native tongue, moving slowly across the room to stand directly in front of the equally stunned shape-shifter. “�� …” (Translation from Google – “Holy shit…you are my one…”)
            “Leah?” Seth had called out worriedly, his eyes flicking back and forth between his strangely silent sister and the strange Wizard. “What’s going on?”
            “I…” Leah gasped loudly, a stunned smile breaking out on her usually apathetic face as she reached out to touch Viktors face. “I just imprinted…”
Seth, understandably, had been overjoyed for his sister.
“Well if nothing else comes out of this then at least we can be content with our subconscious matchmaking skills,” Draco had chucked only the day before Carlisle and the others return having seen another possible couple blossoming through this strange gathering, this time between an ex-Slytherin and an ex-Gryffindor, Tabitha Bainbridge and Lee Jordan.
            Little Miss Serious and one of the Prank Kings.
"Although we can't take credit for Longbottom and the female Weasley finally getting together as that has been brewing for years."
"Well it certainly managed to surprise me," Harry had admitted from where he was feeding little JJ, struggling to get him to accept the bottle and eventually giving up, setting it aside and unbuttoning his shirt. He'd only started trying to bottle feed his son because seeing a man breast feeding had disturbed some of their guests. "I thought he was in love with Luna."
"It would never have worked out between us," Luna's ethereal voice had announced as she entered the room, moving to join Harry on the sofa, actually snuggling up to his side as he fingers stroked the soft hair on the top of the feeding babies head. "It is much better this way."
Carlisle's gentle voice broke through his reminiscing of the last few days,
"I'd like to speak with everyone, if that's at all possible."
Hermione nodded.
After carefully returning her long list of witnesses to her magical bag the brightest witch of their age drew her wand and with a simple little spell sent a sparkling green image of a fairy flying around the camp, stopping at each group to inform them of Carlisle's request.
Draco couldn't help but scoff lightly,
"A fairy? Going for the stereotypical effect were you, Granger?"
"Weasley," Hermione corrected him instantly, displaying an arched eyebrow that would put Snape to shame. "And no, the fairy image is the easiest to create and maintain so it doesn't drain ones magical core too much to keep it up for a little while. I'm surprised you didn't know that already, Draco, what with how clever you used to claim you were back when we were in school and fighting for the top spot.
Harry sniggered softly behind his hand.
"Not all of us can be walking talking magical encyclopaedias, Weasley," he finally managed to respond although his tone lacked the venom it would once have held, his hand straying down to rest on top of his now obviously dissented stomach. "Some of us have other things on our minds."
"Oh, you mean like being pregnant?" Hermione responded, resting a hand on her own stomach which only appeared to be slightly larger than normal when she wore tight clothing like she was right then. "Yes, I know exactly what you mean."
Draco frowned.
            Her implication was painfully obvious – she was both cleverer than he was and also better at coping with pregnancy than he was.
            She probably thought she’d being a better parent too…
            Turning away from the witch who was now frowning ever so slightly as she obviously picked up on his silent distress Draco desperately tried to ignore the build-up of tears he could feel in the corners of his eyes.
Under normal circumstances he'd have been able to brush off her "one-upmanship" just like he had whenever it had happened at school (which had been remarkably frequent despite their difference in “social status”) either by ignoring her comments all together or responding with a biting comeback which would have instantly turned the tide in his favour.
But apparently his hormones had other ideas.
"Draco?" Jasper asked softly, hurrying out of the house to take his emotional husband in his arms, tucking the Wizards face against his neck. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Draco muttered. "Just my stupid hormones..."
Surprisingly it didn't take long for everyone to gather on the ground directly below the wooden decking, looking up at the group standing above them in a manner reminiscent of the Royal family gazing down at their subjects from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
"I'd like to begin by thanking you all for coming," Carlisle spoke up, his voice carrying easily through the eerie silence that surrounded them and effortlessly drawing everyone’s attention to him and him alone. "It warms my heart to know how many of our friends are willing to come to our aid in such difficult times."
Several of the vampires inclined their heads towards him in response.
"You have all had a chance to meet the latest addition to our family and to get to know her as the wonderful child that she is," Carlisle continued, smiling down at Renesmee who was stood between Luna and Ginny, holding their hands happily having spent the afternoon learning to braid hair with the young witches. "As such..."
Carlisle's voice cut off suddenly as every vampire turned as one to face the woods to the right of the house, closely followed by the numerous shape-shifters, every one of them frowning.
"What is it?" Draco asked as he and the rest of the witches and wizards followed the collective shift of attention a beat later. "Jasper?"
“Someone is approaching the house at great speed,” his husband responded softly, placing his hands on Draco’s shoulders as he shifted their bodies until he was standing between Draco and the direction they were all looking.
"And whoever's coming wasn't invited," Jacob announced seriously, handing a grumbling Teddy over to Ron who accepted the little boy into his arms without hesitation moments before the shape-shifters transformation began, his body tearing through his clothes until a large wolf stood in his place.
He was quickly joined by the rest of his Pack, all transforming into their wolves within seconds of his own transformation and together they took off into the woods, howling and snarling as they scented out the intruders.
“Draco,” Jasper murmured, leaning in to press a quick kiss to his lips. “We need to go and see who it is. Wait here. Put up the wards.”
            He barely had time to nod in agreement before Jasper and the rest of the vampires followed the wolves into the forest surrounding the secluded house.
"Wait here..." Draco grumbled softly as all eyes turned to him and Harry, the only two left on the wooden decking since Hermione had already rushed down to take a squirming Teddy from her husband, soothing the little boy in her arms with a series of gentle murmurs. "I hate waiting..."
"Um...anyone care to clarify what just happened?" George asked from where he and Lee were stood towards the back of the large wizarding contingent with Tabitha and the Greengrass sisters.
"Apparently we have an unexpected guest," Harry announced to the group, shifting JJ in his arms before walking down the steps to join everyone else, closely followed by Draco. "I agree with Jasper that it might be a good idea to strengthen the wards around the house and the campsite."
In the end only half a dozen of them were required to actually strengthen the wards as any more than that and the barrier would have become unstable.
"Who do you think it could be?" Gabrielle asked softly.
"Best case scenario it's another nomad who wants to join the cause," Draco responded, brushing his hair off of his face. "Worst case scenario it's an advance scout for the Volturi and they're arriving earlier than we originally anticipated."
Several of their group shifted nervously, remembering everything they'd been told about the Volturi and their penchant for brutality over the past few days.
Almost instinctively the group moved into what could only be described as a defensive formation, the younger members of the group in the centre where they would be most protected alongside the "vulnerable" members (aka the pregnant ones) whilst the ones who had had the most experience dealing with these sort of things were closest to the wards.
Every single one of them had their wands drawn.
"This is bringing back far too many unpleasant memories," Draco heard one of the Patel twins mutter, shifting nervously beside her sister who looked equally as uncomfortable as they gazed out at the woods surrounding them. He never could remember which one was which. "Why did we agree to come here again?"
Her sister snorted softly.
"Because we're idiots," she responded dryly, pulling a hair band off of her wrist and tying back her long hair. "Well, that and it was the right thing to do."
Draco smiled.
"You might belong in Gryffindor, where dwell he brave at heart," he murmured to himself, quoting the Sorting Hat as he silently wondered if the twins were right and a mixture of idiocy and morality was what was ultimately responsible for the number of Gryffindors who had turned up to help them in their hour of need. "Their daring, nerve and chivalry set Gryffindors apart."
It was significantly easier for him to pinpoint his fellow Slytherins reason for being there as it was the reason that they had done everything together throughout their school years - House Loyalty.
Oh, Hufflepuff might be the house that everyone associated with loyalty but it was a well-known fact that once you were a Slytherin you were a Slytherin for life, sort of like those muggle Marines that Draco had heard about whilst studying the American way of life in school.
Or maybe the Mafia…
Actually the Slytherins were definitely more like the Mafia than the Marines.
"They're coming back," Luna announced suddenly, moving to stand beside Harry, Renesmee holding the witches hand tightly as she followed her. "It's all right."
"Are you sure?" Harry asked softly, pressing a kiss to his son’s forehead.
Luna nodded but it was Renesmee who answered softly,
"Yes. We have been joined by the Romanian Coven."
Harry frowned, obviously trying to figure out how she could know that.
Renesmee giggled.
"I heard them talking about it, silly," she told him, tapping her delicate little ear with the tip of her finger. "My daddy's a vampire, remember? Super hearing comes as part of the package."
Draco snorted, struggling with the sudden urge to do something that could only be described as sickeningly muggle – pressing the tip of his finger to Harry’s bright red cheek, hiss in an overly dramatic nature and cry out “Ooh, burn!”
            The only thing stopping him was that he would never live it down.
His fellow Slytherins would never let him live it down.
"Should we let the wards down then?" Fleur called out from where she was stood with her husband and sister, gesturing to the shimmering shield surrounding their group. "Else they're about to get a terrible shock..."
"We should probably wait until they're in sight," Cho piped up logically from her own spot beside Dean and Seamus. "I'm not doubting Luna or Renesmee but we should be 100% sure all is well before exposing ourselves."
"Ever the logical Ravenclaw," Luna giggled.
"Well one of us has to keep up the House stereotypes," Cho responded with a smile for the younger girl. "We can't all be free spirits like you, you know?"
Soon the large group of vampires and wolves came in to view and it wasn't difficult to spot the new members walking beside Carlisle and Esme, both of them dressed in clothes which looked like they belonged to a previous century.
            To be honest they’d probably blend in well with traditional magical society.
One had dark hair which only seemed to make his impossibly pale skin seem even whiter whilst the second newcomer, for there only appeared to be two of them, had blond hair pale enough to rival both the Malfoys and the DeLacours and even from a distance they could all make out the vivid red colour of their eyes, indicating that they had recently fed on humans.
"You can lower the wards now," Edward called out, smiling somewhat grimly as the semi-visible shield disintegrated in front of them following a simple incantation, allowing them access to the campsite.
"Magic!" the dark haired newcomer gasped, stopping short and adopting a defensive pose, his deadly eyes scanning he crowd. "You brought those…those abominations into your house, Carlisle?"
"They're kind bring nothing but trouble, Carlisle, and you know it," the blonde growled with the same strange accent as the first, actually hissing at those closest to him. "They hunt our kind for sport. They are killers!"
"That's a bit rich coming from you," Draco couldn't stop himself from snorting loudly, fixing the two of them with a patented Malfoy sneer. "If we're going to start pointing fingers about killing people I have no doubt that you will have spilt a great deal more blood than any of us."
"Keep talking, little one, and I'll show you just how good we are at spilling blood," the blond threatened, licking his lips before baring his razor sharp teeth towards Draco...and then he was flying backwards into a tree, propelled by Draco's absolutely fuming husband.
"You will not touch him!" Jasper growled, settling into a defensive pose between Draco and the vampire currently pulling himself out of the tree he had literally been literally thrown into.
"Well that escalated quickly..." George muttered, still managing to sound cheerful despite the deadly situation they had now found themselves in. "All the way from pleasant greetings to death threats in under a minute. Do you know, I think that's a record, even for us and that’s really saying something."
Several of the vampires seemed to be struggling to hold back smiles as they heard the red heads musings whilst Carlisle moved to stand beside Jasper, placing a calming hand on his shoulder whilst fixing his gaze on the two newcomers.
"Draco is my son-in-law," the head of the Cullen family spoke calmly and clearly. "His family and friends are now our family and friends. And they are nothing like the Witches and Wizards of old."
"There hasn't been an endorsed vampire hunt or culling since 1863," Hermione announced, standing tall and strong as everyone's attention shifted to where she stop, a Teddy still held comfortably in her arms. "Not since the first Guidelines for the Treatment of Non-Wizard Part-Humans which stated that the killing of vampires for sport was unlawful and that only in circumstances such as unlawful behaviour on the part of the Vampire or dangerous behaviour on behalf of the Vampire can they be killed without first being brought to trial. However most cases of either such behaviour are brought to trial regardless of this."
Her response to the vampires earlier statement left quite a few of them blinking in surprise and more than one of the Wizarding contingent chuckling about her living up to her to her old reputation of being a "walking, talking text book."
"And while I admit there are still Wizards and Witches who are prejudiced against all Non-Wizard Part-Humans they are now in a minority and are subject to strict rules and regulations, any breach of which will result in either a severe fine or their incarceration," Hermione continued calmly, her gaze roaming throughout the vampire contingent who absorbed the information being supplied with a mixture of nods and smiles. "The Wizarding World might appear to be a little old fashioned and more than a little outdated but just because it takes us a little longer to adapt to the changing times we live in doesn't mean we'll simply allow a practise remain for the sake of it, especially if that practice is morally wrong. I hope that one day all members of the magical community will have equal rights and equal pay and equal opportunities. That there won't be a need for..."
"I think they've got the point love," Ron interrupted his wife gently with a fond smile. "You can get down off your soap box for a little bit. I'm sure if any of them want to learn more they'll come and find you for a private chat."
"Oh, right, of course. My apologies..." Hermione murmured, smiling somewhat bashfully as she tried to control her inner activist. "I'm afraid that I can get a little bit carried away with things that I feel passionately about..."
"No need to apologise, my dear," Carlisle countered with one of his gentle smiles. "It is very reassuring to know they one who feels so passionately about the subject is fighting on our side."
The dark haired newcomer scoffed loudly, moving to stand beside the blonde who was busy fixing his clothing while Jasper pulled away from Carlisle's gentle hold and moved to stand protectively beside his husband.
"I am surprised that you would choose a Wizard to be your companion, Jasper," he mused loudly, his blood red eyes blatantly searching Draco's appearance for any kind of flaw before meeting Jaspers hard gaze. "I had always thought you were better than that..."
Draco wasn't the only one to bristle at the obvious slur.
"How dare you...?!"
Draco stepped forwards, laying a hand on his mother’s trembling arm before fixing the two vampires with his most chilling sneer, taking a moment look both of them up and down, making sure to over-exaggerate his apparent disappointment before finally speaking up in his haughtiest voice.
"And I'm surprised that you still continue to call yourself a Coven when there's obviously only the two of you," he scoffed, gesturing almost casually between the two vampires. "I mean the word Coven implies a group of people or in this case Vampires and as far as I'm aware two people make a couple not a group. Although I suppose The Romanian Couple wouldn't have quite the same effect on ones enemies but at least it would be slightly more accurate."
There was a long moment of tense silence as everyone waited to see how they would react to Draco's cutting response, the Wizard in question somehow managing to maintain his sneer perfectly, and it took everyone by surprise when their only response was to laugh loudly.
"I like this one, Carlisle," the dark haired one announced. "He has a sharp tongue and isn't afraid to use it. He will make an excellent vampire."
The blonde stepped forwards, getting right up close to Draco which, of course, caused Jasper to force his way between them with a growl of warning.
"Down, boy," the vampire sneered at him, shooting Draco a smirk as he continued. "If we meant to hurt him we would have already. Now tell me, Draco, what do you think of the Volturi?"
Silence fell again as everyone waited for Draco's answer.
"Well I've only ever met a couple of their minions who, although physically pleasing to the eye, left much to be desired in terms of personality or wit," Draco responded cuttingly, recalling his confrontation with Alec, Dimitri, Felix and, of course, the ever so delightful Jane. "I think I shall refrain from making judgement on the rest until I've had the pleasure of meeting them for myself."
Once again their response to his statement was a round of deep laughter.
"I feel I should retract my earlier statement, Jasper," the dark haired one, Stefan, mused loudly as he stepped forwards to join his companion. "Your companion appears to be quite suitable, if still disappointingly human."
"...was that supposed to be a compliment?" Draco snorted loudly, in turn stepping back away from the vampires. "If so it needs a little work."
"Who did you have the pleasure of meeting?"
Draco snorted before responding with the assessments he’d made of the four members of the Volturi guard rather than their names, leaving his husband to clarify who he meant with short, precise answers.
"Stereotypical brawn but no brain.”
"Felix."
"Thinks he's more handsome than he actually is."
"Dimitri."
"Baby face who lets his sister wear the trousers."
"Alec."
"Little bitch with a sadistic God, or should I say Goddess, complex."
This time it was the still unnamed blonde who identified the vampire he was describing, hissing her name with obvious displeasure,
"Jane."
Draco chuckled.
"Sounds like you're as much of a fan of her as I am," he concluded. "It's safe to say that we didn't get off on the right foot, although given the magical painkillers I was on at the time I could technically blame them for everything that it said. But I won't. I will gladly take credit for every single thing I said to that stupid little..."
"I think that's enough of that sort of language, Draco," Narcissa piped up from where she now stood a few paces behind her son. "I didn't raise you to use such vulgar language, even if it is an appropriate word to use if your description of her actions are anything to go by."
Draco's muttered apology brought out another bright grin from the blonde.
"Oh, yes, I like you..."
"Why don't we break for something to eat and reconvene in an hour?" Esme suggested, slipping her arm through her husbands and snuggling close to his side as she offered the large group of witnesses a bright smile.
            Carlisle held his wife close as he turned his own gaze towards the vampires.
            “We will not try to enforce our ways on any of you,” he spoke softly but clearly. “However should you need to feed we ask that you do it as far away as possible so as not to bring unnecessary trouble down on us.”
A murmur of agreement spread throughout the group with only the odd person looking less than impressed with this simple request, obviously holding the opinion that as the "higher species/predator" they shouldn't be forced to alter their preferred feeding ground/technique.
“We had a feeling you might say that, Carlisle, so we fed on our way here,” the blonde newcomer announced calmly, smirking across at Stefan who licked his lips somewhat dramatically. "A lovely young couple. Very tasty."
Draco wasn't the only who flinched, his gut churning uncomfortably.
“How much do you know about our Coven, little one?” Stefan’s question took him by surprise as the large group around them began to disperse but not nearly as much as the icy fingertips suddenly trailing down his cheek.
            Jasper growled, his hand shooting out to grab hold of the offending hand.
            “Keep your hands to yourself, Stefan,” he snarled, baring his teeth.
            Stefan merely laughed, pulling his hand away and actually wiping it on his jacket before holding out both hands in the universal symbol of an apology.
            “I did not mean to cause you any offence, Jasper,” Stefan murmured, rather unapologetically despite his words and actions. “I was just…curious…”
            His blonde companion laughed.
            “So, little one?” he asked softly. “How much do you know about our Coven?”
            “Nothing at all, I’m afraid,” Draco responded, offering them an unapologetic shrug of his own. “Then again before this week I had only ever met the Denali Coven and that was only because of their close connection with Carlisle and his family.”
            Stefan and his companion shared a look.
            “Don’t go feeling left out, though,” Draco continued somewhat patronisingly, nodding towards the scattered members of the Amazon Coven, the Egyptian Coven and the Irish Coven as he continued, “I didn’t know anything about their Covens either before they arrived to help us.”
Both of the newcomers scoffed loudly.
"The Amazons are barely worthy of the title, feral beasts that they are," the blonde sneered, his voice carrying easily and causing the striking Amazonian vampires to growl. "It is of little wonder that you had never heard of them before as no one else cares to learn of them either."
"However I am disappointed that you have not been taught about either the Egyptians or ourselves," Stefan spoke up, offering Amun, the leader of the Egyptian a Coven, a respectful nod and receiving an equally respectful nod in return. "We are, after all, the oldest Covens in existence. We were around long before those Italian upstarts seized power and inforced their pathetic rules upon the world."
"But then again it is little wonder that you haven't been properly educated in these matters, given that you are a member of the youngest Coven in existence," the blonde concluded quickly, his loud voice carrying once more. "Younger, even, than those goody goody Irish vampires or those trouble making Denali's."
"We have had more pressing things to deal with than ensuring Bella and Draco were suitably educated in matters such as the hierarchy of the various Covens," Edward pointed out somewhat dryly as he and his wife joined Draco and Jasper. "Such as keeping them safe."
"Their safety would never have been an issue if we were still in power," the blonde announced haughtily, glaring up at the significantly taller vampire now standing in front of him. "We had..."
"Wait, in power?" Draco interrupted quickly, frowning at their newest allies as he came to a sudden and surprising conclusion. "You were the ones the Volturi stole their power from? That’s why you hate them so much?"
"I see you are not completely clueless after all, little one..."
"Would you please stop calling me that? It’s almost as bad as ferret…” Draco muttered angrily, glaring at the blonde vampire “What is your name, anyway?"
"Vladimir."
"Vladimir? Seriously?" Draco couldn't help but snort loudly. "Could you have had a more stereotypical name? I mean, the only thing worse would have been if you'd actually been called Dracula…"
Vladimir growled softly.
"Um...if the Volturi Coven is younger than your own then how did they manage to overthrow your leadership like they did?" Bella asked softly, leaning into her husband’s side when her question drew everyone's gaze across to her.
Stefan smiled darkly.
"Would you like to hear the story of our Coven, my young friends?" he asked, spreading his hands wide before him as his gaze moved back and forth between Bella and Draco. “I must warn you, it is not a pretty tale.”
"All right," Draco agreed for the both of them. "But perhaps we could move somewhere a little more comfortable? I might not be very far along yet but this little one is already giving me terrible backache..."
Stefan and Vladimir both reacted dramatically to his casual statement, literally stumbling back a couple of paces as their wide eyes moved to stare at his stomach, watching his hands as they patted the obvious bump which they had obviously failed to notice before then.
"You are pregnant?" Stefan gasped. "How is such a thing possible?"
"Magic, remember?" Draco snorted. "And you have no idea how many times I've had this conversation over the last week or so.”
Pretty much every single Coven had reacted in the same way, leading to him actually having something a script ready prepared explaining what had happened,
            “Long story short – wizards can get pregnant the same way muggle women can, even when their partner is a vampire. However, unlike with Bella’s rapid pregnancy, my magic has smoothed things out and my pregnancy is progressing at a much more controlled rate. Any questions? No? Good. Moving on.”
“Shall we take the rest of this discussion inside?” Edward suggested, gesturing to the open patio doors which led into the currently empty living room.
Nobody objected to his suggestion.
In the end their little group was joined by Hermione, eager to learn more about "vampire society/history", and they spread themselves out around the Cullen's living room, Vladimir and Stefan standing together in front of the fireplace so that they could speak to all of them at once.
"Our Coven was formed by merging the many Covens which had populated Proto-Dacia, or Romania as it is now known, and rapidly became the largest Coven on the face of the globe and thus was raised in the natural hierarchy to become the ruling Coven," Stefan began, his voice as calm and composed as any of Draco teachers had been through the years. "There were ten of us, each of us a leader of one of the smaller Covens before out alliance. Then there were our subordinates, our mates and such and finally our guards. We were strong. We were a force to be reckoned with. And we were worshipped."
"When we ruled, everything came to us. Pray, favour-seekers, diplomats. Such was our power," Vladimir picked up the explanation, his voice slightly less teacher like as it contained an element of arrogance and pride. "But we never put on white hats and called ourselves saints."
"We were honest about what we were," Stefan summarised simply. "There was no need to hide what were from our subjects, the mortals we governed over. They knew that if they pleased us we might be inclined to allow them to one day join our ranks as members of our guard."
Draco frowned to himself as he concluded that, despite their protests of being nothing like the Volturi the only really difference between them was that the Romanians were content to be known for what they were, to be known as blood sucking creatures of the night, rather than rule from the shadows.
“I am ashamed to admit that when we first heard of this new Coven emerging in Italy we barely spared them a passing thought. As such we greatly underestimated the threat they would someday pose to us," Stefan continued, unaware of Draco’s conclusion. "We valued physical strength while Aro, in his infinite wisdom, valued the supernatural abilities which had begun appearing in some vampires. These gifts seem to be more common nowadays but back then they were quite a rarity and as such too much of a hassle to track down, at least in our opinion."
"We were at war with the Italian scum for almost a century," Vladimir announced gravely, his eyes holding an anger which burned even to this day. "In the end only three of us survived the final battle and the subsequent executions; Stefan, myself and Lucretia, my mate."
"Ekaterina, my mate, was one of the last to be executed that day and there was nothing I could do," Stefan's voice still harboured the pain he must have felt and Draco couldn't imagine anything worse than being forced to watch Jasper die.
He'd seen it too many times in his dreams.
He knew he wouldn't survive if he lost his husband in real life.
"We vowed that one day we would have our revenge," Vladimir continued, his eyes glinting with the prospect of finally getting the revenge they seemed through the situation going on around them. "We viewed that one day we would force them to suffer as we have suffered."
"What happened to your mate?" Bella asked softly, her expression giving away the fact that she had put voice to her thoughts before truly considering what she was asking to know. “I’m sorry. I…”
Vladimir's body went rigid as he turned to look at the flames flickering in the modern fireplace, a pointless fireplace in Draco’s opinion as it was unsuitable for Floor travel and far too awkward to use for Fire-Calling.
"She was killed during one of our attempts to achieve our revenge," he spoke softly, keeping his back to them as he recounted what was undoubtedly the worst moment of his life. "We had recruited almost a hundred vampires to our cause, most of them newborns, in the hopes that such vast numbers would give us the advantage we needed to win the battle."
"I take it that wasn't the case..." Draco murmured sympathetically.
Vladimir chuckled coldly, finally turning to face them once more.
"Aro had been busy recruiting as well," he explained, his facial expression as cold as his voice while his hands clenched into fists at his sides. "And on that particular day he presented his most recent acquisitions..."
"The witch twins of England," Stefan growled. "We laughed when they stepped out ahead of the Volturi guard, this little boy and girl who didn't look like they could harm a fly between them."
"We could do nothing but watch as they incapacitated our entire army with lifting a finger against them," Vladimir growled, his knuckles cracking loudly as his clenched fists tightened even more. "Alec was singularly responsible for almost all of their deaths. He took away their senses, left them completely exposed to attack. Jane, on the other hand, was responsible for fewer deaths but it was what she did to them...she enjoyed tormenting them. Putting them through...through such pain. She laughed as my mate pleaded for an end to the pain."
Before any of them realised what he was doing the blonde vampire lashed out, burying his strong fist deep inside the nearest wall as though it were made of nothing more than paper rather than plaster and brickwork.
"She laughed..." he repeated, sagging as he pulled his hand from the hole in the wall before straightening once more, his expression even angrier than before. "One day I will laugh as she pleads for mercy. I shall laugh and laugh and then I shall let her live. I shall keep her alive for as long as I see fit, torturing her over and over again. I will make her suffer for everything she has done. I will..."
"Vladimir!" Stefan barked sharply.
Draco couldn't stop himself from shuddering, his hands reaching out to grab hold of his mate as he lowered his mental shields, welcoming his husbands calming presence into his mind in an effort to drown out the mixture of memories and nightmares Vladimir's words had stirred in his mind.
"Our time is coming," Stefan reassured his friend sharply, gripping hold of the blondes shoulder. "But we must be patient. Do not allow yourself to get carried away until their demise is certain."
Vladimir nodded once, sharply, to show that he understood.
"If...if they used Alec and Jane then how...how did you two manage to survive?" Hermione asked softly from where she had actually been taking notes of what was being said, her quill scratching on the large sheet of parchment.
"We survived because we weren't there," Stefan chuckled mirthlessly, eyeing the witch’s ancient writing implements in amusement. "We could see and hear everything but we were waiting to spring an attack on the expected Volturi retreat only it never came. We escaped with our lives but only because Aro no longer believes us to be a threat to him and his precious Coven."
"He checks up on us every couple of decades or so, sends out his sniffer dog to find us, to make sure we're not building another army to challenge them," Vladimir's chuckle was equally as mirthless. "As if we'd be stupid enough to make the same mistake twice. No, now we wait for the day that they will lose their power, the day when another power presents itself to challenge them. And then we will strike."
"And that's why you're here?" Bella asked worriedly, her eyes darting back and forth between the room’s occupants. "You think we're that other power?"
Vladimir and Stefan merely smirked in response.
"I'm sorry for your loss...es," Draco found himself murmuring, surprised by his own sincerity. "And I can fully understand your hatred of the Volturi. But you have to know that fighting is a last resort for us..."
"We are aware of this fact, yes," Stefan responded calmly, smirking down at the blond wizard as he continued speaking, "But we also know how the Volturi operate and the chances of this being resolved without a fight are very slim indeed."
"And you do realise that even if you're successful and the Volturi are destroyed things will never go back to the way things were before, right?" Draco pressed as gently as he could, not wanting to anger the two obviously deadly vampires but also needing to make sure they understood. "The worlds changed too much for your old way of life to work."
"We are aware of this as well, little one," Stefan's voice was a little terser this time before he smiled ominously. "Not that it matters as we have grown to enjoy the hunt. It keeps us active, shall we say, and getting the blood pumping in your prey makes it taste all the sweeter."
“In times of old we sat still for a very long time,” Vladimir added. “Contemplating our own divinity, believing that it was a sign of our power that everything came to us. We didn’t notice for a long time that we were changing, almost petrifying. I suppose the Volturi did us one favour when they burned our castles. Stefan and I, at least, did not continue to petrify.”
Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Hermione shudder lightly and if took him a moment to remember that during the trouble with the Chamber of Secrets she was one of the students who had been petrified by the basilisk.
“Now the Volturi’s eyes are filled with dusty scum, but ours are bright,” he concluded with a triumphant smirk. “I imagine that will give us an advantage when we gouge theirs from their sockets.”
Draco grimaced.
"Um, as a living, breathing, blood pumping member of the human race I would just like to say that the whole hunting humans to drink their blood thing is really, really gross and definitely not something which should be treated as casually as it sometimes is," he announced as firmly as his unsettled stomach would allow him to, rubbing a gentle hand across the underside of his bump.
Hermione, the only other mortal in the room, nodded in agreement.
"We shall have to wait and see if you still feel the same after your transformation, little one," Vladimir chuckled loudly. "Not everyone's stomach can handle the blood of animals, after all."
            Draco shuddered at the thought.
            He would not spend the rest of his immortal life surviving off the blood of innocent humans like some sort of monster so if it turned out that he couldn’t survive on animal blood then…then he would…
            “All will be well, my love,” Jasper murmured softly in his ear, pulling his husband into his lap and tucking his head under his chin. “If I can learn to live off the blood of animals after over a hundred years feeding off of humans then you will be able to make the change after the short while your body will require human blood.”
            “In the meantime you still require sustenance of a different kind,” Esme announced as she entered the room with a plateful of food in each hand, the first of which she passed to Hermione.” Here you go dear, don’t forget you’re eating for two as well. You need to build up your strength.”
            “Thank you, Mrs Cullen.”
            “Call me Esme, dear,” the maternal vampire insisted with a smile before moving to pass the second plate of food to Draco. “Eat up, both of you. Don’t forget we’re all gathering for a chat in a little while.”
            “Thank you, Esme.”
            Draco and Hermione tucked into their food with gusto, barely noticing the Stefan and Vladimir leave the room only to be replaced with the rest of the Cullen’s, Lucius and Narcissa and Ron, checking up on his wife.
            “Where’s Renesmee?” Bella asked Rosalie with a frown.
            “She and Teddy as still causing havoc with that crazy witch,” the striking vampire responded, frowning at the state of the wall. “Who did that?”
            “Vladimir.”
            “Such a mess,” Narcissa tutted loudly, drawing her wand and fixing the damage that had been made to the wall with a quick. “Repairo.”
            “Thank you, Narcissa,” Esme smiled at the elegant witch as she emerged from the kitchen with three more plates of food. Ron accepted his eagerly. “I wasn’t looking forwards to having to sort that out later on.”
            Lucius and Narcissa accepted their own plates of food with polite gratitude.
When the time came for everyone to gather once more Draco noticed immediately that everyone had settled into their three distinct groups and whether that was intentional or note had no idea.
The vampires had gathered on the wooden decking behind the house, each Coven standing together with the nomads scattered between them although Garrett was standing with the Denali's, obviously still taken with Kate despite the shock she'd given him during her demonstration.
The Witches and Wizards were gathered on the ground below the wooden decking, their manner significantly more relaxed than the other two groups to the point where most of them were gathered around picnic blankets or reclining in brightly coloured deck chairs, everyone mingling together as both house and family rivalries had been put aside for the moment.
And to the back of the magical contingent, significantly closer to the tree line, were both the Black Pack and the Uley Pack standing apart from one another, thankfully all of them in human form for the moment.
Jacob stood apart from them, cradling his sleeping son in his arms whilst he and Harry sat on either side of Teddy and Renesmee on the steps leading up to wooden decking, helping them with their colouring in after the pair of them had refused to be separated when everyone had started to gather.
"I've placed a Sonorus charm on the area,” Hermione announced as Carlisle stepped forwards to speak, her voice carrying effortlessly to each and every person there thanks to her prior planning. "It will allow us mere mortals to hear everything that is said without anyone having to raise their voice."
"Thank you, Hermione," Carlisle murmured, inclining his head towards her before addressing the large crowd surrounding him. "I would like to begin once more by thanking all of you for coming to aid us in our time of need. Most of you have had the chance to meet Renesmee and understand what is at stake.”
A murmur of agreement spread through the group.
“Now Eleazar and I have been talking and we have come to a worrying conclusion," Carlisle continued seriously, beckoning his old friend to join him.
"When Aro wants someone from a Coven it's never long before evidence turns up proving that Coven committed some crime," Eleazar explained as he joined Carlisle where he was stood at the front of the top of the steps.
"So he's done this before?" Bella gasped.
Eleazar sighed sadly, offering her a nod before continuing softly,
"It happens so rarely I never realised it was a pattern."
"Apparently he always pardons one person,” Carlisle continued the explanation with a slight grimace, “whose thoughts he claims are repentant."
Eleazar nodded.
"This person always has an ability," he explained simply, shooting Kate, his gifted daughter, a worried look. "And they're always given a place within the guard."
"This is all about Alice," Edward realised, looking around briefly for his sister before remembering that she and Charlie had left them. "He has no one like her."
"Which is probably why she left," Draco pointed out from where he was stood all but pressed against his husband’s, his hands gripping the belt loops on Jaspers jeans. Vladimir and Stefan, his new friends, were stood on his other side. "So that she wouldn't be here to tempt him."
It was Emmett who piped up with a valid question next,
"What does he need witnesses for?"
"To spread the word that justice has been served," Alistair, the reclusive nomad who had hardly left the attic since arriving answered as he stepped out of the house to join the large gathering on the wooden decking, a look of distaste twisting his features. "After he slaughters an entire Coven."
Amun shared a strained look with his mate, Kebi, before pushing himself off of the railing he'd been leaning against up until that moment and began making his way towards the steps, calling over his shoulder,
"Benjamin. Tia. We're leaving."
"And where will you go?" Edward asked, causing the ancient vampire to pause halfway down the steps. "What makes you think they'll be satisfied with Alice? What's to stop them from going after Benjamin next, or Zafrina or Kate or anyone else with a gift? Anyone they want?"
Several of the vampires shared worried looks as his impassioned words penetrated through their thoughts.
"Their goal isn't punishment, its power, its acquisition," Edward continued, stepping forwards to stand beside his father. "Carlisle might not ask you to fight but I will. For the sake of my family but also for yours. And for the way you want to live."
For a long moment everyone was silent as they considered his passionate words until finally Jacob rose from his seat on the steps and turned to face the group of vampires leading the discussion, announcing firmly for all to hear,
"The Packs will fight. We've never been afraid of vampires."
Tanya stepped forwards next as spokeswoman for the Denali Coven.
"We will fight."
"This won't be the first time I've fought a Kings rule," Garrett chuckled softly, offering Kate what could only be described as a roguish smile. “Although last time round my comrades in arms weren’t nearly so fascinating…”
"We'll join you," Benjamin spoke up for himself and his mate, Tia.
Amun, still standing halfway down the steps with his mate, spun around to stare at his precious child in shock, his eyes going wide with pure fear and panic...although Draco got the feeling it wasn't so much worry for Benjamin's safety, more of losing his control over the elemental.
"No..."
"I will do the right thing, Amun," Benjamin warned him, his tone deadly serious as he rebelled against his maker. "You may do as you please."
"We will stand with you," Zafrina spoke up next, followed closely by Siobhan of the Irish Coven who reminded many of them of Molly Weasley, "So will we."
Others merely nodded to show their agreement.
Vladimir smirked.
"That didn't take much…”
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Edward muttered once everyone had pledged their allegiance to the cause, his eyes travelling to his daughter who smiled up at him from where she was now teaching Teddy how to make "music" with a blade of grass between her thumbs.
"We'll see..." Alistair, ever the pessimist, muttered in Carlisle’s ear as he moved his way across the wooden decking and down the steps, the witches and wizards moving out of his way as he walked towards the treeline. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m feeling rather peckish…”
            He was out of sight before Draco could even blink.
            “Draco?” Carlisle murmured softly. “Perhaps you’d like to say something?”
            He wanted to say no.
            He really wanted to say no.
            Unfortunately he didn’t appear to have much choice in the matter as not a single witch or wizard had pledged themselves to the cause as of yet and technically they were there to act as his witnesses.
            Releasing the tight grip he had on his husband’s jean he cleared his throat before stepping forwards to take his place beside his father-in-law, looking out at the sea of familiar faces all waiting for him to speak.
            He sighed.
            “Look…” he began softly, desperately trying to think of something motivating to say and coming up short, leaving him with no choice but to fall back on his usual snarky attitude and biting words. “I’m not going to pretend that you came to help me or my husband or our family…I mean, some of you did, I know that…but I’m pretty sure you’re in the minority…”
            A couple of people chuckled softly.
            “The majority of you came here for Harry and his sickeningly adorable offspring,” he continued, nodding towards the baby snuggling against Jacob’s shoulder. “However this doesn't change the fact that you're here, putting your lives on the line for yet another worthy cause so I guess I should say thank you.”
George wasn't the only one to laugh out loud following Draco's typically insincere apology but he was the only one who called out, still laughing loudly,
"Try not to strain yourself, Malfoy!"
It wasn’t difficult for Draco to find the handsome face in the crowd, the remaining Weasley twin standing head and shoulders above everyone else.
"That's Malfoy-Whitlock if you don't mind, Weasley," he corrected the older wizard with a good natured smirk, actually lifting his left hand and wiggling his fingers at the redhead so that his wedding caught the fading light. "Or have all those explosions started to affect your memory already?"
George’s responding guffaw of laughter was joined by numerous others.
"Now you've all heard how ugly this thing could get," he continued, gesturing vaguely towards Carlisle and Eleazar. "And we've all learnt enough about vampires to know how dangerous they can be...present company excluded...for the moment as I'm pretty sure some of you can be quite dangerous when you want to be..."
Carlisle coughed, interrupting his rambling words.
"Sorry," he apologised, shaking his head sharply before addressing his audience once more. "I have no right to ask any of you to fight in another war, not after everything that we've already been through. So I won't. The choice is entirely yours and no one will hold it against you if you decide that you'd rather go back home to the peace and quiet we've all earned."
Not a single person moved.
"Just so you know that was your cue to, you know, leave…if you want to…" Draco pointed out just in case they hadn't picked up on that fact.
Still no one moved.
"Huh..." Draco exhaled loudly, his usual apathetic mask replaced with one of genuine surprise as everyone remained firmly in place. He'd been expecting at least half of them to leave. "So...does that mean you're with us?"
"You can't get rid of us that easily, Malfoy!” Seamus called out with a bright laugh before gasping dramatically. “Sorry, I meant Malfoy-Whitlock!”
Draco chuckled, shaking his head towards to the Irish teen.
            “Thank you, all of you,” Carlisle murmured sincerely, placing a hand on Draco’s shoulder and squeezing the joint lightly. "As I said hopefully it won't come to a fight but if it does we shall need to be prepared."
Stepping away from his father-in-law with a smile Draco made his way back over to his husband, eagerly stepping into the circle of his arms and snuggling up against Jaspers chest as the crowd began to disperse for the evening, already discussing the possibilities of training together as one big group the following day.
"Ok, bed time for little boys and girls," Harry announced calmly, rising from his seated position on the steps with a soft groan and lifting Teddy up into his arms, JJ safely cradled in his husbands arms.
Bella moved instantaneously to pick up her daughter who, just like any other child would be, was pouting for all she was worth and murmuring about not wanting to go to bed yet, begging softly for five more minutes.
            Of course her mother won the age old argument and the little girl was whisked away by her parents to their little cottage in the woods, waving unhappily over her father’s shoulder towards Teddy as the two children were carried away in opposite directions, the little boy responding with a tired wave of his own.
            Draco sighed.
            To think he and his family had moved to Forks in an effort to find some sort of peace after the nightmare they had somehow managed to survive back home only for trouble to follow them like a bad smell.
            “Draco?” his husband murmured worriedly, nuzzling into the side of his neck. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
            “Just…” Draco trailed off, losing the energy for what he knew would be an emotionally draining conversation before it had even begun. “I’m just tired,” he announced instead, being completely honest in his evasion. “And kind of hungry.”
            Jaspers silence spoke volumes.
            His husband didn’t believe him but was willing to let the subject go.
            For now.
            “Then let’s find you something to eat before getting you into bed,” he suggested instead, shifting his hold on his mortal husband so that he could lead the blond wizard back inside the busy house and into the kitchen. “What do you fancy?”
            “Dangerous question…” Draco muttered as his mind finally reminded him of the craving he had been suppressing since earlier that day.
            “Go on…”
            “Pasta and cheese?” Draco asked hopefully, his tummy rumbling eagerly at the suggestion. Jasper frowned. “You know, when you put grated cheese, preferably English Cheddar, in the bottom of a bowl, add freshly cooked pasta and then sprinkle more grated cheese on top. Then you wait for it to melt before consuming as quickly as possible. You don’t…you don’t do that here?”
            “We might but I certainly never have,” Jasper countered before getting out the supplies he would need to create his husbands desired “snack.”
            Draco slipped onto one of the stools at the breakfast bar, smiling as a large glass of water was immediately placed in front of him by Esme who immediately moved to aid Jasper in his cooking without being asked to.
            And so for a few minutes Draco was almost able to forget the impending doom he and Bella had all but certainly brought down upon the people they loved.
            Almost.

A/N This isn’t where I wanted to end this chapter but then I noticed how long it was getting (completely by accident I’d like to add) and decided to split it up into two. I hope it didn’t disappoint and I have officially found a new favourite to write scenes/dialogue for – Vladimir. Particularly when battling verbally with a sassy/snarky Draco. That scene was a lot of fun to write…at work…whilst hoping no one noticed me tapping away on my tablet. Naughty me. Anyway to cut this ramble off before it becomes too much comments are always welcome and definitely much appreciated and hopefully the next chapter will be forthcoming reasonably soon. X
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Of Lions And Lambs - Part Four