Chapter 1
"Had he really done the right thing?" Dumbledore absentmindedly reached into the bag of sweets again, which had been provided by the airline for first class passengers. Those licorice cats were definitely something they should stock in the magic world as well – much less trouble than hunting after ##. The comfort one could enjoy travelling like a muggle was quite extraordinary, too, plus going to the International Wizards' History Conference incognito had been the only choice after the Dark Lord had returned and you couldn't be sure anymore about who was supporting him and watching the normal wizard travel channels.
Obviously the greatest wizard of his time and headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had not gone attended the rather nerdy conference to exchange views about what exactly had set off the 12th century goblin-troll war that had resulted in the unfortunate execution by frying pan of the troll chieftain Gargle on the wall of the city of Lower Nettleton. Dumbledore's reasons for travelling to Salem/Massachusetts had been rather grim. After the Voldemort's reappearance and the Ministry of Magic's criminally ignorant attitude to it, stealthy measures were what was required. Not everybody in the re-awakened Order of the Phoenix had agreed with him that international cooperation was needed. There were those confident (why Dumbledore could not have said, looking back on the disastrous first war against Voldemort) that a British problem could only be solved by British wizards, but Dumbledore had gone ahead anyway. He had wanted to confer with the American side on how to deal with the situation, and knowing that the American Minister of Magic's wife was one of the foremost witches in the American Historical Association, he had gone to Salem. Unfortunately Philomena Newteye-Johnson had been struck down by an accident (distracted by the discovery of a new account of the Salem trial she had forgotten to summon back the library ladder which she had used to get to the top shelves) and could not attend at all.
So Dumbledore had wandered around the conference lost – bored by the lectures, and thus had run into this strange other person who seemed equally bored and lost. The collision had ended by Dumbledore bumping of his opposite and hitting his backside hard on the floor of the entrance hall. Embarrassed, he had apologised profusely to the young blond man, who looked not a day older than 23, wondering why that slight man could cause a serious wizard like him to hit the floor. Those American wizards definitely did too much fitness training.
To his surprise the young man answered his apology in the most beautiful British English he had heard since leaving Hogwarts, helping him up and introduced himself as Dr. Carlisle Cullen, M.D.
Still stunned out of his good manners Dumbledore blurted out. "If you're a medical doctor, what are you doing here then? The International Healers' Conference is supposed to take place in Boston in two weeks."
A look of utter disappointment came into the young man's eyes. "I knew, this was the wrong event," he muttered in such a deject voice that Dumbledore found himself comforting him. "There, there, I don't think the lectures will be much more interesting at that event. My nurse never goes if she can avoid it, and I would trust Poppy Pomfrey's judgement very far. My name is Albus Dumbledore by the way." He held out a hand, noticing two things as he did so: the young man had obviously gate-crashed the Wizards' Conference (otherwise he would have know Dumbledore on sight – what child who grew up in the wizarding world did not?). Second – even though Dumbledore was becoming more and more convinced by the minute that Carlisle was not a human at all – he was intrigued, but not threatened, and when Carlisle had admitted to being a vampire and explained about his family's lifestyle – Dumbledore was not surprised at all. He had heard rumours about that family for years, and at the back of his mind a plan was forming, which meant something good at least could come out of this wasted journey after all.
The two men had spent the next two hours talking animatedly, agreeing to have dinner together. In the early hours they had come up with a plan that suited both: Dumbledore agreed to take in the Cullen clan (details would have to be decided later), so that Carlisle could study wizard nature (DNA etc.) in exchange for the Cullens' special gift in the fight against Voldemort.