A/N: yes, yes, we know we took a bit longer this time… but the younger writer was busy at school, the older with her other story (link below). So: here goes!

Ch.3

One day towards the end of August Carlisle and Esme had been out hunting. When they came back, a heated discussion was going on in the living room.

"I said, nothing with feathers!" Rosalie.

"No idea what you're talking about", Jasper sounding clueless.

Edward acted as the interpreter, sounding as if he was at the end of his tether. "She thinks you brought the bird in and messed up the living room."

"Why the hell would I do something like that?" Jasper looked completely dumbfounded, but from his expression it was clear to Carlisle that his patience with Rosalie was wearing thin. Alice must have guessed the same, because she was already close to her husband, trying to calm him down.

Edward went on nonetheless. "Because she is still convinced that it was you who brought in the pesky squirrel last week and are set on destroying her last days in peace here."

"Eh, Rose…" Emmett said deeply embarrassed. "The squirrel… eh… that was me, I wanted a snack for watching the soccer game, and as for the bird…"

("That's why he was so eager to help cleaning up", Alice whispered to Edward, who nodded grinning widely.")

"If you start eating birds, you can forget about sharing a room with me!" Rosalie hissed.

"Let me finish for once", Emmett exploded. "If I could have gotten a word in there somewhere, this whole discussion might have been finished ages ago."

Now he had everybody's full attention.

"Oh", surprised. "Ok, it was flying against the window, and when I opened that, the stupid owl thing flew in. I tried everything I could think of to get it out again, but it wouldn't budge. In the end, it even tried to bite me, so I… slapped it."

Jasper and Carlisle stifled a laugh.

"Oh dear", Edward said. "Didn't you read that book?"

"Which one? I've been doing nothin' but readin', I've been reading so much it feels my head is turning into paper any minute", Emmett grumbled.

"Well, you don't seem to have remembered a lot. Wizards use owls for mail. You may just have killed Dumbledore's messenger." Jasper answered. "Now what?" He looked to Carlisle who was scratching his chin.

"The poor bird", Esme commiserated, and bent down to retrieve what Emmett had left over. "Oh, there was something attached to its leg." She gave a small roll of parchment to her husband who read it frowning.

"It looks as if there is an emergency. I don't understand all the implications yet, but apparently Harry Potter has done magic and is in some kind of trouble. Dumbledore wants us at the headquarter for a strategic session."

"A strategic session because a teenager is in trouble?" Rosalie was stunned. "How bad is it? Did he kill anyone?"

"I'm not sure about what's going on either, and I don't think it's a good idea if we turn up at their doorstep in full force, they might be intimidated by that, but…"

"Let me come", Alice squeaked. "I bet they're planning how to get Harry out of trouble, and if I come I could tell them if it will work."

"Yes, you're right", Carlisle agreed, "I'd also like Jasper along if you don't mind?" He turned to the tall blonde vampire, who nodded interestedly at once." Esme prodded him. "Ah yes, and Edward too, so we know what they're thinking."

"You think they could be dangerous? To us?" Edward was surprised. Then he remembered that Carlisle had been blocking his thoughts sometimes when he returned from London.

"They are quite… powerful, you see, and Esme is worried." He turned to Emmett. "If we're not back by midnight, you go to my room and read the note on the table. The address in London will be on it, that's where we're going."

Emmett nodded and the delegation left for London in Carlisle's rent car with Edward at the wheel.

"Left! Left, damnit!" Jasper kept repeating. "Left, you bobble-head idiot!"

"If you bothered to look out the window, you would see that there is not one left turning in sight", his brother told him arrogantly and continued on his way down the quiet country road.

Jasper sighed. "If you bothered to pay attention, you would have realised you're in England where people – and vampires – drive on the left side of the… aaahhh! Edward!"

"Oh, sorry, never mind", Edward replied coolly after the close collision with a lorry going round the roundabout the right way, i.e. coming at them. "I've never had an accident."

For the umpteenth time Carlisle wondered if he really had done the right thing. Well, there was no going back now.

On a slightly more serious note: check out my London Vampire Mystery at .com/s/2870914/1