A/N: This chapter ends a bit abruptly. I realized that this scene was getting ridiculously long so I split it up. I'm actually still working on the next chapter, which is part of the same scene. Who knows? Maybe it will end up being 3 or 4 chapters. But anyway, the next chapter will pick up right from where this one leaves off.

"But how do the special abilities work?" The woman—Hermione—had been asking questions throughout the journey. We now stepped into a small pub called The Leaky Cauldron, which did not look like a very inviting place to be. Most of the customers were wearing robes and the barman looked up hopefully as we strolled in.

"Nobody really knows," Mom responded, politely. "We think the venom amplifies whatever abilities we had before the bite. I was already immune to the mind-related powers, and Edward must have been very talented at reading people. Alice was already in an institution for her ability to see the future before she was bitten."

"Maybe if Professor Trelawney had been bitten, she would have been a proper teacher," Hermione muttered to her friend.

Professor Longbottom looked like he was fighting the urge to laugh. "You do realize you're talking about my colleague?"

"Former colleague," Hermione reminded him with a grin, "and they haven't found another divination teacher since Firenze was allowed back into the forest."

"I'm not sure Minerva looked very hard."

"Well I'm glad. Now my kids won't be taking—"

"Your kids," Professor Longbottom interrupted, "won't be attending school for several more years." He looked down at me with his normal friendly smile. "Now," we had made our way through the pub into a small opening in the back with a trashcan and a large brick wall. Professor Longbottom stared at the wall for a moment as if counting bricks. He removed a long stick, like Hermione had used earlier, and tapped three times on a brick. A small hole appeared in the wall, which proceeded to grow into a large archway into a crowded marketplace. Professor smiled at me as he continued, "let's have a look at your supply list."

I reached into the envelope he had given me earlier and pulled out the second piece of paper, which was the list of everything I needed for my first year of school. I read out loud:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

UNIFORM
First-year students will require:
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags

COURSE BOOKS
All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)
by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
(Second War additions by Justin Finch-Fletchley)
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi
by Phyllida Spore
Starter's Potions by Rowanda Calley
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Second Edition)
By Newt Scamander
Methods of Defense Against Dark Magic by Gladimore Worwak

OTHER EQUIPMENT
1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED
THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

By now, we were standing in front of a large building Professor Longbottom had led us to. He stared up at it and smiled. "Gringotts Bank. Only twice have people broken into a vault. Only once was anything ever taken." He glanced at Hermione as he finished. She wore a blush and a small smile.

"There's different money?" Dad questioned, slight nerves in his voice. "We have plenty of—" he trailed off, staring up at the large building, "but no wizarding money."

"We can make an exchange," Hermione informed us, leading the way into the bank. Once inside, she strolled up to a blonde woman that could make Aunt Rosalie feels insecure.

The blond woman immediately motioned for her approaching coworker to stay away, stating, "Zis ees my seester-in-law. I will take care ov 'er."

"Busy day, Fleur?" Hermione asked, hugging the woman over the counter.

"Oh, yes. Ze children are starting school, so zer parents need money." She lowered her voice and added. "I 'ad to bring Victoire with me. She's in ze back with Bill. 'E wants to take 'er to Ollivander after work."

"She starts school this year!" she smiled. "I'd nearly forgotten." For a moment, Hermione looked like she was thinking hard about something. "She can come with us, if you want."

The blonde woman looked confused. "But Rose eez only—"

"Oh, no. I'm helping Neville with a first-year. Victoire can meet a future classmate." She glanced toward Professor Longbottom as she finished. He nodded in support of the idea.

"Oh, zat would be wonderful! I was afraid Victoire would leave only knowing Teddy." She took out a quill and wrote on a piece of paper, which proceeded to fold itself and fly away. I tore my eyes away from the scene in time to glance at Mom, who looked just as amazed as I felt. "Now," the woman put her attention back to her work, "'ow can I 'elp you?"

"We need to make an exchange."

Just then, a redheaded man ran out of a room, yelling after a strawberry blond-haired girl. "Be careful, Victoire! Don't run into anything!" Then he spotted Hermione and smiled brightly, which only emphasized the large scars on his face. He somehow reminded me of Jake's friend Emily. "There's my favorite sister-in-law!" The girl jumped into Hermione's arms as she reached her.

Hermione hugged the girl then looked over toward her father. "If Angelina heard you talking like that," she laughed, "she'd have your tongue locked in a box."

"Well, then, she better not find out." He kissed Hermione one the cheek and pulled his daughter from her arms and placed her on the ground.

"Victoire," Hermione looked to the girl as she spoke, but motioned towards me. "This is Renesmee Cullen. She will be attending Hogwarts with you this year." Then she looked my way. "Renesmee, I'd like you to meet my niece, Victoire Weasley."

The girl held out her hand and I made sure not to think anything about her or any of the people she knew as I shook it politely. My thoughts immediately transferred to Jake. Her eyes grew to an unnatural size as she stared at me. She must have seen him. "How did you do that?" she asked.

"It's my power." I guess it's not even a normal power to have in this world. "My dad's a mind-reader and Mom's a human shield." I motioned to each of my parents as I explained. She still looked amazed. "Is that weird?"

"It's just," Professor Longbottom responded before the girl had a chance, "we have to build up skills to master those types of abilities. They don't come naturally to us." I nodded, still not quite understanding.

"Although," Hermione cut into the conversation, turning away from her sister-in-law with a bag full of wizarding money, "I'm working on a theory about that." Nobody responded, though Dad looked bewildered by what she was thinking. "I think these powers are a sign of magical blood. It's not enough in most people's human lives to get them accepted to Hogwarts, but once they are bitten, it exemplifies the small amount of blood into whatever the muggle had already had an aptitude for." She glanced down at me and smiled. "It would explain the mystery of the muggle-borns."

"So then," Dad began, "when two people with a little magical blood, like Bella and me, have a baby—"

"Her powers would be strong enough to get her to Hogwarts. Exactly."

"But what about wizards that are bitten?"

"Well," for the first time, Hermione looked unsure, "we take wands away immediately, so we don't know if vampires keep their powers. And we've never met a vegetarian, so we've never gotten close enough as to see if they have these special powers. But I'd assume theirs would be even stronger." She glanced at Mom and Dad, who looked slightly nervous. "Or they'd have multiple powers." Then she looked back to Neville, who seemed to be thinking hard about the subject. "Harry would probably be able to fly on his own. Voldemort would have been a minder-reader, no doubt."

"You're saying," the strawberry-blond girl spoke as we exited the bank and made our way down the street, "you're a vampire?" The question was directed toward me. The adults laughed at her realization.

"Half." I responded, plainly. "My dad didn't change my mom until right after I was born."

"So your parents—" she looked up at them with fear, and Dad had a slight sign of pain in his own eyes.

"Victoire," Hermione warned, "what have we always told you about judging any type of creature by their stereotype?"

"Never do it. If the stereotypes were all right, my best friend would be—Teddy!" With that, she took off running into a crowd of people.

"Well, he's always Teddy." Hermione laughed as the girl ran up to a blue-haired boy in the center of the crowd. "But I think she got the point." We followed the girl up to the boy and a shaggy-haired man with glasses. "Hi, Harry." They kissed on the cheek and Professor Longbottom shook hands with the man.

"Getting supplies, Ted?" Professor Longbottom asked the little boy.

His hair changed to a light brown as he looked up. "Yes, professor." How did he do that? Can they all do that?

"This," Hermione pushed me forward towards the other children, "is Renesmee Cullen. She will be starting Hogwarts this year."

"Muggle-born, then?" The new man asked, looking toward Professor Longbottom.

"She's a vampire!" Victoire stated.

The man looked at Hermione, who placed one hand on the girl's shoulder and the other on mine. "Half." She smiled at the man's surprised expression. "Renesmee, why don't you show Harry what we were discussing about how powers work?"

I glanced around—first at Hermione, to decide if she meant what I thought she meant, then to my parents to see if they thought this was a good idea. They nodded, and I held my hand out to the man. He glanced at Hermione, who nodded, then proceeded to take my hand as I replayed the conversation of Hermione's discoveries in my head.

He gave Hermione a small smile. "You're probably right." He laughed almost nervously. "You always are." He glanced back at me, thoughtfully.

"She can't hear your thoughts," Dad answered his silent question. Harry looked up at Dad for the first time, glanced at Mom, and focused back on Dad. "That's my power."

"Most of the vampires with these powers only have one," Hermione explained. "That's what makes Renesmee so unique to be attending Hogwarts." She looked at Dad, who was staring at the man. "And you'll have to excuse Harry. He's never quite taken to the art of Occlumency."

"It's not just that," Dad responded. "He seems to think I remind him of someone, but can't remember who."

But before anyone else could speak, a redheaded woman approached holding a little girl with identical hair to hers in her arms, with two boys—one with darker red hair and the other looking strikingly similar to Harry—walking on either side of her. "Sorry, Harry. One of George's pranks went awry and we had to chase Albus's nose all around the—oi!" She jumped as she noticed our group standing in front of her husband. "Sorry," her face turned pink with embarrassment. She directed her apology at Dad. "You look just like a boy that died when I was thirteen."

"Cedric!" Harry exclaimed, relieved just to realize who he couldn't remember before. "Of course. You'd think I'd remember the first person I watched die," he sighed. "The first one I can really remember, at least." The redheaded woman rested a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"The first?" I asked. "Have you seen a lot?"

"You'll learn all about Harry in school." Hermione explained.

"Don't remind me." Harry mumbled.

Hermione ignored him as Professor Longbottom spoke. "We'd better get going. We have a lot to do." He started walking down the street. "Shall we get books first so Teddy can join us?"

"Yeah!" Victoire exclaimed, pulling the boy behind her. His hair was blue again. They stormed into a store called Flourish and Blotts, where they stopped just inside the door.

"All right, you three," Professor Longbottom began, "why don't you catch up and get to know each other while we get your supplies?" I reached into my pocket again and handed him my letter. "If you would follow me," he was talking to Mom and Dad now, "I can answer any questions you might have." They disappeared into an isle of books the size of a small television.

"Teddy," Harry said, "Ginny's got Lily, but if you could watch James and Albus for me--?" The question faded.

"I'll help him, Uncle Harry!" Victoire squealed. And with a smile, Harry disappeared into the same isle with his wife and daughter. I watched them leave, then turned to Teddy and Victoire.

"Are you two related to everyone?"

Haha sorry about the Cedric thing. I felt it needed to be done ;-).