Renesmee Cullen and the Angel's Domain

Chapter 4: Divination and Magical Creatures

Renesmee woke up the next morning feeling fully rested and ready for her first lessons. Rose Weasley was tying the laces on her shoes when Renesmee pulled out her daily clothes and put her school robes on over them. "Good morning, Rose," she said happily. "Sleep well?"

"Very well, thanks," Rose said grinning. "Let's head to breakfast." Renesmee nodded and the two went to breakfast together. The two of them barely sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast when Professor Finnigan handed them their schedules. "Herbology right after breakfast, Potions and Divination for the morning classes, Care of Magical Creatures after lunch and then Transfiguration, Charms and D.A.D.A.! We've got a very busy day."

"No kidding," said Renesmee staring at her own schedule. "I'm taking my uncle Jasper's Mythology class and I've got him tomorrow morning after Herbology." She finished off her plate of pancakes, eggs and sausage, drained her goblet of pumpkin juice and said, "Okay, let's get going to Herbology!"

Professor Longbottom was waiting for them in Greenhouse Three with pots of what looked like white eggs with little pink spots on them. "Puffapods!" he announced. "You are going be learning how to harvest them!" He gestured to the little bulbs and showed them how to harvest them. Within a few moments, Professor Longbottom had in his hand a number of large, pink seedpods. "After you harvest the seeds, you will plant your own Puffapods and mark them with your names."

Renesmee went to work on harvesting her Puffapod and, within a few moments, had ended up with a small amount of seedpods. She then planted the seeds in the soil, spread a little mooncalf soil and some water. Professor Longbottom watched them all closely and, by the time the bell rang, he asked them to write an essay on the magical properties of the Puffapods and what they were used for, then Renesmee and the other Gryffindors headed to Potions with the Slytherins.

Professor Malfoy was considerably nicer this year and got everyone to start brewing a Confusing Concoction. "This potion will be in your end-of-the-year exams as a practical test." he announced, "so make sure you have your ingredients and brew it correctly." He walked around the room as the students started brewing their potions. "If you need any extra ingredients, they are in the cupboard. For this potion you need scurvy grass, lovage and sneezewart."

"I've got everything, I think," said Renesmee and took out plastic bags full of the ingredients. She looked at the textbook she needed for third year Potions and took her time with the instructions. Within the hour, Renesmee had almost completed her Confusing Concoction. "Professor, I'm almost finished with it!" she told Professor Malfoy.

Professor Malfoy looked inside her cauldron and gave an approving nod. "Very good, Miss Cullen. Just a few more stirs clockwise should do the trick and your potion should be finished." While Renesmee finished stirring the potion, he said to the class at large, "I want you to look through your copies of Magical Drafts and Potions for a potion you would like to in tomorrow's lesson. Make sure you know what you're doing and what the potion does. Class dismissed!"

Renesmee's next class was Divination and she and Rose went straight to the seventh floor and took a seat at a small round table. A roaring fire was the main source of light and heat and a strong scent of perfume filled the air. Professor Scamander was standing by the teacher's desk waiting for everyone. "Good morning, class," she said dreamily. "I am Professor Scamander. In this class, you will learn if you have the Sight!" She placed a hand on Albus's shoulder and added, "You will be able to see beyond the Mundane world! But before you are able to do that, you need to broaden your minds, and to do that, you will start with Tessomancy, which is the art of reading tea leaves. The descriptions of symbols are on pages five and six of Unfogging the Future and I ask you now to take a look at the cup opposite you."

Renesmee looked in Rose's teacup and saw two symbols there. The first was an acorn which represented unexpected gold and the other was the sun. Professor Scamander asked her to predict what she saw in the cup. "Well, I see an acorn, so that's a windfall and unexpected gold, and then there's the sun, so that's 'trials and suffering'." She looked at Rose and said, "You're going to find gold and be very happy about it."

"Okay," Rose said uncertainly, "let me try yours, then." She took one look at the cup and gulped. There were three symbols in there. "I see a club which means 'an attack', a skull meaning danger in your path and a falcon which represents a deadly enemy. I think we already know what that means, Ness." Renesmee looked in her own cup and her face turned, if it was possible, even more pale than usual. "Nessie, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Renesmee said in an unnaturally high voice. "Just give me a minute to let this all sink in." The class spent the rest of their time in Divination taking notes on Tessomancy and preparing for Palmistry, something that Professor Scamander was very excited to try. Renesmee, however, was not as excited for only the Potters, Weasleys, Professor Scamander and her own family knew what she was and Renesmee did not want everyone in the classroom knowing about her being a vampire-human hybrid just yet. The bell rang and Renesmee was the first out of the classroom and out by Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures.

Hagrid was standing in his garden with a wooden crate full of brown worms crawling over one another. "Welcome to yer firs' Care o' Magical Creatures lesson, third years!" Hagrid said happily. "Today, we'll be learnin' abou' Flobberworms. These little guys won't harm yeh. Now, Flobberworms are vegetarians, so they'll only eat plants like lettuce and cabbage."

"Will we be feeding them?" Renesmee asked curiously.

"Ar, yeh'll be doin' more than that, Renesmee," said Hagrid with a smile. "Flobberworms can be used as pets 'cause they don' have teeth, see, so they don' bite." Hagrid handed the class a head of lettuce and some cabbage. "Jus' set a few leaves of lettuce an' cabbage on the ground and see what happens."

Renesmee ripped off a few leaves from her head of lettuce and set them on the ground along with a bit of cabbage and her flobberworm inched toward it and started eating away. After it finished eating, the flobberworm crawled toward her and looked up at her. "Aw, it's cute," she said smiling up at Hagrid. Rose and Albus stared at Renesmee as if she'd lost her mind. "What?" she asked when she saw the disgusted looks on their faces.

"Renesmee, flobberworms may be very useful, but I hardly think they're cute." Rose said looking at the flobberworm with disgust. "Uncle George's Puffskeins are cuter than that and they're balls of fur. Aunt Ginny has one named Arnold. He's a little purple one."

"I've never seen a Puffskein before," Renesmee said as she kept feeding the flobberworm the lettuce until the bell rang. She knelt down to the creature and whispered, "Goodbye, my friend. See you tomorrow." She stroked the flobberworm's smooth skin and smiled. The corners of Hagrid's mouth twitched behind his beard and moustache and he chuckled. Renesmee noticed the sound and looked up at him. "What?"

"Leave it ter Renesmee Cullen ter make friends with a flobberworm," he said laughing heartily. "See yeh later, Ness. Have fun in Defense Against the Dark Arts with Buffy." Renesmee smiled back at him and walked off with Rose and Albus, both of whom still had the disgusted expression when she treated the flobberworm she was feeding like a pet.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was not like any other class this year, Renesmee found. Buffy, dressed in yellow robes, stood in front of the class and tapped her wand against the blackboard. Words appeared on the blackboard and she looked at the class. "Pylea," she said smiling, "a dimension like no other. Two of my friends and their team went there to save an old friend and classmate of mine from something I thought would be death." Buffy sat on the edge of her desk with her legs crossed. "Of course, they weren't wrong. Today, I brought a native from Pylea, a demon named Krevlorneswath or Lorne for short. Lorne, come on in." The classroom door opened and Renesmee gasped. Lorne, the demon she met over the summer, walked in. Her gasp was echoed by the rest of the class.

Lorne wore a bright yellow shirt underneath a purple velvet suit and a blue tie. His reddish-brown hair was spiked up and his horns were visible over his ruby red eyes. "Hey, kids," he said with a wave, "I'm Lorne, and as Buffy said, I'm a native of Pylea."

"Lorne, why don't you tell us about your dimension before I talk to the headmistress about taking a field trip there?" Buffy suggested.

"All right, then," said Lorne. "Pylea is a dimension where humans are treated like slaves and - wait! A field trip to Pylea? Oh, no, honey, you don't want to do that!" Lorne looked very anxious now. "Look, Pylea is not where you want to take kids on a field trip! It's not like a museum or a park, babe." He turned to the class and said, "You really don't want to go there, kids. There's no music and - should I repeat what I said about humans being slaves? You really shouldn't." The door opened once more and Angel came in. "Tell them, Angel! Pylea's a terrible place!"

"It is, really," Angel said. "I should know." Renesmee saw a bit of sadness on the vampire's face and he meant what he said. "The last time I was in Pylea...well, let's just say my demon side was more than this." He transformed into his vampire form and pointed at his face. "Picture this a hundred times worse. Green skin, sharp teeth and able to kill worse than any vampire." The class gulped and started muttering. "Buffy, I'm begging you not to take the kids there. If you think I was tortured in that hell dimension you sent me to years ago, Pylea's worse." Angel walked to the door and stopped at the threshold. "Don't take this the wrong way, Buff. You've done stupid things before, but this would be the number one on the Buffy's-Stupid-Ideas list." He walked out of the classroom and the door shut quietly leaving a dead silence in his wake.

"Well, I guess a field trip to Pylea's out of the question," Lorne said breaking the silence. "Good. I'll just head back to..."

"We're going." Buffy said, her voice quivering just a tiny bit. "I'm going to talk to Professor McGonagall tonight in the staff room and we are going to Pylea whether Angel likes it or not." She turned her gaze to Lorne and added with a tone of finality, "And you're going with us." Lorne gave a weak smile and gulped. "Kids, you better prepare yourselves. Practice as many spells and fighting techniques as you can over the weekend because starting Monday, we're going to Pylea. Oh, and you may want to talk to Professor Lehane about weapons training."

Renesmee sat the Gryffindor table quietly at dinner and didn't eat a bite. Jacob sat next to her and grabbed a plate of food. "Hey, Nessie, what's up?" he said grinning at her. "You look like you've seen a ghost." He sighed as Nearly-Headless Nick and the Fat Friar flew past him. "Bad choice of words, I know. Are you okay?"

"No," Renesmee said weakly. "Buffy is planning on taking our class on a field trip to Pylea, a demon dimension."

Jake's eyes widened then narrowed angrily. "She's not serious?" he hissed. Renesmee nodded slowly. "She can't do that."

"She can and she's damned determined," Renesmee said shakily. "I can understand a trip to the Forbidden Forest to learn about some creatures that will hurt or kill people, but a demon dimension where humans are slaves and killed if they don't do as they're told?"

Jacob tried to make her feel better and said, "Well, Ness, you're technically not all human." She glared at him. "Hey, I'm just saying that you won't have a problem in that dimension with your heritage. Your mom and dad would probably destroy those demons for hurting their baby girl." Renesmee looked up at him with a pleading look. "Hell, I'd do it myself."

"I don't think this is a good idea," Renesmee whispered. She was scared now and tears were forming in her chocolate-brown eyes. "Someone has to stop Buffy before she gets us killed or - " Her words were drawn out by a shouting match at the staff table. Dawn was standing up with her fork in one hand and the front of Buffy's shirt in the other.

"YOU WANT TO WHAT?" she roared. "YOU'RE GOING TO GET THEM KILLED!"

"Dawn, please listen to -" Buffy said. "It's just a field trip!"

"A FIELD TRIP TO HELL, BUFFY!" Dawn shouted. "HOW DARE YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT TAKING A BUNCH OF THIRD YEARS TO A DEMON DIMENSION WHERE HUMANS ARE CONSIDERED SLAVES?"

"Dawn...I'm only taking them there so they can learn about the species firsthand. What's the problem with that?" Buffy asked.

"YOU'RE GOING TO GET THEM ALL KILLED, BUFFY! THAT'S WHAT THE PROBLEM IS!" Dawn cried. Renesmee saw tears falling down the Muggle Studies teacher's cheeks. "How could you even think of doing something like that?" Dawn turned her back on Buffy, who looked completely unperturbed by this reaction. "You can't...do that!"

"Dawn, I..." Buffy said and placed a hand on her sister's shoulder. Renesmee wanted to shout a warning but it was too late. Dawn whirled around and Buffy flew over the staff table and landed at Renesmee's feet. "Hi, Nessie," she said, "how are you?"

"Fine," Renesmee said with a small smile. "Uh, you might wanna stop getting your sister angry."

"Yeah, I think I should," Buffy said and stood up. "So," she said conversationally, "are you planning on hunting again tonight?" Renesmee nodded. "Good. Why don't you take Dawn with you on your hunt and patrol? I think she'd really like the chance to get outside and see you do your thing."

"Sounds like a good idea," Renesmee agreed. "I'll even tell her a few stories I remember from when I was a baby. That might cheer your sister up a little." Buffy nodded and asked her to talk to Dawn for her. "No problem. See you later, then." Buffy grinned and instead of going back to the staff table went right to the large oak doors and up to her office. Renesmee shook her head and laughed. "I gotta tell Mr. Giles about this one. It was freaky!" With a quick farewell to her friends, she ran up to the common room and grabbed her jacket before going to the Muggle Studies corridor to talk to Dawn about patrolling. Renesmee went to the first floor and stopped at the door to the Muggle Studies classroom and knocked. Dawn opened the door looking extremely angry until she saw who was at the door. "Hi, Dawn," said Renesmee tentatively.

"Oh, hi," said Dawn and held the door open to let her in. "Sorry about the whole scene at dinner. I'm just looking out for the students. I hope you understand that."

"Yeah, I do," said Renesmee, "and I agree with you, but I think you should've at least been a bit more subtle about the whole situation than screaming your head off." Dawn gave a shrug and sat down at her desk. "Look, I thought that you could use a little fresh air so I wanted to know if you'd like to go with me to the forest to watch me hunt and then we could patrol the grounds."

Dawn looked up at Renesmee with wide twinkling eyes like a child on Christmas. "Really? You want me to patrol with you?" Renesmee nodded. "I'd love to! Let me grab my jacket and a few weapons!" Dawn pointed her wand at a large wardrobe and the door swung open. Inside the wardrobe was a row of medieval weapons on hooks and above the wide assortment of medieval weapons were bottles of holy water, a large number of wooden stakes and many other assorted necessities. Dawn selected two silver shortswords, a longsword, two axes and two maces. She tossed a shortsword, an axe and a mace to Renesmee. "Keep these on you at all times. You might need them."

"Sure," said Renesmee and she hung the shortsword on the waistband of her jeans along with the axe and mace. Dawn also threw her a few wooden stakes. Renesmee noticed that these were special stakes because their tips were silver. "Silver tips? Going all out on the silver thing, are we?"

"You never know when you're going to run into a Moloch," Dawn said in a sing-song voice and Renesmee grinned. "Giles told me the Molochs' weaknesses and strengths and Buffy taught me about power. The power is in the person wielding the weapon, not the weapon itself. She also said that the enemy has more power and we should use it against them."

"What if a certain vampire-human hybrid has the power to break mental shields?" Renesmee asked curiously. "Would that be an advantage for us?" Dawn laughed and Renesmee noticed in the lamplight that the Muggle Studies teacher looked younger than before. "Dawn, I never noticed it before, but you look younger than you are."

"Aw, thanks, sweetie," Dawn said and swooped down to give Renesmee a hug. "I mean this as a compliment, by the way, but your skin is harder than a rock but warm." Renesmee blushed a little and muttered something about seeing her in sunlight. "I saw you in sunlight before, Ness," Dawn reminded her. "Remember last year's Quidditch match against Slytherin?"

Renesmee did remember the match from last year. When the sunlight hit her skin, it gave off a faint glow like an angel. As she thought about the match Renesmee suddenly remembered something very important. "Oh no! I almost forgot about Quidditch practice tomorrow morning!" She stamped her foot in frustration and the wood beneath her feet splintered slightly but Renesmee didn't care. "I'll worry about that later. Let's get on patrol and I really need to hunt. I know I have a lot of self-control but I really need blood." Dawn nodded and, together, they went out into the grounds toward the Forbidden Forest and stopped just near the lake. "This is where I usually hunt. All I have to do is let my instincts take over and you'll get to see me in action...if you can see me, that is."

"Huh?" said Dawn in confusion. "Oh, you mean the super-speed thing?" Renesmee nodded. "Oh, right. Well, I'll just be quiet and let you get on with your...whatever it is." Renesmee stood still, closed her eyes and let her instincts take over. She took in the sweet aroma of animals nearby and caught a good one coming from the other side of the rocky lake bed. "I think there's something over there!" Dawn whispered and pointed across the lake.

"Yep, that's definitely my prey." Renesmee said quietly and ran so fast that Dawn couldn't even see her at all. The first thing Dawn saw was a female mountain lion taking a drink from the river, then she saw Renesmee crouch behind the lion and pounce just like the animal itself. "Gotcha!" Renesmee whispered and wrestled with the lioness which fought with tooth and claw to survive. Renesmee pinned it down and sank her teeth into its neck and drank deep until she drained the lioness of its blood then returned to Dawn. "Well?" she said smiling.

"That was-" Dawn said blinking rapidly, "-amazing! You were like whoosh and the lioness didn't see it coming!" Renesmee laughed. "God, it must be amazing being a vampire. Is it that cool?"

"I don't know what it's like to be a full vampire, but you can always ask my parents, Jasper, Emmett, Alice, Rosalie, Grandpa Carlisle or Grandma Esme. They'll tell you all you need to know. If you ask my dad, he'll tell you it's a bad idea. He told mom that so many times, she got tired of it." Renesmee said with a giggle. "He finally gave in after Mom got pregnant with me thirteen years ago."

Dawn nodded and grinned slightly at the thought. "I gott ask a question about Jacob Black." she said blushing slightly. "I know he's younger than I am but...is he single?"

"Oh, uh, there's a funny story about that..." Renesmee said nervously. "He's not actually human either." Dawn looked at her with a puzzled look. "I mean that he's a shape-shifter. He can turn into a huge wolf when he's angry. It's part of being a member of the Quileute tribe in Forks. You might call him a werewolf, but he's not."

"I kinda got to hear a bit about your mom kicking his butt after you were born. What happened?" asked Dawn as she and Renesmee strolled across the grounds. "I heard it was pretty funny."

"It was, actually," said Renesmee and she couldn't quite stop the laughter that was coming. "While mom was going through her transition into vampirism, Jacob imprinted on me. Mom found out after she woke up as a vampire and threw him out of the house like a dog yelling 'You imprinted on my daughter?' and then she got really angry with him when he nicknamed me 'Nessie' after the Loch Ness Monster."

"Ooh, I bet your mom was really ticked after that." Dawn said laughing. "You should really show me that memory sometime." Renesmee promised she would get the memory from either Bella, Jake or Edward because all three of them remembered it quite well. "Good. Well, there's no vampires around here beside yourself so we should call it a night and head back inside." Renesmee yawned and they went back to the castle. "We should definitely do this again sometime...patrol, I mean. Your hunting skills are really cool, though. Maybe sometime we could have a girls' day out or something." Renesmee said she'd like that and headed up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower but stopped when Dawn said, "There's a trip to Hogsmeade Village tomorrow after your Quidditch practice. How about we hang out then? We could go to the Three Broomsticks or Honeydukes Sweet Shop."

"Sounds good, Dawn," said Renesmee. "I'll even bring Jake with us or something. He'd really like to go, I'm sure." Dawn grinned and went to the first floor toward her office and Renesmee headed to the Gryffindor Tower, gave the password to the Fat Lady, then went to bed for the night.