Two chapters at once? I know weird but still, as this chapter is more fluff I felt I couldn't post it on its own.


Chapter 7:

It was not often that the entire guard would voluntarily meet without the presence of either the kings or more recently Harriet. Normally any such gatherings ended in an argument, particularly if, as happened around once every decade if someone was brave enough to suggest it, it was game night. After all, with vampire sight and sense of smell, a deck of cards could only be used once, moreover, there was a strong tendancy for someone to be accused of cheating or the like, and then Jane would spread some pain around. However, if anyone was looking for any member of the Volturi main guard tonight, they would have been found huddled in the kitchen used to cook for Harriet. Indeed, their discussion revolved, as was the case a lot recently, around Harriet.

"We need to do something." Chelsea started, "We cannot let them get their hands on our Harriet"

There was nodding and Demetri added, "We don't know what they would do to her, we have worked so hard and she has got so much better recently."

"By the gods, imagine what the kings and queens would do if she suddenly wasn't here anymore, I swear that Marcus has talked more in the last two months than he has in the last two centuries. " Heidi added

Again nods throughout the room.

"We need to ensure that there is a guard with Harry at all times, preferably more than one. We don't know what their strength is like when they are in numbers."

"That is true Alec…Right, when Hattie is in lessons, the person who takes the next lesson has to come to collect her. At night, one guards the door to her suite whilst another patrols the gardens, magic may allow them to fly in to kidnap her. We should be able to smell if her food has any potions or unknown substances in it so at least she should be safe in that respect. Is there anything we have forgotten?"

Felix answered Jane this time, "I don't think so… but do you think we should tell the kings?"

The members of the guard thought for a moment before Demetri answered, "No, I don't think so. The fewer people know that we are aware the better, less suspicious."

"I agree" Jane said, "Right, let's get to work, we shall work out guard rotas sooner the time when we know exact movements."

And do started the mission that would become known as 'Mission-Ensure-Harriet-Doesn't-Get-Kidnapped-By-Sanguini-and-his-cronies/friends'.


There were very few things that Harriet could ever complain about in regard to her life with the Volturi, particularly when she compared it with life at the Dursley's. After all, she received food three times a day, although sometimes the vampires tried to get her to eat more, apparently she was too thin. She slept in a beautiful room that Uncle Caius had decorated with murals of magical animals, her bed was vast, she could get lost in it, but it allowed for the best pillow forts a girl could imagine. She also got lessons in more subjects that she ever thought existed and whilst they were hard, they were always very interesting. Her extended vampire family loved her and gave her hugs whenever she desired them which again, Harriet rather enjoyed, and whilst they occasionally forgot their strength, it was never too major. There were some odd things, like Uncle Aro's love of Disney music, and whilst having new outfits every few hours was fun, it was a little irritating at times and Harriet did suppose it was a bit odd that her new family were vampires... But really, it was all rather lovely, especially when she got to meet new people like Uncle Sanguini who was coming to stay the following day.

Harriet sighed, her vampires had been a little weird recently… okay, weirder than normal. Really that was saying quite a lot, after all they had just instigated 'Paint-Ball Fridays' which normally meant that the entire castle inside had to be washed down the following day so that her Daddy and Uncles' could hold court. But at the moment she nearly always had a vampire with her which didn't normally happen.

The following day, Harriet sat waiting in the throne room for her Uncle Sanguini with her father and her other uncles. They did not have to wait long as soon Sanguini and his retinue entered the room, immediately the Vampire Prince approached Harriet.

"Hello, my piccolo principessa, how are you this morning?" Neither Harriet nor Sanguini saw the way the Volturi guard stiffened and glared at the upstart prince who had declared their Harriet his and then happily accepted a hug from her.

"Hello Uncle Sanguini, I am very well thank you. Are you alright?"

"Indeed I am little one". This time neither Aro, Caius nor Marcus missed the reaction of their guard to the last words of Sanguini and the looked around at the rest of their coven with raised eyebrows. None of the guard met their kings' eyes as they were all focused on Sanguini who was holding Harriet now.

The entirety of the visit seemed to end up a game of tug-o-war between the two different types of vampires. It was obvious that the members of Sanguini's guard were just as taken with Harriet as the Volturi guard and they delighted in showing her magic and teaching her a little of her own. (Although the Volturi were quite grateful when she was taught how to wandlessly summon fire, it would be a good deterrent should she ever be attacked...Not that she ever would though). In response to their attempts at bribery through magic to get some of Harriet's time, the Volturi guard tried their best to distract Harriet with even more interesting lessons and trips into Italy, at one point they went so far as to hire a helicopter so that Harriet could fly over to Greece with Aro and Caius to see the sites of the battles of Troy and ancient Greece.

The magical vampires then retaliated by spelling Harriet so that she could not be smelt by any vampire for three hours, they also placed a spell on her so that any noise that she made would be muffled to vampiric ears. Thus started a game of Hide and Seek throughout the entire castle between the human and the magical vampires. Despite huffing over the fact they weren't quite sure how to top this, the Volturi joined in too, everyone spelled so that scent could not be used to find people. It was rather amusing to all involved that the game ended with Harriet not being found, eventually they had to call her out, whereupon they found the small girl climbing down from inside a chimney-piece, apparently she had climbed up the fireplace and was sitting on a small ledge within. She was promptly whisked away by Sulpica and Heidi for she was covered with soot from head to toe.

Meanwhile, Marcus sat back, utterly amused by the events. After all, he was certain of his place as Harriet's father and so every night he would read her a bedtime story to send her off to sleep. He was greateful though, the more allies and friends Harriet gained the better. She would need them before too long.


"I am a genius" Sanguini announced as he strolled into the Volturi's entertainment room after his brief trip back home to France for a meeting.

"And oh so modest" Dora snarked back.

Sanguini snorted, "I am not going to answer that but I will remind you of who you are married to… Anyway, back on track. I was wondering through Paris when I remembered something I keep on seeing advertised and hearing about… Disneyland… I thought we could all go on a mini holiday"

Sanguini's revelation was met with confusion on the part of all the vampires, Caius had to ask, "And pray tell, what is this 'Disneyland'?"

"Well, you know the Disney films for children…"

Here Sulpica interrupted, "and for Aro, he loves them even more than Hattie"

Sanguini ploughed on, "Disneyland is a funpark for Disney. So there are rides, games and hotels, all themed towards aspects of Disney. For instance, in the grounds people dress up as characters from the film etcetera etcetera. I think it is one of those things, it is easier to see than explain but I thought that we should all take Harriet there for a holiday…?"

"YES, YES, YES… a place where people dress up as Elsa and Belle and Cinderella, we are so going…"

Everyone looked at Aro rather strangely at his outburst before Pica said, "I don't know what to be more worried about, Aro wanting to go to this Disneyland place or Aro wanting to see Disney princesses… why did I marry him?"

There were some snorts of laughter at Pica's last words as it had crossed nearly everyone's minds before as to why Sulpica, who was the perfect lady and always controlled and well behaved, married Aro… a child stuck in a man's body.

Dora turned to Marcus, "As her father, I believe you have final say Marcus?"

Marcus thought for a second, "We can go" Seeing Aro about to run out of the room, he continued rather sternly, "ON THE CONDITION that I get to tell my daughter!"

Aro sulked at that, showing Marcus that he was right in his assumption that his brother had been about to run up to go and tell Harriet about the trip. As Marcus was leaving the room he heard his brother ask, "Does this mean that we can all dress up as Disney characters? I bazooka being Prince Charming from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves!"

Aro's idea was met by groans thoughout the room, however the hyper king rallied his efforts and attempted to assign different characters to different people. He was mostly ignored until he suggested that Caius should be the Beast as he was grumpy to everyone and only happy when kissed... Naturally, another fight broke out between the brothers whilst the other members of the coven crowded around a computer screen looking at photos of this 'Disneyland'.


And so the day came for the Volturi to leave for a weekend trip to Disneyland. Each vampire was kitted out with a spelled pendent to stop them glittering as well as a mild Notice-Me-Not Charm, for as Sanguini said, twenty really rather beautiful people parading though the park was likely to attract attention. Despite the whole endeavor being a rather good idea, Sanguini now agreed with most members of the Volturi who appeared torn between crying and attacking him when he entered the castle, apparently Aro had been hyper for a week and had essentially planned out his entire visit, from which rides he wanted to ride, to which characters he wanted to see, to what souvenirs he wanted. He had gone so far as to have the secretary, Livia prepare an information folder and maps so that he could get as much done as possible. Okay, Sanguini totally agreed now, he was never ever ever, going to tell Aro about Disney World Florida now. He valued his sanity too much for that trip thank you very much.

The two children, i.e. Harriet and Aro, were bouncing as they walked through the entrance, they had paid a rather large sum of money to ensure the best rooms, not that any of them apart from Harriet needed them and so they could skip the queues of the rides. Whilst they could easily find Harriet if she were separated or lost, all the vampires were keeping a close eye on their human. After all, none of them were quite sure how she would react in such a large crowd, for whilst she had been outside in Volterra, that was always during quiet times. But she seemed to be coping fine, not least because Aro wasn't exactly allowing her to be upset, he seemed content on dragging her to something called 'Splash Mountain'.

Watching the people around the park, the Volturi became even more aware of how lucky they were to have Harriet. She was well behaved and not at all like those irritating, pesky so-and-so's who were winging at their parents to get food, toys or rides. How atrocious? Although, Marcus did ruminate that Aro was sort of like the Volturi's bratty child, after all he was at present sulking because everyone had declared that they should go back to the hotel as it was getting rather hot for Harriet to be out for too long.

The final night of the Volturi's trip to Disneyland saw the guard and kings sitting in the communal sitting room of their suite watching Harriet eating her supper. Lying around the room were various bags emblazoned with Disney symbols as particularly Aro had seemed intent on emptying the entire store, why ever he thought he would ever need eighteen sunhats in various colours was unknown. They had also taken as many photos as possible, realising that they had very few of the Volturi all together as well as Harriet. Aro had attempted to get a photo with every Disney character (and failed), he was apparently going to make a scrapbook for some off reason... Despite being vampires most would admit that they were tired, being surrounded by people, dealing with Aro, the excitement etc. had all left them rather lethargic. And so a slight peace had settled in the room as more than one considered the changes that had occurred in the decision to adopt the abused little witch.

This subtle harmony was broken rather spectacularly when Aro, who had been reading a magazine of some sort announced, "Oh, oh, oh… look! There is a Disney Cruise…"

There were near unanimous shouts of 'no' ranging from Caius shout of "dear god no" to Heidi's pleads of "please, no, please…." Aro just pouted…and decided to persuade Harriet to ask to go on the cruise. After all if she asked no-one would refuse her.


Please tell me what you think, I know it wasn't really related to the story but really I just couldn't resist the idea of the Volturi visiting Disneyland. Next chapter will be more concerned with Sirius.