Chapter 14: Invitations and Arguments

Jake's Point of View

I sighed, "Well, this is going to be fun to explain."

After a moment of awkward silence, Harry asked, "Jake, what is imprinting?"

I shook my head lightly, "Okay, just listen to the whole explanation before you freak out too much, please?"

There wasn't any response, so I decided to push on. "We're not quite sure why, but sometimes, after some becomes a wolf, when they see someone, they imprint on that person. It could be anyone, someone they've never met, one of their best friends, anyone. The only restriction that we know of is that it only happens when you see that person for the first time after becoming a wolf.

"It's hard to describe what it's like, but it's like gravity shifts. Everything that was important isn't anymore, and the only thing that is important is the imprint. The imprinter's only purpose in life becomes the happiness of the imprint."

"So it's like forced love at first sight?" Ginny asked in a slightly repulsed voice.

"Not necessarily. The person who imprinted becomes whatever the imprint needs them to be. For example, one of the members of the Pack back in La Push imprinted on a girl named Claire when she was two."

Everyone's faces took on a look of disgust at that, but I kept explaining, "He treats her like a little sister, babysitting for her, bringing her to school, and the like. When she grows up, assuming that she still wants him in her life, he'll become whatever she needs him to become, whether that is a friend, confidant, whatever."

I tried to lighten the mood, "If you want proof, to be honest, the only reason that I'm here in the first place is that I imprinted on Nessie right after she was born. Edward would have torn me to shreds long ago if I even thought anything remotely questionable."

Edward chuckled lightly, "You wouldn't even have a chance to see it coming."

"So, the person who imprinted is just like a really close friend, unless the imprint wants them to be more?" Ron asked.

"Exactly."

Luna turned to Seth, "Most people think that I'm rather strange. Are you sure that you want to imprint on me?"

Seth looked sheepish, "I don't have a choice, and even if I did, I don't think I'd want to say no. I'll be here for as long as you'll have me."

There was a silence that seemed to stretch for a few minutes, "That sounds... Nice."

Seth breathed a sigh of relief, and Embry gave him a subtle pat on the back.

With Luna's announcement that she was fine with what had happened, the tense mood in the room began to relax. Though Leah still looked unhappy with the situation.

"I guess that means we'll be seeing you a bit more often," Embry said to Harry and Ron.

"I guess so." Ron replied.

Harry leaned down, presumably to pick up a piece of silverware that he had dropped, and whispered to Ron.

Ron gave a subtle nod in response. A few minutes later, during a lull in the conversation, he stood up. "Christmas is only a few weeks away. I assume that you were all planning to go back to America for the break?"

"Yes, that was our plan." Carlisle responded.

"Would you all like to come spend Christmas at the Burrow, my house, instead?"

"We couldn't possibly impose. I don't think your parents would want all of us to come." Esme told him.

"I already cleared it with my parents." Ron said, "I explained to them that you're all going to be involved in fighting You-Know-Who, and, understandably, want to meet you. I didn't say anything about you being vampires though. I thought it'd be better if they learned that in person, after they got to know you."

"Well, if it isn't too much trouble for you, I'm sure we'd all be delighted to come." Esme responded on behalf of all of us. "But I still don't think we could impose on your family for the whole time. Maybe, after Christmas, you could come to America with us to celebrate the New Year?"

They all immediately agreed.

"Wonderful." Carlisle said, "This is shaping up to be quite a holiday." He looked at his watch, "It's getting late. We should be returning to the Castle."

I saw Seth's face fall. He turned to Luna, "You can come visit whenever you want to. I'm sure no one else would mind?"

Leah, Embry, and I didn't voice any objections, so Seth nodded, as if to confirm his statement.

"I'll make sure to come by whenever I can." Luna said.

After a spending a few more minutes bidding everyone farewell, Leah, Seth, Embry, and I were the only ones left in the Shack.

Seth spoke first, "You were right Jake. I knew right away when I saw Luna. It seems like everything is finally in perspective..."

"Damn it Seth!" Leah interrupted him, "You shouldn't be acting so happy about it. Some random girl walks in here and takes away your free will, and your happy about it?" She asked, sounding enraged.

"Leah," Seth said soothingly, "It's not like that."

"That's exactly what it is! Tell me, if you had to leave, right now, and go back home to La Push without her, could you?"

Seth was silent for a few moments, "But there's no reason that would happen."

"See. You couldn't do it even if you wanted to, all because some blonde freak walks in here and you look at her."

Seth looked angry, so I decided to step in. "Guys, stop. This isn't going to get us anywhere. Seth, you're not thinking completely clearly because you just imprinted, and that's a pretty big shock. And Leah, I don't understand why you're angry, and it doesn't really matter. What does matter is that it happened, and we have to deal with it. The most important thing is that we keep working together. No matter what, we're still a family.

"I know that the two of you are supposed to be patrolling together, but I think we should mix up the rotation, at least temporarily. I'll run with Leah, and Seth, you can go with Embry. Any objections?"

The room was silent. "In that case, I think it's Leah's and my turn to patrol. We should head out."

I walked out of the front door with Leah following behind me. We walked to the edge of the forest in silence, before phasing.

We ran for a few minutes in relative silence. After giving her a few minutes to cool off, I started asking my questions.

'Leah, why are you so angry about Seth imprinting? I haven't seen you so mad since the Pack split.'

'I'm mad because we don't need anymore imprint slaves. Do you know how annoying it is to have to listen to you guys think about your girlfriends all the time? No offense intended of course." She added acidly.

'Leah. You weren't this mad when Quil or Paul or I imprinted, why is it different now?

My mind was suddenly assaulted by a rapid succession of strange, disconnected images. Leah was obviously trying to block me from seeing her thoughts.

'Leah, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I want to know. I want to help with whatever's eating at you.'

I could feel Leah debating with herself over what to do. I waited patiently for her to come to a decision.

Leah gave a mental sigh, 'You wanna know why I'm angry Jake? I'm angry because it's my brother.'

This surprised me a bit. Leah was somewhat protective of Seth, but that had decreased over the past few years. I also didn't understand how that related to her anger.

'I've always thought the whole imprinting thing was a load of crap anyway.' She continued, 'Why would anyone want to give up their free will like that? And to see me brother imprint... He's only seventeen, he hasn't even had a chance to really do anything with his life. And now he's stuck being that girl's lapdog for the rest of his life.'

I began to understand where Leah was coming from. 'Leah, it's not entirely like that. Look at Quil, look at Paul, look at me, we've all imprinted. Sure,we haven't had a chance to go to college, or travel the world, but I think that we've all been pretty happy since we've imprinted. Imprinting does close some doors, I'll admit that, but it opens so many others that you barely notice.'

'It isn't fair. Seth could have done all those things before he imprinted. Why did it have to happen now, and why does it have to be a girl who lives on another continent?'

'I don't know the answers to those questions, the world works in mysterious ways.' I hesitated before continuing, 'Seth and I had a conversation about imprinting not too long ago. Maybe, when you think you can talk about it civilly, you should ask him about it. I think that if you two talk it out, you'll understand it better.'

Leah was silent for a long while. 'I think I'll do that. You know, for someone who never finished high school, you're not too much of an idiot.'

I grinned to myself, glad to have the Leah we all knew and, to an extent, loved, back.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The next week, Nessie and I went for a run in the Forbidden Forest. We stopped in a clearing to relax for a little while before returning tot he castle. Nessie and I sat with our backs against one of the smooth rocks in the clearing, talking about whatever came to mind.

"This Christmas is going to be really fun." Nessie said, "I'm really curious what a magical household is like. Plus, I'm looking forward to seeing the Pack again, it feels like ages since I've seen La Push or Forks. I wonder what they'll think of Luna?"

"She's a unique girl I have to admit. I think she'll fit right in once she gets used to the Pack though."

Nessie responded with a laugh.

"What's so funny?"

She pressed her hand against my arm, and I saw an image of Luna asking Sam if he had encountered any Crumple Horned Snorckacks recently, commenting that she had heard they were quite common in America.

"Crumple Horned Snorkacks?" I asked.

"Luna's been on a hunt for them almost her whole life." Nessie explained, "Almost everyone says that they don't exist, but that doesn't stop her."

"Well, maybe the Pack will have to get used to her instead." I amended my earlier statement.

We both laughed, before returning to a comfortable silence again.

After a few minutes, Nessie spoke again, "I wonder how Mr. and Mrs. Weasley will react to us being vampires?"

"Ginny and Ron seemed accepting enough. I'm sure that they'll be fine with the idea after the initial shock wears off."

"That's my thought too, but I'm still nervous. We've never told anyone our secret before, according to Carlisle, and yet now, it seems like we're telling everyone."

"We don't really have much of a choice. We already know how powerful the Volturi are, and now that they're teaming up with this Voldemort guy, they're going to be even stronger. We need all the help we can get, even if it means telling people about you being vampires, and the Pack's 'furry little problem.'" I finished, laughing.

"Speaking of the Pack, have you told anyone back home about that wand Hermione made for you?"

"No. And I asked, the others not to tell anyone about it either. Hermione promised that she would have three more ready at Christmas, so we decided that we're going to freak everybody out a little bit when we get back?"

"Sounds fun." Nessie said conspiratorially, "What's the plan?"

I grinned, "Well, we're going to start with little stuff. Moving things around when nobody is looking, small stuff like that. Then we'll move up to using that disarming spell to knock stuff out of people's hands, or opening locked doors. We're planning the grand finale for New Year's Eve. We're going to use the body-bind charm on everyone, throw them in Emmett's Jeep, and haul them to the bonfire that way."

"Jake," Nessie said in a fake tone of admonishment, "That's sick and cruel. Imagine what they'll be thinking, stuck in a Jeep's trunk and unable to move. I love the idea."

"Great. You can help if you want. You can actually do magic, so you'll be able to do more complex stuff. Just try not to think about it around Edward, I doubt that he would approve of the our plan."

"No, he probably wouldn't." Nessie agreed. She thought for a moment and added, "Is Remus in on the plan?"

"No. I should probably tell him about it though. Carlisle said that he'd had that potion ready soon, and Remus did say that he might want to join our Pack. Our little prank would be a good way to introduce him to the highly professional dynamic we have."

"So, making bets about everything possible and potentially scarring each other mentally is considered 'professional?' Sounds like you've been out of the work force for too long."

"What can I say? I guess I'm just a free spirit." I looked at my watch, and saw that it was nearly ten o'clock. "It's getting late, we should head back to the Castle."

I ran behind a tree and quickly phased. Then I padded back into the clearing and knelt down next to Nessie, offering her a ride. She debated for a short moment, before climbing onto my back. Once she had firmly gotten her balance, I sped off through the forest.

'Hey Jake, what's up man?' I heard Paul's voice in my head.

'Nothing much. Just out for a run with Nessie.'

'Same here. Minus the Nessie part. It seems like things have been real quiet without you, Embry, Seth, and Leah. When will we be seeing you all?'

'We're coming back to celebrate New Year's. And we're bringing a few friends.'

'Can they do magic?' Paul asked, excitedly.

'Yep.'

'Sweet, do you think they'll show us any?'

'I'm sure you'll get a good show Paul. In fact, I can guarantee it.' I replied, trying to keep my plan from coming to mind.

'Awesome. This is shaping up to be an awesome holiday season.'

'Yes it is.' I thought, 'Yes it is.'

~*~*~*~

A/N: In my never ending quest for improvement, I'm asking for more feedback. What do you guys think about the way I end chapters? Too abrupt? Too drawn out? Just right? And on the idea of chapters, what do you guys think of the length?

Also, for those who are interested, I intend the next three or so chapters to be Christmas or New Years (No, I didn't plan the story to intersect with the real Christmas season, it just happened). After that, the fun, actiony stuff starts.

Reviews, as always, are appreciated, and I do reply to every one that I get when I find the time to do so.