November passed by in a blur, Hermione and Harry were very busy with school work and writing reports for the ministry. They had to go around the city often to learn about the muggle culture of the area. Ron was scheduled to work most days and with that and his two classes at community college, he also had plenty on his plate. They barely saw Ryan because he was also really busy helping his parents at their store, as the quidditch season was in full gear and the holidays were just around the corner.
Hermione and Harry still saw Nessie and Jake on campus and had lunch with them a few times a week, but nothing else "weird" happened so Hermione just chalked up the whole Halloween incident to being a random thing and put it out of her mind. After confirming their Thanksgiving plans with Nessie she started to feel more relaxed about the whole thing and allowed herself to just enjoy the routine of life. Soon it was the week of Thanksgiving, which they had off from classes, and they were ready to head to Forks.
Hermione felt a little excited as they settled into the car for the three-and-a-half-hour drive to Forks. They took the ferry across the sound and then headed North to drive around the peninsula. They all fit comfortably in Nessie's Audi Q7 SUV although Harry was a little squished up in the third row, but he didn't seem to mind and spent the whole trip looking at his phone and texting Ginny, whom they had convinced to get a muggle cell phone as well.
"I've never had Thanksgiving dinner before!" said Ron, rubbing his hands together in anticipation as Hermione settled into the middle row of the car next to him. "What's it like?
Nessie and Jake smiled at each other. "Oh, there will be tons of food!" Jake answered. "My pack of friends loves to eat so there's always extra! We'll have turkey, of course, and mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes and plenty of pies! You know, the works!" he finished.
Nessie turned around in the passenger seat to face the back while they talked. Hermione was a little uncomfortable with this since it meant Nessie couldn't wear her seatbelt, but she didn't comment.
"Oh Ness, you should tell them about your crazy large family," Jake said.
"Yeah, I guess it would only be fair for you to be prepared!" Nessie said. "The whole group will be there and there's a lot of us! Besides my parents and grandparents, you'll meet my aunts and uncles. There's Uncle Jasper and Aunt Alice. And there's Uncle Emmett and Aunt Rosalie, but I just call her Rose. My dad's name is Edward and my mom's is Bella. Carlisle and Esme are my grandparents. I'm partially named after my grandma Esme." she finished.
"Will Charlie be there?" Jake asked.
"No, he decided to take Sue to Hawaii for the holiday!" she said, giving Jake a knowing glance. "I think he's going to propose! Charlie is my other grandfather," she explained, looking back at Hermione and Ron.
"Wow, your family is almost as big as mine!" said Ron. "Do you have any siblings yourself?"
"Nope, just me!" answered Nessie with a smile. "But Jake has two sisters."
"I have one sister, Ginny, who Harry's engaged to. And I had five brothers, but one died so I guess I only have four now." Ron finished sadly.
Nessie stared at him with a sympathetic look for a moment and then said softly "oh no, I am so sorry."
"Thanks," said Ron. Hermione squeezed his hand.
Nessie swiveled back around to face forward. "There's one more thing you should know about my family and it's kind of weird, but I just want you to be prepared. Every one of them looks really, really young. It's hard to explain, but you'll see in person soon what I mean."
"Okay..." said Hermione, frowning slightly. She didn't really know what to think of that, but she shrugged and figured they'd see when they got there. "Well I'm excited to meet them all, no matter what!"
They stopped in Port Angeles for lunch at a fast food restaurant. Ron and Jake had 6 burgers each. Ron smiled contentedly as they got back in the car, commenting how much he loved American food as Hermione rolled her eyes. Nessie, Hermione noticed, ate nothing. Nessie and Jake switched drivers and she drove the rest of the way to her parent's house, going just a little too fast for Hermione.
Hermione stared out the window as they passed beautiful lakes and mountains and the bright, mossy green rainforest. She wondered what kind of magical creatures hid in the forest and wished she had brought her Fantastic Beasts of the Americas book with her. She hadn't brought any of her wizarding books on this road trip, as she didn't want any of the muggles to accidentally discover them.
The mystical looking forest made her think of the warning Ryan had given them at the coffee shop and the events of Halloween. If her friends were something magical why hadn't they been able to figure it out by now? What could they be? She thought hard to come up with clues but the only weird thing besides them being able to get into the Leaky Cauldron was that Renesemee never seemed to eat in front of them. But surely, she ate when they weren't around? She would waste away if she ate nothing, and she always seemed so full of energy and life! Hermione concluded that she must be on some special diet and just didn't want to make a fuss about it in front of other people.
And then there was Jake. He did seem unnaturally large, but hadn't shown any signs of any supernatural behaviors so far. Hermione believed what Ryan had said, but couldn't find any evidence of it in the times she'd spent with the couple so far. She looked between the two as she thought, noticing how white Nessie's skin was in contrast to Jake's tan color. She was so pale she almost seemed to glow.
Hermione pushed her thoughts of magical things away as they passed a sign saying "Forks, 10 miles."
"Looks like we're almost there!" called Harry from the backseat, finally looking up from his phone.
"Yes!" answered Nessie. "My family lives just North of town so we'll be there really soon!"
Hermione put her shoes back on and pulled on her heavy sweater. Harry put his phone away and Ron grabbed his jacket from under the seat. Nessie turned off the main road onto an almost hidden driveway in the woods. Hermione stared up the long driveway in anticipation, although she couldn't quite pinpoint why she felt anxious. As they pulled up to the large house her eyes widened.
"Woah," said Ron, "your family's house is huge! Are you guys rich or what?"
Hermione turned to glare at him. "Ron, that's super rude!" she scolded, a little embarrassed by his behavior. Nessie just shrugged, which Hermione took to mean she wasn't offended.
They all jumped out of the car and Nessie and Jake led the way up to the front door. "We're here!" called Nessie as she opened the door.
"Welcome!" came a voice from inside the door and out stepped the most gorgeous man Hermione had ever seen. "My name's Carlisle. Come on in!"
"Carlisle?" stammered Hermione with confusion. Because there was no way this man could be Renessemee's grandfather! He didn't look a day over 30, and that was pushing it. Hermione remembered Nessie's warning from the car ride, but it was still hard to process. "Pleasure to meet you," she said, finally recovering from the initial shock and shaking his hand. It was ice cold and hard as a rock. Like shaking hands with a statue. Her magic started tingling.
"You as well," he said warmly. "We're all in the living room, right this way." He led them through the entryway into a large, bright living room, where Nessie's family was gathered. The whole back wall was made up of a large glass window, which gave a nice view of the green forest behind the house.
Renesemee begin introducing everyone. "This is my Aunt Alice and Uncle Jasper. This is my other aunt, Rose and Uncle Emmett," she pointed them out.
"This is my grandma Esme," Nessie gestured to a beautiful woman who smiled warmly at them. "You met Carlisle already. And this is my mom, Bella, and back there is my dad, Edward!"
Hermione looked around and gasped as her eyes landed on the vaguely familiar young man in the front of the group walking toward them. She heard Harry let out a small gasp as well as he registered the man's appearance.
Nessie smiled and held her arms out to give him a hug.
Hermione felt confused as Harry stepped around her, putting himself in front of her and Ron. It was a defensive position the three had taken many times but it didn't make sense in this situation. Then she realized why. Nessie's dad looked exactly like someone she'd known in Hogwarts. Someone who had been dead for years. He looked almost identical to Cedric Diggory.
But it couldn't be Cedric, Hermione thought, as logical reasoning took back over her shocked mind. This man, Edward, looked slightly older by a few years. His hair was a little longer and more red. And his skin was super pale, just like his daughters. But Hermione still felt uneasy and she still couldn't figure out why. These people, Renesemee's family, did not look like normal muggles.
Edward stepped away from Renesemee's hug and looked right at Hermione, meeting her eyes. She took advantage of his eye contact and non-verbally casted legitimus on him to see if she could get a better read on the situation.
Hermione gasped as an onslaught of thoughts filled her head. Not one voice, but many. Not just a man's voice, but women's as well.
"I'm so glad Ness brought her human friends home to meet us!"
"Let's get these introductions over with, I want to spend time with Nessie before Jake's pack of moronic friend's get here."
"Edward seems tense, I wonder what's going on?"
"Uggh I'm so hungry, I hope these people have some good snacks!"
"These muggles are weird, something's going on here."
She realized she could hear not just Edward's thoughts but every person's thoughts in the room. She could even hear her own thoughts, bouncing back to her through his mind. She quickly removed the spell and stared at him in shock.
"What are you?" they asked each other at the same time.
Hermione noticed Harry's hand twitch as if he wanted to reach for his wand. At the same time, Nessie's uncle Jasper came to stand next to Edward. Jake grabbed Nessie and put his arm around her protectively. Everyone changed their posture to become very tense except for Alice who casually leaned up against the wall with a smirk on her face.
"What's going on here?" Jake demanded.
Hermione and Edward continued to stare at each other, now with slight hostility. She felt like she couldn't break eye contact until she knew the truth.
"What are you?" she asked again, as Edward asked "what's a muggle?"
Ron laughed nervously from behind her. "A muggle? Where did you hear that word?"
"From your thoughts, Ron" Hermione answered for him, "and mine, and Harry's. He's a telepath!"
Carlisle stepped into the middle of the group and held up both hands as if to surrender. "Let us speak plainly here. Clearly we have much to learn about each other." He gestured to them to come into the room and sit on the couches. Ron started to walk over, but Hermione and Harry did not relax from their defensive positions. Hermione grabbed Ron's arm to keep him by her side.
"Even I couldn't have seen this coming!" quipped Alice.
"Yes, about that," said Edward, finally breaking eye contact with Hermione to look over at Alice. "Why didn't you see this coming? It would have been nice to have a little advanced knowledge!"
Alice shrugged. "Well I hardly knew who they were so I couldn't keep an eye out for them. They're probably always hanging out with Nessie and Jake so I never would have seen their decisions to come here or any of the circumstances that would have led us to this moment! I see them now, though!"
Edward nodded.
"But why are we having this moment?" asked Hermione. "I would seriously like to know what is going on here."
Carlisle sighed. "I can see the three of you won't come and sit down until you're more comfortable. So maybe we should just answer your questions. And then perhaps you can answer ours." Everyone continued to stare tensely around. The moment dragged on, Hermione didn't want to speak first and it seemed like no one else did either.
Finally, Jake stepped towards them and Nessie followed. "I'll go first, they are our friends after all," he said. "ummm yeah okay. So, brace yourselves, I guess? The world you live in is not the world you probably think it is. There are many things in this world that most people don't know about or wouldn't believe. For example, I'm a werewolf."
"A werewolf? Okay,well, that explains why you eat so much," said Ron.
Hermione swallowed hard, taking it in. Of course, she knew of werewolves, but they had been friends with Jake for many months now and she hadn't noticed any of the signs! She was annoyed at herself for not noticing. She glanced at Harry who was frowning as he listened to Jake, but didn't look scared or confused.
"That's not the reaction I was expecting," said Jasper. "Did you hear him correctly? He said he's a werewolf. You don't seem confused. Or scared. Or even surprised, really!"
"That's because they've met werewolves before," said Edward. "I suspect our friends here have a lot more secrets than they're letting on. Maybe even more than us."
Hermione pursed her lips in annoyance. It was one thing to know someone was a telepath, but it was quite another to see it in action. It was easy to forget that someone could read her mind, even though she could do it herself with a spell. She implemented occlumency to close her mind off and saw Edward frown out of the corner of her eye. She turned to Renesemee.
"And you? Are you a wolf as well?" she asked.
Renesemee looked at her family. Carlisle and Edward nodded in encouragement. "Not exactly," she answered "I'm something a little different. Part human, part…not. See, my parents and my whole family here" she waved her hand around to indicate they were all included, "they're all vampires. My mom had me when she was still human, so I am part vampire and part human."
"Vampire!" shouted Ron, edging toward the door and trying to pull Hermione with him.
"There's the reaction I was looking for," said Jasper with a smile.
"A dhampir," Hermione whispered to herself, remembering reading about such half vampire creatures in one of her defense against the dark arts books. Carlisle nodded.
"Chill Ron," said Harry. "If they really are vampires, they haven't done anything harmful towards us yet! We've been hanging out with Renesemee for months and she hasn't done anything remotely violent. Let's hear them out."
"You're right, we mean you no harm," said Carlisle in a sure, calm voice. "In fact, we do not drink human blood. We value human life and hunt animals only."
Hermione saw Harry nodding and relaxing from his defensive stance. She relaxed as well and let out a puff of air. She didn't even realize she had been holding her breath until that moment.
Carlisle looked at them with an encouraging smile. "Now, please tell us about you so we can have everything out in the open?" His voice burned with curiosity
Hermione, Ron and Harry looked at each other. Ron shrugged and Harry nodded in acceptance. They both turned towards Hermione waiting for her to speak. She knew she had to tell the truth, as the others had been so upfront about what they were. Regardless, Edward could read their minds and Harry and Ron were terrible at occlumency so the truth would come out eventually.
"Okay, it seems I've been elected spokesperson for our group," she said. "er…."
"She's a witch!" said Edward with a gasp.
"Burn her at the stake!" yelled the big vampire called Emmett. All the vampires laughed and Jake rolled his eyes.
"Is it true?" Jake asked. "You're a witch?"
Hermione nodded. "Yes I'm a witch. Ron and Harry are wizards and we all went to school together to learn magic."
"Prove it," demanded Nessie's aunt Rose, her eyes narrowed at them.
"Well…" started Hermione.
"The statute of secrecy?" interrupted Edward. "You can't do magic in front of us because of an international wizarding law?"
"It's true," piped up Harry. "Although technically you are magical beings yourselves so I'm not sure that law still applies…" he trailed off leaving Hermione to answer his unsaid question.
"True," she said. "It probably doesn't."
"I'll do it!" exclaimed Ron. "Incendio!" he pointed his wand at the fireplace and a fire started merrily crackling away.
"Parlour trick," Rosealie scoffed.
Hermione smirked and pointed her hand at Rosalie. This blonde was really starting to get on her nerves. "Tarantallegra!" she muttered and Rosalie started dancing uncontrollably. Emmett and Jake started laughing loudly as Rosalie glared at them.
Jasper stared at her with wide eyes. "Your magic works on us?" he said in a shocked voice.
"Apparently so," replied Hermione with a smile. "Finite," she said, waving her wand at Rosalie again to stop the tap dancing spell.
Bella smiled and hugged her daughter. "Renessemee I'm so glad you brought your new friends home for Thanksgiving, This is going to be so much fun!" Edward and Alice chuckled. Carlisle looked at them with genuine interest.
Everyone seemed to relax and the trio edged their way into the room. Hermione had a million questions for Jake and Nessie and the rest and she was sure they had plenty for them. As she settled on the couch between Ron and Nessie she felt Harry nudge her shoulder from behind. He pointed out the window and standing in the yard was a giant black dog watching them all.
She gasped in surprise and Ron yelled out in a clearly nervous voice, "It's a grim!"