"What's a grim?" Carlisle asked.
"It's a giant spectral dog that haunts people. It's an omen of death!" exclaimed Ron.
"And you know that it's not real," Hermione said. "Most wizards don't believe such nonsense. It's just an old story."
"Besides, that's not a grim or whatever," said Jacob, smiling. "That's just Sam. He's part of my pack."
"Your pack?" said Hermione. "You said you were a werewolf. It's the middle of the day and not even the full moon, how could he be transformed? Unless…" she trailed off in thought, unconsciously unzipping her bag to get out a book.
"Looking for this?" asked Harry, pulling a book out of his backpack and handing it to her. It was her copy of Fantastic Beasts of the Americas. He looked slightly abashed. "Sorry, I borrowed it for a bit of night time reading."
She flipped the book open to the section about the United States. "Yes, I knew it!" she said and then read outloud,
"The most elusive of magical creatures in North America is the Native American (often referred to as Indigenous Peoples in Canada) shapeshifter or skinwalker. This creature isn't actually a beast, but a non-wizard human who can change his shape into a single animal, similar to an animagus. He is therefore classified as a being. He is not a true muggle as magic lives in his blood, but his magic can only be used for shifting into his animal form. This form is often used as protection for it's tribe and can take various appearances depending on the region. Such forms may include wolves, eagles or bears.
The shapeshifters are highly secretive about their abilities, sometimes only known to themselves and their mates. The shifter, even in human form, has heightened senses and abilities such as speed, strength, hearing and eyesight. They also possess the ability of longevity. The initial shift is usually triggered by some outside magical threat to his tribe, such as a vampire, or the like."
"Or her," said Nessie.
"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.
"Your book refers to the shifters as 'him' but in our pack we also have women," said Jake. "You should let the author know," he added with a smirk.
"Newt Scamander?" said Hermione. "He's very old but I could write him a letter…" she trailed off thoughtfully.
Jake laughed.
Esme bustled in with a tray of tea and cookies and indicated they should take some. Ron grabbed several cookies and started fixing tea for himself and Hermione.
"So you're not actually a werewolf then?" asked Harry, pouring himself some tea. "A shapeshifter… an animagus we call them in the wizarding world. And you have heightened senses and strength. Do the rest of you have any extra powers?" He looked around the room at them.
"Well, some of us do," answered Edward. "I can read minds, as you know. Jasper can control emotions, Bella can produce a protective shield with her mind and Alice can see the future."
Hermione scoffed at the last one and Alice looked over at her with one eyebrow raised.
"Hermione doesn't like divination," Ron explained.
"Well! It's a very imprecise form of magic. True seers are very rare! We only know of one and she only made two actual, real predictions. Plus, I've never even heard of a muggle being a seer," Hermione said defensively. "Maybe you were a witch before you were turned into a vampire?" she addressed Alice.
"Maybe," Alice shrugged. "I don't have any memories of my human life. I was always kept in the dark and we recently learned I was kept in an asylum as a human because of my predictions. Perhaps they did think I was a witch."
Hermione nodded but didn't have more to say. She knew for a fact that seers came from a very specific magical bloodline dating back to ancient Greece and there was no way Alice could have had this gift as a human without being in some way related to that bloodline. She would have to revisit that idea later when she had access to some of her books. She was more curious about the vampires themselves, because they did not seem to fit the description of vampires she learned about at Hogwarts.
"So are we in that book of yours?" Carlisle asked.
"Not this book," Hermione answered. "This is about beasts and creatures in the Americas. Vampires are defined as beings by the Ministry of Magic. You are, however, in most of our Defense Against the Dark Arts books. 'The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self Protection' is especially descriptive. But…"
"We don't fit your textbook's definition of vampires?" Edward interjected.
"Exactly," said Harry before Hermione could answer. "Also, I've met a vampire before in England and he was pale, drawn and creepy with fangs out. Very different than, you know…" he waved his hands around to indicate the obvious differences from the vampire he'd met to the Cullens.
"Yes well, that's because there are different species of vampires," replied Carlisle.
"What!" said Bella in shock. "You never told me that. Did the rest of you know?"
Edward, Alice and Esme nodded, but the rest looked just as stunned as Bella.
"I'm sorry about that. It just never came up and honestly it seemed more important that you know about our kind and our laws." Carlisle said, mostly addressing Bella.
He turned toward Hermione, "But, yes there are different types. We are the most elusive because of our abilities and the fact we are able to go out in the day. That's probably why your textbooks have never described us. If it's cloudy out we can go outside and humans will never suspect we are vampires, although they may think we are a little different. That's why who choose to live here. We also have our own laws that require us to keep the secret. But, there are others who are more like what you would call stereotypical vampires. A large number of them live in New Orleans, of course, sleeping during the day and only coming out at night to feed and run the nightlife of the town. There's also a small clan I know of in Virginia who look human and have special jewels and medallions that let them walk in the sun. I suspect there's more clans like that around but we normally only interact with our own kind, as we're mostly nomadic. Additionally, unlike other vampires, our kind is venomous so when we bite you either turn vampire, or die."
Everyone was silent at this last declaration.
Ron laughed nervously. "Well this is a lot to take in!"
"Yes," said Carlisle. "For us as well! For example, I have only heard rumors and fables of the existence of witches and wizards. I've never met one in person. Who knew it would be so complicated?"
Hermione frowned. "How old are you?" she asked.
"Oh I'm about 372 give or take," he replied. "I was made a vampire in 1663 around the age of 23."
"So, witches and wizards were becoming more and more secretive during that time," said Hermione, taking on her lecture voice. "Women and children who showed signs of magic were especially persecuted. Finally, the Statute of Secrecy was enacted 1689 to protect witches and wizards from muggles and prevent retaliation. It was agreed that interactions with muggles would remain magic free unless there were extenuating circumstances. So, members of the magical community would not have revealed themselves to you, especially as you were able to pass as a muggle during the daytime."
"Fascinating!" said Carlisle with delight. "I would love to learn more about your history!"
"Oh, of course! I have many books you could borrow if you're interested!" said Hermione. "Let's see there's A History of Magic, of course, and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century, that's a good one. Sites of Historical Sorcery is also very informative, and oh maybe Hogwarts a History, just for fun!"
"Do you travel with a magical library?" Renesmee said jokingly. Ron and Harry laughed.
"You're not that far off," said Ron with a chuckle.
"Well, I don't have them all with me right now but I can bring them another time? Or if you go to Seattle to visit Renesmee we can meet!" Hermione replied, ignoring Ron and smiling at Carlisle.
Before Carlisle could respond Esme interrupted. "Sorry to bring this to a halt but it's 6:30. I believe it's time for the humans to eat dinner?" she said, gently placing a hand on her husband's shoulder. "Since we are having the big Thanksgiving meal tomorrow we thought maybe tonight you'd like to go to a restaurant? See our little town?"
"Sounds great!" declared Jake, jumping up and taking Nessies hand to pull her up with him. "Sam you want to join?" he said, looking outside at the black wolf who was still watching the group with interest. The wolf nodded and walked into the forest to shift back to human.
Hermione stood up. "Thank you for the tea! I guess we'll see you after dinner? We can talk more then! I'd love to hear more about your histories and the laws you mentioned."
They headed out the front door where a tall man wearing jean shorts and a black tee shirt was waiting by the car. Hermione assumed this was Sam.
"Sorry I sounded so excited about dinner," Hermione heard Jake say quietly to Nessie as they got in the car. "I know they're your family but I forgot how overwhelming the smell could be with all of them together! I just needed a little break." She nodded and smiled, placing her hand on his arm. Hermione wondered what he meant about the smell, everything had smelled fine to her. She put it on her mental list of things to ask later.
Since there were six of them now, Hermione got in the third row with Harry so one of the taller passengers could take the middle row with Ron. Sam slid in comfortably and turned to them to introduce himself to the three. They headed off down the long driveway and then the tree lined highway into town. It didn't take very long and soon they were pulling up to a quaint diner. There were a few cars in the lot, including a police cruiser.
"I thought you said Charlie was taking Sue to Hawaii this week?" Jake asked Nessie when they caught sight of the cruiser.
"He did," Sam answered. "That must be his new officer, Gregory. He moved here about a year ago."
They headed into the diner, Hermione and Ron following behind Harry and the others. Hermione almost ran into Harry who had suddenly stopped just inside the entrance.
"Hi officer," Sam was saying to the policeman sitting at the table closest to the door. "How's it going? Have you met my good friend Jake and his girlfriend Renesemee?"
The officer looked up to greet Sam but instead saw Harry, Ron and Hermione. He froze, fork in hand and stared at them in shock. Then he jumped up, dropping his fork with a loud clatter and his mouth fell open stupidly.
Hermione took in a big gasp of air in shock. Annoyance filled her body at the sight of him, hadn't they had enough surprises for one day? The officer was Gregory Goyle.