Chapter 32:
The house glowed with the light from the candles placed in the windows and the string lights wrapped around the shrubs and trees that lined the drive and outer perimeter. The house smelled of mulled cider and wine, the scents wafted towards them as they stepped in the door. The door frames were surrounded with garlands of evergreen. The fireplace in the large living room was crackling merrily. The whole effect was welcoming and happy. Other than the past holidays with the Weasleys, this was the first real family Christmas that Harry has had.
When he walked into the living room, he took a look around. Uncles Jasper and Edward were engaged in a chess game. It was funny to watch, with everyone knowing that they were vampires, they were able to move at a more natural speed.
"Edward would you please stop." Jasper whined.
"Sorry, but checkmate." Edward grins. The match lasted all of two minutes.
"Bells, please come and play against your annoying husband, that way he can't cheat." Jazz groans. "He wouldn't need to, I am horrid at chess. I've only won once against him." Bella laughs. "and at that, I think he let me win."
"Plus, I need the two of you and Alice, Peter, and Aro to come with me. Enyo wants to test a few things out." The group follows Bella out of the room. They continue through the halls and down the basement stairs, ending up in one of the training rooms.
"Hi guys. I need to see if your gifts will help." Enyo turns and takes a seat at the conference table. "Dobby." The little house elf pops into the room and immediately bows to Enyo. "Yes, ma'am, what can I do for you, Mistress?"
"First please don't call me that. You may be employees of my son and his wife and my brother, but here you, Winky and Kreacher are part of our family. Secondly, I wanted to ask if you would be so kind as to ask the rest of our family; including the Grangers to come down here." The elf's eyes light up when she tells him about the three of them being treated as family. "Thank you, Thank you. " He bows and quickly disapperates.
Everyone starts to file in the room. Their faces show their curiosity. "What's going on Enyo?"
"We need to test a few things. Severus and Lucius have the best mental skills. Let's see how you hold up against my friends here. My theory is that if they can get past you two, none of the others can stand against them, even Riddle." She motions towards Aro, Bella and Edward. "Edward please come here." The tall Cedric look alike walks up. "Now try to get a read on them."
Edward looks at the blonde and raven haired men. "Actually, as young as I look, I am old enough to be your grandfather. I can see now why Draco is so cunning. Yes, I can read them." Both men were thoroughly shocked at the idea of this "boy" being able to get through their strongest defenses.
Aro steps up to them next and holds out his hand to shake. Lucius is the first to fall for the Vampire High King's ploy. Aro benign smile fades as the memories filter by, it turns into an inhuman snarl. By the end, the snarl fades and he resumes his neutral face.
"I take it that you have seen that Lord Malfoy was Riddle's right hand man. Severus was in that little boys club too, but to a lesser extent."
Seeing as Lucius was fine, Severus shook Aro's hand. After letting go, Aro nods to Snape and then to the elder Mrs. Potter, which also got the attention of both Mr. Potter's.
"Well it's quite obvious that we can get past the best Occlumens that he had. Now men your turn, try to figure out what Mrs. Cullen is thinking." Enyo smiles at the men.
After a few minutes, both men are sweating and have confused expressions on their faces. "Don't worry men, even I can't read Mrs. Cullen. Even when she still human, we could not. Jane and Alec have no effect also. That was one of the attractions for Edward, her silence."
"What do you mean?" Severus asks curious.
"My eldest children work for Aro, Marcus and Caius. The twins are known as the Witch Twins in the vampire world. I am going to use terms that you'll understand better. My son, Alec can completely knock out a person's senses. It's almost like using a pertrificus totalas spell. You don't hear, see or feel anything. Jane taps into the pain center of your mind. With a look, she can set a whole battalion on the ground, writhing in intense pain. I would liken her to a walking Cruciatius Curse.
"That many, all at once?" Lucius cries. He looks at the girl in question. She is prim and proper, always dresses in black with her blonde hair always drawn up in a tight bun.
"Yes Mr. Malfoy, without their wands, they won't stand a chance." Jane smiles at him and winks.
"Hey Bells, snap out of it, would ya?" Enyo asks. "Now we need to test your shield. Mr. Snape, please send your most powerful stunner at James."
Severus leers. "Gladly" He lets loose. The bright red beam hits Bella's shield and dissipates. "Mr. Snape, I am glad you are on our side, I haven't felt that much impact since the last time Emmett pranked Jane." Lucius steps up and tries the Cruico curse, to no effect.
"OK, next is the AK. Both of you try it on the dummy." Two green jets fly and shatter when they impact the shield.
"Thank you all. We now need to test the anti-wand spell." Enyo smiles at the adults wizards. They cast the spell and even though they were still in possession of their wands, they were rendered as useless sticks. Everyone is happy that it worked.
"With that done, let's get down to enjoying the rest of the Holiday." Mars claps his hands together.
The whole group is setting down to lunch when there comes a knock at the door. The vampires were drinking from covered cups; it allows the illusion of them not drinking what everyone knows they are.
Enyo mixes Jasper's herself, she has noticed that he has been weaker than he was the last time she saw him. The animal blood may help with his guilt, but it is not helping with his resistance and tolerance. So she mixes his drink with some human blood. Not enough to change his eyes, yet.
"Carlisle, I need to talk to you." She pulls the good doctor away from the group. "Your diet is killing him. Jasper strength has depleted immensely since the last time I saw him. I am mixing in some human with his drinks. He needs it. Maybe he should think about switching back. You didn't know him before he and Alice came, but he is not even at a quarter of what he was back then. As you age, you are supposed to get stronger, not weaker. Peter has not raised the issue, because he respects what you are trying to do. It is noble, but some need the human blood cells to keep their strength. Jazz is one of them. I think the best way is to supply him with it instead of him hunting the humans. If he wants to hunt, fine take him, but the human blood should come from a bank, or donor. Peter can even bring some back for him."
Carlisle muses for a bit. "I will mention it to the others that Jasper is greatly diminished. I know that he is the one that the most trouble with the animal blood. If he needs to be then I can handle the blood, he will still respect the other rules. That man has more honor than I have ever seen." He nods to the plan.
The doorbell goes off. Ares had to insert some facet of himself in the house, so he found a novelty doorbell that allows you to use your favorite song as the sound. So when it goes off, everyone hears "Vultures". Enyo shakes her head.
"I'll get it." Alec hops up and races to the door. When he opens it, six red-headed men are standing on the stoop.
Mr. Weasley and his sons are wondering if they have the right house, especially since it was such a large house. A Harry look alike with red eyes answers the door. At first, all six were concerned that Harry was bitten until the young man opens his mouth. He spoke with such a cultivated tenor that it was obvious that this was not Harry. His voice was like it was from a king or regent from ages past.
"Welcome, please come in. I'm sure my parents will be right out." The young man extends his hand to shake. "I am Alec Mars Volturi, pleased to meet you."
"Arthur Weasley, thank you young man. These are my sons; William, Charles, Fred, George, and Ronald." Shaking the offered hand.
"Ah yes, I see you have met my eldest son, Arthur." Bella strides out.
"Eldest son, I was about to ask why he wasn't in school with the boys." Arthur chuckles nervously.
Alec smirks like his father. "Thank you sir for the complement, but I am old enough to be Gryffindor's great grandfather five times over. My sister Jane and I were bitten when we were 19. Mom ended up starting the very first Black Death because of it."
All six men were astounded by his blasé attitude about being a vampire.
"Arthur, what can we do for you, our friend?"
"The Burrow burned this morning. Kingsley told me where to find you."
"Let me guess, Voldemort and/or his followers?"
"Yes, we lost everything."
"Well, come in. We have plenty of room and everything." Mars pulls them into the dining room.
That evening, Bella and Mars sat the elder three Weasleys down for a discussion. James, Remus and Sirius sat with them.
"Arthur, I am glad you sought us out. What do you need?" Mars asks.
Arthur hangs his head, so Bill takes over. "Mr. Mars, Lords, we have always prided ourselves on not accepting charity, but in this case, I don't see a way around it. Charlie and I work and contribute as much as we can to Dad for the younger set to have a good life. With Molly gone, we've had to teach ourselves how to cook and clean. We were getting by. Between the three of us, it will take at least a year to scrape up enough money to rebuild."
"Don't worry about that. You are staying here until the house is done. Until then, I want the six of you training with the rest." Mars turns to the patriarch and nods. "My brother will have the house up before the three boys go back to school. Enyo and I already have clothes for the five boys, we decided that the school kids needed warmer clothes. She also ordered some for these two. All of you have a brand new wardrobe." The two boys are surprised at the generosity of this family. Arthur is in tears over Mars and Enyo's giving nature. Bill had new clothes growing up, but the others had to make do with his handy downs and second hand things.
Sirius stands after conferring with James and Remus. He walks up to Arthur and pulls him into a hug. "The four of us are going to Gringotts and setting up a trust for Fred, George, and Ron's schooling. All five boys will also receive some money for bride prices. Before anyone protests; we are family. All three of us are cousins by marriage." He points to himself, Arthur and James.
"Thank you Sirius, James, Remus and Lord and Lady Mars. I just don't think we can raise the money for the house before the end of the Holidays."
"That is not what I meant. Arthur, when we mentioned that we considered you all family, we meant it. Enyo has probably already contacted him, if I know her." Ares chuckles at the thought. "Another thing, please call me Ares or Mars. The Lord thing gets old in close company."
Once everyone gets back, Bella sets them down for supper. "Dig in." The elder Weasleys notice that once everyone fills their plates, they walk over to a brazier and scrape the best parts into the fire.
"May I ask what you are doing?" Bill asks shyly.
"It's an offertory to the gods. We do it at every meal. It's similar to the Christian grace tradition." Alec answers kindly.
"Trust me; we appreciate it when we are up there." Mars says after swallowing his mouthful of food. "While we can eat anything that you do, our bodies break it down differently, all of it turns into pure energy. While up there, all we eat is ambrosia and drink nectar. So we appreciate the wafting scents of the offerings."