CHAPTER 03:

By the time Ron apparated back to the Cullen household, Harry, Hermione, Luna, Griphook and Ollivander had all fallen asleep in an exhausted slumber while Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, and Alice had gone out hunting. Carlisle and Esme were sitting together in the kitchen area. Edward, he was informed by Esme, was out for the night at his girlfriend's place. Something Ron assumed he did quite often given the nonchalant way Esme had passed the information to him. Lucky bastard Ron thought jealously as he reinforced the wards around their room which he was sure Hermione had expanded to fit all - Harry, Luna, himself and her, in together instead of having them fanned out and be easier targets should calamity suddenly strike. Then he too found his way to a cold and lonely bed.

Bacon!

Ron drooled at the thought and woke up instantly to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Sitting up he looked straight at Harry, who, Ron was sure, was mimicking his own expression of hunger. The year on the run had been difficult on their palate and not just because the food was hard to come by but because their darling best friend could not cook to save her life! She took particular offense whenever Harry offered to cook and gave them an evil eye as soon as she dished whatever she had managed to burn yet keep a part of it raw, onto their plates until they licked their plates clean!

So the enticing smell of sumptuous breakfast beckoned the growing boys. Jumping out of their beds and running down the stairs, the two young wizards slumped around the breakfast bar and immediately flushed seeing the complete coven of vampires eyeing them with clear amusement.

"Sorry," they muttered sheepishly and looked down at the table.

"I can tell you haven't been eating well," Esme said in the typical motherly fashion and passed them plates piled high with foods.

Without a second's thought, the boys dug in eagerly and pigged out on the meal making the vampires chuckle.

"If only I had known my food would be so well received I'd have cooked more," Edward grinned.

"You made this?" Harry asked surprised.

Edward nodded. "For a guy who can't taste his cooking, this is pretty awesome," Ron spoke between mouthfuls of food.

If he could, Edward probably would've blushed at that. "It's nothing. I like cooking, takes my mind off things. Only thing is, before you all I never had a chance to practice on someone who could give me a feedback."

"Oh! I thought you're dating a human," Ron shrugged and continued digging in.

"Hmm.." Harry agreed without looking up from his own plate.

"This is really lovely," Luna's dreamy voice made the boys jump. Neither had realized when the pale witch had slid in beside them, so lost were they in their breakfast. Her timely interruption also saved Edward from answering why he hadn't yet cooked for his girlfriend. The fact that the thought had never even crossed his mind made him wince internally.

"You best hide. Mione will stab you with a table knife once she figures that a vampire can cook better than her," Harry sniggered.

He received a prompt smack up his head as Hermione took the empty chair on his left and sat down. "I won't compare myself to a century-old vampire. He obviously has had a lot of time to practice."

Edward passed her a plate too. She set it down quietly, thanking him and began eating herself.

"Yeah, but he had no feedback. You, on the other hand.." Ron suddenly trailed off at the murderous glare Hermione sent his way. "Since you can't taste it yourself, call me anytime you cook. I'd happily do the honors for you," Ron grinned at Edward instead. Edward returned it with a small chuckle of his own.

"So what's on your mind? Why were you cooking?" Luna cut straight to the chase and eyed all the vampires curiously. "Why are you all so worked up?"

"Well, there's a war brewing on our side too, you see," Rosalie began explaining with an angry look darted Edward's way.

"A war?" Harry suddenly sat up, all business while Hermione and Ron straightened up too.

"We won't bore you with the details but in a nutshell, let's just say Romeo here managed to anger the wrong crowd with a human on his arm. Then to save the said human, we killed a vampire who was obsessively tracking her and now his mate is out for the same human, landing us in this unpleasant situation." The way Rosalie explained their ordeal had Hermione's lips twitching. "In her attempt to bring down Bella and our family at the same time, Victoria has raised a newborn vampire army and is headed our way as we speak. Based on Alice's vision, they should be here in the next few days." There flattened Hermione's twitching lips, her color fading immediately.

"So, uhm, the newborn vampires, are they like baby vampires then?" Harry asked unsurely.

"I didn't know vampires could have babies," Ron shrugged and continued eating, completely missing the faltering Rosalie as Emmett engulfed her in his arms.

Groaning Hermione turned their way and scowled. "Why do you two never read!?"

"We wouldn't want your job to be mundane now would we?" Ron smirked and Harry held his shoulder tightly to get him to keep quiet, lest he anger Hermione, which going by the small sparks in her hair was eventually happening anyway.

"Mione," Harry cut in, "could you tell us about the newborn vampires please?"

Throwing one last glare at them both, Hermione launched herself into a long rant. "Newborn vampires are, as the name suggests, new vampires. No, they aren't children Harry, but people who have been recently bitten and turned. Given their news genes and their lack of control on their venom, they are highly volatile and much more bloodthirsty than their older counterparts as they haven't yet conquered their bloodlust. According to the Volturi's laws, a vampire who converts a person is essentially the one responsible for his or her actions. It's like raising a blood crazy army to turn more than one person at a time. Given the information, it would be safe to assume that this vampire, Victoria, only wishes to destroy this coven taking Bella with it, post which she will more than likely kill the newbies and leave with nothing but their ashes spread in the air behind her. Being a newborn vampire is like having the urge to suck every human dry just to get the intense burning in their throat down to a simmer. It takes vampires half a century or at times, even more, to control this lust and live off just one human per week. Also, because on their constant feeding, the newborn vampires are much stronger and can break the hardest of bones with just a fist through it."

"That' just morbid," Harry shook his head.

"Trouble just seems to find us, eh mate?" Ron smirked. "So what's this Volturi then?"

"The Volturi is the coven of the oldest vampires. They have three leaders that are treated like royalty amongst the vampires - Aro, Caius, and Marcus, with Aro being their head. Aro also has this unhealthy hobby of collecting those vampires with exceptional gifts. He is an astute businessman, if you will, who stops at nothing once he has his eyes set on something or someone. The vampires all over world revere the Volturi but in general, try to stay away from them nevertheless. The Volturi seat in Volterra, Italy and thereby come directly under the jurisdiction of the Italian Ministry of Magic. They are also bound by the Statute of Secrecy, so they prefer turning or feeding off any human that figures about the existence of vampires."

"Has a newborn vampire army ever been defeated before this?" Harry asked anything about war piquing his curiosity and making him think of ways he could use the information for their own battle which he was sure was approaching faster than ever before.

"One-on-five, yes. Separate their limbs and torso and then burn them down. But as an army, only during the Vampire Wars of southern America. An old vampire by the name of Maria raised and an army of newborns along with her two sisters. They turned a major of the US Army, the youngest ever to achieve that post, and abused his intelligence for their own selfish gains. Major Jas…" Hermione halted and turned to stare wide-eyed at Jasper and then smacked her forehead hard. "Of course! That's why you looked so familiar! You are Major Jasper Whitlock, the youngest major in the history of America. Your ventures with Maria, especially those that talk about your prowess at strategizing and dub you as the God of War on the fighting field are most audacious to read. Some of your adventures even put a few of ours to shame. It's such an honor to meet you in person," Hermione gave Jasper a warm smile and then moved back to her rant as if she hadn't stopped at all.

"Okay, so Major Jasper Whitlock here is one of the few to have actually gone against newborn vampire armies and lived to tell the tale. While he did commander the army, he is known to have destroyed it after their use to his creator Maria was nulled."

"How can we help?" Harry again directed his question at Hermione instead of the vampires.

"Slicing hexes followed by Incendio. No fyndefyres as their dark power can lead a trail back to us, giving up our location for any tracker worth his salt."

"Guess we could do that. We're in," said Harry and nodded at the Cullens then went back to his breakfast.