Renesmee Cullen and the Locket of Michael
Chapter 4: A Very Cullen Christmas
December came quick and Renesmee was more than excited for spending the Christmas holiday with the Potter and Weasley families. Albus and James told her about the Potter family customs for Christmas while Rose explained that her grandmother, Molly Weasley, was always cooking Christmas dinner every year and they held their celebrations at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. "It's a lot easier to hold the celebrations at Uncle Harry's house," she said matter-of-factly, "since it has more room than our place."
"Maybe next year your families could spend Christmas at our house," Renesmee said happily as she packed what was left of her stuff in her trunk and propped it up against the wall at the Hogsmeade Station. The four of them had walked all the way from the castle to Hogsmeade Station to board the train. As the train pulled up and came to a stop, Renesmee had a question for Rose that was relevant to their conversation. "Exactly how are we getting to Grimmauld Place?"
"Oh, Dad's got that all taken care of," James said. "He wrote a letter to Ernie Prang and Stan Shunpike and the Knight Bus will take us from King's Cross to our place." He said this with a bitterness, but he couldn't hide the grin that was coming. "The Knight Bus is an emergency transport for all witches and wizards. Dad paid for the four of us." Renesmee couldn't help but wonder what the ride on the Knight Bus would be like, and she knew she would find out as soon as possible.
The four Gryffindors exited King's Cross station and came up to Charing Cross Road to see a purple three-decker bus waiting for them. A lanky man wearing a set of grey robes and a hat stood at the doors smiling down at them. "Welcome to the Knight Bus," he said pompously, "emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. My name is Stan Shunpike and I will be your conductor for this afternoon." He saw Renesmee and the others and smiled. "Ah, you'll be the party of which Harry Potter asked us so nicely to get?"
"Yes, Stan," James said as he hefted his own trunk on the bus and helped Renesmee with hers. "Just get us to Grimmauld Place, okay?" Stan nodded and held out four tickets, which each of them took. There were many rows of chairs on all three decks and James led them to the second row behind Ernie, the driver. "I'd suggest you hold on to something, Renesmee. It's going to be a bumpy ride."
"Oi!" said a Jamaican voice from overhead. Renesmee looked up by the windshield to see a shrunken head staring at them with its empty sockets. "That's my line!" James laughed and held on to a bar in front of him. Stan tapped Ernie's window and told him to get started. "Yeah!" the shrunken head said laughing, "Take it away, Ernie! It's gonna be a bumpy ride!" Renesmee barely held on to the metal bar in front of her when there was a loud BANG and the Knight Bus lurched forward and shot like a bullet through the streets.
"Are you sure this is safe?" she asked as the bus swerved between cars and trucks. "I'm a little scared right now!"
"Ah, don't worry," Albus said. "Dad lets us ride the Knight Bus all the time and it gets us where we need to go." Renesmee was still unsure about this, and what happened next didn't help.
"Ernie, little old lady at twelve o'clock!" the shrunken head shouted and Ernie slammed on the brakes. The Knight Bus came to a lurching halt and Renesmee slammed face first into the windshield. "Hmm, where do I remember this from?" the head joked and started to count down as the old lady in front of them started walking. When the head got to 'one', the bus shot like a bullet again and Renesme flew back into her seat. Not even ten minutes later, the shrunken head said, "We're nearly there, Ernie! Put on the bloody brakes!" Again, Renesmee felt herself fly forward, screaming, and instead of slamming into the windshield, her vampire strength kicked in and she went right through it. "Whoa!" the head shouted and turned to face her. "Are you okay?"
"Fine," Renesmee said brushing the bits of glass off her clothes and out of her hair. "Next time, warn me when you're going to pull the brakes like that!" Ernie gave her a weak smile and, once the others were off the bus, took off and vanished. "I am never riding that thing again!"
"Don't be so sure about that," Rose said with a sly smile. "I think Uncle Harry will get us another ride to get to King's Cross." Renesmee groaned and hung her head as they entered an unkempt square and Rose grabbed a large wooden staff and tapped the tip of it on the ground three times. With a rumbling sound, number twelve appeared and they went inside. Renesmee was shocked to see that the Potters' residence looked more like a place a vampire would stay in. It was dark, dank but sitll had a cheery sense to it. Voices were heard from the kitchen but she was stopped by a small creature wearing a pillowcase for clothes and bulging blue eyes.
"Please take off your cloak, Miss," the creature said in a high-pitched voice. "Winky will take you to the kitchen." Renesmee shrugged off her black cloak and hung it up on the wall then followed the small creature down a flight of stairs and into the kitchen. "Miss Renesmee Cullen, Master Harry."
"Ah, thanks, Winky," Harry said and gave the creature a pat on the back. Seeing Renesmee's confused expression, he said, "That's our house-elf Winky. The original elf that resided here died a few years ago, so I employed her not long after. Come, sit down." Renesmee sat down beside her mother and Jacob, both of whom hugged her. "All right, now that we're all here, I think it's time we started the celebrations. James, Albus, if you would?"
"Of course, Dad!" James said and he and Albus waved their wands in one fluid motion causing paper chains of green and red to materialize on the doorways and along the walls. Harry flicked his wand at the candles on the Christmas tree and they were lit. "Dad, Renesmee does not like riding the Knight Bus." When Harry asked why, Renesmee made it clear.
"I didn't mind the beginning," she said, "but I wish they'd give me more warning when it stops because I slammed into the windshield the first time, but when we got here, I went right through it!" Bella and Edward snickered. "It's not funny! I could've been seriously hurt!"
"Part vampire, remember?" Edward whispered to her and she glared at him. "All right, we'll make sure you use a different means of transport to Hogwarts this time." He grinned and sat back in his chair. "Carlisle and Esme are picking Charlie up at the airport. They'll be here in..." he looked at his watch, "right about now." The doorbell rang and Renemsee heard a deafening shout from the hallway.
"Blimey, I told Carlisle not to ring that damned doorbell fifty times tonight!" Ginny hissed. "I know he's a great Muggle doctor and a vampire but I swear his hearing's gone." The front door opened and Charlie Swan came into the kitchen only to be nearly knocked to the ground by Renesmee.
"Nessie, you really need to stop doing that," Charlie said with a chuckle. "Your mom and dad were visited by Hermione around your birthday. Something about a vampire attack at school?" With a sob Renesmee nodded. "What happened, honey? Tell me." She shook her head. "Okay, show me." Renesmee touched his cheek and he gasped. "Oh God! Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine, Grandpa, but I think that vampire's after me." Harry dropped the teacup he was holding and it shattered. "That thing got into the common room and stole some of my stuff including the locket Mom gave me and the charm bracelet Jacob made."
"WHAT?" Jacob growled. "That blood-sucking scum took your stuff?" Renesmee turned to look at him and nodded. "Oh, when I get my hands on him..." Edward and Bella grabbed him as he started to shake violently, a sign that he was about to wolf out. "I need some tea or something, Winky, could you get me some?" Winky gave a nod and handed him a cup of tea. "Thank you. Now, something has to be done about this vampire. Kill it."
"Easier said than done, mate," Ron said grimly. "Harry and I searched every bit of the grounds at Hogwarts after Renesmee showed us her memories. We even checked the lake and couldn't find anything." A low growl escaped Jacob's throat and Renesmee rubbed his shoulder in comfort. "All we can do now is wait until the bloody beast attacks again and we'll be ready. Of course, it would help if we knew exactly what it looked like."
"Hang on," Harry said, "Ron, we can't just let the same vampire get into Hogwarts. There are over a thousand students in Hogwarts and they'll all be vulnerable if the vampire gets in. It could kill them." Ron forgot about that and shut up immediately. "On a good note, today's issue of the Daily Prophet came in and it looks like there's a new History of Magic teacher at Hogwarts. His name is Jonathan Marlowe, a direct descendant of Christopher Marlowe."
"That should be interesting seeing as Christopher Marlowe died in the late 1500's." Carlisle said while examining the photograph on the newspaper. "It looks a lot like Christopher, to be honest...except his hair is longer and his eyes are more sunken." Renesmee looked at the photograph herself and felt the fine hairs on her neck prickle. Even the silver locket on her chest twitched. "Renesmee, are you okay?"
"Yeah," she said and shoved the paper back into Harry's hands. "I just get this bad vibe from him." She took a look at the picture again and felt the same odd feeling of distrust she felt moments ago. Harry took the paper and placed it on the long counter of dishes while Molly handed out cups of hot chocolate and ice-cold goblets of pumpkin juice. "So, Harry, Rose was telling me stories about your days at Hogwarts."
"Oh?" Harry asked, an eyebrow raised at his niece, "Did she tell you about the time I fought a large snake in my second year?" Renesmee shook her head. "Well, it happened like this. A house-elf named Dobby-" there was a shiver of dismay and sadness in the air at the name, "-told me not to go back to Hogwarts, but I didn't heed his warning. During that year, Dobby tried to get me out of school by breaking my arm and getting me in so much trouble that he thought I'd be expelled. Proved him wrong, I did. Anyway, the year progressed and Muggle-borns were getting Petrified. Hermione was one of them along with Colin Creevey and Justin Finch-Fletchley, a Hufflepuff student in our year. Ron and I didn't figure out what Petrified the students until Hermione gave us the information on a bit of parchment explaining that a Basilisk was the culprit."
"That same Basilisk was controlled by Lord Voldemort," Ron explained sullenly, "or at least it was a memory of him. See, Ginny found Tom Riddle's diary -Tom Riddle was Voldemort's name when he was young-and started writing in it. She poured her soul into that diary and, in turn, it possessed her. She opened the Chamber of Secrets and when Harry got in, she was almost dead." Harry gave his wife a squeeze and smiled. "The basilisk almost killed Harry, too, but he killed it with the sword of Godric Gryffindor and stabbed the diary with one of the basilisk's fangs then got Ginny out." Renesmee and the rest of the Cullens looked impressed with this and congratulated him.
"It was nothing compared to what I had to do during the final year of school," Harry said modestly. "That was the hard part. Dumbledore gave me a job to do, which was destroying several objects called Horcruxes. The first one we had was a locket and Ron destroyed it with the sword of Gryffindor." He pointed to the one hanging on Renesmee's chest and said, "That locket you're wearing reminds me of Slytherin's. May I look at it?" Renesmee took the locket off and handed it over to him. Harry had thought opening this locket would be just as hard as it was with the Horcrux but he was wrong. The silver locket opened when he pulled and he saw a shimmering lock of copper hair inside it. "Blimey, what is this?"
"I think," Hermione said examining the hair closely, "it's a lock of hair from the Archangel Michael. I believe this lock of hair gives the locket its power." She closed the locket and handed it back to Renesmee who put it on again. "I'll need to make a record of its magical properties and send them to the Department of Magical Objects, a new department that started when Kingsley Shacklebolt became Minister." She made a mental note to do so and drank her mug of hot chocolate. "Well, I have to say I've never had such a happy Christmas with the Cullens this year. I had my doubts about you all, but now that I think about it, you are all very fun to hang around."
"Thank you, Hermione," Carlisle said grinning. "I'm sure we can say the same for you." Hermione smiled at him and let out a giggle. "Oh, that reminds me! Esme and I were able to get you all Christmas gifts. Emmett, would you grab the gifts out of the car, please?" Emmett gave a lopsided grin and headed toward the front door returning a few moments later with a bunch of colorfully wrapped boxes in different sizes which he set down on the kitchen table. "This first one is for Harry and Ginny. Go on, then."
"Okay," Harry said and grabbed the first box in front of him and opened it. "Great Scott!" he gasped and pulled out a small necklace with two crossing wands. Ginny got a pair of earrings in the same design. "Thank you, both of you." Carlisle waved away his thanks and handed out boxes for everyone including Charlie. Renesmee got a beautiful silver ring with a large sapphire set into the center; Ron and Hermione's were a pair of keys each which Carlisle explained went to a brand-new car enchanted by Arthur Weasley himself; Everyone else got something interesting like James who got a pair of dragon-hide gloves for Quidditch and Albus got a small, gold bracelet with a broomstick-shaped charm on it.
"Thank you all for letting us stay here," Edward said standing up and holding up a silver glass of deer blood. "This Christmas has been a wonderful one and I invite the Potters and Weasleys to stay at our house next year. We have more than enough room." There was a large number of murmurings about this and Renesmee realized they were all considering it. "Well, I think it's time for the children to be in bed. It's getting late." Renesmee followed Rose to the bedroom they'd be sharing and set up their stuff.
"I think it's great that your dad invited us all to stay at your place for Christmas next year," said Rose as she climbed into her bed and lay down. "I like him and Jacob. Very nice people, your family."
"Yeah," said Renesmee smiling, then she sat up. "Rose, would it be okay if I told your whole family something tomorrow morning? It's really important and might be relevant to the vampire attack." Rose nodded. "Good. I'll make the announcement in the morning." She turned out the lights and drifted off to sleep.
Christmas morning proved to be very nice especially for the fact that Renesmee got a big hug from Harry Potter. She wasn't expecting it but thought it was a nice gesture all the same. "Rose tells me you have something to tell us?" Renesmee nodded and led him into the drawing room on the second floor landing where the Weasley and Potter families were sitting. He sat down beside Ginny and looked at Renesmee expectantly. "Why aren't your family with us?"
"Because they already know this," she said and sighed. "Okay, I think the reason this vampire is after me is not only because of the locket but because I'm...I'm not exactly human." This brought the reaction Renesmee had expected and she didn't look away. "I'm a vampire and human hybrid." Harry's jaw dropped along with everyone else's. Arthur Weasley cleared his throat to break the dead silence that ensued right afterward. "Mom got pregnant with me on their honeymoon and I was so strong that I nearly killed her. I broke many of her ribs and her spine. Dad had to actually tear the amniotic sac containing me so I wouldn't suffocate from growing too quickly. The worst part of it was that after Mom had me, she pretty much died and the vampire venom my dad put in her didn't work for a while until two days later.
"Right after I was born, Jacob was about to kill me but instead he imprinted on me, ensuring my safety if anything came up that would attempt to hurt me." Renesmee looked at the silent and shocked extended family in front of her and finished her story. "So, that's it. Anything you got to say?"
"Well," Harry said slowly, "that explains a lot of our questions like how you actually broke thorough the Knight Bus's windshield and the slightly sparkly skin. But I do have a few questions for you." Renesmee smiled and let him ask. "Before, when you showed me your thoughts, is that one of your abilities as a vampire?" She nodded. "How did you get that?"
"My dad has the ability to hear people's thoughts and Mom has the ability to shield her own mind and everyone around her. I ended up getting the opposite of those abilities. I can project my thoughts to others by touching them and I can get past your mental defenses." Renesmee explained. "Professor McGonagall was informed about my rapid aging problem and gave me a special potion from Professor Malfoy to take once a week."
"Let me get this straight," Ron said now pacing the room. "You're a vampire and human hybrid and that's why the vampire who killed Ernie Macmillan is after you besides the locket?" She nodded again. "Why didn't you tell us before?"
"I...I didn't want you guys to think of me as a freak or anything." Renesmee was looking at Rose and Albus more than anyone else when she said it. "I just became friends with Rose, James and Albus and I really didn't want to lose any friendships." Rose ran over and hugged her tightly, assuring the vampire hybrid that they would always stay friends no matter what species she was. "Thank you, Rose. What about you, Albus? Do you say the same thing?"
"Yes, Renesmee, I do," Albus said solemnly. "That explains why you barely eat any human food and...were you drinking blood in that hip flask of yours?" She nodded again. "That explains it. Well, I still accept you for who you are, Renesmee. You're my best friend and that's not going to change at all." Renesmee hugged him, too then headed for bed.