ALICE'S POV

The witch that came out to meet us was the total embodiment of what I always pictured a witch to look like. She wore a green witch's pointy-top, round-brimmed green hat. Her hair, greying with age, was pulled tightly into a bun. She wore a green and white dress with a fashion fit for the Colonial period. And to top it off, she had a brown wooden wand clutched tightly in her right hand.

When she announced that another victim had been bitten, all the students gasped and the giant looked as angry as any giant I'd ever heard of in the fairy tales I remember from childhood. We raced behind her, some of the students barely keeping up. It wasn't until Seth said "Whoa!" that was when I could peel my eyes away from the Witch and take in the magnificent sight that was laid out before me.

Less than two-hundred yards away, stood the gates to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, with the Castle just beyond in all its majestic glory. "Oh wow." I said tugging on Bella's sleeve pointing to the glorious sight that was before us. She gasped too. The Castle itself looked as if it was torn from the pages of the most beautifully written fantasy novel. I couldn't describe it eloquently enough to do it justice if I tried, so I won't. Hogwarts is a sight that one simply needs to see for themselves' to truly be able to take in the beauty, the grandeur and the magnificence of this awesome castle and its surrounding grounds! I had to pull Bella and Seth by their arms for them to keep up. They were just as enamored with Hogwarts as I was.

I always forget just how hot these wolves feel. With a temperature of 109 degrees, Seth's bicep felt scalding hot to me. I'm sure my frigate fingers like ice to him, as the pup let out a small yelp when I grabbed him. Edward moved behind me and began leading Leah by the arm as well. Only Carlisle truly seemed un-phased by the view.

Once inside the Castle we headed straight for the infirmary with everyone walking in silence. Candle sconces lined the walls, illuminating our walk. My eyes tried desperately to soak up every detail or every inch of this place. I consider myself well-traveled. I've seen and experienced natural wonders, exotic remote locations, even top secret military facilities but I'd never felt the awe that I felt traversing the corridors of this old, dusty castle straight out of the middle ages.

I suddenly missed Jasper desperately. I really wished he would have been able to come. I know he wanted to. The only problem being is that he is still new to our way of life. Surrounding with all these human children, with their blood pumping and streaming through their bodies, would simply be too great a temptation for him to resist.

As we enter the infirmary, I saw what appeared at first glance to be two corpses; one a large husky boy the other a small scrawny boy with mop-top head full of red hair. As the came into better view I could see the bite marks. The husky boys appeared to be more recent. The boy with the red hair had a bite that looked much more advanced. His complexion was a pale grey. You could see the venom lines, almost glowing red, coursing down his neck under the collar of his shirt. There was a lady dressed as a nurse tending to the newer victim.

Down at the far end of the large room, stood three men. The first man was dressed in all black clothes, wearing a long flowing cloak and had the greasiest black hair I'd ever seen. He stood silently, watching me and my family with great suspicion as we entered. The man next to him stood petting a large grey cat. He had a large hooked nose and beady eyes. But it was the last man that captured my full attention. He was the spitting image of all the classic images of the great wizard Merlin the Magician from the King Arthur tales. His beard was long and flowing and white as the clouds, all of his long hair had also lost its color. He wore small round glasses and a long flowing brown robe. He smiled as we entered the room.

"Professor Dumbledore the students and guests have returned." The witch lady announced as we entered the room.

Hermione rushed to the red-headed child lying on the hospital bead. "Oh Ron" she said as her eyes clouded over and face filled with dread. "Look Harry, he's getting worse. He's . . . he's so white." Harry ran over and embraced her in a deep hug.

"It'll be okay Hermione. Ron will be okay." He promised her.

"Hello Carlisle" the old Wizard said walking to meet Carlisle, his arms open as if to hug him.

"You're Dumbledore." Carlisle said in disbelief as he accepted the old man's embrace.

"Wait you two know each other?" Edward asked. A rather silly question if you ask me.

"Yea, yea we do." Carlisle responded, pulling back to look at us. He looked as though he may cry. "Once when Esme was newly turned, while I was at the hospital performing my duties, she escaped. I was struck with overwhelming guilt. I searched for her for three days and couldn't find her anywhere. When finally I found her, she was chained to a chair. This man, Dumbledore, told me that he'd caught her and had been holding her so she couldn't attack anyone . . . "

"It's the least that I could do. I had never seen anything as beautiful as when she came to attack me, in broad daylight, her skin sparkling like a million diamonds. I was mesmerized. So much so in fact, that she almost bit me. I came to my sense at the last possible moment. It was customary in those days, to kill or destroy anyone discovered to be a vampire, however I couldn't bring myself to harm such a radiant creature as she was, so I chained her up not sure what to do. That is until Carlisle arrived." Dumbledore explained.

"That's when I found them. I told him" Carlisle said, point to Dumbledore, "that she was my wife and I had come to claim her. He said, 'You do know what she is don't you'? I told him yes that she was indeed a vampire."

"And I told him, that it was our duty to destroyer her, before she could go bite or kill anyone else, or worse, make more vampires." Dumbledore added.

"That's when I admitted what I was. I told him, this man I'd just met moments before, that I too was vampire. And I told him this that's when he said 'But your eyes are not blood red like hers.' That's when I explained that I no longer hunted humans, I lived off the blood of animals and that I was trying to help Esme learn to do the same." Carlisle said.

"If my memory serves me correctly, he also pledged his undying love for her and begged for her life. And I couldn't refuse. If Carlisle was telling me the truth, and I believed that he was then there was no way I could harm that beautiful creature, so I let her go, into his custody." Dumbledore said.

"With my promise that if he ever needed anything vampire related, I would try my best to help him." Added Carlisle. "To tell the truth, I thought you'd forgotten about me and was probably long dead. And you never even gave me your name either."

"I did not then, but I gladly do now. My name is indeed Albus Dumbledore and Carlisle I am in desperate need of help from you and your family." Dumbledore spoke softly, with a somber sincerity.

"Friend, we are glad to help however we can." Carlisle said, shaking his hand.

The man with the black greasy hair had an almost disgusted look upon his face as he turned abruptly to leave. No one other than me and Edward seemed to notice . . .

Bloatman's Corner: I hope you enjoyed chapter 11! Please leave me a review and tell me what you thought. Also, thank you soooo much for all the reviews and personal messages about this story. I'm really glad that so many of you are enjoying this story. Chapter 12 should be up soon.

I also wanted to plug another of one of my stories, that I recently started posting. It's called STAR WARS Episode IV: The Boy Who Lived. It's a Star Wars/Harry Potter mash-up. Please if you get a chance, check that one out too.

Thanks for reading! - Bloatman