(I was hoping to put the Duelling Club in the third book but since the events are a little more drastic than what I expected them to be in this one, I'll put it in. Hope you like chapter four of Book 2.)
Renesmee Cullen and the Volturi's Protection
Chapter 4: Quidditch Trials and the Dueling Club
Renesmee was very excited the morning of her Quidditch trials as she ate a bit of her breakfast. The owls delivering letters and parcels from parents dove from the rafters and dropped their items on the tables. Solaris was the last to arrive and dropped a broomstick-shaped object on her table. "Mom actually did it!" she gasped and looked at the letter explaining her mother's congratulations on trying out for the team. Renesmee unwrapped the parcel and stared in awe at the Firebolt laying on the table. "It's an actual Firebolt!"
"It's not the original, though," Albus said disappointedly. "This one's an upgraded version of Dad's. He got his from his godfather in his third year and before that he got a Nimbus Two-Thousand racing broom in his first year." Renesmee gave a low whistle and really wanted to give it a try. "Go on, then! Let's see how it rides!" Albus encouraged her. She agreed and ran out of the Great Hall followed by Rose, Albus, James and Scorpius, all of whom wanted to watch her fly on it. Renesmee was a little nervous riding a broomstick but Albus had a point when he said, "You're an incredible flyer, Renesmee. You were great during our Flying Lesson with Madam Hooch! Go on!"
"All right," Renesmee said. She mounted the broomstick, kicked off hard and shot into the air with a wail of delight. Renesmee zoomed over the grounds, flew in circles around the turrets and battlments of the castle, and finally landed in front of her friends. "I love it!" she cried while carrying the broomstick on her shoulder. To her surprise, she saw the Quidditch Captain, Annabelle Weasley, ran up to her. "Hi, Annabelle!"
"Renesmee, you were incredible!" Annabelle cried happily. "I was watching you from the lake with my friends! You'd make an incredible Chaser or Seeker!"
"Which position do you play, Annabelle?" Rose asked curiously. "Dad told me a while back, but I forgot."
Annabelle threw her chest out and said proudly, "I'm a Chaser and our last Seeker graduated Hogwarts last year. We need a new one. Renesmee, with your eyesight and speed, you could possibly catch that Snitch instantly, right?" Renesmee nodded, her amber eyes twinkling in the sunlight but not as bright as her skin. "Good. See you at the tryouts after lunch. I'll put you down for Seeker, then." Annabelle squealed, hugged Renesmee and ran off to join her friends again.
"Well, isn't that neat?" said Spike from the shadows of a birch tree. "Renesmee Cullen, the first vampire hybrid to play Seeker for Gryffindor? I like it."
"Shut up, Spike," Angel said standing next to him. "Renesmee has a right to try out for any position she sees fit and I'm proud of her." Renesmee grinned at him and he grinned back. "I hope you get it. I never really got to see a Quidditch match but I think this one should be a lot of fun with you playing Seeker."
"Yeah," said Faith from behind Angel who jumped, "I hear Slytherin's going to be the first team against Gryffindor and Scorpius Malfoy's the Seeker for the Slytherins. Good luck, kid." Renesmee stuck out her tongue playfully which resulted in Faith doing the same back. "B wanted you guys to know that we're having a Scooby meeting after your trials, so you'll be coming to Angel's dungeon room afterward, okay? She says Rose, Albus, James and Scorpius can come if they want to."
"Cool." Renesmee said. "We'll be there." Faith flashed a grin at her and walked off toward the castle again. "Okay, we have Quidditch trials after lunch and a Scooby meeting after that. I think today's gonna be really awesome." Everyone laughed and headed inside.
Renesmee carried her Firebolt proudly on her shoulder as she made her way to the changing rooms and put on her scarlet and gold robes. Annabelle assigned her a leather helmet with a pair of goggles attached to them for harsh weather and even a pair of gloves. "Okay, everyone," Annabelle called when all who were trying out were ready to go. "We'll start with the Chasers, Beaters and Keeper first, then we'll work on the Seeker." James and two girls took to the air with the Quaffle and within an hour had scored ten goals each which meant James and the other two were on the team. George Weasley's son Fred and a boy in Renesmee's year named Reginald Salvadore each hit a Bludger with their heavy bats and immediately made the team. Fred's Bludger nicked Renesmee's elbow and Reginald's whacked James in the head. "Good job, you two!" Annabelle said happily.
The Keeper position was filled by a fifth year girl Renesmee had never met before and then it was her turn to try out for Seeker. Renesmee hovered above the pitch and waved at Buffy, Angel, Spike, Faith, Albus and Rose, all of whom were cheering her on. "Okay," Renesmee muttered, "you can do this, Renesmee. Remember what Mom said: you can do anything you put your mind to. Just concentrate on getting the Snitch and...yeah." Her little pep talk to herself didn't exactly make her feel any less nervous but she didn't have time to do anything else because Annabelle gave a blast on her whistle and the Snitch was released. It zoomed around the pitch until Renesmee finally caught sight of it and went after it. She zoomed over and under the stands and everywhere the Snitch went until she finally caught it when it was hovering over James's head.
"Absolutely superb, Renesmee!" Annabelle cried. "You are the new Gryffindor Seeker!" Renesmee landed on the ground, the Golden Snitch's wings fluttering feebly through her fingers. "If you do this good during the match against Slytherin, I say you'll probably win us the Inter-House Quidditch Cup this year."
"Thanks, Annabelle," Renesmee said as she put the Snitch into the case holding the balls. "I'm really excited." Annabelle clapped Renesmee on the back and went to the changing rooms with the other members of the team. Albus, Rose and everyone else caught up to her and congratulated her. "Thanks, but let's see what the Scooby meeting's about." They all walked to the dungeons together and Albus, Rose, James and Scorpius sat on Angel's leather sofa he brought with him while Buffy called for attention. Angel handed Renesmee a steaming mug of pig's blood which she happily accepted.
"All right," Buffy said, "with the Molochs keeping tabs on us, I think it's time we do the same. Spike and Angel will do some recon missions, finding the Molochs' base of operations, and listening in on their meetings. Got it?" Angel nodded while Spike gave her a salute. "From what I understand about these ancient vampires, I need silver-tipped stakes, crossbow bolts and...dare I say it...a shotgun with silver bullets. Those will stop a vampire in its tracks, especially this kind. That's where Giles, Willow and Faith come in."
"What about us?" Albus asked loudly. "What can we do?" Buffy looked at the four of them and said all they could do was just wait until the fight came to them. "So, you're letting us fight?"
"It's against my better judgement, but yes." Buffy said. "I'm going to give Xander the rundown and ask if he can help us out. Spike, Angel, I want you two gone tonight. Just listen in on their meetings with their master and Apparate back here as soon as you can." Rose raised her hand. "What?"
Rose stood up and spoke in a bossy tone like her mother. "Nobody can Apparate in or out of the school grounds except for house-elves, a teacher or the Headmistress. McGonagall put up an Anti-Apparition Charm at the beginning of the year."
"Fine. Angel and Spike will Apparate to Hogsmeade and get here as soon as they can." Buffy said and turned to the vampires. "Make sure you're not followed. We don't need another Moloch attack." Spike gave a nod and left the room with Angel. "Meeting adjourned." She slammed her hand on Angel's wooden table and everyone left the room.
Renesmee decided to go for a nighttime stroll in the castle and was passing the staff room when she heard Professors Finnigan, Malfoy, Longbottom, Rosenberg and McGonagall all talking to Harry and his team of Aurors. Jane, Alec, Benjamin, Afton, Tia, Felix and Demitri were all there as well. "If the Molochs are going to attack Hogwarts again, we need to make sure the students know what they're dealing with and how to fight back!" Harry said bitterly. "I know this is going to sound really stupid to all of you, especially for you Volturi people, but I suggest that we bring the Dueling Club back to Hogwarts effective immediately."
Jane glared at Harry with her red eyes and said coldly, "I don't think your magic will even work against the Molochs, Potter. In fact, I doubt anything will at this point...especially against Moloch the Destroyer." Harry was about to say something else when McGonagall had her say in the matter.
"I agree with Potter, Jane," she said curtly. "The Dueling Club will be re-established in Hogwarts and Potter will teach the students with Willow while Buffy Summers and Professor Lehane will teach hand-to-hand combat techniques. They are the world's greatest Slayers, after all." Jane hissed angrily and marched out of the staff room along with the other Volturi members. Renesmee watched them go and was about to head to the Gryffindor common room when Professor Malfoy caught her.
"What's your hurry, Miss Cullen?" he asked in his usual drawl. Renesmee turned and gave him her best smile which did not work for him. Professor Malfoy bent close to her and whispered, "What did you hear?"
"Everything, sir," Renesmee whispered back, "and I agree with Harry. We, the students here at Hogwarts, should know how to fight the enemy instead of being protected. How can we fight back if we don't know how?" Professor Malfoy gave her a smile, bade her good night and walked away. Renesmee let out a sigh of relief and muttered, "At least he didn't take points off for me being out after hours," and went to the common room to finish some of her homework she had for her classes and then went to bed.
The next morning, all of the Gryffindors were crowded around the bulletin board when Renesmee came down the spiral staircase. On the board was a sign that read:
HOGWARTS DUELING CLUB
ALL STUDENTS WISHING TO LEARN TO DEFEND THEMSELVES AGAINST THE MOLOCH VAMPIRES OR ANY WIZARD A MOLOCH TAKES CONTROL OF MAY MEET IN THE GREAT HALL EVERY TUESDAY EVENING AFTER DINNER.
IT IS NOT MANDATORY FOR EVERY STUDENT TO ATTEND, BUT WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND IT.
SINCERELY,
Professor M. McGonagall
"Blimey!" Albus said excitedly. "The Dueling Club was last held at Hogwarts when Dad was here in his second year because of the monster in the Chamber of Secrets!" Renesmee and Rose shushed him and he blushed. "Why don't we check it out, eh? Think it'll be cool to learn new spells and stuff to defend against the Molochs?"
Grinning widely, Renesmee said, "Looks like the first session is tonight! What d'you guys say we check it out?"
"All right, I'm in," Rose said nodding. "Dad always wanted me to learn new spells so I can really know how to do magic properly. He says 'the only way to to learn magic is to learn the spells themselves'. I think it's time we listened to my dad's advice and do it." Renesmee nodded and they made a plan of it.
After their lessons that day, Renesmee, Rose and Albus made their way into the crowded Great Hall to check out the Dueling Club. The four House tables were replaced by a long platform. Standing on the platform were Harry Potter and Willow Rosenberg. Harry pointed his wand at his throat and spoke, his voice magically magnified over the loud chattering of students. "Atttention!" he called and everyone got quiet immediately. He quieted his voice and spoke in his normal volume. "Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Good. Now, I spoke to Professor McGonagall last evening and she agreed to let me teach all of you how to defend yourselves against the impending attacks of the Moloch vampire bloodline.
"With me is Willow Rosenberg, a very acomplished Wicca and best friend to your Defense Against the Dark Arts and Muggle Studies teachers, Buffy and Dawn Summers." Renesmee smiled when she saw Buffy standing at the staff table along with Faith. "Willow and I will be teaching you many defensive spells to use against the Molochs while Buffy and Professor Lehane will be teaching you hand-to-hand combat. Any questions?"
"Why will we need to know-hand-to-hand combat when we can use a wand?" asked a fifth year Slytherin.
Harry smiled and said, "I'm glad you asked that, my dear Slytherin friend. What would you do if a Moloch knocked your wand out of your hand when you're about to cast a spell or broke it? You'd have to resort to punching the beast, wouldn't you?" The Slytherin nodded enthusiastically. "There you go, then. Now, Willow and I will be teaching spells, jinxes, curses and charms on Tuesday nights while Buffy and Professor Lehane will teach hand-to-hand on Friday nights after dinner. Are there any more questions?" A third year Ravenclaw girl asked what curses will be taught during their Dueling lessons and Harry, instead of answering verbally, flicked his wand at a large stack of spellbooks containing various charms, spells, jinxes and curses which flew into the students' hands. "I want all of you to find a few spells in these books and try them on your partners. Be very careful of the Unforgivable Curses, though...they are particularly nasty curses and are only to be used in case of emergency such as the Killing Curse.
"Now, Willow and I will be circling around the room watching everyone to see which pair will get to test their abilities on the stage. Start on my whistle. One-two-three!" He let out a burst from his silver whistle and spells were cast immediately.
Renesmee successfully dodged a Furnunculus Curse cast by Rose and countered by shouting, "Petrificus Totalus!" and Rose fell flat on her back, unable to move. Harry grinned at them as he walked by and performed the counter-curse on Rose, who was back on her feet in seconds.
"Rictusempra!" Rose cried and Renesmee was thrown into the air by a blast of violet light. She managed to backflip in midair and landed on her feet three feet away from Rose, who was astonished.
"Locomotor Mortis!" Renesmee cried and Rose's legs looked as if they were glued together and she fell to the floor. Willow performed the counter for the Leg-Locker Curse and Rose was back on her feet casting the Disarming Charm and Renesmee's wand flew out of her hand and to the floor.
"Very good, Rose!" Harry shouted. "You successfully Disarmed Renesmee!" The crowd of students stopped casting their spells and looked around at them. "Come up here, you two." Renesmee and Rose walked to the stage and stood next to Harry and Willow. "I'm going to make this a bit more challenging this time. Both of you are going to get a chance to duel Willow and myself. Rose, you'll be first. Who do you want to duel?"
"I want to duel you, Uncle Harry," Rose said grinning. Willow walked off the stage to sit with Buffy and Renesmee followed her. Harry showed Rose the correct way to bow to her opponent, raised their wands, then walked to the edge of their sides of the stage. "Scared, Uncle Harry?"
"You wish," Harry said in the same tone he used when dueling Draco Malfoy during their first Dueling Club session in his second year. Harry brandished his wand and shouted, "Stupefy!"
"Protego!" Harry's Stunning Spell bounced off her Shield Charm and hit the wall behind him, then she flicked her own wand at him and said, "Verdimillious!" A green orb burst from the tip of her wand, hovered in front of Harry for a moment, then exploded. Harry shielded his eyes from the blinding light and felt a slight electric charge in his fingers.
"Good one," he said grinning, "but your dear uncle isn't going to hold back. I'm glad I talked to the Minister about this, but it's time you learned what real pain is all about. He concentrated all his anger and cried, "CRUCIO!" Renesmee gasped as Rose's knees buckled and she hit the floor screaming and writhing with pain. Harry lifted the spell moments later and was thrown backwards by a stronger version of the Disarming Charm. He stood up and bowed to Rose, who was shaken, bowed back. "Very good, Rose. Renesmee, would you like to duel me next?"
Renesmee and Harry exchanged bows and got ready to duel. Just like with Rose, Harry let her start off. Renesmee remembered a spell in the book Harry passed out, slashed her wand three times and shouted, "Sectumsempra!" Harry yelped in pain as three deep gashes appeared on his cheek and grinned.
"Ah, using one of the Half-Blood Prince's spells, eh?" he said, "I can do that, too." He flicked his wand at her and said, "Levicorpus!" Renesmee was now looking at everything upside down as she was being suspended in midair by her ankle. "A rather popular one when my dad was in school, and very useful." He flicked his wand again, muttered, "Liberacorpus!" and Renesmee was on her feet again.
"Tarantallegra!" Renesmee cried and Harry's legs started to move on their own accord making everyone in the Great Hall laugh. Harry silently performed the counter-curse with a wave of his wand and, with another wave of his wand, sent a streak of blue light out of the tip which Renesmee dodged and retorted with a jet of pink light which caused Harry to vault into the air, flip over three times and land on his front. Willow blew a long blast on her whistle indicating that Renesmee had won the duel.
"That's enough for tonight, everyone!" she said with a grin. "Give our combatants a hand!" The whole Great Hall erupted into applause to which Renesmee, Rose and Harry all bowed. "See you all tomorow for class and practice the spells when you can!"
Renesmee, Rose and Albus walked back to the common room after grabbing a few Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Chocolate Frogs and three bottles of butterbeer. They talked iexcitedly about the Dueling lesson they had just encountered. "Scorpius was really good," Albus said excitedly after swallowing a large bite of a Pumpkin Pasty. "He really caught me off guard with the Impediment Jinx earlier, but I got him with a spell Dad used on his dad, the Sectumsempra one. Scorpius looked as if he were about to kill me for a moment, but then he started laughing when I apologized."
"See?" Rose said smiling at him. "Scorpius is actually a nice guy once you get to know him. No wonder Renesmee has a crush on him." Albus's eyes widened as he stared at Renesmee whose pale cheeks turned a light shade of pink.
"You have a crush on Scorpius?" Albus gasped. "But what about Spike?"
"He's too old for me," Renesmee said, "and so is Angel!" she added as Albus opened his mouth to speak again. "I don't know what it is about him that I like, but what isn't there to like about Scorpius, right? He's nice, funny, and his father turns out to be a nice guy once you get to know him."
Albus agreed with her on those accounts and did not want to mention the only disadvantage with Scorpius Malfoy was that he was the Seeker on the Slytherin Quidditch team which was playing Gryffindor next Saturday at one o'clock.
Monday morning, the eleventh of September, was Renesmee's thirteenth birthday and the whole Gryffindor common room was decorated to celebrate. There was a large banner with large words that shouted "HAPPY BIRTHDAY RENESMEE!" in red lettering on top of a gold background and the Gryffindor lion above the words. Renesmee dressed in the school uniform, drew her curly, copper-colored hair into a single three-strand braid leaving a few stray strands hanging down her cheeks, grabbed her school bag and headed downstairs to meet the day. She just entered the common room and nearly jumped out of her skin as everyone in the common room shouted in unison, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RENESMEE!"
"Wow!" Renesmee said grinning from ear to ear as she looked at the decorations. "This is really cool! Thank you!" Albus, Rose, James and Fred hugged her tightly when she went to them. "You guys really didn't have to go to all of this trouble, you know." she said.
"We didn't really do anything," James said gesturing to Rose, Fred and himself. "It was actually Al that did most of it." Renesmee looked at Albus, who shrugged modestly, with an appraising look. "Anyway, you second years have Potions with the Slytherins first thing this morning followed by Herbology from ten o'clock until noon, lunch, then you have D.A.D.A., Charms and Transfiguration."
"Sounds like a busy day," Renesmee said while gazing at her schedule. "Well, I can always visit Hagrid for some tea tonight, then I have to hunt." She rubbed her throat which was burning slightly from the lack of blood in her system. "I'm starting to get a sore throat from not feeding lately." James nodded and asked if he could watch her hunt. "You can if you can see me," she said grinning. "I'm pretty fast. Just ask Hagrid!"
"Right," Rose said, "we better get a move on to breakfast so we can get to Potions. Professor Malfoy wants us to begin brewing a Swelling Solution and he's going to see how we did once we got it done." Renesmee nodded and followed her and Albus out of the common room and to the Great Hall. Scorpius Malfoy was standing in the entrance hall carrying a box wrapped in emerald green wrapping paper and a red ribbon tied around it. "Morning, Scorpius," Rose said jubilantly. "I see you've got Nessie a gift?"
"It's not from me, really," Scorpius said, his face turning pink. "It's a gift from my grandfather, Lucius Malfoy. Father told him about your birthday and Grandfather Lucius decided to get you something." He handed the green parcel to Renesmee and said, "Open it after you sit down, okay?" He led them inside and sat between two of his Slytherin friends at their table.
Renesmee sat down at the Gryffindor table and started to get their breakfast. She opened the green wrapping paper and peered inside. There was a rectangular black box containing a silver necklace with Renesmee's name on it and a matching bracelet. "Oh my gosh," Renesmee whispered, "it's beautiful!" She put the necklace and bracelet on and smiled. "I'll write a thank-you letter to Mr. Malfoy during lunch." As like all mornings, the post owls arrived with packages and letters to their owners from their families. Solaris was among the owls flying around the hall trying to find their owners. He held three boxes in his beak, a newspaper on one leg and a letter on the other. Renesmee took the boxes, untied the letter and the newspaper and Solaris flew back toward the owlery with the other owls. The boxes contained some homemade fudge from Molly Weasley, a Sneakoscope from Harry Potter and a plate of treacle fudge from Hagrid.
Renesmee had put in a subscription to the Daily Prophet to see what was going on in the Wizarding world lately and scowled when she saw the front page. There was a picture of Buffy standing outside her house with Dawn. Neither one of them were smiling. The headline above the picture said: DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS TEACHER TEACHING MUGGLE FIGHTING. Underneath the picture was the story by a reporter named Rita Skeeter.
Buffy Summers, native resident of Sunnydale, California from 1997 until 2004, was appointed as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year. Upon acquiring the post, students have given Ms. Summers a good report on her lessons saying that they are 'fun and educational'. One student, a third year Gryffindor, says, "Buffy's lessons are excellent. Not only do we learn about Dark creatures and defensive spells, but we also get to learn hand-to-hand combat techniques."
Why Minerva McGonagall, Hogwarts' headmistress since after Severus Snape's death, would choose a mere Muggle to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons at Hogwarts is unknown. When talking to Ms. Summers and her younger sister, I learned that her lessons are not for the faint-hearted. Since last year's vampire attack at Hogwarts, Buffy Summers agreed to teach the students at Hogwarts so they know how to defend themselves against vampires.
"I teach my students different fighting styles like Karate, Judo and Kung-Fu for the first term. Second term will be about instincts and intellect in battle." says Ms. Summers. When I questioned Dawn about Buffy's teaching regimen, she came off very unhappy. "Buffy is a Vampire Slayer!" she tells me indignantly. "McGonagall hired her because of that and she likes being around students so she can learn from them as much as they learn from her."
In my opinion, Buffy Summers is not fit to teach at Hogwarts because of her non-magical background, but Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster in Harry Potter's school days, let in anyone as long as they can do magic and it seems to be the same for Minerva McGonagall.
"How dare she talk about Buffy like that?" Renesmee snarled. "Who is this woman?"
"I'd be very careful of her if I were you," Albus warned. "Rita Skeeter tried to make Dad out to be a liar back in his fourth year. Skeeter is an Animagus, a person who can transform into an animal at will. She can turn into a beetle." Renesmee folded the newspaper and placed it into her school bag for later use. "I wonder how Buffy took to the article?"
Albus's question about Buffy's reaction was answered when Buffy marched to her seat, stabbed her egg hard enough with her fork to shatter the golden plate and looked very angry. "Does that answer your question, Al?" Rose whispered. "She seems very upset because of the article, doesn't she?" Renesmee nodded and frowned as Dawn came in looking just as angry. Angel wished them good morning, which the three of them returned happily. He saw Buffy's expression and asked what was wrong. "Rita Skeeter, that's what's wrong," Rose said bitterly and handed him her copy of the newspaper.
Angel shook his head. "Buffy shouldn't bother with someone like that," he said. "When I was in Los Angeles in 2003, Buffy was a guidance counselor at the new Sunnydale High School and a lot of the students there loved her way of helping. Rita Skeeter is a lying sack of hippogriff dung." Renesmee grinned, finished her breakfast and headed for the dungeons for Potions.
When it began to get dark outside, Renesmee headed to Hagrid's hut along with James because he wanted to see her hunt that night. Hagrid beckoned them in when he opened his door and they sat down at the large table. "I was wonderin' when yeh'd be visitin', Nessie," Hagrid said as he poured two small cups of tea and filled his tankard. "Happy Birthday, by the way."
"Thanks, Hagrid," Renesmee said grinning, "and I was kinda busy with classes and everything, so I didn't have much time to visit." Hagrid gave a shrug and set down a plate of his own treacle fudge. "Did you hear about the Dueling Club restarting?"
"Yeah, Harry told me after he talked ter Professor McGonagall las' night." said Hagrid nodding. "Said he had some really interestin' stuff planned."
"He wasn't joking," James said. "Dad showed us a lot of cool spells we could use against the Molochs and Buffy and Professor Lehane taught us some really good fighting techniques for when we can't use our wands." He showed off a few moves and sat back down panting. "Takes a bit of practice and some energy, really." After an hour of visiting with Hagrid, James saw Renesmee massage her throat with her hand. "I think you should hunt now." he said nodding to her. "You look like you'd kill anyone or anything just to drink blood."
"You're not wrong," Renesmee said bitterly; she threw on and fastened her black cloak with silver fastenings and headed out the door with James walking beside her. Once in the Forbidden Forest, Renesmee let her vampire instincts take over and focused on whatever animal she could find. James watched intently as she slowly crept along the path leading to the lake and crouched once she found the animal she was looking for. To James's surprise, it was a mountain lion on the other side of the vast lake. Renesmee sped quietly around the lake, stopped behind the lion, her eyes fixed on it.
"Blimey," James whispered as she launched herself at the lion which was now running along the edge of the lake trying to escape. Renesmee caught the lion by the neck and slammed its head against the ground hard enough to daze it. The lion swiped at her with its paw which she dodged, lowered her face to its jugular vein and sank her teeth into it. "Isn't that something?" James muttered as she sped back toward him and walked back to the castle. "You were so fast!"
Renesmee grinned and James got a good look at her in the moonlight. She looked refreshed and more energized than the past few weeks and there was a slight tinge of pink in her pale complexion. "That's what Hagrid said when he first saw me hunt last year." she said with a giggle. They walked across the wooden bridge straight to the entrance courtyard and entered into the entrance hall to see Angel standing there with his arms folded across his chest looking very disappointed and slightly amused. "Angel, I didn't..."
"I understand your need to hunt and I know that Harry, Willow, Buffy and Faith taught you a lot in the past week, but if you really needed blood, all you had to do was come down to my dungeon bedroom and ask for some."
"No offense, Angel, but I've lost my taste for pig's blood," Renesmee said hotly. "Also, you may be my protector here at school, but you are not my legal guardian, so back off!" Far from offended, Angel shook his head and walked away from her, scowling. "I hope Buffy's up right now because I think she might need to know what's going on." James headed for Gryffindor Tower on the seventh floor while Renesmee went to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. The door was locked. "Alohomora!" she whispered while pointing her wand at the door which unlocked immediately. She crossed the room in long strides up to the office door and knocked. Buffy opened the door, dressed in a black night dress.
"Renesmee? What are you doing at one in the morning?" Buffy asked with an air of disappointment in her voice. Renesmee entered the office and explained about Angel's reaction. The elder Slayer scowled when Renesmee mentioned pig's blood and his reaction when she told him to back off. "Angel's been what I call 'wigged out' since he knew that I was teaching here at Hogwarts. Angel and I have a bit of history together."
"Yeah, I heard about the whole 'one moment of true happiness' piece from Giles," Renesmee said nodding, "but that doesn't mean he has to chew my head off for hunting at night! I know the Molochs are out for my blood but with two Slayers, the Volturi and Aurors at the school, I don't think they can even get to me."
"True," Buffy said flicking her wand at two silver goblets which floated toward them and then at a bottle of butterbeer from Hogsmeade Village which poured its contents into the goblets. "Have some butterbeer." Renesmee took a goblet and gulped it down quickly. "When Angel and I first met in Sunnydale, I was sixteen and just starting out with my Slayer duties. At that time, I didn't know he was a vampire but I did know he was following me while I was on patrol, so I hung upside down on an overhead pipe, swung down and kicked him. Angel handed me a cross necklace and said I'd need it."
"Very creepy," Renesmee commented and Buffy agreed. "I don't know much about Angel but I know even less about Angelus. What's all that about?"
Buffy sighed and said, "In the eighteenth century, Angel's real name was Liam O'Connell whose father despised his lifestyle. Liam drank a lot back then and gambled even more. This happened for a while until he met Darla, another vampire. She turned him in an alley in Ireland and he became the Scourge of Europe after a century. Throughout that time, he tortured a woman named Drusilla and turned her, then she turned Spike whose name was William. He earned the name William the Bloody because his poetry was 'so bloody awful that whoever would read his poems wanted to shove railroad spikes into their heads'. Does that answer your question?" Renesmee nodded. "Good. Another reason that Angel's being so wigged out is because he lost a dear friend, co-worker and would-be lover of his named Cordelia Chase. She was the most popular girl when I was in school and always cut me down for hanging out with Willow and Xander, whom you met over the summer.
"After graduation...which was a big bummer because the mayor of Sunnydale turned into a sixty-foot giant snake demon...she left for L.A. which was where Angel was going that night as well. He found her at a party while trying to find information on a vampire named Russell Winters. After he saved her, Cordelia stayed to help 'fight the good fight', so he says until she and Angel's son Connor ended up making with the happy and had a demon named Jasmine who could actually make people worship her. Angel found out her true name, said it, and she was gone. Poor Cordy was in a coma after giving birth to Jasmine and died halfway through Angel's career as CEO of an evil law firm called Wolfram & Hart."
"Angel was a lawyer?" Renesmee said surprised and Buffy nodded. "Who would've guessed that?"
"Well, I never knew either until this summer when Angel and Spike told me when we were catching up on past events. Two years before they became lawyers, Angel, Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, Charles Gunn and their demon friend named Lorne went through a portal that Cordelia accidentally went through to a dimension called Pylea." She smiled and said, "The problem with Pylea is that there is no music and even worse dancing." Renesmee gave a grimace and laughed. "Anyway, Angel and the gang were trying to rescue Cordelia who during that time in Pylea was called Princess Cordy. Turns out they had a reason to, at least because the demons who acted as her priests had a mixture of magic and technology...collars that could kill a human slave. Angel destroyed the source after saving a human named Winnifred Burkle or as she liked to be called Fred...by the way, Fred's body was taken over by an ancient demon called Illyria. That's pretty much it, for Angel's life in Los Angeles."
"Angel told me about the time he lost his soul...to you," Renesmee said grimly. "Is there a possible chance he could do it again?"
"Oh, there are way too many chances for that to happen, but I won't let them." Buffy said seriously with a slight gleam in her eyes. "Angel and I will always love each other and have since we first told each other as such. I just happened to act on my emotions and Angelus came out..." Her eyes glistened with tears for a moment, but she wiped them away with her hand. "Oh, Harry Potter wanted me to give you his birthday present. He said it would 'help when you find your mind crammed with too many thoughts and wish to siphon them away'."
Renesmee watched as Buffy indicated a large stone basin on her desk with what looked like a flat metal bowl inside of it. "It's called a Pensieve," Buffy explained when she saw Renesmee's confusion. "When you find your mind filled with too many thoughts, just place the tip of your wand to your temple..." She demonstrated by placing the tip of her own wand to her temple, "pull it away slowly..." She pulled the wand away from her temple and Renesmee saw a strand of silver memory hanging from the wand tip, "and put it in the Pensieve." Buffy flicked her wand over the Pensieve and Angel's face appeared on the surface of the silvery-white substance.
"I'll have to write a thank you letter to Harry for this." Renesmee said more to herself than to Buffy, and she looked at the memory inside it. "How exactly can you watch your memories?"
Buffy was now waving her wand in a circular motion over the basin muttering, "Evanesco!" and the memory she put into it vanished completely. "According to Harry, you can just submerge your face into the Pensieve and you'll fall into the memory, or you can just watch it from where you are by just looking into it." Buffy gently took Renesmee's school bag, opened it and held her wand at the ready. "I'm going to cast an Undetectable Extention Charm on your bag so you can conceal anything you want into it, but I definitely do not recommend concealing any Dark objects in it or you'll get in trouble."
Renesmee promised she wouldn't put any Dark objects in the bag and Buffy cast the charm and slid the empty Pensieve into the bag which hit the bottom with a dull thud. "Thanks, Buffy. I think I'll go to bed now." Buffy bade her goodnight and Renesmee headed toward ther girls' dormitory in Gryffindor Tower.
In the far-away mountains...
Moloch the Destroyer looked around his new base of operations with extreme happiness. Though he had been gone for almost six-thousand years, he had heard much about the vampires around the world-especially the lesser vampires who took human form when trying to seduce or talk to their prey. Moloch sat on a high-backed stone chair that looked more like a throne and watched his subjects work endlessly in the night. Moloch was almost seven-feet tall with wrinkled, pale skin and a pair of leathery wings not unlike that of a bat.
One of his generals in beast form walked in and bowed to him. "Well? What news do you have, Lucas?" Moloch asked softly. Lucas transformed into human form and started to speak.
"Master, I have learned that the evil vampire called Angelus is still alive!" he said nervously. "The only problem is he was cursed with a soul by a Gypsy family in the nineteenth century." Moloch's violet eyes narrowed and he stood making Lucas back up a few steps in fear. "He goes by a different name, My Lord...Angel."
"Hmm," said Moloch deep in thought, "what exactly does the curse say, Lucas?"
"According to my sources, Angel cannot achieve a moment of true happiness or he loses his soul. This happened once in 1995 in Sunnydale, Master. He fornicated with a Slayer named Buffy Summers." Lucas stared at Moloch intently, wondering if he would say anything. Moloch strode toward him and knelt down, Lucas was shaking like a leaf with absolute terror, and smiled showing his fangs.
"Very good, Lucas. You get to live another day." he said patting Lucas's shoulder. "Since Angel will not willingly achieve that moment of true happiness, we will have to do something else to make Angelus come out..." Moloch threw his head back and let out a mirthless cackle which his subjects and army of evil vampires echoed.
Angel's Dungeon -Hogwarts-
Angel sat on his bed, lit a candle with his wand and lay back to read a book Hermione Weasley lent him entitled Hogwarts, A History and started to learn more about the school. As he lay reading, Angel saw something scurry across the stone floor quickly but thought nothing of it. After a half-hour of reading did he finally blow out the candle and fall asleep.
The something that scurried across the floor showed itself to be a fat grey rat that transformed into a pale human holding an ebony wand firmly in his hand. The pale wizard pointed the wand at Angel and muttered, "Geminio Maxima!", turned back into a rat and scurried away from the room. Angel lay sleeping, but another man was standing over him with an evil grin and an even worse gleam in his eye.