Renesmee Cullen and the Volturi's Protection
Chapter 7: Attack on Halloween
The air got colder as October came and Renesmee ran through the corridors to her History of Magic lesson with Professor Lehane. She crept to her desk, took out her book, quill and parchment and waited. "Good morning, Miss Cullen," Professor Lehane said smiling at her. "You're late."
"Sorry, Professor, I kinda lost track of time." Renesmee said and feared the worst but Professor Lehane wasn't angry at all. Instead, she let Renesmee's tardiness drop for the day and went to her desk.
"Okay, everyone, let's go to chapter twelve in your textbooks and I want you to take notes on what we're learning, then I need you to write an essay on what happened in the passages. Good luck." Professor Lehane said, then the class got quiet until the end of the period.
Needing a book from the library for Transfiguration, Renesmee, Albus and Rose took their time going to the library. "Angel's still a bit disoriented from all the Angelus business," Renesmee informed them. "The Memory Charm's still working, so that's a good sign. Buffy even said that he's back to normal and..." The three of them stopped in the doorway of the empty library, their eyes transfixed on Rupert Giles now. He was wearing magenta robes patterned with moons and stars all over them and a matching pointed hat smiling at them. "Uh, Mr. Giles, what in the name of Merlin are you wearing?" Renesmee gasped.
"Ah, I'm sorry," he said, "force of habit. Buffy once walked in on me wearing a Halloween costume back in Sunnydale and she told me to take it off." Giles shrugged the robes off of his body and set the hat on the desk. "What can I do for you today?"
"W-We need a book on Transfiguration," Albus said still staring at the magenta robes and hat even though they were not on Giles's person anymore. "Professor Finnigan set us an essay on the Draconifors spell." Giles went to a shelf and returned with three copies of the same book. "Thank you. By the way, how are things in the Moloch department?"
"Very quiet, to be honest," Giles replied as he sat down. "You see, Halloween is like a day off for vampires, demons and the assorted creatures that come out during the night. It's like their own personal resting day, so there shouldn't be any problem with the Molochs."
Rose sat down at a desk reading her copy of the Transfiguration book and said, "But these are ancient vampires we're talking about, Mr. Giles. Don't you think they give a damn about tradition?"
"They should, really," said Giles nodding, "because they're the ones who started the tradition over a millenium ago." This caught everyone in the vicinity off guard. "You see, Moloch the Destroyer, Belial the Conquerer and Ba'al the Greedy made a pact after they fell from the grace of God after the large battle they had against the Archangels to take one day off a year on the thirty-first of October, and ever since that time, all vampires and demons have left the humans alone."
"But do you really think the Molochs will abide by tradition, Mr. Giles?" Rose asked skeptically. "I mean think of last year! That Moloch Professor Marlowe tried very hard to make sure that Renesmee never made it out of her first year alive, didn't he? Halloween was the worst bit of it, if you ask me because he put Albus in a trance."
Giles nodded and said, "Yes, I understand what you mean. Spike never left Buffy alone on Halloween in 1997. During the Meet-the-Teacher Night at the school, Spike and his gang of vampires actually rampaged the school and Spike himself almost killed Buffy...until her mother-may she rest in peace-hit him over the head with a fireaxe and told him to stay away from her daughter. Spike tried on numerous occasions to kill Buffy, but that was one of his worst attacks in the history of vampire attacks."
"Spike actually tried to kill Buffy?" Renesmee said with wide eyes. "I never thought of Spike that way before." Her expression was shared between Albus and Rose who were staring at her with the same wide eyes. "Well, that's the past, isn't it? We're going into the future now! What happened has happened and there's no changing it now." Giles nodded, bade them goodnight and they headed off to the common room. On the way, the three of them heard Angel and Spike arguing loudly near the Charms classroom. "What's going on?" Renesmee whispered to Rose and Albus who shrugged and the thre of them peered around the corner of the wall and watched them.
"I'm telling you, Spike," Angel growled, his eyes burning with rage, "that Buffy and I never did anything! A Moloch came into my bedroom, cast the Duplication Spell on me, and Angelus came out!"
"That's a sodding lie and you know it, you great poof!" Spike bellowed. "You and Buffy had a happy that night! I can tell!" Angel made to walk away but Spike punched him hard in the jaw. "Tell me the bloody truth or I'll beat it out of you!"
"Why you stupid little...!" Angel roared. Both were ready to attack, their faces changed into their vampire forms.
"HEY!" a female voice shouted from behind them. Willow stood in the corridor, her eyes as black as night and her hands were crackling with blue energy. "IF YOU TWO AREN'T GOING TO TALK QUIETLY IN THE CORRIDORS, THEN GET THE HELL OUT OF MY CORRIDOR!" Angel and Spike new better than mess with an angry witch like Willow and Renesmee laughed as the two vampires' yellow eyes widened, their mouths open in surprise and walked away toward the staircase. Renesmee, Rose and Albus headed to the staircase as well but were stopped. "And what are you three doing out this late?" Willow demanded angrily. Renesmee turned and saw that their Charms teacher's eyes were normal but her anger was still on full blast.
"We had to get a Transfiguration book from the library, Willow," Renesmee answered calmly. "Professor Finnigan..."
"I don't care who asked you to do it!" Willow said curtly. "Consider this a warning, you three. The next time I see any of you out after hours, I'll take points off or give you detention and call me Professor Rosenberg, got it?" Renesmee, Rose and Albus apologized quickly and ran up the stairs toward the common room.
"What's up with her?" Albus asked, his voice was trembling a little now. "Will-I mean Professor Rosenberg-was in a great mood until Angelus came around."
"I'm starting to think that Professor Rosenberg had some experience with Angelus's torture obsession," said Rose grimly, "but I'm afraid to find out what happened that would make her hate Angelus that much." The three of them sat in their armchairs by the fire and started on their Transfiguration homework. "Did Mr. Giles tell you anything that happened besides being tortured by that sadistic vampire?" Renesmee shook her head and Rose remembered something. "Before I started Hogwarts, Mum told me about a group of vampires calling themselves the Order of Aurelius. I believe the vampires in the group were Angelus, the Master, Drusilla, Spike and a few others whose names I don't remember right now. There's at least a three-page biography about Angelus in there. I'll have to write to Mum for the book tomorrow."
"You could do that," Albus said grinning, "or we can ask Angel himself tomorrow."
"That..." Rose said, "wouldn't be such a bad idea, would it? It's settled, then, we'll talk to Angel tomorrow."
"I wish I had my dad's Invisibility Cloak," Albus said grumpily. "We could sneak down to Angel's dungeon tonight and ask, but I don't want to risk getting caught by Professor Rosenberg again." Renesmee agreed to that and, after they finished their homework, the three of them headed to bed.
Luna Scamander, one of the Divination teachers for Hogwarts and a friend to Harry Potter, was planning lessons for the second term of the year. Her third year classes were almost finished with the reading of tea-leaves and were about to start learning about crystal ball gazing and her fourth year class had finished with star charts and were going onto dream interpretations. Alice, the teacher who took fifth, sixth and seventh years had her fifth years learning the theory on prophecies and the sixth and seventh years were recapping on everything they knew from the third year until now. Luna was looking through her plans to see whether she had forgotten anything when a vision hit her. Her wide, dreamy eyes turned white until her pupils and irises were completely hidden and she went into a sort of trance and started to speak in deep tones.
"War is coming very soon! A strange man with the ability to turn into a wolf known as the Protector will deliver a message to the one who vanquished the Dark Lord and the young guardian of mankind will prepare herself for battle. The Sword of Angels is the key to the enemy's destruction and when the Sword is intact, the Guardian will be our Warrior and will vanquish the enemy! War is coming ever closer..." The empty white eyes turned normal and Luna slumped over on her desk, sound asleep. Little did she know that someone heard every word of it and was running down the stairs.
Renesmee, Albus and Rose were sitting at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall during the Halloween Feast. Renesmee was worried about the Molochs not abiding by the usual tradition of not doing anything on Halloween like their fellow vampires and demons while Rose and Albus were more worried about their exams. "Stop worrying, will you?" Albus said with a hint of annoyance in his voice when Renesmee announced her fears for the umpteenth time that day. "If the Molochs attack Hogwarts, the Volturi and Aurors will protect us."
"Al, I don't think the Volturi are going to protect us!" Renesmee said bitterly. "Aro, the leader of the Volturi, wants my aunt Alice on his side so he could see her power in action and I'm getting a lot of complaints from my own classmates being scared that Jane is going to use her pain-infliction powers on them! You saw how worried my dad was when Maria came to your dad's birthday party announcing a war with the Molochs, right?" Albus nodded. "When Uncle Jasper refused to believe her, the first thing Maria did was go right to the Volturi and they went straight to the Ministry of Magic. If I hear one more complaint about the Volturi, I'm going straight to your dad and Jasper!"
"That's a good idea," Rose said with pride. "Get an adult if you hear more complaints and let them deal with it." The doors opened and Jasper came in looking surprisingly angry. His eyes were coal black and he was shaking with anger. "Doesn't your uncle Jasper have the ability to manipulate the emotions in a room?" Renesmee nodded. "Then why does he look hacked off?" Jasper's black robes swept across the stone floor as he walked switfly to the staff table and sat down. He muttered something to Alice who was sitting by Hagrid and she looked shocked. "I think something happened to really make him this angry."
"Yeah, I'll ask him after the feast," Renesmee said. She finished her roast chicken and took a swig of the steaming hot pig's blood from her hip flask and the slight burning in her throat she felt earlier vanished. After an hour, she watched Jasper leave and followed him back to his classroom on the fourth floor near the History of Magic classroom. "Uncle Jasper!" she called as she shut the classroom door. Jasper turned around and he grinned. "Uncle Jasper, what's wrong? You looked pretty mad back there."
He nodded and sat down at his desk. "I got a letter from Maria before the feast. Here." He slid the parchment toward her and Renesmee started to read it. "She's been spying on the Molochs and found some pretty useful information."
"Master Moloch is getting ready to ressurrect his brothers Belial and Ba'al?" Renesmee cried indignantly. "We can't let that happen!"
"Exactly!" Jasper said rubbing his temples with his fingers. "If Belial and Ba'al are back to power, then we're all going to be in a war that could make the Second Wizarding War seem like a small battle! We're talking the oldest vampire bloodlines against the Wizarding World and us!" Renesmee couldn't believe it! The Wizarding World was still repairing itself from when Lord Voldemort was at full power for the second time in 1997. What would happen to Hogwarts and the rest of the magical community if Belial, Ba'al and Moloch and all of their armies joine forces and attacked them? "Luna also had a vision earlier today. Something about the war coming closer, the Guardian of the Wizarding World gaining the Sword of Angels and turning into a warrior and a Protector giving a message. I didn't get to hear much of it."
"You accidentally eavesdropped on Professor Scamander?" Renesmee hissed. "What were you doing at the North Tower anyway?"
"I went to see Alice," Jasper said shrugging. "I wanted to see if she'd like to join me for a hunt in the mountains surrounding Hogwarts tonight, but she wasn't there. Luna was in the Divination office working on new lesson plans when she had the vision and I heard enough to know that she may be right." Renesmee thanked him and then headed for the sunny grounds so she could think.
Renesmee sat underneath an oak tree near the boathouse entrance reading a book she borrowed from the library on the Order of Aurelius. She had gotten to the part of a vampire named Darla when a witch in her mid-fifties wearing acid green robes and clutching a crocodile-skin handbag walked up to her. The witch had short blonde hair set in neat and curiously rigid curls. She wore jewled spectacles. "Hello, dear," said the witch. "I'm Rita Skeeter, a reporter for the Daily Prophet. Is your name Renesmee Cullen?"
"Yes," Renesmee said bitterly, "and I don't want an interview, thanks." Rita Skeeter's pencil-thin eyebrows rose and she smiled. "What are you smiling about? Have you run out of bad things to write about Buffy Summers so you have to find something bad about me next?"
"Oh, goodness no!" Rita said. "I just wanted to ask about Harry Potter, the Auror." Renesmee's brown eyes narrowed angrily and she turned away from Rita with a huff. "Come now, Renesmee. I'm only going to ask your take on Mr. Potter's progress on protecting Hogwarts and maybe a few things about the Volturi." After a few moments' thought, Renesmee reluctantly agreed. "Lovely. Now would you say Mr. Potter's progress is good on protecting Hogwarts from the Molochs?"
"He may have lost a few of his team when Angelus was here, but he's doing really well," Renesmee said honestly. "I've only met him a few times and have never seen him so determined to stop a small army of ancient vampires before." Rita Skeeter's Quick-Quotes Quill jotted something down on a piece of parchment as she spoke, then Rita asked about the Volturi. "Honestly, I believe they're not here to protect Hogwarts at all. I think they're here for their own means."
"Lovely," said Rita again. She put away her quill and parchment. "Thank you very much, Renesmee. Our little interview will be in tomorrow's edition of the Prophet and your name will be in it. How do you spell your name?"
"R-E-N-E-S-M-E-E." Renesmee said slowly and Rita jotted it down with a normal quill. "Thanks, Miss Skeeter." Rita waved and walked away from her leaving Renesmee angry with herself. "She'll twist my words! Why did I even agree to that stupid interview?" She went to the common room at six o'clock and went straight to bed.