Chapter 8: Time for destiny

Carlisle enjoyed the chance to get to see this school out of students eyes. Some privilege he never had in his childhood, unless one counts his father's religious lectures as schooling. The two kids showed him their classrooms, and explained a lot about the content of their classes. They showed him some interesting portraits and he never came to get used to them moving and speaking. The boy explained to him that they weren't actual alive but he just couldn't wrap this idea around his thinking. They spoke, they reacted they thought…..he could not see why they would not be alive. He even saw a few ghosts which disarranged his whole idea of a normal afterlife. He would have a lot to think about once he got back into his room at the tavern.

He also took a few minutes to inspect his young tour-guides. When he met them two days before, he considered the boy at least one, if not two years younger than the girl. He was very short and tiny for a boy his age. But today he learned that they were in the same year and must have been about the same age. He wasn't sure how he felt about that and resisted the urge to dive deeper into this issue. He wore old-fashioned glasses, that didn't get produced for kids anymore in this kind of style. You would see grandparents wear such models now. The girl had a huge mess of hair on her tiny head, doubling the appearance of her head size. They both wore similar colored school uniforms. He noticed there being a difference in colors among the students and gathered from the old lady's explanation earlier that it showed, which house they belonged to. He liked this idea. Working with some kind of competition and also giving each kid a place they belong to within their boarding school. It was a really clever system as he thought. He was sure as soon as his children would hear about it they would start bets, who of them would belong in which house.

From the way the two kids interacted, he could tell that the girl was the mature one, always trying to push the boy to some wiser decisions. And it didn't take long for Carlisle to pick up that the boy was some kind of local celebrity. He put a mental note to investigate on this further when he got some time.

The tour came to a pause, when a very old looking man, with crazy colorful robes and a beard longer than Carlisle thought was biological possible, approached them.

"Headmaster." The girl said in acknowledgement. To Carlisle the man seemed a little too old to be a headmaster of school, but as he already noticed, aging seemed to be a different matter in the wizarding world, than it was in the huma…..muggle world. With a slight bow he greeted the man, not sure if he should meet him on eye level, with the same respect he met the kids teacher earlier or like an elder that needs some advice for direction. The man just gave no hint, what to expect of him, which was fascinating in its own. "Headmaster Dumbledore, I assume? Glad I get to meet the man that made this visit possible, bevor it ends"

The old man smiled grandfatherly with a glint in his eyes. "I hoped you would still be around Doctor. Young Miss Bright spoke only good of you. She used to be one of my student back in the days." He laughed a little. "And as I see, you got some very interesting guides as well."

Hermione felt the urge to explain the situation, as if asked. "Professor McGonagall had to attend her class, and since our classes didn't take place, we offered to help her out, sir."

Again the old man had this very friendly smile on his face and still Carlisle wasn't sure what to think of him. "That counts as some extra credit work, if I am not mistaken. 5 Points to Gryffindor for each of you." He said with a smirk. And Carlisle could observe the children's faces light up with happiness. They really seemed into the whole house-points competition. "I think it is time for you to return to your tasks. I believe to remember that Mister Potter has some Quidditch-Training to attend and I am sure you, miss Granger have a lot of things on your agenda for the rest of the day. I will take care of our guest now." He shushed the kids away with a wave of his arms. The wide fabric of his robe looking like wings. They waved a goodbye to Doctor Cullen and started walking to their common room. "How about a cup of tea in my office, Doctor?" he asked and Carlisle couldn't help but feel as if the man was up to something.

"I fear I have to decline the tea, but I wouldn't mind joining you for one." He retorted and didn't feel the need to conceal his vampiric nature.

Suddenly the Headmaster seemed somewhat confused before his expression turned back to the previous one. "ah yes. It's easy to forget that you are indeed a vampire. I know not many of your kind being so relaxed in public." He mused as they started walking to his office.

…

As if hit by lightning, Hermione and Harry stopped in their tracks. Surely the chat not supposed for their ears anymore, as they already were several feet away. They turned both, very slow and carefully to look over their shoulders. All they saw was a piece of colorful fabric rounding the corner, as the two men walked into the opposite direction. Then they stared at each other. Harry's eyes wide in shock and Hermione having an uncomprehending look in her eyes. "V…vampire?" Harry asked, clearly disturbed.

…

The Headmaster led their way to his Office until they stopped at a beautiful Griffin statue. "Cinnamon toothpick" the Headmaster announced and Carlisle wondered if the man lost it now until the Statue started to move and revealed stairs. They stepped on them and waited patiently for the rotation to reach its end.

As they entered the Office, the vampire was once again hit with a mixture of awe, fascination and curiosity. The wonder just would never end, he thought. Not only was the size of the room dashing, also the possibility of a room with so much…..knickknacks, there just was no other word for it, to still look elegant beyond comparison. In each corner were movements or little sounds. It felt as if the room itself was a living creature. As Carlisle turned around himself, trying to take in each detail of the room, and miserably failing, since it was just too much to see, Dumbledore swished his wand letting a teapot hover to fill a cup. "Shall we have a seat?" he asked, obviously amused by the reaction his office set off in the vampire.

Carlisle took a second to gather his thoughts and then accepted to sit down in one of the enormous, soft chairs. A beanbag wouldn't have felt any different.

"How did you like, what you have seen of the school so far?" The headmaster asked and Carlisle couldn't help but feel as if this wasn't what really interested the old wizard.

"It was…magical. Excuse the pun but there really is no better word to describe it." He smiled. "Every kid being able to attend this school must be really happy. Surely the two I've met seem to be."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "It would seem that way, wouldn't it?" Taking a sip he watched the expression on the vampires face turning questioning.

"Are they not?" He asked a little unsure. "they seemed to enjoy their time and only told good things about the school" He replayed the day in his memories trying to find a hint for anything not being well. Maybe he had filtered the reality, because of his excitement?

"Of course they did, they are good kids. They never would speak bad of the school." The wizard praised. "But it appears that our Miss Granger is hoping to leave us soon and attend a different school." Again Carlisle felt as if the older man had something particular in mind when he said that but he couldn't really grab it.

"Oh I am sad to hear that! It's never easy for a child to leave friends behind." He wondered what was behind this story.

Dumbledore took a sip of his tea and spoke again "Miss Bright told me you have children on your own?" Now Carlisle sensed real curiosity in the man's words.

Thinking of his family at home he felt warmth in his chest. There might be no beating heart, but it still could hold the love and affection he felt for his family. "I do." He agreed. "Some would call it a clan or a coven, but we are family. I have a loving wife and five wonderful children at home…six if I count our newest addition even though she is human." He had a feeling the wizard would understand, without further explanation. "Our different way of living, allows us to bond in a more family like way, than most other vampires do." He added somewhat proud.

The older one's face lit up with interest. "So you adopted them all over time? May I ask how old you are?" before the vampire could answer him, he added "Excuse me if I am too curious, but I am always interested in getting to know such impressive people as you clearly are."

Carlisle felt as if the compliment was meant to hide something else but took it anyway. "Oh thank you, but that's too much admiration, we don't deserve. Yes we adopted all of them over the course of over 300 years." He hoped his companion would be satisfied by this answer.

To his surprise the man burst into laughter. "Oh! You make even me feel young again." He managed to state. "although you kept your youth better than I did in half the time."

Carlisle couldn't help but put on an apologetic smile. "It has to have some upsides, being doomed…..everything has it's pros and cons after all."

Now the headmaster was serious again…..as serious as one could be with this grandfatherly aura about them. "From all I've heard so far, I would say you are far from doomed, even blessed with a loving family."

Usually Carlisle would have protested, being called blessed, but he couldn't deny that there was truth in the wizards words.

"I sincerely hope some other people will find such luck too, eventually". The headmaster added, clearly having something or someone in mind but cutting the thought off there.

The doctor wasn't sure if he should ask or leave it be, since he didn't continue the thought. He decided to let it drop and wait if the headmaster would continue explaining this excurse.

He never did.

They kept on talking about the research project, Carlisle was going to work on at St. Mungo's and about Quidditch. Something Emmett would enjoy learning about.

…..

AN: I am no fan of Authors notes but I felt it is about time again. I have to thank for all the encouraging, positive reviews. Especially Suzululu4moe! Now I understand why everyone is so addicted to getting them. Please more! Feed my new addiction please.
Also I hope the story isn't going too slow or too fast for you guys I am somewhat focused on catching situations I could imagine happening that way, that carry over the emotional build up of everyone involved. And ofc…..Dumbledore has to be the one pulling strings as usual….what would be a HP story without Dumbledore meddling around?