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Meeting the Cullens

The wedding video had in fact been quite informative and Hermione's curiosity had grown after watching the wedding video, a curiosity about her in-laws. She was mostly curious about the dynamic between the family members and it wasn't every day that you got to meet a group of unconventional vampires like the Cullens. She'd deduced after seeing Edward's and his family's eyes that they fed on animal blood instead of human blood. Hermione was sufficiently well read to know that rapidly.

"Erm," she started, with Edward turning to look at her after he'd put the wedding video back in place. "Is your cov… your family," she corrected, "the only one with this particular diet in the world?"

"What particular diet are you referring to?" asked Edward, who was quite certain that he hadn't mentioned their oddity in the vampire world.

"You drink only animal blood, hence the golden colour of your eyes instead of the normal red ones, isn't that correct?" Hermione questioned. At his nod, she continued, "That's what I thought. I've read that it was very rare for a vampire to abstain from human blood and to have a whole family of seven, that is rather impressive."

"We have another family of five living in Alaska observing the same diet. We consider them as our cousins," shared Edward, as he sat back next to her. "The question I am asking myself is how do you know all of this?"

"I've been called a bookworm numerous times and with reason and I read numerous books on magical beings at school and out of school," Hermione explained. "So, I knew immediately what to look for."

"Again, I think she's more dangerous than the wizards I've seen," Edward heard Jasper tell his family members in the Cullen house.

Edward could tell that the empath was getting agitated by Hermione's knowledge of their world and the power she could yield. He could read Jasper's thoughts perfectly. Maybe, it would be best if Hermione met his family.

He'd barely thought on it when he heard Alice ask him, "Is that wise?"

"I –" Edward started whispering back before Hermione interrupted him.

"Do you think I could meet them, Edward?" Hermione asked. At his blank look at having been outthinked by his wife, Hermione elaborated, "Your family, I mean. I'd like to meet them if that is not too much of a bother, of course."

"No... I mean, yes," he corrected himself. "Actually, I was going to suggest the same to you and they'll be glad to meet you, Hermione."

"Is that a wise move?" questioned Jasper.

"It's better if we do this quickly so it doesn't become an issue later, Jasper," replied Carlisle.

"Do you need to call them or something?" asked Hermione.

"They actually live next door or more precisely, this cottage is in their backyard," Edward said, chuckling.

"And they can probably hear every word of this conversation, can't they?" Hermione inquired. At Edward's contrite nod, Hermione only hummed non-commitally.

Edward guessed his young wife wasn't thrilled at the lack of privacy within the Cullen family. It was rather difficult to have privacy in the Cullen house. Not only were the vampires equipped with superhuman hearing but when your mind, feelings and decisions could be read or monitored, it was nearly impossible to keep a secret in the Cullen household.

"So, would it be possible to meet them –" she glanced at the clock to check the time, "–now?"

The time of the day wouldn't even matter to the Cullens as they did not sleep but it was still polite.

"I don't see why not –" Edward started, hearing Carlisle confirm it, "do you need a coat? It's rather cold out here in January."

"I still think winters in Scotland are harsher," informed Hermione.

Edward moved to pick-up Tom from the crib installed in the living room. He lifted the baby boy carefully to avoid waking him and turned to see Hermione watching him. He really felt like something being scrutinised under a microscope. Hermione pulled a heavy blanket and handled it to him. He wrapped the blanket tightly around Tom before moving to the door following Hermione. The young witch opened the cottage door and the both of them stared at the accumulated snow in the backyard of the Cullen house. It was no longer snowing but the snow was already knee-high.

He turned to handle Tom to Hermione to have his hands free to get rid of the snow when he saw that Hermione already had her wand out.

"I'll handle this," she said, as she waved her wand in a smooth swishing motion.

A thick block of snow large enough for the two of them to walk around unhindered rose up and was deposited sideways. Edward didn't have time to marvel at the strange sight before blocks of snow rose up in rapid succession following Hermione's quick wand movement.

"Wow!" Edward heard Emmett exclaim from his room upstairs.

Of course, his family had been observing discretely from diverse vantage points. In no time, Hermione and Edward, with Tom in his arms, found themselves standing in front of the back door.

"No need to pretend like we haven't heard you were coming," he heard Carlisle say before the door was opened. "Hello there," his father figure greeted. "Please come in," he said, before moving to the side to let them in.

"Good evening," said Hermione, as she looked at the gathered Cullens and looked around the house. "You have a very nice and well decorated home, Mrs. Cullen," shed added.

"Thank you very much, Hermione and please call me Esme," replied Esme. "We are now family, after all."

Hermione nodded as Esme took it upon herself to introduce the members of the family. "Please allow me to introduce my husband, Carlisle," his father smiled and shook her hand. "Then my children, Alice and Jasper," the latter nodded at the introduction, "Rosalie and Emmett," the blond vampire also surprisingly nodded at being introduced when Hermione turned to look at her.

"Yo, what's up?" boomed Emmett, an easy smile on his face.

Edward saw Hermione take in the grand and burly stature of his brother before smiling back. He watched as Hermione glanced at Jasper who'd stood alert half-shielding Alice. It was apparent in the body language of the empath that he was wary of the young witch.

"Please sit," said Esme, as always the perfect host. "Would you like a cup of tea?" she asked.

At Hermione's nod, Esme excused herself before walking off into the kitchen to prepare the tea. He heard his mother think that some biscuits or scones would be perfect with tea and she quickly prepared those at vampire speed. Less than five minutes later, scones and cookies were cooking in the oven.

"So," started Carlisle, "we heard that you were a doctor. I'm a doctor myself," shared Carlisle, "what is your speciality?"

"Well, it would be akin to neurology and clinical neurophysiology," she started explaining. "I'm a Mind-Healer in the Wizarding World but I still graduated in the fields of study required."

"But what is a Mind-Healer?" asked Carlisle, curious at hearing the unfamiliar term.

"It would be the same as what a neurologist or a neurophysiologist would do—after a fashion –"she added, as an afterthought, "but with the addition of magic. It's like with dealing with a magical variation of Alzheimer. I've been mostly involved in research these last two years but I still get out there if there is a need."

Edward stared at Hermione at hearing that. There was something there in that simple explanation that was very important to understanding the witch sat next to her. Thinking back to the last few hours, his eyes widened when he was able to connect the dots between what would seemingly appear as unrelated bits of information.

"That's rather impressive for someone so young." He heard Carlisle say. "Neurology and neurophysiology are rather difficult –" his father continued before Edward interrupted.

"That's why you were surprised when your parents called," he concluded, in a low voice but Hermione heard him nonetheless. "I understand now why you were surprised when your parents called. They suffered from a magical Alzheimer or something?"

She nodded. "Unfortunately, it was all because of me that my parents suffered from a degenerative and progressive magically-caused equivalent of Alzheimer," she said, in a small voice. "I chose to become a doctor and my speciality in order to research possible ways to cure my parents."

He knew that his family wanted to know more but he shook his head and whispered, in a tone only audible to the vampires, "Later. We can ask her for more about this later."

"I agree," said Esme, from the kitchen. "Let's not talk of things that might upset tonight."

"The problem is that we don't know what subjects could upset her," retorted Jasper, still in a low voice.

"I don't understand how a ring started this whole thing though. How did this little thing start it," asked Emmett, this time in an audible voice.

Hermione stared at Emmett, deep in thought. "I bought the ring at an auction that showcased some historic memorabilia of famous and non-famous people from the start of the twentieth century. When the bids were getting too high, my best friend bid a hundred thousand pounds for me. When I wasn't able to find information on the origin of the ring, I went to Chicago for research and found that an old neighbour of the Cullens was still living. Thankfully, she was still pretty lucid for her hundred and seven years and remembered you –" she glanced at Edward briefly "–pretty perfectly. Apparently, you made a lasting impression on her. So, she gave me these old documents –"

Hermione pulled her small beaded purse from an inside pocket, Edward couldn't stop himself from glancing at Alice. His sister's eyes had widened comically at the non-descript little purse. His family was also smiling seeing Alice's expression but their eyes widened even more when Hermione pulled two old documents and a photograph out of the bag. Edward burst out laughing.

"– which were very useful," Hermione continued, before stopping abruptly when she heard him laugh. "Did I miss the joke?" she asked.

"It's just that I found my family's reaction to your bunny-out-of-a-hat trick hilarious," Edward replied.

Hermione turned to look at his family who still had shocked looks on their faces and their eyes trained on the small beaded bag in Hermione's lap. "I'm sorry. I forgot that you had no exposure to the magical world."

"It's all right," said Carlisle.

Esme chose that moment to bring place a tray with freshly baked scones and biscuits with a steaming mug of tea on the coffee table. They stayed silent as Hermione munched on some scones and appreciated her tea. The Cullens took the time to examine the two documents and photograph that Hermione had pulled from her bag. Esme had pulled Tom from his arms before Rosalie and her shared an Ottoman and cooed at the now awake baby. Edward stared at the old picture of his parents a long time. His memories of his life as Edward Masen were fuzzy at best but he still felt sadness at seeing the last picture he took with his parents before their untimely death.

After Hermione finished her tea and biscuits, she thanked Esme and continued explaining what she'd discovered from this Mrs. Grey. How she'd been able to find the documents signed by Edward acknowledging the deaths of his parents and authorizing their burials in their family parcel at an old cemetery near his house. There were also twin traces of blood on the two documents.

"Can you tell us how you did all this?" Jasper finally asked.

Everyone turned their eyes to look at the young witch who looked thoughtful. After a long silent moment, Hermione shook her head negatively. "It's too much of a long story to explain," she said, in a contrite tone.

"She will tell us in her own time," whispered Carlisle, in an urgent and audible tone only meant for vampire ears. "Remember, she only just met us. We need to gain her trust first."

Hermione turned to look at Edward who frowned back at her before she added, "But I could show you!"

"How would she be able to show them how she'd been able to time-travel among the many incredible things that she'd done?" Edward asked himself.

Chapter notes: Still a short chapter but the next chapter should be a long one as I'll explain everything that Hermione had done to time-travel, etc... After that, the story can progress rapidly.

As always, i'd like to thank everyone who'd favorited, followed, reviewed or just read the story. It's the fuel that authors need to continue working. Kudos go to you all.

Take care of yourselves and have great day/night.

Love,

Ludo13