With the help of Astoria and Malfoy, they hatched up a plan for what came next. Though Bella was still a concept in their mind, the impending war was also something they needed to take care of. Cal, Leah, Sam, and Seth would join them in a war council, as well as all of the Cullens to bring forth a plan to protect them all. Then, someone from the Republic would reach out to them in a few hours, in order to update them on the public forum.
The Cullens gathered in the living room, as Astoria and Malfoy conducted an extension charm to increase the size for the people who would be joining them.
Bella was brought into the room by Rosalie and Esme, being seated in a corner on the couch with a good view of everything. Rosalie, Esme, and Emmett, all sat together, gathered around Bella. Gwen noticed as Alice and Jasper sat in an opposite corner, and Carlisle stood with Edward.
Despite Bella getting better, the battle lines were drawn within the family.
Gwen took notice of empty seats across the room, as she passed by Bella's side in order to reach Carlisle and Edward. She realized as she turned, that Bella's eyes were once again fixated on her chest. Mainly, her eyes focused on Gwen's new necklace.
The raven-haired woman wondered if it was impolite to wear the jewelry, realizing then that a piece like the one Edward gave her, must not have been too common to see.
"They will be arriving soon" Carlisle called out to everyone, hanging up his phone as Gwen raised her wand and ready to have Sam, Leah, Seth, and Cal join them. Though they would have preferred to bring their entire Pack, Leah thought it best for it to be just them, as Jacob had not seen Bella since their wedding and perhaps, now would not be a good time for any "accidents" to occur.
As Gwen heard the familiar "POP!" before them, she lowered their defenses as the new group before them entered the home.
She knew this was a council of war, one that she would be leading. And despite what the Cullens thought of her, she knew this was no social visit. And though her first instinct was to run and hug Cal, Leah, and Seth. To run to them and thank them for everything they did to get her memory back, to embrace them in community and like family. She knew she had to contain herself, at least, until their meeting was over.
"Please come inside" Gwen said, as Cal shot her a surprised look. "We have to get started before the Republic calls."
As the newcomers found their seats, Edward remained at her side steadily. He nodded to her in encouragement, as she took a deep breath and began.
"Thank you all for coming today."
"Like we had a choice" Rosalie muttered.
"We're to update you all on where we are at and when the Republic arrives by messenger, where we will go from here" Gwen stated, as she looked around the room.
"First, I know Edward has updated most of you on what state we are in. But we wanted to bring in the leaders of the Pack" Gwen continued, looking towards Sam, Leah, Cal, and Seth. "In order for all of us to know the dangers coming. After Cal and I left, we headed to New York in order to present our findings to the Wizarding Government of the United States, also known as MACUSA. We were denied our request to add the new species of Vampires here, however, the Republic, accepted. The Denali Coven was welcomed in the Republic for some time, being integrated into society as a legislation was created to incorporate them into our world. But this legislation wasn't just for them, it was to create a smoother transition of magical species who wished to join the Republic. Or rather, integrate into the Wizarding World in Britain."
Gwen paused, as she took a deep breath, "Our dream was not one everyone shared. And for that, I am truly sorry."
"You're sorry?" Rosalie said in outrage. "You are the reason our entire family is in danger!"
"Rosalie" Edward warned.
"No, I am not going to sit back while we forgive her for Tanya's death! For Eleazar and Irina's disappearance! Don't you see? It all started with her!"
"Rosalie, calm yourself" Carlisle stated, as Rosalie sat back down and Bella reached for her hand.
"No, Rosalie is right." Gwen said, as she looked to the Cullens. "I promised you safety. I did not believe such hostilities would arise within the Republic."
"This precedes our report and the legislation" Cal interjected to Rosalie. "Wizards were seen as the highest levels of beings in our world, still everywhere besides The Republic--"
"So she should have seen this coming--" Rosalie seethed.
"No, because the world she built after the war allowed for a new world to be imagined!" Cal continued. "A world where this did not happen! Do you think you would be peacefully living here without us? Without her?"
"Cal..." Gwen warned.
"No, they need to know. You gave your life for them!"
"This is not the time--"
"No," Edward interjected. "I want to hear this."
"Do you think MACUSA would have just let you all roam around freely? Killing muggles without them doing a thing?" Cal demanded. "No! We discovered you were here because of Victoria. If not us, it would have been someone else. If it was not for our report, for Gwen, a hero of war that backed you all up, all of your kind would have been found and classified as magical beings only to roam places where it was deemed acceptable."
"They wouldn't dare" Alice began, as she looked to Edward and Gwen. "Is this true?"
"No..." Bella whimpered, looking to Edward. "It was my fault. Victoria came here for me..."
"Yes it's true" Gwen confirmed. "If this legislation doesn't pass, if the Republic gets overthrown, then yes, that is a possibility. Although, from our source, it seems the Italian Ministry has made a deal with the Volturi. We all stay out of each others business, the Volturi to rule over you all once more."
"The Volturi?" Bella asked, looking fearfully around. "What is going on?"
"They're back?" Sam asked, turning towards Gwen.
"Let me continue" Gwen said, as she could see them all rising with questions. "Cal is right. It wasn't the paradise we believed it to be. There were people working in the shadows, people we believed were our allies who hated 'serving other magical species'--"
"Traitors" Leah spat.
"Of course" Rosalie said, crossing her arms.
"--and by people we believed to be our allies, this includes vampires too."
Shocked voices of questions and "What?" plagued the room.
"Irina" Edward said quietly, as they all turned to look at him.
"She helped them and they promised to help her" Gwen said.
"What did they offer her?" Carlisle asked, as Gwen could tell this was a shock to him as well.
"She was heartbroken about the mate she lost due to Bella. She wanted a trade, a mate for a mate. Her sisters didn't let her get her revenge, so she befriended some wizards who didn't take kindly to vampires joining the Wizarding World. Irina had seen how magic worked, how easy it would be to get her revenge without anyone knowing. So she passed information, gave them her blood."
"She wouldn't betray her sisters..." Alice said quietly.
"I believe" Gwen began. "That she didn't know the consequences of what she did. Right now, we don't know where she is being held."
"Wait, why would they need her blood?" Carlisle asked.
"They were doing experiments" Gwen said, hesitating as she continued. "They used her venom in order to try to formulate it into something more.
"Why her venom—?" Carlisle asked, as she could tell her looked more worried than ever for the safety of his family. She saw his hand reach for Esme.
"To find a way for wizards to live forever" Gwen continued, making eye contact with Cal. "It's not the first time dark wizards have tried to find immortality, or have returned from the dead."
Cal and Astoria gasped, as Leah turned to look at Cal with fear. Malfoy made a strange inhuman sound, his voice turning more pale than ever.
"You-Know-Who?" Cal managed, looking terrified at the sight of them.
Leah turned to him in fear, "You know what? What are you talking about?"
"T-that's not possible!" Cal called, looking terrified as he eyed Gwen. "T-they c-can't!"
"Y-you didn't mention this before I agreed to be a witness!" Malfoy snarled.
"You agreed to do this on your own" Gwen said calmly.
"You conveniently left this out!" Malfoy cried, his blond hair becoming more and more disheveled.
"Oh shove off!" Astoria snapped. "We don't even know if this will work!"
"What's happening?" Edward asked, turning to Gwen as the rest of the Cullen's noticed the fear radiating off of Cal.
"Voldemort" Gwen said, as Cal and Malfoy flinched. "Was the Darkest wizard of our time. He died in the last Great War, over a year ago. We think, they're trying to bring him back with vampire venom."
"What does this have to do with us?" Jasper asked, his eyes darting to the panicked wizards. "What is happening to them?"
"If You-Know-Who comes to power" Cal whispered. "We're all dead. Everyone who challenges him, even those that don't. You don't understand the fear he brought. Even whispering his name would bring death upon you. Signs of rebellion would cause your entire family to be killed, root and stem. We're not talking about a war that affected just wizards, hundreds of regular humans and magical creatures were hunted for sport. If he comes back, we're all dead."
"We don't know if your blood has that power" Gwen continued, as she looked to the Cullens. "But Cal is right, if he does manage to come back...The Volturi will be the last of our problems."
"So what do we do?" Edward asked her. "What can we do now? How do we stop this?"
"Until we know for sure who is involved and if they were even able to use Irina's blood, we can't focus on that. Right now, the Republic is holding a public trial of Ron Weasley, one of the wizards who turned back to our side--"
"Our lives are in the hands of a traitor?" Rosalie snarled.
"He's our main witness. As much as I don't agree in it, he is our only witness who can attest to who was a part of it."
"Why did he turn?" Carlisle asked.
Gwen hesitated, looking to Edward. "He thought he killed me. He must have regretted it, turned himself into a friend."
"He thought he killed you, but he just took your memories. No big deal," Cal huffed.
"Why should we trust him?" Leah protested. "He not only took your memories, he tried to make you into a vampire!"
"What did you just say?" Bella whispered with a cold tone, her hand on her very pregnant stomach. Gwen saw Bella look at her in complete betrayal.
"The venom is stagnant, it's nothing to worry about right now" Gwen said quickly.
"What venom?" Bella demanded, tears forming in her eyes as she looked to Edward. "Edward?"
"This is not the time" Gwen stated, shutting down the muggle girl as Rosalie glared.
"This is the perfect time, what do you mean you have venom?" Bella demanded.
"Bella, you need to calm down--" Rosalie began, as Bella waved her away.
"No! I need to know, what do you mean Gwen?" Bella snapped, holding her stomach as the fetus inside of her was reacting to the anger.
"What do we do?" Astoria asked Gwen, as Gwen watched Bella squirming in pain, fresh tears running down her face.
"Bella, I need you to breathe" Edward said soothingly, as Bella reached out for his hand.
"What about the venom?" Bella cried.
"It's like Gwen said, it's stagnant, nothing to worry about. There is nothing to worry about Bella" Edward said in a genuine voice, that Gwen almost believed it.
"Stay with me" Bella pleaded, holding onto Edward's hand tightly. "Please. Please Edward--I--"
"Okay, I will stay by your side" Edward agreed, as they held hands and Bella calmed down.
The raven-haired woman looked away. clearing her throat.
"So what's next?" Sam asked.
"The Republic is going to hold the public trial. Ron will take the stand, Malfoy, and myself" Gwen continued, trying to not look at Edward and Bella. "The Republic will bring those in named in the trial or put out a warrant on them. In the mean time, everything will be publicized. The Republic is sending their terms to the Italian Ministry, they will have no choice to agree or be exiled by the Wizarding Community if they do not want war. They cannot step foot into our land, our treaties with them will cease, and if any of these terms are broken-then they can expect retaliation. We will draft our terms and have the International Confederation of Wizards will deliver them. The plan is, the rest of the Vampires will join The Republic. We will acknowledge everyone who wants to join us peacefully and being them in. Then, they will throw this back in the faces of the Italian Ministry. They're harboring magical creatures that kill muggles without check. This is against the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. Against all of our laws. The world will put them on trial."
"It makes clear sense" Carlisle said, as he looked around to his family. "Everything seems figured out."
"What could go wrong?" Malfoy muttered.
"The boy is right," Jasper agreed. "If this does not go according to plan? What happens then?"
"Thats the problem" Gwen said. "You won't have any protection. None of us will. If the Republic of Magic is overthrown, then MACUSA doesn't give us jurisdiction to be here. They and every other magical government can do as they please with the vampires. You all would be turned over to the Volturi...Unless we break the law, we can't help you."
"The Volturi..." Bella whispered in horror.
Gwen nodded, "I won't let them hurt you all. Not on my watch."
"But you just said you would be breaking the law" Esme pointed out. "We wouldn't want you getting in trouble on our behalf. We wouldn't want you to start a war and put yourself in danger!"
"I wouldn't start a war, if I became a rogue witch"
"No!" Astoria gasped.
"Stop!" Cal said angrily. "Stop talking nonsense!"
"What does that mean?" Edward asked, looking to Gwen with worry.
"It was my plan if the legislation didn't go through" Gwen admitted. "It was my contingency plan after Italy. And if we can't find a cure to getting this venom out, well..."
Gwen let it hang, knowing everyone understood what she meant. Rogue witch or not, she would be a vampire soon enough...
"That's not going to happen" Edward told her from across the room, as Bella looked at him pleadingly. "I won't let it happen."
"Well," Cal said, as he looked to Leah and then back to Gwen. "Whatever happens, you have my wand. I want to fight by your side Gwen."
"I'm not asking you to fight, this was just to let you all know what is happening. If everything works out, we won't need to fight--"
"I have thought about it. Long and hard since we presented our findings to MACUSA. I knew this wouldn't be a simple win. I believe in this cause. I believe in you. And you can't stop me from--"
But Cal had no opportunity to finish his speech, as Gwen didn't care how unprofessional it looked. She embraced Cal, as he embraced her too. At long last, the two partners who had set off to find the magical species in Forks, were reunited.
"Thank you" Gwen whispered. "For everything."
"Of course you know, I'm in too" Leah nodded.
"And me!" Astoria grinned, shoving Malfoy slightly.
"I guess I'm here too" Malfoy muttered.
"Don't forget about me!" Seth added, as Leah frowned.
"You're not old enough for war" Leah protested.
"And this is something for me to decide" Sam interjected. "Cal may do as he pleases, but I decide if I want to put our people in danger--"
Suddenly, there was a large crackling coming from the fireplace, as a large green flame erupted from the Cullen's living room.
"The floo network?" Malfoy asked, taking out his wand as he pushed Astoria behind him. "Get behind me!"
Gwen and Cal moved forward, taking both of their wands out and pointing it directly at the fireplace.
"What's going on?" Carlisle called out, as Rosalie, Alice, Emmett, and Esme got in front of Bella.
"Wands down, show yourself!" Gwen commanded, as two large figures stepped out of the fire.
The first to step out was a tall, attractive man with a rough look to him. He had round glasses, untidy black hair, unusually bright green eyes, and a lightening bolt scar on his forehead.
He had his hands held high in gesture of surrender, "I know you would want nothing more than to send me flying across the room, but I come in peace."
"Harry" Gwen breathed.