Assets and adversaries.
Conspiracy.
Harry POV.
The chilling bite of a blizzard smashed over the top of mountains, howling without sanity. The fresh snow on its peaks swirled, dancing over the older bed of compacted snow and ice. Below the sheer peaks lay lakes, rivers and expansive forest. Despite the harsh conditions the whole area was teeming with life; elk, mountain lions, and black bears were common in the vast expanse of the olympic mountain range.
What drew 35 year old Harry Potter to the area however, were the recent reports of extremely high levels of magical creature sightings. The past few years had seen a steady incline in their population, ever since a coven of 'vegetarian' vampires had moved there. The creatures had been described as everything from werewolves to animagi and Harry was determined to see what kind of magic the beasts possessed.
Harry Potter was officially unemployed. After the battle of Hogwarts he completed his seventh year of schooling attaining good NEWTS. He then signed up with the aurors hoping to be able to do the most good. He had 3 very satisfying years in the department, helping to collect evidence and bring in anyone who had ever willingly helped Voldemort's campaign.
At the end of those 3 years however the ruthless war veteran Kingsley stepped down and was replaced by Percy Weasley. The youngest ever minister for magic was a pompous, overly ambitious, moron. His campaign was helped by an understaffed ministry and his now highly respectable surname.
The pretentious git reversed a bunch of Kingsley's order's, which in turn made Harry's job both more difficult, and dull. Thus at the tender age of 21 Harry retired. In the following 15 years Harry spent a lot of time with Teddy, Andromeda, Hermione, and most of the Weasley's. He held the title of world duelling champion for 4 years in a row. Taught defence against the dark arts at Hogwarts as a favour to Minerva Mcgonogall for a term and travelled the world. He had enough power, magically, politically and economically to bring Britain to its knees but was much more interested in learning all about the wonders of magic.
Standing on top of mount Olympus in the middle of the night covered in warming charms his blazing emerald eyes surveyed the area. He was looking for places with a high magical concentration, the whole area he found out was teeming with magic, it almost felt like he was back at Hogwarts.
Harry summoned up his magic, and was instantly flying as a magical fog of grey towards the nearest town. The magic he was using was the one thing that he had admired Voldemort for. The monster had unlocked the secret to flying without any need for assistance. On his broom he was faster, without it he was freer, and free is all he had ever wanted to be.
The comet of magic descended into the forest outside of a small town called Forks, this was the place that his contacts had informed him of. He had the name and address of the coven of vampires, who were sure to know something so he cast a point me spell and decided to hike through the forest towards their lair. Casting noise, smell and impact suppression spells over his body he cautiously moved on. He told himself that he wasn't nervous about the interaction at all but Harry had always been good at figuring out when he was being lied to, unfortunately for him that also worked when he was lying to himself.
He could and had killed vampires previously, and he knew he could take a few on at a time relatively easily, entering a coven however was extremely dangerous, especially without knowing if any of them had some kind of power. A few miles out from the address he'd been given, according to some wand work, he found what looked like an animal trail. Scouting the area for a bit he found some of the biggest tracks he had ever seen. Wolf shape in feature the imprinted paws were a good metre and a half in diameter. The distance between each paw print told Harry that not only were these things larger than tigers but were also extremely quick.
He took a quick look on the animal trail and noticed that at least two other wolves had been using this path regularly. The lack of fresh prints told Harry that the path hadn't been travelled in weeks, so he decided to head towards the coven's house first. They'd probably have answers.
The couple of miles of dense forest took him only 12 minutes to hike through, and that was with frequent stops to ensure that he wasn't being hunted. When he reached the house however he paused. 'Now that cost a pretty penny.' Pushing his magic out he found the magical signatures of 6 vampires, scattered across the vampire's lair.
In absolute silence he crept up to the front door, smirking to himself he was thinking about how fun it was to trick the senses of vampires, they came to rely on them so much, that it tended to really shake their confidence when you got away with sneaking up on them. Reaching out for the front door he knocked.
Alice POV
Alice Cullen was not in a good mood, she was been forced to hang around with annoying, prediction preventing, werewolves. It's not that she didn't like them, the young boys were all amusing, Jacob was incredible with Nesie, and good for Bella, even Leah was becoming good company. However she hadn't seen a single prediction since she'd returned from the Amazon so she had sent Jacob and Nesie away for the weekend. Bella and Edward had predictably gone too and she had, so far, dedicated 33 hours to sitting cross legged in the middle of the stairs in an attempt at 'seeing'.
Alice let out a giant huff of annoyance. "Stupid werewolves." She muttered, meaning of course that the whole house could hear her. In a flash Jasper was at her side, calming waves coming from him battled away her frustration.
"Thanks Jaz." He simply smiled at her in reply to which she reached up for his face, gently caressing some of the scars that littered his cheeks, jaw and neck. She fell into a bout of melancholy thinking about the hard start to life her mate had suffered, but it was immediately replaced by happiness by Jasper.
"I am the luckiest girl in the world." She whispered to Jasper with a smile across her face. They simply smiled at each other for a while completely frozen until Alice's smile fell, her eyes turned white as she was taken to another place.
The Cullen's pristine house was changed into a dark, dank tunnel. She was taken up to the end of the passage at pace before crashing into the door at the end of it. Taking in the scene before her she saw a poorly lit atrium made entirely out of what appeared to be marble. The entire room was a mess. Crevasses climbed up the walls and along the floors, rubble, blood and scorch marks littered the areas surrounding them. Right in the centre of the room was a pile of bodies, she could clearly see the supernatural glow indicative of her race coming off several arms, torsos, and legs scattered among scores of carcasses heaped over each other in death.
Striding from the other end of room came a figure shrouded in darkness, the only features that Alice could see clearly were beacons of emerald, the shadow raised what should have been an arm, and a torrent of screaming flames engulfed the pyre of bodies reducing it to ash. As the flecks were slowly scattered by an occult wind, the raging blackness receded around the figure a man stood, bleeding heavily, and swaying drunkenly he dropped to his knees. His raven black hair tilted backwards and he laughed. Or at least tried to, the gruesome sound was hysterically, manically insane.
And then all of a sudden she was staring into Jasper's worried eyes. He could clearly sense the dread coming off of Alice in waves. Suddenly Alice started running, she was in her room, less than a second after her vision. Grabbing her sketchpad and colours she knelt down by her desk, Jasper not far behind, both as terrified for their mate as each other. She went through her shades of green and decided upon some point in between two using them to draw a pair of lights, screaming their way out a pitch black cloud.
Both her and Jasper stared at it for a few moments before two knocks sounded on the door. She looked at Jasper confused, she hadn't heard anyone come up the driveway. Jasper wasn't looking at her now, he was looking up and in the direction of the door, tension coming off him in waves.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her downstairs, settling her on the last step, him in front of her protectively. Carlisle and Esme were already there, and Emmet and Rosalie sprang from the garage.
"I can't smell him either." Emmet said, just loud enough for the six family members to hear.
Alice hadn't breathed since the knock and as she inhaled, she was shocked to find out that despite the knock that everyone knew that they had heard there was no signs of anything living on their doorstep. Which was extremely worrying, vampire's could arrive with no one being able to hear them but the lack of a smell was something she, nor any of her family by the looks on their faces had ever come across.
It had been 3 seconds since the knock had first taken place, when Carlisle opened the door.
"Hello my name is Harry Potter and I've got a few questions, do you mind if I come in?" Came a British accent from the doorway
"It's three thirty in the morning, what do you think you're doing?" Rosalie said in a scathing tone of voice.
"'coz you must be tired right?" Came a cheeky response. The implication wasn't subtle.
Carlisle took an eighth of a second before he took a step back introduced himself and invited the guy in. Harry silently followed the vampire, who was leading him to the living room. "Would you like a seat ?"
"Harry please." The man said before settling himself down in the middle of the leather sofa that Carlisle had pointed to. Carlisle sat down opposite Harry, an act that seemed to amuse the stranger. The rest of the family had decided to stay standing behind Carlisle's sofa, Jasper just over Carlisle's right shoulder Emmet over his left.
"So, what can I help you with Harry?" The ever present overall calm and polite tone always in affect.
"I was hoping that you or your coven could tell me what you know of wolves in the area." His tone was equally well mannered as Carlisle but the effect it had on the family was immediate, they all froze, the habits they had formed to blend in with the mundane world eradicated.
"Are you looking for trophies Harry?" Carlisle asked, the barest hint of steel audible in his voice.
"Trophies are dull," harry replied with a negligent wave of his hand. "I'm looking for knowledge."
"For knowledge's sake?"
"More for the chase, I'm a big fan of a good adventure." The stranger replied eagerly.
"Which is how you seem to know of us?" Carlisle seemed to be in his element, years of practice with cagey patients was coming to the fold.
"I've met vampire's before, but none like the six of you."
"The eyes?"
"I assume that comes with the diet?"
"You know of our diet?"
"I've heard rumours." The man said dismissively. "Are there any other side effects? Do you become weaker? Is that why you seem more civil?"
"Rumours from who?"
"Ah from the lack of answer I'd say that it does weaken you." He said with a smile. Jasper growled, so Alice ran up to him to hold him she turned to Harry "What do you want the wolves?" She bit out harshly.
It was the first time she'd had an unobstructed view of him. He looked human, in black boots, and a well made robe, Alice decided that it was a good new take on old fashion, and it looked expensive, especially if she were to go by the thread count, because she couldn't even see the individual strands!
His neck seemed to be pulsing but she couldn't hear his heart pounding or smell his blood. The words 'I will not tell lies' were scarred into the back of his right hand, scars climbed his neck, and crisscrossed his face. Incredibly she spied a vampire bite scar on the palm of his left hand. A lightning bolt was shaped into his forehead above his right eyes which were fixed on Jasper, and messy raven black hair topped his head.
"I told you, I want to learn about their magic." The man said turning to Alice.
As they locked eyes she couldn't prevent the angry hiss that came out of her mouth. The exact shade of emerald that she had seen from the murderer in her vision. At her hiss the family formed rank around her, all crouched and ready to pounce. "Witch!" She hissed.
The man in front of her had reacted quickly to the threat, he was standing opposite the family of vampires, a slither of wood in hand held out from his bottom right rib, eyes scanning the threat.
"Ah, so you do recognise us, I take it you've had bad interactions with us in the past."
"You're a witch?" Asked Esme from the back of the formation.
The man winced. "I prefer wizard, but essentially yes. How did you recognise me for what I am?" He asked Alice.
"I've seen you before." She placed the slightest inflection on the word seen possible, no one but her intimate family would have noticed it, never mind working out what she trying to say.
He looked contemplative as he asked "Were did you see me?"
"In an atrium." She said fishing for information.
"When?" He asked
"Time has little meaning for us mortals." She said suddenly on the defensive.
He smirked, his eyes twinkled in amusement, and Alice found herself somewhere between wrath at his mirth at her expense, and delight at watching currents of emerald dancing, happy and shinning. "I also know that you have photographic memory and perfect recall, so forgive me if I don't believe the act."
Alice found herself speechless, so it was with a silent 'halleluhia' on her part when Carlisle stepped back in.
"I think that my family and I need a quick discussion, so would it be possible for us to reconvene tomorrow at daybreak?"
"Of course." He said politely. "I'll let myself out then, shall I?"
He rose, and quickly strode out of the house, the house was still and silent as every member listened for his exit. Hearing nothing Emmett broke the stunned silence. "Well I like the guy."
Alice wouldn't take that lying down. "No you don't." She snapped.
"You don't do my thinking for me." There was a nano second of stillness, before both Alice and Emmett turned to Rosalie.
A small, satisfied, predatory grin turned to corners of Rosalie's mouth, as she nonchalantly examined her fingernails "Yes honey?" She asked him.
"Pretty please, can I like Harry?" He asked, turning on some sort of charm that inexplicably appealed to his mate.
"Well, since you asked nicely."
"He's dangerous." Whined Alice,, already knowing that she had lost. Her power it seemed was already returning nicely. She knew that despite having Jasper on her side that the rest of her family were far too curious for their own good. Thinking furiously she decided that she might be able to get Jacob on her side, he wouldn't like it that Harry was curious about his tribe, Edward was unlikely to want to risk his wife and child for curiosities sake, so she decided to wait for reinforcements.
"Call, Edward." She sang, "The 4 of them should be back for the discussion." Smiling, she took Jasper's hand and sprinted with him to their room. Leaving the rest of the family, slightly confused by the abrupt change in demeanour.
The second she entered their room she was hit with a brief flash of a vision. Understanding it immediately she turned to her mate betrayal in her eyes whispering "no."
"I'm sorry Alice."
"Why?"
Jasper paused for a moment. "Did you see his scars? I don't think a single one is way he held himself? Powerfully, alert, and assured. He's military, and he's a leader. I'm sorry Alice but I can't help but feel some kind of camaraderie with the wizard."
"He's killed and will kill."
"So have I, Alice, so have you." He said placatingly.
"So what? You want to give him all our secrets? Betray the wolves? All for a feeling, that for all we know could be engineered?"
"I don't want to betray the Quiletenes, Lord knows we owe them everything. I just want to talk to him, and you can bet Edward, Nessie and Bella will want to as well. Besides if it turns out that I'm wrong, it always pays to get to know your enemy."
As it turned out Jasper was right, and Alice was fuming, it was rare that her family ignored her warnings but as it stood they were more curious than smart. Stupid vampires. Even Jacob was fine with the meeting, due to the fact that Nessie was more enthusiastic about meeting a real wizard than anyone. Despite the obvious pain he felt at being away from Nessie he left for the reservation to avoid unwanted questions about his involvement with the Cullens.
The whole family bar Carlilse were seated around the 'dining' table. Both head's were left empty for their patriarch and guest. A gap left by the vampire's between the end closest to the door
As soon as the sun broke across the mountains they heard a knock at the door, once again the only thing that indicated anyone's opened the door and greeted their guest. Carlisle led him to the table, were the wizard's eyes scanned it's occupants, the whole family tensed as his eyes seemed to linger on Nessie for the briefest second longer than the rest of the table. After taking a seat, and allowing Carlisle to take his at the far end of the room, he addressed the table.
"Hello." He said quite cheerfully. "I'm Harry Potter, I'm afraid I didn't catch your names last time."
Carlisle looked shocked for a moment before replying, gesturing to his immediate left. "Yes, I'm sorry, this is My wife, Esme, Rosalie, Alice, and Jasper." He then indicated his immediate right. "Edward, Renesmee, Bella, and Emmett."
Harry's eyes twinkled as he was introduced to Renesmme. "And am I right in saying, that you Renesmee are a young Dhampire?"
Edward became immediately interested. "You know of her heritage?" He asked.
"One born of a human female and vampire male." He answered. "I've never even seen one of your kind before Renesmee, I'm honoured to meet you."
Renesmee blushed, despite being well used to being doted upon. It being something that had occurred pretty much constantly, day and night, for her entire existence up to date. "And I you, master wizard, sir." She answered in her beautifully innocent voice.
The wizard seemed to find her answer hilarious as his eyes became even merrier, his mouth stretched into a wide grin showing a row of offset white teeth. "Ahhh, you just reminded me of an old friend.." He replied to her curious look. "But us wizards we're common folk, not like you Renesmee, you're one of a kind." He said, his grin turning into a warm smile.
"You said that Esme was your wife." Harry said a little more seriously, suddenly addressing Carlisle, catching everyone off guard after his interaction with Nessie.
"I did."
"And what would you call Edward?"
Carlisle looked a little confused by the line of questioning but answered all the same. "Edward is my son."
"Hmm, and Nessie your granddaughter?"
Carlisle seemed to suddenly understand what the wizard was asking. "Yes Bella is Renesmee's mother and Edward, her father."
"So you're a family." The wizard stated, looking a little confused. "I've never met a family of vampire's before." He mused.
Carlisle smiled at Harry. "We have some questions of our own if we may?"
"Of course you may." Harry answered happily.
"How do you become a wizard?" Emmett asked eagerly, getting in before anyone else.
"I'm afraid we're born." Emmett's face dropped a little, and a small smirk crossed Harry's. "We can however turn girl's into witches." Everyone bar Bella and Emmett worked out that he was simply teasing them, but it was amusing to watch her eyes fill with excitement and his with jealousy before both turned to embarrassment when Harry let out a deep chuckle.
"That's not fair." Emmett whined.
"Well we can't gain a vampire's abilities either."
"How much do you know of Dhampire's?" Edward asked eagerly, trying out the knew word on his tongue perfectly.
Harry grimaced a little. "Not much unfortunately, like I mentioned they're extremely rare, all I know is that they reach maturity at about 6 years of age and are immortal. I can see that she's absolutely brimming with magic, and she's adorable."
Nessie beamed at him, and Edward got a really smug grin on his face, for some reason.
Carlisle then asked. "How does magic work?"
"That question is something that when you get down to it, no one really knows. Magic can do anything if properly applied, we know the rules of magic, and we can measure magic, but understanding the why and how of magic is something that the brightest minds of the last 6 centuries have been trying and failing to understand."
"Is that what you're attempting with your quest for knowledge."
Harry laughed again. "I am far off being counted as one of the brightest of my year group Dr. Cullen, never mind a generation."
"And yet you've obviously survived a lot." Jasper noted, nodding his head towards the scarred wizard.
There was a few moments pause before Harry replied. "Knowledge and power don't always walk hand in hand." He stated with a small frown on his face.
There was a brief pause before Bella asked what they were all thinking. "Can we see some magic Harry?"
Harry merely smiled before drawing his wand from somewhere at his chest, none of the vampire's could make out quite were it was hidden. He slowly swished his wand from left to right before flicking it. Suddenly everyone chair began to rise gently up into the sky. The childish giggles and applause from Nessie is what broke everyone from their shock. Just as gently as they were lifted up they were lowered back to the ground.
"I'm still curious about the wolves." Harry reminded them. The reaction was much less pronounced than in their last meeting, but there was still a sense of uneasiness that surrounded the Cullen family.
"We know of them." Their patriarch admitted.
"I assume, by the way you're being somewhat cagey that they're sentient?"
"They are."
"And are you on friendly terms with them?"
"As a whole?" Carlisle countered.
"So with some of them? And the others?"
"We're on good terms with them, and we owe them a lot."
Harry nodded. "In which case I won't ask you anymore, do you think I could talk to one of them?"
Carlisle grimaced. "If you give me your phone number I'll ask."
Harry smiled again before producing a well used notepad. He turned to the back page, and moved his hand over the paper, were a number was scrawled in messy writing. He smiled and looked up at the table.
"My friend crafted that spell, he was probably the laziest person in Gryffindor at the time, hadn't taken arithmancy, and didn't understand some basic theory of magic. He spent six months developing this spell in his seventh year and then completely shocked his girlfriend who couldn't decide whether she should be seriously impressed by his ingenuity or devestated that it gave him an excuse to be even lazier. In the end she was happy that she didn't have to start another fight with him over his notes come the exams." Harry then winced. "Didn't stop them entirely though."
He ripped the number off the page and brought it up to his face, blowing gently with wide cheeks. The page became a beautiful avian creature made of paper before it danced its way through the air to Carlisle, who held out a hand and allowed it to unfurl back into the page with Harry's number on it. "I'm afraid I've developed a little flair for the dramatic since a recent visit to Rome." He said with a grin.
"What do you know of the Volturi?" Edward asked after a small pause, hearing that Harry had been in Italy.
"The Vampire court." Harry said dramatically, his eyes widening comically, before laughing. "Aro, Caius and Marcus, and their guard. Three ancient vampires, charged with preventing the discovery of your kind, at the cost of their corruption and ambition, a necessary evil. You've had problems with them?"
"You could say that." Carlisle said hesitantly.
"And the wolves helped you fight them off?"
"I thought you had stopped asking questions about the wolves." Snarked Rosalie.
Harry smiled back at her. "You're right, forgive me."
Alice had seen Emmett subtly struggling to stop himself from doing something he knew wasn't smart, but she knew, that it would always be his silly side that won out. She was proven right when he blurted out. "Can we fight?"
The whole Cullen family looked like they desperately wanted to slap their heads on the table, but to the being they held there composure. Harry however beamed.
"You want to spar? I haven't had a sparring partner in ages." He seemed ecstatic.
Emmett was on his feet in a flash. "Now?" He asked eagerly.
Harry simply nodded and rose to his feet jittering excitedly. "Lead the way big man." He said with a grin on his face.
Emmett led him, and suddenly eight very curious immortal's, at a human pace outside. They went into the forest before entering a clearing about a hundred meters from the house. The clearing had a nice circular area, and was about thirty meters in diameter. The ground was covered in a fluffy, fresh layer of snow.
He turned to face Harry, concern suddenly on his face. "How hard can I hit you?"
Harry laughed at him. "Don't worry mate, I'm durable."
Emmett smiled before running off to the other end of the clearing. Harry shrugged off his robe, the garment seeming to disappear in a cloud of rapidly fading black smoke as it lost contact with his skin. It was immediately replaced by a very deep green snakeskin jerkin and trousers.
With his back to Emmett the wizard did a couple of stretches, before he sent out two quick spells into the trees. He then turned around, bounced on his toes a little, jumped his knees into his chest twice settled himself into his stance. His right arm was held out parallel to his ribs, his right palm splayed, his wand span happily over it.
"Whenever your ready Emmett." He said.
With a whoop Emmett started running, towards him. He wasn't the fastest Cullen, but he was by far the most powerful, the ground shook as he charged forward like a bull, straight at the matador.
Before he even made it a third of the way to Harry, the wizard flicked his wand up and across his body. Immediately there was thunder, as the spell impacted with Emmett, the vampire was flung back across the clearing, and clattered into a few trees before coming to a stop.
Emmett emerged from the trees with a contemplative look on his face, he set off running again,this time zig zagging randomly towards Harry. The wizard flicked his wand out in front of him. As Emmett turned to avoid the spell, Harry had already lined up another shot, the second spell clipped him in the shoulder and he was sent corkscrewing through the air. He landed with a crash. The second he landed he tried to spring back up but found himself bound by surprisingly strong rope.
Emmett spent a moment ripping out of his binds before he sprang up into the air and landed right in front of Harry. Emmett swiped down with his right hand attacking Harry's collar bone. The wizard ducked underneath his arm spinning himself behind the vampire and slapped his wand upwards sending Emmett high into the sky and back into the same trees he'd hit before.
Emmett emerged. "Jasper?" He asked asked hopefully.
"Use the trees." Jasper replied.
Emmett beamed. "Thanks." He said before dashing into the trees behind him.
The wizard turned on his heel, and appeared in the middle of the clearing, turning his body, trying to locate the vampire. All of a sudden Emmett burst from trees, charging towards Harry's back. The wizard turned but wasn't fast enough to avoid the vampire smashing through him. As Emmett's fist made contact with Harry, the wizard disappeared and a flash of red that came from the forest hit Emmett's back. The vampire crashed to the floor.
"It's alright he's just knocked out." Came Harry's voice from were the spell had originated. "I do love a good illusion."
"Seems very valuable at drawing someone out of cover, also if you sent a couple of them in front of you, you wouldn't need to worry about ambushes." Said Jasper calmly.
Harry smiled at him. "Military man?"
Jasper nodded.
"Me too. Yeah it's good for that, I mostly just use it for pranks though." He said with a smile.
Alice spoke for the first time that day. "You just knocked out a vampire." That was something that she'd never heard of. Which in itself was a list that just kept growing.
Not understanding the impossibility of the situation Harry said. "Oops sorry." He pointed his wand at Emmett and in a flash of green light Emmett seemed to be completely coherent again. He got up, and looked for Harry, seeing him talking to the vampire's family Emmett ran to a stop besides him.
"That was so cool!" Emmett said reverently.
"You almost got me at one point too." He winced.
"I thought you were durable?" Edward asked picking up on it.
"Durable, not indestructible If you hit me I wouldn't die, but it would have meant a day and a night on skelegrow which is something I'd rather avoid."
He turned to Carlisle. "I've been thinking about something, could I talk to you for a moment in private?"
Carlisle hesitated a fraction before nodding his head and gesturing forward.
Carlisle POV
Carlisle was intrigued, the man in front of him was clearly very dangerous. Why no one wanted to train with him was obvious. He'd watched the fight, as his youngest son was trounced, it just seemed that any advantage that Emmett had gained was given to him by Harry. He wasn't as fast as the slowest of his family, he was probably a little slower than most of the wolves, but his reaction speed was incredible. He seemed to know what Emmett was doing before his son did.
He led the man back into the house and up to his office. He gestured towards the leather chair across the desk from his. "Would you like a seat?"
"Thank you." The wizard replied, before sitting himself down. His robe, Carlisle noticed, had at some point been reformed, hanging tightly to him. The vampire couldn't make out any indication of armour underneath.
Harry raised his wand and danced it complicatedly through the air around his head, and with no more preamble he spoke in a deadly serious voice. "Aro has some ulterior motive for sending me here."
"You know Aro?" Carlisle asked, suddenly wary.
Harry grimaced. "Unfortunately Aro is a very handy guy to know, he has to have more contacts, sources and founts of knowledge than any other being our planet."
"And he willingly give those to you for nothing?" The vampire asked a hint of suspicion lacing his tone.
"Well," the young wizard started, contemplatively. "he wants me to think that. Fortunately, I've had plenty of experience with the powerful, enigmatic, old man sitting in his Ivory tower routine to know the warning signs. He's trying to move me into position."
"In which case I think it would be better if you left the area." Carlisle said, whilst being polite he seemed firm.
Harry nodded. "I can see why you may think that. However, until we can work out his play we don't know what actions would play directly into his hands."
Carlisle stared at the young, world weary man before nodding. "You'll help us with the Volturi?" He asked summarising.
Harry smiled. "I will, but don't be so sure that you're their target. Aro has wanted a few pet wizard's for a long long time."
"You think he's after you?"
"I don't think he's that stupid." Harry said with a cocky grin. "However, can you imagine how scary the Volturi would become if they had any kind of wards? Or had a good obliviator, someone who could take memory away from any muggle's who became suspicious of any over feeding?"
Carlisle was suddenly gripped with a lot of fear. With magic on their side, the Voltrui would be able to overcome the tenuous power advantage that the 'Rebel Alliance, (as Garrett, the newest member of the Denali clan, had affectionately come to name the Cullen's witnesses) had gained. They could pluck his family apart
"However." The wizard started. "We can't assume anything, until we understand a little more. What do the Volturi want from you?"
"Alice, Bella, Renesmee, maybe Edward and the wolves too." Carlisle answered without a hint of doubt in his mind.
"They have unique powers?"
Carlisle simply nodded.
"So we need to work out if Aro wants me here so that he can win the allegiance of you and yours or me and mine."
"Or both." Carlisle interjected.
Harry bit his lip and nodded. Brows furrowed in concentration. Carlisle had been struggling to come up with a strategic advantage, for Aro, in sending Harry to Forks, gifting them a potential ally in exchange for what exactly? He wasn't a sceptical man but the only thought that came into his mind was that Harry could be a spy.
"Have you done anything I wouldn't approve of?" Harry asked a hint of disbelief in his own voice. "I mean you're all, much more compassionate than any vampire I've ever met."
"There's nothing I can think of. How about you?" Carlisle asked, probing for answers. "Have you ever done anything I wouldn't approve of."
Harry looked somewhat forlornly at Carlisle. "I believe that is actually far more likely than the other way around."
Carlisle wasn't sure what to make of that answer. He knew he was dangerous, and dangerous people tended to have done unsavoury things in their life. He felt a little better with the honesty in Harry's remark, all but telling him he had secrets. It made him a little happier knowing that at least it was unlikely he was being lied to.
"Do you think he wants us fighting?" Carlisle asked sceptically, after all he'd managed to put up with the attitude of the Romanian ancients, less than six weeks ago.
"I can't see how he'd expect that, him knowing both of us, I would have guessed that he would rather have kept us apart." Harry replied apparently on the same page as the vampire. "What happened when you met him last?"
"He brought the whole Volturi guard..." Carlisle started before being interrupted.
"He brought the whole guard? Wow, he must really want some of your family."
Carlisle grimaced in reply. "Yes, well, he's not going to get any of us."
"Sorry, please continue." Harry said raising an open palm towards Carlisle.
"Well, as I said he brought the whole guard, along with about forty witnesses. They came with a few plans for indicating us in any wrong-doing. When it was obvious that Renesmee wasn't an immortal child..."
"An immortal child?"
Carlisle was shocked for a moment, this stranger had appeared to be almost all knowing in Vampire lore, it was somewhat refreshing knowing that he could impart some knowledge that he had no guilt in sharing. "Yes, a rather unfortunate blight on our history. Vampire's began turning children."
Harry grimaced at that.
"Quite." Carlisle replied to his non-verbal communication, before continuing. "They were beautiful, angelic. Ten times more so than Renesmee, and I assume that you weren't immune to Nessie's charm?" Carlisle asked rhetorically, no matter how hard the man in front of him may be, Nessie's charisma was unescapable. Carlisle felt a spark of pride before it was extinguished by the distaste he felt with thinking about the immortal children.
"Of course they were devastating in every sense of the term. They were stuck, in the mental state of a todller." Carlisle noticed a flinch from Harry.
"I do have experience with the terrible twos."
"I've heard they can be horrendous." The vampire replied with a small smile and a brief attempt at levity before continuing. "However, when a tantrum had the potential to level a town, and drain its population, they became a very real threat to our secrecy. The Volturi stepped in and decimated hundreds of Covens."
Harry sneered before admitting. "Which brings me back to my point. Unfortunately the vampire, and by extension magical, world can't afford to loose them. The statute of secrecy wouldn't allow the risk of their removal."
"Wait, you're not just talking about neutralising them, you want us to fight back?" Carlilse asked incredulously.
"Power corrupts, and all of that. I'm not in the habit of letting corrupt officials becoming that absolute power. I can tell you from experience that simply reacting to an aggressor who wants something as desperately as Aro can do, is never going to get him off your back. For you guys never is a really long fucking time."
Carlisle thought about it for a second before he was convinced that they were going to have to take the fight to the Volturi. "I assume you have a compromise between destroying them leaving them be then?"
"Well I was thinking it's time to shorten their leash." Harry said with a grin.
"I have to talk this over with my family." Carlisle said
"Of course, I need to do the same with some people in England, call me when you're ready." Harry said before waving his wand again, putting it away somewhere, standing up and leaving the house.