Winter Moon

Just a heads up, I'm British so when I mention the Civil War in America I've called it 'the American Civil War'. This is mainly because if someone simply says the Civil War, I think of the British one first (when Oliver Cromwell overthrew King Charles I).

Also, I'm aware that Tom is OOC but I do explain it in this chapter so please don't tell me off for it as you're forewarned. I'm sorry to any Bella fans but I didn't want her to play too big of a role in this story. She's not bad per say, but she's not perfect either.

As usual, this story isn't beta-ed so if there's a spelling/grammer or even a continuity mistake please let me know and I'll try and fix it. (Although, with the continuity, please bear in mind that it is AU from HBP)

Please review as they make me smile.

Anything you recognise is not mine.

Chapter 1: Changes

'Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.' Arnold Bennett

The smoke cleared around the fight between Harry and Voldemort to reveal only the boy-hero standing and a pile of dust where the Dark Lord had once stood. The 'Light' side had, of course, rejoiced at the defeat of the 'Dark' side; although for some of them, their happiness was ruined when Harry had stated that certain 'Dark' families had suffered enough and were to be left alone. These included, much to Ron's displeasure, the Malfoys and Severus Snape who the redhead had been very much looking forward to seeing being sent to Azkaban. It was much later, almost 3am, that Harry was able to sneak away from the celebration although he wasn't unfollowed.

It was only when he reached a glade in the Forbidden Forest and made himself known to the person waiting there that his followers made themselves known. Upon seeing a teenage Tom Riddle talking quite calmly with Harry, Hermione had been unable to keep silent any longer.

"Harry?" She gasped in surprise, causing both 17-year-olds to look at her.

"Mione? What are you doing here?" Harry asked worriedly.

"I followed you to make sure that you're ok, don't you know who that is Harry?" She asked, stepping forward and chewing on her lip.

"Of course he does! He's the one that suggested that he meet me here." Tom snorted in amusement. It was then, as Hermione was trying to make up her mind about whether or not she needed to defend her friend that the other follower made herself known.

"Now Tommy, there's no need to be mean and Mione, Harry's fine, Tommy won't hurt him." Luna said brightly, stepping into their line of sight.

"Tommy?" Tom asked, looking at her like she had two heads while Harry and Hermione laughed at his expression.

"You'd better get used to it Tommy, I'm not going to stop calling you it. Do you want to tell Hermione the plan that you and Harry came up with or would you like me to?" The dreamy blonde girl smiled.

"How do you?" Tom asked but Harry interrupted him.

"No one really knows how Luna knows these things, I doubt even she could tell you but I'm guessing that Hermione needs to know for some reason." He explained pulling his friend out of her own thoughts.

"Please tell me that your plan isn't anything nefarious or focused on World Domination." She sighed, shaking her head. Tom and Harry laughed, causing the brunette girl to look at them.

"Do you really think that Harry would agree to a plan for World Domination? He'd probably kill me if I even considered it and with Harry, that would be a much bigger deal!" He said, still laughing. Hermione blinked a little before joining in, even Luna was giggling at Tom's joke.

"So what is your plan?" Hermione asked once they'd calmed down. Harry and Tom sobered instantly.

"Dumbledore has planned for me to go back to the Dursleys until I'm eighteen when he wants me to marry Ginny; I do love her, but it's as a sister. I don't think I could ever really marry her. On top of that, Tom here is all alone and if Dumbledore found out about him, he'd place him in an even worse situation than me. Because neither of us has ever really had a family, we planned to go and hide in the Muggle world somewhere and say we were brothers." Harry sighed, hoping his best friend would understand. She thought for a few moments before a smile spread itself across her face.

"Oh Harry! Why didn't you tell me? I'd have been more than happy to help, to be honest, Ginny doesn't love you in that way either, it's her mother and Ron's doing. They want me to marry Ron too! I mean honestly! He's probably the worst person for me to marry. But where are you going to go and how will you live?" She said, hugging both boys (although Tom was a little surprised and stiffened slightly).

"We're not sure where we're going to hide but we'll manage." Tom replied.

"If Dumbledore is that determined, he'll never stop trying to find you. He'll be looking for a boy with messy hair, emerald eyes and glasses. If he finds that Tommy is with that boy, he'll double his efforts. You'll have to constantly move around and will never be able to stop looking over your shoulder for him. But if Mione and I are with you then we can help throw him off the scent." Luna pointed out with a grin causing the other three to look at her.

"What do you mean by that Luna?" Harry asked while Hermione and Tom looked at each other.

"Simple, he might be looking for one boy but what if it was a group of siblings? We could hide in plain sight and he would never find us." The blonde girl explained with a smile.

"Siblings?" Tom questioned while Harry looked similarly puzzled. Hermione, however, gasped in sudden understanding.

"Of course! And it gives me an idea of where we could go! Even better, there's a potion which would actually make us siblings which will make it harder for Dumbledore to track us!" She grinned at her soon-to-be sister and brothers.

Neither girl brooked any arguments and so it was that Harry Potter and Tom Riddle found themselves on a plane to Australia with Luna and Hermione.

"But why do we need to find your parents? You said that they didn't really understand you, do you think they'll understand suddenly gaining three new teenagers?" Tom asked Hermione, looking at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Because the potion needs DNA from the two new parents, I do think it will be for the best if they stay in Australia, they've probably made a life for themselves." She had whispered back, making sure that only her friends could hear her.

She was right; they had made a life for themselves, and had a new child, a boy they'd called Wilfred. It took a bit of effort but finally they managed to get a small amount of blood from Hermione's parents before removing the memories of it happening. It was as they were waiting at the airport that Tom realised something was the matter with Hermione.

"Are you ok?" He asked while Luna and Harry were off getting them some coffee.

"They're so happy, I just wish they'd been able to understand me better, we might have been happy too. I'll never know my little brother and he'll never know me." She sighed, tears filling her eyes. Tom instinctively reached over and pulled her into a hug; it was so natural, and he realised that she was almost exactly like his real sister. He realised, as he watched them come back, that he felt exactly the same about Harry and Luna and that he would do anything to protect them.

Edward knew that he was in a bit of a slump, he knew that he was almost bored of the same old routine but he had no idea how to pull himself out of his borderline despondent mood. Bella had kept his interest for a while but she had chosen Mike Newton rather than him. He was still friends with her but she only really seemed to hang out with him when there wasn't anyone else.

Alice looked over at her brother, she knew that Bella had hurt him. It was just a pity that none of them had realised what Bella was like until it was too late. While she stated that she'd rather stay out of the limelight, that was not quite true. Bella liked the attention that she had gained from having the 'un-dateable' Cullen wanting to date her. It wasn't that she was a bad person, it's just that she had never really had all that much positive attention from people her own age. Alice still hung around with her occasionally because Edward asked her too but the two of them were never really good friends.

Suddenly, Alice was pulled into a vision in the middle of the cafeteria. It was of four teenagers, about seventeen or so Alice would guess, who were boarding a plane in the UK to travel to America. It was obvious that they were siblings by how they acted towards each other and slight similarities in their appearance (even if there were some major differences). One of them, a blonde girl with crystal blue eyes, seemed to be a little younger than the others but she also seemed to be the one dictating where they were going. The other girl, who had softly curling brown hair and brown eyes, seemed a little depressed about something but like she was trying to keep her spirits up for the others. The smallest of the boys had black hair and green eyes with flecks of brown in them; his build was so much slighter than the others that Alice wondered just what his home life had been when he was younger and she felt a surge of protectiveness towards him. The final boy was more unusual than the rest, his skin was incredibly pale, so pale that it was only a shade or two darker than that of their own, with neat black hair and dark grey eyes.

Edward watched the vision as Alice saw it and he froze as soon as he saw the final boy. In that instant, Alice saw two more visions in quick succession. She saw Edward and the boy stood together at the end of an aisle, dressed in two identical tuxes. She also saw herself, Carlisle and Jasper meeting them at the airport and driving them back to their home to meet the rest of their family. As the vision ended, Edward turned shocked eyes on Alice, speechless of one of the first times.

"How exciting! And poor Bella." Alice giggled, feeling slight sympathy for the human.

"What did you see Alice?" Rosalie asked, gazing at her sister impassively. Like all the Cullens, the beautiful blonde had learnt to trust Alice's visions, she just kept an impassive mask up most of the time.

"Four new humans are coming and among them is Edward's mate. Jaz, Carlisle and I need to go and pick them up from the airport tomorrow because I also saw them living with us." Alice explained, still bouncing happily. She was glad that her favourite brother would find his mate soon. A flash of worry crossed Rosalie's face when she heard about the humans, she liked Forks because it was exactly the sort of town she would have loved to live in as a human with a loving husband.

"Don't worry, Rose, these humans are different. They won't tell anyone our secret, I think they have one of their own too. You'll really like them, we all will." Alice smiled.

She couldn't wait for the next day, and almost drove her siblings mad with her excited bouncing. Carlisle and Esme were quite happy to have new family members (Esme especially as it meant that she had someone new to cook for) and agreed easily to having the teenagers there. Luckily, Esme had wanted some extra rooms to decorate so they already had four new bedrooms and a new bathroom attached to the back of the main house which would be perfect for their new family members.

"So there will be people picking us up at Port Angeles airport when we get there? How do we know that we can trust them?" Tom asked anxiously. The others could understand his worry, having never really had any sort of family, he didn't want his new one taken away from him now that he had found it.

"Don't worry Tommy, we can trust them. They'll protect us better than anyone else could and they're going to be our new family." Luna smiled, hugging her oldest brother.

"How do they know we're coming?" Hermione asked, looking up from her schoolbooks. She'd insisted that they get caught up with Muggle education so that they could attend school. Luna grinned at her.

"One of them sees the future like me." The blonde replied, causing Harry to groan.

"Oh God, there'll be two of them!" He moaned, causing the others to laugh.

Tom was suitably reassured that they would be alright but he was still a little worried. Those worries were immediately dispelled when they met Carlisle, Alice and Jasper for the first time. Alice and Luna hit it off straight away but the short black haired pixie said that she would be giving all of them makeovers. This fact made Harry and Tom more nervous of her but Jasper reassured them.

"Don't worry, she likes to make sure that people are dressed fashionably, especially her family. It just means that she's already decided that you're part of the family." The tall honey blonde smiled in his Southern drawl. The rest of the family accepted them happily too and, after the four teens had eaten, they all sat down in the living room to tell their stories.

"What we should first tell you is that we aren't humans, my family and I are vampires, albeit vegetarian ones." Carlisle explained first, knowing that the four teenagers would need to know that fact.

"I've read about your kind, you only feed on the blood of animals right?" Hermione nodded, not concerned in the least.

"That is true, although the more dangerous the animal, the better it tastes to us." The doctor smiled in reply. From there, he went on to explain how he was turned and decided to drink animal blood rather than human along with his connections to the Volturi and who they were. Edward was next, he explained that he had been dying of influenza when Carlisle turned him at his mother's request and he also mentioned his time spent hunting the more evil humans, his 'teenage rebellion' as he called it as well as telling them that he was able to read everyone's thoughts (he didn't mention Bella for now). Esme followed, explaining about the death of her child and her subsequent attempted suicide. The four humans then understood just why Esme was so motherly towards everyone, it was her way of trying to make up for losing her child.

Rosalie seemed reluctant to tell her story but with a bit of persuasion, she told the basics, explaining that she didn't want to tell them fully what she had gone through at the hands of her fiancé and his friends. Even so, Hermione grasped what she wasn't saying and paled, causing the vampires to look at her.

"Later." She said, knowing that her turn for explanations would come. Emmett went on to tell them in his booming voice that Rosalie had found him while she was hunting and carried him miles to Carlisle to save him; his love for her was evident in his voice as he told them what had happened. Alice came next and explained that she couldn't remember who had turned her nor much of her human life. She just knows a little bit that she managed to research, that her name had been Alice Brandon and that her family had had her committed to a mental asylum while pretending that she had died. She seemed sad at that but shook herself a little before she was once more the chirpy girl they had met and she finished her story by telling them that she could see the future and that was how they had known that they were coming. Jasper was quiet as he told his story but he explained how he had been a soldier in the American Civil War and turned to be part of a vampire army for the vampire wars in the south. He also explained how he had left his maker and found Alice. Together they had found the Cullens and had been a part of their family ever since, his final part was telling them that his gift was the ability to manipulate and sense emotions.

Harry thanked them for their honesty and looked at his siblings who nodded.

"I should probably go first, like you I need to tell you something about us first for this all to make sense. We aren't normal humans, we have magic. There's a whole society of us in the UK, and probably here to although we haven't really looked into it. Tom, Mione, Luna and I weren't born siblings, but we became such using a potion that Mione found.

"Recently, there was a war in Wizarding Britain against a Dark Lord called 'Voldemort' who killed my parents because it was prophesised that I would be the one to stop him. I grew up with my non-magical relatives who hated me and were abusive towards me. Less than a week ago, we finally won the war and I was sick of being manipulated so I decided to escape. Tom and I were originally the only ones who were going to leave but Mione and Luna followed me when we were about to go and they wanted to come too." Harry sighed, hoping that Hermione wouldn't want to explain more detail but he had no such luck.

"Harry, you completely skipped half the details. If you don't tell them I will." She said angrily. He sighed again but snapped angrily.

"Fine! We all went to a magical school called Hogwarts. My first year there, a magica item that can grant immortality was hidden there and I had to fight a disembodied Voldemort to stop him getting the stone. Second year, someone smuggled Voldemort's cursed diary from school into my best friend's little sister's books and she was possessed by it. I had to fight a Basilisk (a really big poisonous snake) and the teenage Voldemort to save her and the school. Third year wasn't too bad, I got to meet my godfather who was falsely imprisoned for betraying my parents when he escaped to try and save me. I also found out who really betrayed my parents even though he escaped us. Fourth year I was entered in the Triwizard Tournament which is a magical competition and forced to compete even though I was underage. I won but Voldemort came back by performing a ritual using my blood.

"Fifth year, my headmaster who I looked up to, completely ignored me and I was having visions from Voldemort because of a connection we had. The final one I had that year, had me believing that he'd captured my godfather at the Ministry of Magic and my friends and I rushed to try and save him. Turns out that it was a false vision and Sirius (my godfather) was killed when he and a group he was part of came to rescue me! Sixth year, the headmaster used me to collect cursed items that would help defeat Voldemort even though I was only 16 at the time. At the end of that year, I saved his life when some of Voldemort's followers tried to kill him! And my final year was spent planning to end the war! Happy now Hermione?" He growled. The vampires looked stunned before Esme stood and was swiftly by his side, taking him into her arms.

"You poor dear! That headmaster of yours should be ashamed! Letting a child deal with things that adults should sort out!" She said angrily. Harry looked slightly taken aback but seemed to appreciate the fact that she was indignant for him.

"I agree, is there no one you can contact to get this matter investigated?" Carlisle said gravely.

"Not without revealing where we are and we'd much rather keep that a secret." Hermione replied, looking pensive.

"Mione's turn!" Luna said, pulling them out of their sombre mood, although Esme sat next to Harry, still comforting him.

"Well, I was born to non-magical parents, I'm what is known as a 'Muggle born' (Muggles are non-magical people). When I first started Hogwarts, I was a little overbearing and anxious to show that I belonged in the magical world. As such, I didn't really have any friends for the first two months of the year. On Halloween, a teacher who was helping Voldemort in his attempt to get the stone let a troll into the school. I was crying in the girls' bathroom near the main entrance hall because Ron had called me a 'know-it-all' and said that it wasn't any wonder that I had no friends. When they heard about the troll, Harry and Ron came to find me to warn me but the troll entered the bathroom before they could find me and it tried to kill me. Harry and Ron ran in after it and saved me. We became friends because I covered for them so they didn't get into trouble, it was the very least I could do to be fair. Over that year, I helped Harry figure out about the Philosopher's stone and helped him get it to safety.

"The next year, when the Basilisk was being let loose I ended up Petrified, frozen, because I saw its reflection in a mirror. I spent most of my year like that so I'm not too sure what happened exactly. Third year was spent trying to keep Harry safe but it wasn't really a bad year like he said. Fourth year again, wasn't too bad for me except I was insanely worried about Harry. Fifth year, I was with Harry when we went to save Sirius. We did try and check to see if it was true beforehand but the most horrible teacher we've ever had caught us trying to contact him. I led her into the forest where she was attacked by centaurs who she'd been persecuting all year. Sixth year I was trying to fend off some unwanted advances, unfortunately I wasn't quite successful as he managed to…well, I think you can guess. Seventh year I was heavily involved in the war as well." Hermione explained, looking haunted as she mentioned her sixth year. Harry and Tom (along with almost all the other males in the room) looked murderous while Carlisle looked even more grave.

"Did you headmaster know about you being harassed in you sixth year?" He asked seriously.

"Possibly, he had a reputation for knowing everything that happened in the school." She replied sadly.

"Yet another strike against him." Carlisle frowned. Alice broke through everyone's serious moods by announcing that it was Luna's turn.

"My dad raised me on his own because my mum died from an accident right in front of me. I didn't really have very many friends until my fourth year when Harry befriended me because I was considered a bit odd. It took longer for Hermione and I to be friends but after the incident in the Ministry, we were firm friends. I knew something was up with Harry after the final battle so I persuaded Mione to come with me to check on him which is when we decided to come with our brothers. My dad probably won't be upset that I've gone; I used to remind him too much of mum as I've got her gift of Sight. He'll be perfectly happy hunting for unusual creatures by himself." The blonde girl sighed. As her story was fairly straightforward, there were no questions asked of her. Instead, the vampires turned to Tom, waiting for his story. The brunette sighed.

"Before I start, please listen to my entire story before you comment." He asked, to which they all nodded.

"I didn't go to school with my siblings, you might have guessed that from the way they didn't mention me at all. I was born in the 40's at an Orphanage. My mother, Mereope Gaunt, was a pureblood witch (she had parents from magical families) with very little magic so she never went to Hogwarts, the same with her brother and my grandfather. She fell in love with a young Muggle named Tom Riddle and used a love potion to make him fall in love with her. After they married and had conceived me, the potion wore off. From my mother's diaries, she expected him to stay with her because of me but he didn't. She died shortly after giving birth to me, living only long enough to name me Tom Marvolo Riddle, after my father and maternal grandfather. I've since found in records from the Orphanage, that they had contacted my father to let him know of my birth and my mother's death but he replied that he wanted nothing to do with me.

"The Orphanage wasn't the best place for me to grow up, I was always blamed and punished for anything unusual that happened so I learnt to stay in the shadows and hide myself away fairly quickly. I strongly suspect that there was something odd going on then, because sometimes I would be normal, as I am now. But other times I would black out and find that I had done some terrible thing. During my time at Hogwarts, I found that the black outs were becoming more and more frequent and the things I was doing got worse and worse. Finally, just before my seventh year, the worst black out occurred. It lasted several weeks, and I found that in that time I had killed my own father. I felt such guilt that I tried to explain to Professor Dumbledore, the then Transfiguration professor, what was happening. He refused to help me, stating that nothing could be done to save me from myself and that instead, I would help him rise to fame once again. I was angry that he had dismissed my pleas for help but I disagreed that nothing could be done. I spent months researching in the library until I found a way to separate the two halves of myself. I hoped that I would remain while my darker side would be trapped but unfortunately, quite the opposite happened. I was trapped in the mirror that I had used to cast the ritual while my darker side lived on.

"It was during his final year at Hogwarts that Harry found me. Even now, I'm surprised that he helped me and didn't hand me straight over to Dumbledore. Instead he found a way to enter my mirror world and, using truth potion, found out what really happened. It took him months but he finally freed me and I hid until he defeated my darker self. My darker self was Voldemort, I was the part of him that could and did feel remorse for his killings. Thanks to Harry, I have a second chance at life and with my darker side exorcised, I no longer have to fear having a black out and hurting anyone." Tom sighed. During his story, the vampires' eyebrows rose higher and, by the time he had finished, they were all furious with Albus Dumbledore.

"How could he say that he wasn't going to help you in favour of raising his own status?! That man needs to be stopped." Esme growled, moving to hug Tom who was shocked by their indignation. No one, apart from Harry, Hermione and Luna had ever been truly on his side before and, for the first time, he actually felt like he had a proper family.

"Now, it's late and you've had a long journey. Bed time for all of you I think." Esme said, in her motherly tone but one that brooked no argument. The four teens nodded and went to bed in the rooms which Esme showed them, tired after their long day.