Long time no write!! ^^ This is a new story, cause I just didn't have the heart to go on with the others, although I might eventually get back to them. Don't count on it though.

Summary: The war changed more than just Harry's outward appearance. Enter Alexander Black. Can leaving his past behind help cure him, or will he break under the new strains which Forks and its resident immortals will bear on him?

Pairings: EC/HP (main), Possible pairing later (JB/DM) Open to suggestions!!

Warnings: SLASH PEOPLE!!! If you don't know what that is, then I suggest you click the little 'back' button.

Disclaimers: I refuse to do this every chapter, so here it is. I own nothing, except the basic plot of THIS story. But everything else belongs to Meyer and Rowling.

Mask of Sanity

Harry sighed as he shut the door to his car, stepping out to bask in the dreary morning air. His always-unruly hair rustled around his neck as he looked over the place which was going become his new place of residence shortly. Forks. What a dreary kind of place. Out of the 365 days of the year, the sun only came out 4 or 5 days, if lucky. On the other hand, the rain fell almost every other day and frankly, that was the way that Harry liked it. It reminded him quite a lot of home.

A sneer jumped to his lips unbidden as the thought curled in his mind. Home. He didn't have anything like that, not anymore. He'd given up any claims to such a concept as soon as he'd left London for good.

He shook himself of such disparaging thoughts, and walked to the back of his car, a beat up Ferrari which didn't actually look anywhere near as expensive as it actually was. He'd laid a few charms on it as soon as he'd seen the other cars which circulated around Forks. He knew that he'd soon be the news of the town, this being as small as he'd heard it was; but Harry wasn't looking for any extra attention. He'd had enough of that back at h...London.

After looking around for a moment, he took out a brand new wand which he'd bought just before departing England. It was made of maple, 13 inches long, with thestral bone as its core. It was also illegal, and could not be traced by the Ministry or government in general, be it back in England or here in the USA.

He placed a few Disillusionment charms on his surroundings so that anyone who happened to pass by would not see anything unusual. It was a precautionary measure, and perhaps slightly paranoid; there weren't many people who circulated the town at any one time, and this far into the forest the chances of anyone getting anywhere close to the medium-sized cabin which he'd bought (purposely as out of the way and inconspicuous as possible) were near nil. However, he was taking no chances.

As soon as he was inside he Levitated his luggage over to a side to explore his new...'home'. The word still felt strange, even only in his thoughts, but he was determined to make it so in this new place, this new beginning. Here, he was determined to have the life he was never allowed before.

The house was of a decent size; it had two bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a living room and a rather large kitchen. He smiled as he stepped into the kitchen.

Cooking had always been a pastime which he had enjoyed, and he silently thanked the Dursleys for perhaps the only kindness they had ever given him. While he'd been cooking, they didn't actually shout that much, and had basically left him alone. Once, when he'd prepared a particularly delicious chocolate cake, Petunia had actually shot him a small smile. She'd repressed it in a second, but Harry had felt wonderful for days afterwards.

He paced around the room for a little while, checking to see if all the things he'd ordered where in place. He quickly placed a few charms on the cutlery and, after a few seconds, decided that the first order of business would be to go into town to get a look around and some groceries. He hadn't eaten anything in around two days, and was beginning to feel the drain on his physical and magical performance. Shaking his head, he wondered if it was possible to die of hunger simply by forgetting. He flicked his hand and his keys flew over. He smiled. Ever since the final battle he'd been able to do small amounts of wandless, wordless, almost thoughtless magic. He didn't quite have the control over it that he had with a wand, but he was sure that with enough practice he would be able to do almost anything.

It took twenty minutes to get from his house to the local grocery store, and he jumped out of his concealed Ferrari with a contended sigh. He'd charmed the inside to be more comfortable and accommodating than it seemed on the outside. Attention or not, he was not giving up the small commodities he could afford easily.

He walked over to the entrance and, hoping not to arouse any particular interest simply from being different, walked inside.

At first, no one seemed to notice him. His black hoody and faded jeans were not clothes which caused him to stand out in general, and he wasn't obvious or had any outstanding physical features, something which he was rather grateful for. However, after a few seconds of wandering about the shelves, he felt a presence walk up from behind him. He tensed, even though he knew the person wasn't a threat, but, like the charms around his house and belongings, they were a part of him which had evolved from the war and which he wasn't about to give up.

He turned with a smile towards the person and had to force himself not to stare. The boy in front of him was beautiful. He had pale, flawless skin and bronze coloured hair. His features were well chiselled and he looked like some of the male models Harry had seen on ads sometimes, but even better and obviously without even wearing make-up. his clothes, which would have looked normal on any other person, seemed to curve around him, adding an air of seductiveness which had Harry frowning on impulse and moving backwards.

Their eyes met.

The other boy's honey-coloured eyes widened and he tensed suddenly. Harry glared at him, not knowing precisely why this other...being was giving him such an ominous feeling. After dealing with the magical community for so long, Harry wasn't sure anymore who was entirely human, and who was not. He had learned not to trust either, as well.

After a few seconds the other boy seemed to force himself to relax before he offered Harry a very fake-looking smile and stretched out his arm.

"My name's Edward, Edward Cullen. You must be the guy they told us would be moving in the old Cabin."

Harry hesitated for a moment, before he stretched out his hand and shook it with the other boy's. The cold, hard skin against his own caused a shiver to run up and down his arms as his magic screamed at him. His lips moved upwards as he offered the vampire a smile. It was completely faked, but there weren't many people who could tell; in fact, there were only two, Dumbledore and Severus. Severus, he trusted. Dumbledore...not so much.

His mood dropped a bit as he quickly considered telling the vampire his old name or his new one. He was so accustomed to being Harry, but...

As soon as he'd decided he was coming here, he'd decided to change his name to something which wouldn't remind him of the past so blatantly. Nothing drastic, but enough that he could actually distinguish between the naive, innocent boy so bent on proving himself to others from...whatever is was that he had become.

With that thought came a flash of pain, which he quickly clamped down on, irritated with himself. He had changed, yes, but not so he would spend the rest of his life in misery. In fact, he revelled in the change. He preferred it. He lived it.

His smile turned more real as the last, clinging vestiges of what had been Harry Potter fell off his shoulders.

"My name is Alexander Black, but I'd rather go with Alex. It's nice to meet you."

The vampire seemed startled for a moment before relaxing a bit, but something about his expression, which radiated confusion and interest, was setting Alex on edge.

"Are you in any way related to the Black family who lives around here?"

"I don't think so. I might be, I honestly have no idea."

Edward's smile turned a tiny bit more genuine, even when the rest of his facial features radiated tenseness.

"How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

Alex inwardly chuckled. The real question is how old you are, Edward the Vampire.

"I'm 17. How about you?"

"17 as well."

Alex winced without meaning to as a sudden realization hit him. The boy in front of him had died when he was 17.

"I take it you're going to the local high-school then? I've enrolled there." He quickly tried to inject some sort of conversation. Edward was looking at him with the strangest mixture of frustration, indecisiveness and confusion. It made him want to turn tail and run at the obvious speculation the vampire was giving him, as if he were trying to analyze him and his motives...

As soon as the thought formed, the sudden awareness of his own mind made him suddenly feel the soft brush of a conscience pushing against his barriers. His eyes widened as he suddenly realized a few things quite suddenly. Reacting on impulse born out of well-embedded pain and sheer disgust at having another mind so close to his caused him to fairly boot Edward out from his mind and subsequently close all entrances which might have been even the slightest bit open before.

His anger rose unbidden at the incredible violation of privacy, one of the things which he held most dear inside of himself. He felt his magic respond to his raging feelings and quickly bit his lip hard to keep from making his rage obvious.

As soon as he felt a drop of blood enter his mouth, he wondered what the hell he'd been thinking to purposely make himself bleed in front of a vampire.

-It doesn't matter- the little voice inside him whispered - You could kill him easily, just like all the others you've killed-

His mind caught up to him in a second and he called up his wandless magic to cast a Scent Suppressing charm. Then, he finally dared to look back up at Edward.

The vampire was tense as stone and his eyes were narrowed in suspicion. Alex took a step back, his own eyes narrowed. Knowing the coming confrontation might not turn out very well, he cast a Disillusionment Charm around them; he prayed it would hold long enough with his tentative control on his magic, but he had been lucky so far, and was intending to push it.

"...How did you do that? I only know one other person who I can't hear, but it's different. One moment the only thing I could hear was a slight buzz and the next...complete silence." He paused, as if unsure. "...and I somehow got the feeling of being...pushed away."

"Yes, well. It's quite rude to just listen in to other people's thoughts, you know? There's such a thing as privacy, and some of us actually like it."

Edward's eyes darkened.

"It's not like I can control it! I just hear other people's thoughts as if they were speaking to me out loud!"

Alex's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "They why did I feel as if you were pushing?"

"Pushing against what?"

Alex turned away with a hint of disgust apparent in his features. "Never mind."

He made as if he were looking at the labels of some of the foods next to him as the silence stretched for a while. Eventually, Edward sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? Normally people can't even tell, and it's not as if I go spreading around everyone's secrets. I was just checking to see if you were..."

-A danger to you? I could easily be-

"...well, what kind of person you were."

Alex considered for a moment before turning back. For a moment he analyzed the vampire, before making up his mind.

"Follow me outside. I have I few things to make clear and I don't really want others hearing. You probably wouldn't want that either."

Edward still looked suspicious, but nodded as they exited the store. Alex noted that the few people who were in the grocer seemed amazed at the fact that Edward was with him, and even at simply seeing the new-kid with Edward. He wondered if this might actually turn out to be more trouble than it was worth, even if this was an animal-fed vampire, judging by the eyes.

They stopped next to Alex's car and he leaned against the hood, closing his eyes. Edward waited patiently without comment until he once again seemed more composed.

"First, let me warn you of some things. Then I will let you ask some questions, which I may or may not answer. But apart from that, there will be no attacking, no reacting violently, or anything of the sort. Deal?"

As the words came out, Edward seemed to be getting more and more stressed. His body was tense but he seemed receptive. He nodded.

"First off...well, I know you're a vampire." At Edward's apprehensive expression, Alex grinned slightly. "Not to worry, I'm not about to be disclosing this to anyone."

Edward's gaze narrowed. "How can we trust you?"

Alex's eyes widened as he let out a low whistle. "Oh, how many of there are you? 3? 10? Do you have a same sire or are you all unrelated? And by the way, you don't yet know it you can trust me. But you have to keep in mind that it's still better to be on my good side. So spill."

The vampire cursed under his breath, and Alex's grin widened.

"There's 7 of us, me included." Another low whistle. "My sire's name is Carlisle Cullen. 4 of us where sired by him. Alice and Jasper...well, we aren't sure who their sire is. The others are Esme, Rosalie and Emmet. Esme and Carlisle are together, as are Rosalie and Emmet, and Alice and Jasper."

"And what about you?"

The vampire tensed before performing a gesture which appeared to be an attempt at a smile, but which had died half-way.

"I am...with a human right now. She's the other person whose mind I can't read. We don't know why yet, but she just seems to block out other people's powers, at least a bit."

Lex started. "Whoa, wait. A human? That's...very dangerous. And other powers? How many are there in your..."

"Family."

Lex couldn't help the wistful smile which appeared on his face, but he quickly squished it down. The vampire was looking at him with a strange expression, and he frowned.

"Who else has powers?"

For a moment, Edward seemed unsure about telling him, but then continued.

"Jasper is an empath. He can sense feelings and can sort of radiate them around him, so as to change a general atmosphere. Alice can see the future, although her visions are constantly changing as the people's decisions in her visions, and they are not always right."

Lex nodded, filing away all the information for future reference. He'd mull it over tonight. He also made a mental note to put up extra defences on the cabin just in case the vampire and his...family decided that he was too much of a danger to keep around and decided to off him. He was suspicious that that was the only reason Edward was so forthcoming on explanations.

"Now, can you answer some things for me?"

Alex's eyes fixed on Edward's before nodding slightly.

"Okay then. How did you...push me out of your mind? And how did you know I was a vampire?"

Lex smiled. "Where I come from, let's just say that mind-reading and mind-protection are things that you need to learn if you want to survive. I especially had to undergo rather...sever lessons in those function. Before you ask, not everyone can learn it. Just some more...special people. As for the vampire thing, I've had a few encounters with some before, although I must admit that none of them were as...welcoming as you are. And none of them were animal-eaters either. The color of your eyes threw me off for a while."

Edward's features tensed at the mention of other vampires, before a tiny, almost imperceptible smile grew on his lips.

"That brings me to another question I've been wanting to ask since I saw you." The vampire leaned in close to Lex, who had to fight back his initial reaction to the approximation, especially from a vampire.

"What is it?" he asked, his tone showing his displeasure.

"Why are your eyes such a bloody shade of red?"

TBC-