King Darkly: Here it is, the awkwardness that transpired throughout this chapter nearly killed me. But this is when they're getting used to each other, and that's a hard thing for the Cullens, kind of.
Chapter Two Dimension Or Not
•
Harry slept in late. It was almost noon when he began to stir, but he didn't want to wake up. He didn't want to wake up and feel again, remember everything. No, he wanted to sleep in a dreamless slumber and forget.
But, eventually everyone had to wake up.
He slowly opened his eyes, focusing on his breathing. He blinked when he stared at an unfamiliar wall. It took him a moment to remember he wasn't at Hogwarts. He was somehow across the pond, in the middle of nowhere. It was still all so strange to him.
Why did the cup take me here?
Harry panicked, and he sat up with a gasp. The cup! How could he be such an idiot? He dropped the bloody cup in the forest! Berating himself, Harry reached for his glasses and sighed.
He blinked when he saw fresh new clothes folded neatly at the edge of his bed. He got up, for some reason being quiet about it. He looked down at the clothes he was wearing. He had already taken off the robes the previous night, and now in sunlight, he could see that his clothes were stained with mud, blood, and grass.
So he opted to switch to the new ones.
But first, a shower. He glanced around, taking in the weird surroundings. The style of furniture was odd. And why was everything so fancy? It wasn't fancy like old fashioned, or odd colors. Everything had particular shapes, but they all shared the same theme of being slim and expensive looking.
And why was there glass everywhere?
He wasn't used to a huge window that was just one large plane of glass. He didn't understand why it was like that. Maybe he was too used to Hogwarts with stained glass windows with complicated designs everywhere. This was...boring, in comparison. And it filtered too much light into the room, even if the sun was hiding behind clouds.
In the corner was an adjacent bathroom. Finding this even weirder, Harry decided not to question it. He limped his way over to it, removing his clothes. He tossed them into what he presumed to be a laundry basket. He placed his glasses on the long rectangle counter with a sink in the middle, before entering the shower.
Why is everything glass?
The entire front of the shower was glass, while the other three walls were textiles. It took some experimenting with the knobs, but he figured out how to turn the shower on. Harry adjusted the temperature to hot, but not scalding. He sighed as the water washed away the aches and sores in his body.
And, for a brief few minutes, Harry forgot of the trauma of the previous night.
Downstairs, it was only Alice, Jasper, Esme and Edward home. Rosalie and Emmett were on a date, and Carlisle was at work. They knew when the boy upstairs began to stir. Minutes later, they could hear the soft prattle of the shower. Esme started on preparing food for him, while Alice studied Jasper and Edward.
Jasper didn't find anything out of the norm with Harry's emotions, other than panic for a brief second. But the boy had calmed down and continued on without another incident. Alice glanced over at Edward.
He was sullen in his corner. He was deep in thought, arms crossed his chest. Something was worrying him. Before Alice could ask he answered for her unspoken question. She hated when he did that.
"He's confused about the style of architecture. Either he's from a part of Britain that is really old fashioned, or he's somehow from a different timeline." Edward explained to all of them.
"So...there's a chance this very well can't be his world." Alice surmised.
"If that's the case, then how are we supposed to send him back?" Esme inquired, not even pausing her cooking.
"He panicked about dropping the cup earlier, the thing that brought him here on accident. Maybe if we find it, we can work from there." Edward shrugged, just throwing out theories.
"But what if it doesn't work? What if it lost it's magic?" Alice felt that she needed to address the big questions, the possibilities, worst case scenarios.
Someone had to. Might as well be her, right?
Silence greeted her, and the atmosphere became solemn.
"Then I don't know." Edward said, and without another word he went and grabbed a pair of keys and headed to the front door.
"Where are you going?" Esme stared after him.
"To see Bella." Was all he said before the door closed behind him.
•
Harry came downstairs, dressed in new clothes and feeling refreshed. He was greeted kindly, and once again Esme had prepared a meal for him. He immediately noticed how the remaining Cullens seemed down, as if something was bothering them. He sincerely hoped it was because of him.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing Harry. We're all good." Alice smiled. Her smile didn't reach her eyes.
"Here, I made some food for you, Harry. Hope you like." Esme presented him with strange food he didn't know.
It looked to be cheese, rice, and some veggies wrapped in this bread thing. However, as he picked it up, it wasn't bread, and it was warm in his hand. He felt a little awkward for not knowing the food culture outside of his own country, let alone outside the magical world.
"You don't have to..." He was trying to be polite.
"Harry, I rarely get to cook! So I'm cooking because I want to." Esme assured him, and Harry silently ate.
He wasn't used to a diet without meat, but he figured meat would drive them crazy with the smell. So he didn't comment on it, and he was grateful for Esme being so caring. And the food was still good.
"So, what's it like? At Hogwarts? It sounded magnificent when you described it last night. Hope you don't mind, we don't mean to eavesdrop." Alice was the first to speak when he finished eating.
"Er...It's big, and my first year there I got lost so often. The best thing I would say is the Great Hall, the ceiling is enchanted to look like the sky outside."
Harry went on to answer more of her questions, and slowly he grew out of his shell from talking about home. Alice wasn't the only one impressed with his world, Jasper and Esme were entranced as well. Esme asked a few questions of her own, but Jasper preferred to be silent.
They all saw the passion in his eyes, lit up from talking about Hogwarts.
His smile was forced, but there was no mistaking how his eyes brightened up. He was still nervous being around them, and probably still getting accustomed to everything. His smile didn't come out until he described Quidditch.
"What sort of sports do you guys have?"
"Well, there's Quidditch."
"What's that?"
"It's a team, flying around on broomsticks. There are Chasers, they do the scoring with the Quaffle. The Quaffle is a ball the size of...I think you guys say soccer ball? And so each team has three Chasers, trying to score in one of three goal poles. And guarding the goals is one Keeper. Their job is to prevent a goal from happening."
"So it's a bit like soccer, but flying?"
"A bit, but it gets more complicated. There's two Beaters on both teams. Their job is to disrupt the opposite teams Chasers or Seeker. They have these clubs to hit these heavy balls called Bludgers. They're nasty when they hit you. I've seen people walk away with broken bones being hit by them."
"So how does the game end? Is there a time limit?" Esme asked.
"No, no time limit. The Seeker, one on each team, has one sole job. Look for the a tiny little ball with wings, the Golden Snitch. Catch it, and it's the end of the game and the addition of a hundred fifty points for the team that caught it."
"That sounds like so much fun!" Alice beamed.
"You sound like you played." Jasper commented, nearly startling Harry. It was the first time he heard him speak today.
"Yeah, I played as a Seeker for Gryffindor team."
"That's awesome! Do you think we can watch you play? If we get you back, I mean."
Harry hesitated. He wasn't sure if anyone would be delighted of vampires showing up to a Quidditch match. But Dumbledore did kind of allow a werewolf teach at Hogwarts. Maybe if he saw how friendly these vampires were, then he would allow one chance.
"I'll see what I can do. I don't know to be honest, but the headmaster has always had an open mind." Harry said.
"What's your headmaster like?"
"Well, he's a very old man. And very powerful. He's the only wizard Voldemort fears. But he's understanding, he strives for everyone to have equal opportunity. Not many are happy about more students from muggle families to be accepted."
"But they still can use magic right? What's wrong with expanding?" Alice was confused.
"Yeah, they have the gift. But old families, mostly the purebloods, don't like that sort of thing. They think purebloods are superior, and magic shouldn't be broadened to those who have the gift in muggle families."
"So what's your stand on everything?"
The question surprised him, and he considered for a moment.
"Me? Well...I don't agree with the purebloods. But I just want the fighting to stop. I grew up with muggle relatives with no idea what I was until my eleventh birthday."
"You have muggle relatives?"
"My mother came from a muggle family. She wasn't liked by her sister. And when my parents died, I was sent to live with my aunt, her husband and their son." Harry shrugged, not feeling comfortable talking about the Dursley's.
"You don't like them." Jasper concluded, from what he gathered from the emotions.
"No. No, I don't. I wish I could go live with my godfather, Sirius, but he currently doesn't have a home. He was accused of murders he didn't do, and he got the blame for it. Even though we found the real culprit, he escaped before he could confess and clear Sirius's name." He spoke bitterly.
Sensing pain, they didn't bring up his relatives anymore. When there wasn't much left to talk about his world, Alice got the bright idea of taking Harry into town. If he was going to be stuck in Forks, he might as well get familiar to the area. And in a way, it was to open up their world to him, after he explained so much of his own.
"Hey, Harry, we're going for a ride!" Alice beamed out of the blue, and without even waiting for a confirmation she went and grabbed keys to her personal car.
"Why?" Harry blinked, confused of the random hyper activeness.
"Well, you don't want to be cooped up at the house all day, right? And I figured we should take you out into town for your to familiarize yourself. We don't know how long you're going to be stuck here, so why not?" Alice flashed a smile.
She did kind of had a point.
"Would either of you like to come?" Alice inquired the other two.
"Let me drive, your driving would scare him. Plus, I have to run a few errands, anyway." Esme grabbed a different set of keys.
"Okay! What about you, Jasper?"
"I'll stay here. You know how I feel about the town." He responded with a frown. "Oh, you should have a background story to explain him."
"What about me?" Harry was confused.
"Oh, the story of us is that Esme and Carlisle adopted all of us, and we're all currently in high school. We're kind of the town celebrities, even though we try really hard not to be. So...let's say you're a foster kid who got mixed up in the system when your parents moved over here, died unexpectedly, and you can't get back to Britain. Oh, and you're troubled, hence why you were referred to Carlisle by a good friend of his." Alice had already thought over the background story for a while.
"What do you mean by troubled?" Harry wasn't sure about the last bit, but the rest seemed reasonable enough to remember and abide by.
"You're socially awkward and, I know the culture shock is going to be really hard on you, so might as well say that's the reason why you're troubled." Alice elaborated.
"Brilliant. I guess." Harry resisted saying something that could land him in trouble.
"That's a good one, Alice. I'll be sure to inform Carlisle the back story you came up with while I'm out." Esme found the explanation reasonable.
"Off we go!" Alice gently pulled a still stunned Harry out the door with excitement.
•
She was right, the culture shock was almost too much for him. He was mostly silent as Alice took him sight seeing, and was rather grateful that despite his mood, she remained excited and up beat. He noticed the stares, and he thought it was bad as a famous wizard with a scar on his head, but no, this was somehow worse than just being known as the Boy Who Lived.
Curious gazes would find him odd, for he was a new face. On top of that, he stood out in a crowd anyway, with his round glasses, lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead peeking through his bangs, and his accent thick. What gave most people a double take was seeing him next to one of the Cullens. She wasn't joking when she said they were celebrities of sorts here, and he could tell, just like him, they tried really hard not to be.
To help him concentrate a little was focusing on her and trying to smile. It helped when he could feel the high amount of magic that was in the air of this town. It surprised him, for as far as he could see, there were no wizards or witches here. Harry knew how to spot a fellow magic user by now, just by watching how they reacted to his scar. If they stared for far too long, then they were most likely a witch or wizard.
However, most eyes were drawn to the face Alice was with a young foreigner and showing him around. The first to ever approach them were one of the wolves Harry recognized from the night before. He seemed young, and yet he was tall, muscled everywhere, and eyes that were curious.
"It's rare to see you out and about in town. Giving the new boy a tour are you?" He was tense.
"He's a foster youth and staying with us temporarily. Of course I would give him a tour of town." Alice glanced around, also tense.
"Relax, the pack isn't following me. I'm just trying to be friendly. Name's Jacob, by the way." The young teen offered a hand to Harry.
"...Harry." He reluctantly shook the other's hand, and was surprised at how warm his skin was.
"If you really want to take him sight seeing, you should show him the beaches. Or the forest. Less eyes watching your every move." Jacob suggested, making small talk.
"Or more chances of your kind to ambush them." A cold voice brought their attention to the arrival of Edward, behind him was Bella.
"Edward, stop. He's not like that." Bella chided.
"Even if he might not ambush them, the others still would." Edward pointed out, eyes never leaving Jacob.
"Jeez, I can't even be friendly to him without you stalking me. What, is Bella not enough or something?" The wolf scoffed, and Edward drew closer, ready to punch him.
"Edward, no!" The girl was in a panic, which did nothing to settle Harry's nerves.
"Guys, guys, let's not fight." Alice stepped in between, recognizing this wasn't the best place to fight.
"Yeah, brilliant place to have a fight in the middle of town. We might as well be holding up signs of what we all are, while we're at it." Harry snorted, only half joking, half serious, and eyes turned to him in shock.
"...What? Did I blow up someone again?" Harry glanced around to make sure his magic didn't go haywire.
"You're just full of sass, aren't you? I like it. And here I thought you were a scared deer surrounded by predators." Jacob made a stab about the Patronus form, and somehow the tension in the air was gone.
"I wouldn't quite say I'm defenseless." Harry shrugged, his hand feeling his wand in his pocket.
"Wait, you blew someone up?" Bella stared, aghast.
"My uncle's sister, long story short she swelled like a balloon and went up into the sky like one. Would have enjoyed the sight if it weren't for the fact I was warned not to do magic outside of school, being underage." Harry frowned, as he thought over his words.
"What's wrong?" Alice inquired, noting the horror on his face.
"There haven't been any letters for me, right? Delivered by owls?" He stared at Alice and Edward.
"No, no owls have come to the house. Or any letters addressed to you. Why?" Edward shook his head.
"Take me somewhere where the muggles won't find us, please. I need to test something." Harry was trying not to panic.
"I've got a car. That is, if the mosquito here doesn't mind me driving you around." Jacob offered.
"Don't push your luck, mutt." Edward breathed, his face taught as he strained to not start a fight again.
In the end, Jacob drove Harry and Bella towards a section of forest most people didn't usually visit. It also happened to be out of range of the pack's territory, much to everyone's relief. As soon as the car stopped, Alice and Edward were next to the parked car before the engine was even cut off. Harry near bolted out of the car as he drew out his wand.
"What's on your mind?" Alice was now sensing his panic.
"In the wizardry world, I'm still underage. Which means I'm not supposed to use magic outside of school. And yet I used a lot of magic last night, enough to be sentenced to Azkaban." Harry explained as he went further into the trees, and the others anxiously followed after him.
"Azkaban?" Bella echoed.
"It's a prison where the worst of the worst of witches and wizards are sent. Criminals who committed unspeakable crimes." The young wizard elaborated, and he stopped short when he came to a clearing.
"What are you testing?"
"Whether or not this isn't my world." Harry stated, before he started using any spell that came to mind.
He released spell after spell on random objects ranging from trees, bushes, to rocks. Harry found it odd complicated spells that he had trouble with before came more easily than before. He was somehow better at charms and transfiguration, when he had been mostly decent but never in league of Hermione. Here, he could sense the magic thrumming through the air, much stronger here than he ever felt than anywhere else.
Maybe the natural magic of the area is amplifying my magic tenfold?
It would explain how his Patronus was able to fend off giant wolves the night before.
Some time later, he was sitting on a rock, mind blank and body numb. He must have used nearly every spell but the Unforgivable Curses, and this should have been enough for a great number of owls to be sent to him and inform him that he was to be sentenced to Azkaban, expelled from Hogwarts, and his wand destroyed.
His Patronus brought him back to reality, as it gently nuzzled his shoulder. He stared at it, noticing how it was a lot more solid than usual. It was still ethereal, a silver form of magic, but he felt its nose brush against him in comfort. No, this wasn't normal for his magic, he was strong, but not to this point. This just proved the atmosphere here amplified his magic.
Curious, he reached out with a hand and touched the stag's cheek. It was cold to the touch, and it leaned against his hand. The stag withdrew when someone cautiously moved closer. Harry didn't turn, still in shock.
"I don't think any owls will be coming." Edward stated, as he stopped when he stood next to the young wizard.
"...Then there aren't any wizards or witches here. Which means I'm not even in the same world where I come from."
"If that's the case, then how are you still able to use magic?"
"Because this area is filled with magic. It's not like my magic, but it feels more like nature's magic, and it's strong here. It's amplifying my magic to the point I can use spells I usually have trouble with." Harry explained.
"That could be because of this whole area used to be tribal lands. In stories of old, medicine men or women had a strong connection to nature, and able to do strange and unexplainable things that science can't explain." Jacob was onto something.
"So what do we do? How do we help you get back?" Alice felt saddened.
"We find the cup that brought me here. And if it doesn't bring me back home then...I don't know what to do. I'm not a full wizard, I'm just a student. I don't know any spells of transportation. I don't know how else I'm supposed to get back. They have to know he's back, and I was supposed to bring his body back to his parents and...I can't even do that much." Harry choked, and it took a lot of his willpower not to cry.
It doesn't bloody help when there's someone here who looks just like him.
Beside him, Edward flinched.
