AN: As you all have noticed the story is written from multiple angles. The mains characters through whom eyes we see this story will be Bella, Harry, Edward and Carlisle.
AN2: This story is about a strong but emotionally hardened Bella. There are times when you see her broken and there are time when you see her powerful and strong.
Bella's POV.
I stared at myself in the mirror. My eyes have dark rims that made me look like a hungry vampire, my hair was a mess, there were scars all over my body and I'm looking thin and emaciated. This wasn't me. This wasn't the Isabella I had been before the war.
How did I let it get this far?
Oh, yes, thanks to HIM. I still had a hard time thinking his name but he did this to me. He broke me and left me in pieces. After last night I knew it was up to me to rebuild from these pieces. Like a phoenix being reborn from its ashes. It doesn't become the beautiful bird again over night but it has to grow.
I would grow again as well. It hadn't killed me so it would make me stronger.
Surprisingly I started to feel quite a bit of anger towards HIM as I continued to notice weird things about myself. I wonder how I could have let him get away with it all. Yes, I was madly in love but that was no excuse for my behaviour. Or his for that matter.
I growled as I stalked out of the bathroom and opened my closet. Another thing that wasn't me. Dull clothes, robes, stockings and grey cloaks. Before, I wore the most beautiful things, wild colours and age appropriate things. Not these old spinsters clothes.
"Ginny!" I yelled on the top of my voice. I heard a rush of footsteps racing up the stairs and the door to my bedroom banging open.
"What's wrong, Izzy?" She asked worried.
"We are going shopping, right now." I said as I started to shoot incendio's to the offending clothes.
"Yes, ma'am." She saluted.
"And can I borrow one of your robes?"
"Of course."
Dressed in nothing more then undergarments I followed her through the house and into her insanely large closet.
"Where is Harry?" I asked.
"Work. He was still pretty pissed about the vampire stalking back into your life. He is trying to find out where they are staying and if they are here for you or not."
"Bloody hell." I sighed. "He takes his 'being-three-minutes-older brother duties way to serious."
"Yeah, well, I think it's necessary. We don't want you to go through that again."
"I know."
We picked out a set of proper robes that fitted me. Grabbed something to eat and apparated to Diagon Alley for a whole days shopping spree. After being one of the golden team money was no longer an issue. Not that it had ever been, the Potter family had been one of the richest and highest classed families in the wizarding world… even in the muggle world actually.
However the ministry had seen fit to gift us quite a large amount of money for all the dangers that we had faced. It was a welcome gift though Harry and I had both agreed that half of it would go to a magical orphanage. A project that we would start over the summer.
Edward's POV.
I was pacing around impatiently. Carlisle was being very difficult by wanting to wait for Jasper and Emmett before discussing Bella's sudden appearance and disappearance yesterday afternoon. I caught snippets of memories from his thoughts but he managed to keep it to a minimum. After years together he had gotten very good in hiding his thoughts from me.
I heard the car turning onto the driveway.
"Finally." I muttered.
"Alright, let us all sit down in the living room. This will take a while to explain." Carlisle said as he came out of his office with a small pile of books.
"What happened? Why did we need to come back?" Jasper asked as he took his place next to Alice.
"Edward why don't you tell everybody what happened." Carlisle started.
"Alright." I sighed. "I was in the furniture shop for Esmee when I once again smelled Bella's scent but it smelled a bit off. like all those times I smelled it here in London. However a few seconds later I heard her voice as well."
Jasper looked at me like I totally lost it. He was already planning on finding an asylum suitable for me.
"I turned around in reaction to the voice and saw two red headed women standing close by. They were talking about the taller of the two moving into her own house. I swear it was Bella's voice so I kept watching. I don't know why she turned around but the taller one did and it was Bella."
"What?" Emmett boomed.
"The girl was Bella. I called out her name and she immediately looked up. Her eyes were the same and her face. She fainted when she saw me and her friend looked very angry with me. She told me to stay away from them and then suddenly both girls disappeared. I swear they didn't walk out or anything. There was just a small pop and they were gone."
"I saw a vision of Edward meeting a red headed Bella just a minute before. After that Edward's future got just as fuzzy as Bella's." Alice said in my support.
"Besides the red hair Bella looked different. She had scars on her hands and face that hadn't been there before and her eyes looked haunted similar to how Jasper looked when he first came to us." I realized.
"But Edward, how can anyone just disappear? Are you sure you aren't imagining things?" Jasper asked carefully. I could see in his thoughts that he only meant well and was worried for me.
"I think I can explain that." Carlisle said. "What I'm about to tell you is not to be shared with anyone. Humans are not allowed to know and not even many vampires know about this. Only those who travel in Europe a lot will know of this. About fifty years after I was changed I visited London again. I had planned it to be a short stay to pick up a few books and arrange some financial issues. One evening while heading back to my hotel I met a man called Ignus Potter. He offered me a drink and company. I accepted though I told him I was not allowed to drink. He shocked me by telling me that the pub he was taking me would be able to serve for my special diet."
I saw the memory in Carlisle's mind. The man he was talking about had raven black hair and brown eyes. He had a friendly smile and looked trust worthy.
"I was utterly shocked of course and I demanded how a human knew about my special diet. He told me he wasn't a mere human but a wizard. Of course at first I didn't believed him but then he showed me his magic. With a small wooden stick not longer then 14 inches he conjured up a cloak for me and changed my books into a cat and back again. I think it was the first time since becoming a vampire my mind just stopped working."
I chuckled as I saw the memory play out in his mind. It was astonishing to see but it appeared that this magic thing was real.
"Ignus took me to a pub where only magical people gathered. I was surprised to see a few vampires there as well. When he asked what blood I preferred I told him I drank only from animals. It was the first time I was offered dragon blood and it was the best thing I have ever tasted up until today. Ignus explained to me the existence of the magical world. The magical world is carefully hidden from the human world. Even more then us they rely on keeping the secret, I don't have to explain the witch hunts to you. It took him the better part of the night to explain magic to me. He agreed to take me into the magical world as they classify vampires as magical creatures. He only asked from me to be used in a book on vampires he was planning on writing. It appeared he was a researcher in magical creatures. I have a copy of the first printed version of his book here. Over the years I kept in contact with him. He was kind enough to send me a few books over the years. The last I heard from him was the birth of his grandson Charles Potter, he died shortly after that."
"How come you have never spoke or thought about this magic?" I asked.
"Simply because by the time I turned you I had other things on my mind. Frankly I forgot about it all until now."
"What has this to do with Bella?" Emmett asked.
"Ignus wrote me one day about his son taking lessons in apparition. It's a way of magical traveling that means disappearing and re-appearing somewhere else. For most wizards and witches it's accompanied by a popping sound."
"You mean to say that the girl with Bella was a witch?" I asked.
"Yes, but you should also consider that Bella might have been a witch as well. According to these books, magical children are taught about vampires from a young age. It would explain why Bella knew about us." Carlisle said.
I shook my head. I couldn't really believe it. My Bella, a witch? Wouldn't I have noticed that she wasn't completely human? Wouldn't I have seen her do magic?
"It would explain why most of the time I couldn't see her properly. I have no experiences with magic so I can't really see it." Alice murmured.
I looked at her and knew she was right. I shook my head and closed my eyes. I remembered what I had seen. I had been totally focused on Bella but as I remembered the whole thing I noticed that the other girl indeed held a wooden stick in her hand seconds before she disappeared.
"I guess you are right." I sighed. "Now what? My Bella is in London, in a world I don't understand or don't know how to find. She was covered with scars so I don't think she is safe there."
"Your Bella!" Rosalie growled. "Your Bella? You left her, Edward! You dumped her. I honestly don't think she is yours anymore. If she is a smart girl she stays away from you."
"But I love her." I argued.
"Yeah, right. How can you love her? Wasn't it you who walked out of her life? Wasn't it you who left her as trash in a forest? Besides that if Carlisle is right then we don't know shit about Bella. The girl you knew at Forks might just be a hoax." Rosalie sneered.
I felt like I was slapped in the face with the truth of her words. The Bella I knew in Forks was a human. A simple human, nothing magical besides the love between us. Now it seemed that Bella had kept many secrets from me.
"I don't think we can blame her for keeping this a secret." Carlisle said out loud as he noticed what everybody was thinking. "Witches and Wizards are bound by even stricter rules than we are."
We all nodded but it still hurt that Bella never told us. I realized that I couldn't complain about hurt. From the look in her eyes yesterday I saw all the hurt I had caused her. Maybe Rosalie was right, maybe Bella would never want to see me again.
"I still want to see her." I sighed. "I just want to know that she is alright. Or perhaps maybe Esmee should contact her. Just to find out…"
It was silent around me. I heard everybody thinking about my request. Carlisle was trying to remember a way into the wizarding world. Esmee was worried for me. Rosalie and Jasper were wondering if involving ourselves in the magical world was a good idea. Emmett and Alice were actually excited by the idea. They both wanted to see Bella again.
Alice was pushing through her visions to see if she could find anything. However anything to do with magic was blurry and very unclear. I only saw Bella clearly a few times when she stood in a small park. She would walk a few steps and then become blurry.
"I remember that the pub in London, the one Ignus took me too, acted as a gateway to the magical world. I'll go there before my shift and see if I can find anything there." Carlisle promised me.
"I'll come with you." I told him.
"No, Edward. I know you want to see Bella again but Rosalie is right. You have hurt the girl. Let me and Esmee see first if we can find her and perhaps talk to her. Perhaps the hurt isn't too bad and she will agree to talk to you." Carlisle said with a voice that made it very clear that this wasn't up for discussion. I sighed and nodded. It was rarely that Carlisle told me what to do or what not but when he did he was usually right. I guess he was right this time as well.
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