Chapter four

I spent Friday morning with Charlie. He'd taken the day off so he could attend Harry's funeral and then, just as Alice had predicted, he planned on spending the rest of the day with Sue and her family. From what he'd told me, the kids took the death of their father pretty hard, especially Seth. The boy had spent most of his time this week alone in his room or on the beach, not wanting to talk to anyone. Leah was a little better, she'd helped her mother a lot but she too had been more quiet than usual. I felt sorry for them even though I'd never met either of them.

Charlie walked in the kitchen dressed in his new black suit, courtesy of Alice who had delivered it earlier this morning, saying that he just couldn't go among people in his "old moth-eaten monstrosity."

"Wow," I said, looking up at him from the kitchen table where I had been eating my late breakfast. I was surprised how good he looked in it. Last time I'd seen him in a suit was at my grandparents' funeral when I was ten years old.

He smiled slightly but then grew more serious. "Bella?" he said, shifting his feet uncomfortably.

"Yeah?"

"I… um… I'm sorry I haven't spent much time with you this week." He was standing behind one of the kitchen chairs, gripping its back with both hands. "It should get better after today."

"It's okay, Dad," I hurriedly assured him. I stood up and crossed the space between us in two steps. "Don't worry about it."

He nodded and then looked me in the eyes. "I'm really glad you're here, you know?"

"Me too." I smiled and hugged him tightly. He seemed taken aback because it took a few seconds before he hugged me back but then he tightened his arms around me and held me for what seemed like a very long time.

"Thank you," he murmured and with a nod walked out to the hall. I went after him and watched him put on the black coat Alice had brought with the suit. I had to give it to her – she knew what she was doing.

After Charlie and I said goodbye, I headed for the fireplace. I decided to ask Esme if she wanted to bake cookies for my dad with me.

Esme was thrilled when I suggested the cookies so we spent the rest of the morning in the kitchen. I really liked spending time with her and with a twitch of guilt I realized that I felt more comfortable around her than around my own mother. I loved Renee but since I'd found out I was a witch there had always been some sort of a gap between us. I hated that I couldn't really talk about the magical things with her. She'd ask about school but never wanted any details, only was interested in my grades and if I had friends.

Or boyfriends.

Ever since I'd sent her the picture of Edward, my mother bombarded me with questions about him and asked repeatedly when she was going to see him. When I'd told Edward, he laughed and said he had no problem with going to visit her with me at some point. I was dreading it, to be honest. Unlike Charlie, she didn't know about the existence of vampires so we would have to be on our guard all the time. And the fact that she lived in Florida, probably the sunniest place in the US, didn't help either.

"Bella?"

I was brought back by Esme's worried tone. I blinked at her, confused. "What?"

She smiled and pointed at the oven. "I said that the cookies should be done by now. Do you want to check on them or should I?"

"Oh." I quickly stood up and went to check on the cookies. I pulled them out of the oven and put them on the counter to cool down, noting that they looked rather tasty. "Not so bad, huh?" I turned back to Esme who was still watching me curiously. "What?"

"What were you thinking about? You seemed really far away."

I shrugged and walked back to the table to sit down. "My mom." Esme raised her eyebrows and I decided to elaborate a bit. "She wants to meet Edward and I was just wondering if it's a good idea."

She smiled and sat down too. "Well, it's only natural for a mother to want to know her daughter's boyfriend."

"I know, it's just…" I frowned, leaning back in the chair. "… I've just so gotten used to not having to keep secrets anymore that I'm not sure if I'll be able to pretend Edward is… well…"

"Human?" Esme offered the word I'd been looking for.

"Yeah."

"You'd been doing fine with Charlie before we told him. And at school," she gently reminded me.

"I know, but Renee… sometimes she can be really perceptive. And she knows about magic even though she likes to pretend otherwise."

"You can always tell her the truth, Bella. I believe she would be as protected from the Volturi as Charlie because she's your mother."

"Yes, but I doubt she would be as understanding. And then there's her husband. I'm not really sure the rules apply to him as well. He doesn't even know about magic." It was true. Renee had kept this little detail about me from Phil, telling him simply that I'd been studying abroad. It had become more tricky when I started bringing my owl with me but fortunatelly when I'd first arrived with Agnes, he didn't ask any questions. I'd always been wondering what Renee had told him but decided not to worry about it too much.

"You should talk to Edward about it," Esme suggested gently. "I'm sure you two can come up with a satisfactory idea."

"Yeah, I'll do that," I said with a nod. "Thank you, Esme."

"You're welcome, dear." She smiled brightly. "Now, why don't you try the cookies?"

Toby arrived later this afternoon and shortly after him, Angela appeared in the fireplace. Apparently she had been invited by the others because no one, except for me and Esme, looked surprised.

"Hey! I didn't know you were coming!" I beamed at her. I hadn't seen her for some time and it felt nice having someone else here for a change. Most of the time the only people I was allowed to see were the Cullens and Charlie. I didn't complain but sometimes I missed interacting with other people.

"Alice invited me," Angela said and hugged me briefly. "She thought you would appreciate seeing someone else than a bunch of vampires and your dad."

I looked at Alice who just shrugged, grinning knowingly. I smiled gratefully but then looked around at the others. "It's not that I don't like you guys around - "

"Bella," said Esme, putting a hand on my shoulder. I looked at her and she smiled. "It's normal wanting to see other people."

I nodded with a blush but then Toby cleared his throat loudly. "I hate interrupting but maybe we should start with the lesson."

"Right." I moved to the couch where Toby was sitting and sat down. The others were, as usual, standing or sitting nearby, watching but at the same time giving us the space we needed. Angela sat down on the step leading to the dais with Edward's piano with Alice and they were chatting quietly. Apparently, they had become friends at school.

"So," started Toby, turning to face me. "Your homework. How is it going?"

"Well, I can do all the non-verbal spells on your list."

"On the first try?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, show me."

I did. One by one I meticulously performed all the spells with hard concentration. When I was done, I looked at Toby expectantly.

He beamed at me. "That's great, Bella. I didn't think you would manage it so quickly." I blushed at his compliment. "You still need to focus too hard but it will get easier in time." I nodded. "Of course, I highly recommend doing all spells non-verbally from now on, not just the ones on the list."

"Okay."

"Now the Apparation. Have you looked into the handbook?"

"I've finished it."

"You have?" Toby looked surprised. "You sure don't waste your time."

"Well, there's really not much else to do, so…" I trailled off, shrugging.

"Maybe you should find a new hobby," smirked Toby and I could hear a deep chuckle from Emmett and a quiet groan from Edward, who was perched on an arm of the couch I was sitting on. I rolled my eyes but kept looking at Toby, ignoring those two.

"The Apparition?" I prompted Toby impatiently.

He laughed but returned to the actual lesson. "Okay, so, since you've already finished the book, you should know the rules and theory how to do it. Right?"

"Right."

"You said you already experienced a side-along Apparition but you were sick after." I grimaced, feeling the blood rising to my cheeks again. "So you need to get used to the sensation," Toby continued. "I'm going to take you on a few trial jumps so you get used to it."

"Jumps?"

"That's how we call it at MACUSA," he explained and stood up. "So, let's go."

"Now?" I said in a much higher voice than usual, my eyes wide.

"Why not?" He tilted his head. "Or are you afraid?"

"Of course not!" I stood up quickly, straightening my back. I looked around and the others were standing up too, Alice and Angela had already disappeared outside. I gulped. I didn't really want them to see me vomit again. Seeing Emmett, I knew it was exactly what he hoped would happen.

I could feel cold fingers wrapping around my wrist and looked up into Edward's face. Smiling gently, he tugged at my hand. "Come on. It's going to be fine."

I weaved my fingers through his and together we followed the others out the back door. Once we were outside, Toby motioned for me to join him. I took a deep breath and, squeezing Edward's fingers for the last time, I let go of his hand and made my way to Toby.

"So," Toby said when I stopped right next to him. „You see the tree?" He pointed at one of the tall cedars surrounding the Cullen house. I nodded. "That's where we're going to apparate. Now, hold onto my arm." He offered me his arm and I gripped it tightly. "Ready?"

"No," I mumbled. "Let's do it."

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. Then Toby's arm jerked and a moment later I could feel my body being squeezed from all sides. It felt like it was trying to fit into a really tiny space.

Thankfully it was over really quickly and when I opened my eyes, we were standing next to the cedar. I blinked a few times, feeling completely numb. It took a few seconds before my senses caught up with my body. I kept my eyes shut, the nausea already settling in my stomach, threatening to rise up and through my throat.

"She's green!" I heard a frantic, familiar voice right next to my ear and a cold hand touched my forehead. It felt nice.

Then someone thrust a small vial into my shaking hand. "Drink it," Toby ordered calmly. I did as I was told and almost instantly the nausea was gone, instead a warm calmness spread through my body. "Better?"

I nodded, sagging into Edward's arms that immediately tightened around me. I opened my eyes and saw everyone standing around me, including Carlisle, who had returned from the hospital. They all looked worried or concerned. Even Rosalie, who stood farther behind the others, seemed uneasy. "I'm fine," I mumbled with a weak smile.

"What was in that bottle?" asked Carlisle, who'se face turned rather excited now that I apparently looked better.

"Just a simple anti-sickness potion," Toby said with a shrug.

"It's amazing how she looks completely normal after just a few seconds," Carlisle still enthused over it. "It takes at least minutes for normal medication to take effect."

I did feel completely normal now but Edward kept running his hands up and down my arms soothingly. "I'm fine, really," I said, looking up at him.

"I don't like this," he muttered into my hair, dropping a small kiss on the top of my head but he removed his hands.

"So, can we try again?" I turned my eyes to Toby.

He grinned approvingly at me. "That's the spirit!" He clapped his hands, offering me his arm. I glanced at Edward, who was running his hand through his hair, not looking very happy with the idea.

"Do you have more of these anti-sickness potions?" I asked Toby, just to be sure.

"Don't worry, Bella, I came here prepared." He winked at me and I grabbed his arm right before I could feel the now familiar squeezing sensation and I quickly closed my eyes.

After two more tries, the nausea was still there, only fractionally better.

"Why does it affect me like this?" I asked Toby when we were again back in the living room. "I don't remember anyone from school talking about such a reaction last year."

"Everyone is different, Bella," he said. He didn't look concerned so it calmed me slightly. "And just because they didn't talk about it doesn't mean they weren't sick."

"It took me ages to get used to it," piped up Angela from the step she was again sitting on. „And I never apparated alone, obviously."

I laughed, feeling better. "I thought it would be like a Portkey," I admitted. "I mean, I don't much like Portkeys either but they don't make me sick." They'd only ever made me lose my balance so I always ended up on my butt. But I wisely chose not to mention this right now.

"What's a Portkey?" asked Jasper curiously.

"It's an object that is enchanted to transport people from one place to another," said Toby and it sounded like he recited its definition from a textbook. Then he looked back at me with a raised eyebrow. "That's interesting, Bella. Many people have worse reaction to a Portkey than to Apparation. I think…" He paused, pressing a finger against his chin thoughtfully. "I think your nausea is caused mostly by the magical energy, not the sensation itself."

From the corner of my eye I could see Carlisle sitting with his elbows on his knees, leaning forward, his face excited. I smiled widely but returned my attention to Toby.

"What's the difference?" I asked.

"Quite a big one, actually," Toby said. "With other means of magical transport, the magical energy is concentrated in the object itself. Brooms, Portkeys, even the Floo Powder. But with Apparition, the energy goes from the person directly. Even in side-along Apparition the energy went from me to you, it's a little different from the energy accumulated in objects so the effects are different too. I'm not going to go into details here because I don't really understand the nuances myself but if someone," he looked at Carlisle, „were interested, I can get the materials for further study."

"I'd love that!" Carlisle beamed at him and everyone laughed at his boyish excitement.

"What is the point?" asked Emmett, shaking his head. "You have no magic in you."

"Knowledge, Emmett!" Carlisle mockingly glared at him. "Information! One can never get enough of those."

Later tonight I was lying in my bed with Edward, who was flipping through the Apparating Handbook, which Toby had allowed me to keep for now. I was reading a normal book for a change, a Jane Austen novel Pride and Prejudice I'd borrowed from Esme. After a while I felt Edward stiffen beside me and I knew immediately what had made him react like that.

"Splinching," he read aloud through his gritted teeth. "A sepparation of random body parts that can be caused by insufficient determination or concentration." I could feel his eyes piercing my skull now so I kept my own eyes on my book. "You forgot to mention this."

"Yeah, that can happen," I said matter-of-factly with a shrug.

"Bella," he warned, his voice indicating that he was deadly serious.

I sighed, putting the book on my bedside table, and slowly turned my head to face him. He looked angry, his lips pressed into a thin line, eyes hard. I knew he hated when I downplayed any potential danger, but I still tried to sound like it wasn't a big deal. "Really, Edward. It's nothing you should worry about. It's the same as if I was driving a car. There's always danger of a crash."

His eyes got even harder. "But you don't necessarily die in a car crash, Bella."

"I don't think I would necessarily die if I got splinched." I rolled my eyes. Seeing the incredulous look on his face I explained. "There are ways to reattach the body parts. Otherways there would be quite a lot of one-legged or one-armed wizards around. I've never seen anyone - " Then I paused, remembering Mad-Eye Moody's wooden leg and backpedaled a little. „- um… okay… I knew one man without a leg but I'm pretty sure it wasn't caused by splinching." Okay, I wasn't a hundred percent sure Moody's injury hadn't been caused by splinching but I couldn't imagine him not being able to succesfully apparate.

Edward didn't look too impressed by my little speech but at least his features softened a little. "I hate this," he said quietly. He sneaked his arm around my lower back and pulled me against his side. "Just the idea of you being hurt, no matter how small the injury might be, is painful."

I shifted even closer so I could reach his face with my lips and kissed his jaw. "I'll be careful. I promise."