Thank you Kamerreon for all your hard work! (hugs you)

Chapter Three

Oh God! Harry thought dryly. He stared blankly at the curly haired brunette who was two inches taller than him. She had wide brown eyes and her mouth was like a motor… going a mile a minute.

"Now, Mr. Scrimgeour isn't bad, I believe we'll be blood typing and going into the theory of…." Hermione Granger, obviously the top of her classes or rather the entire school, from the sounds of her mouth and the yammering about school rules. "He doesn't like anyone being late, so make sure you're always on time Harry…" He knew she meant well, lordy did he, but that didn't mean he enjoyed listening to her. "He's a visual man, so you won't be bored! He loves hands on theory. You should go to the library and check out extracurricular material, just ask Mrs. Pince! She's the woman in there, don't be fooled by her angry attitude, she really loves her books."

As do you! Harry wanted to place a hand over her mouth!

They made it to Biology and Harry would have cheered the fact that she was walking away to sit at the very front of the class with her mouth off him… if it hadn't been for the fact that the only spot left in the room of black tables that seated two was the one next to the drop dead gorgeous Cullen boy.

Fuck me! Harry groused dipping into his bag for his slip and turning away from what he perceived as an antagonising stare. What was going on with him? Harry sashayed up to the front of the room, tightening his bag against his shoulder as he went.

Mr. Scrimgeour a slightly heavy bellied redhead man with the mane and facial hair of a lion stared down at him with beady eyes. "Ah, Potter."

"Yes, Sir." Harry handed out his slip.

"Very well, very well…" He handed the books to Harry and began to rant about no nonsense and not caring who he truly was so long as he handed his work in on time and paid attention. He was then directed to the only table.

Bloody hell! Harry knew he was blushing, he could feel it, the rise of colour in his cheeks and for the first time he looked down at the marble black flooring, keeping an eye on the aisle so that he didn't trip and fall on his face. That would be bad.

Harry stepped easily over a notch in the floor. He got to the desk and when he placed his bag onto the table and gazed at the reddish-brown haired boy, he nearly jumped like a scared cat when he met a rigidly stiff form and mutinous stare? His eyes were so black… blacker than ink. He looked rash, hostile, and dangerous all in one. What had warranted this? Certainly not, Harry. He hadn't said a word to the boy.

Hum, Harry wondered what he had done. He slid sideways and elegantly planted himself in his seat, causing his hair to flip closer to Edward naturally.

Harry noticed out of the corner of his right eye that Edward was gripping the table so fiercely that something very odd happened causing the wooden table to break off in a piece and disintegrate to splinters in large pale hands.

Hands that shouldn't have been able to do that.

Jesus Christ! What was going on? Harry thought, sliding pieces of his hair behind his ears, showing off the Chinese symbol.

The teacher began class but Harry couldn't concentrate, not that he wanted to anyway. Instead, he fumbled with the drawstring of his bag, he noticed from the reflection of a shiny metal cabinet on the right that Edward was leaning as far away from him as possible, like his life depended on it.

Harry also noticed that the shards on the ground from the wooden table had been covered up. Odd. Tapping his fingers upon the book, Harry scrunched up his nose in annoyance. Harry couldn't deny the unsettling feeling he had in the pit of his stomach. His heart was also racing like a stopwatch. His own face burned and he couldn't get over the fact that he may have done something to insult this Edward boy, who he didn't even know.

Was it because he was gay? Did he already know? Could he tell, like most logical people that he had no interest in females? Maybe it revolted him to be near someone who liked guys. He hadn't seemed so bad earlier when they were in the lunchroom. Perhaps curious, but he didn't seem like that big of an arse.

Scrimgeour was going over cellular anatomy. Peachy! Harry pretended to take notes, but he was really trying to understand the reflection that he was seeing in the metal cabinet. It looked to him, as though Edward was gritting his teeth together, jaw locked so tightly, and he - was unusually still and so far away from him that Harry had to wonder if he smelled.

Certainly not! Not even in physical education did Harry ever smell. Subconsciously, he raked a finger though his long hair, it fell easily below his shoulders stopping somewhere midway down his back. That was what shocked everyone. He brought it up as though he were doing nothing interesting and smelled it.

He was clean, wasn't he? Harry huffed and gripped his cheap little pen and then tapped the top of it against his notebook. While Harry pretended to take notes, he studied the odd things about Edward from what he could see in his surreptitious manner. For one, his left hand was clenched into a fist, his white sleeves were rolled up past his forearms stopping all scrunched up at his elbows and Harry noticed how - well - perfect they were. Call him gay, but the guy's skin was flawless white and it was muscled. He supposed the brawny guy made this Edward look thinner than he was. He was perfect not a blemish in sight.

Okay, this was getting a little out of hand, Harry thought idly. He was about to turn and ask Edward what the fuck his problem was, but when he turned fully, he almost regretted it.

Black anger filled eyes, pierced him and the stare Harry met was one of revulsion. Harry did all he could to resist the flinch that crawled up his spine. "What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" Harry hissed quietly. Edward never moved a muscle; he continued to stare. He didn't speak. "Well?" He pressed.

Harry hadn't expected an answer a second time so when he received it he flinched. "You." However angrily he said it, it didn't disguise the fact that his voice was beautiful. It was a shockingly beautiful tone of dark anger. It sounded kind of like those wind chimes his mother had hung out in front of the house, how they sang with a perfect tenor.

"What about me?" Harry retorted. "What did I do to you?"

Edward's posture was even more rigid now. He turned his head away and stared straight ahead. Harry refused to give in and continued to stare, eyes blinking rapidly every few seconds to keep from drying up. Edward's hand then moved slightly unclenching; Harry couldn't fight the involuntary flinch that followed. He had thought for one fleeting second that Edward would strike him.

Why had he thought this? Well, it was perhaps the look of hatred in his eyes. Harry saw that they had a couple minutes left. He packed up everything he owned and then turned back to Edward who was glaring at the clock. "Look, whatever it is, I apologise."

Edward turned toward Harry and their gazes remained interlocked. Harry knew his own eyes were full of questions but Edwards were full of anger. They were so black; Harry could see the detail. "Fine." Came Edward's reply through his teeth once again.

Harry could almost swear to God that he wasn't breathing. Or that he seemed to not be anyway.

When the bell rang, Edward stood, towering over Harry with ease and before Harry could blink, he fled.

… Harry shook his head. Had to have been the trick of the light, the stammering of his own nerves. No man, teen, or boy could move that bloody fast! What the hell was his problem? Harry was annoyed; if he had problems with gays then he knew he'd be in for a hard year.

What if that brawny one got into the mix? Harry wouldn't stand a chance and the fact that there was a fucking hole in the side the desk… Harry would be broken in two with just the touch of that teenager's hands.

Harry shivered.

"Harry Potter?"

A baby faced, blue-eyed gorgeous light blonde, came closer. His height towered over him and he smiled a bright blinding grin. "I'm Cedric! Cedric Diggory."

Harry smiled sweetly. "Hi ya Cedric!" Well at least he had some good company. Cute company at that. He was relieved when Hermione left the class before him and had not stopped to give him another proper lecture. "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise, British right?"

"How'd you know?" Harry teased in mock surprise as he draped his leather jacket over his arm and walked out.

Cedric grinned. "Well, your voice for one."

"And two?" Harry was still very much bothered by Edward's behaviour, but if he was a jack arse because he was gay well then he wasn't worth Harry's time. Pity too, he was bloody gorgeous and seemed levelheaded. Or at least - he looked it. He seemed intelligent.

Maybe Harry had it wrong. Closed-minded people were always the dumb ones and the open minded, even though they seemed eccentric were the most intelligent; they had a lot to live for and a lot to offer. They were the ones that were worth knowing. He still couldn't fight the acid type feeling inside of him though.

"Two?" Cedric smirked. "I'll save two for later."

Harry scoffed playfully. "Fine then!"

Chuckling, Cedric asked him what class he had next.

"Hum, I have Physical Education, or what you lot call gym."

More laughter. "Lot?" Cedric tried. "I like it."

"That's good, glad I got Cedric Diggory's approval." Harry taunted heading out of the building into the drizzling rain. "Sheesh!" Harry brought his bag up over his head. "love-ly!" He grumbled.

Cedric seemed wildly amused at Harry's antics. They got to the building where the gym was and Harry shook his head. "Drizzly."

"Is it this rainy where you're from?"

"Yes, London gets a lot of rain and fog. But I think this place gets more."

"You're not kidding, I'm from California. I miss the sun."

"I used to spend two weeks in Florida with my dad until I was fifteen. Then, life happened and I hadn't been able to get over here."

"So now you've come to live with him?"

"Yep." Harry was happy to have someone friendly talking to him. He liked Cedric and Neville both. They were great guys and while Hermione seemed rather nice, he really truly could not stand Cho Chang.

"You know, I have to ask, did you do something to Edward Cullen? He seemed furious with you!"

Harry ducked his head in a blush. "No damn clue! You saw it too then, huh?"

Cedric nodded. "He's never acted like that before. Looked as though you stabbed him."

"Perhaps I'll try that next time at least it would warrant that anger." Harry scowled. "I did nary a thing to the git." Gorgeous git, but a git all the same.

Cedric, Harry noticed seemed rather cheered that he thought this way. But, Harry wasn't sure if Cedric was gay or not. He knew Neville was. That had been easy to tell. If Harry had to make a guess, he would say that Cedric was bisexual. He liked both sides.

Harry had kissed a girl one time. He was eight years old and afterwards he went crying to his mum about it, because she was ten and tried sticking her tongue in his mouth. He hadn't liked that.

"Well, it looked like you hurt him…"

Harry spluttered unprofessionally. He couldn't help it. That was… so stupid. "H- hurt him? He's tons bigger than me. I said nary a thing!"

"Most are." Cedric taunted. "Anyway, if I were lucky enough to get next to you, I would have talked to ya."

Harry gushed and smiled. "Awe, you're too sweet! I think he might have hated the way I smelled though-" He mumbled shrugging. "No idea why… I don't smell."

Cedric blinked and leaned in, pressing his nose into Harry's hair, causing a hesitant giggle from the smaller teen. "Hmm, no, Harry, you smell nice." He put strong emphasis on the word 'nice'.

"Why thank you!" Harry said. "It's nice to be appreciated sometimes."

"Anytime."

Mrs. Hooch was the gym teacher. Harry sat on the sidelines and watched as everyone played volleyball. He was bored and would have liked to join in, if only to knock random people on the head and hope that they fell down on their butts.

He watched interestedly as Cedric moved across the court, getting all hot and sweaty.

Hehe, not bad. At least there was an upside to the school. The place was relatively boring, Harry decided. Except for the mad-god-on-legs teenager that glared at him and tried to kill him with a simple black-eyed, stare.

Harry shook his head visibly. He just hoped he didn't have to deal with the rest of Edward's family; if they were all against gays then he might as well go back to London and take his chances with Severus. If things got out of hand, he could always be a troublesome teenager and make his mother choose.

Harry knew whom Lily would choose and Severus knew it too. There was no winning that battle. But, Harry would never do that. He would not forfeit his mother's happiness for any reason whatsoever.

She was more important than him and that was that.

Two minutes before the bell rang, the students all went to get changed. Harry didn't think to wait for Cedric and went along out the door and donned his jacket as he felt the nippy weather clash with his thin body. He shivered and stalked across toward to the office. When he entered, Harry had to stop himself from taking a step back and going the other way.

Edward Cullen was standing in front of him, his gorgeous back and posture poised and he was discussing something with Ms. McGonagall.

Harry pressed his back firmly against the white wall and remained as quiet as he possibly could, not even letting out a breath.

"If you would be so kind to give me any other time schedule but Biology in sixth period."

Harry gaped, call him narcissistic, but if he was reading this correctly, the boy wanted to change because of him.

Ulgh! Stupid gorgeous, attractive - Harry paused in his thoughts and noticed how - seductive Edward's voice seemed to become.

Wow… blinking stupidly was something Harry wasn't prone to doing. Not for anyone!

"Are you quite sure?"

"I am sorry; Mr. Cullen, but we have nothing else free…"

In that moment the door to the office flew in and the freezing cold whipped through smacking Harry full in the face, causing him to shiver and his hair to fly up around his pale features. A girl dropped something in a basket next to Ms. McGonagall's desk before walking out again.

Edward Cullen went rigid and his hands at his sides clenched into fists. When Edward turned around, he was glaring so darkly at Harry that he ought to be scared.

And perhaps he would have been had it not been for the fact it was over a ridiculous prejudice and stereotype that shouldn't even exist. Harry tried to hide the hurt he felt by that glare. There was nothing else in this world that Harry could think that he had done. It had to be because he was gay.

There was no other logical reason, was there? Maybe it was because they were all so old fashioned. Harry regretted ever believing they were beautiful and simply outsiders not able to fit in. This was wrong! So wrong. Harry never did anything to them and now he was being despised for who he was.

Harry dropped his bag and crossed his arms over his chest as Edward turned away and looked at Ms. McGonagall. "Never mind." He said briskly. "I see that it is unavoidable. Thank you Ms. McGonagall."

When he turned on his heel, causing Harry's heart to stammer and jerk even more, he got the urge to follow after and he did. He ignored Ms. McGonagall's curious stare as he tore out of the room.

"Edward!" Harry called, pleased to see that the bronze-haired boy stopped in his tracks.

No one was around but the woman from the office.

Edward twitched and spun around as Harry sashayed as evenly as he could up to the tall teenager whose nostril's flared out at him and his too perfect lips seem mashed together.

"What the fuck is your problem with me? What have I done to you to deserve you acting like a dick!?" He stared unblinking and Harry found it rather unnerving. "Well? I never said one word to you and you look at me like you want to tear my head off!"

"Not far off." Edward hissed smoothly.

"Why?" Harry demanded. Edward didn't answer. But Harry didn't need an answer to know. He could see it. The hate. "Do you hate me that much simply because I'm different? Is it your weird old-fashioned ways that have you believing that just because I'm gay I'm not a person? That I should be hated and belittled by people like you who think they're better than others?"

Edward suddenly lost all composure and he stepped forward briskly as though he wanted to grab Harry, before stopping, but oddly enough, the teen maneuvered out of reach with a keen reflex he learned years ago.

"If you want to hate me fine, see if I give a flying fuck. You wouldn't be the first. But please, spare me the theatrics." Harry's face was flushed and so hot that he thought he was going to pass out from the inflamed heat. He was angry, he hadn't been this angry in a long time. He was shaking in rage.

"No…"

"No what?"

"No." He said again. It was so fast that Harry hardly caught it at all.

"Hum." Harry narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms again. His hair flew up and whipped around from the wind. He shivered visibly. "I thought you might actually be an intelligent person. You lot seemed it. I thought perhaps you were the most intelligent here…"

Edward continued to stare at him without so much as blinking. He was rigid, like a statue. Harry wondered what would happen if he poked Edward. Would he tip over or would he be too heavy?

Then to Harry's utter surprise, Edward spoke and when he did, it was normal, wait no not normal. Normal was like Cedric Diggory. This was music; melodic, magical… was it possible? Too beautiful for Harry's ears. "Get inside, it's cold out here. You are shivering."

Huh? "S- so?" He stuttered. Oh, how clever. Stutter when you're trying to stand your ground. "I won't let you intimidate me! No matter how many brothers and sisters you have." Jesus! Blink already! Harry thought. Edward tilted his head to the side, hands stilled balled up. He looked like he was in pain - was he in pain? Was Harry reading too much into it? "Are you okay?" He then asked.

"Peachy."

"…" Harry huffed. Why did he care? Why should he care? If Edward was so far against him, that it caused so much rage deep within, why did Harry care if he was in pain? "Right…" Harry took a step back.

Edward turned away, back to him and his shoulders moved as if he were breathing for the first time. A moment later, he turned back around, black eyes glittering strangely. "Go home, Harry Potter and be safe." The way he said this, it was like a sad ending to a once happy and fun filled story.

The reason why Harry related Edward's words like this had to do with the tenor and melancholy melody that traveled to his ears. It was then that Edward Cullen disappeared completely.

When Harry finally moved from his spot. He turned around to see Neville standing there. Eyes full of concern.

"Harry? Are you okay?"

Harry stared at his newfound friend and nodded slowly. He didn't think he could talk.

Neville smiled. "Something happen? How were your other classes?"

"Fine." He whispered, lowering his eyes to the ground and shivering some more. "I - need to see McGonagall. I forgot to hand her my slips."

"Okay, I'll come with. Need to hand this packet in anyway. You sure you're okay? Someone bother you?"

"No." Harry lied plainly. He didn't have time to think on Edward just now, for McGonagall was staring worriedly at Harry, her eyes held a maternal air.

"How is everything dear? Did your classes turn out alright?"

Harry nodded and handed her the slips that were on top of his bag. "Yes, Madam. Thank you."

She didn't quite believe that. He could see it in her knowing eyes. She was like a cat, watchful. Harry kind of thought she reminded him of a tabby cat he once owned before it got hit in the road. "Have a good afternoon, Mr. Potter."

"You too." Harry solemnly picked up his stuff. His body was numb and his head was buzzing, but while his body remained in its strange non-feeling mode that had no bearings on how the inside felt. His heart for some reason felt like it was splitting open.

Harry had met some cruel people before. Oh yes, he'd met them all, those who called you names that Harry didn't even want to think about. Harry never really gave them much thought. Their personality was too disdainful.

But Edward Cullen seemed like a jumble of oxy-morons. He hated Harry and at the same time, he was telling Harry to get in out of the cold and then to be safe. He would glare with revulsion … and … Harry shook his head visibly and sighed out loud. He hadn't realised he'd done it until Neville looked over.

"Someone really did bother you, huh?"

"Slightly. But, I don't understand." They walked across a parking lot, Harry vaguely noticed a brand new Volvo next to his truck.

"Was it Cho's big mouth?" Neville asked in concern.

Harry smiled weakly. "No, I'd slap it shut easily."

"Nothing about Cho is easy, except whatever is between her legs…"

Harry pulled a face and then burst into laughter without being able to stop himself. "Oh - my God," he almost cried and squeezed Neville's shoulder. "Thank you! You made me feel so much better in that second!" He said almost in tears. "Thank you, thank you! Haha…" Harry bit his lower lip and sniffed. "Thanks."

Neville was so red that Harry found it cute. "You're welcome. Glad you're laughing after whatever it is that shook you up."

"Nothing shook me up, I just hate people who are so closed minded and yet so fucking confusing."

Neville laughed hesitantly at Harry's swear word. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow Harry?"

Harry nodded. "Good-bye, Neville."

"Bye, Harry."

(o)

A/N: Not everything is the same in the book as it is in this. Just the central major plot bits. This will be a lot more adult and perhaps less sulky of a Harry. Okay, time for bed for me… been up 24 hours..