tweaked on may 22, 2010


l--l

it's not the same

l--l

x. yppah

He followed Harry back to his house, which was actually quite a short distance away from the road, so he simply left his car there. On the way, Harry chatted about many magical things, mostly Quidditch, as Edward had asked what the small golden ball was. "A snitch," Harry said, to which he asked what the importance of such a small ball was. Harry had continued explaining that a Quidditch pitch was massive, and completely took place in the air. The snitch was allowed anywhere in the vicinity, but it was so small and fast, that if the Seeker could actually get it then his team won immediately. Or at least, the snitch was worth such a colossal amount that it was essentially winning.

"Sounds like a fun game." Edward replied to his story. "I think my brother Emmett would be dying to be one of those Chasers."

Harry grinned; Alice had told him about Emmett. "We should all play sometime, it'd be lots fun."

Edward blinked in surprise. "Non-magical people can play Quidditch?"

Harry studied him with a bit of mirth in his eyes. "Well no…but you all are magical, so I don't see the problem."

Edward shook his head. "But, we can't do spells like you can, like fixing peoples noses with a stick—

"Wand." Harry corrected.

"Or turning plates into cats." He ended, as they rounded the house and walked up the front porch.

Harry rolled his eyes. "There are a lot of magical creatures who have their own separate kind of magic—what you just listed is what wizards do. For example, you and your clan have magic, that's how you can read minds, and Alice can see the future."

Edward blinked. How did he know that he could read minds?

Instead he smiled at the smaller boy. "You must be very good then, to be able to catch the snitch."

Color rose beneath lowered lashes, but Edward couldn't decipher whether that was due to the crisp cold or the compliment. And, like those other magical folk, his mind was obscured. Loosely, but Edward was still unable to read it.

He was about to ask, when Harry opened the door, and Edward almost reeled back in surprise.

A purple cat yowled as it fled the room, and he watched it prance into the yard chasing a mouse in shock as he noted the purple and maroon stripes and fat tail. Harry had already moved into the living room, calling Edward to come inside. Edward quickly recovered and closed the door, moving into the entrance hallway and took a look at the magical pictures. There was one that was no doubt of Harry, and a redhead and a brunette, who were laughing joyously as their hair turned to outrageous colors. Another was of a beautiful wine-haired woman and a man who looked suspiciously like Harry clasping his arm around her waist, pulling her closer as she laughed and a cloud of birds flew from the fountain behind them.

He followed Harry into the living room, and was even more shocked. Birds were flying in circles near the ceiling, while half of one wall was covered in vines that grew out a variety of teacups and teapots. Books were beginning to restack themselves and fly up to their designated areas on the bookshelf, and in the kitchen where Harry was fiddling with something, bright orange smoke erupted from a bubbling cauldron.

"Magic." Edward breathed. He'd never seen anything like this.

"Sorry for leaving you out there like that." Harry grinned sheepishly, his face smudged with a bit of muddy green and a tattered book in one of his hands. "I thought I blew up my potion or something."

"Your house is pretty amazing." He confessed, as he watched the birds make circles, and almost worked as a fan.

Harry blinked in surprise. "Oh, thank you. It's a bit of a mess though, sorry about that."

Edward shook his head. "It doesn't look messy at all." Truth be told, if he had walked into a house that had a wall covered in vines, he'd have thought the owner needed to tend a little more to his house, but seeing said plant grow teapots and cups made him rethink such a statement.

"Well, tea?" He asked politely, to which Edward nodded, and chuckled to himself. Harry was certainly British.

Harry plucked one of the teapots—it was oddly shaped, fat at the bottom but skinny at the top, and decorated with lace-like flower patterns—from the vines crawling up his wall and two teacups, which made an indignant squeak.

Edward covered his noise of surprise when Harry immediately poured steaming hot tea into both of their cups, and used his wand to levitate two saucers from one of his cupboards.

"I can see why Alice thinks this place is like a movie." He started weakly, as Harry filled his cup.

The other boy—whom Edward was sure was going to laugh at him and berate him for saying something so absolutely childish—only smiled benignly. "I said the same thing when I walked into my first wizarding house too."

"Your first?" Edward tilted his head. "I thought you were born magical."

Harry blinked, before sitting down and pouring himself a cup. "Well yes, but I suppose I should explain all of this. To the wizarding community, there are two kinds of wizards. Both are born with magic, it's just a matter of how they were raised. There's purebloods, who are raised by pureblooded parents who have long and old magical ancestry and are born into a magical household. Then there's muggleborns who, like the name states, are born from muggles but have magic. No one really knows how it happens, but the purebloods consider them inferior and it's the cause of a lot of dispute."

"So you're a muggleborn then?" Edward tilted his head.

"Well no. I'm a half-blood." Harry explained. "My father was a pureblood, but my mother was a muggleborn. But I wasn't raised in the magical world because they both died when I was a baby, and I lived with my Aunt and Uncle."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Edward said softly, frowning.

Harry gave him a slight smile, but made no other comment about the topic.

Edward took the time to study his teacup—appreciating his gesture of civility but not sure how exactly he would go about drinking something that to him tasted a bit like dust—a dusty blue that didn't match the bright orange teapot or the gray one in Harry's hand. The whole house resembled his tea set, mismatched and unorganized but appealing in its splendor.

Harry caught his gaze trailing to the tangled plant engraved into his wall and chuckled.

"That's my latest Herbology project. I'm not entirely sure why I even took the class, a fat load of good it's done for me this year."

Edward grinned. "But it's so convenient to serve tea."

Harry shriveled his nose a bit. "It's only during the first four weeks. Then it stops and the leaves turn orange and it'll start spitting out sweaters."

Edward raised his brows, and without even knowing it, took a sip of his tea. It had come naturally to him; there was something about Harry's mannerisms and overall lack of interest in his vampiric features that made him feel almost human, and he had forgotten that it would taste horrid to him.

While the lack of taste wasn't pleasant, he was mildly enjoying the company. "Sweaters? That's pretty convenient too."

"Oh but they're dreadful," Harry reasoned. "Honestly, if you could see them now…my friend Neville grew one of these in our dorm because his Grandma sent him horrendous sweaters for the winter season and he decided to grow some rather then buy some. Of course, we enjoyed the tea, but the sweaters… I'd think they were about eighteen centuries out of fashion."

There was some easy-going about Harry, while still the wizard remained completely elusive. Harry could ramble on and on about insignificant nonsense, but Edward notice he seemed to hedge over the rather important questions. Tricky one, that Harry.

But if there was one thing Edward was grateful for, it would be the lack of intrusion in his head. The calm wave of thoughtlessness was a balm on his frazzled nerves—no doubt so frayed due to Bella's scent completely washed over the entire school.

"So anyway, what brings you to my part of the woods?"

Edward faltered for a good answer.

He wasn't sure if Alice had yet to explain to Harry his current predicament. But Harry seemed pretty well versed in vampire culture, and probably would understand what Bella meant to him. He wasn't sure why he didn't want Harry to get the wrong picture, though. And that was what worried him the most as he began to explain himself.

"Has Alice told you the reason I've been skipping school so much?"

Harry tilted his head curiously. "No, actually. I'm sure it's an interesting story though."

Edward sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Have you ever heard of a singer?"

"It's a vampire term, right? For…" Harry paused in thought. "Hang on, I did a report on vampires…" He trailed off again, and Edward was a bit baffled. He hadn't known he was school-report material. He'd really have to see this Hogwarts Harry spoke of so fondly. "That's a blood condition, right? When someone has blood that is specifically centered towards your preferences…"

"Something like that." Edward shrugged. He'd never really heard it put in such scientific terms before. Perhaps Carlisle had given him an explanation like that some time ago and he'd simply forgotten about it. Most vampires simply explained it as an undecipherable longing, a mixture of emotions that were usually taken at face value and not much farther then that. "It's almost like their blood…sings to you." He ended lamely. Harry's explanation seemed so much more legitimate.

Harry didn't comment, only nodding. "I know what that's like. There's this magical creature called a Veela…they've got this charm that makes you fall all over them. I don't really know how to explain it—

Edward narrowed his eyes quicker then Harry noticed, as behind the explaining wizard a smolder of green erupted from his fireplace. Harry blinked suddenly and peered in a felicitous gesture behind him, bright green eyes the same shade of the tendrils making whorl-like hands of smoke.

"Oh goodness…"

A sharp voice commented, sounding in quite a hurry. Her voice was soft, but not as memorable as Harry's was.

She shifted the parcels in her hands quickly, one hand on her broad witch's hat and the other struggling with a cumbersome amount of books.

Harry rushed out of his chair to help her struggle out of her coat and gather some books. "Geez 'Mione, bring enough?" He asked exasperatedly.

"Mione" Harrumphed irately, gathering herself up like a mother hen gathers up her feathers. "Last time I help you study for midterms. The lot of you, goofing around playing Quidditch and the Gryffindor boys playing some stupid war game with the Fred and George's Decoy Detonators going off in the halls…no one ever thinks to study, and certainly not when Newts are only a year away!"

While the young brunette woman ranted along and haphazardly dropped her books onto the cluttered table in the joined sitting room, Edward hadn't the slightest what she was talking about. From Decoy Detonators to Newts, the whole blathering was lost upon the vampire. Harry however, seemed to take it all in stride, nodding as if he had previously given up arguing many years ago and had simply taken to going with what she said. The girl seemed like the type to rant ones ear off, or at least until one conjured a plausible reason to excuse oneself.

And the young wizard seemed to lack one of those.

Then, Edward remembered himself.

Maybe not.

"Excuse me," He stood up quickly, noting the sharp relief in Harry's eyes. "I'm Edward Cullen. Pleased to meet you."

The girl yelped in surprise, and spun around quickly in a flurry of pleated skirt. She giggled nervously at him, and Edward noted he could read her mind quite easily. So perhaps not all magical folk could counter his magic.

"O-Oh," Pink bloomed beneath her lashes. She was attractive, but certainly not as attractive as her friend. "A pleasure. I'm Hermione. Hermione Granger. I go to school with Harry…"

She trailed off with a slightly unsure glance to Harry, wondering if she should include the fact that she was magical too, and should comment on that.

Luckily for her, Edward had the foresight to see what she was unsure about, and took it upon himself to greet her. "He's told me all about your world;" He began with a charming smile. "It's all quite fascinating."

Hermione breathed in relief. "I see."

She held her hand out, and Edward smirked when she jumped at his icy touch.

"Vampire?" She peered at him questioningly. He only nodded.

She clapped her hands in an excited motion, near rolling on her heels. "How intriguing! When were you turned? Were you perhaps involved in the Vampire movement of 1792 when Vampire advocate Caius Vulturi petitioned for full magical vampire rights for non-magical vampires? And if so, what about the turning of the Zraven clan in 1843 when the Kraljica Mati destroyed nearly half of the clan's populace over the Tiper Lezander—

"Oh great," Harry groaned between clenched teeth. "You've got her started on vampire history. This'll take hours…"

Truthfully, Edward was astonished about vast her knowledge on his species was. Of course he'd heard of all these events, but it was a tad overwhelming to see a non-vampire prattle on about such relatively uninteresting historical moments with such deep fascination. Harry however, didn't seem the least bit surprised by her outburst. He'd later come to know that Hermione did this with most things, especially when meeting someone who shared the passion. When that happened, it was bad.

"Hermione!" Harry sputtered quickly. "You see, uh, Edward has school! He had the morning off, but seeing as though its almost…ten-thirty…he'll have to be back by now." Harry turned to face him with an outright pleading look. "Right?"

Edward nodded, before turning back to the girl with an apologetic twist on his lips. "He's right. I've got to get back now," Luckily, Biology was over and perhaps he'd be able to avoid Isabella for the rest of the day. "But it was wonderful to meet you. Perhaps we can debate vampire history another time?"

"I'd love that!" There was a glint in her eyes sparkling so brightly Edward didn't bother with her mind; it'd be a moot point.

Edward wondered how Harry dealt with her for such long periods of time. The vampire assumed that the two were very close friends, seeing as though she had somehow managed to find him all the way from Britain and tumbled out of a fireplace. Edward was fairly sure Harry had already explained how she managed to go from point A to point B via a fireplace, but he'd already forgotten.

Poor Harry, he'd have to deal with her for the rest of the day too…

"Harry, would you care to join me?" Edward asked suddenly.

The wizard looked up at him, and Edward was struck by their emerald tones like a wave of dizziness. But the haze clouded when the boy's face split into a relieved smile.

"Harry," Hermione tutted as she sat herself on his plush couch. "Please don't forget that we're studying for potions today, which you're outright abysmal at."

Harry shrugged her off easily. "I'll be back soon." He promised half heartedly, already tumbling out of the door.

Edward near tripped on the bright maroon striped cat, which mewed and twisted around his legs as he opened to door, sprinting into the house.

"I thought I'd have to deal with her for another hour or so." Harry laughed, and it was such a euphonious sound that Edward could hear it pleasantly ringing long after Harry had done it.

Edward smirked as he fished his keys out of his pocket. There were many things he could say on the matter, but he opted for a polite, "She seems nice."

"She is," Harry agreed, as he slid into the passenger seat. "But she can be a bit, overwhelming at times. You get used to it after a while."

Edward only nodded, not knowing what else to say.

He wondered what other friends Harry had. Other magical friends. What a world it must be; Edward had only caught a slight glimpse of it yet he reeled in the after shock. It was nothing like the 'muggle' world, with its plants that grew teacups and sweaters, purple striped cats and fans made from hundreds of moving birds.

The sky was just past gloaming, peachy in its crisp edges but already turning into a tender clear blue just behind the wisps of ashen clouds.

Talking to Harry, he found, was much easier then he'd ever thought talking to someone could be. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Edward didn't know what Harry was going to say, and usually he was downright surprised by the boy's comments. There was something to be said about the inability to read minds just as much as there was for those who could. It made conversation unnaturally pleasant, and it had been a while since he had been so interested in what someone else had to say. Aside from his family, but even then, he could usually rifle through their minds and skip the notion of talking in general. With Harry, it reminded him of being human.

The way Harry could easily maunder about any subject made him so easy to talk to, and Edward found himself telling Harry about almost anything he could think of.

"She's awful." He was saying, even though he knew it was only half true. "I mean, I don't really even know her. But it's a nightmare to have to deal with her scent everywhere. I feel like I can't control myself." He elaborated, on the subject of Bella.

Harry nodded helplessly, an unsettled look spreading across his face. "The blood pops don't work?"

Edward sighed, running a hand through his hair as he hit one hundred six. Harry didn't seem to mind. "They do, but not nearly enough as I would like."

"What about your family?"

"Whenever they can, but its hard." Edward didn't bother to keep his eyes on the road, staring into the verdant color of his eyes, bright and specked with blue, a spray of soft freckles just beneath his dark lashes and just beneath the surface, so slight that only his superior eyes could see them. The windows were down, and Harry leaned against the seat, with windy hair and cloudy eyes. "Its mainly lunch and Biology that are the worst. And because of testing none of my siblings have my lunch shift."

Harry pursed his lips, incarnadine in color and pulsing with blood beneath the flesh.

"When's your lunch?"

Harry's house was far, even at his current speed it was nearly eleven.

"It'll be my shift by the time we reach school." He surmised with a sigh. At least he'd be able to eat his blood pop and hopefully not draw attention to the fact he gagged every time he swallowed a bite of food.

Harry hummed in thought, eyes trailing the line of canopy as they near flew past it. The telephone wires crossed pas the sky in dark, trembling lines.

He whipped his head around quickly. "Do you think anyone would notice if I joined your school for a day?"

Edward blinked in surprise. Surprise, but happiness. "I doubt it. Teachers don't really keep track of students at lunch."

The wizard grinned. "Why don't I go to lunch with you? That way you don't have to sit alone and you'll have someone to talk to!"

Edward chuckled breathlessly. What a simple, easy solution. He almost wanted to ram his head into the steering wheel for not thinking of it sooner. Of course, he wouldn't mind having Harry's company for another hour or so. The boy was so charismatic and so different to the rest of the disenchanting world filled with people who simply didn't understand him. Harry though…Harry was part of his world. A world he had only known bare bits of until now, but still felt wholly a part of.

And there was something to be said of the way his dead heart fluttered when those sparkling eyes turned to him.

Edward pulled into the parking lot one handedly, the other digging into his bag in the back seat for a blood pop. The moment he opened the door he had fisted one out and clawed it out of the wrapping, stuffing it in his mouth before the door shut. Harry only watched him, amused.

"A bit too soon?" He asked with mirth.

Edward shook his head, annoyed, as he pulled his bag out of the back seat.

"She's all over the place," And, with a docile sniff and a nudge of his head. "Especially that truck."

The truck in question was beat up and odd to look at after riding in Edward's sleek one. And while Harry knew nothing about cars except they were judged as not only a transportation device but as a status symbol, could tell the difference. He also noticed how Edward near stiffened just being in close proximity of it.

As they plodded on to the tenebrous building in the distance, he wondered what this Bella looked like.

She obviously had such a strong (but almost negative) hold on Edward.

The vampire he was musing about pushed the doors opened and lead Harry down a string of hallways. The floors were tiled in a pasty white, and the walls were lined in small shelf-like metal boxes with doors, painted in an array of colors that didn't mix well. Edward told him they were lockers, and the colors were the school colors. They were clashing, and Harry wished for the smooth tones of red and gold, and even green and silver. The walls had long banners posted over them with sports that Harry had heard of vaguely from Dudley, and were hand painted mostly and didn't change colors and pictures like the ones at Hogwarts did.

Edward turned another sharp corner and Harry was met with near a hundred people all sitting in a large cafeteria, chattering loudly and obnoxiously.

They passed the lunch serving area, and Harry was glad that he had eaten lunch before hand.

The wizard was too busy blanching at the slop of food that seemed almost sentient to notice the hush that misted over the room.

Perhaps it was the way Edward casually walked into the room with someone who was unknown and not a sibling, hands in his pockets and a lollipop in his mouth. Or maybe it was Harry, who seemed to equally catch the attention of the female populace with his skewed dark hair and sparkling eyes, wearing the jeans Alice bought him and his beat up trainers, along with some hoodie with crass words he'd found on his floor.

"You eat that?" Harry gaped in horror, as an impassive lunch lady slopped another dose onto a foam-like tray.

Edward sent the food a disgusted look, and then a pointed one to Harry. "Vampire?"

The boy shrugged helplessly. "My essay didn't cover the topic of nutritional diet of vampires. I suppose it was pretty self explanatory."

Edward snorted as he pulled one of the metal chairs from underneath a small circular table in the corner of the room, near the windows. "Obviously not, if you couldn't figure it out."

Harry crossed his arms petulantly.

He didn't say anything else on the topic, instead changing it to demeaning, inconsequential things. He noticed that Edward seemed to enjoy hearing the magical world he was so accustomed to, and was explaining the Weasley twin's canary cream and how a girl named Pansy Parkinson had eaten it. At the moment he was trying to get around to explaining why it was ten times funnier when Pansy ate it then anyone else without getting too in depth about the horror on Malofy's face as she molted, when he caught the eye of a girl across the room.

"Who's that?"

Harry careened his head to the pale, dark haired girl after Edward had finished his laughter.

The vampire followed his gaze, to the girl on the opposite end of the room, in a dark hooded sweatshirt with dark eyes and thin lips. Her nose was pointed and her hair parted at the top of her head into dark brown curls, skin sallow pale and flushed of color. Strange, as Edward had pointed out she had moved from Arizona, near sun capital of the world.

"That's Bella." Edward lowered his voice, and Harry nodded.

She looked ordinary, actually, she looked downright indifferent from the rest of the muggles he'd seen. If she hadn't been staring so much he probably wouldn't have noticed.

"She's been staring for a while now." Harry admitted, he'd been wondering why.

But then, it hadn't taken him long to realize how the people of the school thought of Edward. And he didn't need natural legilimency like the vampire to know it. The girls whispered of him in hushed, but attracted tones. And the boys with a jealously covered by faux uncaring. Harry knew how it felt to be singled out, and new it was best not to comment on it, and instead try to make Edward feel less alone by becoming closer friends. Without all his friends, he doubted he could handle the pressure of being the chosen one.

Edward nodded. "She's intrigued by me." And then, with a dark scowl. "I can't say the same."

Harry let out a bark of laughter, stifling it behind his hand when he realized how loud it was. A couple people turned to whisper.

"They're surprised." Edward noted. "That I could make someone laugh. Or smile."

"Or be happy in general?" Harry added with revelry.

"After going through the same school curriculum year after year, it gets hard to be interested, let alone cheerful." Edward growled. He'd already explained to Harry the mass of diplomas his family collected, and promised to show it to him. Since Harry had let him see his house, he supposed he should do the same. Of course, Harry's seemed to much more interesting then his, with its magical furniture. And while his was bigger, he didn't think it could compete.

Edward spat out the stick of the blood pop, and held his breath as he pulled another one out of his pocket. Only when he was safe with another one did he begin his rhythmic, timed breathing again.

Harry only chuckled at that. "It seems strange, that you have to time your breathing. You'd think after all those years being alive that you'd have gotten used to the whole need for air thing."

"But after so many years without having to, I'll sometimes forget." Edward paused. "Once in the summer I forgot for three months. But of course, non of my family remembered to remind me, so that was probably why."

Harry only smiled, clearly entertained with all this inane talk of breathing cycles.

The bell rang then, and Edward would be lying if he said he wasn't disappointed.

The crowd of people flocked to the doors, but kept at bay slightly from the two. Edward didn't seem to even notice, so Harry supposed that was how it always was. It wasn't until someone bumped in to him did Harry even remember the crowd. He turned then, and was met with dark eyes staring back at him over a pale visage.

"Sorry," Apologized the girl, even though she didn't seem to apologetic.

Harry shrugged. "It's okay." He brushed against Edward's arm accidentally, but felt the taught muscle going straight to the vampire's shoulders.

Bella.

She had yet to move though, and Harry was beginning to question if her bump into his back was completely accidental.

"Are you new here too?" She asked him slowly.

She was hard to read, and Harry still couldn't tell if she had done this purposefully or she had just simply bumped into him and decided to start a conversation. Either way, he hoped it was quick, and doubted Edward was enjoying any single moment of this.

"No." He answered quickly.

"Oh…" She gave him a strange, questioning look that read, 'But I haven't seen you around before' that he decided to ignore in hopes of cutting the conversation in half.

"So why are you here then?" Bella asked bluntly. Again, Harry was unsure if she did this to deliberately ask this or because she simply didn't know.

Instead of giving her some sort of plausible lie, he opted to swing his arm over Edward—who choked as he did so—and grin at her amusingly. "Visiting my buddy, of course!"

She blinked in surprise.

"Anyway, we have to get going." He began again quickly, before she could recover from her shock.

Lucky for the vampire next to him, she took her cue to leave wordlessly, and Edward remembered to breathe again.

"Is she magical?" Edward peered down the hallway, where Bella and her friend were walking down. The dark-haired girl kept stealing glances down the hall.

Harry paused for a moment, before shaking his head. "I honestly doubt it. If she was, her magical core is too small…she'd be a Squib."

"Squib?" Edward echoed.

"Err—someone who was born from a magical parent but has no magic."

"That happens?" He barely could wrap his mind around the whole blood part of magic. So it was passed by blood…but then how? If non-magic people could make magical children, and magical people could make non-magical children, how did that happen?

Harry seemed to have read his mind, as he chuckled and said, "It's confusing, isn't it? My friend Ron had to explain it to me, and no one really understands why it happens."

"Well I can't read her mind." Edward glowered darkly, still trailing the girl with his eyes. "And I can't read yours, or those wizards who were at your house before."

Harry blinked, and careened over Edward's shoulder to watch the girl as well.

He frowned in thought. "That shouldn't happen. The reason you can't read my mind is because of Occlumency. You see, you're a natural Legilimens, something that very few people can do. I protect my mind from Legilimens by using Occlumency. But from what I can tell, she's not an Oclumens." And then, after a pause. "Maybe it has something to do with the fact she's your Singer?"

Edward shook his head. "I don't know. But I'll tell you what; like most humans, I don't need to hear her mind to know what she's thinking." A tenebrous but altogether annoyed look passed over him.

Harry grinned in mirth. He opened the front doors where they came from and was hit with the crisp fall air. Washington and Scotland were about at the same distance from the equator, and Harry was thankful that he didn't have to go through climate change as well as a difference of time.

"I better go," He groused. "I'm completely screwing with my sleep schedule…I'd suppose it's eight in the evening in Scotland and Hermione's gonna have me studying until about four or so here."

Edward smiled at him grievously. "See you around?"

Harry grinned at him, walking backwards as he did so. "Yeah, come over any time you like. I can't promise I'll always be there, though."

And then he threw his hands up in a mild gesture. "The woes of living in two different places across the globe!"

Edward chuckled aloud at that, and blinked in surprise when Harry disappeared into thin air with a crack

While Edward was surprised with the near gun-shout sounding noise he'd hear before, Hermione certainly wasn't.

Harry popped into his living room with a crack, and Hermione bolted upright at the sound and spun quickly to face her friend and tug his ear. Harry yelped as she did so, not expecting for her to be able to catch him so fast. She stood up and yanked him over the couch in a flurry of parchment that floated to the floor like feathers, gathering on the wooden flooring like dust.

"Apparating without a license!" She huffed. "The nerve! What would Dumbledore say if he knew you were using your emancipation to do things like that?"

Harry groaned. "What would Dumbledore be able to do? I'm emancipated, Hermione! I can use underage magic because technically, I am of age!"

Hermione said nothing, only plopping down in her seat.

She turned the page of her book, before snapping it shut.

"See those books over there?"

Harry gulped. Yes. They were large and wide, probably about a full foot wide and a thousand pages inward. Without even cracking the spine Harry knew he'd hate every moment of them. Also, without even reading the title he knew the book to be a potions one. Maybe it was the way that his hairs stuck up on the back of his neck that alerted him to the danger, or the fact that Ron had graciously skipped this gathering when Harry knew he'd been dying to come over.

"You're going to read them." Her voice was steel. "All of them. By the end of the day. And then you're going to brew me those potions correctly."

Harry squeaked.

When Ron and he were finally let out of Slughorn's classroom after an exhausting sitting of potions tests, he doubted Hermione's studying did much of anything for him. In fact, he was sure he was worse for the ware since he had spent the whole night studying and hadn't bothered to sleep. Ron and Harry had used their free period before potions that was usually reserved for first-year watching to instead run to the library to cram for both potions and charms. Hermione didn't seem to be having any trouble at all. Hence; Hermione. When did she ever?

The day after, Ron was still hysterically fretting over the Gryffindor Slytherin game which was now only a day away. The redhead looked sick to his stomach and continued to swirl his food in abstract patterns over his plate, looking like some sort of uninterested macabre artist.

Hermione only sighed as she turned another page in her book.

Harry tried his best to cheer his best mate up, but the boy was dead set on his negativity.

"Just face it Harry," Ron groaned. "I'm a horrid keeper. McLaggen should have been made keeper."

"Not at all!" Harry hissed back, hoping there conversation wasn't loud enough to carry over to said Doxy egg eating seventh year. "You're going to do great Ron." And with an emphasis on the phrase, he gave Ron some ecstatic shoulder clapping.

If anything, it only made the freckled boy slump lower.

"So Harry," Hermione began conversationally, but her tone was laced with under-stated academic hush-hush, and Harry immediately leaned back slightly. "You're vampire friend. Is he a magical vampire or non-magical?"

"Magical?" Harry answered questioningly, not sure where this was leading to.

"Oh I see," And then, sotto voce, "Is it true that magical vampires have one significant power?"

"I—I'm not very sure." Harry hedged dubiously. "I know he does—

"He does?" Hermione's sharp voice made him jump.

"Yeah," He answered quickly. "Mind reading."

"Oh this is so fascinating." She gushed, brushing long wisps of hair out of her face fervently and leaning over the table. "Can he perform magic?"

"How would I know—

"You didn't test?"

"Wha—? No? Why would I do that?"

"Because! Harry, how many people do you think meet vampire clans? There's only one known wizard vampire and their covens keep to themselves." Hermione clapped her hands together wildly. "Its such a wonderful coincidence that your new location is near a coven of them! How intriguing! Have you met all of them Harry—

Said chosen one only slammed his head into the table, luckily having enough foresight to dodge his plate.

The following afternoon Harry was forced to floo immediately to Forks thanks to the Headmaster's new strict regulations against frolicking with his friends. The old man seemed bent to ruin his social life, and he was deeply missing his friends at the dorms. While Forks was charming in its small-town feel, there was something miraculous about Hogwarts castle that made him enjoy walking along the old halls even more so than usual. Just that morning he'd taken the time to sit down in front of a fountain he hadn't seen before, watching the mermaid statue twist and turn and the water spew from the pot on top of her head, and he had even sat on a stair case for a full twenty minutes until it ended up moving all the way to the seventh floor filled with angry portraits.

Mcgonagall seemed to take it upon herself to be the teacher to work her students hardest, and perhaps she had spoken to Flitwick earlier that morning and learned of his new requirements for sixth year students and decided to add some to hers.

Harry had tried to work the correct motions out of Hermione, who only sent him a scathing look and turned around to a couple other Gryffindor girls. Ever since Ron and he had caught Ginny snogging Dean Thomas and Ginny had subsequently spilled to Ron that Hermione had kissed Krum, the two turned noses at each other. Quite frankly, Harry was beginning to tire of it.

He sputtered a bit as he tripped out of the Floo, carrying a load of books and a full backpack with a feather-light charm so he didn't permanently damage his spine.

The young wizard blinked in surprise when he noticed the vampire lounging on his couch, reading Advanced Rune Translation.

"Hullo there." He greeted as pleasantly as he could around the quill in his mouth.

Edward looked at him strangely, but only laughed at the strange face Harry made when he tried to keep the quill from falling, and ended up knocking a couple books out of his arms in the process.

"Sorry I let myself in," He said, sitting upright. "It's Alice's fault really, she wanted to decorate your house in flowers—

"You didn't let her, did you?" Harry asked hurriedly.

"No, your plant ate all the decorations she tried to put up."

Harry sent a relieved look to the twisting vines that now stretched past the corner and into the foyer. The perennial plant had twisted on the small stretch of ceiling between the foyer and the sitting room, and a few periwinkle colored muffins were sprouting out of the leaves between teacups in long ropes that hung from the ceiling.

"She's outside playing with your cat, by the way."

He looked out the window to see said cat bolt down the yard after a rabbit.

His eyes trailed to the book Edward was reading, and asked questioningly, "Do you really find that interesting?"

The vampire shook his head. "Not really, but its better then anything we read at school. This must be my fortieth time reading Wuthering Heights."

"You don't like muggle books?"

"They're alright. But I've read most of them by now."

Harry sat opposite of the vampire, using a quick Accio charm to pull a book off of his shelf. "I enjoy them, honestly. You'll find that muggle's have a bit more of an imagination then Wizarding folk do. There aren't many fantasy books in the Wizarding World, but that may be in part because there's nothing to imagine because it can all be achieved."

"So you like muggle books?" Edward found it quite easy to get accustomed to using the word. It was much easier then saying 'human' books, and didn't make him feel so alien.

Harry nodded. Edward read the title, 'Midsummer's night dream' on the spine. "Well, I enjoy them. I'd love a class on them, but the only class that deals with Muggles is Muggle Studies, and the only thing they learn there is how to use a Toaster."

Edward cracked a smile then. "They need a class on how to use a toaster?"

Harry shrugged. "Well, I think they might actually get a drivers license this year. But they don't read books in the class unless they're strictly informational."

Edward paused in thought for a moment. "I suppose you could probably take a class at Forks High, like a literature class. At our age it isn't uncommon for students to only go to school for one class."

Harry paused in half skimming his book to look wide-eyed at Edward. "You think?"

The vampire hummed in thought. "Well I'm sure you could. Although usually students who only go to one class at the high school are taking the rest of them at a local college, but you don't have to tell them that." He eyed Harry's wand curiously. "Weren't you saying something about a charm that confuses people?"

"Confoundous." Harry nodded. "That could work…" He smiled then. "I'll go over and see if I can take a class!"

"We're not too far into the term yet."

"Great!" And then, Harry blinked owlishly at Edward, who blinked back. An idea had struck him. "What do you think of seeing the Wizarding World?"

Edward tilted his head. "There's a Wizarding World in America?"

"Maybe, but I don't know about it." Harry jerked his head to the floo. "You see; we're having a Quidditch Match in a couple days against Slytherin—it's one of the other houses. Maybe you and Alice could come and watch? I know you were asking about what a Quidditch pitch looked like."

Edward smiled then. "I'd love it."

"Awesome!" Harry grinned at him.

Edward leaned back in thought. He wondered what the wizarding world that Harry explained so fervently looked like. He watched the birds fly in circles at the top of the ceiling, the vines growing behind the couch, the smoking cauldron in the kitchen and the shaking plant that Harry had just dropped off, and he wondered what else the wizarding world held in store for him.


"Edward grabs Bella's hand and smells it. In the book, this action is written with a bit more passion, but yeah…he sniffs her. Do women like this? Every time I sniff a woman's hand, it usually ends with her nervously saying, "Umm…" followed by, "OK, you can spit now. The dentist will be with you in a moment."

I am now officially going to end every single chapter with a Dan Bergstein quote on twilight. Yes! This is shameless promotion! Like what you see? Visit my profile! Or, read Danny Berg's blog on sparklife.

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