Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and The Twilight Saga. They belong to J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer. I am writing this just for fun and no money is being made.
AN: I want to thank each and everyone of you for your response to my stories. I really appreciate it guys.
I would like to apologize for any mistakes in advance.
Edward was staring at the man in front of him with wide eyes. How did he know what he was? They seem like normal humans to him, but his mind was telling him something else. They vanished in front of his eyes, no one was able to see them and the house he was in wasn't visible to anyone else apart from those who knew how to enter in the house. What were these people? As he focused more on them, he realized he was able to hear the thoughts of other three people, only bits and pieces and not so clearly, but still he was able to hear them, and still he got nothing from the girl. As he forced himself to look deeper into the girl's mind, he hit a wall again, invisible hands pushed at him and he hit the door at the back of him with a loud thud. As he came to himself, he stared at the girl with shock, who now herself had become a mystery to him.
He was still staring at her, when she narrowed her eyes at him and asked, "What are you doing?"
The man bared his teeth at him and pushed the stick more deeply into his throat, "Who are you?"
"I…um… Edward Cullen." He stuttered and found himself shocked at the turn of events. Never in his life has he stuttered, nor had he seen any other vampire do it. Well, he had been breaking every law lately, so it shouldn't surprise him, he thought. He had never seen a human threatening a vampire, and it had to be the first for his kind.
He was still in shock, when the man hissed at him. "Show me your left wrist."
"What? Why?" He asked baffled. Why do they need to see his left wrist?
"Do it before I kill you." The man said balefully, as he bared his teeth again.
Edward didn't know what to think. On one hand, his instincts were telling him to run as far as possible from here, but on the other hand, he wanted to attack the man for threatening him. At last, he did what the man said, pulled the sleeve of his left wrist up and showed it to them. All four of them relaxed, but not much.
"He's not a Death Eather." The man whispered, while still glaring at him.
Edwards brows furrowed and he asked, "What's a Death Eater?"
Again, three gazes snapped towards him and he looked back at the four of them. He couldn't understand what was happening and who were these people? He was sure these were not normal humans, but their heartbeat was just like others, even though none of them smelled like food to him. Their house was invisible to the everyone but them, they knew he was a vampire and weren't afraid ever after that. What exactly were these people?
"Hermione, I need veritaserum." The man said through gritted teeth and the girl with brown hair rummaged through her purse for some time. He saw as her whole hand vanished inside a small handbag, his eyes widened as she pulled something out after a long time and gave it to the man.
He was still staring at her purse, when a glass vial with a clear liquid was shoved towards him and the man again hissed at him, "Drink."
His eyes widened even more as he stared at the man and then at the glass vial. The man knew that he was a vampire, but not that he couldn't eat or drink anything other than his 'special diet'? But, how did they know about his kind in the first place?
"Uhmm… I… I cannot… Mr…" he tried, but nothing much came out. How should he tell them, that he only drank 'blood' and couldn't drink whatever the liquid was?
"Now!" The man snapped.
Edward closed his eyes and with a frustrated sigh, he took the vial, opened it and swallowed it all in a go. He grimaced. It was the vilest thing he had ever tasted and he had tried to taste human foods which tasted like mud to him.
"Who are you?" The man asked, while still jabbing the stick at him. He stared at the other three, who were also pointing their sticks at him? What was with these people?
"I am Edward Cullen." He answered automatically.
"Did the Dark Lord send you here?" the man asked.
His brows furrowed. He had never heard about 'a Dark Lord'. Alice told him, that his future vanished as soon as he decided to enter this house and he was regretting it thoroughly now. "The Dark Lord? Who is that? I haven't heard of him before. I am sorry. I shouldn't have entered your premises without your consent. I will just leave." he couldn't help himself as he said this.
The man ignored him and asked again, "How did you get in this house?"
"I followed the boy." He blurted out and his eyes widened. He didn't want to tell him that. He's never had any problem with lying before. Why wasn't he able to stop himself?
"What did you give me?" he asked cautiously.
The man arched an eyebrow at him and asked, "Why did you follow the boy?"
"I wasn't able to read your thoughts the other day," he pointed towards the girl and answered involuntary, "Its only happened once before and I was intrigued, so I followed you, but you vanished outside the building and waited for anything like that. And then he appeared out of nowhere and I followed him inside."
"What do you mean when you say 'you weren't able to hear my thoughts'?" It was the green-eyed girl who asked him this time.
"I can read every single mind around me, but with you, its like hitting a wall. Though I can read their thoughts, they are not as clear but I can still hear them." He couldn't understand what had happened to him, why was he answering everything without a second thought, but he was positive that it was because of the 'liquid', they had given him.
"Are you a muggle?" the boy asked as he looked at him questioningly.
"What is a muggle?" he asked exasperatedly.
He saw as the tension eased in their shoulders and the boy said rather loudly, "Bloody hell."
"Why are you here?" The girl with brown hair asked.
He tried to stop himself from blurting everything out, but it was no use. He ended up telling them everything which was private to him. "My fiancée, Bella, needed some time to decide somethings. I knew I wouldn't be able to give her the space she wanted if I stayed anywhere near her, so I decided to come here until she decides what she wants."
He was infuriated and glared at the girl as he finished, who was looking rather sheepishly at him.
"One last question. Why aren't your eyes red?" The green-eyed girl asked.
He tried to stop himself, he really did, but was unable to stop himself and responded mechanically, "Me and my family, we consider ourselves as vegetarians. We survive only on animal blood."
Finally, they lowered their sticks and sighed.
It seemed like a floodgate opened as soon as the words left his mouth and the girl with brown hair started ranting, "How can you read minds? I've read it that some of the vampires develop a special power when they are turned. Is reading minds your power? Can you explain it to me? Do you know others who have powers as well? Can you tell me about them? And what about your 'food'? How do you survive on animal blood? Is it difficult? You said that your family feeds on animals as well. Can you tell me about them? Are there others like you?"
Edward stared wide eyed, as the girl didn't stop even for a single breath as she asked him all the questions. It didn't surprise the others as they merely rolled their eyes at her, but the boy said, "Merlin's Beard, Hermione! Let the guy breathe." then he looked at him and said, "You don't need to answer that, mate."
"What do we do with him?" The girl with black hair asked the man.
"Can we keep him? He was afraid of me." He man answered the girl with glee, as he bounced on his feet and stared at the girl with a huge smile.
He wanted to know what was in the vial, even though he was sure it was because of the liquid they had given him. He had loads of questions, which he wanted them to answer, but wasn't sure how he should ask them.
"Hello." The girl said and he looked at her. "Sorry about that. That's Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger." As she nodded towards the other two. "He's Sirius." When he looked at the guy, he winked at him. "I'm Rhea Iris Potter."
Even though he nodded, but he wanted to know what was in the vial? He was sure it was the foulest things on earth. And, he wanted to know what were these people? They hadn't told him anything, but he knew how unusual this was. So, he looked at them and asked cautiously, "What was in the vial?"
"It was veritaserum. It's a powerful truth serum. The potion effectively forces the drinker to answer any questions put to them truthfully. It doesn't have any side-effects on the drinker." Hermione answered him and he took a relieved breath.
"You have a truth serum? I haven't heard about anything like this in all my years." He asked in awe.
"Yes. Well, I'm sure you want the answers which you were here originally for. Let's go in the kitchen." Rhea answered, at which he nodded.
Rhea was petite, 5'6 at most, which wasn't that short, but it was when compared to his 6'3 frame. She was wearing round glasses on a thin face and had a thin scar on her forehead which was shaped like a bolt of lightning. She had curly black hair which were flowing down her waist, and her eyes. That was what had attracted him towards her in the first place. Her eyes were passionate green, that the oceans turn during a storm or the color of the forest after it rains.
He was able to read the thoughts of the others, but not her and he wanted to know why, so he gave her a nod.
.
As he followed them, he remembered that the front steps were also worn which led him to the battered front door. There was a silver knocker in the shape of a twisted serpent, with no keyholes, handles, or anything else that would indicate it to be a door.
They were in a long hallway which was lit with gas lamps and had a large overhead chandelier. He realized that the house was extremely old, ancestral maybe, and at a time, this must have been a grand entryway. The place was a dark, gloomy and cobwebby. The wallpaper was peeling off and the carpet was worn thin.
The walls were covered with portraits, but the most prominent was an enormous portrait of 'an old woman who was wearing a black cap'. She was drooling, her eyes were rolling, the yellowing skin of her face stretched taught and she started screaming as soon as they passed her.
"Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Mudbloods, filthy half-breeds, blood traitors, freaks, begone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers? You! Vampire! You are a dark creature! Better than any of these filthy beings. Kill them—"
For a split second, he thought that he was looking through a window and the woman was screaming from behind that window. Then he realized that it was simply a life-size portrait, the most realistic, but the most unpleasant one he had seen in his entire life and she was talking to him. Not only that, she was ordering him to kill the others?
Sirius pushed him aside and started shouting at the woman in return and he couldn't do anything, but stare at the both of them with his jaw hanging open.
"Once in your life, shut your mouth! You foolish old woman! You are dead!"
Rhea rolled her eyes and darted forward as she tried to tug the curtains shut, but the woman just screeched louder, brandishing clawed hands as though trying to tear at their faces. Hemione came forward, flicked her stick towards the portrait and the curtains closed themselves.
He was still staring when Hermione said, "Sorry about that. She was Sirius's mother. Grimmauld Place belongs to him." Even though he nodded robotically, he still wasn't able to comprehend that the portrait of a dead woman was shouting obscenities at them.
.
Most of the décor in the entry hall was made of serpents, though there was an umbrella stand made from a severed leg? He stopped short and stared at it in horror.
"It's the leg of a troll." Sirius said with a grin as he saw him looking at the 'stand'.
He looked around and saw, that on one side of the hallway was the dining room, which featured a dresser holding the a family crest and china. At the end of the hallway were the stairs to the upper floors, decorated with a row of heads of some creatures, mounted on the wall on plaques.
There was a door at the far end of the entry hall and as they entered it, he saw that it was the kitchen. The kitchen was a large, "cavernous" room with a large fireplace at the far end. Iron pots and pans were hanging from the ceiling above, and a long wooden table was sitting in the center of the room, which was large enough to fit a couple dozen people around for a meal. The room looked ancient but was sparkling.
.
They took a seat on the table, when Rhea shouted, "Kreacher!"
His eyes narrowed at her. He knew 'vampires' were dark creatures, but to call him 'Creature' instead of his given name was discourteous. But he was startled, when a tiny creature with a snout-like nose and bloodshot bluish eyes appeared out of nowhere in front of them. He had never seen anything it. Its heartbeat was slow, but rhythmical.
"What can Kreacher do for Mistress Potter?" the 'creature' squeaked as Edward stared at it.
"Can you bring something to drink for our guest?" Rhea asked, at which the creature nodded and vanished in front of his eyes with a snap of his fingers.
He couldn't exactly drink whatever they might offer, so he decided to decline it politely.
"I don't…" he started and hadn't even finished half his sentence, when the thing reappeared and placed a golden goblet in front of him and vanished again.
Edward stared at the spot and blinked, then he smelled blood and his gaze snapped towards the goblet. It was filled with animal blood, but how? The creature just vanished seconds ago. He couldn't form a sentence and settled on a single word as he stared at the four occupants of the room, "How?"
Sirius gave him a mischievous grin and said, "Magic."
He looked at Sirius and asked, "Magic? And what was that thing?"
"It's a house elf. They are magical creatures, who serve wizards and witches and are immensely devoted and loyal to the one designated as their master." It was Rhea who answered him.
He, then focused on the thoughts of the three people present there and realized, that they were indeed telling him the truth, no matter how much his mind protested. It wasn't entirely clear, but he was able to see what a muggle was, them doing magic with the help of their wands, Hogwarts – a school where they studied magic, a blond-haired boy calling Hermione a 'mudblood' and how their world was divided on the basis of blood, which was the most prominent thought in all their mind. He saw that the Dark Lord and his followers were the ones behind the 'terrorist attacks' in London and that these people were trying to defeat the man, who was known as Voldemort.
He came back to himself and looked at the four people in front of him, who were staring right at him. First thing he realized was that, he could only hear their thoughts if he focused enough, and even then he wasn't able to hear Rhea's thoughts. Second thing was magic! They were wizards and witches and they had their own world which was hidden. It explained why even Carlisle didn't know about it. Not only that, but there were people who wanted to kill them. Now, that he understood the reason behind their paranoia, he couldn't blame them for threatening him. He and his family had always been cautious as well and these four certainly required to stay valiant. He couldn't decipher himself or his family members living such a life, but here they were. Facing a war alone! He didn't blame them for their reaction, which was explainable in itself. He had seen, that these people were in hiding because the man wanted to kill Rhea, but he wasn't able to get any more than that.
Edward looked at Rhea, who was staring at him and asked in a whisper, "Why does he want to kill you?"
Even though there wasn't much noise before, it went utterly silent after he asked her. He looked around and saw all four of them staring at him with different expressions on their faces.
Sirius suddenly looked furious, like he wanted to kill someone; Ron and Hermione, who were bickering at something until now, were staring at him in a stupefied manner.
Rhea turned away from him and towards the fireplace, but not before he saw her expressions turning vacant.
'What exactly had happened with her?'
EN: I am working on 4 stories, simultaneously. I promise I will try to update them as often as I can.
I hope you liked this one and Thank You all for your love. 😊
I have posted another story 'The Targaryen Siblings', which has Jon Snow/Female Harry pairing. Check it out if you like GOT.
Sept 17th, 2018
