The Twilight of Dawn

Chapter Ten: Highs and Lows of States

Harry left Music with a big smile on his face, he always felt better after he'd played out his feelings, and as Mr. Denase had asked him to play something for the class, so they could get a feel of his talent, he'd played anything that came to mind. No matter what he played, he always strung it together beautifully. And what he'd played had pleased Mr. Denase greatly and awed the students around him, something only Edward Cullen had ever been able to do with his piano talent. Looking to the left of the door, Harry found Alice standing and waiting, a bright smile upon her face, almost like she was happy to see Harry so happy.

Moving almost too quick for him to see, Alice grabbed his arm and began pulling her new friend to their History class, chatting away about her previous class, which turned out to be Italian. Before long the vampire was dragging him to the back corner of the classroom after, to his amusement, she stole the office note right from his pocket and got the teacher to sign it.

"So Harry, do you know anything about the American History of the Ku Klux Klan?" Alice asked with an almost unnoticeable down turn of her smile.

With a slight frown, Harry tried to recall what Remus had been telling him in their lessons. Unfortunately, History was one thing he was never good at. Too many things to remember; names, dates, places, reasons and events. Amid a shake of his head, the wizard answered. "Sorry no. I don't quite remember. I'm terribly horrid at history, it and I just can't agree."

"Alright, well we're starting a movie today, and it's based on a true story surrounding acts of the Ku Klux Klan. It's called Mississippi Burning and gives a very accurate account of what happened and an explanation of who and what the Ku Klux Klan are all about."

With that said, she gave the arm she still hadn't released a gentle squeeze before turning to face the T.V. their teacher had set up whilst they and the rest of the class spoke.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

By the time the bell rang to signal the end of 2nd period, Harry had mentally paired each member of the Ku Klux Klan in the movie with a previous Death Eater, though he hadn't found ones to match up with Voldemort and Fenrir Greyback yet, but he was sure he would.

Alice, having seen the preoccupied look in her friends eyes, had left him to his thoughts, though still keeping a close look on his future and a hand on his arm.

Once their teacher released them, the entire class broke out into chatter as they headed out for their 15 minute break before the next class.

Alice once more glanced to her side, and watched as Harry walked almost mechanically to the table they'd been seated at that morning. "Harry?"

"Hmm..?" The raven boy answered as he took a seat. The awareness returned to his eyes quickly and he looked into her concerned gaze.

"Are you alright?" At this point in time, the seer really wasn't sure if he was or not, even with reading his future.

"I will be... It's just a really close reminder of things of what I left back in England," '…too close a reminder…' he added silently to himself.

"Well... you know, if you need someone to talk to, I'm here and so is Edward. I mean, I know we've only known each other since this morning, but there's just this feeling I've got that you'll have a major impact on my life. If that makes any sense at all." Though she hadn't meant to say all of that, she definitely felt it would help in the long run of gaining Harry's trust.

The young wizard sat for several moments, just staring at the spritely vampire before a soft smile came across his face and he touched her hand. "Thank you," and when he said that, he really meant it. The bright smile that spread across Alice's lips and had her eyes sparkling in a way that they would have shamed the sun if it was out.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Spanish class wasn't as good as Harry had been hoping it would be. Having been taught by Sirius, who had several relatives migrated from Spain, Harry knew he'd have a slight advantage, but to be a whole year ahead of what the class was being taught… definitely wasn't what he'd been expecting. However the teacher, a Ms. Hernandez, had asked if he could cashier class credits that way, and by doing assignments.

As he exited the classroom after the bell, Harry glanced to the right and once again, there was Alice again, but this time she was holding hands with the blonde Harry had identified yesterday as the newest vampire to the veggie diet.

"Harry, this is Jasper, my boyfriend. Jasper, this is Harry, the one Edward was talking about," Alice introduced with a gleeful smile.

"I knew it! I knew he spoke about me!" Harry said triumphantly before reaching out a hand. "It's nice to meet you Jasper."

Hesitating only a second, Jasper grasped the wizards' outstretched hand. "And you as well, Harry" the vampire said in kin, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the rush of emotions coming from the boy in front of him. As Alice began towards the Gym with Harry on her other side, Jasper started to catalogue the feelings he was reading from the youth. They were slightly different from yesterday, where he'd been nervous, annoyed, angered and when he's left, a little confused and lighthearted. Today, the feeling of lightheartedness had increased and a sense of achievement hung around him. There was definitely less annoyance and no nerves, but the anger still remained. 'It's probably left over from History class; Alice did say they were watching Mississippi Burning today.'

Turning slightly, he studied the wizard as he and Alice chatted away about something or other. Unlike yesterday, Harry's movements were a lot smoother, gaining a certain strategically grace Jasper had seen many times before in his extended life time; soldiers.

'How could he be a soldier or more as such? He's only 17 and he certainly doesn't seem the type to have willingly gone into any military summer camp. I'll have to find out what's been going on over in Great Britain lately.'

It was as he was finishing this thought that his wife pushed both himself and Harry into the bleachers that were on the sides of the multi courts that were the gym floor. Watching as she danced off to the changing rooms, Jasper felt Harry's gaze settle on the side of his face. Glancing towards those piercing eyes, the blonde found his companion watching him with an unreadable expression. Delving forward with his senses, he found the same feelings as before, but this time a strong sense of intrigue and admiration were closer to the surface. 'Admiration? Where'd that come from?' Deciding to take a chance and to scope out Edward's mate, Jasper turned to face him fully.

"Harry, Edward told me during break that you're an excellent musician and that Mr. Denase had known of you well before you moved here," 'Might as well start on a comfortable ground.'

Harry was startled to hear such praise from a vampire who'd probably been around for several musical eras and the fact that he was playing Volleyball on the court before himself and Jasper, didn't help the blood rushing to his face. Noticing the slight turn of Jasper's brow and slightly disconcerted look, Harry figured he was wondering why he wasn't being tempted by the blood he could likely smell.

"Well, that's very kind of Edward to say, but I'm not that good. I've just been playing for a long time. I was actually a student of Mr. Denase's sister back at my Primary school in England, before I left for boarding school. She taught me everything I know, from the age I was 6 to 11," Harry responded with a slight smile.

"Where did you go to boarding school?"

Harry gave a small bitter smile, and his mood changed to match his expression. "Hogwarts, a school for the gifted. I spent 6 years there."

Down on the court, Edward noticed the decline in his mate's lightheartedness through Jasper and had to keep himself firmly on the court, otherwise he knew he'd be rushing to Harry's side to wrap him up and try and take the pain away. Maintaining focus on the game in front of him, he allowed his mind to pick up to continued progress of his little mate's emotions, whilst cursing the school's bell endlessly, annoyed at it's inability to end gym so he could be near Harry. 'Hurry up!'

Hello all! I'm so sorry for the long wait, so much stuff has happened since I last updated. I've deferred from Uni, I've gotten a new job and am working full time, has 7 family birthdays' in August and start of September, several more family members are on the decline and probably won't be getting much better, 1 netball Grand final, 2 netball Prelim finals and my 18th birthday last Friday, so yeah.. been fairly busy and distracted.

I actually wrote this entire chapter whilst at work this week, since I have time between customers at my counter and my supervisor doesn't mind. Hopefully, I can write some more chapters the same way. Not sure when I'll have the next one up but it will be up eventually.

Oh and I found out a while the amount of time it would take to get from England to Seattle, just forgot to put it up last time. If they took off at 10:17am (London time) like I said, they would have landed around the 11:45am (Seattle time), as the time difference is 8 hours between them, and it's a 9 and a half hour flight, so yeah.. that should be about right, as I've check it out on the British Airways flight plans and they got one at 3:15pm that lands in Seattle at 4:45pm. Hopefully I've gotten that right, if not, I'm sorry.

Hope you all enjoyed this one, let me know if you did, or if you didn't.

Vidaaya,

The Love Dragon.

The Nightingale by Deborah Henson-Conant – song Harry played that was done by Haral