I realized that I haven't done a disclaimer in a while….so I do not own Harry Potter and Twilight, but I do own the original characters that I introduced in the last chapter and the characters that may appear in later chapters. Now that we have that over with, on to the story!
Harry POV
As always, freedom can only last for so long. We landed at the edge of our property, thinking in the back of our minds that surely the family would realize we need them out here. When Edward touched down to the ground, albeit quite a bit clumsier then I had ever seen him before, he unceremoniously dropped himself to the hard ground and proceeded to take deep deliberate unneeded breathes through his mouth.
This got many giggles out of our companions/captors, not used to seeing someone be so absolutely pleased to be back on the ground. I wonder what they would say if they saw Hermione in the air… This thought of course brought back memories of Sirius and a very well loved Hippogriff. Quickly, I shook my head to rid the memories before they could overwhelm me.
The leader of the small group dismounted her broom, and resituated her ripped, worse for wear, backpack. She then made her way over to where I was standing beside Edward, who was still lying on the ground, and seemed to not want to move for a very long time. Her braid had come undone during the trip and sent her chestnut hair spiraling over her shoulders in natural waves.
"Why did you bring us here? There is no house anywhere in sight." Her eyes narrowed. "Or, do vampires live out in the woods like any common beast?" She was smirking as she said this.
Edward gave a disgruntled snort at the snide remark. I just crossed my arm over my chest, "Do you honestly think that I would bring you all to my family before finding out more about you? Do I look that stupid?" She raised one eyebrow at me. Well that answered my question.
"Well…" I heard the blonde girl, Roxy, I believe, start, but the other girl gave her a sharp look, quickly silencing her joke, but I could still see the mischievous glint in her eyes.
"We had a deal. I could easily knock you out again, and let my friends have their fun practicing as many spells as they would like on you." The dark haired boy shifted in an uncomfortable manner, and refused to look me in the eye, though, the others seemed to enjoy the thought of being able to have 'fun' with us.
"You could…but I know you won't." Swallowing my nervousness, I grinned at her. She let out a sigh of annoyance, and I could see her patience was starting to wear thin. Perfect.
"Pray, tell me why I wouldn't?" Her voice dripped with sarcasm and annoyance. Now her arms were over her relatively small chest; feet firmly planted on the ground.
"Because, you know who I am, and it's killing you wondering, wondering about everything. Why I'm here with these people? What really happened? Am I getting warm?" Her brown eyes hardened with each word I said, but also had the exact same questions in them. The three boys and other girl had very confused looks on their faces, looking towards the girl for answers.
"What is he talking about, chief?" The first officer made his way to stand by his commanding officer. The blood from his cut was still dried on his face, making his quite a gruesome sight.
She sighed and stared into his eyes for a moment before answering him. "His name is Harry Potter. I'm sure you have all heard of him." There were several gasps heard from the group. The first officer, Troyce, just got a hard look on his face and looked me up and down; obviously trying to make himself believe what she said is true.
Edward at this moment decided to pop his head up, looking back and forth between the small group of wizards and me. I could tell he was thinking about whether or not to try and intervene, like that helped the last time.
"What?!" My head snapped up at the strangled sound that came from the tall, pale, dark haired boy. His hands were clinched tight, arms pinned down to his sides, whole body trembling.
Roxy quickly headed over to his side and wrapped a comforting arm around his shaking shoulders. "It's okay Sam, just calm down. Take deep breaths." Sam sucked in slow deep breaths and calmed his shaking body.
"Please excuse Sam; it's just a little shocking to hear that the Savior of the wizarding world, who as far as we knew had been dead for the past month, but here you are alive and well. Well, as alive as you can be in this…state." Her words were bitter as she glared at me.
My eye's narrowed slightly at her words, but guilt again pooled in my stomach at her words. Sam's shoulders were still slightly shaking, eyes clinched shut. It reminded me of myself when I am trying to make the memories go away. It never seems to work.
"You honestly think that he wanted this? He had no choice in this. None of us did." Edward's sharp tone pierced the tense silence. All six of us turned to look at him. He was still sprawled on the dirty ground, his clothes rumbled and dirty. If I did not see the determination in his jaw, I wouldn't have believed that it was him that had spoken. My mouth dropped slightly in shock.
"I think we all have a little explaining to do." For a second time our heads snapped up to find the source of the new voice. Carlisle stood with the rest of the family, and I mean all of them. Emmett and Rosalie stood side by side with their arms crossed; Emmett's face held excitement, hidden by a fierce look of protectiveness for his family. Rosalie's was of indifference, but knowing her there was panic going on inside her. Jasper was just a few paces in front of Alice, mild curiosity graced his features. Alice was jumping up and down excitedly, staring at the wizards. Bella was hidden behind all of them, and I could tell that Edward was not happy to see her put into a potentially dangerous situation. What Hermione was doing made me smile. My family had tried to push her to the back with Bella, but she pushed forward through them, wand out and aimed at the leader, her face firm ready to strike. Always ready for a fight, my Hermione.
"Oh bugger," growled the girl. Emmett smirked.
We were severely outnumbered, and I never like to be out numbered. I glanced up at Troyce and Jeriel. Both had their wands drawn and hidden under their sleeves. I nodded and felt my wand shoot into my hand, from the holster hidden in my sleeve. The girl's, who I realized was The Golden Trio's brains, wand was pointed straight at me. Roxy left her position beside Sam and shifted closer to me.
The vampire, named Edward, got up much more gracefully than when he fell down; he raced through the crowd to the back, and took up residence beside a dark headed girl, and quickly wrapped an arm around her petite frame. She almost melted into his embrace. I felt my lip curl slightly in disgust at the sight of a perfectly innocent human being with a vampire.
A blonde haired vampire stepped forward; he looked slightly older than the rest of them. He raised his hands, in I suppose a calming jester. Harry's eyes held mirth in them at the sight. Maybe he had seen this gesture before.
"How about we put down the wands, and just talk about this rationally?" He looked pointedly at Hermione and then at me. She gave him a look that said, 'Are you crazy?' but slowly lowered her wand. I sighed and holstered my wand, crossing my arms across my chest, copying the vampire that reminded me a lot of Jeriel.
"Now, that's a lot better, don't you think?" He smiled a pleasant smile that I'm sure made most people feel at ease, but I'm not most people. He clapped his hands together. "How about we introduce ourselves to each other? Maybe we should get a little more comfortable? Harry, would you please?" The man turned towards Harry, silently asking him to provide some sort of comfortable seating. Harry rolled his eyes, and waved his hand over a pile of rocks a few feet away from us. They started to transform in front of us. His eyes were clinched shut, concentrating on the task before him. Wandless magic is very rare, and to see it in this raw powerful form was awe inspiring. The rocks formed three rock couches, one a little longer than the others. That one was obviously for us. Harry then cast, what I assumed was a cushioning charm on them.
Roxy looked between me and the couch. I raised my eyebrow and nodded towards the couch, silently saying, 'Go ahead, if you must.' She grinned, grabbed Sam's wrist and drug him over to the longest of the three couches. Jeriel followed closely behind them, one eye always on the offending group of vampires. The blonde vampire, who had spoken earlier, took a beautiful woman's hand and led her over to another couch. The one that reminded me of Jeriel and his mate sat down beside them. Harry went over and took Hermione's hand, but glanced back at the pixie haired girl. The one wearing cowboy boots glared slightly at him, and grabbed the pixie girl's hand, and drug her over to the couch, with the other two couples. That left one couch for Edward, his human mate, Harry and Hermione.
Troyce came up beside me and placed a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off and stepped over to the couch and sat down on the edge, leaving enough room for Troyce to sit in-between Jeriel and me. It was surprisingly bouncy, even with a cushioning charm. I let Troyce settle beside me, and shift a little closer than I would have liked in front of the rest of my group.
"Now that we are all comfortable, we can start with the introductions. I'm Carlisle Cullen, and this is my wife, Esme." The motherly woman smiled at us. For a moment, she reminded me of my mom, but just for a moment. "This is my son Emmett and his wife Rosalie." The one that reminded me of Jeriel nodded towards us, his wife just remained impassive. "My daughter Alice and her husband Jasper." The pixie haired girl was still bouncing up and down, her mate just grinned down at her. "You have already met my sons, Edward and Harry. This is Edward's girlfriend Bella, and this is Hermione, Harry's girlfriend." My head snapped up at this statement. Girlfriend huh? That one's new.
"I know who they are." I nodded my head towards Harry and Hermione. Hermione glanced up at him, but he quickly shook his head to silence her questions, that he knew were about to pore out of her mouth.
He looked at us expectantly. Roxy jumped at the chance to talk. "My name is Roxy Harrington, this is Samuel Rosner." She pointed towards Sam who awkwardly waved in their direction, not raising his head to meet their eyes. Then Roxy decided to continue. "The big muscle guy sitting beside me is Jeriel Solon." Jeriel shifted in his seat and just stared in their general direction. "Mister broody over here is Troyce." She looked over at me, expecting me to introduce myself.
I growled under my breath. "My name is Amalia Springer. Now that introductions are over, you mind telling me why the Savior of the wizarding world is living in Forks, is a vampire, and is still able to perform magic. Wandless magic no less?" Harry shifted uncomfortably beside Hermione, swallowing audibly. I smirked at his obvious nervousness.
Hermione could hold her tongue no longer. "I could ask a similar question of you! Why are five wizards camping out in an old parking garage, in an area infested with vampires? Why aren't you with your families? The war is over, you should be celebrating." Troyce's hand grabbed mine and squeezed it.
My makeshift family grew sober, and I could tell that the vampires were very confused. "Did you ever wonder what was going on in America, while Great Britain was fighting its war?" Hermione and Harry looked at each other then turned towards me, and shook their heads in a negative fashion. "Well maybe I should enlighten you."
Two Years Ago
The halls were cold this morning I noted, as I made my way down to the cafeteria with Roxy slightly skipping beside me. I guess it shouldn't be a surprise since we are up in the Rocky Mountains. When I glanced at her, she still had a bounce in her step, even at seven o'clock in the morning. I couldn't help but laugh at her happy go lucky attitude. It was like all that lived in her mind was rainbows and unicorns, and maybe boys. Okay most definitely boys.
The cafeteria was full of the noise from the owls flying overhead and the buzz of overexcited voices. Several round tables filled the large room, all of them filled to the max with children ranging between twelve and eighteen. I looked over the room, and spotted my little brother sitting with a friend, at the far end of the room. His light brown hair was gelled into a Mohawk going down the middle of his head. He was small for his fourteen years, but his personality made up for it. Bradford noticed me staring at him; he rolled his eyes at me, but smiled and waved at me anyway.
Roxy laughed and pulled me along to our normal table, Jeriel and Sam were already sitting down eating their enormous breakfasts. When I sat down my plate was filled with my favorite breakfast. Silently I smiled, I always did love magic. Jeriel noticed that we had arrived and smiled at the two of us, swallowed his food he was chewing, then he began speaking. Luckily we had instilled some manners in him during our five years of friendship.
"What took you guys so long? Breakfast is almost over?" I glared at my best friend who had just sat down beside Samuel. She had to make sure that her hair looked just right before coming to breakfast, just in case her crush finally took notice of her. Which of course he did, but didn't know how to show it since he was stealing quick glances from beside her, when she wasn't looking. This of course made us late, and almost made us miss the most important meal of the day. Jeriel noticed who I was glaring at and nodded in understanding. Roxy always seems to be late for everything, which of course makes me late.
Sam pushed back his plate and sighed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "You know it's a good thing that you got here when you did. The Headmistress said she had a very important announcement to make, and by the look on her face it doesn't look like it's a good one."
I looked over at the long rectangle table that all of the teachers sat at, seated in the middle was Headmistress Paquette. She was a small French woman who had a fierce temper. Her normal pleasant expression was vacant, not seeming to even realize that the Charms teacher was trying to engage her in conversation. She seemed oblivious to just about everything. Something wasn't right.
Jeriel and I shared a look of worry, then I glanced back over at my brother. He was still well and laughing with his friends; nothing to worry about right? Apparently, I was wrong.
Headmistress Paquette stood up from her ornate chair, making a loud screech as she did; this effectively got everyone's attention. She was staring out at the end of the room and did not seem to be able to see anything. "Good morning students." She said in a misty sort of voice. We all mumbled a greeting in reply. "As you already know Voldemort has come back into power over Great Britain." A hush fell over the room. Not many people dare speak his name. I noticed many people shudder as she said it. "Last night there was an attack on Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Whispers broke out across the tables. Disbelief was the main emotion in us. Hogwarts seemed untouchable. It was the best wizarding school in the world, many people would say. "I am here to inform you that their Headmaster Albus Dumbledore was killed last night in the attack." She said this in such a calm monotone voice that all of us thought she was joking, but the pregnant silence showed us the truth in her words. I felt something wet fall down onto my cheek. I think all of the girls in the hall were crying to some degree at the news.
"Hogwarts has fallen and so has the Ministry. I dare say that I know we are next." Panic of course coursed through the people in the room, teachers included. Her eyes unclouded for just a moment, and she tried to make eye contact with as many of us as she could. "I'm sorry my children. I have failed you. Fight with all of your might." She went back into a trance like state. "They are here." With this she fell down in a dead faint. That was when the screaming started.
The doors flew open with a bang, revealing a group of forty or more people. Wands pointed high all aiming for the head table where the teachers were seated. Many of them were trying to awaken the fallen Headmistress, but it was no use. We would later find out that she had been confounded to drink a slow acting poison, and let these people into our school. Quickly they stunned all of the teachers; not even giving them time to react that there were intruders invading our cafeteria.
A man with long blonde hair, who looked quite rumbled and sunken in, stepped forward carrying a pitch black cane with a silver snake on the top. He looked around at all of us. Many had not even had time to process that we very well in danger; some like me already had their wands drawn ready to be used, at a moment's notice.
"This is good. Very good…Take them all. We can't have them running off and joining the precious Savior now, can we?" He said in a British accent. He smiled a crooked, evil smile, and then proceeded to leave the hall. His minions stared at us for a few seconds, eyes glinting. The spells began flying.
Every type of spell that you can think of was flying past, and none of them seemed to affect them. They were like a blur, speeding through the crowds of kids. Spells bounced off the walls, some of which hit unsuspecting students. I quickly dived under the table, Jeriel, Roxy, and Sam joined me. Wand clenched tightly in our hands, we looked at each other for encouragement. We had always heard of the horror stories about the things that happened in the first war, but we never thought that we were going to have to deal with them ourselves. Turns out, we were very wrong.
A spell flew under the table, barely missing Roxy's leg. "We have got to get out of here!" Roxy cried as she clung to Sam's arm, which had just pulled her out of the way of the oncoming spell. I shook my head in agreement; I felt a pang of panic hit me in the chest. Bradford was out there, my fourteen year old brother is in a battle and I'm not over there to protect him.
"We have to get to Bradford. Then, we will get as far away from here as we can." I told them where he had been, and made a plan. Well, we more like agreed to have each other's backs as we made a mad dash over to him. "One…Two…Three!"
When we jumped out from under the table we were not expecting four of the minions to be there waiting for us. Immediately, they had us in a death hold, their grip was supernaturally tight. Quickly they knocked out Jeriel and Sam, seeing them as the biggest threats. I heard Roxy whimper quietly, as the one who had her tighten his grip. It was then that I realized why they were so strong and fast, why none of our spells worked on them. They had red eyes…
"Vampires…" I ground out struggling with the vampire who had me in a head lock. Franticly, I searched the room. Many of my classmates lay either dead or unconscious on the floor, and the ones who were still in the land of the living, were being carted off like sheep to the slaughter. I saw a glimpse of a Mohawk and started screaming. Bradford was slung over one of the vampire's shoulders unconscious, being taken away from the hall. I fought even harder to break from my captor's grip, but it was no use. He was too strong. "Bradford! Bradford! How dare you take him! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? LET HIM GO!" I yelled over and over, until my captor had had enough, and promptly hit me over the head. The last thing I saw before everything went dark was my little brother being taken away from me, and I could do nothing to stop it.
HPOV
The silence was deafening after she finished her story.Hermione's hand was shaking in mine by the time that she had finished her story. Obviously, there was more to her story, but I did not want to push her anymore. She had tears streaming down her face, but her voice never faltered. The other witch and wizards had somber expressions, recalling that day themselves, I imagine. My family was in various stages of shock and sadness. None of them seemed to know what to say to console the obviously hurting teenagers.
"We had no idea…" Hermione finally broke the silence. She was staring horror struck at the girl, Amalia she said her name was. Amalia sniffed and quickly wiped the tears off of her cheeks. She shoved off the arm that her first officer had put around her shoulders, immediately returning to her hard, war ready self, locking her emotions away, not able to deal with at this moment.
"Of course you didn't. You had your own war to take care of. Why would you care to even think about someone else's?" She glared at us, not having as much ferocity as she did before. "I think I have said as much as I need to about my story. I think it is time to explain yours." Nervously, I glanced over at Alice, silently asking permission to share it. It was her story, as well. She nodded her head ever so little that if I had not been looking for it, I would have mistaken it as a shift in position.
"It's a bit of a long story. I don't know if I can get it all said in one sitting." I laughed, but it held no humor. She raised one eyebrow, and said what I think may be her catch phrase.
"Try."
That is where I am leaving this chapter! What do you think of the American wizards, and who do you think the man with the long hair is? Hope you all like it! Please review