Several strange things occurred in Bella's house that morning. The first was that she actually woke up before her alarm had gone off, something she hadn't done in several years. The second oddity came in the form of her father sitting at the breakfast table drinking his morning coffee, who usually by this time was out the door to the station. Setting herself down with her usual boring bowl of cereal, the last and by far the most out of place incident occurred when Charlie opened his mouth to voluntarily start a conversation.

"So, Bells. How's the new school going?" He asked awkwardly.

Bella was fully aware how odd her relationship with her father was. While they both cared for each other very much, there was rarely a time when they just sat and talked. She knew that this question that her father had just asked her would be considered perfectly normal and mundane in your typical family, but Bella couldn't help but feel that something strange must be happening for Charlie to ask such a normal question.

"Oh, it's, uh, fine," she mumbled to her bowl of cereal. Curious as to what had encouraged the conversation starter, but equally hopeful that she had just provided the conversation closer, Bella simply shovelled more cereal into her mouth and chewed silently.

"Good. That's good," Charlie murmured. "Made any new friends yet?"

What had gotten into him this morning?

"Well, I've met a few people so far," Bella replied politely. "A couple I remember from before, I think." It had been 4 years since she'd been in Forks and many more than that since schooling here, she could hardly be expected to remember everyone her age.

"Good. That's good," Charlie gave the same response as before, indicating that he wasn't really concentrating on what was being said, but rather on what he was actually wanting to say.

"The reason I ask, Bella –" he started.

'Ah,' Bella thought, 'so there is a reason behind this conversation.'

"– is because I know there's another new kid starting there today," Charlie explained with less awkwardness this time having gotten to the crux of the matter. "Just moved here from England."

Bella stayed silent. An uncomfortable feeling was brewing in her stomach that had nothing to do with the slightly stale cereal now digesting inside.

"Name's Harry. Kid's had a tough time of late and isn't used to the American way of life yet. Help him out, won't you?" Charlie's eyes rested hopefully on his daughter.

Ever since the boy – Harry, she now knew him to be called – had run from her in the shops two days ago, Bella had wondered whether she should tell Charlie about him. What normal, innocent person runs at the mention of the police? Though you wouldn't think that a criminal would be interested in registering at the local high school. Whatever was wrong with the nervous teenager, Bella figured it wouldn't help her work it out by getting her father on his case. The last thing the guy probably needed was the police breathing down his neck. So Bella had said nothing to her father about the strange foreign boy who didn't make sense. Now, it seemed, Charlie wanted her to befriend him anyway. If his attitude two days ago was anything to go by, Bella felt that it was going to be a much more difficult task than her father might expect.

"Sure, Charlie."

Bella didn't see any sign of Harry all morning. In fact, it wasn't until lunch time that she even heard his name mentioned.

"Have you guys seen that new guy yet? Harry?" Jessica asked the group. Bella had sat with the same group since her first day, and mostly enjoyed the company. She usually stayed silent and just tuned in and out of the conversations around her. This was one conversation she couldn't help but listen in on.

"Yeah, we have," said Ben, indicating to himself and Eric. "He was in our Trigonometry class this morning. Strange dude. Refused to introduce himself to the class, just stared at Mr Varner until he let him sit down."

"He sat next to me in English," Angela added, "and didn't really say anything. He looked really annoyed though. Kind of standoffish. Maybe he's just lonely."

"Just some foreign recluse more like." Eric scoffed. "Hardly going out of his way to make friends, is he? Death-staring everyone he comes across." Ben nodded his head in agreement.

"Well I think he's dreamy," Jessica announced. "And the English accent is so hot." As she said this, her eyes glazed over and she sighed.

'Oh brother,' thought Bella.

Bella chanced a sideways glance over at the Cullen table and, as usual, saw Edward staring at her again. The whole family seemed to be more on edge than usual though; each of them looked rather concerned about something, and Rosalie looked murderous, staring at the entrance to the cafeteria as though waiting for her mortal enemy to walk through. Following the ice queen's gaze, Bella saw what was making her glare.

Harry had just walked into the cafeteria, and as he did, a brief silence fell on the room. As quickly as it had stopped, the chatter rose up again, but Harry didn't move from his spot. Instead, Bella noticed he was staring with equal hatred and anger at Rosalie and the rest of the Cullens. Turning sharply on his heel, Harry stormed to the door leading to the outside seating area, today deserted due to the continuing rain. Bella watched as he pulled his hood up and sat down at one of the tables, slowly getting wetter.

Bella turned back to her group to see them all staring after Harry as well.

"What was that about?" Mike asked, as startled as the rest of them by the new student's furious escape. They all shook their heads in response. No one could explain Harry's actions.

Charlie's words echoed in Bella's head. If she was being honest with herself, it seemed unlikely that Harry would appreciate Bella coming to talk to him. Nevertheless she had promised Charlie, and so she found herself standing and picking up her tray.

"Bella, where are you going?" Angela asked. "We've got Biology next, remember?" The others were looking at her too.

"I know, I won't miss it, don't worry. I'll see you there." Bella walked to the trash to dispose of her rubbish and return her tray and headed towards the door Harry had gone through. As she walked she peeked at the Cullens again and saw them all deep in conversation, all except Edward, who instead of staring at Bella, was now staring out the window at the dark figure hunched over one of the picnic tables.

Bella pushed open the glass door and put up her own hood as she stepped out into the freezing rain. On a warm, sunny day, Bella could see how this would be a very pleasant place to sit with the distant forest providing a peaceful backdrop. On a day like today, however, it was cold, wet, and miserable. Bella sloshed over to Harry, his dark hoodie made even darker by the rain that now drenched him. She didn't sit.

"You'll catch a cold if you stay out here much longer," she called. Harry didn't turn around and didn't respond. Bella was just about to say something else when Harry responded.

"Who are they?" He demanded, his voice shaking with anger, and something else. Was it fear?

"They're the Cullens," Bella stated. Noticing the way Harry's shoulders tensed at the name, she added, "Why? Do you know them?" Did he perhaps know something about them? About why they acted so differently from anybody else?

"I know that anyone called Cullen is not to be trusted." He didn't elaborate. He just kept staring at the one spot on the table in front of him, the rain continuing to drip from his hood. Bella walked around and sat across from him, getting her first good look at him since their first meeting. He looked much healthier; clean shaven and sporting a new haircut, Harry looked years younger than he had just two days ago. Now Bella could clearly see in front of her the lonely boy no older than she was herself.

Bella didn't understand how someone new to Forks could have such a deep hatred of the Cullens. From Bella's understanding the family had moved to Forks roughly two years earlier, the father taking up a post at the hospital and the kids moving into the local high school. As far as she was aware and from what she had seen at school, they kept to themselves and didn't associate with anyone who wasn't family. So how could this guy from the other side of the world know and despise such a reclusive group of people?

Maybe Harry had met one of them before starting at the school. Although their presence seemed to come as a nasty shock to him, suggesting he didn't know there were any Cullens at the school. That could only mean he'd met one of the two parents. Bella didn't know much about Mrs Cullen and she only knew that the father was a doctor at the hospital. Perhaps he'd needed to undergo a medical examination before starting at school here? If fact, the more Bella thought on it, Harry hadn't looked very well at all when they had first met. He was so pale and nervous, jumping at anything, all just after…

'No. Surely.'

"It was you." Bella whispered on a breath. For she had worked it out now, all of it. Why Harry had been so uneasy at the grocery store, why he had seemed so ill, why now he was terrified of anything to do with the word Cullen.

Harry was the boy who ran away from Forks Hospital, and Bella would bet her life that the Cullen patriarch had been his doctor.

For the first time since she had joined him, Harry lifted his eyes up from the table. Bella could see no light or warmth in those eyes. Lifeless orbs of green glared at her from behind the round glasses which were spattered with rain. Past the anger and rage that was pushed to the surface, Bella saw sadness. Pain and suffering.

"You're the one they were all looking for. Aren't you." It wasn't a question. Bella knew the truth now.

"Oh, fantastic," Harry growled, "everyone's talking about how I'm some runaway delinquent, is that it?" He pushed himself up from the table, flinging drops of water onto Bella. "I haven't got time for this." He started to make his way back to the cafeteria.

"Wait!" Bella cried, relieved when he stopped and turned to face her. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. I don't think people know, actually," she added in a hope to alleviate some of his anger. "I'm sorry I mentioned it. My dad told me to look out for you, but I'm doing this all wrong." This was another bad thing to say.

"Oh he did, did he?" Harry scoffed. "Sending you to spy on me when he can't watch me, is that it? Well you can tell him that I don't appreciate my life being controlled. I certainly don't need his silly daughter watching over me," he finished with a sneer, the first facial expression she had seen him make that properly reached his eyes.

"Fine," Bella snapped back. If he didn't want her help, then so be it. "Be like that. Just remember," she called to his now retreating form, "shutting everyone out like this won't get you friends for when the world crashes around you." And without giving him another look she stormed past him into the warmth and dry of the cafeteria. Just as the door was closing she thought she heard a broken voice behind her.

"Too late."

Harry's day could not be going slower. All day people had been staring at him, some even daring to try and talk to him. All of it was getting on his nerves. Not that Harry wasn't used to being stared at wherever he went at school. But still, he had hoped that a different continent might have given him enough space from all that nonsense. No such luck.

Walking through the hallways to his next class, Biology with a Mr Banner, Harry was freezing. His jumper was soaked and he himself was sodden all the way through. But even if he had known how to dry his clothes he wouldn't. The previous night he had made a pact with himself, and he wasn't about to break it less than 24 hours later.

Finally he found the right room a few minutes after the bell had rung, not that Harry cared. He handed in his attendance slip to the teacher, who thankfully didn't try to make him introduce himself to the class, and gathered his new syllabus book. When he turned to look at the class for the first time, he inhaled sharply and stiffened.

Staring back at him from the table behind the only empty chair in the room, was one of those damn Cullens. At lunch, Harry had been fuming at the doctor who just happened to forget to mention that there were five more things like him at the school. Everyone in that cafeteria had been lucky he hadn't broken his personal pact then and there and let himself loose on them. Now he had to deal with one of them in his class? Having no other option available, Harry ignored Cullen and sat in his chair firmly facing forwards. He only vaguely registered the smiling face of the boy beside him.

"Hi," he said cheerfully. "I'm Mike. You're Harry, right?" The boy, Mike, clearly couldn't see the scowl that was glued on his new partner's face. Harry made it more obvious by turning to look at him while he grunted in response. Unfortunately, Mike took this as an invitation to continue speaking.

"So what brings your family to Forks? Seems like a strange place to come from England."

'Well I didn't choose to come here,' Harry replied in his head. Out loud he said nothing, hoping that if he just ignored Mike's questioning he too would turn to the front and try to listen to the lesson; Harry had no idea what Mr Banner was talking about. Stupid Muggle school.

"What was your school Biology like in England?" This kid was persistent. Maybe if Harry just answered one question he'd stop.

"Like this, I guess." Harry of course had never studied Biology in his life and was quickly realising how much of a setback that was going to be.

Again to Harry's misfortune, Mike wasn't dissuaded by his short answer.

"So have you done the stages of mitosis before?"

'What the hell is a mitosis?'

"No, actually. I haven't." Maybe he was in over his head here. What did he know about normal science? He could still drop out and just leave.

"Mr Potter," Mr Banner called from the front of the room. Harry flushed. "I understand being new you must be eager to make new friends, but might I suggest you do that in your own time rather than mine?" Everyone was staring at him now.

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir." Harry refused to look at Mike for the rest of the class.

Finally the class came to an end, Harry no closer to understanding anything about Biology. He had almost forgotten about what was sitting behind him, only remembering when he heard the scrape of the chair and soft footsteps approaching. Gathering his things as quickly as possible, Harry ran for the open door leaving poor Mike looking very confused.

A headache pounding at his temples, Harry ditched his last class – gym – by getting permission from the nurse at the sick bay to go home. Once he walked out the main entrance, he let out a huge sigh and began the long walk home. Of course, he could have just apparated and he'd be home in a second but that would go against his promise. Instead, he walked through the quiet streets, thinking about how best to address his education problem. He should have expected it, really, having come from seven years of very different schooling it was always going to be a struggle to suddenly jump back into his old world. Harry hadn't had normal school subjects like Mathematics and Science since he was 10 years old. It was quite a leap to suddenly go to high school level study.

As Harry walked past the hospital, he was very aware that the previous day Doctor Cullen had told him to come to the hospital and speak to him about his day. Despite his awareness of this, Harry walked past without so much as a sideways glance, not feeling the least bit guilty. He kept on walking to his own street and his own giant house which was now, thankfully, fully stocked with food. Unlocking his front door with the key he had found the day before, Harry dropped his bag just inside and emptied his pockets onto the coffee table before going to the fridge to fix himself some proper lunch.

As he sat eating his salad sandwich, Harry thought about his day. A part of him wished he had been nicer to some of the other students who had made an effort with him, but he knew why he hadn't. Harry knew now that the only sure way to have your heart broken is to make friends you can lose. Through distance he could protect himself. Get swept up in friendships and he would be opening himself up to more heartache. Admittedly he could have handled some of it better, especially his argument with Bella, but then he remembered how the Chief had put her up to it in the first place. If it had been up to her, Bella probably wouldn't have bothered trying to befriend him. She was just a pawn of her father, his eyes in the field keeping watch over the prisoner.

Harry cleaned away his mess and went out to the living room to flop on the sofa. His new owl – she really needed a name – slept on the back of a chair. He would need to find a proper perch for her. Just as he was achieving extreme comfort, there was a knock on the front door. Harry frowned. There were only two people who knew his address, and he wouldn't be happy to see either of them at the door. School had only just officially finished, so perhaps if he ignored them they might go away thinking he wasn't home yet.

*Knock knock*

Sighing, Harry stood up and reluctantly went to open the door. Not bothering with a greeting, Harry turned and went straight back to his sofa, leaving the doctor to close the door after himself.

"Hello, Harry," Doctor Cullen said politely. He didn't sit. "There's an owl in your living room," he added in confusion.

"Mm," grunted Harry in response. Neither man spoke for a time. Still the doctor stood there. "You've got some nerve, showing your face here," Harry muttered darkly, refusing to look over at his guest.

"I heard you pass the hospital earlier. I was disappointed that you were leaving school early, but more disappointed that you did not come and see me like I had asked." Harry could actually hear the disappointment in the doctor's voice. It was quite amazing how good at acting it had become. "I thought I would give you the benefit of the doubt and come and see you myself to make sure you weren't unwell." The tone of voice told Harry that Doctor Cullen had known perfectly well that he would find nothing wrong, and that he knew Harry was just disobeying orders.

"So, how was your day at school?"

Harry turned to stare. "Seriously?" He asked, stunned. "We're seriously doing this?" Harry was trying to keep his anger in check, but he couldn't help the bitterness that laced his words. The doctor didn't respond. Instead he just stood there waiting for an answer to his question. Harry's anger bubbled over.

"Alright then, if you have to know, my day was rubbish all thanks to you and your secret little family that no one bothered to tell me about!" Harry seethed. "Why would you not tell me about that? Surely that should be high on the list of what to tell me, even just a little 'Hey Harry, by the way, there's another five things like me at your school, just a heads up so you don't freak out and blow something up', but nooo let's leave it for me to find out on my own!" Harry was raving now. Finally he had someone to unleash his rage on.

"Harry, I'm sorry," again he managed to make this sound genuine, "I should have told you, but I was worried that you might not go to school at all if you had known. I had told them to leave you alone," the doctor added in what he obviously hoped was a calming manner. How wrong he was.

"There it is again!" Harry cried, punching his fist into the back of the sofa. "I am SICK of people controlling my life and thinking they know what's best for me! 'Cause I've got a newsflash for you, Doctor, you DON'T! No one does except me! I have had every aspect of my life controlled and decided for me since I was one, and I don't need the Chief of Police, his daughter, or an army of dark creatures TELLING ME WHAT TO DO!" Harry's head was pounding, his headache from earlier having built in strength. All he could hear was the blood pounding painfully in his temple, and so it was with difficulty that he heard the response to his outburst.

"I'm sorry I can't take back what's happened to you before, but let me help you now," Doctor Cullen pleaded. Harry just scoffed.

"What are you, my psychiatrist?"

"Well, you are lying on a sofa," the doctor reasoned.

"Oho!" Harry cried. "So it makes jokes, too?"

The doctor sighed. "Harry, please. I can see that there are things controlling you beyond what you say about myself and the Chief. There are things from your past that are still troubling you. I wish to help you, and perhaps my… situation could allow me to understand better than most what you have been through."

"You could never understand," Harry muttered quietly. "No one could. Anyone who might have understood is dead or as good as." His voice shook but this time it wasn't with anger. He rolled away from Doctor Cullen so he was facing into the sofa.

"I am sorry you feel that way, but remember," the doctor had come closer now, Harry could hear his voice from just beside the sofa, "my offer will always stand. You shouldn't have to face this alone."

You don't have to face everything alone, Harry.

"That's what they always said," he whispered, more to himself than anybody else.

"Who always said, Harry?"

Hadn't he heard those words thousands of times before? Right before marching head first into any crisis, those words had been spoken to him, and hearing them again now almost brought about his undoing. Almost.

"No one important," he replied coldly, pushing himself upright. "Not anymore." Doctor Cullen had been kneeling beside the sofa, but stood once more as Harry rose from his inferior position. "I've moved on, Doctor, and trying to make me think about my past will only make me angry. You've seen what happens when I get angry. Do you want that directed at you?" Harry's voice was strong once more. He had just about had enough of the doctor's meddling.

"You won't hurt me, Harry," Doctor Cullen said with a confident smile that made Harry's blood boil.

"Oh yeah?" Harry stood at his full height, staring down the other man despite being several inches shorter. "You have no idea what I'm capable of; I could bring you unimaginable pain, freeze your whole body to never move again. I could burn you to cinders and destroy the ashes just as easily. All it would take is one thought." He could feel the fire burning inside him, his eyes blazing at the man before him. The vampire.

Instead of backing down as Harry had planned, the doctor simply returned Harry's steady gaze and said, "I have no doubt that you could do those things to me, Harry, but I stand by what I said: You will not hurt me."

The two men stared at each other for a long time. At last Harry's shoulders sagged.

"Why are you so confident?"

The doctor didn't answer right away. He stepped back and made his way over to the window again to look outside. The rain had finally stopped.

"Because, Harry, I know that you are inherently a good person."

Was he a good person? Harry wasn't so sure. All of a sudden, as though his conscience was determined to argue with the doctor, Harry's memories were unleashed; Malfoy's rattling breath as he lay in his own blood on the bathroom floor, all the unforgivable curses he performed to reach his goal, and just recently, hadn't he abandoned his friends condemning them to death? How could someone with a past riddled with evil and wrongdoings be good?

"You know nothing of me and my life," Harry said bitterly. "I've done terrible things. Some you could never imagine. What makes you say that I'm good?" Harry fixed a sneer to his face, but he knew it was disguising his true emotions. He needed to be told, for he had forgotten himself.

When Doctor Cullen spoke, he spoke slowly, "If I have learned anything in my life, it is that evil and remorse can never truly coexist. You are not a bad person, Harry. You are a very good person to whom bad things have happened. Remember that." The last words were pleading.

Could it be that simple? Was this pain and loss he was feeling enough to eradicate everything he had done? Harry didn't understand. It sounded very similar to a lesson that another wizened old man had once tried to teach him. If it were true, then why did he still feel so lost?

Harry didn't respond to the doctor's words of comfort. He just slumped back down onto the sofa behind him and stared dejectedly at the floor.

"I was very sorry to hear about your parents." There he was again, voice filled with genuine emotion that Harry just couldn't understand.

"Yeah, well, thanks, but I don't need your pity," Harry retorted, trying to inject some annoyance back into his words. But Harry was finding it difficult to snipe. The doctor had achieved what he had wanted; Harry's past was flooding his system. And it hurt. He wanted to shut it out like he had before, but the more he fought it, the harder it pushed back. Maybe that was why he found himself still talking, staring into nothing.

"I was only one. A long time ago," he admitted, his voice dying to a whisper. For the first time since his arrival, Doctor Cullen sat down in the armchair beside the sofa. Harry wasn't paying attention though. His thoughts were miles away, back in a cottage of a small village sixteen years ago.

"May I ask how?" His voice was soft, but it carried across to Harry easily.

"Hm? Murdered," Harry said simply. "My dad…then Mum." And he could see it. The nightmare that had haunted his childhood playing in front of him. "Still…long time ago." He could hear his mother scream as the bright green light enveloped his vision. "Moved on." A high pitched and cruel laughter filled his ears.

"Stop it," he cursed himself, "just stop it."

He clutched at his head, desperate to get a grip back on the current situation. He wasn't in Godric's Hollow. He was in Forks, in America, he was 17 years old, and there was a vampire in the room. Slowly, his breathing calmed and he was able to think again. He wiped his eyes on his hands, but they were dry.

"Do you have any friends back home, Harry?" Almost jumping out of his skin, Harry looked at the doctor. He had almost forgotten he was there. Shutting off his mind from the pain once more, Harry was finally able to fuel his anger again.

"Shut up," he growled, "Doctor Cullen, please, shut up." Harry had had enough of this therapy session. "I think it would be best if you left."

At first Cullen looked as though he was going to argue that he should stay, but perhaps it was the tone in Harry's voice or the look on his face that made the doctor keep his thoughts to himself.

"Of course," he said simply. "I shall leave you to rest for tomorrow. If you need anything you can always find me at the hospital," he added in a hopeful tone.

"Mm, I'm sure I won't." Harry stood up and strode to the front door, holding it open for his guest to leave. "Bye."

Ignoring the rudeness of the dismissal, the doctor walked leisurely to the door but stopped just short of the front porch.

"You know, you really shouldn't leave things like that lying around," he said, gesturing towards the coffee table on which lay the Elder Wand. Harry turned to look at it, feeling the anger rise once more.

"Thanks for the advice," and he shut the door right on the doctor's heel.

Walking slowly back into the living room, Harry picked up the Elder Wand and looked at it in disgust.

"Not that it matters anyway. I swore: no more magic."