Harry and Merope and the Mystery of Forks
Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own any of these characters, only the plots and situations that you do not recognize.
A/N: So, I just finished reading a Twilight fanfic called Will Things Change? By 2brown-eyes. I enjoyed it so much that I added it to my list of favorites. I probably would have started writing this chapter sooner, had I not gotten sucked into that story.
I'll put any additional notes and thoughts on my profile page, so I don't end up inflating my word-count unnecessarily.
Chapter 7
The next morning, Harry woke up to the alarm clock blaring, reminding him that it was time to get up and get ready to go to La Push to meet up Mike and his friends over at First Beach. Harry groaned and waved his hand to engage the snooze function, not ready to wake up yet, then he pulled Merope closer to him and buried his face into her hair and breathed in her scent. He decided then and there that he didn't ever want to go world hopping without her again, the nights had been downright miserable.
Harry had almost dozed off again when the alarm started beeping at him again. He silenced it with a wave of the hand and rolled over onto his back and rubbed his eyes with a yawn. Reluctantly, he climbed out of bed to take a shower and wake up. While he told Mike he would meet his group at the beach in La Push around nine-thirty or ten, he actually intended to arrive a bit earlier to take a walk around the trails in the surrounding forests. If he was really lucky, maybe he could find out more about the werewolves that supposedly existed there.
Thinking about the werewolves and the treaty the Cullens told he and Merope about had him shaking his head. Why in the name of Merlin would werewolves care if the vampires turned a human into a vampire? At least the victims who became vampires were more likely to have a choice in the matter, unlike the victims of werewolves. And if these werewolves believed themselves to be some sort of protector species, what did they do to prevent themselves from turning any unwilling victims?
Harry felt somewhat doubtful that he would find any answers during his walk today, but seeing the trails again was still something that he looked forward to, even though he would enjoy the experience more if Merope had decided to come on the trip with him. He was startled out of his musings when he felt Merope wrap her arms around him from behind and he grinned as she proceeded to help him wash off.
After a delightful time in the shower, Harry and Merope both made breakfast together before sitting down to go over their plans for the day.
Merope confirmed that she intended to hang out with the Cullens and do research, which reminded Harry that he had picked up a few additional items during his recent trip, including all the blood pops that were in stock at Honeydukes in Hogsmeade and several recipe books that had instructions on making food edible for vampires.
Sadly, it appeared that the recipes would only work when combined with certain charms and magical ingredients, so it wasn't something that the vampires would be able to prepare for themselves. After a bit of thought, it was decided that they would spend the next few evenings in the Room of Requirement under time compression so that way they could prepare several of the meals and store them under preservation spells.
When Merope questioned about the number of magical ingredients Harry had brought back with him, Harry assured her that he brought enough cuttings back with him so that they could set up one room in the RoR as a magical greenhouse, or several, and plant them. They would then have all the magical ingredients that they should need for the time they decided to spend in this world.
Checking the time, Harry hurried and finished his breakfast and cleaned up his dishes, then walked down to the RoR to request a room where he could store the magical ingredients without them going bad on him before he and Merope could set them up in greenhouses. Thankfully, his herbology skills had improved over the years, as well has his potions abilities, though Merope was better at potions.
When he returned, he gave the stock of blood pops to Merope to give to the Cullens/Hales. He had briefly considered saving them for give to the Cullens/Hales as Christmas presents, but changed his mind when he considered that the sooner he could provide them with more food options to better blend in with the humans, the better.
After a quick kiss goodbye, Harry took off on his broom disguised as a motorcycle and headed over to La Push.
Meanwhile, the Cullens were trying to stay occupied in their excitement for Merope to come over and visit.
Carlisle, in his excitement for the opportunity to research new texts, had made sure that he had the day off from the hospital, surprising his coworkers, as he rarely asked for time off.
Esme was keeping herself busy in the kitchen. Edward had to keep reminding her that Merope was only one person, therefore, she couldn't possibly eat the amount of food that Esme had been considering preparing.
Rosalie stayed busy tinkering in the garage. While she liked Merope and Harry a lot and she was happy to spend time with Merope while she visited, she was secretly hoping that these magical texts they were going to research would somehow provide the answer to a cure for vampirism, or at least a way for her to carry her own children. Though she decided, now that Harry and Merope had provided them with these rings to blend in easier, she thought she might find adoption bearable, but she wanted to exhaust all other possibilities before she even considered it.
Alice kept herself busy checking over the family's stocks and bond, though, it was a bit more challenging without her abilities to See. She sighed and wished for the thousandth time that Harry and Merope were able to find a way to unblock her gift.
Jasper and Emmett were staying occupied by playing video games together.
Edward kept himself busy by playing the piano and trying not to hear everyone's thoughts, though Rosalie's was the loudest and more difficult to block out at the moment. He found himself hoping, for her sake, that the Potters would be able to find something to grant her wish to become a mother.
Finally, there was a knock on the door. Edward, being the closest, opened the door to find Merope there with a mischievous smile on her face. Edward smiled back and stepped to the side and invited her inside.
"You seem to be in a playful mood today," Edward said to Merope with a polite smile.
Merope's grin widened and said, "Well, I'm a little excited to be spending time with you all."
By that point, everyone else had joined them all in the living room and Esme exclaimed, "Oh! We're so excited for you to be here with us, too." Then Esme rushed over and gave Merope a motherly hug and invited her to have a seat.
"Before I sit," Merope said, "I come bearing gifts." When the Cullens looked as if they were going to deny the need for gifts, Merope raised a hand and said, "Before you say anything, Harry world hopped last night and took a trip to the Magical World, bringing these back with him for you all." Then Merope reached into her backpack and pulled out the package of blood pops with a smile on her face.
All the vampires froze at the smell of blood, except for Carlisle, and their eyes darkened.
Carlisle looked at Merope in confusion and asked politely, "May I ask what exactly you have there?"
Merope said with a shrug, "They're blood pops. I've never had one myself, but it's a sweet that the magical world makes for vampires." Then rather than pass them out by hand, she levitated one to each vampire and set the rest of the package down on a nearby table.
No one seemed brave enough to try them. Merope furrowed her eyebrows in confusion when it seemed all of the vampires stopped breathing and asked, "Is there something wrong?"
Jasper, being the one with the most problems with bloodlust was the one who asked, "Are these made with human blood?"
Merope frowned in thought and said, "I'm not sure, as I don't have a list of the ingredients with me, but I believe it's created from a potion that is designed to automatically make it taste like your favorite flavor of blood."
"Will it change the color of our eyes?" Edward asked cautiously.
Merope shrugged again and said, "Even if it does, your rings will make it unnoticeable."
Edward gave a sheepish smile and said, "I didn't think about that."
"You know, if you're too scared to try them, I can find some other vampires to give them to, I suppose…." Merope said.
That statement caused the vampires to collectively feel guilty for behaving as if they were ungrateful for the thoughtful gift and they each tentatively stuck out their tongues to take a taste and their eyes widened in surprise at how good they were.
"This is incredible," Carlisle said in shock.
"How many of these did you bring?" Alice asked in excitement.
"These are awesome!" Emmett exclaimed.
Merope smiled and said, "Well, Harry bought out the shop, so there are several hundreds or thousands here in this box. Oh, wait. It looks like he paid extra to have it an everlasting package, which means it should continuously refill and never run out. Hopefully, it still works when it's located in another world from the manufacturer."
"But that box looks so tiny," said Emmett in confusion.
"Magic, Emmett," whispered Rosalie.
"Oh, right." Emmett responded sheepishly.
Merope smiled in response and added, "We thought it would be something you could carry with you and it would help you blend in, because it's something that you could actually eat and digest."
"That's very thoughtful of you, dear," said Esme, smiling fondly.
Merope smiled in response and said, "Yes, well, we've come to care for your family a great deal, and we're glad to help you." After a moment of consideration, Merope added, "Harry also found some recipe books that have instructions on how to prepare food that vampires can eat."
"Oh! Did you bring them with you?" Esme asked with excitement. She couldn't wait to try out recipes for things that she and her family could actually eat.
Merope shook her head sadly and explained, "From what Harry told me, the recipes require magical ingredients and certain spells in order to make the food actually edible for you. So Harry and I planned to cook up a few meals for you all over the weekend and add preservation spells to them, so they will not spoil before you can eat them. Then we're going to set up a space where we can grow all of the magical ingredients we'll need for future meals. "
"Oh," said Esme with a noticeable look of disappointment at not being able to cook the meals herself. After a brief moment, she shook off her disappointment and said with a grateful smile, "Well, I thank you and Harry for the meals, I look forward to trying food again."
"You're very welcome, Esme," Merope said. "Perhaps after Harry and I have been able to go through all of the recipe books, we'll be able to adapt them in some way that will allow you to prepare the food yourselves. I understand that you would love the opportunity to cook for your family, I wouldn't purposely try to prevent you from doing such."
Esme's smile brightened and said, "I would greatly appreciate it if you and Harry were able to do that for us. I love to cook, you see, but we can never eat the food."
Merope smiled and said, "I completely understand, Esme. I imagine I would feel the same way, if I were in your shoes."
Rosalie looked excited about the prospect of eating food again rather than hunting animals and asked excitedly, "How exactly does this food work?"
Merope tilted her head to the side in thought and said, "My understanding is that the completed recipes resemble real food, but the moment it's placed in your mouth and is swallowed, it's actually converted to a blood substitute and absorbed into your body."
Edward furrowed his eyebrows in thought and asked, "What would it taste like?"
Merope shrugged and said with a playful smile, "I don't know. You'll have to tell me after you have the opportunity to taste it."
The family all chuckled in response. After a few moments of small talk and a few more blood pops, Carlisle clapped his hands and said, as he attempted to restrain his excitement, "Well, I do believe we had plans this afternoon to look through your magical book collection."
Merope grinned playfully and said, "Yes, Carlisle, you are correct. I was only waiting to see how long it would take for you to burst in excitement."
Carlisle mock frowned, while everyone else laughed in amusement.
A few moments later, everyone was soon absorbed in reading about a magical world they would never see and fascinating tales about vampires that appeared to be vastly different from themselves.
Harry had been wandering the forests of La Push for the last thirty minutes, when he saw that it was nearing the time that Mike and his group should be arriving at First Beach soon, so Harry decided it was time to start walking back that direction to meet up with them.
So far, Harry had seen no obvious signs of werewolves, although he hadn't really expected to actually see any wolves in broad daylight, whether it was day of the full moon or not. He did, however, notice some rather large paw prints in some of the more dirt-covered areas that seemed to be pretty massive, much larger than the typical werewolf. He wondered if there could possibly be bears in the area and was somewhat surprised he hadn't come up on any, since the tracks seemed to be fairly fresh.
He briefly thought about looking into a hunting license, as he had heard the locals mention that bear meat was delicious and he had no problems with wanting to try new foods. Though, he wondered if he didn't necessarily need a hunting license if he hunted with magic. He shrugged to himself and decided it was something to think about, maybe it could be a new hobby for Evan to take up.
He was nearing the edge of the forest when he thought he saw a glimpse of red hair and heard a low growl, but when he turned around to look more fully, there was nothing there. He shrugged to himself, thinking it was probably nothing but his overactive imagination, and resumed his trek down to the beach, he was just about to leave the shelter of the trees when it seemed a desperate thought was reaching out to him. "I need help. I can't protect the tribe when I'm this much outnumbered."
That caused Harry to think that perhaps he wasn't imagining things after all, so he engaged his stealth mode and turned back around to investigate.
Sam Uley was currently in his wolf form staring down the red-headed female leech, while he was slowly being surrounded by her two companions. "Well, this is just great," he thought to himself. "I'm the only wolf in the tribe and I don't have backup. I certainly don't like the odds."
He wanted to whimper, but he didn't want the leeches to see that he was frightened. He thought desperately to himself, "I need help. I can't protect the tribe when I'm this much outnumbered."
At this point, he just wanted the leeches to leave the area, he wasn't foolish enough to want to engage them in a fight when the numbers were on their side. He didn't like the look on the blond male's face, he seemed as if it were all just an exciting game. He looked like the kind of leech that liked to play with his prey.
Suddenly, just as Sam thought the blond was going lunge for him, the redhead stiffened and said suddenly, "James, we need to leave."
The blond, who Sam now assumed to be James, stopped at that and looked intently at the redhead. "Why should we leave? We have him outnumbered, there can't possibly be any danger from him." Then he dismissed her and turned his attention back to Sam.
"You know my talent, James," the redhead hissed in nervousness, as her eyes darted back and forth as if she were looking for incoming danger.
As Harry approached he heard the red-headed female say, "James, we need to leave." Harry shook his head and thought to himself how ironic it was that a redhead would be in the company of a man named James. He would color himself shocked if her name turned out to be Lily.
Harry listened to the response from James and the as yet unnamed redhead's reference to her talent. He watched curiously as the redhead appeared to be searching for something and exuded an aura of extreme nervousness and fear.
"My instincts tell me something is dangerous to us here, but it wasn't triggered by the wolf," the redhead hissed almost too fast for Harry to understand.
Harry found it interesting that she could somehow sense his dangerousness while he was in stealth mode. He stood there silently studying them as she and this James fellow hissed back and forth too low for him to hear without walking closer to them. There were three of them present, all with red eyes, which Harry immediately understood them to be vampires, but unlike the Cullens, they fed on human blood.
The third vampire that was present remained in a defensive crouch, but made no attempts to attack.
Checking his watch again, Harry saw that he was cutting it too close to the meeting time with Mike and them, so decided it was time to wind this up. His sympathies towards magical creatures is what prevented him from just killing all three vampires outright, he understood that it was their nature to hunt and kill other humans. He was currently willing to allow the three to leave unharmed, as long as they left the area and didn't return.
So Harry, remaining in stealth mode, walked over to James and the redhead, the closer he got, he noticed the redhead getting more and more jittery in her desire to escape from the danger. Then Harry made a point to drop only the defenses that would allow his voice to be heard and said as menacingly as he could, "You should listen to your little redhead there, James."
James jerked around and asked just as menacingly, "Who said that?" He looked around in confusion, seeing no one else present.
Harry smiled grimly, though he knew he wasn't visible to them and they couldn't see his expression, and said, "I've gone by many names over the years, but the only one that you should be worried about is Master of Death."
"What do I care about death for? I'm immortal." James scoffed.
The redhead could no longer hold back her shudders, it appeared as if she was in physical pain as she tried to fight against her natural instincts to flee from danger.
"Oh, yes, I'm sure you believe yourself immortal, but I could kill you where you stand with a flick of my wrist and there would be nothing you could do to stop me." Harry whispered. "I'm giving you a chance, as I have a particular soft spot for magical creatures, leave these woods and leave this town. If you do, I won't harm you. If you don't...well, let's just say you won't live long enough to regret it."
The redhead whimpered, "James, please."
The third vampire was spooked, he wondered who this voice could be. It sounded as if they were very near, but there was not even a scent. "James, I think we should do as this Master of Death orders. I'd rather not take my chances."
James' eyes narrowed and said, "Fine, we'll leave." For now, he thought to himself. This game just took an interesting turn and it's not one I'm willing to lose.
Faster than a blink, the three vampires disappeared in a flash, then Harry turned his attention to the wolf. "Are you alright there, mate?" Harry asked as he came out of stealth mode and revealed himself. He chuckled when the wolf looked at him slack jawed. Harry imagined it to be quite a shock to the wolf to see himself as his rescuer, even though he had filled out as he had gotten older and he could use magic to change his appearance when he wished, he still came across as someone unassuming rather than dangerous.
Speaking to the wolf again, Harry said with a kind smile, "Look, it's fine if you're not comfortable revealing yourself. I can tell you're not a regular wolf and I'm sure you're not a traditional werewolf, as it's day time and there is no full moon. I was in the area and only interfered because you projected your thoughts so loudly in your desperation for help and your fear for the safety of your tribe."
The wolf still appeared to be in shock and was trying to process everything, so Harry added, "My name is Harry Potter and I understand your need for secrecy, as I tend to keep my abilities to myself, unless it's someone I know I can trust." Harry noticed recognition register in the wolf's eyes, more so after Harry had said his name, so he added, "I can tell that you're at least familiar with my name."
The wolf nodded.
"Would you feel more comfortable if I just read your thoughts for a moment, that way you could talk to me in your thoughts?" Harry asked carefully.
After a moment the wolf nodded and Harry used legilimency briefly and realized the wolf was Sam Uley, one of the Quileutes that he and Merope had met briefly while they stayed at the Quileute Oceanside Resort. It seemed that at this point, Sam was the only wolf and it was a fairly new development.
"Oh, hi, Sam." Harry nodded.
"Uh, hi? Can you hear me?" Sam tried to think to Harry.
"Yeah, Sam. Are you having problems changing back?" Harry asked.
"Yeah," thought Sam sheepishly. "I haven't been able to get the hang of it yet. I'm normally only able to phase back after I've calmed down and fallen asleep, but then I wake up naked and have to sneak back home without anyone seeing me."
"Oh, I can help you with that problem if you'd like," said Harry, "but you're going to need to keep my abilities a secret. I'm nearly late for meeting up with some guys from school to hang out down at the beach, but I can force the change for you now and provide you with some clothing and schedule to meet with you at another time to help you with your ability to change between man and wolf, keeping your clothes when you change."
"How could you know anything about that?" Sam thought to Harry incredulously.
Rather than attempting to explain it, Harry just chose to change himself into his phoenix form and back again, fully clothed. Sam's surprised expression in wolf form was amusing to Harry, but Harry only just raised an eyebrow in response.
Then Sam shook himself out of his shock and asked, "What are you?"
Harry just smiled and gave a shrug before he said, "Well, I was born a wizard in another world, but at 17 or 18 I became a little something more. I might tell you the story one day."
Nodding, Sam though, "I'd like that. I would like to see if you really can change me back to a man."
Harry nodded and waved his hand, thinking about the animagus reversal spell, thankfully it worked, and before Sam could respond properly, Harry had already conjured some clothes on his body.
It took a moment for Sam to realize that he was a man again, though he was still on the ground on all fours. When he did realize it, he jumped up quickly and then froze in shock to see he was, in fact, wearing clothing. Then he looked over at Harry and said, "Whoa."
Smiling, Harry said, "It's good to see you again, Sam."
Swallowing down all of the questions he wanted to ask, Sam nodded and said, "You as well, Harry. Thanks for the help."
"No problem." Harry said. "I understand you have a lot of questions, and I'm more than willing to answer them for you, but it's going to have to be at another time, since I've already made the commitment to spend time with some of the guys from school."
Sam nodded in understanding and asked, "Will tomorrow be too soon?"
Harry thought for a moment and weighed the pros and cons of introducing Sam to the Room of Requirement and its time compression option. He knew Merope wouldn't have any problems with him inviting Sam over, though he would still need to run it by her. Before the silence got awkward, Harry said, "I think tomorrow will be fine. You'll need help sooner rather than later, as I have the feeling this isn't the last we'll see of those vamps."
"Yeah, about that. Why did you let them go?" Sam asked. "I would have killed them if I wasn't outnumbered."
Harry looked at Sam thoughtfully and said, "Yes, I was led to believe that the wolves here see themselves as protectors and natural enemies of vampires." He purposely didn't respond to the question about why he didn't kill them.
Sam frowned and said, "Yes, of course. I didn't believe the legends I grew up listening to, I believed them to be nothing but myths until I phased. Now I know they're real, and I understand that it's my duty to protect the tribe and any others from the leeches." After a moment of thought, Sam asked, "Hey, who told you about the wolves?"
Harry just smiled and said, "I promise to answer your questions the next time we meet. I have a room in my house that can be set up just for teaching you, but I'll have to check with Merope to see when a good time will be, because the two of us had plans the rest of the weekend. Now, do you have a phone number, so that I can call you once I've spoken to her?"
"Do you have anything to write it on?" Sam asked.
Harry nodded and conjured a pen and paper, handing it to Sam, who had blinked in surprise at the casual show of magic and added it to one of the thousands of questions that he would plan to ask during his training.
Finally, Harry told Sam that he really needed to go now and promised to give him a call tonight after he had had the chance to speak to Merope. Then he made his way back out of the forest and down towards the beach, deep in thought and not at all in the mood to now spend time with Mike and his friends. He especially wasn't in the mood for Jessica and her flirting.
A/N: So Bella's appearance didn't really go with the flow of the story of this chapter, even though I really wanted to bring her in. But I decided it was more important to get to a stopping point and post what I have instead, because I know some of y'all have been really waiting for an update.
I'm hoping to have another chapter or two posted before Christmas, though the fact that my weekend has already filled up with family gatherings, I can't be positive I'll be left alone long enough to do any creative writing.
Also, I'm toying with the idea of having Leah imprint on Nahuel, if I choose to introduce him later in the story. It seems like a logical pairing based on the fact that Jacob imprinted on Renesmee, and they are both vampire/human hybrids. Let me know what you think.