Disclaimer: I do not own any of J.K. Rowling or Stephanie Myer's characters. Although at times I will insert my own original characters periodically to move the story forward.
Warnings: Alcohol, strong language, mental health.
Author's notes: This is my first story and I welcome all reviews, please be kind and respectful. This story takes place just a few months after the Battle of Hogwarts and moves the Twilight timeline back to 1998. I am writing in the first person from Harry's perspective throughout. Enjoy!
Chapter 10- Meet the Family
When I woke up from my first calm, dreamless sleep in months I felt cold arms around me causing me to jump out of them and out of bed. I felt like I was in the graveyard being held by that statue as Wormtail used me in the ritual to resurrect Voldemort. Am I having another nightmare? I started hyperventilating and collapsed on the floor holding my chest as panic filled me. "Harry what's wrong?" Edward asked softly putting a cold comforting hand on my shoulder.
"Are we in a graveyard?" I panted softly with my heart racing and a cold sweat breaking out all over my body.
"No" He asked confused, "Were in your bedroom, you're awake now and it was just a nightmare, you're safe now."
I slowly took deep breaths calming myself. When I was finally calm I told him softly about how I didn't have any dreams last night, but when I awoke what I had remembered. "It'll just take me some time to get used to waking up in cold arms." I said standing, sitting on the bed, and putting on my glasses. The dark room came into focus and I saw that the clock on my nightstand showed that it was five-thirty in the morning. "Sirius will be up soon and I don't want to answer any questions about our little sleep over yet." I said sadly not wanting Edward to go.
Edward kissed my forehead softly "I'm gonna go change clothes and I'll be back in a couple of hours to pick you up for school."
"Ok" I said softly as he climbed out of my window and ran away at vampire speed back to his house. I sighed and shut the window, then I picked out some clean clothes and took a shower. As the warm water unlocked my stiff muscles and joints I thought about what was coming after school today, I hope the Cullens like me.
After school I was nervous as Edward drove me to his house. "What's wrong?" He asked giving my hand a gentle squeeze as we pulled into his driveway.
"I hope they like me." I said softly squeezing his hand back.
"Let me get this straight." He said, "You're going into a house full of vampires and your only concern is whether they will like you?"
"Yes" I said nervously
"They'll love you" he said confidently, "Alice has seen it."
I let out a breath that I didn't know that I was holding. "Ok, let's go."
As we walked into the house Edward sighed, "I hope you're hungry." He said, "Because they are making you dinner apparently."
"I could use a bite." I said actually feeling hungry for the third time today, I don't know why but ever since Edward and I had started spending more time together I was actually hungry for the first time in months.
As we walked into the kitchen Rosalie and Emmett were busy stirring the contents of a skillet into a pie shell. "I hope you like shepherd's pie." Mrs. Cullen said warmly next to the counter, "I'm Esme by the way."
"It's nice to meet you Esme" I said, "and yes I do like shepherd's pie. Thank you for cooking for me."
"No thank you Harry." Esme said beaming kind and motherly reminding me a lot of Mrs. Weasley, hopefully without the temper to match. "You're finally giving us an excuse to use the kitchen."
"Harry this is my father Carlisle." Edward said gesturing to Dr. Cullen
"Hello Dr. Cullen" I said shaking his hand
"Call me Carlisle please" He said letting go of my hand.
"Emmett and Rosalie" Edward said gesturing to them behind the counter, they waved and went back to putting my dinner in the oven.
Alice and Jasper came through an open door to the back porch just then and she walked up and hugged me. "It's so nice to finally meet you in person." She said pulling back from the hug she just gave me. "I'm Alice by the way." She turned to Jasper "Don't worry, you won't hurt him, I've seen it."
Jasper came forward slowly and shook my hand, "I'm Jasper, it's nice to finally meet you." I noted his very thick southern accent.
I read his thoughts about how uncomfortable he was around my scent, he was still getting used to the Cullen's lifestyle of only feeding on animals. I pulled out me wand and waved it over myself applying a scent blocking charm. "Is that better?" I asked putting away my wand.
"Yes" He said visibly more relaxed, "Thank you."
"No problem" I said
"Harry would you like to sit down?" Carlisle asked gesturing to the dinner table.
"Yes, thank you" I replied
"Would you like something to drink?" Esme asked kindly
"Um, tea would be good, thank you." I replied sitting down in an open chair.
Edward sat down next to me and the rest of the Cullens joined us around the table while Esme put the kettle on. "Is it true that you actually killed, what's his name, uh, Voldemort yourself?" Emmett asked enthusiastically.
Rosalie hit slapped him hard across the back of the head. "Would it kill you to be more tactful" She snapped, "He left his old life in Britain behind for a reason."
"It's ok" I said with a sigh, "Yes I did."
He wanted to ask what it was like, but he caught Rosalie's eyes threatening him with a harder smack on the back of the head, so he decided not to. "So how do you like going to school with muggles?" Carlisle asked with a faint trace of an English accent.
"It's different." I said nervously, "I definitely have to adjust to some new ways of doing things. I especially hate math and English classes, or at least the books we have to read in English class. The algebra equations make my brain hurt, and the books in English drive me up the wall with how bad they are."
Everyone laughed, "Yeah I agree" Rosalie said, "Mr. Brown could use a different curriculum indeed."
A though had just occurred to me. "Carlisle, why do you call non-magical people muggles?"
He pulled out his wand and set it on the table, "I graduated from Hogwarts in the year 1658 from Ravenclaw house. I'm also from an old pure-blood wizarding family." He said with a kind sigh, "My family was accepting of all wizards: pure-blood, half-born, and muggle born, and would even help out the local muggles as best they could with their magic without being known for what they truly are." A deep frown crossed his beautiful face, "But the one thing that they despised was vampires. My father even led numerous crusades against them, and when I turned thirty he made a partnership with the local werewolf packs to run them out of London for good. I was bitten in the fight and the vampires only stayed out of London for five years before they came back and got their revenge on the werewolves that drove them out. I turned in secret and hated myself from how I was raised, I even nearly got killed by my own father saying that his son was dead, and then I set out to actually kill myself. I tried jumping off of tall buildings, hanging, and even starving myself, but I still survived. I eventually discovered that I was able to feed on the blood of animals, and that I had a complete immunity to the smell of human blood."
"Wow" I said wide-eyed, "Edward never told me that you were a wizard."
He chuckled, "He preferred to let me tell my own story when you came by today. In fact my mother was a healer at St. Mungos in its early years and I wanted to be just like her ever since I was a kid. After being shunned by my entire family, and finally deciding to live as a vampire, I swam over the channel and found French wizards to be more accepting of what I had become. While I was there I studied the healing arts, and even muggle medical techniques such as surgery and pharmacology. I even studied with the famed alchemist Nicholas Flamel. "
"You studied under Nicholas Flamel" I asked astounded
"Why yes" Carlisle continued, "In fact I was quite shaken by his death a couple of years back before the second war started. He was a very close personal friend that I had kept in regular contact with all of these years. Although I am very grateful that you killed Voldemort, he was the reason that Nicholas' philosopher's stone had to be destroyed."
"I'm sorry for your loss." I said sadly, "I know a lot of people were touched in horrible ways by the war."
Esme sat a cup of tea in front of me, "Milk, sugar" She asked softly
"No thank you" I replied, "I prefer my tea strong and full flavored."
"So you like things strong huh?" Emmett asked with a sly grin on his face.
"Emmett if you finish that statement out loud so help me God." Edward said angrily beside me.
"What bro" He continued with an air of innocence, "I mean all I'm saying is that if he's going to find a mate that can, how should I put it, have a strong grip." Rosalie hit him hard on the back of the head, but that didn't stop him from continuing, "I mean Eddy's been waiting for a long time, so maybe you have a strong enough grip for him. Maybe you'll even pull that stick out of his ass before you pop it in him."
Rosalie slammed his head hard into the table producing a large crack in it as I chocked on my tea. "Emmett please" Esme said, "Harry didn't come here to be made uncomfortable, and I'm really tired of you bullying Edward. You need to stop right now." Her voice was very firm and stern, she was definitely the mother of the family. "Now apologize right now."
"Sorry" he said, "I just…."
The entire Cullen family was giving him the biggest 'if you finish that sentence out loud so help me God' look causing him to just shut his mouth and sit back in his chair silently.
The timer in the kitchen went off at that time and Esme rose from the table to go check on my dinner. I took a nervous drink of my tea and they were all watching me. "So what was Hogwarts like when you went there Carlisle?" I asked curiously to change the subject off of Emmett's antics.
Carlisle picked up his wand and repaired the table from where Emmett's head had broken it. "It was quite nice. I graduated with some of the brightest minds in the magical world in fact." He said the names of some great witches and wizards that I had learned about in magical history. "At the time no one knew how revolutionary they would eventually become; in fact I remember being the only student that the grey lady would talk to on a regular basis."
"Really" I said spellbound by this information.
"In fact you may know one of my old professors Harry." He said
"Let me guess" I said recalling how boring his classes were, "Professor Binns?"
"Why yes" Carlisle said, "In fact he's probably just as dry and boring in death as he was when he was alive."
"How can a dead man teach at Hogwarts?" Alice asked curiously
"Ghosts are wizards and witches that hold onto unfinished business, or are too scared to move on." Carlisle explained, "Although when I knew the man he was only in his thirties and very much alive. I remember being quite shocked when I heard from a friend of mine in 1887 how he died of old age in the staffroom and just got up and continued to teach a couple years before that. You probably took quite a few good naps in his class, I know I did."
I laughed, "I did indeed."
Carlisle and I began happily swapping stories of the things that students did to pass the time in his class, of course with him too engrossed with what he was teaching to even pay attention. Everyone else was just amazed at what was going on until the timer went off in the kitchen making everyone jump from the sound. Esme rose from the table and came back shortly with a plate of hot shepherd's pie for me. "Thank you." I said blowing on a piece of it to cool and taking a bite, I was starving by this point. It was the most amazing shepherd's pie I had ever eaten. "It's amazing!" I continued eating like I was inhaling it because it tasted so good, I even made the Cullen's laugh when I burned my tongue on a piece that I forgot to blow on to cool.
After I had eaten three platefuls I was finally full and content, and then I caught Rosalie's thoughts about how sad it was that eventually either I would have to be turned into a vampire, or Edward would have to watch me die of old age, and I started to cry. I really didn't want to talk about such upsetting things, but neither of those possibilities were really possible, and the circumstances that I found out under were very upsetting. "What's wrong?" Edward asked softly beside me wiping a tear from my face.
I sighed suppressing a sob. "I don't know if Edward has told you or not, but I am a legillimens."
"He told us about your occulumancy, but he failed to mention your legillimancy." Carlisle said surprised.
"I can read people's minds from a distance if I cast the spell." I continued, "But I require eye contact to use my abilities without it. I just caught your memories Rosalie, and I am happy to inform you that you are wrong on both accounts." I told them about how I was attacked and bitten by a vampire during the rounding up of death eaters after the war. "It burned me from the inside out." I said crying, "I thought for sure that I had been turned when it stopped, but I was just as human as I was before the attack. I was able to use magic to heal the wound so it didn't leave a scar, and I found out that only five wizards or witches before me have had this experience. All of the others were in the same position that Carlisle was in, or successfully committed suicide." I hung my head as tears fell onto the table.
"Why won't you grow old and die?" Jasper asked softly
I straitened up and wiped my tears on my sleeve. I told them about when Voldemort killed me in the forbidden forest, although he really killed the horcrux that had been placed on me when he killed my parents. I also told them about how I had been hit by the killing curse multiple times by death eaters when I was helping to round them up for trial after the war. "When I was helping to re-build Hogwarts after the battle where Voldemort died I heard a prophesy explaining why I couldn't die. Professor Trelawney is a right old fraud, but at times she really does make real prophecies. She went into a trance, like she always does when she makes a real prophecy, and spoke in the same deep, throaty, otherworldly voice. 'Harry Potter, the boy who lived and now ever shall, once the age of eighteen you reach never older shall you grow. As death has rejected you in the forest, it shall reject you always. Your true mate soon you will find in less than a year's time, and rejected by age and death they will also be. Together you will walk upon this Earth hand in hand, and forever together. Ups and downs you will have, but by each other's side you both will stay.'"
I hung my head and cried as the bad memories of the times that I should've died flooded back to me. "How do you know that Edward is your true mate that she prophesied about?" Rosalie asked softly
I continued the rest of the prophecy fighting the urge to sob. "By their eyes and by their touch you shall know them, and able to be separated you shall not forever and ever."
"Wow." Alice said, "But you must be excited that the prophecy is finally coming true, I mean at least as far as Edward is concerned."
"What's wrong?" Edward asked putting his arm around me comfortingly
"I just have a lot of bad memories around the events that proved my immortality." I said softly wiping the tears on my sleeve.
I felt better all of a sudden, like a great darkness had lifted from me. "Thanks Jasper." I said
"You're welcome" He said softly, "You have a lot of strong negative emotions though Harry."
"When you have had the life that I have then it comes with the territory." I said looking up at the Cullens.
"So who is the Harry Potter behind the headlines?" He asked curiously
"Maybe at a later time" I said, "I think I've overwhelmed you guys with a lot to take in for one day, I know I'm overwhelmed from telling it. Although change the details from what I told as the muggle friendly version of events from my life that I told my muggle friends at lunch when I first moved here to what happened in the magical world and you will have quite a lot to think about."
"What about Bella?" Rosalie asked sharply
"Rose don't" Edward said
"No Edward, I want to know what he's going to do about her, or have you forgotten that she can expose up." She snapped
"I've seen that she won't say anything to anyone except Harry or us." Alice said proudly, "She's a good friend."
"Alice is right" I said looking at Rosalie, "Although I know because she's not the kind of person to give her word to a friend and then go gossiping like Jessica Stanley. I saw it in her thoughts."
"You mean you can read her mind?" Emmett asked as shocked as everyone else looked.
"Yes" I said, "The Professor trained me in the use of my legillimancy after I discovered that I had it after the war. It takes me some effort to push past her shield though."
"And here I thought that Edward needed to be sent in and get his head fixed." He chuckled
Everyone laughed causing Edward to shoot him a death glare, Emmett just laughed harder.
"I think I'm ready to go home now" I said standing up, "Thank you for having me over, and for the delicious dinner."
"You're welcome Harry" Esme beamed, "Come back any time."
After everyone said goodbye Edward and I left and got in his car. "Still scared that they don't like you?" He asked as he pulled out of the driveway and onto the road.
"No, not really" I said happily holding his hand, "Now I just have to introduce you to Sirius."
"Tonight?" Edward asked hopefully
"No, not tonight" I yawned, "Maybe tomorrow."
"Ok" He said with a touch of sadness in his voice. I could tell that he was eager to meet him as soon as possible.
When I got home I hugged Edward and walked inside. "How did it go?" Sirius asked from the couch watching a football game on TV.
"I think they like me." I said yawning as I walked into the room, "I'm tired though, I think I'm going to turn in for bed early."
"Ok, goodnight" Sirius said softly
When I changed for bed and pulled the covers up I thought about how much I had shared. Edward is my true mate, of that I'm certain, but that doesn't mean that I'm ready to open up completely yet. I've been hurt so much all of my life, and had people either leave me or taken away from me. I just have to see where things go from here, maybe they will work out. I drifted off to sleep smiling and thinking of how great it will be when I finally do feel like opening up fully to Edward, and how great of a life we will have together then.