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 as I'm working on this next chapter, I've been reviewing the class schedule for Bella's 11th grade year. In the original book, Bella clearly doesn't see Edward until lunch, nor does she meet Edward until Biology II, which is after lunch. Edward doesn't smell Bella until Biology II, which is after lunch, but on the twilight saga fandom website where we can view their school schedule, they supposedly shared Government together, which is BEFORE lunch. So now after all these years, I'm finding myself baffled that they didn't see each other until lunch and only met after lunch in Biology II. As soon as I noticed that, I decided to change up how I introduced them to each other.
(Sorry to make this note so long, but it was something that bothered me a bit and I had to get it off my chest.)
Chapter 9
After all the lunches had been packed to take with them, Harry transferred all the remaining food to the pantry where Esme directed him, he made sure the shelves all had active preservation charms as a backup to keeping all the food fresh.
"Okay. So I understand that to us, the food will convert to blood as soon as it reaches our mouths, but what will it smell like and will the humans smell anything different?" Carlisle asked curiously.
"Well, it all smells like regular food to Merope and I," Harry said with a shrug, "so I would assume it would smell the same way to the normal humans. Just make sure you bring home any leftovers you don't eat, just in case any of the humans or animals decide they're desperate enough for food from the garbage."
"Oh, I doubt they'll be any leftovers," Emmett chuckled as he rubbed his belly with his hand.
Carlisle checked his watch and said, "Well, my other questions will need to wait, I need to leave for the hospital." Then he quickly kissed Esme goodbye and nodded to everyone else before he left for his car at vampire speed. Soon he was speeding out of the driveway and on the way to the hospital.
Esme smiled at her children and said, "It's time for you all to finish getting ready for school, and I imagine Harry and Merope need to return to their home to keep up appearances."
Harry chuckled and said, "You are correct, Esme." Then he grabbed Merope by the hand and gave everyone a playful wink before they silently disappeared to their home.
"I wonder if these meals will replace our need for hunting," Esme thought to herself as the rest of the family went about the rest of their normal routine for getting ready for school.
Edward responded, "I'll ask them at lunch."
"Thank you, son," responded Esme.
Bella was in a rush to get ready, she'd accidentally overslept and now she didn't even have time for breakfast. Thankfully she had chosen and laid out her clothes the night before, because she had so little time that she had to rush through brushing her teeth and quickly run a brush through her long, brown hair and leaving it down and flowing, then just slipped a hair tie on her wrist for later. There was no doubt in her mind that she was going to have to pull it up and out of her way at some point in the day.
Sadly, it was the times she was in a rush where she was at her most clumsy and she stumbled down the stairs on her way down to the kitchen. Thankfully she only ended up bruising her knee a little bit and didn't hit her head.
Shaking her head in exasperation, she forced herself to calm down and breathe, then grabbed her keys, shouldered her bag, and grabbed a granola bar to eat on the way, as that's all she had time for. She was thankful that it wasn't late enough in the year to have ice yet, because with her clumsiness, that would have probably gotten her killed today.
She slowly and carefully climbed into the truck and put on her seatbelt, before then cranking it up and adjusting her mirrors. Lastly, she turned on the heat to warm up the cab of the truck. It might only have been about 60 degrees, but it was a little chilly for her, considering she was used to the warm weather of Phoenix, Arizona. After all that was done, she checked the mirrors one more time before she very slowly and very carefully backed up out of the driveway and headed for school.
She nervously eyed the clock as she drove the speed limit very carefully to school. She had wanted to arrive early, so there would not be as many people there to focus on her and make her nervous, but as her luck would have it, most of the students would have probably arrived by the time she could get there and park.
After a few short minutes that seemed to have stretched into hours, she finally saw the sign for Forks High School and turned her blinker on and started to slow down. Sighing, she realized the parking lot was as full as she had feared it would be and just knew that she was about to become the center of attention, it didn't help that her truck was loud enough to attract that attention for her.
She quickly found a parking spot as close to the school as she could, but it was still far enough away for her to be worried about her clumsiness. As she turned off her truck, she forced herself to take deep breaths to calm down her nerves.
Okay. You can do this, Bella, she thought to herself. There's nothing to it. Just get out of the truck and slowly and carefully walk to the front office to get your schedule. Easy peasy. You can do this.
After a couple of minutes, Bella felt as if she had calmed down enough to walk without stumbling. She gathered her courage and her bag and got out of the truck and put her keys in her jeans pocket. Then she shut the truck door, took a breath, and slowly turned around. Yup, everyone was staring. Wonderful.
She thanked her lucky stars that she only stumbled once on her way to the office and it was due to a pothole she hadn't noticed.
The Cullens and Potters had been standing near the rest of the students, but as a separate group when they noticed the red, antique truck pulling into the parking lot.
Rosalie sniffed in disdain, "That truck is atrocious."
Harry said with a shrug, "I don't know. I'll bet if it got restored properly, it would be a very nice truck."
Edward shook his head and said, "It would still be too slow for my taste."
Harry chuckled and said, "Anything is too slow for your taste." Edward just chuckled in response as they watched the truck park in one of the few open spaces towards the middle of the parking lot, but the driver didn't appear to be in any hurry to get out anytime soon.
Jasper tilted his head in thought, as he searched out their emotions, "I'm sensing feelings of anxiety and a bit of fear."
Merope frowned and asked, "Wasn't Chief Swan's daughter supposed to arrive soon?"
Edward strained to isolate the driver's thoughts, but was unable to hear anything. "Well, I can't seem to pick up any thoughts coming from them, I'll have to wait and try again when they're closer." Edward said, slightly frustrated at not being able to catch their thoughts and wondering if he needed to hear their voice first. Normally that wasn't the case, though.
A moment later, they all watched as the driver exited the truck and saw it was a girl, so their assumption that it was Chief Swan's daughter was probably correct. The moment she turned around and they saw her face, Edward's breath caught in his chest, causing his friends and siblings to all look at him in concern.
Jasper started to chuckle in amusement, causing Edward to turn and glare at him before immediately returning his attention back to the girl.
Harry raised an eyebrow at the byplay, but chose not to say anything.
"So can you read her thoughts yet, Edward?" Alice asked curiously.
Edward just shook his head to indicate he could not, but never took his eyes away from the new girl. He wasn't quite sure what to make of how he was feeling, all he knew was that she had unknowingly awoken feelings in him that he had never felt before in his entire existence. He had a strong desire to run over to her and steady her when he saw her stumble in the pothole, but reigned that desire in when he realized he would bring unwanted attention to the family. He found himself wishing with everything in him that she would just turn around and look at him, but was sorely disappointed when she walked into the door labeled FRONT OFFICE without so much as a look over her shoulder.
Letting out a breath he didn't realize he was holding, he returned his attention back to his family, appearing surprised when they were all watching him with varying looks of amusement on their faces, with the exception of Rosalie, who was looking at him with a scowl.
Edward heard Rosalie thinking sneeringly, "Oh, so he can find attraction in an ordinary and plain human girl, but not -" Suddenly her thoughts were cut off, as he heard her start naming different car parts in alphabetical order in her head, glaring at him with narrowed eyes. Edward responded by rolling his eyes at her. She just sneered in response and pulled out a makeup mirror to check her makeup.
No one said anything for a few minutes, so Edward concentrated on the thoughts he could hear around them, many of which caused him to clinch his hands into fists.
"I wouldn't mind tapping that."
"She's hot."
"Ugh. Why are all the guys drooling, she's nothing special."
"I'll bet I can get her to go out on a date before the end of the day."
"I can't wait to get her out of those clothes."
"What the hell? She even had Edward Cullen drooling after her. She's not even pretty!"
There was only one voice out of all of the thoughts that said, "I wish I wasn't so shy. She looks like she could use a friend." Angela Weber was one of the few humans that always had such pure thoughts. He often wondered if that was because her father was a minister at one of the local churches, or if that was just part of her nature.
He was brought out of his musings when the first bell rang, indicating that it was time to head for classes.
After Bella finished retrieving her schedule from Ms. Cope, along with the form that all of her teachers were supposed to sign for her to bring back to the office, the first bell rang indicating it was time to head to class.
Looking at her new schedule, Bella saw that her first class was English with Mr. Mason, which was located in Building 3. It baffled her that the classes had to be in separate buildings, causing students to have to walk through the rain or snow just to get from one class to the other.
Shaking her head at the lunacy of it, Bella looked down at the map Ms. Cope had provided her with and proceeded to head towards Building 3. She was part way there when she was intercepted by a tall Asian guy, who had introduced himself as Eric Yorkie.
"You must be Isabella Swan," he said.
"Just Bella," she had responded. He reminded her of the overly-helpful, geeky, chess club type. When he found out he shared her first class, he offered to show the way there.
Bella politely nodded, even though she felt like she could find her own damn way, but since the guy was already walking next to her and would be walking that way anyway because he had the same class, there really wasn't much point in declining the help or company. He was free to walk where he wanted to after all.
She mostly ignored his chatter, only nodding or shaking her head in the places that seemed appropriate and thanked him for his help when they arrived. She handed her slip to Mr. Mason, who signed it and handed it back. Mr. Mason then introduced her to the class as Isabella Swan and directed her to sit next to a boy named Harry.
They didn't have much time to do more than introduce themselves before class had started, but Harry seemed a bit different than the other boys, he was nice and friendly, but not in a flirty way. He wasn't tripping over himself to get her attention, he just treated her like a regular person. It was refreshing and put her at ease almost immediately.
The class was easy, considering the books they covered were the classics that she had already spent much of her time reading and rereading cover to cover. They were discussing the work of Jane Austen today, but would move on to Charlotte Brontë in the following weeks, then probably Charles Dickens as it came closer to Christmas.
Bella found it fitting that they would be reading about Ebenezer Scrooge and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future during the Christmas season.
She was cut out of her daydreaming when Harry asked where her next class was, when she showed him her schedule, he gave a small smile and said, "We have all the same classes. I don't mind escorting you if you need help finding your way. I know what it's like to be in a new, unfamiliar place, and you don't seem to be the type to throw yourself at me, like some of the other girls in this school." He wriggled his nose in distaste at that last bit.
Bella laughed and said, "Thanks. If you don't mind, I'd appreciate it." Noticing that Eric was heading back her way, "You seem less likely to take it as encouragement than some others would."
Harry chuckled, "I have my own beautiful lady, so you have nothing to fear from me giving you my unwanted infatuation."
"Good," responded Bella, just as Eric reached the two of them.
"Bella, do you need help finding your next class?" Eric asked eagerly.
"No, but thank you for your help, Eric." Nodding to Harry, Bella said, "It turns out that Harry here shares all my classes, and he's offered to show me around."
Eric furrowed his eyebrows at Harry, wondering why the sudden interest in the new girl when he already had a girl, but didn't say anything about it. "All right. Maybe I'll see you at lunch?"
Bella shrugged and said, "We'll see."
When Eric was gone, Bella let out a breath of relief as she and Harry walked towards their next class, Government, in Building 6.
"I take it you're not a fan of attention?" Harry asked curiously.
"No," Bella responded, shaking her head. "I swear it's worse, because my dad must have been so excited that I chose to move here that he told absolutely the entire town."
Harry chuckled and said, "I'm sure you're right about that. Rumors about your imminent arrival have been flying for a few weeks now."
Bella groaned and said, "And everyone keeps calling me Isabella, when I prefer Bella."
Harry shook his head in amusement and said, "Well, Isabella is a beautiful name, but I'm sure we can convince the town to refer to you as Bella in no time."
Soon, they made it a Building 6, and Bella made her way to the teacher, Mr. Jefferson, while Harry headed to his seat.
While Bella stood waiting for the teacher, she looked around hoping to see that Harry had an empty seat next to him in this class as well, but he was sitting next to a blond-haired boy. She quickly moved her gaze when she noticed the blond boy staring at her in a way she didn't like.
Gazing around the rest of the room, she found an empty seat right next to the most gorgeous guy she had ever laid her eyes on in her life, untidy, bronze hair with golden eyes. Her breath caught when they locked eyes with each other, they had such an intensity about them and it felt as if he could see down to her very soul.
Harry was chatting idly with Mike, as they waited for class to start. He noticed how uncomfortable Bella got when she saw the way Mike was looking at her. Harry mentally shook his head. He liked Mike and all, but there was absolutely no reason for him to be looking at Bella that way, so he elbowed him and said, "Stop. You're making her uncomfortable."
"Oh, shut up. You already have a girl." Mike grumbled.
Harry rolled his eyes and said, "That doesn't mean I can't defend one of my friends. We met in English and became friends. The way you're looking at her makes her uncomfortable, so stop."
Mike humrphed and crossed his arms. Then he sneered in disgust when he saw the way Bella was looking at Edward Cullen, who luckily had an empty seat next to him. Lucky bastard, Mike thought.
Harry also noticed the way Bella was looking at Edward. Then he looked at Edward, who appeared to be having a battle with himself.
Harry lowered his occlumency shields and asked mentally, "What's wrong, Edward?"
"Her scent. It's completely alluring and it's all I can do to keep myself from -" Edward cut off that thought abruptly.
Quickly, Harry threw up an illusion and went into stealth mode, then walked up to Bella and cast a scent blocking charm all over her that blocked only the smell of her blood. Quickly, he returned to his desk and dropped the illusion. Of course, no one noticed anything.
"You can breath again, Edward, I've placed a scent blocking charm on her, so that you can't smell her blood anymore." Harry said mentally.
Edward's eyes were still locked with Bella's. Now that he was no longer overwhelmed by the scent of her blood, he could relax his stance a bit and admire her beauty and breathe in just her intoxicating floral scent.
"How long will that charm hold?" Edward asked Harry mentally.
"It will last the rest of the school day, but we're going to have to come up with a more permanent solution." Harry said.
"Harry?" Edward whispered in his mind.
"Yeah?" Harry responded.
"I can't hear her thoughts!" Edward thought worriedly.
"It'll be alright, Edward, we'll figure it out." responded Harry.
"I think she's my mate." Edward whispered mentally, in a bit of a panic.
"Yeah, based on the reaction you are both having to each other, I'd say you're right." Harry responded.
"But she's a human!" Edward exclaimed in his head.
"It will be okay. Everything is going to be fine. We'll discuss this later, I promise." Harry responded in support. "I'm going to leave my occlumency shields down today, in case you need my help with anything."
"Thanks," Edward responded gratefully.
Bella was brought out of her impromptu staring contest with the gorgeous bronze-haired boy when the teacher cleared his throat, causing her to blush in embarrassment. She handed the slip to Mr. Jefferson for his signature, then she was directed to the empty seat next to the boy she had just been ogling. She had never been more thankful that she had left her hair down, since she could now use it to hide behind in her embarrassment.
She wasn't able to hide for long, because as soon as she sat down, he spoke to her in the sexiest most velvety voice she had ever heard. "Hello, I'm Edward Cullen," he said. "I'm glad to finally meet you."
Bella fought hard not to gasp at the sound of his voice, but it caused her blush to deepen, and she could have sworn the way he said that he was glad to finally meet her inferred something a bit more. Turning slightly, met his eyes again as she said a bit breathlessly, "Hi, I'm Bella Swan. It's nice to meet you, too." Her insides nearly turned to goo at the crooked smile he gave her.
"Bella," Edward seemed to say her name as a caress, as she lost herself once again in his gaze.
The spell was broken when the teacher started class and she struggled with great difficulty to concentrate on the class, rather than this strange pull she was feeling for Edward. She had only just met him for crying out loud, but just keeping her eyes faced forward was absolutely pure torture.
It made her feel a little better that he seemed to be fighting the same issue. Every time she snuck a glance, he appeared to be struggling with himself to keep looking forward, but occasionally he would make eye contact with her and give her that crooked smile, causing her to blush and his grin to widen.
All too soon the bell rang and it was time to move to the next class.
"Shit. The bell." Edward groaned mentally. "I'm not ready to be away from her yet, and I really don't like the thoughts I keep hearing from everyone about her. Most of them are all either vulgar or hateful."
"Calm down, Edward," Harry said. "She's got the same schedule as me and I've already promised her I would escort her to her classes to keep the vultures at bay."
Edward nodded to Harry mentally and turned to Bella and asked, "Do you need help finding your next class?" Even though he already knew from Harry's schedule that he wouldn't have another class with her until Biology II.
"Do you have trigonometry next?" Bella asked hopefully.
Edward frowned and said, "No, I have English."
Bella sighed and said, "I don't want to make you late for your next class. I seem to have all the same classes as Harry, and he's already promised to show me to my classes."
Edward smiled and said, "Harry is a good friend. He'll make sure no one bothers you that you don't want to bother you."
Bella smiled and said, "Yes, he has a way of making me feel at ease."
By now they were standing just outside the door as Harry approached them, unfortunately Mike was following him, causing Edward to narrow his eyes as he heard the boy's vile thoughts.
Bella noticed his change of emotion and asked timidly, "What's wrong?"
Edward returned his attention back to Bella and said, "It's alright. It's just unnerving me the way Mike is staring at you."
Bella glanced back briefly, determining that Mike was the blond-haired boy that made her feel uncomfortable earlier, and shuddered. "I don't like it either," she whispered.
Hearing that, Harry thought to Edward, "I've already warned him to stop, Edward. But he doesn't see anything wrong with it."
Edward just barely stopped himself from growling. "Bella, do you want to eat lunch with me?"
But before she could answer, Mike cut in and said, "Come off it, Cullen, what makes you think she'd want to eat lunch with you and your -"
Harry sighed and said, "Finish that sentence and I'll have to punch you for being an idiot, Mike."
"S-sorry, Harry," Mike stuttered. He didn't understand why Harry was friends with the Cullens, they were all freaks.
Edward narrowed his gaze at Mike and said, "I think you ought to head to class, Newton."
"I could say the same thing to you, Cullen." Mike retorted with a sneer.
"Mike…" Harry said.
"Fine. I'm gone." Mike spat, "If you're going to pick your friendship with Cullen over me, then maybe I don't want to be your friend anymore."
"That's your choice, Mike," said Harry with a shrug. "I've lived through friends turning their backs on me for standing up for the right thing before, I can do it again."
Mike glared, then turned and walked away.
Bella had taken on a bit of a frightened looked, but when Edward returned his gaze to her, she immediately felt soothed. "Are you alright, Bella?" he asked in concern.
Bella nodded and whispered, "Yes, thank you." Then looking up, she added, "And I'd like to eat lunch with you." Then she ducked her head and blushed.
Edward grinned and said, "Great. I'll meet you outside of your Spanish class and walk you to the cafeteria." Bella snuck a look up at his face, before ducking back down in an attempt to hide her blush, nodding in agreement.
Harry smiled in amusement and said, "Well, now that that's settled, we need to head to our classes before we're all late."
As Harry and Bella headed to Building 5 for Trigonometry, Harry spoke to Edward mentally. "Do I need to warn the others that you've invited her to eat lunch with us? Or do you plan to sit at a separate table?"
"I think it will probably be better if we sit at a separate table, I don't want her to feel overwhelmed, and I'm not sure how Rosalie will respond to her sharing a table with us." Edward responded. "But, yes, please warn them I'll be sitting away from them today."
"Will do," Harry said.
"Thanks," Edward said.
"You're welcome." Harry responded with a mental smile.
"Do you mind if I keep tabs on her through your mind?" Edward asked tentatively.
"No, I don't mind," Harry said in amusement.
"Thank you," Edward said gratefully.