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.
Chapter 15
Returning to the real world, after having spent months in the time compression room of the RoR was a bit disconcerting to everyone, the vampires included. The vampires were actually a little disappointed to have to go back to their mundane way of life, going to school and/or work, but they cheered up when they reminded themselves they were well on their way to finding out what it was like remaining in one place for years to come and that they wouldn't forever be repeating high school and college in order to blend in with the humans.
Another positive from having spent so much time together was that the wolves and vampires were now as close as family. The treaty still technically existed, but only in the event the Cullens' other vampire friends came to visit, meaning, the Cullens could come and go on tribal land all they wanted to with or without invitation, but if any of their vampire friends came to visit, those friends would not be welcome across the border. The Cullens were just fine with that stipulation, as they rarely had visitors of their kind, and the few that they did have were very infrequent visitors, and they so looked forward to actually being able to visit the local beach and not make a spectacle in the sun.
Thinking about visiting their other friends brought up another issue that might become problematic. Because the rings they wore would age them, it would be problematic if they were to have contact with their other vampire friends, as they would be sure to notice the difference and begin to question them. Carlisle very much doubted that Harry and Merope would be willing to set up every vampire in existence with a ring that would essentially make it even easier for the non-vegetarian vampires to blend in even more, because he himself was very reluctant to make the existence of the rings common knowledge. He could imagine that the Volturi would either demand the rings be destroyed or demand them to be given over to themselves. Hopefully, it wasn't something that would cause any issues for a while, but only time would tell. They would need to come up with a plan just in case.
Bella was the one that was experiencing the most difficulty with going back to the real world, because while she could pretend to be a normal human flawlessly, she was now going to have to actually resume living with her father and behaving like the normal teenage girl that she felt like she no longer was, if she ever had been a normal that is. It helped a lot that Edward promised that he would still stay the nights with her after her father went to bed. Even though she no longer needed the amount of sleep that a normal human would, she worried that without Edward's presence, she wouldn't be able to sleep for those few hours she did need.
As for Harry and Merope, they were just excited that all of the new friends were getting along just fine now. Though it did cause Merope to bring up the question as to whether or not that was their purpose here on this world, to help bridge the misunderstandings between the Cullens and Quileute wolves.
"Do you think we've already fulfilled our purpose for being here, now that the wolves and vampires are getting along well?" Merope asked Harry, after all their guests had returned to their respective homes. They were sitting together on the couch in the living room, relaxing in the peace and quiet that their home hadn't seen in a while.
Tilting his head in thought, Harry looked at Merope as he spoke, "Well, technically we were just here for a vacation, even though we allowed Magic to choose our location randomly." Then Harry shrugged and said, "I think we could conceivably remain here until we both decide that our vacation is done."
"What if we never feel as if our vacation is done?" Merope asked curiously.
"Then I suppose we will continue to stay," Harry said simply.
Merope rested her head on Harry's shoulder and asked, "What if I don't want to leave when the time comes?"
"Not that I'm opposed to staying here indefinitely, what makes you ask?" Harry asked curiously.
Merope sighed and said, "I like the idea of having friends who are immortal, friends I don't have to worry about outliving."
"I can understand that," Harry said with a nod.
"But?" Merope asked.
"No buts," Harry said. "We have all the time in the world that we need. If you want to stay here for 1,000 years, we can. If you want to travel, we can. If we start to feel the pull to another world and you don't want to go, we can ignore it and stay. Or you can stay with our friends while I move on and then come back when I'm finished solving whatever problem that world has. I could do the same as I did last time and travel back to just moments after I left and you'd never have the chance to miss me."
Merope sighed and said what Harry had left unsaid, "But then you would miss me."
"With all my being," said Harry solemnly. "But it's a small price for me to pay in order for you to be happy."
"I'm not unhappy now," Merope pointed out.
Harry smiled and kissed her on the top of her head and said, "Yes, I know, dear. And staying here forever is rather tempting, friends that don't grow old and die is an added incentive to stay."
Merope turned her face up to Harry and gave him a peck on the lips before she said, "Let's table that discussion for later. Like you said, we have all the time in the world to decide what we want to do. Now, take me to bed and snog me senseless."
Harry smirked. "Oh, I intend to do more than that," he said as they disappeared from the couch with a silent pop.
Before anyone had realized it, it was time for the Christmas break, for which Bella, the Potters, and the Cullens were grateful. Harry, in particular, was very glad to be out of school for a couple of weeks, as he was finding it more and more difficult to rein in his magic when it came to Mike and his friends. Ever since Harry had taken Edward's side when it came to Bella, Mike and his friends, excluding Angela Webber, were borderline hostile, the only thing that prevented them from outright bullying was because Harry stood up to them every time they attempted.
Due to the event of Bella being bitten by James, Harry had all but forgotten about the pranking he had planned to do to Jessica in retaliation for the way she had treated Bella in the days after her arrival; however, now that things were as normal as they were possibly going to get, Harry decided it was time for some payback, only this time it would include payback for more than just Jessica. The only question was how far was he willing to go.
On the one hand, they were really just a bunch of immature kids. On the other hand, if something didn't happen to shock them enough to grow up they would never have the opportunity to become productive members of society.
The more he thought about it, though, the more blurry the line became between what would be appropriate for teaching a lesson and what would be termed more cruel than necessary.
So the first thing Harry decided he would do after the break was place a babbling hex on Mike and all of his friends, excluding Angela. The babbling hex would only come into effect when the teens were exhibiting bullying type behavior. Harry was hopeful that the embarrassment would act as a behavior modification and steer them away from bullying.
Christmas Day Evening found the Cullens, Potters, and the Pack sitting all around the dining room table eating supper as they spent the remainder of the holiday together when Alice was suddenly lost in a vision. The moment she came back to herself, she had a look of worry on her face.
"Darlin', what did you see?" Jasper asked, as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders to give her some form of comfort.
"The Denali Coven have decided to come for a visit and should be here in three days, but the vision stopped the moment they arrived. I don't know what causes it to go blank." Alice responded worriedly.
Sam's brows furrowed in concern and asked, "The Denali Coven is like your family, right? They feed on animal blood?"
Carlisle nodded in confirmation and said, "Yes. They are the only other coven, besides ourselves that I'm aware of, who choose to feed on animals, rather than humans."
Sam nodded and turned to the Pack and said, "Then we'll assume they will mean no harm to the tribe or town, but remain on alert."
Emmett chuckled in amusement and said, "The only ones who should be on alert are Edward and Bella," before shoveling more food in his mouth, as a look of mirth remained on his face.
It took some effort for Edward to keep his facial expression neutral after Emmett made that amused declaration. Bella turned to Edward in curiosity and asked, "What does he mean, Edward?"
Emmett ignored the warning glare that Edward directed towards him and said with a chuckle, "Tanya's been trying to get in his pants for decades. With you here, she's probably gonna try to double her efforts."
Bella raised an eyebrow at that, "Oh, is that so?" she asked as she turned her attention back to Edward.
Though he didn't truly need to, Edward cleared his throat before he said, "You need not worry, Bella. I've been turning her down for decades. If Tanya tries once again to gain my attention, you need not fear that I will suddenly succumb to her flirtations."
Merope broke the tension that was building with a quiet giggle, while Harry's eyes danced in merriment.
"Is there something amusing to you?" Edward questioned while keeping a tight control of his emotions.
Merope only giggled louder and seemed to be having a hard time catching her breath long enough to explain, so she waved her hand to Harry for explanation.
Grinning, Harry explained, "I believe she was just amused by how old you sounded."
Edward responded sardonically, "I am old."
"Yes, you are," Harry said with amusement. "However, I was under the impression you were trying to pass yourself off as a teenager, which means you should be trying to blend in better by speaking with more modern slang."
Edward sputtered in response while the friends gathered around the table chuckled in amusement. Finally Edward said through gritted teeth, "I find it wholly unnecessary to butcher the English language anymore than strictly necessary."
Carlisle smiled in indulgence and said, "Now, now, let's not make pick on Edward too much. We all have our own little quirks, after all."
Harry raised his hands as a sign of surrender and said, "Hey, I was only explaining what we found so funny. We've lived through many years ourselves, but as we have only been repeating basically the same decades we had already lived through, we haven't had to change our vocabulary with the times so much, so to speak."
"Can we get back to the part where I'm pretty much going to have to defend my mate's virtue, while an old friend of the family comes to throw herself at him?" Bella asked, torn between amusement and annoyance.
"You've read too many periodical romance novels there, Bells. No wonder you fit in with our Edward so much." Emmett said with a chuckle.
Bella raised an eyebrow and said calmly, "Yeah, well, I'm surprised you even know what a periodical romance novel is."
Everyone else at the table laughed when the charms on Emmett's ring caused his cheeks to blush with embarrassment, as he mumbled to himself, "Well, I had to get ideas for romancing Rosie from somewhere." Then he crossed his arms petulantly and leaned back with a huff and glared.
Rosalie smiled in amusement and rubbed his arm in comfort before she sent a glare at Bella for bringing it up. Bella just shrugged in response and turned her attention back to Edward.
When Edward saw Bella's attention back on himself, he said, "There will be no need for you to defend my virtue, as it will not be in jeopardy from her to begin with. Besides, I'll be able to read her intentions and respond accordingly," he said, as he tapped the side of his temple with a finger, by way of explanation.
Bella rolled her eyes and said, "I believe I'll be the one who gets to decide whether or not I'll need to defend your virtue," then under her breath she added, "if anyone gets to take your virtue, it's going to be me." Which caused the whole table to break out in amused chuckles and giggles, causing Bella to blush like a tomato when she remembered the supernatural hearing abilities that the majority of those present at the table had.
"Oh, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie," Emmett chided with an amused frown in his face as he shook his head in mock disappointment, "Do Jasper and I need to set you down to have a talk about the birds and the bees?"
"Don't call me Eddie," Edward growled.
"Notice he didn't say, 'No,' to the birds and the bees talk." Jasper said as he fought a smirk.
At this point, Edward threw his hands up in the air in the general sign of surrender before leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed and saying, "There is nothing wrong with wanting to wait until after marriage to engage in that form of intimacy."
"Well said, Edward," Harry said, with a raised glass. Edward nodded in application.
Carlisle nodded and said, "Let's return to the original point of this discussion. Discussing intimacy between mates really shouldn't be discussed at the dinner table."
After everyone settled down, they discussed all the different outcomes that could be expected by the arrival of the Denali Coven. Of course, it was really just guesswork and finally it was determined that the only thing they could really do was to take a 'wait and see' position. So that particular discussion was tabled, and the conversation took a more general turn as everyone finished their supper before retiring to the living room to exchange gifts.