A/N: Hello, people!

I don't own Harry Potter or Twilight.

I have no beta.

ENJOY!

CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON.

I randomly got inspiration and wrote this in a few hours! I even had to suffer
the most unpleasant setback. My old ass laptop, mid-typing, X'd me out of
all windows! I lost over a thousand words in the process.

But we're here. I'm still homeless. RIP.

TAGS: Drama, Queer Themes, Vampire Baseball, Introspection, Flirting,
Humor, and Plotting Murder.

Harry stared down at the uniform Alice Cullen had forced onto him, and wondered why Americans decided to make a sport that required such a dress code, so popular. "The American pastime," as she'd said with a wink. Too much white and not enough real colour. He wondered if official teams had more to them than this.

And then Bella stepped out of the bathroom, clad in the same uniform, and he was given reason to believe.

The top was loose-ish, much like his own, but that wasn't where the interest lay. The trousers were far too tight when they most certainly shouldn't be. He knew this because the fabric strained across the expanse of Bella's arse in a very pleasing way, highlighting her shape very nicely and making his mouth go dry in the process. He was weak.

On her end, she crossed her arms awkwardly and refused to look at anyone.

Alice's knowing smirk made him wonder if she'd done it deliberately.

"Oh, Bella! I must have accidentally given you my pants instead! These are more your size!" Alice gasped, shoving a different pair in Bella's arms. Bella was shoved back into the bathroom, looking more relieved than harry had ever seen her.

"You're devious," he chose to say.

"Exactly. If only to get Edward off his ass a little."

And then Edward was there, looking disapprovingly down at her. "Your machinations aren't appreciated."

"I don't mind," Harry murmured, "I appreciated them."

"But Bella didn't."

True.

He sighed. No more fantasizing about Bella's shapely rear it seemed.

However... "I'll take a pair of tighter trousers if they'll make my arse look nice," he offered with a grin.

Alice beamed as Bella stepped out of the bathroom again. She tossed him the trousers that were meant for Alice and said, "Have at it. You deserve to be ogled like a piece of meat, not me."

Did Harry truly change all because he wanted his arse to look good?

Yes. Yes, he did.

And his arse looked fantastic in women's trousers!

All three of you are drowning, Jasper's thoughts came to him with ease. I haven't encountered a romantic relationship this intense in my entire time as a vampire. I don't know if it's because there are three of you compared to a usual duo, or if you all simply feel more strongly than usual people in relationships do. It's fascinating as well as tiring.

Edward winced in sympathy for his brother. If it was possible, he'd mute his feelings so Jasper didn't have to deal with them in the slightest. Unfortunately, that wasn't among his talents.

He wondered if Harry had some of kind of magic that could do that instead. To make it so that Jasper could get some kind of a break.

Bella and Harry were standing with Esme who was outfitting them with their own hats despite how much Bella tried to refuse. "You'll take some photos with us, won't you, dear? We love taking family photos when we play baseball. The before and afters are simply the best."

Faced with Esme's earnest regard, Bella ended up caving easily. "So long as you don't expect me to actually play. I can barely walk across a flat surface without falling on my face, I really can't run. Even if my life depended on it I would fail so utterly." The look on her face made Edward wondered she was remembering that night in Port Angeles.

Remembering it himself made him angry.

"I'll try for the both of us!" Harry volunteered. "You'll all have to go at my speed of course but I'm confident in myself. I've never played this kind of sport before though, so you'll have to go a little easy on me for a bit as I get used to the rules."

"Yeah, they fly on brooms so Harry's used to straddling a broom and having to control where it goes," Bella explained. "But he's still really good in Gym when we have to use our legs, which is so unfair."

Harry beamed. "I'm the fastest runner in our class."

"He laps everyone," Bella specified with a forced glare. "Twice."

"It's all that training that Harry Hunting gave me. Many things can be said about my cousin and his parents, but at least I was prepared for such a life by them not stopping his gang from harassing me all those years."

Every single time Harry said something about his relatives, everyone seemed to all have the same idea in mind. And it wasn't a pleasant idea either. Edward was a bit shocked to see how violent even Emmett's thoughts had become.

Esme is feeling murderous, Jasper noted with surprise. I never would have thought she could feel this way about anything. She's so soft.

True enough, Esme's mind was awash with grief on Harry's behalf. From his expression in her mind, he was so nonchalant about the treatment he endured for years that it didn't seem to bother him anymore. And maybe it didn't. Maybe he'd managed to make peace with it or at least decided to try and find something positive in it, but that didn't mean everyone else could handle it.

To be so blasé about one's own suffering.

He'd just been a child. No one by age seventeen/eighteen should be so accepting of abuse.

Bella's violent wishes whenever those people were mentioned made sense.

"We'll try to make better memories for you, dear," Esme said sweetly, trying to rid her mind of those negative thoughts and emotions. She didn't want to him to realize just how badly she was affected by the smallest hints of his life she'd been given.

"You're a darling, Mrs. Cullen."

Such a sweet boy, she sighed to herself. "Young Bella, do you want me to put your hair up quickly? The hat looks so much better with a ponytail and you've got such lovely hair too."

"Um... okay. If you don't mind."

I always wanted more children, Esme smiled as she got to work. I wonder if we should just expand Edward's room to fit all three of them or maybe we can build them all new rooms. Decisions, decisions.

Edward sighed, happy that his mother at least liked his partners.

It was an unconventional relationship, but things seemed to be going so well and he hoped it stayed that way.

The field in which the Cullens used to play baseball was massive and had the benefit of a nice waterfall in the background to make it even nicer. Harry's let out a long whistle once he laid eyes on it, and proceeded to fumble around with his phone in an attempt to take some pics. "This thing is still so annoying to use. Why do I have to hit all these things first before I can get a clear photo?" he grumbled.

Bella's fondness for him warmed her center, taking away some of her nerves in the process.

He was like a child getting used to technology and it was always adorable how excited he got when he learned something new.

Alice was flitting around, placing all the bases down where they should be, because of course the Cullens would actually own all the fixings for a game of baseball. And it didn't escape Bella's notice that the bases were way further apart than they'd be in an official game of baseball.

Of course the vampires would want more of a challenge.

She wondered how Harry would be able to handle the extended reach.

He was fiddling with his hat now, trying to find an angle in which it didn't fit weirdly. Finally, he settled for turning it all the way around like Emmett did, looking proud of himself for such a decision.

Edward chose not to go with a hat himself, nor did he have a mitt like Alice. In fact, Alice was the only Cullen wearing a mitt.

Bella looked to Edward and asked, "Why's Alice the only one with a mitt?"

"She's the pitcher."

Alice's bell-like laughter echoed across the field. "I've got the best aim!" she announced so the visiting humans could hear her. "I'm also the only person who can strike Edward out!"

Turning back to her boyfriend, Bella sent him an enquiring look. Was it true?

He sighed. "Alice has this habit of thinking in languages I don't know in order to better hide her thoughts from me. While I excel in chess, she excels in baseball."

"Why is that?" Harry asked, suddenly appearing at Bella's side and practically giving her a heart attack at the same time! "If she sees the future and you reads minds in the most simple wording of such an ability, shouldn't you come out on top all the time?"

Edward shrugged. "Alice can't really choose to have Visions of the future. The moment she focuses on something she'll get a Vision based on the decisions of those involved. She can even get random Visions based on the actions of people she's not focusing on, simply because they will affect our family, which is something she's always watching out for. The best way to avoid Visions is to not focus too much on one topic ever, but that's tiresome."

It sounded draining indeed. Bella didn't think she could ever live in such a way and wondered how Alice managed to stay in the present when the future was always flashing before her eyes.

Maybe her vampire senses made it easier for her to stay altogether or something.

Alice appeared as well, looking good-natured as always. "Chess is annoying because you need to focus even somewhat to keep up against a genius, let alone one who can see and hear everything going on in your mind. Edward effectively gains my power whenever I have a Vision within his radius, so it's like having a twin battling me in those moments. One decision will give me Visions of all possible outcomes of that move and because he can see it, he can play around it. Our minds work so quickly that I can filter through hundreds of Visions in a single minute."

Edward nodded. "Baseball isn't really a series of moves based around strategy. It covers a much more broad area of skill. All Alice has to do is throw a ball the right way, which requires little focus against everyone but me. She can essentially choose whether or not she wants to have Visions about what's going to happen when she throws the ball. With me, she cycles through Visions rapidly while making plans, committing to them, and then changing her mind suddenly, changing the Visions that come in. And then she'll do something unexpected because decisions that aren't carefully plotted out are difficult to predict."

While Bella tried to parse through all of that, Harry was humming. "So what you're saying that there's a blind spot in her power."

Huh? Where did he get that from?

Harry shrugged as everyone stared at him in utter bafflement. "All someone as to do is act on instinct and not commit to anything long term. So long as they avoid thinking about anything Alice is directly looking into, you'd never be notified until danger was on your doorstep. Be careful with whom you share the knowledge of your gifts because someone smarter than I will take advantage of that some day."

...Sometimes it was easy to believe that Harry had fought in a war when certain things came out of his mouth so easily.

That never would have occurred to Bella. At all.

Carlisle stepped forward with a smile. "Hopefully we'll never have to worry about that."

Beside him, Edward and Alice seemed to have come to some kind of silent agreement as they shared a nod and then beamed together.

"Ready?" Alice asked Harry.

"Bring it."

Harry was handed a metal bat to use and given a full rundown of how to play baseball, along with examples from Dr. Cullen who was ever so kind in instructing him. The good doctor showed him hand and hip placements, as well as proper stances to stay in form without getting too tense. He had an easy smile and a calming voice and it was nice listening to him.

There was a little flutter in Harry's stomach in response. How dare he be so fit! It wasn't fair for vampires to be this bloody attractive!

"Now the field is much larger than what would be used in an official match, so don't feel bad if it feels like it's taking forever, okay?" Esme told him, giving him a pat on the back.

"I'm a good runner, it'll be fine, Mrs. Cullen!"

Alice was bouncing in place, ready to test his reflexes and running ability. And he was actually excited to prove himself. Also, Bella and was watching from the sidelines and he wanted to impress her very much. After all, he didn't really have much about himself that was worthy of being proud of.

"We're lowering our skills to match those we use during Gym to make things more fair! So give it your all, okay?" Alice told him.

"Got it!"

Alice's left leg rose dramatically, her toe pointed toward the sky in a stance that she probably loved using often. She held that position for three whole seconds before whipping her arm in at a decent speed, letting the ball go with ease.

He was able to track the ball's movements with no issue. The Golden Snitch moved faster, though it only did so in short bursts of speed. Still, he was used to that and even faster speeds thanks to Quidditch, so it was easy to keep up with and easier to hit.

Running across grass was different than hardwood, but far more interesting of a challenge.

Distantly, as he passed first base, he was aware of the fact that the ball had flown out between Edward on second based and Emmett on third base, way into the distant treeline. Edward disappeared after it, no doubt because he could still watch Harry from someone else's point of view while doing so. Harry was already past third base by then and coming upon Dr. Cullen, who had his hands out and ready to receive Edward's upcoming throw.

Harry blew past him long before the ball reached his hands, and received a round of applause for his efforts.

Bella patted him on the back as he some took deep breaths to regain his standard heartbeat. "That was pretty cool."

Adrenaline pumped through his veins, demanding that he go again. It was so nice to run for a purpose and not just because they had to warm up for whatever thing they were doing for the day. It felt more rewarding like this and he wouldn't mind if they could do it in school. The gymnasium wasn't big enough unfortunately.

Edward appeared at his side, his cold hand ghosting over Harry's cheekbone gently. "You ran three hundred and five meters in thirty-one point fifty-eight seconds. That's about 34.77km/h(21.6 mph). That's an amazing speed for a regular human with no official training in such matters. The highest number currently recorded for a human to reach is 44.72 km/h(27.78 mph) and it's held by Usain Bolt during a 100 Meter Dash."

Cool. Harry didn't really understand all of that but it sounded important.

"Maybe we can test that out more later," Jasper offered with an easy smile. "It's impressive how much you were able to do, but a true way to verify your skills would be to test your sprinting ability as well. We can more easily determine just how fast you can get with the proper gear."

True. "I'm looking forward to it. For now, I'll settle for watching vampires play baseball as they deem it should be played, and then maybe we can brainstorm how to get you lot to a Quidditch match because if you think this is dangerous, wait until you see the madness happening in the air and as fast as Edward's own running speed."

Alice immediately began bouncing again. "I want to see it so bad! I want to fly on a broom!"

"We can have a go later," he promised he with a grin. "I've already given Bella an example."

Bella's nose scrunched up. "Never again."

"That's fair. Not everyone can get into it."

But did that mean they couldn't appreciate it? No.

"My broom is a top-of-the-line model though so maybe it'd be more realistic if we could get a more standard one. It's not cheap and was made specifically for me as a sort of advertisement for the brand so it's a little special."

Fairness and all that rot.

Edward ruffled his hair before disappearing off to the far side of the field. He and Emmett did a little handshake and patted each other's backs, grinning broadly. Harry wondered what it was they were talking about.

Overhead, thunder boomed all around them as Dr. Cullen stepped up to plate with his fine and fit self.

Alice pitched the ball before Harry could even notice. What really notified him was the loud thunder-like crack that ball made when it made contact with the metal bat!

The storm overhead now made so much sense! No wonder they wanted to have this game today! Bella was clutching at his arm in alarm, processing things just a step behind him.

Dr. Cullen was a blur around the bases, but Harry could still see the blur which was fascinating. If he was on his broom, would his eyes be able to keep up better or not?

It was over before then could properly take it all in. One second Dr. Cullen was running and the next he's sliding into home plate with ease, just a second before his wife caught the ball thrown by Emmett.

"This might be the coolest thing I've ever seen," Bella muttered.

"Yeah," Harry agreed. If Quidditch could be played at such a speed though...

Edward noticed the problem the same moment Alice did, because as described earlier, he basically got her power whenever she had a Vision around him.

Recently, though it hadn't been anything to be too concerned about, a coven of nomadic vampires had entered Washington, but they'd managed to decently spread their hunting days out and weren't too obvious about it, so Carlisle had said to leave them alone. If they stepped out of line, then as the registered coven of the area, the Volturi would expect them to step in and handle it, and then report the incident. Until then, they were to keep to themselves but be watchful.

The coven in question was aware of the Cullen Coven to an extent. Enough that they successfully avoided coming within a twenty-five mile radius of Forks itself. Edward was of the belief that they possessed a tracker of some sort, since that was the only thing that could make perfect sense.

Alice didn't necessarily have a visual on them, but she did know their plans, which had been to move on to Canada.

They were intent on leaving... until they heard the baseball game.

It wasn't as if they were being quiet about it, and vampire hearing was so advanced that it was easy to tell the difference between real thunder and lightning, and something imitating such sounds.

Humans would be unable to tell the difference, but vampires weren't so easy to fool.

Their curiosity had been piqued.

And now they were coming.

Where two humans were watching a coven of vampires play baseball.

While Harry's spell for himself and Bella worked well. Their scents couldn't be perceived until one got right up on them, but their breathing was still obvious. Their heartbeats were also loud enough to telegraph their movements with ease.

If they panicked and tried to hide the proof of their existence, if would cause problems. The best they could hope for was to play it off and pretend things were okay.

"Stop!" Alice announced a moment later, already rush back to home plate, Edward fast on her heels.

"They were leaving but heard us playing and got curious," she told Carlisle.

Harry became alert instantly. "A problem?" he asked, eyes already scanning the treeline for any example of a threat for him to deal with. "Anything supernatural to worry about?"

"Nomadic vampires who have a standard vampire diet," Edward explained quickly. "A group of three. They've entered the radius of my ability now. Two males, one female. James is a tracker, Laurent has no power of his own and acts as the leader but James is the true leader. Victoria has a knack for avoiding danger. She can sense where it lies and is great at outrunning it. They're decently intentioned as of right now."

Rosalie stepped forward. "Is there time for them to get out?" she asked, gesturing to Harry and Bella.

"I can hide us completely," Harry said. "I'm curious to see what your kind of vampires act like when they follow the traditional diet though. If it gets bad I can Apparate us away if needed."

"James is a hunter," Edward said, mind already focused mostly on the true leader of this coven. "It won't work. Too many of us have touched you both, so even if you hide your scents, he'll be able to pick them up from any of us. Should he get interested he'll try to track you down anywhere. He's an obsessive individual." To an alarming degree.

Carlisle hummed, looking over all of them before giving a nod of understanding. "We go back to how we were playing before. Pretend everything is fine. Harry, are you capable of making you and Bella look less human?"

Harry beamed, his magic wand appearing with ease. "I'm only using this because it's a dual-effect spell and it's best to be safe than sorry." He then waved it around Bella for a few seconds and right before their eyes, Bella's dark eyes turned amber and the pores on her face seemed to vanish. The same happened for Harry, giving them both the 'vegetarian vampire' look with ease.

"I'll put on some music too, to make things more interesting," he added, already pulling his phone out to pull up his Spotify. "I have a workout playlist that we can enjoy."

The game resumed as it was, though the bases were quickly shortened to a more manageable distance, if only to make it so that their group could get closer together if it was needed.

No one was aiming for outside the field anymore though. No one wanted to chance getting too far away at any time when interlopers were near. Despite all the abilities their coven had amassed, Jasper had long since drilled it into them that they couldn't just rely on such things all the time. Edward's ability was a boon, but not infallible if the enemy realized what was going on.

They had to be sharp.

Harry's choice of music was significantly louder than his and Bella's heartbeats and somewhat capable of masking them with the rhythmic beats in the background. It was an unfamiliar sound but it did the job.

Still though... all the effort they went to... and it all seemed for naught. They could all hear their visitor's approaching with purpose and it was too late to implement any other sort of plan.

The moment the nomadic coven appeared on the field, James' attention landed on Alice first with recognition, mind flicking through how he seemed to know her. And then his eyes flashed over to Bella with interest as she was the furthest away which was an interesting placement in his mind. And his mind quite literally suggested that something was wrong with her appearance and that made him... curious.

Not good. If they're to confrontational that could rouse his hunter's instincts. But if they aren't strict enough he'll just do whatever he wants.

With him already focusing on Bella without her even doing anything but standing around, Edward wondered how they were going to avoid any kind of altercation at this rate. Alice's mind was rolling through Visions at an alarming rate because James could not make up what he wanted to do. Even as Laurent was friendly and didn't have any ulterior motives as the sheer size of the Cullen Coven was enough to make him wary(and he assumed Bella and Harry added to the numbers obviously) but not enough to make him hostile.

"Could you use a few more players?" Laurent asked with a bright and inviting smile.

Carlisle returned his smile. "If you're capable of keeping up with our very specific rules for this level of baseball."

The trio of nomads all grinned at the challenge. After all, as vampires, they wouldn't take too long to get used to something new. This served more as a way to get them to focus on baseball and nothing else too closely.

"These are the members of my family," Carlisle said, gesturing to their whole gathering. "My wife Esme, and my children Rosalie and Emmett, Jasper and Alice, and finally Edward with Hadrian and Isabella."

He didn't give a specific indication to each person leaving any mystery the names could possibly generate, up in the air. They weren't exactly common names after all, and suggested they were all from an older generation at the very least.

Family?

The word seemed to ring through the minds of their visitor, temporarily giving them pause. They'd never encountered a coven that seemed to consider each other as family. Even though it was obvious that Carlisle was their leader, the fact that he took on a fatherly role was enough of a shock to them. Vampires were territorial after all, and for such a large group to get together and consider each other family was insane.

Not to mention the color of the Cullen Coven's eyes. They were obviously vampires but somehow their eyes were so very different.

Massive covens tended to hold the monopoly on the hunting grounds of their territory. These vampires hadn't been challenged on that front. They'd avoided Forks until now, but there had been no reason to restrict their movements no matter how displeased that left Edward.

So how could a coven of... nine vampires all manage to handle their thirst as well? Surely Washington should have had a more noticeable death toll or something?

So many questions appeared but none of them were voiced.

Curious but not enough to voice anything aloud in case they accidentally offended anyone.

James' eyes trailed over each member of their coven, trying to find weaknesses in their united front. Emmett's sheer size was enough to make him think twice about attacking, but Jasper's numerous vampire bites from his time in the Southern Wars were an extra threat that made him hesitant to do anything. After all, to a human, Jasper was beautiful as any of them were, but to a vampire, his skin was a mottled mess of overlapping crescent glittering scars left behind by hundreds of other vampires and their own specific venom.

Seeing him attached to Alice as well was enough to temper James' curiosity on that front. She'd gotten herself a new protector this time it seemed.

Edward withheld the urge to sneer.

Speaking of Jasper, he was carefully layering levels of lethargy onto their visitors in an effort to make them less observant. After all, vampires couldn't get physically tired, but they did become mentally drained after a time. Simulating that feeling was necessary to keep them busy since vampire brains could function so much faster than human brains.

"We tend to have a permanent pitcher and catcher, but if either of you would like to take up a role, just mention it," Carlisle offered.

Victoria gave a mad grin. "I've got a wicked curve ball."

In response, Alice tossed her mitt on over and Victoria caught it with ease, looking baffled at the choice to even use one considering the fact that they were vampires and wouldn't need them.

Esme maintained her position as catcher, but the teams had to split up again.

Carlisle took the team with Alice, Laurent, and Jasper, leaving Edward, Rosalie, and Emmett with James in an effort to watch him more closely.

Harry and Bella remained pressed together far behind Esme, sharing Harry's earphones and a book he'd managed to pull out of nowhere. It wasn't anything Edward was familiar with.

There was a brief moment of wonder on why they hadn't joined the game, but since they hadn't been playing when the nomads arrived, and there wasn't a spec of dirt on either of them, it wasn't quite so odd.

The game began anew, with everyone keeping an extra amount of attention paid to their visitors.

Victoria did indeed have a good arm, and being older than a majority of the vampires around certainly helped in her favor when messing with everyone but Alice and Edward.

And just when things seemed to have calmed down and they might have weathered the storm... James got too close to Edward and instantly picked up on Harry's scent, followed soon after by Bella's.

In real time, Edward got to witness the profound effects of the human scenting on the unsuspecting vampire and how everything in one's mind could change in an instant. Alice, as well, had been similarly affected, mind filled with Visions starting and cutting themselves short as James tried to decide what to do with this new information.

His body demanded he find the source and devour it. His mind was a little more cautious, but was more excited at the prospect of a new hunt.

All that effort and it had gone to waste anyway.

Dammit!

The remainder of the game was spent watching James' every move as he tried to decide what to do.

He wanted to go into Forks and find the humans connected to Edward's scent. He wanted to begin a new hunt where the stakes were high and the danger was endless. And if he succeeded, he was the ultimate hunter.

But how to get away? How to continue playing nice until he could get what he wanted?

Disgusting.

James wouldn't be going anywhere near Bella or Harry. he'd make sure of it.

A/N: Another is done!

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