Remus chuckled, "Padfoot has discovered the premium channels and was up all night watching movies."
"But Moony, who knew there were so many entertaining things to watch. I have missed out on so much!"
"Yes, Padfoot, but you don't have to watch it all in one night. It's not going anywhere."
"Just wait, Moony, until you watch the History channel."
"There's a History Channel," Remus asked, and his eyes lit up.
Sirius smirked, "Yes, there is."
Remus began contemplating staying up all night to watch that channel. Cordelia shook her head, "Uncle Moony, you're the responsible one in this family."
"Right, right. Fine Padfoot, you can watch whatever you want until Sunday; after that, it's a dreamless sleeping potion for you, and we're off to work on Monday."
Sirius frowned, "Yes, Mother."
Harry and Cordelia look at their parents and roll their eyes; if they didn't know better, you would think they were an old married couple instead of best friends. The little family served themselves breakfast and talked for a while. Once everyone finished breakfast, Fispey packed Cordelia and Harry's lunch while the duo went upstairs to brush their teeth and grab their bags. They came downstairs and kissed both men goodbye, and headed off to school.
As they drove, they talked about what they were going to do about the Cullens, "We don't need the trouble, Cord. I've had enough trouble to last a lifetime. Let's continue to do what we've been doing and avoid them," Harry said.
"Yeah, I think that would for the best," Cordelia agreed.
So, when they arrived at school and they spotted the Cullens, Cordelia found a spot as far from them as possible. The god siblings sat in the car for a bit and made sure they had everything. They checked their wand holsters and then got out of the vehicle. Cordelia hissed in pain when she got out of the car. Harry looked at her, concerned.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah, that gift from Cousin Bella is acting up again."
Harry frowned.
When he and the others had been captured while looking for the Horcruxes and were taken to Malfoy Manor, Bellatrix tortured Cordelia and Hermione. Cordelia got the worst because she was a Black and Sirius's Half-Blood daughter, and Bellatrix thought Cordelia was a stain on the Black family name. Bellatrix had cursed her mercilessly when Cordelia threw herself on Hermione to protect her. It was even worse when they escaped. Cordelia tackled Bellatrix and was left behind. If it hadn't been for Draco getting Cordelia's wand and stunning Greyback, Cordelia would have been raped and murdered by the werewolf.
Cordelia was half dead when Dobby found her and brought her back to Shell Cottage. Cordelia was in such bad shape that she couldn't go with Harry and the others to Gringotts. She didn't join them again until the Final Battle, where she killed Dolohov and saved Remus and her father, who had been fighting together. Sirius ended up killing Bellatrix, and Remus killed Greyback.
So, now, after all these months had passed, Cordelia would occasionally get flare-ups from the scars of the cutting curses that littered her back. Harry walked over to Cordelia, "Are you sure you can go to class? If the pain is too much, we can go home."
Cordelia took a deep breath, "No, it's fine, it'll pass, don't worry, Harry."
Harry put a protective arm around Cordelia's shoulder, and they went inside the school. Little did they know that the Cullens could hear what they were talking about even though they were parked across the parking lot. Emmett was talking to Jasper when his head snapped towards Cordelia when he heard her hiss in pain.
Emmett's instincts to comfort and protect his mate kicked in, and he started walking towards the god siblings, only to have Jasper and Alice grab him, "Why are you stopping me? My mate is in pain."
"We know, Emmett, but you're still a stranger to her. She's going to be uncomfortable with you wanting to comfort her about something you shouldn't have heard." Jasper explained.
Emmett sighed, "Alright, you're right. Her brother's there; I guess that will have to be good enough."
Alice and Jasper nod.
When the bell rang for the students to head inside, Emmett kept his eyes out for Cordelia to make sure she felt better. He saw her and Harry talking to Angela and Ben at their lockers. Cordelia was smiling and laughing as she spoke to the other couple. Emmett smiled at seeing that his mate was feeling better, but he still wanted to talk to her. Emmett had Chemistry class with Cordelia and hoped that today when the teacher assigned seats, they would end up being lab partners so that he could finally talk to his mate.
Emmett sighed, and he, Jasper, and Alice walked to their first class, while Cordelia and Harry went to English. When they arrived in class, Bella and Edward smiled at them. The god siblings looked at each other and sighed, so much for avoiding the vampires. They smiled and went to sit with Bella and Edward, "Good morning, you two, how are you this morning," Bella asked happily. She was determined to get Cordelia to talk more and get to know her for Emmett's sake.
Cordelia smiled at her, "We're good, thank you; how are you?"
"Good. How was your day yesterday? Did you enjoy it?"
"It's different than what we're used to; there aren't as many courses as there were at our old school."
"Oh, where did you go to school," Edward asked as he tried to read their minds.
Cordelia and Harry made sure that their Occlumency shields were up before they answered Edward, "We went to a boarding school in Scotland," Cordelia said but wouldn't elaborate further.
Bella smiled, "Did you like it there?"
"Yeah, it was our home away from home," Harry added.
"What brings you to Forks," Edward asked.
"We needed a change," Cordelia told them.
Bella was about to ask if she could tell her more, but the bell rang, and the class started. Harry and Cordelia took that opportunity to ignore Bella and Edward and concentrate on the teacher. As soon as the bell rang, the god siblings were out of their seats and out the door. Bella and Edward looked at each other confused. They were wondering why Cordelia and Harry were so standoffish with them.
As soon as Cordelia and Harry were out of English class, they relaxed a bit, though they never dropped their Occlumency shield. They couldn't risk Edward reading their minds and finding out who they were. The duo made their way to their math class and took their seats at the front of the class with Angela, and began talking to her. A little while later, the Cullens came into the classroom; when Emmett spotted Cordelia, he smiled brightly.
Cordelia looked up at Emmett and nodded. Then she went back to talking to Angela.
Emmett's brow furrowed at his mate's reaction to him. He hoped that she would feel the mate pull as well, but it didn't seem that she did. Emmett walked back to his seat next to Alice and sat down. Alice looked at him, concern, "Are you alright, Emmett?"
"Are you sure that she's my mate," Emmett whispered so softly that only Jasper and Alice heard him.
"Yes, Emmett. It may take some time, but I saw you and her together," Alice whispered back.
"Why, what happened," Jasper asked.
But Emmett never got a chance to answer because the bell rang and the lesson started. Throughout the class, Emmett would glance at Cordelia, and every time he did, he noticed that she would stiffen as if Cordelia could tell that Emmett was looking at her. And, of course, Cordelia could tell that Emmett was looking at her. Ever since the torture and the war, Cordelia was hyper-aware of her environment. Harry was sitting next to his sister and would glance at her when he would notice that she would stiffen. Harry turned around just in time to see Emmett looking at Cordelia; he glared at the vampire, and Emmett smiled at Harry.
'If he comes near Cord, I'll make him regret it,' Harry thought.
As soon as the bell rang, Harry ushered Cordelia out of the room. Emmett and his siblings left a little bit later. As they walked down the hall, Alice asked Emmett why he thought Cordelia wasn't his mate.
"She doesn't feel the mate pull, Alice."
"Maybe she does, Emmett, but she's resisting," Alice explained, "What do you think, Jasper?"
"I don't know. I can tell that Cordelia is attracted to you, but she doesn't like it. She's resisting." Jasper told his brother.
"Why?"
"As I said, I don't know. Maybe I can find out in History class, Em. And if I do, I'll let you know."
"Okay, we'll see you later."
With that, Alice and Emmett went one way while Jasper went to his History class. When he got there, the god siblings were sitting on the other side of the room from him. Jasper walked towards his seat and glanced at Harry. He was surprised to feel the paranoia and hostility coming from Harry when he saw Jasper glance at Cordelia. Jasper thought that was a strange reaction from Harry, so when he sat down, he focused his powers on Cordelia and found that she was feeling so many different emotions, Anger, fear, paranoia, self-loathing, and hatred. Jasper couldn't figure out what was setting them off. He decided that he would tell the others at lunch.
When class ended and everyone started heading to the cafeteria for lunch, Jasper met up with his siblings at their lockers. He was still thinking of the god siblings' reaction to him when he arrived. Edward looked at him, surprised, "What do you mean they hate us?"
"That's the emotion I got from both of them and extreme paranoia. And hyper-alertness."
"Why," Bella asked.
"I don't know, Darlin'. The only thing I know is that they don't trust us."
"Maybe I can find out next period; I have chemistry with them," Emmett said as they made their way towards the cafeteria.
"Okay, but don't push them; if I didn't know better; it's like they have PTSD," Jasper said, "Especially Cordelia."
"What do you feel from her," Alice asked.
"Her emotions are more churned up than Harry's, but she can hide it better than he can. They're both wearing a mask, but he slipped when he saw me looking at Cordelia," Jasper said, "Harry suddenly became very protective and very angry," Jasper pointed out.
"I wonder what happened to them," Bella asked.
"I don't know, but I don't like the thought of my mate being in any distress," Emmett told his siblings.
"We need to help them with whatever is wrong," Alice said
The Cullens agreed and entered the cafeteria. Instantly they started looking for Harry and Cordelia. They saw them sitting across the cafeteria by themselves. Bella, Alice, Edward, Jasper, and Emmett got in the lunch line to get their food, then went to their table, sat down, and began to talk and pretend to have lunch while watching Harry and Cordelia.
Meanwhile, Cordelia and Harry unpacked their lunch and began to eat. Fispey had made them roast beef sandwiches and potato salad for lunch along with some treacle tarts and pumpkin juice. As they ate, Harry stiffened when he noticed that Bella and the Cullens were looking in their direction. His eyes narrowed as he glared at the one human and vampires. When the others noticed that Harry had seen them, they quickly turned and talked about other things.
Harry waved his hand underneath the table and cast a silencing charm, "Thank Merlin, maybe now we can talk in peace," Harry said.
"Do you think that was a good idea, Harry," Cordelia asked.
"I don't care; I'm tired of guarding what we say and do from the vampires. They've been watching us all morning."
"Harry, they're going to notice that suddenly they can't hear us."
Harry shrugged, "So?"
"So, if the vampires notice, they're going to want to find out why and they're going to become more interested in us," Cordelia told her brother.
Harry sighed and waved his hand again, "Fine is that better?"
"Yes."
While Harry and Cordelia had been talking, The vampires had indeed been trying to listen to what they were talking about, but all they could hear was a buzzing noise, "What's going on? I can't hear them anymore," Emmett said, slightly worried, "I can't even hear their heartbeats."
The others focused on Cordelia and Harry and then looked at Emmett as if he had lost his mind, "Are you alright, Emmett? I can hear it just fine."
"Yeah, now, but a minute ago, all I heard was a buzzing noise when I tried to listen to their conversation. I could see Harry's lips moving, but there was no sound."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah!"
Alice and the others just looked from Harry and Cordelia's table to each other. How was that possible? What had they done to block out the sound?
"We're going to have to tell Carlisle and see if he knows," Edward said.
The others nod, then went back to talking about other things, with Emmett glancing one last time at Cordelia's back.
When lunch was over, Emmett made his way to Chemistry class. Today the teacher was going to assign lab partners, and he usually set them alphabetically, so Emmett knew this would give him a chance to get to know Cordelia. He walked into the classroom and sat down at one of the lab tables. A little while later, Cordelia and Harry walked in and sat on the opposite side of the room. When the class started, Mr. Rickman began by assigning lab partners.
"When I call your name, I want you to go join your new lab partner. Cordelia Black, you'll be partners with Mr. Cullen."
Cordelia stiffened at hearing who her lab partner was, then looked at Harry. She sighed and stood up, then walked towards the lab table where Emmett sat. Cordelia hung her jacket on the chair, then placed her books on the table. She didn't acknowledge Emmett until he touched her shoulder, making Cordelia jump and almost reach her wand, but Cordelia controlled herself at the last second.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Emmett said with a frown when he heard his mate's heart speed up.
Cordelia placed her hand over her heart, "That's quite alright."
"I only wanted to introduce myself formally; I'm Emmett Cullen," Emmett said with a smile, then offered his hand.
Cordelia stared at Emmett for a moment, then his hand; she tentatively reached for his hand and shook it. She wasn't at all surprised that it was ice cold; he was a vampire, after all, so Cordelia didn't react to his temperature. Cordelia ignored the spark that went up to her arm when their hands met, "It's nice to meet you, Emmett; I'm Cordelia."
"It's nice to meet you too."
There was an awkward silence after the introductions. Emmett wasn't sure how to engage his mate in a conversation when she was clearly trying to ignore him, "So, um, you're English," Emmett felt like an idiot asking such an obvious question. Still, he needed to engage Cordelia in some form of conversation.
Cordelia chuckled, "What gave it away," She asked.
"What I meant to say was what brings you from England to Forks?"
"Change of scenery. My family and I decided it was time for a change," Cordelia said.
"Why did you pick Forks?"
"No reason. It was as good a place as any."
"Do you like it here?"
"It's alright; we haven't been here too long. I like the cold and the rain; it reminds me of my old school."
"Oh, really? Where did you go to school," Emmett inquired.
"Harry and I went to a boarding school in Scotland."
"Wow, did you like it there?"
"Harry and I loved it there; it was our home away from home."
And just like that, Cordelia Black started to open up to Emmett Cullen. Not too much, she wasn't stupid enough to tell him about who she was and what she had been through, but Cordelia was willing to talk to the vampire about unimportant things that didn't reveal too much about herself. And as she spoke to Emmett throughout the class, Cordelia realized something; these vampires were not like the ones that sided with Voldemort during the war, and maybe she and Harry didn't have to be on their guard all the time with them. But in the back of her mind, she could still hear Moody's voice telling her constant vigilance. At least against the mind reader. It would never do for the Cullens to find out they were magical.