A/N: Hello, people!

I don't own Harry Potter or Twilight.

I have no beta.

ENJOY!

CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON.

TAGS: Mild Language, Drama, School Shooting Mentioned, Past Trauma, and Queer Themes.

-There was a school shooting in Glendale in recent years. It was a murder-suicide. The shooter and
victim were both 15 y/o girls. I took inspiration from that.

-I gave Bella a reason to have a fear of blood since it felt like the most random addition to Twilight
and didn't make much sense with her character as it was written.


Edward struggled not to let his displeasure over Harry's words show on his face. While he was aware that Harry was at the very least Bisexual, he'd never had a problem with it. And Edward, while having never truly considered sex with humans because their thoughts tended to put him off immediately, he wasn't a total virgin. One doesn't live a hundred years and do nothing.

He'd had many offers from other vampires even. Tanya from their sister coven in Denali Alaska was one such offer that he still refused because he really just didn't feel anything beyond companionship toward her. Her thoughts made him very uncomfortable too and there was no reason for him to stay uncomfortable just to make her feel better. Anyone who tried to teach otherwise was a fool.

When the two humans he was attempting to… befriend, joined him at the table, he wasn't expecting Harry to slip his earbuds in and begin listening to Queen on his iPhone. It had been so smoothly done that it took a second for Edward's advanced recognition to understand just what he'd done.

It seemed he really didn't think Edward wanted to speak with him. That hurt, strangely. Did Edward just give off a vibe of insincerity? He was trying to be nice and considerate and it seemed like he was failing miserably when it came to this human in particular. Was he only good at reading people because he could hear their thoughts? Did he need to take more college courses on Human Psychology?

Resolved, Edward leaned across the table to lightly trail a finger over Harry's left earbud, making both him and Bella flush instantly at how suggestive the action was. Especially from someone who maintained his personal space very obviously and did not encroached upon the personal space of others for his and their benefit. "It'd be nice to actually speak with you, Harry," Edward said with what he hoped was a dazzling smile.

Once the earbuds were put away, and their blushing had died down enough to make their scents less potent, conversation was able to commence appropriately if a bit awkwardly.

Edward ignored the thoughts of his siblings since he wanted to focus solely on his humans and anything involving them.

"Your friends are angry with me for stealing you away," Edward noted, hoping to break the ice even as Jessica Stanley's jealous inner ramblings filled his mind. Lauren's thoughts were equally jealous but far more rude in nature. That was the biggest difference between them, Jessica was immature but not cruel.

"They'll live," Bella insisted with a nod from Harry.

"Besides, we all know they girls are jealous that you don't want to talk to them and the boys are jealous that Bella wants to talk to you instead," added Harry. "We're not daft, you know."

He wasn't wrong. The mental bile being spewed their way from all angles was a bit concerning. "I realize that I never got the chance to properly introduce myself to you," Edward chose to say instead.

Harry scoffed. "You've laid on top of me and practically felt me up. We're way beyond introductions at this point."

Again, if Edward was capable of blushing, he would be. Harry just had a way with words and a lack of shame in expressing them. And yet he still had a point which was the most frustrating thing!

Ooooh! Came Emmett's teasing thoughts. You laid on him, Eddie?

"This is different," Bella noted, fiddling with her bottle of lemonade. She had a nervous habit of sliding it back and forth between her hands while not actually looking down to watch herself.

While he had been planning to tease her a bit, one of their many watchers decided to come over and harass Harry. For a terrible reason. Edward barely held back a growl of annoyance and had to stop himself from squishing his lunch tray into a plastic ball. While he could probably pass it off as hidden strength, he didn't want to have to.

"Hey, fag!"

And Harry knew that it was aimed at him before he even turned to see the boy, one Chadley Warner - who very much hated his name - coming their way. The look on his face said he was ready for combat and had already determined that he would destroy his opposition ruthlessly. It was a look that made Edward a bit hot under the collar, and made him feel slightly ashamed at the same time.

It was rude to think of Harry in such a way. He was not an object. And he was a fragile human on top of it all! He must be protected from monsters like Edward!

"I resemble neither a bundle of sticks or a lit cigarette," was Harry's calm response, a single eyebrow quirking upward at a sharp angle.

Chadley's attempts at embarrassing the only out queer kid in the school, seemed to fail as he tried to make sense of Harry's words. Of course he wouldn't know any of the meanings of the word 'faggot'. Barely anyone did these days.

He was still walking toward their shared table though, and Edward envisioned ripping the boy's head off in a rare moment of violence for his typical demeanor. Carlisle would be disappointed in him if he found out.

Harry tsked and murmured too low for anyone but a vampire to hear, "All tongues that rise against me shall fall." He raked his fingers through his messy locks and then jerked them oddly to the side for no reason.

And Edward wasn't imagining it when a girl who had just risen from her seat, mess of a lunch tray in hand, lost her footing on the edge of her table which had moved over three feet to put her directly in Chadley's way. The tray went flying and all of its contents landed on the bully before he could even get close enough to be a physical threat. Chocolate milk and chicken soup drenched him from head to toe and the girl, one Chastity Sinclair, knocked him to the ground in an effort to catch herself before falling.

The room was quiet for a moment, before nearly everyone burst into laughter. Chadley's thoughts took on a mortified tone and he scrambled to his feet and then ran away, abandoning his plan in the face of such embarrassment.

"Well," Harry said with a sweet smile, "how unfortunate for him and yet perfect for me. Almost like magic."

Bella sent him an intense yet unreadable look and he did nothing but smile back at her. Being unable to hear what they were thinking was torture!

"It's 2020 and people like him still walk around with such abysmally outdated thinking. 'Tis a pity."

His words got a nod of understanding from Bella, who sent a glare in the direction Chadley had run off in, before taking a sip of her lemonade.

"What are you thinking?" Edwards asked curiously, wanting to get some kind of explanation behind how secretive the two were. How they got along so well after knowing each other for only a month. How they could understand each other so easily. "What is going through your mind right now?"

"I'm thinking about how Harry is a cheeky shit."

"Well I'm thinking about when we're getting on to that threeso-"

Bella slapped a hand over his mouth before he could finish what was probably the word 'threesome'. Her face was bright pink but her warm, brown eyes spelled 'murder'.

Emmett's thoughts entered Edward's head with a loud cackle at his expense. IS HE SUGGESTING A THREESOME, EDDIE BOY?!

"What if someone heard you?" Bella hissed, looking around frantically to see if anyone actually had. They hadn't. "And licking my hand won't gross me out enough to make me move it. I've been licked by giraffes, goats, and llamas, you've got nothing on those kinds of tongues."

Harry huffed and folded his arms petulantly.

"You two are an enigma," said Edward, making them both tilt their heads in confusion. They were remarkably alike despite being so different.

"Getting along so well after only knowing each other for a month and a few days. Understanding each other so well already. Having inside jokes. It's fascinating and confusing to not know what's going on in your heads. I'm at a loss here."

"That's how everyone feels, join the club, dude," Harry murmured as Bella pulled away finally.

After wishing things could be silent for years, he found himself wishing for the opposite. It was just unnatural for him to not be hearing thoughts.

Bella took a quick swig of her lemonade and then asked the one question that they all had probably thought at least once since early that morning. "Are we friends now? We're going to Seattle together in less than two weeks, so it seems appropriate that we iron this out now, otherwise things are going to be awkward."

Harry was nodding along. "Best to be on friendly terms at the very least before we get to our great threeso-"

Once again, Bella's hand was attached to his mouth, and Edward had to laugh. They were both so charming, strangely. They worked well together. He needed to get Harry alone to see if they were just as hilarious apart though.

He ignored Emmett's continuous stream of teasing thoughts, to focus more on Bella. "Yes," he answered. "Though as I've warned you before, I'm not really friend material."

She waved him off just as Harry snorted. "Trust me, that's for us to decide, not you. And I'd like to be your friend. And when Harry isn't busy being a perv, I'm sure he'd say the same."

The ringing of the warning bell let them know that their next period was starting soon. So much time had passed yet so little had actually been said. Damn. He needed more time!

Bella jumped to her feet in haste, "We're gonna be late!" Harry rose as well, though much more slowly and seemingly less worried.

"I won't be going to class today," Edward told them, stealing Bella's empty lemonade bottle so he could keep his hands busy with something other than his lunch tray and wasted food. "Sometimes ditching is healthy."

Harry's brows twitched in different directions simultaneously. "What? You scared of blood?" he asked with a smirk, his green eyes glinting playfully.

"Huh?" came a very dying goose-like sound from Bella, whose eyes went unnaturally wide and whose face blanched whiter than Edward had ever seen her before. Surely more than could be considered healthy.

"They're blood typing, so a lot of people pricking their fingers and blood everywhere," Harry said, strange enunciation on some of his words. "You're not looking very good, by the way."

And she wasn't. She looked haunted. "I know my blood type already," she said quietly. "Maybe ditching is healthy."

Harry shrugged. "You do you, I suppose. I can't miss Government though since we have some kind of project we're starting. I'd love nothing more than to skive but literally can't. I swear the class is outdated and knows nothing about actual governmental stuff," he grumbled as if he knew anything about how real governments worked.

The warning bell rang for a second time and Harry patted Bella's shoulder before giving Edward a telling look. He broke into a sprint toward the doors, which morphed into a run. He was across the room and outside in just a couple seconds. The fastest run Edward had ever seen from a human. Bella remained perfectly in place, looking haunted still.

From the windows in the room, Harry was visible, running at top speed toward his next class, breathing perfectly even the entire time as if it was exertion for him.

Edward turned a pitying eye on Bella and stood, taking the back of her coat and leading her toward the door. She followed, saying nothing and not even blinking when he threw out their garbage. He led her all the way out the door and through the rain, toward the office building. At the last second, he hefted Bella easily into his arms to make her situation look worse, and stepped inside. They found Mrs. Cope sipping on some tea at the front desk.

She looked horrified to see Bella's limp form in his arms.

"My goodness!" the old woman gasped. "What happened?!"

"They're blood typing in Biology," he told her. "Bella found out before class started and went catatonic. She has intense hemophobia." Judging by her reaction, he was certain he was correct in his assessment. She was paler than usual, a light sweat had broken out across her skin, and she was shaking a bit. Textbook symptoms of a fainting spell.

Mrs. Cope held the door to the office open for him, where the old nurse gaped upon seeing him and then Bella. He explained the situation again.

As Bella laid on an old cot, a cold compress placed on her unresponsive head, Edward worked on dazzling Mrs. Cope into excusing Bella from the rest of her classes for the day, plus giving him special permission to take her home. All he had to do was deliver the note to Mr. Banner before leaving and everything would be set. The school didn't have landlines in the classrooms. It couldn't afford those.

Once outside, he covered the distance in seconds, stopping just outside the door to hold his breath. When he stepped in, he refused to even look at at anyone but the teacher, moving only to hand over the note from Mrs. Cope. The man looked it over and sighed in pity. There's always one, he thought to himself. "There was no assigned homework. Tell Ms. Swan that I hope she gets better."

Edward sent him a smile and a nod, and was out of there without any hassle. The clean air was fresh and smelled of mist.

Bella had not moved an inch, he learned. He sighed in slight amusement, lifting her into an easy hold and nodding to both women, whose minds took a turn for the romantic at his 'chivalry'.

In his car, Bella finally seemed to come awake in the warmth, blinking and looking around, her breath no longer shallow. "The hell?" she asked, looking around dazedly.

"I'm taking you home. You fainted over blood."

She shuddered. "What about Harry? And my truck?"

"I will bring him home and Alice will deliver your truck if you give me the keys."

Debussy filled the silence between them, and Bella half-heartedly hummed along to Claire de Lune. He was pleasantly surprised that she knew it since it wasn't a very popular piece. Many people found it disjointed for some reason, which was ridiculous to him.

"So you have hemophobia," he began, curious to get conversation going.

Bella hummed.

"Can I ask how that came about or is it too sensitive of a topic?" He didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

A shrug was her only response for several seconds as she seemed to internally debate over whether she should answer or not. Eventually, she chose the option to tell him.

"Typically through trauma, like most people with it. School shooting in a Glendale high school that students of the nearest Middle School were allowed to use the library of. Shooter shot my fifteen year old seatmate in the head while we were studying. I had been there because I was thinking about skipping a grade and wanted to get extra studying in so I'd graduate sooner. Since that was supposed to be my future school, I was going through the books in their curriculum.

"I got covered in the girl's blood and brain matter. Shooter then shot herself dead to escape any potential punishment for her crimes. I wasn't the same for months and had to repeat the year instead of skipping ahead a year like I had wanted," she explained, voice strangely monotone. "Switched schools too. That's why I'm older than almost everyone else in my grade."

That was… so dark. Of all the things he'd imagined, it wasn't that or anything like that. All he could think of was a much smaller Bella, just minding her own business and then having to be so thoroughly traumatized at a young age.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, Bella." No child should ever have to go through that.

The rest of the ride was pretty silent after that. She handed over her keys when he dropped her off and made him swear to keep Harry safe. It was very sweet of her to be thinking of her friend even when she was so under the weather.

"You won't see me tomorrow," he warned her. "I'm going hiking with Jasper and Emmett and we're taking an early weekend to take advantage of the sun. But that means it'll be good for your trip to the beach with your friends, so stay safe and don't fall in the ocean."

She scowled but didn't even rise to his teasing.

He sped all the way back to the school and sat waiting, thinking about how the day had gone so far and wondering just what Harry would say to being driven home by him. They'd finally be alone for the first time.


Harry was worried when Bella didn't show up for Gym. He was more worried when she didn't meet him outside after Gym was over.

And then he realised she'd sent him a few texts.

Bella: Edward had to take me home because I fainted.

Bella: He remained nice the whole ride.

Bella: He said he's taking you home too.

Edward Cullen was leaning against Bella's truck and looking like a bloody model, more than a school student. "How's Bella doing?" he asked as he approached.

"She seemed to be a lot better after faiting. She has terrible haemophobia it turns out, so I got her excused from classes for the rest of the day and took her home. Alice will be taking her truck home while I take you home."

His sister seemed to materialise beside him, hand already outstretched for the keys. She didn't even hesitate, getting in the big behemoth, starting the ignition, and pulling out smoothly before Harry could even suggest just going with her. So he actually had to go with Edward.

Not that he was complaining or anything!

He didn't want to walk because the rain was coming down harder and harder as the hours dragged on, and he couldn't Apparate when someone was paying this much attention to his whereabouts. So the offer for a ride was a nice gesture.

"I guess I should thank you for even considering my predicament." Even though he could have just Apparated home with none the wiser once he found a secluded spot to do it in.

Edward flashed him a crooked smile that made his heart skip a couple beats. He could get why Bella struggled to think when someone this attractive focused all of his attention on the person he was speaking to. Vampires and their enhanced beauty sucked! It gave them an unfair advantage.

Though Harry wasn't usually one arrested by beauty to be honest. Fleur hadn't ever had much of an effect on him even though he was Bi. Or maybe it was because the beauty of Veela was supposed to hypnotise their prey and Harry couldn't be hypnotised or mind-controlled. So their abilities were useless against him when they weren't hurling fireballs.

"The Volvo is already warmed up, come."

It was, and it was nice. And Edward didn't even care about how wet their both were making the seats.

Edward pulled out of the car park, not driving as fast as he usually did when behind the wheel. "I was wondering if we could play Twenty Questions?" he asked, turning the classical music down a bit so they could better hear each other.

So that was why he was so invested in taking Harry home alone. He was fishing. Somehow, Edward had managed to not cross the wards of Harry's home yet, but he'd definitely checked on Bella already. There was a reason why Harry believed he was interested in Bella only. He'd passed those wards that Harry had set up without hesitation. Though he'd yet to go inside Bella's house.

"Sure. I'm really not interesting, though."

"Somehow I doubt that. It's very difficult to get a read on you. Okay! Do you have any talents?"

He shrugged. "What would you define as a talent? Something I'm naturally good at that I didn't work toward, or something I had to work to be good at? Because I call those skills and I have many skills, but nothing I was really born good at."

"Then do you have any abnormal skills?"

"I'm quite good at Tasseomancy," he confessed. While Divination was certainly woolly and he didn't really like prophecy all that much, reading tea leaves was actually fascinating and one thing he picked up from his classes. And he was good at it once he learned all the proper signs too! He was never wrong as his magic willed the tea he served to arrange the leaves into some form or shape properly.

"Of all the things I considered you would say, that wasn't among them," Edward said, sounding amused. "Favorite colour?"

"Green."

"When is your birthday?"

"The last day of July."

"Favourite person in the world?"

That made him think for a moment. At present it was Bella. If he went back to Britain it would probably be Hermione or Luna. Harry's relationship with Ron would never be as strong as it used to be. Being left during the Horcrux Hunt would never quite heal over no matter how much Ron tried to make up for it. The same person abandoning him more than once made it hard for Harry to trust him the shame way again.

"I'm not sure. In America it'd be Bella. In Europe it'd be my best mate Hermione."

"How would you describe your friend Hermione?"

"Genius. Motivated. Bookish. Practical. Loyal. Honest. Ambitious. Audacious."

"Who would you say is your greatest rival and why?"

"Eh…" Harry shrugged. "I can think of someone who thought of me as some kind of rival but he was never that important in my eyes. He would seek me out nonstop and try to get a rise out of me. His obsession was annoying as hell. Personally though, Draco wasn't much of a rival. Not even during sports games where I trounced him. He was just a prat who whinged about tattling to his daddy all the time.

"Tom however," he paused, thinking of Voldemort, "was a twat who actually had an effect on my life. So I suppose Tom Riddle Jr. is the answer. He was a purist arsehole."

"Who do you look up to the most?"

That was hard to choose from. All the adults he knew and had built opinions on, had other facets of their personalities that he'd never come to expect from them. It was hard to come to grips with new information when you'd already formed your previous assumed unshakable opinion.

Snape's loyalty to his long-dead only friend. Even when it was obvious that siding with Dumbledore and helping him wasn't beneficial to Snape's well-being and he would most likely die, he stayed true.

Sirius and James and their days of bullying. And the lengths Sirius and Remus went to just to try and excuse it. Harry didn't care if they were teens when they did it. Not once in his life had he thought about pinning someone down, choking them out, and then stripping them without consent, because that was what sexual predators did. Being a teen did not excuse someone doing something terrible, otherwise Tom could be excused for setting the Basilisk on the students, killing Myrtle, and fucking Hagrid over.

And Molly, who was perfectly willing to take up the role of a parental figure with him, was pretty xenophobic against non-Brits, racist against non-humans sans Remus, and he didn't forget how she treated Hermione because of Rita's slut-shaming articles in their Fourth Year.

Dumbledore was a fucking let down entirely and Harry didn't even want to get into how betrayed the mere memory of the man made him feel.

Maybe he didn't have to choose an adult. Maybe someone around his own age.

He thought about the friends he'd made along the way, and all of their good and bad traits, and it came to him.

"My friend Luna Lovegood," he decided. "She's always been very different from everyone, but never dared to be pressured into changing who she was to appease others' comfort. She stares into vacant air a lot, seems to know things she shouldn't, and is always profound when she opens her mouth." Luna was amazing.

Edward hummed in thought. "Favourite quote?"

"I have two, actually. [Those who are neutral in situations of injustice have chosen the side of the oppressor.] That one is by Desmond Tutu and it hits me hard every time I think about it. And then, [Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end. If not always in the way we expect.] That one is from Luna, and I learned first hand how true it was." He thought about walking to his death in the Forbidden Forest and how the remnants of the souls of his parents and godparents appeared before him in the order they'd died in.

It was an eerie quote.

"Favourite class you've ever taken?"

"Defence," he said simply. "I'm good at learning defensive manoeuvres."

"Worst subject in school?"

"History!" He didn't even have to think about it. Binns sucked. "And then anything Maths related."

His insistence got him a chuckle. They still hadn't made it to his house. Edward was taking the very long way back to drag out the ride even further. He must really be desperate for answers. It was kind of flattering that he was this dedicated to learning about Harry.

"What do you think of Forks?"

"It's more wet than England, honestly. The air is crisp though and I feel somewhat reminded of Scotland's highlands as a result. Kind of boring if truth be told, but it's not worse than camping for months at a time so I can't complain that much." Regulated heating without spells was nice. Plumbing was great too.

"Most amazing place you've visited?"

"My old school. It was a literal castle complete with turrets, towers, and a viaduct set into a mountainside."

"What is the most dangerous thing you've done?"

He had so many things come to mind! "The list is seemingly endless. Continue playing a sport despite my arm being broken mid-way through. Fending off a massive snake that could kill me with the slightest exposure to its venom. Robbing a bank where the mafia owners would probably kill you at the slightest chance of you being up to no good. Face down my parents' murderer in combat and kill him. Those kind of things."

There was silence for a moment, before the questions started up again.

"Sexual orientation? I would say Bisexual but I thought it best I just get it straight from you so I don't make a mistake in the future and offend you by accident."

"You're right, I'm Bi. How'd you guess?" Harry was certain he wasn't obvious as others would be about their preferences.

"They way you watch the male and female students pretty equally."

Was he really that obvious? Privately he'd been wondering if he was a failure of a Bisexual for not being quite like the others he'd met before. This was kind of a relief.

"What were the contents of the last dream you had?"

"A hot vampire asked me on a date and kept making poor vampire puns that were so bad they made me laugh." Yes, it had indeed happened. He neglected to mention that the vampire in the dream was Edward. Hearing Dream-Edward fake a Romanian accent was hilarious!

"Place you would never visit?"

"Anywhere below the equator, honestly. Too hot until you pass that one line and then it's too cold. No thanks. I grew up in England where we'd rarely get over 15 °C and I'm good for that."

"What were your parents' names?"

"Lily Rose Potter née Evans and James Charlus Potter."

"And what were the names of your grandparents, on both sides?"

He had to think more closely about that since he only learned that info recently after turning seventeen and reaching his majority.

"For mum, her parents were Rosalie Anne Evans née Milford and Edmund Evans. For dad, his parents were Dorea Ursa Potter née Black and Charlus Fleamont Potter."

"What is your biggest regret?"

"Being born on the last day of July. If I wasn't, then a creepy man with an obsession with Divination wouldn't have fooled himself into believing some hammy prophecy given by a drunkard, declaring I would be his future vanquisher." He hated having to think about it at all.

"How would you describe yourself?" Edwards asked softly, eyes almost distant as he drove.

"I'm just Harry." Nothing special. Nothing worth dying for. Nothing that anybody should feel the need to worship for Merlin's sake!

The Volvo pulled up right in front of his house, opposite Bella's. The orange-red behemoth was parked where it should be, and Alice Cullen was bouncing in place on the pavement. She had either driven really fast or Edward had taken even longer than Harry time on his mobile said if was already four!

"I didn't even get to ask you any questions," Harry pouted, feeling a bit cheated. "I don't think that's how Twenty Questions works, you know." He'd never gotten to play it of course, but he'd had a vague idea.

Edward smirked and leaned closer so he could stretch an arm over Harry and open his door for him. He smelled good, though it was damn near indescribable. "Perhaps you should take that as an invitation to come around me more often if you'd like to get to know me better." His breath even smelled good.

It wasn't fair!

Harry resisted the urge to flick Edward's perfect nose, and slid out of the car, holding the door open for Alice to slide in behind him.

"We're starting the weekend early with a little family trip, so you won't be able to grill me tomorrow unfortunately," Edward told him in what was obviously false regret. He seemed too smug to pull it off properly. "Have fun at the beach and get some sun while you can. Please make sure Bella doesn't fall in a tide pool."

Alice waved enthusiastically, and the Volvo made a perfect U-Turn in the middle of the street and zoomed away.

Bella's door opened the second they were gone and she beckoned him over with an insistent wave of the hand.

He sighed and went to join her.


Bella was relieved to see that Harry was okay. Not that she thought Edward would do anything to him or that he couldn't defend himself, but a good friend should always care about their friends no matter the situation.

She watched Harry wiggle his fingers a bit and felt an odd ripple streak across the house in response. It left her a little cold as a result and she went to turn on the space heater.

"We can talk now," he told her. "No one will hear us."

Magic was awesome!

"The forecast for tomorrow is sunny skies and a high of 65, and his family are going camping early or something. That basically confirmed it for me," she explained. "I didn't really doubt your friend's book, but the whole excuse of taking advantage of the good weather was blindingly obvious."

He nodded. "Seems so. Him avoiding the blood typing too."

Yeah.

"Edward drove you home," Bella said. "What happened?"

"We played Twenty Questions, but the prat managed to do all the asking and kept me preoccupied." Harry looked adorably annoyed by that fact too.

Then that meant that Edward had to really like Harry if he wanted to get to know him that much. "See? He totally wants to talk to you and get to know you. It isn't all about me." Thank goodness. While the thought was flattering it also made her extremely nervous. Bella hadn't ever been a popular person because she just didn't attract people. Her personality was either too bland and her interests considered too Old Lady, or she was too outspoken about injustices being committed every day and that put people off for some reason.

Bella wasn't one for excessive attention and didn't like being stared at either.

"He's too attractive for my own good," Harry said as he plopped into one of the kitchen chairs while Bella went to check on the enchiladas she'd put in the oven for dinner. She was trying to expand Charlie's palate a little at a time, while also introducing him to a marvelous discovery known as spices.

"I know what you mean. I find myself dazzled by him far too often and can't think clearly. I lose my train of thought. When you're there it's easier though."

Easier to remember herself and not be an embarrassment to women everywhere.

"No matter how many studies have been conducted, no one can appropriately determine just how they become so appealing compared to their human lives," explained Harry as he pulled out his Trig homework with a grimace. "I think wix aren't trying hard enough though, because it very well could be something pheromone-related for all we know. Typically, they never think to study things under a non-magical scope. Newt Scamander was the first Magizoologist who dared to, and it helped him understand creatures better than humans."

Magic was fascinating. Hearing about how prejudiced magical people could be though… even to other magical beings, was sad. According to Harry, even the most pro muggle/no-maj wix still retained a sort of condescending attitude toward people without magic. It just seemed as if there wasn't a place that racism and xenophobia didn't exist.

"You want to stay for dinner?" she asked him as she rotated the pan. Their oven was a bit crooked and everything had to be turned every ten minutes or so to make certain they cooked evenly.

"No, that's fine. I'm actually really tired and plan on turning in early. You're lucky you missed Gym because Clapp had us doing laps around the room."

She shuddered in disgust at the very thought of running. If she hadn't fainted, she would have come home with bruised knees and elbows. So maybe it wasn't all so bad no matter how embarrassing it was to be carried bridal style from the school by Edward Cullen and his frigid hands.

"Were you the best runner?" she asked, remembering how fast he moved during said class every day.

Harry beamed. "Yes! I finished all ten laps first! I even lapped everyone twice!"

How he could be so energetic and sporty, she'd never know.


A/N: Another is done!

How was it? Let me know.

See ya! :D