Epilogue: Renascence
Charlie liked Marcus. They didn't talk much, but Charlie liked to sit and listen when Harry and Marcus were plotting. He didn't really understand the things they went on about. It was all energy and magic and ley lines; Charlie had never learned about intersecting planes in Mr Varner's geometry class.
Some things, Charlie knew, it was okay not to understand. What mattered was the way that Harry's eyes would light up. What mattered was when they were lying on Volterra's tallest tower watching the stars and Harry talked about Sirius, Andromeda, and Draco.
If Marcus was there they talked about Didyme, too. There were burned stones on the side of the tower from where she'd set herself on fire before she'd jumped. For Marcus, Didyme had been the only thing that made him happy.
Sometimes Charlie wondered if Harry was the only thing that made him happy. He loved Bella, but he remembered what his life had been like before they'd received the call of a kid without shoes walking around touching the trees.
It was funny how they'd thought Harry was crazy. Most days, watching Aro, Caius, Marcus and all the guards, Charlie was pretty sure he and Harry were the sanest of them all.
He hadn't been surprised when Bella had shown up in Volterra with red eyes and a ring on her finger. The Cullens had all shown up to celebrate their wedding before packing the two off to a honeymoon on Esme's private island.
After over three decades living with vampires things like private islands didn't surprise him anymore.
What did surprise him was when Harry teleported into their apartment with a CRACK, short circuiting all the lights.
"We've done it!" Harry said, lifting Charlie and spinning him around the dark room. "We found it, Charlie!"
Laughing, he kissed Harry's cheek. "Remember, we said no teleporting in the house." At least the neighbours still had power; a streetlamp was shining through the window.
Harry twisted in his arms—and they were on the opposite side of the city. Charlie wished he could puke, but vampire anatomy wasn't like that. Even by moonlight he recognized the tower by the smell of burning that had stuck around for a thousand years.
"Remember we said no teleporting me, ever?"
"Charlie, we require your gift," Marcus said. "Please stand in this circle."
Sighing, he moved over to the area that had been chalked onto the stone floor. He didn't need to understand what they were on about, and they knew that even if they tried to explain he probably wouldn't get it anyway. Taking a deep breath, he let go of his hold over his power.
"Very good," Marcus said. The chalk lines started to glow like Saint Marcus' Day decorations. Then the king started to float.
"That's supposed to happen, right?" Charlie asked. He would be in so much trouble with Aro if Marcus accidentally drifted off into the night. Most days, Charlie didn't understand why he was meant to be the responsible one.
There was a crack so loud and bright that Charlie's ears were ringing. He tried to blink away the afterglow but it was like he was blind. The air smelled of ozone, almost like there'd been a lightningstrike on this random summer night.
"Hnn," he heard Harry say.
The ringing dimmed. "I can't hear you," Charlie said.
"Hurn nuh," Harry answered. Charlie held tight to his mate's hand and waited. It didn't take long before he could see what was in front of him.
Marcus was naked. All his hair was standing up like a cat that had licked a power socket. Even in the dark, Charlie could see that his eyes were brown.
He was poking his own skin. "I'm hungry," Marcus said. His voice was pure wonder.
"It's Sunday," Harry said, pulling Charlie forward so that they could help Marcus up. "Sundays are for pancakes. Jacob sent me a gluten free recipe I want to try."
…
Aro and Caius were furious, but Charlie knew he'd never seen Marcus look so peaceful. It made Charlie remember back when it had been him and Harry in their house with the blue kitchen and the big oak out back that Bella's swing used to hang from.
He remembered the man who couldn't do his own laces and who sometimes forgot his own name but remembered to make coffee every morning like clockwork.
They'd come a long way, Charlie knew. And he loved Harry like this, in his confidence and his own power with eyes that glowed like a nuclear reactor.
Marcus moved into his own apartment. He fell in love with the Volturi's human secretary. Charlie blinked and a year had passed. Marcus showed them all his newborn son with the same awe in his eyes Charlie knew he'd had when holding Bella for the first time.
.oOo.
Marcellus Volturi knew his dad used to be a vampire. That was why all his uncles were vampires. His mum said she used to want to be like them too, but when she'd fallen in love with her dad she realized what they really wanted was humanity.
Marcellus liked the humans. He didn't really feel like he belonged with them. It was hard when everyone he knew and loved didn't need rest or sleep.
Vampires didn't change. When they loved you, they loved you forever. When Renata told him she loved him, Marcellus asked his parents for their blessing. She didn't mind that he wanted to stay human a bit longer, maybe even much longer. Vampires, Marcellus had learned, were like that.
Dad celebrated one birthday after another. Every gray hair got its own party. All the wrinkles on his face were laugh lines. Marcellus counted the passing years by their annual father-son trip to forests all over the world, where his dad made sure he knew how to talk to the trees properly. It was important to tell them all your secrets, Marcellus learned. If you stripped yourself bare in front of them, the trees would talk back.
Marcellus had never felt like he belonged with the humans, but he didn't feel like he belonged with the vampires either. Renata never really minded, she said she was happy to follow him to the end of the world. After talking to all his aunts and uncles, Marcellus decided the place he really wanted to go was Forks.
.oOo.
They picked him and Renata up from the airport in a rusty red truck. All their bags barely fit. Marcellus could never choose which clothes to pack and his wife refused to replace her book collection because 'the kindle doesn't smell right.'
"It's a miracle you got permission to come here," Charlie Swan said once they were on the highway. The man's hair and moustache were silver, but otherwise he was exactly like dad had described him. "The tribe said they wouldn't mind if the next generation started turning into wolves again. Don't know why. Kids these days, always chasing the next big adventure."
"It'll be time for our next great adventure soon," Harry Swan said from the passenger seat.
Besides the green eyes, he was nothing like how dad had described him. Marcellus had been hoping to learn more about magic from the man, but Harry didn't seem to be quite…there.
Charlie just leaned over and helped Harry out of his seatbelt.
The house was cozy, even if the kitchen looked like it was antique. The new counter and stove didn't match the peeling blue paint on the cabinets. Marcellus scraped a nail over the wood. There were at least two layers of more paint underneath. Blue like the sky on a clear day. Blue like the ocean over a sandy beach. Blue like a glacier melting into the sea.
The guest room was tiny. Marcellus and Renata had to stack their bags onto the bed carefully so it wouldn't all fall to the floor. It was hard to imagine someone as powerful and regal as Bella Swan ever having lived here.
At night the house creaked and groaned in the wind like Mum's fairy tale about the wolf who'd blown a home like this one to the ground.
"There's magic here," Harry said as he led Marcellus to the weathered oak in the back garden. "She'll talk to you if you let her. Expecto Patronum." A badger made of silver light trotted around them like a loyal dog.
It had markings around its face that looked almost like a moustache.
"My dad taught me to listen to the trees," Marcellus said, but Harry just smiled without properly meeting his eyes.
"I remember how he used to hold you. Like you were his moon and stars. Marcus didn't send you here to learn about trees."
"Nobody sent me here," he protested. He watched as Harry caressed the sunflowers and the begonias. It looked like they were leaning into his touch.
"Hold it and think of your happiest memory," Harry said, thrusting a stick into Marcus' hand. "The words are Expecto Patronum."
The wood felt nothing like any tree Marcellus had ever touched. He said the words. When wisps of silver came from its tip, his heart filled with wonder and he laughed.
"Expecto Patronum, Expecto Patronum," he said, again and again until his eyes were crying from his happiness.
When he stopped he realized he was alone. It was almost dark; Dad always said twilight was the most magical part of the day. Watching the fog creep through the trees, Marcellus wasn't sure if he didn't prefer the magic of warm bark and sunshine.
"You're new," someone said.
Marcellus spun to face the house. There was a little girl on the porch with golden hair casscading down to her elbows.
"I'm Marcellus Volturi," he said. "Renata and I are staying with the Swans for a while."
She nodded with her five-year-old self-importance. "I'm Luna like the spanish word for moon. Uncle Charlie told me to tell you dinner is ready."
Inside the house a large man was playing with a toddler in the living room. The girl's mother was in the kitchen. She was the most beautiful human Marcellus had ever seen. It was a good thing Edward wasn't around to tattle on him to Renata.
All through the meal, Marcellus watched Harry Swan push his food around or stare out the window. Charlie coaxed him into eating with deep familiarity. Marcellus knew a lot of vampires, but these humans acted like they'd been together forever.
.oOo.
Over the course of a year, Marcellus managed to make Expecto Patronum conjure a silver bulldog. He learned Wingardium Leviosa and Muffliato and Tarantallegra. Harry was most lucid in those moments where he was teaching, but the rest of the time he climbed trees, forgot to wear his shoes, could never quite meet anybody's eyes when he managed to speak.
At night Harry told stories about constellations: Andromeda raising a baby, Sirius who had meant to take him home, the cowardly Lupin, and Draco who'd been falling, falling.
Once he had a fit, dropping a plate in the middle of doing the washing up. Marcellus had been frightened by the flickering lights and the shuddering windows.
Charlie just smiled. "It's alright," he said, catching the soap before it could float away. "Sometimes, things happen different from how we expected, but that doesn't mean they aren't perfect the way they are." Charlie carded his hands through Harry's hair and started to croon a lullaby.
"I see the moon, the moon sees me, under the shade of the old oak tree. Please let the light that shines on me, shine on the one I love."
The end.
.oOo.
Thanks for coming along for the ride. Take a look at my other fics if you liked this one (all completed):
Harry Potter is 'Izzy' Swan in 'Another—oh, Whatever'
Harry Potter is Rosalie Hale in 'If I Should Have a Daughter'
Severus Snape is Harry Potter Time Travel Fix it 'More Than One Way to Skin a Cat'
Harry Potter raised by Death travels the world in 'Harry Potter and the Semantics of Divinity'
Harry, as a Dragon Rider, realises he's fighting for the wrong side in 'Beware the Jabberwock'
A series of one-shots about Regulus Black in 'The Second Son'
And the fic I'm currently updating: Harry Potter x Mycroft Holmes Time Travel Fix it 'A Public-Private Partnership'