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.
A/N: I want to point out that I don't know how public high schools really function. I went to a small private school where 9th-12th grade students were located in the same room and we used a curriculum called P.A.C.E, in which we all worked on our individual subjects on our own. So my depiction of the high school setting here is all guesswork and conjecture from what I've seen in movies and/or books.
Chapter 3
The school day dragged by slowly for the resident vampires. All of them were anxious to get some answers from the newest members of the school.
Edward kept repeating the conversation he had heard from them in his head over and over and over again. What was a muggle? What were they inferring when they clarified the word muggle by saying humans or mortals? How could they have come upon him in his favorite meadow without himself hearing or smelling them? All of these questions played on repeat in his head all day. First the conversation would run through his head, followed by all of these questions. Over and over.
The only class Edward had had so far with the male, who he later found out was named Harry, was Government and he had not chosen to sit in the empty seat next to Edward, even though he tried his best to appear friendly and nonchalant, in order to encourage him to sit next to him.
After tuning into Alice's thoughts off and on, he realized that she experienced the same.
"It's almost as if he's manipulating where everyone chooses to sit, so that there's always another free seat that is not next to one of us," said Alice curiously, as they sat down together in the cafeteria, going through the ritual of playing with their food.
Edward asked, "Have you noticed that he smells different? Not like another vampire, but also not like food. I haven't seen the girl, so I can't say the same about her."
Rosalie said, "When we were between classes, I went into the restroom as she was coming out, she smells the same way you have described him., and she has a heartbeat."
Running a hand through his hair, Edward said, "Just waiting for this day to be over already is worse than the normal tediousness of a regular school day."
Merope found her muggle classes quite fascinating, and a few of the male students awkwardly tried to flirt with her before all of her classes. She did let them down gently, but was amused with their disappointment that she really was already in a serious relationship.
She had been worried that she was going to be bored spending her time in classes with teenagers, but it was so new and interesting that she truly enjoyed herself. Algebra was interesting, though not really as useful as arithmancy, in her opinion, but interesting nonetheless. She giggled a little when she heard her tablemate mumbling about the stupidity of mixing letters with numbers.
She visited the loo between classes and almost ran into the blonde female, from the group that arrived in the Volvo this morning, on the way out the loo door. She smiled as she passed, noticing the brief look of confusion in the blonde's face as she did.
Civics was an interesting class. Biology was a little dull and confusing, but she figured she'd understand it eventually. Her favorite class was English, she looked forward to writing essays, having never attended Hogwarts to have gotten that experience.
Finally, it was time to meet Harry at the cafeteria. She hoped the food was good, otherwise, she'd insist that they pack their own lunches in the future.
Harry thoroughly enjoyed himself on his first day of muggle school, well, first day since before he was 11 years old, originally. Terms were a little bit different, but since it had been literally a few hundred years since he had attended ANY muggle school, it was easy enough for him to adapt.
His first class was English, which was pretty straight forward. He was a little amused about writing essays again, but then, he doesn't have a dark lord after him this time around to distract him from his studies, so perhaps he would be able to do a little better on them this time. At least this time, he would not have to write them with a quill and inkwell.
He shared Government with Bronzie and was amused to see how hard the kid tried to invite him to the empty seat next to him, without actually appearing to be inviting him to sit down next to him. Harry almost chuckled at his antics, but just gave a small smile and took the only other empty seat in the front.
That class was somewhat interesting, although he constantly found himself comparing it to the wizarding world's politics and such, which was not really all that surprising considering how much of his lifetime had been spent in the wizarding world.
He thought he would hate trigonometry, but it seemed that he had a mind for it, as he had already been using it his whole life without even knowing what it was. Even though he had been nearly half blind for the first years of his life, he had always had a good eye for measurements and angles. One had to be good at it when one was virtually a slave for the Dursleys and always the one that had to make any repairs around the house.
He realized that he had unknowingly used trigonometry when he built all the homes/cabins surrounding Potter's Refuge, back on the island they had used to raise Little Harry/Talon, granted, he did it all using magic, but it now seemed like such a simple matter to him to convert it to its muggle equivalent.
His last class before lunch was Spanish. He was looking forward to it, because he had picked up on a few languages during his lifetime(s), but Spanish had not been one of them. He expected that eventually he and Merope would be able to speak any and every language across the world or worlds, however many there actually were.
He may have started out his MoD journey thinking he would just be traveling through time saving people, but that didn't mean that he should waste his downtime by choosing to remain ignorant and stop learning.
A "psst" on his left brought Harry out of his thoughts and he had to force himself to not roll his eyes. His neighbor, Jessica, thought he was in need of her guidance, no matter how many times he had told her, "No, thank you."
"So, do you want to eat lunch with me?" Jessica asked as she batted her eyelashes in a way that Harry could only assume she thought was sexy. He just thought she looked like she had something stuck in her eyes.
"Well," Harry said as slowly and politely as he could muster, "I've made plans to meet and eat lunch with my girlfriend, because we don't share any classes, what, with her being a grade lower than me and all."
Not to be deterred, Jessica said, with only a slight hint of frustration, "Oh, well, I guess you could invite her to eat with us, too, but we don't usually mingle with the younger year."
"You're missing out on a lot of potential friends when you limit yourself to just your year," Harry said with a frown, as he remembered his time at Hogwarts. It was years later that he realized how much his friendships with others were limited by his association with the Weasleys and Hermione. Not that he ever found any maliciousness on Hermione's part, but the fact that she was so thoroughly in love with Ron in the years after the war, he didn't have the heart to involve her in their crimes against him. It wasn't until years too late that he even considered the possibility that she could have been a victim of love potions, too, but then that didn't explain their snog midway through the battle.
He was brought out of his musings again when Jessica scoffed, "Believe me, there are no other younger years worth getting to know. They're not as mature as we are and they don't enjoy the same things."
Harry looked at her in disbelief and said, "You do realize that you sound like an idiot, right?" Which caused Jessica's jaw to drop open in shock.
Harry added, "You won't be in high school forever, you'll eventually graduate and become an adult, maybe go to college. Your interests will change, the younger years maturity will change. If you stay in this town, all the friends you could have made in the younger years, or the older years for that matter, will remember that you made no efforts to get to know them and will likely not care to get to know you later."
When Jessica remained silent, Harry said, "I'll be eating lunch with my girlfriend, which table we sit at will be up to her. If it's with a group in her year, I don't care, that's where I'll be. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to actually learning about Spanish, which is the reason I'm in this class."
Jessica turned away from him in a huff, and Harry was grateful that she decided to leave him alone for the rest of the class.
Finally the bell for lunch rang and Harry quickly gathered his belongings, tossing them into his backpack, and was the first one out of the door. Considering he could always sense Merope's exact location, it didn't take him long to find her waiting for him near the cafeteria entrance.
Harry wrapped his arms around her and just held onto her for a long moment, filling himself up with her scent. Merope chuckled and asked, "Rough morning?"
Shaking his head, Harry said, "Classes were interesting, I just missed you."
Merope peeked around him when he pulled back and asked, "It wouldn't have anything to do with that dark-haired girl giving us the stink-eye, would it?"
Glancing over his shoulder, Harry saw Jessica and shuddered, "I shared Spanish with her and I couldn't wait to get away from her. She is extremely narrow minded, almost reminded me of the Draco Malfoy I grew up with. She seems to have the attitude that only some people are worth knowing and not others. Merlin forbid one should disagree with her, too."
Smiling Merope said, "Oh, poor baby. Come here and I'll kiss it all better for you." Which caused Harry to give her a lecherous grin before leaning down to snog her quite thoroughly. All too soon, they were interrupted by one of the teachers admoshing their public displays of affection. Harry's grumbled response of, "You're just jealous she's not snogging you," earned him his first detention.
Turning to Merope, Harry said with a grin, "I'll bet dad would be so proud, I've probably beaten his record. There's no way he could have ever earned a detention on his first day!"
Merope chuckled and said, "Only you would be excited about that, but it's not as if you came here this morning planning to earn a detention."
"Well, babe, what can I say," said Harry, as he buffed his fingernails on the front of his shirt, "it takes natural talent to get detention even when one is not setting out to get one. Did I ever tell you about my first detention?"
Merope smiled and said, "I'm sure you have, but I wouldn't mind hearing about it again."
Looking around, Harry said, "Well, the story is probably going to have to wait, it seems we've accumulated an audience. Though I doubt they'd believe I was telling the truth once they heard it."
"Well, it's not as if you've never attended a school where everyone thought you were a crazy, delusional, attention-seeking liar," said Merope with a shrug.
"Yeah, that's true. Oh, well. Come on, let's eat before they start catching flies." Then Harry grabbed Merope's hand and led her into the cafeteria.
The vampires listened to the byplay between the two new students with much amusement and confusion.
Emmett said, "He sounds fun. I can't believe how proud of himself he sounded to have earned himself a detention. Maybe I should do something to earn a detention, we could make it a contest. It would make high school life a lot more interesting. How come we've never tried to get detentions before?"
Rosalie slapped him on the back of the head and said, "Because we don't want to draw attention to ourselves, you dolt."
Alice just frowned and said, "Well, it looks like our meeting will be postponed, since he's landed himself a detention."
"He was right about the teacher just being jealous, though," said Edward with a grimace. "His thoughts were broadcasting pretty loudly. But I guess in the teacher's defense, he was more jealous over the lack of having anyone to kiss, rather than the fact that the girl in question was not kissing him."
Rosalie cleared her throat and said, "Well, it looks like they're heading our way, so try to act normal."
Harry and Merope had just finished getting their lunch trays and were deciding on which table they wanted to sit and eat at. They were being watched by most of the occupants of the cafeteria, who were all very eagerly trying to show that they each had a spare place for someone to sit, but only one table had a place with two seats side-by-side.
Harry and Merope shared a glance and had one of their silent conversations for a moment before they decided to head for one table in particular, the non-humans. They wanted to meet with them anyway, and they happened to have two open seats next to each other.
Decision made, the whole of the cafeteria watched in shock to see the new students approaching the Cullens, many of them expecting to be entertained by the Cullens turning them away. Boy were they surprised when the Cullens smiled and invited them to sit down. The cafeteria was now so quiet that one could have heard a pin drop from all the way across the room.
Merope rolled her eyes and muttered a little loudly, "I hope you all choke on a fly as it flies down your unprotected throats. Harry, please tell me that every school is not like this one, because if it is, I may just give college a pass."
Harry chuckled and said, "Well, I've been the center of attention at every school I've ever been to, whether I was legitimately trying to be the center of attention or not. I did, however, notice that none of the other students I knew ever shared the same problems."
Then he turned around to look at their audience, he cast a silent notice-me-not, which caused their audience to collectively blink in confusion and then turn around to their own tables. After which, Harry then cast a modified muffliato so that their table's conversation just sounded like a very generic conversation to anyone else nearby.
"Thanks, Harry," Merope said with a smile. "I suppose I could have done that, but I wasn't really thinking."
"That's why I'm here, Merope," said Harry with a smile, "to take care of the things that you don't think about."
"How did you do that?" questioned Pixie.
Merope raised an eyebrow and said, "How about introductions, first?"
Pixie smiled and said, "Hi, I'm Alice Cullen."
Bronzie nodded and said, "I'm Edward Cullen."
Next came, "I'm Jasper Hale," from the blonde male sitting next to Alice.
"Emmett Cullen," from the muscled guy on the other side of Jasper.
"Rosalie Hale," from the blonde supermodel on the other side of Emmett.
Merope smiled and said, "Merope Grant, and my companion and boyfriend is Harry Potter."
Emmett scoffed a little and said, "What, Harry can't introduce himself? I guess we see who wears the pants in this relationship." He was promptly slapped on the back of the head by Rosalie.
There was silence for a moment while Merope processed what Emmett was saying, then she asked in confusion, "Why are you talking about my unmentionables?"
Now it was Emmett's turn to be confused, "I didn't say anything about your underclothes."
Harry turned to Merope and said helpfully, "I think he's talking about trousers, Merope."
"Oh, that's right." said Merope. Turning back to the others, "We haven't been in America very long, you see, so I'm not entirely used to American expressions yet. There's only so much one can find in the library. You see, pants in England are what you all call panties," Merope explained with a slight blush.
Emmett's eyes widened at that. "Oops."
"Don't worry about it," Harry said to Emmett. "Where we're originally from, it's not something anyone would have really spoken about so bluntly, except for joking amongst very close friends and family."
Turning his attention to the others Harry studied their appearances, their eyes were various shades of gold to nearly black and none of them were doing anything other than picking at the food on their trays, which was a bit unusual, but not enough for him to make a guess as to their species. He thought maybe he should review his old Hogwarts books and see if he could find any clues in them.
"So, what's your story?" Harry asked. "I was going to wait until after school, but as I'm sure you overheard, I've got a detention." He smirked in amusement when he thought of detention again, because really, what were they going to make him do? It's the muggle world, it can't be even close to being as awful as scrubbing cauldrons, wandering the Forbidden Forest, or helping to write responses to fan letters.
Noticing the looks the others were darting around the cafeterias, as if afraid to be overheard, Harry said, "Oh, don't worry about the other students hearing anything, I've already placed a charm that prevents that from happening."
At their looks of disbelief Harry shrugged and said loudly enough that he would have been overheard without the charm, "Okay. Us first, I guess. I'm a wizard and Merope here is a witch. There, your turn." Then he picked up the slice of pizza that was on his tray and took a bite, before grimacing as he chewed it. "Merlin, that's awful. No wonder you're only playing with your food instead of actually eating it. This is absolutely atrocious." Turning to Merope, he said, "Babe, we're bringing our own lunch from now on, this is disgusting."
"I agree," said Merope, as she forced herself to eat her meal.
"What was that?" asked Jasper.
Harry looked up and said, "What was what?"
"He means, no one in this cafeteria so much as batted an eye at what you said," said Edward.
"Oh, that. Like I said, I put up a charm that prevents eavesdropping," Harry said with a shrug. "So far as our conversation is concerned, all anyone can hear is general conversations, whatever it is that they would feel the most dull, like sports for some or books for others, politics for the rest."
"And how did you do that?" Alice asked, tilting her head to the side inquisitively.
Merope looked at Alice and said, "Harry has already said, he's a wizard and I'm a witch. How else do you think he was able to make everyone else ignore us after we sat down?"
"You mean like Hocus Pocus?" asked Emmett. "You two don't suck the souls out of children to stay young and beautiful, do you?"
"Merlin, no." Harry said distastefully. "That's not even possible. We're not dementors for crying out loud. What the hell have you been reading to get that sort of idea? Is that why this world has no magical communities? Did someone kill all the witches and wizards due to some stupid misconception that we suck out people's souls?" Harry's voice had risen slightly, but he wasn't exactly panicked because he knew himself and Merope were safe, but it was rather unnerving to think that that might be the reason why this world appeared to not have any magical communities like Diagon Alley.
Emmett held up his hands in a placating manner and said, "Whoa, hey now. Hocus Pocus is a movie."
Merope went over in her head what a movie would be before she asked, "Do you mean a film?"
Emmett furrowed his brows and said, "No, a film is what you put in a camera to take pictures."
Edward, being the oldest in terms of his existence interrupted and said, "Hocus Pocus is a made-up story with actors that was recorded using a video camera and turned into a moving picture for people to watch for entertainment."
Merope's eyes lit up at that explanation. "Thank you, Edward. In England, we call that a film."
Suddenly the bell rang for classes to resume. Merope sighed and said morosely, "I guess we're going to have to continue our conversation later." Smiling, she added, "It was nice meeting you all, or at least learning your names."
Turning to Harry, Merope said, "I'll see you after school, before you go wherever this detention is supposed to be." Harry nodded and gave her a quick peck on the lips, then she carried her tray away from the table and headed to her next class.
"Well, I guess I should head to Biology II," Harry said.
"I'll walk with you," said Edward, "I have that class next as well."
Harry nodded in agreement and took down his spells before leaving with Edward to go to their next class.
The others got up slowly and disposed of their trays before returning to their own classes in deep thought.
A/N: My internet went down at this point. Thankfully Google Docs saves every few seconds, or I probably would have cried. I finished proofing this on my iPad, and assuming my cellphone data/hotspot allows me, I'll have posted this to the website successfully.
