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: Yay, my wifi is back. Also, some of the conversation between Harry and Jessica at the beginning of this chapter was taken straight from the discussion from the book where it was originally between Jessica and Bella. I've paraphrased where it made more sense to, some parts are a direct copy and paste. I've underlined the few places that were direct copy and paste jobs.
A/N (11/23/20200: I was reviewing this chapter again this morning when I noticed that Dr. Cullen's name was omitted during the conversation with Jessica, so that's the only change in this chapter, adding his name where it was supposed to have been.
Chapter 4
Edward and Harry did not have the chance to really speak very much in Biology II, then Harry's next and last class was Gym. He was disappointed that he also shared this class with Jessica from Spanish class, who used this class as another opportunity to talk to him.
The gym coach introduced himself as Coach Clapp and set them up playing volleyball, with Harry on the same team as Jessica and a guy named Mike. Mike seemed more likeable than Jessica, or at least he didn't seem as talkative and gossipy as she was.
They hadn't started their game yet and were standing in groups waiting for the whistle for the game to start.
"Fair warning," Harry said, "I've never played this game before, so don't expect me to do well or anything."
"No worries, dude," said Mike. "Jessica and I have played this loads of times, I'm sure you'll do great once you've gotten the hang of it." Harry just smiled in response to the friendly encouragement.
"So I saw you decided to have lunch with the Cullens," Jessica said in an attempt to join the conversation.
Shrugging, Harry said, "Yeah, well, they had two open seats right next to each other, so we figured, why not."
Jessica flipped her hair over her shoulder and said, "They're not normally very friendly."
Harry stopped himself from rolling his eyes and said, "They all seemed nice enough during the limited amount of time we were able to sit with them."
"They're all together though — Emmett and Rosalie, and Jasper and Alice, I mean. And they live together." Her voice held shock and condemnation.
Harry raised an eyebrow and said, "What has that got to do with anything? My older brother and I live with my girlfriend and her older sister, who is dating my older brother."
Jessica blushed at the reminder and stammered a little as she added, "Well, they're also all either adopted or foster children. Dr. Cullen, who is really young, in his 20s or early 30s, and his wife adopted the three Cullens and are fostering the two blondes, the Hales. Jasper and Rosalie are both eighteen, but they've been with Mrs. Cullen since they were eight. She's their aunt or something like that."
Harry shrugged and said, "You say that like it's a bad thing. I would have hoped that if my brother and Merope's sister had been unable to take us in, that someone like the Cullens would have been kind enough to take us in and care for us."
"I guess so," Jessica admitted reluctantly. "I think that Mrs. Cullen can't have any kids, though," she added, as if that lessened their kindness.
This time Harry couldn't stop from rolling his eyes as he said, "You're just a ray of sunshine, aren't you, Jessica? Whether Mrs. Cullen can have kids or not does not diminish the kindness that she and her husband has shown by taking in children that are not their own. You're giving me a very poor impression of yourself, if your goal was to actually impress me."
Seeing Jessica blush in embarrassment, Harry added, "If I were a betting man, I'd wager that you have a grudge against the Cullens and Hales because one or all of them turned you down and you didn't like that." Jessica's eyes narrowed and then Harry said, "Jealousy does not become you. You know, I do recall reading somewhere that if one wants friends, then one must show themselves friendly. Imagine how many friends you could actually have, if you stopped behaving like a spoiled princess who can't handle the word, no."
Mike had been silent the whole time that Jessica had monopolized the conversation, so Harry returned his attention back to him. "Please tell me that you have other friends besides Jessica, because you seem like too nice of a bloke to be wasting it with someone who behaves as petty and snobbish as she's shown herself to be to me."
Jessica turned around and walked away in a huff, arms crossed in anger. Harry rolled his eyes at her dramatics. And added, "I'm not normally so harsh, but I've been around people like her before and they rarely see a reason to change unless, for example, a terrorist has taken over their home and very way of life and its threatening the life of their parents unless they do what said terrorist wants them to do."
Mike looked at Harry with wide eyes and said, "You must have had a very different life before coming here."
"Oh, you have no idea, Mike," said Harry. "Maybe one day I'll be able to tell it all to you, but you probably wouldn't believe me."
Mike nodded and said, "Well, as to being friends with Jessica, being in such a small town, we've grown up together. Normally she's not so bad, but I guess I've sort of just gotten used to her behavior that it's just not as noticeable anymore, until you came along and pointed it out, that is. But, yeah, we do have other friends; Eric Yorkie, Tyler Crowley, Lauren Mallory, and Angela Weber."
Harry nodded and said, "Yeah, I think I've shared a class or so with all of them."
Before they could talk any further, Coach Clapp blew the whistle and their game started.
Harry found out that he quite enjoyed the game of volleyball. It wasn't as fun as quidditch, but it was still fun. His experience with martial arts made him much more flexible and graceful, able to move and adapt quicker than the average person, so he was able to dive and jump to keep the ball from hitting the ground, where it would have been nearly impossible for anyone else. Needless to say, Harry's team won.
After the game, Mike shook Harry's hand with a smile and said, "Well, it seems you're a natural at this game. My friends and I take regular trips down to the beach at La Push and always play volleyball there, you're welcome to join us there anytime."
"Oh, my girlfriend and I visited there frequently during the summer. It's a really beautiful location." Harry said as he returned the handshake.
"Oh, your girlfriend would be welcome, too, the more the merrier," added Mike.
Harry laughed and said, "I'll definitely tell her about the invitation and I'm positive she would love to go, just let me know when the next time you plan to go and we'll come along, if we haven't already made other plans."
"Sounds good," said Mike, as the two shook hands again.
Finally the final bell rang and Merope had quickly found herself surrounded by the Cullens and Hales, while they waited for Harry to meet with Merope before reporting for his detention. They received many curious glances from the other students.
Edward said, "You will either find yourself bombarded with questions for being seen hanging out with us, or ostracized for hanging out with us."
"Well, if I lose friends I haven't even made because of new friends that I have made, then it's their loss, really," Merope said with a shrug.
"That's pretty insightful of you, Merope," said Rosalie.
Merope smiled in response.
"So how was your first day?" Alice asked Merope.
With a small shrug, Merope said, "Well, it's my first time at any school, ever," the Cullen's and Hale's eyes widened minutely in shock, but didn't interrupt, "so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I found my classes interesting. I liked English the best and I'm looking forward to writing essays." Merope finished with a smile.
"So, were you homeschooled before?" Edward asked curiously.
Merope grinned and said, "Oh, you could say that." She noticed a lot of the students had slowed down as they passed, so she added, "But I don't think now is the time for me to talk about it," gesturing to the students who were attempting to eavesdrop.
Edward nodded.
After another moment, Harry approached them and wrapped his arms around Merope in a hug before turning around to face the group, with an arm remaining around her waist, then he said, "Well, I haven't found out where I'm supposed to serve my detention, so I suppose I should head over to the office and check with Ms. Cope to see where I'm supposed to report."
The group acknowledged with a collective nod of the head and Alice asked, "Do you mind if we steal Merope and bring her home with us, while you're in detention? We promise to bring her back home."
Harry shrugged and said, "It's up to her if she wants to go, but I'll probably pop over whenever my detention is over."
Edward's brows furrowed in confusion and he asked, "Won't you need directions?"
With a smirk, Harry said, "I can find Merope anywhere, anytime, even if she's on the other side of the world."
Emmett scoffed and said, "That sounds impossible."
"Oh, would you like to make a little wager?" Harry asked Emmett with a playful smirk.
Emmett rubbed his hands together and asked, "What are the terms?"
Noticing they still had an audience, Harry threw up a wandless notice-me-not and muffliato, like he did at lunch and said, "No more avoidance on telling us what you are. We know you're not human, we just haven't had the time to look at our books to determine just which magical species you are."
Jasper tilted his head curiously and asked, "What makes you think we're a magical species?"
Merope giggled and said, "Well, the sparkling skin is a dead giveaway, and since it's not sparkling now, I'd say it has something to do with when you're outside."
Then Harry added, "Well, they were outside this morning and they were not sparkling either."
"That's true," said Merope. "Oh, maybe it's the sun. It was a beautiful sunny day when we were in the meadow, today it is very cloudy with no chance of sun."
Emmett whistled in admiration and said, "You worked that out pretty fast."
"We're older than we look," Harry shrugged. Then he checked his watch, not noticing the exchanged looks between their new friends, although Merope did, then said, "Well, I guess I'd better report to the office and find out where this detention is and what it consists of." Then he gave Merope a kiss goodbye and turned back to the group and said with a wink, "I'll pop in when I'm all done." Then he took down his charms and walked towards the office.
"Well, I'm ready to go whenever you all are," said Merope to the Cullens and Hales.
Harry walked into the office and saw Ms. Cope was at her desk and made his way over to her. When she looked up, Harry smiled and said, "I was given a detention, for talking back to a teacher under my breath. As today is my first day here, I have no idea where I'm supposed to report."
"Oh, dear me," said Ms. Cope. "You must have broken a record for earning a detention on the very first day of school," she added in admonishment.
Harry shrugged and said, "It is definitely the first time I've actually gotten a detention on the first day of school, but sadly, it's not the first detention I've ever had and probably won't be the last, based on my Potter luck anyway."
Ms. Cope frowned and said, "I hope you realize that if you get too many detentions on your record, you could be looking at suspension or even being expelled."
"I promise to try to behave, Ms. Cope," replied Harry. "I just seem to have a bit of bad luck of being at the wrong place at the wrong time." Then he tapped his chin in thought and said, "Or is that the wrong place at the right time?" Harry shook his head and then shrugged before he said, "The detentions at my last school were always because I saved another student in some way or another, but it ended up making the teachers look bad, so they gave me detentions."
Ms. Cope just blinked in a mixture of incredulity and confusion and handed over a note for Harry to give the teacher on duty for detention, then said, "You'll have detention in the classroom where you had English this morning with Mr. Mason."
"Thank you, ma'am," Harry said with a smile, then he left to go to the English room.
Harry's detention was supervised by Mr. Mason, which he had expected because it was held in the man's classroom. What Harry had not expected was how dull muggle detention was. No reading and no talking, just sitting there without moving and staring straight ahead.
About ten minutes in, Harry had almost made the decision to leave an illusion of himself serving the detention and leaving to find Merope and the Cullens/Hales. Thankfully Mr. Mason thought ten minutes was enough time for his detention and said, "All right. Mr. Potter, I have better things to do with my time than to babysit you. I trust you've learned your lesson and won't find yourself in detention again?"
"Oh, no, sir," said Harry. "This was the first detention I've ever sat in that was so dull that I was ready to start pulling my hair out. I'd rather be thrown in a snake pit, than to sit in another one of these detentions, no matter how short of a time it actually was."
"Well, that seems to be a more extreme reaction than I'm used to," said Mr. Mason. Harry shrugged and Mr. Mason said, "You may go now."
"Thank you, sir." Harry said as he quickly grabbed his backpack and departed before Mr. Mason could change his mind.
Harry walked home, so that his nosy neighbors wouldn't question the fact that no one had come home from school. Once inside, he activated stealth mode and popped over to Merope.
Merope enjoyed the ride in the Volvo, it was a tight squeeze before she added an expansion charm.
"Wow!" Emmett exclaimed. "What other tricks can you do?"
Smirking in amusement, Merope said, "Now that would be telling, Emmett. You'll just have to remain my friend and find out."
They discussed random things during the ride, such as hobbies and what she and Harry like to do for enjoyment.
"Oh, this place is like a vacation for us compared to what we're normally doing, we're finding enjoyment in many interesting things that we never had the time to discover a liking for before." Merope said nonchalantly.
"You don't talk about your older siblings much," observed Jasper.
"Not much to say when they're made up of illusions, or Harry and myself playing the parts when the occasion calls for it." Merope said with a small shrug.
Emmett shook his head and grumbled, "It's like every comment or observation we make just raises more and more questions."
Merope laughed in response, "As if you all don't give Harry and I the same bafflement and find it hilarious."
They were nearing the driveway to the Cullen home about 15 minutes later when Harry popped in the car next to Merope. She giggled and said, "Hi, Harry. You're out of detention rather early."
The Cullens and Hales all looked at Merope funny when they looked around and didn't see a sign of Harry. Edward almost crashed the car when Harry dropped his stealth mode to reveal himself sitting next to Merope with his arm around her.
Everyone exclaimed as one, "How did you do that?!"
Edward added curiously, "None of us could smell you or hear your heartbeat."
"Ah! Another clue, Harry. Good sense of smell." Merope said.
"Okay. So we have sparkling skin, excellent hearing, and a very good sense of smell." Harry responded with a nod. "Not to forget the changing eye color. They're all varying shades of the same color, but they seem to be darker now than they were at lunchtime."
"Hmm. You're right." Merope conceded with a nod. "Now, detention?"
"Oh, that had to have been the most boring detention I've ever experienced. I'd rather have spent the afternoon in a snake pit." Harry said.
Merope raised an eyebrow and said, "Well, considering you can speak with snakes, that wouldn't have been much of a punishment."
The Cullens and Hales eyes bounced back and forth between the two, more questions the tip of their tongues.
"Okay. So I'd rather fight another troll or out fly a dragon than to serve a detention as boring as today's was ever again," said Harry.
"Now you're just being dramatic," said Merope.
"If I'm not dramatic every once in a while, my dad and godfather will come back from their graves to slap me," said Harry with a hand across his heart.
Before Merope could respond, Alice cleared her throat and said, "Well, we are home. Shall we move this confusion inside the house now? I'm sure Esme would like to meet you, as well."
"Oh, is Esme Mrs. Cullen's first name?" Merope asked as she and Harry exited the car and she moved the expansion charm. "That's a pretty name."
Alice smiled and she got out of the front seat of the car, winked at the others and said, "Here's another ability you can add to the list." Then she took off at super speed, causing the others to laugh before they all took off after her.
Harry said, "Huh. That's pretty neat. I think they might actually be faster than my broom's top speed."
Emmett ran back and asked excitedly, "What, you actually fly brooms?"
Laughing in amusement, Harry said, "Yeah. We actually charmed ours to look like a pair of motorcycles to everyone else around here, so we haven't really been able to take them to their max speed in a while, as we were trying to 'blend' in."
"We have got to have a race," exclaimed Emmett.
"Well, first things first, Emmett. I believe we had a wager," replied Harry, as they walked through the front door of the house. "Nice house, by the way."
"Thank you," said a beautiful woman, who Harry assumed to be Esme. "I restored it myself."
"Well, color me even more impressed, then." Harry said with a smile.
"All right. Emmett, it's your turn, you lost the wager by not believing I could find my lady anywhere and anytime." Harry said with a wave of his hand to Emmett.
Esme's face briefly flashed a worried look as she turned to Emmett and asked, "What exactly did you wager, Emmett?"
"Oh, don't worry, Mrs. Cullen," said Merope. "We're supernatural, too. We're just curious what you all are."
Esme was still worried and said, "I really think we should wait for Carlisle to come home before we discuss anything."
Harry shrugged and said, "If that's how you feel. Just so you know, I could have pulled it out of your minds at anytime, but I do respect your privacy, so I'll wait until your husband comes home, Mrs. Cullen."
"You can read minds like Edward?" Esme asked curiously.
"Hmm. I didn't know Edward could do that." Harry said, turning to Edward in question.
Edward shrugged and said, "I have the ability to hear everyone's current thoughts all at once, unless I'm trying to focus on one person in particular. I'm unable to hear yours or Merope's thoughts, however, all I can pick up from the two of you is static. I also don't have the control over it that you seem to have."
"Hmm. That's interesting. Maybe it's our occlumency." Harry said, then he lowered one of his shields and sent a thought directly to Edward, "Can you hear me now?"
Edward was fascinated, "Yes, I heard you. What did you do?"
"Merope and I practice a method of protecting the mind called occlumency. It's the art of magically defending the mind against external penetration, sealing it against magical intrusion and influence." Harry explained.
Rosalie asked, "Can the rest of us learn this?"
"I honestly don't know, Rosalie," said Harry. "So far as I know, only witches and wizards have the ability to learn it, but I'll take a look through my books on the subject after I've actually learned what you all are."
"Thank you. It's tiresome to not be able to keep one's own thoughts to oneself." Rosalie said.
"I completely understand," said Harry. "I had to learn some very hard lessons before I was able to master this particular ability."
"Well, since we're waiting for Carlisle before we spill our secrets, how about that race?" Emmett asked, as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation.
Harry shrugged and said, "Sure." Then he pulled off the backpack, that only Merope could see, and his hand disappeared inside.
"Whoa, what's happening?" Emmett asked with wide eyes.
"Oh, he's just getting his broom, Emmett," said Merope.
A second later, Harry had his broom in hand and had replaced his backpack on his back. Then he turned to Merope and asked if she wanted to race too, but she declined.
Turning to the Cullens/Hales, Harry noticed their varying looks of disbelief. He grinned playfully and said, "We might be persuaded to share more of our secrets when you can share more of yours."
"Okay." Emmett said.
"Well, while I have loads of experience with dodging flying objects, I'd rather have our race in an open field. I can even ward it to be undetectable by humans, so we won't be seen." Harry said.
"Oh, how about where we place baseball during the thunderstorms?" Alice asked.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good place. Let's show the way." Edward said.
