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've gotten lax in keeping up with my timeline, but I'm going to say this chapter is starting off somewhere around the first two weeks of October.
Chapter 12
Two Weeks Later:
As the Cullens and Potters were waiting at the treaty line near La Push, waiting for Sam and his small pack to arrive, Harry thought about all the happenings since Edward had found his human mate.
Animal attacks had started up suddenly and randomly. That's what the newspaper said were causing the death of some of the hikers around the area. Harry suspected the "attacks" were being caused by the vampires he had saved Sam from, but no one ever seemed to be able to find any evidence during their patrols. It seems the vampires had a way of covering their tracks very well.
Two more wolves had started to phase, too, Jared and Paul, adding to the theory that there were more vampires in the immediate area.
Paul was a hothead and had a difficult time controlling his temper, even the tiniest little thing would set him off and he would phase and ruin his clothes. It took Harry's intervention and training (at Sam's request) in order to teach him how to control his temper and phase only when he needed to and not just when he was angered. Harry was never more thankful that he had learned how to create the Room of Requirement all of those years ago and taught Merope how to do it, because he would never have had enough time to help train the wolves without its time compression room.
As far as Harry's vampire friends went, it seemed that the vampire meals were enough to completely replace their need to go hunting, which Harry thought was definitely a good thing for the local wildlife preservation.
Jasper, Harry noticed, was no longer struggling with bloodlust, as having a meal regularly seemed to alleviate that issue as well.
Harry had even managed to mask himself and Merope in such a way that Alice was able to have visions again. Alice still couldn't See the two of them, but she could at least See around them, she also couldn't seem to See the wolves, but she was at least able to See everything else that she had been able to see before. Though it didn't seem to be helping them find the rogue vampires, because they kept making last-minute decisions.
As far as Edward was concerned, while he didn't feel the pull to Bella's blood as much as he had that first day, there was still a fairly strong pull, even with the help of frequent "meals". However, with Harry's assistance, Edward was able to be around Bella without being overwhelmed by her scent and eventually he was able to be close to her without the aid of Harry's scent blocking spells.
Harry mentally shook his head as he thought about Edward and Bella. Even though Edward knew that Bella was his mate, he was afraid to tell her what he was, never mind the fact that it was against vampire law for her as a human to know, which Harry thought was stupid when you factored in the mate aspect. Edward seemed to be worried that she would find out what he was and would leave him, never mind that Harry told him that wouldn't happen because they were mates.
Something else that was factored into Edward's fear of Bella knowing was that she would surely want to become a vampire as well, which would break the treaty the Cullens had with the wolves. While Harry understood the spirit of the treaty, he still felt that the wolves had no business interfering when it came to a vampire changing their human mate, or any other human that was choosing that life.
Harry had to promise that he wouldn't inform Bella about the supernatural world that she had inadvertently become a part of, which caused him to almost regret making those rings. The existence of the rings made it that much more difficult for Bella to figure it out for herself, considering the rings regulated body temperature and they eliminated their issues with the sun, so they were no longer having to stay home on sunny days. Harry had also programmed the rings to gradually add some color to the vampires' complexions, so that they would gradually appear to tan during the spring and summer and become more pale during the fall and winter.
Sadly, Bella's appearance in Edward's life caused a bit of a strain at the Cullen home. Carlisle, Esme, Alice, and Emmett seemed to be rather happy that Edward had found his mate and were extremely supportive and encouraging.
Jasper was wary because Edward's mate was human, but he was slowly coming around. Now that he no longer had to fight his bloodlust, he found it easier to be around humans. He still had to keep his empath powers in check around his family when they were thirsty, because he could feel the thirst coming from them, but with the vampire meals Harry had provided, that was now a rare occasion. He was still cautious though, as he did still have a healthy respect for Volturi and he didn't want anything to happen that would draw their attention towards his family.
Rosalie was the only one that was outright hostile about Edward's involvement with Bella. She didn't care that the girl was Edward's mate. She refused to believe that the girl should have anything to do with vampires and should not be given the choice to give up her life to become one of them, if it ever came down to it. There was no amount of persuasion or explanation that would change her mind.
Harry thought maybe Merope would be able to talk Rosalie around, but a good opportunity had not occurred to make such a talk seem unplanned.
Harry was brought out of his musings when the wolves appeared and he heard Edward say quietly, "They're nearly here. They're confused because they can smell Harry and Merope, but they can't smell us, so they're wondering why the Potters arrived without us."
Harry nodded and said, "That'll be the scent blockers I added to your rings. It seemed like a good idea at the time." Then he shrugged and turned towards the direction of the wolves, "I can remove the scent blockers in the future, if I need to."
As the strategist in the family, Jasper answered, "No, it will come in handy for trying to track down those rouge vamps, they won't be able to smell us coming for them."
Carlisle nodded in agreement and added, "Perhaps you could do something for the wolves, as well, their scents are strong, and if the rogue vampires are the same ones Sam had encountered previously, they will be at least familiar with the scent and not be able to be caught unawares very easily."
Harry hummed in agreement as the wolves came into view and had stopped in surprise at seeing the Cullens were actually present and they were unable to smell them.
"Hi, Sam," Harry said with a nod.
Sam phased back to his human form, while the pack remained in wolf form, and said with a nod, "Hi, Harry." Then he turned his attention to the vampires and said flatly, "Cullens."
Edward thought to himself that that was at least a better greeting than bloodsuckers or leeches, though those words were still floating around in the wolves' thoughts.
Carlisle gave a small smile and said, "Greetings."
Sam was more comfortable with Harry, so he returned his attention back to him and asked, "I hope you all are just as uneasy about the recent 'animal attacks' the pack is?"
"Of course," said Harry. "Though it has been brought to my attention that while I have provided the Cullens with the means to mask their scents, I failed to consider that you and the pack may wish to have something similar."
Sam cocked his head to the side questioningly, "Is that why we were unable to smell the Cullens when we arrived?"
Harry nodded in confirmation and said, "Yes, it's something I automatically included in the charms I made for them shortly after Merope and I arrived that would allow them to appear to age and such, so that they could choose to remain in a location longer than a small handful of years."
Sam narrowed his eyes and growled out, "Are you telling me that you've created a way that will allow the Cullens to stay here indefinitely?" Sam had spat out the name Cullens in the same way he would have said bloodsuckers or leeches before.
Harry sighed in disappointment. He had thought that the relationship between the Cullens and the wolves had at least gotten a bit better. "Yes, Sam, though not exactly indefinitely, just long enough for a normal human lifetime," Harry said. "How do you think you would feel if you had to constantly move from one place to the next about every ten years or less, just so you didn't draw attention to the fact that you never aged? Would you like to have to repeat high school and college over and over and over again? They have spent decades having to do that. To be honest, I don't understand how they can continue to do that year after year and not go insane."
Sam grumbled a little petulantly, "Well, when you put it like that, I understand a little, but their presence here will only trigger more wolves to phase, I don't want that for my tribe."
Merope piped in at this point and said, "You can't honestly tell me that you don't enjoy having the ability to become a wolf whenever you want to, Sam Uley." Sam ducked his head a little at her chastising tone. "You also can't say with any certainty that even without the Cullens, the tribe's wolf genes wouldn't have surfaced due to the arrival of other vampires. Your tribe should consider themselves blessed that the vampires that chose to settle down here were not the kind that feed on human blood."
"You're right. I'm sorry. Okay?" Sam responded. "It's just that I was content with my life, and then all of the sudden I'm a wolf and I can't even tell my girlfriend that I've been dating for years that I'm a wolf. She knows something is off with me, but I'm not allowed to tell her what's going on because it's supposed to be a secret."
Edward heard Sam add in his thoughts, "Not to mention the fact that I'm going to have to break things off with her. She's not my imprint and it would devastate her if I were to suddenly meet my imprint and we were still seeing each other." Edward wasn't quite sure what the wolf meant by an imprint, but he had a vague idea that it meant something similar to mate.
Harry cleared his throat and said, "Well, I'm sorry that your personal life has been so disrupted, but we really do need to discuss the matter that we actually met here for." Sam nodded his head, focusing all his attention on what Harry had to say.
"Now, I've warded this area, so we won't be noticed or overheard, though I'm sure if we were being watched, some of you would have been able to tell that by now." When Harry received a nod of confirmation from Edward, he continued. "Now, it seems obvious that we're finding nothing while doing patrols, the female seems to have a gift for evasion, which has obviously helped in their ability to not be caught."
Seeing he had everyone's undivided attention, Harry resumed. "We need to lay a trap that will draw them to us. I'll be able to ward an area that will prevent them from escaping, then they can be dispatched fairly easily. I don't relish the idea of killing them, but there is a difference between killing someone because you need to survive and killing innocents because of some sick game that this James bloke seems to want to play. So here's what I think we need to do..."
After much debate, the wolves had agreed to amend the treaty in order to work more efficiently to protect the area and set the trap. The Cullens were now allowed to come to La Push, but only by invitation for a casual appearance or in the pursuit of the rogue vampires they were all trying to track. An added amendment that Harry suggested was that there be a provision in the treaty that should Edward's mate choose to be turned after she was told about the world of vampires, then there would be an exception made to the "no biting" rule.
The wolves weren't happy about that last amendment, but understanding what they did about mates, they allowed that it would be the one and only exception they would make to the "no biting" policy in the treaty.
Lastly, the wolves accepted Harry's offer to provide them with something that would also block their own scents, though it would take a bit of time for Harry to find something suitable to use. Sam was pretty thrilled with the prospect, as it would be a tactical advantage for not only now, but, also, for any future dealing with other "non-vegetarian" vampires.
They were just getting ready to end the meeting and go their separate ways when Alice's face went blank and she was lost in a vision. Edward was frozen in fear and despair when he saw the vision along with her.
"Alice, what did you see?" Harry asked in concern.
"Bella!" Edward choked out, before he took off running faster than he ever had before.
"Bella was in a small clearing in the woods behind her house. The rogue vampires saw her. In my vision, they bit her. I doubt Edward will make it in time to save her. We don't have time to save her before they drain her dry!" Alice wailed in despair.
That got Harry's attention. "Alice!" Harry barked at her to get her attention. "Show me your vision." After Harry was done viewing it, he said, everyone, grab hold of myself or Merope. We're going for a ride." Harry took Merope's hand and everyone quickly complied, with Sam, Paul, and Jared in their wolf form, holding onto a piece of rope that Harry had conjured for them to latch onto with their muzzles.
With a pop, everyone disappeared and reappeared just in time to see James taking a bite out of Bella's neck, while the other two were fighting off Edward and preventing him from getting close to Bella and James.
A/N: I'm sorry to leave it on a cliffhanger, and I'm also sorry for how long it's taken me to get this chapter written. I hope to be able to update more frequently again, not that I've somewhat gotten a handle on where I'm going with this story.
