Author's note: Welcome to the first chapter of 'A life worth living'. I apologise for taking so long to post this chapter. I wanted to make sure I was setting the scene exactly how I imagined it while keeping in line with Harry Potter canon as much as possible. I do apologise. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the Cullens' first experience with the wizarding world! Happy reading!
'A life worth living'
Chapter 1- Godric's Hollow
6:00pm 31st of October 1981
Edward's POV
I was driving the Volvo towards a place unknown to me- to any of us except Emmett. While I ensured Carlisle's Mercedes was always in view, for Emmett was directing him to some mysterious town, Alice and Jasper were trying to predict what the night would entail for us. None of us were talking, which was unusual, especially for Alice. That night was our last in England; we were due to catch a plane in four hours which would take us to Forks, Washington. After calling England our home for the past seven years, we were sad to be leaving. While we understood the necessity to move, the prospect of living in the small town of Forks was not entirely appealing for multiple reasons. Myself, Rosalie, Carlisle and Esme had lived there some eighty years ago and the experience was not what one would call relaxing due to the Quileute Tribe we encountered. Currently there was no reason to believe that things would be any different when we returned. Nevertheless, Carlisle was determined to return in case the Treaty we made with this particular tribe was not being maintained by the current generation of Quileutes.
Even though Jasper had never been to Forks, his thoughts were filled with the many narratives we had shared with him, Alice and Emmett in preparation for our living back in Forks. This tribe, who possessed a gene that allowed them to phase into wolves the size of horses at will for the purpose of destroying us was most definitely a danger to us, so I understood Jasper's concern. Even though we rarely spoke of it, I knew everyone in my family were wary about returning to the town. Unlike in England, Forks would provide less safety for our family. This greatly affected Jasper, who not only feels his own fear, but that of everyone else's. In particular, he worries about Alice's safety, almost as if Forks is like a battlefield which he was so often exposed to in his earlier human and vampire days. Perhaps he had hoped to escape the feeling.
Alice, on the other hand, was dreading living in Forks due to it having very few designer clothing stores, or shops altogether. Compared to the heart of London, Forks would be a significant downgrade for her in the shopping department. But she too shared Jasper's fear and was nervous what our family's future might look like when we come in contact with the Quileute tribe. We already agreed that if she foresaw any of our destruction we would find somewhere else to live.
As I drove, a small part of my brain remained focused on Carlisle's car, but the other part of me was trying to fight a growing feeling of discontent and hopelessness. Whilst Alice and Jasper huddled together in the back, and knowing that Carlisle, Esme, Rose and Emmett would be doing something similar, I was the chauffeur, alone and unloved in comparison to how they were cherished. I saw it and heard it in their minds every second of my existence. Sometimes I would hunt on my own simply to avoid their devoted love for one another. Of course, I am happy for them, but after so many years of being on my own, I wished to have my own companion who I could love as much as they do. Forks, with its mere three thousand one hundred and twenty inhabitants would be another seven years of my life wasted. Nothing was waiting for us there except perhaps the Quileute Tribe. The move seemed pointless to me, but Carlisle insisted that we needed to move on before our lack of aging became suspicious in our London suburb. Forks was one of his highest priorities because he was curious to see if the current Quileute Tribe was still maintaining our secret.
Our plane was due to leave at 9:50pm- late, but ideal, especially for us. Without the need to sleep, our time is never truly wasted, but it meant we could arrive in Washington during the day when we could be provided with sufficient resources to travel to the suburb of Forks and unpack our belongings. Exactly one hour ago, my family and I were packing the last of our belongings into various bags. The larger objects such as our televisions and the furniture stayed in our house; we could buy replicas in America when we arrived. In years to come when we return to England (for there are few places in the world where the sun is elusive), those items will presumably still be useful.
Now that our belongings were packed and loaded into the two cars, and we all hunted earlier that day, we were ready to go to the airport. However, our family no longer arrive at the airport 2 hours prior to take off like most humans would. Instead, the custom is to leave 4 hours before boarding and…
"Any idea where he is taking us, Edward?" Alice asked, interrupting my train of thought.
I sighed. "No, he is purposefully keeping it a secret from me; he knows I am trying to work it out."
"Why do you think he does not want us to know?" Jasper enquired, and I could hear his thoughts increase in intensity as he envisaged a town filled with rowdy humans, having fun on Halloween and using real blood for their all too believable costumes.
"He wants it to be a surprise," I tried to reassure him, as I made an attempt to block out the vivid image in my brother's mind.
"Well of course it will be a surprise, we have never been there before- that's the whole point!" Alice asserted somewhat cheerfully, but there was fear in her tone too; Emmett was so unpredictable even with her gift of foresight.
"You haven't been able to pick up anything?" Jasper asked Alice.
She gave him a grim smile. "After making sure the plane was going to be on time tonight, which it still is by the way," she clarified, "I checked. But all I can see is fireworks."
"Perfect," Jasper grumbled. "A Halloween fair," he surmised, not enthused about needing to go on human rides or watching fireworks of which we have seen many times before. "I would prefer to wait at the airport," he mumbled bitterly.
"Oh, Jaz!" Alice exclaimed exasperated. "Don't be such a spoil sport! It will be fun; I'm sure Emmett is taking us somewhere interesting."
I too was curious as to where Emmett had chosen to take us, but mainly due to the mysterious foresight Alice had. There was something rather strange about the fireworks she saw; they did not look the same as those I had seen in the past.
"Well as long as it isn't dangerous, and there aren't any bleeding humans around, I'll be fine," Jasper mumbled sourly, and I could tell that the tradition Carlisle created for our family was something he did not approve of.
Alice laughed it off. "You will be fine Jaz, we all will be; I haven't seen any of us hurt anyone," she reassured him delicately, which seemed to make Jasper feel a little better.
Before Alice, Jasper and Emmett joined our family, the rest of us were living in Portugal. On the morning of our final day, Rosalie insisted we visit a beach she had heard about located on one of the islands off the coast of the country. That afternoon, we took a significant detour on our way to the airport, and found the beautiful beach that was completely deserted due to the heavy rain that was falling on the sand. Since becoming a vampire neither Esme nor I had been to a beach, so Rosalie had provided us with an opportunity to swim without fear of being noticed for what we are. It was an excellent two hours. Since then, Carlisle decided it would be valuable and enjoyable for us to, as a family, take turns deciding where to go for a quick visit on the night we leave a particular country. Preferably the place should be somewhere no one else has been. On this occasion, it was Emmett's turn which was why the location we were travelling to was a mystery to us. But even then I knew Emmett was keen to provide us with an experience that was unexpected, and indeed, he did not leave us disappointed.
Another ten minutes passed before Carlisle's right indicator lit up the evening air. I followed his lead. As we turned right into a long street, we passed under a sign with the words: 'Godric's Hollow' written across it. In the distance we could see that the town square was lit up, no doubt for Halloween celebrations. Alice and Jasper had stiffened slightly now that we were here. Carlisle and those travelling in his car exited their vehicle first. Emmett seemed overly excited to finally have the opportunity to show this town to us. He was no longer keeping his plans a secret from me. My mind was filled with his memories of humans dressed in unusually coloured clothing, as I stepped out of the car. Alice and Jasper cautiously followed my lead.
"Where are we?" Alice ventured to ask as we all looked around. In the distance we could see and hear what appeared to be at least fifty children mingling around the town square, wearing similar coloured costumes to those I saw in Emmett's memories.
What is so special about this place? I wondered, interested in how Emmett knew where this place was; it was a significant distance away from anywhere we had been before.
"A place called Godric's Hollow," Emmett stated almost proudly, gesturing towards the town square as if there was something unusual or intriguing about the place. "I came upon this town a few weeks ago when I was hunting. I didn't have time to get too close though because I knew Rose was looking for me-"
"This is where you went?" Rosalie asked in disbelief, disgusted that she was forced to wait for even a minute just so Emmett could explore a place so ordinary.
"It was an accident," Emmett reminded her gently, and then kissed her forehead. "I was chasing a devious bear, I reckon it was trying to out smart me," Emmett gave a bark of a laugh in amusement. "The moment I realized I travelled too far was when I arrived on the outskirts of this town. I made to turn around immediately, but I couldn't help being curious about all these weirdly dressed people. So I found the name of the place; I wanted to show you," Emmett explained, feeling slightly awkward as we looked at him. He knew it didn't appear too exciting, especially given the look on all of our faces, but Emmett being Emmett was determined that something exciting would happen whilst we were there.
The chances of that did not seem high.
"What is it about Godric's Hollow that intrigued you?" Esme asked kindly, genuinely curious.
"Other than its name? I'm kidding!" Emmett added when he realized no one was laughing with him. "Well, last time I was here there were a few people walking around wearing bright purples, greens and reds."
I looked in the distance and saw that tonight was no different.
"Perhaps every night is Halloween in this town?" I suggested sourly.
Emmett laughed loudly, trying to brush off the underlying annoyance in my statement.
"Nah, this is different. They were adults and it seemed to be their usual clothing, not a costume," Emmett asserted and in his mind I could see images of the adults he spoke of. Unwillingly I nodded my head; I could see that they were not trick-or-treating or dressing up- they were walking casually as if it was entirely normal.
Emmett gave me a broad smile. "So now that I have Edward on my side," he asserted proudly, "I'm dying to get closer; I wanna see a child walking around dressed as a vampire. God if only we could show them what we really look like!"
"Emmett!" Carlisle said sharply, though I could see the slight smile playing on his lips.
"Sorry Carlisle, it was a joke," Emmett reminded our father, though he felt a little guilty for saying what he did in public. And then, grabbing Rose's hand, he led the way up the path towards the cobbled streets that form the town centre of Godric's Hollow.
The rest of my family followed behind them. Jasper and I felt this would ultimately be a waste of time, but the others were curious to find out more about these elaborately dressed humans. Due to Emmett being the more adventurous hunter, who would brag to us for days if he so much as saw an animal significantly larger than ones we had previously drank from, we had expected something different from him. I thought he would have taken us into an isolated forest that sheltered a unique animal we could hunt even though none of us needed to drink. But instead he brings us to a small town where people wore strange clothing. This was definitely unexpected.
Esme, Carlisle and Alice followed Emmett, out of politeness more than anything else. Alice had concluded that this was the town we would see fireworks, and while this reminded me of the strange way these appeared in Alice's vision, it still did not make me all that enthused being amongst these strange humans for the next hour. Nevertheless, we were slightly curious about how this town had originally intrigued Emmett to the extent that he made an effort to discover the name of it. We all kept our thoughts to ourselves as we followed the tallest of our family along the path which led to the town square.
When we were roughly two hundred feet from the crowd, I was overcome with thoughts that impeded heavily on my mind. I had heard the faint whispers of them from a distance, but now that they were within range of my gift, I could hear each individual thought and concern.
I stopped on the road. Alice noticed, and stayed with me, calling out to Emmett to come back; it was important we stayed together. I paused, concentrating, my eyes tight as I tried to make out the thoughts in my mind.
None of them were making any sense.
Halloween seemed entirely forgotten in this town- I even questioned whether they knew what Halloween was it was so far from their thoughts. Instead there was a mixture of sorrow, fear, and excitement that filled their heads, which caused them to talk and think quickly. I had difficulty determining whether they were even thinking of the same thing, or talking about different events.
For the first time in my existence, human thoughts had left me feeling confused.
"What's wrong, Edward?" Alice asked me concerned, her body mimicking my own tense one. I could tell she was looking into the future, trying to determine if anything bad would occur due to whatever was causing me to freeze, but she did not see anything unusual. I would have replied to her, but I was spending most of my energy trying to make out the thoughts I was hearing.
What was that explosion?
Did someone say the Potters lived there?
Why is no one telling us what is going on?
I am going to send an owl to Aunt Louise.
I saw a green light through my curtain.
No one seems to know what is happening.
The house is destroyed- perhaps it was Death Eaters? What were they after? Are they still here somewhere?
A small child dying so young, it's such a tragedy.
Perhaps they are still alive, hiding from Him.
We must be careful, we're being too loud; He could be anywhere.
No one seemed to know what was happening. Thoughts were contradicting other thoughts, and ultimately the town seemed to be in confusion themselves. Who was "He"? Who were the Potters? What were Death Eaters? Why would you send an owl to a relative? And why did an explosion occur? I couldn't help but smile despite the array of confusion in my mind.
"What is it, Edward?" Carlisle asked urgently, but I could feel him relax slightly; my smile reassured him and my family that things were okay for now.
I refocused my gaze and attention on to my family, who were all watching me with concern and curiosity.
"I think this town has just experienced an incident of some kind; no one seems to know what happened."
Emmett laughed quietly, thrilled that he had unknowingly organized an exciting final night in England.
"Perhaps we can help them solve the mystery?" Emmett suggested, more than ready to continue closer to the town. If a human were to look our way, they would not be able to see us; we were just out of sight. This was just as well, because I imagined the seven of us standing here would look suspicious to them.
I sighed as I contemplated Emmett's most recent hope to help these humans with their mystery; his sense of adventure knew no bounds. Although I was curious about their predicament, not to mention the strange nature of their thoughts, it would not do well for any of us to 'help' these humans. But of course, Emmett was already making hypothetical plans in his mind.
I shook my head at him, trying not to be frustrated or focus too much on his thoughts so I could continue to process the ones around me. Emmett regretfully nodded his understanding before resuming the lead and taking us further into the town.
But after another minute listening to the thoughts getting louder and more intense as we approached, I found myself becoming frustrated and wary; something wasn't right.
"It's too dangerous," I inform Emmett and my family, which stopped them dead in their tracks. "There are too many things I do not understand."
"That's impossible!" Rosalie hissed, thinking that I had suddenly lost my ability to understand humans. My eyes flew towards hers, annoyed by her distrust in me.
"Edward, could you cut to the chase? People are starting to notice us standing over here," Jasper whispered through his teeth. Only then did I realise how far we had walked from our previous location; now there were three humans, the ones closest to us who were looking in our direction. Although they were merely intrigued as to why we were not coming forward, I did not want to risk their curiosity turning into suspicion.
I gave a nod towards Jasper suggesting we should start to walk slowly forward. Seeing us approach, the three people watching us begun to move further towards the square, evidently satisfied that we were coming to join in their town's celebration. However, what they were celebrating was still a mystery to me.
While we followed them, I quickly whispered to my family:
"These humans are not 'normal'."
"What do you mean?" Rosalie asked immediately, suspicion and fear encroaching on her mind, because other than their strange clothing, she had not noticed anything else unusual about them. On top of this, she was also appalled by my lack of detail; 'not normal' was not enough information for her.
"There is something about their minds, and about their conversations that do not fit in with the typical world even we live in," I explained to her. "They are using words I have never heard being said or thought by another human in my existence."
"Such as?" Carlisle pried, curiosity taking over as we continue to walk at a steady pace.
"'Death Eaters'-"
Emmett snorted. "I'd like to see someone eat death!" he chortled.
I glared at him, unimpressed; obviously the term had a more specific meaning in their world.
"Did you stop to consider that perhaps we 'eat' death?" I asked him harshly, having realised with some trepidation that vampires eliminate the possibility of true death and thus, 'eat' it in a manner of speaking.
This caused everyone to pause in stiff, wary contemplation.
"But they don't-" Jasper began.
"No," I answered him before he could continue, having heard his train of thought. "They are not referring to us as 'Death Eaters'. They do not suspect."
At this, my family relaxed slightly, which allowed me to re-focus on the three humans in front of us. They had stopped walking, so we did too some forty feet away. A fourth person had joined their group and together they were whispering in an attempt to not be overheard by their neighbours. At this distance, no human would be able to hear what was being said unless it was shouted, but naturally for us, it was all too easy to hear the words being spoken.
"But it's impossible; no one could know that," a tall, somewhat attractive woman with dark brown hair asserted. I could see in her mind that she was certain she was right; such knowledge, whatever that might be, would be impossible to know without being present at the time of the incident.
"I promise you, I just overheard the neighbours saying that they saw a green light coming from the house," an equally tall man insisted. I later discovered she was his wife.
"Gary, that could have been many things; the killing curse isn't the only spell that emits a green glow," she whispered heatedly, feeling uncomfortable talking about something she perceived to be forbidden when so many people were within earshot.
My family and I quickly glanced at one another. All of a sudden this had become murder- a curse that apparently they all knew about and were capable of performing themselves. My family and I began to consider, as we continued listening, whether these humans were dangerous.
"Well my wife works at the ministry and she just informed me that they received a signal indicating that He used an Unforgivable three times within a ten minute time frame," the balding man whispered, the last person to join the group. It was clear he did not want to be overheard; he felt guilty for discussing what his wife discovered at work for it was meant to be kept confidential.
"No," the tall woman gasped horrified, but there was no doubt that she believed him now. I saw in her mind as she imagined a family: a woman with long red hair, a man with black glasses and messy dark hair, and a small child who could barely be one year of age lying stationary on the ground. "That's terrible!" she cried.
The other woman in the group, shorter than the first with short black hair and a slight build wrapped her arm around her friend's waist.
"He will pay," she reassured her companions.
"Well that's the thing," the balding man whispered, and I could tell he somehow found this whole event highly amusing. "He has disappeared."
"That's impossible! He may go into hiding, but to disappear entirely?" The taller woman shrieked. Her husband, Gary patted her gently on the shoulder and encouraged her to keep her voice down.
"They cannot find him- he is no longer detectable by the ministry," the balding man confirmed with confidence.
"That's bizarre!" The shorter woman exclaimed.
The man nodded. "My wife and her colleagues are still trying to put the pieces together."
"Either way, if He has disappeared, I am certain none of us will miss Him," Gary stated feelingly, and I could see this mysterious 'He' had created intense amounts of fear not only in Gary, but within his town over the years.
"Me neither," the tall woman agreed shivering, and I saw in her mind an image of a man, who I could only assume was the 'He' they referred to, and the terror associated with his tall, skeletal stature, flat nose and snake-like eyes.
Feeling that this particular conversation had reached the end of its usefulness for now, I focused my mind on the tight huddle that had formed next to them.
"Someone said they saw Albus Dumbledore near the house," said a man with short blonde hair. All I could see was the top of his head, for the four people in that group were literally huddled together in a circle as if they were about to play a game of football.
"Well I am willing to bet he would know what has happened," a woman with long straight black hair said with confidence even though her voice quavered with fear and anticipation.
I saw the four of them nod in agreement.
"Indeed I have no doubt you are right. I wonder what he was doing here."
"Do you think he was removing their bodies? Or planning to confront Him on his own?" A short, plump man asked no one in particular.
"He'd be more than capable of it, but I doubt he would do such a thing with so many innocent people around," the blonde haired man speculated, and I saw that he had the highest respect for this 'Albus Dumbledore'.
"You're right, he wouldn't take the risk," the short man agreed, but was still eager to understand exactly what Albus Dumbledore was doing in Godric's Hollow.
At that moment, a series of excited whispers travelled throughout the square as people began to quieten upon hearing that someone by the name of Bathilda had arrived. I looked around in an attempt to find the person they were referring to, eventually resting my eyes on an elderly woman who was approaching from the south of the town. She did not appear to be extraordinary in any way, but for some reason, most of the people in the town flocked towards her, and I assumed correctly that she was someone important. Apparently, most people were under the belief that this woman would be able to provide them with more information; she was some kind of historian.
When she arrived to the centre of the square, everyone was standing in silence waiting for her to speak. Even though it was unnecessary, Bathilda stood up on a stone platform which excited many in her audience; they anticipated a speech.
"What are you lot doing out here?" Bathilda asked no one in particular, though her tone suggested she saw her fellow townspeople as her 'children', so treated them as such. "Some of us are trying to have tea in peace!" In response, many of them sought to update her.
"The Potters' house exploded," one person informed her. At the mention of the name 'Potter', the woman froze momentarily wondering how the town knew who lived there in that particular house. This confused me immensely; of course people would know who lived there! But somehow it seemed the dwelling, although seen by everyone, was supposed to protect its inhabitants somehow- keep them hidden. It was with unease that Bathilda concluded that after the 'attack', someone must have entered the ruins and was thus able to discover belongings, perhaps photos belonging to the Potters. While Bathilda was contemplating this, others in the town were still updating her.
"He Who Must Not Be Named is missing!" a young woman cried out.
"The Potters are dead," an older woman stated miserably.
Through all the chatter and assertions, the man with short blonde hair shouted over the din.
"But you already knew all this, didn't you Bathilda?"
The elderly woman found this particular man in the crowd and gave him a grim smile.
"Yes, I do know what happened earlier this evening, but I ask you not to parade it around the town for goodness sake! There is no need to celebrate so raucously. If the Muggles discover hundreds of strangely dressed adults having a party on Halloween, not to mention sending numerous Owls all across England, they are going to become suspicious!" she asserted forcefully. I could see in her mind that she was already concerned that her town had brought too much attention to themselves.
"So there is something to celebrate?" a young woman asked, her mind filled with hope that something positive had arisen from the Potters' deaths.
Bathilda eyed her somewhat maliciously; she wished the girl had never asked.
"It depends how you look at it. But history has definitely been altered tonight," she admitted, to the grand interest of everyone surrounding her, including my family.
"How do you mean? Tell us what you know!" A boy asked- he looked about 12 years old.
"Have you spoken to Dumbledore?" the blonde haired man queried.
Bathilda gave an audible sigh, and I could see in her mind that she was informed by some sort of silvery bird that she needed to try to keep things down in Godric's Hollow, and she felt she had already failed the order immensely.
"Yes, Albus has contacted me," she admitted, and somehow I knew this strange bird resembled that man in some way, "and he wants you all to remain quiet and contained so attention is not unnecessarily placed on our town. As I said, if the Muggles find out what has happened, it will be all over their television channels and the ministry will be performing countless Memory Charms. Muggles cannot know what has happened, so I beg you to keep your voices down and restrict celebrations to a minimum. This is an order from Albus," she announced imperatively.
Many of the individuals in the square, upon hearing this was an order from 'Albus Dumbledore' begun to take the matter seriously, and were beginning to reconsider having the aforementioned party. However, there were others, much to Bathilda's frustration who wanted to know exactly what they were celebrating.
"What has happened, Bathilda? We know Dumbledore must have told you the specifics; you are always one of his confidants," someone praised her, clearly in an attempt to gently coax the truth from her. The rest of the town nodded in agreement, all of them hoping to be provided with more information.
I saw Bathilda's lips tighten in agitation; she had no intention of telling the truth she knew. Although Albus had informed her of what had happened, he never said to keep it hidden, only to ensure the town remained civilised, which she perceived to be an unlikely outcome if she were to inform them of what truly happened. Nevertheless, Bathilda knew that the crowd deserved to know the truth as she too could barely contain her own relief and excitement when Albus told her what occurred. Ultimately, she did not want to deny them the news they would eventually discover anyway.
Exhaling another sigh, Bathilda spoke in a harsh, quiet tone.
"You must keep this to yourselves," she emphasised forcefully, almost hissing between her teeth because she knew how much would be at stake if they did not heed her advice. "The Death Eaters are currently ignorant of what has happened to their master".
This made everyone stand up straighter, and I knew they were more alert than before. The knowledge that this news was not known by these 'Death Eaters' made them keen to know more with the intention of keeping their promise with Bathilda as long as they could possibly manage, which probably wasn't long.
As a collective, what appeared to be the entire town was thinking the same thing: What has happened to Him? Why don't the Death Eaters know yet? Surely they would have realised?
"As many of you have guessed, You Know Who," she began, causing my family to pause in confusion.
No, we don't know who, Rosalie thought to herself. I snickered at her annoyance. "Found the Potters' location earlier this evening," she announced sorrowfully indicating towards the north. "Unfortunately, he has murdered Lily and James." At this, her audience sighed, groaned, and begun to mourn the loss of the couple who, from what I could tell, were highly respected in their community. "However, he was unable to kill their son."
"What?" Multiple people simultaneously shouted. Bathilda allowed herself to smile grimly at their reaction; the fact was truly amazing. Even though I was barely able to understand what was happening, if this man was able to kill two adults, it was shocking even to me that he was unable to kill an infant.
Bathilda raised her hand up to indicate she wanted quiet.
"Neither I nor Albus understand how this is possible; no one in history has ever survived the killing curse. Nevertheless, it is true; the boy is safe. However, You Know Who's failed attempt to murder the child caused the explosion some of you heard, and at the moment, He has indeed disappeared," she said with finality.
Immediately I heard an outcry for more information- more detail; this was one of the most amazing things to have ever happened in their world and they could now understand why Bathilda had earlier said that history had been significantly altered. But before anyone could demand any further answers from her, Bathilda interjected.
"That is all I know," she insisted as she stepped down from her small 'stage'. "Now please keep your voices down! The last thing the Ministry or Albus need are the Muggles discovering our existence tonight!"
Although everyone present took Bathilda's warning seriously, they all found it difficult to contain themselves. The moment the elderly woman began walking up the road, presumably towards her home, the rest of her town begun to cheer.
"Here's to the Boy Who Lived!" they shouted as they literally jumped around the town square hugging one another, excitement evident on their faces and in their thoughts.
My family and I turned to look at each other all our eyes wide were with confusion and surprise. Although we did not live in this world, for a child to survive an attempted murder and for the murderer to disappear before ending the child's life would appear abnormal to anyone.
"Wow," Emmett commented under his breath; not even he could have guessed exactly what kind of town this was when he first came across it. My family stood in bewildered silence, nodding our agreement.
"Who do you think these Death Eaters are?" Esme asked. "Followers?" she guessed, looking towards me to see if I had gathered clarification from the thoughts of those around us.
I shrugged. "I believe so- followers of this murderer: 'You Know Who'."
"That is so infuriating," Rosalie muttered through her teeth, clearly frustrated. "Doesn't he have a name?" she demanded.
"They seem too frightened to speak of it," Jasper commented. I turned towards him and saw his body was stiff with vigilance, his eyes shifting from human to human as he watched them walk around the square. Their talk of people being murdered did not help put him at ease; unlike the rest of us, Jasper did not see this as an intriguing situation, but a dangerous one.
"He does sound like a terrible person," Carlisle acknowledged. "Who would try to kill a defenceless child?" he continued, his eyes darkening slightly with anger. Esme placed her small hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.
"What if he isn't defenceless?" Emmett suggested under his breath. A small smile played on his lips, but in his mind, I could see that he was being serious.
"Don't be ridiculous," Rosalie hissed. But I could not bring myself to be as certain as she was about the possibility. Clearly these humans were not normal, so it could be possible that this child was indeed a potential threat to this full grown man who everyone else seems terrified of.
"You never know, Rose," Emmett insisted somewhat playfully; he enjoyed riling up his wife on occasion.
"They aren't exactly human, are they? Well, they smell human," Alice clarified, her voice in the quietest whisper so no human could have any hope of hearing, "but they are different, as Edward said before. Who knows? Perhaps the baby is dangerous," she ventured, but I could see in her mind that she thought it unlikely.
"It is certainly clear that they are capable of far more than the average human," Carlisle speculated out loud. "They spoke of curses, so I feel this town may be associated with witchery. They also refer to 'Muggles' which I feel may refer to anyone who is unable to perform magic..."
My family stood in silence contemplating Carlisle's words. None of us could deny what he was saying; it made perfect sense.
Nevertheless, it was difficult to admit that in this case, my family were 'Muggles' in this town. Now there were two reasons why it was dangerous for us to be here.
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Author's note: I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter of 'A life worth living'. What did you think of it? I always wondered how the people in Godric's Hollow first heard about the Potters' deaths especially given their location wasn't actually known to anyone except Wormtail (due to the Secret Keeper charm). I am hoping to post up the next chapter by the end of the weekend which will consist of further exploration of Godric's Hollow, the fireworks Alice saw, and their entry into Spinner's End.
Thank you SO much for reading! Please take the time to leave me a review. I look forward to reading your thoughts!