"Today is a bad day." I told Alice as I slid into my seat beside her, running my fingers over the notches and carvings of the desk top. I looked at my desk, idly reading the profanity carved into or drawn onto it. 'mike was here' I read. I shot a glance at mike 'whats-his-face' Jessica's friend. 'I wonder…' I thought. Below the sentences was another sentence. 'Mike is a jackass' I read. 'I like this person' I decided, 'they have a good sense of character. Especially if its mike what-his-name' their talking about. I nodded to myself.
"Why is today bad?" Alice humored me.
"Because Neville, my ever reliable friend is sick today." I said dramatically.
"And I can see you are not happy about that, but it's only one day."
"Within my first week of school my dear. I am fresh meat for those friendly 'we-love-new-students' people." I told her in a loud whisper. "Now today I'm going to be shark food I say, shark food." I said with a dramatic whimper. "today people like that Jessica girl or that mike guy will swarm me. Neville's left me to the sharks I say, the sharks!" I told her, absolutely horrified.
"poor you." Alice said, giggled quietly.
"poor me." I sighed, brushing my hair out of my eyes. "it's days like today when I wished I wasn't such a nice guy and took Sirius advice and wore steal toe boots and came carrying pepper spray." I said, not really meaning it. I wouldn't mace them.. no, I'd just kick and run like hell!
"If it helps I'll sit with you at lunch." Alice suggested. "I'm sure Emmett would, but Rosalie, his girlfriend, has a very tight leash on him." Alice said with a pixie smile. "she'll kick him out of the bedroom if he sits with someone else." Alice said wisely, "and she isn't exactly friendly company." Harry snickered.
"that ought to be somewhat amusing. I've heard about when Sirius gets kicked out of the room by Remus. Hil-arious." I said with a grin. Alice giggled.
"class, class please." The teacher called us away from our conversation.
~*~*~*~
Next class I sat down in my seat in a foul mood, cursing Neville beneath my breath. Emmett looked up as I slouched into my seat.
"bad morning?" Emmett said.
"I'm borrowing Alice at lunch time." I told him straight forward. "Nev's sick today, and I need an excuse not to sit with Jessica mike and whoever the hell else is in that group." I told him straight forward. Emmett snickered.
"I see word of her has already reached your ears." I groaned.
"yeah. Shes one of those 'friendly people' who insist on greeting and befriending the new kids." I really didn't like those kinds of people, they weren't really your friends. There were people like that back home, people such as Pansy Parkinson, who befriends girls she thinks will make her popular. She'd nearly done the same thing to Hermione, until Hermione told her to shove off in polite terms.
"shes really not that friendly" Emmett said honestly, "best avoid her, she'll just use you." Emmett said.
"if she keeps bugging me, I'll asked Mrs. Weasley to give her the patented 'womans-death-hug' British woman are known for." I told Emmett.
"I know what you mean, Esme isn't from England but she has the same kind of hug." Emmett told me jokingly. I gave him a half grin.
"think they have a union?" I joked.
"it would explain so much. They must give lessons on those hugs." Emmett replied with a large grin. I offered him a half grin. "Alice does the same thing to Jasper."
"Jasper, the other brother right? I haven't seen him around." I told him.
"he and our dad, Carlisle, are visiting some friends in Alaska," Emmett explained half heartedly as he crossed his arms on his desk, resting his chin on them. "they're supposed to be coming home on Friday, so you'll probably meet them on Monday, or sooner." I gave Emmett a suspicious look.
"sooner?" I asked him. Emmett grinned,
"I heard Alice say she was going to visit you this weekend, but don't tell her I told you." Emmett said. "I thought you might want some forewarning, since she'll probably bring Jasper – he sticks fairly close to Alice and Edward." Emmett explained.
"I thought Rosalie and Jasper were twins, usually twins stick together for the most part." I half asked, half stated, thinking about Fred and George back home.
"We don't like seeing Rosalie and Emmett when they act couple like." Alice entered the conversation. She handed a book to Emmett. "you left your binder in my locker." She said. "bye Harry." She said with a wave. i gave a bewildered look to her back as she left the classroom.
"so should I be expecting you this weekend to?" I asked, looking at Emmett, who shrugged.
"depends what Rosalie will be doing." He replied. He paused for a second though, "You do know that Rosalie and I aren't related right? it's not incest –" he started to explained.
"- because you guys aren't blood relatives. I know." I responded. "Remus and Sirius already explained to me and told me not to listen to what people say. I think I'll trust their judgment over a strangers judgment any day." I stated simply.
"And you don't think it's weird?" Emmett asked, surprised.
"Well, none of you are blood relatives except for the Hale twins and Esme, and since Esme isn't a blood relative of yours or Alice's or Edwards, you guys aren't related by blood. So, no, it's not that weird." I said with a shrug.
"Most people think it is." Emmett muttered darkly.
"Most people are jealous idiots." I stated dryly. Emmett cracked a grin. "rumors, that's all it is. Remus taught me a long time ago not to buy into rumors, such as the one that your family is unapproachable and cold, you and Alice are nice and Remus and Sirius both like your parents well enough, so I can't see how those rumors are true." I told him.
"The way Remus and Sirius say it, is that your parents are some of the generous people they know, your mum adopted three kids and her own nephew and niece, and Carlisle adopted all five. If that isn't generosity and kindness, then I don't know what is." I said with a huff, stretching my arms above my head. I saw Emmett relax over my shoulder and put his head back down onto his arms. "I'll continue to think your all nice people until I see otherwise or am forced to go shopping with Alice." I told him with a wide light hearted grin. Emmett let out a snort of laughter.
"She is the devil when shopping isn't she?" I nodded enthusiastically at that.
It was safe to say that we didn't get much work done that period, but it was trig and a review day, so it didn't really matter anyways. Can we say boring? Well, the rest of the class did the review, Emmett and I sat playing tic tac toe the entire class and doodling in our notebooks.
It was more artistically satisfying then the last few art classes combined.
When class ended we both made our way from the classroom. "time well wasted I do say." Emmett said dramatically.
"I concur!" I nodded seriously. "What will make this better is some music." I said, pulling my MP3 out of my jeans pocket.
"What kind of music?" Emmett said warily.
"I don't know if you know them, but Foghat." I answered. A grin broke out on Emmett's face.
"I know them, though I'm surprised you do." Emmett told him.
"Sirius got me hooked on classic rock. ACDC, the Stones, Queen.." I listed off. "he loves American music." I explained. "Severus has me hooked on Metallica and White snake and Bon Jovi and of course Pink Floyd."
"both good men!" Emmett said. "what song?" he asked, looking over my shoulder shoulder – curse my short-ness – as we walked into the lunch room.
"Slow ride." I answered, plugging my headphones in. I pushed the volume to the max. it was loud enough for both of us to hear without putting the headphones into our ears. The two of us made our way to the line.
"I see you've met Emmett." Alice giggled as Emmett and I shushed her. The three of us made our way through the line. Alice and I bid a very reluctant Emmett a goodbye as we walked to Neville and I's table, sitting down with our meals while Emmett quickly made his way to his girlfriend.
"You guys have the same interest in music." Alice said.
"In rock I guess, but I like a bit of everything, rocks just my favourite." I rtold her with a grin.
"do you play an instrument? I tried once, but it didn't take" she told me as she played with her food.
"I play some instruments." I said thoughtlessly. I poked my potato salad suspiciously. "Does Potato salad actually have any potato in it?" I asked her, eying it curiously.
"I have no idea." Alice said brightly. "What instruments do you play?" she changed the subject.
"Piano, Guitar, I used to play flute, a bit of violin…" I trailed off as I eyed my lunch before finally pulling my plate of pizza closer and everything else except my drink away from me.
"Not to hungry?" Alice asked,
"No, not really." I said. "I don't think I'm much of a fan of American foods." I told her, "but then again, British foods aren't that much better. I mean, we named one of our dishes blood pudding." I told her, my nose scrunched up at the name. Alice giggled. "I've never actually had blood pudding either – I heard the name of it once as a child and have never gone near it." I shook my head. "oddly enough though I do like a treat back home called blood pops."
"I'm not too hungry either" Alice commented. "I don't usually eat lunch anymore. I'm more a breakfast and supper type." She said conversationally.
"Well I'll agree whole hearted with you there." I told her, poking his salad again. he distractedly ate his pizza. "What kind of music to you like?" I asked her, looking away from my salad.
"Any and all." She happily informed me.
"You seem like the dance music kind of girl." I told her with a small sheepish grin.
"Well good, that's usually what I listen to, along with fast moving rock." She said with a grin. "Jasper hates the techno – well, everyone does really, except our mother, she doesn't mind it but prefers to listen to Edward playing the piano. So does Carlisle now that I think of it." she said thoughtfully.
"Remus likes classical and anything he can just relax and enjoy listening too." I told her with a grin. "Sirius is majorly into anything loud. He'd play the drums if it didn't mean Remus kicking him out of the bedroom." I told her conspiratorially. Alice let out a loud laugh. "that and it would probably disturb Teddy's naps." i added.
"So what about teddy? Wheres his mum?" Alice asked with a small smile. "did Remus and Sirius adopt him?" she inquired curiously. I shook my head.
"Teddy is Remus son actually. Remus and Sirius have both always wanted kids, they had me but again, I'm not blood and they wanted to the larger role in raising the kid. This is where Teddy's mum, Nymphadora came into the picture. Nymphadora – an odd name, I know – is Sirius cousin and she knew they both wanted a kid, It surprised the hell out of them when she offered to be the carrier, the biological mother, if you will."
"That was generous of her, to do that." Alice said with a small smile.
"Yeah well, she and Sirius are really close, she wanted him happy." I told her with a shrug.
"Will she try and claim him back? Teddy I mean?" Alice asked.
"Nah. She's getting married soon, to one of my surrogate brothers, Charlie Weasley. He's also a friend of Sirius and Remus, and he wouldn't do anything to hurt them – or me." I responded without a doubt. "If he did, his mum would scewer him. she adores me." I said smugly. Alice giggled.
"So what are you doing this weekend?" Alice asked as she fiddled with her food. I frowned, twisting my lips thoughtfully.
"so far as I can remember, nothing." I told her honestly. "I was going to go horse back riding, do some reading." I shrugged, trying to remember if I'd overheard Sirius planning anything for me. he did that some times, planned things without telling me and then would kidnap me to do said things on his list.
He did that the time before last when he came to visit me in London. Kidnapped me right during lunch at school and dragged me off to go rock climbing. Sirius got scolded by Remus when he found out of course which only added to my amusement. That was during the times when my grades were fine and I wasn't failing anything. Must have been a while ago.
"why?" I asked her, remembering what Emmett had said.
"just wondering." Alice said innocently. "I was wondering if I could come over this weekend." Alice said, "I haven't gone horse back riding in a long time." She said.
"well you know where I live – don't you?" I asked her. Alice nodded happily. "then I guess I'll wait in paranoia all weekend for your visit." I poked my potato salad.
~*~*~*~
"Is it okay if Alice comes and visits this weekend?" I asked as i pushed myself up using one of the foot holds.
"No, that's no problem." Sirius said, grabbing into the hand hold he could reach. "Why is she coming over?"
"Not entirely sure." I admitted as I climbed, glancing down at Sirius who was lower on the wall then me. "She just asked if I was busy. Emmett hinted that their brother Jasper is coming to visit, so." I shrugged and started to climb again. "Now, remind me again why we're going rock climbing on a school night?" I asked.
"Because" Sirius voice was strained as he hefted himself up to grab a far away foot hold and pulled himself up. "Remus wanted some quiet time while Teddy is asleep and I tend to be loud."
"So where do I fit into this?" I asked, looking down at Sirius, snorting with amusement at how much higher I was. "You're getting slow with old age Sirius." I climbed a few paces high on the wall, out of reach of Sirius reaching hand. "ah ah ah, two hands on the wall." I grinned as he stuck his tongue out at me.
"I am not getting slow." Sirius said with a huff. "I'm taking my time."
"uh..huh." I said, "and I'm the tooth fairy."
"then where the hell are your wings?"
"I took them off to give you so you could climb fast, but alas, they aren't helping." I told as I continued to climb, getting closer to the top. I grinned cheekily down at him.
"When I reach you…" Sirius said, mock shaking a fist at me. I smirked infuriatingly down at him, egging him on.
"Like you could catch me." I grinned as Sirius started to climb faster and grabbed my next foothold, starting to climb again. "Wait till I tell Remus you lost to me." I sung out, "I'll bet he'll tease you forever." I heard Sirius growl from somewhere below me.
"No one threatens my ego!" I heard Sirius say. I twisted out of Sirius reach, climbing the wall further away. I reached the top just before Sirius did, pressing the red botton. I grinned and waved to Sirius.
~*~*~*~
Saturday morning came bearing much amusement for myself and teddy, as we got to sit and watch Remus and Sirius attempt to free the piano from the celler room they'd stuck it into when they'd needed more room for Teddy's play corner in the livingroom.
I spent most of the morning with teddy until just after lunch, when I put him down for a nap in his crib. He was cuddled up with the small stuffed animal I had won for climbing to the top of the wall while rock climbing. I gently took down the harp that Nymphadora used to play for teddy and began to play the only song I really knew how to play on it. Greensleaves always put teddy to sleep, sadly neither Sirius nor Remus could play it, so it was left to me to play the song on the harp or my flute to get teddy to go to sleep. I'd made a recording of it using my laptop and burn't it to a Cd for Remus to play for teddy so I didn't have to wake up at three am and play for him.
When I'd finished playing the song teddy was once again fast asleep and I gently set the harp down atop the dresser and quietly left the room, softly closing the door behind me. I quietly made my way down the hallway away from the rooms, only breathing once I got to the stairs and out of teddy's general hearing range. That kid had one mean temper when he was woken up after going to sleep.
The livingroom was a huge mess of toys strewn across the floor of the room and slowly I made my way through the room, picking up the various toys and putting them into the toy chest that sat in the corner of the room.
Just as I finished cleaning up Sirius and Remus entered, looking tired and sore. "That thing is heavy." Sirius panted. "I am never lifting a piano again. It's in the livingroom of the guest house and that's where it is staying!" Sirius stated firmly.
"Right." I said mock seriously.
"Wheres teddy?" Remus asked, frowning softly.
"I just put him down for his nap. He was getting a bit cranky." I told them. Remus nodded in understanding and sat down on the couch. "everything's all cleaned up, and I shall be going to check out that piano." I said with a small smile. Remus made a shoo'ing motion with his hand while Sirius waved me off tiredly.
I gave the two an amused look before exiting the room. I pulled my coat back on and my boots before making my way from the main house across the snow covered lawn and gravel driveway, my feet crunching on the snow with each step. When I got the porch of the guest house I paused, stomping my feet and gently kicking the wall to dislodge any excess snow before wiping my feet on the outdoor mat. I opening the door to the house and stepped inside, tightly closing the door before the chill could get in. I toed off my boots, grumbling as my socks got wet yet again and tugged off my jacket, setting my boots over top the heater inside the doors and hanging my coat on the coat rack.
I walked into the livingroom and knelt beside the fire place, again using the lighter to light a piece of kindling and putting it inside the fireplace. As it caught I pulled the grate across and got up, waited, rubbing my hands together as the room temperature heated up again.
The livingroom was always the coldest room in the guest house due to the large windows. the draperies kept some of the cold out, but not enough of it. the rest of the house was usually fairly warm, thanks to the heating system.
As the rooms heat picked up I made my way, padding down the hallway in my socks to the kitchen. the kitchen was a nice sized one. I didn't do much cooking in here except for on the weekends and in the morning, I usually ate dinner with Remus, Sirius and teddy. I made my way across the kitchen to the sink and turned on the tap, picking up the electric kettle from the counter and filling it with water after giving it a quick rinse. I turned off the tap and plugged the kettle in. As I waited for it to boil I started to make myself a cup of hot chocolate.
After making myself a hot chocolate I grabbed a rag from under the kitchen sink and wet it with hot water, squeezing out the excess. I took the cloth and my mug of hot chocolate into the livingroom, setting my hot chocolate on the table to cool down a bit. I took the wet cloth over to my piano and started wiping it down to get rid of the dust that Sirius and Remus had missed when they'd wiped it off. I pushed the sleeve up and quickly and carefully wiped down the keys, testing each individual key as I did so. The piano was in fairly good shape, the wood was chipped and scratched in a few places, but I didn't mind that. It worked didn't it? thats what mattered.
I took my hot chocolate from the table and took a light sip, wincing as the hot liquid hit my tongue. Not quite cool enough yet. I set it on a high lamp table that sat between the couch and the piano.
I ran my fingers over the piano keys, trying to remember what each keys letter was. When I learned piano at school there had been letters of the alphabet written in marker on the keys to help us remember the notes. Finding my place i began to gently play a light hearted piece I could recall being played at Remus and Sirius wedding. I was just a kid when they'd been married, but I could still remember the song. I still didn't know the name of it, but i liked the light hearted tune none the less.
Three quarters of my way through my next song I paused, straining to listen from where I sat. I could just barely hear Remus talking to someone outside. I started to play again, waiting for the knock. I was playing another song from Remus wedding, one he was sure to recognize. I heard Remus knock on the door before opening it, like he always did. The knocking was more of a warning that he was coming in. I heard what sounded like a several people stomping their shoes off on the porch and shuffling around in the front entrance hallway.
"Ah, that's better." Sirius said as he came into the livingroom, flopping down to kneel in front of the fire. "damn cold outside." Sirius said, rubbing his hands together. I turned on the piano bench to look at Sirius.
"I doubt you could ever handle a London winter again." I told him.
"Not even going to try." Sirius said, rubbing his hands to warm them. "Come in, Come in!" Sirius said. I went to turn on my bench again but felt arms wrap around my shoulders from behind, which usually put me on edge if my chair didn't have a back. the twins were well known for pulling people backward off their seats. But the twins were in London, and if the perfume the person was wearing was to say anything –
"hello Alice." I greeted the person behind me.
"Hi Harry." She said, letting go of me. I twisted around on my bench to face away from the piano, using one hand to gently close the sleeve. "For someone who knows 'a bit' of piano, you play very well." She said, her fingers making quotation marks as she said 'a bit'.
"why thank you, I do try." Harry said. "and I'll have you know I can only plays songs I've been taught to play. Give me a new piece and I'll butcher it." I told her honestly.
"it's true he will." Sirius said.
"Remus?" I looked at him imploringly. Remus raised his hand and whacked Sirius on the head with it. "thank you." I said. Remus nodded as Alice giggled. I glanced at the two men sitting on either side of Alice and pointed at one of them. "Now I'm fairly sure your Edward, which makes you Jasper – if I'm wrong feel free to smack Sirius." I told them jovially.
"Yeah sma – Hey! No smacking me, me doesn't like to be smacked." Sirius said, waving his arms and looking quite like a lunatic. He pointed at me, "I can ground you!"
"I can get Remus to not cook for you, Mr. Charcoal Le Chicken." I responded with a grin.
"I thought we agreed to never talk about that."
"You agreed Sirius, we didn't." Remus reminded him, patting him on the shoulder while trying to conceal his grin. Sirius bottom lip jutted out in a pout. I noticed that the one hale and two Cullen's were watching all of this with amusement. Remus sighed though as he stood up, "and I'm afraid that Sirius and I need to go back to the main house in case teddy wakes up." Remus said apologetically. Sirius groaned as he got up, his shoulders slumped dramatically.
"Off out into the cold wet snow." He grumbled.
"Poor Sirius." I said laughingly. He gave me a sulky glare as he followed Remus into the hallway. For a long moment there was silence until Alice spoke up.
"Jasper, Edward, meet Harry Potter, my new friend." Alice said with a smile.
"Hello." I greeted.
"hello." Edward said in reply while Jasper just nodded. I pretended not to notice how stiffly he sat, and how his hands were tightly clenched. Alice got up and went to the large window, looking out at the thick layer of snow covering everything.
"Does this mean that horse back riding is cancelled?" Alice asked.
"I think so." I nodded. "Which leave me in a predicament, since I don't actually know why you decided to come over, and I have no idea what you guys do in your spare time." I told them.
"Do you have any video games?" Edward asked. "we all like video games." He said, motioning to his siblings and himself. I grinned and walked to two of the wooden Panels on the wall. I gently pressed them inward, watching as the latches let go and opened them, revealing an entire built in bookcase of video games and game systems.
"That is a lot of video games." I heard someone say faintly and realised it was Jasper.
"You guys can pick if you like, I've played almost all of them at one point or other back in England." Harry said, stepping back. it was Jasper and Edward that got up and went to pick a game.
"Emmett and Rosalie are in Seattle." Alice told me as I sat down – or more like flopped down, onto the couch near by. "otherwise Emmett would be here and playing video games with you –"
"no doubt kicking my arse." I said dryly. Alice smiled.
Hello Readers,
For those reading this I apologize that it has taken so long for me to update, an entire month. I figure that this time around i owe you a reason, and that is simply, that my computer crashed, taking with it my unfinished two chapters, which i am trying still to rewrite. I'd like to thank you all for being patient while waiting, and i shall do my best to continue updating on a timely manner. Thank you for your reviews, and i am sorry if this chapter is not up to par.
Sincerely
Devils-Divide.