I do not own harry potter or twilight, sadly enough.
"you're laughing at me." I scowled at Alice, who shook her head, her lips pressed tightly together. "you are too." I grumbled, crossing my arms sulkily. Why had I agreed to playing video games? I decided that I was never going to play video games against Edward – mostly because though I would never admit it, I just got my arse handed to me three times. THREE TIMES! Not even the twins beat me as easily as Edward Cullen had just smashed me.
"Nooo!" I wailed dramatically as I once again died. Make that four times. I glared at the game, my shoulders slumped. Abruptly I turned to Edward and pointed at him. "I don't like you." I stated with a sulky glare. Edward was desperately trying to withhold a laugh, is shoulders shaking with the effort. "I really don't like you." I heard Alice giggle behind me and leaned back against her legs, tilting my head backwards to look at her. "I'm not feeling particularly fond of you either, Alice." I stated. She just smiled even brighter.
I looked over at Jasper, who was watching all of this with an amused expression. He stiffened though as I looked at him, which I decided to just ignore for the moment. "And you – I'm not even going to play a video game against you. you like him probably have trained in the ways of video-butt-kicking." I grouched. His lips twitched upward. "Here, you play against him, I'm going to go find my stash of treats." I said. "do me a favor and kick his arse." I requested, handing him the controller. He blinked at me before taking the controller in hand.
"Why don't we do something else." He suggested instead, setting the controller down with a wary look to Edward, who sat looking all too innocent, his thumbs poised above the controls.
"I don't know what else to do. Usually I'm the guest and not the host." I told them honestly. I sank down in the window seat, pulling the thick quilt made for my by Mrs. Weasley and cradled my refilled cup of hot chocolate. I looked out the window, eying the sky worriedly as I heard the video game start up again. it was obvious that Alice was playing now.
An hour later I found myself sitting in the back seat of Edwards silver Volvo, slumped down in my seat and doing a fairly good impression of a spoiled child.
"Alice, where are we going?" I asked again.
"It's a surprise." she chirped.
"Come on Alice -," I paused, eying the girl warily as I sat beside Jasper in the back seat. "It's not shopping is it?" I asked, horrified. At the lack of answer I looked at Jasper worriedly. "It isn't shopping is it?" I whispered. Jasper's lips twitched, looking at Alice in the from before carefully shaking his head negative. I sighed quietly in relief.
"Jasper! You're not supposed to disprove any idea he gets! It's a surprise for a reason." I could tell Alice wasn't really angry.
"I didn't tell him where we're going, just that we're not going shopping, which is true." Jasper simply stated, amused. Alice pouted while Edward grinned, eyes on the road but obviously listening.
"Spoil sport. I had him in fear!" Alice pouted before breaking into a smile.
"I think I should be a bit upset that you get so much enjoyment from my being afraid." I stated, a bit miffed even as I grinned. "I'm never going shopping with you again!" I sniffed dramatically. Alice giggled.
"you sound like Rosalie." I fixed her with a glare for that comment. Rosalie and I didn't really get along that great –not that we had ever really met. She seemed to look at me with disdain, even though we hadn't said a word to one another. But she seemed to look at everyone like that, so atleast I knew it wasn't me alone that she disliked.
"That's it! I am going to make you hate me!" I told her, sitting forward. I put on my most innocent expression, the one I used on Mrs. Weasley when I was either getting myself or Ron out of trouble, and asked, "Are we there yet?"
"No."
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"And now?" I asked.
"No." she stated.
"And now?"
"No." she stated once again.
"And now?"
"No!"
"Now?"
"Nooo!" Alice whined. "Stop asking!"
A few moments passed. "How about now?" I asked.
"No!" she stated, turning in her seat, "I really don't like you." she said mock angrily. "And Jasper stop laughing – you to Edward." She pouted. I grinned a little smug as I sat back, my revenge being complete for the moment. I let a few minutes pass before,
"Are we there yet?"
"Harry!" Alice turned in her seat.
"oops sorry, its surprisingly hard habit to kick." I told her innocently. Beside me Jasper snorted with laughter, while upfront Edward was outright laughing.
I settled back into my seat, letting the rest of the drive go by, occasionally asking the dreaded question, just to annoy Alice. Finally Edward pulled off the road, into a shoveled driveway.
"Yes we're here, thank god!" Alice practically jumped out of the car while it was still moving, leaving Edward calling after her while I sat back in amusement. I looked to Jasper and Edward, both of whom looked amused.
"Gee, I think I might have annoyed her a tad." I said as innocently as I could. "So, where are we?" I asked as I took off my seat belt, which I had thankfully remembered to put on before climbing into the car. Edward was a bit like Sirius when driving – a speed demon.
"At our house." Edward told him. "Esme, our mother, and Carlisle, our father, wanted to meet you. Alice told them about you."
"Nothing bad right?" I asked, worriedly.
"Nothing bad." Edward assured, "Though I'm sure that might change, considering how much you annoyed her on the way here." I grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck.
"Well in my defense, if I'd known where we were going, I wouldn't have found need to annoy her." I replied. Edward shot me an amused glance before climbing out of the car. I climbed out of the car, pausing to straighten my jacket and zip it up a bit high. I took a step forward, feeling my eyes widen as they slid out from under me, causing me to fall backward. I felt someone grab my shoulders from behind, steadying me as they stood me upright again. I tilted my head back, looking up at the upside down features of Jasper. "Thanks."
"All right?" he asked. I nodded.
"Yeah, I'm all right." I said as he helped me off the icy section of the driveway. I stepped off of it, glaring back at the large patch of ice. "This is mother natures form of revenge for my helping my friend Bill cut down a pine tree for Christmas two years ago." I told him conspiratorially as we started walking. "She's never gonna let me live it down." I smirked when I saw Jasper grin, shaking his head, amused.
"Harry, what did you do to Alice?" I looked up at Emmett, who stood in the doorway waiting and grinned, putting on my most innocent face.
"I did nothing." I stated, grinning from ear to ear as I passed him and into the house. behind me I heard Jasper mutter,
"He's the devil it seems. Alie wouldn't tell him where they were going so the entire ride he asked, 'are we there yet?'" I saw Jasper shake his head, grinning, "She flew out of the car the moment we parked." Emmett let out a booming laugh before he walked over to me and slung an arm around my shoulder,
"Yeah, your real innocent." Emmett grinned down at me while I mock huffed.
"That's right, I'm an angel I say, an angel –" I paused, letting out a cough to cover my next sentence, which I said as quickly as possible, "Who has two identical twin prankster red heads sitting on either shoulder telling me what to do."
"Identical twins – friends from England?" Emmett asked.
"Yeah, Fred and George Weasley, best pranksters around and put together form the devil – so I simple couldn't be the devil – they are." I told him.
"I think I'd like to meet them one day."
"You'd probably get along with them." I mused. "For that reason alone I might have to keep you away from them." I added, eying Emmett warily. "They're bad enough alone, never mind with help." Emmett looked at me innocently. "I don't believe that innocent face one second mate." I told him with a grin.
"And you shouldn't. He's hardly ever innocently." An amused voice said. I looked around Emmett to the stairwell where a light blond haired man with pale skin and kind gold eyes stood, watching us with amusement. The man came down the stairs to greet us properly, holding out a hand for me to shake. "I'm Carlisle Cullen."
"Harry potter." I told him, shaking my head. "If you don't mind me asking, did you once live in England?" I asked him, barely sensing an accent. Carlisle smiled, nodding.
"Yes I lived there as a boy. I'm afraid my accent is no where as strong as your own."
"Even my godfathers accent is starting to fade. American accents are rather easy to fall into aren't they?" I asked with a grin. Carlisle nodded with a smile.
"Alice has told us much about you, my wife Esme is waiting in the kitchen." Carlisle started to lead him upstairs. I looked at the wall of graduation hats with no small amount of amusement.
"Is it a family tradition to keep the graduation caps?" I asked him. Carlisle's lips twitched up into a smile.
"Yes." He answered. "We used to keep them in boxes until Esme decided to work them into her art."
"Remus says she works in interior design, so I guess work really is play for her then." Carlisle nodded his agreement as he led me up the stairs.
Inside the kitchen I was greeted by a brown haired woman with a warm look that made me immediately think of Mrs. Weasley. I smiled back tentatively.
"Harry, this is my Esme, Esme, this is Harry Potter."
"It's nice to meet you Harry," she said with a smile.
"You as well, Mrs. Cullen."
"Would you like a cookie?" Esme asked, holding out a plate that had been on the cookie. A plate of still warm cookies. Chocolate chip cookies. I hesitated, decided it just wasn't polite to refuse and gratefully took a cookie. Who was I to refuse a lovely woman offering chocolate chip cookies of all things?
"Thank you." I said, taking the cookie. I felt myself tugged backward and tightened my hold on the cookie as I almost lost it. "You almost made me lose my cookie Alice." I whined, holding the cookie closer to me. Alice's smile grew.
"Come on Harry, Emmett and Edward are playing grand theft auto."
"Isn't that a one player game?" I asked, waving goodbye to Mrs. Cullen as Alice pulled me after her out of the kitchen and into another room.
"Yes but Emmett always loses when the police come after him, which is when he has Edward take over to save him." Alice told me with a smile. She led me over to one of the couches, pulling me to sit down with her and Jasper, watching Edward and Emmett pass the controller back and forth, alternating between missions.
"Harry – wheres your cookie?" I paused, the last of my cookie in my mouth. I wasn't going to admit I practically scarfed down the cookie like I expected it to disappear the moment I looked away. But oh it had smelled so good, and it was chocolate chip, how could I say no? It reminded me to much of the weasleys and that is one house where you don't leave food unsupervised. You do and it magically disappears.
I lifted my shoulder in a shrug
"What did you do, inhale it?" Emmett asked. again I shrugged, chewing slowly.
"Well atleast I know he likes my chocolate chip cookies." Esme said as she entered, carrying the plate of cookies. she held the plate out to me.
I smiled as i took another offered cookie from Esme, biting into the chocolate chip cookie hungrily.
"Try not to inhale it this time." Emmett joked as he lay stretched out on the couch, his head resting against one arm rest with his feet propped up on the other armrest. "I've never seen someone like chocolate quite like you do." he said, watched me with amusement. I swallowed the bite, ducking my head sheepishly.
"It's Remus influence, I swear it."
"Remus? I never took him for a chocolate lover." Esme said thoughtfully.
"He's a closet chocoholic." I told them. "He says that chocolate is the cure for everything, but I'm fairly sure he only says that to hint to Sirius that Remus would be much less adverse to forgiving Sirius if Sirius would just give him chocolates as an apology."
"But you said Remus still kicks him out some nights." Alice frowned.
"Oh he does. Sadly Sirius never seems to catch the hint." I told them, half amused half exasperated. "Perhaps one day I'll tell him, but for now it's just too amusing to ruin."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I told Severus about yesterday as I remembered, grinning from ear to ear. "This had to be the most fun I'd had since arriving here." I told Severus as I sat in front of the piano again, "of course I ended up getting conned into dancing with Alice – how she managed that I don't know."
"So over all you're enjoying your time in America?" I could hear Severus typing on a keyboard.
"Yes." I answered. "How are things in England?"
"Well I don't know about all of England, but my students are a large group of idiots." Severus told me dryly. "I have one student who can barely spell half the things she is supposed to write on, and one boy who writes an essay like he's talking on some god forsaken chat site." I could practically hear the sneer in his voice.
"I'm guessing your grading their essays at the moment?" I asked him.
"Unfortunately yes." Severus said. "I'd much rather be sitting on my chair, at home, drinking tea and reading the latest article on the theory of Alternative Biochemistry. But alas, I'm here reading the papers of these nit wits and dunderheads." I could imagine the scowl on his face.
"Try not to give them all F's okay?" I asked, amused.
"How is school going?" Severus changed the subject, still typing.
I grinned, noting the lack of promise. "It's going pretty well. My grades are back up and I'm getting proper amounts of sleep. Remus is keeping on my about my homework while Sirius is attempting to keep me from spending too much time dwelling on the situation I left back home." I paused, "How are things going between those two?"
"I can't say for certain. I ended things with your mother when I heard about her slapping you. Even I am not so low as to hurt a child."
"I'm not a child." I said, indignant, getting a laugh from the man.
"yes, yes, you're an adult, how is that beard coming?" Severus drawled sarcastically. I felt my ears burn hot.
"shut up." I grumbled at his chuckle. He sighed and finally stopped typing. "I'm learning a new song on my guitar. Remus bought me a book of sheet music for the classics and Sirius bought me a book of sheet music to the best Classic rock songs." I changed the subject once again.
"What song are you learning?"
"Schools out by Alice Cooper." I told him. "My friend Emmett likes classic rock too, so I atleast have someone to talk about music too." I told him as I got up from the piano and took the portable with me to the couch, which I dropped down onto, stretching my legs out as he kept the phone to my ear.
"Good, atleast now you can talk about it and have people understand who you are talking about. I don't believe your friends here understood half of what you were saying." I laughed despite myself.
"True." I grinned. "Ron just dealt with my ramblings the same way he does with Hermione's ranting. He just nodded and said 'uh-huh' when he thought it was appropriate. I don't know how he put up with us."
"I have no idea, but I am feeling quite sympathetic towards the youngest Weasley male."
"Hey!" Severus chuckled at my outraged tone. I looked to the clock and groaned. "I'm sorry but I've got to go now Severus. it's almost dinner time." I told him as I sat up.
"I have to go to another conference soon, which will take about a week, I'll call when I'm back in England." Severus told me. I nodded, forgetting he couldn't see it.
"Okay." I said.
"I'll call you when I get back then." Severus almost sounded disappointed to end the call.
"Bye Severus." I said.
"Goodbye Harry." I sighed as I clicked the end button and set the portable in its charger. It'd been nice to hear from Severus, I was still surprised when he called. Apparently Remus didn't mind giving him the land line number so he could call on weekends.
I sighed as I went to the kitchen, dumping my cold hot cocoa into the sink before setting the dish down as well. At the front door I grabbed my winter wear and pulled on my jacket, boots and gloves before trekking out of the house, shutting the door behind me. I shoved my hands in my pockets and headed for the main house, the snow crunching under my feet as I walked.
I scowled at the snow, knowing somewhere beneath the thick layer of snow there was a hidden sidewalk. I know its down there somewhere, I've seen it before!
That does not mean that I am willing to attempt to find the sidewalk to shovel it. I know how winter works. The snow waits until you've cleared a usable pathway through the snow before it starts falling from the sky again, covering the cleared path just to spite you.
Mother nature has a very sadistic sense of humor.
I was just glad that I wasn't in the United Kingdom. I wouldn't mind so much if the twins didn't get Sirius' 'Snow-fever' and insist on acting as guards, taking turns sleeping while keeping watch for the 'first snow' of the year. They really shouldn't be allowed to watch war movies, I thought as I stamped my feet, kicking the wall gently to shake off the excess snow before opening the door and stepping inside onto the front mat.
I shut the door behind me, shivering as I went to tug off my coat but paused upon seeing an extra coat hanging on the hook, a light blue blue coat with a bright multicolored scarf and gloves. I glanced at the second coat, a black winter jacket with a bright green scarf and blue mittens. I glanced at the mat on the floor and frowned again as I saw two new sets of boots there, one pair of large black boots that came to calf high and a pair of bright colorful ankle high winter boots.
I frowned and looked out the window beside the door, spotting an extra car in the driveway. It was black with bright purple tire rims.
I frowned as I stepped back and pulled off my own winter wear, hanging the coat up with my gloves in the pockets and set my boots on the mat under the coat rack. I shivered, padding down the hallway towards the back of the house, where the dining room was. my frown only deepened when I heard voices coming from the livingroom, I could hear Sirius laughing at something an unknown mans voice said, and Remus speaking in a light hearted tone. A girls voice spoke then, a light dreamy tone to it that Harry instantly recognized. He paused at the door to the dining room, finding Remus and Sirius sitting at the table with two familiar faces.
"Hello Harry." Luna smiled as she looked at me in the doorway. Her acknowledgment caused Sirius and Remus to turn in their seats to see me.
"Luna, Mr. Lovegood." I paused at the look Mr. Lovegood gave me and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, Xenophilius" I greeted properly. I'd learned a long time ago that Xenophilius didn't appreciate being addressed so formally if the person was friends with him or his daughter. "It's nice to see you guys again, but what are you doing here?" I asked, confused.
"Remus and Sirius invited Daddy and I to have dinner with you. We didn't even know Sirius and Remus knew where we lived – we suspect the nargles told them." Luna told me in a stage whisper as I sank down into the open seat beside her. My lips twitched upward.
"Must have been." I nodded as Luna sat back, sharing a grin with Remus across the table. Sirius and Remus didn't really know Luna and her dad very well, though they knew I was friends with them. They do know about Luna and Mr. Lovegoods interest in animals that may not exist. It was nice of Remus and Sirius to invite them over, despite not knowing them.
"We know that Neville's ill and that the Alice will be gone for the next few days on a camping trip with her family, so we thought we might go ahead and invite Luna and her father over." Remus explained as he started to remove the lids form the various dishes on the table, "Perhaps she could show you the area, I've heard from Harry you're quite the explorer." Remus looked at Luna, who smiled.
"Yes, daddy and I go into the forest often, looking for nargles, but we haven't had much luck yet. Maybe you can help?" Luna directed the last question at me. I nodded, attempting to look solemn while smothering my amusement.
"I'll try." I replied, my lips twitching. "Perhaps we can bring Neville along too, he is our plant expert." Luna nodded, smiling her spaces smile as she started to eat. I smirked inwardly, my revenge against Neville for leaving me to the sharks having been sought.
~*~
Dear Readers,
I apologize for taking so long to get this chapter out, but I have finally found some time to do so. It's not my best work, but I'm doing this with a fairly limited amount of time, waiting for my father to come out of surgery. I know this isn't my best work and i am sorry, i will try and do better for my next chapter.
Please review and tell me what i'm doing right and wrong. All comments are welcome.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter, sorry it took so long.
~Devils Divide.