Disclaimer: I own only Astrid. Nothing Else.
An: Sorry it took so long to update and I apologize in advanced for the fast pace of this chapter plus it's shortness. It's to get the story moving and also to kind of give the almost lost feeling that Astrid has. Read and Review.

The weeks had passed in a blur once Astrid had been enrolled in school. The most interesting of all was how Harry and Luna seemed to just blossom with her around. It was almost as if she had unlocked the gate into their hearts and opened it up. Harry smiled more and laughed, which was a rarity indeed. Luna actually made sense more often. Still, even with the way things had become, Alice couldn't shake the feeling of darkness coming. Something was wrong. Something bad, and she couldn't see what it was. The only thing she knew was it involved Astrid Black...and that Astrid knew what it was.

"Oh my god no way! He didn't!"

"He totally did! Harry refused to let an innocent man be condemned to death. So with the help of good old Hermione, they busted him out. Lucky he did too otherwise I wouldn't have had my dad...nor would I know Harry or Luna. I didn't meet them till the summer after that."

"You actually broke a guy out of prison? Damn Harry I didn't know you had it in you!" Mike and Lauren were completely wrapped up in the story that they didn't even notice Edward, Alice, and Jasper come to the table and take their places around Bella.

"Well I wasn't about to let my godfather die for something someone else did...it wouldn't have been right. No one knew he was innocent though. Not until-..." Harry's sentence died off. The group looked expectantly at Astrid to finish but found that the girl was shaking, fighting back tears. Jasper knew they weren't of just sadness though.

"Until what?"

"Until my cousin murdered him. Right-...right in front of us. She was cruel and evil and I wish to god I had been the one to choke the life out of her. She deserved so much worse then she got in the end." Their friends were shocked. No one had ever heard such hateful words from the normally bubbly girl...nor had they heard her say anything with such conviction. It seemed that Harry agreed though he wasn't so outspoken about it.

"Astrid Black did that really just come out of your mouth?" The blonde looked up to find that it was Jasper who had spoken. She knew of his civil war days and how he had to kill so many but he didn't understand. Sure, he felt the pain but he could never understand the conviction in her words. Edward however did. He had felt that way when Bella had been threatened.

"I got put in a hospital for years because of what happened. You don't understand...seeing happen with no way to stop it. Knowing the outcome of what was going to happen and trying to get to him only to be too late? If it hadn't been for Remus I think Harry and I both would have followed him right into the ground. He stopped Harry and managed to get to me before I got to Bellatrix. It's one of my darkest days...I can't even remember most of the time surrounding it but that moment is forever burned into my head. It haunts me." And just like that the darkness around Astrid broke and she smiled.

"But anyway, so as I was saying before. Everyone was in an uproar about my dad going missing just before his execution..."

"Spring Break is next week. What do you guys want to do?" Bella was sitting on the couch at the Cullen's house with the rest of the Cullens and Luna, Harry, and Astrid. They were their own tight knit group, even if they belonged to a bigger one. The others had learned about Astrid's bipolar disorder and schizophrenia after another one of her 'episodes' of turning around an attitude on the drop of a dime and the constant talking to herself. It went unnoticed at first with her just saying random things but eventually someone had asked and Astrid being Astrid just flat out told them. She was almost flawless in her cover stories for things. Even the broken arm she now had had a great cover story.

~flashback~

"Astrid, oh my god, what happened?"

"Luna thought multicolor would be better then a boring solid. I agreed and Dr. Cullen was sweet enough to give me a rainbow." The blonde held up her arm with a smile. She usually went along with Luna's thoughts. Rainbows were definitely more fun then just plain old red. Jessica however didn't find it funny.

"That's not what I meant. What happened to your arm?" Oh, right. It was broken. She hadn't meant to get careless when fighting Emmet, who was back from vacation with Rosalie, but she got distracted by the sudden yelling in her head from several people. Thus, the broken arm. Emmet had apologized for days but she didn't blame him. It was an accident. She was a vampire too and could've handled the blow had she remembered to block.

"I made a bet with Harry that I could climb a tree higher then he could...I won but fell out of the tree. No big."

~end flashback~

"Hmm...what to do...what to do...Italy? Why the hell would I go there?" The Cullens froze. Italy? Why of all places would Astrid pick there? Edward shook his head.

"No. That's not just stupid and dangerous but suicidal."

"Hey, most of his thoughts are generally stupid and somewhat dangerous. What's so bad about Vul-how do you say that? Vulterra, Italy?" This time Bella sucked in a breath. She knew that place. That wasn't a good thing either.

"That is suicide. Not just for you but all of us. That's where the Vulturi are. The royalty of our kind if you will."

"Yeah right. Like anything could rule me. If that's where they are then why would Merrik want me to go there?" Her answer came in one sentence. One sentence that would immediately have her complete dedication to going.

'He is there.'

"I'm going. Anyone coming with?" Harry, knowning the sudden conviction in Astrid's voice raised his hand. Harry knew Astrid often had fleeting ideas and would give them up a second after she thought of them. It was only the things that were extremely important she stuck to so if she was that determined it was for a good reason. Luna's hand went up a second after Harry's. There was no way she was going to let them go off on their own. They were family. Slowly all of the Cullens raised their hands. Alice was the first followed by Jasper and Edward. Emmet had raised his hand only to have Rosalie try to pull it down. When that didn't work, she raised hers too. Bella didn't know what to do. She didn't want to go back to the place that had almost cost her Edward...but if they were all going...

"Bella, no. You can't. Aro will try to force your turning." The youngest Cullen had moved over to Bella the moment her hand went up.

"So? I want to be turned Edward. Besides, I won't let all of you go without me."

"Aro won't. He'll be too distracted. I don't know by what but...Bella is the least of his concerns when we're there Edward." Alice had seen Aro and the Volturi but none of them were paying attention to Bella...they were paying attention to one of their own. The hood was up so she couldn't see who it was but the vision was solid. It would happen. The moment they decided to go it came in crystal clear.

'Don't go'

'Have to-'

'Almost there'

'Death.'

'Terrible price'

'Must release him'

'Save him'

'Kill him'

All the words were coming in louder but there was one sentence that kept coming in above the other voices. The same one that had suddenly gotten Astrid dead set on going.

'He is there'

An: And there is chapter 4. I know it's really super short, forgive me. Given that this chapter is so short the story will be longer then the originally intended five chapters. Now it's going to be about seven chapters. That way you guys have a bit more to look forward to and I can update without having to type up the rest of the entire story before I do. Enjoy and I would love to know who you guys think 'he' is.