Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, I do not own Twilight, and I do not own the songs that I quote. Those are all properties of their respective owners, I am just using them for my own vile purposes, mutilating them as I go, etc., etc.
Note: This seemed like a good idea. Because why not.
Chapter 2: Wrong
And you will go to Mykonos
With a vision of a gentle coast
And a sun to maybe dissipate
Shadows of the mess you made
"Mykonos" by Fleet Foxes
Harry opened his eyes at the intersection of two low stone hallways. A soft light hung about the dust and stagnant air chocked his lungs. He had no idea where he was. Not a good sign, but not a terribly bad one as far as that goes. No windows or doorways in sight, nothing to indicate which way to go. He picked a way and took a step forward.
Harry found himself outside. An icy breeze blew by and shuffled the knee-high grass. Harry breathed in deep. This place, at least, he knew. The scenery had changed with the passing of years, but his heart could map every rise and fall of these grounds.
Harry turned to the ruins of the magnificent castle that he had once called home. Some towers still stood tall and, if he squinted, he could just picture the Great Hall over there where the bare dragon bones lay and over there would have been the entrance and the green houses and the Whopping Willow. Now these illusions were mere memories of years long gone. Moss covered the spots where blood had spilled and grass grew tall in soil fertilized by ash.
Something wet tickled his fingers and pain suddenly engulfed his hand. Cold blood soaked his fingers and the rapidly freezing red ice crystals bit into his skin. He tried to wipe it off on his robes, but that only made the ache worse. He grabbed onto his wrist and doubled over in pain, eyes clenched shut.
"Harry?"
Harry opened his eyes and stood up straight. He now found himself at the top of the stairs in a small, dark apartment building. The pain in his hand was gone, but that familiar voice chilled his heart.
"Harry, is that you?"
He turned. A woman stood in a doorway. He recognized her. She had brown eyes and blonde hair that was going gray. Light floral dress. Oh yes, he knew her. He had made a promise to her. He didn't want to talk to her, not now, not ever, because she would hate him after this moment and he was far too tired for that.
"Harry, where is my son?"
And then her face froze. She knew. She knew everything. More than he would be able to tell to anyone.
She fell apart.
"You murde—"
Harry woke up.
He tried to remember the dream, but his mind refused to help and instead pushed the memory of it farther and farther out of his reach. So he looked to the ceiling for the answer, but ceilings never have the answers when you need them most. A strange feeling filled Harry's chest and his head stuffed up like someone had clogged the drain.
Washing his face was no use. A cup of coffee did nothing for him. Maybe a run. Only six o'clock. He had plenty of time for a run. Yes, that was a reasonable thing to do at a time like this.
The weather certainly was not going to improve his mood. The sky was overcast again with no sun in sight. He might start to miss blue skies soon, if this kept up. The houses and trees in the neighborhood stood wet and dark with morning dew or fog or a shower that had passed through. There seemed to be a lot of water to be had in Forks.
Should they stay here?
This strange, lonesome corner of the world... What had pulled him here, of all places? Well. Harry certainly knew what demons he was running from so to speak, but was it fair to drag Hermione and Danny with him?
New York, in retrospect, he could understand. After the war, he and Hermione traveled to get away. They ran from the world that had constrained them for so long to see all the places that they thought they would never get to see. Harry took up photography, for a while at least. Hermione picked up writing, which stuck longer than Harry's hobby. The two of them pulled away from Britain's magical society, but Hermione missed magic and continued to write on the subject. She put together books of spells for the most part, some of her own invention and others that had been lost from common knowledge. There was, however, also a history book that she would work on once in a while that she'd never let Harry see. Maybe she would pick it up again.
The world-hopping adventures quickly came to an end when they found out about Hermione's pregnancy. The question of whether to keep the child or not never even entered her thoughts, and Harry supported her without question. The child was Ron's and that was enough. They decided to settle down somewhere to give the child, a boy Hermione named Daniel, a proper life. It seemed only natural for the two of them to do it together.
Harry couldn't sit still for long and while they never lacked money, he decided to find himself a career. He chose to play doctor since he certainly had enough experience to pull it off. His certifications and diplomas were easily forged, but then again his entire muggle life had been built on one lie after another. What was one more on the heap?
He took a serious liking to the profession though. With Hermione's help, Harry studied hard and crammed to be up to par. It had been one thing to fake his qualifications, but it would be another beast all together to live up to them. But somehow everything in the haphazard misadventure clicked and Harry turned out to be a natural.
They pulled out a map to choose a place. Why not America? Why not New York, the city of dreams for so many, why not theirs? For all of the crazy packed into one city, Harry took a liking to it. Another haphazard misadventure that worked out in many ways. The city was always busy and noisy and alive and when he couldn't sleep, he could just wander around without feeling too out of place in the regular late night bar crowd.
Forks was... Forks was the polar opposite, to put Harry's impression in mild terms.
No strangers to carelessly share their lives while talking on their phones.
No cars and ambulances and motorbikes to speed by day and night.
No wall street broker to pass Harry his paper at the newsstand in exchange for a good morning.
Just sleepy, soaked houses set far from the road and far apart from each other. And the trees, so many fucking trees. Complete isolation. Or maybe insulation, depending on how you chose to look at it.
Maybe he needed it, after all these years. Maybe it would help. His head got better in New York, for a while, but then it would return again. And again. And again. And it all became worse and worse and worse. The noise that normally lulled him to sleep became a torment. The crowds. The stink. No peace. No quiet. He thought Forks would be an improvement, but he had messed up and now with the vampires here, he might as well have taken ten steps back. His mind was slipping again. He knew it. He could feel it. He would try to fight it, he always did. But it was always a losing battle. Always.
When Harry returned home, Hermione had just stepped out of the shower. After an exchange of warm good mornings, Harry retreated upstairs to clean up. Passing by Danny's room, he just couldn't resist cracking the door a bit and letting himself have a peek at the kid still buried underneath the covers. Just to make sure he was still there. That he was safe.
After a shower, Harry changed into clean work clothes and went downstairs to cook something for breakfast. He was alone for a few minutes—Hermione had returned upstairs. He made omelets for the two of them and downed another cup of coffee. It did more good for him this time around. Hermione came down and they shared breakfast, talking quietly.
"Are you sure you want to go to work today, Harry?"
"Yes, I'll be on my guard, but I think it's for the best. Just, please, keep the wards up
When the floorboards lightly creaked above, Hermione smiled into her cup. The couple knew the routine and kept quiet as the soft tread moved from overhead to the hallway. It seemed that Danny had woken up on the ninja side of the bed today.
From the corner of his eye, Harry saw a head of tangled nutty brown hair and half of a face appear from behind the wall into the kitchen entry way. Playing along, he ignored the boy's appearance and stood up to clear the table, dishes in hand. Just then Daniel ran out from his hiding spot with a course set straight for Harry. The boy rammed into his leg, wrapped his arms firmly around his adoptive father, and excitedly yelled, "got you!"
Not missing a beat, Harry slid his plates onto the counter and grabbed the child, lifting him high. How normal this was—the laughing boy sailing over his head. Harry laughed too, only it finally felt real this time. He pressed the boy to his chest and jokingly called him a troublemaker before setting him down into a chair at the table beside his mother.
Hermione just smiled at the two of them, shamelessly happy and relaxed for the first time since the move. She leaned over and kissed Daniel good morning, brushing the locks from his forehead as he giggled.
"Morning mom!" the boy said with a wide grin on his face.
"And what would you like for breakfast little guy?"
"Fruit loops!" Daniel responded with dead certainty.
"Yes sir," Harry grinned and retrieved the box from the half-empty cupboards and fixed a bowl of cereal with milk for the boy who eagerly went for it.
"Slow down!" his mother managed out between fits of giggles. The suggestion was more standard procedure and rarely followed, but she never reprimanded him. Daniel paid little attention to his parents as they talked between themselves. Instead, he swallowed his meal, chewing just enough to get by, until he finished all of the food.
"Dad, are you staying home again today?" he asked after wiping his mouth with an orange pajama sleeve.
"Afraid not kiddo, I've got my first day of work today."
To which Daniel immediately replied, "can I come?" His father's workplace seemed to be the best place to start exploring the new town.
Hermione poked him in the ribs, just soft enough for the boy to squirm and laugh. "Sorry kiddo, I'm afraid you're stuck with me today, we've got a lot to do, so I'll be entertaining you for a little while."
"Okay!" Daniel readily agreed and slid off the chair. Without a second glance, he ran up the stairs back to his room to get dressed. Hermione just smiled and shrugged at Harry.
"I guess you should get going."
Harry just nodded in return. He was getting restless anyway.
Edward turned observing the new doctor into a game. He kept his distance and looked on from time to time during the morning as Stevens greeted the staff and addressed his new patients. He fit in so easily with his awkward charming smile. The doctor masterfully played around any and all attention directed at him without any obvious reluctance.
Edward marveled how easily it came to the human. He considered himself charming and knew that with just a smile could easily bewitch anyone. But Edward had to concede that it was his gifts as a vampire that primarily influenced others. Stevens, however, made due without any supernatural abilities.
He enchanted so easily.
No.
Enchanted would be the wrong word.
The doctor knew the right questions to ask, the right way to behave, the right way to smile, all to enter an outsider's world. The nurses had been easy to win over. The accent alone had been enough to steal their hearts. But, for all of his smoothness, there was still a sliver of uneasiness in Stevens.
Maybe that was it. Edward toyed with the idea. The other man always seemed to restrain himself. He walked into other people with a smile, but never allowed them to have so much as a glimpse of himself. It was professional, Edward supposed, but it had a flavor of self defense.
Smile first. Ask first. Walk away first.
Attack as a form of protection.
Yes, Edward was definitely enjoying this. The problem gave him entertainment that he sorely missed in this gray little town. Observing this new appearance distracted him. But what if he would be disappointed in the long run? His father asked him to meet the doctor and to look into his mind. What would he find there? Maybe he was reading too deep into the man's behavior. Maybe he was looking for something that didn't exist.
Maybe he had been subconsciously constructing endless parallels all day and he wanted to avoid the issue.
Bella also had not enjoyed the attention she received, but she had made that far more obvious about herself. Edward had been able to read her moods without any real effort.
Bella had been naturally accepted by everyone, effortlessly so. Even he himself had been pulled in by the group infatuation. Was it no different this time?
But then again, Edward could not be sure if he actually liked the doctor. He didn't think he liked the way the way the doctor charmed people so easily. Was Dr. Stevens an illusion? A persona well constructed to conceal the horrendous nature within?
Naturally, he had also been looking for signs of danger from the human. Over the years, the Cullens' good reputation had solidified and Edward personally considered that a newcomer had little chance of changing that. On the other hand, the clan wanted to avoid the risk if at all possible. Most residents of Forks still suspected little, but an observation by too keen of an eye could always plant doubt in their minds.
For now, Edward simply hung back, watched, and molded his own private impression. He had to admit, he enjoyed the challenge of creating a character for this man. Every other human had become worn and familiar. Like a pet rock. For this newly minted actor, he could create whatever persona he desired. For now at least.
How quickly would Edward's delicate construction be ruined by reality? He supposed he had to find out eventually, so Edward took a short break to meet with the doctor in his office personally.
"Hello, Dr. Stevens," the vampire gave his best smile when he approached the older man after knocking politely on the open door.
His father had been right when he had caught the man's defensive response. The doctor physically clutched his pen harder and eyebrows pulled together over those startling green eyes when he saw Edward outside his office.
Edward remained standing by the door frame and maintained his perfect smile, trying to remain at ease. For an instant, he wished for Jasper's power to calm the other man, but let the thought go.
"I'm sorry to disturb you," Edward continued as the doctor stood up from his desk, "I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Edward Cullen. Carlisle is my father—I believe you met him yesterday."
"Yes, Dr. Cullen. You are his adopted son, correct?" Harry said slowly, cautiously as he approached the vampire, just as cautiously.
Correct again Carlisle, Edward acknowledged to himself. Not a whiff of blood from the man. But then the vampire realized something else. He could not hear the stranger's mind. Dull, incomprehensible white noise was all he heard when he sought out the doctor's thoughts. They seemed to exist just outside of Edward's reach and some intangible force firmly protected them from his prying. He literally hit a solid wall.
Well.
That was new.
For an inhuman instant, the vampire felt certain that he looked dumbstruck. He forced his face to change and to hide his shock. An easily accomplished task, considering that he had had already years of practice in masking his reactions.
"Yes, that's right. I volunteer at the hospital during summer break," Edward finally dug up a response.
"Summer break from... high school?"
The vampire forced himself to laugh. A precarious point. He knew all too well that their family was reaching the point where their age was becoming a problem. It was becoming harder and harder to avoid suspicion, especially for Carlisle. So he laughed, trying to cover up for their lie, to ease the other man's skepticism.
"No, no—I just completed my junior year at college," and Edward put in as much will as he could muster to make it sound like the truth.
"I see," Stevens nodded and gave him an odd smile, a smile that the doctor had yet to use during the time of Edward's observance. It unsettled the vampire. There was something in the sudden darkness of the man's eyes or in the fold of his brows that told him to tread lightly.
Edward studied the doctor's physical appearance, with more scrutiny than before. Was there a reason to be wary of him? He was tall, maybe as tall as Edward, if only an inch less. His clothes did not hide his fine, sturdy build. Black hair that was a centimeter from being too messy nearly reached to dark green eyes. The nurses described him as handsome, but not that unusual.
Not too much out of the ordinary from his behavior either. Until now.
So what made him special? What made him different? Why couldn't Edward read his mind or why didn't he smell... human? Stevens looked and acted the part.
Why did he come here? Why was it always Forks? The town just seemed to attract extraordinary strangers.
"Well, thank you for stopping by, Edward. It was a pleasure to meet you, but I'm afraid I have to get back to work," the doctor oddly enough, offered his hand.
He didn't shake hands with Carlisle, Edward knew that, so why now?
Hesitantly, the vampire reached out and took the hand quickly and firmly. They shook and Edward said good bye, as politely and as rapidly as he could. He made a sudden exit and rushed for the nearest abandoned nook of the hallway.
Holding his hand in front of his face, he still felt it—the warmth. Heat had engulfed his palm and fingers when the doctor grasped his hand and it spread rapidly up his arm, only to fade when he broke contact.
It wasn't his imagination. It wasn't. It couldn't be.
When he touched Bella, he remembered that shock—pure nerves and excitement. This just didn't compare. So much more intense... Better.
This—he couldn't be imagining it. No way.
Edward touched his forehead with the same hand and felt the trace of heat. Definitely not imagining it.
What are you, doctor? Are you human? Edward thoughts swirled as the familiar chill returned to his fingers.
Humans weren't supposed to do that. He never felt heat like this from them, not even when he had hunted and killed them for blood.
This was... an unexpected plot twist.
So the son was also a vampire. And they were definitely vampires. Harry was certain of that now that he had felt Edward's hand—it had been ice cold. But why had he come to his office? Did he really want to introduce himself, or did his 'father' send him to check out the new guy in town? Harry liked this whole affair less and less.
But, as he had always heard, the show must go on, and so he headed back to work. Still plenty of patients to visit before lunch. Harry forced himself forget about the visit, for now, and retreated into his usual pleasant and oblivious persona.
Later at home, even Hermione had to concede that Harry was right after meeting Carlisle face-to-face in the Pensieve. His instincts were usually spot on, but it seemed just a little too unacceptable, too strange this time. But there they were: vampires in Forks.
Hermione had poured over books looking for any kind of reasonable explanation. Vampires playing humans playing doctors—why? By sheer luck that only Hermione could have with books, a wizard researcher from the eighteenth century fell into her lap and made sense of their absurd situation. In the end, the answer turned out to be simple and sweet, benign almost, something that she was definitely not used to.
When dinner had been eaten, the dishes had been washed, and Daniel had been safely tucked in bed, Harry and Hermione sat down at the kitchen table with mugs of cocoa to talk. She sat across from him with a smile that reminded him in some way or another of the Cheshire cat, who always seemed to know more than little lost Alice.
"Okay: good news or bad news?" the witch asked.
"Er... Bad news first?" To be perfectly frank, Harry wasn't sure he was going to like either, if Hermione's grin was any indicator.
"You were right, they are vampires."
Harry couldn't tell if her confirmation should have relieved him or made him worry more. So he decided to wait for the good news to decide.
"What is the other news that you had?"
"They're harmless. Well, mostly harmless," Hermione shared this bit with complete and utter seriousness. Harry's eyebrows shot up.
"Hermione, you know that you shouldn't believe everything you read, right? Because last time I checked, vampires are pretty harmful, no matter how you look at them."
The witch just sighed, exasperated, like she usually does when she thinks Harry missed something extremely, blatantly obvious. Standing up, she withdrew a book that she had stashed in the kitchen cabinets.
"Yes most vampires are, but this group, I think, are an exception. If you had simply made one key observation about the color of their eyes, you would know that they do not, in fact, consume human blood.
"The thing is—" she paused when looking for the correct page in the book "–the thing is, when vampires partake in human blood, the most visible sign is the appearance of red eyes. The pigment in the eye literally becomes blood red, so to speak.
"But, when vampires, like our group, drink animal blood—Oh, here it is," having found the appropriate figure, Hermione turned the book over to Harry to show him pictures of hand-drawn eyes on the page. He casually glanced them over, but skipped the notes and just listened to her explanation.
"Vampires that drink animal blood have golden brown to black eyes, depending on when they last fed. It is an extremely rare behavior among their kind though. The scholar emphasized that it was particularly challenging to make comparisons because the members of the species that he met were only temporarily abstaining from human victims due to necessity, or were on the diet by choice for a short time. There are a few other differences between the kind that prey on animals and the kind that prey on humans that he goes on to discuss at length. His theories on vampire behavior are quite fascinating and—"
Recognizing all of the red flags and warning signs, Harry decided to subtly cut Hermione off before this really did turn into a full blown lecture. In the nicest way possible of course.
"So you think this group all... abstain from human blood?" asked when she took a breath.
Hermione looked up at him and blinked a few times, as if coming out of a trance. She rapidly recovered though, "well, Dr. Cullen had bronze eyes, and you said his son, who is also a vampire, had eyes of a similar color, so I would say they likely don't drink human blood. This theory is, of course, further supported by the fact that they don't have adverse reactions to human patients that they encounter at the hospital.
"Now since we don't even know if the other family members are vampires, we can't make too many assumptions. From the descriptions of them by the staff and townspeople, it seems likely that they are, in fact, vampires because pale skin and overwhelming beauty are a characteristic quality of vampires. I may be making too many leaps, but I would say that since two members of the clan prescribe to the diet, the other members likely do too for the sake of harmonious coexistence," Hermione concluded as she closed the book.
The pair sat in silence as Harry processed the information. His heart already felt lighter, but doubt remained.
"Is there any chance that they could just be using contacts? I mean... red eyes are a pretty obvious and worrisome trait, vampire or otherwise."
Hermione shrugged in response, "I'm sure they're savvy with human ways. It could be contacts, but I still believe the animal diet theory makes more logical sense since the pair works at the hospital. I wonder why they chose this lifestyle, it would be fascinating to continue this work..."
The Cullen clan held its own meeting that night. Edward had been the first to come to the living room, but the others drifted in not too long after him.
Alice immediately hugged Edward and kissed both cheeks when she and Jasper came in. They hadn't seen each other for a good month because the couple had taken a vacation by themselves in the sunny and secluded Amazon. They had only returned that day while Edward and Carlisle had been at work. Edward laughed out of his sister's embrace.
"How was Brazil? Your tan is simply stunning!"
The girl, for her part, looked as pale and willowy as ever, but she winked and laughed because Edward rarely made the attempt to be playful these days.
"When it comes to the Amazon, I think the only difference between here and there is the temperature. Still too many trees and air that you could swim through," Jasper answered easily, happy to feel some good vibes from Edward at their return.
'But the sun was wonderful, when we could get to the coast,' Alice's thoughts drifted into Edward's head.
"What about the game?" that was, of course, one of the main reasons why they traveled to exotic locales.
Jasper grinned, "we tried to be uh—what's the term that humans use now—green and eco-friendly with our choices. But we got some awesome hunts in. Just your style, if you're looking for a nice vacation spot."
"Maybe one day. Right now, I think we have some bigger questions to deal with."
'This is going to be... so much fun, I think,' Jasper remembered about why they were gathering and grimaced. "Yeah, I'm not looking forward to this either," Edward nodded as Alice gave his shoulder a friendly squeeze. She took her husband's hand.
'It'll be over soon, don't worry too much. We can talk more after,' Alice sealed her promise with a smile over her shoulder as the couple headed towards a couch.
In a second, Emmett came bounding down the stairs to join them. He jumped the last few steps and crashed into another couch, but not at full vampire speed, of course, for the sake of the furniture.
'Rose is—' his thoughts flashed into Edward's mind just before his voice caught up with them, "Rose is changing, she'll be down soon." How easy it was to be around the Emmett. His honesty and openness were almost childlike and drove the mind-reading vampire to seek him out every day after dealing with all those muddled humans at the hospital.
Following him, Esme and Carlisle came in from the kitchen and Alice could contain her questions no longer despite Rosalie's absence.
"So what's the deal?" Alice's grin shone bright and the littlest vampire was clearly too excited to be worried.
The vampires that had the answers seemed reluctant to give them, so Emmett took the initiative. "You know that there's this new guy at the hospital right?" Alice nodded. She and her husband knew that much, even though they missed the actual arrival.
"Well he smells weird—in the good way, I guess, according to Carlisle. So do his wife and kid—they don't stink of blood at all. Esme had scouted them out at the grocery store earlier today, don't think they saw her," Emmett paused a moment for dramatic effect.
"And—get this—Edward can't read his mind!" Emmett seemed more excited at this tidbit of information more than anything else.
"You mean like... like..." Alice stuttered, reluctant to breach the taboo in the Cullen household.
"Like Bella?" Rosalie, standing on the bottom stair, finished the sentence with surgical precision.
'Honestly...' her voice hissed in Edward's head.
If Alice could blush, she would have. Instead, she sent a multitude of unspoken apologies in Edward's direction. But Edward ignored it. He was not angry with his sisters, both of them, in the least. He just wished that, for once, they would stop living in the past. He had.
Rosalie walked over to the couch that Emmett had chosen to splay himself on and sat down daintily on the armrest next to him. Nonchalantly, to show that she thought that she had committed no wrong, she tangled her fingers in her husband's hair and leaned into his body without further comment.
Carlisle, who had been quiet to this point, cleared his throat, "yes, that is what we currently know. I'm undecided as to how we should proceed. Harry—pardon—Stevens seemed to be threatened by our presence, but we could not find a reason as of yet to explain his behavior."
"Is he dangerous?" Jasper asked, concerned, though he kept his emotions to himself.
Emmett rolled his eyes, "he's human."
'I could snap him in two in under a second,' the vampire finished off in his thoughts.
Edward bristled at that thought, but said nothing out loud. He tried to give leeway to his family when it came to unspoken threats. And Emmett knew better. Carlisle would never allow such a thing to happen without a good reason.
Surprisingly, Rose spoke out first, "humans can also do damage." That was when Rosalie's thoughts turned inwards, into her own past and Edward forced himself to focus on Esme's gentle mind instead, just to avoid the poison. Minutes ticked by as no one spoke.
"We really don't have anything to go on," Alice finally broke the tension.
The incident between him and the doctor had been on Edward's mind the entire day. He chose keep it to himself for now for further investigation, or so he told himself. He was curious, but he would have to walk a fine line with Stevens and with his own family. He decided to be diplomatic instead and to offer himself as the man's watchdog for the sake of the family. And maybe for his own interests as well.
"He's strange. He was suspicious of us, but he hasn't said a word to anyone in the hospital against us. He's friendly and then he's distant. Everyone is kept at arm's length and the way he holds himself... it reminds me too much of Jasper. I don't know if he's a danger to us yet, but I don't like it and I want to keep an eye on him. I'll listen in around town as well. I think if he starts kicking up dust, then we'll know."
Carlisle nodded and decided that it was his turn to speak.
"You're right Edward. We can't be too hasty, not now. I've started to make arrangements for our next move, but it will take time and it can't happen too soon. Hopefully this will all turn out to be nothing and we can move on in a year's time. In the meantime, we must hold on and keep our heads down. If the reemergence of the werewolves in La Push taught me anything, is that we cannot be too careful."
Raising her hand like a school girl, Alice chimed in, "I haven't seen any important visions about this doctor. I'll focus on him more though and maybe something will come up."
"We'll all be on our guard." Esme slipped her hand into Carlisle's, "but let's not be too hasty. For all we know, this might be a change for the better."
End Note: Can I just tell you guys something honestly? From the bottom of my heart?
Thank you to all the random strangers that kept this in the back of my head by subscribing/favoriting/whatever. I will try to not make the next break quite as long.
