A/N: Sorry, sorry, sorry for the late update. I've been so busy with studying for AP exams and tests and projects that I've barely had time to breathe. So, I'm back and hopefully after next week I'll be back to my normal Sunday update schedule. Extra long chapter as an apology
Warnings: Same as usual
Disclaimer: How 'bout no?
They walked down the hallway in silence and Hadrian was starting to feel increasingly more uncomfortable. Not because of the threat of the vampires, but more so the fact that it was painfully awkward.
They walked up a flight of stairs and continued down a hallway until Edward entered a room. Hadrian followed him in and looked around. The room was rather plain; it had only a couch and a desk as furniture, though there was a bookcase on one side and a shelf filled with music on the other.
He sent a questioning look at Edward, though he was fairly positive this was the boy's room.
"This is my room." Hadrian rolled his eyes.
"I figured." He said. A silence surrounded them once again.
"Do you...like music?" Edward asked a moment later, the silence getting the better of him.
"It depends on the music." Hadrian answered. He decided acting like a wanker wasn't going to get him anywhere so against his better judgment, he elaborated. "I like rock music mostly, though classical is fine too. Not a huge Vivaldi fan; his music makes me dizzy."
Hadrian saw Edward smile that crooked smile of his, and felt his own lips quirk upward for a moment.
"I've never listened to rock music. It was a little after my time." Edward said, a sardonic undertone to his voice.
Hadrian grinned, catching the subtle joke. "You should get into it. Maybe you wouldn't seem so stiff all the time."
"I wouldn't know where to start." Edward said. Hadrian had to hold back an eye roll; he knew exactly where Edward was trying to go with this.
"I guess I could show you a few bands." He grumbled, deciding that he may as well play nice as long as he and the vampires were working together. "But after that you're doing it on your own."
"Thank you, Hadrian." Edward said.
"You don't have to be so bloody formal all the time." Hadrian commented, looking embarrassed.
"Sorry." Edward said, eyeing the wizard with curiosity. "I can show you the rest of the house now." Hadrian gave a quick nod and stood up and followed Edward out of the room.
The rest of the tour was uneventful and mostly silent though Edward managed to squeeze a few band names out of Hadrian.
The last stop was the garage where Hadrian was sure he would see their plethora of fancy cars.
He wasn't wrong; the garage was spacious and clean and full of beautiful cars. Not that he'd ever buy one himself. Once he was back where he belonged, in the Wizarding World, he would have no use for one.
He followed Edward farther inside where he was met by curious stares from Emmett and Jasper.
"Hello, Hadrian." The quieter of the two greeted, while the other continued futzing with the engine of a car.
"Hey, Jasper." Hadrian greeted. Out of all the vampires, he found Jasper to be the least suspicious, despite the fact that he was the quietest. Something about the vampire made him want to trust him.
Hadrian heard a few vulgarities break from the largest vampire's lips and raised an eyebrow.
"The damn thing keeps overheating," Emmett explained.
"Oh." He couldn't help, even if he wanted to. The only thing he knew about cars was how to drive one, and he was still sort of working on that.
He watched as Edward walked over to his brother and started muttering something about corroded battery cables.
"Thanks, Edward," The bigger vampire said, shaking his head. "I should've thought of that."
"Yes, you should have." Said Jasper in what Hadrian could only describe as mockingly.
"Shut up, it's not like you knew anymore than I did." Emmett snapped, sending a fake glare at the blonde.
"Hadrian," Edward said, drawing the human's attention away from the bantering. "The kitchen."
Hadrian rolled his eyes and left the garage in favor of following Edward down a hallway until they reached the kitchen. "Isn't this room sort of useless?" He asked.
"Yes. Unless we have humans over." Edward said, a sardonic little smile resting on his thin lips.
"I'm sure you have people over all the time. You're such a welcoming family." Hadrian said, leaning himself against one of the counters as Edward pulled out a chair and sat at the table.
"Hadrian?"
"What?"
"Are we good now?" Edward asked awkwardly, looking anywhere but at the boy he was talking to.
"I guess." Hadrian said. He was still a little pissed at the vampire, but at this point it was starting to become more effort to keep up the grudge than it would be to let it go. And the hardest part about keeping it up was that he was finding that the moronic vampire was actually somewhat likeable. "But if you come inside my head again I'll kill you."
He was only half-kidding, and the vampire seemed to get it. "I won't."
"Poets of the Fall." Hadrian said, earning a confused look from the vampire. "They're a Finnish rock band. If you had any sense, you'd like them."
Edward took the conversation change for what it was and gladly left the old topic of conversation behind, happy that the wizard seemed to forgive him. At least for the moment.
The duo finished the rest of tour, though it was obvious that Hadrian had lost what little interest he had to begin with after their stop in the kitchen.
"What does your mum want me to do, anyway?" Hadrian asked, sitting himself back down in the same couch that he when he first arrived.
Edward seemed to get what the smaller boy was getting at despite the lack of any context. "I suppose she'll have one of us watching you while you're at your house."
"That's a bit over the top isn't it?" Hadrian asked. "I mean, maybe if things had already arse over teacup, but XJ hasn't even made a move yet."
"You said he would want to kill you now" Edward reminded him.
"Yeah, yeah" Hadrian said, shaking his head. "But why does she care? Not even an hour ago she trusted me about as far as she could throw me."
"I don't know if she trusted you that much," Edward grinned. Hadrian had to restrain the urge to smack him.
"You know what I mean!" He snapped, trying to keep the smile off his face.
"She's the mothering type." Edward said after a moment. "She wants to help everyone and it really bothers her when she can't."
"I get that, but I can't be under constant surveillance." Hadrian said, slouching even more. "I'm capable of protecting myself. The only reason I even mentioned that I was a target now was because I really don't feel like having to watch my back all the time." He explained, hoping that the vampire understood.
In the moment of silence that followed, Esme made herself known and sat down next to the boy. Hadrian stiffened up, and hoped she didn't notice.
"Hadrian, I understand that you don't feel the need to be protected, but just humor me and let us." She said.
Hadrian wanted to tell her that he was fine and that she had no business worrying about him, but in that moment the sincerity in her eyes really reminded him of Mrs. Weasley.
"Why would you subject yourself to watching me sleep for eight hours?" He asked instead. Not only would it be extremely weird, but they would also find out about his nightmares. That wouldn't concern him if he didn't sleep talk, and they didn't have freaky vampire hearing.
"Because I want to." Esme said.
"That's not an answer," Hadrian retorted.
"How about I don't want a human child to get killed because he knowingly risked his life to save vampires?" Esme asked, seeming mildly distressed by the child's unwillingness to let them protect him.
"Fine," Hadrian retorted. He knew he had no right to be rejecting the help the way he was, especially since he sort of did the same thing in helping them. "But if you're going to do this, I'd really rather you watch after Charlie and Bella. They don't exactly have the means to defend themselves." He breathed out, running a hand through his hair.
"We'll watch all of you." Esme said. Hadrian held in a groan. It looked like he wasn't getting out of this.
"Lovely."
He ignored the smug look Edward sent at him. "So when can I go home?"
"I think it'd be best if you stayed until Carlisle returned." Esme said, standing up and moving away from the wizard.
"And when will that be?" Hadrian asked.
"In a an hour or so." Edward supplied. Esme bid the boys goodbye once again and left them to their own devices.
"So how are we going to spend an hour? I really don't feel like staring at you the entire time." Hadrian said, loathing the fact that he didn't actually have any homework to complete that night.
"You like art, right?" Edward asked. Hadrian nodded his head, still not completely comfortable with the casual way with which they were now speaking to each other.
"You could draw...or something." The vampire said, and Hadrian almost felt sorry for him. Unfortunately, he couldn't tell the vampire he wouldn't bite because if the creature stepped one foot out of line he would have that bronze-haired head on a pole.
"Okay." Hadrian said, standing up. Edward led him back to the kitchen and pulled out two chairs. Hadrian sat down and waited for Edward to get what was presumably art supplies.
He wasn't wrong, and not a moment later a few pieces of office paper and a pencil were set in front of him.
"You're not going to draw?" He asked, feeling weird.
"No." Edward said, "I'm not much in the mood to draw right now."
"Right," Hadrian said as he picked up the pencil and debated what to draw. He thought about drawing Ron and Hermione, but quickly pushed the idea away. He missed them enough already.
He did want to draw someone from Hogwarts though; someone who reminded him of his home without bringing up too many bad memories.
He ran a list of people through his head and eventually landed on a boy named Acelyn Staar. He'd met the third year Slytherin just before the war started when the kid had run into him. He remembered snapping at the kid, but he also remembered that the stupid boy had only stared at him with understanding in his eyes.
The kid walked away with that, not a single word in response. He had watched the kid after that and noticed that the Slytherin, a pureblood at that, had friends in all four houses. He didn't seem to care about house rivalries or what his housemates thought of his behavior.
He was critically injured in the war for taking a hit meant for a Gryffindor first year. He didn't even know if the boy was still alive.
He sketched the face that was still young enough to hold baby fat, and the almond shaped eyes, chapped lips and narrow neck. It was only then that his memory got fuzzy. He couldn't remember is the boy's eyes were a light color or a dark color, or what eyebrow his scar went through, or which cheek he had a dimple on when he smiled.
"Who are you drawing?" Edward asked, drawing the wizard out of his thoughts.
"A...friend." He murmured, forgoing the dimple in favor of shaping the lips and the small nose.
"He is young." Edward commented, seeing the picture start to come to life.
"He was." Hadrian responded, still occupied with his own thoughts.
"Was?" Edward asked curiously. Hadrian stopped drawing in the hair for a moment and seemed to contemplate his answer.
"The last time I saw him he had a hole the size of my fist going through his stomach. I-I don't even know if he's still alive." Hadrian revealed, turning back to the boy he was drawing.
He went back to the sketch and fixed a small few details before starting to shade the skin.
"How was he hurt?" The vampire asked. He saw the wizard stiffen up and knew that he had pushed his luck. "You don't have to answer."
"A wizard shot him with a curse." Hadrian said, after a moment. He realized after looking down that the smile on the boy's face didn't seem to reach his eyes. He left it that way.
"Why?"
"The Wizarding world is full of prejudice. Acelyn was viewed as a blood traitor for ditching those ideals." Hadrian said, not answering the whole question. He didn't want to talk about the war or his part in it. Most of all, he didn't want to think about Acelyn's surprised face when his housemate blew a hole through his stomach.
"So they wanted him dead." Edward concluded. Hadrian didn't disagree as he continued to finalize the details of the boy's face.
Carlisle got home not long after Hadrian finished the sketch. He looked momentarily surprised to see Hadrian, but quickly nodded to him in greeting.
"Hello. You must be Hadrian." Carlisle said as he extended a hand. Hadrian stood up and took the hand, shaking briefly before letting his arm flop back to his side.
"And you must be Carlisle," He said, hearing the door open once again. He knew who it was even before the voices started.
"Hadrian!" Alice chirped as she rounded the corner into the kitchen. "You're still here."
"Your mum wouldn't allow me to leave." Hadrian said flatly, just as the other three members of the Cullen family walked in. He watched as Esme gave Carlisle a quick peck on the cheek and wondered if that's how his parents acted.
"Hush," The woman chided, taking a seat at the table. The other members of the family followed her lead, and Hadrian quickly followed suit to avoid being the last one standing.
"So you've met everyone?" Carlisle asked. Hadrian nodded his head. "Good. Would you mind filling me in?"
Hadrian was a little annoyed at having to retell the story again, but did it with a minimal amount of snark.
"We're going to need more information if we wish to make the first move." Carlisle said. Hadrian nodded his head; he knew war strategies well enough. This wasn't very different.
"He'll come after me before you since I, you know, betrayed his evil plan to the dastardly vampires." Hadrian started, smirking at the snort from Rosalie before continuing, "So just wait for that to happen. I'll get the information."
He just hoped Krusniks weren't immune to legilimency.
"Right, because we should trust you." Rosalie said.
"No, you probably shouldn't, but my neck is kind of on the line too, so..." He trailed off.
"How are you going to get the information?" Jasper asked.
"Very carefully," Hadrian retorted, before deciding he may as well answer honestly. "Assuming the bugger doesn't just tell me, I'm a legilimens. In layman's terms, I can read minds."
"Like Edward." Alice smiled.
"Yeah." Hadrian answered.
"You're not going alone." Esme said with finality in her voice.
"Somehow I knew you'd say that." Hadrian said, pulling his knees up to his chest. "But we need information and he'll know if you're there."
Everyone seemed to agree, though it was obvious that Esme was more perturbed by this idea than anyone else.
"We can wait a few meters out. If something sounds wrong, we can intervene." Edward said. There was still a chance that the Krusnik would know, but there was also a chance he wouldn't. Silence followed as everyone thought about the idea.
"We can't make any further plans until we get more information," Jasper said.
"Good. So the wizard gets the information, we hide in the bushes and hopefully we get out of there without too much conflict." Emmett summarized.
"How are we going to know when he approaches you?" Carlisle asked.
"I have an idea." Hadrian said, thinking of the galleon idea that Hermione had in fifth year. He wasn't there to see how it played out, but she told him it worked. And because it was Hermione, that meant a detailed description on how she made them. "I'll need eight compasses, but I can handle the rest."
"Why?" Rosalie asked, skepticism leaking from her voice.
"I'm going to charm them so that when I activate mine, yours will heat up. That'll be the signal that he contacted me. I'll charm your compasses to direct you towards mine." He said, feeling anxiety start to build in him at the stares he was receiving.
He was reminded of how uncomfortable he was here. He was, after all, in a room full of vampires. The rational part of himself kept reminding him that they needed him to get past XJ, but the less rational part was stressing about when the vampires would turn on him.
"That sounds like it will work," Carlisle said, pulling Hadrian away from his anxiety. "We'll get you the compasses tomorrow."
Hadrian nodded his head, resolving not to speak as openly. "Can I go now?"
"Yes, I supposed. Edward will go with you." Esme said. Hadrian didn't bother protesting and instead raised himself from his seat, waved goodbye and left. Edward would follow him.
He made his way to the car, only to be intercepted by the taller vampire.
"Why are you different?"
"What do you mean?" Hadrian snapped, pulling out his keys and unlocking the car.
"You're angry again." Edward said, not sure if he phrased that quite right.
"I'm not." Hadrian said, pulling himself into his car and closing the door. Edward got in on the passenger side and stayed silent as Hadrian pulled away from the house.
"You're tense again." Edward pushed. Hadrian stayed quiet, ignoring the vampire in favor of trying to sort out his thoughts.
He came here not wanting to be friends with anyone and he'd managed that for the most part. He wasn't overly close to Bella or Charlie. But the vampires were coming irritatingly close to something more than 'people who happen to live in the same town.'
For some reason part of him was becoming comfortable with them, but a larger part of him was screaming at him to get away from them. Not only were they vampires who could turn on him at any second, if they became friends he'd have to leave them again.
Not that he'd ever be friends with them. With any of them.
As he pulled into his driveway and waved goodbye to Edward he wondered why he didn't believe himself.
He greeted Charlie, ignoring dinner completely and went to his room. He flopped himself onto his bed and wondered if the freaking vampires were watching him yet.
They made everything so complicated. He grabbed a pillow and stuck his face into it. He ignored the lack of oxygen and just focused on calming himself down enough to rationalize everything.
He wasn't sure what he was feeling for any of the vampires, but he also wasn't sure if he wanted to cut off ties with them as soon as this was over, or continue speaking to them.
He wanted to remain indifferent to them and befriend them at the same time and it was so overwhelming that he almost felt like punching something.
Hermione would tell him that he was over reacting. That he should give the vampires a chance, that he needed friends and that he deserved to be happy.
But Ron would argue that the vampires were still vampires and that he shouldn't trust them. That he could be just as happy with humans.
Hermione would retort that if you never trusted in anyone, you would never be able to be happy. She'd say that sometimes you just have to trust in the goodness of people's hearts.
Ron would point out that vampire hearts didn't beat.
Hadrian pulled himself up to breathe, and rolled over. Hermione was usually right, but she didn't know how hard trusting was for him, especially after the war and all the training he received from Moody.
'Constant vigilance' rang in his head and he made his decision.
He wouldn't do anything to hinder the way their relationship was progressing, but he wasn't going to reveal any more about himself until he knew for sure that he could trust them
He let himself drift off to sleep after that, not even bothering to change clothes.
"Did he draw this?" Alice asked Edward once he returned. Emmett was on babysitting duty and everyone else had left the kitchen.
"Yes," Edward said, looking to the picture of the young boy.
"He looks sad." Alice said after a moment of observing the picture. "The smile doesn't reach his eyes." Edward nodded in agreement, seating himself down across from Alice. "What is his name? Did Hadrian tell you?"
"Hadrian said his name was Acelyn." Edward answered, eyeing his sister's face.
"That's a pretty name," She said. "Why did he draw him?"
"He didn't tell me exactly why. He told me that the boy was a friend of his." Edward said. "He told me that the Wizarding world was prejudiced and that this child was deemed a blood traitor because he ditched those ideals. He was cursed by a wizard and severely injured. Hadrian doesn't know if he's alive."
"Such a cute boy." Alice said, looking at the picture. Edward wondered how she could get so attached to a drawing of a person she never met. "I hope he's okay."
"Hadrian does too," Edward said, remembering the sadness in the other wizards voice when he mentioned the other boy.
A/N: Acelyn is an OC, but he's not really relevant and doesn't show up at all really. You'll understand why I included him later if you didn't get it from this chapter. Send me a PM or review if you really want to know.