Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Twilight.
List of POVs:
Bella – BPOV
Edward – EPOV
Renesmee – NPOV
Jacob – JPOV
Alice – APOV
Jasper – JasPOV
Emmet – EmPOV
Rosalie – RPOV
Harry – HPOV
Ron – RonPOV
Hermione – HerPOV
Sorry I haven't updated lately! Hope everyone had a great Christmas! Happy New Year!!
15 Mysteries
HPOV
Most of the drama over Christmas was now over, and we were reluctantly preparing for our return to Hogwarts.
In the last week of the holidays, the Cullens behaved more naturally, for them at least, as Fred, George and Ginny now knew their secret. The three were wary around them at first, but with our help, the Cullens earned their trust back.
The afternoon before school restarted, we had the chess board out, and Hermione, Ginny, Edward and Alice were watching me lose to Ron dreadfully. We had already watched Edward and Alice play together, something we all found enormously amusing, and then Alice offered to play Ron.
"But you'll cheat!" he protested, eyeing her suspiciously.
"No I won't! Promise," she said, and he eventually agreed.
He put up a good fight, but every now and then I watched Alice's eyes go blank for a fraction of a second, before flipping over his king and innocently pronouncing herself the winner.
"Harry, dear," said Mrs Weasley as one of my pawns wrestled with Ron's castle, "could you come down to the kitchen? Professor Snape would like a word with you."
I looked up, my attention caught, and stared blankly at her. "Snape?" I repeated.
"Professor Snape, dear," she corrected, "Now come on, quickly, he says he can't stay long."
"I'm sure he can't," muttered Alice, exchanging a glare with Edward as Mrs Weasley left the room.
"You go," said Edward, "I'll take over from you." He gestured to the chess board.
I took my time walking uncertainly downstairs, a little nervous and worried about what Snape would want with me.
It was far too soon when I pushed open the kitchen door.
Snape was seated at one end of the long table, and Sirius was sitting at the other, deliberately not looking at each other. Bella was also there, to my surprise, and looked uncomfortable from the tension in the room. She looked up and smiled when I entered, shrugging and rolling her eyes slightly at the two men.
Snape turned to me. "Sit down, Potter."
"You know," said Sirius obnoxiously, still avoiding Snape's eye, "I think I'd prefer it if you didn't give orders here, Snape. It's my house, you see."
Snape flushed, but I sat beside Sirius anyway. Bella looked at her hands folded on the table, frowning.
Snape scowled, and looked at me again. "The Headmaster has sent me to tell you, Potter, that it is his wish for you to study Occlumency this term."
"Study what?" I asked, not recognising the word.
"Occlumency, Potter. The magical defense of the mind against external penetration. Mrs Cullen here has assured Professor Dumbledore that your mind is indeed being targeted, and he believes it will be useful for you to learn."
I looked sharply at Bella, wondering how she knew this, and she shrugged apologetically.
"Why do I have to study Occlu-thing?" I asked desperately, "Why can't Bella just stop it for me?"
"I can't be around all the time to shield you, Harry," explained Bella gently, "You need to learn to defend yourself against mental attacks. I'm not sure it will help against vampire talents like Edward's, but perhaps wizard intrusions into your mind will be prevented."
Snape looked uncomfortable for a second, but seemed to shrug it off. "You will be receiving private lessons once a week, but you will not tell anybody what you are doing, least of all Dolores Umbridge. You understand?"
I wouldn't tell her anyway. "Yes," I replied, "Who's going to be teaching me?"
Snape raised an eyebrow and I predicted his answer with a sinking feeling. "I am."
Wonderful, I thought to myself bitterly. One more thing to dread.
Snape got to his feet. "I will expect you at six o'clock on Monday evening, Potter. My office. If anybody asks, you are taking remedial Potions. Nobody who has seen you in my classes could deny you need them," he added with a sneer, and spun around to leave.
"Wait a moment," interrupted Sirius, rising from his chair, and Snape turned back to look at him.
"I am in rather a hurry, Black," he said, "Unlike you, I do not have unlimited leisure time."
"I'll get to the point then. If I hear you're using these Occlumency lessons to give Harry a hard time, you'll have me to answer to."
"Don't worry," said Bella, "We'll make sure he doesn't."
"How touching," replied Snape, "But surely you have noticed that Potter is very much like his father?"
"Yes, I have."
"Well then, you'll know he's so arrogant that criticism simply bounces off him," said Snape smugly.
Bella snarled, and Sirius pulled out his wand as he launched himself towards Snape. He looked truly furious, and Snape pulled out his own wand. Bella started to rise from the table, but didn't approach them when she saw neither of them had attacked.
"I've warned you, Snivellus," hissed Sirius, "I don't care if Dumbledore thinks you've reformed, I know better…"
"Oh, but why don't you tell him so?" asked Snape very quietly, "Or are you afraid he might not take very seriously the advice of a man who has been hiding inside his mother's house for six months?"
Bella snarled again, softer this time, but Sirius shrugged away the insult. "Tell me, how is Lucius Malfoy these days? I expect he's delighted his lapdog's working at Hogwarts, isn't he?"
"Speaking of dogs," murmured Snape, "did you know that Lucius Malfoy recognised you last time you risked a little jaunt outside?" So they had recognised him. "Clever idea, Black, getting yourself seen on a safe station platform…gave you a cast-iron excuse not to leave your hidey-hole in future, didn't it?"
Sirius staggered back a step and raised his wand, and I was ready to jump between them, but Bella was already there, having moved too fast for any of us to notice.
"Enough," she hissed, holding out her hands to push both of them away.
"Are you calling me a coward?" Sirius roared, starting forward and taking no notice of Bella.
"Why yes, I suppose I am," replied Snape with a smirk.
They both raised their wands, but Bella took both of them by the front of their robes and lifted them up in the air. "I said enough!" she growled, and shoved them away so they landed several metres apart on the ground.
"Interesting friends you keep, Potter," commented Snape idly, clambering to his feet and eyeing Bella.
Bella hissed softly. "Leave now, Severus, before any more trouble is caused by your presence."
Snape gave her a look of disgust, before turning on his heel and sweeping out of the room. When he opened the door, all the Weasleys plus Hermione and the Cullens were standing on the other side, about to enter the room. Snape passed them silently, and was gone.
Sirius was still on the floor, glaring after him, and I reached down to help him up. "Sorry about that," he muttered, scowling.
Everyone else entered the kitchen then, with Mr Weasley among them, all looking very happy.
"Cured," he announced, beaming, "Completely cured."
Bella, Sirius and I smiled at the news. Bella's was the only one that looked genuine, whilst Sirius and I were still bitter from the almost-fight.
"How did you know Voldemort's penetrating my mind?" I asked Bella later that night.
"I felt it," she replied simply, "Although don't forget it may not be Voldemort who's behind this."
I raised my eyebrows. "Oh great," I said sarcastically, "So now I've got another enemy to worry about, and one who's getting into my head at that."
Bella smiled. "I know you're a teenager and are supposed to be pessimistic all the time, but would you just try looking on the bright side for once?"
The bright side? I thought to myself. What's over there?
Edward chuckled. "Well, you do have a stunning vampire to protect your mind if you fail."
I let myself grin. "There is that."
His smile turned thoughtful. "Snape must be good at Occlumency. He doesn't completely block me, but his thoughts can get blurry at times. I have to strain to hear him."
This surprised and worried me. If Edward couldn't hear Snape's thoughts, what might he be hiding?
Edward sighed. "I may not hear his thoughts very well, Harry, but I can hear yours. I wish you would stop being so suspicious of him. Even I have a certain measure of trust in him."
He didn't sway my opinion of Snape, however, and he let it drop.
We returned to Hogwarts the next morning via the Knight Bus. After I pulled on my jacket to go outside into the cold winter morning, Sirius pulled me to the side. He handed me a small rectangular package secretly, and I felt like a drug smuggler.
"I want you to take this," he told me in a hushed voice.
"What is it?" I whispered back, examining the badly-wrapped package.
"A way of letting me know if Snape's giving you a hard time," he explained as I went to open it, "No, don't open it in here," he said quickly, looking around shiftily, "I doubt Molly would approve…but I want you to use it if you need me, all right?"
I agreed in a whisper, and tucked it into the inside pocket of my jacket. Sirius clapped a hand on my shoulder, smiling. "Let's go, then."
He ushered me to the front door, where Mr and Mrs Weasley said their goodbyes. To my surprise, Sirius pulled me into a tight hug, before shoving me good-naturedly out the front door where Lupin and Tonks were waiting for us.
Alice was perched on the hood of her Lamborghini, a distraught expression on her face. She patted the roof gently before hopping down. "Goodbye, baby," she muttered, looking close to tears. She glared up at Mr Weasley. "You take good care of it for me, okay?"
Mr Weasley nodded and laughed before the front door shut in front of his face and Tonks led us down to the street.
Lupin held out his right arm, and a purple triple-decker bus appeared in front of him with a bang. We all climbed on, me doing so apprehensively. I had ridden the Knight Bus before, and I had no wish to do so again. There wasn't enough room on the bottom deck, so we had to split up.
Tonks led Hermione, Ron, Alice, Renesmee, Emmett and I upstairs, where we sat in assorted armchairs.
"Why do we need a guard?" grumbled Emmett, watching Tonks take a seat at the front. I wasn't entirely sure of the answer, so I didn't reply.
The bus took off with a bang, and I was thrown back into my seat with the force.
Alice looked delighted. "Now this is the way to travel!" she exclaimed, looking out the window at the streets blurring past.
"You aren't actually enjoying this, are you?" demanded Ron from the floor, having fallen off his seat and looking slightly green.
Alice beamed at him. "We like speed," she told him, looking perfectly at ease.
"I'll say," I muttered, feeling rather nauseous myself.
It wasn't too long a trip. Tonks had told the driver to get us there as fast as possible; therefore we didn't have to wait for too many of the other passengers to get off. The Knight Bus pulled up outside the gates to Hogwarts, and Tonks and Lupin helped us off with our luggage before wishing us goodbyes.
The Cullens carried our luggage for us, so it wasn't too much of a struggle up the ice-covered slope, back to the castle. They could hold several suitcases in one hand, so it was no trouble for them.
We parted ways in the Entrance Hall, Renesmee and Jacob going down some stairs to their common room; Rosalie and Emmett heading down to the Slytherins' dungeon common room; Alice and Jasper climbing the stairs to Ravenclaw tower; and Professor and Doctor Cullen went off to report to Dumbledore. Ron, Hermione, the twins, Ginny, Edward, Bella and I ascended the many staircases to Gryffindor tower, where Ron and I flopped into empty armchairs, tired after the travelling.
The next day, I had countless DA members approach me, asking for the next meeting date. I had to tell them over and over that I would let them know when I had organised something, and was beginning to get frustrated.
Alice started jumping up and down excitedly, and I was about to ask her to stop when she said, "Ooh, Cho's coming over!"
She and the other Cullens darted away to give me privacy, but I had a feeling they were still listening.
"We'll be in the library," smiled Hermione, dragging Ron away by the elbow.
I watched them go in disbelief, feeling abandoned, and was startled when Cho appeared right behind me. "Hi, Harry."
"Oh," I said, feigning surprise, "hi."
Cho smiled, and I noticed she was a bit pink in the face. "Had a good Christmas?" she asked casually.
"Yeah," I replied indifferently, "not bad."
"Mine was pretty quiet," she admitted, blushing a shade darker. "Erm…there's another Hogsmeade trip next month, did you see the notice?"
The turn of conversation surprised me. "What? Oh, no, I haven't checked the noticeboard since I got back."
"Yes, it's on Valentine's Day," she explained, and I thought she seemed hopeful for some reason, confusing me even more.
"Right. Well I suppose you want to…" I began, intending to ask her if she wanted to know when the next DA meeting was, but she interrupted me.
"Only if you do," she replied, looking eager now.
I frowned, wondering what on earth she was talking about. "I…er…"
Her eyes widened at my response, and she looked shocked. "Oh, it's okay if you don't. Don't worry. I…I'll see you around."
She spun and rushed away, her head down. I stared after her and wondered what had just happened.
Something hard hit me over the back of the head, and I turned to find Alice glaring daggers at me. "Ask her out, you idiot!" she hissed, shoving me forward.
Oh. Oh! I felt like an idiot as I ran after Cho, calling her back. "Er," I said awkwardly, "d'you want to come into Hogsmeade with me on Valentine's Day?"
She blushed darker than ever and beamed at me. "Yes," she replied enthusiastically.
I grinned back, before saying goodbye and watching her skip up the marble staircase.
The Cullens were already gathered around me, their expressions varying from amusement to disapproval.
"Are you honestly that clueless?" asked Bella, shaking her head in exasperation, "She looked heartbroken when you hesitated!"
"I didn't know what I was supposed to do!" I said defensively. Was I imagining it or did Bella look disappointed in me? "Er, I'd better go find Ron and Hermione."
"You do that," nodded Emmett in between howls of laughter.
I rushed off, but felt their eyes watching me all the way up the staircase.
EPOV
It was evening in the Gryffindor common room, and I was lounging on the couch with Bella snuggled up to my chest. Hermione was in one of the armchairs by the fire, frantically knitting an elf-sized hat, and occasionally throwing glances to the portrait hole, waiting for Harry to return from his meeting with Snape. Ron was sitting opposite her, slumped down in his chair drowsily with his chin resting on his chest, emitting a snore every now and then. He woke with a jump and squeak when Harry stormed into the common room, excitement lighting up his otherwise pale face.
I can't believe I didn't realise before! he thought.
"How did it go?" asked Hermione at once, her voice hushed. She looked closer at him and saw how white he looked. "Are you all right, Harry?"
"Yeah," he replied absently, "Listen, I've just realised something. You know those dreams I've been having the last few months, where I'm walking down the corridor? I've figured out where it is! It's the same hallway Mr Weasley took me down for my hearing! It's the Department of Mysteries, and I think that's where the weapon is! It's got to be!"
Ron and Hermione were stunned.
Of course! It all makes sense! thought Hermione with a low sigh. Everything fits!
She and Ron began discussing the new revelation, realising just how much sense it made, while Harry rubbed his forehead distractedly.
"Harry, are you alright?" asked Bella gently, watching him in motherly concern.
"Yeah…fine," he muttered, "I just feel a bit…I don't like Occlumency much."
Just then, Fred, George and a bunch of Gryffindors entered the common room, all laughing rather loudly. Fred swept into the middle of the room, waving around a pink-feathered hat at his audience.
"Headless Hats!" announced George, "Two Galleons each! Watch now!"
Fred placed the hat on top of his head, and everyone watched in anticipation when his head and the hat both vanished from sight. After a moment, he pulled the hat off and reappeared, beaming.
That's impressive, thought Hermione, I wonder how they work. She voiced her question, earning only a wink from Fred and George.
Harry was quiet, and I heard how uncomfortable and sick he felt.
"Go up to bed," I advised, "You might feel better after a night's sleep."
Harry nodded and headed up to the boys' dormitory, where he stayed for the rest of the night.
Bella giggled when George placed a hat on her head. Even with the ridiculous pink feather sticking up, she was still the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and then she vanished. I frowned.
"What's the matter?" asked Bella's voice.
I groped around in the air for the top of the hat, and pulled it off her, throwing it to the side. Her face became visible at once, and she was looking at me worriedly.
"I'd rather you didn't," I explained, "Your face is far too beautiful to hide."
Everyone wolf-whistled and howled with laughter as I kissed her eagerly, but I barely noticed. It was only when I heard a loud thump coming from upstairs that I broke away. Bella looked at the ceiling anxiously.
"Was that Harry?" she whispered, and I listened for his thoughts. I didn't find them, and pulled Bella up and towards the staircase. We raced up the stairs and through the door, where we found Harry twitching on the floor, laughing wildly.
His thoughts were incoherent; all I could tell was that he wasn't thinking for himself, and something very good had happened. I knelt beside him and shook his shoulder to snap him out of it.
"Harry!" shouted Bella, ready to shield him, when he came to his senses of his own accord. He was still laughing, but when he realised this, he broke off, panting and looking scared.
"What happened?" I asked urgently, and stopped him when he went to sit up. "No, stay down."
"I…dunno," he replied shakily. "He's really happy…really happy…"
"Voldemort?" asked Bella, glancing at me frantically.
"Something good's happened," he explained, shivering violently, "Something he's been hoping for."
Bella helped him sit up slowly, throwing me anxious looks. "You're freezing," she noted, "Let's get you into bed."
Harry was too weak to protest as she picked him up carefully and carried him to his bed. He slumped back as soon as she put him down, and pulled his blanket around himself, still shaking.
"You need to sleep," she told him.
The idea of more dreams frightened him, and he started to protest, but I stopped him. "Clear your mind, like Professor Snape told you. We'll stay with you."
He wasn't very good at letting his mind go blank, I have to admit, but it was understandable after what he had just experienced. When he finally dropped off to sleep, Bella and I whispered to each other very quietly.
"This isn't good," she murmured, watching the boy sleep.
"No," I agreed, "The connection between their minds seems to be getting stronger." She looked alarmed. "What's the matter?"
"What if the connection gets so strong that I can't block him out any longer?" Bella breathed, sounding a little scared, "What will we do then?"
I couldn't say. "I don't know," I admitted, holding her closer to me. "Right now I'm worried about why Voldemort was so happy. What could possibly have happened?"
"Would Alice have seen if it was really bad?"
"Possibly. But she hasn't come to find us, so whatever it is probably can't be helped right now."
And I didn't know if this worried me even more than anything else.