Chapter1

Edward slouched moodily behind a long shallow stream of first years, carefully not looking at his girlfriend. She marched along next to him, carefully not looking back. What in God's name was he thinking when he chose to come here? Edward could have said 'No, thanks, we're fine!' but instead he happily said 'Yes! I'll come join your school so as to perfect my legilimency skill, even though I am 90 years older than all your other pupils and could at any time drain them.' Seriously, brain failure was a more pleasurable option than this. The first years were half his size and half as mature. Heck, they were infinitely less mature. But he didn't seem to be the only outcast here. If the severe looking woman with what looked like cabbages instead of earrings was anything to go by, Hogwarts was full of misfits and weirdoes. The taste of the recently ingested insurance potion lingered depressingly on his tongue, and his dulled sense of smell was beginning to irritate him already. It also meant his appetite was gone, worse luck. Oh hell, what was he supposed to do at the multitudes of feasts that Dumbledore insisted on throwing? Sit around looking morose and ignore the mountains of food in front of him?

Once again the train moved along in front of him, where a small fleet of boats drifted sombrely.

"This way please! First years this way!" Edward scowled.

"Oh please Edward, do try and be a bit more mature," Bella chirped irritatingly in his ear. He growled grumpily back, but otherwise made no response. He hated it when she said that, which she did increasingly. He was over 90 years old. He could judge when it was time to be grumpy and when it wasn't…better than her anyway. She was only twenty, although they were both seventeen really. "Honestly," she continued, "it really is going to be great. It'll be just like we're back at Forks High School - except with magic!" He rolled his eyes. Honestly. He was embarrassed for the eleven-year-olds.

Stepping into the tiny boat that the cabbage woman had gestured at, it sank slightly. No wonder, seeing as it was used to carrying midgets, not seemingly made-of-marble vampires. Boats were incredibly boring. They could have driven very quickly up the mountain side and got there in a lot more style and with a lot more noise. But no. Cars didn't work around here and boats were see as quaint or…something. The water was a murky green colour that provided no inviting feeling to the new school, as no doubt such a magnificent lake could have. Edward's eyes flicked towards Bella who was sitting on the other side of the boat, mouth wide open like a fish with a clearly impressed look on her face. Sure, the boat was travelling without being rowed, but please, like she said, this place involved 'magic'.

A slimy green curtain of stinky looking waterweed was draped across an opening to one side. The smell of such vegetation would have usually told Edward a multitude of things, but instead all Edward knew about the curtain was that it was a particularly overgrown plant. However, a lot more was revealed about said plant as the boats carried on serenely. It pulled back like a pair of curtains and allowed the boats through into a murky tunnel. They carried on through the darkness for a few moments until, in the distance, Edward could see the glow of hundreds of candle-lit windows. It was rather impressive; an ancient castle perched precariously on the craggy rocks. It still didn't look homely however- just like a castle. At the edge of the water, Edward could now see, was a stern looking woman, presumably ready to take them further on inside the castle and to be 'sorted' (which sounded like a rather crude way of putting castration).

The boats bumped into the gravelly surface of the lakeside.

"Oh isn't this beautiful Edward!" came the bright voice of Bella as she stepped on the gravel, stumbling slightly as the boat pushed back from the shore.

"To die for. Really. I'm hugely impressed." Edward rolled his eyes and followed the awestruck first-years, who were in turn following this 'Professor McGonagall' as she had introduced herself. There was a long path leading through some magnificent cast-iron gates, which opened out onto a path. His eyes searched for Alice, who was a few people in front, her tawny head bobbing only slightly conspicuously above the other heads. She seemed involved in an animated conversation with a blonde girl.

Finally, they arrived at the main hall. The queue of students trailed off into a side room, where McGonagall proceeded to ramble on about the sorting process. A hat that sat on your head and talked via thought waves. Spooky. The students were hastily arranged into alphabetical order, with Edward and Alice near the front and Bella towards the back. She was now feverishly chewing her lip and had a look on her face like a scared bitch. Slowly, the line in front of them depleted as the A's and B's were called. Alice, as her name began with an A, compared to Edward's E, went first. She danced out, hiding her height and perched on the stool as the ragged hat was placed on her head. After a few moments contemplation, the 'mouth' opened wide and cried

"Ravenclaw!" before closing. Alice hastily walked down the steps and joined the blue clad table. The sorting hat was good, Alice was the perfect Ravenclaw; she thought before she spoke and was generically quite clever. Next it was him. Edward didn't have the advantage of being a reasonably short vampire, so stood out like a sore thumb. The stool was short, causing his knees to be closer to his chin than to the floor. The musty hat rested on his head and began to speak quietly.

"Well this is different. Another vampire? Hmmm… Cunning yes, very cunning. Most definitely a darker side, no matter how much you seem to be kind and romantic. But can you cut it in Slytherin? Or will it be the breaking of you? Hmmm… yes, we'll try you there- SLYTHERIN!" The sorting hat was most definitely a scary piece of equipment: It could read your thoughts! Edward was most definitely pleased when it was removed, and he walked down towards the silvery green table. Then, he saw the other boy and forgot all about walking.

A vampire so divine had never walked within the sight of Edward Cullen; that was for sure. Shining blonde hair fell into stormy grey eyes, which regarded him curiously, but without surrendering anything. He was tall and subtly muscled. Laughter was beginning to break out across the great hall. Edward could hear Bella's tinkling laugh and realised how unimportant she suddenly seemed. His desire for her had disappeared with the bloodlust; the potion had made sure of that. Edward's eyes sought Alice. She was rising to her feet, slowly, staring from him to the other vampire. She shook her head ever so slightly. Edward gulped and continued towards the Slytherin table. He fell into a seat a few along from the boy, and the sorting recommenced surprisingly smoothly. Edward felt incredibly hot and as if he couldn't hear anything outside his own head. He was vaguely aware of Bella walking past him towards the Gryffindor table with a morose expression on her face, but he could not meet her eyes. He stared at the table fixedly, all at once feeling his seventeen years and no older.

Dumbledore stood and spread his arms welcomingly. Edward realised that he was speaking, but could not hear over the buzzing in his ears. He wished he could smell the scent of the other vampire, as by right he ought to be able to, wished he could hear his voice. Was it high? Was it deep? Did it speak quickly? Softly? Loudly? What did his lips feel like? The cold and smooth lips of a vampire with the hot taste of blood inside, that was for sure. Edward shivered. Food magically appeared in front of him and, despite himself, he ate it dazedly. There was a pause in the meal as everybody finished his or her main course and the boy next to Edward took advantage of the opportunity to introduce himself.

"Hello. Welcome to Hogwarts. My name's Blaise Zabini, I'm Slytherin house Seventh year prefect. I take it you're not a first year?"

"No. I'm seventeen. Those two are my sisters, Alice and Bella. We used to live nearest to Durmstrang but they didn't accept our talents as magic. I can read minds without trying. Alice is a seer. Bella was just unregistered at birth, admin problem. She is an average witch just like everyone else." Edward recited the learned-by-heart speech and smiled.

"Wow. Sounds like you three are pretty advanced. I'm sure you'll catch up really quickly." Edward ground his teeth. "This is Scorpio by the way." Edward looked gratefully up at the boy seated next to Blaise and realised (his stomach did a backflip) that the beautiful vampire was sitting only the other side of Scorpio. Scorpio looked up and gave Edward a slow smile. "Well hello there. New Slytherins always appreciated, we're a bit thin on the ground at the moment." With a jolt, Edward realised he was right.

"Why's that?"

"Nobody says it, but everybody thinks that only death eaters and upcoming death eaters come here. The people that think that's a good thing are getting fewer and fewer. And very few people realise that it's just a stereotype attached to our house, just like the sorting hat said."

"I see. So are you pro Harry Potter or the Dark Lord?" Scorpio regarded him shrewdly and spoke softly and crushingly.

"I do not agree with killing. I do believe in keeping magic in old families, but equally I have nothing against muggle-borns. This does not make me 'pro Harry Potter'."

"I see. That seems sensible." Edward looked over at the Gryffindor table where Harry Potter sat. He was talking to Bella who was gazing up at him rapturously. Clearly Harry Potter was telling her some story as he kept gesturing towards himself, a boy at his right and a girl seated to the left of Bella. Edward looked back to ask who these people were and found himself staring directly into ice-blue eyes.

"Draco Malfoy," said the god, holding out his hand. His voice was deep, teasingly slow and he spoke in a self-assured tone. Edward stared at the hand for a second, then hastily grasped it and managed to reply,

"Edward Cullen. Nice to meet you." Then Edward froze. The hand he was holding was warm. Edward could feel his pulse under the skin. A human? How was that possible? His skin was so perfectly white, his lips so red, his hair so-

"Has Scorpio been giving you a politics lesson? The golden boy hasn't got a clue to be honest. He thinks he can just point a wand at the dark lord, mutter 'avada kadavra,' and he'll drop dead. We know differently. You see that girl next to the other tall girl that came in with you?"

"Remi, yes. That's my sister, Alice."

"Oh you know Remi already do you? Then you probably know what she's up to."

"Yes. I do. My sister and I are helping her destroy them."

"Well then. Seems the new boy knows everything." Draco smiled thinly. Edward blushed, and smelled Draco for the first time. He smelled heavenly, like human and yet at the same time older, finer. Edward couldn't put his finger on it. He had never smelled anything like it. Oh, his blood must taste…

"No! I mean no I don't at all. My way of life is very different to yours." (Just a little, I EAT you feeble things).

"Muggle born?"

"You could say that," Edward mumbled carefully. Draco raised an eyebrow but did not question the response. Edward's expert senses alerted him to the fact that Scorpio had not moved or breathed for the last ten seconds. He was staring at Alice fixedly. Oh joy. Draco slapped the back of his head firmly and without apology. Scorpio fell face forwards into his dinner and choked. Over the top of his spluttering form, Draco smiled wickedly. Edward attempted to suppress a grin. Unfortunately his attempt was not successful, and he found himself grinning uncontrollably back and so he busied himself with some food. This was going to be interesting, eating for the first time in 70 years. Oh well. He noticed the big pot of mash potatoes and a familiar sense came back from when he had been human. Hunger. Oh joy, not only had this potion taken away his sense of smell, but he was slowly reverting back to being a human. His eyes lingered on the tureens of food for a second.

"Not hungry?" came a querying voice at his side. Draco had his eyes locked on him

"Er, no, nerves, I guess." Edward smiled weakly.

"You won't say that soon, the desserts are to die for." A voice said the other side of him. Scorpio had recovered from his near choking and was shovelling forkfuls of sweet potato mash, chicken and gravy into his mouth at lightning speed.

"I highly doubt I'll die over some desserts." Edward muttered to himself. He leant his head on his hand and sighed. An entirely human habit, obviously, but really, he'd just got into the habit of being human.

The conversation lapsed into the discussion that was bound to happen- what did you do over the holidays? Draco and Scorpio were comparing Quidditch viewing sessions and Blaise was chipping in with random facts and figures. Edward simply laughed when appropriate and tried to look mildly interested. It was difficult with Draco sitting so close. Edward cursed himself mentally. He was disgusted at his susceptibility to what was, if he was honest, a 'pretty' human. But, he mused, it was so much more than that. Anyone could be 'pretty'. Looking around, Edward saw a dozen nice-looking faces. But humans weren't generally 'pretty' and intelligent. Draco held a conversation beautifully. Each comment seemed as though he had thought about it and planned it for all eternity. The conversation wasn't steered forcefully by him, but he knew exactly what to say and when to say it, and his full attention was always focused on you if you were speaking. His slow drawl was musical, but not in any way that could be determined by any melody, but to Edward it was music, and he could listen to it all day.

"Oi, Edward!" A hand waved in front of his eyes. "Wake up!" Scorpio was grinning at him.

"I wasn't asleep, just distracted." Damn, this being round humans was really affecting him; he'd end up turning in to a human if he wasn't careful.

"Well idioto, time to go to bed." Scorpio ruffled his hair and got up.

Wonderful! Sleeping. He'd lie there, counting his breaths in groups of a hundred and wondering when he could get up.

At One-thousand, two-hundred and thirty-six breaths, Edward heard a subtle noise. It was masked by a silencing charm, but his bored, expert ears picked up the vibrations from the bed next to him. Someone had set an alarm. He quickly curled himself into a foetal position and closed his eyes, feigning sleep. He tried to shut out the external world. He was sure this was something to do with him, and he wanted to act genuinely 'shocked'. He could barely remember how 'shocked' felt. He thought back, searching in his memory for a time he had been surprised. There had been plenty at the beginning. Finding out he was alive had been a bit of an odd one. But in the last – what? –Fifty years or so, he couldn't think of many… oh, except that one time where a vampire had turned out to be a human –

Edward yelled with shock as Blaise, Scorpio and Draco pounced on him, each wielding a pillow and began beating him over the head with them. They were all shouting and Edward grabbed his own pillow and started to respond appropriately, roaring and fighting back, but without any real effort, carefully not sending any of them flying through the window and halfway home. Eventually someone won, although it wasn't blindingly obvious who. They all collapsed simultaneously on Edward's bed, panting with the sweaty satisfaction of a good fight.

"Well, that was fun." Muttered a dishevelled looking Draco, who had crawled across the floor and was now rummaging under the bed. He pulled out a large box, from which he ripped the wrapping paper, revealing a leather case, with 'Firewhisky' emblazoned on the top.

"Oh, so now you break it out! Jeez, all these years and you wait until a newbie comes along. Draco I fi-"Scorpio's rant was broken with a pillow across the face.

"Shut up Scorpio." Came Blaise's indignant reply, absent-mindedly covering Scorpio's face with pillow as he grabbed one of the two bottles that were nestled in the velvet. He pointed his wand at the neck of the bottle and the top flew off, ricocheting into a corner of the room at a high speed. He took a slug of the scorching whiskey, a long white curl of steam rolling out of his nose. He offered the bottle up to the other boys, and proceeded to grin like an idiot.

The only issue with this situation was that the others would expect Edward to get steadily more drunk until, no doubt, they were all humiliated in some form or another. The problem, Edward reflected, was that he was lacking a bloodstream. He needn't have worried however. The English boys' hyperactivity was infectious and Scorpio blowing enormous smoke rings like a dragon became increasingly funny, until Edward found himself helpless on the bed. At that moment a human could have overpowered him. Still laughing, Edward rolled over onto his back next to Draco. He sobered immediately as Draco's arm brushed his own and he felt again that pulse, intensified and quickened under the effect of the Firewhisky. Edward gulped and stood up quickly, running his fingers through his hair, nervously. Draco knelt up and stared playfully up at him. Dammit.

"What's wrong?" Edward grinned.

"I don't know," he replied, inventing wildly, "it just felt…a bit…gay."

"And?" regarded him haughtily, but before he could think of a response, Draco cut in. "I don't think the new boy's drunk enough! Fill him up Scorpio!"

"Er, I, um, don't think that's a good idea." Edward said quickly, backing onto Draco's bed.

"Oh, it is, we've done this before." Draco looked up at him deviously through his lashes. The other boys had flanked him, mimicking the move. Blaise and Scorpio each had a bottle of the whisky in their hands. Edward found it was difficult to look at anything other than Draco. You couldn't look a anything else. He stood defiantly up off the bed, scowled at Draco and marched up to Blaise.

"Fine then. Have it your way." He grabbed the bottle and drained it.

A/N- Well here we are. After an all too long wait Chapter One is here! I hope you will agree that it had been worth it! Thank you to our first reviewers, Morbid-Malfunctions and narusasu112.

It's getting a bit gayer! Next chapter we will focus more on Remi, Cedric and Alice. Alice and Scorpio will feature a little later as it's a very fluffy tale and we don't like fluff so much. (We like blood! And death! Hence the Twilight obsession!)

In case you REALLY hadn't noticed, there is two writers. It's sometimes hard to collaborate our ideas and get writing straight away so I'm sorry about the wait but with holidays coming up we'll be writing more!

Now. Dearest and darlingest readers, this is your time to (metaphorically) shine. This is Sky, who does the descriptive bits, so also handles plot thingies. POST your ideas on what to do with Blaise. After all he has no partner lined up, so we need ideas.

Ray: Maybe he could die. Mwahaha (we don't love him, as you may have noticed).

Sky: Ray, shut up. I love Blaise, and what Sky says goes, m'kay?

Ray: Check out the snow scene in film three with Draco, Crabbe, Goyle and another (blatantly Blaise). He has nothing to speak of.

Sky: ARTISTIC LISCENCE! I HAS IT! Right. We're boring them now, so shut the freak up. Byesies for nowsies guy(sies?).

Ray: You can tell I clean up the vocabulary in this outfit…anyway! Vote, vote and vote some more! We will credit you!!!