As Carlisle entered the living room his whole family was already assembled. Well the vampire part of his family. Bella was with her father and the coven-leader was not too sad about it. He wanted to discuss with his original family first and was glad that he did not have to worry that they would need to tell the girl about the wizarding world and all the other magical creatures. At least not yet. Should it become impossible to avoid because Harry entered their lives again then they would of course tell her. Furthermore was it Edward's decision as to how much the girl would get to know.
"You wanted to talk to us, father?" Edward asked and Alice gasped. Edward's eyes widened. No doubt had the seer just Seen what he was about to tell them. "Is that true?"
"Is what true?" Emmett asked. "Could you please speak out loud? Not all of us are seers or mind readers."
Carlisle sighed.
"You are right. We should have this conversation loud so that all of you understand just what has happened. Today Severus came to visit me," the vampire sire began.
"About damn time," Rosalie muttered and then she snapped after all of the others looked at her dumbfounded, "what? We haven't heard of the prat in what? Ten years? It is pretty damn time he gave a life sign. Those bastards of wizards could have had him killed by now and we wouldn't have known."
"Why, Rosalie, one would think you cared," Edward joked lightly. He knew that Rosalie cared much for the wizard-turned-vampire. The two of them were quite alike after all. There was nothing that mattered more to them than family. It only hurt him that Rosalie didn't see his mate as family. It stung that Rosalie liked the werewolf mate of Severus more than his chosen. In fact she even liked the man's human mate more and that man had sold out his friends to Voldemort and had gone to prison for it. In fact the vampire just seemed to hate his Bella and Edward did not know why. There had been a time when he and Rosalie had been as close as he was now only with his other siblings and he hated that that was not the case anymore.
Rosalie only glared lightly back. She too did not like how much they had drifted apart but she knew that her brother's human plaything was not Edward's mate but the other vampire had become set that she was. Somehow Rosalie had the feeling that this would hurt their family more than she could imagine at the moment.
"He told me that Voldemort had come back," Carlisle continued to interrupt the small glaring contest of his children. His entire family gasped. "But from what I gathered the madman is already gone again."
"If that is the reason he came he could have come here," Esme said. "I would have loved to see him again after ten years."
"That is the other matter why he came. He said that the last time he came to visit us was in June 1995."
His family looked at him dumbfounded.
"He did not," Edward said frowning. "We would remember that."
"Exactly that was the point in his coming. You remember the boy that appeared in our living room about three years ago?" the sire asked and his whole coven nodded. "It seems that this boy somehow managed to block our memories of about seven and a half years."
"He blocked our memories?" Alice asked. "How? And how do you know that? … and, even more importantly, why would he do that?"
"He wanted to make sure that our family wouldn't involve itself in the upcoming war in their world. He knew of our involvement with their world and that we saw people there as members of our coven. He wanted to keep us save."
His family looked at him in confusion. Yes, they saw Severus and his mate as members of their coven but they had promised them that whenever another war in the magical world came they would keep themselves out of it. As far as they knew they had no reason to break that promise.
"Why would we break our promise to Severus?" Esme asked. "I mean if he knew we consider Severus and Remus as members of our coven then he surely would also know of that promise."
Carlisle knew that his whole family had the same thoughts and couldn't blame them. They had not yet all the information. Well most of them hadn't. He could see Alice and Edward communicating soundlessly in the same way the two of them played chess.
"That would be true. If it was only for Severus and Remus, we would not have considered going back to Britain. However that changed on the 3rd of December 1987. That day at least Severus, if not he and Albus, brought a young human boy at the age of seven to us. The boy we saw three years ago was that and we were his family. His name is Harry."
"So we would have fought for him, had we remembered?" Rosalie asked after a long silence. "He had become family and we would have feared losing him. We knew that Severus and Remus could handle themselves because of what they were but the boy was human, he could have gotten hurt. But why don't we remember him?"
"Because he sealed our memories away. In my case they are in my med bag in my mind scape. I cannot see the bag and I cannot touch it but there appears an image of him from the time he came to us whenever I get close to the where the bag is. I do not know what he did with your memories but I guess he did something similar to you."
"But why would he do this?" Emmett asked. "I mean I get it that he was afraid that we could get hurt but locking away or memories? I thought that was impossible."
"Severus doesn't know either how he did it. He is pretty sure that he did not mean to do it but that it was accidental magic. Harry seems to be quite strong magically."
"That he didn't mean to do it is the reason he was so hurt when I attacked him and you asked him who he was, I guess," Jasper asked remembering the short encounter they had had with Harry three years before and Carlisle nodded.
"Maybe it would be a good idea if we all looked into our minds and try to get Harry release the spell he has us in," Alice suddenly said, the first time she spoke up in this whole conversation.
"I highly doubt it that any of you will be able to do it but it can't hurt to try. You have to concentrate on something that has been in your mind scape but is no longer there, can no longer be seen at least. Then you have to look for it. That is the place I think the true memories are stored," the sire answered her and all of the others closed their eyes.
Esme stood in her mind scape and looked around herself. The walls were covered with paintings, each of them displaying one or more people and each of them having a different size. It all depended on how many memories she had with the persons in the picture because the pictures were all made up from exactly that, memories.
She looked around the room again. Something was missing here she noted after some thinking. She was sure that she had a chest with acrylic paint in here. Where was it? It had to be somewhere close to the easel.
She moved over there and started searching for it with her outstretched hands. As her hands met an invisible barrier she heard a rustling of clothes behind her.
"What are you looking for and why?" the small boy on the windowsill asked her curiously his head was laid to the side like a small kitten.
"I am looking for you, sweetheart. I want you back. I want my little boy back," Esme answered. "Why have you left us?"
"Because you were in danger. Because you could have gotten hurt. I had to look after you."
"Sweetheart, it's our responsibility to look after you. We are the adults. You should have never had to do this."
"But I didn't want you to get hurt. I still don't want you to get hurt. You can't remember. I'm sorry."
And with that Harry vanished leaving Esme with no way to talk to him as it didn't matter what she did he didn't reappear.
Esme sighed and left her mind scape.
Edward looked around him in his mind scape. It looked pretty much like his room. The memories all locked in his music. He had a CD for every month, every day of his life in here and he could play them and with playing them, he could remember everything only in a fraction of a moment.
Besides his Cd's there was also a great variety of music instruments but one instrument was missing.
His violin case.
Immediately he looked for it as his father had already told him that that was what he had to do to find the memories he was missing. He knew where it was located in his real room and since he put his things always in the same place in about the last fifty years he knew where it should be in here.
"Do you want to play the violin?" a timid voice asked. "You should play the piano. When you play the piano you don't have to remember and above anything else I want you to be safe."
"Why do you want me to be safe?" Edward asked.
"Because you are dear to me, brother." And with that this Harry too vanished.
The hall of prophecies in the ministry of magic would be the right picture to describe the mind scape of the next member of the Cullen family. It was fitting really for Alice Cullen even if she did not know it. All the memories were in small orbs lined on shelves, all of them labeled with the dates and the persons in it.
The room was divided in the real memories and the visions she had had in her time as a vampire.
The smallest vampire looked around herself and immediately she saw the area she had put in here as a joke. A table with all kinds of divination stuff. She laughed lightly as she saw it again but she also knew that this was most likely the place something was missing since the shelves were unlikely.
She lowered herself down on the floor in front of the table and started to look through the stuff on it. Her set of tarot cards was missing. Her hands travelled over the table in search for the cards.
"What is it with your family looking for me?" the boy that suddenly sat opposite her asked.
"Why shouldn't we?" Alice asked. "You are our brother or our child. It's only natural that we want you back."
"I'll give you back the memory of one vision and then tell me again I am worth it," Harry smiled sadly.
There was a battle going on around them. Judging by the beams of light it was a wizarding battle. Alice could see herself and the other members of her family as well as Harry struggling against other vampires but those were magical ones if their even for vampires enormous strength was anything to go by.
"Please, let them go!" Harry sobbed. "I'll do anything you want. I'll come with you. I swear I won't fight, but please!"
A sickening noise could be heard and Esme was being torn apart. Another and Emmett was gone.
The vampires' eyes shined with malice.
"Our Lord told us to break you and how could we not obey his commands?" the leader smirked, "Furthermore those are a disgrace to the vampire race. They should have been killed a long time ago. Fiendfyre!"
Alice could only watch helplessly as Rosalie was engulfed in the magical fire and screamed in agony. Harry looked close to breaking down and Alice knew that he already was broken inside.
The vampire then directed his fire towards Edward and only moments later he too was no more.
"NO!" Harry screamed desperate as the fire was directed against the male vampire and Alice could see the light in his eyes die.
The vampires that held them were too absorbed in the agony they put the young human through that they only saw the other wizards as it already was too late. Severus, Remus and their friends made short work of the vampires but it already was too late for the better part of the family. As soon as the hands that had held Harry up were gone, he fell to the ground and crawled over to the place where Edward had been burned, sobbing uncontrollably.
Alice screamed in the real world and sank to the floor. She curled up into a small ball and rocked back and forth. Edward could only stare at her wide eyed.
Well, what do you think? Love it? Hate it? Tell me!