Harry stumbled as he landed back in his cabin porch, barely catching himself on the railing. His hands clutched firmly on the wooden balustrade.
He forced himself to loosen his grip and played his fingers clumsily over the grain of the wood. He'd found some driftwood when he was constructing the porch and had tweaked a heating charm to slowly bend the wood into the right shape to run across the railing.
The wood was softer than even magic could make it.
He lowered himself to sit on a step and plucked a glass remnant from his jeans, flicking the weirdly rounded piece onto the decking.
The meadow his cabin was built in was serene, the sound of water and the gentle breeze lightly shaking the now turning leaves.
He had been looking forward to seeing the colours change. In the mountains it was apparently spectacular.
Crookshanks padded over to him and curled around one of his legs, he pushed his squashed face into one of Harry's hands and nuzzled, looking for pets.
Slowly Harry let tension bleed from him, loosening with every breath out. He felt like he was sinking into the ground.
Maybe he could just stay in this cabin.
Put up everything-repelling wards, add unplottable to the already long list of privacy charms on his address. Stay here and only leave to pick up food from a different US city every week. No one would find him.
Do what he did after Ron and Hermione died and just live behind walls made of magic, alone until he could bear people again.
Because that had worked so well last time.
Would it be better than starting somewhere new? Again?
He could give the cabin to Jake, Harry wasn't sure he could bear for someone else to be here. Maybe he could manage if it was Jake.
Jake probably wouldn't want to live off the reservation, he probably wouldn't be allowed to in any case, Billy wouldn't want him that far.
He could put it under stasis charms.
The revenants couldn't stay here forever, maybe they could come to a timeshare agreement. Let him know when they planned on leaving town, let him know if they were coming back.
Presuming Edward turned Bella at some point she had a stronger claim on the area than he did. They would probably come back.
He wished he had someone to talk to about this. Someone to rail at and talk about how unfair this all was.
He'd found a home; he'd started to carve out a place and now because of a stupid mindreading immortal being he'd been forced to blow up his chance at staying here.
If he'd just done the research earlier.
If he'd transferred to the Quileute school when he noticed the Cullens.
If he'd just been slightly less tired, slightly less on edge. Slightly more ready for an attack.
But he was on his own, so he had to focus on practicalities.
There were some decisions he needed to make.
What was he going to tell Jake and Billy?
Was he going to burn this identity and move on to the next one? It was only 7 decades earlier than planned. He could adjust. Treat this like a terrible practice run.
Pick somewhere else to start over.
Maybe he'd go back to Columbia and use his newly improved Spanish. Or move to France. His nose wrinkled. The British muggle in him couldn't really bear the thought.
But for now, he needed to rebuild some rudimentary occlumency wards and sleep. Decisions could wait until he could think straight.
Harry sent out a pulse of magic to lock down the wards and scooped up Crookshanks who growled menacingly but still snuggled deeper into his arms.
Lying back on the bed with Crookshanks curled up next to him Harry focused inwards as he started the painstaking process of pulling up new shields.
Hours later he emerged, Crookshanks now wound around his middle. Pouring magic into his new shields would give them enough of a natural boost that a couple of days of work would have them back up to full strength.
He had been disturbed to realise how much he had let his occlumency barriers erode over the last couple of months.
The amount of power he'd pushed in the shields combined with his wandless magic earlier on had left him exhausted. It looked to be late afternoon, but he had never allowed time of day to stop him from napping.
He ignored his blinking phone; his problems could wait.
As he pulled the covers over himself and buried himself into his pillows, he thought of one silver lining.
At least he wasn't going to have to study Dickens anymore.
Jasper emerged into wakefulness like he'd just emerged from cold water, gasping for unnecessary breath and clutching his chest over a heart that was no longer beating.
Around him he could hear the sounds of his family waking.
A set of sounds that was completely unfamiliar.
He opened his eyes and for a moment it felt like he might be dreaming, as unlikely as that would be. The cafeteria was clean and whole. No cracks, no burns or damage.
In one single wide-eyed look he took in all his surroundings. His family were scattered around him on the floor. The cafeteria looked newer than it had this morning and every surface was clean even to his vampiric sight.
Alice looked almost blissful, staring at the room around them with a small smile on her face.
Emmett looked confused.
Rosalie looked murderous.
Edward looked…
Jasper was off the floor and pulling Edward up by the throat before he could even finish thinking. It didn't matter how Edward looked because he wasn't going to exist much longer.
He ignored Bella who had been hovering over Edward when he was still on the ground and who drew back with a screech when Jasper pulled him away.
"What did you do?" He growled, barely recognising his own voice.
He could feel his other siblings getting up to stand behind him, conflicting emotions pulsing at him, but they wouldn't stand in the way of this.
Edward had threatened a mate bond.
When Jasper had almost attacked Bella last year Jasper had offered to leave the family, it was the right thing to do. He had almost harmed someone his brother loved.
It was the right thing to do but his family would never have demanded it of him. Even if he'd killed Bella his family wouldn't force him out. He would have gone but he wouldn't have been forced.
But Bella wasn't Edward's true mate.
His brother had just knowingly attacked his true mate. No one would stand in the way of any punishment Jasper felt like meting out.
Jasper had to concentrate hard to stop his hand from tightening any further around Edward's neck.
Harrison had looked so devastated.
Harrison who had blown up the cafeteria, knocked 5 vampires unconscious but left Bella completely unharmed.
Harrison who had disappeared.
"I didn't mean to hurt him." Edward's voice scraped from his heavily constricted throat. "I was just trying to find out what he was thinking. I didn't think-"
Jasper pulled him away and then slammed him back into the wall. Hairline cracks forming in the concrete. "You saw it was hurting him. And you didn't stop."
Edward tried to respond, desperation pouring off him, but Jasper had cut off his air flow.
"No. Don't even try to tell me you tried. I can feel your emotions Edward, I may not be able to read your mind but I felt you double down. I felt you decide hurting my mate was worth it if you could satisfy your bloody curiosity."
He heard an audible gasp as the only human in the room recoiled. He spared a glance for Bella who was looking at Edward with horror. "What did you do Edward?" Bella was looking at his brother urgently, but Edward couldn't meet her eyes.
"Did you even care that you were hurting him?" Jasper choked out, lingering on the memory of Harrison's tears. The agony he'd felt.
"I didn't think-"
"Didn't think what? That he would mind? That there wouldn't be some consequences to satisfying your curiosity by ambushing him?" He glanced at Bella. "Did you even tell Bella why you wanted her to get him over here?"
Bella shook her head tears already pooling in her eyes as she looked at Edward like she didn't recognise him. "I thought we were going to try to get to know him. For when he was going to become part of the family."
Jasper closed his eyes. Part of the family.
"I was trying to-" Edward was cut off again, this time by Bella.
"You certainly weren't trying to get to know him!" Bella was yelling now, finger jabbing harshly at Edward. "If you were trying to get to know him you would have been asking him questions like I was trying to."
Edward just stared at her silently.
Bella glared up at Edward. "Why do you even care what he's thinking? You've been weirdly fixated on him since he arrived." She gestured towards Jasper, "He's your brother's mate, not yours."
Bella peered at Edward's face as if it was going to give him the answers that weren't forthcoming from his words. Her breath stuttered, eyes widening. Jasper felt her shock followed by heavy sadness. He glanced at her, worried.
Alice moved forward to hold Bella who looked ready to collapse, eyes distant and searching. "Why did you do it Edward?"
Edward was staring urgently at Bella, "Bella, I didn't mean-"
"Was it because he's puzzle?" Bella wasn't even looking at Edward.
"I-"
"You couldn't force your way past my shield, you told me you tried. Would you have stopped if it hurt me?" Bella was staring at her feet and Jasper heard the splash as her first tear hit the floor. "Would you have been interested in me at all if I wasn't a mystery to you?"
"Bella, please. I love you."
Bella just shook her head, staring resolutely down at the cafeteria floor.
Edward tried to move towards her but Jasper shoved him back against the wall, his forearm pressing across his throat. "Please Jasper, just let me-"
"You attacked my mate. You hurt him. You didn't stop hurting him." Jasper dropped Edward but stood back, placing himself between Edward and Bella. "And now I have no idea where my mate is, no idea if he's okay, and no idea if he's ever going to be able to forgive me."
Edward remained where he was, clearly reading enough from Jasper's whirling thoughts to know he was hanging on to control by a bare thread.
"He said he was leaving." Bella's voice sounded thick, and the scent of salty tears was filling the air. "He said-." Her breath started to come faster; her eyes tightly closed. "I was so scared, the energy pouring off him. I thought that was it. But he-"
Alice rubbed her hands comfortingly up and down Bella's arms.
"He put some kind of shield around me, all of you were thrown and the whole room was broken and there was glass everywhere." She looked around her red rimmed eyes filling with awe. "He just flicked his hand, and everything was fixed."
She imitated a waving motion with her hand. "Glass flying everywhere and just going back to its place, the floor sealed back up and the table came back together."
Jasper looked at the windows beside him, running his thumb over the one imperfection that remained in the glass. A small sliver of glass missing from the otherwise perfect windowpane.
"What did he say?" Jasper was quiet, the green energy had been one thing. Knowing Harrison could use whatever it was to fix things, that he had the control to keep Bella safe, it was-
"He said he had stopped anyone from coming in whilst you were all knocked out. He said he would be gone by the end of the week. That he'd come up with something to tell Jake and Billy." She sobbed, Edward tried to move towards her again but she flinched backwards. Only Alice's hands firm around her arms kept her upright. "Don't touch me." She snarled; her eyes fixed on Edward.
"Bella-"
"No." Bella turned back to Jasper. "He said he would make himself a big problem for us if you did anything to hurt them." Jasper flinched; his mate believed they would threaten his family. He was going to leave.
Why wouldn't he believe them capable of it?
Harrison had felt cornered, he'd tried to leave and then Edward had attacked him. If they were willing to invade his mind, why wouldn't they be willing to hurt his family.
"We have to find him. I have to explain, to try-" Could this even be fixed? The tentative friendship they'd been building suddenly felt like worse than nothing compared to what they'd done to him.
Suddenly Jasper was overwhelmed with the idea of never seeing Harrison again.
Emmett, ever the practical one, stepped towards Bella. Conveniently also putting himself between her and Edward. "Did you see where he went?"
"He just disappeared, there was a sound like a thunderclap and then he was just gone." Bella made an exploding gesture with her hands and mouthed "Puff".
She looked back at where Harrison had been stood, her eyes rounding with awe.
Rosalie cursed drawing everyone's attention, she held up her slightly smoking phone. "We have to get out of here and let Carlisle and Esme know what's happened. My phone is completely fried."
"He said that might happen." They all pulled out phones that were varying levels of exploded. Edward's seemed to have been almost reduced to a powder. Bella's was the only one that was still vaguely functioning, Rosalie commandeered it.
Suddenly his family was bursting into activity around them.
Emmett headed to the office to let school know there had been a family emergency and they would be leaving.
Rosalie spoke rapidly into Bella's phone.
Bella described what happened when they were unconscious in greater detail to an eager Alice.
Jasper just slumped in place. He might never see Harrison again.
He could disappear and with the revelation of Harrison's power Jasper was sure Harrison could make it so he was never found.
He could spend lifetimes searching and meanwhile Harrison would grow old without him. What if he couldn't find him in time? What if he could never find him?
Alice eventually came to usher him into the car. He noticed absently that Emmett was driving, Bella tucked in the passenger seat.
Whispered conversations were happening around him and he couldn't take it in, just rerunning the complex play of emotions over Harrison's face, the joy Jasper had first felt when Harrison's emotions became so crystal clear, the horror when he realised why he could suddenly feel every jolt of fear, pain, and sadness.
Before he had sorted through even a small portion of his thoughts they were back home, Rosalie still whispering urgently into the phone and Esme stroking her hands gently in circles on his back.
He was half a century older than Esme but in that moment all he wanted to do was curl up in her lap and drink in any comfort she would offer.
Rosalie abruptly hung up the phone, the silence felt loud, only softened by Bella's quiet inhalations and exhalations. Her heart beating steadily in his ears.
"Carlisle is contacting the pack. If Harrison has already contacted them, they might be able to pass on a message." Rosalie paused, looking quickly over at Jasper. "If they haven't heard from him then we might be able to get one of them to check on him. Does anyone know where he lives?"
Jasper shook his head, but Bella nodded. "Charlie does, he wanted to make sure he knew where he'd got settled so he could go check on him. He was worried about Harry living alone if anything ever happened. Billy asked him to keep an eye out as well."
"We could head up there." Emmett suggested gently. "Just to see if he made it back. I don't know how his abilities work but he looked rough last I remember." Emmett shook his head in astonishment. All of them were used to being able to remember with picture perfect accuracy every moment that had happened in their vampiric lives, it was unsettling that all their recollections had a gap now.
"Wouldn't that scare him?" Bella murmured quietly. "Not sure I'd want you all turning up at my house if I'd just been attacked."
"I don't think he necessarily has a lot to fear from us." Rosalie sounded reluctantly impressed, and Bella looked taken aback. Jasper noticed a spike of confusion as she looked at his so-called twin.
This was probably the first time Rosalie had spoken to her without being overtly aggressive.
This was also the first time she'd been in a room with Rosalie without Edward hovering. Edward wasn't here, Jasper listened carefully and reached out tentatively with his powers. Nothing.
"Where's Edward?"
Esme answered without looking up, "Carlisle and I thought it best he goes visit our cousins for a while. Until things settle down here and then any decisions that need to be made can be."
Rosalie snorted, "I told him to run if he wanted to survive the week." Rosalie's opinion on this was pretty clear then. And Emmett would follow Rosalie.
Jasper carefully felt out the room, the dominant emotion was determination and frustration. Esme was mournful but resigned. Alice was concentrating, her determination clear on her face even without his ability.
Bella was furious.
He looked at her curiously and she met his eyes briefly before ducking her head. She tucked her hair behind her ear, playing with the ends with jerky fingers.
The unmistakable purr of Carlisle's car entered the driveway and soon their whole family was gathered in the living room.
They quickly filled him in what had happened, the way he nodded unsurprised made it clear that he had already heard everything he needed from Rosalie.
Despite that, the routine of reporting to the head of their coven was easing a lot of the remaining tension.
"Alice," Carlisle had his hands templed in front of him, staring across at their coven's most talented member. "Can you see anything?"
Alice hummed, non-committal and Jasper felt like he was going to need to break something soon. "Not since we involved the wolves, I can't see much for the next week, too obscured by blank spaces." She reached for one of Jasper's hands and patted it absent mindedly. "I still see you happy in most futures, we will have to be careful, but things can still work themselves out."
Jasper felt hope for the first time in what felt like hours. If he was happy in the future that meant this might be fixable, that he might have a chance to see Harrison again.
The sounds of rapid footfalls in the forest and several more beating hearts notified them that the pack was approaching. They moved quickly to arrange themselves outside to meet them, Alice happily scooping up Bella to bring her out with them.
The wolves burst out of the trees and Jasper was shocked by just how huge they were. He'd heard Bella's description from Edward and Carlisle had met with their Alpha Sam Uley when they had gotten back from Italy.
Each wolf was easily as tall as a man, the russet brown and the black wolf in the centre were the largest and Jasper found himself tensing as they approached rapidly from the tree line.
Most of the pack slowed as they got within 20 yards and spread out to form a loose half circle opposite the vampires. The black wolf settled opposite Carlisle, but the russet wolf kept going, changing in a rapid burst of heat to the form of a very young, very naked, very angry man.
"What the fuck did you do to my cousin?"
Ah this must be Jacob. Instead of feeling threatened Jasper just felt happy that Harrison had family that clearly cared.
Judging by the way Jacob was currently holding Carlisle in the air suspended by his shirt collar he cared a lot.
"We made a mistake." Jasper found himself speaking before his brain had really decided that was a good idea. "We did something that hurt Harrison. It was unintentional, and Harrison left before we could explain; I just want to make sure he's okay."
Jacob dropped Carlisle who landed lightly on his feet, looking ruffled but unbothered, and stalked towards Jasper. He didn't even glance at Bella as he placed himself firmly in front of Jasper. "What did you do to him?" He thrust his pointing finger into Jasper's chest and Jasper let himself be pushed backwards. "If you've bitten him gods help me, I will rip your head from your body and burn this whole house to the ground."
Jesus, the teenager was huge. Jasper had been considered absurdly tall in his time and he had become taller as a vampire.
Jacob still loomed a good half a foot taller than him, and Jasper had to tip his head back to make eye contact. "We didn't bite him."
The pack behind Jacob visibly relaxed but Jacob remained tense, his muscles twitching with repressed movement. "What did you do to him?"
Bella stepped forward and Jasper tried not to look too relieved when Jacob looked away from him. He shared a commiserating glance with Carlisle, the wolves really were huge. "It was Edward, he tried to read Harry's mind and hurt him." Bella glanced nervously at Jasper. "Edward's been sent away for now."
Jasper felt the conflict within Jacob at that news, muddy though the feelings were. Vicious anger mixed with clashing delight and frustration at the news that Edward was no longer here. Jacob was clearly glad the vampire was gone from Forks but equally wanted to enact his own revenge on the vampire who had hurt his cousin.
Jasper could understand the feeling.
Bella continued, moving closer. "I promise you Jake, Edward just thought Harry was another human like me who he couldn't read." Bella glared down at the ground. "He wanted to find out what made Harry different and hurt Harry in the process. No one in the family would have agreed if we had known what he was planning."
"So he just attacked him out of nowhere because he was curious?" Jacob scoffed but didn't look surprised, clearly this was behaviour he expected from Edward.
Jasper was starting to seriously question his own judgement; he had never thought a member of his own family would be a threat to his mate.
But even if Harrison had just been another human Edward's response to not being able to read him had been violently extreme.
Bella looked furious again, "Yup." She bit out.
Edward had attacked someone purely to be able to find out what they were thinking. Jasper was so used to the idea that Edward would know his every thought, Edward had always mourned his inability to give the family true privacy. In the same way that Alice couldn't prevent her visions and none of them could prevent their hearing.
He'd assumed that if Edward could choose not to listen, he would do.
Bella, he thought, had initially been interesting to Edward because he couldn't read her. Jasper had once heard him describe being around Bella as calming.
So why was he so hell bent on opening up Harry's mind? Surely it would be another source of calm quiet.
"What happened?" Jake interrupted his thoughts with a quiet question, his anger seemed to be dissipating now he knew that the culprit wasn't present.
Bella launched into a description of what had happened in the cafeteria, explaining that Edward had asked her to see if she could convince Harrison to sit with them so they could get to know him better.
Jasper looked at Bella, considering, Edward had certainly embraced spending as much time as possible close to the only person who gave him perfect silence. Even before there were romantic feelings.
He'd always assumed that it was relaxing for him. Maybe that wasn't the real reason he was so fixated.
"Edward called his name and when he turned around Harry-" Bella cut herself off. "It was horrible. He was in so much pain." She grimaced and looked down again.
"We didn't have time to react, and then well, you know." She made an exploding motion with her hands. "None of us knew about Harry's magic." Bella was peering curiously up at Jake who was staring at her slack jawed.
The confusion rising in the wolves made something very clear.
They hadn't known about the magic either.
Fuck.
Three more of the wolves moved forwards, quickly bursts changing them back into teenagers. The biggest one immediately muscled past Jacob, "What the fuck are you talking about?"
Jacob half-heartedly grabbed at the teen's shoulder, "Quil-"
"No, don't give us these bullshit excuses. Magic my ass, the only thing magic about Harry is his fucking uncanny ability to be in the middle of any trouble." Quil jabbed his finger toward Bella. "You've fucked around enough with this pack. Don't talk shit about our friend like he's not just as human as you are."
"He blew up the cafeteria and then fixed it with the swish of stick, I am not making this up!" Bella's eyes were flashing with rage and she gestured back just as aggressively.
Bella had clearly had enough of people yelling at her today.
Jasper hadn't realised she had it in her to reach this volume. She clearly wasn't an alien. He would have to tell Harrison. If he ever spoke to him again.
"Jake, I promise you I'm not lying. He disappeared right in front of me! One second, he was there and next second, he disappeared!"
"Look here leech lover-" Quil was moving into Bella's space when one of the other wolves pulled him back.
"Quil, stop it."
"Fuck off Embry, we all know Harry, if he was magic we'd have fucking noticed!" The other wolf just sighed and looked up at the sky.
"Quil just listen for one fucking moment in your life." The two teenagers started poking at each other looking younger by the second.
It was easy to forget these wolves were even younger than Bella until they did something stupid, something like starting wrestling in front of a potentially hostile group of vampires.
Jasper watched the black wolf roll his eyes; he didn't think he'd ever seen a wolf wear that particular expression of exasperation before.
"Quil, Embry stop it." The youngest teen that had joined them in human form pushed at both of them until they were paying attention again, looking red-faced and embarrassed but also deeply defiant.
Teenagers.
The youngest teen gestured at Jacob, or more accurately Jacob's face. "Look. Does he look surprised to you?" Jacob had been watching the descent into teenaged griping absentmindedly, but he was clearly thinking hard. Too focused on the middle distance to pay proper attention. "Want to share with the group Jake."
Jacon jerked violently when he heard his name called and was clearly taken aback to see most of the eyes in the clearing focused on him.
Embry poked him. "Why aren't you surprised that Harry's apparently magic?"
"Erm well." Jacob cringed. "Billy might have mentioned something about our English family being magic way back." The opened mouthed horror his friends were staring at him with was clearly not the reaction he was expecting. "It was hundreds of years ago! Billy figured Harry was probably born without magic, like our ancestor, if he'd come to live near us. They don't let anyone without magic stick around so it didn't seem important to bring it up." Jacob muttered something about family secrets which clearly didn't cut it with any of the pack judging by the wolfy snorts.
"You didn't think it was important to bring up that your new cousin from England might be a magician." Embry was now stood shoulder to Quil, facing Jacob with their arms crossed.
"I think they called themselves wizards. Billy said it was a family secret." Jacob was rubbing the back of his head, clearly not quite clear on what exactly happening.
"Whatever the fuck they're called that is still key information Jacob Black." Quill hissed at him eyes narrowed.
Embry was rubbing his face with his hand. "Jake. You remember I'm also your cousin right?"
"What?"
"Most of the tribe is related to the Black family in some way, are you telling me that this family secret wasn't relevant to other relatives."
Jake looked floored. "I'd forgotten that."
All the wolves seemed to be silently judging the young shapeshifter at this point.
The young one piped up at the back, "It would explain the mints."
That seemed to cause another ripple from the wolves and Quil looked like he was about the explode. What was so important about some mints?
"Oh that bastard." Quil was quaking with rage, "That bloody squirrel followed me for days."
Jasper pulled a complete blank on that one.
"Erm." Embry glanced at Jasper and Bella. "You might want to back up. That squirrel was really annoying. It's a sore point for Quil."
Jasper was not sure when this conversation had deviated so thoroughly into territory he was so deeply confused by. But whatever had happened with a magical squirrel would have to wait, he grabbed Bella and rapidly moved out of range.
Quil burst into a flurry of chocolate brown fur which quickly caused Embry and the younger one to drop back into their wolf forms, leaving Jacob looking out of place in the middle of 3 fighting wolves.
Jasper heard a heavy sigh and the sound of a face meeting palm. A sound he was mostly familiar with because of Emmett. He seemed to inspire that reaction with alarming frequency.
The black wolf had turned back into a human and was now stood next to Carlisle rubbing the bridge of his nose. Presumably this was La Push pack Alpha, Sam Uley.
Carlisle coughed politely to get his attention and Sam looked up glaring, clearly having forgotten the vampires were even there. "Would you like to move this inside? We can provide clothing for as many as you would like, and we can have a conversation about what we might need to do about this."
Jacob seemed to suddenly realise he was still stood naked in front of strangers and worst of all, Bella. He abruptly looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him.
Jasper was glad the emotions he got from the wolves were muted because he really didn't want to feel the full impact from the waves of mortification running off Jacob.
Sam glared at Carlisle before looking back at the wolves who were now taking it in turns to push a brightly blushing Jacob over. He sighed again. "That might be best."
Ten minutes later they were sitting either side of an invisible line through the centre of the living room. Sam, Jacob and Sam's deputy Jared were sat awkwardly in Emmett's sweatpants which were the only clothes in the house that would remotely fit them. Jasper could already see from the shine in Alice's eyes that lack of clothing wasn't going to be a problem if there was ever a next time.
Emmett and Rosalie had made themselves scarce, leaving Alice, Jasper, and Carlisle to represent the coven.
And Bella to represent herself.
The only person who seemed remotely happy about the situation was Esme who was finally getting to use all the groceries she bought to keep up appearances. She was humming happily to herself as she buzzed around the kitchen building what he was sure would end up being a humongous charcuterie board.
Jasper broke the silence. "None of you have heard from Harrison?"
Jacob scoffed before falling silent when Sam glared at him. "No, Harry isn't answering his phone. And for some reason I can't remember his address." He frowned down at his hands. "I guess that could be the whole magic thing."
Jasper paused, he hadn't quite gotten to the point of referring to it as magic in his mind, struggling to fit the idea of magic with his idea of Harrison.
But Jacob seemed to know that that was what it was.
"Magic or not, the pack is concerned that you attacked a Forks resident." Sam glanced at Jacob. "A resident with a connection to the pack and apparently with no provocation."
Carlisle looked Sam in the eye, earnestness pouring out of every pore. "I promise you that the attack was a mistake, we greatly regret causing Harrison pain."
"His name is Harry." Jacob was still staring at his hands.
"Harry." Carlisle nodded lightly at Jacob even if he wasn't looking. "We want to do our best to make up for the actions of our family, Harry's health and happiness are important to us."
This time both Jacob and Jared scoffed before sending apologetic looks at Sam who just sighed. "That being said, this is still a possible breach of the treaty. The elders will not be happy to hear that your actions put a teenager in danger."
Bella interrupted, "The treaty only covers biting humans as you made clear in March, the treaty wasn't broken."
"You an expert in leeches now Bells?" Jacob jumped in, his tone mocking.
"I care about what my friends care about."
"Like which wildlife makes the best snack maybe."
"Jacob." Sam cut them off, to the relief of everyone else in the room, before turning back to Carlisle. "Whilst the terms have not been broken I am concerned about the spirit of our agreement, I am not sure I can believe that you care about the health of someone your family were so willing to harm. We will need guarantees this does not happen again."
"Edward acted on his own." Carlisle reassured him, "He will not be allowed to do so again. I can promise you that Harry will never be threatened or harmed by a member of my coven ever again." Carlisle made eye contact with Sam and Jasper, something that didn't go unnoticed.
Jacob focused on Jasper, and none of the embarrassed teenager from earlier remained. His glare was intense. "You're friends with Harry, he mentioned you sat next to each other in Spanish."
Jasper was suddenly very aware of Jacob's power. Harry would listen to him.
"I hope Harrison still considers us friends, I value his friendship highly." Jasper focused on keeping his voice calm, not letting any of the panic he was feeling bleed into his voice.
Jacob's nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed. "Why are you afraid?"
Rosalie would be laughing at him somewhere else in the house, he had completely forgotten about the pack's sense of smell. "He means a lot to me."
"As a friend."
"In any way he'd have me." Well, that was more honest than he had been intending.
The wolves were looking at him with similar looks of horror. Yes, looks like Jacob would not approve of a vampire getting that close to his cousin.
Jesus why had he said it like that.
The silence stretched uncomfortably, only broken by Esme's slightly tuneless humming as she bustled over with a tray full of various cold cuts, cheese and pickles.
She happily handed plates out to the wolves and under her silent prodding the wolves started to fill their plates. Muttering thanks as each of them started to mechanically chew on whatever came to hand easiest.
Jared was chewing on a clump of leaves that Jasper was reasonably sure was intended to be decorative.
He had broken the wolves by implying he wanted more than friendship with one of their cousins.
Maybe he should just say something about trees, that always seemed to work for Harrison. He was about to open his mouth and say something stupid about the forest when Alice chipped in. "Don't worry about Jasper ever hurting Harry. Harry is a very good friend of his." Thank God Alice was here to help him not sound like a completely lovesick moron. "We call it a mate call but to use your words for it, Jasper has imprinted on Harry." Goddammit Alice.
"Fuck." Jasper would have been impressed by how much feeling Sam managed to convey with one word if he wasn't too busy panicking.
This was not how he imagined introducing himself to Harrison's family. Until this afternoon he hadn't been aware there was a family to be introduced to and he had already fucked it up 2 hours later.
Jacob laughed, only slightly hysterical. "Oh fucking good luck explaining that to Harry. He's going to eat you alive."
That wasn't ominous at all.
Sam sighed and rubbed his face. "If that is the case I think we can leave you to deal with the incident, if anything further happens we will need to take further steps." He turned to Jacob as he got up to leave. "Jake you can stay here as this concerns your family but this is no longer a pack problem. As a relation I can give you permission to let Harry know about the pack. It will be up to you and Billy to decide if he is going to be involved any further."
Jake nodded to Sam but also rose to leave.
No, no, no, no.
This wasn't the way Jasper had expected this to go wrong but it was still going very wrong.
Esme already came back with Tupperware for the large amount of food still left on the table. She had somehow pulled together a sort of sling that might fit on a wolf.
Jacob was leaving and he still had no way of talking to Harry.
Jacob was leaving with some very sensitive information that had the potential to alienate Harry even further.
"Please." Jasper blurted out, before he could stop himself. "Please don't tell Harry about my feelings, I want the chance to tell him myself." If Jasper had ever wondered what begging would sound like he was reasonably sure he knew now. "He told Bella he was going to leave, I can't lose him, please. If he contacts you please tell him how sorry I am and how much I want to speak to him."
Jacob just laughed and Jasper briefly pictured strangling him. "Yeah I'll pass on the message." He looked back and for the first time Jasper saw the family resemblance between him and Harry. His eyes were pure mischief and his smirk was very familiar. "I won't tell him about the whole imprint thing but just so you know, any explanation of us a pack is inevitably going to have a bit of information about you leeches. Did you let him know about the whole blood sucking thing? Because Harry once told me he didn't even really get human hunters, too violent for him."
Well shit.
Harry to woke to Crookshanks steadily pressing all four of his paws into Harry's face, he wasn't sure how the large cat was managing it balance wise. But where there is a will there is a way, and Crookshanks had willed that he would wake now.
He was still confused by why people bought cats. He'd had Crookshanks for 20 years and they got on pretty well most of the time. But then he did shit like this and Harry questioned ever accepting the half-kneazle, half- chaos gremlin into his life.
Mrs Weasley had talked a good talk about how unhappy a cat would be stuck at the Burrow and how much happier he would be travelling with Harry. With a healthy dose of how much it would have meant to Hermione.
Mrs Weasley had no shame.
He found out after the fact that Crookshanks had driven off 3 postmen, destroyed most of Mr Weasley's ties and given Percy a new cat phobia. All seemingly for the pure joy of causing chaos.
Harry got it, chaos was fun. But dammit, Harry hadn't been able to shower without warding the curtain for 20 years. Every time he forgot he would end up scratched and bleeding on the floor with Crookshanks grooming himself on Harry's chest.
A glance at the window told him it was early evening, the last golden light of dusk fading as the forest got darker around his cabin.
Despite Forks generally being overcast Harry always seemed to manage to get some clear sky over his cabin and he could just see the brightest stars becoming visible in the twilight sky.
The dog star shining bright, framed perfectly through his bedroom window.
There was a slow insistent push on the wards, almost like a questing finger pressed against his mental awareness of the ward array.
Harry sighed. All he wanted to do was mope under the covers, today had scraped over a wound he hadn't realised was still so raw. His dreams had been filled with snakes, corridors and sparkling blue eyes over half-moon glasses.
He found the motivation to push himself by imagining Molly Weasley threatening him with disappointed eyes, it didn't stop the long, drawn-out groan as he left the warm cocoon of his duvet.
He quickly pulled a jumper on over his PJs and strapped his wand holsters on, he didn't really need either of them but the familiar habit from his days as an auror made him feel a bit more awake. Even if he probably would have put on a few more clothes if this was actually an auror call.
He rubbed his eyes and apparated to the edge of his wards by to the east, the ward line was in forest and there was little difference between his side of the fence and the other.
Except on this side of the fence was a sleepy wizard and on that side of the fence was a very sad looking vampire.
Well, fuck. He was awake now.
He'd assumed his first visitor would be Jake or Billy, the forest location should have probably tipped him off. As far as he knew the Cullen house was somewhere off in the woods on this side of town.
He looked at Jasper who couldn't see him yet, the wards were still intact. He was pacing, back and forth, occasionally trying to reach out to the ward line at which point his eyes would fog and he'd suddenly move rapidly away from the border before dragging himself back a couple of minutes later to pace back and forth again.
It was fascinating watching someone react to the muggle repelling wards, he hadn't realised that his wards would classify the Cullen flavour of vampire as muggles. He wondered if Jasper was fighting the instinct to check if he'd left the oven on or if the wards had responded to his slightly different priorities.
Whilst he was waiting for Jasper to make his way back from his latest attempt Harry pulled out his phone to thumb through messages.
Merlin, he had a lot from Jacob. He threw a glare at the part of the forest Jasper had disappeared into. They better not have brought his cousin into this.
Bro, call me now. It's urgent.
Harry, stop ignoring me it's important.
Call me.
Why can't I remember your address
Harry if this is a prank so help me god I will end you
Harry please, Billy is really worried call me back
If the cullens hurt you you need to tell me now
Harry the tribe is getting involved you need to call me now
18 missed calls.
And the texts continued, bloody hell.
You did magic on the cullens?! What the fuck Harry.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He had already been planning on telling Jake and Billy but it was going to be in a controlled environment. It probably would involved whisky or at least a lot of tea and a calming draught.
Dude, Quil is so pissed. He said the squirrel was super fishy.
Embry wants to know if unicorns are real and Seth said your Cullen is kind of hot.
His Cullen?
Why did Quil and Embry know?
Harry groaned into his hand, clearly whatever they were had gotten involved. Of course, the two supernatural clans in town would know about each other.
And now know about him which was probably the reason he currently had a frustrated looking vampire hanging out on the other side of the wards.
A frustrated looking vampire who was currently staring at a spot pretty close to where Harry was standing.
The woods were still darkening around him, Harry sighed, he was going to have to deal with this now or he wasn't going to get any sleep.
He thumbed a quick message to Jake.
Sorry I was asleep, tell Quil he deserved the squirrel and yes unicorns are real, no I can't show you one.
Tell Seth I have no idea what he's talking about and tell Billy I'm sorry for worrying him.
Let me know when you want to talk. Speak tomorrow.
He opened the ward line and watched as Jasper's eyes immediately zoned in on him. He looked desperate; his golden eyes were darker than he'd ever seen them.
"Harrison."
Harry shivered and looked away.
"Sounds like we're due a conversation." He gestured to his phone. "I'll see you back at the cabin."
And then he apparated. No point hiding the magic now.
That cat was firmly out of the bag.
He settled into one of his armchairs and summoned a glass and his decanter of scotch. He was going to need it. Did wannabe vampires drink scotch? It didn't matter he decided, he wasn't sharing.
Jasper could get his own scotch.
His phone vibrated and he opened the screen to see another text from Jake.
We've got a lot to catch up on, can't believe the leeches found out first. Movie night at yours tomorrow, Quil insisted.
Well, that answered the question about whether or not Jake's weird club knew about the Cullen's weird club.
He also clearly knew something he wasn't saying, Jake was just oozing smug.
Now they knew about him he was going to be far less restrained with his hexing.
A couple of seconds later there was a polite knock on the door, Harry scoffed, he knew Jasper's flavour of vampire didn't need an invitation. This was just annoying manners from what was probably an old man in a shiny young vampire body.
Not that Harry could really throw stones in the whole not the age he seemed department.
He opened the door with a wave and lit a fire in the fireplace so he could stare it moodily instead of looking at Jasper.
Yes, he was being dramatic. But he deserved it, it had been a long day.
He wished Crookshanks had come out so he could stroke him like a bond villain, really complete the look.
"Harrison, I am so sorry."
Dammit why did he sound pretty. Didn't he know Harry was trying to hate him properly.
He glared down at the amber liquid swirling around in his glass.
"I couldn't stop him in time, I didn't know he was going to do it but I should have acted sooner when I saw he was hurting you. I'm so sorry." He sounded sorry. Harry felt around him for any emotional manipulation, holding his barely reconstructed occlumency shields close.
A big part of him wanted to stay silent and see what else the revenant would say. A bigger part of him was hurt and angry because Jasper wasn't even apologising for the right things.
Ignoring him would serve him right.
"I'm not angry at Edward." Harry was talking before his brain caught up. He'd always been terrible at the not talking part of ignoring someone. "No, I mean, I am angry at Edward. He's a prick and he's lucky I didn't curse him. But that's not the problem."
He looked Jasper in the eye for the first time since he'd entered Harry's home. Looking into his eyes and feeling the instinctive pull he'd been feeling since Jasper and him had first become friends, it used to make him feel hopeful. Now it just made him angrier.
"How much of it was real?"
Jasper just looked confused which make him want to spit fire.
"How much of this" he gestured angrily between them, "is real, and how much is something you projected into me?"
"Projected? I don't-" Jasper cut himself off and looked at Harry with dawning joy. "You feel it too?"
"What." Harry was going to kill him.
Jasper had spent the last 3 hours resolutely pushing himself towards what he was reasonably sure was Harrison's property line, all the maps he'd looked at indicated this was the area. Even though no one could remember the exact address one of the local amazon delivery men had helped point him in the right direction.
Apparently, he was up here all the time.
Unfortunately, every time he got close, he would suddenly decide he needed to go home and wash his hair.
Or check the oil in his car.
Or he was suddenly really hungry and was craving a hamburger.
Or he just really needed to get to a dentist appointment.
If he wasn't desperate to see Harrison the excuses his brain was suddenly feeding him would be funny but as it was he was finding it hard to feel anything but anxiety.
He felt the brush of something against his legs and was momentarily distracted from his need to get to his friend's birthday party by a ginger cat who was winding itself around his legs.
He reached a hesitantly down to gently stroke the cat that was purring and rubbing against his jeans.
He tried to convince himself that he didn't even have a friend called Dave, let alone have to attend his birthday party, too confused to really pay attention to the cat.
He concentrated back on the cat when it peeled away from him and walked toward the fence he had been trying to touch for whatever reason. He didn't have time to care about a fence he was going to be late to the bar if he didn't leave now, he hadn't even picked up his present for Dave yet.
And then the cat disappeared. Thoughts of Dave and his love for IPAs banished from his mind.
Harrison. Harrison lived here and apparently, he might have a magic disappearing cat.
But he definitely lived here, and Jasper definitely needed to talk to him. Fuck Dave and his stupid 30th birthday party.
Although 30 was a really important birthday and shouldn't Jasper be there to support one of his best friends?
For fuck's sake, he wasn't sure he'd even met someone called Dave in the last decade.
Ten minutes later he'd fought back from his latest set of mental acrobatics, the conviction that someone was breaking into his house, yes really. Right now, and he needed to leave, or he was going to lose all his wedding photos.
What the actual fuck was magic. He hadn't sworn this much in decades.
He could suddenly feel a small spike of something in the direction of the fence. He peered at where he thought he had felt it and couldn't see anything. Not even a depression in the leaves to indicate there was anyone on the other side of the fence.
But somehow, he knew Harrison was there.
And then he was there, Harrison. Standing calmly as if he hadn't been completely invisible seconds before. He was there, actually there.
"Harrison" he breathed and watched with fascination as Harrison shivered.
His hair was sleep mussed and stuck up in random directions, he was wearing a pair of sleep pants and another one of his massive, knitted pullovers. This one had a large R knitted on the front in maroon.
His feet were stuffed into a pair of boots he hadn't laced up and he had two visible holsters strapped to his wrist and his calf but Jasper couldn't see what they held.
Harry sleepily glared up at him and Jasper had never wanted to hug him more, tuck him in his pocket and build him some form of nest.
Jesus his brain was broken.
"Sounds like we're due a conversation." Harrison vaguely waved his phone at Jasper, his voice croaking with disuse. "I'll see you back at the cabin."
And then with the sound of gunshot he twisted on a heel disappeared.
Jasper stared at the empty space he left behind, his mouth open.
He thought back to Bella's earlier description. "Puff," he whispered to himself. No wonder she had been shocked.
He made his way through the woods suddenly hyper aware of every sound or shift of air. It smelt crisp and clear and as he approached the house, he felt a sense of peace settle over him. There were the sounds of a stream, the leaves rustling, and he could hear an owl hooting in the distance.
He knew these woods, it was the same forest that surrounded home, but they had never felt so serene. Never so connected, with every breath he felt anxiety leave him and by the time he reached the door he was calm enough to knock and wait.
It didn't take long for the door to swing open on its own and he was suddenly looking at a cosy living space. The room was a mix of warm colours made warmer by the crackling fire in the grate. It reminded him of what he could remember of his home as a child, not in terms of colours or furniture but because even the air felt comfortable.
Harrison was settled in an armchair with one knee tucked under him and the other propping up his chin as he stared at the fire. A glass of amber liquid hanging loosely in one hand, the decanter on the coffee table in front of him.
He was focused completely on the fire, so Jasper quietly closed the door behind him and moved to settle on the settee opposite.
He suppressed the urge to find out who had sold a 17-year-old alcohol. Even if he did want to hunt them down and make sure they never did it again.
"Harrison, I am so sorry." That hadn't been where he meant to start but it was the thing he wanted to tell Harrison most. He tried to think about what he'd planned on saying but it was all fleeing his brain rapidly. "I couldn't stop him in time, I didn't know he was going to do it but I should have acted sooner when I saw he was hurting you. I'm so sorry."
Harrison didn't look up, just glared down at the scotch he was swirling around his glass. He took a sip and Jasper watched, fascinated, as a single drop of the fiery liquid remained caught on his lip.
"I'm not angry at Edward", Harrison spoke, finally, but seemed to immediately regret it. He flapped his free hand at Jasper. "No, I mean, I am angry at Edward. He's a prick and he's lucky I didn't curse him. But that's not the problem."
He looked Jasper in the eye and Jasper felt like he could sink into the angry pools of liquid emerald. This was not the time to think about how beautiful Harrison looked when he was angry. He needed to focus on what Harrison was saying if he had any chance of convincing him to stay.
"How much of it was real?"
What? How much of what was real?
Harrison seemed infuriated by his lack of understanding. He gestured angrily, "How much of this real, and how much is something you projected into me?"
"Projected? I don't-" Jasper cut himself off, did Harrison mean that he thought Jasper was forcing him to feel something? Jasper almost gasped with the realisation. "You feel it too?" If Harrison felt something strongly enough to be suspicious that mean- that could mean-
"What." Harrison cut across all his frantic thoughts, refocusing Jasper on the look of aching betrayal scrawled across Harrison's face.
Harrison felt betrayed by him. Not Edward. Harrison wasn't angry about the attack; he was angry at Jasper.
He felt like his thoughts weren't moving fast enough but at the same time were moving too quickly for him to get a grip on them.
He wanted to know what was real and what was projected?
Jasper went cold. It didn't matter what Harrison was feeling or not feeling. Because Harrison thought it was Jasper making him feel that way, thought Jasper had been using his abilities to force him to become his friend.
Harrison thought his feelings weren't real.
"No, no. Please- I didn't-" Jasper could feel his throat closing around nothing, for the second time that day he felt like he desperately needed air and he couldn't drag it in to his lungs. He just stared desperately at Harrison as his brain ran in circles, frozen into spiralling panic. "I never-"
His vision narrowed and he was distantly aware that he was failing at everything. He didn't have a pulse so why was his brain throbbing.
Half-formed words stuttered from him, Harrison thought what he felt was a lie. How could he even start to fix this?
What if it wasn't fixable?
Jasper was pulling hard enough on his hair that some of it was starting to pull loose. How had he managed to fuck things up this much.
Warm hands unwound his fingers from his hair, pulling him forward until his head rested on something soft. Soothing murmurs filled his ears, comforting hands ran in gentle circles on his back.
Jasper sobbed, face dry, pressed into the loose weave of Harrison's knitted pullover. "Please, you're my friend. I promise I never used my powers like that on you. I just wanted everyone to be calm enough to have a conversation. I just wanted to help. I just wanted-"
Harrison shushed him, hand resting lightly on the back of his head, fingers easily threading into his hair and soothing his stinging scalp. Jasper was overwhelmed by the casualness of that touch, he felt like he was floating in a cloud of Harrison. His scent filled his lungs, his touch grounded him in a way he felt like he'd been missing his whole life.
"I'm so sorry."
"It's okay." Jasper felt boneless, leaning his whole weight into Harrison as the relief coursed through him.
Harrison hummed and lightly patted the back of his head and Jasper abruptly decided he never wanted to move again. Vampires could stay still for a long time; he would just stay here.
Comforting a vampire that didn't need to breathe was a confusing situation. He kept expecting to feel the movement of breath under his hands, the feeling of an exhale on his neck.
Jasper had wound himself around Harry like a limpet and Harry was stuck between confusion and delight.
When Jasper had started having what was clearly a weird vampire panic attack Harrison had felt like joining him in his panic. He had expected Jasper to try and test his mental defences, to try and pull on his emotions the way he'd pushed calm into Harry in the cafeteria.
Harry knew what it felt like to be manipulated. Jasper wasn't behaving like a manipulator; he was behaving like he was losing something precious, and Harry couldn't help but react to that.
He pulled Jasper into the Hermione trademarked Panic Attack Hug, pushing and pulling at him until Jasper was resting against him. Letting him press into Harry's comfort jumper, Harry always felt like he could feel the love Mrs Weasley put into her jumpers.
If Lily Potter could protect him on the power of love and blood alone then Molly Weasley could certainly love her children through wool and a pair of knitting needles.
Harry just held on to Jasper until the trembling stopped, lightly shushing Jasper when he tried to gasp out apologies and explanations.
"Shhh," Harry slightly rocked him, moving to lightly pet Jasper's hair, something that had always made Harry feel calmer when Hermione did it. "It's okay. You're okay. We'll sort it out, don't worry. I've got you."
Harry had clearly misunderstood something, he sorted through his feelings. Relief that Jasper wasn't going to attack him. Delight that Jasper might still be his friend, that the feelings he was having weren't part of some kind of grand manipulation. Calm, the process of calming Jasper had grounded him.
Harry was surprised when he felt a gentle exhale against his neck. Jasper was breathing him in, the manual process of taking a breath however unnecessary clearly relaxing him further. The last of the tension seemed to flow out of him on an exhale.
They sat in the moment for long minutes. Silence that finally felt comfortable.
Reluctantly Harry started to pull away, "Are you okay?"
"Yes, thank you." Jasper mumbled, his words almost slurring together. "I'm so sorry."
Harry awkwardly patted Jasper's hand, feeling weird about basically cuddling the vampire into incoherence. He had always felt the same after Hermione was finished, desperate for the contact to never end but deeply embarrassed that he had needed it in the first place. "It's okay. We all need a hug sometimes." That's what Hermione had always said, it never made him feel any better but maybe the reassurance would work on the Vampire.
Harry slowly unwound himself and made his way back to his chair, already missing the feeling of Jasper's cold arms.
Harry decided to ignore that thought and focus on the vampire looking at him mournfully from across the living room. "So to recap, you didn't use your weird emotion powers to trick me into being your friend." He ticked things off on his fingers. "You were just trying to use your powers to keep things calm in the cafeteria. Edward attacked me on his own and I assuming the rest of the family was about as on board as you were."
Jasper nodded.
Harry sighed.
Sometimes he was glad he didn't have any brothers, that shit was complicated.
"Well as long as you promise me not to use your powers to try and change my emotions without my explicit permission, I think we can start again." Jasper nodded fervently.
"Anything else you need to tell me?" Harry glanced up when Jasper curled into himself again. He waved his hand dismissively, "I already know about the whole needs blood to live thing. I'm sure we'll have plenty to talk about on that front and I have a lot of questions. But they can wait."
Jasper was doing an impression of a fish, his mouth hanging completely open.
"Is there anything else?"
