Jasper gaped at Harrison who had just waved his hand flippantly and completely dismissed the news that Jasper was a vampire. He already knew about it.

Whole speeches explaining his existence and trying to make it palatable dissipated under the weight of relief that was coursing through him.

Harrison already knew and was still talking to him, had still invited Jasper into his home. Had still held him.

For a moment Jasper felt like the luckiest creature in the world and then he remembered that he did in fact have something else he needed to tell Harrison. Shit.

Jasper opened his mouth soundlessly a couple of times and Harrison just watched, taking another sip of his scotch. He looked so pretty in firelight. "I love you."

Fuck. Why was he like this.

"No. I mean. That's not what I meant to say. I'm a vampire and that's why." Jasper tried to focus on the words coming out of his mouth, but he appeared to have lost all control. "It's why but it's not, you know? And Jacob said he'd tell you but he can't."

Goddammit. He wasn't making any sense.

"I wanted tell you before he could say something about leeches and now," he gestured helplessly at the room, "the fire, you know? It's just all so pretty and I wanted to not say anything but now I have to even though you don't know it yet."

He spoke 8 languages. Why was this so hard.

"I want to mate you."

Harrison's eyebrows rose and Jasper played back the sentence that had just left his mouth. Wow.

Just wow.

Jasper groaned and buried his head in his hands. "Can I start over?"

Harrison had never been so simultaneously terrified, confused and deeply happy.

When Jasper declared his love and then promptly panicked Harry felt a visceral kind of sympathy. It was interesting to watch a breakdown live from the outside for once.

Harry was ignoring the content of what Jasper was saying for now because he had a feeling that it would cause him a similar level of panic and he figured one of them needed to still be speaking in sentences.

When Jasper descended into a confusing word vomit worthy of Ron. Harry felt his whole being lighten.

He wanted to laugh, joy bubbling under his skin.

Equally he wanted to panic and run away because fuck.

When Jasper decided to deliver what certainly sounded like a proposition he thought he might implode.

It was incredibly endearing how terrible Jasper was at this.

Harry wanted to get one thing straight because literally nothing Jasper had just said made any kind of sense. "This has nothing to do with what happened in the cafeteria earlier?"

That seemed to shake something loose in Jasper because he finally looked up from cradling his face in his hands. "No nothing to do with that." He coughed and stood up, moving closer to where Harry was sat. "It just moved up the timeline to tell you."

Harry had gone from furious to worried to giddy over the last hour, and whilst a big part of him wanted to angle for a less panic induced hug, the sensible voice in his head told him he was way too tired to be making any kind of decisions. And whatever this was sounded like a decision might be needed at the end.

He finished off his scotch and went to tuck the decanter back into his warded cabinet. Sending the glass through to the kitchen with a flick of his fingers.

Jasper stood as soon as he did and for a moment, he wanted to tease Jasper for his southern gentleman showing. Looking at Jasper who was staring gobsmacked after the floating glass, Harry decided this might not be the right moment for teasing, Jasper looked ready to bolt.

Harry cleared his throat, if conversation didn't continue soon Harry was probably going to pass out on him. Trying to figure out how to say that without upsetting an already tense Jasper meant he was he was surprised when Jasper materialised at his elbow.

"Harrison." Jasper was still looking at him urgently. "I still need to tell you something. I wanted to tell you in my own time but well-" He looked embarrassed, "Well, your cousin found out and I still wanted to be the one to tell you."

That was never a good sign. Suddenly Jake's smug messages from earlier seemed ominous.

"Vampires," He gestured to himself and seemed to pause, lost for a moment.

"Vampires." Harry agreed.

Jasper looked at him helplessly. "I'm not sure how you're going to take this."

"Best way to find out is to tell me." Harry was getting nervous now, Jasper's hand was opening and closing on nothing, and Harry wanted nothing more than to grab it.

He settled for closing some of the distance between them which seemed to give Jasper enough of a push to continue.

"You're my mate." Harry felt his lip quirk at the repeat of Jasper's earlier phrasing.

Still, he was confused and this seemed to be important to Jasper

Harry just nodded, "Yeah, I consider you a mate too." He glanced at Jasper who seemed to be frozen between delight and confusion. "We've been friends for a while though, right?"

Jasper just blinked at him.

Harry blinked back.

"I don't mean friend although I'm happy to be your friend." Jasper said hesitantly

Harry was very confused. "Okay."

"It's very rare but sometimes Vampires find their mates. True mates."

Harry felt like an idiot. Jasper wasn't English, of course mate didn't mean friend. He blushed as the reality of what Jasper was saying sunk in.

"With you I feel the call of a true mate. Rosalie and Emmett felt it too. It's a pull between us, it is one of the few things all Vampires hold sacred. No one is allowed to stand between true mates."

Harry could feel his heart pounding in his throat. "We're mates?" He'd had some idea of where the conversation might be going from Jasper's confused muttering but this still managed to completely surprise him. Still he had to check. "Like soul-mates, not meet you down the pub for a quick pint-mates?"

Jasper stared back at him, eyes oozing genuine, earnest feeling. "Only if you want to be." Jasper glanced down at where his hands were still clasped into fists. "It doesn't have to mean a romantic relationship; some mate bonds can be completely platonic."

"But you want a romantic relationship."

"I do." Jasper was nodding fervently.

Harry suddenly felt very awake.

"Is this your really weird way of asking me on a date?"

If vampires could blush Harry was sure Jasper would be fire engine red, Harry hadn't felt this giddy since his first kiss with Ginny.

Jasper briefly stuttered but moved closer. Boxing Harry in between the booze cabinet and the walkway through to the kitchen. "That is, erm, I would be delighted if you would do me the honour of going on a date with me?"

Jasper was adorable.

A big part of Harry wanted to ask it they'd have a proper chaperone just to see if he could send Jasper into even more confusing vocal loops. But that part of him also sounded a lot like Sirius and taking any dating advice from Sirius, or any voice that sounded like him, was a terrible choice.

Harry was shocked to realise how much he wanted this. The mate thing was something he'd have to think about later but the thought of a date with Jasper filled him with joy.

"I'd love to." Harry decided straightforward was the way to go with the day he'd had. He reached forward and lightly grasped Jasper's still fluttering hands.

Jasper looked delighted, he bounced slightly on his heels and beamed a smile down on Harry.

Merlin, there was not a lot Harry wouldn't do to be smiled at like that. Harry's new life aims, he decided quickly, were going to revolve around making sure that smile was sent his way as frequently as possible.

He would have to establish some ground rules, like you should never turn down a date from a pretty vampire that you had been not so subtly crushing on for a month already just because your inner voice told you to cause chaos.

Thou shalt not keep him out with muggle repelling wards.

Thou shalt always hold Jasper's hand when he was looking awkward.

Morgana's tits Harry could already tell he was going to be sappy. He felt like he was actually 17 again.

Merlin, they had a lot to talk about. Harry looked down at Jasper's hands, still grasped in his. A talk he knew couldn't happen tonight.

"I need to get some sleep." Harry felt like he was admitting a weakness, but he knew his brain was not running at full capacity, he was probably going to be deeply mortified by this conversation in the morning.

Tiredness seemed to be suppressing his embarrassment. And wasn't that a feeling he wished he could achieve without feeling like he was going to keel over any moment.

His eyes were already struggling to remain open.

Jasper nodded, still smiling. "I'll send you a message tomorrow."

"Sounds good." Harry pulled off his jumper and toed off his boots, his holsters unwrapping themselves and placing themselves in their usual place by his bedside.

He was back in his PJs and he followed his floating wands through into his bedroom

"Umm Harry?" Harry registered that Jasper was awkwardly hovering in his bedroom doorway and he looked back at him, confused by this latest barrier between him and his duvet. "Do you think I could get your phone number?"

The silence was loud for a moment. Harry mentally paged back through their conversation.

Harry collapsed into hopeless giggles. "We are terrible at this."

Jasper just grinned at him helplessly.

Jasper felt like he was going to explode with happiness.

Harrison was curled up laughing on his bed, his bed head still looked overwhelmingly adorable, looking up at Jasper with bright green eyes. "How do I know you can be trusted with my number?" Harrison grinned at him, blinking sleepily. "Maybe you'll use it to prank call me."

Jasper just smiled back. "Maybe I will."

Harry made grabby hands at him and Jasper handed over his phone. Harrison typed in his number and he heard a text tone from somewhere under the covers. "At least I'll be able to prank you back this way."

Jasper smiled down at Harrison as he burrowed his way under the covers. "Goodnight Harrison."

The answer when it came was muffled by an extraordinary number of pillows. "Night Jasper."

He made his way out of Harrison's cabin, stopping to gently scratch behind the ears of the huge orange cat that was now perched on the porch.

"Thank you." He felt slightly stupid talking to the cat, but the intelligent eyes that looked back at him made him sure that his thanks were received.

He glanced down at his phone, they were doing this all out of order but he finally had Harrison's number.

He thumbed to the message Harrison had sent to himself.

One day this guy will call me Harry already, Jeez.

Well then.

He left Harry's cabin, taking a moment to breathe in the quiet calm of this section of the forest. As soon as he passed the fence he felt the familiar confusion about Harry's address settle back over him.

He was too buoyant on Harry's forgiveness to even care whether he was leaving to go home or to attend his sister's dance recital.

He was going to have to ask Harry about that.

By the time Jasper arrived back home Bella had already been bundled back home by an excited Alice who was apparently looking forward to her first 'official' sleepover.

He reassured his family that Harry was no longer angry with him and had been told the necessary details. He left out how blasé Harry had been about the vampire reveal. No need to make his family worry.

Part of him revelled in that fact that he could choose not to share. Edward wasn't here to reveal everything.

They were concerned about what was going to happen to Edward but for now that concern was left hanging. Jasper wasn't going to do anything without discussing it with Harry.

His family disappeared, leaving him alone in the main house. They were all very good at pretending they couldn't hear exactly what everyone was getting up to, but Jasper was pleased to get whatever limited privacy he could.

Not having Edward listening in for once felt like a physical weight off. Usually, he had to leave town to get any mental space from his brother and standing in the Cullen house and not having to worry about his brother's reactions felt freeing.

He settled into the settee in the main room and pulled out a notebook. His memory was perfect but there was something soothing about the process of writing a list.

Questions for Harrison

He crossed out Harrison and replaced it with Harry. He knew he was being old fashioned by current standards, but his mother would have had his head if he hadn't called Harry Mr. Black until he was invited to do otherwise.

Harry Black.

Honestly, in retrospect it should not have been a surprise he was related to the La Push Blacks. Why else would a 17-year-old move to a random small town in the US?

Even if that 17-year-old was clearly not a normal 17-year-old.

Jasper had clearly been ignoring some things about Harry.

Jasper mused, it wasn't like he hadn't thought Harrison was special. Just more in a 'he has really pretty eyes' or 'his voice makes me want to physically, literally melt' kind of way. Not in a 'lightning coming from his fingertips' and 'terrifyingly loud teleportation' kind of way.

Jasper was delighted. His mate was incredible.

Question 1.

What else can you do?

Jasper was trying not to get too excited, but the teleportation was clearly not the only physics defying thing Harry could do.

The way he had casually levitated the things around him with a casual flick of his fingers.

The way he had apparently repaired the cafeteria with what might be an actual magical wand.

His weirdly intelligent cat. Could his cat talk? Jasper was suddenly picturing Harry with a sassy animal sidekick, and it would fit into the whole Sabrina the Teenage Witch vibe.

Can your cat talk?

Jasper stared at that question for a moment before crossing it out. There were more important things surely.

And if Harry's cat couldn't talk, he would look insane.

Are there more magic people?

Is that why he moved, to avoid them? Are all magic people British?

How does the border around your cabin work?

What do you know about Vampires?

Why are you in Forks?

Why didn't you tell the Black's about your magic?

Why are you completing high school?

If you could make things float with your mind Jasper figured there was very little reason for you to be studying Physics.

In fact, if you knew things could float did physics even mean anything anyway?

But things weren't just randomly floating, Harrison was making them float so magic had to be some kind of force? Or maybe it altered the make-up of things to make it lighter than air?

Or it just asked them nicely. Who knows.

Harry was very polite after all.

Do you like Bowling?

Jasper stared at the question that seemed to have written itself of its own volition.

Why did he suddenly care about what Harry thought about bowling?

He'd asked Harry on a date.

Fuck.

Where did you take a magic teenager on a date?

Edward and Bella just seemed to go hiking or hang out at home. Both of those things could be fun, the fact that Harry had actively chosen to live in the forest indicated that he might be interested in hiking.

He would enjoy having Harrison in his home. He wanted his family to love him, to see how wonderful and special he was.

And his family were already eager to meet him.

But he also wanted to go out and do things with him. Everything about Harry screamed his enthusiasm for life.

He could do the normal dating/courtship rituals and take him for dinner, but Harry knew he was a vampire, wouldn't the fact that he didn't eat make it awkward?

Or a movie? They hadn't talked much about movies yet, mostly occasional complaints from Harry about how weird The Terminator films were. Maybe he was into action films? Or classics? Were the Terminator films considered classics at this point?

He was suddenly regretting his relatively small DVD collection. Emmett was the film guy and Jasper would rather remove his own ears than ask him for help.

Harry seemed to be in a constant state of discovery when it came to music, equally fascinated to hear about music from Jasper's favourite musicals or some kind of terrible pop Angela was listening to. He seemed more enthusiastic about the idea of music than anything specific.

At least he knew a lot about Harry's reading preferences from class, Harry loved poetry with an unlikely intensity. He liked the work of Oscar Wilde and Austen, and he loved Shakespeare's Comedies.

He loved Lord of the Rings, he had an old, clearly loved copy that he said was once his mother's. One of the few times Jasper had heard him make any mention of his parents.

Jasper had caught a glimpse of the inscription on the title page when Harry paged through it in class.

Dear Lily,

Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Severus.

But that opened more questions than it answered and didn't really help him plan a date. Most dates didn't involve reading even if that would be more fun than sitting in a restaurant watching other people eat.

Maybe he could ask Jacob what kind of things Harry might be interested in doing for dates?

He could imagine that going well.

His family seemed to be happy to leave him to his list writing, so he had no one to ask. Rosalie and Emmett were doing something unspeakable in the garage and Carlisle and Esme were quietly chatting about the Hospital in his father's office.

Not that they'd be much help, dating wasn't really a vampire thing.

He pulled out his phone and scrolled down to number he'd had since last year and had never used. Hmm. Yes.

Hello Angela, this is Jasper Cullen. Hope you are well. Apologies for disturbing your evening. I was hoping to ask for your help on a matter involving Harrison. I am hoping-

This was why he didn't try to make friends at school. He was reasonably sure this wasn't how teenagers talked.

Hi Angela, Jasper here. Sorry for messaging out of the blue. Hope you are having a lovely evening; it may be a surprise to you but I asked Harry-

Why couldn't he just write a letter? Even emails were better than this.

Hey. It's Jasper. I asked Harry out on a date and have no idea where to take him. Help?

Send.

Well fuck.

Why did he think this was a good idea?

Why couldn't he unsend a text?

The next ten minutes felt like a decade.

Hi Jasper! I am so happy you guys are getting together, so cute 3 Harry mentioned that he'd never seen the Lord of the Rings films? I think they are doing a marathon at The Rose Theatre in Port Angeles next week. Or you can always do a more relaxed marathon at home? 12

Jasper stared at the winky face.

The winky face stared back.

On autopilot he ordered the extended editions boxset on Amazon and prebooked tickets to the cinema.

Always best to be ready for any eventuality.

He may not have been a boy scout, but the army had still ground in the importance of preparing for every eventuality. He had to make sure that if Harry would prefer to watch in the comfort of his own home that was an option.

It had nothing to do with the potential snuggling opportunities.

It had everything to do with the fact that Angela was a genius.

He stared down at his list.

Jesus, the time was going to pass slowly until he could speak to Harry again.

He narrowed his eyes at the kitchen. He would need snacks if they watched it at home. Maybe he could convince Esme to teach him to cook something hobbity.

When Harry woke in the morning it took him a long time to convince himself that yesterday happened and even longer to convince himself to get out from under the covers.

He sent in a message to the school letting them know that he hadn't recovered from his imaginary stomach bug and would be taking another day off.

Harry shuffled around the kitchen in his pyjamas, embracing the quiet solitude of his cabin as he made himself a cup of tea and went to sit out on the porch. It was overcast as usual but not actively raining so he had just pulled on an extra pair of woolly socks and a jumper.

Tucking his feet under him he cast a cushioning charm on the already padded bench and settled in to listen to the birdsong.

The birds were different here, but the effect was the same. It reminded him of early mornings at the Burrow. All he was missing was the bustle of Molly in the kitchen and the chorus of distant snores from various Weasley children.

At least he didn't have any gnomes to deal with here.

Crookshanks would see them off if any did decide to try and settle.

He caught a flash of blue and watched with fascination as a pair of vibrantly coloured birds settled in the tree closest to the cabin. He watched as they pressed their wings together, rubbing lightly at each other's feathers. Setting into each other with a happy twist.

They were completely silent, the rest of the birdsong flowing around them. Harry hadn't realised they had Jobberknolls in North America but he'd always liked the silent birds. Their plumage was so vibrant.

Maybe he should set up some bird boxes, maybe he'd be able to lure some more to settle around the clearing.

Harry sipped his tea and hummed quietly to himself.

So he had a mate apparently. Or at least a vampire who wanted to be his mate.

And really, Jasper had no reason to lie. It would be a weird angle to take after the whole Edward thing and frankly it was miraculous that yesterday's conversation had been so productive, Harry certainly hadn't been in the most productive of moods.

Jasper was interested in him. What a novel concept.

It had been at least a decade since he was last romantically interested in someone and the last time had been a fleeting thing born out of a mutually dangerous situation and too much time trapped in a tent together.

Draco and him had agreed to never speak of it again.

And that he would stop spreading the rumour that Draco was Celestina Warbeck's secret love child.

Which was a shame because that one had legs, he'd had to withdraw the anonymously sourced article in the Quibbler about Celestina's long term affair with her Lucy-baby.

He'd even come up with a brilliant title, My Mother Will Hear About This: The Malfoy's Biggest Secret.

He figured it was revenge for all the times Draco had told the papers Harry was insane.

It's not his fault that he was just more inventive in his press releases. Really Draco just needed to up his game.

He was successfully distracting himself from the fact that he had agreed to go on a date with Jasper. He would go into a squeaky panic later when he was more caffeinated.

He still needed to decide what he was going to do. Now the panic had faded he was less inclined to blow up his life and move on. The vampires seemed unlikely to say anything to anyone in the short-term but he'd probably have to extract a vow to make sure it stayed that way.

Jacob was family.

He trusted Jake's friends but would probably need to ask what they were exactly in order to work out if he needed to take any further steps to protect his identity and the whole statute thing.

He probably needed to decide on what his stance was with Edward and lay down some ground rules with all parties involved. He wasn't particularly interested in setting up a full treaty but would if he had to.

And Edward wasn't going to get away unscathed by this. The guy deserved some serious consequences.

He didn't think it was a good idea to kill his potential boyfriend's brother but it was still very tempting.

His phone buzzed and when he looked down, he had two messages.

One from Jasper.

Good morning.

Why was he blushing?

One from Angela.

I hear a certain handsome blonde finally asked you out! Can't wait to hear all about it when you're feeling better 3 Don't worry, I'll have a copy of my Spanish and Chemistry notes for you when you're back!

How had Angela found out?!

He looked down at Jasper's message. Hmm.

Good morning to you too.

Did you tell Angela you asked me on a date?

Yes, sorry.

No apologies needed, was just surprised to get a text from her this morning

I'm so sorry.

Don't be

Would I be able to come over this afternoon? I think we have a lot still to discuss.

Sure. I'm free all day.

I'll be over in an hour?

Sure. If you come through town pick up doughnuts, it's a doughnut kind of day.

Gladly.

Just what he needed, he would soon have a vampire to pester with questions and baked goods. He sipped his tea and snuggled back into his chair.

Until then he had time for a nap.

He woke a little later to a brush of contact on his wards, this time from the front lane. He recognised Jasper's signature this time and opened the wards.

He should probably drop the extra wards he'd put up last night but equally didn't want to lose any of his question Jasper time to a delivery guy.

A couple of minutes later Jasper appeared up the lane, preceded by a low rumbling growl Harry would recognise anywhere.

The Triumph motorcycle that rattled around the corner was achingly familiar, a newer model but the silhouette was the same, just missing his godfather's side car. And probably the invisibility booster and flamethrower but who knows, the childish part of him still believed all motorcycles were magical.

Sirius' bike was packed away in the library, the last modification he'd made to make it fit through tiny spaces Knight Bus style wasn't settling well with the other enchantments and he'd been trying to work out the issue on and off all summer.

He smiled blindingly at Jasper, who looked dazed. Maybe this whole mate thing had more to it than he thought, they certainly had the same taste in motorbikes.

His vampire certainly had better taste in transport than his brother.

"Morning!"

"Good morning, Harry." It was unfair how good Jasper made his name sound. Harry fiddled with the cushion next him and tried to hide a blush.

He gestured for Jasper to sit next to him and was delighted when Jasper pulled a greasy bag that smelt of sugar and happiness from his saddlebag.

"You sugar-bearing wonder man." Harry took the bag reverently and his next sentence was muffled by doughnut. "Blessings be to the baked good provider."

Jasper just smiled and settled next to him, seemingly happy to wait indefinitely for Harry to stop revelling in powdered sugar. Another point in his favour.

Harry emerged a couple of minutes later, sugar cravings satisfied for another day. The bakery in Forks was one of his favourite things about the town and he had to limit himself to going there twice a week otherwise he would be the size of his cabin by Christmas.

He hummed happily and relaxed back in the seat staring openly at the man sat next to him. Jasper was sat perfectly still, the small movements Harry associated with the Cullens attempts to appear more human completely missing.

Harry felt weirdly satisfied with that.

Jasper was staring at the Jobberknolls, he seemed bemused but didn't say anything.

"Did you sleep well?" Jasper was looking at him now and Harry found his face heating already.

"Yep!" Something occurred to him. "Do you guys sleep?"

"No," Jasper laughed lightly. "In fact, my family are eager to talk to you about the first time we've been unconscious since becoming vampires in the first place."

Harry was startled by that thought. "Huh." Weird. "Only your family are questioning? You're not interested in finding out why?"

Jasper shrugged. "Sure am interested, just figure we have a lot of other things to talk about." He smiled at Harry. "Random unconsciousness is pretty low on my list."

"And here I thought you were here to see Crookshanks." Harry joked, conscious of how nervous Jasper now looked.

"Crookshanks?" As if summoned by confusion the ginger beast leapt up on to Jasper's lap sending the revenant into a convulsive startle.

Jesus, Jasper was fast.

It didn't seem to bother Crookshanks who simply used Jasper's lap to stretch before he disappeared off into the woods for his daily adventures.

"Leave the birds alone please." Harry yelled after his quickly disappearing companion, Crookshanks turned to sniff dismissively at him before he slinked his way off between the trees.

"What is that?" Jasper was staring after Crookshanks with rounded eyes.

"That's Crookshanks." Jasper didn't look less confused. "He's my cat, used to belong to my best friend."

"And he's just a cat?"

"Well, he's part kneazle which is a magical kind of cat. Just means he's more intelligent. They've got a wicked sense of direction too, can always find their way home." Harry glanced at Jasper. "Good judge of character as well, they sometimes attack people they think are untrustworthy. He mostly keeps out of the way when non-magicals are here just in case, not sure how I'd explain an attack-cat if he took a dislike to someone."

Jasper just hummed.

They sat a little longer, enjoying the gentle quiet of the forest around them.

Harry sighed, it was probably time for them to start talking.

"Do you want to go first? I figured we could go back and forth on questions as I'm sure you have plenty."

Jasper eyed him contemplatively, "You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to."

Harry just shrugged. The major cat was out of the bag, and if he didn't want to answer a question he wouldn't.

"You're magical."

Harry nodded, waiting for the question at the end of that statement of the obvious.

"Are there lots of other magic people?"

Harry shrugged, "No one keeps an exact number." Despite how obviously useful census data would be. Wizards were weird about privacy. "But there are about 2 million of us worldwide."

Jasper seemed shocked by that. Harry imagined he would be pretty surprised too if he discovered there was an underground colony of 2 million mole men or something else ridiculous. Weird muggle vampires for example.

It was hard to remember how he'd felt about the revelation of magic. He remembered his open-mouthed awe the first time he'd met Hagrid, seen Diagon Alley, met other wizards.

And he'd had at least a bit of warning in the form of lots of weird shit happening to him in his childhood.

"Is there a group of you around here?"

"We mostly call ourselves either Wizards or Witches. Wixen is the gender neutral or collective term. Call someone a magician and you will be jinxed." He smiled slightly remembering the first time Ron had encountered what muggles considered magic. He had been so offended by the concept of sleight of hand being magic. "Nearest Wixen settlement to here is somewhere in the Rockies, I think. There's a small shopping enclave in Seattle but it's relatively new. No other wixen in the area as far as I can tell."

He left Jasper to take that in for a moment before he asked his own question. "What about your lot?"

Jasper shrugged, "Similar problem with pinning down an exact number, maybe a few of thousand worldwide?"

Harry tried to hide his shudder. Jesus it was worse than he thought. "And how often do your kind usually have to eat?"

Jasper looked at him, face completely impassive. Despite that Harry could tell he was tense. "We can last about 2 weeks before thirst becomes an issue." Jasper seemed to hesitate. "It's why most vampires live in small nomadic groups that move around a lot to avoid suspicion. Covens like ours are only possible because we don't feed on humans."

Harry nodded.

Potentially 3000 vampires eating at least 26 humans a year. 78,000 muggles a year just to sustain their current population.

Jesus.

"You guys stick to an animal only diet? That's why your eyes are all gold rather than red?"

Jasper nodded absently. "If we drink from humans our eyes turn red almost immediately. We're born with red eyes, it takes months of feeding only on animals for them to go gold and years to build up the control to be around people." Jasper glanced up at him and Harry made sure his posture was relaxed. "You seem very calm about the whole vampire thing."

"I realised you were vampires on the second day of school when you all got out of the car in weird synchro and then looked at me like I was your next meal." Jasper looked shocked and Harry couldn't help himself. He sniggered.

"You are collectively terrible at being human, I honestly have no clue how the muggles don't notice. Your eyes and skin are identical in a way that even being related wouldn't explain, you all go missing every time it's sunny. None of you eat, breathe or blink frequently enough for it to be natural." He gestured at all of Jasper. "You're so pretty and graceful, you'd need to majorly dial it back for a wizard not to immediately notice something was up."

Jasper was trying to look serious, but he couldn't hide how pleased he was that Harry had called him pretty. Or least Harry assumed that was why he was hiding a shy smile because nothing else he'd said had been complimentary. "Your go for a question."

"What can magic do?" Jasper looked gleeful to be saying that sentence out loud.

Harry smiled and for a moment all he wanted to do was show off. Still worth not showing all of his cards. He gestured toward some of the fallen leaves scattered across his porch sending them to dance briefly around Jasper in spinning circles. Jasper laughed, his eyes sparkling with joy.

This. This was why magic was incredible. Done right it brought joy.

"Almost anything." Harry smiled at Jasper. "The first magic I ever saw was the gamekeeper from my school who had come to collect me from my Aunt and Uncle. I had no idea magic was real, I insisted that there was no way I was magical. And then he gave my cousin a pig's tail."

Jasper gaped at him.

"Yeah, that was my face too. To be fair to Hagrid Dudley had just stolen the birthday cake Hagrid made for me and eaten it. I think pig came pretty easily to mind." Harry chuckled. Dudley would never be as bad in his mind as his parents, he had tried to be better at the end.

But bloody hell did he deserve a tail at that point.

Harry supposed he should run through some broad scope info; it was worth outlining some limitations. "There are a lot of rules. You can't create something from nothing, and a lot of magic is only semi-permanent. For example, if I transfigure this cup into a block of stone, it will only stay as block of stone for a certain amount of time before reverting. I can do things to extend that but to make a transfiguration permanent I would need to reapply the spell daily for months." He paused that was probably an unhelpful level of detail. "Most things are only constrained by the power of the individual using magic and whether they know how to do it. Theoretically almost anything is possible."

"Do genie rules apply?" Jasper was smiling but his eyes looked a little wild around the edges.

"Genie rules?"

"You know, can't bring people back from the dead, can't make true love. Can't wish for more wishes."

"Love potions exist but they are more lust than love." Jasper looked horrified, Harry just looked down. "No magic in the world can bring back the dead."

The clearing felt like it was a taking a breath and Harry forced his mind away from the roads it wanted to turn down.

He glanced at Jasper; it was important he laid some ground rules. "There are of course laws. Especially governing our interactions with muggles."

Jasper raised a single perfect eyebrow and Harry scowled at it. How come even his eyebrows were pretty? "Muggles?"

"Non-magical people."

"You call them muggles?" The eyebrow was back. He might be offended.

"We call you muggles." Yep, he was definitely offended. Harry grinned. "Well, we do in the UK in North America they call you no-maj. Which is just as stupid."

Jasper shook his head. "What do you call-"

"It's my go," Harry shoved him lightly on the shoulder and Jasper didn't even pretend to move. "Why do you guys want to live amongst humans? Surely, it's a bit risky to be so close to a population you must regularly picture murdering."

Jasper looked uncomfortable but still answered. "It's hard." He grimaced, "Most humans smell really tempting, and the risk of losing control is always there."

Harry tried to nod, looking sympathetic but he had a feeling he was missing the mark. It was hard to commiserate with the idea of struggling to stop yourself from eating a teenager.

Jasper sighed, "Most vampires will only stay a week somewhere before they move on, covens are small, 2-3 vampires only. Hunting humans means that if they linger for too long it draws attention." He shrugged but his shoulders stayed tight and uncomfortable. "Because we don't feed on people we can afford to stay in places longer. Means we can stay in one place, build an actual home, live an actual life that isn't focused on our next meal." Jasper looked at his hands and his cheeks seemed to become even paler. "I'm the newest to the family, and I still find it difficult to be around humans, but it is vastly better than what my life looked like previously."

Harry tentatively patted Jasper's shoulder, he wasn't under any illusions. Jasper had likely killed a lot of people. He couldn't judge on that front; he'd killed a lot of people too.

Granted. He'd never killed anyone for their blood. Maybe it was like hunting in the muggle world, if you ate what you killed it was less terrible than just killing for sport.

Harry was pretty sure that stopped counting if the prey was completely sentient.

Still. Not all killing was equal. He'd learned that when the fact that he had killed the same person aged 1, 11 and 17 had been internationally celebrated.

He'd killed a lot since.

It hurt less these days and he wasn't sure if that was a sign he was getting more practical or more vicious.

He nudged Jasper, "Most good things are difficult." He sighed. "Your question."

Jasper tried to muster a smile. "How does the border around your cabin work?"

Harry laughed. "Apparently even magic has decided you're a muggle. I have all sorts of wards but the ones that were causing you trouble were muggle repelling wards, they plant a reason for a muggle to go find something else to do every time they come too close. It's how we hide almost everything, it either causes muggles to avoid the area or if they are particularly determined send them away on a chore or something."

"I noticed that when I suddenly had the urge to go visit the drycleaners in the middle of the night." Jasper rubbed the back of his head ruefully, "It even tried to convince me to go get a hamburger."

Harry couldn't stop the snort that escaped him. "Merlin, no wonder you looked so confused."

Harry considered his next question. What he wanted to ask strayed into the dangerously personal.

He figured it was going to get intensely personal as the questions continued, he didn't intend on hiding anything. He liked Jasper, more than he probably should at this point.

He wanted to start whatever this was with as many cards out on the table as possible.

"What made you want to join the Cullens?"

That left enough space for Jasper to give a superficial answer if he needed to. A deeper one if he wanted to.

Jasper looked understandably nervous, fixating anxiously on the bright blue birds who were now in the process of gathering materials for a winter nest. "It's a long story."

"I've got time if you want to tell it, we can move on if you want to wait." Jasper looked conflicted but it was easy to see when he made the decision. His shoulders set and tensed. Whatever this was it wasn't going to be a nice story.

Part of Harry was relieved, a part of Harry he hated most of the time. If Jasper had a difficult story, it would make his easier to tell.

"I was turned when I was 19. But I've been 19 for a long time." Jasper glanced at Harry to gage his reaction and Harry did his best to make sure he was projecting his completely lack of surprise at this news.

"When were you turned?"

"1863." 1860's, southern. From the little Harry had picked up of US history that was not a good time to be alive and Jasper confirmed his suspicions a couple of seconds later.

"I was a major in the confederate army, youngest major in fact." Jasper smiled bitterly. "I was so proud of myself, I'd signed up at 16, too eager to prove my worth and not cautious enough to ask why we were fighting. Not that it would have stopped me." Jasper tapped his knee with a finger. "I was an idiot."

"Everyone's an idiot at 19." Harry couldn't judge, he'd ended up on the right side of a war but that hadn't been his doing. Harry had been born into the war that he fought in, and he'd always been confused by those who signed up to fight next to him. They'd had a choice and they'd chosen war. "Why did you join up?"

"My older brothers did, everyone in town told me it was the right thing to do. By the time I realised it was really about slavery I was in too deep to care. I'd lost too much to the war already to back down." Jasper twisted his fingers in his lap. "I was also just as hateful, just as racist as any of my fellow soldiers. Fact is I didn't consider Black people human, it made it easier to justify fighting to keep them in chains. It helped that I didn't know any."

You could have heard a pin drop in the clearing, even the wind had stopped, Harry had stopped breathing.

"It's a bit harder to consider someone subhuman when you can feel everything they feel. Feel the same feelings that make humans human in everyone. It wasn't long after I became a vampire that I realised how horrifying the war had been." Jasper dropped his head in his hands. "How horrifying I'd been."

Harry didn't know what to say. He lightly patted Jasper's shoulder hoping it would communicate some comfort.

"I was young and stupid and good at war. I didn't know how to do anything else. When I was turned, there was a brief moment when I felt like I was dying and all I felt was relief. And then I woke up as something different, something much worse and I was put back into a war, just not a human one anymore."

"Who turned you?"

"Her name was Maria, she was a leader in the Southern Vampire Wars. She saw my army experience and decided it was something she could use in the territorial wars covering Mexico and the south."

One war to another, it apparently never went out of fashion to pull teenagers into wars for land, power or politics.

"Did she have an army?"

"She did after I made her one. My ability to manipulate and read emotions manifested quickly and she used me to control others. I thought she loved me, and I was so pathetically grateful that I did anything she asked of me." Jasper leant back and made eye contact with Harry.

Some confessions needed eye contact.

"Newborn vampires are stupidly powerful compared to normal vampires, for the first year they are stronger, faster, and more brutal than we are ever again in our lifetimes. She wanted an army of newborns, I turned them, I trained them and when they lived out their usefulness as cannon fodder I killed them." Jasper rolled up his sleeves, revealing his forearms. They seemed smooth, flawless at first but when Harry looked closer, he could see crescent shaped scars. Teeth, bite marks littering his skin. "Newborns are a difficult opponent, but I never lost. Not as I killed friend after friend. Turned human after human and made them join me in a war that wasn't mine in the first place."

"What made you leave?"

"One of my only real friends, one of the few who were allowed to survive beyond that first year, found his mate among the newest of the newborns. He begged for her life, I asked Maria and was denied. Charlotte wasn't a good soldier; Maria saw no reason to keep her. She figured Peter would get over his infatuation and demanded I kill her."

"But you didn't."

"I couldn't, I could feel the love they felt for each other. And when I compared it to what I felt for Maria, what she felt for me, I realised I had been on the wrong side. Again." Jasper gripped his hands together, the ominous creaking indicated just how hard he was holding on. "I helped them escape. I didn't think there was anything else for me, so I stayed, waiting for Maria to get tired of me and destroy me the way she had many others."

Jasper looked up at him with burning eyes. "You must understand, it had been almost 40 years of pain and destruction, I wasn't me anymore. I was just a puppet Maria had created. What limited compassion I had left I focused on making every death as painless as I could. Not much but all I was capable of."

Harry wanted to reach out, but Jasper wasn't finished. If he stopped him now, they would have to do this again.

"When Peter came back and told me there was a different way of living in the north, that vampires just moved around, nomadic but without war, I left with him." Jasper released his grip and Harry could see the beginnings of a web of cracks forming on his palms. "I stayed with Peter and Charlotte for another couple of decades, moving around the states. Going abroad occasionally. But it didn't get better, I could still feel every emotion from a human when I fed. I tried to find people who I knew deserved to die but even then, their emotions were overwhelming. I tried to starve myself, but I would only go so long before I snapped and attacked whoever was closest. I left Peter and Charlotte and travelled on my own."

Harry reached out and took Jasper's hand, whispering a low-level healing spell and watching as the cracks slowly reformed.

"Then I met Alice. She was so full of joy, excited to see me even though we'd never met." Jasper smiled at Harry, a sad little smile that barely lifted his lips. "She had seen that we would be brother and sister, she knew there was a family for us somewhere where we could be happy."

Harry smiled at Jasper, ignoring the hint that Alice was some kind of seer. He would ask about her later. "We found the Cullens, and I found a way of continuing to live without murder. We met Carlisle and I felt his calm acceptance, despite all I had done, he welcomed me." Jasper choked. "He wanted me to join his family, Alice became my sister and I gained a family for the first time in almost a century."

Harry could understand the relief of finding people who wanted you. People who were willing to forgive you.

He watched the Jobberknolls bring small pieces of fluff, twigs and leaves to fill out their nest. The outer structure was close to finished and they were reinforcing what they could and softening the inside.

He kept Jasper's hand in his. "Everyone deserves family."

"Harry. I've killed so many people, so many-"

"We've both killed people Jasper, neither of our hands are clean." Harry played with Jasper's fingers, running his hand over Jasper's palm before he weaved their fingers together. "I'm not saying that it's the same. Just that it's true."

Jasper was silent but his hand tightened briefly around Harry's.

"Sometimes we're given a clean slate, and we should take it." Harry squeezed Jasper's hand back. "We don't have to be our pasts. I'm here for a reason too."

They watched the birds finish their nest, half an hour later they were still watching as the birds settled down in their new home.

The silence should have felt unsettling but instead it felt calming.

"What kind of bird is that?" Jasper's voice came out rough with emotion.

"They're Jobberknolls. They are silent their whole lives, it is only when they are near death that they finally sing." Harry glanced at Jasper whose eyes were fixed on the birds. "Their feathers are used in potions to encourage memory, or truth telling."

"Did you bring them with you?"

"No."

"So they live around here?"

"Maybe." Harry looked at the birds, considering, "They are native to North America, but their colonies are usually further east."

Jasper looked more interested at that. "Are there other magical creatures around here?"

"I think I spotted a fairy circle on a walk the other day but have yet to spot any actual fairies." He spotted Jasper's awed look. "I wouldn't get excited, they are deeply annoying and very vain. More like glowing moths than anything muggles have made up about them."

"Do they wear acorn hats?" Jasper gave a weak smile, and Harry decided any potential levity was to be encouraged even if it was weird.

"Not acorns, my charms teacher once made an entire colony tiny Santa hats as a bribe so they'd come light the castle during a ball." Harry snorted, Ron had been really confused at the concept of Santa and then very jealous that it might mean extra presents. "One of the sixth years charmed them to say 'ho, ho, ho' instead of the usual high-pitched buzzing. It was horrifying. Tiny squeaky Santas chasing you around the hall."

"That sounds interesting." Jasper was smiling genuinely now.

"Interesting is one word for it." His throat was dry, and there was a chill in the air. It was time to go inside.

He gestured Jasper up and they moved into the house, Harry heading to the kettle to make himself another cup of tea. "I feel like a terrible host, do you guys even drink things other than blood?"

Jasper seemed taken aback by Harry's casual reference to his diet but Harry just waited for him to collect an answer from somewhere. "Er no, no tea for me please. We can drink but we have to get rid of it later which isn't pleasant."

"Hmm." Harry lent against the counter to wait for the kettle to boil. "I'll find something, I'm too British to let a guest go without giving them something to eat." He started sorting through one of his drawers. He was sure he had something.

"What do you know about Vampires?" Jasper was gazing at him sincerely and Harry found himself wishing the vamp would just have one hair out of place so Harry could see if that made him less distracting.

The kettle boiled and Harry made his tea, taking a moment to breathe in the soothing scent. Cupping the mug in two hands he took his first sip and felt the relaxation run through him. It didn't matter how tense the conversation was, tea would make it alright.

If the Cullen's didn't drink tea he'd have to bring some over with him when he had the inevitable follow up with the whole coven.

Maybe force feed it to them if they got all hysterical.

"Well, quite a lot." It was his job once after all, but Harry didn't want to get into the whole not actually a teenager thing just yet. Even if Jasper had just revealed he was more than 170 years old. He numbered facts off on his fingers. "They can't go outside in daylight without bursting into flame, they need to be invited into a home in order to enter, they can turn into bats under the right circumstances, to kill them you need to stake them or decapitate them, they are wickedly fast and strong but have a desperate hatred of garlic." He glanced up at Jasper who was looking at him with amusement. "They don't deal well with running water, it disorients them and if you look into their eyes without the right protections they will make you see weird visions for weeks."

Jasper chuckled and Harry smiled wickedly. He knew he had a dramatic streak a mile wide, and it was like Jasper was daring him.

"They are illegal to hunt in the wizarding world but the laws are pretty loose on what constitutes self-defence, so a certain number of wizards attempt to imitate van Helsing every year to limited success." He paused dramatically. If only Sirius could see him now. "But of course, none of this is relevant because you're not a vampire."

Jasper's jaw literally dropped, and Harry had to stop himself from crowing. He plucked what he had been looking for in the drawer out and unwrapped it before popping it in Jasper's mouth.

Jasper closed his mouth around the blood pop automatically and continued to stare at Harry wide eyed. "What."

Jasper was almost completely distracted by the burst of delicious flavour across his tongue. And he would definitely be asking Harry what he had just shoved into Jasper's mouth with no warning.

Harry was poised over a new cup of tea grinning at him like an imp. That's what he was, he was an imp – excited to be causing chaos. A really cute imp.

"Harry, I am a vampire." It was very important to Jasper that Harry understood this. "I have to drink blood to survive."

Harry just waved at him imperiously and started to walk towards his bedroom. Jasper was not going to let that distract him. "I know about the whole blood thing. Doesn't mean you're a vampire."

What.

Harry reached the door to his bedroom and gestured for Jasper to follow; Jasper felt like his feet might be numb, but he followed anyway.

Harry walked over to a part of the room that Jasper seemed to be having issues focusing on. A wooden stick appeared in Harry's hand but just as quickly disappeared back up a sleeve. Jasper was trying to process having seen what he was pretty sure was a magic wand when suddenly, he could see an ornate door that hadn't been there a second ago.

Harry was really messing with Jasper's senses, it was disorientating not to be able to rely on his eyes to tell him there was a massive door in the room.

Harry opened the door and Jasper was once again left gaping. The room beyond the door was at least three times the height and four times the width of the cabin that Jasper was pretty sure they were still in.

What.

There was even a giant window which Jasper knew was impossible. He's walked round the cabin, he'd have noticed a window this large.

He couldn't even focus on the interesting things that he was sure were contained in Harry's secret, magically huge… library? He was too fixated on the size of the space, he had just had the laws of physics ripped out from underneath him by a teenager.

According to the last 2 minutes:

Jasper was not what he thought it was.

Magic wands might exist.

The Tardis might not be entirely fiction, things really could be bigger on the inside.

Harry may be a wizard, but he was still a mischievous imp.

He finally looked at Harry who was perched on a settee next to an improbably placed fireplace. He looked so pleased with himself, eyes dancing with trouble whilst he waited for Jasper to join him.

Jasper pointed a threatening finger at him. "You are an Imp."

"Yep." Harry agreed cheerfully before he patted the open cushion next to him. "I've been waiting to say that to you since I met you. Couldn't resist."

And who could resist an invitation like that. He sat as close as he could bring himself to, his knee in comfortable contact with Harry. He sucked on what he now recognised was a lollipop. A delicious lollipop. He examined it, it was certainly the colour of blood.

Still there were more important questions here.

"I'm not a vampire?"

Judging by Harry's grin he was about to have another rug pulled out from underneath him, but he couldn't feel anything but happiness. He was sat in a magic room with a magic lollipop. He was sat next to his mate, and it was comfortable and easy and brilliant.

Jasper closed his eyes to savour the moment before looking back at Harry who was now looking more serious.

"Not even slightly a vampire. Not a single drop of magic in you." Harry smiled at him. "Really confused me first time we met, you were all clearly something and you looked and behaved a bit like vampires I've met in the past. But no magic on you whatsoever."

Jasper finally looked around him at the library, there were almost too many things to look at. He was going to have to spend some time in here just staring at things.

The books on the far wall seemed to be moving. He watched as one smaller book leapt up a shelf and snuggled next to another one, it looked like it was purring.

One of the books had teeth.

The table in front of them had several piles of heavily bound books, thankfully none of these seemed to be sentient. He picked up one of the closer ones to cautiously examine the spine.

Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires by Eldred Worple. Opening to a random page he raised an eyebrow, a very Dracula looking figure was sipping ominously from some kind of chalice.

He violently slammed the book closed when the image turned to look at him.

He looked at the rest of the books on the table which all seemed to be focused on vampires, all black or deep red. Several of them Jasper gathered from a sniff, may actually be written in blood. "So you did some research." Harry looked guilty. "And you found out something."

"I did." Harry looked grim, his mouth pressed into a flat line.

"How bad is it?"

"Well, it has the potential to be pretty existential crisis creating." Harry picked up one of the fancier looking tomes from the table in front of them. It had gold encrusted everywhere. "Wizards don't know a huge amount about your kind, as far as they're concerned, you're a muggle problem. They do know you're not vampires, I have a couple of other texts that confirmed a lot of basic information."

"What kind of things?" The thought of being the object of study sent a frisson of anxiety down Jasper's spine. A group of people he had not been aware existed 24 hours ago had books on his kind.

Harry just shrugged, "You're strong and fast, basically indestructible. You're venomous, your eyes get darker the longer you've been without blood and something happens when you're in the sun that makes you avoid it." He met Jasper's eyes. "You don't age and some of your kind are thousands of years old. You convert humans by biting them and some of you have extra gifts." Jasper felt every muscle in his body tense, he felt like running.

He choked but Harry just continued. "You've had the same governing body for the last couple of thousand years, they are based in Volterra, Italy. You have a treaty through them with the magical world committing to keep your existence secret under threat of destruction if that is not upheld." Harry wrinkled his nose. "A really one-sided treaty. It sucks for you guys."

He shrugged and continued, "Fire is the only confirmed method of destroying you. Your skin is mostly impenetrable, but some curses and hexes still work to incapacitate. You're considered to be mild threat to the magical community; you aren't magic, we don't smell appetising to you, you're considered to only be a threat to an individual wizard if you take them by surprise or in a group, so the official recommendation is to avoid you if possible." Harry looked up at him and Jasper noticed that he still wasn't finished.

"I also found out some very much not for public consumption information that might upset you."

Jasper stared down at the book that was apparently going to change his existence and then looked at the now very worried looking wizard who had already changed his existence just by existing.

He wanted to panic. The amount Harry knew from the small pile of books in front of him was more than any human that wasn't part of the community was ever supposed to know. And none of this was the information Harry was nervous about.

But he had to trust this. He did trust this. He trusted Harry. "I'll be fine."

He still accepted the hand Harry offered him. He wasn't going to turn down more contact.

"So, the first thing you should know is that the wizarding world has been aware of your kind for almost as long as you've existed. I found a reference to a change of leadership notification dating back to 500AD, which in turn refers to a much older treaty between the leaders of your kind and mine." He pointed to an entry and Jasper looked down at the single line of text that confirmed that the Volturi had known about the wizarding world for millennia.

The Volturi weren't known for the free sharing of information but surely even they could see it was important for other vampires to know about a treaty they were apparently bound to. Apparently not.

Harry pointed further down the page to show an entry in 1840, apparently the treaty had been renewed to reflect something called the statute of secrecy. The wizards had done something to hide themselves and the Volturi were kept informed.

"We withdrew from the muggle world completely in 1692, the international community used spells to wipe out a lot of the physical evidence of our existence and to blanket a sort of blindness on muggles. It means they dismiss the strange things that happen around us more easily. As you are not magical, your kind was included in the wipe." Harry glanced at Jasper and Jasper gave him a reassuring smile. "We keep contact with your ruling body in the same way we do muggle governments, just enough so they are aware of us and unwilling to piss us off."

Harry pulled over another book, this one seemed to contain more detail, he glanced though the first treaty and quickly realised that Harry was absolutely serious about the whole not pissing off the magical world thing. The consequences listed for the Volturi if they did anything to reveal their existence or the existence of wizards to the wider world were horrifying.

Edward was convinced they didn't have souls but Jasper wouldn't be willing to bet on that theory against a creature that apparently ate souls.

The second treaty was at least politer, and a little less aggressive, although the message was the same. If the Volturi let wizards dictate terms like these they either were confident they could avoid consequences or terrified.

Looking at Harry he couldn't picture the terrifying even if the teenager had successful wiped out 6 vampires the day before. Harry was gently worrying his lower lip between his teeth and staring down at another book with trepidation.

"I don't know why I thought it was a good idea to do this now." Harry looked up at him, green eyes wide with worry. "I just know that I am going to need to explain this to your family if I'm going to stick around. I'm going to need your help and we will need to be careful about this."

Jasper nodded, trying to hold in the exhilarated smile that wanted to cover his face. This was serious and he needed to concentrate.

He needed to ignore that Harry had just confirmed he way staying, that he was going to talk to Jasper's family. That he was still going to be here, with Jasper, to make plans.

He swallowed down the bubble of laughter and concentrated on the book in front of him.

It was clear that the Volturi would not look kindly upon these documents being read by other vampires. It made them look weak. And if the wizards found out Jasper knew about this, even if he'd only found out because Harry told him, it might become an issue. The wizards clearly took secrecy seriously. "Would there be consequences for you if your world found out you had told me this? Or told me anything?"

Harry scoffed, worry momentarily chased from his face. "As if. No, the wizarding world wouldn't do anything to me, or you if I put you under my protection. We just have to be careful about spreading it. With a legilimens in our midst I need to take precautions."

"Legilimens?"

"Edward. You know, the whole nonconsensual mind reading thing." Harry face was still but Jasper could feel the rage seething under the surface.

"Right." Jasper looked down at the book in front of him.

It would be easy to just blame Edward, shove the whole situation over to him and live on in bliss.

Consent was important to Harry, it should be important to Jasper. It had been important to him too but he had gotten too used to thinking what he did was to protect his family and therefore the right thing to do.

Jasper had become too comfortable with the defacto consent his family gave him to use his gift.

He needed to make sure Harry knew everything, that he could make an informed decision about being around him.

it wasn't enough to be relieved he was forgiven once he needed to make sure he didn't need that forgiveness again.

"My gift isn't just manipulating emotions." Jasper glanced at Harry who seemed content to let Jasper share. "I can sense your emotions sometimes but most of the time I can just sense that you are having emotions. But I can feel everything from a normal human, my read on you is always more blurred."

Harry shrugged. "I guessed as much."

Jasper twitched.

"I don't usually use my power to manipulate, just to calm my family down when things get heated." He looked guiltily at Harry, "I usually ask first."

"And as long as you ask we won't have any issues." Harry nodded at him, resolute.

Jasper felt relieved. Last night Harry had forgiven him but he needed to make sure they had a basis to rebuild trust. Asking first was easy.

"Obviously Edward has the mind reading thing, but Alice also has a thing." Harry nodded again, of course he'd noticed something about Alice already. Jasper didn't know if Harry was frighteningly observant, or if they were excessively obvious. "Alice can see glimpses of the future, but she struggles to see it for some people. She can't see you or your cousin and his friends at all."

Harry looked thoughtful. "Interesting."

Jasper gazed at Harry, taking in his calm. Harry was accepting him, setting boundaries. Jasper needed to embrace this practicality.

"What kind of precautions do you want to take?"

"Vows, secrecy contracts, that kind of thing. Unbreakable vows are pretty terrible, and you will die if you break one, but equally the vow prevents you from accidentally breaking the vow. It will stop you saying anything to someone who shouldn't know it by warning you. It stops any memories related to the secret from being read by a legillimens or mind reader, a wixen one anyway."

The thought that immediately occurred to Jasper filled him with horror, Jasper felt like he was holding his breath again. "Is that how you stop Edward from reading your thoughts?" That didn't sound safe, that didn't sound safe at all.

Harry laughed and Jasper relaxed. "Nah, that's something completely different, remind me to tell you about it later though. I have a whole plan." Not ominous at all.

Jasper may not have known Harry long but even Jasper shivered at the thought of what Harry might be planning.

"These two books cover two wizard encounters with your kind, they document some of the differences between your kind and real vampires." Harry waggled his eyebrows at Jasper and Jasper appreciated his attempt to lighten the atmosphere.

Jasper tapped the book with the unsettling picture of the Dracula wannabe. "The Dracula style vampires you described still exist in the wizarding world?" Jasper was somehow simultaneously desperate to know more and tempted to close his ears and hum loudly.

"Oh yes. They really go in for the Dracula aesthetic in Europe, up in the mountains filing their teeth and being dramatic with the lightning and the capes and the infernal organ music. In North America the main cluster seems to be in New Orleans, and they are more into the voodoo, tattoos and too much booze side of undeath."

Jasper felt like Harry was way too confident in what he was saying to not have experienced at least some of this first hand. Hadn't he mentioned meeting one before? But what possible reason was there for a wizard teen to interact with vampires?

"The big thing for me to emphasise here is that one of the wizards writing these accounts is a monster in his own right and the other is an idiot." Harry tapped the second volume and the exasperation in his voice made Jasper smile.

Harry shoved the books closer, and Jasper started to read the first account, vampire speed really was useful for some things and when he finished less than a minute later Harry looked deeply jealous.

Jasper just smiled charmingly and added that to the list he was mentally building of things that might convince Harry to become a vampire. Speed-reading. He thought that might be the biggest motivator so far judging by the size of Harrison's library.

The wizard called his kind Revenants, quickly emphasising how different they were from what he called vampires. Something settled in his chest when he realised that his species, his family still had a name.

Revenant felt right to him too, he didn't remember his own change, but he had turned enough newborns to know there was a moment of death before their new physiology kicked in. Carlisle had been playing around with DNA for years trying to work out what kept them alive but he couldn't pin point anything that would cause their bodies to change and adapt the way they did after that initial death.

And then he read the tale of Astaroth and he wanted to be sick. This was always his worst nightmare; the worst of people using their powers to bait and torture. He'd seen enough of it in the army, he'd seen enough of it in Mexico. When Astaroth was killed by his new wizard friend, Jasper couldn't even muster satisfaction because the wizard who wrote this was just as bad but apparently survived.

Fuck. And this had been Harrison's first introduction to his kind. It was a wonder Harry had stayed around. He looked at him curiously, what teenager wouldn't run when confronted with a creature that had the potential to be this horrifying?

Jasper still had a lot of questions for Harry.

"I don't know this first vampire although Carlisle said something once about how one of his old friends was turned that makes me think he might know more." Jasper tried to keep his face calm but the way he'd just accidentally left a handprint in the desk wasn't helping him maintain that illusion.

Harry just swished what Jasper was now mentally referring to as his wand, because thinking stick made him feel stupid, and the table righted itself.

For a moment all Jasper wanted in the world was to ask Harry if he could examine his wand but the thought of Emmett ever hearing about that sentence coming out of his mouth was enough to stop him.

Harry just pushed the second book over and within seconds Jasper knew Harry was right, this guy was an idiot. It was a shame that magic clearly didn't fix stupidity.

"The second group are the Denali." Jasper tapped the small illustration of the Denali home, he had visited their holiday home in Russia and it looked nothing like this now. "They are based over in Alaska now; it is where Rosalie sent Edward yesterday. They are the only other coven we're aware of that follows our diet, so we call them our cousins."

"Rosalie?" Harry looked dumbfounded.

"She took offence on our behalf. Emmett is her true mate, the bond is more important to her than it is to the others who don't feel it and Edward threatened it." Jasper couldn't put off the conversation about Edward much longer. "And I think she likes you, or at least finds you funny, it's hard to tell with her sometimes."

Jasper tapped the last page covering the wizard who met the Denali. They would have to have a conversation with the Denali coven too. They had clearly encountered at least one wizard before. "Do you want to talk about Edward?"

Harry sighed. "Not really but I understand that avoiding it is not a real option."

Jasper just waited.

Harry sighed again, this time with more emphasis.

Jasper just waited.

"Fine!" Harry threw up his hands and pouted. It was precious. "I mean I really don't like the guy and what he did was fucking terrible but it's not like we can send him away forever."

Jasper coughed. "Well actually we can."

Harry looked at him like he'd just sprouted horns. Or whatever would make a wizard surprised, maybe not horns.

"What."

"He attacked my mate, I have every right to demand Carlisle banish him from the coven." As much as Carlisle would hate it, none of his family would disagree that the punishment wasn't just.

If it was what Harry wanted, he would do it without hesitation.

"Well we're not doing that."

Jasper was almost too involved in picturing how sad Alice would be without her chess buddy, to really register Harry's response. God knows none of the rest of them could challenge her, Edward's gift helped balance out the blatant cheating from Alice.

Then what Harry said registered.

"We're not?" He violently killed the part of him that just wanted to luxuriate in the moment that Harry referred to them as a 'we'. Now was not the time. He'd have plenty of time later to get starry eyed.

Harry waved his hand in a dismissive fashion. "Of course not, he's a shitty person and he is not getting off this scot free. We'll have to have a chat and lay down some ground rules but there's no reason for him to be banished." Harry's grin turned a little evil. "Anyway, if you banish him I won't be able to mess with him or at least I'd have to find him first. Much easier to keep him where I can see him."

Jasper thought he might be imitating a goldfish again. "But you were going to leave! Because of Edward!"

"Yeah, well I thought you guys had been manipulating me and that it was a planned attack." Harry looked at him confused. "You said you weren't manipulating me on purpose, and I believe you. What Edward did hurt like a bitch and was an all-round a shitty thing to do but it was still just him. The way I see it, it was a misunderstanding that had me almost leaving. And I still almost threw all of you through walls immediately afterwards even though only one of you attacked me." Harry blushed. "Sorry about that."

"You have nothing to be sorry about. We were threatening you even if it was accidental." Jasper hesitated before continuing, might as well prepare Harry for the fact that his family was insane. "Emmett said he wanted you to do it again because he liked the novelty of being unconscious, he said it gave him a break from thinking." Something Emmett was known for needing, of course.

"Huh." Harry frowned. "Weird."

Jasper really didn't want to linger on how weird vampires were, or revenants as he supposed he should now call himself. "Should I let my family know to call Edward back?"

"Yeah definitely, I'll probably skip school tomorrow as well so if he's back by then we can get all this sorted and start talking to your family about this stuff." He gestured toward the books and papers in front of him.

Harry seemed weirdly willing to skip school considering how calmly he was taking everything. "Does you skipping have anything to do with avoiding Oliver Twist?"

"It has everything to do with avoiding Oliver Twist." Harry nodded happily, "Besides I've been told playing hooky is a rite of passage."

"I'll play hooky with you any time." Jesus fucking Christ why did this shit spew out of his mouth when he was around Harrison.

Harry just laughed at him, playfully nudging Jasper's shoulder with his before he looked back down at the papers in front of him with a sigh. "There's one more thing I found out when I was researching you."

Jasper quietly patted Harry's hand and tried to look encouraging.

"I'm not sure I can read this again so I'm just going to give it to you." Harry shoved a piece of paper at Jasper, but Jasper kept his eyes fixed on Harry. "This is a research summary my account manager managed to get from the Gobin Archives. The sources they talk about are likely to be the journals of dark wizard called Herpo the Foul who lived sometime in 400-500BC."

Harry spent the next 5 minutes rambling about Goblins and how cool the archives were meant to be, how his number 1 piece of advice to anyone entering the wizarding world was to always be polite to a Goblin. Apparently, they were really into very sharp weaponry and Harry was convinced they also sucked blood from their victims but more for fun than for sustenance.

"I once asked a Goblin his opinion on a plan I had and he told me it wasn't bloody enough, and if I wasn't planning on bathing in the blood of my enemies, I should leave all the good nemeses to Goblins instead."

Jasper knew Harry was rambling, Harry knew Harry was rambling.

Harry groaned and put his face in his hands. "I'm sorry."

"It might be easier to just rip the band aid off." Jasper patted him and used the moment to move slightly closer until his whole side was pressed against Harry.

He might be worried about what Harry was about to tell him but that didn't mean he wouldn't take every opportunity to touch his mate.

Harry took a deep breath and nodded.

"The Goblins think, and I agree, that this wizard created Revenants. Accidentally." The words came out so quickly that it took a moment for Jasper to register what Harry actually said.

What.

Jasper's brain stopped working for a moment. It was like he had all the necessary brain matter, it just wasn't doing anything for him.

Novel feelings seemed to be a regular occurrence around Harry, he wasn't the biggest fan of this one.

Maybe this was how Emmett felt all the time. That thought was weirdly calming.

"The initial spread was all from one or two escaped experiments and as Revenants weren't the kind of weapon Herpo was looking for he didn't bother to try and find the escapees. The escapees fed and accidentally turned some of their food sources and so the Revenants, or muggle vampires, whatever you want to call yourselves, came into being."

They were created by wizards?

What the actual fuck.

He looked down at the letter.

Was this how people felt when they did those ancestry tests? He knew he was the same person he had been but somehow it felt like everything changed. Everything was going to change.

"What's a Basilisk?" Jasper felt like he was on autopilot.

Harry winced and briefly pressed his hand over his right forearm. "It's a bloody massive snake. Its gaze can kill you, even an indirect glance can petrify you." He rubbed his arm lightly, "Really venomous too."

Jasper looked back down. "And a house elf?"

"Picture a hairless bat without wings and vaguely human faces, about 2 foot tall. They are basically slaves in the wizarding world. It's completely fucked up." Harry stared at him, clearly concerned. "Jasper, are you okay?"

Jasper placed the note down on the table in front of him, smoothing it out until it laid flat.

"I will be I think."

Harry reached out slowly, giving Jasper every chance to move away, and pulled Jasper into another hug. If he was going to get a hug from Harry every time he panicked, he was going to do this more often. He relaxed into Harry's shoulder as he breathed in, Harry's scent doing more to settle him then any of the meditation techniques flicking through his mind.

He was struggling to focus on anything, thoughts flitting through too quickly for him to manage. He needed a distraction.

There was no better distraction than Harry.

"Do you like bowling?"

Harry chuckled and Jasper revelled in being able to feel the vibration run through him. "Sure. Never done it but it always looked fun."

"What about hiking?"

"Sure." Harry slightly shrugged the shoulder Jasper wasn't curled into. Jasper was so much bigger than Harry, how was he always the one curled into Harry? Shouldn't it be the other way round?

Jasper decided he didn't care as long as Harry kept rubbing his back.

"Do you like action films?"

"Some of them, I prefer adventure. Or comedies."

"What's your favourite colour?"

"Have you Cullens got a list of these questions somewhere or did you steal Bella's?" Jasper felt Harry nudge lightly at his forehead before continuing. "Red most of the time. Or orange."

"Why did you buy a yellow jeep?"

Harry snorted. "The salesperson annoyed me into it. Kept telling me about how many horses powered things and how the ladies loved quick cars. The jeep was vaguely familiar from Jurassic Park. Figured if it's good enough for a dinosaur park it will probably manage to get me up to my cabin."

Jasper nodded pressing his face into the side of Harry's neck. "Do you want to go watch the Lord of the Rings films with me on Saturday?"

Harry grinned at the far wall, the press of Jasper's cold face should have been uncomfortable, but Harry just felt calmed.

"Is this the promised date? I would love to." Harry felt Jasper smile.

"They're doing a marathon in Port Angeles if you want to see them on the big screen, or I've got the box set if you want to watch at home." Jasper's voice was slightly muffled, but Harry found himself unwilling to pull away. Maybe it had something to do with this mate bond, but Harry was craving contact.

If had been a long time since he'd felt comfortable enough with someone to cuddle.

He ignored the voice at the back of his mind that told him this was going too fast. Nothing his life ever went the way people thought it should. He had learnt a long time ago not to start regretting the things that hadn't happened yet.

"Either sounds good to me." Harry hummed lightly and pressed his hand to the back of Jasper's head, threading his fingers lightly into Jasper's dirty blonde curls.

The next hour passed in quiet breath and easy comfort. Slowly leaning back until they were curled together on the settee.

Harry gazed up upwards, noticing for the first time that he had somehow managed to add a vaulted ceiling to the magical space. His magic really was a fancy bitch sometimes.

Eventually his stomach made itself audible and with an amused, shared smile they relocated back to the kitchen.

The comfortable silence still wrapped around them like a blanket.

Harry quickly assembled himself a sandwich, he had embraced the American tradition of sticking everything he could think of between two slices of bread. It wasn't quite the size of his head, but it took some manoeuvring to take his first bite and he got mustard all over his face.

He had supplied Jasper with another blood pop, so he was happily consuming that the other end of the table.

"I am not sure I want to ask why you have blood-based lollipops readily available but I am not going to complain. These are great." Jasper accidentally crunched down in his enthusiasm and he looked briefly devastated before Harry produced another one from his pocket and slid it across the table.

"This is going to start to feel like a drug dealer situation really quick." Harry laughed when Jasper tucked the second away for later.

"You mean you don't want to be my connection to the underground blood-based confectionary market?" Jasper fluttered his eyelashes which had no right to be that alluring. By any reasonable measure that should look stupid. Damned pretty vampires.

Harry just smiled and summoned an order form from Honeydukes, if Blood pops were going to become a new favourite, he would need to boost his reserves. "Say no more, I'll stock up."

Jasper craned his neck, curious, "Is that a wizarding sweet shop?"

"Yep! Never found a better sweetshop than Honeydukes anywhere in the world, they're based in the village next to my old school." Harry smiled mischievously, "Can I interest you in a bonbon that will make you briefly levitate?" He proffered a pack of fizzing whizzbees from the counter.

Ten minutes later Jasper excused himself to quietly vomit up the whole packet. It was probably unpleasant, but Jasper didn't look like he regretted a second of the time he'd spent excitably hovering around the living room.

Harry finished off his order form, adding a couple more sweets he reckoned Jake would demand once he knew they were real. He was looking forward to the chaos the new marauders could cause now they'd be able to make each other breath fire or turn each other into chickens for a couple of minutes.

On second thought he was going to have to add some serious restrictions to usage if he let them loose with any Weasley creations.

When Jasper came back he still looked delighted, his eyes sparkling. "Magic is incredible." Jasper looked uncomfortable for a moment, and he leaned awkwardly on the counter until Harry had finished his sandwich and cleaned up.

He never had got out of the habit of doing his dishes by hand. Jasper walked over to the couch, face still contemplative.

"Just ask me." Harry advised. "It won't offend me I promise."

"Why did you decide to leave the magical world?" Jasper was looking at him all earnest and concerned. It made very little sense for a random 17-year-old to up and move to a random town in the middle of nowhere in the US. It made even less sense if you knew that teenager was magic and there was no magical community for miles in any direction.

Harry sighed. "I want to answer your questions, but there is something I have to ask you first." He settled next to Jasper, twisting in his seat so he could still look at him directly. "I don't mind telling you, but I don't know or trust your family yet. Would you be willing to promise me not to share anything I tell you? I'm sure they'll all find out at some point, but I would prefer to make that decision down the line."

"Harry, I would take anything you tell me to whatever grave waits for me." Jasper looked devastated. "But if Edward's coming back, I won't be able to stop him from finding out through my thoughts."

For a moment Harry felt like maybe turning Edward into a chicken permanently. He pictured McGonagall's disapproving eyebrow and discarded that plan.

After all, Edward wasn't the first mind reader he'd encountered, and chicken transfiguration wasn't always an option.

"What if I told you I have a way to keep Edward out of your thoughts? He would still be able to break in like he tried to do with me, and you wouldn't have much in the way of defences but you would know when he was trying it. It wouldn't-"

"Please. Please, that would be amazing." Jasper looked excited and Harry wondered how anyone lived with someone who just casually constantly read your mind.

He scowled, technically he supposed he knew what it was like, but he hadn't been aware of it at the time. He had let go a lot of his resentment of Dumbledore over the years but the realisation of how frequently the man had clearly dipped into his mind was still sharp. The portrait in Headmistress McGonagall's office had confirmed it and Harry still struggled with impulse to go back to Hogwarts just to burn the thing to a crisp.

"What do I have to do?"

"Nothing for you to do, without magic you wouldn't be able to sustain the occlumency shields I use to keep him out." Jasper looked disappointed until Harry proffered a thin golden ring with the Potter crest stamped on it. "You just need to wear this, it's a family heirloom of mine that was enchanted to hide the mind of the wearer."

Jasper picked up the ring. "My Harry, I didn't realise we were at the exchanging rings stage to our relationship." Jasper winked at him whilst he slid the ring on to his pinkie finger.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Please, no wedding jokes until at least after the first date." He was trying to act nonchalant, but he couldn't deny that he was happy to see Jasper wearing something of his.

He was also reasonably sure he was blushing because Jasper looked like he wanted to pet him.

He looked down at the ring and registered that his last excuse was gone.

Jasper just waited patiently, encouraging smile on his lips. Lightly twisting his new ring around his finger.

"It's a long story."

Jasper just shrugged.

Harry sighed.

"I wasn't lying when I said my parents were killed by a terrorist, it just wasn't the IRA." Harry twisted his own ring. "His name was Tom Riddle and he styled himself as Lord Voldemort but most of the magical world in Britain called him You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. They were terrified of him. Rightly so, he murdered and tortured whole families in his pursuit of power. He was on his way to total dominance over magical Britain when he killed my parents."

Harry sighed and closed his eyes. "He had heard a prophecy, which are unfortunately real things in the wixen world, that led him to believe I was destined to destroy him. And my parents got in the way. When he killed them, he turned his wand on me, I was 18 months old at the time but for some reason the curse rebounded destroying Tom's body and leaving me with this scar."

He dropped the glamour over the familiar lightning bolt and watched as Jasper looked startled at his forehead. His eyes quickly dropped back down quickly to meet Harry's and Harry felt deeply thankful once again that the scar meant nothing to anybody here.

"So I was famous, I had mysteriously destroyed a dark wizard at the height of his power." Harry laughed bitterly, "I was the boy-who-lived and I was celebrated up and down the country. Parties were thrown, books were written, speeches given. The whole shebang. But meanwhile I was sent off to live with my muggle Aunt and Uncle completely unaware that magic even existed let alone what my parents had died for."

"You're Aunt and Uncle didn't tell you?" Jasper whispered.

"No, according to them my parents were both drunkards who had died in a car crash leaving me nothing and no one to look after me. Forcing them to step in and raise me out of the good of their hearts." Harry hated this bit, sometimes he missed the relief of never having to explain himself to magical people. Everyone knew already, there was nothing to explain.

Jasper just pressed his knee against Harry's and listened. He could do this. He could explain.

He talked about finding out about magic, his parents and Lord Voldemort. He talked about school, finding out that Voldemort wasn't as dead as he'd been told. He told him about Quirrel. He told him about the Diary.

Hermione and Ron and men who turned into rats and dogs and werewolves.

He told him about the graveyard.

Jasper just held his hand and listened.

He told him about Sirius. The dreams, the visions of Voldemort and the discovery of Horcruxes.

Dumbledore and the Astronomy Tower.

Hunting for Horcruxes.

Capture, torture, and Dobby.

The Battle for Hogwarts. The frantic search for the last of Tom's soul.

Lupin. Tonks.

Fred.

Harry could feel the tears running in rivulets down his cheeks.

Jasper just held his hand when Harry told him about dying.

About killing Tom.

"You survived, that's all that matters."

"Surviving has never been the problem for me."

"You surviving is all that needs to matter to me."

Harry just closed his eyes and wept.

Jasper was barely holding on. Harry looked like he was breaking, and Jasper had the unsettling feeling he was nowhere near finished.

"I didn't survive really, not all of me." Harry was looking miserably down at his lap. "I died aged 17 in 1997."

"What?" Jasper's mind was racing and coming up with no answers. Was Harry a ghost? No that made no sense. Was he a revenant too? But that made even less sense, he could currently hear Harry's heartbeat.

Harry shrugged, "We were never really sure what happened. I lost the bit of Tom's soul that had attached itself to me and came back. After the battle was over it soon became pretty obvious something was wrong because I wasn't aging anymore."

Harry was like him. Harry wasn't a teenager. A weight he hadn't realised he was holding was suddenly lifting from him. Harry was immortal like him. Just squishier.

"You don't age at all?" Jasper breathed, barely keeping his rising excitement out of his voice.

"Nope, we kept it under wraps with glamours and aging potions. Just had to make sure I was keeping pace with my friends." Harry shrugged helplessly. "We figured we could take advantage of it, the magical world wasn't the exciting escape from my life with Dursleys anymore. The shine had gone off it and everyone wanted something from me. It wasn't enough that I'd given up my childhood, suddenly every problem the wizarding world had would be laid at my feet."

Now Jasper knew he wasn't speaking to a teen some of the inconsistencies he'd noticed over the last couple of weeks made sense. The world weariness, how distant Harry seemed sometimes. How comfortable Jasper felt around him. Something deeply satisfied crowed in his chest, his mate was perfect.

"So you wanted to escape?"

"That was the plan, yeah." Bitterness had crept into Harry's voice and Jasper had the feeling that he wasn't going to enjoy what came next. "Original plan was that I would wait ten years or so and then start over in the wizarding world outside Britain. Change my name, change my face just enough to pass as someone else."

Harry had fallen silent.

"You don't have to tell me everything all at once." Jasper whispered, rubbing lightly up and down Harry's arms. "We have time." Centuries of it if Jasper had anything to do with it. "Don't push yourself too far."

Harry sighed. "You're right."

"I do that sometimes."

"I promise I'll tell you everything soon." Harry met his eyes and Jasper could see the strain, thin lines around Harry's eyes.

"It doesn't have to be soon." Jasper advised, "I'm not going to get angry or upset if you're not ready to share."

Harry leant into him resting his head on Jasper's shoulder and Jasper took a moment to revel in the incredible, immortal teenager next to him.

"I should probably tell you that my name isn't Harrison Black."

Right. That should have been obvious. Whole new identity thing.

"Hi, my name is Harry Potter. Nice to meet you."

Harry Potter.

He mouthed it. Potter.

Harry looked at him sideways, his mouth quirking in an imitation of a smile. "To be fair, Black was my grandmother's name and technically I am Lord of the Houses of both Potter and Black in the wixen world." Harry gestured to the signet ring on Jasper's finger, "That ring was originally commissioned for my grandmother, Dorea Black, when she was initially betrothed to my grandfather."

"I'm honoured to wear it, Lord Black." Jasper attempted a bow from where he was sat next to Harry on the sofa to limited success. He mostly just managed to push himself closer to Harry.

Harry just glared at him wearily. "It's not a betrothal ring."

"Of course not." Jasper grinned at him. "In any case I should introduce myself back, Jasper Whitlock at your service." He swept an imaginary hat from his head.

Harry just grinned at him. "Such a southern gent."

Jasper rose from the couch and offered his arm. "Can I escort you to get another cup of tea sir? I find myself craving another of those delightful lollipops."

Harry laughed and hauled himself upright on Jasper's arm. "Why thank you, good sir, I appreciate the escort. There is no way I would make it to my kitchen on my own. It is a dark and treacherous journey." Harry batted his eyelashes up at him and Jasper needed to make sure Harry never worked out how weak kneed that made him. "Onwards gallant knight, to blood pops!"

Jasper was horrified. "They're called blood pops?"

"Yep." Harry popped the p, "Blood Pops."

"What an awful name."

"Used to have a little Dracula on the front of the jar and everything. I think they're made from Salamander blood."

"Salamander blood? Jesus, why is an amphibian so delicious?" Jasper started down at the lollipop Harry had produced from a pocket.

Harry snorted. "Not a muggle salamander, wizard ones live in fires. The blood is used in a lot of healing potions, probably makes it taste good to you because it's got a spark of magic in it. I tried one once." Harry wrinkled his nose. "Not for me."

"All for me then." Jasper grinned, struck not for the first time by how pretty Harry was. Now Harry had dropped whatever had been covering his lightning bolt scar his dark hair made his skin seem almost luminous. A light dusting of freckles across his nose was testament to a summer spent outside, a second small scar curled up from the corner of his mouth and Jasper could see another faint one running down the outside of his neck. The glamour had been doing something to dull his eyes, Harry's eyes were violently green.

Harry narrowed his eyes up at Jasper. "Are all vampires so tall?"

Jasper shrugged, "Most of us, the transformation adds a few inches, I was already tall when I was alive."

"You're still alive."

Huh.

Jasper was finding it surprisingly easy to adjust to the new name but hadn't quite thought through the implications yet.

"At least I'm in normal human range."

"Anything above 6 foot is unnatural."

"Sounds like jealously to me."

"Maybe I should lower the ceilings, then you'd understand how much better being average height is."

Jasper scoffed, "Your cousin would have to crawl. That's an unnatural height if I'm going to be pointing fingers."

Harry's eyes suddenly widened. "Jake."

Jasper looked at him, confused. "Your cousin, yes."

"No, Jake is coming here! In," Harry looked at his watch and blanched, "Shit. 20 minutes."

Jasper laughed down at him and ruffled his hair. The murderous gleam in Harry's eyes warned him that he would be paying for that. "I'll get out of your hair then." Jasper pulled Harry into a quick hug, taking a moment to breathe in and bath in his presence for one final moment before he headed back out to the bike. "Jacob is not the biggest fan of 'leeches'."

Harry just rolled his eyes as Jasper gave him a last smile and headed for the door. The gorgeous blue birds Harry had pointed out to him earlier were still snuggled together in a more substantial looking nest.

"Oi Jasper." He turned to look at Harry, grabbing the bag of blood pops out of the air before they hit him directly in the face. "See you tomorrow?"

Jasper tucked the packet into his jacket pocket and grinned back at Harry. "Definitely. Let me know when you want me to come pick you up?"

"Don't trust me in the lemon?"

"Any excuse to spend more time with you."

Harry smile softened. "See you tomorrow then."

He pulled on his helmet and with a final glance back he was speeding down the dirt road that led up to Harry's cabin.

Jasper was grinning the whole way home, buoyant on a cloud of happiness. Today had been stressful and at some points devastating, but it had also given Jasper so much hope. Harry and him were going to have a chance at a future together.

He was whistling when he entered the Cullen residence. He barely registered Emmett staring at him. Alice was smiling at him from the kitchen where she seemed to be continuing his Hobbit food experiments.

"How was your day? Was it as bright as you were hoping?" Alice was feeling mischievous, but he was feeling too happy to question it.

"It was wonderful. He's wonderful. We spent the whole day talking." Jasper grinned at her, feeling like delight was pouring off him. Alice giggled and Jasper knew he was doing a poor job reining it in.

"Did you find it illuminating?"

That was a weird emphasis, Jasper looked quizzically at Alice. "Yes," he said slowly. "I found out a lot. He is going to come over tomorrow to explain some of the things he's discovered."

Alice nodded happily. "That's brilliant. Would you give him a glowing review?"

Jasper narrowed his eyes at Alice. "What are you talking about?"

Jasper felt Emmett's heavy hand come down on his shoulder but kept his eyes on Alice who was now helplessly giggling.

"Bro, when did you decide to dye your hair."

"What-" Harry. That Imp.

He glanced at the nearest mirror and groaned. His hair was flashing a different colour every couple of seconds, exuding a low-level light.

Emmett and Alice burst into open laughter which of course summoned the rest of the family who took it in turns to admire Jasper's radiant new look.

He was going to have to learn to be very cautious about making any comments about Harry's height.

"Yes, yes, I'm a shining example of good hair care." Jasper rolled his eyes mockingly but grinned. "But if we don't stop focusing on my new hair choices, I'll have no chance to show you this incredible new sweet Harry introduced to me. Specially made for Vampires."

Ten minutes later when his family finished levitating, he shared the blood pops but not before he took as many pictures as possible of Rosalie's delighted face.