Complicated 03
By: I Should Be Sleeping (AKA: Moar Sleep)
"And how did that make you feel?"
A transparent figure floated in place, her morose moans filling the air. "Terrible!"
"Margaret, it is alright. This is good. Expressing yourself clearly is what we want."
Margaret nodded her head, her translucent frame shaking with barely suppressed sobs. "It is just so difficult!"
Auburn waves nodded emphatically as her dainty hand flew across the papers before her, writing at lightening speed. "The progress you have made this past month has been tremendous. Do not dwell on the negative. Remember what we say?"
A deep and unnecessary inhale was made quite noisily as watery transparent eyes gazed at the other female with pseudo strength. "Positivity helps to cultivate progress and promotes healthy and balanced thinking," Margaret said through a few sniffles.
"Yes. And you know that I want your afterlife to be one of positivity and peace."
"Yes, yes!" Margaret nodded her head quickly. "Yes I do."
A gentle smile played across rose tinted lips. "I think that is enough for today. I hope to see you same time next month?"
"Thank you so much. I do feel better," Margaret said with a shaky smile that showed her ever present nervousness.
"Don't push yourself Margaret and fly carefully."
Margaret's ghostly form took flight as she phased through the walls and out into the darkened forest surrounding their pristine home in the small town of Forks, Washington.
"That was certainly better than her last session."
A small laugh escaped her lips. "I think any session that ends without Margaret crying and putting herself down is a success."
"True."
"Welcome home my love. How long have you been spying?"
A sly smile made its way across his lips as a dimple appeared on his left cheek. She thought it was incredibly sexy and spent a fair amount of time licking that small indentation in the privacy of their room.
He really was beautiful.
Flaxen tresses artfully styled in a short wave atop his head. Pale skin and stunning amber eyes that were always focused upon her. His lithe frame was still adorned in his white coat and outlined the fine muscles along his shoulders and arms perfectly. A purr of pleasure escaped her lips as her eyes went hooded at the visage. This male was the epitome of perfection and he belonged to her. It was quite a heady and pleasing thought.
Seeing her expression, his long legs made short work of the distance between them and he took her in his arms.
To him, she was everything.
Soft waves of auburn curled inwards and brushed slightly across slender shoulders adorned in a paisley printed dress of blue. Long sooty lashes swept across her pale cheeks as she closed her eyes in absolute euphoria and breathed in deeply, another purr escaping her rose tinted lips. A delicate chain of gold with a stunning sapphire wrapped around her neck, a gift he bestowed to her for their Anniversary last year and the male in him hummed in pleasure at seeing his gift settled on the hollow of her throat.
Leaning down, he placed a light kiss next to the precious gem. "Stunning."
She knew he was not talking about the expensive piece of jewelry and that made her quiver in absolute desire. This man was sinful!
"Ewww."
Amber eyes snapped open as the two looked to the doorway to see a tall lumbering male taking up the majority of the space, his nose wrinkled in disgust as he frowned at them.
"Emmett. I see you decided to come out from the basement and join the rest of society."
The large male let out a disgruntled noise. "Awww Ma! I was grinding hard and needed to finish a raid and then it turned into like seven in a row! I couldn't let my team down or we would fall in the ranks!"
For such a hulking figure, Emmett had the ability to still look rather childish. At a staggering 6'5", he made quite an intimidating visage, until you realized that he was actually a teddy bear.
She stared at him blankly for a moment before turning to the male that still held her in a less passionate embrace. "Did you understand anything he just said?"
A chuckle left his lips. "Son. Your mother and I-"
"Say no more Pops!" Emmett interrupted as he put his fingers into his ears and started to walk away. "I have no desire to see or hear about old people making out!"
The two looked at his retreating figure with a mix of awe and indignation.
Old people!?
"Don't mind him Emse! You know Emmett has the maturity of a three-year-old," a tinkling voice from upstairs called.
"What was that you little pipsqueak!?"
A series of rushed footsteps echoed along the upstairs corridors as Esme frowned. "Alice and Emmett Cullen! Do not break anything!"
"Yes mom!" Came the echoed responses as the inevitable crash of what Esme knew to be a glass vase rang throughout the home.
Esme looked to her husband and let out a long sigh of resignation. "Rain check Carlisle?"
The blonde just nodded his head and also accepted the chaos that was their life. "I will hold you to that."
Esme Cullen never thought of perusing a career outside of homemaker. Women from her time were expected to be good housewives and supportive of their husband. They were encouraged to look pretty and raise the children all while keeping their husband happy. She honestly did not have any aspirations other than being a mother and wife and when that came true, she was beyond happy.
However, life has a way of throwing you for a loop and she lost her son and woke up to a new life with Carlisle nearly a century ago. She was still a wife and a mother to a group of rowdy teens and she found fulfilment in her new life, but after decades she felt bored. There were only so many times one could redecorate their house.
Therefore, it was a blessing when she stumbled across the magical community. According to Carlisle, he had sent paperwork off to the Magical Congress of the United States of America – or MACUSA for short – when he had first settled in the country. It included his origin, approximated date of birth, rebirth and intended hunting grounds. The last part led to a thorough investigation by a strange man dressed in draping robes and a bowler hat. He took notes down at an alarming rate on a sturdy piece of parchment with a feathered quill. It was all rather clinical and he did express interest in his diet, but kept everything very professional. When done, he had done a strange sort of teleportation with a loud 'pop' sound.
A representative from the government visited every twenty-five years to check in. They called it a wellness check, but Esme knew that it was an invasive way to make sure they were behaving under the guise of concern. She abhorred those visits and always made sure to stay silent. It was not until the last visit that a witch had replaced the previous wizards and had come at the most inopportune time for her. The poor thing had just lost a child and as a mother who had gone through the same thing, Esme had offered comfort. She guided the young woman and gave her the best advice she could offer. She listened patiently and after a few hours, the witch had left their home feeling much lighter and more centered emotionally.
Jasper had commented that she had entered their home a jumbled mess of different feelings, but left feeling much more organized and with a clearer focus. He said it was like cleaning out a hoarder's home and making it livable again.
Esme had felt exhilarated by the idea of helping others and soon started attending psychology classes online. After three years of dedicated study, she felt quite confident in her understanding of the mind and emotions and received a Bachelor's Degree. Jasper was able to offer a very unique point of view and colored her studies with his personal experiences gleaned from his gift.
From there she asked Carlisle about pursuing higher learning and after another two years, received a Masters. She thought about going into a Doctorate program, but decided against it as she was more interested in helping fellow members of the magical community.
She learned early on that higher learning was done with an apprenticeship program. She also learned that when it came to dealing with emotions and the study of psychology, there was nothing offered. The closest thing she could find was the study of Mind Magic, but that was more geared towards witches and wizards who focused on the adverse spell effects on how the mind dealt with the aftermath of curses and the like.
It was rather disheartening to know that the magical community ignored such things and instead chose to keep their emotions separate or relied on potions to mask their pain. It was all incredibly unhealthy so she sought to change that.
The beginning year was difficult as her clientele was limited as most did not see the reason for the service she offered. However, through word of mouth and patience, Esme saw a rise in requests and soon had to weed out those that needed her services versus those that were looking to complain about their superficial problems.
Jasper, the Godsend, helped much in those cases. As an Empath himself, he probably would have served as a better medium to help others. However, he sometimes felt too much and considering his past experiences, all the male vampire wanted was peace and quiet. Therefore, he usually spent his time situated in another area of the house and away from her more trying cases and she would seek him out after they had left.
"You feel very apprehensive."
A smile tugged at her lips as she kept her eyes focused on the letter before her. "Hello Jasper. Take a seat."
He chose to ignore the offered chair and instead propped himself on her desk as he usually did. His amber eyes scanned the parchment before her as a blonde brow piqued in interest. "That is certainly a unique case."
"Straight from the desk of the British Minister of Magic himself," she said.
"Will you agree?"
Esme frowned. "She is only twenty Jasper. She is so young and has been through so much."
Jasper hummed noncommittally.
"To be frank, if I agree I will need you."
Jasper blinked. "Me?"
"She is a victim of war. Who else would better offer counsel than the God of War himself?" She asked with a steady gaze upon the male.
"Esme, I do not have the best control," he began nervously.
"Jasper," she said with a gentle hand upon his. "Do not let that fear rule you. You are stronger than that. In addition, I am pretty sure she could knock you flat on your back. According to this, she is not only a survivor, but a warrior."
At that Jasper took the spare bit of parchment and read over her profile. A low whistle escaped his lips. "Well look at that."
"So? How about it?"
Jasper looked at her and gave a firm nod. "Agreed."
"What do you mean we aren't moving yet?"
Esme took a measured breath despite not needing to. She found the action calming and goodness knows she needed it with a room full of immortal teens. "Rose. I just received a case."
"So unrecieve it," came her blunt reply.
Emmett frowned at the blonde and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Babe. Let's hear what Ma has to say."
Rosalie rolled her amber eyes heavenward, but looked to the elder female vampire expectantly.
"Hermione Jean Granger is a witch. She is also a survivor and fighter in the last British Wizarding War. She was tortured mentally and physically, persecuted for her heritage and despite this, still fights for equality for all in the magical community."
Esme stared at each and every single one of her children when she stressed the world 'All' because she knew that they would make the connection that Hermione was one of the few people that stood for creature rights – their rights.
Rosalie's fierce scowl melted into a frown as she heard about the young heroine. "Tortured?"
"I have only received a brief file, but yes. I cannot imagine what she has lived through, but the British Minister of Magic himself has asked for my help as a personal favor. Apparently, they both fought in the resistance group."
"That is some Rebel Alliance shit right there," Emmet remarked with a low whistle that was cut short by a glare from his mate.
Bella Cullen née Swan had been incredibly quiet until that moment. As the newest member of the Cullen family, her eyes were still a deep burgundy red with shocks of gold. "I'm sorry. Wizarding War? Minster of Magic?"
Edward winced. He supposed he should have brought up the topic, but it did not seem relevant at the time considering all they had just gone through with the Volturi. In addition, their next census was not due for another decade. "I will tell you all about that later."
"Your mother and I think that moving would disrupt her therapy and she has already found potential property to rent for the time being," said Carlisle.
"I know we are pushing our years here, but your father and I discussed that we could do at least two more before people would begin to talk. With all of you out of school, it makes it much easier as he is the only one that needs to be seen on a regular basis."
"I think she sounds wonderful," said Alice with a bounce in her seat.
Jasper grinned at his petite mate, his blonde curls swaying as he leaned down to place a kiss upon her short dark tresses.
"You know I do not take cases lightly and I think she is one person that needs peace. She was much too young to fight and I want to help her."
Seeing Esme look so beseechingly at the gathered group was more than enough to have them agree to her plea. Their mother asked for so little. This was the least they could do.
AN:
Introducing the Cullen family! I like their dynamics and I am keeping it pretty canon, however I am making it a bit Alternate Reality because I am going to pretend that Edward and Bella did not have their weird hybrid baby. So sorry, no half vamp kid. There was still conflict with the Volturi, but once Bella was turned they pretty much noped out and let them be.
Wolves are still wolves as vampires are still there. They will probably be annoyed that they are staying longer, but they can hold out for another year or two.
Next chapter is Hermione making her way across the pond. Teddy and Andromeda will not be with as I feel Hermione will come with Harry and Ron first to make sure everything is set up. She would most definitely set up the home and make sure it was comfortable before inviting her godson and pseudo mother figure to join. Always a good daughter that one.
Will Paul be in the next chapter? Maybe. I guess you will have to see.
As always, thank you for your kind reviews. Honestly, I love reading them and try to reply as best I can! I know this story is vastly different from the first one I wrote, but I like this vibe so much more. Thanks again!
Me