AN: See disclaimer on Chapter 1.
Harry was shocked the next day, when the Cullens invited him to sit by their table, before he could pull his disappearing act. He shocked them right back by producing two more of his ever present lunchboxes for them, along with a thermos. While he'd not prepared any food for them, he assured them that while not filling, it would at least not disagree with them. The conjured stuff would simply disappear, after all. That way they wouldn't stand out so much and since the food was almost completely flavour- and odourless, it wouldn't offend their senses.
Harry was in the mood for something light-hearted after the serious conversation with the Cullens. If he'd learned anything throughout the years, it was that he could at least enjoy his ever-present youth. There would always be monsters killing people and he couldn't stop them all, but he wasn't a slave to this job. Sure he'd help people, but he'd not spend all his time anguishing about it.
So it was that Harry told Bella and the Cullens that he was planning for a bit of a party at his house during the coming weekend. It was just to blow off some steam, but he planned on music and a little alcohol and maybe even something for the vampires to enjoy as well. Since there was still a curfew, because of the 'animal attacks', he was planning on a pool party for the Saturday. Bella hadn't even noticed that he had a pool.
The week went by quickly and before they knew it, it was Saturday morning. Unfortunately, it seemed that this particular Saturday would be a sunny one, so before the Vampires could disappear, Harry showed up and told them to follow him into the front yard.
"Harry, we can't reveal ourselves." Edward was saying, even as he followed the quickly moving boy into the sunlight.
"Edward!" Alice exclaimed.
"What?" he asked turning around and seeing her for the first time. "What the-?"
"Congratulations, you don't look like disco balls anymore." Harry said, with a bit of a roll of his eyes. He'd found that particular revelation to be quite funny. A bit of obscure magic to turn the direct sunlight into soft lighting and boom, no more stripper vampire impression.
"How!?" Esme exclaimed.
"Secret, sorry." Harry said, as he put his helmet back on.
"Is this permanent?" Carlisle asked.
"Should last about two days." Harry shrugged. "On the bright side, you'll look better in photos. You do reflect in photos, right?"
Edward scowled at Harry, but it was Alice who responded. "I'll need a whole new wardrobe!" she exclaimed excitedly.
"Thanks." Jasper said sarcastically. He'd be shopping with her for hours now, just for two days of sun.
"You're welcome!" Harry said with false enthusiasm, as he started the bike. "See you idiots at eleven!" he called behind himself, as he drove off.
"That young man is going to change our lives." Esme said fondly. She could handle a bit of ribbing, for the good he was doing.
"Well, it seems I'm going in to work after all." Carlisle said.
"Don't." Esme said. "We'll have the house to ourselves now, and you already told them you're not going to be in."
"Good point." Carlisle said, before looking at his 'kids'. "You heard her. Get dressed and go help Harry get ready or something."
The 'kids' just smirked at that and moved into the house to see if they had anything that they could wear for a sunny day. Chances were small, though.
Harry was setting up a few benches with cushions out back by the heated pool, a recent addition, for the guests to sit on and around. If they got wet, he'd not have any trouble drying them, so he didn't mind. He was just on his way back into the house to go fetch a few extra towels, when he heard the doorbell ring.
"You're early." Harry said, looking at the smirking vampires. He'd felt them coming, after all.
"Esme and Carlisle kicked us out for a bit of privacy, so we decided we'd come help." Alice said easily, as she stepped into the house and looked around. "Nice." she said, before going through the house to the open back door. "Okay, this will not do. We're expecting people." she said, as she decided to help their benefactor out. "Rosalie, I'll need you to go to the shop for me. We need a couple of things."
"What's happening?" Harry asked.
"Alice can't help herself." Edward said. "She'll have this place decorated before your guests show up and won't stop until she feels it's perfect."
"It's a pool party, not an open-house." Harry objected.
"Try telling her that." Emmett said, before he walked to the pool and stepped in, not caring that he was still wearing shoes and a shirt. When he came back up he looked surprised. "I'm floating?" he asked.
"Added a bit of buoyancy." Harry shrugged. "Now get your shoes out of my pool!" he admonished, before shaking his head and heading back inside to start on snacks. If they were handling the pool area, he could take extra time with the snacks.
"I'm floating." Emmett said again. "This guy is so much fun!"
"Shoes!" Harry's voice came through the back door.
Rosalie was smiling, though. Another day of acting human. Her life had become so much better since Harry showed up.
"Rosalie, chop-chop. We only have two hours!" Alice reprimanded. "Edward, I'll need you to re-arrange the furniture. Let's add some movement space there and we can set up the snacks at that table. Move that umbrella more this way…"
Harry just chuckled as he heard Alice start ordering people around. She was growing on him.
It was almost two hours later, before Harry came back out. He was shocked to see the place. There were pool toys and dedicated seating locations. Some of his furniture had been moved outside as well, but covered to protect them from water-damage. There was a clear path into the woods behind his house, with tree trunks lining the path, leading into the trees, likely for some of the more adventurous couples, to go for a walk in private. Even the woods seemed to have been cleaned up some, with some bushes having been miraculously moved to clear the way and to create a natural boundary from view.
There were more umbrellas and they had little lights under them, which would likely look amazing when it became dark, not that the party was meant to last deep into the night. The boundary of his back-yard was now also fenced with a thick wooden railing, which it hadn't been before.
"Seriously?" Harry asked. "You changed my entire yard for just a high school pool party?"
"We can change everything back." Alice said easily, with a smile.
"I'm not complaining, but this was a lot of work for a few friends to enjoy the weather around a pool." Harry said.
"You must not have realised, but high school parties tend to draw a crowd." Alice said.
"You did tell Eric and he'll be spreading the word." Edward said. Eric was on the school newspaper, and he was probably the most prolific gossip in the entire town. "This will be a big party."
"Fortunately I made enough snacks." Harry sighed. He'd expected a few extra people, but by the sounds of it, he was in for a bit of work cleaning up in the morning. Oh, well. "Oh, right. I made some snacks for you guys as well." he said as he placed a large platter of mixed snacks on one end of the table. "If you leave it on that side of the table, people will ignore it, even if they're starving, so no need to force it all down before they show up."
"Deer again?" Rosalie asked as she walked closer to inspect the snacks.
"Bear." Harry said. "I had a bit of luck with a new trick. The bear's still alive and technically he's producing a steady supply for me to make these for you." The vampires all stared at him at that. "What?" he asked.
"You are now my favourite human." Emmett said. "Seriously, bear is my favourite!"
"Let me know your preferences. I'll see what I can do." Harry said. "Can't believe I'm catering to vampires' dietary preferences." he mumbled, knowing full well that they could hear him.
"Oh, come on, you know you like us." Emmett said, as he slapped Harry on the back.
"Oh, go take a swim or something." Harry waved a hand and Emmett was launched back into the pool with a splash.
"Telekinesis, too?" Edward asked. "What can't you do?"
"How do you know this wasn't what I did, when I held you in place before?" Harry asked.
"My muscles locked up that time." Emmett said as he appeared, as if nothing had happened, but dripping wet. He turned to his girl and hugged her.
"No!" Rosalie wailed. "I'm still fully dressed!"
"Good point." Emmett said. "Can't have that." he said as he reached out to grab her top.
"Don't even think about it!" Rosalie warned. Emmett just smiled, before Rosalie vanished, Emmett disappearing a moment later. Harry could feel his tracking charms flitting through the woods as Emmett chased Rosalie, before they stopped and started moving erratically, very close together.
"Are they-?" Harry asked, with a look of bewilderment.
"You can tell?" Alice asked, smirking. "Yeah, they can still get that way very easily."
"Like to brag how many beds they've broken." Edward agreed.
"And trees, and houses." Jasper said.
"I need to go get Bella." Edward said. "She still thinks I'm not coming." he smirked.
"You didn't tell her?!" Alice exclaimed. "She'll not have time to get ready!"
"She'll be fine." Edward said.
"Well, call her from the car at least." Alice said. "Give the girl a moment to tell her dad."
"She was going to come to my party, you know." Harry said. "She doesn't need Edward here to want to be here."
"But she might decide to actually wear something nice for once." Alice countered.
Harry doubted she'd be too adventurous, but shrugged anyway and carried on arranging the platters of food.
"You should put the-" Alice started, only to be silenced by a look from Harry.
"When it comes to food, you're not the trusted expert." Harry said.
"I was planning on putting the punch bowl there." Alice said tartly.
Damn, she had a point. "Sorry." Harry mumbled, moving the tray up a bit, with Alice looking on smugly. "Ever feel like she needs to control every little thing?" Harry asked Jasper, who was standing next to her. He was quiet though.
"The first guests are here." Alice explained. "He tries not to breath too much, to keep from losing control. You need air to talk, so…"
"Got you." Harry said. "Feel free to breathe again." he said, as he walked into the house, to go greet the first guests.
Jasper took a small whiff, and smirked. "Anosmia." he said. Edward had told them about that. "I could get used to having our new friend around."
"Not a fix!" Harry called back. "And go get those siblings of yours before they bring the forest down, trying to prove a point!"
Jasper volunteered and soon disappeared. He'd be able to calm them down with his empathic powers, so that they could get themselves presentable.
The guests soon started streaming in and Harry was glad he'd decided on a rather large pool, since it seemed like most of the senior class had decided to show up, with a few of the more adventurous younger kids. No matter Harry's planning, the snacks proved to still not be enough and he was back in the kitchen two hours later, preparing more. This time he didn't do too much, besides a large bowl of dip and an equally large bowl with all kinds of mixed chips.
Once placed, he brought out the grill and started preparing hotdogs, wearing an apron that said 'Kiss the cook', just for the fun of it. He did not expect nearly every unattached female to decide it was an open invitation. Every time he prepared another hotdog for one of them, they'd take it and kiss him on the cheek. Jessica, however, had no compunctions with pressing up against him in her two piece swimsuit and kissing him full on the mouth.
"Thanks for the hotdog." she said as she smirked at him and walked off swaying her hips.
"If you were hoping to get lucky, all you had to do was give her a certain look and a smile." Jasper said from where he'd sidled up to Harry, carrying a drink Harry had brought out for his vampire guests.
"She's already got a plan to tell her parents that she's sleeping at Angela's place." Edward agreed. "The spiked punch is also giving her all sorts of thoughts."
"I didn't spike it." Harry said.
"Mike did." Jasper said. "I'm thinking he was hoping for her to do to him, what she did to you, if the look he's sending your way is any indication."
Harry glanced at Mike and saw a look that might intimidate a kindergartener. "Yeah, he can have her." Harry said.
"Are you gay?" Edward asked.
"You think I'm what?" Harry asked.
"I can usually just tell, you know." Edward defended himself.
"He's not gay." Bella said, as she walked up to them. "I've seen him check out both Rosalie and Alice."
"Bikini's look good on them." Harry said easily. "Not that you don't look good too." he told her.
"Would you care to tell me why there is almost no wind here, but there is up there?" Bella asked, changing the subject, even as she blushed, quickly looking up to where the smoke from the grill was going straight up, until it suddenly veered off as the wind took it away.
"Probably a peculiarity of some kind of updraft as the wind goes over the mountain." Harry shrugged.
"Wind doesn't work like that." Bella said.
"But the average teenager with no knowledge of my skills would believe that and not think twice about it." Harry said. "You'd be surprised what people will believe, when strange things happen. It's not like the supernatural really exists, after all."
Rosalie and Alice were having their own conversation, from where they lounged on pool chairs next to each other, not that they didn't hear the others chatting with Harry and smiling at him for his compliment.
"You know, if Harry does end up screwing one of these girls, she'd likely become a constant visitor." Alice mused.
"That could end up making things difficult for us, if we ever need him to help us with things." Rosalie agreed.
"Already planning on taking up more of his time?" Emmett asked from where he was floating nearby. He was really enjoying not simply sinking like a rock.
"I was just thinking, we may want to introduce him to one of our cousins from the Denali." Rosalie mused. "Irina's been looking for a mate for a long time."
"Then he'd never get laid." Emmett chuckled. "She'd crush him like an insect."
"Unless he has a trick to prevent that too." Rosalie argued. "I don't see that being an issue. All else fails, it motivates him to figure out how to help us sooner."
"Can't we just let him be?" Emmett asked. "I'd rather not ruin a good thing."
"He has a point." Alice said. "If we start forcing our company on him, he may decide we're not worth the effort."
"I suppose I see your point." Rosalie said. "I'd still not like to have to work around any of these floozies."
"Jealous of the attention he's getting?" Emmett joked.
"Just… I don't know." Rosalie finally said. "Somehow, I feel like I want to… protect him?" she asked.
"Are you getting maternal, or possessive?" Alice asked.
"I suppose a bit possessive is probably right." Rosalie said. "He's our new friend, and he fits in so well!"
"He is older than he looks and he's going to high school with us." Alice said. "It makes sense that we feel a bit of comradery with him."
"Then there's the fact that he's a good looking guy." Emmett said. "He's not even one of us and he's already getting all the attention. Imagine he got turned."
"Is that even possible?" Alice asked. "We don't even know what he is, let alone if he's human enough to change."
"Not that we're considering that." Rosalie interjected.
"Of course not." Alice said. "For all we know, he's something similar to us already."
WNWN
Harry was still at the grill, chatting idly with the other two vampires, about their own gifts and how they experienced them.
"With most people, it's like I'm listening in to a conversation." Edward was saying. "Most people have some sort of voice in their heads stating their desires or intentions. For some people it's an image or two, as they imagine those goals."
"Or fantasies." Harry said.
"Exactly." Edward agreed. "It can become overwhelming. All those thoughts and images." He cocked his head to the side. "Right now, Jessica is wondering how you're hung."
"I don't want to know that." Harry said.
"Do you think I do?" Edward asked.
"Point made." Harry said. "Maybe you could learn to focus it?"
"Point me to a person who can do that and I'll be right there." Edward joked.
"Hi, Harry Potter, have we met?" Harry asked with a smirk.
"You?!" Edward asked. "But, how?!"
"Mine was a learned skill." Harry said. "Useful for cheating in exams, but I need to focus to use mine. It used to require eye-contact, but that changed when my situation did. I'd hate to be unable to switch it off, though."
"Do you think you could teach me?" Edward asked hopefully.
"Maybe, some day." Harry said.
"And emotions?" Jasper asked.
"Not like you do." Harry said. "Mine's more about conscious thought. If someone is experiencing enough of an emotion, it can bleed through to their thoughts, but I can't feel things like hunger, or shock. At least, with that particular skill." Harry noticed the girls looking over at him, along with Emmett. "Any chance you can tell me what they were talking about, so that I don't feel like the only one that's getting half the conversation?"
"They were discussing your sex life." Edward said with a smirk, when Rosalie looked at him murderously. "Or lack thereof."
"I don't know that I like you guys discussing my bedroom like that." Harry said, with a look at them. "Unless you want to see what I can do?" he said as he wiggled his eyebrows at them. Emmett let out a bark of laughter at that, even as both girls smiled invitingly at him, playing along.
Bella was off with the female contingent of her friends. "And you just kissed him like that?" Angela was asking Jessica.
"Well, it's like the apron says." she said easily. "I kissed the cook. Everyone was doing it."
"Not like that!" Angela complained. Why hadn't she done that?
"Jealous?" Jessica asked.
"Was he into it?" Angela asked.
"He didn't push me away." Jessica said. "I even think I felt a bit of tongue."
Bella was just keeping a smile plastered on her face. She'd not ruin her fun.
Mike was off standing by the punch bowl. He'd spiked the damn thing, so he felt he deserved the lion's share. Damn that English dude for hogging all the chicks! Now that Edward was dating Bella, shouldn't there be more chicks available to him?
Eric was just having a good time goofing off with some of his other friends. The pool party was a massive success. He could already see the news articles. 'Harry Potter, Chef extraordinaire.' The snacks had been out of this world! Everyone was talking about it. Everyone had seen Harry with his infamous lunchbox. The smells coming from it had people moving away from him, just so that their own food didn't smell like yesterday's rejected leftovers.
The sun was getting low on the horizon, by the time the guests started leaving. Harry had the forethought to serve coffee, spiked with something to help sober up the ones who'd had too much fun with the punch. He'd planned on adding something to the mix himself, but the fumes coming off of the bowl by the time he'd refilled it for the fifth time was telling him that it had turned into almost clean alcohol by the end. It seemed that more than just Mike had decided to spike the drink.
The last people to leave, were the Cullens and Bella. Harry waved them off when they offered to help clean up, saying that he could handle it in the morning. He wanted them to get Bella home, before Charlie turned into Chief Swan. She had wisely decided to stay away from the punch bowl.
Harry did a bit of clean-up, but decided to handle it in the morning. The lights under the umbrellas was definitely giving the place a very nice vibe, though, so Harry decided to go swim a bit himself. He'd been so busy watching people have fun and chatting, that he never even got in the damn pool!
He hadn't thought to add lighting in the pool, but that was simple to rectify with a spell and soon he was floating in the water, just enjoying the soft music still playing from the stereo, which he had taken inside, after the guests left.
He was still contemplating the things he had learned, when he heard a splash behind him. Turning in confusion, he spotted a shadow coming closer. His finely tuned senses didn't pick up on any danger and he was certain this was a human, so he turned and waited for whoever it was, to surface.
"Hello, Harry." Jessica said as her head appeared, her hands clearing the hair out of her eyes. "I thought I'd stay for a bit longer. I hope you don't mind."
"Planning an after-party?" Harry asked the frisky girl.
"That sounds fantastic." she agreed as she swam closer to him. "I was actually hoping you could make me another hotdog, so that I could thank you again." She didn't wait for a response as she closed the distance and kissed him again.
His arms came around her to support her as her hands grabbed his head and pulled him in for a deep kiss, her tongue entreating for entry into his mouth. As he held her, he realised something. He couldn't feel anything but her bare back under his fingers.
Pulling away, he asked, "Are you completely nude?"
She smiled at him and pressed herself into him. Then she grabbed one of his hands and pushed it down to her ass. "You tell me." she said, before she closed the distance again, kissing him deeply.
'Well, why not?' he thought.
WNWN
When Angela showed up the next morning, to come pick Jessica up, she was still a little weak in the knees and stumbled a time or two, as Harry helped her to the car.
As they drove off, Angela spoke. "So, what happened to you? Still drunk?" she asked.
"He fucked my brains out!" Jessica squealed. "I can't walk straight! Seriously, that boy did things to me that makes me wet just thinking about!"
Angela was shocked. She knew her friend had designs on the boy that they both liked, but she didn't think he'd go that far… Or apparently be that skilled or experienced. "You're serious?" she asked.
"Oh, you have no idea." Jessica said, with a look of wonder, as she flushed at the memories. A part of her wanted to go back and just spend the rest of the Sunday naked as well, but she had other plans. Sunday lunch with the family might be a little difficult, if she couldn't put on her game face.
It was an hour later, and Harry had already cleaned up the back yard. His skills made things infinitely simpler. That's when he heard the doorbell.
"Yes?" he asked as he opened the door, to find the Vampires from the previous day, all standing there.
"We're here for clean-up." Alice said.
"Finished." Harry said. "I just have the kitchen left."
"Really?" Alice asked as she moved past. She stopped in her tracks as she picked up a scent. "Is that-?" she trailed off as it seemed to vanish before she could properly identify it. "Something happened after we left." she said. She'd definitely picked up on the scent of something interesting.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Harry said, as he walked to his kitchen.
"Way to go, bro!" Emmett cheered, as he moved past Harry to start moving things around, in prep for the clean-up.
Edward started helping there, even as Jasper and Alice moved past to go check out the back yard. Finding it spotless and neat, they returned to find Harry had started cleaning his counters.
"Who was the lucky girl?" Alice asked. She had tried, but couldn't pick out a specific scent over all the lingering ones from the previous day's party.
"A gentlemen doesn't kiss and tell." Harry said.
"You know we'll just find out when whoever it is starts telling their friends in school." Rosalie said. She'd decided to look through Harry's music collection. His was not nearly as extensive as Edward's.
"I'll be able to hear it." Edward said. He was not looking forward to it if the girl spent any time remembering it.
"Or I'll be able to tell from her emotions." Jasper said.
"Or the smell, if he was any good." Emmett said.
"Oh, shut up." Harry said. "It wasn't anything big. Just a bit of fun between consenting… adults?" he wondered at which term to use. Whatever.
"Good luck with that." Edward said. He knew well how quickly these things grew for school-age kids.
"It won't be a problem." Harry said. He did have a few tricks after all. He doubted he could stop them from finding out who, but he could help dissuade any unnatural attachments.
Jessica was fine, it seemed. The next day at school, she just sent him a smirk and a wink, but she continued on with her life… or so it seemed.
"Yeah, there's a lot of horny coming from that table." Emmett said.
"You can tell?" Harry asked. Emmett pointed at his nose. "Right. What is that, pheromones or something?"
Alice leaned in close and whispered. "She's wet."
"Must suck to be you guys, right now." Harry chuckled.
"You'd be surprised how often that happens at school." Emmett shrugged.
"Doesn't save me from Jessica's memories and Angela's fantasies." Edward groused.
"Angela?" Harry asked, looking over to a suddenly blushing Angela, who had apparently been looking at him.
"Jessica shared with her best friend, no doubt." Rosalie said.
"Aren't you too old-" Bella started, but a look from Harry going between her and Edward shut her up instantly.
That didn't stop Emmett. "Says the one who's permanently-"
"Stop." Edward said.
Bella blushed heavily, realising that they had picked up on her own situation.
"It's completely natural." Alice said soothingly. "And Edward gets that reaction a lot." Strangely that did make Bella feel better and she nodded in thanks to Alice, who smiled brightly at her.
"So, I've got a test to run and need a volunteer." Harry said, changing the subject.
"What kind of test?" Rosalie asked, with sudden interest.
"A temporary one." Harry said.
"I'll do it." Rosalie said, instantly.
"I'm afraid not, Rosalie." Jasper spoke up. "I'm thinking this will likely be my turn to be a gentleman."
"You don't even know what he's planning." Emmett said.
"And none of you will know what I did, either." Harry said. "I'll need Jasper to myself for at least a few hours."
"Can Carlisle not join you?" Alice asked. Carlisle was a doctor and a scientist, after all.
"Let me just run the test first." Harry interrupted, before they could bring up more points. "I'll take Jasper's assistance for this preliminary test."
"If something goes wrong, one of us could restrain him." Edward suggested. Jasper had the least control of the lot of them.
"I can too." Harry pointed out, as he finished off his cup of tea and looked into the cup. "Huh, intrigue and lightning. Looks like the coming week could get exciting."
"Tea-leaf reading?" Alice asked, excitedly. She'd also seen lightning in their future. "You can read the future?"
"I'm not the best at it, but I'm usually pretty accurate." Harry said. "The weather is pretty predictable here, but this will be my first lightning storm since moving here." He held up his cup, for her to see. "See that pattern there? That's the intrigue. It could mean anything really, but it promises to not be dull." He pointed at the other part. "That's the lightning."
"That looks nothing like lightning." Rosalie said, as she looked into the cup.
"It's more of an art than a science." Harry shrugged.
"I see lightning." Alice said. She pointed. "See, that's the streak right there, with another just behind it. And there's another."
"What do you mean behind it?" Rosalie asked, looking at the leaves. There was no depth, it was a flat surface.
"You must not possess the inner eye." Harry said with a smile. "Don't worry about it. I didn't have any luck with this for a long time, either."
"But it's right there!" Alice exclaimed. How could they not see it? She turned to Harry. "Could you do that for other people?"
"Do you think you could stomach a good cup of tea?" Harry countered.
Alice deflated. She knew she couldn't. She took Harry's thermos and poured another cup, before handing it to Bella. "Drink up. I want to try this."
Bella sighed, but obediently drank the cup. When she was done, she handed it to Alice, who took it and got up to sit next to Harry. They inspected it for a bit and Harry pointed out what patterns he saw, but not telling her his interpretation.
"Um, so, that's a spinning wheel." Alice tried. "Maybe, a trip? Ooh and there's more lightning!"
"Like I said, the weather is pretty predictable." Harry agreed. He took the cup and turned it slightly. "That spinning wheel? What's it look like now?"
"A skull?" she asked, before her eyes widened. "Death?"
"That's the shadow of death." Harry agreed. "It's pretty common for me too, these days."
"Why?" Alice asked.
"The company he keeps." Jasper said.
Harry nodded at him. "Pretty much. That could mean she's in imminent danger, or that she's in the company of immortals. Death surrounds you and casts a shadow on your future, etc."
"What about crystal balls?" Alice persisted, after putting the cup down. "Card reading?"
"Tarot Cards was something I never really tried, since they are influenced by personal prejudice." Harry said. "You read what you want to see in them and can be interpreted to mean most anything. Like most normal forms of fortune telling, it relies on the perspective and skill of the reader. Crystal balls… I don't know. There are said to be true seers, but at best all I got were distorted images that only made sense after the fact."
"But you saw images?" Bella asked, also finding it interesting. "Are you a witch?" she asked. "Or a warlock, I suppose?"
"Aren't warlocks people who made deals with devils for powers or something?" Harry asked. He got a few looks for that. "What, I read fiction too."
"So that stuff isn't real?" Bella asked.
"I don't know." Harry said. "I never met a warlock." He had met demons, though. Had a relationship with a half-succubus, even.
"But crystal balls and seers are real?" Emmett asked. Harry just pointed to Alice. "Fair point." he conceded.
"As far as I can tell, there are people with gifts born all the time." Harry said. "There is usually a reason that they have those skills. The more powerful a gift, the more likely they are to be necessary at some point."
"So, destiny?" Alice tried. People with power, born for a purpose.
"Oh, yeah." Harry agreed instantly. "Destiny is definitely a thing. She can be a real bitch, too. A prophesy was why my parents were murdered when I was a baby, and why I lost many of my loved ones before I… Yeah, destiny is real."
That shut the group up and Harry soon left.
WNWN
Jasper turned up at Harry's house an hour after school. Harry opened the door before he could knock. "Why is it that I never want to bite you?" Jasper asked as he walked in, not surprised that Harry had known he was there.
"Probably not human enough." Harry shrugged, as he closed the door and led Jasper up a flight of stairs that he'd not seen before. In fact, he was sure the house had only two floors, with the garage taking up most of the bottom and the top having facilities, the main bedroom a guest bedroom and the living and kitchen area. The house was built into the hill, which was why you could exit into the backyard from the living area 'upstairs'.
"You're just full of surprises." Jasper noted, looking around the large single room. It looked like a storage area of some sort, with boxes and trunks and even some unused furniture. A large portion of the floor had been cleared and in the centre was what looked like an operating table, with leather straps.
"You don't know half of it." Harry agreed, walking to the table. "Get on. We're about to start."
"Should I be worried?" Jasper asked, as he walked to the table.
"You should be fine." Harry said. "This is only a preliminary test. I'll try a couple of things, while you are out."
"Vampires don't lose consciousness." Jasper countered. Harry just smirked as Jasper's world went black.
When next he saw, he could tell a couple of hours had passed. "You can knock our kind out?" he asked, as he sat up. He was not strapped in, but he noticed a few marks in the floor that had not been there before.
"You weren't unconscious all that long." Harry said. "You definitely weren't yourself after we started."
"What did you do?" Jasper asked as he inspected himself, to ensure he was all there.
"Just a couple of tests." Harry shrugged. "On the bright side, one of them worked, if not as expected." He pulled out a vial, with what looked like blood in it.
"What's that?" Jasper asked.
"Your blood." Harry said. "Well, your human blood, at least."
"How?" Jasper asked, as he reached out and Harry allowed him to take the vial. He was shocked that he didn't instantly want to drink it. In fact, he felt remarkably in control of himself.
"It's just something I extracted during the test." Harry said. "I'll need it to continue working on this, but with it, I'm fairly certain I can sort you out with something, pretty soon."
"You've already got something planned?" Jasper asked.
"I first need to see if this stays human." Harry said, taking the vial back. "Kind of hinges on it, actually."
"Why can't I remember?" Jasper asked then. He could pick up his own scent all around the room and worried what he might have done. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"Just a couple of bruises." Harry shrugged, as he cracked his neck. Jasper could see that there were small bruises, like he'd tried to bite him. "I'll be fine in just a few hours."
"Maybe next time you should have one of the others here." Jasper suggested. If he could get out of restraints and break through Harry's control, he was worried what he could do, not that he knew what he did do.
"Don't worry about this, Jasper." Harry said. "You're not a threat to me. I'd be more worried for your family, actually, so let's rather not invite them, on the off chance that this happens again, which I'm certain it won't, since I've ruled out that particular approach."
"Are you sure?" Jasper asked. He didn't like having a gap in his memory, but he also kind of did. He'd not slept in a long, long time.
"Positive." Harry assured him.
"Why can't I remember?" Jasper asked again, as Harry led him from the room.
"Part of my experiment allowed your animal instincts to take over while your mind was asleep." Harry said. "Your animal instincts do not like confinement."
Jasper nodded in understanding. "Probably a good idea not to do that again."
"Don't intend to." Harry agreed. "Still, the knowledge could be handy down the line."
"How could you use this to help us?" Jasper asked.
"If our enemies are too busy ripping each other apart, we don't have to kill them all ourselves." Harry said.
"Monstrous." Jasper said, before a wicked smile lit his face. "I love it."
"Thought you might." Harry smirked back, as he poured a drink for them both, from different bottles. "It's not human, but it might sate you better than my normal stock." he said, passing what looked like whiskey over to the vampire.
Jasper sniffed it. "I don't think I've had this." he admitted, before taking a small sip. Then he sighed as a shiver ran up his back. "What is this?!" he exclaimed.
"Would that I could tell you." Harry said apologetically. "It's not something found in nature… kind of." He didn't have a lot of dragon blood stocked up, but he could afford this much. He also doubted giving the vampire some of his last blood replenishing potions would be a good idea. He lifted his glass and clinked with Jasper, who smiled at him in thanks.
"I could get used to this." Jasper said, as he took another sip.
"Take your time." Harry suggested. "It's a very limited resource of mine." Jasper nodded and resolved to enjoy it slowly. "Probably not a good idea to tell the family about this, either. This, or where we went and what we did. I'd appreciate your telling Edward to keep his trap shut too."
"Done." Jasper agreed. Harry was making astounding progress. He'd not betray his confidences.
They chatted for a bit about Jasper's past and some stories, which Harry edited to keep his past private, but when their drinks were done, Jasper got up and said his farewells. He was certain the family were waiting to hear what had happened. He'd be keeping his thoughts off of the events of the evening, while Edward was around. He had developed some tricks of his own over the years, after all.
By the end of that week, the Cullens were looking forward to a game of baseball and both Bella and Harry were invited. Bella would be umpire, while Harry had decided he'd like to try his hand at the American pastime.
They drove out into the wilderness, to a field they had used before and they were soon set. They seemed really excited at the prospect of a friendly game and Emmett was looking forward to how Harry would shock them. Harry took to the field while Rosalie would be the first one to bat. He didn't know all the rules, but that would be part of the fun for him. The fact that they had to wait for the lightning, before they could play made sense after the first hit.
The game was in full swing and Harry had yet to have a ball come his way, when Alice, the pitcher, stopped, after Rosalie hit, which, for normal people, would be a home run, and called them all together. "Stop!" Edward saw what she was thinking and was by Bella's side instantly. "They were leaving, then they heard us." Alice reported.
"Let's go." Edward said, indicating for Bella to follow.
"What's going on?" Harry asked. He was the slowest to catch up, with his mere human speed.
"The others are coming." Jasper said.
"So?" Harry asked.
"They will not understand Bella's or your presence." Carlisle said. "If they attack, or decide to report us to the Volturi…"
"They won't." Harry said easily. All of them looked at him in shock. "Trust me." he insisted, smirking.
Soon three vampires walked out of the forest, carrying the ball. "I believe this belongs to you." the black vampire said.
There was a bit of back and forth, until it was decided that they would join the game. It was all fine, until the blond man, James, picked up on Bella's scent. "You brought a snack." he said excitedly.
"She's a friend." Harry said easily, even as Edward and the other vampire squared off. "They don't eat humans." Harry continued, indicating the golden-eyed vampires.
"Another human." Victoria, the red-haired vampire female said, smirking.
Laurent, the black vampire, seemed hesitant, looking between James and the human girl. Victoria was walking up to Harry in interest, feeling no fear from him, as he pulled out a stick of gum from a pocket and popped it into his mouth, offering her one as well. "Gum?" he asked.
"I'd rather have some of you." Victoria said.
"Are you single?" Harry asked.
"That's… not what I meant." she said through a smirk.
"Oh, I know." Harry said. "You're not human compatible, anyway."
"Harry!" Edward exclaimed. This was going nowhere, fast.
"Chill out Eddie." Harry said. He turned back to Victoria. "Go ahead, take a pull." he offered, turning his head to the side.
Victoria was nobody's fool. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm offering you a free drink." Harry said. Even James was now looking at them, slowly straightening out. "What, afraid I'm too much of a man for-" He was cut off as Victoria lunged at him and sunk her teeth into his flesh. Well… she tried to.
"Aah!" she yelled in pain as the broken pieces of her teeth fell from his unblemished skin.
"Like your steak a bit more on the raw side, I'm guessing." Harry said with a smile.
James didn't say a thing as he rushed at Harry and punched him. Harry went sailing back, but flipped in the motion and when he landed, reasonably softly, he was holding something. It was an arm. "Missing something?" Harry called back to the stunned vampires.
"What is going on here?" Laurent asked. "We did not come for a fight." He did not know what was going on, but he really didn't like being outnumbered and with someone, some-thing like that on their side. He could have sworn it was a normal human. It even had a heartbeat.
"Relax, buddy." Harry said. "I'm willing to give the arm and teeth back, for a few concessions."
Victoria and James both hissed at Harry, before turning tail and running, only to stop as they hit some sort of barrier.
"Yeah, I can't allow you to leave either." Harry said. "You killed humans in my area. If you're not willing to change, you're likely not going to survive meeting me."
"We didn't know the area was claimed!" Laurent exclaimed. He'd said as much before.
"You don't understand. Earth is my area." Harry said. "Non-repentant repeat-offenders will be forced into compliance, or die."
"What do you mean, change?" Laurent asked.
"Let's discuss that, shall we?" Harry said, as he walked up to the vampire, put an arm around him and led him away. "We've currently got three options open to us. You can feed solely on murderers and other evil humans, you can turn to a diet of animals, or, if you're interested, I'm working on a way to turn immortals human again."
As Harry walked off with Laurent, Edward looked back at where the other two had been just a second before, to find they were missing entirely. "Did they get away?" he asked.
"They just vanished." Alice said. "I was watching them and they simply… vanished. Like magic!"
"Now you're catching on!" Harry called behind himself, before he continued his conversation. Seriously, it took these people forever.
"Magic?" Jasper asked.
"He said he wasn't a warlock." Bella pointed out. She was relieved, really. James had a look in his eye that scared the hell out of her. Perhaps it was time for her to tell Edward that she wanted to be like him.
"He's probably called something else, or doesn't need a description." Alice offered. "Maybe he just… is."
"Like a god or something?" Emmett asked.
"No, he had parents." Carlisle reminded him. "He must have been born with his power and changed into something else." That's what the pieces to the puzzle they'd all been contemplating were telling him. If he was some sort of god, he could likely just do things, without needing time to work it out. He also seemed to not know everything. The shock he showed at learning about them was something that didn't fit that picture either.
Harry was far enough away, that he couldn't hear them, so to make things fair, he silenced their area. "So what'll it be?" he asked the vampire.
"I'm inclined to simply run for my life, to be honest." Laurent admitted. He'd heard the other conversation clearly, until a moment ago.
"You don't really have a choice." Harry said. "Now that I've met you, I can find you again, no matter where you run."
"If I have no choice, I'd like to find out about the second option." Laurent admitted. "Living off animals is better than trying to find killers and avoiding suspicion at the same time."
"So be it." Harry said, in a voice that had a slight reverberation to it, suddenly all serious. "If you attack another human, or betray me in any way, you will be forced to throw yourself into a fire and die by your own hands for the crime of turning against our compact. So mote it be." he finished, as Laurent felt something he'd not felt in many years. His heart had beat for a moment.
"What are you?" Laurent demanded.
"Fair." Harry said, before turning around and suddenly all the sounds came back. "Come on, we have a game to play." Harry called back.
Nobody was in the mood for a game, though, and everyone, excluding Laurent, left soon after the confrontation was finished.
"To my house, please?" Harry asked Alice who was driving the car he was in. With them were Emmett, Rosalie and Jasper.
"James and Victoria?" Jasper asked.
"Yup." Harry said, pulling out their frozen shrunken forms from his pocket. "We need them contained for a bit, until they learn the rules. That, or we toss them in a fire or something."
"Can we discuss this magic, thing?" Alice asked, having glanced at what Harry held in his hands.
"Later." Harry said. "These two are unconscious, but I want to keep my secrets where I know they'll stay."
"We talk about things at our place all the time." Emmett pointed out.
"You're welcome." Harry said.
"You did something?" Rosalie asked. Magic was definitely her new favourite subject.
"Yup." Harry said again. When he saw more questions on their lips, he interrupted. "Later." he said again.
"Do you think Laurent will be an issue?" Emmett asked.
"He knows the rules." Harry said.
"But…" Rosalie trailed off, even as Alice got the hint and started accelerating the car, to go faster.
Back in the other car, the others had heard everything and started accelerating too, with Bella asking questions the entire time.
When they arrived at the house, Harry led the entire family and Bella into his house, where he fetched a mason jar and dropped the shrunken vampires in. Once they were inside, and Harry had sealed the lid, they started moving again. Harry had taken a moment to reattach both the arm and teeth, which took negligent effort, but James was still favouring his other one, as he tried to break the glass of the jar.
"How is he not breaking the glass?" Bella asked. Harry quirked an eyebrow at her. "Right. Magic."
"Tell us everything!" Alice exclaimed excitedly.
"That will take years." Harry said. "I don't intend on revealing all my secrets, either."
"But, we know now!" Rosalie exclaimed. They were so used to getting their way that his silence seemed to be driving her up the walls.
"You know only as much as I've ever offered." Harry said. "Magic is only a small part of who I am, and for the purposes of this conversation, not even the most important part.
"My name is Harry James Potter. I was born in a world with magic. I was a magical. I lived, I made friends and I had a life. There was a legend about some items that would turn the holder of the items into the Master of Death, or something stupid like that. I made the mistake of owning all three at some point.
"When I died years later, after defeating my enemies and losing many companions, I woke up again, in a different world. Now, I'm not going to bore you with the details, because they are irrelevant. Suffice it to say, I made friends again. I thought it was just a strange occurrence, or a second chance, until I realised that I was unable to die. Knowing that, I used my seeming immortality to help my new friends save their world from certain doom.
"Since then, I've gone through a few different worlds. I tend to spend about fifty to a hundred years on any given planet, before whoever is in charge sends me to a new place, where I can't help making new friends." Harry sighed there. "Do you see a pattern forming?"
"Master of Death." Esme whispered, with a sad look on her face as she burned with empathy for the poor boy.
"More like Death's bitch." Harry scoffed. "To be fair, though, I do tend to have quite a bit of fun wherever I go, and I get to bring a few things with me, after I learned a few tricks. My house, for example, was the 'something' I brought this time."
"How many floors does it actually have?" Jasper asked.
"Infinite." Harry said. "I can literally stretch it into infinity. There's a trick with how time and dimensions… Well, let's just say that I don't really have any storage limitations."
"And that's magic?" Carlisle asked.
"Nope." Harry said. "Technology. Picked it up in a world with funny little aliens. They weren't very social, but man, were they smart! One of them helped me add it to the house."
"And it doesn't need power, or something?" Edward asked. There were natural laws that seemed to be broken by this concept. Carlisle nodded along, having similar thoughts.
"It's not something I can explain." Harry said. "He tried to explain it, but it went right over my head. Something about the infinity being able to power itself infinitely?"
"Sounds like science fiction." Emmett said.
"Oh, hi, mr. vampire. I think the pot just called the kettle, black." Harry mocked.
"But that's biology. Science." Carlisle said. Harry pointed at Alice, Jasper and Edward. "Fair enough." he said.
"Anyway." Harry said. "My point is this: I was brought here to fix something and I'm thinking I wasn't put in Forks for the stellar cuisine."
"You think you were brought here to help or stop vampires." Rosalie asked.
"Or stop deforestation, or help the third world." Harry said. "I never know what I'm supposed to do. I just know there's a reason and I like helping. It's better than getting drunk the whole time or running around trying to fuck every cute girl I see."
"Have you ever had any children?" Rosalie asked.
"Once or twice." Harry said sadly. "It's never easy to leave the family behind when my time to leave comes and I've never been able to bring an intelligent living creature with me, since I picked up that trick."
Rosalie actually looked close to tears as she leaned forward and hugged him. "I'm so sorry." she said.
"It's okay. I know they lived out their lives and died happy." Harry said. "That's a gift I was very grateful for."
"What gift?" Carlisle asked.
"It's an ability." Harry said. "I can communicate with the spirits of the dead."
Nobody seemed to know what to say to that.
After a few moments, Bella asked, "So, what now?"
"Now we go back to our lives, while I use my new test subjects to figure out how to give Rosalie the option of children." Harry said, smirking.
"Now that we know your secret, can you tell me how you intend to do that?" Carlisle asked.
"Cloning." Harry said, easily. "Make a human clone, transfer the consciousness and soul and voila! Human again."
"My blood." Jasper said.
"I need to ensure it is stable in human form before I take out the sequencer and print you a new body." Harry agreed.
"I'd love to see this technology." Carlisle said.
"And I'm not showing it to you." Harry said. "It's not anything personal. Showing you things this world isn't ready for, is something I already learned I'm not supposed to do."
"So you're an immortal magical alien, from another universe?" Emmett asked.
"Something like that." Harry agreed.
"Cool." Emmett said, sitting back with a huge grin on his face.
"Did you use magic to make all the girls at our school like you?" Bella asked.
"Natural charm I'm afraid." Harry said. "Sorry."
"Sorry?" Esme asked.
"She said all the girls." Harry pointed out.
"That includes her!" Emmett laughed. He turned to Edward. "Sorry, bro. It seems your girl has a crush on the all-powerful alien."
Bella blushed, as she realised what she had said. If she was honest with herself, the thought had run through her mind a few times, especially since the rumours about his time with Jessica started. But that was normal, right, for a teenager?
"Oh, I'm sure I could take him in a fair fight." Edward said.
"Define fair." Harry prompted.
WNWN
The conversation from there turned to less serious topics, and pretty soon it was getting dark. Edward needed to get Bella home and Carlisle and Esme went with them. The others would be staying as long as they could. They had so many questions, still.
Harry didn't really mind the company, so he decided to go for a dip out back. The others followed him out, to see that his back yard looked like it was still in the middle of a clear summer's day.
"Awesome!" Emmett exclaimed, as he ran and jumped in the pool.
"Shoes!" Harry called after him, as his outfit seemed to melt away and turned into swimming trunks.
"That's the coolest thing I've ever seen." Alice said in awe. "You can wear anything you want by just making it appear!"
"She would react that way to clothing." Rosalie said, with a sigh. Harry winked at her and her clothes did a similar transformation, until she was wearing the same swim-suit she had worn before.
"Do me!" Alice begged.
"Alice!" Harry exclaimed. "Jasper's standing right there!" She just mock frowned at him, before shooting him with the most amazing set of puppy-eyes. "Point those somewhere else, please." Harry begged with a bit of humour as her clothing did the same thing.
"No! I've worn these." Alice whined, reaching for her purse, to get her phone to look for something new, only to realise it was gone. "Hold on, where's my stuff?" she asked.
Harry pointed by the deck chairs and her stuff appeared there. She quickly went to fetch her phone and pulled up a few designs. Over the next half hour, she tried on what felt like hundreds of new outfits, before she settled on something and had Harry modify pieces here and there. Jasper didn't think Harry knew what he was getting himself in to.
They had a couple of drinks and Harry prepared them each something to eat, before he got tired of swimming about an hour later. He wanted to finish a bit of work on the Chevy, before he called it a day.
After another impromptu fashion session for Alice, Harry led them down to the garage.
"1970 Chevy LS6." Emmett said in appreciation. "Nice!" he said emphatically.
"I'm doing her over. Needed to strip the engine and magic up some parts, but I'm still struggling with this part here." Harry said pointing.
"You've got the wrong part." Rosalie said. "This engine has been modified for a different kind of turbo." Harry stared at her open-mouthed. "What, just because I'm a girl I can't know about cars?" she challenged.
"No… Just, why didn't I figure that out?" Harry asked, as he finally looked back at the car. "No wonder the parts I keep making aren't working!"
Pretty soon Rosalie and the boys were helping Harry figure out how to fix the car. It seemed all of them had some experience working on cars and the Chevy was completely reassembled and ready for the road an hour later.
"Should we take her out?" Emmett asked.
"No, I still need to apply the magic." Harry said, without thinking. "I want all the stealth and flight options on her, before she leaves the garage."
He looked over at them, to see them all staring at him again. "Oh… right. I never did tell you about that, did I?"
"Flight?" Rosalie asked. She looked at him hungrily. "You can make cars fly?"
Harry should really have expected that. People all seemed to react that way to flying vehicles. "Sure. My bike already-"
"Me first!" Rosalie interrupted him.
Harry sighed. "Fine, but I'm not flying the lot of you tonight." The garage door started opening. "You got the doggy bags?" he asked Jasper, who lifted the paper bags, with the meals he'd prepared for the rest of the family. "Good. I'll take Rosalie home on the bike."
"Race you." Rosalie dared.
The rest of the Vampires were instantly gone and a second later their van's engine roared to life before it sped down the driveway.
Harry just rolled his eyes and got on the bike, with Rosalie taking up position behind him the moment the engine started. He looked back and saw a dazzling smile, as she waited in anticipation.
Not being able to help himself, he shot off as well, but also down the road. It took him a minute, but he caught up with the van. He slowed down next to them, gave a little wave and then lifted up, before shooting away ahead of them, with Rosalie yelling at the top of her lungs, her arms stretched out above her head, pure joy on her face. Harry was enjoying her enthusiasm, so he added a few high-speed loops, before coming in for a vertical landing right in front of the Cullen house.
"That was AWESOME!" Rosalie yelled, before she hugged Harry tightly. "Thank you!" she added.
"You're welcome, my dear." Harry said. "I enjoy flight myself, so I appreciate it when I can show off to like-minded people."
"Can you make our cars like this?" she asked, hopefully.
"I don't know that I want to." Harry said. "I like a pretty girl pressed up to my back, as I go for a flight. Even if you were a little hard on my back. If I gave you the ability, you'd not need me for that anymore."
"The boys will likely want to try that as well." Rosalie pointed out as she finally got off.
"They'll just have to wait for the Chevy." Harry said. "You have a good point, though. I'll look into it. Maybe we can do something like convoy magic, so we can have a few cars up, whine I'm in the air and going with you."
Just then, the Van came up the driveway.
"Gotta go, before I get any more demands." Harry said, as he revved the engine and shot off again, before activating stealth.
"Damn!" Emmett exclaimed as he got out of the Van. "I was going to ask if I could catch a lift back. I wouldn't mind a hike home, for the chance."
"Apparently he prefers female passengers on his bike." Rosalie said. "He said you'll have to wait for the Chevy."
"Could he do that for our cars?" Emmett asked.
"Apparently he's thinking about it." Edward said, from the door. They'd all been listening, since the bike appeared.
"Harry sent us bearing gifts." Jasper said, as he passed Edward the bag.
"Oh, that boy spoils us." Esme said with a fond smile as she took the bag from Edward. She loved the meals and the fact that they hadn't needed to go hunting for a while was definitely a bonus.
Edward didn't wait to follow her into the house, with the others trooping behind him.
"Only three?" Carlisle asked, seeing the containers, clearly marked for their recipients.
"We already had some." Alice said, sadly.
"He said he made them especially for each of you." Rosalie said. "I don't know what he did, but that meal was very filling."
"Maybe the shrinking thing?" Carlisle thought aloud as he opened his own metallic container and the smell hit him in the face like a freight-train. It smelled like human food but somehow didn't offend his enhanced vampire senses. In fact, he was getting hungry just smelling it, instead of thirsty. He saw something and lifted out an entire glass of wine, somehow not having spilled and fit into the tiny container without even disturbing or touching the food. Smelling the wine, it smelled like something he'd not had since he was human.
"How does he keep on improving his recipes?" Esme asked, having noted something similar. "This smells like real food to me, but it's only making me hungry!"
"Whoever sent him, did us a massive favour." Emmett agreed, slightly jealous, but not wanting to spoil their meal by acting like it.
"We should find a way to repay him for all his trouble." Esme decided.
"He doesn't need money, he's got his pick of the girls at school and he can build flying bikes and cars." Alice said. "I don't know that there's anything we can do for him."
"What about the Denali?" Rosalie asked. "I was thinking Irina might like him." She'd mentioned it before, but then it was mostly as a joke. Now it seemed she was serious about it.
"She'd still not be able to go with him when he left." Esme pointed out.
"Then he just doesn't make her human." Carlisle pointed out. "Maybe, if her heart's not beating it could get around the limitations."
"That's it!" Alice exclaimed. "He can't take his family with him! All we need is to help him overcome that issue and then we go with him."
"Or we help him find another way to do it." Carlisle nodded. He really liked that idea. It might also be nice to not have to hide what they were anymore. True freedom for his family.
"In the meanwhile, we could also help him with the other vampires." Jasper said. "He doesn't know everything he'll need to make a proper plan."
"He doesn't seem opposed to our existence, as long as there's limitations and some form of oversight." Rosalie agreed. "Maybe we can help him after all." she said with a smile.
In the meanwhile, Harry had made it home, only to spot a car he recognized out front. It was reversing out of the driveway, when he rode up it. He pulled in next to it and said to the opening window. "Hi girls." Angela and Jessica were smiling at him. "Fancy running into you, here."
"Hi Harry." Jessica said. "We were in the area and thought we'd drop by."
"Where were you?" Angela asked.
"Out for a drive." Harry said. "What brings you here at this hour?"
"Oh, just a bit of decent company, away from our parents." Jessica said.
Harry chuckled at that, before he indicated for them to pull the car in after his bike. There was enough space if he parked the bike right.
Pretty soon both girls were sitting in his lounge, on the soft carpet around a coffee table. He'd started a fire to ward off a bit of the chill and some music was now playing in the background.
"So you came to visit me just to get away from home for a bit?" Harry asked.
"Something like that." Jessica said.
"We thought, with the thunderstorm and all, you might be feeling a little lonely up here in the hills all alone." Angela was trying for confident, but she didn't know if she was pulling it off.
"That, and with the animal attacks… You know, strength in numbers." Jessica said.
"And both your parents are fine with you spending the night alone at some boy's house?" Harry asked, grinning at them.
"Well, they think we're at each other's house." Jessica said.
"Couldn't see my parents agreeing to this." Angela agreed, a bit of nerves showing in her face.
"And if I wasn't here?" Harry asked.
"It doesn't matter." Jessica said, flippantly. "You are here, now."
"I suppose the guest bedroom is big enough for you to share." Harry mused.
They chatted for a bit longer, sipping a mild wine, which Harry went to fetch. It wasn't going to get them drunk, at least. Before long, the girls started relaxing as Harry made them laugh and he listened to their stories attentively. When it became late enough to consider going to bed, Harry went to go fill the large tub, adding some bubbles for them and told the girls that they could go first, while he went to go get their room ready.
He was just placing down some extra pillows, when he heard a call.
He walked to the door and knocked. "You called?" he asked through the door.
"There's a problem." Jessica said.
"What's the problem?" Harry said.
"You'll have to come in." Jessica said.
"Are you sure?" Harry asked. "Are you decent?"
"Just come in, already." Jessica demanded.
Harry opened the door and looked in. Both girls were submerged under the bubbles. "What's the problem?" he asked.
"The problem, is that you're not in here with us." Jessica said.
Harry considered this. He'd been expecting something, but not quite this. He looked at Angela. "Is that what you want?" he asked.
She didn't say anything, but nodded slowly.
Harry smiled, then. "Sure. I wouldn't want my guests to feel like I'm not being attentive enough. I'll wash your backs or something."
WNWN
The girls stumbled from Harry's house the next morning, smiling all the way. Hopefully Jessica had more sense than talking about her friends' first time, without permission.
WNWN
Apparently someone didn't have sense. It wasn't even lunch yet on the next school day, and Harry was receiving incredulous looks from many kids, jealous ones from others and awe from another portion. By lunch he'd heard that apparently he'd pulled the elusive ménaj-a-trois, with Jessica and some unknown third person. Jessica wasn't denying it either. Apparently she thought it was something to brag about, and if the looks she was getting from the other girls was anything to go by, she wasn't wrong.
Angela had enough sense to seem incredulous through most of this. Even if Jessica didn't mind if this rumour followed her home, she didn't think she could hide her guilty face from her parents, so she instantly took the position of innocent bystander, so that the rumour hounds wouldn't even consider her as a likely participant.
Edward easily confirmed that, once again, there were a lot of memories and fantasies, following him around.
"Could you not start dating college chicks?" Edward asked. "If the girls find out you've moved on to older girls, they'll stop having all these thoughts."
"Oh, I'm sure it's not that bad." Harry scoffed.
Edward indicated a girl, as she walked by. "She already wrote her number on a pair of panties for you. She's just too shy to give it to you in the cafeteria." He pointed off to a table of whispering lower years. "That bunch is actually discussing starting a Harry Potter fan club, with hopes of impressing you with their fanaticism."
"One of them mentioned something about an orgy, but I don't think she was serious about it." Emmett agreed. He was smiling, though.
"She wasn't." Edward confirmed. "She's just hoping to get you to herself for one night."
"Can we stop discussing my sex life already?" Harry asked, plaintively.
"Nothing better to do." Alice said, impishly. "Are the rumours true, though? I've heard everything from giant instruments to multiple performances."
"It's a bit of magic." Harry said softly. "My tool fits all sizes. It looks impressive though, since a large part of the female experience is mental, initially. As for performance… Well, I'm sure Eddie could confirm that." He smirked at the uncomfortable vampire.
"I'd rather not discuss it." Edward said. It really wasn't something he was comfortable with. Vampires could go at it basically permanently, if they didn't need to worry about feeding.
"That's confirmation enough for me." Alice said. "No wonder they're all basically in heat."
"The smell is getting a bit much." Rosalie agreed, even as she ate a fry from the lunchbox Harry had produced for them to share from.
"Don't you need to worry about pregnancy, or STD's?" Bella asked.
"I'm protected from both." Harry said. "One is voluntary, the other is just my natural circumstance."
"That's good at least." Rosalie said. "The disease part. You're not likely to start an outbreak or anything, if you become too prolific."
"Hey, it's not like I go out looking for it." Harry countered. "I'm just not in the habit of looking a gift horse in the mouth. It's actually been quite a while for me, and I'm still just a man."
Emmett coughed something that sounded suspiciously like 'whore'.
"He's not being paid." Rosalie countered. "He's a slut."
"Master key." Harry said, easily.
"What?" Alice asked.
"It's a joke." Harry chuckled. "A girl once asked a wise man, why a promiscuous girl is looked down on, while a promiscuous man is celebrated. He told her that a lock that any key can open, is a shitty lock, but the key that opens any lock is considered the master key. One is obviously better than the other. There's a grain of truth in there from a cultural perspective, but from a purely logical one, there's really no difference between the two, besides the obvious possibilities of pregnancy and disease."
"It's still not fair." Bella said.
"Life, I think you'll find, seldom is." Harry said wisely.
"How are your test subjects working out?" Jasper asked, changing the subject.
"Haven't had time to get to work, honestly." Harry said.
"Of course." Jasper said, in realization, as he looked back at the school's current hot topics. Jessica was smirking as Mike glared at her.
"Told you." Rosalie mumbled to Alice, below the range of human hearing.
"Well, then ask Harry if he'd want to meet our cousins." Alice whispered back at the same volume.
"What cousins?" Harry asked, having seen Alice talk and not being able to hear her. They looked at him incredulously. "I read lips too." he shrugged.
"Dude!" Emmett exclaimed. "I thought we were done talking about your sex life!" he laughed. He'd said that loudly on purpose, and a lot of kids were looking up sharply at that.
"You do know that you'll be punished for that, right?" Harry asked.
Emmett rolled his eyes and reached for another fry, but he was suddenly unable to reach the container. He looked up at Harry sharply. "That's not fair." he whined.
Harry ignored him and turned back to Alice and Rosalie. "Cousins?" he reminded them.