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“A storm is coming,” Bella Swan commented absently as she looked out the car window.
“I can see that,” Harry replied, amused at her attempt at small talk.
“Hmmm.” Harry glanced over and saw as she leaned against the glass and closed her eyes. “Since when do vampires like Baseball?”
Harry shrugged, “According to Esme, it’s the only time they can actually relax.”
Bella opened her eyes and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Do you know how strange this is? You’re a friend of my father’s, you shouldn’t be here right now.”
Apparently they were done with small talk.
“And?” Harry asked. “I’m not here for fun, Bella, I’m here because it’s my job.”
“Your job is to exterminate vampires who are hunting in Seattle, not a family of innocent vampires,” Bella replied dryly.
“Innocent?” Harry scoffed. “None of them are truly innocent, besides, I promised Charlie I’d look out for you, and you can never be too sure.”
“But you don’t have to accompany me, do you?” Bella complained as she sat up straight in the seat. “I can take care of myself, besides, it’s just a baseball game.”
Harry snorted, “Of course I know that, but as I told you, I’m doing my duty. The bloodsucker you have for a boyfriend could lose control at any moment, I’m simply here to protect you.”
Bella grumbled indignantly, “Edward would never do anything like that!”
“Of course not, Bells.”
“Harryyyy,” Bella whined. He turned and looked at her questioningly. “Please.”
“No.”
“Harr-“
“No arguments.”
Bella snorted and folded her arms childishly as Harry teased her.
He wouldn’t give in to her though. He wouldn’t give in to Kingsley when he pushed him to be Head Auror, he wouldn’t give in to Ginny when she demanded he joined her Quidditch team, and he wouldn’t even give in to Luna when she invited him to search the world for creatures together.
Harry Potter wouldn’t give in to anyone.
Except if that someone was Teddy, with his unruly turquoise blue hair and big green eyes with his little lip quivering desperately begging him for ice cream.
Teddy was the only exception.
Besides, if Esme’s words were true, watching the vampires let loose for the first time would be a good experience. The Cullen clan always looked as if they were holding the urge to go to the bathroom, all tense and depressing, completely boring in Harry’s opinion.
And if he could see a certain blonde, he certainly wouldn’t complain.
“I want that!” Teddy pointed to the shelf to his left.
“Not a chance, Teddy!” Andromeda Tonks scolded him as she pushed his hand away so he couldn’t reach the box of cookies. “You’ll eat it all at once, and that much is not good for you.”
“Please, Grandmum,” Teddy pleaded.
“Don’t pout, Edward Remus Lupin, I told you no,” Andromeda stood her ground firmly.
Teddy’s eyes filled with tears, but he obediently stopped insisting as he buried his face in Harry’s shoulders to try and disguise his sobs.
“Why don’t you grab the vegetables while I finish up here, Andy?” Harry suggested as he gripped Teddy tighter on his hip. “That way we’ll save more time,” he explained.
Andromeda nodded in agreement and grabbed the shopping list as she headed down the next aisle. Harry waited patiently for the formidable woman to disappear from his sight before shaking Teddy, who still had his face buried in his shoulder.
“Hey, buddy,” Harry called. “The mean old woman is gone, you know I’ll buy you the cookies, right?”
Teddy immediately lifted his head and looked at Harry with a smirk on his face, and, oddly enough, no trace of tears left in his eyes.
Bloody little future Slytherin.
If it weren’t for the little werewolf traits, Harry would bet his entire fortune that the little brat was the son of Tonks and Severus Snape.
Or maybe Snape was a werewolf instead of a dungeon bat? Hmm.
“Thanks, Harry!” Teddy exclaimed happily as he wrapped his little arms around Harry’s neck and squeezed tight.
“You’re welcome, but not right now, little one.”
“Why not?” Teddy cried, immediately indignant instead of sweet.
“If Grandmum Andy sees that when we pay then she’ll castrate me and I don’t want that, you know?”
“What’s c-castrape?” the boy asked curiously
“Er...” Harry blushed hotly as he realized what he had said. “Never mind that, tomorrow before work I’ll come back quickly, buy them, and then hide them in your room, what do you think?”
“But I want them now!” Teddy whined in protest. “Please? Pretty please?”
“Teddy, I can’t-“
“I think I can help with that,” a beautiful, melodious voice interrupted.
Harry turned his head in search of the owner of the beautiful voice, and when he saw them, his breath caught in his throat.
Angels were real.
This woman was proof of that.
She had beautiful topaz-colored eyes and her golden-gold blonde hair fell in waves over her shoulders and reached down her back. Her lips were pink, full and completely sinful, her eyebrows were blonde and well-groomed while her eyelashes were long and delicate, her nose was upturned and her skin was completely pale.
Harry remembered when Ron said that Fleur was the most beautiful woman in the world. He was completely wrong.
Because it was this woman.
She was tall, Harry was sure she was even taller than him, and her body looked like a sculpture made by the Gods themselves, a body that many people would be jealous of.
Not even facing Voldemort had made Harry’s heart race so fast that it felt as if it were going to burst out of his chest.
This woman exuded an aura of confidence, her posture was confident as she stood proudly dressed in what looked like designer clothes that would be worth thousands of dollars.
She was fucking perfect.
Harry had always scoffed at Lavender Brown when he saw her reading the stupid prince and princess romance stories, it was so disgustingly cliché it made you want to puke.
But this was different.
This was true love at first sight, Harry was pretty sure of it.
“Well?” she asked impatiently, her heel tapping against the floor.
“Mmm?”
“Do you accept or not?”
Harry felt his face heat up when he realized that the beautiful woman had been talking while he’d been looking at her like an idiot. “I-I didn’t hear you,” he admitted.
She rolled her eyes and Harry wondered how it was possible to look so perfect even doing such a mundane action. Maybe she was a veela?
“I said if you need, I could buy the cookies and I’ll give them to you outside so this cute little boy’s grandmother won’t notice.” She winked at Teddy and Harry’s heart raced as butterflies fluttered inside him.
Was he… was he jealous of his own godson for receiving one of those perfect winks from this image of absolute beauty? No, not at all.
(Very.)
“N-not necessary,” Harry tried to explain. “I really appreciate it though! I just don’t want you to go to all that trouble.”
She snorted, somehow making the noise sound elegantly “Nonsense.” She grabbed three boxes of the cookies and stuffed them into her basket. “I’ll wait outside, my car is the red one. Goodbye little one.” She stroked Teddy’s cheek briefly and walked away, her heels echoing around the place.
Harry stared open-mouthed at the spot where she stood.
Merlin, what the hell just happened?
“Teddy,” he whispered and looked at the kid on his side. “I think I’m in love.”
Teddy just laughed.
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Harry apologized as he went running into the back parking lot. “Andy, that’s Teddy’s grandmum, said I was acting suspicious and thought I was hiding something, of course, so I had to act to try and convince her, then Teddy started naming a—” Harry fell silent when he realized he had started babbling. “I’m just sorry,” he muttered with another blush.
The blonde woman giggled and that sounded like music to Harry’s ears, it was so beautiful, so melodious, so perfect.
“Never mind.” She pulled out a box and Harry arched his eyebrows when he noticed she took the time to camouflage the cookies in a box of vitamins. “Here they are.”
Harry took the box and looked at it adoringly. “Thank you so much! You really saved my life, and Teddy will be grateful to you for the rest of his life, how much do I owe you?”
She laughed again and Harry struggled to keep his composure. “You don’t owe me anything, take it as a favor for the kid.”
“Bu—”
“No buts.” She interrupted him. “Although actually, yes, you can do something for me.” When Harry looked at her questioningly she elaborated, “Don’t talk about your private parts in front of the kid, okay? He’s too little to hear that sort of thing.”
Harry blushed once more and was sure he was so red he could probably be mistaken for a Weasley. “S-sorry! It wasn’t my—”
She laughed for the third time and Harry could only stare at her with wide eyes. “I’ll see you another time…?”
“Harry, Harry Potter,” Harry introduced himself. “I’m the new officer for Forks,” he said proudly.
Well, that was a partial lie. Before he moved to Forks, Harry had been a fully trained auror. However, after he quit the aurors he could only work as an entry level Muggle police officer until he had enough experience in the role to be able to move up the ranks.
“Policeman? In such a small town?” she asked with raised eyebrows. She quickly frowned, as if she had said something she shouldn’t have. “Never mind, I’ll see you another time then, Officer Potter.”
She got into the beautiful red car and was about to drive off when Harry realized something.
“Wait!” he called after her. “You didn’t tell me your name.”
“I’m Rosalie, Rosalie Hale.”
And the car drove off.
Harry looked on in shock because he realized two things:
- He had dropped the cookies.
- He knew Carlisle Cullen and heard about his child. Harry knew very well what he man was, which meant he had just fallen in love with a vampire.
So fucking fantastic
“Earth to Harry.” Bella shook her hand in front of his face and Harry quickly looked at her. “You’re thinking about Rosalie,” she accused him brightly as a smile spread across her face and Harry slowed the car suddenly and scowled over at her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said curtly.
“Oh come on!” Bella teased as she nudged him with her elbow. “You’ve got that face again, you were clearly thinking about her,” she cooed teasingly. “Your hair is even messier than usual which means you tried to comb it and failed miserably, obviously.”
That was true, but he wouldn’t admit it.
“Bella-“
“Your facial hair is gone and your skin is as smooth as a baby, which means you shaved with magic to look better.”
He’d done that too, but he wouldn’t admit it either.
“Isabella-“
“Your uniform is ironed, something you never do and I can smell, you know? That lotion is clearly new. You don’t usually smell so… so fresh.”
Well it wasn’t like Harry usually stunk either. Merlin.
“You’re definitely trying to make a good impression.” Bella laughed when Harry narrowed his eyes. “Aww, I didn’t know you wanted to make Rosalie Teddy’s evil new stepmother.”
“Bella?”
“Yeah?”
“Shut the fuck up.”
Bella folded her arms and pouted. “Teddy’s funnier than you.”
Harry resisted the urge to curse at her and instead parked the car on the small path and helped Bella out of the car.
“If you say a word about it I’ll tell Charlie that Edward has tried to put the moves on you,” Harry whispered with an evil grin, truly enjoying the withering look she was now giving him.
They only had to walk a few yards until the field in the middle of the forest came into view. The Cullens were in the middle of what looked like a rather large diamond, Harry guessed the size was due to the strength and speed of the vampires, if they were really going to use their abilities then they would need a lot of space.
When Edward saw Bella he immediately ran to her side and started talking to her in a low voice. Harry wrinkled his nose at the cloying display of love, in his opinion it was pretty disgusting.
Which made him a hypocrite.
Harry’s attention immediately focused on the beautiful blonde in the middle of the field. She stood there, looking like Aphrodite in her sportswear, her blonde hair fluttering in the strong wind while her golden eyes shone brightly.
Merlin, if only Rosalie knew the power she had over him. He would have lost more than a war if he’d met her before then.
“Harry?” Esme Cullen tentatively approached with her arms lifted slightly. Harry decided he was in a good mood so he gave the sweet vampire a little hug, anyway after the many friendly chats they had shared, a tentative friendship had formed between the two of them.
“How are you Esme?” Harry asked sincerely.
“We’re wonderful, thank you. Although, there’s been a bit of trouble because of this whole Edward and Bella thing,” she confessed. “It’s hard, after what you said that day, we have to be more careful.”
Harry nodded in understanding. “I understand, I know maybe I was a little hard on you guys that day, but the law is the law and I have to abide by it.”
Esme smiled sweetly. “I know, honey, you don’t have to explain yourself to me.”
“What are you doing here anyway?” Jasper asked as he reached over to shake Harry’s hand.
“I’m here to make sure that idiot over there doesn’t eat Bella.” Harry explained mockingly as he pointed at an irate Edward. “Besides this sounded like fun.”
“There’s nothing fun about seeing those two idiots glued to each other.” Rosalie wrinkled her nose in disgust and Harry blinked at her, damn it, why did that gesture make her look so cute?
“Woo, our resident wizard came to watch me play!” Emmett yelled from across the field where he and Carlisle were finishing laying the groundwork for the game.
Harry mentally snorted at that, why on earth would he come to see Emmett? That was so arrogant, he came to see Rosalie, obviously.
Harry couldn’t help but notice that Carlisle hadn’t come over to say hello, which meant the poor man still remembered their first ‘official’ meeting.
“Officer Potter?” Carlisle Cullen asked in bewilderment when he answered his front door and saw Harry standing on his porch.
Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes and instead plastered a friendly smile on his face. “Mr. Cullen,” he greeted him politely. “May I come in?”
The vampire looked at him with confusion but nodded tentatively. “Sure, come in.” He opened the door all the way allowing him to enter. “Can I get you a snack or something to drink?” he offered just as politely.
Harry shook his head. “No, thank you, I’ll be quick.”
He entered the ostentatious house and sat down on one of the leather furniture as his gaze swept over the place, admitting to himself that it was quite beautiful. The white walls contrasted with the black armchairs and marble floor, the pictures on the walls weren’t too flashy, and overall the decor was quite millimalistic.
Carlisle appeared and sat in the front armchair. To the naked eye, he looked like a handsome man like any other, however, Harry could see the wary glances he cast towards the windows from time to time at such a rapid speed that the human eye probably wouldn’t have caught it.
But Harry did.
“So,” Harry began. “I was expecting to see a crypt here,” he admitted jokingly.
The Cullen leader looked at him unblinkingly and Harry sighed.
Tough crowd.
“Can you stop with the whole creepy thing? I am well aware that you guys are vampires.”
“Excuse me?”
“Yeah, you know, vampire, bloodsucker, Dracula, I know about all that,” he said lightly.
In sync they both laughed and even though it was the worst acting Harry had ever seen, he couldn’t help but laugh internally at him.
“What a good joke officer,” Carlisle laughed.
Harry laughed even harder and then stopped abruptly. “Yeah, it’s not a joke,” he said seriously.
“Are you okay Officer Potter?” Carlisle asked with mock concern as he slowly stood up from his seat. “I can take you to the hospital, I have psychiatrist colleagues who have dealt with these types of cases.”
Harry looked at him with an arched eyebrow and when he noticed that the older vampire was getting too close to him, he pulled out his wand with a swift movement. He quickly threw an ‘Immobulus’ at him, which landed directly on him, making him stiffen and fall straight to the ground on his back side.
Harry smiled down at the frozen vampire who looked at him with fear in his eyes “Now let’s talk about magic.”
Harry thought it was impossible for a vampire who had lived hundreds of years to know nothing about magic, yet it seemed as if Carlisle Cullen and his family were the exceptions.
And well, that explained a lot. From the first day Harry learned that the Cullens were vampires, he wondered why they weren’t in the magical world? After all, American wizards weren’t as bigoted in their beliefs as their British counterpart, so at least they could live in peace without some idiot wizard trying to hunt them down.
Plus, living high school over and over again for all eternity?
Completely boring and disgusting.
What was originally meant to be a quick talk in which Harry would warn the leader of the Cullens about the current situation, turned into a long conversation in which he had to explain every little aspect of magic, the workings of wizarding governments and certain generalities about creatures.
Utterly bored, Harry wished Hermione would do that job for him.
When he finished his explanation, he released the vampire-leader from his bondage and let him analyze the information Harry had thrown out.
“Wow,” was all Carlisle finally said.
“Yeah, wow.” Harry sighed, but tried to keep as much patience as possible, if he played his cards right, maybe the man would be his future father-in-law. “Then you understand why I’m here.”
Carlisle cocked his head thoughtfully. “Not really, I understand this whole magic thing, but I guess you could have told us this since we met, why wait until now?”
Well, the man was smart, Harry would give him that.
“Yes, you see, the idiot you have for a son revealed what you are to a human, which means he broke the Statute of Secrecy.”
Carlisle looked like a deer caught in the headlights and Harry enjoyed that, the man always seemed the epitome of calm and patience. “Edward didn’t-“
“He did,” Harry interrupted briskly. “So I have two choices, I’ll have to obliviate Bella, fine your family, and take Edward to court.” Carlisle’s skin went even paler and Harry briefly worried that the man would disappear from how scared he was. “Or Bella finally becomes one of you.”
The vampire immediately shook his head. “That’s impossible, Edward would never allow it.”
“So what’s the point of this relationship?” Harry asked with a hint of judgment in his voice. “Why in the world would a vampire start a relationship with a human if not to be with them for eternity? Or is this just a game to Edward?”
Carlisle was silent as his face contracted with guilt, obviously agreeing with Harry. “We didn’t think about it like that,” he admitted.
Harry snorted. “Yeah, that’s obvious.”
Harry then took a long breath as he tried to be as kind as possible. “Listen, I did my best to cover your case, but if MACUSA or the Vulturi find out, this will be your end,” he stated bluntly. “What I did will buy you time, maybe two or three years, but you need to talk to your children and make a decision.”
“I-I,” Carlisle took a moment to compose himself and looked at him gratefully. “I really appreciate it, I promise I’ll talk to my family.”
Harry nodded in satisfaction. “Good, now let’s talk about the other problem.”
“Other?” Carlisle asked and Harry was sure there was a hint of irritation in his voice.
“Yes, there has been a bit of a pattern of murders in the area, I checked the bodies myself and saw all the signs, they are vampires,” Harry explained.
“Vampires? In Forks?” Carlisle asked with surprise. “That wasn’t us, we all fed on animals.”
“I know that.” Harry rolled his eyes. “But vampires are supposed to be possessive, territorial bastards, I haven’t seen you do a single thing to defend your territory.”
“We really didn’t know that,” Carlisle confessed. “And even if we did know we couldn’t just kill them, the Vulturi wouldn’t be happy if we killed of our own for no specific reason.”
Harry flexed his fingers on his wand as a defiant smile spread across his face. “Fuck the Vulturi, I’m not under their jurisdiction, if I find those bloodsuckers, I’ll kill them.”
Carlisle scowled at him. “You can’t do that,” he scolded as if he were a small child. “They’d kill you if you tried.”
Harry shrugged. “Let them come, I don’t care.”
“Can you really defend yourself?” Carlisle asked uncertainly, Harry simply nodded so he asked, “In case we decide not to turn Bella, could you defend us?”
Harry arched his eyebrows at that.
The 17 year old Harry who was willing to die to save the magical world from Lord Voldemort wouldn’t have hesitated to say yes. Of course he would risk it for them, after all they were a family of vampires who didn’t hurt anyone.
But Harry wasn’t seventeen anymore.
He had a little kid to worry about, he had friends, he had a family. Maybe even a future blonde wife, he thought happily.
So no, Harry wouldn’t take any reckless chances again, not anymore.
“I’m sorry, Carlisle, but you’ll have to face the consequences on your own.”
With that, Harry stood up and crossed the living room to the door without noticing the golden eyes spying on him from the small space between the stairs.
“Please ask Edward to stop trying to read my mind, it’s quite annoying to have a buzzing in my brain all day.”
And with that he disappeared.
Harry shook himself out of his memories as he focused on the present, the clouds had become much larger and darker as thunder and lightning sounded with intensity.
“Thinking so much about the past isn’t good,” Alice whispered to him knowingly as she pulled a ball cap over her head, covering her spiky hair.
Alice Cullen was beautiful, but she was nowhere near Rosalie’s level, he thought possessively.
Harry arched an eyebrow at Alice, did she know what he was thinking? If he was right, the only telepath in the family was Edward.
Strange.
Before he could ask, Alice stepped forward with a small smile. “Will you play with us?”
Now that was an interesting offer.
Harry had always been a fan of adrenaline, he was almost addicted to it. He loved sports, and, if it hadn’t been for his disagreements with Ginny, he was sure he would be playing Quidditch professionally in England. Although that was something he was thankful he hadn’t done, because if he had accepted those offers he would never have met Rosalie.
Plus, baseball sounded like an interesting sport, and the fact that the other players were vampires only added to the excitement of the game.
But this wasn’t the time to be the protagonist.
This wasn’t about him, if he agreed to play with them, they would have to limit their strength and speed so as not to hurt him, which was something he didn’t want. Besides, watching Rosalie play would be much more exciting than playing himself, so it was much easier to make a decision once he thought of that.
“No,” he finally said. “Like I said, I’m here on official business, I can’t just set out to play.”
“Oh come on!” Emmett whined as he wrapped his arm around Harry’s shoulders and ruffled his hair. “Don’t be boring, Harry, it’ll be fun!”
Harry noticed Rosalie’s frown as she looked in their direction so he tried to wiggle out of Emmett’s tight grip, she probably didn’t want Harry to play.
It hurt, knowing she didn’t want Harry involved, but he would accept it.
“I don’t know how to play, you guys do it,” Harry encouraged them, trying to ignore the small ache in his chest.
“Fine, I’ll show you how it’s done.” Emmett gave him a toothy grin and took the bat as he positioned himself on one of the bases.
Rosalie walked over to Emmett and tapped him on the shoulder. “I’ll start, you idiot.” And then she hissed something so fast Harry couldn’t hear.
Emmett just smirked and replied something that sounded vaguely like ‘We’ll see’ and handed her the bat as he moved on to another of the bases.
Alice looked between the two vampires and smiled as she took the ball, Jasper positioned himself behind Rosalie while Edward and Carlisle moved out to the other two bases.
Harry didn’t really understand shit about baseball, but it looked very interesting.
Esme – who apparently was umpiring – and Bella – who had her eyes fixed on Edward – stood next to Harry and the three of them waited impatiently for the game to start.
Alice positioned herself carefully before raising her left leg and throwing the ball.
Harry watched almost in slow motion as the ball traveled down the field at a completely inhuman pace, a speed that a normal person would never have been able to see. However, Harry had played Quidittch since he was 11 and he was sure that the snitch moved just as fast, so he could see the direction of the ball with a little concentration and effort.
His gaze focused on Rosalie though, Rosalie who had her eyes fixed on the ball while her arms held the bat confidently.
She looked like a freaking blonde goddess; beautiful, utterly perfect, devastating.
The ball came towards her and, on cue, the bat moved and a loud ‘BAM!’ followed by a loud flash of lightning echoed throughout the place as the ball changed its direction and went deep into the woods.
Immediately a lot of things happened; Carlisle, Edward and Emmett took off running in the direction of where the ball had went flying while Rosalie, beautiful Rosalie, started running around the bases on the field.
This time it was much harder for Harry to be able to see her movements, however, his eyes quickly got used to it as he watched her speed from base to base.
Harry had been wrong, she wasn’t Aphrodite, Rosalie was a freaking angel who came straight from heaven to dazzle him with her beauty.
Her blonde hair was flying everywhere from the force of the wind as her legs moved swiftly, her determined look was plastered on her face as she ran.
A few milliseconds later Emmett appeared from the forest with the ball in his hand, the vampire was running much faster than Harry thought possible. Rosalie was faster though, and, just as Emmett was about to reach what Harry guessed was the final base, Rosalie surged forward with a final leap, touched the base and gave a shout of victory.
Harry ignored Esme announcing a point – or whatever they gave in baseball – he was still dazzled by Rosalie, who was now openly laughing at a pouting Emmett. Her fangs protruded as she giggled and glared smugly at the vampire on the floor.
Harry had it so, so bad for her.
Normally Harry hated arrogant people, Draco Malfoy was proof of that, but she was different, she was special, even when she acted smug about winning she was perfect.
If she decided to strut and taunt Emmett for the rest of eternity, Harry would support her with signs and banners.
The rest of the game went on in a similar fashion, however Harry ignored all the unimportant Cullens, his attention was on one person.
Rosalie.
Rosalie, who in Harry’s eyes, could never do anything wrong, she could make no mistake. Even when Harry noticed her cheating by pushing Jasper and Carlisle out of her way to catch the ball, she was still perfect.
Probably if she had gone to Hogwarts she would have been selected in Slytherin, however that didn’t matter, Harry would love her anyway.
“Hey, Harry!” Emmett called and Harry averted his gaze from the beautiful blonde vampire to the burly, playful vampire. “Watch this.”
He maneuvered the ball down his arms before flexing them and tossing the ball at Carlisle at a speed that – in Harry’s opinion – was fucking incredible.
Emmett crossed his arms over his broad chest, highlighting his big muscles as he puffed up proudly. “Did you like that?” he asked.
Harry narrowed his eyes as he realized what he was doing.
Emmett fucking Cullen was taunting him.
It wasn’t as if it were Harry’s fault that he had neglectful relatives. Perhaps if he had a normal childhood he would have managed to achieve the height and musculature he had seen in his father’s pictures, but, like many other things in his life, that clearly wasn’t in the cards for Harry.
It wasn’t his fault that all of Harry’s prior Quidditch and Auror training didn’t give him the muscles of someone who looked like a gym junkie, if anything he liked not looking like a giant bear.
Regardless, Emmett fucking Cullen had nothing to brag about, Harry was sure Charlie Weasley’s muscles were bigger.
He snorted in Emmett’s direction, without realizing his face fell at Harry’s casual dismissal, and turned his gaze to Rosalie, who was staring at Emmett with narrowed eyes, her lip curled and her fingers drumming on the bat in her hand.
Shit.
Was she checking Emmett out? Did that mean maybe she liked muscular guys that looked like bears? Well, if so, Harry was sure he could convince Charlie Swan to talk to the reserve boys and he could pay them to coach him up to their bulky sizes.
Yes, he would do that.
Next to hit the ball was Edward, but as with all his siblings, Harry ignored him and concentrated on Rosalie.
Rosalie who jumped into the woods in search of the ball after Edward hit it off in the trees.
Rosalie who threw Alice in the other direction just as she was approaching it.
Rosalie who, although she got the ball, arrived a millisecond after Edward.
It wasn’t the first time she’d lost, but that didn’t matter, Harry gave her a proud smile even as she ignored him outright, keeping her attention on the game.
“Do you think they’ll let me try?” Bella whispered to Esme.
Esme smiled kindly at her and whatever her answer was, she was interrupted by Edward, who rushed over to where the three of them were watching the game.
“I’m sorry, Bella, but it’s dangerous.”
“But I want to try!” Bella protested.
“It’s not safe for you Bella, the ball goes too fast and could hurt you, besides you saw Rosalie and Jasper, they’re like animals and won’t control their strength not to hurt you.”
Jasper coughed falsely and muttered something that sounded like ‘imbecile,’ while Rosalie looked at them in disgust.
A tense silence spread through the place as all the Cullens looked between Edward and Bella, the former remaining adamant while the latter pleaded with her eyes.
“Shall we continue to play or shall we see Edward being a possessive prat?” Rosalie finally asked scathingly. “Although well, that would be nothing new.”
“Rosalie-“ Carlisle started but was immediately cut off.
“Oh don’t act surprised, Carlisle! We’ve all seen Edward disappear in the middle of the night, it’s not hard to guess where he’s going.” Rosalie looked down at her perfectly manicured nails and grimaced. “I suppose it must be fascinating to watch the perfect Miss Swan sleep through the night, don’t you think, Edward?”
Harry’s eyes widened like saucers when he heard that, what the fuck did that mean? Was Edward stalking the girl he considered his little sister? Oh shit, Charlie would be so pissed if he found out, he had to put a stop to that, maybe install protections? Or maybe-
“Just ignore her Bella, she’s jealous,” Edward whispered to Bella, though obviously all the Cullens – and Harry – could hear clearly.
“Jealous?” Rosalie smirked and Harry was dazzled at those perfect white teeth peeking over her full pink lips. “Why would I be jealous of a mere human like her?” she asked with a raised blonde eyebrow.
Bella blushed furiously and Harry knew that, after hearing nonstop criticisms from Rosalie (and sometimes certain contributions from Emmett and Jasper) that Bella had reached her limit.
“You’re jealous because I love Edward and he loves me!” Bella spat. “We have each other while you’re a bitter bitch who will be alone for eternity.”
Ouch.
That must have hurt.
Harry wondered internally if he should intervene, offer to keep Rosalie from being alone? However, a slight nudge to his left made him turn his head.
“Here.” Emmett Cullen handed him a small bowl full of popcorn.
Where in hell did he get fresh popcorn?!
“Let’s watch Rosalie verbally destroy our dear brother and his girlfriend.” Emmett winked at Harry and sat on the ground with an expectant look at the glaring couple and the avenging blonde angel.
And well, the situation was strange enough and if there was one thing Harry had learned from Hermione it was to never meddle between women’s problems. With a sigh, he sat down next to the muscular vampire as he watched his future wife fight with Bella.
Not that Rosalie knew about the wife thing yet, but that wasn’t really important right then, was it?
A few minutes later Harry reflected and chuckled under his breath as he thought about how jealous Lucius Malfoy would be if he heard a tirade from Rosalie. The woman had a real silver tongue, maybe she was the reincarnation of Loki, the Norse God of Lies? It was a good probability.
Everyone in the field listened to her cold, rude speech that caused Bella’s eyes to fill with tears as Edward clenched his hands into fists in an attempt to control his rage.
Damn, Rosalie was a complete bitch.
And Harry loved her anyway. In fact, a small part of his brain thought that was fucking hot. The rest of Harry’s brain vehemently agreed.
Rosalie’s tirade stopped abruptly as Alice gasped and her body stiffened. Harry looked at her and saw her eyes mist over and her mouth fall open.
Harry’s heart began racing as he remembered who the last person to do that was.
Sybil Trelawney.
The woman who had made a prophecy that would decide the course of his life, the person who directly or indirectly contributed to the death of his parents, the death of Sirius, the death of Remus, and, of course, the death of Tom Riddle.
Harry clenched his jaw tightly until his teeth gnashed as he prayed to whatever the higher being was, that whatever was going to come out of Alice’s mouth wouldn’t involve him. He’d had enough, done enough.
Not that fate would agree.
Alice snapped out of her trance and looked at them all with nervous eyes. “They’re coming,” was all she said.
Harry wondered who ‘they’ were, but his question was quickly answered.
Three figures suddenly appeared on the other side of the field; one who looked like the leader was a man with dirty blond hair, his torso was bare and his pale skin stood out against the green of the forest. The woman next to him had red hair, was quite pretty and had a creepy predatory smile. The last of the three had dark skin and black hair, yet he had a smile that seemed almost friendly.
Harry narrowed his eyes as he noticed the most important feature in all three: their red eyes.
All three had scarlet eyes that seemed to steal people’s souls.
Just like Lord Voldemort.
Harry ignored the chatter going on between Carlisle and the three vampires, his mind racing for a solution, he knew that they were the vampires he was hunting so there was only one way out.
They had to die.
His wand materialized in his right hand as he made sure to keep Bella and Rosalie in his line of sight, if anything bad happened, the two of them would be his priority- they would have to be kept safe.
Just as he heard the blond vampire hiss something at Edward, he saw those lustful red eyes stop on Bella, who was almost trembling with fear and Harry knew it was time to act.
Harry made sure to hold his wand steady, as he pointed it at the blond bastard and in a firm voice said, ‘Bombarda Maxima.’ The spell shot out of his wand and the blond, who was still completely focused on Bella, didn’t notice that it was heading towards him and impacting his chest.
Immediately a sound like marble shattering echoed throughout the clearing as the blond’s body – what was his name? did it matter? – exploded into millions of tiny pieces.
Harry pointed at the pile and with a slight ‘Incendio’ the remains of the ghoulish and murderous vampire disappeared completely.
Harry’s breath stuttered as all the other vampires looked at him in shock, especially Rosalie, who now had eyes as black as coal.
Was she mad at him?
Scared of him?
Shit.
Almost snapping out of her trance, the red-haired woman let out a scream of agony before turning on her heels and escaping at an impossible speed for a human. Everyone else was still staring at the blonde’s remains, completely dumbfounded, so she managed to escape without anyone chasing her.
The black-braided vampire followed his partner’s example and slowly backed away until he was a considerable distance away and then fled at full speed.
After a few minutes Emmett – who for some reason unknown to Harry also had black eyes – broke the silence, “So…. That happened.”
Of course, Harry had to explain that it had actually been a lucky break. The only reason he had been able to kill the nomad – apparently named James – was because the vampire was distracted. Had the circumstances been different, the vampire could have dodged the spell and attacked, however, he did not.
Fortunately.
Now they would have to find their two companions, Victoria and Laurent, Harry was sure that neither of them were happy and would be back for revenge.
And Harry would be waiting for them.
After watching a vampire die like a porcelain doll, the other Cullens didn’t feel much like playing anymore, so they started picking up the ball and bats while Edward talked to much more calm Bella.
Harry cast a warming spell on her when he warned her it was time to go, Charlie would kill him if his precious daughter wasn’t home in 20 minutes.
His attention was then diverted to the dazzling blonde slowly approaching him and Harry couldn’t help but compare her to a lioness, she was like a predator eyeing her prey.
A completely beautiful predator, of course.
And he felt like the prey.
“Hey, Harry?”
“Yeah?”
She reached up and kissed his cheek, and, though her lips were completely cold, Harry felt like his skin was on fire.
“It was a good game, bring Teddy next time.” She winked at him and pulled away, her blonde hair fluttering in the strong wind.
She was fucking perfect.
She was beautiful, gorgeous, lovely, and Harry could do an essay full of compliments for Rosalie.
She completely deserved it.
Harry paid no attention to the other Cullens bidding him farewell, he even ignored the kind vampire’s invitation for a dinner, his mind was focused on one thing.
Rosalie.
Did her invitation mean he had a chance? He knew that using Teddy was foul play and his ‘points’ as a good father would go down drastically, but, it couldn’t hurt, could it? maybe he could-
‘Plaf!’
A deceptively strong hand smacked him across the forehead and Harry looked at Bella with wide eyes.
“Shut your mouth! The snow is melting with the sheer amount of drool you’re drooling.” She scowled at him though Harry could see the amusement in her eyes, something that reassured him, he had been a little worried that the brief experience with James had traumatized her, thankfully it seemed that it hadn’t.
“I didn’t-“
“You could have fallen in love with any vampire, and you choose Rosalie, really?” Bella snatched the keys from his hand and maneuvered to the police car, where she climbed inelegantly. “Are you coming? I’ll have to tell Teddy the Cinderella story before it’s too late!”
When Harry got home that night, the first thing he did was take off his clothes to take a shower, but his attention was drawn to a small piece of paper sticking out of one of his jacket pockets. He picked it up and his eyes almost popped out of their sockets when he realized what it said.
Harry, that was an impressive display of magic. Watching you slay a deranged vampire like that so easily is the hottest thing I’ve ever seen, I hope to see you soon.
~Rosalie.
And at that moment Harry confirmed that she would be his death.