Disclaimer: I own nothing in the Harry Potter and Twilight worlds

Author's Note: I know my propensity to add random scenes such as the first one may be confusing to some of you, and for that I apologize. I enjoy imagining how the Cullens would react to Hera's milestones, however, and some of them are just too short to turn them into a one shot.

Chapter 1 – To Fly

Hera looked at her new school dubiously as she unbuckled her seatbelt. She glanced at Edward, who was doing his best to look supportive even though he would much rather his mate stay home with Esme all day where he knew she'd be protected. "You'll be fine, Hera… it's just kindergarten. You'll get to paint and play with other kids, and have lots of fun!"

The five-year-old sighed. "Yeah I know, but why can't I go to school with you?"

Edward chuckled. "Well, as brilliant as I know you are, I still think calculus and chemistry may be just a tad too advanced for you right now." He placed a finger under her chin and pulled her face up until her emerald gaze met his. "You're going to be fine. You met Ms. Laney yesterday and she was very nice, remember?"

Hera sighed and picked up her Hello Kitty backpack that Alice bought her. "Yeah. But what if nobody likes me?"

Edward laughed and playfully tugged on one of her pigtails. "What?! That's crazy talk, Hera! Only a moron wouldn't like you… you're like the best thing since peanut butter and jelly!"

The little girl looked at her mate as if he'd lost his mind. "You don't eat peanut butter and jelly."

"I know, but since you ask for it at every meal I assume it must be pretty awesome. Besides, telling you you're the best thing since mountain lions and bears just doesn't have the same ring to it, right?" He waggled his eyebrows at her and was rewarded with a giggle as she opened the door and prepared to join the other new students.

"You remember where your class is?" When she nodded he leaned over to place a kiss on Hera's forehead. "Okay, good. My phone number is pinned to the inside of your backpack… for emergencies only. Have fun and I'll be here when you get out!" She waved back at him with a smile tinged with nervousness before walking away.

Edward remained until his mate disappeared inside the elementary school. He ignored the stabbing pain in his gut and pulled into traffic, speeding fast enough to make it to his own school in time.

That had been much harder than he'd imagined.

Pulling up to the high school with five minutes to spare, Edward joined his siblings who were all standing around Emmett's jeep.

Jasper nodded a greeting. "How'd she do?"

Edward sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "She was good. A little nervous, but you know how she is with change. She'll warm up to school in no time."

Emmett snorted. "She may as well. She's got the rest of her immortal life to learn to hate it. I kind of wish I could start from kindergarten. At least I'd be doing something different."

Alice giggled. "We could go to school with Hera and spend our time finger-painting and pretending to sleep during naptime."

Rosalie smiled. "And if any bullies give Hera a hard time she can have Edward beat them up."

The five vampires began walking toward the entrance as the warning bell rang shrilly. They all laughed when Edward grumbled about the stupidity of anyone even thinking of harassing his mate.

Weeks went by and soon autumn was in full swing. Despite her initial reluctance, Hera's innate love of learning new things made school something to which she looked forward each day.

Esme knocked on the door to her five-year-old daughter's room before pushing it open. It was a sunny Sunday morning and they were currently the only two people in the house. Carlisle was working a shift at the local hospital and the others had left a few hours earlier to hunt.

Hera was sitting in the middle of the floor, eyes scrunched in concentration, as seven balls of light spun around her. As Esme watched, three more balls slowly appeared and joined the others before picking up speed. Though the mother could feel no discernable source of air flow, Hera's unruly shoulder-length black hair whipped around her face as if caught in a significant breeze. She had seen her daughter perform such a feat before, but it always amazed her to witness the spectacle.

The child had discovered that she could conjure a globe of light approximately a year ago when she had awakened from a bad dream and found the darkness of her room unbearable. Though the light then had been fairly simple, Hera had found that with a little more concentration she could change the color and intensity of the lights at will. Edward had been so proud of Hera's accomplishment that Jasper teased him mercilessly for a week about the smug feelings he was emitting.

All of them were expecting Hera's future magic school to contact them very soon as the phoenix's powers grew.

"Mama, look!" Hera's eyes lit up as she caught sight of her mother standing in the doorway of her room.

Esme laughed. "I see it, baby, but it's time for your bath. Hurry up before the water goes cold."

"Where's Emmett? I want him to see… he said I wouldn't be able to do ten at a time and now he owes me ten dollars," Hera whined as her mother made her stop the globes.

"Emmett went hunting with the others, sweetheart. Don't worry, I'll tell him you won the bet." She pushed the phoenix's hair back off of her slightly sweaty face as Hera pouted. "None of that, Hera… if you did it once you will be able to do it again when your brothers and sisters return."

Hera sighed as Esme started picking up her room. She willed the globes away and dutifully pulled some clean clothes out of her closet before heading into her bathroom where Esme had drawn her a bath. Anxious to get back to her play, Hera washed as quickly as possible while ensuring she still did an adequate job. It was impossible to cut corners in a house of vampires without anyone noticing.

Finally finished with the hated chore of bath time, she shook as much water as she could from her wings before drying the rest of her body and dressed. A sudden noise caught her attention from the room's only window. Hera silently padded over and climbed upon the toilet. From her elevated position she carefully peeked through the slats of the blinds. Perched on the ledge outside was a beautiful bird with brown and yellow feathers. The child smiled as she realized she could spy on the creature without being noticed because of the way the blinds were slanted.

The fat little bird hopped along the window sill pecking at the wood for a few minutes before readying his wings and taking flight.

Hera's smile slipped from her face as her eyes tracked the animal until it disappeared. She turned to look at her own wings, reflexively opening and closing the appendages. She spread out the green feathers as far as the enclosed area would allow before pulling them close to her body once more.

If other animals with wings could fly, why couldn't she?

She halfheartedly took a towel to her wet hair before running to Edward's room. His window stretched from floor to ceiling, which allowed him to open it and leap down two stories to the ground whenever he wanted to go hunting in the woods. Standing on tip toes, Hera couldn't quite reach the latch. Looking around, her eyes skipped over the various shelves of his music and landed on the large bookcase. Pulling down two of the largest books she could get her hands on, Hera stacked them together and climbed on top to reach the lock.

The window opened with a click. She quickly moved the books aside before standing in the now open space. Hera found herself becoming dizzy as she looked down and instead chose to focus her gaze on the large oak tree in front of her. Taking a deep breath, the five-year-old locked her jaw with determination, spread her wings, and jumped.