The day was one of those rainy days in Forks which was nice since it let the Cullen's out of the house. The past two days had been weirdly sunny and free of rain or cloud cover which was peculiar in itself for this dreary little town.

At this time, Alice could be found slowly making her way through each room, uncovering old artifacts and lost memories since it was just her, Jasper and Edward in the house. She had started at around seven and it was eleven now as she walked down a hall with a dreamy sort of expression on her face, her hand gently pressed to the wall as she made her way to the second room on this floor that she was going to explore. She opened the door to this room and was immediately intrigued.

This room was not like the others in that there was almost nothing in it. There was a desk, a chair and nothing else. She was about to leave when her eye was caught by a part of the wall that seemed to be a different shade of gray than the rest of the monotonous room. She was in front of it instantly. Alice's hand reached out to brush the discolored patch only to have it flutter beneath her palm. It was a cloth. The normally lighthearted vampire that was more like a pixie than anything on more than one account pulled at the curtain and gasped softly at what she saw.

In this room, under this cloth lay a painting. This painting was unlike any she had ever seen in her or anyone else's life time. It was gorgeous. She touched the canvas to make sure it was both, in front of her and that this woman wasn't actually sitting there. Later she would realize it would have been impossible for that to be since the woman was seated in a garden. "She's beautiful..." Alice turned to her brother that stood in the door way, knowing he was there since he had seen this painting in her thoughts.

The woman in the picture had long onyx hair and emerald eyes. Her complexion was delicate but not quite vampire pale. She had a smile so warm it melted Alice where she stood even though the time this smile had existed was most likely long past. Her dress was a mixture of green and black and Alice was almost positive that the golden cross necklace on this woman's neck had glinted at her even though she know logically that it was paint and that wasn't possible.

Alice felt the arms of her husband wrap around her as she contemplated this woman, hearing Edward leave and quickly return with everyone who had come back from the hunt besides Carlisle and Esme who were going out for a small stroll to relax since it was relatively peaceful after the issue with Aro, Bella, and Renesme a couple of months prior. The group spent longer than they had realized in that room, either discussing the picture or standing, mesmerized by it.

"Is this one of Carlisle's?" Emitt said as he walked up to the painting and brushed his fingers across the canvas. "Who is she?" He spoke the question, his voice only just above a whisper but still loud enough that everyone could easily hear what he said. "Was this being hidden?" A higher but sultry voice chimed in, easily recognizable as Rosalie's. "If you call being hidden under a blanket almost the same shade of gray as the wall, hiding it," She paused to finally look at Rosalie, "then yes. But the real question is," she looked puzzlingly at the picture and touched it again, "Why?" Alice frowned, lost in her own world. She was only pulled back to reality when she smelled the faint aroma of Carlisle's cologne a little too late.

"What are you doing in here?" Carlisle spoke, his eyes glinting with something not one of them recognized. His face had a serious look that only served to make Alice more curious. Each member of this family gave Carlisle the respect he deserved but never asked for but there was a silent agreement long ago that while Carlisle was the oldest and a leader of sorts to this coven, this was not a dictatorship. If there was something that wanted to be known, one only needed to ask which is exactly what Alice planned on doing.

Alice smiled at their father figure and pointed around the room. "Most of you were out of the house so I decided to dig up some old memories but..." She turned to the painting and looked almost confused. "I have either found something that Esme decided to drain our savings on or... this painting is so old, we weren't even a twinkle in anyone's eye when it was completed."

Carlisle sighed. He was surprised that this charade had even gone on as long as it had. Though he wished it had gone on until he found it in him to throw that picture away, there were no bans on any room besides personal rooms in the house and this room was technically classified as storage which meant he thanked his lucky stars every night that no one had found out yet... until today.

Carlisle walked forward and stood so his back was to the painting, unable to look at it for very much longer. "I will explain, but only once and because I would have had to tell all of you some day." He took a deep breath and quickly glanced at the painting before beginning the story that had not been told in so long, the words were full of cobwebs. "Back when I was a human child, I went out frequently with my father as he went door to door spreading lies and conspiracy about magic. We had our differences but because I was too young to earn a proper living to help sustain the family, I had no choice in the matter. One day I met the daughter of a woman named Talia Potter while we were out. This child's name was Victoria Potter. Victoria was a very stubborn, very intelligent, very clever, and VERY beautiful young lady. She was also my mate. As she came of age, there were men waiting in line to ask for her hand in marriage. Of course, she turned all of them down in a very frank and not easily misunderstood manner."

Carlisle paused for a moment, his memories of the sheer number of grown men that ran crying from that house pulled a small smile from him and was amusing even now. He gathered his thoughts and picked up again where he left off. "A day came ten years after I had known this woman that I finally realized I had loved her all along. I had a necklace that my family had been in possession of for quite some time, you might call it an heirloom of sorts. It was no ring but it was unique, never to be replicated. Or that's what I was told." Carlisle looked at the crowd in front of him, relaxing at their enthralled expressions that reassured him they were just passive listeners and had not put themselves in the roll of judge.

"I asked her father for his blessing but he just grumbled and moved me a long like he did the rest. I made it to the back yard where she sat all prim and proper. She looked at me with an expression of relief and said, 'took you long enough.' And that was that. Sometime later, before we had been officially married, someone had told the town council that they had seen her perform witch craft on me which pushed her through the court system with no trial and lead her to... to burn at the stake." Carlisle finished, his voice wavering slightly with emotion as he struggled to say those words. He was startled out of his memories of his true love screaming in pain as she burned and repeatedly told Carlisle she loved him when Emitt spoke up.

"Did she... you know... put a spell on you?" He asked in a highly skeptical tone as he finished his sentence. Carlisle smiled and looked at Emitt, speaking as sincerely as he could. "Even if she did, I wouldn't have minded." Alice smiled slightly from the side of the room and looked back at the woman, feeling slightly like this painting and the timeliness of which they have uncovered it weren't purely coincidence. She would keep her feelers out and see if she couldn't find anything.

Harry rolled out of bed early in the morning like he was used to from when he had attended college at University of Rochester in New York before coming to Forks a couple of days ago for the civil service jobs one of his old professors had told him would be good for him. He brushed his hair that no longer was short and stood out in many different directions like some wild untamable beast but fell almost straight down to his lower back, his bangs sweeping across his forehead from the left to the right, the fringe falling into his right eye, causing him to push them back only to have them fall into his face again.

He had decided to jump the pond after he had defeated Voldemort in the final battle. He had seen how his friends truly felt about all of the adventures they had gone on and all of the trouble that he dragged around with him no matter where he went so they called him names, stuck their nose up and left. It had hurt Harry to know that the two people he had relied on and trusted fully with his love and his life had betrayed him so fully. Though he would much prefer someone turning their back on him where he could see it so he knew who he could trust and also who he never should have.

He remembered the nasty names Ron had called him while Hermione sat by with a bowed head as if she might have said something of the like only in a more intellectual and tactful way. Ginny had come to his aid when Ron had called him a fag and it still made him smile when he thought of the confused and slightly pale expression on Ron's face when Ginny said she knew and even helped him figure it out. She had outed the fact that their 'relationship' was fake and only came into existence as a mutual agreement that benefited them both. Harry didn't mind that Ginny had yelled something like that since Ron had already outed him in front of most of the school which only meant that the whole wizarding world would know by the next day.

Harry shook his head and contemplated what to do with his mane for the day, pushing all thoughts of his old life out of mind, deciding to put it in a low side pony tail on the right. He didn't need his glasses anymore since he went to finally get it looked at, turns out it was due to magic suppression and build up which was putting pressure on his optic nerve from being raised by the Dursly's to think he was a freak. Harry was now an affluent wizard that had honed his powers enough that he could use wandless and wordless magic. Though magic without a wand was useful, it was weaker and a detriment if ever caught in a fight so he still took his wand everywhere with him.

Harry had gotten dressed in a relatively tight pair of jeans that hugged his ass in the most comfortable way. He loved these pair of pants since they were comfortable and they made him look good. He pulled a white tank top over his head and fixed it so it wasn't twisted or wrinkled. He pulled his hair out of his shirt and pet the chain to his necklace which was a simple golden chain that held a cross that was so very basic in design but the detail and artistry engraved on that cross was astonishing. Harry had found it in his vault when he was rooting around for some books about healing, which was something he was getting more into.

Harry gave himself a once over before stepping out of the house with an umbrella and knee high combat boots which were protecting Harry's feet from the puddles and spots where the mud got a bit deep. He walked into the forest just behind his house and was pleased to know that only a scant few drops of water made it through the bow of the trees. Harry had picked up his loose fitting zip up hoodie and was now grateful for it as he stuck his hands and arms through the sleeves, zipping it up. It may not have been snowing anymore but it was still pretty cold.

Harry pulled his hood up over his head, tucking his pony tail into his sweater and continued his leisurely stroll through a forest that didn't hold creatures that were lying in wait to kill, maim, or eat him. The beautiful man had stepped over a root and took about three steps before he was proven wrong.

A large wolf stepped through the roughage of the forest and growled at the sight of Harry's hooded figure. Harry's eyes widened and thought quickly about his options as he was circled by the giant wolf. He could use magic to apparate but somehow he got the feeling that this would not be the best idea in this situation so it was put on hold as a last minute measure. Harry was jerked from his thoughts as the wolf began to advance instead of circle him.

Harry stumbled back and cringed as he heard the rip from the umbrella being impaled on an errant tree branch. He let go of the ruined umbrella, trying to keep his hood hiding the top half of his face so the wolf couldn't read his expression and see fear, not that Harry was too afraid. He just knew that animals had a knack for sensing fear. He froze before he turned and ran. He felt the wolf look at him for a moment, not moving before he jumped into action. He wordlessly put a weightless charm on the wolf as he jumped to pounce and winced when he felt his claws get his back before he pushed him back.

The wolf got up and looked at a heavily breathing and bleeding Harry. The wolf seemed angry and confused at the same time and it occurred to Harry that a normal wolf wouldn't be quite so aware or... human. He waved his hand and took the charm away before the wolf was able to catch on. The wolf came at him and took the cloth of Harry's sweater in his mouth, just under his neck, treating him as if he were a puppy.

"Put me down you bloody dog! I'm not a damn pup!" he squirmed, taking care not to hurt his back, as the wolf lifted him easily from the ground and ran. Harry yelped when his wounds were jostled in an extremely painful way. He couldn't see with how fast they were going but soon they burst through the forest and Harry let out a strangled noise in surprise as a house suddenly appeared in front of them, his hood being yanked over his face again, as if that would protect him. He could see through his hood but just barely as the wolf encroached on the premises. The wind had picked up as he was pelted with rain and covered in the mud that splashed up in their hurried travel. The wolf whined and Harry couldn't see anything that was going on as he was carried to the house.

Harry was dropped on what looked to be the door step of the house, curled up on his side. The door opened and he felt like something was wrong. Something in the air was wrong. The very existence of the person or thing standing in the door way was wrong.

"What is the meaning of this?" A seductive voice floated on the air but didn't warm him. It was a man who spoke but his tone was cold. Then all of a sudden his world was spinning and he was hauled inside by this man. "Edward? What's going on?" Harry turned his ear to the voice to the soft tinkling voice but made sure his hood stayed safely covering his face. If he had to use magic to get away from these people who lived in or around Forks, he would much prefer they not know who he was if they were probably going to meet again someday.

"Sam dropped him here. I saw what he saw and I'm almost as confused." The man named Edward spoke to the woman, though not letting go of Harry. "Almost?" Came the questioning answer from the other side of the room. Edward then turned Harry around, jostling him in the process and causing him to hiss in pain. All of a sudden, there was a flurry of movement and freezing cold hands on his back.

"Bloody hell! Get your icy paws off me!" Harry arched his back and reached behind himself to try and get the hand away from his skin instead of having them wrapped around himself to keep warm. He heard a laugh from the corner of the room and a voice that was low enough that it wasn't meant to be heard. "It talks." Harry turned his head in that direction, his face still angled down to keep it hidden and growled. He yelped again as hands rested themselves on his wound but just arched away this time, knowing that he probably wouldn't be left alone otherwise and since this Edward fellow was still holding onto him, meaning he couldn't apparate without taking this poor kid along for the ride.

When the hands had left him for the final time after prodding and poking for a couple of minutes and Edward had relaxed enough to let go, Harry slowly made his way to the door when he was stopped by a voice. "What are you?" Harry stiffened and slowly drew himself up to his full height instead of slouching like he had been doing the entire time finally glimpsing the group out of the corner of his eye, making eye contact with the one in the corner, not letting any of the others see his eyes which had taken on a poisonous green color in their intensity, shining like the emeralds they were. "Not human. That is all you need to know." Was all he said before apparating out of there, leaving behind a group of stunned and slightly worried vampires.

Harry had quickly figured through his little impromptu visit that the people who had stood around him as he had his blood wiped and wound cleaned, were vampires. He had learned about them in school but they had only touched on western vampires in passing, never going into very much depth. Though he didn't know everything, Vampires were considered dark, or cursed, creatures which was something he had learned in DADA at Hogwarts being Harry's best subject and all. Harry had tried to think of every possible thing he had ever read on the western vampire which is why he had thrown out the fact that he wasn't a human. He couldn't remember if they considered witches and wizards humans or mythical but he did happen to remember their statute of secrecy had much higher consequences when broken than wizards did, meaning a death to either party so truth be damned, he might have saved both of their butts by planting some good old reasonable doubt. There was also the fact that no one had actually ever said anything about vampires and Harry had never confirmed anything other than the fact that these... creatures... weren't human.

Harry went straight for his cupboards right when he arrived, immediately pulling out a pain reducer potion, a healing salve, a disinfectant, and a fever reducer potion, just in case. He didn't keep a scar salve because he was apparently absolutely abysmal at it and all of these potions were made by him in an attempt to become halfway decent at the subject which was coming on quite nicely.

Harry took off his sweatshirt and tank top, reaching behind him in an extremely awkward way as he stood in front of a mirror and applied the salve. He drank the potions and left the fever reducer on the bathroom counter so if he really needed it, it was easily accessible. He yawned and stripped down to his briefs before burrowing under his thick duvet and falling asleep not a minute later.

Edward stood in the wake of the silence left by that man and the ominous pop that sounded just as he... well... disappeared out of thin air. He looked around the room and could feel, see and hear the varying degrees of shock come from each member of his family.

"Magic isn't real... right?" Emitt asked from his place near the door to the family room, unsure of the answer after not believing it for so long. Alice was two steps ahead as Rosalie and Jasper rejoined them, having had to leave at the sight and smell of blood.

"He said he wasn't human... why would that be 'all we needed to know'?" Alice looked to Carlisle who was cleaning his hands of the stranger's blood, trying to hold back his instincts and think, not wanting the others to take notice and worry. He sighed and thought about the man who had literally disappeared from right in front of his eyes. He didn't see anything, not even his face, which was a shame because that warm voice with his prominent British accent had affected him, more than he would like to admit.

Carlisle looked to the spot where his patient had disappeared from. "Whether he vanished from our very eyes or walked out or front door, don't you get the feeling that we would still be left with as many questions?" He asked as he stepped over into the spot where the hooded figure had been. "Did anyone see his face?" Carlisle looked to his coven and saw Alice nod.

"I only saw his eyes but... they were green. They almost reminded me of the... the painting upstairs." The Cullen's stayed quiet for a while before Carlisle spoke up. "Be that as it may, I wouldn't focus on this. Unless he becomes a problem, none of you are to go looking for him, or create mischief. Besides, he won't be about for a couple of weeks with injuries like those."

There was a general consensus that the coven would be leaving the man alone, not that they could find him since they still had no idea what he looked like.

Harry woke up the next day with a massive headache that came from ingesting potions besides 'dreamless sleep' before going to bed. He reached in the cabinet to fish out a dreamless sleep potion and saw that it was his last one. He took a pen to a piece of paper and wrote down that he needed more before putting it on his fridge.

He stepped into the bathroom and turned around to see how well his wound was healing and was very pleased to see that it was almost gone. It was currently scabbing over and there had been no blood on his sheets last night so it hadn't reopened it while he was sleeping. Harry knew that he was probably going to have to use magic for some of his heavy lifting for the next few days since the skin over his wound was still tight from the scabs and he absolutely did not want to have it scar worse than it already would by opening it again. Not that he was vain but he knew that, as a guy, guys tend to take their shirt off. And why not? It was comfortable. But if it scarred badly, there would be questions asked.

Harry went downstairs and began to unpack the boxes he had left after unpacking the essentials to live the first day. He would leave the sentimental stuff for last since he knew that a lot of it was from his so-called friends. He spent the day unpacking shoes and clothes as well as kitchen equipment. By the end of the day he had started on his magical doodads and thingamabobs and had felt quite accomplished.

By the end of that week Harry had found the local police department and met the qualifications as well as the prerequisites. He had gotten all the paperwork out of the way by the end of the month and was starting the first day of April.

The day came that Harry had been waiting for as he put on his uniform for his first day as a local police officer. He checked in the mirror several times before getting in his car and heading out. His wound had taken a grueling five days to heal which really said something about the injury by wizard healing standards. He still had a problem or two here and there but as long as he didn't say anything, no one would know and that was for the best.

Harry had put his hair up in a low pony that was pulled to the side, a bit of hair framing his face on the side that the hair wasn't pulled to. He had gotten some looks for his age and his hair but he hadn't been called on either yet, but he suspected that it was just a matter of time. He pulled up to the station and went inside. The chief of police was headed to the copier and beckoned him to follow. Harry tilted his head to the side slightly in confusion but followed anyway. "What is it Chief Swan?"

Charlie chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "You can just call me Charlie, kid. I just wanted to let you know that since we lost one of our guys in the transfer, you'll be my partner for the time being until you wanna switch." Harry was actually pretty excited. He was with the chief so that usually meant he could stick to the important cases and let the others handle the ones that are sometimes just time consuming, not that he took law enforcement at this level lightly. There were just a couple more bullshit cases than usual since it was a small town.

"That's quite alright. I don't mind at all." Harry said, trying not to sound like an excited child. "Well alright, you might change your mind after a while. Not many youngsters wanna be with an old man. We ain't as fast as you, ya know." Harry smiled at the humble chief and shook his head. "I've done enough running to last me a life time, I think it will be nice to slow down a bit." Harry winked and they both chuckled softly as the keys of the other officers computers typed away.

"I guess we should get going. I'm starting you out on a couple of mild cases so I can gauge your experience and how you work and we'll go from there. Not all days are going to be like today, don't worry." Harry blushed when he realized that Chie- Charlie could see the disappointment on his face. "I suppose that isn't a bad idea. Shall we go then?" Charlie nodded and took some papers from the copier. "You can head out to the car, I'll be out in a moment." He yelled over his shoulder as he disappeared behind the mountain of paperwork on his desk.

Harry waited in the car and looked to Charlie with a dubiously raised eyebrow when he got in. "Just some paperwork for the files. I got Tyler to take care of it." Harry, not recalling who Tyler was, shrugged as Charlie backed out of the parking spot and drove off to begin their tedious day.

Throughout the day, they had encountered a purse snatching, pulled someone over for going forty miles per hour over the speed limit and gave out a few parking tickets. He let Harry handle all but the speeding one since Charlie was still in the driver's seat but at the end of the day, Charlie had seemed quite pleased which Harry was hoping meant he did a good job.

Charlie pulled Harry aside to talk to him before they both went into the station. "You did a great job today. You were observant, quick to react and held onto reason and good judgment in a situation that required you to think quickly. I want to do this tomorrow and see how it goes but all in all, if you do well tomorrow, we can move up to other cases. I gotta warn you though, cases like those don't come by too often, so don't get your hopes up." Charlie waited until Harry nodded before heading inside to finish up his papers for the day.

Harry stayed to help until Charlie literally had to chase him out of the station with raucous laughter coming from all corners of the station that could see what was going on. He made his way home and got to bed a little early so he would be just as sharp tomorrow as he was today.

Over the next couple of weeks, Harry had settled into the station and the people who he was surrounded by on a day to day basis had taken to calling him the prince since he was prone to use snark and looked delicate like someone who hadn't gotten out much. All in all, he resembled royalty. He had done a basic full workplace take over as everyone seemed quite enamored by his charm despite his sharp tongue.

In another place, the coven that resided in Forks seemed baffled. It wasn't usual for them to be so stumped but call them blind because they were lost on this occasion.

Alice thought back to all of the events in the past month and a half. Everything they did was worked around the newlywed couple and their child but there were things that had bothered her. Carlisle had been more prone to lose himself in thought recently though that might be because they had revealed the picture of his beloved after so many years. Jasper, her love and husband, seemed on edge but that might be because she was uneasy herself. There was one event that made her feel really weird though.

Flash Back

Alice was to go on the weekly shopping run, another way that they integrated themselves with the humans around them even though they ended up donating the food anyway. She drove to town and parked on the side of the road as she wandered through all the shops. It was a bit of a game to her to try and pick what each family members favorite food would have been, had they been alive to taste some of these foods as the humans created them.

She was in the middle of her little game when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. A glint of gold she would have never seen if she hadn't been a vampire. She turned just as the person who was wearing a necklace of gold stood and pulled their long hair into a low side pony tail, letting a chunk of shorter hair hang in his (because it was definitely a man) face. He stood and smiled and all of a suddenly her mind went to a certain painting. She went to talk to him but as a big crowd of kids passed, she looked back to the spot he was but... nothing was there.

End Flash Back

Alice hadn't seen the man since even though she looked for him high and low. She was baffled and though she didn't have any visions of him or anything around him, she felt that he was going to be important sometime soon.

A/N

Edit: So I'm fairly new to this writing and posting thing which means mistakes run rampant and I am taking this time to ask for your forgiveness. Now. I AM new to writing fanfiction so I'm looking for feed back. I have READ enough fanfiction to know that I'll probably get flames but I'll just use them to bake my tasty treats. Mince meat pie anyone?

I don't update on a schedule but I will try to get a chapter out once every month. If I do more it's because I feel like it. I would love some reviews to tell me how I'm doing and give me some ideas. I do have a plan as to where this is going so I can't change it too much but suggestions are welcome.

Oh and let me know if I should continue! Thanks!

-Asterot