A/N: This fic just came out of nowhere. I have two other, more developed ideas for HP/Twilight crossovers, but this is the one that's demanding to be written. Esme does not exist in this universe, but otherwise the Twilight canon is intact. The Harry Potter universe follows the same basic sequence as canon with small differences in the fate of certain characters and, obviously, a great difference beginning from the end of DH. "To the Night" is a working title. I'm not promising regular updates, but I'm certainly going to try. Standard disclaimers apply. Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer. If I had as much money as either of those women, trust me, I wouldn't be working at my crappy job.

To the Night, Chapter One

The woods were lovely and lush in the night. They had a different quality to them than the forests and mountains in which they'd hunted when living in Forks or even later, in upstate New York. The trees and plants were different species from those which had grown familiar and cast intriguing shadows across the leaf and pine needle-covered ground. Carlisle breathed in deeply, gathering all the scents from miles around. There was copious small prey about, nothing any of his family would bother with. There was a large herd of deer not too far off and the distinct scent of wildcat. He couldn't say for sure whether there were any bears in the area, but if there were, Emmett would certainly find them. While Carlisle would normally hunt deer and other grazing animals, he thought tonight he might go for more of a challenge and something a bit more satisfying. He wasn't tempted any more by human blood, not to any extent where he might actually slip, but he needed all the self-control and self-possession he could muster in order to make a good impression on his new colleagues. He couldn't risk his family; they had so much to live for and this was a fresh start for all of them.

"All right then," Carlisle said, surrounded by those he called his children – and grandchild. "We should all … do our thing." He nodded his head, the motion jerky for a vampire. "Meet up at home later."

Emmett and Rosalie were the first to run off and were almost out of sight when Jasper, resisting Alice's tugging on his arm to run along as well, stiffened immediately. Carlisle felt a tug of panic in his stomach that he knew did not belong to himself.

"Wait!" Jasper called. His voice was loud but constricted. "There's blood. Human blood."

By the time he had finished speaking, Carlisle smelled it as well, and so did every other member of the family.

"What the hell?" Renesmee uttered, earning her a sharp look from the girl who could have nearly been her twin sister but was actually her mother.

"Carlisle, what's going on?" Bella spoke up. "Where did it come from? I swear it wasn't there a minute ago!"

"It definitely wasn't," Emmett said, returning to the group with Rosalie at a controlled pace. "But holy God, it's strong!"

"I don't know where it came from, Bella," Carlisle answered. But oh, it was such a beautiful scent. It seemed to be far off still but it wafted into Carlisle's senses as though the bleeding human was lying at his feet. "I don't … this doesn't make any sense."

Alice piped up then. "No, it doesn't." She stepped forward towards Carlisle, close enough to grip his hand. "You have to go on and find the source of it. I have to take Jasper home for now."

Carlisle studied her carefully, then glanced over at Edward. The young man was focused on his sister, the corners of his mouth turned down. "Alice, what have you seen?" Carlisle demanded.

The pixie girl merely shook her head. "It's very confusing. I can't … I can only say one thing. You have to make this decision with your heart and not your head."

Alice shook her head again, this time as though trying to clear it. "Jasper and I have to go home now. We'll see you later."

With that, she moved back to Jasper and in the blink of an eye the two started running for home. The feeling of panic and nervousness that had originated with Jasper eased up and was replaced by a similar feeling that was Carlisle's own.

"Is anyone else a little bit … frightened now?" Bella asked into the silence. "The last time Alice and Jasper left cryptically …"

"I hardly think this is the same thing, love," Edward said softly.

"What do you suppose it's from? D'you think someone could have gotten attacked by something?"

Carlisle was silent for a moment, considering Emmett's words. "It's the only logical explanation," he conceded. "But we should have noticed the scent before, even without blood. We're wasting time, though. I have to see if I can help."

"You don't think there's any danger? For us, I mean?" Rosalie asked.

"I think if there's something in this forest that's dangerous for us, then I'd rather know what it is than not," Carlisle replied, and with that, took off at top speed.

He could hear the others following behind as he sped through the dense maze of trees and bushes, following the smell that called to him through the air. No doubt Edward should be catching up with him, surpassing him, but he was probably tempering his pace to stay with Bella and Renesmee. Carlisle continued to lead the pack until, quite suddenly, he had reached his destination, stopping at the edge of a tiny clearing in which lay an injured, mangled body.

Carlisle rushed forward and was kneeling down beside the prone figure just at the rest of his family arrived at the clearing. He began examining it for injuries as the others spoke behind him.

"Holy shit," he heard Rosalie say.

"Could an animal have done that?" Renesmee asked.

"In the five minutes or so since we originally smelled it?" Rose asked. "Doubtful."

"And if so, where'd the animal go to so quickly?" Emmett asked. "I don't smell anything but grazers around for quite a distance."

Carlisle was listening to their commentary even as he catalogued the broken bones and the deep lacerations, the copious amounts of blood that leaked from both abdomen and head. And then he stopped.

"This definitely wasn't an animal attack," he said slowly. "He's got burns, severe ones."

Everyone began talking at once. Burns? In the middle of the woods, along with all his other injuries? It just didn't make sense. The scent of blood had appeared so suddenly, it was as if the man had just appeared in the clearing out of thin air. And that was impossible, but so was the human's very presence. The only one not joining into the conversation was Edward.

Carlisle focused on him. "Edward. You're being awfully quiet."

Edward didn't reply right away but the others quieted down. "Can you help him, Carlisle?" There was something odd in the way Edward spoke.

"Even if I could get him to a hospital within the next ten minutes or so – before he bleeds to death – it's unlikely that he'd be treated quickly enough …"

He broke off, not voicing the rest of his thoughts but knowing that Edward could sense them.

"You're going to want to get the venom into his bloodstream quickly. It needs to circulate before his heart stops." Edward spoke softly but every one of the vampires knew exactly what he was saying.

Carlisle didn't even try to deny that these were the thoughts that had been running through his head. But at the same time, he didn't know if he could do it. This wasn't the same as it had been in the past. He didn't know anything about the human lying before him, about his past or his situation, as he'd known about Edward and Rosalie before turning them, and it certainly wasn't the same as it had been for Edward when he turned Bella. The only ones who might understand were Rosalie and Emmett.

"Rose?" he began.

Comprehension sparked in her eyes. "Is it like it was for me with Emmett?" she asked. "He's yours, isn't he?"

"He isn't mine," Carlisle protested.

"He will be if you turn him into one of us," Rose explained.

"No," Carlisle denied. "He'll have a choice, just as I would give anyone. Just as I gave Edward, just as I gave you. If …"

He might live forever, but Carlisle had only a few minutes left in which to make the decision of whether this broken man would become one of them. It was true that the human's blood drew him in as though Carlisle was the prey and not the other way around, but he wasn't truly tempted, no more than he'd been in at least a century. Still, he could desire the scent without ever tasting it. If Edward had felt even a fraction of this when he'd encountered Bella, then Carlisle couldn't imagine the amount strength Edward must possess.

No one else spoke. Even Renesmee was quiet, chatterbox that she normally was; she seemed to grasp the depth of the situation. Carlisle felt like roaring into the night. He wished someone else could tell him what to do.

"You've always thought I was stronger than you," Edward said, breaking the silence that had settled over them. "But I'm not. His scent, for you, is stronger than Bella's ever was for me, and here you are surrounded by pools of it and you have the time and the sense of mind to consider whether turning him is the right thing to do?"

"Edward …"

"Alice told you that you have a choice and that you have to make it with your heart," Edward continued. "I'm telling you that there is no choice. Get the venom into him now, before it's too late."

Carlisle stared into the dark amber eyes that met his. He knew that Edward could hear all of the doubts, all of the fears, and all of the certainty. In many ways, Edward knew him better than anyone; he'd been Carlisle's first companion. And he was telling Carlisle the exact thing that Carlisle had wanted so badly to hear. This was what Alice had meant.

He turned back to the human. The body was so far beyond repair that Carlisle wouldn't have been able to recognize him by sight if he were to see him whole. He wouldn't know what color his eyes were. Morbidly, he reached up, pulled back one uninjured eyelid. A dazzlingly bright green iris shone up at him in the moonlight; it was a pity that color would be overcome by the varying eyes of a vampire, but Carlisle felt better for knowing.

He then picked up the young man's left hand; it was one of the only uninjured parts of his body, the skin creamy white and soft in a way it would never again be once Carlisle had acted. Bringing the wrist to his mouth, Carlisle sank his teeth into it, instinctually finding the vein and injecting his poison into it without sucking up any of the blood; Carlisle needed every bit of that blood to circulate the venom.

Suddenly, it seemed imperative that Carlisle do everything he possibly could to make sure that his venom had permeated every inch of the body before him. Leaning over he sank his teeth again, this time into the man's neck, releasing even more venom, then checked his pulse. The heart was still beating but too quickly and weakly. He turned the man onto his back from his previously curled position and began pumping on his chest with hard strokes, forcing the heart to beat, forcing blood and poison everywhere. He kept this up, pumping, pumping; he could have kept it up for hours but it was only scant moments before an odd moaning noise seemed to reverberate in the otherwise silent clearing. Before heat began to radiate from the body.

Carlisle leaned back onto his heels and let out a breath unnecessarily. The venom was beginning to take effect, but only just. It would be days yet before every injury had been burned away, leaving only a flawless mold of the living flesh that had once been.

"We should bring him home, before the pain really sets in," Carlisle said, but he did not otherwise move. The reality of the situation was starting to set in. Perhaps everything would be different when this man awoke as a vampire, but already Carlisle couldn't picture a future without him in it. If the newborn vampire chose to leave, Carlisle imagined he might truly spend the rest of eternity alone.

His thoughts were broken by footsteps coming toward him. "Do you need –" Emmett asked softly.

"No," Carlisle replied. "Sorry."

Faster than a human could have blinked, he had scooped the body into his arms and taken off back through the woods towards home. The others followed him, then surrounded him protectively. He amended his previous thoughts in his mind. He wouldn't be alone for eternity; he just wasn't entirely certain that his family could be enough to compensate for the loss of his mate.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Burning, burning, burning.

The pain was all-encompassing. Not the tiniest part of Harry's body was spared from the fire. It was an odd sensation of burning, though, not like being hit with a curse or reaching too close to a flame. Harry felt like he was burning from the inside out.

Was this dying? He couldn't be sure. He had died once before and it hadn't hurt at all. One moment he'd been alive, and the next he'd woken in King's Cross station and he hadn't even realized he was dead at first. But then, he'd been hit with an Avada Kedavra that time. This time he'd taken more curses than any one person, even a wizard, even the Boy Who Lived, could survive.

Pain, pain, pain.

There were figures hovering over him, people. He didn't think he was in the woods anymore. Had they managed to find him? Had they brought him back to the manor? The pain, the fire … was it all some new and terrible torture they had not yet introduced him to? Why couldn't they just let him die? He'd been fighting for so long that all he wanted to do was die. He hoped he was dying. He hoped that this was just a painful death.

He caught a glimpse of blonde hair, then a glimpse of black. He couldn't focus on anything. He was existing in a different reality, one in which pain was the only component, and the others were on some other plane. Perhaps they were angels, trying to coax him through, trying to end his suffering. He couldn't let himself think that he'd been found, that it was Malfoy speaking garbled words, but he couldn't be sure. It was like trying to look through a frosted window.

He felt his magic rising up from within. At first he thought it was fighting the pain, whatever might be causing it, in one last effort to free him from its clutches. But that didn't seem right either. It was getting bigger and bigger and everything around him became swirling light. His magic was more intense that he could ever remember it being; his magic was his entire existence.

This had to be death, being swallowed by pure power. He'd finally made it. He let the darkness take him.