Hello beautiful readers, I'm glad you like this story thus far. Have fun reading the new chapter, and have a wonderful day/evening.

REVIEW REPLIES:

Vampmuffin: Thanks for liking the way I've written Harry. I don't like making Bella a complete evil-bitch when I write her, and sometimes people don't like that.

(a/n: In my opinion a writer should be able to morph the story so that they don't need to get rid of her as a character, why go through the trouble to write her as something she isn't? Hell, as a writer you should take pride in making Bella's character something more than what it originally is in the books, am I right? To me, Bella has never come off as a bitch- she may not be the best of females- and she may be too dependent on a man, but she's a pretty tolerable person to me).

Little-bast: Harry won't have an animagus in this story, sorry. I love your idea with the wood-carving, I might use it.

Thank you, to everyone whom has reviewed/alerted/added to favourites.

ALSO, no worries- I will be pairing Bella up with someone later on in the future (she will be paired with a character from HP, but that information is being kept secret for added suspense)

Chapter Four

Vindicate – to prove someone's innocence, to justify one's actions.

So paint me red-handed and call me guilty.

"Harry, I've checked all records here at the ministry, there aren't any records proving there are vampires in Washington," Hermione said matter-of-factly,

"Are you sure? There's nothing, absolutely nothing? Hermione, I could have sworn…" Harry rubbed his forehead in frustration; he could feel himself gaining a headache.

There was a hesitated breath from the female witch as the two wizards spoke to each other using muggle telephones. Hermione had been standing in a phone booth while Harry used the Swan's home phone, "But it's only Bella's paranoid suspicions, and you could've just been seeing things,"

"I may be magically dormant, but that doesn't make me visually impaired,"

"Alright, so let's just say there are vampires living in Forks, that doesn't make them harmful," Hermione explained, "It's the perfect place, hardly ever sunny, and small,"

Harry groaned and sat at the dining table in the kitchen, "I can't help but get the feeling that something horrible is going to happen,"

"You're just paranoid-"

Harry sighed loudly, the annoyance he felt towards his best friend was excruciating, "You're right. I need more sleep, and I should probably take Bella's advice and find something to do during the day, get my mind off things that are unimportant,"

"I'm sorry, Harry," Hermione frowned, knowing the man had been annoyed and frustrated now.

He shook his head, "Don't worry about it. Send Ron my love,"

Without giving a chance for Hermione to reply he pulled the Swan's phone from his ear and slapped it down onto the receiver. His brow scrunched as he placed his elbows into the kitchen table and rested his head in the palms of his hands, why the bloody hell do things need to get so complicated? Everything was going so great…

Groaning once more he rested his cheek onto the mahogany top and closed his eyes. He felt extremely exhausted, but that might have been because he just got done running to Bella's silly muggle school and back.

The sound of the front door shutting pulled him back to reality and he looked up to see Bella, she smiled slightly at him, looking a bit shaken, and then proceeded upstairs claiming she needed to finish biology homework or whatever class, Harry could never remember.

Alright, Harry, the middle-aged man thought to himself, you haven't got magic, but you've got eyes. What was wrong about the image just then? He looked with a serious expression, hardly blinking, she was pale, as if something shocked her and she was shivering- but it isn't that freezing out… Shaking his head, feeling there hadn't been any significance to what he just put together, he followed after Bella and into his own room to sleep.

"Kill the spare,"

With a gasp Harry shot up from his bed, brow damp with sweat and clothes drenched. He clutched his racing heart in attempts to slow it down as he breathed heavily. Those words were so scarily familiar, and it itched at the edges of Harry's mind what they had meant and who said them.

Clutching his head in discomfort he plopped back down onto the bed with another breath, just words, that's all they were. No visions, pictures, dreams- nothing. Harry's eyes shifted to the window and he froze. He blinked and then rubbed his emerald eyes. There was a boy, watching him—or so he thought because when he looked again, no one was there.

I could have sworn I saw… no, that's not possible.

He stared at the ceiling, finding no motivation to go back to sleep.

ooOoo

"Edward, either my mind is playing tricks on me or…" Alice began, watching as the short boy ran in the opposite direction of Bella Swan. She glanced between the retreating boy to her brother, "That isn't?"

"I don't know… but don't worry about it," Edward grumbled and climbed into his Volvo, ignoring his sister's look of disapproval for blowing her off.

Jasper stood beside the pixie-vampire, "Do I need to explain his emotions to you, or was it obvious enough?"

"I thought you had a vision of that human girl," asked Rosalie with a distasteful tone, "If that guy is Edward's… well, you know… then what happens to her?"

Alice squeezed her topaz eyes shut and gave a long and soft exhalation, "Nothing good, Edward becomes conflicted between the pull he has for his mate and the need to protect Bella,"

"But he ends up with that guy, right?" asks Emmett from beside Rosalie, a question everyone else had wanted to ask.

Alice shrugged, "I'm unsure. I'll tell you more when my visions are updated, but right now we need to worry about Edward,"

They nodded, and followed after Edward in their own vehicles.

Edward had arrived to the Cullen home before the rest of his siblings and isolated himself from Esme, thankfully he didn't have to avoid Carlisle (he worked late at the hospital most nights).

Something about Bella sparked his interest, when he saw her he felt contentment. Today though, when he saw that, that man, his whole chest exploded. Millions of unknown emotions flooded over him and he couldn't contain himself—jumping across that parking lot and attacking the smaller male was all he could think about—of course he was able to keep himself under control thanks to Jasper.

"Edward, sweetheart, are you alright? Alice told me about what happened," Esme asked from the other side of his closed door, "I just wanted to check up on you,"

"I'm fine, Esme. I've got homework to finish, could you ask the others not to bother me for the rest of the night?" asked the bronze haired vampire, his face sunken as he paced the room.

There was a shift, "alright," and Esme was gone.

Edward looked from the floor of his room to the wooded area surrounding the house. His thoughts traveled back to after school when he overheard Bella talking. She would be going to Port Angeles with Jessica Stanley. He sighed and grabbed his things; he had a bad feeling in the pit of his unmoving chest. He left the house and went to his Volvo. It wasn't like he was spying or anything, just making sure she was okay.

Even so, his mind wouldn't stop going back to that emerald-eyed stranger.

ooOoo

The week soon came to an end, and darkness had already been approaching on Saturday when Bella went to ask Harry a question.

"Harry, it's Saturday, we should do something fun," said Bella, walking into the man's room as he continued to read a book from his slowly rising collection.

Harry placed the book on his lap as he sat cross-legged on the messy bed; he raised an eyebrow and looked to the teenager, "Oh? And what exactly do you define as fun, Miss Swan?"

Bella rolled her eyes and gave a small snort, "Not much around here to be classified as fun. We could go to the beach in Pa Push, Jacob said he'd be there today, you could properly meet him and the others, if you'd like,"

"others?" Harry pondered as he leaned closer.

"My friends from school are going to be there, and those boys we ran into when we went to Port Angeles," Bella went on to explain, saying she received a text message- what the bloody hell is a text message? –from Jessica and wanted to know if Harry would want to come with her.

"I haven't got much else to do, when will we be leaving?" asked the wizard, standing form the bed to rummage through the closet across the room where is few selection of clothes had been, "please tell me we won't be swimming in this weather?"

Bella snorted once more, "No, of course not. We'll probably start a fire, roast marshmallows, enjoy the evening. Dad says we don't have to be home too early because he's working another graveyard-shift,"

"Cool," Harry said earnestly, "So- as for my pervious question, when are we leaving?"

"Now, if you want to?"

Harry grinned widely and turned to the girl, "sounds perfect,"

ooOoo

"I'm Jessica, this is Mike, that's Eric, and this here is Angela," said a girl, a bit too close to Harry for his own comfort, "Bella's told us all about you, you're from London- right?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, yeah- I decided to move here for a change in scenery," answered Harry absently.

Angela looked at him with a cocked brow, "isn't London just as gloomy as Forks?"

"On most days," replied the short male, earning a few laughs from the teenagers he met only seconds ago. The beach had been deserted- rather small- except for the circled group of kids sitting around a small lit fire. He found himself becoming uncomfortable knowing he was at least nine years older than the others, but knowing that he at least looked young he didn't feel so bad.

"Your accent is so awesome," Jessica gushed giddily and pulled him to sit down next to her on the log.

He looked to Bella with inquiring eyes, wondering if this were normal- Bella simply nodded and took a seat on the log diagonal from Harry because Angela. Mike was lounging on the cold sand while Eric was standing- brushing the feet with his sandaled feet.

"Uhm, thanks. It's nice to meet you lot, Bella speaks highly of you too," replied the rough-looking twenty-six year old.

Angela gave a knowing look to Bella, and nudged her, "So Bells, mind telling us what that was on Friday?"

Harry looked confusedly between Angela and Bella, who flushed and gave a shrug, "I don't know what you're talking about,"

Mike gave a bark of laughter and shifted, pointing an accusing finger to Bella, "Bullshit, you were getting a ride to school from the infamous Edward Cullen. Dish the details, girl, now,"

"I never took you for the nosey type, Mike," Bella scowled with a bothered expression.

Harry's head turned between the two teenagers, Mike continued with a sheepish shrug, "It isn't every day someone gets a ride to school from Edward Cullen, it must've been a pretty good reason,"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Jessica said in a snotty voice and Harry neck jerked with a crack to look at the girl beside him. He brought his hand to rub at his neck with a hiss, Jessica seemed not to notice, "they're obviously dating, right Bella? Edward's finally found a girl good enough for him, I suppose,"

"We aren't… we aren't dating," Bella said as she flushed a brighter shade of red, "he wants to be my friend, that's all,"

"Even so, it's still unlikely for any of the Cullen's to make friends," Eric piped up with a sense of sanity.

Harry couldn't begin to explain how puzzled he was, "I'm sorry, but what exactly are you talking about?"

Angela looked to Harry, "Bella hasn't told you her encounters with the enigmatic family?"

That boy! How the bloody hell could I forget? "Oh," Harry said, the information clicking, "So, how long exactly have the Cullens lived here?"

The group looked at him, wondering why he'd ask such a question out of the blue like that. Jessica answered for him as she grabbed the bag of marshmallows in front of Mike and began to roast one, "Well, I'd say it was sophomore year,"

"How many siblings does this Edward have?" asked Harry, his eyes showing a bit of his eager suspicion.

Bella replied, which caused Harry to look to his right to the brunette, "What's with all the questions, Harry?"

He shrugged, trying to ground himself, "I'm just curious about the people who live in the wonderful town of Forks, that's all,"

"He has four, two sisters and two brothers," Jessica answered him, her eyes focused on the flame surrounding her marshmallow, "apparently they're all adopted, and together,"

Bella looked far from pleased with Jessica- the tone of her voice far from pleasing towards the Cullen family, Harry noticed this too and found himself uneasy with it, "I see no problem with that,"

"Neither do I," Bella agreed with the ex-auror, "it's perfectly fine. In fact, I'm going over to their house for dinner sometime this week,"

Eric gave a playful look, "I thought you were just friends, now he's arranging dinner?"

This earned a laugh from Mike, "I think Bella's got herself a secret,"

"Oh please," Bella rolled her eyes, grabbing herself a marshmallow to roast, "Even if I wanted to have a relationship with Edward, he certainly doesn't,"

"Why not?" Harry suddenly asked, "You're beautiful and charming, who wouldn't want you as their girlfriend?"

"My-my, someone's into the younger girls, aren't they?" Mike just didn't know when to stop his foolish joking.

If I could use my magic I'd hex your arrogant ass into the ocean right now, "hardly the case,"

Suddenly there was the sound of a howl, and the group turned into the direction that it came from. The same group of large boy's from when Harry and Bella visited Port Angeles had been walking towards them- Jacob, as Harry remembered- had his hands cupped around his mouth and gave another humanly howl.

"Jake!" Bella said happily as the group arrived and they ill-mannerly plopped themselves into the empty areas of sand, eagerly grabbing at the marshmallows and plopping them into their mouths.

"hey, 'sup Bells, good week?" asked the tan boy, sitting next to the log that Bella had been sitting on with Angela. His nose wrinkled a bit as if he smelled something weird and he gave Bella a puzzled glance.

Harry watched with bewilderment too, "Hello, Jacob, nice to see you again,"

Jacob looked from Bella to Harry and smiled in recognition, "Hey, Bella's friend, the one living with her- right? Nice to see you too,"

Bella pointed to each tanned boy, "That Paul, Embry, and that's Quill,"

With muffled voices Quill and Embry gave him a wave as they continued to devour the marshmallows.

"You're the talk of the town," says Paul, "you're from that London place, right?"

Harry gave him a dull look, practically asking are you serious? "Yes," he decided he didn't want to bother with an explanation.

"So, does that mean you met the queen?" asks Embry, his voice distorted still from the gooey whiteness.

They're serious. Aren't they? Bloody hell, "Never."

"That's boring," said the boy bluntly and then turned back to his marshmallow.

Jacob laughed and leaned towards Harry, "They're a bit stupid when there's food around, don't judge them too quickly,"

Harry smiled nonchalantly, "I'll be sure to embark in conversations with them when food is not present,"

"So Jake, have you heard? Bella's got herself a boyfriend?" Mike continues with his charade, which only makes Harry twitch with irritation.

Disappointment flashes briefly across Jacob's face and he looks to the girl who used to make mud-pies with him, "Ah, who's the lucky guy?"

Bella looked as if she wanted to slap Mike, "He isn't my boyfriend, and we're just friends, Mike, stop patronizing me,"

"Alright, fine. Either way it's shocking, I mean… you're friends with Edward-freaking-Cullen!"

Harry continued to simply watch the teenagers go on with their conversation, until he noticed the tan boys and their facial reactions to the name 'Cullen'. That was strange—and that's when something clicked, the book that Bella bought… no, I should stop being silly, it's just a bloody legend. There are no vampires in Forks, Hermione even said so…

Later on that evening things seemed to lighten up, the kids who went to school with Bella left and the only ones that remained had been Jacob and his friends, Bella and Harry.

Jacob seemed to be in a foul mood, ever since Mike made that comment about Bella and the Cullen boy he seemed to sulk and moodily retort to his friends.

Harry took extra note of this, either the boy had been upset that Bella hadn't seen her the same way he saw her, or he had something against Edward Cullen. Either way he knew things were uneasy, and Harry's auror side kept nagging at him to get to the bottom of things. The only problem was how he'd get to the bottom of things.

ooOoo

The drive back to the Swan home was quiet until Harry decided to ask, "So, you weren't lying were you, when you said that you and the Cullen boy were just friends?"

"No," Bella said, looking to Harry shortly and then back to the slim road, "Even so, I would tell you the truth. Edward specifically told me he wanted to be friends with me, he said on day he'd tell me the reasons, but right now he doesn't want to explain why,"

"Do you like him, though, I mean as more than a friend?" it may have sounded pushy, but Bella didn't seem to mind.

She shook her head and gave a small shrug, "I thought I did, but the more information I found out about him only made me see him as a friend than boyfriend material,"

"And…" Harry swallowed, "what exactly was that 'information'?"

Bella flashed a sparkling grin, "Secrets should be kept, not told- I'm not Jessica after all,"

That only made Harry burn with frustration, why did everything have to be so goddamned secretive?

"Look," Bella said when she noticed Harry's face, "I'd honestly tell you if I could, but I think it's something that he should tell someone- not me,"

"No," Harry said, holding his hand, "I understand, you don't need to apologize or anything. It's just, I have this complex where I need to know ever little detail; it's something I acquired during my therapy back home,"

Bella gave a tangible laugh, "I get it, but I'm sure you'll find out soon enough, so don't worry,"

Wait… what the hell does that mean? Harry didn't reply, he gaped at his friend for a few seconds and then turned his head to watch the darkness of trees pass him by.

When they pulled into the driveway, they entered the dark home and went upstairs- tired from their late night out with friends. Bella wished Harry a goodnight's sleep and Harry returned it.

ooOoo

"I'll go with you," whimpered Hermione, rushing up to wrap her arms around Harry, the feeling of the embrace brought a deep sorrow and harsh feeling of protectiveness that he wished he never felt- because in that moment he wished he didn't have to go.

Another dream… His eyes fluttered open and his seethed when he felt a sharp pain cross his head. What the hell was that? He asked himself, unsure of what the dream was about or what was going on. He shook his head, these images and dreams weren't normal and he needed to talk to Hermione about them, soon.

He glanced to the blinking alarm clock beside his bed; it wasn't even three in the morning yet. He gave another sigh and blinked once more- he wasn't tired anymore, brilliant.

A shuffled noise grasped his attention and he looked to the other side of the room- his eyes squinted and then widened.

On the other side of the room, in the darkness of the shadowed walls had been a pair of glowing topaz eyes. What the bloody fuck?

He instantly threw the covers from his body and reached for something- anything- and ended up grabbing a book laying on the nightstand.

"Who are you?" Harry ground out, his tone hardly friendly.

A gust of wind blew in from the window and caused him to cover his face from the sharp graze it gave. He quickly brought his arm from his face and blinked rapidly. Darkness. Nothing. Whatever it had been across the room peering at him had been gone—but Harry wasn't stupid. Someone was watching him just now, just like the days previous, and he wasn't going to let them get away with it.

Without worrying about putting sneakers on, or grabbing a jacket he rushed down the stairs of the house, his make-shift weapon (the useless book) still grasped firmly in his hands as he stumbled out of the front door and into the cold front yard. He ran to the road, the pebbled rocks digging into his bare feet as he looked around swiftly for the culprit who had been spying on him.

"Don't be a coward," whispered Harry into the empty air, but he received no reply.

Next chapter Bella and Harry run into Edward on their trip for breakfast Sunday morning—surely things can't go well, could they? Or perhaps things go pretty good- either way—Edward's one step closer to knowing all about who Harry is exactly. x