I must apologies for the delayed update; and I'm sorry that this chapter is slightly shorter than the others. Let me firstly say I have a good excuse. I won't go into extreme details with you, because it's personal and isn't the place for such things, but, it involved legal matters and drama that sent me into a world of chaos. Story short, I'm not longer friends with the backstabbing idiot who brought all this trouble onto me, and everything is situated and I can present to you the fifth chapter of this story.

Thank you, so much, you don't know how much I adored all of your reviews, and for the simple reason that your reviews were lovely I decided not to go with my original idea; which was to kill Hedwig. SO, no worries because I've kept her alive and I have figured out another way to bring future events into play (Hedwig was supposed to foreshadow them). Please, enjoy this story and thank you for being patient!

Transparent Fall: Chapter Five

There was the sound of a throat clearing, and they all turned towards where it had come from, Harry's expression dropped when he saw the horrid look on Dr. Cullen's face, and the next words made his whole world come crashing down, "I have some bad news,"

"Bad news…?" Harry demanded, his brow narrowing, "What do you mean bad news?"

Silence enveloped the family and the wizard, Carlisle realised he may have made Harry worry about the health of his owl by saying that, he looked down at the short boy and went on to explain, "Hedwig is fine, I assure you,"

"Oh," there was a relieved breath.

"What's the bed news then?" asked Edward from beside Harry, he was relieved to know his mate's pet was alright, "If she's okay…"

"Right," Carlisle nodded and gave a humanly sigh as he went on to explain, "She's alive and well, but I'm afraid there's a chance she may never fly again, her wings were severely damaged, she won't be able to function them correctly in the future,"

Devastation and guilt fell upon Harry like a wave, his beautiful owl would never be able to fly again, and it was his entire fault because he wanted to lash out at Severus by sending Draco a letter. Shaking slightly, Edward had to place a supporting hand on the teenager's shoulder to make sure he wouldn't fall, "She won't be able to fly… but that's… that's the one thing she loved doing,"

"Oh, Harry," Esme said softly from across the kitchen and was over to the boy in a matter of seconds, "I'm sorry, I truly am, but at least she's safe and alive,"

Shaking his head, Harry asked, "Where is she now…?"

Carlisle frowned, "I've made her a temporary bed, she'll need to stay here for a few days under my observation but you'll be able to take her home after that. She's resting now, she's had a long day,"

"Alright," Harry whispered, rubbing his left arm with his right, "I think I'd be best if I went home now, if you wouldn't mind…?"

Esme gave a soft and soothing smile, "Of course, dinner can be postponed for another day,"

"You're always welcomed here," said Alice from behind him with a just as comforting voice as her mother, "do you need a ride home?"

Harry shrugged and looked up to Edward, "If you wouldn't mind, I'd appreciate that,"

He said goodbye to the rest of the Cullen family and Edward walked with him to his Volvo.

The ride to Harry's house was quiet and uneasy, it took Edward's voice to bring Harry from the dark thoughts that floated around his mind involving the past events of today, "She's going to be fine, you know? Carlisle is a great doctor,"

"She's not going to be alright," he snapped in return, "she's never going to fly again,"

Edward looked over, hardly paying attention to the road in front of him, "Carlisle said that it was only a chance, she could fly again one day,"

"Luck was never really on my side before," Harry whispered, "I highly doubt it'll be on my side for this, I ruined my own bird's chances at flight, and all because I was selfish and acted on stupid anger,"

"You're only human; you're bound to make mistakes…"

A snort came from the wizard, "a vampire giving me advice on being human,"

"I was human once too, you know," it came off as a strong justification, "Just because I'm a vampire now doesn't mean I didn't have a fully functioning heart when I was human,"

Harry instantly felt guilt-ridden for judging the man, "I'm sorry, I guess you're right. It isn't your fault you're the way you are… I just, I'm upset and tired, that's all,"

"I understand," the car slowed to a stop outside of Harry's home, "this is it,"

"Thanks for the ride," Harry thanked softly, "I'll see you at school Monday?"

There was a nod, and just as Harry was about to close the car door Edward asked, "Do you, well, want to sit with us at lunch?"

"Oh," there was a long pause, "I usually sit with Bella…"

"That's fine," Edward recovered, "don't worry about it,"

Harry smiled though, which caught the vampire by surprise and made his stomach flip, "Goodnight, Edward,"

"Goodnight, Harry," the door was then closed, and Edward watched his mate retreat into the beautiful ordinary home before he drove off back to his own house.

When Harry closed the front door he was greeted by a busy Severus in the kitchen, he was surprised when the older man lifted his head to look at the smaller wizard, "I see that Cullen boy dropped you off,"

"Yeah," came an awkward reply, "he showed me around town a bit," a downright lie and he knew it, he couldn't let Severus know about Hedwig, it would only cause more stress and unwanted drama that Harry didn't want any part of. He was upset enough knowing that he caused his own bird harm, he didn't want Severus to be crossed at him, "I'm going to bed, it's been a long day,"

"Alright," said Severus in reply, and nothing else was said between the two as Harry exited the room and went upstairs to fall graciously onto his bed and thankfully dream of nothing.

Monday,

"You know, don't you?" Harry asked Bella the next day when they met each other in the hall and headed to lunch together, "about the Cullens, I mean,"

There was a pause in Bella's steps, but she quickly fixed her composure, "What'd you mean?"

"Edward explained to me about your past, if what he says is true that means he was once interested in you—which means you know about him and the rest of the Cullens, but you chose Jacob instead," Harry wasn't stupid, he spent the whole night putting two-and-two together and realised the obviousness of it all, "I understand that you weren't allowed to tell me, so I'm not upset with you,"

"How did you find out?" she asked, her eyebrow rising in shock and bemusement, "did something happen?"

Harry shrugged, "Nothing really," he lied once more, "but I found out, I mean, and I wasn't that hard,"

"A bit obvious, isn't it?" Bella asked with a chuckle, which in return Harry laughed with her as they entered the cafeteria, "but I didn't choose Jacob over Edward, where did you get that?"

With their food, they sat down at the empty round table, the others hadn't arrived yet, they were a bit early, Harry gave a puzzled look, "that's what Edward told me,"

Bella shook her head, "No, Edward broke up with me; I don't hold it against him because it was obvious that I wasn't his mate. It was more of a mutual agreement,"

"Oh, I wonder why he lied,"

A suspicious look flashed across Bella's face but vanished as she carelessly shrugged, "It's hard to tell with that man, he's really confusing sometimes. We agreed that we wasn't meant to be with me and I wasn't going to force him to suffer when someone else belonged to his heart—no matter if he met them yet or not,"

"That's very mature of you," Harry teased, and received a giggle from his best friend.

"I try," she said and then looked past Harry's shoulder, "speak of the devil,"

Harry looked at Bella in mild interest at what she meant but was answered when he looked up to the man who was now standing beside him. It was Edward, and he smiled softly to Bella who smiled back in return, "Hello, Bella, how's everything going?"

"Good, how's everything with you?"

"Fine," Edward replied and then his eyes shifted to Harry, "Carlisle said that you should come over for dinner tonight, Hedwig's condition's gotten better since Saturday,"

When Harry nodded the vampire left, and green eyes met the brown eyes of Bella, her expression was muddled as she looked at her friend and asked, "Hedwig? What was all that about…?"

"A very long story," Harry stopped talking when Jessica and the rest of their 'friends' joined them, "I'll tell you later," he mouthed to Bella, who nodded with a satisfied smile.

"You wouldn't believe the rumors going around about Rebekah Lewis," Harry nearly rolled his eyes at Jessica's horrid voice and unconsciously looked to the Cullen table as the girl rambled on about today's victim of gossip.

When he saw Alice, Jasper, and Edward looking at him he wanted to feel at least a bit freaked out, but something inside of him calmed and he felt okay. His heart jumped when Alice smiled happily at him and then waved. The girl was so graceful and harmless to be a vampire, and that's when it clicked—they weren't violent and deathly, if anything they were just as human as the rest of the students here at Forks High, but their meal consisted of animals and their hearts weren't beating…

"Don't you agree, Harry?"

The addressed boy turned back to look at Jessica who asked him the question and he flushed, feeling as though he was caught looking at the beautiful family, "Huh? Oh, yes, of course,"

A happy smile of triumph nearly split the annoying woman's face in half, "I thought you'd agree, I was hoping you wouldn't have one of those silly opinions like the rest of this stupid school has,"

Harry hadn't a clue what the girl was fucking talking about, and nor did he care. His eyes fell onto his best friend, Bella, and she was grinning at him knowingly—and that only made him flush a deeper red. I'm not a creeper, Bella, stop looking at me like that! He thought, but they went unheard in his head.

OOoOoOo

Chemistry came around and Harry was once again sitting next to Edward, other students were yapping and going on about useless drama or stupid 'inside' jokes, Severus was scowling and scolding the children and listed off their assignment for the afternoon, the class silenced themselves and listened quietly to Severus (whom they learned now would give them a detention without a second chance).

"Today you and a partner are going to produce the gas that subsequently makes bread rise," they students scanned the room, looking to their friends whom they would be partnering up with, Harry felt nervous for a moment—who would he partner up with? "You will be given a list of items you will be using, and will be given one balloon, a disposable bottle, yeast, warm water, and sugar,"

It seemed rather easy, it wasn't something they usually did in potions, but how hard could it be to mix water, yeast, and sugar with the correct measurements? Harry paled, measurements, that's what always screwed him up in potions. A sigh of displeasure left his lips and he hadn't noticed the other students getting standing from their seats and finding their partners and getting started on their projects.

He also hadn't noticed until just now that Edward had spoken to him, he looked over to the other with an embarrassed look, "I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

"I asked if you wanted to be my partner. Everyone else is taken," Edward was smiling only slightly, almost a bit nervously, and Harry blinked.

"Sure, that sounds good," he smiled and moved his chair closer to Edward's, "Let's get started,"

Edward nodded, "I've done this experiment numerous times, obviously, so it won't be that hard, don't worry,"

A knowing laugh escaped the lips of Harry, who nodded, "Alright, what do we need?"

"I'll let you get the balloon, bottle, and dry yeast. I'll get the cup of water and sugar," Edward said, standing from his chair and looking to Harry for his 'okay'.

"Okay," Harry nodded, and stood from his seat also.

They collected their needed items and were sitting beside each other not long after. Harry's brow scrunched in confusion as he read the paper in front of him, "I don't understand what we have to do,"

Edward chuckled, "It's easy, here I'll show you," he took the teaspoon of sugar and mixed it with the water, "and then you'll need to mix the yeast, which helps bread rise when you bake it, and mix it with the water and sugar,"

"Alright, I get that much, but…"

"It's going to create a gas that will make this balloon," the vampire held up a blue coloured balloon with a smile, "inflate,"

"That's cool," the wizard said honestly, "Then, you pour the mixed contents into the plastic bottle with this funnel, and we're going to stretch the balloon over the top part,"

"That's it…? That wasn't hard at all,"

Edward nodded happily, loving the feeling of teaching his mate and being close to him at the moment, "and then we'll sit it here in the middle of the table and wait twenty minutes and record the reaction,"

What are we supposed to do for twenty minutes?

They sat together for at least ten minutes before Edward decided to speak, "What's your favorite color?"

"Huh?" startled, Harry looked to Edward as if he were crazy. He shrugged and answered, "I suppose it's green, why?"

"Just trying to get to know you a bit better," Edward explained casually, "is that such a crime?"

"No," the raven haired teenager shook his head, "Not really, but why would you want to get to know me…?"

Edward avoided eye contact, "I thought that's what you do when you want to be friends with someone,"

"You—" Harry was taken aback, "You want to be my friend?"

"Why not…? It's not often someone knows my secret, the only people I communicate with are my family, so I thought it be nice to have someone different to talk to, someone who doesn't know every bit of detail about me," he confessed earnestly.

There was a nod from the smaller teen, "Alright, my turn to ask questions then, how old are you…?"

"Seventeen,"

There was mocking chuckle, "Okay, how long have you been seventeen,"

"Awhile, If you want an accurate answer I'd say I'm about ninety-one years old," he whispered it so that only Harry would be the only one to hear, "what's the date of your birthday?"

"July 31st," Harry answered, "How'd you… die…?" he whispered the last word not only quietly but softly, hoping it wouldn't offend the other too much.

"Spanish influenza, Carlisle saved me before it actually killed me," there was a shriek from across the room and Edward froze in fear that he may have been heard but was relieved to know it was just from a girl screaming when water spilled onto her dress.

Harry didn't know why he was going along with this 'questions and answers' game, but he supposed they had a whole twenty minutes to kill, why not learn a bit about each other. It was Edward's turn to ask, and he did,

"Who are your real parents?"

It took Harry by surprise, but it hadn't affected him as much as it usually had, "James and Lily Potter," he decided to take this moment to ask, "Why'd you lie about you and Bella? You weren't just friends,"

"I didn't think it was an important detail," Edward said with a shrug, "how'd your parents die?"

It made him freeze, but he answered nonetheless, "A man killed them when I was only a baby,"

"I'm sorry," Edward looked to him with a solemn gaze.

"I was a baby," Harry shrugged to him just as he had previously, "It's nothing," that was a lie, even if Edward couldn't read his mind entirely he could read the boy's eyes easily, he listened to his mate's next question, "have you… have you ever wanted children before?"

"I wouldn't mind it," Edward answered in a whispered breath, "but in my current position I'm not eligible for children,"

"I'm Sorry,"

"It's fine," the smile that crossed the vampire's lips assured Harry he was telling the truth regardless of the bitterness in his tone, "What's your favorite place to be?"

"Hogwarts, my old school," replied the short wizard, "and yours?"

The vampire was tempted to say that his favorite place was right here, right beside his mate—but he knew that wouldn't be the wisest thing to do at the moment, "Favorite flower,"

"What?" it took him aback, the sudden change in question topics, "I suppose lilies, you?"

"Tulips," they weren't paying attention to their experiment anymore, more interested and engaged in their little game of 'getting to know each other' more than anything else going on in the room. Edward looked at his wizard mate, and that's all he saw, "Do you like to read?"

Tulips? That's a bit strange for his character, but I suppose it not that bad, Harry thought, "Not so much, it depends on what kind of book it is. My friend Hermione loves to read though, she's practically a book herself… What kind of music do you like?"

"Classical," this made Harry snort in laugher, and Edward grinned widely, "What's so funny?"

"It's only typical that you like classical music," Harry sighed once he was done laughed and waited for Edward to retort with something due to his semi insult,

"And what about you, what kind of music are you interested in?"

"I've never had time for music, and I like the Twisted Sisters though," Harry noticed the confused look Edward gave him and he laughed, "They're a wizard band, you wouldn't know about them. Do you play any instruments?"

Edward nodded, "Just the piano, I could play for you one day," he regretted it as soon as it came from his mouth, who offered to play the piano for a complete stranger who had been the same gender, for Christ's sake! "Uhm… I think twenty minutes is up—we should probably record our data,"

"Right," Harry nodded and turned to face the bottle and balloon, he blinked in surprise—the balloon actually inflated. He grabbed his pencil (which felt much different than a quill) and began to scribble down the results, "and I think I'd like that…"

"What?" Edward was taken by surprise at the boy's sudden words.

"I mean, you offered to play for me sometime," Harry continued to look at his paper while Edward looked at him with astonishment, "I think I'd really like for someone to play the piano for me, people don't offer something like that every day, you know?"

The unnatural heat soaring through Edward made him explode with contentment and accomplishment. Satisfaction that he hadn't scared his mate away and actually learned something made him the happiest vampire in a million mile radius. "Alright, maybe tonight… if you stay for dinner,"

"Of course, I'm sure your mum would love for me to stay so she could cook," Harry smiled and looked to Edward from the corner of his eyes, "As long as I'm not intruding on anything…"

"You heard Esme, you're welcome to come whenever you wish, besides, Carlisle already said you should come over tonight to check on Hedwig… I saw her last night, she's doing wonderful,"

That made Harry extremely happy, happier about the situation than he was before, "I'll meet you outside, if you don't mind giving me a lift—"

"Not at all," Edward smiled in return, and the buzzing noise signaling for them to clean up with experiment and leave for their next class broke their conversation and they parted ways. Edward felt like a kid who just received candy on a Christmas day. Things may not have been perfect yet between him and his mate but they were improving and that was more than he could ask for.

A sudden thought haunted him though… Alice's vision hadn't changed yet, his death date was arriving soon, and it only pushed a thousand pound bag of worry and dread onto him. It was a haunting thing to think of, dying just as he met the person of his dreams, the single person that could bring warmth and happiness to him with just one conversation. That was something special, something he wasn't willing to give up—not even for life.

OOoOoOo

"There you are, I was wondering when you'd be coming out," Edward said as he pushed himself from the hood of his Volvo.

Harry playfully slapped his forearm and rounded the car to be on the passenger side, "I'm sorry I don't have supersonic speed like you do, I walk at a slow pace,"

"Touché," Edward grinned and they both climbed into the car, "did you say goodbye to that best friend of yours?"

"Yeah," Harry said nodding, "are you sure your family won't mind that I'm coming…?"

"It'll be fine, I told you, Carlisle suggested it," Edward tried to assure as they pulled from the parking lot of the school. Harry couldn't help but shiver when he noticed all the curious and odd looks they had received from the other students, I suppose it's not every day someone leaves with a Cullen, hm?

They arrived to the beautiful home and Harry was greeted by Alice with a hug that had been more of a tackle when they entered the house. Edward looked at his sister and scowled, "don't suffocate him, Al',"

"Sorry, I'm just so excited you're visiting Harry!" her niceness and forwardness took Harry by surprise, he was strangely reminded of Luna when the pixie like vampire spoke to him with that dreamy voice, "What should we make for dinner? Esme suggested Italian, but I suggested Chinese,"

"Uhm," Harry flushed nervously, he didn't mean to cause such a fuss, he was only one person, "you don't have to make me anything for dinner, I can just—"

"Don't be silly," said Esme walking into the room, wiping her hands with a damp wash cloth, "It isn't often we get to cook for people we like, so which would you like; Italian or Chinese?"

"Italian, thank you," Harry replied, knowing it was a battle he'd already lost.

Esme smiled happily and Alice pouted, the motherly vampire turned to go back into the kitchen with Alice following behind her, over her shoulder Esme said to Edward, "your father is downstairs waiting on the two of you; whenever you're ready you may go down,"

"Would you like to go down?" Edward asked gently, looking down at the other.

"Sure, why not," Harry replied and the two of them headed to basement like room where there appeared to be a small infirmary of some kind—he noted that the Cullen's must have been extremely rich to have this much nice equipment in their home, not to mention the cars that Jasper, Alice, and Edward all brought to school half the time.

There was a squawk that made Harry's head twist, trying to find where it had been coming from. Edward chuckled and dragged his mate over to the small basket like area where Hedwig had been sitting. Harry gasped at the sight of the beautiful bird. Her wings were pinned to her back in light bandages that posed as a cast. She stood from her sitting position and balanced herself from foot to foot in excitement at seeing Harry.

"Hey girl," Harry smiled and ran his hand over her head gently, which she pushed back against him with her eyes closed happily, "I'm sorry, Hedwig, I wish I never sent you with that letter,"

Hedwig nipped Harry's hand very gently with her beak, signaling that she all was forgiven and she hadn't blamed him for anything that happened. Harry bitterly smiled down at the bird, Hedwig might have forgiven him, but he certainly couldn't forgive himself.

"She's a beautiful owl," Edward whispered beside him, causing the smaller male to jump.

"I know," Harry sighed peacefully, "she's all I have right now, aside from Severus,"

Edward desperately wanted to say that he was there for him, that Harry also had him and the rest of his family if he ever needed support, but he couldn't bring himself to say it, and he regretted not saying anything later on when he had the chance, "She's very lucky to have you,"

"Yeah, more like…" Harry smiled and petted Hedwig once more, "I'm the lucky one,"

After Harry had finished petting the bird and she became a bit irritated with all the attention the two of them traveled back upstairs where a wonderful smell flowed around the house, and Edward couldn't help but chuckle when Harry's stomach rumbled.

Harry couldn't help but smile when he saw the Cullen family gathered in the kitchen, laughing and carrying on. Jasper and Emmett were engaged in a food fight while Esme was scolding them to stop and leave the food alone. Carlisle was doubled over and receiving glares from his wife who was begging for his help. Alice and Rosalie were holding onto each other as they laughed.

Suddenly, Edward was slapped in the face with a handful of Alfredo noodles by Jasper, who simply grinned at his brother and growl when Emmett squirted ketchup onto the blonde vampire's clothes. Edward used his arm to rid himself of the pasta and grabbed a handful of salad that had been covered in red dressing and flung it to the empath.

Harry watched in amazement, so much for eating, and laughed when Jasper grabbed onto Edward but they both when sliding to the floor due to the contents that had been scattered across the kitchen. Harry grabbed his stomach as Emmett let out a roar of laughter and Rosalie was hit with a piece of cake that Esme baked for desert by Alice. The beautiful blond looked furious.

"Did you just get cake in my hair," demanded the woman, and Alice gave an innocent shrug with a very guilty looking grin spread across her face, "You bitch,"

The two female vampires began to engage in their own battle with food. Harry wondered if this had been how it always was with the Cullen's.

Harry gasped when a piece of cake landed onto his face, covering his glasses with icing. He brought his hands up to his face and wiped them off best he could and looked for the suspect who had attacked him. With no surprise he saw that it had been Edward. Harry glared as Edward laughed, pointing to him lazily. With slow steps Harry moved to the bowl of pudding sitting on the counter, "It's on, Cullen,"

After a long and quite messy battle they all cleaned themselves off with a wet cloth and due to Esme's upset demand they cleaned the kitchen so that it was clean once more. Carlisle walked into the living room away from the mess that was once his kitchen, laughter erupting from his throat as he did so.

"Here," Edward offered the wet cloth, "You've got icing all in your hair,"

There was a chuckle, and Harry pouted as he took the cloth and proceeded to wipe his face and arms, "I can't believe you,"

"It's all fun and games," Jasper piped from across the room and earned a giggle from his small mate beside him, who was busy wiping off salad dressing from his cheek.

Rosalie was huffing, upset that her beauty was interrupted by a childish food fight. Emmett was trying to hold back laughter so he wouldn't make her anymore upset than she already was.

Edward looked to the clock on the wall, "It's getting late, rain check on that piano?"

"Yeah," Harry said, regaining his composure, "Yeah, of course,"

To anyone that has done that experiement with the yeast and balloons (I had to do it last year of chemistry, probably the only thing I passed while taking that horrid class), you will recieve brownie points! ;) Anyway, hope that wasn't too bad, I've got a lot of shit on my plate this month that I need to handle, especially all this legal shit that my friend has forced upon me. Anyway, we get a bit closer to Edward and Harry's relationship... Next chapter will bring forth confessions and Jacob Black- not only will Jacob be introduce, but so will Draco and the explanation behind Hedwig's current state! Drama unfolds, more information about the war is given, and plot developes- BIG TIME. It's going to be a long chapter, I promise, because you deserve it! :)