125Harry and Merope and the Mystery of Forks
Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own any of these characters, only the plots and situations that you do not recognize.
Chapter 19
Harry found the chaos of a coven full of trapped vampires oddly amusing. It had been a few days, but he still hadn't revealed himself, as he wanted to wait until all members of the coven were present and in one place. He knew that Demetri and Felix should be arriving back any day to inform Caius about the Pack, but he was also privy to the phone calls that had been sent out to other members of the coven that were out on missions and being called back to help, so he would wait.
While he waited, he alternated between wandering around their fortress in stealth mode, sometimes exploring their massive library, but mostly checking all the places that he didn't spend much time in while he was warding the place. It was during his explorations that he came upon where the wives were kept with a guard named Corin. After a bit of observation and judicious use of legilimency, Harry realized that the two wives here were being held against their will, but they didn't realize it due to the drug-like powers of Corin, and not only that, they didn't even know that the entire coven was trapped.
Harry went over his options in his head. He could free them of Corin's influence and provide them with a supply of the vampire meals he had brought with him; after all, they seemed to have been held here for so long that they didn't even realize what was going on within the coven, but after a deeper inspection of Corin's mind, he realized that removing Corin would leave the wives in severe withdrawals.
Shaking his head to himself, Harry was baffled that anyone would expose their wives and mates to something like that. They may have felt like they were protecting them, but they're vampires for crying out loud, they can protect themselves well enough. Additionally, that is definitely not how you treat someone that you love, you can't just lock them away in a gilded cage and only come see them for conjugal visits.
So getting rid of Corin wouldn't be helpful to the wives, so Harry quietly explored Corin's mind further in an effort to try to find some sort of solution. As he was exploring, he noticed a connection to one of the other vampires in the coven that seemed to produce false feelings of loyalty, so even Corin didn't seem to be here of her own will. That made Harry wonder how many other members of the coven were being influenced by this false sense of loyalty. Harry thought about that as he made his way back out of the wing where he had found the wives being held.
Felix and Demetri were the last of the coven members to arrive back, and they sure were in for a shock when they did. The coven was in absolute chaos. Everyone apart from the newly arrived members were thirsty and extremely hostile, even the wives and Corin, who were brought down to join the rest of the coven, were looking significantly more wild in the eye.
"If you're all this thirsty, why hasn't Heidi gone fishing?" Felix asked dumbly.
Caius' eyes flashed and he hissed through gritted fangs, "Imbecile, don't you think we would have done that if we could? We have been trapped here for the last week, unable to leave through our established exits, unable to create new exits."
"How come we were able to get in, then?" Felix asked in confusion before he was suddenly screaming in unbearable pain.
"Jane," Aro admonished. Suddenly Felix's pain ended and he was able to relax again.
"Demetri, come give your report," Aro ordered.
Demetri flitted over to Aro and gave the leader his hand.
"Ah, so the rumors of werewolves are true, yet not." Aro breathed.
Caius narrowed his eyes and asked in a demanding tone, "What do you mean, brother?"
But before Aro could respond, Harry decided it was time to make himself known. "They're not werewolves, they're shapeshifters."
All noise stopped at Harry's sudden appearance and suddenly all members of the coven that were present in the throne room were crouched down in defensive positions.
"And who might you be and how did you get here undetected?" Aro asked curiously. "You have a strange scent."
"I'm Harry Potter." Harry replied. "And as for getting here undetected, well, let's just say I have my ways."
"And your scent?" Aro questioned.
Harry shrugged and said, "Well, I doubt you'd understand even if I tried to explain it to you."
"What business do you have here?" Caius demanded with hostility.
"Well, Caius, when I found out that my friends were being threatened with extinction, on your orders no less, I knew I had to do something about it. No one messes with my friends." Harry stated with calm conviction.
"And what friends would those be?" Caius asked with a sneer.
"Brother, I should think it obvious, he only appeared when we began speaking of the werewolves." Aro responded.
"They're not werewolves, they're shapeshifters," Harry corrected again.
Caius sneered, "And what difference does that make? They're still an abomination that should be eradicated from this world."
Harry raised an eyebrow and said, "For one, they don't infect others with their bite and they only exist to protect their tribe. They are much less of an abomination than vampires and real werewolves."
"You dare compare our noble species to that filth?" Caius exclaimed, then hissed, "Jane, give him a dose of your power."
Jane got a feral look on her face as she obeyed her master. Harry just stared at her with an amused expression, raising an eyebrow when she showed her confusion at his lack of response.
"Are you having troubles, little girl?" Harry taunted, which only caused Jane to get more angry.
"Tut, tut. It seems as if you really enjoy your little ability to cause pain don't you? It must really frustrate you to find someone immune to your tricks." Harry said in amusement.
Jane growled in frustration and Aro laid a comforting hand on her shoulder, giving her silent permission to stop.
Harry noticed the power hungry gleam in Aro's eyes and decided to nip that right in the bud. "No, Aro, I won't be joining your coven. I'm not even a vampire and I can't be turned into one. My powers will not be yours to control, nor will they be used to conquer other covens to collect more talented members."
Aro sneered at that and said, "I wouldn't underestimate our abilities if I were you." Then Aro nodded at Chelsea, who attempted to try her charms on Harry.
Harry felt the nudges on his mental shields and followed the trail back to their origin, "Oh, so you're the glue that's holding this coven together." After a quick look in her mind, Harry determined that she enjoyed her power to influence others too much for him to be comfortable letting her free, so with a gesture of his hand, he had her petrified, dismembered, and in flames all in the course of about five seconds.
Many coven members suddenly came out of their Chelsea induced loyalties in shock and confusion.
Aro and Caius looked at Harry with a mixture of hatred, shock, and fear. Marcus and the wives, however, appeared to be coming out of the fog that he and they had walked around in for centuries.
"Wow, you held one of your own leaders and both of your wives here against their will with her influence?" Harry asked incredulously.
Before Aro could launch an attack, Harry popped over to the corner where his tent remained hidden and drew a white line across the stone floor. Then he raised his voice and said, "Any coven members who did not voluntarily join the Volturi and/or have no wish to be a part of their coven now, please come stand behind this line."
More than half of the coven immediately crossed over the line, including Marcus, the wives and Corin, to the shock of many others. Once everyone who wanted to get out of the coven came across the line, the wards flared, which activated a protection for them in case things got really messy.
Harry quickly conjured a table large enough for everyone to sit and then quickly summoned enough meals from his backpack to feed them all and sent them to the newly conjured table. He noticed the vampires watching him curiously and said, "I realize you don't eat real food, but trust me, this has been magically adapted specifically for vampires. You won't need to hunt humans or animals to continue to live, if you don't want to. And I realize that you have no need to sit, but you may feel less crowded if you do." They looked at him and the food skeptically.
"If I wanted to kill you, poisoning you would not be the way I'd do it," Harry said with a laugh as he gestured to the pile of ashes that were all that remained of Chelsea.
Marcus was curious and thirsty enough to go over to the table and sit down. He very carefully picked up a fork, contemplating how many centuries it had been since he had last used one, then very cautiously took a bite of the meal, while everyone watched him with varying degrees of caution and interest. His moan of delight jump started everyone else's flight to the table to try this new kind of sustenance.
Harry smiled at them before crossing back over the line, then he turned his attention back to the remaining Volturi members who were staring at Harry in slack-jawed shock, but their shock stemmed from the fact that once everyone crossed over that line, they all disappeared.
"Where did they go?" Aro asked demandingly.
Harry just smiled and said, "Oh, they've all just sat down to a nice supper, since it's been so long since they last ate." Then he waved his hand to show what appeared to be a large group of vampires enjoying eating what looked to be human food, before waving his hand again and making the barrier invisible again.
"Impossible!" Caius snarled.
"I think you'll find that I'm an expert at making the impossible possible." Harry retorted at the remaining Volturi members that only consisted of Aro, Caius, Jane, Alec, Demetri, Felix, Santiago, Heidi, and a few others that Harry didn't bother to find names for, but it appeared to be all of the vampires that were out on missions for them. Harry assumed they were sent out on missions, because they were all loyal without Chelsea's influence and therefore trusted to return home.
As if by some unspoken agreement, every member of the remaining Volturi leaped to attack, but were all suddenly frozen in mid-air.
Shaking his head in disappointment, Harry said, "As a general rule, I don't have anything against vampires, or any other magical creature, but there are always exceptions to the rule." Sighing, he added, "I don't generally care for killing, but it's always better to put down a rabid dog than it is to let them roam free and infect others with their disease."
In one last ditch effort, Alec attempted to use his powers, but was unsuccessful. Harry shook his head in disappointment, but rather than say anything else, he quickly did what he had previously done to Chelsea and dispatched the rest of the Volturi and then vanished all the ashes.
Behind the wards, the vampires stared in awe at their savior as he took out multiple vampires at once.
Athenodora asked in wonder, "Why do I not feel the need to avenge the death of my mate?"
Sulpicia nodded in wondering agreement and said, "Me as well. Why do I not feel such desire to seek vengeance for the death of my mate?"
"Because they were neither one your true mates," Marcus said, as his own talent to see bonds was no longer skewed by Chelsea's powers. "Aro and Caius clouded our minds using Chelsea's talents for bond manipulation and we were unable to know any different."
Harry removed all the wards that prevented the vampires from leaving with a wave of his hand and then turned his attention back to the remaining vampires, feeling only slightly uncomfortable with the looks of adoration he was receiving from them.
After a few minutes of awkward silence and staring, Harry cleared his throat and said, "So, my wife and the Cullens are waiting for me. I'd rather they not get too worked up worrying about me, so I'll be leaving in a few minutes, I just need to pack up." The only response he received were confused looks, so he shrugged and walked over to the tent and took down his wards where it was hiding and magically folded it before directing it to his backpack.
"How are you doing that?" an unknown vampire asked in wonder.
Harry turned around with a smile and said, "Magic." As if that explained everything. Well, to him it did, but it only served to create more questions for the vampires.
Ignoring the others, Marcus spoke. "Thank you for freeing us, Mr. Potter."
Harry smiled and said, "All in a day's work."
"Is there anything we can do for you to show our appreciation?" Sulpicia asked.
Harry shook his head and said, "No, I don't need anything in payment." Before anyone else could speak, Harry added, "It's enough that I was able to do something to free you all and it's a comfort to me that those madmen didn't have nearly the amount of loyal followers as it appeared."
"May I inquire as to how we would go about procuring more of those meals you provide us with?" Marcus asked curiously. "While hunting humans provides us with a certain thrill for the hunt, I must say that that meal was infinitely more satisfying than any human blood I have ever had, including the one human that was my singer."
"Of course," Harry replied. "I found the recipes from my original world and brought them here, sadly they require magic to create, but my wife and I are working on a way to adapt the recipe so that any vampire can make them." Harry raised his hand to stop the grumbles of disappointment and added, "However, I have brought enough with me to keep you all well fed for a few weeks. I've removed the wards I had in place, so you all can come and go here again as you please. All you need to do to request more is to get in touch with the Cullens, and I'll be sure to send over more supplies."
Marcus inclined his head and said, "That is most appreciated. Now what did you mean when you said your original world?"
"It's a very long story, Marcus, but the short version is, my wife and I can travel between worlds and time, we're originally from a world that had a significant number of witches and wizards, in addition to vampires, werewolves, veelas, goblins, dragons, centaurs, unicorns, and a whole slew of magical creatures, including giant spiders called acromantula. Granted, your world's vampires are different to the vampires I had in my world, but at least genetically similar enough to where the food recipes work for you."
"That explanation did nothing but cause me to have more questions," Marcus responded in wonder.
Shaking his head in amusement, Harry said, "You're more than welcome to visit me in Forks, Washington. My wife and I are frequent visitors of the Cullens, we consider them to be an extension of our family, along with the wolf pack from the nearby tribe. As long as you're not there to cause trouble or hunt humans, any of you would be more than welcome to come visit and learn my story at that time." Looking at his watch, Harry said, "Now, I really must be going before my wife comes storming through those doors after me.
"Oh, before I forget." Harry added, "Corin, I know that you can't exactly help the way your powers work, but you need to try to wean Ms. Athenodora and Ms. Sulpicia off of your influences gradually, or they could go into a depression that would not be good for them. They've been under your influence too long as it is, so please be careful so that they don't experience the kind of withdrawals that would result if you just suddenly removed your influence all at once."
Corin ducked her head in embarrassment, as the wives and everyone else turned to stare at her. Whispering in response she said, "I understand, sir. I'll do as you say." Turning to the wives, Corin said, "I only used my powers on the two of you because Aro and Caius threatened to kill me otherwise, then Chelsea's power made it impossible for me to desire to escape."
Athenodora and Sulpicia exchanged looks with each other and then both gathered Corin into a group hug and Sulpicia said softly, "All will be well. We understand why you did it. I was beginning to wonder what the odd emotions were that I had been feeling ever since Chelsea was destroyed."
As the ladies hugged each other, Marcus turned back to Harry and said, "Again you have my thanks. I know that I will likely take you up on your offer to visit."
Harry smiled and said, "We'll look forward to it." Then he slowly started to fade out and was gone.
Athenodora stared at the spot where Harry had just been standing and asked in amazement, "Did he just disappear into nothing?"
A/N: Well, this seems to be a good stopping point. This chapter basically wrote itself, since I had no idea where I was going to go before I started typing this morning.