1,734AN: Hey guys! Thanks for being supportive of the story. I'm happy you liked the first chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot and any original characters that may show up within the story.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Hey guys! One of my readers asked me if the story would be long, and as of now, I'm expecting it to go on for a good number of chapters. She also asked me if it could be a slash. Now I happen to like slash but it's up to you guys if you want this story to be one and who exactly you want Harry paired up with, so just review or send me a message and I'll get back to you!
Chapter 2: Simplicity, According to Dumbledore
Carlisle secured a snoring Harry into his car seat. Every one of his children asked to have Harry in their car but it was simply not allowed. There was no way Carlisle would let Harry out of his sight. He kissed his son's raven hair and pulled back to close the door. After settling himself into the driver's seat, he gave Esme a brief smile and pulled out of the parking lot. They were on their way to the Denali coven. "Carlisle?" Esme said softly.
"Yes, dear?"
"Oh, what if they want to take Harry away?"
He nearly slammed down on the brake at the preposterous idea. "What? The Denali Coven?"
"Yes! It's just, he's so adorable! Everyone would love to have him as their own and-"
"Don't be silly, Esme," He laughed. "Paranoia is unbecoming of you."
If she could blush, she would have. "This is the first time he's going to be meeting another family in one year. I don't have a right to be worried?"
"Of course you can be worried, but kidnapping?"
She pursed her lips before laughing quietly to herself. He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it lovingly. "Don't worry so-" A loud shriek caught him off guard and I shock the car swerved. The vampires behind him noticed, but any human wouldn't have realized that the car took an inch out of track for a fraction of a second. "Harry!" He cried. "What's wrong?!"
"Where's Bear?!"
The two cringed in the front. Bear was a mutilated stuffed animal that Harry could never let go of. It was in perfect condition, until Emmett saw it of course. The brute growled and attacked it as if it were real. Harry nearly fainted when he saw Bear ripped in half, a button-eye missing, and stuffing hanging loosely from Emmett's mouth. While Harry was asleep in the airport, Alice had taken Bear and disposed of it by throwing it into a trash can. The boy wouldn't be pleased once he heard that Bear was gone. Carlisle cleared his throat. "Son…your mother would like to tell you something."
She shot her husband a glare before turning back and looking at Harry with a soft glow in her eyes. "Sweetie… Alice threw him out in the garbage." She cringed once she realized what she said. Alice would be severely angry. Tears leaked out of Harry's eyes and he began screaming at the top of his lungs. Esme looked out the back window to see Edward flinch in his car. "Carlisle," she pleaded desperately.
"Don't worry, son! We'll get you a new stuffed animal!" He promised.
"I WANT BEAR!" He cried piteously. Esme began looking around wildly.
"Oh please, Carlisle! Let's find a toy store now!"
"What?!"
"Oh Carlisle, please!"
"Can we at least bring our things to the house first before we go out and look for a toy store?"
"Carlisle, look at him!"
He gripped the steering wheel and looked at Edward in his rear-view mirror. He saw his son nod in understanding. Carlisle groaned as he took the next exit, knowing that his children weren't following him.
Tanya ran out with a smile on her face. She hugged Alice tightly. "Where is Carlisle and Esme?" She asked politely, but Alice could see she didn't really care. The tall vampire's eyes were on Edward. Alice rolled her eyes playfully.
"They went into town to look for a toy store," she answered. "Harry is quite unhappy that I've gotten rid of his toy."
"Ah yes!" she exclaimed, "The human! I've hard many stories about him from Esme."
Edward grabbed his bags and gave her a polite smile as he walked past her and into the house. Tanya sighed as her eyes followed his every step. Rosalie shook her head, not very pleased with the way she latched onto Edward, and passed her by without a glance, dragging Emmett along. Jasper grasped their bags and nodded at Alice. The pixie-like vampire waved at Kate and Irina as they came out before the couple quickly made their way to the room they'd be staying in. Eleazar and Carmen were in the living room, waiting for the vampires to settle into their rooms. Once everyone was in the living room, the Cullens decided it was the perfect time to inform the others about Harry.
An hour later, Carlisle's car came to a screeching halt in front of the house. "Come on, Harry! It's time to meet everyone!"
"No!" A stubborn voice rang.
"Young man! Your father and I just bought you three new toys! Don't be stubborn!" Esme scolded.
"Don't want to…"
"And why not?" Carlisle asked.
"Is Alice there?"
Edward laughed as Alice flinched.
"Harry, two of your new toys are stuffed animals. Can't you forgive Alice yet?"
"But Bear!"
Esme sighed as she opened the door, Harry in her arms. "Sweetie, you have Jinx the Fox and Corduroy Bear now." He scoffed and hid his face in his mother's shoulder. Everyone stood as Carlisle and Esme walked into the living room. Kate smiled when she saw the boy in her arms. "Everyone, this is Harry," she said proudly. Harry burrowed closer to his mother. "Now, now, sweetie, don't be rude."
He looked up and looked around. Esme placed him on the ground but he whined as he tried to get back into her arms. She shook her head with a teasing smile. He pouted before running over to Rosalie. The blonde's eyebrows rose. Harry's bottom lip began to tremble and his eyes watered. Rose looked around uncomfortably, not used to showing affection in front of others. With a groan she let out a quiet "oh!" and picked him up quickly. Harry giggled and moved around until he was at ease. "You little trickster!" she accused. He leaned up and kissed her cheek before resting his head against her chest once more.
"Look at the pretty women and say hi, Harry!" Emmett said. He picked him off Rose's lap and set him in the middle of the rug, making the boy groan.
"Hi," he said stubbornly. He looked up and saw Tanya smiling kindly at him. He stood, deciding to walk around and see what the new people looked like. On his way up he tripped over his feet and instinctively, Kate reached out and grabbed him. Harry let out a strangled yelp and fell backwards.
"Harry!" They all cried as Edward jumped up and caught him before his head could crash against the floor.
"I'm so sorry!" Kate told them, horrified. She held her hand close to her chest, fearful that she might hurt him again. Harry got back up and collided into Jasper, unconsciously knowing that this brother could calm him down. Jasper stroked his hair and sent waves of peace towards the young boy. Harry's tense shoulders drooped and his eyes fell as he surrendered to sleep.
Rosalie glared at her husband and smacked the back of his head. "If you just let him stay on my lap then none of this would have happened!"
Emmett shrugged. "It'll be a funny story to tell him when he's older."
Later on, after Harry awoke, Edward sat next to him, delighted at the third toy Harry chose. It was a tiny red tabletop Schoenhut, only having twenty-five keys on it. Esme and Carlisle had never seen their son so happy before. "See how the black keys go two then three, two then three? The first white key in front of the two is called C."
"C!" Harry exclaimed happily.
"Well it seems he won't be complaining about Edward anymore," Jasper stated. "I guess all he needed was a smaller piano. It is rather intimidating to someone as small as Harry."
"C…D…E…F…G."
Harry nodded. "C-D-F-G-"
"No, no Harry," Edward said. He picked Harry up with a smile. He moved back a few keys and said. "How about we start with A, B, C, D, E, F, and G." Recognition lit up in Harry's eyes as he proceeded to name the keys as Edward played them. "Very good, and they just repeat like that down the piano!"
For days, all Harry would say was the alphabet from A to G repeatedly. Although Edward was smiling proudly, the others were trying desperately to block out the sound of the giddy two year old. He began humming what the keys sounded like and pressing his fingers down on the table like he saw his older brother do on the piano. He even pulled Edward back to his little Schoenhut to learn more. Instead of Edward pressing the keys down, Harry was doing it himself, with one finger of course. Shockingly, he had remembered where the A key was, and when Edward told him to start at C, he nearly did it perfectly. Although she didn't want to interrupt, Esme walked into the room. "Harry, it's time for dinner." She informed him.
"Nope."
"Yes it is, little prince," She told him walking over to pick him up. Harry quickly squirmed his way up into Edward's lap.
"Nope!"
"I'll get your father," She warned. Harry shrugged and continued to press the keys down with Edward. The vampire looked back at her with a smug grin. She glared at him before turning around. "Carlisle," The two heard her shout in a sing-song voice. Carlisle appeared and walked over to his sons.
"What have you done now, Harry?"
"Plano!"
"Piano," Edward corrected.
Carlisle bent down. "Harry, look at me while I'm talking to you." Emerald eyes stared up into his topaz ones. "Do you know that it's time for you to eat dinner?"
"…yes…"
"And?"
His bottom lip began to tremble and his eyes began to water. Edward looked down and hid his face, knowing that Harry was intentionally doing this. Carlisle would be putty in his hands. "Carlisle," Esme started knowingly.
"Daddy," he begged. "I wanna learn with Edward."
Carlisle's eyes flickered between his wife and his sons. "…Ten more minutes." He quickly got up and pulled on Esme's arm.
"Carlisle!"
"A few minutes couldn't hurt."
"Do you want to raise a healthy, human boy or not?"
"Dear God, woman, did you see the look he gave me?"
Harry giggled before turning back around and pressing a key down. "G! G! G!"
Edward smirked. What a devious little child. Hopefully, Emmett would never find out.
Remus Lupin wasn't angry. No, not angry at all. Remus Lupin was absolutely livid. "What do you mean, I can't visit Harry?"
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. It was nice to see someone so protective of the young lad. "Simple, Remus. You can't visit him at the Dursleys."
"And. Why. Not."
"Simple, Remus," He said again. "Harry isn't at the Dursleys." Seeing that the werewolf was about to destroy his office, Dumbledore quickly explained. "A year ago, when we first brought Harry to the Dursleys, it appeared that they disregarded my directions and brought him to a hospital, unwilling to take care of him. I didn't know about any of this until I checked in a month later with Ms. Figg, the squib who lives next door to them."
"Why didn't you check in earlier then a month?!"
"Her floo wasn't working properly. We had an agreement that if there was a problem she would floo but I wanted leave the family alone to settle for a month and so..."
"Well where is he now?!"
"The last I checked, he was with a loving, caring family named the Cullens."
Remus scratched his head in frustration. "Why would you let him stay with them? Are they muggles? Do they even know anything about magic? What do you think they'll do to him when he does accidental magic? He's been doing it since he was seven months old!"
"Remus, I believe that having Harry with the Cullens will be much more beneficial than having him with the Dursleys."
"Why do you say that?"
"First off, Harry will be with a family who loves him. That night, Professor McGonagall was quite unhappy with me. She didn't like the Dursleys one bit. Apparently, I was wrong about them. I thought after seeing Harry, they would grow to care for him, but that wasn't the case. I looked around and found out at a local hospital that Petunia had given Harry to them. I checked on the Cullens right after I found out," he stopped himself and laughed, "which was quite hard, I'll tell you, but Harry was definitely happy and being cared for. He has many elder siblings, five of them, and two caring parents who love him like their own."
"I could love him like my own," Remus said with despair.
"Remus, you must understand that when all of this was happening, you were mourning. I couldn't put that burden on you."
The tired werewolf shook his head sadly. His eyes widened however, when he realized something that his former headmaster had said. "Albus…"
"Yes?"
"You said it was hard to check on Harry when you went to the Cullens."
"That I did! It's quite hard to spy on vampires, after all."
"…WHAT?!"
Esme gently lifted the blanket off her sleeping child and picked him up. Harry groaned as he wrapped his arms and legs around her. "Open those beautiful eyes, baby," she cooed. He shook his head and sighed. She bounced him up and down as she walked down the stairs to join the others. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine," she sang. Harry turned his face away from her with a grumble. "Come now, baby. You are my sunshine, my only sunshine…"
He brought a fist up to his eyes and rubbed them tiredly. "Make me happy," he responded with a slur.
Carlisle looked up once they entered the room and smiled. "When skies are gray."
"You'll never know dear," she continued before bending down and kissing Harry's scarred forehead, "how much I love you."
"Please don't take my…"
Harry looked up at them. When they didn't say anything, he frowned. "You forgot! Again!"
"Oh no, Esme!" Carlisle cried. "We forgot the last words of the song again!"
"Oh dear, Carlisle, we'll need Harry's help again."
Harry rolled his eyes. "This time only!" He demanded. They nodded their heads. "Sunshine away."
"What a beautiful voice my brother has," Alice grinned. "But, it's breakfast time for the human boy." Harry frowned. Why did they always call him that? When a plate of eggs was set before him, he couldn't seem to care anymore.
"Oh no!" a booming voice sounded. "Monster Harry is going to attack Eggsville!" Harry giggled as Emmett picked him off his high chair and held him above the plate. He bent down and began to chomp at the eggs, using nothing but his mouth.
"Nom, nom, nom!"
"Emmett!" Esme scolded. "Put him down! We aren't raising him to be a barbarian!"
The others walked into the room and sat around him while he ate. He finished quickly, loving his mother's cooking. "Done," he said. She nodded in agreement.
"Okay, Harry. It's time for you to take a bath. Who would you like to do it for you today?" Rosalie, Alice and Esme waited for his answer. He pointed a finger at Rosalie. She beamed as she picked him up.
"Remember what to dress him up in, Rose," Emmett reminded her. "We're going to teach him a new game today."
"What are you teaching him?" Carlisle asked as Esme cleared the table. Carmen and Eleazar listened in interest.
"Football!" Jasper answered happily. The plate in Esme's hand shattered and Carmen flinched as the pieces of porcelain hit the floor.
"I'm so sorry," she apologized as she bent down and cleaned it.
"It's not a problem, dear," Carmen laughed. "I would have reacted the same way."
"You are not teaching him football! He's only two!"
"No harm will come from it, mommy dearest," Alice grinned. Rose patted the top of Emmett's head as if he were a pup.
"I'm sure it will all be fine."
Remus sat in a daze. "So you're trying to tell me…that his family…is a coven of 'vegetarian' vampires-"
"That's what they call themselves," Dumbledore cut in. "I think it's a rather funny joke."
"And they're raising him as if there's nothing wrong."
"Yes."
"…and why do you think this is better for Harry, again?"
"Simple-"
"Stop saying that! There is nothing simple about this situation!"
Dumbledore sighed. "Remus, understand this. The Cullens are not like any other coven. They don't feed off humans and in that way they can provide Harry with a caring family, but they're also like every other vampire in their strength and power. That kind of protection could only be dreamed of until now. If that isn't enough, unless Harry starts a fire, they can't be harmed by his random spouts of accidental magic. I'm going to be sending someone over to meet them and speak to them but they being part of the magical world might help Harry… of course that's if they know anything about the magical world."
"Why wouldn't they?" Remus asked.
"Well… you know of the vampire royalty, the Volturi, of course."
"We learned of them briefly in DADA."
"Well, they were entirely unhappy with the Wizarding World. Many vampires were killed off because of us wizards. We were merely defending innocent lives, but that's not the way the vampires saw it. We were destroying their way of life. That's why the only vampires that know of the wizarding world aren't exactly on the light side. Aro Volturi never wants to be involved with us again, but he didn't stop the many vampires that were sided with Voldemort. He saw it as his form of revenge. Also, knowing that some witches and wizards are werewolves hit a nerve."
Remus flinched.
"Don't take it personally, Remus. There is supposedly a tribe of werewolves, but not a real kind, more like shape shifters. They phase out of their own will, never needing the full moon. Vampires despise them, and are equally hated back…I heard they smell quite horrid to each other as well."
He managed a chuckle. "But Harry…he's safe?"
"Quite."
"What if the Volturi finds out the Cullens are raising a wizard?"
"I don't think you should worry about that, Remus."
He frowned. "Why not?"
Dumbledore stood. "It's quite…simple really," Remus rolled his eyes. "When the Cullens are sure that 'myths' of the wizarding world are true and that Harry really is a wizard," he turned to Remus happily. "They're going to defend him with the core of their beings."
"And how do you know this?"
Dumbledore picked up a paper of his desk. "Simple," he placed it in Remus' hand. "I have faith in what you'll say when you report to me."
"What?" He asked in confusion before he disappeared. The old headmaster picked up a lemon drop and popped it into his mouth. "I hope real werewolves smell better than those shape shifters."
"Grr!" Harry and Emmett scratched at the air as they did a victory dance. Another touchdown! To be fair to the other team, Emmett was a cheater. He immediately went on Harry's team, knowing that everyone would allow him to win. "Daddy grr!" Harry demanded. Carlisle laughed as he shook his legs and raised his hands up as well. Edward rolled his eyes.
"Just wait until you're hold enough to be tackled," he teased Harry.
"No one will be tackling anyone!" Esme shouted. "Flag football is enough to give me an immortal woman a heart attack."
"Break time, Harry!" Rose called. "Come in for cookies!"
"COOKIES!" He cheered. He began walking when everyone stopped and looked up at the sky. Something was whirling down at a terribly fast speed. Straight above Harry. They all screamed his name, and he stopped not realizing what was going on. Carlisle jet across and grabbed his son, shielding him underneath his body. He looked up in shock to see a man had appeared and fell clumsily onto the ground.
"That ridiculous, old coot! He could have warned me!"
Everyone fell into a defensive stance around Harry and when Carlisle sniffed the air he understood why. Although the scent wasn't horribly mortifying, Carlisle could smell the wolf in the man. He got up and stood in front of his family, Kate and Edward by his side. "Who are you?"
The haggard man looked up. His face was tired and scarred while his old clothes hung loosely around his shoulders. He glared at them. "Who am I?! Who the bloody hell are you?!" Then he took a deep breath through his nose and his eyes narrowed even further. He looked at the crumpled piece of paper in his hands and opened it. With a laugh he stood. Everyone crouched down, ready to fight. "How did he even know where you guys live? This definitely isn't England. Oh well, anyway, I thought there were only seven Cullens. Who are all the others then?"
Carlisle tilted his head. "How do you know of us?"
"My name is Remus Lupin and I believe I'm supposed to give this to you."
Carlisle took the paper cautiously. "To the Cullens-" He glanced at his family. "Thank you for taking Harry in when no one else would. It isn't signed."
"It doesn't have to be."
"You wrote it?"
"No, but you can say the message is from me too." Remus sniffed quickly and smiled. "Cub?"
Harry wiggled out of the tight circle that was formed around him. Only one person called him cub, and that was Uncle Moony, but Harry had forgotten about him. He was easily distracted by his life with the Cullens. He smiled at the old man. "There he is!" Remus said proudly. He kneeled down, knowing that the others were trying to get Harry back behind them. "What a handsome young man you turned out to be, just like your father said you would. My, Harry you look just like James, just like Prongs."
Harry's eyes lit up in recognition. "Prongs! Uncle Moony!"
A big smile was plastered on the man's face. "I'm glad to see you haven't forgotten about this old dog."
Harry broke into a run and flew into Remus' arms, laughing. Esme stepped forward, worriedly. Carlisle held her hand and together they walked over to the two. Remus stood. "We should talk. Harry, do you want to get those cookies, with Rose?" The boy reluctantly walked over to his sister and he was brought into the house. "It would be safe to assume you're his uncle?" No wave that Jasper sent could brake through the tension between vampire and werewolf.
"Not by blood," Remus answered before looking down sadly. "I was one of his father's best friends."
"Could you give us insight to Harry's past?" Esme begged.
AN: Hey guys! Sorry if you aren't happy that I ended it there. Hehe. One of my readers really wanted Remus close to Harry, so I decided to bring him in the story much earlier than planned, but hopefully you like it. It's probably gonna be easier for me to fit everything into place too. Thanks for all the reviews! I really appreciate it! AND REMEMBER TO GET BACK TO ME ABOUT THE SLASH!