39Disclaimer: I don't own any rights or what-not to Harry Potter or Twilight. Not that I thought any of you think I do.
Chapter One
Albus Dumbledore was incredibly old, and Amelia Bones was wondering if he had, perhaps, finally rounded the corner of senile. Amelia, only just appointed Acting Minister of Magic, wasn't about to say this to his face. She settled for just giving him a very skeptical look and asking him to repeat what he'd just said, as though saying it a second time might actually make Dumbledore pause and realize that, yes, he was crazy.
"Come now, Amelia. You've never exhibited such unjustified… misgivings… towards a group before." Dumbledore sipped at his tea, bright and twinkling blue eyes studying her over the cup.
Amelia bristled at the obvious slight. "Don't you give me that, old man. Werewolves are normally perfectly docile besides one or two night a months, and I've seen enough to accept the 'medical benefits' of necromancy, and I get along well enough with most ghosts and poltergeists and ghouls, but we're talking about vampires here. Vampires, Albus. They suck blood-"
"They can hardly be blamed for their nutritional needs any more than we can," Albus started to interrupt,
"-and they're damn hard to get rid of,"
"Once again, hardly their fault. Most were unwillingly changed, and they have a right to fight for the life they have left," Albus continued.
"- and they kill people, Albus. Kill! Goodness knows, we've lost quite a few good witches and wizards to them over the years." Amelia set her tea cup down firmly. It was one of her favorite sets, and the Ministry House Elves did a wonderful job of making sure she and her guests most often got them. They were a crisp, fresh spring green, with dancing flowers and vines that changed according to the time of day.
Albus Dumbeldore had often admired them as well, and told her so. Now he wanted her to try and convince Head Auror Jack Heckle to assign Aurors to protect a coven of vampires.
"Albus, the Ministry has barely started to recover since the war. Asking something like this will practically cause another political upheaval." Amelia was proud that she only sounded a bit desperate.
"Yes, but the Death Eaters care little about things like that. They're grasping at whatever straws they can, and you're right that it would be terrible if they were able to get vampires on their side. Voldemort failed with the European Covens, but the American ones, the mostly muggle ones, they wouldn't have the full back-story. Right now they're targeting the covens they could easily access. They're practically in the open, and this might be the last opportunity to finally get rid of the bulk of them." Voldemort leaned in towards her, and it was hard not to get swept up in the passion of his statement.
They were slowly but surely rounding up all the leftover Death Eaters, but a large faction had escaped over seas. The lure of finally finishing things off was a very powerful one.
"I can't sanction the use of a large section of Aurors, but here, I can right up the orders that a small protection force be placed under an Auror of your choice." Amelia dipped her quill into the ink and started to write out the orders.
"And perhaps legalize the protective enforcement of concerned and willingly outside forces." Dumbledore sipped innocently at his tea when Amelia glared at him.
"How many and who, Albus?" She sighed.
"Just some from the usual crowd of old friends." He shrugged lightly.
Amelia sighed more heavily, "They must be approved by the Auror in charge of the operation. I don't suppose you'd like to tell me who that should be-"
"Kingsley Shacklebolt."
"- of course. I set myself up for that one, didn't I? Here you are Albus, I do hope you know what you're doing."
Dumbledore hummed pleasantly as he took the slip of parchment and headed towards the door.
"Oh, and Albus, I hope Mr. Potter singes your beard off." Amelia called out.
But Dumbledore simply smiled and bid her a good day.
The Ministry had been in turmoil since the end of Harry Potter's fifth year at Hogwarts. Still smarting from Sirius' death, he hadn't even been able to properly enjoy the letters and newspaper clippings that Ron and the other had sent him. Lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, Harry had had an awakening of sorts. It was too late to save Sirius, but it wasn't too late for his friends.
The Ministry started going through temporary Ministers. It seemed the second one person started to get comfortable in the position, the public would rise up in panic. Voldemort was moving in the open now, and terror was once again spreading through the streets, and people were scared and angry and no one was doing things fast enough.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Ginny took turns honing their aim and learning new and imaginative hexes to blow up the Howlers that came for him. Harry buried himself in books and study and didn't complain when he started up lessons with Snape again. He'd hide in the library to the point where Hermione even began to worry. Harry's eyes would sting and itch, and weird lights would pop up in his peripheral vision, and all he could think about was if he had done this years ago he might have saved Sirius.
And Luna Lovegood had walked in, spelled all the books to return to their proper shelves, went on a long rant about Nargles and Pimpli Sniggles and dragged him outside for a long walk where Harry could vent his frustrations on rocks and trees. Then Luna smiled and kissed him.
Harry realized he had been burning himself out, and from then on the others had no qualms interrupting when he got into one of his moods. Though most of them simply whacked him upside the head with a book, which was good, since if any of them had tried to kiss him they would have had to deal with an angry Luna Lovegood.
And despite the growing darkness, they all were surviving. There were a few Death Eater raids on Hogsmeade, and a few even on Hogwarts, but the real Alastor Moody was teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Snape was tutoring Harry on the side, and he taught the DA club everything he could think of, and they were surviving. And the lights he kept seeing appeared more and more often, until the strings of lights were everywhere, all the time.
"Harry! What's wrong?" Hermione had asked, when he had snatched off his glasses and covered his eyes with his other hand.
"It's bloody blinding in here!" Harry said. The he had promptly fainted. When he woke up it was to the sneering face of Severus Snape and the worried face of Madame Pomfrey.
"Really Potter, I thought your stupidity was actually beginning to lessen."
Pomfrey had hushed Snape and explained, "Dear, you've inherited your Grandmother's gift for magical sight. It's relatively rare, but we'll track down a teacher for you so you can learn to manage it."
"Why didn't anyone tell me about something like this?" Harry, eyes hidden behind thick black bandages, was more weary than angry.
"Well, the skill normally develops about the age of nine or ten. You're just a late bloomer dear," and Madame Pomfrey had patted his hand.
"You can ask Miss Lovegood a bit about it, her family has always had a similar skill, though it doesn't appear to be as strong as the one you've inherited. In fact, why, she can teach you the basics if you'd like, and the rest can be read up on!"
Harry had agreed that that was a wonderful idea, because who was he to turn down extra alone time with his girlfriend. Even Snape had nodded and said it was good to keep as many unusual skills as he could hidden from as many outsiders as possible.
The only problem was that it was a slow process, and while it in some ways enhanced his spell casting, it was just as likely to hinder it. Everything was bright and distracting if his control ever slipped.
And it did. And one time it had horrible consequences. It got him captured.
For two months Voldemort tortured him.
Until the Aurors found the location.
Until the battle started.
The last battle.
Harry Potter had thought life after Voldemort would settle down and he could start living life in a way he never had before: normally. But Harry had underestimated human stupidity.
Two years later and the Ministry was still torn between continuously praising his name to demanding he allow them complete control over his life. His knowledge of spells, magical sight, and rumors that he had housed a piece of Voldemort's soul in his scar for at least seventeen years of his life, obviously meant that he was a potential threat to society and needed to be watched.
Then there were the Death Eaters that refused to give up. That refused to stop hunting him and his friends. The Death Eaters that had caught Luna and her partner unawares on their study in Africa and killed her.
So Harry, sick with rage and grief, had flipped off the Ministry and ranted that if they spent as much energy hunting down the remaining Death Eaters as they did harassing him then the war really would be over. The he had packed up a couple bags of his things, Luna's keepsakes, and taken two month old Lily Selene Potter and showed up completely depressed on the doorstep of the Burrow.
"Oh, Harry! Poor dear!" Molly Weasley had swept him and Lily into a hug, taken the baby from his arms and set him up in Percy's old room.
Three months later and he was still hiding.
"Hey, Harry!" Ginny popped her head in the room, grinning at the scene she saw.
Harry was sitting in his desk chair, legs propped up on the side of his bed. He had Lily in his arms and was feeding her a bottle while the book he was reading was open and resting on his knees.
Despite the fact he was turning twenty in a few months, he still looked like his fifth year self. Short from years of Dursley care, he had at least filled out a bit. From her days off and sitting in the backyard, she knew he generally exercised in the morning and took late night flights with Ron over the backyard, after Lily went to sleep. It meant he never quite lost the lithe and small muscled body of his later Hogwarts years. He also had a light tan that Ginny envied - but she would never tell him that.
"Hey, Gin! Not going to Dean's tonight?" Harry grinned up at her, and she saw that his glasses had a slight darkness to them.
"No. He's elbow deep in painting assignments that Dashwood gave him. I'd just get huffy that he wasn't paying the proper amount of attention to me." Ginny let herself fall into a boneless heap on the end of his bed.
"Oy! Some of us like our beds whole and not broken." He grumbled.
"Oh Harry, beds can take a bit of a beating. Surely you should know this," Ginny winked toward Lily, who was happily trying to eat Harry's shoulder instead of burping like she should.
Harry's face turned a light pink, and she giggled.
"Oh, you're too easy. Never change, Harry. So… lights bothering you today?" Ginny tried not to pry too often into Harry's health, because she knew he got it all the time from her mum and Hermione. But it was hard not remembering the many Hospital Wing visits where he was lying beat up and near death and how he had the most annoying habit of not saying when he felt pain.
Harry, for his part, tried not to get frustrated.
"Hm," Harry patted Lily on her back until she finally gave a little watery burp. Wrinkling his nose a little, he merely hummed a bit more and said, "Maybe a little. Just had a few rough nights of sleep. I'll be fine."
"Can I…?" Ginny smiled happily when Harry let her take her gurgling god-daughter into her arms. She cooed softly at her. "You're going to look just like your mum, yes you are!"
Harry laughed, bookmarking his page before stretching. "Yeah. She's definitely got her hair and nose. But, I'm still hoping her eyes will change to green as she gets older."
"Oh, me too! I mean, Luna's eyes were wonderful but yours are much prettier." Ginny laughed at his look of disgruntled male pride.
"I prefer the term striking, thank you very much."
"I suppose that works too. How's the research going?"
"Great! Actually, Bill's stopping by again in a week to go over some more advanced warding stuff with me. I'm thinking that once Lily's a little older and the last of the bloody Death Eaters are shoved into cells, I'll probably head back to University for Warding." Harry happily followed her to the stairs and towards the kitchen. "I've also just got back an answer from Geraldine Haggertooth about all the questions I had. It should really help my next paper."
"I never thought you'd become such a scholar."
"Well, I'm not really. It's mostly just a couple of fields I like to research to death. Hermione can still kick my arse in most subjects."
Ginny laughed, "Harry, when the person you compare yourself to is Hermione, you have definitely become a scholar."
Even without looking she knew he was blushing a beat red.
"But I'm happy. I think you've had enough running around after guys in dark cloaks. Let my goofy brother round up the rest of them."
"Ginny dear, don't make fun of Ron." Her mum looked up and gave them all a big smile.
"Yeah, don't make fun of me!" Ron, who was already nibbling at things whenever he thought their mum wasn't looking, looked roughed up. He had a shiner that was still slowly fading, as whatever healing salve had recently been applied did its job.
"Just back from physical training?" Harry asked. Ginny merely lifted an eyebrow when he made to take Lily back. As though she wanted her dozing god-daughter snatched away.
"I'm telling you, mate, I should have gone into Quidditch. At least then I'm supposed to grab the thing flying at my face, and not just hope to dodge it."
"Oh!" Her mum smothered Ron in a one armed hug while the other continued stirring directing the food onto serving dishes. "I wish you'd settle down and do something less dangerous. Something that didn't involve anything flying at your face."
Ginny snickered, and was happy that Harry did too. Immaturity loves company.
"Well, at least Malfoy caught one in the face too. That improved my mood a bit." Ron happily detailed exactly the way Malfoy turned into the punch and landed flat on his back on the mat. "I know he's only got a couple more months instead of the year I've got, but images like that will keep me happy even when he's gone."
"Oh, come now." But even her mum couldn't hide a little smile.
Harry gave a quick little wave, and a small crib waddled in from the living room for Ginny to place the sleeping Lily. Ginny saw her mum's eyes glisten as she watched. She wasn't sure if it was just because she loved babies, or if she was thinking about Luna too.
Then a little ping sounded, and Ginny instinctively watched the little clock handle of her father move to Traveling and then Home. But what she wasn't expecting was for both her father and Kingsley Shacklebolt to walk into the kitchen. Ron immediately swallowed a mouthful of mashed potatoes so he could greet his boss.
"Good evening, Mrs. Weasley. Ronald, Ginny, Harry." Kingsley smiled.
"Kingsley, what a happy surprise. Care to join us for dinner?"
"No thank you, Molly. But I wouldn't mind some tea while we wait for Albus."
"Has something happened?" Ginny watched Harry tense, shadows entering his eyes.
"Well, yes. But I think I'll let Albus explain. He's got a way of making his crazy ideas sound, well, slightly less crazy. He should be here very-"
And before he could even finish his sentence there was a distinct POP and then a knock at the door. Ron hurried to let Dumbledore in.
Her old headmaster was wearing bright purple robes and little green and yellow dragon flew along the hem line and up and down his sleeves. Ginny bit her tongue so she didn't make some sharp comment about lack of taste. This was Albus Dumbledore, after all.
"Ah, hello everyone. Sorry to intrude. Harry, I was hoping we could chat for a bit?" Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling madly.
"Of course, sir." Harry was about to stand, so Ginny grabbed him by the arm.
"You can tell us too, right?"
"Of course, of course." Dumbledore sat and began sipping the tea he was given.
Finally, Harry chuckled at Dumbledore. "Alright, you barmy old coot. Out with whatever scheme you have brewing in that one spout short of a tea kettle mind of yours."
"Harry!" They all sputtered.
Dumbledore merely spread his hands in surrender. "Alas, I have been caught. I'm hear to ask if you if you wouldn't mind joining with a small force of Aurors being sent to Forks, Washington to protect a coven of vampires from a large group of rogue Death Eaters."
A heavy silence fell over the room.
"What?" Ron said.
"Yes, well, they have agreed to house Harry, and Lily. Harry, you won't have to fight. I would never ask that of you again. It's just we've decided to place an anchored ward there, a large and powerful one, and well, there's not many who could power that ward unless we set down the foundations for a permanent one. And that would be incredibly expensive and time-consuming, especially if it turns out that everything is wrapped up quickly."
The silence continued. Dumbledore pressed forward.
"They are an incredibly nice lot. Vegetarians, actually. They only eat the blood of animals. It's just that some of them have some very powerful gifts and the Death Eaters are likely to destroy them if they resist much longer."
"You want me and Lily to live with a group of vampires in a place named Forks?" Harry said in a slight daze.
"Yes, that just about sums it up. To anchor a temporary ward. To protect them."
"Bloody hell, you've lost your mind." Ron shouted. Ginny watched her mum whack him upside the head.
"The last I checked I was still perfectly sane. I would not ask this of you, Harry, if I could come up with any other way to ensure these people would be protected until we could hunt down the Death Eaters. You must know that." Dumbledore smiled sadly at Harry. Lily gave a little sleepy sigh, and the silence in the room was the type where everyone heard it and so turned to look at the little crib.
"Also, the Auror protection squad being sent is a bit small. They could use someone with your talents. I also imagined you wouldn't want to leave and Lily alone an indetermined length of time, so I made sure that she would be allowed to come and that they'd swear no harm towards her." Dumbledore continued.
"I'm, I mean… I haven't fought in an actual battle since… and I'm not really sure if…" Harry's eyes were wide, and the shadows had darkened his eyes. Ginny shuddered, wondering which of his past horrors he was fighting with now.
"I know. But the Death Eaters won't stop. They will continue to try and gather whatever forces they can. They will continue to destroy families,"
Ginny watched Harry visibly wince.
"And then they will come back after us, and our families. Unless they are all found and locked up."
The temperature in the room dropped, a chill falling on top of them. Harry's eyes narrowed, and the gold scar on his right hand hummed a bit as he pointed at Albus.
"That was a bit of a low blow."
"Really Albus, I'm sure we could do this without Harry." Kingsley glanced worriedly at the Saviour-of-the-Wizardry-World.
"We could, yes. But it would be incredibly more dangerous for everyone involved. Please, Harry. I would never ask this of you if I did not feel it was the best course." Dumbledore suddenly looked old and sad. For several long minutes Ginny watched a silent staring contest between the two, and then Harry gave a big sigh.
"You swear these vampires pose no threat to Lily and I?"
"I swear it."
"Harry, this isn't your responsibility-" Molly started, but Harry silenced her with a kind smile.
"The Headmaster is right. The Death Eaters won't stop. They're mad and desperate and they just, just keep picking away at all of us. I'll just be holding up a ward, I'll be by Lily the whole time. I'm ready for these men and women to be found and locked away. For, for Luna." Harry's voice was tight with emotion.
"Well then, now that that's settled, why don't I tell you all about the Cullens?" Dumbledore said brightly.
AN: So, it's been years since I've written fanfiction, but I need something to get me writing on a regular basis. This seems like a fun way to do so. Anyway, I'm sorry if the POV's seem off. I was juggling with a lot of information and how I should go about giving it, and how much should be in this chapter, etc. I guess I could have spent a lot more time going over it, and then editing it, etc. but if I did that I'd never post anything.
I guess, if you'd like to know anything else, I have a little more posted about this story on my Profile page. Or let me know in a review and I'll try to work it into the story or another AN. Like I said, it's been a while.
If you're going to flame, at least do so in the format of constructive criticism. Thanks!
ANN: So, I made some very minor fixes, mostly I changed Lily's age from four months to five, and the time Harry was in Voldemort's clutches from 4 months to 2. Sorry if this caused any sort of confusion.