Chapter Text
Present day, Forkes.
It had been a long time since Edward came to be who he is now. Even longer since he died.
He told the people who knew about his death that it was influenza, unlucky and tragic to be taken at such a young age, yet just as lucky that Carlisle was working at the hospital he was in to save him, introducing him to the world of vampires. It was believable. It was mostly surprising to him how quickly the rest of the family believed it, since it had taken him many more years after meeting them to drop the British accent - but that is neither here nor there.
Of course, most people don’t even know that he is dead.
It’s a funny thing having to mourn yourself. It’s just such a bone deep feeling that doesn’t seem to ever go away, knowing the potential you had to live a full life was taken away from you, and watching that time pass while still existing. (He refused to call himself alive. No heartbeat = no life. In his opinion.) But Edward was mourning more than just himself. His magic was the hardest thing to let go.
Oh how he misses magic.
Of all the ways he could have died, being bitten by a muggle vampire after being cursed by a death eater was up there for one of the worst. Muggle vampire venom is different to magical vampire venom. It doesn't carry the same type of magic, and is more potent to a wizard as a result of this, as it tears itself through your magical pathways and drains all the magic from your body as you try to fight it off, using this to increase its strength. To a muggle, it’s more like a spider bite, as in - still terrible, but not as bad. If he had been bitten by a magical vampire, on the other hand, he would still have his magic.
He didn’t know how he ended up with the power to read people’s minds, but whether it was his own latent magic stubbornly sticking around, or if it was the magic carried by the venom granting him this one relief from the emptiness in his soul, Edward refused to take it for granted.
If he didn’t have it, he is sure he would have jumped into a fire or convinced someone to rip his head off years ago.
As it was, he stuck around. It was boring doing the same thing in high school over and over again, but at least his family were fun. It wasn’t like he had anything else to do. And things had been starting to get interesting after he met Bella.
Oh, sweet Bella. What a can of worms. He still hadn’t figured out how to tell her he was gay. She was convinced they were about to start dating, according to Alice, and he was dreading that conversation. To be fair to her, giving her a piggy back ride through the forest to show her his favourite meadow is something a boyfriend would do. So there is that. Is it a crime to love your friends though? He does genuinely care about her, just. As a friend.
Ugh. What a situation.
Her blood sings to him, he can’t read her mind, and both of these things make her interesting - but that doesn’t mean they have to start dating over it. Alice keeps telling him that he needs to sort himself out, and that the longer he leaves it the worse it will get. She also calls him many mean names for leading her on, which he deserves.
He was contemplating all of this on the drive to school on a regular, rainy Tuesday in the middle of November. Nothing was special about this particular day to begin with, but he told himself that today he would pull Bella aside and tell her. Or he wanted to believe that he would, but he had a habit of chickening out of it. Today would be different though. Maybe.
Look, it was a big deal to come out to someone, especially to someone who thinks you have a crush on them.
He pulled into the carpark behind Rosalie and Emmet's car, and looking around he couldn’t see Bella’s red truck. Fortunate, as he could avoid confronting his problems a little bit longer. Instead of waiting around with his siblings until the bell rang he went on to go straight to his first lesson - English - hoping to use the time he had to wait around to try and plan out how he would talk to Bella. He had been thinking about it a lot recently, and it really just wasn't fair on her to drag it out.
He was quickly distracted when he sat down, however, when the thoughts from the other people in the building trickled their way towards him. A new student was beginning class today, and what a tragedy that was, an orphan all the way from England (according to the staff gossiping in the corridor). Interesting. It was rare for a new person to move to Forkes to begin with, and rarer yet for them to move across continents to do so. There was clearly something very intriguing about him, and Edward always had a soft spot for orphans.
There was nothing strange about that soft spot. Nothing to read into. He was a professional at repression at this point, and he would not spend time thinking about the last English orphan he knew. And how that all ended. He would not.
Did he, himself, count as an orphan? The thought was a distraction and Edward ran with it. Both of his parents were dead by now, but they had died of old age. He was still physically 17, so maybe he is. But, spiritually, he’s a grandad. He would need to discuss it with his siblings. Adults can’t really be orphans, but what about an adult in a child’s body? Rosalie normally has interesting things to say about this kind of thing.
He was so focused on his own thoughts (more, focused on NOT thinking about the orphans he used to know) that he barely registered moving between lessons, riding the wave until lunch. As much as he had standards and wanted to pay attention in class, he coasted along more than he wanted to admit. The wall of graduation caps haunts him.
He beelined towards his siblings in the lunch hall, the question about them all being orphans on the tip of his tongue, but as he approached their table he noticed a stranger sitting with their back to him amongst them. Huh. He would have to wait to ask the question it seemed - couldn’t ask about vampires if a human is sat with them. The black hair attached to the head of one of two warm bodies at the table somehow glinted in a non-existent sun, and the way it moved was so bone achingly familiar. But surely, it must have been the wind.
He found himself slowing as he approached them, his body knowing before his mind caught up that there was something off about this boy. Alice met his eye and had just begun waving him over when the boy just happened to turn his head to look at Bella to his left, and if Edward had had air in his lungs, it would have left him in that moment.
The slope of his cheekbone leading downwards towards achingly familiar lips, pulled into a smile Edward instinctively knows is fake, brought out to please people he doesn't know. The way the boy’s hair defied gravity, swaying in a wind that didn’t exist. Glasses catching the light of the sun, and drawing attention to uncanny, unforgettable green eyes he was forever drowning in. The clothes he wore were well worn, clearly well loved. A leather jacket moulded to fit the shape of his shoulders, jeans with visible mending on the seams.
The boy looked like Harry.
In all perceivable ways he was Harry.
There was no logical way for it to actually be him, but Edward was turning around and walking out of the lunch hall before he realised he was even doing it, and was deep in the forest barely a minute later. No way in hell was he going to confront any of that today.
He ignored the loud thinking of Alice begging him to come back.
—
The trees had always felt like home to Edward, even before he was a vampire. People thought his home was the sky, but even despite being a seeker, the air felt clearer amongst the trees compared to rushing past him as he flew. Not that he didn’t like flying, mind. He missed it like a limb. Being ground-bound was one of the worst things about his… current predicament.
It’s not that he didn’t like being a vampire. He loved his family and being super strong, immortal and able to read minds was great - but if he had the choice he would go back to being a mortal wizard in a heartbeat. Even if it meant he died early.
He never asked to be a vampire. Carlisle wasn’t even his sire. He didn’t need to take him in as his own, but he did, and for that he would be forever grateful, but he wouldn't choose this life for himself.
He was wandering the forest, ghosting the edge of their perimeter with the wolves before doubling back across the landscape, going further than he normally does. The trees smothered him in their embrace.
—
Hogwarts, 1894.
Despite the persisting horrors, Cedric thought he had never been happier than in this moment. The prefect's bathroom had a reputation of various nefarious acts happening in them, but he somehow couldn’t find any shame in adding to the long list of students abusing their privileges to make out with his boyfriend.
He and Harry were sitting against the wall, water up to their chests, arms wrapped around each other brainstorming what the screeching eggs could possibly mean. Said eggs held an ominous presence that could be felt from across the room, from where they innocently sat on the far bench.
“Maybe it’s a banshee?” Cedric said without feeling, because if it was a banshee then why would it be in an egg?
“Maybe, but I doubt it. What do eggs have to do with banshees? And besides, banshee’s screams don’t sound like that.” Harry replied. They fell silent. Cedric was starting to get distracted with the warm weight resting against him, and was just about to suggest leaving this whole conversation behind to revisit another day when Harry said “I want to open it again.”
“Not a chance. You will burst your eardrums.” he said, shutting it down immediately. They were having a nice night and there was no need to wake up everyone in the castle and give themselves a migraine at the same time for no reason. They know what it sounds like.
“I want to see what the inside of the egg looks like. Think about it - every time you open it, you flinch away and close it as soon as possible because the noise is so unbearable - have you had a good look at the inside?” Harry made a good point. Unfortunately.
“... Fuck” Cedric sighed
“I’m right and you know it.”
“You are. Fuck. We need to open it again.”
“You kiss your mother with that mouth?” Harry smirked up at him.
“I kiss you with this mouth” He grinned back, before doing just that. The world seemed so much easier to deal with when he was slotted together so perfectly with Harry.
“We are getting side tracked” Harry murmured against his lips.
“Are you complaining?”
“No, but we should open them now before we get too distracted.”
“I hate how you are always right”
“I know” Harry began swimming across the pool towards the eggs, his lithe seekers body cutting through the water seamlessly. Cedric could watch him move all day. He couldn’t believe his luck, being able to date him.
“Okay I'll do it now. Brace yourself.” They both took a breath.
“Braced.”
The screeching was inconceivable. Familiar, at this point. Horrendous and all consuming. Cedric had already reflexively closed his eyes against the noise before he remembered what they were doing and opened them again. The inside was such a gorgeous blue colour, light seeping into the room. It felt like all the lamps had been extinguished and only ripples of cerulean and emerald cut through the air, rippling on the walls. The two of them existed in this moment, enraptured by what they were seeing for what felt like hours. The unbearable noise was impossible to ignore, and the contrast between Cedric’s two senses made him feel nauseous.
Just as abruptly as it began, the noise stopped. The world was a void of noise compared to what they had just experienced.
“I’ve got it!” Harry said, before quickly taking his egg and diving under the water with it.
“What the fuck, Harry!” Cedric exclaimed, immediately following his idiotic boyfriend under the surface. By the time he got there, Harry was reopening the egg, bubbles escaping from his nose and mouth. Cedric barely had time to brace himself for a noise that never came.
The two boys froze under the water as they heard the sweet angelic sound of singing.
Cedric didn’t know how long they were under the water - and when his lungs started to burn he grabbed Harry’s arm and swam them to the surface, closing the egg as they went. They both gasped for air as they breached, and scrambled to get back onto dry land.
“It’s mermaids!” Harry was saying, giddy and laughing “It’s fucking mermaids!”
Cedric couldn’t help himself, and laughed too, leaning over to grab Harry by the waist and pull him into a searing kiss.