CHAPTER 39

ACTS AND CONSEQUENCES - Pt. 2

Forks, October 31, 2019

The vast forest looked like a dark ocean except for the few seconds when lightning lit the skies, the loud thunder echoing over the city and reverberating to the mountains as the heavy rain fell.

Amidst the darkness and wedged among the trees, the Cullens' mansion was like a luminous white islet, a tiny safe haven in the midst of a storm though the house's occupants faced a storm of their own: after Harry Potter's departure, the dawn stretched out with silence and staring into nothing, all unconsciously avoiding facing each other and seeing their own feelings and emotions reflected in each other.

Hours after the rain had passed and the day had dawned with dark clouds, they actually began to react – or at least one of them did.

With a sigh – the air filled her petrified lungs like gaseous lead – Esme walked over to the fallen diary, reaching down to pick it up with care and respect as if to pick up the most delicate creature: she touched the soft black leather cover, flipped through the yellowed pages filled with handwriting over the decades until he reached the last page.

"Own..." she whispered ruefully as she touched the page, her fingers on the wrinkled surface of the paper in which had absorbed and dried tears.

And just like the dry tears, there was still pasted the black-and-white photograph she and the others had seen through their memories: Harry and Cedric children holding hands and smiling, their eyes full of purity and innocence. Below the photo was the last journal entry written in shaky handwriting, the ink smudged in a few words.

"Love is patient, love is kind..." she read in a low tone, knowing that everyone could hear her clearly "It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud... It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking... It is not easily angered... It keeps no record of wrongs."

She paused, feeling a lump in her throat.

"Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects. Always trusts. Always hopes. Always perseveres."

She gasped, feeling her eyes sting from the venom, as close as vampires could get to the ability to cry.

"August 27th, 2018." she finished reading, closing the diary and placing it on her chest, understanding that Harry had written it on the day of the last memory they witnessed.

'Harry...' her mind turned to the boy who had been there hours before, crying as he begged forgiveness for a crime they all accused him of and which he never committed, crying and being rejected by the same family in which she always said and assured him that he was already a part of it and that they loved him as if he were one of them, as if he were her child.

Esme felt her heart ache, guilt making her ashamed of herself: if she hadn't been weak and passive... If she hadn't contributed to the distrust... If she hadn't pushed herself more and used her voice when necessary, maybe the outcome had been different... Maybe there was a redemption for their mistake... Maybe... Maybe... There were so many "maybes"!

"How did we get to this point?" she asked, her throat dry and tight.

Silence.

"We accuse and judge rashly... We point fingers and become judges and executioners... We made that boy show us his pains and traumas even if we didn't have that right. We saw everything, we felt everything..." she whispered "And for what?"

Nobody answered.

Esme lowered her head, the ghost of the urge to cry even more persistent.

"To hurt him even more than he already was and have a truth that was never ours." she hugged herself while holding the diary "What we did... What we did to him is unforgivable."

Everyone was quiet with the exception of Jasper, he walking over to Pastor Cullen's diary lying on the floor and picking it up, leaving the room without looking back.

Esme watched her son disappear from view as she still heard his footsteps up the stairs getting farther away. It was clear that of all who were there, he was perhaps the most bothered by what he witnessed, after all he felt with intensity the emotions of others as well as his own - or at least, it's that what she wanted to believe.

Jasper's departure reminded her of her other son who was no longer there.

"I have to talk to Edward." Esme whispered.

Of all, Edward was the only one who could remedy that situation, even though he had taken a deplorable attitude in her eyes, an attitude incompatible with the son she had and loved.

"No." Carlisle spoke up, taking his hands out of his pocket "I'm the one who should talk to him... I'm the only one who can."

Everyone looked at the patriarch.

"I know him better."

Esme looked at her husband.

"You'll make him come to his senses, won't you?" she asked with a pleading tone.

He didn't respond, making her shift in discomfort at that reaction.

"Carlisle... Tell me you're going to make Edward come to his senses and... And see that he was wrong." she begged "Make him see that... That Harry wasn't to blame, that he's innocent! Make him go there and ask for forgiveness for the things he said so we can do that too!"

The man sighed, rubbing his marbled forehead with his fingers.

"Edward made his choice, Esme. It's not up to us..."

"It's not up to us?!" she interrupted him, looking at him in disbelief.

Esme looked at her decades-long mate, feeling the daze paralyze her: she remembered hours before when Harry was still there in that room, how she would hug him and comfort him...

...And she remembered how Carlisle had stopped her with a hand on her arm and a reproachful look.

"After everything we've seen... Has nothing changed for you?" she asked.

Carlisle looked away.

"I... I'm sorry for Harry. I really am. And that's all I can say for now." he said with a frown, hesitating to leave the room but finally doing it, turning away from his wife's shocked and sad gaze.

Esme slowly looked around, waiting for some more reaction or declaration from the others, hoping for anything that didn't make her even sadder. After Jasper and Carlisle left, it wasn't long before Alice crossed the room in silence, walking slowly like a sleepwalker, but without first exchanging a meaningful look with Esme.

Rosalie and Emmett, in turn, watched the others disperse, both motionless and silent next to each other as if they were a pair of statues, but their minds were another story: each one reacted and processed information in their own way of seeing and dealing with life.

For Emmett, Harry's whole situation was disproportionate to his own ability to understand: he was never able to fully understand things that were too complicated or too complex, never quite understood the implications such situations could entail, let alone how he should react in answer. Understanding emotions and feelings was for guys with sensitive souls like Edward and Carlisle, or empathic powers like Jasper, and of course, for the women in his family.

He felt bad for the boy and what he'd been through, but what could he do? Nothing. So Emmett would act the way he always did: he would follow what the rest of his family decided. If it was good for others, it would be good for him. He would go with most.

As for Rosalie, the situation unfolded differently: if Emmett was unable to understand, she was unable to recognize or see any bit of guilt she had for the night before having ended that way, as for her Harry's situation (despite very bizarre, sad and tragic) didn't really hit her personally - it was Jasper's fault for raising suspicions about the wizard... It was Edward's for getting involved with Harry and bringing him into the family... And Harry also, to some degree.

She saw Harry's motivations, she saw his love, his pain and resentment towards what he was and became, and as a result, she thought of herself and her condition as a vampire. And in the end, Rosalie did what she was used to doing: she made the problem be about herself and if the problem didn't hit her directly, she ignored it and threw the responsibility to others, in this case to Edward, Jasper and so on.

'In the end, it's not my fault...', she tried to justify to herself her vanity and selfishness with her atrophied conscience 'Edward was the one who was committed to Harry, not me... If he did what he did, let him deal with the consequences of it.'

"Come on, Em... " she whispered as she turned to her mate, taking his large hand. "There's nothing more to do here."

Esme saw them walking hand in hand, Emmett following Rosalie as she led him to the stairs, the two retreating to their bedroom.

Alone in the living room, Esme saw her reflection in the window glass, her face a mask of sadness: in addition to Harry, she felt sad for everyone in the house, including herself.

'What kind of insensitive people have we become?' she thought, hugging the wizard's diary.

...

...

"Jazz?" Alice's soprano voice rang through the room, she was standing against the door for a few minutes.

She waited, but there was no reaction.

Jasper just continued to stand with his back to her, seeming to watch the forest through the window that covered one entire wall, his soldier posture always proud and upright now bent in on himself and with his head bowed; Alice sighed as she walked slowly over to her husband so that he was aware that she was getting closer, that she was there for him.

"Jazz..." the little vampire whispered as she stopped beside him.

The former Confederate Major breathed through parted lips, his golden eyes glazed not over the forest but over Pastor Cullen's diary in his hands, staring at the object and also facing his attitudes and past events so far, all taking on a new meaning to the light of the newfound truth.

The diary...

The distrust of Harry made Jasper hunt him through readings like Malleus Maleficarum and that diary, reading every page and looking for anything to confirm his suspicions, anything that would give him proof that he was right in his accusations and suspicions. Several times he had done this hidden in the forest, far from home where Edward could read his mind or his siblings could find out what he was doing.

But while he was doing this, he was accompanied from afar by a snow owl, an unusual bird to be seen in that geographical part... An owl which he saw and thought was a spy sent by the wizard.

'Hedwig...' he whispered to himself.

Alice knitted her brows with a confused expression upon hearing Harry's familiar name.

"Hedwig is a protective spirit..."Jasper whispered again, repeating the information he saw in the memories.

He turned to Alice, his expression shocked and almost tearful.

"Harry, he... He wasn't watching me... He was protecting me."

Alice went still: her Jasper, ever so solid, so steady and so secure now trembled, something she had never seen before.

"Hey..." Alice hugged him, making his big body bend to her small, petite height "It's okay Jazz... I'm here..."

Jasper felt her embrace, felt her hands on his hair, but didn't hear her.

No... Instead of Alice, he listened to Edward.

His brother's voice and words were in his head, but now they had a much greater weight and depth.

'For weeks I listened to your thoughts and conspiracy theories and ignored it, because I thought it was just you being overprotective and a little paranoid' Edward had said it when he was still defending Harry days before 'And during those same weeks while you thought that my boyfriend was the Devil incarnated, he was preparing together with Hermione a potion that would help you to control your thirst for human blood, as he saw how depressed you are with your addiction.'

Jasper's memory took him back to the last time he saw Harry hours ago, crying desperately in the living room.

'I k-know I was wr-wrong to have h-hidden what I a-am, but I was afraid... I w-was ashamed of what y-you would t-think of m-me! I n-never m-meant to harm anyone and n-not even you. But now you know... And I just ask, I just beg that you all can f-forgive me!'

He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling the overwhelming weight of Harry's shared memories and feelings, the weight of his own guilt as well as those of the others in the house. It was agonizing.

'Harry never meant me harm...' Jasper thought looking at the magic shield erected months earlier around the mansion 'He wanted to protect me and even help me, even... Even though I did nothing, nothing for him except... Except...'

"I was wrong!!!" he hugged his mate tightly, sobbing dryly "Oh Alice, I was so wrong!!!"

Alice was shivering too, but she comforted him by stroking his back soothingly, even though she knew it would be useless.

"Me too, Jazz." she whispered back "We all were wrong, during all this time."

'And how wrong we were...' she thought bitterly.

The little seer, once so used to her unshakable confidence in knowing everything, had let the collective paranoia and mistrust go to her head and blind her even more than the lack of her visions. But now she came back to see clearly and saw how unfair and petty they acted, she saw how good Harry was to them even in the most critical moments, always willing to help them even before getting involved with Edward.

Harry was good, but none of them recognized it, not even Edward.

And Edward!!!

After hours of disbelief at the earlier outcome, Alice wanted to beat the shit out of him until he came back to himself, even though she was still dealing with her immense guilt and shame.

But it wasn't just guilt and shame that she was suffering at that moment: she was also afraid of something much bigger, something she didn't know how to put into words.

Inexplicably, she felt and knew that the events that had unfolded last night, and especially Edward's decision, had set off a chain reaction that would lead them down an unknown and dangerous path, a path she was afraid of. It was as if they had all jumped off to a dark precipice and didn't know what they would find at the end of that jump.

Staring at nothing, Alice widened her eyes and froze as she saw things far beyond that room or that present moment, quick images that took only a few seconds to explode in her mind.

Stars... A starry sky... Shooting stars streaking the dark night sky...

A snake... Large and dark crawling on the ground and curling around a tree...

Snow... Cold snow covering the trees, covering the ground entirely in white, the same ground also being stained with bright red blood that spread like ink on paper and marred the snow...

"My goodness..." Alice exclaimed, tightening her arms around Jasper without realizing it.

The vision then changed.

A crowd of people... People in the streets, in the windows of tall buildings, people reaching out and waving their arms... Hands outstretched in only one direction as they exclaimed enthusiastically for a single name: Harry. But she didn't see Harry as he was on his back, receiving flowers from the people around him as a white light seemed to emanate from him, an aura that shone brighter and brighter until the entire vision was blank.

Alice gasped, the strength in her body draining away as her knees gave way and weakened.

"Alice!!!" Jasper caught her before she fell, she sobbing dryly and shivering as came back to reality.

The male vampire's eyes widened as she stared at her mate as the ticking of a clock began in her mind, the insistent sound making her more anxious, more oppressed and tense.

"What you saw?" he asked, his voice tense and urgent as he felt her fear and despair.

Alice closed her eyes and hugged him, pressing her cheek against his chest.

"All the pieces... All the pieces will fall into place... Everything is connected!!!" she whispered frightened and tearful as she heard the insistent ticking.

...

...

"Edward?" Carlisle said in a low tone as he stood near the door "Son, it's me... Can we talk?"

Edward didn't respond.

'He can't stay like this. Not after all', Carlisle recalled that the boy had reacted the same way after catching Harry and the other wizards in the woods on the past nights.

Taking a deep breath, the doctor put his hand on the doorknob and turned it gently, opening the bedroom door and stepping inside with the minimum of noise. Edward was sitting on the couch and curled up in himself, holding the sides of his head down as his shoulders shook, his breathing deep and strained.

"GO AWAY!!!" he said with a rough voice, not bothering to look at him.

'Son...' Carlisle walked over to him and knelt in front of him, putting his hand over his coppery hair. 'It's okay.

"N-No!" he denied "L-Leave me alone!!!"

The patriarch of the Cullens stroked his head, fingers running through the copper hair in one smooth motion.

"I'll not leave you alone. You don't have to suffer alone... You have me." Carlisle assured with a calm voice "You have us all. Your family. We are always here for you. I'm here."

Edward trembled with a tearless cry, keeping the head down and pressing his hands to his skull as if unconsciously trying to get rid of those emotions and thoughts that overwhelmed him and hurt him.

"I imagine how difficult it must be for you, how much it hurts now." the older vampire whispered "It's natural since you love him, we all know that. We've all rooted for the two of you to some extent, as you well know... And we're sorry that we ended up this way so unfair and cruel to you."

The immortal teenager didn't respond, keeping his eyes closed.

"Son... Look at me..." Carlisle gently took Edward's hands over his head "Don't be afraid. Are you safe... It's all right now."

Edward slowly lifted his face, opening his eyes and seeing the look of compassion on his father's gentle, calm face.

"Good..." he whispered, giving a slight smile for a few silent seconds "Edward, what you did yesterday must have been the hardest thing you've had to do in your entire life. I know it was."

Edward sniffled.

"I know how hard it must have been for you, how much courage and strength it took to put an end to what existed between Harry and you." he continued, his hand resting on the boy's shoulder "But know that you did what needed to be done."

Edward looked at the man, his lower lip trembling.

"I-I didn't want to!!! I d-didn't... D-didn't want to say!!!" Edward with a broken voice.

Carlisle looked at him thoughtfully but cautiously.

"What did you want to do?" he asked.

Edward shivered, a deep crease forming in his forehead as he remembered hours earlier when he was still in the living room, with him standing a few steps away from Harry, the wizard looking at him pleadingly.

"I... I wish I had said that there was nothing to forgive..." he whispered as he looked at the floor "I wish I had hugged him... I wish I had said that the past didn't matter anymore... I wish I had said that we would go away from everything and everyone, but..."

He closed his eyes tightly, lowering his head.

"But...?"

Edward took a deep breath as he looked down, pursing his mouth in a fierce frown.

"But I couldn't!!!" he growled low, emotion making the words flow from his lips "Because besides the things I wanted to say and do, I was also angry at everything I saw... I was angry at Cedric... I was jealous of what he and Harry had. I felt anger and envy that he was so loved, that he was the reason Harry had done everything he did."

He looked down at his hands clenched into fists.

"I hated the people who hurt Harry. And even though I loved Harry, I felt angry at him. I felt angry at him because he made me love him. I felt angry because he it made me feel this pain for having to make that decision while I felt disgusted with myself for being born cursed with that face, for being a constant reminder of Cedric and especially for feeling anger and envy when I didn't or had the right to feel!!!"

Edward buried his face in his hands, his broad shoulders shuddering.

"And now... Now there's nothing but this damn pain in my chest!" he said tearfully "And it hurts... God, Carlisle, how it hurts!!!"

Carlisle looked at him, his face a mask of pity.

"Harry said he loves me and I know he loves me, but I also know he still loves Cedric and one day he would realize that I can never measure up to him." he whispered "And that would be an even more unbearable pain. How could I be with Harry after knowing everything? How could I, knowing I could never be as good and... And as special to him as Cedric was? How?"

Carlisle pressed his fingers to his shoulder reassuringly.

"So that's why you said you didn't want to see him again?" he conjectured "The reason I called him a monster?"

Edward closed his eyes in an expression of pain at the word, ducking his head in embarrassment.

"It was the only way... The only way I found to make him go away, to make him hates me and make the separation easier..." he said softly.

The two were silent, Carlisle thoughtful as Edward cringed.

"It was very noble of you to have thought of his good in that way." Carlisle muttered.

Edward looked at him.

"Noble? I was everything but noble." he said disgusted "What if I'm wrong?"

The 17-year-old vampire shuddered as he vocalized the thought.

"What if I made a mistake? I... I feel like I must go to him. I feel like I have to run and ask forgiveness for the horrible things I said and did, but at the same time... At the same time I remember everything I saw and discovered... I don't know what to do!!!"

"Harry..." Carlisle said carefully "He's a good boy. We know that now. But Harry was also born and raised corruptly, in a wrong situation and made wrong choices... Even with... With good intentions and having gone through extreme situations of suffering, his mistakes and sins are still too serious for be ignored."

Carlisle sighed, looking down.

"What he truly is, that is, the fact that he is the servant and chosen one by Devil... There is no way to ignore this."

The man shuddered as he remembered what he saw.

"Harry walked a path you could never fully follow Edward, and do you know why?"

Carlisle approached him as if they shared a secret.

"Because you're essentially good. Was always." he said softly and emotionally "I always told you that I changed you because your biological mother made me see that there was kindness and sweetness in you and it would be unfair for death to have to take you. You've become my son since then and it's something I'm very proud of."

Edward lowered his head.

"You feel pain now, because the choice you made was truly altruistic: you gave up love for what is right. At what is best." Carlisle consoled "You were strong and selfless to have acted for what is right and not what you wanted."

The young vampire looked out the window, seeing the full moon begin to emerge from the horizon through the heavy clouds that Halloween night.

"And if I may say so, no love can be sustained when it is born from such important lies and concealments." he said calmly "When two people walk different paths, they cannot go together."

Edward didn't respond or move, froze in his position.

"But if you still wish to join Harry tonight and follow him along this path... This path, we'll not stop you, however difficult it may be." Carlisle assured, rubbing his hands on his shoulders before getting up.

Edward saw Carlisle walk to the bedroom door and he stopped to see him before leaving.

"You have a choice to make, son. But think carefully about what you're going to do... Think about the consequences it will have... Think if it's worth risking what you already have for something that could hurt you and hurt us all." the man said "Remember that the right decisions in general are always the hardest."

Carlisle gave a calm smile, leaving the room smoothly.

Edward exhaled through his mouth, feeling his chest constrict under the sudden weight of Carlisle's last words, they were echoing in his head in a familiar way: he had heard those words before, but he couldn't remember when and where, but he knew how heavy they were.

And as he remained in his reverie, a thud of something falling and breaking glass crackled through the silent room, turning his attention to the bookcase in front of him and reaching it in a millisecond.

Smashed on the floor was the frame with the photo Alice had given it from many months ago, the photo Jasper had taken when they went to the beach with the trio. With a shaky hand, Edward caught the image of him and Harry sitting on the sand facing the sea from among the shards of glass and looking at each other in that perfect sunset – the exact moment when he had fallen in love with green-eyed boy.

Reaching into his pants pocket, he pulled out two small objects he always carried and observed, one his "lucky charm" and the other a gift he never gave: the little shell he found in the sand when he was alone with Harry and a white heart-shaped diamond pendant, something he wanted Harry to wear instead of the golden-snidget pendant.

'Harry...', he thought, feeling the pain and anguish consume him as he made his decision.

...

...

"He's taking a while." Rosalie said in a low and cautious tone, not wanting to show the impatience and anxiety she felt.

It was already 11 pm, all six of the Cullens together in the living room as they waited for Edward to come down from the bedroom with his final decision – something unnecessary in Rosalie's opinion, despite Carlisle and Esme's insistence.

"He's taking his time." Carlisle said calmly, but irreducibly "And we'll be here when he's ready."

Silence.

The ticking of the pendulum clock made everyone more apprehensive and nervous as they remembered that in just under an hour the Blood Moon eclipse would begin and possibly various magic rituals in the surrounding forest, including that of Harry and his friends, the reason they brought them to Forks.

Alice shivered, making a faint sound as she curled up next to Jasper, squeezing her eyes shut.

"What is it, Alice?" Esme asked "What is wrong?"

"She's not well" Jasper whispered looking at the little vampire "Since Harry left, she hasn't been well."

"Did... Did he curse her?" Rosalie asked, her facade of caution crumbling.

Everyone looked at her.

"By God, Rosalie, if you're not going to say something useful, hold your tongue!!!" Esme scolded as she turned to her, incredulous and outraged by that raised assumption.

The blonde reacted surprised with that attitude of Esme, never expecting that from her and therefore, unable to react back; Alice took a deep breath, opening her eyes to see herself being watched by her siblings and parents.

"Don't worry about me..."

"How do you feel?" Carlisle asked worried "Was it a vision you had?"

Alice opened her mouth to speak but closed it back, frowning as she considered his words.

"I don't know what I saw... Not yet." she muttered "But I know... I feel like this is all happening, it's connected to something much bigger... I just don't know what."

"What are you talking about? We already know everything." Rosalie looked at her and the others.

"No, we don't. And I do not know." Alice replied, hugging her mate.

"Shhh, Edward is coming!" Emmett warned, making the others pay attention to the sounds of footsteps coming from upstairs.

A few seconds later, Edward appeared in the room, walking slowly and with a tense face.

"Edward?" Esme said when she saw him, approaching him "We've been waiting for you, darling."

Esme stroked his face, seeing his sad look despite the neutrality of his countenance.

"My apologies." he said, placing his hand over hers.

"Have you decided son?" Carlisle asked, also approaching him.

Everyone looked at Edward anxiously.

"You're going to go after Harry, aren't you?" Alice said "Say you'll go there. Say you go there and apologize for being such an idiot, Edward. That you will bring him back here!"

Edward didn't look at her, remaining silent.

"Edward...!" she said tensely, disentangling herself from Jasper and walking towards him "You can't do this to him!!!"

Carlisle intervened, placing a hand on the small vampire seer's shoulder.

"Alice, we have to respect his dec-"

"HE CAN'T DO THIS TO HARRY!!!" she yelled indignantly.

"I can't be with him, Alice. Both of us... We don't..."

"HOW CAN YOU BE SO STUPID, CRUEL AND PETTY?!" she yelled, approaching him even closer.

Edward looked at her.

"Don't judge me, you can't understand what I-"

"YES I DO, YOU FUCK SELFISH!!!" she continued angrily "EDWARD YOU'RE MAKING A MISTAKE, DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!!!"

Esme turned to him too.

"She's right, Edward." she said in a low but hard tone, placing her hands on his shoulder "You have to go after Harry! Don't make a mistake you might later regret. You know you are making a mistake, in your heart you know you are!"

Edward lowered his head as he took a step back.

"You don't understand. You can't. This is not about me but..." Edward said but stopped when he closed his eyes, putting his hands on his head when he felt a sudden excruciating pain hit him and spread through his body: it was as if he was being dismembered, burned alive, cut in half, torn apart and trampled, a pain so potent he couldn't even scream.

"Edward?!!" Carlisle exclaimed as he saw his son with an agonized expression and his body shaking, he falling to his knees on the floor.

Alice backed away from the copper-haired vampire, her eyes widening as she looked around.

Inexplicably, all the lights in the mansion started flashing randomly until all the bulbs exploded, putting the entire house in darkness, causing them to react in alert poses.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Rosalie asked in an authoritative tone, trying to hide the fear she felt.

"Shit, that can't be a good sign!!!" Emmett clenched his fists, bracing himself for the worst.

"Look at this!" Jasper pointed to the window "Look!"

The vampires turned in the direction Jasper pointed and watched in dismayed silence as the magical shield around the mansion began to collapse, the invisible fabric ripping into floating shreds as it fluttered gently, disappearing before it hit the ground.

"All of you, stay calm!!!" Carlisle ordered in a commanding tone "Emmett, check the power generator in the basement. It must have been a blackout or something. Go fast!"

Emmett walked quickly to the exit but stopped in line with the doorframe.

"What the fuck!!!" Emmett grunted, his huge fist punching nothing.

"Emmett?!" Rosalie exclaimed scared.

"I CAN'T!!" he turned to his family "I CAN'T LEAVE HERE!!!"

Rosalie ran to him and the wide doorway connecting the room to the rest of the mansion, but bumped into an invisible barrier. Her hand touched the air, but she couldn't get through on the other side at all. Closing her fist, she landed the biggest punch she could, but her hand was stopped.

"WE ARE STUCK!!!" she yelled, feeling fear as she punched the impenetrable barrier "WE ARE ALL STOPPED!!!"

As the rest of the family struggled against the blockade and Edward kept on his knees being held by Esme, Alice felt something make her watch the sky through the window, the clouds parting and slowly revealing the full moon in its entirety, its light silver-blue through the window and gradually illuminating the room.

"You all, stop, stop now!" Alice ordered in a strained voice, making the others turn to her and see her staring at the window and slowly turning to the center of the room.

"What..."

"Something is happening... The reason we're here." the seer said in an automatic way, her gaze vacant "Someone is coming... But them doesn't want us harm. Don't be afraid... Just stand still, don't say anything, don't do anything."

Paralyzed in their positions, they saw that the moonlight soon began to move unnaturally: it was no longer spread over the room the way a light behaves.

The light moved.

Like a luminous veil, it shrank, retracted from the corners where it was spread, becoming brighter as it focused on a single point in the room, fluid and graceful like water or smoke, silvery and bright as it rose from the floor like if were getting up.

Vampires were mute and paralyzed, the survival instinct, fear and fascination leaving them unresponsive to what they witnessed; Edward already felt the physical pain begin to subside, slowly regaining control over his strength and some clarity in his mind.

Opening his eyes, he saw that his mother was kneeling beside him, mouth open and wide-eyed, her heart-shaped face alight and her countenance haunted, but not out of fear. Edward slowly saw that all of his family seemed to share the same expression, their gazes converging on a single point – the source from which the light came.

Then Edward looked there too, his eyes widening as amazement, disbelief and amazement swept through him, his mind going blank except for Hermione's voice and a conversation that had taken place the month before.

'Well, for a start, Halloween is the name Muggles have given to Samhain, which is nothing more than a festival that marks the end of an old year and the beginning of a new year. According to the legends, on the 31st of October, which is the beginning of the festival, the veil that separates the Kingdom of the Dead from the Kingdom of the Living is lifted.... Spirits can materialize during the night, which is the most favorable time for magic until sunrise, when the veil separates them again.'

Edward rose slowly from the floor, his facial expression frozen as he faced the eighth individual present in that room, this one also looking at him seriously. Soon, the surreal and bizarre experience was completed, the two standing opposite each other as if they were reflections of each other, except that one was made of silver light and the other a petrified body, one immaterial and the other material.

Different from each other, but still similar.

"Hello..." Cedric Diggory said very seriously as he took a step forward, his voice echoing in a ghostly way "...Edward Cullen."

Edward let out his breath through his mouth, his throat tightening.

"It's time to we finally talk." Cedric looked into his eyes, gray eyes meeting golden eyes.