Not too long ago I read a challenge I just could not resist. Now normally I never do challenges as I'm swamped enough with all my own ideas that keep growing wild. You really don't wanna see my garden its ugly and could provoke a blinding headache and complete absence of will to write for several days. But like I said, I really, really liked the idea.

The Challenge: Issued by AbNaGbEyL

Harry Potter/ Twilight 'Harry Whitlock' Challenge

Shortly after his fifth year, Harry's Aunt and cousin die in a car crash, leaving him without any ties to hold his blood wards in place. In desperation, Dumbledore uses a spell to locate his next closest relation in hopes of re-establishing the wards to keep Harry protected.

However, Jasper Whitlock-Cullen wasn't exactly what he had in mind when it came to protection.

Problem?

He was Harry's only 'Living' relative.

Obviously, this is a HP/T crossover. Don't add any other book/movie/etc.

Slash preferable, but not required.

Warning, read them or be unpleasantly surprised : messing with timeline, male x male relationship, ooc characters but I'm trying to keep them as true as possible, Creature of Twilight world have alternate degrees of knowledge of the magical world, No Horcruxes!

Disclaimer: All things Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling and the set up belongs to AbNaGbEyL.

Beta'd by pattyp723. Patty thank you very much for this.

Betwixt

By Kaicee

Part 1 Leaving

Star light Star bright,

The first Start I see tonight,

I wish I may, I wish I might,

Have the wish I wish tonight.

It had been a short confusing year at Hogwarts. The visions of the hall of prophesy, the fight and Sirius death should have been the end of it. Faith however seemed to think Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts called for some grand entendres and trouble between the ministry and the board of governors had let to Hogwarts closing down February first.

So Harry would have been on his way to his lovely relatives but it hadn't ended there it seems. Some twist of decency had seen the Dursleys killed in a car crash, reason: Vernon had just a tad too much alcohol in his blood and run his family straight into the Thames.

Harry first reaction had been laughter with a nice ending in which he conveyed he was grateful to be rid of them. Dumbledore had looked affronted and professor McGonagall had gasped and given him a ten-minute lecture. Harry hadn't listened, he hadn't been listening since Headmaster Dumbledore had told him about the contents of the prophecy.

The evening had only gone down from there since Dumbledore had informed him that until a house was found he deemed safe, Harry would be staying here getting lesson from whomever was free at the time to fill his days. Harry broke some more trinkets at that, unintended again, but it earned him detention from professor McGonagall and a start of what could have been a really long lecture, but Headmaster Dumbledore had stopped her. For that he was grateful.

He had been let out after that to enjoy the last of his evening at the hospital ward with Hermione and Ron. Both were doing really well and they would be going home tomorrow with the rest of the students. Harry would have loved to ride the train with them but he was not allowed. That had been three days ago.

Sitting on a railing, his feet dangling Harry watched the night sky. It was a lovely evening for it but none of it reached Harry. Just like the lesson he got he took the information in and managed to put it out when asked for but he didn't really experience it, this however had been improving some. Food however still tasted like ash and most of the time he didn't even know what he was drinking.

Thoughts were bothering him, the faults he made, and the danger he had been in and had brought his friends into. At the end of it all was Sirius death, although long talks with Remus had managed to lessen the guilt somewhat. Harry smiled then, that man was a really smooth talker but an honest one. He didn't lie and that meant more to Harry than anything else the others were telling him.

Leaning back Harry closed his eyes and breathed in the crisp air. It was a cold night and he was wearing only his school uniform sans the robes. He had stopped noticing the cold some time ago and some part of his brain told him that he shouldn't stay out here like this, but the crisp atmosphere somehow made him able to think more clearly.

Remus had said his goodbyes to Harry tonight saying he had to do something for Headmaster Dumbledore. He had left Harry 30 letters, one for each week he was away. Tears had stung in Harry eyes as he grasped the packet with red and gold ribbons. Remus had given him a long warm hug and once more told him that no matter what, Sirius and he loved him still and would come running to help Harry no matter what trouble he was in or how much it could hurt them.

"We love you Prongslet and though you may need us to live for you, he and I would never hesitate to die for you if it keeps you safe."

Those had been his exact words and something inside Harry had resonated with it and accepted it. Now sitting here he felt hurt and betrayed but also stronger and determined. He knew what the future held and if he wanted even a little chance of succeeding he needed to learn.

His mind wandered back to his lesson and found that their childlike continuing of the curriculum irritated him. He was supposed to fight a war, to kill a being and still they wanted to teach him how to fold his laundry and by golly but this paint charm will really be helpful when you get to decorate a house.

Chewing his bottom lip Harry finally decided to head inside. He was tired enough now to fall asleep. He would ask he professor he had tomorrow if they couldn't do something more productive. And as he went to bed that night he found the irony that tonight as he went to sleep he was more awake, more aware than he had been for a while now.

-oOo-

Morning brought with it one anxious House elf, a note and a temper tantrum. He really needed to get a handle on the last one, more patience for the first and he should have seen the second one coming miles away.

It was a note from Headmaster Dumbledore telling Harry that today's lesson was cancelled. He was to meet the Headmaster instead at one o'clock and would receive more information about what was going on there.

What had provoked his temper however, were the kind sentences more fit for an eight year old and his recent decision to actually get something done during the lessons. So the first twenty minutes of his day were spent returning the flyaway pillow and blankets back to their respective beds and a nice shower.

Not much later saw Harry in the nicest of Dudley's cast off sitting in the common room enjoying breakfast and piping hot tea. In his hand was the first of Remus letters and he was turning it over and over again. He could open it now, but it Remus hadn't really been gone a week yet. He kept fiddling until the pop Dobby made had him jumping from his chair in fright.

Dobby looked at him with guilt ridden eyes and his hand were making their way up to his left ear. "Sorry, so sorry Harry master. Dobby comes to take left-over's and brings message from Master Lupin." By then Dobby had his left ear and was wringing it something fierce.

For once Harry didn't tell him to stop as the mention of Remus threw him of kilter. Excited Harry focused himself on that instead.

"What message Dobby? What did Remus say to you?"

"Master Lupin says to Dobby he must tell Harry master that Library is open. Master Lupin saying to Dobby Harry master should be taking books he be wanting. No one will be noticing now. Dobby will be going now, Dobby is a bad, bad elf scaring Harry master so much."

"Wait, no Dobby your great." But Dobby was already gone together with Harry's breakfast leftovers.

Unsure of what to do Harry dawdled around for a moment then wondered why Remus would send a message in such a weird way. He could have told Harry when he left.

"What am I waiting for"? Shaking his head, he went off to the library. Wondering around trying to find out the whys would lose him time. He wasn't sure how long he would have to raid the library. It could be days before they brought Madame Pince back to make sure Harry didn't take anything or they could have called her back this morning.

In fact now that he thought about it he wondered why Headmaster Dumbledore or one of the other professor had not thought about making sure Harry didn't take things from the library. Then again, he should not look a gift horse in the mouth. It was better to try his luck and see if he could get some books.

The trip seemed to take forever and every sound made his heart pound most unpleasantly. If he kept this up he might actually suffer an early stroke or something. Then finally he walked through the doors of the library pretending to be casual.

Sauntering around he looked to see if anything was there, be it people or ghosts and let out a breath of relief when he encountered no one. Relaxing just a tiny bit he started to walk down Hogwarts many bookcases. The old wooden structures literary held thousands upon thousands of books and since he did not want the professor or and especially Madame Pince noticing him taking books too soon he could only take a few.

That left him with quite a bit of a problem, which books to take. As he wondered he looked at different books and the subject they were about. Many he put back but some he dragged with him until at one point one of the books fell off and hit him on the foot. The next few moments were spend cursing under his breath and nursing his pained foot. The books scattered all around him and he mentally winced at the thought what Madame Pince would do to him if she saw her precious books this way.

Shrugging he started sorting what he had, if he had trouble carrying this much it was time to make decisions. Once done, he looked the books over and tugged at his hair in frustration. How was he supposed to decide which books to take? He had no idea what he was going to need and therefore unsure what topics had higher priority.

"Ok, just think. Headmaster Dumbledore talked about a connection between me and Voldemort so a book about bonds should be good and curses of course. If I'm fighting I need to know what to use. Ok okay I can do this let's see something about survival should be helpful, no healing would be better. That would be more useful, I can always pick up a muggle book on surviving shouldn't be too different." He dug through the topics he had before him eagerly. Each book he looked through before picking one and laying it beside him.

In the end he ended up with five books. One about magical bonds, curses and counter cast, healing for beginners, occlumency and mind battle. Putting the last book down a shiver ran down his spine as he remembered the vile feeling of Voldemort inside his mind. It wasn't something he wanted to experience again and if he had learned one thing this year it was the importance of guarding ones mind.

Sure of his choices, he moved quickly to return the other books and head back to his dorm. No matter how long the trip to the library was, the one back was nerve racking. At any moment a professor could happen upon him and he would have to explain about the books. Even if they allowed him to read them he would have to return them also. He didn't want that, he wanted to learn at whatever place he was going to be for seven months.

By the time he reached the common room he had goose bumps and his heart was racing from all the stress. Deciding to not depend on luck any longer he raced up the stairs and hid the books away in his chest. Only after that did he release a sigh of relief. Only to have a near breakdown when he realised he had no idea of the time.

Fumbling around he found his watch on his nightstand. It was an old plastic thing you had to wind up, as magic prevented battery powered watches to work at Hogwarts. The little thing told him it was nearing twelve. For a moment he blinked, he had been in the library for hours. He had been truly lucky to not be caught. Then again, the professor probably had more to do than watch him constantly what with all the trouble going on with the ministry.

He supposed he should feel guilty about it and part of him was. The whole fiasco had to do with the department of mysteries after all. It had put the ministry in bad light and in return they had send out several inspectors who then declared that Hogwarts method of teaching and curriculum were outdated and with recent events it showed that desperate measure were needed to make sure future generations could safely learn at Hogwarts.

After that the board of governors had intervened and things had really gone out of control ending with the school closing down until everything was sorted. So while he should feel guilty, Harry hoped that because of this, things would end up for the better. It could of course become worse but he was sure Headmaster Dumbledore and others would prevent that from happening. Malfoy senior would keel over before he let his son suffer an inferior schooling.

When his stomach growled he went downstairs once more and ate a light lunch. By now he started to feel a bit uneasy about the meeting with Headmaster Dumbledore. He had no idea what the man wanted to talk about but his instinct kept nagging it probably had to do with his housing.

A feeling like butterflies in his stomach made him go up and down the emotions scale. Hoping that he could leave today at one moment and dreading the news of where and with whom he had to live with next. He kept telling himself it couldn't be worse than the Dursleys because Headmaster Dumbledore was sure to double check on the people this time.

-oOo-

At twelve thirty Harry left the common room once more and leisurely walked to the Headmaster office. Once there he blinked at seeing a crack down the face of the stone gargoyle and when he actually got closer the beast moved enough to let Harry through.

A bit spooked he moved past the stone statue and rode the escalator up. Once close enough to hear voices Harry didn't even pretend not to listen to the conversation going on.

"That is neither here nor there." Harry had to force himself not to make a sound but he did roll his eyes.

"No! You will not send me back with that pitiful excuse. I want you to say the true reason word for word so I can tell my mate why he suddenly can't be the guardian of his cousin." This was a female voice. Even angry it didn't go into that screeching pitch some girls and woman wandered into when they had an argument while pissed off.

There was a long silence after that and Harry actually held his breath waiting for the answer. For once he might find something out that was true before he had to go through all the lies and misdirection.

"Alright Mrs Whitlock." Headmaster Dumbledore started slowly.

"Hale, Alice Hale. Or Mrs Hale." The woman corrected him.

"Of course Mrs Hale. Well if I had known that Jasper Whitlock was of the undead I would not have contacted him. I want mister Potter safe and your family can not provide it. I will not have Harry staying with vampires."

Harry eyes widened, vampires his mind whispered and then family. That person inside with Dumbledore was a connection to a family member. His heart started pounding and in that instance a plan started to unfold so fast it left him spinning.

"This could work." He whispered and then straightened his posture and marched inside.

The moment his eyes saw the woman he did not let his gaze wander and when he had advanced enough into the room and found himself face to face with the vampire he did not let himself think about her tiny form and nice looking clothes.

"Can you teach me how to fight even when every odd is stacked against me?"

"Harry!" Headmaster Dumbledore called out a tint of anger clouding his eyes. But still Harry kept looking at the vampire her eyes an odd yellow brown color. Then she nodded and something in Harry seemed to untangle. It was only after that he turned towards Headmaster Dumbledore being careful to not look the man in the eyes as he spoke.

"I'm going with her, you said yourself all I need it as blood relative at the place I call home and the protection will continue."

"No, you will not go with them I forbid it. You will not be safe there, my boy."

And that was when Harry exploded, the anger he had felt before in this room was nothing compared to this. He was done with all the lies and soft strings that mercilessly guided his way. He would not be a puppet any longer.

And though he did not notice Alice Hale and Albus Dumbledore watched as magic lighted Harry eyes and created air currents that send his clothes and hair flying about. "I will go. I don't care what you think but I will go! If you even think about stopping me I will find another way to leave and I won't care if it puts me in danger. I need to learn and sad as it is, this is not the place I will be getting that."

And Harry was looking Headmaster Dumbledore in the eye now and he watched with some satisfaction as the elder man winced and then looked away.

"Alright Harry, but you will return here on September first. You will send me a letter every three days and at any moment I think it wise I will take you away and you will come with me."

The currents sped up and Harry sneered. "I'll be coming back and I might even send you letters but for now I'm done with you. You will need to give me space if you want me to work with you. I'll get my things now, I want to be on my way by four."

He turned and stalked out the door. On his way back he felt strength leave him and his legs buckled under him. For moments he sat where he had sunk to the floor trembling in anger and fear at what he had just gone through.

He had gone against Headmaster Dumbledore of course he was angry about everything done to him but he really needed to get a handle on his temperament or it could become too dangerous. He couldn't have himself flying of the handle at every little thing.

What if someone said something while fighting, he could hurt his allies and his friends along with the opponent. It frightened him actually the amount of loss of control back in the room. Sniffing he brushed away the tears with his sleeve with a bit of wonder that he hadn't noticed he had been crying.

The next hour was spend making sure he had everything packed, that the books were safely tucked out of sight and wondering why he was left in peace. He was half expecting someone to come up and try to talk some reason into him and part of him was already listing reason to why he would not listen.

Of course a small part of him also told him he was being stupid and wondering why he was acting out like this. During his internal discussion about sudden behaviour changes and how the past year and recent loss probably had to do with it the vampire snuck in.

It scared Harry half to death to suddenly see her sitting on his bed. He was sure he did the whole typical jeez you scared me half to death pose including the gasp squeal sound. Alice Hale smiled at him and for a moment he watch her too white teeth with fascination before his brain processed the information to him what she did with those.

"No need to worry." She spoke teasingly. "I'm what is known as a vegetarian vampire, my family doesn't drink human blood."

"Right, okay. Hmm so I'm Harry." he felt so lame saying that but he honestly didn't know how to react to her. Meeting a vampire who told him she was a vegetarian wasn't exactly something he expected to ever happen to him.

"Well hello Harry, I'm Alice Hale the mate of your distant cousin Jasper. Back home however I go by the name of Alice Cullen since we don't want to invoke suspicion with the humans we deal with."

Feeling like a complete idiot Harry just gaped at her unsure on what to say or do. The bouncy Alice however seemed to being doing enough for the both of them. She was surprisingly bubbly and if not for the tell tale signs he would have thought she was just an overexcited seventh year student.

"We attend a human school and we pretend to be a big family back there. Carlisle is the head together with his mate Esme. We are the adopted children. Edward, Emmet and me go Cullen name and Jasper and Rosalie pretend to be twins by the name Hale. It allows us to have relationships but it would be frowned upon if we let them know we're actually married." She explained further and Harry felt understanding grow.

Of course a coven had to take care to avoid too much attention and he guessed when you settled down as a family it would cause trouble if people who looked like seventeen year olds were married. Humans would start watching them more closely and the chance of blowing the cover were that much higher.

"So, you're mates but pretend to be just boyfriend girlfriend around muggles. I guess you could tell me some more on our way back to your home."

"Of course, the whole family is soo excited to meet you. Jasper is so happy he even went shopping with Esme to buy stuff for your room."

Alice happy vibe seemed to contagious and Harry felt flowers of contentment bloom in his chest as she talked about their home back in the States and all the family members he was going to meet. At one point he just sat down on his bed next to her and listened to her talk, it was the most relaxed he had been in some time.

The experience didn't last as at four Alice and he went downstairs after receiving a huge picnic basket from Dobby and the message that a carriage was waiting downstairs to take them to the train station.

It seemed that no one was going to stop him and he felt happy and hurt all at once. But he promised himself to keep going for now. He was going to learn and he was probably going to be much happier than ever with his new family. If even a small portion of Alice tales was right back in the US of A, a bunch of vegetarian vampires was waiting to welcome him into their family and love him.

He could barely wait to get on a plane, from now on things were going to be better. And for once he believed this with his entire being and with it some of his hurt and sadness seemed to evaporate. It left him feeling refreshed and ready to meet the world.

-oOo-

Once they reached the end of their trip with the train it was dark. Alice took him to some hotel and told him that tomorrow they would spend a few hours shopping before they took the plane back. She was very sure that he needed new clothes, as his old ones weren't fit to dress a homeless person. He felt a bit attacked by her words and had answered her with a short answer.

She had just hopped around him and given him a short cold hug. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure you had no hand in this collection of misfits. I didn't mean to insult you or berate you, but now that you never have to go back there I thought getting rid of those would be something you liked."

"Actually." Harry spoke slowly. "Do you think we could like ritually burn them in a big bonfire. I would really enjoy that."

Alice had laughed at that. The sound pleased Harry and eventually he had found himself laughing with her.

Morning was spent in total chaos. Alice had arranged for Harry's school trunk to be brought to the airport and kept secure there and ready to be put on the plane the moment it started loading. Then she had thrown his clothes out and they had gone shopping.

After the first twenty minutes Harry was scarred for life. They had gone to three shops already and in all of them Alice would check the clothes make insulting sounds before pulling him along to the next shop. When they finally did find something she was pleased with, he spend the next hour and a half trying outfit after outfit.

While, in hell, Harry watched as the demon queen roped a store clerk into going to another shop to get Harry underwear. She had even written out exactly what she wanted and which store to buy it from. As she checked websites on the computer she had rudely confiscated from the shop she wrote out another note and actually sent the manager to get Harry new coats for the winter and summer!

The figures that rushed past made his head spin, she was spending more than most families made in three months. Shoes, socks, swimming gear even pyjama were bought. When the end finally came, with four suitcases clerk number five was sent out to get, Harry felt like crying tears of happiness. He vowed to never shop with the demon queen again. Alice laughed happily and looked like a harmless angel as she told the clerks to pack up and remove all tags.

When they finally left to catch their plane Harry was tired but happy. Buying new clothes had been kind of therapeutic. It somehow made it really feel like a new beginning now that even his undies were brand new. Still he wasn't ever going out with Alice again unless it was absolutely necessary.

The flight was smooth and when it became late and the regular lights were toned down and the other passengers fell asleep Alice told him more about her, and now by default, his family. A long talk was reserved to tell Harry about Jasper and why he hadn't been able to come himself or why she was the only one to come for him. Something about a birthday party of Edward's muggle girlfriend called Bella.

After that she spoke of the town and school and the neighbours of Indian descendants and the treaty they had with them. In the end Harry asked her just one question, one that had been bothering him a bit.

The "Could you tell me more about vampires?" question could have been insulting so he had been afraid to ask her. Instead Alice had launched into a detailed explanation that left Harry slightly dazed and sure he would never underestimate a vampire, ever. Just hearing about their strength and possible talents made sure that he wondered how the little Hogwarts taught could be so wrong. He wondered if he could maybe write a short introduction on true vampires.

By the time they had to leave the plane Harry was sure he knew more about vampires than any other wizard alive. The hour they had to wait for their next flight was spend in silence and he dozed off a few times. Alice spent it reading several magazines and talking to her family on her cell phone. When she offered it to him he had shook his head, he didn't want his first meeting to be over the phone. Alice seemed to understand and picked up the conversation smoothly and told the family about the shopping trip instead.

Thanks for reading this chapter. Let me know what you think about it, I love reviews and I hope you guys will leave me lots of them. Next update will be Monday.