𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐄𝐍 || 𝐡𝐩 𝐱 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭

005

"Hey, baby. So listen, if spring training goes well, we could be moving to Florida." Bella's mom says over the phone.

Bella sits on her bed, finishing homework as she talks to her mom.

"Please insert $1.25 to continue." The telephone operator's monotone voice interrupts the conversation.

"Mom, where's your cell?" Bella asks.

"Okay, don't laugh," says Renee. "I didn't lose my power cord, it ran away from me. Screaming. I literally repel technology now."

"They can do that?"

"No, Ron, they can not literally run away." Hermione sighed.

Bella laughs, missing her mom. Renee put more quarters into the phone.

"I miss you,"

"Oh, baby, I miss you, too." Renee smiles. "But tell me more about your school. Are there any cute guys? Are they being nice to you?"

"Well, they're all very welcoming."

"Except the Cullens, of course."

"Uh oh, tell me all about it."

"It doesn't even matter," Bella slams her notebook shut, tossing it to the side of her bed. "I have homework to do, I'll talk to you later." She interrupts her mom from talking, ready for this conversation to be over already.

"Rude."

"Okay, I love you."

"Love you too," Bella hangs up, clearly frustrated by something.

──────

The scene cuts to Bella leaning against her truck book in hand and searching for someone in the car lot. She's waiting for Edward.

"I planned to confront him and demand to know what his problem was."

"She's going to cause a lot of problems, isn't she?"

"She does seem like the kind of person to get involved in unnecessary danger," Someone said.

Cars pull into the lot and they see the Cullen's cars, but no sign of Edward. Arriving after them is Adhara, in a classic sports car that pulls many stares before people hurriedly look away.

Sirius smiles slightly at the sight of his sister. Whatever she was now, whatever she had become, he was just happy she was alive.

The three park, Emmett jumping out of the back of the jeep and the others exiting their cars like normal people.

"And the next day, another no-show."

When Bella walks into her Biology classroom, Edward's chair is still empty. She frowns, frustrated.

"More days passed,"

"It's not like they were ever friends, so why can't she just ignore him?"

Bella sits at the lunch table with her friends, still watching the Cullens and Adhara closely. They all notice.

"Things were getting a little strange,"

A guard is running, breathing heavily and holding onto his flashlight. He checks behind him, looking for the attacker that the audience can not yet see. His feet thud against the metal.

A few people flinch at the sudden change but don't react otherwise.

He bursts through the door outside, panting.

A man blocks his path and is joined by two others. They throw him to the ground and he screams, and the scene cuts away before anyone can see what happened to him.

The hall is stunned into mostly silence, besides the shocked whispers. What could do such a thing?

"Were those people?" Ron questions with wide eyes.

"Yeah, I think so, but who would..."

Hermione writes down a few notes, trying to think of anything this creature could be from what she knew of dark creatures. They obviously looked like humans, but that still left a lot of possibilities.

Dumbledore frowned, wanting to know what the Black heiress had become.

──────

Bella's truck pulls into the driveway, rumbling loudly. Charlie is driving.

"I hate that noise," Draco Malfoy said.

Bella steps out of the house, dismay filling her when she sees its pouring rain. It's cold enough that some puddles have frozen and made the walkway extra slippery. She shivers, wrapping her coat tight.

She slips on a patch of ice and Charlie rushes to help her up.

A few people winced sympathetically. Knowing how it felt to be clumsy like that while others laughed.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good." She says. "Ice doesn't really help the uncoordinated."

Neville nodded in agreement, getting more laughs from his friends.

"That's why I had some new tires put on the truck. Old ones were getting pretty bald. Well, probably be late for dinner. I gotta head down to Mason county. Security guard at Grisham Mill got killed by some sort of animal." Charlie says as he walks to his own cruiser to leave for work.

Another suspicious thing to note, since they saw the security guard being attacked by what looked like a human and definitely not an animal.

"There's no way that was an animal."

Remus sighs. He has a feeling he knows where this is going already, and he doesn't really like it.

"An animal?"

"You're not in Pheonix anymore, Bells. Anyway figured I'd lend a hand."

"Be careful."

"Always am."

"And thanks for the tires."

"Yeah," Charlie gets into his cruiser and Bella leaves for school in her rusted truck.