Aurora Borealis

Chapter 15

The day of the attack, Harry met up with Bella and Edward at the Cullen household, where Bella had spent the night before. She was all dressed up in a thick winter jacket and hiking gear when Harry caught sight of her. He almost laughing at how uncomfortable she looked.

"All ready to go?"

"Shut up," Bella snapped when Harry failed to keep the humor out of his voice. "Alice said that it would snow in the mountains."

Harry simply held up his hands, his lips twitching in amusement. Bella glared at him so he turned to look at Edward instead.

"Would you like to travel with us? I figured Apparating into the clearing would help speed things up."

"Really," Edward inquired, his expression holding excited curiosity. "Can you take more than one person?"

"Well normally side-apparating more than one adult body is difficult, but I doubt I'd be able to splinch you," Harry told him with some amusement.

"Splinch," Bella echoed, her expression worried. "What's that?"

"It's what happens when a person Apparates wrong. They sometimes leave a part of themselves behind. I remember this one girl in my year left behind her leg when we were practicing back in school."

Bella's face paled, all the blood seeming to drain out of her already white face.

"But don't worry," Harry rushed to reassure. "I've been Apparating adults since I was sixteen. It's all about intent and I've never splinched anyone."

Bella got a little bit of the color back into her face, but she still looked somewhat unsure. Harry held out his hands towards them. Edward grabbed hold immediately, threading in thin fingers through Harry's.

"Trust me," Harry asked Bella when she simply stared at his hand. The brunette took a deep breath before nodding and grabbing hold.

"Okay. On three. One. Two. Three!"

And the trio disappeared with a loud crack.

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They appeared on the edge of the clearing and Bella immediately dropped to her knees, looking rather green in the face. Even Edward looked a little unsteady.

"Yeah," Harry said one a sigh. "The first couple of time aren't all that pleasant."

"You think," Bella moaned, rubbing at her stomach. "I don't know how you guys can get used to that."

"Well its one of the fast forms of travel we have," Harry pointed out. "But I supposed it's an acquired feeling."

Bella muttered something else, but Harry chose to ignore it for the time being. He looked around the large clearing with a critical eye before turning to look expectantly at Edward. Bella did the same, arching her brow questioningly.

"Right," Edward said with a nod, turning to the task at hand. "Just walk north for a ways, touching as much as you can," he instructed Bella. "Alice gave me a clear picture of their path, and it won't take long for us to intersect it."

"North," Bella asked, innocently puzzled. Harry almost snorted, before he realized that normal people didn't have an internal compass in their heads.

Edward smiled charmingly before pointing out the direction Bella was supposed to take. Bella followed his finger before nodding her head, a determined look coming onto her face.

She took her steps slowly at first, as if she still wasn't sure where she was supposed to go. But after a couple of minutes, she seemed to gain her confidence and set out at a more normal pace - well normal for her anyways.