Chloe Cullen 4 - A Harry Potter and Twilight Crossover

Chapter 10: Back to Forks

Hermione and I wake up early the next morning. We figure that Harry won't want to eat with the rest of the school, especially the Hufflepuffs. At breakfast, we see Ron, who is eating by himself. Still mad and offended, I don't bother talking to him. Hermione and I eat quickly and then we each take a stack of toast for Harry. As we walk to Gryffindor tower, we run into Harry. "Hello," Hermione says. We each hand him a stack of toast. "We brought you these... Want to go for a walk?" "Good idea," says Harry. He sounds grateful. Harry recaps with us what had happened last night. "Well, of course I knew you hadn't entered yourself," Hermione says. "The look on your face when Dumbledore read out your name! But the question is, who did put it in? Because Moody's right, Harry... I don't think any student could have done it... they'd never be able to fool the Goblet, or get over Dumbledore's -"

"Have you seen Ron?" Harry interrupts. "Yes... he was at breakfast..." I say. "Does he still think I entered myself?" "Honestly? I'm not sure. I don't think so," I say. "What does that mean?" Harry asks. "He's jealous of you," I say in another 'duh' tone. "Jealous? Jealous of what? He wants to make a prat of himself in front of the whole school, does he?" "Look. It's always you who gets all the attention, you know it is. I know it's not your fault. I know you don't ask for it, but Ron has all those brothers to compete with, and his best friend is really famous. He probably feels pushed to the side, and he never mentions it. I guess he's just had enough of it," I tell him. "Great. Really great. Tell him from me I'll swap any time he wants. Tell him from me he's welcome to it... People gawping at my forehead everywhere I go..."

"We aren't telling him anything," I snap. "Tell him yourself. It's the only way to sort this out." "I'm not running around after him trying to make him grow up! Maybe he'll believe I'm not enjoying myself once I've got my neck broken or -" I sigh impatiently. I let him ramble on and Hermione takes over the conversation. I let her take over partly because Maple has sent me a letter. Not from my mom, but from my grandpa.

Dear Chloe,

I've been keeping in touch with Madam Pomfrey. I don't like how you've been continuously sick this whole semester. Your mother thinks it's best - and I agree - that I go to Hogwarts myself to look over your cells. I've talked it over with Dumbledore, and he agrees to. Your mother, father and I will be going to Hogwarts on November 2nd at 9 p.m. to do another cell check. I'm sorry to have to say this, but if the results are less than ideal, we're going to have to take you home. Tell only your close friends this. I'm sorry. I know this probably isn't what you want.

Love,

Grandpa

Harry and Hermione take notice of my silence. "Chloe, is everything okay?" Hermione asks. Wordlessly, I hand them the letter. HOME?! I don't want to go home! I've got classes, and homework, and the Triwizard Tournament! Most of all, my friends and boyfriend are here. My mom is taking this way too far. I look at them, and Hermione has tears in her eyes, and seems to be at a loss for words. "I've got to go," I say quietly, taking the letter. "Looks like I have people to warn." I make my way into the castle. I'm not going to say goodbye to Ron. Not with the way he's treating Harry (and I'm still mad at him for saying that 'they don't make girls like that at Hogwarts'). Instead, I look for Fred, George, and Lee. The first place I look is the Gryffindor Common Room. Thankfully, I find them there. When I see them working around something related to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, they notice me. "Chloe, what's wrong?" Fred asks worriedly. I hand them the letter.

It's a few minutes before anyone responds. "You can't go home!" George protests. I shrug. "You've met my mom. Overprotective and paranoid. Now she's making everyone else as paranoid as she is. Look, if I have to go home, keep me updated about everything that's going on around here. The joke shop, this mess with Bagman, the Triwizard Tournament, everything," I instruct. They merely nod. For the rest of the day, I try to balance spending time with Fred, George, and Lee, and Hermione and Harry. The closer it gets to nine, the more nervous I get. This is either going to make me really happy, or really upset. At dinner, I linger in the Great Hall as long as I'm able. At 8:30, though, I'm no longer able to put it off any longer. Grudgingly, I make my way to the Hospital Wing.

When I get there, my family isn't there yet, but Madam Pomfrey is. She makes me sit down on a bed. "What if it turns out I'm going to be a vampire soon?" I ask. "Will I be able to come back to school?" At first, she doesn't say anything. After a few minutes, she says, "Dumbledore is a compassionate man. I'm positive that he would find a way for you to be able to continue your education. If you end up going home, all of your teachers are going to send you homework and you are to send it back completed. Understood?" she asks. I nod. For fifteen long minutes, I sit on the bed. Out of nowhere, I feel something cold and hard press up against me. Once I regain my composure, I look and see that it's my mom, hugging me in an iron grip. She pulls away, and looks me over. "I'm so sorry," I hear her mumble. "For what?" I ask bitterly. It's her fault I'm here in the first place. "For you being sick! If it wasn't for your dad and I being vampires, you wouldn't be here," she says. I roll my eyes. "Mom, if you and dad weren't vampires, I wouldn't exist. You're fine," I tell her.

Grandpa and dad follow her soon after. While mom is sitting on one side of me, dad sits on the other. Grandpa walks in coming fully prepared. He has a bunch of medical equipment. Syringes, swabs, petri dishes, microscopes, and other stuff I can't see. "I'll try and make this as quick as possible," he says. With Madam Pomfrey watching, he sets his equipment on one of the empty beds. The first thing he does is pull out a syringe and a couple of test tube things. I look at my mom as he prepares the injection site. He wraps a blue thing on my arm and dabs something cold and wet on the inside of my arm. I hate watching the blood draws. I hiss as I feel him poke the needle into my arm. My mom holds my hand, but whether it's for her sake or mine, I don't know. He leaves the needle in a lot longer than I expected. When he's done, I look back and see four vials filled with my blood. Next, he takes a few swabs and rubs it on the inside of my mouth. As soon as he's done, he leaves the hospital wing with all of the stuff and heads into Madam Pomfrey's office.

The wait for the results seems to take forever. While we wait, I rest my head on my dad's shoulder. "How are you feeling?" dad asks while wrapping his arm around me. "Fine," I say quietly. "Chloe," mom says. She knows I'm lying. Like I've said before, she can read me like a book. "Yeah?" I question anyway. "It's okay if you're afraid," she says. I feel her grip my hand tighter. As I've gotten older, I've heard more and more stories about what it's like to turn into a vampire. Begging for someone to kill you, feeling like you're being lit on fire. I'm afraid to ask questions about it because I don't want the answers. About half an hour later, grandpa comes back, with Madam Pomfrey and, to my surprise, Professor Dumbledore behind him. I immediately know that whatever he found isn't good. I sit up properly so I can look less afraid. My mom, however, doesn't seem to care whether I look brave or not. She puts her arm around me and makes me sit closer to her and squeezes me into her side, as if that would protect me from the news that Carlisle is about to deliver.

"What did you find?" mom asks. Carlisle sighs, making mom squeeze me tighter, making it a little bit harder to breathe, although I can't bring myself to pull away. "It took me a minute to find the protective film, especially in her blood. It has disintegrated a lot faster than I had predicted. That is why she has been getting a lot sicker as of late. Her immune system is completely focused on the venom, leaving her with very little defenses for other illnesses. Since she's around so many humans here, I think it best that she go home. I can monitor her better and she'll be away from other humans," Carlisle says. I feel my heart drop. Going home so he can monitor me? He makes it sound like I'm going home because I have some contagious disease. I guess, if you think about it, I do. If I turn into a vampire, I will most likely be a little unstable for a while and spread vampirism to a good portion of the school.

I'm not worried about my dad's reaction - he made peace with the fact that I'll eventually be a vampire a long time ago. It's my mom I'm worried about. I look up at her and I can tell she'd be crying if she were able. For my entire life, she's been trying to find ways to prolong me being human, and she's been in constant denial that I'll ever be anything but human. I try to comfort her as best I can, since she needs it more than me. It takes us a few minutes to get things worked out. Professor Dumbledore tells me what Madam Pomfrey has already told me about assignments. We decide that mom will go up to my dorm and get my stuff and I'll go home after grandpa. "Will I be able to come back?" I ask Dumbledore. He looks down at me with his twinkling eyes. "I'm confident that we can find a way for that to be possible. Of course, you are going to have to try really hard as well," he says. I merely nod. I look around the hospital wing one last time, and then I step into the fireplace so I can go back home.