✧

She couldn't stop thinking about Edward Cullen.

Not even when learning all the complicated mathematical equations, chemical bonds, various art techniques, and having to overanalyze a simple book meant just for entertainment. All she could focus on was him... and that was infuriating.

It's not like she didn't feel relieved the fallen Hufflepuff could actually be alive, it was the fact he didn't seem to know her. How could he forget everything? Of how they would constantly turn every insignificant thing into a competition or would argue over the littlest of things? Was he simply pretending? Did he truly not remember? Or was she just really easy to forget?

Truth be told, Mia didn't want to admit how frustrating it is that he doesn't appear to have a clue on anything. He's like a sailor who forgot how to navigate the waves, simply having to rely on pure instinct that apparently, he doesn't seem to have either. He's lost, completely submerged by the darkness of the unknown - that is, if it's really him.

Someone surviving the killing curse is impossible. It's a direct stairway to the afterlife, so believing Edward could actually be him, seems highly improbable and quite ridiculous. Mia refuses to give in to her overzealous mind, simply denying that there's a one percent chance some kind of miracle saved him and granted him the opportunity to live as far from the dangers as possible.

If that were the case, Mia would be furious to say the least. The thought of having mourned him and accepting his death all for him to be standing on the other side of the world completely fine would be the cruelest of acts. She wishes this isn't the case, that somehow there's another type of explanation that would ease her running mind and give her closure to her doubts.

There has to be a reason for this. Some type of clarification that would-

Smack!

A volleyball hitting her on the back of her head snaps Mia out of her thoughts. Frowning, she turns around and searches for the responsible party that happens to be a petite girl with a pale complexion and dark hair.

"I'm sorry!" she apologizes on her way to her. "I told them not to let me play."

"It's okay. Needed that whack in the head, anyway," Mia tells her and shakes it off with a smile. It's not like she was lying about it because thinking of Edward Cullen somehow being Cedric Diggory needed to get thrown out of her mind, or actually, hit out of.

The girl relaxes her shoulders and is about to say something when two other students walking over interrupt her.

"She's got a great spike, huh?" A brown haired girl jokingly says. Her smile is clearly forced, almost like she's trying to keep her annoyance low over the girl making her team lose a point. "I'm Jessica, by the way."

"And I'm Mike Newton," the boy next to Jessica blurts out and his loud voice catches everyone by surprise. He laughs nervously and rubs his neck rather too anxiously, "You're Isabella Swan, right? And you're definitely Mia."

"You seem sure that I'm Mia and she's Isabella. Maybe you're wrong and got our names mixed up," she says carelessly and tosses him the volleyball that causes him to flinch at her sudden movement.

Mike stifles a laugh and nods agreeingly at her, "You got me there, new girl."

"So Isabella-" Jessica begins.

"Just Bella," Bella corrects, shifting nervously in her spot as she bites her lip and tries avoiding making eye contact.

"A-ha! So I was right!" Mike exclaims and boastfully tugs on his shirt as he stares at Mia all defiantly.

Mia playfully rolls her eyes, "Wow, I'm so impressed."

"So," Jessica's tone is apparent with envy masked with a forced friendliness. "I heard you're from Arizona and you transferred from some boarding school in London."

Mia has yet to understand how the entire school seems to know so much about her. It's honestly frightening considering she faced similar circumstances when first attending Hogwarts. Everyone knew who she was, knew the legacy behind her name, and even seemed to know about her mother's secret affair with Lucius Malfoy before finding out he was married.

She thought she could escape it when moving to Forks, but it seems that whenever a newcomer arrives, this town finds the smallest gossip to spread that it eventually reaches the end of the crosslines. She's just glad that her most important secret hasn't been picked up. Considering she's done everything to prevent herself from accidentally using her magic, she would be disappointed if one little mistake costs her everything and risks getting her caught.

"Umm, yeah," Bella's voice is barely a whisper, resembling the small quip of what a mouse would sound like.

Jessica chuckles, her eyes focusing more on Mike, as she notices how he's unable to pull his gaze away from the Londoner. "Aren't people from Arizona supposed to be like... really tan?"

Bella plays with her fingers skittishly, "Yeah, maybe that's why they kicked me out."

Mike laughs at her comment while Jessica simply goes along to try and impress him, "How about you, little Grey?"

Mia furrows her brows at the nickname and becomes certain it's a pick at her height since he does appear to be taller than her. "Don't ever call me that again and to answer your question, I'm running away," she jokes.

She knows better than to reveal a glimpse of the truth, but it's not like they'll narrow it down to her being a witch and the only reason she's here is to escape a group of pureblood supremacists.

The three turn silent, their eyes widening in astonishment, as they take in her words from actually considering if she's telling the truth or not.

"Guys, I'm kidding," Mia tells them, laughing lightly that brings Mike to join and forces Jessica. "It was my mum's idea to move here. Apparently she visited when she was around my age and liked it. She thought it seemed like a good idea to move us here just so I can experience what she did."

Not that she was lying about that part. Her mother did spend some time in Forks and even mentioned how she met her first love here. It's one of the main reasons she chose this place for their fresh start. What she never told Mia was who her first love was, but she's certain her mother still thinks of him considering she kept all the love letters he gave her.

"Well, we better get back to the game," she nudges Bella to follow her from seeing how awkward she appeared to be around the others and thought it'd be nice to help her out. It seemed to work because the second Mike and Jessica went back to their game, Bella exhaled in relief and gave her a gratifying smile.

"Thanks for the save," Bella folds her arms across her chest in a protective way, flinching when the ball appears to be heading towards her.

"You seemed like you were having a great time," she jokes, earning a laugh from the girl as they maneuver themselves past their teammates to find a spot at the very back. "So, what brought you here all the way from Phoenix? If it's alright to know."

Bella sighs, "My mom remarried and wanted to spend some time with her husband. Since he's a baseball player, he often traveled a lot and rarely saw him since she stayed back to take care of me. I figured, why not move in with my dad to give her a chance to be with Phil?"

Mia nods understandably, already knowing her reasoning behind moving here was a selfless one. She left her home all so her mother could get the opportunity to be with her husband, and from the way her tone sounds disheartened, it's not hard to realize this move wasn't what she wanted at all.

"I get it. I mean, it's not like my situation is the same as yours, but my mum made the choice to move all the way here." Even if it is for her safety, it doesn't change how upsetting it is to leave all of your friends and everything you've ever known behind. "I didn't want to come here, but I could see how important it was, so I just had to agree."

There's a mere moment of silence, both of them perceiving they already have something in common. Mia feels grateful this day appears to be turning around. At least she won't come home with just the story of arriving late completely drenched from the rain. She can gloss over it and simply mention meeting someone with a similar situation.

"You want to sit together during lunch?" Bella queries, hoping she won't be sitting alone in the cafeteria with complete strangers, and it'd be nice to have a friendly face.

With no hesitation, Mia eagerly nods her head, "Definitely."

__________________

Mia loved dining in the Great Hall.

Hearing the chatters of her friends discussing the gossip they gathered from their classes was always something she looked forward to. She loved how the food magically appeared, how their delicious aromas would fill her with the savory delights, how the candles from above burned incessantly, how Hermione blurted out random facts and would scold Ron for his exuberant devouring. Everything was perfect, just what she needed.

She knew comparing a magical school with an ordinary one was unfair. Both of them were different as they were on opposite sides of the spectrum. Placing the grandness of Hogwarts next to the tedious building of Forks High was a one sided and unjust fight.

But that wouldn't stop her from reminiscing about her home.

Standing in the middle of the cafeteria holding a turkey sandwich and being pushed by the swarming crowd was definitely not what she expected. She had been looking forward to getting to know her new friend more, but just before gym class ended, Mike invited her and Bella to have lunch with him and his friends.

Mike guides them to a table situated in the center where two people are already there conversing about a new movie that just came out. He runs past Jessica as she tries getting to her seat, but is blocked when Mike offers her seat to Mia, only annoying the girl even more.

Mia nervously smiles, not wanting Jessica to think she has any interest in him. The last thing she wants is for someone not to like her already just because of a misunderstanding. She takes the seat from Mike's hand and curls her fingers around the head of the chair and with a dramatic gentleman-like bow, she gestures towards Jessica to take a seat.

Jessica smiles and places a hand over her heart, "Take notes, Mike. That's how you treat a lady."

"I'll make note of it," he sarcastically says while running a hand through his hair. He offers the seat next to him to Bella and reluctantly sits down, frowning on not being able to be next to Mia.

"Hey, I'm Angela!" A girl with white oval glasses and a kind smile introduces herself, but before Mia and Bella get a chance to respond, they're interrupted by another person.

"Hey, Mikey!" A dark haired boy next to Bella exclaims, "You met my homegirl, Bella!"

Bella softly smiles and immediately turns towards Mia as they exchange a few knowing looks.

"Oh, yeah? Well, have you met, Mia? My homegirl?" Mike responds back, a competitive tone laying in his voice.

"Your homegirl? Yeah, right," he snaps, rolling his eyes at him before shifting his attention to her. "I'm Eric, the eyes and ears of this place. Anything you need-"

"A tour guide, lunch date, or even a shoulder to cry on," Bella finishes his sentence and smirks at him when he chuckles nervously at her remembering their earlier introduction.

"Wow, I'll consider your offer then, Eric," Mia softly smiles as she leans back against her chair.

Eric then turns to Mike with a victorious grin, "You see? Now they're my homegirls."

Before Mike gets a chance to say anything, a boy runs up from behind him and kisses both Mia and Bella on the cheek.

"My girls," he says and pulls Mike's chair from under him, sending him crashing down. He quickly springs up and dashes like a bolt of lightning in his direction, leaving the entire table stunned at the sight of their two friends.

"Who the hell was that?" Mia rolls her eyes at the action that not only made her uncomfortable, but also Bella.

"That's Tyler," Jessica scoots herself closer to her, actually finding herself pitying the two girls for all the attention they're receiving. "This is like first grade all over again. It's like you guys are the shiny new toys."

The thought of being compared to a toy is appalling to think about, and it makes Mia grow annoyed at how immature people seem to act around here.

Bella opens her mouth to say something, but the flash of a camera catches her by surprise. The camera then turns to Mia, who's taking a giant bite from her sandwich that she nearly drops from the sudden photograph.

"Sorry, I needed candids for the feature," Angela mentions as she sinks back into her seat before gently placing her camera down.

Mia's actually used to getting her picture taken. Since she and Harry were always together, she was forced to get accustomed to the flashes coming from Colin Creevey's camera. It always happened during the most inconvenient times. One happened to be when Harry tripped on his feet while on the moving stairs and to try to regain his balance, he held a firm grip on her that nearly brought the both of them down.

"What's the feature about?" Mia doesn't even notice Eric's annoyed glare directed towards Angela. She only notices something is wrong when the girl's expression fades into nothing but dismay.

"Feature's dead, Angela," Eric begins standing up and before she can even question why their editorial is canceled, he's already starting to walk away. "Don't bring it up again."

Bella nervously glances at the pair, refusing to be the reason for why their feature is no longer in course. "It's okay. You can do your-"

Gently patting her shoulder, Eric's tone softens as he tries comforting her, "I got your back, baby. No worries."

Mia just stands back as she wonders what just happened and why their decided feature was now canceled. She honestly didn't mind if the story reports on them – only if it's nothing terrible of course. "Can someone tell me what just happened?"

Angela starts playing with her camera, clearly disappointed on having to look for another subject to report on. It's been a while since they received new students, let alone one who came all the way from the other side of the world. Besides, it's not like there's anything else remotely interesting to write about.

"Just a feature about you guys. We were gonna ask you some questions, maybe add a few fun facts. Not much," Angela runs through her words, quickly looking up from her camera towards Bella. "I guess we can run another editorial on teen drinking."

"You can always go for..." Bella tries recollecting some popular topics that were reported on at her old school. Maybe then, it will make her feel less guilty for changing their issue. "An eating disorder or speedo padding on the swim team."

Mia remains quiet, simply listening to their conversation since these specific editorials aren't reported back home, so there's not much she can suggest. The Daily Prophet only spoke of the important issues and after the tournament's events, the Dark Lord and their followers became their main topic as well as the smallest of things that weren't relevant to the situation.

The last she heard, Harry had become their main focus. The Ministry started calling him a liar and a boy with a troubled past that made everything up for attention. Mia never understood how the Ministry reached a congruent state of mind or why they were denying the obvious.

Wasn't seeing Harry bring Cedric's corpse enough? Or seeing how hysteric he was after coming back? It was vile to believe anyone would lie about such a thing - especially a boy who lost his parents at the Dark Lord's hands. Trying to deny the truth won't prevent the inevitable from occurring. If anything, it would make everyone less prepared and would create a greater tragedy.

"Who are they?"

Mia's thoughts come to a halt when Bella's soft spoken voice catches her attention. She follows her friend's line of sight and notices a group of people walking past the cafeteria windows.

Angela turns around, a smile making its way to the corners of her lips when realizing who she's referring to, "The Cullens."

That caught Mia's attention. The pale look alike of her late rival is a Cullen as well, so that must mean they're his family. She tries not to be too obvious when turning around, but Jessica quickly notices and gives her an understanding look.

"They're Dr. and Mrs. Cullen's foster kids," Jessica's voice gets slightly lower, her tone resembling Lavender Brown's whenever she had some gossip to tell. "They moved down here from Alaska a few years ago."

"They kind of keep to themselves," Angela adds.

"All of them moved here at the same time?" Mia rests her elbows on the table, slightly leaning forward while trying not to look their way as they start walking in.

Both girls exchange a few puzzled looks, not understanding her sudden question or how she appears to know one of them joined recently. "Well, Edward had been homeschooled since freshman year, and he barely started coming here a few months ago."

"Why?" Jessica asks, her interest at its peak in getting a chance to possibly get more intel on Forks' prestigious family.

"Just curious," she tells her while shoving a potato crisp to her mouth. Any kind of information would be useful if she wants to put the puzzle pieces together on the uncanny resemblance.

Jessica thinks nothing of it and resumes her gossiping, "There's also the weird thing that they're all together. Like, together, together."

Two of them finally enter and right away, she's left completely speechless at their beauty. The blonde girl walks with such elegance that her steps appear to be floating and her smile is as illuminating as the stars. "That's Rosalie and the big dark haired guy is Emmett." His stance is powerful and it's truly exhilarating seeing the grandness of his confidence and the regal quality of his smile. "They're like, a thing. I'm not even sure that's legal."

"Jess, they're not actually related," Angela insists.

"But they live together, it's weird," Jessica defends her assertion before continuing, "The little dark haired girl is Alice. She's really weird." A small girl with a pixie cut and a lively energy enters. Her eyes are filled with a beautiful delicacy resembling the softness of a cotton sheet. She walks in a carefree manner, almost like she's at peace in both her heart and soul. "She's with Jasper, the blonde one who looks like he's in pain." He walks alongside her, his eyes appearing tortured and filled with a burning distress that is soothed by Alice. His blonde locks resemble the sun, vibrant and encapsulating in every possible sense.

All of them resemble each other perfectly. Their eyes are the same unnatural color and their skin tones are as white as snow. Maybe it was all the lessons from Defense Against the Dark Arts received or the fact that nothing in her life has ever been normal, but watching their entrancing beauty and unusual features, she can't stop from wondering if they're linked to the creatures of the night.

"Dr. Cullen is this foster dad slash matchmaker," Jessica jokes.

Angela places her hands under her chin and bats her eyes dreamingly, "Maybe he'll adopt me."

Mia turns away from the dashing couple when finally noticing the familiar sight of Edward Cullen entering the cafeteria. She hates admitting how handsome he is because that would mean admitting she found Cedric attractive, which is something she denied whenever Harry or Hermione teased her about it.

"Who's he?" Bella curiously asks.

"That's Edward Cullen. He's totally gorgeous, obviously, but apparently no one here is good enough for him." The bitterness in Jessica's tone gave away that she had been rejected by him. It was hard not to try and confirm it, but something told Mia that prying would only get her on her bad side – if she isn't already in it. "Like I care, you know?"

Mia knows better than to keep staring, but her curiosity on figuring this out is gnawing at her. It's strange that months after Cedric's death, she finds him living here as if nothing happened, which frustrates her when leaving her ideas in a complete void from not being able to solve this query just yet.

"Seriously, don't waste your time," Jessica advises her when noticing the way she keeps staring at him.

Mia scoffs and looks away when his gaze falls on hers, "I wasn't planning on it." She tries focusing on their different change of conversation and tries resisting the urge to gaze upon those bewitching eyes.

Moving here was to try to escape the chaos and the impending danger, and having this person sitting a few feet away only makes it harder to accept this new life of hers. She can't take a step back after moving forward, yet she can't stay here and not try to figure out this mystery engraved in a dashing person.

Without even realizing it, Mia is already glancing in his direction. Almost as if a magnet is pulling her in and removing any kind of resistance. She sighs and nearly forgets how to breathe from the unsettlement and cryptic emotions those golden eyes bring.

The more Mia keeps staring, the more her theories on what they could be become more certain. She's been wrong before, lots of times that can't even be counted, but something about this feels oddly right, yet also incredibly unnerving. Regardless of her suspicions, she knows better than to ignore them when having a striking match in proximity.

Author's Note

So yeah, I decided on making her quick to suspect the Cullens are something supernatural.

I just find it unrealistic when witches/wizard OC's aren't quick to figure it out.

Hope you guys liked the chapter!
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