Chapter 10: CHAPTER 10: THE TALK

“Albus Dumbledore, A Great Wizard whether we like it or not, and to me, a strange old man.”

 

-Edgart Aldrich on Albus Dumbledore

 

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Ed entered the room, it was quite big, perfect for someone as Dumbledore’s stature, it is a circular room with many windows and portraits of the old headmasters and headmistresses, the walls of the room were covered with shelves filled with books, the room was quite messy, books were scattered near the shelves, shiny and peculiar things decorated the room, and the middle of it all, the headmaster desk, the sorting hat can be seen on the desk, probably only recently moved by dumbledore to Fulfilled his end of the deal to the hat.

Right now, an old man with a purple robe and half-moon spectacles was sitting behind the desk, and of course, the old man is Albus Dumbledore, he saw McGonagall and Ed entered his room and asked,

“Ah! Minerva, Mr. Aldrich, to what do I owe the pleasure.”

McGonagall just stared at Dumbledore for a second and said, “Albus, one of your students over here just killed a troll,” she paused for a second then continued, “With a Lightning spell.”

The room was silent for a minute, but Ed felt like it felt like an eternity, and suddenly Dumbledore said with his eyes twinkling, “Really?” Dumbledore looked at Ed intently, and Ed instantly turned on his Occlumency as high as possible, he felt a chill when Dumbledore asked the question.

“Yes Professor.” Ed said emotionlessly, the effect of Occlumency. “We seem to have a long overdue chat, isn't it Headmaster?” he continued, smiling at the old man this time.

Dumbledore just smiled and nodded, he then said to McGonagall, “Can you please leave us Minerva?”

McGonagall looked at the two for a second then nodded blankly, she exited the room and made the atmosphere silent.

“Sit,” Dumbledore said, “let’s forget about the troll for a minute, I’m sure you have many questions to ask.”

Ed just walked to the chair in front of the desk, sat down and said, “Oh, I sure do Professor, I sure do.”

Ed made himself comfortable with the chair and looked at the old man in front of him with his glowing silver eyes.

“Sherbet lemon?” Dumbledore suddenly offered, he put a wooden box filled with yellow candies in front of Ed.

Ed took one, he smelled the candy to check if there’s something he put in there and ate it.

“So, ask away.” Dumbledore said while smiling.

Ed thought a bit about what he would ask first, but ultimately chose the less important one first.

“What is your game Professor? ‘Bribing’ the sorting hat to put me into Gryffindor, putting me in the same dorm room as Harry Potter, are you asking me to be a babysitter for him?”

Dumbledore once again just smiled at Ed, then said, “I didn’t bribe the hat Mr. Aldrich, I simply exchanged a favour for a favour. And about your question about Harry, I didn’t ask you to be his babysitter, I asked you to be his friend.”

Ed chuckled, “Friend? What is the difference, Professor? if I become one of his ‘close friend’, I will be dragged into his problems, I will have to stop him from his reckless tantrums, I will need to convince him when he made baseless conclusions, I will need to save him from all the-, excuse my language, all the shit he will go through because of that lightning scar. For what? Fame because I am a friend of Harry Potter? Glory because I fought with the boy-who-lived? I don’t want all that.”

Dumbledore just looked at him mysteriously, and said, “You seem to know a lot of things, Mr. Aldrich.”

Ed just stood there in silence, he thought about telling the old man, but Dumbledore interrupted his thought.

“For friendship Mr. Aldrich.” The old man said, a weak smile can be seen in his face,

“Pardon me?” Ed asked, confused why the old man suddenly said those things.

“You ask me what good it would bring you if you were Harry’s friend.”

“Friendship?” Ed said, confused.

“Yes, it seems your education in the Andrews is a bit damaging to your way of thinking. You seem to think that what benefit it will bring you if you’re friends with someone, which is clearly the mindset of a politician and businessman who only wants profit.”

“Well, what’s wrong with that? Isn’t it normal?”

“As I said, for a politician or a businessman, yes, but for an eleven-year-old like you, no, it’s not normal Mr. Aldrich.”

Ed once again just sat there in silence, he thought about what Dumbledore said, the old man looked at Ed intently and said once again,

“You seem to be close friends with a Ravenclaw named Richard Neil.”

Ed nodded and explained, “He is my brother, we were raised in the same orphanage, you know that right? you watched me walking with him after that book incident a couple years back.”

Dumbledore smiled and said, “Ah, the sorting hat told me that you’re a firm believer that family doesn’t need to be bound by blood. Yes, now, based on your way of thinking, what did you get from Mr. Neil, after all you said he is your friend right?”

Ed couldn’t answer, what did he get from Richard? But he thought about an answer,

“Richard is my brother and friend since the orphanage, I didn’t think about the benefits because as you said, I got my way of thinking from the Andrews.”

“What about Ms. Granger then?” Dumbledore asked again, still smiling.

At the mention of Hermione's name Ed frowned, “What about her?”

“You seem to be adamant to befriending her, after all, you just killed a troll to save her about thirty minutes ago, and before this you are only talked in the first week of the term, then she ignored you, yet you still search for her, why is that?” Dumbledore said triumphantly, thinking he ‘won’ this ‘debate’.

Ed looked dumbfounded at Dumbledore and asked, “How do you know all that? That is creepy, stalking a child’s daily life.”

Dumbledore ignored Ed’s remark and said, “You didn’t answer my question Mr. Aldrich.”

Ed glared at Dumbledore, he thought of an answer, and hesitantly said,

“S-She’s different,” Ed stuttered and looked down at his feet, “I saw a little bit of myself in her. Alone, not compatible with others around her, and struggled to find a conversation partner that actually has the same lust of knowledge as herself.”

Ed went silent for a second, then continued, “She’s smart, really smart, but one thing I noticed is her lack of the ability to communicate with others without actually upsetting them. She constantly shows off her knowledge, which was a bad idea in my opinion, but she doesn’t think so, she thought if she were to show off all her knowledge, someone will like her. She also has a tendency to always be perfect no matter what, even if it disturbs other people’s peace.”

Then Ed stared at Dumbledore and said, “That’s why I thought of helping her, or at least give her a push to abandon these habits, because unlike me, she actually wants friends.”

“Then why did you want to help her?” Dumbledore said, with his eyes twinkling.

Ed looked at Dumbledore confusedly, ‘I just did’, he then said, “I told you, I he-”

“That’s not a reason, Edgart.” Dumbledore cut him off and used his First name this time. “You said that you need a benefit from them if you want to become friends with them, then why did you help Miss Granger Edgart? What benefit will you get?”

Ed's face fell, ‘Why did I help her?’ he thought. Because she’s a girl? Because she’s going to be an important character later? Because I know what her future would be?

Ed thought for a moment and realised something, he then said to Dumbledore,

“Because I want to see a version of me that didn’t take the same path as I am right now.” Ed said flatly. “Always feeling empty, burdened by knowledge that a normal eleven-year-old kid shouldn’t know, pressured by the expectation to maintain my blood-family legacy whom I only know for only about two months and a half, and a quest to find loved ones.” 

“Hermione is still redeemable, she doesn’t have all the pressure I have, even though me and her are basically a different person with a different personality, I can’t have but to relate to her, an unintentional self-isolation, I don’t know whose fault that she became like that, but I know she will change in the future, I just helped her change quickly, but it clearly didn’t work, she ignored me ever since I gave her the talk.”

Dumbledore just looked at him sadly, he took off his glasses and put it on the table, then said,

“You’re still redeemable too Edgart.” He said softly, “That is why you need friendships, so you don’t have to carry the burden by yourself and have friends beside you to help. And I’m not talking about your definition of friendship, I’m talking about true friendship, the one that doesn’t think about what benefits it will bring.”

Ed sat there, thinking, the room was quiet, but it was not tense. Ed was processing what Dumbledore said and spoke.

“You mean unconditional love? In my opinion, that is what is called a family, a group of people that you will trust, care, and love unconditionally, even in the darkest times, you will stand with your family. Even if friends come and go, family will also be beside you.”

Dumbledore smiled and nodded, “Yes, I suppose it is right to call it family.”

Dumbledore then stood up and walked to see outside the windows, and continued,

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“Yes, with your mindset, I retract what I just said, you need a family to surround you, I hope you can find it, whether it is blood or no blood.”

He then looked at Ed and said,

“I will not request you to befriend Harry anymore Edgart, I clearly overlook your own problems, but I still request that you help Harry along his journey, even if you’re not close to him.”

Ed pondered awhile but nodded,

“If he asked for my help, I would consider it, but other than that, it’s his own journey not mine, I have a different one even though it is much simpler. I might have interfered a bit so casualties will be minimised, and maybe saved him a couple of times, but everything else he needs to go through with his circle.”

Dumbledore chuckled, and said, “Ah, the Aldrich and their mysterious library, I really wish to go back again, but alas, I’m old.”

Ed was surprised, “You know the library sir?”

“Of course, I’m friends with Edwyn after all. Now, it’s late, if you have any more questions you can save it for a later time, for now, off to bed.” He spoke.

“One last question Professor, a short one, or two maybe.” Ed pushed for more answers.

Dumbledore looked at him with curiosity and nodded.

“Are my parents in the order? Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall seemed to know them and their skills.”

Dumbledore looked surprised, and said, “Yes, they are in the order, I’m surprised you know about it.”

“Then do you know my mother’s maiden name? The sorting hat said that I am a pureblood, which means Aldrich is counted as pureblood, and my mother will need to be a pureblood as well, I looked at the photo at the living room, black hair and dark green eyes, she looks quite elegant and beautiful as well, and I don’t know any pureblood families that has Isabella as their daughter that was born in somewhere in the 50s maybe, I don’t know her age actually.”

Dumbledore just smiled and said, “Then perhaps you need to discover it by yourself.”

Ed’s eyebrows twitched, ‘Fucking old man and his vagueness.’, Ed just smiled at Dumbledore and started to walked to exit the headmaster’s room, but before that he also said to Dumbledore,

“Oh, right Professor, if you need any help, you can ask me as well, and I’ll consider it too.”

Dumbledore smiled, “Edgart,” he called, “Don’t tell everyone that your parents are alive, I made a vow with them to not tell them that they are alive, so I suggest you do the same.” Ed pondered a while and nodded, after that he exited the room. 

He walked through the corridor, it was dark, his silver eyes glowed in the dark like the full moon in the dark sky. Suddenly a noise could be heard around the corner, Ed instantly became alert and pulled his wand out, pointing it at the source of the voice.

“Who’s there!” he shouted, his voice echoed in the corridor, bringing a sense of tense quietness.

No answer, he creeped up to the corner, and saw a beautiful girl, probably the same age as him, blonde hair, and she’s wearing a Slytherin badge.

“Who are you? Are you following me?” Ed asked, a frown can be seen in his face.

“Following? What? No!” she said, a little bit angry because of the accusation.

“Then what are you doing?” Ed asked.

“I was training in one of the empty classrooms, but fell asleep. I woke up about five minutes ago, so I need to sneak to the dungeons to go to my dorm.” She said flatly.

“You think I would believe you?” Ed said with a bit of a mocking tone.

“Believe what you want to believe, I need to go to the dungeons. It’s almost curfew.” She said hurriedly, probably didn’t want to get detention.

Ed looked at her intently, searching for a sign of lies on her face, seeing nothing, he sighed and dropped his wand.

“You want me to escort you?” he offered, trying to be a gentleman.

“I don’t need an escort thank you very much.” She snorted, while Ed’s lips just twitched.

“Fine, but watch out for Peeves, you’re near the Gryffindor dorm right now, so Peeves should be around here, and he’s known to snitch to Filch.” Ed recalled, while walking towards the Fat lady portrait.

At the mention of this, the blonde girl called him out again, “Wait!” she whispered loudly.

Ed turned around and lifted his eyebrow, and asked, “Need something?”

She looked a bit hesitant but ultimately asked, “You’re Edgart Aldrich right? I accidentally saw you use the disillusionment charm on the train to Hogwarts, can you use it on me?”

He looked at her with surprise, and said, “How do you know my— oh right, the eyes, I forgot. All right then, but you have to cancel it yourself or just wait for it to wear off.”

Ed pointed his wand towards her, and cast the Disillusionment charm, the girl instantly vanished, nowhere to be seen. “Thank you.” She whispered.

“Right, good luck, whatever your name is.” He said casually, while continuing to walk towards the Fat Lady portraits, He heard the girl’s footsteps walking away towards the direction of the dungeons. and after a couple of minutes of walking, Ed was now standing in front of the Fat Lady.

“Where have you been?” said the Fat Lady.

“Dumbledore’s office, just chatting.” He answered.

“Right, Password?” Fat Lady nodded, then asked for a password.

“Pig Snout.”

The Fat Lady once again nodded and opened the entrance to the common room. Ed entered and saw the room was empty, he only heard the fire crackling in the fireplace, but when he got near the fire, he noticed a bushy haired girl was sleeping soundly on one of the sofas in front of the fire. It was Hermione, she looked like she waited alone for Ed to come back and fell asleep here.

‘Should I wake her up or let her sleep here?’ Ed thought.

She looked at what Hermione’s wearing and saw her messy uniform from all the crying was still worn, he sighed and thought again, ‘I need to wake her up, she can’t sleep here.’

He kneeled beside Hermione and shook her gently.

“Hermione, wake up, you need to move to your dorm room.” He said softly.

After a few seconds of shaking, she whined and mumbled, “Go away…”

Ed stared at her for a second and said, “All right then, suit yourself.” And Ed caressed her cheek, which made her jolt in surprise because of Ed’s cold hands. She stood up surprised by the sudden coldness and looked at whose hands it belonged to angrily. But her face changed when Ed was looking at her.

“Ed!” she said, a bit of blush can be seen on her cheeks.

“Finally woke up, eh?” he teased, “What are you sleeping here anyway, waiting for me?”

She blushed even more, and answered, “Y-Yes, I was worried, what did you talk about with Professor Dumbledore, you didn’t get expelled did you?”

Ed smirked in his mind and decided to tease her a bit. Then he put on a gloomy face, Hermione noticed that and panicked.

“Y-You did!? Oh no, it’s all my fault! I-I should go to Professor Dumbledore’s office and explain everything.” She said, while wandering around aimlessly.

Ed instantly changed his face and laughed

“I can’t believe you fall for that!” Ed said while laughing.

Hermione however, looked at Ed with dark eyes and a frown on her face.

“Liar!” she shouted while storming off to her dorm room, but she stopped in front of the staircase. She turned around, looking at Ed’s face with sincerity and said,

“Thank you… for looking up for me, and also for staying as my friend even if I ignored you for a month.”

He smiled at her and just said, “Well, it’s nothing, and besides, you seemed to get a few more friends, I’m sure you won’t spend time with me as much as the first week because of that, so enjoy your time at Hogwarts, and remember my words that day Hermione.”, Hermione seemed to want to say something, but before she said anything, Ed already walked towards the boy’s dorm.

He entered his room, he changed to his sleeping clothes and lay on his bed, he looked up at the ceiling and muttered while smiling,

“Maybe it’s not the same after all.”

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