Chapter 15: CHAPTER 15: THE END OF A YEAR

“People say that summer vacation is when you enjoy the time with your family and friends, but not me.”

-Harry Potter, talking about summer vacation.

 

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Ed appeared in a circular room filled with shiny things and books. It was Dumbledore’s office. Ed looked outside the window, it was dark, after all, it was midnight.

“Quite a convenient spell you have, Edgart.” An old voice sounded from the desk; it was Dumbledore.

Ed looked at the old man and smiled, “Yes it is Dumbledore, and please, call me Ed, everyone calls me that.”

Dumbledore nodded, and warned, “But I have to warn you that, although your spell is not really considered illegal, it is still forbidden to use a quick transportation method like that in the castle.”

“Very well Headmaster, I won’t really use it all year anyway, just for emergencies.”

“Come, sit.”

Ed then walked to the chair in front of the headmaster, he then sat on it comfortably.

Dumbledore looked at him intently for a while before he spoke,

“I seem to remember that you won’t interfere with Harry’s problems Ed.”

Ed nodded, and smiled weakly, “Well, Hermione practically begged me to save Harry. So, I can’t really say no to that.”

Dumbledore smiled with curiosity in his twinkling eyes, “Already Ed? You should know the rules of your family, it’s quite dangerous to fall so easily.”

Ed sighed, “You know that too Dumbledore? How much do you really know? And for the record I didn’t fall, I can’t really ignore a crying girl in front of me can’t I?”

Dumbledore ignored the first question and nodded, “Indeed, it would be quite hard to ignore.”

Ed looked at the old man sharply, “You avoided the first question Dumbledore.”

Dumbledore smiled and sighed, “I was a friend of your grandfather Ed, along with Nicolas, I know things about your family, albeit not detailed, just the basic things like rules, the existence of that wonderful library of yours, and your family’s… situation.”

“Of course, you know about my parents being chased by hunters, although I don’t know who the hunters are.” Ed sighed heavily.

He then continued, “Then why did you say to tell people that my parents are dead? You made a vow too, so you’re the one that faked their deaths?”

“Yes, I was, I told everyone that your parents were killed in an experiment, the body vanished.”

“Just like that? And everyone believed you?”

Dumbledore nodded, “Just like that.”

“You were in a war, Dumbledore; everyone must’ve been sceptical.”

“Oh, you know about the war and what your family did? Yes they were sceptical, that is why the death eaters were hesitant to attack you and provoke you, because if you did, they would trigger another wrath of the Aldrich Family.”

“True, even the Malfoys instantly agreed to my request to visit my grandfather.” Ed said, “Oh, by the way, here.” Ed put the Philosopher’s stone on the desk, “I trust that it will be destroyed?”

“Yes, Nicolas and I have talked, it’s time to destroy the stone, but he had one request.”

Ed frowned, “What is it?”

“The couple wants to be accompanied by you for the rest of their time, they will teach you a bit of alchemy and enchanting, they may also tell stories about your grandfather.”

“They want me to accompany them?” Ed was surprised, “But why me?”

“You’re Edwyn’s grandson.” Said Dumbledore, “He and Nicolas were close friends, closer than me and him, so maybe he wanted your company for the sake of old times.”

Ed sighed, “When will I go? I’m quite busy this summer, visiting my grandfather, claiming the family vault, going to Hermione’s home, not to mention Gilligan’s lessons.”

“You don’t have to worry about that, I will send you next semester under the pretext of the student exchange program to Beauxbatons academy of magic, so your grades won’t be affected.”

“Okay then, how long?”

“Until December, probably around Christmas.”

“All right, I’ll go.”

Dumbledore nodded, the room went silent for a minute, Dumbledore rubbed his beard, “Speaking of the topic before about your family history, I can’t help but to remind you Ed, that slaughtering entire pureblood families isn’t a way for revenge.”

Ed chuckled, and refuted, “Really? Well in my opinion it’s much better than sulking about it for the rest of your life.”

Dumbledore frowned at the statement, and sighed, “You know about Arianna?”

“I know a lot of things Dumbledore, the privilege of being an Aldrich.” Ed said, “That said, after hearing that tragedy, I intend to continue our family’s revenge, even Gilligan probably agrees, I will make Tom suffer humiliation and pain for the rest of his miserable life, I won’t kill him now, even now it’s hard to kill him, but I will make sure that every plan he made will fail, I will make sure that he will suffer humiliation every time he made a public appearance, I will make sure that every followers of his will be dead.” Ed continued, with a tone of anger.

Ed looked at Dumbledore, his eyes glowed shiningly, even though the room was bright.

“For if the Guardian of Knowledge fails to guard, it will come for revenge.”

Ed instantly disappeared from the room, seeing that Dumbledore just sighed tiredly, he put off his glasses and massaged his forehead.

“You brought this upon yourself Tom” he whispered.

Ed then appeared in the Gryffindor common room, where he saw Hermione, seated in front of the fireplace, looking worried.

“You okay Hermione?” Ed asked.

The girl looked back and saw Ed, she instantly jumped and hugged him.

Ed just stayed silent and continued to comfort her, after a couple of minutes, she calmed down, and Ed asked,

“So, you still want to tell your parents that everything will be fine?”

Hermione went silent for a second, then answered,

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“This is the one place that I feel that I belong, and I will fight for it, so please tell my parents that it is safe.”

Ed just nodded at the statement, and the two just sat in front of the fireplace comfortably.

It is the end-of year feast, Dumbledore had talked about how Harry defeat Quirrell and the destruction of the Philosopher’s stone, Ed, Ron, and Hermione, is now sitting beside all the other Gryffindors, they gave Ron and Hermione stink eyes because the Gryffindor is in last place on the House cup, and the two plus Harry lost them a lot of points. Then Harry walked into the hall and the attention drew to him, he noticed this and tried to ignore the people who were staring at him. Thankfully though, Dumbledore arrived, and spoke.

“Another year gone!” he said cheerfully, completely the opposite when Ed was talking to him. “Now, as I understand it, the house cup here needs awarding.”

Dumbledore then announced the house standings, with Gryffindor sitting depressingly in last place with 272 points and first place the Slytherins with 472 points. The Slytherins are celebrating, jumping around and cheering as their banners spread across the hall. Ed could see Malfoy hitting the table with his hands, Harry also noticed it and put on a gloomy expression.

“However, we did not take into account the recent events” Dumbledore suddenly said, silencing everyone in the Hall, and the Slytherins' smiles and cheers faded.

Dumbledore coughed, then continued, “I have some last-minute points to give, let me see…” he ruffled his speech paper and then said.

“First, to Mr. Ronald Weasley, for the best chess game in Hogwarts history, I award forty points to the Gryffindor House.”

The Gryffindor cheered for Ron, making his face a bit purple out of the embarrassment, Percy hit his back, proud of his brother.

“Second, to Miss Hermione Granger, for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor House forty points.”

Hermione burst into tears, covering her face from her sudden gain of points.

“Third, to Mr. Harry Potter, for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor House sixty points.”

The Gryffindor cheered once again; Harry looked dumbfounded that he earned 60 points for breaking the rules.

“Fourth, to Mr. Edgart Aldrich, for outstanding skill of using magic and calmness in the face of danger, I award Gryffindor sixty points.”

The Gryffindor crowd cheered even more, now they’re tied to the Slytherins, if someone gets another point they will win, the Slytherins on the other hand is silent, they can be seen frowning at Dumbledore at this unfair treatment.

“There are all kinds of courage.” Said Dumbledore again, the hall went silent once again. “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom.”

The Gryffindors exploded, some even cried like Hermione, they had won the house cup, people were hugging Ed, Ron, Harry, and Hermione. Everyone cheered, and Neville looked horrified because he didn’t believe what he heard.

“Which means,” Dumbledore said between the cheers, “We need a little change of decoration.”

Dumbledore clapped his hands, and the banner changed to the ones that Gryffindor has, Snape is shaking McGonagall’s hand, a forced smile can be seen on his face, while McGonagall smiled rarely. And with that, Ed’s first year in Hogwarts is over.

After that, they emptied their wardrobes, and packed it all in their trunks, Ed can see Harry smiling while doing it, then notes were handed out towards the students, warning them not to use magic during the summer, Hagrid sailed the first years across the lake once again, and they boarded the Hogwarts express, Ed, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and Richard talked about their summer plans in the compartment, the view outside the compartment windows change every now and then, they saw the countryside, they passed muggle towns, and finally, they stopped at platform 9 ¾ at King’s Cross. Richard said goodbye first because his foster parents were already waiting, and he also saw Daphne with her parents, she just waved at him.

Everyone was saying goodbyes to Harry, Ron asked the three of them to go to his home, the Burrow, the four of them passed through the gateway together, then Ron’s family arrived.

“There he is, Mum, there he is, look!” a redhead girl suddenly shouted, pointing at Harry.

“It’s Harry Potter, look Mum, I can see him!”

“Be quite Ginny, it’s rude to point.” The woman beside the girl said, then she smiled at the four of them.

“Busy year?” she asked.

“Very, thanks for the sweater, Mrs. Weasley.” Said Harry.

“Yes, thank you for the sweater Mrs. Weasley, but I can’t help to ask, how do you know me? Does Ron tell you or…”

“Oh, it was nothing dear, I knew your mother a long time ago.” Said Mrs. Weasley to Ed. Then she smiled sadly. “It’s a pity she passed away so young…”

Ed just smiled sadly, she hugged him, making Ed confused. Before he could ask what’s going on, a purple-faced man with a moustache called Harry.

“Ready, are you?” said the man, he looked a bit furious. Behind him stood a woman and a fat boy.

“You must be Harry’s family!” said Mrs. Weasley.

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“In a manner of speaking,” said Uncle Vernon. “Hurry up, boy, we haven’t got all day.” He walked away.

Harry grimaced, then turned back to his three friends.

“See you over the summer then.”

“Hope you have a good holiday Harry.” Hermione said, while hugging Harry, she looked at the purple-faced man strangely.

“Oh, I will.” Said Harry while grinning. “They don’t know we’re not allowed to use magic at home.”

Ed just chuckled, while the others were surprised by his line of thinking, before Hermione could scold him, he ran to the purple-faced boy while waving.

“He could be expelled for that…” whispered Hermione worriedly.

“They will Probably only send a warning.” Ed shrugged. But then Hermione glared at him, shutting him up.

After that Mrs. Weasley suddenly said,

“Oh well dear, come now Ron, it’s good to finally meet you Ed.” She grabbed Ron’s hands and ruffed Ed’s hair.

“Goodbye you two, see you over the summer!” said Ron while being dragged away by Mrs. Weasley.

After that it was silent, then Ed suddenly said. “And then there were two.”

“Yeah.” She answered weakly.

“Where should we wait? it’s not usually like this, Ashbey has never been late before.”

“We could wait there.” Hermione pointed at an empty bench in the corner.

“All right, here, let me bring your things.” Said Ed while picking up Hermione’s trunks.

They then walked towards the empty bench, Ed put the things beside the bench, and sat down.

“So, are you preparing for next semester this summer? do you have the books that we will need?” asked Hermione curiously.

“Oh no, I won’t be back next semester.” Said Ed casually.

“WHAT!” shrieked Hermione, she jumped from the bench, her surroundings looked at her with weird eyes, while she looked at Ed with a horrified expression. “What do you mean you won’t be back?”

“Well, it means what it means, I won’t be back next semester.”

“Y-You mean you’re expelled? O-Or did you drop out?” Stuttered Hermione worriedly.

“What? No, Dumbledore sent me to Beauxbatons academy of magic, it’s just a disguise really, I’m going to Nicolas Flamel, possibly to study under him”

“So, you won’t go back to Hogwarts anymore? You transferred to Beauxbatons?”

“No, I’m only gone from Hogwarts for a semester Hermione, don’t worry too much.”

Hermione sighed in relief, then she put on a stern face. “You scared me!” she said.

“What? Are you so scared of me leaving?” Ed asked, a smug grin can be seen on his face.

Hermione just stayed silent and sat down again, her face looking red.

“Why is Nicolas Flamel interested in you anyway?” she asked, straying the topic.

“Apparently he’s good friends with my grandfather, and he wants me to accompany him and his wife until they pass away, while also passing along some knowledge.”

Hermione just nodded, and continued asking, 

“Oh right, I know that before you start school you already practice a lot of spells without being detected, how do you do that?” asked Hermione curiously with stars on her brown eyes, changing the topic once again.

“Hm, I can’t tell you Hermione, you need to have a good occlumency first then I’ll bring you there, you also need to make an unbreakable vow to enter that place.”

“That heavily guarded?”

“Yes, another way is if you took the unbreakable vow first and learn occlumency in that place later, but I have to ask him first though.”

“Well, can you ask him? Whoever he is.”

“I could try, if he agreed. You have to come to my house everyday though, or even live with me over the summer.”

“B-Brilliant! I’ll try to come to your house everyday if he agrees.” she stuttered, her face looking flushed.

After that, Hermione discussed what she will practise over the summer if ‘he’ who of course is Gilligan agrees. But then a couple of minutes later Ashbey came with Roger and Anna, who’s unexpectedly also talking with Mr. and Mrs. Granger.

“Well look at that Hermione, our parents are talking together, what could they possibly have been discussing?” Ed teased Hermione, Hermione instantly smacked him on the shoulders and stood up and approached her parents. Ed did the same, he approached Roger and Anna

“Roger, Anna, what are you doing here, it’s unusual of you two to pick me up.”

“Oh, it’s your first summer vacation at Hogwarts, so we thought we’ll pick you up, and besides, we were talking to the Grangers over here.” Anna said while smiling.

Ed then turned to the Grangers and greeted them.

“Good evening Mr. and Mrs. Granger, how are you?”

“We are good Ed, how about you?” said Mrs. Granger

“A bit disappointed that the semester has ended, but apart from that, I’m quite fine.”

Mr. Granger nodded, then said, “Well that’s good, sorry we have to rush now, we have a patient appointment at 7 pm this evening, good to see you again Ed, see you at our house, Good Evening Mr. and Mrs. Andrews.”

“Okay, see you at your house this summer, Hermione, see you too, and possibly every day after my visit to your house.” He waved at the Grangers; Hermione’s parents looked at her with curious eyes when Ed mentioned that she will possibly meet Ed every day after the visit. She just blushed and dragged her parents away from him before he said anything more.

“What was that about her seeing you every day?” teased Roger, with a grin on his face. “Are you planning to invite her to our house every day?”

“Something like that, we plan to practise magic over the summer, but we are actually not allowed to do so, but I have a place where we can practise it and not worry about getting detected.”

“Why are you not allowed to practice magic?”

“I don’t know, probably because we’re minors, and because we lived with muggles we don’t have anyone to watch us, if she was born in a magic family, she would probably be able to practice freely because her parents can use it, so they masked her magic.”

After that all of them went home, it was already dark, he passed through the streets of London, missing the view once again. A couple minutes later, he arrived at Andrews manor, he ate dinner, talked to the Andrews about his adventures in Hogwarts this semester, and went to his room.

Ed then picked his suitcase up, he put it down, the handle facing him, and spoke the password.

“May The Guardian of Knowledge Guide Us”

The Suitcase opened, revealing a pitch-black hole; he then entered the hole, climbing down the ladder. He arrived at the bottom of it, the lights turned on, he could see the big living room, the bar and the kitchen beside it, and the door to the library.

“Gilligan!” he called the owl.

The owl appeared out of thin air in front of him.

“Hello Gilligan, let’s talk a bit. I have a lot to ask.”

“I know what you want to ask, okay let’s sit down.”

Ed sits down in one of the armchairs, he sits there in silence a bit and then asks.

“So, where are my parents exactly, you’ve been avoiding the question.”

Gilligan just looked at Ed intently. And spoke.

“They’re not in this world, if you want to find them, you’re not powerful enough yet.”

“So, I can’t meet them?”

“You can, but not yet.”

“Then I keep hearing that they are hunted from you.”

“They’re being hunted by the Council of Worlds for the crime of illegal world travelling.”

“Council of Worlds? What is that?”

“As the name said, a council that governs the law of the people who knows that the multiverse exists.”

Ed just nodded, and asked once again, “Illegal world travelling? You said it was banned.”

“It is, our way of world travelling is illegal, the only legal way is to use a Council approved world jumper, and the world is also limited, while our way can be done anywhere, and to any world we want.”

“So Baldeth is our way of transportation?”

The owl just nodded with a strange expression on his face.

Ed looked at the owl strangely for a few moments and asked again, “Right, can Hermione and my other friends come to this place? and can you teach them how to do occlumency as well?”

“Do you trust them?” the owl asked.

“Based on my experience and the books, they are quite good at keeping secrets.”

“Then it’s fine, but your rules will also apply to them, they can only read the books from this world.”

“Brilliant, all right, I’ll tell her once I meet her again.”

Ed then stood up, stretched his body and said to the owl. “Okay, I have a couple more questions, but that can wait, I’m knackered, see you tomorrow Gilligan.” 

Ed then climbed the ladder towards the exit of the suitcase, leaving Gilligan alone.

Gilligan just stood in front of the fireplace, he looked at the photo of Darius and Isabella, and whispered, “Where are you Baldeth?”

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