Chapter 42: CHAPTER 42: THE HOGWARTS TRIO

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HOW IN THE MERLIN’S PANTS DID YOU KEEP THIS PLACE HIDDEN ALL THIS TIME?

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It was Saturday afternoon, a couple of weeks have gone by since the Lucius incident. Ed was going to the Great Hall for lunch, but he was not alone, beside him is Hermione, pestering him to the max, making Ed very annoyed.

“Why won’t you tell me how to open the chamber!? And why won’t you tell me how the basilisk moves around the castle?!” whined Hermione to Ed’s ears.

“I told you Hermione, you need to figure it out yourself, I’m not your or Harry’s babysitter, you have to deal with your problems yourself.” Ed said in annoyance.

“But it’s not only my problems, it’s yours as well! What if someone died because of the beast!” refuted Hermione.

“No one will die,” explained Ed, “But if you ask me to interfere, I don’t know if someone won’t die anymore!” Ed snapped, making Hermione flinch a bit.

Ed sighed as he realised his attitude, “Sorry Hermione, can we please not talk about this?”

Hermione nodded weakly and the two continued to the Great Hall, sitting on the long table to have they’re lunch. Ed picked up some food and ate it slowly. But then, Dumbledore suddenly called him from the door of the Great Hall.

“Mr. Aldrich, may I have a minute?” asked the headmaster rather formally.

Ed looked at the old man suspiciously, but the white wizard just smiled, Ed sighed and stood up, “I’ll see you later Hermione.” Said Ed to the bushy haired girl beside him, the girl just nodded worriedly, and Ed walked to the professor.

“Something wrong Professor?” asked Ed to Dumbledore while the two exited the room.

“There’s an auror that wants to meet you, they wanted to talk about Lucius Malfoy’s disappearance.” Dumbledore calmly explained.

Ed hummed, “They’re not suspecting me aren’t they?”

Dumbledore nodded his head, “They most likely questioned you because you had a fight with Lucius last summer.”

Ed nodded knowingly, and the two continued to walk to the headmaster’s office, Dumbledore said the password and the gargoyle moved, the two climbed the stair and entered the room, there, Ed saw a couple of aurors, but one stood out the most, the man had broad shoulders, tall and bald, his skin was black, and his clothes were somewhat strange to Ed’s eyes.

“Here is the boy Mr. Shacklebolt” said Dumbledore softly, “I trust that you won’t treat him unfairly when questioned?”

“Don’t worry Dumbledore, he’ll be fine.” Said the man, or Shacklebolt as Dumbledore called him, in a deep and reassuring tone.

Dumbledore nodded, “Well, you can start now, Ed, sit on the chair.” Ordered Dumbledore.

Ed hummed and sat, then the auror spoke face-to-face with Ed, “Hello, Mr. Aldrich, my name is Kingsley Shacklebolt, and I’m here to question you about the disappearance of Mr. Lucius Malfoy.” Said the man while putting out his note and quill, “Do you agree to be questioned Mr. Aldrich?”

Ed nodded in affirmation, “Sure, ask away.” Answered Ed, he turned on his Occlumency to make sure his mind wasn’t being probed.

Kingsley looked at Ed for a second before asking, “When was the last time you meet with Mr. Malfoy?”

Ed acted as if he was pondering, “I think that day in the bookstore, it was my first meeting with him, and the last time I saw him as well.”

Kingsley raised his eyebrow, “So you didn’t meet him again afterwards?”

Ed looked at Kingsley strangely, “Why would I?”

“Some sort of business, or family gathering maybe?” questioned Kingsley further.

Ed shook his head, “No, as you’re aware Mr. Auror, I’m not too fond of him…”

Kingsley nodded his head, then he asked further, “Do you recognize the handwriting Mr. Aldrich?” he asked while showing the picture of his handiwork in Lucius’s office.

Ed looked at the photo for a while, “It’s the picture in the Daily Prophet right? No, I don’t recognize the handwriting.”

Kingsley nodded once again and sighed, “Mr. Aldrich, are you aware that you are one of the suspects of the crime?”

Ed acted surprised, “Really? well I guess that’s to be expected, I threatened him in front of everyone after all.”

Kingsley just stared at Ed for a second, then asked once again, “Mr. Aldrich, if there’s something you want to tell us, please, go ahead.”

Ed shook his head, “There’s really nothing to tell Mr. Shacklebolt, I’m in the Greengrass manor that night, you can ask the Greengrass family yourself.”

Kingsley raised his eyebrow, “Very well Mr. Aldrich, I think we’re done here, thank you for your cooperation.”

Ed nodded and stood up from the chair, then he left the aurors to talk to Dumbledore about some other business, Ed walked to the Great Hall once again, trying to grab a couple more bites, but then was interrupted by a sudden shout.

“Ed!” Ed heard a girl's voice from the other side of the corridor, he looked at the source of the voice, and saw two girls, one was blonde, and the other had dark brown hair, it was Daphne and Astoria.

“Well, about time you’re back.” Said Ed while smiling. Then, suddenly Astoria rushed into Ed and hugged him, startling the silver eyed boy.

“Thank you for curing me!” she exclaimed, her face looking as happy as ever, but a tinge of relief can be seen.

Ed snapped out of it, and smiled again, hugging the little girl back, “Well, you’re welcome Astoria, I’m glad you’re fine now.” He said while patting her back, he could feel the tears on his shoulder, signalling that the girl cried a bit, ‘Damn, this girl suffered quite a bit huh…’ He thought.

A couple of minutes later Astoria pulled back with a slightly red face, embarrassed at herself.

“Well, you can go to your friends now Astoria, hell, you can even audition for Quidditch next year if you want.” Ed said while ruffling her hair.

“Don’t curse in front of her Ed…” Daphne suddenly warned, making Ed look at her with an apologetic smile, “Well, Ed’s right Astoria, they must’ve missed you, you can go now, you can talk with Ed later.” Continued Daphne.

Astoria nodded and skipped happily to the great hall, making the other two chuckled in amusement, “Well, she’s quite active once she’s freed from the curse.” Commented Ed.

Daphne nodded, “You’re right, thanks to you.”

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Ed shook his head, “No, I did this because of my selfish revenge as well, don’t thank me.”

“Either way, you saved my sister’s life…” she said softly, “Thank you again Ed, truly.”

Ed just smiled weakly at Daphne, then the two walked to the great hall, but they didn’t sit at the long table, instead, they called Richard.

Richard noticed the two, and instantly stood up and walked to the two, “Daph, you’re back!” exclaimed Richard.

Daphne then said roughly, “Of course I’m back you idiot, I studied here remember?”

Richard gulped nervously at Daphne’s attitude, “What did I do wrong? Why are you mad like this?” asked Richard straightforwardly.

Daphne narrowed her eyes, “Why didn’t you send any letters while I was away? I sent you some! But you didn’t answer!” she scolded him.

“W-Well, I kind of forgot…” Richard mumbled.

“Forgot!? You read my letters and forgot to answer them?!” she snapped even more, annoyed by Richard.

“N-No, I forgot to read your letters…” he refuted weakly.

Daphne looked baffled at Richard’s words, but before she could scold him more, Ed saved him by pulling them to the empty classroom.

“Stop bickering, come on, let’s go to the classroom, I think it’s time to take you there.” Said Ed while walking to the direction of the classroom, Daphne just snorted at Richard and followed Ed, while Richard shot a thumbs up to Ed, which Ed answered back with another thumbs up.

The three then walked to the classroom, side by side, Richard and Daphne looked at Ed strangely and asked, “Where’s the suitcase?”

Ed simply answered, “Don’t worry about it.”

The other two hummed suspiciously and they entered the classroom, Ed then took out something from his pocket, he put it on the floor, and pointed his wand at it.

“Engorgio” he chanted, the thing suddenly became large, and lo and behold, it’s the suitcase.

“That’s quite handy.” Commented Richard, which Ed just nodded.

“Now,” said Ed loudly, “Once you’re inside, you need to use the unbreakable vow, and you need to learn Occlumency so no one can read your mind.”

“Does Hermione learn that too?” asked Richard curiously.

“Yes, she’s pretty good at it, although not as strong as me.” Ed answered, he bragged a bit on his Occlumency, which the other two just snorted.

“Right, here goes.” Ed said, then he whispered the password, and the suitcase opened, Ed pushed the two to enter it, and closed the suitcase once again.

“You know what, I’m going to call this place the Aldrich Manor from now.” Commented Ed, “So, Welcome, to Aldrich Manor.” He shows off the living room to the other two, but from the looks of it, they are not impressed.

“Not much if I’m honest.” Richard commented bluntly.

“Yes, my home is much bigger than this.” Continued Daphne.

Ed’s veins popped a bit before explaining, “Of course this is not all of the manor, the real shit is right there.” Said Ed while pointing to the library door.

“What’s behind there?” questioned Daphne.

“See for yourself.” Ed said while smirking, he then walked to the door, and opened it slowly, “This is the Aldrich Library.” Announced Ed, while pushing the other two to enter it, the room was dark, then Ed waved his wand, brightening the place up, and of course, the room looked majestic and big as usual, making Daphne and Richard baffled at the sight.

“How in Merlin’s pants did you keep this place hidden all this time? It’s gigantic!” exclaimed Richard.

Ed chuckled, Daphne still looked dumbfounded at the scene, but was snapped out of her thoughts because Ed said something, “Here, I’ll take you on a tour from above.” Said Ed.

The other two didn’t know what ‘from above’ means, but before they could ask, Ed changed to a gigantic owl, almost 10ft tall. “Climb behind my back.” Ed said in the owl form, “I’ll take you on a flying tour.”

“WHAT THE HELL!” Richard freaked out, “How come an owl’s that big!”

“Be silent will you Richard, just climb behind my back.” Said Ed, “Come on, I haven’t got all day.”

The other two just nodded weakly, and climbed behind his back, “Hold on to each other tight, otherwise you’ll fall.” Ed continued while smirking in his mind.

The two just followed Ed’s command, because Ed’s quite frightening right now, and then Ed roughly shook his wings, and flew, gliding above the shelves of books. Ed gave a brief tour of the library, he took them to the family tree, the initiation altar, and other places that Ed rarely visited. Then Ed took them to the classroom, he called Gilligan, which surprised the other two, and then continued to make the unbreakable vow, after that, they were given the necessary lesson, but unlike Hermione, Ed didn’t wait inside, instead he waited in the living room, continuing his schoolwork.

A few minutes later, suddenly the suitcase opened, a bushy haired girl came down the ladder.

“There you are!” said Hermione, “I was looking for you, but you weren’t in the common room, so I came here to the classroom, and your suitcase is here so I thought you went inside.” Explained Hermione while sitting beside Ed. “Do those two in here?” she then asked.

Ed hummed, “they’re in their lesson with Gilligan.” Ed informed, which earned a nod from Hermione.

“How did it go? Who wants to meet you before?” asked Hermione.

“Oh, that, aurors.” Said Ed simply, earning a gasp from Hermione, “What did they want from you?! Did they know it was you?”

Ed shook his head while chuckling, “No Hermione, I’m a suspect though because I had a fight with Lucius, but I think they’ll cross my name sooner or later, I’m just a second-year student after all.” Ed said, and he winked at Hermione at the end of the sentence, to which she just responded with a snort.

“You have to be careful you know, who knows what the aurors will discover…” Hermione advised Ed to hear a tinge of worry in her tone.

Ed just smiled reassuringly at her, and comforted the girl, “Don’t worry, I checked the scene before going away, I’m a hundred percent positive I didn’t leave a trace.”

Hermione nodded weakly and just took out a book to read, Ed continued to do his schoolwork, and the two just sat in front of the fireplace doing their own thing.

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