Chapter 51: CHAPTER 51: THE GUARDIAN OF KNOWLEDGE

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CARE TO TELL?

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Ed woke up groggily the next day, his muscles hurt, his wound still sting, and his bones felt like it had been cracked. He sat up from the sofa, and was greeted by Alan, who was seeping something from a mug.

“Morning.” Said Alan, he has a small smirk on his face.

Ed grunted and swiped his face, “What’s that you’re drinking?”

“Tea.” Said Alan, “That girl brought it for you at first, but when she saw me she made one for me too.”

“Oh.” Ed muttered blankly, and took the mug on the coffee table, drinking it slowly.

“So,” continued Alan, putting his mug on the table, “Care to tell who this girl is?” he said, a smirk on his face.

“A friend.” Ed grunted, looking away at Alan.

Alan raised his eyebrow, “Really?”

“Well, what do you want me to say?”

Alan chuckled, “I’m only joking nephew, but, I got to go, I need to deal with the mess in the council.”

Ed hummed, “You’ve been initiated then?”

Alan nodded and showed the mark in his right hand, “Right here.”

“How do you plan to hide it?”

“Easy.” Alan said and swiped the mark using his hand, making it disappear.

Ed nodded, “All right then, good luck I guess.”

“See you around nephew.” Alan said, then clicked his teleportation device, disappearing from the place, leaving Ed alone.

“Gilligan…” Ed called the owl groggily, as his head was still spinning.

The owl then appeared in front of Ed, standing straight like always.

“I want to ask you something.” Ed said weakly, sipping the tea again.

“Ask away.” Gilligan countered, he made his body smaller and perched on the sofa.

“I actually died in the fight.” Ed said, surprising Gilligan.

“What do you mean?” asked the owl, his expression looked strange, as if seeing a ghost.

“I felt like dying, I felt the embrace of death.” Ed insisted, he thought about it too, it made no sense, but it happened. “But then, this voice suddenly echoed in my mind…”

“Voice?”

“Yes, it sounded like an old man, an old wise man, and I instantly felt warm when I heard its voice…”

“Continue…” Gilligan pushed.

“He said something about not disappointing the family, not to disappoint him. And then I felt like someone gave me an adrenaline shot, I was instantly awake again, and then I did the black hole thing…”

Gilligan sighed, it seems that he knows something about it. “Of course he helped you…” Gilligan said to himself.

“What was that?”

“Nothing…” Gilligan answered, “Ed, have you ever thought about who is the guardian of knowledge that we mention so often?”

“Well, I thought it’s either you or Baldeth…”

Gilligan chuckled rarely, “That’s flattering, but no.”

“Then who is it?”

“Well, it’s the one who helped you back then.”

“W-What?”

“Yes, it’s my father.” Gilligan casually said, surprising Ed again. “He can contact you most likely because you have an Animagus form of our kind, the owl of knowledge.”

“W-Well… that’s— how come you never told me this?”

“Useless information.”

“Well, it’s not so useless now is it?” Ed countered in annoyance.

Gilligan sighed, “Don’t rely on his help Ed, he’ll only come in in the strangest situation.”

“Fine.” Ed grumbled, “But you have to tell me stories about that old man…”

“Maybe some other time.” Gilligan said with a neutral face, “In the meantime, we need to erase and modify that little girl’s parents’ memories.”

Ed nodded, “Should I call them now?”

“If you want.”

“I’ll talk to them first then.”

Ed stood up slowly, minding his wounds, and carefully climbed the ladder, as he opened the suitcase, his room’s smell hit his nostril, a sense of nostalgia came through Ed’s mind, making him smile.

Ed got out of the suitcase, and slowly made his way through his room, towards the exit door. But then before Ed could open it, it opened by itself, or rather, it was opened by someone else. It was Hermione, bringing some food to the room, most likely for Ed himself.

“Oh Ed!” Hermione said, startled by Ed in front of her. “You shouldn’t be outside the suitcase by now! You’re hurt!” she scolded him with her usual bossy tone, but it was also filled with worry, making Ed’s heart warm.

“I’m fine Hermione, I need to talk to your parents.” Ed said weakly, but he was still wincing in pain as his wound started to hurt again.

“We can do that later, you need to rest.” Hermione insisted, she put the food on a nearby table, and guided Ed to his bed, laying him down. “Here, your breakfast.” She said while bringing the food to Ed.

“Hermione, I’m seriously fine, I need to talk to your parents.” Ed pushed again, making Hermione a bit annoyed.

“Eat first.” She said sternly, “After that, I’ll help you go to my parents.”

Ed hummed and picked up his breakfast. The plate consisted of a sunny side egg and two strips of bacon, along with a glass of orange juice beside the plate. The boy ate the food quickly, hurrying to meet Hermione’s parents.

“Eat slowly.” Hermione ordered, she’s been watching Ed eating rather intently, making the atmosphere a bit awkward.

“Hermione,” Ed said her name. He was going to change the topic of the conversation, “I don’t know how to tell you this…”

“What is it?”

“I need to erase your parents’ memories about the suitcase.” Ed said grimly.

Hermione looked surprised, but then she quickly composed herself, “Okay.”

“What?”

“I said it’s fine.” She repeated.

“I thought you would be mad at me.”

“I’m not, it’s necessary for their safety.”

Ed sighed in relief, “Thank you for understanding Hermione.”

Hermione nodded, weakly, “I’ll tell my parents about it, you go eat—slowly.” She reminded Ed sternly at the last part. She then walked to the door and exited the room that Ed was in, leaving Ed to eat alone.

Ed sighed as Hermione left the room, “She acts like my mother now…”

A couple of hours later, Ed was reading a book in his study room, he was waiting for Hermione to bring her parents to him, he will perform the spell in the room, while Hermione will go inside the suitcase, so she won’t be detected, he doesn’t want to deal with another trial again soon, this year he’s been in two trials, three if you count the trial by combat, he doesn’t want to attend another one.

A sudden knock then came from the door, Ed looked at it using the space magic and saw that it was Hermione, along with two adults behind her.

“Ed? they’re here.” Said Hermione, informing him.

“Come in, it’s not locked.” he said, and the door opened, revealing the bushy haired girl and her parents.

Ed smiled at the sight of the two adults, both of them looked younger, perhaps it was the side effect of the revival, but he doesn’t care, he only cares that they were both still alive, watching Hermione grow up.

“Hello Mr. Granger, Mrs. Granger.” Ed greeted with a warm smile that made Hermione’s heart flutter and cheeks blushed, but Ed didn’t notice this and continued to talk with the two adults. “I’m sorry…. About-”

“Stop Ed, it’s not your fault, I’m sure Hermione already told you that.” Mrs. Granger interrupted, earning a sigh from Ed.

“Okay, then does Hermione tell you what I’m going to do?” Ed asked.

Both of them nodded weakly, but still felt uncomfortable with it, “You’re going to erase our memories right?”

“Yes, your memories about that place anyway.” Ed said while pointing at the suitcase in the corner of the room, “It’s for your own safety, you have no idea how many people wanted to know the location of that place.”

Mr. Granger sighed, “We know, knowledge about human revival isn’t exactly safe to distribute.”

“It will be okay Mr. and Mrs. Granger, you will feel a bit dizzy, but after that, you will be fine.”

Both of them nodded, and Ed asked them to sit on the chairs that had been prepared.

“Hermione, go in the suitcase if you please…” Ed said, making Hermione glared at him for some reason.

“You still need to tell me how you’re able to use magic outside of school without detection Ed.” she said sternly, and Ed just shot a weak smile at her, making Hermione snort in dissatisfaction. The girl then entered the suitcase, leaving the adults.

“Okay.” Ed said while pointing his wand to the back of the Grangers’ head. “Obliviate.”

The Grangers’ eyes were blank for a second, before returning back to normal.

“Is it done?” asked Mr. Granger.

“I didn’t feel a thing…” continued Mrs. Granger.

Ed smiled at the two. “It’s done, you shouldn’t be able to remember where that place is.”

“What place?” questioned Mr. Granger.

“Exactly.” Ed chuckled, “You can leave if you want, I need to talk to Hermione though…” Ed said, he stood up from his chair, wincing in pain.

“You okay Ed?” Mrs. Granger asked worriedly, “Hermione said that you’re wounded or something, is it bad?”

“I’m fine Mrs. Granger…” Ed smiled weakly.

“Well, if you need anything, just talk to us.” Mr. Granger said.

Ed nodded, and the two left the room, leaving Ed alone. The boy then blinked to the living room but underestimated what the blinking would do to the wound.

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He groaned in pain as he appeared in the living room, stumbling himself to the couch behind him.

“I shouldn’t have done that…” he said to himself.

“Oh Merlin, you okay?” Hermione suddenly appeared in front of him, worrying about the wound.

“I’m fine, I think I can’t blink for a while, it hurts a lot…”

“Well, you’re right, don’t blink.” Hermione nodded in agreement as she sat beside Ed, laying her head on his shoulder, ‘She seems adamant on getting closer…’ Ed thought, he just sighed in surrender and wrapped his arms around her, making her flinch.

“Something wrong?” Ed said, noticing her flinching, he figured that she wasn’t comfortable with him wrapping his arms around her, so he slowly took off his arm, but then Hermione quickly pulled it back and leaned closer towards Ed. 

“No, no, no, it’s fine, just surprised…” she quickly said, her face showing a bright smile, with her cheeks having a slight tinge of red. 

“All right then…” Ed said, looking at Hermione strangely, but quickly shrugged as he caressed Hermione’s head, causing her to…. Purr?

“Did you just purr?” Ed questioned with a smirk.

Hermione blushed when he questioned her purring and quickly hid her face in embarrassment, “S-Sorry…”

“You didn’t purr before…” Ed commented, making Hermione buried her face to Ed’s neck even more.

“It just feels nice…” she said, earning a chuckle from Ed. “All right, I won’t comment any further.” Ed continued, changing the topic.

“So, what will you do this summer…” Ed asked curiously, he knows that Hermione was supposed to go to France, but who knows, maybe it changed.

“I’m going to France with my parents.” She said, confirming that Ed didn’t change it, “There were some relatives there who were worried when my parents suddenly went missing… so my dad thought that they could explain that in person, while also spending time together as family… seeing that they were dead until a couple days ago.”

Ed nodded weakly, continuing to stroke Hermione’s hair, “How are you going to explain then?”

“I don’t know just yet.” Hermione answered as she snuggled closer to Ed, enjoying the stroking, “But we’ll figure something out.”

The two then sat in silence for a while, Ed continued to stroke her head, while Hermione would purr once in a while. Ed then thought about his conversation with Gilligan last time, how he may accidentally choose Hermione as his partner for life, how he needs to be careful in relationships because he can only have one partner in life, and how he will sort his feelings towards Hermione.

“Hermione?” Ed weakly said.

“Hm?” Hermione hummed, still enjoying his stroking.

“Do you remember the third rule?”

“What third rule?” she questioned back, confused at the question.

“The family rule… that states that the Aldrich family has this sort of curse where they can only choose their partner once and after that they can’t fall in love with others again, in other words, we can only have one relationship…” Ed said, making Hermione freeze.

“What about it?” she asked, Ed can tell that her tone of voice is neutral, indicating that Hermione was holding back her emotions or was using Occlumency.

“We can’t go on like this Hermione.” Ed said, he stopped caressing Hermione’s hair and pulled back his arm.

“What do you mean?” she said again, her neutral tone was now shaking.

“Let’s both be honest to each other Hermione, I like you, you like me…” Ed said, making Hermione’s face flushed a little, “But… we’re still kids… I don’t want to limit you to just me, as the curse will also affect you if I ever do choose you as my partner…”

“Well, what’s wrong with just you choosing me?” Hermione said in a demanding tone, she looked hurt at Ed’s statement.

“Like I said, we’re still kids… we’re what Hermione, 12? 13? We still have a long way before we turn to adults, until then, you can take your time to choose who you want to spend your life with…”

“What if I already decided? What if I want to spend my life with you?” Hermione said once again, her voice was raised, indicating that she’s a bit frustrated.

“Hermione…” Ed said softly, trying to calm the girl, “Your mind is not clear right now… we’re teenagers filled with hormones, it’s not good to choose now, let time decide, if in the future you or I didn’t find anyone, and we’re still in good terms on that time, then perhaps I’ll choose you, but until then, I’m giving you and me the freedom to choose Hermione.”

The girl narrowed her eyes, looking at Ed’s expression intensely, searching for a flaw. “Are you guilty because if you choose me, you will change who Ron will marry?”

Ed furrowed his brows and spoke rather defensively, “’Course not.”

Hermione raised her eyebrow, “Truly?”

“Why would I be guilty, Hermione? If anything, I’ll be glad to change that future, I would dread to find a girl as wonderful as you marrying a jealous git like him.” Ed scoffed.

Hermione blushed profusely when Ed called her wonderful, “T-Thank you for the compliment I guess…”

Ed also realised what he just said and looked away from Hermione, hiding his blush, but then he quickly shook his thoughts and continued the conversation. “I hope you understand Hermione, let’s stay as friends right now, I don’t want to accidentally make you my partner.” Ed said.

“Accidentally?”

Ed nodded, “It’s complicated, I don’t know the details either, but it’s possible that I can accidentally choose someone as my partner.”

Hermione narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, “Even more reason to just make me your partner now. I don’t want you to ‘accidentally’ choose another girl as your partner…”

“I’ll be careful about it, don’t worry…” Ed reassured the girl.

Hermione thought for a while, then she sighed in surrender as she lay her head on the couch. “Fine.” She grumbled, “But it’s useless to wait anyway, you mean a lot to me Ed, you cared for me when I was alone back in first year, even when I tried to ignore you, you still search for me on that year’s Halloween, you never complain about my bossy attitude, instead you give me advice so that I won’t be isolated by others…”

Ed sighed hearing her, “Would you hate me if I told you that all of that was for pity and self-satisfaction?”

Hermione narrowed her eyes and looked at Ed, “What do you mean?”

“I saw myself in you when I read the ‘future’” Ed said, “Especially in the first year, and I wanted to change that, I wanted to see a version of myself that isn’t lonely and self-isolated, so I tried to advised you, but obviously, it didn’t work back then, instead you ignore me for almost the whole term.”

Hermione just stayed quiet, her face looked in deep thought. Seeing this, Ed continued, “I almost didn’t wanted to open that compartment back then you know?” he said, earning a slight surprised look from Hermione, “Knowing all the trouble you and your friends will face in the coming years, I’m too lazy to deal with those things, but I opened it anyway, because I know that Dumbledore will probably rope me in. And to be honest? That’s the best decision I ever made.” Ed said in a straight face.

Hermione went quiet again, thinking about what Ed just said, “Let’s just forget about this talk for now, we have plenty of chances to sort our feelings.” She said,

“Agreed.” Ed nodded.

“But now, can you tell me what we are going to face in the future, I know you’ll help us next year right?”

Ed nodded, “All right, I’ll show you then, help me to go to my room will you?”

Hermione complied and helped Ed to stand up from the couch, she slowly guided Ed to his bedroom, while making sure that his wound wouldn’t hurt, she opened the door of the bedroom, and let Ed into the room.

Ed then was guided to the bed, and sat on it, “Can you grab my backpack there?” Ed asked Hermione while pointing at a brown backpack on top of a desk.

Hermione nodded and took the backpack, giving it to Ed. the boy then rummaged to the backpack, pulling one book at a time. And once he’s finished, there were a total of eight books laying on the bed.

“Books?” Hermione asked, confused as to why he pulled the books.

“Read this one first.” Ed said, giving her a book that was called, ‘The Philosopher’s Stone.’

Hermione looked at the title and shot a questioning look at Ed, which he responded with, “Just read it.”

Hermione sat down on the bed and opened the book, reading slowly. When she read the first chapter, she knew what was going on. These books were telling what was supposed to happen for the next seven years.

“This is…” she says with bewilderment, “Are all of these books true?”

Ed shrugged, “If we change something, I suppose that some of it won’t be true anymore.”

Hermione nodded blankly and continued to read the book intently, she asked a couple questions at Ed, and quickly moved to the next book. As hours gone by, Hermione reached the fourth book, ‘The Goblet of Fire’

“I can see why you call Ron a jealous git now…” Hermione whispered to Ed.

Ed chuckled, “He redeemed himself in the later books though, I mean, kind of…”

Hermione just hummed and continued to read until the last book. Now it was probably midnight, Hermione was lying on the bed reading the book, while Ed was trying his hardest to not to sleep, as he still had Hermione in the room.

Finally, Hermione closed the last book, seemingly finished reading it.

"That was…" Hermione breathed out, “A strange experience…”

Ed hummed, “I’m not in the books, but I already got weirded out the first time reading it, not to mention you, who are one of the important characters.”

Hermione went silent for a while, processing what she just read, but then quickly looked at Ed, and asked him.

“So, what are you going to do next year?” she asked, seemingly adamant on changing some things.

“I’ve got a few ideas, but Fudge is tricky, he’ll do anything to maintain his reputation, even if it means to cover up the truth…” Ed said.

Hermione nodded, already reading the parts about Fudge in the books, she thought for a while, before coming out with an idea, “How about we take Pettigrew and hide it first, and then give it to another man that can be trusted.”

Ed hummed, “Who do you suggest?”

“Here.” Hermione said as she opened the fifth book, flipping to the chapter on Harry’s trial. “Amelia bones, a girl named Tonks said she’s fair.”

Ed nodded, “Good idea, Susan Bones is her niece, maybe we can contact her through Susan.”

Hermione also nodded in agreement, but then also frowned, “But how are we supposed to get Pettigrew, Ron will probably keep him on a tight leash, he’ll act sick once Sirius escapes.”

“Well, I’ll leave it to you Hermione,” Ed winked, “Use your girly charm to woo Ron by giving him to you.”

Hermione glared menacingly at Ed, “Not funny.” She hissed.

Ed raised his hand in surrender, “All right, sorry…” he apologised, “I’ll do it, I’ll kidnap him at night, maybe putting him in an unbreakable jar or something.”

Hermione hummed, she looked like she was in deep thought, but then froze as she remembered something.

“Ed?” she said his name anxiously.

“Hm?”

“You said that we’re just going to be friends right? But how about the Hogsmeade date? Are you going to cancel that?”

Ed sighed, “I already promised you right, I can’t break it, so we’ll still go to Hogsmeade together.”

Hermione sighed in relief, then she looked at the clock, “Oh no! It's midnight!”

“You just realised that?” Ed chuckled.

“I’ve got to go…” Hermione reluctantly said, “I need to pack my stuff.”

“You’re leaving tomorrow?” Ed asked, his face showing a complicated expression.

Hermione hummed weakly, “We need to clean the house, and after that, we’ll be going to France.”

Ed nodded, “Do you want me to owl Fleur? to be your tour guide in France?”

Hermione narrowed her eyes, “No, thanks.” She said shortly, but then she thought of something and smirked, “You know what, yeah, owl her.”

Ed looked at Hermione strangely as he didn’t know what made her smirked, but he ultimately shrugged. “Okay, I’ll owl her tomorrow maybe.”

Hermione nodded, then she looked at Ed hesitantly, before jumping at Ed, pecking his left cheek.

“Good night Ed.” she said while blushing, and rushed off to her own bedroom outside, leaving Ed alone in his bedroom.

Ed was dazed as Hermione kissed his cheek, but he quickly snapped out of it and put his head on the pillow.

“Damn hormones.” He whispered to himself while slowly drifting to the embrace of Morpheus.

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