Chapter 56: CHAPTER 56: THE TANNED GIRL

Facts:

A tan is never permanent because skin naturally exfoliates itself over time. This causes the tanned skin to flake off. Anyone who you see who seems “permanently” tan either has darker skin naturally, uses a sunless tanning lotion or spray tans, or goes in the sun regularly. (Source: Google)

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19th of August 1993, Ed was going for a jog around the neighbourhood, but today he took his time in a nearby park, sitting on one of the benches. Right now, his face looks tired, his eyes have bags below it, and his expression is blank.

“I need to find a fix to this…” he said to himself while rubbing his nose bridge. The truth is, he has been holding off sleep for a while. The nightmares are a constant thing, every night it repeats, the same memory, the same scenery, and the same despair. So, one day, he decided to sleep as little as possible, so he won’t experience the nightmare frequently. He just sighed at his fate and looked at a bracelet on his right hand.

He then tapped the bracelet, the bracelet was black with complicated carving on it. He swiped the carving and it glowed white, and suddenly a voice came out of it.

“Need anything Ed?” the voice said.

“Hello Gilligan… I’m at a park right now, but I need to ask you something.” He said to the voice, which belonged to Gilligan.

Ed sighed, “How’s the device? Does it have any flaws? or is the sound not clear enough?” he said while examining the bracelet.

“It’s better than I thought.” Gilligan answered, “The voice is clear and there’s no disturbance, but why do you create it? They have phones right?”

Ed hummed, “But wizards and witches are quite prideful, they won’t use muggle technology such as telephones and walkie-talkies, so I just thought to exploit they’re pride by creating an overly expensive communication device.”

“Are you positive they’re going to buy it though?”

“I think so.” Ed said, “It can’t really communicate as far as telephones can, but it can do short distance, it’s perfect for combat situations.”

“Then how can you contact me with this? You said it's a short distance right?” Gilligan questioned.

“This thing is obviously different, it can contact the suitcase anywhere, I’ve applied some of the space theories you taught me, so in theory, it can contact the suitcase even if the bracelet is in a different universe.” He said, “The one that I will sell is obviously worse than this.”

Gilligan hummed, “Quite a useful thing you have.” He commented, “You only made one pair?”

“No, I’ll make multiple of it, and there’ll be some sort of station in the living room, the bracelet on your hand is obviously just a prototype.” Ed answered.

“All right, I’ll prepare the spot…” Gilligan said, “Anything else?”

“No Gilligan, thank you for the testing.”

“You’re welcome Ed, you should go back though, someone came to the house.”

“Who?” Ed asked curiously.

“The girl who you gave a chance to choose.” Gilligan said rather coldly.

Ed sighed, he knows the owl didn’t really like how he deals with Hermione, she already knew so much yet Ed won’t take her as a partner yet, ‘It’s a stupid decision.’ The owl said to Ed back then, but he wouldn’t budge, saying that she has the right to choose longer.

“All right Gilligan, I’ll go back.” Ed said while swiping the bracelet again, deactivating it.

Ed then stood up from the bench and jogged to the mansion. After a couple of minutes of jogging, he then arrived at the gate, which when the security saw Ed, he greeted him politely and opened the gate for him. Ed then walked to the front door of the mansion, he saw The Granger’s car in front of the garage and just shook his head.

‘Wasn’t Hermione supposed to go back on the 25th?’ he thought. Ed then sighed as he opened the front door, and in the living room he saw Mr. and Mrs. Granger, who looked a bit tanned, sitting with The Andrews, talking nonchalantly to each other.

Mr. and Mrs. Granger then saw Ed entering the house and smiled at him.

“Hello Ed.” Mr. Granger greeted him.

Ed smiled back at the man and greeted him back, “Hello Mr. Granger, just got back from a morning run.”

Mrs. Granger then scanned Ed’s body rather detailly, “You’re taller than before Ed, how come? I swear last time I saw you, you weren’t this tall.”

Ed shrugged, “Dunno myself…” he said, “I’m going to take a shower right now, Hermione isn’t in my room right?”

Mr. Granger shook his head, “No, she’s in the guest room right now, we called your parents over here and asked them if she could stay here until the term starts.”

Ed nodded, “Okay, but I will stay at the Leaky Cauldron on the 25th, so I guess she’ll be coming with me too.” He said to the couple, “Okay, enjoy yourself ladies and gentleman, I need to wipe off the sweat.”

Ed then walked to his room and quickly took a shower. He reminded himself to lock his bedroom’s door to prevent Hermione accidentally coming in. Even if she didn’t do it anymore, Ed was still careful.

He quickly got out of the shower and got dressed, he cleaned himself up, making sure he’s dry, and combed his hair. Then, a sudden knock on the door was heard, Ed already guessed who it was, and just walked to the door.

Ed opened the door and saw a tanned girl, with a… slightly wavy and curly hair? Her front teeth are smaller as well, which surprises Ed even more.

“Who are you?!” Ed said rather dramatically, he obviously knows that it is Hermione, but he still can’t believe that she actually tamed her bushy hair.

Hermione saw through Ed’s act and rolled her eyes, “It’s me you prat.” She said while smiling.

“Who’s ‘me’?’” Ed questioned back, still acting oblivious.

She snorted at Ed’s act and answered, “It’s Hermione of course.”

“What?!” Ed said, still acting surprised, “But Hermione I know has a bird’s nest on her head!”

Hearing this, Hermione got ticked off and smacked Ed repeatedly on the shoulder, earning a laugh from Ed.

“Okay! Ouch, I’m Sorry I was joking!” Ed said while chuckling.

Hermione just snorted and scanned Ed’s body, just like her mother. “You’re taller now, how come? Last time-”

“-Yes I know, I’m taller, perhaps puberty hit me like a truck.” He said, annoyed at the repeated question. “How come you fix your hair as well? As far as I know, it’s untameable.”

“It’s possible.” She said while entering the room, “Fleur helped me a lot in the hair and the teeth.”

Then suddenly it clicked, “So the one who gave you the idea to spray your perfume all over the letter was Fleur?”

Hermione giggled, “She thought you might like it.”

Ed snorted, “Yeah, no, it’s creepy.”

Hermione raised her eyebrow, “Really?”

Ed hummed but didn’t look at Hermione in the eyes, “So, what are you doing here? I thought you’re supposed to be back on the 25th? I only book one room in the leaky cauldron too, I thought you would rent a room on that day.”

“I just thought of helping you with the Sirius Black problem.” Hermione said, “Have you made any progress?”

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Ed shook his head, “It’s hard to contact Amelia Bones, the most I’ve got is I got Sirius to stay at his home.”

“The Black’s ancestral home?” Hermione questioned, “Wouldn’t Narcissa Malfoy easily detect him there?”

Ed nodded, “Yeah, but I also have roped her in to help Sirius.”

“What!?” She was surprised at the statement, “But I thought she hated Sirius.”

Ed hummed, “I thought so too, but last month I visited my grandmother’s portrait with her and she told me she hated the Blacks’ thinking as well. She hated Sirius and Aunt Andromeda because they escaped the family without bringing her.”

Hermione nodded weakly, “That makes sense… kind of…”

“So, she plans to make Sirius free, so the man can rebuild the Blacks and change their way of thinking.” Ed continued, “But it’ll probably won’t work, Sirius is too childish to be able to lead the Black family.”

“True…” she said, then she decided to change the topic, “How about you though? How’s the nightmares coming along?” she asked, worried about Ed’s condition.

“How do you know about it?” Ed asked, a bit surprised that she knew.

“You’re not the only one who owls me you know.” Hermione said, “Richard said that you’ve been having nightmares, and you told him about it when he visited you over the summer.”

Ed sighed, “That loudmouth…” Ed said, “You don’t have to worry about it, Hermione, I’m fine.”

“Look at yourself Ed.” Hermione said softly, “You have bags below your eyes.” She continued as she walked closer to Ed, cupping his cheeks gently.

“I’m fine Hermione… let me deal with it myself…” Ed said as he removed Hermione’s hands on his cheeks.

Hermione realised what she did and blushed a little bit, “S-Sorry…” she mumbled.

Ed smiled weakly at her, “It’s fine.” Ed said, he then opened his study room, letting Hermione in. “Come in here, I’ve warded it so you can use magic here.”

Hermione nodded and entered the room, “What’s all this?” Hermione asked as she looked at the papers on the desk.

“I’ve been wanting to build a company that deals with magical items now. I asked Richard for help in designing some of our products, and he said yes.”

Hermione raised her eyebrow, “Why didn’t you ask me?”

“You’re in France, besides, you don’t know the knowledge that we used to make these things.”

“It’s just charms right? I can do that.”

Ed shook his head, “It’s not, it’s based on alchemy.” Ed informed, “I gave Richard the papers and books to learn it, and he learned quite fast.”

“Well, can you give me the books and papers too? I want to help you.” She spoke.

Ed shook his head, “You should focus on other things for now, like helping Sirius Black.”

Hermione hummed, she sat beside the window and looked at Ed, “Happy birthday by the way…”

“It is? Oh yeah it is…” Ed said casually.

“You forgot your own birthday?” Hermione scoffed.

“Well, I’ve been busy…” Ed countered, not making eye contact with Hermione.

“Busy or just tired because you lack sleep?” Hermione questioned rather sternly.

“I’m fine Hermione, honestly…” Ed said.

“You’re not fine Ed.” she said, looking worried, “Talk to me.”

Ed then looked at Hermione, and shot her a weak smile, “Like I said, I’m fine, thank you for worrying.”

Hermione sighed, she knows that he’s not fine, but he insisted that he’s fine, she can’t do anything about it except just watch him closely, “Fine.” She grumbled.

The atmosphere then turned awkward and the room went silent, Ed then decided to break the ice by complimenting her.

“You look beautiful by the way…” Ed said, “I bet a lot of boys would have a crush on you once school started.”

Hermione’s cheek went red slightly and she smiled, “Thank you.” She mumbled. “You look different from before as well.”

Ed hummed, “I don’t really know how I got this tall really…” Ed said as he sat down on his chair, “By the way… what electives did you choose, did you choose all of them like the books?”

Hermione nodded, “Yeah, I want to try it to be honest, it’s quite interesting.”

“Hermione…” Ed said softly, “Please don’t, you’ll be exhausted.”

“I just want to try it…” Hermione insisted, “If I can’t take it, I’ll drop it.”

“You know you can’t take it, you’ve read the books.” Ed said sternly.

“W-Well, okay… I just want to use the time turner okay! and besides, McGonagall said that I will be using it with you as well.”

“What?” Ed questioned, surprised at the news, “I didn’t know that.”

“You don’t?” Hermione asked, “What did you choose?”

“I choose ancient runes and divination, but McGonagall said that I can alternate between classes every week.”

Hermione made a thoughtful expression, “Well, I think she changed her mind…”

Ed shook his head in amusement, “What do you want to use the time turner for? Time isn’t a toy Hermione…”

“I know…” Hermione sighed. “I wanted to use it to spend more time studying, I need to catch up with you.”

“Hermione…” Ed said, but Hermione ignored it.

“In that chamber I felt useless… I just don’t want to feel like that again…” she continued.

Ed sighed, he knew the feeling of helplessness, after all he’s dealing with it now, he just smiled weakly at her and ruffled her hair. “Well, good luck I guess.”

Hermione shot back a smile, and both of them just talked casually until lunch, where they had some bonding with the Andrews and the Grangers.

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