Chapter 82: CHAPTER 77: THE FAMILY DINNER

FATE slew him, but he did not drop;

She felled—he did not fall—

Impaled him on her fiercest stakes—

He neutralized them all.

 

She stung him, sapped his firm advance,

But, when her worst was done,

And he, unmoved, regarded her,

Acknowledged him a man.

 

– Emily Dickinson

 

~~~~

 

On a rather rainy evening, a boy who was around 6 feet tall was standing in front of a house with an umbrella in hand. He was wearing a black trench coat, and inside the coat, he was wearing a three-piece suit. It was, of course, Ed. He stood in front of the door of the house and knocked it softly, making sure that he wasn’t damaging the door. Then, the door opened, and the boy saw a brown-haired girl, wearing a beautiful red dress. It was Hermione. She smiled as she saw Ed standing in front of the door.

"Hi..." she mumbled as she hugged him tightly.

"Hello, nice dress, by the way." Ed commented with a smile.

The girl then separated and also shot a soft smile towards Ed. "You look good too."

"I’m wearing a trench coat. You haven’t even seen my suit yet." Ed rolled his eyes, making the girl giggle. "Are your parents ready?" he continued.

"Oh, just a moment. You come inside first. " She dragged him inside, then rushed upstairs to check on her parents. Ed waited downstairs; he was now scurrying around the photo frames that were displayed on a desk.

When Hermione came down with her parents, Ed was holding a picture of Hermione that was still around five years old. Hermione saw this and quickly rushed to Ed in embarrassment.

"Give me that!" she hissed, her face red from blushing.

Ed chuckled as he avoided Hermione’s hand. "Mr. and Mrs. Granger, good evening." He ignored Hermione’s hands trying to grab the photo.

Mrs. Granger smiled. "Hello Ed, you look taller again."

"Yeah, teenage hormones and all that." He then dodged Hermione’s hand more, making her annoyed. "Do you mind if I keep the photo? For collection. " He asked the parents.

"Oh not at all, suit yourself." Mrs. Granger smiled, making Hermione look at her with betrayal.

"Mom!" she shrieked in desperation.

"Oh, let the boy keep it, Hermione." Mr. Granger defended Ed. "He’s part of the family anyway."

She glared at her dad for a while, then turned to Ed. "If you share the photo with anyone else, I’ll strangle you to death." She threatened menacingly, but Ed found it cute.

He chuckled. "Can you even strangle me to death, though?"

Hermione just grumbled and huffed, ignoring Ed.

"Right, let’s go, Ashbey’s waiting." Ed continued, pocketing the photo. "You have umbrellas, right?"

"We do." Mr. Granger pulled out an umbrella from a basket.

"Then let’s go."

The family of three and Ed then got out of the house, Mr. Granger not forgetting to lock the door. Hermione stood closer to Ed as they entered the rain with only the umbrella protecting them. The group then quickly walked to the car, entering it hurriedly as Mr. and Mrs. Granger greeted Roger and Anna.

Ed and Hermione also entered the car, sitting at the far back. The car began to move, traversing through the suburbs.

"Say… Ed, Hermione, what’s going on between you two?" Anna asked suddenly in the car. "Are you two dating yet?"

"Yet?" Ed raised his eyebrows.

"Well, it’s only a matter of time at this point." Mrs. Granger added. "You two are at the perfect age to date one another, so we figured that it was the case."

"Well yes, we are dating." Ed blurted out. "Since last year."

"Last year? " This time it was Mr. Granger’s turn to raise his eyebrows. "That’s quite a long time already. You haven’t done anything you shouldn’t have done yet, did you?"

"Dad!" Hermione hissed. Her face was red because of the embarrassment.

"I’m pretty sure we didn’t." Ed chuckled. "Unless Hermione sneaked on me at night."

Hermione then hurriedly pinched Ed’s hip in embarrassment. "Don’t bait them!" she scowled.

"Sneaked? Hermione, you sneaked into Ed’s dorm at night? " Mrs. Granger now asked curiously.

"N-No... Why are we talking about this!?"

"Well, we, as parents, must educate you about these kinds of things." Roger answered. "So listen well right now…"

"Oh Merlin, please stop." Ed groaned. "We know, alright? We’re not doing it yet, but once we do, we’ll be safe about it. "

Hermione blushed but didn’t say anything, while the parents just chuckled. "How are you fine with this, Mr. Granger?"

"What? You think I’m one of those strict dads?" he smirked.

"Yes." Ed flatly said, making the parents laugh.

"I’m not, okay?" He grumbled because of the laughter. "Besides, I've known you for three and a half years, and you're a good match for our daughter."

"Well, thank you…" Ed said.

The car then stopped in front of a lobby. "We’ve arrived at the restaurant, Master Roger." Ashbey said.

"Right, let’s get off." Roger answered and opened his door by himself. Ed did the same, and helped Hermione get off the car. The car then moved again, leaving them in place.

"Whose name did you use to book the table, Ed?" Roger asked the boy.

"Your name." he simply said, which earned a nod from Roger. The group then entered the fancy restaurant, Roger said to the waitress in front, and all of them were guided to their table.

"I’ve never been to a restaurant this fancy before." Mr. Granger commented.

"I’ve been here once or twice." Roger added. "Dining like this is only for special occasions, really."

Another waiter went to their table, writing down their order. The group quickly ordered the food, and the waiter went to the kitchen to get the appetisers.

"So Ed, why did you bring us together for dinner like this? It’s quite rare for you to do these kinds of things. " Roger asked in curiosity.

Ed smiled. He saw that Hermione was nervous, and he just grabbed her hand below the table, calming her down. "I wanted to talk to you all about something really important."

"Important? Is it that important that you have to bring us here? " Anna threw another question out.

"I want the atmosphere to be as calm as possible." Ed answered. "It’s a heavy topic after all."

The parents frowned. "Well, what is it, Ed?"

But before Ed could say anything, the appetizers came, and the group quickly enjoyed them. Once it was done, the waitress took the plates, and the group waited for the next course of the meal.

"It’s about the wizarding world." Ed continued, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"What about it?" Mrs. Granger asked curiously.

"I… want you all to move out of the country, either this year, or next year." Ed was straight to the point, making the parents frown.

"Why?" Mr. Granger asked.

"A war is coming." Ed said. "And me and Hermione will definitely be in the middle of it."

"And how does it connect to us moving out of the country?" Mr. Granger asked again. "We should be here, supporting you."

"Don’t be naïve, Mr. Granger. We talked about this two years ago." Ed said sharply. "You will simply be a burden to us all. You’ll be a perfect target for the enemy. "

The parents grimaced at the thought. "What about the company? Who will run it? " Roger asked.

"I can." Ed answered. "Trust me, I’ve had enough experience in the field after I founded the Alchemist’s Armoury. Don’t worry about the company, I just need you to stay safe, out of the country…"

"W-Well, what about us, Ed?" Mrs. Granger asked. "We can’t just abandon our patients here... and when we get there, how can we find work again? "

"That’s why I asked you to move out next year, Mrs. Granger, so you can sort out your problems this year…" the boy answered. "I know this is sudden for you, but please... listen to Hermione and I’s selfish request. We will come get you once the war is over."

"What if you lost the war?" Mr. Granger grimly asked. "What if you or Hermione died?"

"We won’t." Ed reassured. "I promise you, we won’t, I’ve been preparing for this."

"Where will you two stay when we leave the country then? And what about the mansion? " Roger asked again.

"I have a house in the wizarding world." Ed answered. "Right now it’s still being built, and about the mansion, don’t worry, I will occasionally send someone to clean it up. Your house too, Mr. Granger."

"What about Ashbey?" Anna added.

"He’ll come with you two if he wants. He’ll be a big target too once the war starts. " Ed answered. "I’m sorry about this. But unless you want to live in a quarantined place, you must leave the country. You’re all practically my family, and I don’t want you to get hurt once the war starts. "

Roger sighed. "You know, Ed, I didn’t expect magic and wars when I adopted you…"

Ed chuckled at the statement. "I didn’t either, I thought I was going to live a somewhat peaceful life…"

"It seems fate is playing with us all." Roger nodded.

"I don’t believe in fate." Ed commented. "I believe in hard work and coincidence."

Roger sighed and massaged his forehead. "Even if we left the country, where are we going to go?"

"A-Australia is a nice place." Hermione added. "I remembered that Mom and Dad always wanted to go there…"

"We do…" Mrs. Granger nodded weakly. "But going there and living there is a different thing entirely sweetie."

"It's for the best, Mom...I don’t want you to die again…"

Mr. Granger sighed. "I knew this day would come, but why is it coming this quickly?"

"The war wasn’t supposed to start formally two years from now." Ed informed them. "But just to be safe, I need you to leave next year at max."

The next course suddenly came, and the waitress put the food in front of them. The group ate the food rather grimly. It seems that the parents didn’t have much appetite anymore, but they forced themselves to eat it.

"You do realize that this is like a parent leaving their child for a war, right? But reversed. " Roger said.

"I know." Ed answered. "But you know, you’re old enough that you’ve experienced World War 2…"

"That’s what makes me not like it." He said. "I know how it felt, my dad was a war veteran, he came back with a missing arm and a scarred torso."

"I already have a scarred torso, might as well cut my arm next." Ed added sarcastically, making Hermione pinch Ed below the table.

"Don’t joke about that." She mumbled, looking upset at the thought.

"Sorry." Ed muttered. "So… When will you leave? "

"I don’t know Ed… this needs a lot of thought…"

Ed sighed. "I know… just... Be quick about it, I don’t know if there’s already a hit order on you all by the death eaters…"

The group abruptly finished their conversation and ‘enjoyed’ the rest of the meal in the restaurant. For the rest of the dinner, they are quiet, not talking to each other. There’s some tension on the table. Ed thanked himself that he chose to have the conversation at a dinner like this, otherwise he didn’t even want to know what would happen.

As the rest of the evening went by, they finished their dinner and were now in the lobby of the restaurant again, waiting for Ashbey to come. Ed and Hermione waited outside, while the parents talked to each other rather quietly.

"You think they’d manage?" the girl asked Ed worriedly.

Ed hummed. "They eventually come along, don’t worry about it."

"I’m just worried, that's all." she muttered. "I don’t know when You-Know-Who’s followers will strike."

"I’ve got a feeling that it will be sooner than expected." Ed thought out loud. "The Quidditch World Cup is one of their targets. They wanted to spread fear, and I got a feeling that they’re targeting me as well, Tom’s personal request."

"Let’s just hope it’s not true…"

Then, Ed saw a cloaked man across the street, seemingly staring at them rather intently. It was suspicious, Ed was about to go to the man, but then the car arrived.

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The parents entered first, and the pair sat in the back again. The car moved, but this time it was a bit silent. Ed was surveying the man that was staring at them on the street, but he had vanished.

"Ashbey, I need to talk to you after this." Ed heard Roger whispering to the butler, and Ashbey just nodded weakly.

The scene on the outside turned from the streets of London to the suburbs. The street was quiet and deserted. They were nearing the Grangers' house.

"I’ve got a bad feeling about this…" Ed whispered to Hermione, which made the girl alert. "I’ll take off the ring now just in case. If a fight suddenly breaks out, the ministry won’t get suspicious about why only you got detected."

Ed pulled out the ring and put it in his pocket. The car kept moving, and it was just a couple of streets away from the Grangers' house. When he was near, he saw in one of the empty houses that another man was there, wearing the same cloak, staring at the car, looking from the window from the second floor of the empty house.

Ed frowned, slowly pulling his wand from his sleeve, ready for an attack.

As they stopped in front of the house, they got off. The parents were still silent about the matter of moving out. "You want to come in for a cup of tea?" Mr. Granger asked the Andrews and Ed.

Roger smiled and nodded. "Sure."

All of them got out of the car. "You too, Ashbey, I’ll talk to you here with Wendell."

Ashbey was confused but went along. All of them then walked to the house and entered it. "Hermione, sweetheart, you can go with Ed to your room now." Mrs. Granger pushed the two into her room upstairs.

"Well, they certainly didn’t hide that they wanted to talk." Ed sarcastically said.

Hermione just hummed and opened her room. She then sat on her bed, and patted the spot beside her, signalling Ed to also sit.

Ed complied and sat beside her. Hermione instantly planted her head on his lap, laying comfortably on it.

"I’d rather you not do that Hermione… I’ve got a bad feeling tonight, I saw cloaked men following us."

Hermione sighed in disappointment. "Fine…" she sat up once more, and Ed stood up, now walking to the window, looking through it.

"You’re overreacting, I think…" Hermione commented.

"I think not." Ed refuted. "Last time I had one of these, I battled an army of wraiths in the middle of the forest."

Hermione went quiet after that.

Ed then observed a group of people outside, around six men, walking towards the house.

"Hermione…" Ed whispered. "Tell the parents to hide right now…"

"Why? What did you see? " She’s now a bit panicked.

"Just go. Don’t guide them to the front, guide them to the back." Ed said, walking towards the door. "I’ll deal with it. You just protect our parents. And don’t use the elements for now. You don’t know if these men are Tom’s men or not. We don’t want to share some of our secrets with him early."

Hermione nodded meekly and quickly got out of the room, rushing towards her parents. Ed also walked downstairs, but the two were separated, Hermione went to the back of the house to the parents, while Ed got in front of the house. He peeked between the window and saw that the men were almost in front of the door, he saw that they were cloaked, hiding their faces.

‘Will they knock? Or will they just slam the door?’ Ed said in his head.

The man arrived, and they banged the door loudly, like a thug demanding payment.

Ed was silent the whole time, his wand in his left hand, pointing at the door, but he didn’t open it.

Suddenly, Mr. Granger, Ashbey, and Roger came to the scene. For some reason, it seems that Hermione wasn’t able to push them to the back of the house, which is normal.

"Ed, what’s going on?" Roger asked rather loudly, the men could definitely hear him.

"Shit, go away!" Ed loudly whispered. But it was too late, the men heard them, and Ed could hear a whisper from behind the door.

"Bombarda."

"Get down!" Ed activated Aegis at the door, but the invisible shield wasn’t big enough to protect them from the blast, so he rushed to the three men and pushed them towards the back of the couch, making them safe from the blast.

"W-What’s going on!?" Mr. Granger frantically asked.

"This is what I’m talking about when I talk about hit order!" Ed yelled, he peeked from the couch, pointing his wand at the men who rushed inside. "Petrificus Totalus!" 

A burst of white light shot through the air from Ed’s wand and hit one of the men, petrifying him on the spot. Ed went back to the protection of the couch and whispered to the three men. "Go back to Hermione. Like I said, you’ll just be a burden here."

"But Master Ed-"

"Not now, Ashbey, you want yourself to get killed?!"

The three men nodded hurriedly as a barrage of spells was casted by the men, Ed can see some red lights, some blue lights, and even some green. Furniture was cut by the severing charms, disintegrated by the reductor curse, and exploded by the blasting curse.

"Go now! I’ll cover you! " Ed stood up from the couch and summoned Aegis to protect him. He pushed down the men by attacking back with countless spells that made the three men able to retreat. 

‘What abilities of mine that Tom had seen except the Aegis…’ Ed thought in the fight, ‘I guessed the ice magic…’

Ed then rolled down the floor, avoiding another explosion charm, and he touched the ground using his wand and made a launching gesture. The floor froze, and the ice quickly spread towards the direction the wand was pointing. It caught one man… two men… and three men. Three men had been frozen by the ice, while another two remained.

"This kid’s insane! He just froze three men in an instant! " Ed heard one of the men shouting in French. "Apparate away!"

Ed was having none of it, before the other two men apparated, Ed had launched two ice spikes towards them, making them howl in pain from the spikes' impaling. Ed quickly froze the two, ending the fight rather abruptly.

He then walked quickly to the petrified man from before. He made the man fall to the ground and pointed the wand at him.

"Finite Incantatem." Ed whispered, making the man awake again. "Who sent you?" Ed asked.

The man was surprised, but his surprised face quickly turned into an evil grin. "Who said I would tell you?" The man spoke in French, probably hoping that Ed wouldn’t understand.

"No matter." Ed answered in French, surprising the man. "I’ll see it in your mind yourself."

Ed then glanced at the man’s eye, and if the man was practising Occlumency, he could feel that his mind was being invaded. Ed scurried through the man’s mind. He saw some horrible things, but ignored them. When he got to the hiring part, he saw a face that was supposed to be in Azkaban right now.

"Interesting..." Ed said to himself. "Why would he target me now of all times?"

Then Ed heard footsteps from the back of the house. It was Hermione and the three men again. They probably came back because they didn’t hear any fighting.

"Is it done?" Hermione asked, still alert.

"It’s done, no one’s around anymore." Ed said, checking using his space magic.

"Who sent them?" she asked again.

"Barty Crouch Jr. Apparently…"

"How did he know us?"

"I don’t know myself…" Ed said weakly. "Maybe he’d already met with his lord."

Ed then casted a silent stunning spell towards the man on the floor, making him faint so he doesn’t escape. "You guys alright?"

"W-What the hell is going on?" Mr. Granger said meekly.

"As I said before, it’s dangerous for you to be here. The men spoke French, so they’re from outside the country. You need to stay away from Europe as far away as possible."

Mr. Granger just slightly nodded. "Sit down Mr. Granger, calm yourself, everyone too, I’ll fix this mess, Hermione, help me will you?"

Hermione nodded weakly, and the parents sat down in silence. Meanwhile, Hermione and Ed cast repairing charms on the destroyed furniture, walls, and the door itself.

"Expecto Patronum." Ed suddenly whispered, and a silver owl appeared. "Remus, I need your help. Contact the aurors to my location right now, I’ve been attacked. They should notice the underage magic trace going off near my place, but just in case."

The owl flew away to Remus, and Ed was now looking at Ashbey. "Ashbey, can you run around the neighbourhood to convince them that it’s nothing and don’t call the police? Tell them it’s a minor explosion from the electrical wiring or something. " Ed said.

"I- I will do just that, Master Ed." Ashbey then quickly got out of the place and ran around the neighbourhood. The place then went silent as Ashbey left, Ed and Hermione had done the repairing, and were now sitting next to each other, with Hermione holding Ed’s hand and resting her head on Ed’s shoulder.

"I think-" Roger suddenly spoke. "I think we should quickly move away from the country…"

"Y-Yes... after today... we don’t even know if we’ll be attacked again." Mr. Granger added.

"I’m sorry…" Ed spoke. "It’s all my fault, you’re associated with me now… and you’ll be a big target…"

"We don’t regret knowing you, Ed." Mrs. Granger smiled, reassuring the boy. "We’ll move away from the country, so you won’t have to worry about us."

"And you don’t have to worry about managing the company, Ed." Anna added, eyeing Roger. "We can use letters and phones for managing... the company’s self-sustaining anyway."

"And we’ll find some way to open a clinic for the Grangers there." Roger said. "Right, we’re going to Australia, right? I may have some contacts there."

"This is beyond what I imagined Ed." Mr. Granger said, "When you talk about war, I thought the soldiers of the ministry of magic or something would fight for you. Turns out..."

"It's usually like that, Mr. Granger..."Ed answered. "But the ministry is really incompetent, and even the students will have to fight… and I’m a special case. "

"What do you mean special case?"

"My real parents… it’s- it’s complicated… I’d rather you not know. "

Roger sighed. "Very well, Wendell, Monica, I think you need to stay in our house from now on. Who knows when the men will attack again."

Mr. Granger nodded. "Yes. I think we should do just that. "

An hour then passed, and the aurors finally arrived. They knocked on the newly fixed door, and Ed opened it.

"Hello, Mr. Aldrich." Shacklebolt greeted the boy.

"Mr. Shacklebolt? Why are you here? "

"This is a rather serious case, Mr. Aldrich. You were attacked by dark-wizards." The man said, softly.

Ed sighed. "The wizards are there." Ed pointed at the kitchen.

"Can my colleagues talk to yours and Miss Granger’s parents?"

"Sure, and offer them if they want to be obliviated or not…"

"Very well, Mr. Aldrich." Shacklebolt entered the house and took care of the dark wizards. After about half an hour, they had finished it. "Mr. Aldrich, we need some statements from you about the attack."

Ed then told the stories rather vividly to Shacklebolt, from the stalking to the attack, making the man frown. "Do you know who hired them?"

"No." Ed lied. He couldn’t tell that Barty Crouch Jr. hired them. They would brand him an insane person.

Shacklebolt frowned even more, but didn’t say anything. "Is there anything else, Mr. Aldrich?"

"Not really... I won’t be punished because I used magic, right? "

"No, it was self-defence, Mr. Aldrich." Shacklebolt quickly denied it. "I would say that after you graduate, we would love to have you as an auror because of your work here… but I guess your future has already been set in stone."

Ed hummed in the compliment. "Well Mr. Aldrich, I guess we’re done here. Contact us if you have any more problems with assassins. We need to obliviate the neighbourhood. "

Ed nodded, and the aurors slowly left, Ed then walked towards Hermione, who was in her room packing now. "Hey…" he mumbled, smiling at the girl.

"Hi…" she smiled back, "Did you get hurt?"

Ed shook his head. "No, did your parents take the obliviate offer?"

"No, they want to remember it... Your parents too…"

Ed sighed and sat on her bed. Hermione noticed Ed’s complicated expression and sat beside him, comforting the boy. "What’s wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"I just- I’m scared that Tom will attack them again, and what if I’m not there that time?"

"Well, they said that they’ll be leaving the country at the end of the summer, so you don’t have to worry about it anymore." She hugs Ed to comfort him.

"What if they follow them to Australia?" Ed overthought it.

"You don’t have to worry about that." She kissed his cheek. "They won’t, Voldemort is still weak right now."

Ed sighed as he placed his head on her shoulder. "Why me? I just wanted a peaceful life, but my last name prevented it. "

"You can stop if you want." Hermione mumbled while caressing his hair. "I’m not going to judge you if you stop helping people from this world anymore, and just ran away from all this."

"What about the blood debt?"

"Like I said, I’m not going to judge you if you stop…"

"It’s my duty to finish it, Hermione." Ed stated.

"It’s not Ed... It’s your father’s…"

"By the time he came back, Tom would be dead already." Ed refuted. "So the debt won’t be claimed. And besides, Ciri will need shelter here, I can’t leave yet."

Hermione hummed to Ed’s forehead. "Then I’ll be with you till the end."

Ed nodded as he sat up straight. He then cupped Hermione’s cheeks and placed a chaste kiss on her lips lovingly.

"I never really said it." Ed muttered to the girl as they separated from the kiss. "But you know I love you, right?"

Hermione nodded weakly, with a soft smile. "I know, I love you too."

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