CHAPTER 28: THE GIGANTIC OWL - R

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TO BEFRIEND, OR NOT TO BEFRIEND

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It is 31st of October 1992, the school was preparing for the Halloween feast, Ed can see the palace was decorated with Halloween decorations, pumpkins were scattered around the garden, and the smell of pumpkins dishes can be smelled near the kitchen of the palace.

Ed, however, doesn't really care about the feast, he was nervous about something, he looked at the potionmaking set that is on his desk in his room, the room was dark, ever since he started making the potion that is resting in the set, he didn't let any light in the room, and the potion of course, is an Animagus potion.

He started the mandrake leave part of the ritual the day after he made the ring, and so far, it has been successful, he brewed the potion, letting it rest for seven days, he has been doing the chanting in sunrise and sundown after that, and now was the D-Day for Ed, he was nervous, tonight Nicolas predicted that there will be a thunderstorm, so Ed was preparing. He had asked Madame Maxine to not participate in the feast in the dining chamber, and made space in his room, he placed a Muffliato charm in the place to prevent students hearing him in case he screams during the transformation.

Ed suddenly had an idea and took the book that studied the Patronus charm, he blinked to exit the room, and went to one of the training room that the Beauxbatons have. He entered it, but instead of finding an empty room, he found the single person that he doesn't want to meet right now, Fleur Delacour.

'Shit' Ed thought, he quietly closed the door again, but before he succeeded, the girl noticed it, she saw Ed's face peeking from the slit of the door.

"Oh, it's you." Said the girl, "Why are you peeking at me? Want to see something you shouldn't see?" she teased Ed.

Ed grumbled, "No, I thought the room was empty, sorry, I'll leave now."

Fleur rushed to the door and opened it, "Oh, no, no, you're welcome to join in, it'll be interesting to see you practice, I've never seen you actually practicing magic before in the school, so I want to see it."

Ed frowned, he crossed his arms and countered, "What if I refused?"

"You have to practice at the corridors then, the others are sharing the other training room too." Said Fleur dismissively.

Ed narrowed his eyes, "I'll see it first before believing in your words. If it's full, then fine, I'll train with you."

Ed then left the girl alone, and checked at every room, and lo and behold, all full, the students who saw Ed opened the door either looked at him with hostility, or like he's some kind of prey to catch. He sighed heavily before walking to Fleur's training room slowly. But he stopped, 'Wait, I have the suitcase aren't I? why didn't I go there?' he thought, but then he realized that Fleur was probably hoping for him to train with her, but seriously, Ed is quite annoyed by that girl, attacking him with her charm aura every time she meets him, sending him weird looks that made other boys looking at Ed with contempt and hostility, it's just too much.

Ed sighed, 'Fine, it's quite rude to leave a girl like that, it feels like I'm a dad that didn't come back after saying he will buy some milk.' He relented in his mind. He continued to walk to the room that Fleur was in, he opened the door, which earn the attention of the resident inside, which is Fleur, she looked at Ed with a smug smile.

Seeing this, Ed frowned, "You know what, I'll just train in my room." Said Ed while closing the door back.

But Fleur rushed once again and prevented him to leave, "Wait, wait, wait, just let me see how you trained, I won't intrude, I swear." She spoke.

Ed eyed Fleur suspiciously and entered the room, he put the book on a desk and flipped the book to the page on how to do a Patronus charm, he read the manual, and tried to replicate it.

Fleur is looking at Ed with curiosity in her eyes, she wanted to see what spell that Ed will cast. Ed point his wand, he thought about something happy, his time with his foster parents, the time he spend on the orphanage with Richard, the time when he, Richard, and Daphne trained, the time he spend with Hermione, and he thought about the eventual meeting of him and his real parents, he chanted the incantation, "Expecto Patronum." And the tip of his wand turned bright, the wand then shot a white and blue light, slowly forming into something, a bird or some sort, after a couple of seconds, the Patronus formed, and he saw a screech owl was flying around the room. Ed was satisfied, 'Nice, an owl, there's also a chance my inner animal is an owl as well…' Ed thought.

"Marvellous!" shouted a girl that is sitting in the corner. "Amazing! A twelve-year-old boy like you can make a corporeal Patronus! Simply amazing!"

Ed said with an annoyed tone to the girl, "I thought you said you wouldn't intrude?"

Fleur just closed her mouth and giggled silently and sat in silence again. Ed, however, was eyeing her intently, but she didn't know that his reading her mind right now. Ed saw that Fleur was trying to get close to him so she can see how he can be this powerful this young, he sees her determination to succeed and make her parents and family proud, and behind that arrogance of her beauty, she was afraid that someday she will be hurt because of it, she wants to be a powerful witch so she can defend her dignity from the uncontrolled lust of men, and most of all, she wanted to approach him to make a friend, because right now, he's the only one around her that is close to her age that can withstood her sometimes uncontrolled charm.

Ed shook his head in pity, "Must be hard for you right?" questioned Ed randomly, making her confused, "All that beauty, all that charm, it's hard to make any friends because of it, and don't even mentioned the possibility of men raping you because of it." Ed sat down on the floor, and Fleur looked at Ed seriously, "Whatever do you mean?" she asked, but Ed can tell that she's trying to maintain herself right now.

Ed shook his head amusedly, "You can't hide anything for me Fleur." He said to the girl, "If I know Occlumency, what makes you think I can't do Legillimency?"

She instantly got surprised and caught off guard, "What do you mean what makes I think you can't do Legillimency?! A normal boy your age didn't even know a single attack spell! Let alone Occlumency and Legillimency!"

Ed chuckled while closing the book on the desk, "Well, I'm not really normal aren't I?"

The girl just narrowed her eyes at Ed, "So you read my mind?"

"Of course, you don't have an Occlumency shield in your mind after all, it's quite easy to see through your thoughts." Explained Ed.

The girl frowned even more, "What did you see?"

"Everything Fleur, everything." Said Ed while point at his head. "You should learn Occlumency if you don't want your memories and thoughts to be seen, maybe ask your father or mother, they'll know."

Ed then took the book from the desk and said to the girl, "Well, if you still want to see me training, I guess I'll meet you in this place next time I'll practice, whenever that is."

"Wait!" said the girl, "I'll ask you not to read my mind again in the near future."

Ed just nodded and left the frowning girl alone, he looked at the time and it was now evening, the sky was already cloudy, 'Okay, let's do this.' Said Ed, but when he was walking down the corridor, a giant woman stopped, him, that woman was of course Madam Maxine,

"Monsieur Aldrich, could I have a moment?" asked the woman, a little bit frantic.

"Um, of course Madame." Said Ed, then Madame Maxine led him to her office and told him to sit down.

"Monsieur Aldrich, I know that you requested me to not include you in this banquet this evening." Said the woman, "But right now, I'm in a bit of a pinch, you see, the band that was supposed to be performing in the banquet suddenly cancelled the show, so we don't have anyone to perform…"

'Shit, I know what she's going to ask…' thought Ed, he already looked gloomy, but the madam didn't notice it.

"And Dumbledore said that you're a talented musician, so I was wondering if you can play a piece or two for the banquet?" she dropped the anticipated question.

Ed fidgeted nervously, "Excuse me Madame, not to be rude or anything, but isn't there some kind of music club here, why didn't they play? And in case you haven't noticed Madame, I'm not particularly liked by the students, especially the boys, I didn't even do anything."

Madame Maxine shook her head, "We have a music club here, but no one ever entered it since two years ago, and for the second question, yes I've noticed, perhaps your performance in this banquet will ease the tension a bit…"

Ed sighed, and he relented, "Okay Madame Maxine, I will do it, but I will need the help of the wood nymphs for the choir, and I will leave after my performance, I can't miss this night…"

"Wonderful! Thank you Monsieur Aldrich, I'll see you at the banquet. You can leave." Said the woman enthusiastically.

Ed then exited the door and instantly blinked to his suitcase, preparing for the performance.

A couple of hours later, Fleur was sitting with her classmates in the dining chamber, waiting for the performance and the food of the banquet. Then Madame Maxine entered the room, she walked through the chamber, and all students stood up to be polite to her. She walked to a stand for the speech, and informed the students,

"Students, tonight at the banquet, we will have a special performance from a student among you." Said the Madame, making all of the students looked at her with curiosity, "He will play a piano piece that will be accompanied by the wood nymphs."

Madame Maxine the cleared her throat and introduced the performer, "Please welcome, Monsieur Edgart Aldrich."

The room was silent when the Madame Mentioned Ed's name, only a couple of people clapped, and the boys grumbled, seeing this Madame Maxine frowned, and just took her seat.

Ed then entered the dining chamber, he wore a tuxedo for the performance, he looked at the hostile face of the students and shook amusedly, he then turned to Madame Maxine, who is still frowning, and shrugged.

Ed then bowed to the audience and took his seat in front of the piano, he looked at the wood nymphs who was scattered around the chamber and nodded, he had briefed them on what will he played tonight, just some basic, 'Moonlight Sonata.', but the piece will be accompanied by the choirs of the nymphs, making it more 'fancy'.

Ed then started to play the first movement, his fingers moved slowly and quietly, making the mood sombre and powerful, the way he played the piece earned almost all the attention of the students and the professors. The room echoed with the sounds of the piano's string, every note he pressed told stories that humans don't know how to qualify, the slow and peaceful rhythm made an interesting atmosphere, a peace inducing tone, but deep down, it also provokes depression and anxiety, it makes the audience felt like they are sitting alone beneath the moonlight, waiting for someone who never came. In the middle of the first movement, the nymphs started to hum along with the piece, making the atmosphere more sombre than ever before, and because of it, the audience felt like they were hearing a tragedy of death, the haunting choir of the nymphs made for a chilling reminder, the notes of the piano revealing horrors inside a man's heart. Some audience shed a tear at how beautiful the performance is, and some shivered at the haunting notes and hums.

Then he moved to the second movement. Ed played a bit faster, ruining a bit of the atmosphere before, the tone was now cheerful, the melody was like a cure to the audience's ears, a lot of the students were now smiling because of the change of mood in the music. The nymphs didn't hum this time and listened to Ed intently, like someone says, he played the piece like it is a flower between two chasms, preparing for the next movement. The melody felt like you were walking with the one you loved under the gaze of the moon.

Then, he moved to the third movement. Ed drastically changed the tempo, the ferocity of each notes he pressed differ from the other two, while the first was slow and sombre, the second was faster and cheerful, the third however was fierce and filled with unbridled emotions, it felt like you were wrestling with the moon itself. The audience looked at Ed with awe with how Ed played the piece, he simply played it like a maniac, like a broken-hearted man filled with grief, like a genius driven to madness, like a man in the battlefield charging at the enemy full of adrenaline. The movement symbolises the unpredictability of emotions, he played fast, and slowed down for a second, then he fasten the tempo again, it is simply an order within chaos. He finished the movement with two notes that he pressed so emotionally and stood up to bow again to the audience.

The students looked at Ed's face, his eyes were a bit red, his face were sweaty, and he bowed, it took a couple of seconds to process what they just heard, then the professors started to stand up and clapped loudly, the others follow along, almost no students didn't clapped, they cheered for the performance that they just heard, even though they still hate Ed, the performance he gave deserved a cheer. Ed made them go through a roller coaster of emotions, first he gave them a sense of longing, then he gave them a sense of loving bliss, but then all of that was shattered by the chaos of the last movement.

Ed bowed again to the audience and turned to see Madame Maxine, who was smiling widely at Ed, he bowed to her and excused himself from the chamber, earning a confused look from everyone. He opened the door to exit the chamber and walked through the corridors, he peeked at outside, he saw the thunderstorm and hurried to his room.

'Damn, I don't know what came over me in that performance.' Ed thought while wiping a bit of tears on his face. He opened the door and took the potion. He pointed his wand to his heart, and he said the incantation,

"Amato Animo Animato Animagus."

Then he drank the potion that he made. After that, his heart ached, like he had a heart attack, he screamed at the top of his lung, his body started to deform, it was a painful process, his screams echoed in the room, but thankfully he had placed a Muffliato charm so no one can hear him. Ed can feel his bones becoming smaller, he can feel his face started to deform, his body structure started to change, and all the time he was screaming until he couldn't scream anymore because of morphing.

A couple of minutes later, he was fully changed, his body ached all over because of the first time changing, it truly was a painful process, he scanned his body, he looked like he had wings, black wings, 'Okay, interesting…' he thought, he thinks that he changed to an owl, but he felt that his body was a lot bigger than an ordinary owl, he searched for a mirror to see what he looked like, and lo and behold, he turned into a black-capped screech owl, except that his eyes are silver like the one he owned and his body was 8 ft tall, like Gilligan. He admired the form for a few seconds before tried to fly, but he realized that the room was not big enough to fly, and outside was still raining. A bit disappointed that he can't try to fly yet, He changed back to his human form, wore the clothes that he dropped of because of the first transformation, and slept like log.

Meanwhile, in Hogwarts Daphne was talking to her sister, Astoria, in the Great Hall.

"Astoria, you should eat this, it gives you more energy." Said Daphne while putting random stuff at Astoria's plate.

"It's too much Daph, don't worry about me." Astoria sighed in annoyance, but Daphne didn't listen, she just keeps continuing. "Okay, stop, please?" Astoria removed her sister's hands from her plate.

Daphne just sighed and ate her food, but then she sensed the same snake that she sensed that day, she felt her curiosity rose up, and she stood up and excused herself.

"Daphne, you continue to eat okay? I need to go to the bathroom." She made an excuse, which Astoria just nodded.

Then she walked towards the door, she looked at Richard, who was looking at her confusedly, and signalled him to follow her, the boy then stood up, and exited the hall.

"What's going on?" asked Richard.

"Remember that snake I sensed a while ago? It's back." Said Daphne seriously. Before he could say anything, she walked away from the door to search for the beast.

"Come on Daph, you're saying nonsense now? How can a big snake enter Hogwarts, it's stupid." Complained Richard.

Daphne snorted, "If you don't want to follow me that's fine, go back to the feast while you can, but I swear, I sensed some kind of a big snake roaming around just now, I can sense it using my family magic, I don't know what species is that snake, but it's definitely big, and it's a snake."

"Okay, okay, but you have to be careful, if what you said is true and it attacked us, we're definitely going to die." Relented Richard.

Richard then followed Daphne, walking slowly through the halls of Hogwarts, then she suddenly stopped, "There!" she whispered to Richard, "Do you hear that? Sounds of hissing."

Richard looked at Daphne strangely, "What? I didn't hear anything…" the two walked a bit before noticed that something was wrong.

"Why's the floor wet?" Richard questioned, Daphne frowned and walked closer to the sound that she heard.

"Shouldn't we try and help?" a whisper can be heard by the two.

"Trust me…" another voice whispered, "We don't want to be found here."

Daphne and Richard looked at each other and rushed to the place. Richard also saw that a lot of people coming out of the Great Hall. They walked closer to the place, and smelled blood, Richard frowned and looked at the source of the smell, he saw a message that has been written on the wall.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

"What is this?" Daphne questioned, earning a look of the supposed perpetrators, who turns out to be Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"You three, what are you doing?" questioned Richard.

"I-It wasn't us!" defended Harry, "We found the place like this."

Richard narrowed his eyes, and the rest of the crowd arrived at the scene, all of them looked horrified at the writing on the wall, then a particular pale boy shot through the crowd, he saw the writing, he grinned and shouted to the crowd,

"Enemies of the heir, beware! You're next, mudbloods!" he shouted.

Richard snorted and pointed his wand at the grinning boy, he then chanted a spell, "Mimblewimble"

Then, Draco's tongue became tangled, and can't speak.

"Watch your words Malfoy." Richard threatened, earning a chuckle from the Gryffindors and a glare from the Slytherins.

"What's going on here!" a voice suddenly shouted. It was Filch, he was running to the crowd frantically, he scanned the surroundings and saw his cat, Mrs. Filch, lying on the floor, as stiff as a wood.

"My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" he shrieked. He looked around and saw Harry first, which he pointed.

"You!" he shouted. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you!" he threatened Harry, still pointing at him.

"Argus!" an old man's voice shouted. The voice who turned out to be Dumbledore arrived at the scene, he looked at the writing on the wall and frowned.

"Come with me Argus," commanded Dumbledore, "You too Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger."

Richard and Daphne then tried to hide their presence, not wanting to deal with this mess, which thankfully, it worked, they didn't got called out. The other professors then told everyone to go back to their dorms, but Richard and Daphne spoke a bit before separating.

"You think that snake you heard is the culprit?" ask Richard to the blonde girl.

Daphne snorted in annoyance, "Oh now you believe me."

"Okay, okay, I believe you, is it the culprit or not?" Richard apologized and asked again.

Daphne thought for a while before saying, "The possibility is high, but we're not sure, how can a giant snake write on the wall, unless…"

"Unless?"

"Unless the snake was guided by someone, and that someone was the one who wrote the message!" Daphne exclaimed.

Richard was surprised at Daphne's statement. "You think that there's a dark wizard in the school? Who could it be? Lockhart? Ed warned us about him, yeah maybe it's him."

"Maybe, but a person who can command a snake needs to know parseltounge…" continued Daphne.

"Parseltounge?"

"The ability to speak to snake, and the last known man who could do it is…" said Daphne before she paled, "it's the dark lord…"

Richard was surprised, "What? the dark wizard is the dark lord himself?"

Daphne shook his head, "No, it shouldn't be possible, after the debacle last year, he won't go back again. So, I think there's a new man that can use parseltounge."

"Then what can we do?"

"I don't know, let's figure it out tomorrow." Said Daphne, then she remembered something, "No, I'm quite busy tomorrow, I'll see you next week." Before Richard could protest, Daphne was already running to her dorm room. Richard just sighed and went back to his dorm room.