CHAPTER 39: THE CONVERSATION

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IS IT WRONG TO KILL AN EVIL MAN TO SAFE AN INNOCENT CHILD, DUMBLEDORE?

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The group then arrived at Hogsmeade station, with renewed vigour on their bodies, they exited the train and walked to the carriage, Ed saw the Thestrals that is pulling the carriage, but doesn't say anything, because no one saw it.

The carriages started to move and was pulled towards Hogwarts, the group chatted casually to each other while admiring the view of the journey to Hogwarts.

"Prepare yourself Daph, I'll bring you with me when I kidnap Lucius." Said Ed casually, making the blonde girl frowned.

"Can I not go?" she asked, she doesn't really want to be seen in the kidnapping.

"Sure, stay in Hogwarts then, don't see your sister get cured." Answered Ed, instantly scrapping anymore complaints from Daphne.

"Fine," she grumbled, "When?"

Ed shrugged, "Dunno, I have to get the location first from Draco, then Dumbledore will probably tried to convince me to stop what I'm doing, after that, we're all set."

"Dumbledore knows?" asked Hermione in surprise.

"Of course, he knows about Lucius killing your parents as well." Answered Ed weakly.

"But he said he didn't know who killed them!" She exclaimed, a little bit angry at Dumbledore.

"Dumbledore is a schemer Hermione, he can lie easily, but what he did was probably right, I don't know what would've happen if you hear that Draco's father killed your parents while you were at school…" Ed explained and share his thoughts.

"The blonde git would've probably be dead by strangulation." Richard joked, but soon realized that it wasn't the right time to do so, "Sorry…"

Hermione hummed at the apology, and looked at Ed, "Can I go with you? To Malfoy Manor I mean?"

Ed frowned, "No." answered Ed decisively, "You don't want to see it Hermione, trust me."

"But I want to." Pushed Hermione. But Ed stayed silent, signalling that it wasn't up for a debate anymore.

Hermione just sighed and looked away to the windows.

A couple of minutes later, they arrived at the entrance of Hogwarts, all of them got off of the carriage, and started to walk towards the great hall for the feast.

"Well, well, well, the mudblood has comeback." Said a smug voice behind Ed and the group. "What happened Granger? Parents gone?" she asked with a wicked smile.

Ed instantly loses his control and approached the pale boy, grabbing his neck and slammed his body to the wall, scaring the boy in the process.

"Hello cousin, have a good holiday?" Ed asked with a terrifying smirk on his face, making Draco almost pissed in his trousers, he probably didn't noticed Ed, because from the back, he just looks like a boy with black hair.

"Look at my eyes Draco." Commanded Ed, he grabbed Malfoy's cheeks and force him to look at him in the eyes, and Ed started to work, he searched his memory for the location of the Manor, and he got it, making him grinned madly, scaring Malfoy even more.

"That's enough Ed." said an old man's voice from behind him, he turned back and saw that it was Dumbledore, looking at the both of them solemnly. "Release Mr. Malfoy Ed."

Ed complied and released the boy roughly, making the boy groaned in pain. Ed then looked at the old man and smiled, "Hello Professor, have a good holiday? I certainly didn't." Ed commented.

Dumbledore sighed, "Come to my office after the feast Ed, I believe you won't need the password."

Ed nodded weakly while eyeing Daphne, which she nodded back.

"My father will hear about this!" Malfoy shouted to the crowd that was watching him.

Ed chuckled, "Sure cousin, let your father hear about it." Answered Ed, he then walked closer to the boy and whispered to his ears, making the boy shivered from fear, "If he can even hear your complains."

Ed smiled wickedly at the boy and walked away with his group, Dumbledore had gone, and the crowd, especially the Gryffindors cheered a bit for Ed.

"You don't have to be that rough you know…" Hermione commented in worry.

"I know, but because of his comment before, I can't help it." Answered Ed, making Hermione blushed a little bit and mumbled a thank you to Ed, which he nodded, then she looked at Daphne, "You can owl your parents now Daph, we'll probably finish in midnight."

Daphne sighed, "All right, I'll see you later then."

"I'll meet you in front of the Great Hall." Informed Ed, which the girl nodded and stormed off to owl her parents.

"Well," Richard suddenly said, "I'll go to the Ravenclaw table now, good luck tonight Ed." Continued Richard while patting Ed's back.

"All right, good night Richard." Said Ed to his long-time brother-in-arm.

Hermione then looked around them, they saw the crowd looking at them, and blushed a little bit. She grabbed Ed's arm nonchalantly and pulled him towards the Great Hall, and ultimately towards the Gryffindor long-table, "Come on, everyone's staring right now…"

The two then arrived at the long-table, and Ed was instantly bombarded with questions about France, he answered the for a while, but then Harry asked them what just happened.

"Ed, I saw you fought with Malfoy in the corridor, what happen?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, that." Said Ed, "You'll see in a couple of days Harry." Answered Ed while patting the boy-who-lived's back.

Harry hummed in suspicion, but before he could say anything, other students started to ask about France again, which Ed happily answered, Hermione beside him was trying to hold off the touchy ones, especially the girls, which makes her quite irritated.

Then the QnA session was interrupted by Dumbledore's voice, he welcomed everyone on the start of the term, and let them eat, which Ed happily do, because he's quite hungry from the long journey. The dinner was filled with idle conversations on the table, some of it was quite interesting, some of it wasn't.

"Hermione, what happened that day?" asked Ron, "You were called by Dumbledore and then in the afternoon, you were gone."

Hermione looked at Ed nervously, and he noticed this, got close to Hermione's ear and whispered,

"Just tell that your parents are missing." Whispered Ed to her ears, making the girl shivered a bit, "I don't quite trust them, sorry Hermione."

Hermione nodded with a slight blush on her face, she looked at the two of her friends who were looking at them suspiciously and answered the question.

"I'll tell you in the dorm room," she said, "It's not really private right now."

The two nodded, still looking at the two suspiciously, but then shrugged and continued eating.

After that, the feast ended, and the students started to scatter to their dorm rooms, Ed however, was going to Dumbledore's office.

"I'll see you tomorrow Hermione." Said Ed to the bushy haired girl.

The girl nodded, she looked hesitant about something, but then she jumped at Ed and gave him a bone crushing hug. "Be careful." She said with a worried tone.

Ed returned the hug and just hummed. He released the hug and looked at her other two friends, "I'll see you two tomorrow as well, I won't sleep in the dorm tonight."

"Where are you going?" asked Harry curiously.

"Nothing for you to worry about Harry, you just deal with your problems." Ed said nonchalantly. "Right, I got to go, Dumbledore's probably already waiting."

Hermione nodded, her face still filled with worry, and Ed walked away from them, towards an empty corridor and disappeared.

Ed then appeared in Dumbledore's office, it was still the same as before, and Ed saw the headmaster was sitting on his chair.

"Good evening headmaster." Greeted Ed while walking to the desk.

"Ah, Ed, please sit." Said Dumbledore while tidying his desk. Ed then sat in front of the old man, Dumbledore put on his serious face, and continued.

"Ed, don't think I don't know what you did with Malfoy on that corridor." The old man said,

"Well, I expected it to be honest." Countered the boy, "I won't 'watch' anymore Dumbledore, I need to do this."

Dumbledore put off his glasses, "You don't Ed, killing isn't the answer to everything."

Ed chuckled, "Like I said, while it isn't the answer to everything, it is the answer to this problem."

Dumbledore shook his head in disappointment, "Killing will only harm your soul Ed, it is not good for a young boy like you, one such example could be seen on the young Tom Riddle…"

Ed sighed, "So you think I will be the next dark lord?" the boy questioned.

"No," Dumbledore said decisively, "Your family is too strict in its rules for you to be a Dark lord, but if you're still like this Ed in the near future, you will slowly turn into a soulless human being…"

"I know Dumbledore." Said Ed, "Like I said at that time, my family will keep me in check."

"Which family? Gilligan?" asked Dumbledore, "Contrary to your belief Ed, Edwyn once said to me that the guardian of the library is incapable of emotion."

Ed shook his head, "That's not true," answered Ed, "The guardian have emotions, it's just its targeted to the family, not outside of it, I asked him myself in my free time…"

Dumbledore frowned, and sighed tiredly, "You must now what it feels like to be fatherless right Ed?" questioned Dumbledore, earning a frown from the boy, "Do you want to make the young Malfoy feel that way too?"

Ed slammed on the desk suddenly, making Dumbledore frowned, "It's quite rich from you Dumbledore, talking about what it feels like to lose family when you're the one who killed your own sister."

Dumbledore sighed deeply, "And I deeply regret it Ed until now, truly, it doesn't matter if it was just an accident or not, but the feeling never change."

Ed looked at Dumbledore deep in the eyes, using his Occlumency to the max to prevent Legillimency. "Tell me Professor, is it wrong to kill an evil man to save an innocent girl's life?"

Dumbledore looked confused, "What do you mean?"

"I'm not doing this sorely for revenge Dumbledore, I'm doing this to cure Astoria." Informed Ed, which makes the old man a bit surprised.

"You discover the cure?" asked the old man.

Ed shook his head, "Not really, no." then Ed explained the whole cure situation, which makes the old man frowned.

"Does it have no other way?" he asked, confirming the status.

Ed sighed heavily, "As far as I researched, no." he answered. "It's better than nothing Dumbledore."

The old man nodded weakly, "But does it have to be him?"

Ed looked at the old man strangely, "Who do you want to sacrifice then? Daphne herself? Me? Lucius is the best candidate in my opinion, it crossed my path for revenge also." Explained Ed, "At least he somehow 'redeemed' himself Dumbledore, killing to innocent lives, and saving one at the cost of his life."

Dumbledore eyed Ed for a while before sighing tiredly, "I can't convince you anymore can't I?"

"No Professor," answered Ed, "Or you want to duel me out of this, sure, let's go, I'll probably lose, but it's a bad image for a white wizard like your stature if you were seen duelling me, a normal twelve-year-old boy." Ed smiled innocently, then he stood up, "Right Professor, I need to go, I'll see you tomorrow." Ed said while disappearing into thin air.

Dumbledore massaged his head, and sighed tiredly, "Darius… it would be much better if you were here to control your son right now…"

Meanwhile Ed appeared in front of the now empty Great Hall, well, there's one person there, Daphne Greengrass.

"Ready?" asked Ed suddenly, startling the girl.

"Merlin Ed! You scared me!" she hissed quietly.

Ed chuckled, "Right, do your parents know what we're going to do?"

The girl shook her head, "No, I didn't tell them, they were in for a surprise once you've come."

Ed sighed, "Well, okay, get near me."

Daphne looked at Ed strangely, "What? Why?"

"Just do it."

"Fine," Daphne grumbled and walked closer to Ed, "Close enough?"

Ed hummed and the two instantly disappeared from the scene, leaving only some shreds of magical black paper.

The two then appeared in front of a manor, a gate was in front of the two, and they were surrounded by bush walls, Ed scanned the entire ground, he saw the hunters watching him, he saw his aunt sleeping alone, and Lucius Malfoy sitting in his study. He then walked to the gate and spoke,

"Uncle, let me give you a taste of the wrath of the owl…" he said to himself while grinning madly, causing Daphne to shiver.