CHAPTER 46: THE SERIES OF EVENTS

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IT'S TOUGH ISN'T?

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May 7th, 1993. A boy was heavily training in the training room, his shirt soaked with sweat, his eyes bloodshot, and his legs were shaking, and the boy was of course, Ed. The last months have been a breeze to him, Lockhart was finally locked up in azkaban, and the aurors were busy trying to find his victims, while in Hogwarts, Dumbledore temporarily hold the position of DADA Professor, he was a good teacher, he has a balance between theory and practice, and the students loved his class because not only he gave points to the one who answered a question, but he also gave them some candy. Right now however, Ed was lying on the ground, contemplating what did he do to deserve this torturous training.

"I can't do this anymore Gilligan, it's simply torture…" said Ed between gasps of air, dropping to the ground.

Gilligan sighed at Ed's pathetic condition right now, but what can he do? He just needs the boy to endure it, so that he can survive the coming trial. "You have to endure Ed, if you want to survive."

"Can I just win this normally? No need to destroy an entire planet…" Ed complained.

Gilligan shook his head, "I doubt that the council will play fair, they are quite desperate to get our artifacts." Gilligan said, grimacing at his words. "So, we need a trump card to be able to win this."

Ed just massaged his forehead in annoyance, he then decided to change the topic by talking about the revival plan, "How's the ingredients Gilligan? It hurts me to see Hermione talking to her parents in that bottle, I need to see them meet in flesh…"

Gilligan thought for a while before ultimately saying, "The good news is it's 75% completed, the bad news is it will probably be finished in June…"

"The time for the trial huh…" Ed whispered gloomily, "I can't see the process then, can you do it Gilligan? When I'm away?"

"We can wait for you, you know?" offered Gilligan, but Ed shook his head. "No, we can't make her wait any longer, and besides, what if I die? The library will be confiscated, and you won't be able to resurrect her parents…"

Gilligan sighed tiredly, "All right, I will see what I can do." Commented the owl.

Ed smiled at the owl in appreciation, and suddenly thought about something, "Tomorrow is May 8th huh… I need to keep her safe." He whispered to himself.

The next morning, Ed quickly do his routine and went to Hermione, who was in the great hall, talking to her roommates.

"Hermione," Ed called while sitting beside her on the long table, earning her attention. "You're not allowed to leave my side today." Ed said sternly, looking at Hermione dead in the eyes.

Hermione blushed lightly and asked, "W-Why?" she stuttered. Her friends also giggling beside her, hearing their conversation.

"I'll tell you later, if you want to go somewhere, bring me there." Ed said, then turned to the food and eat it.

Hermione quickly shook off the blush and frowned, she glared at Ed suspiciously the whole time, making Ed a bit uncomfortable.

"Can you not stare at me Hermione? I'm trying to eat here." Said Ed in annoyance.

"Tell me now." She simply commanded.

Ed shook his head, "Not here, the others might heard us." Ed said while looking at the surroundings. Hermione just hummed, and continued eating, not talking to each other. Then a couple of minutes later, Hermione finished first and waited for Ed, who saw that Hermione was finished and quickly finish his meal, after that, the two stood up and exited the great hall.

"Mind telling me now?" Hermione said with a small smile on her face as she walked beside Ed.

"You were supposed to be petrified today." Ed dropped the news, which makes Hermione stopped walking.

"What?" she questioned, rather harshly.

"I said you were supposed to be petrified, along with Penelope Clearwater." Repeated Ed but adding something after that.

Hermione eyed Ed for a while before continuing, "What about Clearwater then? Are you not going to save her?" she asked.

"Well, I have to, otherwise she'll die"

Hermione frowned, "What do you mean?"

"She was supposed to be saved by you, you use a mirror along with Penelope Clearwater, but the mirror was yours, so if you weren't there, then she'll die."

Hermione bit her lip in anxiousness, "Then we have to help her!"

Ed sighed, "Don't worry Hermione, you can go to the library as usual, I'll just accompany you."

"So that's where I was supposed to be petrified?"

"Yeah, what are you researching now?"

"I'm trying to find out how to open the chamber, and how did the basilisk can move around the castle." Informed Hermione.

Ed nodded, "Don't worry, do you want to go right now?"

Hermione hummed and led the way to the library, Ed followed her behind with wand in his left hand the whole time.

"You don't have to protect me at all times you know, I can protect myself." Suddenly commented Hermione while the two were walking to the library, she was showing a warm smile on her face, happy about something.

Ed scoffed, "Yes, and be petrified once the basilisk appeared." Ed said sarcastically.

Hermione smacked Ed playfully and walked into the library, then Ed followed Hermione searching for the book she was looking, she noticed that Ed was following her at all times and just rolled her eyes in amusement. Hermione picked a book and sat in one of the seat available.

Ed looked at the surroundings using the space magic, but he only saw the librarian and a couple of hunters watching him, Ed sighed and tried to make small talks with Hermione.

"So, why didn't you watch Harry's quidditch game? We could've avoided all of this." Ed asked curiously.

Hermione glared at Ed, "And make Clearwater a victim? Yeah, no." said the girl decisively.

Ed raised his hands in surrender, "All right, no need to be salty about it." He said while chuckling. Ed then stared at Hermione, a bit longer than he should, which made the girl very self-conscious and blushed.

"Stop staring." She said while smacking him on the head with a book, her face was a bit red.

"Ouch! Okay, sorry…" apologized Ed, "It's just, I want to tell you something, about your parents…"

Hermione turned serious instantly, she has been missing her parents, and anytime Ed talked about her parents, it's either been an extremely good news, or a proper bad one.

Ed cleared his throat, and informed the girl, "Gilligan is almost finished with the ingredients, you'll be doing the revival in June…"

"'You'? not 'We'?" questioned Hermione suspiciously.

Ed hummed with a bit of a sad tone, "I can't see them get revived Hermione, I need to do the trial."

"Then we can wait for you…"

Ed shook his head, "No, you've waited long enough, besides, who says that I will survive the trial? If I died, the library will be confiscated, and you can't revive your parents anymore…"

"Don't say that…" said Hermione in sadness, "Don't say that you will die."

Ed chuckled at Hermione's behaviour, "I appreciate your confidence in me Hermione, I really do, but I honestly don't know what will happen… maybe the council will play tricks, or some other stuff that I can't predict." Said Ed with a weak smile, "So if I die, then at least you got your parents back, sure, your memories might be wiped because your involvement in our family, but at least you got your parents back."

"No," said the girl decisively, "You need to come back safe." She stared at Ed, making him flinched a little, "I don't want to forget you, I don't want to forget Gilligan, and I don't want to forget the knowledge I got from the library…"

Ed sighed, smiling sadly at her, "I'll try Hermione, but I can't promise you anything, like you said, I'm not a god."

Hermione nodded weakly, then Ed quickly diverted the topic by asking about Harry, "So, did Harry accused anyone lately?" he asked, looking away from her.

Hermione frowned once again, "No, why do you ask?"

Ed nodded, "Then he didn't use the book." Commented Ed, "If he used the book, Voldemort would've accused Hagrid and Harry will believe it, he will find answers in the forbidden forest, he was desperate for clues because you were petrified." Explained Ed, "I changed that, but I still don't know what the effect will be, I know the effect of not letting you go to the library, as Clearwater will probably get killed… but the rest, I don't know." He thought out loud.

Hermione eyed Ed briefly before saying, "It's tough isn't it?"

Ed raised his eyebrow, "Pardon me?"

"Guessing the effects." Continued Hermione, "I was such an arse to you last month…"

Ed chuckled and ruffled her hair, "It's fine Hermione, I understand it, it involves people's lives after all."

Hermione snorted as he ruffled her hair, and the two continued to chat about random things happily, forgetting about the danger that they were about to confront.

An hour before the quidditch match, Ed and Hermione, mostly Hermione, was discussing about how the basilisk travels around the castle.

"Wait! I got it! The basilisk travelled through the pipes! The chamber of secret is in the girls bathroom after all." She said rather excitedly, earning a shush from Madam Pince. "Did I guessed it right?" she asked Ed.

Ed nodded while smiling, "You did." Answered Ed, but before she could say anything more, Ed sensed the basilisk and instantly got alerted. He stood up abruptly, startling the bushy haired girl.

"Hermione, stay close," Ed said to the girl, "The Basilisk is here."

Hermione nodded weakly and got closer to Ed, "Let's find Penelope Clearwater." She suggested.

Ed hummed and scanned the library once again, and she saw the Ravenclaw girl sitting in the corner of the library, Ed walked to her slowly with Hermione, Ed saw that the basilisk is getting closer, but he also saw someone, Daphne and Richard were closing in on the basilisk, which made Ed panic.

"Shit!" he hissed, "Richard and Daphne are here, I think that the basilisk is targeting them!"

Hermione nodded in understanding, and the two ran towards the other two, startling the Ravenclaw and Slytherin pair.

"What are you doing here!?" Ed questioned rather roughly, "It's not safe here!"

Daphne nodded frantically, "I know, I followed the basilisk, I can sense it too you know, nature magic and all,"

"Then why did you follow it?!" Ed hissed once more.

Daphne frowned, "I was curious you know, maybe we can defeat it," said Daphne casually.

"Are you mad!?" roared Ed, making Daphne flinched, "This is not a joke Daph! It could kill you!" scolded Ed, then he turned to Richard, who was fidgeting nervously, "Why did you let her follow it!?"

"I couldn't stop her mate, she insists, even dragged me here…" Richard defended, earning a glare from Daphne, but before any of them can say anything, the basilisk slither closer, making Ed flinched, "Quick! Hide behind that corridor!" Ed pushed the three, hiding them behind the wall of the corridor. Ed used the space echolocation to see, he closed his eyes, and tried to push the basilisk away.

"I hate this…" he whispered to himself while peaking at the basilisk, pointing his wand at it, he was seeing the basilisk using the echolocation. Then, Ed summoned an ice shard and shot at the basilisk, it penetrated its thick skin surprisingly, and Ed can hear the basilisk's scream of pain. Ed tried it again, he made another ice shard, but this time, he aimed at the eye, making it blind in one eye. The basilisk finally turned around and vanished from the corridors, he wanted to chase it, but ultimately stopped, as he wanted to do something in that chamber.

"Did you get it?" asked Daphne suddenly.

"No, I didn't." said Ed while looking away at Hermione, who was glaring at him, "I hit one of its eye though…"

Daphne sighed in disappointment, "Well, maybe next time…"

Ed hummed, and advised the blonde girl, "Don't do anything stupid like that again, you'll be killed if this goes on."

The girl nodded half-heartedly, and Ed looked at the other two, "You two okay?"

"Yes, we're okay." Said Richard while fixing his robe.

Ed nodded again, "I'll check on Clearwater, want to join?" asked Ed to the three.

"Wait, why do we have to check on Clearwater?" questioned Daphne.

"Long story, I'll tell you on the way." Said Ed while walking to the girl in question, on the way, Ed told the two, and they looked a bit gobsmacked at Ed, but ultimately didn't say anything. Once he sees that Penelope is fine, the group then went to McGonagall, and told her what happened. McGonagall looked extremely concerned, the match was about to start in thirty minutes as well.

"Well, are you all okay?" questioned McGonagall in concern.

"We're fine Professor, I got the basilisk's eye though." Ed bragged, earning a snort from the rest of the group.

McGonagall sighed, "Well, all of you did well to hide, while it was quite stupid of you Mr. Aldrich to attack it…"

"Professor, if I didn't attack it, the basilisk would attack us." Ed defended himself.

"All right, but next time, don't do reckless things again, last year with the troll, and now a basilisk. what has this school gone into…"

Ed coughed awkwardly at McGonagall's statement, and the woman continued, "I think we need to search the school for this, Argus!" shouted McGonagall, Filch then came, and McGonagall whispered to him, and he nodded, Filch then ran off, and from what Ed assumed, he started to patrol the school.

"All of you can join your classmates on the stands," McGonagall informed, then she bolted off to Merlin knows where.

"Should we search for a spot?" asked Richard, which all of them nodded and walked to the stands.

"So how's the duelling training lately?" asked Ed to Daphne and Richard.

"It's okay," answered Richard while all of them took a spot, "I've been getting wrecked by Daphne though."

Ed chuckled, "Figures."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean!" Richard acted as if he was insulted.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione suddenly interrupted.

Daphne answered her simply, "We were having Duelling lessons with Professor Flitwick, apparently Ed recommended us to him."

Hermione instantly glared at Ed, "Why didn't you recommended me also?" asked her a bit sternly.

"Well, I did, but the professor probably ruled you out because you didn't spend as much time training with me…" answered Ed weakly, which the girl just sighed in disappointment.

"Don't worry though, if we have time, I'll train with you." Ed comforted the girl, which Hermione instantly looked at Ed with hopeful eyes, "Really?" she questioned excitedly.

Ed just nodded and chuckled in amusement, as she smiled goofily at him, Ed then just ruffled her hair, after that, the four chatted casually, but suddenly, when they were waiting for the match to start, McGonagall announced something from the commentator stand.

"All students, please return back to your dorm rooms, the match has been cancelled, I repeat, the match has been cancelled."

And in an instant, there was a protest of disappointment from the students stands, but the Professors ignored it and told their prefects to lead the students to their respective house towers. Before they split up, they asked themselves what happened, why did the match suddenly got cancelled? The question runs into their minds, especially Ed.

'But I prevented Penelope to be petrified… does that mean there's another victim?' Ed asked himself. But then his thoughts were suddenly interrupted when Percy shouted at Ed and Hermione, and told them to go back to the common room, both of them said goodbye to the group and followed the crowd towards the Fat Lady portrait.

While they were on the way, Ed saw Professor McGonagall talking to someone, Hermione also saw her, both of them nod to each other and walked to McGonagall.

"What's going on Professor?" asked Ed to McGonagall, who was looking frantic.

"Mr. Aldrich, I'm afraid the basilisk you just fought targeted another, a student has been found petrified…" she informed, making Ed frowned. But then McGonagall asked Ed another question.

"But Mr. Aldrich, are you sure the creature is a basilisk? As far as I'm aware, a basilisk's stare can kill you in an instant."

"Positive Professor, all of the victims were just lucky, because they didn't stare directly at it, they were looking at the creature from a reflection."

McGonagall thought for a while before nodding, "Of course… the latest student was found in front of a mirror in the bathroom."

"May I ask Professor, who's the victim this time?"

"I'm afraid it's a student from our house Mr. Aldrich, it's Parvati Patil, she was in the girls' bathroom."

Hermione gave a loud gasp, gobsmacked about her roommate being petrified. Ed noticed this and patted her in the shoulder, relaxing her a bit, then spoke to the professor once again, "Her sister has been informed right?"

McGonagall nodded, "Yes, she's already in the Hospital wing, now, if you two don't have anymore questions, please go to your dorm room."

The two said goodbye to McGonagall, and entered the common room, chatting quietly to each other.

"You see Hermione… it's hard to predict on what will happen, I can't be careless." Said Ed softly.

Hermione hummed, "I know, but whatever you planned for this year and the next, just watch out for yourself and your friends all right?"

Ed chuckled, "All right, I promise."

The next morning, Ed was once again, doing his routine, he got used to the fatigue that was built, he showered, and went to the great hall, there, he heard a couple of whispers, and the students were looking at Hagrid's seat that was empty.

Ed walked to Hermione, who did the same as the other students, and was talking to Harry and Ron.

"What's going on Hermione?" asked Ed while looking at the three.

"Hagrid's been arrested." Answered Hermione worriedly, "I mean, it's preposterous! No evidence, nothing, and they just arrest him like that?!"

Ed sighed, then he sat beside her, "You see what I mean Hermione? That the ministry is corrupt and full of incompetent wizards? They just used him as a scapegoat, so the minister won't get any pressure."

Hermione nodded weakly, and Ed looked at Harry, who was listening to their conversation, "Dumbledore didn't get kicked out did he?"

Harry looked at Ed strangely, "No, why would he?"

Ed shrugged, and picked the food from the table casually, but Hermione glared at him, as if demanding answer.

"Dumbledore was supposed to be kicked out, but I guess because Lucius didn't exist anymore in this timeline that the minister didn't consider it." He whispered to the curious girl, making sure that no one else heard him.

Hermione looked a bit surprise, but soon composed herself so others wouldn't notice.

Ed then looked back, staring at Richard and Daphne, who were looking at him also, Ed signalled them to exit the great hall, and that they did. Ed also stood up and walked outside the great hall.

"So, is it true?" Daphne curiously asked, "Is Hagrid the culprit?"

"No, of course not! It's just Fudge's excuse to turn down the heat on him." Ed denied the accusation.

"Figure as much, the minister is quite a coward." Daphne said with a shrug.

"All right, I know I can't fulfil your curiosity towards the culprit, so here's what I can tell you…" said Ed, the other two instantly got their attention to him.

"There will be a big accident later, now if you want to know who's the culprit, on that day, go to the girls' bathroom that has moaning myrtle in it, then wait there for Harry and his friends, after that, just follow them, help them if you want to." Explained Ed.

Richard looked at Ed strangely, "Why won't you join us?"

"It'll be too easy for Harry if I join." Said Ed arrogantly. Which the other two just snorted.

"What are we? Cockroaches to you?" Daphne said sarcastically.

Ed chuckled, "I'm joking, I'll help, although not from the start, but seriously though, don't interfere too much in Harry, you can help him a bit, but ultimately, make it his fight."

"Fine," Daphne grunted.

"Got no problems with that." Richard continued.

"All right, see you around, don't kill yourself." Ed joked while returning to the great hall.