CHAPTER 74: THE SUN

Facts:

Duelling was a formal practice in wizarding culture in which two or more wizards or witches engaged in combat under the condition that only magical means could be used. The combatants faced each other and bowed, as a sign of respect, before they placed themselves in an accepted combative position and, at the count of three, attempted to disarm, stun, injure, defeat, or kill each other in order to force submission, and thus a winner would be decided.

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February 17th, 1994. Right now, Ed was exiting St. Mungos. He has been discharged from the place and was now ready to travel back to Hogwarts. Dumbledore had told him to stay put in the place, as he himself will pick him up, but he was having none of it. He, bringing his bag, got out of the hospital as soon as he was discharged, the sun was shining brightly, and to his surprise, there's a bunch of reporters in front of the hospital, blocking the way. Ed saw some security officers preventing it, but to no avail, as the reporters outnumber them by a lot. Ed saw some patients that were trying to pass through the crowd of reporters but can't. Ed shook his head, 'Bloody reporters.' he thought, he then tried to help the patients who's trying to get through, ignoring the questions that was thrown to him by the reporters. The patients thanked Ed and continued to curse the reporters for blocking the way. Ed just smiled and said goodbye to the patients.

He then looked at the crowd of reporters and spoke in a cold tone. "Move away, this is a hospital, not a market, who knows how many patients you'll indirectly killed by blocking the way?"

Some reporters, like a true menace they were, ignored the warning and continued to barrage Ed with questions, and some of them noticed they were in the wrong and quickly moved away from the place. Ed seeing that some of them ignored his warning made him really annoyed, so he just passed through the crowd of reporters, continuing to ignore it. But then, a reporter grabbed him by the shoulder, which made him furious, he grabbed the reporters arm, and quickly twist it, breaking the arm, and made the reporter screamed in pain.

"Anyone else wants to try touching me without permission?" Ed coldly stated. He then looked at the now quiet crowd, and the groaning reporter on the ground, none of them spoke. "Thought so."

He then walked more, moving away from the reporters, and when he turned around the corner, he vanished, already gone from the place.

Ed then appeared in an empty classroom. It was the classroom that he and Richard and Daphne used to use. Right now though, it looks abandoned, a sign that the two didn't used it when he was asleep. It was probably because Richard was dating Cho, and Daphne was hurt because of that and doesn't want to see Richard anymore.

Ed sighed at the thought of the group breaking because of girls. "Teenage friendship is quite complicated…."

Ed then opened the window, letting all the fresh air in. He then cleaned the room, cleaning all the dust by moving it using magic and threw it out the window, he tidied the room once more. And once it was finished, he sat by the window, enjoying the calmness of the room and the cool wind of spring. When he sat down, he thought about the future. He thought about how much things he needed to do once Ciri came in. He thought about how hard he will need to search once he can actually find his parents, because even though he can sense the family blood, he can't sense them at all. He thought about the future of the family, he was the only capable heir right now, if he dies, the family dies, unless Alan can find an Aldrich descendant, but currently, that's not possible.

"So many possible outcomes…." Ed whispered to himself, thinking about the possible futures.

But then, his thoughts were interrupted by a particular old man, who was standing by the door. "I should've known that you will ignore my advice Ed." he said.

"You were late." Ed simply said.

"The news will have a field day tomorrow." Dumbledore continued. "You broke a reporter's arm."

"Out of self-defence." Ed pointed out, "He touched my shoulder without my permission."

"They do it all the time." Dumbledore said calmly.

"That doesn't mean it's okay to do it." Ed refuted. "It's not illegal to defend yourself."

The old man sighed, "The ministry will warned you Ed about these things."

"Don't care." Ed said, "It's just a warning, I won't be thrown into Azkaban."

"Yet." Dumbledore added.

Ed nodded, "If I did that two years from now, I will definitely be thrown into Azkaban."

Dumbledore stared at Ed, "Care to elaborate on that?"

Ed stared at Dumbledore back, he doesn't fear the old man's Legillimency anymore. "If the information is given to you, who knows what you will do with it?"

"Then why say it at all?"

"Because it's fun seeing you get curious about my words." Ed blurted out.

Dumbledore sighed, he then moved to another topic. "What do you want to do now Ed?"

Ed raised his eyebrow, confused at the old man's words. "What do you mean?"

"If I recall, the students is quite curious about you now." The old man answered, "Do you want to go back?"

"Of course I want to, why do you think I won't?" Ed questioned, more confused.

"What I mean is you can take your O.W.L.s this year, and you can take your N.E.W.T.s next year."

Ed chuckled, "What's up with everyone telling me to leave Hogwarts early?" Ed questioned rhetorically. "Thank you for the offer Headmaster, but unless Hermione, Richard, and Daphne will take them early as well, then I won't take it."

"Interesting…" Dumbledore whispered, "It seems you've changed since the first year."

"Changed what Professor?"

"I seemed to remember that you don't want any friends in the first year." Dumbledore reminded.

Ed nodded, "But they're not my friends, they're much more than that." Ed smiled at the old man.

"You truly have changed…"

"I guess I have…"

Dumbledore hummed, "Right Ed, you can go back to your tower now, I'm guessing your roommates will ask you questions."

Ed sighed, "I know, I'm here because I'm trying to avoid that."

"Very well, take all the time you need." Dumbledore then exited the room, leaving Ed alone in the place.

Ed then continued to gaze away at the window, feeling the cool wind. Then, he swiped his bracelet.

"Gilligan." Ed said simply.

"What do you need Ed."

"Can you ask Hermione to come to the empty classroom, tell her to bring the suitcase as well."

"She's not here at the moment."

"Then I'll wait until she's there."

"Very well Ed."

Gilligan then swiped the bracelet again, turning it off.

Ed then, to relieve his boredom, played with his ice magic a little, creating simple flowers and statues, slowly filling the room, and making the place quite cold.

It was a while that Ed made those statues from ice, and when he looked outside, it's already dark. "Damn, did she ever enter the suitcase?"

But when he said there, a brown-haired girl suddenly slammed the door, panting for air as she looked like she had run from the tower to here, and in her hands was the suitcase.

"Hermione." Ed smiled softly.

"S-Sorry I'm late, I rarely goes to the living room now because you're not here..." She took a deep breath.

"It's fine, I'm the one at fault anyway."

Hermione smiled back, "Here." She gave the suitcase to Ed.

"Let's go inside." Ed said as he opened the suitcase, placing it on the ground.

The two then entered the suitcase, climbing down the ladder. Once the two is in the living room, Hermione hugged him. "Glad you're back."

Ed hugged her back, patting her, "I'm glad too. Do you want to take the mark now?"

"Um…" Hermione blushed, "You'll be there right?"

Ed smiled softly, "Sure."

"Then okay." Hermione nodded weakly.

"Right, Gilligan." Ed called the owl. And the owl appeared.

"We'll do it now?" the owl was straight to the point.

"Yes."

"Then follow me."

Gilligan then guided the two to the library, they passed through the countless shelves, and towards the altar. Hermione was nervous, she kept looking at Ed for an explanation on how to do it, but he just kept silent, he doesn't want to spoil anything, so Ed let her get nervous, getting the full experience of the ritual.

"Here it is." Gilligan informed, "The altar."

"Haven't been here in three years, well, I only came here once." Ed commented.

Hermione was still silent, nervous about the ritual.

"Young girl, step forward." Gilligan ordered, and Hermione did just that, she stepped forward, standing in front of the altar.

"W-What do I do now?" she timidly questioned.

"Place your wand arm on it." Gilligan said.

"O-Okay…" Hermione stuttered. She then placed her right hand on top of it.

Gilligan then stood the opposite of her, showing his 'imposing' looks to the girl, making her more nervous.

"I, Gilligan, the Guardian the Aldrich Library, The Keeper of Secrets of the family, proclaim you as a partner of one of our own, May the Guardian of Knowledge guide you."

The altar then glowed silver, and Hermione felt a prick on her hand, and it now shows the mark on her right hand, the same mark as Ed's and Alan's.

"And…" Gilligan continued, "From the Guardian's blessing, I beseeched you with knowledge like you're one of our blood."

Then, not a couple seconds later, a book started to float to the girl, it was a brown book.

"Earth." Gilligan said.

And another, a grey book.

"Metal."

And another, a dark-red book.

"Fire."

The three books floated in front of her, slowly placing itself on the altar.

"Interesting combination…" Gilligan commented.

"Why is it interesting?" Ed asked, while Hermione just nodded, she's still shocked at her elements.

"Her elements are really well connected, the earth and metal belongs to a same 'category', while fire can complement those two to make a stronger magic, and because two of them are a 'rough' element, the elemental manipulation is also a bit rough, which means that even though earth and metal manipulation can be used like normal magic in this this world, she needs to learn something more to extract the maximum potential of it."

Ed snapped his finger, getting where Gilligan is going. "So that's why Hermione used swords…"

"What? what's going on?" Hermione was clueless.

"You need to learn melee combat Hermione." Ed said. "Earth and Metal manipulation is more powerful in melee form because of its high defence and just the sheer power of it, I mean think about it, while you can use your wand for sculpting the earth and metal itself, in combat situation, it'll be more effective if used physically rather than magically."

"And may I add." Gilligan continued, "Unlike Ed's ice magic that can summon ice out of thin air, you can't simply summon earth or metal out of thin air. Ed can summon ice because in the air, there are traces of water, while you on the other hand, must have a source."

"S-So… I have to learn martial arts?" Hermione asked, confirming her thoughts.

"It's not really martial arts." Gilligan said. "I will just train you how to fight, how to look for weaknesses, what you should target, but other than that, I will let you develop your own style of fighting."

"O-Okay…" Hermione mumbled.

"Can I join the training as well?" Ed asked, "It seems fit to be honest, ice is similar in terms of versatility to earth, I can probably use it on hand-to-hand combat as well. Besides, I can give Hermione some lessons in terms of fire magic."

"Sure why not, it'll at least make young Hermione over here some peace of mind if you train with her."

Ed nodded. "Well, we'll start training tomorrow night young Hermione, even though you're no Ed in terms of absorbing knowledge, I know you'll do well." Gilligan continued.

Hermione just nodded weakly at the statement, and Gilligan vanished into thin air, leaving the two alone.

"So…" Hermione broke the silence. "Earth, Metal, and Fire… did you know this?"

"I've guessed the earth and metal part from the dreams." Ed answered, while the two started to go back to the living room. "But the fire… I didn't guessed it, but considering your personality, I'm not even surprised."

Hermione took offence of that, "What's that supposed to mean?!"

Ed chuckled, "Well, you're stubborn like earth and metal, and you're like fire when you're angry."

Hermione huffs, "When you put it like that…"

Ed was amused at Hermione's face, he then grabbed her right hand using his left hand, making her blush. Ed then raised her hand, admiring the mark on her hands.

"We got matching tattoos now." Ed joked.

"I guess we have." Hermione giggled, but then she turned serious. "How do you hide it though… I don't know if I can explain it to others."

"Alan can hide it, maybe you can too…" Ed commented. "I never tried to hide it to be honest, it is who I am, but you can hide it if you want."

"I guess I'll ask Gilligan how to hide it." Hermione informed, "By the way, did you notice that Gilligan calls me 'Young Hermione' now instead of 'Young Girl'?"

"Well, you're part of the family." Ed said, "If you finished the training, he'll probably just call you Hermione."

"That's nice." Hermione nodded. "So what now? Do you want to go back to the tower?"

"I'd Rather not right now…" Ed said, "I'll sleep here tonight."

"What about your nightmares? Is it still there?" Hermione then asked worriedly, she seemed to want to ask the question for a while.

"Thankfully, no." Hermione sighed in relief, but then she stopped and stared at Ed excitedly, "Does that mean I can sleep with you anytime I want now?" she giddily asked.

Ed laughed at her behaviour, "I don't know, can you?"

"Wait what? so what's the answer, I can or I can't?"

Ed repeated once again. "I don't know, can you?"

Hermione grumbled in annoyance at the repeated words, "You know what, even if you didn't allow me to sleep with you at night, I will still sneak in." she huffs.

Ed chuckled and just ruffled her hair. "Let's just go to bed. We won't sleep in the same bed though." Ed informed, which made Hermione snorted in disappointment.

The next morning, Ed woke up with something laying on top of him, it was of course a sleeping Hermione, like she said, she sneaked onto the bed in the middle of the night with her sleeping clothes and lay her head on top of Ed's chest. Ed realised her presence, but soon just went with it. Right now, her hair covered Ed's face and he quickly moved it away.

Ed sighed as he stroked the sleeping girl. "Hermione, wake up, it's morning."

Hermione groaned, instead of waking up, she buried herself closer to Ed, making herself comfortable.

Ed sighed in surrender as she didn't want to wake up, so Ed decided to fake-sleep again. Ed then had a 'bright' idea to do something that will definitely made Hermione jolt awake. After Ed waited for awhile to make sure Hermione thought that he was asleep, he then acted.

He whispered with a slight seductive voice. "Fleur…" Ed 'moaned'.

Hermione instantly jolted awake, sitting with a frown on her face, glaring daggers at Ed.

Ed, however, was smirking at Hermione, who was not amused at Ed's act. She then snorted and threw a pillow at Ed, whispering "Not funny." She then got out of the bed and quickly went to the bathroom, not saying a thing to Ed.

Ed chuckled at the reaction. He then got out of the bed and quickly showered. Once he's done, he waited for Hermione in the living room, and after Hermione was finished as well, both of them got out of the room, and Ed shrink the suitcase and put in in his pockets.

"How's the mark?" Ed asked, "Is it hidden yet?"

Hermione shook her head in denial, "No, not yet…"

"Then you want to go back now?"

"No, I'll hide it tonight."

"Then how about now? How are you going to hide it?"

"I just won't show my right hand."

"How about when you write or use the wand?"

"Well, we've got no classes today, so I guess it'll be fine."

"Alright then."

Ed and Hermione then walked towards the great hall, and once they entered it, everyone stared at them instantly, quieting the hall.

"Well… you should separate with me for a while Hermione." Ed commented. "I've got a feeling this is going to be troublesome."

Needless to say, Ed was quite overwhelmed after that.

In the evening of the same day, Ed was walking towards the common room alone, he looked tired, everyone had questioned him about the forbidden forest, and his answer is always the same, 'No comment.'. Turns out, the ministry hadn't released their investigation results, so the public still didn't know about it, and Ed indirectly paid the price for it, the hunger of information of the public is quite surprising to Ed, and he made a note to that in the future.

Suddenly, when he turned to a corridor, someone small approach him and called his name.

"Mr. Aldrich." The voice squealed.

Ed then turned around and saw an enraged looking Professor Flitwick.

"Professor." Ed greeted. "Anything I can do for you?"

"Follow me." He simply said, his face was grim.

Ed just gulped and nodded, following the professor to the office. Once he entered the room, Flitwick sat on his chair, while Ed sit on the opposite.

"Mr. Aldrich… the information I will give you might be infuriating to you." Flitwick warned, he also seemed infuriated by the information.

"Um… Okay…" Ed carefully answered.

"Just now." Flitwick pulled a letter, with the duelling tournament seal on it. "The administrator of the tournament sent me a letter."

"And?"

"They said that…" Flitwick took a deep breath to calm himself. "You are disqualified, because you're under investigation by the ministry of using illegal black magic…"

The room went silent.

"WHAT!" Ed yelled.

"I'm sorry to say Mr. Aldrich, but you will not be competing in the tournament." Flitwick tried to be calm, "I myself didn't like this… but it's the decision of the administrator."

"But- I trained for almost 2 years!" Ed defended himself, "I cannot be just 'disqualified'! and the investigation has been finished! The ministry just refused to published their findings!"

"But they don't know it has been finished Mr. Aldrich." Flitwick added.

"Wha- can I fix this?" Ed asked.

"I might be." Flitwick answered. "I need to owl the ministry for this, it will take a long time to be processed though."

"What do you mean?"

"You know how slow the ministry is in terms of complains…" Flitwick sighed.

Ed massaged his forehead, "So what now? I will just not go to the tournament? After training for almost 2-3 years? Those times are a waste of time now?"

"That is not a waste of time even if the decision to disqualify you is final Mr. Aldrich." Flitwick added. "You have learned a lot during these two years, I myself is quite proud of what you've become, you even beat me a couple of times…"

Ed sighed. "I guess so…"

"But now worries Mr. Aldrich, I will fight for your position in the tournament, for now, you just have to wait for the news."

"What about Richard and Daphne?"

"They will still play." Flitwick informed, making Ed sighed in relief.

"Okay… I'll just go now professor."

Ed stood up, exiting the room. He truly anticipated the tournament, he wanted to see how other wizards from this world could compare to him, but now, since he's temporarily 'disqualified', it seems that the dream of fighting wizards and witches all across the world will have to be halted for a while.