CHAPTER 79: THE THREE-YEAR PLAN - R

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The Wise Owl—A wise owl lived in an oak.

The more he saw, the less he spoke.

The less he spoke, the more he heard.

Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?

- Edward Hershey Richards

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15th of July 1994. In the crowded streets of Diagon Alley, two boys and two girls were sitting at a table in front of an ice cream shop. One particular boy, however, finished about three cups of ice cream and made the other three teenagers stare at him with strange looks.

"You really like ice cream that much, huh?" a blonde girl asked in curiosity.

The boy, who was eating vanilla ice cream, stared at the blonde girl intently. "Daph, it's ice cream."

"I get it." Another young man added. "Nothing's wrong with ice cream; it calms you down and refreshes your brain."

"At least someone got it." The boy who was eating ice cream fist bump the other boy. The two were, of course, Ed and Richard.

"But why vanilla? It's so... bland. " The blonde girl, Daphne, continued.

"Nothing's wrong with a bland flavour." Ed said this while looking at the brown-haired girl next to him, making her angry.

"Why are you looking at me when you say 'bland'?!" The girl questioned Ed, offended.

"Nothing, darling, like I said, nothing's wrong with a bland flavour." Ed repeated to the girl, who was, of course, Hermione. The girl gave Ed stink eyes but didn't say anything more.

"Damn… 'Darling' huh? Are you that deep into the relationship? " Richard suddenly asked with a smirk.

"What? Her name is too long, I mean, four syllables. It's just too long. '' Ed said. "And I saw my older-self calling her darling, so I just went with it."

"Why not just Herm, or Mione, or something?" Daphne added.

"She hates the first one, and I don't like "Mione", It's just weird…" Ed answered, looking at Hermione.

"'Herm' feels like he's calling me 'Germ'…" Hermione added.

Daphne just chuckled.

"What about Jean? Jean Grey, Jean Granger, close enough eh? " Richard spoke.

"Yeah, no." Hermione quickly scattered the thought.

Ed raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything. Then, Daphne asked Hermione again about something. "So you live with Ed now? After the… you know…"

Hermione nodded weakly. "Our parents will leave the country at the end of summer... And after that, we'll move to the new house that is currently being built. "

"My parents will leave too." Richard said. "Thanks for telling your parents to convince mine, by the way. It saves a lot of time."

"No problem, these are mad times we live in... We should secure our loved ones as fast as possible." Ed smiled weakly. "What about you, Daph? How's the fame after you won the tournament? "

"My father keeps annoying me about the trophy." Daphne grumbled. "I placed it in my room, but he kept insisting on placing it in the living room."

Ed chuckled. "Well, that's predictable." The boy then turned to the other boy. "What about you?"

Richard raised his eyebrows. "What about?"

"You know… Cho…"

"Oh…" he simply said. "I broke up with her."

Daphne perked up when hearing this. "Why?"

"She accused me of fixing the match between you and me." He said weakly. "She said that I let you win in order to get your favor."

"Wow..." Ed said. "She was an extremely jealous person..."

"It's her personality, I guess." Richard said. "She needs to fix herself... That's not healthy, so I broke things off with her. "

"That's good." Daphne said. But then she realised what she said and blushed.

The table went quiet for a minute, Ed eyed everyone at the table, making them feel exposed. But then Ed spoke. "I want to talk to you all about something."

"Well... talk," Daphne answered.

"Not here." Ed stood up. "Follow me."

The rest noticed that Ed was being a bit serious right now and followed him. They went into the crowded streets, slowly surfing through it. And then Ed suddenly turned to an empty alleyway, confusing Richard and Daphne, but they trusted Ed and went along with it.

After they entered the alley, Ed suddenly stopped and turned to the group, and in an instant, they had blinked to the living room of the suitcase.

"Let's go to the library." Ed simply said, ignoring the shocked Richard and Daphne, while Hermione walked beside him.

Ed then walked to the entrance to the library and opened it. They then walked through the endless bookshelves, and eventually arrived in a room. The room was filled with owl decorations, owl statues, owl drawings, paintings, and many more. In the middle of the room, there's a round table. In the middle of the round table, the symbol of the Aldrich family in its full glory.

"I just found this room, by the way." Ed informed them. "Cool place really, though the owl decorations are a bit much."

"Wicked…" Ed heard Richard whispering to himself, which made him chuckle. "Sit, a lot of chairs at the table..." Ed continued.

The four then sat at the round table, though it was too big for the four of them.

"I feel like I'm in… A court of Owls…." Richard commented. "The statues are creepy, I feel like they're staring at us…"

"Yeah… it creeps me out too, if I'm honest." Ed said. "But now… I wanted to ask for a favour from the two of you. "

"A favour? Wow, THE Edgart Aldrich is asking us for a favour? " Daphne said sarcastically. "Just spit it out."

Ed sighed. "I need your help finishing what my family started."

Richard looked at Ed weirdly. "I thought we were already doing that?"

"No." Ed shook his head weakly. "What I'm asking you right now is more dangerous, and we might betray a couple of our close friends." Ed eyed Hermione in guilt.

"Wait…" Hermione was now confused. "What are you talking about? I thought you were going to ask them to join you in claiming the debt?"

"I am." Ed smiled weakly. "But… I crafted a plan… a three-year plan."

"What plan?" Daphne scoffed.

"You need to say yes first if you want to know."

"Well." Richard said. "Yes, I'll help you."

"Whatever, get on with it." Daphne started to get annoyed by all the secrecy.

Ed narrowed his eyes. "Daph, yes or no. This is serious, it might cost your life, because if you agree, you will probably hate me."

This time, it was Daphne who narrowed her eyes. "Fine." She said, "I'll do it, whatever you're planning, I'm too deep in anyway."

Ed nodded, then looked over to his girlfriend. "Hermione?"

"I thought I told you I'd be with you till the end?" She was a bit hurt that he didn't trust her.

Ed sighed. "I haven't been true to you about this, Hermione. This is your chance to step down."

Hermione narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Why all the secrecy? You could've just told me. "

"I've planned this since I woke up from the slumber." Ed said. "And if I told you, you would definitely hate me."

"I won't hate you, just tell us." Hermione insisted.

"Fine." Ed flatly said. "But I warned you, there's no going back. If you stop halfway, at least one of you will die. " Ed then pulled out three pieces of paper. He took out one of the papers and gave it to the group.

"The first year." Ed simply said. "We watch."

Hermione was suspicious now, and she read the piece of paper. Once she read the whole thing, her face looked complicated. "Y-You're not going to do anything?"

Ed hummed. "Harry's meeting with Tom is necessary."

"B-But… What about Cedric?" She demanded an answer.

"He's not going to participate." Ed said.

"It's you then?" Hermione asked again. "You're going to participate?"

Ed shook his head once more. "No."

"Why? You could've defeated Voldemort right there. "

"And give him a painless and calm death?" Ed raised his eyebrows. "Not a chance. And besides, there's the Horcrux thing... We can't just take out the Horcrux in Harry's body and not kill him, Tom himself must kill him if Harry wants to survive. "

"Then bait Voldemort into doing that!"

"Like I said Hermione… after everything he had done to my family… you think I would give him the satisfaction of instant death? No… I will make sure he feels desperate and devoid of will by the end of his life."

"Y-You…" The girl stuttered. "You want to prolong the war?"

"No, of course not." Ed answered decisively. "I want to make the rest of Tom's resurrected life miserable. That's why I said that there's no going back in this, if we made a mistake, then the original plot will go on as usual."

"You're mad Ed…" she mumbled, looking weak.

Meanwhile, the other two guests looked at them with confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Hermione stared at the other two. "Ed knows a way that can finish the war before it starts…" she muttered. "But he won't do that… he wants to enjoy his time slowly destroying Voldemort's legion…"

Richard was confused. "Why?"

"Revenge." Ed said calmly. "You don't want to see the dark lord, who caused endless suffering throughout the year, suffer too?"

"It's too risky." Daphne mumbled, "We're only four, yet they're many."

"You side with him?" Richard asked in surprise.

"I'm not." She answered, not looking at the boy. "I'm just stating that it's too risky."

"You haven't even seen the plan yet, and you said that it's too risky?"

"Anything that delays something is risky." She answered. "If you can end it once and for all, why wait?"

"I had stated my reason." Ed answered calmly.

"An unreasonable reason." Hermione added. "This is not you, Ed... This is just selfish. "

"You haven't even read the whole plan yet, and you're already complaining?" Ed retorted. "Here, Year Two." Ed gave out another paper to the rest of the group. "We listen."

The rest read the paper, and Ed could see Daphne getting pale, Hermione getting angrier, and Richard's surprised face.

"Y-you..." Daphne stared at Ed, her face pale. "You want my family to join them?!"

"Your father is already showing signs of being a death eater." Ed stated. "And he will definitely try to rope you into that line of thinking. You're a duelling champion, a precious asset. The dark lord must be interested in you because of your future prospects, and if your father can't give him what he wants, then he'll die, then your mother will die, then your sister will die, then you will die. Because of the Horcruxes, Tom won't be the scheming dark lord you used to know at that point. He will be a complete nutter. It's better to claim the favour from your family in this way. "

Daphne went quiet after that. But she was contemplating her life at that point. "What about my sister?"

"As long as your father's careful… she'll be safe." Ed reassured. "Your father is too deep in their circle, Daph. They'll be easy to infiltrate."

"What if he betrays you?"

"I'll use the vow." Ed stated. "This is almost inevitable, Daphne. The dark lord needs financial support. Lucius is dead, and my aunt had already withdrawn from the death eater's circle. He will ultimately search for another backer, like the Greengrass Family... They're rich, the patriarch is somewhat level-headed and cunning like Lucius, so it's a perfect target."

Daphne gulped. "I have an idiot for a father…"

"You will need to infiltrate the circle too at some point Daphne." He said. "That's why, after I talk to your father… you need to stay away from us as much as possible… Especially Richard and Hermione."

Daphne went quiet again. "So I'm the one who is the most burdened here. For your selfishness alone? "

"Everyone is on equal footing here." Ed simply said. "I have a different mission, Hermione has a different mission, Richard has a different mission. We will sacrifice something for this plan, either the safety of our family, the trust of our friends, the innocence of our soul, or something else entirely. "

"You know, this is a mad plan, right?"

Ed sighed. "We need trusted companions in this mission, to make sure that we can do this..." He stated.

"Then explain why you specifically stated 'Gain Harry Potter's Trust'?!" Hermione asked angrily, continuing the conversation.

Ed smiled weakly. "You're the brightest witch of your age Hermione, you should know."

"To push him to the green light when you wanted him to?! To backstab him later?!" Hermione questioned angrily. "He's a human being, Ed! Not a pig for slaughter! You're just like Dumbledore at this point! This is not you! "

Ed was calm. "You're right." He said. "Perhaps we should scratch that from the plan, taking another route. Like telling him the truth from the start."

Hermione went quiet after that sentence.

"What do you choose then, Hermione, to tell him the truth that he had to die? Or blind him so he won't know until the last moment? "

"W-We could tell him that he wouldn't die…" Hermione mumbled.

"We could do that." Ed said. "We can still modify the plan after all."

The boy then turned to Richard. "What do you think?"

"I just— How are we going to spread the news that You-Know-Who is a half-blood?"

"That's easy. Bribe a journalist, like Rita Skeeter. " Ed answered, to which Richard just nodded.

"Any more questions?" Ed asked again. but the room was silent. After that, Ed pulled the last paper, giving it to the group. "Year Three. We Strike."

The three read it, but they didn't question it at this point. They knew that it would happen.

"So it'll be one year earlier than the original timeline we read." Ed said. "Last chance to back off."

The room went quiet, which surprised Ed. "No one? really?"

"At this point, we're too deep in your shit Ed." Richard stated. "I'm in, I'm probably going to die…"

"You're right about the dark lord targeting me and my family." Daphne whispered. "I've got no choice, am I?"

Hermione stared at Ed with contemplation. "I don't like this." She said, "But I won't break my promise, I'll be with you till the end."

Ed nodded weakly. "We Watch, We Listen, We Strike." Ed said. "That's our main philosophy on doing this plan. I know this is stupid… but thank you for sticking with me, I'm doing this because I need closure, to humiliate and torture the man who made my family torn apart, I know that this is extremely selfish... but I had stated that I am not an innocent man. Not since I decided to kill Lucius Malfoy in that shack."

Ed then continued. "I admit that right now, I don't feel like I'm 'me'… we will definitely do things that we shouldn't do at our age... But hey, so does making a company, fighting a basilisk, and defeating an entire army of wraiths. " The group chuckled.

"I... apologize in advance." Ed stated. "If I made a mistake and caused one of you or your family to be a victim..."

The group turned silent again when Ed said his words. Then, Richard broke the silence.

"Two boys and two girls are planning on torturing the dark lord. This is just golden. " Richard said jokingly, which made the other three nervously chuckle.

"Well..." Ed continued. "If my guess is correct, there will be two boys and three girls."

Daphne and Richard was confused, while Hermione had a knowing look, but didn't say anything.

Ed chuckled at the reaction. "Well… boys and girls." Ed then pulled four white masks. It was a mask that was shaped like an owl's face. "Welcome, to the Society of the Wise Owls."