Chapter 6: The Chamber Opened Again

Edmund watched as Iris and the group entered the shop.

He knew that Iris didn't like crowds from his observations at school. When Lockhart grabbed her shoulder and forced her beside him, Edmund had half the mind to put a kunai up his arse.

He could clearly see the terror in Iris' eyes and he did not like it. He liked when those vibrant and beautiful emerald eyes were calm, full of positive emotions and he liked to see them smile. They were quite enchanting. But seeing fear in them made him angry. He quickly took out a kunai from a storage seal on his gloves and was about to go and ram the kunai into Lockhart's smiling face when the git released Iris.

Composing himself, he resealed the kunai and stood at his place, silently observing as the ferret princess Malfoy opened his sewer of a mouth and confronted the group.

He thought the situation was handled when elder Weasley came in to diffuse the tension but he clenched his fist when the former death wanker and possible walking advertisement of Veela hair products came into the shop and confronted the elder Weasley.

He could see Iris tense up and back away from the angry adults. Before the situation got any worse, he decided to interfere.

Deciding to take advantage of the presence of so many people around, he spoke in a cold and disapproving tone, "Are you two trying to start a fight here? It's highly unbecoming of a Lord of a Noble House and a ministry official to act like their children. Perhaps you two should go to Hogwarts in their place and learn some discretion. There are reporters present in this shop. Are you two so desperate to appear in the paper that you completely disregard the fact that you are Lords of your families?"

He knew the daddy ferret was not foolish enough to start throwing hexes in public. So he continued.

"And learn to put a lid on that sewer you call your mouth princess Malfoy. Sometimes I wonder what the sorting hat was thinking when it placed you of all people in Slytherin. Were the effects of the Imperious your father was placed under by the dark lord so much that his offspring turned out to be a complete dork?"

Silence followed after he finished. The Malfoys were brimming with rage while the elder Weasley looked embarrassed. Edmund himself just stood there, next to Iris and briefly greeted her with a nod.

"Uhh... hi," was she could say.

"Why you insolent whelp. When your father hears this..," but daddy ferret was interrupted by laughing fit from Edmund.

"Ohh...! this is priceless...! Is that all you can do? Complain to daddy dear? Your son is just like you. Always complaining. Why don't you try and do something right here? But you won't, because you don't have it in you. So be a nice little bitch and run away."

Edmund had a reputation of mouthing people off at balls so it wasn't a surprise for people hear him use offensive words. He was pretty notorious in the prophet for his crass attitude.

Not wanting to be further embarrassed by a twelve-year-old, the Malfoys trotted out of the shop after daddy ferret returned a book he had taken from little weaselette's cauldron.

After Edmund sobered up, he saw the gluttonous weasel sneer at him. He raised an eyebrow, smirked and turned to Iris, "Good to see you here Potter. Hmm, what were you doing to get your clothes so dirty?"

In response, Iris just blushed with embarrassment.

"Hey leave her alone Vulpis. We don't want to hear from your dirty mouth," the weasel squeaked with a face as red as his hair.

"Anyway, 'Scourgify'. There, all cleaned up. I suggest you learn the spell Potter. It's quite useful. See ya on the train," he said, patted on her shoulder and went away.

"Yeah... bye.."

(ROTS)

Edmund rushed towards the platform after he lost track of time buying stuff and leisurely throwing galleons away that belonged to his father. When he reached the gateway, he saw the weasel and Iris standing there with their stuff all around on the ground.

He approached them and asked, "What are you standing here for? The Express leaves in five minutes."

Before the weasel could retort pitifully, Iris responded in an almost panicked manner, "We tried to get to the other side but the gateway seems to have closed!"

Nearing the pillar, he examined it and felt the magic. It was different than normal wizard magic, almost elven.

"Its elven magic blocking the gateway. Toffy," he said, softly calling a house elf that had bonded with him as he cast a wide area notice-me-not charm.

Immediately, a house-elf in quite elegant clothes appeared with a crack, startling the other two. "Master Eddy be calling Toffy?" The elf squeaked excitedly.

Smiling slightly, Edmund spoke, "I need you to remove the barrier on the gateway and rearrange the stuff of these two back in their trolleys."

"Yes, master Eddy!"

Toffy snapped his fingers and quickly did what he was asked for.

"Good work Toffy, you may go now."

The elf beamed at being praised and went away with a crack.

Edmund nodded towards them and went through the gateway without saying anything. The two just stood there gaping at him. Breaking out of their stupor, they quickly followed him.

(ROTS)

The second-year was very similar to the first year. Charms, potions and transfiguration were always interesting. DADA was just like the previous year, a complete waste of time. Lockhart was a huge disappointment. Edmund's view of the peacock couldn't be any lower. History of magic was usual, he studied seals and runes along with reading his ancestor's notes on chakra and magic harmony in that class.

Soon, it was Halloween again and the students were in the Great Hall enjoying the feast. Edmund noticed that while everyone was enjoying themselves, a certain green-eyed girl was slowly eating her food with a sad look on her face. He really felt sad for her. The girl never knew what parental love was like and her relatives weren't much of a consolation.

As the feast came to an end, the students departed to their destinations.

Knowing that Iris had detention with the peacock, Edmund had created a clone to keep an eye on her just in case the git tried something funny.

Not that he really cared of course. The memory of him and Iris standing before the Mirror of Erised flashed in his mind.

Shaking off a blush threatening to appear on his face, he refocused on the book he was reading in the library.

Suddenly, he heard a hissing sound. At first, he ignored it but when he heard it again, he got up and tried to follow the sound.

Reaching the second floor, he noticed that the whole floor was flooded and a group of students were standing beside the wall.

A metallic smell assaulted his nose.

It was that of blood.

He quickly approached the group and saw none other than Mrs Norris being hung by her tail on the wall. The cat was not moving at all, but by the slow labouring movements, he knew the cat was alive. He then noticed the writing on the wall, in blood.

Just then, he heard Malfoy open his mouth and spew nonsense, "The Chamber of Secrets has opened again. Beware Mudbloods, Slytherin's monster will finally rid our world of you."

"Ah.. princess Malfoy, what did I tell you about putting a lid over your mouth. Every time you open it you just spew sewage waste and dirty our poor ears," Edmund reprimanded the ferret, not a least bit happy with what the boy just said. The rest of the students laughed as the ferret turned red with embarrassment and anger.

Argus Filch came over to the group and began accusing Iris of all people.

"But I didn't do it! I just saw her hanging on the wall while returning from my detention with Professor Lockhart. You can ask him!" Iris replied, offended that she was being accused of doing such a thing.

But Filch didn't listen. Iris got scared and tried to back away from him when he reached out to grab her collar. Edmund's anger erupted and he grabbed his wrist in a crushing grip. Filch screamed in pain and desperately tried to free himself, but Edmund didn't even budge.

"You old fool, who do you think you are to try and grab a girl's collar?! Try that again and I'll rip your arms out," he growled, eyes zeroed upon the now cowering and completely terrified Filch. Edmund's eyes were glowing with power and he subconsciously let go of some of his aurae.

"What is going on here!" McGonagall said as she neared the group, her lips thinned into a firm line. "Mister Vulpis, thirty points from Ravenclaw for assault on a school employee!"

"Well tell you, employee, to refrain from trying to grab a student's collar! Its incredibly rude and can be dubbed as physical assault. This piece of shit just accused Potter of killing his damn cat! If he had enough brains he'd notice that the cat is still breathing," Edmund snarled.

"Language Mr Vulpis. That'll be twenty more points from Ravenclaw."

"To hell with your points lady, I am trying to defend a student here! Someone has written a whole sentence in blood on the wall with a cat hanging from its tail and the first thing you do is take stupid points away?! Are you going senile or are you just plain stupid?!"

The students around him gasped in shock as McGonagall's expression turned stormy.

"Mr Vulpis! Never have I been treated with such disrespect! Two months detention for you with Hagrid while you take care of magical creatures with him. Perhaps extensive manual labour would teach you some manners."

Edmund just stood there with a deadpanned expression. Of all the things to punish him with, manual labour would be the easiest punishment. He was a boy who could punch a boulder to pieces. Manual labour was a leisure activity.

Dumbledore took the silence between them as an opportunity to pipe in, "Mr Vulpis, you should not disrespect your betters. I hope this won't happen again. Now, Argus, your cat has been petrified by the looks of it. It's perhaps a prank by a sixth or a seventh-year student. Young Iris is a second-year student. She's innocent until proven guilty."

'Innocent until proven guilty?! The hell are you playing at you old shit?' Edmund narrowed his eyes at the old coot. That sentence had a hidden meaning in it. He just declared that Iris was a suspect, which Edmund clearly knew she wasn't. The memory from his clone proved it.

He looked at Iris and noticed that she was on the verge of tears. The students around them were staring at her with accusing looks, clearly making their own assumptions. Edmund was about to lash out at them when the students were ordered to go to their dorms.