CHAPTER 88: THE START OF FOURTH YEAR - R

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To see a World in a Grain of Sand

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand

And Eternity in an hour.

~

– William Blake (extract from Auguries of Innocence)

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1st of September 1994. Ed was watching Ciri train in the training room, she was focused, Gilligan overseeing her, besides Ed is Hermione, who was pouring tea for the three of them, although the young woman can't have it yet as she was training.

"Focus Ciri, your powers are yours, it is a gift, not a burden, have faith in yourself." Gilligan stated.

Ciri didn't say anything, instead, she focused on finding her power in her, she calmed her mind, focused on a point in front of her, and slowly but surely, turquoise particles started to appear around her, signalling that it is working.

"Good, don't lose concentration Ciri." Gilligan repeated.

The woman tried harder, and the particles are starting to get thicker, surrounding the ashen haired woman.

But suddenly, it disperse, like Ciri cancelling it herself.

"Ugh!" Ciri grumbled in annoyance. "I can't do it!"

"You're just too impatient Ciri." Gilligan said. "You need to focus, believe in yourself, and don't assume that your powers are a burden to you, think of it as a gift."

"I already did that." She snorted.

"I can tell that your mind's not at the right place Ciri." Gilligan said softly. "Perhaps we need a break, clear your head a bit."

Ciri just hummed and walked to the couple in the corner of the room who was drinking tea.

"Nice of you to watch me." Ciri said rather sarcastically while rolling her eyes.

"At least we brought you tea." Ed shrugged. "You alright?"

"Why would I not be alright?" she raised her eyebrow.

"Like Gilligan said, you seemed bothered." Hermione continued.

"It's nothing…" Ciri mumbled, averting Ed's and Hermione's gaze.

"Just say it." Ed insisted.

Ciri then stared at Ed a bit. "I want to explore the cities, it's boring here, it's killing me slowly." She said, dead serious.

Hearing this, Ed just rolled his eyes. "Stop being dramatic."

"I'm not, it's boring here!" Ciri complained.

"You've got a lot of books you can read, how are you bored here?" Ed innocently asked.

"Are you serious?" Ciri was baffled. "For you, books may not be boring, but I'm not much of a reader, I like exploring!"

Ed sighed. "Sorry Ciri, you know we can't let you do that…"

"So you're locking me in this suitcase then?" Ciri was frowning, a bit pissed.

"Would you rather be here and meet me and Hermione almost every day, or on the island where you'll probably see us once a month?"

"I'd rather be free." She snorted.

"I'm sorry, but we can't." Ed shook his head. "You don't have supervision."

"I'm not a child!"

"I know you're not, but you're in a different world here Ciri, if you slipped out, the consequences may be severe." Ed had a serious look. "Not to mention that the ministry AND the death eaters are looking for us, you're the most eye catching Ciri, your ashen-hair stood out."

"I can just dye my hair…"

"Still dangerous." Ed said. "I'm sorry, but I can't, I will take you out sometimes though."

Ciri frowned. "How often?"

"If I have time." Ed put down his tea. "We've got to go Ciri, it's almost time for the train to go, once again, I'm sorry."

"Fine." Ciri grumbled.

Ed just smiled weakly at the young woman, and left the training room with Hermione, who had a worried face.

"You think it's a good idea to restrict her like that? I mean… I probably won't like it too…" she asked.

"She's got anything she needs here Hermione…" Ed said. "She'll focus her training here, we'll take her on a trip once in a while, and we'll see her often anyway, perhaps I should buy some electronics as well…"

"A Television?" She asked curiously, "We could get that… It would be nice if we had some sort of movie night… my parents used to do that with me when I was young."

Ed smiled. "Sure, okay, I'll buy a television later."

Hermione just nodded, and the two left the suitcase, preparing for the trip to Hogwarts.

---

It is now 10 in the morning, and the two Hogwarts students are now ready for the trip to the school, well, almost ready.

"Have you even packed Hermione?" Ed asked as Hermione got out of the bathroom, "I didn't see Ophelia nor any trunks…"

"Oh, I put it in the suitcase." She said, drying her hair.

"Then get it out…"

"It's fine… I'll take it out when we're at Hogwarts."

"No, take it out Hermione." Ed insisted. "You can't sneak into my dorm almost every day… what if people think that we're doing something that we weren't supposed to do?" Ed questioned the girl, his eyebrow raised.

Hermione stared at Ed. "Is that something really bad…" She mumbled, Ed heard her, but decided to ignore it. "Fine, I'll take it, where's your suitcase?"

"Here." Ed gave the suitcase to Hermione, and the girl pulled out her wand and did an Accio spell, quickly getting her trunk and Ophelia.

"Happy?" She grumbled.

Ed hummed and leaned in on the girl, kissing her lips tenderly, Hermione was surprised, but didn't complain whatsoever and just closed her eyes and enjoyed it.

After a few minutes, Ed broke free from the kiss, causing Hermione to moan in disappointment.

"You shouldn't rely on the suitcase too much Hermione." he continued, kissing her cheek one last time.

Hermione just nodded meekly as she's blushing from the sudden kiss. "W-We're going to blink there right?"

"Yeah." Ed nodded. "Go get ready first."

Hermione just walked off to the room, changing her clothes and tidying her hair.

After a few minutes, Hermione got out of the room, with her hair now tidied, although it's still a bit wet. She wore her usual pink jacket and jeans, and she was bringing her trunk.

"Bring an umbrella Hermione." Ed informed. "It's raining."

"I'll share with you." Hermione said decisively, causing Ed to sigh. Hermione stood closer to Ed and held his hand. "Let's go."

Ed hummed, and the two instantly disappeared from the place, leaving the place empty for the next year.

The two then appeared in the packed platform 9 3/4. They appeared in a rather empty corner of the platform, but the two can already hear the loud buzz of parents saying goodbyes to their children. But it was covered by the sound of heavy rain, and the parents were covering their children with umbrellas.

Ed noticed that the atmosphere was still cheerful, but Ed could tell that something's bothering the parents, probably because of the tragedy a couple days ago.

"Get used to this Hermione, it'll probably won't be like this next year." Ed stated as he also opened his own umbrella.

"That's sad…" Hermione mumbled, walking closer to Ed so that she was covered by the umbrella also.

The two then stepped out of their spot, and everyone saw them now, causing the buzz to stop rather abruptly, and changed to the sounds of whispers.

"Why are they looking at us?" Now Ed was confused.

Hermione giggled. "You're famous now, how long until you realize that?"

"I'm not that famous…" Ed rolled his eyes.

"Then you're just too dense…" Hermione mumbled. She then saw some girls staring at her rather jealously, and she frowned, not liking this start of the year already. "Come on."

Hermione then pulled Ed's hand and dragged him into the train through the heavy rain, ignoring the stares and whispers.

As they went through the compartments searching for familiar faces, both of them, well, Ed got stares and whispers, some girls even blew a kiss to Ed, which made Hermione frown more and quicken their pace.

"Be careful around these whores Ed." Hermione coldly stated. "Keep your guard up at all times."

"Hermione? Did you just call a student a whore?!" Ed was surprised.

"I'm stating facts." She said, not looking at Ed.

Ed chuckled, then he saw Harry and Ron sitting in a compartment. "You want to sit with Harry? Or do we continue to search for Richard?"

Hermione bit her lip. "I'll sit with Harry." She said, "I need to do my part in the plan."

"Oh." Ed simply said. "You want me to accompany you?"

"You sure? You can go to Richard if you want…"

"I think he's not on the train yet, the stares are the proof… if Richard's here, his compartment's probably full…"

"That makes sense… okay…"

The two then entered the compartment and sat with the boy-who-lived and his ginger friend.

Once the two boys who were already inside the compartment saw who it was, Harry smiled, while Ron frowned.

"Where have you been?" the ginger asked rather roughly.

Hermione was confused about the hostility. "What do you mean?"

"No, letters, no visits, nothing." Ron scoffed. "If dad didn't see you getting interrogated by the ministry we would've thought you're dead."

"Well I'm sorry." Hermione answered with a high tone. "I'm dealing with my own problems, I have no obligation to tell you everything."

"Well you can at least tell us that you're okay or something." Ron refuted. "And what problems?"

"Our parents are leaving the country Ron." Ed continued, not wanting Hermione to yell at the ginger. "And she's a bit traumatized as well… she saw some things back in the world cup…"

Ron just eyed Ed for a moment before humming. He looked away to the windows, not wanting to talk anymore.

Moments later, a boy entered the compartment, it was Neville.

"Hey guys, can I sit here? Everywhere else is full." He said.

"Sure Neville." Ed smiled, and the boy sat in front of Ron.

"How's your summer Neville?" Ed asked the boy, trying to make conversation.

"Oh, it's fine, although Gran forbid me to go to the world cup…" he said gloomily. "And it turns out to be a good idea…"

"Yeah… it was chaos back then, thank Merlin you and your gran weren't there." Harry added.

"The match was amazing though!" Ron added, and he continued to talk about the match to everyone, making Neville jealous.

The compartment then opened again, and it was Richard. "Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full… Well, not really, some offered seats… but the compartments were all girls and they're giving me weird looks… I've got a feeling I don't want to be there…" he explained, making Hermione snort in annoyance.

"Sure Richard." Harry answered, he's not really familiar with the boy, but he knows him well enough through Ed.

Richard then sat beside the compartment door, in front of Ed. he put his trunk aside, and made himself comfortable.

"Why is it always raining when we're going to Hogwarts? It's two years in a row now." Richard commented.

Ed just shrugged. "Luck I guess."

The train now started to move, going north of London.

Ron then suddenly whispered to Harry, much to Hermione's confusion.

"What are you two whispering about?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing." Harry said, a bit nervous.

Hermione just frowned in suspicion.

"Ed…" Harry called the silver eyed boy's name. "Can I ask you something?"

Ed raised his eyebrow, he looked at Hermione, who shrugged. "Sure, what do you want to ask?"

"I was wondering… you're quite close with the ministry right? With the whole company thing…"

"I mean… we're not that close… but what are you going to ask?"

"We- We were wondering about something." Harry said. "A lot of the Weasleys said that something big will happen at Hogwarts this year… we were wondering if you knew…"

Now, Neville is interested as well. "My gran also said that, but she didn't want to tell me…"

"Oh." Ed chuckled. "I know that…"

"Really?" Harry was piqued with interest. "Well what is it?"

"I'll let Hermione tell it for you." Ed patted Hermione's shoulder, making her glare at him because he just threw the explaining to her.

"You knew too Hermione? why didn't you tell us?" Ron demanded an answer.

"You didn't ask." Hermione refuted. "It's the Triwizard Tournament Harry…"

"The Tri- what?"

"Triwizard tournament." Hermione repeated. She then continued to berate the compartment with facts of the Triwizard tournament, much to Richard and Ed's dismay.

She talked about the three schools, the delegations to Hogwarts, the rules, the prize, the fatality, and she talked about how the ministry will probably change the rules this year.

"That's wicked innit?" Ron said excitedly. "You think we should put our names in Harry?"

"I- I'd rather not…" Harry answered. "Sounds dangerous… and I've had enough fame as it is…"

"Oh Harry… you really have bad luck you know…" Ed commented, which made Harry and Ron confused.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry questioned.

"Hm? Nothing…" Ed answered casually. Before Harry could question again, he remembered something. "Oh right, Neville, I've brought some muggle books about plants for you, you want to read it?"

"Really? Um… That's nice of you.. are you sure?" Neville nervously said.

"It's fine Neville, I bought it for you anyway." Ed said as he pulled around three books from his suitcase, taking it out. "Here, read it." Ed gave it to Neville, which made the boy quite happy.

"Oh wow, this is rather interesting…" The boy mumbled as he phased through the book to check the content.

Ed just shook his head in amusement as he saw Neville's act, Ed then just sat beside Hermione again, shrugging it off.

Hermione then picked up the Daily Prophet that was lying on the side of the compartment and started to read it intently. Ed saw this, and lay his head on her shoulder, reading it along.

As they read it, Hermione frowned, while Ed had a 'I-don't-care' look.

"It's the ministry and their stupidity again…" Hermione sighed.

"It's not really the ministry to be honest, it's Fudge trying to stay at his position." Ed commented.

"But this is just stupid…" Hermione mumbled.

"What are you talking about?" Richard questioned, all the others are also curious.

"Here." Hermione showed the headline to the others.

'THE MINISTRY: ALL IS WELL'

The headline made everyone confused, and Hermione read the content.

"

Around the 26th of August, we've all heard the tragic incident of the Quidditch World Cup, the minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge said that, 'All is well, we've discovered the culprit of the matter, it is a new group of people with owl masks, fake death eaters, they want copy the era of the dark lord, we, as the ministry, is of course working on this, we've had some clues on who they are, and we're making good progress.'

The group of people with owl masks are spotted around the area of the incident, they have cloaks, owl masks, and there are approximately three members of the group, one male, two female. If any of the readers reading this spotted someone containing this description, please contact the authority.

"

"You're joking right?" Richard was surprised at how Fudge blatantly framed them.

"Unfortunately I am not." Hermione answered.

"But I saw one of them, they're trying to help the victims…" Harry added.

"You did?" Ron was surprised, by the looks of it he didn't know. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"W-Well, I just thought that you saw them as well… they were running around the campsite…"

"Well that's new to me…" Ron mumbled. "What did you see?"

"It was a man I think…" Harry said, making Richard look away. "He had this weird magic where his hands glowed purple, and he can shoot some magic from his palms, knocking the attackers."

"What do you think the magic is?" Ron questioned. "Is it dark magic?"

"I doubt it." Ed interrupted, still laying his head on Hermione's shoulder. "It's probably a new type of magic that he himself developed, whoever it was must be a genius." Ed looked at Richard who blushed from the compliment.

"So the owl guys are really on our side then?" Ron questioned. "I mean… I guess there's the Giant Owl that everyone's been talking about…"

"Did you ask your parents about the owl Ron?" Ed questioned, curious about the answer.

"I did…" Ron said. "But my dad won't answer it and never asks what it was to others, especially pureblood families…"

"That's weird…" Harry commented. "You think it's some sort of guardian angel?"

Hermione chuckled, looking at Ed whose head was on her shoulder. "Guardian angel? More like an impulsive teenager maybe."

Ed just smiled at Hermione, while the other three who didn't know the owl's identity were confused.

Suddenly, a voice sounded from outside the compartment.

"Anything from the trolley dear?"

"Oh!" Ron then rummaged through his pockets and found some sickles. "A packet of Drooble's please." He said as he walked to the old lady. Harry and Richard also stood up to buy some things, while Neville was still reading his plant books.

"Are you hungry? You want something?" Ed asked Hermione who was till reading the Daily Prophet.

"Um… Can you get me Pumpkin Pasties?" She asked the boy.

"Okay, I'll get you one." Ed then stood up and walked to the trolley. Once he stood in front of the trolley, he told the old lady:

"Three pumpkin pasties please."

He gave the money to the old lady, and the old lady began to rummage through the trolley for pumpkin pasties.

While he waited, a couple girls walked to the trolley, and one of them was Cho Chang.

The girl saw Ed and just smiled weakly, while when she turned to Richard, she also smiled, but looked forced.

Meanwhile, besides Richard, Harry was staring at the girl rather creepily.

It was awkward to say the least.

The awkwardness then was boosted by Cho's friends giggling and waving at Ed and Richard, which made Ed just want to get his pumpkin pasties as quickly as possible, once the old lady gave him the pasties, he bolted back to the compartment and lay his head on Hermione's shoulder again, giving her the pasties.

"Three?" She questioned.

"Who said it's all for you?" Ed grabbed two of the pasties. "Two of them are for me."

Hermione just rolled her eyes as the others entered the compartment again.

"Well that was awkward." Richard commented, his face showing discomfort.

"What happened?" Hermione questioned.

"Cho happened." Ed answered. "And Harry has a crush on the girl as well…" Ed continued, making the boy blushed.

"You broke up with Cho Richard?" Harry questioned, abnormally curious.

"I did." Richard simply said. "Anyway… it was made more awkward by her friends as well, waving at me and Ed…"

This time, Hermione frowned. "Remember Ed, be careful, be on guard at all times, it seems this year we can't be lenient…"

Ed just sighed at Hermione's protectiveness and didn't say anything.

About four hours into the train ride, the rain poured more heavily as they went further north, the cold wind entered the ventilation of the compartment, making the room cool. Everyone was doing their own thing, Harry and Ron were talking about Quidditch, Richard was reading a book, same as Neville, Hermione was still reading the Daily Prophet, while Ed was sleeping on Hermione's lap.

Ed sensed that Hermione was thinking about something though, her face looked troubled.

"You okay?" Ed questioned the girl, which made the girl look at Ed.

"I- I'm fine…" She mumbled, then she whispered to Ed. "I just don't know how to approach Harry about the horcrux thing…"

Ed hummed. "You can tell him slowly this year, just tell him about the horcrux first, your theory on how Tom split his soul more than once, and slowly reveal that he's one of the horcrux from there…"

Hermione nodded meekly. "Then what about the plan that he had to resurrect Tom?"

"You could combine telling that he was a horcrux and you telling that you could remove his horcrux without killing him…"

Hermione nodded once again. "I'll try…"

"Now?"

"I-"

"If you don't want to do it now it's fine Hermione, we still got a lot of time anyway…"

"Okay…" Hermione then wrapped the newspaper and said. "Can you get up? I want to change to the uniform."

Ed just hummed and sat up from Hermione's lap. "It's still too early though? What do you want to do?"

"Nothing, I just want to change…" she mumbled unconvincingly. She grabbed her uniform from her trunks and got out of the compartment.

"You know Ed…" Richard suddenly said, dropping his book. "What did you say to Daphne?"

Ed raised his eyebrow at the sudden question. "That's random… Why'd you ask?"

"She asked me to the ball… even if it's not announced yet." Richard said seriously. "Like seriously, the first time we met for more than a month, and the first thing she said was 'Will you go to the yule ball with me?', I'm supposed to be the one who asked, dammit."

Ed chuckled. "Well, what did you say?"

"Yes of course." Richard said. "I mean… I will ignore her last year… at least I need to have fun with her this year." He mumbled the last one.

"Speaking of the ball… you had a suit yet?"

"I have, dad gave it to me." Richard answered. "It's not the best looking, but it's from him, I'll manage. You?"

"Let's just say I have a huge collection to pick from." Ed said, making Richard groan.

"What are you talking about? What ball?" Harry questioned suddenly, then the two realized that there were people other than them in the compartment.

"It's a tradition for the Triwizard tournament." Richard explained. "In Christmas, there will be a ball, that's why you need to bring formal clothes this year, for that."

"And a ball comes a date." Ed added, "So don't complain to me if you don't get a date, I've warned you earlier." He said as he looked over the two, who went paler over time as Ed was talking.

"Oh no no no no no…" Ron repeated. "How am I supposed to get a date…"

Ed shrugged. "Beats me."

"How about you Neville…" Harry weakly asked.

"I- I'll manage…" Neville stuttered, although Ed can see some determination in those eyes.

"Don't tell anyone though." Ed said. "Wait until after the first task you can go search for your date, before, you just need to actually find someone who will accept your invitation."

Then Hermione entered the compartment, already in her uniform, but she had a deep frown on her face, which made the group look at the girl weirdly.

"What's happened?" Harry questioned, a bit nervous at the frowning Hermione.

"Nothing." Hermione coldly said, then she sat beside Ed, she sat really close to Ed, she then lay her head on Ed's shoulder and hugged Ed's arm.

"Remember Ed, when a girl approaches you while giggling, just stay away from her." She said, "And don't eat or drink anything that someone gives to you, even if it's ice cream."

"But I like ice cream…" Ed mumbled.

Hermione just glared at him, and he went quiet.

A few minutes later, Hermione was still hugging Ed's arm, and Ed suddenly remembered. "Hermione, have you got a dress?"

Hermione froze. "Oh no!" she shrieked. "I forgot to buy one!"

Ed chuckled. "Don't act like you killed a puppy or something." He said, but Hermione kept panicking.

"What should I do Ed? I forgot to buy a dress, I was going to buy a dress when we went shopping with our parents, but they kept talking about stuff and made me forget!"

"Calm down." Ed patted her back. "I have some, remember?" Ed winked.

"What- OH." Hermione then calmed down. "Oh, I know that…"

"Wait what?" Ron questioned. "Ed, do you have dresses for girls? I didn't know you're into that…" he mumbled.

"What? no! it's my mother's collection, stop twisting facts." Ed quickly denied, making Hermione giggled.

"Alright, I'll find a good one later." She whispered to Ed.

"Just don't make the dressing room messy." He whispered back.

Hermione just hummed and put her head on Ed's shoulder again, and minutes later, she already fell asleep.

---

It was now in the evening of the 1st of September. The train had stopped, and the group were trying to get out of it, but it was packed as people were trapped, umbrella-less, and scared of soaking themselves because of the rain.

"I forgot to bring umbrellas again…" Ron stated. "Do you have an umbrella?"

"I do." Ed pulled out his umbrella.

"Can you just share with us?" Ron asked.

"He's with me." Hermione said, glaring at Ron.

The ginger just frowned. "Why are you so-"

"Hello Ed!" someone suddenly spoke, Ed turned, and saw that it was someone he didn't know. It was a girl, she was a bit chubby, dark eyes, and had brown hair, just like Hermione. she was wearing a yellow tie, so it must be a Hufflepuff.

"Oh… um…"

"Megan… Megan Jones" She introduced herself, and Hermione beside Ed was already frowning and glaring at the girl.

"Oh, hello…" Ed greeted awkwardly. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Oh yeah… I noticed that you have an umbrella… so I was just asking if you would like to share it with me?..."

Hermione was definitely livid now, but she kept quiet, as there were a lot of people around, but her stares… it definitely can kill…

"Oh, actually, I don't really need it… you want to use the umbrella? Here." Ed gave the umbrella to Megan, much to everyone's surprise. He then pulled out his wand, and he thrust his wand to the sky, summoning an umbrella charm.

"There, I can use an umbrella charm." Ed said. "Well, you don't have to return it or anything, share it with your friends or something. See you around I guess…"

Ed then held Hermione's hand, and the girl was smirking victoriously to Megan Jones, who had a look of shock in her face.

The two then walked to the rain with an umbrella charm, walking towards the carriages that was sitting idly, waiting for someone to hop on.

"Seriously? 'See you around I guess…'?" Hermione questioned, raising her eyebrow.

"I was being polite." Ed pointed out. "That was awkward, I hope it doesn't happen again…"

Hermione frowned. "I had a feeling it won't stop…"

"Well, I have you, deflect them from me." Ed patted her head, making her snort.

"I'm not a dog who can bark at everyone who's getting closer to you… you do it yourself."

"What if I succumb to their charms?" Ed said jokingly, but Hermione frowned even more and pinched his hips hard.

"Ouch! I was joking!" he complained while chuckling.

Hermione just snorted, and they both entered an empty carriage.

Meanwhile, Richard was just getting out of his compartment, and was now beside Harry.

"What happened?" Richard asked.

"Someone tried to flirt with Ed? I don't really know how to put it really…" Harry answers. "You know that girl?"

"What do you mean 'you know that girl?'?! She's related to Gwenog Jones!" Ron exclaimed.

"Gwenog Jones?" Richard questioned, confused.

"You know… Quidditch Player?!" Ron said as it was the obvious.

"Don't know her." Richard shrugged.

"Is she though?" Harry questioned. "I thought Gwenog Jones was supposed to be dark-skinned?"

"Well, Gwenog must've had a foreign mother or something…" Ron speculated.

All of them then looked at Ed and Hermione, who was entering the carriage.

"Well, those two are definitely going to the ball together, who do you think we should ask?"

"Well, I've already had a date…" Richard answered, making Ron and Harry frown.

"What should we do?" Harry asked Ron.

"I don't know mate… do you fancy someone?" Ron questioned Harry.

"W-Well, there is one…"

"Then why don't you ask her?" Ron said.

"I'll just see…" Harry mumbled. "What about you?"

"I don't know…" Ron mumbled. "As long if it's not Eloise Midgen I'm okay with it I guess…"

"Well, we still have half a year to ask someone…" Harry mumbled.

"Good luck to both of us." Ron continued.