CHAPTER 36: THE COLD AFTERNOON

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WANT TO GO SOMEWHERE?

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Ed appeared on his lawn, he saw that the surroundings was dark, signalling that it's night-time. He looked at himself and saw a mess, his hair was all over the place, his clothes were still a little bit bloody from his wound, his face was sweaty, he smelled really bad, and he was dead tired. Ed sighed heavily and started to walk to the front door.

'I wonder what time is it here? Do they have some sort of time dilation there?' Ed thought. He knocked on the door a couple of times, his eyes looked blank, he just wants to take a shower and sleep, but then he realized something.

'Is Hermione here?' he thought, dreading the thought of confronting the girl, 'Oh Merlin, what do I say?...'

Then the door opened, Ed saw that it is Ashbey that opened it, Ed sighed in relief as it wasn't Hermione, and greeted the Butler.

"Hello Ashbey." Ed said tiredly, "How long have I've been gone?"

Ashbey sighed, "About three days Master Ed, it is now the third of January 1993."

"So, they did have a time dilation there… but what caused it?" he mumbled to himself, then he looked at Ashbey once more. "I need to take a shower Ashbey, could you not wake up every one? I'm quite tired right now, and I prefer to ask the questions in the morning, I feel like I will fall at any second now."

Ashbey nodded hurriedly, "Very well Master Ed, if you need anything, you know where to find me."

Ed entered the mansion, and walked towards the direction of his room, but he stopped midway and asked Ashbey once again, "Hermione's not here is she?" Ed asked nervously.

"She is." Ashbey answered, causing Ed to flinch a little, "Although Miss Granger is sleeping in her usual room right now."

Ed sighed in relief, and continued to walk to his room slowly, clinging on the remaining energy he has, he entered his bathroom and took a long and calming shower, cleaning the blood and dirt on his body, then he got out of the shower and wore his sleeping clothes. He got closer to his bed and tried to sleep.

When he was about to close his eyes on the bed, a knock sounded from the room's door.

'Shit, who is it.' Ed groaned in annoyance. Ed then got up once more, and walked to the door, he groggily open the door, but once he saw who knock, he froze on the spot.

"H-Hermione…" Ed stuttered, he saw an angry looking bushy haired girl standing in front of him, arms on her waist, ready for scolding. "Hermione I-I'm sor-"

"Edgart Alvis Aldrich!" Hermione cut him off with an angry yell, "Do you have any idea how worried you parents have been! Gone for three days! No notes on where you went, no hint, nothing!" she scolded, then she looked like she calmed herself down, and looked at Ed longingly.

She then sighed in worry, "And leaving with cuffs in your hands isn't a really good reassurance Ed…" she changed her tone; she spoke more softly now. "Thankfully I know where you went, Gilligan told me not to worry, but I can't help it you know, especially when that trial could've gotten you executed…"

Ed didn't say anything, he was quite surprised at Hermione's attitude right now, he thought he would be slapped in the face for what he did. "I-I'm sorry Hermione…" Ed stuttered once more, "I- your parents were killed because of me…" Ed choked an apology to her, ignoring the scolding.

"It's not your fault Ed." Answered Hermione in a soft and understanding tone, "The Malfoy family is the one who's at fault, going as far as killing two muggles to sort out a petty argument." Continued Hermione with a tone of disgust.

"But I could've protected them!" Ed countered in guilt, "I-If I wasn't so focused in guessing who the target was and actually investigate it, this wouldn't happen!"

"Stop Ed," said Hermione sharply, "What's done is done, you have a way to bring them back right? The official story of my parents is that they're missing right now, not dead."

"I-I do…" Ed answered, then quickly questioned her feelings, "But why are you not mad at me Hermione!? I killed your parents for Merlin's sake!"

Hermione then hurriedly close Ed's mouth with he hand, shutting him up, "I said stop Ed," said Hermione sternly, "I am mad at you, not because of my parents' deaths, but because you never told me anything about this assassination thing, and for the issue with my parents, you didn't kill them Ed, the Assassin did." Continued her. "So, stop blaming yourself, you're not a god Ed, you can't see everything that will happen, and you can't solve all the problems you face."

She then release her grip on Ed's mouth, she eyed Ed's expression that is slowly turning into an expression of relief, she then steeled herself and hugged him tightly. "Don't worry about my parents okay, I will help you solve it," Hermione then released her hug with a tint of red on her cheeks, "In the meantime, sorry to disturb your rest, I heard some noise in the living room so I thought it was you, you must be tired in these three days, but I can't help myself to check on you..." She continued with a small smile.

Ed nodded weakly, he gave her a reassuring smile and said, "I'll be fine Hermione, just knackered, we'll talk again later, good night."

The bushy haired girl nodded, "Good night." She then left the front of the room and went to her own room. Ed closed the door, and walked to his bed, he slept with a smile on his face, as if a huge burdened have been released on his shoulder.

The next morning, or afternoon in this case because Ed slept like a log, he woke up groggily, eyes bloodshot red, messy hair, and muscles sore. He forced himself to the bathroom, washed his face, and brushed his teeth. He then changed his close to something more casual and went out of the room, he walked to the dining room to have his 'breakfast'.

He sat down on one of the seat at the dining table, and ate his breakfast, it was a typical English 'breakfast', he ate it along side some tea. When he was eating peacefully alone in the dining room, a woman's voice suddenly interrupted.

"So," said the woman, who was Anna, "Care to explain where you've been?"

Ed choked at his food and looked at the source of the voice, he smiled weakly and answered with a sigh, "I can't Anna, it's dangerous if you know it. It's dangerous enough when you saw that I was cuffed on the lawn…"

Anna shook her head and sat on one of the chair, "You know we can't go on like this right? We were worried all the time…" said Anna weakly.

"I know," said Ed, he stopped eating and put his eating utensils aside, "So please, don't worry about me and anything concerning my blood family, it will only put you in more danger. Besides, I can take care of myself." Ed continued as he scanned the surroundings using his space fluctuations, he spotted a couple of invisible hunters watching him from afar.

"Okay then," grumbled Anna, "Have you talk to Hermione?" asked Anna worriedly.

"I have," Ed answered while continued eating, "if you want some answers regarding her parents, you should ask her, it's not my place to tell you…"

Anna nodded, "You should take her somewhere." Advised Anna, which surprises Ed, "She's been worried about you ever since she came here, so at least accompany her for today."

Ed sighed, "Okay, any ideas? It's quite cold outside though."

"Hm… shopping, girls always like shopping no matter the age." Said Anna, "Maybe take her to one of those wizarding market, what was the name of it? Vertical Alley?"

"Diagon Alley Anna…" Ed chuckled.

"Yeah, that, you should take her there, buy a couple of things, you're rich in the wizarding world right? you told us you got an inheritance or some sort, last summer, so we won't give you money."

"All right." Said Ed, "I'll take her there, where is she anyway?" asked Ed.

"In her room, reading one of your books," answered Anna, "She 'borrowed' one of your collection in your study room."

Ed frowned, he remembered he left some dark magic book in the study room, and sighed "Okay, I'll go get her."

Ed finished his meal and stood up, he walked to Hermione's room and knocked on the door.

"Hermione?" called Ed, "You in there?"

"Wait!" shouted the girl, "Don't enter yet! I'll open it myself."

Ed just hummed and waited for a couple of minutes. Then Hermione opened the door, Ed can see that her hair is damp, a sign that she just took a shower.

"Everything okay?" asked Hermione while looking at Ed straight in the eye.

Ed nodded, "Yeah it's fine, um, Hermione, Anna told me that I should take you somewhere today while we talk, so do you want to go to Diagon Alley with me?" asked Ed timidly, "I know it's quite cold outside and everything, it's fine if you don-"

"Sure." Said Hermione decisively, she tried to hide a wide smile on her face, but it didn't work.

"All right then, I'll change first." Ed sighed in relief that she accepted it and went to his room to change for a more suitable clothes. He wore his new trench coat that he had requested from Madam malkin's and a grey turtleneck in the inside. He wore the ring just in case and put his wand in one of the pocket inside the trench coat. He tidied his hair a bit and exited the room, he then walked to the living room and waited for Hermione there.

A couple of minutes later, the girl appeared, she wore a dark blue peacoat and scarf, she also wore a bobble hat to cover her bushy hair. Ed smiled at her, causing her cheeks to turn a bit red.

"Here," said the girl, handing over a dark blue scarf that is similar to the one she wore, "It's supposed to be your birthday present on August, but it took a lot of time to make it, and I just finished it a couple days ago…" the girl continued timidly.

Ed took the scarf and inspected it, it has some silver stripes in it, and an owl symbol was roughly knitted in the scarf.

"It's quite ugly I know," She mocked her creation, "I-It's fine if you don-"

"It's great Hermione." Said Ed while wearing the scarf, "You made it?"

Hermione nodded shyly, "Yeah, along with this." She continued while showing her scarf.

"It's great, I like it." Ed nodded, "Thank you Hermione, we got matching scarfs now."

"I-I guess…" Hermione answered, Ed can see that her cheeks were crimson red.

"All right, let's go." Said Ed while opening the front door. The two then walked to the car and entered it.

"Let's go to Leaky cauldron Ashbey." Informed Ed.

"Right away Master Ed."

The car then started to move, and Ed asked Hermione about where she wants to go.

"What do you want to see in Diagon Alley Hermione? We never really explore the place except when buying the school things…"

Hermione pondered a while before ultimately come up with an answer, "Um, yeah, I want to see the boo-"

Ed groaned, cutting her off, "Please don't tell me you want to go to the bookstores that you haven't visited, have you not remember what's inside my study room now?"

Hermione smacked Ed's shoulder playfully, "all right, all right… I want to see the Madam Primpernelle's Beautifying Potions store, maybe I'll find some potions that can fix my hair a little bit."

Ed shrugged dismissively, "All right, fair enough."

Hermione looked at Ed strangely, he noticed this and questioned the girl, "What?"

Hermione snorted, "You're supposed to say that I don't have to fix my hair, or it looks nice or something."

Ed laughed, "But it's not Hermione, your hair looks like a bird's nest." With the comment, Hermione punched Ed in the shoulder out of spite, making him groaned in pain.

"Ow, I'm just telling the truth Hermione, why'd you do that for!?"

"Well, it's quite rude," grumbled Hermione while looking away to the window, "It's better to lie."

"All right I'm sorry okay? But I won't retract my opinion." Ed chuckled, while Hermione snorted in annoyance.

Ashbey, who was seeing them bicker throughout the journey, just smiled and shook his head in amusement.

A couple of minutes later, the two had arrived in front of the leaky cauldron, Ed had told Ashbey to not wait for them much to Hermione's confusion, Ashbey nodded went instantly went home, leaving the two alone.

"Why did you told Ashbey to go home? How will we go back?" asked Hermione curiously.

"You'll see." Ed answered vaguely, which earn a snort of annoyance from Hermione.

"You and your secrets Ed…" grumbled Hermione.

Ed just chuckled and the two entered the pub to warm themself up.

"Where do you want to go first?" asked Ed.

"I don't know…" answered Hermione, "Let's just go Madam Primpernelle's first and maybe we'll have lunch in of the restaurants, I'm quite hungry already."

"Really?" said Ed, "I just had breakfast about an hour ago…"

Hermione snorted, "Well yeah, it's because you just woke up about an hour ago, I however, woke up around 6 in the morning, and it's now 12 in the afternoon."

Ed shrugged, "Okay then, let's go fix that bird's nest hair of yours first, then eat." Ed walked to the Diagon Alley entrance while being smacked by Hermione because of his comment.

The two walked through the snowy Alley, Ed looks baffled at the scene, the Diagon Alley looks beautiful in the winter, it had this cosy feeling permeating around the alley.

"The place looks beautiful in the winter…" Ed whispered to Hermione at his side.

"Yeah…" she whispered back, admiring the atmosphere. "But I remember that one of the seniors also told me that Hogsmeade was even better in the winter."

"Well, we shall see next year." Ed commented, which Hermione nodded.

The two then went inside Madam Primpernelle's, Hermione was wondering around the store, asking questions to the clerk, while Ed just looked outside the store window, watching people walked through the Alley.

About half an hour later, Hermione came over to Ed, saying that she had bought the things she need.

"What did you buy?" Ed asked curiously.

Hermione took the product from the bag and show it to Ed, "Sleekeazy's Hair Potion, it's a temporary solution though, so I'll probably use it if I'm going to a ball, or a date…" she explained.

Ed raised his eyebrow, "Have you tried the muggle way? Maybe they can fix your hair permanently there."

Hermione pondered for a while before saying, "You know what, that's actually a good idea, I'll try it later."

Ed hummed, "Sleekeazy's Hair Potion… ah, I remember this potion, it was made by Harry's grandfather, did you know that?"

"Really?" Hermione asked, a bit surprised at the statement.

"Yeah, his grandfather was quite good at potions, the founder of the family was quite good at it too, he made the Skele-gro and Pepperup potion." Explained Ed, "But Harry obviously didn't inherit the talent."

Hermione chuckled at the comment and asked, "Where are we going now? Eat?"

"Hmm, I'll go to Gringotts first, my money's running out in the suitcase." Ed said, which Hermione just nodded.

The two then went to Gringotts, Ed entered his vault while Hermione waited in the bank, he took a couple hundred of Galleons and exited the vault, after that, he exchanged a couple of Galleons for Sickles and Knuts and went to Hermione.

"All right, I'm done, where do you want to eat?" asked Ed.

"I don't know…" answered Hermione, "Leaky Cauldron?"

Ed groaned, "Really? That place is depressing."

"Then I really don't know, does Diagon Alley even have a restaurant?" asked Hermione.

"I don't know, but I saw a teashop when we were walking here, you want to go there?"

"You know what, yeah, let's just try that." Hermione nodded in agreement.

The two then walked to the teashop that Ed was talking about, Rosa Lee Teabag was the name of the place. They entered the teashop and was greeted with a bell sound by the door, then the two sat in one of the empty table, both of them ordered for some tea and desserts to eat, so at least Hermione won't be quite hungry.

"So, what happened when you were gone?" Hermione went straight to the question that has been bugging her all day. "Gilligan said something about trial by combat?"

Ed hummed while drinking his tea, "Yeah… I have to fight someone to the death in five months…", hearing this Hermione's mood turned a little bit sour, she drank her tea quickly to try to make her mood better.

"It's quite complicated." Ed continued, "But the point is, yes, I have to fight someone until one of us is dead, wait, actually, I don't know whether I will fight one guy or multiple guys, but let's not worry about it now, just enjoy your tea and desserts Hermione."

Hermione frowned, and said worriedly, "Well, how can I not worry if you said that you potentially can die in the trial…"

Ed chuckled, "I said don't think about it, we'll deal with this later all right?"

Hermione hummed, she thought for a moment before she asked again hesitantly, "Then what about Malfoy?" she whispered.

Ed's expression froze and turned serious when he heard the name Malfoy, he pull out his wand and tapped the table, he casted a Muffliato charm around them. "What about him?" He asked coldly, trying to hold the hatred.

"What are you going to do about him Ed? Don't tell me you're going to kill him…" asked Hermione in worry, and Ed just sat in silent, confirming her thoughts, "Don't Ed, killing is wrong, you can collect the evidence and give it to-"

"Hermione," said Ed sharply, making Hermione flinched, she never hear Ed talked to her like that before, "Lucius has the ministry in his hands, even if the minister knows that he killed your parents, he won't do anything about it."

"Well, you don't know that… the ministry is-"

"Is corrupt and full of incompetent wizards and witches Hermione, why are you defending Lucius anyway? They killed your parents for Merlin's sake! You said it yourself."

Hermione was silent for a second before answering the question, she looked down at her tea and answered weakly, "I'm not defending him, I just don't want you to kill anyone Ed, killing is heavy thing to do…"

"I know…" Ed sighed, "But I need some closure in myself Hermione, I need to get rid of this guilt by killing him."

"I told you Ed, I don't blame you for-"

"Yes, I know, but I blame myself Hermione…" Ed said to the girl softly, "You don't have to be there when I killed him okay? I need this for myself."

Hermione sighed sadly and nodded her head, the two then seat in the table in silence for a couple of minutes, Hermione was slowly picking on her dessert, While Ed was watching the Alley, he scanned the surroundings using the space fluctuation and noticed the same Hunters were watching him from afar.

'They really do watching me closely huh…' Ed thought.

"So," Hermione said suddenly, breaking the silence, "What did you do in France? We never talk about that."

Ed hummed, "Well, we never really have the chance did we? I- okay, I learned a lot there to be honest, much more than I imagine." Said Ed.

"Well? What did you learn." Asked Hermione curiously.

"First thing is I am an Animagus now." Announced Ed proudly.

"Really?" Hermione questioned excitedly, Ed can see Her brown eyes glowing, "What animal can you turn into?"

"I can turn into the same creature as Gilligan." Ed explained, "A big owl, it can change its size easily, and it has night vision like any other owls."

"That's quite brilliant! A magical creature as an Animagus? I've never heard of one." Said Hermione in excitement, "What else did you learn there?"

"Hmm… Let me think, I learned how to do a Patronus charm wh-"

"Which is an owl, yes, I've seen it, it looks like it can send messages too."

"Yeah, quite a handy spell, but I kind of don't need Ophelia anymore, you can have her Hermione."

"Well… thank you, is it all right though? Owls are quite expensive…" she asked timidly.

"It's fine, I've got quite a lot of money to spend anyway, I need to invest some of it as well…" Ed said, while the end part he mumbled to himself.

Hermione sighed at the statement, she looked at Ed intently for a second, weirding Ed out, but Hermione spoke again, "I remember in school that you showed off a girl… who is that?" she asked while eyeing Ed suspiciously.

Ed gulped when he saw Hermione's expression, "You mean Fleur?"

"Yeah that wh-, girl I mean." She asked, a bit of venom laced in her words.

"She's quite nice to be honest, my only friend in that school, everyone else hates me." Ed chuckled nervously.

"Friend?" she questioned, it wasn't really a conversation at this point, it's an interrogation.

Ed hummed, "Yeah, she's like an elder sister I've never had you know… I read her mind one day and saw that it was hard for her to make actual friends because of the uncontrollable Veela charm, she always fears that she'll be raped if she's not careful, but she said that I'm different, I can block her Veela charm with Occlumency, so she tried to approach me and tried to be my friend."

"You sure she's not approaching you for something else?" she further asked with a suspicious tone.

Ed chuckled, "Merlin no, she likes men that is older than her, that's why she told me to show her off, maybe she can meet someone from Hogwarts…"

"All right then…" she mumbled suspiciously, "What about Flamel? Did you learn anything from him?"

"Oh yeah," Ed answered, "That bracelet you wore is one of the results of me studying with him, and those papers in my study room was his notes."

"And the book? I saw the title of it, it's about blood magic."

Ed hummed, "Yeah, I'm studying a blood curse, don't ask about that again though, it's not my business to tell you about it."

Hermione nodded weakly and finished her remaining Dessert, Ed noticed this and asked, "You still hungry?" he asked, which the girl just hummed shyly.

"How about I cook you something back home?" offered Ed, "It'll be nice I guess; I never cook for someone other than Anna and Roger."

"Really?" asked Hermione, a bit excited at the thought, "Okay, I'll try your cooking."

Ed nodded, "Okay, let's get out of here." Said Ed while standing up, she went to the counter and paid for the food, Ed and Hermione went outside, and Hermione realized something.

"Oh yeah, how are we going to go home?" said Hermione, "Ashbey is at home right now…"

"Blinking of course." Ed grinned, "Diagon Alley has a lot of wizards, they won't noticed that it's us that casted the spell."

"What about at your home? Won't we get detected there?" asked Hermione worriedly.

"Then we blink to the suitcase, they won't detect it there."

Hermione sighed in relief and nodded, the two then went into a corner and blinked to the suitcase, disappearing from Diagon Alley.