SIDE STORY 2: A MILLION GALLEON QUESTION

The next morning Ed woke up as usual, he ran around the lake, practice some spells, and took a shower. After the last evening, Ed hadn't seen Gilligan or Hermione. the girl was probably still embarrassed because there's a chance that Gilligan, essentially a father figure to Ed, watched the two of them snogged in the living room, and any girl or boy in their teenage phase would be embarrassed if their father or mother saw them kissing someone. Yet the weird thing is, Gilligan is nowhere to be seen either, he never appeared since last night, which was quite bizarre.

Ed then sat on the couch in the living room, resting his body a bit. He played with his wand for a while, twirling it like a drumstick, then, he called Gilligan.

"Gilligan…" he whispered, which the owl heard, as he was omnipresence.

"Need anything?" the owl asked lazily.

"You know what I'm about to ask…" Ed said.

Then, Ed ask the million-galleon question, "Gilligan, are you a voyeur?"

The room was silent.

The owl was looking at Ed strangely as he asked that, "Are you serious?"

"That's the term for it right?"

"Of course not! Voyeur only applies in sexual activities!"

"Same thing, we're thirteen as well Gilligan, that's just wrong."

"I didn't see you two Ed if that's what you're asking…" Gilligan, "I simply avoid such things, I'm an owl, not a human, our anatomies are different, and I don't feel lust as well."

"So you didn't see it?" Ed raised his eyebrows.

"I didn't" Gilligan insisted. "Even though I'm omnipresence in this place, I closed my eyes once something like that happened; otherwise there's no privacy in this place…"

"Right…" Ed was unconvinced at this.

"Really? What about every time you shower? I didn't see you inside the bathroom."

"Oh shit, I didn't think of that… did you watch Hermione shower every time she's here?! You're fucking sick Gilligan!"

"I told you, I avoided those kinds of things!" Gilligan snapped a bit. Ed, then stared at the owl menacingly for a moment, before breaking into laughter. "I'm joking Gilligan. I trust you…" Ed said as he rolled around the couch. "You have to explain it to Hermione next time she's here, though, she looked terrified when I said that you possibly were watching us."

"I will do just that." Gilligan grimaced, "You just made me a stalker in the girl's eyes Ed, how do you feel?"

"Marvellous." Ed rolled his eyes.

Gilligan sighed in surrender. "We never talked about the girl, huh…"

Ed narrowed his eyes. "What more do you want Gilligan? I was wrong, you were right, end of story. It was stupid of me to make her wait."

"You didn't give her the necklace… you didn't bring her to me for the mark…" Gilligan said, which made Ed slap his face.

"I forgot about the necklace… as for the mark, can we hold it off? It's essentially marrying her… I'd rather wait until we're actually ready for that kind of thing, plus… there's the ring my parents gave me."

Gilligan nodded in agreement. "Good point, your father and mother hold it off, too." He said, "But you do realize that you have to bring her when you search for your parents, right?"

"I know." Ed simply said, "I saw her in one of the dreams, me and her, fighting side by side…"

"That's good…" Gilligan said. "I expect a lot of children from you two. Our family is having a crisis right now…"

Ed just threw a couch pillow at the owl. "Merlin Gilligan, we're 13! We can talk about that when we're actually grown up."

Ed then went silent for a minute; he looked like he was in deep thought, thinking about something worrisome.

"I'm worried about the future though…" Ed suddenly said, "If the visions are true… than me and her will be in a lot of danger…"

"I'm sure we'll manage… You're an Aldrich, and we never give up easily."

Ed nodded weakly. "Right, thank you for the clarification Gilligan. I'm going to tell Hermione now, but you need to talk to her as well."

Gilligan just hummed and disappeared, leaving Ed alone. Then, the boy climbed up the stairs and walked to the Great Hall, searching for breakfast. Once he's there, he saw Hermione eating with Harry and Ron.

"Hello boys and girls." Ed greeted as he saw Hermione, who smiled a bit when she saw Ed.

The others just greeted back unenthusiastically and continued eating.

"So?" Hermione whispered to Ed, "Did you ask him yet?"

"Oh, I did." Ed said, "He definitely saw us last night." Ed lied.

Hermione blushed heavily at this, "I'm not going down there ever again, Ed…"

Ed chuckled at Hermione's embarrassment. "I'm joking Hermione, he didn't see us; he avoided those kinds of things, you need to talk to him though, about family stuff…"

Hermione narrowed her eyes, "What kind of family stuff?"

"You'll see." Ed said vaguely, then he remembers something. "Oh, right." Ed took out his necklace and wore it around Hermione's neck.

"Why did you give the necklace to me? Not that I'm complaining or anything…" Hermione asked, her face red from embarrassment as everyone on the table saw Ed giving Hermione the necklace.

"I can't talk about it here. Just ask Gilligan about it." Ed whispered to the girl, to which she nodded weakly. "Wear it all the time okay? Think about it as a late birthday gift. I know you said you didn't want one last summer, but I'm giving it to you anyway."

"Okay." She simply said, happy that Ed had given her a necklace.