A/N – Hello, dearest reader! I'm glad you've decided to continue reading my fanfiction. Please leave a review if you enjoy reading this! I'd love to see what you think.
Disclaimer – I don't own Harry Potter or The Bartimaeus Trilogy. I only own my interpretation of both and the plot of this fanfiction.
Enjoy!
Chapter 2
Even after he left with his mysterious companion, Alice found it difficult to shake the feeling that she had seen Edward's face somewhere before. She felt that gaining a glimpse into his life would be the trick to manipulating him. In theory, she could easily get him to help her achieve her goal if she knew who she was dealing with.
She focused on a singular point on the wall across from her after she returned to her poor excuse for a bed. Her mind raced to figure out the reason for the sense of recognition. She was in the library when she had first seen his face. Was he a student? She couldn't recall his house if he was, so that must have meant that he was something else.
Another detail surfaced. She was pouring over newspapers, studying their contents and absorbing the knowledge they offered her. A class photo had slipped out; he had been in it, grinning as he threw his arm around a very unhappy Severus Snape. And around them were a gang of Slytherins that would leave Hogwarts and join the Death Eaters, despite their claims that they were only controlled by Voldemort.
But there was more to it than that. She had seen his face peering out of photos several more times as she conducted her research – she was trying to learn more about dark wizards, since Binns was a rubbish teacher who only focused on goblins and their wars. He had been shown among the prodigy Tom Marvolo Riddle's group of elite students, giving the camera the same grin. And he had been there with Grindelwald, too, years before.
He was the same age in all of those photos; how was that possible? He should have been far older. Even Professor Dumbledore, who was alive despite his old age, looked it. Edward looked as if he could have been lounging in the Slytherin common room.
She was dealing with someone both powerful and incredibly evil; she was certain of that much. Edward gravitated towards groups of evil individuals. Though unsurprised by this realization, she knew that it was still important. It reinforced her belief that Edward was a terrifying individual.
This wasn't a game. This was a reality that she would have to somehow face. She would have to trick him into believing that she was a loyal member of his nameless cult.
She looked away from the wall and stared dismally at the floor. She couldn't do this. Edward was absolutely terrifying, and she knew she would be dead if she angered him.
"I can't do this!" he promptly informed her, throwing himself onto the bed and burying his face into his pillow. "Alice is absolutely terrifying, and she won't hesitate to kill me if I end up getting her mad!"
The pillow was a convenient way to hide the tears beginning to form in the corners of his eyes. Crying was a stupid thing to do. It never helped him, only reinforcing the belief that he was going to be discovered. It happened every single time. Voldemort, Grindelwald and that group of Death Eaters had all been like Alice.
A second later, the pillow was roughly jerked out of his hands. "Edward, you're crying over a kid who was kidnapped. She's not some evil mastermind. Beside, you just met her."
He frantically wiped the tears away, weakly protesting, "I'm not crying."
She rested her arms on her hips and gave him a look of disbelief. "You're definitely crying."
"Am not." He sniffled; she was right, though he was trying his hardest to deny her accusation. Then he removed his hands from his face. He grew quiet and still, staring up at the ceiling and the dim, flickering light above him. "Tom was only seven when I met him, Arus, and I knew that he was going to turn out bad. Grindelwald was only five. Figuring out things like that is what I'm good at. Alice is going to turn out the same as them."
The springs of the bed creaked as she sat down on the end of it. Clutching the pillow close to her chest, she laid back and turned to face him. "You thought Dumbledore was going to turn out bad because of his greater good crap, right?"
"...Yeah."
Her dark brown eyes met his. "Now he's an amazing headmaster, and he led the Order of Phoenix during one of the wizarding world's darkest hours. So wouldn't you say he turned out alright?"
He reluctantly nodded. "But that's only because he lost his sister."
"You can change people, Edward," she said, reaching out to him and tightly grabbing onto his hand. "Don't you want to help her instead of simply standing by?"
