A/N: I thought for sure I would have this out in the beginning of the month but, oh look, August is almost over and this book…isn't. Sigh. I figure a half a chapter is better than no chapter, so I forced this out. Don't know when to expect the rest of it; life is extremely busy and stressful right now.

Warnings: none?

Disclaimer: I own nothing. It's all very terrible.


Chapter Eleven: Feel This (pt. 1)

Harry wasn't sure how long he and Draco spent huddled in front of Hagrid's door and blinking drowsily into the forest, but Harry never slept. Draco occasionally dozed on and off, his head lolling against Harry's shoulder for a few minutes until he jerked himself awake with a start and did his best to pretend he hadn't fallen asleep at all. It would have been funny at any other time, but at the moment it only gave Harry one more thing to worry about.

"You can go back to the dorm if you want," he said quietly.

"Because worrying about you and Ed from bed is so much better than doing it here," Draco responded, shifting to lean more comfortably against Harry's side. Harry spared him a brief smile.

A dark figure emerged from the shadows of the trees in the next moment. Harry nudged Draco off of him and stumbled to his feet, wand in his hand because his dad and Ed had told him to always have his wand ready in case a friendly face wasn't as friendly as it first appeared, and watched it limp steadily closer. His whole body was shaking with the need to run forward and make sure Ed was okay, but what if it wasn't him, what if somebody else had been in the forest tonight too…?

"Harry?" the figure said in a familiar voice when it finally looked up and saw the two of them waiting for it. "Why the fuck are you still out here?"

That was definitely Ed.

Harry's legs wanted to give out in relief, but he ran to Ed instead and threw his arms around his waist. He tried to hide his tears in Ed's chest, but they came out in loud, half-panicked sobs. Ed stiffened in surprise and Harry felt absolutely mortified, but he couldn't seem to stop himself no matter how hard he tried.

"Hey, it's okay," Ed said in a soothing voice, wrapping his arms around Harry so gently that he stopped crying mostly due to how weird it felt. "I'm fine, see? Not even bleeding. That's kind of a record for me."

Harry sniffled miserably. "I thought you were gonna die," he muttered to Ed's shirt.

"What, and get taken out by a bunch of fuckin' spiders?" Ed asked, sounding insulted. "Roy would put that shit on my tombstone. 'Beloved brother. Devoted husband. Killed by giant bug.' And don't tell me he wouldn't put bug instead of arachnid just to piss me off."

Harry managed something of a watery giggle at Ed's imagined epitaph and forced himself to pull away. He shot an embarrassed glance towards Draco, and was relieved to see that Draco was being strangely tactful: his friend had stopped some distance away and appeared to be determinedly studying his astronomy.

"You're really okay?" he asked anxiously, looking down at Ed's legs as if he was going to be able to see any injury in the dark. "You were limping when you came out of the forest. Madame Pomfrey's a really good Healer, you know; Neville broke his arm last year and she fixed it right away."

"I got whacked pretty good, but it's just a bruise," Ed said, ruffling Harry's hair lightly. "I'll go to her if I need anything, but I've got some salve in my room. Are either of you hurt? Draco?"

"We're fine," Harry said quickly, looking over to Draco for confirmation. "Right? I was so worried about Ed, I didn't even ask—"

"Not even bleeding," Draco said, with a bit of a cheeky grin. Ed snorted, obviously recognizing his own words being parroted back at him. "I think I twisted my ankle when we fell, but she'll be suspicious if I show up too early in the morning. I guess I could pretend to slip in the shower or something."

"Oh, or you could trip on the stairs on the way to breakfast!" Harry suggested. "And we can try to find a way to pin it on Weasley—"

"I didn't hear that last part," Ed announced loudly. Harry looked up at him innocently. "Let's get you two back inside before sunrise. Clean you up a little first…."

Three quick claps out of sight of the castle later, they were all relatively cleared of dirt and ready to go. Harry and Draco ducked back under the Cloak with a grimace—the close confines weren't kind on their noses after the night they'd had—and Ed led them through the dark hallways back to the Slytherin dorms. The corridors seemed to have cleared a great deal while they were out, or else Ed was better at avoiding people than they were, because they didn't run into a single person on their way back.

Harry hesitated at the entrance to their common room even after Draco had whispered the password to get back inside. The two of them scuffled briefly while Ed looked on with raised eyebrows, and then Harry left the Cloak and shooed Draco inside.

"I want to talk to Ed!" he whispered angrily. He couldn't see him to be certain, but judging by the long pause before the door closed, he thought Draco might have mocked him. Harry stuck his tongue out at the door for good measure, then turned back to Ed.

Ed scowled back at him, impatient and already irritated. As this was Ed's usual mood, it didn't really bother Harry, so he let himself look around the corridor a bit nervously before he started talking.

"I just wanted to say that, um, with your epitaph thing," Harry said hesitantly, hoping Ed couldn't see the blush that he could feel crawling across his cheeks. "You know, the 'devoted husband' stuff and all. Just, I think he might add something about you being a pretty great dad too. Is all."

Ed looked speechless. Better yet, Harry clearly wasn't the only person embarrassed by his words; Ed's face turned as red as Harry's must be. Feeling a little better just because of that, he darted forward again and gave Ed another brief hug.

"Good night!" he said brightly, and then darted into the common room before Ed could recover. Hopefully neither of them would ever have to bring this moment up again.

xxxxx

It wasn't until Harry was nearly asleep that the conversation with Aragog that night really seemed to process, and he sat up in bed with a startled exclamation of "Moaning Myrtle!"

"Say what?" Draco asked, sounding like he was still mostly asleep.

"Aragog said that the girl who died fifty years ago was found in a bathroom. What if it's Moaning Myrtle? I have to tell Ed!"

"You can't tell him now!" Draco said as Harry reached for his clothes again. "Are you trying to get caught? Just wait until you see him in class again."

Harry groaned with disappointment, but had to admit Draco had a point. He curled back up in bed again, and even though his head was spinning with the new revelation, he was asleep in seconds.

In the morning, the first thing he realized was that it was the beginning of the weekend and it would be days until he'd be able to talk to Ed again. He was twitchy with annoyance the entire time, to the point where even Blaise was bothered by his inability to sit still. If there had been any way for him to get away from the common room, he would have wandered off somewhere to leave them in peace, but they weren't allowed out of the dormitories unless they were accompanied by a teacher.

They were all relieved to go back to classes when the weekend was over. Harry's fidgeting was less annoying in the morning classes while he tried to focus on the professors, and their first class after lunch was Defense Against the Dark Arts. He hovered by Ed's desk as everyone else got into their seats, smiling sheepishly as Ed gave him an annoyed look.

"What do you want this time?" he asked suspiciously.

"I just wanted to tell you something without anyone else listening," Harry said hopefully. Ed sighed and rolled his eyes, but obliged him by walking out of the room and closing the door behind them.

"If you think I'm taking you out on another adventure like the last one—"

"No, I think I've had enough of spiders," Harry said seriously. Ed moved to swat him upside the head, but slowly enough so he had plenty of time to duck it. "Aragog said that the girl who died before was found in a bathroom. I just thought, what if it was Moaning Myrtle? She haunts the girls' toilets and all."

Ed glared at him thoughtfully. "I guess it's worth checking out. I'll talk to her after class—alone."

"I know," Harry sighed. "I'll behave. I don't want to worry dad again."

Ed gave him a faint smile, ruffling his hair before ushering him back into the classroom.

Harry didn't hear anything about Ed's conversation with Myrtle after that. To much complaining from his classmates, Professor McGonagall had announced that the finals were going to be happening soon, and they were all too focused on studying for them to care much about the Chamber of Secrets any more. Since nothing else had happened since the Quidditch match had been canceled, it was easy to forget why most of them were so horribly under-prepared for the end of year tests.

At least until the day they heard Professor McGonagall's voice echoing through the corridors in place of the bell that usually signaled break: "All students to return to their House dormitories a once. All teachers return to the staffroom. Immediately, please."

Harry shared a confused look with his friends, but they were all quick to gather their belongings and make their way back to the dungeons. Nobody wanted to cross McGonagall on even the best of days, and her magnified voice had sounded stressed.

"What do you think's going on?" Daphne asked in an undertone. "Another attack?"

"After this long?" Blaise scoffed, but his voice wasn't as doubtful as he'd obviously been trying to make it sound.

They bunched together in a nervous group as they traveled the corridors, and even once they'd entered the common room they didn't move far from each other. Harry, Draco, Blaise, and Pansy squeezed themselves together on one couch, but they couldn't find much to say. The rest of the House seemed unable to keep themselves from trying to guess who had been turned into stone this time.

The whispers cut off abruptly when the common room's door opened. Harry expected Professor Snape to sweep in, scowling around the room until everyone was looking at him, but instead it was Ed. His glare was actually more impressive than anyone had been expecting to face, and when his gaze landed on Harry all of his friends flinched.

"Harry," Ed said, "come with me."

The calm in his voice was more unnerving than any of his usual yelling. Harry left his things where they were, figuring Draco or Pansy would grab them for him later, and followed him out of the room. He didn't dare say anything before Ed did, but it wasn't until they were coming up on the corridor where Mrs. Norris had been Petrified that Ed spoke again.

"Ginny Weasley's been taken into the Chamber," he said quietly. "I've been trying to get around the magic protecting the entrance into it, but the shit's been set into the stone for so long I haven't been able to get anywhere, and now I'm out of time. The only way to get in is with the right password. I think it's in Parseltongue."

Harry felt his eyes widen in surprise. "You want me to open it," he said.

"I want you to try," Ed corrected, then turned and put his hands on Harry's shoulders. The expression on his face was weird, all worry and regret and other things he never associated with the Fullmetal Alchemist, and the brusque tone he tended to speak in had disappeared. "The last thing I want to do is drag you into this, Harry. There's a basilisk in that Chamber, and I sure as hell don't want you to go up against that thing. But Parseltongue is one thing I can't fake or teach myself, and I'm going to need to bring you with me just in case. You're going to do only what I tell you to do, okay? I'm here to make sure you don't get hurt."

"Okay," Harry said. "But what if—"

"Only what I say!" Ed snapped. He took a deep breath, then gave Harry a weird smile. "Roy's gonna fucking kill me as it is. C'mon, let's say hi to Myrtle."

Moaning Myrtle looked up as they entered the bathroom together, and her whole face seemed to brighten when she looked at Ed.

"Oh, hello, Professor!" she said in an unusually cheerful tone. She floated over to them and hovered within arm's reach of Ed as he strode across the room. "Have you thought of another spell to try on the sink today?"

"Something like that," Ed said, giving her a warm smile. He steered Harry in front of the last sink in the room and pointed out a tiny snake that was etched into the copper tap. It wasn't really much more than a squiggly line.

"Open up," Harry said to it, making a face at it when his command didn't work. He hoped there wasn't a specific phrase he was supposed to say to it.

"That was English," Ed said.

Harry sighed. The one time he'd actually spoken the language of the snakes, he'd actually been facing a live snake, so maybe that's what he needed? He didn't really want to ask Ed to summon one, though. He squinted at the drawing and tried to make himself believe that the tongue was flickering in the torchlight—

"Open up," he said again, and this time he heard the hiss of Parseltongue underneath what he could have sworn was English. The tap he was staring at glowed white and spun, and Ed pulled him back as the sink sank into the floor beneath it. It exposed a pipe large enough for a grown man to fit into.

"Perfect," Ed said, ruffling his hair. Harry didn't bother to fix it. "I'll go in first. Wait a couple minutes in case I get attacked by something down there, then follow me. You ready?"

Harry forced himself not to grin. "Ready!"