A/N Thanks again for reviews and a happy new year to everyone!
The next day, Ed and Draco were up early discussing the events of the previous night in whispers.
"I got detention from McGonagall and had to listen to her go on and on about how I should know better than to sneak around at night. And she dragged me by the ear!" Draco wasn't sulking but he wasn't exactly happy either.
"It's just one detention, if you don't tell anyone, then nobody will know anyway. Besides it's not like twenty house points are a lot and we're still in first place. Compared to how many points you already earned for us it's really little you know..." Ed pointed out between a few pushups.
Draco thought a bit and then nodded slowly. "I guess you're right, what happened after McGonagall dragged me away?"
"Nothing much, the two of them waited quite a bit before they decided to move again. Actually, they waited so long I almost thought McGonagall was going to come back any moment. After they went up, I figured, nothing could go wrong and headed back."
Crabbe and Goyle started to stir, so they changed up and made their way down to the great hall. Before they reached it, they stopped in front of the hourglasses with the house points. The one that caught their eye wasn't the green one, it was the red one. The number that floated above it had dropped 150 from yesterday to today. The only thing that could have provoked this was Harry and Hermione being caught.
"Luckily, I didn't lose us that many." Draco said smirking at Ed, who merely shrugged as they went to sit down in the great hall.
Judging by the various rumors that spread throughout the next few days, Harry and Hermione as well as one other, Neville, had been caught that night, each losing fifty points. But no rumors about a dragon were heard, which calmed the two Slytherins down immensely. Draco's own loss of twenty points was shoved aside and none of the Slytherins were bothered by it, just as Ed had predicted. They were in the lead with not a lot of time for anyone to catch up to them. Studying, once more, took up all their time as exams were nearly at their door. The detention was forgotten until one morning, when an owl swooped down and released its droppings where Ed's plate was and a note for Draco on his plate. Ed was still shouting profanities at the owl, when Draco pulled him out of the great hall.
"I've got detention with the Gryffindors, ugh..." He said smacking his hand in his face, when Ed was calm enough to listen.
"Oh... When is it?"
"It's tonight at eleven o'clock with Mr. Filch." He said.
"At least you're not alone with Mr. Filch and Mrs. Norris." Ed smirked at him and Draco had to smirk back.
"You owe me one for taking the detention though."
"Yeah sure, whatever."
That night, Ed stayed up late in the common room, studying some history of magic, because he already read the material for the other subjects what seemed to him like a billion times already. Just as he read a passage for the millionth time, Draco came bursting into to the room wide-eyed and shaking. Ed dropped his book and ran over to the shivering blond.
"Hey! Get a grip! What happened?" The boy was stuttering something, but it was impossible to decipher what he was saying. "Hold your horses! Calm down! I can't understand anything you're saying!"
Draco shook from fear on all fours. Ed knelt down beside him and put his hand on the other's shoulder in a gesture of comfort. Slowly the Malfoy's body stopped shaking and they walked over to one of the couches.
"What happened?" Ed asked again.
Draco looked down at his hands and took a few breaths before replying. "We were supposed to go into the forbidden forest for detention, to look for a hurt unicorn. Potter and me eventually ended up in a group and we found the unicorn. It was dead." He paused for a while, his hands moved to his face. "There was this strange thing, it moved to the unicorn and drank its blood... The sight was so horrible, I don't know why. It made me feel so scared, then I screamed and I ran, leaving Potter behind..." His hands started rubbing his face.
Ed put his own hand to his chin and his eyebrows furrowed. "Hmm... Unicorn blood... It will save someone even if that person is on the verge of death, but there's some kind of curse thing... Could it have been Quirell?" He asked aloud, more to himself than anyone else. The now calmer boy looked up at Ed.
"It might have been. Do you think..." A short pause. "Do you think he would hurt Potter?"
"I think Voldemort would have stopped him, if he tried. But we can't be sure. We can't do anything about it either, so we'll just have to wait and see." Ed replied.
It was the logical answer, but deep down he hated waiting too. But it was true; they couldn't do anything in the moment.
So they went back to their room. Ed, who was deep in thought, pulled off his robes a little too violently and some white colored thing fell onto the floor. He didn't see it until he pulled on his Pajamas. He blinked down at it, wondering what it could be when it suddenly hit him. It was that note Quirell had passed to him! Because of all the chaos concerning the dragon, he completely forgot about it. He scooped it up and opened it, pulling out a sheet of paper, yes paper, not parchment, and a ball point-pen from his trunk.
"What's that?"
"A note Quirell left for me..." Ed answered although he didn't sound like he was paying much attention, to his surroundings.
Draco sighed and figured the blond would tell him eventually and went to bed. Ed sat up for a long while decoding it. It was a very messed-up beginner's kind of code. Those could sometimes be more difficult than ones made by professionals, because oftentimes everything was jumbled up. Double-checking one last time he turned to the decoded piece of paper and read it.
'I forgot to tell you the time when you knocked Quirell out, but a diary of mine is in a certain Lucius Malfoy's possession. A piece of my soul from my school time is trapped in there. During my school time, I had aspired to become a dark wizard and rid the world of muggle-borns. I fear Lucius might want to unleash my younger, foolish self to achieve his own goals. You have to destroy the me in the diary.' Is what the note said.
'So I have to watch out for an evil diary? Great.... At least with alchemy, weird and surprising things like this can't happen...' He took out his wand and muttered: "Evanesco."
The piece of paper vanished and Ed fell asleep.
The next day though, Harry, Hermione and Neville looked normal, albeit a little tired. Nothing more extraordinary happened before their exams. The exams themselves were a piece of cake, nothing like the state alchemist qualification exam. Practicals weren't very difficult either, they had to do various things like: charming a pineapple, brewing a potion, transfiguring a rat (Ed transfigured a small gray pebble). Still, a general state of relief washed over the school after the last exam. Ed received a note the morning before that last exam. His owl was the one that dropped it. He read it over really quickly, folded it and then placed it in a pocket. They were going to destroy the stone tonight. But the day was still long, and the weather was beautiful. The summer sun made the whole place nice and warm. Ed sat under a tree by the lake, watching the Gryffindor first year trio at another tree over the rim of his book. Draco was out there as well, taking a nap. He watched as Harry rubbed his forehead angrily and exchanged a few words with Ron and Hermione. Suddenly he jumped up walking towards Hagrid's hut with Ron and Hermione chasing after him.
"You think they figured out what happened between Hagrid and the stranger in the bar?"
"Probably..." Draco said as he opened one eye to peer at Ed.
"Ed, you don't think they found out that it's tonight, do you?"
"I don't know, it's not exactly a secret Dumbumble's going away and won't be back 'till tomorrow and they aren't that stupid... I just wonder how we should convince Harry that he's on the wrong side..."
"That can wait, right?"
"Hmm... I guess..."
Night approached all too soon and Ed sneaked up to the door in the third floor corridor, where Quirell was supposed to wait for him. As it happened, Quirell arrived there roughly the same time as he did and only acknowledged him with a small nod. Some mischievousness sparked up in Ed and he attempted to read Quirell's mind for a split second. What he found there was... Jealousy and spite? So the man was jealous that Voldemort trusted him and hated him because of it? Ed didn't know why someone would be jealous of that man's trust but, honestly, he didn't really care much.
Quirell pulled his wand out and muttered: "Alohamora."
The door opened up to the growls of the huge beast. Quirell flicked his wand again and a harp appeared. Another flick and it started playing. The huge heads blinked their mad eyes and after swaying here and there it lay its heads onto the ground and fell asleep. Quirell turned to Ed with a small smile of satisfaction on his face, as if trying to prove that he was so much more worthy of a certain someone's attention than the short golden haired boy in front of him. Ed just displayed a mock show of respect and Quirell's smile turned into a scowl. They walked towards the trap door at one of Fluffy's heads and lifted it up.
"After you." Ed said doing a fake half bow.
Quirell scowled again but jumped down the hole. Ed climbed into the hole using his legs to stem himself, so he wouldn't fall down immediately. He grabbed the plank that had covered the hole and flipped it back over the hole before letting himself fall down. When he hit the floor Quirell had just moved out of the way. He noticed the thick vines, below him. The vines moved to wrap themselves around both Quirell and Ed, and then proceed to swing them around. Quirell who hadn't noticed the plant before, dropped his wand when the plant whipped him into the air. Deciding to show off a bit Ed clapped his hands and placed them firmly on the plant. In a matter of seconds the plant turned to ash dropping both of them on the floor. Ed landed in a crouch with one hand on the floor for balance and Quirell flat on his back.
"What did you do?" Quirell demanded after getting up and picking up his wand.
Ed shrugged saying "magic", earning him glare from his defence against the dark arts teacher.
They walked through a passageway on the other side of the chamber. The next room had a high ceiling and millions of little bird things were zooming around up there. On a second glance Ed noticed they looked like keys.
Quirell strode to the other side confidently and swished his wand at the door saying "Alohamora" again. This time though the door refused to budge. "Looks like we have to get the right key. Would you mind fetching it? It should look-"
"Sure." Ed said cutting him off.
He clapped his hands together again and placed them just beside the door. The wall reformed itself and made a tunnel, which led into the next room.
"What in the world are you doing? That can't be magic! There are no spells that just let you vanish parts of walls and turn plants to ash! And you're not even using a wand!" Quirell exclaimed.
Ed just shrugged again, it's not like he himself actually believed it was magic; it was just the best and easiest thing to say. After all, you shouldn't lay down all your cards so early in the game. "It's magic, alright? Can't believe it then don't." He walked pass the furious man into his carefully constructed hallway. Just for challenging himself, he had transmuted lots of details, like skulls looking at them creepily. He admired them with a satisfied expression on his face. Quirell strode pass him again muttering something about the blond having bad taste and Ed narrowed his eyes at him muttering: "You're just old-fashioned..."
It was a shame he had to close back the hallway in the wall, it did look cool. After closing it he turned around and surveyed the room before him. A giant chessboard with towering chess pieces spread out on the floor. The faceless pieces gave off an eerie feeling.
"So we have to play chess?" Ed asked aloud, to no one in particular, but one of the black bishops, which were on their side of the board nodded.
Quirell walked forward and replaced one of the black chessmen. "I'll let you direct this game, runt."
'Well, he certainly would give anything, even his pride for his life eh?' Ed thought, he chose to ignore the comment on his height, for a while.
Ed got into position as well. The white team didn't pose much of a challenge and was quickly defeated. The defeated chessmen moved aside and bowed their heads as the king threw his crown at Quirell's feet, who jumped back, fearing the stone crown would squash him. They walked up through the next passageway, behind them the sound of chessmen realigning themselves for another game could be heard. They opened a door and behind it stood another one of those big fat ugly troll things. Ed wanted to transmute the floor into a stone fist to give the ugly thing a good whack on the head, but Quirell stretched out his arm.
"This is my specialty, I doubt a boy like you could handle this troll. Leave it to me, pipsqueak."
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING SO TINY THAT AN ANT IS A GIANT IN COMPARISON!?!?!" Ed screamed into Quirell's ear.
Ed muttered obscenities under his breath while watching Quirell avoid a hit from the troll awkwardly. He wanted to cast a spell, but the troll decided to swing his arm for another hit. Quirell had to stop his spell and move to the side quickly to avoid being hit. This exchange continued until Ed calmed down from his ranting. He ran forward knocking Quirell to the side, who then lost his balance and fell on his bottom and dropped his wand. Ed ignored him and kicked the club out of the troll's hand. The club flew in a high arch away from the troll as it stumbled back. Ed, having pushed himself off the troll's arm, landed on his feet sliding back. He quickly pulled out his wand, but a flash of red light shot past him and hit the troll square in the forehead. He turned around to see Quirell had stood up and was still panting from previously running all around the troll.
"There! You see! I beat it!" He exclaimed, breathing heavily from the work, but giving a triumphant smile nonetheless.
"Uhuh, sure." Ed said and walked past him, not acknowledging his success at all.
Quirell scowled yet again, but followed Ed towards their goal.
The next room had a table with several glass vials on it. As they stepped away from the door, purple flames shot up behind them and black ones shot up at the door they needed to cross. Quirell approached the table picking up a piece of parchment that lay on it. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed a blue flash, so he spun around to face his partner who was motioning to a hallway beside him that wasn't there before.
"You coming or what?" Ed called to the man with a turban.
He strutted past Ed without giving him another look, he wasn't very pleased. Once they reached the next room, Ed closed up his makeshift tunnel. They appeared to be in the final room. Only the original entranceway, stood behind them, the black fire that had been burning evilly dissipated slowly. The only thing that stood in this room, other than tall stone pillars, was a very familiar looking mirror. Quirell looked into the mirror.
"I don't understand... Is the stone in here?"
His hand trailed along the dusty glass of the mirror. The elegant item seemed to be mocking them. Ed stood a few steps behind Quirell. He gazed at it.
'It shows people what they want from the bottom of their hearts. This is supposedly Dumbumble's defensive mechanism, right? Could he have twisted the spell on the mirror?'
The magical fire springing up behind him and two voices broke his chain of thought.
"This must be Snape's trap, what do we do?" It was Harry.
"Look!" And that was Hermione.
'Oh crap! If Harry sees me, he's not going to have an ounce of trust left in me.'
"Go and hide behind one of those pillars and make sure he doesn't see you!" A raspy voice called out, softly enough so it could not be heard beyond the fire. "Quirell, the boy could be used to extract the stone from the mirror."
Hiding and taking orders was really not his thing, so he hesitated just a moment before obeying. From his position he could see what was happening in the front of the room, although he couldn't really be seen. Quirell was facing the mirror again, when Harry stormed in through the black fire. Momentarily, he stopped in shock.
"You!?" The teen gasped.
"Yes, me. I knew you were coming." Quirell stated calmly, turning around.
"But, I thought Snape-"
"Ahh, yes, Severus... He certainly seems like the type, doesn't he?" Quirell laughed evilly at Harry.
"Next to him, no one would suspect p-p-poor st-st-stuttering Q-Quirell!"
"But Snape tried to kill me!"
"Hahahaha! No stupid boy! That was me! Your potions professor was trying to save you!"
The boy frowned. "He was trying to save me?"
"Of course, that's why he wanted to referee your next match." Quirell waved his wand at the still perplexed boy making ropes spring around him, binding his arms to his sides. Quirell himself, held one end of the rope in his hand. He pulled it so Harry stumbled closer towards him, dropping his wand on the floor in the process. "Do you know what this mirror is boy?" He asked, pausing to let the boy think. "It shows you your greatest desire. But I'm sure you know why I'm here. Look into the mirror and tell me what you see!" The last part was shouted into Harry's ear.
Harry positioned himself in front of the mirror slowly. His expression changed from surprise to excitement to fear. Ed watched as one of his hands moved to his pockets to feel it.
"What do you see, Potter!?" Quirell shouted again.
The hesitation before his answer made it sound as if he were lying. "I see myself... Shaking hands with Dumbledore... I-I've won the house cup for Gryffindor..." He trailed off, his voice was shaky and betrayed his fear.
Quirell's face contorted in rage and impatience when he shouted "Get out of the way!"
Harry started walking backwards, when a raspy voice breathed out the words: "He lies... He lies!" rather loudly.
Harry froze to his spot. "Tell me the truth Potter!!" Quirell demanded, though the voice cut him off.
"Let me speak to him... face-to-face." Quirell tried to argue, but gave in. He unwrapped his turban slowly and turned around, so his actual face was looking in Ed's direction. "Harry Potter... Do you see what I have become? This is all thanks to Dumbledore. Now, give me that stone in your pocket." He breathed out everything slowly, taking deep breaths between sentences. Harry took a few steps back. "Don't be a fool boy. Give me the stone and you shall be spared a painful death... If you don't, you'll end up like your parents... They died, frightened..."
"LIAR!!!" Harry shouted. Quirell started walking towards Harry.
"Very touching... I value bravery... Your father died first... He died courageously, trying to protect you and your mother... She in turn was trying to protect you... Hand me the stone, or else her sacrifice would have been in vain..." As Voldemort finished his statement, Ed had to face palm himself. Luckily enough, the smack was not very audible.
'What the hell... He's making it seem like he's the bad guy! Should I intervene? But... after all that Harry's heard already, that might just make things worse... Damn I gotta give that stupid idiot a dressing down...'
"NEVER!!!" Harry shouted and sprinted for the exit.
"SEIZE HIM!!" Voldemort shouted in return. Quirell managed to grab his hand, but it started burning and blistering. Quirell somehow managed to jump onto Harry, knocking him over in the process.
"Ahhh! My hands!!! Master I cannot hold him!" Quirell screamed, releasing Harry to stare at his blistered hands.
As Quirell moved to do god-knows-what, Harry had other plans. He lunged forward, grabbing Quirell's face. The man howled in agony, but Harry was clearly in a lot of pain as well.
"Harry!" Ed yelled jumping out from behind and running towards the boy. Harry's eyes opened wide, but then he fainted likely because the pain paired up with the shock of seeing Ed was too much for him. Quirell pulled away and grabbed his face, still screaming. Ed ignored Quirell for the moment and checked Harry's pulse. Confirming that the boy wouldn't die, he quickly pulled the stone out of Harry's pocket and destroyed it. Ed noticed Quirell's screaming had faded away and he turned around to see nothing but dust and the man's clothes lying on the floor. He sighed and pulled Harry over his shoulder attempting to get out of the place, but Dumbledore arrived.
"Harry!" He called.
"We need to get him to the hospital wing, sir." Ed stated calmly.
Dumbledore looked at him a bit oddly, like he didn't notice he was there until he spoke. Ed quickly remembered to put up his Occlumency shields, he was wary of the man. Dumbledore in return stared down at him. After what seemed like minutes, Dumbledore looked at Quirell's remains, but didn't say anything. After a few more moments of suspense, he finally said: "Yes, yes... You're right..." He pulled out his wand and levitated Harry. "What happened to the stone, lad?"
"It was destroyed, sir." Ed said calmly. Dumbledore looked incredulous, but again, said nothing.
They walked back out of that place in silence. Ed wanted to sigh in relief; his shields were strong enough, to hide a lot of the actual happenings.
In the next two days Ed visited Harry, as much as he could. When he met Hermione and Ron there, they never said anything to him. More like, ignored him and walked out as soon as he came. Dumbledore was there frequently as well. On the third day, Dumbledore had his head bent over Harry's face, he looked like he was about to kiss him.
"Good afternoon, Harry." He suddenly said.
Ed chose to listen from outside, he didn't feel like letting Dumbledore see him.
"Sir! The stone! It was Quirell! He's got the stone! Quick-"
"Calm yourself, dear boy. I'm afraid you're a little behind the times. Just relax, or Madam Pomfrey will have me thrown out." He interrupted Harry's rant. "Tokens from your admirers. What happened down in the dungeons between you and professor Quirell is a secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows."
"How long have I been in here?"
"Three days. Mr. Ronald Weasley and Miss Granger will be most relieved you have come round. They have been extremely worried."
"But sir, the stone-"
"Ah, I see you are not to be distracted. You friend, Mr. Elric, who was there with you told me that it was destroyed, apparently professor Quirell was destroyed along with it."
"Edward? Oh yeah he was there... Wait... The stone was destroyed? Then what about your friend, Nicholas Flamel?"
Dumbledore gave a very audible sigh. "Alas Harry, when I went to inform him of the destruction of his stone. I found him already dead. Ministry officials have been informed and from what I have heard yesterday, it seems he was murdered. But they are not sure when the evil deed was done, or by who."
"And his wife?"
"His wife shared the same fate..." Dumbledore trailed off, but this was news to Ed. He hadn't heard that the pair had died, even though he read the papers Draco received every day. "It seems you want to ask me a few questions, Harry. I shall answer your questions unless I have a very good reason not to. In which case of course I beg you'll forgive me. I shall not, of course, lie."
For a while it was quiet and then Harry asked: "Sir, why would Voldemort want to kill me?"
"Ah, I am afraid I can't answer that, Harry."
Harry paused again, as if he wanted to argue, but instead posed his next question. "Why couldn't Quirell touch me?"
"I believe it is because when your mother died, you had a spell casted upon you. It's an ancient and powerful spell. I am not sure what it does, but I believe it stops Voldemort from touching you. Therefore, Quirell, who shared his body with Voldemort, could not touch you without falling into agony."
Yet again another pause. "What about the invisibility cloak? Do you know who sent it to me?"
Pause.
"That I do not know Harry. I was wondering where it went. After your parents' death I helped move their belongings into your vault, but I did not find that particular item at your parents' home..."
"What about Snape? Quirell said Snape-"
"Professor Snape, Harry. Yes, he hated your father. But your father did something to him he could never forgive."
"What?"
"He saved his life. Perhaps that is the reason professor Snape has worked so hard this year to keep you safe, so he could go back to hating your father in peace."
Another pause, Harry seemed to be mulling over the answer trying to make sense of it. After a long while he asked his final question. "One last thing, sir. How did I get the stone out of the mirror?"
"Ah! I am glad you asked me this. It was one of my more brilliant ideas. I spelled the mirror to only give the stone to someone who was trying to keep the stone safe." There was a small hint of bitterness in his voice. "Ah, enough of this talk now. I suggest you make a start on these sweets. Ah! Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans! I was unfortunate enough to have chanced upon a vomit-flavored one in my youth. I'm afraid I haven't liked them very much since then. But I think I'll be safe with a nice toffee coloured one." A small pause. "Alas! Ear wax!"
Ed turned and walked away when he heard Hermione and Ron come round the corner to visit Harry.
"Harry!" Hermione called, although she was mindful to keep quiet. Madam Pomfrey hadn't wanted to let them in, but she finally gave in.
"We were so worried about you!" Ron said. They walked over to sit down beside his bed. "So, what really happened? The whole school's talking about it."
Harry had to smile at that, but he told them the whole story in all its glory. Until he came to the part with Ed. "And then Ed appeared-"
"Ed? I knew it! Something fishy's going on! Why in the world would he be down there? He didn't go down there with us-" Hermione was about to go on a rant when Harry noticed something.
"Wait... If I remember correctly, he came from the back of the room. Why would he be there?"
"Maybe he was working for Quirell..." Ron added.
"See, Harry! I told you there was something fishy about him-" Hermione started, Ron finished: "You can't ever trust Slytherins..."
Harry was really put out, but he had to admit, there really wasn't any reason for Ed to have been down there. "Umm... you guys... I'm really sorry about shouting at you back in the common room. I guess you're right. I just couldn't believe it..."
"It's alright, Harry. We can understand; it's not easy being betrayed." After that they moved on to some lighter conversation and laughed heartily until madam Pomfrey chased them out, saying Harry needed rest.
The end of year feast was a nice change to all the strange events that had been going on in Ed's, now probably extended, life. First landing in this strange world, next randomly meeting a supposed savior of the wizarding world, then getting adopted by his brother-look-alike and his mother-look-alike, then finding out his real father couldn't get back and was helping a supposedly evil wizard, then one night he found said wizard nearly begging him for help. And last but not least getting Draco, his probably only friend now, involved in this whole mess and helping the 'Dark Lord' destroy a stone he had, possibly, been seeking for a third of his life. The feast was, at least until now a somewhat normal feast, well as normal as feasts could get. Lots of food like every other Hogwarts feast. The halls were decorated in green and silver with Slytherin's emblem to top it all off. At this very moment Dumbledore was holding a speech about how it had been an exciting year. While doing so Ed noticed he kept glancing towards him and one or two times he felt something poking at his head. It wasn't always obvious someone was boring into your mind.
'Damn him... Can't even leave me alone during a feast. Probably thinks I'm fishy...'
After he thought those words, said damned person went to the house cup awarding. "The points stand thus: In fourth place Gryffindor with 312 points; in third Hufflepuff with 352; in second Ravenclaw with 426 and finally in first place Slytherin with 1298." The headmaster stopped his speech for a while to let the Slytherins make an amount of noise no one would think possible of the, normally, refined house.
Ed slammed his hands to his ears, trying fruitlessly to block out the offending noise.
When it quieted down ever so slightly the old coot resumed his rambling. "Yes, yes, well done Slytherin... However! Recent events must be taken into account!" Slytherins quieted down fully, making the whole hall once again silent. "Ahem." Dumbledore did a fake clear-throat-thing to get attention, which he of course didn't have, since the whole hall was silent and everyone was staring at him. "I have a few last minutes points to dish out. Let me see... Ah, yes... To Mr. Ronald Weasley-" dramatic pause. "For the best-played chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award 276 points!" Gryffindor house cheered, like mad; suddenly they were in second place.
Ed wanted to scream at the sore loser for awarding so many points for a stupid chess game. He would bet his owl he could have played better any day, anywhere. 'The stupid old coot is probably trying to make Gryffindor win.' Some Slytherins stood up in outrage and voiced his thoughts. Although the other two houses should have protested as well, they didn't. It seemed they were supporting Dumbly and Gryffindor in this one, most likely just wanting to see Slytherin's seven year record of earning the house cup broken. Eventually the cheering Gryffindors sat down again and quietly anticipated the earning of more points for their benefit.
"Ahem!" Dumbledore cleared his throat for effect again. "Second! To Miss Hermione Granger, for the cool use of knowledge in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor 276 points!" Another round of wild cheering broke out at the Gryffindor table. This one was as loud, but the voices sounded a bit hoarse.
'I suppose it's alright to award points for logic, but this is going a little overboard, doesn't anyone agree with me? Unless that weird old codger is implying that usually wizards should have no sense of logic.' Ed scowled at Dumbledore. 'Oh look! He's gazing at me...' No sooner had that been thought and barriers had been established, he felt a light poking again. Damn... was the man trying to catch him off guard? Looks like second year isn't going to be so fun...
Dumbledore must have noticed that he had waited long enough as the cheering from Gryffindor table subsided again. They were now at 864 points. "Third! To Mr. Harry Potter!" The room went quieter if possible and Ed felt another, slightly stronger prodding at his mind. The man was staring at him again, but then continued on. "For pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house 351 points!" Another set of screams erupted from Gryffindor's table, but this time it sounded almost a little pathetic, nearly everyone was tired of screaming or had a hoarse voice by now. They still hadn't won though, so after a noticeably shorter round of screams, all eyes wandered back to the headmaster, who unbeknownst to them was still trying to poke in Ed's head.
When he felt it stop he found it safe to think: 'Luckily I started practicing when I did.' It ticked him off that the headmaster would look at the minds of unsuspecting students.
"There are all kinds of bravery!" insert dramatic pause. "It takes a lot of courage to stand up to ones enemies, but also a great deal to stand up to ones friends! Therefore, I award Mr. Neville Longbottom 81 points for Gryffindor!" Some more cheers broke out, but it only lasted like 5 seconds.
Ed blinked a few times. A small grin broke out on his face. He decided he was up to trying something out, he just hoped it would go well. Looking back up to the headmaster, as everyone else did, he entered his mind, cautiously. He figured the coot would be too distracted to notice him. 'Hahaha! Take that Slytherin! My house wins again! Wait... Why aren't they cheering like they're supposed to? Hmm... 312 plus 276, plus 276, plus 351, plus 81... Oh... NO! Damn! I'm 3 points short of a win! Damnit! If it weren't for that boy distracting-' Ed decided now was the last chance he got to exit the man's mind inconspicuously and did just so. Only a little of his distress showed as Slytherin house began roaring again.
However, the headmaster didn't like to lose. So, he decided to try and win in at least one aspect. "Alas!" He said with a surprisingly fake sounding sadness "Slytherin House still wins! One particular individual however, should be noted for this spectacular win and the newest record for the most points earned in a year by a single house. Mr. Edward Elric, would you please come to the front to collect the cup for your house?"
Slytherins cheered, Ed gulped, close-up it would be even more difficult to block out the man. The first time had been bad enough, truthfully, Dumbledore had given up what seemed like just before the point at which Ed wouldn't have been able to take it anymore. He hoped the impatience of the crowd would work to his benefit. Ed got up and walked along the Slytherin table, where many patted his back, to the front of the room. He stopped just in front of the headmaster. Dumbledore was staring at him, and he tried not to flinch or lose his focus.
"For earning 826 of Slytherins 1298 points, I am passing this cup to you." He stated still not looking away from Ed's eyes. The man paused, and Ed felt like swearing, but didn't since it would please the man to no end, because then he could take 10 points off Slytherin and give the damnable cup to Gryffindor.
"Headmaster..." Sneered a voice, both Ed and Dumbledore looked to see who it was. It was Snape. The potions master waved his hand toward the hall, to indicate that everyone was getting impatient.
So Dumbledore handed the cup to Ed ever so slowly, of course he returned to staring at him. Ed reached out for the cup, nearly snatching it out of the old hands, and although he found it ridiculous, lifted the thing into the air and spun around. Grinning at his housemates, but for very different reasons than they assumed.
'Yes! Thwarted him once more!'
In the last few days before they would be returning home, quite a few people (Slytherins) came up to Ed and either patted him on the back for his good work, or asked him if he'd noticed Dumbledore might be a pedophile and asked him to be careful. Exam notes came out as well, Ed turned out to be the best followed closely by Draco, who studied together with him nearly all the time. Hermione, who placed third in their year, narrowed her eyes at him every time she saw him; it seems she was indeed jealous.
Too soon, they were suddenly back in King's Cross station, where some people told him to watch out for a pedophile during his summer break. He wanted to say bye to Harry, but the boy quickly turned and walked away. So in the end he might still have completely lost Harry's trust. Oh well, you couldn't have everything in life. Both Trisha and Alphonse were there and smiled as he walked towards them. They talked with him about various events while walking to a small alleyway and apparating him back to their home.