Cerulean
Silver vs. Amber Gold
by hikaranko
Summary: Ed has been put on his stupidest assignment yet: babysitting. Well, that's not what everyone else would call it, but to Edward Elric, it's exactly like babysitting. But over the months, Ed's learned a lot of new things, one of them being "never stick your nose in where it's not wanted." And now it's too late to back out. Something must be done, before the situation gets any worse... FMA/HP crossover. kinda sorta may possibly be slightly AU with HBP and with FMA. rated T for language.
Disclaimer: For reasons beyond my control (and greatly to my own disappointment), I do not own the Fullmetal Alchemist or Harry Potter series. FMA belongs to the great and mighty Hiromu Arakawa, and HP belongs to the equally great and mighty J.K. Rowling. The idea of this story belongs to the not quite as great and mighty me. The story is my baby. MJade-1 is its only godparent :D
Author's Note: I keep forgetting how many people really read this story. XD Anyways, my apologies, one and all, for the late update! I meant to put it up on the 19th ('cause it was CSAG!Ed's birthday XD), but - as I told you all last time - the universe has been conspiring against me lately. There were some trivial, unimportant delays and then loads of other, more complicated reasons why life hasn't been easy... One of which is the terror of school, which has started up and has been horribly evil to me. But since I finally managed to plow through some of my writer's block, I decided it was high time I reward all my lovely, loyal readers for their patience.
and now, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! i present to you:
Chapter 29
Through the
Looking-Glass
Ed twirled his wand between his fingers as he thought, his gold-colored eyes looking straight through and beyond the hedgehog that was sitting in front of him on his desk. He was supposed to be transfiguring it into a harp, but he had other things on his mind. Like that damn magic wall.
He was grateful for the fact that he no longer had to wonder where Draco was disappearing to. His worries were now more focused on what he was doing behind that wall and how Ed could catch him at it. He'd camped out in the library between all of his classes, trying to find a book that would give him some useful information on magic walls or something similar, but he had yet to find anything. There were so many questions in Ed's mind that he barely even knew where to begin, so he spent a lot of class time sorting out his thoughts.
Though of course, Ed's inattentiveness didn't go unnoticed.
"Mr. Elric!"
He gave a sudden start at Professor McGonagall's commanding voice, his wand slipping out of his fingers and falling to the floor. Ed looked down at his wand on the floor before turning to face the professor. She was looming over him rather ominously, peering down at him from behind her rectangular glasses with a reproachful look on her face.
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Would you kindly focus on the task at hand? You seem to be making no effort at all."
Ed frowned. How many times had he explained this to her? "Professor, I-"
"Everyone around you has already made at least two attempts, some with more success than others-" Her eyes flickered over at a Hufflepuff boy seated behind Ed, who had a living harp that could probably strum itself squirming on his desk. "-but you have yet to even begin the assignment."
His frown deepened. She wasn't going to listen. "Right. Sorry 'bout that."
He bent down to pick his wand up from the floor and then looked at the hedgehog in front of him. His frown deepened still. There was no way he could turn this innocent animal into a harp. It just wouldn't sit well on his conscience, no matter what everyone else said. Ed glanced back up at McGonagall. She hadn't moved. She was still hovering over him expectantly. He then heaved a deep sigh, knowing perfectly well that she wouldn't leave him alone until he did something to the hedgehog, and raised his wand.
Several people nearby turned their heads to watch. It would be the first time they saw him transfigure an animal. Ed looked around at them, rolled his eyes, and then finally gave his wand a quick flick. With a bright flash of light, the entire hedgehog immediately turned blue in color.
Professor McGonagall sighed in exasperation. A few of the students sitting around Ed began to laugh, only to be silenced by one of the professor's sharp looks. She then turned back to Ed, who was looking at the blue hedgehog as though he couldn't figure out what had happened to it. He then raised his head to look at Professor McGonagall and gave her a sheepish shrug.
"Oops."
Ed could feel a smirk bubbling just beneath the surface. Now that he knew where Draco disappeared to all the time, getting into trouble with the teachers held no power over him other than to be a nuisance and he didn't care if points got deducted from Slytherin. Before the Transfiguration professor could say anything, the bell sounded, signifying the end of the class period. McGonagall let out a defeated sigh and, as everyone got to their feet and gathered their things, announced that they could go. She gave Ed another stern look but chose to remain silent, pressing her lips together in a tight line as she walked back to her desk. Draco scowled slightly as he grabbed up his things and put his wand away, apparently not very pleased to see that Ed had escaped punishment. Ed couldn't help but grin smugly to himself as they left the classroom, Draco exiting ahead of him in a huff.
He wasn't looking forward to going to lunch. For the past week, it seemed like everyone wanted to talk about the extra Apparition practices that were going to be held in Hogsmeade over the weekend. Zabini and the others seemed especially keen to go and refused to stop pestering Ed about it. They probably already had a plan to drag him there, kicking and screaming, the same way they had for most of the lessons in the Great Hall. It was a discussion that Ed would do anything to miss out on. As if he didn't have enough on his mind already.
So when they got to the Great Hall, Ed immersed himself in his meal. Every time someone turned to talk to him about something, Ed made sure his mouth was full, rendering himself unable to respond. The chewing sounds also helped drown out their voices. Ed decided that this was a wise course of action, but he still wanted very much to leave. It wouldn't be too long before the Slytherins broke through his anti-Apparition discussion shield.
Eventually, Zabini resorted to prodding Ed in his side with a spoon while Ed tried to ignore him by slurping his pumpkin juice. Just as Ed thought he was really going to lose his temper and grind his auto-mail fist into Zabini's face, the tall Slytherin lucked out. Draco abruptly rose from his seat, consequently making everyone turn their attention toward him.
"Where are you off to, Malfoy?" questioned Nott, raising an eyebrow at him suspiciously.
"Not like it's really any of your business, Nott," he snapped, narrowing his eyes at the weedy teen, "but I need to use the loo."
Crabbe and Goyle looked at one another and also rose to their feet as though they meant to follow him. But as soon as Draco noticed this, he redirected his angry glare on them.
"Alone."
Both boys looked rather dumbfounded, still standing in their seats as they watched Draco sweep away, muttering something maliciously under his breath as he did so. Ed narrowed his golden eyes at Draco's shrinking figure, raising his goblet of pumpkin juice to his lips to down what was left. He didn't like this. As far as Ed was concerned, the matter of Draco's bladder was an untrustworthy one. He'd already been fooled by this excuse twice and wasn't about to let it happen again.
Blaise suddenly let out a hearty laugh at the expense of Crabbe and Goyle. "You lot wanted to go with him to the bloody loo?! What are you, a pair of little girls?!"
Ed's pumpkin juice sprayed out of his mouth and across the table. The idiot duo each turned a deep shade of crimson. Zabini gave Ed a funny look, raising an eyebrow at him.
"What's with you?" Zabini asked him, confused.
The young blonde waved him off, trying desperately not to burst into laughter. "Nothing, i-it's nothing..."
He wiped the sides of his mouth on his sleeve, trying to hide the grin that had made its way onto his face. He was going to have to leave before Crabbe and Goyle each grew brains and figured out that Ed knew about them. Which was good. Leaving the Great Hall was good. He quickly reached across the table to grab another biscuit, biting down on his lower lip to keep himself from laughing.
"I better go," he managed to say. "I just remembered. Th-There's something I gotta take care of..."
He stuffed the biscuit into his mouth and quickly walked away, waving a brief goodbye to the other Slytherins as he made his way to the exit. Zabini called after him, possibly saying something about the Apparition practice in Hogsmeade. He thought he heard Pansy say something, too, but whatever it was, Ed didn't care. He swallowed his mouthful of biscuit, finally feeling his laughter subside, and focused his mind on his new task for the afternoon.
Ed stopped at the doorway to the Entrance Hall, looking about for signs of Draco. He could pretty much guess where the Slytherin was going, so he could probably beat him to his destination. Not to mention the fact that Al contacted him via magic mirror (which Ed always carried with him since their discovery at the magic wall) every time Draco or a sad-looking first year girl with scales in her arms appeared in front of the wall. But it was strange that neither one of the idiot duo hadn't been invited along this time. This was annoying to Ed in two different ways: one being the fact that there was now a chance Draco wasn't going to the magic wall today, which meant that Ed was going to have to follow him, and the other being that Ed's newly obtained research time had suddenly gotten cut into.
He decided he'd take the route to the magic wall, just in case the bathroom ploy was meant to throw him off Draco's trail. Sure enough, Draco seemed to be taking the same route, which lifted Ed's spirits slightly. If Draco wasgoing to the magic wall alone today, this gave Ed a chance to see how he got in and try it out himself. He couldn't help but be excited at the prospect of finally being able to catch Draco in the act and bust him big time for his evil plot.
He kept a safe distance from him as he followed, hugging the walls so that he would be able to hide quickly if the need arose. But Draco didn't seem concerned about whether or not someone saw him, so Ed never had to duck into hiding. Still, he maintained his safe distance, wondering all along why Draco had suddenly lowered his guard. It wasn't like him to do so.
When Ed reached the sixth floor, he halted in his tracks. He'd just barely caught a glimpse of Draco ducking into a bathroom. He blinked. Was he actually going to use the bathroom? Ed frowned. It was just his kind of luck that the one time he acted on the bathroom line had to be the one time it was actually true. He groaned, ruffled up his hair, and turned to leave when he realized something. They had to have passed at least half a dozen other bathrooms on their way up there. Ed spun back around slowly, narrowing his eyes.
'What's so special about this one?'
He started to walk toward the bathroom but stopped himself. He didn't know what Draco was doing in that room. For all he knew, it wasn't even an actual bathroom. Maybe it was actually a special, magical room that could transform itself and didn't even have toilets inside. Keeping this in mind, Ed stepped back and concealed himself behind one of the decorative suits of armor, checking it first to make sure it wasn't Al.
And then he waited. He couldn't do anything as long as Draco was inside that room. Ed liked to have more facts and puzzle pieces before forming any real theories. He didn't have much of anything to go with on this new occurrence. He had no real choice.
So he waited. And he slowly became increasingly annoyed as almost ten minutes went by without Draco coming back out. Ed had seated himself against the wall, his knees drawn up close to his chest and his arms folded on top of them. His hands had unconsciously curled around the fabric of his robes as he glared, irritated, at a spot on the floor a few feet away. Ed was sure now that he wasn't actually using the bathroom. There was simply no way that anyone could or would sit on the toilet and do their business for that long.
Damn, he hated waiting.
By the time he'd made up his mind to storm into the bathroom, the door to it swung open and Draco emerged, running his hands over his platinum-blonde hair and smoothing down his black robes. Ed wasn't sure if he was relieved that he finally left or disappointed that he couldn't barge in on him. He held himself back a little bit longer, waiting until Draco descended the stairwell on the far end of the corridor. Then he walked down the hall to the same bathroom, his mind racing. Was this a real bathroom? What was Draco doing inside this room? Ed stopped outside of the door, glanced about him just to be sure that Draco was really gone, and then slipped inside.
He frowned slightly as the door swung shut behind him. It really was just an ordinary bathroom. He ran a hand through his hair, groaning. All the exposure to magic was frustrating. It was making him come up with weird theories about magically changing rooms. He then cast around the room again, searching for something that might be out of place. Magic or not, Draco must have been doing something unusual here, and he was determined to find out what.
He walked down the line of sinks slowly, examining each one carefully before moving on. So far, there was nothing unusual. Each sink was just as dirty as the last, none of them really standing out in any way. The mirrors were also somewhat grimy and flu-cracked, making it a bit difficult for Ed to see his own reflection staring back at him.
When he was done inspecting the sinks, he turned around to give the stalls the same treatment. He pushed open each door and examined the interiors before moving on to the next one (he was lucky that there was no one using any of the bathrooms just then). His frown deepened thoughtfully. So far, he hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary. Maybe Draco had really just needed to use the bathroom.
He couldn't help but feel disappointed as he approached the last stall. He'd really been looking forward to finding something, though he didn't know what. Maybe he'd been hoping to find the book of poisons or some other shred of solid evidence that Draco had something to do with Ron's poisoning and Katie's curse. When he finally got to the last stall, Ed's eyes widened slightly.
There was nothing special about the stall, really. It was equally defaced as the others. But someone had plastered a sign on the door that read "Out of Order." Even more curious was the fact that it seemed to have been written by hand. Ed smirked slightly.
'Could he have made this any easier for me?'
He was about to lay his hands on the door and force it open when he stopped abruptly. This was unusually easy. Almost too easy. The possibility of a trap entered Ed's mind and he withdrew. He had to be careful about this. He pulled out his wand and kept it ready for use in case something popped out to attack him.
Ed quickly, silently cast Alohamora and gave the door a ginger push so that it swung open slowly. Inside, sitting quietly on top of the toilet, was a small, shallow stone basin with runes and symbols carved around its edge. Ed blinked, surprised by its appearance, and then carefully examined the interior of the stall with his eyes, wand drawn as he checked for visible traps. When he found none, he took a careful step inside, then another, and another until he was finally standing right in front of the basin. He glanced about him again, not moving his head one way or the other. Still nothing. Ed put his wand away. It seemed like he was safe.
He peered inside of the stone basin and was confused by what he saw. There was a strange substance floating and swirling around inside of it. Ed wasn't sure if it was a liquid or a gas, but it was certainly unlike anything he'd ever seen before. Whatever it was, it looked like light made into a liquid. Or maybe it was wind made solid. Ed wasn't sure which. The surface of it became ruffled like water beneath wind and then separated and swirled smoothly like clouds, moving constantly. Ed reached in, wanting to know what it felt like, the scientist in him needing to examine it.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you..."
Ed's head snapped right upwards to see who had spoken. He found himself face to face with a strangely transparent girl staring right through the thick lenses of her glasses at him. She had long, lank hair, her face was covered in pimples, and the lower half of her body was somewhere inside the wall. Startled, Ed gave a loud shout and jumped back, knocking into the stall door and slamming it shut. The entire stall shook with the force as he stared at the girl, his eyes wide.
"Who the hell are you?!"
The girl drifted out of the wall, swooping closer toward Ed. She gave him a contemptuous look, frowning deeply.
"Hmph! I wouldn't expect you to know me," she said in a huff. She then gave a sudden sob and floated higher up into the air as though she had taken offense to his question and meant to get farther away from him.
Ed blinked, the initial surprise beginning to wear off the longer he looked at the girl. She was a ghost, no doubt about that. An imprint of a departed soul left upon the earth. Ed was used to seeing ghosts by now, having lived in Hogwarts for almost eight months. But he had never seen this particular ghost wandering the halls before. As the shock finally ebbed away, Ed found himself left only with annoyance as he looked at this ghostly girl.
"Then care to tell me who you are, and... what you're doing in a boys' bathroom?"
The ghost whirled around to glare at Ed with another sob and sniffle. "I'm what they all call Moaning Myrtle," she told him, her voice a shrill whine. "Ugly, miserable, moping, moaning Myrtle!" She then raised her chin in the air, all traces of her indignant, offended tears suddenly gone. "As for what I'm doing here is of no concern to you."
Myrtle folded her arms across her chest and turned back around as though she now meant to ignore Ed's presence. The young alchemist rolled his eyes in annoyance as he straightened himself.
"Okay then, Moaning Myrtle," he muttered, stressing her nickname simply to irritate her. "Hang around the boys' bathroom all you want. I'll keep my mouth shut and won't bug you about it as long as you do the same for me. Equivalent exchange. Deal?"
Moaning Myrtle remained silent, but seeing as she made no movement to object, Ed took that as having an agreement with her. He then turned his attention back to the stone basin on the toilet and moved closer to it.
"I still wouldn't do that," came Myrtle's voice in a sing-song tone. She then said in a more stern voice, "Besides, that doesn't belong to you. You've no right to touch it."
Ed raised an eyebrow at it, now crouched on the floor in front of it and examining the runes carved into the sides. He thought he recognized a few of them, but the bowl was too old and defaced to make each individual one out. He frowned.
"What the hell is it?"
"Oh," Myrtle squeaked, sounding mildly amused, "never seen a Pensieve, have you?"
He turned slightly to look at the ghost, his eyebrows knitted together. "'Pensieve'?"
Moaning Myrtle had a small, mysterious smile on her face. She swooped back toward the stone basin so that her lower half was partway through the toilet and the wall.
"It belongs to the other boy, the handsome one. And those-" She gestured to the swirling substance drifting around inside the basin. "-are his memories."
Ed's eyes grew wide in wonder and surprise. He raised himself up slightly so that he could look at the silvery cloud-like wisps.
"His memories? So, what, he took them out of his head and put them into this 'Pensieve' thing?"
"If you want to look at it that way."
He quirked an eyebrow in amusement, an evil, mischievous glint in his golden eyes. "Reeeeally... Interesting..."
"But most people put their most horrible memories in," Moaning Myrtle went on, shuddering to give emphasis. "Their most painful ones..."
Ed wasn't really listening to the ghost anymore. Her voice had turned into a high pitched drone in the back of his mind. He pulled himself further off the ground so that he could stare deeper into the contents of the Pensieve, captivated.
"So... With this thing, I can see into his head. More or less, anyway..."
He extended one hand into the basin, his curious fingers aching to touch the mysterious substance, his mind determined to see the memories, wanting to know what was going on. With the Pensieve, Ed could finally know. His hand faltered slightly over the surface of the bowl, not sure how he would know what memory to look for or how to find what he wanted to know. After a moment, he pushed the doubt to one side and decided it didn't matter. He would just keep trying, again and again if he needed to. Trial and error was a valid scientific approach. Ed reached in.
"So I wouldn't touch it!" Moaning Myrtle cried, her voice very shrill.
Ed froze suddenly, his fingers hovering barely centimeters over the shimmery surface. The wispy, cloud-like substance started to swirl very fast beneath his fingers. He then turned to Myrtle, a wry grin across his face.
"Well, I wouldn't be in a boys' bathroom if I were a female ghost."
Myrtle looked horrified and offended at his comment as Ed turned back to the Pensieve. 'Besides,' he thought, almost cheerfully, 'how bad could Draco Malfoy's memories be?'
His fingers finally touched the swirling mists inside of the basin. Suddenly, there was a great tug at his arm, pulling Ed closer to the basin and consequently pitched him headfirst right into the substance inside basin. The floor beneath him gave an almighty lurch and, instead of smashing into the bottom of the basin and landing himself a broken nose as he would have expected, Ed was suddenly falling through something icy-cold and black. It felt like he was being sucked into a dark whirlpool.
Then all at once he found himself standing in the grass in a place engulfed in a thick layer of fog. He could vaguely make out the presence of large stone statues and markers jutting out of the wild, unkempt grass. But he still had no clue where he was or how he got there, only that the Pensieve had something to do with it. Ed glanced around cautiously, his hands balling into fists as he prepared himself for anything that might happen. He wouldn't be caught off guard.
It didn't take long for him to realize that no one was going to attack. If they were, they wouldn't be screaming so loudly.
Ed spun around on his heel, his eyes darting every which way to find the source of the pained howls. Within moments he pinpointed a light source nearby and moved closer, wanting to run but feeling wary of his surroundings and his situation. The fog seemed to thin as he approached and his footsteps slowed significantly when he saw what was going on.
A weedy-looking teenage boy was practically kneeling on the ground in front of a large stone monument of some kind, his face contorted in pain as he writhed and shouted and howled his complaint. A tall, pale man before him had seized him by his left arm with one hand. The other hand was driving the tip of a wand into the soft flesh between the teen's wrist and elbow. There was a hissing sound and the smell of burnt flesh as he did so.
There were other people there, standing around the figures in a large circle. They all wore huge black robes, their hoods pulled over their heads so that their faces were concealed in shadow. Everyone appeared to be watching the scene calmly, not one among them uttering a single word.
Ed was rooted to the spot, similarly to the others save for the fact that he was in the Hogwarts school robes and his eyes were wide in shock. He had no idea what was going on or why the pale figure with slits for a nose was using his wand to burn something into Theodore Nott's arm. Was it torture? Or was this some sort of cult ritual that Ed had stumbled upon by accident? If so, then why hadn't anyone shoved him away yet?
And he didn't know why, but he suddenly had a very powerful urge to try and help Nott. Ed had never particularly liked the Slytherin. In fact, he despised him. Even so, no one, not even someone as ruthless as Theodore Nott, deserved something so horrible. But Ed didn't know if he should help. Why wasn't anybody else doing anything?
At last, the tall man in the center of the circle thrust Nott's hand back at him, his skull white face impassive. The screaming finally stopped as Nott clutched his left arm to his chest almost possessively, sucking in air through his teeth at the still-burning pain.
The white fog thinned and Ed finally knew where he was: in the middle of a graveyard.
He looked around him and decided to try to ask the nearest black-robed figure what had just happened. But as he extended one hand to tap the person on the arm to catch their attention, his hand seemed to phase right through their body. Ed leapt back in alarm.
"What the hell...?"
"I must admit I'm very disappointed," said the pale man lazily, drawing Ed's attention toward him. He stepped away from Nott, a deep frown etched on his face. "I expected the son of Nott to be able to withstand the pain. Instead I'm presented with a weakling!"
"Y-Yes, I'm sorry, master... I was weak, forgive me..."
Nott then scrambled to his feet and hurried to fall into place with the rest black-robed figures. He looked up at one of them almost expectantly, but got no response. He then pulled his hood over his eyes so that he was lost among the others, gingerly rubbing his left forearm one last time. Ed watched him for a moment longer and then turned, golden eyes still wide, to look at the pale-faced man.
'This guy... Is he...?'
"Where," the man began, turning his scarlet-colored eyes slowly onto one of the figures standing near Ed, "is the son of Lucius? Bring him before me."
The cloaked figure to Ed's immediate right reached over to the one on his left, the robed arm phasing right through Ed's torso and soliciting a yelp of surprise from him. Ed quickly stepped away, not sure he could handle the idea of having people walk through him (or was he walking through them?), and resumed watching from his new spot. The figure on Ed's right gave the one to his left a slight nudge, though it was hardly necessary. As soon as the first person's hand touched the second figure's shoulder, he stepped forward, walking until he was standing exactly where Nott had just been, and then pulled back his hood.
Ed had already figured out that this one was Draco Malfoy, but he was surprised when he saw his face. This Draco's face was nothing like the pale, sickly one that Ed had grown accustomed to seeing over the past few months. He seemed to be brimming with health and vigor despite the anxious look that now glimmered in his silver eyes as he stood before the snake-like man atop the large gravesite.
And then everything came together at once in Ed's mind. Just as Myrtle said, this was a memory. This was one of Draco's memories. Which explained why Ed felt like a ghost and why nobody could sense his presence. Which meant that the tall, frighteningly pale man that everyone was looking at was...
"Ah... Young Draco Malfoy," the man said softly as he looked down at him, sounding almost pleased. He then turned his scarlet gaze to sweep over everyone that was gathered, gesturing toward Draco as though he were an exhibit on display. "Here we find the offspring of Lucius Malfoy, who failed me in his service and mission... and was locked away in Azkaban by those Ministry imbeciles."
Ed took a deep breath as he watched, his heart pounding in his ears. Until now he had only known the stories and rumors. But now he got to see him. Although it was through Draco's eyes, Ed now found himself staring right into the face of the dark wizard that so many feared. However he had pictured Voldemort to be in person, nothing could have ever prepared him for this.
'So this is Voldemort.'
A few people in the circle laughed softly. Draco drew in a sharp breath at the sudden change of tone in Voldemort's voice. The man swept around him, giving everyone a silencing look that even Ed couldn't resist shivering at as he returned to his place at the head of the large tombstone. He looked back down at Draco, regarding him, his face void of all emotion.
"However..." His icy gaze could have burned holes into Draco. "I suppose Lucius hasn't been completely useless to me in his final hours. He has, after all, provided me with the eternal service of his one and only heir in his place. His last chance at redemption into my circle..."
Another small round of laughter rippled through the circle of followers. Draco held his chin high, trying not to flinch as he looked at his father's master. Voldemort moved closer so that he was looming over Draco's head, glowering down at him through his pitiless eyes. He then bent slightly so that his snake-like face was level with Draco's.
"Let's hope you're not as pathetic as your father proved to be," he hissed softly.
Then Voldemort's arm suddenly shot forward in an instant, snatching up Draco's left forearm like a cobra and its prey and raising it higher so that the black sleeve rolled back. Ed jumped forward, breaking away from the circle of hooded onlookers. He had to do something. Draco was about to make one of the biggest mistakes he could ever make: submitting yourself wholly to the will of somebody else.
"STOP, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!! STOP!!"
But his voice went unheard by the shadows that stood before him. They were all just a part of Draco's memory. Nothing here could be changed - it was just a recording of something that had happened months ago. This happened before Ed had even entered the picture, long before he had even heard about Hogwarts and magic. Ed couldn't do anything but watch.
Voldemort reared his free arm back, long wand in hand, and stabbed the tip of it into Draco's exposed forearm in one liquid movement.
Draco winced, tightly clenching his jaw to hold in the pain. He didn't utter a single sound as Voldemort twisted his wand into his flesh, burning something onto its surface with a low, steaming hiss. For a brief moment Draco watched, but then averted his silver-eyed gaze to a spot somewhere past Voldemort's shoulder. He bit down on his lower lip so hard it seemed like it was going to bleed.
Several of the hooded figures in the circle bristled as they watched, apparently unable to believe that Draco was capable of dealing with the pain. Where Theodore Nott had been crying and screaming just moments before, Draco Malfoy was silent. Ed could hear a few of them murmuring amongst themselves, impressed and shocked by the way he endured the pain that had made nearly all of the adults cry out.
Ed twitched at the familiarity. He could hear a distant voice saying the very same thing about him. One hand moved to wrap about his auto-mail. No, enduring the pain hadn't been easy...
Black markings swirled across Draco's skin like ink, searching for the right patterns to set into with a hissing noise. Then it finally twisted into the proper form: a skull with a long snake weaving its way out of the mouth, twisting intricately within itself. Burned into Draco's flesh. A permanent, magical tattoo that was to exist as a constant reminder that his own will didn't matter anymore.
Eventually, Voldemort released him, uncurling his long, pale fingers from around Draco's wrist and withdrawing his wand. He stepped back, what appeared to be a pleased smile on his lipless face. His red eyes glimmered with satisfaction as he looked at Draco.
"Impressive, young Malfoy," he said softly. "Very impressive. It seems that I can entrust this task to you after all..."
Anxiety rippled through the circle, all of them breaking out into hushed, surprised murmurs. They were silenced again when Voldemort raised his eyes to glare at them all, fingering the handle of his wand as though he was waiting for someone to step a fraction out of line, eager to hex them... Maybe even kill them on the spot. He then looked back down at Draco, his cruel, lipless smile back in place.
"Being a student in Dumbledore's school... How do you find it? Finding yourself under the Muggle-loving old man... But, as a bonus, you are much closer to him than any of us-" He gestured vaguely around at the people in the circle. "-can possibly hope to get. He has such great protection around that old castle, a great concentration of magical barriers and charms... It's despicable to find that even I must admit it difficult to break through. I cannot find large enough holes in the defenses for my Death Eaters... We cannot get close enough to the place to look for them, either... Which is where you would come in. I need you to find us passage inside that Muggle-ridden castle-"
"Master, please!" someone cried out, taking a step forward. "Bestow this such honor on my son, surely he is more capable than Lucius' boy-"
Voldemort's red eyes flashed in rage and he flicked his wand toward the man who had interrupted him. "Crucio!"
Ed's eyes grew impossibly wide as he watched a jet of green light streak from Voldemort's wand to the man's body. He was flung back onto the ground and he laid there, writhing and screaming, his hands clutching at the damp grass and at his chest as though he were trying to tear off his skin to escape the pain. No one moved. They only turned their heads to watch, calm and cool as though the sight of this man's torture was the most normal thing in the world to them.
But it was the first time Edward had ever seen an Unforgivable Curse. His insides twisted uncomfortably and he looked away.
"You dare to oppose me, to question my decision?!" Voldemort hissed, the slits of his nose flaring. "You will do nothing unless I order it of you!"
He finally withdrew his wand and stopped the curse, leaving the man breathless and twitching on the ground. All heads turned back to look at him and Draco, who was still looking nervously at the victim of Voldemort's hex. He then quickly looked away, completely wiping the expression from his face as Voldemort continued to speak.
"Do you dare to think I've not asked this task of others before? Those more worthy and capable? Severus has been within the walls of that castle since the beginning, since my downfall, gathering information in preparation for my return. His service to me has been invaluable and yet, his act of loyalty to Dumbledore bears down on his eternal duty to me - Even now he is absent from this gathering! I tire of the longevity of this task, simple enough it may be... I grow impatient. I grow weary of waiting to hear from him, so I choose to send in another."
Here Voldemort paused to sweep his icy stare over the faces of his followers. Then he slowly turned to place it on Draco's face.
"Perhaps this youth, this vitality, this... desire to prove his worth will be enough to speed up the process. Dumbledore's eyes will not be focused on you, young Draco. The old man is much too preoccupied with his Chosen One to focus on watching your every move. He has been a great threat, a terrible thorn in my side... but he grows senile in his old age. Now is the chance to strike. You, being among his students, will be able to do this yourself... Surely you know the right course of action to take by now."
Draco's silver eyes grew fractionally wider in shock, but he said nothing.
"Should you succeed, I will make you a proper Death Eater. To receive such a reward... You will restore pride, glory, and honor to your noble family yet... But should you fail me..."
He raised his wand and gave it a quick flick. What looked like some sort of large crystal ball manifested itself between them, hovering in the air. Ed moved forward to get a better look. Inside the crystal ball amidst swirls of what seemed to be purple smoke were moving images of people, screaming audibly from a horrific, unimaginable pain. Ed recognized those people. They were the members of the Malfoy family, all of them being tortured into madness and then, as he watched longer, being killed.
"The Malfoy family will cease to be. Including your mother." Voldemort kept his cold gaze on Draco steady, watching his reaction to what he had just been seen. "Do you understand, young Malfoy heir? The fate of your family hangs in the balance. Don't think I won't hesitate to kill any of you."
The Malfoy heir's face was pale in fear as he was rendered unable to tear his eyes away from the horrible image being shown to him. Then slowly, Draco nodded his head in confirmation, his right hand moving unconsciously to grip his left forearm.
"Yes... I understand... I'll do as you ask... Master."
Voldemort smiled maliciously, waving his wand to make the crystal ball dissipate into tendrils of smoke. "Remember, then, what you must do the night you return to me, victorious in your task. When your true initiation will take place..."
And with that, more of Voldemort's so-called Death Eaters approached, dragging a young woman along behind them. Everyone turned around to welcome them into the circle, making room for them to bring forth the woman they had brought along. They thrust her to the ground near Draco and Voldemort's feet and she collapsed in a broken, beaten heap. Her fingers clutched helplessly at the blades of grass and she slowly raised her eyes, her face shining with tears.
"Please," she whispered, her voice racked with terrified sobs. "Please, no..."
Draco drew in a breath as he looked at her, trying to keep his face smooth. Voldemort pulled him aside so that he could bring himself before the woman, smirking wickedly.
"A filthy Mudblood, Draco," he said with a soft chuckle. "The night of your initiation, we will bring one before you, just like this one. No doubt you know by now what is to be done to those with filth in their veins... If not, I shall demonstrate..."
Ed felt his stomach twist into tight knots as Voldemort raised his wand, his eyes becoming wide and his nostril slits flaring in excitement. It was obvious to anyone with half a brain what he was going to do to the poor woman. She hadn't done anything to anyone. She'd committed no wrong to Voldemort... except to offend him with her mere existence.
"No," Ed whispered desperately. "No, don't... Don't..."
"No," the woman sobbed, echoing Ed's unheard voice. "No, don't... Don't... Please stop, I beg... Please..."
But what did Voldemort care for either of their pleas? He readied his wand in his hand. The woman suddenly turned her panic-stricken gaze on Draco, fresh tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Please..."
Draco's eyes became wider in his head and he took a step backward, away from the woman's extended hand, pulling himself farther out of her reach.
"Crucio!"
The graveyard was suddenly filled with the woman's pained shrieks, so loud that Ed was sure someone would come to investigate. Local policemen, maybe, or even just somebody who lived nearby... But Ed realized that it would be no use against Voldemort's lethal nature. People were nothing to him, their lives meant nothing. Against that damn magic wand and his damn Unforgivable Curses, there was no help to be found.
And Ed had a front row seat to watching the Cruciatus Curse. The first time Voldemort had done it to that Death Eater, the black robes and the hood had concealed his face. But Ed could see this woman's face and it terrified him beyond belief. Her eyes were trying to roll into the back of her head, eyelids fluttering wildly. The expression on her face was contorted into simple, purest agony as she rolled around, body twisting, back arching, legs kicking at the ground as though she were trying to get away. Or like she was about to implode. Both were entirely probable.
All Ed could do was watch, his stomach twisting and lurching sickeningly in his gut. His hands were trembling at his sides and his heart was pounding in his chest so hard and fast that the rush of blood was almost too much. He felt rather lightheaded. He thought he was going to puke.
"Stop it... Stop..."
The woman writhed, curling up into a ball and then stretching out again. The torture seemed to be going on forever. Ed looked around at the onlookers, searching and hoping that there was one sane person among them that was going to step forward and stop Voldemort. No one moved a muscle. Could nobody but Edward hear the unimaginable pain in her voice?
He couldn't do anything, and the people who could weren't going to. Ed grabbed his ears and squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't want to see this anymore. How did he make the memory stop playing once it had started? How the hell was he going to get out of this damn Pensieve thing?!
The screaming finally stopped, replaced with the sound of someone's shrill, malicious laughter. Ed shuddered at the sound of it, carefully reopening his eyes to see what was happening now. The woman was still lying on the ground, her limbs twitching involuntarily. She couldn't seem to keep her gaze straight, her eyes constantly trying to roll back up into her head as she twisted herself around to look at Voldemort and Draco. She gasped for air, only to find herself choking on it for a moment.
Voldemort seemed vaguely amused. "Shall I end her torment, young Malfoy?"
Ed finally turned to look over at Draco. The teen's face was deathly white as he looked, stricken, at the broken woman lying on the ground before him. His breath seemed to be coming in ragged gasps and his body was trembling slightly. For some reason he couldn't avert his eyes from the woman's, though it seemed obvious that he desperately wanted to.
He never answered Voldemort's question. But it didn't matter. The dark lord wasn't waiting for him to. "Avada Kedavra!"
The witch's entire body was engulfed in the green light and for the briefest of moments her entire body tensed up, rigid as a board. Then she went limp, sagging back into her uncomfortable position on the ground. Her eyes were glazed over with the shadow of death, but remained fixated on Draco's face. They still glistened with pleading tears. Draco took another step back, clenching his jaw tightly, still unable to tear his eyes away.
Voldemort laughed again, the horrible, shrill sound of it making Ed shudder in disgust. "It really is amazingly simple, Draco, to steal away another's life... Not that the life of a Mudblood amounts to much, in the grand scheme of things. Really, using the Killing Curse on them actually does them a favor, it does the world a favor... We are purging the world of its filth."
Draco remained silent and frozen, still transfixed by the death in the woman's face. Ed couldn't look at the dead woman any longer. He was glaring at Voldemort, his jaw clenched and his hands balled into tight fists, growing more and more furious. He wanted nothing more than to punch this Voldemort bastard right in the nose. But in this memory Ed could throw as many punches as he wanted; not a single one of them would hit and would only serve to fuel Ed's frustration.
He had to get out of the Pensieve. This wasn't helping him any. He couldn't do anything here, and Ed hated feeling useless.
"However," Voldemort continued, "should you succeed in your task, I'll have to reward you with the life of a special Mudblood... You'll practically be bringing me the heads of all my enemies at once, after all, won't you? Of course, Harry will be executed in a special manner, I'll be taking care of him myself. But to deliver several emotional blows to him would make it all so much sweeter... By the end of it he'll be begging me to kill him. Ah... Music to my ears..."
The bastard laughed again and it was echoed by his Death Eaters. Draco and Ed were the only ones who looked less than pleased. Voldemort took no notice as he laid one pale, long-fingered hand on Draco's shoulder, looking down at him with a wicked glint in his eyes.
"Perhaps the deaths of those dear friends of his... That blood traitor... and, of course, the Mudblood... What was her name? Ah, yes, Hermione Granger... Yes, she would make a fine initiation killing for you, young Malfoy."
And immediately both boys were shocked. Draco's eyes grew still wider and he was finally able to look away from the face of the dead woman at his feet in favor of looking up at his new master. Ed's rage was suddenly swept away, replaced instead by an intense fear. He wasn't sure who he was more scared for, however: Hermione, whose life was hanging delicately in the balance, or Draco, who would lose everything he held dear no matter what he chose to do.
"Make her beg for her life," Voldemort told Draco softly, smiling. "Her sanity will be long gone before we're through with her... No doubt Harry will soon follow..."
The snake-faced wizard continued to speak of his plot to use Harry's friends as a way to get to him, to emotionally torture him into the black abyss of madness. But Ed refused to listen, clapping his hands over his head and wishing desperately to escape Draco's memory. He was frightened and confused and angry and there was no worse mix of emotions to have at one time in Ed's opinion.
Thankfully, some higher power seemed to have read his mind. Everything was suddenly covered in a dense white fog. All of the black-robed figures before him, including Draco, Voldemort, and the dead Muggle-born witch, turned to smoke and diminished. Ed was left in a world of swirling white and gray clouds. And soon enough, the floor seemed to jolt under his feet and he found himself tossed up into the air. He gave out a yell of shock when he never felt gravity pull him back down to the earth and continued to soar through the air.
Then he was back in the boys' bathroom, facing the door of a defaced bathroom stall. Needless to say, Ed was shocked and disoriented by the sudden change of setting. For a moment he couldn't bring himself to do anything but stand there, his chest heaving and beads of cold sweat rolling down the side of his face.
"Told you, didn't I?"
A girl's voice. At first, he didn't realize that somebody was addressing him and remained quite still, uncertain as to what he should do now. The girl continued.
"No one really likes what they see in other people's minds."
And his bearings came back to him in a wild rush. Ed took a deep breath and slowly turned around to face Moaning Myrtle, who was hovering a few inches over the toilet in a sitting position and shaking her head at him. He just looked at her for a moment, his eyes wide. Free from the pained screaming and the horrifically calm, cool voice of Voldemort, Ed's mind briefly dredged up his own dark, secretive past.
"Yeah," he murmured softly, dropping his gaze as he wiped some of the sweat from his face. "Yeah, I guess I... I should've known..."
Myrtle gave Ed an indignant glare. "Well, you did know! I guess it would be too much to expect someone like you would listen to me!"
He didn't notice. His gaze had become locked on the Pensieve where it still sat as though nothing had happened, looking completely innocent, betraying the horrors that Ed now knew were concealed inside it. He backed away slowly, opening the stall door so he could get away from it. He shut the door behind him and locked it, just about to turn and exit the bathroom. But he stopped there, overwhelmed by his newly gained knowledge. With a small, tired sigh, Ed pressed his forehead to the stall door and lay still for a moment, trying to rationally sort things out.
It was difficult. An innocent woman had been tortured and killed on the spot, and not a single soul had moved to help her... Ed couldn't stop the swell of emotions that welled up within him as he thought back on it all. Rationality was impossible to achieve.
Worst of all, Ed felt like he could understand how Draco felt. A vague memory that Ed usually considered unimportant began to play like a movie reel in his mind's eye. A folder and silver pocket watch were being handed to him from across a desk. Large golden eyes rose to meet with charcoal black, and a voice that Ed had learned to loathe began to speak...
"Congratulations. You are now officially a dog of the military."
The Fullmetal Alchemist.
'A fucking dog of the military.' Ed banged his head on the door, making all of the stalls rattle. 'And now Malfoy's the same... Just like me...'
"Tsk tsk," scorned Moaning Myrtle, her face emerging from the stall door to peer into Ed's face. "Serves you right."
Ed's blank gaze shifted slightly so that it focused on Myrtle. He frowned deeply at her. He then pulled himself back up and started to walk away, stuffing his hands into his pockets. She didn't know the half of it.
"Oh, and one more thing before you go."
"What?" he barked, spinning back around as his mood swung into mild irritation.
Myrtle smiled slightly and glided through the air toward Ed, only to withdraw again with a slight giggle. "The boy that was in here before, the one with blonde hair and silver eyes... If you see him, let him know he can have a bath in here anytime he wants."
Author's Note: Moaning Myrtle is weird. But I shall tolerate her for now, because she's not making any weird moves on Ed. :P
anyways, I had absolutely no idea what students do in NEWT level Transfiguration, so I just made something up. it seems to me like Transfiguring hedgehogs into harps might be a younger year thing, but I couldn't quite remember and I was tired, so I just... left it. besides, I like Sonic the Hedgehog.
oh, something to note: Voldemort. that guy is crazy. I want to make it clear that this flashback means that Draco is not yet a Death Eater. He's an unofficial one, I guess we could say. Which means he's well on his way, teetering on the brink of conversion, but he has yet to fall in. um... yeah.
so I hope people liked this chapter all the same. With any luck, the next update should only take about 2 weeks, hopefully less, as opposed to the 3-4 week waits that you have all had to endure lately. Apologies again, thanks very much for the patience. Please leave a review on your way out! Reviews make my heart flutter with joy. Food for the writer's soul. Tasty or bitter, we eat them all :P
