They got to the castle and sat down in the Great Hall, awaiting the Sorting Hat's song for 1992. Nobody in the Muggle World was aware of that year's song, since the protagonist, Harry (and Ron) had missed the song, and the subsequent feast, owing to the delay while flying Mr. Weasley's enchanted Ford Anglia to Hogwarts, having been debarred by Dobby from entering Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.
A rip opened near the brim of the Hat, and it sang:
"Be you short or tall,
Large or small,
I am the hat
That is here to sort you all.
I am here to choose the table,
Where you will be sat,
For I am the one, the only,
Hogwarts Sorting Hat!
Smart Ravenclaw, bright and clever,
Was on the ball,
She took the quick and able,
One and all.
Cunning Slytherin, shrewd and witty, felt Muggle-borns didn't belong
His belief was potent;
He wanted those of blood only pure and strong,
Of a good magical quotient.
Bold Gryffindor, brave and stubborn was audacious,
True to his nobility and daring,
He wanted only the courageous,
To save us from our failing.
Kind Hufflepuff, caring and considerate,
Not adverse to diversity,
Was full of warmth and fun!
She took the miscellany,
She wanted each and every one!
These four great Houses stand apart.
But this should not be the case.
So put me on, look to your heart,
To see where is your place!"
They clapped along with the entire hall as the Hat finished.
The first new student went to Hufflepuff; this pleased Eddie and Lily. Then, as expected, Colin Creevey was placed in Gryffindor. Luna Lovegood was placed in Ravenclaw, and Ginny in Gryffindor. When she sat down, they noticed Ron congratulating her. Clearly, Dobby had not blocked him from the barrier. Eddie snorted, as this meant that there would be no Howler to look forward to. So, with the Sorting out of the way, they turned their attention to the feast. The food was as exquisite as ever, with several delicious meats and other foods lining the tables. And to think, Harry and Ron had to be stuck eating sandwiches!
When it was finished, and a hint of drowsiness began creeping into the eyes of every pupil and professor alike (except the very energetic Headmaster), Dumbledore got up to speak.
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!" he shouted to the school, his arms wide open as though in an embrace. The energy of that old man seemed to wake the castle up. "Before any other announcements can be made, I must welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart!"
Lockhart stood up, beamed widely at them all, and took a huge bow. The applause was mixed for him. While many of the girls swooned, the boys gave him suspicious looks. Eddie just rolled his eyes.
He looked over at Hannah nervously, and wasn't at all pleased to see that she was one of the many girls staring at the fraud of a professor with a dreamy look in her eyes. Something had changed with him over the summer, as he had hung out with the rest of the Hufflepuffs and had gotten to know them more… Was it a crush? No, it couldn't be... He just didn't like the idea of her idolizing a liar and a manipulator. Yes, that was it.
'But,' said a mischievous voice in his head, 'I don't see you thinking of Susan or Megan that way…'
'Shut up,' he snapped at it.
Eddie trotted up to bed, his head swimming.
A few days later, they had their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Eddie groaned initially at the prospect of having to take Lockhart's frivolous 'quiz'. Then, he thought he could after all entertain himself with the questions.
Lockhart waltzed into the room, his pearly white teeth sparkling in the sunlight.
"Let me introduce you to your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!" He boasted pompously. "Me!" He looked around at them all.
"Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award. But I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at him." He chuckled at his little joke.
He went on to tell the class where exactly in Break with a Banshee they could find his 'thrilling tale' about how he actually performed his 'spectacular feat', but Eddie wasn't listening. He was reaching into his bag for a new quill, as he had snapped his when Hannah giggled at Lockhart's poor excuse for humor. Now, in a fouler mood than usual, he straightened up in his chair, eyes on the witless Ravenclaw that had somehow managed to become a teacher.
The ill feelings abated, however, when Lockhart passed the quiz out, and Eddie saw the questions. He himself had trouble stifling a laugh. Lockhart looked at him.
"Something amusing, Mr. Pattinson?" he asked sharply.
"Ah, sorry, Professor," Eddie fabricated. "I just recollected your joke from page seventy three in Travels with Trolls." He had, in fact, done some reading of Lockhart's material, to amuse himself at times of leisure.
"Oh!" said Lockhart, not catching on to Eddie's sarcasm. "Yes, that was one of my favorites…" he reminisced. "You enjoyed it?" he asked him eagerly.
"Oh, yes!" Eddie said, smiling. "You're such a fantastic wizard!"
"Why thank you, you flatter me!" Lockhart replied. He really was an idiot. Eddie turned his attention to the quiz after that.
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color? Eddie remembered that it was lilac.
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition? That had something to do with ridding the world of evil and starting a... hair-care potion business? That would have to do.
How many times has Gilderoy Lockhart won Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award? Five. He had just bragged to the class, hadn't he?
With the other questions, he decided to have a little fun.
What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement till date? Hitting a grand slam home run to win the World Series.
Which is Gilderoy Lockhart's best side for photographs? Dunno, he takes too many to figure out a 'best one'.
Which product does Gilderoy Lockhart use to clean his teeth with to achieve his dazzling white smile? Colgate toothpaste.
When time was up, he passed up the quiz. Lockhart told everyone that he was sure they did a fantastic job, and that he'd look at their submissions later. He then climbed up onto the desk, triggering confusion. He had nearly everyone staring with a puzzled expression.
"Now be warned," he told them all dramatically. "It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to mankind." Eddie rolled his eyes. The pixies.
"You may find yourself facing your worst fears in this room," Lockhart continued. "Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here." Eddie snorted.
"I must ask you not to scream. It might provoke them!" He lifted off the tattered blue cover of the cage.
Lily laughed. "Cornish pixies!"
"Freshly caught Cornish pixies!" Lockhart boasted, unaware that it made not the slightest difference.
The pixies were electric blue and about eight inches in length, with pointed faces. The room reverberated with their shrill shrieks, as though there were at least a thousand parakeets confined. and voices so shrill it was like listening to a lot of budgies arguing. The moment the cover had been removed, they had started screaming and rocketing around, rattling the bars and making bizarre faces at the nearest students.
"Laugh if you will, Miss Jackson, but be careful. Devilishly tricky little blighters. Let's see what you make of them!" With that, the narcissistic fool released the pixies.
It was pandemonium. The pixies shot in every direction like rockets. Several shot straight through the window, showering the back row with broken glass. The rest proceeded to wreck the classroom more effectively than a rampaging rhino. They grabbed ink bottles and sprayed the class with them, shredded books and papers, tore pictures from the walls, lifted bags and books and threw them out of the smashed window; within minutes, half the class was sheltering under desks, occasionally peeking upwards to see if the threat had passed, and Neville Longbottom was hanging by the collar from the chandelier.
"Come on now — round them up, round them up, they're only pixies," Lockhart shouted. He rolled up his sleeves, brandished his wand, and bellowed, "Peskipiksi Pesternomi!"
It had absolutely no effect. One of the pixies seized his wand and threw it out of the window. Lockhart gulped and dived under his own desk. He narrowly avoided being squashed by Neville, who fell a second later as the chandelier gave way.
Eddie watched the amusement unfold for a little while before he remembered that they actually were supposed to put a stop to this. He jumped up onto the desk, shouted, "Immobulus!" but the spell didn't work. Perhaps he needed to put more focus into the spell. He concentrated, and shouted the incantation again. This time, it did the trick, freezing the pixies in place.
Lockhart had gone, so they just dismissed themselves, the classroom still a wreck.
And as Eddie left, he eyed Hannah anxiously, who was chatting animatedly about what a fun lesson they had just had with Susan and Megan. He then steeled himself to look anywhere but at her until they reached their dormitory.
As they were settling in for another year, Eddie was increasingly anxious, trying to figure out his feelings for Hannah. He was unable to judge whether he really loved Hannah, or if he had a mere infatuation. He hadn't ever felt like that before, in either universe. He had certainly had a few crushes here and there, but nothing like he had felt in that classroom. He pondered hard and concluded that he was confused.
Before he or the rest of the Fateful Eight knew it, it was Halloween. And they were well aware of what was upon them — the first basilisk attack. He had warned the rest of the Hufflepuffs in his year about it, and they were shell-shocked, but they knew to keep calm and act surprised when they inevitably would see a petrified Mrs. Norris and the writing on the wall.
That evening, they all took in the Halloween decorations, which were stellar and amazing as always. Hagrid had arranged pumpkins large enough for three men to sit in (or U.S President William Howard Taft, who famously needed a four-person bathtub) and Dumbledore had somehow scrounged up a septuplet of singing skeletons. Eddie saw Ron at the Gryffindor table lean over and say something to Hermione, who nodded. Perhaps they had developed a friendship even without Harry's help.
When the feast ended, they headed back to the common room, but braced themselves for a pileup of students in the hallway.
The wall bore the writing, as they expected, in blood:
"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware."
Eddie began conversing with Justin, trying to appear as shocked as anyone else. But right then, he was also desperately trying to keep the twinges of worry out of his voice.
Finally, Filch, obviously already incensed by the mass gathering, started jostling people out of his way. When he saw the scene, he was lost for words, and his face turned white. When he spoke, his voice was raspy.
"Someone's murdered my cat," He whispered, before raising his voice. "Murder! My cat has been murdered!"
He then began shouting at the crowd:
"Which one of you did it? Which one of you?"
No one spoke. Eyes popping, the caretaker looked as though he was ready to beat the answer out of everyone. Fortunately, Dumbledore arrived, accompanied by McGonagall, Snape, and Lockhart.
"Argus! Argus, I…" Dumbledore paused as his gaze caught the petrified body of Filch's cat.
"All students will immediately head to their respective dormitories, led by the school prefects," he commanded.
As they weren't discovered at the scene of the crime, the Fateful Eight followed the rest, knowing the gist of the conversation between the professors that was to follow.
Eddie just lay in bed that night with his head full of questions — not all of them about Hannah. Riddle had specifically targeted the people that Harry had argued with. Would he change his tactics? Would there be new victims? And he drifted off into an uneasy sleep, wondering...
He awoke the next morning and decided to go train alone for his upcoming Quidditch match against Ravenclaw, ignoring all the chatter about who the heir of Slytherin was. As he headed out of the common room, he tried resisting those repetitive, worrying thoughts about his friends. For the first time since setting foot in Hogwarts, he was anxious — and he was almost nauseous with all those scenarios, speculations and horrible imaginations in his mind. The confidence he had had by knowing the plot of the story seemed to be collapsing, since this was no more the same story. And the dangers were slowly creeping nearer.
Along with these, some other nasty thoughts surfaced - about Hannah Abbott. But Voldemort could never discover his feelings — could he?
He caught up with the others at lunch.
"Where've you been?" Susan asked. "We were looking for you!"
"Oh —" He glanced at Hannah for the briefest of moments. "Training. We gotta beat Ravenclaw, don't we?"
"Yep," Justin said. "When's that, the... Uh... fourteenth?"
"Yeah," Ernie answered, walking over. He sat down. "What d'you think about that Lockhart bloke?"
Eddie just shook his head simply. "I don't like him." He leaned in and whispered to the rest, "He's a fake. He used 'Obliviate' on every wizard who actually did what he wrote in his books as his feats. Come on, can you seriously believe he did all those things? I mean, look at him. The guy can barely tell his wand from a twig."
Susan considered this for a moment, and glanced at the hopelessly incompetent professor, and whispered back, "What you said does make sense when you think about it."
"It doesn't matter," Eddie told them. "That's not our biggest problem."
He then told them all about the Chamber of Secrets, and they were in awe, as he expected. Throughout his narration, however, he felt those familiar pangs of worry, and even fear. He tried his best to maintain an offhand voice.
Justin, who had just heard his fate, turned pale, as though he was already petrified.
"D-does that mean that I'm gonna — you know?"
"It doesn't, actually," Eddie reassured him. "Small changes to timelines can have big effects," he said simply.
"Oh, okay." Justin said, and looked partly mollified.
The game against Ravenclaw arrived. Slytherin had beaten the 'Harry-less' Gryffindors on their new Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones the week after Halloween, and of course, Malfoy was the Seeker. Natalie was furious and at one point had to be forcibly restrained by Tom while hearing Malfoy gloat in the Great Hall the following day.
Eddie's team looked the same as it did last year, with one minor change — Zacharias Smith was now on the Hufflepuff team, replacing Patricia Stimpson, who had graduated, as Chaser. Eddie groaned when he had received this news. He hadn't talked to Zacharias for much of his first year, and for good reason. Zacharias was a pompous, arrogant brat who was far from exemplifying Hufflepuff House's core traits - loyalty, kindness, and hard work.
Quidditch practices with him were oddly fine, though Zacharias was a bit lackadaisical in the drills. But Eddie was confident in Zacharias' ability, and so they took the pitch against Ravenclaw. The day was rather windy, but at least there would be no rogue bludger.
Hufflepuff quickly jumped out to a 30-nil lead, but then Ernie got cocky and let in three goals to tie. Eddie was watching Zacharias very closely, to make sure he wasn't yelling at anyone. And he wasn't - a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.
Eddie scored a solid three goals, but that wasn't to be the most remembered part of his day.
After the third, he was turning around — and almost in slow motion, he saw Nathan falling off his broomstick. He didn't realize what had happened at first. Then, he noticed the bludger fly past him. With one quick glance at Jake Flinton's appalled look, he put two and two together. Without any preamble, he zoomed towards Nathan's unconscious body and caught him with a struggle. Terry called a time-out, and it was granted by Madam Hooch.
When they touched down, Eddie told Madam Hooch that he would be taking Nathan to the Hospital Wing. Zacharias flew down to dispute this.
"Oi, Pattinson, you should stay! We'll have an advant—"
"Shut it, Smith, just get back to playing!" he shouted, and walked off.
Nathan being relatively heavy, the walk to the hospital wing was rather slow. And Eddie's worry only grew with each step he took; his heart was pounding against his chest, fighting against his burning muscles. Praying that Nathan wasn't hurt too severely, he brushed open the doors to the hospital wing with his foot.
When he put Nathan down on the hospital bed, Madam Pomfrey came bustling in.
"Quidditch," she said, noticing his robes. As she began her arrangements, she fell into a long-winded lecture about how, in her opinion, Quidditch should be banned. This caused a slight (and unnoticed) eye-roll from Eddie — he just didn't think banning the sport altogether would do much good. He was quiet, however, as his main concern was Nathan.
When she finished her lecture, she stood up and said simply and solemnly, "Concussion. How'd he get it, anyway?"
Eddie, who was deep in thought and worry at the moment, took a second before he heard her question. "Oh- oh, he was- hit by a Bludger."
She shook her head. "Very well. You can come back later for a visit. Let me do my job now, out!" And thus, Eddie was forced to leave.
Eddie nodded, and walked out of the wing, biting his lip.