Chapter 1: Silver Crowned

London, England - 1990

Edmund stood on a bridge. It was night, apparently, and no one seemed to be around. He could tell from the tall and bright buildings that things have indeed changed over the 50 years. Or at least it seemed that all the buildings that were once ruined from the "blitz" as the newspapers called it have been rebuilt. Roads were smoothed, no more craters or broken pieces lying about, and there was peaceful calm as only the sound of the river flowing beneath the bridge could be heard. Edmund looked behind him only to discover that the entrance he had come through had disappeared. There was but a great oak tree.

"I planted that tree the day I was asked to look after you." Said a voice.

Quickly Edmund looked forward again. There was a man, seemingly ancient considering the length of his beard, wearing a long embroidered robe and a hat with a matching embroidery. He wore small semi-circular glasses, and a small and gentle smile graced his lips. Edmund pursed his own lips, unsure. "Does everyone dress as yourself nowadays?"

The old man chuckled and bowed slightly. "Albus Dumbledore, Your Majesty."

Edmund nodded stiffly.

Noticing his reaction, Dumbledore, with softened looks in his eyes, continued. "All your questions will be answered in due time, Your Majesty." He smiled once more. "But let us depart for the moment. We'll have time to discuss matters in a more comfortable setting. Now, if you'll just take my arm."

His brow raised in unsettled suspicion, Edmund, with much hesitation, took the old man's arm as was suggested. And as soon as his hand rested on the arm, the world around him began to twirl around. In seconds, he was standing in front of a gate that led to a rather large red house. He couldn't say he was feeling too well. The trip, evidently magical, had felt like everything inside him was jumbled the wrong way. Regardless of Edmund's bewilderment, the man called Dumbledore walked steadily ahead until he reached the black front door and knocked on it.

"Open up, Slughorn!"

London, Train Station, Platform 9 ¾ - 1991

The platform bustled with both young and old, incoming students, returning students, parents and other family members bidding farewell. It seemed that the only student to be on the platform alone was Edmund Pevensie, the Just King of Narnia, Duke of Lantern Waste, Count of the Western March, Knight of the Noble Order of the Table, and now a novice wizard. Despite returning to his 11 year old self, wearing a strange set of uniforms, which honestly was not too far away from the attires he had experienced back in Narnia, Edmund did not feel entirely out of place. A bit bitter, perhaps, but not strange. As he straightened his robe again, his fingers came across the outline of his wand in his inner pocket. He remembered the night he received it from the man soon to be his headmaster.

"This is a wand specially crafted from the remnants of Jadis's wand crystals. It was entrusted to me to give to you."

Dumbledore said, pulling out a white wooden stick embedded with small crystal pieces and handing it forward to Edmund, soon after they entered the house apparently owned by one named Horace Slughorn. The very man was standing near the two, not quite comfortable with the situation and simply watching the two's exchange.

Seeing the protest forming in Edmund, who could not believe that he was to wield the source of his curse, Dumbledore continued quickly yet calmly on. "The wand will help you control the White Witch's magic."

That quieted Edmund. After one last doubtful yet determined gaze up at Dumbledore, he reached for the wand. When his fingers had finally curled around it, a great white light shone out from the crystal pieces on the wand. The light shot out across the room and instantly brought its temperature down to frigidness. Edmund struggled to keep his hand on the wand and maintain control over it. He didn't know how, but he knew that it was what he must do as he could feel the magic wildly bucking in his grasp. For minutes that felt as hours, he held on to it until finally it relented and yielded its power to him, the blinding light diminishing and the crystals losing their luster, becoming dull and opaque.

As Slughorn stammered nervously with shock, Dumbledore smiled easily and nodded proudly. "Well done, Your Majesty. Now your new reign has begun."

At the reminder of what the wand was made out of, Edmund grunted and let go of his robe. 'Why isn't he coming?' He thought frustratedly. Per Dumbledore's request, or 'order' as Edmund saw it, Horace provided Edmund food, lodging, and appropriate education regarding the wizarding culture. However, Horace did not want to show face at the train station for some suspicious reason, which Dumbledore accepted, making the situation even more suspicious, and, accordingly, the headmaster suggested an alternate guide to Hogwarts for Edmund to meet at the station. He was to show up before the train leaves, but, at this rate, Edmund feared that he would have to start discovering Hogwarts all by himself.

Just then, a giant man wearing a worn brown coat, with long, untamed hair and beard, lumbered forward. As every little child near them stared, he stopped in front of Edmund and collected his short breaths. "S, sorry, I had another business going." Before Edmund could muster a response to him, the man stuck his hand out in front of Edmund's face. "Rubeus Hagrid."

Fighting the urge to scowl, Edmund slowly accepted the hand and shook it cautiously. "Edmund Pevensie."

The man now identified as Hagrid did not seem to notice the hesitance at all as he hastily proceeded to rummage through his coat pockets. "I reckon you're waiting for these." He said as he finally pulled out a seemingly heavily weighted leather pouch and a piece of golden paper. He held the pouch to Edmund first. Edmund opened it to find it filled with golden coins. "Dumbledore's told me you'll need those. And…" Hagrid then handed the paper. It was written 'LONDON to HOGWARTS for ONE WAY travel'. "You'll need that too, I believe." Hagrid finished his sentence.

Edmund offered a small, unimpressed smile. "I believe so, as well." He took the ticket and nodded. "Much thanks, Mr. Hagrid."

"Oh, please! Just Hagrid's fine, You, uh," Hagrid paused and then stooping down, whispered, "Your Majesty."

Edmund sighed. He understood the need of secrecy regarding his royal background, but if the secret was to be kept in such an uncouth manner every time, perhaps it was better that it be not kept at all. Edmund looked up at the man before him and shook his head, echoing the other man's words earlier. "Just Edmund's fine."

"Ah, sure, sure," Hagrid began, but his voice began to falter nervously, "Ed, Ed, Edm-, urm, I gotta go." Then giving what seemed to be a discreet salute, the man once more lumbered away from the site.

Watching the retreating form, Edmund shook his head again and then took a final look around the platform. Many of the students have, by this time, boarded the train, and the platform was quite devoid of its earlier excitement. Concerned with the availability of seats, Edmund somewhat hastily pocketed the pouch and the ticket and quickly stepped into one of the carriages.

Hogwarts - 1991

Hours later, the train pulled into an outdoor station, blowing its whistle as it did. The ride itself was not very eventful, at least positively, for Edmund. In the end, he had acquired a seat with a constantly scared looking boy who kept trembling and a bushy-haired girl who could not stop talking about the book about Hogwarts's history she had read. Then there was the whole occasion of the boy losing his toad. It was a tiresome company to keep, for sure.

Edmund swiftly exited his carriage as Hagrid approached, walking along the side aisle, with a lantern. Other students had begun to pour out of the train as well. "Right, then! First years! This way, please! Come on, now, don't be shy! Come on now, hurry up!" He shouted, leading them all to a vast body of water.

A number of boats could be found, and one by one, the students were placed in a boat or another. The boats then sailed themselves across the lake where up ahead a magnificent stone castle could be seen. Many younger students could not close their mouths agape with awe at the beauty of the castle. Edmund, who had seen better of it, including the one and only Cair Paravel, only focused on what was ahead of him, his ultimate goal of breaking the curse. The only way to break it, or cure him of it, was to remove the shards out of his heart. Aslan had said that such feat would be impossible to accomplish without Edmund killing himself. Nevertheless, Aslan had sent Edmund to this school of wizardry for a reason. Edmund believed it to be finding a magical way to get the shards out. After all, if there was anything on earth that could remove the shards, it would be magic, wouldn't it?

Once they all reached the castle, the first year students were led up the stairs where on the higher level stood an elderly woman stood waiting. It was Minerva, Edmund recognized, or Professor McGonagall, as she preferred to be called at school. He was introduced to her before by Dumbledore. As usual, she kept an impressive appearance of a witch, exactly as muggles would imagine. The black pointy hat and a long, forest green robe certainly worked well together to build a prudent and charismatic aura. The woman rapped her fingers on the stone railing and then when she thought all first year students had gathered went to the top of the stairs.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." She greeted. "Now, in a few moments, you will pass through these doors and join your classmates. But before you can take your seats you must be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Now, while you are here, your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you house points. Any rule breaking, and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup-"

"Trevor!" Cutting through Minerva's words, a familiar voice shouted. It was the boy from his carriage, the scared one that had lost his toad. It seemed that he had lost it once again. After grabbing the toad that had been climbing up the stairs, the boy stammered a fidgety apology and backed away. Minerva scoffed contemptuously before continuing. "The sorting ceremony will begin momentarily." She then tensely left the hall the students were gathered.

As if on cue, a boy with a mean voice spoke up. "It's true then, what they're saying on the train. Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts." Some students began to whisper among themselves, 'Harry Potter?' Edmund glanced the way of the speaker. The boy had a very pale blonde hair which he had slicked back with something quite glossy. He had a seemingly perpetual smirk on his face as he continued, pointing at his bigger and somewhat stupider looking boys. "This is Crabbe, and Goyle, and I'm Malfoy... Draco Malfoy."

Draco? Edmund thought just as someone in the crowd let out a snicker. The Malfoy boy immediately looked the way where the sound came from with eyes ablaze. "Think my name's funny, do you?" Edmund caught a glimpse of the source of the snicker. He was standing next to the boy who was supposedly Harry Potter. "No need to ask yours. Red hair, and a hand me down robe? You must be a Weasley." There was so much disdain and superiority in Malfoy's voice, Edmund was nearly astounded. He might as well have been if it weren't for the curse. The said boy then turned to the Boy Who Lived, about whom Edmund himself had heard and read enough for the past year. "We'll soon find that some wizarding families are better than others, Potter. Don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort." Malfoy extended his hand toward the other boy. "I can help you there."

Harry Potter responded as how Edmund imagined his brother Peter would have. Bravely and defiantly. "I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks."

Edmund smiled slightly at this, but soon his smile melted into a frown. There was a dull thud somewhere, something like grief, if Edmund should guess. He missed his brother and sisters so much. While staying with Horace, he searched for his siblings' whereabouts, only to discover that they had all passed away some time ago. Peter and Lucy had died from a train wreck, which supposedly took the life of his cousin Eustace as well, and Susan... Susan had committed suicide from despair when she was placed in a mental asylum. The record he could find stated that she suffered from depression as she had an extreme fear of aging. When Edmund had discovered all this, he had another collapse from an extreme heart ache. The grief had ripped through the curse as his wrath did the day Edmund woke up in the cave.

But while his mind collected such thoughts, Minerva had come back. "We're ready for you now." She said.

She led the group through two large doors, into a strikingly beautiful hall where there were four long tables with the other older students seated around, as well as floating candles above them. The roof appeared to be the sky itself as it sparkled with stars. Somewhere near him, the girl who talked too much, Hermione Granger, if he remembered correctly, whispered. "It's not real, the ceiling. It's just bewitched to look like the night sky. I read about it in Hogwarts: A History." Of course you did, thought Edmund.

The aged woman leading them then halted. "All right, will you wait along here, please?" She then busied herself by organizing the students into a line, looking at the scroll she held now and then to make sure. Afterwards, she proudly stated. "Now, before we begin, Professor Dumbledore would like to say a few words."

A familiar old man rose from the main table at the front of the hall. He began to speak with an amiable voice. "I have a few start of term notices I wish to announce. The first years please note that the dark forest is strictly forbidden to all students. Also, our caretaker, Mr. Filch," the headmaster signaled to a ragged old man with a red-eyed cat at the back of the hall, "has asked me to remind you that the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death. Thank you."

There was a sound akin to a nervous gulp behind Edmund. He himself only shook his head at the old man's antics. He knew the old man probably kept something secretive he did not desire his students to see or experience, but despite the way he had phrased the threat, Dumbledore could not hide the twinkle in his eyes. For Edmund, it only made him unnecessarily curious.

Then Minerva, now standing in front of the main table beside a small stool, holding a worn pointy hat, spoke up again. "When I call your name, you will come forth, I shall place the sorting hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses." The hat was, of course, a talking hat.

"Abbott, Hannah!" She called.

A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. After a moment's pause -

"HUFFLEPUFF!" Shouted the hat.

The table on the right cheered and clapped as the Abbott girl went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table.

And so on, the sorting went, alphabetically. Edmund watched as different boys and girls were sorted into one of the four houses. He could somehow foretell who would go to which house, although sometimes he would mess up who would go to Hufflepuff or Gryffindor.

"Granger, Hermione!" Minerva called a bit later, and the same chatty, bushy-haired girl popped out of the line. With oozing confidence she sat down and put on the hat. The sorting hat mumbled a bit before it shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" In reaction, the table on the far left erupted with cheers.

On and on the sorting went. To Edmund's surprise, the Longbottom boy, whom he thought very little in terms of bravery, was sorted into Gryffindor. The boy himself seemed to be in bewilderment by the hat's choice as he walked toward the table on the left. Draco Malfoy, on the other hand, was sorted into Slytherin even before the hat could land on his little blonde head. So fast was the sorting, faster than anyone else, that Edmund could not help but raise a brow.

Then finally called Minerva, a mysterious curve gracing her lips, "Pevensie, Edmund!"

Edmund climbed up the stage, as he saw it, and sat down as the hat landed on his head, covering his eyes.

Hmm, what do we have here now? Edmund Pevensie the Just King! I dare say, welcome to Hogwarts, Your Majesty.

Edmund said nothing.

Ah, I see. Not the most pleasant circumstances, I understand. But as I must sort you, if you could...

At that, Edmund scoffed. As disturbing as the idea of a talking hat reading through his mind, looking into his memories, was, he knew he did not have a choice. It was near hilarious that a hat cared for decorum. He would have laughed out loud if he still could.

My apologies. Then, let's see... yes, you're very intelligent, indeed. And brave, considering how you thought to fight Jadis to save your brother. You have also been very loyal. Your past mistake mended, I see. But... ah, the curse. The curse, my king, it has stopped the beating of your heart. It's now as cold as ice, unforgiving and selfish.

'I need to find a way to break the curse. Put me where I could be of some good.' Edmund thought.

Hmm, if that's the case...

"SLYTHERIN!" The hat declared.

There was a pause of silence in the hall, as Edmund's sorting had taken a lot longer than others and all who thought him to be a muggle-born wizard never guessed that he would be placed in the house of snakes. Slowly, one by one, the people from the Slytherin table began to clap, not so enthusiastically but in a struggling way as if the sorting was their embarrassment but they wished to keep their dignity by facing it with elegance of sort. Edmund caught a glance of Minerva sharing a bit troubled look with Dumbledore. He hoped they were not concerned with his character now. He wished he could assure them to not worry about it, but, in truth, he himself could not be sure whether he would fare well and last long here. Not only because of the house, but because he could feel the curse growing stronger every night.

He sat beside the Malfoy boy from earlier who gave him a doubtful glance.

Deciding to be the adult of the two, Edmund extended his hand to Malfoy as the boy had done to Harry Potter. "Edmund Pevensie."

Surprised by Edmund's sudden approach, Malfoy accidentally accepted the hand and mumbled out, "Draco, Draco Malfoy."

"Pleasure." Remarked Edmund. Turning back to watch the rest of the sorting. He could feel the stares from his new housemates, both curious and doubtful as was Malfoy. He heard whispers such as 'Pevensie? Never heard of it' or 'why did the hat take so long to sort him?' On the side, he sensed some nearly imperceptible movements and whispered argument. He could not distinguish the words clearly, but he caught the word "mudblood" in between. When he was just about to shut them up, there was a tap on his shoulder. Turning around, Edmund found Malfoy smiling quite genuinely compared to his previous smirks. Behind him, the two bigger boys, Crabbe and Goyle, glared at Edmund, clearly displeased with the conclusion of their argument.

"You're one of us now. Welcome to Slytherin, Pevensie." He said.

A/N: Per usual, disclaimer. I do not own anything besides the new plot.

I have written Hagrid's speech in a standardized way because I'm not familiar enough with his dialect to write it. I hope you understand.

Also, you'll notice that some parts of the chapter is exactly the same as the movie or the book. This is because I did copy those parts. I hope you don't mind that either. I wanted to keep my timeline steady with the movies but I also wanted to have pretty accurate details.

If you could please leave a review to discuss anything you find I can make better, that would be appreciated.