Beta: FlyingLovegood123


It might have been just his imagination, but Edward had a feeling that Snape had made it his mission in life to follow him around. Many times when he was walking along the castle corridor, he felt chill going up his spine which he was about one-hundred percent sure resulted from Snape's gaze boring into his back. He sensed that Snape was trying to be extra sneaky about it but since his internal magic detector had alerted him to the Potion master's presence, it was a futile effort. Edward had no idea what his deal was, but the older man was starting to creep him out. He recalled that the stalking had started around the time he had that fainting spell. Snape used to keep a close eye on him during lessons before that, but this had gotten to the point of ridiculous. He had been feeling a bit disturbed since he woke up in the Hospital wing too, as if he had forgotten something very important.


The newly-banned corridor had become as much a mystery as the one announced at the start of the year. There was a wall and a locked wooden door-conjured by a teacher-stood firmly with the sole purpose of blocking the rest of the corridor from the rest of the castle. Some teachers were seen to go through the door, but the students weren't allowed. Many rumors were flying around, speculating as to what could have happened there that resulted in the instant rounding-off, each wilder than the last. Edward was sure he had heard at least three stories about flesh-eating zombies roaming around. Still, the excitement wore off after a few days, and the corridor simply fell to the just-stay-away category along with its fellow on the third floor and the Forbidden Forest.

Edward went into the Great Hall for breakfast to see a slightly peeved Ron who looked like he was giving Harry advices on throwing punches. He slid into his usual seat besides the two and tried to make some sense of their conversation.

"…and then just punch him in the face." Ron stopped in the middle of his animated rant to turn and give Edward a greeting same time as Harry said, "Good morning."

"Morning," Edward returned as he took a sip of orange juice "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, it's Malfoy." Ron's face scrunched up when he said the name as if he'd just smelled something nasty "He just challenged Harry to a duel."

"A duel?" Edward repeated, the term not recognizable to him.

"A wizard's duel," Ron explained "One where two people use their wands to shoot spell at each other. But we haven't exactly learned any real spell yet, so it won't be like a real duel."

"I know!" Ron suddenly stood up "Edward can help us!"

"What have I got to do with this?" Edward questioned.

"Well, you can float stuff without your wand, so maybe you can make Malfoy drop his wand or something." Ron explained.

"But that's cheating!" Harry protested.

"It's Malfoy; I bet he'll cheat to. But whatever. Edward, will you go with us? It's at the Trophy room at midnight."

"So it's past curfew?" Edward inquired.

"Yeah, but we have to go! It's a matter of pride." Ron exclaimed enthusiastically.

Looking at Harry and Ron' expectant faces, Edward really had no choice but nod.


And that was how he ended up at Hufflepuff's common room that night, watching as the clock hit half past eleven before quietly making his way out into the empty corridor. Slowly walking to the destination, he couldn't help but feel as if sneaking around in the dark was his kind of thing, which made him wonder what he used to do before he lost his memory. The castle was a stark contrast to what it was in the morning-bright and packed with people. At night the building was eerily quiet and had just a tad of creepy quality to it, enhanced by the lack of light. Alone he moved silently until he reached the Trophy room. The door was unlocked. As he pushed it open, he heard a series of startled gasps from inside.

"Edward!" Ron greeted him, and quickly pulled him into the room. Glittering cups, shields and trophies were lined up on the shelves, reflecting light. The moments he entered, three heads turned towards him-two of which he didn't expected.

"Neville," Edward breathed. There was another one, a girl with bushy brown hair that he remembered as a Gryffindor but couldn't recall her name. He turned to Harry.

"What are they doing here?" asked Edward.

"Hermione followed us." Harry's voice held a tad of annoyance. So, her name was Hermione "And Neville was locked outside. We had to let them come along."

And with that, they settled down and waited . . . And waited, and waited . . .

"He's late. Maybe he's too scared to come." Ron said to them, eyeing the shadows. Just as Edward was about to suggest that they leave, a voice floated in, one that unfortunately all four of them recognized.

"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner." said Filch to his unseen-abomination-of-a-cat Mrs. Norris. The current occupants of the Trophy room held their breath in terror and Edward's heart skipped several beats.

"This way," Harry hissed, frantically signaled for them to follow him as they try to creep silently as far away from the voice as they could. They were going along a gallery and had almost managed to escape the trophy room unheard when luck decided that it wasn't on their side. Neville, in his nervous haste to escape, tripped over the foot of an armor and brought the bunch of metal down with him to the floor.

The total silence of the hour magnified the clanging that followed about ten times, complete with echo.

"RUN!" Harry yelled. They didn't really need to be told, as they all had broken into a sprint.

"Malfoy . . . tricked you." Hermione said between gasps, "He must have . . . told Filch . . . that we would be here."

"Thank you captain obvious," Ron grounded out, "now just shut up and run!"

They didn't notice where they were running to, only that they had to get away as quick as possible. They had almost lost Filch and his damned cat when Lady Luck told them again that this was just not their day. Peeves the poltergeist zoomed out from a classroom on the corridor they had been running on. He took one look at them and grinned in glee. They watched in horror as Peeves sucked in a dramatically large breath and bellowed.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED! STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"

Snapped out of their state of suspension, the four sprinted past the poltergeist and ran for their lives. They didn't make it very far, however, before they slammed into a dead-end. There was a door-and it was locked.

"This is it." Ron groaned as he pulled futilely at the door "We are done for."

Hermione raised her wand and pushed him out of the way.

"Stand aside," she snapped, "Alohomora."

The door clicked and the four of them filed inside and shut the door behind them. Edward sank to the ground, trying to catch his breath.

That was when the growl registered in his mind. Slowly, he lifted his gaze, almost dreading what he would see.

He didn't hear what Harry said about Filch. He didn't notice Neville's shaking and Hermione's shout of terror. All he had eyes and ears for was the monstrous dog-whose sized filled the whole height of the corridor-with three heads, all of which staring at him, its yellowish fangs bared in a menacing manner. He watched in morbid fascination and almost in slow motion as the dog crouched and ready to pound. Then it made the leap and the world resumed normal speed again.

Harry, the one closest to the door handle fumbled with it to get the door open. It swung to reveal their exit, but the dog was already only inches away. It would definitely be able to grab someone-likely Hermione or Neville, since Hermione was closest to the beast, and Neville had fainted.

Edward honestly thought they were dead, definitely. He didn't even register what he himself was doing as his hand stretched towards the beast. He closed his eyes and waved…and the next moment, the ground shook. He didn't understand it, but somehow the dog was flung away from them, and one of its heads was knocked out as it hit the ceiling and it landed in a heap on the floor. Harry, Ron and Hermione were all staring at him, mouth gaping open. The dog was quick to recover. Its two conscious heads trained on Edward as it readied for another attack. This time, though, Edward kept his eyes open as he directed his magic to blast the dog off his feet. He winced at the loud cracking sound that was made as the dog's heads connected with the ceiling again and the beast crumbled. It did not get up.

Heart pounding in his chest, Edward stared at his frozen companions who looked back at him with mixed expression of awe and horror. Harry was the first to recover. Wrapping his arm around Neville's waist, he hoisted the still unconscious boy onto his feet.

"Let's get out of here."

No one argued.