Hey guys! We're back from vacation! Congradulations to GeminiAngel236 for being the first to guess Hawaii!
I'm going to miss it...
{We may not be updating as much because school is starting in less then a week.}
Nooooooo!
{Oh stop whining. I don't like it either. In case you guys haven't noticed, all three of us hate our school.}
Just hope that we have a study hall.
Then we can write during school!
Chapter 8
Imaginative Accusations and Stolen Letters
Harry sneaked into the common room with a recently written letter in his hands. He carefully looked around the room before walking forward. He jumped and let out a not at all girl-like sound that was somewhere between a squeak and a scream when he heard a sound coming from one of the plush chairs near the fire. Carefully, Harry walked towards the chair, not entirely sure if he wanted to know who was there or not. It was Ed. The blonde was slumped in the chair, asleep. What was Ed doing sleeping in the common room instead of the dorm? Now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen Ed actually sleep in their dorm since that first night. Harry was about to continue on his trek to the owlery when his attention was drawn back to the sleeping boy.
There was something different about Ed's face. He carefully studied Edward's face. His eyes were moving beneath his eyelids. Ed was most likely having some kind of dream. His hands were clenched where they laid on the chair. Ed's mouth was pulled into a deep frown. Something was wrong. Ed never looked this... distressed. Not even during transfigurations. Something was most definitely wrong.
"Give him back! He's my brother! Take my leg. Take my arm. Take my heart, anything! You can have it! Just give my back my brother! He's all I have left..."
If Edward experienced this every night then Harry understood why he choose to sleep down here instead of in the dorm. His words were spoken softly, but there was a lot of emotion behind them. People like Ed didn't like to show too much emotion. It made them feel weak and vulnerable.
Harry wondered what Ed was dreaming about. It was obviously a nightmare, but what was it about. As far as he knew, nothing scared the short blonde with an even shorter temper. Then again, he didn't actually know much about Ed. He hadn't even known that he had a brother. But, what would have caused Ed to think that giving up something like his arm, leg, or heart would get him his brother back, and who or what had taken his brother. What did he mean when he said that his brother was all he had left? Lastly, had whatever he dreamt about actually happened, or was it simply a nightmare? He figured that he would just have to start making a list of things to ask Ed whenever the boy appeared strangely talkative. For now, he had to get to the owlery before everyone else woke up.
~~~~O~~~O~~~O~~~O~~~~
"But that's a lie, Harry!" Hermione said over breakfast. The topic made no sense to Ed whatsoever. Then again, he hadn't exactly been paying attention to the conversation before now. He had had another dream about that night again last night. When he woke up, he had a strange feeling. It was one that he hadn't had for a while.. It had felt like someone had been watching him while he slept. He was comfortable with this feeling back home. Back home, he always knew that it was Al who had watched him, but here, he didn't know anyone who would watch him while he slept. It was kind of unnerving. "You didn't imaging your scar hurting and you know it."
"He's not going back to Azkaban because of me." Harry shot back.
"What's Azkaban?" Ed interrupted without thinking.
"O-oh, um, i-it's a wizarding prison," Hermione supplied with shock. She hadn't realized that anyone had been listening to their conversation.
"So, you guys friends with a criminal?" Ed asked with an undecipherable tone. It wasn't angry, mad, scared, suspecting, disgusted, or untrusting. The trio was not sure whether to answer truthfully or not.
"Yes," Harry answered carefully and slowly while watching for a reaction.
"Hm, okay. See you guys in class." The blonde got up from his seat and barely eaten food. He turned to walk away but was stopped by Ron's question.
"Where're you going?"
"Library."
The trio exchanged glances as Ed walked calmly away. "He's been going to the library a lot," said Hermione.
"He alway says that he's doing research," stated Harry.
"Must be some research. Kind of suspicious if he won't tell us what it's about," Ron gave his input.
"You say that about almost anything anyone does." Hermione responded icily.
"Well, he could be plotting something dangerous or trying to uncover secrets to take over the ministry!"
"Ron! Edward is our friend. Will you please stop trying to blame him for things that you have no proof for? The only thing that you are proving is that you have a very active imagination!"
"Hey! It's all possible. He came from a country that we don't even know and that has a supposed 'domestic issues!' It could all be a trap to try to take over the ministry! Mabey Ed's really a spy. Think about it Hermione. What about all of the weird things about him!"
"Oh! So now we're accusing people of ridiculous things just because they're different than us?"
"Hey, guys! Stop fighting!" Harry almost shouted. "How about we just ask Ed about his research?" THe other two grumbled agreement and went back to their food while sneaking glares at each other. Sometimes Harry was sure that one day their entire friendship would be ruined by something insignificant and dumb.
~~~~O~~~O~~~O~~~O~~~~
Harry had been having a hard time trying not think about Sirius and anxiously waiting for his reply. He had too much free time without Quidditch to keep his mind off of anything that he didn't want it to be on. Finally, being fed up with his worrying, Harry decided to go to the library and talk with Ed.
He found Ed in a back corner of the library sitting a table that was almost covered by books. Ed looked angry as he flipped through the pages of the book he was reading. After a few seconds, Ed slammed the book closed and practically threw it against the wall. Harry decided to ask Ed later since he seemed to be about to blow up. He didn't want to be caught up in that.
Back in his dorm, Harry sat on his bed staring at Ed's bed and trying not to think about Sirius. His eyes were drawn to a corner of paper that was peaking out of the bag that sat next to Ed's bed. Slowly, Harry walked over to it and gently pulled it. The part that was revealed had almost girl looking writing it. He pulled it out more and looked at the words. They were strange. The letters all seemed to fit together correctly, but the order that they were in looked like gibberish.
Harry guessed that it was some kind code. He was bad with codes, so he decided that he would give it to someone who was. Harry quickly made a copy of the letter before putting the letter back and heading down to the common room. Hermione, as she was every free period, was sitting at a coffee table near the fireplace with her books and homework spread out around her. Ron was relaxing on one of the comfy chairs near her, doodling on notes that he pretended to study. Harry sat down across from Hermione.
"Where's Ed" asked Harry to make sure that the blonde didn't discover what he had found.
"Library," replied both his friends simultaneously. Harry across the table and lowered his voice.
"I found something in his bag." Ron put his paper and quill down and slid to the floor near Hermione.
"What is it?" asked the girl who carefully put her quill down and moved the homework to the side. Harry took out the letter and slid it across the table.
"I think it's a letter, but I'm not sure. I think that it's some sort of code." Hermione took the letter and studied it.
"See!" Ron said triumphantly. "I told you that he's up to something! Why would he write in a code if he wasn't?"
"There could be other reasons," Hermione defended their friend, but she didn't sound all that sure. "I'll see what I can do to crack it."
~~~~O~~~O~~~O~~~O~~~~
"I did it!" Hermione said to Harry and Ron two weeks later at breakfast. "Meet you in the place that we made that in our second year. Make sure that you use it." The two nodded before the bushy-haired girl ran off.
Later that day, after all of the classes were done, Harry and Ron removed the invisibility cloak from themselves and looked around the girls bathroom. It was dark and quiet. No one ever used this particular bathroom seeing as how there was a ghost that haunted it. The two sat down as far away from the sinks as possible to wait for Hermione. They didn't have to wait long.
She came in a few moments after them and ran over to them. "It took me awhile, but I finally cracked it!" she said as she pulled out a piece of paper and a piece of parchment. "It was written in a different language. Japanese."
"Wait!" Ron interrupted. "I've seen letter from my mom's friend who lives in Japan. It was written in weird characters, and this isn't."
"It's written in romaji, which basically means that it's the representation of japanese in Latin script." Ron decided to just stop asking questions and to let the girl continue. "When I was finally able to translate it it was written in some kind of code. Most of it didn't make sense, but I was finally able to crack it. Oh! I hope that my school work wasn't affected!"
"Hermione! What was it?" Harry got his friend back on track.
"Oh! yes. You were write Harry. It's a letter." She handed the two boys the piece of parchment on which the translated and cracked letter was written.
Dear Brother,
I seriously doubt what you said in your last letter, but I also know that you wouldn't have lied about something like this or said anything about it if you hadn't found proof. I still think that the entire thing sound like one of the stories that mom would tell us. I mean really, it would defy all laws of equivalent exchange. I've looked in the library, but I wasn't able to find any trace of it or the strange countries that you named. There wasn't a single mention of a place named England in any of the books in Central Library. I was, however, able to find it in one of dad's notes. All it said was the name London, England. The rest of the notes were torn off. I've been looking for them, but no luck so far. I'll be waiting for your next letter on what you've found there.
Oh, yeah! I found two other cats! One of them is white and black and looks like a cat version of Black Hayate! It's so cute! I named it Neko Hayate. It's so funny whenever it's near Hayate it always climbs on his back and it looks so cute because Hayate doesn't mind, so he'll just be sitting there in the Colonel's office with Neko Hayate sitting on his head! The other cat is named Red. It's really small, only a kitten, but it has a very large temper. It's temper combined with fiery red coat and it's size reminds me of you! Please don't make me get rid of them! They're all just so cute, and I couldn't just abandon them out in the cold! If you make me get rid of them then you are hartless!
-Al
Ps: Winry says, and I quote, "That automail better be in top condition when I see you again you alchemy freak!"
Pps: Stay safe!
"Well... that was weird," Harry summarized.
"What did it mean when it said that there wasn't any trace of England in any of their books?" Ron asked. There too many questions going through all three of their heads to be focused on one thing.
"I don't know. I've been going over the entire thing since I finished cracking the code. It barely makes any sense. The only logical explanation I can think of is that their country was somehow cut off from the rest of the world for some reason. McGonigal did say that his country was establishing ties with the wizarding world. What if they are establishing ties with us because they've just discovered us."
"I think that there's only one solution here," Harry said.
"What?" asked Ron.
"We're just going to have to confront him."
"I guess that is the only real way to get answers, but I think that we should try to research some of the other things that the letter talks about first. Like here," Hermione pointed to the end of the Ps. "'Alchemy freak.' That's something we can research. I know that I've see the word alchemy in a book somewhere. I'll just have to look."
"So, are we confronting Ed or not?" Ron asked to make sure that he knew the plan.
"Not yet."
"First I'll research, then we'll confront him."
"Oh! Hello there, Harry! What are you doing here? Come to see me again?" All three of them internally groaned as they heard a familiar voice.
"Um, hi, Myrtle. Actually, we were just about to leave. Sorry to disturb you."
"Oh, it's no problem, Harry! You're welcome here anytime. In fact, if you happen to die this year, I wouldn't mind sharing my stall!"
"Oh! Uh, thanks, I think. I'll, um, be sure to be careful this year. Well, see ya around." The trio practically ran out of the bathroom with too many questions in their heads to even mind the fact that Moaning Myrtle seemed to have a crush on Harry.
{Well, how'd ya like chapter 8?}
Hehe! I'm going to enjoy writing the next part. Hahahahaha!
*Ica and Ala slowly walk away from Kile*
O-okay, how about we do the reveiws now.
BulletWitch1985 (Guest)- Yeah, that part was fun to write. I love to torture charecters! {You're welcome. I guess it is a bit confusing. We're just weird.} Thanks for the drinks! {Wow. I never would have thought that I would see the day that Ica had manners!} Oh be quiet! Anyways, thanks. We've actualy always lived in the US. Never been outside the country, but we will someday!
Guest- {Yes, he probably will.} Although, that letter may 'mysteriously dissapear.' Thanks! We're glad that you like it!
Guest- {Thanks! All three of us are horrible at spelling. *In game show host voice* You are COOORECT! but someone else got it first. You can still request a charecter though.
{See ya next time!}
