We're back!
{Sorry about that last chapter, but have incorporated it into the actual story.}
It was hilarious when they found out!
Yeah, shut it Kile. So, Exams are over, but finals are coming, which means a tone of homework.
{And we're moving so we've been spending a bunch of time at our new house, which has no wifi yet. We will still try to update fairly frequently.}
Chapter 19
Eavesdropping
Ed woke up with sweat pouring down the sides of his face. Despite the fact that he had been asleep for hours, he did not feel any more rested. In fact, he felt even more tired. He couldn't stay here any longer. He had to move. He saw a newspaper sitting on someone's stuff. He grabbed it and left the room.
~~~~O~~~O~~~O~~~O~~~~
"Hasn't it started yet?"
"Nope. These guys really like to take their own sweet time. Then again, they have a year."
"Well, we do not. Get the information we need."
"I'm working on it, jeez, but it's going to take time."
"Well work faster."
"I know our time limit. I'll get our information."
"You better."
"If I don't then you can just get the information from the boy. It'll all work out fine."
"That is a back up plan. We should not have to use it."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah! I get it. I got. It's good."
"It better be."
~~~~O~~~O~~~O~~~O~~~~
"I suppose I get my strength from my parents. I know they'd be very proud of me if they could see me now…. Yes, sometimes at night I still cry about them, I'm not ashamed to admit it…. I know nothing will hurt me during the tournament, because they're watching over me…
"Completely unintellectual. I can make an educated guess that he never said any of that. He probably never even got a word in for that woman to write down!"
"Harry had at last found love at Hogwarts. His close friend, Colin Creevey-
"Hah! More like creepy stalker on a sugar high." Edward was laying on one of the plush armchairs in the Gryffindor common room. His legs were hooked over one of the armrests and his head was hanging off of the one opposite it. In his hands he held a copy of the Daily Prophet suspended over his face. Rita Skeeter had written her article. Ed hated it. But it was good for a laugh. Anyone who believed a word of this article was too dumb to be able to decide what their own name was.
"-says that Harry is rarely seen out of the company of one Hermione Granger, a stunningly pretty… a nice compliment but an untrue one. I mean, she knows what she looks like. There's no need to rub it in her face… Muggle-born girl who, like Harry, is one of the top students in the school.
"Oh please! Hermione is one of the top students, but Harry is one of probably in the middle if not near the bottom of that list. I wonder where this lady got her facts. No, what am I saying? She has no facts. I don't think she could write a truthful story about her own past."
"Skip ahead, blah blah blah, skip ahead… How did she write about me if she didn't even interview me? I swear all of these reporters just need some shock collars, or just a lot more Polygraphs. Do they even have Polygraphs here? Probably not. They need some though.
"Edward Elric is an ambassador who is representing his country in plans for an alliance. The name of his country is not being released to the public and the entire operation seems shady on their side. For example, why would a government send a little boy to represent them? And if they would send a boy, why would they send one so childish? Elric often acts out at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and has been know to get into frequent fights as well as have loud and disturbing tantrums. 'He has a very violent temper and no one can escape his furey,' says one of the students who has been on the receiving end of Elric's anger.
"Well, I would love to figure out who said that. I might have to just punch his lights out. Actually, she might have a point on that last thing. But only the temper. I don't actually hurt anyone. Even if I did then Mustang would just chew me out again.
"An older student has admitted to entering Elric's name into the goblet for him. 'He threatened me. He said that he would hurt me if I didn't do it for him. I had no choice but to go along with it. I could have beaten him if it came down to a fight, but he's an official envoy. I wouldn't want to cause trouble for my country, says a seventh year at Hogwarts who wishes to remain anonymous. It is no wonder that Elric is just another attention seeking child. Some ministry members have speculated if his upbringing has something to do with his 'bad-boy' attitude. They also wonder if it is just him or if his entire country is filled with people like him."
At this point Ed became fed up with the article that was now making his blood boil. They could make fun of him all they wanted, reportes back home had already done it enough, but he would not let them make fun of his country. If they were talking about Amestris then they were also talking about Al and Winry and Rose and Sheska and Gracia and Paninya and Teacher and all the other friends he and his brother had made. None of those people were anything like the people that stupid reporter had described.
Edward let out his frustration by crumpling up the paper and throwing it into the fire. He then turned head away from the fire so that is was, more or less, resting on his shoulder. He closed his eyes to be alone with his thoughts and did not move when he heard the portrait of the Fat Lady swing open.
Out of the corner of his eye, Edward saw Harry flop down onto another armchair. He had not looked his way or said anything, so Ed assumed that he was hidden in the shadows of the room. He followed Harry's gaze to the messed up badges sitting on the table. He didn't know what someone had done to them, but they were now even more negative to the added Hogwarts champion. Harry then got up and walked towards the fireplace.
Ed observed the boy reading the blasted article that had not been able to make it fully into the fireplace. Making a note in his head to aim for a higher trajectory next time, Ed was as startled as Harry to discover a man's head sticking out of the fire. Harry crouched down closer to the fire. Seeing as his attention was away from himself, Ed turned his head a bit to get a better view.
"Sirius," said Harry, addressing the fireplace, "how're you doing?" So this was Sirius. He had been wondering about it, but it had also slipped his mind.
Sirius, from what Ed could see from his position, was a head of short, clean hair of black color. "Never mind me, how are you?" asked Sirius in reply. Judging by the tone, the guy was not in a joking kind of mood. More of a let's get down to business one. Ed recognised it well enough.
"I'm-" Ed had the feeling that the boy was just going to write everything off as just a "fine" but was surprised. After a pause, Harry really started talking. If there was anything that had happened since the tournament had started, then Harry told Sirius about it as well as his feelings on the matter. Ed did admit that he felt a little bad for the kid, but then again, he also wanted to slap the guy on the back of the head and tell him to just keep walking. "... and just now Hagrid showed me what the first task is. It's dragons, Sirius. I'm a goner! I have no idea what to do or how to prepare.
This Sirius guy had to be really close to Harry if the look of concern in his eyes were anything to go by. Ed was just glad that Harry was too focused on the fire to notice the movement behind him as Edward shifted his position again. Was Ed worried about the information that had just been revealed? Well, he would figure that out later. For now he decided to just stick with the facts and do the analyzing later.
"We can deal with dragons, Harry, but right now we have something more important to talk about. I don't have long to talk. The wizards whose house I broke into could be back at any time. I need to warn you about some things."
"What?"
"You know what Death Eaters are, don't you, Harry?"
"Yes. What about them?"
"Karkaroff. He was a Death Eater."
"He - what?"
"He was caught. He was in Azkaban with me. He got released, though. I'm almost positive that that's why Dumbledore wanted an Auror on the staff this year. Someone to keep an eye on him. The one who put him in there in the first place was Moody."
"Karkaroff was released?" It seemed that Harry was struggling to take in so much surprising information at once. "Why did the Ministry release him?"
"He made a deal with them. He gave them names, a lot of names. They were able to put a lot of people in Azkaban because of him. I doubt that he'd want to show his face there. He's not very well liked. I suspect that he's been teaching students in that school of his the Dark Arts as well. So watch out for the Durmstrang champion."
"Are you saying that you think Karkaroff put my name in the goblet? But he was furious when my name was called."
"Well, we already know that he's a good actor. He did fool the Ministry after all. Be careful, Harry. It's not just Karkaroff. The Death Eaters have been getting bolder. Not to mention the attack on Moody. Yes, I know that Skeeter person wrote that it was a false alarm, but I'm not so sure. Moody was one of the best. He's overly cautious for a good reason. Someone might have been trying to stop him from getting to Hogwarts."
"But, whoever it was failed because Moody is here this year."
"Who knows? There's a lot that magic can do." There was a pause where Sirius's head retracted for a few seconds. "I have to go, Harry. Stay safe and listen to your friends, they're good people and they'll help you. One last thing, make sure that you don't die. With all the other danger in your life, that would be a horrible way to die. I'll talk to you later, Harry."
"Okay. Bye, Sirius."
Harry heard the pop that signified that Sirius was gone just as also heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He jumped up and turned around. A familiar red head stood on the stairs.
"What do you want?" asked Harry harshly.
"I was just wondering who you were talking to down here," said Ron, crossing his arms.
"Well, do you see anyone else?"
"Nope. I guess I'll just let you continue practicing for your next interview."
"Will you two just shut up already?" asked Ed fairly loudly from his chair. Both pairs of wide eyes flew to him. "You'll wake the entire dorm with your pointless fighting."
"H-how long have you been there?" asked Harry.
"Doesn't matter." He pointed to Harry. "You, you shouldn't yell at your friends like that. Don't make it so you only have one friend even after he realizes how dumb he's been just because of a stupid grudge." He then turned his gaze and finger to Ron. "And you, you've been friends with Harry for four years. I hope that you've actually gotten to know him to enough to recognize the truth and the lies when you see them. Now, I'm going to bed."
Edward walked past Ron and up the stairs, not waiting to be interviewed by Harry about how long he had been up. He hadn't actually realized how tired he was until his head hit his pillow. He fell asleep, clothes, shoes, and all.
Certifiable Genius: Haha! Yup! I did it! Believe it!
CoO: {We're glad that you like them! Ooooooh! That sounds so cool! Those are the best kinds of projects!}
Guest: Thanks!
Guest: Ha! Yes, yes, they are!
A Stranger 0.0: {You're welcome! Tough, I guess that wasn't really fast.}
Watermelon: Thanks! Umm... we don't really plan it. Just write when we can and post.
BulletWitch1985: Just a very long discussion with Ed. You don't know it yet, but there was some Homonculus time in this chapter! ;) Uh-Oh. Um. I'll just... stay away. My sisters are better with that stuff. {You're a coward, Ica.}
Guest: Humm, well there was some deaths.
