Trolls and Confrontations
After Edward's stay in the hospital wing, many were wary of him. The entire school knew that he had destroyed the transfiguration classroom, but none knew how he did it. Hermione had now been spending time with the five Slytherins, much to the chagrin of Weasley, who insulted them at every opportunity. Luckily for the group, Edward was always around and managed to counter every comment which was thrown at them. However, he could not stop the attack that came from their own side.
It came about a week away from Halloween. They had just come back from their final lesson of the day, when a spell whizzed past them. They turned to see Millicent Bulstrode aiming her wand at Edward. "What do you want Ms Bulstrode?" Edward asked politely, despite just having a spell sent towards him.
"You out of Slytherin mudblood." She said, not moving her wand.
"That is new, a Slytherin siding with Dumbledore."
"What?" Bulstrode said, confused with the statement.
"Dumbledore wants me out too, says I'm making Slytherin look good." Edward said, and the others looked at him as if he was mad.
"Wait but if Dumbledore wants ..." As Bulstrode was saying this, she had lowered her wand, and Edward had quickly fired off his own spell, sending her to the floor. The other Slytherins didn't even see him draw his wand. He walked towards her, eyes dark. She tried to reach for her wand, but her hand was stepped on by Edward. She looked up, and she became more scared than she had ever been in her life.
"Do not mess with me Bulstrode. Tell Nott and all your little bigot friends to meet me in the common room tonight. No wands." He stood up, and walked off. As they went around the corner, Pansy whirled on him.
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to show them that I am not a mudblood. I will do everything I can to stop myself being moved from Slytherin, and if that includes losing my secret, then so be it."
"Edward, think about this for a moment. If you reveal yourself, Dumbledore will want to gain control of you quicker. We just needs something to prove you are a pureblood, but not reveal which family you belong to." Daphne said.
"Can't we just ask Gringotts for proof he took a test." Draco said, entering the common room.
"Gringotts doesn't release that information." Daphne said, sitting down in what was now their corner.
"Don't worry about it, I just reacted. It won't happen again, hopefully." Edward said, looking into the fireplace.
"Oi mudblood, what did you want?" A voice came from behind him. The group looked over to see Nott and Bulstrode, along with most of the older years in Slytherin.
"What, too weak to fight a first year on your own Nott?" Edward said, standing.
"No, you asked for all of us, what did you want?" Edward was silent for a moment, thinking of what to do in order to react to this, then it clicked.
"I Edward Thorn, hereby swear on my magic that I am a pureblood, so mote it be." He said. As he finished, a light engulfed him, and the whole room looked at him in shock. He picked up his wand. "Lumos." He said simply, and the end of his wand lit up. Marcus Flint was the first to speak up.
"May I, on behalf of our group, sincerely apologise for any slight upon the person of Heir Thorn." He said, his head bowed. The rest of the group did likewise.
"As your group was not to know of my true heritage, I accept your apology on their behalf Heir Flint." Edward said, and everyone went back to doing what they were doing before the incident.
"How did you know all that Ed?" Pansy asked.
"Simple, I read." Edward said, looking back into the fire.
It was quiet after that incident. Edward however never seemed to settle, his temper flaring at various points, until Halloween. The group, now fully including Hermione outside classes, were having their charms lesson, trying to learn the levitation charm. "Now swish and flick. Your incantation is Wingardium Leviosa. Begin." Flitwick had finished his instruction, and they had begun. Edward, Daphne, and Hermione got it on the first attempt. Down next to Hermione, Weasley and Potter were struggling to get it right.
"No, you're doing it all wrong. It's leviosa, not leviosah." Hermione said, and Ron seemed to sneer at her when she turned away. As they exited, the Slytherins exited first, apart from the small group and Hermione.
It was outside the charms classroom as were the incident happened. Edward was telling them about a spell he had read in a book the previous night, when Weasley stormed past them. "It's leviosa, not leviosah. Bloody know-it all mudblood. No wonder she hasn't got any friends." As Weasley finished talking, Hermione pushed past him.
"Daphne, Pansy go make sure she is alright." Edward said, and they nodded.
"I think she might have heard you." Potter said, and Edward scowled.
"You think she might have. Weasel here deliberately waited until she was here before he said anything." Edward said, walking up to them.
"Why do you care snake?" Weasley said, still nervous, as he was whenever he was around him.
"Because I'm a mudblood as you call her as well." Edward said, drawing his wand. Weasley quickly drew his and prepared to fire a spell, when Edward moved quickly. "Expelliarmus." He said, sending Weasley's wand away from him. Ron looked at him angrily, then started walking quickly towards him. Edward didn't waver from his stance, although he did put his wand away. Then Weasley's fist hit him. He went backwards, holding his face in his hands.
"What you going to say to that?" Weasley said, but he looked around to see Draco and Blaise pointing their wands at him. Turning further, he even saw Potter's wand in his direction.
"What are you doing Harry?" He asked.
"She helped you and all you did was insult her. I can't believe you were my friend." Ron looked at him, then stormed off, picking up his wand on the way. As Potter left, the Slytherins looked after him.
"He might not be as bad as we thought." Draco said, to which Edward nodded.
"Come on, lets go find the girls."
"Not until you go to the infirmary Ed."
"I'm fine Draco, I've had worse."
"You are going to the infirmary whether you like it or not."
"Alright, alright."
After a short trip to the infirmary for Edward, they went off to find the girls. They went down floor, by floor, until they finally came to the second floor. They heard crying as they passed the girl's bathroom. They looked at each other, then shrugged and entered. They saw Pansy, Daphne and Hermione in the corner, the two Slytherin's comforting the Gryffindor. "Hi guys." Draco said, in such an upbeat mood, that Pansy and Daphne glared at him.
"You alright 'Mione?" Edward asked, crouching in front of her. Draco moved next to him.
"I'm fine now." She said, looking up. Her eyes widened.
"What's wrong?" Draco asked, before looking around. He tapped Edward on the shoulder.
"What is it?" Edward asked, turning. He looked up, and saw the troll standing at the other end. As it came towards them, he moved in front of them.
"What are you doing Ed, get out of the way." Pansy screamed. Ignoring her, he fixed his eyes on the troll, as it brought its club down upon him. The troll froze. It started to breath heavily.
"No one hurts my friends." Edward said, before it collapsed on the floor, making the floor shake as it impacted. The rest had closed their eyes, waiting for the all clear.
"Edward!" Draco shouted and the others opened their eyes, to see Edward unconscious, and his right leg trapped under the troll.
Dumbledore was pacing in his office. It had been three days since the Thorn boy had been hurt by the troll. Hurt was a rather liberal way to put it. He had to be sent to Saint Mungo's because of the injury. Today he was expecting the report from the hospital, and he would inform his father. It had to be done, as there was no way he was not going to hear about this. "Come in." He said, as people came towards his door. All the house heads were there, as well as a healer from St Mungo's and Lucius Malfoy. "Mr Malfoy, I was not expecting you here." Dumbledore said, stunned that Lucius had turned up to this meeting.
"It is important that I attend Headmaster, I am representing the Governors in this regard." Lucius replied.
"I am Consultant Healer Montgomery." The healer introduced herself, refusing to shake Dumbledore's outstretched hand.
"Please, sit down. Lemon Drop?" Dumbledore inquired, offering his customary sweet.
"Headmaster, I request that only Professor's McGonagall and Snape remain, as both are involved in this."
"Of course Lucius. Filius, Ponoma, you may go." Dumbledore said, and both professors left, leaving Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall on one side of the head's desk, with Lucius and Montgomery on the other side.
"Is Mr Thorn here?" Montgomery asked, looking around.
"I will fill him in when he arrives later.
"You will fill me in now Headmaster." A voice said, and Lucius and Montgomery turned to see Damien, standing in a navy suit behind them.
"Mr Thorn, I am Lucius Malfoy. It is a pleasure to meet you." Lucius introduced, holding out his hand, Damien shook it, and Montgomery started.
"Now that we are all here, I can begin. Mr Thorn has received major injuries. Both his tibia and fibula have been almost completely shattered, as you can see from his file." He copied a folder, before giving one to everybody. "Although we can fix it, his right leg may never regain its strength. He will need a cane to walk properly. He is still unconscious, and may stay that way until the end of November at the latest."
"I doubt that you have free healthcare like in the muggle world. How much will this cost?" Damien asked, still looking through the pictures in the file. Snape's face was blank, but McGonagall was looking close to being sick.
"The potions needed will have to be made fresh, using rare ingredients. It will cost one hundred and eighty five thousand galleons. Roughly ninety two thousand five hundred pounds." Montgomery said.
"Not a problem Mr Thorn. As your son was protecting his friends, and my son, I will be paying for his treatment." Lucius said, shocking both Montgomery and Dumbledore.
"Thank you Mr Malfoy. I assume you are going back to the Hospital?" Damien said, looking at Montgomery. She nodded. "Good, shall we be off then?" He asked. She nodded again, before leaving, Damien following behind.
"You have two weeks to come up with new security procedures to present to the board of governors Headmaster. I hope, for your sake, that they are sufficient." Lucius said, leaving close behind the other two. As he left, Dumbledore pulled out a bottle of fire whiskey, and poured himself a glass.
"What have I done?"