Cerulean Silver vs. Amber Gold
by hikaranko
Summary: Ed has been put on his stupidest assignment yet: babysitting. Well, that's not what everyone else would call it, but to Edward Elric, it's exactly like babysitting. But there's a lot more to this assignment than what's on file... FMA/HP crossover. kinda sorta may possibly be AU with HBP release and with FMA. rated T for language.
Disclaimer: I, just like everyone else, do NOT own either Fullmetal Alchemist or Harry Potter. It would so rock if I did, but I don't. That's life. It's unfair to us all.
Author's Note: wow, the timing here is amazing. you want angst? then have some. dig in. XD
Chapter 9
Cold Weather
The fire had been raging for hours now. The house crumbled amongst the flames. Everyone watched. They had to squint through the waves of heat to see. Tears pricked at her eyes. She turned to look at them. Their faces were steely as ever.
A young boy screamed as his body crumbled apart. A giant gate appeared. A mysterious figure grinned. He was asking for payment. His leg became his. His arm became his. Blood. There was blood everywhere. There was screaming through tears.
Images of his mother flashed through his mind. A beautiful lady. No. A bloody mass. A transmutation gone horribly wrong. It gasped for breath. Its eyes seemed to glow. Its hand reached up and beckoned for him to approach.
There was fire. There was fire everywhere.
He reached forward, running through an empty, endless darkness. He ran toward a tiny shimmer of light, his arm outstretched. There was a boy just ahead, but he was always just beyond his reach. A hand reached out and touched his cheek gently from behind. He turned around to see who it was...
And screamed.
Edward shot up in bed, his eyes wide in horror and his chest heaving. Beads of sweat had formed on his forehead, which he slowly wiped away with his sleeve. He did his best to calm himself down, running his hands through his long hair.
'A dream,' he told himself. 'Just a dream...'
He adjusted his position, preparing himself to get out of bed and change into the school robes. But as soon as he moved, he winced at the gnawing ache in his right shoulder and his left leg. Ed sucked in air through his teeth, keeping himself from crying out. The mechanical limbs creaked slightly as he instinctively wrapped his arms around his auto-mail leg and curled up into a ball. His gold eyes remained fixated on a spot in front of him as Ed worked to calm his mind, recovering from the raw memories that surfaced in his dream.
It had been about a month since Ed first arrived at Hogwarts. He'd sent off two reports to headquarters so far, the most recent of which informed the colonel of Draco's occasional disappearing acts. He and Al were sending letters to one another as well; they were usually just updates on what was happening in both of their lives. After all, they were the only family each other had and they felt the need to be sure of the other's safety.
After a long moment of silence, Ed pulled himself out of bed and slowly changed into his robes. He glanced out the window, wondering what time it was, and discovered once again that the sun was not visible from where they were. Ed reached into his trunk and pulled out his pocket watch to check the time. But the position of the hands on the clock face barely registered in his mind. His attention was caught by a crudely etched message on the inside of the lid.
Don't forget 3.Oct.11
His gaze hardened at the warning and he put the watch into his pocket. It was barely past dawn and Ed found himself wide awake. Draco and the others were still fast asleep, comfortable in their beds. Ed narrowed his eyes at a few of them. There was no doubt in his mind that none of their dreams were haunted by ghosts and sins. He walked out of the dorm, his nightmares and the aching of his auto-mail joints having put him in no mood to deal with the ignorant Slytherins.
When everyone else awoke and gathered in the common room, they found Ed sitting on the floor near the fireplace, staring into the dancing flames. As soon as they tried to approach him, Ed quickly got to his feet and walked out of the common room, heading for the Great Hall. He kept his gaze to floor; he didn't even give any of them so much as a sidelong glance. He just trudged down the corridors, his hands in his pockets and a sour look on his face that could beat Snape's any day of the week.
He gave them similar treatment all throughout breakfast. Ed didn't say a word to anyone and just picked at the food in front of him. Crabbe and Goyle were disappointed to not get another of Ed's food gorging displays, but kept glancing over at him as though expecting it to start at any moment. Pansy tried to keep herself busy doting over Draco. Draco ignored her and tried to read the Daily Prophet. Zabini, on the other hand, did not like being ignored.
"Hey Elric," he called from across the table. "What's with you today? Come on, say something!"
No response.
"I wonder if Eddy's all right," Pansy said, glancing at the young blonde.
"Leave him alone," Draco muttered as he flipped to the next page of the newspaper and scanned it. "You'll just waste your breath."
Crabbe/Goyle eyed Ed's plate, still half full. "He's not even eating his eggs..."
When Ed heard this he pushed his plate over toward whoever had spoken and rested his chin in his hands. Crabbe/Goyle accepted the half-eaten meal happily and ate it as fast as he could. Zabini moved so that he was sitting directly across from Ed and leaned toward him.
"I challenge you to a poker game," he said. "Same conditions as last time, how 'bout it?"
Ed remained perfectly silent while Zabini continued to keep himself in Ed's direct line of vision, which only made him angrier. He eventually tuned out Zabini's nagging and looked through one of the high windows in the Great Hall. The young alchemist growled when he saw the grey sky and the pouring rain outside. He narrowed his eyes as he massaged the aching flesh near the auto-mail port on his leg. Zabini noticed the change and followed his gaze. He then looked back and forth between the window and Ed's scowling face.
"Don't like the rain, Elric?"
The alchemist averted his eyes and stared at the wooden grain of the long table. "It's not that I don't like it," he said softly. "It's just..."
He let his voice trail off there. It wasn't that he didn't like the rain. It was the horrible memories that were associated with it. He was just reminded of all the terrible things that he had seen in his young life. There was no sense in getting these people - these innocent kids - involved in his dark past. They didn't have to know what he had seen.
Draco cast a sideways glance at him, a thoughtful gleam in his silver eyes. He then turned to the next page of the newspaper and scanned it quickly. Ed rotated his sore right shoulder and gingerly rubbed at the scarred flesh.
Zabini leaned forward a little more. "Just what? What's wrong with you?"
Edward just shook his head slowly, refusing to say anything more as he continued to rub his aching shoulder. As soon as Pansy noticed this, she turned to him a little too eagerly.
"Do your shoulders hurt, Eddy? I'll massage them for you..."
Before she could lay her hands on his shoulders, Ed sprang away from the table and practically slapped Pansy's hands away. "DON'T!"
Having yelled so suddenly and angrily, everyone nearby turned to look at Ed in shock. Pansy and the rest of Draco's group looked just as surprised and shocked. She even looked rather offended to have been yelled at. Ed wrapped his fingers around his right arm carefully, as though he were trying to protect it from everyone's stares.
Just then, the bell signaling the start of classes went off. Everyone returned to normal, turning back to quickly gather their things and file out of the Great Hall. Pansy and Zabini hurried out of the Hall, muttering something about Edward under their breath as they went. Crabbe and Goyle hurried off to refill their platters, looking as though someone was chasing after them. Draco snorted at all of them as he watched them leave. He then chucked the newspaper onto the table and grabbed his books.
"Come on."
The look on Ed's face grew even sourer as he grabbed his books. He managed to catch a glimpse of the front page of the day's edition of the Daily Prophet. Ed drew in a sharp breath as he saw the date written on the page.
October 3.
A very vivid image of a burning house flashed before his eyes. Ed smiled darkly, his gold eyes flat as he let out a soft, humorless laugh. That explained the nightmare. It was just his own dumb luck that it happened to be raining. He threw his head back as his laughter grew stronger and louder, though its tone was still dry. Draco stopped in his tracks and looked back at Ed, unsettled by his strange behavior.
Ed managed to calm himself before his laughter became maniacal, taking in a deep breath. He opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. Traces of a smile remained on his face, though it was rather sad and bitter looking.
"Stand up," he whispered to no one in particular, "and walk. Move forward."
Though short and simple, there was a power to the words that Ed always had to keep in mind. Draco gave him a strange look before continuing on his way to their first class. Edward slowly turned to follow him, stuffing his free hand into his pocket. He fiddled with his silver pocket watch for the entire walk to their History of Magic class.
It rained for the rest of the day. Ed's joints continued to ache. The day was a complete disaster. He couldn't bring himself to focus on a single one of his subjects as his mind had traveled elsewhere. He kept seeing images of a burning house and their failed attempt at human transmutation. Ed couldn't really remember what had happened in any of the day's classes. He thought someone had given him a detention or some kind of punishment for spacing out, but he couldn't remember what class it was for. It didn't really matter to him either way. The only thing he knew for sure was that their astronomy class had been cancelled because of the poor weather, which was why Ed was sitting in the rain at the top of the West Tower, just outside of the owlery.
Draco had to go to Quidditch practice in spite of the pouring rain, which was perfect because Ed had felt the need to write a quick letter to Al. He had just given the note to Eule to be delivered.
Keep moving forward. Don't look back.
Stay safe.
Wish you were here.
-Ed
When Ed really thought about it, when October 3rd came around each year he had never put as much weight on it as he had at that moment. Maybe it was because Al wasn't around for the first time. It was still strange being separated from him.
He raised his head and looked up into the sky. The rain continued to fall on his face from the dark clouds above him. Ed watched each rain drop fall with his gold eyes. He hoped with all his might that the rain would wash away all the doubt and sadness, only to find that the rain on his face was starting to bug him and make him depressed. Then he remembered the last time he had felt that way. He recalled Al saying he could no longer feel the rain on his skin, having lost his body of flesh and blood...
"Even if it means doing something as impossible and hopeless as turning against the currents of the world..."
Ed stood and silently walked back to the Slytherin common room. He winced at the aching of his joints. They hurt more than ever now.
The rain continued on and off for the next week or so, during which Ed did his best to take his mind off of the past and focus. He absorbed himself more completely in his duties, both as a student and as a spy. However, Draco was starting to disappear more and more frequently and finding him was becoming difficult. His mind strayed much more often and he seemed to care about things less and less, except for, strangely enough, the upcoming Hogsmeade visit. He seemed very anxious about it, and though he was able to hide it very well from his other friends, Ed could see straight through the act.
The Saturday of the Hogsmeade visit arrived with a thick layer of snow. In Ed's opinion, snow was infinitely worse than rain, since it made his auto-mail limbs very cold. It was like having ice attached to his body, which was not a very pleasant experience. Everyone else seemed to find snow enjoyable as they cheerily wrapped themselves up in the appropriate winter wear. The entire Great Hall rippled with excitement during breakfast as everyone talked about the day's Hogsmeade visit.
"So are we heading off as well?" Pansy asked the group.
"I should think so," Zabini said with a shrug. "Anything to get out of this bloody castle. Am I right, Malfoy?"
Draco seemed to consider the idea for a moment before finally nodding his head, which apparently settled the matter. Crabbe and Goyle looked at one another with dark smiles on their faces and Zabini said something about getting his hands on some firewhiskey. Ed laughed quietly as he ate his breakfast. It was rather amusing that the Slytherins felt the need to hide their excitement about going to Hogsmeade. In spite of their bored tones and nonchalant shrugs, somewhere deep inside they truly wanted to go. Then the Slytherins turned to look at Ed.
"Are you coming with us, Eddy?" Pansy asked.
The young alchemist looked up at them, his wide-eyed gaze moving from one face to the other. He swallowed his latest mouthful of food before answering. "I was gonna ask earlier, but... What's the deal with this Hogsmeade visit, anyway?"
Every one of them suddenly turned on Edward as though he had said something horrible. He grinned inwardly, fascinated by the fact that they had all taken so much offense in something that they tried not to be excited for. He wanted to laugh at them, but he instead reached for the biggest sandwich he could find on the table spread.
"You don't know anything, do you, Elric?" muttered Zabini, sounding annoyed and amused at the same time.
Ed took a huge bite out of his sandwich. "Exchange student. Remember?"
Draco rolled his eyes. "It's one of few times that we actually get to leave this festering old castle," he said sharply. "We get to go down to that town by the train station for a little fresh air." He smirked slightly. "And we could certainly use it, with all these losers suffocating us inside the castle."
Stuffing another sandwich into his mouth Ed nodded his head thoughtfully. Crabbe and Goyle were watching him eat again, their eyes wide as they observed his impressive eating speed.
"So we just walk down there or something?"
"Walk?" Pansy echoed, looking horrified. "Of course not! We take the carriages."
"You coming, Elric?" Zabini prompted.
Before Ed could answer, Draco interrupted. "I don't reckon he can," he told his cronies. "You need to have a permission slip to go, remember? Signed by a parent or guardian. It's a little late for him to ask for one now."
The others looked like they were beginning to understand something for the first time, nodding their heads dumbly as the fact settled in. Ed narrowed his eyes at the smug, victorious look on Draco's face.
'Yeah, you'd like to be rid of me, huh?' he thought coldly as he downed his pumpkin juice. He wanted to tell them that he was practically his own guardian, but instead casually shrugged his shoulders and said, "We'll see."
Draco glared at Ed slightly for a moment, not liking the tone in his voice at all, but eventually turned back to his so-called friends. While they all discussed their plans for the day, Eule soared into the Great Hall and landed swiftly on the table in front of Ed. He blinked, looking at the letter she was carrying in confusion.
'Must be from Al,' Ed thought.
Making sure that no one would notice, the alchemist rolled his right sleeve up just slightly to reveal the glint of metal at his wrist. He had managed to train the owl not to peck at his right arm without warning and to simply wait for him to reveal the metallic gleam from beneath his clothes. As soon as she had confirmed his identity, Eule hopped forward approvingly and offered Ed the letter. He quickly fixed his sleeve and reached for it.
He froze abruptly, surprised to see a military seal stamped on it. The colonel didn't usually send any replies after receiving Ed's reports, the latest of which Ed had sent during dinner the night before. He had notified the higher ups of Draco's disappearing acts and their increase in frequency, and also mentioned Draco's unusual anxiety for the Hogsmeade visit. There didn't seem to have been any need for a reply.
"Who's it from, Eddy?" asked Pansy, peering over at the small barn owl.
Ed grimaced at the sound of Pansy's voice. He forced out a nervous laugh, his mind racing to think of something to say. "Uh... Just something from back home, I guess."
Pansy wrinkled her pug-nose slightly as she watched Ed take the letter into his hands. She then nodded absently and turned away, allowing Ed to let out a relieved breath. He was glad that her mind was filled with too many thoughts about Hogsmeade to pry any further. Everyone then continued to discuss their plans for the day. Ed handed his half-eaten toast to Eule, dismissing her as he read the message. He snorted at its contents.
Go with the boy to Hogsmeade. Remember: You have to keep an eye on him.
You'll need authorization for the trip, so I've enclosed the permission slip with this letter.
With an annoyed frown, Ed peered into the envelope and checked for the permission slip. Sure enough, there it was, signed by one Roy Mustang. Ed fished the slip out and glared hatefully at it. That bastard colonel was really enjoying his newfound faux guardianship over him. He was going to have to remember to do something horrible to Mustang as soon as he could. In the meantime, he had some "bad news" for Draco the antagonistic.
"Looks like I'm going to Hogsmeade," he said nonchalantly as he tucked the letter away.
The others rounded on him quickly, confused and surprised looks in their eyes. Draco merely raised an eyebrow.
"What d'you mean?"
A small grin crossed Ed's lips as he laid down the permission slip for everyone to see. "Read it and weep, Malfoy."
Pansy and Zabini smiled slightly as soon as they recognized the permission slip. Draco frowned and turned away to glare at his empty plate on the table. Clearly he didn't want Ed following him around Hogsmeade. Ed watched him, stroking his chin thoughtfully. It certainly raised many questions, the most prominent of which being "why."
The group of Slytherins left for Hogsmeade in the early afternoon, seated uncomfortably in one carriage. They were, however, missing one Crabbe/Goyle, since Draco had pulled him aside after breakfast and told him something that made him stay behind. The other Crabbe/Goyle seemed saddened by this, though Ed couldn't tell whether it was because they had been separated or because Draco had issued him a job. They were both strange Malfoy worshippers anyway, though not to the same extent as Pansy was.
Pansy, Crabbe/Goyle, and Zabini were all trying to carry a conversation between the rickety bumps and the occasional jabbing elbows. Draco was staring dully out one window while Ed practically hung his head out another. He suddenly wished he were smaller, which was a really depressing realization. He tried to keep himself distracted by watching the thestrals as they pulled the carriage down the beaten road. After all this time, Ed still wasn't sure what to make of the strange creatures. Every now and again Draco would cast a weird look in Ed's direction, not knowing what the small blonde was looking at.
As soon as they arrived in the town, the Slytherins took Ed straight to the Three Broomsticks, which was like some sort of cafe/bar for students. While everyone else got themselves a butterbeer to drink, Blaise excused himself for a few minutes and left the building. When he re-entered the Three Broomsticks some time later, he was slightly pink in the face and had something hidden underneath his cloak. He sat down with his fellow Slytherins and revealed his treasure to be a rather large bottle of firewhiskey that he had managed to get from the Hog's Head. It wasn't long before he was well on his way to being completely wasted, which wasn't a good idea since it was still early in the afternoon; much too early for anybody to be drunk.
In his drunken stupor, Zabini thought it would be fun to get Ed as drunk as him and spent a large amount of time trying to make him drink some of his firewhiskey. He failed, of course, as Ed kept pushing the glasses away or turning them upside down so the drink would pour harmlessly to the floor. Blaise scowled at him each time and tried again, which only made Ed and the others laugh out loud.
Ed was somewhat surprised to find that he was actually enjoying himself. In fact, everyone seemed to be having a good time... Everyone but Draco. His mind seemed to be completely preoccupied with something else. An absent smile was plastered across Draco's face and his silver eyes were looking in their general direction, but nothing they did or said really registered. Pansy jostled him a few times, pulling him closer and resting her head on his shoulder, but it barely seemed to matter. After a while, Draco stood from his seat and began to walk off.
"Drakey, where are you going?" Pansy called after him.
"Just to the loo," he answered casually. "Be right back."
Pansy smiled mischievously and got up, rushing over to him. She clasped one of his hands between hers, stopping him in his tracks. "I'll go with you," she said with a coy wink.
Draco frowned as he pulled his hand away and kept walking. "I'll be fine on my own."
The brunette screwed up her pug-face as she watched him go, looking fairly annoyed that she was rejected again. She huffed back to the table and took a big sip of her butterbeer. Zabini grinned, slinging his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close to him.
"Aw, hell, Pans," he said loudly. "If it's a snog you're lookin' ta have, there's plenty o' good candidates right 'ere. Y'can 'ave that bloke over there, or that one... Or 'ow about snoggin' with me? Or little Elric, 'ere?"
At the mere suggestion, both Ed and Pansy turned bright red; Pansy in embarrassment and Ed in pure rage. He slammed his fists down on the table, making everyone's drinks hop into the air. Pansy, who had been looking like she was about to make a move on him, instantly withdrew in fear.
"WHO'RE YOU CALLING A BEAN?"
Zabini made an annoyed face. "Didn't say none o' that, mate..." He then turned to Pansy with a silly grin. "Awright, since Elric refuses... Pucker up, Pans!"
Pansy squealed and gave him a rough shove to the side. Zabini and Crabbe/Goyle laughed while Ed turned away, grumbling something about nasty pug-faced girls and sex-obsessed maniacs. He looked off in the direction of the bathroom, waiting for Draco to get back so Pansy could continue her freaky worship of him. As soon as the subject of snogging was dropped, they all went back to laughing at Zabini in his drunken state. However, this didn't last very long as he was starting to get very groggy.
Another twenty minutes passed and strangely enough, Draco had yet to return from his trip to the bathroom. Zabini was the first to notice. He narrowed his eyes at the bathroom door.
"Wassat wanker doin' in there?" he muttered. "Awful long time just to take a shit."
Pansy wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Don't say that!"
Crabbe/Goyle shrugged, grinning from ear to ear. "He's just saying the truth, Pansy."
"Maybe," Pansy snapped, "but that is positively revolting."
All the boys erupted into laughter again (except for Zabini because he was drifting in and out of consciousness), much to Pansy's annoyance. After a moment she glanced anxiously back towards the bathroom. She sneered at a girl with dirty-blonde hair who had just exited, but there was still no sign of Draco.
"What is taking him so long?" she whined. Pansy then turned to Ed, a pleading look on her face. "Can you go look for him, Eddy?"
Ed mentally rolled his eyes. 'Geez. I really am his damn babysitter.' His opinion of the mission hadn't changed at all. "Fine. I'm going."
A relieved smile was on Pansy's face as he stood up and walked to the bathroom. He stuffed his hands into his pockets as he glanced around the inside of it. It was rather small; there were only a few stalls and urinals available. There weren't any particularly disgusting smells hanging in the air, and the only thing that could be heard was water dripping in the sink. Which could only mean one thing: Draco had disappeared... again.
Clenching his hands into tight fists, Ed bolted out of the bathroom. He quickly searched the room for signs of Draco, cursing in his head all the while. Nothing. He ignored the confused look on Pansy's face and hurried outside into the snow, whirling around in place.
'Shit,' he thought angrily. 'Damn him! I can't keep chasing him around like this! We've only been here for a few hours... How long was he gone? Think, Ed, think! Where would he go?'
He then spent the next half hour or so storming around Hogsmeade in the snow, searching for Draco and once again cursing his luck and his job. Ed decided that the first thing he would do once he went back to Amestris would be to pummel Roy into oblivion and quit his job as a state alchemist. Until then, he would settle with beating on Malfoy as a replacement. Ed couldn't stop himself from grinning evilly as he imagined his metal fist flying into Draco's face with a satisfying crunch. The image played over and over in his head as he fumed down the street, his hands stuffed into his pockets.
His malevolent thoughts kept him so distracted that he barely noticed the infamous Gryffindor trio walking several meters in front of him. They kept casting wary glances in Ed's direction, the evil grin on his face not going unnoticed. Ron seemed to be most frightened of all three of them, given the events of their last encounter. Harry and Hermione were just worried about the malicious aura that seemed to be radiating off of him.
"It's nothing to do with you, Leanne!"
The movie of Draco getting socked in the face was suddenly stopped short by the yelling. Ed turned slowly to see what had happened. Further down the street he could see two girls arguing, their voices so shrill and loud that everything they said hit his ears clearly. The argument seemed to center around a wrapped package that the dirty-blonde held in her hands. Ed's eyebrows furrowed slightly as he watched, not quite sure what to do.
He didn't get much time to think, either. One of the girls suddenly made to grab hold of the package in her friend's hand, but the dirty-blonde viciously tugged it back. Too viciously, it seemed, as it suddenly flew from both of their grasps and fell to the ground. And suddenly, all hell broke loose.
At once, the dirty-blonde girl rose gracefully into the air, her arms outstretched as though she was going to fly. Her hair was whipped around her expressionless face by the fierce wind, her eyes shut. Ed, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all ran toward the two girls, gaping up at the girl who was floating almost six feet above the ground. Then suddenly, she let out a terrible scream. Her eyes flew open, but whatever it was that she could see or feel was causing her great anguish.
A lump formed in Ed's throat. It was a familiar sort of screaming. He had heard himself and Al screaming in the exact same way. It was the horrible noise that escaped their mouths when their bodies had been taken. He could suddenly see himself reaching for a boy who was just beyond his reach, being pulled into nothingness. The screaming alone was painful. The experience was infinitely worse. It was an excruciating pain that the girl floating above his head was feeling... for no reason at all.
Her friend began to scream as well, in desperation and fear, as she seized the girl by her ankles and tried to tug her back to the ground. Harry, Ron, and Hermione rushed forward to help her, but as soon as they grabbed her legs, she started to fall. Ed forced himself to move, jumping forward and catching her before she landed on anyone. He held her firmly with both arms, struggling slightly against her violent thrashing. Her eyes darted in every direction, a blank, anguished glaze in her eyes.
The others rushed over to Ed and the girl quickly and tried speaking to her. But she couldn't recognize any of them and continued to thrash and scream in Ed's arms. Ed looked up at all of them, his gold eyes flashing.
"WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?" he shouted, confused and outraged by the events.
Ed didn't know who to blame for this, looking from one face to another, waiting for someone to answer him. The thrashing girl's friend looked too frightened to speak, her hands clasped over her mouth as she shook her head in disbelief. She could do little more than stare at her friend in horror as she screamed and writhed in Ed's arms.
"How should we know?" Ron snapped.
Harry wiped his glasses clear as he straightened and searched the landscape. "Stay there!" he shouted at them over the howling wind. "I'm going for help!"
He then took off in a sprint toward the school. Ed did his best to hold the girl down, finding it difficult to keep her still in spite of his strength and his sturdy auto-mail arm. He looked to Ron and Hermione for answers, since the only person who seemed to actually know anything about the incident was incapable of making herself coherent.
"What just happened?" he asked again, much calmer than before, though still angry.
"You were right there as well, weren't you?" retorted Hermione. "We only know just as much as you do, nothing more!"
"Yeah, but- whoa!"
Ed quickly moved his head out of the way of a particularly vicious slap from the thrashing girl. It seemed as though she was starting to break free of his hold on her. Hermione and Ron immediately rushed forward to help; Hermione cradled the girl's head and torso steady in her arms while Ron pinned her feet to the ground. Ed adjusted himself so that he was holding her wrists firmly in his hands. She seemed to howl even louder at the hard, cold touch of steel through his white gloves and thrashed even more, causing Ron to struggle with keeping her legs still. Her friend began to break down into sobs, sinking to the snow covered ground.
"Katie!" she wailed, tears streaming down her face. "I told you, but… And now you've…!"
"Get back!" came a deep, burly voice from down the lane. "Lemme see her!"
Everyone looked up to see a large man running toward them, Harry not far behind. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. His face was barely visible behind the long, wild tangles of his bushy black hair and beard, which was currently riddled with bits of snow and ice. He looked rather like an enormous bear the way he was dressed. As he came nearer Ed gaped at him; the man was practically a giant, and he really did feel like a bug around him.
"Something's happened to her!" sobbed the girl, finally becoming somewhat coherent. "I don't know what-"
The giant man stared at the girl named Katie as she writhed in Ed's grip for a brief moment. He then bent down and scooped her into his arms, nodding at Ed and the others to release her. They did as they were told and handed the girl over to him without a word. Then, making sure he had a good grip on her, the giant man carried her off toward the castle. Katie's friend broke down again, burying her face in her hands. Hermione hurried over to her and put an arm around her shoulders.
"It's Leanne, isn't it?" she said gently.
The girl nodded.
"Did it just happen all of a sudden, or...?"
"It was when that package tore," Leanne sobbed.
She pointed at the sodden brown-paper package on the ground and everyone turned to look at it. The package had split open to reveal a greenish glitter within. Ron was about to pick the object up, bending down with his hand outstretched, but Harry quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him away.
"Don't touch it!" he said, his voice firm with urgency.
Heeding Harry's warning, Ed crouched down near the package and poked the folds of brown paper out of the way with a twig. Lying in the middle of the torn, wet paper was an ornate opal necklace. He narrowed his eyes at it.
"What's this thing?"
"I've seen that before," said Harry, his green eyes wide as he stared at the necklace. "It was on display in Borgin and Burkes ages ago."
The young alchemist raised an eyebrow, confused. "So?"
Harry slowly turned his shocked gaze on Ed, his voice lowering. "The label said it was cursed."
Ed's eyes went wide for a moment and he looked back at the thing. "Then that girl must have touched it."
"How did Katie get hold of this?" Harry asked, looking up at Leanne.
Leanne was shaking uncontrollably as she spoke. "Well, that's why we were arguing," she managed to say. "She came back from the bathroom in the Three Broomsticks holding it, said it was a surprise for somebody at Hogwarts and she had to deliver it. She looked all funny when she said it..."
'The bathroom in the Three Broomsticks...?' Ed's mind raced.
"Oh no," Leanne murmured to herself in shock, "oh no, I bet she'd been Imperiused and I didn't realize."
She began to shake in renewed sobs and Hermione patted her shoulder gently. "She didn't say who'd given it to her, Leanne?"
"No... She wouldn't tell me... And I said she was being stupid and not to take it up to school, but she just wouldn't listen and... and then I tried to grab it from her... and- and-"
Leanne let out a wail of despair, burying her face into her hands again. Ed rose to his feet, his gaze fixated on the necklace. She said she got it from the bathroom in the Three Broomsticks... Now that he thought about it, Pansy had sneered at someone as they exited from the bathroom. Could that someone have been Katie? As for Draco...
"We'd better get up to school," said Hermione, her arm still wrapped around Leanne. "We'll be able to find out how she is. Come on..."
She helped Leanne to her feet and together they hurried toward the school. Ron made a start after the girls, but halted when he noticed that Harry and Ed seemed rooted to the spot. They were both staring at the necklace on the ground, identical stern looks on their faces. After a moment, Harry pulled off his scarf and carefully wrapped it around the opal necklace, ignoring Ron's gasp as he picked it up.
"We'll need to show this to Madam Pomfrey," he said, then hurried off after Hermione and Leanne, Ron just behind him.
Edward hesitated before following them back to the school. Some part of him was aware that he should have gone back to the other Slytherins for the sake of maintaining his cover. But the rest of him didn't care. A girl had almost died.
And he was pretty sure he knew who was behind it.
Author's Note: this was an unusually dark chapter... you know how Ed gets when his nightmares come back to haunt him… but oh well. i love angsty Ed just as much as i love goofy Ed. XD
about the inscription in his pocket watch - i'm trying to be more canon with the manga than with the anime (save for the poker stuff :p), which is why it's dated 3.Oct.11 rather than 10.