From then on, there wasn't any tension between the four of them. Except for Ron and Edmund, mostly because Ron still didn't like the Hufflepuff for some apparent reason, Edmund suspects it is because he is friends with Draco. Even though things were a bit rocky with the Slytherin at the moment, Edmund always stood up for him.

He's just glad that the blonde had stopped with his constant teasing and just transitioned over to short snide remarks. That they could at least argue against without getting hurt. Edmund admired how Hermione constantly proved him wrong with every word he said.

Hermione had been sitting next to him for a few classes, having asked Neville to trade seats for a day, Edmund suspects. At the end of a class she had whispered to him, "Thank you." She was talking about the troll incident.

Edmund just gave her a small smile, "You wouldn't have needed my help if you knew if there was a troll roaming around." He whispered back to her. The girl was quiet for a minute before she leant over and kissed his cheek.

He felt red in the face when she whispered, "Theseus, the hero." Hermione had then blushed and quickly ran over to a giggling Padma, most likely laughing at his face. His jaw had dropped and his hand was raised over the spot where she had kissed his cheek, he ghosted his hand over the spot as he blinked a few times, turning even more red as he remembered the soft feeling of her lips on his cheek.

November came and the weather turned grey, the cold spread through the Hufflepuff Common Room and the fireplace seemed to be on constantly. The bed warmers we magically set between their blankets for them. The mountains became grey and the lake froze over, every morning Edmund saw that the ground was covered in frost.

They had fallen into their routine of just lazing around, but it was quickly disturbed with even more intensive training regimes as the Quidditch season began. Edmund and Harry were constantly talking about it, their first quidditch match.

The day before the first quidditch match, Edmund quickly walked over to the fire in a jam jar. "Hey." He greeted his friends, Hermione looked relaxed but cold, Ron was rubbing his hands constantly and Harry was holding a book in his hands.

Edmund looked around the courtyard, always expecting to see his Hufflepuff friends but he quickly remembered that they had gone off to the library to study, and mostly to stay inside of the warm castle.

In the corner of his eyes he saw his uncle cross the yard, a slight frown came onto his face when he realised that the man was limping. The four of them quickly huddled together and they probably looked guilty of something because his strict uncle limped over to them.

"What's that you've got there, Potter?" Harry held it up and revealed it to the potions master, 'Quidditch Through the Ages'. Edmund read. "Library books are not to be taken outside the school," said Snape. "Give it to me. Five points from Gryffindor." Edmund frowned.

"He's just made that rule up," Harry muttered angrily as Snape limped away.

"Did you get permission from the librarian?" Edmund asked and Harry cringed, "So that's a no."

"Wonder what's wrong with his leg?"

"Dunno, but I hope it's really hurting him," said Ron bitterly. Edmund pursed his lips and tried not to grimace, his uncle wasn't loved by most at Hogwarts, he learned. He was sure that if the others knew his uncle like he did that they'd be quite impressed and surprised that Severus Snape has a heart.

That evening they sat together at dinner, Hermione having dragged him over to the Gryffindor table. "It's weird sitting here." He muttered. She gave him a questioning look. "The hat nearly sorted me here." He admitted, "But I think that Hufflepuff outweighed Gryffindor."

Seamus and Dean were talking in their corner and Harry sat in front of them. The boy talked about what he saw in the staff room and quickly ranted, "You know what this means?" he finished breathlessly. "He tried to get past that three-headed dog at Halloween!"

Edmund blinked, "Three-headed dog?" He questioned. "At Halloween?"

The three shared a panicked look. He put his fork down and looked at them, "What happened?" Hermione cringed and explained what they saw. "So you three, ran away from a cat, and ended up at the third corridor?"

Ron nodded and Edmund blinked. "Now you're accusing Professor Snape of wanting to steal something that the three-headed dog was trying to protect." He suddenly felt defensive, "Bloody rubbish." He shook his head.

"I know he's not very nice, but he wouldn't try and steal something Dumbledore was keeping safe." Hermione agreed.

"Honestly, you two, you think all teachers are saints or something," snapped the ginger Gryffindor. Edmund felt mad, so he abruptly picked up his plate and walked back over to the hufflepuff table, eating silently as Susan and Neville talked about herbology, avoiding the eyes of the three friends sitting at the Gryffindor table.

—

The first match to be played was Gryffindor against Slytherin. Edmund was all decked out in Gryffindor to show his support to his cousin. He sat beside his fellow quidditch team players and they talked about Slytherin's offensive strategy and how Gryffindor retaliated with the same energy. Edmund loved sitting in the tribunes, watching and cheering.

The moment when one of them nears the goals builds so much suspense in everyone it is nearly impossible to stand up and shout at them to get the damn quaffle into the goal. Cedric felt the same energy buzzing in the sky as well.

It all turned nervous when Harry began to struggle with his broom. He looked in great concern and put the binoculars up to his eyes, he watched Harry panic. Suddenly he rolled over and the Hufflepuff team looked in quiet horror. He was now hanging onto it with one hand. Behind Harry, in the crowd, he saw Hermione look around with the binoculars that were hanging around Ron's neck.

He watched as the two talked and pointed. A feeling washed up inside of him as he saw them point and talk in his direction. "What is happening?" Edmund questioned silently and handed his binoculars over to Cedric, who was squinting to get a clear picture of what was happening.

Before he even knew it, Harry was able to get back onto his broom and continued to fly. He had gotten the binoculars back from Cedric and he looked at Harry, under the Gryffindor, red and gold seeker was Ron, still looking through his binoculars. He frowned, seeing that Hermione was missing.

Edmund cringed as Cedric slapped his shoulder and pointed down at the ground where Harry was on all fours, coughing like a sick man. He put the binoculars up to his eyes again only to see Harry spit the golden snitch out of his mouth.

He blinked and his jaw dropped as he handed it over to Cedric, "Blimey." The Hufflepuff seeker muttered and cheered as Harry held up the snitch."I've never thought of doing that before." Edmund laughed and clapped loudly for his cousin.

A few weeks after the Gryffindor against Slytherin match, was Hufflepuff against Ravenclaw. His friends had come out to support him and he was glad to see them standing in the tribute. The weather was a bit tricky but they managed to push through. Edmund's debut as chaser was widely celebrated in their house after they had won the match.

The Ravenclaw's were less impressed and Padma only said congratulations before she was being whisked away by an older student she was familiar with, Hermione, however continued chanting his name with his friends.

Then December came around, everyone was excited about the thought of holidays, naturally. The Great Hall had a comforting fire but the wind that usually blew around the corridors became cold and bites if you were out for too long.

In potions, everyone was huddled against one another because of the cold. The dungeons must've been an awful place to sleep at. He looked over at a slightly unbothered Malfoy. The warm breaths came out as a puff of mist and Edmund blinked. The only thing that really provided them any warmth were their cauldrons.

"I do feel so sorry," Draco said, one Potions class, "For all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home." The blonde looked over at Harry but was met with Edmund's glare.

"Don't say anything if you're going to be unkind, Draco." He muttered and just shook his head. Not having the slightest bit of energy left for the handful of a pureblood. After the match, he had gotten worse again, something Edmund didn't like seeing.

"Just ignore them." Harry whispered and continued to measure out their ingredients. He pushed the powder of a lionfish spine onto the scale and Edmund shook his head.

"That isn't the Draco I know." He said quietly.

"Bloody hell, he must've been hiding his personality very well then." Ron muttered.

He felt his heart ache at the comment as well, something about not being able to go home really affected him. He was going to stay at the school for the first week since his uncle Moony had something come up, but after that he'll be able to go home and visit him.

During that time, he just assumes that he'll be wandering around the castle and bothering his uncle who most likely had tests and assignments to grade.

"We should go to the library." Hermione whispered to Harry and Ron. Edmund grimaced a bit and leant back, so that she'd be able to talk with the two easier. She looked over at him and smiled softly, "Sorry."

Edmund smiled at her, "Not a problem." He whispered. He didn't mean to listen along but he couldn't help but hear his ears perk up at the mention of Nicolas Flamel. He had talked about Dumbledore's accomplishment before Hogwarts, the man mentioned a genius that was his partner.

"Nicolas?" He questioned. Ron glared at him.

"Listening along, are you now? Going to tell Draco?" The ginger snapped, not even defensively but rather maliciously.

Edmund felt defensive and frowned at Ron. "What? Why should I?" He shook his head, "You're whispering right in front of me in a quiet room, I'm bound to hear something, you do know that right?"

Ron muttered something under his breath and Hermione looked over at him, hopeful. "Do you know of Nicolas Flamel?"

"He worked with Dumbledore on something, I don't quite remember it but he did." Edmund answered. "I could maybe find a book later?"

"Tomorrow?" Hermione asked. "The library is closed today, I don't know why."

"Probably Peeves." Edmund smiled, the prankster poltergeist was a bloke, but he was a funny bloke as long as you aren't a target of his torment. Unlike Filch. With a call from Professor Snape and the threat of losing points, they quickly returned to their classwork.

The day quickly passed and so did the last day of classes for the students at Hogwarts. People were hugging and chatting away, luggage was being either pushed or levitated through the hall.

During lunch, they quickly walked off to the library. "He wasn't in the Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century-" Hermione began listing off a bunch of books but Edmund hadn't heard of half. Impressed he looked over at her.

"You've read them all?" He questioned.

"Yeah." She blushed and they sat down.

Edmund smiled and walked over to the bookshelf that he was searching for, he pulled out a big book and put it down on the table. "Flamel was an alchemist." He said and he opened the book.

"What are you looking for, boy?"

"Nothing," said Harry.

Madam Pince the librarian brandished a feather duster at him. "You'd better get out, then. Go on," She then looked at them with a raised eyebrow, "out!" She ordered.

Edmund cringed and listened as he closed the book. He quickly put it back before he was dragged out by Hermione. "Were you able to read anything?" He asked.

"No, you?"

"Nothing." He let out a breath and looked at Harry and Ron.

Harry smiled at him, "We'll figure something out tomorrow."

Edmund nodded. Back in the Hufflepuff dorms, he was being dragged aside by Cedric, before they were stopped by their Quidditch team Captain Beatrice, who had an amused smile on her face. "You do know, that when you two are seen together they call you guys the flying badgers?"

Edmund cringed, "But you're a flying badger too?"

Cedric laughed, "We're all flying badgers."