If the air could be filled with anxiety it would be something that Edmund would use when everyone was sitting by their respective house tables, waiting to hear about the house cup winner of the year 1991-1992. The Hufflepuffs all shared glances with each other and the hourglass filled with their scores. They had all worked hard, working and studying to earn points for the badgers.

"The house cup needs to be awarded." Dumbledore said and the Hufflepuff table drummed their table in anticipation, earning a small smile from their headmaster. "Gryffindor, with 312 points, Slytherin with 352 points, Hufflepuff-" Cheering, "with 465 points." Everyone in yellow smiled at each other. "Ravenclaw with 472 points." A dramatic pause, the headmaster was a man of theatre anyhow, "However, recent events must be taken into account. A few last-minute points must be dealt into the hands of those who deserved it."

"To Mr. Ronald Weasley. For the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points." Edmund looked over to see Ron blushing, looking very flustered as friends patted his back and his perfect brother, Percy, bragging about it to his friends.

"Second, to Miss Hermione Granger. For using logic and her intellectual ability like a true Ravenclaw. I award Ravenclaw house fifty points." Padma was smiling cheek to cheek at Hermione. Many looked at the bushy-haired girl with beaming smiles. She had a blush that adorned her face that made Edmund's heart skip a beat.

"Third, to Mr. Edmund Lupin." A small wink, "I award Hufflepuff seventy points. He had saved a friend from the troll, like a loyal caring hufflepuff and he had done it yet again, saving his friend from harm and protecting him. An additional ten points, for starting the study club in his house, pushing them to show their hard work to reflect in their scholar abilities."

Hands clapped Edmund's back and he smiled at everyone, his quidditch team was cheering the loudest, ready to support him at every turn he took. They had taken him in like a little brother, a little brother who had helped them win the quidditch inter-house cup.

"Fourth, to Mr. Harry Potter. I award Gryffindor house sixty points." Cheering was loud, the loudest it has ever been so far. "Which means, we need a little change of decoration." He clapped his hands. In an instant, the green banners from last year became black and the silver became yellow. The huge Slytherin serpent vanished and a towering Badger took its place.

Professor Flitwick was shaking Professor Sprouts' hand with a glowing smile and they were talking feverishly before turning back to look at their students with an appraising smile. Proud of what they had accomplished.

Talking about accomplishments, the morning after they got their grades back. Edmund looked at Hermione's grades and then back at his. They were nearly identical, only Hermione's was just a bit better, always the scholar. He could tell that he had surprised her a bit with his grades.

The train ride was filled with discussions about spending their vacations together, except for a quiet Harry, whom Edmund had impulsively lended out an invite to spend his summer with him.

That summer he had spent a weekend at the Weasley's, they were happy to take him in. Normally he'd be with his uncle Severus but the man had a dinner party at the Malfoy's, where he wished to be no part of it. Something in him said that Draco would just berate every single one of his friends, even he could find something about the nicest girl of Hufflepuff and completely destroy her.

"Welcome to the Burrow." A red-headed woman greeted him and pulled him in for a hug. "Oh my, you're quite the handsome boy." She complimented and he blushed. "It's been such a long time since you've last been here."

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley." He said quietly and laughing interrupted his flustered state as he looked up at Fred and George, who were laughing at him.

"He's quite the charmer, mum." Fred quipped with a teasing grin.

George nodded, "Many girls like him already."

Molly looked back at him and raised an eyebrow at him, "Must be because you're quite tall already for your age. I reckon you'll be growing a lot taller than Ronald here." She looked around, "Where even is Ronald?"

"Here mum." Ronald said as he barreled down the stairs and walked over to put an arm over Edmund's shoulder. "Want to go fly outside?"

Molly shook her head, "It isn't dark outside yet." She tutted and turned to look at the staircase, "Oh Ginny, come here, say hi to Edmund. He's staying here for the weekend."

Edmund looked up and waved at Ginny, the girl quickly ran upstairs.

"The charmer also makes a lot of girls-" said Fred.

"-run away from him." finished George. "Must be a part of the charm." The twins said at the same time.

—

The weekend passed with flying colours and so did the rest of his vacation. He had spent it going to a few national quidditch matches with his Uncle Remus and he did a ton of studying with his uncle Severus. Mostly because he had asked.

He would be carefully prepared for the upcoming year, his transfiguration skills had gotten better but his History of Magic didn't see any improvements. For the rest of the vacation the days flew by, especially with how his uncles always sent him out to run around or help out at the locals in the village, mostly the farmer that touched their land.

Saying that building a connection with the local muggles certainly is a good thing for him to not lose sight of what is important as a wizard. He had built up quite an amicable bond with the paper office girl, where he'd help her with the heavy orders that came by. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something whenever she'd reach out to hold his hand or kiss his cheek. He just couldn't shake the feeling and it was killing him trying to find out what it was.

Whenever Fred and George were roaming around the town, they'd go ahead and visit the girl, Mary. They were surprised to see Edmund walk out from the back with a box full of paper.

They shared a look as the girl immediately reverted her eyes from the twins to look at Edmund. She started to walk over and talk his ear off about the latest order and how complicated it was.

He came home with red ears because of the earful that the twins gave him about using protection and such. Edmund shared about why with little to no details, and then admitted that he couldn't shake off some feelings about it. His uncle Severus just looked at him with a knowing look in his eyes, as if he had been there before.

Then was the time when Uncle Remus sent him to help the Weasley's with de-gnoming their garden, saying that it was a good and intensive job for his body. He was let in by Ginny who had quickly ran away after answering the door.

Edmund walked into the kitchen and blinked as he saw Harry sit at the dinner table, "Hey Harry." He said and smiled at Mrs. Weasley. "Good morning Mrs. Weasley." He nodded.

"Oh boy, you've grown so much already since we last saw you."

"A month ago." Informed Ron to Harry, who had been quite out of the loop. The letters that Ron had sent Harry were full of writing about how Edmund was adored by his mother. How he always helped the muggles, same goes for his father who liked the Lupin. They mostly spent their time talking about the appliances that the muggles have in their houses.

Edmund and Arthur had spent more time in his shed full of muggle items than any Weasley child has before.

Edmund cringed when Mrs. Wealsey pulled out Lockhart's book. The adventures of the man were a dull read as it always returned on the subject, him. It was a miserable read, his uncle Remus, agreed to it.

It was the same summer that he learned the truth about his Uncle Remus. After all of the studying about Year two at Hogwarts, Edmund recognized the ingredients and the potion itself that his Uncle Severus had to make. It all just added up at one point and upon a late night confrontation, his uncle Remus had confessed about his nature.

Back at the Weasley's, they were out in the garden, spinning gnome's around in a circle until a slam of the front door sounded and the ginger's dragged Harry and Edmund through the garden and back to the house.

The head of the Weasley family sat there, with his glasses off and his eyes closed. The man looked tired and stressed, "What a night," mumbled Arthur. "Nine raids! Nine. Old Mundungus Fletcher tried to put a hex on me when my back was turned."

He gulped some tea and sighed. Fred asked about what he had found on the raids but the answer was quite disappointing but continued talking about the raids either way, "-But the things our lot have taken to enchanting, you wouldn't believe-"

"Like cars, for instance?" Mrs. Weasley said and held a fireplace poker in her hand. Edmund backed away a few steps once he saw him with that in her hands. Her husband's eyes were wide open right now. He looked guilty and Edmund wiped his forehead of the sweat that started to build up.

He looked between the Weasley parents with wide eyes, he looked over at Harry when it was revealed that he flew in the car to the Burrow from his house. "Merlin." He whispered and frowned.

"Let's leave them to it." Muttered Ron and they slipped out of the kitchen. They went down a narrow passageway to an uneven staircase, zigzagged through the house. On the third floor, bright brown eyes stared at Harry and him. Ron said a few words before Ginny shut the door in front of their faces. Edmund barely had time to greet her.

Edmund walked into the familiar room and sat down on the ground against Ron's bed. "Your favourite Quidditch team?" Harry asked.

"The Chudley Cannons," said Ron, pointing at the orange bedspread, which was emblazoned with two giant black C's and a speeding cannonball. "Ninth in the league."

"I've seen them." Edmund said from the ground, "They are okay. Seen better though." Ron just rolled his eyes, continuing quickly.

"It's a bit small," said Ron quickly. "Not like that room you had with the Muggles. And I'm right underneath the ghoul in the attic, he's always banging on the pipes and groaning-"

"This is the best house I've ever been in." Harry said and Edmund smiled.

"You know I don't think of your house like that, Ron." Edmund said, "This house at least has personality. Unlike the Malfoy's." He muttered. Ron's ears went pink.

—

On Wednesday, Edmund stepped onto the fireplace and stepped out in Diagon Alley in the Leaky Cauldron. Between his letters with Hermione, she had invited him along with Ron and Harry to go to Diagon Alley. He was early so he wandered into a bookstore and accidentally bumped into someone at the bookstore, his head was buried in a book about care for magical creatures, he really admired Newt Scamander, Scamander was a Hufflepuff as well.

"Oh merlin, I'm so sorry." He said and scrambled down to pick up the person's book. When he heard a familiar laugh he looked up at the person with a cheeky smile on his face. "Hermione." He greeted and her arms were quickly around his shoulders, hugging him with a set of books between them.

"Edmund." She said with a smile. She pulled away, "I was looking around for books before we're going to Gringotts, so that I can at least try to figure out how much I actually need." The girl said, fast and enthusiastically.

"I was just looking around, I can buy just one extra book for my free time with my allowance." He sighed, "Then Gringotts for the rest of the money for my books. Can you believe that we have to buy-"

"Lockhart's books?" She questioned enthusiastically, "I'm so excited!" She squealed. "I've read them all already!"

Edmund cringed and weakly nodded. "We should go to Gringotts, wait for everyone there." He suggested, hoping to get out of the conversation fast. He put his book back and decided he'd come back later to find it and buy it.

The two walked down the street alongside her muggle parents, Edmund was happy to talk with them, they had quite interesting questions about the magical world. They stood at the top of the white steps to Gringotts when Hermione started calling out "Harry! Harry! Over here!"

The two ran down to meet Harry and Hagrid. The Hufflepuff smiled at Hagrid and the half-giant smiled back. "What happened to your glasses?" Hermione said as soon as she took a closer look at him.

Edmund looked up at Hagrid, "Wonderful to see you again, Hagrid."

"We missed you at the castle this summer." Hagrid whispered, but a whisper to him is just a normal volumed sentence. "It's been awfully quiet." He nodded and his smile never faltered. The gamekeeper has always been nice to him despite the fact that Edmund would always be hanging inside of the castle instead of outside with Hagrid. But the gentle giant would sometimes come into the castle just to drink some tea with him.

"Are you coming to Gringotts?" Hermione asked Harry.

His cousin looked around, "As soon as I found the Weasleys." He said.

"You wouldn't have to wait." Hagrid said amused. The group of gingers came up from the streets, "We hoped you'd only gone one grate too far." Mr. Weasley said and wiped away some sweat. "Molly is frantic, oh here she is."

"Where did you end up?" Ron asked.

"Knockturn Alley," said Hagrid grimly.

"Excellent!" said Fred and George together.

"We've never been allowed in," said Ron enviously.

"I should ruddy well, think not," growled Hagrid.

Mrs. Weasley now came running into their view, her handbag swinging wildly in one hand, and Ginny was hanging onto the other. "Oh Harry." She said and took a clothes brush out of her bag, "You could have been anywhere." She began sweeping Hagrid and after that she took Harry's glasses and quickly fixed them.

The giant quickly bade his goodbye's and the group started to walk up the white stairs. "Guess who I saw in Borgin and Burkes?" Harry asked his three friends. It was easy to forget that Harry is Edmund's cousin because he keeps thinking of Harry as a friend. "Malfoy and his father."

"Did Lucius Malfoy buy anything?" said Mr. Weasley sharply behind them.

"No, he was selling-"

"So he's worried," said Mr. Weasley with grim satisfaction. "Oh, I'd love to get Lucius Malfoy for something."

"You be careful, Arthur," said Mrs. Weasley sharply as they were bowed into the bank by a goblin at the door. "That family's trouble. Don't go biting off more than you can chew-"

"So you don't think I'm a match for Lucius Malfoy?" said Mr. Weasley indignantly, but he was distracted almost at once by the sight of Hermione's parents, who were standing nervously at the counter that ran all along the great marble hall, waiting for Hermione to introduce them. Edmund smiled, this was the bantering that he misses from his home. While his uncle's had their arguments, he knew it was because of past grudges, not because they love one another.

Then Harry spoke up about what he saw in Knockturn Alley. "He was talking about you Hermione, Draco didn't like that you achieved better grades than he did." Harry looked at Edmund, "His father said that he should take a better example of you. Said that you were loved by many students and that your reputation was impressive."

His smile falters as he remembers how much Draco's father likes him. Walking up to the counter, he nervously looked at Harry as he approached the bank. "Vault 711, please." Edmund whispered and the goblin raised his eyebrows.

"A noble one."

"Toujours pur." he whispered, a wave of sadness washed over him as he remembered the side of his father's family.

"Not going to Vault 687?" The goblin questioned. Edmund shook his head and glanced over if Harry had heard it.

"I'm not going, I will be visiting vault 711." He repeated and the goblin motioned at him to follow. Together they went down to the vault, which by itself is a huge hassle already. He grabbed some bags full of gold and walked back out. His finger was still aching from drawing some blood to prove his lineage.

He stepped out of the bank and felt guilty when they saw that the Weasley's didn't have a bag, rather a pocket filled with their money. He wondered how that could be since the job at the ministry is considered quite prestigious. Edmund saw the same look on Harry's face and the two quickly sobered up.

The four wandered along the cobbled street, and they bought some ice cream. Then they had visited the Quidditch store, he indulged himself in a new jersey from his favourite Quidditch team, secretly. He knows that his uncles will be mad, but they can forgive him later. He also bought himself a new quaffle, the one from the Hufflepuff house was getting worn down a lot faster than they could imagine.

Hermione started to drag them off to buy ink and parchment. Then in the joke shop, they met up with the twins and their friend, Lee Jordan. The commentator. Lee patted Edmund's shoulder. "Excited to see this year's quidditch matches! You have real potential , you know?"

"I'm sure that there are better chasers than I." He replied, humbly and then they found Percy in a tiny junk shop. And after an hour, they met the Weasley's at Flourish and Blotts, along with everybody else.

"Bloody hell." Edmund muttered when he read the sign that Gilderoy Lockhart will be signing copies of his autobiography. Hermione was squealing and Edmund was sure that he saw Mrs. Weasley fanning her face at the mere thought of being in the same room nay store as him.

They each grabbed a copy of their books that they needed that year and sneaked up to the line where the parents were standing. He wondered how his mother would have fit in with the parents here, from what he could remember, is that she could get along with everyone.

"Oh, there you are, good," said Mrs. Weasley. She sounded breathless and kept patting her hair. "We'll be able to see him in a minute." She trailed off a bit. The man she was excited to see slowly came into view and kept winking, Edmund thought that he had some kind of contracting muscle.

A cameraman pushed aside Ron. "Out of the way, there," he snarled at Ron, moving back to get a better shot. "This is for the Daily Prophet-"

"Big deal," said Ron, rubbing his foot where the photographer had stepped on it. Gilderoy Lockhart heard him. He looked up. He saw Ron and then he saw Harry.

He stared. Then he leapt to his feet and positively shouted, "It can't be Harry Potter?" The crowd parted, whispering excitedly. Lockhart dived forward, seized Harry's arm, and pulled him to the front. The crowd burst into applause. Harry's face burned as Lockhart shook his hand for the photographer,

"Nice big smile, Harry," said Lockhart, through his own gleaming teeth. "Together, you and I are worth the front page." When he finally let go of Harry's hand, Edmund saw that he tried to sneak back over to the Weasleys. He cringed, sympathising with Harry.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Lockhart said loudly, waving for quiet. "What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time! When young Harry here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, he only wanted to buy my autobiography, which I shall be happy to present to him now, free of charge-" The crowd applauded again. "He had no idea," Lockhart continued, giving Harry a little shake that made his glasses slip to the end of his nose, "that he would shortly be getting much, much more than my book, Magical Me. He and his schoolmates will, in fact, be getting the real magical me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" The crowd cheered and clapped. Harry's hands were shoved full with his books and Edmund snorted when he saw him stagger under the weight of them.

"Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?" Edmund's ears perked up when he heard Draco's voice and he faltered in his step. He bought his books and put them in his shoulder bag, walking back over towards the Potter. "Famous Harry Potter," said Malfoy. "Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page."

"Leave it, Draco." Defended Edmund, "Clearly he was uncomfortable," He cringed, "Image being under his arms." The Slyterhin and the Hufflepuff shuddered, having had a past conversation about the author as well. God, they didn't like Lockhart at all.

"Bet you're surprised to see Harry here, eh?" Ron said.

"Not as surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley," retorted Malfoy. "I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for all those."

"Apologise, Draco." Edmund said, tiredly as he held Ron back singlehandedly. "We're going outside." He sighed and pushed the Weasley's out along with Hermione and Harry. Mrs. and Mr. Weasley quickly joined them.

"Well, well, well," A familiar voice said and Edmund just wanted to disappear. It was like a series of unfortunate events were happening because he was there. "Arthur Weasley." He really didn't like the Malfoy's anymore, the last thing he said to Draco's father was, goodnight, to his mother, a thank you for the gift and to Draco, to not speak with him anymore. Lucius put a hand on his son's shoulder.

"Lucius," said Mr. Weasley, nodding coldly.

"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear," said Mr. Malfoy. "All those raids. I hope they're paying you overtime?" He reached into Ginny's cauldron and extracted, from amid the glossy Lockhart books, a very old, very battered copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration. "Obviously not," Mr. Malfoy said. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizards if they don't even pay you well for it?" Mr. Weasley flushed darker than either Ron or Ginny.

"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of a wizard, Malfoy," Arthur said.

"Clearly," said Mr. Malfoy, his pale eyes straying to Mr. and Mrs. Granger, who were watching apprehensively. "The company you keep, Weasley, and I thought your family could sink no lower."

A thud sounded and Mr. Wealsey had lunged at Mr. Malfoy, Edmund were trying to hold him back, only to be pushed into a bookshelf alongside them. Edmund groaned as he felt books fall on top of his head. Hagrid then appeared out of nowhere and pulled the two father's apart. Leaving Edmund to pick himself up from the ground.

Edmund was a bit roughed up as his nose was bleeding, Arthur had a split lip as well. Lucius was still holding Ginny's old Transfiguration book. He pushed it into her hands, his eyes glittering with malice.

"And you." Lucius turned to Edmund and his gaze softened a bit. "You should surround yourself with worthier families." He scolded, "I believe that our family friend wouldn't be happy hearing about this." So Lucius doesn't know that Severus Snape is his uncle.

Edmund's breath hitched and he looked up at Lucius with a frown. "Well, he doesn't have a say in who I surround myself with." He said, "Neither do you, Mr. Malfoy."

Lucius straightened his clothes, "You should come to our next dinner party." The man said shortly, "We'll educate you further about blood traitors."

Edmund shot Draco a sharp look as blood went down his lips. A hand shot out to wipe it away, but someone caught his wrist. He watched the Malfoy's leave the store and his eyes averted back to the person holding his wrist.

"Why must you always be the hero? You thought that was a smart idea?" Hermione lectured as she dabbed the blood from his lips. Edmund swallowed at how close she was. "Throwing yourself between a fight between two grown men?"

He averted his eyes and he took away the handkerchief from Hermione and nodded over at her parents, grimacing at the pain but he didn't dismiss how they were shaking with fright. "You should go to them." He whispered.

One more concerned look from Hermione and he turned his attention back to Mrs. Weasley. He hoped he could ignore the faint smell of old books. "A fine example to set for your children!" Molly was seething, "Brawling in public, what Gilderoy Lockhart must've thought-"

"He was pleased," said Fred. "Didn't you hear him as we were leaving? He was asking that bloke from the Daily Prophet if he'd be able to work the fight into his report." Edmund grimaced, "said it was all publicity-"

Molly then fretted over Edmund's bloody nose, "Oh gosh, deary me." She said and frowned, "That must've been a scare for you."

Edmund smiled faintly, "It's quite alright, I threw myself into that."

"You wouldn't have to," She turned back at her husband, "If there wasn't anything to be thrown into!" She complained. After that they quickly walked back towards the Leaky Cauldron.

The twins were grinning at him, "Mary is going to dig that!" Fred said and George nodded. Edmund blushed and shook his head.

"I told you that I don't like her." The girl from the paper office.

"She certainly seems to like you." George teased and laughed.

Edmund rolled his eyes, and pulled the handkerchief from his nose and looked over at Hermione. "I'll wash it and give it to you?"

Hermione cringed a bit, "You can keep it, Theseus." She said and Edmund smiled at the use of the nickname. "Maybe don't bleed on it anymore?" She suggested.

Edmund chuckled, because laughing was just going to worsen his headache. He stepped onto the fireplace and quickly returned home. As soon as he stepped out of the fireplace he heard the voice of his uncle call out to him, "I heard of your little fight." Edmund looked down at his shoes and saw that the house was empty, there was no Uncle Remus to save him from another lecture. For someone who doesn't seek out trouble, he was getting in rather a lot of it.

"It wasn't my fight."

"But you were involved." Snape retorted, sharply even. "Lucius had sent an apology gift, the moment after the fight, for his words and for your bloody nose." The potions teacher's eyes wandered at his no longer bleeding nose.

Edmund had tried to clean up a bit before returning back home. Molly had tried to get the blood out of his shirt with a spell from Lockhart's book but it wasn't a surprise to Edmund to see it had failed. So there he stood, right in front of the fireplace with blood on his white shirt, a pounding headache and a new handkerchief in his hand.

His uncle gave him a sharp look and squinted at Edmund, the boy grimaced in pain as he felt his head split open from the pain and immediately tried to find the source of the searing pain. He tried to block it out with a hum. Edmund gasped out as he took a staggering step back, against the stone fireplace.

His chest was heaving and he looked at his uncle who looked disgruntled. "Why?" He asked loudly and turned right around, running to his room.

Edmund sat down on his bed, his face looking out the window and he reached for a contained memory in the small glass closet he has. He just casted a spell over it without any problem and looked at it.

"The chaser Amanda Potter has scored once again, ladies and gentlemen! Who is her mystery man so I know who to fight-" Different quidditch players were flying back to their starting positions and Edmund had his eyes locked onto two of them. The chaser and a beater.

"Language young man!" the voice of McGonagall sounded.

"Of course, Professor. Starting positions are taken and the quaffle is dropped in, it is a special moment for most of the Gryffindor team, mostly existing out of players from year seven." The announcer said, "Their last chance at winning the inter-house cup before they leave us!"

They were playing against Ravenclaw, their strategy was vicious and efficient back then. Something that Edmund admired.

"Oh look at this! James Potter is diving down, where is the Ravenclaw seeker because he isn't diving for it!" Edmund chuckled at seeing the memory, he imagined what Harry would think of it. "He has caught it! This is it people, Gryffindor has won the quidditch inter house-cup!" The announcer said and the memory stopped.

"Slytherin was out already." Snape suddenly said, Edmund whipped his head to his uncle and he frowned. "I apologise."

"For trying to look into my mind?" Edmund said sharply, he felt rather betrayed that his uncle even considered doing it.

"Yes. Yes I am apologising for that." Snape confirmed. "It was a bad lapse of judgement-"

"Judgement? You raised me." Ed felt his chest ache a bit, "You know who I am inside and out, now that I'm surrounding myself with blood traitors, makes me one?" He was projecting, but he didn't care at the moment, all the feelings that he felt just bubbled over like an overheated potion in a cauldron.

"You're not a blood traitor." Snape said with wide eyes, "You're Edmund Theseus Black. You're a hufflepuff, and you're loved by everyone." His eyes softened, "And by me."

"You're only taking care of me because of some vow." He said quietly.

"I would've done anything for your mother." Snape said and looked at his nephew, "Yes I made a vow, but I don't regret making it."

Edmund swallowed and looked down at his feet, "Close the door please. We'll talk in the morning." He said quietly.

His uncle took in a breath and put down a package on the closest surface he could find. "From Lucius." He said quietly and closed the door behind him as he walked out of their room.

The argument between them had gotten out of hand. He reached out and took the present in his hands. He opened it to find a book on pure-blood views. With a scowl, Edmund put the book back on its place and took in a breath as he looked at the letter, an invitation to a dinner party.

—

He wore his dress robes as the invitation mentioned that it would be a formal event among Draco's peers. Edmund took in a breath and closed his eyes as he walked through the door. The normally dull mansion was decorated with green, representing Slytherin and such. The green just made it slightly less duller.

He walked in and immediately was led to the living room where Crabbe and Goyle sat by the fire, not talking, just staring. Edmund wondered if they could even talk. His eyes looked at all of the students there, Nott, Parkinson, Flint and Greengrass.

Theodore Nott was in his lonesome, staring at the books occasionally taking them out to page through them. Pansy Parkinson was talking with Draco, they sat on the couch together. Flint was there talking with someone who was another member of the quidditch team. Greengrass was looking at the paintings, she turned around suddenly and stared back at him.

Edmund smiled and she motioned for him to walk over to her, subtly. The boy slowly walked in her direction and stood beside her as they looked at the painting of Draco's mother. "I don't really care for these things." Edmund whispered.

Daphne let out an amused breath, her blue eyes looking at him with interest, "What are you even doing here? You're not even a Slytherin." She said quietly, if anyone else would have asked that, Edmund would've thought it was offensive. Even though he had never spoken with Daphne Greengrass, she had never been malicious towards anyone.

"I got invited." He said shortly, "Mr. Malfoy invited me personally after-"

"After the fight with Weasley." Daphne finished and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "You're quite interesting." She said.

Edmund blinked and looked back at the painting instead of her, "Thank you, I suppose." He said.

He had spent the rest of the night with Daphne because she was the only one who even tried to be nice to him. The quidditch players just scowled at him, not daring to start a fight in the Malfoy Manor, they still hadn't licked their wounds after Hufflepuff won from them last school year. Draco and him only exchanged a few words, mostly forced from Edmund's side. Crabbe and Goyle can't talk, he had decided. Parkinson didn't really pay any attention to him as she was busy kissing Draco's boots.

Dinner was fine, Draco's parents had joined them and Edmund was forced to describe what he had been working on. He was rather well versed in magical hieroglyphs and logograms now, despite not having to use them anytime so far.

Narcissa was rather happy hearing about it considering that she had given that book for his birthday. He had thanked her once again, but in person this time. It was rather awkward when Lucius had asked if he had read his gifted book yet.

Edmund said that he hadn't had the time considering that he was preparing for Hogwarts. Despite already knowing all that he needs to for the first semester. Then the conversation of legilimency and occlumency came up and Edmund was put on the spot again.

Lucius told everyone that he had closed his mind in a debate with his uncle, not revealing that it was Snape. He got appraising looks from all the Malfoys. Then came the question if he ever considered using legilimency.

"I don't think that I have the talent for that." He said and went back to eating his food. Relief had spread through him when the conversation drifted towards Flint and his family. Edmund felt rather guilty for showing up to the Malfoy's dinner party, but it was something that he couldn't miss, in the words of his Uncle Severus.

'Even though you don't aren't fond of them, they can prove themselves to be an ally.' His uncle said and still saw Edmund's reluctance. 'Fine, do you think Draco enjoys surrounding himself with his Slytherin housemates? You were one of his only genuine friends, if you want to see him change, be the example of change.'