Hermione had asked the History of Magic Professor about the Chamber of Secrets and in some weird way the Professor paled, even though Professor Binns is a ghost. It might have been the most exciting lesson that Edmund ever had before. After the exciting class full of information they wouldn't be able to get in the history books they were walking through the halls. "If I were sorted into Slytherin I would have gotten the train straight back home." Ron muttered and Hermione was agreeing with the Weasley. Both Edmund and Harry stayed quiet, Harry seemed to be in deep thoughts so Edmund decided to speak and break the silence.
"There used to be a family who would disown you if you weren't sorted into Slytherin, I think many of the Sacred Twenty-Eight families." Edmund glanced over at Ron. "Except for your family, Ron."
Colin Creevly walked past them in the hall and Edmund smiled as he saw the bounce in Colin's step. The boy was very excited to be walking among the Hogwarts halls, it looked like the boy wasn't scared off by the attack. "Hey, Harry, Edmund!"
"Hey Colin." Harry said automatically, having encountered the boy many times a day. Edmund gave him a nod and a smile.
"Harry," Colin hummed as the boy fell into step with the second-years. "A boy in my class has been saying that you're the-" A new wave of students washed through the already crowded corridor and Colin was being pushed back by a whole lot of students. The mousy boy doesn't stand a chance.
"What is a boy in Colin's class saying about you?" Hermione wondered, "That you're-"
"Slytherin's heir." Harry said, sounding tired of that being insinuated. Harry was the first one to come across the sign of the attack, and across the petrified body of Mrs. Norris.
Edmund cringed. "Justin has been a bit on his toes around," He shook his head, a bit disappointed in his fellow Hufflepuff for being so easily swayed. "He shouldn't believe any rumours."
"Where are Neville and Susan, Edmund?" Ron asked, with a tone that Edmund couldn't identify. "Normally you're always on their sides." Ron said and Edmund recognized the tone. The ginger was bitter that he was spending more time with his Hufflepuff friends instead of them.
Edmund frowned at the Weasley, "They're both sick today, caught some bug, I believe." He paused for a second, wondering if he should ask it but decided it was better to know rather than not knowing. "Are you mad that I am spending more time with them, Ron?"
"You're our friend too." Ron muttered.
Edmund nodded, "I am." He walked into Harry who had suddenly stopped. Edmund looked at the blood and letters written on the wall, it was the very corridor where the first attack had happened. "That is where Filch has been keeping guard." Edmund said as he looked over at the chair.
The three of them, Harry, Hermione and Ron started to poke around as Edmund just stood there with a slightly disturbed look on his face. "Scorch marks!" Harry exclaimed and Hermione was muttering something next to Edmund, "Have you ever seen spiders act like that?" Edmund tilted his head in curiosity and took a closer look. The spiders were fighting to get through a single crack.
"Ron?" Harry called out for the only boy who was missing.
Edmund stepped back and put a comforting hand on Ron's shoulder, "He doesn't like spiders, you guys."
Harry looked a bit confused, "I never knew that." The boy furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at Ron. "You've used spiders in potions loads of times-"
"I don't mind them dead, you know." Ron shuddered under Edmund's hand. "I just don't like the way they move." The ginger was about to explain why he was so scared of them after Hermione had laughed at him, or well, giggled.
"Remember all the water on the floor?" Harry said, "Where did that come from? Someone had already mopped it up."
Ron then started walking a few paces towards the girl's bathroom door and Edmund was visibly contemplating if they were going to go in there. "That's Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Come one, let's go have a look." Hermione hummed as she opened the door.
Edmund smiled as Hermione asked Myrtle how she was doing. Myrtle hung out at the last stall of all the rows. The stalls made him think of last year when they had fought against the troll. "This is a girls bathroom." Myrtle eyes the three boys suspiciously. "They're not girls."
Edmund chuckled softly when Hermione agreed with the ghost, "I just wanted to show them how nice it is here." The three boys made eye contact as they stood between the splintering wooden stalls, the dirty greasy mirrors and the damp floor.
"Did you happen to see anything, Myrtle?" Edmund asked out loud, using his words unlike Harry who was trying to mouth it to Hermione. Edmund will never forget how Myrtle hates it when people whisper around her, it was something that made her flinch from being tormented by her peers.
"I wasn't paying attention." said Myrtle as she dramatically put the back of her hand on her forehead. "Peeves had upset me so much I came in here and tried to kill myself," She perked up a bit, weirdly. "Then, of course, I remembered that I'm-"
"Already dead?" Ron said, trying to get the conversation done as quickly as he can. Myrtle let out a tragic sob and rose up in the air before turning over and diving headfirst into the toilet. She splashed water all over them and vanished from their sight.
They all shared disappointed looks with one another before stepping out of the library, immediately, the sound of Percy's shrill voice carried over the corridor. "Ron!" The prefect Weasley called out, "That is a girls bathroom, what were you-"
"Just looking around, puzzling around for clues," Ron shrugged casually and Edmund resisted the urge to facepalm. Out of all the Weasley's Ron could tell that they were snooping around, he had to tell Percy. "You know-"
Percy turned as red as a tomato out of anger, Edmund thinks. He had grabbed onto Ron's arm and started to pull him away from the girls bathroom, the force and the manner that he had used made Edmund think of Molly. "Get away from there-" Percy urged the other students to do so as well, "Don't you care what this will look like? Coming back here while everyone is at dinner-"
"Why shouldn't we be here?" said Ron who was getting annoyed and used an attitude to speak to Percy now. The younger Weasley stopped short and glared at Percy. "Listen, we never laid a finger on that cat!"
"That's what I told Ginny," said Percy fiercely, "but she still seems to think you're going to be expelled, I've never seen her so upset, crying her eyes out, you might think of her, all the first years are thoroughly over excited by this business-" Edmund quickly blocked it out as he went to the Hufflepuff Common Room, his appetite already gone. He didn't even want to know what the others were thinking at the moment.
—
"Draco isn't the heir of Slytherin." Edmund repeated and looked at Ron with raised eyebrows. "He isn't an ancestor of Slytherin, trust me, they've checked so many times before."
"Why are you so sure of it?" Ron asked, "Unless you're on his side again?"
"His side?" Edmund repeated to Ron, "There are no sides here. Instead of wasting time and following after Draco, if we're going to do that, I'm out." He put his foot down. He had told them everything that he knew and now it was up to them to listen. "I say we try to find out what this horror within the chamber is."
"I agree with Edmund." Hermione said. "We shouldn't waste time on Draco. We know that he isn't the heir of Slytherin." Edmund let out a breath of relief, if anyone could sway Ron's opinion it is Hermione, it made his stomach cramp up with how easily Hermione did it to Ron though.
"So what do we do then?" Harry asked.
"We should learn about whatever is inside of the Chamber of Secrets." Edmund said and looked in the direction of the dungeons and then in the direction of the tower. He could ask Dumbledore. But if the man knew something about it, he would have stopped it immediately. They were all like blind mice rummaging around in an abandoned house.
Edmund learned that Dumbledore's ambitions are no longer followed after a legendary wand that is only whispered about, but Dumbledore's ambition is to lead Hogwarts to a glory that hadn't been known since the founding fathers, that includes the safety of his students.
That Saturday morning, everyone cheered as Gryffindor walked out onto the pitch but Edmund couldn't ignore the hisses and boos that the Slytherins let out. He could see that the Ravenclaw team was anxious to have to play against Slytherin; they still hadn't recognized Hufflepuff as a growing team in terms of skill.
Quickly the whistle sounded and the players of the teams rose from the ground and up to the sky. "They're very fast." Edmund uttered out in awe as he saw the Slytherin's fly on their new broom.
"I'm glad that you have one as well." Cedric laughed, albeit a bit nervously and nudged him. "Do you think that it isn't a bit too fast?"
"I think that it takes some time getting used to." Edmund answered, "I think that the broom is prepared enough now, I'll get to take it out next training session." Then a heavy black Bludger came roaring in Harry's direction. "That was a bit too close." Said Edmund, worried.
Edmund watched George whack the bludger in the direction of Adrian Pucey but change direction midair to Harry. "That isn't supposed to do that." Cedric muttered. The chaser and seeker were so focused on the bludger and Harry that they hadn't been paying attention to the game.
"Slytherin lead, sixty points to zero-" Edmund looked over at Lee's booth and wondered if he wasn't allowed to comment on it, normally if there was anything strange happening, he'd be on top of it all.
Then the whistle sounded and the teams touched the ground. Slytherins were jeering and pointing in Gryffindor's direction. "Someone has got to have tampered with that." Cedric nodded and then stared at one of the stands in the crowd.
"Say, you've got that best friend of yours in Ravenclaw, don't you?"
"Hermione." Edmund answered quietly as he continued to peer down at the gathering teams.
"Is she friends with Cho Chang?"
Edmund stopped and looked up at the older Hufflepuff, "She might've mentioned Cho once or twice." He looked closer and let out a breath, "Been admiring from afar, have we now?" Edmund teased once he realised.
"Don't." Cedric blushed and looked over at Edmund. "Don't act like you haven't been looking at Hermione."
Edmund frowned, confused. "She's my friend, of course I'm looking at her."
Cedric chuckled and shook his head. "I keep forgetting that you're just a second-year." He then patted Edmund's shoulder. "Just invite Hermione and some of her Ravenclaw friends over next time."
"Including Cho Chang?"
"If you're offering." Cedric joked and Edmund let out a laugh. They happily sat under some umbrella charm that Cedric had casted as the rain fell even more heavily. They watched as the game continued.
The moment that the Bludger had hit Harry's arm was the moment that Edmund jumped out from under the charm and ran down the stairs and onto the field. Harry had stayed still a second too long and the bludger smashed into his elbow.
Edmund was still running to the ground floor and Harry was hanging sideways from his broom. He hit the ground with a splattering thud, at the same time Harry's thud sounded and crashed into the ground. He ran onto the field before anyone else had the same reaction. "Aha." Harry said, "We've won."
Edmund dropped his arms under the boy before he fainted into Edmund's arms. Gryffindor players started landing around them and Edmund looked back at the clicking noise. "Colin. Not now!" He called out.
The boy nodded and left, camera in his hand and his head hung. There went his chance to take some pictures. Edmund started patting his face and his eyes widened as he heard boasting. He reached over and slapped Fred's leg, "Barricade." He ordered and motioned over to Lockhart. "Barricade." He ordered more urgently.
Edmund continued patting Harry's face but looked up a few times to see Lockhart trying to break through. "C'mon Harry." He said and the boy finally opened his eyes. "Finally." He then tried to pull Harry up by his shoulders.
"Lockhart's coming, come on." He urged but he was stopped from standing up.
"Not to worry, Harry. I'm about to fix your arm."
"No!" said Harry. "I'll keep it like this, thanks…"He tried to sit up, but the pain was terrible.
"Lie back, Harry," said Lockhart soothingly. "It's a simple charm I've used countless times-"
"Why can't I just go to the hospital wing?" said Harry through clenched teeth. Edmund nodded from beside him and tried to urge him up to his feet again.
Lockhart squinted and pushed him back again. "Stand back." The man said and rolled up his sleeves. Harry protested quietly but a second later his arm was directed at Harry. Edmund cringed as he watched his arm flop around.
Many gasped.
"Ah." Lockhart said and recovered from his initial panic, trying to lay it off as something common. "That can sometimes happen. The point is, the bones are no longer broken. That's the thing to bear in mind. Why won't you toddle up to the hospital wing, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger and Mr. Lupin. Go ahead won't you? Madam Pomfrey will tidy him up."
Edmund looked at the man with a stunned expression. He threw Harry's arm with bones over his shoulder and walked up to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey wasn't happy, or pleased. "You should have come straight to me!" She raged, "Bones, that I can mend in a second. But growing them back is such a hassle."
"You will be able to, won't you?" Harry asked.
"It'll be painful." She said and motioned over to Edmund.
The boy walked over to her, "Get the pyjamas, won't you? You know where they are, and the Skele-Gro" she ordered.
"Is it by the Skele-mend?" He asked. The matron nodded and Edmund set out to the supply closet. The first thing he did was grab the pyjamas and then he walked out and to the potions. He read every label carefully and grabbed the large bottle.
Ron took the pyjamas out of his hand and Edmund handed the potion to Madam Pomfrey. Who poured out a steaming beakerful and handed it to Harry. Slowly more people poured into the hospital room.
Edmund just sat in his seat, sunken in and half asleep. He wondered what Cedric meant earlier and he looked up at Hermione. Her bright brown eyes and bushy hair, she was talking with some of Harry's teammates with her usual bossy tone. Then her eyes turned to him and he gave her a small smile and nodded.
She nodded back at him and smiled before turning back to Alicia and continuing her conversation with her. "This boy needs rest, he's got thirty-three bones to regrow! Out! Out!" Madam Pomfrey came over, shouting.
Edmund looked at her with a pleading look and reluctantly, she nodded. "One night, Edmund. You can take the spare bed besides Mr. Potter." Edmund smiled and quickly went to the closet to grab a spare pyjama.
He changed and sat on the bed as he looked at his closest friend, "How is the pain?" He asked.
"Well, it isn't going away." Harry sighed and looked over at Edmund. "Why did Madam Pomfrey let you stay here?"
"Because I asked." Edmund said, "She knows I'm not disturbing you."
"But she's so strict."
The Black shrugged, "She's lovely, really." He hummed, "She once gave me some Shepherds Pie after my fight with Draco. I've been visiting on the weekends, having some tea with her."
"That's why we don't see you on the weekends." Harry murmured. "Ron thought that you were hanging out with your friends."
"I honestly don't know what Ron is talking about, I can have more friends than just you guys." Edmund grumbled, he was tired of Ron acting like an ass every few times a day just because he sat with someone else. He pursed his lips when he thought about his weekend plans, tea with Dumbledore was on saturday. He loves Dumbledore's tea, but the person who brews the best tea would be Madam Pomfrey, he planned to get a bunch of tea before the next year would begin.
"I'm getting anxious for Hermione." Edmund admitted quietly after they laid in silence. "Ever since that warning was painted on the wall-" He cut himself off, "I just get worried if I don't see her in the morning, or after break." He sighed and looked at the boy who laid in the bed next to him. Harry was snoring softly and Edmund just closed his eyes and chuckled to himself.
A shouting voice is what made him shoot up from his bed, "Get off!" yelled Harry loudly, it was the loudest thing Edmund had ever heard in the Hospital Wing. "Dobby!"
Edmund blinked and looked over at the form of the house-elf through the darkness. "Dobby?" Dobby was the House-elf of the Malfoy's, Edmund wondered what Dobby was doing so far from home.
"Edmund!" The house-elf jumped over onto his bed and grabbed the Hufflepuff by his collar. Never before had Edmund seen Dobby with that much desperation and melancholy in his eyes. "Harry Potter came back to school." He whispered, "Dobby warned and warned Harry Potter that the school isn't safe! Why didn't you heed Dobby? Why didn't Harry Potter go back home when he missed the train?"
"How do you know I missed the train?" Harry asked from his bed and the house-elf let go of a slightly stunned Edmund and jumped over to Harry's bed. His lip trembled, Dobby was guilty of closing the barrier causing Harry and Ron to nearly be expelled. "It was you! You stopped the barrier from letting us through!"
"Indeed yes, sir." Dobby said, nodding his head. His big ears flapped. "Dobby hid and watched for Harry Potter and sealed the gateway and Dobby had to iron his hands afterward" He showed the long bandaged fingers. "But Dobby didn't care, sir, for he thought Harry Potter was safe, and never did Dobby dream that Harry Potter would get to school another way!" He was rocking backward and forward, shaking his round head. "Dobby was so shocked when he heard Harry Potter was back at Hogwarts, he let his master's dinner burn! Such a flogging Dobby never had, sir…" Harry slumped back onto his pillows.
"Dobby." Edmund whispered, "Stop doing that. Sit up straight, have you healed your wounds yet?"
Dobby turned to Edmund. "Oh Edmund! Such a nice friend to Harry Potter! The nicest friend that Dobby has in the master's house!"
"Have you healed your wounds yet?"
"The wounds are healing, Edmund is very generous, Harry Potter!"
Harry looked stumped and mad, "You nearly got Ron and me expelled," He said fiercely. "You'd better get lost before my bones come back, Dobby, or I might strangle you."
Edmund frowned, "Don't listen to him, Dobby. His bones won't be back in a long while."
Dobby smiled weakly at Edmund, "Dobby is used to death threats, sir. Dobby gets them five times a day at home." Edmund grimaced but didn't say anything, knowing that that is just how things went in the Malfoy Manor.
"Why'd you wear that thing, Dobby?"
Edmund looked up at Harry, there were times he forgets that he is raised muggle at all. He imagines how it'd be if Harry grew up right besides him. "It's a house-elf enslavement mark. House-elves can only be freed if their master presents him with clothes."
Dobby mopped his bulging eyes and said suddenly, "Harry Potter must go home! Dobby thought his Bludger would be enough to make-"
"Your Bludger?" said Harry, anger rising once more.
"Dobby, that's very dangerous." Edmund scolded, "You could've killed him."
"Never! Dobby would never kill Harry Potter! Dobby wants to save Harry Potter's life! Home is better than staying here sir! Dobby only wanted Harry Potter hurt enough to be sent home!"
"Dobby!" Edmund scolded, feeling quite scandalised.
Dobby talked about the treatment that they got and how much better it was when Harry Potter lived. The house-elf was in tears. "-and Dobby cannot let Harry Potter stay here now that history is to repeat itself, now that the Chamber of Secrets is open once more-" Dobby froze, then grabbed Harry's water jug from his bedside table and cracked it over his own head and fell from the bed.
A second later, he crawled back onto the bed, cross-eyed, muttering, "Bad Dobby, very bad Dobby…"
Harry and Edmund shared a look and Edmund decided to poke further. "There is a Chamber of Secrets, Dobby. It has been opened before, what happened, Dobby?"
"Ah, Edmund, ask no more of poor Dobby." The elf stammered, "Dark deeds are planned in this place, Harry Potter must go home, Harry Potter mustn't meddle as it is too dangerous-"
"What is in the chamber, Dobby?" Edmund pressed.
"Dobby can't, sir, Dobby can't, Dobby mustn't tell!" The elf squealed. "Go home sir Edmund! Go home Harry Potter!"
"We're not going anywhere." Edmund said calmly while the house-elf was squealing and panicking. "One of my best friends is Muggle-born, she'll be one of the first victims!" Edmund felt a bit of desperation leak through his voice.
"Sir Edmund risks his own life for his friends!" moaned Dobby in a kind of miserable ecstasy. "So noble! So valiant! But he must save himself, he must-" Footsteps sounded and Dobby froze up, with quivering bat ears, "Dobby must go!" Then the elf disapparated from the school.
Edmund and Harry shared another look and the two kept quiet as Dumbledore backed into the hospital wing, wearing his sleep clothes. Carrying a statue, a second later appeared Professor McGonagall, carrying the statue's feet. Together, they heaved it onto a bed. "Get Madam Pomfrey," whispered Dumbledore, and Professor McGonagall hurried past the end of Harry's bed out of sight.
The two laid still, pretending to sleep. Edmund heard urgent voices, and then Professor McGonagall swept back into view, closely followed by Madam Pomfrey, who was pulling a cardigan over her nightdress. He heard a sharp intake of breath."What happened?" Madam Pomfrey whispered to Dumbledore, bending over the statue on the bed.
"Another attack," said Dumbledore. "Minerva found him on the stairs."
"There was a bunch of grapes next to him," said Professor McGonagall. "We think he was trying to sneak up here to visit Potter."
Edmund opened his eyes and stared at the statue on the bed, Colin Creevey. The boy's eyes were wide and his hands were stuck in front of him, holding a camera. The normally excited eyes were peering into Edmund's terrified ones.
"Petrified?" whispered Madam Pomfrey.
"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "But I shudder to think…If Albus hadn't been on the way downstairs for hot chocolate." She took in a breath, "Who knows what might have been?"
The three of them stared down at Colin. Then Dumbledore leaned forward and wrenched the camera out of Colin's rigid grip. "You don't think he managed to get a picture of his attacker?" said Professor McGonagall didn't answer. He opened the back of the camera.
"Good gracious!" said Madam Pomfrey. A jet of steam had hissed out of the camera. Edmund, three beds away, caught the acidic smell of burnt plastic. "Melted, all melted."
"What does this mean, Albus?" The transfiguration teacher asked, urgency in her voice.
"It means that the Chamber of Secrets is indeed open again." Edmund then heard a slap over his mouth, Madam Pomfrey. The teachers talked some more but Edmund couldn't get it out of his head, if he had let Colin get a picture of Harry on the field, the boy wouldn't have had to sneak into the Hospital Wing for a picture. His own guilt ate at him.