"Where did Professor Grubbly-Plank even come from." Edmund grumbled as he tightened the yellow and black tie around his neck. He glanced back into the mirror to see if it wasn't crooked and he just pursed his lips before walking out of the bathroom and into the common room.

"She isn't that bad," Susan quipped from the chair she lazily sat in. Her arms were all stretched out and her head fell back so that she would be able to see Edmund. "She just isn't Hagrid for you."

"She just isn't Hagrid." Edmund repeated, exaggerating a bit. He had not been in a good mood at all lately, Rita Skeeter was on the prowl and he was having none of it. Especially after the reporter went to the wrong people to talk to, such as Draco Malfoy. The Slytherin had twisted the story so that it would say that the hippogriff lunged at him, and that he fell wrong and broke his arm because of the magical creature.

From the narrowing eyes Edmund had been giving Draco, the blonde knew not to approach Edmund at all. He was the hippogriff in this scenario, if Draco approached brazenly, Edmund might do something he wouldn't be proud of.

"She's been asking me for an interview, you know?" Edmund shook his head, scoffing at the mere thought of it, "She's mad, that one." He walked over and looked at The Golden Egg perched on the edge of the aquarium. "Did no-one figure it out?" He had been so desperate that he had asked his housemates of all ages to help him figure out the golden egg and whatever secret it contained. Everyone had participated, naturally, all wanting to see Edmund win and bring honor to Hufflepuff.

Edmund tapped the top of the egg as Susan told Edmund that all they got were complaints of first years opening it and giving everyone a splitting headache. With his final tap against the egg, it fell down into the aquarium.

"Bloody hell." The Hufflepuff cursed and rolled up his sleeve. "Do you know if Justin bewitched the floor of the aquarium to let the sand stick or not?"

"I think he did." Susan said as she stood up and waddled over to the aquarium. She had blisters because of her heels from the Yule Ball. Edmund had to carry her up the stairs after the dance with Hermione. She squatted down to look at the egg at eye level. "It feels like playing a claw machine." She said in amusement and Edmund just scoffed and rolled his eyes.

With his sleeve rolled up, he stuck his arm into the aquarium to try and attempt to grab the Golden Egg. The tip of his fingers grazed the top of the metal oversized egg and Edmund sighed, "Edmund, stop." Susan said abruptly after a loud gasp that nearly made Edmund fall back with the aquarium on top of him.

He looked down at the egg, watching it unfold mechanically in a manner of how one would unfold a banana. "Huh?" Edmund's jaw dropped and he blinked a few times. Where was the bloody shrieking that would come off from the egg.

Edmund loosened the stubborn tie and stuck his head underwater. Where was that damn shrieking of the egg.

Edmund would not be surprised if Susan had gotten different heart conditions just because of his actions during the whole school year. The last task had nearly made her lose her mind. Edmund couldn't blame her, but Madam Pomfrey from the infirmary surely would. She's a strict one.

The sound of Merpeople singing Mermish. It was an absolutely horrible language that he had to learn from Dumbledore. Somehow, it must have worked out for him eventually. Suddenly, the words from Mermish translated into English inside of his head.

Merpeople were singing a song, he kept his breath in and listened closely. 'Come seek us where our voices sound, we cannot sing above the ground, and while you're searching, ponder this. We've taken what you'll sorely miss. An hour long, you'll have to look, and to recover what we took. But past an hour, the prospect's black. Too late, it is gone, and it won't come back'

He was pulled out of the aquarium by his hair, "Get me a pen." He managed to cough out as Susan looked at him like he was the mad one in the room, at least Edmund wasn't the one who was pulling someone by the hair. "And a paper, please." He said.

"You're literally dripping on the ground," Susan called out, after Edmund gave her a look, she reluctantly let go of his hair and grabbed a paper. "I'm going to write it down." She grumbled. Edmund nodded and pushed his head back under the water to listen again.

"Come seek us where our voices sound." He pulled his head out of the aquarius and called out the lyrics to Susan and watched as she nodded. He coughed, "We cannot sing above the ground, and while you're searching, ponder this."

"Kind of weird." Susan muttered and wrote it down. "Trying to sing me a love song that goes awry, Ed?" Susan teased.

Edmund clicked his tongue and pursed his lips. He was glad that only he and Susan were up this early and in the common room. They tend to meet Neville later in the great hall after the Hufflepuff had finished volunteering in the greenhouses. "We've taken what you'll sorely miss, an hour long you'll have to look."

"Would you miss me, Ed?" Susan teased softly and Edmund shook his head in amusement. He totally would.

"I don't know what I would do without you, Susan." He said theatrically and dropped his head back underwater when Susan pushed it in. He spit out some water as he looked up at Susan. "And to recover what we took, but past an hour, the prospect's black."

"One more time?" Susan threatened him by holding a hand to the back of his head. A grin played on her lips, she looked like she was aching to push him back under the water of the small aquarium.

Edmund's grin faltered, "Too late, it's gone, it won't come back." Edmund said and Susan had the same reaction just as he did. "Yeah." He pursed his lips and stretched his neck a bit, strained by ducking it underwater.

"What are you guys doing?"

Susan and Edmund looked at each other in surprise before turning back and looking at Justin Fletcher. "Oh," Edmund said, "We're giving your fish new decoration." He said and took his hand out of the aquarium after he had forced the egg to close.

"You don't mind, do you?" Susan questioned as she slowly pulled Edmund away from the aquarium. Water drenched the carpet underneath them.

"Half of the water is on the ground!" Justin screeched. The boy was slowly turning red and Edmund just pursed his lips to stop himself from escalating the tense atmosphere.

"I am so sorry." Edmund said before he was pushed up the stairs by Susan. The two of them shared a giggle before splitting up. "You go ahead to class already, I'm sure Professor McGonagall would understand why I am late."

Susan turned to look at Edmund, "You mean to tell me that I fish you out of a tank and then you go spilling the beans to Dumbledore? You know he's not allowed to help you at all." She sat, putting her hands on her hips and Edmund knew she had a point. It was a habit he couldn't manage to break on his own.

"Fine," Edmund said with a small smile, "But we're not going to tell anyone about understanding the egg."

"Except for Harry."

Edmund chuckled, "I'm sure he'll figure it out on his own some time around tomorrow. If not we tell him then, wait, you tell him." Edmund said and then pointed it out, "Krum hasn't been happy with how close I am to Harry, I heard him complain to his headmaster about it. Something about collaboration, more like some family discussion."

"If people are going to start complaining then I'm going to the greenhouse and grab those earmuffs against mandrakes." Susan hated hearing people complain about things out of their reach. She'd always sarcastically say, 'Well, I'll see what I can do' and the awkward silence after that just deterred people away.

Edmund just chuckled and headed down the many floors. Sometimes, he had to wait for a stair to settle and move again before he could go down another floor. Sure, floating rotating staircases are cool when you see it for the first time, but gods, now that he had gotten used to it, it was just getting on his nerves.

He made a quick stop before arriving late to the Great Hall. His neck was still wet and it dripped down his dry sweater vest. Edmund grabbed his want and stopped right out the entrance of the Great Hall and quickly casted a spell to take the water out of his tie.

He stepped between the tables of Hufflepuff and Slytherin as he walked down near the front and sat down next to Susan by the Hufflepuff tables. Along the way, he nodded at Fleur and wished her a good morning. Despite Fleur being competition, Edmund would rather see her in the light of a friend-foe, the word 'frenemy' just sounds so wrong to describe such a graceful person with.

Edmund kept his eyes on Nevile and not Hermione who sat behind him by the Ravenclaw table between Cho and Padma. He reached out and grabbed a few things for breakfast and chewed on a piece of croissant. "Good morning Neville." He hummed, "How were the greenhouses?" He asked.

He set a book down that he had gotten from his quick stop in the library. Edmund scribbled down on a note and stuck it between a specific page. "Could you slide that in Harry's bag today? We have Herbology together but I'll be pairing up with Susan today, if you don't mind."

"That's fine Edmund, Susan told me what happened." Neville said and leaned closer, as if telling Edmund a secret about him. "Real brave of you admitting all of that." Neville nodded.

Edmund let out an amused breath. "You know, until she actually says something now and doesn't make me wait for a reaction, I will officially just quit."

"That's like saying my cousin Hans would stop sniffing dried herbs." Susan snorted and raised an eyebrow at the two boy's concerned looks. "What, you guys don't have a dried herb sniffer in the family?"

"I barely have a family." Edmund said and held his fist out for Neville to bump. Neville looked like he really didn't want to fist bump that, but reluctantly did it, not wanting to leave Edmund hanging.

Edmund enjoyed his breakfast with Susan and Neville, he'd never let his simple mornings be ruined by a shrieking egg that sings underwater. He was just hoping no-one was mentioning anything about the Golden Egg being stuck in the aquarium.

They all made their way to their classes and Edmund bumped into someone, which hadn't happened in quite some time, like Fleur had said before, most tend to take a step away nowadays. "Oh god, I'm so sorry." He said and picked the books off of the ground. He glanced up and handed it over. "Oh, Daphne, hey." He said casually.

"Hey Edmund." She said, with that ice-queen attitude of hers. "We haven't spoken in quite some time." She stated and looked at him. The look directed at him was as if asking what had happened.

Edmund let out a breath and shrugged, "I think the last time we spoke was, when we still had Lockhart?" He said, his tone a bit vague as he really was unsure of his answer. "Yeah, I think so, you wrote me that-" He pursed his lips and nodded. "Right."

"Right." Daphne nodded and soon Crabbe and Goyle stood behind her, as if acting like her bodyguards. The Slytherin ties so up their neck, Edmund would be worried if they were having some brain damage due to the lack of oxygen. That must explain a lot.

Edmund raised an eyebrow and just nodded at them before heading down the hallway to walk next to Susan. "I just had the weirdest thing happen to me." He said and blinked. Susan looked at him and snorted.

"What, your uncle turned into a werewolf and your father into a dog?" She questioned and Edmund snorted. They were really picking each other's habits.

"You know that's right." Edmund said and got into the Herbology class with Susan.

– – –

The days were starting to come together and there was a quiet understanding that every competitor knew what the Golden Egg was singing about. Quiet, tense looks were shared among them between the rows of bookshelves in the library. Everyday there would be a competitor in there with their hands paging through books concerning aquamarine lives and such.

Edmund didn't get close to Harry, and neither did Harry get close to Edmund. There was a common understanding that they're still family, but also competitors. If there was one thing that the Black-Lupin would know about his cousin was that the boy wonder was determined and is fiercely competitive.

Edmund would know, he spends every quidditch match trying to figure out Harry's playing style, and then he'd have to try and figure out how Harry was improvising so well when Edmund made a plan against him.

On the other hand, Edmund knows that it's just Harry who was trying to survive at every twist and turn thrown at him. They didn't have a vacation because of the Yule Ball, sadly. Edmund didn't get to see his father nor go back to their home at Grimmauld Place.

Edmund even sat outside with a book of spells in his hand when he saw Viktor swim around in the Black Lake. "Hope you don't mind swimming with a giant squid." Edmund said in Bulgarian once the Seeker came up for water.

"That is fairy tale to keep out students of water." He retorted.

Edmund just chuckled and shook his head, "Not a fairy tale, Viktor." He said and stood up. He watched as groups of students left the ground to head into Hogsmeade for a nice butterbeer or some stationary shopping.

When Edmund reached the gates and nodded at Padma as the Ravenclaw left for the charming wizarding town. In the corner of his eyes, he could see the skinny body of Viktor Krum climbing back up the Durmstrang ship.

Edmund then just went about with his day. He remained in the castle, went down to the dungeons, and talked a bit with his uncle Severus. He then went up into the towers and went to speak with Dumbledore, about nothing related to the Triwizard Tournament, or well, a part.

Somehow Rita Skeeter made it her personal mission to go about and bother everyone about the ones chosen to participate in the tournament. The focus, however, was laid onto his cousin. Edmund was glad it wasn't him, but a part felt bad that it was Harry. The guy had gone through so much already.

Slowly, after dinner and not surprisingly, after everyone had to be back from Hogsmeade the Hufflepuff common room was bustling with students again. Everyone wore their cozy muggle clothes.

Edmund himself was warmed up in a wool sweater and some nice comfortable sweatpants. It was when Susan sat down on the arm of Edmund's chair that the boy stood up. "I got it!" He called out and looked around for the nearest prefect.

"Cedric, my favorite prefect ever." Edmund said and dragged Susan over with him. "What is the chance that I can take a dive into the prefect bath?" He asked and held Susan hands up with his in a pleading gesture.

Susan grimaced and pulled her hand away from Edmund's. "Normally I'd say no, but I can see that this is for the tournament." Cedric said and gestured at the two of them to follow after him.

Edmund happily followed after Cedric down to the prefect bathroom while Susan was begrudgingly taken along. "-no, you have to come." Edmund pouted, "I need someone to tell me what spells are good and for the better." He said. "Like, if the task will happen in the Great Lake. I'm not swimming around like a shark." He said, "Sharks don't survive in freshwater unlike in saltwater."

"Okay nerd." Susan snorted and pulled her wrist out of his loose grip. "Fine." She said shortly, "I'll watch you flop around like a fish."

They arrived at the prefect bathroom and Cedric looked at the two of them. "Just, win this task. It's nice to see everyone in high spirits after another win." Cedric said. Edmund knew that Cedric was a bit disappointed about not being Hogwart's champion for the tournament, nor that there was any quidditch to play in his sixth year.

Edmund knew how much Cedric wanted to finish his time at Hogwarts with a bang. Edmund held his fist out to Cedric, "Go Badgers." Edmund said. Cedric had a pleased smile gracing his lips as he connected his fist with Edmund's.

"Go Badgers." Cedric repeated and nodded. "Alright, I just signed in the hallway, so you got thirty minutes to figure your spells out. You mentioned underwater so I recommend the bubble-head charm."

"Would work, but it's too cold." Edmund said and waved as Cedric nodded and left the two of them in the prefect bathroom. The Black-Lupin started to shed his clothes down to his swimming trunks and his undershirt.

"Why are you wearing swimming trunks?" Susan asked in confusion as she unfolded the piece of paper Edmund had pushed in his hands. "How are your arms so hairless?" She gaped.

Edmund raised an eyebrow, "Did you seriously ask why my arms are so hairless?" He repeated the question and just waved it off, both knowing it'd be better not to get into the subject. "I was going to swim around in the Great Lake, yes, I admit it." He said and held his hands up.

"What stopped you, you're still wearing it, I don't see any algae stuck to it either." Susan said and looked at the red swimming trunks. She read the piece of paper while Edmund turned the bath on. "Also, the Great Lake, are you dumb?"

"Viktor was swimming in the Great Lake without any effort when I got there. If I were to jump into the water and show how affected I am by the cold, he'd capitalize on that." Edmund explained. "I had some spells to try out but I had to get Viktor out of the water."

"Why get him out of the water?" Susan asked.

"Unfamiliar waters are dangerous waters." Edmund said. "He's not familiar with anything here. I mean, I saw some maps of the great lake, I know which spots to avoid and such but, more than that I don't really know."

"It's going to be dangerous for you as well, then." Susan said and furrowed her eyebrows at him. Edmund slowly sank into the water and reached out for his wand. "Will you be okay, Ed?" She asked.

"I'm still alive and kicking." He chuckled and got adjusted to the cold water. "Okay, let's start at the top of the list and then we work down?" He slid his hair back and out of his eyes. Holding up the want to himself as he recited the words Susan said and waved his wand.