Chapter Text
“THAT IS A TERRIBLE WAY TO GET OUR ATTENTION!”
“It’s not so bad, is it? I could be dead,” Harry offers as consolation.
Sirius turns red as he struggles to find words to express that that line of thinking does not change the fact that Harry’s Ministry-mandated expulsion from Hogwarts is Not A Good Thing.
Winky had taken Kreacher by the hand and disappeared with a pop to avoid the yelling.
Ed laughs at Harry’s particular brand of naive optimism. “The government is a joke for kicking you out. Thought schools were meant to be separated from the Ministry for a reason.”
“It’s rarely so black and white in reality,” Remus says, as he rereads Harry’s letter with a frown. “Hogwarts is largely unaffected by politics due to Dumbledore.”
Ed snorts, as does Harry.
Remus sighs and sets the parchment aside.
“Alright, historically, there are certain… assumptions… made about particular students due to their House. But these assumptions weren’t necessarily political to start with. They only became that way after Voldemort rose to power and began the war. However, after the war, Dumbledore was one of the biggest supporters of accepting pureblooded students who likely had ties to Voldemort back to Hogwarts right away.”
“Which seems real fucking stupid,” Ed says, “if he had no intention of actually integrating them at all.”
“THAT’S NOT THE IMPORTANT BIT RIGHT NOW IS IT!” Sirius shouts. “HARRY HAS BEEN EXPELLED!”
“So?” Harry shrugs. “Won’t someone do something? Is it even legal to have me expelled? I’m an underaged wizard and the next nearest school would be in France or Germany or something. Hermione would know actually, I should probably ask her.”
“You’re not going to school in Germany,” Remus says firmly. “You don’t speak German.”
“THAT’S, THIS IS, YOU KNOW THAT ISN’T THE ISSUE.”
“Sirius, if you could speak with an indoor voice?” Remus asks, in the way Ed knows he talks to his students. It’s a firm voice that sounds polite, but really isn’t, if you pay attention.
Sirius scrunches his face in annoyance at the tone.
“I hate it when you do that,” he mutters, but he drops his voice to an acceptable volume when he speaks next. “We should be worried though. Hogwarts is safer than most places. Hogwarts also has Dumbledore. Also, Harry needs an education.”
Ed makes a face. “Isn’t Harry as safe here with the Fidelius as he would be at Hogwarts?”
“Technically?” Remus shrugs. “Yes? But we can’t keep Harry here for the rest of his life.”
“Yeah, you can’t keep me here for the rest of my life. It’d just be a bigger cupboard.”
“What does that even mean?”
Harry scratches his neck. Sirius, Remus, and Ed wait (somewhat) patiently as Harry shifts his weight back and forth before speaking.
“At the Dursleys’,” Harry says, slowly. “The cupboard. Under the stairs.”
“What about the cupboard under the stairs,” Ed stamps out, his teeth already clenched.
“I used to live there?”
It’s quiet for a moment as the three of them take in Harry’s words.
And then Ed and Sirius explode.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU USED TO LIVE THERE?”
“ARE YOU FUCKING SER-, I MEAN, FUCK IT, ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS? WHAT THE HECK DOES THAT MEAN?”
“It was my room?”
Sirius and Ed begin shouting all over again while Harry cringes.
“I thought we were talking about me getting kicked out of school!” he yells, trying to change the subject.
Remus is still quiet, but he’s rigid and his eyes are tight with anger.
“Harry.”
The boy turns to face Remus, his breathing a little too quick and shallow. “Er. Yeah?”
“Why didn’t you tell us this sooner?”
Harry blinks, his breathing evening out ever so slightly as he sags with relief. “It’s not like it was important. It was only until I was eleven.”
“ELEVEN!” Sirius roars and Harry flinches.
“Sirius,” Remus reprimands sharply. He turns back to Harry, his voice turning gentle, but firm. “Why wouldn’t it be important? That’s not… no child should live in a cupboard.”
Harry shrugs helplessly. “I just… I figured Hogwarts knew. That McGonagall and Dumbledore knew. But then nothing really changed after the first year back from Hogwarts, so I just thought, hey, maybe this is just how things are and I need to let it go.”
“Why would you think that?” Ed says.
“It was on my letter,” Harry says quietly. Miserably. “My acceptance letter for Hogwarts. On the envelope, it said my name and it had my cupboard written onto it.”
That causes everyone to be quiet again.
Ed tightens his grip on the armrests of his chair.
“So you’d been living in a cupboard for eleven years and no one told you how incredibly fucked up that is?”
Harry shrugs helplessly. “At Hogwarts, it didn’t matter that I had lived in a cupboard, because I had an actual room in the dormitory.”
Ed slaps a hand over his face and drags it down. “Is there anything else fucked up about your life with your abusive relatives that you’d like to tell us about now?”
“Er, no? Maybe. No. Nope. That’s all.”
Sirius scrutinizes Harry’s awkward attempt at a smile. “I doubt that’s everything, but no one is going to force you to talk about it. We’re ready for when you are comfortable enough to tell us on your own.” He takes a deep breath. “This is our family. And family means we support each other and family doesn’t let family suffer alone!”
“So your suggestion is to suffer together?” Ed snorts.
“NO!” Sirius shouts. “You know that’s not what I meant!”
Remus regains control of the situation. “Harry, we love you and we’re here to support you, just like Sirius said. And as I think Ed has said before, trauma is difficult to share and to work through, but whenever you’re ready, we’ll be there for you every step of the way. And you can rely on us, you can rely on your friends. But you don’t need to do it alone.”
It’s reminiscent of the conversations Sirius and Remus have had with Ed, back when he was skeptical about trusting and relying on them more than he should.
Harry tugs the sleeves of his sweater over his hands and focuses on his socks as he kicks his legs black and forth. He twists the material of his sleeve as he does.
“Harry,” Sirius says.
His godson looks up at him, hesitant. He bites down on his lip. “Yeah?”
“You’re not alone, you know that, right?”
“I do,” Harry replies, still twisting his sleeve between two fingers. “And I don’t not trust you guys. I just… it’s a lot. It’s my life. And to me, it was just the way things are. I mean, it was just the way things were. And I’m super happy it’s not like that anymore, but, but, yeah. Yeah, it’s hard to talk about.”
Sirius’ expression softens as he gets up to give Harry a tight hug. “I know. I know it’s hard.” He closes his eyes. “I’m sorry you felt like you were alone for that.”
Ed gestures at Remus to join in, before slipping out.
Whatever else Sirius and Remus have to say to Harry, it should be private.
Sirius and Remus know Harry’s parents and belong to his world. They’re his guardians and while Ed is beyond grateful to them both for sort of taking him in, they’re not his in the way that they’re Harry’s.
Ed doesn’t know if Sirius has already told Harry about his own fucked up family, but he thinks he already has. He knows Remus talks to Harry sometimes about his parents and why his Patronus being a stag is all too relevant.
And once a month, Harry and Ed are left to their own devices while Sirius and Remus navigate the stress of the full moon - he’ll make the time to talk to him then.
* * * * *
Sirius, Remus, and Harry had later called Ed back to eat supper together and the conversation had returned somewhat to Harry’s expulsion, only to be interrupted by an urgent letter from Hogwarts stating that Harry Potter is still a student until further notice.
This was then followed by a flood of letters from Harry’s friends, from Dumbledore personally, and from the Department of Magical Education, as well as a copy of The Daily Prophet that has an obvious lack of any information on the dementor attack or Harry’s pending expulsion.
And now, Sirius, Remus, and Ed were sitting in an emergency Order meeting, having had Hermione and Ron discreetly ask Harry to come hang out and take his mind off things.
“I was recently informed by the Ministry of Magic that Harry Potter has been expelled for illegal use of underage magic in the presence of Muggles,” Dumbledore says, first thing.
“Wow, no way,” Ed mutters.
Ginny and Neville shoot him looks that say, “really?”, without needing a single word.
“I have already sent Harry a letter to explain I’ve appealed to the Wizengamot and they’ve decided to allow him a hearing. It is vital, at this time, to gain a better understanding of what exactly happened that night.”
He looks to Sirius, Remus, and Ed.
“So,” Dumbledore says, “why has Harry been accused of underage magic?”
“Because he used underage magic,” Ed retorts.
Remus pinches the bridge of his nose. “Ed,” he sighs and Ed concedes, lifting his hands in defense.
“Fine, fine! I wasn’t kidding, he did use magic. But he cast a Patronus, because we were attacked by dementors on our way home.”
That catches everyone’s attention.
“Dementors?” Jones says. “Dementors don’t patrol Muggle neighborhoods.”
“Such a funny coincidence, then, isn’t it, that Harry Potter, witness to Ri-, Voldemort’s return, is suddenly, unbelievably attacked by Ministry-controlled entities?”
His slip up doesn’t go unnoticed by Dumbledore, but he ignores it. Or at least, he tries to.
“Smart arse,” Jones mutters, but her expression holds no resentment.
“What are we going to do?”
It’s not lost on the members of the Order that the timing of the attack and subsequent expulsion is suspicious.
Given that Ed has illegally apparated multiple times and has yet to receive so much as a slap on the wrist, he’s almost certain the Ministry gives no shits about who is using magic underage, unless it serves their own agenda, like underage Muggle-born wizards practicing during the summer or Harry Potter defending himself against dementors that shouldn’t have even been near him in the first place.
(He’s never heard of a pureblood wizard being accused of underage magic.)
“I am confident that the Wizengamot will rule in Harry’s favor. I am not worried about his future at Hogwarts. However, it is certainly alarming that dementors are most certainly being used by Voldemort without the Ministry realizing.”
“There’s no telling how deep his influence goes,” Moody states, grimly. “We’re outnumbered.”
“Then we need to recruit more people,” George says.
“It’s not that easy,” Tonks says. “We’re not exactly able to hand out flyers.”
“Well, yes, that’d be a terrible way to gain members for a secret Order,” George says wryly. “But there are easy ways to find out who people really support. Y’know, subtle.”
“You’re not wrong,” Tonks says, thinking it over. “We’d have to be careful, though. In the Ministry, I’m almost certain believing in Voldemort’s return will get you fired, at the very least.”
“Shouldn’t we consider other options too? It’s not like Ministry officials are the only useful people around,” Ed says.
“And who would you suggest?” Moody says, narrowing his biological eye at Ed.
“Uh, the goblins, for one? They’re well-informed, they’re unaffiliated and mostly neutral, and they’re loyal.”
Bill Weasley grimaces. “While that may be true, it’d be terribly difficult to convince them. They’re distrusting of wizards.”
“Yeah, for good reason,” Ed replies. “It’s not like they’ve been treated well by wizards ever.”
“It’s an interesting point,” Moody interrupts, “but it’s unrealistic and it’d be a waste of resources.”
“It’s only a waste if we don’t try. Like George said, we’re low on people willing to confront Voldemort and what he stands for. You don’t think the goblins wouldn’t want to fight against him? Who’s to say Voldemort doesn’t massacre the Muggle-borns and then decide a new group is less than and undeserving?”
Ed rolls the ends of his hair between his fingers as he thinks. “And on that note, why not appeal to the house elves? They’re powerful, they’re kind, and they don’t deserve to be exploited.”
“Isn’t what we’re asking of them exploitation?” Tonks says, confused. “Asking goblins and house elves to involve themselves in a wizarding war… that sounds like exploitation.”
“It isn’t, because it can be a chance to work together and create change in the long run,” Ed argues. “Wizards have historically refused to consider other magical beings as equals. This could be the opportunity to show them otherwise. And as the Order of the Phoenix, the whole goal is to fight Voldemort and the fucked up things he stands for. So why not include others who he’d look down on too?”
“He’s right,” Jones says, to Ed’s surprise. “The Ministry has been placing increasing restrictions on magical creatures and beings in the last five years. There are talks about increasing those restrictions in the next five. It’s not right. And if they’re willing to fight with us, not for us, then I think we shouldn’t hesitate to recruit them.”
“I agree,” Mr. Weasley says, nodding as he places his hands on the table in front of him. “We have always proposed we were a group promoting societal change. Ed’s suggestion would not only benefit us in our immediate issues with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, but in our long term goals.”
“I can help starting discussions with the goblins,” Bill says. “I’m already well-acquainted with those who work at Gringotts anyhow.”
“We can talk to some of the house elves,” Neville pipes up, gesturing to the rest of the students. “We know most of the Hogwarts ones anyways.”
“It’s a start,” Dumbledore says, at last. “Let us hope it’s enough.”
* * * * *
Sirius and Remus receive a letter, in which Dumbledore requests a meeting regarding “what is likely a sensitive topic”.
They arrive at Hogwarts concerned that Dumbledore has more concerning news on Harry’s wellbeing.
It had already deeply unsettled them both that Dumbledore had willingly left Harry with the Dursleys due to the protection it would afford. It had only made it all that much worse that Dumbledore revealed why he was making such an effort to limit contact with Harry.
All of their worries about their godson are immediately replaced by a new and equally concerning matter when Dumbledore actually explains what he wants to talk about.
“About Edward,” the headmaster begins, only to be quickly interrupted by Sirius.
“We don’t talk about Ed,” he says bluntly. He glances at Remus with wide eyes before continuing. “Er, but, er, what about Ed?”
“I understand you have his trust and I am not asking you to break that trust,” Dumbledore says. He waits for some kind of response from both Sirius and Remus before continuing. “But I would like some honesty in regards to his situation.”
“I’m not sure we’re able to tell you much, if we are being honest,” Remus says. “Ed’s highly secretive even to us.”
“Has he told you about his peculiar limbs?”
Remus doesn’t react to the question, but Sirius startles, looking quickly to Remus and then back to Dumbledore with mouth wide open.
“No?”
Remus groans softly. “Sirius…”
“What! I didn’t, I wouldn’t!”
“You didn’t,” Dumbledore states, matter-of-fact. “Mad-Eye did.”
“He what? Ed would never tell a stranger about that.”
“I am under the impression Edward never told Mad-Eye himself.”
Sirius leaps up from his chair. “Are you saying Moody’s peeping on our kid?”
“His eye, Sirius,” Remus reminds him, taking his hand and guiding him to sit again.
The man sits, but he’s scowling now, his arms crossed over his chest as he slouches into his seat.
“Ed’s prosthetics have nothing to do with the quality of his character.”
“I never meant to suggest such a thing. I am merely stating they are highly unusual prosthetics. Mad-Eye described them as ‘particularly Muggle’.”
“Yes, and?”
Dumbledore nods. “And I have personally had a few opportunities to speak with Edward and learn more about his way of thinking and his reasons for doing what he’s done. I have noticed neither of you have ever clarified why Edward is living with you in the first place.”
“Why is that a problem now? He’s been living here since school ended last year,” Sirius replies.
Dumbledore stares at Sirius, face impassive. “How did it happen that Edward came to live with you before even Harry?”
“Erm…”
Sirius trails off, his eyes wandering the room as he drums his fingers against his knee.
“I don’t know. It kind of just… happened.”
“Let’s step back then. How did you meet Edward?”
Remus squeezes Sirius’ hand.
“Why are you asking these things now? You did not concern yourself with Edward when the Order meetings started again.”
“Because I believe Harry is in danger. He has been openly attacked by dementors, he is being discredited by the Ministry as attention-seeking and untrustworthy, and he is likely being watched by Voldemort as we speak.”
“You’ve explained this before. What does that have to do with Ed?”
“Can you say with certainty that Edward is reliable? That he is not potentially a threat?”
Sirius slams a hand down. Remus tenses in his seat.
“We respect you and we trust you,” Sirius says harshly. “But we won’t tolerate what you’re suggesting.”
“Even when he knows too much? You haven’t explained how you met nor do I see you attempting to do so.”
“We met in Hogsmeade, because he went out looking for me,” Sirius admits stiffly, his eyes diverted.
“And he just happened to find you? A third year student, a transfer who had no ties to Hogwarts or the UK at all months prior?”
“He was clearly on our side even then! He’d been looking for me because he thought I was a Death Eater who wanted to kill Harry!”
“That doesn’t really make this any better,” Remus says.
Sirius jumps out of his seat to start pacing. “But isn’t it? He’s never been a threat to anyone!”
“We have multiple witnesses who’ve stated he’s physically assaulted several Death Eaters,” Dumbledore points out.
“That’s kind of a plus!” Sirius says. “He’s only really a threat to people who deserve it!”
“And you trust that he can reliably tell who deserves it and who doesn’t?”
“Yes,” Sirius says, adamant. He’s still standing, but he’s stopped moving and he’s facing Dumbledore with his chin tilted up slightly. “Ed is a good kid. He pretends he’s tough and he never listens to reason and he thinks he’s an adult, but he’s a kid and he’s a good one, even though his life has been hard.”
Dumbledore takes a moment to regard them both, before changing the topic. “I have already told you my reasoning for distancing myself from Harry at this point in time.”
How could they forget it?
Dumbledore had taken them aside earlier in the summer and told them precisely what he intended for Harry’s future. This had been a terse conversation explaining not only the concepts of Horcruxes, but also what had likely happened to Harry the night that Voldemort had tried to kill him.
It had been a lot.
Almost too much, quite frankly, and Sirius and Remus had both had their share of mental breakdowns panicking over the future of their friends’ child.
It’s still hard to think about, to stomach the idea of it. But they have to keep moving forward, to continue with life with the weight of that knowledge.
“And we’ve been understanding of those reasons and have supported you in that,” Remus reminds Dumbledore, “to a reasonable extent.”
They’d refused to consider leaving Harry with the Dursleys, though.
“I have reason to believe Voldemort is also keeping an eye on Edward,” the headmaster says. “And Edward is now often in close proximity to Harry.”
“So?”
“It is just something I would like you both to keep in mind. I know many trust Edward and I can understand what they see in him that makes him so trustworthy. But I just want you both, in particular, to remain wary.”
Sirius stands up, tugging Remus to follow his lead.
“Thank you for your concern, but it’s unnecessary. Ed isn’t that kind of person.”
Dumbledore smiles sadly. “And what kind of person is he?”
Sirius stops.
“Goodbye, Dumbledore.”
He opens the door, ignoring the headmaster’s question and pulling Remus out after him. He doesn’t say anything, not until they get home and Sirius brings him to their room and shuts the door.
“I need to talk to you.”
* * * * *
“What is it?”
Remus watches Sirius pacing around their bedroom, braiding his hair as he mutters to himself.
“I just realized we’ve never talked about Ed.”
“We talk about Ed all the time?”
Sirius shakes his head. “Not like that, Moony. Yes, we’ve talked about his attempts to repress trauma and the likelihood that he grew up in a cult. We haven’t ever talked about when we first met.”
“You and me?”
“No! Me and Ed!”
“You told Dumbledore he went out looking for you when you were still an escaped convict.”
“Well, yeah, and I wasn’t lying about that, but I did lie about something else.”
Dread pools in Remus’ stomach.
“What is it?”
“Ed found me when I was a dog.”
Remus brings both hands up to his face in horror. “And you didn’t think to mention this to me sooner?!”
“Well, no! By the time we met up again, I wasn’t really thinking about it! I didn’t even know his bloody name at the time!”
“Oh Merlin. Merlin and fucking Morgana, how did he know that? How did he know where to find you and how did he bloody know you were an Animagus?”
Sirius throws his hands up in the air. “I don’t know! How does Ed know anything? He literally knows everything and just doesn’t tell anyone!”
Remus collapses onto the edge of the bed as Sirius continues to pace while wringing his hands.
“Do you, do you think he’s a Death Eater?”
“Are you serious?”
“I am Sirius! I’m serious, too!”
“He’s not a Death Eater, Padfoot! For Merlin’s sake, this doesn’t change anything. He’s still the same kid who caught Peter, who helped you clear your name, and who made it possible for Harry to leave the Dursleys behind in the first place.”
“I know,” Sirius says. He yanks his fingers through his hair, undoing his braid, only to start all over again with fumbling fingers. “I know! I just, I think, doesn’t it scare you? Ed is sixteen, maybe seventeen, and he’s out there knowing stuff I don’t know how he knows and actually doing stuff about it! He kidnapped who he thought was an escaped murderer! He’s punched Death Eaters and never told us! He came back home without an arm and it originally never crossed his mind to tell us he lost it!”
Remus sags where he sits. “Of course it scares me. All of it scares me. But if we push him now, he’s going to shut down and I’m more scared of what he’ll do when he gets scared. He only gets scared when it comes to his own life. When he’s seen a boggart. When we pry about his life before Hogwarts.”
“So we do nothing? We let this kid into our lives and solve our stupid problems and just pretend he’s not going out actively looking for trouble? We know what Voldemort did to him at the graveyard. Harry made that perfectly clear! But Ed has never talked about it.”
“What do you suggest? That we interrogate him, like the headmaster obviously wants us to do? To exploit the trust he’s put in us so far to find out answers that won’t change anything?”
“I don’t know, but wouldn’t anything be better than this?”
“Would it? Do you think those answers would do anything other than make us more afraid for him?”
Remus extends a hand out to Sirius, who holds it gratefully and sits down next to him on the bed. He leans against his partner, his head pressed against Remus’ shoulder.
“No, it wouldn’t.”
“Exactly. I don’t like it. I know you don’t either. But we already trust him with our home and with our family. We even include him in it. Asking him those things now would make all of that meaningless.”
“Are we bad parents?”
Remus snorts. “We’re barely functional adults, Sirius. We hardly classify as parents, at least not to Ed.”
Sirius squeezes Remus’ hand. “We’re Harry’s parents and we’re not doing so great there either.”
“We’re trying.”
“Lily and James would know how to help him,” Sirius says quietly, turning his head towards Remus’ neck so that his words are muffled.
This is by no means a new topic of conversation. They talk about Harry every night, about the life he’s been robbed of and about the future that is depending on him.
“I know,” Remus sighs. “And they’d probably know what to do about Ed, too.”
They don’t say much else.
They sit, propped up against each other, and take comfort in each other’s presence.
* * * * *
Sirius, as Harry’s legal guardian, is allowed to escort Harry to his hearing. Remus, as Harry’s unofficial guardian on paper, gets to sit on an uncomfortable wooden bench placed along the Ministry hallways while he waits for the hearing to end.
Ed comes along as Remus’ emotional support animal and as Harry’s friend.
The hearing is long and when you’re sitting on the other side of brick wall, waiting for the actual thing to be over, it is all the more nerve-wracking and boring.
Ed tries to distract Remus with complicated technical questions on the application of defense spells. It does the trick somewhat, but they both know it’s not what they’re really thinking about.
When the door opens one long hour later, Harry and Sirius walk out, relaxed and smiling.
“What’s the verdict?”
Harry grins. “I’m still a Hogwarts student!”
Dumbledore had defended Harry and had convinced the Wizengamot to allow him back to Hogwarts in the fall.
Ed doesn’t expect any different. It would be too obvious if the Ministry banned the student who announced Riddle’s return to the world for something as small as a single spell in a dark Muggle neighborhood with no Muggle witnesses.
It was already unbelievable that the Ministry had attempted to pull this stunt in the first place.
To expel Harry Potter, one of the most famous wizards in Great Britain and witness to Voldemort’s alleged return to power.
“Alleged” only in the eyes of the Ministry and those who refused to address the potential reality of another war, whether optimistically or out of delusion.
Ed knows this is just the beginning, but he isn’t prepared for what happens next.
But for that day, Ed casts the thought aside as he, Sirius, Remus, and Harry celebrate the fact that Harry has been cleared of all charges.
* * * * *
Rita Skeeter returns to journalism with an article on Edward Elric, the second Hogwarts champion who went mostly unnoticed for the duration of the Tournament.
Hermione and Luna are fuming.
Actually, all of Ed’s friends are fuming, including Sirius and Remus.
As much as Ed doesn’t like it, she did technically stick to her end of the deal: she only wrote factual information.
It just so happens that that factual information includes his lack of existence prior to his third year transfer to Hogwarts, his unlikeable and abrasive personality, and his insistence on wearing gloves no matter what the weather.
Combined with seemingly innocent statements and leading questions, Skeeter has masterfully implied that Edward Elric is a Death Eater without ever once outright suggesting it.
He’s almost impressed she’s managed to so effectively ruin his progress in about one thousand words.
“What are we going to do about this?” Blaise says.
“Ignore it?” Ed suggests.
“We can’t ignore this, we should report her! She went back on her word,” Hermione scowls.
“Technically, she’s only written the truth. And she even has photos and witness statements to back it up,” Ed points out. “I don’t like it, in fact, I fucking hate it, but she’s kind of got us. Or at least, got me. I can’t accuse her of being an Animagus, and neither can any of you, because if we did do that, it’s just going to look like I really am a Death Eater and I’m attempting to silence her. Any of you doing it would make it look like I brainwashed you guys and you’re attempting to protect me without knowing any better. So, we’re going to have to let this go.”
“What’s to stop her from writing her old rubbish then?” Ron asks.
“Nothing, really. But if she were to go back to her gossip column, she’d lose any momentum she’s built with this. And at that point, I don’t think anyone would find it weird if someone anonymously reported her for gaining illegal and unethical access to information.”
Ed rubs his eyes.
“Unfortunately, at this point, she’s only included information that is widely available. She’s just also managed to piece it together in a way that makes me sound incredibly suspicious.”
Luna speaks up. “It’s a smart move, too. She’s not focusing on Harry, who is already the focus of every article published now. She shifted the focus to Fullmetal, during a time where everyone’s feeling uncertain anyway, and emphasized all the things about him that could make a person suspicious. But she’s allowed to do that, because by being in the Tournament, Fullmetal is no longer protected as a private citizen.”
“It’s outrageous,” Fred says, shaking his head. “We can’t just do nothing.”
“But we have to,” Neville says.
“Because Ed can’t prove he’s not a Death Eater,” Blaise says, staring pointedly at Ed’s gloved hands.
“It’s the left arm, isn’t it?” George suggests hopefully.
Draco, Vincent, and Greg exchange meaningful looks. They have some sort of unspoken conversation while Fred and George argue about the likelihood of rumors dying down if Ed were to reveal only one typical, flesh-and-blood arm.
“It’s… it’s not always the left,” Draco answers quietly. “It, it could, it can be on the right, too.”
There’s a lot that goes unsaid with Draco’s response and each of them are aware of it.
Ed moves the conversation along before anyone can dwell on it for too long. “Well, I’m just fucked then, aren’t I?”
“I mean, you don’t need to prove yourself to anyone,” Harry protests, “and it’s not like everyone believes me right now either.”
“Yeah, but being called attention-seeking and delusional is one thing, being a Death Eater is a war crime.”
“You’re too young to be a Death Eater,” Neville tries to argue.
“That’s not going to stop anyone from believing that.”
“You’re a Hufflepuff,” Blaise says. “As unfortunate as House stereotypes are, that alone might be enough to protect you from any accusations.”
“It’s true,” Vincent grunts. “It’s almost funny.”
“It’s not even that I can’t prove it,” Ed says. “I could show everyone both of my arms.”
“That’s a bad idea,” Draco says, shaking his head. “People are going to assume even worse things about you, because they’ve never seen things like, like your other arm, before.”
Ed shrugs. “It’s just an arm.”
“Not to them,” Draco says. He shifts uncomfortably under everyone else’s stares. “Things that are new and weird make wizards scared. Why do you think we still use candles when Muggles don’t?”
“But why would they be scared?” Hermione asks. Her face is twisted in confusion and frustration.
“Because purebloods worry that magic will become obsolete,” Blaise answers and the other Slytherins murmur in agreement. Even the Weasley children nod, hesitantly.
“It’s our lifestyle and our culture,” George says. “No one wants to lose that. It’s what… well, it’s what made Voldemort’s cause so powerful. Back in the war. People were scared. People are still scared.”
The students grow quiet at that.
“Maybe this is a talk for another time,” Luna suggests lightly. Her smile is tight and slightly strained, but Ed understands her reasoning.
“For next time,” Pansy agrees easily. She flashes a smile at Luna, before quickly changing the topic. “Have any of you signed up for Muggle Studies this year?”
They all stare blankly at her.
“No,” Ed says, at last, “did you?”
“No,” Pansy says, “that’s the weird part. In my required reading for this year, I’ve been assigned a text on Muggle life.”
“Actually,” Neville says, “I noticed that too. And I’ve never taken Muggle studies before.”
“That’s odd,” Hermione says. “Maybe they’re changing the requirements this year?”
“You guys have already read your supply list?” Ginny says, confused.
“You haven’t?”
Conversation about the upcoming school year flows naturally after that and their earlier conversation is all but forgotten. Not by Ed, who thinks about it nonstop even as he discusses his classes and OWLs with his friends.
He has far more to think about than he’d originally thought.