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To warn, or not to warn

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1st of July 1992, Ed was sitting in front of his piano, playing calmly, and enjoying the tune he produced. After a while, he stopped, he looked at the clock in the room and stood up, he then walked towards his bedroom. He opened his drawer and chose a rather formal clothing, a black suit with a black tie. He looked at himself in the mirror, no longer wearing those tinted glasses, his glowing silver eyes can be seen shining majestically, he’s now 4’11”, just above the average height.

He saw the weather outside, it was raining, the sky was dark, and water poured from the sky, he went back to the living room, and went outside. There, Ashbey was waiting for him, using a black umbrella, Ashbey walked to Ed and said, “Where to Master Ed?”

“Leaky Cauldron Ashbey, I’ll show you the way.” Ed said. After that he entered the car, his suit was a bit wet because of the rain splash, and the car moved. Ed drove through the wet London Streets, it was summer, so the temperature was a bit warm, even when it was raining. 

After a couple of minutes, Ed and Ashbey arrived in front of a shabby pub, Ed got out of the car with Ashbey beside him, covering him with an umbrella.

“I never noticed this pub before…” Ashbey commented.

“It’s a magical enchantment Ashbey, no one will notice it unless told.”

Ashbey just nodded and questioned. “When will I pick you up Master Ed?”

Ed shook his head and replied, “No need, I’ll go home on my own, quite a day this will be.”

Ashbey nodded and handed over the umbrella, “Have a good day Master Ed.” He said goodbye to Ed and entered the car once more.

Ed just stood in front of the pub for a couple of minutes, the rain was still pouring, Ed held the umbrella close to him, so he wouldn't be soaked. He then took a deep breath and entered the Leaky Cauldron. The pub was dark, just like last time, he saw a couple of old customers, he scanned the place more and saw her, Narcissa Malfoy, with his son Draco Malfoy sitting in the corner of the pub. He walked to them and greeted them.

“Good afternoon Aunt Narcissa.” Said Ed with a small bow.

Narcissa eyed Ed for a second before she greeted back.

“Good afternoon Edgart, although I wouldn’t say that this is good, we’re going to a funeral after all.” She said with a smile.

Ed just nodded, “I suppose you’re right.” Then he turned to Draco and greeted him quickly.

“Hello Draco.” Said Ed, while the blonde boy just nodded.

“So,” continued Ed, “Shall we get going? Or do we wait for someone else? I noticed uncle isn’t here.”

“He's quite… busy at the moment.” Narcissa said weakly.

“Some son-in-law he is…” Ed murmured with disgust.

Narcissa just sighed hearing Ed’s murmur. Then Ed asked again,

“Does Aunt Andromeda come?”

Narcissa just frowned at the mention of her sister’s name, “I didn’t send her a letter, she was disowned after all.”

“Disowned or not, he was still her father, at least be there in his funeral.”

Narcissa eyed Ed for a few seconds, then relented and sighed, “Very well, I’ll send her a letter, we will wait for her here”

“Tell her I want to meet her also, it can't hurt to know every family you have.” Ed shrugged and sat beside Draco.

Narcissa left to send the letter, leaving Ed and Draco alone, it was awkward for a minute, Ed eyed Draco, then spoke,

“What is the situation at home Draco?” Ed asked randomly.

Draco gave Ed a strange look and said, “Fine.”

“Really?” Ed questioned. “No tension because you failed to befriend Harry Potter? What will he do this year? Try to kick Dumbledore out of Hogwarts?”

At the mentioned of Harry’s name and the plan, Draco stiffened, he looked at Ed suspiciously, but before he could say anything, Ed continued,

“I’ll warn you Draco, you and aunt Narcissa are my blood, so I’ll advise you and your mother to stay away from your father’s plans and schemes, I don’t want to kill my own blood.” Ed warned in a cold tone, Draco just snorted at the statement, “Like you can even kill us.” He mumbled with a mocking tone.

Ed just stood up and chuckled, “I’m going to the loo.” He said while walking away from Draco. A couple of minutes later Narcissa came back, he looked at the table and saw Ed missing.

“Where’s Edgart Draco?” she said.

“Toilet.” He says it as short as possible.

Draco eyed the toilet entrance, and he spoke without breaking eye contact with the door.

“Mother, Aldrich just warned me about staying away with father’s plans, he says about not wanting to kill his own blood,” then snorted again, “Like he even can.”

However, hearing this Narcissa stiffened, she gulped, and asked her son warily, “Draco, are you sure he said that?”

Draco just nodded while breaking eye contact with the door and looked at his mother suspiciously.

“He intends to continue the revenge…” she murmured fearfully. “That’s why he wanted to meet his mother’s family, to tell them to stay away from the eye of the storm.”

She then looked at Draco, and ordered, “Draco, you will need to break away from your father and his friends, slowly, so he won’t notice it, do you understand? and don’t tell your father about what Edgart just said, otherwise he will move more quickly.”

Draco eyed the door again, with a look of suspicion in his eyes, “But why? He’s just a boy from an unknown pureblood family, how can he kill the Malfoys?”

“Just listen to me Draco.” Narcissa said sternly, “I will tell you later why, not now.”

Draco just nodded weakly, then Ed came out of the toilet, he walked to the mother and son pair and asked,

“Did Aunt Andromeda accept the invitation?” Ed asked while smiling.

Narcissa nodded with a poker face, “Yes, she will be here in a couple of minutes.”

“Alone or with her family?”

“Alone, probably doesn’t trust us enough to bring her family.”

“I’m curious, but who else is coming to the funeral?”

Narcissa sighed and said, “No one, all the Blacks have died out, the one remaining male Black is in Azkaban, for family, it’s just us.”

“And the guest?”

“Not much too, I’ve already arranged the guest list, but only a couple of people that were close to my father. And apparently the Minister of Magic wants to pay respect too”

Ed sighed and sat down again. ‘Fucking politics.’ Ed thought. After that they waited for Andromeda Tonks for a couple of minutes while talking about random things. Then a brown-haired woman entered the pub, wearing all black, she scanned the place and saw Narcissa, she walked to them and spoke,

“I’m surprised Cissy, you didn’t even invite me to mother’s funeral, the one that I actually still care about. But now you invited me to my father's funeral, the one I actually hate.” Said the woman.

Narcissa snorted, “I didn’t invite you, our nephew Edgart here requested to invite you.”

Ed then stood up and bowed slightly to Andromeda,

“Hello Aunt Andromeda, it is good to finally meet you. Edgart Aldrich, at your service.” Said Ed while smiling.

“Aldrich?” questioned Andromeda, looking surprised, “Bella had a son? How could I not know that?”

“A lot of pureblood families tried to hide his existence and the history of his family because of fear and shame.” Said Narcissa, “But clearly it didn’t work. If not for the ambiguity for his parents death and his parents placing him in a muggle orphanage, the death eaters would probably already kill him.” She continued, while Draco just listened to his mother confusedly. 

“Wow, I can’t believe Bella actually had a son.” Andromeda said while hugging Ed. “Call me Aunt Dromeda, Edgart”

Ed smiled and said, “Call me Ed Aunt ,Dromeda.”

Andromeda nodded, and Narcissa said, “Well, shall we get going?” while offering her arm to everyone.

Everyone nodded and grabbed her hand. They instantly apparated to a cemetery gate, it was dark and raining, Ed instantly opened his black umbrella, he looked at everyone, Andromeda and Narcissa used an umbrella charm, while Draco stayed close to his mother. He saw the cemetery gate, the gate has a sign that reads, ‘Toujours Pur’

“Let’s go.” Narcissa said. While entering the cemetery. The place was creepy, a lot of Grimm statues were scattered across the cemetery. He saw a couple of names in the gravestones, ‘Lycoris Black’, ‘Regulus Black I’, ‘Orion Black’, and many more. He saw a couple of people gathered in the middle of the cemetery; he saw the minister of magic in his signature green hat standing in front of a grave, talking to the guests.

“Hello Cornelius.” Greeted Narcissa.

“Ah, Narcissa, what took you so long?” said the minister.

“We had to wait for a last-minute guest.” She said while eyeing Andromeda.

Fudge looks at Andromeda and greets her.

“I believe we haven’t met, who are you?”

“Andromeda, Andromeda Tonks.” She said, while just nodding her head,

Fudge nodded, probably realised she’s a nobody so he didn’t bother her any longer.

“Well, let’s get this funeral started shall we?” Narcissa asked rhetorically. Then she walked to a man wearing a wizard robe, she whispered something to him, and the wizard walked to the grave, he gave a pre-made speech about death and something that Ed didn’t hear, Ed was just eyeing the gravestone, ‘Cygnus Black III’ was written on it, and next to it was another Gravestone, ‘Druella Black (nee Rosier)’ was written on it, ‘Must be Grandmother’s grave.’ He thought. After that the speech finished and the body buried, the guests apparated out of the place one by one, leaving only the families.

“Quite a coincidence isn’t it? The moment I want to talk with my grandfather, he died.” Said Ed flatly while looking at the gravestone, umbrella in hand.

Narcissa frowned at the statement, and said, “He died of a muggle disease, we checked it.”

“I know, I just said that it is a coincidence.” Ed said.

“Well, I don’t know why you want to meet him anyway.” Said Andromeda, “He was a cruel man.”

“But family is family Aunt Dromeda.” Said Ed, “Whether or not he’s cruel or not I need to warn him.”

Andromeda frowned, and said, “Warn?”

“So, I was right.” Narcissa said flatly, “Your intention to meet us all is to warn you to stay away from your path.”

“Path?” Andromeda asked, she then realised something and was shocked, “You want to continue the revenge?”

Ed just smiled at the question, he scanned the entire cemetery as if looking for something, and he found it, a gravestone, with an owl symbol on it, just like the symbol on the back of his hand, he walked to the grave and stood in front of it.

‘ARISANNA ERYL ALDRICH’

‘A DAUGHTER, A SISTER, A FRIEND’

And beside the word ‘friend’ there was another rough carving that is poorly carved that read, ‘, AN AUNT’

“Arisanna…” Andromeda murmured.

Ed then looked down, he read the Epitaph loudly,

“May the Guardian of Knowledge Guide her”

“And May the Blood Debt be paid in full.”

The place went silent, leaving only the sound of the rain.

“Whose grave is this mother?” whispered Draco to his mother.

“Hush now Draco, I will tell you later.” Said Narcissa hurriedly, her face looking grim.

“Ask your father Draco, ask who Arisanna Aldrich was. You’ll get the answer for sure.” Said Ed with a tone of disgust and sarcasm.

Narcissa’s face went gloomier at the mention of Draco’s father, while Draco was even more confused.

Ed then held out his hand, his palm was open, then an ice flower was conjured on top of it, he put the flower on top of the gravestone.

Draco was shocked for a second because Ed had used magic outside of school, but before he could say anything, Ed explained.

“There’s two adult witches here and a minor wizard, the ministry can’t differentiate whose magic it is, so it went unnoticed.” Said Ed while not looking away from the gravestone.

“I have warned you all, especially you Aunt Narcissa, whose Husband is a death eater, so don’t blame me for anything if you didn’t listen to it.” Ed said in a cold tone. Narcissa nodded weakly, while Draco looked confused as ever.

 “Aunt Dromeda, I’ll see you around, I look forward to seeing my other cousin,” he said while smiling. Andromeda just smiled back, she knows he can’t be stopped anymore, the blood debt must be paid in full. Then she apparated, leaving only the Malfoys and Ed.

Ed turned to Narcissa again and spoke, “Aunt Narcissa, does grandmother have a portrait? If she has, I would like to see her.”

Narcissa eyed Ed intently for a moment before responding, “She has, but I can’t take you right now, the house is undergoing some changes right now because of Father’s death, Sirius is the last living male member in the Black Family now, so it needs to be processed to give it to him first, then I’ll take you there. When it’s ready, I will contact you.”

Ed nodded, “Very well, thank you Aunt Narcissa, for agreeing to my selfish requests.”

Narcissa smiled, “No matter, you’re Bella’s only son, so you are considered family.”

Ed bowed slightly to Narcissa “I will be leaving now Aunt Narcissa, remember my warning as it is my only warning to your family.” Said Ed, then while still bowing, his body turned pitch black and disappeared, leaving the shocked mother and son pair.

The next moment, Ed appeared in front of the Aldrich family tree, he eyed his aunt’s name,

“Gilligan…” he called the owl softly.

The owl appeared behind him, looking at Ed.

“What is a blood debt? I noticed it on Aunt Ari’s Epitaph.”

“It’s an oath that was made by your father, an oath for revenge. He made it in front of the order and yelled it at the death eaters.” Answered Gilligan. “But it’s up to you to complete it, it’s Darius' responsibility, but you can finish it.”

Ed took a deep breath and said, “Then I will make sure of it.”