He is that fallen lance that lies as hurled,

That lies unlifted now, come dew, come rust,

But still lies pointed as it plowed the dust.

If we who sight along it round the world,

See nothing worthy to have been its mark,

It is because like men we look too near,

Forgetting that as fitted to the sphere,

Our missiles always make too short an arc.

They fall, they rip the grass, they intersect

The curve of earth, and striking, break their own;

They make us cringe for metal-point on stone.

But this we know, the obstacle that checked

And tripped the body, shot the spirit on

Further than target ever showed or shone.

 

By Robert Frost

 

~~~~

 

“W-What?” Harry was surprised and scared at the same time, one of his best friends just told him to die… what is happening right now?

“What are you saying Hermione?” Ron questioned as he frowned. “Why does Harry have to die?”

“Let me explain…” Hermione murmured. “I can’t tell you much now because your mind can be easily read right now, so let me get this straight Harry, there’s a prophecy out there, that says that you and Voldemort can’t live at the same time, and one of you will have to die by the other.”

“A- A prophecy?”

Hermione just hummed weakly.

“S-So what does that have to do with me dying?” Harry questioned softly, still a bit shocked. “You said that one of us will have to die, if you told me to die, that means you’re supporting Voldemort?”

“No, I’m not supporting Voldemort, Harry.” Hermione hurriedly said. “But what I mean that you must die… is that something is inside you Harry, and that ‘something’ must die in order to kill Voldemort…”

“Something?” Harry was quite scared right now.

“You never thought about what that scar could be, are you?” Hermione questioned. “In order to kill that ‘something’, you must die…”

“So all these years… you knew I was going to die?” Harry questioned weakly, he felt betrayed.

“No…” Hermione said. “We… We have a way to kill that ‘something’ without actually killing you.”

“You do?”

She hummed. “But in order to do that… Voldemort needs to be resurrected using your blood…”

“What does it have to do with Harry dying? Why do we need to resurrect You-Know-Who?” Ron questioned rather defensively.

“Calm down Ron…” Hermione mumbled. “I’ll explain…”

“Then explain!”

“Well Harry… Do you know why you’re not allowed to leave the Dursleys even though Sirius is already free?”

“W-Well, Dumbledore said something about protection magic… but I don’t really know the details…”

“That’s the key Harry, if this plan works, you can go live with Sirius next summer.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Then I’m listening.”

“Okay… There’s a traitor among us Harry, who worked for the dark lord, I won’t tell you who, otherwise you’d do something stupid. His plan is to drag you to Voldemort’s father's grave, and to resurrect him there with your blood…”

“And?”

“The thing is Harry, you remember that Quirrell can’t touch you during your first year?”

“Yeah…”

“He wants to use your blood so that he could touch you… but that would be his undoing. The protection magic your mother gave you is in your blood, so if Voldemort used your blood for his resurrection, the protection will stuck with him, so after that, if he wants to kill you, he can’t because of the protection magic, but instead, he’d kill that ‘something’ inside you…”

“I- I don’t understand what are you saying right now Hermione…”

“Trust me Harry, I know it’s confusing, sometimes I don’t get it also, but it should work.”

“That’s rather convincing Hermione if you’re also confused…” Harry said sarcastically.

“If you don’t trust me, trust Ed.”

“Ah yes, that’s even more convincing.” Harry said sarcastically again.

“Please Harry…”

Harry was silent after that. Then, he spoke. “Are you sure that I will live after that?”

“I’m sure.”

“Then… Then I’ll trust you Hermione… If what you said is true, then it’s better than nothing.”

Hermione sighed in relief. “I’m sorry if I hid it for so long Harry… it’s just… if the wrong people read your mind… it’d be bad.”

“How do I prevent that then?” Harry questioned quietly.

Ed, who was quiet all this time, suddenly grabbed his bag and pulled out a necklace. “Here, this should guard you from amateur Legillimens.”

“Thanks I guess…” Harry murmured. “What about Ron? Why did he enter?”

Hermione then suddenly sharply looked at Ed, which made the boy gulp. “Well, I’m the one who put his name in the goblet.”

“WHAT!?” Ron shrieked. “ARE YOU MAD?! YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!”

“No, you said you want to enter.” Ed said with a deadpan look. “So I gave you a chance.”

Ron instantly calmed down a bit. “W-Well…”

“What? You constantly talked about wanting to get in.” Ed tried to defend himself. “Now you want to step down? What a pus-”

“Language!” Hermione hissed, seemingly knowing what Ed would say.

“I’m not a coward.” Ron grumbled. “Fine, I’ll do it.” he mumbled.

“What?” Ed smirked.

“I’ll do it!” Ron roared.

Ed chuckled. “Well, good luck to you.”

Ed then looked at Hermione, who was looking at him like she was about to lash out at him. “R-Right, I’ll send Hermione off to bed, you two sleep first.”

Hermione and Ed then exited the room, and walked towards the girls’ dorm room. When they passed the common room, everyone was still talking and celebrating, some even snogged in the corner of the room.

“Really? You’re going to use that excuse for him?” Hermione suddenly grumbled beside Ed.

“What? You want to tell him that I made him enter so he could fail and save a life?”

“W-Well, no… but at least be somewhat honest about it…”

“I am honest, one of the considerations is that he wants to enter.”

Hermione just sighed. “Fine, whatever…” she grumbled. “You WILL help me train them, understand?”

“Yes Ma’am.” Ed chuckled.

Hermione just hummed and leaned in for a kiss.

Both of them had a quick kiss, hidden from everyone, which made Hermione blushed. “Good night.”

“Good night.”

—

Over the next two weeks, Harry had become a bit distant towards Ed and Hermione, well, not that Ed ever really got close to those two, but still, Hermione was a bit sad over that.

Even though they were a bit distant, the two were taking ‘lessons’ with Ed and Hermione, the two taught him some basic spells, training it until the two mastered it completely, it was slow progress, but it was progress nonetheless.

But beyond the training, the two kept to themselves for most of the time. Students from other houses started to insult them as cheaters, but it wasn’t as bad as the book, as Draco didn’t really participate in the bullying of Harry anymore.

For Harry, Ed observed that he’s quite calm facing these insults, as he knew what actually was happening right now, and he knew what the end of the road would look like.

For Ron however, even though he’s hated outside Gryffindors, he’s adored inside the red house itself, even though he never disclosed how he entered the tournament, he’s now quite popular amongst his peers.

But friends and family are different.

A couple of days after the news spread out, he received a howler from his mother, scolding him for entering the tournament, Mrs. Weasley even owled Dumbledore and begged him to cancel his status as champion, but alas, the old man can’t do anything.

Ed felt a bit bad for Mrs. Weasley, as her son is now facing a rather serious threat that even the son himself didn’t know, but at least he’s training.

When it’s the 13th of November, Harry and Ron were called to do the wand weighing ceremony, Ed obviously can’t see the ceremony, as he wasn’t the champion, and it was Snape’s class as well…

But when those two came back from the ceremony, Harry said that he met Skeeter, and he said that she was a bit forceful in her interview. Meanwhile, Harry also said that Ron can’t say a thing because of Viktor and Fleur in the room…

About A week later, in the morning of Hogsmeade weekend, the article about Harry was published.

Hermione was at the long table reading the article when Ed came in with Harry and Ron. As soon as the three entered the great hall, everyone was looking at them, making Harry and Ron confused.

“Good morning.” Ed greeted the serious looking brown haired girl sitting on the table.

“Morning.” She answered without looking at Ed. “Look at this.” she continued as she gave the newspaper to Ed.

Ed grabbed the newspaper and read the article on the front page. It was about Harry’s life…

“Nothing’s changed really.” Ed shrugged.

“Exactly.” She nodded. “Even you know… my part…”

Ed hummed. “Colin!” He called the boy who likes photography.

“Hello Ed!” Colin greeted the boy. “Need anything for me?”

“What exactly did you tell Skeeter?”

“Ooh.” Colin hummed. “I told her that Harry is friends with Ron and Hermione…”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it…”

“Right… thank you Colin.” Ed then gave the newspaper to Harry himself, at first, he was confused, but then he paled when he finished reading the article.

“B-But… I didn’t say a lot of these things!” Harry exclaimed.

“We know Harry…” Hermione said. “Skeeter is always like that.”

“Let me see.” Ron looked at the newspaper and read it.

He then laughed when he read a paragraph of the article. “Look at this “I suppose I get my strength from my parents. I know they’d be very proud of me if they could see me now. . . . Yes, sometimes at night I still cry about them, I’m not ashamed to admit it. . . . I know nothing will hurt me during the tournament, because they’re watching over me...”  did you really say that?”

“Of course not!” Harry snorted.

“And this.” Ron continued to laugh. “”Harry has at last found love at Hogwarts. His close friend, Colin Creevey, says that Harry is rarely seen out of the company of one Hermione Granger, a stunningly pretty Muggle-born girl who, like Harry, is one of the top students in the school.” I thought you liked Cho Harry?”

“Okay, Ron, stop.” Hermione sternly said as she grabbed the newspaper. She then looked at Ed and asked. “You’re going to meet her later?”

Ed hummed. “But I can do that later, are you planning to go with your friends this hogsmeade weekend? Or with me?”

“Well, with you is always the preferred choice, but I’ll go with Parvati and Lavender this weekend...”

“Okay then, you’ll go with your friends, and I’ll go-”

But before Ed could say anything more, two girls from Beauxbatons suddenly walked up to the group.

“Hello Ed!” said a little girl, it was Gabrielle.

“Well, Hello Gabrielle, what can I do for you?” Ed smiled as he looked at the little girl.

“Well, Gabrielle and I were wondering if you would like to accompany us to Hogsmeade.” Fleur was the one who answered it. “We need a ‘guide’ after all…”

“Okay, sure.” Ed shrugged.

“So, a date?” Fleur teased.

“Fleur…” Hermione said the girl’s name dangerously with narrowed eyes.

Fleur giggled at Hermione’s reaction. “It’s always fun to provoke you, Hermione.”

Hermione just grumbled and continued to eat her breakfast.

“Right, I’ll see you later.” Ed said goodbye to the two, and they left, leaving the girl alone.

“If I were you, I'd take Fleur instead of Hermione.” Ron said as his drool came out.

“What? Because she’s prettier than me?” Hermione said angrily to Ron.

“W-Well–”

“Okay, okay, stop.” Ed interfered before a fight started. “You finished your breakfast yet Hermione?”

“Yeah, you should eat.” Hermione suggested it to the boy.

“Nah, I’m not in the mood for eating right now, let’s go back to the common room.”

“Okay…” Hermione mumbled as the two walked out of the great hall, leaving Ron and Harry to themselves.

“I’ll see you at Hogsmeade?” Hermione asked softly.

Ed nodded. “Okay, I’ll see you at the three broomsticks.”

Both of them then separated, preparing for a trip to Hogsmeade.