Pevensies at Hogwarts

Christmas

"Malfoy," Edmund said, a week before Christmas, while they were packing their things to get ready to go home. "Who's Nicholas Flamel?"

Malfoy looked up, startled, confusion evident on his face. Then he realised. "Oh, I keep forgetting about your parents. Nicholas Flamel is a friend of Dumbledore's and he made the Philosopher's Stone, which means he lives forever, essentially. Not many people know about him, of course, but father's very well informed."

Edmund frowned. "Is that not... illegal or something? To cheat death, I mean."

Malfoy shrugged, shouldering one of his bags. "I don't think so, or he'd be locked up by now. Though I suppose it wouldn't be such a secret if it was completely legal."

Edmund nodded and turned back to his trunk, but Malfoy wasn't done. "Why do you ask?" he questioned.

Edmund felt his face heating up. He didn't necessarily want Malfoy to know that he'd heard Hermione Granger mumbling about it as she searched the Library, and overheard her mention it to Potter. "Er... I've just heard a couple of people talk about him lately and wondered who he was."

Malfoy seemed to accept this, and walked out of the dorm to eat some dinner.

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"Susan!" 

Susan saw her mother on the platform and ran into her arms, hugging her tight. "I've missed you!" she exclaimed, and her mother nodded.

"I think Lucy's missed you more than I have," she commented. "She's had no one to talk to, poor girl, what with my job and your father... well, you know how your father is."

At that moment, Peter swooped in and kissed their mother on the cheek. "I'm sorry about Edmund," he said, and Susan huffed in protest. 

"What is there to be sorry for?" their mother asked.

"Oh, well you're a Muggle so you wouldn't really understand," Peter said, ignoring Susan's annoyed shout. "But Edmund's in Slytherin, which is the bad house."

"It is not the bad house," Susan argued. "It's the house for the cunning, not for the evil. Or did you not listen to the Sorting Hat's song?"

"Where is your brother, anyway?" their mother asked, stopping the argument.

Susan stood up on tiptoe and looked around, but she couldn't see him anywhere. Peter tried shouting his name, but there was still no Edmund. Their mother looked around worriedly, and fiddled with her cardigan. 

"Maybe he's at the car?" Susan suggested once the platform was almost empty.

"Probably," Peter sneered. "He probably didn't want his new friends to see his family."

Susan hit Peter around the head. "Will you stop being so judgmental?" she cried. "He's an eleven-year-old boy!"

"I'm actually twelve," said a voice from behind them, and they turned to see Edmund looking very upset. "My birthday was last week, but neither of you remembered."

Susan looked horrified, while Peter only looked slightly bothered, and he opened his mouth to say something, but their mother quickly announced that there was cake waiting for them back home and dragged them out of the station.

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The holidays passed ridiculously fast for Edmund. Despite what he'd said to Malfoy, he really did like his family, and seeing Lucy again made him very happy. She was definitely his favourite sibling, because, although he teased her an awful lot, she was still always nice to him. His father turned up for Christmas Eve and stayed until dinner time on Christmas Day, which was nice because he was usually always at work. For a few days, Edmund was in bliss. There was a lot of chocolate and Turkish delight to be eaten, his parents were happy, he had real friends (even if they were his siblings) and he got lots of nice presents.

"I wish I could stay here instead of going back to Hogwarts," he confessed to his mother the night before they were due to return, as they sat alone in the living room. "I like all the magic and stuff, but I don't have any friends and everyone hates me because I'm in Slytherin, where all the bad people go."

His mother laughed. "Susan told me that Slytherin was for the cunning, which you definitely are. You aren't bad or evil. And, don't worry, I'm sure you'll find loads of friends soon. You've only been there for a couple of terms, there's bound to be someone you can talk to."

He'd pulled a disbelieving face at her then, but a couple of weeks later, when back at Hogwarts, his mother's prophecy came true.

He'd been searching the Library for a book to help with his Potion's essay, and to escape Malfoy for a couple of hours, when he'd accidentally bumped into someone, sending their large load of books skidding across the floor. 

"Oh, sorry!" was Edmund's initial reaction, and he was halfway through helping to collect the peron's things before realising that he was back at Hogwarts and had to uphold his reputation as a Slytherin.

He pushed the rest of the person's books into their general direction, and was about to run off when he saw who it was, and groaned internally. It was Hermione Granger, Gryffindor know-it-all, the most annoying person in the year, and he'd just been nice to her. He had to admit that he had felt sorry for her originally, when she had no friends, but after the troll incident, she was Harry Potter's best friend. 

"It's quite alright," she said, piling her many books on top of one another. When she saw who he was, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Are you Susan Pevensie's brother?" she asked, and Edmund's heart sank.

"Er... yes," he stuttered, not really wanting her to know.

"That's so cool," she said, standing back up. "Susan helps me with some of my homework- not that I really need it, but- oh, I'm sorry," she balanced her books against her left hip and held out her right hand. "I'm Hermione Granger," she greeted, and he tentatively shook her hand.

"I'm Edmund," he said, and she beamed at him. 

"I know!" 

Her name was suddenly called out from the stacks somewhere, and she turned to Edmund, apologetic. "I'm sorry, I have to go," she announced. "I'll see you around?"

It sounded like more of a question than a statement, but she didn't wait around for an answer. Edmund was left with a bemused smile on his face and a strange feeling that he'd just made a real friend.