Hey, I'm Gonna Get You Too~ [Tag Ed Once-Ler-Event #1]

Ed was still setting up this classroom when he heard a knock on his door. Well, maybe knocking wasn't the right word. It sounded more like someone was banging on his door with a iron-hard fist. And the voice from the other side of it sounded a little, well, creepy. His older brothers sometimes took on the same sing-song tone when they were trying to find him for a bad reason, usually to beat him up or something. He remembered hiding under his bed, or stuffing himself in a closet and hoping they wouldn't find him as they would called out "Eddy, Eddyyyyyyy, where are you?" "Come on, Eddy, we just wanna play a game." Ed shook his head, getting the voices out of his head. Why did his mind go back to his childhood so often? It wasn't good for his mental health. "Who's there?" he asked as he stepped out from behind his desk.

Something was wrong. Definitely wrong. The girl's eyes, they weren't the ordinary eyes of a teenage girl. They were cruel, calculating. And it made Ed's heart go cold. He took half a step back, not sure what to do. Sure, she was just a kid, but the way she looked at him made her seem much older, and more terrifying. "Listen, whatever game you're playing at, it's not funny," he said, trying to sound sure of himself. "Just...head back to your common room, Miss...whoever you are."

Blank eyes watched as the man took a step back, her cruel smile growing. He was scared. He knew what was to come, who was rising up in the world to change it for the better. he knew his time was up. At his words she cackled. "But I have a message for you." she said, stepping closer. "I have to spread His message and you're the next to receive it. You should be grateful filthy Mudblood." she said, sneering once again at the man.

The message would be given. She would spread it to all who cross her path. The world would know of His return. "I must spread the message." Lifting up her wand, she cackled before lulling her head to the other side. "You will receive it." There was no room for argument. It will be done.

"Crucio." she hissed out, her voice remained its gravelly self.


(BTW, at some point Greta will join us. Kai asked on mibbit last night and I gave the ok if that's alright)

Ed's eyes narrowed at the word. Mudblood. It was a word he had had to deal with ever since he could remember. His family always tried to act important, carry themselves off that way. But there were always some people who looked down on them, cut them down because of what they were. And boy, did his mother hate it. If she ever heard the word "Mudblood" she nearly exploded every time. There was a reason for that, and it mainly involved Ed's father. "If that's the kind of language you use, then it's a message I don't care to hear," he said, his annoyance giving him enough guts to be defiant. But that didn't last too long. The girl was raising her wand, about to cast a spell. "Stop! Right now!" Ed yelled, fumbling to get out his own wand. But he never had the chance. With that one curse, Ed's body exploded with a white-hot fiery pain that he had never felt before. His body crashed to the floor, but the pain of hitting his head on stone was nothing compared to the pain the Cruciatus Curse was causing him. He could barely see anything, could do nothing except scream and hope somebody would hear.

((That's fine with me. ))

Things had been fairly quiet during the days following the New Year's Ball, and ever since she had re-encountered Edward, the ghostly Ravenclaw had been staying close to the towers, especially the Astronomy one. However, as she flew idly from place to place, she was beginning to sense an upset in the very air of the school. Something was off, very very off. It made her worry for the safety of a particular person, because she could sense very dark magic from whatever was causing the disturbance. And it was heading up the only tower she wished that it wouldn't.

Greta immediately raced to the tower, her eyebrows furrowing as she fought against the broken images and sounds of her past, and the fear that they produced that tried so hard to hinder her. Even her thoughts were turning into that of just one word. Secret. Secret! She knew something horrible was about to happen. She could feel it in her very core, and just as she thought that she could make it in time to prevent it, she heard voices. It immediately caused her to halt, the spell's effects still in place, her throat constricting even more every time she tried to simply call Ed's name. The awful words in the conversation weren't helping, nor was the very scary voice that came from the stranger, or the tone in Edward's voice, that told her that he was scared, despite trying to retain his authority. If this girl, whoever she was, hurt Ed, she'd-

The sudden sound of screaming split the momentarily deafening silence, causing Greta to squeak and retract into the wall. But within a moment, she realized that it was Ed screaming, screaming in the worst pain-filled scream that she'd heard since... s-since... "Secret!" she shrieked compulsively, flying instinctively through the ceiling and into the classroom. The sight before her made her gasp, seeing Ed writhing on the ground and a young girl, a student, standing over him with her wand out. Greta was still for a moment, her eyes widening as she began to hyperventilate. Two very contrasting, yet similar images very fighting for dominance of her senses and attention. The first was the current scene, the one actually happening, and the second was a memory, one she wished she didn't have to relieve. Blood was everywhere, but nowhere, there was only one body lying on the floor, and then there were several. But all were screaming. Soon, she was joining in on the screams of Edward, bunching her hair in her hands and yanking at it as items began to fly off the walls.

Ed had never felt pain like this before. A punch in the face, getting kicked in the stomach, it was nothing compared to this. He could barely breathe in between his screams, and he felt like he was slowly suffocating. Colors seemed to flash before his eyes: red, white, and black. He barely heard Aileen's words over all the noise he was making. He couldn't even comprehend what she was saying. He thought he heard somebody else screaming besides him, but he couldn't be sure. But then, finally, Aileen ended the spell, the pain disappearing as if she had blown it out like candle flame. He struggled to draw in breath, to push himself off the floor. "John? What did you..." He fought to speak, to ignore the trembling of his limbs. "What did you...do to him?" His arms betrayed him and he fell back against the floor, his head hitting the side of his desk on the way down. He winced in pain, not even noticing that Greta was in the room.

Greta continued to scream, wanting so badly to go to Edward's side, but she remained anchored in that spot in the air, because she couldn't get any closer to him without getting closer to the intruder who did this to him. She cringed as his screams became more ragged, she knew his throat was already getting raw. Oh, she knew that pain well, the feeling of screaming so long and so hard that after a while, you just can't, anymore, the terror of not knowing whether the pain will stop, and even when it does, you still feel it in your bones. And the awful, awful taste of blood that comes with screaming til your throat is completely raw.

"S-Secret! Secret!" Greta screamed, grabbing the nearest object and throwing it in the direction of the intruder. If she couldn't approach her, she could still throw something at her face. She shrieked in terror and anger when the object missed, and several desks toppled over, making even more commotion than there already was. How dare you hurt him?! You're going to pay! You need to get the hell out! she wanted to scream, but all that came out was the same word, over and over again. Her own throat was beginning to feel raw, but she knew that it wouldn't stop her from screaming. However, her screaming came to a sudden halt when Edward rose from the floor. "Secret!" she breathed, inching forward as the intruder turned away and walked to the door. She wasn't even thinking about John, all she could she was Ed, and that he was hurt. Truly, she hardly cared enough for John to pass through her mind, and he only did so because Ed had mentioned him.

Another shriek came form her when she saw his arms buckled under his weight, and she flew forward, breaking free of the hold her fear had on her-- for now, at least. Her arms outstretched to him as he began to fall, and she was able to wrap them around him long enough to slow his fall. But a thud alerted her that his head had been hit against the desk, and she cried out, losing control over her grip on him to the point that he slipped right through her arms. "Secret?! Secret!" she cried, tears beginning to fall from her eyes as the reality sunk in. She 'sat' herself by him and cupped his head in her arms, unsure of what to do, many of the better-secured objects along the wall rattling in tune with her cries. She didn't care about the intruder, who was leaving. She just didn't want Ed to die.

Ed had definitely heard a shriek as he hit the floor. And it seemed like only a second passed before a pair of small, cold arms wrapped around him, giving him goosebumps. He groaned for a second before he finally came to his senses. It was Greta, of all people. And she was hysterically crying "Secret!" over and over again. "Greta? Is that..." He hissed in a breath, his head starting to hurt. Jeez, I don't think I hit the desk that hard, he managed to think to himself. He noticed the objects in the room, either tossed about as if they had been caught in a hurricane, or rattling because of Greta's crying. But Aileen's words got to him, which basically implied that she had tortured John as well as him. And that got him steamed. "If you tortured him, I swear to God, I"ll-" But he didn't get any further than that. His body was still exhausted from dealing so much pain, and it hurt to push it any further. Ed only managed to get to a sitting position before his muscles started to ache. He winced again and ended up falling back onto Greta's lap. By the time he looked up again, Aileen was gone. At least he was out of danger now. The only thing that could hurt him now was Greta losing control again. "Greta, Greta, it's...it's okay. I'm fine," he said, still sounding out-of-breath from what he had gone through earlier. "It's alright."

Greta sucked in a sharp breath when Ed groaned. Was he waking up, or passing out? She couldn't tell! "Secret!" she blurted, giving him a slight shake, though not enough to move him too much. She opened her mouth again, trying to say him name, to say that it was her, and that she wasn't going to let anything else happen to him. But her throat constricted, and she only gave a small choking sound. She was still deep within her memories, fighting to discern them from the present. There was blood, then there wasn't, the images of both realities were beginning to blur in her vision. She was staring at Ed... no, it was her father, writhing in a pool of his own blood. The two images flickered, and for a moment, she was sure that Ed was the one bleeding, which made her groan in terror.

"S-Secret," she whimpered, fighting hard against the confusion of her memories. No, Ed wasn't bleeding. He was in pain, but not bleeding. Not in much danger of death. Her father was already dead, there was no helping him, but if she continued like this, she wouldn't be able to help Ed, either. She groaned, making small choking and grunting noises as she tried harder to speak. "S-Se... Agh!" she shook her head, gritting her teeth in frustration. Another object fell from the wall, landing with a thud on the floor. She was still crying, her shoulders shaking as she used one hand to wipe away her tears as he attempted to sit up. Her arms-- so tiny compared to who she was holding-- wrapped back around him as she concentrated more on keeping her grip on him, rather than the memories. A small hiccup escaped her lips, and she let out a small breath, leaning forward and staring into his eyes as he insisted that he was okay, that everything was alright. She could see an attempt to believe his own words in his eyes, and she shook her head, knowing he was still experiencing the pain.

(( Sorry it took so long! My family kept interrupting and distracting me. XD ))

Okay Ed, get it together, come on. Ignore the pain. Greta's hysterical, and hysterical ghosts are never a good thing. You've gotta calm her down. But it was kinda hard to do that when he could barely sit up. Some object in the room crashed to the ground, making him jump in surprise. If Greta freaked out any more, there was going to be another hurricane of inanimate objects. And she was already hysterical enough, only able to spout out the word "Secret" in between hiccups and sobs. Ed sucked in a breath, then pushed himself up, wincing a little. But he was able to do it. It looked like his body was finally getting a grip. After all, the Cruciatus curse didn't leave any lasting marks if it was done for a short time. "Greta, Greta, look at me, I need you to look at me," he said, taking her face in his hands so she was looking at him. "I'm alright. Trust me. Whoever that girl was, she's gone, and she's not going to come back. Everything's going to be fine."

Greta gasped to herself when Edward suddenly pushed himself up. She released her grip on him so that he could at least partially sit up, taking the opportunity to wipe fresh tears from her face. The images were flashing into her vision less and less, and she was beginning to finally believe in the present reality. That put her somewhat at ease, but she was still having trouble getting her sobs under control, her shoulders still shaking every several seconds as her hand went to her lips and muffled the sound. She had no idea whether that girl was going to come back or not, if she was going to continue to hurt Ed, but she knew that if she did, she'd be sending her crashing down the stairs. Just the thought of her coming back was riling the ghost girl up again, but that changed when she felt the sensation of hands on her face.

Their blue eyes met again, and the objects in the room slowed their rattling as she began to calm down, eventually falling still once more as her sobs died away. Her eyes were still wide with fear, the sounds of Ed's screams still fresh within her mind, but she could see an improvement in him-- even if it was just slight. She sniffed once, finding it hard to believe his words, but gave a nod, anyway. If Ed really thought that, she would trust him. Silent, once more, she wiped at her eyes, then pulled her face from her hands to look around. She bit her lip, feeling guilty that she'd caused the room to turn into a hurricane-zone. Her mouth opened as she thought about what to say... if she could even say it.

"S-S-Sorry," she managed to choke out, feeling relieved that her words weren't failing her, for the time being. She reached off to the side and picked up a fallen globe, frowning and running the tips of her fingers over a crack on its side, no doubt made during her episode. She placed it on a nearby desk that hadn't been toppled over, her eyes glued to the floor out of guilt. "Scary..." she whispered, closing her eyes. She was back to speaking in partial or one-word sentences.

Ed wasn't sure if Greta believed what he was saying, but at least she was calming down a bit. Objects rattled less, the air seemed to get less heavy. Ed breathed a sigh of relief, ignoring the goosebumps from touching Greta's face. That always seemed to happen when people came into contact with ghosts. But Ed didn't mind. Greta was Greta, all ghostliness aside. "It's alright, you were upset, that's perfectly understandable," he said in response to her apology. "Heck, I'd probably do the same if I were in your shoes." He gave a little laugh, trying to lighten the situation a bit, although Greta still seemed as somber as if she was going to a funeral. He let out a breath, leaning against his desk. He was content to just sit for a moment while he pulled himself together. "Tell me about it," he said. "I don't even know who she was. I've never seen her before." He glanced up at Greta. "Do you know anything about her?"

Greta gave a small hiccup, and wiped at her eyes again as she felt the slight sting of fresh tears forming. How long had it been since she'd remembered that day that vividly? She never tried to remember too hard, because she knew it was hopeless. She knew the truth about what had happened to her family, it was always present in her thoughts, but the actual memories, the ones that could give incriminating details, were scattered into small fragments, and would somehow incorporate themselves into her perception of the present, like a few minutes ago, when Ed was attacked. It scared her to think that she couldn't tell the difference, even if it was only for a moment, or two. Those moments could have meant life or death for Ed, and she had just been frozen there, unable to do anything but scream.

"Secret." The word came out of her mouth on its own, and she stood up, beginning to pick up the items and clean up the mess, not looking at Edward. Part of her wanted to just stay next to him, but the rest of her needed something to occupy her hand sand her mind. Cleaning was the best option, at the moment. But, she couldn't get the look she'd seen in the girl's eyes out of her head. It was something she wished that she didn't recognize. But she did, and she knew that she had to bring it to his attention. After a few minutes to straightening up the classroom, she turned to Ed, swallowing the guilt of not doing anything to try to stop his attacker. "Imperius curse," she stated, her eyes flickering to the door, where the girl had been only minutes before. That was the only explanation, aside from the girl being a complete lunatic.

Ed glanced up when Greta uttered the familiar word. Secret. It was always somethings she said when she was scared, angry. Or when she couldn't say what she was really thinking. He noticed her picking up the stuff scattered about his room though and his brow furrowed. The last thing he wanted was for his friend to clean his room like a maid or something. "You don't have to get that stuff. I'll take care of it," he said, slowly getting to his feet. But most of the pain had ebbed away by now, and he was functioning almost normally. He just needed to take it easy for a little while. When Greta mentioned the Imperius Curse though, his brow furrowed again in thought. Why hadn't that possibility occurred to him? He felt dumb for not recognizing it earlier. The monotonous tone of Aileen's voice, the zombie-like way in which she walked, it all made sense. "But who could be controlling her?" he asked. "Surely not another student or teacher. They wouldn't do something so..." His voice trailed off. How could he judge how people acted here? He hadn't been in here in years, hardly knew anybody. Not everyone was as nice as Greta or John. There were some evil, nasty people in the world. And maybe some of them had ended up here at Hogwarts.

Greta had been holding an item in her hands, which she'd intended on placing on his desk, but she saw Ed trying to get up and she flew back over to him, tucking the item under one arm and using the other arm to help him up. She ignored his statement about him taking care of the mess. She felt personally responsible for it, and therefore she would clean it. She hated when she lost control the way she did, and always felt the need to clean to set things right when she wound up trashing a room. Her eyebrows furrowed in thought as well, as she was wondering the same thing. Who could it possibly be? She thought back to the actual incident, trying to recall what the girl had said. She'd been so busy screaming that she hadn't paid much attention to her words.

"Message!" she suddenly repeated, her eyes going wide. "He's here! She said he's here!"

She flew to the window of the classroom, looking about in a rather paranoid way as if they were being watched by the man himself, before flying back to Ed, looking a bit scared. "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!"

Though Greta was smaller than him, Ed leaned on for support, knowing that she was stronger than she looked. Being a ghost did that to you. Your strength wasn't limited by your body anymore. Although he was trying not to worry her, he was grateful for her help anyway. It was just nice to know what he cared. But when she spoke next, her words sounded a bit panicked, and that worried Ed. "What? Who? Who's 'he?'" Though he should have understood, he didn't get a clue until Greta practically spelled it out for him. And the realization that followed scared him to death. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, Voldemort himself, was here? He was the one being this Imperius Curse that Aileen was under? "What? He's...You-Know-Who...he's..." Ed couldn't even finish his sentence. If Voldemort was here, than that was very bad for him. He was a Muggle-born wizard, and would probably be slaughtered on sight. "Oh God..." He swallowed, a nauseous feeling getting in his stomach. His feet moved backward, as if Voldemort himself was in the room and he was backing away. Unfortunately, that meant that he wasn't watching where he was going, and he ended up running into an overturned chair. He uttered a little squeak before crashing to the floor, followed by a moan as he rubbed his head.

Greta looked down, a slight smile making its way onto her lips despite the situation. She was still worried about him, figuring that he was still aching a bit, but being able to be someone that Ed could lean on-- and in this case, that was literally-- made her happy. She'd always felt protective of him throughout his years at Hogwarts, and that hadn't changed one bit in the years that he was away. But soon, her smile had disappeared, because Ed wasn't reacting well to their shared, if not a bit out of sync, realization. She saw the terrified look in his eye, the look that meant he was practically going to be sick from fear. And she didn't blame him. If she was still alive, she probably would have already been sick from the fear.

"Careful!" she yelped when Ed's feet got caught in the legs of a chair. She cringed when he fell, placing a hand over her mouth to muffle the soft cry that escaped her lips when she heard the thump on his head against the floor. Merlin, he needed his own hazard sign, didn't he? She flew over to him, lifting his head from the floor as she stared down at him in even more worry. "Hospital Wing?" she suggested, softly running her cold fingers through his hair, hoping the cold touch would soothe the bump that was surely forming.

"Ow..." It looked like getting older hadn't reduced Ed's klutziness at all. No doubt it was thanks to his long legs that looked more like beanpoles than anything else. Greta was by his side in a second though. She seemed to react pretty fast when he had hurt himself. "No, I'm fine. Just...need a moment." He sat up with a groan. His head hurt a bit more, but he didn't think it was any cause to worry. Being a klutz practically meant that you developed a hard skull after falling down so many times. He let out a breath, leaning back against the wall. "Man, he's here. I can't believe this." He sighed, panic turning into stress. "What are we gonna do? Who knows how many Death Eaters he has under his control now. They say his numbers are growing by the day."

Greta let out a small sigh of relief when Ed said that he was okay. She knew that he'd heal up fine, but she couldn't help but worry. Ed was her only friend, after all. A small tug in her mind began to make itself known, and she suddenly realized how close they'd been for the last bit of time. Once Ed had leaned against the wall, she got back up and floated a few feet away, her eyes gluing themselves back to the floor as he contemplated what they could do. Suddenly, another thought struck her.

"Bigger numbers..." she repeated almost passively, looking back to him as his words made her realize another possiblity. "Was she...the only one? Under the curse?" she asked, beginning to look a bit alarmed. If his numbers were growing by the day, who was to say that that girl was the only one under Voldemort's control? Who was to say that she was the only one attacking people and causing chaos?

"Yeah, they say he's recruiting people all the time," Ed said, in response to Greta repeating what he had said earlier. "And not just wizards. Some people say he's got giants and werewolves on his side." Greta's question got his attention, though. She had a good point. What if other people were under the Imperius Curse, like Aileen was? "We need to get help," he said as he pushed himself to his feet. "I don't know the students here very well, but you do, and so does John. You guys can probably tell who's under the curse and who's not. We need to find Alliss, too. She's an Auror. She knows how to deal with this stuff better than we do." That sounded like a solid plan to him. If they could just get to acting on it before more damage was done.

Greta nodded a bit to his statement about recruits, tucking a stray lock of hair back behind her ear. During the incident, her hair had gotten into a bit of a mess, though nothing that she couldn't easily fix. Her eyes flickered back to Ed, and she furrowed her brows. Werewolves and giants, too? That didn't sound good at all. For a moment, she had a small flashback, her eyes glazing over as an image of her parents seeped into her vision. Not many knew this anymore, but her immediate family had been considered blood traitors because of her mother's affair with Gregory's father. In her grandparent's eyes, and the rest of the extended family for that matter, her mother had tainted herself, her son, her husband, and Greta by having a child with a muggle-born wizard. Her mother had never been a supporter of Voldemort to begin with, nor had her father... but their families had been adamant supporters for years. She shook the image away, which had been that of her family tree, with her and her immediate family's places in the tree scorched out of existence. She focused back on the present.

"The girl... familiar-looking, but..." she trailed off, shaking her head. Now that she'd calmed down, she recognized the girl's face a little. But she's hardly spent time interacting with students, anymore, besides Angela. "Alliss?" she repeated, her eyes lighting up a bit in recognition. Now, she knew of Alliss Rivera, definitely. The ghost girl gave a small nod as she helped Ed to his feet, flying over to the door and opening it for him, so that he could conserve his energy.

(( Let's not bring them into the Hospital Wing, though. >.>If Greta freaked out just from this, I'm not too sure what she'd do if she saw that bloody mess... xD ))