Discovering Ones Calling((Kris))

[Edward Summers R6]

Ed was extremely happy. He finally believed he had found his calling. Throughout his entire school Ed never had any idea of what he was going to do when he graduated. He always knew he would probably be working around or with books. Probably as a Historian or some kind of librarian. Thanks to a muggle book he had found a new desire and it still kept him close to his books. The book was based around a popular muggle game known as Dungeons and Dragons. The book was based around a class of characters from the game and that characters development through life. The character had been a Cleric, or priest, but he had started his life as a scholar. The boy lived in a giant library that was dedicated to provide knowledge to any that would use it for good.

Most of the patrons of the library were visiting priest that wished to research and learn of the other gods in the realm, but none of that mattered much to Ed. Ed was enthralled by the library itself. A magical building, with many enchantments and fortifications to protect itself from all evils. Ed yearned to be inside that library, to glimpse its various tomes and volumes, he could only imagine the wonders he would find. Than suddenly the idea struck him. Why not build one himself?

So far no structure like this existed in the wizarding world. The wizard world had its library's and sources of information, but nothing like what Edward now imagined. A thousand idea's became a whirlwind inside his head and he had to force himself to remove them from his mind. If this dream was to become a reality he would have to think rationally and do this one step at a time.

So here he was now, running down the hallway with many rolls of parchment tucked under both arms and attempting to balance even more rolls in his hands. Each of these rolls were detailed blueprints of various large buildings: Manors, library's, churches. His first step was to design the building, and these blueprints would help him. He could picture it now, his library would be a massive building, open to all of good intent who were seeking knowledge. So focused on his thoughts was he that he forgot to watch where he was going. A body stepped out from around a corner and Ed barely noticed in time. "Gah!" He managed to scream and threw all his weight to the left.

He managed to fly past without striking the person, but with his wild dodge he had lost all sense of control. The parchments went flying and Ed sprawled onto the floor. He slid many feet and than collided with the wall, which finally stopped his movement. Many parchments had become unrolled and they drifted down, covering Edwards unmoving form. He quickly exploded into a sitting position, breathing heavily he quickly checked himself, breathing a sigh of relief when he found nothing broken on his body. He groan though as he noticed the mess of parchments and suddenly the memory of what happened struck him.

"Oh my! Are you alright?" He asked turning to look at whoever it was that had stepped out at him.

[kris]

Kris flipped through the last pages of his Potions book with some disinterest. He already knew the last two potions described there and he didn’t find much use for those in reality. While Kris continued to take Potions, he did need help at the subject. Kris was just silently grateful that Dana was in the class too, so he could get the required tutoring and pointers without having to ask for it in advance. And before loosing his eye-sight Kris had been a good student in Potions. Kris smirked bitterly as he closed his book with a snap and uncrossing his legs removed them from the leg-rest. Morrigan, who had been napping on his lap, was woken by this move and she stretched, yawned and as Kris lowered his left arm Morrigan ran up Kris’s arm to perch on his shoulder once again. Kris listened for a moment to what was going on around the common room, but either his friends weren’t here or were occupied otherwise so Kris didn’t find much that would interest him here. He might as well go and tour the castle in search for something to kill some time with. Who knew – maybe he would ran into a friend or two, or perhaps there was some Gryffindor who needed a lesson of manners once again.

Kris’s left hand grasped the silver head of his walking-cane that had been shaped after a thestral’s head and sauntered down the staircase to his dormitory. Placing the book rather calmly upon the trunk at the base of his bed Kris changed his thin black T-shirt for a dark-green silk-shirt before leaving the dormitory and his common room. His feet carried him through the maze that the dungeons create quickly with Morrigan sometimes hopping from one of his shoulders onto the other. The kitten had learned how to get from one point in the dungeons to the other surprisingly easily. Kris didn’t have a clue how he would be able to move around the castle without Morrigan’s help. Dogs weren’t allowed in Hogwarts so Kris couldn’t very well get a guide-dog for himself. Nothing was said against kittens however. Most people even tended to think that Morrigan was a cute. Up to the very point where Morrigan hissed, extracted her claws and attacked. After that most people seemed to understand that inside the cute ball of fluff was the spirit of a panther and not a friendly panther. No one had ever dared to try and punish or even say something mean about Morrigan however. At least not before Kris.

Kris went higher in the school not minding the relative silence in the hallways the least bit. Most people seemed to be in their common rooms or in the student lounge or in the Great Hall or the library or pretty much wherever they used to be. Kris enjoyed the quiet. It felt almost as if he had free range in the school. Which he in reality pretty much had anyway. Kris rounded the corner and instinctively pulled tensed at someone’s roar ‘gah’. A flick of his wrist later Kris was holding his wand as he caught a roll of parchment almost automatically as the edge of it hit his chest while a gust of wind created by someone falling narrowly avoided his side. Kris tilted his head to the side recognizing the voice enquiring about his well-being and decided with a smirk that Summers-boy might prove to be fairly entertaining.
“You are a walking menace, Summers, you do know that?” Kris drawled out lazily as Morrigan snorted with irritation as if to agree with Kris’s words. Ed’s voice had came from below so Kris deducted that the Ravenclaw himself had landed as a heap on the floor so Kris arched a sarcastic eye-brow, “And if I cared, I might ask if you are alright, considering the fact that you are sitting before my feet. I tread to ask on earth exited the dull gray stuff inside your thick scull that you have to run down the hallways if you obviously already have trouble with walking slowly and staying upright while at it.” Kris clicked his tongue as he shook his head as Morrigan purred loudly while rubbing her back against Kris’s jaw-line as if approving of Kris’s choice of words.

[Edward Summers R6]

Ed's face and body drooped, even his glasses slid down his nose a tad, as he recognized the boy he had nearly killed. Kris Graas, a very well known Slytherin sixth year. Ed was a year older than Kris, and a few inches tall, although Kris also topped 6 foot so he was just about even with Ed. Ed's age advantage over Kris did nothing to bolster Ed's confidence, nor did it seem to intimidate Kris at all. Ed had only run into Kris once, at Hogsmeade when a failed apperation attempt(Which happened often) crashed landed Ed right into the center of the shrieking shack. What Kris had been doing there was beyond Ed, but he remembered he didn't enjoy his meeting with Kris all to much. The only reason he had escaped unscathed was probably due to his friendship with Kris's cousin, Dana Coran.

Ed frowned at Kris's proclamation of Ed being a "Walking Menace" but than realized that the assessment wasn't far from the truth. He scoffed and was about to reply to the snide remark when he realized, he really couldn't dispute the claim. It was than that Ed noticed Kris for the first time, or more, Kris's apparel. He wore dark glasses((Guessing, I didn't see it in your description but I figured he would be)) and he was using a rather fine looking cane. There had been rumors that the attack on the Hogwart's train had left Kris blind. From the evidence now shown to Ed it seemed like those rumors held true. Ed also noticed the small kitten on Kris's shoulders, or more pointedly, her prominent claws, teeth, and unfriendly glare aimed at Ed, telling Ed that if he valued his fingers he shouldn't harbor any thoughts of petting this feline.

Ed climbed to his feet, the parchments falling to the floor around his feet. He than looked back at Kris. "Judging from your response I assume its safe to say you are unhurt?" Ed stated more than asked in a less than friendly tone. Ed's eyes drifted down to the cat who seemed to be watching his every move, he prominently took a step back. Ed placed his hands on his hips, "And I can remain upright rather well thank you. What are you about popping around corners like that? I always thought if one sense goes......." Ed bit back his remark, shocked at how quickly and easily the insult had come to his lips in the face of Kris Graas.

((Hey Kris, terribly sorry for the long, long, long delay. Certain events fell into place that kept me away. I know it just sounds like I've been making excuses lately, please forgive me.))

[kris]

Kris was in a relatively good mood today. He couldn’t even tell why exactly, but he was in a good mood. That may have played the part in the small fact that Kris felt just a little bit amused by the seventh year Ravenclaw. Edward was a menace, but he was a pureblood too so he would theorethically require some acknowledgement and respect as that. Then again he didn’t act like one so Kris stopped that train of thought before his amusement would disappear. “Easy, Morrigan,” Kris murmured to the kitten perched on his shoulder, earning a swipe of her paw at his cheek, even though Morrigan had pulled her claws back in. Smirking lazily at such reaction – she just always managed to end up with females with quite fiery temper, didn’t he? – Kris tilted his head hearing some ruffling when Ed presumably tried to restore order between the papers he had evidently been carrying.

Kris turned the roll of parchment he caught earlier on lazily between his fingers as his eye-brows arched at Ed’s rather snappy tone. “Well, I’m not the one acting like a puppy who has just been stepped on, am I? Oh, wait – was that your attempt to actually grow a backbone?” Kris asked lazily before raising his left hand that was holding the walking cane. Raising the cane to the side Kris reached out his hand tapping the wall on his left and then on right two times having to reach out his cane at full length both times. He always walked in the middle of a hallway after all. Why would he have to slink and hold onto walls – he was a Slytherin and he had earned his reputation. Others would have to scurry out of his path, which was usually done. “Really now? You must have really gained quite a lot of weight if you couldn’t have fit through that space on either side of me,” Kris drawled almost mockingly before Ed started to try to insult him.

Kris’s jaw-muscles clenched at the words Ed did say out loud before she stopped. Yes, Kris had lost one of his sense, but if anything, that had made him only quicker. And his blindness wasn’t a topic Kris allowed anyone to poke. Taking Ed’s parchment into his left hand as well as the cane Kris flicked his wrist sliding his wand out from his sleeve. “If one sense goes… then what?” Kris asked in an almost whisper, that held all the more threat in it because of it. Slowly stalking towards to where Ed’s voice and breathing sounded Kris sneered as he held his want raised so it should be pointing towards Ed’s neck and head as he could recall that the boy was taller than Kris’s own 6’. “Do finish that sentence, Summers, will you? While I usually refrain from touching powerless and unarmed opponents I just might make an exception for you to show just how much or little my blindness has influenced my skills. So let’s hear what the loss of a sense does, shall we?” Kris raised his sunglasses and positioned them on top of his head to show Ed clearly what had happened to his eyes. The black almost liquidy cover seemed to unnerve almost everyone and while Kris didn't like showing it, he would use it in his advantage.


((It's quite alright. Life can get busy asI fully well know as well. )

[Edward Summers R6]

Kris was a scary fellow when he was mad. Although Ed had never seen the Slytherin angry before personally, he had heard stories. It wasn't uncommon for Ed to be studying in the Common room and a first or second year would stumble into the room, either having been jinxed, or had lost an important item, such as a book or wand. When questioned they merely stated that they had run into a Slytherin, and Kris more than fit the following description. On the one occasion when Ed had actually been able to meet Kris he learned that Kris was much calmer than most descriptions described him to be. He seemed like the type to approach you calmly, never showing his anger for you until it was to late. The change that came over the Slytherin surprised Ed and before he could make sense of the situation he was looking at the wand pointed his way.

This was the divine moment. The moment in any story where the hero made his move. This was the moment when a hero was made, was born, the moment when a hero became a hero. Ed nearly fainted. Ed knew deep in his heart he was no match for Kris, never in his wildest dreams could he hope to beat Kris in an impromptu fight, especially not with his wand tucked uselessly in a deep pocket(He couldn't even remember which one). Suddenly, a new feeling overrode the fear. A feeling Ed had never felt much, anger. Ed had been kind and he had cut his insult off, not even in the face of Kris Graas had he decided to finish it, but if Kris wanted him to finish the sentence, than fine.

Ed's steeled his gaze, although Kris couldn't see that, and replied in a solid tone. "What I was going to say is this: What are you about popping around corners like that? I always thought if one sense goes the others become enhanced to make up for the loss. Even a deaf person would have heard me coming down the hall and wouldn't have been foolish enough to step out in front of me." Ed's body tensed as he expected the flash, the impact of the spell, but suddenly something caught his attention. The immediate situation flew away in an instant at the site of Kris's eyes. Curiosity and wonder overloaded Ed's senses and he no longer saw anything but those eyes.

Ed reached up and without even knowing it he light pushed Kris's wand aside and leaned in slightly. "Absolutely amazing." He gasped silently. Ed stared at Kris's eyes, there was just enough sensibility in him to keep his face far from the black fur ball, the black fur ball with claws's reach. Ed had only read about eyes that were blind, the descriptions weren't even close to looking like the real thing. Many books flowed through his head. "Blindness used to be easily treatable, but the spell has long been forgotten and wore down." He mumbled to himself more than anyone else. "If I remember right, I found an old transcript with the spell still intact. Where did I put it?"

Suddenly Ed came back to the moment at hand, for the first time he noticed what position he was in. He glanced over at Kris's wand hand, a hand that Ed was still holding. Gulping Ed slowly straightened and guided Kris's hand back to its original position, pointing at his neck. Than slowly and deliberately he removed each finger off the wrist and lowered his hand. He chuckled nervously, "Sorry." He said with a shrug.

[kris]

Ed had never seemed like an overly brave guy. He was constantly picked on, teased, bullied by students almost half as young as he was and he never tried to gain even some amount of respect. So the firmness in his tone of voice was quite a surprise. Kris arched a lazy eye-brow at Ed’s words: “Step out from before you? I would have expected you out of anyone to know better than that as your lack of backbone makes you about equal to a sniveling first year Hufflepuff as Gryffindors are just stupid with their superhero complex which will get themselves and their friends in trouble. The people of whom I’m better step out of my[/i] way or they will end up groveling at my feet just like you were a moment ago, no matter how much like a horde of trampling elephants they sound like.” But then again he had been right in a way. Being blind had enhanced Kris’s hearing. Or rather not even enhanced, but rather made him more aware of what his other senses told him. Before becoming blind he would have hardly ever been able to hear slight wavering of voices or been able to hear the sharp inhale of shock. He may have been able to hear them, but he hadn’t been able to read as much out of them as he was now.

Kris felt Ed grasp his wrist and after a moment of hesitation he let his hand be moved to the side. Ed was stupid that he did it as Kris wand was now pointing to the side of his head, perhaps even somewhere near his ear from where a hex would smash through the skull a lot easier than from through the forehead. Ed made himself vulnerable as Kris’s other eye-brow flew up as well at his muttering. “So glad about my blindness? And here they think Slytherins are supposed to be the bad guys,” Kris drawled out coldly as Ed stepped back and apologized. Maybe it was the gulp Kris heard and they way Ed moved his wand back to pointing in his face that made Kris rethink about hexing the Ravenclaw. Kris pulled his sunglasses back over his eyes, hiding them from view as the sunglasses had been heavily enchanted to stay in their place and not let any hint of what was behind them show. After the gasses settled in their place Kris pushed his left hand with the fingers spread through his hair for a moment to make the tall strands fall in their correct places again.

With a lazy flick of Kris’s wrist – a move he had practiced to near perfection over years – sent his wand backing into it’s hiding-place inside his sleeve. Yet Ed had tried to over-step his boundaries so Kris’s fingers flexed into a fist as he put most of his strength into the punch he sent flying towards Ed. Kris didn’t make a habit of attacking others physically, but when he did do it, he never hit lightly. Besides while not gaining any permanent damage from the hit Ed might remember to control his tongue a bit better next time. And as Ed had been unable to produce any biting insult Kris felt contented enough at the momentary feel of flesh and bone under his fist. Unclenching his fingers easily Kris turned his attention back to Ed’s parchment he currently had in his possession. Turning Kris sauntered back a couple of steps to an open window where he seated himself on the edge of the window-sill and reaching out his legs crossed them at the ankle. His fingers calmly tracing the lines on the parchment Kris arched a lazy eyebrow: “Doubt you’re wealthy enough to buy the Sanglers manor, Summers, and even though the house if magnificent it has been in the family for centuries so it’s not even for sale in the first place.”

[Edward Summers R6]

Ed's immediate bluster was quickly deflated when put in front of the Slytherins reasoning. Ed had always been a being of common courtesy, believing in the equality of all living things. There was no argument that he could put in front of the Slytherin's arguments. No way would Ed be able to get Kris to see past his egotistic views of blood relations and who or who wasn't worthy of what. He had no choice but to drop the subject, luckily it was quite easy to move onto a new one. "No, I am not glad about your blindness. Your actions here would not be any different whether you could see or not. You showed great intelligence and determination in getting as far as you have with your condition, but, no one is blind by choice. Tell me, why weren't they able to heal?"

Ed's voice held no tone of sarcasm, scorn or anything aside from true and honest curiosity. The reasons were very limit, the only real conclusion could be that either the healer wasn't skilled enough, or they didn't know the spell. To Ed's great relief Kris's wand disappeared back into his sleeve. Was it something Ed had said that had saved him from surely being hexed? Kris's next action surprised Ed more than anything in the world ever could. A physical strike was something Ed had only read about in books. He had in fact never been struck and had never struck anyone else. Physical strikes were nearly unheard of in the wizard world. Especially in Slytherin, who usually despised anything and everything to do with Muggles, and striking someone was a clear muggle action.

The punch connected squarely on Ed's jaw. Ed had been so surprised he had even had time to flinch at the punch. Kris was just as tall as Ed, give or take an inch or two, but Kris had a well muscled and tone frame. Kris had the body of a great athlete. Ed was scrawny, made even scrawnier due to the fact that it had to cover his entire frame. Ed had the weak body of a scholar. Kris's punch would have knocked over someone with an equal stature as him, Ed nearly lost his shoes. Ed's head twisted viciously to the side, launching his glasses off his face smash into the ground breaking a lens and than sliding into the wall where the second lens similarly shattered. Ed's body soon followed his heads trail and also twisted. His feet left the ground as he flew back, he nearly did a 360 to land on his back, nearly.

Ed crashed onto his side and rolled a few more feet and finally was at rest on his stomach a few away from Kris. Ed's cheek lay against the cool stone floor as he watched Kris casually sit on a windowsill (Even though Kris had become a mere blur). He lay there for a moment, paralyzed. Than the pain hit him. He groaned and pushed himself up on his hands and knees. He could already feel his lip starting to swell, his jaw joint screamed at him (Its a wonder it didn't dislocate), and he could feel a gash on the inside of his cheek caused from his teeth. Ed could taste blood and he knew it to be his own, a drop escaped his mouth and tricked down the corner of his mouth to drip onto the floor and join the tiny puddle that had formed in the brief moment of his paralyzation.

Ed shifted his hand and felt a tiny prick. He looked and noticed the small glass shard embedded in his hand and knew that his glasses had shattered (He now remembered the sound of it shattering). A headache was already forming, as much from Kris's punch as from the blurry images that flooded his sight. From a distance he heard Kris statement. Still in his hands and knees position Ed coughed (Causing some more blood to join the puddle). "Of course I can't afford it. I'd never be able to afford it on my own in my entire life, even if it was for sale and they gave me a discount on it." The Sanglers manor was a beautiful structure, Ed had hoped to study it and incorporate its design into his library. Ed also knew that Kris probably wanted an explanation as to why Ed was carrying around the Sangler's manor blueprint and had expected Ed to tell him. But Ed had decided to play a new game, he wouldn't give Kris any information unless asked. If Kris wanted information, he would have to ask his lesser for the info.

Suddenly the fact that Kris was blind struck him. Ed glanced at Kris amazed (Although Kris was just a blur). He had recognized the parchment by mere memory and sense of touch. Kris had come far in his blindness.

((Sorry about the length, I just couldnt seem to stop writing. I guess my old ways are finally comming back to me ))

[kris]

Kris arched his eye-brows coldly at Ed’s words while shaking his head with mirthless amusement. Intelligence, determination? Why, it almost sounded as if Ed was admiring him. He could handle scorn and hatred or attempts of payback, but he most certainly did NOT want admiration! It wouldn’t be due and it would only make Kris feel uncomfortable in trying to get away. “Oh, don’t start. I already have some lovesick third year practically stalking me and a fourth year Hufflepuff acting like a sick puppy in search of a pat near me. I sincerely don’t need you to try and top that too,” Kris stated with a sneer appearing on his lips, “And this is a black curse for a reason, Summers. There’s no discovered cure for it as the only way to get the black cover of is gauge my eyes out with a spoon. I’m sure you understand why I don’t appear overly fond of that idea.” While there were potions and spells to cure different problems with a person’s eyes, or at least ease the conditions the hex the Death Eater on the Hogwarts Express had “blessed” Kris with was incurable. He was blind for life.

Kris glanced towards where Ed’s coughing sounded with some distaste. He wasn’t exactly an esthete, but he wasn’t charmed by sick people either. “Are you a wizard or not, Summers? I expected you to know simple ‘Reparo’ at least,” Kris almost snapped recalling the sound of shattering glass. He hadn’t punched Ed through some window so the only glass that could have shattered were his glasses. The Ravenclaw looked like the classical geek with scrawny body, heavy glasses and piles of books surrounding him. Morrigan snorted on Kris’s shoulder as if sharing his distaste while Kris bent his head a little once again his fingers tracing the blueprints of the manor slower this time.

“They have a fantastic armory that was presented to me last summer while I was visiting. An authentic copy of the medieval Iron Maiden ((the torture equipment, not the band)),” Kris mused almost absent-mindedly, “I can most certainly understand why medieval ‘witches’ were ready to confess just about everything just to get out of it. It might not be overly pleasant if the last sight you saw where deadly spikes gliding towards your eyes and every other vital organ in your body as well. One of the family’s treasures as one of the Sanglers ancestors was killed in it supposedly.” Kris had a gallery of muggle weapons in his own castle as well, where swords, muglge guns and even medieval weapons were displayed, but his collection was puny compared to the Sanglers one. Kris had enjoyed looking around the armory in peace – he had even had a shooting-competition with Mr. Sanglers, even though he lost to the older man – but Kris was sincerely sorry that he couldn’t admire the armory’s wonders again. It had been thrilling. Required a bit of strong nerves to look at some of the torture equipment also stored there naturally, but it had been amazing.

Kris quietly wondered what Ed was doing with the blueprint but he didn’t ask. Instead sliding out of his wand Kris pointed it towards where Ed had been and used ‘Accio’ without even thinking of asking for permission to do so. The rolls of parchment and tombs of books came soaring towards him as Kris waved his wand to make them all land neatly on the window-sill next to him. Taking hold of some random book Kris’s fingers found the bookmark Ed has used. Flipping the book open on the correct spot Kris had to trace the blueprints here twice before actually believing what Ed had picked out. Shaking his head, Kris smirked: “Westminster Abbey, Summers? I’d rather try my luck with the Sanglers.”

[Edward Summers R6]

"No, I suppose that would not be an overly fond Idea." Remarked Ed as Kris spoke about gauging his eyes out to remove the curse. Silently though Ed couldn't help but think that any curse could be reversed, there was always a way, one just had to find it. Retrieving his wand from his pocket Ed pointed it his glasses. "Accio Glasses." He said as the empty frames slid across the ground to him. He caught them and felt both the empty sockets to make sure if both had completely shattered. He frowned at Kris's words. Of course he knew the simple Reparo spell, he had mastered that spell early on in his first year. Since even than his glasses had a tendency to fall and break. Ed placed the frames into the middle of the shattered glass and than pointed his wand at it. "Reparo." Almost immediately the shattered pieces of glass connected and replaced themselves into their empty frames.

Ed picked up the now fixed glasses and replaced them on his face. With a groan he picked himself up into a standing position. His jaw continued to throb. Ed pointed his wand at the wound, a tingling sensation came over his jaw as his wound healed and the throb in his jaw quickly subsided. Muggle attacks, although they hurt a lot when performed, luckily were easily mended. Ed promptly decided to ignore the insult from Kris, and the snort from his feline companion. Ed ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek to see how well the wound was on the mend, he smiled in satisfaction as he felt it was nearly healed. Ed seemed to tune in just in time to hear Kris start to speak about a visit to the Sanglers mansion.

Ed's face fell as Kris recounted about all the magnificent artifacts inside the mansion. He couldn't help but be jealous, Kris had an extremely wealthy and powerful family. Although the Summers family was also strong and wealthy there was no way that Ed would be able to gain as much access as Kris did. Ed's father simply wouldn't allow it. Ed's sisters had actually had the pleasure of a visit to the Sanglers mansion, and many other places, Ed had been forced to stay home. Many times had Ed read about the many items inside the Sangler mansion, and he had secretly wished for just a small glimpse at them. He shook his head, now was not the time to be lost in dreams.

Just than Kris's wand made another appearance and Ed feared that he had rethought his idea about cursing him. To Ed's even greater disliking though all his parchments and blueprints suddenly slid across the floor and flew at Kris to settle neatly next to him. Ed frowned at Kris's comment. "Please, someone of your intelligence should clearly see that I would never be able to dream about buying these places." Not like it is any of your business. He thought silently.

[kris]

Kris heard Ed cast the spells and mentally grinned a little, even if not a muscle in his face moved. It made perfect sense that the Ravenclaw had perfect such a spell. Considering how clumsy he was and how often he always seemed to be in trouble as he didn’t seem to have the guts to step up to anyone he might need it rather often. Just as Kris had perfected quite a number of healing spells to heal and fix the constant wounds all over himself. Even if he sometimes let them heal the muggle way if he was the one to blame for the injury when he didn’t pay attention or did something idiotic. He didn’t let himself be hurt by such things, but it reminded him of his mistakes and he had done plenty of those. He had a number of scars all over his body as well to show prove this.

Kris arched a sarcastic eye-brow as he smirked at Ed’s words: “Someone with my intelligence? Was that a compliment, Summers? After I just hit you, you don’t go and compliment me. This is exactly the kind of behaviour that makes it so easy to bully you. I don’t have a clue how my sister could have befriended someone so spineless.” Kris shook his head but didn’t comment. Dana was as head-stubborn as he was, Dana merely hid it better sometimes. Or had more patience with people or maybe she just hadn’t been burned as badly as Kris had. Yet Kris didn’t interfere into her friendly relations to others and she didn’t interfere with Kris’s personal life. Even though Kris sometimes set hounds after Dana’s suitors who were completely unsuitable for her and Dana had once sent a poisoned flower-bouquet to a girl she had loathed and who Kris had taken out to a rather unpleasant date once. So maybe they did interfere into each other’s personal lives.

Kris didn’t respond instead skimming the other things Ed had along recognizing some blue-prints and not recognizing others. Letting one of the blue-prints roll up again in his hand Kris leaned a bit backwards as he clicked his tongue thoughtfully: “Blueprints of gorgeous manors or magical places. As you said you wouldn’t be able to buy these things so are you planning on building something equal or better? Combining too many pretty things usually kills the effect you know. You’d need grounds, awesome architect and good builders, some land-scape architect to arrange the gardens around that dream-building, money to gather artifacts and power sources, groups of people to build up the magical barriers. You can’t buy the already existing buildings, yet building one wouldn’t be the least bit cheaper.” Kris clicked his tongue and tilted his head finding the idea rather curious, even though he would have never given up on the castle of his ancestors that he now called home. But Kris wasn’t afraid to take chances so maybe Ed had had some interesting idea passing through his brain. “Unless I’m very gravely mistaken you can dream big. Not a bad characteristic in itself if you can still stay in contact with reality.”

[Edward Summers R6]

"Take it as you will." Ed said. He knew no matter what he said Kris was either going to take it as a compliment, insult, or just ignore him completely. Ed could do nothing but watch as Kris began to flip through his documents and books. Ed had the fleeting thought to pull out his wand and take back his parchments, but that thought left as quickly as it came. Pulling out his wand and tossing a spell in Kris's direction would seem like a hostile action, and Ed knew Kris wouldn't like that idea, and Ed had no chance of winning against Kris. Ed chose to ignore Kris as he continued to speak about Ed's bully-ed career. His face crinkled up in confusion as Kris spoke about his sister. He quickly searched his brain of any female friends with the last name Graas and came up with nothing.

He suddenly realized that Kris must be talking about Dana. Ed couldn't help but smile as he thought of his first meeting with Dana. Apparently Dana had been serving detention for Professor Snape. She had nearly killed him via water bucket. The fact that these two were related and they got along extremely well surprised Ed. They seemed so different when it came to morals, yet they were the same when it came to stubborn will. Before Ed could respond though Kris began to speak once more, only this time his words actually struck a sensitive chord in Ed.

Ed felt his shoulder sag with each word Kris spoke. Of course had thought about everything that Kris was saying, but he had forced himself to ignore these facts for the time being. If he began to worry about all these things he would drive himself insane and loose all hope and give up. He wouldn't allow himself to give up that easily. "I realize that." He said quietly. "Don't you think I would have already thought about that stuff? First things first, I need to get the structure all planned out before I can start worrying about funding. I'd never be able to afford it myself, but theres bound to be some supporters out there who would like the idea. " He opened his mouth to say more but fell silent for a moment, but that lifted his head once more. "Don't worry, you wont be bothered. I would be wasting my time coming to your family for funding."

[kris]

Kris smirked lazily at Ed’s comment: “Your loss. I have a big and rich family-tree with quite a number of nice trinkets in it’s possession not to mention a big number of eccentrics.” Kris almost winced at the last comment. Eccentric was perhaps too mild. Or maybe he remembered the last quarrel he had had to solve for some reason much too well. Even though he didn’t have a clue why he was dragged in the middle of it. But in all reality – after the 80 year old relative had ran off with an 82 year old man to get married in secret so that no one would step in the way of their love, Kris had taken it in stride, sending off a nice wedding present. When that same woman was hysterically crying on his shoulder a year later that her husband was cheating on her with a much younger woman of 67 Kris had been quite disturbed. The joys of a big family. Kris sharply banished that train of thought and closed the book opened between his hands with a small snap.

“Though true, I wouldn’t empty my money-vaults for something like this,” Kris mused calmly as he tilted his head slightly trying to analyze Ed’s tone of voice. It sounded almost beaten. Really now – had he really expected everything to work out this easily? Hardly. Big dreams very good. But big dreams required enormous wallets and while the Summers family was rich Kris knew that Ed wasn’t the most favoured part of the family. “And do you know how to design a building? How to calculate the carrying beams, their material, strength, weight, the positioning of the rooms, how you’re going to add the sewer system and how are you going to keep such a big building running on magic? Or from where do you plan on getting a hoard of house-elves and contractors who would be able to properly make the designs come to life?” Kris questioned. Reality was harsh and Ed would have to learn that funding would become a problem much before he thought it would be.

Kris pondered for a moment about the blueprints. What on earth did Ed need such a house for? An other school to compete with Hogwarts? That would never work. Or was Ed rather the crazy scientist type who had seen a muggle movie and now wanted to take over the world with an army of mini-Frankenstein’s as well. Who knew with the Ravenclaws! “Old Mrs Wangler might sponsor you if you had a weird enough idea. She might pinch your behind a couple of times, but she’s rich and eccentric. Compliment his horses and if you are able to keep up with her when she takes you riding with one of them you just might gain her favour. She’s bright though so you have to have a very grandious plan that would most definitely work,” Kris mused his brain absent-mindedly leafing through names and companies he would turn to for funding if he had the same problem.

[Edward Summers R6]

Ed couldn't help but laugh. "My loss? I don't doubt that your family would be able to fund my entire project and not even put a dent in their coffers. But I hardly believe that my idea will be welcomed with open arms. So I believe that it would actually be my loss to even waste the time in the attempt." Ed knew about the large Graas' families fortune and many artifacts and one-of-a-kind tomes and volumes. Ed would do anything to just get a glimpse of them once. The only thing that kept Ed from groveling at Kris's feet begging was the fact that there were many many more one-of-a-kind volumes out there that would be much easier to gain copies of. Also there were many lost and forgotten tomes that were just waiting to be rediscovered or translated back into a readable language.

Ed's face scrunched up into a frown. Was Kris trying to insult him now? Ed knew that Kris didn't think highly of him, but even Kris had to know that Ed wasn't a complete idiot. Clumsy at times but far from being stupid. "Of course I know how to design a building. I'll have you know this isn't the first building I have designed. I'll admit it's the largest one, but definitely not the first." Ed wasn't lying about that fact. In his spare time he had designed many buildings, even built miniature models of them. It had won him a small cash price during his second year when he sent his model and blueprints in to a local contest. After that he had even received request to design a house for a wizard family. That had been the most money he had ever received at one time, he had actually been able to afford brand new books rather than the second hand ones that year.

Designing and building miniatures was the only part of the project he knew how to do. He would have to hire helpers and adviser to actually help him build the building, but that was a problem better reserved for another day. The color drained from Ed's face as Kris mentioned Mrs. Wangler. Ed had only met the woman once, when he was 9 years old and his parents hadn't completely ignored him. Although Ed had no desire to ever see the woman again, her name was on the top of his list of placing to look into for funding. Ed had a fleeting picture of himself grasping desperately to the neck of a horse at full gallop, it wasn't pretty. He decided to play along with Kris. "I think I can handle a horse well enough." He stated, "And having my butt pinched is a small price to pay if she is willing to fund me. Heck, I'd polish her shoes if that would get her to fund me."

[kris]

Kris arched a cold eye-brow. A dent in their coffers? His family-tree didn’t have endless amounts of money, though they were rather rich altogether. Yet it was still Ed’s loss. Kris wasn’t the only one in his family. He had countless cousins and blood-relations who might easily agree to Ed’s plan – whatever it actually was in the end – and support it with their money or valuables. Even Dana might decide to help as Kris wasn’t in charge of her money-coffers or even by introducing Ed around some. Wasn’t Kris’s problem to tell this to Ed however. He wasn’t that desperately wishing to help the clumsy Ravenclaw after all. “Your problem,” Kris replied quite honestly as he was lazily letting different ideas on what was going on in the Ravenclaw’s head through his mind.

“Oh, did I hurt your feeling?” Kris asked as his eye-brows flew upwards again at Ed’s almost snappy response, “Not everyone takes interest in designing building you know. Considering your obvious clumsiness, this question was completely logical.” Kris didn’t take much interest in houses. He had had a tree-house when he was kid, that his father had built to him just so he could make Kris pick up a hammer once. Kris had never done it later on in life however. Built a house that means. He looked at a house and sometimes liked it, sometimes didn’t but that was based on the impression of the house, not that Kris had overly much talent in judging houses. There must have been someone in his family-tree who knew some about the work, but Kris couldn’t pull out the name from the top of his head right now. Some distant relative must have been. But Kris couldn’t even think of any of his friends who were interested in architecture right now. Ed didn’t count as he was far from being a friend.

Kris arched a sarcastic eye-brow. Ed was a book-work. As geeky as you could come and Kris did have trouble imagining riding a horse, especially one of those hot-blooded Arabian stallions mrs. Wangler preferred. “Have you ever even ridden a horse? Wait, let me rephrase it. Have you ever even practiced any sport other than running away to hide?” Kris questioned with some irony sounding from his tone of voice. Kris had had to work to stay on the tail of the older lady and he had started learning horse-back riding when he was 3. “You most likely will end up cleaning her shoes, if you let her know that. She rather appreciated a back-bone you know, so do learn to act a little before you go to her. A free piece of advice as I’m feeling generous today. It’ll be my good deed of the month.”