This is a result of me taking HP and FMA and putting into the blender of my mind, then pouring it on paper. I own nothing.
"All is one…One is all..All is one…"
"Hermione, relax," Ron said, watching her pace around the Gryffindor common room. "We have a month-"
"Only a month!" she snapped, whirling to face him. "And if we can't figure it out, we can't even stay in the class! Who knows when we'll ever get to attend another alchemy class? Plus, I've never dropped a class before. What if it goes on my records? Plus, O.W.L.s are in just two years-"
"Oh yeah," Harry said, cutting her off. "I saw Ed in the library and he was willing to give me a couple hints on the homework."
"What?" Harry blinked at the shock on both his friends faces.
"He helped you? What did he say? Oh, I can't believe I didn't go to him, I just wasn't sure-"
"You call him Ed?"
"-but why didn't you say anything?" Hermione shrieked, looking very close to grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him.
"Well, it was really weird. He asked me if I'd ever been in a situation where I was about to die and told me to think about it."
Hermione sank into a nearby armchair, obviously deep in thought.
"But…death?" Ron sounded appalled. "I mean, I thought his hint in class was just a sort of joke, you know? But…blimey, he's serious, isn't he?"
Harry nodded, as Hermione began shuffling through her notes.
"Bloody crazy…"
oOoOoOoOo
"It followed you." Roy Mustang's tone was filled with enough sarcasm to make a lesser man flinch. Ed, however, used the same amount (if not more) on a regular basis and was, therefore, unaffected.
"Well, it did."
"And you want to keep it." he said, watching the…thing tug on Ed's sleeve. Ed pulled out another scrap of raw hamburger and feed it to the animal.
"Well, yeah."
Roy groaned, rubbing his forehead.
"It looks like it's dying, Hagane no."
"So?" Ed stared at Mustang angrily. "It's an orphan."
Roy blinked. So that was why. Ed, for all his harshness and tough-guy act, was not going to abandon a fellow orphan.
"Let's talk to the Headmaster about it," Riza suggested, letting Roy give in without risking his reputation. "Does it have a leash?"
"It doesn't need one," Ed replied, patting it on the head. "It follows me everywhere. I think it's imprinted on me or something like that."
Ed.
As a goddamn mother.
It was fifteen minutes before Roy stopped laughing long enough for them to leave the room.
oOoOoOoOo
Albus Dumbledore had seen many, many strange things in his reign of teaching at Hogwarts. However, it had been several years since a student came into his office with a thestral.
"Look, Colonel Bastard says I have to clear this with you because you're in charge of the school, but I don't actually give a crap. If you say no, I'm keeping it anyway, so just deal with that now. All I want to know is what the hell it is and then we can go and forget we ever had this conversation."
Dumbledore blinked slowly, looking down at the small animal who's gaze was switching uncertainly from the blond-haired boy to the white-haired headmaster.
"Well," he said slowly, patting the small creature on the head. "This is a baby thestral, Mr. Elric."
Ed blinked.
"I keep forgetting you know my name," he muttered as the thestral left Dumbledore's side to nuzzle his hand. "Anyway, what's wrong with it?"
"Pardon?"
"It looks very sickly," Riza explained from the back of the office.
"Ah," Dumbledore's eyes returned to their usual twinkle. "That is actually normal for a thestral. They are skeletal by nature, and always appear quite thin. But, Ms. Hawkeye, may I assume that you can see it?"
"Why wouldn't she?" Ed butted in irritably. "Looking as creepy as this one does, they're hard to miss. Even the colonel noticed it."
"Ah, but that is interesting," Dumbledore's eyes lost a bit of their twinkle, making Ed feel more like he was being analyzed than simply being watched. "You see, thestrals can only be seen by those who've witnessed death. Since all three of you can see them, I can't help but wonder…"
"That's enough." Roy, who had been trying to figure out how the portraits of the headmasters could move, spoke up for the first time. "Professor, you know that we are from another world, and that we are trying to get home. You even know Hagane no's real name, and even suggested we pretend he was Hawkeye's son in order to make things less suspicious. You already know too much."
"Of course, of course," Dumbledore replied, smiling. "It would not be equivalent, am I right?"
"Damn straight," Ed grumbled, nearly knocking into a table covered in spindly, silver objects. The small thestral (which, after some investigation, was found to be a girl) followed happily, her small tuft of a tail swishing back and forth. Roy and Riza, being closer to the door, left first. Ed was about to leave as well when a thought struck him.
"You can see her too, can't you?"
Dumbledore smiled, though it was the slightest bit strained. "Equivalence, Mr. Elric."
"Tch." Followed closely by the thestral, Ed left the office, the door slamming behind him.
"Are you actually going to keep it?" Roy asked once Ed had stepped off the spiral staircase, the gargoyle shifting back into position.
"Yeah." Ed scoffed, rubbing the thestral's head. "It's funny. I mean, I always yelled at Al for bringing home cats, and here I am with a bat-winged-horse-thing." His face softened. "Hey, what do you think of that? Allie?"
The thestral gave a soft kree as it gently nipped Ed's hand.
oOoOoOoOo
The next day dawned dark and gloomy, with rain pattering against the castle windows. Not unusual weather for the British Isles, but not something that happened often in Amestris. Therefore, it did not bode well for the three alchemy teachers…especially since something bad always seemed to happen on rainy days.
For example, Scar attacking.
Or Nina.
Or Hughes's funeral, according to Roy.
Add in aching scars and, in one case, an aching stump, and all three of them agreed that today was probably not going to be good.
Riza sighed as she sat at the staff table, running a hand irritably over her neck where, just under her turtleneck, sat a large scar. She hated the fact that this pain could get to her, especially since both the colonel and Edward had much worse pains to deal with, but she was just so sore. Her back especially, though she couldn't rub that in public. She rolled her shoulders back with a sigh, before returning to her breakfast.
Ed, while outwardly seemed to be in no pain, snapped at nearly everyone on the way down to breakfast, causing a small first-year to burst into tears (after which he, rather awkwardly, swore and tried to get her to stop crying, which caused her to cry harder, and it continued as such until Mustang finally intervened). He was also stabbing at his waffles far harder than necessary, and glaring viciously at anyone who spared a glance at the plate of raw steak next to his breakfast. Allie stuck her head out from underneath the staff table and dragged the steak off the plate and onto the ground, where she happily dug in.
Ed cursed as he broke his third plate that morning from his excessive use of force at the same time Roy cursed, more softly, as he dropped his spoon again.
I'm not usually this bad, he thought to himself as he fought to make his fingers bend around the spoon. It's just that they're so sore from this damn weather…
I really HATE rain.
"Sir." Hawkeye's voice was soft as she picked up his spoon, helping him curl his fingers around the handle. They both paused, her fingers on his hands and her face…oh god, her face was so close to his…
"Thanks," he muttered, turning back to his oatmeal as she took a sip of her coffee. Ed snickered.
Today might not be so bad after all.
oOoOoOoOo
"HARBRINGER OF DEATH AND DOOM! BRINGER OF GRIEF AND CARRIER OF CURSES! IT HAS JUST ENTERED THIS CLASSROOM!" Professor Trelawney shrieked, pointing a shaking finger toward the opened trapdoor leading into the classroom. Everyone turned, Neville dropped yet another teacup, and Lavander and Parvati shrieked.
Ed blinked. Sure, he probably wasn't expected in the class…but still, he had hoped for a somewhat-warmer reaction. Since there were no alchemy classes scheduled that day, he had wandered through the castle, found a silver ladder…
…and ended up in this situation.
"Erm…me?" he asked finally, looking around.
"No, my dear, but you have been marked," Trelawney continued, trembling. "By the creature behind you!"
The class craned their necks to look behind Ed while Hermione rolled her eyes. Neville paled and dropped another teacup.
"Professor, there's nothing behind Professor Hawkeye," Hermione said, without raising her hand.
Ed looked behind him as well, then realization struck.
"Oh, you mean her," he said, putting a hand on Allie's head. Trelawney staggered over to an overstuffed armchair and sat unsteadily in it. Ed grinned wickedly.
"My dear boy…to be followed by such a creature…you, my dear, are doomed."
Ed, however, wasn't listening. He knelt down to Allie's height, and was scratching her under the chin.
"Who's a good little harbringer of death?" he crooned. "Who's a gooood little curse-bringer? Yes you are! Yes you are~!"
Trelawney fainted. Lavender and Parvati screamed, rushing over to the teacher's side.
"Someone get Madam Pomfrey!" Lavender shouted, sounding close to tears.
Allie looked up at Ed uncertainly.
"Nah, you did nothing wrong," he told her, scratching her behind the ears. "Actually, that was the most fun I've had in a while." He looked around at the classroom of panicking students, an exasperated Hermione and a still-terrified Neville. "We better go, before McGonagall comes to yell at me again."
He turned and opened the trapdoor, before realizing something.
"Hey…how'd you follow me up here, anyway?"
Allie screeched, spreading her bat-like wings wide and looking very proud of herself.
Lavender and Parvati fainted next to their teacher.
Huh. Ed thought as he looked around the classroom, which had now dissolved into chaos. Maybe rainy days aren't that bad after all.
oOoOoOoOo
The next day was somewhat sunnier. Ed was still being avoided like the plague by most of the third years, except for Hermione, Ron, and Harry (Though it did take some convincing on Hermione's part) but, on the bright side, Allie was becoming a more adept flyer. Since it was a Saturday, Ed was happy to take Allie down to the grounds near the Black Lake to help her get flying practice.
Roy, who had nothing better to do, and Riza, who was his bodyguard, followed Ed down to the lake, Riza with a book in her lap and Roy with a set of alchemy notes.
Ed smirked, watching the two together. They were sitting together, far closer than military protocol would allow, which was an improvement. However, if they ended up touching, both would freeze in what they were doing before awkwardly pretending it didn't happen.
It was rather amusing to watch two high-ranking military officers act like awkward teenagers.
Roy looked up from his notes to see Ed's head disappear underwater. He rolled his eyes, turning a page. What is that kid doing now?
He froze. His notes fell to the ground.
Ed has automail.
He can't swim.
Yeah, I'm evil...
I'm going to try to get a chapter out at least every two weeks, if not more often. I'm so sorry for making you guys wait so long, but at least the chapters are longer, right? *sweatdrop*
Please review, even if it's to tell me how much you hate me for making you wait!