A/N: We're halfway through now, six chapters to go! Eh, over halfway, but since when did I care? Thanks go out to: TartKiwiFruit, Tiger Box, InfinitelyBoredForTheMoment, Luna 13, Son Luna, Burning Tortoise, demonicfate616, Guest, SupaCrazee, The OMG Cat, Takei Daloui, Blitza.
Warning: Minor injury. Mentions of insanity. Mentions of torture. One flashback. Some romance.
Chapter 7: Circumnavigation
Circumnavigation – verb (used with object); 1, to sail or fly around the earth; 2, to make a circuit by navigation; 3, to go or maneuver around
"The Guide says that there is an art to flying," said Ford, "or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."
–Douglass Adams, "Life, the Universe, and Everything"
"Zee drill is same as bevore. Vigure out zee phrase."
The bell had already rung and Ed was sitting in his chair, checking off names as he scanned the classroom. If anyone dared to skip his class, then they would be assigned homework. So much of it that they would be buried in papers until the day they died, and would leave them thinking thrice before they even considered skipping again. They didn't know this, of course, but that was why he didn't tell them. It would be a very nasty surprise for any student who thought they could skip his class.
Ed had propped his feet up on his desk again while he had been checking off the names, and once he finished, he threw the sheet aside and swung his legs off his desk, catching the back of his chair before it could fall to the floor. The students were talking again, except Granger, who sat alone with her frustration. Ed sat down in the empty seat at her desk as the girl threw down her book and huffed angrily at it.
"Havink trouble?"
She didn't move, except to turn a disdainful glare onto the offending piece of literature. He pushed one finger onto it, pulling it over by the corner. Alchemy: Study and Application, by Isaac Frollo. Ah yes, the piece of garbage. Ed was well acquainted with Frollo's publishing, knowing how well the man had 'studied'. He hadn't even known that hydrogen was the first element; it was shameful to give the man the title of author, let alone alchemist. Ed snorted derisively at the book.
"Zee man's an idiot," he commented. "He doesn't know anyzink about alchemy. Miss Granger, iv you are so concerned about zee, ah, usevulness ov zis book, why do you not look in zee library vor a better text?"
"There are books on alchemy?" she asked, awed. She was so very hopeful for some help, he couldn't deny her help.
"Yes, zere are." One hand rested on the back of his neck nervously; he didn't like the look Granger was giving him. It was too... submitting, for lack of a better word. "I could show you some, iv you like."
"Yes, that would be so very helpful," she agreed gleefully.
The two of them spent lunch that day in the library, with Ed suggesting different tomes for the brunette to study and commenting on different articles and opinions the authors had included. He was careful to keep them basic, and didn't include any that mentioned human transmutation or chimeras. Fortunately, few of the books had such details, even at the barest of levels. It was also there that Ed had met up with Madame Hooch, who had lost her mind in a quiet fit of rage once Quidditch was brought up. She had spouted off a large number of rules that required all teachers to have flying experience unless excused by a medical condition. Ed hoped that he would be excused, but chose anonymity over avoidance. The fewer secrets Dumbledore knew about him, the better. So it was that Thursday that Ed was being unwillingly forced into flying lessons with the first years, leaving the blond in a horrible mood.
"Professor Elric?" a voice called out to him. He looked up at the approaching group of students, a scowl on his face. He had already determined that flying was not going to be a grand experience. "Why are you here?"
"Clause Thirty-One dash Twelve dictates that all teachers must know how to ride a broom, and the professor here has never ridden before," Hooch answered. "Everyone stand by a broom," the Quidditch expert squawked, impatient to get everyone ready, "hold your wand hand over it and shout 'Up!'"
The command echoed throughout the air as each student and Ed tried their luck at it. Some had received their brooms immediately, the wood thrumming and eager to fly. It was disturbing to those who had never held a broom before, much less fly. Others were not so lucky; most had rolled over, quivered nervously on the grass or did nothing at all. A number of students had given up on commanding the broom and picked it up by hand after a few tries. Some had kept going at it, usually catching the wooden handle on the second or third attempt. Either way, once everyone had their mount in hand, Hooch walked up and down the lines, correcting grips on her way.
"Alright," she called out, after arguing with Malfoy as to how a broom should be correctly held, "once I blow my whistle, you will kick off the ground, hard. Keep your brooms steady, rise up a few feet, and come back down by leaning forward slightly. One, two, thr–"
A half-second too early, Neville kicked off the ground. The kid was probably nervous, this being no wonder for him. Ed, who was standing next to Neville, grabbed at the tail end of the rocketing broom and dropped his own, where it hovered at waist height. Neville's broom tugged at Ed's weight, but didn't manage to lift him very far. It was clear that it was struggling to lift their combined weight and had only made it five feet into the air, Ed's broom floating higher with them like a loyal dog, staying close to the teacher's side. Neville's broom, having enough of them, suddenly gave up and dropped the both of them to the ground. Ed barely grabbed his broom as the other fell to the earth like a rock. Neville had lost his grip on his and Ed had barely managed to catch his robes, but they ripped and the boy fell to the earth after his broom. He hit the hard-packed earth with a wince-worthy crack. Ed's broom lowered to the ground, not nearly as fast as Neville had gone but fast enough that Ed could inspect what damage had been done before Hooch. The injured Gryffindor had a dislocated, possibly broken wrist; a light touch the area made Neville let out a pained whimper.
"A broken or dislocated wrist," Ed informed the referee. "I'll brink him over to zee Hoschpital Ving; someone needs to vatch over zee schtudents."
Hooch nodded in agreement and helped the two up, Neville clutching tightly at Ed's hand with his good one. He let the teacher lead him back into the castle, both of them quiet until they had truly entered the halls.
"Sir?" Neville's voice was streaked with pain, but his tone was urgent.
"Yes, Mister...?"
"Longbottom, sir. I wanted to ask you something."
"Vire away."
"Have you... Have you ever seen someone die?" The question took him by surprise, but he took it in stride.
"I have."
"Well... my parents... They were driven insane by Death Eaters," he whispered. The professor didn't know what Death Eaters were, but they sounded bad, based on how Neville was reacting to the name. His voice quivered as he had spoken and his face was paler than it had been before.
"Vat do you vant me to say? 'I'm sorry?' Pity von't get you anyvere."
"No!" he almost shouted, a scandalized look etched on his face. "No– that's not–" He took a deep breath before continuing. "I wanted your advice, on what to do."
"All right, but virst, vyy did you ask me? Zere are ozer teachers zat could give you advice just as vell as I could."
"I-I felt like I could trust you." Neville shrank back as he answered, something akin to fear passing over his face. "That you had been through something like this before." Ed nodded in understanding and agreement, and the first year relaxed slightly with the confirmation.
"Move on, ov course. Iv you have to, live your live vor zem. Do vat you have to, but make live worz it, vor yourselv and zose you care about most."
Just in time, they had come to the Hospital Wing. Ed directed Neville into the long hall, and the boy mouthed a 'thank you' at him before talking with the nurse, Madame Pomfrey. He turned around and saw Madame Hooch, directing two Gryffindor boys. Apparently, after Ed had left, they had attempted to duplicate Neville's feat and managed to not only land on top of one another, but also on their brooms, which had miraculously escaped unharmed.
"Vait a minute," he interrupted. "Iv you're here, and I'm here, zen voo is viz zee schtudents?"
Fear flashed through Hooch's eyes at the realization and they both raced back outside as fast as their legs could carry them. Ed made it first, skidding to a halt in the grass and brought up clods of dirt as he went from about forty to zero. Harry nimbly landed on the ground a moment later, a pale orb clutched in his hand. He looked rather delighted until he looked up and found not one, but three teachers in the immediate vicinity.
"Never, in all my time at Hogwarts," Minerva was spitting, Hooch a step behind. "You, Professor Elric–"
"Was escorting an injured student to the Hospital Wing when this happened, Minerva," Hooch interrupted. "He had just gotten out here moments before us." Minerva frostily glared at the blond before returning her anger to Harry.
"Harry just-"
"Be quiet, Miss Patil."
"Malfoy, he-"
"Enough from you, Mr. Weasley. Potter, follow me now."
Minerva walked back to the school, a dejected Harry in tow. Five or six Slytherins had gleeful looks on their faces while the others were neutral or upset. Most of the Gryffindors were glowering at their rivals, despite the fact that it seemed only one of them was responsible for getting Harry into trouble.
"Malfoy took Neville's Remembrall, sir," the Patil girl confirmed. "Harry went after him to get it back, but Malfoy threw it into the air and Harry barely caught it."
"I see. Madame Hooch," Ed called over, "one ov zee schtudents has committed an invraction, and I vould like your permission to punisch them, seeink as how zey broke zee rules vhile vee vere gone but zey are under your supervision."
"All right," she said, waving him off so she could talk to one of the other students who had a question.
Ed grinned in delight and swiftly toed an array into the dirt. He didn't have to, per se, but it was better than allowing the students to know he didn't need to draw an array at all to perform alchemy. His hands came down onto the lines and the now-familiar alchemical light came to life and played across the ground, like dogs nipping at each other's heels. The lightning came across its target and gathered up around Malfoy before a large section of the dirt below swallowed him, pulling him under until only his head was left visible. With the exception of the slight lump of displaced earth around him, nothing had changed. Well, that is if you didn't count the pale blond head sticking out of the earth like some human-plant.
"Hey! Get me out of here!" Malfoy struggled from inside the prison, but the dirt was packed together too tightly for him to do much more than move his neck and head. "I'll- I'll-"
"You'll do nozink, Mister Malvoy," the alchemist finished, crouching down by the head. "You vlew on a broom ven you schouldn't have, and zis is your punischment. Or vould you prever to pickle roots and animals vor your head ov house?"
He shook his head harshly and Ed smiled. He stood up and returned to the lesson with the rest of the students, leaving Malfoy to think about what he had done. Of course, it wouldn't last long. Ed was never that lucky and the Slytherin boy was far too pig-headed.
At dinnertime, long after he had been released from his prison, Malfoy was conspicuously standing by the Gryffindor table, Crabbe and Goyle by his side like always. There was a quick flare of an argument as Ron, who he seemed to be talking to, stood up and snapped something back. The other seemed to let it go and returned to his table, decidedly smug. Ron had sat back down and started talking again, and Ed hoped the little incident was nothing important. Ed finished up quickly left, having some research he wanted to check over. In the entrance hall, Snape, who had just left the Great Hall, caught and tugged the edge of Ed's jacket. It was a little unorthodox for the Potions teacher, but he and Ed had had some fairly long conversations about their respective subjects before, and Severus was well acquainted with how engrossed the Elric could get with anything he was interested with. Feeling the tug on his clothing, Ed looked up and saw the Potions master.
"We have patrol tonight, Elric." Ed nodded, expecting this to happen sooner or later.
"Ven do vee schtart?"
"At ten; you'll start on the third floor up to the Charms corridor."
The day simply got worse. Or tomorrow, since it was actually midnight. But it still got worse when Ed was nearing the Charms corridor for the third time that night. There was the sound of distant crashing and suddenly four students came running through the wall. Ed stood there in shock, unsure if he was hallucinating. At least until Peeves had flown through a classroom door, yelling like a siren.
"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" he shouted. "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"
With that confirmation Ed ran after where he had last seen the students, quickly catching up to them. Unfortunately for them, they had gone down the third corridor and had stopped at none other than Fluffy's door. The giant, three headed Cerberus that didn't take kindly to anyone but Hagrid. Ed hadn't tested his luck with the beast and preferred not to push it, either. The door opened and the four ran in before it swung shut with a click. Ed ran faster and caught the door handle. It refused to turn, and he pulled his wand out of his sleeve, performed an unlocking spell, and threw the door open just in time to see the three fluffy heads that were Fluffy, acidic spittle dripping from its maw, lunge for the students. Ed yanked them back as the chain keeping the dog back caught on one of its necks and it stopped with a sharp yelp, one head wincing in pain while the other two glared on. The door was shut and relocked so that the three pairs of baleful eyes looked upon them no longer before Ed turned his own gaze onto the students, who all looked away guiltily. Neville was more fearful than guilty, but even so.
"Start talkink."
Ron immediately launched into an explanation of how Malfoy had challenged Harry to a duel and that he, Ron, had accepted for his friend. Granger then came in, saying that she had overheard them and she tried to stop them by waiting out in the corridor, but when she tried to get back in the common room, the Fat Lady had left, leaving them outside as well. Neville had been locked out for hours, since he had forgotten the password after returning from the Hospital Wing.
"Vat am I goink to do viz you vour?" he muttered to himself, not failing to miss the collective flinches from the four first years. "You are all idiots, leavink zee common room. Except you, Neville; you had been locked out. You two, Harry, Ron; you schould have known zat Malvoy vas up to no good. He has never been, and likely vill not be. Miss Granger, you had simply tried keep zese two out of trouble. You need more vriends like her," he finished, speaking to Harry and Ron specifically with the last sentence. "I'll brink you back to your common room, but do not even zink ov comink back here again."
No one spoke a word until they had reached the Fat Lady, the guardian of the Gryffindor tower and common room, and even that was only the password. Perhaps they could feel the disappointment coming off of Ed. Whatever the case, none of them could meet his eye when he turned back to them one last time, choosing instead to silently shuffle past and climb into the portrait hole. The Fat Lady swung back shut after Neville climbed through and treated the retreating alchemist with one last bewildered look before he turned the corner and disappeared.
"You may now kiss the bride."
Ed couldn't help but grin as his brother swept up his betrothed, literally off her feet. When they parted, her veil was up and off her face and Al had a crazy grin on his face, just like the time Ed dared him to eat six of those little sugary candy spheres at once and got a horrible bad sugar rush off of it. He'd ended up puking it all up later, but Al was nuts while trying to work off the sugar rush. The noise of the celebration was almost muted to him, barely reaching his ears as Al carried off his new wife, in the traditional bridal style. Al slid Winry into the car waiting for them, before moving in next to her and shutting the door. The car immediately drove off, taking the newly wedded to wherever it was Al had in mind for the after-marriage party. Ed's smile turned sad as his thoughts changed direction, something Roy seemed to pick up next to him.
"Something wrong, Fullmetal?"
Ed didn't answer at first, choosing to think about his answer before giving it away. He was happy for Al, of course, but this was just another example of Al growing up. Of him getting older, older than Ed would ever be, no matter how long he lived. And one day, he would be left behind in the dust, holding the shovel and standing before his brother's grave. It was sobering, now, but sure to be worse when the day came.
"Just thinking about the future; about what's going to happen."
"Put the thoughts off for now, shorty. Today is supposed to be a happy day."
Ed ignored the short comment, not wanting to startle everyone gathered. They were now leaving, for the party that Ed wouldn't attend. He was busy today, and it was only because of Mustang's connections that it could have been put off this long. Ed shrugged off his black suit jacket and transmuted it back to his favorite form, red with the Flamel cross adorned across the back. Everyone but the two alchemists was gone now, to revel in the celebration. Roy extended one gloveless hand to the elder Elric, an oddly final gesture.
"Be seeing you, Fullmetal. Make this one short."
Ed scowled and slapped away his superior's hand, who laughed at the aggressive response. He walked behind the shorter, stopping in the threshold. Ed looked back, a heavy feeling settling in his stomach. He ignored it as best as he could and kept walking, never stopping until he was well out of sight.
Next chapter: Antagonized
TartKiwiFruit: Well, alchemy is science. I actually had a conversation about before, with my Chemistry teacher in high school. Neither of us knew it at the time, but we were talking about alchemy. Took me about three months to realize it, but better late than never. I don't know if he ever did...
Guest: Ah. All right then. Hope this update makes you happy.
The OMG Cat: I know, it makes me think of Pocky.
