Okay, here is my next chapter! I hope you all like it! I wanted to post it yesterday but I fell asleep! Okay, well Thank you all for your reviews I am glad to hear that all of you like it so far! I know that this doesn't really relate to the story, but there is another fun fact at the bottom! Enjoy!

CHAPTER 9

Physical Education

It was lunch of course, when Izumi lead nearly dragged the frightened Elric out of the castle. He could hear all of the commotion going on in the Great Hall. The smell of food wafted into his tired and rather hungry senses and he longed for it, but Izumi ignored him and lead him outside into the vast greenery of the castle. He was running off of minimal sleep as well as no food, but he kept his head up. Izumi would give him an earful if she knew that he wasn't taking care of himself.

Several students were outside enjoying the sun or eating lunch. Some of the teachers were there as well. McGonagall was giving a rather crude beat down on Moody who seemed to have accidentally let the Blast ended Shrewts out of their cage. Hagrid was off in the distance trying to catch them all before they set his hut on fire. Izumi took them to the small hill that lead down to the whomping willow. It was a beautiful day and it reminded Edward slightly of the days that he and Alphonse would spar together, however now he was sparring with the terrifying power or his teacher. He took in a little shaky breath as he braced himself for her. They stood a few meters apart in ready stance. Izumi, was smirking rather evilly at him. He really wished that McGonagall could have let him get an ear full from Mustang or even Armstrong instead of calling her. It felt like he was back in training during his stay with her all those years ago.

Edward charged her and threw several punches as she gracefully dodged them as if she predicted them all an hour before hand. He went to knock her legs out from underneath her and she simply stepped over his foot. It was well known by both of them that the young alchemist was never going to win, but he didn't want to give up trying.

"You are so predictable, Edward," Izumi scolded him as she grabbed a hold of his arm and hurled him hover her shoulder. "Don't you dare take it easy on me." Edward skidded to a stop and then charged her again. He threw several fake punches as well as real ones, but she always found a move to perfectly counteract his. Just as Edward went in for a round house, Izumi caught his leg and spun him around to the ground. She pinned him there by a half nelson making sure to rub his face in the dirt a few extra times. He groaned as she gave a bellowing laugh.

"I haven't done this in a long time!" she said cheerfully. Edward grumbled to himself as Izumi let him go to reset their match. They stood in their starting positions and Edward realized that a small crowd was growing. It wasn't anything unusual for the students to be curious about him fighting, especially since his assessment the other year, but he really wished that they wouldn't watch while he got his butt kicked. Moody as well as McGonagall were standing with the crowd and were eyeing their fight with completely opposite reactions. Alastor was rather thrilled and completely engaged while Minerva was absolutely terrified. She always hated it when Edward fought and to say the least, this wasn't really backing up his punishment about fighting with other teachers. As Edward was distracted by the crowd, Izumi actually took the chance to make the first strike, something she never did before during their sparrings. He caught the right hook out of the corner of his eye and ducked. He slid out of the way of his attacking teacher just in time to avoid being slammed by the backs of both fists.

"Teacher, take it easy! Don't strain yourself!" Edward pleaded her. She sent a roundhouse at him which he blocked with his arm. He knew what happened to her when she over exerted herself, blood would be pouring out of her mouth at any minute if she kept on fighting so aggressively. It didn't help him that he didn't see her take any medication beforehand either. She didn't like doctors just like he did, but she didn't ignore their warnings either. Instead of stopping however they continued, Edward in full defensive while she was on the aggressive but of course not at full force. If she was going all out, he would have been dead by now. Within five minutes, Edward was lying on his stomach again being pinned to the ground by a sandal covered foot. The crowd was clapping at the show that they got to see.

"Mrs. Curtis!" Minerva spoke out. Izumi turned to her smiling kindly while Edward looked up from where he was still pinned on the ground. "I am glad that you are teaching Mr. Elric a thing or two, but remember he still has to teach! He can't teach a class with half of his body broken!"

"Mrs. McGonagall, I promise you that he is fine. If I haven't broken my student yet, I won't anytime soon," she replied kindly but then Izumi gave a mischievous glare down towards Edward. "That is, unless I catch him doing something stupid again then I might consider going all out." Shivers went down his spine as the two black eyes bore into his very being. Teacher could scare a grizzly bear with that look. Izumi took her foot off of his back and let him get up and stretch out. His body was sore in more places than one and it wasn't helping his mood that the crowd of students was cheering as if Izumi won a major award. He grumbled to himself a bit as he straightened out his coat. What really got to him was that Izumi did not look like she was in pain at all. She could have went through the entire duel without lifting a finger and still have won, but instead she decided to fight as well. She was panting a bit but other than that she looked fine.

"Teacher, are you alright?" Edward asked her as she stroked up a talk with the other teachers.

"Edward," Izumi's stern voice came out, "Why don't you go get some lunch? I will be up in a bit." Edward swiftly nodded after catching the glimmering look in her eye and turned to head back to the castle. As he glanced back to where his teacher was talking, he saw that Moody was getting rather interested in their fighting skills. He thought he heard the words Constant Vigilance echo from the hill top.

…..

Edward sat in the Great Hall across from Severus. It was almost empty except for a few students who lingered there instead of rushing off to their other classes. He was gorging down food absolutely starved from missing breakfast especially with all that happened that day. Severus seemed to be trying to read a book of some sort but was getting rather distracted with Edward's eating. It seemed like he was trying to guess how much more the kid could eat. After a third plate of sandwiches, Severus snapped his book shut.

"Edward, could you at least try to contain your eating habits to your side of the table?" Severus growled at him rather annoyed.

"I missed breakfast, had to sit through a lecture from Wild Eye over there, and I got my butt kicked by my teacher," he stated rather flatly to the grumpy wizard. "Could you pass the water?" Severus rolled his eyes and handed him the pitcher. Edward took a long gulp from his goblet. It was completely refreshing.

"By the way, you have a little dirt on your face, I just thought you wanted to know," Severus said pointing to a little spot by his nose. Edward started to laugh nearly spitting water out his nose. He knew his face was dirty and not just one spot on his nose. Izumi made sure to stuff his face in the dirt whenever she tackled him. He was covered in it.

"Thanks Captain Obvious," he said taking his napkin to try and to wipe some of it off. Severus even managed to crack the tiniest smile. He picked up his book.

"So where is your teacher? I think I might want to tell her off for dueling you like that. I won't hear the end of it in my classes for weeks. It is silly what gets kids rallied up these days."

"Well, if you want to get killed, I wouldn't put it past you. My teacher could take down a grizzly like it was reading the afternoon paper. She is talking to some of the Hogwarts staff. Moody seemed really interested in all of it," Edward said picking up a bowl of noodles. Severus grimaced at the mention of Moody. Edward caught it as the potions master was trying to cover it up with his book. "Severus, what is it? I know he took the defense position, but I am sure you'll get it next time. The man is only staying for one year it is hardly a thing to be disgusted about." Severus's face twisted a bit in anger. The Dark Art's position was a sore spot for him, but Edward was way off on what was upsetting him.

"No, Elric," he steamed rather stiffly. "I just want to ask you a question. Do you think that it is a bit odd that the man was supposedly attacked the day he came to school and seemed perfectly fine when he got here?" Edward slurped up some noodles and studied rather confused into the man's dead serious expression.

"Well, for one, you are talking to an alchemist who got picked up right after a dangerous car chase with a gut splitting wound just to be whisked away to the magical world of London with no clue on whether everyone or anyone made it out of the mountains alright," he stated setting down his bowl. "I thought Moody's attack was a false alarm anyways. He is a little dismantled in the head you know. He nearly knocked my head off while I was walking out of my office just to scold me on CONSTANT VIGIANCE!" he mocked the man. Severus rolled his eyes and picked up his book again.

"I just don't trust him, that's all. Some potion supplies have gone missing from my private stores and I only suspect a few people, him included."

"The only thing I don't get is his eyeball. What happened to it? And why can it see through stuff?" Edward asked him.

"Magic," Severus stated plainly. Edward gave him an obvious glare.

"I just find it creepy. At the ministry he was able to see my injury as well as my prosthetics. Of course I am glad that he doesn't know where they came-" Edward took a pause. Moody wasn't at the Quidditch cup as far as he could tell. He couldn't have known that he was attacked then. The wound was obvious with his all seeing eye, but Alastor specifically said at the Cup. Severus studied the thinking Elric as the boy took a glance out of the Great Hall's windows onto the green fields. Storm clouds were rolling in the distance and the sky as well as the ceiling was getting slowly darker.

"Edward?" he asked. The alchemist seemed to snap back to reality. He took a quick look at his pocket watch and then flipped it shut. He quickly stood up to leave and gathered his things.

"Severus, I think you are…. Right," he stated. He turned and rushed out of the door to his afternoon classes, he was already ten minutes late with even more on his mind. He ran all of the way to the Defense tower and through the trophy room. He bolted past the Dark art's classroom and saw Alastor lecturing a couple of classes about the Imperius curse. The Electric blue eye was swirling about the way and caught a hold of him as he ran past the door. A shiver ran down his spine as he turned the bend and bolted into his classroom. His Fourth years were already seated with their books and charts out. Izumi was standing at the front of the classroom giving him a death glare. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw his teacher. The attention of the classroom drew to them.

"Edward, if I thought you would have been so lazy as to have missed your own class, I would have made you run a few laps around the grounds," Izumi growled at him. She leaned casually against his desk as he cautiously approached the front of the room.

"I-I got caught up with Severus," he said dumbly.

"If only everyone gave that excuse," Izumi retorted sarcastically. Edward tossed his coat on the chair and picked up a piece of chalk so that he could officially start class but his hand stopped as he saw what was already written on the board. To train the spirit, you must first train the body. He glanced over to where Izumi was smiling rather curtly.

"I am guessing you are going to take over the class?" Edward sighed rather grumpily. Izumi nodded.

"This is more your punishment than their learning," she smiled and pointed him to an empty desk. He sulked to the back of the classroom and took a seat next to Neville. The class started to whisper back and forth to each other, but his Teacher silenced them.

"I was invited here to set my pupil's manners in place, but since it has been making slow progress, I guess that I can invite his classes to join him," she smirked. The class looked curiously to each other but their questions were cut short when all of a sudden, Izumi's deameanor changed from a strict teacher to that of a drill sergeant. "ALRIGHT! Drop your books lets go! Down to the fields! On the double!" she ordered them. The class was a little stunned but Izumi was dead serious. She shot a look at Edward which left him completely shaken. She started to take a malicious step towards him but before she could take another, Edward grabbed a chunk of Neville's robes and bolted out of the room with him in tow. The rest of the class, noticed what he was doing and jolted out of their seats as well. Izumi ran behind them making sure that no one decided to skip out on their lessons. She was constantly yelling at them to keep it up and to move faster. Neville was stumbling along behind Edward as he was still being half dragged through the castle.

"Professor! What's going on?" he panted as the exited the Entrance hall and outside. The storm clouds were over the lake now, but weren't threatening to pour quite yet.

"Nothing that we are going to like," Edward said as he dragged the kid over to the fields.

"Edward! What are you telling your students about me?" Izumi's voice cried out to him. Edward's body spun around rather stiff.

"Nothing!" he replied quickly. Izumi smirked at him and then turned to the rest of the class. This was going to be the second tie today he was going to have his but handed to him during training. The students looked completely worn out from their run down here. They were all completely out of shape. Neville seemed to be doing the best out of all of them since Edward dragged him most of the way. One thing that the entire had in common with him however, was that they were all scared to death by the teacher. She was kind and motherly most of the time, but the instant something pisses her off or the word training is mentioned, she turns into a wild animal ready to strike.

"Alright! In order to train the spirit, or your mind, you must first train your body! Knowledge is useless without application. So far it seems that your teacher has failed to give you proper training and exercise," she said giving Edward a look, "For the time that I am here, every class you will have Physical training. And you will be given an hour on Saturday and Sunday as well!" Several complaints hollered out and rang through Edward's ears, but they were all silent. The students were too afraid to say them out loud with Izumi's presence near. "Great, now let's begin!"

They were separated off into groups for their training. One group was sent to run laps around the Quidditch stadium while others were doing conditioning with pushups and sit ups. Izumi walked around with a text book in hand and started to question the working students as they were training. Several people got some right, but others who were out of breath couldn't answer. As punishment, she sent them on extra rounds. Neville seemed to be getting all of the questions right only out of desperation to avoid more work. He was having extreme trouble doing a proper military push up even though his running wasn't half bad. A group of running students were running at a decent pace around the field, but Izumi thought it was too slow for Edward. As the students were making their rounds, Edward was sprinting his in order to dodge and out run several boulders that Izumi sent his way with alchemy. She was not taking it easy on him at all. As they trained through the entire lesson, the storm clouds drew over the school and draped it in a dark haze. Thunder clashed from them and rain started to pour out. The field caked in mud and drenched all of their robes. Izumi ordered the students to run inside after the bell rang, but she kept Edward outside to finish his laps. He still had thirty more to do.

Edward sprinted down and around the field as fast as he could with the mud sticking to his shoes. His clothes were getting quite heavy with the water and he actually had to ditch his shirts in order to keep himself from being weighed down anymore. His automail shone out through the rain which was torturing him. Izumi continued to send some boulders his way and he ended up having to break them instead of dodge them because his leg was starting to clam up with the weather. After his twenty eighth lap the thunder rolled in the sky with drum exploding force. Edward's leg completely jammed up and he was sent into the mud face first. He growled and started cursing at his metal leg. He lifted the cloth of his pant leg and hit the prosthetic a couple of times in the knee joint to get it moving again. It was barely worth the effort. The weather was making the metal shift under the pressure. Though it was his winter automail and was more durable, it still couldn't fight off a good thunder storm. His knee was stiff as he got back up out of the mud to continue his last two laps. It felt like he was hobbling a bit which made sprinting even more of a chore. The boulders stopped luckily, but Izumi didn't tell him to stop either. He was glad that it was his last class of the day or else he might have been outside even longer. Just as he rounded the bend for his last lap, his knee gave out again and he fell to the ground. His face was splattered with mud and his arm was giving him hell. He couldn't even think about finishing the lap. Instead he just laid in the mud and waited for the storm to pass over. His joints would be useless until then he would be useless until then. Poppy was supposed to have given him some climate control spells but they are only temporary and don't get rid of the pain. He must be in need of a renewal. As he laid in the mud waiting, Izumi walked over and glared down at him.

"You really did get weaker," she scolded him. He growled at her but nothing else came from him. Teacher let out an exhausted sigh and held out her hand to him. She propped him up on her shoulder and started to lead him around his last lap, his stiff leg sloshing in the mud. "You know, if you can't even attempt to get through an obstacle, I wonder how you will ever fight the capitol when it comes to it."

"It's the damn weather," he grumbled. Izumi shot him a look as they rounded the far post.

"What if it is raining when you fight? Are you just going to stop then?" Izumi asked him. The image of Scar flashed through his head when he and Alphonse were trapped in the alley way. He didn't give up because of the weather, he gave up because of Alphonse. He got scolded for it afterwards.

"Edward," Izumi said leading him in the direction of the Castle. She picked up his soaking wet shirts from the ground as they passed them. "Don't give up no matter what the reason. I don't want to see you falter when you hit a wall like this, run right through it." Edward let out a little chuckle as they made it into the castle entrance hall.

"Like Platform 9 ¾ ," he said flatly. "Teacher, I didn't expect you to be giving me more than one lesson while you were here. McGonagall would be pleased."

"I am your teacher, I teach things. If you don't learn that is my fault," she stated. She set Edward down to rest on the Entrance Hall steps outside of the Great Hall. She tossed is wet clothes to the side and sank down beside him. "Edward, about why I am here, McGonagall told me that you fought with a teacher."

"I think you beat that out of me on the hilltop earlier," Edward grumbled as he was sorely reminded about his duel with Teacher.

"No, Edward. It just isn't that. I don't want you to get into any unnecessary danger unless needed. You should only put yourself in danger for the things important to you. Don't go dying before you get Alphonse back," Izumi scolded him. "Fighting with teachers, fighting against magic, is not going to help you in any ways. You should listen to Mr. Moody, he has a tight head on his shoulders there."

"Teacher, are you sure? He seems quite-" Edward asked her but Izumi cut him off with a glare.

"Yes, he is the Defense teacher after all isn't he? Constant Vigilance is something that I have been trying to tell you for years. I bet a nickel that what happened to you right there," she said pointing to his scar on his stomach, "was because you weren't vigilant enough. What was it? Attacked from the back?" she asked him. Edward looked down at his bare chest and studied the long scar that ran down his side for a moment. He got it because he failed to realize that there were two stones rather than just one. He wasn't ready for it.

"Something like that," he muttered to the floor. Izumi smiled ever so slightly and pulled him into an awkward hug. He was quite shocked for a moment.

"Be careful. I want to see you and Alphonse whole again the next time I see both of you together," she stated as she stood up from the ground.

"Wait Teacher, I asked you if you were alright earlier. You over worked a lot recently, is everything okay?" he asked innocently.

"Don't go setting my boundaries Edward!" Izumi yelled at him. She gave him a light slap over the head. After she calmed down a bit from having her student speak out to her like that, she sighed. "I am not cured. They are still missing, but I had someone help me so that I can work like normal again. I am very grateful for that." She said distantly. Edward raised an eyebrow at her statement. Someone fixed her? Whoever it was, they were either really resourceful, or rather generous to help his teacher out like that. She no doubted is trying to find some exchange to repay the person with.

"Who was it?" he asked quietly. Izumi looked down at him, but she didn't answer. A few students started to come from the stair cases in order to go to dinner. A few started to whisper back and forth when they caught a glimpse of Edward without his shirt on. He quickly clapped his hands and dried his coat and slipped it on over his arms. Izumi nodded and picked him up again. They needed to get him to Poppy for some more climate spells.

Poppy was not on well terms with Edward's teacher. The fact that Izumi forced Edward to fight and run in his 'condition' really set her off, but even more so when they were talking about the weather. Everyone knew that the atmospheric pressure hurts prosthetics when it rains. Edward was out in it for almost two hours and she feared for not only his metal limbs but also for him incase he got a cold or something. Poppy sent several angry glares at his teacher not even caring that she was an expert martial artist with a frightening demeanor. Izumi was fine with it though and didn't do anything to piss the nurse off any more. Poppy gave Edward extra powerful climate spells, but not without several unnecessary looks at his fully healed gut wound. She was still worried about it.

Edward eventually had to force the Nurse away from him since he still had to get to his detention with Ron and Malfoy. Izumi was escorted to her chambers by a rather willing house elf while he sprinted down the halls with his fully functional limbs. He was still covered in dirt since the nurse was more concerned over how Izumi treated him rather than his appearance, but luckily Poppy ordered a house-elf to bring dinner to him. This was the second meal that day that he completely missed. He skipped down the halls of the Armoury and bolted towards his classroom. Alastors was thankfully empty so he didn't have to worry about the crazy eyed fool trying to give him an extra lesson. When Edward got to his classroom, he found that Ron and Malfoy had already taken their seats on opposite ends of the room. Ron was trying to focus on his Divination's homework but Malfoy seemed to be finished or neglecting his. They both looked rather shocked to see a completely muddy Elric race into the classroom.

"Sorry I am late. I got held up," Edward said as he plopped tiredly down in his chair. His sore body seemed to sigh with relief from taking its weight off for a while.

"Mrs. Curtis isn't coming is she?" Ron asked a bit skeptically. Edward shook his head and Ron looked like he was his savior. The students didn't like Izumi teaching them that was for sure. He felt the same way when he was first learning under her, but his determination was worth the effort.

"Draco, don't you have work to do?" Edward asked the kid.

"No, not today," he mumbled.

"Come on! I know you take Divinations! You have to have some of it!" Ron threw at the boy. Draco glared at the red head and took a glance at his giant pile of paperwork.

"Unlike you Weasley, I didn't procrastinate to get it finished," Malfoy snubbed. Ron growled a bit and turned his work so he wouldn't have to look at the bond haired boy. Edward rolled his eyes at them.

"Draco, where were you during Alchemy class? I think Izumi assigned some questions during the lesson you could get started on those," Edward stated pulling out his own notebooks from his drawer.

"Wait! We have alchemy homework too?" Ron exclaimed in astonishment. With the sudden realization the boy let out a low groan and slammed his head on his parchment. The kid must have been loaded with work. Edward grinned a bit at the boy's misfortune. Procrastination was a student's worse enemy.

"I am not taking alchemy this year," Malfoy replied dully. Edward was a little taken aback by the kid's statement. Though he rarely showed it, he knew the kid loved alchemy. He showed it through his effort last year by almost matching Granger in grades.

"What do you mean?" he asked him. Draco crossed his arms and slouched down in his seat.

"You heard me. I am not taking it this year. My father wouldn't allow it. He pulled me off of the class list after the Quidditch tournament. He said that my mind shouldn't be trashed by a Mud's dirty atmosphere." Ron's quill snapped and he got up to shout at the blonde kid. He, though a pureblood, was very sensitive to the foul name calling of the mixed variety.

"I bet your father couldn't see past his huge ego! You know that is a lie!" Ron scolded him.

"Ronald, shut up," Edward groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Come on Edward! You aren't going to take this are you? He called you a Mud!" Ron retorted. Edward picked up one of his crumpled pieces of paper and threw the paper ball at the kid. It lightly hit him in the head but seemed to grab his attention. Edward pointed his finger at Ron menacingly.

"Ron, I said shut up. I know some people don't like me and though I hate being called that, it isn't the topic of the conversation right now. You two were brought here for fighting yes? I don't want you to have to stay here because of it," he scolded the red head. Ron looked away rather angry, but continued to scratch Divination's homework down. Edward walked over to where Draco was sitting and took a seat across from him at the lab table. "Draco, your father has always hated me and I think our conversation at the match didn't smooth anything over. But since I now have a full perspective on his opinion, why don't I ask for yours. Do you want to take this class?" Draco's head shot up and he looked at the teacher with rather curious but confused expression.

"I can't though," the boy mumbled as if in defeat. Edward rolled his eyes at the boy and held out his hand.

"Give me your schedule," he demanded. Draco flustered through his satchel and pulled out a crisp piece of parchment paper with the school week written out on it. Edward took it and looked it over.

"Well, in order for you to participate in my class you need to come three days a week at the least. It looks like you can come Monday during my Sixth year Griffindor/Slytherin class, Wednesday during my Third year Gryffindor class, and then Thursday when the rest of the grade meets. That should just about settle it. All of those classes are all on level two so you should be fine, but I think that the Weasley twins might put some competition forward grade wise," Edward stated as he rolled the schedule up and handed it back to Malfoy.

"But Professor, I can't my father doesn't want me to enroll! The instant he sees my report card-"

"You want to take it though don't you?" Edward cut him off. Draco nodded feebly and the alchemist grinned at him. "This won't be a normal class Draco. Call it a hobby of some sort. It won't appear on your family report card, but the credits that you receive will still be kept and recorded. This is more of an educational advancement opportunity." Edward walked back to his desk and took out and extra copy of the text book he got and tossed it to him. Draco took it rather clumsily and stuffed it into his backpack.

"I expect to see you Monday then with the homework in full," Edward smiled at him. Ron let out an inaudible mumble as he continued to buzz down words on parchment. Draco glared at the red head for a lingering moment. There was a knock on the classroom door and Edward saw two heads of Hermione and Harry poke in the doorway. "What are you doing here?" he asked them.

"Umm, I wanted to know if I could do my Divination's homework with Ron. It is due tomorrow and we both need to work on it, sir," Harry asked quietly. Edward nodded and pointed to a seat next to Ron who looked rather relieved to be getting a break from his work.

"Granger, how about you?" Edward asked her. She was carrying a box and a clipboard with some paper attached to it.

"I-I was starting a campaign and I wondered if you wanted to join it," she said walking in and setting the box down on his desk. Edward took a look inside of it. There were badges with the word SPEW written all over them. He raised his eyebrow and looked at her.

"Spew?" he questioned. A few laughs came from Ron and Harry, but she ignored them and nodded happily.

"It is my campaign for house elf rights! I think it is wrong how they are being treated as slaves! I am trying to make a petition as well as a service for house elves!" Edward picked up the clip board she was holding which had all of the names of the people who signed up on it. There were only three; Harry, Ron, and Neville who was probably pressured into it. Edward glanced over to where the two were working on their divination's homework. They shrugged in defeat. It was obviously not their choice to join. Just then a Hogwart's house elf walked into the classroom as well with a plate of sandwiches and a bowl of soup for Edward's dinner.

"Mr. Elric, Galleous has brought your dinner sir. Galleous is sorry to hear that you missed it. Mistress Promfery also asked Galleous to bring some pain releivers for you sir," the short rather young house elf said to him. Hermione looked rather shocked and angry with him for doing so. Ron snickered a bit from his desk knowing full well that Hermione was trying to campaign against the very thing Edward was doing.

"Thank you, Galleous," he replied to the tiny creature. Instead of scurrying off like most of the elves do however, Galleous seemed to be contemplating something. He looked rather reluctant to leave. "What is it, Galleous?" Edward asked him kneeling down to the house elf's level. Huge blue eyeballs glanced down to the floor as if trying to think of something.

"Galleous, is sorry for speaking out to you sir, but Galleous wanted to tell you that you have some dirt on your face," he said pointing to his own nose as a guide. Edward touched his face just remembering he was covered in layers of mud from his expeditions outside. He let out a bellowing laugh at the elf's innocence. It scared Galleous a bit. "Sir, Galleous is sorry if he insulted you," the elf apologized quietly trying to calm Edward down. The alchemist waved him off as he tried to regain control over his voice.

"No! No! Galleous! Thankyou!" Edward said through fits of laughter. He clapped his hands and placed them on his clothes, getting all of the dirt off of them. "No need to apologize for it! I completely forgot about it!" he took one of his gloves off and transmuted it into a small handkerchief which he used to wipe some of the dirt off of his face. "How's that?" he asked the elf as he wiped some of the mud off. Some of the dirt just ended up smearing about in some places but it definitely worked.

"Very good sir," the elf smiled weakly. Edward nodded back to him and Galleous scurried off out the door. Edward stood up from where he was kneeling and took a seat at his desk. It was still raining outside and though the climate control spells helped with his automail movement, they did nothing for the pain. He took a few of the medicine that Poppy gave him and swallowed them along with a big glass of water. Hermione was absolutely infuriated with him. She wore a scowl much like one would wear if they smelled something terrible.

"What?"

"Professor! The house elves are slaves how can you just force them to work like that?" she scolded him.

"Hermione, I missed not only dinner, but breakfast today and I am very grateful that Galleous brought me some because I was starving. I would be a living wreck without them. He seemed happy helping me too," Edward noted.

"But that is because they don't know any better!" Hermione retorted.

"So what you are saying is that they shouldn't enjoy helping people?" Edward asked her skeptically. She looked a little taken aback from his question and faltered a bit.

"N-no. They should know better than to be treated like worthless creatures! They don't get any pay, and are forced into jobs that they don't want to do!"

"Okay, so let's see. Some elves cook food, some elves clean the dorms, and some elves help people like me. In return, we give them food, a place to sleep, clothes, and decent breaks and sense of community. I think that is just about equivalent," Edward said taking a bite out of his sandwich. "Is your campaign for taking all of that away?"

"No! Don't you remember Winky? She was afraid of heights and was terrified. You had to help carry her down from the stadiums! I want to help them by giving them basic rights!" Hermione told him. Edward nodded a bit remembering the scared little Winky. She was a nice little elf and it was a bit sad seeing her forced to do something like that. Edward let out a sigh.

"Hermione, some elves I know are treated bad, but they really do like to do generous and helpful work. Being a good humanitarian isn't a bad thing. Trying to change rights for house elves at Hogwarts isn't going to do anything because they are all treated well. If you really want to make a campaign you can drop the big picture for once and respect the elves choices."

"But what about all the other elves out there? We need to help them!"

"Then go help them. Leave the ones who like their work alone. If you want to help out here do what I do and treat them with respect," Edward told her. Hermione was still angry.

"How are you treating them with respect?" she asked him still a little mad that he was actually using them as work.

"I call them by their real names, I acknowledge them when they enter a room, I use manners, and I talk to them at eye level," Edward stated casually as he propped his feet up on his desk. What he said seemed to strike a nerve in Hermione she stared at him blankly as he started to massage his shoulder a bit. She quietly picked up her box and clip board and stormed silently out of the room. Edward glanced over to where Ron and Harry were sitting. "Is she always like this?" he asked them.

"I have been trying to tell her that for a while now, but she wouldn't listen. You should have seen her face when she found out that house elves actually cook the food too. She didn't eat for a day," Ron commented. Harry nodded.

"Dobby however seems to like being free though, so I can see where she gets it from," he added.

"Thanks to you two, my father needs a new house elf," Draco muttered. Harry and Ron shot him a look that told the boy to shut up. Edward was a little confused with the boy's statement but brushed it off. They still had a few more hours to go until their detention was over.

As it turned out, Ron and Harry were supposed to be predicting the future events for the next week for their divination's homework. Edward heard them talking about stupid scenarios like one of them was going to be attacked by a hippogriff, which really hit a sore sport for Draco, and other things. Once when the two eventually ran out of ideas about their incoming fates, Edward added a few to their list which they gratefully wrote down for their homework. He just hoped that their papers weren't graded. Draco took to finishing the detention with a few moments of studying alchemy. He asked a few questions about the molecular bonding and Edward, being the alchemy teacher, happily answered them. He even let the boy practice a bit of the simple circles. By the end of the day, they were each tired and were grateful to now have time to sleep, especially Edward who had a long and exhausting day. He locked his classroom and ran to his chambers in the Gunhilda cooridor. A nice long shower and rest was calling his name.

Fact: Fire can't happen out in space. There is no substantial source of oxygen to fuel the fire so it is impossible for it to happen out in space. All of the movies that show exploding starships and everything is lying to you because the flames wouldn't be able to be created. Fire can only happen with a source of oxygen which is why they are able to be created inside a spaceship but not outside. Stars and suns are able to burn because of the fusion inside them and the mixing of hydrogen, oxygen, and other gasses. A regular open flame cannot happen without the presence of oxygen.