DISCLAIMER: I OWN NEITHER FMA NOR HARRY POTTER!

Chapter Nine

"What do you want to check?" Ed asked as he and Winry got back to Gryffindor tower.

"Just wait here," said Winry.

Ed and Winry were out in the hallway in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, a big woman in a pink dress. The Fat Lady couldn't help but to think that Ed was a very handsome young man.

"But, Winry!" started Ed.

"I won't take too long," said Winry, then turning to the Fat Lady. "Balderdash."

The Fat Lady swung forward, letting Winry into the common room. Ed sighed as he had to wait for Winry. He groaned. The Fat Lady looked at Ed while winking at him.

'Winry, hurry up!' thought Ed.

A moment later, Winry came back with her auto-mail maintenance kit.

"Come on, Ed," said Winry. "We can use Professor McGonagall's classroom."

"Good," said Ed.

Then they went to McGonagall's empty classroom and shut the door behind them.

"Okay, Ed, take your clothes off," said Winry.

Ed took all but his undershirt and boxers off. Winry instructed him to sit down in one of the chairs. He did as told.

"Okay, let me see," Winry said, opening her case on the desk on Ed's right. "Oh, wow! There's everything I need in one case! I'm surprised that Sara could hold it by herself!"

"Owls are amazing animals, Winry," said Ed.

"Yes, they are," Winry agreed. "I need to take this robe off."

Then Winry took her over robe off and put it next to Ed's. Ed looked away blushing. He liked how Winry looked in her uniform. Winry started to check on Ed's auto-mail.

"Everything seems to be working fine," said Winry.

"That's good, isn't it?" Ed asked.

"Yes," said Winry. "Truth to be told, Professor Dumbledore wanted me to come here as well because he was concerned that your auto-mail might not work properly."

"Why wouldn't it?" asked Ed.

"Because your auto-mail runs off the electricity that your brain sends out, and electricity doesn't work in or around Hogwarts," said Winry.

"Then how can watches or other things work?" asked Ed.

"They run off the energy the magic gives off," said Winry. "That might be the case for your auto-mail. But your auto-mail is so complex… The magical energy might not be able to sustain it for long. Not to mention, I need to make you some new auto-mail."

"Why?" asked Ed.

"You've grown two inches," said Winry. "And the winter will be very cold, so you'll be very miserable with this model if I don't change it out for you."

"I've grown?" asked Ed.

"Yes, just two inches though," Winry replied.

"But I've definitely grown?" Ed repeated.

Winry rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Edward, you have. But I don't know how I'm going to make your new auto-mail," said Winry. "I'll need the materials to make it and a room to make it in. It's going to be a bit of trouble since no one is supposed to know about your auto-mail except for Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey, the nurse. No wonder Fuhrer President Bradley sent us these things, so we could be bribed into staying here the whole year."

"He wants me to try to enter the Tournament," said Ed.

"What?" asked Winry. "That's insane!"

"I know," said Ed. "And I just can't tell him that I can't or else I'll get a court-martial."

"That is troubling, isn't it," said Winry.

"What do you think about the house-elf thing, Winry?" asked Ed.

"Well," Winry said as she looked over Ed's arm once more, "if the house-elves are happy in their work without being paid and not treated badly, then they should be left alone. I mean, what are house-elves going to spend their money on?"

"You've got a good point, Winry," said Ed.

"Hermione is an okay person, but she just wants something to complain about," said Winry. "Instead of focusing on the house-elves that are being treated good and not abused, she should be focusing on the house-elves that are being treated like dirt."

"Yeah, I know," said Ed. "It's not like I would get to be selected, anyway, to be in this Triwizard Tournament."

"You never know, Ed," said Winry. "All right, everything is good for right now. I'm going to owl Granny and ask her if she can send me some parts. Get dressed, Ed."

Ed didn't say anything as he got his clothes back on along with his gloves and boots. Winry helped him again with his tie.

"There," said Winry. "What class do we have next?"

"Transfiguration, and then it's Double Herbology," said Ed.

Ed didn't seem too pleased about Transfiguration.

"Ed, don't cause trouble for Professor McGonagall, please," said Winry.

Ed didn't say anything. He grabbed his over cloak and left the room. Winry sighed, knowing that Ed still didn't like Transfiguration. She rearranged her maintenance kit, snapped it shut, grabbed the handle, got her over cloak, and followed Ed back to the Gryffindor Tower so they could get their stuff for Transfiguration and Double Herbology.

Ed didn't want to transfigure anything in Transfiguration, but he had no choice but to since the Fuhrer President was expecting the best grades from Ed. Ed liked the Herbology class a bit better, but he was already in a bad mood from Transfiguration that he didn't show much enthusiasm. After Herbology was over, Ed told Winry to go ahead to dinner.

"Aren't you coming, Edward?" asked Winry.

"No," said Ed.

"Why not?" asked Winry.

"I'm not hungry," said Ed. "I want to go to the library before Miss Prissy gets there."

"Are you sure?" asked Winry.

"Yeah, but I'm goin' to clean up first," said Ed. "See you, Winry."

Then he left the greenhouse. Winry sighed. She went to the castle where she met Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the Entrance Hall.

"What's wrong with Edward?" Hermione asked, just getting through rubbing in the fact that she didn't get homework in Harry and Ron's faces. "I saw him running to Gryffindor Tower."

"He's just going to get cleaned off," said Winry. "He wants to go to the library."

"Why?" asked Ron.

"I don't know," said Winry. "He just wants to go to the library."

"Winry, do you know what that symbol is on the back of Edward's jacket?" Hermione asked.

"No, I don't," said Winry. "Ed and his brother had a private teacher for about a year, and he said that it was just the crest of his teacher."

"How old is his brother?" Hermione asked.

"He's fourteen, but he isn't coming because he's got a condition," said Winry. "I'm going to the library to meet Ed."

Then she left and went to the library. When she got to the library, Winry went to a table and sat her bag onto it. She took off her over robe and put it over the chair. Winry then went to one of the book aisles and started to look for a book. She found several books on healing magic and went back to the table. When she was half-way through the first book, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Winry started for a moment and looked up to see…

"Edward!" said Winry.

Ed was wearing his usual black outfit, but he didn't have his red trench coat on. He did, however, have his gloves on and had his hair braided.

"Why aren't you at dinner?" asked Ed.

"It was too crowded," said Winry. "And why aren't you wearing your uniform?"

"I didn't want to put it back on," said Ed. "Besides, classes are over for the day. I don't think they'll mind. What are you lookin' at?"

Ed picked a book from the stack of books and looked at it.

"Healing?" asked Ed.

"Yes, wizard and witch doctors are called 'Healers'," said Winry. "I want to know more about the medicine in the wizarding world."

"Huh," said Ed, putting the book back. "We just missed something interesting."

"What did we miss?" asked Winry.

"Malfoy got turned into a ferret," said Ed.

"What?" asked Winry.

"Yep," said Ed, sitting across from Winry. "I ran into Hermione, she's lookin' for some sort of rights books, and she said that Mad-Eye Moody turned Malfoy into a ferret because he was going to attack Harry while his back was turned."

"He's such an asshole!" said Winry.

"Yeah," said Ed, getting up from the table. "I'm going to look for something."

"What are you going to look for?" asked Winry.

Ed didn't answer as he went off to find a book. A moment later, Hermione came over with books and put them down onto the table.

"You think you have enough books?" Winry asked.

Hermione gave her a look.

"What are they all about?" asked Winry.

"Non-human magical creature rights," said Hermione. "Where did Edward go?"

"I don't know, off to look for a book," said Winry. "Whenever he likes to go off to look for a certain book, he doesn't tell me what it's about. Is Malfoy all right?"

"He'll be fine," said Hermione. "Ronald was fixing it into his memory forever. Boys."

Winry laughed.

"Edward can be stupid himself," said Winry. "The only way he'll have unflavored milk is if it's put into vegetable soup."

"That's disgusting," said Hermione.

"I know, but that's Edward," said Winry. "His Mom came up with that idea."

"What happened to her?" asked Hermione.

"She died of the plague," said Winry. "She tried to hang on as long as she could, but she couldn't."

"But your parents were doctors, weren't they?" asked Hermione.

"They couldn't get the cure for her," said Winry. "They wanted to, but -."

Winry stopped as she saw Ed coming back to the table with several books.

"What are you doing here?" asked Ed.

"I'm researching," said Hermione. "What does it look like? What books do you have? Are they on Alchemy?"

"What of it?" asked Ed.

"Alchemy is one of the toughest subjects in Hogwarts, or any school for that matter," said Hermione.

"I'm going to go check these out," said Ed. "See you in the Common Room, Winry."

"Ed!" said Winry. "Sorry, Hermione!"

Then Winry got up, got her stuff and the books together, and followed Ed to the checkout area.

"Ed, I thought you weren't supposed to -," started Winry.

"I'm not performing it," said Ed. "I'm just seeing how it is over here."

Winry sighed. After Ed checked his books out, Winry checked hers out. Ed and Winry went back to the Gryffindor Tower. While Winry put her books into her trunk, Ed went to the table by the window and started reading. Winry came back to the Common Room and saw Ed at the table, absorbed in reading. She knew it would be pointless to try to get him to go get something to eat, so she went by herself to the Great Hall. Winry got to the Great Hall and found a seat by Ron, Harry, Fred, George, and Lee. They were still eating. Winry got herself some beef casserole and pumpkin juice.

"Did you meet up with Ed?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, but he's in the Common Room now," said Winry.

"Is he doing homework?" asked Ron.

"No, he's not," said Winry. "The homework isn't due until Friday anyway. Hermione said that Malfoy was turned into a ferret."

"Yeah, Professor Moody did it," said Ron. "The most bloody brilliant thing!"

Then Harry and Ron told Winry what happened.

"That's so low," said Winry. "Trying to attack someone when their back is turned!"

"Well, that's Malfoy," said Harry.

Winry didn't say anything else as she ate her dinner.

"Can we take food with us to the common room?" asked Winry.

"Sure we can," said Ron. "Couldn't you at Gesundheit?"

"Uh, no," Winry said.

"Oh, Winry, you weren't introduced to my brothers, were you?" asked Ron. "Fred and George Weasley, they're in sixth year."

"Nice to meet you," said George, shaking Winry's hand.

"Absolutely spiffing," said Fred, shaking Winry's hand next.

"Nice to meet you, too," said Winry.

"Why is it called Gesundheit?" asked George.

"Do people sneeze all the time there?" asked Fred.

"And they can't do proper wand work?" added George.

"Is that why they never used wands there?" Fred continued.

Winry laughed nervously.

"I guess so," said Winry.

"This is our partner in crime, Lee Jordan," said George.

"Hi," Winry said, shaking Lee's hand.

"Hello," said Lee.

"When do you have Moody?" asked Fred.

"Tomorrow after breakfast," said Winry.

"He's beyond cool," said George.

"Super-cool," said Lee. "Amazing."

"You have him tomorrow?!" said Ron.

"Yes," said Winry. "I just said so. It was nice meeting you three, but I need to get to the common room."

Winry conjured a Styrofoam take-out like container, put some food into it, and left back to the common room.