"blah blah"- Speaking Greek

"[blah blah]"- Speaking Amestrian

'blah blah'- Thinking

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn't be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan.

Edward

To say the least, Ed thought that his end-of-the-month classes had gone well. He was quite disappointed that his 'terrify the whiny kids that aren't smart enough for alchemy by pulling a spear on them' plan had been put to a stop by the third class. It had been working quite beautifully, and he had planned on using it to stop any students stupid enough to try and exact revenge.

Too bad McGonagall didn't seem to approve. Apparently wizards did not imply very strenuous training methods. Ed grinned inwardly. The physical portion of his class was going to be quite entertaining. For him at least. Ed looked over his revised list of students, which was significantly smaller than before.

'Theoretically, I could combine quite a few classes, which would mean more time for research. But, when it comes to teaching alchemy, it's definitely better to have a smaller number of students, so I suppose I'll leave them as they are. Of course, it's ideal to have a private instructor, but it's not like that's going to happen.'

Ed leaned back in his chair and glanced at his watch. It was getting late, and if Al were here he would be telling him to sleep. Ed had tried not to think about how much he missed his brother, but it was impossible to ignore at times. And now, after a month of being apart, and with tomorrow's date, the ache was even more noticeable. He wanted so much to at least hear Al's voice, but the stupid wizards didn't even have telephones. The best they could do was communicate by owl, which Ed still thought incredibly inconvenient. And that wasn't nearly enough.

In an attempt to distract himself, Ed turned his thoughts to one of the third-year Gryffindors, Nico. After the unfortunate…incident, Ed was sure that Nico had noticed his arm, but the boy hadn't said anything at all. Ed wasn't really worried about it. It wasn't like his arm was a horrible secret. But it would raise many unwanted questions from the naturally curious students, which was something he could live without.

Ed glanced at his watch again, which read 1:27. 'I really should go to sleep,' he thought mournfully. He didn't want to admit it, but he was dreading not only sleeping (and the nightmares that came with it), but also facing the next day without Al. Ed had never been away from his brother for so long, and he had never gone through that day without Al. 'It's just one day. I can survive one day. Even if it is that day.' Ed closed his pocket watch, the light catching on the roughly engraved words-'don't forget 3. October 11.'

~o~O~o~

Edward was really starting to regret letting Alphonse choose the picture for his doorway. It wasn't like Al was trying to annoy him or anything, but Ed honestly wondered why he thought that a picture of Colonel Mustang's office was the best one. At first Ed had thought that is was a rather cheery photo; all of them happily at work with Al reading in the corner.

And then he had remembered that the picture could now talk. Having Colonel Mustang tell him that he was late every morning got annoying really fast, and there wasn't anything he could do about it. He was consoled with the thought that Hughes could have been the one to pick a photo.

But this morning he barely payed attention to the picture. His one focus was to get through the day as quickly as possible, hopefully without any complications.

~o~O~o~

"Edward, are you doing alright? You don't look so good." Madame Pomfrey's worried tone jolted Edward out of his semi-daze at breakfast.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just didn't get enough sleep last night." That was part of the problem for sure, but Ed was also not looking forward to his classes. It was bad enough to have to face this day without Al, but he also had to deal with four classes full of ignorant teenagers. Great.

Madame Pomfrey didn't look convinced, but she let the matter slide. Ed perked up when a tawny owl landed in front of him. He hadn't quite gotten used to the routine owl invasion and he didn't think he ever would, but now he looked forward to it. Buying an owl was the last thing he had wanted to do, but it was necessary if he wanted to communicate with Al. Ed eagerly tore open the letter.

Dear Brother,

It sounds like you've been really busy at that school. I'm still having trouble thinking of you as a professor though. After all, we never even completed school! Are you going to teach them the same way Teacher did? I'm not sure if you should, I don't think that the rest of the teachers would like that. Please try to be careful with them, you don't want them to get broken.

I wish I was there with you, I'd like to see all of that magic for myself. And I could help you research since you don't have that much spare time. Everything that you've told me about magic seems unbelievable. If it's really as powerful as you say, then maybe we've finally found a solution. But if it's really that powerful, then it must be very risky. Nothing can be that powerful without some sort of danger. I hope you aren't spending too much time researching, you need to be sleeping enough. I know that you can get caught up in your reading.

Colonel Mustang said to tell you "keep your damn temper under control and don't screw anything up, and try not to offend anyone important." Although, Havoc wouldn't mind if that happened, as long as it isn't too big. He and Breda have a bet going about how long it'll take for the Colonel to get paperwork because of you.

Make sure you're taking care of your automail. I don't think that Winry will be very understanding if you break it with magic of all things. You mentioned that the students have a break this winter, will you be able to visit then? I know it's a long ways to travel, but I really miss you, Brother. I have been able to get some research done, but it's not the same without you here.

And Ed, I just wanted to let you know, you don't have to worry about me. I know that that day will be harder without you, but I'll be okay. I am worried about you though. I wish that you didn't have to be alone up there. I can't even think of a time that we've been apart for this long, and it's only been one month. I miss you so much Brother.

Brother, I know it's hard for you, but you should really try to be friendly with some of the students. I know you're not very good at interacting with teenagers, but you should give it a try. You shouldn't spend the entire year by yourself. Now that you have the opportunity, you should at least try to make a friend your age. Write to me as soon as you can. And please try to visit soon!

Alphonse

Ed finished reading the letter with a smile. Despite what Al said, he did worry about him. They had never been apart for this long before; of course he was worried about his little brother. Even so, the letter had cheered him significantly, and he headed to his classroom with his spirits slightly lifted.

~o~O~o~

His first class of the day was fifth-year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. 'Honestly I couldn't care less about what 'house' they're in. The whole sorting business makes no sense; though I have noticed that they all seem to act differently according to their house. From what I've gathered, the Ravenclaws are smarter than most, but sometimes pretentious. The Hufflepuffs are more accepting, but timid. And then there's the other two…Gryffindor and Slytherin.'

'Most the Slytherins seem to be cunningly smart, and the Gryffindors are daring. But for some reason, the Gryffindors seem to absolutely despise the Slytherins. Sure, the Slytherin's do sometimes seem a bit more mean-spirited than the others, but that's not true for all of them. I'm just glad I only have one class with them together.'

Ed was interrupted from his musings by the arrival of his eight students. Four from Hufflepuff, four from Gryffindor. The students slid into their respective seats and eagerly waited for him to begin. They all looked excited to begin, but they seemed a bit taken aback by his forlorn manner. Ed sighed inwardly. Of all the classes, he had to start with this one. Most of the students were fine, but then there were those two Gryffindors. Ed had given up on telling them apart and had simply dubbed them as the Demon Duo.

They weren't exceptionally mean-spirited, they just seemed to delight in causing trouble for the fun of it. Right now, however, they seemed to have read the depressing mood.

"Alright, you eight have answered the riddle so now you can begin studying real alchemy. You won't be able to learn anything advanced with the time you have, but you should be able to get at least the basics. Maybe much more, depending on how hard you work."

Edward picked up a piece of chalk and drew a circle on the board. "The circle is one of the most important parts of an alchemic array. The circle indicates the flow of power, and the symbols and runes that are inside of the circle are what allow you to preform alchemy. You must understand what the symbols mean, and what your product is made of, in order to successfully transmute anything."

Ed turned back to the class to answer the inevitable question. Sure enough, several hands were raised. "Yes?" Ed pointed to a Hufflepuff near the front.

"Sir, if the circle is necessary for alchemy, then why didn't you draw one when you showed us alchemy on the first day?"

Yep, he knew that question would come eventually. "When I clap my hands together, I form a circle, and my body is the matrix for the transmutation. And no, I can not teach you how to do it. So don't ask."

Nearly all the students looked disappointed, especially the Demon Duo. Ed turned back to his lesson. 'Just finish teaching. That's all I have to do. I can do that. It won't be so hard.'

~o~O~o~

After what seemed like an eternity, Edward ended his last class. 'Now I can finally go to the library and keep researching. And I can write a letter to Alphonse.' He walked towards the library, keeping a wary eye out for any hidden students. Ever since that first prank, he had been the prime candidate for others.

None other than first had succeeded, mostly because Ed was determined not to be embarrassed like that again. The students had soon learned that it would take quite a bit of nerve to challenge the alchemist, especially after word of the 'spear incident' got around. Ed entered the library and immediately headed to the magical theory section.

He was hoping that if he learned more about how magic worked, then he would be able to find a way to use it to get Al's body back. What frustrated him was that though magic had laws and theories, they were completely different from anything in alchemy. And after looking into it more, he didn't think he could preform magic. Even so, he found the theories interesting to study.

And thanks to the Amestrian-English dictionary that Hermione had provided, he had made a lot of progress with the language. Reading the books in English had been a struggle at first, but it was getting easier. He was by no means fluent in the language, but he didn't have to stop every sentence to look for a word he didn't know.

The hours ticked by, and Ed knew that he should head back to his room. He glanced around the library first, frowning. Over the last few weeks, he had perpetually had the feeling that someone was watching him, but he had never seen anyone. The feeling never seemed to go away, and Ed had blamed it on all the moving pictures scattered throughout the castle. He wasn't sure if that was what was causing it, but he couldn't think of any other explanation.

Again seeing no one, he turned and walked towards his room. The feeling of being watched seemed to vanish, but Ed blamed the stressful day for his paranoia. 'After all, it's past curfew. There aren't any students out of bed to be following me around, and there's no reason for any of the teachers to. I'm just tired, that's all.' That was what Ed told himself as he exited the library. Even if he had turned, he wouldn't have seen the way the shadows seemed to bend and darken around a black haired boy, swallowing him into darkness.

A/N-It was surprisingly hard to write that letter from Al. I hope I did good with it. Anyways, I realized that some of you may be interested in the fact that I also publish this story on Wattpad, if you want to check it out there. Thanks for reading, and please review!