I'm back! And I made sure to make this chapter longer than most...although I feel it's somewhat of a filler. And I am so sorry about the giant gaps between updates, but laziness and not being inspired make a great combination for not getting anything done. Hopefully, though, I will post a new chapter next week.
Thank you so much, those of you who followed, favorited, and reviewed.
Enjoy! I hope it doesn't suck!
"What was that supposed to mean?" James demanded as soon as they left the infirmary. "Do you reckon Ed knows? That you're a…?"
"I don't know," said Remus thoughtfully, gold eyes thoughtful, "He could know...but then again, maybe he doesn't."
"It's hard to tell with Ed. Have you noticed how good he is at, well, hiding things?" Sirius said, glancing at the others for confirmation.
"What're you doing here?"
Lily stood in the hall at the base of the stairway that led to the infirmary, arms full of books and loose papers. Her red hair looked almost brown in the dimness of the corridor.
"Ah, Lily Evans!" James exclaimed, spreading his arms out. "To be graced by your presence...the honor is unequaled." He smiled winningly and winked.
She stared flatly at him. "Like I said…" Lily turned to the others. "Why are you here?"
"Ed! He's back! It turns out that he was-!" James was cut off by Sirius, who clamped a hand over his mouth.
"That's not something you should just shout in the middle of a corridor, idiot!" He whispered fiercely, exasperated.
"We can tell Evans, right?" James whispered back.
They both glanced at her, then turned around with their arms around each other's shoulders. A few moments later they turned around and beckoned Lily closer. Brows furrowed in confusion, she stepped closer. They beckoned again. She sighed and stepped even closer. "He was held at Malfoy Manor, we think. He escaped to a nearby village. It's really impressive, because he had only-"
"We don't tell her that, Prongs!" Sirius said, cutting James off again. The two glared at each other momentarily.
Lily eyed them skeptically, then sighed again. "I'm glad to hear he's back." With that, she left, continuing down the corridor, long red hair swaying behind her.
James stared after her. "I wonder if I can get Ed to guilt-trip her into going on a date with me…"
Remus whacked him.
. . .
"What do you want to talk about, old man?" Ed asked, leaning back in his bed. He could tell the medicine Madam Pomfrey had given him that morning was wearing off; his hands were trembling slightly. He narrowed his eyes momentarily, annoyed.
"I know a few details about what occurred during your time in captivity, Major Elric. However, if you could tell me everything that took place...it would be helpful in our war against Voldemort," Dumbledore said, folding his hands on top of his lap. His blue eyes glinted.
Ed crossed his arms across his stomach. "I was captured in the Forbidden Forest, as you know," he began, his voice flat, "and when I woke up, I was tied to a chair in a big room, full of weirdos in robes. It's all very blurry. A man - Abraxus, I think his name was - was supposed to interrogate me. That bastard, Voldy, told him he had nine days to get the information he wanted - or to get me to join their army.
"I guess the rest of the week was spent trying to do that. You know something odd, old man? They asked me where Amestris was." He laughed shakily, looking off to the side.
"I suppose I should explain something to you, Major Elric. Amestris...Drachma, Xing...they're on a somewhat alternate plane of reality. It slightly overlaps with our plane of reality, so travel between the two is possible. That is why, despite your origin on the other plane, you were not confused by the existence of England, which doesn't exist on your plane. Do you understand?"
"Yes," replied Ed. He leaned forward, golden eyes shining eagerly. "Do you have any books about this?"
"Indeed, Major Elric." Dumbledore smiled. "I shall have them delivered to you after our meeting."
"Great. Let's see, after all the interrogating-" Ed tried to keep his voice neutral on that word, "-I worked a nail loose from the chair and scratched an alchemic array into the wood, successfully burning it. Then I made myself a leg-" he tapped the replacement under his sheets, "-and put a hole in their wall. I ran, and you know the rest, Dumbles."
Dumbledore smiled again. "Madam Pomfrey told me about the shaking. I have a few guesses as to why that might be, but I think it would be better for me to tell you yourself."
Glancing out of the window next to his bed, Ed took a deep breath and wished his hands and legs would stop shaking. "I have no choice, do I?"
"I'm afraid not."
Another shaky chuckle. Ed's voice was flat, detached. "Cruciatus. Crucio! Again and again and again and again and-!" He stopped, staring off into the distance, the powerful memory making his hands shake violently. "I think - I think, if it weren't for Al, and Winry, I would have gone insane. My hands won't stop shaking. I never thought anyone would make make my hands shake. I mean, I've fought homunculi...Scar...I've seen…" Again, he stopped, and looked at Dumbledore. "Next time I meet those bastards, I'm going to kick their asses."
"I'll leave you to rest. Thank you for your time, Major Elric."
. . .
A week later, Ed was released from his sickbed, immediately after Winry attached his new leg to his port. "Sorry," she said, "I could have gotten it done sooner, but I can't pull all-nighters here."
Testing out his new automail, he commented, "Thank you, Winry. I missed having two legs."
He was released in time for lunch, and was met at the doors to the Great Hall by the Marauders, who, although they had visited him frequently during his brief stay in the infirmary, cheered as he entered the hall. "Ed! You're free!"
"You have no idea how true that is," Ed chuckled.
Winry had left shortly before he made his way to the Great Hall, surprising him with a strong hug. She'd lingered at Hogwarts long enough, and had clients back in Rush Valley she had to attend to.
"Did I miss anything today?" Ed asked. The blonde had been updated at least once a day about the goings-on in Hogwarts: Alicia Karter's unfortunate half-transformation into a mongoose, the Muggle Studies classroom had mysteriously turned into a rainforest, and someone had painted the entire twenty-twelfth floor (it only existed on rainy Saturdays and the fifth Sunday of each Leap Year, but occasionally popped up for a few weeks when a chicken mated with a ferret at midnight) a bright red.
"Sorry, mate, but the flood of trickery and pranks has dried up. Would you like to see the twenty-twelfth floor tonight, before it disappears?" Sirius replied, a mischievous glint in his eye.
No words were needed; the look Ed gave him was answer enough.
. . .
"Behold, our golden genius friend, the twenty-twelfth floor," James announced grandly, spreading out his arms. The twenty-twelfth floor was large and sprawling, and could be accessed through a broom closet in the old Dark Arts classroom that had been abandoned due to water coming in from an unfound source. Ed glanced down at his wet boots.
When they entered the twenty-twelfth floor, they found themselves in a large, violently red hall, numerous doors lining the walls, which seemed to glow.
"It looks like there's a lot of rooms, but there's not. Tons of these doors lead to corridors that connect to each other, so you'd just walk a lot and find yourself back here," James told Ed knowledgeably, his glasses flashing red.
"Impressive," the alchemist said, turning around to take in all of the massive hall. "Was this done by spell, or did someone actually take the time to paint it by hand?"
"How would we know?" Sirius asked, turning to face him with a grin, quickly covered by an innocent expression. "It's not like we did it."
"Of course," Ed replied, smirking.
"Um..should we show you around, Ed?" Peter asked.
"Sure," he said, casting another glance around the fabulously huge hall. "This school is weird. Don't you have classes right now?"
"Sure, we have Magical History, but Remus went to excuse us and take notes for us. It's his turn," James told him, smirking a little.
. . .
The tour was long, but not uninteresting. The rooms were unusual, to say the least. They left, and got a chance to see the twenty-twelfth floor cease to exist. Through the broom closet door, the brilliantly red room twisted and spiralled for a split second, then, soundlessly, there was only a broom closet again.
The Marauders didn't have much time to stick around, and took off running through the halls in order to make it to dinner before it began. Ed easily outstripped the other boys, feeling elated that his new automail was so light.
"You've got two limbs made of metal, Ed! How the bloody hell are you running so fast?" Sirius shouted.
"Military, remember? I'm in shape!" The blonde shot back, grinning. His expression turned to that of yearning. "I miss sparring with Al."
"Al's your brother, yeah?" James asked as they slowed to a walk, approaching the Great Hall. Ahead of them, a few straggling groups of students entered the hall.
"Yep. I'd do anything for him, and the thought of him…" Ed's voice dropped into a whisper, and they barely heard the rest of his sentence, "...it's the only thing that keeps me going."
Unsure about what to say in response to this, and unsure if they'd even heard him right, the Marauders remained silent until they sat down. Seconds later, food appeared on their golden plates.
"I'm glad we didn't miss it," James exclaimed gratefully, heaping food on his plate. He looked at Remus, who sat next to him. "You get our notes?"
The tired-looking Gryffindor nodded. "I'll give them to you to copy after dinner."
"What excuse did you give Binns?" Sirius asked, leaning across the table to reach for a pitcher. After pouring himself a cup, he offered it to Ed, who had been lost in thought. The blonde eyed him suspiciously.
"Is that milk?"
"No."
Ed took the pitcher.
Remus laughed softly. "I told him that the three of you were helping Ed, who is still infirm, to get back on his feet."
"Ed? Infirm?" Sirius laughed.
"He outran us all on our way here," Peter said.
Their conversation turned to jovial chatter, and time marched on.
. . .
"Seriously, when are we going to ask Ed about...well, everything? Think about it. We don't know how he lost his arm and leg, how he can use alchemy without a transmutation circle, what happened at Malfoy Manor, what he meant back when we first visited him in the infirmary...I mean...what do we really know about Ed?" James exclaimed, pacing in circles.
"What, do you want a list?" Sirius asked, lounging back in a squashy armchair. The light of the fire danced in the air.
The four Marauders sat for a while in silence.
"Well, it's too late right now to feel frustrated about everything we don't know. Why don't we just ask him later, and go to bed now?" Remus suggested, yawning wolfishly from his spot at the fire.
"Good call, Moony. You're the brains of this operation for a reason, mate," smirked Sirius, getting up and stretching.
James followed him closely as he made his way to the stairs. "What was that supposed to mean? Aren't I the leader?"
"Sure, but you're not the brains."
"Hmph! I'm insulted, Padfoot!"
"But it's true."
"Git."
"Bloody idiot."
Chuckling, the two disappeared up the stairs. Remus got up, relishing the heat from the fire, and offered a hand to Peter. "Those two," he sighed, shaking his head and smiling wryly.
"You really think we should just ask Ed?" Peter asked, allowing Remus to help him up.
"It's of no use to just sit and speculate. If we want answers, we should ask, don't you think?"
. . .
Colonel Roy Mustang rested his chin on his hand and glared at his minions, or more accurately, students. He was glad that Riza wasn't there to keep him from enjoying himself, or as she said, 'abusing his power'.
"I assume you've all completed your reports? Hand them in," he said, smirking slightly. After all of his minions had shuffled up to his desk and handed him their papers - he'd supplied them with it because parchment was ridiculous and made him sneeze. Roy had also included pens in his supply list because quills were even more ridiculous and blotted too much. Did magic really have to equal total antiquity? He shook his head and sighed.
"We've covered the basics of elements, alchemic arrays, cautions to take, and Equivalent Exchange, correct? Before any of you get it into your tiny brains to try something idiotic, I'm going to teach you brats the taboos of alchemy. There are three major ones, and a whole bunch of minor ones that will be covered as the things they concern come up."
Mustang looked slowly around at the class, making sure that they were paying attention.
"You shouldn't turn lead into gold. We already discussed this in our first class. As I said then, it messes with the economy. You should remember that, minions."
A pause.
"Human sacrifice. This should be fairly obvious. It's not just an alchemic taboo, but a taboo of society nowadays. The reasons behind this should be clear. It's very serious, punishable in Amestris by a lifetime sentence or death."
He stopped again, drawing in a breath. The air in the room felt heavy.
"Human transmutation. Not only is this outlawed, but extremely difficult to pull off. The penalty for breaking this is death, but a lot of the foolish alchemists who attempt it don't survive trying it. I should clarify. There are different kinds of human transmutation. Binding souls to objects is a mild form of human transmutation, and the penalty for that, depending on the circumstances, can be less severe than the penalty for the other kinds of human transmutation, such as melding human bodies and animal bodies to create horrific chimaeras, and the kind that most people don't survive. Bringing the dead back to life."
The silence was unbearably loud, the dead air seeming to lie still in the classroom. Slowly, a hand was raised.
"M-most people, sir?"
"Yes. There are some, an unbelievably lucky - or clever - some, who survive. And they gain the ability to do what no other alchemists can do - transmute without an array. But they lose something. Organs. Senses. Body parts. They survive, but they don't succeed." Mustang brought his hands down on his desk. "What they bring back, it is said, is merely a grotesque mockery of the dead person they loved. Not only is human transmutation tabooed because of the risk, but the inhumanity of the results."
. . .
"Do you reckon that Ed…" Peter wondered faintly, twitching.
"Broke the most serious taboo? Human transmutation?" finished Remus, furrowing his brow. "It fits. He can perform alchemy without an array, and he's paid the price; his arm and leg. But who was he trying to bring back?"
The four Marauders were walking slowly down a corridor, on their way to lunch after the Alchemy lesson.
"Hey, how was Colonel Bastard's lesson?" A familiar voice called, and they turned around to see Ed striding towards them.
"Gloomy. Why weren't you there, Fullmetal?" James responded.
"I called in sick. Gloomy, huh? Did he spend the entire time making a speech about why female officers should wear miniskirts?" Ed grinned widely.
"No...he talked about taboos," Remus said, quirking an eyebrow.
The blonde's eyes darkened, but he kept smirking. "The whole 'don't turn lead to gold, don't sacrifice or transmute people' spiel?"
"Um...listen, Ed, we've been meaning to ask you-" Peter began, stepping towards Ed.
Just then, the blonde's eyes widened, as if he'd suddenly remembered something."Sorry, I gotta go, can you ask me later?"
"Okay...see you around, then," Sirius told him, but the alchemist had already taken off down the corridor.
They watched him go, and when the last corner of his long red coat disappeared around the corner, James said, "I wonder…"
"What?"
"How he runs so fast. I mean, considering his metal limbs…"
The others sighed.
In the quiet corridor, alight with the noontime sun streaming through the old, arching windows, there was a faint sense of disquiet.
That's it! Thank you for reading!
In the upcoming chapters, I plan to add in more Lily, Snape, and other such exciting things, although I honestly have no idea what I'm doing, so there might not be much plot, but that can be worked on!
Again, please review, and remember criticism and ideas for what could happen are much appreciated!
May fortune smile upon you all.