DISCLAIMER: I OWN NEITHER HARRY POTTER NOR FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST!

Chapter Ten

Dinner in the Great Hall that night was not a pleasant experience for Harry. The news about his shouting match with Umbridge seemed to have traveled exceptionally fast even by Hogwarts' standards. He heard whispers all around him as he sat eating between Ron and Hermione and across from Ed, Al, and Winry. The funny thing was that none of the whisperers seemed to mind him overhearing what they were saying about him, or Ed, - on the contrary, it was as though they were hoping he would get angry and start shouting again, so that they could hear his story firsthand.

"He says he saw Cedric Diggory murdered and Edward Elric tortured…"

"He reckons he dueled with You-Know-Who…"

"Come off it…"

"Who does he think he's kidding?"

"Pur-lease…"

"What I don't get," Harry said through clenched teeth as he lay down his knife and fork, "is why they all believed the story two months ago when Dumbledore told them…"

"I don't think they believed Bumblebore," Ed said. "Let's go back to the common room. We can talk there."

Then they all went on their way to the Gryffindor Tower.

"What do you mean, you don't think they believed Dumbledore?" Harry asked once they reached the first floor landing.

"You don't understand what it was like after it happened," Hermione said quietly before Ed could reply. "You arrived back in the middle of the lawn clutching Cedric's dead body…and Edward was nowhere to be seen. None of us saw what happened in the maze… We just had Dumbledore's word for it that You-Know-Who had come back and killed Cedric and tortured Ed and fought you."

"Which is the truth!" Harry said loudly.

"Harry, stop yelling," Al said. "We know it's true. It's just that before it could sink in, everyone went home and the Daily Prophet spit out stories for two months of how crazy you and Brother were and how Dumbledore is going craz!"

Rain pounded on the window panes as they strode along the empty corridors back to Gryffindor Tower. Ed said the password and they all went into the common room. The common room was almost empty, nearly everyone was still down at dinner. Crookshanks uncoiled himself from an armchair and trotted to meet them. Pegasus came running to Al and Al picked him up. They all sat down in chairs in front of the fireplace, Crookshanks being on Hermione's lap.

"How can Dumbledore have let this happen?" Hermione cried suddenly, startling Crookshanks so that he hissed and leapt off of Hermione's lap. "How can he let that terrible woman teach us? And in our O.W.L. year too?"

"Maybe he didn't have a choice," Al suggested, scratching Pegasus behind the ears. "No one else wants to take the job."

"I just think it's ridiculous," Winry said.

"You're lucky, Winry, you've already got your O.W.L. exams finished," Hermione said to Winry.

"I know, but I still have my N.E.W.T. exams to think about," Winry said.

"Those aren't until next year," Ron said.

"I know that, Ron, but -," Winry started.

"Let's just get to our homework," Al said. "I don't want to hear any arguing."

"All right," Ed said. "Let's get to it. I'm going to see if I can remember my report from last year."

"No, you write a different one," Hermione and Winry said at the same time.

"Why?" Ed whined.

"Because it would be considered as cheating," Winry explained. "And Miss Izumi would probably kill you."

"She's right, Big Brother," Al agreed.

Ed groaned.

"Fine," Ed said.

Then he got parchment, quill, and ink out and then starting writing on the essay a few moments later. Hermione then got up and went to confront Fred, George, and Lee for testing their products on first years.

The next day at five 'til five o' clock p.m., Ed and Harry left the Gryffindor common room and went on their way to Umbridge's office.

"You do know that she's not gonna let you off for Friday, right?" Ed said.

"Yeah, but I might as well ask, right?" Harry said.

"If you say so," Ed said. "Well, we're here."

And without knocking, Ed opened the door to Umbridge's office and instantly grimaced in disgust. The surfaces of Umbridge's office had all been draped in lacy covers and cloths. There were several vases full of dried flowers, each residing on its own doily, and on one of the walls was a collection of ornamental plates, each decorated with a large Technicolor kitten wearing a different bow around its neck. They were so foul that Harry and Ed stared at them, transfixed, until Professor Umbridge spoke.

"You know, Mr. Elric, it's proper manners to knock before entering," Umbridge said.

"I don't believe in knocking," Ed said.

"Well, good evening," Umbridge said.

"Whatever," Ed brushed off.

"Evening," Harry said stiffly.

"Well, sit down," Umbridge said, pointing toward a small table draped in lace beside which she had drawn two straight-backed chairs.

Two pieces of blank parchment lay on the table, apparently waiting for Harry and Ed. Ed sat down as Harry asked Umbridge if he could get Friday off for the Quidditch tryouts since he was Seeker for the Gryffindor team. Of course, Umbridge said no and that he was a naughty, lie-telling, attention-seeking boy. Then Harry angrily sat down.

"There," Umbridge said sweetly, "we're getting better at controlling our temper already, aren't we, Mr. Potter? Now, Mr. Elric, you will write exactly 'I shall not disrespect my teachers'. Mr. Potter, you will write 'I must not tell lies'."

"How many times?" Harry asked, with a creditable imitation of politeness.

"Oh, as long as it takes for the message to sink in," Umbridge said sweetly. "Off you go."

Umbridge moved over to her desk, sat down, and bent over a stack of parchment that looked like essays for marking. Ed looked at the pointy, black quill that had a sharp point and then looked at Umbridge.

"Where's the ink?" Ed asked.

"Oh, you won't need ink," Umbridge said with the merest suggestion of a laugh in her voice.

As Harry wrote I must not tell lies, Ed wrote I shall not disrespect my teachers. Once they had both written a line down of what they were supposed to. Ed swore under his breath as he felt a pain in his hand. He looked at the parchment and saw red ink and then looked at the back of his left hand. He was shocked to see the words had appeared as though it had been carved in with a scalpel. As Ed stared at the shining cut, the skin healed over again, leaving the place where it had been slightly redder than before but quite smooth. Ed and Harry looked at Umbridge. She was watching them, her wide, toad-like mouth stretched in a smile.

"Yes?" Umbridge asked.

"Nothing," Ed and Harry said.

As they both wrote, their hands were cut open and healed over time and time again. Darkness fell outside Umbridge's window. Neither Harry nor Ed asked when they were to be able to stop. After what seemed hours, Umbridge finally spoke up.

"Come here," Umbridge said.

Ed and Harry stood. Their hands were stinging painfully. When they looked down, they saw that the cut had healed, but that the skin there was red raw.

"Hand," Umbridge said.

Harry showed her and she let him go a moment later. She then grabbed Ed's hand and looked at it.

"Tut, tut," Umbridge said, smiling, "I don't seem to have made much of an impression yet. Well, we'll just have to try again tomorrow evening, won't we? You may go."

Ed didn't say anything as he snatched his hand away and left. He had seen that Harry had already left back to Gryffindor Tower. Ed then went back to Gryffindor Tower. When he got there, he saw that Harry was climbing the stairs to the fifth year boys' dormitory. Ed was about to follow Harry when he had seen someone sleeping at one of the tables by a window. Ed went over to see that it was Al. Ed gently shook Al awake. Al opened his eyes and looked at Ed.

"Brother?" Al asked, rubbing his eyes. "What time is it?"

"A bit past midnight," Ed answered.

"Oh," Al said.

"Were you waiting for me to get back?" Ed asked.

"Yeah, and I was finishing my homework," Al replied.

"You idiot," Ed said. "You didn't have to get all done at once, you know."

"I know, but I wanted to get it all done," Al said.

"Idiot," Ed said.

"I'm not an idiot," Al whined.

"You are too, so stop whining," Ed said.

"Okay," Al said.

Al got up out of his seat.

"How was detention?" Al asked. "Was she horrible?"

Ed didn't say anything for a moment and then…

"It was fine," Ed lied. "We only had to write lines."

Al sighed, knowing Ed wasn't being completely truthful.

"Come on, Al, we'll be dead on our feet if we don't get some sleep," Ed said.

"All right," Al said.

Then they went up to the fifth year boys' dormitory. The next morning, Winry asked Ed at breakfast of how the detention went since Harry and Ron both skipped breakfast. Winry and Hermione looked at Ed expectantly.

"Oh, it was all right," Ed lied. "Kinda boring, actually."

"What did she make you do?" Hermione asked.

"Lines," Ed said.

"That's not so bad," Hermione said.

Winry looked skeptically at Ed.

"What?" Ed asked.

"So, she kept you all night just so you could write lines?" Winry asked.

"She's a merciless old, toad bitch," Ed said. "It's all right."

"At least it's nothing terrible, Winry," Hermione said.

"Hm," Winry said, pursing her lips.

"Winry, it's okay, all right?" Ed said. "Don't worry about it."

Winry sighed.

"If you say so," Winry sighed. "Just…"

"Just what?" Ed asked.

"Nothing," Winry said.

The second night of detention was just as bad as the first one. The skin on Ed's and Harry's hands became irritated more quickly now; red and inflamed, Ed thought it unlikely to keep healing as effectively for long. After a few hours the next night, Thursday night, the words "I must not disrespect my teachers" did not fade from the back of Ed's hand, but remained scratched there, oozing droplets of blood. The pause in the pointed quills' scratching made Professor Umbridge look up.

"Ah," Umbridge said softly, moving around her desk to examine Ed's and Harry's hands herself. "Good. That ought to serve as a reminder to you, oughtn't it? You may leave for tonight."

"Gladly," Ed said, leaving at once.

A few minutes later, Ed arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady. Ed said the password and went through the portrait hole and into the common room where Al was waiting for him on one of the armchairs in front of the fireplace with Pegasus on his lap.

"Brother," Al said. "You're back!"

"Yeah, I sure am," Ed said.

He sat on an armchair by Al's and ran his left hand over his hair. It was then that Al grabbed Ed's forearm and brought it close to his eyes.

"Brother!" Al said, then letting Ed's arm go. "You said that she was only making you write lines!"

"Well, yeah, but I left out the part about her having us use skin carving quills to write with," Ed said.

"Why?" Al asked. "Why didn't you tell - ?"

"I didn't tell you because I knew that you would overreact," Ed said.

"How am I supposed to react when that bitch of a teacher has you slicing your own hand open?!" Al said. "I mean, you're my brother, Ed! How do you expect me to act?"

"Sorry, Al," Ed said. "I just didn't want you to worry about it."

"Well, Winry, should know," Al said.

"If we tell Winry, she'll land herself in detention as well," Ed said. "And I don't want that. And I also don't want you to be getting yourself in detention either, Al. I don't want you to have your hand -."

"But you need to tell someone!" Al said. "You should tell either Professor McGonagall or Dumbledore or Teacher!"

"Al, it'll be fine," Ed said.

"I forbid you from going to the last detention!" Al demanded as Ed stood to go to the fifth year boys' dormitory.

"Al, who's the older brother?" Ed asked.

"I don't care if you're the oldest or not!" Al said. "I don't want you going! Get a detention from someone else to take place of that toad's!"

"You know, Al, that's not a bad idea," Ed said.