A/N: For the full summary and detailed tags, please visit the AO3 upload.
-I'd like to remind readers that I am writing from the movie and book, so if a few details contradict one or the other, please understand.
- Please note, if you leave me a question in an unsigned review I cannot answer you.
- This chapter is lighter than what will come next and moving forward. Just a heads up.
-Thanks to Manalfedz who beta'd this chapter.
-And finally, thanks to everyone who reviewed and followed! I hope you'll continue to enjoy.
It's hard to stay between the lines of skin
Having planned out the best course of action in getting ready for the school day after his first haphazard morning, the second went far smoother for Edward. Prudently -albeit grudgingly- he woke up at 5:30 AM, which was long before any of the other Slytherins were even remotely awake, and quietly made his way down to the showers, able to have the space all to himself for privacy and efficiency. And so by the time he was done showering, brushing his teeth, tying his hair, and was back in the dorm room fully dressed and sitting on his bedside tying the laces of his boots, only then did one of his roommates wake up. It was just after 6:30 at that point.
It'd been a good plan really, and a much nicer start to the day being able to take his time showering and dressing instead of rushing and ducking. And now all he hoped was that he'd gotten enough sleep to get through the day without clocking out too frequently on the desks in various classrooms, although to be fair, that had a lot to do with how boring school was in the first place.
And anyway, it wasn't that he cared about what the professors thought of him sleeping in their classes, because he didn't, but when the last words from Mustang to him from the night before, when he'd been about to leave the man's office had been:
"Don't feel bad about enjoying high school, Fullmetal, oh, and try to get some proper sleep, you look like shit.", while he'd wanted to smack Mustang for the first part of that sentence, mostly because the older man had somehow been able to see that Edward wasn't finding having peers and going to school to be so bad and that was just bad for his general badass reputation, the second part had been said with genuine concern, and so Ed had taken it more seriously.
And Mustang hadn't been wrong about him looking like shit either. On his way from Mustang's office back to the dorms, Ed had taken a detour to a lavatory and he'd looked at himself in one of the mirrors for a tense minute or two, having taken note of the fact that while he felt fairly okay, he looked paler than ever, and the skin around his eyes were noticeably darker, as if he'd been deprived of sunlight and sleep for a long time.
He'd never seen himself look quite so…
In the end, he'd chalked his appearance up to being more stress related due to their circumstances, and yeah, maybe a lack of sunlight and proper sleep too. And so he'd gone straight to bed when he got back to the dorms, even though a few people had still been awake and sitting around the common room, Blaise and Nott included.
He'd told them he was tired when they called after him and they hadn't bothered to nag him about it, having laughed and said something about 'poor git' had detention on the first day' with amused sympathy.
Presently though, Ed felt properly rested and good to go, aside from the fact that he was hungry, but that wasn't unusual for him, and it was nearly breakfast time anyway. He finished tying the laces of his second boot over his pants just as Draco pulled his bed curtain back and sat up, swinging his legs over the side of his bed and looking quite tired and stressed himself as he rubbed his hands over his face. Ed glanced at him, noticing that his blonde hair was not slicked back as usual, but was actually comically untidy and sticking up all over his head, and since he was wearing only a sleeping shirt and pants, Edward could see then just how skinny he was.
When Ed stood up next, shifting his feet in his boots absently and flattening the front of his charcoal grey jumper with his gloved hands, Draco looked at him from across the room and caught his eye. Ed gave him a subtle nod of greeting and, somewhat hesitantly, the other blonde returned it, averting his eyes quickly after. Ed didn't think anything of it, because Draco was a pretty moody kid all around, and instead he turned back to his unmade bed –which had been miraculously made when he returned to the dorm the night before- and he picked up his robe, flaring it out before pulling it on.
Ed had never minded wearing a long overcoat, so he favored the cloak-like robe, and additionally, it was good that he had to wear it and that it was as lengthy as it was, because apparently, according to Blaise, McGonagall would not approve of the way he wore his boots over his pants, but because the robes covered most of his lower legs and also his black boots blended with his black pants, it wasn't so noticeable.
Once Ed had his robe on, now completely dressed in his uniform, annoying neck tie and everything, he grabbed his relevant books and his homework assignments, intending to go down to the common room and get the latter done because he hadn't had a chance to finish what had been left of it the day before after his last period.
Slipping his pocket watch into his pants and then his wand into the robe inner pocket, Edward left the room without a backward glance. He ascended the stairs up to the common room quickly and found it was peacefully empty but chilly there, despite being generally warmer than the rest of the school. He walked across the room and placed his books down on the large round table where he'd do his stupid homework, and then he turned to look at the unlit fireplace. Many things went through his head as he considered it, firstly the fact that he could attempt to replicate Mustang's fire alchemy. He wasn't a master at aiming for very precise and small targets by any means, but he could set the fireplace alight pretty easily, and because of magic, he wouldn't even need the ignition gloves.
He didn't realize he was smirking until he heard a noise on the stairs, and after neutralizing his expression he glanced back to find two Slytherin girls, dressed for the day, entering the common room and walking over to set their books down on a different table, seemingly also having homework to complete. Their presence served to remind Ed that he had to stick to using magic predominantly, to avoid the telling red and purple energy of the alchemy-magic blend. So, resigned, he pulled out his wand and pointed it briefly at the coals in the fireplace, starting up a fire with a wordless spell –and an annoyed expression- before he pulled out a chair, sat down and sorted through the work he had left to do.
The sheets of homework reminded him of how much he loathed paperwork, which he chose to blame on Mustang, since his laziness, so copious in amount, had probably rubbed off on Ed at some point. But at least the work wasn't as detailed or time consuming as dealing with military requisitions, reports and applications, and so it didn't take long to complete everything and within twenty minutes, when it was coming up to a quarter past seven, Ed was done. He sat back in the chair and slipped his pocket watch out, checking the time before he closed his written sheet work into his notebook. He raised an eyebrow at the dog-eared notes, knowing that it was an untidy set up, but he didn't give an honest shit about how crumpled the papers were, as long as everything was legible and correct. Mustang had always hated the untidiness of his reports, and that's mostly the reason why Ed did it in the beginning, but now it was just habit.
"Mate, I thought you'd still be asleep, how long have you been up here?" Blaise walked over then, carrying his books, looking properly dressed and wide awake. Ed had noticed that all of the Slytherins generally took pride in their appearance, since none of them ever left the dorms looking anything but properly uniformed and fairly well put together.
Ed shrugged and glanced briefly at the other teen standing to his side,
"Since six, I had to do fucking homework." he griped and ran a hand through his bangs on one side.
Blaise leaned back against the table beside him, facing the opposite direction as he looked down at Ed,
"So Mustang didn't make you do your homework in detention, eh?" he snorted and smirked, "I guess that'd be too easy and convenient." he reasoned and Ed just rubbed at the side of his face and shook his head, "What'd you do then?" Blaise asked, absently straightening his tie.
Ed sighed as much as his act of irritation over detention warranted,
"He made me study potions books that I've already read." it was the cover story he and the Colonel had come up with, "Apparently that's the best punishment for someone who falls asleep in his class because they think they know it all." he said it with an eye roll, repeating it just as Mustang had told him too.
"For two hours," Blaise looked momentarily horrified, "he made you read for two hours? That's a right punishment all on its own if you ask me." he laughed, nudging Ed's shoulder.
Ed just shook his head and smirked at the taller boy,
"Do you even know how to read, Blaise?" he jibed, and the other teen snorted at the friendly insult.
"Oi, yeah mate, I do, but funny you mention it, not so sure Crabbe and Goyle can." he snickered none too quietly.
Ed snickered too, a smirk drawing his mouth into a tilt,
"No surprise there."
"Not even as much smarts as a Weasley between the two of em'." Blaise confirmed with another snicker as Ed gathered up his books and stood up, the two of them moving away from the table toward the exit. The two teens left the dorm, and Ed estimated they'd reach the Great Hall with a few minutes to spare, so he'd be able to eat a fresh, satisfying breakfast.
They made their way through the hall in comfortable silence and only once they were making their way up the stairs to the first level of the castle, did Blaise strike up conversation with a grin and a nudge to Ed's side,
"So Ed, you're gonna be my partner for potions, right?" he looked as if he genuinely thought so.
Ed snorted,
"What? No way, so you can copy off me the entire time? No chance." he shook his head, his ponytail swaying from side to side as they walked.
"Come on, mate, I'm not actually so bad in potions," Blaise defended, "so you'll be more like a crutch, in case I need it." he seemed amused about his intentions.
"Hell no," Ed said plainly, but still wearing a smirk, "you'll have to find some other crutch."
Blaise deflated then, apparently having thought his plan to get Ed as a potions partner had been foolproof,
"You don't even av' a partner, and I'm not nearly the worst you could get. Think of whoever gets Crabbe and Goyle, or if they choose each other." he shook his head, half smiling and grimacing at the thought, "That'd be dismal, yeah?"
Ed grinned when he pictured that clusterfuck of a scenario,
"It'll be a disaster…" he agreed with a snort, and then shrugged and glanced at Blaise, "…but, uh, I do actually have a partner for potions, so I can't anyway." he said seriously, and the other teen looked at him and frowned,
"Oh yeah, who'd you ask?"
"I didn't ask, she asked me." Ed said honestly as they turned a corner, passing a few other house students.
"Oh, a she is it?" Blaise grinned, lowering his voice since the closer they got to the Great Hall the more of the early rising students were around, "Well, who is she, then?" he asked with a smirk.
Edward raised his eyebrows slightly as he looked at the other teen with mild amusement and some curiosity, knowing that the rest of the Slytherins would all know about it by second period and would probably have a bad reaction, and wondering what Blaise's would be. He figured then that it would be best to just tell Blaise and get it over with, giving the taller boy a chance to decide early on if he still wanted to be buddies afterward,
"Hermione Granger." Ed said flatly.
"Wot?" Blaise didn't miss a beat with his stage whispered exclamation, his face contorting into disdain for a second before it eased quickly into perplexity, "Wait, mudblood, goody-goody Granger asked you, a Slytherin, to be her potions partner…" he sounded genuinely disbelieving, "…are you avin' me on, Ed?"
"Am I what?" Ed frowned, asking because he had no idea what the hell that question meant.
"Are you joking, mate?" Blaise huffed out a laugh.
Edward blinked from Blaise to the hallway ahead of them, one hand clutching his books at his side and the other tucked deep in his pants pocket,
"Nope, I'm not joking, she asked me yesterday in the library."
"In the lib-…" Blaise made a comical expression now, "…I feel like I don't even know you." and that was said with humor, so Ed assumed it was meant to be a joke and he smirked, seeing it as a good sign that Blaise wasn't sneering about how awful and disgusting it all was.
They walked in silence for a minute then, Ed deciding there was nothing more he could say. Blaise on the other hand seemed to think of something, swiping his free hand over the lower half of his face as he raised his dark eyebrows,
"Well, thas' certainly weird," he muttered and Ed glanced at him, "Potter's friend asking a friend of Draco Malfoy to be her partner in class." the taller teen mused more to himself than for Ed's benefit, keeping his tone low and discreet as they entered the closed off corridor just before the Great Hall, and he sounded like he found it as suspicious as Ed had initially thought it to be.
Edward raised an eyebrow, thinking that he couldn't really be classified as Draco's friend any more than he would be Blaise's friend so early in their associations, but he didn't comment on that because it would be counterproductive, and instead he stayed on the original topic,
"We talked about the whole Slytherin, Gryffindor hate-hate relationship thing," he spoke quietly as well, so only Blaise would hear him, "and mutually decided that it was a personal request, from her to me, not from her house to my house sort of thing, so..." he shrugged, glancing around as they walked into the quiet hall, the food had not yet appeared, which annoyed Ed.
Blaise was looking at him with narrowed eyes, seemingly both amused and disturbed,
"You talked about it, thas' so weird…" he mumbled, and then he broke out into a grin and leaned in nearer to speak more secretively, "…wait, wait, you said it was a personal request, yeah?" Ed nodded as they made their way over to the Slytherin table and Blaise kept grinning, "Oh hell mate," Blaise grabbed his shoulder and shook him once, making Ed glance at him as his steps faltered, "I think she fancies ya'." the taller teen laughed quietly now and Ed narrowed his eyes at the odd leery look on Blaise's sharp face.
He had, of course, already considered that Hermione's interest in him was less than platonic, but he didn't want Blaise taking it too seriously, so he played it down as casually as he could,
"I think it's probably just because we have a common interest." Edward said, deciding it was actually the most plausible reason for Hermione taking that sort of an interest in him.
"Was' that?" Blaise asked as they stopped and stepped into seats at the mostly empty Slytherin table, not too far from the exit and on the side running parallel to the wall.
"We're both academically inclined." Ed answered, placing his books down on the bench beside him.
"You mean that you're both smart, bookworm types." Blaise simplified with a snort as he also set his books down and then turned to look at Ed, who just shrugged in response. So Blaise went on, "Well mate, it's gross because she's a mudblood," Ed half rolled his eyes, "but she's also really easy on the eyes, so I don't blame ya'." Blaise smirked at him, but then it faded to a mock serious expression and he shook his head, "But she is a mudblood, so you might get some kind of commoners disease if you snog her." he was trying not to laugh at his own stupid joke, giving Ed a look that said 'what are you thinking?'
Ed returned the look with one that expressed just what an idiot he thought Blaise was, and then he frowned,
"Snog?" because again, what did that even mean?
"Bloody hell…" Blaise laughed quietly, shaking his head, "…snog mate, it means to kiss."
Ed snorted this time and shook his head at Blaise as he set his elbows on the table and folded his arms,
"Blaise, aside from that disease shit not even making any sense," he pointed out and Blaise shrugged facially as he leaned on the table too, "she's just my potions partner, so get your fucking mind out of the gutter." Ed said flatly, and then raised his eyebrows in question when Blaise stopped smiling and frowned at him,
"It really doesn't bother you, does it?" he asked seriously.
Ed waited a beat, considering the best course of action in handling the question, and deciding there was only one way to do so, he looked at Blaise in the eye and chose to get it cleared up once and for all,
"No, it doesn't," he said quietly and seriously, "I don't care about all that pure-blood bullshit." he added and then tilted his head, leveling Blaise with a curious look and a cocked eyebrow. "Does it bother you that it doesn't bother me?" he asked in a tone that was unintentionally flat and humorless and Blaise tensed just slightly, regarding Ed with maintained eye contact for so long that the food even popped up.
Ed ignored the food though, and stayed focused on the other teen, because aside from determining whether they'd remain 'friends', Blaise's decision would outline what sort of person he actually was, and Ed would know how best to manage their association going forward.
Blaise eventually looked away, glancing around the empty-ish area where they sat as he sighed, and he reached for a jug of pumpkin juice then, bringing it to pour some into the cup at his place setting as he answered quietly,
"Honestly, not really," he finished pouring and set the jug down before he went on, "I, uh…don't even know if I'm really pure-blood…" he added in a mumble, and then hesitated before glancing at Ed, almost as if to make sure there was no judgment to be found after his confession, and when he did indeed find nothing but neutral interest on Ed's face, he went on with a shrug, "…but as a Slytherin…you know, as a general rule and all that."
"You have to inherently hate anyone who isn't pure-blood." Ed stated quietly with a light shake of his head as he pulled his gloves off, setting them down on his books before he reached over to a tray filled with boomerang shaped, lightweight pastry foods which he'd found the day before that he quite liked.
Blaise sipped his juice and then answered,
"Well, not so much alf'-bloods, they're not as bad off," he set his cup down and reached for the large dish of scrambled eggs nearby, "some Slytherin's know that I might be only alf', and they don't really care. Even Draco… he's alright with it mostly," Blaise dished eggs onto his plate, "but he won't let anyone besides Crabbe and Goyle get too close to im' as proper friends."
"Because they're pure-blood?" Ed asked as he finished adding filling to his pastry and then bit into it.
Blaise nodded, continuing to fill his plate with breakfast food, their entire conversation remaining hushed since Ed figured Blaise was divulging information that was probably not just anyone's business. He nodded in understanding of the taller teen and then sighed as he took another bite out of the soft, flaky pastry,
"Huh…all that stress over a bloodline." Ed mumbled around his mouthful as he went about pouring himself coffee, the pot of wonderful caffeinated liquid having thankfully appeared much closer to him that time.
"Yeah…but you don't really av' any idea about it though, do ya?" Blaise forked some eggs and a bite of toast into his mouth, chewing a bit before he glanced at Ed and went on, "I'm guessing it's because you don't seem to know much about…you-know-who." his voice was even lower when he said that, the teen swallowing his mouthful and glancing around again just in case before looking back to Ed, "But yeah, it's a big deal, I mean…the entire war going on is based on getting rid of all muggles and mudblood wizards and witches." he whispered then, and hell, it was a damn revealing and sensitive piece of information.
Ed's eyebrows went up in genuine surprise at hearing that and he looked at Blaise for a steady moment as he chewed slowly and then swallowed his second bite of pastry.
When he spoke next, his voice as quiet as Blaise's had been, Ed forced apathy into his tone and expression,
"He wants to kill them all?" he asked in a more or less bland tone, careful not to sound too interested one way or another. Blaise hesitated to answer, as if hearing it stated so candidly tripped him up, but then he nodded with a small frown on his face, a frown that wasn't clear as being either concern or just wariness. Ed continued to look at him as he absorbed that information, but when Blaise started to look nervous, like he might be regretting what he'd just revealed to Ed, the blonde forced himself to avert his gaze, and with a steady hand he brought the last bite of his pastry to his mouth to continue eating, making a point of seeming unaffected as he added, "huh." before stuffing the bite of food into his mouth.
Edward knew it was best for his cover that he didn't show any kind of reaction on the outside, even though that piece of information was pretty fucking staggering. He'd suspected it would be bad, whatever whatshisface's plan was, but learning that it was so much like Father's had been was infuriating and sickening…and also, it was worse somehow too, because it was even more morally corrupt. With Father, he'd planned to take lives, yes, but he'd intended to use them, to his thinking, for a purpose in seeking power and godhood, so however twisted it had been, there'd been an end game, a goal, something exchanged, something gained. But with this dark wizard guy, he just wanted to kill other magic folk because they weren't pure enough in blood, just because he didn't want them around, and that was seriously fucked up on a whole other level as far as Ed was concerned.
And it really wasn't great that Ed was able to find any kind of moral differentiation between the two heinous plots, because that wasn't nearly right…but he didn't have time right then for intense self-reflection, because he needed to keep up appearances. Deciding that, he was just about to reach for the eggs and start dishing some into his plate, but then Blaise nudged him in his side with an elbow,
"There's your girl, Ed." he said quietly.
Ed looked at him with an annoyed glare, intending to elbow him back, but then seeing a grin on the other teen's face, he followed Blaise's gaze to where he was looking at the entrance of the room, and there, walking into the Great Hall was Hermione, and beside her was Ginny, the red haired girl he'd met the day before in the library.
Edward didn't bother to correct Blaise on his comment of 'your girl' because he likely wouldn't listen, and also, he had no intention of staring at the two girls like some weirdo. But before he could look away, he watched, not without amusement, as Ginny glanced around the hall, noticed him, and then quite blatantly tugged on Hermione's robe sleeve to get her attention before the red head gestured over –unsubtly- to where he and Blaise were sitting.
Hermione had a light frown of confusion on her face at first, until she looked over to where Ginny was gesturing and she saw them, her eyes going wide and her hold on her armful of books tightening. Ed knew without looking over that Blaise was trying and failing not to smile at her obvious reaction, and while Ed thought their behavior -all three of them- was pretty immature, he figured it made sense because, hey, that was high school.
So, in the spirit of things, Ed decided to make the situation just a tad more awkward –because why the hell not-, and he gave Hermione a close lipped and intentionally familiar smile, and even from across the distance, he was able to see that she turned a pretty shade of red. And Ed honestly expected her to turn away, embarrassed, but then she surprised him when she smiled back, sweet and slight, before she did something like a nod.
Beside him, Blaise was full on grinning now, and when Ginny waved, making Hermione look at her and then around the hall with wide eyes, Ed smiled at the redhead too, unable to help showing a few of his teeth since he was impressed with her candor and disinterest over the stupid 'must hate each other' rule. At that point, Hermione blushed darker and stopped walking, grabbing Ginny abruptly and turning her around to face the bench so they could sit down, closer to the front of the hall near the teachers table.
When they were no longer looking, Blaise laughed quietly, placing his head almost on the table beside his plate as he tried to keep his snickers quiet. Ed looked at him,
"What's so fucking funny?" he asked, though he was still smirking out of amusement himself.
"Did ya'…" Blaise snorted and snickered a bit more and then calmed down some, enough to speak quietly, "…did you see Granger's face? She was red as hell when you smiled at her. Mate, she definitely likes you." he insisted then, shaking his head with a smile as he picked up his fork to resume eating.
Ed blinked from Blaise to his own plate, considering that, yes, it most certainly seemed that that might be the case.
"And even Ginny Weasley's smiling at you," Blaise said around a mouthful of food, "two fit Gryffindor girls, Ed, you're a lucky guy." he added, sounding genuinely impressed.
Ed frowned at him, ignoring the end part of Blaise's statement in favor of what came before,
"Weasley?" he remembered the last name, "She's related to that idiot, Ron Weasley?" he frowned, genuinely surprised to hear that.
Blaise picked up his snickering again and nodded,
"Bloody right, can't believe it, can ya'?"
Ed shook his head, raising his eyebrows as he huffed out a laugh, honestly unable to see the two as siblings, because aside from the red hair, they gave off two completely different vibes, seemed nothing alike. He and Blaise were still smiling in amusement when Pansy walked up to the table with books in her arms and the twin sisters on either side of her,
"Morning, boys." she said with her usual thin, sly smile as she stepped into a seat across from them.
They both tried to neutralize their expressions, Ed having more luck than Blaise, who cleared his throat,
"Mornin' Pans." he said, looking down at his food with an ill-concealed grin.
"Hey." Ed greeted, glancing smoothly from Pansy to the teachers table, absently looking for Mustang -who hadn't been there when they'd walked in- but instead he spotted Snape amongst the other professors.
"Something funny?" Ed heard Pansy asking.
Blaise answered, saying something to Pansy about making fun of Ron Weasley, but Edward didn't pay too much attention, because he had to stop himself from frowning when he found that Snape had been staring at him rather intensely, and then the man had looked away stiffly when Ed caught him at it.
And it was odd, because Snape hadn't looked at him angrily like he'd just been since the first time they'd met and Ed had been late to take his tests. He glanced down at his plate briefly, wondering where the sudden hostility came from and then he looked to the teachers table again, but Snape was still looking away, so Ed trailed his eyes over the rest of the professors and found that Mustang still wasn't at breakfast.
Not knowing what to make of any of it, Ed shrugged it off and turned his attention back to eating breakfast and to listening as Pansy shared her unkind thoughts about the Weasley family.
First period passed without a hitch, and Ed knew that History of Magic was going to become his regular nap class.
Next for everyone though, was second period Potions, and Ed noticed, amused, that the students seemed wide awake, and after they'd all filed into the class, everyone fell silent really quickly, apparently all eager to get the lesson going. Ed found himself mentally commending Mustang as he settled into his own seat, impressed by the Colonel's ability to get his subordinates to like him so quickly and to respect him enough to stay in line.
Once the class was settled, Ed sitting with Blaise, Nott and Goyle at one of the tables, Mustang stood up, came around his desk to lean back against it and he smiled evenly at the class,
"Alright, I've been over your work from yesterday," he announced, "and only five people will have to sit aside from the rest of the class and revisit the books to rewrite the one page essay on understanding potion chemistry." he explained and then lifted a few sheets of paper off the desk behind him.
Tuning Mustang's teacher routine out, Ed looked the older man over from head to toe, trying to assess whether he was alright since he hadn't been at breakfast that morning. Ed noted that the Colonel seemed about the same as yesterday, not as primly groomed as Ed was used to back home -with product in his hair and his face straight razor shaven-, but okay otherwise, which meant he was still stressed out but not any more affected by it.
Ed's mind drifted then, wondering if Mustang's stress was mostly about the fact that back home he had a massive promotion, four ranks up, from Colonel to General waiting for him, and that he had people relying on him to fulfill all of the promises and commitments that he'd made to change things. And now he was gone without a trace and had no clue what was going on, whether Grumman had been sworn in as the new Fuhrer yet, if Ishval was being sorted out, its people compensated for their suffering.
And then there was also the terrifying possibility which plagued them both, the possibility that the array that had brought him and Mustang there to the magic world had had some kind of after activation effect…and that their world was falling to pieces, frozen in time, or maybe everyone was dead...
Ed quickly pushed the dreaded thoughts from his mind, knowing Mustang probably did the same thing in order to preserve his calm and sanity, and really, they had to…or else how the hell would they deal?
"…-mus Finnigan," Mustang's voice interrupted his thoughts and Ed refocused, watching the Colonel flip each page as he went, "Gregory Goyle…Neville Longbottom, Vincent Crabbe and Susan Bones." he looked up when he was done and gestured with the papers to an occupied desk near the front of the class, "The five of you can sit up front here to work on the essay," the group of Ravenclaw's occupying that desk immediately started getting up to move, "And the rest of you can spread out and pair up with your chosen partners." Mustang added, turning to place the pages back on the desk.
Edward glanced around as the noise level went up when the students started to move and talk, a few people apparently still hadn't decided on partners, and Ed glanced over to find Blaise leaning over to pull on Nott's robe to ask if he had a partner. Slowly but surely though, everyone found partners, and Ed realized that he would probably have to be the one to go over to Hermione, since she was looking nervous, keeping her gaze down and staring at the cauldron stand on the desk she occupied with a few other people in the back corner of the room.
'She's probably fretting about whether to come over here where all the Slytherins are.' Ed smirked slightly at the thought, and then with a quiet huff he got up. And since very few people were still reorganizing themselves, when he stood up, all of the Slytherins – and several other students- immediately looked at him, Blaise and Mustang being the only two people who glanced over at Hermione's desk knowingly.
It was even less helpful that just about all of the students had paired themselves up with people in their own houses, especially the Slytherins, and so when Ed grabbed his notebooks and walked across the class to a desk where Hermione, Harry Potter and an olive skinned girl with long black hair were sitting, there was a none too hushed murmur throughout the class that erupted in his wake. Ed could clearly hear the whispered questions of 'Where's he going?' and 'Who's his partner?' and a muttered hiss of 'What the hell?' -that one was from Ron Weasley- and only when he arrived at the desk where Hermione was situated, did everyone start to go quiet again.
Ed didn't hesitate to place his books down, pull out the stool and set himself on it, right beside Hermione, who looked at him and very quietly said 'thanks', to which he nodded subtly in response. She obviously had been too uncertain about what to do, and honestly, it was pretty ridiculous how many people were intimidated by the house segregation, letting it affect them so seriously.
Curious about his own house, Ed glanced over at the Slytherins, and wasn't surprised to find that they didn't look impressed with him in the least, especially Draco. But when Ed caught his eye intending to meet his glare head on, the other blonde looked away again…and Ed noted then, that Draco had done it twice that day and Snape once, which was definitely suspicious.
"Alright, everyone's set, so let's move on." Mustang said in his naturally authoritative tone of voice and got the classes attention again, "The ingredients have already been laid out on the desks for you, so now, without a reference book and only using your Potions; Sixth Year text book, I'd like you in pairs, working together, to brew the Draught of Living Death." he instructed, casting a look over the room of students.
Edward looked around too, noticing then that most of the kids were still surreptitiously glancing over at him sitting beside Hermione. But he didn't give them the satisfaction of acknowledgement and looked to the front again as Mustang went on,
"For those of you who are successful in this assignment, we will go on to brewing Amortentia tomorrow." the girls seemed to sit up straighter at that and Ed raised an amused eyebrow, "And things will work the same way going forward; individual essay first, potion brewed in pairs to follow, and the quicker you are able to understand and then complete a potion, the sooner you and your partner will move on to the next." Mustang grinned, and Ed knew that smile, knowing that the Colonel was about to give everyone some worthwhile incentive, he could just see it in the smug look on the older man's face, "And if you happen to finish every potion in the curriculum with plenty of time to spare, then my class will become a free period, every period, to those of you who manage it."
There was a chorus of noise then, pleasant shock and excitement, and yup, Mustang had them hooked, and of course, the bastard knew what he was doing. Back home, he'd often used days off, half days or promises to buy lunch for his unit as rewards for work assignments –mostly his own paperwork pending completion- carried out efficiently and properly and meeting a deadline.
"Alright, begin." Mustang said with a nod and half wave, and Ed kept his eyes on the Colonel, watching him take in a patient breath before going over to the five failures at the front desk to micromanage them.
Ed just about managed not to smile at the older man's plight, blinking his gaze back to his own group, and upon looking at the occupants at the desk, he found Harry Potter glaring at him, but only for a moment before the dark haired teen looked at Hermione instead,
"He's the partner you wouldn't tell me about yesterday?" he asked her in a plainly disapproving tone, but at least quietly enough that only the four of them heard.
Hermione tensed up beside Ed and she glanced at him before setting her jaw and looking back at Harry, leaning in,
"Yes, he is, and can you please not do this now?" she asked quietly, and Ed really didn't like the pleading tone in her voice. Why did she need to explain herself to anyone, especially someone who was supposed to be her friend?
"How could you say yes to being his partner, Hermione?" Harry ignored her request completely and glanced over at the desk nearby, where Ron was sitting with Lavender Brown.
Ed just blinked placidly at the bespectacled boy, remembering -with inappropriate fondness- the last time he'd hit a guy with those same stupid-looking round glasses…so many times, in fact, that he'd very nearly killed him.
"Actually…" Ed looked from Potter to Hermione when she sat up and affected a confident air, "…I asked him." she admitted, lifting her chin up a bit and making that cute, stubborn pout she often did.
"You what?" Ron asked loudly from a table over, and Mustang looked sharply at him, making Ron shrink in his chair and swallow visibly before muttering an apology.
Hermione was breathing a bit deeper now, clearly becoming upset as she looked between Harry and Ron, and then she glanced at Ed, seeming a bit stuck on how to proceed, and to defuse the tension she was feeling, he smiled roguishly at her and raised his eyebrows,
"I could punch em' both in the face if you wanted, I wouldn't mind." he offered in the simplest and most sincere tone of voice…kind of, sort of meaning what he offered, too.
Ron sat up straighter then, looking comically worried and angry at the same time, and Harry blinked owlishly a few times, probably trying to figure out whether it was a legitimate offer…slash threat. Hermione, quite sweetly stunned, couldn't help but laugh quietly, looking relieved and clearly not taking it seriously, apparently finding it rather charming if the light blush that bloomed over her nose was anything to judge by. And even the dark haired girl sitting across from Ed at the table was smiling as she fiddled idly with a mixing stick.
Hermione touched a hand to her mouth, as if to temper her smile, and when she'd composed herself she moved it away again, shaking her head as she looked at him,
"Heavens no, Ed, thank you, but there is no need to…punch anyone." she cleared her throat then, and managed to properly stop smiling when she turned to her friends, "I'd appreciate it though, if you two would stop acting so childish." she added quietly, looking from Harry to Ron, who were both not amused.
There was a loaded silence that followed as the three friends looked intensely at one another, but after a minute it was broken by the dark haired girl,
"Hello, Edward, I'm Padma Patil." she randomly introduced herself in a quiet and almost bored tone of voice, completely ignoring the frowning look that Harry shot her way.
Ed smiled evenly at her,
"Hi, Padma, call me Ed." he greeted back, leaning his elbows on the table, getting comfortable.
"Alright, Ed." she repeated and then tracked her gaze downward and raised an eyebrow, "So, why do you wear gloves indoors?" she asked, not seeming to find her question forward. Edward didn't really mind anyway, not much one for social politeness himself, and he glanced at his hands, ready to answer.
But before he could, Harry quipped,
"Probably something to hide." his tone was stiff and just shy of hostile.
Edward slid his gaze from his hands to look at him, and Harry tensed up, his hand sliding off the desk and under, in a far from smooth move to reach for his wand inside his robe. And the action revealed two things to Ed about the boy, one; he perceived Ed to be some kind of serious threat to feel the need to reach for his wand, and two; he was used to, and expected conflict or violence toward himself.
He would get neither from Ed though, even if he was practically asking for it.
Calmly, Ed looked back to his glove covered hands and he nodded,
"Yeah, sort of, I have scars on my hands." he admitted, not lying entirely, because while he did have scars, he'd always worn gloves to hide his automail, but now he wore them out of long instilled habit.
"Oh, what scars?" Padma asked with wide, interested eyes.
Smirking, Ed pulled his left glove off by the fingers -because that hand had the most scars-, and he held his hand up and spread his long fingers out to show Padma the white lines of raised and flat scar tissue marring his knuckles, before he made a tight fist that cracked his knuckles pointedly,
"Scars from fighting, punching people…" he said levelly, "…usually hard enough to break something." and with an intentionally devilish glint in his eyes, the kind that usually made people very wary of him, he looked from Potter to Weasley.
And that time, he could hear Ron swallow even from that far away.
Padma's eyes were wide and she smiled a bit awkwardly while Hermione was staring at his hand,
"Are you…serious?" she asked quietly, sounding uncertain and not smiling at all.
Ed turned his head to look at her, and she'd leaned a bit closer so she sat back and he nodded once, meeting her gaze sincerely.
"Is that supposed to scare us?" Harry asked with a tense scoff, but his display of pluck was wasted on Ed, who knew better and should have just ignored him. But he experienced a rather unexpected flare in his temper just then, and let it wash over him, clenching his jaw and leveling Harry with a severe look that made Ron lean back at the other table, while Padma and Hermione's eyes widened just that much more.
Harry stiffened abruptly in his seat and his adam's apple bobbed, but before Ed could actually verbally threaten the obnoxious, four-eyed, mouthy brat, a hand landed firmly on his shoulder,
"Everything alright here?" Mustang asked, his voice dousing the intense heat of Ed's sudden anger immediately, which was the opposite of how that usually worked. Ed slowly unclenched his left fist, wondering if Mustang had sensed how pissed off he was from all the way at the front of the classroom.
"Y-yes, sir, we're fine." Hermione squeaked and tried to smile.
Mustang wanted an answer from him though, and Ed knew it, so he relaxed under the hand on his shoulder,
"Yeah…" and let his ire deflate with the help of Mustang's grounding presence, "…we're fine, no harm done," he kept his eyes on Harry, "ye-…"
"Now, now…" Mustang knowingly cut him off, squeezing his shoulder subtly. And Ed, knowing the various tones of his C.O. after years of working under him, recognized the underlying warning in the Colonel's deceptively calm voice, and he closed his eyes in irritation, trying to reel his temper in and wondering just why the hell he felt so angry all of a sudden. Mustang's hand remained on his shoulder, squeezing again, less as a warning and more as a comfort that time, "…let's remember that you're all kids who go to the same school." he said calmly, looking at everyone in turns, and Ed didn't miss the emphasis on the word 'kids', a reminder indeed.
A reminder that he was surrounded by children…despite them being his own age, they were nothing like him.
When everyone at the table nodded, including Ed, the older man turned to address the class, his hand remaining where it rested firmly on Ed's shoulder,
"In my class, I encourage mixed house interaction…" everyone turned to look at Mustang, "…and I suggested to Hermione and Edward yesterday that it would be a good idea to reach out to a classmate, regardless of house orientation, to share their extensive knowledge," he said in all seriousness, "because in my class, sharing knowledge is very important and that takes precedence over anything else, understood?" he asked in his firm 'You better do as I say or I'll set you on fire' tone of voice.
And Ed and Hermione were the only ones who knew that story was a damn lie, but Ed saw the purpose behind it, so he looked along with everyone else in the class at Hermione, and he gave her an encouraging look so that she would back Mustang up, since he was just trying to keep her –and Ed too- from being ostracized.
Hermione blinked a few times and then smiled slowly, glancing self-consciously around the class, the entirety of which was staring only at her for some reason, everyone except for Ed, who saw Mustang give her a discreet wink just before he let his hand slide off Ed's shoulder and he walked away.
She seemed to relax after that though, and the class did too, but then someone complained,
"What's the point of sharing their extensive knowledge if they just went off and picked the other smartest person in the class?" a Hufflepuff student whined as Mustang passed him.
And Mustang just shrugged,
"I was as surprised as you are, kid." he said lamely in response, and Hermione blushed when everyone looked at her again, every student seemingly preferring to avoid looking at Ed. Except for Blaise that is, he was grinning from ear to ear while Nott was frowning in confusion over the other boy's amusement.
Ed decided then that they'd wasted enough time and he turned on his stool to more or less face Hermione, reaching out and turning on the small gas burner beneath the cauldron. And Ed was glad to see that Hermione didn't miss a beat, following his lead and opening the book to the potion-making directions.
Padma was about to do the same, reaching for her potions textbook when Harry stopped her,
"Let's go over there, Padma." he said with a mild glare at Ed, who just glanced at him disinterestedly and then at Padma when she shrugged and stood up,
"Okay, whatever." she said with an exasperated sigh before she grabbed her books and followed Harry.
When four-eyes and Padma had left and were setting up at another table, Hermione, who'd intentionally ignored the small exchange, had just finished adding the water and salt together in a beaker, and she was just picking up the Infusion of Wormwood bottle when Ed leaned closer to her to ask quietly,
"What's his problem, ex-boyfriend or something?" he played dumb, already suspecting that wasn't the case, and he also wasn't really expecting to get an in-depth or revealing answer of Potter's no doubt deep-seated issues, but seriously, he just felt like saying something because that's what the bastard had acted like…and also, Ed just wanted to see Hermione blush.
Which she did so prettily as she looked at him and shook her head quickly, nearly dropping the bottle she held,
"Oh, Harry? No…no, no…and Ron, too, really we're just friends…" she whispered with a small awkward smile that faded to a serious look, one that told Ed that she wanted him to understand they were really just friends.
'Huh, maybe she does like me.' he thought then, and since it seemed more and more likely, it begged the question, what would he do about that? Or more importantly, should he do anything about it or just ignore it before it became more obvious?
It seemed harmless enough to see how it played out, so after a few seconds Ed smirked,
"Okay," he said quietly, and then dared to encourage her by adding, "good." quietly, purposely looking straight into her eyes when he said it, throwing in a smile. And he discreetly reached out to take the bottle of wormwood from her slowly relaxing hand before she could drop it over onto the desk…because she looked a bit dazed, her face reddening all over again.
Her reaction to that told Ed clearly enough that she did in fact like him, basically confirmed it actually.
He backed off a little then, giving her some space, and in the minute it took Hermione to clear her head, he added the water and salt to the heated cauldron and then was careful with adding in the wormwood liquid to the precise amount the book specified before he looked at her again to see what she was doing. Hermione had a small smile on her face, and she was busy preparing the valerian root liquid. And she seemed distracted, but she caught herself before she had cut up too many roots, and only when she was done preparing the mixture did she turn to him.
They settled into comfortable silence then, the next step in the recipe being to extract juice from hard beans, and since the book said cut, Hermione picked up the available -very sharp- knife, and Ed could immediately see that it was not going to work out doing it that way, because the surface of the large beans were smooth and it was hard and it'd probably fly off and take someone's eye out if the knife slipped.
"Wait a second…" he reached over and stopped her with a gloved hand on one of her own. She paused and had to look up at him because he'd stood up to stop her and he was standing beside her now, "…does the book really say to cut it?" he asked as he skimmed the page of text, reading it for himself, leaving his hand where it was rested atop hers on the knife handle.
It wasn't that he was unaware of her nervous posture or the red tinged shell of her ear where her hair was tucked behind it; it was just that he was enjoying it. Winry usually got flustered like that, red in her cheeks and ears and neck, except she was usually pissed off at him for something when that happened. But there had been the rare occasion when he'd seen her, and he'd mentioned that she looked pretty or nice, and at those times she'd pinken from her forehead right down to the swell of her chest.
Ed had caught on quickly then that compliments made Winry's temper cool off really quick, and so he'd started using it as a fight deterrent when it came to her, well, that and jewelry, because buying her earrings and stuff worked really well too. Al had enlightened him about the benefits of gift giving actually, after all, his smooth little brother knew his stuff when it came to girls. And really, despite how complex they could be, females weren't so different at the root of it all. Sure, they liked sweet words and smiles, good manners, compliments, thoughtful gifts and subtle but easily readable flirtation, but like most human beings, respect and acknowledgment was what counted most.
That last bit Ed had learned from being around Riza Hawkeye, and hell, you don't work with grown men all your life and learn nothing from their mistakes and successes with the fairer sex. Ed had heard all the plays and witnessed all the ways in which one could potentially land a girl, and he'd also seen all the ways guys had messed up too.
Of course, he hadn't the time or interest back then to utilize that knowledge…but now…
"Uh, yes…yes, it says to cut it." his train of thought derailed at her quiet response and Ed shook his head,
"That doesn't make sense, how the fuck do you extract juice out of a bean by cutting it?" he asked himself more than anything, ignoring her wide-eyed look when he swore.
He let go of her hand then and picked up one of the sopophorus beans before sitting back down and considering his options. No one could use their wand because it wasn't allowed, it'd be like cheating, but since the whole thing was a fake grade for him anyway, as long as Hermione was with him, she wasn't getting failed by Mustang either. So Ed decided to use alchemy, a very, very small amount, to easily solve the problem,
"Hand me that cup, would ya'?" he gestured to an unused measuring cup at the edge of the table and Hermione grabbed it and gave it to him. Ed picked up a few more of the beans and held them in his ungloved hand just over the cup, and then he looked at Hermione with a sly smile that Alphonse had always said was a sign that he was about to break the rules.
Heh, Al always did know him so well.
"Is anyone watching us?" he asked quietly, making sure to maintain eye contact with her, keeping her distracted.
She blinked, getting caught up in his mischievous tone with a curious tilt of her head as she frowned,
"I don't think so, why?" she whispered, looking at him and not around the class or at his hand. And sitting as close as they were, just a foot apart, Ed assumed anyone actually watching them would be too interested in what they might be talking about so closely to notice his hand where it carefully rested on the rim of the cup.
"Why do you think?" he asked quietly…and was surprised by the fact that her eyes very briefly darted to his mouth. Huh, apparently, she had way more confidence in herself than he'd given her credit for…
Of course, they were in class, and she didn't forget herself, but at least her focus elsewhere meant that she didn't notice that he was alchemically separating the liquid of the bean from the flesh, using a slight enough energy charge that the juice was dripping into the cup in increments and the transmutation was contained inside his fist.
When she broke eye contact, glancing around the class discreetly and tucking more of her wavy brown hair behind her ears, Ed hurried the transmutation along until all that was left in his palm were dried, hard chunks and crumbs of the beans, completely dried out. She looked back at him after a few seconds and was about to say something about whatever she'd been thinking was going to happen, but Ed cut her off by gesturing with his eyes to the measuring cup that had a few shallow ounces of bean juice in it.
Her eyes widened briefly before she reined in her shock and looked at him, disapprovingly whispering,
"Did you use magic?"
"Did you see me use magic?" he cocked an eyebrow.
She blinked, her frown easing up as she glanced at the cup and over the desk,
"Well, no…"
"Because I didn't." he admitted, and it was true, he'd used alchemy. He opened his palm then and let the dried up bits of bean fall on the table top before he picked up the remaining beans and held them in his hand over the cup as well, repeating the process with her attention on the droplets of liquid seeping from his loose fist.
Hermione looked unsettled, glancing uncertainly from the instructions in the book to his hand as he finished extracting the juice and then added the liquid into the cauldron. It was obvious that she usually only did things by the book, a stickler for the rules, but after a few hesitant seconds, she huffed softly and picked up the beaker in which she'd mixed her reduced liquid valerian root and she handed it to him.
Ed held the beaker for a few seconds, alchemically testing its exact weight and feeling its exact composition before he looked at her and said,
"Wow, precise measurements, nice." he complimented quietly, and her eyes widened,
"I…well, yes, wait…" she frowned, "…wait, how can you…how…?" she asked quietly as she took the beaker back from him when he handed it to her, and he gestured for her to add the liquid to the cauldron, and while she did that, Ed glanced over at Mustang.
The Colonel was watching a table of Slytherins with a look that clearly said they weren't doing very well.
Ed didn't answer Hermione's question, lapsing into silence again as she did the stirring. He personally found the instructions on how to stir to be completely nonsensical, since there was no way that specifically directed stirs apart from duration or blending requirements, should affect a chemical outcome. But it was magic school, so he didn't mess with the process, lest people start to ask questions about his way of doing things…like Hermione had just a moment earlier, curious about his ability to test ingredients so accurately.
Next in the recipe, they added more chopped up Valerian root, and Ed noted that Hermione had good measurement judgment, so he didn't intervene with her work. And then afterwards when she was done, he measured out the powdered asphodel precisely and added it to the simmering cauldron. He could tell that Hermione wanted to say something then, so he looked at her questioningly, and after a huff she gave in, suggesting that they leave the mixture to simmer a bit longer than the book instructed because she'd recently read that the better dissolved the root was, the more efficacy it had.
Ed smiled and nodded in agreement with her suggestion, glad that she'd given over into stepping outside of the exact recipe and was attempting to work from her knowledge of the ingredients instead, just as Mustang had encouraged, because chemistry was, after all, only as accurate and as impressive as the chemist was.
Hermione continued stirring then, and they both stood up and watched as the lightly bubbling liquid turned a silver lilac colour before Hermione added one more piece of root. She then continued stirring until the liquid cleared up slowly to become completely transparent, which was the desired result according to the book.
She was smiling at the result, and Ed took that to mean she wasn't mad about his little 'cheating' stunt, but even if she wasn't mad, she was apparently still curious, turning to him before she enquired very quietly,
"Was that…what you did with the sopophorous bean," she glanced to the side and then back at him, tipping her head down, "was it…alchemy?" her eyes revealed her sincere curiosity.
Ed raised an eyebrow, not surprised that she'd heard about him being an alchemist through the student grapevine, considering that Mustang had even heard that 'rumor', it made sense.
He inclined his head in answer, and then added,
"Just don't tell anyone."
He believed that she wouldn't when she nodded in agreement, and then she smiled, showing some of her pretty white teeth,
"Will you…I mean, can you show me?" she asked just as quietly.
That request was somewhat unexpected, since magic folk had such a low opinion of alchemy as they knew it, but Hermione had already shown that she wasn't so closed-minded. That aside though, it was also a tricky request because showing her alchemy would mean compromising his cover…but then, maybe not, maybe it'd be fine if he only showed her something she already knew of, like the kind of halfwit alchemy that fit with the description of alchemy in the books of that world. That would be pretty safe, because he wouldn't be giving anything away.
Even thinking that, it still seemed like a risky idea, so Ed just shrugged,
"I could, yeah…some time." he said noncommittally. There was a part of him that wanted to though, because while he knew that he shouldn't be getting any closer to a girl who liked him in a world that wasn't even his own, the part of his personality that had previously been dormant was saying fuck it, because honestly, she was really attractive and he was seventeen, so could he really be blamed for his interest?
He would never let it get out of hand, obviously, but that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy her company.
She was about to respond when Mustang interrupted the class,
"Alright, time is up." he looked at everyone to stop what they were doing, ignoring the grumbled complaints, "There's only five minutes left in this class for assessment, so, has anyone…" Mustang started walking between the desks, looking into cauldrons, "…successfully…" he gave one of the cauldrons he passed a definitive shake of his head to say it wasn't going to pass and then moved on, "…brewed the potion?"
Ed and Hermione stood and waited as Mustang started to test cauldrons throughout the class, Ed pulling his left glove back on in the meantime as he glanced around at the rest of the students, noting that the Slytherin group seemed to be more or less happy after Mustang left their tables, which meant their Draught's had passed whatever standard the older man had set for this task.
When the Colonel reached Harry and Padma's table, he tested their potion by dropping a leaf into it and his eyebrows went up at whatever result he saw before he smiled at the pair,
"That is excellent, if there were such a thing, I'd call it perfect." he commended them, and while Harry and Padma smiled, Padma's was much less enthusiastic, like she'd missed something.
Ed's gaze followed Mustang as he moved on to the next table, which was where Ron and Lavender were sharing a desk with two Hufflepuff girls. The Colonel tested both brews one by one and deemed them passable before he came over to Ed and Hermione's table, Hermione suddenly looking nervous, but hopeful.
Mustang didn't even look at them, he just dropped the leaf into the cauldron and while Ed stood bored waiting for the verdict, Hermione looked anxious, leaning in to see what was happening in the cauldron.
When the Colonel smiled at her she looked like she was being held in terrible suspense,
"Another excellent potion." Mustang told her more than Ed, because the blonde didn't care and they both knew it.
Hermione looked thrilled and relieved then, but Ed watched her deflate when she glanced over at Ron and Harry to share her happiness, only to find that both of them were giving her disapproving looks. Edward thought it was stupid that they had so much influence on her feelings, but he wouldn't get involved in that drama, because it wasn't his business. He leaned on the desk then and watched as Mustang moved on to another desk, announcing a final pass before he dismissed the class, only two pairs having not passed to move on to Amortentia.
Edward picked his books up, absently adjusting the length of his robe as the other students were filing out, he and Hermione being some of the last to leave since they were in the back and had to follow the crowd.
"Um, would one of our free apparition periods be alright?" Hermione's question drew his attention from watching Blaise, who gestured that he'd be waiting outside the classroom for him, and Ed turned to look at her where she was walking just behind him,
"For wha-…" he cut himself off when he remembered their previous conversation, and then just as noncommittally as before, he said, "…oh, yeah, sure, you just, uh, let me know when."
"Great, thanks, Ed." she smiled at him.
Ed figured he should have felt at least a little guilty about the fact that he'd be dodging showing her alchemy in future, but he didn't, because it was a bad idea and he couldn't risk it. All the same, he flashed her a toothy grin just as they reached the door,
"No problem."
And then they went their separate ways, Ed walking over to Blaise and Nott. And just a moment after he'd fallen into step with them, Pansy was quickly at his side, latching herself onto his arm and complaining in his ear about mudbloods and what the hell did he did he think he was doing.
Edward just sighed while Blaise snorted and Nott shook his head with an amused smirk, the four of them falling in with the other Slytherins as they all walked to the next period.
That smile would make Hermione melt if she spent enough time looking at it, she swore it. Despite the fact that Ed's white teeth seemed oddly sharp around the canines -which gave him something of a predatory look- she found it was an otherwise very handsome smile…and being so good looking, well…the overall effect was impactful.
But while she'd been feeling fairly good after such a successful class, once potions was over and she was suddenly thrust back into reality again, Hermione's smile quickly faded. Standing there in the hallway, where there was no kind professor Mustang who had given her an alibi for teaming up with a Slytherin, where his diplomacy did not extend to, she was faced with watching Ed walk over to his Slytherin group without looking back at her, because yes, he was still a Slytherin and she was still a Gryffindor.
And the sinking feeling in her stomach was made even worse when Hermione saw Pansy Parkinson latch onto Edward's arm and lean in close to say something to him, an action Hermione would never find herself bold enough to do. And then worse still, Ed didn't even shrug her off, he just shook his head at whatever she was saying, while Blaise Zambini and Theodore Nott smirked slimily, and Hermione knew that Pansy was most likely talking about her. It was a rather harsh reminder for her of the fact that Ed was friends, or was at least friendly, with every single one of the awful Slytherin that she, Harry and Ron generally couldn't stand.
Hermione sighed quietly, looking away from the Slytherins as she pressed her books to her chest and searched the departing crowd of students for Harry and Ron, only to find that they were walking away from the class without her. She frowned, scoffing quietly to herself at their ridiculousness as she walked quickly to catch up with them, amazed by how immature they were being when not even the Slytherins were petty enough to ignore Edward the way they were ignoring her.
When she caught up to them, she shoved them both rudely aside to step into the middle and they both gave her angry looks, which she readily returned,
"Is that honestly how you're going to behave, just because I'm associating with someone from another house?" she chastised irritably, looking from side to side as they slowed their walking pace.
Ron looked from her to the Slytherin group up ahead and Hermione did as well, seeing that Pansy was still attached to Ed but she was saying something to Draco who looked moody, as usual, and was shaking his head.
"It's not just another house, Hermione." Harry said crossly, gaining their attention, and Ron nodded in agreement but made a point to not speak to her, and she just frowned, shaking her head at his childishness while Harry went on, "It's Slytherin house, full of people who hate us and always call you a mudblood." he raised his eyebrows above the frames of his glasses as if to ask if she understood what he was pointing out.
"Or have you forgotten?" Ron added angrily but then shook his head, "I'm not talking to you." he said then, reminding himself before he looked away again.
Hermione opened her mouth to say something to Ron, but then stopped herself, because really, it just didn't seem like it'd be worth the effort, so she turned to Harry instead,
"He has never called me that…name," she said with a huff, "he's also never been anything but civil, and even nice-…"
"Do you think he defends you when his friends are calling you that name, Hermione?" Harry cut her off, "Look at him…" Harry gestured up ahead to where the Slytherin group was laughing about something…and Ed was too.
She felt a pang of hurt then, wondering if Harry was right, whether if they were making fun of her, would Ed just shake his head, laugh and listen to it. But she knew that even if they were getting along, he had no real reason to be defending her honor. She was hardly his friend, and certainly wasn't his girlfriend…and yet, she'd gotten the feeling that he might like her that way, he'd certainly been acting like it.
When he'd stood beside her with his hand over hers she'd felt her heart beat a mile a minute…he'd smelled really good too, a natural musk under the standard school soaps, mixed in with a hint of dust and wood…and something else that she couldn't place, something metallic.
"And wot' was all that during the class," Ron piped up again, apparently unable to keep himself quiet, "where he was whispering stuff to you all secretive like. Looked rightly like he was going to try and snog you, right there, in the middle of everything." he said with open distaste, his voice pitching, and he barely looked at her as he whispered his harsh words.
Hermione blushed and huffed indignantly as she frowned,
"Don't be ridiculous, Ron, it was nothing like that." she defended quietly, despite having thought very briefly during class about what it would be like to kiss Edward. She was embarrassed to admit even just to herself that she wouldn't mind finding out, and she blushed even darker as a result.
"Hermione, you do realize he might be a Death Eater." Harry leaned in suddenly, making her lean back and bump into Ron, who looked upset all over again.
"We have no proof of that, Harry." she said back in a whisper, feeling like she might just cry with how they were both looking at her so angrily, ganging up on her.
"He's a bloody slimy Slytherin git, Hermione, even if he isn't a Death Eater." Ron finally looked at her, "You really think he's interested in you for your smarts and personality?" he asked nastily, right to her face and not as quietly as he could have, and Hermione stopped walking.
A few people nearer to them had heard that and looked over, one of them being Lavender Brown. And while Hermione felt embarrassed, she was more hurt, shocked and angry that Ron would say something so insulting and rude to her. Even Harry looked stunned, but he just shook his head and grabbed Ron roughly by the arm,
"Come on, idiot." he shoved Ron ahead of himself, clearly disapproving, but Harry didn't look back at her as they walked off.
Lavender walked quicker then too, obviously to keep up with Ron, and she glanced back at Hermione, who stood very still and tried very hard not to cry then and there. Neville also glanced back, looking apologetic for no reason that concerned him as he followed after everyone else.
One of her fellow Gryffindor's touched a hand to her shoulder, stopping at her side,
"Boys say silly things when they're jealous, Hermione." was all she said.
Hermione surprised herself when the tears threatening to fall dried up, abruptly replaced by anger,
"Jealous?" she scoffed, glaring after Ron, "If jealousy would make a boy insult any girl he happens to fancy, then he is most certainly not a boy who deserves that girl." she stated surely and then turned away with a flourish to walk in the opposite direction.
She was going to cry…but she was going to do it somewhere private, like in her empty dorm room.
The day's classes went by quicker now that Ed had had his initial feel of them the day before.
Herbology was next and was very uneventful, but he did notice that Hermione wasn't present, and that Ron looked guilty while Harry looked upset and distracted, but again, they weren't any of his business, so he ignored them.
Just as he'd ignored Pansy all the way to class while she kept saying how he should get a new potions partner, should tell Mustang he wasn't happy with Granger. She'd even went so far as to ask Malfoy to talk some sense into him, but even the other blonde teen just shook his head and said that he didn't care. Edward did note that Malfoy pulled his face about the whole thing, but for the most part he seemed to be disinterested in it, in everything actually, even throughout Herbology he'd been sitting and staring at his desk looking completely spaced out.
In fourth period, which was Ancient Runes, Ed noted that not only was Hermione still not there, but Malfoy was missing too. He wondered if there was some kind of class truancy movement going on, and the idea amused him for all of a minute before he started to fall asleep, nearly falling off his chair at one point, making the other few students present laugh and the disapproving teacher give him extra homework.
After lunch, everything was back to normal again; everyone was present for Transfiguration and for DADA.
Edward noted all those little details just in case anything became a pattern, including the fact that Snape refused to look at him throughout the lesson and how Hermione's hand didn't shoot up immediately to answer questions.
When Ed's free period came around, he again spent it in the library, that time managing to get more reading done because he had no interruptions. Disappointingly though, he didn't find anything useful, and so he spent the remainder of his classes for the day feeling irritable. He didn't bother to focus on the lessons either, letting his mind instead drift to thoughts about his automail leg, considering again transmuting himself a new flesh limb, especially since he noticed that the weather that day was the coldest since they'd arrived in the magic world, and he knew that soon his port would start giving him trouble with aches and stiffness.
Thinking of his leg and the fact that it was within his means to change it, inevitably made him think about the power he now had, which sent his thoughts spiraling in several directions, some good and most…not. And that time, worried about his own state of mind, Ed made the effort to focus on something that wasn't so mentally overwhelming, something that didn't send his mind to dark places…like thinking of how he now effortlessly had unlimited power, the kind of power that Father had had to kill millions to gain.
The thought was horrible…and weighted in all of its implications about where Ed's head was at, often feeling too quick to anger, being too easily distracted, shifting focus, stressed and tired and tightly wound.
And not knowing why he suddenly felt so unstable –also not wanting to consider that maybe he always had been beneath the surface and just hadn't known it because he'd always been so focused on other things- Ed made a point to sit in the back of his final class and clear his mind, tuning everything else out and purposefully turning his mind to more pleasant thoughts in an effort to alleviate the irritation and tension he was feeling. You know, happy thoughts and all that. Naturally, his first thought was of Alphonse, Ed picturing his brother getting increasingly healthy and stronger, wondering what he might be like in a few months when he was able to walk, not in need of a wheelchair or crutches, and he wouldn't be so pale and gaunt either, instead he'd stand tall and steady on his own two feet, happy and free of his armored prison.
It also made Ed smile to think of how happy Winry and Pinako would be when they returned home with Al back in his original body, he'd already called and told them the good news after the Promised Day, but Winry and Granny hadn't seen Al yet and Ed hadn't been able to give a date for when they'd be returning to Resembool when he'd called, since Al had still been in his early days of recovery…
…but he wasn't able to linger on thoughts of Al, Winry, Granny and home though, because too quickly he started worrying about how they'd react –or had reacted- when they found out he was missing…if they were even still alive…
Damn it, it was hard to stay positive.
In an attempt to stay away from negative thoughts, Ed tried to focus just on Winry, on how he would like to have seen her smile when she saw Al for the first time in years…but thinking of her smile made him unconsciously think of Hermione's smile, and he found himself absently making comparisons between the two girls without realizing it.
He sighed heavily and immediately stopped it, not wanting the magic world to taint his thoughts of home like that. And for the rest of Astronomy class he tuned back in, keeping his mind busy learning about stars and planets millions of miles away. And it worked to keep his mind off of things for a while, but when Astronomy was finishing up, and he was filing out with the rest of the sixth years, a small coil of guilt unfurled in his stomach when he glanced at Hermione hurrying out ahead of everyone and his actions from earlier that day caught up with him.
He'd been flirting with Hermione in potions, not really seriously, but still…and he'd been doing so intentionally because he knew she liked him. But while he wasn't taking it seriously, if he was honest with himself, he could see himself liking her right back. And so then, what about Winry? Where did that leave her? Ed knew that Winry liked him, and he knew that he liked her, it had hardly been a secret in the recent months leading up to the Promised Day, but should he feel guilty about maybe liking someone else? Winry wasn't his girlfriend, and they hadn't established any kind of exclusivity, so he wasn't doing anything wrong…right?
He frowned slightly as he walked just behind the rest of the Slytherin group toward the Great Hall for dinner, thinking about the last time he'd seen Winry in Resembool and wondering if that interaction had somehow made her his girlfriend. That had been so many months ago, back when GreedLing, Heinkel, Darius and himself had been at the Rockbell house and Winry had showed up, finally returning home after the clusterfuck in Briggs.
Heh, she'd nearly stripped in front of him that night -which had been as awesome as it had been unintentional- and then when she'd realized he was sitting there, in her bedroom invading her private space, worry and fear of impending doom had sunken in very quickly instead. It had been some consolation though that she'd only given him a minimal wrench beat down, and things had seemed about the same as always between them afterward.
But a little later that night, after she'd tuned his automail and they'd argued much more seriously, Ed had walked out and right into an annoying speech from GreedLing about desires, raw emotions and how humans tried to act as if they weren't affected by it, and his words, on top of Winry's, had struck several nerves.
Ed had dismissed it in the moment, but it had been the catalyst for what had happened later, when about an hour after they'd all eaten a late supper, he'd asked Winry to take a walk with him outside to stretch out his automail. They'd walked along familiar paths in the fields, talking about Briggs and Winry telling him how Al had been when she'd last seen him, and then they'd talked about the upcoming Promised Day and how Greed was now Ling and that it was really weird.
And when there'd been nothing left to talk about and they were all the way down by the river and completely alone, Ed had followed an urge long buried in his subconscious, and he'd leaned in and kissed her. He'd never kissed anyone before that night, and hadn't known what to expect, but he'd figured she'd kiss him back or shove him off, maybe slap him like Havoc had said a few women had done to him in his lifetime.
But Winry had not only kissed him back; she'd kissed him eagerly.
Ed recalled vividly how she'd wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her warm body flush against his front and how they had properly made out…and shit, that had been just great. So great that Ed hadn't even been annoyed when Den had come looking for them, barking loudly and running toward them, letting them know they'd had to right their clothes and hair and head back to the house.
All in all, it had been an excellent few minutes, and Ed might even have considered it the greatest moment of his life if, you know…Al getting his body back wasn't already the legendary best day and achievement of his life. Couldn't top that.
Edward rolled his eyes at his own juvenile and distracting thoughts, rubbing at the lower half of his face with a gloved hand and feeling heat lingering in his ears from his memory of kissing Winry. He still couldn't decide whether that interaction had somehow made Winry his girlfriend, but he knew it didn't work like that, or at least he didn't think so. He was relatively sure he actually had to date her a few times or at least ask her to be his girlfriend before she would actually be his girlfriend.
And if that was the case, then was he in the clear to flirt with Hermione?
'I bet Mustang knows how this shit wor-…'
"Elric!" Ed heard his name snapped in a familiar cool and droll voice, and his wandering, asinine thoughts were abruptly dismissed, his guard rising instinctively. He stopped walking, as did the few Slytherins walking ahead of him, and he turned around to see, as expected, Snape standing and looking at him from a relative distance away, the professor standing at the corner of the gloomy night-washed and dimly lit hall, just next to a staircase that led down to the dungeons. Ed narrowed his eyes at the professor and Snape did likewise, "A word in my…office, right now." the man said slowly and then he turned and descended the stairs, disappearing from sight.
Ed glared at the spot where the older man had been and he clenched his jaw in irritation, not only did he hate being ordered around by a fucking school teacher…but he was also lamenting the fact that he was probably going to miss dinner. Shit.
Next Chapter - Ed hits first and asks questions later...