Finding Life's Second Truth

By: FlameXFullmetal

Disclaimer: I still do not own Fullmetal Alchemist (Brotherhood) nor do I own Harry Potter. That should be obvious by now.

A/N: I am back with another update! Unless I get writer's block I will be back at least twice a month with an update so I hope that you enjoy. A quick reminder that if you wish to leave a review please try to keep it appropriate. Excessive use of vulgar language or insisting that I should go kill myself are not welcome. I have had this problem on two of my other stories and to be honest I am quite frustrated. Thank you and on to the story!

**************Delores' Bad Day************

Delores Umbridge had been under the impression that the post would be relatively easy and that all she would have to do is suppress any attempts to imply that Voldemort had returned. A few rowdy students, Harry Potter and friends and Dumbledore was all she should have had to worry about. Instead at the last minute she got stuck with a group of mouthy brats that refused to do what they were told, took everything that she said literally and never stopped swearing at her. The worst part was that one of them was also a teacher and as such there was little she could do to him. She knew that she wasn't the only one getting fed up either. Dumbledore looked ready to blow any moment. The sheer amount of pressure that the witch was under was reaching the pinnacle of her patience and she knew that she had to calm down somehow as she would surely lose her temper otherwise. Taking a deep breath she entered her classroom and groaned to see the blondes sitting next to Harry chatting away happily.

"Good morning everyone." She said forcing herself to be as cheery as possible. The class looked at her and there was little room to mistake the looks of annoyance, boredom and frustration that were sent her way by some of the students. Walking to her desk she sat down and only had the split second sound of a loud crack to warn her as her chair gave way underneath her. Sitting up from the ground and dusting herself off she glared at the braided blonde laughing hysterically in the front.

"Do you find it funny that someone could have gotten hurt just then?" She demanded. Edward stopped laughing and looked her in the eye. For a second he said nothing and then his lips began to twitch.

"No I never find it funny when someone gets hurt. However, I always seem to find the strangest things funny and to be quite honest the sound you just made was something of a cross between a toad, a cat and a screeching owl." He snickered a little at the last part and Delores felt her temper rising yet again.

"Who thought that it would be a good idea to sabotage my chair?" She demanded looking around. No one in the room raised their hand and for some reason they were all looking at her as if she had lost her mind. "No one?"

"Hey Umbitch if we are so safe here in the school then why are you implying that someone would sabotage your chair to try and hurt you? Wouldn't that mean that we are not safe in the school and that we should be receiving practical lessons for our classwork?" Edward said after a few minutes. The silence was deafening as the whole room stared at the woman in curiosity. Everyone wanted to know what her response would be to the obvious challenge to her statements that were made the first day of class and no one wanted to miss it. Taking a deep breath the witch uttered a quick "reparo" the chair was fixed and she sat down once more keeping her eyes locked on the aggravating boy.

"Now you are twisting my words. This situation and the ones that were referenced during the first day are hardly the same thing." She said trying to keep the class from erupting into anarchy.

"So there is a difference however they all fall under the "no need to practice" clause. If I am interpreting your words correctly then there is still a need for us to learn how to defend yourselves but you just seem to think that the situations are irrelevant and such have no inclination as to teach us. Effectively this leads us to be defenseless should such an event occur." Edward summarized. The toad felt herself growing more aggravated the more that she talked to the blonde and she felt as if she was about to explode.

"Do you have any interest in participating in today's class in a constructive manner?" She seethed at the boy who grinned.

"I'm not? I thought that the point of a classroom was to learn new things and that questions were encouraged as it made the student more aware of what they are doing in the classwork. Since this class is all about defending ourselves in the real world I was under the impressions that discussing the various times when defense would be needed would be constructively participating in the class. Since there seems to be a difference in the times and reasoning behind the term "need to defend oneself" I felt the need to ask in order to get clarification on when it would be appropriate." He answered making the woman see red. She closed her eyes and took a deep breathe hoping beyond hope that it would help to calm her down.

"I had also been under the impression Mr. Elric that we had cleared that topic up on the first day here in the class."

"Perhaps we did but you changed the context of whether or not we would need to defend ourselves in the school when you implied that someone maliciously sabotaged your chair in order to hurt you. Then you yourself said that "the situations referenced the first day and now are different". This means that there are times when we need to defend ourselves in school and to be honest I am confused as to which situations would create a need to defend." He countered. Everyone in the class was watching the back and forth in interest knowing that there was little that the teacher could do to the boy. They also knew that Edward was trying to get the woman to admit that the class did indeed have a need to protect themselves.

"I fail to see how a malicious prank could require the need to defend oneself with the spells that the fifth year typically learns." She said in a deathly quiet tone.

"It isn't just about this year though. All of the years are not learning how to do the spells and all one would have to do is lead a first year to the whomping willow and that student would almost certainly end up dead as they wouldn't know how to use the stupefy spell. Or be dared to go and touch the tree. A simple dare on a student who knows no better. What if the student is dared to sneak out after hours and go into the forbidden forest? There are plenty of things that they would need to protect themselves from in there." He challenged the woman. Taking a deep breath he continued.

"What if in the off chance the basilisk that was found in second year had actually laid eggs and they hatch and start roaming the school. As a baby they are not nearly as dangerous as they would be if they were fully groan. As such a simple spell learned in this class would easily be able to defend the student. A Bogart gets lose in the common rooms when a lot of first, second and third year students are in the room. Without the "riddikulus" spell typically learned in the third year they would be unable to counter it. Some students may have health conditions that could be triggered by a Bogart shifting into their worst fear and as such something as simple as that could easily kill said student. Or the room panics and the students start to run and someone gets seriously wounded falling down the stairs or by being trampled if they trip." He was staring at the woman with slight contempt.

"These are all possible situations that can occur at any time in the day based on previous encounters in the castle and the creatures that have been found in the castle over the last sixty years. Are you saying that there is no need to defend ourselves now?" The logic that had been used was causing everyone in the room to stare in shock as the teacher struggled to find a way to respond to the boy's challenge appropriately that would demonstrate a lack of need.

"Pray tell what medical conditions are you referring to?"

"Since starting the P.E class we have found three students that have asthma and two with heart conditions that were severe enough to change the curriculum that they had to go through in order to prevent the need to take them to the infirmary. If you were unaware, as there seems to be a lack of understanding of medical conditions that can occur in the human body here in the wizarding world, both conditions can lead to death if not properly treated in a specific amount of time. Each one can be triggered by activity or fear. As such the above situations apply." He replied. The woman felt as if she just couldn't win against the boy.

"We will be starting the class now and if you have no intention of staying quiet an doing as you are told then leave so that you do not disrupt the class." She snapped. She had naturally expected the three gnats to leave, however the whole class minus a few standing and going with them was a shock.

"What just happened?" She squeaked. One of the students that stayed behind looked at the teacher and blinked at her.

"I do believe that was an unplanned walk out protest." She could feel a migraine starting as she thought of having to deal with the head of house for each student.

In the library the Elrics sat down and continued to research the project that they had been looking into. They knew that if they left the dimension it would only be a matter of time before the wizards forgot the equivalency and returned to their form of alchemy. Somehow they needed to find a way to ensure that it wasn't forgotten but at the same time couldn't be weaponized to the extent that it was in their world. The last thing that they needed was two dimensions fighting wars with alchemy. It was far more difficult then they had originally expected. The rules that governed the wizard's world and the barriers that kept them separate from the non-wizards was giving them problems. It would probably be easier if they didn't separate themselves but after a review of the history between the two groups they knew that it was for the best.

Leaning back in his chair Edward was surprised to see a lot of the class had followed them in and were staring at him in near reverence. Sweat dropping he nudged Al and Eve and pointed over their shoulders. Both of them sweat dropped as well when they noticed the group. They had not expected the walk out when they left. They had merely been interested in seeing how the toad chimera would react to real life proper situations that the school could encounter. They also knew that they couldn't continue their research with an audience.

"Well that was unexpected." Edward said sheepishly.

"What was? The fact that the class realized that you had very valid points or the fact that we realized we were wasting time by staying in the class?" Harry replied with a slight smirk.

"The fact that you all followed us. To the library of all places which I noticed that the majority of you avoid as if it had the plague." He dead panned making a lot of them giggle nervously. Harry shifted nervously and then looked at the blondes.

"We do need to learn how to defend ourselves and as it is clear that the DADA teacher has no intention of teaching us we were wondering if you had any ideas as to how to go about it?"

"Beats me. I already have a full schedule around the school so anything new would make it impossible to keep up." He replied and the group twitched. They had noticed that the blonde was rarely around. They also noticed that the few times they saw him outside of the classrooms and great hall he was buried in his homework. The same seemed to hold true for the rest of them. Before they could say anything Izumi walked into the library and gave a sadistic smirk.

"I had hoped that you had skipped class today."

"Less of skipped more of asked to leave because she doesn't like it when people ask questions that she can't answer without sounding like a hypocrite." Edward said shrugging nonchalantly. Izumi sweat dropped as she was well aware of how the blonde could get when trying to prove a point to someone that he didn't like.

"In any event, we haven't had proper time to spar lately and as I know that your skills are slipping we need to do so. That way I will know how much training I need to do to get you back up to your previous level. We never did get around to that spar over the summer." She said and the group watched as Edward and Alphonse almost went transparent at the thought. Many of the group had lived in the wizarding world their whole lives and had no idea what a 'spar' was. After a second Edward groaned and then looked at the group.

"Can they watch? I think it would be a good eye opener." He said and Izumi grinned.

"I suppose it would tell me who is serious enough to potentially learn as an alternative to their gym class." Nodding they followed the woman to the quidditch field.

"No alchemy this is purely hand-to-hand." She said and the boys nodded getting into position. The fifth years in attendance watched in both fascination as the two blondes charged at the woman and were promptly knocked off of their feet. They seemed to have some form of fighting that relied solely on using brute strength and physical altercations. While the two seemed fast they also seemed to have absolutely no luck in getting to the sadist in order to land some kind of attack. Even when working together. Next to the group Eve watched in amusements at the expressions that the wizards were giving.

"What in hell is happening?" One of the slytherins yelled finally coming out of their shock.

"This? This is called martial arts. It is a muggle style of fighting and requires immense physical discipline. Well that and good physical health. This is what chibi meant during your first alchemy class, remember? Anyways, seeing as most wizards only know how to use magic they are defenseless when they are faced with a physical fighter with no way to cast their spells. As such in a fight between any wizard and a muggle martial artist that is fast enough to break their guard and disarm them, the muggle will always win." Eve responded to the question startling the wizards once again as their world seemed to shatter before them.

"Can you do that?" Hermione asked in shock.

"Yup. I have even managed to incapacitate the chibi once." She said smiling at the group.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Edward yelled turning to look at the homonculus, which was clearly a mistake as Izumi grabbed his arm and launched him across the field. Cursing he stood and turned his attention back to his teacher and stared at her. He had to find a way around her defenses. He refused to keep losing to her without ever landing a blow.

"If you can do that then why are you not down there with them?"

"Izumi didn't teach me my form of fighting and this is for her to reevaluate where they are in regards to level. As it is she has yet to finish their training and they always seem to run into opponents that can best them at one point or another so they always come back for more training." Eve replied pulling a book out of her bag and starting to read it. The students looked on in fascination at the clearly one sided battle occurring below them. Most of the students had never even considered that this was what the blonde had referred to when he had mentioned the muggle fighting form. This was the style that could defeat them. Some of them actually looked interested in learning. Harry was definitely interested. He felt that learning this would help him in the long run. He had never actually seen a true form only the street fighting that Dudley used when he was bullying the neighborhood kids. Well mostly just him.

As the deadline grew closer to the essay that Edward assigned many of the students could be found looking through every book in the library that they thought may hold the answer. The phrase seemed so obscure and honestly no one was having any luck in figuring it out. Not even Hermione. The fact that there was a riddle that wasn't easily solved with the knowledge that she had gained out of the books was frustrating her to no end. Teachers were constantly finding students flooding the library looking for any clue that might help and Edward was often times snickering at the kids as they filed out after another fruitless adventure with nothing to show for it. Delores was getting even more frustrated as the alchemy teacher's assignment seemed to be distracting the students that had been paying attention to her class and she often found them trying to do their alchemy assignments in her class. Unfortunately none of the teachers would or could help them. Many knew that Snape understood alchemy and several had tried to ask him for help only to be told that he wasn't going to help them in any way, shape or form. Not even Draco got any help from his godfather.

All to soon the dreaded day arrived and the students headed towards the alchemy room fearing that their answers were incorrect. Many had tried last minute essays that they bullshitted through while many others actually tried. They had learned from the older students that the rule had been enforced in their classes as well when many of them left the alchemy class before the class ended. They were met at the door by Roy who collected each assignment and turned away those that didn't have it. Some who decided that they didn't need it were soon proven wrong as Roy barred them from entering and told them that since they hadn't produced the essay that they would instead have a free study period in another classroom instead. As the last student entered the room, the door shut behind Roy as he headed towards the front of the room. Handing the stack to Edward each student sat nervously as he read through each one quickly setting each into different piles. Each essay receiving a mark from Roy as he went. It wasn't long before he stood and returned the essays to each student.

"Everyone who received a a failing grade may now leave the class and report to Professor McGonagall to get your schedules adjusted as you will not be returning to this class. However, you will still be taking P.E." Edward announced and some students got up looking quite depressed.

"Alright then everyone who received and 'A' may head to the room next door with Roy. You have twenty minutes to expand upon your ideas. You were close but you didn't quite make it. I am giving you a second chance. Everyone else may stay as you received a suitable grade for your essays." Edward waited as everyone filed out and as the remaining students looked around they noticed that there was barely any left.

"Now then I will inform you of how the class works in regards to grading. You will either receive a 'T', an 'A' or an 'O'. I do not fuck around with the in between. You either got it right, were very close or fucked up royally. If you receive an 'A' you will be allowed to redo your assignment, providing it is an essay or other written task done outside of the class, and resubmit it for reconsideration. I believe that if you were close but missed the answer but such a slim margin you deserve a second chance. As I said before precision is key in alchemy. However, if you make on mistake in the array and you catch it before activating the array then there is time to remedy the situation. If for any reason you redo the assignment and receive a 'T' that is grade that will be recorded. If you chose to redo the assignment you must tell me or Roy within 24 hrs of it being returned to you. If you receive an 'O' the second time around then you will keep that grade. Obviously if you get the same grade then you keep that grade. Questions?" The blonde asked looking at the students before him. No one raised their hands.

"Good. Now then as we wait for the 'A' people I want everyone to continue practicing drawing your circles. We will continue the class when they return and if I see any notable improvement." The class went about the assignment and wondered if he was going to give them a clear answer and tell them how close they got.

*********T.B.C******************

A/N: Hey there! Here is the new chapter. This has been sitting on my laptop since the 10th of August with only the first paragraph written due to an empty head. I think I spilled my idea jar or something. Anyways if anyone notices any obvious problems that I missed let me know. I went back to clarify something in the last chapter and noticed that I had Edward tell his alchemy class to memorize themselves instead of the table. I am using a different word processor on my desktop that I just got so I have no idea if it is working as well. I will try to catch everything in the editing but I will guarantee nothing. Ja ne!