"blah blah"- Speaking Greek (or a dream)
"blah blah"- Speaking Amestrian
'blah blah'- Thinking
***** - Begin/end flashback
Disclaimer: Seeing as I am neither British, Japanese, or a man; it stands to reason that I am neither J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, or Rick Riordan, which means I do not own their respective works. In addition, I do not own the song 'This is War' by Thirty Seconds to Mars.
Edward
"How mad can she be, really?" Ed asked, shifting on his hospital bed. "It wasn't my fault, after all. It was an accident. It could have happened to anyone. Besides, the damage isn't even that bad!"
Alphonse sighed. "We've been over this, Brother. Winry doesn't care whose fault it was, or how bad the damage is. You should be worrying about what she's going to throw at your head instead."
Ed groaned. "C'mon Al, be a little more optimistic! Maybe she'll be so excited about being here again that she won't be mad!"
"Winry?" Al asked skeptically. "I wouldn't count on it."
"Well, I guess I'll find out soon enough," Ed said with a sigh.
A moment passed in silence before Ed hesitantly spoke. "Hey, Al," he began. "Do you…do you remember me sending you a letter last year, about a girl named Susan White?"
Al looked up, surprised. "Yeah, I remember," he said softly. "She died in that awful accident. You were really upset about it."
Ed frowned. "Accident, right," he muttered.
"Is something wrong?" Al asked, puzzled.
Ed shook his head. 'So Al doesn't remember then. Maybe I hit my head too hard or something, or I'm going crazy.' Ed tightened his grip on the sheets. 'No. I remember. But why is it only me? Why is everyone else so convinced that her death – and Luna's – was accidental? And even my letter to Al was affected? Just how powerful was the spell that changed everyone's memories?'
"Brother?"
Ed jumped, Al's voice returning him to the present. "Yeah? What is it?"
"Nothing," Al said hesitantly. "You had a funny look on your face, that's all."
Ed waved his hand dismissively. "It's nothing," he said. "Just thinking about something."
'Maybe Nico has something to do with it,' Ed thought. 'At the very least, maybe he knows something.'
"Edward!" A blaze of fury slammed the door open, and Ed barely registered the blur of metal before it collided with his skull.
"Ow! Winry! I have a concussion!"
"And whose fault is that, Alchemy Freak?! What did you do this time?" Winry gripped her wrench tighter and glared down at him.
"Ms. Rockbell," Professor McGonagall interrupted, stepping up behind her. "I would kindly ask that you refrain from causing Mr. Elric any further harm. Madame Pomfrey would be most displeased."
Ed looked up in surprise. "You're speaking Amestrian?" He asked, puzzled.
"Merely a temporary translation spell," Professor McGonagall clarified. "If Ms. Rockbell is planning on an extended stay then I should administer her one as well."
Winry turned to face the professor with wide eyes. "You're going to do magic on me? Really? Will it feel weird?" She turned back to Ed without waiting for an answer. "Does it feel weird?"
Ed rubbed his aching head. "Uh…not really," he answered. "I don't remember feeling anything."
"I'll take care of your arm first," Winry decided, tightening her grip on her bag. "What did you do to it?" She asked, glaring at Ed.
"It's not even that bad," Ed grumbled. "It's barely scratched!"
Winry yanked his arm forward for inspection. "Barely scratched?" She hissed, examining the deep scratches along the metal plating, and the exposed wires beneath. "You call this barely scratched?"
"It could be way worse," Ed said with a shrug. "Considering the circumstances."
"And what were the circumstance?" Winry asked, placing her hands on her hips. "You better not have been in a fight or something. You're at a school for heaven's sake!"
"It was an alchemy accident," Al said, speaking for the first time since Winry's rather explosive entrance. "One of the students had an improperly balanced circle."
Winry's glare lessened. "Oh," she said. "Is the student alright?"
Ed nodded towards a bed on the far side of the room. "She's not too bad off. She's mostly healed now."
The girl in the bed, noticing the attention she was getting, waved nervously. Ed gave her a reassuring grin and waved back.
Winry sighed and set her bag on the floor. "I'll have to completely replace the outer plating and any wires that were cut," Winry said as she examined Ed's arm. "You got lucky; it looks like only a few were badly damaged, so I should be able to fix it quickly." She let go of Ed's arm. "You'll still have to take it off though."
Ed grimaced as Winry detached the metal limb. It wasn't that taking it off was uncomfortable, but reattaching it certainly was.
"As soon as I'm done, you two are showing me the rest of the castle," Winry said before turning to Professor McGonagall, who had been speaking to Madame Pomfrey. "Excuse me, is there a table I can work at?"
"Of course," Professor McGonagall replied, pulling out her wand. With a wave, she had transformed a nearby bed into a simple work table. "If you need anything else, inform Madame Pomfrey," she said. "I'll take care of your translation spell now, and then I must be off; I have a class to attend to."
Winry tore her eyes away from the table-that-used-to-be-a-bed as Professor McGonagall raised her wand again. The girl braced herself as Professor McGonagall waved her wand once more, then cautiously asked; "Did you…do it? Am I speaking English now?"
Al laughed. "Yes, you are," he said.
"Oh." Winry looked surprised. "You're right, I didn't feel anything."
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. "I'll be going now," she said, with a nod in Winry's direction. "Enjoy your stay, Ms. Rockbell." With that, she turned and exited the room.
Madame Pomfrey approached the table where Winry had set Ed's arm. "This is an interesting contraption," the nurse mused. "I'd never seen anything like it until last year."
"You mean you don't have automail here?" Winry cried. "What do you do when someone loses a limb?"
"Here we go," Ed muttered, rolling his eyes at Al, who sighed.
"Well, most often we can regrow it with magic," Madame Pomfrey replied. "There are some cases, however, such as Professor Moody, when the limb cannot be regrown. It's a rare occurrence; it usually only happens if the limb has been severed with dark magic, or if it has been missing for a long time."
"What does Professor Moody have then?" Winry asked as she picked up her tool bag and set it on the table.
"Professor Moody has a wooden leg," Madame Pomfrey said. "Hardly ideal, but the best we can do."
Ed tuned Winry out as she and Madame Pomfrey began discussing the pros and cons of artificial limbs. Instead, his thoughts returned to his recently regained memory.
'I think I have it all straight now,' Ed thought. 'My memory starts getting split about the time Susan and Luna died – when they were killed, that is.' Ed furrowed his brow, thinking. 'Everyone thinks that their deaths were some sort of accident, and until yesterday, that's what I thought. But then –'
Blood. Susan's eyes growing dim. Her cold weight in his arms.
Ed grimaced. 'I'm sure she was killed. I clearly remember it. But…I also remember speaking to her family, and I know that everyone knew they were both killed, so what changed that?'
Sirius Black. An old shack. Ron's rat.
'That night…that's when it must have happened,' Ed decided. 'After that night, I don't remember anyone mentioning Susan and Luna's deaths as if they were killed. That's also the night when Sirius Black claimed to be innocent…but Ron's rat was his proof…but Ron didn't have his rat…'
Ed clenched his jaw in frustration. 'So whoever cast this memory spell, or whatever it is, for some reason they wanted Black to escape. But why?'
Ed closed his eyes. 'C'mon, think…what exactly happened that night?' Something was tugging at the edge of his mind, a fuzzy memory that he couldn't quite place. 'Something happened…something with…Thalia?'
Ed remembered Thalia acting strange; she had definitely been on Black's side, and he had thought it strange at the time.
Thalia closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then lifted both hands, palms down. "Hecate," she whispered."You probably aren't listening, but…I could use some help…if you could spare a moment for preventing what could possibly be the end of the world."
Ed's eyes flew open, and it took all he had not to jump out of his bed to demand answers right then.
'Thalia, you've got a lot of explaining to do.'
~o~O~o~
"And this is the Great Hall." Al pushed open the huge doors, revealing the enormous room. "We eat in here."
Winry stepped into the room and gazed around in wonder. "Wow," she breathed, craning her neck to look up at the enchanted ceiling. "That isn't really the sky, is it?"
"No," Ed said, walking in after her. "It's enchanted to show the sky outside."
"That's so cool!" Winry exclaimed, still staring up in awe.
"It really is, isn't it?" Al agreed.
Ed shrugged. "You get used to it."
Winry turned to him with a frown. "You can't deny that it's amazing, even if you don't agree with what magic is."
"I guess," Ed conceded.
"Oh, look at that!" Winry dashed to the opposite end of the hall, where something had caught her eye.
Ed watched as Al ran after her, then the two began excitedly talking, with Winry pointing in a new direction every second. 'It's a good thing there are classes right now,' Ed thought. 'Or there would be a huge crowd.' Ed pulled out his watch and glanced at it. 'Well, for the next five minutes anyway.'
Winry and Al had made their way back to Ed, all while Winry turned her head around at impressive speeds.
"Where to next?" She asked brightly.
"Maybe the library?" Ed asked hopefully.
Winry wrinkled her nose. "You're in a magical castle and you want to go to the library? Really?"
"I know!" Al exclaimed. "We should go visit Mr. Hagrid, and he can show you his magic animals!"
"That is something I'd like to see," Winry said, grinning at Al. "Then maybe we can find a teacher to explain those moving pictures to me!"
The trio walked towards the doors, while Winry began talking about her fascination with the moving pictures that lined the walls, with Al chiming in occasionally. The halls gradually began to fill with students as classes began to let out.
"Oi! Ed!" A red-headed blur jumped in front of the group, stopping them in their tracks. "I finished grading this week's assignments!" The blur, now identified as Ginny Weasley, held out a stack of papers.
"Already?" Ed asked, surprised. "I gave you those two days ago!"
Ginny straightened up proudly. "I work fast," she declared.
"Ed, are you making your students do your work for you?" Winry asked, narrowing her eyes.
"No!" Ed protested. "She volunteered!"
"In exchange for fighting lessons," Ginny clarified. "I'm not doing it out of the goodness of my heart." She waved the papers in front of Ed's face. "Well? Are you going to check them?"
Ed took the papers with a sigh. "Yeah, I might as well get it over with," he said, before turning to Al and Winry. "I'll meet you at dinner, alright?"
Al and Winry voiced their agreement, then trudged off in the opposite direction.
Ginny waited until they were out of earshot before she spoke again. "Is she your girlfriend?"
"What?!" Ed sputtered, caught completely off guard. "Why would you think that? She is a friend! And my mechanic! That is it!"
"You know," Ginny began, giving him a sly smile. "That much protesting is usually a sign that the opposite is true."
Ed huffed and stomped down the hallway. "What do you know anyway?" He grumbled.
Ginny smirked as she followed him to the alchemy classroom. "More than you'd think," she taunted.
Upon entering the classroom, Ed found that it looked no worse for wear, despite the explosion from two days ago.
"Professor McGonagall fixed everything for you," Ginny explained, seeing his confusion. "Fred and George said it was a mess…blood on the floor and everything…" she shuddered.
"I'll have to thank her," Ed said, setting the stack of papers on his desk. Sitting down, he pulled the first sheet towards him. "Wow." Ed blinked, staring at what seemed to be an exact copy of his own handwriting. "You're pretty good."
Ginny smirked and took a seat behind one of the front-row desks. "That's not the half of it," she said smugly.
Ed finished looking through the homework assignments within half an hour, which was a record time for him. He pushed the stack of papers aside and stood to his feet.
"So, no mistakes then?" Ginny asked hopefully, looking up from the book she had pulled out.
Ed shook his head. "None," he said, somewhat surprised himself. "You did a good job."
Ginny's grin widened. "So you'll teach me then? Tonight?"
"Of course," Ed replied. "But I'd like you to do one more thing for me first."
"Oh?" Ginny raised her eyebrows. "What is it?"
"I have something I need to take care of," Ed said. "But I don't want anyone knowing about it right now. If Winry or Al ask where I am, can you tell them I'm still grading?"
Ginny shrugged. "Sure, I'll tell them."
"Perfect." Ed grinned and walked towards the door. "I'll see you tonight; eight o'clock."
~o~O~o~
Finding Nico wasn't as hard as Ed had first thought it might be, considering the size of Hogwarts. Maybe it would have been, if Ed hadn't literally run into the boy not two minutes after leaving his classroom.
"Nico! Perfect." Ed grabbed Nico's arm and pulled the boy away from a very startled Harry and Ron. "I need to speak with you. Alone."
"Um – I'll meet you guys at dinner, I guess?" Nico called to Harry and Ron, who looked unsure about how to react.
Once they were a safe distance away, Ed released his grip on Nico's arm. "I need to talk to you," he repeated. "And Thalia. Especially Thalia."
Nico eyed him warily and rubbed his arm. "What is this about?" He asked.
Ed's eyes hardened. "Somebody shoved some fake memories into my head," he hissed. "Somebody being Thalia. I'd appreciate an explanation."
Nico's eyes widened. "Oh," he said. "That…wasn't supposed to happen."
"Well, it did happen," Ed said, glaring at the boy. "So are you going to explain or not?"
Nico tightened his jaw. "I need to talk to Percy and Thalia first," he said.
"Alright," Ed said, not lessening his glare in the slightest. "I'll come with you, and we can all have a nice long talk, and you can explain just what the hell you did!"
"It's not that simple –" Nico began, but Ed cut him off.
"I know it's not that simple! You changed the memories of hundreds of people! You better have a damn good explanation for why you did it!"
"We do," Nico said through gritted teeth. "But it's not an explanation that we can go around telling everyone!"
"It's my mind you're messing with!" Ed argued. "I think I deserve an explanation!"
Nico sighed. "Look," he began. "All I can tell you right now is that we had a very good reason for doing what we did, and –" Nico cut himself off as a group of students passed by. "Look," Nico said once they were past. "This isn't a good time or place to talk about this. We both know that."
Ed narrowed his eyes. "Fine," he said shortly. "Tonight then. Nine o'clock, after I finish teaching Ginny. Meet me in the Quidditch pitch."
Nico didn't look happy about it, but he nodded. "Alright. We'll be there."
"You better be," Ed said. "And you better have answers. Real answers."
Nico didn't reply. Instead, he turned on his heel and walked down the hallway towards the Great Hall. Ed watched him go, a feeling of apprehension working its way up his spine. 'Why do I feel like something terrible is about to happen?'
A/N – Happy holidays my lovely readers! I didn't get this chapter out as early as I planned, but at least I'm not late again, right? Now that I have a break from school, I have much more time to write, which is very nice. I say this every chapter, but I'll try to have the next one out sooner. I'm very motivated to write right now, before school picks back up and I'm completely swamped again.
Anyways, I'd love it if you left a review as a Christmas present? They are my lifeblood.
