OMG! I would like to apologise to everyone for not updating! I am so upset myself! I was going to write tuesday but then I forgot that I had a swim meet and every other night I had rehersals for jazz combo! I apologise! Well, here is my next chapter, please tell me how it went. I will try to write more than I did this week. Thankyou everyone for your reviews and remember that I will fix and edit the chapters after the book is complete. SORRY! I want to write more!

CHAPTER 14

Armour Defenses

Ever since that day, Edward had been avoiding the Dark Arts corridor and has been taking the long way around to classes. He ended up being late to several of his own classes on a few occasions, but luckily the students knew not to goof around, unless it was the Weasley twins. Several times during the course of the week, the two of them decided it would be a good idea to put a moving charm on Edward's chair. Whenever he tried to sit down, it would move away from him. Edward quickly countered it by giving the two detention for a week and forcing them to stand the entire lesson. Nothing happened for the rest of the week.

Alphonse was using most of his time in the library studying and learning English. He managed to strengthen his vocabulary to the point that he could finally speak to someone other than his brother. He sat in the library Thursday after noon, reading a specific book, Creatures of the Deep, an anatomy of magical species, when someone collapsed down at his table. Since he was at the library, no one actually attempted to sit next to him, it might have been for his literal steel demeanor, but it could have also been that the conversations would have been very short. It was a surprise for him to look up and see a short round kid sitting next to him. He wore red robes, probably from Gryffindor, and looked completely depressed. His hair was muffled to the point it looked like he didn't brush it for a whole week. The kid gave out a sigh and took out an alchemy text book to start on some homework that Edward must have given him. After a few moments, the kid looked up a little annoyed to see that Al was still staring at him.

"What are you looking at?" the kid grumbled and flipped the page in his book. Alphonse gave a shrug.

"I don't know, you tell me," he said. This was often an approach that he would use with Edward when he was pissed or upset. Let them tell you. The boy thought about not answering the man, but he couldn't help himself. Al was just that compelling.

"A failure," the kid sighed. "I can't seem to do anything right since the first year I got here. Snape just got finished serving my toad some potion that I made and I thought that would have been the end of it. I can't do anything right, potions, transfigurations, even charms." The kid drew a couple transmutation circles on the page while Alphonse translated.

"Well, that can't be all true….. " Alphonse said pointing at his paper. "You drew all of those circles correctly." The kid looked up at him as if he was just realizing who, or what, he was talking to. Alphonse held out his big armoured hand. "Hi I am Alphonse Elric, Edward's younger brother." The kid took it and shook it firmly.

"Neville, Neville Longbottom," he gasped. After taking a moment of awe in , he turned back to his homework and sighed. "I guess you wouldn't understand then."

"Why would you say that?" Alphonse said a little taken aback by the kid's statement.

"Well, you guys are cool, and geniuses. You know everything, I don't know anything," Neville mumbled. Alphonse placed a cold metal hand on his shoulder. He guessed it wasn't that very comforting, but Neville didn't seem to mind.

"If you wanted to know, geniuses specialize. I don't know much about anything other than alchemy. It was wall me and my brother studied for years. You are probably a genius too, you just haven't found your subject yet," Alphonse said. Neville sniffled a bit but it seemed it was alright. The kid beamed up at him and gave a shy smile. "So, do you like alchemy?" Alphonse asked him as he returned to drawing the circles. He nodded quietly and returned back to his work. Seeing no other answer come from him, Alphonse picked his book back up and started to read again. He got a few mages into it until Neville asked him another question.

"Why do you wear armour?" Neville asked innocently. Alphonse sighed and placed the book down on the table. This question was inevitable to almost everyone. However, since he didn't know, Alphonse was glad to hear that the three kids from before didn't tell anyone about Ed's automail.

"The girls love armour," Alphonse played him. The kid just glared at him demanding a real answer. "Fine," Alphonse sighed. "I wear it because…. Because I had an accident a few years ago and... my body was damaged," he said. Neville seemed satisfied with the answer but like every kid, was probably pondering the events. Both of them went back to their work. "You know, I wasn't lying with the first answer," Alphonse added. The both of them chuckled together.

…..

Alphonse stepped into the Alchemy classroom the next day during the third year class. He knew that it wasn't proper to interrupt a class in the middle of a lesson, but he thought that Edward would have made an exception. Madam Pince finally kicked Edward out of the library for too much reading. She actually told him that he should go outside and get some fresh air instead of read all day, quote the librarian. All of the students looked up at him in surprise and watched him carefully as he made his way over to his brother. Neville gave a small wave to him. Alphonse wished he could smile back, but he gave an acknowledging wave back to him.

"Al, what are you doing here? I thought you were in the library again," Edward asked him. He was in the middle of drawing a specialized evaporation circle on the board, but set down the chalk to talk to Al.

"she kicked me out. Could I stay here for a little bit?" he asked his brother.

"Why would you even need to ask? Of course Al! You could actually take a seat right over there if you like," Edward said motioning to his own desk. "I was showing them how to change the state of water. You could help if you like." Alphonse nodded at him and took a seat in the small chair. It creaked under his weight but Edward didn't seem to notice. Some of the other kids started to whisper back and forth amongst themselves instead of copying the notes that Edward was writing on the board. Al felt a bit guilty about that. He felt even worse when the students started to ask questions.

"Who is he?" a slytherin girl asked and pointed a finger at Alphonse. He twiddled his thumbs nervously and Edward looked over his shoulder at the kid.

"Alphonse, my younger brother. He was here for winter break and decided to stay a little longer for research," Edward said and continued to draw the circle on the board.

"but he's so tall, and you're so….." a Gryffindor student started to say. Alphonse saw Edward starting to head for the young girl, and bolted out of his seat. He pulled his angry brother back away from the students before he could do anything stupid. The girl looked absolutely frightened. Alphonse set his brother down in the seat that he once occupied and apologized to the class.

"Sorry, he gets like that," Alphonse said. The class seemed to nod their heads as if they knew that would have happened. "I am taller because…. I am a giant! I have a… growth defect that made me abnormally tall." Alphonse said. He didn't want to deny the class with an answer so he made something up off of the top of his head. This seemed to settle Edward's nerves down because instead of calling him short, Alphonse was calling himself tall. The class mumbled to each other for a bit.

"Why do you wear armour?" another kid said. That was probably going to be his most frequently asked question and he knew it. Before he could answer though, Neville shot up defensively.

"Because it's cool why else?" he said. The class looked at the kid and Neville immediately shot back down in his seat beet red with embarrassment. Alphonse let out a chuckle.

"Yup, in my country this is the height of fashion," Alphonse joked. Edward looked over at him questionably and almost seemed to laugh. Some of the students realized what he was doing, but others thought that Alphonse was dead serious. They whispered back and forth at each other and some gave a few oohs and awes. Edward stood up from his seat and patted Al on the shoulder.

"I think you can handle this class," Edward said to him and walked to the back of the class to watch. Alphonse stood nervously at the front of the room twiddling his thumbs. He was not used to being the authority figure. It was always his brother or their teacher, even Mr. Mustang sometimes, but not him. Edward gave a little motions with his hands begging him to continue. Alphonse glanced up at the board. That was a water transmutation circle. That's alchemy. He knew alchemy!

"So, who wants some noodles?" Alphonse asked the class. They glanced at him awkwardly.

….

Harry walked out of Alchemy class with a bowl of hot steaming noodles that they made themselves. Alphonse taught them how to boil the water with the transmutation circle and then had a house elf bring boxes of noodles for them. Everyone in the class was excited to be able to apply the transmutations to something, especially when that something was food. Harry walked with Ron and Hermione down towards the Transfigurations classroom. They were also eating their own bowls of noodles, some hotter than others, but the two of them were not speaking to each other. Hermione's cat recently devoured Scabbers and neither of them were able to apologize for it. Harry rolled his eyes as he caught the two of them glaring at each other. Why did he always got stuck in the middle?

"Harry?" McGonogall's voice rang out of her room as they passed. He back tracked a few steps so that he stood in the door way. McGonagall was already walking over to him holding a long package. She handed to him rather eagerly. "It has been fully searched and no curses were found on it. I think that you have some very fine friends indeed for sending you one of these," she said and couldn't seem to keep the joy out of her voice. "I hope that you will be able to ride it tomorrow at the meet right? I want to show those Ravenclaws whose going to win the house cup this year!" she said giddily. Harry took the broom a bit awkwardly from his teacher.

"Uh, Thanks professor," he replied.

"Potter, I know that you have been taking those patronus lessons but I want you to go one more time tonight. I think that it won't hurt to have an extra go. Dumbledore made sure to warn the ministry and the creatures what the consequences would be if this happened again, but it is just in case. With your new broom, I think that you will have a better shot at that snitch this time around!" Harry nodded to her. He knew the Firebolt was amazing but he didn't know that McGonagal, one of the strictest teachers at Hogwarts, would get so worked up over it. With a thankful smile he turned to leave but Minivera called out again. "What are you doing with bowls of noodles?"

….

Alphonse and his brother stood in the rear hall even paces apart. Since it was still cold outside, they were using the hall to duel each other. There they weren't disturbed since the students didn't really like to study in it. They said that it was too dark and empty, Alphonse actually found it quite charming with the ancient architecture. Edward ran up to him and swung his left leg around towards him, Alphonse blocked it with his steel forearm. Edward was getting tired like he usually did. Alphonse knew he was going to win, they both knew it, but they fought anyways. Edward tumbled to the ground with the rebound and leaped back with his right fist going for his shoulder. Al caught his arm and held him there. Edward tried kicking him to make him let him go, but since his feet were at least two feet in the air, he couldn't get enough force behind it to do any damage. Alphonse laughed at his struggling brother.

"Hey! Why do you find this funny?" Edward scolded him. His elder brother for some reason always acted less mature than he did. Probably due to his short ego. Just as Alphonse was about to comment, the door to the Rear hall opened and Lupin stepped through carrying a large chest, Harry pulling up the rear. Remus looked a little startled to see him there but continued to the center of the room.

"Hello Professor!" Alphonse chimed in his childish voice. He gave them a wave and set down the chest.

"Hello Alphonse, how has the studying been going?" he asked him casually. Alphonse gave him a shrug. To tell the truth, the library's Alchemy texts were really slim. The most information that they received was actually from the chocolate frog card. He spent a lot of his time researching for Hagrid's case. He didn't get to talk a lot to the big man, but considering how much people were willing to help him, he figured that he would try too.

"Not too well, I am thinking about going to go back home and maybe look into the purification arts. That seems interesting." Lupin didn't know what he was talking about but gave a sympathetic nod.

"It sure is going to be lonely here without you. I heard that you have been talking to Neville a lot lately in the library. It seems that he has taken a liking to you. I would make sure to give him a farewell before you leave."

"Will do," Alphonse replied. Harry walked up behind Lupin as if to get the conversation moving a bit. Lupin noticed him and remembered the reason why they were there in the first place.

"Ah, Edward!" he said snapping his fingers. "I was hoping to use the Rear Hall for Harry's Patronus lessons. I wanted to do it away from your corridor so you wouldn't have to worry about the boggart escaping again." Edward shifted a little nervously, but that was a little hard since he was still two feet off of the ground. Alphonse realized this and sent him down gently. He forgot that he was still holding him.

"I thought that you were done for this week," Edward said shakily trying to advert his attention from the trembling box.

"Professor McGonagall wanted me to give it one more go just in case they reappear again tomorrow," Harry answered. "I don't want to be completely defenseless again when I am flying above the field. You won't be refereeing this time either to catch me." Edward chuckled a bit remembering how successful his catch was. Having two bodies tumble down several stories was not what he planned.

"Well that makes one of us," he replied.

"Right, you can't do magic….." Harry said a little awkwardly. Just then the box gave another shudder. Alphonse looked at it curiously, but Edward shifted a bit away from it. He started to push Alphonse towards the door. Harry and Remus watched as Edward tried to push his struggling brother out the door for a hasty escape.

"It was nice chatting with you, but I am afraid we have plenty of things to do this weekend, I just can't talk any longer," Edward said quickly as he shoved the reluctant suit of armor through the doorway. He was about to close the large piece of oak but Lupin stopped the door with his foot and grabbed his wrist.

"You know there are ways to defeat fear," Remus said to him. Edward glanced past the door at the chest which gave another shudder. He nervously looked back at the teacher. Edward desperately wanted to walk out of there as fast as he could but his brother gave him a little shove in the back. Running away wasn't an option for him anymore. Remus guided Edward back to the room and started to clear the space from furniture. It was as if the chest was anticipating its next project and the boggart was trying to break free. Edward kept a good pace away from the box. Alphonse heard about what the boggart was when Edward explained it to him through the letters, but he didn't really know what to expect. He didn't even hear about the incident earlier that week until Remus warned him to stay out of the corridors in the later evenings. However, anything that could disseat his brother this much, was nothing to be taken lightly. Alphonse made sure to place himself in between him and the box whenever they moved the furniture out of the way. The tables and chairs were lined on the sides of the walls out of the way, and the chest was placed in the middle of the long rectangular room. The four of them stood around the boggart nervously.

"Okay," Remus said stepping forward to face his students and peers. "The boggart is not fear, it is a reenactment of fear. A formation of what it believes would scare you the most."

"But sir, how does it know what we are afraid of?" Alphonse asked him.

"It is a creature, and as we know, all creatures have different senses. Humans reek of fear. Even in our happiest moments our fears can be portrayed over us in an invisible veil. The boggarts are able to feel our fears and play them out bright as day," Lupin informed him. Edward glanced up at Alphonse nervously. He nodded at his older brother to try and comfort him a bit. Remus walked over to the chest and crouched behind the lid. "There are ways that muggles can fight the boggarts. Laughter of course is one of the strongest weapons against the boggart, but there are some precautions that can be taken. In old folk lore it is said that the boggart will not approach salt and horse shoes will ward them away. That of course is muggle folk lore, but we cannot deny it as false until it is proven so." The professor looked up at Edward and smiled. "I want you to picture your fear as the funniest thing imaginable, anything funny at all. If you run into trouble, don't worry. The Boggart is easily confused in numbers so we are here to help you. Now everyone back up a bit."

Harry and Alphonse crept back a few feet leaving Edward shaking a bit in the center. Lupin popped the locks on the chest but pinned the lid down against the fighting creature. He looked up at the young blonde for any sign and with Edward's nod, he released the beast. Instantly the creature flew out of the chest towards him. The tentacles started to wrap themselves on his arms and legs and Edward froze in panic. He fought and struggled against the creepy being but he couldn't picture anything. As he was started to be pulled towards the chest, Alphonse stepped in front of him and ripped the spindly arms off of him. He picked up his brother and nearly tossed him away from the creature. Edward tumbled to the ground near Harry's feet, his body trembling. The boggart turned towards Alphonse and rapidly started to change its form. A spider, a banshee, a zombie, a ghost, the form rapidly started to change as if it couldn't decide. Alphonse just looked at the confused creature until it stopped. Its transformation stopped short on a yellow and red clad figure. In an instant Lupin waved his wand and the boggart was shot back into the chest. The lock clicked and nearly everyone sighed with relief. Harry bent down and helped Edward up to his feet. It was a fairly difficult task seeing as it seemed that Edward's automail seemed to be giving out again. He was really heavy for his size. Remus walked over to Alphonse who was shaking in his armor.

"Alphonse," he said sympathetically. The armour nervously looked at him, but before he could answer, Edward interrupted.

"Al, is that what you are afraid of?" he asked him. "Are you afraid of me?" The box gave another shudder as Alphonse faced his brother. Harry held him up one arm hung over his shoulder and his face was beaded with a cold sweat. He shook his head.

"No, I am not…. I …. I… I don't want to lose you again!" Alphonse cried. "Not again! When Gluttony ate…. And then Ling…. I ….. I-"

"Alphonse, I am sorry," Edward said, "I am sorry I let that happen." Alphonse ran over and hugged Edward. It nearly squeezed the life out of him, but he didn't care. If that was what it took to comfort his brother, then that was what he was going to do. After Alphonse let Edward go, and after he regained his breath, Remus walked over to them quietly.

"I am guessing that there is something that can't be laughed at," he said to them softly. "If you don't want to continue, then I won't make you. I just thought that it would have been worth a shot."

"No, I want to continue. I don't want to have to worry about running into one of these again. If I can face it at least, then I know I won't be afraid," Edward said. Alphonse nodded.

"I don't want to worry either," Alphonse added. Remus patted him on the shoulder a hollow ring rang out through his armor. He walked back behind the chest and crouched behind it as he did before.

"Why don't we try the other methods?" Remus said and pulled out a sack of white powder. When Alphonse caught it, he saw that it was table salt. "The house elves were nice enough to give that to me. However, dinner might be a little dry for the rest of the week." Edward took a handful of the substance and turned towards the chest. Remus unleashed the creature one more time and the boggart charged him. Edward tried to move but his arm wouldn't react. The arms wrapped themselves around him again and he tried to pry them off. The salt fell out of his hands in his struggle and scattered to the floor around the boggarts feet. There was a small sizzle noise and the creature reeled back a little as if the salt burned it. However, the reaction was shortly lived as the boggart jumped over the scattered material and tackled him to the ground. The twisted and gnarled bones twisted around him as the tentacles wrapped themselves around his chest. Edward screamed as they tightened around him. Alphonse ran over and tossed his hand of salt on the boggart. It jumped back and dropped the alchemist to the ground. As it faced Alphonse, it tried to change but he started to push it back towards the chest. Just as they reached the box, the boggart transformed into a placid copy of his brother. His hair was coated in crimson and his arms were drenched with blood. Alphonse took a step back from him, and faltered a bit, but he threw another blast of salt in its face. The creature tumbled backwards into the chest and Alphonse slammed the lid shut. Remus ran over and clicked the lock shut. Harry rushed over to Edward to see if he was okay. It looked like he was thrown into shock again.

"Professor!" Harry cried. Remus ran over to Edward who was shivering on the floor. Alphonse ran over to check on his brother. As he fiddled over the trembling child, Alphonse pushed him out of the way. He grabbed his brother by the jacket and slapped him in the face.

"Snap out of it you idiot!" Alphonse raged. Edward slowly raised his hand to touch his stricken cheek. To the wizards' surprise, that seemed to work. "You know that wasn't real! We promised ourselves never again! It isn't real!" Edward grabbed a hold of his brother's chest plate and held it firmly. He still shivered a bit but it wasn't trauma. Remus got up and clapped his hands together.

"Well, it looked like the muggles were right in one thing. Salt seems to effect the boggarts after all, however the horseshoe thing still is at question."

"NO!" Edward and Al said together. Remus held his hands up in defeat. Alphonse helped his brother off of the floor. The lot of them slowly made their way over to the door. As they passed the chest, the boggart gave a jump and the box clattered around the floor threatening Edward didn't flinch but he did seem to hurry his pace up a bit more. They walked through the door and entered the DADA classroom for a break. Lupin sat the Elrics down at a couple of desks and gave them each a cup of tea. Harry sat down across from them and watched the adrenaline filled teachers as they trembled in their seats. Of course it wasn't his fears that they were facing, but the creature that the boggart turned into was still terrifying as if it was picked out of a horror film. How could the boggart be afraid of them, if they are afraid of something like that? They heard the chest gave a leap from the other room and Lupin locked the door to the Rear Hall just in case.

"Excuse me, Professor," Harry said to Edward. He didn't like tea all that much but was trying to take a sip. The cup was trembling in his hand a bit and clacked against the coaster when he set it down. "It seemed, well, we thought that it seemed that the boggart was afraid of you. We were wondering….. How could that be?"

"Wait are you trying to tell me that that thing is afraid of us?" Alphonse asked them.

"It is just a hypothesis, but boggarts don't attack people normally. It is used as a defensive mechanism to try and to frighten people away, not hurt them. However, the creatures, whenever it approaches Edward, seems to attack him. I was wondering if you knew anything that caused that," Remus said pouring himself a cup of tea. Edward glanced over at Alphonse.

"Did it seem afraid of Al?" he asked questionably. Remus shook his head.

"Only confused. I am guessing that it was the armor. Remember that the Boggart is able to sense things given off by the human body, maybe the armor was interfering." Edward knew that it wasn't the armour, but the fact that he didn't have a body. He couldn't give off as strong senses without it so that is why the boggart would have been confused. Edward thought for a second. Animals could sense things, boggarts could sense things. Why would it be afraid of something that happened? Dogs always seemed to pounce him, he always thought that they were just trying to get him away from work. It could have meant something more….

"Alphonse, do you think that it could have sensed… no…" Edward mumbled to himself, "No that couldn't be it."

"What brother?" Alphonse asked reassuring him. Edward took another sip of his tea and shivered.

"Do you think that it could have sensed Truth?" Edward asked almost inaudibly.

"No, well, I saw it too. Wouldn't it be afraid of me as well?" he said. Edward thought about his for a while leaving Harry and Remus completely clueless.

"Do you think that it could have sensed that I actually made a deal with it? Or would that seem too farfetched. I mean, you never actually made a deal with him yet. I did, and look where it got us. Maybe it could sense the past as well. How else could it have known what I was afraid of? It isn't every day you come across that," Edward said. Alphonse nodded and handed Edward his cup of tea.

"Well, it is just a hypothesis, but maybe," Alphonse said. As the two of them talked back and forth about possibilities, Harry and Remus got more and more lost. They started to regret asking the two scientists. It seemed that they were all lost in creating hypothesis. Never ask a scientist a question unless you want them to get an exact answer. Before the hour passed, Remus stepped forward to stop the twos brainstorming.

"What are you two talking about?" he asked them. "Truth?" Edward and Alphonse looked at each other as if they nearly forgot that they were there and shrugged.

"If you want some of the story Remus, I would go ask Severus, but I will make you swear to secrecy. None of the students should hear this," Edward said and glanced at Harry, "This includes you Harry. Somethings are too delicate for you to handle right now. However, Al and I have come up with a hypothesis about the Boggart problem. It seemed that the Boggart was able to sense somethings and pull a few memories from our pasts. That is how it knew I was afraid of that. It must have saw something that it didn't like and frightened it."

"But what was it that it was afraid of?" Harry asked nervously.

"I can't answer that, one thing, you will think that we were crazy, and the other, it might frighten you as well, but I will say that this thing, known as Truth, could be described as our own personal hell."