A/N: blah blah blah, so I'm glad ya'll like this story! I have a sword strapped to my wall. .

Chapter Thirty-Four

Cuchulainn landed on hard rock. He cried out in pain and curled up on the rock flooring he had somehow landed on. Screams erupted from women around him and shouts of surprise as well. Where on earth had he ended up?

Strong hands lifted him up and he felt a crushing tightness envelope him as though he were being squeezed through a tube of black. Then, all at once, he was in a lighted area that smelled of potions and sterile metal. "Where am I?" he mumbled. He couldn't see and his other eye was blinded by blood from the other side of his head.

A man's tenor voice, smooth and soft, spoke to him gently. "Stay here, please. The doctors will take care of you."

"What the hell happened here?! He's a mess!!" cried another man, franticly coming near him. He felt as though he were lying on a bed once more, smelled the sterile things in the room mixed with potions and the smell of his own blood. He became sick, but kept the sickness down as another pair of strong hands started working on him.

"Damien? Whoa! What happened to him?" gasped a woman's voice. He smelled a faint perfume as she came closer and yelped in pain when she touched the place where his arm had been ripped from. "We'll need to get Astra to give him a temp until she can get help to make the limbs needed. Do you think he'll want an implanted eye as well?"

"Better leave it until he is conscious enough to tell you, Eva," said the man's voice, Damien's voice to the woman, Eva.

Then, unconsciousness overtook him.

It had been a peaceful day. Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, had been running smoothly all day and the teachers having few problems with the students. It was so peaceful that something awful was bound to happen because their luck was never this good. Amber Weasley-Riddle sat between her two husbands, Fred Weasley and Tom Riddle, as she graded papers. She wasn't a tall woman; in fact, many liked to tease her about how small she was, including her own first husband, Fred. However, Tom would repeatedly tell her how she was the perfect size for him, but then; he didn't like women who were much bigger than her to begin with. She also had a similar appearance to her own grandfather, who sat across the room, Edward Elric. Just like her grandfather, she was small and had blonde hair and gold eyes.

Tom, a very tall man who was nearly double the height of his own wife, sat reading a book on the great Grindlewald who was a dark lord in their past. He had read it before, but he liked to keep himself up with history. After all, knowledge was power and he was very keen on keeping himself on top of everything. He was a very handsome man, his features fine and strong, his hair smooth and black and his eyes, his eyes were the most alluring feature on him besides his handsome face. His eyes were a deep blue color, so dark that they almost appeared black. His build was thin and lithe, but his shoulders and chest were fairly broad and muscled.

Amber's other husband, meanwhile, was dealing with inventory papers for his and his brother's joke shop franchise. He was much shorter than Tom, who rivaled most in the school with his massive height. He was broad chested and broad shouldered with freckles all over his much thicker and muscled body. His hair was the typical "Weasley Red" that all his six siblings had, which all of them had been teased for having.

Opposite to these three were four people sitting on a long couch. Three were men and they had a very tall woman lying across their laps as though she were a giant cat. This woman was Astra Malfoy-Elric and she was not a small woman. In fact, she was as broad shouldered as Fred Weasley was, with broad hips to match and a large bosom that was mashed against one of the three men she laid on. Her skin was the palest color possible, just like the man on the right end of the couch; her hair was totally white and ran down her back in a very long plait. Rather large, pointed, ears protruded from the sides of her head slightly through her hair, looking very elf like in origin.

The man on the right end of the couch was Astra's first husband Draco Malfoy. He was as pale as anything could ever be with pale blonde hair that was routinely being brushed from his eyes. He was a slightly built man, taking on a more feminine appearance rather than male, though his pointed features did attract a certain amount of attention from women including his won wife.

The man next to him was a small man with well muscled limbs and body. Though he was shorter than most of the men in the room, he was also far more tenacious in a fight than most of them as well. He was Edward Elric and he was the third husband of Astra, whose rear was conveniently located on his lap. He looked to his fellows for a moment before slapping Astra's rear with a broad, shark like, grin spreading over his face.

Astra wiggled and smacked him on his arm. "Hey! Don't hit that right now, damn it! I'm comfortable!"

Edward grinned more and rubbed Astra's rear. "I want attention, wife." However, he didn't get much further because the third man sitting next to him slapped him on the back of his head. This man was far larger than him and rightfully looked almost exactly like him, if he appeared older than twenty-five or so. His hair was pulled back in a very long blonde pony tail and his blonde beard was fairly thick. His cat like gold eyes were gentle normally, however, they peered at Edward through his glasses with extreme irritation.

"She said leave her alone, Ed," he said.

Edward glowered at his father for a moment before rubbing Astra's spine as he pouted sullenly. He'd get her attention one way or another!

Hohenheim Elric sighed and stroked Astra's hair gently. "Ignore the runt, he's being a pest," he said, his voice low and smooth.

Astra mumbled and snuggled against Hohenheim's knee for a moment before looking over at the amused look of her friend Amber. "What?"

"Just laughing at your misfortune," she said with a bright smile.

Astra stuck her middle finger up at her before snuggling back into Hohenheim's knee once more, causing Amber to laugh.

It had started out nice and peaceful for them; however, a bright light flashed off to the side and out dropped the body of a blue haired man. His right arm was missing completely from his body and his left leg was cut off about mid thigh. His face, however, was a horrible mess of claw marks surrounding an empty, bloody, eye socket.

Amber screamed as did a few of the other women in the large room. She started to run over to check him out, Astra snapping to attention and getting off her husband's laps in a hurry. However, it was Tom who walked past his wife and kneeled down. "He's alive," he said, his voice a soft tenor. He reached down and picked the body up into his arms before he stood up. "I'll take him to the infirmary." Then, he turned on the spot and disappeared with a loud crack.

"Damn, what the hell happened to that guy?" asked Astra as she went over to the wall to see if anything else would come through. "He looked like he had been mauled by a beast or something."

"Yeah, I know," said Amber, pulling out her wand. "Be careful over there, Astra, we don't know what else will come through. Also, you'll need to get a hold of your great granddaughter and get her over here so you two can make the poor guy some limbs. He'll need them."

Astra nodded to Amber and jogged from the room. Fred rubbed Amber's shoulder and smiled faintly at her. "At least he's in a good place that'll take care of him, right, Ambs?"

Amber nodded, but felt uneasy. She had a sense that whatever had caused that man's body to be so mangled had to be coming as well.

She didn't have to wait long. A light flashed and out stepped a small woman, shorter than her, even, clad in all black with pale gold hair pulled back in a braided bun behind her head. Amber moved back quickly, her wand ready as the woman lifted up a blood covered black sword. "Who are you?" asked Amber.

The woman gazed at Amber coldly. "Where is he?"

"Where is who?" asked Amber, feeling the room temperature almost drop several degrees from the woman's mere presence in it.

"My toy. He has gone and I suspect you have him."

"Toy? Did he have blue hair and was missing an eye and an arm and leg?" asked Fred.

"Yes, he was," she said, eyeing him.

Edward growled as Amber stiffened. The woman walked forward and stopped when they all shifted toward her. "Where is he?" she said.

"We just took him to be healed up," said Amber, glaring at this strange woman who dared to come into her home and harm another human being.

The woman's face was like a frozen mask, cold and unemotional, until Amber spoke to her. It twisted slightly in anger, showing the smallest amount of a crack in the icy mask she wore. "Where is he?"

"Put your weapon away and we might talk to you," said Amber. "If you don't, we will all be forced to make you put it down."

The woman didn't seem the least bit afraid and, indeed, Amber found herself more afraid of her than of anything she had ever fought before. The woman was creepy, but she had fought dark lords and killed many dark wizards in her past, by God, she was not going to let someone harm her school!

"I am Amber Weasley-Elric, deputy headmistress of this school, which you are in. It is Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry. We have dealt with worse things in this place than you and I would suggest you do not do anything or else we will all fight you," said Amber. "My husband will be back soon, he is the headmaster and will speak with you should you choose to stay here for a while."

No sooner had she spoken, a loud crack sounded the return of Tom. He stood looking at the strange black clad woman coolly, blue eyes as cold as the woman's face. The woman did not put her weapon away nor did she move. She just stared up at the cool face of Tom as he did her. "Are you the one who harmed him? Yes, I expect you are, those claws look very bloody," he said, sounding slightly bored. His wand was out and flicked it at the woman without a second thought. Ropes shot from his wand at the small woman and would have likely made their mark if she had not seen them coming. She swung her blade up and cut the ropes as they flew past her in pieces.

He eyed her a moment more and smirked faintly. "Good with a sword, hmm? Now that's not nice." However, he had to suddenly move away as the small woman shot forward at him with her sword in hand. He slammed his foot down onto the woman's back as she passed him and then swung around with his fist, catching her on her chest. She cried out in surprise and leapt backward.

He grunted at the sting in his side. She had nicked him well enough, but had not managed worse before having to retreat. Amber looked ready to initiate her own terrible curse upon the woman for even trying to harm him. The small woman slid her gaze from him to Amber and swung her blade. The sword had turned into a whip!

Amber shot to the side as Fred yelped in surprise. Tom ducked down and shot a curse at the woman that forced her backward into the wall behind her. She didn't cry out in pain, but she jerked on the floor as though she were in the mightiest of pain. When she finally stopped jerking, her body steamed slightly as though she had been electrocuted.

Tom moved over toward the woman with his wand ready. "Attack and we will kill you. That is the law with me. If you behave, we will treat you well. Do you understand?"

The woman glared up at him angrily and swung her sword up at him. He wasn't nearly fast enough to move away and was caught in the chest by the blade. He yelped in pain as Fred, Edward and Hohenheim also shot forward to pull Tom off the woman's sword.

Amber saw the blade go through her husband and felt herself slip a little inside. As Fred pulled Tom off the sword, her own pupils disappeared and something like a pair of large doors appeared behind her. Tom snarled out at Amber. "SHUT THOSE DAMN DOORS!"

Amber snapped to and the doors disappeared. She panted and ran over to Tom. "We have to get you to the infirmary!" she said frantically.

Tom grunted and nodded before letting Fred help him out the doors to the hallway. Meanwhile, Amber turned toward the woman and held up her wand at the woman who was laying on the ground in a huddled position. "Crucio," said Amber.

The woman jerked on the ground again, this time screaming in agony. Edward winced and looked away as Hohenheim watched with a grim expression. When the torment was over, Amber looked to the woman and kept her wand trained on her. "Will you yield?"

The woman attempted to get up and Amber sent another volley at her. She screamed and thrashed on the ground until she was left panting heavily with her body still jerking involuntarily. Amber eyed her coldly and put her wand down. "Do you yield? I will not ask again."

The woman glared at her through her bangs and attempted to get up weakly, but slid down once more. She curled up and trembled, defeated by a witch's wand! After a moment, she finally croaked through a sore throat, "Y-yes…"

Cuchulainn heard a faint mumbling near him. Two women were speaking avidly to one another across the room, huddled together at a table as they played with what looked like maps or outlines of human body parts. Both had white hair, one taller than the other with elf like ears showing through her hair and the other smaller with long curly hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. "Hello," he said softly. He coughed and raised his voice, "Hello, ladies?"

They looked over at him and he saw that the smaller one looked almost like the taller one. She didn't have elf ears like the taller one and her eyes were violet while the taller one had blue-gray. If he had to make an assessment, he would say they were sisters. The taller one smiled at Cuchulainn in a very friendly manner and waved. "Hey, don't mind us; we're working on something for you."

"If it's got anything to do with sex, I'm afraid I don't think I'll be able to satisfy the way I am now," he said, chuckling faintly. The smaller girl giggled and flushed deeply on her pale cheeks while the taller one flushed faintly and rolled her eyes at him, shaking her head as she turned back around to continue working on whatever task she had.

"Might I ask what is going on? Where am I?" he said as he attempted to sit up. When he slid back down again, he gave up and simply watched them while lying down.

"You're in Hogwarts, school for witchcraft and wizardry, Mr. Blue-hair," said the taller one.

"I'm Cuchulainn, from Ulster," he said, smiling faintly at the women. They didn't look much older than possibly twenty.

The tall one frowned faintly and eyed him. "That's an odd name to take, given how it belonged to a hero of Ulster back in the Bronze Age or whatever, never did remember when that story took place," she said. "I'm Astra; this is my great granddaughter Necia. We're making you a prosthetic arm and leg so you can move around."

Cuchulainn frowned in confusion. "What?"

Astra eyed him with some small amount of amusement. Her accent was very strange, like the Americans that sometimes came over. It was somewhat slow with a strange feel to it. And the one she claimed to be her great granddaughter, which he highly doubted could even be possible, simply giggled and flipped through the papers in front of them. "Prosthetics are artificial limbs made to run off the body's electrical impulses so a man or woman may be able to once again use their arm like they should."

"How can she be your great granddaughter when you're so young?" he asked.

"Long story, I'm afraid. I could explain, but I'd talk your ear off," said Astra, smiling sheepishly at him. He liked this woman; she had a sassiness that he liked. Her voice was also low for a woman's voice and somewhat loud, but not overly so.

"Go ahead and explain, I'm afraid I don't have any place to go for the meantime," he said, motioning with the only hand had to him toward his missing limbs.

Astra smiled faintly and nodded before leaning back in her chair. "This school is home to many witches and wizards. Many of us have been here for hundreds of years. I came here in my fifth year when all hell was breaking loose in this school because my granma thought it would be safer for me. Only, I don't think she paid attention, because there was shit going down in this place that could make anyone not want to come here anymore."

"Hundreds of years?" he said as he stared at her. "How old are you exactly?"

"Me? Eh… I've sort of lost count. Probably about five hundred and fifty, but I'm not sure," she said. "I'm just making a round about guess, because I don't remember how long it's been since the year 1979."

Cuchulainn continued to stare at her as though she had sprouted another head. She sighed and rubbed her temple slowly. "When I was a kid, the world was a very different place. The old ruins you see in the countryside? Those are from my time. They were tall steel buildings once and now they're shit because you non-magic people decided that magicians were a bane to your existence and attempted to annihilate us. Only, we've got a few things on our side that prevented such a thing. Ya'll attempted to destroy us and we simply came back and let ya'll kill each other over who got to do what. Since then, I've lost count as to how old I am, because it's been so very long since then. We've had many things happen here that would take an even longer explanation. Simply put, we've not aged much since the first fifty years of our lives or so. I have a son that has serious allergies that ended up changing us into teenagers whenever he sneezes, so we hardly ever get the chance to get older than thirty."

"So, she's your great granddaughter? My, she looks a great deal like you," he said, trying to get to something that was more in the now than what was happening earlier.

She grinned at him and nodded. "Yes, she's my great granddaughter. She's also a prosthetic genius with making these things. Learned from the best teacher possible, the late wife of my husband Edward. She died about a hundred and some odd years ago, but we still miss her around here. She, thankfully, never actually went on to wherever and stuck around. Oi! Winry!"

A silvery ghost of a woman with long pale hair came through the wall and looked down at Astra with a bright smile. "Hi! What do you need, Astra?"

Astra motioned to him and smiled faintly up at the ghostly woman who she had referred to as Winry. "Was explaining some things to him about prosthesis and why we're all not crumbling bits of skeleton by now."

Winry nodded and went over to Cuchulainn and landed on her feet next to his bed. "Automail prosthesis is a process of applying metal limb replacements to the places where a human or animal has lost some part of his body. For you, it will be your eye, leg and arm."

"I don't want a replacement for my eye, thanks," he said, getting a little wary of the ghost speaking to him.

She shrugged and tapped her finger to her chin. "Hmmm, since you don't want your eye replaced, we'll just do your leg and arm and call it good. Okay?" When he nodded, she smiled brightly at him and floated over to Astra and Necia and sat down in the air. "Now, let's see what you two have managed to cook up!"

While the ghostly woman was quite cute and seemed very nice, the fact that she was a ghost bothered him some; especially the fact that she was a ghost that was holding a conversation with living people! As he watched the women talk to each other, a strange man came over to him. He was fairly tall with a black patch over his right eye. His eyes were bright blue and his hair was an odd color, pink. He had a very handsome face and grinned at him as he knelt down beside Cuchulainn's bedside. He was wearing an apron over his clothes and had a wand sticking out of one of the pockets as well as several potion phials. His ears were decorated with small gem studs in them that looked to be either crystal or diamond.

"I'm Damien Black, nice to meet you there, mate," he said cheerfully.

Cuchulainn nodded toward him. "Same," he said, "Are you the doctor who took care of me?"

"Aye, sort of am, my comrade Evangeline over there is also one who worked on you," said Damien. A red haired woman walked out of the back of the very large room and walked over to them. "Oi, Eva, what's going on?"

"Nothing much except your wife getting testy. She just contacted me to tell you to come home. It's getting late and you're missed," she said, smirking at him as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. She was a pretty woman, Cuchulainn noted. Her face was littered with freckles and her hair was bright red and long. She was thin and had small shoulders and small hips, but was very pretty.

Cuchulainn grinned as Damien blushed faintly and scratched at his longish pink hair. "Ah, seems m'wifey is raising hell. Eva will take care of you for now. Her husband'll come up soon enough to keep 'er company," he said. Then, he stood and waved before pulling out a coin and disappearing with a flash of light.

The woman, Eva, moved toward Cuchulainn and sat down on a chair that she had pulled over to his bed before leaning over and checking him over. "Seems you'll be all right. You've had quite a trauma to your system. We don't often get such terrible cases in here anymore."

"What do you mean?"

Eva shrugged and leaned back in her chair as she crossed her legs. They were thin, but very nicely shaped and were uncovered up to her knees. "Around here, you get used to people trying to invade, people trying to take over, people trying to just out right kill everyone. It used to be quite often that we'd get serious cases in these walls, but, since Tom took over as headmaster, we haven't really had any problems."

"Who is this Tom?" asked Cuchulainn, still eyeing her nice legs.

She grinned and chuckled. "You like legs, do you?"

"They're nice," he said, smiling at her. "Don't often get women who wear skirts as short as yours around my home," he said.

"Here it's a bit different. We keep up the old ways, as you would call them I expect." She nodded and then eyed Cuchulainn for a moment. "Tom is my mother's second husband. He used to be her adopted son, when he came back from wherever he had been sent to when he had died previously. He came back as a teenager and unable to remember much. He married a nice girl and they had many kids. I used to tease him a lot about it, but we all loved him dearly."

"He sounds nice," said Cuchulainn as he attempted to sit up again. This time he had managed it and sat against the pillows behind him comfortably.

"He is to an extent." She smiled faintly and leaned back again in her chair. "He's a good man and has protected this school for many many years with his very life. He's fathered many children and those kids are also fathers and mothers now. One of them married Damien, lord knows why." Cuchulainn chuckled at her joke as she smiled at him. "He's married to my mother now, after many years of torment between the two of them. They're happy now and that's all that matter. Now he's headmaster and anyone who even tries to do something nasty to the school or the children inside of it will end up on his own personal operating table as a 'patient'."

"Eh?"

"He has a…. a thing…for tormenting his victims through slowly dissecting them like a lab rat. Basically, he cuts them open while they're still alive and starts picking apart at their organs until they die," she said.

Cuchulainn cringed. It sounded like an activity that Arturia would enjoy, given her perverse nature. He wondered if she was still inside the forest for a moment before he grunted and glowered at the foot of his bed.

"The woman that did this to you is here, by the way. She was subdued by Tom and my mother into cooperating. They won't harm her unless she attempts to harm someone under their protection, ie, you." Eva sat up once more and sighed. "Since you're all right now, I'll be in the back summoning my husband. You get some rest, all right? Astra, Necia and Winry will work on you later when they get the pieces together that they need."

Cuchulainn nodded and leaned back against his pillows. He watched Eva leave and then watched the three women huddled together in their little table until he fell asleep. In his dreams, he saw Emer smiling at him as she always did before another woman entered his head and gazed at him with a dead look, Arturia.