Chapter thirteen

Ed ended up waiting for the Colonel, Hawkeye and Dumbledore outside the Entrance Hall with about half the Gryffindors, one third of the Ravenclaws and about forty per cent of the Hufflepuffs. They all seemed to deem it a sufficient sacrifice to be out here in the cold in order to have a look at their new arrival.

There were no Slytherins present, unsurprisingly. For some reason, they didn't seem to think that a scary Muggle was worth their leisure time.

All the Prefects were there as well, Slytherins not included yet again. Now that they had had a heads-up, they were highly interested in meeting their new assistant teacher. Many were very eager about actual transmuting, and the fact that they would now learn to do so even more due to the extra teacher...

...Well, people seemed very keen on the idea.

And Ed enjoyed seeing just how much eagerness there was involved in learning alchemy amongst the students. They had been told about the rush that it brought each time one pressed their hands to the transmutation circle... The sense of accomplishment it brought... And even if people preferred their wands...

...They loved the fact that they were actually allowed to perform alchemy in the summer holidays because it wasn't actual magic. There were restrictions, of course. They would have to be supervised by a grownup, only perform it indoors, and they would only be allowed to perfect those transmutations that they had already learnt at Hogwarts at the end of the school year. The students wouldn't get to learn how to do large, advanced transmutations anyways by the point, simply because doing so required a lot more time to learn. After all, a large number of the students hadn't even had a science class per the normal Muggle standards, and those that had, had also been too young for it to be too much to build their skills on. Preteen-level chemistry and mathematics lessons weren't exactly advanced. And Ed had cooled down a bit on the cockiness and "prodigy"-stuff, because he had actually earned himself a lot more respect since he first came here. Plus, they had stopped insulting him as soon as they had realised just how much work that alchemy required.

...Not that he still didn't like how they defied everything that he believed in with twigs stuffed with things from fairytale creatures. Part of him wanted to transmute one of them and make them into a wooden snail or something... But that would entail having to look up the chemical components of unicorn tail hair, which he found pretty creepy in a way. Yes, he was curious by nature as a scientist... But finding that exact thing would require a lot of reading about a creature that shouldn't exist.

He had been torn about deciding not to teach Harry and Ron how to transmute before the classes did so in general. The reason, however, was fairly simple: should Harry and Ron be allowed to learn it before the others did, then there would be a lot of cocky students... Cocky students demanding that Ed teach them too, or Harry and Ron themselves.

...And there would thereby be all those that were thinking that if a couple of first years could do it, then so could they. Which meant that there would be a series of unsupervised transmutation attempts resulting in rebounds.

That was a trend that Ed wasn't too keen on causing.

There were also a fair few girls that were looking significantly disappointed with the Lieutenant's presence for the rest of the school year.

Ed had a small smirk building on his face as he spotted the Colonel, Lieutenant Hawkeye and Dumbledore. They had agreed before Mustang and Dumbledore left, that Ed was to call the Lieutenant by her first name, seeing as how her boss was his supposed "uncle".

There was a lot of surprised muttering as people caught their first glimpse of the scary sniper Muggle. Hawkeye was wearing a pair of black trousers, a green jumper and what Ed recognised as the military black coat, as well as a pair of black gloves. She had a satchel over her shoulder and she too seemed to have been provided with some sort of expansion spell for her suitcase.

...Because no matter how efficient and admirable the Lieutenant was...

...Ed severely doubted that she would have been able to pack for eight months in a foreign country in a suitcase whose measurements were thirty centimetres in width, forty centimetres in length, and fifteen centimetres deep.

That was if she didn't plan to have her clothing transmuted to save space. Perhaps she had taken her cue from Ed in that regard, if so.

"Is that her, Edward?" Hermione whispered in confusion.

"Yep."

"But she's so pretty... When you said that she was the best sniper in the entire Amestris... I didn't expect her to be a beautiful, young woman like that. How old is she?"

"Twenty-three. But don't let her looks deceive you. She's been nicknamed as the "Hawk's Eye". And that's not undeserved."

"I still think people might not be finding her too intimidating, Ed." She sounded worried.

Ed sighed and limped forwards, waving. "Hey, Roy, Riza! I think these people need a demonstration to show them just how weak us Muggles are!" He looked to Dumbledore. "Would it be all right with you, Professor? They can't really show it to the students to their full ability inside the castle, and especially the classroom," Edward added loudly.

Dumbledore looked at Mustang and the Lieutenant. Ed couldn't hear them from where he was as he was still about twenty metres away and they were speaking quietly. But then the two soldiers nodded, and Dumbledore chuckled.

And so the Colonel walked over to Ed. He had to say that it was pretty embarrassing how weak he seemed right now. Being a double amputee had its drawbacks. But Mustang had a glint in his eye that made it very clear that he was more than happy to team up to finally show them just what they were good for. "What did you have in mind, Edward?"

Ed was quickly making up a plan, and then removed his amulet, followed by Mustang. These wizards did all sorts of crazy things and he wouldn't put it past Snape to be able to read lips. He already seemed to read minds, at least partially. "Well, you just snap your fingers and make as big an explosion as you can, that should be good enough for anyone. And I'm sure Dumbledore should be able to magic up some targets at different distances, I would guess that she's packed all her guns, right? Sniper rifle, shotgun, handgun and pistol, and I'm probably forgetting some. She could show just how good she is at using them. And tell Dumbledore to make some targets behind her too. He could make them glow or something, and absorb bullets. And put up an invisible protective bubble around the students."

Mustang seemed to be thinking a bit. "That sounds like a plan. I'll just have to warn the Headmaster... People tend to be a bit... Intimidated by giant explosions. And, yes, Lieutenant Hawkeye has all her guns in her satchel. Apparently they're all a bit sceptical about having guns inside the castle, when they're good enough to be used by bodyguards."

Ed rolled his eyes. "I've been spending the past hour and a half explaining what a gun is to these people. And they still don't seem to understand what it really is. I've been transmuting guns all over the castle, supervised by Professor McGonagall. She didn't allow me to shoot, though... I can see her point, of course... I'm a thirteen-year-old civilian... Asking if I can shoot at stuff inside the castle with Muggle weapons that are used for killing, without any military officers that can actually provide proof that I won't kill someone by mistake..." He had nearly made a big mistake as he had been dangerously close to having broken his cover earlier. He had been taught how to shoot not too long after he had joined up, but he wasn't a military officer here. He was an exchange student.

An exchange student and the undercover bodyguard of one of the most famous wizards that the world had ever seen. Apparently those Death Eaters had been planning to start using Amestris to research Philosopher's Stones, but that had been a bit too risky. Had they done anything suspicious, anything that would have signified that something had been a weakness in their defences... Then there had been three neighbouring military countries that would have attacked Amestris at the first chance they had got. Which meant that there would have been a lot of good resources for knowledge that would have been the main target for the military forces from all sides. Basically, they wouldn't have been able to preserve all the research that they had needed or known which alchemists that would have been useful to them. Apparently Amestris had some of the best "aurors" in the world, seeing as how they didn't have that wizard/Muggle border. They had alchemists as well added into the equation and needed a lot of skill to stay on top of everything. Amestris was actually the most carefully supervised country in the world, along with Xing because they had this "alkahestry" of theirs. However, Xing didn't have a clue about the Philosopher's Stone, so Amestris had been the main target. It was all because of this Muggle Protection Act. Arresting too many alchemists, and they would have a lot of trouble. Arresting too few wizards, and they would have a big problem.

So, unlike Britain and their Minister forMagic and their Prime Minister that they only said hello to, gave a brief description to about the existence of magic, and left through a fireplace and said that they probably wouldn't see them again anyways... The Amestrian Minister for Magic was working closely with Führer Bradley.

...Which in turn had apparently made attacks against Amestrian Muggles very boring. When there was no confusion, no fear, just "serial killer alchemist", the tormenting lost its "charm" to the Death Eaters.

Ed sort of wanted to punch some of those guys just on principle for the mess that they were making with his scientific mind.

It had also been how Dumbledore knew about Amestris and all their alchemical knowledge. Because he had helped set up defences against any Death Eaters to make it even clearer that it had probably been better to just have been leaving Amestris be... And then having swept in and picked up the Philosopher's Stones should they have managed to make some.

Which was why Führer Bradley had said yes to Dumbledore borrowing a couple of State Alchemists. Because the nation of Amestris, the country whose advanced alchemical knowledge that was founded on SCIENCE...

...Owed an old wizard with a long beard a favour.

Edward felt his frustration spiking massively. "It's all about wands. All about twigs and stuff. They can do all these pretty impressive things with them, and then they can sit on it wrong, break it, and then they'll be screwed." He suddenly smirked. "Which means that buttocks are to them what water is to you."

The older alchemist whispered quietly. "For your information, Edward, I create sparks by snapping my fingers with the ignition gloves. I manipulate the air with the transmutation circle stitched into them... Which means that I can change the oxygen density around a person and completely cut off their air supply if I want to. So, no, not entirely useless."

Ed paused. "I hadn't actually thought about that... But I think you'll be in a lot of trouble if you show that part to the students... It might be taken the wrong way..."

"Glad to hear we agree on that part, and I don't think you should mention that to the other students. Now, I suggest that you take the Lieutenant's luggage and step back while I make the necessary arrangements with Professor Dumbledore."

Edward nodded with a stern glare. "You'd better give them a real show, all right? I'm not gonna stand here and let you ridicule me by not owing up to your recently built reputation."

Mustang nodded. "I'll do my best. And now I'm going to ruffle your hair so that our slightly too much unfriendly-looking conversation by this point, won't be as suspicious. We can't be on friendly terms at one moment and then look like we're enemies the next."

Ed tried to act like it was perfectly normal as Mustang followed through on his warning. He was very glad for said warning, otherwise he'd be too creeped out. Also, the last time anyone had rubbed his head he hadn't been double digits yet.

...Although, to be fair, it was actually a lot less daunting than when the seven foot tall muscleman that was married to Teacher... and who happened to also be a butcher, had done it during their training.

"I'm gonna tell them that we were making evil plans about you making giant explosions shaped like horned dragons and stuff. You should be able to do that, right?"

The Colonel nodded, removing his hand from Ed's hair. "I'll see what I can do, and yes, I am certainly capable of making horned dragons. Although I won't do that if everyone is going to know it beforehand, so I'll just give them an even better spectacle."

The statement was met by a raised eyebrow and a scoff, although it looked good-naturedly to their spectators. "I'll go tell the other teachers not to try to intervene. You're obviously planning to show off." He turned to leave, but then thought of something. "Hey, ask Dumbledore to place the Lieutenant next to Professor McGonagall at the teachers' table, they should get along pretty well."

"Sounds like a good idea. I'll ask Professor Dumbledore to put up the see-through protective barrier."

Ed nodded and watched as his boss took his amulet back on. He was about to do the same, when the Colonel did it for him. "You've got a lot of students watching, and having you take it on with one hand in front of all those students, could have resulted in you getting laughed at as it got caught over your ear."

Ed sighed. "I can't wait for our sparring match, Uncle Roy. I told the others about it too, so there are a lot of people that are gonna watch. So it's probably a good thing that they get to see how powerful your alchemy is now... Seeing as how our sparring match won't involve alchemy or any weapons."

"Just as usual, then. I'm curious about how your fighting will be with that new automail. Now go warn the other teachers."

"Yeah, have fun scaring everyone shitless."

"Of course, Edward."

And so Ed walked off. Or limped off.

He was met by a fair few confused and curious faces.

...Or more like a hundred and fifty of them.

But once the explanations were over, Ed soon found himself standing next to Harry and Ron, Hermione to his left and Al behind them. And so Dumbledore put up the invisible shield, making people even more alarmed and excited at the same time.

Then the old wizard made a tree appear, making it glow so as to be visible in the darkness of the afternoon.

People began murmuring, confusion evident.

"This is merely a way to demonstrate the exact force and deadliness of a gun," Mustang explained in a lot more serious tone than that of a showman, which was a good idea. "They might not seem too powerful, but if you would show them just what a bullet from each of your guns does to the tree trunk, Lieutenant, then I think it would be highly educational. And just as a warning, it can be rather loud."

Hawkeye did as she was told.

Many gasped at the way the tree was mutilated by her artillery. A few even screamed.

...Most of the screamers happened to be from the unofficial Colonel Mustang fan club. Ed had a feeling that they were doing so because they were imagining the Lieutenant doing that to them, if they were to flirt with her boss again.

"As you can see, guns are quick, deadly, and many are capable of going straight through someone's head," Mustang continued, before snapping the fingers of his left hand, setting the tree on fire and reducing it to a pile of ashes within ten seconds.

People gasped again, obviously getting a bit worried.

"Bloody hell, mate..." Ron exclaimed in an awed and terrified whisper. "I didn't think that they could do that."

Ed felt a bit like letting them know just how similar it could be to magic, what with the parts about how it could be used for good or bad. How it could be used to slaughter and kill just like it had been with magic during their war with Voldemort and the Death Eaters. But he honestly didn't think it was a good idea to alert these pretty innocent masses, save the teachers who had been old enough to remember Voldemort's reign, about how their teacher and his assistant were mass murderers.

Which was exactly why Ed had recommended that Winry kept working on the automail during the demonstration. She had wanted to meet Lieutenant Hawkeye, due to reasons that Ed hadn't actually known about up till then. Because Winry had apparently hit it off with her when they met in Resembool two years ago.

Edward had been a bit too busy with having been recruited by the then Lieutenant Colonel Mustang in the living room. But when Ed had needed to explain to people just what guns were, and had begun realising that a demonstration had been a good idea, he had sent Winry away. She had learnt to accept what soldiers did, but she still didn't like it. And Ed didn't blame her for it, considering how her parents had been killed during the war in Ishbal, even if they had only been there as field surgeons. And so he had decided that it was better that she didn't watch as the "Hero of Ishbal" made a light show. Nor when the "Hawk's Eye" that had been placed in the middle of an extermination campaign whilst still in the military academy, just because of her skills, was giving a demonstration.

...And he was very relieved, in a way, to know that the Colonel had been stationed in a completely different region at the time of Uncle and Auntie Rockbell's deaths.

But at the same time, if the Colonel hadn't been there in Ishbal and been able to fulfil his duty so efficiently, then Resembool might have been completely eradicated. It hadn't exactly been fun, what with the Ishbalans attacking Resembool just because of their large amounts of sheep. Sheep whose wool was used to make the military uniforms.

...It had probably helped, though, that a large part of their training had been during the last six months of the war. Basically, trying not to die by the hands of Izumi Curtis had been an excellent form of distraction. And then the war had ended just before they had returned to Resembool.

...Only for them to go and commit alchemy's greatest crime by trying to bring Mom back within a year of their return.

And then get a pissed off State Alchemist pull him out of his wheelchair by his jumper and yell at him.

Not that Ed blamed said State Alchemist for yelling at him like that, though. The guy had had every reason to do so. He should have arrested Ed and sent Al off to some lab because he wasn't exactly a usual case...

But instead the guy had decided to recruit Ed and give him a way to get Al his body back. As a State Alchemist, Ed had access to the most advanced alchemic research in the country. He'd have just been sitting still in a wheelchair, feeling guilty and without any way to fix things. He wouldn't exactly have thought that becoming a State Alchemist as a preteen was even an option. So now said guy had basically been risking his life by not telling on them, should they be found out. But at least, as the one who had recruited Ed, the guy had become his CO so their secret was a bit safer.

...So Ed knew he owed the guy a lot.

But he also knew that the guy was a womanising bastard.

A womanising bastard that was currently scaring those around Ed shitless.

...Together with the woman who was, technically speaking, Ed's subordinate.

And the Colonel was weird and annoying and planning on becoming Führer and Lieutenant Hawkeye was following him... So Ed supposed that she must have some reason to think that that is a good idea.

...Although Ed was looking very much forwards to being able to punch him in front of the whole school in a week.

Just because the guy was still a smug, womanising, manipulative bastard that enjoyed calling Ed "small."

"He ended the demonstration by making giant flame beasts shaped like the four animals that are the symbols of the different houses..." Ed muttered to himself, shaking his head in exasperation. Nobody else heard him because of the Gryffindors cheering around him while Dumbledore was removing the invisible shield. It had been completely unnecessary, but the others probably wouldn't have felt too safe without it.

Because apparently perfectly controlled science was scarier than a special twig.

"I would never have guessed that he could do something as big as that..." Ron said, still awed. "I thought like some small explosions... But that... And he did it without magic and he was just snapping his fingers..."

Hermione looked a bit pale. "It makes sense now, why he wouldn't teach that on to anyone. If the knowledge of how to use flame alchemy that way reached the wrong people..."

"You know, Ed, you're beginning to pale in comparison..." Fred suddenly teased from his left.

Ed turned around, glaring. "Just wait until I get my arm and turn your beloved quidditch pitch into a two hundred metre deep pit by clapping my hands."

Fred paused at that. "Come to think about it, we haven't actually seen just how much you're capable of doing."

An idea suddenly struck the young alchemist, and he grinned. "You know what, I'll give you one hell of a quidditch training session when it comes to dodging obstacles... I'd say that giant hands shooting out of the ground to grab you, would make for an excellent break from bludgers. Oliver Wood most likely agree to prepare you for everything in your upcoming match."

Both twins' eyebrows rose. "You know, Ed, I'm beginning to think it's a good thing that you don't like brooms..." George said, biting his lip.

Ed looked at him. "It's not like I would actually have stabbed you with a spear."

"Edward, just being chased by you on a broomstick with one is terrifying enough," Harry suddenly added.

Ed turned to his brother. "I really can't decide if it would have been a good or a bad idea to introduce these people to Teacher."

The fact that an unfeeling suit of armour began shivering, really just told Ed everything that he needed to know.

"You know, George, we should definitely make some sort of rifle," came Fred's voice all of a sudden, the boy grinning mischievously.

"Oh, I quite agree... And as for ammun-"

"I will tell Mother," Percy said quickly and sternly. "Lieutenant Hawkeye made it very clear that you do not play with guns. They are highly effective and deadly weapons and-"

Fred groaned. "Oh, shut up, Percy. We were planning on something like chocolate bullets... We're mischief-makers, not psychotic killers who want to shoot our Slytherin enemies to win during our match."

"Sounds like a very good decision, also because you shouldn't try to learn how to shoot a rifle while sitting on a stick in mid-air," came a familiar voice behind Ed, and he turned around to see Lieutenant Hawkeye. She looked slightly stern, but there was a small, good-natured glint in her eye.

Those around them froze except for Al, who politely bowed. "It's nice to see you again, Lieutenant Hawkeye."

"You too, Alphonse."

"Lieutenant Hawkeye, please allow me to take your luggage inside the Entrance Hall. As a Prefect, it is my duty to welcome our new guests, especially as you will be the assistant teacher to Professor Mustang," Percy announced importantly. Ed was fairly certain that he did it to show her how a proper Weasley was supposed to act after his brothers had been so disrespectful of her craft and had obviously brought shame upon their entire family and whatnot.

The Lieutenant bowed, holding out her suitcase, which he took almost immediately, but with great respect and dignity. "Thank you. It's Percy Weasley, right?"

Percy looked like his dreams had come true about being recognised without even stating his name. It was a good thing that Ed had warned Fred and George not to snicker at Percy around her. "It is indeed, Lieutenant Hawkeye, and I hope that you will find Hogwarts to live up to your expectations as we are honoured to have such esteemed officers like yourselves as our tutors."

"I'm very happy to be here, thank you, Mister Weasley."

Percy looked like he wanted to skip, but he was far too dignified to do such a thing, and walked away with his chest puffed out.

"I think Dad's rubbing off on him..." George said with a frown, caught between grinning and groaning. Then he whipped back around and extended his hand to Lieutenant Hawkeye, smiling pleasantly. "Hello, Lieutenant Hawkeye, I'm George Weasley, year three, and this is my brother, Fred. And please don't think that we will make light of the danger of either your guns or of our alchemy lessons..."

The next ten minutes disappeared in pleasantries, introductions, fear, awe, chatter, and unusually polite students. Apparently the Lieutenant had earned very, very, very much respect from the students, especially as she still carried her guns in her satchel and people didn't know just how many there were in there. Plus, it was obvious that with her speed and the speed of the bullets, most students wouldn't exactly have been able to defend themselves with their spells. Or have time to put up a shield or similar, should she come out of the blue.

"Ed, I think the Colonel wants a word," Al said, pointing, and Ed turned around towards the man that was currently walking in their direction, Dumbledore next to him.

And so Ed began walking towards them in turn, looking at his boss and at the old wizard. "Hey, what's up?"

Dumbledore chuckled at that. "Well, I spoke with your uncle, and what with your equivalent exchange, it is only fair that we get to give our guests a proper spectacle ourselves."

"WAKE UP, ED!" came a loud and excited voice, and he opened his eyes to find a leg floating in the air above him.

There were a series of yelps that followed the exclamation, and more specifically: a series of yelps from the occupants of the other beds in the room.

...Besides the one yelp that was accompanied by a distinct "thump", as the prosthesis above his head was being shaken by its holder in excitement.

"Oh, come on, Neville, it's not a real leg!" came Ron's exasperated voice as people began getting out of bed.

"S-sorry, Miss Rockbell..." Neville's voice was quiet and awkward, and Ed just tried to get his bearings somewhat after the very abrupt awakening, still looking up at the prosthetic limb above him.

"No, that's okay, don't worry. I'm sorry I scared you, Neville. And you can just call me Winry," came the much more gentle and kind tone of voice than the one that had given Ed partial heart failure a few seconds ago.

"Oh, thanks, Winry... And good morning," Neville said awkwardly as the shuffling on the floorboards indicated that the boy was getting back in his bed.

"You too." Then Ed suddenly had a familiar face lean over the limb, and she had stars in her eyes. "Hermione helped me, so now your leg's ready! Now come upstairs so that we can attach it!"

Ed sat up, feeling both relieved and confused and a bit grumpy at the fact that Winry had suddenly finished the limb that wasn't supposed to be ready before in another two days. "But I thought the deal was no all-nighters. And Al was supposed to stop you from doing them..." Then realisation hit him as his mind caught more and more up on what she had said.

...Because he had a strange feeling that if Winry and Hermione had ganged up on Al, then his little brother had probably backed down. And Ed couldn't help but think that that had maybe even been a good decision.

And so he sat up, Winry grinning as she stood back to let him get out of his bed. "Don't worry, Edward! We both made sure to get eight hours of sleep!"

Ed already knew what that meant. Namely four hours of sleep each added together... And probably spread out over the past two nights.

...At the same time, he'd rather not get yelled at or get into an argument in front of his classmates when he was actually about to stop limping a few days early. And so he got up, looking at the limb in surprise. "This looks really different from my old one..." He felt a bit nervous about that fact. No matter how good the Rockbells were at their craft, Ed was now the first one to try out Winry's first automail limb that was specifically meant for cold climates and was therefore made from some very different materials than usual.

...Plus, Ed was getting it five days early. That wasn't necessarily a good sign.

"I know!" Winry said excitedly, looking like she barely kept herself from doing a pirouette of ecstasy. "We've worked extra hard since the Colonel told us that we'd be going to visit Hogsmeade today! And so I thought that if we focused on your leg instead of building both limbs at the same time, even if it's easier to compare them when not doing them separately, at least you'd get to walk normally sooner! And since you have lessons tomorrow and this really is a big castle that makes it hard to move around with the spare leg too, we decided to work our butts off! And Hermione's a natural, you know, and she's been helping me a lot! So come on, come on, come on!" she said in a long stream of words of excitement.

And so Ed just followed her upstairs, his classmates not having dared to say a single word as they left the room, other than giving him a couple of concerned looks and a mouthed "good luck" from Harry and Ron.

...Ed had to admit, fifteen minutes later, that reconnecting the nerves was just as fun, no matter what sort of automail he had

And that Winry and Hermione may be one hell of a team, but they were also more efficient than the two Rockbells, because the two girls seemed to run on batteries and Hermione was a quick study and not a tiny, old lady. And her ability to learn things by heart had basically made it so that he was now faced with two Winry Rockbells... Which meant that those thirty-eight hours made complete sense now.

...And damn it if it wasn't scary that Hermione too now had a beige boiler suit and a bandanna. And Al was currently sitting in the common room instead with a book of wizards' fairytales so as to give the three of them some more space now when they were attaching the new leg.

And so what remained was testing the way that it moved and-

"Wow, It's so light!" he exclaimed, unable to hide his surprise as he walked over to the nearest wall and began testing just how good the flexibility was. Then he frowned and turned towards Winry. "And it's not any weaker than the old one?"

"Only a bit. We can make you a shin guard for later if you're worried, but you won't exactly be in need of one to go to a peaceful village." She gave him a slightly threatening look as if daring him to have any trolls falling on him again.

Ed shrugged, feeling really awkward about the sort of weightlessness of his new leg, compared to his old one. "Yeah, I'll try to-"

He paused as realisation struck him as he looked at Hermione's red and baggy eyes, and he sighed. "This is about you trying to make up for the troll, isn't it?"

A red patch began to spread on both of the younger girl's cheeks. "I really just found it interesting and it is absolutely fascinating with working on the automail and I just wanted to help a bit more so that you could get to try it out when you're in Hogsmeade... I've read a lot about it, you see, and it sounds really fascinating and I'd hate for you to have less fun with it than you would have done with your automail leg in order... And-"

Ed sighed again. "Hermione, please stop feeling so guilty about it. When it comes to equivalent exchange, I'm seriously becoming the one who owes you. Remember, without the troll crushing my leg, I could have ended up without my brother and the Rockbells for a whole ten months, with some frostbite included... So please don't worry... And go get some sleep, you've definitely deserved it." He looked to Winry as well. Both girls were being stupid in their eagerness to help. Because Winry had also been very worried about Ed limping around the castle when there were students that didn't exactly like him. "And you too, Winry. We're not leaving for another three hours, and I'm gonna have Riza guard you if you do any more all-nighters."

Ed was grateful that he had remembered to tell Al and Winry that Hermione already knew about how he was undercover.

...Had Hermione not known, then they would have needed to find Dumbledore and make him obliviate her because Ed had called Al his brother. And there was something ominous about how "obliviate" sounded.

It was when he found himself opening the door to his dormitory ten minutes later, Al now having moved upstairs to guard Winry's state of consciousness, that he realised that it was because "obliviate" and "obliterate" sounded pretty similar. And the thought of people with sticks firing flashes of light at people to obliterate their memories, made him even more certain that he enjoyed his own Muggledom.

Because if these people could make up weird words, then so could Ed. And so he would make sure that by the time that the summer term ended, "Muggledom" would be in the dictionaries of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

But that would come after he had used his newfound mobility to go up to the Owlery with his little brother and say hello to the animal named after him.

...Although his first priority right now was a toilet and some coffee.

And so it's review time! :)

Realmwalkerdragon: They will indeed have to watch out, very much indeed... XD

Grizzly98: Wow, thanks for all those kind words! It really means a lot to hear you say that, thank you!

Guest: Yes, Hawkeye indeed... :)

Lomealaure: Thank you! I hope you liked it!