Hello! Hi! Happy Monday!

Sorry for the delay, my friends! It's been a hell of a two weeks so things didn't get done here quiet as quickly as I had hoped.

As always, thank you all for your amazing comments and kudos!

Enjoy~

Liquid fire across his chest pulled Ed back to awareness again, supposedly not long after he had originally fallen unconscious.

He was still laying on the ground, his chest still aflame, although he could hear soft murmuring. Belatedly he noticed numbness slowly taking over the pain across his chest, forcing him to open his eyes.

Severus leaned over him, blood still leaking down the side of his face, tracing his wand slowly over the claw marks on Ed's chest. Despite the man's efforts the wounds continued to bleed sluggishly, although the burning had been temporarily dampened.

"Stay still," Severus grunted between incantations when he noticed Ed staring up at him. "You've lost a lot of blood."

"Severus," Ed croaked, ignoring the man to grasp at his free arm. "The Dementors…they were headed towards them…"

Severus shook his head again, finishing up his stabilization spell and casting another to bind Ed's chest in bandages, "They were scattering back to their posts when I woke up a few minutes ago. But I decided to save your ass first."

Ed let out a hoarse chuckle, as Severus stood, conjuring two floating stretchers. "Thanks…Severus" He groaned again, as he was levitated onto the stretcher, gasping hoarsely as his limp automail leg twisted slightly. "Win's gonna kill me…" Severus paused, glancing down at him with a quirked brow. "Promised her I wouldn't fuck up m' leg…"

Severus nodded, taking a long look down at the ruined prosthetic, "Better than being infected."

Ed huffed, "I guess…What a fucking night…"

Severus grunted in agreement, moving a few other paces away to dump Weasley onto the other stretcher, "What a fucking year."

Ed relaxed into the canvas as the stretcher floated over to stay beside Severus' hip, "You can say that again."

He could feel himself slipping in and out of consciousness as they moved into the forest, and to the shore of a lake. When the stretcher stopped, Ed turned his head to blearily watch Severus conjure three more stretchers for Harry, Hermione, and Black.

All three looked extremely pale, but the kids looked mostly unharmed, while Black seemed to have a number of physical wounds from his fight with Remus. After a quick inspection of the three, Severus lifted the kids onto their stretchers.

When they were settled, he turned to cast a spell to bind and gag Black before dropping him unceremoniously on the final stretcher.

Ed could feel himself sliding back into numbness again as Severus started back up to the castle. He lulled his head away, staring dimly across the still water of the lake. In the distance something in the shadows shifted, and two forms peeked out from behind the bushes, although the darkening of his vision made it hard to know if it was reality.

When Ed woke again, he was still floating, only this time he didn't have something beneath him. Poppy was winding soaking bandages around his chest that she pulled from a basin of silvery liquid. As the damp bandages encountered the throbbing claw marks a sharp pain spiked through them, followed closely by soothing numbness. With a final strand that she tucked under his right arm, Poppy lowered him down to the soft bed beneath him.

"You're very lucky young man," she glared at him, as she took what looked like a large paint brush and dipped it into the remaining liquid. "If Remus had bitten you, you'd be wandering the woods with him right now."

"Technically he did," Ed's throat was raw, as Poppy started brushing the leftover liquid over the bandages, making sure they were fully saturated. He lifted his still armored arm, the deep divots in the metal from Remus' fangs catching in the dim candlelight. One of the scratches dug through the transmutation circle, rendering it useless, but Ed was able to clap and revert the metal into it's original form.

"It's the saliva and blood that you need to worry about," Poppy shook her head and swatted Ed's hands still. She finished painting the excess liquid over the bandages binding his chest, before reaching over and unbuckling the armor plate for him. "Which you luckily didn't come in contact with. The silver dittany mixture I soaked those bandages in is enough to seal the wounds, but they will scar."

Ed chuckled bitterly, "Add 'em to the list."

Poppy shook her head, eyes drifting first to Ed's scarred shoulder then down to his abdomen, where she knew the scar continued to his back. She placed the metal plate onto the side table, next to where Ed's wand and holstered gun already lay. "Although...you may find yourself being more irritable during the full moon, and more of a fondness for red meat."

Ed snorted, knowing that she actually wasn't kidding with him. He tried to shift, gritting his teeth as his automail leg twisted again, the nerves flaring up angrily. His soft groan caused Poppy to look over sharply, her eyes flickering down to his mangled prosthetic.

"I apologize, Edward," Poppy rested her hand on his upper arm. "I wasn't sure what to do about your leg."

"Something in the port is messed up," Ed grunted, trying fruitlessly to sit up. Poppy looked like she wanted to protest but decided instead to help prop him up against a large pile of pillows. "I can't fix it, so we'll have to take it off."

"We?" Poppy looked uncomfortable for a moment, before taking a deep breath to steel herself. "And how will we do that?"

"I need my maintenance kit from my rooms," Ed tried his best to inspect the port from the outside, prodding at the angry swollen muscle where skin met metal. There was obviously nothing he could do without Winry. "In there are a couple tools needed to release the mechanisms. It's a two-person job."

After a string of hostage and kidnapping situations involving automail being removed against the victim's will – including Ed's own abduction – Winry and a lot of other automail makers implemented a two-person release system for the prosthetic.

Poppy nodded and summoned a house elf, who disappeared right after Ed gave a quick description.

While they waited for the small creature to return, they cut away the rest of the ruined slacks Ed wore, revealing the angry red skin surrounding the port. A moment later Ed had his maintenance kit on the bed next to him.

Small releasing key in hand, Ed handed the other to Poppy and directed her to the small hatch on the actual automail leg. Once she had the key in place Ed got his own key into the latch on the port, which released the latch he could pull in order to disconnect the nerves and release the leg.

Taking in a deep breath Ed met Poppy's eyes, "On three, twist. The leg will release, and the nerves will disconnect. You might need to pull it fully out of the port…I'm really hoping the damage won't keep it stuck."

Despite Ed's bad grammar Poppy nodded, hard resolve in her face, "Okay, on three."

"One…two…three-Geh!" Ed grit his teeth and choked back a yell as something caught and grit. Ed threw his head back and jerked against the pillow, all of his nerves aflame. Poppy yanked at the automail leg, fully disconnecting everything with one last agonizing blaze of pain. Ed squeezed his eyes shut, panting as tremors of pain wracked up from his stump all the way up his spine and down to his fingertips. "Holy shitting mother fucking Truth's pasty white streak of piss, that's the fucking worst," Ed cursed in Amestrian.

Poppy still gave Ed a disapproving look, knowing that he was cursing, "Is it always this painful?" She attempted to lift the mangled prosthetic off the bed, only to blink in surprise when it turned out to be on the verge of too heavy.

Ed tried his best to even out his breathing as he shook his head, "Yes? And no? Usually it's a lot of pain pretty quickly, enough that fully grown men would cry from, but this was worse. Something was shifted or jammed or something, so the nerves inside the leg got caught and continued to hurt."

"I'm sorry," Poppy looked pale, as she levitated the leg into the wooden case Ed had the house elf bring in along with the kit and placed the whole thing under Ed's bed.

"That's the sacrifice to have for such an advanced prosthetic," They both jumped, Ed's eyes briefly flickering towards his holstered gun on the table next to him, as Dumbledore came from around the privacy screen that Poppy had pulled around Ed's bed.

"Correct Albus, and that's why we make it a habit not to remove automail," Ed sighed softly, as he accepted the thin vest like shirt from Poppy and pulled it on. It was a light grey color and reminded him of the standard scrubs he would get in the hospitals in Amestris. "But that was necessary. Where are the kids? And Severus and Black."

Poppy huffed as she turned back over to the small side table next to his bed, plucking up a couple of glass vials.

She sent a sharp look at the Headmaster as she uncorked and handed Ed a red potion and a thicker light blue potion, "Blood replenishing potion, and a pain reliving potion. Please don't keep him up long, he needs rest."

The second comment was directed towards Dumbledore, as Ed chocked down the foul-tasting liquids. With the potions administered Poppy nodded to Dumbledore again before stepping around the privacy screen.

Dumbledore gave Ed a long look, eyes taking in Ed's missing leg and bandaged chest. He knew he looked like shit.

"Black is currently restrained up in Filius' office, as we wait for the Minister to arrive to order the dementors to administer a kiss," Dumbledore said, once Poppy was out of earshot. The old man turned and flicked his wand, and the privacy curtains turned transparent. Or one way Ed assumed, as he turned to look through them and noticed Poppy didn't react at all. Potter lay a couple empty beds over, with Granger in the next bed and Weasley across the center aisle. "Severus is waiting for the Minister to wake up and get dressed, and the students are here. Now, what happened tonight?"

Ed let out a tired sigh, as he launched into an explanation of what happened during the past few hours. Dumbledore settled into the chair next to Ed's bed as he listened to his report in silence, his eyebrows knit, before letting out a thoughtful hum.

"But with Pettigrew gone, there's no way to prove Black's innocence," Ed was fighting bone deep exhaustion as he finished his report, head lolling back onto the pillows, the effort to speak English was too much. At some point during his report he had slipped back into his mother tongue. "And the last thing we need is Black getting a dementor kiss right now."

"I'm going to speak with Black," Dumbledore stood. "Afterwards we can decided if we need more time."

This grabbed Ed's attention, his eyebrows pinching as a sharp flicker of anger lit at the implication. He glared as he tried to straighten, thankfully still numb, speaking sharply, "You're going to send Potter and Granger back in time. Putting those children in even more danger?!"

"I don't doubt their abilities, and if what you claim is correct there would be little danger." Dumbledore said firmly, pressing a platinating hand on Ed's shoulder.

Other than the feral werewolf roaming the forest? Right. Safe.

Ed grit his teeth, knowing there was little he could do in his current position, especially as a wave of both exhaustion and nausea struck him. Something in the back of his mind remembered the look of pain-laced frustrated anger that had flickered across Roy's face all those years ago. Now he truly understood why he had been so reluctant to leave as they had pulled him into the back of the car, just before Ed had gotten Ling and himself 'eaten' by Gluttony.

"But anyway, thank you for protecting them, Edward," Dumbledore obviously took advantage of Ed's paling face and uncomfortable slump. "You did a good job, now get some rest and we can discuss how we're getting your mechanic here in the morning."

Ed huffed tiredly, watching Dumbledore exit the hospital wing through half lidded eyes. Luckily he left the charm on the curtains, allowing Ed to look out at Poppy bustling around the still unconscious students.

As much as he wanted to lay back and sleep, he reached out and grabbed his wand. Tenderly he eased himself up against the pillows, flicking the wand to summon a scrap of parchment and the pen he kept in his maintenance kit. After a moment of thought he scribbled a quick note, tucking both away, just as Poppy came back to Ed's bedside to help him lay back.

Finally letting his eyes slip close, Ed allowed his mind to drift towards sleep.

It was just as he was truly starting to fall asleep, voices drifted through the open doors of the Hospital wing, drawing him back to awareness.

Prying his eyes open, Ed glared up at the vaulted ceilings, rolling his eyes as he idly listened to Severus' altered version of the night.

The voices drew in closer, as what Ed assumed was the Minister's voice rang out again, "What amazes me, is the behavior of the dementors…you really don't know what caused them to retreat?"

"No, sir. They had already gone back to their posts by the time I had come 'round."

"Extordinary…and Black, Harry and the girl?"

"All unconscious by the time I got there. I…"

Subtle shifting out of the corner of his eye drew Ed's attention across the room.

It seemed that the two students were awake, Hermione twitching awake then stiffening. Across from her Harry had shifted to grab his glasses, before stilling too.

They were obviously trying their best to eavesdrop on the conversation, judging from the finger Hermione pressed to her lips when Harry had moved.

Despite their effort, Poppy bustling between the two carrying what looked like a small boulder of chocolate drowned out the remainder of Severus' comments.

"Ah! You're awake!" Poppy dropped the chocolate on the bedside table, pulling out a small hammer to start breaking it apart.

"How's Ron?" Both of the students immediately asked, sitting up in their beds.

"He'll live."

"And Professor Elric?" Hermione asked next, looking around the Hospital wing and lingering on the privacy curtain surrounding the area around Ed's own bed. "His leg! He – he got bitten! Protecting us!"

"Professor Elric has already been taken care off, no need to worry about him," Poppy breezed past their questions, waving a dismissive hand. "As for you two. You'll be staying here until I'm satisfied with you – Potter! What do you think you're doing?!"

From what Ed could see the boy had shuffled over to grab at his wand and stuff his glasses on his face, "I need to go see the headmaster."

Poppy's voice was soothing as she reassured them softly, apparently saying the wrong thing, because both students jumped out of bed. Harry's startled yell rang though the large open room and out to the corridor outside the ward.

Unsurprisingly the shout caused Severus and the Minister to come in from the hall, looking concerned. Or irritated from what Ed could see of Severus' face.

Luckily the privacy divider kept Ed out of the resulting arguments, although he found them wanting to defend Black commendable. But he didn't have the patience to deal with all that right now.

Ed could do without all the yelling though.

A few, moments later Severus and the Minister were sent out by Dumbledore who had returned from his talk with Black. The two students continued to argue Black's innocence, too determined to convince Dumbledore to hear him.

Eventually the headmaster managed to get Poppy to retreat into her office, in order to start telling the two teens what they had to do.

When Dumbledore had turned on his heel to start going towards the door, Ed finally spoke up.

"Hold on a moment, Harry…Hermine," Ed called out, watching as both the teens jumped, looking at each other in shock before turning to the privacy curtain. Hermione looked towards Dumbledore's nod before shuffling over to stop outside of the curtain, Harry trailing a few steps behind her.

"Come over here…please," Ed sighed, not bothering to sit up as he reached to the bedside table to grab the note he had written out earlier.

She hesitated for a few seconds before sliding the gap open just enough for her to slip through, Harry's wide green eyes peaking in behind her curiously.

"Professor…" Hermione gasped softly, as she shuffled forward to his bedside. Her eyes traced the thick bandages peaking from under his shirt, before zeroing in on the space his leg should be. "How? How're you okay? Why – Professor your leg..."

"My leg has been gone longer than you've both been alive," Ed grunted, waving off the alarmed looks, "the prosthetic got fucked, but I'll be fine. Didn't get bit. But that's not what's important right now. I need you to give this to Black, before he gets away."

Ed pressed the folded note to Hermione's hand, who took it and tucked it into her robes with a determined nod. She then turned on her heel, pausing briefly when she realized that the curtains were one way, before continuing back over to Harry.

"Three turns, Miss Granger," Dumbledore reminded her one last time as he slid the doors shut with a muted thump. "Good luck."

"Good luck? What –?"

Hermione ignored Harry's confused questions to throw the golden chain around his neck, the girl giving Ed one more look before flicking the device enough times.

A moment later the two disappeared.

The hospital wing was still for about 10 seconds, before the door opened once again, Harry and Hermione slipped in. After glancing at each other, they quietly shuffled across the room to their beds, Harry sending Ed a silent thumbs up.

Just as the two made it to their beds and settled back down inconspicuously, Poppy stalked out of her office.

Ed allowed his eyes to drift close again, as she stood between the two students to make sure they had plenty of the chocolate she had brought out.

His attempt to fall asleep were once again thwarted by a distant roar of rage from somewhere above them.

"What in the world? They're going to wake the whole castle!" Poppy huffed angrily as the distant yelling got louder and louder.

CRASH.

Once again Ed was relived for the privacy curtain, as the door to the hospital wing was thrown open.

Severus stormed in, followed a few paces behind by the Minister and Dumbledore. Dumbledore looked calm, a poorly concealed look of entertainment on his face. The Minister also looked angry, but seemed more concerned with the fact that Severus was currently yelling at Harry.

The potion master was red with rage, loudly accusing Harry of helping Black.

Ed's head throbbed, sparking his temper as Severus kept yelling, despite the Minister's attempt to stop him.

"Now Severus – "

"Oi jackasses! This is an infirmary, can someone one tell me why in Truth's crusty white-ass ball sack is there so much FUCKING YELLING?!" Ed snarled loudly, pushing himself up on an elbow to grab his wand. He used it to throw the curtains out of the way as he raised his voice to a shout. The hospital wing was dead silent as the group gaped at Ed, who glared daggers at them.

"Some of us have been trying to get some fucking sleep, unlike Potter and Granger, who've been sitting there bitching for the past ten minutes because Dumbledore locked the Truth damned door," Ed made sure to fling a hand out to gesticulate over to where Potter and Granger sat up in their beds, looking vaguely traumatized. "Despite the fact that it's the middle of a very long fucking night!"

Ed's voice rang though the stunned silence that overtook the hospital wing.

"E-Edward! You shouldn't-!" Poppy was the first to break the silence, quickly crossing the room to push Ed back down against his pillows, tutting loudly as she took in the spots of blood that had started to dot through his shift.

"Severus, none of these students have left their beds since Albus locked them in!" Poppy snapped, crossing the room to grab a vial and go back to Ed's beside. "Now out! Let my patients rest!"

Ed was distracted from Severus storming out and Dumbledor's explanation of who he was over the minister's sputtering questions by the purple tinted potion that was shoved in his face.

"Drink," Poppy commanded, pulling out her wand to tap at his bandaged chest. "It's a dreamless sleep. And you need to rest."

Ed quietly chocked down the potion, quickly feeling the effects of the magical liquid take effect. Across the room the two teenagers had been taken over with muffled, hysteric giggles. Besides them Weasley had started to shift, waking to groggily ask the other two teens what had happened.

Finally, he allowed himself to fully drift, falling back into unconsciousness as Poppy pulled the curtains back closed.

We are nearing the end! But not quite, I do have a few more things up my sleeve ; ) Some of you may have noticed, the chapter count has gone up! And it may go up again if things keep going the way that are, but I don't think that's a bad thing ^-^

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, let us know what you thought! We greatly appreciate and read (and reread!) every one!

I hope you have a wonderful morning/day/night or whenever you're reading this and we'll see you soon!