Author's Note: Hey all, long time no see! At least this gap was only about two months. Wow is college kicking my ass. We have hit our 200th review, 300th favorite, and we're kissing up on our 600th follow. Thank you everyone for supporting this fic of mine, I really appreciate every one of you. Shout out to guest reviewer Socks for being lucky number 200! (As well as 194-9 and 201, lol.) Thank you all for your encouragement and critique – never would have made it past my 12 year old sue-thor phase without y'all.

Disclaimer: The fanfiction writer known as WolfishMoon owns neitherJ.K. Rowling's Harry Potter nor Hiromu Arakawa's Fullmetal Alchemist. She never claims the contrary and makes no money from the online publication of this free-to-read fanwork.

Chapter 14

Resignation

Hermione loved her vine wand – the careful scrollwork that wrapped around the piece and paid homage to the origins of the material had attracted her from the first. Even before she picked it up Hermione had known that it would be her wand, despite the otherwise arduous selection process.

When Alphonse asked to compare, eyes alight with excitement and pride, Hermione felt ready for a good session of humble-bragging. She hadn't expected Professor Elric's gentle younger brother to be a wielder of a warrior's wand. Hermione tilted her head, and made an attempt to reevaluate her opinion of the boy. "That's quite the wand," she said. All around the room, others had pulled out their own wands for Al's comparison.

"You're a proper wizard, now!" Ginny said, bopping him on the nose with her darkly stained yew wand. It was almost as long as Al's wand, but only approached the line of absurdity that Alphonse's surpassed. Alphonse grinned, and everyone in the room laughed. Even Ed seemed to be in good humor over the whole thing.

As opposed as the alchemist seemed to magic, he wasn't begrudging his brother anything. That was good. Having had no siblings herself, Hermione's model for siblinghood had been the Weasley children's endless competition.

Ron resented the success of his brothers, Hermione thought. The twins had distanced themselves from the success of their predecessors by being successful in an entirely different vein. The love was there, but the resentment was there too.

There wasn't a trace of that in the Elrics. Well. Morning spars excepted. They seemed plenty competitive then. Hermione generally avoided watching it, but Ginny stalked the proceedings with a doggedness that really shouldn't have surprised her.

Hadn't Ginny done well at the Department of Mysteries? She rather had.

"Congratulations, Alphonse," Hermione said. "The wand suits you." The wand evidently thought so, even if Hermione couldn't yet see it.

"Yeah, mate!" Ron said. "Looks bloody wicked."

"Thanks!" Alphonse said. "I can't vait to try it."

"The instant we're on the train," Hermione said. "I promise I'll walk you through some of the spells."

"Zat sounds pervect!"

"Vhy can't he try it now?" Ed asked. Hermione sighed.

"It's illegal," Harry said. "Technically, it's for safety and for the Statute of Secrecy, but honestly for no damn good reason. Ministry tried to get me expelled last year for defending myself."

"Ah," Ed said, eyebrows shooting into his hair. "Governments do a lot ov crap vor no gut reason but to furzer zeir own agenda."

Harry just nodded, and Hermione felt a twinge of pity. "Tell me about it," said Ginny. Her voice was low and angry, and she was staring at Harry with such a fierce protectiveness that suddenly her motivation to learn how to fight like a muggle was clear.

The morning after the trip to Diagon Alley found Ed back in his classroom. "Will you be coming back in the fall?" said one girl. "I know this was like a trial period for you."

Ed winced, and noticed that Hermione did too. He had yet to hand in his notice to the principal, and it wouldn't do for her to get the info from the rumor mill. He shrugged. "Vee haff yet to discuss it," he said. And that was true. The fact that the conversation had been put off for so long said much for Jenkins's complacency on the matter.

She likely hoped Ed would stay, but had not yet given up on finding someone more qualified. He couldn't blame her. Who wanted a teenager teaching teenagers when they had any other option? The Beard Principal of the Pig Fungus school was an outlier, but the more he read about the wizarding world – he shuddered at the word – the more it seemed they started out in their lives sooner than their rational counterpart.

"They'd be bloody stupid not to keep you," said another student. He'd quite helpfully written Ed an English slang dictionary for extra credit. If that was the only reason the boy was passing, Ed wasn't going to say anything. Al didn't know about this little booklet, and therefore couldn't hide it from him.

There was a general murmur of agreement, and Ed didn't quite know what to do with the compliments. If Al weren't an issue, he'd let the wizarding world go hang, and he would stay right here.

"I hope zey do," Ed said. He found that he meant it – he couldn't stay, but he'd rather teach these delinquents Chemistry than teach a bunch of kids too used to the instant gratification of hocus-pocus Alchemy. "Anyvay. Get to zee benches. You all haff your lab packets, right?"

Predictably, several students had forgotten them. He sighed, handed out the extras, and contemplated how much bullshit the pre-lab section of their reports would end up being. The chorus of I did it, I swear, but my mom must've thrown it out with the mail! was getting old.

The three sections of his course went quickly. By the end of the day, the lecture was almost rote. But the lab was still engaging enough, he was sure. He checked his pocket watch and realized that he would have to run out of his last class if he wanted to catch Jenkins before she left. She was no more immune to Monday than anyone else, and at the beginning of the week she was marching out of the school far earlier than on any other day.

He bolted from the classroom when the bell rang, muttering his apologies to students who tried to catch his attention. "Tomorrow!" he promised, and was out of the door and down the hall like a shot.

"Come in?" said Jenkins from the other side of her oak office door when he knocked. She looked at him over her lilac-rimmed glasses frames. "What's wrong, Mr. Elric?"

He sat, although she hadn't said he could. "My brozer," he said. "He has been scouted – I suppose is zee right vord? – by a school."

"Which?" she asked, clearly expecting him to want advice as to whether or not to send him.

"It's in Scotland," he said, focusing his attention on the rough texture of the chair underneath his hands. "Und he must go. But I cannot let him go alone."

Jenkins laid her palms flat on the surface of her desk, eyes resigned. "Then I expect you've secured a teaching position there?"

Ed nodded, ignoring the knot of guilt in his stomach. "I might haff even applied to be schtudent, zere. But I don't qualify."

"Student?" Jenkins said. "Isn't Alphonse of high school age?"

Ed just stopped himself from swearing. "Vell, zat is vhy I don't qualify, ov course. Zey teach a very specialized curriculum, so I vould haff studied zere anyvay if zey allowed it."

Jenkins narrowed her eyes. "How specialized?"

"It's zee school Miss Granger goes to, in zee normal academic year," he said. "Specialized enough zat it vas not covered in my own education, but zey happen to be weak in zee sciences, so I ovvered to fill zee gaps."

Jenkins nodded slowly. "I'm not handing you over to some sort of cult, am I?"

Ed could not keep down a slightly hysterical laugh. "Nein," he said. Jenkins's eyes narrowed.

"That laugh isn't very reassuring, Mr. Elric," she said.

"It isn't a cult," he said, waving a hand in the air. "Vas my virst reaction, too, zough, ven Alphonse told me zat he vanted to go zere. I am his older brozer, and vhile I am his legal guardian I von't pretend to be his parent. He's free to make his own decisions about sings."

"You say that," said Jenkins. "But you'll disrupt your own career to make sure he makes those decisions safely."

"Vee haff followed each ozer into hell many times, Ms. Jenkins. At zis point, it's only returning zee favor."

Her gaze turned worriedly skeptical. "Following him into hell, are you? We can work out enrollment here for Alphonse, if that's a deal breaker." Perhaps comparing the Pig Fungus place to hell wasn't the best way to reassure Jenkins. Whoops.

"Cut zee shit. If you actually vanted me to schtay on, you vould haff informed me zat I vas hired vor school year a veek ago," Ed said.

"Probably," Jenkins admitted. "But the fact remains, I'm having trouble finding someone with more experience."

"If you can't vind someone more qualified, hire someone else stupidly young," Ed said. "I'm sure zat zere are ozer people fresh from school."

"Fair enough, I'll look through the applications again. Call some people for interviews." Jenkins hefted a file of what Ed presumed were applications and glared at it.

Ed knew that it wasn't ideal, but given that she already had someone underqualified, she probably hadn't bothered to review any other underqualified applicants. Jenkins put the file back down, said, "You have your final exam written, yes? Because if you need help, there should be copies of old exams for you to pull from."

"I haff zeir final practical planned," he said. "Just a few more math problems und I vill be done viz zee written." He handed her the written out copies of what he had planned. Jenkins nodded approvingly as she flipped through them.

"Are you sure I can't convince you to stay?" she asked as she turned over the final page. "These exams are refreshingly comprehensive."

"Unvortunately, no," Ed said. "But thank you vor giving me zee chance to teach zis summer. I needed zee opportunity, and I vill never forget your kindness."

"You're welcome," she said, and the conversation turned trivial as Ed packed his exam questions back into his briefcase. Since coming to this world, Ed had found more than his share of helpful people. From the librarian at the University of Berlin, to the landlord that was always patient with rent, and finally to the principal of this high school, Ed had been eased into the struggles of providing for himself and Al without a military stipend.

"Enjoy zee rest ov your day," Ed said, and gently closed the door behind him. There were only two weeks till the end of the summer semester, but from the girl who did not understand biology but was rather good at math, to the boy who would have failed if not for the slang dictionary, Ed had grown fond of his students.

He'd grown fond of his classroom, fond of the instruction bench at the fore of the room. Fond of the student benches, and the cabinets filled with more spare glassware than he'd ever seen – the students broke things regularly, and no State Alchemist lab could really afford that many spares.

He'd even taken some of those spares and set up a bench in his flat. Ed winced, realizing that he'd not paid his rent since he was kidnapped by the pocus-people. He wondered if his landlord had checked the flat yet, and what he thought about the bench that held his experiments.

Shit, Ed thought. Some of those experiments were oxygen reactive. God damn it. Well. With any luck they'd not been opened. And if they had, perhaps the fire had been contained. He walked out of the school, blinked at the sunlight.

Sitting on one of the benches was Hermione and a small child Ed could only assume was Tonks. "Wotcher," said the little girl, confirming his suspicions.

"What took you so long?"

"I had to tell zee principal I vas not going to be returning vor fall."

"Right," Granger said. "Jessica asked this morning."

"Do you mind if vee stop by my old flat?" Ed said. "I need to return my key to zee landlord and collect my stuff."

"I don't think that's a good idea," said Tonks.

"I'm also a little vorried zat my makeshift lab might have exploded."

"What?" said Hermione. "Seriously?"

"Bloody hell."

Ed shrugged. "Am scientist. Not all ov vhat I do is alchemy. I vas teachink normal chemistry und got a little curious about ozer vays to alter matter. I knew it, theoretically, ov course. But."

Granger rolled her eyes and shoved her impressive mass of hair off her shoulder. Ed ignored the impulse to stick his tongue out at her. She would have done it too, given the materials.

"Right," said Tonks. "Let's go make sure your building didn't bloody well explode. What part of London is it in?"

After a quick description of his street, and yes Tonks was familiar, the three of them embarked on the sickening lurch that was the hocus-pocus-teleportation thing. They landed in an alley just down the block, and Ed swallowed against any bile threatening to rise.

"Alvays awful," he said. "Vhy? Actually don't answer zat."

He needn't have worried, Tonks demonstrated the usual wizarding misunderstanding of the theory behind whatever they were doing, and had no answer to give other than a shrug. He decided not to turn to Granger, even if she might actually know.

"Zis vay," Ed said, turned the corner, and opened the door to his building. Around the corner from the foyer and tucked behind the stairs was the landlord's office, but he avoided that and went up to the third floor instead. Hermione and Tonks were looking around with unashamed curiosity, and Ed decided to let them rubberneck.

Nothing in his flat was particularly incriminating. It was small. There was one bedroom that he and Alphonse shared, a sparse dining room – furnished by a rickety table and some folding chairs, a kitchen with hardly enough space to turn around in, and a living room. The living room was the only space where effort was placed into the furnishing.

Bookshelves that Alphonse transmuted out of lumber lined one wall. There wasn't much in them, but they'd been planning on staying here for long enough to gain at least a bit of a library. A stone lab bench lined the other. Ed heaved a sigh of relief. Nothing had been touched.

The experiments had long since passed their time limits, so Ed didn't even bother filling out the data sheets as he carefully deconstructed each vial and separated out each vial.

"Weird seeing you use alchemy," Tonks said. "When it's not directed at me, anyway."

"Sorry," Ed said, wincing. "Iv it helps, I'm not actually completing zee process. I'm stopping at deconstruction."

"You're not using a transmutation circle," Granger said. Ed cursed, of course she'd already read up a bit.

"Don't try to copy zat," he said "Very rare circumstance, and you don't vant zee ability."

Her eyes glittered at the challenge, and Ed sighed. "No seriously. Zee cost is much more zan it is actually worth. Al and I are lucky to haff survived."

Tonks was suspiciously silent at that, and Ed instinctively knew he should not have said anything. Granger, meanwhile, nodded. There was something in her stance that made him worry, however. She wasn't going to let this go.

Rather pointedly, Ed pulled a stick of chalk out of his pocket and drew out the rest of the circles, and dismantled the rest of the vials. And also the bench. When everything was in pieces that were manageable to carry out to the dumpster, Tonks stopped him.

"If I knew you were planning on just tossing it all, I would've vanished it for you!" She waved her wand and suddenly the bench, the glassware, and the piles of unmixed chemicals were simply gone. What?

"I could haff carried zat out," Ed said.

"Why waste the time?" said Tonks. "We'll be done a lot quicker this way."

Right. The wizards didn't believe in process for process's sake. Only expediency. Which was fair. Hadn't he dismantled his lab using his own brand of shortcuts? He swore, but decided not to fight the matter any further.

He turned to the bookshelves. Alphonse had done a good job with them, and it would be a shame to dismantle them. They would be a gift to the landlord, Ed decided. Equivalence, for the shit he had to put up with from him.

But he wanted the few books he still had. Ed eyed his briefcase. He was here, so he might as well pick up his clothes. He didn't think Al would fit his, after nearly a month in Frau Weasley's care. So just his clothes and the books.

"Vat is zee food situation at zee Pig Fungus place?"

"Three meals a day," said Granger. "You can have it sent up to your room, too."

"So I don't need to haff any kitchen schtuff?"

"You should be fine?" Granger said. Ed sighed, nodded. "So. Clothes und books."

Granger lit up, and flit over to the bookcase. She eyed his briefcase, turned to Tonks. "I've been reading about undetectable extension charms, lately. I used a really basic one on my school bag last fall."

"I suppose it couldn't hurt," Tonks said.

"It would be ridiculous for a Hogwarts professor to not reap some of the benefits of magic," said Granger.

"Right," said Tonks. "I'm not so good at undetectable extension charms," she said.

"They're something of a specialty of mine." There was something dangerous in the glitter of his student's eyes. "I can walk you through it no problem."

"Alright then," said Tonks. Granger smiled, pulled out her wand, and mimicked the hand motions. This part of magic consistently left Ed confused. Why the hell would hand motions have anything to do with anything? But apparently they did. Tonks frowned. "That's not what I remember from school," she said.

"It wouldn't be," said Granger. "Incantation's the same, but I've modified the wand motions to reflect a more organized internal structure." Ed suddenly felt rather more confident in his chemistry curriculum. It wasn't just his class that the young pocus-person excelled in.

"Oh!" said Tonks. "Like my mum's spell for mixing! She added an extra twitch at the end so that the spoon digs up from the bottom."

"Sounds about right."

Tonks wilted. "I always burned the stew when I tried that one."

"Don't worry about that, then," said Granger. "Give the spell a try."

Tonks moved to work over Ed's briefcase. "Now vait a minute!" said Ed, "I nefer said you could touch my case! I don't need hocus-pocus shortcuts vor no gut reason!"

"There's a good reason, Professor," said Granger. If he wasn't mistaken, she rolled her eyes. "You're trying to rescue books. That's always a good reason."

Ed had to concede that point – books were always a good reason. He threw up his hands, and with a murmured whatever, he allowed Tonks to try the spell. As she tried it, the child form she was trying to maintain aged by a year.

Ed experimentally lifted the case with his weaker arm – it was lighter. "Vere does zee extra mass efen go?"

"I can go over it with you later," Hermione said, striding to the bookcase. "The library is very on brand of you. Lots of Chemistry."

"I am chemist. Sort ov."

"Still can't wrap my mind around Alchemy being a muggle science," Tonks said. "Knew it was difficult, but that's a whole different level."

Ed grinned. "It isn't so bad," he said, "You just need to use your brain."

Tonks glared at him, sensing the dig. "I got the grades I needed to be an auror, thank you."

Ed smirked, all ready with a riposte comparing her to Colonel Bastard. He bit it down - Tonks would not understand that reference, and he would be giving too much of himself away. "I'm sure."

"Anyway," said Granger, turning away from the bookcase with arms laden. "Time to pack your bags."

"Vell. It is only one bag."

Hermione and Tonks both rolled their eyes, and without too much delay, the books were put away in the bag. They were alphabetically stacked by author last name and Ed decided that he had perhaps done the Head Librarian at the University of Berlin a disservice. Clearly, the woman who had been so like Schieska was not nearly as anal as the self-proclaimed witch. Well. At least she hadn't been trying so spectacularly hard at it.

Ed highly doubted that Granger, in contrast, lived and breathed off of categorical work. But there it was. He walked over to the small bedroom he and Alphonse had shared. Both had been glad to discover futons – they had grown up sleeping in blankets in their father's study, and the futons were an inexpensive upgrade that kept them low to the ground.

Granger was clearly dismayed. "Vat?" Ed said. "Zey are cheap and comvortable. Vee grew up sleeping on zee floor of zee library. Zis is upgrade."

Neither Granger nor Tonks said anything, so Ed went to the closet and packed the extended case himself. "Don't try und organize zem by color."

"Wouldn't dream of it," said Tonks. "My mother's the only sort that bothers with that kind of packing spell. They're her specialty. Socks fold themselves and everything."

Granger looked up sharply. "I've not run into that one."

"I think my mum developed it herself, to be honest."

"Could you teach it to me?" The intensity with which Granger whirled to face Tonks left Ed rather stunned. He knew she gathered knowledge for its own sake, but a sock pocus?

"I was never much good at it, can't get the socks to fold."

"Teach me anyway," she said. "It doesn't have to be perfect, but I hate folding laundry with such a passion." Doesn't have to be perfect? She must really hate folding laundry, for such an abrupt change in character. Ed narrowed his eyes. What was she planning? Granger noticed the glance and hurriedly said, "I can perfect it once I know the basics."

"I s'pose," said Tonks.

"Please don't try it on my clothes," Ed said. "I vant to do zat much myself. My teacher vould kill me, iv she knew zee shortcuts I let you take vor me."

"Fine," said Granger. "I'll let you demonstrate on my Hogwarts trunk."

Tonks nodded, "Like I did for Harry last summer. I can do that."

Ed turned from the conversation to his closet. There were only a few things in it to pack. A few shirts, a few pants. There was a beige suit hanging up in the back, and he debated just leaving it there. He might have worn if for his job interview at the school, but there was no real reason to keep it now. But the part of him that had owned only what he could carry for so long couldn't bear to leave it on the hangar when he had the means to carry it.

Into the bag it went, maybe he would dye it red.

"I sink I haff it all," he said. Ed peered into the bag, somehow everything he had put inside of it had organized itself. The bag had seemingly heard his comment about color, so the clothes were sorted by texture instead. What the actual fuck?

"If you want something from the bottom, call for it," Granger said. "Should come right up."

Ed shuddered and snapped the bag closed. "Are vee ready to go?"

"Yes," said Tonks. "If you've got everything you came here for, that is."

"I sink I do," Ed said. "I just need to talk to zee landlord, briefly. Should be in his office – he likes to get his clerical vork done on Mondays, ven he can."

"Monday is good for that," Granger said. "I like to have all the week's homework done by Monday night."

"Vas?"

"Yes! I like to work a full week ahead when I can, so I don't have to worry about the deadlines as they come."

That was quite possibly the most ridiculous thing Ed had ever heard in his life – Granger's brand of efficiency belonged in Hawkeye's wildest dreams. He wasn't even entirely sure how to respond. "You und my landlord vill get along, zen?"

Rather than continue the conversation about his student's ridiculous level of dedication, Ed waved Granger and Tonks through the door to his flat, gave it one last wistful glance, and stepped over the threshold himself. "Zee flat vas gut to us," he said. "I don't know how vee got so lucky."

"Accidental magic does exist," Tonks said. "If you really have to give yourself and explanation, it's entirely possible that Alphonse helped."

Ed wasn't sure if that explanation was better or worse than having none at all, so he shrugged before hustling down the stairs. He had a landlord to apologize to.

Word Count: 4,101

Thanks for tuning in, folks! Tell me what you thought. Definitely another filler chapter, but I'm trying to get us to Hogwarts so the transition-y bits have to happen.

Posted 5/1/2018