Hmm, hmm, hmm, A request for a fight between Ed and Izumi (actually I think it was both Elric's vs. Izumi…), well anywhozles, here's a small wittle skirmish between Ed and Izumi. It all leads up to the second task, which by the way will be in this chapter! Neyahahahaha! What will Ed have to go through this time! Read and find out…heh, heh, heh.

Chapter Twelve: Second Task

'Haagh!' Edward was thrown with such force that when he hit the ground and skid to a halt, there was a sizeable skid mark in the ground. Alphonse was lying face down a few feet away, not moving from fear of being thrown again; Harry, Ron, and Hermione were watching from a safe distance and where secretly entertained by the two alchemists. Due to the fact Al was down and refusing to get up again he was considered out, so now it was just Ed and Izumi. Izumi stood between the two Elric's with an irritated look on her face, she set her hands on her hips saying,

"You two haven't been training have you?"

Ed slowly and sorely stood up; he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand then replied hesitantly,

"I subdued a dragon, doesn't that count as training teacher?"

Izumis' eyes flashed dangerously and Ed involuntarily flinched, with that brief moment of unawareness, Izumi ran forward and threw on of her deadly roundhouse kicks right at Eds' head. He saw it coming, almost, and just barely dodged it.

"I hardly call getting the crap beaten out of you by a lizard training, Edward." Izumi snapped, "Yes, I was informed about the happenings during the first task."

Edward had a slightly peeved look on his face, he hadn't expected that and it hurt his pride slightly. Having his teacher learn of how he was knocked around by a fifteen foot lizard was not a moral booster.

"Then I guess I should go and start training then…" he muttered under his breath, Ed had only said that to attempt to mentally heal his pride but what he hadn't realized was that Izumi was close enough to hear him say those words. Izumi clapped her hands and touched the ground; Ed took a hasty step backwards trying to avoid the alchemic energy surging through the ground at him.

Ed tripped and landed on his backside, almost instantly the ground beneath him caved slightly then rose quickly. The earth had started to warp as the alchemic energy was reconstructing it, Ed was soon suspended a good ten to fifteen feet in the air and was being held there by a stone pillar. To say the least he was not in the most comfortable position, his arms were being held apart so he couldn't clap his hands and he was stuck nearly upside down.

"Aaargh! Hey! Let me down!"

"Ed…"

"Hey! I said let me down! I didn't mean it!"

"Ed…"

"All the bloods rushing to my head…I'm getting dizzy!"

"EDWARD!"

"Hm?" Ed quickly stopped his ranting and looked down at his teacher, when he did this though he caught a nasty bout of vertigo and had a very unfocused and cross-eyed look on his face. Izumi sighed and shook her head in a mildly disappointed way then said,

"You have to get yourself out of there before the second task…which by the way starts in two days."

"You mean I'm stuck up here for two days?"

"No…if you manage to free yourself before then, well then, you won't be stuck up there for two days." Izumi smirked. Harry, Ron, and Hermione where laughing from the sidelines, they couldn't help it because Ed looked really funny. Izumi turned and started to walk back towards the castle, when she was gone Alphonse got up slowly and looked up at his brother who was struggling to get free. Sadly though, he was pretty much stuck and he was unable to use alchemy. Al really wasn't sure what to do to help his brother.

"Wow, she's really good isn't she?" Harry muttered.

"Scary too." Ron shivered. Hermione though had a very amused look on her face as she said,

"I can't believe she's one of their teachers, wonder what the others are like."

Alphonse looked at them and asked,

"Others? What others?"

"Your other teachers." Hermione replied simply, Al walked over to the large pillar and gazed up at his brother, who was attempting to free himself again and said,

"We don't have any other teachers, she's the one who taught us everything we know."

"So…how many teachers does your school have? If there's one teacher per two students then…"

Alphonse found himself trapped in a corner, as much as he didn't want to give away their real reason for being there, he still didn't want to lie to them. Edward though was more then willing to answer that question,

"Loads! Now if you guys don't mind…I'd like to get down from here."

"I don't think we can be of much assistance brother, teacher did say you had to get out of this yourself." Al said, Ed replied to that with more frailing and some rather inappropriate cursing. Alphonse sighed and shook his head, "Brother, there's no need for that. Teacher would never put you in a situation she knew you couldn't figure out."

"Yes she would!"

"Besides, this may help you prepare for the next task…whatever that may be." Al continued.

"How can trapping me in a rock prepare me for anything?" Ed snapped, the vertigo started acting up again and he just let himself hang there while the earth spinning nausea overtook him. It hadn't dawned on Ed how much he didn't like hanging upside down, fifteen feet in the air, at least, until that moment. It was then that one of the Hogwarts professors, Prof. McGonagall, came out of the castle and addressed them. She paused for a moment to gaze curiously at the stone pillar that hadn't been there that morning then asked that Hermione follow her.

"Hold on a moment…where's Miss. Derrick?"

"She left, said she had business to take care of, or something." Ron shrugged. The professor didn't look too happy about that but brushed it aside and turned to Alphonse,

"Well, in that case, could I also talk to you Mr. Elric?"

Alphonse looked up at his brother worriedly, then back to the professor and nodded, she led to two back to the castle leaving Harry and Ron to look after the, still, nauseous elder Elric. It was about an hour before the three were rejoined Harry and Ron, Alphonse paused and looked up at the pillar to see how his brother was doing, he took a step back and looked again, Al then gasped and said,

"Where's brother?"

"Huh?" All three wizards turned and looked up, at the very top of the pillar there was a big hole where Ed had been, but he wasn't there.

"He was just up there a minute ago!" Ron gasped.

"Yeah, we looked away for one minute and…" Harry had to readjust his glasses, "he just vanished."

Alphonse walked around the pillar a few times before stopping and looking up at it, no sign of his brother. It was really starting to worry him, what could have happened, he was trapped in the pillar and yet…there it was…

"Brother! Where are you?" Al started to shout, no answer, "Brother!"

They all started searching for the elder Elric in the immediate vicinity, but still no sign of him, they gave up after an hour of searching and went to dinner. The minute the four entered the great hall they all froze, there sitting at the Gryffindor table was Edward Elric, he was playing with a fork and had a very disgruntled look on his face. Alphonse ran up to him and demanded,

"Brother! What happened? How did you escape? When did you get here?"

Edward turned and blinked blankly at his younger brother, who continued to bombard him with questions till Ed had to hold up his hands in defense and say,

"Alphonse, slow down, geez…"

"How can I calm down! You just disappeared! And you were stick several feet in the air trapped inside a solid stone pillar!"

People started staring now at the scene, Edward stood up and twiddled the fork around in his fingers before answering,

"It's strange, either teacher knew or it was a lucky guess but…I know how it happened…or why…or what the hell it is exactly, but I think I'm ready for the next task."

"What is it?" Al asked; Harry, Ron, and Hermione had joined them by now and where listening intently.

"I don't know…you'll find out in two days…I'm not telling anybody till then, I still need to work some stuff out first." Edward set the fork down and started to leave,

"Hey, aren't you going to have dinner?" Hermione asked. Ed stopped and thought about it for a second before turning and smiling,

"No…I already had something, but thanks for asking." He turned and left the great hall, leaving his brother and the three young wizards dumbfounded. They had all gotten so used to seeing Ed as slightly moody and a short temper, Al though was the only one that actually knew his brother had a very nice side, but this was kind of creepy.

"What does he mean by 'already had something'? When did he eat anything? Dinner hasn't even been served yet." Ron questioned sitting down where Ed had been. Alphonse sighed and said he was going to go with his brother, he was still curious as to how exactly he was able to escape without anybody noticing, knowing his brother like he does. Ed was known to be over the top with some things and the way he had been ranting earlier it was quite shocking to find out he escaped without making a noise or even altering the landscape. Al also wanted to inform his brother about the next task, he'd been told by Dumbledore what it was and was sworn to only give the contestant clues, he was good at that so that's what he figured he'd do also.

Edward was found, once again, sitting in his usual spot in the Gryffindor common room, he was gazing into the fireplace with a very odd look on his face. When Al got closer he realized that his brother was fast asleep and snoring softly.

"Brother?"

"Hmn…" Ed rolled over in his easy chair but didn't wake up.

"Brother?"

"Zzz…"

"I need to talk to you about the second task."

Edward rolled over again only this time he sat up; he glanced over at his brother and yawned, when he was finished with that he gave Al a sleepy look of mild attention. Al knew he was paying attention even though he looked as if he was about to nod off again so he made it quick,

"Brother, I'm supposed to tell you that the next task will test your mind."

"Mhm…" Ed nodded.

"Also, you should be ready to face what threatens you most…or something like that."

"Hmmm…"

Al was slightly flustered by his brothers' easygoing attitude, it was almost like he didn't care, Al then crossed his arms and asked,

"Ed, ARE you ready for the next task? If you are, what do you plan on doing?"

"Al I told you, I haven't worked out the kinks yet but when I do, you and everyone else will see. Besides, I over heard the headmaster telling you guys what the next task is so I'm prepared."

"What?"

"It will all make sense in two days, now…I'm tired and want to go to sleep." Ed got up out of his chair, reluctantly, and started for the stares.

"You seem different brother." Al pointed, Ed stopped and turned,

"Yes…and no…don't worry Al, it's not a problem." He then turned and went to bed.

--

The day had come, the second task was an hour away and Edward was nowhere to be found, Izumi had disappeared as well. Al was once again starting to get worried; he was standing just outside the Quidditch field waiting for Harry, Ron, and Hermione. When they showed up Hermione asked,

"No sign of your brother yet?"

"Nope…" Al answered with a definite sulk in his voice.

"Don't worry, he said he was ready right?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, but he wouldn't tell me what it was." Al sighed.

"Heh…yeah…" Harry had a slightly pale look on his face, Hermione had given him his clues and he really hadn't liked the sound of them, he was half hoping to get some ideas on how to go about the next task from Edward but he was missing.

"Harry, you should probably head inside and join up with the others'." Hermione said, Harry sighed and nodded, he turned and sulked off. Hermione shook her head as if what she saw was rather pitiful.

"Oh, he's making this more difficult then it really is."

"Alphonse! There you are!"

Al rounded to see who it was that had addressed him and gasped, it was Izumi, she had an oddly good natured smile on her face which he'd grown to recognize anywhere, it either ment she was genuinely happy at that moment or was in such a state of anger that all life as he knew it would cease.

"Teacher! Where have you been? Where's Ed?" he asked.

"Oh don't worry, he's with the others', I've just been meandering about this impressive castle." She replied, Al mentally took a sigh of relief that she was in a good mood.

"Ah…" he nodded, "So, he wouldn't happen to have told you what he had planed for this task did he?"

"Yes, he did, but I can't tell you that Al. He want's it to be a surprise."

"Surprise? That's not like brother." Al muttered.

"No, it's not, but it's not a problem," Izumi shrugged, "I believe he has just the right advantage for this particular task and he'll pass with flying colors."

Everyone was soon escorted into the stadium, as the second task was about to commence. The field had been, once again, altered to suit the needs of whichever task was going to be performed on it, this time though there was a small trunk sitting in the center of a grassy field. Everybody was staring at it questioningly, and whispers' asking what it was started to spread, it really was quite odd. When everyone was seated, Dumbledore stood up and started explaining what was about to happen, he said that within that trunk was a creature known as a boggart and that each participant would have to return it to the trunk within a set time using any means save for killing it. The audience stands where protected by a spell so the boggart wouldn't attack the audience, Dumbledore made that quite clear. He then went on to explaining the scoring and all the technical stuff until everyone got real bored and started chanting that they wanted the task to start.

Sure enough, moments later it did, the first to come out was the young lady, the trunk was opened and a very, very, VERY large snake came out of it. Alphonse, though technically impossible, shivered at the site, his armor rattling. The it took her about twenty minutes to get the boggart back in the trunk, considering she spent most of the time either screaming or running for dear life.

"So…this boggart is a giant snake?" Al asked leaning over to Hermione, she shook her head and replied,

"No, a boggart is a creature that can transform into a persons worst fear, it's a boggarts' form of defense. Nobody really knows what a boggart looks like."

"Oh…" Al sat back and pondered this for a moment, he wondered if that ment he'd be able to see what scared his brother most, that was something even he didn't know. Then next was the young man from the Bulgarian school, when the boggart emerged once again; it was an even larger creature, a rat to be more precise. Ron yawned and sat back in his seat muttering something about all these 'fears' where boring and he wanted something terrifying to see. Hermione scolded him for poking fun at other peoples fears, which he replied bluntly that their fears where boring and not scary at all.

"Maybe for you they're not scary Ron, but for them it quite obviously is."

It was soon Harrys' turn and both Hermione and Ron knew exactly what the boggart would turn into this time. They where both properly prepared for the encounter and hid under their seats, Al though had no idea why they where doing this so he asked, Ron answered,

"It's gonna turn into a dementor, wicked scary things that suck all the happiness and life out of everything, they can also suck out your soul."

"Hmmm…" Al started rattling again, he REALLY didn't like the sound of that considering he was JUST a soul. Izumi just sat and watched patiently unfazed by any of the goings on. It took Harry about fifteen minutes to return the boggart to the trunk, it had taken a good deal out of him to summon the patronous and keep it active till the very end there, but so far his time was the fastest and he was in first place. Harry left the field for the medical tent, sense he was feeling kind of tipsy, he passed by Edward and said,

"Hey, good luck."

"Heh…" Ed smirked, "Thanks…" he walked out onto the field. He came to a stop right in front of the trunk and glared at it, the trunk suddenly jerked as if something had slammed into the side, Ed took a small step back and waited for it to open.

The lid flew open a second later, but nothing came out, everybody in the stands watched and waited, but still nothing happened.

"What's going on?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, why isn't anything coming out?" Hermione added. Alphonse shrugged, he had no idea what was going on so he leaned over to his teacher and asked,

"What's happening teacher?"

"Just wait…you'll see." She replied. Alphonse watched the open trunk and his brother.

Edward took a step forward to look inside but before he was able to get close enough something jumped out and slammed right into him. Ed was thrown off his feet and forced to roll backwards till he was able to stop and jump up to see what attacked him, his eyes narrowed as they fell on his attacker.

"It can't be!" Al jumped up.

"What? Who is that!" Ron asked, he'd jumped too but from nearly having his toes crushed by the giant suit of armor.

"That's…that's." Al stammered.

"That's his father." Izumi finished.

"What?" both Hermione and Ron said.

"Hoenheim is his name…and he's Ed and Als' father." Izumi explained.

Edward glared at the boggart Hoenheim; he took a deep breath and smirked,

"Well…even I didn't see that one coming," he used his hand to flip his bangs out of his face and continued, "Boggart, you couldn't have chosen a more desirable target, I'm going to enjoy this greatly just so you know."

The boggart didn't say anything, it just charged straight at Ed and threw a left hook and followed up with two roundhouse kicks. Ed dodged all three of the attacks and quickly put a good amount of space between him and the creature, he looked up and smirked again saying,

"You've got some interesting tricks up your sleeve don't you? Well, lucky for me so do I." Ed shut his eyes and took another deep breath, the boggart Hoenheim charged at him again, Ed didn't move. Everyone watched as the creature closed the gap between itself and the young alchemist, Edwards' eyes flashed open and everyone gasped.

"B…brother?" Al nearly fell over the side rail into the field, Hermione and Ron where to shocked to say anything, they just sat there with their jaws hanging. Izumi sighed and laughed slightly saying,

"Edward couldn't have picked better."

There, where Edward had been standing, was a fairly large dark gold dog, it was almost like a gold lab but larger and its' fur was slightly longer. Its' ears where back and its' fangs baring, the boggart skidded to a halt and glared, the dog leaped forward and bit down on the boggarts leg and started dragging it back to the trunk. Boggart Hoenheim was flailing about when suddenly its' free foot landed a sharp kick to the dogs side, just below the rib cage, there was a loud whine and even louder growl as it let go of the boggarts' leg. The boggart stood about a foot away from the trunk and smirked, the dog looked up and smirked back, charging forward the dog slammed full force into the boggart knocking it back into the trunk and slamming the lid down.

Everyone was staring dumbfounded into the arena as the dog lied down on the ground watching everybody, secretly hiding the fact that one of his ribs had broken…again. Alphonse and company ran down onto the field afterwards, the dog merely looked at them innocently trying to look cute.

"Brother! What happened to you? I don't get it!" Al started, he seemed near hysterics. Hermione, who'd regained her ability to speak faster then the boys had, answered that question,

"It's quite obvious that your brother…is an animagus."

"A what?" Al asked, Izumi seemed interested as well.

"An animagus, a wizard that can turn into an animal. There are very few animagus in existence, one has to either be born one or well, there is a way for someone who isn't one to become one but it takes a very long time." Hermione explained.

"So that could only mean, for Ed to have been able to do this so fast…" Izumi looked down at the dog, "He was born one…"

The dog tilted its' head and made a whining noise before resting its head on the ground, everyone looked down at him. Izumi knelt down and placed her hand on his side and applied some pressure. The dog winced and whined, he gave her a pained, sheepish expression, she sighed and patted him on the head saying,

"One of his ribs are broken…" Izumi ruffled Eds' ears, "Idiot."

"So…what now?" Ron asked.

-To Be Continued-

Mwahahahaha! (Cough, cough, sputter…ehem…) Right, now I know I didn't spell that term right but it was late and I was tired…and being lazy. But yes…awh…he's so cute, and…and…FUZZY! (I WANT ONE!) Ok, I know the second task was kinda weak…but I've got some good ones for the last two! And don't forget! The ball! What possible chaos could I cause at such a shindig eh? Keh, keh, keh (oh hey! this is only chapter twelve! oops, thought it was thirteen)