"If you don't mind Professor Snape I will deal with Mr. Elric and you can deal with Mr. Malfoy." said once the door was closed.
"I have a feeling you have an ulterior motive." said calmly. Mustang smiled and shook his head.
"I know Mr. Elric better than you do as you know Malfoy better than I do. It is to our advantage to deal with them on our own terms." said calmly. "I know I will be able do suitably punish Mr. Elric much better than I could Mr. Malfoy." Snape nodded at that.
"I see your point, carry on then." said, leading the blonde out of the room.
"Come along Edward." Mustang said quietly leading him back out into the hall to the still transfigured steps. "First of all you need to fix this mess." He gestured at the spikes and stone wall. Edward grumbled but did as he was told, clapping his hands together and placing his hands on the floor near the steps. Light surrounded the spikes and shield, clearing away to reveal a set of stairs identical to those that had been there previously. "Good enough. To my office then." Edward grimaced but followed the professor down the hallway to his office.
It was a neat room, books on alchemy and other specialized forms of wizardry filled the shelves and the window was screened off with a single white curtain. The furniture was plain, consisting of a desk and three chairs, a small table pushed into the corner near the window. Mustang took a seat behind his desk and Edward sat down across from him.
"So, what exactly were you thinking during you temper tantrum Edward?" said quietly, eyes boring into Edwards. "You certainly were not thinking about your goals I must say. The entire point of you becoming a student here was to be able to look through the castle unmolested. How can you do that if you keep attacking the other students." Edward sulked in his chair.
"It's not like I could have done anything else. That asshole started it. And besides, he knows why I'm here. He's after the stone the same as me." Huffed in annoyance.
"He's what!" yelled from his seat, standing up and leaning over the desk.
"Yeah he's after the stone too, we knew there would be others. So what?" he asked in confusion.
"For the love of..." he stopped raking on hand through his hair. Edward noticed he wasn't wearing his usual white gloves, that was odd. Mustang turned to Edward, a worried expression on his face. "Look Edward, that boy is Draco Malfoy, the Malfoy family is rumored to be a supporter of Voldemort. From what I know it's more than just rumors. If that boy get's his hands on it, the stone will go to Voldemort and you can say goodbye to any chance you ever had of obtaining the thing." Edward went pale at that prospect.
"Oh, I guess there is a reason to worry then." said slightly subdued.
"Yes. But besides that display of idiocy I cannot believe you used your powers out in the open like that. The Malfoy boy is right on that count Edward, you do have a short temper."
"Hey!"
"Look Edward, you have to get over your height issue, this is not the time to be blowing up over the slightest insult. You have to find the stone, for you own reasons if not the State." Edward nodded glumly. Mustang frowned and walked around the desk sitting on the edge of it directly in front of Edward. "You know this is your only chance Edward. I know you can find the stone in time, just be more careful." Edward nodded and stood up from his seat.
"Can I go then?" asked quietly.
"No." said, Edward grimaced. "We still have not discussed your punishment for that fight." Edward glared at the professor. "You'll have to apologize to the Malfoy boy."
"Ugh."
"I also think five days of detention will help you cool off. Not to mention that I will have to take ten points from Gryffindor." Edward kept on glaring. "It's not that bad you know." Mustang stood up looking down at Edward. "The detentions will give us some time together." Edward nodded at that. "Cheer up already." The professor leaned in close and kissed Edward firmly. He pulled back slowly and looked at Edward, who was fighting back a smile.
"Oh alright. I guess it would be nice to spend more time with you. Even Al is getting suspicious with the excuses I've resorted to." said with a smile, "I didn't get a lot of time with you before we came here, I was afraid we wouldn't get any at all." Roy smiled and pulled his love tight, kissing him again.
"You better get to class Edward." said after a moment. Edward nodded and turned to leave reluctantly. "Oh and Edward." The boy turned, "be careful of Snape will you?" The boy nodded and left the room. Roy sighed and leaned back on his desk, eyes locked on the wall. "What am I going to do with him?" asked to himself, but of course no one answered.
Edward rushed back to the tower to grab his things before heading to class. He walked in as the professor was in the middle of a lecture.
"Your late Mr. Elric." she said sharply. "I should hope you have an excuse."
"Professor Mustang wanted to discuss something with me Professor."
"I see. Take a seat then, there is an empty one next to Miss Granger, over there." said sharply, pointing with her wand. He nodded and moved to the desk where a brown haired girl already sat. "Now then as I was saying. . ." Edward slumped down into the empty seat, only half-listening to what the professor was saying.
"Hermione Granger, Edward Elric I presume." the girl beside him said quietly. He nodded. "That's Professor McGonogall, the head of Gryffindor house." He nodded again, smiling in gratitude. He had been informed of names, but had yet to put them to faces as of yet. "At the moment we're going to start transfiguring ourselves." He nodded again and tuned into the lecture.
"I want each of you to attempt to change the color of your hair through the formula on the board, any other color than you own is fine. However I would suggest something natural as it may take some time to change it back to your own color." Murmurs of understanding went up through the classroom. "You have the rest of the class period to make your attempts, I will walk around and look over your progress." Edward grinned, he had been able to do personal transfigurations for some time now, wand or no.
"How is your first day going?" Hermione asked him quietly, copying down a few more notes from the board.
"Worse than expected actually. I'm just glad I have transfigurations to cheer me up." he replied truthfully.
"Your talking about that row you had with Malfoy right?" asked, looking up at him. He grinned ruefully.
"I suppose everyone knows about that by now." he said calmly, she nodded. "Oh well, nothing I can do about it." She nodded and smiled sympathetically.
"Do you need any help with the transfiguration? I have notes from what you missed." said helpfully.
"That's alright, I can handle this. Transfiguration has always been a favorite of mine." replied with a shake of his head. "Watch this." After a moment's thought he pulled out his wand rather than using his hands, he had, had enough stares directed at him without showing off more of his powers than he already had. He tapped his wand to the crown of his head gently and said, "Abeo." Almost immediately his hair turned from blonde to black.
"Very good Mr. Elric. Can you change it back?"said from behind him. He turned around and looked up to see Professor McGonogall standing over him. He nodded and tapped the crown of his head once more.
"Novo." said this time, the black faded away leaving his hair as blonde as before.
"Impressive Mr. Elric, ten points to Gryffindor." said in a slightly happier tone of voice than he had heard from her before. Hermione and several of his other classmates stared at him openly.
"That was quite good!" she said in hushed excitement. He shrugged.
"I told you, Transfiguration is my favorite subject." She shook her head and turned back to changing the color of her own hair. She and Edward turned out to be the only ones who were able to change their hair both ways. Several students left the class with the wrong color and a young man Hermione identified as Neville left with his hair as green as moss.
"You have Potions next?" she asked him as they made their way out of the classroom.
"Yes, you too?" She nodded. Harry and Ron walked up to them. "Oh hullo Ron, hullo Harry."
"Hi Hermione." they replied. "He with us to Potions then?" Harry asked.
"Yes I am." Edward stated for himself before she could answer.
"Be ready for anything then, Malfoy's in that class. Not to mention that Snape has a good reason to have you on his list at the moment. You made Malfoy look like an idiot." Harry said calmly. Ed shrugged.
"I'll deal with it." said nonchalantly. "I've dealt with people like Malfoy before. And Snape doesn't really scare me."
"Well that's not something you here everyday." Ron muttered.
"Not everyone is afraid of Snape you know." Harry said quietly.
"Maybe not but everyone avoids him, at least we do." Edward shrugged and shouldered his bag before heading down into the dungeons.
"How long do you think he'll last?" Ron asked quietly as they made their own way down the steps.
"If what I saw in Transfiguration was any indication, I think he'll do just fine Ron." Hermione commented. "He is not someone to trifle with, he did advanced magic in there. Without even looking at the notes." Harry nodded and put a hand on is hair which was still the pale blonde he had changed it to. Ron on the other hand had gone brunette.
"You will help us change our hair back, right Hermione?" Harry asked as they entered the classroom. She nodded.
"During lunch, we should have time then." replied, spotting Edward and joining him at his table. Ron and Harry took the table just beside it.
"Hey Potter, nice hair." came from the far side of the room where Draco lounged at a table with one of his gorillas. Harry frowned and casually told the blonde where he could shove his comments. Draco just laughed and turned back to his posse. Harry glowered and turned away from the blonde Slytherin.
"Don't worry about it Harry, that prat couldn't even change his hair color through transfiguration. He's just taking his frustrations out on you." Hermione said confidently.
"I suppose." Harry muttered. As usual Snape made a grand entrance into the room and the class fell silent.
"Today we will be working on potions of enhancement. We will start with a Potion of Speed. Also known as the Quick silver Serum, this potion has been used in the past by. . ." lectured on for nearly a half hour on the properties of the potion before leaving them to mix the thing together. Edward sighed and pulled out everything he needed for the potion and carefully concocted it. He had a knack for potion making, the same principals he used for alchemy were useful in potions.
By the end of the class he had the potion exactly as described on the board. He noticed Hermione's potion looked identical to his own.
"I had no idea you were so good at potions." he commented. She smiled.
"You aren't so bad yourself." She replied. He shrugged, but smiled back. Professor Snape stood up from his desk and walked over to the front of the room .
"Time is up, take a sample from your cauldron and bring it to the front of the class." said sharply. Edward poured his potion into two vials, slipping one into his pocket before depositing the other on Snape's desk . The Professor looked at him sharply as he did so, but said nothing. Edward shrugged it off and went back to his desk, cleaning up and heading out of the dungeons to lunch.
