I'm back, and very sorry about the long wait. I hope those that like the story continue to enjoy it, and I hope if you have suggestions or constructive criticism that you leave a comment! If you notice any spelling or grammar mistakes I didn't catch, then please mention them so I can fix it.

THIS IS IMPORTANT! I left explanations at the bottom for some of the facts not decently explained in the story itself (as the full explanation wouldn't fit into the flow of the story) in case someone hasn't taken the class yet and is confused.

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: No. I don't own HP, FMA (original or Brotherhood/manga). Whatever gave you that idea?

Chapter 3: Talk of the School or What is it With This Year and Tough Teachers?

The week passed by way too quickly in the opinion of Harry and every other student around him.

This was particularly true for anyone in Alchemy, for everyone in Professor Elric's classes was panicking for the quiz that would happen in their class. The twins, usually not very vigilant about their schoolwork, preferring to plan their pranks and only pay attention if the lesson will be helpful to them, were running around like chickens with their heads cut off in the common room sounding like Hermione as they rattled off the names of the elements at rapid fire speeds in scary unison.

As the Fourth years were the first class to have the quiz, they were particularly on edge.

Which meant Hermione was even worse than usual! She looked like the twins dialed up to eleven!

Throughout the week, Professor Elric would always remind the students at the beginning of class about their quiz to make sure nobody forgot until the last minute. The ones that only had the class as a double period were offered the chance to come in after classes on Friday for quick tutoring sessions as well as the weekend study hall that everyone was allowed into. The Table was also on clear display hanging off the front of her desk if someone wanted to copy it down. Then she would spend the rest of class cramming as much basic chemistry as she could in the time span she had. Even then, the amount of homework was great.

Good thing the class was only twice a week, once if the students had a double period, so they had time to go with the piles.

Not that the students knew, but Juna had been right in her estimates. By the end of the week, roughly thirty percent of the class had dropped out upon realizing just how hard the course was, and a pouting Hughes had lost a few Galleons to the inwardly-smug, golden-haired, half-metal alchemist when he saw the statistics.

Harry, himself, had only stayed in the class out of sheer force of will. He had promised Hermione earlier back on the train that he would try to put more effort into his classes - including Potions, unfortunately- so he refused to quit; if only so he wouldn't look like he was admitting defeat.

It was a painful mix of pride and stubbornness, but if it got him trying, Hermione wasn't going to complain. She would in the future still have to get him to sleep at reasonable times on the weekend, lecturing him about how keeping a consistent sleeping schedule was better for ones health.

After the third day of staying up late from old-habits-die-hard-procrastination, he had taken to joining her in the library after dinner when there were no classes to do homework with her. She had been a great help in his quest to learn the rest of the Periodic Table and had kindly taught him and any who were interested the song to help him out with the order.

She had even managed to help him start the year off in Potions with the bare minimum for an "Exceeds Expectations"... somehow. Snape rarely sent biting remarks in his direction, now. He just sneered and moved on, grumbling. He would take that as an improvement for now. Now if only he could figure out why Snape hated him in the first place. He hadn't exactly done anything he could think of to offend the man.

Harry also wasn't utterly flunking History of Magic, anymore, and Hermione had worn a done expression as she whacked him on the head with their textbook when he realized the book didn't just cover Goblin Wars. He never really read the book, to be honest, and had been caught off guard when he learned the Goblin Wars were only covered in three of the first ten chapters.

The book had thirty-five chapters in total, not that Harry particularly cared about that information.

She then informed him that Goblin Wars had been Mr. Binn's specialty when he was alive, which was why he always talked about them, and then she proceeded to quote where she found the information in Notable Wizard Historians of the Last Half Century. She found it in chapter seventy-five on page four hundred fifty-three in paragraph four, apparently.

Harry didn't want to know how she knew the exact location, but Professor Elric was also able to do the same thing when some students, mostly Ravenclaws, asked for other references; a photographic memory perhaps?

Apparently, there were books on science in the Hogwarts library. They were just so few and so well hidden that people rarely noticed them, and that had Harry wondering how Professor Elric found them when everyone else in all their years of Hogwarts seemingly never noticed them. It probably was just lack of interest from the Wizard side, but even then, Madame Pince had to double check that they did actually have the books Professor Elric cited when the blonde professor claimed that they were there, and she was the librarian; she knew the library like the back of her hand!

Neville had recently joined them in the library, too, and had his grade and confidence in Potions improving like Harry's with Hermione's advice; he was at a solid "Acceptable", now, and improving every day. She'd taught the nervous boy some breathing exercises that managed to help him calm himself enough to at least catch his mistakes before they were made most of the time.

They became a kind-of study group with the Weasley twins, Cedric Diggory, Cho Change, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, the Patils, and (surprisingly) Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini, who dragged a reluctant Malfoy along who, to Harry's surprise, acted civilly during the time period.

The Boy-Who-Somehow-Lived sent Hermione a questioning look at this, and she simply responded with, "I have no clue, either, Harry. He's like that in Muggle Studies as well."

Harry was surprised Malfoy was even in Muggle Studies. Why would Pureblood Supremacist Draco-McFucking-MALFOY be taking a class about muggles? What was next? Hermione hating books?

Harry, Hermione and the rest of the group had been studying together with flashcards and tables all week for the alchemy test, and they were exhausted. They had gone to one of Professor Elric's study sessions on Saturday, and boy they were thankful!

She had handed anyone who wanted one a blank copy of the Table so they could practice filling it in, and she actually had to make more copies, twice, because people asked for multiple practice sheets in case of mess ups.

The practice tables became so popular that those in Alchemy had just gone around the Great Hall and the hallway asking each other if they could "Compare Tables", regardless of House. Heck, Hermione had publicly gotten that offer five times in the last half hour from a Hufflepuff, two Ravenclaws, and two Slytherins, SLYTHERINS!

Granted, it was Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott, and they had been civil enough during their joint study group, but it was still surprising that they came up to Hermione and asked, nicely, in the middle of breakfast, if they could compare Tables, despite the glares sent at them by Ron and the others not in Professor Elric's class.

However, that didn't matter now. Now, it was time for Alchemy, and the Boy-Who-Lived was feeling unnaturally nervous. It was just a test, but there was something about the Professor that had people wanting to prove to her they could get a good grade.

He and the rest of his classmates were outside the classroom door. Professor Elric hadn't arrived, yet.

"Where is she?" he muttered, shifting from foot to foot impatiently as he fidgeted with a golf ball he always kept in his pockets. Hermione, on his left, was muttering the names of the elements like the twins had earlier and was jabbing her finger in the air like she was pointing at something as the group waited. If Harry were to guess, she was picturing a Table and was mentally filling it out. He envied her ability to do that so easily.

The few people who heard him ask his question shrugged. They were not sure, either.

They remained outside the door for the next few minutes. Some had taken to checking the clock tower visible from outside the window to see what time it was.

It was five minutes until class started, and there was still no sign of Professor Elric. It was unusual, she tended to have the door open ten minutes before class and let people file in, but they had come to the classroom and the door was as closed as every other door in the hallway, which consisted of unused classrooms and storage closets.

It took two more minutes of waiting until Blaise looked up from his Periodic Table in the direction opposite the door, "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" a Ravenclaw asked.

"I believe Professor Elric is coming with someone else. I can't make out who it is from here, unfortunately."

That someone else ended up being Professor Hughes, who was hobbling along slowly beside her on his crutches. He was talking to her with an animated smile on his face, and the golden-haired Professor somehow managed to convey amusement and exasperation at the same time while keeping a, mostly, straight face.

Harry wondered how that was possible. Then he wondered what Professor Hughes was saying to get such a reaction. Despite her expression, she was listening attentively to what Professor Hughes was saying, so she must value the topic of conversation.

Soon they reached within coherent earshot, and the topic was...

Still unknown. The two were talking in a language the students didn't recognize. However, Professor Elric gestured to the door with her hands as the duo stopped, her head tilted to the side like she was curious or requesting something.

Professor Hughes had an apologetic look on his face as he shook his head and responded in the unknown language. Then with a wave he turned and walked off saying what could be assumed was a goodbye of some sort.

Professor Elric, meanwhile, turned her stoic gaze to the students, "May I get to the classroom door, please?"

There were embarrassed murmurs when the students realized they were, indeed, blocking the door, and they parted like the Red Sea for Moses, letting Professor Elric enter her classroom and let the students in.

"Now, all Periodic Tables should be put away immediately. If I see any of you attempting to cheat on these quizzes, you will receive detention, lost House points, and an immediate T as your grade. The same applies for every other quiz in this class. I take these things very seriously, and will not tolerate any cheating in my class. Is that understood?"

There were nods and echoes of, "Yes Professor" echoing around the room for a few moments before the Professor gave a nod of satisfaction, "Good. Tables away, no more talking, and writing utensils out, please."

They got a blank Table with instructions on the top.

Harry mentally read, Fill in the Periodic Table below with the symbols, and their number. Once finished, flip the parchment and answer the questions on the back. You have until the end of the class to finish. If you include all the atomic masses and get them correct, you will receive five points of extra credit, and five points to your House.

He dipped his quill into the inkwell and began to write.

1...H...1.008...2...He...4.0026...3...Li...6.94...

The table took quite some time to finish, he'd forgotten what some of the numbers were and had to wrack his memory, so by the time Harry had flipped to the back, he had fifteen minutes left and five questions to answer.

The first question was What is the difference between a Cation and an Anion? It connected to the next question, Name one example of an Ionic Compound. Give its scientific name, and identify which is the cation and which is the anion.

Harry had to think for a moment before he remembered. At the study session, he'd asked Professor Elric about ions. He'd had trouble remembering which was which.

(Flashback)

"Umm... Excuse me... Professor?"

Harry shifted nervously from foot to foot. Professor Elric wasn't a bad professor. She was very good at explaining things, actually. However, there was something about her that made Harry nervous, like he should be standing at attention and if he took one step out of line he would be regretting it for the rest of his life.

It could have been the eye-patch or the stoic expression that seemed to be her default expression; he wasn't sure, but it was something, and it frustrated him that he couldn't place it.

Said Professor looked up from a roll of parchment she was analyzing. It had some sort of complicated circle on it that Harry couldn't understand.

Anyway, he was now staring directly into her unnerving, golden eye. Was it natural?

"Yes, Mr. Potter? Is there something you need?"

"Umm...-"

"I am not going to snap your arm in two for asking a question. I save that for the idiots that hurt my comrades. Don't look so nervous."

Harry flushed scarlet in embarrassment. Was he really that awkward? Probably.

He wasn't quite sure if what she said was some sort of jest; Professor Elric's face had remained the same the entire time. He took a deep breath and continued, "I'm having trouble remembering the difference between cations and anions. I was wondering if there was some way to help..."

She stared at him for a moment, not blinking. Then, as soon as he thought she was going to start spouting some sort of philosophical speech with elaborate words that he would not understand half the meanings of, she opens her mouth and asks, "What is your opinion on puns?"

"What?" he blinked, stunned.

"Puns, Mr. Potter. Plays on words. What is your opinion on them?"

"... They're... annoying?"

"How so?" she raised her visible eyebrow.

"Once they get told, I can't un-hear them. It makes me think of them when I hear the word that was punned."

"Good."

"What?"

"I said 'good', but for the moment, Mr. Potter, I want you to imagine a cat."

"Umm... Okay." Harry closes his eyes and imagines a cat. Small, cute, fluffy, those eyes, got it. He opened his eyes.

"People tend to think cats are fluffy balls of cuteness." Harry almost choked when he heard Professor Elric say those words with such a straight face, "People think of cats in a positive light. Cations are the pawsitive ions that lose a negatively charged particle, or electron."*

Harry nods, cringing at the pun. Professor Elric continues, unimpeded by her play on words, despite the fact all in earshot looked like they swallowed something sour for a moment before returning to their own work.

"Now, imagine an onion."

He does. Having a feeling he knew where this was going, having cooked for the Dursleys for years. After all, onions were common in cooking.

"People hate cutting onions because they make you cry. They make you think negatively. Onion and anion are similar words in appearance, and anions are negatively charged particles that gain electrons."**

Harry had a feeling those puns would never find their way out of his mind. He simply thanked the Professor that had provided the puns, and left, hoping he would one day be able to look at cats without thinking of Alchemy lessons.

(End Flashback)

Cats and cations, onions and anions Harry reminds himself mentally as he writes Cations are ions that lose electrons, making them positively charged. Anions are ions that gain electrons, making them negatively charged.

Then he moves on, using the commonly referenced table salt, or sodium chloride as his example.

The next problem is about covalent bonds versus ionic. The one after is to provide an example of a covalent compound and list the elements in it. He uses a simple sugar, glucose, for his example***. The last question is to list the three steps of transmutation in order and explain what happens in each step using their own words.

He hears Professor Elric say, "Five minutes left, class."

Somebody in the back swears loudly, and Professor Elric says, "A point from Ravenclaw for inappropriate language."

Harry hears other quills around him scratching faster in an attempt to finish their answers.

He stands and hands in the test, earning a nod from Professor Elric as she begins to look over his paper. So she prefers to get the grading over with there and then if she could, Harry thinks.

He returned to sit by Hermione, who had finished ten minutes ago and was now inwardly and outwardly panicking like there's no tomorrow.

The five minutes pass quickly, and Professor Elric calls out, "Quills down, please. Pass down the parchment to the person in your row closest to the center aisle where I will collect them. Miss Granger, please stop panicking, you are causing others stress."

A rustling of papers follows her instructions as she walks and collects the remaining tests. Harry is once again unnerved by the way the Professor is able to keep the class so obedient while making it look effortless. Not even McGonagall or Snape could keep the class this quiet, and they were known around the school as the worst Professors to cross. It seems the enigmatic Alchemy Professor was taking that spot now.

Harry was slightly curious about how Snape would react to that.

He had heard from Angelina Johnson that she was even able to get the Weasley Twins to pay attention and behave. How? Nobody knew, but after the first time they attempted to prank her, the Professor came out un-pranked, and they were facing a night of detention with her.

They were watching their backs for the better part of the week afterward, and the Hogwarts rumor mill said they had to clean the lavatories without magic under the young woman's strict watch. Filch had a field day when he heard.

The event made him think of something he couldn't quite place, and it nagged at him like it did Hermione, and like Hermione, he couldn't quite place it. It was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't figure it out.

Anyway, Professor Elric wasn't the only talk of the school.

While it was overshadowed by the talks about the Alchemy Professor's class, Professor Moody's classes also left an impression on all those who took it. Harry was disappointed he hadn't had the class until Thursday, and when he left that class later, he had a distinct feeling things would be different this year, and it wasn't just because of the Tournament.

Professor Moody was a very gruff guy, but he knew what he was talking about. He was an Auror; retired or not, he knew -experienced- what happened in real life and wasn't afraid to show them.

He could have done without the spiders, though. He may not have arachnophobia like Ron, having practically lived with them when he was still in the cupboard under the stairs, but that didn't mean the lesson was pleasant for him either. He remembered Neville's pale face at the Cruciatus curse and the sudden stillness of the final spider when it was hit with the Killing curse.

He almost felt bad for the things. A part of him was wondering what the spiders had done to deserve such a fate.

The rest of the day had been uneventful. Hagrid discovered the Skrewt's love for meat -his fingers were considered a delicacy, apparently- and all Professors made it their duty to pile towers of homework upon the poor students. McGonagall alone had assigned three essays throughout the first few days due at various points within the next week, and Flitwick was assigning reading like his life depended on it along with an essay of what they did the day before. Thankfully Harry wouldn't have to worry about the dream diaries that Ron complained about as he had dropped Divination, but Alchemy was definitely more challenging than coming up with dreams about how he would die before the end of the school year.

He was going to have to work on time management. Perhaps he could ask Hermione for help on that.

He was working on the assigned Alchemy homework with Hermione, his finished Potions essay was drying next to him on the table along with the half-way completed Charms assignment he had put aside to concentrate on assignments with a closer due date.

They had to read the first three chapters and answer the problems at the end of each chapter along with the questions Professor Elric had written on the board at the end of class using roughly a paragraph per question. She had given only three questions, but it was still a lot of work combined with the reading and problem-solving, which was very hard for someone who hadn't taken math in years (or at all for some students).

Harry heard a bout of loud swearing and turned to see what the commotion was about.

Ron was playing an intense game of Wizards Chess with Seamus, and Seamus had just lost his queen to a stupid move. The Boy Who Lived felt a twinge of sadness at this. Usually it would be him and Ron doing this, but Ron and Harry had started growing apart lately.

Ron was still procrastinating and being lazy, and Harry had started caring more about his grades upon entering Alchemy, so there was a small chasm growing between the two boys. They couldn't really hold a conversation anymore without it being awkward as all hell, and Harry didn't know what to think about that.

Neville had also started spending more time with Harry and Hermione, so it's like there was a new trio formed as the old one fell apart. The change was so seamless that people didn't really notice it until a few days later. By then it was old news so there weren't many rumors for once.

Speaking of Neville, Hermione was currently explaining to the poor boy the reason dragonfly wings had to be crushed instead of cut or something along those lines, and the boy was trying his hardest to scribble the information down so he could remember it.

Harry, meanwhile, was currently staring at the third board-question on their Alchemy homework.

Explain the concept of equivalent exchange. Explain why you think it is important to Alchemy using what you know of Chemistry.

He had already answered the first part, but the second part of the question was an analysis question, where he had to read between the lines using his current knowledge.

He knew the three steps: Understanding, Decomposition, Re-composition. He knew equivalent exchange meant that in order do something, something of equal value must be given. He knew the Periodic Table. He knew some basic chemistry, and they had learned how to balance chemical formulas just a day ago...

Wait... balancing? Alchemy is basically Chemistry taken a few steps further practically! That means that basics of Chemistry still apply to Alchemy, and balancing chemical formulas was important in order to understand the reaction. Balance means the two sides have to be equal! Equivalent exchange!

He quickly scribbled down his realization on his parchment with more vigor that he had been doing. Hermione looked over in surprise, "You seem excited, Harry."

"I just figured out the answer to the second part of the third question. I was just a little excited. Sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? It's great that you are figuring things out with less help." she reddened slightly after she said that, "That sounded better in my head. I probably sounded insulting there... I-"

"It's fine Hermione. I know what you were trying to say. I don't know why I apologized," Harry rubbed the back of his head, "Habit, maybe? Thanks for the help with Potions, though."

"It's no problem, Harry. I'm just glad you're starting to take your studies a little more seriously. You really are smart, you just put yourself down too much. Neville, you do it as well! You're smart but you need a little bit more confidence."

"R-r-right," their nervous fellow Gryffindor stuttered, "Sorry."

"There's no need to apologize, Neville. We're friends, we shouldn't hesitate to help each other out when we need it."

"R-right. Th-Thanks, Hermione." Neville smiled shyly before he returned to his Herbology assignment, since he decided to work on the Potions essay afterwards.

Harry smiled. Neville was a nice guy. He was shy, but once you befriended him, he had your back.

He had proven this when a passing Slytherin had sent an insult at Harry on a fine Thursday afternoon. The shy boy's inner lion had come out for a moment, and he'd responded to the snide comment with, "He's a bloody hell of a lot nicer than you! He works hard and doesn't lean on his parents for everything, so shove off until you get your own backbone!"

After the event, Neville had stuttered about how his Gran would have stuffed a bar of soap in his mouth if he had said that around her and Harry just stood around awkwardly in awe and pat the boy's back, but he couldn't get the way Neville had stood up for him out of his head. It was like a less overbearing Ron.

Neville had also focused on a trait of Harry instead of just insulting the opposing forces like Ron always did. It made Harry feel very happy that he was friends with Neville. He should do something for his fellow classmate at some point. Maybe make him something? Or get him a plant or a Herbology book? He knew Neville liked Herbology more than all the other classes, and he had been talking to Harry recently about different medicinal plants and their properties.

Neville's dream was to own many greenhouses worth of plants, maybe even teach others about them, as he had once admitted to Harry that explaining to the scarred boy about the different plants and their properties was fun and helped keep him more positive about things.

Harry was glad he was being of assistance, even if he hadn't realized it at first. It was originally just because he wanted help with Herbology.

He waved the Alchemy assignment in the air to dry it before putting it aside and stretching. He had another hour until curfew, and he felt the need to stretch his legs. He'd been sitting in one place since he'd returned from dinner, and he had a lot of energy to burn off. Hermione chose to finish as many assignments as possible before curfew, so she was scribbling away at what he believed was a Muggle Studies essay. Neville had sworn he would finish his Charms essay today unlike Harry, who had decided to work on it piecemeal.

"I'm going to go on a walk." he said, standing up and grabbing a sketchpad and pencil Hermione had sent him once for his birthday when he had told her he enjoyed drawing, even if he didn't think he was particularly good at it.

"Alright, Harry." Hermione responded, not looking up from the sentence she was writing, "Remember to be back by curfew. Have fun."

"Got it." he smiled awkwardly with a salute. Neville sent him a smile and a, "Enjoy your walk, Harry." as he left the table.

He opened the portrait and crawled out quickly, sending a wave to Nearly Headless Nick as the portrait closed behind him.

Harry didn't bother taking his invisibility cloak or the Marauder's Map, since he wasn't going on one of his infamous adventures. He was just taking a stroll.

This was relaxing, he thought. Just strolling through Hogwarts without anything to worry about except for Peeves. Was this what it felt like to be normal?

He could get used to this.

He let his feet take him to a courtyard. He found a bench and sat down.

Now that he just relaxed and looked around, he noticed the courtyard was quite nice looking. He opened his sketchpad to an empty page and started sketching under the light of a close by wall sconce.

He'd been about halfway through when he heard a gruff, accented, but pleasantly-toned voice say, "That's a nice drawing you have there, kiddo."

If his hand had been on the paper, there would be a jagged line going across the page as he jumped in surprise. He looked behind him to see someone he didn't expect.

"Oh! Umm... Professor Hughes?" he stuttered.

The man smiled, "Ah, so you know me? That's an introduction off my list." the smile turned apologetic, "Sadly I can't say the same, I don't believe you are in my class."

"I'm not." Harry confirmed before blushing when he realized that might sound rude, "Sorry, that came out wrong... Umm... Harry... Potter, it's nice to meet you, Professor." he stuttered and held out his hand awkwardly.

"I believe the phrase is 'no harm done'. I'm Maes Hughes." the man responds with a friendly smile the boy couldn't help but return, taking Harry's hand in a firm handshake, "It's a pleasure to meet you as well. Juna's told me a bit about you and the rest of her classes, I believe."

"Juna?" Harry's head tilted in confusion.

"You'll know her better as Professor Elric. Juna's just her first name." Hughes answers.

"You two are friends?" Harry asks. He's been curious about this for a while, and the answers were able to be provided by a certain Muggle Studies Professor sitting next to him. He was intrigued how two people who were such opposites became so close.

"That's correct." the man laughs, "I've known her and her brothers for a few years now. The first time I met her, she was even shorter than she is now." he gestures with his hands as he says this, "I'm pretty sure my wife has just about adopted them at this point in all ways besides on paper! She's a bit old to be our daughter, but paternal instincts don't really stop for age."

Harry blinks, so Professor Elric really was young if she was young enough to be considered anything resembling a daughter to someone around Hughes's age. The age gap between them must be pretty large. Hughes didn't look very old, thirty at most, even if there was something in his eyes that made him look older.

"Anyway, enough about Juna and I. You like art?"

Harry nods and suddenly feels a little shy, "I-it's a hobby... I don't think I'm all that great at it, though." he mumbled. He offers the sketch pad to the man anyway and lets him look through it.

The boy used the time Hughes was looking through the drawings to observe the man.

He was tall and lean, and Harry could tell the man was someone rarely seen without a smile on his face. Even as he looked through the sketches Harry made, the smile was there, and... was that nostalgia he saw on the man's face?

His drawings were mostly based around Hogwarts and the Magical side of his life. Among the ten or so he currently had in there was a drawing of the Great Hall, with the tables full, the sky full of stars, and the first years coming in to be sorted by the ragged Sorting Hat on the stool.

Another was of the Gryffindor common room. Hermione sat at a desk working on Homework, the twins were plotting pranks in the corner, Crookshanks was sleeping by the fire, and Ron was playing Wizard Chess with Seamus at another table.

The courtyard he was sketching was still in its bare-bone outline stages, but you could see ivy crawling its way up the wall, sconces lighting paths for students, and the bright moon and stars above.

The one before that -Harry is quite proud of this one- is a picture of a large, black dog giving the viewer a huge doggy grin, with his tongue out and eyes bright. In decorative letters underneath was the name "Padfoot de Snuffles" which Harry had put as a joke and didn't have the heart to erase later. Hughes had lightly chuckled at that picture.

Once he had gone through the drawings he handed the sketch pad back to Harry, "You're a good artist, kid. You have potential." The man's hazel eyes gained a faraway look his smile gaining a sad note, "My daughter, Elicia also loves to draw; mostly animals. She's turning four soon, and is a little angel." he takes out something from his pocket -three photographs- and shows them to Harry.

The first photo was of a little girl with green eyes and dirty blonde hair. She was smiling an adorable smile at the cake in front of her, eyes full of childish delight. On one side of the chair was a young woman with a bob cut that looked very similar to the girl; she was giving a gentle smile. Professor Hughes was standing on the other side, his arm was around the woman, and he was giving the girl a wide, goofy smile. He could see professor Elric leaning against the wall in the back with two people next to her, and sitting in another seat at the table was a girl with light blonde hair and blue eyes.

"This one was from Elicia's third birthday." Hughes explained with a wide smile, "The woman with me is my lovely wife, Gracia." his smile was full of adoration for the two before he calms himself and continues, "In the back being wallflowers are the Elric siblings. There's Juna, who's your professor, her twin brother, Ed, and their younger brother, Al -he's the suit of armor-, who are all brilliant Alchemists. The blonde girl is their friend Winry Rockbell, a mechanic that designs automail."

"Automail?" Harry asks, having never heard the term.

"They're a type of prosthetic limb made for those who need them. They're a little different from the average prosthetic. They connect to your nerves so you can move them like any limb with ease; though, the surgery is very painful and it takes years to recover." Hughes winces, "I know people who've had the operation, women and men, and I have a huge amount of respect for them; that's determination."

He moves on to the next picture. This time it's Elicia and Gracia sitting together on a couch. In Elicia's hands is what appears to be a picture book of some sort.

The final picture is what causes Harry to start in surprise, though; Elicia was on her hands and knees on the floor working on a puzzle. However, the odd thing was that next to her on the floor sitting side-saddle was Professor Elric, and she was smiling a small smile!

"Um... Professor Hughes, sir?" Harry stuttered, "Is Professor Elric..." he tried to say "smiling" but it wouldn't come out.

The Muggles Studies Professor seemed to know what he was asking, though, and smiled wider, amused, "Yes, she's smiling. It was one of the first times I'd seen her do so, and I just had to get a picture. I scrambled for my camera faster than you could say 'magic'!"

That caused Harry to smile as he looked at the clock tower and noticed he had to get to bed soon. He excused himself and bid Professor Hughes good night. The man was a nice guy.

As his back was turned, he didn't see the way Hughes eyes got a faraway look as he continued gazing at the pictures. The smile had faded from his face.

He remembered each of these days well, like it was yesterday. He remembered how Elicia had run up to Juna, almost tripping on the way but too excited to care, and she asked the alchemist if she could help her with the puzzle she'd gotten from the toy store that day. Juna had stared at the girl for a solid half minute before she agreed to the surprise of Ed and Al, who were talking to Gracia nearby.

The moment Juna agreed, Elicia grinned and grabbed the older girl's hand, dragging her off to the corner of the living room where the two began to work; Ed had laughed at just how stunned Juna had looked being dragged off by a hyper three-year-old. Hughes had gone to check up on them fifteen minutes later when they were about a quarter of a way through the puzzle. He only saw the smile out of pure luck, and the next moment he was scrambling for the camera. When he showed her brothers the picture, Ed looked like he would die of heart failure right then and there before he said something that caught Hughes's attention.

It likely wasn't something he was supposed to hear, it sounded too personal, but the words stuck with him.

"She hasn't smiled like that since Mom was alive."

Now that he thinks about it, that was around the time Gracia insisted the siblings come over more. Maybe that was the day the three Elrics became honorary Hughes. All three of them seemed to lighten up afterward when they entered the house. It's almost like it became another home. Heck, Gracia had even set aside a room and spare key if they ever wanted to just come by. Juna, the one who spent the most time researching and finding leads while the brothers traveled took the offer most often, and she soon was seen to be smiling more often, at least in the house.

The man took a deep breath to calm himself before he struggled up into a standing position wobbling slightly before he steadied himself and began the trek to his rooms. He was thankful Madame Pomfrey showed him some secret passages because he would never have gotten back to the proper floor otherwise.

He entered his office to find Juna still there grading the quizzes she handed out that day.

"You're back." she commented in Amestrian. The duo always spoke in Amestrian when they weren't in public, as it was a way of getting privacy. In public, they spoke English as they didn't want a repeat of Moody's suspicion in the teacher's lounge.

He nods, "Yeah. It was getting late, so I'm heading to bed. I recommend you do the same. You already finished most of them, and you have a small class tomorrow."

She looked up to check the time, realizing he was right, "I will finish this quiz then head to bed."

She noticed Hughes's look of doubt and sighed, "I promised Mustang I would try to stick to an eleven O'clock bedtime unless it can't be avoided. I will be heading back to prepare for bed after this quiz. I need to clean my automail, so preparation will take a bit of time."

The man nodded in approval, "Take care of yourself, then, Juna. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you then."

He begins heading to his room before he looks back at her, "I saw that kid you mentioned, Harry Potter? He's a good kid, Did you know he likes to draw?"

She looked up, curious, "I did not know this, but it might help him when drawing transmutation circles. Why do you ask?"

"Just remembering a certain person who drew all over their paperwork a year ago." he winked at her, causing her to roll her eye. She had a preference for doodling geometric patterns, and had gotten bored one day, cooped up in the office doing paperwork. It was the one time she realized how Mustang felt on a daily basis, and can anyone blame her? Leaving a fifteen year old with a pile of dull paperwork to their own devices is never a good idea no matter where you are. They should be grateful it was only designs that she drew and not anything inappropriate!

"I am seventy-five percent sure that that was a lie." she says as she adds a check-mark over the Table on the quiz she was grading.

Hughes sighs. The smile was wavering, "Hiding stuff from you is not easy." he murmurs, "He let me look through his pictures, and I just remembered how Elicia would run up and show me her drawings saying, 'Daddy! Daddy! Look what I made today!' I..." he trailed off. He sighs again.

Juna finishes the comment she's writing to the poor sap that thought 'covalent' was spelled 'covenant' when the word was in the question itself, and then proceeded to criticize how he used H2 as his example when she asked for a compound specifically, which implies more than one element in the molecule****. Then she stands and makes her way over to Hughes.

She puts her hand on his shoulder and squeezes it gently in comfort. She'd seen Gracia do it a few times -has had it done to her on her own fleshy shoulder once or twice- and decided it was better than any awkward words of comfort she could ever give at the moment.

It seemed to work somewhat since Hughes gave her a tired, grateful smile before he continues to trip to his room.

As promised, Juna went to prepare for bed after the quiz she was grading was graded. She washed up and went through her usual stretches after she cleaned and oiled the limbs before going to bed.

She would have to send Winry a request for winter automail soon, she thought as she started drifting off to sleep. The weather was going to get cold soon, and the less times she was sent to the hospital wing for frostbite the better.

That's it for this chapter! It was a bit of a filler, but I didn't want to time skip too much, as the first two chapters only got past the first day of class. I want to avoid quoting the book like I've seen many writers do, so I will summarize the spots I feel are important or add my own commentary instead while I add new things with more detail (ie: Moody's class was summarized in a paragraph or so while the Alchemy quiz was a third of the chapter).

If you notice mistakes in the Chemistry facts I try to drizzle in, tell me and I will correct them. I am trying to keep it as accurate as possible.

Don't forget to like and review if you are enjoying this story! If you have constructive criticism, don't be shy! This could be anything from typos to pieces of the story you felt weren't written well.

* and **: I heard these puns in a video that my chemistry teacher showed us once to help us remember the difference between the two ions. I'm just using them because I thought they were extremely catchy and would make Harry unable to un-hear them. I sure can't.

***: Simple sugars are also called monosaccharides; three commonly known monosaccharides are glucose, fructose, and galactose. Imagine them like Lego pieces; they are the pieces that combine together to form more complicated sugars. For example sucrose (white/table sugar) is a combination of glucose and fructose. As it's a combination of two types of monosaccharides (mono- meaning one), it's called a disaccharide (di- meaning two). I will not go further into detail as that would be an essay-long explanation. To summarize, monosaccharides are building blocks for more complex sugars.

****: I had to look this up as I couldn't remember the exact difference; compound and molecule aren't interchangeable terms. It's like how every square's a rectangle but not every rectangle's a square. Molecule is the umbrella term in this case, like rectangle, while compound is the more specific, like square. A compound is when the molecule is made up of more than one element, like water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2), but a molecule can also include things like H2 and O2.

I hope this clears up any confusion.

Have a great day!