Author's Notes:
This is probably the fastest I ever put out a chapter that I didn't have a co-writer for. Let's hope I can maintain this kind of productivity in the future. . .
Other than that, not much to say here. See you at the end of the chapter for some more unnecessarily long author's notes in which I go into far too much detail for my thought process on some of my writing decisions here.
By the time that Maes finally headed home for the day, the sun was already starting to set, and he was beyond exhausted. As it had been the case with many days for the past month, he went into overtime. For just this once, he didn't feel too bad about it, though. Because for the first time since he started the case of the Gringotts break-in, he had a feeling like they were getting somewhere.
Granted, there was not much of a justification as to why he felt that way. All that had changed was that now, they were finally done with all the employee interrogations, which, while ultimately not helpful, was at least good to finally be done with. But more importantly, their current leads would have them at least do something new. Granted, this "new" would just be more interrogations, but at least there would different circumstances, and of course, they would not be held at Gringotts.
After receiving the details about the former employees from Alguff, Maes had decided that his team would split up for dealing with them. Roy's men would, under the leadership of Breda, remain in London, and go to the ministry to deal with Heinkel Schmidt.
Maes meanwhile would seek out the other former employee, Sheska Zieliński – which would take them to Inntearn Alley in Edinburgh.
In order to even get there, they would be taking a direct train from one of the magical platforms at King's Cross, Platform 3 ¼. Even though this method would take several hours, it was the only one available to them: Apparation was far too difficult, especially over this great of a distance. Floo Powder meanwhile was out of the question because there were no publicly available destinations for it. Not to mention that Armstrong couldn't even use Floo Powder, on account of his size. So train it was.
The prospect of going to Edinburgh left Maes feeling mixed. On the one hand, he had never been to the city before. Even if it was for work, it would definitely be interesting to go there for once. On the other hand, they had little information on Sheska Zieliński beyond her address. There was no telling whether or not they'd be able to finish it all in one day, let alone even find her. An address alone was no guarantee, after all.
Accordingly, Maes was not looking forward to telling Gracia about it all. Of course, he knew that she wouldn't get mad at him, since it was something entirely out of his control. But after him already having spent an entire month hard at work, he also knew that she would be very disappointed.
But one thing after another. For now, he needed to actually get home.
While living in central London did have its perks, such as not being too far away from the ministry, Diagon Alley and King's Cross, it did have undeniable disadvantages. One such disadvantage was just how crowded with Muggles it was at pretty much all times. Maes didn't particularly mind wearing Muggle fashion to fit in better, especially not since Gracia could easily help him make the right clothing choices, being a Muggle herself.
No, that was not the problem. Rather, while going around Muggle London, Maes had to constantly resist the urge to pull out his wand to point it and poke at things to make them work. The results of a magical upbringing were hard to shake, after all.
For this reason, Maes rarely even bothered using the tube or busses. Blending in was not an issue, but after a while, the odd looks he'd get for poking ticket gates and the like with a stick were getting just a bit too annoying.
And since the apartment that Gracia and he were living had no fireplace, let alone one that was the proper size, Floo Powder was also out of the question. Therefore, the only way he had to get to and from work was commute by foot. At least it wasn't too long of a walk.
Accordingly, he reached the apartment building not much later. Starting to already feel tired, he made his way to the fourth floor, unlocked the door, and entered.
Even though the two of them were a young couple that had not worked for that long, their apartment was quite spacious. It had more rooms than they technically even needed, a lovely set of simple, wooden furniture they had gotten from Gracia's parents, and generally reminded Maes more of a nice little private home than an apartment. Of course, the rent was accordingly rather high, but their combined income was enough to pay for it.
Even if it was rather annoying to constantly exchange his Auror salary for Muggle money.
"I'm home!" he announced, closing the door behind him.
"Welcome home, dear," Gracia said, coming into the hall to him. "It's gonna be a while before dinner is ready, I haven't been home that long, either. How was work?"
"I think for now, I need a rest, anyway. Work was pretty much the same as the entire last month. Only difference is that we finished all of our interrogations of the bank's staff, and are gonna move on to two former employees tomorrow."
"That still sounds more interesting than my day! There's never much exciting happening in a floral shop. Though I guess I would also have a few things to tell if I were to work in a wizarding floral shop, right?"
"Oh, definitely. There's a reason Herbology is a subjects at Hogwarts. You wouldn't believe the things some of these plants can do…" Maes chuckled, and went over to the living room. Gracia meanwhile went to the kitchen, which was however still within talking distance.
"So what are you going to do about those two former employees?" Gracia asked, as Maes let himself sink into the couch.
"Gonna have my team split up. One of them is currently at the ministry, so I'm having Roy's men interrogate him."
"And what about you?"
Maes bit his lip. Now for the uncomfortable part.
"I will go after the other one with my team… which is why we'll be heading to Edinburgh tomorrow. And it may just be for more than one day."
He could hear how Gracia stopped whatever she was doing to walk over to the living room. Once she was there, he could see that she looked quite unhappy.
"So you're going on a sudden trip across the entire country? But… why? Can't you just have Roy's men take care of this one, and stay here instead?"
Maes shook his head. "We can't do it like that, I'm afraid. Wizarding Scotland has its own branch of the ministry – it's quite a bit like Muggle Scotland in that regard, I think? For interrogating any person living there, we have to go through them. As the one in charge of this all, it's best if I go there to save us the hassle."
"And you can't just have someone from the Scottish ministry do this interrogation for you?" Gracia asked.
"No can do. This case is so highly confidential that Bradley would probably have me killed if I got people involved that had nothing to do with it," Maes said darkly.
Gracia sighed.
"They better give you some extra holidays or a bonus once you manage to solve this…"
Maes smiled weakly. "I'm honestly beginning to have my doubts if I'll be able to solve this case at all. These two are essentially the last straw I'm clinging to. If neither of them has seen anything, I might as well give it up and close the case."
"Of course you're gonna solve it! You're the greatest and smartest wizard I know!" Gracia said confidently.
He looked at his wife suspiciously. "Oh? Remind me again, then. How many wizards do you know again?"
Gracia smiled innocently. "Well, there's you, Roy, Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Brosh and Ms. Ross – though then again, she counts as a witch? That would make four, then."
Maes burst out laughing. That was just the praise he needed, and also a great reminder as to why he had married Gracia to begin with.
"That's probably the greatest praise I've gotten all my life! I definitely gotta brag about that next time I write Roy–"
He interrupted himself. He had just remembered something that he should've thought of already a while ago.
"Shoot! That reminds me that I still need to write to Roy that I finally got confirmation that the vault belongs to Dumbledore – that's the headmaster of Hogwarts. That's an even better lead than these two former employees… why the hell didn't I think about that sooner? I should probably get to that right now…"
"Can't that wait until tomorrow?" Gracia asked, exasperatedly. "With how long it takes your owls, it's not like's going to make that big of a difference, anyway. I still don't get why you wizards can't just use phones…"
"Stubborn conservatism. Not to mention that with all the magical interference, it would take a lot of work to get phones to work," Maes explained. "But you're right. I need to let it rest until tomorrow. Merlin knows that I won't have much to rest tomorrow… better make the most out of this evening."
Gracia smiled. "Now that's the best thing you've said all evening."
-7-
As it turned out, Hermione was an excellent listener, and also had several really good questions about alchemy, which Edward was more than glad to answer. She quickly became impressed with his deep knowledge on alchemy, and even more so by the fact that he and Alphonse had already managed to perform working transmutation when they were five and four years old. For her own part, Hermione revealed that she had already somewhat successfully tried her hands at a few minor transmutations of rocks, and only barely got them to work, which Edward still praised as already being an excellent start.
While they talked, the landscape outside moved on and on. From the corner of his vision, Edward noticed that Winry, Harry and Ron were trying to have a conversation of their own, while trying to ignore Edward's and Hermione's discussion, but with limited success. To Edward however, it didn't really matter that much: It was rare enough for him to meet someone with an interest in alchemy similar to his own, and he was going to use the opportunity to its fullest.
Caught up in their conversation like this, it came as a complete surprise to him when a voice echoed through the train, stating that they would be arriving in Hogwarts soon, and should simply leave their luggage on the train. Somehow, they had spent several hours caught up in their discussion.
"Oh, shoot!" Hermione said. "I better get back to my compartment! I hope we can continue this later! Maybe we even end up in the same house?"
With that, she jumped up and left. Since all of them still had to change into their Hogwarts robes, Winry also excused herself, leaving Edward, Harry and Ron in the compartment.
"Whatever house she ends up in, I hope I'm not in it," Ron said darkly.
"Huh? Why's that? I think she seemed nice enough, and she came along with Winry, too," Edward asked, confused.
"That's because you had an hour-long discussion about alchemy with her, and Winry had an hour-long discussion about automail with her," Ron pointed out. "If she had just talked with Winry about automail, would you still like her?"
Edward hesitated. "I mean… I'm not sure? Harry, what d'you think?"
"I think she wasn't that bad," Harry said slowly, "but she also really was kinda bossy. So I'm not sure about her. But Ron, if you she had talked with us at length about Quidditch, would you still feel the same?"
Ron only answered with an uncertain shrug.
Before long, the three of them had changed into their Hogwarts robes, at which point, they called Winry in and stayed out for a while themselves so that she could do the same. Not long thereafter, the Hogwarts Express began to slow down, and eventually stopped at a small station. Outside, the sun was slowly beginning to set, and the air was getting cooler. Quickly, a crowd formed on the platform out of the students pouring out of the train. All the older students seemed to know where they were going, but none of the first-years had any real idea.
That's when a voice that Edward recognized all too well could be heard: "Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here! Hey there, Harry, Ed!"
Hagrid's big, hairy face beamed over the sea of heads. He was carrying a large lantern (for some reason, as it wasn't really dark enough for that to be necessary), and waiting for the first-year students to gather around him. As they did, Edward caught a glance of a very relieved-looking Neville holding what seemed to be toad. Evidently, the Armstrong girl had been successful in finding it.
Once all the first-year students were there, Hagrid led them behind the station, down an entirely different path from the one the older students were taking. Off in the distance of that other path, Edward thought he could see what looked like carriages pulled by odd-looking horses. But as they were being led away, the carriages were out of view soon enough. Instead, Hagrid led them down a steep, narrow path, which was surrounded by thick trees and bushes.
"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."
The first-years let out a loud, collective "Oooooh!"
They had reached the edge of a great, dark lake, which shimmered in the slowly setting sun. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, looming over the lake, was a vast castle with countless turrets and towers.
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Edward, Winry, Harry and Ron all got into one boat, conveniently enough to fit all into one.
"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then – FORWARD!"
And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they slowly sailed nearer and nearer.
But throughout the entire trip across the lake, Edward's mind was racing.
He had heard before that Hogwarts had been around for about a millennium or so. Its library was sure to be expansive, and full of books on all kinds of subjects, not just alchemy. The Rockbells had told him as much. Somewhere in there just had to have any kind of clue as to what him and Al could do to restore their bodies. Whether it be alchemic in nature, magic, or even something else entirely – something would have be there.
Of course, Edward was also looking forward to his studies, learning magic, all that. But trying to find something to restore his brother's body… it simply took precedence. It was the most important thing right now. Even his friends were not as important as this.
He simply owed it to Al. It had been his idea to do what they did, his idiocy that had driven them to commit their sin. Edward was certain that Al hated him for it. How could he not? He had toyed with the idea of properly asking him about it before leaving for Hogwarts, just to be certain – but he had been too cowardly to do it. And now he had abandoned him, too, leaving him all alone while he went off to study magic… Al could only resent him.
Nonetheless, Edward had resolved to write Al as frequently as he could, to give him updates on how his research was coming along. Anything to make him feel like he wasn't being left behind.
"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the boats reached the cliff, forcing Edward back into reality. They all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy which hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbour, where they clambered out on to rocks and pebbles.
Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last on to smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. From there, Hagrid led them up to the castle door, on which he knocked three times.
The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. Something about her facial expression reminded Edward of his alchemy teacher, in that she came off as the kind of person that could be very strict, but ultimately fair. He only hoped that she didn't employ the same kind of teaching methods as Mrs. Curtis did.
"The firs'-years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.
"Thank you Hagrid. I will take them from here."
Together with Hagrid, they entered the castle into a huge entry hall. From there, Professor McGonagall led them into a small empty chamber off of another hall, which Hagrid snuck into.
With all of the first-year students, the chamber quickly became crowded, forcing everyone to stand far closer to one another than they wanted to.
Professor McGonagall then gave them a lengthy introductory speech to Hogwarts, telling them about the houses, the house cup, and the sorting. At the end of it all, she paused for a moment, before adding, "And I should stress one thing. No matter how loyal to and enthusiastic for your house you become, Hogwarts will not tolerate any kind hostilities between the houses. The house cup is meant to be nothing more than a friendly competition to motivate each other to do your best. Cooperation between the houses is far more likely to help you succeed than working against each other. And should we notice that one of you displaying such hostilities, the punishment against the individual will be more severe than the punishment to the house. You have been warned."
With that, she told them that she would be back to get them shortly, before leaving the room. A moment later, a group of ghosts floated by and chatted for a bit, but Edward ignored them after the initial surprise of seeing them to begin with. Harry, Ron and Hermione all seemed to be stressing out about the process of being sorted, but Edward didn't worry too much. Just as he had told the others, he didn't particularly care in which house he'd end up, so for him, there was nothing to be concerned about. Judging by her silence, Winry seemed to pretty much feel the same.
Not long thereafter, Professor McGonagall returned, and led them into the Great Hall.
It was a magnificent place: A large hall with a ceiling enchanted to look like the sky outside (as Hermione explained, having read so in a book). Five large tables dominated the room, four for the students, and one at the end of the hall for the teachers. The entire place was illuminated by hundreds, if not thousands of floating candles. As they passed by the tables, Edward caught a glimpse of Fred and George, who enthusiastically waved at him and the others. Edward simply nodded back at them uncertainly.
Professor McGonagall led them all the way to the front of the teacher's table, where a simple four-legged stool with an ancient and worn-down looking wizard's hat sitting on it. Edward's first thought that the hat must've been somehow related to them being placed in the houses.
And sure enough: After a moment of silence, a rip near its brim opened up, and it began to sing a song about the qualities of the houses, as well as how they would need to put it on for it to place them in the houses. Once it had finished, Professor McGonagall stepped forward, holding a long roll of parchment.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"
Alphabetical order, Edward thought. That meant that out of his friends, he would be the first one to be sorted…
A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her yes, and sat down. A moment's pause –
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.
The according table cheered and clapped as the new Hufflepuff came to join them.
"Aching, Tiffany!" Professor McGonagall called out next.
A brown-haired, rather plain-looking girl that had stood near Edward stepped forth. Unlike Hannah, she didn't seem particularly nervous as she stepped forth. After she put on the hat, there was only a short pause before the hat put her, too, into Hufflepuff.
After this, Edward began to tune out the sorting to an extent. In spite of himself, he was getting a bit nervous. He had no idea what house he could possibly end up in – what if he ended up in a different house from all of his friends? Or worse yet, in the same house as that Malfoy git?
His nervousness was not helped at all by the fact that even though the name "Elric" came rather early in the alphabet, there were quite a few students that were sorted before him. Bones, Boot, Brocklehurst, Bulstrode… the list just went on and on.
At long last however, Professor McGonagall called out his name. Winry, Harry, Hermione and Ron all gave him encouraging looks as he walked up to the stool and sat down. The professor put down the hat on Edward's head, which covered his eyes –
And the hat let out a loud, high-pitched scream.
From all around him, Edward could hear a sudden, confused whispering erupt. Even the teachers behind him seemed to be taking part in it – it seemed like this was something far out of the ordinary. Edward was almost glad that all he could see was the black inside of the hat.
"My apologies," said a small voice in his ear. "It is just that in all the centuries that I have sorted students, it has never happened that I came across one whose mind is full of the same thing as yours. Yes… this is my first time seeing it, human transmutation… and of course, the Gate of Truth."
The world seemed to stop. Edward felt sick in his stomach, and he had to resist the urge to just rip the hat off his head right then and there. It knew. The hat knew what he and Alphonse had done, the one thing that no one other than the Rockbells was ever supposed to know, the thing that they had vowed to never tell anyone–
"Now, now, there's no need to worry about anything," the hat meanwhile continued. "What happens during the sorting is between me and the student, and will never be told to anyone else. To me, you're only a bit of an oddity."
Edward sat there in silence. He didn't want to trust the hat. It wouldn't be too long before Professor Dumbledure would call him to his office, to have a very uncomfortable conversation, he was certain about it…
"I can do nothing more than give you my most sincere promise to not say anything," the hat said. "And that is all that I will say on the matter. Regardless, we have more important things to do, don't we?"
Meanwhile, everyone around him was still whispering, until Professor Dumbledore told them to quiet down.
"Now then, let us see what we have here to work with… a case could be made for all four houses with you, oh yes. You have all the ambition for Slytherin, having performed human transmutation and being determined to restore your brother's body. You are loyal to the very end to your family and friends, perfect for Hufflepuff. You have the courage to commit the taboo, just as a Gryffindor. And of course, you are a very, very bright mind, the perfect fit for Ravenclaw… this is tricky."
As long as the hat kept his secrets, Edward didn't care. He would take any house, just as long as the hat didn't tell anyone what he did.
"Let's go over this, shall we? You certainly have ambition… but it all came from a place of love. Love for your brother, love for your mother. No ambition to really prove yourself, and cunning as only a means to an end. Slytherin wouldn't be the right choice. Your loyalty to your family and friends is great, and not to be downplayed, that much is certain. But extraordinary circumstances such as yours lead to extraordinary actions. Hufflepuff might not be the right fit, either. That leaves Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, and for those, it is more difficult to completely rule out one or the other. Difficult, very difficult…"
The hat went silent for a moment. Was it keeping its thought process to itself, or did it wait for him to show a preference for either of the two houses? Edward didn't know, and he still had no clear preference. And with how he didn't even have the courage to ask Al that one question, he definitely wasn't brave. But then again… if the hat truly believed that he'd fit… Ron had mentioned his entire family was in Gryffindor, Harry seemed to favour the house, and even Hermione had expressed interest in it. Winry, too, might just be a fit…
"Your bright mind is undeniable… you would be a proper fit for Ravenclaw. But even more than that, I see your courage and desire to right your wrongs… so really, I think this decision is made. GRYFFINDOR!"
The hat shouted the last word out into the hall. Somewhat numb from having sat on the chair for so long, Edward almost stumbled over his left leg as he went over to the Gryffindor table. As he did, he shot one more wary glance at the hat over his shoulder, but it seemed content to just continue the sorting for now.
As Edward walked past the other first-years, he could see his friends smiling at him. At the table, the twins were right there to greet him – and question him about the hat's scream.
"Welcome, Ed!" one of them said.
"We just had a hunch that you would be joining us in Gryffindor," said the other.
"And now, as our introducing words to the house–"
"–We must ask, what was up with the hat? It has never done that!"
Edward resisted the urge to grimace. There it was. Maybe he could just pass it off as a joke?"
"You want to know?" he asked.
"Of course!"
"You really wanna know? Really?" he asked again.
"Well, yeah."
"All right," Edward said. "In that case… I'm not telling!"
He stuck out his tongue at them. The twins, surprised, stared at him for a moment, and then burst out into laughter.
"Fair enough!"
"But you must realize–"
"–That eventually, we will continue pestering you about it!"
"Well, as long as you realize that my answer is not going to change…"
The Sorting Ceremony had meanwhile continued. The current person being sorted was a "Fu, Lan Fan", who, after a moment, was placed into Hufflepuff. After her, Edward didn't have to wait long until it was the turn for the next person he wanted to see get sorted. After Goyle, Gregory – one of Malfoy's additional pieces of seemingly human mass – it was Hermione's turn to be sorted.
Her sorting also took a moment, though nowhere near as long as Edward's. Rather quickly, the hat sorted her into Gryffindor. Edward beamed at her as she came over to the table.
"Nice! We're in the same house!" he greeted her.
"The hat was seriously considering to put me into Ravenclaw," Hermione admitted. "But in the end, I think the fact that I preferred Gryffindor made him pick it instead."
"Same for me, actually! Though, the hat considered all four houses at first, he narrowed it down to those two."
"That's interesting! By the way, though, what was that with the hat screaming?"
Oh god, not again.
"I'll explain later," Edward said, hoping that over everything happening today, she would just forget it until then. Though if he was being honest with himself, he doubted that she would. "Let's see where everyone else gets sorted into!"
The Sorting Ceremony continued. Student after student was put into their house, and before long, it was Harry's turn, though not before Malfoy was quickly tossed into Slytherin. As Professor McGonagall called him, the entire hall erupted in to excited whispers about how "Is this really him", "Can it really be" and "Move outta the way, I can't see him".
Like with Hermione, the hat took a moment before it decided on a house for him. Precious few seconds, in which everyone in the entire hall, even the teachers, seemed to be holding their breath.
After what must've been the most intents sorting process in years – for the people not getting sorted themselves, that is – the hat finally reached its decision.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Accompanied by loud cheers and the Weasley twins chanting "We got Potter! We got Potter!" Harry came over to the table. There, a bespectacled Prefect that looked rather similar to Fred, George and Ron – another Weasley brother, most likely – shook his hand, before he sat down with Edward and Hermione… though so that Edward was between him and her.
Only a bit later, it was Winry's turn to be sorted. She shot a nervous glance to Edward and the others. She sat down on the chair, had the hat placed on her –
And the hat shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!"
"No!" it burst out of Edward.
He could not believe it.
Why?
Why was this happening? He had always assumed that he and Winry would end up in the same house as him. She had spent most of her life by the side of him and Alphonse… and now, this? The hat had to have made a mistake, he just knew it. It just couldn't be that they weren't in the same house!
Winry meanwhile shot him an apologetic glance as she went over to the Hufflepuff table, were at least she was warmly welcomed by all the other members of the house, in particular by the Armstrong girl.
Edward could not dwell on his shock for long, either, as there were still a few more students left to be sorted, among them Ron.
After "Turpin, Lisa" was made a Ravenclaw, he was called, looking very pale. But for him, the hat had barely even taken a second to decide that he should be in Gryffindor. Looking very glad, he joined Edward, Harry and Hermione on the table (though he, like Harry, also picked Edward's Hermione-free side), and was welcomed by his brothers.
The last two students in line, "Yao, Ling" and "Zabini, Blaise" were both put into Slytherin. Just as Edward started to wonder if now was the right time to get up and go talk to Winry, Professor Dumbledore stood up, clearly about to give a speech.
"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Baggins! Mellon! Glamdring!
Thank you!"
Edward stared at him in disbelief. This was their headmaster, one of the most respected wizards alive? Most other students seemed to respond well to this, as there were claps and cheers, and some even yelled something that sounded suspiciously like "Professor Gandalf".
Harry however, seemed to feel much the same way as Edward.
"Is he – a bit mad?" he asked the Weasley(?) Prefect uncertainly.
"Mad?" said the Weasley(?) Prefect airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But I suppose he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, anyone?"
Edward looked back at the table, which was now absolutely loaded with all kinds of delicious-looking food. At that moment, he quietly decided that he could always talk to Winry about their house placements later, and that it ultimately wasn't that bad – after all, they were still both at Hogwarts, weren't they? At any rate, filling his surprisingly empty stomach was a lot more important now.
As fast as he could, Edward grabbed as much food as he could, and began digging in. Ron and Harry did pretty much the same, while Hermione showed a bit more restrain. While they were eating, the Weasley Prefect introduced himself to Edward, Harry and Hermione as Percy Weasley, confirming Edward's suspicions.
"I must say, your sorting was quite the unusual sight," Percy said to Edward. "Those were well over five minutes it took there. I think that counts for a Hatstall."
Edward swallowed, and stopped eating for a moment. At least Percy didn't seem to care about the hat's scream, so he might was well talk to him. "What's a Hatstall?"
"I've read about that term in Hogwarts: A History!" Hermione interjected. "It's pretty self-explanatory; it refers to any student that needs a lengthy amount of time before they are sorted into a house."
"Correct," Percy confirmed. "What houses did it consider for you, Edward?"
"All four, in the beginning," Edward said, hoping that he wouldn't have to repeat the story too many times. "But after a while he narrowed it down to just Gryffindor and Ravenclaw." He paused for a moment, and then added, "Main reason why it considered me for Ravenclaw is because I already know a lot about alchemy. That's why it screamed, too," It was best to come up with a proper explanation now, before the entire thing got out of hand. And hey, he wasn't entirely lying about the hat's reaction to him, wasn't he?
Nonetheless, he thought he could see Harry give him another odd lock from the corner of his eye, which Edward decided to ignore.
"That reminds me that Professor Dumbledore has yet to introduce our new alchemy teacher..." Percy wondered aloud. "Well, I suppose we'll learn after the feast."
Edward snorted, but managed to keep quiet enough so that nobody noticed. If this teacher's choice for introductory literature was anything to go by, he couldn't be very good. And it wasn't like he would be able to teach him much, either – not after what he had seen…
With that, the conversation about Edward being a Hatstall was over. While they continued eating, Harry and a few of the other Gryffindor first-years talked with the house's ghost, the Nearly Headless Nick, or Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, as he preferred to be called. While Edward wasn't joining in on the conversation, he nonetheless made a mental note to never call him that, because it sounded silly.
After the main course, it was time for the dessert. At the sight of all the things that were on offer, Edward cursed himself a little for having eaten so much for the main course. Nonetheless, he still managed to fit a bit of apple pie and ice cream inside of him. The topic of discussion among the first-years had meanwhile moved on to their families.
"I'm half and half," said Seamus Finnigan. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mam didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."
Everyone around him laughed.
"What about you, Ed?" Hermione asked.
Edward flinched a little. He had been hoping that they would leave him out of this. But it did make sense, since she wasn't around when he had mentioned his parents to Harry and Ron.
"Mum was muggle-born. As for my father, I don't even know what he was. I was way too young when he left us to remember much about him."
"Oh," Hermione said, already catching on to what his wording implied. "So your mother is–"
"Dead. Died when I was barely five years old. That terrible excuse for a father had already left a few months before that. Winry's family took us in, and we've been living with them since then."
The first-year students went silent. After their light-hearted family situations, hearing Edward's was a mood killer. Only Harry looked at him with an understanding expression.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Hermione said.
"Thanks. But there's nothing that can be done about it." Believe me, I've tried…
After a bit of an awkward silence, everyone resumed eating their desserts. This went on for a few minutes, before Harry suddenly let out a pained noise, and clapped a hand to his head.
"What's wrong?" Edward asked.
"Just… a random bit of pain. It's gone already."
Edward looked into the direction that Harry had looked at. There was the teacher's table, and in particular, two teachers talking with each other: One plain-looking man wearing a purple turban, and a greasy-haired teacher that reminded Edward a bit of an oversized bat.
"Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrel?" Harry asked Percy.
"Oh, you know Quirrel already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to – everyone knows he's after Quirrel's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."
Harry continued staring at the teacher, but Edward shrugged, and finished up his dessert. Then, finally, the feast was done, and Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent.
"Ahem – just a few more words now we are all fed and watered. First, a few notices to our new first-year students, which I suppose also are reminders to our older students."
Dumbledore's twinkling eyes seemed to flash in Edward's direction.
"Though I am certain that several of our first-year students may have just found themselves in situations where new or old friendships have been torn apart by the sorting, I want to emphasize one thing. Though the people in your house are the ones that you will be spending the most time with in class, you are welcome – and even encouraged – to maintain friendships with students from other houses.
First-years should also note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. And not during classes either, on the off chance that you find yourself in the corridors if you should be in class.
To our first-year students exclusively, I would also like to point out that you are free to address me as "Professor Gandalf", should you be familiar with the name's origin. I encourage it, in fact.
Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch or their house's Quidditch captain.
Now, as is essentially customary, I must go over the staff changes that have taken place over the summer.
Unfortunately, I must announce that Professor Rincewind, last year's Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, has left his position, after learning about the reputation it has. He has instead gone off on a journey to do research on the colour of magic."
At this point, Dumbledore paused for a moment, so that the older students could briefly talk to each other about the news.
"Aw man, that's a shame," said one of the twins.
"Professor Rincewind wasn't exactly the best teacher," said the other.
"But his classes were fun!" continued the first.
"And we never learned so much about running away and yelling for help in various languages!" Finished the second.
"What- what does he mean with "the position's reputation"?" Harry asked Percy.
"Well, it's the weirdest thing – for the last couple of decades, no teacher that has ever taught Defence Against the Dark Arts has managed to stay in the job for more than one year. At this point, most people just sign up for one-year contracts, since they believe the job to be cursed."
"Taking his position," Dumbledore continued, "Will be Professor Quirrel, who some of our older students may remember as teacher for Muggle Studies."
The teacher with the purple turban that Harry had stared at earlier got up, and awkwardly waved at the students before sitting down. For someone who was supposed to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, he didn't look very impressive to Edward, let alone like much of a fighter. But who knew? Looks could be deceiving. For example, sometimes, people that looked like simple housewives and introduced themselves as such could be alchemy geniuses.
"Beyond that," Dumbledore said, "I must also announce that our previous teacher for alchemy, Professor Hamburgang, has decided to retire."
Again, he paused to let the students react. Unlike how it was with the previous staff change, there was more chattering going on, though with less extreme reactions. It seemed like the previous alchemy teacher had taught for a while.
"In his place, the new teacher for alchemy will be an official Ministerial Alchemist: The Flame Alchemist, Professor Roy Mustang–" A young, asian-looking teacher got up and looked over the students authoritatively, but kindly. Edward could not help but to notice that some of the older female students (as well as some male ones) looked at him very curiously, "who will in turn be joined by his assistant, Miss Riza Hawkeye." At that, a blonde woman that seemed to around the same age as Mustang got up. Similar to what happened with him, some of the older male students (and female ones) looked at her very curiously.
"As a last note, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death. The corridor will be marked accordingly."
A few students laughed awkwardly, but not a lot.
"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!"
The expressions of the other teachers had gone very, very stilted. Edward quickly learned why: The song was… silly. Very silly. For a while, Edward wasn't even certain if he should join in or not. But then, as he saw Harry, Ron, Hermione, Percy, and even Winry and Malfoy at the other tables join in, he just decided to go for it.
"Now, before bedtime, there is one more thing I need to mention for the behalf of our first-years, which I definitely did not forget earlier," said Dumbledore once the song had finished. "Your bedrooms will be strictly separated by gender, meaning that male students cannot enter the female students' bedrooms, and vice-versa. In the uncommon but not impossible case that you may find yourself unable to enter the room that should be right, please contact a Prefect. They will inform your house teacher, who will help you with this."
Edward exchanged a confused look with Harry and Ron. They had no idea what any of that was supposed to mean. Percy however seemed to understand just fine, as he nodded knowingly.
"And now, bedtime. Off you trot!" Dumbledore said.
Immediately, Percy jumped up and told the first-year Gryffindors to follow him. He was completely in his element. Starting to feel very tired, Edward did so, along with the others. Despite his exhaustion after the long day, he however nonetheless already looking forward to tomorrow.
After all, there was a library full of potential books with clues on how to get Alphonse's body back waiting for him.
Author's Notes:
And here we are again, for the grand list of things that I feel the urge to clarify because I need to share at least some of my creative process.
I originally considered having Hughes' part of this chapter cover both his evening with Gracia and his journey to Edinburgh. But then the Hogwarts part got longer and longer, and I didn't want to drag the chapter out for too long, so I kept that part short. Also remember, I want to use Hughes' part sparingly. . .
To explain the notes on Apparition and Floo Powder, I've decided to apply a bit of a "nerf" to both of these travel methods. It's just more interesting for me to write if the characters can't just instantly teleport from one place in the world to another, you know? That aside, there being more "special" platforms at King's Cross than 9¾ is actually a canon thing, although J.K. Rowling only ever confirmed 7½.
But regardless. The part with Maes and Gracia is mostly fluff, a bit of worldbuilding, and setting things up. It should be pretty clear that Elicia isn't born yet at this point, much less conceived, so it's just the two. I'm shoddy at romance (both writing and own real life experiences) so I hope that that wasn't too bad.
On that note, though: Since I have a feeling that some people might ask about this at some point - I don't really have any ideas or plans for ships and romance involving the kids at Hogwarts. For right now, I'm just covering the first year of this all, which isn't exactly the age where any of them would even think about that. But hey, I already kinda like how the dynamic between Edward and Hermione is coming out, so maybe there's gonna be something there in my equivalent of later years, even if it's for just a while. Granted, that's assumg that those ever get written. At any rate, one thing that I'm willing to already say clearly is that you can assume every character as I write them to be bisexual, unless I explicitly write something else.
And on that note - hey, it's almost like these notes have some structure to them - two points to adress in the Hogwarts section. Both the little bits about some male students being interested in Roy and some female students being interested in Riza, as well as Dumbledore's last point about bedrooms are meant to acknowledge the revolutionary concept that LGBT+ people exist. That's something that neither HP nor FMA ever did all that well in their respective canons. The thing that Dumbledore mentions with regards to that is not something that intend to have with the main characters, since I don't consider myself qualified to write a trans narrative, and it's really not the focus, but it's a small headcanon I came up with recently that I liked putting in.
For the previous Alchemy Teacher, I originally used Doctor Marcoh, but with his other role, I thought that that wouldn't fit. "Professor Hamburgang" is supposed to be Jude/Judeau from the FMA bonus chapter "The Blind Alchemist", with him taking the surname of the family he was serving - Judeau Hamburgang. A character minor enough for me to use without any second thoughts.
The Discworld references/cameos in this chapter are a just for fun thing. Don't expect any major appearances from either of them. Although I won't rule out a certain bony one making it in later. . . as well as the universal connections of libraries.
Now, for the very last author's note for this chapter, I promise - house choices. Edward being Gryffindor is pretty standard, I imagine, but I hope my reasoning is sound. Winry being Hufflepuff is not meant to write her out of the story in the slightest - if I wanted that, I could have just gone for a less ambitious crossover that doesn't even include her. I still want to use her as much as possible, but Hufflepuff just seemed like the best fit for me. Lan Fan meanwhile very nearly ended up being Gryffindor, and I might honestly still retcon that, since I'm really uncertain which house is better for her, both from a narrative standpoint, and for me as a writer. But for now, it's Hufflepuff. Ling being Slytherin meanwhile was just way too perfect.
This concludes this chapter's installment of "Author's Notes that are way too long". Next chapter will have more of what I consider to be the so-called "interesting stuff".