A.N. Ok, I am a tad bit guilty for not updating haha, the updates for the next part should be much faster cause summer is here! Anyhow, enjoy! I tried making Ed more playful~
I don't own either Harry Potter or Fullmetal Alchemist if anyone was wondering~
Ok, let it be said that Ed also enjoyed playing detective from time to time. Let it be said that not all of his prediction or hypothesis were even close to being right. But let it be said that he never ever- wait, actually, forget that thought. He did make rash decisions from time to time.
Ed paused in the middle of mental fuming and reclined on the bleachers the best he could. After hearing the reasoning that the three Gryffindors gave him, Ed fumed and pitched a fit as well as he could when he was actually 11 years ago and promptly stomped all the way back to the dungeon. Draco laughed- only after he realized that Ed wasn't mad at him - at Ed's sour face and did his best to answer as honestly as he could for any question that Ed asked- it didn't help that Ed was gripping his wand again. Honestly, Draco saw what Ed could do with his wand and decided that it would be best if he didn't give Ed a reason to use it- against Draco himself that is.
"Professor Snape? What about him?"
"Skip all the basics, do you know if there is any reason he would be interested in immortality?" Ed released his grip on the wand and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"Immortality? Li- Okay, okay, I'll answer your question Merlin. I don't know why Professor Snape would want immortality, I just know he was a Slytherin himself and uh. . ."
Catching Draco's hesitancy in answering, Ed sighed and pushed his hair back. "Damnit Draco, stop dragging the question back and forth!"
Draco hesitated and shook his head furiously, "I don't think that Professor Snape has to do with the troll if that's what you are asking. . . "
"What makes you so sure?"
"He-he isn't that kind of person. He isn't really as evil as half the people think. I think you're hanging around Potter and Weasley too much. I mean, has he actually done anything to hurt anyone?"
Ed considered that question and rolled it around in his mind. True, Snape had seemed hell bent against Harry, true, he was very strict on Gryffindors but he never had actually meant to hurt anyone from the likes- unless they were very easily emotional.
"Well then, do you have any other idea who might've jinxed Harry's broom?"
"Well no but Professor Snape would never do something like that!" Draco defended. Ed raised his hands in mock surrender.
"It's ridiculous, Snape can't be the person who did it."
The Gryffindors trio looked horrified at Ed's statement.
"As further proof, Snape didn't do anything at the match. I doubt anyone- unless they had a whole idea planned out- would actually wish for immortality."
"But then what about what Harry heard?" Ron defended. " Snape was threatening Quirrell!"
"Why did Snape go after Quirrell for the answers though?"
"'Cause he is the easiest to pressure!"
"Why wouldn't he just go to Hagrid because he seems so willing to give away information?"
"Hagrid would never tell him!" Harry argued.
"He told you about Nicholas Flamel when he wasn't suppose to. Plus he asked Quirrell if he knew how to get past the dog and not how."
"He could always be planning to ask him that next!"
"You've really become one of them, standing up for Snape and all that!" Ron accused and silenced the argument.
"You-" Ed gripped his wand and jerked it up his side then stopped. "Fine, if that's how you plan it to be then, we might as well do our separate investigations. You always judge Slytherin this and Slytherin that but I think you Gryffindors can be far worse!" Edward spun on his heels and stomped all the way back to the dungeon leaving the trio fuming behind him.
Ed noticed that the Gryffindors trio had been trying to encourage Quirrell by giving him reassurances but it just made Quirrell more suspicious to Ed. He wrote to Alphonse about the circumstances and kept him updated because he knew that Al also enjoyed a good mystery.
In the beginning Alphonse had been stubborn and told Ed it was his fault for being mean but then he seemed to change his idea and suggested Quirrel being the real bad guy. Maybe Quirrell had wanted to be immortal too because he didn't want people making fun of him all the time and Snape didn't want someone competing with him. That suggested that both of them are evil and are seeking the stone.
To Ed, that had seemed much more plausible compared to Harry and Ron's idea of Snape being some evil overlord attempting to take over the world.
So he began to observe the relation between Quirrel and Snape.
"Hagrid is in for some trouble now. . . "
"He will have no choice but to be fired!"
"What are you buffoons discussing again?" Ed groaned at the sound of the three Slytherin boys- Malfoy and his incompetent bodyguards.
Draco jumped at seeing Ed and looked slightly guilty but then got back his arrogance after remembering that his two -sucky but still- bodyguards were with him.
"You peeked into Hagrid's hut?!" Ed roared and frowned at the three idiots that were kneeling on the floor looking quite scared for their lives. Ed brought his hand up to his face and groaned heavily into his hand. "Shame, shame on you! They say cunning but I say that was as foolish of an act as you guys could contribute to a Gryffindor! And you guys say that Slytherin is in a whole different league. And now are you going to try and get them into trouble? In fact, why don't the three of you idiots go and study for the exams? Yea, that sounds much better. "
The boys kneeling on the floor mentally cheered because Ed hadn't whipped out his wand to actually do anything to them but then that thought was erased when Ed sneered at them.
"But. . . You might want to want your steps or. . . I may think that you haven't got the idea in your head correctly yet."
The three of them shivered.
Harry had expected Malfoy to be triumph about his discovery about the dragon but he looked the same as before if not more tired. However, Crabbe and Goyle seemed to have been answering more questions in class compared to before which was a surprising thing for Harry because he thought the two of them were just idiots like how Ron described them.
Then again, this behavioral change might have to do with Edward but Harry still wanted nothing to do with Ed just yet. Remembering Ron's advice that all Slytherin were not to be trusted, he lowered his head and kept on working.
Malfoy had done it. Ed was livid. Even after warning the little aristocratic brat not to get ideas to try and get the Gryffindor trio in trouble he did it.
"And so, you will be shipped off into the forbidden forest?"
Draco miserably nodded and he shook while putting on his robe. Ed sighed and rubbed his temples.
"This is why I tell you guys to listen to my advice more often. . . I wish you luck." Ed solemnly advised but then he got an idea. "Do you think Hagrid would let me come along?"
Draco looked horrified that anyone would possibly volunteer themselves to enter the forbidden forest.
However, Hagrid was pleased. "We could use all the help we can get!"
Edward ended up being grouped together with Draco being that they both were Slytherins. Walking around the dark forest, Ed realized that it did give off a very dangerous feeling. Edward managed to stop Draco from scaring Neville too badly but couldn't stop the sparks. Then there was another change in groups where Harry joined them.
"So it seems you aren't as afraid as I thought you were of this place," Ed menacingly teased Draco while the person himself denied ever being afraid.
Harry stopped them in their steps and pointed to a silvery being on the ground and identified it as a unicorn. There was anger bubbling within Ed seeing the fallen form of an innocent fairy tale creature. Before he could approach the creature, another figure appeared from the bushes and descended upon the unicorn and began to suck it's blood.
Ed's arm whipped out of his side and grabbed Malfoy silencing his scream while his other arm gripped his wand tightly however he was unable to prevent the dog from making a tremendous racket while it ran through the trees and the figure abruptly approached Harry-not seeing Ed or Draco.
Harry's knees buckled and he fell to his knees- Ed pushed Draco behind him and thrust the wand forward and mentally flipping through the spells he knew but before he could do anything another creature appeared.
It was the top portion of a human while the bottom part was replaced instead with the body of a horse. Ed clenched his jaw not allowing the bile to rise. Then from the other trees much more of them appeared and Ed felt like crying again. It sucked. Seeing human parts combined together with animals yet not completely because they had human and animal physics instead of a mix that made it a chimera- yet it still was one.
And they spoke. In human tongue.
Ed couldn't hear half of the discussion because it took his sheer willpower not to break down or start vomiting. Or hitting someone for a matter.
He sneered hearing the broken bits about having half a cursed life and being able to live even on the brink of death. What a ridiculous idea. People and their want and desire for power. . .
"-was Vol-"
All of a sudden Ed's senses returned to earth. He felt himself gripping his wand tighter than he had before and he forced the bile down and the tears away. Yea, there still was that Moldy-warts bastard who he could blame for this whole mess. Bastard trying to defy the laws of fate by trying to live longer than he was suppose to. Cheap copy of Father. Yea, Ed would very much love to find him and beat his face in for all he's worth and finally then, Ed could live his live in peace at the school and avoid having anything to do with the chimeras around the place.
Some time while Ed was still plotting Voldemort's death if he was still alive, Hagrid and Hermione had showed up to escort them back out. Draco was still furiously shaken by the time they arrived at the common room and Ed found himself writing to Alphonse again for advice.
Ed had came to the conclusion that no, the figure that had killed the unicorn couldn't be Moldy-warts. According to history it had said that he vanished the night he tried to kill Harry which means that even if Moldy-warts was alive somehow, he would not have a body to sustain which would be a possible reason for him wanting the philosopher's stone because without the stone, Father couldn't maintain his body and it was the same for Hohenheim when the stone was running out- until he found another source.
Further research helped him find out how to get past the first trap. Harry had told him it was a three-headed-dog and after researching, it said that they were easy to succumb to music. It was a mystery how Snape couldn't have just looked it up if he were so curious. Alphonse had even told Ed it was in a child's mythology book in how to get past a Cerberus. Wizards.
It seemed that Harry had discovered how to get past the Cerberus because he seemed overly excited that afternoon. Ed was merely strolling by when he heard Harry talking about Snape wanting the stone. When Ed saw Snape approach them, he called out as a warning.
"Professor! I wanted to ask, is there a potion for everything in the world?"
"Elric, it would do you good not to call out in the halls. And yes, there is a potion for almost everything possible in the world- within a certain time limit that is."
"How about for spells then?"
"Depending on which Elric."
"Like, being able to play music for example."
"Yes, there is a spell that can temporarily allow you to play music and there is a potion that can allow it for a time span of an hour."
"Thanks for the info!" Ed jabbed a thumb into the air and ran off in one direction. Obviously he didn't actually care about playing music magically. Waste of effort. It was a tip however, for those Gryffindor idiots.
Ed smiled after he was sure Snape couldn't see him. Hey, who said he had to wait for the Gryffindor trio to get all the credit? He knew himself how to get to places and he might as well go on his own.
However, it proved to be difficult and that the Gryffindor kids were struggling too. So Ed decided he was going to sneak out at night. He was sure that was what the Gryffindor kids were planning and he thought it would be fun to disrupt their plans just a little.
"Wh-what are you doing here?" Ron hissed after seeing Ed already in the mess of plants.
"I was tired of waiting for you and decided to go first but as you can see or possibly assume, I'm stuck and cannot reach my wand. "
Hermione shrieked and was flustered as Ron and Harry struggled- she only gasped when she saw that Ed completely gave up on struggling but was twitching with his left leg.
After a very short debate on whether or not Hermione was a witch, she chanted a fire spell that allowed them to be freed and none of them noticed that thump Ed's left foot made on the ground when he fell.
Ed made it clear to them that he refused to go back and that wherever they were going- he was too. There was no way he was going to let a bunch of little kids handle this on their own because it was unlikely they could protect the philosopher's stone- and their lives- and that would be a problem.
Before reaching the next room, Ed braced himself for fighting against some sort of harpy because the loud beating sound was most definitely coming from the next room and not his heart.
However, the door that led to the next room had a big door at the end of it and no other doors. Instead, there were tiny birds fluttering around the room at a fast speed and if Ed looked hard enough, it looked like a sort of metal that had wings sprouted which sounded as ridiculous as tiny birds.
However, Harry confirmed it as flying keys and Ed came to the conclusion that the reason for those brooms were to allow them to catch the keys in midair- just like the favorited wizard sport.
Harry confidently went and grabbed a broom for himself and Ed quickly grabbed another- he didn't want to be left out. He quickly launched himself into the air after Harry.
Judging by the harp he saw before going through the trap door, most likely someone had used a key already. However, was there a way that they could have just broken past the door without using a key? No, that wouldn't be possible, most likely the doors were enhanced because if it weren't then it would be obvious that a wizard could just break in.
A cry from Harry brought Ed's focus towards one of the flying keys that seemed to have a little difficulty flying as fast as others and - as Ed raced toward it - it was having difficulty 'cause the wing was broken! He reached out to grab it and his fingers grazed the wing when-
"Ugh!" Ed grunted when his body made impact with the cement ground. Stupid! He used his right hand and that cause his balance to waver because of his automail! "Ow, ow. . ." When he had fallen, he had fallen on his left leg- the automail - which led to his accidently damaging the metal near the hip and led to extreme pain.
"Are you ok? Merlin! You should be more careful!"
"Merlin? I am no Merlin. . ." Ed hissed at Hermione's frets and stood to the best of his ability without disturbing the automail and leaned on his right. "I'm fine, you people worry too much. . "
"Harry's got it!" Ron cheered and Hermione left Ed to rush to Harry's side and the door. Ed cautiously shook his automail a little and was relieved to find that it wasn't that much of a pain now. He quickly joined the trio at the door.
The next room was a gigantic chess game. All the pawns seemed to have increased in size by at least 20 fold.
"Wizards. . ." Ed mumbled looking at the sheer size of the queen that loomed over him. It sucked too, Ed would once again have to hand this role over to someone else, he was not one of the best players for a game like chess- took too long and in order to win one would have to have planned few steps ahead. Ron offered to lead and Ed could not help himself, "'least you can do something useful", which led to a shaky smile by Ron.
Another downer was the fact that the pawns were huge. Like- really, REALLY big and the pieces seemed to be laughing at him while Ed stood in his place. Damn pawns that think they could laugh at him- if only he cou-
A crashing sound loud enough to probably surpass Winry's screech brought Ed's attention to another part of the board where one of the pawns destroyed the other. Ed shuddered and once again cursed- why couldn't they just kill the chess pieces and pass that way?
Ron commanded the pieces with caution and none of the human players were damaged. Then toward the end, something Ed didn't predict what Ed's previous idea of Ron- Ron sacrificed himself in order to win the game even though Ed knew that Ron hated Ed and it would probably make Ron happier too.
"Thank you for not killing me off, I was sure you wanted to off me, " Ed teased Ron as if Ron was still awake but Ron didn't yell at him but stayed on the ground.
Ed winced and- after checking his pulse - waved goodbye and followed Hermione and Harry to the next room and the first thing that struck him was - dear all mighty- the horrible, awful smell coming from the room.
"Seems like it was a good thing the intruder came first, killed one obstacle for us, why couldn't they have done the same for the others?" Harry and Hermione glared but Ed just ignored them and continued pressing forward and pushed the door that led to the next room.
"Wai-" Hermione called out and Harry braced himself for something dangerous but Ed just shrugged.
"What? Did you forget something?" Ed nonchalantly asked after turning around at the doorway and he grumpily sighed when the pair had nothing to say and urged them to walk faster. However the moment they stepped into the room, a purple like flame burst behind them and a pitch black flame licked the ground ahead of the next door.
"Wha-!" Hermione jumped and she was then distracted by a piece of parchment lying near the bottles that were on a table in the middle of the room. "Ah, thank Merlin, I can do this," her shoulders that were tense previously relaxed and she smiled. Harry hurried over and Ed followed suit after observing the flames.
"Oh, its a puzzle. . ." Ed mumbled seeing the words on the parchment.
Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, which ever you would find,
One among us seven will let you move ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead,
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting bidden in line.
Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;
Second, different are those who stand at either end,
But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.
Ed turned back to the potions lining the table and he copied Hermione's motion of looking through the potions.
"Alright! Harry you take this one and Hermione you take this one!" Ed declared after verifying which potion would bring one through and which would bring one back. Hermione looked astonished but at Harry's question, she, too, agreed with the potions Ed chose.
"That's such a small bottle. . ." Harry grimaced looking at the size of the bottle and gulped, "This is for myself?"
Ed sighed, "Pity, seems like the other intruder took a bit too much." He then pushed his chin out as a gesture for Harry to hurry along.
"We can't just leave Harry alone!" Hermione frantically exclaimed but Ed shrugged her off coldly.
"Well, that is the best solution we have. You go back through the purple flames with the round bottle there at the end of the line." Harry agreed with Ed's solution and urged Hermione to find Dumbledore. She weakly nodded and her eyes glittered.
"Please be careful Harry. . " she called after him as Harry took a gulp of the potion and walked through the black flame.
"Ok, this is the next part, Hermione, you take the potion and make sure to keep the door open when you walk through, " Ed commanded without even turning to look at Hermione.
The girl gasped and her voice wavered, "W-what are you planning to do?"
"Obviously, to prevent Harry from getting killed and, " Ed's smile widened, " to prevent him from getting all the glory of course."
A.N Yaaay! I finally updated OTL, sorry, been having a lot of homework and I swear my english teacher is trying to kill me with all the homework. . .ugh, I have the next chapter outlined so it shouldn't take that long, haha.
Forgot to update too because I accidentally set fanfiction emails on spam so I didn't see any reviewer/ review that wanted me to hurry up haha, never to worried to pressure me! I need a reminder!
Peace out, love you all!
