"blah blah"- Speaking Greek

"[blah blah]"- Speaking Amestrian

'blah blah'- Thinking

***** - Begin/end flashback

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn't be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan. Just to be safe, I also don't own the song 'This is War' by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

Edward

Edward surveyed the six students in front of him. Hermione looked ashamed, Ron and Harry looked extremely uncomfortable (and a bit scared). Thalia, Percy, and Nico, looked oddly determined. He wouldn't have thought that Hermione would be a student he had to worry about. In fact, he wouldn't have thought to worry about anyone getting into his room.

'well, that's what I get for trusting the ridiculous magical security. Good thing painting Hawkeye is as vigilant as real Hawkeye.'

"Well? I'm still waiting for an answer."

"W-well, sir, we didn't mean to-that is, we weren't-" Hermione began nervously. But then she stopped; and, taking a deep breath, she spoke again. "We don't have any excuses, sir. We let our curiosity get the best of us, and we acted like idiots. We will accept any punishment that you see fit, sir."

The other five perpetrators nodded reluctantly. Edward noticed that Thalia, Nico, and Percy still held that defiant light in their eyes.

"First of all, I want to know what you saw." Nothing had been missing from his room, but Ed knew that with magic, he shouldn't rule out any possibilities.

"We-we read-" Hermione's voice was small and frightened. "We read two of your letters," she admitted.

Ed did his best to keep his temper, but it was getting increasingly more difficult. Who did these kids think they were that they could read through someone's personal letters like that? He understood that they were curious, but they should know that there are limits to satisfying your curiosity!

"Which ones?" He asked, his temper rising quickly.

Harry answered this time, saving Hermione from her undesired position. "I have them right here, sir." He pulled the two letters from his bag and handed them over.

Edward looked at the letters. "These are in English." He looked back at Hermione. "I'm guessing you translated them?"

Hermione nodded, shame faced. Ed examined the letters. His English had improved greatly over the last month, and he was able to read both letters with little trouble. To his dismay, one of the letters was his most recent letter from Colonel Mustang.

"I don't know about here, but where I'm from it's illegal to read a military correspondence unless it's meant for you." Ed glared at them over the paper.

Hermione looked near-terrified, and Ron and Harry looked fearful as well. Thalia, Nico, and Percy looked nervous as well, but they were doing a better job of hiding it.

"I could kick you out of my class for this, you know."

The affect of his words were immediate. All six students, wore expressions of shock, as if they hadn't considered that possibility. Hermione looked as if she wanted to protest, but then a look of resignation came over her.

"I suppose we deserve that," she said.

Edward didn't miss the horrible disappointment in her voice. Her friends nodded, albeit reluctantly.

"But, you didn't have any particularly evil intentions in mind. I can see that you won't be making a mistake like this again."

The students perked up immediately, hopeful looks on their faces.

"Don't think that I'm not mad at you!" Ed snapped. "You had absolutely no right to do what you did."

They sobered quickly, and Hermione shrunk back slightly before speaking. "S-sir, if you don't mind me asking–what is our punishment going to be?"

"I suppose I should give you detention. That's what normal teachers do, right?"

Hermione nodded, looking puzzled.

"Alright then. Detention. Every night for four weeks, starting tonight. You can meet me here at seven." Ed was quite pleased with the way the six students stared at him, though he didn't let it show. "It could be much worse, so you should be thanking me. Now hurry up, you're going to miss you're next class."

Hermione hurried to stutter out a thank you before hurrying towards the door with relief.

"Except for you." Edward pointed to Nico di Angelo. "Stay here a while longer. I need to talk to you."

Nico's friends glanced at him worriedly as they headed out the door. He waved them off. "Go on, I'll catch up soon."

Edward waited until the five teens were gone before rounding on Nico. "You somehow managed to get inside my room without using the door. I want to know how you did."

Nico looked startled. "Um…I apparated?"

Ed snorted. "Not only are you not experienced enough to do that, it's impossible within the school grounds. Also, you're a terrible liar."

"Well in that case, I can't tell you." Nico's voice took on a hard edge.

"And why is that?" Edward asked.

"We all have secrets, don't we?" Nico said. "I know you do."

Something about the way he said it made Ed pause. The accusation, if you could call it that, sounded as if it had something to back it up. As id he knew something.

"What makes you say that?" Ed asked coldly.

Nico hesitated, perhaps regretting his words. "I didn't want to say anything at first, but I can't stand it anymore. There's something about you that feels off. I don't know how to describe it, it's just…wrong somehow."

"Wrong?" Ed questioned. "Does anyone else have this 'feeling' besides you?"

Nico shook his head. "No. It's just me. But I know I'm not imagining anything. I don't know what it is; but it has something to do with death."

Edward froze. Death? Surely he couldn't mean… "How can you feel it and no one else?" He asked cautiously.

Nico stopped again. "I can't tell you that."

"Well, we're never going to get anywhere if we keep going like this!" Ed said impatiently.

"Well…I don't know for sure about this…" Nico hesitated. "If you tell me what it is that I'm sensing, then I'll tell you how I can sense it. I normally would never do this, but–" Nico growled in frustration. "This feeling that I have–I can't get it to go away no matter what I do, and I can't figure it out. Maybe if I know what it is then it's be a little more bearable."

Ed examined Nico, contemplating. The kid seemed near desperate, so that feeling that he had must not have been very pleasant. On the other hand… "The secret I have could get me court-martialed. How can I trust you not to tell anyone?"

"I guess there really isn't anything I can do to make you trust me, but I'm taking a big risk by trusting you too." Nico said. "You have my word that I won't tell anyone, not even my friends. And I expect the same from you."

Edward found himself beginning to be impressed by Nico. Most of the students were afraid of him, but Nico didn't hesitate to speak his mind. And he could tell by his eyes that Nico was no stranger to hardship.

"Alright." He said finally. "I'll trust you for now. But if you tell anyone about this, you should know that you may never get that trust back."

Nico nodded. "The same goes for you."

"You said that you knew the feeling had to do with death. I'm guessing that you're feeling my Gate."

"Gate?" Nico asked in confusion.

"Your Gate is what allows you to preform alchemy. Or you could even be feeling Truth."

"Truth? And what does this have to do with death?" Nico still sounded confused.

"It's complicated." Ed sighed. "When I was younger, I…tried to bring my mother back to life."

Nico's eyes widened. "It didn't work, did it?"

"Of course not! It's not possible for the dead to come back. I made a stupid mistake. But when you attempt human transmutation, you are sent to the Gate, where Truth is. You gain knowledge in exchange for part of your body. That's the simple version at least."

Nico's eyes widened even more. "So even though you weren't looking for knowledge, you got it anyway? And this 'truth' takes part of your body?"

Ed nodded. "Basically."

"So is that how you can preform alchemy without a circle? And…is that why your arm is metal?"

"Ah, so you did notice." Edward replied. "I thought so. I was surprised that you didn't tell the whole school."

"Well, I told my friends, but that's it," Nico said. "I know it sounds ironic, but I figured you had your reasons for keeping it a secret. So is that how you lost your arm?"

"Well…kind of. It's complicated." Ed didn't want to tell him about Alphonse yet; not unless he had to. "I'd rather not get into the details. I've answered your question. Now it's your turn to explain."

"Right. I guess it is. You probably aren't going to believe me though, this story is pretty far-fetched."

"I spent the last month adjusting to the fact that magic is real. I doubt I can be surprised anymore than that."


"What?!" As it turned out, Edward could be surprised more. "Are you serious?! First magic, and now you're telling me that gods are real?! And have children?!"

"Yeah, I kinda thought you'd react like this." Nico was sitting on the edge of his desk, absently swinging his legs. Ed thought that he looked suspiciously as if he were enjoying this.

"That Truth that I told you about," Ed said. "One of the things he called himself was god. That just makes this whole thing even weirder."

"Like I said, far-fetched." Nico stopped swinging his legs. "So…do you believe me?"

Ed groaned. "I don't even know what to believe at this point. You don't really have a reason to be lying, and what you said makes sense…in a weird, unbelievable way, that is. But can't I go even one month without everything I know being completely flipped around?"

Nico shrugged. "I should probably catch up to the others before they get suspicious."

"Yeah, go on." Ed waved his hand at the door.

'First magic and now this,' Ed thought as Nico exited. 'I'm going to wake up soon, right?'

~o~O~o~

"E-excuse me, professor? Professor?"

Edward was vaguely aware that someone was talking to him, but he didn't want to be bothered with responding.

"Professor!"

"What?!" He snapped, looking up from his book. The student took a hasty step back.

"I-I'm sorry to bother you sir, but–could you–I mean–I wanted to know if you could help me understand something?" The last part was said in a rush, and the young girl shrunk back a bit more.

Upon closer examination, Ed saw that she was one of the students in his first year class.

"It's fine. What do you need?"

The first year nervously stepped forward and laid out her parchment on the table. "All of what you said about what causes a rebound. I paid attention in class, I promise! I even took notes! I just don't really understand it." She fidgeted anxiously.

'I guess I didn't realize that the younger students probably have more trouble with understanding.' Ed thought as he began his explanation. 'I'm teaching all the students the same thing, but the first years obviously aren't as smart as the sixth years. I never thought about it because I started learning this even younger than them. Maybe I should tone it down for the younger classes.'

Ten minutes later, the girl; who had introduced herself as Susan White; was nodding in understanding.

"It makes sense now. Thank you sir!"

Ed nodded. "Sure. No problem."

"Oh, in that case…" She hesitated. "Do you think you could help my friends out too?"

She gestured towards the table over, where a boy and a girl were sitting, not-so-discreetly throwing awed glances at the two of them.

"They were too afraid of you to come over." Susan explained. "We heard that you didn't like to be bothered when you're reading. I told them that you couldn't be as scary as some people say, but they didn't listen. So, could you help them?"

"Yeah…I guess so." Edward replied.

Susan bounced over to her friends, beaming. A few seconds later Ed found himself in the middle of an impromptu tutoring session. Susan's and her friends had gotten over their initial nervousness and were now unafraid to ask all the questions that were on their mind. Ed was annoyed at first, but he eventually found that he didn't mind their questions quite that much.

'Maybe I should pay more attention to how the younger students are doing. I don't want them to fail because I forgot that they aren't geniuses.' Ed allowed himself a small smile as he went back to his studying.

~o~O~o~

"Er, professor?"

For the second time that day, Edward found himself interrupted in the middle of his research. But this time, he had been expecting it. Looking forward to it, actually.

"Oh good, you aren't late." Edward looked up, grinning, at the six students who had entered the classroom.

"Professor, if you don't mind me asking," Hermione began. "What did you do to the classroom?"

The several desks that had occupied the room seemed to have vanished, replaced by a large table in the center of the room. In reality, Ed had transmuted all of the desks together into one large table-like structure.

"The desks were in the way. This is much better for what we're going to be doing."

"And…what are we going to be doing?" Ron ventured.

Ed's grin widened. "Simple. You take turns attacking me, without magic, one at a time. As soon as you land a hit, you can go. Or after you've been trying for thirty minutes each, whichever comes first. I don't want to be here all night."

Ed noted the reactions on each of his victims. Hermione and Ron looked apprehensive, and Harry looked nervous but determined. The three 'demigods' didn't look worried in the slightest. The three of them looked at him as if to say, 'we've faced worse, you don't scare us'.

'Good. At least they may be a challenge.'

"Thalia, you can go first. The rest of you stay out of the way."

Thalia stepped forward, a determined look in her eyes. "Any rules I should know about, sir?"

"No magic from you, and no alchemy from me."

Student and teacher faced each other. Ed could see that Thalia had fighting experience, which made sense according to what Nico had told him. From what he could see, she was probably more comfortable with a weapon in her hand.

'I'll have to be careful; I don't want to hit her with my automail.'

"Whenever you're ready," Edward said. "Remember, I'm just defending. I won't be attacking you."

Thalia moved forward quickly, probably hoping to catch him off guard. She sidestepped to the left and threw a punch with her left hand, aiming to get around his guard. Ed blocked her easily. Without pausing, Thalia brought her right foot up, going for where his now exposed chest. Ed blocked with his left hand and stepped to the right, out of her range.

It was safe to say that Edward was fairly impressed. Thalia was fast, and she thought well on her feet. She wasn't as good as Teacher, of course, but Edward suspected that she would be more formidable with a weapon in her hand. She was managing pretty well without though.

Thalia threw two punches in quick succession, then rolled under his guard, coming up behind him. Ed turned around in time to catch her foot that had been aimed at his back. He released her foot, pushing her off balance.

Thalia didn't pause for an instant. They continued for at least fifteen minutes, and Thalia showed no signs of tiring. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were watching with wide eyes. Nico and Percy were less impressed, no doubt used to seeing Thalia fight. They didn't look at all surprised when Thalia managed to get around his guard and land a hit.

"Impressive." Ed said, grinning at Thalia. "You're pretty good."

Thalia smirked, barely winded. "I've had plenty of practice." She joined her friends at the back of the room.

"Let's see how the rest of you compare."

Out of the five, only Percy and Nico were able to land a blow within the time limit. The other three…well, they pretty much just go beaten up. Edward made sure to go easy on them, considering they had a whole month of this ahead of them. He had to be extra careful with his automail. It could do lasting damage if he didn't pay attention.

"Alright, we're done for tonight," Ed said. "You can go back to your rooms now."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione breathed sighs of relief as they exited. Edward gave Nico a pointed look as they exited. I'm trusting you, demigod. Nico returned his gaze with a look of his own. And I'm trusting you, alchemist. They gave each other a small nod, and an understanding of sorts passed between them. Don't break that trust. You may not get it back.

~o~O~o~

"Hey, Professor Elric!"

Edward looked up from his book with an inward groan. This was the fifth student to interrupt him in the past hour.

"I assume you want help with your homework?" He asked with a sigh.

"Yes sir, if it's not to much trouble that is." The boy skidded to a halt in front of the table.

'You help one, and the rest come running.' Ed grumbled internally. 'And it's only been one day since I helped that girl. One freakin day!'

Edward took care of the boy and sent him off as quickly as possible. He was able to keep reading for barely five minutes.

"Oi, Professor Elric!"

'This is going to be a very long day, isn't it.'

~o~O~o~

"So, I heard you were tutoring students in the library!" Remus's normally cheery voice sounded worn and tired.

"I still don't know how that happened," Ed complained, reaching for the food. "I helped one person, and all of a sudden I'm being swarmed every time I step into the library!"

Remus laughed. "They were probably afraid of you before. I heard that you can have quite the temper."

Ed grumbled a response that was muffled by the food in his mouth.

"If it makes you feel any better, you seem to have a better reputation now."

"What do you mean?"

"You used to be 'the short teenaged foreign teacher'–"

"I'M NOT SHORT!"

"–And now you're 'the teacher who helps anyone with homework'," Remus continued, ignoring Ed's outburst.

"So what kind of reputation do you have?" Edward asked.

"Hmm…I don't know," Remus speculated. "Probably 'the teacher who's not going to last the year' if I had to guess."

"Why is that?" Ed asked in confusion.

"No has lasted for longer than one year as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor in a long time." Remus explained. "Some people say that the positions cursed."

Ed snorted. "How could you even curse a position?"

"Stranger things have been done," Remus said.

Edward rolled his eyes. 'Cursed teaching positions? What are they going to curse next? …Actually, I probably shouldn't ask that question. As long as they keep their curses away from me and my stuff, I don't care what they curse.'

A/N–That fight scene between Ed and Thalia was pretty hard to write. I took Tae Kwon Do for several years, so I know something about hand-to-hand fighting, but putting it down in words is another thing altogether. I also attempted fluff again. I think it turned out better this time. Maybe. You'll have to let me know how I did. Thanks for reading!