Wandering down Knockturn Alley was perhaps an ill-advised decision. Ed had been all over Amestris, from the fancy parties some of the higher ups liked to throw in houses too big for a family ten times the size of the one they had to the knock down, drag out fights that occurred in the slums when there's not enough and even attacking a state alchemist is better than their day to day lives.
He had never quite seen somewhere the managed to ooze malevolence quite as well as Knockturn Alley. It was almost enough to unnerve him, except he had dealt with worse. Perhaps Amestris' lowest didn't seem quite as unabashedly evil, but he knew what the true horrors of the world looked like, and it wasn't some witches and wizards skulking around in an alleyway and trying to seem intimidating.
Mustang seemed slightly annoyed by the fact that he had to be in here in the first place, but he had refused to let Ed come alone into the one place that the bartender had expressly said he couldn't go. He had followed Ed into the alley even as he muttered about how he should have expected that this would be the place Ed would want to go first.
Two people had already tried to steal his watch, and he had only been in the alley for ten minutes. Leaving a few bruises in retaliation seemed to have scared off most of the people who had been trying to swarm around them earlier, muttering about brutality as they scattered.
Really, the alley was a bit of a disappointment once one got over the general atmosphere, but he supposed that any criminal worth their salt wouldn't set up shop right next to where children were known to shop.
However, disappointing as it may be, it was really the only lead they currently had. After all, where else was one to hear rumors of an evil wizard other than in the one alleyway where everyone disreputable seemed to congregate?
Of course, it was also useless even being in this alley if no one was willing to approach them after a small display of violence. Ed knew that if he were trying to take over a country, he would chose followers who could handle all the necessary steps to get there.
"This is pathetic," he said, his voice loud in comparison to the quiet murmuring of the alley. He turned, ignoring the way people skittered out of his path, and went for the exit of the alley.
Diagon Alley was all the brighter in comparison to Knockturn, both the colors and the magic. It was a bit ridiculous that the sections were so clearly divided.
"Well, now that we've satisfied your curiosity, we're getting wands," Mustang said, stepping ahead of Ed and leading him through the crowd.
"I think I'd rather go back," he said, with just enough seriousness that Mustang reached out and grabbed his arm to ensure he didn't. He resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at the man. Just because he was young didn't mean he had to act like to a child.
The wand shop was an uncomfortable experience. Ollivander, the owner, seemed to both enjoy making cryptic comments and invading personal space and it was a bit aggravating when the man used magic to take their measurements and then didn't seem to take much mind of them at all. Wizards may not know the cost of magic, but it still struck Ed as lazy.
The rest of the day was spent in Flourish and Blotts where Ed tried to refresh what he had learned about magic, reading quickly to try to approximate the knowledge everyone would think he already had. Mustang was at an even worse disadvantage than Ed as he had never dealt with magic first hand at all, to Ed's knowledge. Of course, the man loved his secrets, but the slight frown he had on betrayed the information as new to him. The only time he would have had to deal with magic was during the mandatory Occlumency training the military provided.
Everyone seemed exhausted at the dinner as Walther reminded them that they were to meet the Minister's Undersecretary the next morning and the Minister himself in the afternoon. Yoki seemed to be the only one particularly nervous about the entire thing.
Mustang and Ed retired to their rooms to read even as Lewis and Walther set out to check out Knockturn Alley as it grew dark. Muller grabbed Fessler, who looked extremely disgruntled about it, and Alvon, who seemed far more resigned to it all, and dragged them off, barely mentioning that there were still more shops to check out. Ed found his exuberance disquieting when the man had already firmly established himself as not liking magic. Either he had been lying then or he was acting now, and Ed couldn't be sure which.
He mentioned it to Mustang, who seemed to think Ed was being a bit dense. "Acting now. You know most people in Amestris aren't particularly fond of magic, and your stance on it isn't a mystery, mainly because you were just as loud about that as you were about everything else. Nothing to be gained by lying about it." He then turned back to his book again, leaving Ed to either stare at the man or get back to his own reading. After a few moments, Ed picked up his book once more.
Learning magic from books approved to be in a school felt odd. The last time he had messed with magic, it had almost led to him dying multiple times. He was relatively sure Al hadn't made the connection between his terrible luck in being called into the war with what was once Creta and the magic he had performed or else he would have been yelled at already for recklessly endangering himself. To be fair, he was still relatively sure that it had been the only way to restore Al to his body without sacrificing anyone else.
Learning the magic to get him to that point had involved more shady backroom deals than he had really been comfortable with even then and he was always surprised with just how lucky he sometimes was because how was he not dead after everything he had done? The books had usually been either extremely cryptic about the actual mechanics of any particular spell or encoded or just vaguely gruesome and unpalatable, nothing like the clear text of the books he now was reading.
At least the books he had read had been more clear about the cost of the supposed miracles. Nothing in these children's texts mentioned anything about the people that suffered for every spell. The only book that even hinted at a cost were the fairy tales wherein a witch or wizard tried to cheat with their magic and ended up worse off than before, although he supposed it might be more fair to assume that the lesson was to abide by the rules rather than to be careful of when you used magic.
He didn't sleep well that night, the memories of Creta too fresh in his mind to allow him uninterrupted sleep. Mustang had slipped into his bed earlier than Ed, but Ed met his eyes at a time before the sun rose. They said nothing and Ed shut his eyes once more under Mustang's gaze, dreaming of charcoal eyes and burning cities.
He woke as rested as he ever did. He rarely had peaceful nights anyway.
He rolled his eyes after glancing over at Mustang. The man had managed to wrap himself so thoroughly in his covers that Ed could only see his hair. He pushed at the bundle and Mustang somehow managed to get a hand unwrapped from the blanket quickly enough to bat him away. Ed pushed him again and Mustang rubbed his fingers together, seemingly too tired to either realize or care that the motion was rather ineffectual without his gloves.
"We have over an hour," the man grumbled as he unburied his face from the covers.
"See, that's why you're always running late," Ed said as he turned away to begin his preparations for the day. He considered his red cloak for a moment before putting it back, promising that he would wear it another day. The people here wore robes. If they really wanted to try to judge his fashion, he would laugh them out of the building.
The woman that met them at the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron was the last person qualified to judge his fashion sense, considering how bright all the pink she wore was. Maybe he was just biased, but she didn't exactly seem like the sort of person that he was supposed to be taking seriously. He exchanged a glance with Walther, which conveyed the entire conversation, as follows:
"This is the woman from the Ministry?" Ed's curious look asked.
"Evidently," Walther's unamused gaze intimated.
"You're fucking kidding me. Are they taking us seriously at all?" asked Ed's raised eyebrow.
"If they aren't now, they will be soon," said the foreboding tilt of Walther's mouth.
Mustang elbowed Ed at that point, and Ed smiled at the woman as she introduced herself as Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. "It's an honor to be able to greet your delegation," she said, and the insincerity was grating. They had donned their military uniforms, but her eyes lingered on Ed, the youngest of them all. He wanted to spit at her that he outranked some of the adults around him, but he settled for giving her a sullen look that probably cemented him as a child in her mind but made him feel a little better. "I'm sure you'll find this entire trip productive, and the Ministry is quite glad to be your hosts for the year. You'll be able to discuss more of the specifics of your situation with the Minister today. You've been provided a car for your trip to the Ministry today."
Muller automatically began chatting with the woman as they headed outside for the car that looked too small for all of them, already casually asking questions about exactly what her job entailed and what department was it in and the other departments they knew of. To the woman's credit, she never hesitated with any answer, even though it had to be difficult to keep everything straight as Ed didn't doubt that there were at least some lies about how exactly their government operated in the information they had been given. Maybe the woman was the sort of person he was to take seriously after all, as she was quite good at keeping her information straight.
The car itself apparently was not too small at all. After Umbridge, Muller and Walther all disappeared inside and Alvon began following with no hesitation, Ed suspected magic at work. Stepping into the car himself simply confirmed his suspicion. If the enlarged interior hadn't been a dead giveaway, the slight tingle on his skin that seemed to alert him to magic in the general area would have.
During the round of introductions they had, Mustang introduced himself as Ed's guardian, making any questions seem a bit intrusive as he framed Ed as both a minor in Amestris and an orphan who was in a lower rank in the military now, vaguely implying that he was only along because he couldn't be trusted to take care of himself. It was both condescending as all hell and necessary if he was going to be let anywhere near the students, so Ed looked away from Umbridge and tried not to grit his teeth too obviously.
Thankfully, introductions didn't last too long as Muller happily began chatting with Umbridge again.
Umbridge was the first to exit the car, and Muller had just enough time to mutter quietly, "I don't like this," to the rest of them before he followed her out.
The booth they all filed into was a little cramped, although not as much as it should have been. They were required to state their names and purpose and in return were given badges. They were allowed to follow Umbridge through the Ministry after giving their wands for registration, which was notable only in that witches and wizards seemed to think that that was the only weapon someone could bring into their Ministry.
The Minister himself was not a particularly imposing figure. It showed that he spent most of his days behind a desk and the majority of their company were taller than him. He flicked his wand, producing several chairs, and waved Umbridge out. They sat themselves by rank, even as Edward noticed Fudge's eyes casting over him, more considering than Umbridge's gaze had been. If every witch or wizard that he came across in an official capacity did this, he was going to transmute someone into the wall and leave them there.
He greeted them more sincerely than Umbridge had. "I'm honored to be able to greet your delegation, and I hope that we can foster a stronger connection than ever before between our two governments."
"I'm sure that we can," Walther said, the official spokesperson of their group. "Our Fuhrer sends his regrets that he was unable to come himself, but he has an interest in how things are structured here. Your government seems to be well-organized, but, if possible, we'd like to observe some of the day to day operations of them." Fudge looked a little hesitant, so Walther smiled at him. "I'm sure you can arrange something for us, as the Minister."
"Of course," the man said immediately, and Walther began laying out which departments.
It didn't take long before they ran into an issue though.
"Why the Department of Magical Law Enforcement? I was given to understand that Amestris didn't have a lot of witches and wizards, certainly not enough for a department to catch them," the man said, and Ed hid his smile. No one seemed quite as dumb as they did at first glance here, even if the lime green bowler hat the man had placed on his desk was distracting. Witches and wizards seemed to prefer to seem a bit dim and be underestimated, a tactic Ed could appreciate, even if it had never worked particularly well for him when everyone seemed to recognize him eventually.
"Our Fuhrer has an interest in how your military is organized. Amestris is a small country, like yours, and we'd like to be more effective."
"A military?" Fudge asked, and he seemed truly baffled by the concept that most countries had a military. "We have enough Aurors to catch any criminals here!"
There was a pause in the room as everyone tried to absorb that statement. The unspoken question seemed to be, 'Is he really an idiot who doesn't know what a military is for, or is he being purposely dense?'
"All the same," Walther said, not changing the bland expression on his face.
Fudge exhaled sharply, as if they were wasting his time with this. "I'll allow it."
They ran into another problem shortly thereafter.
"The Department of Mysteries… Well, that department isn't entirely under my control," he admitted reluctantly. As he noted the disbelieving and disapproving looks on their faces, he hastily said, "I'm certain something can worked out though! It's not often we have visitors from Amestris, after all!"
At the end of it all, Walther was the one who explained Ed's supposed situation.
"I'm sure he can attend Hogwarts as a student. It's the premiere magical institution in Europe," the Minister quickly offered.
The group exchanged rehearsed glances among themselves. "We're not quite comfortable with that," Mustang explained, stepping in to play Ed's guardian. "After all, Ed's schooling has consisted of private tutors, so there's really no way to tell where in the curriculum he would be. Besides, he is one of the Amestranian delegation, and Hogwarts, while doubtless wonderful, is not his school."
"He can accompany Dolores as an Ambassador then in the Fall. She'll be teaching one of the classes, and he can sit in on any he pleases then," Fudge said quickly, seeming to relax as Mustang smiled at that. The man seemed startlingly eager to please them and eager to prove his own power. While it did make things easier, it also left Ed wondering how the man had stayed in power for any length of time. Other Wizarding communities should have taken over the territory he had by now.
"Thank you for understanding. There should be no issues with the administration of the school, correct?" Walther asked, taking over once more.
"The Headmaster's opinion isn't worth as much as it used to be, these days. If the Minister says it's fine, it's fine," Fudge said, with a smile far too self satisfied to not have some sort of history with the Headmaster.
The shops were handled in much the same manner, with Lewis being assigned to The Daily Prophet, Muller being placed in Flourish and Blotts and Fessler being assigned the Owl Post Office in Hogsmeade. Apparently the owners' of the different stores had been quite glad to accept another hand, with the assurance that they would work to their utmost until the end of their visit.
Walther seemed to take a certain amount of glee in assigning Fessler to the Owl Post Office, but that was neither here nor there.
"I'll have Madam Umbridge contact the school and the shops once we're done here. You'll receive an owl with all the details once everything is all sorted," the Minister said, beaming at them as they rose.
Umbridge was called in as they left, leaving them standing in the hallway with no supervision. Lewis immediately began going to the right, Muller trailing slightly behind her, while Alvon and Walther started heading left. Mustang and Ed exchanged a look before heading after Walther, leaving Yoki and Fessler to follow Lewis. No need to waste any time in looking into Ministry operations.
Ed considered changing their uniforms into something less noticeable, but it would be troublesome if anyone saw him use alchemy rather than magic. Thinking ahead, his opportunities to use alchemy were going to be severely limited from thereon out unless he could pass it off as magic, which would be difficult.
It was during his musings that Mustang caught his arm, jerking him to a stop, and Ed realized he had been about to walk right into someone and probably knock them to the ground. The man had a cold expression on his face, giving Ed the impression that the man might attempt to scold him.
"You'll have to excuse him," Mustang said glibly. "The Minister's decision has him completely distracted."
The stranger smiled indulgently at them, the ice not melting from his eyes. "Simply meeting the Minister can be distracting for one so young." Ed stared up at the man, narrowing his eyes slightly. "I'm afraid we haven't met. I'm Lucius Malfoy, one of the Minister's friends." He didn't hesitate before saying friends, but his smile became even more false than it already was. A skilled liar then, but he would be dead in Amestris, so probably not too powerful; even Al was a better liar than that when he was trying. "You're the Amestranian delegation then?"
"Yes, we are. I expect I'll be seeing you often then. I'll be shadowing the Minister and his underlings," Mustang told him, and Ed approved of the sunny grin that he gave. That was how you faked a smile. "Roy Mustang, and this is my ward Edward Elric."
Lucius Malfoy's eyes flickered over to their companions before going back to Mustang and Ed when Walther and Alvon made no moves to introduce themselves beyond polite smiling.
"Will Mr. Elric be joining you in your duties?" Lucius asked, as if Walther and Alvon had not both just casually snubbed him. Unless he thought Mustang was the highest ranking officer there because he had automatically taken on the role of the spokesperson of the group? The politics of the situation were already making Ed's head hurt.
"No," Ed said. He hated it when people asked questions about him to other people when he was standing right there, and he hated it even more when people responded to them. To his credit, Mustang hadn't even opened his mouth. "I'll be attending Hogwarts as an Ambassador."
"I'm on the Board of Governors for the school, and my own son attends. I'm sure you'll find it to your satisfaction. Draco could give you a tour when you arrive, if you'd like."
Ed really wanted to get away from this man, but still he said, "I'd appreciate that."
"I really must get going now. I'm sure we'll see each other soon," he said and then he walked past them, heading to the corridor to the Minister's office without waiting for a goodbye.
"He's so blond," Mustang commented as they walked away, sounding a bit baffled.
Ed looked at him askance.
"An unnatural sort of blond. Your blond is nice."
Ed couldn't account for why that comment made him suddenly feel highly aware of his hair, even as Mustang looked away.
They talked to a few employees about the structure of the departments and the hierarchy of the Ministry, but all it led to was the information they already had being repeated at them. The Ministry was well organized to be able to keep sending people who already knew the story into the areas they were going into. When they finally reached the atrium floor once more, Lewis and her group were already waiting for them.
"No change," was all she had to say for them to understand that the other group had been met with similar results. Madam Umbridge caught up with them shortly afterwards, smiling at them and clearing her throat and talking about how there was no reason to be so impatient when she and the Minister were done so soon. Muller began soothing her, talking about how they had been fascinated by the Ministry and all the impressive people within it or somesuch, and it had just been a short walk by themselves. Her smile was nicer as she bid them farewell and showed them where the Floo powder was.
In a surprising turn of events, Yoki seemed to be the only one who knew what to do with it, so he grabbed a pinch and seemed to try very hard to communicate nonverbally that they should do exactly as he did, even as he talked about how he had read last night about Floo powder in emergencies and how there was such a limited supply of the stuff in Amestris that he had never had the opportunity to try it for himself.
"That's fine, dear, although a bit unusual. I trust the rest of you have?" she said, and she was met with nods and smiles, even if not a single one of them had. "Just say the name of the place you want to go very clearly after you've tossed in the powder and stepped in the fire."
Ed immediately shot Mustang a look, indicating the man was going before him into a fireplace.
The fire turned green as soon as the powder dropped in and it took only a moment for Yoki to gather enough nerve to step into the fire. "The Leaky Cauldron," he said, in the most confident voice any of them had heard him use yet before he disappeared entirely.
"Oh, fuck that," Ed said lowly in Amestranian. Mustang chuckled lightly beside him before he stepped into the flames himself, disappearing in short order. Ed stepped into the flames next. The last thing Ed got to see before he disappeared himself was Muller smirking at him knowingly, probably still convinced he was with Mustang.
Reappearing was like reaching the ground once more after jumping off a building, so Ed rolled out of the fireplace and back onto his feet, surprising some of the people near the fireplace. One older woman in particular seemed to take offense, turning back to her dining companion and talking loudly about children showing off. Mustang looked more amused the longer the woman went on.
Ed quickly went to change for the more covert part of the evening, not waiting for the rest of the group to get through the fire. It was best they didn't all exit at the same time anyway. Mustang followed closely behind him, Yoki having already disappeared to his room. They changed into what passed for civilian clothes here, and Mustang waited the few moments it took Ed to change his noticeable blond hair to a shade of brown that was more common.
If Ed took a little more care in tying his braid than usual afterward, it was none of anyone's damn business anyway.
The events of the evening had been outlined at the dinner meeting yesterday. They were to try and verify among the population if what the Minister and his Undersecretary had told them was true and then meet up. They had hoped to catch one of them in some lie during the meeting or an employee afterward, with the population at large being their backup plan, but it would have to do now.
Five hours later, they reconvened for dinner.
"They're the type of place that doesn't lie about their government structure to outsiders, or not any more than they do to their citizens," Alvon started lowly in Amestranian, obviously discomfited.
"It's a bit strange," agreed Muller.
Ed was pretty sure none of them were quite sure how to handle this. On the one hand, it made it considerably easier that they didn't have to check every piece of information that came their way from official sources, only the important things. On the other hand, it showed a certain amount of naivety and trust that pointed toward a distinct lack of danger being perceived as from outside sources. Any danger this society had faced had come from within.
"At least they have a Department of Mysteries," Muller added.
"I wouldn't trust them at all otherwise," Lewis said. "Maybe it's a puppet government?"
"A puppet Minister would be that pleased that he could command the Headmaster of a school to do something, but I don't think he would have been allowed to have us shadow anyone without approval of some kind," Walther said.
"Maybe he's just not a very good puppet Minister?" Lewis suggested, although she seemed to be jesting now instead of serious. Walther raised an eyebrow at her which had her looking away and rolling her eyes like the petulant teenager she certainly was not and had never been if any of the rumors surrounding her were true.
"Be prepared for anything," Fessler said. "Witches and wizards have never been a trustworthy sort, even if they haven't been lying to us yet."
That seemed to be the end of that conversation, as their food arrived moments later.
Going to Hogwarts took more effort than he would have liked, between buying all the supplies he might need and trying to get to the train station in the middle of London, busy city that it was. He was standing on the platform with Mustang now, as Mustang had been the only one who could take a break from the Ministry in order to pretend to be a concerned guardian. Lewis and Walther had said goodbye the night before while Muller had caught him in a hug earlier in the morning when Muller had finally trudged down the stairs. Yoki had seemed unsure as to how to respond and had simply shaken his hand while Alvon and Fessler simply nodded at him from safe distances during breakfast.
"That train is quite flashy," Mustang said, looking at the gleaming red train, a touch of disdain in his tone.
"I like it," Ed said, trying to ignore the whispers surrounding them. Mustang snorted.
"You would." There was a pointed look at Ed's luggage, probably in reference to his trademark red coat. Ed ignored that too.
"Do they not realize that we're right here?" Ed muttered in Amestranian, growing frustrated as yet another conversation started up not five feet from them about who they were.
Mustang gave him a wry look. "They realize it," he said, responding in kind. "They just don't care."
Ed huffed. "I'm going to find a compartment then." He turned to Mustang, feeling unsure of how to say goodbye to him before settling on, "See you around, bastard."
Mustang's expression became more amused. "See you around," he said, turning and walking away through the crowds that seemed to be growing thicker by the moment. Ed turned away before the man could completely disappear, feeling something heavy settle in his stomach.
He had already realized that he would be separated from everyone. He had realized this once he learned of his assignment because schools didn't tend to be near government offices. He just hadn't realized that he would feel alone when Mustang walked away from him and left him to his assignment.
He straightened and started to walk to the train, feeling a little paranoid with the amount of people pressing around him now. There was no point in dwelling on it. He'd see Mustang soon enough anyway.
His first thought was to secure an empty compartment. The corridor of the train wasn't teeming with people like the platform but it was only a matter of time, and he would prefer to be seated by the time that happened. It was simple enough to find an empty compartment near the end of the train where he had a chance at not being disturbed. He knew it was probably wishful thinking, and that was proven correct when, half an hour later, a boy entered his compartment. The platinum blond hair gave him an inkling to the boy's identity, which was swiftly confirmed when the boy said, "I'm Draco Malfoy. You must be Edward Elric; my father told me about you." He was offered a smile and a hand which he shook lightly. Better to have a weak grip than squeeze too hard and reveal his automail. He wasn't ashamed of it, but it certainly wasn't a conversation for a first meeting or perhaps ever, if he had his way.
"Pleased to meet you."
Draco nodded at him, the smile still plastered on his lips as he called down the corridor, "Found him!" He turned back. "We were starting to think you weren't here yet."
Ed barely had time to register that before a girl came into the compartment. "Pleasure to meet you, I'm Pansy Parkinson. You can call me Pansy," she said, also smiling at him, although her tone was verging on imperious, as if her very name was supposed to inspire awe in him. He supposed Draco had had a similar tone too, but that sounded more like an imitation of his father than anything else.
Two boys followed in after her and were introduced as "Crabbe and Goyle" with little to indicate which was which. They were large for their age, although they didn't seem to know how to move their bodies well, what with the heavy clomping and lack of attention. It seemed as if they had decided that sheer strength could compensate for a complete lack of skill, which, he supposed, could say a lot about wizards depending on how well they got away with it.
Theodore Nott was the last the enter their little compartment, just as Draco and Pansy were leaving to go to the Prefect's compartment. He was not particularly intimidating in that he was tall and thin, with little muscle. Ed had noticed that Crabbe and Goyle seemed to some of the few who actually seemed to have any strength at all, which was odd. Did no one think about what they would do if someone took their wand? Or maybe the sort of people he hung around in Amestris was skewing his view on the matter…
Nott, as he asked to be called, seemed to measure his words before speaking, even on rather trivial matters. "Are you going to be sorted?" was his first question.
"I'm an Ambassador, not a student, so no," Ed said.
"If you get a choice then, I don't think anyone would mind if you stayed in the Slytherin dorms. It wouldn't take much to make room for you, and it's certainly better than staying with the Gryffindors or the Hufflepuffs."
Huh. Rivalries within the school. He supposed that wouldn't unusual if one were to divide up children based on different personality traits. That meant he might have to be vaguely political about his friendships though. If Slytherins didn't like Gryffindors or Hufflepuffs, then it probably went both ways, so Lucius Malfoy had helpfully alienated about half of the school for him by having his son show Ed around. He was going to have to befriend one of those houses, whichever was more neutral about the entire thing.
Ed sighed, already feeling tired. He was made for science, not people and politics.
He resisted the urge to sigh again. He had chosen the wrong profession then.
He supposed the castle was supposed to inspire awe in him based on the unsubtle glances the people in his carriage threw at him when it came into view. The horses were more impressive. The castle felt like a smaller version of Amestris, which simply made him think of his own country, and he found this lonely place decidedly lacking in comparison.
Really though, the thing that held most of his attention was figuring out how much longer he had to be in this carriage. Pansy Parkinson was a very gossipy sort, and while he supposed that she just babbled useful information ("-and everyone knows what sort of position Dumbledore is in, so Potter will have to try and behave this year, especially with our new Defense professor-") , but it was hard to not dislike the catty remarks she threw in on occasion, even if she seemed to mostly be doing it for Malfoy's benefit, judging by the glances she threw at him every time. Nott didn't say much at all in front of the two, allowing them to dominate the conversation.
As the other carriages glide to a halt, Ed smoothly leapt out of his own, trying not to appear too eager to leave and probably failing. He moved slightly more quickly than everyone else, who were content to meander along as they caught up with their friends. Therefore, he was among one of the first in the hall.
Banners hung over the tables, signifying the houses that were to sit there. It was as if the school was designed specifically to ensure competition. Yellow was Hufflepuff, if he remembered correctly, and he was heading there when a familiar voice called out, "Mr. Elric! We were wondering where you had gone off to!"
Umbridge sat primly in her chair and waved her hand at the one next to her, a clear invitation to sit. He jogged up as more students entered the hall, drawing some attention to himself as he sat. She spoke again when he was seated. "Your sleeping arrangements have been taken care of as well. The Minister insisted you get your own room. An ambassador deserves no less, of course." She smiled at him, obviously still not convinced of his importance but somehow convinced of his allegiance. He wished the Fuhrer so easily believed in his loyalty.
"Much appreciated, ma'am," he said, the honorific feeling like poison on his tongue. Respect was a weapon too.
The teachers around him held themselves even more stiffly as he sat down, as if he were a snake preparing to strike at them but they weren't allowed to run. Umbridge rattled off their names and positions, too quickly for him to really remember any of them. Hopefully no one minded reintroducing themselves. The only ones he did catch were the Deputy Headmistress and the Headmaster, because he may not care much for politics, but he knew to watch the ones in power.
It didn't take long for him to become uneasy with Umbridge as she immediately began her power plays. She was swiftly introduced, interrupting the Headmaster and making a speech about her goals during her time at Hogwarts that seemed utterly transparent when compared to the sort of plans Mustang and his office came up with, the type where no one actually spoke about their objective at all and simply expected you to figure it out. He had thought Umbridge was more clever than this. Perhaps she had allies in the students that she was warning? Either way, he wondered what she would think of him, considering the prohibited practices he had attempted and the eventual overthrow of his government he was to participate in.
Perhaps it was for the best that she didn't seem to know much about him or Amestris. He was certain she would make things much more difficult for him if she did.
She ended with: "Ambassador Edward Elric has come with me to witness our progress, and I hope that everyone will be quite accommodating with him."
Edward narrowly avoided choking on his drink. She was playing him off as under her command! Everyone knew whose orders he followed, and they certainly weren't hers. She would swiftly find that-
Oh. He couldn't flagrantly disregard her. He was on her turf right now, and that meant playing along with at least some of what she wanted.
The Headmaster introduced Edward next, as he had been in the middle of doing when Umbridge had interrupted. He smiled indulgently at Ed, obviously expecting him to say something now that Umbridge had. Shit, this was Mustang's field.
"I am an Ambassador from Amestris, and I shall be dropping in on some classes during my stay here. I thank you for your assistance, as my education has been somewhat disrupted by this trip. I hope to be able to learn many things while I am here." There, that was sufficient and not suspicious, right? He sat somewhat abruptly. He hated making speeches, especially speeches when his voice sounded so accented.
The Headmaster smiled at him again, something a little more genuine this time, and made a jab at Umbridge by saying, "There is a time for speech-making, but this is not it. Tuck in!"
The food arrival, simply phasing into existence, even though the books had said such a thing wasn't possible. Taken from somewhere else and placed on the plates before them all was more likely. Dinner was a relatively quick affair, and Ed didn't partake of the desert, something that earned him odd looks from his dining companions. Just because he was currently acting as an Ambassador didn't mean that he wasn't still a soldier, in charge of maintaining his mind and body until the next assignment.
The Headmaster gave more notices once everyone was finished dining, and McGonagall escorted him to his room after the hall cleared out.
"How much training do you have in Transfiguration?" she asked as they walked.
"Enough. I don't plan on interrupting your classes, just observing. You don't have to worry about teaching me, I plan on mostly learning on my own time," he told her, a little relieved that she just wanted to discuss her classes and not add to the political games that were already going on.
She gave him a slightly doubting look. "It's not safe to be practicing magic without proper supervision, especially Transfiguration."
"Well, that's how you learn magic in Amestris." Mainly because no one wanted to teach it, so it was either figure it out yourself or never use the blasted thing. "Your country seems to coddle children," he added before he could stop himself.
She looked a bit offended. "My country," she said acidly, "ensures the safety of our children. I hate to imagine how many accidents children in Amestris get into because of a lack of supervision." Ed flinched slightly, the comment hitting a little too close to home.
"I assure you that children in Amestris are well protected, by any means we find necessary," he told her coldly. If well protected sometimes meant able to protect themselves, well, it was really an issue of semantics.
"My apologies for offending you, Mr. Elric," she said stiffly. "I find the topic of endangering children is one I'm quite passionate about."
"No harm done," he said. Mustang and him had gotten into far bigger arguments about far smaller things. "If I wish to practice Transfiguration, I shall do so in your lessons." Compromise was the essence of diplomacy, right?
"Thank you," she said before stopping in front of a blank wall. "This is your room. You can set any password you want by using the incantation umbra and then stating your chosen password. The current password is 'Amestris'." The wall revealed a door when she said the word.
He nodded his thanks before entering his room. "Good night," he said.
"Good night."
It would take him another hour to realize that she had included him in the category of children, which was the only reason his compromise had worked at all. He wasn't sure if he should feel irritated or not, because they were supposed to underestimate him, but he hadn't expected it quite so immediately. Children could be just as dangerous as adults, given the right circumstances, and everyone in Amestris knew that. It was why he hadn't been so surprised about how often he was shot at or otherwise attacked even when he had just joined the military.
It didn't matter, he decided. It was better to start with people underestimating them than having to convince them he wasn't a threat.
He drifted off to sleep shortly afterward.
AN: So, slow update once more. I just finished my last final of the semester at about 8:15 this morning and then wrote the last section to this, so my apologies for the complete lack of editing. I'm not that satisfied with this chapter, and I'm still working out how to timeskip smoothly, because no one wants to read each individual day.
I really hope I'm giving everyone the sense that the people in Amestris are mistrustful of people because everyone with even a modicum of power in Amestris is a very good liar. The Harry Potter universe only seemed to have a few skilled liars.
Addressing a specific reviewer stating that they generally read for more fluffy things, I get you. It's not going to be a very angst heavy story, but there's going to be a decent amount of political movement going around, or the best approximation of political movement that I can write. We're not going to see very much of the politics that Ed isn't directly involved in though, so it's mostly between Umbridge and Dumbledore and how Ed reacts to the entire situation there, with occasional appearances from Roy, giving us a slightly more complete picture of what's actual going on on a more macro-level rather than just at Hogwarts.
History differences between my AU and canon will come up as they are more relevant to the story, although some might not be directly relevant to the story but still affect how characters behave. Ed's life is pretty much canon up until he joined up with the military, for those who are wondering.
Do you guys like how Ed is interacting with Hogwarts and the people there so far? Also, is there enough hints of the RoyxEd romance right now? Is McGonagall's characterization okay?
Thank you for reading, and please review!
Ja ne!
~J. DCF
