I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG. EVERYTHING BECAME REALLY CRAZY. PLEASE DON'T HATE ME. I tried to make this chapter really long as an apology. I hope you enjoy!
Ed sat, arms crossed and eyes closed. To the passing stranger he might have been mistaken for asleep, but he was far from it. Ed was becoming more and more impatient and annoyed by the minute. Beyond the wall he leaned against, a large group of old men and women sat bickering about what to do with the latest problem, that problem being him.
"Just send him to St Mungo's. He obviously deranged to some degree. Either deranged or so incredibly stupid that he is incapable of casting a spell correctly making it back fire and leave him without his memory." A booming male voice said. There were murmurs of agreement from around the room.
"I think the biggest problem is not what to do with him but how he was able to randomly show up on our screen without us knowing." Another voice said, this one less imposing and much younger than the previous voice "if there is a flaw in our system, who knows how many mistakes have already been made without us knowing?" there was a moment of silence as they let it soak in and an almost suffocating atmosphere filled the room. Ed knew that the thought had passed through all of their minds at one point or another, it was the obvious problem. But it was also a terrifying one. If there was a flaw in the system then there would be an up roar from the public that would fall on their shoulders. Especially with times as unnerving as these, the public would demand that something be done, and as none of the members in the room had any clue as to where to begin to solve the problem it was almost impossible.
"Mr. Macmillan," said a cool voice that cut through the heavy air. "I am sure that you are being slightly over dramatic. Are we sure that this boy isn't nothing more than an anomaly?" The heavy atmosphere evaporated with the words as mummers of agreement rang through the room. For the millionth time that day, Ed could feel anger bubbling up inside of him. These men were willing to leave a huge breach in their system to save face?
"Now then," the cool voice continued, quieting the room. "What do we plan to do with him? I for one am in favor of sending him to St. Mungo's until we able to find his family. All those in favor?" there was a pause as those beyond the wall raised their hands "all those opposed?" another pause filled the room. "Then it's settled. The boy will be sent to St. Mungo's as soon as possible. Any further questions? Then on to the next piece of business…" by now Ed had stopped listening, he was too busy fuming over what he had just heard. Just as he was about to storm into the room, a heeled pair of boots stopped in front of him.
"So you are the boy who all this fuss has been made over? It's no use trying to feign being asleep, I know you are awake." A stern voice said. Ed opened his eyes slowly, looking up at the woman who stood before him. She was tall and straight backed, with a stern, tight face that seemed to be stuck in a perpetual half scowl. Her graying light brown hair was drawn into a tight bun hidden under a pointed hat cocked to one side and she wore a long robe of emerald green. "Come, let's see what those fools have decided." She turned towards the thick wooden door that led into the council room obviously expecting him to follow. Ed relented for a second and then hurried after her into the room.
The circular dark stone room that he entered was lined with stone benches where the owners of the voices Ed had heard through the wall sat.
"Minerva," a nervous man gulped "why are you here?"
"Dumbledore sent me after having received the list of those receiving letters this year. There seemed to be something strange in the letter, a boy who was too old to be a first year but has never been enrolled at our school or has received any kind of letter. We contacted other schools and they also had no record of a boy with his description. What is the meaning of this? Can any of you tell me why we have never found this boy before today?" the woman, Minerva, seemed to have a strange affect on the room. All of them shifted uncomfortably under her sharp gaze.
The cool voice Ed had heard earlier spoke and Ed could now see that it belonged to a man who looked to be in his forties with slicked back black hair, sharp features, and piercing green eyes. "Minerva, this doesn't concern you or your headmaster. As for the sudden appearance of the boy, we are handling it to the best of our ability."
Minerva scoffed at him "And what, pray tell, does that involve?"
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as nobody dared answer. A young man spoke up, obviously younger and newer than the rest of those in the room. Ed recognized his voice immediately as . "Seeing he has lost his memory what seems to be a magic related accident we are planning on sending him to 's to recover…"
"You are going to send him to 's?! This is of course out of the question! Have you even questioned the boy yet? Unless you have clear evidence that he is mentally unstable, you have no reason to send him there!"
The man with slicked back hair cut in "From what we have been told he almost attacked the man who came to investigate what was happening."
"That proves nothing. What would you do if you found yourself in an unfamiliar area without any memory of who you are, and confronted with a man appearing out of thin air? It was self defense that drove him to confront the man with violence, not a deranged mind. Mr. Carrow, I am sure that if you talked to the boy before deciding that he is unstable you would find my words to be true."
The sharp featured man, which Ed now knew to be , scowled at Minerva coldly "As I said before, this is neither you nor your headmaster's problem."
"That is where you are wrong. As this boy was on the list sent to us for this year's incoming students, as long as he decides to come to our school he is officially under our authority." She turned to Ed, looking down her nose at him through her wire framed glasses. "Well? What do you say?"
Ed thought for a second. His choices were to follow this woman to an unknown school or be shipped off to some hospital. "And what is this school that I would be attending?" he asked, the English words feeling foreign on his tongue.
The woman raised an eyebrow at the unexpected accent, similar to German but not as harsh, but did not question it. "Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry."
He remembered Clarity saying that he would need to attend school but she had never mentioned what school he needed to attend. He mentally cursed Clarity and decided on the most obvious choice.
"Locked in a hospital or going to school? Both seem wonderful but I am afraid I will have to choose the one where I am not seen as a madman." The woman beside him raised an eyebrow at the comment but said nothing.
"Now that that's been settled, the boy and I must leave to make preparations for the coming school year." She turned and walked towards the door and Ed followed, but not before glancing back at those on the benches. Many seemed relieved by the turn of events, others confused, and a few angry. But one man caught his eye in particular. stared after the two, eyes cold. Ed smirked back at the man but something in his eyes troubled Ed. He couldn't place his finger on it...
Before he could dive deeper into his train of thought the woman turned to him, the door to the council room had closing behind them, a questioning glint in her eyes and continued down the hall. "How familiar are you with magic? As you are not having a mental breakdown at the moment I assume that you remember it to a degree."
Ed nodded hesitantly "Yes, I remember magic to large degree. But all I can remember is the knowledge. I cannot remember who taught me." He hoped it sounded true enough. And it was to a degree, nobody really taught him magic, all he had was knowledge.
She watched him out of the corner of her eye as they walked down the hall and reached an elevator. They entered it and she pressed the button for the main floor. "We will have to see how much you remember. As for your year, the owl we received said that you are the age of a fourth year but we will have to look at your test scores to check if that is the correct placement for you or if we will have to put you lower. We will of course begin testing as soon as we reach the school." The elevator opened and Ed found them in a large area that looked like a large cavern whose walls had been shaved down and lined with black tiles. It was bustling with people dressed in similar clothes to Minerva. They existed the elevator and Ed looked around, finding a large golden fountain in the center of one side of the cavern with buildings with large windows lining the walls on one side and a large hall-like area with fireplaces lining the walls on the other.
He glanced back at the place that Minerva had just been and found that she was no longer there. He glanced around searching for her in the large crowd but was unable to find her. "Minerva!" as soon as he said her name, she was there, looking down her nose at him disapprovingly.
"That is Professor McGonagall to you mister…"
Ed hesitated for a moment than said slowly "Elric. Edward Elric. That is the only thing I have been able to remember."
"Well mister Elric, I suggest you keep your focus on not getting lost instead of the scenery. Shall we continue?"
Ed nodded grumpily and followed her as she turned briskly and continued down towards their destination. When they finally reached it, Ed saw that it was one of the fireplaces that he had seen earlier. Professor McGonagall reached into her pocket and took out a small pouch of powder that he recognized as floo powder.
"Here," she said handing him a small handful "Throw it into the fire at say this exactly, 'Dumbledore's Office, Hogwarts' then step in. Hurry, he won't keep it open much longer, or who knows what will pop through his fire place."
Ed nodded and did as he was told. Green Fire surrounded him and it felt as if he were being sucked down a large drain and beyond the fire he caught glimpses of other fireplaces and the rooms beyond. As quickly as it started it was done, and Ed found himself falling face first into a large warmly lighted study.
SO WHAT DO YOU THINK? Again, sorry it took so long. If you have any questions or see any big mistakes, feel free to message me or leave a review.
answer time!
Mcat9905- I fixed that name thing at your suggestion and I like it A LOT more. thanks for reviewing so much! during that time where I didn't post anything I would always think of your reviews and feel bad for not posting
jetstorm317- good point, and I was thinking about that but decided to use Clarity so that it wasn't so obvious for a passing person to know what it is about.
meladi1- I AM SO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO POST MORE. I HOPE YOU ENJOYED!
AnimeOtaku- Thank you! this chapter has a bit of a cliff hanger but not as much! I hope you enjoyed!