Chapter 9: An Alchemist's Anger
Ed's POV:
Malfoy is staring at me in shock. I feel Al settle next to me, and see Harry on my other side from out of the corner of my eye. I say one word, and put as much venom into it as possible.
"Leave."
Malfoy smirks, and shrugs. He's putting on a cool face, but I can tell he's been shaken by what's happened.
"Well, I don't really feel like it do I shorty? Besides you've thrashed my friends, and can't let you get away with that. You haven't even got a wand yet have you?"
"I'M NOT SHORT DAMN YOU! OR TINY! OR A SHRIMP! OR LITTLE! OR CHIBI! NOW GET AWAY FROM US OR YOU'LL GET WORSE THAN THOSE IDIOTS DID!" I explode, realizing I sound stupid, but not caring. That's the third time he's called me short, and he deserved it anyways for what he would've done to Winry.
I run at him, ready to hit the shit out of him, but he pulls out his wand and shouts "Stupefy!" The flash of light comes out of his wand and hits my automail. It doesn't affect anything, but the force of it sends me flying backwards.
Harry rushes over to me, and yells "Petrificus Totalus!" and another flash of light streams towards Malfoy. I'm not sure how he dodged it, but the…spell? preoccupied him long enough for Harry to point his wand at me and say "Enervate." I get up, and Harry explains that I was just Stunned. I'm not affected at all, but I play along and thank him for…'Un-Stunning?' me.
I get up, and Malfoy is back in the game, but still making it hard to for Winry get back to us.
"Can you cover me?" I mutter to the others. Harry nods, and Al tenses up.
I run toward Malfoy completely unguarded.
He raises his eyebrows and sends spells at me, but Harry says something I can't hear because of the blood pounding in my ears, and a wall envelopes me, and the spells bounce off. Off to the side I know Al had grabbed Winry, and is pulling her back over to where him and Harry are, but I press forward. By the time I reach him, Malfoy looks desperate, and seems to be using all the spells he knows how.
I do a half summersault and kick him in to face. Harry's wall evaporates, and Malfoy is sending spells at me, which I'm doing my best to dodge. Looking like he's at his last resort, Malfoy yells, "Crucio!"
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Malfoy's POV:
"Crucio!" I yell.
Time moves in slow motion. I see the flash of red light; see Elric come down right where the spell is headed. Potter's shocked expression is most likely a mirror of mine, as I stare at my wand, wondering what I've done. Elric lands, and a few precious seconds before the spell hits him he claps his hands and slams them to the ground.
A blinding flash coupled with a feeling of massive gathering energy, explodes before us, and as the smoke I didn't think would be there, clears, I see a short wall of stone had appeared in front of Elric, which promptly collapsed after absorbing the full onslaught of the spell.
I am so shocked I nearly drop my wand. Knowing I can't lose my cool, I quickly put on a scowl, and conjure stretchers for Crabbe and Goyle. I levitate them onto them as the others rush over to Elric, Potter staring in amazement and the girl with unsuppressed relief. I walk up to them, and after a moment of impulse bow slightly.
"A good duel, Elric. While you escape unharmed, I have unarmed victims to heal. So good day to you and your dirty tactics, rage-full transfer." I don't try to suppress the loathing in my voice, nor the hint of admiration. I stalk off, the laden stretchers following me. I hear someone running up to me, and turn.
It is the shrimp, probably coming to return my farewell in kind. He stops about a foot away from me.
"Yes?" I say, as condescending as possible. He glares at up at me.
"You say anything else about my brother or my sensei and you get what your friends did. I'm pretty sure I've found the right sort of wizard by now, and they're already better friends than you could ever be." Giving me an even deeper look of hatred, he walks away and mutters quietly, "Stay away from Winry."
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Back to Normal:
Izumi and Tonks came back up the hill in time to see Malfoy retreating around the corner with stretchers in tow, and see Ed stomping back to the group, clearly in a bad mood. Tonks noted that Winry looked both harassed and highly relieved, while Izumi could tell Harry was in a deep state of shock kindled with relief.
"What happened?" Tonks asked. The four shrugged, and Ed began.
"That Malfoy guy started insulting us, particularly Harry's mother. He also made fun of Al, called me short, called you a filthy half blood, and said Sensei had serious issues and bad hair. Harry got angry, but Malfoy did something that made his wand fly away. Malfoy grabbed Winry and was pulling her away by the hand. He called me short three times while talking to her, so I lost it and exploded, accidentally knocking out Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy tried to Stun me, hitting my arm," Ed held up his automail arm, "Harry distracted him while Un-Stunning me, and shielded me while I tried fighting Malfoy. He kept trying to curse me but I dodged it. Malfoy left with his tail between his legs when I transmuted a wall to shield myself. I'm unharmed because the wall absorbed the impact and collapsed." Ed finished.
Tonks nodded. "Winry, did Malfoy do anything to you when he was pulling you away?"
Winry shook her head. "No, he just kept insulting them."
Izumi nodded. "Harry, did Malfoy use any dangerous curses while this happened?"
"No, the worst one was that curse that hangs you upside-down. There wasn't anything too serious." Harry decided to keep the knowledge of Malfoy's Cruciatus Curse to himself. He'd seen Malfoy's shocked face as soon as it was uttered, so he doubted it would have been very powerful anyways.
Like Bellatrix said in the Ministry, Harry thought bitterly, remembering Sirius' murderer, you have to really mean them.
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After all the confusion had been sorted out, Tonks left the Amestrians at the Leaky Cauldron, while she side-along Apparated Harry to the Burrow. She came back a moment later, ordering some fire whiskey for her and Izumi, and getting the teenagers butterbeer. As they sipped their drinks, Tonks told them what they would do until going to back to Amestris.
"Well, it's been decided that you guys are going to stay with me! I can sleep on the sofa, Izumi and Al can share the extra room, and Ed and Winry can share mine. I'm afraid I only have enough room for two beds, but I can conjure sleeping bags so you still have some privacy/separation." Winry agreed enthusiastically, with the others looking more cautious. Tonks assured them her house was one of the most heavily guarded houses (as it was a safe house), and when met with confused looks, she told them that she would explain why later. Satisfied with this plan, Tonks Apparated all of them to her house one by one.
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"Sorry if I mislead you, its more of an apartment than a house, but that's how they make them here," Tonks said hurriedly, opening the door of her place. It was in a complex of those long buildings with interconnected attics and two floors to themselves. Tonks had a small enlargement charm placed on the house, so it could be used as a safe house along with several other enchantments placed by the order.
"The enlargement charm is very specific. It works kind of like the clock at the Burrow; well you don't really know what that is do you." Tonks started over.
"When someone enters the house, it has an enchantment so that it knows what kind of condition they're in. For example, if they're sick, then a room with medicine shows up. The only way a whole separate room would show up is if their life is in immediate danger. So, you guys must be fine because the place is basically the same, unless some change I can't see happened." Tonks shrugged. "I haven't seen all the places the enchantment can sense yet, or the diiferent ways it can change, I just know that it has the basic settings of Molly's clock and a few more complex ones."
"When will you tell us-?"
"You'll find out later on."
The Amestrians nodded, and went to their rooms, having already eaten. Al pulled out a book and started reading, preparing for a long night of listening to his sensei's snores.
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Back in the other room, Ed changed in the bathroom, letting Winry have some privacy. When she was done he emerged, grabbing a sleeping bag, and putting on the bed. Ed's automail was covered by one sleeve, in case Tonks showed up. He put on socks on just in case. Winry smiled sarcastically. "I put so much work into making that frigid weather automail for you, and you're going to have to keep it hidden the whole time! Why bother?"
Ed laughed, getting into the sleeping bag. Winry got under the sheets, and they turned out the lamp.
"Good night Winry."
"Night Ed."
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for those of you that think this story is taking forever to get going, you're absolutely right. I promise that stuff will be revealed eventually, and it won't take 20 chapter for Ed to actually get to Hogwarts.
So far my page count is at 25 pages, and I keep reminding myself that when JK Rowling got to 25 pages, she hadn't even introduced Hagrid, and when Arakawa-sensei got to 9 chapters, we hadn't gotten past the exposition of FMA.
It makes me feel better dammit!!!
Updates are coming soon.