I totally got you guys!! I kept saying "it's going to take awhile" and then here it is, the next chapter only a few days after! Woot! I be so clever-ish!! Yeah…
Anyways, now that you guys' absent enthusiasm has finally calmed me down, I still own nothing.
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Chapter 17: Classes
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That morning, when Ed had breakfast, he was greeted by the sight of hundreds of owls swarming into the Hall, carrying things in their beaks. They dropped down by students, bearing packages and letters from their family. Ed was greeted with a bird of his own, and opening his letter, he found it contained his schedule. Jules and Luna compared it to theirs, stopping when Ed said he had all NEWT courses. The first year pulled his sixth year brother over to compare with Ed's as well, much to both the older students' mutual annoyance.
Ed had all seventh year NEWT classes, and didn't need supplementary unless he was at a dramatic disadvantage with everyone else.
He breathed a sigh of relief, barely noticing when he actually had the classes. Jules seemed crestfallen when he learned he would be sharing no classes with Ed, but perked up when he found out that his brother shared some with the transfer, and realized classes would be starting that day. Ed ate heartily, and when the bell rang, he made his way to Transfiguration.
The NEWT students were all mixed classes, and the class sizes weren't extremely large. Ed noted with a bit of annoyance that both the Golden Trio and Malfoy were in most of his classes because of this. He hung out mostly with Hermione or Jules' brother, Jude, for most of the day.
McGonagall was just as strict as he'd judged her to be, and left with new spells ringing through his head, and a pile of homework. Charms proved to be fairly simple, odd, considering that the Head of the House reputed for its intelligence, would teach such an easy class. Herbology was simple, and Ed was pleased to see that Hermione joined him in his Arithmancy class. He learned that the course wasn't all that different from alchemy, only revolved around fortune telling instead of creation. Astronomy had him up from midnight till two AM, but all in all, the first day had been pretty okay.
The next however, did not prove to be so straight-forward.
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Ed had imagined that this day would be easy, only 3 classes, and he was actually on good terms with one of them. He was wrong.
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As soon as he entered the Potions class and took his seat, Slughorn was all over him. He was ever so smart Edward was, and oh so clever. Why, Slughorn had never seen such a fast learner as Edward, and was so keen to know more about where he'd come from.
After a class full of mostly compliments and "m'boy" 's, with hardly any actual potion making, Ed left the room seriously considering not coming back.
"I mean, I could just drop the class right? It's not required is it?" Ed asked Luna panickedly at lunch. Luna shrugged. "I guess. Well, no ones ever really dropped out of a core before, just an elective. I don't really think you can if you got a high enough score." Ed muttered obscenities at her reply, receiving looks of mingled shock and admiration from the other (more studious) Ravenclaws, as he and Jude left for DADA.
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Walking along the corridors, they reached the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Both paused awkwardly when they realized that they really shared no friends.
"Um, guess I'll see you at lunch," said Ed, breaking the silence.
"Hey, lets meet in the library after class and compare notes. I have a free period then. Or you could come to our dormitories, if you wanted," Jude said in his soft voice.
Ed shook his head. "No, it's cool. The library's fine. Besides you have more friends than just me, so you shouldn't get too lonely in my absence."
The serious Ravenclaw cracked a seldom seen grin, and walked off to one of the groups surrounding the door. Ed shook his head playfully, and seeing the class huddle around the door, he walked over to stand by Harry and Ron, who turned to him.
"Hey Ed. You got tested for your classes right? Who's the teacher this year?" questioned Harry.
"Yeah, they normally tell us at the feast, but because of you getting mixed-up, they haven't told us yet. It's always different (the job's jinxed), and since Slughorn was teaching Potions instead of Snape we thought it might be…you know," Ron trailed off in his interruption. The two stared intently at Ed, joined by Hermione as she stood by Ed's other side.
"Yeah, Severus was the one who was testing me. What's wrong?" Ed asked, when met with their looks of combined horror and confusion. Harry spoke up first.
"Well shit. What's wrong is that Snape wishes all of us were dead, and basically hates us Gryffindors in general."
"Also, why do you call him Severus?" spoke up Ron. Ed's eyebrows rose in confusion.
"Why not? I met him over the summer when I got picked up for interrogation by the Order, and he was introduced to me as-"
"Keep your voice down Fullmetal," muttered a soft voice behind him. Ed whipped around to see that Severus had entered, and opened the door.
"Inside," he said.
The students filed in, taking their seats just before the bell range. When it did, Severus flicked his wand, the door locking with an ominous 'click' followed by the jiggling of a handle and several obscenities. Ed grinned upon recognizing Malfoy's voice.
The room was dark and shadowy, strange pictures of curse-inflicted victims adorned the walls, seemingly for later study. Severus walked to the front of the room, and swirled around.
"I have not asked you to take out your books," he said. Hermione and several others quickly dropped their bags, and pretended they hadn't been reaching to get their books out.
"You have had 5 teachers in this subject so far I believe," Severus continued. They switch teachers every year? What the hell? Ed thought.
"Naturally these teachers will all have had their own methods and priorities. Given this confusion I am surprised many of you scraped an OWL in this subject. I shall be even more surprised if you manage to keep up with the NEWT work, which will be more advanced." Severus started walking around the room sweeping through the aisles. Ed was both impressed and fighting the urge to laugh at how intimidated the class seemed.
"The Dark Arts," said Severus, "are many, varied, ever-changing, and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, and indestructible."
Ed could see Harry staring at Severus in shock, and felt a sense of déjà vu. Before, Snape had talked of Voldemort and the Death Eaters as though they were fond memories, and now he was speaking of the Dark Arts with a loving hint in his voice.
I take back what I thought earlier about wondering about his story. I want to hear his story now. Ed thought, as the presence before him continued his monologue.
"Your defenses must therefore be as flexible and inventive as the arts you seek to undo. These pictures" Severus pointed to the images on the walls, "give a fair representation of what happens to those who suffer the Cruciatus Curse, the Dementor's Kiss, or provoke the aggression of the Inferius."
"Has an Inferius been seen, then?" asked a high-voiced Slytherin girl wearing prostitutal amounts of make-up. "Is it definite, is he using them?"
"The Dark Lord has used Inferni in the past, which means you would be well-advised to assume he might use them again. Now…" Snape said, walking back to the front of the room. Ed made a mental note to ask Luna what an Inferius was.
"…You are, I believe, complete novices in the use of nonverbal spells. What is the advantage of such a spell?"
Hermione's hand shot into the air, warily followed by Ed's. Severus looked around for a while, trying to find a non-Hermione to call on, and seemed surprised to see Ed's hand in the air. "Yes, Fullmetal?"
"Your opponent doesn't know what you're going to do to them," Ed said, "Which, assuming your using a spell, gives you about a second's worth of an advantage. Really, it's rather pointless because though they won't know when you're sending the spell out or what type you're using, your opponent can still either dodge the spell or shield themselves."
He was met with shocked stares from most of the class, having butted in with his opinion along with an actual answer. Severus himself looked rather impressed.
"5 points to Ravenclaw, for that highly opinionated answer. But correct in all aspects, including the rather cynical ones. Yes, those who progress to using magic gain an element of surprise in their magic, though the spells can still be repelled as normal, the attacker does not know when they are coming. Not all wizards can do this, of course; it is a question of concentration and mind power"
-here Severus's gaze lingered upon Ed for a split second-
"which some"
-he then turned a death glare onto Harry-
"Lack. You will now divide into pairs. One partner will attempt to jinx the other without speaking." Severus paused, glaring out at the class, then went on. "The other will attempt to repel the jinx in equal silence. Carry on."
The class divided up, and Ed was eventually stuck with a girl he didn't know. She was tall, had long dark beaded hair, large multicolored eyes, and a hawk-like nose. Ed gave her a small half small, which was acknowledged, though unreturned.
The girl ignored his attempts to introduce himself. "I hate introductions so can we get on with this please?"
Ed nodded. "Sure"
"I'll jinx you first," the girl replied, and they stepped away from each other. Other pairings were just starting off as well, so it was fine. Ed's partner raised her wand, and Ed heard her mutter something faintly, when a jet of light shot out of her wand. Ed muttered "Protego" just as quietly, blocking the spell. Unfortunately, Severus was right behind him when he said that.
"Fullmetal, did I not instruct you to perform these spells nonverbally?" he hissed. Ed held his ground.
"No, you instructed us to repel the jinx in equal silence. Meaning, that if she jinxes me almost silently, I should repel it with the same volume."
Severus scowled. "Nobody likes a smart ass, Fullmetal. 20 points from Gryffindor," said the irritated professor. The girl narrowed her eyes at Ed after Severus left. "Why did he first add on to Ravenclaw, and then take away from Gryffindor?" Ed shrugged.
"I'm in 2 Houses. That's basically what the Sorting Hat meant by 'I DON'T KNOW!' Since Severus has a thing against Gryffindor, he'd probably use that to his advantage. Now, it's my turn to jinx you is it not? Remember now, equal silence." His partner gave a small half smile, and backed away to give them room again. Ed focused on Stunning her, on the incantation, much like his wall formula mind shields. Gathering all his willpower together, Ed screamed in his head STUPEFY!
A blast of light shot out from his wand, and the girl raised hers, but her equal silence wasn't working. She was blasted into the back wall, and lay motionless. A guy behind Ed gave a shirt intake of breath, and chuckled. "Nice one. Man, she's gonna be pissed when she gets up." Ed turned to see where the voice came from, but the source had vanished. He walked over to his partner, and nonverbally Enervate-d her. She woke up, and glared at Ed. Ed held out a hand. "Sorry about that. What's your name?" The girl glared at him, and muttered "Zaneh Chioke" before stalking off to watch her friends duel.
Finished for the period, Ed sat against the wall, pulling his bag over next to him, and began rereading his textbook for this class. He was pretty much oblivious to Harry's "Don't have to call me sir," comment, and Severus's rage that followed. Neville came over to Ed, before Malfoy got wind of the fact he was sitting, seemingly defenseless, and dragged him out of his "reading trance".
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Ed went to the library to talk to Jude, and afterwards, sat surprisingly with the Gryffindors. He talked and joked with Hermione and Neville, while Harry and Ron gave off a feeling of dislike, especially Harry. When he pondered the feeling that night he came up with a bit of a blank.
It's weird. I mean, we got along great before, but here. Before he was either holding something back, or he was able to forget something. Now…He just has this "My life sucks" attitude, and it pisses me off. And also, everyone keeps calling him "The Chosen One" and shit. If he's their best hope against Voldemort, then everybody's screwed…
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Lolz, more crossover names. But it's a mixed Immortals one now… is it so obvious that I'm totally brain-dead when it comes to naming people?
Yes, I know, the OCs are popping up like dead flies, but there is a point to all this. Eventually. Also, I am very aware that Jude randomly popped up in the story, but that's because I edited him out of earlier chapters he was mentioned in, but when I tried to do the same for this one, the story kinda screwed up. So yeah, earlier chapters should be edited pretty soon to smooth-ify the newly formed friendship.
Quote of the Chapter:
"When at first you don't succeed, kick success in the face and yell 'Screw You!'"