~Chapter Six: Decisions, Decisions...~
A/N: Real quick note:
As usual, thanks to all who faved and reviewed! I heart you all!
Secondly, I understand that a lot of y'all are concerned about the fact that the story seems to be going down a road to extreme cliché-dom and overall copying the HP1 storyline. I really am sorry if I've come across as that being my overall intention, because it isn't, I promise! The plot just needs some building is all, and I hope that you all will continue to stick with "Entwined Sorcery," because Edward and I will miss you greatly if you don't. You won't be sorry, I pinky-promise! :))
all things Harry Potter (c) J.K. Rowling
all things Fullmetal Alchemist (c) Hiromu Arakawa
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall."
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."
McGonagall pulled the door wide, revealing the immense entrance hall. Harry's eyes bugged out at the sight of it; it was big enough to fit the whole of the Dursley's house in it! The stone walls were illuminated with a number of flaming torches, just like Gringotts bank was. Edward tilted his head up to stare into the darkness that should've been the ceiling, though the ceiling itself was too high to even make out. He shook his head in disbelief; this school was becoming more and more stereotypical by the minute. How predictable.
They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor; as they neared the doorway leading into the Great Hall, Harry and Edward could hear the drone of hundreds of voices emitting from there-but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a smaller, empty chamber off the hall, away from the voices.
"...Welcome to Hogwarts. Now, in a few moments you will pass through those doors and join your classmates," she informed, nodding towards the doorway where the voices were coming from. "But before you can take your seats, you must be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw...and Slytherin. Now, while you are here at Hogwarts, your House will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you points; any rule-breaking, and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the House awarded the most points is awarded the House cup-"
"Trevor!"
McGonagall frowned as Neville Longbottom leapt out from the crowd to seize his newly-found toad. A few laughs and giggles could be heard from the crowd itself, most of them belonging to Malfoy's gang and Edward.
"That was smooth," he retorted, grinning. Ron and Harry looked back at him and returned the grin. Neville, now red-faced, slowly looked up at McGonagall, whose piercing eyes were glowering down at him in stone-faced silence. He gulped:
"Sorry."
And with that he slumped back into the crowd of first-years. After casting a quick look first at Malfoy's gang and then at Edward, she lifted her head back up to address the rest.
"The sorting ceremony will begin momentarily."
And with that she walked off into the Great Hall.
"...It's true then, what they were saying on the train," a drawling voice from behind said. Harry, Ed and Ron turned to look for the source of the voice: Malfoy.
"Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts."
Immediately whispers began to swarm through the crowd, the news spreading like wildfire. Edward raised an eyebrow at Malfoy, not understanding the enormity of what he just stated; what's the big deal about this kid, anyway? He seemed normal enough on the train...other than the scar and his unfortunate past…but was it really that big of a deal?
Malfoy continued on, gesturing to his cohorts and introducing them, and then he walked up to Harry and announced his own name grandly. Ron involuntarily snorted at the sound of it, earning him a searing glare:
"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask yours; red hair and a hand-me-down robe. You must be a Weasley."
"Lay off, will ya?" Ed raised his voice from behind him. Draco turned his glare towards the blonde boy, raising an eyebrow:
"And who are you, shorty?"
Ed's jaw locked in obvious fury, provoking a handful of chuckles and snorts from the crowd of first-years observing the scene before them.
"…I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for that last comment," the short-tempered alchemist spoke threateningly through gritted teeth. "But let this be a warning to you; don't call me short. It puts me in a bad mood."
"Hah!" Malfoy replied sneeringly. "You don't scare me."
"I should," Ed said, grinning mischievously. Malfoy watched with a thin, white-blonde eyebrow raised as the golden-eyed boy leaned upon the wall behind him and crossed his arms:
"The name's Elric. Edward Elric," he said with faux-grandiose, making fun of Malfoy's way of an introduction. Several giggles could be heard from the crowd in response to the pun; Draco Malfoy was not amused. He haughtily snubbed Ed and turned back to Harry:
"You'll soon find out that some wizarding families are better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort." Here he eyed Ron pointedly, earning him an eye-roll from the short alchemist behind him. "...I can help you there." And with that, he held his pale hand out to Harry, who just looked at it.
"...I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks."
As if on cue, McGonagall reappeared behind Malfoy and tapped him on the shoulder with her attendance scroll. Malfoy wrinkled his nose and turned back to face her just as everyone else in the corridor did. Edward got up from against the wall and walked over to where Ron and Harry were, shooting Ron a friendly smile. Ron returned it, mouthing thanks.
"We're ready for you now; follow me," McGonagall announced. Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to steel, Harry got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, Ron and Edward behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.
All three of their jaws dropped at their first sight of the hall.
Edward started into the sky-uhm, ceiling?-and wondered furiously whether that was magic or some sort of uber-advanced atmospheric alchemy at work, hoping it was the latter. His hopes were crushed as he heard the bushy-haired girl whisper behind him, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."
Of course, the one schoolbook he didn't touch during the summer. Supreme unfairness of life, he thought miserably, his antenna drooping slightly.
Harry, on the other hand, had never imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting already. Professor McGonagall led the first years up to the long table at the top of the hall where all the teachers were sitting. They came to a halt in a line facing the other students with the teachers behind them.
Harry, Ron and Edward gulped in unison as they stared out at the hundreds of faces, all of them looking at them, the first years.
They looked down again just in time to see McGonagall silently placing a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed, frayed, and extremely dirty old wizard's hat. Everyone began to stare at the hat, Harry noticed, so he stared at it too. For a few moments no one said a word. Edward yawned slightly as he looked upon the hat boredly...
The hat twitched. Edward nearly jumped in shock. What the-what kind of alchemy is that?
A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth, and the hat began to sing:
"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me..."
Ed stared on in astonishment as the hat continued to sing, momentarily wondering if the train dropped him off at the wrong school, the school for stereotypes and insane idiosyncrasies pertaining to what could be called magic but could very simply just truly be alchemy.
...But something in his gut told him that that was not the case.
"...You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,"
Ron bit his lip; he hoped with all his might that he was in that house. If not, he would be an embarrassment to the entire Weasley family; no Weasley had ever been in any house other than Gryffindor.
"...Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
If you've a ready mind,"
Hermione cocked her head slightly; though she would prefer Gryffindor, she supposed Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad...
"...Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends."
Edward hated to admit it after all the negative things he had heard about Slytherin, but so far the lyrics describing that house seemed to suite him best. Not that it mattered too much to him what house he would belong to; after all, he truly would do anything to get his brother's and his own body back...
Alphonse. I hope you're ok.
Harry, on the other hand, heard the lyrics for Slytherin and winced internally; he really didn't want to be in Slytherin. That was the same house that his parent's murderer was in, and the same house Malfoy will probably be in. Harry didn't like Malfoy too much after their meeting in the chamber.
The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became still once again.
"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to Harry and Ed. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."
"Hah, I actually like that idea better," Edward said, smirking. "Screw the hat, bring on the troll!"
Harry smiled weakly. Yes, trying on the hat was a lot better than having to do a spell or wrestle anything, but he did wish they could have tried it on without everyone watching. The hat seemed to be asking rather a lot; Harry didn't feel very brave or wise or anything at the moment. All he knew was that he so desperately did not want to be in Slytherin.
Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbot, Hannah!"
A pink-face girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. The hat's mouth opened up again and everyone in the hall could hear it contemplating:
"Ah yes, hmm...hmm..."
And then it shouted: "HUFFLEPUFF!"
The table to the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table.
"Bones, Susan!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.
"Boot, Terry!"
Another Ravenclaw.
"Brown, Lavender!"
"GRYFFINDOR!"
And the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Harry could see Ron's twin brothers cat-calling.
"Brocklehurst, Mandy!"
And so on and so forth. After a little bit of deliberation, the trio figured out that Edward would be the first of them to be sorted. He seemed both relieved to be getting it over with quickly and determined to be sorted well. Everything expect nervous, which made Harry jealous. Why couldn't he be like that?
"Elric, Edward!"
"Good luck!" Ron whispered as the blonde boy sauntered over to the stool and sat down. Professor McGonagall set the hat down upon his head and then stood back as its mouth opened up.
"Hmm. Edward Elric. Spawn of Hohenheim, correct? I can tell already that you're going to be a tough one...hmmm..."
Edward exhaled impatiently as he listened to the hat.
"Very bright mind-brilliant, actually...but very brave as well...ah, now what's this? Such...determination. DARK determination at that. And this darkness...your past actions precede that."
Ah hell, Edward thought. If THAT'S what this damned hat is gonna judge me based on, then I'm a Slytherin for sure.
"And defiance and ambition...yes, you have the makings of a great Slytherin..."
The hat took a deep breath as if to scream this out to the Great Hall:
"SLYTHER-"
...But it stopped short. Edward raised an eyebrow at it; "what gives?"
"...I see now...you live for someone else, rather than yourself...I can see this deep within your heart.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
McGonagall looked pleased as she swiped the hat off of him. Edward stood, stunned at what had just gone down, but at the same time pleased at the fact that the hat looked past his sins and mistakes. He turned back to see Harry clapping and Ron holding up a thumbs-up for him before he made his way down to the Gryffindor table. He sat down next to a pair of red-headed twins that looked a lot like Ron, and when they introduced themselves he found out that they were in fact the infamous Weasley Twins.
"Hello there, I'm Fred, he's George-"
"Oh, shove it. I'm Fred, and this big lump over here is George-"
"Oy! Who's the big lump?"
Ed laughed at their shenanigans and then turned back to watch the rest of the sorting. Soon the bushy-haired girl was up. She almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.
"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Ron groaned.
Hermione ran joyfully to the Gryffindor table and sat herself across from Edward, offering out her hand which he high-fived. The two of them turned and looked expectantly at Harry and Ron, who were beginning to look kind of pallid.
When Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called he got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"
Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking very pleased with himself. Edward too felt pleased; I nearly ended up in his house!
Harry felt himself shaking; there weren't many people left now.
"Moon"..., "Nott"..., "Parkinson"..., then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil"..., then "Perks, Sally-Anne"..., and then, at last-
"Potter, Harry!"
As Harry stepped forward, whispers broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall. Edward rolled his eyes; will this never end? Can't a guy get a freaking break?
"Potter, did she say?"
"The Harry Potter?"
The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat, waiting...
"Hmm, difficult. Very Difficult...plenty of courage I see. Not a bad mind, either...there's talent, oh my goodness, yes-and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting...but where to put you?"
"Not Slytherin, not Slytherin," Harry whispered, pleaded to the hat.
"Not Slytherin, eh?" said the hat. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here...in your head...in your mind. And Slytherin will help you on your way to greatness, no doubt about that...no? Well, if you're sure-better be GRYFFINDOR!"
The hat's last word reverbed across the Great Hall, and Harry, feeling relieved, shakily walked over to the Gryffindor table and took a seat next to Hermione. He received high-fives from the Weasley twins (who were vehemently yelling, "We got Potter! We got Potter!") and many congratulations from everyone at the table, including Edward and Hermione.
Now it was Ron's turn.
He was pale green by the time he slumped onto the stool, shaking nervously beneath the hat. Edward saw Harry crossing his fingers underneath the table, shrugged, and followed suite for the heck of it.
"Ahah, another Weasley!" the hat boomed. "I know just what to do with you...
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Harry and Edward clapped loudly with the rest as Ron collapsed into the chair across from Harry.
"Well done, Ron, excellent," said Percy Weasley pompously across Harry as the last first year, "Zabini, Blaise," was made a Slytherin. Professor McGonagall rolled up her attendance scroll and took the Sorting Hat away. A loud noise from across the table made Harry turn around in curiosity. Everyone was staring at the source: Edward.
"...What? It's just my stomach! I'm freaking hungry, leave me alone!"
They all laughed at Ed's defensiveness; Harry looked down at his empty gold plate, just now realizing how hungry he also was. The pumpkin pasties from the train seemed ages ago.
Albus Dumbledore stood, beaming at the students, his arms opened wide as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.
"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!
"Thank you!"
Everyone in the hall clapped and cheered as he sat back down. Harry didn't know whether or not to laugh, whilst Edward just gaped at the old man in confusion.
"Is he-a bit mad?" Harry asked Percy uncertainly.
"He seems cracked in the head to me," Edward muttered, his stomach growling again.
"Cracked?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?"
Ed and Harry's mouths fell open; the dishes in front of them were now piled high with food. As Harry accepted the plate of food from Percy and began to scoop some onto his plate, Edward hungrily dumped as much food onto his plate as he could possibly fit and began ravenously shoveling it into his mouth. It was all delicious.
"That does look good," said one of the ghosts in the ruff sadly, watching Harry cut up his steak. Ed looked behind his shoulder to acknowledge the ghost's presence; the piece of ham that was hanging out of his mouth fell out as his jaw dropped.
"You-you're-you're a-!"
"A ghost, yes, my dear boy," the ghost said, chuckling at Edward's reaction. He blinked, shaking his head:
"Stuff just keeps getting weirder and weirder around here...ah well, good food." And with that he went back to stuffing his face. Harry looked at the ghost with pity:
"Can't you-?"
"I haven't eaten for nearly four hundred years," said the ghost. "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."
"Pleasure," Edward muttered through a mouthful of Yorkshire pudding.
"I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you-you're Nearly Headless Nick!"
"I would prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-" the ghost began stiffly, but bushy-haired Hermione interrupted:
"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?"
Edward chewed and, after sliding a bit more roast beef into his already stuffed cheeks, turned to hear Nick's answer. Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed but nonetheless answered the curious girl.
"Like this." He seized his left ear and pulled; his whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it were on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried and did not succeed in beheading the poor fellow.
Edward's jaw dropped once again, this time a piece of roast beef falling out of his agape mouth rather than ham.
Looking pleased at the stunned looks on all the Gryffindor first years' faces; Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back onto his neck, coughed, and said, "So-new Gryffindors! I do hope you're going to help us with the championship this year? Gryffindors need a good win, the Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable-he's the Slytherin ghost, you know."
When everyone had eaten as much as they could (Edward being one of the last one's done), the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean, just in time for the desserts to appear. Blocks of ice cream in every flavor, pies, tarts, éclairs, pudding...
As Harry helped himself to a treacle tart, the talk turned to their families.
"I'm half-and-half," said Seamus. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mom didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."
The others laughed. Edward turned to Ron, a confused look on his face:
"Muggle?"
"It's what we call non-magic folk."
"Ah."
"What about you, Neville?" Ron said, turning towards the boy with the toad.
"Well, my gran brought me up, and she's a witch," said Neville, "but the family thought I was all-Muggle for ages..."
Edward munched on a warm piece of apple pie topped with vanilla ice cream and listened to everyone's stories. Then Hermione turned toward him:
"And what about you, Edward?"
"Yeah, Elric, let's hear about your family," Seamus said.
Ed gulped down the bit of pie in his mouth, and then tapped on his chin, wondering where to begin.
"Well, my dad's a wizard, or so I've been told he is. I'm not completely certain, though, 'cause he left my brother, my mom and I when I was three and Alphonse was two."
"Is your mom a witch?" Seamus inquired. Edward shook his head.
"No, she wasn't a witch. She was norm-a Muggle." He sighed; "she died about six years ago."
The others were silent for a moment, as if paying their respects for the loss of Ed's mother.
"I'm sorry," Neville said softly. Edward shrugged sadly, turning back towards the others. Hermione cocked her head to the side and asked:
"If your mother is dead and your father left you two, with whom do you and your brother live with?"
"...Well...recently we've been living with an old family friend and her granddaughter, but before we've just stayed at our old house, just the two of us."
"You and your little brother lived by yourselves?" Harry said increadously.
"Yeah." Ed shrugged again; "It's not that bad since we have each other."
A few "wow..."s and other admiring noises could be heard throughout the group that was listening in on Ed's story. Harry picked at his dessert after that, suddenly feeling like he and Edward had a lot more in common than he had initially thought they did.
Starting to feel a bit sleepy, he looked up towards the High Table, where Hagrid was drinking deeply, Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore were talking, and Professor Quirrell, with his absurd turban, was talking to some strange teacher. He had a mean face, hooked nose, greasy black hair and sallow skin, and when Harry's eyes met his, a sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on his forehead.
"Ouch!" Harry clapped a hand to his head. Ron and Ed looked up from their plates.
"What is it?" Ron asked.
"N-nothing."
The pain was gone as quickly as it had come, much to Harry's relief. He turned to Percy:
"Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?"
"Oh you know Quirrell already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous; that's Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to-everyone know he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."
"Dark Arts?" Ed muttered, glancing up at the teacher they were talking about. "I don't think I like the sounds of that..."
Harry watched Snape for a while, but Snape didn't look back at him again. Edward too frowned at the teacher Harry was watching; he looked unpleasant.
After all of the desserts had finally disappeared, Professor Dumbledore got up again. The hall fell silent as he spoke:
"Ahem-just a few words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.
"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well," he said, his twinkling eyes flashing towards the Weasley twins.
"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.
"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.
"And finally, I must tell you that this year; the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."
Harry laughed, but he was one of the few who did.
"He's not serious, is he?" Ed muttered to Percy, who frowned.
"Must be," said the prefect. "It's odd, though, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere-the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us prefects, at least."
"And now, bedtime. Off you trot!" Dumbledore dismissed the school.
~~*e.s.*~~
Upon entering the vast, fire-lit Gryffindor common room for the first time ever, all three of the boys had begun to feel a wave of exhaustion hit them. Edward realized that he was currently running on less than five hours of sleep from the previous night of spell-attempting, and on top of that he was suffering from intense travel lag. I hadn't ridden on a train since the last time Al and I went to see teacher! Ed realized as he followed Ron, Harry and all of the other Gryffindor boys up one of the two spiraling staircases that led to the student's dormitories.
Their room was much bigger than Ed had expected it to be; it contained five four-poster beds hung with deep red drapings, a large bay window with a window seat overlooking the lake and all of their trunks and belongings. Ed found his stuff by the four-poster in between Ron and Harry, situated right next to the grand window. Upon opening his bed's draperies, Ed also found his favorite red cloak folded neatly upon his bed's comforter, the black symbol on the back facing out.
"Percy said the showers were down the hall to the right, right?" Harry piped up as he rummaged in his trunk for his showering supplies. Ron nodded as he walked back to his own trunk.
SHIT, Ed thought suddenly; community showers were not going to make it easy to hide his prosthetics. He sighed, resignedly deciding to adapt to showering in the middle of the night, when it was most unlikely for anyone else to be up. For the time being, however, he did take silent advantage of his roommates' absences to change into his night clothes.
"Guess the gloves'll have to stay on…" he muttered to himself as he examining his arm and leg in the solitude of his bed hangings. With his chest bare and both of his arms exposed, he extended his automail arm out in front of his face, clenching and unclenching his fingers, observing as each of the tiny little screws and metal plates contracted and released, forming the joints just like the ones in his left arm.
"Great food, isn't it?" Ed heard Ron remark just as he was slipping his glove back on, concealing his secret like a dark mark.
"Yea," he heard Harry respond. "…Ed? You awake?"
"Uh huh," the young alchemist said, poking his head out of the blood-colored hangings, his mouth agape in mid-yawn. "At least, for now I am."
I know what you mean; I'm worn out, Ron said, yawning as well before chastising his old rat about chewing on his sheets. Ed laughed tiredly, grateful that his annoying little Nova was tucked away in the owlery for the night. He glanced over toward Harry to see what he thought of Scabber's antics, but the exhausted kid was already out for the night.
"I should go to bed, too," he commented to no one in particular.
"Yeah," Ron concurred, tucking himself in. "We have an early day tomorrow."
Ed followed suit, releasing his long hair from its braided entrapment and shaking it loose before plopping down onto the fresh, feathered pillows.
"…Hey, Ed?" Ron hissed from the right of him.
"Mhmm?"
"I…I'm really glad we're in the same House."
Ed smiled slightly as he replied: "Yeah, same here."
He waited for a moment or so to see if the redhead would reply, but pretty soon Ed could hear stifled snoring emitting from that side of the room. He chuckled softly to himself and stretched, trying to do as his new friends did and find sleep…
Wow. He hadn't even had a single day of classes yet, and Edward already made two new friends. He felt a mixture of great excitement and sorrow at the same time; how would they feel if they found out his true purpose? Would they still be amicable to him if they knew of his past sins, knew that as soon as he learned of a way to bring everything back to normal at home he would leave the school? Would they look upon him as a monster, rather than a friend?
Of course they would, he thought miserably, his ports aching. I'm not even fully human anymore…
Ed opened his eyes up to the ceiling, sighing heavily. He knew that sleep wasn't going to come to him anytime soon. He had too much on his mind, for one thing. That and it was so weird to be without his brother, without Alphonse.
Tick…tick…tick…the old, decrepit grandfather clock hanging from the wall opposite to Ed sounded, as if mocking the fact that the fatigued eleven-year-old could not find sleep. After glaring at it until it struck midnight, Ed hopped out of bed and made his way for his first midnight shower of the school year.
This school is going to take a lot more getting used to than I thought…and I haven't even started learning magic yet…\
~~*e.s.*~~