~Chapter Ten: A Dragon's Flame Sparks~
A/N: Sorry I posted this oh-so very late in the month, but do pardon me this once. I've been very busy. *sweatdrop!* I shouldn't have left y'all with such a cliffhanger, else I wouldn't have to apologize so profusely! Hopefully this chappy makes up for it, even though it's a bit more of a set-up chap than an action chap!
[there's an A/Endnote at the bottom of this chappy that I'd also appreciate y'all reading, btws..^^]
all things Harry Potter (c) J.K. Rowling
all things Fullmetal Alchemist (c) Hiromu Arakawa
"A little?" Ron said increadously. "You're practically a Flamel fan girl!"
Edward winced at the accusation, not knowing where to begin or, rather, how to explain everything without explaining everything. Harry shook his head:
"We wouldn't have had to do all of that work researching him if you had just told us what you knew, Ed. You would've been a huge help."
"Why do you insist on keeping things from us?" Hermione asked, obvious hurt in her voice. Ed looked up at all three of his friends, who were waiting expectantly for some answers on his part. He took a deep breath:
"…I don't mean to do this to you all, to hide everything. I…am finding it hard to be completely straight with you, however. You see, my father was an alchemist, and a damn good one too, so naturally he'd have a bunch of books and things relating to it in his office. Things that he left behind when he left us. "
"So did you and your brother try and learn alchemy as well?" Hermione inquired.
"We attempted it a little," Ed said, fully expecting that question and shrugging it off so as to make it seem like their efforts were failed, without actually having to speak such blaspheming words. "But those books of my fathers were where I got all my knowledge from."
"But that still doesn't tell us why you kept all of that a secret," Harry said. Ed looked him in the eye; and here's where the real lying begins:
"According to the books, alchemy is a dark science, something that I thought I could get in big trouble for mentioning. That's why I've kept it so secret."
The interrogating trio looked at each other; the entirety of Ed's 'explanation' still sounded like he was keeping something hidden. All of them—especially Harry, who couldn't help but know that Ed's surreptitiousness had something to do with whatever he and his little brother were talking about that night he eavesdropped upon them—knew there was a very large piece of the puzzle that was still missing-in-action. However, in an attempt to avoid any arguing or anything of the sort, they nodded somberly at the blonde, much to his great relief.
"I can understand a reason like that," Hermione honestly said. "I wouldn't want to get in trouble for something like that, either."
"You? Get in trouble? Please," Ron said scathingly, to which Hermione promptly replied to with a stuck-up raspberry. In reply the Weasley pointedly ignored said gesture, turning back to Ed. "But now you know you can trust us, mate!" he reasoned, offering the long-haired boy a freckled smile. "And don't worry, I can keep a secret."
"Yeah, same here," Harry piped up, to which Hermione also pitched in with a nod and a smile of her own. Ed blinked, returning his friend's forgiveness with a sheepish grin.
That was way too close; I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. At the rate things are slipping out, all three of them will know every damned thing about me by the end of the school year…or sooner…Dammit!
~~*e.s.*~~
SNOOOOOOREE…SNOOO—
"Ed! Wake up, you git," Ron hissed as he shoved at the snoring blonde. Ed quickly sat back up, his quill sticking to his reddened cheek as he looked to see if Professor Quirrell had caught him napping during Defense Against the Dark Arts class again. Luckily to him, though, his turbaned teacher was still reciting from his copy of the textbook various ways to treat a werewolf bite. Ed sighed as his quill fell down onto the desk; though he had to admit that the course itself was an interesting one, he constantly found himself fighting to stay awake during Quirrell's lectures. If the teacher could only stop stuttering and speaking in such a timid, monotone voice, then maybe he'd have the privilege of a more attentive Elric in his class.
"Thanks. I owe you one, again," Ed whispered back to Ron, nodding towards their stuttering instructor. "What'd I miss?"
"From him? Nothing," Ron remarked, then grinned. "Me and Harry, on the other hand were just talking about what we'd do with a Sorcerer's Stone if we had one."
Ed raised an eyebrow at his friends:
"And what did you say?"
"I said I'd buy my own house, that way I won't have to live with my Aunt and Uncle anymore," Harry began, then nodded to Ron, who immediately began to list off multiple things he'd buy with an endless amount of gold, some of the things ridiculous enough to send Harry and Ed into near-hysterics.
"So what would you do with the Stone?" Ron finally asked Ed.
Use it to restore my brother's body, Ed thought immediately, then shook his head in a desperate effort to get the thought out of his lead before it came blubbering out of his mouth.
"I would, uhm, I don't know…buy out all of Flourish and Blotts' books?"
Harry and Ron stared at Ed, who immediately mentally kicked himself. "Great," he muttered. "I just made myself sound like Hermione."
At the bemused comment Harry and Ron busted out in laughter, slapping Ed in the back and earning a nasty look from the ever-studious Hermione herself.
"Oh yeah," Ron whispered to his friends after they'd stopped laughing. "I forgot one; I'd definitely buy myself my own Quidditch team."
"You would," Ed remarked disapprovingly; just then Harry face palmed.
"Quidditch," he murmured. "I had completely forgotten about the match coming up!"
He sighed, looking at his two questioning friends.
"I'm going to play," he informed them. "If I don't, all the Slytherins will think I'm just too scared for Snape. I'll show them…it'll really wipe the smiles off their faces if we win."
"Just as long as we're not wiping you off of the field," said Ed. Harry sighed, rolling his eyes:
"Thanks a lot, Ed."
"Don't mention it," grinned the incognito alchemist.
~~*e.s.*~~
The sky was overcast Saturday morning, and with every step that he and his friends made towards the Gryffindor Quidditch team's tent Harry could feel his knees shaking more and more due to the increase of nerves. He very well knew that when Hermione, Ron and Ed wished him good luck outside the locker rooms they were honestly wondering whether or not they'd ever see him again. And with good reason; even Ed had noticed how much all four of them seemed to be continuously running into the Potions Master throughout the week before the big match. It was as if he were following them, like a shadowed beast stalking its prey…
"Remind me why allowed you two to drag me here…?" Ed questioned irritably once again as they squeezed into the stands next to Hagrid and Neville, who couldn't understand the reasoning behind their grim faces, or why they had all three brought their wands to the game.
"Because you're here to support Harry!" Hermione frowned, and then lowered her voice to a hoarse whisper. "Now, don't forget the Leg-Locker Curse, in case things get out of hand, it's—"
"Yeah yeah, I know, Locomotor mortis!" Ed griped at the know-it-all, absently waving his wand in front of him in the process and accidently cursing an innocent bystander standing a couple rows down from him. He quickly stashed his wand as the poor bloke fell on top of his friend, completely unaware of what just happened.
"Sorry…"
"UGH, Ed!" Hermione said, shooting Ron a disapproving look as he nearly fell on top of her within his great bouts of laughter. "Be serious, here! We need to be ready in case Snape tries to hurt Harry again.
"We know, Hermione, calm down!" Ron said as he finally caught his breath.
"Yeah; do you really think we'd let our friend get hurt?" Ed agreed, internally marveling at the profound words escaping from his mouth. Hermione's expression softened at this, and she nodded at them, re-directing her attention to the referee as he strutted onto the field—or rather, stomped onto the field just as the two teams began to march on behind him.
"I've never seen Snape look so mean," Ron noted to Ed and Hermione. "Look—they're off. Ouch!"
Ron, Hermione and Ed all turned around in unison to see who had poked Ron. To none of their surprises, it was Malfoy.
"Oh, sorry, Weasley; didn't see you there."
Malfoy grinned broadly at the buffoon-like Crabbe and Goyle.
"Wonder how long Potter's going to stay on his broom this time? Anyone want a bet? What about you, Weasley, you'd probably appreciate the money!"
Ron didn't answer; Snape had just awarded Hufflepuff a penalty because George had hit a Bludger at him. Hermione, who had all of her fingers crossed in her lap, and Ed, who looked slightly confused despite all of the Quidditch game-briefing the Weasley twins had given him the night before, were both squinting fixedly at Harry. He was currently circling the game like a hawk, peeling his eyelids for the Snitch.
"You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team?" said Malfoy loudly a few minutes later, as Snape awarded Hufflepuff another penalty for no reason at all ("Dammit!" Ed cursed, stomping his automail foot so hard upon the wooden planks below him that it caused the entire stands to rumble deeply. He offered Hermione an innocent sideways grin as she raised a questioning eyebrow at his shenanigans). "It's people they feel sorry for. See, there's Potter, who's got no parents, then there's the Weasleys, who've got no money—you should be on the team, Longbottom, you've got no brains."
Neville went bright red but turned in his seat to face Malfoy.
"I'm worth twelve of you, Malfoy," he stammered timidly.
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle howled with laughter, but Ron and Ed, who were still not daring to take their eyes off of the game, patted their embarrassed friend on the back. "You tell him, Neville," Ron muttered in support.
"And you, Elric; you should join, too. They'd take you just because they'd feel bad for a midget like you—!"
All Ed had to do was to swiftly turn his head and glare at Malfoy with malevolent eyes, just in order to silently remind him of the uber-beating he received from the so-called midget over Christmas break. The Slytherin-blonde gulped, brushing the wordless threat off by turning back to make fun of Neville once again.
"Longbottom, if brains were gold you'd be poorer than Weasley, and that's saying something."
Ed glanced over at Ron, whose nerves were already stretched to the breaking point with anxiety for his flying friend. This could end badly…
"I'm warning you, Malfoy," Ed heard the redhead growl threateningly. "One more word—"
"Ron!" said Hermione suddenly, "Harry-!"
"What?" Ed and Ron said in unison. "Where?"
Sure enough, Harry had gone into a spectacular dive, which drew gasps and cheers of excitement from the crowd. Hermione stood up, her crossed fingers in her mouth, as Harry streaked toward the ground like a bullet.
"You're in luck, Weasley, Potter's obviously found some money on the ground!" said Malfoy.
Ron snapped.
Before Malfoy knew what hit hi, Ron was on top of him, wrestling him to the ground. Neville hesitated, and then clambered over the back of his seat to help. Hermione and Ed ignored them as they continued to cheer for their Seeker.
"Come on, Harry!" Hermione screamed, and Ed leapt onto his seat to watch as Harry sped straight at Snape. His attention to the game was broken, however, by a fierce bump to his perch, and he tumbled off and onto poor Neville, who was in the middle of a tussle with Crabbe and Goyle.
"Ow; sorry, Neville," Ed said as he helped his fellow Gryffindor up; he was immediately greeted with a hard blow to the face.
"That's for what happened over the holidays," Goyle snarked, laughing dumbly and moving to help Crabbe beat up on Neville once again as Ed jumped to his feet. Gritting his teeth in anger, he fiercely extracted his wand and pointed it at the offending goon:
"LOCOMOTOR MORTIS!"
The effect was immediate; despite the fact that he heard the spell being cast and knew what it did, Goyle looked shocked as his legs were immobilized and he fell with a great THUD! at Neville's feet. The normally-feeble Gryffindor grinned, giving the jerk a good, well-needed kick to the face.
Just then, the stands erupted; Harry had finally caught the Golden Snitch.
"Ron! Ed! Neville, where are you? The game's over! Harry's won! We've won! Gryffindor is in the lead!" shrieked Hermione, dancing up and down on her seat and hugging Parvati Patil in the row in front of her. She then turned and looked at the three of them.
"…Seriously?"
Ed and Ron shrugged, acting as nonchalant as possible despite their rather haggard appearance, whilst Neville could do nothing more but offer her a bloody-lipped grin as he said proudly:
"I pulled an Edward, Hermione!"
Hermione gaped at him: "What—ohh, never mind, come on! We've got to go congratulate Harry!"
"Right," the three boys said in unison as they followed Hermione out of the stands and onto the field, where the rest of the Gryffindors were already crowding around the Quidditch star. They could see Snape land nearby, white-faced and tight-lipped, and it took all they had not to laugh out loud at how pissed he looked as he spat on the ground.
~~*e.s.*~~
Ed walked by the large Quidditch rings, observing them curiously. His slowly-bruising cheek was beginning to bug him a bit as the breeze began to get cooler and cooler in temperature, but he ignored it, focusing on the little bit of sunlight the cloud cover allowed to squeeze by. The game had been over for over forty-five minutes now, but he decided to stay behind and look at the field himself for a while…at least that's what he told Ron, Neville and Hermione. In truth he wanted to be alone with his thoughts; here was a whole great chunk of his Saturday, wasted on a pointless game and a stupid fight. At this rate he was never going to get ahold of that damned stone.
"Ed? What're you doing out here," Harry inquired as he emerged from the locker rooms with his Nimbus Two Thousand at hand. "Shouldn't you be inside celebrating with Ron and Hermione?"
Ed shrugged: "I haven't gotten a chance to really get to see the field yet; just wanted to get a closer look for myself."
"Oh…" Harry frowned as he stopped in front of his blonde friend. "What happened to your cheek…?"
"Ah hell," Ed said. "Is it starting to look bad?"
"Did you get into another fight with Mal-?"
"Tell you later," Ed grinned. "Or maybe I'll let Ron and Neville tell you instead."
Harry's eyes widened slightly but he nonetheless silenced his questioning as they walked towards the broom shed.
"Snape didn't do anything," Harry muttered. Ed nodded:
"Yeah, even though he was right there, within easy reach. Something's fishy here."
"Agreed," Harry said as they finally reached the shed. The black-haired boy stowed his broomstick, then leaned against the wooden door and looked at Hogwarts, with its windows glowing ominously red in the setting sun. Ed stood beside him, also staring intently at his school, thinking about what lies deep inside…
He shook these thoughts out of his head, and then grinned at Harry.
"So. Gryffindor's in the lead. You did it, you showed Snape."
Harry looked at his friend and nodded happily; his looked of happiness suddenly vanished however, for just when he was about to say that the two of them should go inside to celebrate with the rest of the House, he caught sight of a hooded figure running swiftly down the front steps of the castle. Ed turned to see what Harry was looking at and narrowed his golden eyes…
Clearly not wanting to be seen, the figure made its way as fast as it could toward the forbidden forest. Harry's victory quickly faded from his mind as he and Edward watched. They recognized the figure's prowling walk. Snape, sneaking into the forest while everyone else was at dinner? What was going on?
"That's Snape, isn't it…?" Ed spoke softly, his brow creasing concernedly.
"…C'mon, we've got to check this out," Harry hissed as he threw open the doors to the broom shed, yanked his Nimbus Two-Thousand off of its rack and hopped on, nodding at Ed to follow suit. The blonde made a move to join Harry on the nice broomstick, but then paused.
"What's the weight limit of this thing?"
"Ed!" Harry said exasperatedly as he grabbed the boy's sleeve and pulled him onto the broom. They took off, gliding silently over the castle, watching suspiciously as Snape entered the forest at a run.
They followed.
Once they were over the forest, Harry flew the broom in vulture-like circles, brushing the tops of the tree branches until he could hear voices. He glided them toward the sound and landed noiselessly in a towering beech tree, grabbing Ed's robes just in time to keep the unsteady blonde from falling out and blowing their cover. They climbed carefully along one of the huge branches, Harry holding tight to his broomstick as they tried to see through the leaves. Below them, in a shadowy clearing, stood Snape—but he wasn't alone. Quirrell was there, too. Ed couldn't quite make out the expression on his face due to Harry's head partially blocking his view, but he was stuttering worse than ever. The boys strained to catch what they were saying.
"…d-don't know why you wanted t-to meet here of all p-places, Severus…"
"Oh, I thought we'd keep this private," said Snape, his voice icy. "Students aren't supposed to know about the Sorcerer's Stone, after all."
Harry and Ed looked at each other, then leaned forward. Quirrell was mumbling something; Snape interrupted him.
"Have you found out how to get past that beast of Hagrid's yet?"
"B-b-but Severus, I—"
"You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrell," said Snape dangerously, taking a step toward him.
"I-I don't know what you—"
"You know perfectly well what I mean."
Ed narrowed his eyes; there it is again, that sinister tone of his voice. This guy is definitely hiding something, something really dark by the sounds of it…
An owl hooted loudly, and Harry nearly fell out of the tree. He steadied himself in time to hear Snape say, "—your little bit of hocus-pocus. I'm waiting."
"B-but I d-d-don't—"
"Very well," Snape cut in. "We'll have another little chat soon, when you've had time to think things over and decide where your loyalties lie."
He threw his cloak over his head and strode out of the clearing. It was almost dark now, but Harry and Ed could see Quirrell, standing quite still as though he was petrified. Silently, they re-mounted the broom and took off back towards the castle, suddenly in a great hurry to see Ron and Hermione.
Quirrell blinked once; it seemed as if he was finally truly alone, though he had a certain feeling at the back of his head that he was not. His…instincts proved correct as a soft-spoken, wanton voice crescendoed from the shadows.
"And where exactly do your loyalties lie?"
Quirrell spun around, eyes widened in shock as he raised a quaking finger up at the figure lurking in the darkness before him.
"W-what a-are you? S-show y-y-yourself!"
The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher heard the figure let out a sigh, and then she emerged from her hiding place, greeting him with a careless flip of her long, black hair.
"That was rude," she pouted. "Don't you mean 'who' are you?"
Quirrell blinked once again, and then gulped, nodding once.
"My apologies, m-madam; who a-are y-you?"
"Heh," she said, leaning against a tree as a smirk spread across her face. "I'll tell you later, maybe. In the meantime, you have got to stop with the stuttering."
"Lust! Lust, where did you go!" a voice from behind Quirrell called out. The professor jumped as a giant man bearing a similarly shaped tattoo as the woman before him ran up to the scene. The woman's plump lips turned downwards into a disapproving frown.
"So much for the air of mystery…"
"And j-just what are you t-t-two doing at H-Hogwarts?" Quirrell demanded, though his high-tamboured voice did not sound very commanding at all. Lust and Gluttony looked at each other and shrugged.
"Just checking up on somebody," remarked Lust, her nose turned up and away from his trembling stance. "It's really none of your concern."
"Oh, b-but it is; y-you two are trespassing! Y-you are a t-threat to this school!"
Lust rolled her eyes: "as if you aren't a threat?"
Quirrell was silent as a slow smile crept upon the female monster's face; Lust had struck a nerve.
"Don't try and lie to me. We know just what you are hiding at the back of your head. You are just as bad as us."
Gluttony's eyes widened:
"No way! Lust, d'you mean that this is that great wizard Father was telling us about?"
"No, Gluttony," the female homunculus said scathingly. "This guy is simply a harbor for the soul of that great wizard to rest in—and a rather weak one, by the looks of it. He's nothing more than a useless shell."
Quirrell had begun to shake; despite his fear, he felt a need to at least attempt to look like a real wizard in front of these creatures, and thus he reached into his robes and extracted his wand.
"H-h-how did you kno—OOOF!" Quirrell let out a guttural yelp as Lust's heel made contact with his stomach, his wand flying out of his hand and into her grip. She leaned over him, placing a stray piece of hair behind her ear, her plump breasts distracting the endangered wizard from the true severity of the situation at hand.
"…We'll come back and visit when you are gone," she hissed in Quirrell's face, though the professor was certain that she was no longer speaking to him directly anymore. He stared in utter fear as she stood back up, swiftly turning her back on him, throwing his wand back at him, where it landed silently upon his heaving chest.
"By the way," she hissed threateningly over her shoulder at the wizard as her and her obese companion walked back into the shadows from which they came. "We were not here."
Meanwhile, back at the castle—
"Where have you two been?" Hermione squeaked as Ed and Harry entered the Gryffindor common room that night after their escapade into the forest.
"We won! You won! And I pulled an Ed!" shouted Ron, thumping Harry on the back. "I gave Malfoy a black eye, Neville took on Crabbe single-handed and Ed put Goyle in the Leg-Locker Curse! It was awesome! Neville's still in the hospital wing, but Madam Pomfrey says he'll be alright—talk about showing Slytherin! Everyone's waiting for you in the common room, we're having a party, Fred and George stole some cakes and—"
"Never mind that now," Ed said breathlessly. "We can tell Harry about how we kicked Slytherin ass later!"
"Why, what's the matter?" Ron inquired. Harry shook his head:
"Let's find an empty room; you wait 'til you hear this…"
And with that they silently slid back out the entrance hole and into the corridor, making sure Peeves was nowhere to be found inside the nearest classroom before Harry shut the door behind them and began to recant what he and Ed had seen and heard.
"So we were right, it is the Sorcerer's Stone!" Ron exclaimed, and Ed nodded once.
"Did we honestly doubt that it was before now, anyway?"
"True," Ron agreed, tapping upon his chin. "And Snape's trying to force Quirrell to help him get it by the sounds of it."
"Right," said Ed. "He asked him how to get past the three-headed dog…and he said something about Quirrell's 'hocus-pocus—'"
"Which means that there are other things guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy," Harry stated.
"A bunch of weird, complex enchantments, probably," Ed piped up interruptedly.
"And by the sounds of it Quirrell would have done some complicated anti-Dark Arts spell that Snape needs to break through—"
"So what you two are saying means that the Stone's only safe as long as Quirrell stands up to Snape?" said Hermione in alarm. Ron frowned.
"It'll be gone by next Tuesday by the sounds of it."
"Let's up you're wrong," Ed spoke darkly. "Imagine the Sorcerer's Stone in the hands of someone like that…"
~~*e.s.*~~
Quirrell was braver than they thought.
Considering the threats made by Snape on top of his surprise Homunculus visit, he was doing a decent job of seeming unchanged, as if neither event ever happened in the first place. In the weeks that followed he did seem to be getting paler and thinner, but it didn't look as though he'd cracked yet. In all honesty, Ed looked worse than the traumatized Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher did.
"Ed, wake up!" Hermione spoke as loudly as she dared in the library whilst shaking the snoring blonde. Ron and Harry peered up from their notebooks curiously.
"Is he asleep again?" the redhead remarked. Ed sat up from the table he was drooling on and yawned hugely.
"Damn; what time is it?"
Hermione frowned:
"Never mind that; why on earth have you been so exhausted lately?"
"Yeah," said Harry with a look of concern for his groggy friend. "What have you been doing after Ron and I go to sleep, we thought you went to bed when we did…?"
Ed pondered this; what have I been doing? Just reading, showering, studying…cleaning my automail…trying to come up with plans to get the Stone…sneaking out to the third floor corridor to check that the damned monster was still growling inside… Ed winced internally. Ah hell. No wonder I'm so dead to the world!
"Just worried about exams," he muttered absentmindedly. Ron laughed out loud:
"You of all people shouldn't have to worry!"
Ed shrugged, closing the book he had fallen asleep atop. Now that there were barely ten weeks away, the four of them were spending most of their free time in the library. Hermione was really the only one who honestly used that time to study, though; Ed spent most of the time recovering much-needed sleep whilst Harry and Ron did all they could to try and focus on their notes as much as possible.
"I'll never remember this," Ron burst out, throwing his quill down and looking longingly out of the library window. It was the first really fine day they'd had had in months. The sky was a clear, forget-me-not blue, and there was a feeling in the air of summer coming. Ed glanced over at Ron's notebook curiously, then rolled his eyes and tossed his notebook on top of the redhead's.
"My notes are much more organized. You can have them."
Ron gaped at the notebook as if it were the most glorious creation to ever be place on the planet. Ed grinned at his friend's grateful expression, looked up and raised his eyebrows:
"Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"
Harry, Hermione and Ron looked up from their books as Hagrid shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He looked very out of place in his moleskin overcoat.
"Nothin' much, Ed, jus' lookin'," he said in a shifty tone of voice that got the student's interests at once. "An' what're you lot up ter?" He looked suddenly suspicious. "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"
"Please," Ed said caustically. "We've known who he is for a while now."
"And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Sorcerer's St—"
"Shhhh!" Hagrid looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening. "Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?"
"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," said Harry, "about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy—"
"SHHHH!" said Hagrid again. "Listen—come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh—"
"Guess we'll see you later, then," Ed said, a mischievous smirk plastered upon his face. Hagrid blinked, shook his head then shuffled off.
"…What's 'rabbiting' supposed to mean, anyway?" Ed remarked as they watched their giant friend exit through the library doors. "That didn't make any sense."
Ron shrugged: "When do any strange things that Hagrid says make any sense?"
"True."
"What was he hiding behind his back?" said Hermione thoughtfully. "Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?"
"I doubt it," Ed said, standing up from his seat and nodding at Ron. "Let's go see what section he was in, I've done more than enough studying for today."
"You did nothing but sleep the entire time we were in here," said Hermione with a disapproving look on her face. Ed simply waved her off and led the way out of the section they were working in.
"…Ok, here we go," Ron said, grabbing a book off the nearest shelf. He read the title and gasped.
"What, what's it about?" Ed asked as he too extracted a book from the shelves. A Dragon Keeper's Guide, read the title. He blinked; the hell…?
"Dragons?" Ron gasped. Ed chortled:
"Please; there's no such thing!"
Ron gaped at the blonde: "No such thing? Of course dragons exist!"
Ed raised an eyebrow at the Weasley as he continued to pull various books from the shelf.
"Dragons!" Ron announced when the two had returned to Harry and Hermione. "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these: Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide."
"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me so the first time I ever met him," said Harry. Edward shook his head fervently:
"Really, guys? There's no way these things actually exi—"
"I promise you they do," Ron said, frowning at Ed. "My brother Charlie works with them, as a matter of fact."
Ed blinked, not quite knowing what to say. Just another stereotype to add to the collection, I suppose…
"Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles from noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden—anyway, you can't tame dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania."
"So what on earth is Hagrid up to?" wondered Hermione.
Their suspicion only grew when they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut roughly an hour later to see all the curtains tightly closed. "Who is it?" called the giant's voice from within. The quartet looked at each other as Hagrid hastily let them in. It was stifling hot inside, making Ed and Ron take off their long robes due to sweatiness.
"What's with the fire on such a warm day, Hagrid?" Ed inquired, shaking his head when the bearded gamekeeper attempted to offer out some stout sandwiches. Hagrid glanced at the fireplace behind him and simply uttered about cooking something. He then turned to Harry:
"So—yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"
"Yes," said Harry, sitting up in his seat as he immediately decided upon getting right to the point. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Sorcerer's Stone apart from Fluffy."
Ed also sat up a bit straighter in his chair, suddenly wishing there was some way that he could take notes on whatever Hagrid revealed to them so he could begin concocting his plan to snag the Stone himself. To his greater dismay, however, Hagrid only frowned at Harry and said, "O' course I can't."
Ed's fists clenched beneath the cover of the table top.
"Why not?"
Hagrid turned and looked at the blonde as he explained:
"Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here for a good reason."
Yeah, for me to snatch it! Ed thought frustratingly whilst the gamekeeper continued.
"It was almost stolen outta Gringotts—I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all, too, right?"
"Well yeah, it was kind of obvious—"
"Honestly, it beats me how you four even know abou' Fluffy!"
Ed gritted his teeth, but silenced himself as Hermione began to speak:
"Oh, come on, Hagrid; you might not want to tell us, but you do know that you know everything that goes on around here," she said in a warm, flattering voice. The boys watched with great wonder and awe as Hagrid's beard twitched in an effort to keep from smiling at the compliment.
"We only wondered who had done the guarding, really." Hermione went on. "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you, of course."
Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words; Harry, Ron and Ed beamed at their ingenious friend.
"Well…I couldn't hurt ter tell yeh just that an' that alone, I s'ppose…let's see…he borrowed Fluffy from me, an' then some o' the teachers did enchantments…Professor Sprout—Professor Flitwick—Professor McGonagall—"he ticked them off his fingers, "Professor Quirrell—an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course…"
Ed frantically repeated the names in his head in an effort to memorize them for later. He stared unblinkingly at Hagrid as he wracked his brain for the last name.
"…I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."
"Snape?"
Hagrid raised an eyebrow at the four outraged Gryffindors.
"Yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."
"On the other hand, it would make it just that much easier for him to find out how the other teacher guarded it by being in on the whole thing himself," Ed pointed out, shaking his head. Great; now this bastard's got an even bigger advantage over me…
"He's right," Harry said anxiously. "You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you, Hagrid? And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"
"Nope, not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore," said Hagrid proudly.
"Well, that's something," Harry muttered to the others, then followed Ron and Ed's suit by taking his heavy Hogwarts cloak off. "Hagrid, can we have a window open? I'm boiling."
"No can do, Harry, sorry," said Hagrid. Ed noticed him glance at the fire again and asked in suspicion:
"What have you got there, Hagrid?"
Harry, Ron and Hermione all looked over at the thing being heated over the flames too as Hagrid fiddled nervously with his beard. "Ah, that's—well, er—"
"Where did you get it, Hagrid?" said Ron, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at what turned out to in fact be a huge, onyx-colored egg. "It must've cost you a fortune!"
"Won it," said Hagrid proudly.
"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" said Hermione. Ed narrowed his eyes skeptically and inched closer to the fire to get a closer look for himself at what was supposed to be a dragon's egg. As he quietly examined the black surface of the foreign object he idly listened to Hagrid explaining himself and talking about all he's been reading up on the animal. After a good thirty seconds Ed finally decided that the egg was in fact real and he stood up from his crouch and shook his head, wondering if the idiosyncratic wonders would ever cease.
"An' see here—how ter recognize diff'rent eggs—what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them."
"You do realize you live in a wooden house, right Hagrid?" Ed pointed out, turning to face the giant. A though occurred to him and he chuckled slightly as he inquired, "Or do dragons not actually breath fire?"
"Of course they breathe fire!" Ron said, laughing at Ed. "What kind of question is that?"
Ed shrugged: "Thought I'd better ask."
The four of the turned to see what Hagrid thought of this very concerning fact, but he wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire below the egg with care.
~~*e.s.*~~
Ed was having trouble finding enough alone time to plan his quest to get the Stone. Hermione had gone into overdrive when it came to forcing him, Harry and Ron to study for exams and had even made them study schedules to follow. It was getting both ridiculous and problematic, for that meant that most of the free time Ed had to spend in the library was usually joined by his three friends. He was never alone up there anymore, and it wasn't like he could just tell them that he wanted to be alone, because he knew very well that their suspicions from first semester still lingered strong beneath everything, despite how much their friendship began to grow. And so Ed had returned to his habit of not sleeping; though he'd end up paying for such a decision the following day, he knew it'd be worth it if he managed to concoct a good plan to achieve his main goal, his only reason for attending Hogwarts in the first place.
After checking to see if everyone else in the room was fast asleep, Ed piled up all of his school books, a quill and ink, and a parchment notebook atop his bed, all viable, useful tools to utilize whilst planning to successfully get through multiple guarding enchantments.
"…Lumos."
He knew he had one big advantage over Professor Snape (if he really was going after the Stone himself; though his friends were already fully set upon Snape being the one after the Stone, Ed himself had a few doubts about their theory…); his knowledge of alchemy, plus the fact that he could perform transmutations without a circle would come in handy, too. However, if there are some kinds of spells and/or curses in the third floor corridor that really do require a considerable amount of magical knowledge to get through, it's going to be very difficult for Ed to figure his way through them, especially since he really was only a first-year. That's where Snape had the major advantage, for he was a skilled wizard and was raised in the world of magic all his life. Edward Elric was still getting used to the whole idea of wizardry.
After a moment of racking his brains for all of the teachers Hagrid had named off to him, he scribbled out a list of all their names and their specialties:
McGonagall- transfiguration
Sprout- herbology
Flitwick- charms
Snape- potions
Quirrell- dark arts
Dumbledore- …all of the above?
He read through his list, added Hagrid's ravenous dog to the list, then sat back and thought. He couldn't even begin to imagine what these teachers could've planted in that corridor! With magic there were no boundaries, close to nothing holding witches and wizards back, much unlike alchemy with all of its laws and restrictions. Professors like Sprout and Snape would be the easiest to figure out, and even then their specialties could range anywhere between all Ed had learned about them this year and all he still had no clue about. And then there were teachers like McGonagall and Quirrell, whose subjects are broader than the Law of Equivalent Exchange. Plus above everyone else was Dumbledore's thing; Ed knew undoubtedly that the headmaster's trick would be the most difficult to crack…
Crack; shatter; break. Glass. Mirrors.
Ed blinked; the Mirror of Erised! That's it, that must be Dumbledore's; after all, he did say over the break that it would be moved to a different location; there must be something else hidden in that glass other than reflections of desire. Ed quickly wrote down these thoughts before they slipped his drowsy mind, before he was forced to whisper, "Nox," and stow all of his planning tools beneath his four-poster bed, where he then transmuted a small chest with a padlock from the floorboards to keep his secrets safely hidden. He sat back up and looked about the room, making certain that the light from the transmutation did not awaken any of his roommates before crawling under the covers and allowing himself to be taken into the arms of sleep at last.
~~*e.s.*~~
It's hatching.
Ed and Harry looked up at Nova with an excited expression on their faces after reading the two measly words Hagrid had written. The owl blinked, glanced down at the note for herself, and then ruffled her feathers in a way that could have resembled a shrug. Ed rolled his eyes at his owl's attitude and passed the note across the table to Ron and Hermione. Ron gasped:
"Forget Herbology, let's go right now!"
Hermione looked absolutely appalled at such a suggestion. Ron glowered at her as she crossed her arms firmly and stated: "We can't do that, especially with exams coming up so soon."
"Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?"
"We've got lessons, we'll get into trouble, and that's nothing to what Hagrid's going to be in when someone finds out what he's doing—"
"Shut up!" Harry and Ed whispered, frantically glancing over Ron and Hermione's shoulders. Malfoy was only a few feet away from their table and he had stopped dead in his tracks to eavesdrop. Ed's eyes narrowed; he did not like the look on Malfoy's face at all.
When the bell sounded from the castle at the end of their lesson, the quartet hurried through the grounds to the edge of the forest and was immediately greeted by a flushed and excited Hagrid.
"Hurry in, it's nearly out," he said as he ushered them inside. The egg was lying on the table, and Ed could distinctly see deep cracks trailing all around the circumference of the black shell. Something was moving inside, and a funny clicking noise could be heard emitting from within the encasement. They all drew their chairs up to the table and watched with bated breath. Not a moment too soon there came a scraping sound and the egg suddenly split open, and a baby dragon flopped onto the table.
It sneezed, a couple of sparks flying out of its snout; Ed quickly reared back from the creature, deciding that observing from a safer distance would be most wise. Hagrid's eyes began to water at the sight of the not-so-pretty beast.
"Isn't he beautiful?" the gamekeeper murmured as he reached out a hand to stroke the dragon's head. It snapped at his fingers in response, showing its pointed fangs.
"Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!" cooed the half-giant.
"I don't think that's what it was trying to say…" Ed muttered out of earshot of Hagrid but within Ron's hearing range, causing the redhead to grin at his wise-ass of a friend.
"Hagrid," said Hermione, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"
Hagrid opened his bearded mouth to enthusiastically answer but stopped short. His face suddenly drained with color as he leapt to his feet and ran to the window.
"What's the matter?" inquired a concerned Harry.
"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains—it's a kid—he's runnin' back up ter the school."
Harry and Ed looked at each other in horror and bolted to the door. Even at a distance there was no mistaking him; Draco Malfoy had seen the dragon.
~~*e.s.*~~
"Ed, may I see your Transfiguration notes from yesterday? I think I missed something somehow…"
"Sure," Ed replied, tossing his notebook at Hermione as he flipped to the next page in his Defense Against the Dark Arts book. Though his studious friend was under the impression that he was so quiet because he was studying extremely hard, little did she know that he was only reading the books over again in order to stuff his mind as full as it can be before he saw his plan out.
Just then Harry and Ron came into the common room, both of them looking as if they had something especially important to let Hermione and Ed in on.
"Ok, so Hagri—" Ron began, but was silenced by Ed. About forty-five seconds of silence passed, and then Ed dog-eared the page of his book and tossed it onto the floor in front of him.
"Ok, continue."
"What happened?" Hermione asked. Harry lowered his voice slightly so as to avoid any more eavesdropping.
"We figured out a way to get rid of Norbert. Hagrid agreed to let Ron's brother come and get it and take it to Romania, where Charlie can put it back in the wild where it belongs."
"That sounds like a good plan," Ed agreed. "When can Charlie come to get the dragon?"
"We don't know yet," Ron said. "Harry sent a letter to him with Hedwig. Until we get word from him we'll just have to wait."
But they couldn't wait much longer. The dragon was growing bigger and bigger every day, and was also becoming increasingly difficult for Hagrid to handle. At first all four of them would go down as much as they could to help their friend out, but Harry had Quidditch practice to punctually attend and Hermione insisted that if she let up on her studying she'd surely fail. So it became up to Ron and Ed to be as helpful as possible. Harry lent them the invisibility cloak so that they wouldn't be seen visiting the gamekeeper so late at night.
"Ok, how many of these rats will it eat?" Ron asked, setting the crate down next to the dragon's perch. Hagrid looked at the crate:
"All o' them."
"All? Seriously?" Ed said, gaping at the pestering dragon.
"Well duh, he's a growin' boy!"
"Yeah, and he's growing too fast," Ed stated. "Your brother needs to hurry up and reply, Ron—"
"OUCH!"
Ed and Hagrid jerked their heads around in alarm. Ron had leapt away from Norbert, his right hand wrapped tightly around his bloody left.
"What—?"
"It bit me! The bloody creature took a bite out of my hand!"
"Will yeh calm down an' lemme see it!" said Hagrid, taking a concerned look at Ron's palm. Ed glared at the dragon.
"You just couldn't wait for the stupid rats, could you?"
The dragon blinked, smoke coming out of his nostrils as he huffed in Edward's face. The alchemist narrowed his eyes, cautiously taking a rodent into his right hand and offering it to the Norwegian Ridgeback. It eyed it hungrily for a split second, and then lunged for the tasty morsel, its fangs momentarily colliding with Ed's automail hand in the process. Both Ed and Norbert staggered back, Ed feigning shock as he quickly covered his ripped glove, the dragon expressing legitimate shock, part of the rat dangling from its fangs.
"What, did 'e bite you, too?" Hagrid asked. Ed shook his head:
"Nah, he barely missed."
Ed stashed his now de-gloved automail hand into his pocket, once again thinking for the umpteenth time that that was too close.
When the two of them arrived back in the common room that night they found with relief Charlie's reply to their previous letter sitting in Harry's hand.
~~*e.s.*~~
The next day Ron ended up in the hospital wing.
"It's not just my hand," he whispered, "although that feels like it's about to fall off. Malfoy told Madam Pomfrey he wanted to borrow one of my books just so he could come and have a good laugh at me. He kept threatening to tell her what really bit me—I've told her it was a dog, but I don't think she believes me—I shouldn't have hit him at the Quidditch match, that's why he's doing this."
"That's not true," said Ed. "He's an asshole, he would've done this anyway."
"It'll all be over Saturday at midnight," said Hermione, but this didn't do anything to soothe Ron's nerves at all. On the contrary, he sat bolt upright and broke into a sweat.
"Midnight on Saturday!" he said in a hoarse voice. "Oh no—oh no—I've just remembered—Charlie's letter was in that book Malfoy took, he's going to know we're getting rid of Norbert!"
Their eyes widened, and Ed cursed under his breath. They didn't get a chance to answer Ron, however, for at that moment Madam Pomfrey came over and made them leave, saying Ron needed to sleep.
Saturday night came up fast, and Ron wasn't out of the hospital wing yet. It was up to Harry, Hermione and Ed to deliver Norbert to Charlie.
"And it's too late to change the plan now," Harry told Hermione. "We haven't got time to send Charlie another owl, and this could be our only chance to get rid of Norbert."
"We'll just have to take the risk," Ed agreed, looking to Hermione who sighed reluctantly.
Hagrid had Norbert packed and ready in a large crate.
"He's got lots o' rats an' some brandy fer the journey," said Hagrid in a muffled voice. "An' I've packed his teddy bear in case he gets lonely."
"Hagrid, it's a dragon," said Ed. "I doubt it'll get lonely. Hungry, maybe, but that's it."
"Don' talk like that aroun' him!" Hagrid said defensively. "He has feelin's, too, y'know…"
Ed facepalmed as ripping noises that sounded as though the teddy was having his head torn off came from inside the crate.
How the three of them managed to get the crate back up to the castle, they never knew. Harry and Hermione had to hand it to Ed, who turned out to be much stronger than he looked, much to their surprise. Midnight ticked nearer as they heaved Norbert up the marble staircase in the entrance hall and along the dark corridors. Up another staircase, then another—even one of Harry's shortcuts didn't make the work much easier.
"Nearly there!" Harry panted as the finally reached the corridor beneath the tallest tower.
"Wait, stop!" Ed hissed abruptly. Sudden movements ahead of them made them almost drop the crate. Forgetting that they were already invisible, they shrank into the shadows, staring at the dark outlines of two people grappling with each other ten feet away. A lamp flared. Professor McGonagall had Malfoy by the ear:
"Detention!" she shouted. "And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you—"
"You don't understand, Professor," the skinny blonde stammered in a desperately high-pitched voice. "Potter's coming, and Elric's probably with him, too—he's got a dragon!"
"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on—I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!"
After overseeing a scene like that the steep spiraling staircase that led up to the top of the tower seemed the easiest thing in the world. They didn't dare throw off the cloak until they'd stepped out into the cold night air, all three of them feeling grateful to be able to breathe properly again. Hermione and Edward did a sort of jig.
"He's busted! Malfoy's got a detention!" said Ed excitedly.
"I know, I could sing!" was Hermione's equally ecstatic reply.
"Don't, either one of you," Harry advised them, though he felt just as happy about the situation as they did. About ten minutes later, four broomsticks came swooping down out of the darkness. Charlie and his friends who had come to help were a cheery group; they showed Harry and Ed the harness they'd rigged up, so they could suspend Norbert between them. They all helped buckle Norbert safely into it and then the three of the shook hands with the dragon specialists and thanked them all very much.
At last, Norbert was out of their hair for good.
"I'd say tonight was a success," Ed said as they descended once more down the spiral staircase. "No more dragon, Malfoy in detention—"
He swallowed his last words, however, as all three Gryffindors caught sight of a figure waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs. As they stepped into the corridor, Filch's face loomed suddenly out of the darkness, a big, rotten-toothed grin spread thin across his decrepit face.
"Well, well, well," he whispered, "we are in trouble."
Ed facepalmed once again; they'd left the invisibility cloak at the top of the tower.
Filch took them down to Professor McGonagall's study on the first floor, where they sat and waited without daring to say a word to each other. They were cornered, they very well knew that. How could they have been so stupid to forget the cloak? Just when Harry thought things couldn't get any worse, he found he was wrong; when Professor McGonagall appeared before them at last, she was leading Neville into the room with them.
"Harry! Ed!" Neville burst out the moment he saw the three of them. "I was trying to find you to warn you, I heard Malfoy saying he was going to catch you, he said you had a drag—!"
Ed leapt out of his seat as Harry violently shook his head to shut Neville up, but Professor McGonagall was not having any of it. She looked more likely to breathe fire than Norbert as she towered over the four of them.
"Sit down, Mr. Elric! I would have never believed it of any of you. Mr. Filch says you were up in the astronomy tower. It's one o' clock in the morning. Explain yourselves."
"We were studying astronomy, of course," Ed muttered sarcastically under his breath; much to his disdain, however, his head of house heard his smart-ass remark, and she was far from amused.
"I think I've got a good idea of what's been going on," she said. "It doesn't take a genius to work it out. You fed Draco Malfoy some cock-and-bull story about a dragon, trying to get him out of bed and into trouble. I've already caught him. I suppose you think it's funny that Longbottom here heard the story and believed it, too?"
Ed, Hermione and Harry looked over with sadness at the poor, blundering Neville.
"I'm disgusted," said Professor McGonagall. "Five students out of bed in one night! Five! I have never heard of such a thing before! You, Miss Granger, I thought you had more sense. And you, Mr. Potter, I thought Gryffindor meant more to you than that. As for you, Elric; you need to get your act together immediately."
Even Ed had to wince slightly at McGonagall's harsh, accusatory words. She exhaled frustratingly:
"All of you will receive detentions—yes, you too, Mr. Longbottom, nothing gives you the right to walk around school at night."
"Come on, Professor, it wasn't his fault—!" Ed began to attempt to defend the distressed Neville Longbottom, but he was interrupted sharply by his furious headmistress:
"Silence, Elric!"
Ed's golden eyes formed into a gleaming glower behind his blonde bangs, but he nonetheless did as McGonagall said and sat back in his seat.
"…And fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor."
"Fifty?" Harry gasped in outrage.
"Fifty points each," clarified Professor McGonagall, breathing heavily through her long, pointed nose.
"Professor—please—"
"That's the most unfair—!"
"You can't—"
"Don't you tell me what I can and can't do, Potter—and if you do not shut your mouth and sit yourself down in your seat this instant, Edward Elric, I will not hesitate to give you three more detentions on top of the one you've already earned!"
Ed obeyed, the piercing glare of his head of house finally beginning to legitimately scare him senseless.
"…Now get back to bed, all of you," McGonagall spoke, the infuriated look on upon her face rigid and unblinking. "I've never been more ashamed of Gryffindor students."
~~*e.s.*~~
Needless to say nearly the whole of Gryffindor house hated Neville, Harry, Hermione and Edward for the two-hundred points they cost the whole house. Nobody would even speak to them except for the Slytherins, who were constantly clapping Harry on his back and thanking him. Only Ron stood by them, but he did admit that not even his clown-like twin older brothers had ever managed to lose Gryffindor two-hundred points off of one escapade.
Ed was virtually unfazed by the circumstances, grim as they were; despite the fact that he did not care about the House Cup as much as his friends did, he took this opportunity to focus on his plan of getting the Sorcerer's Stone before the end of the year. Though Harry and Ron automatically assumed that he was simply following Hermione's lead in studying up for the upcoming final exams, little did they know what he was actually frantically reading up for…
About a week before exams were due to start, Ed and Harry found themselves confronted by a very unexpected event. Though he did not wish to get involved in anything else that could get them in trouble, even Harry couldn't help but eavesdrop with Ed this afternoon when they overheard somebody whimpering from a classroom up ahead from where they stood. As they drew closer to the door, they recognized Quirrell's voice.
"No—no—not again, please—"
It sounded as though someone was threatening him. Harry and Ed looked at each other, and then moved closer.
"All right—all right—"they heard Quirrell sob.
Next second, Quirrell came hurrying out of the classroom straightening his turban. He was pale and looked as though he was about to cry as he strode out of sight without even noticing Harry and Ed's presence. The boys waited into the professor's retreating footsteps had disappeared, then peered into the classroom.
"…It's empty," Ed whispered dumbfounded. Harry looked closely around the room, then shook his head and pointed.
"There's an open door at the other end; someone could've left out of there."
"But we didn't hear any other voices," Ed pointed out. Harry shrugged:
"Snape could've been whispering really softly."
Ed turned and raised an eyebrow at Harry.
"You're going to automatically say it was Snape without anything to go by?"
Harry blinked:
"Well yeah, I mean, who else could it be? You saw what he did to Quirrell in the forest."
Ed frowned slightly but nonetheless remained silent as Harry closed the classroom door quietly.
"C'mon, we've got to go back up to the library to tell Ron and Hermione about what we heard."
"…You go on up, I'll meet you there in a minute."
Harry looked at Ed:
"What are you going to do?"
"I just want to check something out real quick for myself; I'll be right up afterwards."
"We shouldn't be messing arou—"
"Look, you're the one who said they weren't going to poke around, not me," Ed pointed out with finality. Harry frowned and shook his head in disapproval but went ahead and left the alchemist to his meddling anyway. Ed immediately turned back to the classroom and gingerly opened the door, stepping inside with a cautionary air of investigation. He stopped and stared at the ajar door Harry had pointed out to him for a moment or so before approaching it. He took a deep breath, then swung the door open wider in order to see where it led.
It led to an empty supply closet.
Ed blinked in surprise, stepping inside to get a closer look. After feeling across the walls and floor he found no secret passageways, no trap doors or any other ways out. It was just an ordinary closet.
He stepped back out, a look of shock on his face. His hypothesis was correct, Harry really was wrong for Quirrell couldn't have been talking to Snape if Snape was never even in the room. The Potions master was not who Quirrell was talking to…but then who did that leave? Could he have been talking to himself, threatening himself? For some reason Edward highly doubted it; he sighed in frustration as he exited the classroom and made his made back up to the library in order to share what he had discovered to Ron, Hermione and Harry.
"…But why would Professor Quirrell threaten himself?" Hermione thought out loud after Ed recanted just what he had seen. Ron tapped on his chin:
"Maybe he's just mad."
"Then how would he be able to teach?" said Hermione. Ron rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"That would be the most important thing in your mind!"
"There just had to have been someone else in the room," Hermione insisted, looking at Harry, who nodded in agreement.
"Snape must've been hiding or something when you went in the classroom after him, Ed," Harry reasoned. "Or maybe he's like Professor Dumbledore in that he doesn't need a cloak to be invisible."
"That's an uncomforting thought," remarked Ron, shuddering at the idea of an invisible Snape.
"Or maybe there was another door in the room that you hadn't noticed," Harry finished. Ed shook his head firmly:
"There was no other way out but the door I entered through; there seriously couldn't have been anyone else in the room with Quirrell."
"Well, obviously there was."
Ed huffed; it was no use, Harry had already convinced Ron and Hermione on his own set idea. Their minds were not open to change, no matter how far-fetched Harry's assumptions were. In the end he decided to just try and let it go, with one final though that whatever was going on with Quirrell, whether it was all in the stuttering professor's head or with someone else, it had better not get in the way of Edward stealing the Sorcerer's Stone.
~~*e.s.*~~
A/Endnote: How was it? ^_^
Ok, so I must say this story has been immensely delightful to write, but sadly it shall be ending soon. After this chapter there is only 2-3 chapters left, and then that's the end of "Entwined Sorcery…"
…or IS IT?
Yeah, I've been pondering the idea of a sequel for a while now, and I honestly would love to do one, just so that Alphonse can have some more story time and get his own chance to attend Hogwarts. :D BUT, I ain't gonna write something nobody's gonna read, so I need your input; if I were to write a sequel to "Entwined Sorcery," wouldst thou read it? I'd seriously like to know, so that I can make a final decision and start planning it!
And, as usual to all of you wonderful people, thanks so much for reading in the first place ^.^