Jamie took a drink of his water. It was the final act of their play, and the group had already used the intermission to visit Nicholas. They even told off a group of dullahan who tried to ruin Nicholas' party.
"I must admit, this is a particularly good recreation of The Abducted Alchemist," said Nick. He had come disguised as a second year Puff, and with Jamie backing him up, no one questioned it.
"Neville was the perfect Alphonse, and I suit the role of Mustang so well it's scary," grinned Jamie. They had done each chapter of the book in separate pieces so they could allow the actors to rest. Everyone absolutely loved the show, even the pure bloods.
In Jamie's words, it helped that most of the technology was at a level they were already familiar with, except for the phone system.
Plus the main power was something they at least understood at a basic level. Alchemy wasn't a foreign concept to them.
That was probably the only reason Dumbledore had allowed Jamie to use his special gloves.
"Everyone, the last act is about to begin. Please enjoy the show," said Sarah. She was using a Sonorous charm.
Jamie straightened his hair, slipped on his gloves and downed another potion to perk him up again. Thankfully this was the last act.
Hermione had helped with the illusion spells the others used. In exchange Jamie wouldn't drag her to one of his meetings.
She still blamed him for corrupting poor Neville who finally got to book two and three of Silver Diamond. Jamie never told Neville that one of the main characters, Chigusa, was a bit of a pervert with a thing for the Sanome, Rakan. Fortunately there was never any real hint of yaoi in the story, just a bit of an ongoing joke.
The 'building' that housed the 'terrorists' (branch members of the drama club who wanted in on their play) stood like a silent sentinel in the great hall. Everyone enjoyed the show, with several students sharing tables with different houses to make room. The guns weren't real, they were paint ball guns Jamie had loaned the club for the show. They were filled with red paint and anyone 'hit' by a paint ball had to act as if injured.
And to play the act of Gael, the biggest terrorist in the book, they had enlisted the aid of Hagrid.
Considering he rarely got to interact with the students, he was glad to help.
'Ed' ran around the building shouting for the young girl they had meet at the inn. Once he found her and had her hide while he went to play with the terrorists.
The terrorists acted as if their plan was still in act, as a train that looked like the Hogwarts Express barreled in from the distance. It was entirely an illusion, as there wasn't enough room. Jamie had enlisted the aid of the twins for this part, they were the conductors.
Ed raced around the building, sealing everyone in with alchemy. Once Gael left the building to place the logs after a minor scuffle with Ed, the 'scene' shifted to Roy and his crew coming to the rescue.
Jamie ordered like a commander. It was very easy for someone who'd been ordering around other people on a ship every summer. All around them was chaos as the terrorist bombed the other rails, spreading confusion. Using firecrackers worked like a charm.
Susan Bones was acting as Hawk-Eye. She was part of the drama club and Jamie had felt she fit the Lieutenant's personality.
She gunned the 'car' towards the building while Havoc tried to keep up. Only he overshot their 'car' due to superior acceleration.
Neville (in the suit of armor) pushed over the hollow logs as the 'terrorists' returned to their position. Jamie arrived just in time to blow the last 'log' to pieces. Since it was paper maché, no one was harmed.
They walked up to the building, shooting paint balls at the 'terrorists'. Hagrid was waiting for his turn to fight Jamie and Daniel, who was the one playing Ed.
The building looked like some piece of bad modern art from the bottom. Roy paid his compliments to 'Ed' as they climbed to the upper floors. Jamie particularly liked the way Daniel recreated Ed's anger towards short comments. He could hear the audience laughing at Ed's temper tantrum. Even the Slytherins had a good laugh.
Jamie and Daniel faced Hagrid, armed with paintball guns up the wazoo, and dodged the colorful paint. Finally they got him to 'drop' through a hole. Once they faced Snape, who agreed to play the main villain (a homage to the fact he was the most hated teacher there) they had a show down.
Jamie 'killed' Snape using a minor fire spell and they went downstairs.
Neville captured 'Gael' and the audience laughed again when they saw how 'Ed' saved 'Roy' from blowing himself up by mistake.
Finally the lights came back on and everyone cheered.
"We hope you enjoyed this reenactment of the book The Abducted Alchemist, which is based on the series Full Metal Alchemist. For those interested in the series, please come to the Otaku Club for order forms. Thank you, and have a good night!" said Sarah.
Jamie and the others took a bow. As everyone headed towards their dorms they basked in the glory of having recreating one of their favorite books.
It all went downhill the second they found the petrified body of Mrs. Norris and the message on the wall.
"Poor Filch. Did you see the look on his face when he saw his cat?" said Jamie.
"Who cares?!" said Cedric.
"I do! He might hate the students, but he still loves his cat! How would you like your pet being hurt like that and no one caring?" said Jamie.
"But everyone hates her!" countered the others.
"That doesn't mean we can be a little nicer to him. He's going through a really tough time, and Mrs. Norris is the only one he has who cares about him. And maybe if we are a little nicer to him during this time, he might go easier on the Puffs later!"
Sprout, who over heard that comment, agreed wholeheartedly.
"A little kindness goes a long way," she said wisely.
"What can we do to help though?" said Cedric. He didn't like it, but he would go along with it for now.
"Well how about the little things, like helping him out? A few cleaning charms and avoid making more work for him. I'll get his schedule later so none of us are out in the halls after hours."
"I'll give you the schedule," said Sprout.
"What's that shirt you have Jamie?" asked Neville one morning.
"Read the slogan on the front. Trust me, you'll laugh."
"Don't let your rank interfere with my authority?" he read.
"I saw this in a shop that caters to military spouses," Jamie explained. Neville got the joke and started laughing.
"So how did the play do? I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow."
"Great, and we've been getting a ton of new converts. So much so that we had to make a branch club for the light Otaku so they wouldn't feel so out of place with us Hard core otaku."
"What about the book we based it on?"
"Sold out at the bookstore we use for owl orders," smirked Jamie Ravenclaws had been the first to hit their club for order forms, next to the Slytherins.
Apparently they liked being able to identify with the characters.
"Wonder how they would react to Sailor Moon or Ranma ½?" said Neville.
"I'd be more interested in the look on Snape's face if we did Slayers next year."
"By the way...do you have book four of Silver Diamond?"
"Like the storyline, eh?" said Jamie knowingly. Neville was a huge fan of plants, and people who used them in attacks.
Neville nodded, but he was blushing. Chigusa was rather...amusing, if a bit embarrassing with his perverted innuendo.
"Tell you what, I'll lend you some of my Katana, Flame of Recca, and Pokémon Adventures," said Jamie.
"Don't forget the lesser known ones like Shitsurakuen!" piped Peter.
"I liked the premise, didn't like the way they treated the girls," said Jamie flatly. No way was he exposing Neville to that series.
"What about Escaflowne or the Gundam series?"
"I'd rather expose him to ones like Tenchi Muyo or Digimon. He's still an innocent, remember?" said Jamie.
"I'm right here you know."
"That reminds me! They recently developed a tape player that will work in high magic areas!"
"Tell me more!" said Jamie.
"I have three words. Total Anime Night."
"Finally! I can catch up on FMA and the others!"
"And we can corrupt even more to the god of anime and manga," said Peter with a smirk.
Jamie grinned. He paused and said hello to Filch, who was still guarding the spot.
"A dueling club? Sounds interesting, but I don't want it to interfere with my real club," said Jamie.
"It's during the weekend," said Neville.
"Yeah, but who's running it? If it's Flitwick I'll go, but if it someone else count me out," said Jamie.
He asked around, and the second he heard who had started it, he warned everyone who was serious about learning Defense to avoid it.
Even with Snape there, having Lockhart run a defense club was bound to be a joke.
Some of the boys went to see the show, as Lockhart was bound to make a fool of himself.
Jamie among them.
Jamie deftly caught the wand that flew in the air, before he gave Snape a thumbs up. Most of the boys were actually cheering for the potions professor, rather than Lockhart.
The sad fact was that at least Snape taught them something, even if he was a condescending ass. Lockhart couldn't do that much.
"Draco! Jamie! Why don't you come up here for a demonstration?" suggested Lockhart.
"Why don't you learn to teach?" countered Jamie.
Lockhart attempted to drag Jamie up, but the boy neatly broke his wrist.
"I don't like being forced someplace by people I don't know or respect," he said coldly.
Snape gave him an approving look as he quickly singled out two other students. A Ravenclaw and another Slytherin.
Jamie handed over Lockhart's wand to Snape.
"I thought your grandfather instilled a sense of right and wrong. Shouldn't you return this to it's owner?" asked Snape, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, but our drill instructors always said to do our best to keep weapons out of the hands of idiots who are more likely to hurt themselves with them," said Jamie with a straight face.
Snape couldn't help his reaction to that statement, he started laughing. Several students wondered what Jamie did to get him to laugh, or if he just hit the man with a giggling hex.
"I have to share that one in the staff lounge," said Snape, when he came back under control.
"How did you do it? How did you get Snape to laugh like that?!" asked Cedric.
Everyone had heard Jamie got Snape to laugh without a spell.
"I told him that I gave him Lockhart's wand because I was trained to keep weapons out of the hands of idiots," replied Jamie with a straight face.
That got a good laugh out of the boys, and some angry huffs from the girls. Sprout, however, was laughing with them. Snape had retold the joke Jamie had said to him earlier that week. Needless to say the other teachers got a good laugh out of it...except Lockhart who looked offended.
Jamie started humming the tune called 'Brothers', which was based on the FMA series and eventually adapted to the soundtracks. He finished the last of his homework and went on a run with Scruffy. The training with Marley had been difficult, but the end result was that he no longer jumped on people, made a mess indoors, and could now dig a deep hole on command.
That trick had pleased Sprout greatly, as it meant less time spent on replanting certain flora.
Or, as Jamie had joked the Neville later, less time digging a grave for those who annoyed the boy. Neville had punched him in the shoulder for that comment.
He was halfway to the outside when he heard the voice again. Another student had ended up in the Hospital Wing a week earlier. No one knew what he was doing out of the common room at that hour, though some suspected he was going to the kitchens on the other side of the castle.
The teachers let him outside mostly because he had Scruffy, who was a trained attack dog. Anything stupid enough to try and hurt Jamie would have to go through the dog first, and his bark was more than loud enough to alert the teachers to trouble. Marley was the same way.
"Hey Hagrid!" said Jamie, waving to the Half-giant. His popularity with the younger students had shot up since the play. Since it was nearly December, this would be his last run outdoors. Next week he would be running in the outer corridors, which had some heat spells on them. They just weren't very strong.
He was about to head towards the library after the run when he ran into trouble.
"What the...?!" said Jamie.
On the ground was Justin and Nicholas wasn't even acting himself.
"Scruffy, Alert!" said Jamie firmly. The German Sheppard began barking loud and long. He did it on a set series of signals that the older trainers had showed Jamie how to do.
Needless to say the teachers came running.
"I found them like this!" said Jamie quickly.
"We believe you," said Sprout. Jamie wasn't the sort to hurt others. In fact he was among those who helped the bullying problem in Hufflepuff.
"Back to the common rooms!" shouted Snape.
Jamie was lead back, having alerted the staff to the latest attack.
"That does it, I am so heading back to base for Christmas!" said Jamie.
"Gran said we'd be going as well. Our usual tradition was to visit my parents in St. Mungo's..." said Neville sheepishly.
"Bet you prefer the base to that hospital room, eh Neville?"
"You bet! At least now they know my name and aren't zombified," joked Neville.
Alice and Frank had made tremendous strides in their recovery. So much so that Charlie had cleared them to go with Augusta back to the Longbottom Manor. Needless to say the family was very happy about this.
They still worked at the base, helping others. It was either that or try a magical job which could cause a relapse.
Though that danger was relatively low, considering Charlie had ordered that memory removed permanently.
"By the way, I heard Nicky planned to extend the offer for you to learn how to manipulate plants with alchemy," said Jamie.
"Nicky?"
"That second year who showed up for the play and hasn't been seen since," Jamie clarified.
"The one you vouched for? Who was that anyway?"
"A diehard fan of Full Metal Alchemist, and the one who made my gloves," said Jamie.
"You mean...?"
"Not while we're in Hogwarts! The last thing I need is for the headmaster to know I'm in contact with the Flemmings!"
"Your secret is safe with me," said Neville.