Authors Note: Is uploading like this detrimental to possible views? Maybe. Do I feel like waiting, no

Alphonse had been in contact with the truth twice since school began. The first time had been the night of the opening feast. He'd been reading about magical plants when a first year sat down next to him. She was wiry and thin, pale eyes and blonde hair, with an eccentric feel about her.

She grinned and barely introduced herself before her eyes turned red. Alphonse froze in his seat.

"Hello Alphonse," The voice was still Luna's but he could recognize the tone anywhere.

"What do you want?" He whispered.

"I don't have much power over this world anymore, hardly anyone uses alchemy. There wasn't time to be spared when it came to sending you both here, I can only talk through the eccentric, anyone else fights me off too quickly," The being explained. "The people here managed to break through the barriers of alchemy, and the possibilities now run through their blood with little need of equivalent exchange."

The girls eyes briefly flashed back to her own before turning red again. "I've used to much of her time, I'll be sending someone with more information," and Luna returned completely.

"Oh I've read that book, dad has it at home," the girl said chipperly. Alphonse wondered who the truth would send. It wouldn't be fair to anyone other than those who'd done human transmutation, Al couldn't think of which one he'd rather see. Dumbledore greeted the crowd, cutting him off from his train of thought.

"Before we begin the banquet, I'd like to say a few words. Lemon! Petrichor! Odyssey!-" he turned towards Alphonse with glaring red eyes, "Hoenheim! Thank you!"

Alphonse stayed as neutral as he could the whole feast, waiting until they were alone to talk to his brother.

"So the old bastards coming here? When?" Ed asked, carrying Al up the stairs to their second floor room.

"Truth didn't say, there wasn't enough time," Al explained.

"At least we didn't tell anyone much about him…" Ed admitted. "Still I'd like to know what the hell's going on. Better hang around the girl then right?"

"Right."

He and Luna became fast friends. He didn't understand what she was talking about half the time until she gave him copies of the Quibbler. Neville was nice once he got past the stuttering point, and he knew a lot about magical plants like Professor Sprout had told him.

Ed took him outside and began helping him build up muscle again, with Madam Pomfrey adding high protein foods to his diet. He still ate four times a day rather than three, but soon enough he'd eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, just like everyone else.

The second time they heard from the Truth was a week after classes began, when him and Ed went to Dumbledore's office to be sorted. Luna and Neville had said nothing negative about the hat, and after researching it thoroughly, found no reported incidents about the hat revealing information.

Besides, what could be more eccentric than a talking hat.

Dumbledore was waiting in the hall beside two Gargoyles, looking gleeful when he saw them walking towards him. "Ah there you two are. I'm glad you have this morning off Edward, I have a feeling you might both hat-stall."

Dumbledore muttered "Lemon Drop," and the gargoyle's moved out of the way, revealing a long winding staircase. Alphonse didn't complain as his brother picked him up. "How is alchemy going?"

"Good, I actually had to flip-flop my plans though," Ed admitted.

"Really?"

"I think I didn't account for accidental magic… the younger students seem to transmute much easier than the older students who've been trained out of it," he pondered, "And the muggle-borns are mostly all overthinking everything. I had to give them more complicated circles than I would've liked."

Ed and Alphonse were actually somewhat baffled by their somewhat innate ability to use alchemy. The Truth seemed to think that the magic of this world originated from some form of Alchemy. The ability to do it was quite literally in their genes.

"All of the Weasley's did well," Ed added.

"Even Ron?"

"Was the first in his class to get it," Ed admitted.

Dumbledore looked rather surprised, "Ron hasn't done particularly well in most of his spell work, I suppose it makes sense that he did better in an environment without it. I take it by your earlier statements that Hermione didn't do as well?"

"She did fine, she was just overthinking things in the beginning. Once she stopped getting stressed about it she got it fast enough," Ed defended.

"Of course she did, Hermione's one of the brightest," Dumbledore agreed, opening the door at the top of the stairs. They spotted the hat sitting on a shelf, smiling at them.

"Ah yes the Professor who's a child, and the child who's not a student," the hat mumbled to itself. "Dumbledore, I can't tell you anything," the hat tutted, affirming their earlier judgement.

"I know," Dumbledore agreed.

"Well then, which one of you would like to go first?" The hat asked. Ed had agreed that he could go first earlier, despite knowing it meant he wouldn't be able to talk to the truth.

Ed set Al down on one of the large chairs in Dumbledore's office, and Dumbledore took the cue to put the hat atop of his head.

The hat was silent for several minutes before it even began to talk. "This is a lot more than I usually see, even if they are usually only eleven." The hat said grimly, clearly in his head since the other two were watching without much reaction. "Even if you'd come here when you were younger, not that it was possible but, I still think I would've had a very hard time with you. Not a Slytherin at all, only ambitious in your intelligence, you're very loyal, almost to a fault but some of your own doubts caused you to shy away from others. Your intelligence and likely your brothers stand out exceptionally, but for all the things you've faced- and things yet to come- you will always be brave at heart. It's a decision I've had to make a few times now, deliberating between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, but not many else would give up their soul to win a hard-fought battle, ought to be- GRYFFINDOR!"

"I figured as much," Dumbledore admitted, "twelve minutes is longer than I'd ever seen. But I somehow get the feeling Edward will take even longer," he said, taking the hat from atop his head and placing it on top of Ed's, who sat down on the other chair.

The hat sat on Ed's head for over twenty minutes before eventually shouting "GRYFFINDOR!" once more. Dumbledore jumped slightly as the silence was disturbed.

"I'm sure Minerva will be pleased," Dumbledore joked and Ed put the hat back on his desk, "I'd head back down to your classroom just in case anyone's waiting for help."

They both waved to Dumbledore before Ed picked him up and began carrying him down the staircase.

"What houses did the hat want to put you in?" Al asked his brother.

"Well towards the beginning he was thinking Slytherin until I explained why we refused to use the stone. Apparently most people don't betray the people of their country just to get access to a library," Ed joked. "Hufflepuff was out because I really only tend to do things for me and you, and then I ended up mostly between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, but I'm pretty sure he just deliberated to pick my brain a bit more. You?"

"He completely ruled out Slytherin, and said some of my self-doubt ruled out Hufflepuff," He admitted, and Ed frowned. "He thought about Ravenclaw but ultimately decided on Gryffindor."

They eventually made their way back to the Alchemy classroom, which was luckily empty.

"Did you hear anything? He just warned me that bad things are about to happen again," Al asked.

"He mentioned someone who's defied death… That would be Volde-whatever right?"

"Maybe… I thought that teacher died though… Lockhart may be… Lockhart," Ed snickered, "But I don't think he's an actual danger to the students," Al denied.

"Hmmm…" Ed agreed. "We'll have to keep an eye out."

Minerva had been delighted by the news that they'd both been honorarily sorted into Gryffindor, not surprised that the two had been mostly between her house and Ravenclaw. Ed had already left to get to one of his night classes with the third years.

"Not the other two houses?" Snape asked.

"The hat considered Hufflepuff for a minute with me, although Ed said it thought about Slytherin for him," Al added. Snape looked slightly bewildered.

"Really?"

"Mhm… he's done some… less than legal things to get access to books he's wanted to read," Al lied sheepishly. Minerva tutted while Snape looked amused. Dumbledore looked amused from several seats down.

"I'm pretty sure the library was half of the reason Edward agreed to the job," he joked before resuming conversation with Professor Sprout.

"What's this about Edward?" Lockhart asked loudly as he headed to the staff table.

"Both of the Elric's got sorted for fun today, both Gryffindor," Minerva answered proudly. Lockhart looked at Alphonse like he'd heard a strange joke.

"Right," Lockhart laughed.

"It's a bit strange Lockhart, with all the things you've done so bravely that you weren't a Gryffindor," Snape sneered sarcastically.

"Well, knowledge is power," Lockhart defended.

"Hermione Granger's a Gryffindor and is at the top of her class in nearly every subject," Minerva mentioned offhandedly.

Lockhart, who apparently didn't have a response, instead turned towards the roasted chicken like it was suddenly much more interesting than their conversation. They all rolled their eyes and went back to their discussion.

"How are Ed's classes going?" Minerva asked.

"Really good I think. All the Weasley's are doing well," he commented.

"Even Ronald?"

"Ron got it first in his class. Ed said something about accidental and innate magic?" At the Professors confused looks he tried to explain. "Muggles can learn alchemy too, it's not a wizard exclusive thing… But magic makes it a lot easier… because you can bypass the equivalent exchange rebounds are way less likely… For someone like Ron who's known about magic all of his life the power flows a bit more? He can do spells when he wants but trying to regulate everything with specific incantations and wand movements is probably hard for him."

"But people like Hermione who had the floodgates open all at once the rigidity of the rules helps to keep the magic in check, but it stops the flow a little bit. She's trying to do the hard way of alchemy when she doesn't need to be. The fact that we don't use wands in class probably doesn't help," Al speculated.

"That's an interesting way to look at it," Minerva pondered.

"It's just a theory, I'm sure Ed has more to add," Alphonse said, taking another large bite of food.

Time seemed to fly once the routine of Hogwarts kicked in, and Alphonse now had things to do, like helping Ed grade the influx of paperwork as the classes increased in difficulty. While Ed seemed to truly like teaching Alchemy (Al was personally glad he wasn't bored of it after the excitement of the Promised Day) he grew somewhat irritable as the weather got fouler. While he still had his winter automail from their time back in Briggs, his ports grew weary of the cold and damp weather.

One particularly rainy afternoon in October, Ed was in enough discomfort to be throwing up, and Al had to send an owl through the castle downstairs to Madam Pomfrey. Since other classes had already started for the day, there was no time to send out a notice that classes were canceled, and Madam Pomfrey levitated him, and the rest of the assignments to the alchemy classroom, luckily just down the hall. Winry strutted in and curled up on the window sill, falling asleep against the cold glass.

Alphonse wasn't exactly excited to teach on short notice, but was at least glad for the fact that it wasn't a Tuesday schedule, which kept Ed busy from second block, all the way 'til the end of the day. Friday was about in the middle in terms of activity, although every single block that day was a mixed Gryffindor class.

Ginny Weasley was the first to arrive, looking rather awkward as she realized even the teacher wasn't there.

"You're not early, brother's sick so I'm taking over his classes for the day," He explained, and the girl calmed immensely, seemingly taking to doodling in a black leather notebook. The rest of the class arrived soon enough, looking slightly less confused than Ginny.

"Professor Ed's sick so I'll be taking over his classes today… hopefully he'll be back Monday," Al announced as class started. Even though it was a shorter block, the class seemed to have delved into more of a study, with a few occasional students coming up to ask questions or practice a transmutation. Luckily no one assumed he'd be walking around like Ed normally did.

The class ended quickly enough, with the students filing out awkwardly, although probably happy that they'd had time to work on things for other classes. Al wrote his introduction on the board in chalk instead of having to reiterate it every time.

The third years were much like the first years even if the block was twice as long. Al ended up writing several passes to excuse students to the library, whether they actually ended up working on Alchemy or not, it was better than keeping them cooped up. When the bell finally rang, Madam Pomfrey came with lunch for him, and Minerva arrived halfway through the hour long break with a cup of tea.

"I heard Edward's sick?"

"Yeah… the rain messes with the ports," he explained quietly, "Just like old scars… but worse."

Minerva frowned at the news, leaving as the bell rang again, heading back downstairs to her classroom.

Fred, George, and Lee strolled in moments later, looking around the classroom, after thoroughly checking behind everything in sight, they turned to Alphonse.

"Where's the little professor?" Fred asked, snickering. Al pointed to the board behind him.

"Aw he's sick?" George grumbled.

"Little Eddi-kins is sick," Fred mumbled in agreement. They all turned around when they heard someone enter flamboyantly through the door.

Lockhart didn't seem to get the message that no one in the room particularly liked him and started talking anyway, "Oh Edward is sick? Shouldn't someone keep him company? Perhaps I could regale him with tales of-"

Alphonse, pulling a rather 'Ed' move, clapped his hands and hit the floor, transmuting the stone in the room, blocking off the doorway with stone.

"Even mini-fist of justice doesn't like Lockhart," Lee laughed. Once it had been deemed long enough for Lockhart to have left, Al transmuted the door back into place, and the twins helped him off the floor and back on top of the desk.

Luckily the fourth years weren't doing anything practical that week, and instead were practicing creating their own transmutation circles for stone. Since the fourth and fifth years didn't have as much time as the other two groups, Ed had them figure out their own circles, with the hopes that they'd specialize earlier on.

Neither Ed nor Al had ever learned full blown flame alchemy to the twins disappointment, but Ed managed to figure out a safer substitute, using chemical reactions to start the fires rather than trying to tame the oxygen in the air. The result was much like fireworks, (and was actually a much tamer version of Kimblee's alchemy) and deemed by the twins as perfect for pranking. Ed had given them all the information they needed, and the group had spent the last week trying to perfect it. Today they sat at Ed's teaching desk so Al could regularly keep an eye on them. Roger Davies, a Ravenclaw student, occasionally came up to check various water circles. The twins joked that he was just trying to find a way around the 'no wand' rule in Quidditch, and he quickly asked for a pass for the library and wasn't seen for the rest of class.

The boys were very close by the end of class, and Al gave them some hints that would hopefully get them the rest of the way.

The fifth years arrived several minutes later, Gryffindor and Slytherin, although luckily it was a short block, and the last one of the day.

"What, Professor Eddie didn't feel like teaching today?" One of the Slytherin's joked.

"5 points from Slytherin," Al mumbled, feeling the energy from today starting to leave.

"You can't take points away, you're not even a teacher-" The Slytherin, who had tried to walk up to his desk, quickly had Winry attached to the shoulder of his robes, meowing incessantly next to his ear until the boy sat down. The cat then ran up to Alphonse, perching protectively on the desk.

"Everyone's been mostly using this class as a study block for other classes, you can still work on your transmutation circles if you want, or I can write you a pass to the library," Al explained. All of the Gryffindor's but one chose to take the library pass, while the other, who seemed to get along alright with one of the Slytherin, stayed behind as they both worked on learning what was commonly referred to as ice alchemy. One Slytherin boy occasionally came over to work on a fabric alchemy circle, (his parents owned a robes shop over in Scotland) which was luckily an easier circle. Alphonse approved the circle by the end of the class, and wrote himself a note to bring in fabric for his class Monday night.

The boy who'd lost points luckily had potions homework to do and left him alone, although Al thought to himself to keep an eye on the boy next week. When the bell rang for dinner, instead of Madam Pomfrey outside the Weasley twins were waiting, apparently having come to bring him to dinner.

Al was thankful for that, Ed was probably still cooped up in their room based on the fact that it was still down-pouring outside. Fred had to lean down to support him, but luckily he only needed help on one side now. Soon he'd be walking with just the cane.

"Hey Alphonse, you are getting better… right?" George asked quietly.

"Mhm, I had to put on weight before we could get muscle mass back… I'm doing a lot better than I was when we first got here," Al replied. The twins looked at each other like they couldn't imagine much worse.

George helped him as well when going down the stairs, but Al was determined to make it to dinner, and they didn't stop until they made it to Gryffindor table.

"Where's Ed?" Ron asked through a mouth full of food.

"He's sick," Fred answered as Alphonse stacked his plate high.

"Ooh the little shorty's sick, is he?" They heard from above, and they all looked up to see the mischievous face of Peeves the Poltergeist. Before anyone could stop him, he flew off out of the open doorway, cackling all the way.

"Twenty knuts that Professor Ed still wins," Fred said turning to his brother.

"Nah mate, I'm not betting against Elric," George denied, although Neville surprisingly took up the bet.

Three minutes later Peeves flew by the grand hall screaming, covered in something that looked suspiciously like sick, with a very pale and very annoyed Professor Elric chasing after him in yesterday's robes.

Neville silently slid the twenty knuts across the Gryffindor table, right into Fred Weasley's happy hand.

The rain had lightened up enough by Monday for Ed to resume teaching, even if he looked like he hadn't slept in three days.

Fred, George, and Lee had figured out their transmutation circle over the weekend, and Ed scheduled a private lesson with the three of them in between his second and fifth block classes that day. He gave them two more variations of the original, one that would burst into flames after transmutation, and another that made a rather spectacular popping noise when ignited. (The three together would cause a rather magnificent, but ultimately harmless explosion.) not that Ed would teach them to combine them until much later in the year.

Alphonse didn't think it was a very... adult way of teaching the subject, but since only a few Slytherins had complained about the class, and nearly all of Gryffindor house but Hermione had complained about Lockhart, Ed didn't seem all that worried.

The first-year class was working on refining their wooden transmutations, helping build up the concentration required for much more complicated alchemy down the line. Luna and Ginny sat together, both trying to make rather detailed wooden rabbits, Ginny occasionally stopping to take more notes in the black notebook.

The second-year class was now working on changing the pine desks to other types of wood by transmuting the chemical composition, rather than the table itself.

Hermione got her chance to shine with the more complicated lesson, with Ron and Harry both taking a few extra tries to get it right, although Draco Malfoy managed to beat them to it. The house rivalry between the two houses worsened as the Quidditch match approached, and Ed had nearly put up a dividing wall to keep the showboating to a minimum.

"Hey Professor, you guys going to the Quidditch match next Saturday?" Ron asked as he packed up his things.

"Depends on the weather," Ed shrugged as the bell rang. "No homework for you, couldn't think of any way to waste your time," he joked as everyone filed out of his class. His three fourth year troublemakers arrived shortly after, and they got to work on the transmutation. Ed had drawn out the transmutation circle himself, putting only a small amount of each of the compounds separate on the circle. Each of them had to do the transmutation correctly before Ed would increase the amount of materials, and in effect, the size of the explosion.

Al thought the alchemy was rather cool now that it wasn't being used by a psychopath trying to kill him. They kept working until the bell rang, and the explosions had worked their way up to the size of a gallon jug, exploding in a rather bright yellow color. The boys left with excitement on their faces, and the brother's followed them to dinner, albeit rather slowly as Al was determined to use his cane for the whole walk, (with the exception of the stairs of course).

Al was winded by the time they got down, but the pride and gnawing hunger quickly overtook the feeling. "Hey Al, are you excited about Halloween? Hermione asked.

Both him and Al turned to each other in confusion, "What's Halloween?"

"Haha very funny," Ron rolled his eyes.

"Ron, I don't think they're joking," Fred gasped with a devious grin on his face.

"You see, Halloween is when Dumbledore roller-skates around the castle throwing pumpkins at Slytherins," George answered with a rather good poker face.

"I know you're joking… but I wouldn't be all that surprised if that was true," Ed admitted to the glee of the twins.

"Halloween on the muggle side is mostly kids dressing up and going to their neighbor's houses at night to get free candy. Here we carve giant pumpkins, the great halls decorated, and we have a large feast at dinner time," Hermione explained. Ed looked rather annoyed at the 'feast' part.

"What's wrong with the feast?" Ron asked between large mouthfuls of food.

"Because a feast is an official thing and I'm supposed to sit at the staff table," Ed grumbled, looking towards his empty seat snug in between Minerva and Lockhart.

"Oi, at least you don't have class with him," Ron argued.

"True, sucks for you guys though," Ed grinned.

"You wound us Professor," The twins sighed, before sliding off the bench, playing dead on the floor. Al took one look at the staff table and thought that Minerva and Snape might join them.

Ed and Al had left the Halloween feast early that night to avoid the stampede, (and Lockhart). Al was tired enough from the day's events that he didn't care when Ed picked him up and carried him.

They found the Gryffindor trio staring at the wall in between his office and Lockharts. Ed could see several letters scrawled in blood.

"What the hell?" Ed asked, and the trio turned back, spinning slightly out of the way. THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED, ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE. "What does that mean?"

"Brother look," Al whispered, pointing to where Filch's cat was hanging off the candle holder on the hall.

"Why are you in this floor?" Ed quickly asked.

"Harry heard something, we followed the noise here," Hermione admitted.

"You were at the death day party, right?" Ed asked.

"Yes?" Ron replied, seemingly trying to figure out where this was going.

"You need to-" They were interrupted by the sound of shoes stomping up the stairs. Ed quickly unlocked his office, shoving the whole group inside the small space. He put Al down on the couch, and quickly transmuted the ceiling and wall that divided his office and their room, forming a rather thin, but still safe staircase that led upstairs to an empty classroom.

"Thank you, professor," Hermione whispered as they all ran up the stairs, Ed carried Al to their room before transmuting the wall back as people started gasping outside.

"Stay here, pretend to be asleep," Ed hissed before ducking out of their room. There was chaos outside the room for several minutes, and by the time brother had returned, Al had fallen into restless sleep.