Sorry for such a long wait XD;; I only started writing this a couple of days ago... XD

3222 words! :D (8 pages on Microsoft Word)

Warning: severe overuse of italics in this chapter. XD

Disclaimer~

Chapter Three - Bit by Bit

It was just another morning for the famous Harry Potter. Woken up by friend Hermione Granger who always seemed able to bypass the spell cast on the boy's dormitory to keep girls out. Waking up friend Ronald Weasley twenty minutes later. Rushing to breakfast. Eating as fast as he could manage while still retaining the ability to breathe. Dragging a grumbling Ronald to his first class of the day.

The thing was, it shouldn't have been 'just another morning'. There was one key new element to his day that had shown up out of nowhere two days ago and hadn't been spotted since Divinations class yesterday: Edward Elric.

"Hey, 'Arry," Ron mumbled absently while chewing on a stolen sandwich.

"Yeah?"

"I've got this really strange feeling that something's missing."

Ron subsequently received a rather brutal whack on the back of his head for the idiotic statement, and an irritated Hermione replied, "That's because Ed's not here, and hasn't been since last period yesterday!"

Ron's face brightened and his brown eyes widened as if he's just figured out the meaning of life. "Ohhhhhh!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes, 'oh'," he teased, though he was smiling.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear," Hermione muttered behind them, and hurried forward to greet the lone Elric at the foot of the Astronomy tower. "Hey!"

Ed blinked, returning from a rather vivid daydream about thestrals and what Al would say if he saw them - actually, what Al would say if he saw half the things here. "Hey, Hermione."

"Where the hell were you last night?" Ron yelled from down the open corridor.

"Ravenclaw, with Luna," Ed replied nonchalantly, as if it was completely normal to be hanging around with Loony Lovegood.

Ron's eyes bulged. "Seriously? You were hangin' around with her voluntarily?"

Ed gave him a rather strange look. "Yes," he said slowly, as if talking to a three-year-old he was explaining gravity to.

"Now that's what I call crazy," Ron muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Ronald!" Hermione scolded, whacking him again, this time on his left forearm.

"'Mione! What the bloody hell was that for? My sandwich is on the floor!"

"You act like a pig all the time, Ronald. I don't see why you don't just pick the sandwich back up off the floor and start eating it again. Disgusting," she added under her breath.

"All right, you two. We gotta get to class, remember?" Harry dragged Ron by his robe down the stone corridor, ignoring his whines of protest.

"Come on, then," Hermione sighed, and Ed quickened his pace to keep up with her educated march. It reminded him of when he first joined the military - those numerous hours spent marching in a squad in circles around an empty courtyard. He hadn't seen the point of it then, and he still didn't see the point of it now.

A sudden thought struck him. "Hey, you wizards - you have so many special terms and names for things, and there doesn't seem to be any kind of Magical Words dictionary around. You mind telling me what any of them mean?"

Hermione blinked. "That's right - you're muggle-born, aren't you?"

Ed chuckled, slightly embarrassed. "Yeah."

Hermione's face brightened considerably at the new knowledge. "You're like me, then."

Ed's eyes widened. "You're muggle-born?"

"And proud."

"But you're so good!"

"Someone's familial background has nothing to do with their skill in magic, Ed." Hermione laughed. "And thank you," she murmured as an afterthought.

Ed smiled awkwardly.

"So," Hermione started, refreshing the subject. "Wizarding terms."

"Yup."

"Well, I presume you know what a muggle is?" Hermione glanced at him for reassurance. It was obvious by the hopeful hint in her tone that if he didn't know what at least this meant, there was no hope for him.

"Of course!" Ed replied rather indignantly. "A muggle is a non-magical human. And muggle-borns are people with muggle parents or something, right?"

"More or less. What about a squib?"

"... What?"

Hermione sighed, rearranging her textbooks clutched to her chest into a more comfortable position. "A squib is a muggle with magical parents."

"Oh."

"Do you know about Quidditch?"

"... Uh... Where you see how much money you can throw into a ditch?" Ed asked hopefully.

Hermione sighed again - this was going to be a long walk to class.

"Where on earth have you four been? In you go, in you go." McGonagall ushered them into the class they were ten minutes late for, Ed slipping into a seat beside Hermione - he'd figured out after the first lesson that sitting next to Ron was completely useless in terms of figuring out what he was supposed to do - and trying not to attract attention to himself.

"Now that everyone is present-" McGonagall shot the trio and Ed a pointed glare- "we can begin the lesson. Today will be a 'revision' session, if you like, as none of you were able to perform magic over the holidays and are therefore, I imagine, extremely out of practice. Now, if you look at your desk - I said your desk, Mr. Zabini, not the window - you will see I have given each of you a rat. I hope that at the end of this lesson I will be collecting in thirty-four golden goblets, as in your first year. As you are all in the fifth year now, I presume you all know what to do, and will therefore need no help or instruction from me. Miss Granger, would you mind showing Mr. Elric what you are supposed to do?" At Hermione's startled protest, she quickly added, "I was told he was a bright boy. I am sure he will catch on."

There was a sudden flurry of loudly exclaimed spells and wand-swishing. Ed noted with a great deal of humour that most of these spells were far from perfect and lacked skill that he was sure even some second years had. The fact that the Professor had mentioned something about this being first years' work just added to the barely restrained laughter bubbling in his chest.

"So... what do I do, exactly?" Ed asked, staring intently at his rat, which was rather fat and seemed to have fallen asleep before he had entered the room.

Hermione answered knowledgably, You transfigure the rat into a golden goblet. Like this," Hermione stated (rather haughtily, Ed noticed), and demonstrated what must've been a perfect example of the work.

It, however, sent chills down Edward's spine. "Uh... What are you actually doing to the rat, exactly...?" He asked, his voice having risen noticeably in pitch. Hermione gave him a strange look, but answered anyway.

"I'm using magic to turn the rat into a goblet," she repeated slowly.

"... Oh." Ed swallowed, his face now a peculiar shade of off-white. He didn't like this one bit. "Professor?" He asked, his gaze not leaving Hermione's rat-turned-goblet.

"Yes, Mr. Elric?" she sighed, obviously not expecting interruption from her marking.

"I don't think... I don't think you should be messing with lives." This came out as a strained almost-whisper, and is somewhat scared Hermione, though she would never say it out loud. I wonder what could compel him to react like that, she wondered.

"I do not understand what you mean, Mr. Elric." Apparently, McGonagall was also unnerved by Ed's unusual reaction, as she immediately sat straighter in her hard, wooden seat, and her attention was fully on her new pupil.

"I mean... you're just changing a rat into a cup-"

"Goblet," Hermione mumbled.

"-and taking away its life. Just like that." Ed looked uncertainly at the Professor, and what she saw in his eyes she was sure would stay with her for a good few months. She had never seen that look in someone so young, and it scared her even more than his barely-perceptible shivering and his suddenly hoarse voice. "There isn't even any equivalent exchange," Ed added under his breath, though the Professor didn't hear.

"I see your point, Mr. Elric, but I assure you that the goblets can easily be changed back into rats again. 'Just like that'," she quoted, a somewhat soothing tone to her usually harsh voice. Harry and Ron, now listening intently to the conversation, exchanged a glance.

"A-are you sure?" Ed asked, his voice now stronger and some of the cold panic in his eyes dissipating.

"I'm sure, Mr. Elric. I am the Transfigurations professor, after all. I should know what I'm talking about."

This seemed to greatly calm Ed, and his complexion returned to his light tan, but he still refused to actually perform the transfiguration himself. McGonagall sighed, and accepted it as a compromise. She was sure he was perfectly capable of doing it if he so wished, and at least he wasn't disturbing other students as Mr. Malfoy was.

Still, it was suspicious, and she made a mental note to inquire about it later, perhaps after class in a meeting with the Headmaster.

Ron stretched, cracking his arms. "Bloody hell - I don't think a day of lessons has ever felt like so long before," he moaned.

"You might be complaining, Ron, but I actually enjoyed today."

"I still don't understand how the hell you manage to like school so much, 'Mione."

Harry sighed, relaxing his over-used brain. "Well, at least we didn't have Potions today, Ron."

"God, yeah."

"Why do people call Luna crazy?"

The three blinked at the sudden subject change. Hermione turned to her left, a similar expression on her face to the one she wore earlier when Ed asked what she was doing to the rat. "Because she is, Ed."

Ed considered this. "I don't think so."

Ron raised his eyebrows as he peered around Harry. "Why not?"

"I mean, sure, she's a little weird. But that's all she is, really. Weird. She's not crazy."

Ron snorted. "Of course she ain't."

Harry elbowed Ron hard in the ribs, and Ron doubled over. "Oi! What was that for?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Don't be rude, Ronald."

Ron stuck out his tongue.

"I think it's because she talks about things that don't exist." Everyone turned to look at Harry, seemingly taking his turn in the conversation as the only person willing to give a serious answer.

"... Yeah, I think so too," Ed murmured absently, gazing out of the windows of the fourth-floor corridor as he wandered past them. He blinked as an idea struck him. "We don't have any homework to do tonight, right?"

"I do hope you're not planning to not do homework and then copy from me, Ed."

Ed snorted. "As if."

Hermione looked insulted, and turned away, discreetly shifting to the other side of Harry so she wouldn't have to walk next to Ed anymore.

"Why'd you ask?" said Harry.

"I was just gonna-" go feed the thestrals, one of Luna's 'imaginary' creatures. Yeah, that would go down well. "-go to the library. I wanted to look into this transfiguration stuff more."

"Oh."

The three wandered in silence until they encountered the library, where Ed broke off and strolled through the doors with a chaste wave reminiscent of his brother's.

The door closed behind him, and his innocent smile quickly deflated, becoming quickly overrun by a devilish Edward Elric trademark grin. The librarian shot him a wary glance, but said nothing. Well, until Ed jumped out of the window, that is.

"What on earth do you think you're doing, boy?"

But Edward was already gone.

"Lemon drops."

The stone gargoyle leapt out of its place, revealing the spiraling staircase lying beyond to one Minerva McGonagall. She ascended with grace, carrying with her the air of a stalking cat. As was to be expected, of course.

The doors opened upon her arrival, and she didn't hesitate to step straight through them, ignoring the loud bang that reverberated through the circular office as magic slammed the door closed once more.

"Albus," she greeted.

"Minerva," he greeted back, his glowing blue eyes twinkling behind half-moon spectacles. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this unexpected meeting?"

"The new student, Albus."

"Ah." A knowing smile drifted across his face. "I assume you are here to ask me about his unusual behaviour?"

"Yes. He turned quite pale during my lesson, and it took quite a bit of reasoning to get him to calm down. Even then, he refused to do the work."

"May I ask; what were you asking him to transfigure, Professor?" Dumbledore's eyes hinted at amusement now, and Minerva didn't like it.

McGonagall's eyes narrowed fractionally. "I asked the class to transfigure a rat into a goblet, as they did in their first year, Albus."

"... Ah." Dumbledore's knowing smile grew dangerously close to a grin as the realisation struck him.

"I don't see anything wrong with that request."

"There is nothing wrong with the request, Minerva - no, I believe the request is not the problem."

"Then what do you suggest is the problem, Albus?"

"The boy."

Minerva blinked, her hard stare shape-shifting into one of extreme confusion and - as cats are often known for - curiosity. "Why would the boy be the problem, Albus?"

"Because he isn't telling us everything."

Minerva considered this - the boy's strange limbs went by unexplained, after all. Who knew what other secrets he could be hiding? "It seems so, Albus."

Ed stopped short of the forest's edge - the place where the thestrals were kept. He didn't stop because the thestrals weren't there, or because he had changed his mind. He stopped because there was already someone feeding them.

And, if his sight wasn't failing him, it was none other than Luna Lovegood.

Ed mentally snorted. Who else would it be?

"Hey," he murmured casually, knowing Luna would hear him over the calming silence.

"Hey, Ed," Luna sighed back, her voice seemingly even dreamier than usual. Maybe it was just the effect of this place and the strange silence, but Ed suddenly felt somewhat dreamily calm too. "Did you come to feed the thestrals?" she asked.

"Yeah. But it looks like they're already fed."

Luna giggled dazedly. "Oh no, there's plenty more thestrals than these three. I'm sure I could use your help." She handed him a maroon leather pouch about the size of his hand without looking at him, which upon Ed's inspection proved to be full of a strange kind of purple, spiked berry that smelled like his father's aftershave.

Ed watched Luna sift through her own bag and pick out four berries each the size of a grape before offering them in her palm to a thestral nearby.

Ed copied. He grabbed a small handful and hesitantly placed his automail under a thestral's mouth; it snorted at him and stamped its hoof - if you could call it that - but inhaled the berries anyway. Better than outright rejection, Ed mused in the back of his mind.

They continued for a while, the same repetitive action pulling both their minds far away until neither knew the other was there anymore. That is, until a thought suddenly struck Ed's mind, pummeling him back to earth.

"Why are people afraid of thestrals?" It seemed a perfectly reasonable question to ask Luna. Ed guessed Luna was great for that kind of thing - if you wanted to know something but didn't want to look like a complete moron or weirdo when asking about it, ask Luna.

She hesitated slightly before answering in a slightly less up-in-the-clouds tone, "Because only those who have seen death can see them."

Ed blinked, unsure of how to answer that. So that was why people thought she was making them up - none of them had seen death, and could therefore not see the thestrals. It would also explain Harry's slightly friendlier relationship with her - he'd witnessed his parents' deaths, even if he was only a baby, so he had some proof that Luna wasn't completely off her rocker. Unfortunately for him, nobody believed Harry, either.

"No one's asked me that before," Luna whispered, a faint smile growing on her pale face.

Ed chuckled. "No one else is like me."

"I can tell."

Ed gave her a curious but somewhat amused glance before moving on to another thestral in need of food.

He paused mid-rummage as something important but also vastly personal occurred to him, and murmured so quietly you would never normally be able to hear him, "Whose death did you see?"

Luna's answer was one that made Ed's heart lurch. "My mother's."

Ed laughed quietly, a pained gasp for the breath he needed after his lungs stopped working in shock. "What a coincidence."

It was Luna's turn to pause, and she looked at him questioningly. "What do you mean?"

"I saw my mother's death too." I've seen plenty more deaths than just that, Ed thought morbidly.

Luna's sad smile became just a teensy bit brighter, and she laughed with him. "I see."

Ed's laughter faded into a lingering smile at the information shared. It wasn't often he had the opportunity to talk like this - sure, there was his brother, but his brother already knew everything and so was unfortunately not much help in the confession department. He had to keep up a strong front for the military or they might reduce his research funds, demote him or fire him for being too soft. He had no parents to confide in (none that he liked, anyway), and he always felt awkward talking about emotional stuff in front of Granny.

Being able to talk about his past in a place where he was completely anonymous to a person who nobody would believe even if she spread his story around the entire school was, all in all, a very refreshing experience, and an experience Ed had been in need of for a very long time.

"Equivalent exchange..." he mused as the thought of the equality of their conversation he very rarely got in real life.

"Hmm?" Luna murmured in her light, dreamy voice, gaining Ed's attention.

Ed chuckled. "Nothing. Just an old saying from my home country." Half-truth.

"Ah. You know, there's an old song my father used to sing to me when I was little. He said it was from his home country. I'll sing it to you if you explain what your saying means," she said, and turned to Ed, smiling.

Ed couldn't hide the grin rapidly claiming a great part of his face. "It means that in order for something to be gained, something of equal value must be lost. Like a trade."

Luna considered this a moment, before concluding something and proceeding to draw in a deep lungful of breath, her bright azure eyes closing as she drew herself into a world of her own. Not that she isn't usually in one anyway.

Luna then began to sing - it was a strange, ethereal tune with no obvious words to it. The vowels strung themselves together in a way that reminded Ed of the small bits of Xerxesien he had taught himself from his father's textbooks. It was a song of the strange, a song of the mourning, a song of the dead...

"A trade," she whispered.

I liked that ending, even though it didn't make much sense :3

I wrote 3/4 of this today, so sorry if it's rushed... =.=;;

Finally, a vaguely EdxLuna scene! *Celebration*