I'm not entirely satisfied with this chapter, to be honest. I will most likely go back and edit it, possibly even rewrite it. However, I can assure you that the content itself will not change. I simply want to make it a bit better grammatically and such.

However, I have been doing my best! I have had a lot happening as of late, so I'm sorry if this chapter ends up being horrid.

Anyway….

I DO NOT OWN FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST BROTHERHOOD , OR ANY PART OF THE HARRY POTTER SERIES!

Once he had everything he needed, Ed returned to his table and began to work. He was surprised how naturally it came to him. Makes sense, I suppose. In theory, it's the same as Alchemy.

Half of the allotted time had passed, and Ed finally sat down in his seat, finished with his work. Snape walked over to his desk, as Harry gawked at him from the seat next to him. His potion was nothing but a black sludge, as oppose to the light orange of Ed's. Snape stared at it, seemingly trying to find a fault, before giving a grudging nod, and writing a sloppy 'o' on Ed's paper.

"How did you do that? Even Hermione isn't done yet!" Harry whispered. Ed shrugged. "I guess I'm just a genius, aren't I?"

Chapter 13- Demonic Old Woman

One the class had ended, Ron let out a loud, and long lasting groan. "Next is Umbridge, this is going to be a nightmare" Hermione rolled her eyes. "Come on, Ron, for all we know, she could be a wonderful teacher! Even if she is a bit off" Ed shook his head at this.

"I bet my owl that she's a demonic woman with no sense of the current situation"

"What makes you say that?" Hermione asked curiously. "Experience." Ed said plainly, leaving the girl far more confused than she had originally been. Harry decided to pipe in as well, saying "I remember her at my hearing, she was one of the people who voted that I be expelled"

Ron looked back at him incredulously, before he turned back to Hermione. "Do you really expect someone like that to be a good teacher? She's probably off her rocker!" Ron predicted.

"Here it is" Harry said, staring at the door. It had a picture of a kitten, right next to it, which made Ed sick to his stomach. "Al.." He muttered. He hadn't heard from his brother in a long time, and he was beginning to wonder if everything was alright. He wanted to send a letter, but his owl hadn't returned, and he didn't quite trust the school owls. Harry's and Ron's owls were also out delivering letters, which was rather irritating. He didn't care about his report, he would be happy to stop giving them in fact, but Ed wanted to hear from his brother. It frustrated him to no end that there was no news.

"Ed, you okay?" Hermione asked, her voice full of concern. Ed nodded quickly. "Fine, let's head in"

They opened the door to the room and went to sit at the desk. It was very neat, and full of pictures of cats. Ed sighed in annoyance, staring at the empty blackboard in front of him. He wondered about how his previous teachers had been able to write on them, by simply waving a stick, without any chalk whatsoever. He continued to muse on theories, until finally she spoke. "I think we are all here now, so let us begin."

Her voice was extremely sweet, and slow moving, as if she were talking to toddlers. "Good morning class"

A few people muttered a "good morning", but otherwise, no one spoke. She frowned. "Now that won't do, let us try once again. When I say "Good morning class", you will all respond, "Good morning, Professor Umbridge". Now," she walked down the aisle beside Ed, saying "Good morning class"

"Good morning professor Umbridge" said a monotonous harmony. She sighed. "Well, I'm sure you will all improve in time. Now, let us begin." She pulled out her wand sharply, with a small whoosh. "As you all know, you have had several teachers for this class in past years. All of them of certain varieties, though none very effective to the Ministry's specifications."

"Professor Lupin was a great teacher!" piped up one student, only to be stopped by a pointed glance. "That half breed could not have possibly been a good teacher. What you need to learn is proper spell theory. So take out your books, and put your wands away, please" She emphasized her last word, as if forcing it out as to appear polite. Many students groaned and put away their wands, but Ed didn't do anything when she said this. In all honesty, he hadn't touched his wand since entering the school. He found no reason to, and he preferred not to if it wasn't necessary.

"But Professor, won't we need to practice spells?" Hermione asked. "Please raise your hand" She said, eyes closed and voice raised.

Hermione did so grudgingly, and repeated herself. "Well, you won't need to practice spells. There's no reason for you to practice using them. As long as you understand the theory that's all that matters." Umbridge said with a smile.

"But what if someone were to be attacked? How would we defend ourselves without any practice?" Harry called.

"Who on earth would do such a horrible thing, exactly, Mr. Potter?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe Lord Voldemort?" Harry called out. Everyone turned to him, and some gasped, hearing the name. Ed still didn't quite understand why it was such a big deal. Sure, he did a hell of a lot of damage, but that's no reason for them to treat the name like a curse.

"I won't have you saying such absurd things, you seem to be under the impression you will all be attacked! Now, who on earth would want to harm children such as yourselves?" Umbridge said, an underlying force to her voice. Ed rolled his eyes. "Do you realize just how stupid you sound?" He piped up, gaining everyone else's attention. He saw in the corner of his eyes that Hermione was panicking, worrying as usual.

"I'm sorry, what was that, Mr. Elric?"

"I said, do you realize how stupid you sound? Saying that nothing will hurt us, what about all the people who follow that guy? Even if Harry was lying, that doesn't change the fact we should know how to defend ourselves!" Ed protested. As people stared in awe, Umbridge appeared to be growing red in anger. "It appears you don't know how to properly respect your elders, Mr. Elric, perhaps a detention should serve you some good?"

"But he's right!" piped up a boy in the back. What was his name? Dean?

"Students will raise their hands before speaking in my class!" she snapped, voice growing higher in pitch.

"Why is Ed getting detention for telling the truth?" Harry demanded, not at all paying attention to her orders. "I'm not lying about Voldemort coming back, I saw it happen!"

"I will not have you spouting such utter lies in this classroom!" Umbridge protested.

"Why are you so sure it's a lie? Isn't it at least worth checking out?!" Ed said, and that seemed to be the last straw.

"Potter! Elric! Both of you will have detentions for the next month, starting this Friday" She said, her voice cracking, which seemed odd and out of place for a grown woman.

With that last outburst, the argument subsided, as she seethed in rage. "As well as a fifty points from Gryffindor House!" They all groaned in disappointment.

"Now…" she breathed heavily. "Both of you take these to your head of house" She said, scribbling something on two pieces of parchment, and sending the two out.

As Al sat in the library, his thoughts began to stray. He couldn't concentrate, not with so much on his mind. It had been a week, and no news had come from Ed, which worried him. The last I contacted him, I told him about everything I found on Homunculi, it was all in code, but could something have happened? Maybe they got to him? Is it my fault for telling him everything?

He was so occupied, he didn't even notice when someone opened the door to the library. "Alphonse?" Said a voice Al immediately recognized. "Lieutenant Hawkeye!"

The blonde haired lieutenant walked up to Alphonse, with her usual passive expression. "The Colonel wants to see you"

Al instantly perked up. Now's the perfect chance to ask him!

After cleaning up his study space a bit, he left with the lieutenant, eager to find out about his brother. Before he knew it, he heard a low toned, commanding voice saying "Come in"

He immediately opened the door, and Mustang said "Alphonse, good to see you. Sit down" Al did so, waiting to hear the news. Mustang took a breath.

"We haven't heard anything from Fullmetal." Al slumped in his seat, not even trying to hide his disappointment. Too much to hope for, I guess.

"So I have talked to the Fuhror. He says we are allowed to send in another military official to check on him." Mustang said, resulting in Al's immediate response. He perked up once again, asking "Who are you sending?"

Mustang shook his head. "We don't know yet. I'll let you know as soon as we have a person decided, but they won't reach there for a while. It'll take at least a week, since we don't have that strange technique to transport them."

Al nodded, feeling a bit disappointed. Deep down, he knew he had hoped that perhaps, the Colonel would send him, though he knew that it would be impossible. It was frustrating, knowing that his older brother, whom he cared so deeply for, could be in danger, and that he couldn't do anything about it. Ed, who was doing so much in an attempt to get Al's body back, even if it was something he didn't like. He even became a dog of the military, which got him into this mess.

Maybe it is my fault, or maybe it's just that I miss him, I've been lonely before, but he was always there for me, and I always knew I wasn't alone. But now… Al mentally shook himself. Stop thinking like that! I have to get Ed's body back if it's the last thing I do!

"Stupid oaf. That capture was way too easy." Envy scoffed, tossing the large, bruise covered body to the side of the room. "When I heard he was a giant, I expected something a bit larger, ya'know?" A loud groan was head from the recently tossed body in the corner of the room. "Shut up!" Envy commanded, walking over to the body and kicking it.

"Envy, leave it alone" said a quiet voice. "It needs to get back to the school after your fun"

"Don't you think I know that, Pride? It'll be more convincing if it was as beat up as we can get it!"

"All true, but we can't have him dying either"

"Whatever. How's the Fullmetal pipsqueak doing?" Envy said, clearly showing that the topic was closed. Pride shook his head, saying in an irritated tone "Just as much of a nuisance as always. It appears he will need a bit more of a push before anything else."

Envy grinned, "Well, we can provide that push. After all," He held up a large bundle of envelopes. "He's in the dark."

"Be careful, Envy. Wrath is sending in another officer, so we can't do anything too obvious." Pride warned, not liking the look in the shape shifter's eyes.

"I know that! It'll be fine, and get the job done after all. Those stupid humans won't know what hit them" He said, a laugh emanating throughout the room, as the blue glow of many orbs shined on their faces.

Ed yawned loudly, as he sat at the Great Hall, devouring his breakfast with gusto. He had woken up far too early, and decided to simply use the day for his research. After all, he had no homework to worry about, and no classes to attend. He was in the middle of biting into a piece of bread when something sharp hit him. His head snapped up, as he said angrily "What the hell was that for?!" Before he realized it wasn't even a person, but a bird, that had hit him. He stared at it, before realizing it was none other than his bird, the one he had longed to see.

"Whip?" He said and it nodded. He had wanted to name the bird Whippersnapper, but the owl (and some others) had protested, for some reason. In result, Ed ended up shortening the name to simply "Whip"

He immediately noticed he was holding a letter, and untied it from the owl's leg. His spirits lifted, as he saw Al's handwriting scribbled on the paper. Oh how I miss seeing actual paper. He ripped it open right then and there, ignoring the stared he got from the other early risers.

Dear Brother,

I hope you're doing well, a lot has been happening lately, so I haven't been able to reply to your messages. I found out a lot in my recent research, about Homunculi. Apparently, they're exactly what we thought, artificially created humans. They are really hard to kill, since they have a bunch of souls inside them, functioning as their heart. I'm planning to find out more about tem by capturing one.

I can already hear you yelling at me for trying something like that, but I have to do it. I'm going to purposely get attacked by Scar, and since I'm important to them, they'll come to make sure I don't get killed. Hopefully it will work, but I promise I won't get killed, brother!

The colonel is furious at you for not reporting in! You need to stay on top of that, brother! How's that school treating you? I hope your automail is okay, especially with so much unknown energy around.

I hope you're being safe.

Al

Ed smiled, seeing the signature. But that smile almost immediately disappeared as he remembered the contents of the letter. "That idiot.." He said disapprovingly. Should I go back? I can't let him do something that risky!

He stood up from the table, and gripped the letter firmly.

"Ed? Are you alright?"

"What's wrong, Elric?"

Ed ignored the voices of his fellow classmates and headed for the library.

"Why don't you just go back? I'm sure if you ask that headmaster of yours, he'll make an exception." Said that voice Ed so despised. It reminded him far too much of the being that he called Truth. Ed reluctantly nodded, hating the idea of agreeing with the ominous voice. That may be the best solution, I need to check something too, back in Resembool. But..

"Why hesitate? He's your brother"

Something just doesn't feel right. Now, either get the hell out of my head, or tell me who you are!

"You really are short tempered aren't you?"

"Don't call me small!"

The voice just laughed, and Ed felt the urge to hit something. Oh how he wished he knew this person's identity, so he could give them a good,proper punch to the face.

Maybe I should ask the old man…

The voice continued to laugh, and Ed grunted in frustration. WOULD YOU SHUT THE HELL UP?!

Alright! Things are happening. I must ask you all, who do you think will be sent to England from the military, to check on Ed? They will most likely not show up until after the next chapter, BUT, you all know I am curious of your thoughts.

This chapter will most certainly be re-edited. However, I will let you know if plot changes.

Thank you for reading

-SevenBlazingSkies