DISCLAIMER: I OWN NEITHER HARRY POTTER NOR FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST!

Chapter Fifteen

"I told her!" Winry said, Monday morning as she, Ed, and Al looked at the new decree on the Gryffindor Common Room notice board.

-BY ORDER OF-

The High Inquisitor of Hogwarts

All Student Organizations, Societies, Teams, Groups, and

Clubs are henceforth disbanded.

An Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club is hereby

Defined as a regular meeting of three or more students.

Permission to re-form may be sought from the High

Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge).

No Student Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club

May exist without the knowledge and approval of the High

Inquisitor.

Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an

Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club that has not

Been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.

The above is in accordance with

Educational Decree Number Twenty-four

Signed:

Dolores Jane Umbridge

HIGH INQUISITOR

"Yeah, you did, Winry," Ed said. "Are you gonna rub it into her face?"

"No, because I'm not that mean," Winry said.

"She would," Ed pointed out.

"I'm not going to go down to her level," Winry said, then spotting Harry and Ron. "Let's go, I'm hungry."

Ed and Al looked to see Harry and Ron and understood. Ed and Al went with Winry down to the Great Hall where a lot of the group who was at the meeting were freaking out.

"Don't they know that they're drawing attention to themselves?" Al asked.

"Apparently not," Ed said, as he, Al, and Winry sat at the Gryffindor table.

A few moments later, Owl came to Ed and held out his leg. Ed got the letters off of Owl's leg. Owl flew off a moment later as Ed unfolded the first letter.

"What's it say?" Winry asked.

Ed didn't say anything as he read the letter.

FullMetal,

Since you say that the mail is being watched,

Do not worry about sending in constant

Reports or updates. We don't want the letters

Being intercepted.

Be careful,

Roy Mustang

"Well?" Al asked.

"It's from Colonel Idiot," Ed said. "Just said to be careful."

Ed stuffed the letter into his bag and unfolded the other letter. It was from Sirius.

Good plan, Ed. Same time, same place.

"What about that one?" Al asked.

"Dog guy," Ed said.

"What did he say?" Winry asked.

"Just 'good plan' and 'same time, same place'," Ed said.

Ed put that letter into his bag as well.

"I think I'm gonna skip History of Magic," Ed said.

"Brother!" Al said.

"Well, I don't wanna be bored," Ed said. "That class is dead boring."

Ed snickered. Al rolled his eyes.

"You said that 'joke' last year, Edward," Winry scowled.

"I'm not jokin'," Ed said. "I'm just telling the truth."

"You aren't skipping, Brother," Al said. "If you do, Teacher will find out and beat you up and drag you to class."

Ed groaned.

"You're right," Ed groaned.

History of Magic was uneventful until Hedwig showed up at the window. Hedwig went to Harry's shoulder after Harry went to the window she was at and opened it. Harry went back to his seat by Hermione and Ron. Ed and Al were sitting in the table in front of them, and Ed listened in on their conversation.

"She's hurt!" Ed heard Harry say. "Look - there's something wrong with her wing -."

Harry left the classroom a moment later. When class was over, Ed and Al went to the dungeon entrance to Potions. Harry, Ron, and Hermione came a few moments later.

"How's Hedwig?" Al asked. "Is she okay?"

"Hedwig is fine," Hermione said.

Before anyone else could say anything, Malfoy spoke up.

"Yeah, Umbridge gave the Slytherin Quidditch team permission to continue playing straightaway," Malfoy boasted. "I went to ask her first thing this morning. Well, it was pretty much automatic, I mean, she knows my father really well, he's always popping in and out of the Ministry…it'll be interesting to see whether Gryffindor are allowed to keep playing, won't it?"

"Don't rise," Hermione told Harry and Ron. "It's what he wants…"

"I mean," Malfoy rose his voice, "if it's a question of influence with the Ministry, I don't think they've got much chance… From what my father says, they've been looking for an excuse to sack Arthur Weasley for years…And as for Potter…My father says it's a matter of time before the Ministry has him carted off to St. Mungo's…apparently they've got a special ward for people whose brains have been addled."

As Harry and Ron held back a charging Neville, Ed confronted Malfoy.

"You know what I think of your father, Mal-fart?" Ed asked.

"I don't really care," Malfoy said.

Then Ed punched Malfoy in the face. The dungeon door opened, and Snape took ten points from Gryffindor after seeing Harry and Ron holding Neville back. Then Snape looked at Ed and then to Malfoy.

"Detention, Elric," Snape said.

Then everyone went into the dungeon classroom and took their seats. Snape closed the dungeon door with an echoing bang and everyone fell silent.

"You will notice," Snape sneered, "that we have a guest with us today."

He gestured toward the dim corner of the dungeon, and Umbridge could be seen sitting there, clipboard on her knee.

"We are continuing with our Strengthening Solutions today, you will find your mixtures as you left them last lesson, if correctly made they should have matured well over the weekend," Snape said, then waving his wand. "Instructions are on the board. Carry on."

Umbridge spent the first half hour of the lesson making notes in her corner. Ed, who hadn't cared less what Umbridge was doing, looked up once Umbridge stood up and went to Snape, who was bending over Dean Thomas's cauldron.

"Well, the class seems fairly advanced for their level," Umbridge said briskly to Snape's back. "Though, I would question whether it is advisable to teach them a potion like the Strengthening Solution. I think the Ministry would prefer it if that was removed from the syllabus."

Snape straightened up slowly and turned to look at Umbridge.

"Now…how long have you been teaching at Hogwarts?" Umbridge asked, her quill poised over her clipboard.

"Fourteen years," Snape replied.

"You applied first for the Defense Against the Dark Arts post, I believe?" Umbridge asked Snape.

"Yes," Snape said quietly.

"But you were unsuccessful?" Umbridge asked.

Snape's lip curled.

"Obviously," Snape drawled.

Ed snickered. Snape and Umbridge looked at him. Then Umbridge scribbled on her clipboard as Snape went to Ed's cauldron and looked down into it. Snape didn't say anything as he then looked into Al's cauldron.

"And you have applied regularly for the defense Against the Dark Arts post since you first joined the school, I believe?" Umbridge asked.

"Yes," Snape replied, looking angry.

"Do you have any idea why Dumbledore has consistently refused to appoint you?" asked Umbridge.

"I suggest you ask him," Snape said jerkily, moving away from Ed and Al.

"Oh, I shall," Umbridge said with a sweet smile.

"I suppose this is relevant?" Snape asked.

"Oh, yes," Umbridge said. "Yes, the Ministry wants a thorough understanding of teachers' - er - backgrounds…"

She turned away, walked over to Pansy Parkinson, and began questioning her about the lessons. Harry's potion was vanished by Snape who had assigned Harry an essay on the correct composition of the potion. Snape held Ed back at the end of class and told Ed the detention. Ed scowled as he sat down at the Gryffindor table by Al and Winry.

"What's wrong, Edward?" Winry asked.

"Brother got detention for punching Malfoy," Al said.

"Edward," Winry scolded.

"He was bein' a jackass," Ed said. "Besides, I got detention with Snake, not Upchuck."

"What's the detention?" Winry asked.

"You do not want to know," Ed said.

"Just tell me!" Winry demanded.

"I have to disembowel toads for his class," Ed said. "Without gloves or magic."

Winry and Al both shared looks of disgust. At seven o'clock that evening, Ed left the Gryffindor Common Room to go down to Snape's office for his detention. Al, Winry, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all were sitting around the fireplace. Harry was trying to do his homework, but he couldn't concentrate since Fred and George were demonstrating their Puking Pastilles.

"Why don't you just stop them, Hermione, if they are getting on your nerves?" Winry asked, irritated at Hermione's repeated wincing.

Hermione had admitted that she was wrong at dinner and had apologized to Winry.

"I can't, they're not technically doing anything wrong," Hermione said through gritted teeth. "They're quite within their rights to eat the foul things themselves, and I can't find a rule that says the other idiots aren't entitled to buy them, not unless they're proven to be dangerous in some way, and it doesn't look as though they are…"

"You know, I don't see why Fred and George only got three O.W.L.s each," Harry said as he watched Fred, George, and Lee collect gold from the eager crowd. "They really know their stuff…"

"Oh, they only know flashy stuff that's no use to anyone," Hermione waved off.

"It's not flashy, Hermione," Winry disagreed. "They probably didn't get many O.W.L.s because they didn't think it was useful to them. Besides, they've already got 26 Galleons."

A moment after Fred closed the doorway leading to the boys' dormitories (which was around midnight), Ed came through the portrait hole.

"Edward!" Winry said.

Ed went to where Winry was sitting and sat down beside her.

"Are you all right?" Al asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ed answered, yawning. "I just had to spend ten minutes washing my hands to get the toad guts out from my fingernails."

Ed shuddered.

"You didn't get any in your auto-mail hand, did you?" Winry asked.

"I don't think so," Ed said.

"Let me go get my kit so I can see," Winry said, standing. "I'll be right back."

Then Winry got up and went to her dorm. Just then, Sirius's head appeared in the common room fire.

"Sirius!" Harry said.