DISCLAIMER: I OWN NEITHER HARRY POTTER NOR FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST!
Chapter Eighteen
"Banned?" Angelina asked in a hollow voice, later that evening in the Gryffindor common room. "Banned? No seeker and no Beaters…What on earth are we going to do?"
It did not feel as though they had won the match at all. There were disconsolate and angry faces all over the room; the team themselves were slumped around the fire, all apart from Ron, who had not been seen since the end of the match.
"It's just so unfair," Alicia commented numbly. "I mean, what about Crabbe and that Bludger he hit after the whistle had been blown? Has she banned him?"
"No, he's just got lines," Ed replied. "He was laughin' about it at dinner until I went over there and put a fist in his face."
He, Al, Winry, Hermione and Ginny were sitting by Harry.
"So you'll probably be doing detention with me then," Harry grumbled.
As the snitch that Harry had caught flew around the common room, Crookshanks jumped from chair to chair to try to catch it as Pegasus watched from his place on Al's lap. A few minutes later, the Gryffindor team (minus Harry and Ron) had went up to bed as did Ginny a few minutes later. Ron came and Hermione had him come by and sit in front of the fire.
"I'm sorry," Ron mumbled.
"For what?" Harry asked.
"For thinking I can play Quidditch," Ron answered. "I'm going to resign first thing tomorrow."
"If you do that, then there will only be three players on the team," Ed remarked.
"What do you mean?" Ron asked.
"Harry, Fred, and George had received a lifelong ban from Professor Toad," Al answered.
"What?!" Ron yelped.
Hermione told Ron the full story. Afterwards, Harry and Ron bickered, and then…
"Stop!" Al snapped.
Harry and Ron both looked at Al.
"It's no one's fault for what happened," Al reasoned. "Anybody would be unnerved by that mean song. Neither of you should blame yourselves."
A few moments later, Hermione told them that Hagrid was back.
"You all can go, but I'm goin' to bed," Ed said.
"Don't you want to see Hagrid?" Hermione asked.
"I'll see him later," Ed answered.
Then Ed went up to the fifth year boys' dormitory.
"I can wait until tomorrow to see him," Al said.
Then Al followed a moment later.
"Tell Hagrid we'll see him tomorrow," Winry told Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Winry went up to the sixth year girls' dormitory.
The next morning, Harry and Ron worked on their homework in the Gryffindor Common Room while Ed and Al played out in the snow with Fred and George and other people as Hermione tried to talk some sense into Hagrid. Winry was sitting out on the stone steps of the castle watching Ed and Al. Ron looked out the window after Fred and George sent snowballs at him after scolding them.
"You'd think that Alphonse hadn't played in snow before," Ron observed.
Harry looked out the window to see Ed and Al throwing snowballs at each other and Fred and George while laughing.
"Well, Alphonse hasn't had a body for a long time, right?" Harry pointed out. "He's just having fun."
Ron groaned. Then he and Harry returned to their homework. At lunch, Winry, Ed, Al, and Hermione went to the Great Hall. After they sat down together with Harry and Ron at the Gryffindor table, Ed clapped his hands and put a hand each on Winry's shoulder and on Al's shoulder, making them both dry with a flash of light. Then Ed did the same for himself.
"You know, there is something called magic," Hermione commented as she dried herself with her wand.
"Alchemy is easier," Ed replied, starting to dish some food onto his plate. "Did you get Hagrid's lessons planned out?"
"No," Hermione answered. "He just won't listen to me. He said that he has chimaera, but getting the eggs are impossible!"
"Chimera?" Al asked, dropping his fork. "Are you positive?"
"Yes, that's what he said," Hermione answered.
"But chimera aren't born!" Al protested. "They're made!"
"Not that type of chimera, Alphonse," Hermione explained. "But a cross bred animal."
"Oh," Al said.
"I just wonder what type of chimaera it could be," Hermione wondered.
"You'll see," Ed said, taking a bite of his lunch.
On Tuesday, Ed, Al, Harry, Ron, and Hermione headed down to Hagrid's, heavily muffled against the cold. Harry was worried, not only about what Hagrid might have decided to teach them, but also about how the rest of the class, particularly Malfoy and his cronies, would behave if Umbridge was watching them. However, Umbridge was nowhere to be seen as they struggled through the snow toward Hagrid, who stood waiting for them on the edge of the forest. He did not present a reassuring sight; the bruises that had been purple on Saturday night were now tinged with green and yellow and some of his cuts still seemed to be bleeding. As though to complete the ominous picture, Hagrid was carrying what looked like half a dead cow over his shoulder.
"We're workin' in here today!" Hagrid called happily to the approaching students, jerking his head back at the dark trees behind him. "Bit more sheltered! Anyway, they prefer the dark…"
"What prefers the dark?" Malfoy demanded, a hint of panic in his voice. "What did he say prefers the dark - did you hear?"
"Hey, Mal-fart, maybe if you SHUT UP for once, you'd learn something," Ed suggested.
Harry and Ron grinned at each other as Hagrid smiled at Ed. Ed grinned back.
"Ready?" Hagrid asked happily, looking around at the class. "Right, well, I've bin savin' a trip inter the forest fer yer fifth year. Thought we'd go an' see these creatures in their natural habitat. Now, what we're studying today is pretty rare, I reckon I'm probably the only person in Britain who's managed ter train 'em."
"And you're sure they're trained, are you?" Malfoy asked in a panicked tone. "Only it wouldn't be the first time you'd brought wild stuff to class, would it?"
"Mal-fart, they're trained, so stop your whining," Ed snapped. "But if it would make you feel better, you could go in by yourself to see."
"How would you know that they're trained, Elric?" Malfoy sneered. "Oh, wait, that's right, you would know because you're stupid enough to have been held back."
Ed made to attack Malfoy, but Harry, Ron, and Al held him back as he yelled obscenities at Malfoy.
"All righ', let's go," Hagrid called, turning into the forest.
Harry, Ron, and Al let go of Ed once Malfoy and cronies were out of reach. Ed straightened his cloak and started into the forest after the other Gryffindors, Al following after him.
"Brother, wait for me!" Al called.
Ed slowed down and stopped. Al went to him.
"Brother, you've really got to calm down," Al reasoned.
"I would, but that Mal-fart pisses me off," Ed scowled, as he and Al followed their classmates.
After ten minutes of walking, they reached a place where the trees stood so closely together that it was as dark as twilight and there was no snow on the ground at all. Hagrid deposited his half a cow with a grunt on the ground, stepped back, and turned to face his class again, most of whom were creeping toward him from tree to tree, peering around nervously as though expecting to be set upon at any moment.
"Gather roun', gather roun'!" Hagrid encouraged. "Now, they'll be attracted by the smell o' the meat, but I'm goin' ter give 'em a call anyway, 'cause they'll like ter know it's me…"
He turned, shook his shaggy head to get the hair out of his face, and gave an odd, shrieking cry that echoed through the dark trees like the call of some monstrous bird. Nobody laughed; most of them looked too scared to make a sound. Hagrid gave the shrieking cry again. A minute passed in which the class continued to peer nervously over their shoulders and around trees for a first glimpse of whatever it was that was coming. And then, as Hagrid shook his hair back for a third time and expanded his enormous chest, Ed and Al saw a pair of blank, white, shining eyes in the black space between two gnarled yew trees. They were growing larger through the gloom and a moment later the dragonish face, neck, and then skeletal body of a great, black winged horse emerged from the darkness. It surveyed the class for a few seconds, swishing its long black tail, then bowed its head and began to tear flesh from the dead cow with its pointed fangs.
Only a few people could see the creature as everyone else looked to see where the creature was. A Slytherin standing behind Goyle was watching the horse eating the cow with an expression of great distaste, Neville was watching the tail swish back and forth, Ed and Al also wore expressions of distaste as Harry was looking at them.
"Oh, an' here comes another one!" Hagrid said proudly, as a second black horse appeared out of the dark trees, folded its leathery wings closer to its body, and dipped its head to gorge on the meat. "Now…put yer hands up, who can see 'em?"
Ed, Al, Harry, Neville, and the Slytherin raised their hands.
"I thought you would see them," Hagrid told Harry, Ed, and Al. "You too, Neville, eh?"
"Excuse me," Malfoy sneered. "But what exactly are we supposed to be seeing?"
"Look at the cow," Ed retorted.
Everyone looked at the cow carcass on the ground for a few seconds, then several people gasped and Parvati squealed.
"What's doing it?" Parvati demanded. "What's eating it?"
"Ed, why don' you explain?" Hagrid suggested.
"They're called Thestrals," Ed explained, crossing his arms across his chest. "Hogwarts has got a whole herd of them in the forest."
"But they're unlucky!" Parvati protested.
"That's just stupid superstition," Ed scowled. "They aren't unlucky. They pull the school carriages. The only people who can see them are those who have seen someone kick the bucket."
"That's exactly right," Hagrid confirmed solemnly. "Ten points ter Grffindor. Now, Thestrals -"
"Hem, hem," a voice said.
Professor Umbridge had arrived. She was standing a few feet away from Harry, wearing her green hat and cloak again, her clipboard at the ready. Hagrid, who had never heard Umbridge's fake cough before, was gazing in some concern at the closest Thestrals, evidently under the impression that it had made the sound.
"Hem, hem," Umbridge fake coughed.
"Oh, hello!" Hagrid beamed, having located the source of the noise.
"You received the note I sent to your cabin this morning?" Umbridge asked, in a loud, slow voice as though she were addressing somebody both foreign and very slow. "Telling you that I would be inspecting your lesson?"
"Oh yeah," Hagrid said brightly. "Glad yeh found the place all right! Well, as you can see - or, I dunno - can you? We're doin' Thestrals today -"
"I'm sorry?" Umbridge asked loudly, cupping her hand around her ear, frowning. "What did you say?"
Hagrid looked a little confused.
"Er - Thestrals!" Hagrid clarified loudly. "Big - er - winged horses, yeh know!"
He flapped his gigantic arms hopefully. Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows at him and muttered as she made a note on her clipboard, "Has… to… resort… to… crude… sign… language…"
"Well. . .anyway . . .," Hagrid continued a little flustered, as he turned back to the students. "Erm…what was I saying?"
"'Appears to have poor short term memory…,'" Umbridge noted loud enough so that everyone could hear her.
"Oh, yeah," Hagrid went on, throwing an uneasy glance at Umbridge's clipboard. "Yeah, I was gonna tell yeh how come we got a herd. Yeah, so, we started off with a male an' five females. This one," he patted the first horse to have appeared, "name o' Tenebrus, he's my special favorite, firs' one born here in the forest -"
"Are you aware," Umbridge loudly interrupted, "that the Ministry of Magic has classified Thestrals as dangerous?"
"Thestrals aren' dangerous!" Hagrid protested. "All righ', they might take a bite outta you if yeh really annoy them -"
"'Shows… signs… of… pleasure… at… idea… of… violence…,'" Umbridge muttered, scribbling on her clipboard again.
"Hagrid's right, Upchuck," Ed interrupted.
Umbridge looked up at Ed.
"Excuse me?" Umbridge asked in a falsely sweet voice.
"You heard me," Ed replied. "The only way they'd be dangerous is if you piss them off. Like how you're pissin' me off."
Umbridge gave a false laugh and patted Ed on the head. Ed swatted her hand away.
"Don't touch me," Ed snapped.
Umbridge looked coldly at Ed and then went around and spoke with the students. After doing so, she told Hagrid in a condescending way that he'd be receiving his results in ten days time.
"That foul, lying, twisted old gargoyle!" Hermione stormed half an hour later, as she, Harry, Ron, Ed, and Al made their way back up to the castle through the channels they had made earlier in the snow. "You see what she's up to? It's her thing about half-breeds all over again - she's trying to make out Hagrid's some kind of dim-witted troll, just because he had a giantess for a mother - and oh, it's not fair, that really wasn't a bad lesson at all - I mean, all right, if it had been Blast-Ended Skrewts again, but Thestrals are fine - in fact, for Hagrid, they're really good!"
"Umbridge said they're dangerous," Ron said.
"They can look after themselves," Ed pointed out.
"Yes, Edward is right," Hermione agreed. "I suppose a teacher like Grubbly-Plank wouldn't usually show them to us before N.E.W.T. level, but, well, they are very interesting, aren't they? The way some people can see them and some can't! I wish I could."
"Do you really?" Al asked softly.
Hermione looked horrorstruck.
"Oh, Alphonse, I'm sorry," Hermione apologized. "No, of course I don't. That was a really stupid thing to say."
"That's all right," Al forgave. "Don't worry about it."
"I'm surprised so many people could see them," Ron admitted. "Five in a class…"
"Yeah, Weasley, we were just wondering," a malicious voice spoke up. Unheard by any of them in the muffling snow, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were walking along right behind them. "D'you reckon if you saw someone snuff it you'd be able to see the Quaffle better?"
As Malfoy and his cronies walked away laughing, Ed growled and spoke up.
"Hey, Mal-fart!" Ed called out.
Malfoy and his cronies stopped and looked at Ed.
"Do you think you'd be able to see the Snitch by yourself instead of watching Harry all the time if you saw someone snuff it?" Ed retorted.
Malfoy turned and stormed off, his cronies following after him. Ron and Harry burst out in laughter.
"That was brilliant, mate, brilliant," Ron commented.
Ed smirked as he straightened his cloak.
December arrived, bringing with it more snow and a positive avalanche of homework for the fifth years. Ron and Hermione's prefect duties also became more and more onerous as Christmas approached. They were called upon to supervise the decoration of the castle, to watch over first and second years spending their break times inside because of the bitter cold, and to patrol the corridors in shifts with Argus Filch, who suspected that the holiday spirit might show itself in an outbreak of wizard duels. They were so busy that Hermione had stopped knitting elf hats and was fretting that she was down to her last three.
"All those poor elves I haven't set free yet, having to stay over during Christmas because there aren't enough hats!" Hermione fretted.
As Harry bent over his History of Magic essay, Winry spoke up.
"How do you know that they count as clothes?" Winry asked. "I mean, hats aren't really clothes. They're just accessories. And socks are just for your feet."
Hermione stopped talking to Winry for the rest of that evening and the day after. Ron had invited Winry, Ed, and Al to come to the Burrow for Christmas, but they had declined.
"Sorry, but Al and I are gonna go to Dublith with Teacher for the holidays," Ed declined.
"And I'm going to go to Resembool," Winry politely declined.
At the last defense club meeting, they just went over what they had learned so far. At the end of the hour, Harry called a halt.
"You're getting really good," Harry beamed at everyone. "When we get back from the holidays we can start doing some of the big stuff - maybe even Patronuses."
There was a murmur of excitement. The room began to clear in the usual twos and threes; most people wished Harry a Happy Christmas as they left. Ed, Al, and Winry were among the first ones to leave. Al went ahead to Gryffindor Tower while Ed and Winry went to the passageway that was covered by the large mirror on the fourth floor. Ed and Winry looked up and down the hall and saw that no one was around. Ed pulled open the mirror to reveal a space of rock. He clapped his hands and placed them onto the rock. With a flash of light, the rock disappeared and the passageway appeared. Ed allowed Winry in first and then followed, shutting the mirror shut behind him.
Ed then pulled something out from his inner cloak pocket and held it out to Winry.
"What is this?" Winry asked, taking the package.
"What does it look like?" Ed muttered blushing. "It's your Christmas present."
"But Christmas isn't until a few more days," Winry said.
"Just open it!" Ed snapped, his face still red.
Winry scowled. She then unwrapped the present. Winry squealed and then hugged Ed who blushed harder.
"Oh, Ed!" Winry gushed after letting Ed go. "It's wonderful! It's exactly what I needed!"
"I thought it would be," Ed mumbled, scratching his cheek with a finger. "You've been sayin' for the longest that you wanted that Deluxe Wrench Set for a while, ever since you've seen it in the store window at Central before coming back here."
"It must have cost a fortune!" Winry breathed.
"It doesn't matter," Ed stated. "As long as -"
Ed was cut off by Winry kissing him full on the lips.
Ed and Winry returned to the common room shortly after Hermione went up to the fifth year girls' dormitory. Harry and Ron looked at Ed and Winry.
"Where have you two been?" Ron asked, smirking.
"It is none of your business!" Winry snapped.
Winry stormed up to the sixth year girls' dormitory while Ed shrugged and went to the fifth year boys' dormitory. A few moments later, Harry and Ron came up to the fifth year boys' dormitory as well.