Cerulean Silver vs. Amber Gold
by hikaranko

Summary: Ed has been put on his stupidest assignment yet: babysitting. Well, that's not what everyone else would call it, but to Edward Elric, it's exactly like babysitting... Over the months, Ed's learned a lot of new things, one of them being "never stick your nose in where it's not wanted." But now it's too late to back out. Something must be done, before the situation gets any worse... FMA/HP crossover. kinda sorta may possibly be slightly AU with HBP and with FMA. rated T for language.

Disclaimer: For reasons beyond my control (and greatly to my own disappointment), I do not own the Fullmetal Alchemist or Harry Potter series. FMA belongs to the great and mighty Hiromu Arakawa, and HP belongs to the equally great and mighty J.K. Rowling. The idea of this story belongs to the not quite as great and mighty me. The story is my baby. MJade-1 is its only godparent :D

Author's Note: hello, all. did you miss me? ;) haha, sorry, being weird again. anyways, I'm back, having finally broken free of a piece of writer's block! I see a little more to come, but hopefully it won't be anywhere near as bad as the one I just recovered from.

thanks for all the wonderful reviews! Mjade and I appreciate them a lot. :D reviews are like little shimmers of love and kindness. food for our souls! (I didn't coin that, someone else did. can't remember who, unfortunately, but I know that it's someone here at FanFic :P) and, to answer EagleBlaze (since it was an anonymous review), our interpretation of the Dark Mark is a little different. since it's a way for Voldemort to keep track of his followers, he put it on Draco to make sure that he obeys and succeeds in his task. he's still not an official Death Eater, but the Dark Mark will serve as a reminder of how he's supposed to be one of the Dark Lord's little drones now and he doesn't have the right to free will anymore. it marks the beginning of his Death Eater initiation, really. the beginning of the end of life as he knows it... (pum pum puhhh...)

by the way, I didn't mean to compare Mustang to Voldemort, it was more just a comparison of situation. and besides, it's more like King Bradley is like Voldemort, they're the leaders of the bunch. XD and, if you have read as far into the FMA manga as I have, you'll find that comparison to be entirely plausible...

anyways, I graciously accept the cyber cookies and I must thank you all, once again, for reading this far into the story. I'm honored to be able to give you guys an enjoyable story like the ones I have been so priviliged to be able to read. I am so excited to be able to present to you another chapter! (oh wow, why the hell do I sound like I'm accepting an award?? okay, stopping that now, and moving right along...) so here it is!!

Chapter 30
Friction and Conflict

Edward stopped sending reports to Mustang. He had once sent them in the biweekly frequency that had been demanded of him (even though they had been getting shorter and shorter), but Ed's latest discoveries - immensely relevant to his mission as they were - were far too involved to be reported. It would just complicate things unnecessarily if any of this information was reported to a third party and wouldn't do anybody any favors. It may just get Draco, his family, and countless other innocents killed at Voldemort's hands sooner than could be dealt with at that point in time and possibly create hostilities between the Wizarding community and Amestris. And none of them needed any more wars to fight.

It was also too personal and obviously very sensitive to Draco. Ed hadn't forgotten the haunted look on Draco's face when he saw the witch die before his very eyes. Nor had he forgotten the fact that Draco was completely trapped; whether or not he obeyed Voldemort, somebody he cared for was going to be killed. It was just a matter of who he chose.

His mind kept wandering back to a certain letter still safely tucked away inside Ed's trunk...

No. Ed would take care of this himself. Though this firm decision still left him unsure of how exactly he would do that. Helping Draco accomplish his task was completely out of the question as it went against Ed's beliefs and mission and paved a clear path for Voldemort and his plans of mass genocide. On the other hand, stopping him meant the death of him and his entire family, possible exposure of Ed's true identity and purpose, and would also inevitably lead to a massacre.

The well-being of Hermione Granger and Narcissa Malfoy now found itself among Ed's list of top priority concerns. As such, the very last letter he'd chosen to send to Mustang included the words "Look out for Lady Malfoy," and also assured an increase of the frequency in which Ed convened with Al.

Along with his final note, Ed told Eule to roost closer to Mustang since he probably wasn't going to send anything out of Hogwarts anymore. Mustang was obviously less than pleased to find out about all this. Everyday for the first week since Ed's final report he sent Eule back to Ed. She came with notes demanding an explanation and for the Fullmetal Alchemist to comply with the orders of his superior lest the military find out about his well-kept secrets. Edward probably only opened the first few. After that, he promptly tore them apart upon arrival and made Eule go back to Mustang empty handed. He knew the colonel's threats were empty; after all, both he and Al were in Hogwarts and couldn't be dragged away for alchemic research without making a scene. And besides, even if the colonel did go through with them, Ed himself had some dirt on the bastard and always had the option of threatening back.

The Slytherins naturally questioned Ed's strange treatment of his incoming mail, but he never told them anything. He kept up the facade of a particularly rotten mood, giving them lame excuses for it such as nightmares, disagreeable weather, and school-related stress. He just really needed to be left alone. He had a lot to think about.

On top of finding a way of helping Draco with his dilemma, Ed still had to gain the Slytherin's trust, get through the damn magic wall, and find out exactly what he was planning. Until then, he also felt obligated to protect the other residents of Hogwarts, particularly Hermione and the headmaster. Ideally he'd find a way to help Draco out of his tight situation first. Then there were also his original plans of studying magic to satisfy his curiosity and to find a way to restore him and his brother. And of course, there was the more menial task of maintaining his appearance as a normal Hogwarts student that knew nothing outside of his own schoolwork.

It was quite the mental overload, even for someone as brilliant as Edward Elric.

And Alphonse could tell. Even though Ed had never went out and directly told Al everything he knew to that point, as usual, the younger Elric could sense it. He just knew his older brother too well for these things to remain secret for long.

They were in the middle of one of their early morning sparring matches when Al decided to bring it up. Though Al wasn't sure he could truly count it as a sparring match. Edward's mind was somewhere else and the punches he threw were slow and half-hearted. Al found that many of their spars had been that way recently; either Ed's movements were sluggish and his mind was gone, or he was more vicious than usual. Al easily dodged Ed's last punch and immediately grabbed his wrist, holding him securely in place.

The glaze over Ed's eyes vanished in his surprise. "Al, what're you-"

"Are you okay, nii-san?"

He blinked. "Huh? Of course I am. Why?"

"You seem distracted. Again."

Ed stared wide-eyed into Al's face. "Whaddaya mean 'again'?"

"You know what I mean. You've been acting funny lately."

"Oh..." There was a pause. Ed dropped his gaze. "Sorry."

"What's going on?"

The elder brother didn't answer, staring intently at a spot on the stretch of wall behind Al. Al sighed, exasperated.

"Whatever it is, you know you can tell me... What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Al. It's nothing."

"It's not nothing," Alphonse insisted, "I know it's not, so tell me!"

A deep, annoyed frown formed on Ed's face and he tried to wrench his arm away. "I am telling you, it's nothing!"

"Don't lie to me! You haven't been yourself lately and-"

"You're imagining things, Al!"

"-if something's wrong-"

"Nothing's wrong!"

"-you know you can always tell me!"

"Just drop it, okay?! Nothing happened! Nothing's wrong!"

"Nii-san-"

"I SAID DROP IT!"

His golden eyes flashed furiously and Al was taken aback, finally relinquishing his hold on Ed's wrist. He took several steps backward, keeping his gaze fixated on his older brother. Edward was shaking slightly as he stepped away, though he himself wasn't sure why. He took in several deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down, but his frustration seemed to be too much. Al stared at him, shocked.

"Why...?"

Instantly, Ed was consumed by a powerful feeling of guilt. Ed hated keeping things from his younger brother, but he had no choice. Part of him wanted to tell Al everything. He wanted a new, outsider perspective on things because there was a chance that he was blowing the whole thing out of proportion. But he couldn't, even though Al wasthe one person Ed knew he could trust with his life. He took another deep breath, hoping that this time he would be able to calm himself down.

"I'm sorry, Al... But look, really, it's..."

"It's what? Tell me!"

He took in another deep breath and looked away. "I... I can't. It's not my business to tell."

"Since when did it ever matter to you whether it was your business or not?"

Ed turned back to look at Alphonse in shock. "What?! What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Nii-san, you're pretty well known for getting involved in things that you-"

Al stopped short, realization dawning on him. He could only continue to look at Edward, growing increasingly worried. Ed's eyes grew slightly wider as he realized that Al had figured something out and quickly looked away again, not wanting to give anything else away.

"Does this... It's something about... about Miss Hermione, isn't it?"

Ed didn't respond. He avoided Al's gaze, staring down into his right hand and flexing his auto-mail fingers like he thought it had malfunctioned. Eventually, Al bowed his head so that he was looking at the blades of grass beneath his feet.

"So... I can't help..."

Al's tone of voice was riddled with disappointment. Ed refused to raise his head, not daring to reveal the worried expression on his face. He remained quiet for another moment, trying to figure out what the best thing to say would be.

'No, Al, you can't. There's too much at risk. I can't let you get caught up in this. You know too much as it is. I'm already too involved and I'm not even supposed to be. It's too personal to Malfoy...'

But the words never found their way out of Ed's mouth. It felt like he would be violating some unspoken rule if he told anyone anything. Instead, his eyes slowly rolled to the side so that he was looking at a brightening patch of sunlight on a different area of the courtyard they'd been sparring in.

"Sun's coming up," he muttered, turning to leave. "Everyone'll be waking up soon, so we'd better get going. I've got class, and you..."

Ed heaved a sigh, still able to feel Al's gaze on him, watching his every movement. He tried to wipe his face of all expression as he slowly turned to face him, but failed miserably. His feelings leaked into his voice when he opened his mouth to speak again.

"Be careful, Al."

The younger Elric was quiet for a moment, then finally nodded. "Okay. You too, nii-san."

Without looking back up at him, Ed also nodded and went back inside the castle.

To say that Al had been utterly confused about what had happened that morning wouldn't do the matter justice. Not only was Al mystified and at a loss for what to do next, but he was also frustrated and hurt. The Elric brothers always told each other everything, even if it didn't concern the other in any way, so Ed's silence was highly unnerving to Al. But since Ed had chosen to pretend the argument never happened, Alphonse decided that it was probably for the best and wisely chose not to press the issue. Still, the fact was difficult to get over.

Soon enough, April began to draw to a close, though the signs of approaching summer did little to improve Ed's mood. He'd made practically no progress whatsoever in all of the things he'd been trying to accomplish for the past few weeks, and it was getting on his nerves. Proper concentration had been near impossible to achieve; Hogwarts was always full of things to distract the mind, which was one thing that Ed both loved and hated about the school. One of those things was the Apparition testing. Lessons had finally come to an end and the upcoming testing in Hogsmeade had become the most popular topic of conversation amongst the sixth and seventh years. The only exception within the entire student body was Edward Elric.

The Slytherins intended to fix that.

When lunch was over, Zabini chased after Ed in the hallway with one of the Crabbe/Goyles behind him. He marched right up to him and quickly snatched away the copy of the Daily Prophet that was in his hands. Ed halted and looked up at once, frowning in annoyance.

"Hey! What the hell, I was readi-"

Before he could finish speaking, a brochure was suddenly thrust under his nose. Ed blinked in surprise, refocusing his eyes so that he could see what was in front of him. He scowled as he read the words written across the cover: Common Apparition Mistakes and How to Avoid Them.

"You gotta be kidding me."

He shifted his gaze so he was looking at Zabini, whose features had hardened determinedly as he looked at him. "Read it. Testing's in less than-"

"A screw must've come loose in that head of yours, Zabini," Ed muttered, annoyed, "'cause otherwise you would've remembered I already said I'm not going."

Zabini ignored him, waving the brochure insistently in Ed's face. "Testing's in less than two hours, Elric, and-"

"Would you give it up already?" Ed snapped, slapping the brochure away and making a reach for the newspaper. "I'll give you points for tenacity, but aren't you sick and tired of hearing the word 'no' a million times over by now?"

Crabbe/Goyle looked slightly dazed. He leaned a bit closer to Zabini and Ed heard him murmur, "What's tenacity mean?"

Blaise continued to pretend to be deaf and chose not to answer either one of the questions that had just been thrown at him. He kept the paper as far away from Ed's significantly shorter limbs as possible and kept talking.

"You're coming down to Hogsmeade with us whether you like it or not."

The frown on Ed's face deepened. "Do I have to get creative with my refusals here?"

"We can drag you, you realize," Blaise went on. Crabbe/Goyle cracked his knuckles threateningly, as though on cue. "We can carry you down there, Elric."

Ed narrowed his eyes slightly. "So I'm guessing brute force will work on you better." And he raised one clenched fist for Crabbe/Goyle to see.

"You're still at it?" drawled a familiar voice, interrupting the argument.

Zabini, Crabbe/Goyle, and Ed all turned to face Draco and the other Crabbe/Goyle as they approached, walking casually down the hallway. The white-blonde eyed the three Slytherins before him, an exhausted-looking frown on his face.

"Still not sick of having the same conversation over and over again, Zabini?"

"That's what I said," Ed muttered, turning back around to glare at Zabini. "Nice to know that somebody's been paying attention."

Blaise frowned. "Malfoy, you're just upset you're not old enough to take the test just yet."

Draco rolled his eyes as he and Crabbe/Goyle came to a stop a few feet away from them. "Please. It's not as though the testing in Hogsmeade's my one and only chance."

"Besides," said one of the Crabbe/Goyles, "we're busy with other things."

At once, the other Crabbe/Goyle jabbed an elbow into his gut, hissing dangerously into his ear. Draco looked over and shot him a quick, angry look. Ed's eyes flicked over to look at them, then over at Zabini to see if the black boy had noticed. Of course he had. Ed knew that Blaise wasn't that stupid. He would have had to be as bad as Crabbe and Goyle if he hadn't.

Zabini's eyebrows arched upward in surprise, constantly switching his gaze from one Crabbe/Goyle to the other. "What other things?"

"Other things like watching out for our own hides," Ed said quickly, snatching his copy of the Daily Prophet back from Zabini. "You don't pay attention to anything, do you?"

"What are you on about?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Ed could see Crabbe and Goyle looking completely dumbfounded and Draco narrowing his eyes suspiciously. He ignored it for now and flipped through the newspaper to the obituary section. He held it out for Zabini and pointed at the pages vigorously, like he was teaching a three-year-old that the square block couldn't fit through the circular hole.

"Y'see that, Zabini? People are being attacked left and right," Ed told him, his tone of voice grave and solemn. "Relatives of students here at Hogwarts. Getting killed. Attacked by werewolves and Death Eaters. And don't forget that both Katie Bell and Ron Weasley almost died." He stole a quick glance in Draco's direction. "Those didn't look like accidents to me. I wouldn't be surprised if there was an attack at Hogsmeade while you're all there. This doesn't exactly strike me as a time to be more concerned with 'destination, determination, and deliberation'."

Zabini paled slightly at Ed's words. Ed couldn't help but feel pleased. It wasn't as though he had lied; he'd been hearing and reading about all the horrible attacks that were undoubtedly Voldemort's work. But he was perfectly aware, thanks to Draco's memory in his Pensieve, that the snake-nosed bastard couldn't get anywhere near Hogwarts. At least not without Draco's help. He stole another glance in the Malfoy heir's direction and saw a strange, conflicting look in his silver eyes, like he had no idea what to think of the small blonde now.

"Blimey," Zabini breathed as he read one of the shorter articles, his eyes wide.

Suddenly feeling extremely cheerful, Ed quickly folded the newspaper up and tucked it under one arm. He smiled and good-naturedly slapped Zabini on the back.

"That said, good luck on your testing!"

The tall Slytherin let out a pathetic sound of some kind, which served only to lift Ed's spirits higher. 'What a quick learner!'

"Did you hear?!" squealed a female voice from the direction of the Great Hall, getting louder and louder. "Ooh, did you hear?!"

'Aw, shit.' Ed's spirits plummeted at once. He thought he'd finally cleansed himself of Pansy Parkinson's presence.

Pansy made a mad dash for Draco, once again throwing herself on him (much to his disdain) in an excited manner. "You wouldn't believe what I've just witnessed!"

Ed turned and started to walk away, shaking his head. "Here we go..."

"More gossip, Pans?" drawled Draco, prying himself away from her.

"This is not gossip!" Pansy scoffed, consenting to simply lock her arm with Draco's as they walked. "What I'm about to tell you is fact!"

"Oh, yes, of course," said Zabini, recovering from his state of shock. "Because with you, Pansy, we can rely on the straight and honest truth."

Pansy shot an angry glare at Zabini, then threw her chin into the air and ignored him. She turned back to Draco, despite the fact that it didn't look like he was listening at all. The Crabbe/Goyles, on the other hand, seemed to be listening quite intently (though no one could really say why).

"Lavender Brown - you know that Gryffindor than hangs out with the Patil twins?" No one responded. Pansy continued anyway. "You know she's been dating Weasley, right? Well, let's just say she's caught him and Lovegood in a rather 'compromising' situation."

Ed raised his eyebrows. 'Ron and Luna...? Didn't see that coming...'

She laughed sardonically. "The Mudblood-lover Weasel and Looney Lovegood! In my opinion, they'd be perfect for each other!"

Draco just rolled his eyes in a nonchalant "why the hell are you telling me this?" manner and kept walking. Crabbe and Goyle didn't seem to have any idea why Pansy was so excited and exchanged identical blank looks. On the other hand, Zabini seemed to have come back to life, a mischievous smile on his face and a hungry glint in his eyes.

"Hmm... Brown needs a shoulder to cry on, eh? I'm all ears, Pansy! Where are they at now?" A wolfish grin made its way onto Zabini's face. "I could get lucky."

Pansy gave Zabini a horrified look that seemed to very clearly say "but she's a Gryffindor!" Draco still looked bored with the situation, since it was of no concern or consequence to him. Ed glanced back at both Zabini and Pansy, then turned back, rolling his eyes.

"I doubt the last place Lavender Brown would want to be is with a sex-obsessed maniac like you, Zabini."

"What?" Blaise put on his most innocent looking face, but it didn't last long. It quickly gave way for the look he got when he was thinking about women. "Waste not, want not. Isn't that right, Elric?"

Ed slowly turned around, his brow furrowed. "What? What the hell are you talking about?"

Blaise smirked slightly. "You were the one who introduced us to the wonderful world of foxy Gryffindor girls, remember? Who am I to let this one go to waste?"

Pansy directed her angry, disdainful look toward Edward. "Eddy, how could you! Letting Blaise associate with that - those - such filth!"

"Hey." Zabini clasped one hand over his heart, acting as though Pansy's comment had deeply offended him. "I, for one, am grateful to the little bloke." He turned to give Ed an appreciative nod.

A vein was throbbing somewhere on Ed's forehead. As if he wasn't already frustrated enough with his life, these two had to come in and annoy him and push him to his limit. Well, this was it. Suddenly, it was all he could take. He suddenly found himself at his breaking point, all because of an idiotic, sex-obsessed maniac and an annoying, pug-nosed girl.

'They're not worth it,' he told himself sternly. 'They're not...'

"Well, let's get going, mates," announced Zabini. "Gotta get ready for the Hogsmeade testing. Seeing as this could take a while, as usual... Crabbe? Goyle?" The two boys turned to face Zabini, who gestured toward Ed. "Shall we?"

They both nodded in response. The Crabbe/Goyle standing closest to Ed stalked over, cracking his knuckles in preparation to pick him up the way he usually did. But the moment Crabbe/Goyle reached over to grab onto his shoulder, something inside Ed completely snapped. He spun around so quickly that his long braid whipped into his face and grabbed onto the front of the burly boy's robes.

And before anybody had any time to react, Ed's right fist had slammed across Crabbe/Goyle's face with an almighty crunch.

Despite the blossoming black eye that he was now sporting as he walked down the hall, Ed felt quite pleased with himself. He hadn't really meant to lash out like that (at least not at Crabbe/Goyle) and it had all happened on an instinctive, angry whim, but he couldn't help feeling almost cheerful at the thought of finally giving one of the Slytherins a decent broken nose. Even though it had been fixed almost immediately with that Episkey spell (no one was sure how Malfoy knew it, though), the fact remained; the crimson stains of blood on Crabbe/Goyle's robes were the lasting proof of it.

Draco glanced at him out of the corner of his eye as they made their way to their afternoon Potions class. He frowned at the cheerful grin across Ed's face.

"You're not going to do something about your eye?"

Ed reached up to touch the fresh bruise and grinned to himself. Even though he didn't have a properly functioning brain, Crabbe/Goyle certainly knew how to fight back. He wasn't a big ugly brute for nothing. Ed decided that it was probably an animal instinct. The idiot was pretty primitive along the evolutionary cycle; he seemed more closely related to a gorilla than a human, anyway.

"Of course not!" he answered triumphantly. "A black eye is like a badge of courage! I wear it proud. Besides, it'll heal up on its own, no big deal."

The Malfoy heir frowned, quickly averting his eyes. He nervously tugged the left sleeve of his robes down. "Well, do something about it now, would you? Honestly, it's bad enough to be seen with you without you looking like a common thug."

"I look like a common thug? Just because I've got a black eye?" Ed could have laughed. "This coming from the guy who's constantly flanked by Crabbe and Goyle? That's rich."

The frown on Draco's face quickly turned into a deep scowl. Ed hadn't felt this great in ages. His grin broadened.

"This-" He gestured to his bruise. "-is nothing, trust me. It's just a measly black eye! Doesn't even sting."

"Bloody shame, that," Draco snapped. "Maybe if it did you'd heal it already."

He suddenly reached over and flicked a finger at the swollen flesh, practically forcing Ed to wince in pain. Ed clapped his right hand over it defensively, which only made it hurt more. He tried not to make the second wince as obvious as he discreetly switched hands. Either way, Draco hadn't noticed.

"Sheesh," Ed muttered, sucking in air through his teeth. "You didn't have to do that, y'know..."

"If it hurts so much, heal it." Draco turned to look at him expectantly. "Go on, wand out. Can't heal a bruise without your wand."

"No, it just wouldn't be-" Ed caught himself before saying "natural." He was supposed to be a wizard. Magic was supposed to be natural to him. He frantically searched for a different excuse and came up empty handed. Shit. Ed was painfully aware of the fact that he was becoming more and more suspicious in Draco's eyes. He stole a quick glance at the Slytherin, who was still watching him, waiting for him to pull his wand out.

"Well?" He heaved a tired, impatient sigh. "Get on with it, then."

"F-Forget it!" Ed blurted out, starting to walk faster in an attempt to leave him behind. "I'm not gonna heal it with magic!"

Draco narrowed his eyes and quickened his step to catch up. "Heal the bloody eye!"

"Why's this such an issue with you?" Ed called back over his shoulder, finding that Draco was now just a few feet behind him. "It's just a little bruise, it'll be fine in a week or so-"

"Just get rid of it!"

"Why?! Is it embarrassing? Does it bother you? I'm the one that should be-"

And suddenly, Draco cracked. "At least you can heal the damn bruise! At least something you have can disappear! Like it's never been marred in the first place, like it's never happened!"

Edward stopped in the middle of the hallway, his eyes wide in alarm. Slowly, he turned around to look at Draco in total shock. Draco had stopped as well, his eyes lowered to the floor. He took great, shuddering breaths as he tried to calm himself. Then, after what felt like almost an eternity, Draco raised his eyes of cerulean silver so that they met with amber gold.

"Just heal the bloody eye," he said, his voice dangerously soft.

He then straightened himself and kept walking, sweeping right past Ed without a sparing glance. Ed caught a glimpse of him self-consciously tugging down on his left sleeve as he walked away. Then he remained still for an extra moment, allowing the distance between the two of them to grow. He waited until the sounds of Draco's footsteps faded away before he even dared to move again.

Ed pulled out his wand and examined it from all sides with a blank look on his face. He then grudgingly pointed it at his bruise and healed it. There was a brief flash of light and Ed immediately felt the slight prickling wash away. With a deep, weary sigh, Ed put his wand away and continued down the hallway.

There was no point in causing Draco further grief. He didn't want to be reminded. Ed understood that.

Edward Elric, of all people, understood that.

He nervously tugged at the glove on his right hand. This was going to be a long Potions class.

"Ah, Mr. Elric!" boomed Slughorn cheerily as Ed entered the dungeon. "So good of you to join us! Have a seat, have a seat."

He patted one of the table tops invitingly, an enthusiastic smile across his face. Ed half-smiled at the professor as he went over to the usual table. He hesitated before sitting down, realizing that he had almost ended up immediately next to Draco. He then moved again and sat further down the table, leaving several empty seats between him and the Malfoy heir.

Professor Slughorn surveyed the classroom from the front, still smiling. Ed cast a brief, off-handed glance over the room. Then did a double take. There were only four students left: Ed, Draco, some Hufflepuff boy, and Harry Potter.

"All too young to Apparate just yet?" Professor Slughorn asked them all genially. "Not turned seventeen yet?"

Harry, Draco, and the Hufflepuff all shook their heads. Then Draco shot an annoyed look at Ed.

"Well, Elric has," he announced loudly.

Everyone else turned to look at him, incredulous expressions on their faces. The young alchemist just turned his eyes toward the ceiling and pretended not to have noticed. Which was difficult since he couldn't keep himself from smiling in amusement. The professor's eyebrows arched upward in surprise.

"Have you now, Mr. Elric?"

Ed shrugged nonchalantly, still staring at a spot on the ceiling.

"What're you doing here instead of at the testing, m'boy?"

He shrugged again. "Didn't see any point in taking it."

Slughorn looked momentarily confused, then suddenly gave an amused chuckle. "Ah, that's right, that's right, I've heard of the scenes you've made, Mr. Elric... Ah well, as we're so few, we'll do something for fun. I want you all to brew me up something amusing!"

"That sounds good, sir," the Hufflepuff said sycophantically, rubbing his hands together.

Draco scowled. "What do you mean, 'something amusing'?"

"Oh, surprise me," said Slughorn airily, waving a hand in the air as he returned to the front of the room.

Ed heaved a sigh as he turned his attention to his copy of Advanced Potion-Making and opened it up. Draco did the same with a sulky expression, shaking his head in annoyance. He obviously thought this lesson was a waste of his time. A part of Ed couldn't help but agree. He had better things to do than sit in that classroom brewing up something they thought would make Slughorn laugh.

'Oh well,' he thought as he perused his book. 'Maybe I can find something remotely useful to make in here.'

He quirked an eyebrow interestedly as he came across a page in the textbook that described the effects of a potion called "Gregory's Unctuous Unction." He had read about this particular potion in another book before. It supposedly persuaded the drinker that whoever had given them the potion was their best friend. It was a potentially useful potion; if Ed could get Draco to think they were best friends, he might be able to discover something important! Ed's eyes quickly skimmed down the page and he frowned. There were no instructions on how to brew it. Not even a list of ingredients!

'What the hell is this doing in a textbook if they're not gonna teach you how to make it?!'

After looking at almost every recipe in the book, Ed finally settled on making a Babbling Beverage, which would cause the target person to talk utter nonsense. He hoped it registered on Slughorn's list of "amusing" potions (since it was certainly amusing to Ed). Then again, he didn't really care whether or not it did.

Nearly an hour and a half later, Slughorn could be found clapping his hands together as he stared into the sunshine yellow contents of Harry Potter's cauldron.

"Well, now, this looks absolutely wonderful. Euphoria, I take it? And what's that I smell?"

The professor leaned forward so that he was hovering just over Harry's cauldron and sniffed at the air, an unreadable expression on his face. Ed couldn't help but notice that Slughorn's praise to Harry was nowhere near as enthusiastic as it was in September or October. He vaguely wondered what could have happened to change his attitude so much.

"Mmm... you've added just a sprig of peppermint, haven't you? Unorthodox, but what a stroke of inspiration, Harry, of course, that would tend to counterbalance the occasional side effects of excessive singing and nose-tweaking..."

There was a snort from nearby and Ed turned to look at Draco, who was vehemently packing his things away. Obviously, he still hadn't gotten used to being marked as only passable in what had once been his best class. Ed fought down the smirk that was threatening to spread across his face. He quickly turned the other way and immediately regretted it. Seeing the strange concoction that the Hufflepuff boy had brewed up on a whim out of what Ed suspected to be Potter-envy was so pathetic it was funny.

"I really don't know where you get these brain waves my boy," Slughorn was saying, smiling down at the dark-haired teen. "Unless it's just your mother's genes coming out in you!"

An expression that strangely resembled relief washed over Harry's face. "Oh... yeah, maybe."

The Hufflepuff boy sniffed, giving Harry one last grumpy, envious look before turning his attention to packing his things. Since class was just about finished, Ed pulled his legs off the table top and stood, ready to put his things away as well. He glanced down into his cauldron. Slughorn seemed to have been somewhat impressed with his Babbling Beverage, so it had managed to get a better remark than Draco's Hiccupping Solution. Which was one more reason for Ed to take his time packing; Draco was on the brink of going into a patented Draco Malfoy rage. Ed knew that the wisest course of action would be to give the Slytherin as much space as necessary for the time being.

When the bell rang, both Draco and the Hufflepuff left the dungeon at once. Ed watched Draco for a moment as he left, slowly counting to twenty in his head before making a move to head out. He used that moment of free time to bottle up some of his Babbling Beverage and pocketed it. Just in case he found a use for it someday.

"Sir," he heard Harry call to the professor. "Professor-"

Ed glanced over at Harry, then at Slughorn, who looked almost frightened that Harry had called him. The professor made one of the quickest exits Ed had ever seen in his life.

"Professor," Harry called again, sounding almost desperate, "don't you want to try my po - ?"

But Slughorn was gone. Ed shook his head slowly, tutting to himself. "Jumpy old bastard... What the hell's gotten into him lately?"

Harry jumped slightly in place and turned to look at Ed in surprise. He obviously hadn't realized that Ed was still there. Ed raised an eyebrow at him.

"You're pretty jumpy yourself, Harry. It better not be contagious... What's with you?"

"Oh, nothing," he said quickly. He shut his worn-looking textbook and stuffed it into his bag. "Sorry, Ed. You just... surprised me, that's all."

Ed laughed slightly as he returned to his packing. "Yeah, I'm sneaky like that. So what were you trying to ask Slughorn?"

The Gryffindor tried to flatten some of his untidy black hair to his head. "Just... Just thought he might like to try my, er, the potion I made today." Before Ed could say anything else, Harry shook his head dismissively and changed the subject. "You didn't go down to Hogsmeade for the testing?"

"Sheesh," Ed muttered, rolling his eyes, "is everyone obsessed with that Apparition stuff or what? I thought I was already infamous throughout the school for being the only person to adamantly reject it, and people still ask why I didn't go to the testing."

Harry laughed a little at that, but it sounded almost forced. He seemed distracted. And although Ed noticed this, he didn't really care. It had absolutely nothing to do with him. For all he knew, Harry's mind was on other, more important things. He hadn't really meant the comment as a joke anyway, so it hadn't really mattered whether he got a laugh out of it or not. By now, Ed was finished cleaning his area and packing up. He hefted his scales and cauldron up into his arms, slung the bag with his books over his shoulder, adjusted himself so nothing would fall, and started for the door.

"See ya, Harry."

"Hey... Ed?"

Ed stopped and turned so that he was facing Harry again. "Yeah?"

"Has... Has Malfoy been, er... sick or something recently?"

His eyes became slightly wider. "Uh, whaddaya mean?"

"I dunno, he just looks a bit pale," Harry went on, shrugging casually. "Paler than usual, anyway. And thinner. A lot thinner. Has he, erm, been doing anything... strange? Is he under a lot of stress or something?"

Part of Ed wanted to laugh. Was Harry still trying to find out what Draco was up to? Ed thought that Harry would have given up on this by now. It had been a long time since they had overheard Draco's argument with Snape. Ed should have guessed; he and Harry really were quite a lot alike. But if this was his way of getting information, it was very similar to the tactics of those so-called "junior detectives" that had stocks of novels written about them. In other words, very amateurish. In Ed's opinion, anyway.

Instead of laughing outright, Ed innocently screwed up his face so it looked like he was really thinking about his answer. "I dunno, I guess so. He's been falling behind in classes, and then there's, uh... Quidditch. And stuff."

"Oh." There was a strange look in Harry's eyes. Ed recognized it. It was suspicion.

"Why?" he asked, readjusting the strap of his book bag. "What's it to you?"

Harry frowned, his green eyes lowering to the floor. "Just... wondering. That's all."

Ed was silent for a moment as he looked back at Harry, still biting back the urge to laugh and say, "Yeah, I know he's up to something! You just leave this to the experts, okay? The situation is under control."

Even though it wasn't. Not completely, anyway.

"Well," he said brightly, shifting the cauldron into a more comfortable position in his arms, "I'm glad we could have this talk, Harry. But if you don't mind, I kinda need to head back to my dorm and finish off some research."

"Oh, right." For half a moment it looked like Harry was about to say something else, but he seemed to have changed his mind. "Right. Sorry."

"Catch you later."

He nodded his head at Harry as a goodbye gesture since his hands were still full and left the classroom. Ed made his way leisurely to the dungeons, up to the Slytherin dormitory, and dumped all of his things into the trunk at the foot of his bed. He then stretched out his limbs, walked over to his worn out punching bag, hit it as hard as he could, and walked back. With a small sigh of relief, Ed surveyed the messy contents of his trunk with his fists on his hips.

After a moment, he reached in and pulled out one of his books at random. He then spread himself out on his bed, flipped the book open to a random page, and settled his gaze on it. Ed could feel his mind slowly slip into a familiar darkness, his senses blocking out the world and its distractions. Then a whirlwind of chaos took over, and it quickly became the only thing Ed could focus on.

Thinking time.

Author's Note: bwahaha, Ed finally got to punch someone in the face!! whoohooo!!! and just so it's clear, Ed tried to completely avoid going to the Apparition lessons after that first one, but Zabini, Crabbe and Goyle always found a way to drag him along. as for whether or not he's actually succeeded in Apparating yet, we'll leave that open ended. I'm thinking that maybe he actually did it successfully once before, and since then refused to put forth any effort since once is good enough for him. of course, he still got dragged to lessons, regardless.

and Ed is starting to discover that Harry's prying into his business! er... Draco's business! which should be Ed's concern, not Harry's. ... yeah, you get the picture. sorry that this chapter ends a little awkwardly. I was stuck on this chapter for what felt like forever... so please review and let me know what's going on in everyone's minds! I take all comments, good and bad (but if it's bad, please elaborate). thanks! hopefully the next chapter will be up soon! patience is a virtue, everyone. :D