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: soooo. real life is a bitch, and my co-writer Mjade found herself in a situation that more or less rendered her unable to lend her amazing plotting skillz to me as often as either one of us would like. but we're still trying, there's no way in hell i'm throwing this story away. IT'S MY BABY, DAMMIT. i WILL finish!!
otherwise, thanks again for all the reviews!! OVER 1000, WHICH IS FLIPPIN' AWESOME. i love you all sooooo much! and even if you've chosen to stop reading, i'm not quitting till i'm done. so. WOO!!
so once again, sorry for the long ass wait, and here's hoping this makes it up to you!
Chapter 37
A Failure to Understand
Hermione leaned heavily on Ed for support as he helped her through the castle. They passed through the halls as quickly as possible and in complete silence. Ed didn't want to take too much time; Filch and his damn cat were bound to be prowling about somewhere, always on the lookout. It made Ed wonder if the man had any sort of life outside of getting students into trouble. But at the same time they had to be extremely careful and quiet, which wasn't particularly easy between Ed's unevenly weighted footfalls and Hermione's current condition. He had his left arm around her as they walked, bracing her carefully as she clung to his robes, dragging her feet along and seeming to wince a bit with every step she took.
As they began to pull into the final stretch of the climb to Gryffindor tower, Ed turned slightly to give Hermione a worried look.
"You need to go to the hospital wing."
The girl averted her eyes, looking down at the floor. "No, I'm fine."
"You're not," Ed retorted, his tone probably a little sharper than it should have been. "You can barely walk on your own."
Hermione shook her head slowly, carefully, as though the small action was painful. "I'll be alright by tomorrow. There's no need to wake Madam Pomfrey."
A frown tugged at the corners of Ed's lips and he stopped walking altogether, giving her a stern look. "I doubt that."
She opened her mouth to say something, but Ed cut her off before anything could come out. He was getting more and more upset.
"Hermione, we're talking about an Unforgivable," he said, using practically the same tone he used on Alphonse when he was sure he understood the situation better than the other. "You of all people should know just how serious that is. You can't just let this go- untreated or whatever, you need something to soothe the effects now."
The girl turned sharply toward Ed, giving him a piercing look that teetered on the edge of desperation and anger. "Look!" she almost shouted, nearly waking the surrounding paintings. "I don't want anyone to find out someone just tried to kill me!"
Ed blinked, a bit taken aback by her outburst. Given the way news traveled at Hogwarts and the countless rumors that tended to spawn from these sorts of events, he could somewhat understand why she wouldn't want anyone knowing that. He'd understand if she didn't want Slytherins teasing and jeering at her even more than usual, lamenting the near miss. He supposed that much was fine. But it still didn't mean she didn't need one form of medical attention or another. After a moment, Hermione closed her eyes and turned away slightly, letting out a tired sigh and becoming significantly calmer.
"I'm sorry, Edward," she said softly, shaking her head, "not that I don't appreciate your concern, but... Being in the infirmary will just rouse people's suspicions, and I really don't want anyone to worry about me... especially Harry." She looked back at Ed, chewing anxiously on her lower lip. "Please, don't tell anyone."
He nodded slowly, turning his gold-eyed gaze elsewhere for the moment and they resumed walking. She seemed to be thinking with a surprising level of clarity, given her condition. Maybe she really was getting over it faster than he'd thought, than could possibly have been expected. And it was a natural reaction for Hermione to want the night's events to stay a secret. Ed understood that, considering his own background and his own desire to keep his childhood trauma on a need-to-know basis. So much had happened tonight, and Hermione didn't want-
Wait. Don't tell anyone... That should have been his line. Ed looked back at Hermione, his eyes wide in surprise. She didn't want to go around telling everyone about Draco being a Death Eater? She wasn't itching to see the man who had come so close to killing her be put away?
"You mean, you won't... You're not gonna...?"
"No one needs to know about that right now." It was like Hermione had read his mind. "Evil or not, Draco is... is still human. Misled, but... human."
Ed stared, unable to find the best way to extend his relief and gratitude. Though at the same time, it seemed like sheer insanity. If he'd been in Hermione's place, he would've demanded Draco be locked up and never released for the rest of his natural life. This girl was a greater person than anyone could possibly truly know. Unbelievable.
"I promise I'll get a tonic from Madam Pomfrey tomorrow before class," she said softly. "It'll help ease the effects of the Cruciatus curse."
"That's good," Ed managed to say, nodding at her as they came to a stop near the Fat Lady's painting. Then Hermione turned slightly so that she was facing him and spoke again, her voice now carrying an air of finality along with a weight of sadness.
"Good night, Edward," she said quietly, detaching herself from Ed's cloak and starting toward the painting. She then paused thoughtfully and turned to look back at him from over her shoulder. "And thank you... For saving my life."
Hermione moved further away, giving the password to the Fat Lady and ignoring the painting's indignation at how she'd stayed out until such a late hour. Ed watched from a safe distance, his brow furrowed and a sad frown on his face. He appreciated gratitude where it was due, but...
"I'm not the one who saved your life, Hermione," he murmured as the girl disappeared into the portrait hole. If only there was some way for her to hear him.
The sun had barely risen over the distant horizon. The school hallways were empty and silent, the lull of dawn lingering throughout practically the entire castle. Only so many people were crazy enough to be awake at this hour.
Somewhere, a door slammed shut. It was done so viciously that the sound reverberated through some of the walls, rousing the residents of several paintings within hearing range. They gazed about themselves blearily, surprised and curious. They asked questions of one another, curious as to what had awoken them. None of them had been awake enough, nor had they been close enough to the room to see just what was going on. Which was probably a good thing.
Because it was caused by Edward Elric in the midst of a rage.
He had called Alphonse out of the tower and dragged him into an empty, secluded classroom where he was sure no one would overhear them. It looked like Ed had barely slept, and what little he'd gotten had irritated the hell out of him. And the second the door was properly shut, Ed rounded on his little brother, eyes flashing.
"What the hell happened to you last night?! What, did you fall asleep?!"
The ferocious tone made Al flinch, lowering his head at once so he couldn't see Ed's face. The elder boy was practically glowering at him. It was quite a new experience for them both.
"Where the fuck were you?! You were supposed to be watching her!!"
Alphonse kept his head lowered, staring down at his armored feet, his hands clenched at his sides. "I'm sorry, I didn't think- Miss Hermione said-"
"She could've been killed, Al! Voldemort got a hold of her, do you realize- Don't you get just how fucking serious this is?!"
"She just told me she'd be at the library, I didn't think she'd be harmed- I assumed she would be safe there-"
"You assumed?! Fuck, Al, you know better than that! After years of being with me at Central, at headquarters, after everything we've ever been through, Al, you know better than to assume somebody's safe at any given moment in a situation like this!"
"I-I'm sorry-"
"You're supposed to be watching her all the time, Al! I told you to be on your guard all the time, to always be close if something were to happen to her! SO JUST WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?!"
"I was with Ginny-"
"Ginny?! GINNY?! Again?! Dammit Al, you and your fucking hormones at work! This is no time to be- to be flirting and messing around!"
"I wasn't-!"
"You keep getting carried away with this place and that's gotta stop! We're not here to act like normal teenagers! This is serious business! People's lives are in danger! I thought we were perfectly clear on that!"
"I-I know and I'm sorry, I was being reckless and irresponsible-"
"Saying you're sorry isn't gonna undo what happened last night, Al! You can be sorry all you like but that's not gonna fix things! I swear, it's like you- Do you have any idea what kind of repercussions we're looking at here?!"
"I'm sor-"
"I can't believe you let her get kidnapped right out from under your damn nose!"
Al let out a small sound, like a sad whimper. "I'm sorry..."
The noise stopped Ed mid-tirade, making a pang of guilt resonate through him. He tightly clenched his jaw and looked away, taking a deep breath through his nostrils in order to calm himself. He really had to stop yelling.
"I'm so sorry, nii-san," Al went on in that same sad, quiet tone. "I should have been there. I should have protected her..."
Ed clenched his jaw, looking over at his brother again. "Al. We're not here to go to school and learn and have fun like all the other people our age. You know that."
"Y-Yes."
"And we'll probably never be able to have that kind of life until we get your body back."
There was a short pause in which Ed was sure Al would have given a great sob were he able to. His armored hands balled into fists at his sides. "...Yes."
"We have a job to do here, and don't ever - ever - forget that. We can't get too attached."
Suddenly, Al raised his head. "But it's not fair, nii-san! You get to be in the classrooms with the other students and pretend to be normal all the time while-"
Ed's brow furrowed. "What the hell're you-"
"-while I have to hide in the shadows and watch everyone from far away! Ginny and Hermione and their friends are the only people who'll have anything to do with me, who even know that I'm here... And I don't get to talk to them as much as I want to because of your mission!"
The elder brother was taken aback, his eyes growing wide for a moment before narrowing slightly again. "We're leaving at the end of the year, Al. Once we get everything settled here we're probably never coming back! We won't have time to, don't you understand that?"
"But I want to be able to make memories with the few friends that I've made here, nii-san! If I never see them again then I want to remember a time when I had a little fun! You get to talk to your new friends-"
"What 'friends'?!" Ed burst out, cutting him off and throwing his hands up in exasperation. "You think I like hanging around the Slytherins?! Malfoy and Zabini and Parkinson and those two retarded flesh golems- They're hardly what I would consider friends! They're just there!"
"But at least you get to talk to other people our age and do relatively normal things with them!"
"What, you wanna go hang out with those idiots? Be my guest! I don't stay with them because I like them, you of all people should know that, Al!"
"You could at least try!" Al shot back, his voice having a slight quiver to it, as though he were crying. "You could try to like them-"
Ed snorted derisively. "Have you seen them lately?! There's not a whole lot to like!"
Al didn't seem to have heard. "You could try to like this place, to like being here! But you don't, you just stand there and complain and wish you were someplace else doing something you think is more worthwhile!"
"Al, you have no idea what-"
"You've been given a shot at being a normal teenager! And you don't care!" A sound reverberated out of the suit of armor that sounded suspiciously like an honest to goodness sob. "I-I'd do anything for that chance..."
Edward was shocked, stunned into silence, staring at Al in an odd mix of fear and sadness. He was confused. For the past five years, he had done nothing but search for a way to give Al that chance. And it was because of the fact that he'd been whisked away into a place where he could no longer continue that search that Ed was so bothered with this mission. In that regard, it was like they were wasting precious time in Hogwarts. He needed to get back home and back to his real work of restoring Al's body to normal. Surely Al knew that.
"Th-That's why..." Al's voice was shaking considerably, as though he could barely control it. He bowed his head again. "I just wanted to see... I thought it would okay if- if only just for a moment..."
A silence fell over the room, Ed just looking at his younger brother. His whole expression slowly softened. He'd worked Al too hard. He should have understood his situation better. He'd just gotten so caught up in trying to fix what was happening with Draco and Hermione, what with that issue carrying some portion of the world's fate on its shoulders, that somewhere in the middle of it all he'd neglected to acknowledge the feelings of his own brother.
Some big brother he was. He was turning out to be just like Mustang.
He reached out and laid a hand on top of Al's helmet, patting him gently in silent apology. A short tremor ran through the armored body before it stilled again. Ed left his hand where it was for a while, letting the unspoken understanding between them linger in the air around them.
I'm sorry for not understanding.
I'm sorry for letting you down.
They stayed like that for a while, neither brother saying a word, until Ed finally let his hand slide off Al's helmet and drop back down to his side. Al also straightened, raising his head to look at his older brother as he absently mussed over his hair.
"So... What are you gonna do now, nii-san?"
Ed looked thoughtful a moment, then shrugged. "I've gotta find a way to fix things between Draco and Hermione. Melodramatic as it sounds, everything seems to be riding on them right now."
"Maybe if you could get them to just talk to each other..."
At the suggestion Ed shot Al a skeptical look, cocking an eyebrow. "Al. That's like trying to make the world's flow move in the opposite direction. It's not gonna happen. Not any time soon, anyway."
Alphonse sighed softly. "Then- what are you gonna do?"
Now done with fixing up his braid, Ed paused thoughtfully. "They need to understand one another. So first things first, I want both sides of the story. Get the whole situation straight in my head so I've got a better grasp on what I'm trying to do here."
"Right," Al said with a firm nod of his head. "So...?"
"So I need to talk to them," Ed went on, nodding as well and already heading for the door. "Already spoke to Hermione about it, more or less. So right now..." He grimaced slightly. "Gotta talk to Draco."
And as Ed's luck would have it, during the one time of the entire day that he may have gotten a chance to confront Draco alone, the Malfoy heir had mysteriously vanished. Again. Ed lingered just outside of the Great Hall, making an immense effort to ignore the growling, rumbling protests of his stomach as he waited for him to show up. The bastard had been missing since the end of their last class a few hours earlier.
Ed was getting worried. Which was disconcerting in itself, since he was rarely worried for anyone that wasn't his younger brother, but it was the truth. Ed was worried about Draco and Hermione. He'd never seen them so broken or shaken as he had last night, and yet all day during class, they seemed more or less normal. Sure, Hermione had been somewhat quieter, a little more subdued in her eagerness to answer questions than she usually was, but overall it was as though nothing had happened. No one would even have noticed if they weren't looking for any changes in her demeanor, which was exactly what Ed had been doing. Draco was silent, but tense and almost jumpy as he kept shooting expectant looks in her direction. Ed was almost certain that this repression of emotions couldn't be good for them (he'd had quite a bit of experience in doing such a thing himself), and that was precisely why he worried about them.
And now Draco had gone missing, and just thinking about the possibilities of what he could be doing on his own this time made Ed fidgety. He knew Hermione was already inside eating dinner, he'd seen her walk in with Harry, Ron, and Ginny (Alphonse always stayed away during mealtimes, probably keeping to the common room and playing with Hermione's cat) so there was no need to worry about her. But Ed was going to be very angry if he found out that Draco was huddled in a bathroom trying to slit his wrists or something to that effect...
He may have to check the bathrooms first.
At length, Ed gave up on waiting and went into the Great Hall. Draco wasn't so pathetic that he'd try to end his life in such a demeaning way. So Ed decided that if the Malfoy heir decided to show up for dinner, he'd show up, and that would be it. There was really no need to be so worried. Really, what did he even care if Draco missed yet another meal? It was almost normal for him not to eat dinner with everyone else...
Ed made his way to the Slytherin table, doing his best not to look like he was worried about Draco and his whereabouts. Nodding his head at the others in greeting, he slipped into an empty spot along the bench next to Zabini and reached over to grab a mozzarella stick to start his dinner off. He spared a nonchalant glance across the table, at the empty spot next to Pansy that practically had Draco's name written on it, then at Pansy herself. And much to Ed's surprise, the Slytherin girl was not in her usual place. She was farther down the bench, with a group of girls, conversing with them casually.
Zabini casually draped an arm over Ed's good shoulder and leaned on him, casually munching a chicken breast strip. "Odd for you to come down late for dinner, Elric."
"I took a nap and overslept, that's all," he muttered, biting into his mozzarella stick.
The Slytherin laughed, clearly amused. "Y'know something, Elric? You sleep almost as much as you eat!"
Ed raised an eyebrow, shooting Zabini an annoyed look. "So?"
"It's funny, that's all," he replied, smirking slightly.
"So glad I amuse you," Ed drawled sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
The smirk on Zabini's face grew, as did Ed's scowl.
Dammit. Why did Pansy have to choose tonight to be completely unconcerned about where Draco had gone off to during dinner? She almost always pulled Ed aside and begged and pleaded and whined in her annoying way for him to find him and bring him downstairs when this sort of thing happened. Go figure: she was only going to behave like that when Ed didn't find himself needing her to. He never thought he'd ever find himself actually wanting her to be that way again.
He scarfed down the rest of his mozzarella stick and then reached for another one. Zabini was still talking, but damned if Ed knew what he was talking about. It didn't matter much to him either way. It was probably about school or which girl he was feeling the urge to "shag" at the moment, or some other completely worthless thing. Ed had gotten very good at tuning him out when he wasn't saying anything of interest. Which happened to be quite often.
Before Ed could stop himself, his eyes swept across the Great Hall, once again searching for that familiar bleach blonde head. He still hadn't come in. Crabbe and Goyle had apparently just walked in, chortling about something (probably about some lower year they'd shoved out of their way to get to the Hall). It seemed like Draco had let them loose for the day. It was strange seeing them as truly sentient, autonomous beings.
Dammit. He needed a reason to leave the Great Hall so he could find that Slytherin asshole.
"Are you alright, Eddy?"
He turned back at the sound of Pansy's voice, blinking in surprise. "What?"
The Slytherin girl had suddenly moved closer and was studying him carefully, a slight, pouty frown on her face. "Is something wrong?"
Ed's brow furrowed and he slowly shook his head. "No, nothing. Why?"
She gestured at the empty plate in front of him. "You haven't dumped everything within reach onto your plate."
Next to him, Zabini laughed so suddenly he nearly choked on his pumpkin juice. Ed made a face. When the hell had Pansy become such an expert on his behavioral patterns? As though he'd read his mind, Zabini thumped Ed heartily on the back, laughing raucously.
"We're not completely daft, Elric! You've been stuck with us for the entire term, you think we hadn't learned anything about you?"
Ed scowled, grabbing a breadstick to chomp down on. 'I'd been hoping you hadn't.'
Zabini grinned cheekily and elbowed Ed lightly in his side. "Care to share? Maybe we can help you out, eh?"
"No. And I highly doubt that."
Pansy's face fell into a pout. "Don't be like that, Eddy. What's gotten into you?"
"Nothing," Ed practically snapped. "Go mind your own business."
At that, Pansy looked thoroughly miffed and she straightened, her arms folded over her chest. Persistent as always, Zabini gave Ed another light nudge. "You can tell me, eh, Elric?" He then leaned closer, lowering his voice so Pansy couldn't hear. "It's girl troubles, innit?"
The scowl on Ed's face grew deeper as he pulled away, practically recoiling from the words. "Hell no! Sheesh, don't mix me up with you and your perverted friends!"
Having caught on to what had been whispered Pansy quirked an eyebrow, pursing her lips into a suggestive smile (or what was probably intended to be one, at any rate). "We can help you with that, Eddy..."
A smirk slowly crawled over Zabini's face. "You can't fool me, Elric. I'm onto you."
Ed glared at them both. Sometimes he wondered if all Slytherins were this sex-obsessed. He felt pretty sure Pansy didn't get any loving of the sort she kept offering to dish out, so that offered some small measure of comfort. Zabini and his other friends were another story entirely. Ed simply couldn't understand it. He frowned disapprovingly at them both, shaking his head and turning away.
On the plus side, the awkwardness of this situation gave Ed a reason to leave. True, it was sort of at the expense of his reputation and pride, but he could think about that later.
He stood abruptly, grabbing another stick of garlic bread for himself. "I don't have to take this shit from you guys."
Zabini whooped teasingly, inciting his friends nearby to do the same. "Hit a nerve, did we? So it must be true!"
Ed growled at them, taking the initiative to storm off. 'Bastards. I'll have my revenge on you morons yet.'
He walked down into the dungeons and into the Slytherin common room, then marched right up into the dormitory. He didn't really think it necessary to knock, since he sort of doubted anybody would actually be in there. It was like a little formality: check the bedroom. It was like a starting point that he had set for himself. So when he opened the door, he took a quick, sweeping glance over the entire room before moving to leave again. He had to stop and do a double take as he did so.
A familiar head of platinum blonde hair was just visible from behind Draco's bed. Carefully, Ed moved around to get a better view of the other boy. Draco was sitting on the floor, his back resting against the side of the bed with his knees drawn up to his chest. His silver eyes were blank as they stared off into space. It sort of looked as though the boy was going to cry, but there wasn't a single trace of wetness in his eyes.
Ed approached slowly, a frown on his face. Now that he'd found him, Ed was quite determined to dragging the Malfoy heir's ass down to the Great Hall so that he could possibly pick his meal up where he left off. He honestly was hungry, and it had pained him to have to cut his dinner short like that. Of course, these hunger pains wouldn't happen at all if Draco would stop disappearing during mealtimes.
"Y'know," he muttered, a little huffy in light of his rumbling stomach, "maybe you didn't notice, but it's dinner time and everyone's gone down to the Great Hall. Like most normal people do when that time of day comes around."
Silence. Draco had barely even moved as Ed came to a stop near the foot of the bed, looking down at him with his arms folded over his chest. He made a face.
"You're missing an absolutely fantastic meal right now. And you're making me miss out, too."
The silence from the other boy stretched onward. It was as though Ed wasn't even there.
Ed quirked an eyebrow, taking a step closer. "Malfoy?"
Draco continued to stare ahead of him, his silver-colored eyes dull and blank. Ed moved a little bit closer to him, his brow starting to furrow as he took not of the unusual position Draco was in. It was just... off. It didn't suit him somehow.
"Malfoy, come on..."
He took a step closer and his boot hit against something that had been on the floor. Ed looked down to see what it was and, finding a rolled up copy of the Daily Prophet before him, bent down to pick it up. Curiosity getting the better of him, he shook the paper out, his eyes moving across the front page. Draco must have been reading it before Ed had come into the dorm, and Ed found himself scanning the printed words in search of whatever it was that he'd been looking at.
"Looks like there've been more Dementor attacks," Ed muttered as he idly flipped through the pages. He leaned against the bed post for support and glanced over at Draco to see his reaction to what he'd said. When the Malfoy heir didn't even twitch an eyebrow, Ed returned his attention to the newspaper and continued perusing its contents. "More accidents... Muggle hit by a misfired lightning spell. Geez, that's pleasant... Hey, I didn't know the Daily Prophet put out ads for Muggle stuff. That's kinda off... 'Paranoid wizard creates small disturbance over purchase of Dark Art detectors'... Huh. Madam Malkin's is having a huge blowout sale..."
"Mental."
Ed blinked, surprised to have suddenly heard Draco speak, his voice soft and slow. How had the blowout sale advertisement solicited a reaction, but not any of the accidents he'd mentioned? He turned slightly to look over at Draco, lowering the paper from his field of vision. "What?"
"She's mental," he said again, his voice just as slow but a little louder this time.
Edward's brow furrowed in confusion and he looked back down at the article in question. "Who is? You mean Madam Malkin? I don't think her having this huge sale is really grounds for being insane-"
"You'd think she'd say something, anything!" Draco spat out suddenly, a look of anger and annoyance flashing in his eyes. "I've known her for six years, she can't keep her bloody mouth shut!"
Now the boy was just making hardly any sense at all. Ed was completely confused as he let his eyes scan through the article for a moment longer. Maybe he'd missed something about the woman's mental health in there. Though he had serious doubts that such a thing would be mentioned in a newspaper ad. "So she's nuts and a gossip?"
"For someone so renowned for their intelligence," Draco drawled, sounding mildly annoyed, "you're bloody daft, Elric."
A small vein in Ed's temple throbbed as he turned back to shoot Draco a venomous, annoyed look. But before he could open his mouth to give a snippy retort, he was cut off.
"What happened to Granger when you brought her back to the castle?"
The question caught Ed off-guard and he blinked in surprise. Then, slowly, the haze that hunger had put over his mind began to clear away and he realized what exactly Draco was talking about. His face fell, his eyes taking on a serious gleam as he looked away from the other's face, back down at the paper with a blank expression.
"I just brought her up to Gryffindor tower," he said flatly. "And that was it."
"What?" snapped Draco, shooting Ed an angry glare. "Why didn't you fucking take her to the infirmary?! Do you know how long they tortured her?!"
Ed frowned in annoyance, roughly closing the newspaper and almost thrusting it back down to the floor as he faced Draco again. "You think I didn't try to get her to go?! She wouldn't listen to me!"
Draco turned away, his expression twisting into a frustrated scowl. "What the bloody hell is wrong with her?! Why the fuck isn't she saying anything?! I could've killed her! Was going to, as a matter of fact!" He let out a sort of growl, shoving his fingers through his hair. "WAS GRANGER BLIND OR SOMETHING?! THAT GIRL IS MORE STUPID THAN I THOUGHT!"
The frown on Ed's face deepened into a scowl as he turned to kick the crumpled newspaper on the floor away from him. "You wouldn't have killed her," he said in a firm yet soft voice, slipping his hands into his pockets.
A pair of silver-colored eyes finally turned to look over at Ed, flashing with indignant anger. "Were you not there? Did you not see what-"
Ed set Draco with a stern, solemn look, his gold eyes flashing right back as he cut him off mid-sentence. "I was there," he said in an almost chillingly serious voice. "That's exactly my point. And I have to say," he added just a little more casually, looking away with a small shrug, "all things considered, I was pretty impressed."
The Malfoy heir gave him an incredulous look. "What the hell are you on about?" he asked, his voice lowering. "If it wasn't for you, she would have been dead."
"You lowered your wand." It was a simple, blunt statement. As far as Ed was concerned, it was an inarguable fact. "I saw you lower your wand, Malfoy. Whether I was there or not, you still wouldn't have killed her."
Draco's eyes grew wide. He looked utterly speechless. "I..." He shook it off, looking away from Ed once more. When he spoke again, his voice was softer, barely even audible. "You don't know what you're talking about. What makes you think I wanted her to live? After all she's put me through, you honestly think I'd care if she died?"
Edward rolled his eyes. These sounded like some horribly stupid questions. The answers seemed so glaringly obvious... They just had to be rhetorical.
"If she had died then and there," Draco went on, "I wouldn't be in this fucking mess! If she had died then and there, I'd be able to live without further distraction! If she had died then and there, this utter torment of my fucking infatuation with her would end! I should have just ended her life! Who the hell is going to protect her now? Why the hell did I hesitate?"
Ed frowned, folding his arms over his chest and raising an eyebrow at Draco. Was he serious? "Do you honestly want me answering those questions for you, Malfoy?"
Draco turned away from him, a scowl on his face as he seemed to ignore Ed's question. "What is she playing at? She told nobody, not even Potter..."
"Obviously she didn't tell Harry," Ed muttered, rolling his eyes.
"But why not, Elric?!" the Malfoy heir raged, turning his frustrated gaze on him again. "Why the bloody fucking hell not?!"
Ed rounded on Draco, eyes flashing. "Y'know, I've been wondering that myself. Why not throw the bastard that nearly killed her into the big house to rot. I sure as hell would've done it, without a second thought. Obviously you would, too. Attempted murder can be just as bad as murder itself, and we all know you pretty much deserve the jail time. But y'know what? Hermione's different. She's giving you yet another chance to be an actual human being and not some... some arrogant self serving spoiled rich brat that you make yourself out to be all the time. Consider yourself lucky that it was her and not somebody else!"
"Do you not remember?!" Malfoy shouted suddenly. "She hates me, every single part of me! I'm a fucking heartless monster to her, a bloody Death Eater, just exactly everything that she and Potter and Weasel had always believed me to be! She's not giving me a second chance, she's leaving me to wallow in my own guilt and-"
"Been there, done that, wrote the fucking book for it," Ed snorted, rolling his eyes. "You think you deserve to die, huh? Just 'cause you made a couple of stupid choices in a sudden moment of wanting to preserve something valuable to you?! I told you before, Malfoy, dying doesn't solve any of that."
"You didn't understand then, you don't understand now. I don't fucking expect you to."
"Look, whatever the hell she said, she said it because she was scared. Who the hell wouldn't be scared in a situation like that, huh? She didn't mean it, not really, and I'd say the fact that she hasn't already gone and turned you in is proof."
It was Draco's turn to round on Edward, his voice rising in an almost desperate hysteria. "Everyone will die, Elric! Everyone. You, her, me and my family... That- that- He's going to kill everybody, no questions asked. Don't you get that?!"
A tense silence fell as their angry gazes locked. A deep frown pulled at the corners of Ed's lips as he looked at him, his amber gold eyes hard and unyielding and unconvinced. They once again clashed with the cerulean silver, and a silent war waged between them. Ed wasn't going to let Draco win this. If he did, everything would fall apart.
"They don't have to die."
The silence stretched on as Draco stared back at him, such a confusion clouding his expression that he eventually had to look away with an angry scowl on his face. "You don't understand," he growled again, finally pulling himself up off the floor. "Leave me the bloody fuck alone."
Ed snorted again, softly, as Draco started to leave. His eyes narrowed slightly as they followed the blonde's movements, watching him head out the dorm room door and disappear beyond it.
'Like hell I will.'
The lines of communication had officially shut down. Draco was not talking to Ed, apart from the occasional "Pass me that, Elric" during class or at dinner, and "Shut the bloody hell up" whenever he tried to start a conversation. And that was only when other people were around to see. Draco gave little acknowledgement to Ed's presence, outside of promptly leaving the room any time it was reduced to just the two of them. Ed was getting frustrated.
Things weren't much better on Al's end, either. Any mention of the Slytherins, regardless of the context in which it was used, made Hermione fall uncharacteristically silent. She was also suddenly very jumpy and tense around Alphonse. Only a few people seemed to have noticed this if any at all, Ginny and Luna among them. Harry seemed preoccupied with something else, and Ron had simply failed to notice it just yet.
The Elric brothers had never dealt with anything like this before. It wasn't a problem that could simply be beaten into non-existence. And it wasn't a matter of frustrated energy that needed to be spent, either. It was raw emotion and broken trust, and it seemed that nothing short of a miracle would be able to heal such wounds.
Edward absently twirled his wand between his fingers, his gaze set unseeingly on the far wall of the DADA classroom. Just over two weeks had passed since the incident, and not even the tiniest smidge of progress between them. What to do...? How was he going to deal with this pale-haired snob seated next to him and the stubborn girl on the other side of the room? They were questions that demanded answers. Surely the situation wasn't as hopeless as all that. There had to be a solution. There had to be a way to get things out in the open. There just had to be. And Edward was determined to find it.
"I assume Mr. Elric knows?"
The low, discontented drawl of his name brought Ed back to the present. He looked around him at his classmates, blinking away his disorientation as he worked to slip back into his role of Edward Elric, Transfer Student at Hogwarts.
"Huh? What?"
A few of the other students sniggered to themselves as Snape moved to loom over Ed. The young blonde shifted his gaze and looked back up at the professor, undaunted by the sight of his dark, bat-like appearance. Snape's eyes moved almost lazily to the wand still being twirled by Ed's fingers. Frowning slightly as he got the message, Ed gave the wooden stick one final twirl, tapped the back end of it on the tabletop, and finally stilled his hand without looking away. Snape cleared his throat.
"Mr. Elric."
"Yes, sir."
There was a pause in which they both merely looked at one another in tense silence. It was like they were having a silent argument. It actually wasn't that rare a sight these days; by now Ed and Snape had had their fair share of face-offs like this, and the other students in the room were more than likely completely used to it.
"The question, Mr. Elric?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, sir. Were you saying something important?"
Someone let out a sudden giggle, which was quickly smothered and silenced by a hand. Neither Ed nor Snape moved their eyes to see who it was, but Ed had to fight down a snicker. Snape's eyes narrowed.
"I expect much more from the members of my House, Mr. Elric. I demand that you treat your professors the way you should and as I've said, I do not take cheek from anyone."
"I should hope not, sir. Especially if it's got anything to do with their asses."
There was a scandalized gasp and a snort from the other side of the room, both of which were quickly silenced and ignored just as the giggle had been.
"Should you insist on being given detentions for your constant disrespect for authority, Mr. Elric, by all means, proceed with your current behavior."
His eyes narrowed some more as he turned and swept away. Ed rolled his eyes and settled into his seat, leaning forward on the table and resting his chin in one hand. A slight smirk played over his features as he muttered, largely to himself, "That shouldn't be too hard."
Snape caught the words and immediately turned back around. He glared at the cheeky grin plastered on Ed's face, moving slowly and threateningly to loom over him once again. Ed's grin never wavered, remaining absolutely genuine in its amusement.
"Five points from Slytherin," he all but hissed, his voice low in its declaration. "And Mr. Elric, I want you in my office after class. Is that clear?"
Ed barely managed to keep himself from snorting. 'Woof woof.' "Yes, sir."
As Snape turned and stalked back to the front of the class to resume the lesson, Zabini elbowed Ed roughly in his side and a wad of crumpled up parchment suddenly hit him in the head. Ed scowled at Zabini before shooting a glare at Nott, who he was sure was the one responsible for the paper ball. The subtracting House points thing was really the most tired, boring concept to Ed by now. He could have cared less. He'd probably lost about 115 points for Slytherin on his own, about half of which had been taken away by none other than Professor Snape himself. Ed thought it to be quite the impressive feat.
He tried to slip away amongst the other students when they all filed out of the room, but Snape must have been expecting that of him. Right as Ed was about to pass through the doorway, a hand darted out and took a firm hold of his automail arm. Knowing that resisting him would be completely useless in this situation, Ed groaned softly and resigned himself to his fate. He let Snape drag him down to his office (the bastard was refusing to let go of his arm the whole way), seething and fuming silently as he was thrown into the middle of the room when they got there.
Snape shut the door and moved, bat-like as ever, to stand between his desk and Edward. His dark eyes were cold and piercing as they leered down at Ed, but the boy remained fearless. He met the gaze with one of his own, one equally fierce and unyielding.
Finally, Snape spoke. "As I've said before, I do not know what it is the headmaster hopes to accomplish by bringing you here. But whatever it is, it looks as though it has yet to be done."
Ed quirked an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"Do not play the fool with me, Mr. Elric. I know what you are."
"If you're talking about me being an exchange student here, then that's simple common knowledge. Everybody knows that, sir."
"Of course," Snape drawled disinterestedly. "The 'very first exchange student in Hogwarts history.' Overseen by the headmaster himself."
Ed frowned slightly. "Are you saying you don't believe Professor Dumbledore? What happened to that precious trust you supposedly have in him?"
"I don't think that's any of your concern, Mr. Elric. There's a reason you're in Hogwarts, specifically in my House, Merlin forbid, and I know it's not because of the Sorting Hat."
"I'm here to learn and better myself, it's just my luck I'm stuck with you."
"That is where your claim remains unsubstantiated, given the fact that you merely twirl your wand while staring at the wall the whole period."
The frown on Ed's face grew, his brow furrowing slightly. "If you want me to apologize for having my own personal problems to work through, it's not happening. As a teacher, you shouldn't have the right to pry into my life outside of classwork."
Snape took a step forward, towering over Edward with that seemingly cruel look in his eyes. "Mr. Elric," he all but hissed dangerously. "I know you're lying. I know this has nothing to do with any sort of personal affair of yours."
To his credit, Ed was able to keep the look of surprise from growing beyond a simple quirk of the eyebrow. He was convinced now. He didn't really understand how it worked, having only read a few things about it in the wide assortment of books he'd picked up since arriving in Hogwarts, but there was still no mistaking it. Snape was reading his mind somehow. He'd somehow pried into his thoughts without him even realizing. Which had to mean Occlumency, considering that all the accounts he'd read about Legilimency often attributed the experience to feeling much like getting one's mind brutally raped. Snape had pulled information from Ed's mind slowly, it seemed, and without him consciously noticing. So it had to be the other thing.
"I really don't know what you're talking about, sir."
"You do not fool me."
He glared with all that he was worth. Bastard. Get out of my head.
"There are more forceful methods to see through your lies, Mr. Elric. Do not make the mistake of presuming I would not resort to using them should I deem it necessary."
"There's no reason to be threatened by a mere student." Ed wouldn't break. He downright refused to give him the satisfaction. "Besides, I thought you trusted Professor Dumbledore. Do you really think he would just let me in here if he thought that I posed any danger to anyone in this school?"
The professor scowled his disapproval, saying nothing for a long, drawn out moment. Then finally he stepped back, turning sharply on his heel to sweep around his desk and lower himself into his chair. Ed remained motionless as he did this, only following him with his eyes.
"I'll let you proceed with your little game, Mr. Elric," Snape muttered with a faint hiss to his voice. "But as I've told you before... I will be keeping a very close eye on you."
"Of course, sir."
"Detention with me. Tonight after dinner. Is that clear?"
"Crystal."
Snape nodded and made a vague gesture with his hand, dismissing him. "Go."
Without tearing his eyes away, Ed gave a small half-bow in the professor's direction, strictly out of military habit. Then he turned sharply on his heel and made to leave the office. Snape didn't move, watching him carefully from beneath the dark curtain of his hair, fingers tented.
"One last thing, Mr. Elric," Snape said suddenly, raising his voice just a bit and making Ed freeze with his hand pressed against the surface of the door. "And I'll make my thoughts on this very clear. You seem no more special to me than anyone else in this school. Whatever you have planned, I doubt you will find any success, given this."
The blonde wrinkled his nose into a disdainful sneer, despite the fact that Snape couldn't see it. 'We'll see about that.' "Really, sir. I doubt it will be that hard to pass the N.E.W.T. exams."
And with that, leaving that scowl embedded in Snape's features, Ed shoved open the door and headed out to dinner.
Note: WOO. nearly there! lots of exciting stuff to come, and boy do i EVER hope i get through it quicker than i did this one. at any rate, leave a review on your way out if ya love us reviews make me happy!