Heeeeeey, back at it again! And in a reasonable time frame too! Kinda an information chapter, but I hope you enjoy it!!!
All I wanted to do was bang my head against my desk. I was beyond frustrated and hadn't been this stressed since the Promised Day. Nothing could ever equate to the stress and anxiety of that day, but life after the Promised Day had been pretty boring, a good kind of boring. This was anything but fun. The end of the school year couldn't come soon enough.
I didn't even know why I was doing this anymore. I would have chosen just staying in the background, being security for the Potter boy instead of his damn teaching position any day of the year.
Teaching alchemy to these magical students was proving harder than I thought it would be. I knew it was going to be a difficult assignment because we came from completely different worlds and they knew next to nothing about science and I nearly nothing about magic. But, it was proving even worse than I could ever imagine. They argued with the idea of equivalent exchange and didn't like the idea of learning the entire Periodic Table of Elements. I gave them an entire speech about why knowing the exact chemical compound of the object you were trying to transmute, but for most of them, it went in one ear and out the other.
Even Hermione was having issues. She just couldn't accept Equivalent Exchange, and she would constantly challenge me during class. I knew she was smart and understood science, but she just wouldn't give up magic for one class. I was this close to giving her detention if she questioned my knowledge. She was almost worse than Malfoy. Almost, but not quite.
That boy had been even worse since the incident with Harry and Goblet of Fire. Many of the students didn't believe Harry deserved to be chosen and were harassing him for it. Many students now wore pins that said "Support Cedric Digory - The Real Hogwarts Champion" that could easily be switched to say "Potter Stinks." At the head of this was Draco Malfoy. He promoted the pins and many of the Slytherins and Hufflepuff houses wore them.
Malfoy was relentless in his teasing and mocking. Unfortunately for him, I had a stronger will. And I had no tolerance for bullies. I had given him detention every night for a week and taken 100 points from Slytherin. Every time I saw a pin, I confiscated it and took ten points from their house.
Every night for his detention, Malfoy came in and scrubbed every inch of my classroom clean while I sat at my desk doing research, writing letters to my family, or simply reading a book. At first, Draco wouldn't shut his mouth, but that quickly stopped when he realized I was not going to respond. Mustang had even yelled at him for his attitude from one of the paintings. That had shut him up pretty quickly.
Not to mention, my Gryffindor and Slytherin fourth-year class was tense, to say the least. Harry and Ron were cold toward each other and Hermione had been the poor liaison between the two boys. She was cracking, watching her two best friends fight. I was very tempted to make them stay after class and force them to work it out, but I didn't feel like it was either my place, no matter how annoying the icy air between the two boys was.
I wished Al was here to help; he would be so much better at this than me.
Truly, there were only two promising students; Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom. They were the only ones that seemed to fully accept the law of equivalent exchange, and the only ones I could see being able to transmute. Luna looked to be just having an easy time with just about everything. We hadn't gotten that far into alchemy yet, but she had memoried the entire Periodic Table in the course of one class period. I could see her being an all-around great alchemist.
Neville, on the other hand, seemed to be taking an interest in biological alchemy. No, we weren't talking human transmutation, but he wanted to look further into plants. Again, we hadn't even gotten into specialization yet, I really didn't think we would have time to get that far, but Neville was curious, and I wasn't going to deny him that. It had led to a nice conversation between the boy and me after class one day.
"Uh, Professor Elric?" a timid voice asked, and I looked up from the pretest I was grading. I just wanted to see how much the students knew about science, and sadly, it wasn't much. Looking up, I found Neville standing in front of me, his alchemy textbook in hand.
"What's going on Neville?" I said as I put my pen down, turning my full attention to the boy in front of me.
"Uh, well, I know you haven't talked about it, I-I mean, we're just starting, but I was wondering if there was any alchemy having to do with biology, like, life, I mean," he said, looking nervous, and I felt as if my heart skipped a beat.
"What are you asking me, Mr. Longbottom," I asked, trying to keep my voice steady, but I couldn't keep the growl out of my voice. The boy in front of me blanched and gathered his alchemy book further up in his arms before shakily flipping through it.
"W-well, I was reading through the book, and I saw a section on plants," he stuttered out as he turned the book toward me to look. I looked from the book and down to the book, finding that it was indeed open to a page on plants. "We've been talking a lot about equivalent exchange in class, and because plants are living, I didn't understand how we could manipulate them," he rushed out. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding.
"Well, plant life is not like that of a human life. Cells are the smallest living portion, yes, but they are still made up of atoms and elements." I took a deep breath but continued. "What can not be messed with is life itself," I warned, my voice low. Neville immediately shook his head.
"Of course not, Professor!" the boy exclaimed. "To mess with a human life, th-that, you just can't!" he said. I let out another deep breath and nodded. "That's why I didn't understand if transmuting plants would work," he explained. I nodded again.
"Yes, you're completely right, but I have seen an art similar called alkehestry which can be used to heal wounds," I explained. Neville's eyes widened.
"But how? It's a human! And you just said we couldn't mess with human life," he repeated. I nodded.
"That's correct. I don't know a lot about alkahestry, it's not my specialty, but my brother, Alphonse, is looking into the art. I know it has to do something with the Dragon's Pulse or the flow of life, but I don't know all the details. I can certainly ask my brother for a book," I offered.
"That would be great, Professor Elric, thank you!" the boy exclaimed, a large smile on his face. It suddenly fell through, causing me to frown as well. "But, am allowed to ask what you meant about messing with human life?" he asked, and my breath caught in my throat. "Because you said this alkahestry thing could be used to fix wounds while still obeying the Law of Equivalent Exchange, what would stop people from trying to go further?" he asked, sounding nervous once again.
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose between my forefinger and thumb. "I really didn't want to talk to anyone about this, but tell me, Mr. Longbottom, what would be equal to that of a human soul?" I asked. There was a moment of silence before the boy finally found his voice again.
"Nothing, sir," he whispered. I nodded.
"Exactly, now, I will get you a book on plant alchemy from Al as well as an alkahestry book if I can get my hands on one for you," I offered again.
"That would be great, Professor, and I'm sorry that I brought up something so serious, sir," he said, his voice still soft.
"It's okay, Neville," I said truthfully. "I'm glad you asked me so respectfully, but I will ask you not to talk about it with anyone else. It's a sensitive topic among alchemists. It's taboo, the greatest taboo an alchemist could commit," I explained.
"I understand," Neville said. "Can I ask you one more thing, professor?" he asked, and I nodded. "Is that the section you ripped out of our textbooks?" he asked.
"Yes, I didn't anyone even thinking about it," I admitted. "It was easier to just remove it from the book. Such a serious topic should not even be in a beginner's alchemy textbook," I added.
"Absolutely, sir," Neville said. "Thank you for your help, Professor Elric," he said again.
"Of course, Neville. I think this is the first intelligent conversation I've had about alchemy since I've gotten here; it's refreshing, even about something so serious," I admitted. This caused the boy to smile and let out a small laugh. "I'll let you know if I get any books in," I said. "I'm sure Al will be willing to share something with you," I said, sending the boy a small smile.
"Thank you again, Professor!" the boy exclaimed before waving at me and walking out the door. I smiled and shook my head. Though it had been a quite stressful situation and focused on a topic I didn't like to talk about, but he reminded me so much of Al. I sighed and shook my head, turning back to the half-finished test on the desk in front of me.
I smiled as I thought about the young, shy boy that reminded me so much of my baby brother. At least a few of my students were doing well. It wasn't what I wanted to see, but it was better than nothing. Hopefully, if other students saw how Luna and Neville were progressing, the other students would see that as a little push.
I jumped when there was a sudden knock on the door to my classroom. "Come in!" I called as I pushed partially finished lesson plans to the side. They weren't going to get done today at this rate. I could worry about it later, though.
To my surprise, in walked Dumbledore, adorned in yet another set of blue robes. He had to at least have a set for every day of the week. "Hey, Albus," I greeted as I stood, giving the man my full attention. "What's going on?" I asked. "Normally I come to visit you," I pointed out, my eyebrows knitting together.
"Nothing to worry yourself about, my boy. Nothing is wrong. Take a seat, this could be a long conversation," the old wizard said. I frowned but took a seat while the headmaster retrieved one of the students' chairs. "In a few months' time, on Christmas Eve," he started, and I frowned at this 'Christmas Eve' thing, but let him continue, "we will be hosting the Yule Ball. I know I brought it up briefly when we were discussing the three tasks, but everyone else knows about it." I nodded, crossing one leg over the other.
"This is hosted with every Tri-Wizard Tournament, and the three, in our case four, champions each share the opening dance with a young lady or gentleman of their choosing." I frowned at him, not sure where this was going. "I figure, and I've already worked it out with the truth, that we will be allowing you to bring someone from home as your date. You're so far away from home; it would probably be nice to see someone, but it is your choice if you want to bring someone out," the man explained.
"How would this work?" I asked, uncrossing my legs before crossing them the other way as I spoke. "I know you already worked it out with the Truth, but if someone is coming from my world, wouldn't they need to provide some sort of equivalent exchange?" I asked, thoroughly confused by how this was going to work out.
"Well," the headmaster began, "because whoever you invite wil be on my terms by my request, it will be comptlely safe. I will be providing the Truth with something. Even though I really should not need any payment because I am on the magical side of things, I still believe I owe it for doing me a favor." I opened my mouth to ask a question by the old headmaster held up a hand, and I snapped my mouth closed, letting the man continue. "No, she will not learn anything from the Truth, so they will not have to pay a price. Truth has already promised safe passage if you choose to bring someone through."
I nodded, taking in the information. It was so different here, even with Truth. I would have figured he would be the same all throughout, but then again, I had never even entertained the thought of magic.
"So, is there someone you are thinking of bringing? If not, that is completely okay; I just wanted to give you the option," Albus assured me with a soft smile. I felt myself flush, but I nodded as I scratched the back of my head.
"Th-there is, actually," I admitted. "I can write to her and ask her if she would be willing to come out," I offered. The man's smile widened, and he nodded.
"That would be wonderful, Edward. I know the ball isn't for a few months, but I figured we should make sure we have enough time to situate the arrangements and times," he explained.
"Sounds good, Albus. Thank you," I said. Already, my heart was trying to beat out of my chest, and I still had several months of waiting. I just thought I would have more time to talk to her about this, but now, well, a few months from now, would be better. And I would get to see someone from home. I would never admit to being homesick, but this was the first time I was traveling absolutely and utterly alone.
"Of course. No need to thank me. I will be going now; I see you still have some lesson plans to finish," he said with a wink as he stood. I flushed again and let out a small laugh. "You're doing well, Edward. Just be patient with them," he instructed, and I nodded. "They'll get it eventually; I've already heard that Miss Lovegood and Mr. Longbottom are exceptionally brilliant," he said, an eyebrow raised.
"They really are; they will be talented alchemists one day," I admitted, a bit of pride sewn into my voice. The old man smiled again before returning the chair he borrowed and making his way toward the door. "Ah, and tell her I will personally come to retrieve her and to bring something formal for the both of you to wear," he said before sending me another small smile as he slipped out the door, closing it gently behind him.
I shook myself, this overwhelmed with all the information that had been thrown on me all at once. Instead of focusing on the things I didn't understand, I choose to smile and sit down with my pen and fresh piece of parchment. I had a letter to write.