I'm back, y'all! So sorry for the break, but it was much needed, and I honestly feel so much better. I hope you enjoy this chapter!!!
I let out a huff as I pulled my red coat tighter around me, trying to stave off the cold, as I followed the other teachers down to the Forbidden Forest. I grumbled curses under my breath as, despite the winter set of automail Winry had me on, the cold still felt like it was sinking deep into my bones. Even my right shoulder tingled a little bit where the scar was.
"This is stupid," I grumble, half at the cold and the other half at the absurdity of this entire situation. I had finally come to terms with teaching wizards of all people the art of alchemy, but this whole "dragons" business I was hearing about was testing my limits. They were probably just chimeras. I shivered, but it wasn't from the cold.
"Can't handle the cold, Elric?" I heard a snide voice ask from my left. I spared a quick glance over to that side to see Severus walking beside me. I rolled my eyes and shook my head as I popped the collar on my red trench coat, shopping to block some of the wind. "Just wait until the first snow, Elric. It will be ten times worse than this, you know," the potions master continued.
"Yeah, yeah, I know how damn cold it gets here. Doesn't mean I have to like it," I muttered, picking up the pace in an effort to lose the greasy man. Unfortunately, that led me to walk next to Moody. Though I had been wary of Severus since I had come to the school, the defense against the dark arts teacher was another story entirely. I didn't like the way that glass eye spun around in his head. I didn't like the way that eye always seemed to gravitate toward my left leg whenever I was around the other professor. Even now, I could feel his eyes on me. There was something about the man I didn't like. If I hadn't known better, I would have chalked it up to the man being weird. But I had seen my fair share, and I now knew better than to brush aside my gut feelings. Nine times out of then, they were correct. I would rather be wary for nothing than to get caught with my pants down.
"Elric," the man said gruffly as I fell into step beside him. "That leg movin' alright?" he said, startling me greatly. My golden eyes went wide as I nearly tripped over my own feet at the suddenness of his question.
"I don't know what you mean, Alastor," I said as I used my newly returned hand to run a hand over the top of my head, trying to smooth any fly away hairs. It was also to conceal my nervousness, but no one needed to know that.
"Yeah right, Elric. One amputee to another, I can tell," he gruffed, "even if I couldn't see through that pant leg." My eyes narrowed, and I had to resist the urge to throw him up against the nearest tree. He seemed to hear my unspoken question as he continued. "I can see it in the way ya walk, lad," he muttered, still hobbling along. "And this eye can see through anything," he said, tapping the side of his glass eye. I had to suppress a shutter as it went whirling around in his head. "What I would give to be movin' that well on a fake-" he tried to continue, but I cut him off before he could say a word more.
"Not a word to anyone, Moody," I snarled. "Or you'll be looking for a new glass eye," I warned before jogging ahead to walk beside Dumbledore as he led the procession through the woods. I could hear some sort of growl coming from the distance, and the ground was trembling. We were getting close.
"Everything alright, my boy?" Dumbledore asked, looking down at me through his half moon glasses.
"Alastor knows about my damn leg," I muttered, shoving my hands in my pockets, finding the State Alchemist pocket watch I still kept there. I flipped it open to look at the time before slamming it shut. Seconds later, I realized I hadn't even processed the time. It had just been something to get my hands moving. The man only hummed, so I continued. "I do not want to explain to anyone, including you, why I actually have automail," I explained. In fact, I don't even want anyone to know that I even have automail. It's bad enough Minevera and Poppy already know about it," I groused.
"Edward, I can promise Minevera and Poppy won't say a thing to anyone about your condition," he said, his calm voice soothing and genuine.
"And Alastor?" I pressed.
"He is a trustworthy man, Edward," the old wizard said, but he hadn't directly answered my question. I didn't like the feeling that settled in my stomach at the headmaster's words. I grumbled but didn't speak again. Albus Dumbledore was like a lock box. The only person that could understand him was the one with the key, and he held the one and only key. He only allowed certain bits of information to slip through when he thought someone needed to know. It was kind of like working with Mustang. Only, Dumbledore was a hundred times worse.
Finally, the woods opened up into a wide glade, most of which was taken up by a large stadium. It was a great, round structure and students and teachers alike were already filing into their seats among their respective houses. I followed the other teachers up a seemingly endless amount of stairs, and I sighed when I finally fell into one of the chairs. Thank Truth teachers were blessed with having backings on their seats unlike the students who were left to sit upon wooden benches.
"So, dragons," I said to no one in particular, but I knew the headmaster I was sitting next to was listening. "Never seen one of those," I commented. "Still not sure what they have to do with the first task," I added.
"Do you ever listen to anything anyone has to say to you, Elric?" the headmaster of Durmstrang asked, a scoff punctuating his sentence. "Rumors have been running rampant, and even you, a teacher, doesn't know what's going on with his own students?" he challenged me. I turned in my seat to stare at the smiling man sitting two rows behind me.
"I have a lot going on, Karkaroff! I can't remember every damn thing every single person tells me," I snapped at the man. He looked like he wanted to say something in return, but Hagrid beat him to it, excitedly going into an in depth explanation of the task. I was equally thankful for the distraction as the explanation.
Soon, the first task was underway, and we were left to watch as each champion faced a dragon. A real life dragon! I would definitely have to do some more talking to Hagrid about the existence of dragons, knowing Al would never let me come home without a little bit of information about the creatures. Each student fared better than I had originally expected, but I had been on the edge of my seat from the first champion to the last.
When it was Potter's turn to fight the Hungarian Horntail as Hagrid said it was called, I was itching to do something to help the boy, but I knew there was nothing that could be done. If I interfered with the competition, there would be consequences, not only for me but Harry as well. I was supposed to keep this boy safe, and here he was sitting a damned dragon! Of all the crazy things I've done and seen in my life, this was at the top of the list. I had to keep this boy safe. The Truth had not discussed what would happen if I failed this mission, but I could guarantee I would be losing my little brother again. This boy had to live through the end of this year. If he didn't, I would never forgive the person who forced him into this cursed competition against his will. I would never forgive Dumbeldore. I would never forgive myself.
I could finally breathe out a sigh of relief and relax into the chair behind me when Harry had successfully passed the first task. I pinched the bridge of my nose between my thumb and my forefinger, completely stressed and in need of a very quiet evening. Only to more tasks. It'll be a wonder if I don't have a heart attack before the end of the school year.
I lagged behind the teachers a little bit on the way back to the castle, wanting a little moment of peace before I reentered the very changing, always alive building that was Hogwarts. The entire student body of all three schools were alive with excitement as they recounted the drama of the day. At least everyone was safe, alive, and the students were happy. Despite my earlier feelings and thoughts, I found myself smiling at the joy and enthusiasm radiating from the students.
My moment of peace was ruined when a crazy blonde lady entered my field of vision. Crazy lady was wearing a tight fitted dress in an terribly ugle shade of green with some sort of feathers or fluff around the cuffs of her sleeves and the neck. She wore glasses that threatened to slip off her nose and her red lips were the loudest thing of the day.
"Edward Elric, it is such a pleasure to meet you. My name is Rita Skeeter, and I am a writer for the Daily Prophet. How do you do?" she asks. Before I could process the whirlwind of information she had thrown at me and respond, she was speaking again. "Now, Mr. Elric, you're the new alchemy professor, is that correct?" she badgered. There was now a note book accompanied by a quill made of a green feather floating by her side, the quill poised to write.
"What the hell is this?" I asked, standing before the woman with my arms crossed over my chest. "I didn't agree with whatever this is," I pointed out, casting one arm out to the side in emphasis and exasperation. "What is this?" I pressed, but she ignored me.
"Oh, quite a sharp tongue the young professor has!" the woman practically squealed as her quill started to jot down some notes. "Would you please demonstrate some alchemy for me? I've talked to quite a few of your students, and they say you're quite talented!"
"I'm not doing any alchemy right now. It's a dangerous and delicate art," I explained. That and I didn't have any chalk on me. And there was no way I was going to transmute without a circle in front of his woman.
"Some other time then," she said with a wave of her hand, speeding right along. "How old are you, Professor Elric?" she asked excitedly. The woman had slowly crept into my personal space, and I took a few steps back, trying to get out of this entire situation.
"Seventeen, but what does that-" Crazy lady cut me off before I could continue.
"So young to be teaching an ancient form of magic!" she squealed again, her quill writing furiously. Ugh. This was worse than taking Winry to Rush Valley on the way to Dublith all that time ago. "You're no older than the 7th year and here you are teaching!"
"Age has nothing to do with how qualified I am as an alchemist," I ground out, quickly becoming fed up with this entire situation. If only there were no repercussions to launching this lady into the forest with a plateau made of earth. If only. "My brother is a year younger than I, and I can see him becoming the greatest alchemist the world has ever seen," I said truthfully.
"So you have a brother!" she cheered. "A year younger than you if I heard you correctly," she said, nodding along. A perfectly manicured hand came up to rest on her chin. "My! Two talented alchemists in the family! What about your parents? Are they alchemists too?" she asked, moving closer and closer to me with each word.
"I don't think you need to know anymore about my family. You've intruded quite enough already," I growled at the woman, taking a threatening step closer.
"So icy! Not in a good relationship with parents," she muttered and the green quill seemed to nod before jotting that down as well.
"That's not-" I started, trying to deter the woman from spreading the wrong information, but I was cut off by a screech of an owl. I looked up just as the little elf owl with golden eyes landed on my shoulder, presenting his leg to me. I recognized Winry's neat handwriting immediately, and quickly removed the letter from the owl's leg before the little bird was taking off back toward the owlery.
"Oh, a letter! From a special someone back home?" Rita asked with a wink.
"Winry's just-"
"Oh, so there is someone! Oh, how exciting. Please do tell me about her," the woman pushed. My mouth was open, a loud retort almost on my lips before a familiar voice was calling my name.
"Professor Elric! Thank goodness we found you!" I heard a voice call, and I looked over to see the Weasley twins heading my way. I never thought I would be so happy to see those two troublemakers. "Now you can help us answer this alchemy question we've been debating all day!" Without waiting for a response, each twin grabbed an arm and hauled me off away from the crazy lady with the green quill.
When we were finally out of both ear shot and eye sight of the blonde reporter, I allowed myself to breathe a sigh of relief. I looked up at the twins with a smirk on my face.
"You guys don't actually need me to answer a debate, do you?" my smile growing with each passing second.
"Of course not, Professor!" the one on the right said. "There was no way we were going to leave you with that vulture," he said.
"Well, thank you both. Dear Truth, couldn't even get a word out to end the conversation," I said through a breath.
"Heard a lot about her, Professor. Notorious that one," the other twin said. "Always writing crazy outlandish stories from so-called 'interviews,'" he continued.
"So that's what that was? More like a one sided conversation if you ask me," I huffed as I crossed my arms. The twins nodded in unison.
"Good luck with whatever he writes, Professor Elric. Nothing good coming from that woman," the first twin said. "Well, we're off to collect our winnings!" he said, and as quick as they had come, trhy were gone.
I let out yet another huff before heading back to the castle with Winry's letter held tightly in my fist. A ball of anxiety settled in my stomach in anticipation of Winry's response. Half of me wanted to open it now, but now that Rita was around, there was no way I was opening mail out in the open. I would just have to wait. And if the past few years had taught me anything, it was patience. I could wait five more minutes to read the response from the girl of my dreams. We would wait for each other, that much I knew. And for right now, that was more than I could have ever hoped for.