On the day of 3 October, 1995, the various members of the fifth year Alchemy class were making their way to the Alchemy classroom, where they knew they would immediately be told to sit down and shut up by Professor Elric, and perhaps be asked politely by his brother, Alphonse, to pull out some chalk.

However, when Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, and a reluctant Ron Weasley arrived at the door, they found their classmates clustered around, but not entering.

Harry and Hermione stood on their toes in a futile attempt to see past Dean Thomas's tall frame. Hermione frowned and turned to Ron, who was nearly as tall as Dean. "Ron, what are they all looking at?"

"No idea. Oi!" Ron shouted. "What are you all looking at?"

Everyone turned to look at them, including Dean. "Oh, sorry," he said. "Didn't see you there." He stepped aside, allowing them a full view of the note that seemed to have been transmuted into the door.

NO CLASS TODAY. HAVE FUN. -PROFESSOR ELRIC

Please don't get in trouble during your free period. -Alphonse

Ron looked pleased. "All right, free period! Harry, want to go play some chess?"

Harry shrugged. "Sure."

The other fifth years began to trickle away.

Hermione ignored them, frowning. "Why would Alchemy be cancelled today? Professor Elric didn't mention anything about it last class, and I think we would have heard something if any of the other years were told."

"We can always ask," Harry suggested. He stepped up to the door and knocked; there was no answer.

Hermione frowned in disappointment. "They're not there."

"But Elric's office is at the other end of the classroom," Harry reminded. He pushed the door open and was surprised to discover a second door, which certainly hadn't been there a couple days ago. It had no doorknob or hinges, and there was more writing on it:

DIDN'T YOU READ THE NOTE? NO CLASS TODAY. AND WE'RE NOT IN MY OFFICE. DON'T TRY TO FIND US. -PROFESSOR ELRIC

We're in the library if you have any questions. Please don't bother us too much. -Alphonse

Harry closed the door.

"Okay then," Ron said matter-of-factly. "We can go to the library and ask them. And after that we can go play wizard's chess."

They started off to the library.

"Actually, I was thinking we could use this free time to finish some homework. You and Harry have been slacking off, and now would be an excellent time to catch up."

"I don't think anyone can catch up with you, Hermione," Ron said, rolling his eyes. "You're already ahead."

Harry walked behind them and listened to their banter, amused. They quieted down once they reached the library.

At the front desk, Madam Pince was glaring in the general direction of the unsubtle whisper-yelling emanating from the depths of the shelves. Her gaze snapped to them, and she put a finger to her lips with an aggressive, "Shhh!" that was nearly as loud as the whisper-yelling.

They weren't stupid enough to mention that, so they just nodded and began to make their way to the source.

At a table between the Transfiguration and Ancient Runes sections sat Professor Elric and Alphonse, who was, as always, wearing a gigantic suit of armor. Elric was gesturing wildly with his right hand to a book in his left, exclaiming about Equivalent Exchange and something about a gate. Alphonse was nodding along, but noticed them and stopped.

"Hi guys!" he whispered. "Do you need help with something?"

Elric whipped around in his seat and stared at them. "How did you find us?"

Hermione opened her mouth to reply, but Alphonse answered for them.

"I'm sure they just decided to use their free time to study in the library and just so happened to find us and it's not because I left a note on the second door telling everyone where we are," he said calmly.

Ed narrowed his eyes. "Riiight."

Alphonse turned back to them. "Was there something you wanted to ask?"

Harry nudged Hermione, and she straightened up. "Oh, yes. We were just wondering . . . why is class cancelled today?"

Professor Elric rolled his eyes. "Research, why else would we be in the library?"

Ron gave them a strange look. "You cancelled class for research?"

"We always cancel everything for research on October third," Alphonse explained.

Elric sighed. "Yeah. We set out on a mission today, and we're going to finish it." He stared off at something they could see for a moment, then came back to himself and glared at them. "Was that all? Yes? Good, go away." He then returned to his whisper-yelling and gesturing.

Alphonse waved them goodbye and went back to his routine of nodding and occasionally making interjections.

In the hallway outside the library, Harry, Ron, and Hermione discussed what they had heard.

"A mission, huh?" Harry murmured.

"What kind of mission would require them to drop everything?" Hermione wondered.

Ron grinned. "Want to go back and ask?"

"Of course not, they're busy!"

"Which is exactly why we should leave the library alone and go play wizard's chess."

And so they did.

Yo! So I was reading an October third chapter of a fic and I thought, "Why would they be grieving? They burned down their house so they wouldn't have an excuse to stop trying, they wouldn't use 10/3 to mope," so I wrote this up in about an hour.

I definitely won't be going anywhere with this, because I have become aware that I no longer have the conviction to write a fanfiction longer than two chapters. Hope you enjoyed!

-Quiet Leaf