I'm sorry about the last chapter... but it was just too good of an opportunity to pass up! So, here's the real chapter (And yes, this is a part of the actual story and not a prank). I think I made everybody pissed at me for the last chapter. Also, I DID post the last chapter on April 1, just at about 11:30ish at night.

It had been approximately five years since Ed had celebrated his one and only Christmas, and it seemed that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and even Al and Winry, were trying to make this one the best in his life. His girlfriend and brother had received permission from the Headmaster (without Ed's knowledge, mind you) to come visit the castle the week before break, and then the all three of them would be traveling to Ron's home for the holiday. Currently, Al was sitting in on Edward's sixth year class while the alchemy teacher himself was too busy having a short make-out session with Winry.

"Who're you?" Ron asked, sliding into his seat with Harry and Hermione (Hermione sat on the other side of Harry, as she wanted nothing to do with Ron and it was too late in the semester to change seats). only a few minutes before class was set to begin.

Al grinned brightly at him.

"You're Ron, right? And Hermione and Harry?" They nodded slowly. "I'm Alphonse, Brother talks about you all the time!"

"Oh!" Hermione said, returning the tall boy's smile. "It's nice to finally meet you, Alphonse." She paused and looked around the room, a small frown on her face. "Do you happen to know where your brother is?"

Alphonse smirked.

"Oh, yeah, I know where he is." He chuckled a little bit. "He and Winry are… catching up, so to speak."

"Catching up?" Ron asked, a little dumbly. "What for?"

The tall blond broke into a fit of laughter, while Harry and Ron stared at him in bemusement.

"I don't get it," Harry whispered to Ron, who nodded in agreement. Hermione, however, had gone slightly pink in the face, and gave Ron an annoyed look.

"Well," she began in a brisk and somewhat mean tone, "you should know. You and Lavender do it all the time, Won-won."

Harry caught Alphonse mouthing 'Won-won' in confusion.

Ron had gone as scarlet as his hair, and looked pointedly away from Hermione, and didn't so much as glance at her for the rest of the hour.

Ed finally arrived, Winry in tow. Both of them had mussed hair, and Ed's shirt was inside out. No one mentioned it, as they feared the wrath of the alchemist (when they really should have feared Winry's aim).

Harry sat in the common room with Hermione, studying for their next exam. Ron was who knows where, doing who knows what with Lavender, and Hermione absolutely refused to even acknowledge that their friend wasn't currently with them. As far as she was concerned, he could fail all of his classes and she wouldn't bat an eye.

"This is absolutely fascinating!" she exclaimed as she read through the textbook. "Did you know that the Amestrian military funded and was able to create successful chimeras? And this was only written this year, too!"

Harry looked over her shoulder into the book. It showed pictures of seemingly ordinary people, but other pictures depicted them with animalistic characteristics. He frowned.

"Did Ed ever talk about those during class?" he asked her, and Hermione shook her head with a small frown.

"No," she replied. "And I don't know why. Obviously experimenting on humans is wrong, but it's really none too different from animagi, isn't it? I'll ask him about it during class."

Harry hummed thoughtfully.

"We could ask him now," he offered. "I mean, it's not like we're doing much else, are we?"

"Studying, Harry, we are studying."

"Ow, Winry!" Ed yelped. "Warn a guy next time, will you?" He rubbed his leg port where his girlfriend had reattached his lower leg after her thorough examination.

She snorted.

"Oh, you big baby. It's not that bad."

"Yes it is!"

Winry smacked him lightly on the back of his head with her wrench, a small smile twitching her lips.

"Lemme take a look at your arm, alchemy freak." She said, and began removing it from its port, just as Harry and Hermione entered Ed's office.

Harry looked a little taken aback at the sight of an armless Ed, but Hermione looked more intrigued than anything.

"Hmph. I guess you have been taking decent care of them this time," Winry reluctantly admitted as she inspected every inch of Edward's automail arm. "Being a teacher has stopped you from getting into too many fights, then?"

He shrugged, turning away from her slightly so that he could see the door.

"Hey, guys," he greeted his students/friends, and frowned a little bit. "Where's Ron? Oh god, tell me you didn't use alchemy on him?" His eyes were wide with anxiousness.

Winry smacked him on the head again.

"They'd be screaming or some shit if that was the case," she told him as he glared at her and rubbed the back of his head with his remaining arm. "Now hold still, I gotta put this back on."

He cringed, waiting for the pain, and yelped slightly as she popped his arm into place.

"How's that?"

He rolled it experimentally, and then gave her a head up before returning his attention to Harry and Hermione.

"So, whaddya need?" he asked them, and Hermione held out the book that she had been carrying.

"I came across chimera experiments in our textbook," she began, "and I was wondering-"

"No!" Ed snarled, briskly walking over to her and snatching the book from her hands. He looked at the page that she'd marked, and stared at it in slight horror. "This was in the book? How did I miss that?" He returned the book to Hermione and placed a hand over his face, trying to calm his anger.

Winry placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Ed, it's okay, they didn't know," she soothed. "It's not their fault."

He nodded, gritting his teeth and looking at the two still standing in the doorway.

"Chimeras… it's illegal to use humans, but some did it anyway." The look in his eyes indicated that he'd seen the result of these human chimeras. "Most people agree that using animals is fine, but it's still a horrible, horrible thing to do."

He closed his eyes.

"Ed," Hermione said, her voice almost a whisper. "Did you… know someone who…"

He nodded, and she waited for him to speak.

"She was just a little girl." Ed began, not looking at any of them. "And she lost her mother a few years ago. All she had was her dog, and her bastard of a father." He looked Hermione dead in the eyes. "Her father made a chimera out of her mother, and then a few years ago, he made one out of Nina and her dog."

Harry looked like he might be sick.

"She didn't understand what was going on, just that she was hurting and wanted to play."

Ed shook his head as if he was trying to shake the memory lose.

"I…" he swallowed. "I need a minute."

Harry and Hermione nodded, and left the room.

Word Count: 1,198 without A/N