Warnings: No additional warnings for this chapter.

Beta- reader: All mistakes are my own u.u

"Abc!" - spoken words
"Abc!" - words spoken in the past
Abc! - thoughts

Recap Chapters 1-7.2:

The Elric brothers split up on their quest for information on how to regain their bodies. Following leads, Edward first arrived at Hogsmeade and later at Hogwarts. There, Edward passed Dumbledore's 'trial' and was allowed to meet up with Eve, the Flamel's former house-elf on a remote island in Devon. While Ed could confirm that the Sorcerer's Stone is made of magical energy only, he needs to create a wand that might work for him. Because of that, he took on an apprenticeship in wandlore at Ollivander's and is stuck to live with Sirius whom he confronted about the attacks during the Quidditch World Cup.

Chapter 7.3: Barking Dogs Never Bite?! - 3 (words: 4119)

When Edward had gone 'home' this day, he had known what to do. He had held back in the evening before, to get a good night's rest and think things through before acting too harshly. Black wasn't suspecting anything, so there was no need to rush things. This morning had been harder since his thoughts had only ever run in circles during the night. Things just didn't make sense. Nothing added up.

Black had lied to him about his identity, of that at least, he was sure. Even if none of them had ever actually outright said it, Ed could read between the lines of what Mrs Black, Kreacher and 'Regulus' said. Or, as for the foremost, screamed. His host was Sirius Black and he was a convict, was on the run from authorities and had shown tendencies of violence against his house-elf during Ed's first days of residing in the house. Looking back now, he figured that it was probably a good thing that he hadn't yet known back then.

A mass-murderer, however? The man didn't seem to fill the role. He was neither out for blood, nor did he hold the same crazy look in his eyes as Scar or the Homunculi. He was wary, yes, but he was also offering a place of residence to an unknown teenager and even went so far as to prepare meals for him twice a day. Just because someone was convicted didn't necessarily mean that they committed the crime as well. That, Ed knew from experience. Merely half a year ago, he had been on the run from the authorities as well, albeit being innocent of the crimes they accused him of having done.

So he had settled down, then, not quite convinced but inclined to believe in the other. To give 'Regulus' a chance and judge for himself if those accusations were correct.

And then Black had met up with 'some old acquaintances' right on the day the attack had happened. A mere coincidence? The man had never before left the house as far as he could tell.

Ed hadn't been pleased this morning, but with his thoughts resembling a jumbled mess he wasn't sure if he could pull the confrontation off if he wasn't able to focus entirely on the situation at hand. The day had brought no new insights, however, and Ed was sick of being left in the dark. If there was even the slightest possibility that his host was involved with the torturing, then someone had to interfere. 'Someone' meaning him. He was the only one knowing about the location of Sirius Black. Even if one of the wards was preventing Ed from sharing the information, working around that was not all that problematic.

There only was one problem: After finally setting his mind about approaching the subject, Black had initially reacted as he had predicted. He had set up a fight. Who wouldn't? Ed hadn't been worried too much about it because, really, how much worse than a Homunculus could a wizard be?

Not much, as it turned out, if it even reached that far up the scale in the first place.

Though as far as Ed could tell, contrary to the Homunculus' intentions, Sirius Black hadn't yet tried to outright kill him. He had knocked him back, tried to mess with his memories (What is it with those guys and their disregard of others' memories?) and generally stop his approach. There was no way Ed would ever count that half-hearted attempt with the cutlery as life-threatening. Not with so many butcher knives having been thrown at him by teacher when he was but a child.

And this, exactly, was the one point that didn't match with his expectations.

If he really is a convict and had indeed participated in the torturing, as his answers – or lack thereof – had suggested, then why is he holding back in the battle? Why go for my memories instead of for my life?

The realization only served to fuel his doubts. So, after successfully pinning his wand to the counter by transmuting said counter, Ed decided to give him one last chance.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't."

Black looked a little startled at first, but narrowed his eyes instead of just using the safety line Ed had thrown out to him.

And then he … shifted.

It wasn't like Ed had never seen anyone shift before but apart from not expecting it, it caught him off-guard to the extend that he stumbled back in surprise.

What's going on?

Black was shrinking, it seemed, and black hairs started to sprout from every inch of his body at rapid speed. His clothing, too, was disappearing as he sunk to the ground. The change wasn't as unsettling as Envy's and it was definitely different from how Darius and Heinkel would keep their clothes and general size, Ed realized. For a split second, time seemed to stand still and Ed managed to recognize the creature in front of him as an animal, a big, black dog even, and hadn't he seen that one somewhere?

And then the moment was over as it suddenly launched at him.

They toppled over by the abrupt addition of weight on Ed's body and fell on the floor ungraciously.

Edward stared blankly at the furry head on top of him

… The heck?

Yep, he decided, most definitely not what he had been expecting when he had instigated the confrontation.

Black just … changed into a dog, he managed to think before his brain caught up with the happenings and he realized just what had seemed familiar earlier. From close-up, it was obvious. The dog from Diagon Alley.

And then said dog was gone and back was a quite angry Sirius Black. A mere moment later and the man was pointing his wand at the tip of Ed's nose in a threatening manner.

"Give me one reason," Black parroted Ed's words from earlier, eyes narrowed dangerously. "One reason why I shouldn't."

Ed blinked. "You are the dog from Diagon Alley," he answered more calmly than he felt. There was not much doubt about it, and yes, it was stating the obvious, but at least it wasn't the wrong answer.

It was Black's turn to blink.

"Yes," he replied at length, "but that's beside the point now. You were to not find out about my identity and now you did. Not only that, but you decided to act upon it. Bad choice, Elric, especially since I'm sure you know what we do to Muggles who find out more than they should."

There was something in Black's voice that told Ed the other held no doubt that nothing Ed could give him as a reason would have him change his mind. There was something else in it, though, something that told Ed that Black nevertheless still held hope he'd be able to accomplish exactly that.

So Ed tried again, more slowly.

"You were in Diagon Alley. With. Us."

"... Yes. But, as I said, that's beside the – "

Finally, Ed's emotions caught up with the situation as well. "You got an alibi!" he interrupted the other. "The heck? Why on earth didn't you just say so earlier?" And without giving a damn about the wand now pointed at his neck, he used the momentary confusion on Black's part to turn the tables on him. Thus now, it were Black's grey eyes looking up at him in surprise while he was pinning the other down.

Ed hesitated for but a moment. Then he bent to the side quickly, snatched the wand away and got up, immediately bringing a couple of steps as well as the still simmering remains of the former table between them.

Maybe some physical distance would do Black's thinking some good.

"Is 'Hexing me without a wand is more trouble than it's worth' a good enough reason?"

Black scoffed. "How would you know what it's worth?" He had gotten up as well, a little rumpled maybe and definitely scowling like never before, but otherwise remarkable placid.

Ed shrugged. "It's worth nothing, obviously. I'd probably just dodge your spell again. You saw I'm good at that. Then I'd snap your wand and the fight would continue on to round two. Same as before," he smirked, "just that your cards would be worse than before. And in the end," he added, shrugging slightly, "it wouldn't even make a difference."

It would be cool for practice, though, Ed couldn't help but think. Maybe another time.

This time, Black bristled with anger. "Well, in this case I'm sorry to tell you, but I'm not going down without a fight! I'm not sure you know what exactly is at stake for me, but I can assure you that I've got no intentions to let you knock me out and – "

"I'm not going to knock you out."

" – bring me to – What?"

Didn't he listen earlier?

"I'm not going to knock you out," Ed repeated, frowning. "You've got an alibi, so you're off the hook for now. Only thing I don't understand is why you didn't even try to bring that up when I confronted you!"

"Are you seriously telling me I should have waged on a teenager believing a convict just because they told him they were innocent?" Black's voice was incredulous. "A hot-headed one like you, even? Don't make me laugh, Elric!" If possible, he scowled even harder. "Tried it in the past, didn't work that well."

Ed's eyebrows rose up at this. "You make it sound as if teenagers trying to knock you out is an everyday-life occurrence to you."

Then again, Ed realized belatedly, maybe it is.

As if to answer his thoughts, Black crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You'd be surprised."

"Oh? So they didn't believe you at all?"

There was a pause. "They did," the wizard admitted at last, a look of nostalgia flashing in his eyes before being replaced by pure hatred. "After a friend showed them the proof!"

Ed blinked. It didn't add up. "If there's proof of you being innocent, why don't you just show it to the authorities? And why didn't you just show it to me earlier?"

"The 'proof' is a human being. The real culprit, as it is, and he managed to get away." The bitterness in the man's voice could have put a whole basket of lemons to shame. "Also, the testimonies of said teenagers weren't seen as liable."

The conversation came to a lull. Ed was still standing nearer to the door, wand held hostage in his left hand. The simmering flames of the transmuted wood between them were glowing less and less by the minute and the counter was still as much of an artistic creation as before.

It wasn't likely that Black would attack him any time soon, especially since he had no weapons, so he took a moment to think things over. He wanted to believe Black. He really did. And there were only minor reasons why he shouldn't. He wanted to believe that the man he'd spent the past weeks playing chess against, laughing with and bickering back and forth wasn't a murdering maniac. There was no doubt about Black having had no involvement in the Death Eater attack from the day before. With the dog as close up as it had been mere moments ago, Edward was convinced that it was the same that Eve had taken pity on. It would explain his strange behaviours as well, Ed thought. And why he said that he wouldn't use decorations like the ones in the house.

But in the end, one of it was solid proof that he was innocent of the mass-murdering one and a half decade ago.

And then, there was that other point. "You could've still told me you had an alibi. Why start a fight when, this time, you did have the proof right at your hands?"

Black faltered. "I …," he started just to stop again and turn his head to the side. "I didn't think of it that way."

"Then which way did you think about it?" Ed asked, raising one inquisitive eyebrow.

Black regarded him for a long moment, scrutinizing his eyes and contemplating in silence. It took longer than a minute until he finally relaxed his pose a little further by uncrossing his arms. But he's still wary, Ed couldn't help but notice.

"It's pretty stupid to present proof for one's innocence of one crime by admitting that one has committed another, don't you think?"

"... Depends on which crime is more severe."

And which crime you are talking about this time.

"Well, yes, it does," Black admitted. "You gave off the impression of not really being up to thinking too hard about things while being enraged, though. If I had agreed on having broken the law once, it was quite likely that you'd take it as a proof of me constantly going against regulations. A liar is not believed even if he speaks the truth."

Ed took it in stride. "So, which law did you break by spending an evening with Mister Ollivander, Eve and me?"

"Right, I'm always forgetting." Black sighed and leaned back against the counter a little. "Contrary to what you may think, turning into animals is not a common occurrence for wizards. The punishment for being an unregistered Animagus is Azkaban."

Well, that is interesting, Ed thought. So experiments of combining a human and an animal are punishable here as well? That was new, for sure. But he said 'unregistered'. So there is a register for chimeras? Or an Animagus, as he called it. Wonder where the difference in vocabulary is this time.

"And you feel comfortable with telling me about this now?"

Black actually laughed at that. It was a strained, somewhat resigned laugh, though, that held no amount of humour whatsoever. "You've got enough knowledge to get me to Azkaban anyways. Not sure why it would make a difference now."

That's just … stupid.

Ed deadpanned. Then, in the spur of the moment, he threw his hostage wand over to Black who deftly caught it in his hand. The man looked terribly confused.

"Huh?"

"You'll have to explain the Animagus thing another time, but I know for sure that you're not a murderer. I don't care about the World Cup anymore, it's obvious that you weren't involved in that one. And it's nearly as obvious that you never killed anyone."

That said, Ed bent down to eye the remains of the table critically. There wasn't that much of it left, so it would definitely end up being less sturdy and way, way smaller.

"And you would know that because?"

Ed looked up at that to find Black watching him curiously. He shrugged and set about his task of understanding the matter before him once again. Quite a lot of soot over there, he thought as he looked at the remaining pieces of cutlery that were still embedded in some of the parts. Need to make sure to separate those as well.

"Because I've had to deal with those more than I'd like," he whispered and clapped his hands.

Black's eyes were on him. He felt the tell-tale tingle of the gaze on his figure but never once abandoned his task. The table was barely big enough for six persons when he finished. Two knives, forks and spoons were placed in sets on opposite sides of it while the rest was a sorted assembly in the middle of it. A few hand movements later, the table was empty and the silverware back in its drawer.

Under the table, however, a small pile of soot rested testimony of their battle.

"What makes you so sure," Black asked just as Ed finished righting the last of the fallen chairs, "that I'm not going to Obliviate you anymore?"

When Ed looked at him, the man was twiddling with his wand. He frowned. "Give me one reason why you should?"

"As you know, there are plenty. You are a Muggle. You know about me. I don't trust you enough with my secret, because even if your intentions are good, you can still easily slip up any time."

"Oh?" Ed asked in mock shock. "I'm wondering, though. Dumbledore knows, too, right? And I can't really 'slip up' because of that strange charm he put up to protect the house." He set out to turn the counter back to normal as well. "And seriously. You asked me to get to know you so I could try to find a wand for you. Given your situation, that was a daring thing to ask, so I'd venture a guess and say that it wasn't so much about the wand but about wanting company." A clap and that was settled as well. "Sounds to me like you've got something to loose no matter which way you choose," Ed said as he turned back around to face the wizard head-on. "I know which way I'd prefer," he smiled.

"And which would that be?"

"Dinner."

For Ed, the issue was resolved after that, but he could tell that it wasn't quite the same for Black just yet. They had decided to make dinner together, to make up for the time spent fighting arguing, but the air was still tense. Black never let him out of his vision for a longer longer period of time, always glancing at him out of the corners of his eyes, but never breaching the subject verbally. He would go to the pantry to get ingredients, and of course, he would keep focus on the stove even when Ed finished setting the table. Yet, Ed could clearly see the tension in Black's shoulders whenever his back was facing him.

In turn, Ed had tried to strike up a conversation of his own. He hadn't really known what to talk about – giving too detailed information about his person was a no-go after all – but he had given it two or three tries before giving up.

This won't do, Ed thought as he watched Black fill their plates. He frowned. When the man finally turned around, his eyes immediately zeroed in on Ed's seated form at the table. Seeing that Ed wasn't about to ambush him, his posture relaxed.

This won't do at all.

Two clacks and a wooden scraping noise later, everything was set.

They ate in silence.

"How did you find out?"

The question came so sudden, so unexpected that Ed nearly choked on his chicken. He hadn't thought that the other would bother to come out of his shell enough to raise his voice let alone ask a question.

Well, it's a step forward for sure.

"I mean," Black continued whilst raking a hand through his black mane in distress. "What made you suspect? Dumbledore said you didn't even know about You-Know-Who, so how did you find out about me?"

"Ah," Ed answered, smiling. "I actually knew about you before I knew about him." Finally, some progress. "I walked to Hogsmeade and since that took some time, camped along the way. My hosts in the village told me just how foolish an idea that was seeing as you were most likely still nearby. That was back in June."

Black raised his eyebrows. "In a strange way, this does make sense." He sighed, dejectedly. "So they probably gave you my family history, my looks and whatever gossip they knew as well. You just had to add two and two together with neither Dumbledore nor me being any the wiser." He was clearly berating himself for his carelessness.

"Not quite," Ed said, smiling yet again. "They didn't tell me all of that. Just that you were a convict, and why and that I had been dumb and should be watching out some more. I found it strange, though, when Mrs. Black insulted you. The same goes for your relationship with Kreacher as well. It's just … you know, at first I actually thought you were a burglar, forcing him to work below you, but it didn't add up with Dumbledore's behaviour –"

"Because he greeted me and brought you here."

"Exactly. So then I thought you were an impostor. It wasn't until I saw the family tree in the study that the Sirius Black I'd heard about crossed my mind again." Ed took a sip of water. "But I couldn't quite go up to you and demand an explanation. One's not supposed to accuse his host of being a mass-murderer, especially not when it's only a hunch and when one's dependent on them. I mean you never treated me badly, ever, and it didn't make sense that a convict would willingly take care of a teenager whilst still being on the run."

"And here I am," Black grinned, "being a convicted for murder and still taking care of a teenager nonetheless. Must seem to you as if I've finally gone crazy, huh?"

Ed shrugged his shoulders. He was more glad that the other had gotten a slice of his former humour back than worried about his state of mind. "The world's a strange place," he conceded. "Besides," he added with conviction and stared Black squarely in the eyes, "you aren't a murderer."

"It still has me wonder. You didn't count on your theory being correct at all just because of that?"

"Hah. Don't worry, I did. I just didn't want to count on being able to handle a fully trained magical assassin that would most likely want to kill me if I was to breach the subject and come out unscathed. You see, I kind of promised someone to not get into any more trouble than necessary."

"I can't believe …" Ed strained his ears, but Black had trailed off into a low murmur that he couldn't catch.

"What?" he asked on autopilot and immediately, the memory of Al's soft voice was chiding him inside his head: "Really, Ed! When will you ever learn that it's 'I beg your pardon?' instead of 'What?'" His mind was supportive enough to add in a very convincing image of ten year old Alphonse Elric scowling at him.

Black, however, didn't mind the rudeness. "I can't believe," he repeated, louder this time, "that you knew or at least suspected all along and I only found out today! And by chance, too!"

Ed blinked. "By chance?" he parroted right back at the rumpled wizard who responded by pointing to a discarded newspaper across the room.

"Yes. I followed you today because you had been acting so strange ever since yesterday. When you walked by my spot in Diagon Alley, you mumbled whilst reading the weather forecast. Mind you, there is no weather forecast in today's issue. There hardly ever is, as a matter of fact."

He found out because … because I mumbled the weather forecast while walking. Ed couldn't believe it. Out of all the times he could have slipped up and didn't because he was always so overconscious about that stupid Unbreakable Vow it was this that had revealed him. I guess I should just be glad that this scenario wasn't covered by the spell, he thought bemusedly.

"I can't believe that you knew this much longer than me," Black said yet again as he pushed his chair back to stand up. A flick of a wand later and their dishes flew their way to the sink, ready to be cleaned up by Kreacher later.

He washed his hands and flicked his wand yet again, effectively conjuring the well-known chess board out of nowhere.

"I may not have gotten to beat you earlier, but with the help of my loyal white knights, I will for sure!"

The resulting cheers echoing from all over the kitchen had Ed smile.

Back in Amestris, he had always thought of chess as a boring game only played by grey-haired old men who believed to be better than everybody else. The wizard version, though, was very much not boring.

This, he concluded, will totally do.

Author's Notes:

Finally. It's short, yes, but it seriously took eternity. I'm so glad it's done. T_T

There were around eight totally different scenarios for this scene. One worse than the other, I tell you. One was full of action, but I suck at writing that. It was word repetition all over the place. Then in the next I totally skipped the confrontation part with a 'ten minutes later bla' which was totally lame and unsatisfying. Then there was one involving Kreacher, but I didn't know where to go with that. There even was one where Ed freaked out about the Animagus/Chimera thing before I remembered that this would only fit for the '03 version and not for the manga! Also I thought you might not want to read a chapter that nearly consisted of nothing but descriptions. I won't even bore you with the other ones.

So so SO glad I found a version I feel like I can upload.

Also SO sorry about the wait. Especially after the cliffy. And I apologize for the shortness as well. I've written more for the next chapter but they just … don't belong in one chapter. There's a definite split mood- and topic-wise in the story so that the scenes need to be separated.

I want to thank everyone who poked me to write during the wait as well. I may have occasionally not written in a few month's time 'cause I was so frustrated with myself but knowing that there were still people waiting for more kept me going. My notebook and pens were always in my bag, so I suppose that was good.

Again sorry for the wait.

(Number)-Time:

No numbers. Though if anyone wondered about why Ed's this unconcerned about the Animagus thing: he lived with Darius and Heinkel for months after being stabbed by that awful metal beam. Figured he'd be used to chimeras by now.

Thanks for reading once again and please consider to leave a review! :)

See you, hopefully, in the next chapter:

Chapter 8: Wandlore

P.S.: If any of you'd like to smooth out the mistakes in there or in future chapters, I'm searching once again for a beta-reader.