Author's Note: So begins my chapter sprucing! I don't know if I should make this a version 2 and just repost the story or not. Oh well I'll figure it out. Spoiler alert! This is supposed to take place before episode 25, but some elements from later episodes are seen! But no movie spoilers! End spoiler alert!
Chapter One"Aww, man. What happened?" Ed said quietly to himself as he lay against the cold stone pavement. His eyes were shut tight from the pain of the fall. A migraine started to throb between his ears, making it feel like it was pulsing slightly, created another reason to keep his eyes shut tight.
"Are you alright?" Ed opened his eyes, even though he had no desire to, and picked his head up off the ground to look at the unknown speaker. He could feel bits of dirt fall off his cheek, while some remained stuck on his face.
A fifteen, maybe sixteen year old stood above the small blonde looking down with a careful, but at least concerned gaze. His right hand was hidden in the outside pocket of a black robe. Why he was wearing a cloak, Ed didn't know, but he could see the speaker's hand was tighten around something in his pocket, but Ed couldn't make out what it was. The tall boy carelessly let his wild jet-black hair hang over his round glasses as he looked down. Behind the hair, Ed wasn't sure (the boy was blocking the sunlight creating a silhouette that surround him like an aura, making it difficult for Ed to make out all the prominent facial features), but thought he could make out a lightening shape line that was etched into his head.
Ed pushed himself off the ground, patting his limbs and brushing away the spare dirt that had decided to dirty up his face and clothes."Yeah I think so." He took a quick look around his landing spot. Now that he had adjusted to the light, he could see various different shops that were squeezed beside each other. How some of those shops were big enough to be called a shop, much less a very large cupboard, was beyond him. He looked up at the inquirer, "Where are we?"
"We're in Diagon Ally," the boy said giving Ed an awkward glance that just screamed out where-have-you-been?
"Dia-what?" Ed asked him crossing his arms over his chest, responding to the boy's look with one that asked are-you-one-of-those-crazy-people? The boy recognized the look and stood up at full height and mimicking Ed's look by crossing his arms too.
"Diagon Ally. You should've heard of it, if you apparated here," The taller boy answered with a defensive voice.
Ed was looking away from his tall acquaintance, looking at all the different people who were all wearing robes. Upon hearing that last remark, Ed snapped his head back. "Apparated?"
"Yeah, what about it?" the boy faltered a second. He still had a stern gaze but also looked questionably at Ed. His hand slipped back into his pocket tightening around the unknown object again.
Ed looked at the boy and thought, He must really be crazy. He shook his head and let the question drop. Instead he asked, "What's your name?"
The boy paused for a minute, measuring up the person that stood in front of him. He looked a little hesitate at first, as if he didn't trust him enough to give out his real name, but in the end he replied, "Harry Potter." He paused out of habit, knowing that this stranger would have a great temptation to peek underneath his hair gaze upon the legendary lightening shaped scar. But the person in front of him did no such thing. Instead he stuck out his right hand.
"I'm Edward Elric." Harry blinked, slightly surprised at the uninterested exterior of Edward Elric, but yet he also welcomed the bit of normalcy that he rarely experienced. Ed gave him a concerned look, while he still held out his hand, waiting for Harry to shake it. Realizing that he hadn't shook his new acquaintance's hand, Harry quickly let go of his wand that was residing in his pocket and shook the boy's hand, only noticing the grip the boy held, and not realizing at how stiff the boy's right hand was.
Ed stepped forward beside Harry. Harry wasn't sure, but he thought he heard Ed mutter something about being crazy. Harry shrugged it off and turned towards Ed. The smaller boy wasn't paying any attention to Harry; instead he was looking off down the street looking at the various people. He could see many crowds that were gathered around different shop windows. A particularly large crowd could be seen at the clear windows of a shop whose sign blinked in a bright red light that said Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
"Everyone is wearing robes…" Ed said in a quite voice to himself. He stared at a group that was passing by that even had tall pointed hats to match their robes.
"You're wearing one too," Harry said looking down at Ed's attire.
Ed turned and looked at Harry. "It's not a robe, it's a traveling cloak," He as-a-matter-of-factly said. He gave Harry a quick smile telling him, that he wasn't a snooty like git who knows everything. He was, as a matter of fact, only a few things shy of knowing everything, and that thing was why and how on earth did he get here at this crazy place?
Harry smiled back, but asked, "Why do you sound so surprised? As far as I know, witches and wizards have been wearing robes for forever. Even in the muggle storybooks, we have been wearing robes! This can't be your first time in the wizarding world; I mean you did apparate here."
Ed looked at Harry with a very quizzical expression, thinking, How crazy is this kid? He's talking about that apparating thing again. And a muggle? Whatever that is. But a wizarding world? Ed would've laughed if it wasn't for the fact that this world was so real. It could be plausible that a wizarding world existed, but that would be pushing it to the greatest extreme ever imaginable for Edward Elric, a sensible alchemic scientist.
Edward didn't say anything, but turned back towards the crowd. He could feel Harry gazing at him from the corner his eye, and he saw that his hand tightened once again around the thing in his pocket. If this wizarding world did exist, Ed could only think that Harry was gripping his wand. Ed sighed and looked at the many witches and wizards. Where am I?
Ed stood there quietly, thinking to himself and watching the so called witches and wizards walk up and down the streets. He also carefully kept an eye on Harry. He could tell that Harry didn't trust him, and he wasn't sure he trusted Harry himself. He could feel Harry's eyes bearing into him, but Ed wasn't exactly sure why. There was no need for Harry to be standing there watching him, almost expecting something. In fact Ed wished that Harry would walk off, that he he could look like an idiot in this new place alone. But if Harry knew everything about this place, then he could gain more information about this strange new world. An idea struck Ed over the top of his head.
"Hey, sorry about the confusion back. I guess I must've hit my head or something, and everything was kind of jumbled up." Ed lied through his teeth as he commenced with his idea. He was going to play innocent, act like he was confused a second ago, and then now go back to being the genius, even though he knew absolutely nothing about this place. He turned to Harry and smiled kindly and continued his act, "But I've never been to Diagon Ally. That's why I was surprised I was here."
"You've never been to Diagon Ally?" Harry inquired, looking like he was buying the act, but Ed had a slight impression that he was just playing along. Then again, there was always that slight chance that you were working with a crazy person; a gullible crazy person.
"Yeah. I live out in the country, so I've never really been to a big place like this. And I was thinking, maybe you could show me around?" Ed said, this time truthfully. You couldn't get any farther out in the country than Resembool.
Harry looked over the boy that was slightly smaller than him. Sure people were homeschooled, so there was really no reason for him to come to Diagon Ally to get books and supplies. Ed might have actually been to another wizarding city to get his needed supplies. But then why was he here, and not somewhere else?
Ed saw the hesitation and reacted exactly how a quite humble person would, "I mean, you don't have to. I understand if you're busy with something else. It wouldn't take me long to find out where everything is anyways." He turned around and looked at the shops again. Yeah, it wouldn't take long at all to figure out where everything was. No matter where you looked, you could see a shop selling absolutely useless junk.
Ed glanced over at a group of people. Breaking through the crowd were two people: a tall red head and a smaller girl with puffy brown hair. They were waving in their direction, looking like they were trying to get their attention. Knowing full well that they weren't saying hello to him, Ed turned to Harry.
"I think they're calling you."
Harry who was actually trying to waste time in answering Ed's question about the tour was looking down the opposite end of the street. He turned on Ed's comment and saw his two best friends coming towards him. He broke out in a smile, not only as a greeting, but they provided a good reason to delay in his answer and would probably have a reason to get out of the tour.
"Hey Harry, where have you been?" The tall red asked upon approaching Harry. He tried to discreetly look at Ed, unsure of who he was, but managed to make it obvious that he was suspicious of the new character beside his best friend.
"Who's this?" Hermione asked before Harry could answer. She politely looked at Edward, but her voice held a slightly defensive tone. She knew it was hard to trust anyone now a day, especially with Voldemort and his lackeys scattered about.
"This is Edward Elric." Harry said, turning and gesturing towards the boy that was slightly shorter than him. Ed nodded his greetings to them both and then continued to look around, turning his back towards the people that have just joined the party. Well aware that their eye's were on him, Ed kept taking in every detail of the streets, hoping to find something that would tell him that this world was nothing but a dream.
While Ed's back was turned Ron gave Harry a questioning look as to who the new comer was. Harry shrugged his shoulders, he didn't know anymore than they did.
Ed spun around on his heel, facing the trio. "You know what Harry, I think I want to look around by myself; you don't have to show me around. But could you tell me where a hotel is?" Ed asked politely. He was well aware that Harry, and both of his friends, was uncomfortable around him. And he wasn't sure if he was comfortable around them for that matter.
"Uh sure," Harry said, caught slightly off guard by the suggestion. He pointed down the street, "It the place called the Leaky Cauldron; you can't miss it."
Silently, Ed thought that he could easily miss it; why calls a hotel the Leaky Cauldron, anyways? He wasn't sure if he really wanted to know.
"Thanks for your help. It was great meeting you," Ed said overly polite, nodding to each of them in turn and started to walk away from the group.
Safely out of hearing distance, Hermione turned towards Harry giving him a very questioning look.
"I know just as much as you do," Harry said before Hermione could start to interrogate him.
"Well maybe a little bit more that that," Ron said, watching Edward push his way into the crowd and disappear.
"I don't know, he just kind of appeared out of nowhere," Harry said and then quickly added, "But I'm sure he didn't apparate, he acted like he didn't know what that was. Much less know what anything else here was."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, starting to walk over to a nearby empty table. It would be easier to talk about this secretively if they didn't have anyone and everyone surrounding them.
"He just seemed like he didn't know what anything was. He did fall to the ground pretty hard, so everything could've been jumbled up like he said, but I don't know," Harry replied taking a seat in the shade of the brick building beside him.
"Did he say where he was from or what he was doing here?" Ron asked, he kept looking out into the crowd, trying to see if he could see anyone peeping in on their conversation.
"No he didn't say anything." Harry said looking down at the table and tracing the design with his finger.
"Well then, it sound like whoever this is isn't a very good conversationalist." The three friends at the table jumped up in surprise, their hands quickly reaching into their pockets for their wands.
"Professor Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed, immediately relaxing, upon seeing his headmaster come up from behind. Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling with laughter, and pulled up a chair to the table.
"So who is this strange man that cannot seem to uphold a conversation?" Dumbledore asked smiling. It was apparent that he had managed to overhear the majority of their conversation.
Ed wandered down the street, gently pushing his way through the crowd. He looked about at the different shops; taking note of what was sold, hoping to make a map in his head. Edward sadly realized though, that making a map of a place where you have already gotten lost in was a pointless act.
He sighed aloud. Stopping in the middle of the street, he turned and looked for the hotel. "Where is it?" he said quietly to himself. His golden eyes moved quickly back and forth looking for some sort of sign for a hotel. He cursed a loud and kept walking in the said direction, hoping that he hadn't passed the hotel.
"Where is it?" Ed said aloud, his voice faintly sounding of worry. He had passed another string of shops and he had yet to find his destination. He turned towards a patio outside of one of the smaller shop; foreign objects floated above people's head as they entered and exited the shop. White metal chairs and tables sat outside, decorating the already exotic porch. Ed quickly grabbed one of the empty chairs at an occupied table and stepped up on top of the white metal. He turned and looked out upon the street, looking above the heads of the robed people passing by. "I hate being short…" he grumbled aloud.
Below Edward, a man with a long grey beard with matching hair looked up at the blonde as he looked out on the crowd. Through his half-moon glasses, Dumbledore looked up at the boy, matching him with the description Harry gave. He decided to make himself known.
"You look lost." Frighten, Ed jumped on his chair, losing balance, and then quickly regained it as he gripped the chair in a death grip. With his heart beating quickly, he glared at the old man, his eyes yelling out 'Why on earth did you scare me?' The old man's eyes twinkled in amusement.
"Are you?" the old man asked. It was obvious he was trying to withhold a chuckle. Edward took a deep breath, and sat down on the chair he previously stood on.
"I think I am." He loosened his grip on the chair and rested his hands on the table. Dumbledore's eyes quickly focused on where the boy's right hand once gripped the chair. Careful to not show his surprise, he glazed on the slight but noticeable indentions that now appeared on the metal chair. Curious, he discreetly tightened his hold on his own chair, trying to see how malleable the chair really was. To his surprise, he was unable to put even a slight indention on the chair. Dumbledore's metal defensives immediately went up, and he took careful note as to what the boy was doing.
"Where are you trying to go?" Dumbledore asked, mindful to act relaxed.
"The Leaky Cauldron. At least that's what I think I was told." Edward told the old man, still unsure about the hotel's name.
"That's not to far away from here. If you like, I can show you the way," Dumbledore offered.
"Please do!" Edward immediately said, grateful for the offer to not get lost. Both he and the old man stood up at the same time. Before the old man started to lead the way, he held out his right hand in greeting.
"I'm Albus Dumbledore."
"Edward Elric," Ed responded shaking Dumbledore's right hand with his own.
"Well, Mr. Elric, if you follow me, I'll show you the way," Dumbledore said stepping forward towards the hotel. Silently, he noted how hard Edward's hand was when they shook hands. With the soft white gloves on, he couldn't figure out why the boy's hand was so hard.
As they continued down the street, Dumbledore brought up the question: "Do you have any money to pay for the hotel, Mr. Elric?" Edward's heart sank. In his own world, he barely had any money to pay for a hotel, but here he didn't even know what currency they took.
"Umm," Edward said aloud patting his pockets for loose change; maybe they would take his money.
"If you need money, I would be happy to give you some," Dumbledore said, stopping in from of a sign that read The Leaky Cauldron. He pulled out of his pocket a small velvet bag that clicked with the money inside.
"I couldn't ask you for that," Edward replied, a little worried as to why a complete stranger would give him money.
"Ah but you're not asking," Dumbledore quickly thrust the money into Edward's right hand. "Have a nice stay; I wouldn't be surprised if I see you again." Dumbledore turned and walked off, waving as he went. Mentally, he thought to himself. Having thrusted the money into his hand, he lightly felt Edward's wrist, curious to see if there was something there that caused his hand to be so hard. He wasn't sure what he touched, but whatever it was, it worried him. To him, Edward's wrist wasn't soft and warm like a normal human; instead it was hard and cold.
Ed sighed to himself as he lay on his hotel bed. Above him was the wooden ceiling with the boards hooking against each other at weird angles. Beside him sat the velvet bag, Dumbledore gave him, the bag still clicked with the hoard of coins that was still in it. He felt exhausted from the day; both in body and mind.
Witches and wizards don't exist. They are nothing but a fairy tale, like the ones Mom read to Al and me as a kid. But… people said the same thing about the Philosopher's stone. That's real, I know it is. If I believe that, can I really deny that witches and wizards don't exist either? He sighed again and got off the bed. He walked over towards the crooked window and looked out onto the exterior of the world. Below him people in pointed hats and robes walked past.
"How did I get into this mess?" Ed asked aloud. He rested his head against the window pane and thought back to what happened.
FlashbackWalking across a long metal bridge, Edward and Alphonse Elric talked amongst themselves, occasionally looking behind their backs; looking to if anyone was following them. Below them, a river churned and gurgled as it rushed past.
Edward walked on listening to the water underneath him. But as he walked forward listening, he noticed a noise that was once previously with him, armored footsteps. He stopped and turned around. A good distance behind him, Alphonse crouched over an unknown object.
"Al what are you doing?" Edward asked, curious as to why his brother stopped.
"Nothing!" Al said, sitting up slightly and turning his metal head towards his brother.
Ed sighed and shook his head. He looked back towards the dirt road they had just left. Coming at an immense speed, a silhouette rushed towards the bridge. "Shoot! Hurry up Al! I can see Armstrong catching up with us!"
"Coming!" faintly the sound of a metal click of attaching armor could be heard. Al turned and started towards his brother.
Seeing his brother follow him, Ed turned on his heel and started to run forward. However, he was required to look down, when he noticed he wasn't going anywhere.
"What the?" Ed wondered aloud as he looked down at his feet. Red lines crisscrossed every which way, making intricate designs that never repeated itself. Looking around him, Ed realized he was standing in the middle of a, now active, transmutation circle. He struggle to move out of the mysterious circle, but was unable to do so. The circle started to glow white, and within seconds, Edward's feet started to dematerialize from underneath him. Slowly, Edward started to disappear.
"What going on?" Ed exclaimed. He tried to bring his hands up to clap, hoping to counteract the reaction, but he soon realized that his hands had disappeared at the wrists and his forearms were in the process of vanishing.
"Brother!" Al yelled, unsure of what to do. He fell to his knees, taking out a piece of white chalk and drawing a circle on the ground. However he didn't know what else to draw from there. Quietly, a meow produced from his armor.
Having caught up to the brothers, Armstrong slid to a stop. His eyes were wide in wonderment and fear in seeing Ed evaporating before his eyes. Before he could react, Ed had vanished from their eyes.
The next thing he knew, Edward was lying on cold stone.
End Flashback"Al was getting a cat?" Ed asked himself, having just registered the meowing coming from the armor. "But I guessed it saved him from coming here." Ed turned away from the window and sat back down on his lumpy bed.
"But how am I supposed to get back?"
He looked down towards the wooden floor. His hands hung loosely by the sides of his legs. His automail glinted off of the faint light that was coming through the window.
Thoughtfully, he took off his gloves, and laid them beside the bag. Positioning his hands in an all to familiar position, Ed clapped his hands together, and then brought them apart. A long metal blade grew from his wrist, sharp as ever.
"At least alchemy still works," Edward said, relieved that something in this strange world was familiar to him. Clapping his hands again, he retracted the blade, morphing his automail into its original shape.
He leaned back upon his bed, and looked up at the ceiling again. His exhaustion was starting to pound on him. Already he could feel his eyes drooping shut. Before he drifted off into his dreamland he thought, What are the odds that this is a dream?But then, where are monsters in dreams?
Author's Note: And so ends my chapter one remodeling. I'm pleased with it, I think. I know I at least doubled the length. But I'm kind of sad, cause I know that I probably won't ever get to redoing all my other chapters. Its been awhile since I've read Harry Potter, or watched Fullmetal Alchemist, so please tell me if any characters are out of character! And I don't know if I need that last sentence or not, but I like it. I got it from the game Marathon. Pretty awesome game, made by Bungie, way better than Halo.