Author's Note:

Hello again!

It seems I'm back to writing and somehow FMA and HP captured me again! I've been reading some stories about it but I couldn't find one satisfying enough - so I decided to write my own! I hope I will be able to finish it without a problem this time ;)

As for the FMA I think I will mix it a little with Brotherhood. But Ed came to the other side of the Gate just like he did in the anime - trying to get Al back when they were down stuck with Rose and Dante. Just I ignored the ending with meeting Hohenheim.

Anyway, I'm thinking about Roy/Ed with a little Ed/don't know who from HP universe :D So I guess read to see and find out! But if there will be any other parinig, it wouldn't be anything Sirius xD

Enjoy and review please :D

The magical solution

Chapter 1

Remus

Ed was running for his life. Again. You would have thought he got used to it by now. They got him by surprise. He was very careful lately. Apparently, not careful enough.

He dashed through the trees at a park, dodging red spikes of light shot his way. He still didn't know what exactly this power was but he knew it was dangerous. He witnessed this green light killing on a spot. He also knew the red one would stun him, make him easy to catch, unable to move.

With a clap of his hands blue alchemical energy flowed through his fingers and he brushed every tree he could while running. It would slow them down at least a little.

The trees twisted and moved, grabbing one dark cloaked figure and making another two stumble and fall. Ed didn't even have time to feel smug about this as with a loud pop two of them appeared directly in front of him. With a curse, he jumped to the side, feeling a hot rush of air as the red light brushed his arm. He was lucky it was the metal one or he would have been down already.

With a snarl and a clap he managed to catch one of them off guard. The man cursed loudly when a wooden spike impaled his side. Blood flowed freely. Ed was long past feeling guilty about harming them. They were rustles killers, all of them.

With his way clear, Ed shot forward to safety. He didn't know why but those bastards never followed him into that particular street. Everywhere else, they would appear with that pop sound and kill anyone in their way. But not here. Somehow Privet drive was off limits for them. For the life of him Ed couldn't figure out why. It's not like it was different, the houses where plain and people boring. And no one here could use those strange lights out of a stick either. If Ed wasn't a scientist, he'd say it was magic.

With a pant, Ed came to a stop in the middle of the street and looked behind him with a smirk. This happened so many times now he knew they would just curse and leave. With a clap of his hands and a flash of blue his blade blended back into the automail.

Imagine his surprise when one of them – his side bloody, so he must be the one impaled by his spike – rushed towards him in a blinding rage and shouted crucio!

Ed didn't see any light from the stick pointed at him yet something shot him in the chest. Then agony filled his frame, he fell down and almost screamed. He barely just managed to hold it back but a pitiful whimper escaped anyway. It was like his automail surgery again. This hot, burning pain...

He focused on his breathing. Ed couldn't hear the commotion around and could only sag in relief when the pain passed. His soldier instincts kicked in quickly. He shot up to his feet, facing his opponent and trying to ignore the lingering pain in his muscles and dizziness. It seemed some people came to his aid, though.

Three people surrounded the black figure kneeling on the street, they had similar sticks pointed at him. They were really a strange group. One was a tall, tired looking man whose eyes radiated calm power. He was wearing a long, brown coat that saw better days. His kind face was full of scars, his expression serious. Another one was a woman with pink hair and a funny nose, her clothes a strange mix of normal and crazy. The third person was the most attention catching, one of his legs was wooden and his face... well, almost half of it was gone. He had a crazy, blue eye that twisted around independent of the other one.

"Are you all right?" The tired man asked him and pocketed his stick. He came closer, leaving the prisoner to the other two and approached Ed slowly. The Alchemist eyed him with suspicion, not easing his fighting stance. They were in possession of this strange power as well. He wasn't sure if having a common enemy made them allies or not. He nodded anyway in answer.

"Don't be afraid, we won't hurt you. My name is Remus Lupin. That woman with funny hair over there is Tonks. The other man's name is Moody. What is yours?" Remus approached him but kept his distance, clearly seeing Ed didn't trust him.

"I am Edward Elric." He answered. His accent was strange for the man and he frowned thinking about it. He never heard any language similar to that. "So you are enemies of his?" He nodded towards the still kneeling man in black cloak.

"Yes, obviously. Moody and Tonks are Aurors, you don't have to worry." He tried to reassure him and took a step closer.

"Aurors? What's that?" Ed decided to relax a little for now. They didn't seem hostile at the moment. He kept his guard up, though.

The man's face clearly showed surprise at his question.

"You are not a wizard? But I saw you changed your arm somehow, there was a blue flash..." Remus frowned and looked at him for answer.

"WIZARD? No way... Please don't tell me that this strange power of yours is magic!" Ed exclaimed, almost face-palming. Seriously?! People frowned and called him a freak when he used his alchemy but magic existed in this world?! Maybe it was a secret power, as most of the people didn't seem to use it... "What I did was Alchemy." He decided to answer to see if those folks knew of it.

"Alchemy?" Now he was truly puzzled. Tonks interrupted them.

"Me and Moody are taking this one to the Ministry. Are you ok here by yourself for a moment? I will be right back!" She said and when Remus nodded she glanced at Ed. "Wotcher, my name's Tonks. What's yours?" She had a friendly smile on her face. What shocked Ed though was that her hair wasn't pink anymore! Now it had a brown color and was longer. He gaped at her.

"Oh, my hair? I am a metamorphmagus." She said like it was obvious and before Ed could say anything she nodded at them both and disappeared with a pop. Ed should have been used to it by now – the guys who were chasing him for weeks did that a lot – yet when she just suddenly weren't there, he still gaped. What the hell is this world?! No Equivalent Exchange. Freaking wizards! What more? Maybe they fly on a broom as well?! For Gate's sake...!

"I don't think it's wise to just stand here. It is the middle of the night but still muggles could see us. Let's move into the shadows at least? I have a lot of questions for you if you don't mind." Remus walked towards a small house on the side and hid himself in the shade. He still had a good look at the house windows and at the street. Ed thought he looked like he was guarding whoever lived in there. He joined him and stared. He had questions of his own.

"So you're saying you don't know who Aurors are, yet you are a wizard and use some strange Alchemy instead of spells?" Remus asked him quietly, his eyes never leaving the house.

"No. I am not a wizard. I am an Alchemist. I do not know anything about that strange power of yours, I assume you call it magic?" He spat the last word like it offended him.

"You are a muggle?! But that's not possible..." Remus puzzled at this, glancing at him for a second. His eyes were strange. There was something almost animal about them. Yet he seemed calm and trustworthy. Ed promised himself not to be fooled by him. He might be dangerous. Ed was sure he was.

"I don't know about that either. I just know that a few weeks ago when I arrived in this wor... when I arrived here" he corrected himself hastily. "Those bastards in black cloaks noticed me doing some Alchemy and attacked me. They wanted to capture me. I run. By luck I realized they didn't want to come on this street for some reason. So whenever they'd find me, I would run here. This one was the first who followed me." Ed explained.

"That's because they know we are here. So the Death Eaters are interested in this Alchemy of yours... well, I am curious as well. What is it exactly? The only thing that I can think of when I hear this name is Nicolas Flamel and his philosopher's stone..." He stopped talking at Ed's angry intake of breath.

"You have the stone?!" He asked angrily, moving away a little.

"No, it was destroyed four years ago. Why?"

"Good. No one should have this. It only brings trouble and death. Do you know how it's made?" Ed had to know. Because if they knew and could speak so calmly about this... then he would have to run from them and quickly.

"No. Only Nicolas Flamel knows. I am sure he didn't even tell Dumbledore..." Ed relaxed at this.

"No one should know. It is the Devil's research." Ed took a deep breath. "As for Alchemy, it is a complicated art of science, when one knows and understands everything about the structure of the matter the object is made of and decomposes it to change it to his will. Nothing can be made out of thin air, though, like you seem to be able to do. There is the principle of Equivalent Exchange. You have to give as much as you want to take." He answered simply.

"Oh... Well, I've never seen anyone be able to do something like you did – not without magic, a wand and a well placed spell. Would you be willing to meet up with Dumbledore? I am sure he would want to meet you." Ed frowned at that. Should he trust the men? He didn't know anything about them. Yet, he was alone here, on his own, only learning about this world. It was completely different from that one time he was here, back in a body that was his but wasn't. He needed answers. And they did rescue him.

"All right. I have a lot of questions about this magic of yours as well. He is some kind of leader?"

"Yes. Now that Death Eaters" what a silly name – Ed thought. " are interested in you, the safest place is with us. Dumbledore is the most powerful wizard, he can provide you the answers you seek and a safe place if you need it." Remus explained. It was obvious he trusted this guy with his life. "Also, if you can do this – and it's obvious no muggle can – you should be careful of the Ministry as well." At Ed's blank look, he elaborated. "I don't know if then can detect that or not but you are still underage and they monitor people like you. If they realize you are a muggle, the best case scenario would be obliviate – it's a memory charm, would make you forget, probably everything. In worst case they would want to observe you in a lab somewhere..." Remus trailed off at Ed's dark look. Oh, he knew about those observations enough, thank you.

"Ok. I am going to trust you because you seem like a nice guy. But don't ever assume I am defenseless just because I can't use this magic. I will not hesitate to slash your throat if you turn out to be working with them or want to kill me." Ed threatened, knowing that he'd never go that far. He would wound his opponents, yes – but kill? No. He promised himself he won't do that. If he managed as the dog of the military he was sure he'd manage now too. The guy didn't need to know that, though.

Remus nodded, seeing the kid was serious and speaking the truth. It was hard to miss. His stance – now, even though more relaxed, he was still on his guard, ready to fight or flight. Before just moments after getting shot by crucio – the cruciatus curse for God's sake! - he got up to his feet in an instant, ready for a fight. This kid went through a lot.

They stayed in silence for a moment and suddenly with a pop Tonks arrived. Ed reacted in a blur of movement. With a quiet clap and a spark of blue light his automail blade was ready to use. He jumped away, his feet apart for a better stance, arms up and ready for an attack. Tonks took a step back in surprise and almost fell down, tripping. Remus gaped at him.

That is some reaction! He was so quick I couldn't see him! Just who is this child?! Remus wondered. When Ed realized it was the woman from before – her hair was pink again – he relaxed and moved back towards them.

"Sorry. Old habits die hard. And those guys loved to surprise me like that all the time." He explained himself. He was about to clap again to hide his blade when Remus stopped him.

"Wait. Can you show it to me slowly? How do you do that? And you call it science?" He was curious, it seemed this man like gaining knew knowledge just like Ed did. He grinned. He liked him already.

"Sure. Usually it should be done with an array but I'm a special case." He didn't want to elaborate on that so he quickly moved on. "I know exactly what kind of metals are here in my arm and having that knowledge I can decompose them and thin the material to make it longer and sharp. Basically I just reshape it, I do not change the molecular structure of the metal. Look." He crouched and with his finger he drew a circle in a dirt. Tonks took guarding over the house while Remus crouched down as well to see. With a quick, practiced movement, Ed drew the array he knew the best. It was pretty simple.

"This array is the best for reshaping things." He put his metal arm in the middle of the circle and activated it with the brush of his real fingers. A blue light sparkled for a moment and the blade seemed to blend with his automail. Only really small marks were left on it, indicating the alchemical reaction was made.

"Wow. This is something I've never seen before, for sure. It's impressive. And looks really complicated. I guess I could do the same with transfiguration but I am not that good at it." Remus complemented him. Ed grinned at that.

After spending a few hours with Remus and Tonks guarding someone – they refused to tell him who - Ed allowed Remus to grip his arm firmly and transport them to a different location. He couldn't be sure they didn't want to hurt him but had no other way but to trust them. It was impossible to gain knowledge of this magic without it. The sensation of apparating – as Remus called it – was terrible. He wanted to puke. He almost lost his balance when they finally arrived.