Welcome to another Harry Potter Fullmetal Alchemist crossover (obviously, I own neither of these). The strange thing about this one is that it's actually done, and not absolutely terrible. Well, the second part is up to you. I don't think it's terrible. It has it's spots, but I'm proud of it. So. Since you're here already, might as well give a read, right? And enjoy, since it's obviously going to become your favorite story, even outside the world of fanfictions. (I'm joking, don't worry. I'm not that arrogant...)

The story starts near the end of the 2003 anime. If you haven't watched it, don't read it. Most of what happens in the first two chapters follow the anime (excepting the whole "Alternate universe actually isn't WWI Germany and is instead Harry Potterverse"), and I'd hate to spoil it for you. (Pretending that I've never done that before.) Well, assuming this story passes all of the checks and I haven't bored you already with my pre-story speech... Enjoy!

Alternate Identity

I woke up in a small, dark room filled with snoring boys. It was dark; I could only barely make out the shapes tucked beneath heavy blankets. There was a drowsy, peaceful feel pervading the entire room, and I could feel my own lids drooping. My head too felt thick, sluggish, and I lifted my arm to wipe away the sleepiness.

Where was I? I didn't remember –

But all other thought ceased at the strangeness of sensation in my right hand. I felt the warm skin of my cheek, the soft brush of eyelashes against my hand. No, that couldn't be right. This was my right hand; cool, cold metal, not this soft skin I was feeling –

I jerked it away from my face, held it in front of me in the dim light. For a moment, I could only stare.

It was flesh and bone. Human. Not automail.

What had happened? Why did I have my arm back? And now that I saw, knew, I could also feel my left leg. What had happened, that I got both my arm and leg back?

Where was Al?

I stood up from the bed, dragging disheveled sheets with me. My now-real leg stumbled slightly at feeling the weight, but it didn't matter. Where was Al? Was he hurt? Was he... human? The last thing I remembered was the ballroom, fighting against Dante. Hadn't Al been in danger? The homunculi had kidnapped him to get to the Philosopher's Stone...

My frantically searching eyes suddenly rested on a figure in the bed next to the one I had been in. Somehow, the shape seemed comfortingly familiar. If I had my arm and leg back...

I told myself it couldn't be true, even as my feet led me over there. It couldn't be Al, human, because it was just too good to be true –

I lifted the cover back and my breath caught. I couldn't move. I couldn't believe. For I had hoped, but...

What had happened, to reward me with this sight after so long? What had I ever done to deserve this, to have both my arm and leg back, to see Al's human sleeping form rest so peacefully?

"Al..." My hand stretched forward to him. "Al!" He turned around, mumbling something, and I gasped when I saw his face. Exactly the same as Al's would have been if he had aged all those years... I smiled when he moved again, tugging his blankets closer. What could I have done to deserve this?

I hoped to never wake up from this dream, this dream that was too good to be true. That we had finally achieved our goal after so long...

But then he opened his eyes, and I took a step back. No... Al had warm, hazel eyes. Not this gentle blue.

Had I... Had I somehow been mistaken? Doubts flooded back to me. It hadn't made sense anyway. How could this had happened? What about Dante? Rose? How was it even possible?

And yet, I could feel my missing right arm and left leg as if they had never been stolen from me. There was no mistaking that, the oddness of actually having feeling in those limbs.

"Ed?" Even his voice sounded different. Deeper. Like Al had already grown up and become an adult.

"Al?" I whispered, my voice gone hoarse. "Is that really you?" He blinked sleepily, then after a few moments, furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Ed? What are you talking about?" My eyes widened, and I felt that desperate hope that this really was Al, that this wasn't just an illusion.

"Al? Al? It is you, right? You're not... we succeeded, right? You got your body back..." Now Al was alert, sitting upright in his band and looking at me concernedly with those blue, terribly blue eyes.

"Ed? Are you all right?" I let out a nervous chuckle.

"But you remember, don't you? We were looking for the philosopher's stone... And then Dante –"

"The philosopher's stone?" Oh why, oh why did he sound so incredulous? "We had nothing to do with that! That was all Harry Potter. Ed, are you sure you're all right?" I began backing away. No... this wasn't Al. How could he be?

Everything was all wrong. This couldn't be real, it was just a lie. What had happened? I had been battling with Dante, and suddenly Al was here, and I didn't know what was going on –

I ran. I ran, out the door, out the tower, to outside, where I could think, breathe.

What had happened? Why did that boy look so much like Al? And why had he responded to that name? I leaned back against the tower walls, breathing heavily. What was –

My vision doubled, and I groaned, clutching my head.

Hello? a voice said, nervously, and I dimly recognized my own voice. Who are you? What in the world –

And then it suddenly made horrifying sense.

"Oh, Hell..." My hands shook, my right, live, real hand shook. "I think I'm in someone else's body."

And so this must be the other side of the Gate, a perfect world where Al and I had never attempted the human transmutation...

My eyes widened when I finally took in the sight around me. It was a castle, complete with towers and a wide, expansive lake. What in the world... Why were Al and this... other me... here?

Nothing made sense. What was this place? How did I get here? And more importantly, how do I get back? My fight with Dante wasn't finished, and I still had to save Al. Damn it, I couldn't just let him die!

I slammed my fist against the tower wall and winced as soft flesh hit hard stone wall. Right. No automail.

It just made me feel even worse, even more wretched. What was going on? I had to think, damn it.

If I was in somebody else's body... Then maybe my own body hadn't crossed over the Gate, only my mind and soul. So theoretically, if I could give myself a push in the right direction, I should reunite with my body.

But how could I create that push? How could I separate my mind and soul from this body? Maybe... a reversal transmutation of Al's blood seal? To instead disconnect the soul and body rather than to connect it? It was too risky, and if it failed...

My thoughts were interrupted by a voice, a voice that sent my mind into a blind, frenzied panic.

"Ed? What are you doing!? It's dangerous out here!" It was Not Al. The boy who looked so much like him, yet wasn't him.

My eyes widened. No. No... This wasn't really Al. I couldn't – I couldn't...

So I ran away.

I ran into the forest, and no one could stop me.

I ran until I was suddenly falling, and no – no – why wasn't my alchemy working! I couldn't stop, I couldn't save myself –

A sickening crack as this body crashed down to the ground. A horrifying snap, and then I was back at the Gate.

What had happened? Had I –?

Yes, I had, I realized with a sick feeling in my gut. I had killed an innocent boy named Ed just so I could get back here...