A sigh left the hunched over figure as they once again failed to shape the earth the way they wanted. Mismatched green and gold eyes glared at the circle before turning to the side to start a new.
'What am I missing? Are there not enough components in the area to make a proper transmutation?' Gloved hands ruffled shaggy black hair as the owner cursed in german. 'Damnit, I need another conductor than.' Standing from the ground he patted himself down and left the deserted playground, his hands already in his pockets and pulling out a notebook.
"Ah, so you're back again Harry?" "Yeah, I'm stumped." The pre-teen sat glumly on the barstool, giving it a spin. The older male behind the counter placed a cup of coffee before him.
"Have you asked Nicolas yet?"
"You know that old bag of bones doesn't know real Alchemy, hell his own world is so backwards they're still writing with feathers!" Harry downed his drink and motioned for another.
The man gave him a look as he refilled the cup. "He's the greatest wizard known to man, plus he's made a sorcerer's stone." The boy snorted into his cup. "He made a simple one, a real stone is made up of thousands of human lives, you know this already Tom, I've told you so many times!"
The man huffed at that. Harry looked down into the rich coloured liquid. "Magic isn't real, I'm a doubting Thomas on that one." He finished off his drink and stood from the bar. "I'm off, Petunia is waiting for me to come fix her dishwasher ,the bloody woman."
Waving a farewell to Tom he headed home to another night of boredom.
"Damned birds, flying around the place. I should catch one and turn it into a chimera." Harry dodged a swoop from a barn owl, wincing as it screeched at him. Taking a metal rod from his coat, the boy palmed the item between his hands and focused.
Blue sparks of energy burst forward, covering the metal and shaping it into a gun. He clicked the safety off and pointed it right at the birds. "Bye Bye little birdie." He shot the bird down, then opened fire on it's companions. "Hey look Spike, they're all carrying letters." His coat moved slightly as a small head poked out.
"Who the hell sends letters through bird post? Even back home they didn't do this." Gathering up both the letters and owls he placed them all in a pile. "Spike, if you would be so kind." The little chimera chirped before spitting flames onto them. Harry coughed at the smoke. "Ew, at least the Colonel bastard's flame never stunk like this."
Once the pile was in ashes, the two left the park.
"All I wanted to do today was study my notes on the chemical bonds between atoms, but I'm here instead listening to an old woman spew nonsense about magic."
Harry ignored the two magicals with ease as he recited the periodic table from memory. 'Now let's see, I left off at Barium.'
" ! Can you please focus?" The boy scowled at that.
"I don't go by that last name anymore, It's Harry Elric." Professor McGonagall gave him a stern look from over her glasses, but Harry's been glared at by much worse. The sour man beside her, Severus Snape sneered at him.
'What's his problem? He looks like a bat chimera gone wrong.' Masking his snicker with a cough the boy gave the duo an unimpressed look. "I refuse to go to your magic school, I'm fine here."
"Can't believe Tom bribed me with advanced science textbooks to come here." Harry grumbled lowly under his breath as he lugged his suitcase through the station. He searched for the pillar that red 9 3/4 but was stumped. 'Of course it's a magic thing, so they must have it under some barrier. That would have been useful back home.' Harry shook his head.
"Pipsqueak?" A tick mark appeared over his eye at the name. Swallowing his rant the boy turned to the speaker. A girl stood a few feet from him, lugging a rather large trunk over her shoulder. Mismatched brown and black eyes met another pair before Harry's jaw dropped. "Colonel bastard?!" The girl grinned at him.
"Hey shorty." He snapped. "WHO YOU CALLING SHORTY?!" The boy yelled, grabbing the attention of those in the station. Seeing the looks aimed at them the girl shushed the ranting pre-teen. "Shut up Fullmetal, you're causing a scene." Harry quieted, throwing glares at anyone staring. "Let's take this somewhere else."
"I knew this place was stuck in the old times, look it's a bloody steam engine!" Harry growled as he climbed in, the Colonel right behind him. "Let's look for an empty compartment." The duo wandered down the rows, peeking in to any compartments until they found one right in front. "Ugh, what a walk." Harry turned toward the racks when he noticed that they were bolted in a few feet above him.
The Colonel snickered as he watched the smaller struggle. "Want some help brat?" He threw the other a glare before an idea hit him. Clapping his hands and pressing them against the floor he rose several feet into the air.
"Nice transmutation, needs a bit of work though." Harry shoved his suitcase into the racks just as his platform wobbled and deconstructed from under him. He fell with a yelp, landing right on his ass. "Looks like I still need some practice." He suddenly turned to the other, who easily set her trunk beside his. "So, Introductions." Harry nodded as he made himself comfortable.
The room fell silent, neither making any move to speak. Finally Harry growled in annoyance. "You're so annoying, apparently my new name in this world is Harry Potter." The girl choked at his name. "What about you Colonel bastard? What do they call you?" Composing herself the girl gave him a look. "Hermione Granger." "It's funny how in this life you'd be reincarnated as a girl." Harry snickered as the Colonel scowled.
"Seems my womanizing has come back to bit me in the ass." Hermione sighed before a knock at the door silenced them. The two glanced at each other, then at the door. "Should we open it?" "What do you think Fullmetal?" Harry warily unlocked the door before he yelped as a figure tackled him to the ground. "Brother!" "Alphonse?!" Hermione looked at the two boys laying on the ground before swiftly locking the door and sitting back to watch the show. Harry grinned from under the other boy. "Al! Is it really you?" The boy leaned back to look him over. "It's me brother, though you look different."
"Look who's talking." He poked slightly cubby cheeks with his gloved hand. The boy swatted him away. "Quit it!" Hermione cleared her throat, drawing attention to her. "As much fun as it is to see Fullmetal on the floor we really should be getting ready." "Ready for what?" "For the long train ride to a magic school." The boy quickly got off of Harry and took a seat.
"So, another round of introductions is in order." Hermione pointed to Harry. "The pipsqueak over there is as you know Edward, but his new name is Harry Potter." The boy's jaw dropped.
"Mine was Roy Mustang, but now it's Hermione Granger." She pointed toward him. "Now we know you're Alphonse but who are you now?" "Neville Longbottom." Both snickered as he blushed. "Damn, these wizards sure have weird names."
"Holy hell! That guy's nearly the same size as Armstrong!" Harry gaped at the man as Neville tugged him toward the boat Hermione was standing in. "You're just small Fullmetal."
"You wanna fight Colonel Bastard?" "Can you both not fight?" "We're standing over water, one wrong move and you'll be useless." "At least I can use my alchemy properly, how's yours going?" The two bickered as another entered the boat.
"What's wrong with your eye?" Both teens paused as they noticed the addition to the boat.
Neville sighed as fire erupted in their eyes. 'Oh boy.' "None of your business, now shut up I was talking to the bastard over here." "Bring it on shorty." Harry flew at him, knocking the both of them into the water.
"Hey! You two over there!" The giant of a man wandered over and fished the two from the water, both spitting curses and fists. "Could you two not get in trouble on the first day?"
Neville sighed as the two were set down in the boat, soaking wet and glaring. "You should really reel in that short temper of yours Fullmetal." Harry fumed at the bastard's smug look as they headed toward the castle.
Harry couldn't stand still as he watched the ghosts fly over head, laughing and talking as if they were alive. He wondered what kept them tied to the earthly plain before the old croon from before appeared and looked them over with indifference. He growled lowly as her wandering eyes landed in distain on Neville, who had his cloak on backwards.
Hermione kept a firm hand on his shoulder as they were told to line up. "Don't cause a scene Fullmetal." She hissed in his ear before departing to the front of the line. Harry huffed as he wandered to the back. The doors to the hall burst open and the children lined up began to walk forward. "When I call your name, please come up to the sorting hat to be sorted." Harry ignored the voice behind him muttering about his dumb brothers telling him they were gonna fight a troll.
"Granger,Hermione." He looked up when the bastard was called, wondering where the hat would put him. "Slytherin!" He could practically see the jaws dropping as the Colonel walked over to the table, head held high and eyes cold.
More names were called before Alphonse was next. "Longbottom, Neville." The hat barely touched the boy before shouting. "Hufflepuff!" Harry flashed his brother a grin as he passed before finally his own name was called.
"Potter, Harry." Immediately whispers broke out as he walked up to the stool and sat down, a devil may care grin on his face as the hat was placed on his head. It was silent for a moment before a voice whispered in his ear,
"Such vast knowledge from someone so young." Harry flinched, wondering where the voice was coming from. "You're brash like a Griffindor, but you'd probably clash to often with them."
'Wha?'
"You're mighty loyal, but the Puffs would be eaten alive with your attitude." 'The damn hat is talking.' "That leaves Slytherin and Ravenclaw, but you're more a Raven than a Snake so the best choice for you would be-"
"RavenClaw!" The blue coloured house cheered as Harry walked over to it. He gave the red and gold table a look before sitting down. 'Damn hat, red's totally my colour.' He ignored the students all trying to talk to him before jumping as food appeared suddenly before him.
Having skipped breakfast he helped himself to the food around him. Harry steered clear from the milk and sniffed at the pumpkin juice before settling on a glass of water. 'I could get used to this.' He thought as he continued to eat.