I know this crossover is nearly overdone but this is my own hot take on it
This is my first fma fanfic and my first Harry Potter fic
Have fun I know I am
The car ride out to the excavation site was fairly peaceful. Roy had correctly predicted that both Elrics would be enthusiastically interested in examining the ruins of Mardonios and would agree to accompanying him with little protest. Edward's criticisms of his driving had petered out as they left the city and the road became an empty path bisecting scenic landscapes that both boys idly watched pass by.
"So when did both of you learn Hellenic?" Roy said conversationally, about an hour away from the site.
"A while ago." Fullmetal said unhelpfully with a sullen shift in the passenger seat next to Roy. Roy drummed his gloved fingers on the steering wheel in a muffled staccato, he wasn't expecting that to be the question that tarnished the peace. Usually Fullmetal jumped at the chance to proudly explain his research.
"Our Father had a few books on it that we read as children," Alphonse supplied - the mention of the Elrics' absent father dawning realization over Roy. "And I took up studying it again to pass the nighttime."
"It wasn't exactly helpful for getting our bodies back." Edward admitted bitterly, slumping even lower in his seat. "I learned enough of it to determine that."
"Yeah. When the Amestrians took over most of the Mardonion texts were lost and what we do have is mostly literature. They have some good plays though." Alphonse added brightly.
"I've seen productions of a few translations of Mardionion theatre, mostly comedies, - those were crowd pleasers with the military." Roy smiled wryly at the memory of snickering at blatant innuendoes with a crowd of equally foul-minded young adults. Edward snorted next to him and sat up in his seat again.
"Well, I hope you're not driving us out to look at weird old naked statues or something."
An affronted gasp came from the backseat. "Brother! Don't be vulgar!"
Roy snickered lightly. He was pretty sure thirteen was the age when boys were supposed to be at their most vulgar, but Alphonse was always a sweeter child.
"Those are considered artistic masterpieces, but I can see how that kind of culture would go over your head."
The conversation was demolished by Fullmetal's angry spluttering and silence reigned for a few miles before Roy remembered that he had actually been asked to go over what was ahead again.
"I already briefed you about this when you agreed-"
"I know, you barely tell me anything bas-" Fullmetal whined and Roy just spoke over him, tone uncompromising.
"With the end of the war, government funding for nonmilitary research resumed, although many of their resources changed. So we're acting as consulting alchemists for an archaeological site that believes they found something alchemic and wants it looked at before some idiot sets it off or damages it. The military also has a vested interest in any old knowledge that can be repurposed to our modern goals. Something I believe is entirely relevant to you."
"So you think it's something that could help get our bodies back?" Edward sounded cautiously hopeful, turning to look at him. Roy sighed and kept his eyes on the road and away from the boy's gaze.
"I don't know what we're going to find at all. The archaeologist isn't an alchemist and couldn't describe it to me beyond basics….Consider this a field trip that could be helpful but may just end up educational."
"Thank you for taking us along Colonel." Roy waved off Alphonse's gratitude and Edward grunted a neutral note.
This really was a sort of field trip. Granted, Alphonse and Edward's knowledge of alchemy and hellenic would likely be hugely helpful, but he probably could have managed a sufficient report with just his own alchemic background and the translations of the archaeologist and university scholars. But this was exactly the kind of thing his older sisters would have taken him to in his youth, citing their obligation to 'enrich his education' as an excuse to get out of the city for a day. So with that in mind he was driving hours into the countryside with a portable ice chest of sandwiches and the Elric brothers for some 'enrichment'.
Finally, Roy pulled the car onto a swath of packed dirt beside a mud splattered truck and Fullmetal was out of the car and stretching as soon as the brakes jerked to a final stop. He rolled his eyes at the impatience and adjusted his gloves and jacket and skimmed the briefing file one last time before tossing it on the seat and exiting the vehicle himself.
The boys followed behind him as he approached the man stepping out of a canvas canopy to meet them. Professor Douglas Graves had aged since Roy had seen him last, his dark skin was contrasted by mostly grey hair that was twisted and pulled back, and he walked with a patterned green cane that matched his waistcoat.
"Roy Mustang, it's been some time." He called in a stern tone with a hint of smile.
"Hello Professor," Roy said a little too quickly, automatically falling back on habit - sounding and feeling nearly a decade younger than he was. The man laughed warmly and Roy felt faintly sheepish. Moreso with Fullmetal sniggering next to him. He had volunteered to consult for the site when he had seen that the archaeologist requesting it was the same civilian professor Roy had taken elective archaeology classes under during his time at the military academy.
"Please Roy, call me Douglas. We're all equals on site." He looked past Roy at the Elrics, his gaze lingered on Alphonse long enough for Roy and Edward to tense but the smile remained in his eyes. Roy had written ahead, warning that he was bringing two 'unique' but knowledgeable and interested alchemists with him. Thankfully, it was Edward whom he addressed.
"You must be the infamous Fullmetal Alchemist."
Edward nodded, the slightest smug tilt to his chin, and opened his mouth to reply but Roy cut him off. Fullmetal would have plenty of time during the rest of the day to disappoint whatever expectations his reputation created.
"Yes. This is Edward Elric and his younger brother Alphonse." He waved between the two and paused for the appropriate handshakes. "They're the alchemists I mentioned in my letter. They have some knowledge of hellenic and a familiarity with older and uncommon alchemy. I believe their input will be valuable."
"Good," Douglas tapped his cane on the ground a few times and then turned and gestured down a dirt path. "The site is this way. You boys ever been on a dig site before?"
"No sir"
Roy let the boys go ahead of him, listening as Douglas explained the ground rules of the site to them. Things like treading carefully because of a mosaic on the floor, what they could touch or not, how to mark the location of something they needed to move. It was all a refresher for Roy.
After years of petitions and demands from historical and cultural societies and even parliament, the military academy had compromised to demands by requiring students to take their choice of three humanities tracks focusing on cultural preservation. There had been hopes that having soldiers learn about the significance of material studies would temper their wanton destruction in battle.
Instead, learning archaeology had made a part of Roy long for a civilian life he could have had in some other universe and saddled him with another flavor of guilt when he thought about Ishval. Not only had he killed its people but he had contributed to the destruction of its culture. He would never know how many tapestries, vases, and artifacts had been charred by his touch. Future monetary reparations could help rebuild structures and plant fields with seeds, but it could not bring back the dead nor reach back into the annals of time to replace history.
He had always liked Professor Graves and an unprofessional part of him wondered how much of the Flame Alchemist's warpath he had followed and how disappointed he was in Roy for such blatant disregard for everything he had been taught. He doubted he'd ever have the courage to bring it up.
The trail took them around a large grassy hill to a surprising pathway. Cut into the long slope of the hill was a notch lined with walls made of huge cut stone blocks and a road of packed earth. It was criss-crossed with a grid of string and markers and let to a towering entryway.
The opening into the chamber was a rectangle at least twice the height of a man topped by a massive lintel stone. That flat slab supported the walls of stone on either side that tapered inwards to create an empty triangle over the opening. The ground and the front of the entry were scattered with remnants of decorative facing - fallen chunks of swirls and zig zags in green and brown stones and facades of columns on either side
"Wow." Both boys chorused in awe.
"This is truly remarkable." Roy said sincerely, craning his neck to look up the towering stone walls.
"Isn't it?" Graves said happily. "Just wait until you see the interior."
They clumped just inside the doorway, staring at the huge chamber. It was made of encircling layers of huge dirt stained stones creating a beehive shaped dome. The room was about thirty feet tall and broader than that. Off to the side was a small opening to a secondary chamber.
Gloriously filling the floor was a black and cream mosaic. It was a complex of concentric shapes, with words looping and other patterns filling in every empty section. The stones it was made from were small and blended together, so that the mortar holding them in place was hardly visible.
"This is insane!" Edward exclaimed, eyes wide and fixed down as he began pacing around the circle.
"So this is what you wanted an alchemist for." Roy stood next to Douglas, both of them watching Edward mutter to himself in circles. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Alphonse crack open his chest-plate just enough to pull out two thick tomes before walking over to join his brother and hand him one.
"I brought hellenic dictionaries, so we can translate for ourselves as we go." Roy was unsurprised but ever impressed at the foresight typical of the younger Elric.
"Be careful not to activate it." He said unnecessarily, knowing full-well that was the kind of instruction Fullmetal resented intensely but burning with a need to give some warning of caution. There was so much that could go wrong with an unknown array.
Predictably, Edward scoffed derisively while Alphonse chimed an acknowledgement. Roy joined them in walking around the circle, he wanted to see it for himself, even if the alphabet was unfamiliar and the circle's construction archaic.
"I think we should start by analyzing the general shapes first, then move onto translation." Edward was saying.
"Right."
"Do you have the paper and pen and those alchemy notes?" Edward glanced at Alphonse expectantly, who rubbed at the back of his helmet and gestured slightly at his armored chest. Graves was watching them now so he couldn't repeat the subtle open-and-close of his breastplate. Roy made a mental note to talk to Alphonse about getting a satchel instead of relying on his hollow armor when that held such a conspicuous secret. Riza or Fuery or even Havoc would certainly be willing to take the boy out bag-shopping on one of the days Fullmetal was trapped in boring paperwork or military routine. For now he would assist in an immediate way. He cleared his throat casually.
"Douglas, could you show me what's in that doorway? Is it another chamber?"
"Of course, that's the other significant part of this site!" He picked up a kerosene lantern from near the main doorway and lit it, starting down the dark hallway. Roy followed, hearing the familiar faint clang of Alphonse opening his armor to rummage around inside. "Normally, these kind of tholos beehive structures were used as tombs. The circular chamber was probably filled with offerings or religious paraphernalia, while a small chamber held the actual body of the deceased. Bones are left behind by tomb-raiders seeking riches so we expected to find some here. But instead this is what we came across."
They were in a little rectangular room, stone-walled like the rest of the complex, but the roof was only a few feet over Roy's head. Instead of bones, along every wall were piles of different powders, coarse chunks, and gravels interspersed with hundreds of pottery shards.
"Alchemy ingredients?" He squatted in front of a mound of shiny blackish chips and picked up a piece, rolling it between his gloved fingers. It left a shiny residue on the white fabric. "Graphite? For carbon."
He couldn't identify every element on sight and touch alone, but there was at least a stock of sodium, sulfur, zinc, and antimony.
They worked at their own tasks for a few hours. The boys on translating and understanding the mosaic circle, and Roy and Douglas on identifying the elements in the secondary chamber. Douglas examined the pottery shards for painted labels, and Roy performed tests on the actual materials and wrote out a list.
Eventually Graves called a lunch break, and they sat on the grass covered earth hill of the tholos and ate sandwiches and apples, basking in the brightness of a Sun that contrasted the shadowy coolness of the chamber. Al feigned eating his sandwich, and quickly returned inside to "keep the flow of the work going" and Edward scarfed his food down and joined him soon after. Roy knew which bottomless pit was likely receiving the second lunch Al "ate". Knowing the Elrics, it wouldn't be too long before Al could feel the kiss of summer sunlight on his own tan skin, glowing with it the way Ed did.
When they reconvened in the larger room, Roy smiled to himself at the boys. Both were seated cross-legged and surrounded by semi-circles of papers and books and bickering animatedly.
"It's a passive participle." Alphonse was regarding his brother with forced calm.
"Uh no. I'm pretty sure it's middle." Edward, on the other hand, looked ready to lob a book at him.
"And what makes you so confident?
"Why would a transmutation circle be passive? You activate a transmutation and if it affects you you're doing it to yourself. The definition of middle voice!"
"Unless, it's an ambient transmutation that you are affected by but do not cause. It's a matter of agency."
"Then what activates it? It's not working right now. It just doesn't make sense to be passive voice, because it's not talking from the voice of the array."
Alphonse made a skeptical sound and exaggeratedly turned to his paper, which only served to inflame Ed.
"Any progress, Fullmetal?" Roy interjected, not bothering to hide the slightest smirk.
"Yeah. You can read it for yourself when I'm done." Edward said shortly.
"We've got the gist of most of it. There are a lot of short clauses and participles. Things being done and concurrent events. It is starting to come together." Al was far more charitable with words.
"Do you think you'll be able to finalize it here or will you need time at the university?"
"Hey this isn't a dialect we've studied so I'd like to see you try" Fullmetal snapped defensively. Roy glanced down at his sheet. It was a very rough translation, with multiple possibilities listed for some words and arrows reordering grammar.
Alphonse passed his notes over, handwriting controlled where Ed's was scrawling. It was a list of words and translations, Roy could see a second page with the letters copied in the same circles as the floor and covered in annotations. The top page was the kind of concise summary of relevant words he wanted to see.
"
'ανταιτέω ask for in return
'αποδίδωμι give back
'εισφέρω bring in
'Αθροίζω collect
Καλέω call, summon
'υπερβάλλω cross
διαβιβάζω take across
'Αποπέμπω send away
'Αφικνεομαι arrive, reach
'Εκατέρωθεν on both sides
'επικείμαι lie opposite to
'Οίκαδε homeward
'οίκοθεν from home
'η 'ώρα right time, season
'Ο καιρός precise moment
'αναπλάττω form anew, remodel
μεστού του του καιρού 'ήλιου full of the Sun of the precise moment
"
Alphonse rose and hovered over his shoulder, awaiting the nod signaling the completion of Roy's initial read-though. His thick gauntlet finger gestured at the first group of words and then to the floor.
"Each grouping of words corresponds to one of the circles on the floor. There are three overlapping concentric layers. One is mainly about summoning and collecting, one is about crossing, and one is about home and away and a matched set. It uses dual number which is very archaic and not covered very well by the books we brought. Linking all of these together is an outer register that references the idea of 'the appropriate time' and sunlight and that's where the month Thargelion shows up."
Edward had stood up during the explanation and helped point out the different loops of writing. Roy paced around the edge of the circle, a hand on his chin and eyes narrowed as he contemplated it from different angles.
"It's either something more complicated than we understand, or, our hypothesis is that it's multiple circles overlapped for some reason." Ed commented with the slightest of shrugs.
"Are multiple transmutations performed at once?" Roy asked eventually, words slow with thought.
"Maybe. Or they could be performed selectively and this is some technique to save space?"
"It would make sense for a ceremonial structure to have multiple rituals performed in it. They may have performed different transmutations for different occasions." Roy concluded hesitantly. There was always some aspect of intent behind transmutation, he especially utilized this, so overlapping arrays would only be a slight stretch.
"The thing I can't quite work out is the reference to 'the sunlight of Theseus Waxing of Thargelion' I know Thargelion was a month, but without calculations from records I don't know when that is." Al commented.
"That must be one of the ceremonial dates this site was used on." Roy sighed and then brightened, he slapped a hand on Al's gleaming shoulder and let it linger. "You've both done good work." He nodded at Edward, "You can work with the university's scholars to perfect the translation, but this is enough for a military report that will make an excellent case for continued research funding at this site."
While they worked the afternoon sun notched between the swaying branches of two trees, brightness pouring down in a shaft the inched down the entryway and trickled into the chamber. It caught at the quartz in the granite mosaic, reflecting in shimmers around the floor. Some of the stones' faces caught it fully and gleamed in shining rectangles.
Professor Graves came out of the storage chamber and ceased his muttering about a notebook to instead squint into the brightness. He readily jumped at the offer to see their initial translation.
"You've got fine minds." He said to the Elrics, and Roy felt the secret twinge of pride he always did for the boys. Both of them fumbled with a mix of humble discomfort and preening at the praise. "After the elements are all identified and any other equipment found, we may be able to understand how this array was used. We have archaeological alchemists who identify if artifacts were transmuted who are going to take a look at all of our finds."
"Does that come up often?"
"More than one would think. Ancient transmutation can only be proven if the context and integrity of the site is irrefutable. There is also a massive black market of artifacts looted from tombs and sites, especially art like statues and vases. Broken pieces are mended together or new clay turns one pot's worth of sherds into three complete vessels. It takes professional skill at identifying stylistic marks to verify if an artifact has been forged or not and even then sometimes it's impossible to tell."
"Huh. I never considered that." Ed turned a contemplative gaze to the tagged ceramics clustered near the entrance.
"Yes, there are plenty of careers for advanced alchemists that avoid the military entirely." Something flashed in Graves' eyes that dropped a heavy stone in Roy's gut. He deserved that jab.
Hopefully Edward would pick up an interest in some research based path to follow as soon as Al got his body back - Roy knew that was the real priority and that Ed's limbs came second. Roy could intellectually imagine Edward swimming in a lab coat with beakers, or as a professor lecturing a class, but his mental image of Ed was so short that these pictures carried a comic flavor. Maybe they would become librarians. Alphonse would be suited to that career, especially with the amount of time he spent in the military library. That was something to look into. Working on those connections now would make slotting a teenaged Al into an internship far easier in the future.
Professor Graves moved on smoothly from the pointed remark, finishing his examination of Alphonse's notes on the arrays and returning the papers to him. He dug his own moleskine out of a canvas bag and returned to the side chamber to catalogue the elemental samples.
Roy, Ed, and Al turned back to the arrays. Now that the words had been dealt with, and the shapes used in the arrays had been broken down previously, it was time to combine the two and try to puzzle out use and purpose.
The sun hung ever lower as the afternoon ticked away to evening and the chamber of the tholos brightened as the shaft trickled into a beam. Dust motes gleamed in their drifting dances and light caught Ed's hair turning it molten gold, Alphonse's armor was brilliant with it. The floor was a shimmering glitter of tiles and the shadowing chamber became vibrant and beautiful.
Eventually, Professor Graves re-emerged from the side chamber holding a wooden box, he shook it in their direction and the glass vials in it rattled among the wood shavings padding them.
"I've bottled up samples from all of the materials. I need to take these to my truck and pack them for the lab. Don't make any breakthroughs without me!" He left with a chuckle and a fading silhouette.
Looking around, the natural illumination made this place special, Roy could understand how ceremonial this space must have felt if it was used under such circumstances. But the brightness became unrelenting. There was light reflecting in every direction and surrounding them and it was blinding. A noise came with it, a roaring rush and a crackle and a twist to Roy's guts as everything went wrong.
He tried to yell and grab for Al or Edward who could not be far beyond arm's reach from him but his arm would not move. He felt smashed and pushed and pulled and helplessly buffeted by the light and whatever invisible forces were sucking him into a vortex. Darkness clouded in to replace the light and he fell onto unforgiving hardness.
In case you haven't guessed, I'm a Classical Studies and Archaeology major. And I just mash that into everything I can.
mardonios was the cousin/brother-in-law of the Persian King Xerxes and was left as Governor of the parts of Greece conquered by Xerxes
Seeing as I'm using ancient Attic Greek for ancient pre-amestrian culture ( Persia under Xerxes was contemporary to Greece) I felt that this was a fitting name to match the convention of Xerxes and Amestris
The tholos chamber is inspired by the "treasury of Atreus" and mosaics and neolithic ceremonial sites
The story will switch to being magic and crossover and found family mush eventually but for now it is all set up and premise