Chapter 1 (revised)- The Elric Brothers and Ling Yao

The Elric brothers and Ling Yao were a mystery, a puzzle, among their fellow students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Nobody knew their origin, their history (this is not the same as origin), or anything about them.

They didn't care, of course, but this was a definite fact.

All three were muggleborn.

The Elrics were from Amestris, they were the Füher's (the leader of the country) adopted sons in fact! Edward Elric (the eldest of the two) was actually in the military there, a State Alchemist and lieutenant, actually, even though he was only thirteen years old. Alphonse Elric (the younger) wasn't in the military, but was also a genius alchemist.

The boy's father left when they were very young, and their mother died not long after. In a brief time of peace, the two were further trained in alchemy by Izumi Curtis, but all quickly went to hell when the brothers were caught in an attack that claimed all of Alphonse's (Al's) limbs, as well as Edward's (Ed's) left leg and right arm. They both received automail after recovery. Colonel (at the time) Roy Mustang and Lieutenant (at the time) Riza Hawkeye heard about their survival, as well as their extraordinary alchemy skills, and due to a mix up in the investigation department that said they were more around twenty-five years old instead of seven and eight years old, the two set out for Resembol to recruit them. Despite the two not being the ages stated in the official report, Mustang offered the two a job anyways. Ed accepted but Al did not. Al did still follow Ed to Central City and stayed with him for the entirety of his time there. Just a couple months later, Mustang overthrew the Füher (something he was planning to do anyways) upon uncovering a plot against Amestris. Ed, Al, and later Ling Yao (who will be covered in a moment), participated in the following war far longer than they should have. Not long after, Mustang was named Füher, and Hawkeye a general. Jean Havoc took Mustang's place as colonel and Ed was named lieutenant under him. Another four weeks after this change, the Elrics were adopted by the newly wed Mustang and Hawkeye.

Ling Yao was one of many Xingese princes. Born to the Yao clan, his entire life was dedicated to preparing him for his potential throne. The Xingese empire had many different royal clans, and the emperor would make an heir to the throne with each head clanwoman. Said heir was then trained to be the perfect candidate, one that would rise above their half siblings as the best fit for emperor. Naturally, there were many plots against each heir, as every clan wanted their heir to be the one who became emperor. That means that Ling had to spend his entire childhood avoiding assassination plots while training to be better than his competition. All that changed, however, when the emperor began to fear death, and announced that whoever could find the secret to immortality would be named the next emperor of Xing. Ling set out to find it and his search brought him to Amestris. It was here he became acquainted and later friends with the Elrics. Soon enough, he got caught up in their war, along with his half sister, May Chang. He did find the secret to immortality, but it needed to examined and studied before the emperor could use it properly, and he would not be given the title of emperor until the previous was immortal.

At eleven years old, they all received their Hogwarts letters.

()()()()()

Al yawned as he closed his book on Arithmency and looked at the time. It was almost dinnertime. Ling was writing a Potions essay and Brother was trying to cast a levitation spell where his Transfiguration book rose higher than a few centimeters.

That's when the Ego Trio (known as the Golden Trio by their peers) waltzed in.

The Boy Who Lived: Harry Potter, was in Brother and Ling's year, along with Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley. The latter had a younger sister in Al's year (though he'd never spoken to her) and them and their brothers hated Slytherins (like Brother) due to old rivalries. Hermione Granger was basically Ling's worst enemy (though she hated Slytherins too, they all did), as the Gryffindor had certain. . . habits that made her angry. Finally, Harry Potter was bullied by the likes of Draco Malfoy and his Slytherin possy, while also having to deal with Ling's habits, so he kinda disliked both. Al, being nothing more than a "harmless" Hufflepuff (stupid people should see him on the Quidditch field), was guilty by association.

Anyways, Ling and Brother called them the Ego Trio, and said trio was now in the same room. They did what they always did when it involved the Ego Trio and ignored them for as long as humanly possible. AKA: Normally until Brother lost his temper.

"Oh, there's poor Alphonse!" they heard Hermione say. "Really, Ronald, Harry, he's a very nice boy -I met him in the hallway last week and he was so kind- it's not his fault his brother's an untrustworthy Slytherin who hangs out with people like Ling Yao!"

Lately, Hermione had taken up a pity campaign for Al. After seeing his display of basic respect and politeness despite her adamant attempts to ruin his and his family's day, she'd decided he was being led on by a bad crowd together. He tried very hard to be nice to her, but being cornered in the halls and being told that his family was evil and he shouldn't associate with them did make him think. . . and do some things. . (He may or may not have jinxed her dinner to turn into rats.)

"I could care less, 'Mione, just let 'em be parts together and maybe they'll sod off," said Ron in response. He was definitely more tolerable than the other two. "'Sides, if Al's really being 'mislead' or whatever, he'll come 'round eventually!"

"I don't know, Ron," interjected Harry. "His brother's in Slytherin, and family's a big influence. As for Ling -he's definitely annoying- but. . . what's a good wording to why? And why do you hate him that much, Hermione?"

"Well if you must know! He's a thief with a stomach worse than Ron's-"

"Oi!"

"-and is a filthy liar! One of his best subjects is Divination! Divination is nothing more than lies and false omens! Not only that, but he's also performing horribly dangerous stunts in front of the first years, and is just always a terrible influence! He's almost definitely a cheater too, because I highly doubt some procrastinating, kleptomanic fool can keep up with me in Charms, DADA, and Potions! Also-"

"I can hear you!" called Ling, obviously tired of being insulted. "I also think you are just annoyed that the children like me better and I'm good at certain classes -maybe better than you even- despite my. . . habit."

Hermione fumed. "You are nothing more than an arrogant liar that I will always be ashamed to ever be associated with by any means." She glanced down at her Gryffindor tie and the insignia on her robes. Ling saw what she meant; now he was fuming.

"You are nothing more than a self-righteous brat of a 'student' who loves nothing but relishing in the fact that you are 'better' than everyone at everything. People would hate you of you weren't friends with him!" Ling gestured to Harry, who now looked very angry.

"I'll have you know that Hermione is the brightest witch of her age, she is better than you and everyone else in many ways, and she is not well-liked because of me!" he raged. "And before you say another word, the same goes for Ron! He's worth ten of all of you and he is not only liked because he's my best mate! Do you understand?"

Brother stood up. "Yeah. . . I understand that you're fucking delusional you absolute moron!" Gasps rang out from those who were nearby. Thank goodness the librarian was on vacation. . . They would've been kicked out by now if not. "It's great that you think highly of your friends, I can appreciate that, but blind faith is pretty damn stupid if you ask me! Hermione's smart, but she's not better than everyone, and she is only liked because of you. Ron is actually ignored in favor of you, because while it's easy to spot a celebrity with a girl (or someone of the opposite sex in general) but but another guy means jack shit! So you're just blatantly wrong there and in your statistics. Ling is worth approximately one of Ron, given how all human souls have the same value. In conclusion: shut your damn mouth."

Their fight was certainly attracting attention now.

Hermione stomped up to him and hit Brother in the face. "You," she growled, "are repulsive. You disgust me! You slimy little brute! How dare you say such things! You worm! You must know what a sore spot you hit, you must know what insecurities you prodded at! You-"

"That's not very nice," interrupted Al, decided it was time to put an end to this. "What Brother and Ling said wasn't nice either, but you were the ones who decided you wanted me to gossip and insult people first. Apologize."

"Alphonse, you must be blind to see anything in these liars-"

"I can see just fine!" he snapped. "And I see your annoying, nitpicky, self being nothing more than a bully and, as you so kindly called Ling, a liar!"

More shocked gasps erupted from the gathering crowd. Hermione looked positively shocked.

"Well. . . he's not wrong about the first part." The whole library turned and stared at Neville. "I mean, they're not faultless, a lot of what they said was mean and unnecessary, but you guys were being bullies for a little while there. Not to mention you've been bothering Alphonse for a long time, with good intent, but a lot of what you say is just plain mean. You can't blame him for having that opinion of you," he said. ". . .even if it isn't necessarily right!" he added quickly.

Apparently blind to how much he dressed his criticism up in praise, the it her Gryffindors started yelling at Neville. Al stood up, shut his book, and he and his family led Neville out of the library without a word.

()()()()

Behold: the revised version! Let me know what you think! Hopefully it's better now. . .