~Chapter One: Sorcerous Summertime~

A/N: Is that even a word? Sorcerous? If it isn't…oh well, it is now! XP I'm gonna look that up later on…

Anywho, enjoy! And look for a quickie leetle E/N at the end of this chappy! ;)

all things Harry Potter (c) J.K. Rowling

all things Fullmetal Alchemist (c) Hiromu Arakawa

"What if I wave my wand and nothing happens?"

Edward huffed in exasperation. Ever since they had returned home from Hogwarts at the end of the school year, Alphonse had bombarded Edward with countless questions about the Wizarding World and the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Never once did Ed dare to hinder Al's excitement and eagerness to learn, but whenever the young Elric's questions became rigged with uncertainty and unnecessary nervousness, Ed got annoyed.

"If that happens don't worry about it, practice makes perfect," Ed responded, remembering his first Charms lesson and how everybody in the class struggled to some degree. "Trust me, Al, you won't be the only one."

"But what if I am? Or…oh no! What if Mr. Ollivander won't be able to find a wand for me at all? Then what?"

"Then we call him an old hag and find a better wand-maker!"

Ed shook his head: "I seriously doubt that would happen, though—you saw how many boxes of wands the man had in that cramped shop of his. There has to be at least one that suits you."

Al mulled over this statement, allowing Ed to return to his books. In less than four days the elder Elric would be travelling to Central City to take his State Alchemist's exam, which consisted of both a written test about all things alchemy and a small exhibition before the Führer himself. It was extremely difficult for a well-seasoned adult alchemist to pass, let alone a twelve-year-old, but Ed was determined to get his silver pocket watch, and Al just knew he would, for whenever his big brother set his mind on something, there was no stopping him. Despite their confidence, however, it was always better to be safe than sorry, which is why the two brothers had spent most of the summer sparring and studying in their father's study…and despite the fact that he greatly disagreed with the idea of Edward joining the military on his behalf, Alphonse was ever-supportive all summer long, helping to quiz the determined alchemist and help him prepare for the treacherous challenge that laid before him.

The day Al received his Hogwarts letter was one of the main highlights of the summer.

"Brother?"

Ed looked up from his book and back at Al.

"…What if I can't use a wand at all because of my armor?"

Ed opened his mouth to deny Alphonse's concern…but froze. Out of all his little brother's worries, this one was definitely the most plausible yet. After all, Ed himself had quite a bit of issues when he tried to use his wand with his right hand, the limb made of metal rather than flesh. What would happen when Al tried to perform magic, with his soul being stuck in that inhuman suit of armor? Would it be different for him, since his soul is embedded into the metal of his armor, or would he never be able to use a wand because of his lack of a human body?

"Brother?"

Ed racked his brain for a good answer. After all, it was not as if he could not use his wand with his right arm at all…it just wouldn't work as well…or maybe that was because he had such a huge mental block against magic at the time…

"…I don't think you'll have a problem with that, Alphonse."

"Really?"

Ed smiled: "Really. You're more open-minded than me; you'll be able to grasp wandwork a lot faster than I did."

But Ed still was not positive the answer he gave was exactly the right one…but he supposed they would all find out when they went to Ollivander's.

Just then, a ruffle of crisp, brown feathers floated through the window and landed upon Alphonse's shoulder, her talons making a soft chink against the metallic surface. Al lifted his hand up to her beak, and Nova dropped the letter being held in her mouth onto the younger Elric's palm. Ed glanced up from his book and immediately recognized Hermione Granger's neat handwriting upon the envelope, which read Edward and Alphonse.

"You want to open it, Brother?"

"Nah, you go ahead and read it," Ed said with a wave of his automail hand. "I want to finish taking notes on this chapter before dinner—"

THU-THUD!

Both Elric's heads jerked towards the window, where a large, crumpled Great Grey owl had managed to face-plant into the glass, even though it was opened plenty wide enough for its whole body to fit through with ease.

"Errol!" Ed and Al shouted, and Al sprung up from his place on the office floor to rescue the Weasley family's old owl, who was now slowly sliding down the glass, his left eye twitching in pain. Nova fell back herself, her little beak agape with tweeting laughter at the elderly creature. That's what you get for trying to race me! she thought scathingly. Under her petite master's glare, however, she immediately shut up, though reluctantly.

"You're so annoying…" Ed muttered at Nova, who returned his glare with the burning fury of a thousand suns, her eye twitching much like Errol's had just mere seconds before.

Al returned bearing a disgruntled-looking Errol in one hand—decidedly not injured as much as irked that Nova outdid him—and a letter from Ron in the other. This one he tossed to Ed, who sighed heavily.

"I guess a break won't kill me…"

"That's the spirit, Ed!"

"Yeah, yeah," Ed laughed, tearing open Ron's letter and reading the contents within:

Hey Ed, Al,

Can I spar with you two sometime? It sounds like fun…except you'd have to let me use my wand, you know, just to make it fair…which means that we'd have to do it at Hogwarts…we can make this happen, I've got this. We'll just have to kidnap you from the military, ok Ed? Speaking of, isn't your State Whatchamacallit's exam on Friday? If so, good luck to you in case we don't talk before you go. I know you'll pull an Edward kick all their butts!

And no, Al; Quidditch isn't a type of dance. It's a wizarding sport, tell your brother to explain it, because if I did this letter would be about ten pages long with my handwriting. Each house at Hogwarts has a team, and Harry's the Seeker on the Gryffindor team—which will hopefully be the house you're in, our house. I'm sure you'll get in it; after all, Ed's in it, and the Sorting Hat wouldn't separate brothers, would it? I mean, so far everyone in my family (and you know how big we are…) has been Gryffindors. Ginny's really worried that she's gonna break that tradition, though, and no matter how much we try to talk some sense into her, she's still paranoid. Ed, is Al being like that, too? I sure hope I wasn't this bad last year; I know you probably weren't, though, since you live with Muggles. Either that or you just read up on everything…yeah, knowing you that's it. Toss Al a copy of Hogwarts: A History next time he asks a question! Haha, no offense, of course, Al; just the complaints of an older brother.

Mum's been begging me to have you both over before the end of the summer. I told her we're all waiting to hear from Harry first…any luck on that? Have either of you gotten any letters from him lately? I haven't, and last I talked to Hermione, she said the same thing, that he hasn't been returning any of our letters. I hope he's ok; he lives with those Muggles, y'know…If this goes on much longer, I say we fly over there and steal him from his aunt and uncle. I can probably get Fred and George in on it, and between you and me, dad messed with the car to make it able to fly. We can all pile up in there and pick up Harry in it and bring him over to the Burrow, and technically we can't get in any trouble with the Ministry for doing that either, since we weren't the ones who magicked the car! Brilliant, right?

I'll keep in touch with you two and probably send you another owl sometime after Friday, so that both of you can come over. And then we can all go to Diagon Alley from the Burrow to get all of our schoolbooks (talking specifically to Al in that case, I guess…man, it's going to be weird at Hogwarts without you, Ed, it really is) and what-not. Until then, see ya!

Ron

Hermione's letter was similar in nature:

Dear Ed and Al,

Do be careful with that sparring, you two; I know it's all for practice and all, but you two could seriously injure yourselves. The last thing you need to do before that big State Alchemist's exam is to break something, Ed. Speaking of which, good luck to you, I know you'll do great with all the studying you have done to prepare for it! What all do you have to do for that? You said something about it being made up of multiple parts, right? Do you have to transmute something for them? That would be great if you did, since you have the rare ability to perform a transmutation without drawing a circle (if been doing some reading on alchemy for fun, in case you couldn't tell; it's all quite interesting!), that would be a good way of showing off to them, you know. If you do that, you are bound to get in.

I was wondering, if you have any time after you big exam and if you two get to go over Ron's at some point, if you all could show me a few simple transmutations? I'd love to learn how to do a bit of alchemy myself, it sounds like a very old and powerful form of magic. I wonder if Hogwarts has a class on it…

Anyways, I'm starting to get really worried about Harry, you two. Have you heard anything from him? Ron said he hasn't, and that he'd like to steal him from his aunt and uncle's house. I told him that was a preposterous idea and that he was likely to be expelled if he did that—if he tries getting you two in on it, don't do it, especially you, Alphonse. How awful would it be to get expelled from Hogwarts before your first year even begins?

Have you looked at the books list? There are so many books by Gilderoy Lockhart on it, an entire collection's worth. I haven't gotten my books yet, but I can't wait to get ahold of them so that I can start studying; I feel like it would be a good idea to read all of the Lockhart books before classes start, just in case the teacher quizzes us. I would not want to start the year on a bad note. When are you two planning on going to Diagon Alley? We should all go together, along with Ron and Harry…that is, if we manage to get in touch with him before then. Even though you're not returning to school next year, Ed, you should come with us. I do hope you'll be able to; I'd like to see you at least once before we split ways for the year. After all, I'm really going to miss hanging out and studying with you at Hogwarts, Ed. I wish you didn't have to go, but I can understand. I don't have any siblings, but I know that I would go to the same lengths to help them…to save them if I did. Be grateful of your brother, Al, he really does love you.

Well, keep in touch, and do tell me all about the exam, Ed! Maybe we'll find out what's going on with Harry and be able to meet up at Ron's house soon. Until them, have a good summer, and be safe!

Hermione

She too would miss him this coming school year at Hogwarts. Ed tried his best to brush off these statements without much success, for even though most of his first year was knee-deep in lies, it was filled to the brim with many grand memories and events that could bring a smile to his face, no matter how tortured his soul felt. It would be missed, the great mystery and wonder that was Hogwarts, but it was for the best that Ed not return; he had a responsibility to his brother, just as Hermione had said.

Alphonse re-read Ron's letter, Nova and Errol still perched on his shoulders. He was so grateful to Ed's friends for including him into their group immediately upon meeting him. When he voiced this to Ed at the beginning of the summer, though, the blonde laughed out loud, saying, "That can be both a good thing and a bad thing, Al. They're probably looking forward to dragging you along in their next great adventure, involving dark wizards and turbans and what-not."

Though Al was not so sure about the dark wizards and turbans, he was up for an adventure. After all, why should Ed have all the fun?

~~*e.s.*~~

Dumbledore was having a major déja vù moment as he sat behind his grand desk, his beloved phoenix Fawkes perched next to him, his adolescent feathers rustling as he craned his neck to look curiously over his master's shoulder. The headmaster could distinctly remember a time, approximately a year ago, when he received a very similar letter to the very one he held in his hands. It was from one of the most intelligent, most unique students that Hogwarts had ever seen in its long history, and it was extremely disheartening in nature. However, Albus Dumbledore could not honestly say that he did not see this coming, especially from Edward Elric.

At that moment a knock was heard from far across his cavernous office. Dumbledore looked up over his half-moon spectacles:

"Enter."

Fawkes straightened back up as Minerva McGonagall walked through the door and approached Dumbledore's desk. She bore a questioning look on her face, one that only deepened in severity upon seeing the envelope that held Edward's letter to the headmaster in it. She recognized the handwriting, despite the fact that she had graded countless papers and read hundreds of kids essays all year long last year. The distinct scrawl was identical to the writing that was scrawled across her classrooms walls when Ed served his detention last year for punching Malfoy.

"Don't tell me…" she began cautiously. "He's dropping out, isn't he?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"But why?" McGonagall said, a tone of regret tinting her voice. "He was such a good student, and he was becoming quite good in his classes!"

"I know, Professor," was Dumbledore's equally regretful reply. "Read the letter for yourself, if you wish."

The headmaster sat patiently as she read, folding his hands and resting them upon his desk atop a copy of the supplies list for first-years. It was a slightly lengthy letter, offering up a long but clear explanation upon his reasons for leaving school. He was respectful to his headmaster, despite no longer being one of his students. Professor McGonagall, Ed's former Head of House, frowned deeply at the last sentence:

I will never forget Hogwarts and how much I learned in my short stay there; thank you once more for believing in me, Professor.

"I can't believe he's just giving up like this," McGonagall said after sweeping her gaze across the boy's signature. She looked back up at Dumbledore, who said nothing to either agree or challenge her statement.

"I mean, honestly, what good will the military do him?"

"You may be surprised, Minerva," Dumbledore spoke finally. "Have you ever had the chance to visit the country of Amestris?"

McGonagall shook her head:

"The closest I've ever gotten to it was Drachma, but even that was over two and a half decades ago."

"Ah. Well, the entire area has changed quite a bit since then. The military has an unbelievable amount of power, especially the branch in which the State Alchemists work at. Though they are only considered to be at the ranking of a Major, they hold much more overall influence."

"Not particularly positive influences, I'd imagine."

Dumbledore nodded once.

"That is precisely why I urged him to remain here at Hogwarts. There is more than one way to achieve what he seeks, and the only way the Amestrian military has to offer will not be appealing to him at all."

"Did you tell him this?" McGonagall inquired. "Did you explain everything you're telling me to him?"

"Yes, to a certain extent," Dumbledore said, sighing. "I did not elaborate entirely."

"Well, why not?"

"Because, Minerva…there are certain things a twelve-year-old mind simply should not know of, especially one with such a positive view of magic. It is best for him to build up to such knowledge rather than to simply be told of it."

"But if you had told him he would not have left!" McGonagall said, and then stopped herself before she would say something she would regret. "…He's going to find out eventually."

"Yes."

"But you would rather him find out from the military—which already has a bad reputation—than from the magic school he knows and cherishes…I understand."

Dumbledore nodded:

"Precisely."

McGonagall sighed: "Gryffindor house will miss Edward Elric."

"Don't worry; I'm going to hazard to guess that young Alphonse will be taking up his place soon enough."

Dumbledore tilted his head to the side.

"Now, Minerva, I doubt you came in just for the sheer enjoyment of conversing with me."

"…Right," McGonagall stuttered, feeling slightly foolish for forgetting her initial reason for visiting the headmaster. "A black owl delivered this to me by mistake. I don't know how it mistook me for you, but here it is, nonetheless."

Dumbledore looked over his spectacles at the letter in her hands and graciously took it from her possession.

"Thank you. Did not recognize the owl, I presume?"

"No, sir, it didn't look like a ministry owl, if that's what you mean."

"Ah, good. It's nice to receive the occasional friendly letter," Dumbledore said, flipping the letter over in his hands. "Thank you very much, Minerva."

"Of course; have a good evening, sir."

"I shall try to…"

He turned back to his new, unopened letter after he was left to his (and Fawkes') devices, trying to place the handwriting. He recognized it, he knew its master, but a name was not popping into his mind for some reason. Dumbledore decided upon not furthering the stalling and carefully ripped open the envelope, revealing a two-page letter written in black ink but signed in gold. After first reading and then re-reading the contents carefully, he deduced not only that it was not meant to be a friendly letter, but it was from someone who was supposedly missing from the face of the earth. No, rather it was a warning, a dark message that only a well-seasoned wizard would understand, and who it was from…

Dumbledore looked up at Fawkes, his face stoic so as to not bear any clues upon the contents of the message. The words from the page, however, repeated themselves in his head, in the voice of the writer's rather than his own subconsciouses tonality…

"…Perhaps it is a good thing that Edward Elric is not returning this year."

~~*e.s.*~~

Friday came all too quickly for the Elrics and the Rockbells. Ed felt that he was ready for anything after all the studying and practicing he had done, but that did not help to alleviate any of his nerves, though, for it took extremely great skill to become a State Alchemist. The written portion he knew he would excel at, but the practical…who knows what the others will do.

The sky was a dull gray in color, the clouds constantly threatening to let loose droplets of warm summer rain upon Ed's head as he walked to the train station, re-reading the brochure he practically had memorized. He remembered when he had received it, and remembered reading it this time last summer with the same intent in mind. All had changed with just one simple letter, written upon thick parchment and addressed in emerald-colored ink…

Edward sighed heavily; now was not the time to think about magic. Now was the time to focus on alchemy…

~~*e.s.*~~

Alphonse walked back into the Rockbell Prosthetic Limb Outfitters before the rain began to fall, hoping that either Winry or Granny Pinako would have something for him to do to get his mind off of his brother. He couldn't help but wish Ed had decided against the whole military idea, but he knew it was a wish in vain.

Winry stumbled out onto the front porch just before Al could open the door, colliding with the ponytailed blonde awkwardly.

"Oof! Ow, Al!"

"Sorry, Winry!" apologized the boy, who quickly offered a large leather-gloved hand out to the fallen mechanic.

"It's ok," she said as she hoisted herself back up, straightening out her bandanna. "No harm done."

Winry glanced out at the steadily falling rain and sighed as she sat down upon her grandmother's favorite rocking chair. Al followed her gaze for a moment of long silence, but looked back at her when she spoke up in a slightly hoarse voice:

"I miss him already…"

Al paused, and then nodded once in agreement.

"Me too. But he'll be back soon enough."

"Yeah, but for how long? How much longer will he be able to stay in Resembool before they whisk him away?"

"I don't know," Al said honestly. He took two steps forward until he was right on the edge of the porch's cover, right behind the curtain of rainfall. He extended his right arm, cupping his gloved hand and catching a small bowl's worth of water in his grasp.

"I hope his automail works ok," Winry piped up suddenly. "I mean, I did a couple of routine checks just before he left and stuffed some cleaning supplies into his bag and what-not, but you never know with him—I mean, he did manage to break it pretty good earlier this year, and that was after Dumbledore did his repairs—!"

"Winry," Al said, a laugh in his voice. "You're the most amazing automail mechanic we know! Nothing is going to happen to Ed because of your automail."

Winry looked up at Al and smiled.

"Thanks, Al. You're so sweet."

"Just speaking the truth," Al said with a shrug. Before Winry could reply, however, the young Elric swung his giant metal arm around and tossed the water in his hand at her. The look of shock on her dampened face sent him into a fit of hysterics, but he recovered quickly and sprinted off down the porch when her expression changed from surprise to fury.

"ALPHONSE!" she shrieked, leaping up from the rocking chair. "If it weren't for that blood seal, I'd pour a freaking bucket of water over your head!"

"Nice try, but you'll have to catch me first!"

Just as he said that, however, Winry did catch him, and in a tumult of laughing metal and flesh face planting onto the porch, Alphonse surrendered to the fearsome automail mechanic. At that moment, after hearing the giant commotion, Granny Pinako emerged from the house, escorting a young man bearing a newly refurbished automail hand out and offering up his umbrella.

"Thanks, Pinako, I needed some fixin' up!" the man said, flexing his knuckles gratefully. Pinako smiled at him and waved as he trotted out into the rain and quickly got in his car so as to get home before the brunt of the storm hit. Pinako waited until he had driven off, then turned to face Winry and Al, fixating her sternest of glares upon them.

"…Sorry, Granny—"they began, but were cut off immediately by the wave of her hand.

"Just get inside you two, especially you, Al. You're practically a walking lightning rod out in this weather."

"I am?" Al said, confusedly glancing up at the sky. "But there's no thunder or—"

CRRRAASH!

"Meep!" Al squeaked in shock, rapidly following Winry and Pinako into the sanctuary of their home.

"Told you; after you've lived here as long as I am, you get to the point that you can flawlessly predict weather patterns," Pinako said matter-of-factly, sitting back in her chair and lighting her pipe. Al sat down on the couch next to Winry, who was sorting through the pile of mail and letters on the coffee table before her. Many of them were order forms and records of hers and Granny's customers (anything of great importance to the shop she handed over to Granny), but there was the occasional letter from one of Ed or Al's friends that got accidently abandoned on top of the table, or discarded military brochures and letters of Ed's. Winry handed over the letters to Al, but all of the military-based items…neither seemed to know what to do with them. Eventually Granny took them from their possession, and finally the coffee table could once again be visible. The only thing left on top of it was Alphonse's acceptance letter to Hogwarts, which he quickly scooped up and re-read for the umpteenth time.

If he could have smiled he would have; if anything could cheer Alphonse up, it was the idea of attending a magic school in the fall.

"Probably won't see any more customers today because of the weather, Winry," Granny Pinako spoke up suddenly. "Mind cleaning up the workbench a bit?"

"Of course not," Winry said, rising from her seat. Alphonse followed suit, immediately offering to help her.

"So when is your friend Ron going to have you over?" was the first question that bubbled out of Winry's mouth once they got set to working on the messy desks and scattered tools. Al paused to hang up three small wrenches on their posts upon the wall, and then shrugged his huge armored shoulders.

"He said he wanted to wait until we could get ahold of Harry, but who knows how long that'll be."

"You mean you all haven't heard from him all summer?" Winry said, tossing him a damp rag to clean up an oil stain from atop one of the desks.

"Nope. He won't reply to our letters."

"I hope he's ok…"

"Same here," Al said, tossing the rag back to Winry. "His aunt and uncle aren't exactly the kindest people in the world, after all. They could have done something to him. That's what Ed and Ron told me, at least."

Winry frowned, setting the mallet in her hand down upon the workbench.

"…Maybe you guys should go check up on him."

Alphonse looked at her, considering the idea. He had never been to Harry's house, and neither has Ed from his knowledge. Ron knows where he lives, and he did say something about stealing him away from his relatives, but…that could be dangerous. And like Hermione said, he could jeopardize his admittance into Hogwarts. It could be a risk not worth taking; but then again, what if Harry really is in trouble?

"Yeah. You're right…"

Alphonse glanced up at the clock on the wall above the workbench they had just finished cleaning.

"…Ok. I'm going to write to Ron. Thanks Winry!"

Winry watched him leave the room in confusion.

"…Uhm…you're welcome, I think?"

~~*e.s.*~~

On a moonless night like this one, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry looks particularly spooky and mystical. Fog sat upon the lake, like a sleeping Patronus, guarding the creatures underneath the water's black crest. Greenhouse three casted multiple shadows across the lawn due to the tentacle-like vines and lively potted plants, ever awake despite the hour. The owlery was the liveliest place; its nocturnal residents hooted and were flying about, going off to hunt, conversing with one another's feathery presence.

Every shining eye in the dark towered place froze upon Dumbledore when he entered. They were confused, trifled as to what the headmaster was up to. Only one owl seemed to understand all, the Visitor, and surprisingly enough, that was the one owl that Dumbledore seemed to have business with this night. Its golden eyes, shining in the low light of Dumbledore's illuminated wand, bored into the old wizards being, making him appear as wise as or even more knowledgeable than the warlock. Even before Dumbledore extracted the parchment envelope from his cloak did the owl offer up its services, flying up and out of its temporary nest and landed sharply upon the wizard's shoulder. Dumbledore observed the owl up close as he attached his letter to the dark creature's leg, whispered one single question to it:

"…Where is your master?"

Needless to say the owl did not reply; after a brief blink of its Galleon-like eyes, turned away from the headmaster of Hogwarts. Dumbledore relinquished the owl, bowing once in respect for its mysterious aura. Thus, the owl flew up and away—a raven, turned invisible against the moonless sky.

~~*e.s.*~~

Alphonse was surprised at the briskness of Ron's reply. He had just sent Nova out the previous evening, once the storm had cleared up, and here she was the following evening bearing a freshly written reply from the redhead. She seemed pretty excited about this one, too, because she wouldn't leave the armored boy alone until he opened it up. With a huff, Al sat down upon Pinako's sofa and opened the letter:

Al,

I agree, we need to get Harry out of there. How soon can you come over? Even if Ed isn't back yet, you should come to the Burrow so we can find out what's going on with Harry; Ed can meet us there as soon as he gets home from taking his big test, ok?

Get over here ASAP!

Ron

"…W-what?"

"What is it, Alphonse?"

Al handed Granny Pinako the letter, Nova still perched expectantly upon his metallic shoulder. She seemed to be ready to go, but Al wasn't sure Ron understood what he meant in his last letter. He just wanted to check in on Harry, not steal him from his house!

"Sounds like he wants you to go over his house tonight," the old woman finally said in response to the letter's message. "So shouldn't you be getting your stuff together?"

"You sure I should go?" Al said, still troubled by the message. "I mean, we could get in trouble, and—"

"Ah, come on Al," Winry said suddenly, appearing in the doorway, a mischievous grin upon her face. "As if you've never broken a rule in your life."

"Judging by all of the messes that Ed got into at that school, this is only the beginning anyway," Granny pointed out.

Al pondered over this statement, remembering an earlier conversation he and his big brother had just before he left for Central. They're probably looking forward to dragging you along in their next great adventure is what Ed had teasingly warned Al about his wizard friends. Just judging by the contents of this most recent letter from Ron, the blonde alchemist was completely right.

"…You're right," Al said, looking over at Nova. "Looks like we're going over Ron's house."

The little owl let out a delighted hoot and flew up and off of Al's shoulder in excitement.

The next ten minutes following the young Elric's decision was spent gathering up the few items he would take with him. In the midst of these preparations, Al told Winry to pass along the invitation to Edward once he got back from his State Alchemist's Exam.

"Tell him to go to the Burrow, ok?"

"Got it. Now go, before it gets too late."

Alphonse laughed as he clambered into the fireplace.

"It doesn't matter what time it is here, Winry; there's a time change about two or three hours long from here to Britain."

And with that last statement, he grabbed a small fistful of Floo Powder and shouted: "The Burrow!"

The green flames engulfing his body of armor shocked him at first, but as soon as the spinning and the blurred sight of numerous fireplaces passing right through his vision began, it stopped. Despite the fact that he could not physically feel the dizziness and disorientation he was doubtlessly suffering from, Alphonse fell with a thud out of the Weasley's fireplace.

"All right, Alphonse?"

Al hastily scrambled onto his feet at the sight of Ron's twin brothers, Fred and George, grinning at him from the other side of the now-darkened fireplace.

"He's here? About time!" came a voice from behind them, a voice that Al could easily recognize through the dimness of the room. Sure enough, Ron pushed past his brother's, grinning a toothy, freckled grin at his armored friend.

"How've you been, Al?"

"Good," Al said cheerfully as he brushed a bit of dust off of his loincloth.

"Good, because you've arrived just in time," Fred announced grandly, then quickly hushed up when his twin nudged him in the ribs.

"You'll wake mum!"

"Right…"

"We're going to take dad's flying car to break Harry out," Ron briefly explained, "you know, the one I told you and Ed about in that letter?"

"It flies?" Al said, making sure to keep his voice down. "Won't we get expelled?"

"Pssh, no!" Ron said, laughing. "It's not like we put the spell on it! So, you ready to go?"

Al glanced down at the cage Nova sat in, and then back at the twins identical grins.

"Yep; let's go get Harry."

"Alright!" Fred and George cheered, high-fiving Alphonse and running out the front door to the garage.

"Sweet! Glad you're here, Al," Ron said, a genuine smile on his face.

They're probably looking forward to dragging you along in their next great adventure.

"…My turn for an adventure," the young Elric whispered, and then quickly ran after the Weasleys.

~~*e.s.*~~

AE/N: Whew! Now we've got some storyline coming into play. :) Thanks so much for reading, everyone; I just wanted to give a shout out to everyone who also follows me on DeviantArt: I've created a new folder for this story and have already got a sort of tile page-y illustration innit for y'all to see if you'd like to. :D I will soon post illustrations for the Prologue and Chapter One as well, so keep an eye out for it! Love y'all! ^_^