DISCLAIMER: I OWN NEITHER HARRY POTTER NOR FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST!

Chapter Two

Ed yawned tiredly as he walked up the Burrow stairs at ten-fifty-five in the evening. He was on his way back to the room he was sharing with his brother, Alphonse, from the toilet. He stopped at Ginny's room's door, looking at it. Winry was sharing the room with Ginny and Hermione. Ed started to raise his hand to put it on the door knob until he remembered that Mrs. Weasley had put a charm on it so he couldn't sneak into it to be with Winry. Ed groaned and started to go back up to his and Al's room until he heard someone call for him from the kitchen. Ed yawned, scratching the back of his golden blond head as he did so and went to the kitchen to see Tonks and Mrs. Weasley.

"Edward, why are you in your pajamas for?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

Ed blinked and looked down at his blue denim pajamas. They were an engagement gift from his and Al's alchemy teacher, Izumi Curtis. Dumbledore had sent her an owl, telling her of Ed 'proposing' to Winry on the last day of term. Ed looked back up at Mrs. Weasley.

"It's night time," Ed explained. "I was sleeping and I came down to use the toilet and was going back to bed."

Mrs. Weasley frowned.

"I wasn't going to Winry's room," Ed said, barely able to hide another yawn. "I can't since you put that charm thing on it."

Mrs. Weasley smiled.

"I know that, dear," Mrs. Weasley said. "But I was just going to ask you if you forgot what Professor Dumbledore had asked of you."

Ed furrowed his brow in thought, trying to remember what Mrs. Weasley was talking about.

"Huh?" Ed asked in confusion.

"He asked you to come with him to collect Harry and visit Professor Slughorn," Mrs. Weasley reminded.

"Oh, that," Ed remembered. "I thought he was just yankin' my chain. You know how crazy Bumblebore is."

Mrs. Weasley tried hard not to sigh and roll her eyes. She had, unlike Hermione, given up on trying to get Ed to use Dumbledore's proper name. Tonks, whose hair was mousy brown and frizzy and eyes red, let out a small giggle. Ed looked at her.

"You all right?" Ed asked.

"I'm fine," Tonks wove off.

Ed frowned.

"Edward, you better get dressed for when Professor Dumbledore comes to pick you up," Mrs. Weasley reminded, Ed looking back at her. "He'll be here in a few minutes."

Ed groaned and turned to go to his and Al's room.

"I don't see why Bumblebore has to have me to come along to Harry's idiot family to get him and to convince some old geezer to come back to teach," Ed grumbled as he left the kitchen and went up the stairs.

Mrs. Weasley put her hands on her hips and shook her head.

"That boy," Mrs. Weasley muttered.

"He'll grow out of it, Molly," Tonks assured.

"You may think so, but I don't think he will," Mrs. Weasley disagreed.

Ed got back to his and Al's guest room and got a pair of jeans, a red t-shirt, socks, and his red jacket out of the chest of drawers. Ed got dressed and put his sneakers on. He also put on a pair of white gloves. Ed went to open the bedroom door when Al woke up and spoke up.

"Where are you going, Big Brother?" Al asked.

Ed turned and looked at Al. Pegasus was curled up next to Al's pillow.

"You remember what Bumblebore asked me to do the other day?" Ed asked.

"Oh, that," Al remembered. "It's tonight?"

"Seems so," Ed replied. "Go back to sleep okay?"

But he didn't need to say it since Al had already went back to sleep. Ed sighed and looked around the room. There were boxes in the room. They were staying in Fred and George's room since Fred and George were sleeping in the flat above their shop. There was a third bed in the mix since Harry would also be sharing with Ed and Al when he arrived. Ed went out of the room and shut the door behind him. He went down to the kitchen once again where Dumbledore was now waiting for him.

"When do you think you will be back with Harry and Edward?" Mrs. Weasley asked Dumbledore.

"Oh, around morning," Dumbledore answered airily. "I don't know how long it'll take to get Harry and then convince Horace to come back to teach."

Ed groaned. Dumbledore looked over at Ed.

"Good evening, Edward," Dumbledore greeted. "I expect you're tired."

Ed mumbled something under his breath that sounded something like he shouldn't have been saying. Mrs. Weasley rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in the air as Dumbledore chuckled.

"Come along, Edward," Dumbledore beckoned. "I'll try to get you back here in enough time so you can get some more sleep."

Ed rolled his eyes and left the Burrow with Dumbledore. A few moments later, Dumbledore Apparated himself and Ed to Little Whinging, Surrey. Ed held onto his stomach after they landed.

"Are you all right, Edward?" Dumbledore asked.

"It feels like going through a straw," Ed muttered.

Dumbledore chuckled again. He pulled out his Put-Outer and clicked it. The streetlamp lights flew into the lighter looking object.

"Come now, Edward," Dumbledore said.

Ed nodded and walked behind Dumbledore to house number four. Dumbledore rang the doorbell. A moment later, Ed heard a voice shouting, "Who the blazes is calling at this time of night?"

"I guess that's Uncle Barney Dirty," Ed muttered.

"Vernon Dursley, Edward," Dumbledore corrected, eyes twinkling in amusement.

"Same thing," Ed wove off.

The door opened a moment later to reveal a walrus sized man with little to no neck and a round, red face.

"Good evening," Dumbledore greeted. "You must be Mr. Dursley. I daresay Harry has told you I would be coming for him?"

Vernon Dursley had a black busy mustache and was wearing a puce colored dressing gown and was staring at Dumbledore as though he could not believe his tiny eyes.

"Judging by your look of stunned disbelief, Harry did not warn you that I was coming," Dumbledore correctly assumed, pleasantly. "However, let us assume that you have invited me and my guest warmly into your house. It is unwise to linger overlong on doorsteps in these troubled times. Come along, Edward."

Ed and Dumbledore stepped smartly over the threshold and closed the front door behind them.

"It is a long time since my last visit," Dumbledore said, peering down his crooked nose at Uncle Vernon. "I must say, your agapanthus are flourishing."

Vernon Dursley said nothing at all.

"Ah, good evening, Harry," Dumbledore greeted, looking up at Harry, who was standing on a stair that was a few from the bottom, with a most satisfied expression. "Excellent, excellent."

"I don't mean to be rude -" Vernon started rudely.

"- yet, sadly, accidental rudeness occurs alarmingly often," Dumbledore finished the sentence gravely. "Best to say nothing at all, my dear man. Ah, and this must be Petunia."

The kitchen door had opened, and there stood Harry's aunt, wearing rubber gloves and a housecoat over her nightdress, clearly halfway through her usual pre-bedtime wipe-down of all the kitchen surfaces. Her rather horsy face registered nothing but shock.

"Albus Dumbledore," Dumbledore introduced himself, when Uncle Vernon failed to effect an introduction. "We have corresponded of course. And this must be your son, Dudley?"

Dudley had that moment peered around the living room door. His large, blond head rising out of the stripy collar of his pajamas looked oddly disembodied, his mouth gaping in astonishment and fear. Dumbledore waited a moment or two, apparently to see whether any of the were going to say anything, but as the silence stretched on he smiled.

"Shall we assume that you have invited myself and Edward into your sitting room?" asked Dumbledore.

Dudley scrambled out of the way as Dumbledore and Ed passed him. Harry, who was clutching a telescope and a pair of sneakers, jumped the last few stairs and followed Dumbledore and Ed. Dumbledore settled himself in the armchair nearest the fire and was taking in the surroundings with an expression of benign interest. He looked quite extraordinarily out of place in his long black traveling cloak and waist long beard and half-moon glasses. Ed decided to just stand, yawning into his left hand. Ed's hair was in a ponytail as to not let it get tangled. Harry noticed that Ed was wearing his trademark white gloves.

"Aren't - aren't we leaving, sir?" Harry asked Dumbledore anxiously. "And why did you bring Ed along? He's -"

"Yes, indeed we are, but there are a few matters we need to discuss first," Dumbledore interrupted. "And I would prefer not to do so in the open. We shall trespass upon your aunt and uncle's hospitality only a bit longer."

"They're feelin' something, but it sure isn't hospitality," Ed muttered.

"You will, will you?" Vernon spoke up.

Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley entered the room. Petunia was at Vernon's shoulder while Dudley was behind both of his parents.

"Yes, we shall," Dumbledore replied.

Dumbledore whipped out his wand and made the sofa zoom forward and make the Dursleys sit down. The sofa then zoomed back to its place. Harry sat in the remaining armchair. A few moments later, Dumbledore poured them all Madam Rosmerta's finest oak-matured mead. The goblets knocked against the Dursleys' heads. Ed took a drink of his mead.

"Not bad," Ed muttered.

"I will explain Edward's presence once we leave, Harry," Dumbledore started. "But not now. A difficulty has arisen which I hope you will be able to solve for us. By us, I mean the Order of the Phoenix. But first of all I must tell you that Sirius's will was discovered a week ago and that he left you everything he owned."

"Oh, right," Harry replied.

"This is, in the main, fairly straightforward," Dumbledore went on. "You add a reasonable amount of gold to your account at Gringotts, and you inherit all of Sirius's personal possessions. The slightly problematic part of the legacy -"

"His godfather's dead?" Vernon spoke up, trying to beat the goblet away. "He's dead? His godfather?"

"Yes," Dumbledore answered, then turning back to Harry, "Our problem is that Sirius also left you number twelve, Grimmauld Place."

"He's been left a house?" Vernon asked greedily.

"It's none of your business, Barney," Ed snapped.

Harry tried hard not to laugh.

"Excuse Edward," Dumbledore requested. "He's a bit sleepy."

"You can keep it as headquarters," Harry answered Dumbledore. "I don't care. You can have it, I don't really want it."

"That is generous," Dumbledore commented. "We have, however, vacated the building temporarily."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Because the Black family has a stupid rule that only a pureblood could inherit their buildings or whatever," Ed answered for Dumbledore. "They probably put some sort of enchantment or curse on it to make sure you don't get it."

"I bet there has," Harry remarked.

"Quite," Dumbledore continued. "And if such an enchantment exists, then the ownership of the house is most likely to pass to the eldest of Sirius's living relatives, which would mean his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange."

"No," Harry replied.

"Well, obviously we would prefer that she didn't get it either," Dumbledore said. "The situation is fraught with complications. We do not know whether the enchantments we ourselves have placed upon it, for example, making it Unplottable, will hold now that ownership has passed from Sirius's hands. It might be that Bellatrix will arrive on the doorstep at any moment. Naturally we had to move out until such time as we have clarified the position."

"But how are you going to find out if I'm allowed to own it?" Harry asked.

"Fortunately, there's a simple test," Dumbledore answered.

He placed his empty glass on a small table beside his chair, but before he could do anything else, Uncle Vernon shouted, "Will you get these ruddy things off us?"

Dumbledore apologized and vanished the Dursleys' drinks. Dumbledore then summoned Kreacher. Kreacher was a house-elf with a snout for a nose, giant bat's ears, and enormous bloodshot eyes. He was now crouching on the Dursleys' shag carpet and covered in grimy rags. Petunia shrieked as Dudley drew his large, bare, pink feet off the floor and sat with them raised almost above his head.

"What the hell is that?" Vernon bellowed.

"Kreacher," Dumbledore answered.

Kreacher ranted and screamed as Dumbledore explained to Harry that if the ownership had passed onto him that he could give Kreacher an order and Kreacher would obey. Finally, after hearing Kreacher scream at the top of his lungs, Harry gave an order.

"Kreacher, shut up!" Harry ordered.

Kreacher had no choice but to follow the order and stopped screaming, beating the floor as he did so. Harry ordered Kreacher to go to Hogwarts, and Kreacher left. Dumbledore brought up Buckbeak, and Harry told Dumbledore that Hagrid could keep him.

"Now, is your trunk packed?" Dumbledore asked.

"Erm…" Harry started.

"Doubtful that I would turn up?" Dumbledore suggested shrewdly.

"I'll just go and finish off," Harry said hastily.

"Edward will go with you," Dumbledore volunteered Ed.

Ed rolled his eyes and put his glass down on an end table and followed Harry to his room.

"Nice room," Ed muttered once in Harry's room.

"Why did Dumbledore bring you along?" Harry asked as he packed his trunk.

"To try to persuade some old guy," Ed answered. "I think his name was Horse Bug or something."

Harry grinned, knowing that Ed was most definitely saying the name of the 'old guy's' very wrong. Harry packed his trunk and grabbed Hedwig's cage. Ed left the room as Harry followed. They went to the living room since Dumbledore was not in the hallway. Harry said he was ready and Dumbledore told the Dursleys' about Voldemort's return and scolded them for mistreating Harry and spoiling Dudley too much. Then…

"Well, Harry…Edward…time for us to be off," Dumbledore announced at last, standing up and straightening his long black cloak. "Until we meet again," he told the Dursleys.

Harry bade the Dursleys a farewell and went outside with Dumbledore and Ed while holding his trunk and Hedwig's cage. Dumbledore sent Harry's trunk and the cage to the Burrow after having Harry get the Invisibility Cloak out.

"I assume Edward told you why I have brought him along?" Dumbledore assumed.

"Yes, to talk to Horse Bug?" Harry answered.

Dumbledore chuckled.

"His name is Horace Slughorn," Dumbledore corrected with a smile.

'Thought Ed got the name wrong,' Harry thought.

"Now let's go forth and pursue that flighty temptress adventure," Dumbledore said.