Disclaimer: Do not own Harry Potter or Fullmetal Alchemist not even The Avengers, just this piece of creative writing. Possible spoilers, you are hereby informed.

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Thank you everyone who has selected to 'Follow' this story or selected this story as a 'Favorite'.

I will endeavor to continue to give my best. A big 'Thank You' to Wolf Dragon Demon for taking the time to beta this chapter.

Your questions and reviews are like Gatorade to my creativity. *wink* So, please keep the questions and reviews coming. Who knows, the answers to your questions could be featured as story scenes.

Glossary:

"Blah blah." Spoken words.

~Blah blah.~ Thoughts.

*Blah blah.* Spoken words in other language.

CHAPTER IV – Our Hearts In His Hand

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A yellow sun hung in the clear blue sky, giving light and life to a valley checkered with fields of golden head wheat and corn. Scattered among these fields were barns, farm animals' pens and houses.

~This place. I know this place. But I can't remember where it is and how I knew of this place. Why is everything so out of focus? Who am I walking with? He looked a lot like Da -ah- Tony. Why is he wearing that ugly blue uniform?~

"You better have a good reason for dragging me all the way out to the middle of nowhere, Mustang."

~ That's my voice! But why is it so deep? I know this Tony look-alike, I know I don't really dislike him, but why. Does he get on my nerves that much?~

"That is General Mustang now. Anyway, it's good to see you too short-stuff."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SHORT THAT A MLLIIMETER WILL BE A FREAKING TOWER?!"

~Yeah, he is annoying.~

Coughed, snort-choke Coughed, Smirked. "Don't ever change, Fullmetal; you're such a breath of fresh air."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. I called you here-"

"The proper word is 'Kidnapped'."

Glared. "As you know we have set aside this land for the Ishbalan to rebuild their-"

"Yeah, yeah; get to the point, Must-nag."

"Fullmetal, so help me, shut up or I'll court martial you!"

"You can't. I've resigned, can't do alchemy anymore, re-mem-ber?"Smirked.

Sighed. "And I have to wonder why I stopped having headaches. The Ishbalans found a whole city beneath when they dug for a well. Our local archaeologist said this civilization could pre-date Xeres. Ah, there he is now."

"S-scar!"

"I haven't heard that name in awhile. I have repented and reformed my ways, you need not be scared, Edward Elric."

"W-who's scared?"

"Edward, why are you hiding behind me. So, Scar shall we go take a look? –By the way what is your name now?"

Shrugged. "I've died twice, call me what you like. This way, we will use this rope ladder to go down the well shaft."

Dark eyes scowled thoughtfully. "Okay, we'll keep to 'Scar' for now then."

"Why me? You got many other skilled Alchemists."

"Not everyone is welcomed by the Ishbalans. And not everyone is as knowledgeable in Alchemy as you, Edward."- Snap! A small ball of fire danced at his finger tips.

Rolled gold eyes and huffed. "Show-off."

"Blame the Gate. Just take a look at that array and give us your opinion, Fullmetal."

"I still don't see why … … Oh. This. Is. In-teres-ting."

"What? Fullmetal, what's interesting?"

"Oh hush, hmmm…This is a perfect circle carved out of pure marble-"Traced finger along the array thoughtfully. "This is a glyph for 'Time' in Xeres, that's an ancient Xing character for 'Space'. Curious … most curious- Ouch!"

"What, Fullmetal?"

"Nothing I just cut my finger on the –"

"WHAT TH-! EDWARD WHAT DID YOU DO?"

Brilliant light filled the whole array. White washing everything, everyone away.

"What the fuc-!"

"FULLMETAL! EDWARD! QUICKLY, SCAR, GRAB HIM! DON'T LET IT TAKE HIM!"

Scar leapt and … …

Edward woke up with a cry of fright; he sat up straight into strong arms. Instinctively he stiffened; with his arms pinned to his side he was defenseless. Vision of red eyes still filled his mind eye.

"Ed, champ. Hush, I'm here. It's only a dream." Edward knew that voice and found himself relaxing instinctively into Tony's chest.

A glass of water came into his view, and Edward looked up to an older version of -Mustang?– No this was Tony Stark, who had taken him in and cared for him, when he could not remember beyond his name.

They were in their private jet on their way to England; Tony was invited to give a talk in some Businessman Convention there. Edward was able to follow as he had finished his exams and besides he was ahead of his class, years ahead, so an extended holiday was not an issue. Besides, the city Tony was to speak at was said to have one of the best libraries. How could Edward not be interested to go?

A relatively short flight, but Edward could only watch the clouds for so long before falling asleep in his chair. Besides, those huge first-class executive chairs were so very comfortable and more than big enough for Edward to curl up in, like some strange cat.

"Want to talk about it champ?" Tony asked; his dark brown eyes were even darker with concern.

Edward shook his head as he put down the cup. "I'm fine, sir."

"Ed, my name is Tony. I'd prefer if you can call me 'Dad', but Tony is fine. Come say it with me To'nee." Tony carried him off his chair and into his lap.

"I can't do that. That will be disrespectful." Edward protested even as his giggles broke through.

"Who's gonna judge you? Not me." Tony pouted a funny face wanting to hear Edward laugh again.

Edward opened his mouth, paused and then closed his frowning. "I don't know, I think someone or two someone's will but I can't remember who they would be. To'nee." He added almost shyly.

Edward felt well rewarded with Tony's warm grin. "You just made my day. What say you we visit the England zoo?"

"Really? Cool! Do you think the zoo will have that strange flying creature that was shown in the News and YouTube?"

Edward's gold eyes lit up with hope and Tony cried out in mock alarm. "Don't use your mind trick on me, Jedi!"

That cracked the eight year old up.

Edward had asked what a 'Jedi' was the first time Tony used that pet-name on him; and was treated to the whole Star War Saga and the Clone Wars series. Edward and Tony grew closer and formed a bond of sort, much to Tony's delight, during the Star Wars marathon, feasting on cookies dipped into ice-cream of every flavor Tony could get.

It was also at that time that Pepper learned why Edward acted the way he did around her. She walked in on them asleep in the hall covered in cookie crumbs and surrounded by tubs and tubs of melted ice-creams. When Pepper got upset with Tony, she reminded him of another blonde lady who also happened to be dangerous.

Edward had also whispered something into Pepper's ear that had she gone pink with delight for the rest of the day, to Tony's dismay that was an ongoing secret between them.

"I bet Pepper can make a Jedi do what she wants too." The little boy grinned at her as Pepper handed Tony a leather business folder that held his pc tablet.

"Now why would I want to work for a Jedi? Taking care of Tony here is already a full time job." Pepper grinned back at Edward. "Any free time I have left I rather spend with a certain handsome young blond." She simpered playfully at Edward.

Edward flushed at the praise; Tony hid his grin with his tablet and almost dropped it when Edward teased back. "I'll make sure to get Dad, to give you a raise."

Pepper quickly covered Edward's slip. "Oh behave. You are too young to start being like Tony. By the way Mr. Stark, does the itinerary meet your expectation?"

Tony looked, there was only one item. A simple note was on the tablet's screen.

July 31st is Edward's birthday, that's on the day of your talk at the Businessman Convention. What do you have in mind?

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This July 31st, would be the very first birthday Tony will spend with his son; he planned to make it the best. His boy would be nine years old according to medical estimate. Quietly, he arranged to book rides on the London Wheel -nine full rides- to make his son's ninth birthday a special one. Mr. Stark in his usual arrogance of the rich bribed the management to allow them to have dinner - England version of McDonald's on the Wheel. Pepper wanted nothing less.

Pepper's first introduction to Edward was a small limp body in Mr. Stark's arms when he stumbled out of the ruined reactor. She nearly had a heart attack –actually her third heart attack, first learning of Mr. Obadiah's betrayal, second from being attacked by him- in that moment thinking a child got hurt being too close.

At first, she could not believe that Mr. Stark would spin such tall tale. How could a child just appear out of the thin air? She gave him a piece of her mind when her boss decided to adopt the child without even checking if the child had any relatives. It blew her cool when Mr. Stark scoffed and insisted that no one will step forward. Who in their right mind would want to abandon their child?

But as days became weeks and weeks became months, by then Edward had awoken and went to stay with Mr. Stark. Pepper had to admit no one would come forward to claim the child. That Mr. Stark was telling the truth. No one could claim the boy.

So Edward Elric legally became Edward Elric-Stark. How Mr. Stark managed to cut through all the red tape of adoption was still a mystery to Pepper. Mr. Stark had refused to say anything other than he had an agreement with Mr. Fury.

Mr. Tony Stark being who he was, nothing could be kept out of the public eye for long. Then the claims started to flood in from women claiming to be Edward's biological mother. Pepper could never decide if she wanted to smirk or hide her face in shame when not a single woman stepped forward to present DNA for testing when requested to.

Almost a year, those annoying letters of legal claim still came, Pepper still felt the prick of fear that this certain woman could give DNA proof and take Edward away. The boy had wormed his way into Mr. Stark's and her heart, to lose him now would kill them.

July 31st, was not Edward's actual birthday nor was it the day Mr. Stark legally became his father; it was the day Mr. Stark's little Aryan imp with angel's gold eyes appeared. Just like the Christmas story Edward brought peace and joy to Mr. Stark's and her world. Well, maybe not peace of mind, Edward is as mischievous and playful as any other boy, delightfully more than a hand full with his intellect and wit.

It started as a perfect morning; Pepper sat down with Tony and Edward to have breakfast in the sitting area of their hotel suite. The penthouse suite of one of the classiest hotels, the penthouse suite was like a mini apartment without a kitchen.

Like all kids his age, the moment bellboy left them in the penthouse suite, Edward was off exploring the suite.

"Oh cool! Look. Look, there's even a Jacuzzi and a small pool in the balcony!"

But unlike kids of his age, Edward was never sure what to do with the remotes -then again living with Tony everything had been voice-controlled or Jarvis-controlled.

Pepper and Tony noticed that Edward's take on important things was very different from a normal kid. He was very discipline with a hunger for knowledge. For example, instead of overloading his PC tablet with games, Edward had e-books. An outdoor fun was going to the Doju, or lately Free-Running(1); something that had Pepper very worried until Tony installed a Parkour gym and asked Steve Rogers to help watch out for Ed.

"It's all arranged, Mr. Stark." Pepper said confirming the booking for the London Wheel among the other arrangements.

"Thank you, Pepper."

"That's about the Talk? Can I go to the library when you have your convention? When can we go to the zoo?" Edward asked as he reached for his cup of calcium-fortified orange juice.

Pepper and Tony discovered very quickly that Edward had milk allergies. But there were many nondairy foods with calcium that can meet Edward's daily needs and the little blond was not that much a picky eater.

"Actually, I exchange my speech day with Mr. Fritz Lang a renowned film director; we have the whole day to ourselves today." Mr. Stark explained with a growing grin as Edward's eyes lit up.

"Yippee!-" The little blond cheered but stopped to frown. "-But why the sudden change, Tony?"

It still surprised Pepper how intelligent Edward was, even though she witness the many times how Ed would piece together facts and clues to uncover the answer.

"Well, you see Ed; today happened to be a very special day for us and a very special person." Mr. Stark stalled stringing out the clues and hints wondering how fast Edward would discover the answer this time.

"That's right; we'll be spending the day with him." Pepper smiled hoping that she would not give the game away too soon.

"Who is 'he', the crown prince? Please tell me. Will I get to meet him too?" Ed pleaded, his gold eyes going to a warm honey brown.

Pepper bit her lower lip and sighed inwardly; this boy was well on his way in becoming a danger to many a lady's heart, he was already this deadly without even trying!

"No, not the prince of England. This guy is even more special than mere royal blood. And you see 'him' every day in the mirror." Mr. Stark answered, giving to those eyes unresistingly.

Pepper almost choked on her tea; looked like Tony had no defense against those eyes either.

"Me? But-but I'm not special." Ed squeaked in surprise looking from Tony to Pepper and back.

Mr. Stark went over and picked up the blond into his arms. "I don't know about Ms. Potts, but to me you are very special; not anyone can be a Stark." Edward's blush had nowhere to hide on his fair complexion, so he hid his flushed face against Tony's shoulder as he hugged the man back.

Pepper was sure the sun was rising from the West, as she watched Mr. Stark, the man media said had no heart at all but melt into his son's hug.

"So champ, what would you like to do to first? You choose, but first you have to do something for me." Tony said sitting down with his boy in his lap. Pepper felt her poker face crack into a big grin when the boy looked to her for clues.

Edward got down from Tony's lap and stood straight, almost in attention. "What do you want me to do?"

"This. I want you to open this." Tony ignored the military like stance and held out a small dark blue velvet box.

Pepper watched while Tony bit his lower lip with anticipation as the little blond opened the box, his gold eyes widened and his mouth dropped opened in a silent 'oh'. It was a silver pocket watch, exquisite carving of a lion on the lid. It was Edward's own pocket watch, that worn-out pure silver watch that came with Edward. Repaired and refitted.

The watch smith had been very surprised when they opened to repair and refit the watch. Normally the jewels bearings served two purposes in a watch. First, reduced friction to increase accuracy. Second, they can increase the life of the bearings(2).

What the watch smith found surprising and unusual was; firstly there were almost thirty pure tiny sapphire crystals in the silver watch and some of the jewels were set in places that bear no functional purposes; secondly other than the jewel bearings, everything was made of pure silver.

Besides that, there was the faded engraving of a strange message into the inner side of the watch's lid-

'Don't Forget ... Oct ...'

Another one of the growing number of mysteries about Edward that Pepper and Tony would file and lock away in the darkest corner of their minds, until…

Until hopefully; Edward would remember and tell them or never if that would keep their sun-kissed imp at their side.

"This is a beautiful watch; whose is it, sir?" Edward asked softly, his eyes glued to the watch catching and sparkling off the light while hanging by its silver chain.

"My name is Tony remember? It came with you. It was slightly dent, and some parts needed refitting." Mr. Stark said.

Right from the get-go Tony never hid Edward's appearing from the boy, even if Ed thought it was all made-up like the stalk delivering babies story.

"How – Why would I -?" Edward looked up; puzzlement darkening his gold eyes.

"It's yours, thought you would like it fixed." Mr. Stark explained and Pepper wandered if her boss –no they had made the wrong move.

Pepper exchanged alarmed looks with her boss when Edward was suddenly very quiet as he carefully clipped the chain to his belt and slipped the watch into his pocket.

"Thank you.-" Mr. Stark was totally not prepared when the little boy hurled himself into Tony's chest. "-Thank you. I don't know why but this feels important to me." Ed babbled into his chest.

It took all of Pepper's will power not to break down into tears.

Yes, it was a perfect day … until … Until the visit to the zoo. Until the reptile exhibit and then all hell broke loose.

It all happened so fast.

"Edward!"

One moment, Edward was looking at a Burmese python and talking to the dark hair boy beside him.

"Edward! Where are you, son?"

And then something exploded. And there was smoke, people in mask and wielding guns. Bullets flew, people screamed, the awful smell of blood in the air. As they looked for Edward, Pepper could see Mr. Stark was fighting off a panic attack. That Afghanistan incident was still very fresh for him.

"Ed! Son!"

"Let me go! Help! Tony! Pepper! Dad, help-humff!"

"EDWARD!"

Gone; in just that moment, Mr. Stark was no longer fighting the panic attack. He was beside himself with fear for Ed. And he was mad.

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Foot note:

(1) Wiki - Parkour

(2) Wiki – Mechanism in Watch

Ok, so now Edo meets Harry. I hope I haven't taken a bite too big for me to chew.

Some explanations are needed, so here they are …

Now if Ed is in Tony's world and is able to do Alchemy, then how do I explain that in Tony's world? An ability to control energy to transmute things? If that is so then the next big logical and connecting step will be that other forms of energies like magic besides Arc Reactor exist. From there it's really a small hop to Harry Potter, as wizards and witches are born with abilities to control magical energy.

On that note, Ed can NOT do magic, he can NOT do Charms, or Transfiguration; but he found a loophole and needed a little help for his seemingly amazing wandless magic, without upsetting Truth too much. Potion is cooking with chemistry with a touch of energy infusion, so Ed can do Potions. On the other hand, if Edward cannot do Charms or Transfiguration then it is only fair that not everyone can do Alchemy.

Silence is a story-teller's worst critic. Please, please do post your thoughts of this story in the Reviews; your questions, opinions and reviews are my creativity Gatorade. Seriously, I really want your constructive feedbacks, who knows, your ideas might just appear in the story.

Sincerely

SinoPrisca