Invert

By Marz

Chapter 4: The Search

Al shifted on the couch as quietly as he could. Harry had fallen asleep on the floor, face down on a book. Hermione had passed out with slightly more dignity, leaning back in her chair, clutching a book to her chest. Al wondered if he should wake them up. They'd spent most of the night trying to find a way to track down his brother, and find any mention of the alchemy circle in their books. Al knew they had started out tired. He wondered why they were working so hard to help a person they had just met. He was feeling more than a little miserable that he couldn't help himself.

Al picked up one of the magic books and tried to read it, but the "spell" that translated their words failed to translate their writing. He was stuck looking at the less than helpful pictures. He was still fairly certain they were doing some kind of Alchemy, but he couldn't come up with any reasonable link between them. He sighed sadly. His big brother would have figured this out hours ago. He was just wondering if perhaps he had the book upside down when he heard stomping on the steps outside. The door rattled and then burst open, and a large red-haired woman charged through. Al started to call out a warning to his sleeping companions, when he realized the woman was carrying a mop and bucket. She dropped it with a clang and Harry sprang awake, stumbling across the room and pulling his wand.

"Mrs. Weasley?" he asked, blearily, dropping his guard.

The red-haired woman said nothing at first, instead she snatched the wand out of Harry's hand and the knit hat off of his head. Harry's hands darted up as if to hide his scars and lack of hair.

"You haven't been taking your potions!" Mrs. Weasley declared.

"I…I have!" Harry said, reaching for the hat with one hand and keeping the other pressed to his bare scalp.

"Then why isn't your hair growing back?" Mrs. Weasley demanded. "I bet you haven't had a decent meal in a month. When's the last time you ate?"

"Uh…" Harry said, he looked to Hermione for help, but she was still more than half asleep.

"And you!" Mrs. Weasley said, turning on the girl. "I'd have thought you'd have some sense. You won't finish whatever this mystery job is if you die of hunger and exhaustion first!"

Hermione dropped her book as she stood. "We're fine, Mrs. Weasley. Really we are. There's just so much to do, and-"

Mrs. Weasley started shaking her head. She caught Harry's arm and then Hermione's and started dragging them towards the door. Al tried to sit very still and avoid the attention of this very loud lady. She wasn't quite as scary as his own Alchemy teacher, because she hadn't started throwing punches yet, but he didn't want to get in her way. Unfortunately, Hermione shook free of the large lady's grip and pointed at Al.

"We have a guest, Mrs. Weasley," she said.

Al slowly raised a hand and waved. The large woman looked at him suspiciously.

"You know you have to clear things with the Order before you bring strangers into our headquarters," she said.

"He's something of a special case," Hermione explained. "Al, please take off your helmet."

"I'd rather not," Al said. He didn't like being treated like a freak, and when people found out you're just an empty suit of armor, they have a hard time treating you any other way.

The big lady seemed even more suspicious, though, so Al reached up and obliged. Her mouth dropped open.

"Hello ma'am," Al said.

"Death Eaters worked some sort of transportation magic to bring him and his brother into England, using some sort of platform outside of York. We still aren't sure from where. They took his brother somewhere, and left him behind," Harry said. "I found him while I was looking for…for Neville."

"Oh," Mrs. Weasley said, shaking her head slightly. "Oh, you poor dear," she said, looking directly at Al. "How long ago did…this happen?"

"It's been about five years now," Al said, feeling slightly amazed that everyone was taking this so well.

The woman was watching him as if expecting more details. He wanted to change the subject but was rather at a loss for a method.

"How did you end up bound like this?" Mrs. Weasley pressed.

Al put his head back on and averted his eyes. "My body was lost in an Alchemy accident. My brother bound my soul to this armor, but just until we can get my body back."

"So you aren't haunting that suit? Your soul is bound to an object?" Harry asked. Suddenly his voice was sharp. "That requires a big sacrifice, doesn't it?"

Al wondered what they knew about transmuting souls. He felt the tension in the room then, and he felt his answer to that question was a life and death matter.

"His arm!" Al said, suddenly remembering. He pried open his chest plate and pulled out Ed's arm. It was still muddy from being dropped in the field. "My big brother sacrificed his arm. He got this automail replacement, but those masked men, the Death Eaters, pulled it off."

The three wizards stood staring at the mechanical arm for a long moment. The silence was broken by Harry's rumbling stomach, and to Al's relief, Mrs. Weasley dragged them down to the kitchen without further questioning. The kitchen was significantly less disturbing than the rest of the house, though Al could not really explain why. Mrs. Weasley took a wand from her apron pocket and suddenly the room was filled with flying pots and plates and produce. If Al had a mouth it would have dropped open. It was definitely not Alchemy.

"So what are you planning today?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she lit the stove. "If I'm allowed to know," she added slightly bitterly.

"As soon as Ron and George return we're going to go and get the stone circle that brought Al here," Harry said. "We're having a hard time figuring out where he was snatched from, but any way you go about it, the Death Eaters shouldn't keep that thing."

"The Death Eaters may already have moved it if it can be moved," Mrs. Weasley pointed out. "Or they may have a good reason for leaving it where they did. The Order is convening at three today, at least wait until then. Maybe they can help you."

"Can they come earlier?" Harry asked as he went to a cupboard and got out cutlery and mugs.

"I'll call around and see!" Mrs. Weasley said suddenly sounding very cheerful. Al got the idea that Harry didn't accept help very often.

"What's the Order?" Al asked.

"A secret society pledged to save the world from evil wizardry," Hermione replied.

"Oh."

Al sat awkwardly through the meal as Mrs. Weasley tried to make small talk with Harry and Hermione, who seemed very opposed to answering the simplest questions, even whether or not they had enough clean socks. They were so evasive even Al was becoming curious. He didn't want to pry, though. They had taken him in on faith and he figured he should be as discrete as humanly possible, so as not to lose that faith. Mrs. Weasley finally turned on him.

"So where are you from, dear?"

Al described Resembool, his hometown. He left most of the details about Alchemy out of it, instead focusing on the simple peaceful farming community. She asked about his family, but all Al felt comfortable enough to say was that his father had left them and shortly after his mother had died. Mrs. Weasley looked a bit teary and offered to adopt him.

They spent much of the morning trying to figure out where Al and Ed had been taken from, but the State wasn't anywhere on their maps. The continents weren't even the right shape. Al was getting very concerned. What if they hadn't been transported somewhere? What if they had just been trapped inside the cylinder so long that the world had changed around them? Hermione shook her head when he voiced his concern. She pointed at the arm Al was still carrying around cradling it as if it were a baby.

"Nothing like that has ever been invented. You may have come back in time, but it's very unlikely you've gone forward."

"You can't go back in time!" Al protested.

"You can," Hermione said. "You just shouldn't."

"Unless you have a very good reason," Harry added.

Al's mind whirled. "You mean you can go back? Make it so that terrible things never-"

"You can't change history," Hermione said, cutting him off. "Even if you do manage to go back and change the thing you meant to change, you risk altering and destroying everything that comes after. No one has the right to risk other people's lives that way."

"Oh."

"Usually you can't get back more then a few hours, anyway," Harry said. "When I found out it was possible, it ate at me, too. I thought about how I could save my parents, or maybe even stop the maniac who started this war and killed them, but if I did change that, everything else would change. If I stopped the war, maybe they wouldn't exist. Maybe I wouldn't exist. Going forward is the only way to stay sane."

"Oh. What war are you talking about?"

The maps were forgotten as Al was given the quick version of the battle against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. He was sure they were leaving something important out, since an evil man falling over dead when he tried to kill a baby seemed just as unlikely as the same evil man suddenly rising from the grave thirteen years later to start the war again, but he didn't pry.

"They're at war where I come from, too," Al said. "The State is going to try and put down a rebellion in Leore started by a madman with a fake religion. Brother and I exposed him for a fraud a couple of years ago, but I guess he came back and started things up again. We were going to try and stop the attack, but we ended up here. I hope everyone is alright. We have friends on both sides, and if they start fighting, people are going to die for no reason."

CRACK! CRACK!

"Sounds like the Order is arriving," Harry said, checking his watch.

"Hello Alastor!" Mrs. Weasley's voice echoed up the stairs.

Harry and Hermione exchanged looks and frowned.

"Is something wrong?" Al asked.

"Alastor Moody is not the person I'd have asked along," Harry said. "He won't believe anything we say. He might even try to stop us going."

"Harry is still sore at him for trying to slip truth serum into his drink the last time we were here. Though Mr. Moody did seem very impressed that you noticed him doing it."

"He was less then impressed when I poured the drink over his head."

"Well, yes."

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

The house shuddered as more of the Order arrived.

"Should we go down?" asked Al.

Harry shook his head. "They want to talk about us behind our backs for a bit first. They'll call us down when they're ready to listen."

They waited for over an hour, paging through books until the air was split by another dozen gunshot cracks. Harry leapt to his feet.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"They've left!" Harry said. "They've left without us."

Al wasn't sure how he could tell the difference between going and coming cracks, but when they rushed down to the kitchen and found it nearly empty, Harry was proved right. Only Mrs. Weasley and a hunched, scared, gray-haired man with a glowing blue eye remained in the room. The blue eye was turning around in the man's head under no apparent control. It made Al queasy to look at, and he didn't even have a stomach.

"Sit down," the strange man ordered, pointing at the kitchen table.

Al sat, but saw that Hermione and Harry had ignored the command. He stood up again.

"They've gone to check out your stone," Moody growled. "Bill Weasley's gone along to check for curses. If it's some kind of trap there'll be hell to pay."

"I didn't ask them to go," Harry said, his jaw working slightly.

"No. You wouldn't. You don't know when to ask for help," Moody's glowing blue eye spun towards Harry. "Your burns aren't healing right. You aren't even taking your potion, are you?"

"I am, and stop looking through my clothes!" Harry said. "How do they even know where to go?"

"Kingsley tipped you off about the field in the first place," Moody said. "I told him to stop passing things like that along to you, but he doesn't understand how irrational you are. Trusting a thing you found left behind by Death Eaters," Moody shook his head as he said the last part.

"He's not a thing," Hermione said. "He's a boy."

"A dead boy, and I don't trust the dead," Moody growled.

"I'm not dead!" Al said, suddenly realizing they were talking about him.

"Alastor, you're upsetting him," Mrs. Weasley said.

"Ghost are always upset, that's why they stay."

"I'm not a ghost! I just need to get my body back."

"Do we even know if this boy we're looking for exists? Ghosts tend to lose the ability to distinguish between past and present," Moody asked.

"I'm not a ghost!" Al repeated.

"Can you prove it?" the old man said, glaring at Al with his glowing eye. "I see through that armor, and there's nothing but a trapped spirit inside."

"Stop picking on him," Harry said. "We've got nothing to prove to you."

The argument whirled around him. Al looked back and forth. He thought maybe he should prove it, but how do you prove you aren't a ghost? He'd never seen a ghost, so he didn't know where to start. He supposed the best he could do was prove he was human. Homunculi, artificial humans, couldn't do alchemy. He thought that would be a start. He picked up a bottle of yellow stuff up off the counter. It came out the top in a neat line, when he squeezed it, as if it were a pen. He drew out a quick transmutation circle on the floor, careful not to smear the lines. He pressed his hands to the circle. The floor began to glow. Slowly a chair pulled itself into being out of the wooden planks. The light faded and a rocking chair wobbled back and forth on a slightly thinner floor.

"See. I'm not a ghost. I can do Alchemy," Al said, turning towards the foul-tempered man.

The man was aiming a wand at him. Harry stepped in the way.

"Unless that was enchanted mustard," Harry said, "I think he's just proved he's still somewhat alive. Is that the Alchemy you were talking about?" Harry continued. "I thought Alchemy needed more potions or something."

"No," Al said, standing up. "You just need an array and the proper focus. My brother doesn't even need the array. He can just clap his hands." Al looked down at the arm he was carrying. "Well, for now he would need an array, too. That is, if he's still…I think he's still…they wouldn't bother to take him if they were just going to kill him. right? Can we go back to the circle now?" he asked Harry. "Maybe we can help your Order friends, or find some clues now that there's daylight."

Harry nodded. Moody objected. The windows rattled again as several people appeared out of thin air. All of them were wearing strange robes, but no masks. A woman with spiky purple hair slipped on the mustard on the floor and fell into the rocking chair.

"This is well made," she said patting the wood, as if she had intended to sit down in the first place.

"Al, this is Tonks, Kingsley, Wright, Ferguson, Jones, Bill, and Marsh," Harry said, stepping into the middle of the room as some of the newly appeared wizards started to draw wands. "Everyone, this is Al. I take it you don't have the stone circle with you."

Moody glared at Harry, as if he were speaking without permission. Harry ignored him.

"We put a Fidelus charm on it," Kingsley said. "It was the best we could do. Now they can't use it again. There were too many curses around it to move it. And as soon as we apparated in. some kind of alarm was tripped. Death Eaters were showing up right and left. No casualties, though, on our side. Alastor, I've got to get back to the office. I'll see you later."

With that, Kingsley disappeared. Al's head was whirling just a bit. He wanted to ask what a Fidelius charm was, but he had trouble working up the nerve.

"He only told them he was going for lunch. I was just getting off the graveyard shift when Molly called, so I've the rest of the day," Tonks said, as she got out of the chair. She slipped in the mustard again and would have hit the floor face first if Al hadn't caught her.

"I'll just clean that up," Mrs. Weasley said. She waved her wand and the smeared transmutation circle vanished.

Al watched as the members of the Order traded gossip and pleasantries. They made a few vague speculations about the circle, and a bit of small talk with Al, but he knew they weren't really comfortable talking in front of him. One by one they waved their wands and vanished, Moody glared especially hard at Al before he did so. Finally it was just Mrs. Weasley, Harry, Hermione and the wizard named Bill. Al was a bit shocked by the man's face, which looked as if he had been mauled by an especially viscious chimera.

Bill leaned over Mrs. Weasley and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I'm going to find somewhere to lie down for a bit mum; the Goblins gave me the day off." He turned and walked upstairs.

Mrs. Weasley smiled. "Of course dear. Dinner's at seven."

"What happened to him?" Al asked once Bill had left the room.

"Werewolf," Harry said.

"Werewolves are real?" Al asked.

Harry nodded. They left the kitchen and went back upstairs to research. As Al sat looking over maps of places that he'd never even heard of, he felt weary. How could he ever hope to find his brother in a place as big and strange as this?