Body Snatcher

Ellersway

Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter nor Fullmetal Alchemist. :(

This story is AU after Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and episode 51 of Fullmetal Alchemist.

V

Teenagers, Trains and Tarot Cards

The first of September marked in every way the end of the Summer for Harry. The wind was brisk, and parents clutched their cloaks to their sides while students hurried faster than usual onto the Hogwarts Express.

From across the platform, Tonks blew Harry Potter a kiss that dissipated as it hit the bustling crowd and Harry gave a half-hearted wave from behind the thick glass windows of his compartment. He was kind of sad that Remus hadn't been able to see him off, but was equally glad that Tonks had been assigned in the werewolf's absence. Smiling broadly, the lemon-haired auror fizzled out of sight as she decided to blend in with the crowd.

The train jerked beneath his feet then, and Harry was surprised to find that it was already half nine, the slender hands of the platform clock stiffly striking at the word 'departing'. He hadn't seen Hermione or any of the Weasley clan since arriving at the station, and was starting to feel a bit impatient. Despite his anger over their lack of communication during the Summer months, Harry was still eagerly awaiting their reunion.
Slowly, the platform began to blur beyond the window; speed cementing the grey September sky and streaky flagstone floor together until they became just a haze of monochrome. There was a draught seeping through the dislodged upper awning window, and Harry stood on the plush cabin seat to close it. The glass closed sharply, and at the same time the door to the compartment opened with a bang. Harry jumped.

"Oi! There you are- been looking everywhere for you mate!"

The voice of Ronald Weasley was strangely foreign to him, and in that second it seemed like a lifetime since he'd last seen his friends. "Hi Ron." Harry said, slipping into his seat quickly so as not to draw attention to his height. (To his great dismay, Harry found that his feet did not reach the carriage floor- so he pulled them tightly up to his chest.) Harry shivered slightly as the after-chill from the window dragged an icy finger down his spine. Turning to face Ron he choked, taking in the boy's appearance before stifling a laugh.

"What?" The red head snapped, smothering his face with his hands in an effort to hide the violent sunburn that had blossomed there. Harry tried to pull his lips together as they twitched spasmodically. "S'not funny."

"Oh, what're you complaining about now Ron?" Both boys turned to the open doorway, and as Hermione entered Harry swore he could see the reddened freckles on his friend's face turn a lovely shade of maroon to match his jumper. Unlike Ron, the summer sun had treated Hermione well, and the bookish girl sported a beautiful, mellow tan that put Ron's strawberry skin to shame. Harry subtly threw a glance at his own forearms- nope, pale as ever.

"'Mione!" Ron spun around, his voice a little strangled.

"Why'd you run off like that? I was just saying goodbye to Victor. You didn't have to be so rude-"

Wait... Victor? Victor Krum? Hadn't Hermione spent the summer with the Weasleys?

"Well Vicky's had all summer to say goodbye. I thought you said you were only seeing him for a weekend-"

"Ron-" Hermione began, but the red head cut him off.

"-and you call me rude?! He was the one who crashed the family holiday-"

Ah. That would be it then.

"-oh come off it Ron, it was just for one week- and if you don't remember that was because he invited us to stay at his house when we had nowhere to go because Charlie had to get back to work so urgently-"

"-all sounds very convient to me. Wouldn't be surprised if he organised it all himself just to put the moves on y-"

"RON!!"

"- bloody slimey, no-good git-"

"So how was the summer, guys?" Harry chose this as the opportune moment to step in- before things escalated to scary proportions. They couldn't fall out now, school hadn't even started yet.

Surely enough, the tension evapourated with an audible pop, followed by silence. The pair stared at Harry as if having only just noticed him properly for the first time. The pause seemed to drag on forever. Well, crap. They probably knew him well enough to notice the... changes that Harry'd experienced over the summer- and knowing them, they'd probably want an explanation- ever reluctant to accept that there weren't always answers to all questions and-

"Bloody hell mate, you look different without your glasses." Without his glasses? Oh... yeah...

"Harry I love your hair!" Hermione piped, a bit pink; and Ron gave her a strange, slightly alarmed look as she continued to gush: "I can't believe you grew it out- it really suits you! I mean, you look so... so-"

"Homeless." Ron supplied, and Hermione looked at him sharply.

"I was going to say bohemian."

"Say-what-again?"

"Bohe- oh, forget it Ron."

Harry watched the exchange with amused eyes, raking a hand through the tangled black mess in question.

"-so anyway- what was I saying...? Oh! Harry, would you let me plait it for you?"

"Merlin, he's not a bloody girl 'Mione." Ron said, turning to Harry before whispering conspiratorially- "See mate, this long hair buisness is more trouble than it's worth. I mean you just wait til Ginny sees it- you can ask Bill- wouldn't leave his hair alone, always messin' with it this way n' that." Harry laughed, actually quite thankful for Ron's interruption, the idea of his hair in a plait... didn't sit very well with him. "You think I'm joking!" Ron said incredulously, his voice cracking at the end, causing both Harry and Hermione to burst into a fit of giggles that left the red-head burying his face into his robe. "Wake me up when we get to Hogwarts."

"Actually... thats a point," started the bronzed, bushy-haired girl, "I'm prefecting this year again, I should probably head down to the prefects cabin. Sorry Harry," she threw the boy an apologetic smile, "we'll have plenty of time to catch up later."

"No that's f-"

"You're leaving already?" Ron looked up from his lap like a watchdog, interrupting the reply that had begun to form on Harry's lips.

Hermione pulled at a tendril of hair anxiously, "I should really have gone straight there from the platform-"

"I'll take you!" Ron jumped up from his seat and Harry wondered if the red-head had become too accustomed to having the girl to himself over the summer. Bounding across the little room the gangley boy was ushered out the door with a casual "See you, mate! Back in a mo'-"

"Bye Harry!"

The door slammed shut and Harry let out a long, suffering sigh. That was kind of anticlimatic.

Ron didn't come back. Not in ten minutes. Not in twenty.

Harry frowned sullenly and kicked the fold out table hard before settling just to skim absentminded circles over it's surface. Bored, bored, bored, bored-

"Hello Harry Potter." The voice floated through the iced glass of one of the carriage doors as it slid open beside him him. Harry swivled round to come face to face with a bespectacled Luna Lovegood.

"Uh... hi, Luna." She smiled blithely at him, eyes staring unblinkingly into his. "Err, there's room for you in this carriage if you want. 'Mione's in the prefect's cabin-"

"No that's quite alright, just doing the rounds..." she said vaguely.

"Rounds?" Harry asked, not entirely sure that he wanted to know.

"Looking for a Jinn. You get alot of them this time of year, possessing the young and vulnerable first years, you see? I have to check everybody over with my geist goggles; it would be awful if we had a body snatcher loose in Hogwarts..." Harry nodded skeptically as Luna continued to peer at him through the glasses, pushing them further up her nose with a delicate thumb. Her mouth curled into a dazed smile and she cocked her head to one side,"Pretty."

"I'm sorry- what?"

"You have pretty eyes." The girl didn't blink. "Just like your dad."

"You mean my mum- yeah, I know." People were always telling him he had Lily's eyes. " Uh, thanks... I mean-"

"I have to go," Luna said abruptly, light obscuring the lenses of her glasses as she turned to leave. "Places to go, creatures to catch."

"Luna, wait-"

"Oh, you don't have to worry about me Harry Potter, I'll be fine, I have a jar of Bolivian sea salt in my pocket... But I must say, I do appreciate your concern..."

And with that the girl ambled through the open door and out of sight.

Harry let his head drop down against the cool window sill. He was so tired. Despite the initial relief that the good news about Neville had brought the day before, Harry still managed to get a horrific night of sleep. He hoped, however, that staying at Hogwarts would clear it up proper. Something told him his insomnia wasn't going to ebb until he got back home, and if nothing else- Hogwarts had always felt like home.

Closing his eyes, Harry knew it wouldn't hurt to catch what little sleep he could, where he could... and it was all too easy to drift off in the knowledge that he would soon be home... soon be... home...

Home...

Something moved. Something moved enough to brush his clothes and stir him from his light, dreamless sleep. A sliding, rustling sound.

Like a snake perhaps- or maybe a-

Harry lurched upwards and slapped an instinctive hand out to stop whoever was rifling through his bag-

"Neville?" Harry snatched his arm back like it had been burned, his world still blurred by sleep. The boy's soft, doughy face looked up in surprise.

"Oh- h-hi Harry."

Harry wanted to ask Neville why he was looking through his stuff, but his jaw was slack and gaping. Scraping his chin from the floor, Harry continued to stare unabashedly at Neville, and the boy flailed a bit under his gaze. "I was looking for T-Trevor." Neville's voice wobbled, and Harry snapped out of his reverie.

"Oh... uh, he's not here, actually... but I'll tell you if I see him." The larger boy nodded enthusiastically and Harry shrunk back in to his chair. Outside the window, the steel sky was beginning to go the colour of molten slag. Just how long had he been asleep?

"Harry!"

There was a sudden blurr of red as something barrelled into Harry's side. "Woah-" Harry turned his head to find the face of Ginny Weasley precariously close to his. He swallowed uncomfortably and ducked away a little. "Hi Ginny..."

Neville shuffled in his seat, something dark and unidentifiable flickering briefly behind his eyes as he watched Ginny nestle herself next to Harry. Oh yeah, that's right- Neville took her to the Yule Ball last year, but Ginny had yet to even acknowledge his presence in the room. Ouch. The red head reached over the black-haired boy to pull the curtain across the window and Harry watched Neville's eyes narrow with more venom than he thought the boy capable of possessing. Well, shit. Way to give the guy the wrong impression, Gin'.

Ron- who had followed Ginny into the room, sat down next to Neville, trapping him next to the window (when Neville looked like he wanted nothing more than to leave), and gave Ginny a look that Harry was sure was meant to be distasteful- but that Ron had clearly not managed to perfect yet.

After spending much more time than Harry thought was necessary leaning over the boy's lap, Ginny pulled herself up and started rifling through her pocket. "Got it!" she said, and pulled a pack of long thin cards from between the panels of her skirt.

Ron let out a groan. "Not this game again, you've been at it all holiday."

"Oh shut it Ron, you're only mad because you always lose. Harry will play with me, wont you Harry?" Ginny turned her big mooney eyes towards towards him and Harry swallowed thickly.

"Umm, what am I playing, exactly?"

"It's called Fors Fortis Fortuna. It's a wizarding card game- look, everyone gets two cards to start with-" Ginny tossed two cards each at Ron, Neville and Harry before setting aside two for herself and placing the rest of the deck on the table. "-left to the dealer starts, so Ron will use his turn to either pick up a new card, or swap one of your cards with one of his- he doesn't get to choose which one you take though. Umm... lets see, the game ends when the entire deck has been picked up, and the cards you still have in your hand at the end of the game represent your future! Winner has the best fortune, loser is the person with the worst!"

Harry frowned skeptically, it all sounded a bit confusing, surely there were simpler ways of attempting to tell somebody's fortune. "Did Professor Trelawney teach you this?"

"Nah," Ron butted in before his sister could answer, "Every wizarding kid in Britain knows this one, it's all a load of superstitious bollocks anyway."

"Then why are you so afraid of playing?" Ginny threw a cheeky, twisted little grin at her brother, and he snatched up his cards fron the table. "Good. Left of the dealer goes first Ron, that's you- and Harry, the game goes widdershins round the circle so you go after Neville, kay?"

Harry nodded dumbly, wondering how he'd managed to get himself roped into this. Picking up his cards he studied them quietly, a bit bemused to see that they weren't from a standard pack of playing cards; the cards in his hands had pictures on them, ornate, detailed and delicate.

"Oh- I forgot to say, the cards don't move." Ginny said, misunderstanding Harry's confused expression. "See, the game pre-dates Agito." Harry's eyebrows crinkled a little further and Ginny jumped back in to explain. "Agito is the animation spell, it was created by Rowena Ravenclaw around the time they built Hogwarts."

"You're beginning to sound a bit like Hermione, Gin'." Ron snorted, picking up a card from the deck. "Your go Nev'."

Neville swapped a card with Ginny, both of them picking a card out of the other's hand at random. Harry turned his attention to the cards in his own hand. One was a picture of a hooded man holding a lantern, while the other depicted a white pheonix bathing in a giant chalice made of gold, water spilling in an endless fountain over the brim. Urgh. How was he supposed to play if he didn't even know what any of the cards meant?

Neville used his turn to swap again with Ginny, leaving Harry to pick up another card from the pile.

Sliding a hand deftly over the smooth surface of the deck, Harry swiped a card from the top of the stack. The picture on the card was dominated by a large ivory globe; and only after staring at it for some time did Harry notice that the card was actually the wrong way up. If he squinted hard enough he could make out two hounds- hard to pick out against the black background- baying upside down at the moon. Carefully he flipped it the right way up.

"Stop!" Ginny said, startling Ron who was in the process of picking up a card. "I mean- sorry Harry, I didn't explain this very well did I? If you pick up a card and its upside down it means something different to when it's the right way up. You shouldn't really change it- it's against the rules-"

"Sorry," Harry flicked the card back the way it was originally- what kind of game was this? "I didn't realise."

"That's okay, wouldn't expect you to know really... I mean, living with your family and all... Your turn now Neville."

Neville tentatively reached over to Harry's hand, fingers hesitating before plucking the card of the lantern-wielding man out of Harry's limp grasp. When Neville was finished, the black haired boy simply reached out and grabbed the first card that his fingers landed on. As Harry snatched the new card back to his chest a look of relief danced over Nevilles features- he was clearly glad to get rid of it. Unperturbed by this, Harry flicked it over.

Hmm.

Harry didn't need to take divination to understand why Neville was happy to be rid of the card. It was simple enough in design, and even a complete beginner to the game couldn't fail to read it's message. The card depicted a man lying alone in a barren landscape- naked but for the red banner draped over his legs. Into his body had been driven ten swords- and the man was clearly dead. Harry swallowed and laughed- the wizards around him looked so serious, and Ron was eyeing his own hand like it was a death sentence. Which was funny really, seeing as the boy had thought Trelawney's class was a load of bollocks. Oh dear, Harry sighed, where was Hermione when you needed her?

Ginny gave a little cry of delight when she picked up her next card, and Harry turned to look out the window, already bored to tears.

Time passed. The game was as slow as the deck was large, and as the hour progressed Harry'd managed to amass a small handful of eight cards. When the last of the light from outside started to dwindle, Harry finally turned his attention back to the game... A fleeting glance at his hand revealed a tower; a person suspended in the air by his neck; a figure grasping a staff as if ready to plunge into a battle- wands littering the floor below him; a human heart pinned down by three daggers; a woman watching a pile of cups scattered haphazardly on the ground; the pheonix fountain card that he had started with, the dead man that Neville had given him, and lastly the upside down painting of the moon that he had picked up earlier on.

To be honest, it was all greek to him. The whole game was pretty ludicrous.

The group turned to him expectantly and he flicked a careless finger over to Ginny to steal a card from her hand. For a second she looked dismayed, her gaze following the card as he slotted it amongst his own. As her eyes moved back to his face, Harry thought he saw something akin to realisation there, and she smiled brightly.

"Uh- Ginny, don't you have to take one of mine too?"

The girl snapped out of her dazed expression and flushed a little, reaching out to grab one of his own cards- the one, Harry noticed, with the woman and the pile of empty goblets. Ginny's face fell instantly.

Harry looked back at the card he'd taken off her, two people in a garden. Bo-ring.

Ginny used her turn to draw from the deck, and Ron also picked another, smiling smuggly as he tucked it in amongst his fistful of cards. Neville's face seemed to grow whiter as he picked up again, his cheeks shaking with what could just as easily have been fear as it could've been rage; Neville had been growing increasing upset through out the game, and Harry wasn't sure whether that was to do with the looks that Ginny was throwing him, or that the boy was just taking the game a bit too seriously.

In order to end the damn game as soon as possible- Harry decided to use his turn to draw another card from the deck. He clutched his remaining cards in his left hand, reaching out towards the pack with the other. Harry stretched and leant right over the table to take a card from the dwindling deck; fingers brushed smooth paper and-

As Harry wrapped his fingers around the card on the top of the pile, the train lurched violently beneath him, sending him flying forward over the table top in a spray of cards and limbs. Ginny squealed and the train stopped. There was a clunking noise and the lights flickered once... twice... three times before plunging the carriage into complete darkness. Nobody moved.

Harry's cards were scattered about the carriage, along with the deck and everything that Ron and Ginny had been holding. Neville had a strange look on his face- his cards still tucked neatly in his fist. Ron and Harry looked at eachother worriedly.

"What was that...?"

Everyone was very still. "I dunno mate... I dunno." Ron licked his lips shakily. "My brothers have told me Hogwarts stories all my life, and they never said nothing about the train just stopping, I mean..." the boy swallowed thickly "... not since, you know, in year nine... with the dementors n' all."

Ginny's eyes went wide. "Dementors? Hell... wait- Harry, you taught us the patronus charm so we'll be okay right?"

"It's probably not dementors." Harry said firmly. He wasn't sure which would be worse, in all honesty, dementors or death eaters. "It's probably... it's probably nothing."

But what if it wasn't nothing?

What if it wasn't just death eaters or dementors?

...What if it was both?

"Hermione!" Harry's thoughts were cut short by Ron's panicked exclamation, and his head swung towards the boy sharply. "Hermione- she's in the cabin at the end of the train, I have to go find her!" Ron jumped from his seat and out through the carriage door.

"Ron wait!" Ginny and Harry both leapt to their feet. "Ron!" The red headed girl skidded to a stop as she reached the door and turned around to face Harry. "I'll catch him, it's okay- look, you go try and find some of the DA or something, give them a heads up. I'll meet you back here."

Harry nodded reluctantly. He didn't like the idea of letting her go after Ron on her own, and he was sure Ron would be angry about it when he came back, but, maybe there wasn't an attack at all. It did seem awfully quiet to be Voldemort, and so far all that had happened was the train stopping and the lights going out. Sounded more like a power cut. Could magical things even get power cuts?

Harry reached for his wand as a precaution- but found that his right arm refused to move. It was stiff, dead and numb and still clenched fiercely around the card he had tried to pick up when the train stopped. Harry frowned and touched it warily. The flesh was cool against his fingertips and his muscles were taught and angry, frozen in the surprise the rest of his body had momentarily seized up with when the train had flung him from his seat.

Harry mused that it was almost like rigor mortis. Like a death grip.

Funny, because he certainly didn't remember being cursed...

Harry gripped his lame arm in irritation. Fuck. Why hadn't he read up on any healing spells? The sooner he got back to Hogwarts the better.

Swallowing back his frustration Harry ran down the rest of the length of the train car, flinging open door after door- and trying to make sure there was at least one DA member in each carriage, souping them up with shields and defence spells.

It probably wouldn't be enough though. Not if this was a real death eater attack.

As Harry's eyes started to adjust to the darkness, he found himself being able to move more quickly from carriage to carriage until he'd reached the end of the train car. One firm tug on the handle of the door that led outside and across to the next car told Harry that it had been magically sealed shut. In his mind he catalogued all the shield and lock spells he'd covered when reading over the summer. There were numerous ways he could untangle the spell on the door, depending on it's potency- but Harry was sure that a quick Alohomora wasn't going to cut it. For a second, Harry gave serious thought to blowing himself a way through, but then decided that it would probably do more harm than good. Whatever was outside (if there really was anything outside at all) didn't need Harry to cut them another way into the train. Sighing, Harry gripped his wand in his left hand and turned around, making his way back up the carriage. All the doors were closed now and glowing dimmly in shades of yellow, green and blue that bounced softly off his skin as he passed. It was all far too quiet for his liking.

Harry slid through the door to their compartment, closing it deftly behind him. The room was painted with sharp shadows cut by the playing cards that papered every surface- everything was dim and still and-

Neville wasn't there.

Harry shivered. Maybe he'd followed Ginny? He was certainly going to be worried about her running off like that... Or- or- perhaps he'd joined one of the groups in another compartment... after all, Neville would probably have been quite scared being left all alone.

Harry swallowed back the tingle of guilt that began to inch up his spine at that thought.

Harry let his eyes trace the room as he waited for Ron, Ginny and Hermione to return. It was hard to see in the pitiful light of the cloud-strewn moon, but out the corner of his eye Harry noticed a neat pile of cards on the window sill. Oh yeah, Neville didn't drop his cards when the train stopped, did he?

Nervous boredom, rather than curiousity, drove Harry to peer over at the pile, so- still holding his wand at the ready- he nudged the heap with his wrist. The stack collapsed, sending a couple of the cards to the floor- a devil, a chariot, a priest-

Outside the window, something moved; Harry raised his eyes and instantly wished he hadn't-

A mouth gaped at him, grey and round and rotting beneath a blackened hood. Harry heard the gasping rattle, and saw it raise a skeletal hand to paw at him through the glass- the window screaming as it's nails whispered over the pane. Harry felt his eyes roll back into his head, his body collapsing like a puppet as the sound pierced the strings that anchored him to reality; beneath him, his legs gave way to the floor below and Harry bearly noticed his head slam against the table on the way down.

By the time Harry hit the ground he was too far gone to notice his arms go limp, and his right hand uncurl from around the card entrapped there- crumpled and fluttering like a fatal butterfly...

Harry lay still, Death cradled lovingly in his palm.

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DUN DUN DUUUN!!
Thankyou everyone for your reviews :) you have no idea how great it was to come home to them! Had some very astute ones, and some very interesting theories about where this story's going. About that I'm keeping firmly schtumm ;) What I can tell you though is that two major story "elements" have already been snuck in in some way or another, one of which wont become apparent for another 100,000 words minimum. That said, there have also been red herrings.
On another note, I'm sorry if this chapter was a bit crap, or fillerish. Everything felt a little off- but that might just be me! Hope to get back on track for next chapter :)
Most of this chapter was written on the Calais to Britain ferry crossing a while back and it was originally going to be called the Beginning of the End of the Beginning, because that's essentially what it is!! From here on out the story should start to snowball :) next few updates may take a while as I start uni at the end of september (I have to move to London- though currently I'm just trying to find somewhere to live ), however I hope to get atleast one more out before I leave.
I hope you're as excited about reading this story as I am about writing it ^^. As ever PLEASE notify me of mistakes/ grammar errors. I do not have microsoft word, and the spell check on my open office does not work.

P.S I know I promised you action this chapter, but a cliffie will have to do for now ^^