Disclaimer: If either Harry Potter or Fullmetal Alchemist belonged to me, then certain people that I dislike would not exist. Instead, I would make villains and rivals and the like that were totally awesome and lovable so that no one could decide which side they wanted to succeed.

"The dark side has cookies…"

"Yeah, but they always lose."

"…So?!"

Chapter Seven: Drinks and Discussions

(Getting to Know You)

Edward took in a big breath of the early-night air as he stepped out into darkness. 'Shopping in these places seems to suck up a rather ridiculous amount of time,' he thought idly.

'Feh,' Somnel's grumpy voice sounded inside his head. 'All you humans waste so much time on meaningless things.' Edward jumped a little at the kaivul's words. Somnel turned his head slightly, and Edward looked out the corner of his eye to see the light red creature give him a strange look.

'Sorry. I guess I'm not quite used to anyone but me knowing my thoughts.' Suddenly, a rather disturbing idea occurred to him. Before he could (mentally) voice it, however, Somnel cut him off.

'Don't worry, I won't be able to read your mind, you'll still have your privacy; our bond is just very fresh right now, and the contact between our minds is very direct. Things will leak over easily for the next few days, but soon we'll only be able to hear thoughts we specifically direct at each other. Rest assured, you'll get the hang of it soon.' Edward's shoulders slumped as he sighed in relief.

'Alright,' he replied. Then he picked up his pace, noticing the beginnings of the nighttime crowd of shoppers. His years in the world beyond the Gate had made him develop a rather intense dislike of excessive noise. As the number of people gradually increased, the amount of sound produced seemed to grow exponentially. It was beginning to irritate both alchemist and kaivul, and both were relieved when they reached the archway that signaled the end of Diagon Alley's long, shop lined street. Discretely slipping past a group of shoppers passing through, he made his way into the smoke-filled main room of the Leaky Cauldron. Taking a seat at the bar, he set his suitcase down beside his stool and ran a soothing hand over Somnel's head; the kaivul looked like it was distinctly not enjoying the fumes that were drifting through the air.

"Edward! Fancy seeing ya again so soon!" Tom, the barkeeper, said with a crooked-toothed grin. "I reckon now you'll be wantin' yer usual?" Edward gave a small smile.

"Yes please, Tom." To his surprise, however, instead of fetching his drink Tom leaned over the bar and seemed to peer curiously at him. Edward raised an eyebrow, sitting back a little farther on his barstool in an attempt to maintain his personal space. "Don' mind me, don' mind me," Tom said a bit absently. "I'm jus' admirin' that beau'iful creature you have there on yer shoulders." Somnel seemed to draw himself up proudly at the barkeeper's words, holding his head high and looking like he was trying to be kingly. Tom chuckled softly, gave Somnel another flattering compliment, and busied himself behind the counter with getting Edward's drink.

'You enjoyed that, didn't you,' Edward asked slightly accusingly. Somnel didn't dignify his comment with a response. At least, that was the general thought he sensed coming from the small dragon-like creature. Chuckling lightly, Edward accepted his drink from Tom with a light smile. He sipped it lightly, savoring the flavor of the magical drink. It only had a slight amount of alcohol in it, but the flavor was too strong for most people anyway. Somnel somehow managed to wrinkle his nose at the stuff, apparently because of the overly strong smell—that's what he told Edward in any case.

Edward sat at the bar for a while, drinking small mouthfuls of his overly strong drink and examining the various people around him. In the corner there was a pair of rather twitchy looking young witches that had their hands constantly hovering near their hip and forearm respectively; they kept glancing around them as if expecting monsters to leap from the shadows at any moment. There was a group of old men and women seated at a round table, seemingly playing exploding snap or something of the like. From the small piles of coins scattered in front of the players and in the center of the table, Edward figured they were betting; from the perfectly identical blank looks on two of the women's faces and the strange arrangement of chairs around the table, he guessed they were playing in teams, and he would bet a good deal of his own money that those two women would walk away from the game a good deal richer than the rest. Old to middle-aged women like that pair had a tendency to be surprisingly wily. A group of teenagers were sitting at the far end of the bar to his right, apparently trying to figure out some way to get served firewhiskey. Many other customers were scattered about the restaurant, and were engaged in conversations of varying subject and volume.

Finishing off his drink, Edward called Tom over and asked about a room. "Sure, we got a room fer yeh. I'm assumin' it's fer t'night only?" Tom asked, cleaning out a glass with a rag. At Edward's positive reply, he handed the blond man a small brass key with a raggedy blue ribbon tied at the top. Thanking the barkeeper and laying his fee on the bar counter, he picked up his suitcase and exited the room through a small side door, beginning to make his way up a steep and tightly curved set of wooden stairs. There was no light in the stairway, making him walk very slowly lest he stumble and—with his luck—break something. Most likely his nose or his neck.

He walked through the long, second storey hallway, almost as careful as he had been in the stairway due to the dim lighting. He squinted at the printed numbers on the doors, trying to find the one that matched his key. He stopped at a door that looked slightly newer and less shabby than most of the others, leaning forward in the dark to see the faded numbers. His pointed nose was mere centimeters from the wood of the door, but he was just able to make out the number '87'; the same as the number on his key. Placing the small piece of metal into the keyhole, he turned it until he heard a click. Edward pulled it out, turned the doorknob, and opened the door. Flicking on a nearby light switch, he was greeted by the sight of a single moderately large bed, a small bedside table with a lamp on it, and an old but sturdy looking writing desk. There was a door immediately to his right that he assumed led into the bathroom. Finding the room satisfactory, he closed the door behind him and walked in.

Setting his suitcase down at the foot of the bed, he sat down on the edge of the bed before lying down on top of the coverlet. Somnel crawled off of Edward's shoulders and stretched out his long body beside Edward. Setting his head on Edward's chest, he let out a long breath through his nostrils. 'You have no idea how much of a relief it is to be doing something again,' he said, sounding rather grateful. 'So, now that we can actually settle down and talk, do you have any questions you want to get out of the way?'

'I have a few questions,' Edward replied immediately. 'For starters, why have you been changing color so much?' Edward asked, referred to the fact that Somnel had been a dull red when he first saw him, a washed-out brick color after the mental bond had been established, and had slowly changed into a faded red color by the time they had reached the room.

"Kaivul vary in color, but each kaivul is only a single color throughout their entire lives. The shade of our scales change depending on the level of energy circulating through us. Basically, the darker the color, the more powerful we are. Near black is basically the most powerful we can get—in such a state we could literally move mountains, though such a feat would use up all our energy and kill us. Keeping with that theme, white equals dead, and the lighter the color the weaker I am. I am not sure who or what decided that we be this way—it seems rather pointless to me—but that is simply how it is.'

A little surprised, Edward asked, 'Second question. Why does my mental voice…' he trailed off.

'Why does your mental voice show so much more emotion than your physical voice?' Somnel finished for him. 'It is simply because emotions are more directly conveyed when speaking mind-to-mind. When speaking out loud you can manipulate tone, inflection and the like, but your mental voice displays what you are feeling and the general impression of your current thoughts. Next question?'

Edward thought he was beginning to get it, but was unsure he would be able to remember all of the information. 'Uh…what sort of powers do you have?'

'Basic levitation. Decreased gravity. The Gift of Tongues; we can communicate with animals as well as speak and understand any human language. Basic elemental manipulation. The ability to briefly establish communication between multiple minds. Strength disproportional to our size. General immunity to the abilities of most other magical creatures. Accelerated healing. Exceptionally long life—compared to humans at least.' Edward waited a few seconds before he was sure Somnel was done.

'Wow,' Edward thought, impressed. 'If you're so powerful, how come you were trapped in that cage? Couldn't you have broken out rather easily?'

'Yes,' Somnel replied. 'I simply chose not to leave. There were no hunters trying to eat me, I was fed daily, and I could bother the other creatures in the shop. Those jumping spiders were especially fun to aggravate.'

'You sound like you miss it.'

'Of course not,' Somnel replied, sounding offended. 'I now get to bother you—you are far more interesting, and I'm betting you can defend yourself in an argument much better than even some of the cats. I also have the feeling you have a tendency to get yourself right in the middle of lots of interesting dilemmas. Plus, having a mental bond allows me to communicate without using any power or hurting my jaw with strange languages.'

Feeling a little relieved, Edward said, 'So I suppose with all those different abilities you have you're extremely powerful, am I correct?'

'Compared to most creatures, yes; my kind are far more powerful and intelligent. However, many of our abilities use up quite a bit of power, so we refrain from using our powers when we do not need them. Also, if we relied on our special abilities alone we would become weak and complacent.'

'Rather like wizards and witches have become these days. They would use a spell to fetch a book rather that get up and walk a few steps.'

Somnel huffed disapprovingly. 'How foolish.' Edward fervently agreed. 'So,' Somnel said after a moment's pause, 'Where are we going tomorrow?'

Edward sighed lightly, knowing he had a lot of explaining ahead of him, and said, 'Hogwarts.'