Disclaimer: Anything Fullmetal Alchemist is owned by Hiromu Arakawa and anything from the Harry Potter universe is owned by JK Rowling

Either the last few days have been very busy for the East City HQ paperwork wise or a certain General Roy Mustang has a talent of accumulating paperwork.

"Wow, Mustang! You really cannot do any paperwork without Armstrong!" Edward chided his commanding officer, silently appraising the multiple stacks of paperwork that had covered the majority of the desk.

"All I ask is a LITTLE quiet, Fullmetal. Hawkeye is only giving me a SMALL amount of time to finish all of this and my patience is running SHORT." Roy Mustang replied, knowing full well the racket his word choice will cause. Anything to distract him from the paperwork.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT I CANNOT REACH YOUR DESK!"

Too used to this scenario to care, Alphonse did not even bother restraining his brother, instead choosing to relocate to the sofa where he retrieved his brother's arm guard. With a clap, he transmuted the steel blade back to its prior form and just sat back and let his brother blow his steam for that jibe.

Really, with his recent growth spurt and all, can't his brother see that the General just wants to rile him up?

Apparently not because he had not stopped until gunshots were heard and several small explosions of plaster were seen on the wall behind the General. After which, the brother in question scurried to the sofa, hoping to avoid the wrath of the shooter.

"Miss Riza! Good Morning!" Alphonse greeted the new arrival. Edward sheepishly nodded a greeting, silently conveying his plea for mercy and forgiveness.

"Good morning, Alphonse. Good morning, Edward" Captain Riza Hawkeye responded with a warm smile. Turning to the General, she shot him a very cold look, one hand ghosting on the holster that held the smoking gun.

"General, your meeting is scheduled in an hour and it is expected of you to present a recommendation on the reports that were forwarded to you yesterday. Please tell me you have at least read them." Captain Hawkeye

"Yes, I have read them, Captain. I was working on the recommendation when Fullmetal here barged in a disrupted my peace." reasoned the General, trying so hard not to whine at his Captain on the supposed unfairness of all the paperwork imposed upon him.

"If it is as you say, General." was his Captain's impassive response. Placing another stack of papers on the General's desk, she said. "Since the Elric brothers are here, why don't you just discuss with them the arrangements for the next months. I'll be back in half an hour for the meeting."

"Thank you. I will do so then." was the General's curt reply, trying so hard not to set the new stack of paperwork ablaze. Tearing his gaze from the offending stack of paperwork, he pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment and pulled a folder from his drawer. He then cleared his throat and addressed Edward.

"Fullmetal. As of current, you are considered on an active assignment even if the school term does not start until September first. Use this time to brush up on the reference provided to you. You can return to Risembool for the time being for as long as you report to HQ on the last day of August. Professor McGonagall will be arriving on September first at 1000H to brief you on any other details not included on this file. She will also arrange for your transport to bring you to their school. Questions?"

"None. Just give me the file so we can go back home, Mustang." Edward replied.

"Not yet, Fullmetal. I still have to talk to your brother."

"Why do you need to talk to him for! I'm the one you assigned on the mission!" Edward snarled at his commanding officer, figurative hackles already raised.

"Fullmetal. Don't make it as difficult as it is. I just need to talk to your brother." was General Mustang's firm reply.

"It's okay, brother. The General only wants to talk." Alphonse told his brother.

"This is just for formalities, Alphonse. Knowing your brother, he'll be sharing all information with you. We cannot have that without proper clearance. I have asked Hughes if we can have you on board officially in this case..." and he was interrupted by the protestations of a thoroughly incensed Edward Elric.

General Roy Mustang ignored his fuming subordinate and continued "Having you enlisted will be more trouble than it is worth, as evidenced by your brother. It is a good thing Hughes remembered this." Handing out some papers to Alphonse, he said "That is an information sheet for the Investigation Department's consultants. If you fill this out, the government will consider you as an independent consultant. Since this is consultancy, pay is only on a per case basis, but at least it will give you the clearance we need."

Turning to Edward, he said "Now, Fullmetal. That is just an offer for consultancy. We need a way for your brother to obtain the necessary clearance for him justify him with you on assignments. I repeat, this is only to provide him enough clearance for any information going his way. His status is still a civilian and all assignments are voluntary. It is either this or we prohibit you from bringing your brother along."

"Fine, you bastard. You win this time" Edward grudgingly agreed.

"Brother, at least I can now make sure you don't get into trouble in your assignments." Alphonse teased his brother.

"Hey Al! I don't get into trouble!" Edward huffily retorted

"Really now, brother. Are you sure about that?" Alphonse answered back amusingly.

Taking the completed forms from Alphonse, General Mustang said stood up and offered Alphonse his hand. "Thank you for accepting our offer, Mister Elric. I look forward to a productive cooperation." he formally said.

"Thank you General. I look forward to that as well." Alphonse replied, taking the General's hand. Looking at his brother silently fuming on the sofa, he said "We should be going now, I think we left brother stew for long enough."

"Well then, I shall see both of you on the last day of August. Both of you are dismissed." Mustang said and he grudgingly went back to the paperwork stacked on his desk and waited for his Captain to fetch him for the meeting.

A/N: I may not have access to the internet tomorrow, so I'll be posting this today.

Thank you so much for all the support! Yeah, I know, nothing much happened here. This was just supposed to be just an introductory paragraph for the chapter I have in mind. But fingers sort of flew and I don't have the heart to delete this anyways.

All the same, please. Read, enjoy and if you feel like it (I know you do, I kow you just do), favorite and review. See you after two weeks. :)