Author's Note: Yay finished another chapter! I can't wait to write Ed doing alchemy, but I still have to imagine a way to incorporate it into the story.
Fair warning: the first part of this chapter is all J.K. Rowling's amazing words, (Which obviously I don't own) at least until Ed enters the scene.
All the air seemed to vanish from Harry's lungs; he felt as though he were falling through the floor: his brain was icy cold—Ron dead, no, it couldn't be—
But wait a moment, it couldn't be—Ron was downstairs—
"Mrs. Weasley?" Harry croaked.
"R-r-riddikulus!" Mrs. Weasley sobbed, pointing her shaking wand at Ron's body.
Crack
Ron's body turned into Bill's, spread-eagled on his back, his eyes wide open and empty. Mrs. Weasley sobbed harder than ever.
"R-riddikulus!" she sobbed again.
Crack
Mr. Weasley's body replaced Bill's, his glasses askew, a trickle of blood running down his face.
"No!" Mrs. Weasley moaned. "No… riddikulus! Riddikulus! RIDIKULUS!"
Crack. Dead twins. Crack. Dead Percy. Crack. Dead Harry.
"Mrs. Weasley, just get out of here!" shouted Harry, staring down at his own dead body on the floor. "Let someone else—"
"What's going on?"
Harry watched as Ed rushed forward to the dead Boggart version of himself. Ed placed a hand on BoggartHarry's neck, checking for a pulse.
'Another person I was supposed to protect, dead right in front of me.' Ed thought.
Harry saw the worry on Ed's face and took a small step forward to tell Ed he was alive. "Ed I'm okay its a—"
Just then BoggartHarry sat up and turned to Ed, gripping Ed's shoulders with cold hands. Ed quickly jumped back alarmed.
"Ed, you might want to step back, it's a—" A rather loud crack filled the room, as the boggart focused on the golden haired teen. Suddenly purple electricity flowed from the boggart, and sparks flew around the room. Harry had never seen a boggart do this, normally it just changed with a crack. Harry continued to watch, as he saw a body emerging from the bright light. Then the light faded, and the person became clearer, Harry saw it. A mass of organs and flesh, slowly reaching a rotting hand towards the petrified Ed; speaking in a raspy voice "What did you do to me son?"'
Harry took a another small step forward, intent on stopping the Boggart, but before he could do anything, the image changed. This time the Boggart formed into a suit of armor. The armor then fell away to reveal a boy, who looked a lot like Ed. The boy smiled but then a door like gate appeared behind him. The gate swung open, and black hands grabbed the boy dragging him away. "Help me! Brother help!" The boy yelled. A Boggart Ed stood motionless in front of the gate, watching with cold unfeeling eyes as the boy disappeared into the blankness.
Molly sat, unmoving as the scene played out. "The poor boy," she thought "what awful fears." She looked at the real Ed, he was standing straight, facing his fears, at least that's what she thought. But scared Mrs. Weasley missed the tremors in Ed's hands, and the tears falling down his face as he watched his brother die
again in the worst way Ed could imagine.
The next 30 seconds of Ed's fears was nothing but blood, gunfire, screams of pain. It seemed to Harry that the Boggart couldn't choose between Ed's numerous deepest fears. Harry's hand reached for his wand on instinct, but his mind was still in shock staring at the horrifying yet strange images. The blood morphed into a glowing red liquid that spilled across the floor. Across the room the water shifted into the form of a dog. The dog sat dejectedly it's eyes cast down, a white dog, with strangely placed red hair. When it lifted its head Harry swore it's eyes looked human. Harry continued to stare, but his shaking arm slowly raised his wand. His mouth opened, but the words he heard weren't his. "Edward… friend?' Harry's eyes widened as the dog spoke, but it was nothing compared to Ed's dramatic reaction. He crumpled to the ground, his gloved hands spread across his face. "I'm sorry mother, Al, Nina. I've failed. I'm-" Ed finished in sobs.
"Ridikulus!" Lupin stood behind Harry, his wand pointed at the Boggart dog-thing.
The Boggart turned into a cute puppy playing with a squeaky toy, and with another flick of Lupin's wand, it was banished back into the writing desk.
The room remained silent for the longest time, as Harry, Molly, Lupin, Sirius, and Moody stood staring at the young boy with disturbing fears. Ed stood up, shaking, he stared with unblinking eyes at the spot where the Boggart was. He swiftly turned, his red cloak flying behind him, then pushed past the adults standing dumfounded, on the stairs. Harry heard a door slam down the hall as he voiced the question everyone was asking, "What was that?"
"I'd never seen anything like it." Harry whispered to Ron as they sat in their room.
Three floors below, a late order meeting was taking place. After the normal order business was finished, the adults left at Headquarters discussed the forms Ed's Boggart took. "I knew he was in the Military, but what he fears…" Sirius trailed off, unable to continue.
"All the fears we say, and I think he has even more." Lupin remarked thoughtfully.
"He's a greater danger than asset, I think." Said Moody "If alchemy can create such monstrosities, is it really wise to have an Alchemist here?"
"Dumbledore says he's safe.'" Tonks added , "And surely you can't be suggesting sending him home Moody."
"You heard what Harry said, Ed was apologizing, he must be the cause…" Moody was interrupted by a previously silent Molly Weasley
"It was his mother." Molly said quietly
Arthur placed a comforting hand on his wife's arm.
"We need to talk to Dumbledore, before confronting Ed." Moody demanded. "Think about how little we know about Ed."
"He's defiantly hiding something." Tonks agreed
"More than a few somethings, I'd wager." Said Sirius
"Right, we message Dumbledore in the morning, and when he arrives, we question Ed, until he explains." Moody growled
Lupin glanced over at Molly, the woman who everyone expected to raise a fuss over 'A innocent boy being interrogated like a common criminal' but she remained silent, staring at her hands.
The Trio passed by the closed door of a certain Edward Elric, the downstairs kitchen was a buzz Fred and George saw Dumbledore arrive before they were shooed upstairs by their father. "Has he come out yet?" Hermione asked, her head tilted towards Ed's door. "Not since…" Harry trailed off, remembering the Boggart. His nightmares last night were filled with not Voldemort as usual, but the horrifying images from Ed's Boggart. How could a Squib like Ed seen those awful things? The Order said his parents were killed in the First wizarding war but when Fred and George cornered him, he wouldn't say anything about his past.
"But surly," Harry thought "Even Voldemort couldn't do the terrible things I saw, and Ed seemed to blame himself for something. He kept saying 'I'm sorry' over and over." Not for the first time Harry wondered what happened to Ed, and who was he really?
Who was he really? What happened to him? These questions and more bounced around the kitchen, the central command of the house. Dumbledore had just arrived and was seated at the head of the table listening to Molly's, Lupin's Moody's and Sirius' recount of Ed's Boggart. Kingsley had already repeated Harry's tale.
"A purple light you say?" Dumbledore inquired, "What shade of purple?"
"Dumbledore, with respect, I hardly think the specific color of purple is important here, shouldn't we be confronting Ed? He told us nothing. We can't trust him" Moody growled.
Molly whispered, her eyes unfocused "He has so many horrible fears Dumbledore. Most children fear flying, spiders, or gnomes, but not, n-not Ed."
Dumbledore looked concerned at Molly's state but he did not ask what was wrong, because he knew why Molly's hands were shaking, and her eyes red. Molly was haunted by Ed's fears, more so than the others. Dumbledore pondered what he had heard of Ed's fears. Dumbledore nodded, "Very well. Moody what do you suggest?"
Author's Note: For those who actually take time to read these, in the next chapter a familiar character is arriving in London, and the Order is learning more about Ed.
