Edward Eric plopped down on one of the many sofas in one of the many sitting rooms in the manor that was his.
Edward had had some time to reflect on his conversation with Dumbledore and decided he would have to warn Alphonse that Flamel would be there.
He stood and walked out of the sitting room, donned his cloak, and left via the floo.
He had to speak with someone.
POV SWITCH
Minerva McGonagall was a very busy woman.
She had gotten to sleep a little late the night before, as it was the day before the new school year and, aside from the two more interesting first years, she'd rather keep the independent variables to a minimum.
She had made sure she had enough chalk to last until December, at which point she would restock her stores; given the banned items list a study; and made sure she had enough spare textbooks in her supplies room. Not that children would ever stop "misplacing" their textbooks in their trunks and conveniently finding them on the last day of the term (or not at all).
Needless to say, Minerva got to sleep quite late.
When she awoke, she decided it might be a fine idea to check the common room for extensive damages before the students woke up.
The fat lady hadn't asked for the password in thirty years, so McGonagall was surprised when the portrait, surprisingly alert for four in the morning, stiffly requested, "Password."
Minerva stiffened for a moment, unmoving.
"Come now Lizzie, I work here. I've known you for years."
The painting stood stoically in her portrait, arms crossed. Waiting.
McGonagall mirrored her posture. Stubborn woman McGonagall may be, she wasn't a five hundred year old painting. After around ninety minutes, she finally caved.
"Fine! Caput Draconis!" The portrait swung forward, and Minerva straightened her robes before striding purposefully into the common room.
The room looked exactly like it had always had, with one glaring exception.
A Slytherin robe was on a chair by the fire, which, while not inherently strange (in fact the year before Fred and George Weasley had stolen the entire house's wardrobe and left them with orange and gold lace dress robes), contained a slumbering Slytherin student.
Alphonse Elric, brother of infamous Edward Elric, who had arrived that night and attempted to assault the already fragile headmaster.
She strode over to him and grabbed his robes.
"Young Man, you come with me right this instant!" She hissed at the confused boy who rubbed at his eyes.
"Wha! Where am I?" He asked, gazing around the common room with sleep-clouded eyes.
"The question is why you are here, and we'll get to it in my office!"
POV SWITCH
Albus Dumbledore had received a note from both Professors McGonagall, and Snape in reference to the first year Alphonse Elric.
Mr Elric, it seemed, made the other Slytherin's uncomfortable and was moved to separate rooms according to Professor Snape.
Mr Elric had been caught sleeping on one of the Gryffindor chairs when McGonagall had found him. They had scheduled a meeting to decide what the punishment would be.
Dumbledore couldn't help thinking about his meeting with Edward.
The boy had been genuinely, justifiably angry, and Dumbledore thought that maybe he should have listened.
But on the other hand…
Why would Flamel tell Albus not to trust the Elrics if he had no reason?
Professor McGonagall stormed into the room followed by the first year Alphonse Elric, looking a lot meeker than he had when Albus had seen him last.
Snape glided in after them, sneering and white knuckled with anger.
Albus took in the two professors with bemusement, changing his focus to the the errant first year.
"Tell me, Minerva, why isn't this boy at breakfast? It's the most important meal of the day!" He broached the subject carefully, acting as though his concern was for the boys nutrition and not, in fact the boys relation to his late night visitor.
McGonagall looked taken aback.
"He will do no such thing! Not before we get this mess settled anyway"She began amended, before taking a calming breath and starting over.
"He didn't sleep in the Slytherin dormitory last night, Albus. I found him in the Gryffindor common room this morning. Ask Severus why he was there." She gestured towards Snape and Albus redirecting his attention towards the potions professor.
Snape glared at the first year before beginning.
"Are we going to ignore the fact that this boy is the only known relative of Edward Elric? His brother made the Malfoy family," and here he shot a glance at the boy "whose child is currently in Slytherin house, nonetheless! - destitute. He makes other students uncomfortable and I can't leave them in the same classes or rooms without incident." Dumbledore looked Snape in the eye.
"Minerva, you didn't mention that his class schedule is different to that of his housemates," he looked sternly at her.
McGonagall looked at Alphonse.
"It's news to me as well. Mister Elric, what do you have to say about this?"
Alphonse shifted from foot to foot and sighed.
"Well, Professor, yesterday I was writing a letter to my brother, when the Bloody Baron came and told me that Professor Snape," he gestured to Snape, "wanted to see me. I went to talk to him, but as I was walking in I bumped into Draco Malfoy," he paused, before continuing in one breath, "and then I met with Professor Snape and he told me that I make certain students uncomfortable and that I would be staying in a room on the third floor somewhere and I'd be having all of my classes with the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws." He stepped back, panting lightly.
Dumbledore nodded sagely. "It seems to me that, while Severus had no right to do that," he leveled a stern glance at the potions master, "you also shouldn't have broken into the Gryffindor common room, and-"
"I never broke in."
Dumbledore paused, unused to the bold interruption.
"If you didn't break in, Mister Elric, tell me how it came to be that you were found asleep in the Gryffindor common room," Dumbledore questioned softly.
Alphonse looked him in the eyes and answered simply.
"Someone let me in."
McGonagall was taken aback, "Who?"
Alphonse looked at her. "Will they get in trouble?"
Snape jumped in "Absolutely! It is prohibited to let someone from another house inside your house's common room."
Dumbledore shook his head with a small smile, "Actually, it has never been expressly forbidden. Indeed, it was originally suggested that students from other houses be very social with each other. The custom has grown out of use, but entering common rooms other than your own was never banned. Now, Mister Elric, who were the people who let you into the Gryffindor common room?" He asked kindly, pale blue eyes twinkling.
Alphonse looked at him, then to Professor McGonagall, and finally to Snape.
"Err, they didn't... tell me their names… Sorry…" Al lied unconvincingly.
McGonagall and Snape looked at him like he was a fool.
"Well that's a shame, Mr. Elric. Without a corroborating witness, we must operate under the assumption that you broke in." Dumbledore told the boy.
"What's the punishment for that?" Alphonse asked concernedly.
"Well, that should depend on the relevant Professors, shouldn't it, Alphonse." Dumbledore responded.
Snape immediately jumped in.
"For disobeying me and not going directly to your rooms, you'll lose fifty points and have detention in my office and every Saturday for two months."
McGonagall then said, "And, for being in the Gryffindor common room without permission, you will meet me in my office after school every day indefinitely."
Suddenly, the fireplace in the corner flared green and Mad-Eye Moody lumbered into the room lugging a large trunk and sweating noticeably.
His electric blue prosthetic eye whizzed around the room, locking on to its' occupants, before he dropped the trunk and took a swig from a flask at his hip.
POV SWITCH
Van Hohenheim had just finished a small dinner with Bathilda Bagshot and a few of her colleagues before setting off to the former Malfoy Manor.
Upon arriving, he decided something was off.
The building was gone. As was the drive leading up to it. And in its place was a large forest.
Hohenheim stood flabbergasted for several seconds before realizing what must be going on.
Edward had used the Fidelius charm to hide the land. He stood there for another several minutes admiring the spellwork when someone joined him.
Hohenheim turned his head to observe the man next to him only to find one of the most cut up individuals he had ever seen.
He was covered in scars and his nose was missing a large chunk out of it, but most shocking of all was his left eye.
The original eye had definitely been removed and was replaced with a glass eye, though this one had a very large range of independent motion.
The glass eye was housed in a metal ring, attached to a leather strap that went around the man's head like an eyepatch. It was electric blue in hue - at least, when the iris rolled around so that he wasn't looking through the back of his head.
His other eye was black and glaring.
"Hello there! My name is Van Hohenheim. Just admiring the landscape," He held out his hand casually for a shake.
The electric blue eye looked Hohenheim up and down and then up again before focusing on a spot somewhere on the left side of his chest.
The man squinted his normal eye before pulling out his wand.
"Avada Kedavra," he murmured, pointing it directly at the spot on his chest.
Before the spell could hit, a pillar of ground shot up and blocked the burst of green light.
Hohenheim looked at the man carefully, reassessing the situation.
"That's the same shit Elric used when he broke into Gringotts. And you have the same substance running through you as that Flamel. That, coupled with the blond hair and the golden eyes…"
Hohenheim studied the man before him carefully.
"I don't know what conclusion you're trying to come to, but-"
"Petrificus Totalus!" The wizard shot back, and this time Hohenheim wasn't prepared.
He had a blurry view of the man from the corner of his eye as he apparated them elsewhere, but as soon as the tight, uncomfortable sensation abated he was thrust into a chest. There was a moment of weightlessness, before the breath was knocked out of him as he landed on a hard floor. He could see a small patch of light far above him before that, too, was snuffed out.
POV SWITCH
Edward stepped into his fireplace and out of small fire in the hut of Rubeus Hagrid.
The half-giant was sitting on the floor of his hut trimming his dog's nails' when Edward stepped in.
"Hello. You're Hagrid, right?" He asked calmly.
Hagrid looked up, not expecting an intruder, and fell backwards in shock.
"Wh-what are you doing here?" Nervous sweat beaded on Hagrid's brow.
"Listen, Hagrid. I need you to do me a favor. Nothing big. I need someone to look after my brother while he's here, and… I don't trust the staff."
Hagrid looked at him dubiously.
"Are you trying to say… you want me to look after your brother?"
Edward looked at him strangely.
"I did just say that, yeah. You'll be payed, of course." He added.
Hagrid's eyes hardened, then he finally spoke.
"I think we should involve Dumbledore in this."
Edward looked at him like he was the stupidest man on Earth.
"No. I'm talking to you."
Hagrid looked away.
"But why me? Why not someone else?"
Edward looked thoughtful.
"You're a good man, and you seem like a trustworthy person."
Hagrid was speechless.
Edward set a small bag of gold on the table.
"I have the Gringotts goblins funneling money from my vaults into yours specifically for this. It's nothing big. Just ask him over for tea or something."
And with that he stepped back into the fireplace and disappeared.
hiya folks. so that took longer than expected... so that one guy who commented "no one reads your garbage" on my tenth chapter, congrats! you played yourself. and to the gentleman who said that i shouldn't be ransoming off my chapters for reviews, i agree but also i like to know what yall think.and finally, i have a beta now. thats why this chap is way better. she dont do my authors notes though lmao.6/11