A/N Reviews rule. No questions there.

About the summary thing, I'll be taking Psykojinx's advice (at least probably). I'll try and come out with a few different ones and then you can tell me which one you think is the best. I'll try and post them on the next chapter.

Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter or Fullmetal Alchemist. It would be cool if I did though.

After learning that House-elves generally beat upon themselves when they did mistakes, Ed made Elmar swear not to do it or at least not because of him. She promised him to try and then Ed wrapped up the present. He had to admit to himself that it wasn't the most nicely wrapped present, but it wasn't too bad. He took the gifts and walked down to the living room where the tree stood. There weren't any presents there yet, but now his presents helped decorate the room. Ed took in the scene, but something felt like it was missing. It didn't take him long to figure out what.

'Shit... I didn't get a present for Elmar... What do people give elves for Christmas anyway?'

Then he quietly made his way back to his room. Elmar was busy cleaning up some dust on his table with a duster.

"Elmar, listen..." She turned her head towards him and her huge eyes looked at him inquisitively. "I forgot to buy you a present and I'm not really sure what people give elves-" Her eyes had grown steadily wider during his sentence and then she burst into tears.

"Ahhhh! Young Ed doesn't have to get a present for Elmar! But how thoughtful of him, to even think about little Elmar! But Elmar is a servant youn... err... Ed! Elmar is so grateful that he has thought of her!" The elf threw herself on the floor and hugged his leg, which he tried to pull away gently. "Elmar will serve Ed forever and ever and ever-"

"Okay, okay, could you please let go?" Ed tried as politely as possible.

She let go and blew her nose on her shirt or rather rags. Then she sniffed a bit with a big shaky smile on her face.

"Elmar has heard this many times on Christmas: 'It's the thought that counts.' Elmar thanks Ed very much."

She bowed very deeply and then quickly picked up the duster and ran out of the room. He figured he should let her settle her emotions on her own. Christmas would be in two days and he had no idea what to do 'till then. It was pretty cold outside, so flying was out of the question.

'Reading books? I guess it's my only choice.' Ed sighed and opened up his trunk.

He shuffled through the humongous amount of books in there and finally picked up that very detailed book on magical creatures. After finding out the monster was a basilisk, he had borrowed the book from the library.

He asked the librarian about the book and she told him: "It's been at the school for about 10 years already, but Dumbledore has kept it in his office. It was quite a rare find, not many of them are around, apparently the author only allowed a handful of them to be sold. Don't know why Dumbledore thinks it's wise to let students terrorize it. If you ask me it's better for it to be kept in his office even if no one could read it that way. Kids these days just don't know how to take care of things."

He took the book and frowned at it. And once again he found himself examining every inch of the book's cover. And then he carefully opened it and examined all the pages. Sometime during his task, a knock on the door made him look up.

"Good morning, Ed. I didn't know if you were up. I just wanted to ask you if there was anything you wanted for Christmas. If you don't have anything in mind, then I'll think of something." Trisha said smiling at him.

"Good morning, mom. No I don't really have anything in mind."

"Alright, I have to go to the ministry to pick up something I left there. After that I'll go to Diagon Alley. Take care of yourself. I won't be back too late." She walked in and kissed his forehead then left.

Ed watched her go and then stared at the spot he last saw her, lost in thought. But then he broke out of his reverie and turned his attention back to the book in his hands. 'Argh, something is just bothering me about this!' He shut the book and angrily glared at the author's name. 'Neimeo Tilg. I don't know this person, but he's starting to get on my nerves. Damnit, I need to get my mind on something else.' Then he got up, leaving the book on the bed and went out of his room. He walked down the stairs and was just wondering what to do, when Al nearly jumped on him and started dragging him towards the front door.

"What're you doing!?" Ed shouted at him.

"You look too glum, Ed! Come on, it's Christmas! Let's go and play in the snow!" With that he grabbed Ed's coat, hat and gloves putting them on for him haphazardly.

Ed could barely arrange his hat properly before he was pulled once more, this time outside. There Al let go of him and picked up some snow. He quickly formed it into a ball and threw it at Ed. Ed avoided it with ease and tossed one back. Before he knew it, snow balls were flying back and forth very quickly. Ed had to admit that Alphonse was a seasoned snowball-thrower. Ed wasn't that good, but the teen felt that he was getting the hang of it. After playing in the snow for so long, Alphonse called a house-elf to prepare some hot tea (without milk of course) for them, but they continued their feud 'till their drinks arrived. Both of them then sat on the wall Al had built for his defense sipping the hot drinks contentedly.

"Let's build a snowman." Ed suddenly suggested.

"Really? You think we should? How about a contest? Both of us could build different snow sculptures. And when Trisha gets back, we'll ask her to tell us which one is better."

"Good idea." Ed replied.

They set their cups aside after finishing and immediately started their work. Or at least Alphonse did. Ed was wondering what he should do. And then it clicked in his head, and he too got started. Time passed too quickly in Ed's opinion and then it was getting dark already. Neither of them was even close to being done, so they postponed the evaluation for the next day. When they told Trisha she agreed to choose a winner, but said she would be joining them the next day. And she did. All three woke up at the crack of dawn the next day to build their snow sculptures after eating a very quick breakfast. Alphonse was building what Ed thought could be described as a traditional snowman. Trisha's looked like the beginnings of a dragon. And Ed, well he wasn't quite satisfied with how it was turning out. The arms were all wrong, or at least he thought so. And the head was also off in his opinion. And of course the snow was not too easy to work with, especially because this was one of the first times that he worked with his hands to build something in a very long time. Back in his world he would have just pictured an array and what he wanted to make, then calculate how much material he needed, clapped his hands and presto! Before him would stand a snowman. He was finding it very hard to make the pictures in his mind reality. After redoing the head a couple of times he was finally convinced it looked right now and it was also time to eat lunch. The house elves having predicted that they would be outside, prepared for their lunch to be taken out on a makeshift table. All three were grateful, because then they could enjoy the beautiful snowy landscape. That way they also wouldn't have to dress up again.

"Yours is looking pretty good, Ed." Alphonse remarked while looking over their work.

"Thanks. But I really don't know if I should say the same about yours. There's really nothing too special about it." Ed said grinning towards the other man.

"Hmm... True. I'll think of something don't worry. But Trisha's isn't looking too bad as well, don't you think?"

"Yeah, can't argue that. It looks like it could come alive any moment now." Ed said grinning.

"Thanks, for the compliment. I've been to quite a few dragon reserves when I was younger. They really are breathtaking creatures. It's a shame that they're confined to the reserves, but I can't argue that they're dangerous."

With full stomachs they then set out to continue they're work. At around five in the afternoon they were done. All three of them stood back to compare the three pieces of art.

"Yours definitely isn't going to win, dear." Trisha said after a while of silent contemplation.

Ed nodded his agreement.

Alphonse's snowman turned out to have a round body with a round head on it. It also had two twigs for hands and a carrot nose. Its head sported two horns and a grinning face, complete with ears and eyebrows. On its body four stones were used as buttons.

"Yeah, I thought so too. I've never been good at art." He commented. His gaze moved over to Ed's and Trisha's works. "It's really hard to decide which of yours is the winning one."

"True, that's one detailed suit of armor. The way you were working on the details, it made me have the feeling that you were trying to recreate something." Trisha said to Ed.

There stood what looked like the armor Ed had stuck his little brother's soul to all those years ago. Everything from the face to the chest plate to the fingers and feet were replicated with lots of care. Although it wasn't perfect because snow just didn't really allow that kind of precision. Ed had to smile when he looked at his work. He had even put a sleeping cat on the shoulder. The snow statue wasn't nearly as tall as the original; Ed would have never been able to work on the top otherwise. The evening sun made the snow shimmer brilliantly.

'You have no idea...' He thought. "Thanks, yeah I was. I saw this suit of armor somewhere when I was younger. Your dragon isn't anything to laugh about either though."

Another long moment of indecision passed.

"Let's just pick out the loser and proclaim the other two as winners." Trisha finally said.

"Hey! That's not fair."

"But then we could be done with this and get in the house. I'm starting to freeze." Ed said with chattering teeth.

"Alright, alright! Okay, I lose..." But he said those words with a happy smile on his face. All of them were just happy about doing something together.

When they were back in the living room, Ed noticed the number of presents had doubled.

Trisha seemed to have notice his inquisitive look, because she said: "I bought one of them for you yesterday, but you'll have to wait 'till tomorrow to open it. The other one..."

"Is from me." Alphonse finished.

"When did you put it there? I don't remember seeing it yesterday." Ed asked.

"I put it there after you went to bed. You were so tired last night from all the playing in the snow that you practically just dropped on your bed and fell asleep. And I guess you didn't notice it this morning because you were too focused on your task."

"Oh..." Ed blushed a bit at that information, he really had been tired yesterday evening.

"Hmm... We should take pictures of it don't you think? Although, maybe we it would probably be better to wait until tomorrow. It's pretty dark already; the lighting wouldn't be too good."

The other two agreed with her.

They ate dinner talking about random things, but it was enjoyable. After that Ed went to his room and sent his owl off with Draco's present.

The next morning, breakfast passed very quickly again. Surprisingly, Alphonse was the one who hurried the two to finish their breakfast.

'He's really playful. Quite like Al... Although our carefree time together was only short. He might have been quite like this Al, if we'd have had a happy childhood.' Ed sighed inwardly at that thought.

Deep down somewhere, he still carried guilt in his heart. He had been the one to convince Al to revive their mother. He was the one who stuck him in a cold suit of armor. He was the one who got them involved in state affairs. Even though he now knew that Al didn't blame him the guilt wouldn't leave him. He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind for a moment though. He didn't want to make either of the two adults he lived with now to get worried over him. He smiled when Alphonse picked up two presents and gave them to Ed. He picked up the other two and gave one to Trisha.

"So, who wants to open presents first?" He asked a wide smile on his face. "Oh, come on you two!" He then continued when they merely exchanged glances. "It's Christmas and it's like both of you are giving off this gloomy expression! What's the matter? I'm not daft you know. I can see that you two and I as well for that matter have a lot of things on our minds, but can't we at least be a little carefree on this day of the year?"

Both of them stood there and blinked their eyes in surprise.

"Aww... Was it that obvious?" Trisha asked sighing. "That's why you're my husband. You always know when to lighten the mood. I'll go first then." She smiled and sat down on the sofa so she could open her present more comfortably.

Ed and Alphonse sat beside her. Ed was nervous and Alphonse looked highly interested as both watched her slowly look for the place the wrapping was taped at and carefully pry it off. She managed to take off the wrapping without tearing it. By that time Ed couldn't look anymore. He started thinking it might have been a bad idea to give that as a present. He heard a gasp and he cringed slightly.

"Umm... I know it's not that nice... but-"

"Are you kidding, Ed? This is wonderful!" She exclaimed full of joy.

He turned his head back just in time to see her place the horse gently on the table and then give him a big hug, which made him blush fiercely. She let him go after another moment and he just had to stare at her face. She was smiling, but he detected something else. Was it guilt? Or sadness? Or something completely different?

"Is everything alright?" He asked concernedly.

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just so happy. This was made by you wasn't it? It must have been difficult." She took it and walked over to their chimney and searched for just the right spot before placing it down and admiring it one more time. "This is a good place isn't it? Alright Ed, would you like to go next?"

Ed nodded his reply.

He had two presents: one was flat and rectangular and the other one was cubical-shaped. He decided to open the rectangular one first. He tried not to tear the paper, but it wasn't going too well.

"It's okay. Just tear it." Alphonse said and Trisha nodded.

After a moment's hesitation in which he debated whether or not he should make himself look like a brute, he tore the paper apart. Underneath the sheet of paper was a book with a plain black cover.

'A notebook.' Ed mused.

"Thanks." He said, it came out rather shyer than he had intended it to.

"I just observed that you would observe a lot of things and write them down in that other notebook of yours. I know it looks a bit like the one you have, but you haven't seen all yet." Trisha told him. "When you write your name on the name tag inside the book only you will be able to open it. So you don't ever have to worry about anyone looking at your notes. And it's also shrinkable, so you can bring it wherever you want. I'm not sure how small it can go, but I'm certain it'll get quite small."

"Oh wow. I never thought it could do so many things." Ed replied in honest astonishment. "I'll put it to good use."

Then he moved to the other present he had received from Alphonse.

"Why don't you open your present first, Al?" Ed asked suddenly.

Alphonse raised his eyebrows. "You're not saying you don't want it, right?"

"Of course not! I'm just saying that I want to have a little time to appreciate mom's present first!" Ed puffed at the older man.

He chuckled at Ed's behavior. "Alright, alright." He then ripped the wrapping around his present off cleanly and his jaw dropped open at its contents. "How did you know I've wanted a new Quaffle!" He said turning to Ed, who merely shrugged and smiled in an I-just-knew-it fashion. "I've wanted a new one for quite some time now." He said while feeling the Quaffle's even surface. "I've just never had enough motivation to drag myself down to Quality Quidditch Supplies. I hate the shop clerk." He added with a little distaste. "Thanks so much, Ed. Let's play again when the weather gets warmer."

"Sure." Ed replied. 'This family is real. It's not a fake family, even though they look like my real family. It's another family, with different people. They aren't shadows of the people I've known.' that realization made Ed feel much better and it lifted a weight from his chest he hadn't known was there. But it also made him feel guilty to some extent. 'When I first saw them, I only thought of my real mother and brother. Now I'm starting to think of them as different people. I've been chasing my old family and I had no idea another one was here welcoming me with open arms. And I kept comparing them. I'm so stupid.'

The sound of Alphonse's voice brought him away from his thoughts. "Go on, Ed. Open your present."

Ed didn't need to be asked twice. He picked it up and opened it much the same way as he had opened the first. Inside it was a metal box, which looked like something made for jewelry, if he was being completely honest with himself. Alphonse was still smiling at him, so he opened it. Inside it, which wasn't really a surprise, was a necklace with a sort of locket thing. A single green jewel glowed strongly on its cover. Ed was about to ask Al if this was some kind of joke, but Trisha was faster.

"You didn't!"

"Oh yes, I did. Ed's a bright lad, I'm sure he could use it. It's really horrible when you want to try out spells and you just can't because of the ministry, you know?"

Ed looked between the two and felt he was missing something.

"But you do realize that this is not exactly legal, right?"

"Yes, I do. Else I wouldn't have had to get it from the black market. But you also know that it doesn't state anywhere in the law that this is illegal, right? I don't even think the ministry knows about these kinds of things."

"Would someone tell me what this is about?" Ed interjected.

"Ed, this necklace has a magic placed on it that makes your magic untraceable. It's not actually designed for children, more like for fugitives on the run, but it'll work just as well. Don't worry about looking stupid or something along those lines. It'll turn invisible and untouchable by others and only you can take it off once you put it on. I'm sure you can understand that the ministry wouldn't want these things getting to the legal market if they knew it existed."

He quickly put it on and watched as it became invisible, or at least translucent to him. Alphonse was nodding in awe, so obviously he couldn't see it anymore. Ed was speechless for a while. He really didn't know what to say to that. "Thanks so much! That's just what I need; now I can start practicing my magic." He beamed at Alphonse who chuckled.

"Just don't show it off to anyone and get me in trouble for it."

The rest of that Christmas day was wonderful for Ed. He didn't have much more on his mind than enjoying himself. That of course was something that he didn't do very often. After his mom died the brothers had been constantly training and researching to find a way to bring her back, and after that they had constantly searched for a way to restore themselves. Not to mention the mess he found himself in now: Involved in a war he could have ignored if he had wanted to. But he figured it was mostly because he had friends on this side and that he had a hope of somehow returning home with the use of magic that he didn't just abandon the magical world to Dumbledore's manipulation. Such peaceful times never lasted long in the life of Edward Elric though. The next day, he felt that something was bothering the two adults that had been quite cheerful the day before. Halfway through breakfast, he couldn't take it anymore.

"Okay, what's up?" He asked, after a loud sigh.

Ed looked both of them into their eyes. Something was definitely amiss. Both adults looked to one another for what to say.

"Well, you see Ed..." Alphonse began, but Trisha cut him off.

"There's something I need to tell you before we continue. I've grown very attached to you and no matter what you choose to do I'll support you. Please remember that. These are my genuine feelings."

Ed was confused and not quite sure what this was all about, but he nodded his head slowly.

Trisha sighed, muttering to herself: "Where to start?" Alphonse looked down at his bowl of cereals, but his thoughts seemed to be elsewhere. Ed focused back on Trisha and patiently waited for her to elaborate. "Basically, I'm feeling very guilty right now..."

'I thought I was the one who's supposed to be guilty.' He didn't say it out loud though, instead he changed his expression into an even more confused one. "Why?" He asked.

Trisha's gaze indicated that she was struggling for the right words. "I-I... The first time I had anything to do with you, it was for the Dark Lord's purposes."

At this Ed had to blink. He almost thought everything he had experienced with them was faked, that they maybe had just acted that way to use him. But then he remembered what she said just before her last statement. Just because of those words, he found he was able to relax somewhat again to listen to what else she had to say.

"Like I said, I feel very guilty for it now. I'm sorry." She paused searching for words again. "It all started with something at my job. I picked up somewhat dark magical signals. I couldn't trace them for a long time. But then you did it again and at that time I was able to trace your magic to the orphanage. He told me to watch you and well, I thought this was the best way. I now realize that was something I shouldn't have done. It was wrong of me, even if it were any other person, even an adult, I was wrong. I shouldn't even have thought of using you like that..."

Ed took in the information calmly and suppressed the urge to rub the bridge of his nose. "It's alright. I understand that all people make mistakes. I forgive you." He said. And suddenly he felt so old, as if he were talking to someone of his age and not a parent figure.

"But now you're involved in all of his dark plans and I feel so scared for you. I really don't want you to get hurt." Her eyes still held that guilty look but also a fair amount of fear, Ed could see it clearly now, the other emotion he wasn't sure of.

"That's where you're wrong, Trisha." Both of them abruptly looked up at Alphonse's ever smiling face.

"What? What do you mean?" She asked more than a little shocked.

"I mean that Voldemort isn't overtly evil. He's just been manipulated like most of the 'important' wizarding folk." At that he just received another incredulous look and a cringe from the name.

Ed took the whole thing in stride, he knew about Voldemort, but he was quite surprised that Al senior knew about it. "He told you?" Ed asked interrupting both of them.

"No, he didn't, although I suppose he told you."

"Then how did you know?" Ed questioned further.

The other gave him a little smile. "Actually, I'm surprised other people haven't noticed. During Voldemort's supposed terror reign, one Mr. Cornelius Fudge was minister of magic. Needless to say he was and still is quite incompetent in war business. I was pretty frustrated with him at the time. It was near the beginning of the war, and I was quite neutral. Young as I was, I went to check up who the idiots were who appointed him as minister. One name I wasn't prepared to come across was Dumbledore's. After checking up on more of the annoying higher-ups I realized that nearly all of them had one main supporter. Yep, you guessed right. It was Dumbledore. And then I asked myself: Dumbledore is to blame for all the corrupt and useless higher-ups, so who's the good guy? Dumbledore or the guy fighting him? Not to mention that I always thought of him as a very manipulative person even during my school years. What motivation he could have to destroy the wizarding world from the inside I don't know. But after joining the Death Eaters and watching all the things they did, there's one thing I can say for sure: Voldemort is at best a misunderstood person, at worst... Probably a completely misunderstood person." Alphonse then took a very deep breath. "Phew... Talking so much sure makes you thirsty. One more thing though, I also feel guilty. After I realized you were Hohenheim's son, I was all for the idea that you help out. I kind of also only thought about what you could do, not so much about what you wanted to do."

Ed nodded his head slowly again. "I'm glad you told me. If I found out on my own, I might not have been able to forgive you." He whispered.

"Thank you, Ed. This means a lot to us and me especially." Trisha finally said.

"But are you okay with this?" Ed asked. "I mean you just found out that Al doesn't support the dark arts and the elimination of muggles and all that stuff? What about you? Are you ready to just change like that?"

Trisha hesitated a bit before answering. "When I joined Voldemort, I was young and naive, add that to my pureblood heritage where prejudice isn't uncommon at all. I won't deny that I thought it was the right thing to do, but after joining the other Death Eaters I did change my mind. The problem was that I was scared of what would happen if I left them. I was scared for my life and later also for Al's." She glanced over at him with a weak smile. "I've never received direct orders from him before you came along. I was shocked when he came here to hide and asked me to watch underage magic with more attention than usual and told me to tell him if anything strange happened. And then before he left he told me to keep a very close eye on you. So that's what I did. I had no idea what he expected from you. So, yes, I'm fine with this information. In fact I feel loads better. But I want to ask you about something... I told you about how I found you. Would you mind telling me what you did? It was obviously some kind of wandless magic, since you did not have a wand at the time. And it felt dark, darker than you'd expect even from some grown wizards. Were you even aware of what you were doing?"

It was Ed's turn to be at a loss for what to say. 'Reveal to them an art they wouldn't be able to understand? Or make up instant excuses?' He really had the choice; she had even made a plausible way out for him. He sighed and started rubbing the bridge of his nose contemplating what to say.

"It's alright if you don't want to tell us." He heard Alphonse's voice say.

"No, it's okay. I was aware of what I was doing." After another pause in which he was trying to simplify his whole situation, he continued. "What I did was Alchemy. It's not like the Alchemy Nicholas Flamel and Dumbledore are famous for. It's different, I can't really explain it, it just is. Here let me show you." He fished around in his pocket for a moment, pulling out a piece of chalk. A quick basic circle on an empty silver plate and a touch to it later, a bright blue light flashed: the sign of a successful transmutation. This was done so fast, that neither adult could get a good look at the array. The light faded leaving a block of solid silver where the plate previously stood.

Both adults gasped.

"And this isn't magic?" Trisha asked after a moment of admiring the product.

"No, it's not. Alchemy is a science, it's a muggle thing. As far as I know, anyone can learn it, but to actually do such a transmutation, you'd have to know all the elements involved and have their precise calculations as well as an array to channel the energy appropriately depending on what substances you are using and what you are turning it into. Otherwise you might get a rebound, and that's not a very pretty thing. I used it at the orphanage when I was alone in my room. I was just trying out some arrays. I didn't know its energy was like dark magic." He hoped he had explained it complicated enough so they wouldn't try to learn it. Who knew what crazy wizards would do with Alchemy if the knowledge spread?

"I see... But Ed, this whole thing sounds so incredibly complicated. Where in the world would you have learned all this?" Alphonse piped in, finally managing to contain his astonishment.

"My dad taught it to me. He was adamant that I learn it." Ed lied without hesitation, as if it really had been that way. He did feel bad for lying to them after they had been so honest with him, but it was to protect them, himself and Alchemy.

"Can you do it slower? Or just show us again?"

"I can't really do it that slowly. I'll try."

Of course they wouldn't really gain much by watching the transmutation slowly. Once again he picked up the chalk and drew a mini circle on the block. It was so small, his finger covered it completely. The blue light flashed again, this time though it wasn't as strong, but it lasted much longer. Ed found he had to actively force it to slow down and that took a lot of energy out of him. He could literally feel it seeping out of his finger. Trisha watched as if she had just lost herself to the beautiful blue light and Alphonse was coming steadily closer to get a better look. And then just like that the plate was in its normal condition once more.