Sorry sorry sorry. I wasn't writing but I have a busy schedule. I will try to write more but I just never know when I am able to. I thought I would be able to write more over my break but I guess not. Sorry! Well, I guess now that october is over it would be easier but I will still try to write my hardest. Uggh! I can't believe myself! I will try to update my profile statuses if this every happens again. If I set goals for myself on them, I find that I usually keep them. I will try to keep yall informed but I never know.

Chapter 36

The unexpected Warriors

Edward briskly limped down through the corridors of the castle towards the Quad. His back was still very numb, making it hard to keep himself upright from the lack of feeling. He tightened his bright fresh red coat around his shoulders and picked up his pace a little as he tried to ingore it. Greed was jogging infront of him, completely oblivious to his troubles as they shot down a few flights of stairs. The entire castle was relatively empty as the students were staggering back from the tramatizing evening of the tournament. Some were crying, others were staring straight ahead in complete shock, but all of their numbers dwindled as the mess down at the quidditch field was probably still being sorted out. Some of the teachers who were escorting a few of the Ravenclaw students back shot him some nasty or confused glances. Edward knew what they were thinking, but he really didn't have the time nor energy to waste lulling it over. It took his best effort to refrain from doubling over in guilt of Cedric's demise. Edward kept his head eyes straight ahead as he followed Greed into the enclosed green area of the courtyard quad.

It was empty except for a few people who were crowded around a nasty old shirt which was strangely glowing blue right before them. It was obviously a port key. Greed was telling him about what happened when he was in the maze and the cemetary. Apparently the Colonel called, and he was dumb enough to try and to assasinate the president on his way back from the winter training in Briggs. Edward couldn't believe that the man did that, but he actually couldn't seem to want it any other way. At least with the apparent but unlikely death of the president, that would be one Homunculus that they wouldn't have to deal with for at least a little while.

Severus and Hohenheim were bent over the nasty shirt trying to plan the coordinates and directions. Hohenheim was holding a couple different maps of Amestris he brought with him, trying to describe the surrounding area and point of their destination, while Severus waved his wand around the stupid old rag. Edward spotted Dumbledore standing off to the side watching everything that was happening. He seemed troubled, but Edward didn't push the man as he hobbled over towards the small group of people.

"You mean you aren't done yet? It took stumpy here forever to get ready and say good bye to his girlfriend. We need to leave!" Greed growled, jabbing his finger at Edward as they approached the small makings of the portkey.

"DON'T CALL ME STUMPY!" Edward scolded the homunculus as he tried to take a swing at him with his automail arm. Greed didn't care to dodge at all but his skin shielded itself before the fist could even make contact. Edward cursed to himself is automail rebounded off, sending shocks up his shoulder. Greed rolled his eyes and crossed his arms impatiently.

"Thought you would have learned by now," he commented dryly. Edward grumbled underneath his breath as he massaged his shoulder port lightly.

"Get me when I don't have a hole in my back then I could break your stupid shield," he muttered pathetically under his breath. Greed undoubtedly heard him but the homunculus completely ignored it as he passed to take a better look at the port key.

"So like I said before, when can we get out of this joint?" he questioned.

"It takes time. I don't think you would like it very much if it dropped us in a ditch," Severus growled at the man.

"If I knew where my other map went, he might have been able to get a better idea of where we need to go," Hohenheim said flatly as he took one last scan through the piles of maps.

"It can't be that hard!" Greed retorted, completely ignoring the retorts. Severus muttered something unintelligent under his breath which made Edward laugh slightly but unfortunately the Homunculus over heard. Greed practically attacked Severus with an onslaughter of angered insults about his work conduct. They argued for a bit longer and Edward waited patiently for the two to settle down, or at least for one to run out of witty snipes and back slashes. Suddenly, a hand rested on his shoulder causing him to look up from the entertainment. Hohenheim was standing next to him with the maps rolled up underneath his right arm.

"Edward are you sure you are alright?" he asked him. Edward frowned slightly and shook the man's hand off of him lightly.

"Yeah, as well as I could be given the circumstances," he mumbled, straightening himself out as he caught his back tilting slightly from the numbing. Hohenheim caught his action and gave him a stern look.

"This isn't something to be taken lightly-"

"And that is why I am going old man, no matter how beat up I am," he interrupted. "If I don't go, Father would undoubtedly try and get another person to be this human sacrifice. I don't care if I lost a few good layers of skin, I am not going to let that happen." There was a long dreary pause as Greed and Severus continued to argue. Edward noticed that Severus was having a bit of trouble keeping the Port Key going with Greed yelling at him. It made him wonder how long the port key would last for. Hohenheim sighed slightly and drew Edward out of his thoughts.

"Do you really think you can do it?" he asked. Edward looked up, not quite sure of what he meant, forcing Hohenheim to reword his question. "Do you think that you can get Alphonse's body back?"

"Yes," he answered softly. The silence drew on for a couple heart beats but a small smile slowly grew on his father's face.

"Good," he whispered. "I am counting on it." The tension between Greed and Severus eventually died down when the port glowed a faint white and faded out. Severus stood up and dusted off his robes, giving Greed a stern glare of annoyance.

"There, it is done. We can leave as soon as we want," the man said.

"Wait, we? You're coming too?" Edward asked, surprised. Severus nodded his head as he put his wand away in his robes.

"I can't leave the work for just the few of you. Dumbledore ordered me to make sure you make it back, Elric. Don't want to have to grade all of those Alchemy exams by ourselves," Severus snided. Edward growled at the man, but someone cleared their throat, preventing the inevitable argument from happening. He looked up to find Dumbledore making his way over towards them.

"Edward, may I talk to you for a couple moments?" the man hummed softly. Greed muttered something under his breath about being late as he followed the headmaster a few yards away from the group. They stopped by one of the stone arches in the entrance way. It was quiet and Edward had a strange feeling in his gut that he didn't like what he was going to hear. "Edward, I know that with the tournament-"

"Albus, you can't make me change my mind. I am going. Hohenheim already tried to make me back down because of all that happened this evening but I won't do it. I had worse," Edward argued but the man seemed unphased by this.

"Edward, I am not trying to make you stay. I wanted to tell you that Moody was indeed the one who was entering your mind," Dumbledore told him. "After you left for the hospital ward, we gave the man a couple potions to get a couple of desperately needed answers-"

"Veritaserum?" Edward questioned, he himself knowing the powerful effects of it. The man nodded his head.

"Yes. Moody was actually a Death Eater named Bartemius Crouch Junior. He had confessed to using the imperius curse on you while you slept in order to make you steal some potion ingredients for his polyjuice potions. He also admitted to using the legilimens on you a couple times," he answered. Edward nodded his head slowly, trying to accept the information that he was dealt. It was still a very scary thought to have someone in his head like that. He remembered when he stayed up countless nights afraid to fall asleep because that happened. Edward couldn't believe that it was as easy as a flick of a wand to get into someone's head like that, yet it happened. He sighed to himself and rubbed his head tiredly.

"Well, at least that's over with," he mumbled as he took a glance back at the port key. Greed gave him and annoyed glare for taking so long. He groaned to himself tiredly. "Now back into the fire," he muttered pathetically.

"Though the matter of the imposter was cleared up, Edward, I wanted to ask you another question," Dumbledore said stopping Edward in his tracks as he was about to head back over to the port key.

"What is it? Can't it wait till later? Greed might decide to kill me before I even get in the fight if we take any longer," Edward stated, jabbing a finger back where the homunculus was angrilly stalking around. He knew that all Greed wanted to do was give his Father a good hit to the face, maybe even destroy the president, but even with those goals, he seemed a little too anxious to go.

"Was it truely the Dark Lord's wand that you picked up earlier?" Dumbledore asked him. Edward was taken aback slightly at the question but slowly nodded his head.

"Yes."

"When you held onto it, the wand exploded. Severus told me that this happened a couple times before hand is this true?"

"Yes, but all wands do that. It is probably just a muggle thing. You know, repulsion or something- Wait, why do you want to know?"

"I would like to have a meeting with you in my office when you get back-"

"Why? What aren't you telling me old man?" Edward growled at the headmaster.

"Edward, when muggles pick up wands nothing happens,"Dumbledore told him flatly. The alchemist froze in midsentence and stared at the man for a couple seconds. He slowly shut his mouth, trying to give himself time to think of something to say. Just as he was about to speak, a heavy hand grabbed him roughly by the hood and dragged him back over to the port key.

"I am not waiting any longer! We are leaving!" Greed scolded him as Edward tried to regain his balance.

"Greed wait just a minute!" Edward complained but the homunculus was relentless. He wasn't going to waste another second. Edward glanced back at where the headmaster was smiling softly at him. He gave a little wave and Edward fumbled to return it as he was practically thrown down next to the port key.

"Everybody ready?" Hohenheim asked. Greed rolled his eyes and reached out to get ready to grab the key. Edward copied him, fearing the inevitable sickening sensation that they were about to get.

"Let's do this thing," the homunculus grinned cockily as Severus counted and they all grabbed on to the raggedy shirt. There was a swirling sensation and a quick pull behind their nasals and they were soon off.

...

George and Fred ran quickly down the lawn of the castle and towards the forbidden forest with a few piles of papers tucked under their arms and a stinky shoe in their hands. It was an easy escape from their dorms since everyone was still running about the tournament. Most of the teachers were down by the quidditch field or in the dungeons, letting the twins escape from their tower with little problems. George tightened his grip on the pile of loose papers that he stole from Edward's office as he picked up his pace. The two of them entered the forest and started to race off into the shallows of the tree line where the light still dimly penetrated. They took this path quite often when they were trying to scrounge up a few mosses or pungent plants for their concoctions so they knew it by heart. Almost every tree root and pot hole was ingrained into their memory, but for some reason Fred was having trouble keeping up with his brother. He tripped and fell a coupld times from misstepping on outcropped roots.

"Come on Fred, stop messing around, we need to hurry," George ordered him as Fred fell for the third time. He raced over to his other half and heaved him off of the ground. He was looking quite pale, even for being out in the moonlight. George even found that he was shaking a bit. "Fred, are you alright, mate?"

"George, I don't think we should be doing this..." Fred quivered slightly as they began their way again but at a slower walk. "What if we end up like Cedric? Edward said that his country was dangerous-"

"He says a lot of things!" George countered lightly but Fred gave him a grueling glare.

"No George, I am serious. We could die, or... even think of Ron-"

"Hey, I am doing this, personally, because I don't want anyone to end up like Cedric. Think of it that way. It is a shame what happened to him, but we can't let Edward end up like that too. He's a muggle and though he is a ninja or something, you saw how he came back right?" George argued. Fred looked away for a moment as they continued their hike in silence. A small dim light started to grow in the distance and they made their way towards it, adjusting their course ever so slightly. "Anyways," George mumbled, "haven't you ever wanted to set off a couple wheezes in a country full of muggles?"

"That does sound like an interesting notion, my brother," Fred started slowly, a grin growing on his face. George gave him a side long smirk and they quickened their pace deeper into the forest. The trees slowly parted, leaving them to find their brother Ron, Hermione, and Harry waiting for them in the clearing. They had there wands out and luminated so that they could see in the dark forest. Once she saw them, Hermione rushed over to them and ripped the papers out of George's hands.

"You got them? Are you sure these are it? Do you know-" she started as she tore through them in a panic.

"Calm down, I know we got the right ones. When we left, Edward's old man went in and started to freak out because he was missing a couple-"

"He was going to use them? You shouldn't have taken them if they needed them! Now they will never-" Hermione started to scold him but Fred quickly tried to calm her down. After a few resenting moments, Hermione took a huge breath in and another out. "Alright, sorry about that," she muttered under her breath as she walked back into the clearing where the rest of them were waiting. She placed the map on the ground where everyone could see it and held her lit wand above it, casting a dim green light upon it. There were several markings, all written in a different language. It must have been Hohenheim's notes. There was a large circle around the middle city of the circular country, and then an even bigger one around the entire thing. Several crosses were marked in random places, but a peculiar one caught her eye. It was placed right outside of the Central city and had a small pattern of words around it.

"How are we going to know where they are porting off to with all of this gibberish?" Ron whined in fustration as he too tried to read the map. He scolded the twins for their incompetence in which they returned with a simple obscene gesture. Harry leaned down next to her and looked over her shoulder.

"I heard Percy was learning Amestrian but I doubt he would be willing to help us," Harry muttered under his breath. Hermione shook her head and wracked her brain.

"I need to remember a translation spell but I just-" Hermione growled angrilly.

"Potter!" an angry voice came out. All of the heads whipped up to find Draco Malfoy standing at the edge of the clearing in his slytherin robes. The entire lot tensed and glared at him as if expecting his band of slytherins to come jumping out at any minute but for some reason, it was just him. They didn't even hear him come down, not even the twins had heard him follow them. Harry stood up from where he was bent over the map and started towards him. He was limping a bit as he still felt the affects of Madam Promfery's magic working on him but he tried to keep as straight as possible.

"what are you doing here, Malfoy? Did you follow us?" he snarled at the kid. Draco sneered at him, completely ignoring Harry's attempts to be intimidating.

"Do you realise what you have done? The entire castle is in ruins because of you! Screaming that the Lord is back everywhere! You really put everyone in a knot, especially with what you did to Diggory!" the boy said tensely.

"I didn't kill Diggory! Voldemort did!" Harry scolded him.

"Yeah, and you know what that means don't you? Muds and Mud lovers are all going to have to kiss their asses good bye. No one is going to rest until they are all gone! The first one was Diggory! Next it will be you lot! I told you! I told you in the first year to pick your friends wisely! Now look where it got you!" Ron growled and ran forward to back up his friend. Malfoy didn't flinch from the doubled forces but he was shaking terribly in anger. His eyes looked shiny but Harry guessed it was just from the lighting.

"He picked his friends fine, Malfoy! Now get out of here if you know what's good for you! We got important business that a prick like you wouldn't care about!" Ron retorted. Draco turned a furious shade of red.

"You trying to run away is that it? Killed Diggory and now you trying to flee before the papers tarnish your stupid reputation?"

"For the last time I didn't kill Cedric! We aren't running! We are trying to help Edward-"

"Wait... You're... You're going down there aren't you? To Amestris? To fight? You could get yourselves killed!" Draco asked like he knew what they were doing. Everyone froze up and looked at eachother suspiciously.

"How the bloody hell did you even know about that?" George asked him.

"I overheard Mr. Hohenheim talk and-"

"So you were snooping on them weren't you? Trying to find new ways on getting him fired? It was always your father who was attacking him at the Ministry!" Ron said. Draco growled.

"I never tried to get him fired stupid! I was going to ask him some questions on alchemy!," Malfoy stated. There was a slight pause as the wind russled through the trees. Draco shifted nervously in his shoes as if he was contemplating something challenging. "I am coming with you," he finally said, blowing everyone else out of the water. Hermione frowned and stood up from the map with purpose.

"You come here and accuse Harry of murder, and you expect us to let you come with us to help a teacher you don't even like?" she asked him.

"I never said I didn't like him," he muttered pathetically. The twins looked at eachother suspiciously. Hermione eyed him over a few times as she tried to hold Ron down from tackling him to the ground and smashing his teeth out.

"And why do you want to do this?" she questioned.

"Because, I it's not right that you are the only ones that get to go down to muggleton by yourselves and fight," he huffed. "If anyone should help the Professor, I would like to-"

"What did he ever do for you?" Fred asked accusingly. Draco was taken aback for a second and he blushed slightly as he was of loss of words. The Gryffindors looked at eachother as if they were surprised to even see the Slytherin care for anything at all. Fred suddenly remembered how Draco was taking part in some of their alchemy classes. He didn't belong there yet for some reason it seemed he desperately wanted to take the class. Harry remembered back to the previous year when Edward was sent off to be tried for the first time. Draco was a snobbish jerk, but he was the one that reminded them about Edward's bird Scops to send the letters with. Hermione sighed to herself as she turned back to the map that was still lying on the ground untranslated.

"Fine, you can come but only if you help us translate this map. It is in amestrian and-"

"You can't be serious!" Ron exclaimed. "Not him! He might just decide to set the entire country on fire!" Everyone shot into a frenzy of complaints.

"Everybody shut up!" she ordered them before directing a glare at Draco. "Do you know how to do this or not?"

"I heard the Headmaster put it on one of them once, I think it is Uberlate," he mumbled, everyone getting suspicious of how often he 'overheard' something. Hermione cautiously mumbled the suggested spell onto the paper and suddenly the words of amestrian rearranged themselves into that of English. The Weasleys watched and looked rather impressed but Hermione ignored them as she started to read the map over. The large X by Central city had a small note next to it which was labeled rendezvous. She was actually amazed that the man would take the time to write out their meeting point, but then again, he was probably going to have to ask another wizard for a portkey in order to get there. The instant she read it, her head shot up and sent a glare over to where Draco was now practically cornered by her fellow gryffindors.

"Fine, you can come," she huffed sourly, snatching the ratty pair of shoes from Fred. All of the boys gawked at her in surprise and started cussing and complaining again.

"SHUT UP!" she screamed so loud that her voice carried off into the empty forest. After the echos disappeared, the earth was left with silence. Hermione threw the shoes on the ground and gave the map a harsh glare. "Draco is coming because of that reason. I am sure he has thought about ALL of the consequences and if we do make it back, I really am not looking forward to spending exam week locked in Snape's office. If that is going to happen, we might as well drag him along with us." she told them before turning back to the slytherin boy. "Thanks for the spell, but please don't do anything you'll regret later or I will punch our face in again like last year," she huffed with an evil grin. Draco shivered slightly as all of the other boys broke out in huge overbearing smirks.

"I would like to see that again," mused Ron. After looking at the map an extra time, Hermione chanted Portus over the pair of pungent shoes, which glowed for a few moments before vanishing. After giving everything a once over, she stood up and waited for the boys to get over there. Everyone circled up and held their hands out over the prot key, ready to grab it. Ron was reluctantly standing next to Draco and was eyeing him down ever couple of seconds. Draco returned the favour easily every time.

"Alright, I didn't take the time to make exact cordinations so this landing might be a bit bumpy," she said as she folded and tucked the map into her robes. "Are you all ready?" Everyone nodded shakily, shifting their weight on their feet. "Alright, on the count of three."

...

Their landing was not the most graceful that they have ever felt, having fallen a good couple feet through the air until their port key actually reached the ground. However, with no broken bones, no missing limbs, and no lost comrades, Harry had to admit that Hermione did a pretty good job for her first port key. Everyone groaned as they got up off of the dirty and filthy ground, Draco in particular. The land was dry and dusty, making the dirt stick to their clothes like chalk. Once everyone got their senses together, they looked around the baren land that they were dropped off in. It looked to be a small field with a couple of trees scattered around the place. A few dim and scattered lights could be seen a short distance away while an even greater distance showed the luminous burning bulb of central city. Fred and George took a few steps around the place, testing their legs out on the fresh muggle soil which they sent a few short and lame jokes about while everyone else nearly tackled Hermione for the map and directions.

"Well that must be Central, and that...," she mumbled to herself, her finger pointed out towards the little dim lit group of shacks in the distance. "That must be some sort of slum area."

"What time is it? It was dark when we left!" Draco asked as he looked at the sky. The sun was below the horizon, the only trace of it was in the pink line that painted the sky. Hermione rolled up the map and quickly shoved it back into her robes.

"Well, with the time change it must be sunrise," she noted. They all fell silent for a moment and let the realisation sink in. They actually did it, they were in Amestris. The Weasleys as well as Draco found it rather amusing to be in a completely nonmagical country. However, the promise of the battles they were going to get themselves into put a huge damper on their spirits. They had dropped themselves in the middle of a war.

"What should we do now?" Ron asked curiously.

"You mean you haven't thought this through?" Draco exploded suddenly. All eyes turned and glared at the kid.

"Well, we didn't have much information to go on and by the sounds of it, neither does Edward. We just figured out how to get here," Hermione answered stiffly. "If you wanted your own plan, you should have made one up yourself."

"Hey, guys, why don't we start to head to the city? That's where everyone is heading anyway," Harry commented.

"Why don't we wait here? If this really was where Edward was going to meet up with people then they should be here any moment," George added.

"Boy, would I love to see the look on his face when he sees us," Fred muttered sarcastically under his breath. Suddenly, there was a sudden flash as a small group of people fell from the sky and into the center of the field. They landed rather gracefully, especially compared to their disaster of a landing, however some of the passengers couldn't keep down their stomachs. Edward, Hohenheim, Greed, and Severus were all standing in the middle of the field just a few yards away from where they were standing. Greed looked rather angry as he watched Hohenheim and Edward try to calm their vertigo down.

"God damn it," Edward coughed as he held his back in pain. Harry noticed that it was the same spot that he got shot in just earlier that day... or rather the day before. It must still be killing him. Madam Promfery didn't have enough time to do a great patch job on it as he heard in their conversation so he was left in pain. "That is the last time I am ever travelling by port key. I don't care how long it takes, I am using the train to get back to school!"

"With just your luck all of the stations will be gone by the end of the day," Greed taunted him. Edward growled in fustration but suddenly stopped and froze. Harry and the rest of the students stiffed as they caught the pair of golden eyes slide over and latch on them. Edward's face turned from one of simple annoyance to complete horror.

...

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!" Edward exclaimed, pointing a finger at the convicted students. Having six of his alchemy students standing there was the last thing he would have expected and he was ultimately terrified. He knew, he knew from the moment that the news got out that the lot of them would plan something this stupid, however, he didn't expect them to go this far. Edward stormed over to where the guilty party was standing, cursing all the way. "I-I... WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST STAY AT SCHOOL?" he screamed even louder. He didn't care if the slums would be woken up with his volume, he was going to scream and scolde their asses back to Hogwarts if it took that much. Edward's face was burnt red in fury however, the group didn't back down at all. He pinched the bridge of his nose in fustration and took a deep breath out as Greed placed a hand on his shoulder in order to restrain him.

"Edward," Severus's slimy voice drew out. "How did they know about your situation?" he asked in an accusing voice.

"Because they are nosy, eavesdropping, stubborn, teenagers! That's how they found out!" Edward snipped back with venom.

"Don't forget you are still one too," Hohenheim butted in.

"This is not the time!" he scolded his father quickly.

"No, the time is 6:00 in the morning, Muggle time," the twins joked light heartedly. Edward shot them the most foul glare that he could have mustered and Harry jabbed them in the ribs, making them shut up. The field fell into total silence as the two groups just stared at each other. Harry shifted around uneasily he felt Severus's cold dark eyes bore into him, however, he should have been paying attention to Edward's burning glare.

"Grab your port key, and go back to the castle," he ordered, shakily. His hands were clamped in fists and pinned to his sides as they were shaking in utmost fury.

"Professor, we are just wanting to help-" Harry began to try and reason but he didn't get far before Edward snapped at him.

"You could help by studying for our exams! What were you guys thinking? People could die!"

"And that is why we came Professor," he retorted.

"We didn't want anyone to get hurt," Draco echoed, backing Harry up. Edward looked even more suprised to see him there especially with all of the gryffindors, but Severus looked rather embarrassed at his student's betrayal. Edward growled under his breath.

"Everyone, except you six are trained in combat. I am in the military, Greed is a crazy butt kicking homunculus, Hohenheim's a stone, and Severus is... a potion master or something! You guys can't be here!" Edward tried to convince them however, they didn't seem to move. In fact, the twins crossed their arms and planted their feet in defiance. Edward looked longingly towards Severus for aid but the man shrugged in defeat.

"Once Potter makes a decision, he is seldomly moved. However, I didn't expect him to drop so low as to endanger not only his stubborn friends, but my students as well," Severus hissed, dirrecting his sting towards the kids. Harry shifted uncomfortably in his shoes as he stared Snape back down. The Alchemy teacher let out a fustrated cry. Unfortunately Severus ws right. Edward took a couple steps away from the group to get some air. Harry looked over questioningly towards Ron but they all seemed lost, each one hoping that Edward wouldn't murder them before they got to fight. Luckily, Edward took a huge breath and calmed himself down, finally, succsessfuly.

"Give them translation spells," Edward ordered Severus. The man looked surprised but he gave him a fould glare. "Just do it. If we want these assholes to survive until I can convince them to go back, we are going to need them to hear amestrian." Severus didn't object and did as he was told. A translation spell was given out to everyone of the six students. They looked around as if they expected more than just a small white flash of light but they were disappointed. Severus also casted a spell upon himself seeing as he didn't have one before hand. After fully satisfied, Edward nodded his head and turned towards Hohenheim.

"Who else was going to meet us here?" he asked tensely to his father, trying to change the subject in hopes of saving himself from getting an ulsar.

"Mr. Havoc managed to contact your chimera friends and we managed to get Alphonse on the line. I think he might have called some others-" Hohenheim explained but was cut off as a few cries came out of the bushes. Everyone turned around, completely surprised to see two peculiar people walk out of the brush and into the clearing. One was tall and broad while the other was short and thin, yet both had very strange facial hair.

"We were wandering these woods for hours! You need to pick a more precise meeting area. Luckily Heinkel here as a nose as good as he does," the man sniped.

"A good nose?" Edward heard Ron whisper to Harry under his breath. Harry shrugged slightly as he had no clue what the men meant. The strangers, however, over heard them and turned and stared at him curiously.

"What are these kids doing here?" Heinkel asked. Edward sighed.

"They are my students and they decided to fail their finals and come on this charade," he grumbled. He didn't have to turn around to see Hermione physically pale at the mention of her final grade.

"You are going to cut our grades?" she exclaimed. Edward smiled back cruedly.

"Well, it is either that or take every single house point away from you at the end of the year. I think I could convince McGonagall into doing that," he hummed to himself, relishing in the opportunity to torture them for their disobedience.

"Professor, what about Malfoy?" Ron asked. "McGonagall only takes points from her house."

"Hey! Don't push this on me!" Draco whined.

"You were the one that went on his hands and knees and begged us to come along," George said over dramatically. Severus raised his eyebrow at the kid accusingly and Draco turned bright red much to Harry's amusement.

"It wasn't exactly like that," he muttered pathetically. Edward rolled his eyes and completely pushed their childish concerns aside.

"Mr. Gorilla, did you see anyone else while you were trying to find us? We are expecting some more people. How about Alphonse?" he asked.

"How many times do I have to tell you that that isn't my name? It's Darius!" the large dark haired man cried however, Edward didn't seem to accept it at all. The man sighed, "No I didn't see or hear anyone. Alphonse makes a lot of noise, you know in his armour and-" he started but suddenly stopped. His head jerked up in alert and so did Heinkel's. They looked around the clearing suddenly, eyes squinting and ears cocked. Everyone was searching around as well, but they didn't see what they did, at least not until it stepped out of the tall brush. Alphonse's armour creaked a bit as it took a few careful steps towards them. Edward's face lit up as he caught sight of his own brother.

"Alphonse! Aren't I glad to see you!" Edward exclaimed excitedly as he made his way over to his brother. There was a slight feeling in his gut that was telling him something was wrong but he ignored it as best as he could. It was probably just paranoia from the Promised Day.

"B-brother! C-Could I... talk t-to y-you f-for a moment?" the armour asked. This seemed to stop Edward for a moment. It was obvious that there was just something not right about this situation. He looked over to Heinkel, Darius, and Greed and all of them seemed to feel the same way. They were all tensed as if they knew something was going to happen. It was Alphonse though, he wouldn't do anything right? However Edward for some reason couldn't shake the feeling. Alphonse sounded scared.

"Is everything alright? You're acting kind of weird," Edward asked cautiously, inching ever closer to his brother. Alphonse wasn't approaching the group. Infact, he wasn't stepping too far out of the dimly cast shadows of the woods. Suddenly, Greed ran out and yanked the kid back by his flaming red coat just as a long black shadow lashed out towards him.

"Everyone, get away!" he shouted. "That's a homunculus!" Edward was tossed rather groughly back by Greed as the Chimeras and his father tried to clear all of his students out of the way. It was so fast that he didn't know what to think of it. Within a matter of seconds everyone in the clearing had jumped back a good distance from the infected suit of Alphonse Elric. The dark misty shadows swirled and danced out around the body. They looked as sharp as knives yet as thick as fog.

"I-I am sorry, brother," Alphonse's nervous voice whined. His body was trembling ever so slightly as if trying to break out of the shadowy bonds he was trapped in. Anger swelled in Edward's chest as he watched his terrified younger brother try to fight the shadows. No one messed with his brother. Edward tore out of Greed's grip and took a threatening step forward but he faltered as an eerily chuckle seemed to rise out of nowhere. It seemed to be coming from Alphonse but the normal kindness in his voice was all but gone.

"Ha, you might not want to do that unless you want your brother's precious blood seal to crumble away. It was far too easy to take over this empty tin can of a body," the childish voice sneered.

"Get out of him, Pride. What an annoying little brother you are," Greed scolded the mist.

"Little brother? I am far older than you, Greed. You were born just a year ago!"

"And yet you decide to take the form of a six year old, how did that ever pan out," the homunculus sneered. Edward tried to run through a many different possibilities to free his brother, but it was so difficult with the shadows actually inside of him. A simple mis step could cas the seal to be scratched and... Edward's mind flashed to the terrible nightmares he had of Alphonse's armour being torn to shreds. Dumbledore said that those images could have been Divinations. Edward felt his body tense up with the sudden fear. That couldn't happen, that wouldn't happen. Alphonse couldn't just die like that, he wouldn't let him. Anyway, as he thought about it, Pride wouldn't let that happen. They were sacrifices which meant they had to be kept alive until they had no further use of them. Edward smirked slightly as he got ready to fight. Pride wouldn't dare kill them. Just as he was about to move, two blinding white lights shot out of nowhere and exploded upon the shadows at Alphonses heels. It burned blindingly bright and a piercing cry was released as the shadows were tattered apart. Before Edward knew it, Alphonse's body fell limp to the ground and the two chimeras immediately ran to retrieve it. It was so sudden he barely had time to register that his brother was freed. He turned around to see the Weasley twins high fived each other in victory as Alphonse was dragged to safety. Edward raced over to his brother as fast as he could. His armour was all beat up and even cut in some places where the shadows pieced it. He wasn't moving at all. Edward felt his heart stop in fear. What if in that insident one of the shadows cut his seal on accident?

"Alphonse!" he exclaimed, as if his brother would reply as he ripped his brother's helmet off to inspect the blood seal. He gave a huge sigh of relief seeing that it wasn't even chipped. Nothing was wrong. Alphonse must have been taken back to another battle with his gate. He was being rejected again. Even though the high fear of Alphonse not being able to move struck him, it was better than never seeing him again. With a light chuckle he tossed Alphonse's head back down. "Great time for you to zone out again," he huffed sarcastically as he stood up. Alphonse's body was limp on the ground as everyone stood around it waiting for something to happen. Edward turned on them and gave his students all a glare. They were obviously the ones who foolishly shot those spells.

"what the hell did you think you were doing?" he scolded them with a fire that could have melted the hardest metal. "You don't jump into hostage situations so blindly!"

"We got him out safe alright?"Draco muttered.

"I don't care! Blood seals are delicate! Do you even know how close-" Edward started but someone held him back. They obviously had bigger things to worry about. Hohenheim stepped forward to take control of the situation. However, Edward caught a flash of fear in his eye. It held the same distress that he had when thinking of the sudden possibility of Alphonse's demise.

"What did you do exactly?" he asked the teenagers calmly. They shifted nervously but Edward desperately awaited an answer.

"Yeah, we just flashed the shadows away and walaa, it was all Hermione's plan," Ron added. Edward turned to Hermione who was turning bright red from the sudden attention. He eyed her for a couple minutes before relaxing a bit.

"Right, Hermione, I need you and Draco for a moment."

"What are we-" Draco asked as Edward looked around the area. A million plans flashed through his head at once as he looked around at his options. He needed to get as many of his students as far away from Pride as possible in the upcoming battle, but he also needed their man power so desperately.

"I need you two to do some of your magic or what not, and take out the lights and electricity in the slums-"

"Why... oh!" Hermione was going to question before the answer snapped to her. Draco was still utterly confused not getting the plan at all. "Because shadows can't exist in darkness!"

"Elric, wouldn't the civilians notice something is wrong and fix it? They would instantly try to fix the power when they see it is shut down," Severus questioned, eyeing Hermione for a moment. "Anyways, wouldn't it be better to have some more experienced people go-"

"Nope, they are going. We need everyone else here to keep Pride away from the civilians. Hermione, Draco, you keep the power out as long as possible. We will only have a short window of time here to locate and take out Pride. Lion King, you have a good nose, you think that you could locate him?"

"Yes, definitely. Animal instincts are never wrong," Heinkel nodded completely ignoring the name Edward had given him.

"Great, Greed, I need you to release Lin for this. He can sense qi. We need to know where Pride is going to strike next-

"Hell, no! I am not-" Greed started but then a loud cry pierced the night.

"GET DOWN!" old man's voice suddenly scream out from above them. Suddenly as black whisps came out from no where and darted towards them like knives. Edward clapped his hands and shot them to the ground to form a barrier from the ground. As the earth shot up, Harry casted a shielding spell as everyone ducked to the ground. A blinding flash of light was set off with loud crackles, scattering the shadows into pieces. One of the unflashed shadows smashed into Harry's spell and splintered apart like wood.

"God, you saved us on that one," Ron let out a breath as they slowly stood up and got ready for another attack from the shadows. The black darts had retreated again as if stunned from the sudden attack. Edward looked over approovingly of Harry's spell. He remembered that the homunculi still weren't fully knowledgable of magic and therefore had a weakness to its randomness and chaos. Though Harry's spells were still weak, it saved everyone from the shadows that his wall didn't protect them from. Maybe it wasn't a bad thing that they were there, however it was obvious that the attack nearly scared his students shitless as Draco was grabbing his chest like he was going to faint at any moment. Even though Draco was a terrific student, there was a reason he wasn't pu in Gryffindor. Suddenly an old man dropped out from the trees infront of them, a young girl accompanying him. It was Foo and Lanfan. They must have been the ones who dropped the flashbombs on Pride. It was a great saving they did there. Without them, he was sure that his wall or even Harry's sheild wouldn't have been able to hold up.

"FOO! LANFAN!" Edward shouted. "Get ready he is going to come back any minute. Do you have anymore flash bombs?"

"Yes we do," Lanfan told him, "Only a few left though."

"Keep them! We need them," Hohenheim said. Edward turned quickly to his students and stared at them for a minute. They were all roughly dirty from the sudden attack and rather frightened but they still looked determined. This was it. there was no turning them back. He raced forward and grabbed Hermione by the shoulders and spun her around to the slums.

"Hermione, Draco, go now!" he ordered quickly. They looked rather befuddled by the sudden order. "This is important I need you to keep them off as long as possible." Hermione nodded her head swiftly and grabbed the rather confused Slytherin and drag him off towards the run down slums. Edward turned back to the rest of their rapidly grown group. They had no plan over all, but so far, they didn't seem half bad. The only plan they had for this day was to survive. "Alright! Everyone get ready! We are up for a long Promised Day."