Alchemy: Tiny Steps

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D/C: I own nothing.

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"English and Edward's accented voice."

"Amestrian, Xingese, foreign languages, or to add emphasis."

Written notes or to add extra emphasize

'Thoughts.'

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"-from what I read and looked at… your friend was framed. The bastard that set him up is either still alive and in hiding, or dead for whatever reason. My guess… he's still alive and working with public enemy number one. It appears the thumb was partially cut off before it was pulled off forcefully. Looking at the other bodies that surrounded the area, there was absolutely little to nothing left of them. What was left of them was nowhere as close to the thumb." Elric casually started to throw photos on to his desk as he continued with his analyzation of the Sirius Black case. Lupin listened to him, his focus solely on him and on the evidence that was presented in front of him. "Was there any way to trace back who did the spell? We have this thing where we could trace back bullets and all other sorts of weapons. Can that be done with magic?"

For his own part, Lupin clenched his teeth together and glared at the file that laid on Elric's desk. "We do. They did not bother to trace Sirius or Peter's wands to see who did the spell."

"Why am I not surprised…?" Elric rolled his eyes and throwing his hands into the air with frustration. "On top of not getting a proper investigation, all of you just threw the guy in prison for the hell of it. At least when this sort of shit went down back home, we investigated before we did anything."

"Er…this happened to you?"

"…Back on subject…" Edward changed the subject back to the original subject in hand. He plopped himself onto his chair with a heavy sigh. "This reeks of a cover-up… and it all stems back to Harry Potter. The supposed Boy Who Lived."

In a short time, Lupin had gotten to know Edward Elric, and what he was told by the Minister. The young man seems to have a… different view of Harry Potter. Elric is completely indifferent towards Harry, to the point of even perhaps dislike. Some had even gone as for to accused Snape of turning Elric into the dark side but was quickly turned down when the Golden Blonde stated that he believed that without magic He Who Must Not Be Named, he is just a human that is trying to play god and that never ends well. That was quickly followed with talks of an ever-smiling white figure that has what appears to be Elric swearing in his native language. Everyone simply looked at it as an Alchemist thing. Even so, Lupin wondered how he would interact with young Harry once he comes to Hogwarts.

Elric plopped himself onto his chair with a heavy sigh, he grumbled under his breath and cursing Mustang for putting him in the middle of this case. So much corruption and it was so blatantly done that it made him questioned everyone's sanity and human nature. The thought of the repercussions is giving him a massive headache. This isn't the only case he was asked to work on, and many of them had similar complications. This is just one giant mess and he wants nothing to do with it. "What a mess…you could smell conspiracy and corruption all over."

Several knocks coming from the door made the occupants in the room to look over at the main entrance of the classroom.

"I'm not getting up."

...

Alphonse shivered uncontrollably, he hated the cold. He preferred the blistering heat over the possibility of losing his limbs due to frostbite. Now the youngest of the Elric Brothers is now regretting every time he ever made fun of his older brother when it comes to the weather and so on. Luckily for him, he already arrived at Briggs and he is currently quarantined, getting warm and getting full permission to officially wonder around Briggs. The sound of locks being unlocked caught the Elric's attention, he turned to see the metal door to reveal Major Miles entering the small room.

"The General is currently busy with a phone call to Mustang." Miles stated to Alphonse with a curt nod, he pulled out a thick package from his coat and handed it to the teen. Alphonse shakily took the package and saw it was folding up coat that felt it would do more good than the one he currently has on. "Here. That crap you're wearing isn't enough to keep you warm."

"Th-Tha-thank y-y-y-yo-you…"

"Once you get warmed up enough, I'll escort you to the infirmary. Miss. Rockbell is expecting you…Where are your guards? Do you know how stupid it was to come here on your own?"

"…I….I… I didn't….uh…"

"Don't do it again. I swear you remind of one of my sons…idiots."

"You have kids?"

"We wanted a big family."

...

Sirius Black looked out his jail cell to see fellow prisoners were being visited by Ministry Officials for the past couple of weeks. Pay closer attention, said prisoners were mainly ones that were not given a fair trial during the First Wizarding War, or in his case, not even given one. There are a few that were not given the same treatment of course. They were quickly taken away from this shit hole for a couple of hours and return kicking and screaming. A quick trial, for those that had clear evidence of their wrongdoings.

Whatever Amelia did for this change, put a high cost against her popularity as Minister. Then again… some prisoners that leave for their trial never come back. Either they were given the Dementor's Kiss… or set free. Here's to hoping.

"Oi! Black! Guess who's back?"

Sirius looked up to see the official that was presiding over his case. The man has round green eyes, thick, straight and very long dark hair, and has a plump build. His skin is dark, small eyes and is wearing gray robes that complimented him. The guy's name is Tomas Soto, an American Wizard that came to Great Britain for whatever reason. "Hello, Tomas. How are things with the wife?"

"Happy I'm off my fat ass and doing work." Tomas deadpanned before he busted out laughing. "She's just happy that's I'm out of the office and doing something productive for once. With Mr. Lupin assigning us with cases, and him hiring me made my payroll grow. We finally got that house we wanted ever since we moved out here."

"How…how is Remus?"

"As I said, he's been assigning us to old cases after he approves of which one to reopen and what route to take them on. I came by today to say that The Edward Elric is personally looking into your case."

"The supposed Alchemist?"

"No…The Supposed Alchemist. The guy has a military background, a muggle background and is a complete third party to your case. He isn't going to judge you for your background or past actions. He is judging the case by the clues, evidence, and accounts of witnesses. With his report, it helped us get you a trail. A proper one for that."

"H-he did! That's… that's…AMAZING!"

"Only one problem…"

"What? What's the problem?"

"It's not much of a problem really."

"How big of a problem is it?"

"It depends on how you take it in?"

"Tomas…"

"It could be taken as good or bad."

"Just tell me!"

"It's…."

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"WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL ME BEFORE!"

"…."

"UGH! WHAT THAT ASS DID!"

"Typical…"

"THERE IS NO EXCUSE!"

"This is why I did not say anything earlier."

"UGH!" Edward slammed his hands onto his desk that was in his room, his cheeks covered with an obvious blush that only grew the more he drowned his bottle of firewhiskey. "I knew you were picked on, but to take things to that point…"

Severus lounged easily on one of the couches in the room, only taking small sips of the glass of his drink. "If I told you what exactly happened between myself and Sirius Black, then you would have never accepted helping him. You must not put your emotions into this or any case. Plus… you're drunk. You don't process things too well at this state."

"…I'm not drunk…"

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

"…6?"

"Not even close."

To be continued…

R/R.