I'm almost up to chapter 6 translation-wise, so I'm going to put these up every few days until I catch up or finish, whichever happens first. I do want to get this all translated by the end of May, so hopefully we'll be able to finish this series by June at the latest. Enjoy!

Harry heard a loud crack. His first instinct was to pull out his wand and take cover behind the wheelbarrow with which he was doing what would no doubt be his last chores for the Dursleys. The latter had once again reversed their decision to leave and had decided, for the sixth time, to unload the car and Harry (since it was his fault, of course) had to help them. Except that a wizard had just appeared near the house and that was not necessarily a good sign.

At the same time, Dudley Dursley came looking for him, stammering in a trembling voice:

"He's one of yours!"

For a moment Harry wondered what made Dudley tremble: was it the wizard coming in close proximity or did he fear it was one of the evil wizards Kingsley Shacklebolt and Arthur Weasley had told him about, he didn't know. But still it was up to him to fix the problem. Slowly, with great care, Harry walked over to where the crack had come from and he almost let go of his wand when he saw who was lying on the sidewalk in front of 4 Privet Drive.

Edward lay there, half conscious, as if trying to reach Harry's house despite his injuries. They looked to be serious, but the Gryffindor did not want to fall into a trap set by the Death Eaters so he pointed his wand and asked in a firm, harsh voice:

"Tell me something only Edward Elric would know!"

Edward's weak voice answered him:

"The members of the Circle all became illegal Animagi last year. Mine is a fennec."

"Look at me." Harry asked, still suspiciously, and he mouthed the word "dwarf" without saying it. Edward's reaction was, of course, immediate, as even on the verge of death the blond could not ignore this type of insult:

"I'll kill you later for calling me a dwarf no taller than a garden gnome. But first I would like you to let me in. Do you know how hard it is to get away?" Edward muttered as he tried to get up unsuccessfully.

In the end, Harry supported him to get him into the house, making sure that neither his uncle nor his aunt who had locked themselves in the kitchen to "chat" saw him. Dudley stared at them, trembling, from the top of the stairs, whispering in a surprisingly sensitive voice if he was going to make it. Harry nodded, more to reassure Dudley than to worry about the truth. Deep inside Harry was tremendously worried: Ed's wounds were still bleeding and he was breathing as if he had just put in a considerable effort, which he probably had been. To say the least, he was amazed, relieved and grateful at the same time when Dudley agreed to help him get his former private tutor upstairs to Harry's bedroom where Harry answered Edward's rhetorical question:

"I imagine. I heard Voldemort's thoughts again and they were about you. Apparently you had gone into a coma to escape the torture spells and he was furious that he couldn't question you. I imagine you invented that to avoid it, right?"

"I don't know, it came on its own…" Ed muttered as he finally entered Harry's room.

There, with difficulty and great care, Edward stretched out on the small bed in the room with Harry's help. The golden haired teen was unusually pale and was breathing heavily. Harry, for a moment, remained with his arms dangling, not knowing what to do. Then, finally recovering his senses, he left the room and went to get the first aid kit stored in the bathroom and took out gauze, bandages, rubbing alcohol, and joined Edward in his room. The latter had removed his filthy wizarding robe and was now shirtless, showing an impressive collection of open, bleeding wounds and wounds as well as scars, some old and some more recent. Harry swore one of the worst curses he knew when he saw the body of his friend whose back now looked more like a road map than a normal back. Harry winced at the thought that the treatment was probably going to be as painful as the torture.

As he walked over to the bed he stumbled over Edward's robe and saw to his amazement that the pockets were filled to the brim with healing potions and he was reassured to think that at least Edward would not be devoid of magical healing. Seeing that Ed still seemed half unconscious, he began by trying to wake him up as he had no idea what order and how much of the potions he needed to give him. The Ravenclaw woke up somehow and emptied the many bottles stored in his pockets onto the bed, then pointed to a painkiller potion, managed to grab it and swallowed it in one go. Then he asked him if he could disinfect his back wounds with the alcohol while he tended to the front ones. Harry did so without saying anything, knowing that his friend didn't really need his pity. Edward didn't say a word, just gritting his teeth and sometimes letting out a low hiss when he was in too much pain.

After spending half an hour disinfecting the wounds the muggle way, they moved on to ointments and magic potions which would speed up healing. Luckily (or maybe not, after all, Ed was proficient at potions) he had taken the most effective remedies and Harry was relieved to see the wounds closing quickly before his eyes. There was only one left open, it was the injury that Greyback caused a month ago. That should heal over time and not by magical means and that would undoubtedly leave a scar. Edward shrugged and then cursed because he was in pain, which made Harry smile slightly, reassured that his friend was taking it pretty well.

After that, they moved on to the damage done to his bones and especially his ribs. On Edward's instructions, Harry bandaged the Ravenclaw's chest tightly and then administered Skele-Gro to make the bones come together. After that, Edward, exhausted, fell asleep on the bed and Harry took advantage of this moment of respite to go get him some food. He took light foods including canned soup and went to prepare them and put them on a platter. Edward, in his half-asleep state, agreed to drink everything except the glass of milk, which reassured Harry as to his true identity. Only Ed, on the brink of death, would refuse to drink what he described as a drink aimed at poisoning him. It was not for nothing that some at school compared Edward to a knarl, a magical creature who also hated the beverage…

Harry didn't sleep all night, preferring to watch over his friend and write to his friends about the good news of Edward's return home. He sent the letter, not with Hedwig but with Ed's owl, Aletheia. The little owl was faster when it came to hauling mail at high speed and most importantly, she seemed to have an inferiority complex towards other owls which made her eager to prove herself. Sometimes Harry thought to himself that the saying like dog, like master could be applied to owls: Aletheia was as angry and as touchy as Edward Elric. Not that he was going to dare to say that out loud in front of his friend. Merlin knows how he would react…

He went downstairs for a few minutes to make the Dursleys' hearty breakfast, then he went up to his room, bringing up some eggs and bacon for Edward. The latter was fully awake and he was examining the surroundings, as alert as usual:

"I see you brought my trunk with you."

He pointed to his trunk, which had been shrunk by Mrs. Weasley and which contained all of his things.

"Yes. Luna thought that if you managed to escape, you would probably come either to her house or here. She bet you would come here and she was right as always." Harry replied, smiling.

"Good… I need my things for later. But if I make my trunk larger here, it might alert the Trace and with what's going on in the Ministry, it'd be best to avoid that."

"The trace? I've heard Hermione mention it before…"

"It's a spell that is automatically cast by the Ministry on all Hogwarts students when they enter school. This allows the Department of Magical Justice to spot Muggle-born children who perform magic at home. The trace can be bypassed but only with powerful enchantments and there are none here. It means that if I do magic here, the Ministry people will believe that you are responsible and given what I heard at the Death Eater meeting, you'd better not go to the Ministry right now." Edward explained.

"What are you going to do, then?" Harry asked.

"It's simple, I'll borrow some clothes from you, if you're okay with it, and I'll wait until Saturday night to get my things back." Ed replied as if the solution was obvious.

"Go ahead, don't be shy!" Harry replied before exclaiming: "And how did you know I'm leaving on Saturday? Even I only learned about it yesterday, from the members of the Order!"

"Well in that case, Snape must have found a good way to stay infiltrated into the Order because he already knows your departure date and passed it on to Voldemort. I hope that the members of the Order have already planned a plan B because otherwise we're finished."

"Why did Snape have to reveal my departure date to Voldemort?" Harry grumbled, who would have preferred a quiet exit.

"To stay in Voldemort's good graces, of course! I observed a Death Eater meeting until I had to make a break for it: it feels like a king's court! Each Death Eater tries somehow to please their master with varying degrees of success, but for the moment it is Snape who is in first place, followed by Rookwood. And it's better for our side that Snape is in the first place." Edward explained.

"You've seen a Death Eater meeting?" Harry asked, blown away by Ed's daring.

"Yep! But not to the end. I noticed that Snape is considered the favorite because he is placed to the right of Voldemort. At least now there is nobody more firmly entrenched in the enemy's camp than he."

"At least Dumbledore's sacrifice will not have been in vain." Harry sighed.

"No, everyone seems convinced that he did murder Dumbledore. No one knows about the arrangement between the Headmaster and him. You acted very well- no one should have suspected the truth." Edward asserted.

"However, I did update the Circle members on Snape. I trust them to act natural concerning him and they will know how to be silent." The Gryffindor said firmly.

"You did well. You shouldn't be the only one with such a heavy secret. Besides, if any of them return to Hogwarts, they need to be able to trust Snape while he's posing as a Death Eater. The school should fall before September." Declared Ed, who knew that you could not be the only one to hold secrets, otherwise they would suffocate you.

"How did you manage to observe a Death Eater meeting in your state? When I found you, you looked on death's door." Harry asked.

"I did some experiments with astral travel, the applications of Animagus abilities, and Legilimency. I can't really recommend them because it hurts a thousand times more than anything you can imagine." Edward said honestly.

"In that case, I don't think I want to try." Harry stated wisely, unwilling to experience any further pain. That which he had already undergone was more than enough for him.

"Wise choice." The Ravenclaw agreed. It was not worth it to endure such pain especially when the experience could have gone very badly.

They were silent for a moment before Harry made up his mind to check Edward's wounds: they had partially healed overnight but most were still tender. Nonetheless, Ed was pretty sure that with some magical healing, the worst of his wounds would be healed by Saturday, the day Harry left. All he had to do was train to be fit enough for the battle that was sure to take place.

But apparently Harry was not okay with Edward jumping back into exercise until all of his wounds were closed. As he said himself, he had not treated the blond so he could reopen his wounds at the slightest effort- and according to him, the exercises he did to keep in shape were one of the efforts in question. They had had a little argument over the topic that Harry had won and so he had made Edward rest.

In the middle of the day, they both received a letter from Ron and Hermione who had sent Aletheia back with an envelope which was larger than her. The letter that was inside reflected the concern and joy that animated his two friends:

Dear Harry and Edward,

Ron and I are really happy to hear about your escape, Edward. You scared us when we learned of your kidnapping by Rookwood. Ron will probably say he was sure you would find some way to get away from it all, but I know he was at least as worried as the rest of us.

We had of course to pass the news on to Mad-Eye Moody who took over from Dumbledore as head of the Order of the Phoenix due to his experience. It's hard to tell if he was happy or not (he just growled, saying you were harder to catch than an eel). Don't take it the wrong way, he has a lot to do, but don't worry, you'll know more on Saturday. On the other hand, I don't know if you will be happy…

Unfortunately, we can't tell you more in case Edward's owl is intercepted, not that it would be easy for the Death Eaters… when I mentioned the possibility out loud, Aletheia bit me. I assure you, Ed, your owl has as bad a temper as you!

In the meantime, I extend to both of you our best regards on behalf of both of us. To Edward I wish you a good recovery, Harry wrote to us to describe how you were, although it looks like you will recover soon.

Hermione (and Ron)

As Edward and Harry finished the letter, another post owl appeared on the windowsill, with the newspaper hanging from its paw. Soon Harry was immersed in an article written by Elphias Doge (who he remembered as being in the Order of the Phoenix). He and Dumbledore had apparently been friends since their first meeting aboard the Hogwarts Express and the old man had written a veritable eulogy on Albus Dumbledore which the Boy-Who-Lived read very carefully.

Harry couldn't help but be amazed at how many things he didn't know about his former mentor: to be honest, all he knew was what Dumbledore had confided in him and whatever else he had deduced and yet he had had a closer relationship with him than the other students could claim. And yet, he had never known, for example, that the old wizard had had a little sister or how hard his family history must have been for him. The dark-haired teen couldn't help but feel ashamed considering that many of their conversations had been about himself. Their discussions had been extremely focused on him, on his adventures, his projects, his future...

However, he now regretted not asking Albus Dumbledore more questions but one in particular tormented him, and again it concerned himself and not the old Headmaster: had the latter known he was a Horcrux? Had all these discussions about his future been all lies on his part? A part of him was loath to consider it while a part of him, more cynical, wondered if Dumbledore had even considered talking to him about it or just letting him guess the truth for himself. Deep down, Harry didn't know what motivated Dumbledore to hide this important fact from him, but he hoped he had a good reason… But maybe he hadn't knowingly hidden it, maybe he wasn't aware of it. Nevertheless, he had a hard time imagining this hypothesis especially in the face of Dumbledore's great intelligence after it was described in this newspaper article.

The next few days were spent doing the Dursleys' chores of loading and unloading the car, knowing that the longer they waited the longer the list of their "must-do" things grew, making Harry's job more difficult. Edward, on the other hand, had to- to his extreme boredom- lie in bed during the brief period of his recovery. To occupy himself, he read (or reread) the books contained in Harry's trunk, focusing especially on the works on Defense against the Dark Arts. He also chatted with Harry about some topics like his escape, the fake Horcruxes, the real ones, who could have been the mysterious RAB…

None of the Dursleys (other than Dudley) seemed to know that Edward was in the house which suited the two boys who only wanted peace perfectly. However, the day before Harry's family left, Dedalus Diggle had contacted Harry to let him know that the whole Order knew about Ed's whereabouts but that didn't surprise him: after all, he had informed Ron and Hermione…

Saturday finally arrived and it was that day that Harry's uncle discovered that Edward had been staying in his nephew's room without his knowledge. He became enraged and turned a purple color but Harry quickly defused the conflict by asking straight out if he and his family had finally made up their minds to leave Privet Drive. Now, it was precisely about this that Mr. Dursley had burst into the smallest room in the house: he thought he had finally discovered the loose thread and now firmly believed that Harry and "his kind" sought to take over his house by means of obscure real estate deals.

Harry only raised an eyebrow (an exercise he had managed to accomplish by watching Snape) and he listened patiently to his uncle's arguments as Edward lay quietly reading the daily newspaper with a frown. Finally, the teen was able to speak his piece and explained the situation again: Voldemort would not hesitate to attack his family to get Harry to put himself in danger by coming to rescue them, even if they had been mistreating him for years. Vernon and Petunia Dursley seemed shaken by the threat hanging over them, but even more so when their seventeen-year-old son insisted on leaving with the members of the Order. He indeed seemed to have gained intelligence since his meeting two years ago with the Dementors. So it was decided: the Dursley family would be leaving today in a few hours with Hestia Jones and Dedalus Diggle.

The situation was finally settled for the best when Harry found himself again alone in his room with Edward. The latter had finished reading his article and he passed it to Harry who could take note of the future publication of the work entitled The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore. The name of the author of the said book immediately made him fear the worst because it was no less than Rita Skeeter, the infamous journalist only known to tell the truth when she was forced to do so… Harry was tormented by the news of these future "revelations" and he had many questions: had Dumbledore really flirted with the Dark Arts? Could it really be that some of the things this scandalous journalist wrote could be true? Would people believe what she said about the alleged "unhealthy relationship" between him and Dumbledore? When he said his questions out loud, Edward answered him, still lying on the bed:

"The best lie, as you know by now, is the one that mixes the truth with the lie because that makes it much more believable. There may really be some truths in this collection of nonsense, but you will have to use your own intelligence to discern Truth from lies."

"But most people, they'll likely believe all this filth about Dumbledore and about me!" Harry exclaimed, disgusted.

"Even the worst lies cannot corrupt the Truth. But remember," Edward continued wisely, "in the end, the truth will have to come out, even about someone who seems untouchable like Dumbledore. What you risk learning may well change your perception of Dumbledore as you have known him, but you can't blame yourself for wanting his memory not to be sullied."

"Wait… what you're trying to tell me is that I have the right to respect Dumbledore as I knew him, when he was old… But if I want to be a person who pursues his path to the Truth like Snape said, I have to learn to understand all the facets of a person, including those that I don't want to see in others, right?"

"You've understood everything. Everyone has skeletons in their closets, things that we don't want the people we love or want to respect us to find out about because we're afraid it will change their outlook on us."

"That goes for you too?" Harry asked bluntly.

"All the more so for me because I've also made my share of mistakes in my life."

"What mistakes?" Harry asked quietly without trying to rush his friend. After all, he was free to reveal his secrets or not.

"I sought to revive one of my loved ones with the help of a dark art and in the end my mistake nearly cost me the life of a loved one not to mention my leg." Edward replied in a neutral tone, implying that he had used black magic and not alchemy. After all, he had promised not to reveal to the inhabitants of this world that he was from another universe, or that he knew how to actively use alchemy.

"I… see." Harry replied, scrutinizing his friend, wondering if this revelation made any difference to his friendship with Edward. But he realized that no, it didn't matter in the end. Maybe if he had known Edward back then he would have despised him for having dabbled in some sort of dark magic, but today he knew Edward Elric as a friend, as a well of wisdom and a courageous person, ready to do anything to help his friends. Maybe it was like this for Dumbledore: maybe he too had made mistakes once but he had repented of them and today he was known for his defense of Muggles and Muggleborns, for his great tolerance. and his benevolence towards minorities. And after all, if he was always ready to give others a second chance, wasn't it because he himself felt the need to be given that famous second chance?

In the end, what mattered was the present and not the past that could influence the world. It didn't matter what Edward had done in the past: obviously he regretted it bitterly now and that alone mattered to Harry. If he had to look back every time he had to go forward, he could only walk gropingly. The main thing was to move forward, even if in Harry's case, moving forward only meant that he was nearing his end. He took a deep breath and stared at Edward who continued to watch his reaction. Putting his morbid thoughts aside, he forced himself to look at Edward and smile at him, assuring him:

"I'm glad you trust me enough to tell me."

Edward smirked back and leaned over Harry's messy trunk, sighing at his friend's sense of order: he was decidedly a mess! He began to take the books out carefully and stack them neatly, with respect, on Harry's desk and then asked him to sort them into two piles: those he intended to take during the Horcrux hunt and those he intended to leave aside while awaiting the resumption of his studies. Harry couldn't help but be surprised at the optimism of his friend who still believed there was a future for him. When he shared his thoughts on the matter with the blond in rather indelicate terms, Edward reminded him curtly that he too was the subject of a rather un-optimistic prophecy regarding his future. Harry blushed with shame as he remembered that the part of the prediction about Ed said in cryptic terms that "to live he would have to die." Which was not very encouraging.

Forcing himself to clear his mind of the morbid thoughts that haunted him by concentrating on his storage, Harry stacked the books he was taking: the Half-Blood Prince (aka Snape)'s potion book, the few Defense books he'd been given, and the photo album Hagrid gave him. But on Edward's recommendation, he also had to add to this meager pile some books recommended by Edward who simply refused to give up his education on the spurious pretext that he would probably die before the end of the year! It was not simply in the style of the young Ravenclaw and he finally had to stop Ed to prevent him from taking all his books…

Then the two boys moved on to clothes: Edward carefully folded the few Muggle clothes Harry passed him and stacked them in the bag while insisting that Harry at least take a wizard's robe with him just in case. He also stored Harry's invisibility cloak, along with his potion kit and precious letters from his friends. He also added Sirius' magic mirror which, miraculously, was still intact. His wand was in his leather holster that Edward gave him last Christmas and the Marauder's map and RAB's gold locket were in his chest pocket. Edward had agreed, saying that it might intercept a spell targeting his heart but Harry instead kept it as a symbol of the price he had to pay to find it- the weight of guilt that would weigh on his soul for a long time because after all, it was he and Edward who had made Dumbledore drink the evil potion that had made him suffer so much on that fatal night.

Harry had just finished packing his bag and Edward had just pocketed his matchbox size trunk when the doorbell rang. Hestia Jones and Dedalus Diggle were at the door to take the Dursleys to their safe destination. Thinking that he had better be there to prevent any mishaps, Harry hurried downstairs to greet them and finalize things. The Dursley family did not seem very reassured to put their lives in the hands of those of Harry's species and let it be known. The two wizards were outraged by Vernon Dursley's harshness but Harry tempered them by telling them that they were always like that and he apologized in advance for the hassle that was going to pose. The two wizards seemed especially shocked by the fact that the Dursleys cared so little about Harry Potter, but Harry told them he was used to it.

But what surprised Harry most was Dudley's question asking why Harry wasn't going with them, to be safe. Harry's cousin seemed to have grown in humility and maturity since meeting the two Dementors, to the point where he had become less selfish and more caring for others. Dudley even asserted that he did not take too much place in their family contrary to the opinion of Vernon and Petunia Dursley. It was so unexpected of him that Harry couldn't help but say thank you, which mostly meant forgiving him for all the miseries he had made Harry endure throughout his childhood. On the other hand, he was not sure that he could do the same for his cousin's parents: the latter then had the excuse of the age that the two Dursley adults did not have. But anyway, those two did not seek to apologize.

Soon they were gone and Harry was left alone with Edward. Then, filled with nostalgia despite everything, he walked around the house with his owl Hedwig who had been sulking for some time. Ed let him do it quietly and sat down on the front steps: he was well aware that Harry had his own skeletons in his closet and that it was now or never for him to face them.

He stared at the sky for a long moment and finally a growl warned him of something approaching. He ran to bring Harry back and they both waited for the members of the bodyguard to arrive, in the light of the setting sun.

Translator's notes: In the original, where Ed says "Even the worst lies cannot corrupt the Truth", he uses a phrase that literally translates to 'the toad's spit can't touch the white dove'. It's more or less an equivalent to 'sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me' combined with 'never wrestle with a pig, you'll both get dirty but the pig will like it'. I couldn't really think of a good saying sort of thing that really fit and gets the connotations across, so I just sort of… cut it. Sorry? I mean, you still understand what's going on anyway. Of course, Murphy's Law five minutes after I post this I'll think of the perfect thing, but oh well.