Seeking Answers

Chapter One

In the News

The announcement of Roy Mustang's appointment as Fuhrer made the newspapers just three hours before the Curtis' arrival at the mansion, so it was of no surprise that a crowd of reporters surrounded the fence. The Curtis' had been invited up to join the family for the event, and the return of Edward, Winry, and their children, including their youngest son, Maes Vato Mustang-Elric. They had gone to Resembool for the birth itself and had been there for the last few months. Yuery had celebrated his fourth birthday in the countryside, with very few guests. Family and the Team only.

Izumi had been so happy when Edward had called her to inform her of Maes birth, just hours before it hit the papers, that she refrained from any number of remarks that came to her over the media circus that was their front lawn. Edward, Winry, and the boys were expected to arrive later that day. Edward had decided, and Roy agreed, that they should utilize the protection placed on the house in Resembool, so they had taken a couple of months leave to have the baby at home, officially so she could have her grandmother with her.

Edward had talked to both Gracia and Heymans before naming the new baby to be sure it wouldn't hurt anyone to use the names. Both had been honored that the Elrics wanted to name their new baby after the man they loved. Roy had been touched as well, he cried a bit the day Ed told him, but not until after everyone had gone to bed. He didn't want Ed thinking he had mis stepped.

Maes looked just like his father, deep golden hair, light gold skin, and large golden eyes. Everything about the baby screamed Xerxian. Winry was excited, Ed was a bit disappointed, he had hoped the boy would be like the ones before him and look like he'd taken after his mother.

He wasn't disappointed long though, from the moment tiny Maes was placed in his arms, Ed was enthralled with the tiny child. He loved all of his sons, this one was no different. As soon as the boy arrived, Ed couldn't imagine a life without him. He had called Izumi, then his brother, as soon as the doctor said Winry and Maes were healthy.

No one knew who announced the birth to the papers, since it hadn't come from either Edward or Roy's offices, but they were both angry someone had decided to do it behind their backs. Winry advised for Ed to let it go, not let it ruin the moment. Luckily for his temperament, no one had leaked where the young family had hidden away the first ten weeks of the child's life.

Edward still didn't see why everyone was so interested in his personal life. That interest had put his family in danger in the past however, and he wasn't going to allow it to happen again, so instead of humoring the reporters, he simply stated no comment and led his family inside.

Four year old Yuery and two and a half year William were excited to be home. They had missed their grandparents, Edward carried William while Winry carried Maes and Yuery walked between them, scowling at all the people yelling questions at them. Yeye and Nainai as well as Nonna (Izumi) and Poppy ( Sig) were on the front porch waiting for the boys. As soon as they reached the stairs, Ed set Will down and the boys rushed up to see their grandparents.

Ed was still a little cool with Izumi, but they had made some improvement to the rift between them. Ed wanted her in his children's lives, and his brother and Mei both insisted she was telling the truth. After reading through Hohenhiem's notes it seemed very probable that Dante had just been seeking revenge through Edward. Ed decided it didn't matter, he missed the woman who had been like a mother to him, and wanted her back in his life. She promised she had cut all ties to her former teacher herself.

They had had a long trip, and the next week was Roy's inauguration, So by the end of this week the whole family would be moving to the Fuhrer's mansion. Luckily, none of them had gotten overly attached to the place they currently lived in since it hadn't been that long ago that they had returned from the Ishbalan restoration mission. Winry hadn't even taken back over her practice yet, with the new baby on the way in just a few weeks by the time they had gotten here and so much to do in preparation of the move.

Roy had tried to argue with Grumman that it was pointless that they move into this place considering they would be moving right away, but Grumman insisted that they could not simply rent a house until then. Since Roy and Riza had gotten away with a press free wedding, as had Ed and Winry, they gave Grumman this one to keep him happy.

Once they were inside Yuery and William kicked off their shoes and ran for the living room the family spent the majority of their time in. It held a great deal of the boys' toys and books, as well as the radio. Winry yelled after them not to run before sighing and giving it up. They had been pent up on the train for two days. Even in a private compartment it was a long trip for the two small boys. Winry gratefully handed off her youngest son to her husband before excusing herself to take a nap.

Izumi, Sig, Roy and Riza followed Ed into the living room, all wanting to ask for a turn holding the small boy, but none wanting to stress the young father. Everyone here was familiar with his clinginess to his sons. After they had all settled Ed sighed loudly. Without a word Ed kissed Maes on the forehead then passed him gently over to Roy before giving the others a pointed look. "Dad knows what he's doing. Everyone else has to wait until he's had his turn."

The others laughed at this as Yuery said from the toy corner. "Mommy said Daddy had to be nice and share, not only Yeye."

"Daddy said if you stopped repeating everything you hear you get dessert." Ed replied embarrassed that his four year old tattled on him.

"Edward, you can't bribe the child like that he's four." Riza scolded.

"Sure I can, he's my kid." Ed replied with a shrug. "Its positive reinforcement, it's in the book."

"Regardless, what are you going to do when he wants something big like a horse?" Riza asked.

"I'll tell him no, just like I did the last five times he asked for another cat. I swear he's channeling Al."

"Speaking of Al, he should be here in the morning." Roy said before they could get into that argument again. Riza had been arguing with Ed over the behavior for treats technique for months and no one wanted a new round.

"Yeah I heard. The whole royal family is coming again. Well not the whole family, but Ling and his kids and a couple of his sisters."

"Yes, we are hosting foreign officials from all of our allies. Which is why we are moving to the Fuhrer's estate tomorrow morning. This house is to officially become the waystation to our foreign friends." Roy replied. "So don't bother unpacking, they are sending people around to pick up most of our things tonight."

"I assumed as much about packing, but why in the world didn't you warn me about tomorrow? We would have just waited an extra day and not dealt with moving with toddlers underfoot."

"I was informed just an hour before you arrived."

Before the conversation could continue, Roy passed Maes to Riza, who cooed down at the baby for a few moments, before passing him on to Sig. Sig takes one look at the baby and exclaims that he looks just like his father, prompting Izumi to lean over his shoulder to get a better look at the baby, tears in her eyes.

She wasn't certain, after what Dante had done, that she would ever have this moment. Edward forgiving her, letting her be part of his life again, was the greatest gift she could have asked for. She only hoped that in time the residual frostiness between them would fade. She had missed her boy. Edward smiled at them from across the room as he stooped to talk quietly to his elder two sons. Once he stood again, he announced that it was time for a nap, and picked William up, ignoring his protests.

"Hey, Dad, would you mind keeping an eye on Maes for a minute while I get these two settled? We need to brush our teeth and use the potty." Ed asked, and ignored the surprised looks from the group across the room. He knew he could trust his dad to keep his son safe until he returned, he didn't understand why they all looked so surprised. Sure, he usually didn't let anyone watch them without an argument, but Dad and Winry were the two exceptions to that.

Edward returned a few minutes later, while Izumi was holding his youngest son. He smiled for a moment in the doorway before walking into the room. "He needs to be fed, and then to take a nap now." Ed said as he gently took his son back. He started to leave the room before pausing in the doorway. "Later, you can hold him again…if you want."

Fuhrer's Mansion

Mid-Afternoon

The building was bigger than the one they had just left, Edward was not entirely comfortable with its size, nor was Roy, for the same reason. They would need a staff to keep up with a house this size. If not for the fact that the Mansion also acted as a command center and second office, both would have rejected the idea completely. As it was, Roy had made it perfectly clear to the staff as soon as he arrived, as politely as possible, that Bella Figg was the only member of the staff allowed in the Private Wing.

She had been with them since just after Promised Day and they trusted her, the rest of the staff were new. No one had any objections to his orders, and Ed was quickly pacified as well upon seeing the size of the library. Roy had also insisted that there was no reason why both Riza and Edward couldn't have second offices as well, enabling Ed to adjust his schedule to allow for the boys to spend more time with him at work. Winry was going to return to work in a few weeks, and they had been trying to come up with a viable schedule.

Roy had decided to wait a few weeks before informing Edward of his intention to name Edward his Lt. Fuhrer. Once again breaking Roy's record by a decade, more than a decade. Edward was eighteen now, Roy had been thirty one when he had been named Lt. Fuhrer. Now at thirty two he was the youngest Fuhrer in their history, or will be tomorrow.

Izumi and Sig, as well as Granny Pinako and Al would be staying in the family wing the later two arriving later this evening. Ling, Lan Fan, their boys, and Ling's sisters Chen, Kenja and Mei as well as his sister in law, Jia would be arriving late this evening as well, and would be staying in the guest wing after it was decided that the other mansion was not big enough to house all of the foreign guests. Kenja's husband had stayed in Xing with Naoko to take care of the Empire in Ling's absence.

Prince Cludio of Aerugo as well as his fiancée had arrived this morning, Csar Viktor of Drachma and his wife would be arriving this afternoon, and Creta President Stephan Vaugh and his wife and daughters would arrive this evening. They would be staying in the former Lt. Fuhrer mansion, in separate wings. Extra security was all over both mansions, after all this many leaders in once place was not something likely to happen again which meant there was always the risk of trouble.

Hogwarts

Snape's office

Snape was up late, grading homework while supervising the first detention of the year. Charlie Weasley, a first year Gryffindor, and Hector Sodds, a first year Ravenclaw, had been so busy arguing in his class they had failed to read the instruction on the board. The resulting chaos had forced Severus to reschedule the lesson. In addition to tonight's detention neither of them were to retake the lesson, instead their partners would work together as the two of them wrote a paper on what they had done wrong.

Honestly, some days he had no idea how the others managed to not go insane. It hadn't been a difficult lesson, None of the other students that had done it in either first year class had had any problems. He heard the chime of the clock strike eight and sighed as he put down his quill before walking over to the boys. "How many times did you managed?" Snape asked. He had set them to write 'I will pay attention in classes', either one hundred times or until eight o'clock, whichever happened first.

Of course, being first years, they had no idea that for not finishing they would have to return tomorrow night to finish. It did not bode well for the year that this happened on the first day of classes. He had done this lesson with first years for their first day every year without problem, how these boys managed to turn a simple cleansing potion into one that had caused severe burns and boils, Snape was still trying to understand. The Elder Weasley child hadn't caused these kinds of problems, so Snape was hopeful this was a one time issue.

Weasley would be returning tomorrow night, having only finished half the lines Snape required. Sodds had completed his, though his penmanship was terrible. He heard them as they were leaving, when Sodds assured Weasley that he had heard that someone said Snape favored Slytherins and hated Gryffindors. Snape wasn't going to correct the children. After all he had such a low detention record for being hard on them, having high expectations. Potions was a dangerous subject if the students did not pay attention, today was proof of that.

With a sigh Snape packed up his work for the evening. It was time he go check on the Headmaster. The man had been doing better, but Snape wasn't going to leave him to stew and sink back into his depression. Dumbledore held many of the answers Snape needed to solve the puzzle. He clearly knew more about the horcrux than he was willing to say, but after Snape's conversation with Elric he was determined to get to the truth of it all.

He had promised himself he would do whatever he had to do to keep Lily's son safe, and Draco too, and the way to do that was prevent the return of Voldemort's power. For this reason alone he stayed at the school, endured the insufferable company of Dumbledore, and kept up appearances with the Death Eaters. He had been considering offering his services to the Xerxes Academy before he had learned about the horcrux. Now he felt it necessary to stay where he was to keep an eye on the situation here.

Snape arrived at Dumbledore's office far quicker than he would have preferred, and invited himself in, as he had been doing for months. Dumbledore ironically referred to these visits as his 'sobriety checks'. The man in question was hunched over a piece of parchment when Snape walked in, a cup of tea in hand. "Good Evening Severus. As you can see, I am perfectly sober this evening."

"Good Evening Albus. I am making some minor changes to my syllabus. I'll have the adjustments to you by the end of the week."

"Ah yes, I heard there were some issues in your class earlier. I trust you got them all sorted then?"

"Of course." Snape snapped at him before turning back to the parchment which appeared to be a map.

"I'll be gone for a few days,in the spring. The frost is too heavy already there. I trust you and Minerva can handle the students while I am gone?"

"Of course, sir." Snape replied. He stood there in silence for a moment. Dumbledore was not going to elaborate, but Snape decided he needed to ask. "Once you find them, do you know how to destroy them?"

"Only theories and rumors. I will keep trying until we know what works." Dumbledore said, seeing Snape's surprised expression at the statement he added. "I know you want to be involved. You already are involved thanks to my loose tongue, but I can not explain more than I know."

"Is it really all that you know though sir?"

"It is all I can say."

Snape huffed in frustration. He sank down into a chair near the fire. "I'll be asking for leave, for a few weeks."

"Classes just began, what could be so important that you must leave now?"

"Amestris" Snape replied, hating to remind the man of it, but needing to go there for some research and to check on the Elrics.

"Very well. I will handle your classes myself. Tell them It was a family emergency."

"Everyone knows I have no family Albus, I'll say it's personal issues and leave it at that. Oh, The younger Weasley has detention tomorrow evening "

"Very well, I'll take care of it."

Snape returned to his rooms, just long enough to collect his bag. Within minutes he's walking into the safehouse, he was now certain that Dumbledore had not gotten wind of the promotion…or had decided it wasn't important, either way he did not seem to intend to come which was good, no one wanted to repeat the last time Dumbledore gate crashed.

Fuhrer's Mansion

Late Evening

Alphonse arrived exhausted and annoyed, having listened to the constant stream of concern from Ling over his agreement to allow Lan Fan and Jia travel with them so close to both of them having their new babies. Ling was back to worrying even now as they rode from the train station. His wife, and Jia had ridden in the second car, as had his sisters. Huan and Ping rode with Ling however, and both boys needed to head to bed for the night after such a long trip.

Edward met them at the door, and Al threw himself into his brother's arms. "Brother! How did you survive the wilds with him for months?!"

"I'm still not sure I did." Ed replied with a laugh as he hugged his brother back.

Ling pouted before saying. "You have to be nice to me. We're practically family!"

"Ling!" Mei screeched. "I told you, stop telling people we're getting married."

"You're engaged?" Ed asked, looking over them all.

"No,not yet, not for a while. Ling likes to get ahead of himself ." AL said with a tired tone.

"He always does, it's part of his charm. When you do get engaged I better find out first ."Ed said, then after a moment adds, "Well, maybe ask Mei first."

"Hey!" Al starts but Ed interrupts with "So you haven't met Maes yet, come on before he goes back to bed."

Soon everyone was gathered around the new baby and mother, though Ping and Huan soon wandered over to see Yuery and William before long. Ling then insisted his wife and his sister in law sit for a while. Lan Fan was due in roughly two weeks, the suggestion that had been made about a 'vacation' had worked out well. Jia was due in just four weeks, and Ling was very concerned about it, though the doctors insisted travel was fine.

Chen was not above teasing her brother over his fretting, constantly mentioning new babies and labor whenever he could overhear her, but not if he knew she knew he was there. It had been going on for about a month, though Mei finally put her foot down on the train and demanded the girl not follow through with her 'drop water and ask if someone spilled it' plan. Soon enough they wrangled all of the children and headed up to their rooms. They had plenty of time to catch up with each other after the inauguration tomorrow.