In Times of Trouble

Chapter Seventeen

The Cavalry Arrives

Hogwarts

Great Hall

Breakfast

The arrival of the alchemists and foreign wizards caused a large stir at breakfast that morning. The ten men and women in blue uniforms entered calmly, followed quickly by seven men and women in bright red robes. All of them approached the head table without a glance at the murmurs rising around them.

One of the men in blue stepped forward with a slight nod simply said. "Dumbledore."

Professor Dumbledore smiled at him, "Ah, Fuhrer Mustang. How generous of you to join us. We thank you for your aide. Please, have some breakfast. I'll draw up some chairs."

Before the man could respond Dumbledore waved his wand and another table appeared, surrounded by chairs. Moments later, it was laden with breakfast foods. Mustang and Elric looked at each other briefly before Mustang nodded to his men, who sat at the new table. Meanwhile, the red clothed ones all bowed to Mei, who had been sitting at the end of the Head Table next to Alphonse.

She stood and gestured for her people to sit. They joined the soldiers at the new table, before Alphonse and Mei moved down to join them as well. With a sigh, Dumbledore rearranged the furniture. Immediately, Al and Ed began whispering to each other, Ed gesturing to the table and Al responding under his breath. A moment later both brothers leaned in to whisper with Mustang.

The student body continued to stare at the strange new people, as the teachers continued breakfast. The staff table slowly emptied just before the first bell. Mustang stood again before the bell rang, but as the students started to move from the room. "Professor Dumbledore. We need to talk as quickly as possible."

"Of course. When you have finished your meal, we can retire to my office." Dumbledore said. "McGonagall, Slughorn, Flitwick, Pomfrey if could join us?"

"Of course, sir, let me sort my class and I will be right there." Flitwick said and the other three nodded.

Alphonse stood and came over to stand with Dumbledore. He smiled, before he said, "I think I will walk with you sir, to ensure you don't lose your way." Al said in a tone that was entirely to innocent. "I would hate for you to miss another meeting."

"Yes, of course, Professor Elric." Dumbledore said with a tight smile.

"Excellent. I would love to discuss further the working conditions of your unpaid labor force." Alphonse said.

Roy raised an eyebrow and Ed frowned but they both waited for the others before allowing Mei to lead the way through the castle.

As they walked, the alchemists made note of potential weak points and hiding spots. It was a large building, bigger than the Fuhrer's mansion, smaller than Ling's palace. "This…will be difficult to defend. We are civilian heavy." General Armstrong said and Marcoh nodded in agreement.

"Let's find out what they have to say before we decide how to handle the situation. It is a small force that we are dealing with. This may be a school but its still a damn castle." Ed grumbled.

"Language Edward. This is a school after all." Mustang said.

"Shut up. It's a high school these kids have heard worse." Edward grumbled.

"You're supposed to be a role model Elric." Tringham taunted.

"You're supposed to be in jail for impersonating an officer. Should keep going?" Ed replied.

The banter ended at this point as they reached a stone gargoyle. Mei rolled her eyes before saying clearly 'Salt Toffee' and the gargoyle jumped aside revealing a spiral staircase. She smirked at the others, "As my dear brother-in-law suggested, let's talk to them before we make plans. Nothing is as it seems in this place."

"I hate magic." Grumbled Elderwood under her breath.

No one responded as they made their way up the stairs. Dumbledore and his teachers were waiting along side Alphonse. Severus Snape and Remus Lupin were waiting as well, as everyone filed into the room.

"Well, now that everyone's here, let's talk defense!" Al said brightly. "It is my understanding that there is an incredible amount of defensive spells on the grounds already."

"Where did you learn that?" Flitwick asked.

"Oh, I've been spending a lot of my free time in the kitchen." Al said brightly. "Mei also spent a great deal of time on the grounds."

"Hagrid talks entirely too much." Slughorn said.

"Well, we are here to help after all, and how can we truly help if we don't know what we're working with?" Edward said.

"The castle has defenses." Dumbledore agreed. "We are not without the ability to fight either."

"That's all well and good Old Man, but if you want us to help you, you need to help us help you." Trigham said with a frown.

"Do you allow all of your children to speak so rudely to their elders?" Dumbledore asked Mustang.

"Russell doesn't count. He spent years pretending to be me." Ed snorted. "Did a poor job of it too, the number of times he got caught."

"I will have you know-never mind." Tringham said as Ed shrugged.

"You. Still. Need. Chalk." Ed replied.

"Not now boys." Mustang said lazily.

Everyone finally settled down at this point as they began planning their defense. Tringham would be placed out on the grounds with Pomfrey. Armstrong would be in charge of castle defense with Flitwick. Elderwood was paired with Slughorn. Ed and Al were paired with McGonagall together. In the field they were a team effort and Roy wasn't willing to split them. Marcoh was put in the infirmary to help patch people up. Mei assigned each of the groups one of her brother's wizards.

That left Mustang himself. He preferred not to act unless he had to do so, thanks to the nature of his specialty. This was a school full of children after all. Instead, he would oversee the effort and step in if it became necessary. Dumbledore agreed to all of their plans, and the meeting ended just before lunch. Dumbledore then had them shown to their rooms.

Snape's House

Amestris

Cissy nearly screamed when the elf appeared before her. It bowed low enough to touch its long nose to the floor as it began apologizing for startling her. She waved off its apology to demand to know why it had come.

"Master sent Gabby Mistress. Gabby is to bring this letter, Mistress. Gabby is to search everywhere, everywhere, until she is found. Gabby is to bring a letter back." The elf said.

She took the letter with a tired sigh. Elves were troublesome creatures, once they had been given an order they wouldn't stop until they had followed it or died.

Narcissa,

Take heart, my love.

I have begun searching

For you in earnest.

I finally received,

That awful woman's

Demands. I am

Sorry it has taken

This long to find

A clue on who

Had taken you.

Nott even suggested

That you left me!

Don't worry, I

Never believed him.

I will find you and

Draco, and I will

End the one who took you.

Lucius.

P.S.

Please let me

Know you are

Truly alive

She read it twice, wanting to cry. He wasn't going to leave it alone. She was going to spend the rest of her (probably short) life looking over her shoulder. Worse, she had drug her one true friend into this, and now her husband would kill him too. No one would be there to advocate for her son. She had no idea what to do.

Gabby continued to simply stand there, waiting for her to respond. She needed to find a way to buy more time. She needed to think of a plan. She could still get them out of this. "Gabby. When you return this letter, you are not to tell anyone where you found us. You will not answer any questions about this location. You may tell him that we appear fine but distressed. That is all you can say. If he pushes further, you may say we are in a dark place, nothing more. Is that understood?"

"Yes Mistress. Gabby will say you is fine Mistress. Gabby will say you is upset, and in the dark." The elf said with a bow.

"Good." She said with a sigh before flipping over the letter.

Lucius,

I have kept our son

Safe as possible. He

Thinks we are playing

A game.

We hope to be home soon

Narcissa

She then refolded the letter and gave it back to the elf. It disappeared with a loud pop after several more bows, just before Severus walked into the house.

He saw her expression and his stomach dropped. "What is it? What's happened?"

"One of my husband's elves was here. He thinks we've been kidnapped and has vowed to kill whoever took us." She said. "I bought some time, but I don't know what to do. If the elf found us, its only a matter of time…"

"Cissy. It's going to be alright. We don't have to work it out tonight." Severus said giving her a hug.

"I can't let him kill you. I can't let him find out I left on my own, because I can't let him raise Draco alone." She said. "I think… I think I might need to go back."

"Cissy- "

"You're good with memory spells, yes? One of the best there are."

"I am."

"Suppress Draco's memories of his time here. Don't replace them with anything terrible, but just, take them away." She begged. "I won't force him to take a vow, so it's the only way."

"Alright. We need a plan first though. He's going to want to know who took you." Severus said with a sad sigh.

"He mentioned some woman. He said she is awful and made demands."

"Well then." Severus said thinking fast. "There's only one person it could be, and this actually works in our favor overall. Dante. She's insane. She intends to attack Hogwarts in a few days and is trying to gather help. If we can get Lucius to side against her instead…"

"Describe her, I will swear it was her who took us!"

"Here. She's been in the paper. I'll get you the clipping." Severus said as he began digging around through his desk. He began muttering to himself about needing to clean before he finally found it.

"This says she's dead." Narcissa said reading the article.

"Presumed dead. She faked her death, we knew that. It was a ploy to help catch her to let her think everyone had fallen for her trick." Severus said.

"I see."

"Cissy…I will find a way to get you out again." Severus said.

"No. You won't. I won't have you forfeit your life for my mistakes. I will do what I should have to begin with and shield my son myself." She said. "Besides, this whole ordeal may have woken him up. We can all hope."

Fuhrer's Mansion

Izumi and Pinako had arrived as agreed, and the children were excited to see their grandmothers. Yuery and William were quick to show off what they had learned since the last time they had seen the women, as Maes nodded along and held up various stuffed toys.

Tad followed after the other boys and was looking up at the women as well. Trisha watching them from her mother's arms. As Winry and Riza came up to greet them as well. "Well, we're here now. What kind of trouble have those boys gotten themselves into now?" Pinako asked as she lifted Tad into her arms.

"They aren't, they're helping someone else out of trouble." Winry said. "Not that he deserves their help, but Ed and Roy are both a lot nicer than they want people to think they are."

"I imagine the threat to children had a lot to do with it." Riza agreed. "Dante threatened Dumbledore's school. They went to stop her."

"Well then. Stew?" Pinako asked and walked off toward the kitchen area of the apartment.

"She does this." Winry said. "This is her version of the teams' suddenly found paperwork Ed was telling us about. Granny! They're going to be gone a couple of weeks and the attack isn't going to happen for at least ten days!"

"Well then, those boys will be hungry, won't they?" Pinako asked from the kitchen as she banged around pots and pans as Tad babbled to her.

"Let me try." Izumi said before heading into the kitchen with Trisha. Winry sighed before shrugging and herding the boys back to the study to finish their lessons.

Yuery and William settled back into their work easily however Maes was growing bored with drawing. He frowned when she set him back into his chair and crossed his arms over his chest in protest. Winry couldn't help but laugh. He was a perfect imitation of his father. She pulled out Ed's camera and took a picture of the angry toddler, before handing him a story book instead.

He was satisfied with this change for a few minutes, but then tried to climb down again. Winry sighed. "Do you have to potty Maes?"

"Nope. Alweady does." He said and pointed at his chair.

"Nainai. Would you mind watching the boys while I get Maes cleaned up?" Winry asked as she led him out of the study. Riza nodded and walked in followed by the dogs. "Oh, and don't sit in Maes chair. I'll clean it up when I get back."

Riza walked over to the boys, looking over their shoulders to see what they were working on at the moment. She often helped them both with their work, when she was home with them. Yuery was picking up all of his lessons quickly at the moment, it helped that Ed had him studying alchemy books for years now. William was only a bit behind his brother, though he also had no real interest in the subject he still studied it. Riza sympathized with the child. She was the daughter of an alchemist, with no ability of her own.

That didn't mean that she never learned the theory. William would benefit from the lessons as well in her opinion, after all he was surrounded by alchemists. "Nainai. Can I have apples?" William asked.

"Oh, can I have apples too Nainai?" Yuery asked as he shut his book.

"Didn't you just eat?" Riza asked.

"Before lessons! That was ages ago." Yuery said with a pout.

"Wait for Mommy to decide." Riza said. "For now, finish the page you were on."

Both boys sighed dramatically before reopening their books. She then grabbed a towel from the cupboard and wiped up Maes' mess. Winry came back in as Riza finished, and William announced. "Yay, Mommy's back! Apple time!"

"What's this?" Winry asked.

"I informed them that they would need to ask you for a snack. I didn't know when they last ate." Riza said.

"Yeah, they can have a snack. It just surprised me. Did you finish your pages?" Winry asked.

"Yes." Both boys announced.

Winry smiled and led them out to the kitchen, where Izumi, Pinako, and the babies were busy making a mess. The boys immediately wanted to join in when they realized their grandmothers were making cookies, so Winry left them to it. She needed to make a few calls to clients.

Hogwarts

Early Evening

Roy, Ed, and Al were walking around after dinner to familiarize themselves with the castle layout. A task that would have been easier if the portraits and staircases didn't insist on constantly changing. They had sent Fuery and Breda back to the rooms, deciding they would prefer to map it themselves and give the men the night off.

Roy frowned at the portrait of a particularly annoying knight and his fat pony that seemed to be challenging him to a duel. Ed and Al were snickering behind him. "Really, this is insane! At this point I would be happy just to find our way back to the Great Hall." Roy said with a sigh.

"A quest! Follow me!" the knight said before disappearing from his portrait.

"Should we follow it?" Al asked.

"It isn't the craziest thing we've ever done." Ed replied as he started down the hallway in the direction that the knight had gone.

They hadn't gone far before they encountered the ghosts. Ed and Roy had been lucky enough to have avoided this so far, but Al had met them a few days earlier. He sighed heavily. "Hello Nick. You wouldn't happen to know the way to the Great Hall, would you?" Al asked politely.

"Of course." The ghost replied and began drifting down the hallway.

"He's very friendly." Al said. "I looked it up in the library. Wizards who fear moving on can cast a final spell, that leaves a shade of themselves behind. Not much is written on the subject."

"Should we be concerned?" Roy asked.

"No. They're tied to the castle. They act as guardians." Al said. "Well. Mostly. Some seem to just be annoying."

"Interesting." Roy said.

"Ugh. I'm ready to leave this place already. I swear, paperwork is more fun than this place." Ed groaned.

"Take that back." Roy said. "Nothing is more tedious than paperwork. Nothing."

"Really? What about listening to one of Armstrong's family lessons?" Edward smirked.

"I can block that out. Paperwork is worse." Roy whined.

"What about looking at three thousand photos of your newborn niece's slightly different expressions?" Al asked and ducked his brother's punch.

"It was only twenty! She was being adorable." Ed defended.

"It was the exact same photo over and over Brother. She didn't look any different." Al argued. "I agree she's adorable, she is not a million photos of her scrunching her nose adorable."

"Just wait until you have kids Al. Then you'll understand." Ed dismissed.

"Boys. Not now." Roy said as both brothers nodded. "Also, remind me to show you the new photos of Tad playing with his new Mousie."

"Oh no, not another one!" Al wailed dramatically.

"Excuse me gentlemen. I was informed you seem to have gotten lost." Minerva said from behind them.

"It's the cat." Al whispered.

"I know. Don't be rude." Ed whispered back.

"We seem to have been turned around. Nick was showing us the way back." Roy said to the teacher.

"Thank you, Nicolas, that will be all." She said to the ghost before leading the way down the hallway. "It really is for the best not to wander the halls. Things tend to become rather confusing at night."

"I'm not sure the time of day would improve anything considering the portraits don't like to stay in their frames and the stairs like to switch around." Ed grumbled.

"As I informed your friends, the castle is more…lively…at night after the children are in their dorms. Though, we always seem to have run ins with children out of bounds, so please try to remember this is a school even after hours." She said.

"Who was it? That was also lost." Al asked.

"I do not know their names. The tall blond one, who I think should go see Hagrid. He was one of them, and his friend." She said.

"Armstrong. Strongarm Alchemist." Roy provided. "I assume it was Breda wandering with him. They usually wander around together these days."

"Well, they do live together." Al said as they reached the great hall.

"Just go up the first staircase, up two flights, take two rights, you'll arrive at your rooms." She said.

"Why were they wandering around anyway? Thank you, ma'am. We told them all to stay put." Ed grumbled.

"I'm sure it was a misunderstanding." Al said and the other two rolled their eyes.

"I'll be glad to leave this crazy place." Roy said.

"Ha! You admit it's worse than paperwork." Ed said.

"I never said that, and you're supposed to be an adult not pointing like an excited kid." Roy said

They reached the area they were staying in at the moment and split ways. Ed hated that he couldn't even call home right now. It was very upsetting for him. It was the main reason Roy had suggested they check out the castle, he wanted to keep his sons from growing antsy. They all settled in for the night after that, but all intended to go exploring again later.