Disclaimer: I own neither Fullmetal Alchemist nor Harry Potter. This story takes place post episode 51 and book 5. Read at your own risk for spoilers.

The Foundation of Truth

Bard Linn

Chapter 9: Symbolic Communication

Ed looked at the broom in his hands suspiciously. "Come on Ed!" Ron encouraged. Edward glanced at the boy hovering in midair. Above them Harry continued to fly in intricate patterns on his Firebolt. Even Hermione looked comfortable on her broom. Ed carefully mounted and kicked off. The broom rose slowly into the air. The blond grinned as the wind began to blow his hair free of its braid. This was fun!

Even so he flew closer to the ground than the others unwilling to go as high as Harry. 'He's crazy!'

"Let's see what type of Quidditch player you are!" Ron grinned. He landed and pulled out the crate.

Ed groaned. "I thought you just finished practice!" What was with them and Quidditch?

The Gryffindor captain grinned. "Yeah. I sent everyone back early so we could try your paces."

"I'm not a horse," Ed protested. He barely managed to catch the Quaffle the redhead through at him.

"Harry get down here! We'll play a little two on two!"

It quickly became apparent Ed was neither chaser nor keeper. While he had excellent eye coordination and strength to toss the ball quite a distance, he lacked the innate sense of balance that most players needed. The automail probably had more to do with that then natural abilities actually. His seeking abilities were down right dismal. As a beater however…

Ron ducked as the Bludger came flying back towards him yet again. "Will you stop that!"

"This was your idea!" Ed grinned and flew after the Bludger. Ed lacked a twin to partner up with or else he'd make a great replacement for Fred and George. With his strength he could swing the bat one handed allowing himself to keep his balance. Of course if Al was here…

Ron, who had come to the (correct) conclusion that Ed was using this to get revenge, called a halt to the session. Ed gave the captain back the school broom he had borrowed and headed back up to the castle.

"Tired?"

"Yeah," Ed admitted looking over at Hermione.

The witch looked satisfied. "Good. That was the purpose of this. You'll get a good night's sleep then."

Edward flushed realizing his recent bout of sleeplessness had been apparent. And tomorrow was THE day, the winter solstice. Time for him to go home. Unfortunately he'd been battling insomnia between worry about what could go wrong and excitement at going back home.

"It'll be fine," Hermione consoled him. "You've done a great job. I can't see anything to worry about. Besides, if nothing else you've gotten Harry into research! Maybe if you stayed longer you'd get Ron too!"

"No way!" Ron replied. "Leave me with Quidditch any day!"

Foundation of Truth

Edward waited besides Dumbledore as the older wizard studied his work. "Excellent job Mr. Elric. I've never seen something so intricate for someone your age."

"Thank you. You don't see any problems?"

"No, not in the magical elements. Your alchemy, however, is still a mystery to me."

"Here Master Edward!" Winky appeared with his trunk.

"Thanks Winky," Ed replied. It still felt odd to have a servant. "Actually, thanks for taking care of me all this time."

Winky beamed. "Master Edward needs Winky. That's why she's going with him!"

Edward goggled. "Winky, you can't! There aren't any house elves in my world! Besides, don't you have to stay here?"

"I'm afraid not," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Winky is a free house elf and allowed to go where she wishes."

"And we'll just hide in your trunk until you can explain."

"Alexander! Not you too!" Ed glared at the ghost.

"Well, every library needs a ghost and from the sounds of things there aren't any over there. It was getting crowded over here anyway."

"You might as well give up. I don't think they'll budge."

"Don'ttell me you're coming too," Ed grumbled at the newly arrived Gryffindor trio.

"We're here to see you off," Harry explained. "We can't leave yet. We have too much to do." He nudged Ron.

"Right," the red head muttered. He held out a small box. "Look, you won't be here for Christmas so we thought we'd give you your gift early."

Edward slowly too the box, "but I didn't get you anything."

"You don't celebrate Christmas," Harry replied. "Besides the world doesn't run on the concept of equivalent exchange despite what some people think."

"And you found all those books," Hermione reminded him. She had gladly dug into the journals in the secret room.

Ed slowly took off the lid. Inside, nestled in tissue paper lay a gold watch emblazoned with the Gryffindor lion. He flipped the case open. To his surprise it had multiple hands but no numbers. "It's a wizard clock," Ron explained. "You put names on the hands and places where the numbers normally are. It'll let you know where people are. Hermione wrote up an instruction book. It's in there too."

"And this is for your birthday," Harry passed him another box. Ed glowered at him but the Boy-Who-Lived merely grinned. "Wouldn't want people not to recognize you."

The box revealed a copy of Ed's trademark outfit from red hair bands to black boots. He pulled out the red coat and flipped it over. Instead of the familiar seal he had worn for years, the crest of his father and Dante, a magnificent Phoenix in flight depicted in black stretched across the back.

Ed found himself unexpectedly fighting tears. Harry and his friends had chosen very symbolic presents. The clock, formerly the representation of his place as a national alchemist, told him that he would always be welcome here with them. It created a place for him. The phoenix was Harry's way of telling him 'treasure your experiences and what you have learned but don't let the past weigh you down. You are similar to your father but different as well. Move forward and fly free.' Ed blinked back the salty drops. "You've been hanging around me far too long."

"Don't remind me," Ron groaned. "I tried to borrow his notes the other day and they were all in some numeric code!"

A few minutes later Ed returned from a nearby bathroom wearing his friends' gifts. He felt more confident than he had since he landed in this world. He placed his trunk inside the array, careful not to smudge the line then removed a bag from his pocket. He poured the stones into the seal awaiting them save one, so he could activate the array. He raised his hand in farewell then slammed them down on the array. Blue light spread from his fingers and slowly turned to silver. Ed closed his eyes and silently sought out his brother as the light continued to increase becoming blinding. 'Al!'

'Nissan?!'

'I'm coming home.'

End Chapter 9

A note on Alexander: This is the first chapter he decided to show up in. Sometimes I think my fingers know more than my brian does. I actually wrote chapter 5 after this. Which is why one should do rough drafts first. I'll admit I'm looking foward to inflicting him on Roy Mr. there-are-no-such-things-as-ghosts.

Special thanks to:

dhrachth: thanks, has been fixed. I actually knew that but my stupid fingers have a mind of their own and my dyslexic brain doesn't always pick up what they type.

Die Kikyo Die: glad you get it. Actually, you'd wonder why the priest could do that. The info was in the array in my story...did he study alchemy or what? Hm...

Hikaru Tsukiyono: I've added this to 6.

Namonaki Pharaoh: glad you are enjoying it. Yes, Ed did kill greed. Not quite sure why you asked though.

Lunatic Pandora 1: actually there were probably several of Alicia but we just didn't see them. Hughes was usually behind the camera though.

Dark Nuriko: that's the pet project in chapter 5. Which most people found boring but there's actually a lot of little stuff in there that pops back up. I just thought it'd be neat since people in Ed's world go "AHH Human transmutation" and or "Homonculus!" Snicker

Cringe: they said it was backed up. Its fine now I think.