This fic is the first of my new Short Shots series: Harry Potter Romance. Like my Harry Potter Short Shots, and my one Buffy Short Shot, each chapter will be a separate fic-let. Each ficlet may be a short, developed story, may be a conversation that doesn't really go anywhere, or may be little more than a summary of events.

Each of these Short Shots will feature Harry Potter with a romantic interest, girlfriend, fiancé, lover, or wife from inside or outside of the world of Harry Potter.

Like all my other Short Shots: ALL FICLETS ARE FOR ADOPTION!

If you would like to take my idea and write your own fic out of it, continue from where my fic let off, or otherwise use any ideas contained here in, just ask! I WANT TO SEE THESE AS FULL STORIES.

And so – the Short Shot:

Harry Potter and Winry Rockbell

Harry Potter had never been more afraid. One would think that the young man that had defeated Voldermort on his sixteenth birthday would be afraid of nothing. To many, Voldermort had been terror incarnate. The general populace could not even say his name, even now almost two years after his defeat. Yet Harry survived a surprise attack and miraculously took down the Dark Lord, You-Know-Who, He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, Tom Riddle, or as he called himself: Voldermort.

After a hard school year, the loss of his Godfather, and the defeat of Voldermort, Harry needed to get away. He needed to get control of his life.

But rather than striking out, completely on his own, he asked Dumbledore for help. The Headmaster arranged for Harry to live, as long as he needed to be away, in a small town in a small country that Harry had never heard of. It turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to him.

The country was Amestris, a xenophobic nation hidden by magic in central Europe. While hidden by magic, no one there practiced it. However, there was something different there. Magic didn't exist . . . but Alchemy did. Headmaster Dumbledore sent Harry to the country that he learned alchemy from. Harry found it very interesting and took it up immediately, soaking in everything about it he could. It was a great shock for the young hero that his headmaster's skill at Alchemy (despite creating what was referred to as the philosopher's stone) was at the level of an amateur. More so, it turned out that the Stone that the headmaster and Nicholas Flamell had NOT created the philosopher's stone, but a cheap imitation of it. However, it was not his new abilities in alchemy that made the trip one of the best things to ever happen to him. It was who Harry met that gave it that distinction.

The town that Harry was sent to live in was a small community. Resembool featured wide open spaces and beautiful small homes. The home that Harry was sent to live in belonged to a kind elderly lady by the name of Pinako Rockbell. Despite her age and short stature, Pinako was a master mechanic. Until she took Harry into her home, she lived alone with her grand daughter. Winry.

Harry and Winry became friends almost immediately. She loved all things mechanical the way that Hermione loved all things books, possibly even more so. All it took was Harry showing interest in mechanics, and as far as Winry was concerned, they would be friends forever.

Now, almost two years later, it was time for him to return to England. And thus, the reason Harry was afraid for his life.

Harry was returning to England, and Winry was coming with him. As his fiancé. And what he feared the most was the wrath of Winry's best friend from childhood, who would be told the news today. Harry had met the boy only once, and the boy had terrified him beyond measure. Sure, Harry Potter was a great wizard, but Edward Elric was a spectacular Alchemist. More so, he had joined the ranks of State Alchemists at the age of 13. That came with rank. Officially, as of the day he became a State Alchemist, he was Major Edward Elric, the Full Metal Alchemist. He had a command rank at the age of 13. And he had a temper that made him lethal.

Harry was going to have to tell a lethally tempered military Alchemist that he was taking his best friend away. Thus, Harry was terrified.

"That went well, Love." Winry smiled at her fiancé. The train that was taking them away from Resembool had left the station twenty minutes earlier, and until now they had been sitting in silence in their VIP carriage.

When she received no answer, she tried again. "Love?"

"I had to stun him. Twice." Harry grimaced as he spoke, not happy with how it had turned out in the least.

"Well . . ."

"And the only reason not a third time was that Al was able to hold him back."

Al, Edward's brother, had been nearly killed in an accident during an ill-advised Alchemy when the brothers were still young. Well, more than almost killed. His body was destroyed. Completely. It was all Edward could do to bind his brother's soul to a set of armor. Thus, despite being the younger brother, Al was much larger and stronger. Edward had lost an arm and a leg saving his brother. The auto-mail (mechanical limbs) that replaced his arm and leg were built by Winry herself.

"Well, ok, so it didn't go quite the way we hoped it would!" Winry relented.

"No, it didn't." Harry looked at his fiancé. "Did you know?"

"Know what?" Winry asked in response, not really needing to ask.

"That he felt that way about you."

"I knew he loved me as a friend, because that's what I feel for him. But that way? No. I didn't know. And I don't know how he can expect me feel that way."

"Could you?"

"Honestly, Love? I don't know. If he wasn't always gone, running around Amestris. If he lived in Resenbool with me, and you were never there, then maybe we could have become more than friends." Winry responded honestly. "But that's not what happened. You came into my life. You supported my obsession with mechanics, you didn't hide from me. You shared everything with me, and it was you that I fell in love with."

Harry smiled. "I wasn't sure I could ever love, could ever be in love. Untill you."

AN

UG! I can't believe I wrote something this mushy!

OK, that's the end. What did you think? Actually, this turned out to be quite a bit longer than most of my short shots. I'm sorry if anyone's out of character, or if this is too mushy. By the way, this was Full Metal Alchemist, an anime, and I've only seen a dozen or so episodes, so this is AU as far as the full series is concerned.

REMEMBER: THIS IS FOR ADOPTION! JUST ASK!