Fullmetal Alchemist and the Crimson Stone Chapter 2: Hidden Alley, a fullmetal alchemist fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Fullmetal Alchemist and Harry Potter, as well as any other songs or other character references made in this story.

Fullmetal Alchemist

And the

Crimson Stone

A Fan Fiction Fusion

Tattoo Alchemist

Chapter 2: Hidden Alley

The journey did take as long as Ed had predicted, three days by boat. Though, it wasn't so bad since he was given his own cabin that had a window, but not that there was anything to look at except sky and ocean. All Ed could do was eat, sleep, and review the file of Wizard England. So, when the day came, he couldn't wait to get off the ship, but even then getting into the city of London was an undertaking in itself on Edward's part.

The city of London was vast to the state alchemist, not even the city of Central was that enormous and bustling with activity, not just on the streets full of cars but on the sidewalks filled with people trying to get from their point A to their point B. He couldn't believe his own eyes when he looked around at the buildings to see both their age and sheer height. He truly did feel dwarfed not just by the buildings but by the people crowing around him when he left the port.

"No time to be a tourist," Ed thought, "Gotta find this Leaky Cauldron."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small slip of paper with the address of the Leaky Cauldron written upon it. It was also a damn good thing that the agent wrote the report also wrote down necessary directions from the port to the Leaky Cauldron. It was also a good thing that he was in no rush to get there because from the look of the length of directions that Ed had, it'd probably take him a day to get there. An so, Edward Elric headed off from the port and trekked his way through the city of London, occasionally looking up at the buildings and monuments around him.

"This place is incredible, isn't it Al?" Ed asked as he turned to his left expecting his brother to be there, he looked right and couldn't find him. He then had to remind himself that he came to this place alone. Thinking about it, he never felt so alone in his whole life. The reality of it truly sunk in on him and that made him stop in his tracks at the street corner where the pedestrians were trying to walk across. Edward started to miss his brother all the more until someone gave him a slight shove and asked in a very gruff voice:

"Hey, yer gonna cross er not?"

Ed turned around and was facing the person's stomach that was wearing some kind of vest made out of thick hair. Ed quickly looked up to the bristly haired face of the owner of that deep gruff voice. Ed already felt smaller just by looking at this…man.

"Wha're ya lookin' at?" The tall man asked rather peeved, "yer gonna cross the street? People ar goin' ahead a ya."

Ed turned and saw the people moving ahead and dashed along with them. At the time he wasn't sure if it was because he was in a rush or if it was because he wanted to see how tall that man was. He was already across the street and he saw that tall bristly beard man and he felt panicked as he saw that he was taller than the other pedestrians. He then saw that the giant was crossing the street and so he turned and continued on his way.

"That is so unfair," Ed silently pouted, "Everyone in this country must be descended from giants."

He took his mind off the giant by looking back to his directions to see how much closer he was to the Leaky Cauldron. He looked to the street names and he looked up at the street signs and he saw that he had arrived at the spot where the pub was located. He looked back at the paper and then back around the place he was at.

"It should be around here," He uttered to himself hoping that the answer would present itself.

"Yer lost?" A large and gruff voice asked

Ed turned and looked up to find that same bristly haired giant, at first he wondered if he was being followed but he decided to ask about the place that he was looking for.

"Yeah," Ed answered, "I'm looking for the Leaky Cauldron."
"Why ya lookin' fer the Leaky Caulron?" the giant asked

"I'm looking for this place called Diagon Alley," Ed answered.

"Ah, yer must be a Hogwarts Student."

"Who are you?" Ed inquired of the giant.

"Name's Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Ground at Hogwarts."

How could Ed forget something like that? He remembered in the report it mentioned a giant of a man named Hagrid who was the grounds keeper and the Care for Magical Creatures at Hogwarts. Ed knew that he was tall but he never thought he'd be this huge.

"Ya must be a first year," Hagrid smiled down at Ed, "I'll never ferget when I wa eleven and was a first yer at Hogwarts."

"I'm not eleven years old!" Ed snapped at the giant, "What're you gonna call me next? A super-hyper-small-midget-sized-chibi that you need a magnifying glass to look at?"

"Woah, calm down," Hagrid said sounding panicked, "Didna mean te offend ya, but let's get inside and I'll show ya in ta Diagon Alley."

Hagrid took off across the street and even though Ed was still peeved at the giant, he decided to follow for the purpose of the mission. He dashed behind Hagrid and to his great surprise someone as tall and as wide as him was able to squeeze through such a narrow doorway. It was one that Ed had no problem with whatsoever and then his eyes were greeted by another slew of surprises in the Leaky Cauldron.

Inside, Ed saw that the place was dimly lit and the place looked old, not a few years or a few decades, it looked like it had been that way for centuries. Even the people, they were dressed in different colored robes and wore hats that seemed to give that hint that everyone there was a witch or wizard. Ed was so taken aback by this that he forgot that he was following Hagrid, he found the back of the giant and ran, side-stepped, and ducked his way to catch up to him.

He followed Hagrid to a closed off alleyway in the back of the Leaky Cauldron where there were a few trash cans. He watched as Hagrid took his umbrella and tapped one of the bricks. To his great disbelief that coupled with his astonishment, he watched the brick wall start to move within itself as if the wall was performing alchemy upon itself to create a new passageway.

"Here it is," Hagrid said, "Diagon Alley."

Even though it was the place Ed was coming to he didn't hear Hagrid's words, he was wondering about the bricks in the wall. None of it made sense, none, when he performed alchemy on a wall it just made a new door, but…what Hagrid did, it was as if the bricks moved into nothing. He didn't notice the annoyed Hagrid turn to him, but he did hear him ask very annoyed;

"Oy, this is where yer wanted to go, right?" He asked

Ed turned sharply and looked out the alleyway not truly taking in what was there as he answered, "Yes, this is the place."

He held onto his suitcase and walked through the passageway to Diagon Alley.

"I'll see yer at Hogwarts…" Hagrid trailed, but then asked, "Yer didn't tell me yer name."

Ed turned back and gave his name, "Edward Elric."

"See yer at school, Ed," Hagrid smiled as he went his separate way into the crowd of Diagon Alley.

After Hagrid left his company Ed felt free to gaze at what was in Diagon Alley. Of course, it was all in the report but as always, reading about something and actually seeing it are two different experiences. He saw the alley in all its wondrous glory, shops on each side selling things that Edwad Elric had never laid eyes upon before. Such as one strange shop that looked like it was selling sports equipment yet the mannequins in the window inside were on broomsticks.

Ed shook himself back to the matter at hand.

"First, money," He thought as he pulled out another list, a to-do list, "First…Grin…Grin…Gringotts Bank…who comes up with these names around here?"

He headed down through Diagon Alley until he found Grinngotts Bank to find it being worked by short ugly little creatures that the report referred to as "Goblins". He managed to exchange the gold he had in his suitcase for the wizard money. The total for all five bars came to a total of 5,000 gold galleons. Ed wasn't sure if it was enough but he crossed his fingers and hoped for the best. He walked out of the bank with his suitcase a little lighter but his pocket a little heavier with the sack of gold coins in it.

The first thing he felt that he needed for all of the stuff on the list was a trunk, and luckily there was a store that sold plenty of them, even magical trunks that looked small on the outside but were spacious on the inside. Ed just needed a regular one, though tempting as it was, but he didn't exactly want to complicate matters with a magical trunk. So with a normal red trunk with wheels on the bottom, and his name written on the outside of it, Ed set about his task on his list.

The next was the books, which the store Flouris and Blotts was more than ready to give him his stack of books and he read that he'd be what was called a "fourth year", he told the store that and they gave him the books needed for about 75 gold galleons.

While he was at Magical Menagerie he was given the last owl that they had in the store. A small brown little owl that must have been no bigger than a pigeon and the store owner said that the birds name was "Tweety".

As Ed held the birds' cage and just looked at it he thought to himself, "Somebody must be getting a laugh out of this one."

Then again, there were instances where mentioning about size were rather unavoidable. The first instance was at Madam Malkin's, he was going there to get his school robes. It was while he was being measured, Madam Malkin had asked the fatally stupid question about Edward Elric.

"Aren't you a little short for a fourth year?" She asked

Ed's blood boiled instantly.

"WHO YOU CALLIN' A MOUSY LITTLE PIPSQUEAK!" Ed snapped loudly.

"Calm down, sir!" The panicked Madam Malkin asked of the perturbed Edward Elric.

Even though it was difficult to calm down, he had to remember what Colonly Mustang had told him:

Keep a low profile, Fullmetal.

Leaving Madam Malkin's, the trunk that Ed was pulling behind him felt heavier with the books, cauldron, clothes, and the attached cage for his owl, Tweety. He was secretly thanking God that he only had one last item to purchase on his list: a wand. He had to admit to himself that when he had heard that he needed a wand he had to say to himself, You've gotta be kidding me! Still, it was all to find the Philosopher's Stone and he was more than willing to jump through the hoops.

He headed down Diagon Alley to where the last shop on his list was located; Olivanders. The place was located at the end of the alley as if all paths lead to it. Going inside, Ed already had his own preconceived notions of a wand. He thought of the ones that are seen in fairy tales, the kind where the wand had a star at the end and was something that no guy would be caught dead with. How wrong Edward Elric would be. The outdoor sign read, Olivanders; Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C., while in the window a single wand was on a faded purple cushion. The wand looked more like a wooden stick with a finely crafted handle than the notion that Ed had of wands.

Entering the shop, the place felt like the library in Central to Ed, there was that scent like paper and dust in the air, while the shelves all had narrow boxes like a shoe store.

"Good afternoon, sir," a soft voice called to Ed.

The young alchemist turned to see an old man with a wide and pale eyes that were as bright as the lamps themselves.

"Hello," Ed answered back, "I'm here to buy a wand."

"Of course you are," The man (that Ed assumed was named Olivander) smiled at Ed, "You must be a new Hogwarts student."

For some reason, Ed felt the need to start a conversation, "I'm an exchange student actually, my school teaches alchemy and I've been sent here to learn magic."

"Alchemy?" Olivander asked as he pulled out a tape measure with silver markings on it, "You should be a powerful young wizard to practice alchemy. Now, which hand is your wand hand."
"Wand hand?" Ed asked

"Which do you favor?"

"My right," Ed answered and with that Mister Olivander began to measure Ed's arm.

"Ah, yes," Olivander nodded as he looked at his tape, he draped it over his shoulder, and went to one of the boxes on the shelves, "I…believe…that there is a wand just right for you…um…I'm sorry I never got your name."

"Edward," Ed answered, "Edward Elric."

"You see, Mister Elric, no one ever chooses a wand, the wand chooses the wizard and no two wands I've ever sold are the same. Ah! Here we go!"

His dainty fingers carefully pulled out one of the many narrow boxes from the shelf as if it was a piece from a jenga set. He opened it up and held the box out to Ed.

"Eight inches Mahogany with Phoenix Feather," Olivander stated to Ed.

Ed looked into the box to see a wand made out of that deeply brown wood, Mahogany, with a handle finely polished. He reached into the box with his gloved hand and holding it in his auto-mail grip, he had the oddest sensation. Even though his auto-mail limb had no nerves in it whatsoever, he felt something warm as if he had his own flesh and blood arm for that single instant.

"Peculiar indeed," Olivander observed.

"What is?" Ed asked

"Every wand I've sold to every wizard required a great deal of trial and error to find just the right one, Mister Elric," Olivander explained, "it is peculiar that the right wand was the first one to be found."

Ed didn't know how to take such a peculiarity, but he really didn't care that much about it because he was an alchemist, such things of magic are inconsequential to him. In fact, it seemed downright juvenile to him, still Edward Elric was one to continually forget that he is still a boy. It's usually an adult who brings this fact to him.

The wand was eight galleons and three sickles, which Ed gladly paid because he wasn't at all sure if he wanted to stay in Mr. Olivander's company for very long. Still, the bright side to it all was that Ed had gotten the supplies that the report had called for.

All he needed to do was to find a place to stay for the next few days until he would need to head for Kin's Cross Station. He tugged the heavy trunk behind him still hoping that this case wasn't going to be a while goose chase like all the other leads before it.

In the bustle of the witches and wizards of Diagon Alley, Ed couldn't help but be just a tiny bit curious about the prospects of this school that he was going to, what sorts of things would he find there that the report didn't mention? All good questions that would be answered in due time.

To Be Continued…