Fullmetal Alchemist and the Crimson Stone Chapter 8: Christmas at Hogwarts, 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 8: Christmas at Hogwarts

Over the next few weeks, Ed had been very silent about Harry's question about whether a human being can be created through alchemy. The lessons in alchemy did continue as they had before, but not with the same kind of enthusiasm on Ed's part. Each time that the subject of human transmutation came up, Ed had tried to dodge answering it anyway that he could.

Though there was one question about the coming time that he had to answer. It was during the Monday before the holiday break and the four Gryffindors were making plans already.

"I think I'll be staying at Hogwarts over Christmas," Hermione told, "What about you, Ed?"

Ed answered only simply, "I have no home to go back to."

They did ask him what he meant by that, and he only answered that it meant what he said that he had no home to go back to. Hearing that, the rest of Ed's eager students decided that they too would stay at Hogwarts and celebrate Christmas with him.

Christmas day had come quickly as Ed had awakened that morning to the wonderful sight of perfect white snow falling delicately to the grounds outside the window as the cold air iced the window panes. Sitting up in bed, Ed just felt good that morning, despite how cold it was and how his auto-mail chilled him where it met his flesh. Even with the cold, Ed still got out of bed with a small bounce towards the window to see how white the world outside had become. Being in such a great mood, Ed wasn't about to get too careless about his cover, making sure that he still had his gloves and socks to hide his auto-mail.

Keeping up his good mood, Ed headed down to the common room where his friends and students were sitting all around the Christmas tree that was setup there. Each of them was in the chairs and enjoying the roaring fire in the fireplace.

"Here he is!" Sandra announced as she leapt out of her chair.

"Happy Christmas, Edward," Harry smiled, "we were beginning to wonder if one of us should come up and invite you down for present opening."

Ed grinned as he came down to watch his friends open up their gifts. Harry and Ron both got knitted sweaters from Ron's mother, Ed had to give a small giggle when he saw the giant letters knitted into them. There was the "R" for Ron and the "H" for Harry. Hermione, on the other hand had gotten a good load of books from both friends and family, ti did seem odd to Ed that Hermione only read non-fiction for fun. He started to have second thoughts when Hermione picked up a brown paper wrapped package.

"Ah, this one is from Ed," She smiled as she opned up the package and read aloud the title, "Beginning Alchemy, Ed how did you find this?"

"I sent a letter to my brother and asked him to get a copy," Ed smiled.

"I also got one from Ed," Harry observed as he opened up another brown paper wrapped package. He looked and took out a pair of Quidditch gloves, shin guards, and even a new Gryffindor Quidditch robe. Yet, as Harry looked at the gloves he noticed his own transmutation circle etched in gold against the leather.

"I had the circle put in there in case you needed to repair anything again," Ed explained.

"Thanks, Ed," Harry smiled, "I know that they'll come in handy."

"there's one from Ed to me," Ron called out pulling up his brown paper wrapped package, "You really didn't spend a lot on wrapping, huh?"

"Well…" Ed said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head, "I didn't exactly have time to find wrapping paper since I was kind of rushed."

Ron opened his great rectangular package and pulled out a box that read in bold and gold letters, "Honeydukes Chocolate Assortment."

"Thanks, Ed," Ron said with a mixture of awe, amazement, and gratitude.

"Though the guy at Honeydukes told me not to eat them all at once," Ed explained recalling his Christmas shopping trip into Hogsmeade, "He told me that chocolate this good should be savored slowly."

"Right," Ron said in a tone that seemed to say that he was too distracted by the treats before him to hear the warning.

"And here's one from Ed to little ol' me," Sandra said as she took to her gift and unwrapped a book that made Sandra smile in such a way that it seemed like she had never been happier until that very moment when she read the title, "Beginning Alchemy!"

"You did say you were trying to find books on Alchemy," Ed had said to her, and the moment that he said that Sandra crossed the common room with the books in her hand as she threw her arms around Ed's neck to hug him.

Ed could feel his face starting to heat up from the inside from Sandra's embrace and the moment that Sandra had broken the embrace, he could feel the eyes of the room turn to him. He looked around to see a look in his friends as if they had something planned for him.

"Now for your gifts, Ed," Hermione said as she stepped forward with a small package that was wrapped in red paper and a gold ribbon.

As Ed received it he suddenly felt a little embarrassed but his curiosity wanted to know and with his curiosity peaked, he opened Hermione's gift and found a brand new pair of white gloves.

"Thanks Hermione," Ed smiled knowing that he wanted to put them on but that would mean showing his auto-mail hand.

"And here's mine, Ed," Ron said as he handed Edward an oddly shaped package wrapped in red, green, and white stripped paper.

Ed took it and felt how soft the package was underneath the paper. He tore at the paper and found a red finely knitted sweater that had a lions head knitted to the top left part of it. Ed pulled it away from the package and found a box of chocolate cauldrons hidden within the sweater. As Ed set the box he looked at the rest of the sweater and found his symbol of the cross and snake knitted in gold on the back.

"The sweater is from my mom," Ron explained, "but the cauldrons are from me, they say that they have fire whiskey in them."

"Fire whiskey?" Ed asked

"How did you get that?" The outraged Hermione asked, "you can't buy those until you're sixteen!"

"I had Fred and George send them," Ron smirked in a way that he did after winning a game of wizards' chess.

"Well now, it's my turn," Harry said as he handed Edward his gift that was wrapped in gold paper.

Ed opened up the gold paper and found a white box very similar to what department stores wrap newly bought clothes in. Opening the box, Ed found something that at first looked like a jacket, but as Ed pulled it out of the box he saw that it was a jacket, a long black jacket with a lining of the deepest red that shinned like fine satin or silk.

"It's a special coat, Ed," Harry had told, "It adjusts to you depending on how warm or cold you are."

"And last, but hopefully not least, my gift," Sandra smiled as she handed a small box to Edward.

Ed opened it and found a necklace inside, a silver chain that had a red stone attached to it. He pulled it out and looked at the stone seeing that carved into it was a transmutation circle. Ed looked at Sandra a little confused by what it was.

"Its rose quartz," Sandra explained, "I read that the Philosopher's Stone was originally just rose quarts with symbols carved into it. So, I figured that this'd be a nice gift to have."

"It is," Ed smiled as he slipped the necklace over his head to hang his rose quartz stone around his neck.

Ed smiled at his friends for it was the first time in a very long time that he had received gifts like the ones that he had received that Christmas morning, but it still wasn't over just yet. As the five Gryffindor's were cleaning up the common room they heard a tapping at the window. They looked and found an owl there; in fact, it was Edward's Owl, Tweety.

The closest one being Harry, he opened the window letting in the owl and a small gust of snow. The owl was carrying three packages from its claws and set them down in front of Edward before taking perch on the mantle above the fireplace. Each package that Ed received was in different shapes and he went for the first parcel, which felt the heaviest.

"Gifts from your school?" Hermione asked

"Yeah," Ed answered, "this one's from Winry."

"Girlfriend?" Sandra asked inquisitively.

"Nah, she's more like my mechanic," Ed chuckled.

"Mechanic for what?" Harry asked

"Just something that needs regular maintenance," Ed answered as he opened the box to find an emergency mechanics kit, complete with Phillips and blade screw drivers, wrenches, and small oil can. Looking at it, Ed couldn't help but say, "If only she'd think about my human parts and not my mechanical ones."

"What'd you mean?" Ron asked

"Winry loves machines," Ed answered, "She loves to take things apart to see how they work."

"Dad would love her," Ron sighed, "My dad has a fascination with muggle things."

"Yeah," Ed chuckled, "Maybe she should visit him."

Ed then went for another one of the parcels that the owl had brought; it was the smallest box that Tweety had brought. He opened it and found a small teddy bear that had fit into the palm of his hand. It wore a Santa hat with a ribbon and a card around its neck. Ed opened it up and read what was inside;

A small teddy bear for a small kid on the lonely nights.

- Roy Mustang.

Ed clutched the teddy bear half-laughing and half-angry.

"That guy really loves to make fun of my height," Ed said.

"Who sent that?" Sandra asked.

"Roy Mustang," Ed answered, but then cleverly added, "One of the staff members at my school."

"A small teddy bear for a small kid on lonely nights," Hermione read over Ed's shoulder, "Now that's just cruel."

"You think?" Ed asked sarcastically as he went to open the very last parcel that was brought. It was long and oddly shaped, but Ed noticed a card with it, he first went to it and opened it, he read it allowed:

I think you might have fun with this.

- Al

"Who's Al?" Harry asked

"My little brother," Ed smiled, "I wonder what he sent."

Upon asking that, he tore hungrily into the parcel wrapping anxiously awaiting to see what his brother had sent to him, he looked at his gift feeling amazed and confused at the same time. While his friends looked in awe at what Ed held in his hands, it was a broomstick, but Ron Weasley knew what it was instantly.

"That's the new Starwind XPS Racing Broom," He said sounding shocked to see it up close, "I heard that it's as fast as the Firebolt but it makes sharper turns. We've got to take this down to the pitch and try it out."

Ed had to admit that he loved the look of it and was starting to wonder what it would feel like to fly on it. It certainly went without saying that it was the greatest holiday that Edward Elric had ever celebrated and he knew that after this was all over, he would have some very fond memories to take back and tell his brother about.

They did just as Ron had suggested, in the snow of Christmas Day, they went down to the Quidditch field, Harry with his Firebolt and Edward with his newly acquired Starwind broom. The two boys took off from the ground and of course Harry flew with such east, and Ed at first felt awkward in mounting the Starwind, but he took to it very quickly the second that he got off the ground. The moment that he had, the feel for the broom, he chased after Harry, and Ron was right that he was keeping up with Harry as far as speed went. Feeling the cold starting to numb them they made their landing.

"Thanks," Ed said as they headed back to the castle for breakfast.

In the days after Christmas, before school started back up again, it was an opportunity to finish the school work he had which continued to annoy him, except potions, that was if the teacher wasn't Snape. Still, Ed had managed to finish the work rather quickly, which gave him plenty of time to continue his search. Unfortunately, to his great dismay, he had finished searching the library, even in the restricted section, with permission he got from Professor Blackadder, but still there was nothing there.

It was the end of an early January day when Ed had come to the end of the search, he sat in the usual corner of the library he had when he did school work and taught alchemy. He started to sulk a little bit when he ran over the search in his head. He tried to think of someplace that he overlooked or perhaps didn't look hard enough. With each possibility he thought of he came to another mental dead end and that only made his sulking even worse.

As he sunk in his chair, Ed reached up to pull off his white gloves that Hermione gave to him for Christmas. Setting the gloves aside he looked at his hands, one flesh and blood, the other metal and oil.

"God must have a really cruel sense of humor," Ed whispered aloud, "Just when it's within my reach; he yanks it away from me…"

He continued to look at his hands, flexing both sets of fingers of flesh and metal as he thought about getting some help to search again. Yet, he discarded the idea already knowing that he had to keep his cover and getting any kind of help would compromise the case. Thinking to that point, Ed didn't want to think any further of what would happen if his cover were to be compromised. He continued to look at his hand and thought about his brother back in Central.

"Al…" Ed whispered, "what am I supposed to do?"

Ed truly felt sorry for himself as he looked at his arm when a very familiar and feminine voice said to him:

"So…that's why they call you the Fullmetal Alchemist."

Ed snapped his attention to where the voice came from and he found his friends, classmates, and students standing near the table. All of them looking at Edawrd with very shocked expressions, and he knew that they were looking at his ungloved hand. Ed's first instinct made him hide his auto-mail hand in his robes, but he could already see that his secret was out.

"What happened to your arm, Edward?" Harry asked sounding horrified by what he was seeing.

Ed took out his auto-mail arm and looked to his friends and felt that there was nothing to loose by telling them since the search was unsuccessful. He stood up at his table, gathered up his books, and his gloves.

"I think…" he began, "it'll be better if I tell you back in the common room."

Ed didn't bother to put his gloves back on, he simply led the way back to Gryffindor Tower without so much as a glance back at his friends. They had reached the common room, and Ed had gone to put his books in his room. He came back and sat down near the fireplace and began to take off his robe. Setting the robe aside, next came his tie, and shirt until he was exposed before his friends in only his pants and tank top that exposed his auto-mail arm, while he took off his socks to expose his auto-mail leg.

"So, it's not just your arm," Harry observed.

"Yes," Ed answered sounding as melancholic as ever, "my limbs are a reminder to me."

"A reminder of what?" Sandra Locke asked.

"To tell that story," Ed began as he sat back, "I have to begin with this: mankind cannot gain anything without sacrificing something in return. To obtain…something of equal value must be lost…you all know this as Alchemy's First Principle of Equivalent Exchange. In those days…we truly believed that to be the world's one…and only truth…"

Edward must have spoken for over an hour, only taking breaks to have small sips of water, while his friends threw more logs onto the fire. He told them everything from the beginning, the alchemy of him and Alphonse, their father, their mother, how she died, and how on that faithful night in October they tried to bring her back.

"We knew the laws of Equivalent Exchange," Ed continued, "the game required sacrifice, but we didn't think they was anything more we could loose…we were wrong…"

Ed had told how his younger brother lost his body in the transmutation along with Ed's left leg and how he used his right arm to attach his brothers' soul to a suit of armor. Hearing all this, Harry felt as if he and Ed truly shared something in common, while Hermione, Ron, and Sandra continued to look at Ed and his false limbs with astonishment.

Coming close to the end of his story, Ed reached into his pocket and pulled out the silver pocket watch that had the kings emblem imprinted onto its outer casing. He displayed it to his friends like the badge of his rank that it was.

"I had made my decision to become a state alchemist," Ed continued and not sparring any detail, "Even though it was human transmutation that we were after, we still wanted to try. On that day, we burnt down our family home and all the familiar things inside…because some things aren't meant to leave trances."

Ed had finally come to the end of his story, he took sips of water and looked at his friends who all had looks as if they had been told the most unbelievable truth. Still, there was one thing that he had to say to his friends.

"Harry," Ed called to him as he brought up his metallic arm to display his gruesome mark, "This is what happens when you try to bring back what's dead…"

He looked at Harry's face to see the frightened disappointment that the boy had to find all this out.

"Believe me," Ed stated with earnest, "no matter how bad you may want it, alchemy won't bring back what's dead."

"You don't know the whole story," Hermione came to Harry's defense, "when Harry was a baby, his mother and father were taken from him, killed by the darkest of all wizards, Lord Voldemort. Yet, when he tried to kill Harry, he survived leaving the lightning bolt scar on his forehead, and all this time he has been living with the most terrible of muggles. Forced to live under the stairs like some kind of dirty secret until he came to Hogwarts, this was the only true freedom he could have."

Harry was surprised by the amount of sympathy that Hermione was displaying for him, never before has she done something of that magnitude for him. Even though he didn't know it then, he was starting to see something very different in Hermione Granger.

Yet, as Hermione ended the story of Harry's tragedy, she looked at Ed and told, "You know, perhaps the magic that we have can re-grow your arm and leg."

Instantly, Ed felt outraged by this.

"Your magic may give me my arm and leg back," He snapped at Hermione, "but what about my brother? Can magic bring him back his body?"

Hermione didn't answer, for the first time, she didn't have a good enough answer for such a question.

"What do you plan to do now?" Harry asked

"As I said, I'm searching for the Philosopher's Stone," Ed had explained, "And now I have to find Flamel's Journal in the library here."

"Maybe we can ask Dumbledore about it," Harry suggested.

"No," Ed shook his head, "This mission is undercover, because of the shaky diplomatic relations between our countries, it wouldn't look good if a state alchemist, like me, came to this country only to search for the Philosopher's Stone."

"So what will you do now?" Sandra asked sounding piteous.

"I'll move forward," Ed answered as he got up from his chair and gathered up his clothes, "I'll keep searching the library myself, I don't are if it takes me the rest of the year…I will find that book."

Edward headed off to the boys dorm, but before he climbed the staircase, he turned back to look at Harry and that score on his forehead.

"You know, Harry," Ed said to his friend, "In my search for the stone, I've met a lot of people who kept telling me that I was just like them. It was never true until now…now I've met someone who is truly like me, not because of how we are now, but because of the tragedies we've had to endure."

With that, Ed had gone up to the boys' dorm to get some sleep. Ron Weasley wasn't too far behind him, and neither was Sandra. While Harry and Hermione stayed in the common room. Harry kept staring into the fire thinking back over everything that Ed had told him. He agreed with him, that they were both marked, Harry with his scar, and Ed with his metal limbs.

"Harry," Hermione called.

Harry didn't say anything; he only turned to look at her with his sad green eyes behind his round lens glasses.

"I know how bad you wanted to bring back your parents," Hermione expressed her sympathy.

Harry's eye looked apathetic, "You have no idea how I feel…"

He looked back towards the fire when Hermione snapped, "Yes, I do!"

Harry turned to Hermione to say what she meant, but he was cut off when Hermione leaned in to press her lips against his. At first Harry was shocked, but then it melted away as he closed his eyes, his hand reaching up to touch Hermione's face, as his lips met hers. It seemed and felt so right to him, that even though he had that crush for the Ravenclaw, Cho Chang, this truly felt right above all that.

Hermione pulled back and whispered to Harry, "You have me Harry…you'll never be alone."

With that, the two lovers kissed once again with the warmth of the fire heating their skin while the heat of their kiss warmed them from the inside.

To Be Continued…