Chapter 11: Law of Conservation

"What did you do to me?"

The blonde boy was standing in the doorway, where he most certainly shouldn't have been standing… Right, Harry had ceded the spell soon after Draco's presence… overhelmed him. Hell, even insane he was still Draco, still cruel and sweet and intoxicating the same way…

'I made you sleep.'

"Honestly, Potter, I noticed that. I mean my memories… what did you do to them?"

Harry finally looked up from Draco's face to Edward. It was strange, but Harry knew that this was the first time he actually saw the real Edward. Weary, tired, but holding himself straight, facing the danger with a trademark Gryffindor courage bordering on idiocy.

He admired Edward; he knew that much from the snippets of memories he had seen, the way the boy acted around them and the reaction after he had found out that his friend was dead… which was precisely the reason they were now in this situation.

'I Obliviated you… it means you can't approach them.'

A pair of golden eyes flashed with ire and Harry realised he was smiling. There was nothing happy about the situation, but this person, who played host to them in exchange for their saving his life made him feel that life was worth living and battles were worth fighting as long as you had someone to take care of.

But Edward had lost everyone, hadn't he?

"I can apprehend those are not easy memories to chew. But what would you have me do rather? Blow my brain up trying to remember? Or live without knowing?"

'You would find out sooner or later,' Harry admitted. He wasn't smiling anymore. He hated yet again being the one to tell the bereaved of their friend's and relative's death. Because if Edward's brother was in Risenbool, he was dead.

"One more reason to tell me."

'I was in Risenbool. Voldemort had been there sooner. He had killed everybody.'

Ed dangerously swayed to the right, but steadied himself by catching the door frame faster than Harry would have thought possible. He tried to say something, but no sound came out.

Harry stared at his knees for a long while, trying to gather words to express what he was feeling – but there wasn't much he was feeling, so it was rather hard to express. Eventually he forced himself to look up and into the blonde's eyes.

'It's my fault that he came here. I'm sorry-'

But Edward shook his had, swallowing a sob.

"It's not. It's not… It's the bastard's- I'm going-"

'It is my fault-'

"Bullshit."

'Ed, I played with the time space, I-'

"It's the bastard who killed Winry, right? And you are going to kill him, right?"

Harry nodded. It wasn't as if he had much choice – definitely not if he wanted to prevent another 'Risenbool'.

"I'm going with you."

'No.'

He couldn't allow this. He was the only one who had to face Voldemort and he had hated having to bring Draco along before, but now there was no one who could force him to take Edward. Looking at how Draco had come out of the encounter only strengthened the resolution. And anyway, Edward was not a wizard, so he couldn't even defend himself.

"You can't stop me, Harry."

'In fact I can. Easily. But I would rather not.'

That notion seemed to have Edward thinking. Before he came with a response – undoubtedly an argument why Harry should take him along (and Harry could think of a few sound himself) – Harry offered him an option he hoped Ed would accept.

'Everything here – in Amestris – works as some kind of trade, doesn't it.'

Ed nodded, chewing his bottom lip and clutching his right fist in his left hand, persumably for safety reasons.

"That's the Conservation Law, or Law of Equivalent Exchange. You cannot obtain anything without offering something of-"

'-the same value. Doesn't work in our world, but… makes sense.'

Harry pointed at his hair and Ed drew a sharp breath that idicated he understood what it meant. Even magic required something in return.

'That is one of the reasons why I won't take you wih me.'

Ed nodded again. Harry extended his hand and gently touched his face, healing the bite-marks on his lip. Edward traced his left index-finger over it and his eyes widened with amazement. Harry inwardly smiled – the simplest healing charm elicited such awe compared to a rather complex series of spells when he was building the Automail.

'I know Voldemort. He wants to get back, and to do that, he needs to find someone who can open the way for him. Is there someone you know of, who can open the 'Gate'?'

Ed grimly nodded. Both his hands lay unfisted on knees, as he sunk to the floor.

"There are still Homunculi – Wrath, Glutony, the new Greed. Envy, and then there is Hohenheim of Light, but they should be on the other side…"

That wasn't too many people, and Harry wasn't sure what 'Homunculi' were, so he didn't know whether they qualified as people.

'Somebody the people in Risenbool could have known about?' Your brother, perhaps? Harry couldn't find it in himself to send that thought as well.

"Izumi-sensei, she was our teacher. She would know how to open the Gate. No doubt Dante taught that to her- Dante!"

Harry arched an eyebrow in question, but Edward wasn't looking at him. He was staring blankly at the wall, reminiscing.

"She could have survived. She could be alive…"

Harry had always thought that Dante was a man's name, but in a place that was called 'Amestris', city that was called 'Central', and individuals running around with names like 'Wrath', 'Gluttony' or 'Envy', a she-Dante was quite moderate.

"But that would mean that… the war… Dante… They want to make the Philosopher's Stone again! So soon! I've got to go, Harry, I really have, I've got to inform the Colonel and-"

'I'm afraid it's too late for that, Ed,' Harry stated, having convinced himself to look furher into Edward's head. What he found wasn't too nice, but at least he understood the boy better. Much better.

And he was sure that if Edward's brother had known half the things Edward knew, Voldemort had already met this Dante and right now they were either in the middle of negotiation, or Voldemort was very angry and Dante very dead.

'And with Voldemort there as well…' Harry let the mental silence resound and he was sure the boy got the message. His hands were fisted again, and quiet sobs quaked his body.

'The deal I told you about…'

"Yeah?" asked Ed and Harry suspected he wasn't listening. But Harry didn't need him to listen.

'In the spirit of your Eqivalent Exchange: I'll save your Colonel and you'll take care of Draco.'

"Malfoy? But… I can't."

'I'll… take his magic away.'

"You can do that?"

Harry looked at Draco's sleeping face and stroked the pale hand sticking out from under the cover that belonged to a dead boy.

'It's said to be impossible, but I have to.'

"Then… for how long?"

'Until I come back.' Harry smiled at Draco, and then, still smiling, glanced up at Ed. The golden eyes looked at him with a strange, contemplative depth that reminded him of Hermione, but Hermione never managed this level of that particular way of looking at somebody. And he knew that Edward understood that 'until I come back' might have very well meant 'permanently'.

Edward nodded.

o

A/N: Review, please…
Brynn