"Ow!" Ron, the first to land, did so face-first. Harry came down beside him, crashing on his behind. Ino, Shino, Kiba, Hinata, Shikamaru and Chouji all touched down gracefully on their feet. They had landed in the arena where they'd first met Ed and Al.

"Now that we're here, we should split up into two groups and look for Snape." Harry said. "Since only me and Ron knows what he and the guy he's pretending to be looks like, we'll be the leaders."

"Okay," replied Ron. "Should I choose my team first?"

"Rock-paper-scissors." Harry held out a fist.

Ron chose scissors, but Harry chose rock. "Best two out of three." Ron argued. Harry won the next round. Ron scowled.

"I choose…" Harry looked over at the teams. Team 8 stood attentive and ready. Beside them, Shikamaru was picking his ear, Ino was batting her eyelashes at Ron, and Chouji was eating a bag of potato chips. "Kiba, is it?" Kiba nodded. "Okay. Your team's coming with me. The other team goes with Ron." Ino cheered. Harry turned to Ron. "We'll start inside, and you can start outside. If you run into trouble, send up some sparks and explosions, okay? Good luck!"

Harry, Kiba, Akamaru, Shino and Hinata ran towards the direction of the nearest entrance. Ino attached herself to Ron's arm. Ron walked a few paces, with her in tow, then stopped and looked back. The rest of the team was still there, picking his ear/eating.

"Um, don't you want to find your instructor?" asked Ron uncertainly.

"What a pain." Shikamaru sighed, but he fell into line behind them. Chouji did the same. "This better be worth it."

They walked about halfway around the building when they ran into a bald and very muscular man with a blonde moustache. He wore the standard blue military uniforms. When he saw the group, he stopped dead in his tracks, and his jaw dropped open.

"Ronald Weasley! What are you doing here?"

"Er… do I know you?" Ron frowned.

"Oh, no, not at all. G'day to you, sir," the man realized his mistake, and attempted to sidestep Ron + Team 10.

"Hold on." Ron pulled out his wand and pointed it at the man. "Specialis Revelio!"

The man stumbled forwards, and fell down. He started transforming, and when he got up and turned around, they could see his real form. He was a pale, blonde boy with grey eyes and a pointed face. Ron and Ino both gasped.

"Draco Malfoy!"

"He's so gorgeous!"

"Ah, little Weasel made some new friends, I see." Malfoy sneered as he always did, but there was an element in his eyes that screamed he did not want to be there. He also seemed to be weaker and sicklier than when Ron had last seen him. "Are they paying for your little trip? Because you certainly couldn't afford it. Tell me, how's your family? Did they sell you to these little muggles as a pet so they could afford food?"

"Shut up!" Ron launched himself at Malfoy and knocked him to the ground. A full-out dogfight started, with neither parties bothering to use magic.

"Should we stop this?" asked Chouji.

"How troublesome," complained Shikamaru.

"I can't decide! They're both so pretty! Stop fighting!" yelled Ino. Chouji and Shikamaru rolled their eyes. They dove in and dragged Ron away from Malfoy.

"Blood… git… insult my family again… dead!" Ron panted.

"What, Weasel? Need your muggle masters to protect you? You're pathetic!" Malfoy taunted. Shikamaru got the feeling he should probably prevent Malfoy from being able to leave.

"Kagemane no Jutsu! The Art of Me-and-My-Shadow!" said Shikamaru. His shadow travelled from where he stood to Draco Malfoy. It was good timing, because Malfoy was just about to Disapparate.

"Alright." Shikamaru crossed his arms. "Where are Asuma and Snape?"

"How am I supposed to know?" replied Malfoy, crossing his arms as well. "And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you filthy muggles and blood traitors!"

Ron cast the Anti-Disapparation jinx on him. He wiped the blood from his nose, and pointed his wand at Malfoy threateningly. "First, you're going to shut up. Next, you're going to take us to Asuma. Finally, you're going to tell us what that git You-Know-Who has up his sleeve. Any tricks and I'll blast you up so high the centaurs in the forest are going to be talking about your rotation of Earth. Understood?" Malfoy nodded grudgingly. "Good. Ino, Chouji, get a good hold on him."

Ino gave both Ron and Malfoy adoring looks, and she and Chouji did as they were told.

"Okay, Malfoy. Where?"

"Well, there's a janitor's closet near one of the men's washrooms that no one really pays attention to…"


"See him yet, Hinata?" asked Harry. He and Team 8 standing near the entrance. Hinata had employed her Byakugan to seek 'Roy', but it had proved futile.

"There are a lot of dark-haired men…" Hinata looked around. "And almost everyone's in blue uniforms."

"This isn't working." Kiba complained. "Maybe we should go up to the roof and look."

Shino lifted up a finger, where a beetle was perched. He held it close to his ear, and seemed to be observing it carefully. "Roy Mustang's office," he told the group. "Follow me."

The rest of the group seemed to take him seriously, and a puzzled Harry followed suit. They went down some corridors, up some stairs, and down some more corridors. Throughout the whole routine Shino seemed confident in what he was doing. After a while, they finally stopped in front of a locked door. Akamaru, perched on Kiba's head, sniffed around the door and whimpered.

"What is it, Akamaru?" asked Hinata.

"He says a girl is in danger." Kiba translated. Hinata turned on her Byakugan to look through the wood. She gasped.

"He's right. A blonde girl is tied to a chair. There's a man in the room, but he's wearing the appearance of someone else."

"Alohamara!" Harry shouted, unlocking the door. He kicked it open. The two occupants of the room looked up with mild shock. One appeared to be the Roy Mustang character they had met before. He sat at his desk with a bored expression on his face, as if it were any other boring old day. True to Hinata and Akamaru's words, a struggling teenage girl with blonde, blonde hair was gagged and tied to a chair beside him. Upon seeing them, she struggled even more. She seemed to be wimpering, but no sound came out of her mouth. Snape had probably placed a silencing charm on her. Harry severed her ropes with a spell, and she ran over to their side.

"Harry Potter? Back so soon?" 'Roy' smiled. "How did the mission go?"

"Shut up." Harry snapped, his wand pointed at him. "I know who you are, Snape. Stand up and fight me like a wizard!"

"Oh, very well." 'Roy' said, pulling on a white glove with a transmutation circle on the back. He took out his wand. He snapped his fingers, causing a spark, and sneered at Harry. "You could never defeat me, you know."

"Kiba, Shino, Hinata, stand back." Harry cracked his knuckles. "This is going to get extremely ugly."


"Asuma-Sensei! You're okay!" Ino cheered. Malfoy had lead the to the aforementioned janitor's closet. Inside, they had found a man and a woman sitting on the floor, tied up and gagged. They were the man and woman Rudolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange had taken the form of. Ron freed them.

"Are you okay?" Chouji asked them. They tried to speak.

"They've got silencing charms placed on them," explained Malfoy. He took out his wand and lifted the charm.

"Thank you." Kurenai Yūhi rubbed her throat.

"No problem." Malfoy said. Ron looked shocked at his out-of-character generousity.

"Yay! Asuma-Sensei is saved! And it's all thanks to Ron and Draco!" Ino proceeded to hug both. Suddenly, there was a huge explosion down the hall.

"The signal!" Ron gasped. "No time to explain! Come on!"

He took off towards the direction of the explosion. Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Asuma Sarutobi, Kurenai Yūhi and Draco Malfoy (dragged along by Ino) followed. More explosions came. The other military workers were starting to notice, too. They finally reached the source, to be reunited with their allies. Shino, Kiba, Akamaru, Hinata and a tall girl with blonde hair were huddled together in a corner. Harry was lying on his back on the ground, in a position of defeat. A man that appeared to be Roy Mustang stood over him in triumph.

"Ahhh, his little friends." 'Roy' smirked. "Come to watch the great Potter's demise? You're all next." He cast a spell to change the air properties.

"Back off, git!" Ron yelled.

"Death by fire?" 'Roy' snapped his fingers, causing a spark. "Or by curse?" he swished his wand, making the tip emit foul-smelling green smoke. He closed in on Harry even more, smirking the king of all evil smirks.

Harry closed his eyes, expecting death to be swift. The blonde girl squealed silently, burying her face in her hands. Akamaru whimpered snuggled down deeper into Kiba's coat. The rest watched intently, unable to tear their gaze away. Snape rested a foot on Harry's chest, and stepped down. Harry cried out in pain. Hinata gasped, chocking back a scream. Kurenai and Asuma gripped hands as Snape poised both hands over him, preparing to end the life of The Boy Who Lived.

"No!" Malfoy dashed forward, pulling out his wand, "Sectumsempra! Expelliarmus!"

'Roy' cried out in pain. The ignition cloth glove ripped right along the tramsutaion circle. His wand was knocked out of his hand, toward the open window.

"My, my. How clumsy."

Everyone turned toward the window. A tall woman with long black hair had caught the wand. She entered the room. Her companion, a fat, bald man with a crazed grin on his face, followed after her. They both had strange red circular tattoos, the woman on her chest, and the man on his tongue.

"Good afternoon, Severus," she greeted 'Roy'. "How goes work?"

"Give me one more day, Lust. It's almost done. I just need one more day." 'Roy' suddenly got extremely nervous. Malfoy seemed to shrink as well.

"You've said that every day for the past week now, Severus." Lust continued in her calm manner. "We've been very patient."

At that moment, the effects of the Polyjuice Potion began to wear off. 'Roy's' handsome face began to bubble. Within a minute, it had twisted into its natural hook-nosed greasy-haired appearance that Ron knew only too well.

"Just one more day, Lust!" Snape begged.

"Voldemort promised we would have it a month ago." Lust continued cooly. "The thing about us Homunculi, Severus, is that we hate being dissatisfied." She raised her arm. Her gloved fingers suddenly lengthened and sharpened. Snape gasped, falling onto his knees. Malfoy whimpered.

"Hey, Lust! Can I eat him?" asked the short, fat man.

"No, Gluttony," she told him in the manner of an older sister talking to her little brother. "We need him to serve as… an example. It seems Alecto and Amycus didn't serve as sufficient reminders." She sauntered towards Snape, casting his form in her shadow. Snape snivelled, buring his face to the ground.

"Please! One more day!"

"You're all talk, Severus. And those types of people are useless to us." Lust brought her fingers down against his neck. It pierced the flesh like metal, coming through the other side with a great deal of blood. Snape gave one last sob, and flopped over. Dead.

Lust looked at the rest of the room, all who were staring at her in fear and shock. Her gaze rested on them coldly.

"The party's in England. You know what they say. The more, the merrier," she turned her back on them and walked away. "Come on, Gluttony." Her companion had started to dine on Snape's right arm. He ripped it off, and fell into step beside Lust. They both exited out the window.

"Harry! Get up, mate!" Ron and Kiba dashed forward to help the boy to a chair.

"Malfoy… why…?" Harry struggled to speak, coughing up blood with each word. "Why did you… help?"

Malfoy averted his gaze. Hinata cleared her throat.

"Um… I think she's trying to say sometheing," she pointed at the blonde girl.

"Oh, that's right .The silencing charm. I'll take care of it," Malfoy volunteered, lifting the spell.

"Thank you so much!" the girl exclaimed. "I thought he was going to kill me!"

"He was," Ron commented dryly. "But Harry's right, Malfoy. You save your worst enemy, and even act decently towards a defenceless muggle? What's gotten into you?"

Malfoy sighed, sitting down in the chair closest to him. His face was gaunt and pale. A tear flowed down his face.

"He killed my mother."

"What?" asked Ron.

"After we escaped, we went back to the mansion and he was there. I'd already gotten branded last year, but I was still allowed to live at home. He told my mother that I was going to become his full-time assistant, but she refused. She put up quite a fight, but in the end…" Malfoy's voice shook. "She couldn't win."

"Oh…" Ron was shocked with this nicer Malfoy.

"You have no idea how lucky you are, Weasel." Malfoy continued. "You, with your close-knit, loving family. Do you know what my father did? He just followed him and left her lying there. He didn't even give her a backward glance. He left me there, too. It was like he was the only thing he saw. That despicable creature they call Gluttony finished her off. Snape then took me here, saying this was our assignment."

"What exactly are you doing here?" asked Ron. "Why is he teaming up with all of these people?"

"He found these worlds through experiments. He found Dante and Pride, and offered them the Philosopher's Stone if they offered him help. That's what Snape was doing." Malfoy seemed glad to share the details. "But now I'm here, all alone."

"Join us." Harry gasped out.

"What?" Ron whipped around to face him.

"Do you remember… what Dumbledore…. said…? Right before… Snape killed… him?" Harry asked. Malfoy's face contorted into one of shock, showing he did.

"But how did you know?"

"I was there… invisibility cloak…"

"I would like to. But it's too late…" Malfoy pushed up his sleeve, showing off his tattoo. The snake protruding out of the skull received gasps from only Harry and Ron.

"Harry, I don't want him joining us!" Ron snapped indignantly.

"Look, Ron... I don't like him… any better than you. And I… never will." Harry seemed to grow more faint. "But remember… we are only strong… as long as we are… united…" He passed out.

"Harry!" the blonde girl shrieked.

"Colonel Roy Mustang!" four men burst into the room. They were all dressed in blue. One was short and dark-haired with glasses. Another was a scrawny man possessing brown hair with blonde bangs. The third man was tall and silver-haired. The last was a plump man with light brown hair, who, upon seeing Akamaru, gave a great squeal and dived on top of the closest cupboard.

"What's going on?" demanded the silver-haired man, seeing the bleeding corpse of his superviser.

"Intruders! We should get backup!" exclaimed the one with the glasses, making for the door.

"No! Don't!" Ron quickly shut the door with a spell. "We can explain!"

Introductions were made. The man with the glasses was called Kain Fuery. The silver hair was Vato Falman, the blonde was Jean Havoc and the cynophobic (person afraid of dogs) was Heymans Breda. They all sat down, and listened to what Ron had to say.

"That's a bit hard to believe…" Falman stroked his chin.

"It's impossible!" Havoc shouted. "What did you do to Roy!"

"Take a look at him." Malfoy pointed at Snape. "Is that the man you thought was Roy?"

They all trooped over to look. Turning his body over, they realized that it really wasn't.

"Didn't you notice how strangely he was acting lately?" Malfoy asked. "Does Roy usually do alchemy with a wand?"

A few more pointers finally convinced the men. Their questions burst forth, and Ron and Malfoy did their best to answer them.

"What are you doing here?" Fuery asked the blonde girl.

"Winry Rockebell," she introduced herself. "I came here to look for Ed and Al. Then that imposter trapped me."

"You know the mirror Hermione gave us?" said Shikamaru. "Wouldn't now be a good time to use it?"

"That's right!" Ron recalled. He pointed his wand at Harry, "Rennervate!"

"What…?" Harry slowly opened his eyes.

"Harry, the mirror!" Ron held out his hand.

"Oh…" Harry rummaged through his pockets. He pulled something silver and shiny out, and handed it to Ron. He flopped back down on the table.

Ron grinned sheepishly as he showed off the mirror. Everyone looked at the three-way mirror- or rather, what was left of it- with blank expressions on their faces. Harry's landing and encounter with Snape had changed it for the worse. It was so cracked and broken that it made Ron's reflection look like some kind of monster.

"Maybe it'll still work." Ron suggested hopefully, shaking it with all his might. To everyone'e surprise, it did. Hermione's face came up, very cracked and unclear.

"…Ron?" Hermione's voice was very staticky.

"Hermione! Have you found Roy?"

"…Yeah… on date… all alright?…"

"We found Asuma and Kurenai, too!"

"Staticky… you found them?"

"Yeah!"

"Come back…"

"How?"

"Portkey… I enchanted… will bring back…"

"You're breaking up, Hermione!"

"Find… portkey! It'll bring you…" Hermione's voice died. Ron stared at the mirror, confused.

"It's obvious we have to go find the sandal." Shikamaru explained. "Who had it last?"

"We sort of left it there, remember?" said Chouji.

"It might still be there!" exclaimed Kiba, "I'm going to go look!" he and Team 8 raced out of the room, followed by Team 7 and Ron.

"We'll go explore, too." Kurenai and Asuma announced, exiting through the window.


Night had fallen when Team 8, 10 and Ron returned.

"Did you find it?" asked Harry, who was better.

"Yeah. We think." Ron lifted up something that was so mauled and broken it was hardly recognizable.

"We found something that might be useful," said Kurenai, she and Asuma entering the office through the window. Their shinobi skills had concealed them from the military workers.

"We found this in someone's desk." Asuma showed them a picture of an intricate circle with the words 'transportation circle' printed over it. Ron and Harry immediately recognized it. Harry raised his eyebrows at Ron.

"No way!" Ron argued. "Remember what happened the last two times we tried?"

"But this time we know where we're going," replied Harry. "Do you want to be stuck here forever?"

"I don't!" exclaimed Kiba. "If it'll take us back to Konoha, let's give it a try!"

"We'll draw it in this room," Harry pulled himself up. "We'll start tomorrow. Right now, I think we should all sleep…"


The circle was finished. It had taken them the whole day and most of the night, but it was done. Hermione was not there to guide them like the last two times, so their work was a little uncertain. However, with 13 people, one dog and loads of beetles helping them, it had gone a little speedier.

Everyone had all spent the last night sleeping in either hard wooden chairs or on the floor, giving Roy's comfy arm chair to Harry because he was injured. Roy's subordinates especially weren't too thrilled at having to camp in the office with the rest of them when they had their own comfy beds not that far away. They hadn't eaten anything since morning, when Roy's subordinates had sneaked some food from the cafetaria.

"Okay, everybody. Just like I showed you." Harry said, entering the circle. Everyone else followed suit, going to their positions. They all held hands and lifted them up into the air.

"Don't mess up on the spell, Malfoy." Roy cautioned the blonde. Malfoy commented back rudely.

"For everyone who doesn't know Konoha, it's best if you just think about Roy or Riza," said Harry. "Okay. Ready?" Everyone nodded, and Harry, Ron and Draco shouted the spell. The circle glowed, and the wind started. The spell had finally gone right for Harry and Ron, and they were swept back to the Village Hidden in the Leaves.