Thanks for the reviews! I just wanted to let everyone know that Ed is the only one participating in the tournament, the others are there for moral support pretty much, you know like how how a bunch of students from each school puts their name in the goblet and only one name comes out...that sort of thing.Ok, so the title is a tad dorky, title making is not one of my talents I will admit. Anywhozles, just so this is clear, the Quadwizrd tournament is basically the triwizard tournament only with a fourth 'school' participating, instead of three, ok you get the idea. This is what you get when you mix boredom, multitasking, and an extreme love for FMA/HP crossovers…ok any crossover. Also I'm attempting a somewhat humorous story so bare with me on this (I can talk funny, typing funny is a different story…heh…story), I would also like to state that the third participant is not a 'Mary Jane' character (did I use that right?), though she is my own creation she in no way represents me. She comes from one of my own made-up series called 'Haymaker Syndrome', just so there are no assumptions or anything. So please continue reading and enjoy!
Chapter Two: The Leaky Cauldron
Ed and Al got off the train at Kings Cross station, there where lots of people bustling around. Alphonse felt slightly uncomfortable because some people where looking at him questioningly,
"Brother, they're all looking at me funny." He said.
"Don't worry about it Al, we have to find this place called 'The Leaky Cauldron'. Who came up with a name like that?" Edward replied, he looked around. The station was extremely busy, compared to the nearly empty station back in Central "How exactly are we suppose to find this place? It's so crowded." he muttered.
The two brothers made their way through the crowd until they came to the exit, to say the least it gave a whole new meaning of 'Out of the frying pan and into the fire', it was, if possible, more busy outside then it was in the station! Al didn't really like it, too many people where staring at him. Edward on the other hand really didn't seem to mind, he was too busy himself trying to find the Leaky Cauldron to pay any attention to the people around him, he was also partly wondering who this third person was going to be. Mustang said that they would be waiting in England but where?
They had been walking for a good hour and a half before the brothers finally gave up, this place was impossible finding. They sat down on a street corner and looked around, people where still giving them odd looks but this had been happening so often that they decided to ignore it.
"Damn! How in the hell are we suppose to find this place?" Ed finally snapped, Al looked down at his brother and replied,
"Maybe we should ask for directions?" Al suggested.
"Are you crazy Al? I highly doubt anybody here knows where this Leaky Cauldron is, I mean from what I've read most of the population doesn't know about this." Ed grumbled it was at that moment that a man had walked by and over heard their conversation; he stopped and looked at the two boys.
"Are you two looking for the Leaky Cauldron?" he asked, they looked up at him questioningly "I'm on my way there myself, I can show you the way if you'd like?"
The brothers looked at each other then up at the man, this was completely unexpected and sure did a number on Ed's pride, and being proven wrong is not one of Ed's favorite events.
"Sure!" they both said, standing up and following the man down the street, who was this guy? He looked like everyone else on the street but he knew about the Leaky Cauldron. The man was lanky and had short black hair, he had a good natured expression on his face but he looked unhealthy in a way. Edward kept his eye on him just to make sure he wasn't dangerous. Alphonse on the other hand seemed quite content with the man, it may have something to do with the fact that the man didn't give him a strange look or ask why he was in a suit of armor.
It was only a short walk from where they where before they came to a rather old looking building, there was a sign above the doorway that said 'The Leaky Cauldron'. Ed couldn't help but smack himself on the head, it was so obvious! Walking into the Leaky Cauldron was like taking a step back in time, it was dark and lit by either candles or oil lamps. The tables where wood and seemed to be slightly rotting, but not to the point where they were useless. The people inside though where the strangest sight yet, most of them where in long robes and semi-pointed hats, Ed had to blink a few times at this, they looked almost like stereotypical witches and wizards.
The man made his way over to the bar tender and ordered himself a drink, Ed and Al just looked around. They weren't really sure what to do now that they where there, figuring it was best to sit down and gather up stray thoughts Edward sat down at one of the tables, Al doing the same.
"Right, now that we're here…what?" Ed asked mostly to himself.
"Maybe that third person is here?" Al stated.
"Possibly but we don't know what he looks like so that doesn't help much." Ed replied, he started to flip through the folder again. He was mostly just scanning but he wanted to find some information on this third person, who was it? Placing his chin in his hands Edward gazed dazedly at the paper not really reading. Al was too busy looking around fasinatedly at everyone and everything, he'd never really seen this kind of place before. What seemed like an hour had passed and nothing happened. Ed was starting to get annoyed, he didn't like staying in one place for a long time.
"Where the hell is that third person?" he snapped, Al tried to calm his brother down but failed. Someone had walked up to them without their noticing, they tapped Ed on the shoulder, turning around Edward snapped,
"What!"
"You waitin' for me?" they asked, upon seeing whom had tapped him, Edward glared at the person. They where a semi-tall, pale skinned, girl with short black hair and purple high lights. She was looking at him questioningly.
"That depends?" he replied. The girl looked around and then said,
"My name is Artimus, the Light Shadow Alchemist."
"You're a State Alchemist?" Ed gasped standing up, Artimus pointed to the chair and told him to sit down and shut up. Doing so Ed gave her a questioning glance then crossed his arms.
"Yes, I became a State Alchemist when I was ten but it didn't become official until I was twelve for some reason," she shrugged "But that's not important right now. After going over the file on this place and the school where this tournament is supposed to be I've come to one conclusion!"
"What's that?" Al asked.
"We're gonna win that prize!"
"You know what, I really don't care about that prize…whatever it may be, I'm here only because supposedly a Philosophers Stone was found at that school and I want to know more about it, like who made it and how they made it." Edward huffed, this girl seemed really flaky.
"The Philosophers Stone huh? Yeah, Mustang told me that was what you were after that," She glanced over at Alphonse and smiled "What's it like?" she asked.
"What?" he replied.
"Being a suit of armor! I mean I'm sure it has its advantages…and disadvantages." She said.
"Well…it's not too bad, though I would prefer my original body." Al said, he thought she was nice, what really got him though was the fact that she knew he was just a soul in a suit of armor "What about you, you seem to know a lot about us."
"Read your files…" she stated leaning back on her chair "Anyway, if you read everything that was in the file then you know what to expect. We'll be staying in the school itself, there are four houses. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin; we will be fostered by the Gryffindor house."
"What?" both brothers asked.
Artimus grabs the folder out of Ed's hands and flipped it open, she took out four sheets of paper and handed them to Ed saying,
"The four Hogwarts houses."
They looked at the four discriptions of the houses, Ed thought it all sounded stupid. Artimus stood up and walked over to the bar tender and said,
"Those two over there are going to need room and board till November 1st ok?"
"Are they going to pay for it?" he asked.
"Naw, I will just add it to my bill ok."
"Alright then," the bartender handed her two keys "There ya go missy."
Artimus walked back over to the brothers and handed them the keys, she then made her way towards a door that was in the back of the bar.
"Hey wait a minute!" Ed snapped.
"What? I'm tired and it's 5 in the afternoon."
"I still have some questions I need to ask you."
"Are they about the school or the tournament?" she asked.
"Yes and no."
"…Everything you need to know about the school and tournament are in the folder, if you have any other questions that do not pertain to either then it can wait till tomorrow…or when ever I feel like answering them…man I'm tired…" she opened the door and disappeared down a long hallway.
"Al?" Edward said still watching the door.
"What is it brother?"
"What is her problem?" he suddenly snapped.
"Huh?"
"She acts as if she's this great know-it-all, 'everything you need to know is in the folder' she says. Al, I have a feeling this is going to be a very long mission."
"What do you mean brother?" Al asked.
"If we have to spend…however long this tournament is…with her then by the end we'd better have the Philosophers Stone in our hands." Ed grumbled. Al just sighed and looked at the key he had, the number was 437, he looked over at the key that his brother had, 436.
"What should we do now brother? Go to our rooms?"
"We've got nothing better to do…" he said dully standing up and heading in the same direction that Artimus went, he opened the door to find the long hallway. Al, walking up behind him looked down the hall, trudging forward Edward started down the hall looking for his room number. It was twenty minutes later that they had found their rooms and settled down, Edward was just about to sit down on the bed in the corner of the room when something tapped on the window.
Not really taking any notice to it Edward sat down, there was more tapping, this time more furiously and frequently. Getting annoyed by this Ed looked up at the window, there was a raven tapping its beak on the windowpane. Getting up and walking over to the window Ed rapped on the window trying to scare it away, this only aggravated the bird as it started clawing at the window and making horrible squawking noises. Also getting aggravated Ed opened the window to shoo it away, that's when it flew in and started flying around the ceiling squawking.
"Hey! Get outta here ya stupid bird!" Ed shouted, the birds only respond was dive-bombing and attacking him trying to bite him "Get away from me bird! AL!"
Al came rushing in to find the bird still trying to bite his brother,
"What's going on, where did that bird come from!" Al asked shocked.
"Stupid thing was tapping on my window!" Ed replied dodging another dive-bomb attempt.
"So you opened the window?"
"To scare it away, then it just flew in and started attacking me!"
Artimus suddenly appeared at the entrance, she had an annoyed look on her face. Storming towards the middle of the room where Ed was she snapped,
"What are you doing? Leave him alone!"
"Yeah ya stupid bird!" Ed retorted.
"Not the bird you idiot, leave my bird alone!" she snapped again, she then held out her arm and the bird flew over to her and landed on her out stretched arm. There was a letter tied to the ravens leg, Ed hadn't noticed that. As Artimus untied it she shot Ed a very poisonous glare,
"What!" he asked.
"This wouldn't have happened if you'd just read the…" she was cut off.
"I did read the folder! What do you think we did on the train ride here? It said nothing about crazy birds!" Ed snapped.
"It states that wizards and witches use owls to send mail to one another." Artimus corrected.
"Well if I didn't know any better I'd say that's a pretty funny lookin' owl!" Ed hissed pointing at the raven.
"He's a bird isn't he? Owls are the most commonly used bird BECAUSE they are the easiest to train, I chose a raven BECAUSE they are smarter and more…efficient." Artimus said taking a biscuit out of her pocket and giving a piece to the raven.
"Those are birds from hell…" Ed grumbled.
"Hey! If I hadn't called him off he would have pecked you eyes out!"
"She's got a point brother…" Al nodded.
"If that thing is so smart then why did it come to my window and not yours?" Ed retorted.
"What are you talking about? This IS my window…you're in the wrong room Einstein, your room is next door," Artimus said walking over to the wardrobe in the other corner of the room opening it "See." It was full of female clothes, Ed's jaw dropped, Al just shook his head saying,
"Oh brother…"
"B…but…you…where did you go then?"
"The bathroom, I can go to the bathroom can't I? It's not breaking the law is it mister FullMetal chibi!" Artimus knew how he didn't like being called small or any synonym that indicated small stature, compliments of Colonel Mustang that is.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BEAN SPROUT MIDGET?"
"Do you mind leaving, I'd like to change and go to bed." She said pointing to the door not the slightest bit shocked or taken aback by Ed's reaction. Still fuming Ed stormed out of the room, Al close behind closing the door. Artimus sighed, the raven had flown off her arm and landed on top of the wardrobe, it fell asleep.
Changing into her pajamas and lying on the bed on her back she gazed up at the ceiling, this was going to be a long year…
-To Be Continued-
Yup that's Artimus for you, no like I said before she is in now way an alter version of myself, I will keep saying this if I have too. I actually have no clue how I came up with her, her name though I got from a Greek mythology book though I changed the spelling slightly. Her personality though I guess I got by mixing together all my favorite female characters from all my favorite shows…something like that…Well anywhozles, I have no intentions of pairing anyone up with other. Why I don't do that is beyond me I just don't do it that often…though there maybe some hinting (like Artimus putting Ed in funny/uncomfortable situations) I just enjoy torturing Ed it's so much fun…is that bad? But it won't go any further then that (shrug). I'm still a beginner and (says super-over-the-top dramatically) one is not used to both reading and writing such feelings, woe is to me I have not the means nor mind to do such a thing (drama ends). I'm more the poor physically and mentally beaten angst and side splitting humor type, love ta read'm love ta write'm.