Dum, dee, dum, dee, dum…I forgot what I was going to say, well, anywhozles, thank you for all the reviews! And here's the next chapter!

Chapter Eight: The Test…

The twelve candidates stood in the front of the Great Hall, surrounding the odd looking box. Dumbledore walked up to them and said,

"The test is simple, all you have to do is stick your hand inside the box."

Ed snickered slightly and said to Al,

"These wizards sure have odd ways of testing people, this should be a breeze."

"Don't get cocky Ed, or did you forget already, this is a magic school. There's probably some sort of hex or something on the box." Artimus muttered, Ed just shrugged dismissively. Al though seemed intrigued; he looked down at Artimus and asked,

"But, what about me? How would it work on me?"

"I dunno, maybe it just makes you see things or something and they judge you on how you react to what you see." She shrugged.

The testing began and the three candidates from Durmstrang went first, it was strange. All they did was take turns sticking their left hand into the box, when they took them out though they seemed very pale. When the last member of Durmstrang stuck his hand in the box and pulled it out, his hand had a strange tattoo inked on it.

"You know that idea of yours?" Ed muttered to Artimus "I don't think so, it looks like whoever gets that strange tattoo is the winner or whatever."

"Well, that's obvious." She grumbled. Al seemed sort of edgy, he bent down and whispered to Ed,

"Brother, what would happen if I get picked? I mean, you can't very well tattoo a suit of armor."

"I don't know Al…" Ed shrugged, they continued to watch as the Beauxbatons members go, the first two had the same side effects as the first two Durmstrang candidates, and the same thing happened to the last. The girl, who was about seventeen or eighteen, looked at her hand as if she'd broken a nail, she then returned to her seat with the other two.

It was Hogwarts turn to be tested now, Cho Chang went up first, and she stuck her hand inside the box and waited for a moment. When she pulled her hand out, it was pale as if it hadn't seen the sun in ages. She took a step back with a slightly disappointed look on her face, Ceddric then went up and followed suit, nothing, this made Harrys' stomach churn slightly. He'd been watching the pattern of how the participants where being chosen and it went, the first two where a no and the last person was it.

When he stuck his hand inside the box it was like a cold breeze was washing all about his hand, it was really strange, when he pulled his hand out of the box and looked at it, sure enough, it was tattooed. Sighing, he looked over at his table, Ron and Hermione had both excited and worried looks on their faces. He returned to his seat with them and pondered what was going to happen next.

Finally it was Ed, Al, and Artimus's turns, Al went up first. He had seen the pattern and wanted to test it out. When he took his hand out of the box there was nothing, he was slightly relieved though he did want to know more about this tournament. Artimus had caught on as well, Ed had too but he really wasn't that worried about it, he made his way up to the box. He was just about to stick his hand in it when Artimus came up and said,

"What do you think you're doing? Isn't that being a bit rude? It's ladies first." She stuck her hand in the box quickly then pulled it out, pale and sun deprived.

"Why'd you do that!" Ed snapped.

"Enjoy." Artimus smirked, she knew what it was that the box did to determine the participants. Sure, the order in which the people go is a factor but so is that last persons soul, if the last person has seen some form of death that was close to the heart then they would be chosen. Why this was, she figured was because they deserved it more, but she'd seen death close to the heart as well. But that really didn't matter, she had to make sure that Ed followed through on his search here for the Philosophers Stone, and this tournament was the closest thing too it.

Ed stuck his hand, reluctantly, into the box. It was strange, a sort of stinging sensation started to build up in his hand. Sort of like when your hand falls asleep and then starts to regain feeling. When he pulled his hand out, sure enough there where marks, he had a very distinct mark on his hand. It looked like red vine like designs curling it's way from his wrist all over his left hand.

"And so…this begins…" Ed grumbled, he gave Artimus an irritated look, she returned it with a playfully sinister grin.

--

Back in the Gryffindor common room Ed, Al, Artimus, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all sat near the fire contemplating the events in the Great Hall. Ron would occasionally glance over at the three alchemists with mild suspicion but then return to inspecting a small burn mark on his chair. Harry was examining the tattoo on his hand, it wasn't as detailed as Eds' was but it still had an intricate design. His mark was actually a series of jagged lines coming from his wrist and sort of contouring to the curves in his hand, they sort of looked like lightning bolts. Hermione finally looked up and asked,

"So…what do you think the first task is going to be?"

"Who knows…" Harry muttered, Ed looked up and replied as well,

"Whoever wins better get what they ask for or this is going to be a waste of time…"

"Why do you say that?" Ron muttered.

"Because, the only reason me and Al are here is because we heard that something very important to us is here." Ed answered, Ron huffed "What's gotten into you Ron?" Ed then asked.

"Oh nothing, other then the fact that out of all the schools invited to this tournament, yours' is the only one that sent just three of their students. Now why is that?"

Ed pondered this for a moment, that was a good question. He then glanced over at Artimus, who was sort of half-heartedly flicking pieces of parchment into the fire and said,

"Artimus, you seem to know more about the happenings, why is it only the three of us where sent and not more?"

"If you'd read the report you'd know this…" she replied boardly.

"Don't start that again, just answer the question." Ed hissed.

"What's the point in wasting 'school funding' if only three candidates where going to be chosen? I guess the 'headmaster' thought it would be more reasonable to send their top three 'students' instead of a large group."

"See, there you have it." Ed said to Ron, who frowned slightly and pressed on with the seemingly growing interrogation,

"Alright then, tell me Ed. Why is it your feet make two different sounds when you walk?"

Ed was about to retort to that question when he stopped suddenly, he'd forgotten to tell them about his auto-mail…even though he really didn't see a need to tell them. Al could see that his brother looked like he was in a spot so he tried to help,

"It happened in an 'accident' about seven years ago…"

"Al, it's better to just show them." Ed sighed, he took off his small black jacket and showed the three young wizards his right arm, he then pulled up the left pant leg to show them his leg, both where auto-mail. Hermione seemed very intrigued by this, Harry was temporarily forgot about the markings on his hand and turned to see, Ron on the other hand was just stunned. He hadn't really expected this kind of answer.

"It's called auto-mail, and yes, I did lose my arm and leg about six years ago. Al here lost his whole body, that's why you always see him in a suit of armor…his soul is attached to it." Ed said.

"Wow! That's really cool," Harry said "Well…it looks really cool, I'm not saying what happened was, well, cool."

"That's ok…" Ed shrugged.

"How is it your brothers' soul is attached to the armor?" Hermione asked.

"I used alchemy, all I had to do was sort of fuse the iron in the blood seal to the iron of the armor and bam, that's what happened."

"How did it happen?" Ron asked.

"In an accident, I said that already." Ed replied.

"What kind of accident?"

"…"

Everyone, with the exception of Artimus who was now poking at the fire with the poker, looked at Ed waiting for him to answer,

"It's personal…" he muttered "I'm going to bed Al."

"Ok brother…" Al sighed, he was half hoping Ed would tell them, Al got up and followed his brother to the boys dorm room. When the two where gone, Artimus looked over her shoulder and said,

"My, my Ron, haven't we gotten suspicious."

"I was just curious…" he grumbled.

"Just so you're forewarned for the future, discussing how he got his auto-mail and how his brother came to be the way he is, is sort of a touchy subject for Ed. I would highly suggest that you not be so forward about it."

"…"

"I'm not joking, what those two went through and then wound up like that is no joking matter. Anyway, I already know what the first task is going to be."

"What?" Harry, Ron, and Hermione all looked at her. Artimus smirked and held up a letter,

"You see, I get these letters every week give or take a few days. Each letter has some important information in it, or in some cases they're just reminders. This letter happened to have mentioned what the first task is…and it's gonna be interesting." Artimus said with her playfully sinister grin on her face.

"Well, what is it?" Harry asked.

"Simple really, it's dragons…" she smirked "Food for thought…" she got up and started for the girls dorm rooms. Before she was gone completely she then added,

"Oh and Harry, I wish you luck considering Ed's going to be doing this as well…and he's a tough competitor. You're going to need all the luck you can get." She then left.

"She tells us this now?" Ron ranted.

"Dragons…this doesn't sound good." Harry muttered looking a little pale.

"Do you think the others know?" Hermione asked.

"If you mean by 'others' Edward and Alphonse, probably not. They seemed to calm to know anything." Ron grumbled.

"We're going to have to work up a plan for tomorrow Harry, that's when the first task starts." Hermione said.

"I know…but what can I possibly do to prepare for this?"

-To Be Continued-

Ok! I remember now! I'm really, really, REALLY, sorry for the lateness of this chapter. (Starts handing out thick packets that contain lengthy excuses). But I do hope you like this chapter…I know I said (at least I think I said) I was going to start the tournament in this chapter but that didn't happen…sorry…I am 100 sure that the next chapter will have some first task action in it! Mainly because that's the title for the next chapter, so it's kind of hard to have a chapter with the title 'The First Task' and not have the first task in it so yeah…I'm a few french fries short of a happy meal it's not my fault! My shrink is still trying to tell me that the government isn't trying to invade Neptune with radioactive monkeys…