A/N: Hello again, dear readers! I hope you all have had a good start on the new year. This chapter did not want to cooperate with me, but at least I got through it. Just hope the next chapter won't be as though (pepper pepper, knock on wood, *cough*).

Anyway, thank you all for reading it (and for your patience), and I hope you'll like this chapter just as much as the rest.

Enjoy!

Chapter six – Snapped

By the time Hughes reached Mustangs house it was mid-morning. His flat – or rather, Gracia's flat – wasn't really that far away from Roy's house, but he wanted to avoid meeting him in the door which he probably would've if he had gone there directly. Also, it was a good opportunity to go over the plan again: Sneak inside, hide the letter in a way that ensures that Mustang finds it, sneak out again and when the night arrives go to Madam Christmas pub and hope to not get fried. Maybe he should have practised the Flame Freezing Charm some more? Ah well, at least it was slightly better than his original plan. He had considered connecting the fireplaces in Knox', Roy's and Gracia's houses to a private floo connected to Potter Manor, but not only was it still too advanced magic for him to do stuff like that, he had also realized Mustang was the only one with a fireplace big enough for floo. Still, the fireplace was still the best part to start with his current plan.

After making sure nobody was around to see him, he walked up to Mustang's front door and with a silent murmur tapped on the lock with his wand before he gently opened the door and slipped inside. Maes was surprised at how easy it was to break into Roy's house, but he supposed using Alohomora could be considered cheating. It wasn't like muggles could put up wards against stuff like that after all.

Wand in hand, he walked swiftly into the living room and straight to the fireplace. Pulling the letter he had prepared out of his pocket he put it on the floor next to the fireplace and moved the stand with the poker to the other side, not letting his letter peek out from under it. A visitor wouldn't react if the stand were standing on the left or right side of the fireplace, but for Roy – or any of his men really – it would stand out like sore thumb if it suddenly was on the left side. He looked at his work and gave a satisfied nod. All he had to do now was to sneak out again and-

"You're bold, for breaking into my house in the middle of the day", a very familiar voice barked out behind him and with a startled jump he turned around, spotting a very pissed alchemist who was prepared to snap. Oh dear.

Maybe he should have made sure Roy wasn't having a day off.

Roy was in his lab in the basement, trying to focus on his research. Like all state alchemists that were in the military full time and not only called in for specific missions like Fullmetal was, he had a few days "off" every month for research. But right now, he had a very hard time to focus on alchemy when what he really wanted to do was to be outside searching for his Hughes' murderer.

He glanced out the small window that was barely visible from the outside unless you knew it was there. It was mainly there to provide extra light for him and as an extra source of ventilation, but it was also useful for spotting if someone was heading to his front door, like Hughes was currently doing- wait. That wasn't Hughes, he was dead. Roy had not realized until then that he had memorized the way Maes walked, but right now someone with a stride identical to Hughes was visiting him, and he had a gut feeling it was important.

He walked up from the basement but before he passed through the kitchen he heard the lock click open and he frowned. He didn't have any spare keys lying around outside, so where did this man get one? More importantly, who was it?

Swiftly and silently he hid in the shadows behind the kitchen door, peeking through the gap by the wall. He instantly realized that whoever it was that had let themselves in, they knew their way around his house. Yet, just from the glimpse he caught of the man's face, he knew it wasn't someone he'd ever invited before, which meant he must have broken in before for some reason.

With a rising temper he put on his gloves and sneaked after the person into the living room and saw him pull out a piece of paper and put it on the floor next to the fire place. Roy watched the stranger move the stand for the fire-poker and placed it on top of the paper. Gritting his teeth he observed the man nodding at his work. The bastard obviously knew his habits too.

"You're bold, for breaking into my house in the middle of the day", Mustang snapped harshly and rubbed his fingers slowly, making tiny sparks appear. "I'll give you five seconds to explain why you've broken into my house before I burn you to crisps."

The man looked almost befuddled as he gaped like a fish, not saying anything. But Mustang did.

"One."

The panic that appeared on the man's face was highly satisfying. Not that he let that show of course.

"Two."

He almost wished the man wouldn't answer so he'd have an excuse to fry him.

"Three."

Now that he thought about it, something seemed to be off about the man's face. He'd have to hold back the flames so he could get answers.

"Four."

"Aquamenti!"

Roy snapped his fingers as the man snapped up his arm and pointed a fucking twig at him. But before his flames even reached the man they were doused with a torrent of water that seemed to appear from the man's stick.

Which consequentially drenched him too, as he was right behind the flames.

Stunned by the science-defying water, he didn't react to the man's next words quickly enough either.

"Accio gloves! Incarcerous!"

Mustang cursed as his gloves where ripped out of his hands and ropes tied themselves around him on their own. He glared at the stranger who knelt down beside him.

"Sorry about that Roy, but I don't fancy being fried right now", the man said calmly.

"Who are you and how did you get into my house", Mustang growled out between gritted teeth.

"Don't you- oh right, of course you don't recognize me. Sorry, I forgot myself a bit there. Anyway, you can call me James Potter. As for how I got in, I used this", the man said and waved the stick.

"What, a magic wand? Stop fucking me around."

"Language, Roy. Geez, was it you who taught Ed to swear? You shouldn't do that, you know. He's such a sweet boy."

Roy froze in the middle of his struggles, feeling as if his guts had turned to ice. Why did this man know about Fullmetal? Had he looked up them too? Come to think of it, he hadn't heard from the Elric brothers in a while, had he done something to them?

Evidentially, his thoughts must have been visible on his face because the stranger spoke up again.

"Ha! I knew you cared about those boys; you can't hide behind that cold exterior from me. Anyway, you can relax – I don't mean them any harm. Quite the opposite, really."

Mustang took a few breaths to calm himself down. "What do you want, then?"

"To give you some information. I can't tell you everything right here and now, but I will in the future, I promise!"

"And when would that be, and where?" Roy bit out in frustration. The man grinned wider.

"At Christmas. Anyway, what you should know for now it written in that letter, so why don't you take a look at it when you wake up and then will talk more next time?"

Before he could ask what the man meant or put up any kind of resistance the man pointed that wand in his face with a wane smile and whispered something.

The last thing Roy saw was a red light.

Hughes felt bad about stunning Roy – he really did – but he couldn't just leave Roy tied up on the floor, but untying him before leaving while he was awake was just asking for trouble. It was a weak stunner anyway; he would be up again in just a few minutes.

Aware of the time limit, he cast a drying-spell on Roy before vanishing the ropes and moving the man over to the couch. Carefully he slipped a pillow under his friend's head and placed the ignition gloves under the hand that rested on Mustang's chest.

He made a quick detour to Roy's lab to make sure there wasn't anything burning there or leaving off toxic gases, but thankfully there wasn't. So he slipped out, locked the door, and took a new detour back to Knox house.

He had to make sure he perfected the flame freezing charm, before tonight.

A/N: I have to admit I have a slight weakness for parental!Roy, but it's tricky to get it good without him going too much ooc. So yeah, after this it will at most be a few hints about it really, if anything. So thanks for reading, and let me know what you thought about it!