Disclaimer: Anything Fullmetal Alchemist is owned by Hiromu Arakawa and anything from the Harry Potter universe is owned by JK Rowling
The weeks leading to September the first passed in relative peace. The Elric brothers spent a few weeks studying the numerous books left to them about magic. The materials provided to them did not just include the books in the school curriculum but had other subjects such as magical theory, and healing, just to name a few.
Since Amestris is not included in the Statute of Secrecy, the brothers were also able to practice some of the magical techniques that were written on the books. Ironically, neighbors did not even bat an eye at these feats of magic since they thought these are just some newfangled alchemy techniques the brothers picked up on their travels.
On the last week of August, they have decided to visit the west, namely Rush Valley and Dublith to inform Winry Rockbell and Izumi Curtis that they will be sent away overseas for at least a year for a study program sponsored by the state.
Winry did not let them go without a thorough tune up of Edward's automail leg and a blueprint of the said leg. Alphonse, meanwhile, mercilessly teased his brother and his brother's fiancé the whole time which caused Edward to blush beet red and Winry to throw a wrench in Al's direction in embarrassment. Knowing Winry's uncanny aim, it promptly connected with Alphonse's head.
And from the pain in Alphonse's at that time, he finally understood why his brother would rather die than face Winry's wrath, and by extension, her wrench.
When they reached Dublith, Izumi Curtis was not happy to find out that not only Edward's retirement was not approved; both of them are now working for the military. Edward tried to reason with Izumi that Alphonse is only working as a consultant and is not a 'military dog' so to speak, but this only increased the number of injuries he received, on merit of allowing his brother to join the military in any capacity.
It was only because of their rudimentary knowledge of healing magic that the Elric brothers were able to recover from the thorough thrashing they received during their in time in Dublith. But now it was time for them to return to East City HQ, it finally being the last day of August.
General Mustang, on the other hand, was experiencing the exact opposite of peace. Between all the administrative paperwork of running the Headquarters as the its Chief Officer, the paperwork associated with the Ishval Rehabilitation project, and any other miscellaneous assignments that Central sends their way, he also has to consult someone on Fullmetal's assignment. Something told him that this was more than what it seemed.
"I'm not liking this one bit. Not. One. Bit, Hughes" General Roy Mustang told his main confidante and friend, Brigadier General Maes Hughes.
"I know, Roy. That Dumbledore fellow gives too little information." Brigadier General Maes Hughes agreed. Waiving a thin folder about, he continued. "This is the original file for the subject provided by Dumbledore. Go read it and tell me what's wrong."
It took less than minute for Roy to throw the file in frustration. "There is nothing in there!"
"I know. That is why I pulled Armstrong out. You were lucky we were able to do a decent briefing sheet by the time you asked for one." was Hughes' response.
"Thank you for that, Hughes. But tell me the truth. That is not the whole picture, right?" Mustang said
"Not even the tip of the proverbial iceberg." Handing out a considerably thicker folder, he said "This is what we were able to obtain as of current. Then tell me what you think."
Mustang then took the folder and read the contents. Thankfully, the file was done in bullet points and timelines. Considerably easier read than full paragraph reports.
This time, it took Mustang almost half an hour to read through the file. And in that half hour, his brows rose up that it almost reached his hairline.
"You have got to be kidding Hughes! This thing's sorrier than Havoc's dating history!" was the first thing Mustang said after he read the file.
"Tell me about it. Their whole society expects a kid no older than Edward to save them from supposedly, the most evil wizard of all time. Not that I have problems with kids in general, but have you taken a look at the kid's bio? Kid's gotta have the luck of the devil or he'd have been dead many times over!" Hughes fumed, the happy-go-lucky persona, nowhere to be found.
"Average to below average performance in academic endeavors, with exceptions on isolated bursts of talent here and there, and that is me being generous." Mustang answered Hughes. "And I don't even know what's worse, the fact that that the adults are purposely keeping him in the dark or that the rest of them expects him to actually save them while they bury their heads on the sand." He continued.
"Yeah. And don't forget this. Their government."
Both men groaned out loud just thinking about it.
"At least, any threat to the country was promptly taken care of during King Bradley's time." Hughes finally said after a while.
"Well, that is because King Bradley IS the threat to the country." Mustang countered
"Yeah, then there's that. But it is better than whatever sick excuse for a government they have. Dismissing threat because your government is not capable of handling it? They did not even bother doing an investigation on that kid's claim! Someone died on an international event, Roy. The least one can do is conduct and investigation and NOT sweep it under the rug! That is just wrong in so many levels I can't even start to enumerate." a sigh from Hughes. "How can one protect their people with that attitude? Any capable intelligence agent can see there is a valid point of further investigation, whether this so-called Lord Voldemort is back or not!." he continued, his face darkening at this farce of a government.
"Maybe it's because you already hired all capable intelligence agents, Hughes." teased Mustang, trying to make light of the situation.
Catching on the dig, Hughes smirked "Of course! How have I forgotten that, Roy. Maybe I should lend them some of my agents." he paused, pretending to think about it. "Maybe not. I like my agents where they are right now. " he declared. "Going off course here, what are you going to tell the Elrics once they return from Risembool?"
"Not much. Just the essentials. Let Fullmetal find it out for himself and hope he does what he usually does during missions." Mustang answered.
"You mean like Youswell and Liore?" Hughes questioned.
"Yeah. Looking past the damages to property, those towns does owe Fullmetal a huge favor." Mustang confirmed.
"I'm surprised, Roy! You'd actually wish Edward to do his thing, knowing full well how much reports you have to file after." Hughes said, wondering what happened to his friend. This is Roy Mustang, the officer who would never do paperwork willingly!
"Who says I'm the one filing them? Armstrong should be back by the time Fullmetal returns, she'll do it for me!" was Mustang's response.
"And not even asking me if I'm sending Armstrong back here next year." Hughes said, shaking his head. "You really won't change, won't you Roy?"
"You know me full well, Hughes." answered Mustang. "But seriously, thank you for all this. Sorry for taking so much of your time."
Taking this as his cue to leave, Hughes stood up, but not without showing new pictures of his beloved family.
He knows Mustang has a lot to think and plan about, and need a few minutes of distraction from all this unpleasantness. And if he gets to show the beauties that is his wife and child, then all the better for him.
edited as of 19 July 2016
A/N: I swear this only started as an introductory paragraph. Again, my only excuse is that fingers flew. Teehee.. :p
Besides (yeah, sure juniorjay, explain yourself), I did not bring Hughes back because I like the guy (well, yeah, maybe initially) but like I said, I have some use for him. Why not show you his uses?
But anyways, thank you so much for all the support! Please, do continue to read, enjoy and if it's okay, review.
Still unbeta'd so for anything off about the spellings, grammar and whatnot, don't hesitate to point it out. But no unnecessary flaming, flaming is bad.
(Not unbeta'd anymore!- The UT was here)-note by my beta, TheUltamateBlastoise. Thank you beta for all the help!
Again, my gratitude and thanks.
p.s. I may not be able to post the chapter for the 2nd half of the month as it's my grandmum's 90th birthday this month. My mum (my grandmum's only daughter) has declared all hands (read: me) on deck with the preparations. But I'll try to squeeze in some time between to see if I can push through with the regular screening. But no guarantees. Thank you for your patience with me.