Author's Notes:
This is the final chapter I put out just a bit over six years ago. Yeah. . . I didn't get very far. Between the two, this one features the greater differences. With regards to Hughes' investigation, I set him back a step compared to the original version, in that he doesn't know who the vault belongs to. As a result of this, I also had to cut about 1000 words from Roy's part in this chapter, where he confronts Dumbledore about it, learns about the Philosopher's Stone, and is informed by Dumbledore about Voldemort's possible involvement. Reason I changed this is because I don't want to run out of material for Hughes to uncover in his storyline too soon. I have a rough idea on how to have it play out, but I'm not certain if the amount of story is going to be equal between the "Hogwarts storyline" and the "Investigation storyline", hence why I'm using the latter sparingly.
There's also a pretty huge change I made to Harry's part of the chapter. . . but more on that at the end of the chapter.

The Hogwarts Express: The train that takes students of the Hogwarts School for Wizardry and Witchcraft from London to said school, and back. Under normal circumstances, the train would make very few runs per year between London and Hogwarts, all of them at the beginning and end of the school's vacations. Despite this, the train could make additional runs, should the need for doing so arise.

Bringing a new teacher to Hogwarts was one such occasion.

Having never been any good at apparating, and disliking floo powder and portkeys, since they did not entirely agree with him, the use of the Hogwarts Express was the best choice that remained to Roy Mustang. Especially so since both he and Riza Hawkeye were going to stay at Hogwarts full-time for the next couple of years, and therefore had plenty of personal belongings that they were taking along.

But beyond that, both of them had also taken along a great deal of their ministerial paperwork and related things. While Roy didn't have a perfectly clear vision of what teaching was like, he was certain that he'd be able to fit in the time to continue that work. After all, how could being a teacher be, if year after year, Dumbledore managed to find a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher? No, teaching along was definitely not a reason to abandon his career ambitions. In fact, even taking the job of alchemy teacher at Hogwarts had been a decision made purely on the positive look it'd give him in the eyes of his superiors.

Whatever the reason, King Bradley's politics as minister always had somewhat of a focus on the education sector. A few decades ago, this had already resulted in the expansion of the Hogwarts curriculum by the subjects of Math, English, Biology and Physics. The addition of these "muggle subjects", as they had been commonly derided, was met with a calm and rational response from the wizarding world, in the form of a hysteric public outcry. According to some, this decision (along with some of Bradley's other politics) had been part of the reason why Voldemort had been as successful as he was, as many "concerned witches/wizards" found themselves agreeing with his ideology, if not his method – violent murder was still violent murder after all, and a bit harder to justify than just having some opinions.

But regardless of the backlash and discussion that ensued, the changes to the Hogwarts curriculum were made, in no small part because Dumbledore himself supported them. By now, all of the subjects were more or less accepted by the wizarding society, especially after the downfall of Voldemort eleven years ago.

Beyond the introduction of these subjects, King Bradley had nonetheless continued supporting and reforming Hogwarts wherever he could. The latest of these endeavors had been to personally forward the job offering at the school for a new alchemy teacher to the ministerial alchemists, in the hopes of having one of them take it.

Figuring that doing the job for at least a few years would better his superior's view of him, Roy had practically jumped at the opportunity. Since the interest in the job among State Alchemists was very low, and Roy had always been one of the most skilled State Alchemists (or at least that's how he fancied himself), being accepted by Professor Dumbledore was no problem. Thus, it was settled: Hogwarts' alchemy teacher for the next three years would be "Professor Mustang".

But now, as he actually was on his way to Hogwarts, Roy couldn't help but feel a bit of doubt as to whether or not this had been the right choice. Sure, he had already received high praise from Bradley himself for this decision, but on the other hand… three years were three years. In the time that he'd spend teaching, who knows if his career options would remain open…

And then there was of course the matter of the actual teaching. He still wasn't sure how he would be able to handle it. Of course, it couldn't be that hard, but it was nonetheless that he had never learned to do. This is why he had requested to have Riza Hawkeye accompany him as assistant. To his surprise, she had mentioned to him that during her own time at Hogwarts, she had occasionally tutored other students, and been doing pretty well at it, making her the perfect choice for an assistant.

Beyond that… Roy Mustang had fought in the aftermath of Lord Voldemort's defeat against the remaining Death Eaters, which even several years after the disappearance of their master continued to terrorize the wizarding world. In contrast, dealing with children would surely be nothing compared to that. Yes, things would work out somehow... they had to.

Just as it had been in Roy's own time as student, the Hogwarts Express' journey ended up taking most of the day. By the time that Roy and Riza arrived at the station in Hogsmeade, the sun was already setting. As the two of them stepped out of the train, they were already being awaited by an incredibly large man, wearing a very wide, brown cloak. As he saw the man, Roy smiled. He still fondly remembered the groundskeeper Hagrid from his own time at Hogwarts.

"Yer Professor Mustang, right? Professor Dumbledore is already waiting for yeh." Hagrid asked, as Roy and Riza walked up to him.

Roy said, giving the large man a smile. "Thank you, Hagrid. Are you going to bring our luggage to the castle?"

Hagrid chuckled. "Seems like yeh remember me better than I do yeh, professor! But yeah, I'll be taking care of your luggage, so yeh can just go and meet Professor Dumbledore. Password for his office 'Nitwit'. Do y'know where to find it?"

"...Yes, I do. I have been there during my own time as student here." Roy admitted. Though Professor Dumbledore did admire the alchemy that Roy had been able to use back then, the memory of being send to the headmaster's office was nonetheless a particularly fond one.

"Ah, then welcome to Hogwarts, Professor Mustang an' Miss Hawkeye!" With that, Hagrid shook first Roy's and then Riza's hand, and the two of them left the station, making their way to the carriage that was awaiting them.

"Say, that time when you went to the headmaster's office, was that when-?" Riza questioned, as they entered the carriage.

"Yes." Roy quickly replied, in a tone that made it very obvious that he didn't want to talk about the subject. Even so however, his response made Riza grin. Of all the things that would make her grin…

The carriage ride to Hogwarts castle was like a trip to the past for Roy. As he passed through the castle doors, he had to resist the urge to head down to the Slytherin common room out of instinct. The way to Dumbledore's office likewise brought back an utter flood of memories. Just about every place that he got through, every view that he had from the windows, every room they passed... they all reminded him of his own time as student.

But there was no time to cling to the past. Roy's eyes had been set on the future, which he intended to shape by his own hands. Teaching here at Hogwarts would only be another step towards that future.

Just as Hagrid had told them, Professor Dumbledore was already awaiting Roy and Riza in his office. When the two of them entered the room, the headmaster was sitting at his desk. Even though it seemed as if he wanted to say something, he kept silent, and watched the two of them with a slightly surprised look on his face.

"Is something the matter, Professor Dumbledore?" Roy asked, after he and Riza sat down on the other side of the desk.

Dumbledore shook his head. "It's nothing, Professor Mustang. I just had already forgotten that you and Miss Hawkeye are among the generations that takes more kindly to muggle fashion than most of our kind do."

Roy looked down on himself. What he was wearing was a simple black suit, with Riza wearing something rather similar. Not particularly outstanding, but definitely a contrast to Dumbledore's own dark purple robes. "Well, I just don't think that robes are my style. I hope that this won't be any problem?"

"No, no, I won't be having a problem with it. What do you have to keep in mind is that some of your colleagues and students might be a bit more... conservative in the regard of clothing choices."

Roy chuckled. "If those are the biggest problems that I will have to deal with during my time as teacher here, then I'm pretty certain that I will manage. To be perfectly honest, I never quite saw the appeal in robes."

"Quite." The headmaster said with a smile. "But as interesting as it might be, I think we should continue this conversation about fashion at another day. I hope your journey here has been a good one?"

"I cannot complain."

"That is good to hear. And what about you, Miss Hawkeye?" Dumbledore asked.

"Everything was alright, sir."

"Good. Now, before I show you your new offices, there is something I should inform you about," Dumbledore said. "For this year, I intend to hide one of my personal belongings here at Hogwarts, since I fear that a dark wizard may be after it. Once the time comes, would you terribly mind helping me set up safety measures for it?"

"Oh – certainly, sir", Roy said, confused. What kind of request was that? What could he possibly need to hide that he couldn't just put into Gringotts?

"Thank you. Now, for your offices…"

Together, the three of them got up and left the office. As Dumbledore lead Roy through the castle, however, he kept thinking about the headmaster's request. Before long, Roy had made a decision: He would send Maes a note about how he might just have an idea who the Gringotts vault that was broken into belonged.

-7-

"All right, gentlemen... before we start our work here together, I think that we should all introduce ourselves to one another. You have probably seen me around and know at least a bit, but I'll make a start regardless." Maes said. In front of him were his new subordinates, the men that Roy had placed under his command before leaving for Hogwarts, standing in his office. Had any other colleague other than Roy asked Maes to take command of their subordinates, he would have flat-out refused, since he preferred working in small groups. But since Roy was his best friend, and he had promised to help him reach the top of the ministry, he couldn't just refuse.

In total, four new subordinates had been placed under Maes' care.
Jean Havoc, a blonde man with blue eyes, and with a bad smoking habit. Maes guessed his age to be around his own.
Vato Falman, a gray-haired man who, for whatever, reason kept his eyes constantly nearly shut, and whose age Maes couldn't even begin to guess.
Kain Fuery, a bespectacled man with black hair, who looked young enough for Maes to think that he could have only been out of Hogwarts for a year, at most.
Heymans Breda, a stout and short red-haired man, who... lacked any features that really stood out to Maes, other than the fact that he appeared to be overweight.
Together with his own subordinates, Alex Louis Armstrong, Maria Ross and Denny Bosh, that made a total of seven people under his command... which hopefully would be enough to solve the case of the Gringotts break-in, but sadly, most likely also enough to give him a serious headache.

"My name is Maes Hughes." He continued to introduce himself. "I am a school friend of your former superior, Roy Mustang, and have also been a comrade of his in the final years of the war. And this..." He said, his tone suddenly getting more serious, as he began to search for something in the pockets of his uniform, causing the people in front of him to tense.

After a short moment of searching, Maes finally found what he was looking for, and quickly pulled it out of his back. His subordinates, expecting him to pull out his wand and start casting spells, tensed even further – only for the object that he was looking for turning out to be nothing more than a photograph. "...Is my wife Gracia! Isn't she lovely? She's such a wonderful woman, always getting me motivated, doing wonderful cooking, and-!"

Had Maes tone before been halfway serious and informative, it had now degraded into a disturbingly high-pitched gushing. The reaction among Roy's men could only be described as four pairs of twitching eyes. Maria Ross and Denny Bosh, being already familiar with this, just sat through it quietly, trying to keep a straight face. The only one person who had the appropriate reaction was Armstrong, who was moved to tears.

Even though he was completely caught up in his gushing, Maes still noticed the reactions – but he didn't care. One day, they would definitely learn to see the perfection of his wife, and even if it took Roy's men the entire three years!

As Maes continued gushing about his wife, Havoc quietly leaned over towards Denny Bosh.

"Is he... always like this?" Havoc whispered without even removing the cigarette from his mouth. He had purposefully moved his head inconspicuously, and kept his voice as low possible, all to make sure that Hughes didn't hear him.

Unfortunately for Havoc, though, it wasn't silent enough.

At once, Maes interrupted his gushing, pointed at his subordinates, and exclaimed, "Havoc!".

Hastily, the young man saluted, doing his best not to show a guilty expression. "Yes, sir?"

"I heard that." Maes stated in a matter-of-factly tone. "And please put out that cigarette. It stinks."

Everybody turned around to look at Havoc, who was caught completely off guard. "You can't forbid me that! It's my right to smoke!"

"Yes I can! This is my office, you're my subordinate, so I say you don't smoke in here! It's as simple as that!"

Havoc violently shook his head. "Sir, you can ask me anything you want: I'll move to a different city, I'll give up my legs, but my smoking I'll never-"

All of a sudden, Havoc interrupted himself, and stared at Maes with wide eyes – and not just him: All of Maes' subordinates began staring in his direction, for whatever reason.

"Huh? What's wrong? Is there something in my face?" Maes asked, bewildered.

"Uh... behind you, sir..."

Maes turned around. Behind him was...
A mustache. An eye patch. A gray-ish green-ish eye. Black hair. A smile. A face.
Maes blinked. The face was still there.
Maes blinked again, and took a step back. The individual parts began to form a whole to him, revealing-

"K- K- King Bradley?!" Maes flinched. "W-what are you doing here, sir?!"

The minister of magic let out a loud, roaring laugh. "Be at ease, Mr. Hughes. I only wanted to see for myself how the team in charge of the investigation of the Gringotts break-in is doing. And I did announce my intention of dropping by, did I not?"

Maes paused to think for a moment. Kingsley Shacklebolt had send him a memo informing that somebody would be paying him a visit, but he had somehow neglected to mention who it would be, which is why Maes didn't think too much of it. Maybe he was resentful for the last time Maes had talked to him about his wife…?

Either way, he had already known that King Bradley wanted the case of the Gringotts break-in to be solved as quickly as possible. But that the minister would just randomly drop by to hear about the status of the investigation was something that he had not expected. Not when they had started only one day ago.

"We, uh, haven't really been able to find out much yet, sir. The only thing that we could really confirm so far is that the intruder, whoever it was, has most likely been a wizard, and that they did not use any noteworthy spells in the main hall of Gringotts." Maes quickly explained, trying his best to sound professional. The fact that the realization of the minister himself being here was only starting to sink in did not help.

"Hm. I suppose this is to be expected. Have you already been able to contact the owner of the vault that was targeted?" The minister asked, keeping a perfectly straight face.

"Not yet, sir. The goblins still have to reach a conclusion on the question of whether or not they can even share that knowledge with us – privacy of the client, and all that. They… haven't been exactly all that helpful in general so far."

"That is troubling…" King Bradley thought aloud, cupping his chin. "But you must keep in mind that we can't rush them on this matter. The goblins pride themselves in every bit of autonomy they have, and we should not deny it to them. But still… the option of forcing the information out of them should not be ruled out entirely."

Maes said nothing in response. The relations between wizards and the various non-human species was a tricky political subject, and one that he wasn't exactly well-versed in. The extent of his knowledge was that pretty much relations were tricky, and that was about it.

"Now then..." King Bradley opened his eye, and started to slowly pace around the office. "I hope that you are aware of the importance that this case holds, Hughes. With a dark wizard with the skill that is necessary to break into Gringotts, chances are rather high that a fraction of the Death Eaters is involved in this. Finding and arresting the culprit would be a heavy blow for their remnants. Not to mention that it might also improve wizard-goblin relationships for a while..."

"Yes, sir. We won't disappoint." Maes assured him, trying his best to sound serious, and not come off as an ass-kissing git.

"I wish to be informed of all major developments that this investigation brings forth, Hughes. Is that understood?"

"Yes, minister."

"Good. Now-"

Before King Bradley could however even properly begin saying whatever he wanted to say, a loud voice echoed from the hallway into the office. "Minister, sir! Where have you gone? It is time for today's next appointment!"

"Oh, bugger. Seems like one of my secretaries has already tracked me down," He said in a surprisingly casual tone. "I specifically snuck off, just so that I could squeeze this visit here into my schedule... just so that we're clear, in case one of my secretaries asks, I was never here!"

He then swiftly left the room, leaving Maes and his subordinates staring at the door in disbelief.

"Did... that just really happen?" Maes asked stupefied, pointing at the door.

The response that he got was seven simultaneous nods.

-7-

One month later
September 1st, 2006, was a day like any other at King's Cross. Trains arrived and departed, people were running around, trying to catch their trains in time, and Harry Potter was more or less lost.

In retrospect, Harry was still a bit amazed at the fact that he managed to convince his uncle to drive him all the way to King's Cross in London. While him and aunt Petunia taking Dudley to a hospital in London to have the pig tail that their encounter with Hagrid resulted in removed was a valid reason, Harry still couldn't help but to think that it was a bit convenient that that would be today of all days. But then again, for them it was probably like killing two birds with one stone: Not only did they rid Dudley of his tail, but they also rid themselves of Harry, removing any traces of magic from their perfectly normal lives. At least the feeling was mutual, and Harry was just glad to be away from the Dursleys for once.

For Harr meanwhile, the past month had been a mixture of anticipation, impatience, and to an extent even fear. Everything that happened on his birthday still seemed too good to be true. As a matter of fact, if it weren't for the fact that he still had everything that he had purchased on that day, Harry would have considered it all a dream.

But it was real.
Harry had met Hagrid.
Harry had been in the Diagon Alley.
Harry had made a friend in Edward.
And Harry was a wizard.

Now that the day had come when he would be travelling to Hogwarts, his new school, only one emotion prevailed in Harry: Excitement. For the first time in his entire life, he would be away from the Dursleys for an extended period of time... though he still wasn't sure what exactly was ahead of him. Sure, Hagrid had told him a few things, and Edward had promised to help Harry get used to the wizarding world, but the fact remained absolutely everything ahead of him was new to him. As a matter of fact, he didn't even know how he should get to the platform from which the train to the school would depart: Platform... 9¾?

How was he supposed to find that?

Luckily enough, though, Edward and Harry had agreed to meet each other at King's Cross in the "normal" areas... which still did present the problem of having to find Edward and his family in the first place. The only thing that Edward had said to Harry was that he would notice, because "they definitely stand out", without further specifying.

Feeling very much lost, Harry looked around him, trying to see if there was anything that stood out. He saw a man running towards him as if he were in a great hurry, only to suddenly slow down once he ran past Harry. He saw a couple, consisting of an incredibly large man with black hair, a mustache and a beard, and a woman with black hair in dreadlocks, who was only about half as tall as her husband walking past him. Harry was half in mind to just follow after a family full of people with flaming red hair that had caught his attention because they also had an owl, when he did notice something that definitely stood out.

He saw a large, gunmetal-colored suit of armour. If that didn't "stand out", then Edward didn't know what would.

Feeling ever more nervous, Harry made his way towards the suit of armour, doing his best to stay out of the way of other people passing by. As it was, the cage with his pet owl Hedwig, as well as his trunks, was already drawing enough attention to him as things were. Oddly enough however, none of the people around him seemed to pay attention to the suit of armour standing around. It was just like with the Leaky Cauldron, which people either seemed to not notice, or just ignore. Perhaps this was because of some kind of spell?

As Harry got closer to the suit of armour, he could finally see that there were five people standing around it: A rather average looking couple with blonde and dirty blonde hair, a tiny old woman and a girl around Harry's age (which he swore he must've seen at Diagon Alley before)… and Edward. Relieved that he wouldn't be alone, after all, Harry ran the last bit of the way towards them.

"Oh, hey Harry!" Edward said as he noticed Harry approaching him and the others. "We were just wondering when you'd show up."

"Finding you would have been a bit easier if you hadn't just told me to look for something 'unusual', you know..." Harry retorted, trying to catch his breath.

Edward scratched his head – with his left hand, Harry noticed, still wearing the same white gloves as last month – laughing a bit nervously. "Weeell...I mean- you did find us, didn't you?"

Before Harry could even give an answer, the old woman nudged Edward. "Ed, don't you think it would be a bit more polite to introduce us?"

"Oh yeah, sorry," Edward apologized, though Harry could tell that he was doing his best not to roll his eyes. "All right then… this is Alphonse, my younger brother", Edward said, pointing to the suit of armour, "and this is the family we're staying with, the Rockbells. Pinako, uncle Yuriy, aunt Sarah, and our friend, Winry."

"It is nice to meet you, Harry," The man said, stepping forward to shake Harry's hand. When Edward told us that he met you, we initially didn't really believe him, but I suppose he was telling the truth after all. Are you looking forward to Hogwarts?"

Harry hesitated for a moment. The fact that Edward had called them uncle and aunt had unpleasantly reminded him of the Dursleys and Vernon's sister Marge. But at the same time, he realized that it was unfair to compare them just because what Edward called them. Shaking his instinctive distrust off, Harry took Mr. Rockbell's hand and shook it. "Thank you! And yeah, I'm looking forward to it. It can't really be any worse than what I'm leaving behind, after all."

"Wait, I just remembered something," Edward said before any of the Rockbells could respond to what Harry had said. "Pay up, Alphonse. It really is him- just look at the scare if you don't believe me."

Harry blinked. "...What?"

"Uh, well, you see, since no one actually believed that I really met you... I made a bet with Alphonse. If today it would turn out that you're really... well, you, he'd have to pay me one Galleon. And if not, I'd have to pay him one." Edward explained awkwardly.

The armour leaned a bit closer towards Harry, inspecting him curiously. "You're really Harry Potter? The Harry Potter?"

"Err... yeah? I guess..." Harry confirmed, not quite sure what to think about Ed making a bet like that.

"Oh no... that means I'll barely have any pocket money left..." Alphonse lamented, somehow managing to make his suit of armor look depressed.

"Geez, Ed, if that is how you treat new friends, then it's honestly no surprise that you barely have any..." The blonde girl – Winry? – interjected, before Alphonse could even hand over the money. "Please don't mind Alphonse... he really is a good guy, he just gets roped into stupid things by his idiot brother very often."

"Childish bets aside," Mrs. Rockbell interrupted, "What did you mean by Hogwarts being better than what you're leaving behind? And where are your guardians? Didn't you live with your aunt and uncle?"

And there it was again, the ugly memory of the Dursleys. "Well, I do," Harry said, "But they just dropped me off here. Aunt Petunia and uncle Vernon are really just glad to be rid of me for almost a year, and I won't miss them either."

"So what Edward told us about them is true? That they only ever gave you your cousin's old clothes, that you had to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs, and all that?" Mr. Rockbell asked, sounding appalled.

"Yeah, that's true. They're horrible. But I'll not be seeing them for a long time, so that's good."

Mr. and Mrs. Rockbell exchanged a horrified glance that gave Harry the impression that the two were reaching a silent agreement that would result in him getting adopted.

"Honestly, these muggles!" Pinako exclaimed. "Treating a child like that… they better hope that I'm not around at the end of this school year, or else they'll get a piece of my mind when they come to pick you up!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, mother," Mr. Rockbell said. "One thing after another."

Harry was not quite sure what was even happening right now. But despite his initial doubts, he was already starting to really like the Rockbells.

"Mum? Dad? Don't you think it's about time that we head to the platform?" Winry asked suddenly.

"She's right! You only got ten minutes before the train leaves!" Alphonse agreed, pointing at a nearby clock.

"Hm, you're right. We better get going," Pinako said.

As one group, they moved along through the station. As they did, Harry began to notice that none of the people passing them by seemed to pay any attention to Alphonse – as if an enormous suit of armour walking through King's Cross station was something absolutely normal. Unable to keep his bewilderment for himself, Harry walked up to him, and asked, "Say, how come nobody notices you? I think people usually pay more attention to suits of armour walking around..."

Alphonse chuckled. "That's because this armour is enchanted with a SEP-field – a Somebody Else's Problem field," He explained. Talking to him like this, Harry could not help but to feel that hearing a high-pitched voice such as Alphonse's come out of a huge suit of armour was just weird.

Harry blinked a few times in confusion. "...What?"

"It's quite simple, actually. Basically, every muggle that directly looks at me sees the armour, and just thinks that it's not their business. At least that's how I think it works. Granny Pinako did that for me, since Ed or I are allowed to use magic yet, and that's how she explained it to me." Alphonse said, apparently not minding in the least that he had to explain things to Harry.

"Why do you call her 'Granny', when you aren't related to her? And for that matter, why do you call the Rockbells aunt and uncle? I mean, Ed told me that all of your relatives are, well..." Harry left the sentence purposefully unfinished. He himself didn't even remember his parents, and therefore didn't really mind if someone talked about them being dead, but he didn't know how Alphonse would react, since he probably did remember his own parents.

Luckily though, it seemed like Alphonse didn't really mind. "Since our mother died, auntie and uncle Rockbell as well as Granny Pinako have been looking after us. Our father has been an old friend of Granny's, and they all knew our mother quite well... they're just like family to us. That's why we call them that."

"Ah." Was all that Harry got out in response to this. Since he was however already asking question, he figured that this was probably the best moment to address the elephant in the room. "Uhm… I hope you don't mind me asking, but… why are you this tall if you're Ed's younger brother? And why are you even wearing that suit of armour?"

Edward, who had been quietly listening while walking in front of them, flinched. Alphonse too seemed to flinch, but with him it was a bit harder to tell.

"T-That's because Alphonse has a rare magical sickness, which makes it so that he has to wear that armor as treatment!" Edward hastily explained, eagerly gesturing, trying to downplay the situation.

"Y-Yeah! We hope that by the time that I go to Hogwarts next year, we'll have a permanent cure for it!" Alphonse added to his brother's explanation. The way they explained this all made it rather clear to Harry that there was a lot more to this than what the two were telling him, but he also realized that he wouldn't get anything else out of them. So instead, Harry just put it down on his mental list of things that were odd about Edward, right next to the point about his gloves.

"We're here! Platform 9 ¾!" Edward suddenly exclaimed.

Harry looked around. They were standing between the platforms nine and ten, specifically, in front of a divide between the two platforms. There was nothing that seemed to be particularly outstanding about this divide... but then again, from what magic Harry had seen so far, things rarely were what they seemed.

"Are you sure this is the right place? This doesn't really seem that outstanding to me," Harry said.

"No, he's right. Of course the place is hidden away. Otherwise, the muggles would notice it right away. The passageway to the platform is hidden in the barrier between platforms nine and ten. All you have to do is walk through it," Pinako explained.

Harry eyed the barrier sceptically. It looked very much solid to him.

"…Are you sure?"

"Don't worry Harry, you can believe granny on that! C'mon, just follow me!" Edward said. He then simply ran through towards the barrier, trunk in front of him… and vanished. Harry glanced at Alphonse and the Rockbells, who all gave him encouraging looks.

Harry took a deep breath. Then, against his better judgment, he began to run. The wall came closer and closer. When he was only about a meter away from it, he closed his eyes, bracing himself for the impact... but the impact never came. He just passed right through the divide... and once he was certain that he was through, Harry opened his eyes again.

He was standing on a platform looking a lot like the one that he had just left. It was packed with people, and a train was already waiting. The difference between the two platforms was distinct, though- the people on this platform were all wearing robes, hats, or suits, and the train was a scarlet steam engine. After a moment, Harry spotted Edward, who was already waiting for him.

"Told you it'd work!"

As Harry still took in all there was to see on this platform, Alphonse and the Rockbells followed after him.

"Right, let's find you an empty compartment," Mrs. Rockbell said.

With the adults going ahead, they slowly made their way through the crowd, giving Harry enough time to look at the people that they passed by. There were so many people on the platform that caught Harry's interest that he almost wished that they had at least another hour before the train departed.

First, they came across an Asian-looking family, consisting of an old man and four children: A girl that seemed a few years older than Harry, a boy and a girl that looked to be around his age, and a younger girl that clearly was too young to be at Hogwarts. The old man was was talking to the girl around Harry's age in an instructive tone of sorts. But before Harry could figure anything out, they were already past them.

Shortly after that, they came across a family that easily drew more attention to itself than any other on the platform. It consisted of two men, a woman, and a girl that seemed to be in the age to be going for Hogwarts. The younger-looking man and the woman were both absolutely huge – in fact, the only reason that they weren't the tallest people Harry had ever seen was because he had already met Hagrid just about a month ago.

Both of the men had an impressive physique to them that rivalled Hagrid's, though the younger of the two definitely gave off the impression of it all being muscle. Just about the only member of the family that didn't really stand out in some way was the girl – but even then, both she and her entire family seemed to emit a… kind of odd sparkling, that simultaneously seemed to be there, and not be there.

As Harry and the others passed the family by, he could hear a snippet of the man with the gargantuan beard talking to the girl. "...now then, Catherine, I am absolutely certain that this year, you will once again provide the Armstrong family name with nothing but the greatest honours, just like Olivier and Alex-"

But once again, they were already past them before Harry could make any sense of it.

Not long thereafter, they had finally found a car that was still relatively empty. With the help of Alphonse, Mr. Rockbell lifted the luggage of Harry, Edward and Winry onto the train, until only they themselves had to board it.

"Well then..." Ms. Rockbell said, smiling at Harry, Ed and Winry who were standing in front of the carriage. "Have fun at Hogwarts, you all! Winry, please don't get too distracted from school work by your own studies on automail, you hear me? Edward, don't worry about Alphonse. We will be there for him. Oh, and… Harry?"

"Uhm- yes?" Harry asked.

"Since I assume you won't really want to write home to your aunt and uncle… well, you can feel free to write to us, if you'd like. Ask us about whatever you want to know about the wizarding world, and so on. We'll be there for you, too."

"Th-thank you!" Harry stuttered, completely flustered.

"No need to thank us! Now, better get in there, you lot! The train is about to depart."

Harry and Winry did as they were told. Edward however still stayed behind for a moment, looking at his brother.

"Al..." He said quietly. "Don't you worry, I'll write you as often as I can. And I'll look into all the possibilities on how to... cure you that I can find. Just you wait... I- I'll find something!" The longer he spoke, the more his voice started to crack, and by the end, it sounded like he was holding back tears. Watching this, Harry felt uncomfortable. Whatever they were talking about, this was clearly something deeply personal to them, and he felt like he was eavesdropping on something that he wasn't supposed to hear.

Alphonse meanwhile nodded. "I know. And I'll use the time that you're away, too! There are several libraries in the Diagon Alley... I bet somewhere there, I'll be able to find something. There's no need for you to worry, either... I- I will manage on my own. Now get going!"

Edward pulled a weak smile and rammed his right fist into the chest of Alphonse's armour. He then dashed into the carriage, where Harry and Winry were already waiting. And not a moment too soon: Only a few second after Ed was on the train, it started to move.

Together, Harry, Ed and Winry looked after Alphonse and the Rockbells, until they were out of view.

"What did you mean with you looking into methods to cure Alphonse? Aren't there doctors looking into that?" Harry could not help but to ask, as the three of them entered an empty compartment.

"Well, yeah, but… uh, you see, they say that it might take some time before they find something, so we're also trying to find something ourselves, so that, uh, we're getting this solved faster, you know?" The words flowed out of him in an incredible speed, making it a little difficult to figure out what he was actually saying.

"Err, okay." Harry said, deciding to not further question it.

"Don't mind him, he's just a bit touchy about that subject." Winry explained, sitting down.

Harry simply shrugged, and sat down, too, as the train brought them towards Hogwarts. It was just another point on the "Edward is a bit odd" list.

Author's Notes:
I should probably clarify why I moved the HP setting as a whole ahead by fifteen years. And to be blunt, my only reason for that is that I'm more familiar with the time period, in contrast to the 90s. I personally was born rather early on in that decade, but I obviously was too young to get much of anything. So 2000s it is.
The original version of this chapter had Hughes confirm that he used to be in Gryffindor to Roy's team, but I cut that because it seemed like an odd thing to just throw in there.
But okay, now to adress the Rockbells in the room. Between Harry, Edward, and a whole bunch of side characters, I simply felt that there were far too many characters that were orphaned, or for some other reason didn't live with their parents. Additionally, I already know for a fact that I won't use Scar in any way (as much as I like him, trying to use him would feel rather forced - but maybe he might make a cameo later on). So following a random whim, I decided to have Winry's parents still be alive. While I'd of course love to tell you that I have this whole fic planned out for all seven books/the entire FMA canon, I currently don't have much of a plan beyond the first year. So really, their role for me is just a "let's see what happens" sort of thing.
On a semi-related note, the glances of other characters that Harry gets at King's Cross is just to give an early glimps of how some other characters are going to be worked in. Because I feel like there's no real reason to be needlessly secretive about this, I'll just confirm a few of these now: The Izumi and Sig are just passing by, the Yao and Chang families are there (plus someone who was made part of the family. . .), and of course the Armstrongs. The Weasleys and Longbottoms are obviously still around, but since they're largely the same, I didn't really emphasize them.