Heart's Flame

Chapter 2: Wizards?

Roy walked down the halls of Central Command, having been summoned by Fuhrer Grumman to a private meeting between them and some ambassadors from a place called Britain. Beside him, Edward walked, massaging his shoulder where metal meets skin. "Don't push yourself." Roy warned. "It hasn't even been a full year since you had that surgery."

Ed replied "I know, I know, but my body was already adjusted to automail, so it's fine. Stop worrying, Colonel Bastard."

"That's General Bastard to you, pipsqueak." As they fell into a familiar banter, Roy felt once again a wave of happiness at the fact that Ed was here, he was safe, and Roy was able to speak to him on such casual terms, even with all that had happened.

"Hey! I'm almost as tall as you, and already taller than Winry!" As Ed stated these facts, he stuck his tongue out, not unlike a child would. As they approached the Fuhrer's office, their argument ceased. They opened the door and saluted Fuhrer Grumman.

"At ease gentlemen. And Edward, nice to see you up and about." Ed only nodded in response, then looked towards the ambassadors. There was a strict-looking woman who reminded Roy vaguely of Mrs. Curtis, and a greasy, black-haired man who made him uneasy. The stern woman gasped a bit when she saw Ed's scarred face, before the greasy man promptly shut her up. He muttered something to her in a strange language before pulling out a… a stick? He took the stick and muttered more words and turned back to the trio and spoke in an oily voice.

"Greetings. We are from a country far to the West, called Britain. Our ministry wishes to better the relationship between our two countries." Roy stared at him. He was speaking fluent Amestrian, just like that! They turned to the Fuhrer and he chuckled.

"What they're trying to say is, we need you to go over to Britain to improve our ties to the outside world."

"So I'm an emissary?"

"No, not exactly." Everyone looked towards the woman when she spoke. "The headmaster of our school wants to offer alchemy as a mandatory self-defense course. This is where you come in Mr. Mustang. We need you as a professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Shocked silence met her words. 'Magic?'

"But… why me? I have other things to do, I can't be at some school teaching some brats who probably can't even comprehend the basic knowledge required, alchemy!" Roy was incredulous at the fact no one seemed to care about Edward.

"You're the best Alchemist we have, and you're also the only one not currently on duty." Fuhrer Grumman responded. "No offense, Fullmetal." He added quickly.

"None taken, sir."

As they kept blabbering on about the job and what he would need, he lost the last bit of his patience and shouted "WHAT ABOUT EDWARD!" His outburst halted all conversation as they stared at Roy, then at Ed, then again at Roy.

"Well…" The woman began, "He could come with you, I guess." Roy still wasn't satisfied though. He turns to Edward and said "Go outside. I need to talk privately with them." Ignoring Ed's protests, he turned back to the pair of diplomats. Sighing as he realized what he would have to tell them, he spoke.

"Over a year ago, directly after a revolution for this country, Ed was captured by unknown assailants, most likely from the previous Fürher's regime. It took us four months to find him. When he was found, his right eye was slashed and blinded. His arm had been severed as he was left for dead." Roy could see that with each word he spoke, the others in the room paled a bit more. But he pressed on.

"Even now, almost a year after his rescue, he suffers night terrors, flashbacks, and sometimes even hallucinations. If I were to move him to an unknown environment, it would cause an undue amount of stress, which is one thing he doesn't need right now."

The woman, still pale, coughed and whispered "Sure…. Surely he has relatives to keep him while you are gone?"

Roy was beginning to lose his temper again. He gnashed his teeth as he replied. "Yes, he has an elderly grandmother who is in no state to care for him. His only other family is in Xing, and it would take months for him to get back. Even if he could somehow get here quickly, he is younger than Ed and therefore, not a suitable guardian."

Fuhrer Grumman cleared his throat. As everyone turned to look at him, he said, "What if he had an escort to watch him while you are busy? Send two members of your team to guard him and comfort him as he transitions to the school."

While Roy could see sense in that, he still didn't want to go. As he opened his mouth to argue more, Ed walked in. He was obviously angry as he glared at Roy with fire in his one eye. 'Oops' Roy thought. He must have heard me. Ed fixed his gaze on everyone else and said, quite challengingly, "Despite anything you were just told, know this. I refuse to be treated like an invalid." He turned back to Roy and spoke again. You will take the job, and I will go with you, and there will not be any bodyguards. I can take care of myself."

Seeing as he could no longer argue he reluctantly accepted the job. Then he realized he was missing something very important. "By the way what are your names?" The stern woman replied with "Minerva McGonagall, Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts."

The man answered "Severus Snape, Potions master of Hogwarts."

After many arguments, Roy managed to convince Ed to allow two of Roy's team to accompany them. Roy chose Havoc and Hawkeye to keep watch of Ed while at the school. He trusted both of them, not mention Riza was like a surrogate mother to Ed, while Havoc could've been his other brother from the way those two got along. As they met Minerva and Severus at the rendezvous point, the two professors pulled out four bracelets.

"Put them on. They will ward off anti-muggle charms, allow you to speak fluent English, and will tell you of each other's location at all times. With everyone still in disbelief at the possibilities of magic, they boarded the train.

When they arrived, Roy gathered up his team and woke Edward up, as he tended to sleep during train rides. However, Roy was ever so slightly confused. "That couldn't have been more than 6 hours." He said to Severus. "I thought you said it was far."

Snape looked a bit exasperated. "Obviously, it's too far to reach by train. We're using a Portkey."

"A…. Portkey?"

"Yes, now hurry up. We don't want to keep the headmaster waiting."

The Portkey experience was… interesting, to say the least. After Roy and his team were done reliving breakfast, he saw the two wizards waiting patiently, Minerva looking a bit sympathetic. "It's rough the first time, you'll get used to it." She reassured them.

Edward groaned as he pushed himself up. "I don't think I want to get used to it. I never want to do that again." As he spoke, Roy moved a bit closer to him and whispered, "Do your ports hurt?"

"No, they're fine, I'm fine, now get off my case, bastard." Roy quickly translated that as, 'They hurt like hell, but I will withhold that information in order to appear fine to everyone else around.' However, in order to preserve the teen's dignity, he didn't bring it up again. If they hurt bad enough, Ed would tell him eventually.

The group marched to the grand castle on the horizon in silence.

Wow. Okay. I know there was a HUGE timeskip, but I didn't really have a good idea on where to start earlier so…. Yeah.

I feel pretty good about this chapter, but if anyone is OOC or if my information is incorrect somewhere, please, PLEASE, let me know so I can edit it.