"blah blah"- Speaking Greek

"blah blah"- Speaking Amestrian

'blah blah'- Thinking

***** - Begin/end flashback

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn't be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan. Just to be safe, I also don't own the song 'This is War' by Thirty Seconds to Mars.


Harry

"It's hard to believe that the break is almost over," Percy commented idly after Dumbledore reminded them that the Hogwarts express would be arriving later that day.

"You all did finish your homework, didn't you?" Hermione asked, her suspicious frown making it clear that she already knew the answer.

"Uhh…" Ron began, freezing with a bite of eggs halfway to his mouth. "Most of it?"

"The start of term is tomorrow!" Hermione scolded, glaring in irritation when Ron gave an exaggerated sigh. "You should have finished before now!"

"Hermione is right," Percy agreed, biting into his (blue?) toast. "You shouldn't procrastinate so much."

"Since when are you on her side?" Ron asked, sounding hurt.

"I'm not on anyone's side," Percy replied, rolling his eyes. "I just think that it would be best not to have to rush to complete all your homework the day before term starts."

"I don't have to finish all of it," Ron protested, waving his fork at Percy. "I only have to finish a Potions essay and…Alchemy homework…" He trailed off into a groan, dropping his fork. "I almost forgot about our Alchemy homework…how am I going to get all that done?"

"See, this is what I've been saying!" Hermione chastised. "If you had planned this out better, you wouldn't have to worry about it! Especially Alchemy–weren't you paying attention in class when Edward said that if you want to learn alchemy then you're going to have to be diligent?"

"Yeah," Ron whined, slumping back in his chair. "But alchemy is hard! I barely understood half of what he taught us last class!"

"It is really hard to understand, Hermione," Harry interjected. "Even you were having trouble with it."

"Well at least I'm paying attention and putting effort into it," Hermione snapped back. "How much effort have you all put into his class before you came to me for answers?" She whipped her head around to look at Nico and Thalia.

"Hey, calm down," Thalia said, lifting her chin off of her hand. "I'm sure that they're trying." She looked past Hermione at Ron, who hadn't yet gone back to his breakfast. "And Ron, if the class is too hard for you, you should just drop it. It's not going to get any easier."

"Drop it?" Hermione sounded horrified. "But why would you drop it?! Do you have any idea how useful alchemy could be later on?"

"It would be useful," Nico said, startling Harry by speaking up for the first time. The pale boy was always so quiet that sometimes Harry forgot he was even there. "But you would be able to manage without it," Nico continued. "Besides, Edward did say that plenty of people wouldn't be able to handle learning alchemy."

"Not all of us are as smart as you, Hermione," Harry reminded his friend. "I know I'm not. I might even drop the class if it gets any worse than this."

"You what?!" Hermione cried in dismay, slamming her pumpkin juice down on the table so hard that their dishes rattled. Harry found that he was to be sitting across the table from her, rather than beside her like Ron. "But aren't any of you thinking of how this could be used if You-Know-Who shows up again?"

"Like I said, you could get by with magic," Thalia repeated in the same calm tone, her chin coming back to rest on her hand and her eyes closing. "Besides, think about it. Using alchemy in a battle isn't exactly practical. You have to take the time to draw out a circle, when you could be using your wand. Sure, it'd be a great skill to have if you ever lose your wand, but not something that could be used in a fight; unless you can do it like Edward, or if you're willing to tattoo circles on your hands." She wrinkled her nose at the prospect.

Hermione withdrew, temper slightly abated. "Well fine then," She huffed, eyebrows drawn together in annoyance. "Quit if you want, but I'm going to complete the class." Hermione lifted her chin slightly. "Then at least one of us will have knowledge that may save us later."

"Speaking of alchemy," Ron said, straightening up in his chair. "what do you think of Alphonse?"

Hermione sipped her pumpkin juice before answering. "He's…interesting," she decided, nodding thoughtfully. "Definitely interesting."

"Weird is more like it," Ron snorted, raising his eyebrows. "Who even wears armour anymore? Much less all the time!"

"He is really strange," Harry agreed, looking towards the staff table where the boy in armour was seated. "But he seems nice enough. Nicer than Edward, even."

"I don't understand how they can be brothers," Ron puzzled, shaking his head. "Alphonse is way taller, and he's supposed to be the younger one!"

"I'm sure Alphonse looks like Edward under the armour," Thalia reasoned, opening her eyes again with a sigh. "He just hasn't taken it off, so you wouldn't know."

"That's another thing," Harry pondered, turning back to his friends. "How does wearing that armour help with alchemy training?" There was a pause as they all looked at Hermione.

"Well?" Ron asked, nudging her shoulder. "You're the alchemy expert, right?"

Hermione straightened, looking around at her friends in surprise. "W-well–" She began, startled. "Maybe it has something to do with what Edward told us about training the body in order to train the mind–maybe the armour is helping him get stronger."

"I suppose that makes sense," Percy said, nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, I remember that lesson." Ron groaned, placing his face in his hands. "'Train the body' he said–and then gave us the weirdest homework ever."

"Yes, exercise isn't usually considered homework," Hermione conceded, wincing at the memory. "But it makes sense considering everything else he told us."

"You needed to get in shape anyways," Percy teased with a grin, leaning back comfortably in his seat.

"Yeah, it's easy enough for you," Ron grumbled, looking up from his hands to glare at him. "You're used to that kind of thing." Percy merely smirked in response.

Hermione rolled her eyes with a resigned smile. "I'm going to the library," she said, finishing off her pumpkin juice before standing up. "I wanted to do some more research for Buckbeak's trial."

"Hold up!" Ron grabbed a piece of toast and dashed after her. "I'll help too."

Harry stood to follow them. "Me too." He turned to the Americans. "Are you three coming?"

"We'll be there in a minute," Thalia said. She waved her hand towards Percy, who was somehow still eating. "We wouldn't want Percy to starve, now would we?"

Harry grinned, then followed his friends out of the Great Hall.

~o~O~o~

The return of students from winter break only served to add to the tense atmosphere in the castle. To Harry's relief, nearly all of the students had returned to the school. It seemed that even after two deaths, most parents still trusted Dumbledore to keep their children safe.

"I hear that Dumbledore sent letters out promising extra security," Hermione commented at the feast that night.

"What more security can they give?" Harry asked, thinking of the strict rules Dumbledore had enforced lately. "We've already got dementors patrolling the grounds, and now we always have teachers patrolling the grounds–what else can he do?"

Hermione shook her head, stumped. "I don't–" she cut herself off as Dumbledore stood from his place at the head of the teacher's table.

"Returning students," the headmaster began gravely, clasping his hands in front of him. "I am pleased to see that most of you are strong enough to return, despite recent dangers. As your headmaster, it is my duty to do everything in my power to ensure your safety. Therefore, several new rules have been put into place that will help to protect us all." Dumbledore gazed out at the Great Hall, blue eyes serious and stern. "I expect you to abide by these rules in all circumstances, no exceptions."

His gaze fell on the Weasley twins, who for once did not look the least bit inclined to crack a smile. "These rules are simple, and you should have no problem following them. I am sure all of you, exempting any first-years, remember the incident that took place last year. The rules for this scenario are quite similar. You will be escorted between classes by teachers, and no one is to go anywhere alone.

"In addition, no one is to exit the castle without a teacher's consent, including for Quidditch practice, which will be supervised by a teacher. By extension, this means that all future Hogsmeade visits have been cancelled." Dumbledore was forced to pause once again as protests rang out from the students. Once they had quieted down, he continued. "I assure you that this is in the interests of your safety, and I hope that you come to understand.

"Lastly," Dumbledore said as he gestured to the staff table behind him, "I would like to welcome Alphonse Elric, Professor Elric's brother, who will be providing us with extra security."

The suit of armour offered a small wave, and murmurs encompassed the Great Hall.

"So he'll be staying for a while then," Ron speculated, a thoughtful look on his face. "I guess we'll have plenty of time to figure him out."

Harry nodded in agreement, though he was more concerned with the arriving food. As they enjoyed the feast as always, Harry didn't miss the conspiring looks exchanged by the three demigods. Not for the first, nor the last time; he found himself wondering what more there was to know about his three friends.

~o~O~o~

The first few days of January were odd, to say the least. There was adjusting to the new routine, which reminded Harry acutely of the previous year. Harry himself found his spirits lifted by his weekly meetings with Professor Lupin, and his progress with learning the Patronus Charm; though he usually left feeling weak and shaky. Knowing that he was doing something to fight, no matter how small, encouraged him greatly.

After the students and teachers alike settled into the changes that had been made, the month flew by swiftly. Classes progressed as usual; Hermione continued to be frustrated by Divinations, where they had now started Palmistry. Harry and Ron both had finalized their decision to drop Alchemy, despite Hermione's protests. They offered her some consolation by promising to use their free period in the library, researching for Buckbeak's hearing.

The first week of February arrived quickly, and with it, the return of Harry's Firebolt; barely in time for Gryffindor's first match against Ravenclaw. The day of the match dawned cool and clear, perfect Quidditch conditions. Thanks to the return of his Firebolt, Harry had no trouble securing Gryffindor's victory; and the afterparty in the Gryffindor common room was a welcome relief from the stressful events of late.

"Where d'you reckon our American friends have run off to?" George (or Fred) asked, his arm still slung around Harry's shoulder.

"I dunno," Harry responded with a frown. "They disappear like that sometimes. I'm sure they'll turn up."

'I wish I knew why they disappear like that,' he thought forlornly 'and what it is that they do.'

Harry peered around the crowded common room, trying to spot one of the heads of black in the crowd. Unfortunately, he was not nearly tall enough to see over all of the Gryffindor heads. Pushing through the crowd, he finally spotted the three as they retreated into the boys dormitory.

Frowning, Harry made his way towards them, but let out a startled yell when a hand appeared seemingly out of nowhere and yanked him over to the wall. Turning, he saw that it was Ron, with Hermione next to him.

"Don't interrupt them yet," Ron hissed urgently, glancing around anxiously at the crowded room. "We haven't heard anything yet." His friend edged along the wall towards the door, pulling a confused Harry along with him. They stopped outside the door, Hermione on the opposite side.

Harry frowned in bewilderment, pulling his wrist out of Ron's grasp. "Er…what is it that we're doing?"

Ron turned away from the door to face him. "Those three are always sneaking off and having private little discussions in Greek. Don't you want to find out what it is that they're talking about?"

"But they're talking in Greek," Harry said, still confused. "How are we going to understand them?"

"I-I've been working on a translation spell." Hermione said uneasily, twisting her wand in her hands. "I didn't tell either of you about it because I knew that you'd want to snoop right away–"

"Of course we do, Hermione!" Ron exclaimed, throwing his arms out and nearly clocking a passing first-year in the head. "Our friends are acting suspicious!"

"But we really shouldn't be intruding into they're private life!" Hermione protested, stepping closer to Ron. "Don't you remember what happened last time we decided we to look into someone's private life?"

"But this is different," Ron argued.

Hermione's expressions tightened, and her fist clenched around her wand. "I only think that maybe we should respect their privacy a bit more."

"If you two don't quiet down they're going to hear you," Harry reminded his friends.

Ron, who had opened his mouth to deliver another retort, shut it quickly. "Well Hermione?" He asked quietly, leaning forward to be heard over the noise behind them. "Are you going to do it?"

Hermione hesitated, pressing her lips together and glancing around as if looking for an escape.

"Now is the best time," Harry pressed, fully onboard with the plan despite just having been told about it. He waved his arm at their celebrating housemates. "They're less likely to hear us over the noise."

Hermione stomped her foot in agitation. "Oh, alright!" She finally burst out, though she remembered to keep her volume down. She pointed her wand at the two boys and murmured the spell, before doing the same to herself. "It isn't the most advanced spell, so it might not work perfectly," Hermione warned as they leaned closer to the door.

The muffled sounds of speech reached their ears, sounding distorted and odd. Harry furrowed his brow in concentration, trying to decipher what he was hearing. He managed to catch what sounded like 'Ron's bed curtains' from Percy, thought that didn't make any sense. He thought he heard Thalia say…wormtail? what did that mean?

Harry would have growled in frustration if he weren't concerned about making more noise. Between the celebration happening right next to them, the closed door between them, and the less-than-perfect translation spell, it was nearly impossible to understand anything. Harry nearly fell backwards when an unexpected outburst of speech from Percy caught him off guard.

"We aren't killing anyone!"

Silence. From Ron and Hermione's shocked expressions, Harry judged that they had heard the same thing. Thalia murmured something, probably a consolation, but Harry couldn't make out what she had said. Footsteps abruptly neared the door, and the eavesdroppers scrambled away from the door, just managing to disappear into the crowd before the door opened.

Though they hadn't been able to say anything, the three friends had come to a silent, obvious decision. We're definitely talking about that later.


A/N - IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ

Hello my lovely readers! We have come to an important crossroads in this story. Which means…important decisions must be made! And you, my dear readers, get to help with that decision. You see, I have a choice in which direction to take this fic. I can either…A: Make this into a two book story, extending into Goblet of Fire, or…B: Finish the story with the end of Prisoner of Azkaban. Here are the pros and cons of each option.

With option A (my personal preference), you will get a longer, more fleshed out story. However, I will be forced to extend the FMA:B timeline by a whole year. Some of you probably don't care, but I know some people don't like extended timelines. With option B, the timeline remains (mostly) intact, but the story will probably feel rushed and not as complete. I could probably write a better story with option A, two books, but I want to know what you want. So if you would, please leave a review with your preference; even if it's just one letter, A or B. Whichever gets the most votes wins.

One last thing before I go–after much consideration and thought, I have finally come up with a naming pattern for my chapters. I will be editing the names very soon…as soon as come up with all of them. I have 24 chapters to name, after all. Just wanted to give you a heads up though, so you wouldn't be confused. That is all! Thank you and goodnight!