Last time our heroes delved deeper into the arts of Alchemy. Meanwhile Neville told Harry of his concerns over Luna, concerns that were justified. Luna's obsession over the symbols in her dreams has become more than serious. It took a turn for the bizarre when the symbols she drew seemed to summon two people; Alphonse Elric and his older bother Edward, also known as The Fullmetal Alchemist. On with the show!
Chapter 7: The Brothers Elric
As Harry's eyesight cleared he saw two figures standing on the floor. The first was a somewhat short man who looked to be no older than 20. He had long blond hair in a braid and yellow eyes. He wore a brown jacket and white gloves on his hands.
The second person looked to be in his mid teens. He had brown eyes and long blond hair, but his was in a ponytail. He wore a red jacket and white gloves on his hands.
"What just happened, brother?" asked the younger of the pair, "Where are we?"
"I don't know, Al," answered the shorter of the two, "But I think a more appropriate question should be 'when are we?'"
"It's April of 2011," said Harry, "And you're in Oxford, Great Britain. This may sound a little strange, but are either of you known as The Fullmetal Alchemist?" Harry only asked that question on a hunch, but he would get his answer soon enough.
"I'm Alphonse Elric," said the younger of the two, "But everyone calls me Al."
"And I'm Edward Elric," said the older, shorter brother, "But everyone calls me Ed. But I'm also known as The Fullmetal Alchemist."
"Pleased to meet you," said Harry, "I'm Harry Potter. I don't know why we were to meet here today, but I'm glad that we did."
The next several hours were spent as our heroes got to know the Elric Brothers. Harry, Ron and Hermione were entranced by Ed and Al as they told their story, a story of epic proportions:
Ed and Al were born in a world where Alchemy was as commonplace as magic was for Harry. Both Ed and Al demonstrated a knack for Alchemy at an early age. They were told that their talent was inherited from their father, who happened to be absent most of their lives, so their mother raised the two boys.
The one day, when Ed was 10 and Al was 9, the unthinkable happened; their mother became gravely ill and died. Devastated by their loss, Ed and Al vowed to bring their mother back to life through Alchemy. They would spend the next year learning as much as they could about Alchemy, specifically about brining the dead back to life.
Now in their world the act of human transmutation was forbidden, even more so was the act of bringing the dead back to life. But the two brothers didn't care about the consequences; they just wanted their mother back.
So Ed and Al tried to do the impossible; they tried to resurrect their mother. In a way it worked, they created life where there was none before. But the results were less than human. Like Cho and Marietta, Ed and Al had created a Homunculus, this one in the image of their mother, an act that would haunt them for many years to come.
Also like Cho and Marietta, Ed and Al had underestimated the price needed to create life. They thought that the pain of their loss, combined with a few drops of blood would be enough to bring their mother back to life. They were so wrong. Ed paid with his left leg, Al paid with his entire body.
Realizing what he had done, Ed then sacrificed his right arm to save his brother's soul. Al soul was sealed into a suit of armor, where it would stay for four years. As for Ed, he was given a new arm and leg, Auto-Mail limbs, which he demonstrated for our heroes.
"Incredible!" said Hermione as she examined Ed's metal arm and leg, "There's no micro-circuitry, it's all mechanical. Yet you have complete motor coordination in your hand and arm. Even the best muggle prosthetic limbs aren't as sophisticated as this."
"The world where we come from isn't as advanced in mechanical science as this one," said Ed, "But we get by."
"I'm confused," said Ron, "You said that your brother's soul was sealed into a suit of armor, yet here he is in flesh and blood."
"We're getting to that," said Al, "So be patient."
Over the next four years the two brothers searched for a way to restore their bodies. They search for an object that could boost their Alchemic powers, an object that could bend the rules of Alchemy, specifically the law of Equivalent Exchange, 'To obtain, something of equal value must be lost.' This object was the Philosopher's Stone.
"Philosopher's Stone," said Harry, "Is that like a Sorcerer's Stone?" "Maybe," said Ed, "I guess that's what you call it in your world. Anyway, Al and I decided that the best way to find a Philosopher's Stone would be with government resources. I then became the youngest State Alchemist ever, gaining the title 'Fullmetal Alchemist.'"
"During our search for a Philosopher's stone," said Al, "My bother and I used our talents to help people wherever we went. My brother became known as 'The People's Alchemist' for his deeds. In truth all Alchemists should use their talents to benefit the world."
"'Be Thou For The People,'" said Ed, "The creed of all State Alchemists. Unfortunately not all State Alchemists play by the rules. Al and I encountered several Alchemist, both State employed and rouge, who used their abilities for personal gain."
"Isn't that what you two did?" asked Hermione, "You wanted to use a Philosopher's Stone to restore your bodies."
"There's a big difference," said Ed, "We were trying to atone for a mistake. What I meant was that there were Alchemists who used Alchemy to further selfish goals at the expense and suffering of innocent lives.
"Eventually we discovered how to make a Philosopher's stone, but the answers we sought were far from what we expected. The one key ingredient in the formation of a Philosopher's Stone is human lives."
"No way!" exclaimed Ron.
"Yes way," said Al, "I've lost count of how many times my brother and I sough how to make a Philosopher's Stone, each one specifically stated that the death of several humans were necessary in the creation of the stone."
"That was something we could not, would not do," said Ed, "There was no way Al and I would kill innocent people, just to get our bodied back to normal. We vowed to find a different way to make a stone, one that didn't require the sacrifice of human lives."
"And did you?" asked Harry.
"Yes and no," said Al, "We obtained a Philosopher's Stone, but we didn't make it. Someone else made it, involving the death of several hundred soldiers and the destruction of an entire town. The end result was completely unexpected. Instead of making an actual stone, the powers that lie in the stone were infused into my metal body. In other words, I became a Philosopher's Stone."
"It didn't take long to realize that the power of a Philosopher's Stone diminished with use," said Ed, "Every time Al used his new power, whether he meant to or not, part of his body vanished. We knew that he would disappear if we used the power to it's fullest."
"That still doesn't explain how Al got his body back," said Ron.
"You want to know how Al got his body back?" asked Ed, "I'll tell you how he got his body back: I died."
"What?" asked Harry.
"It's true," said Ed, "I was killed and Al used the power of the stone to bring me back to life. As a result, Al exhausted the power of the stone, using up his body in the process. I then sacrificed my self to bring Al back."
"I woke up in my real body," said Al, "As I was the night my brother and I tried to resurrect our mother, with no memory of the past for years. That's why I look 15, but I'm really 19."
"But what happened to you, Ed?" asked Hermione.
"I found myself in a world much like the one I knew," said Ed, "But very different. Somehow in sacrificing my life I had transcended time and space and arrived in Europe in the year 1920."
"You wound up in this dimension?" asked Harry.
"Or one very close to it," said Ed, "I spent the next three years studying my new world, always hoping to find a way back to where I belonged, back to Al."
"As for me," said Al, "I used the next three years relearning as much as I could about Alchemy and trying to recover the memories I had lost."
"Then in 1923 I became involved with the Thule Society," said Ed, "A cult bent on world domination, a cunt with close ties with the Nazi party in Germany. On November 10 of that year the Thule cultists created a portal to my world with the purpose of obtaining weapons to help the Nazis take over."
"Wait a second," said Hermione, "You're telling me that you were involved with the failed Nazi uprising of 1923? That the Nazis tried to invade your world? Forgive me but that seems a little farfetched."
"Not all muggles are ignorant about magic, Hermione," said Harry, "We were told that the Nazis were into the occult."
"Moving on," said Al, "My bother followed the cultists back to our world. Our reunion was cut short as we fought the cultists and drove them back to their world. We then destroyed the portal on that side, while the portal on our world was also destroyed, forever cutting off the two worlds at that point."
"We spent the next two years tracking down an object from our world," said Ed, "A weapon of mass destruction that had entered the other world years before. This weapon, a uranium bomb it was called, we knew the consequences if it fell into the wrong hands."
"We found it and destroyed it," said Al, "But not before it was studied by several German scientists we were about to leave the country for America. They told us that they would keep their research secret until the world was ready for such awesome power. I'm guessing they kept their word."
"I guess they did," said Harry, "The world hasn't been destroyed by nuclear war, so they must have."
"This had been fascinating," said Ron, "Hearing your story, but there's still one question, why are you two here? You told us that your powers don't work in this world, so what can you do to help us against the Homunculus?"
"What Homunculus?" asked Ed, "You never said anything about a Homunculus."
"You're right," said Harry, "We didn't." He then explained to Ed and Al the situation, how Cho and Marietta tried to bring back Cedric Diggory, how they were disfigured, the creation of the Homunculus with Cedric's face and the murders it had committed.
"Our magic has proven ineffective against the creature," said Hermione, "And we were informed by The Stranger that Alchemy was the only way to destroy it."
"I think we know this Stranger," said Ed, "He came to me and my brother in several dreams before, always spouting riddles and leaving us with more questions than answers."
"That's him alright," said Ron, "So just how are you going to help us if you can't use Alchemy?"
"There's only one way to find out," said Al, "I'll need something broken."
"I've got just the thing," said Neville. He had been listening the whole time, while Luna had passed out from exhaustion and was sleeping in the next room. Neville then retrieved a broken vase, "I knocked this over yesterday. I was going to repair it, but given all that has happen, I kind of forgotten about it."
"That's perfect," said Al, "Just put it down, make sure all the pieces are grouped together." Neville did as Al asked and backed away. Al then clapped his gloved hands together and brought them on the ground on either side of the broken vase. There was a flash of the same blue lighting as before when Luna finished the transmutation circles, and the vase was whole again.
"Bloody Hell!" exclaimed Ron.
"You think that's impressive," said Ed, "Wait until you see what I can do."
"I'm sure we'll all get our chance soon enough," said Harry.
The end of chapter 7. Next chapter our three Aurors and the two Alchemists plan out how to destroy the Homunculus. Reviews will be rewarded with cake and pie. See you next time!