Disclaimers: Found in Ch.1

A week later and Ed was frustrated. He had found nothing that mentioned Amestris as a country, even in the past, and he had three students that were determined it seemed to follow his every movement. He also found himself wishing for Al, if only so that he could just talk to somebody without having to hide anything. Though he could use a sparring match to relieve some of the frustration he felt.

Marking his place in various different books, most on Potions theory, world history, and atlases, Ed stood and stacked the books on the table.

Entering the Great Hall, Ed sat down beside a red headed girl that was talking animatedly to the three that insisted on being his keepers. Silently filling his plate with food, he looked over at the girl next to him and wondered if she was Ron's sister.

"Ed!"

Ed looked up and noticed that Hermione had noticed his presence. The red headed girl stopped talking and looked over at him. She seemed surprised that Ed was actually at the table. Harry and Ron had also looked up in response to Hermione's exclamation.

"Hey," he grunted.

The red headed girl looked at Ed, curious. "So you're the mysterious visitor I've heard so much about. I'm Ginny Weasley, by the way."

Ed glanced at her and scowled slightly. "Ed Elric."

The girl nodded and turned back to the trio. "Well, I gotta go meet Dean. I'll see you all later," she said, walking off with a wave.

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Al was frantic. Brother had disappeared right in front of his eyes, and had not turned up in over a week. Al felt his worry grow as he imagined everything that could be happening to his brother. Lying dead in a ditch, being tortured, lost and confused, or even worse, just not there. Just stopped existing. It was one of Al's worst fears. That there was nothing after death, just a black emptiness where you just stopped existing. It terrified Al to think that was what faced people after death.

After Ed had disappeared, Al had rushed to Colonel Mustang's office, frantic. When he had calmed down and managed to tell his story, Colonel Mustang had started to bark out orders. Everyone snapping into action had made Al feel completely useless. He felt that he was letting his brother down by just sitting there and letting others do all the work searching for his brother.

Hesitantly he had offered to help, but Lieutenant Hawkeye had told him gently that maybe he should go back to the dorms. Al had felt like arguing but it had suddenly seemed to be pointless. After all, what could he do really? Sure he could do alchemy, and maybe even research it, but without a pocket watch issued by the State, he couldn't access the library. Al felt like crying and desperately wished that he could. He hated being trapped in the armor, towering over his brother, not being able to feel, and with a memory that had gaping holes in it.

A week later and Al was no better off. He had only left the dorm room to go to the office to see if they had made any progress in finding Ed, otherwise he sat and stared at the wall or ceiling, wondering what Ed was doing. He was not going to believe that his strong, stubborn, impulsive, loud, and absolutely impossible brother was dead. He couldn't.

Al felt like crying.

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Ed Elric was still mystery to everyone. Word had spread around that there was a guest at Hogwarts and that he was staying in Gryffindor Tower. However, Harry and company were the only ones bothered by said mystery, and not titillated.

Hermione had said that Ed was a very efficient researcher and was looking into so many different subjects that it was a wonder that he was learning anything at all. Ron hadn't discovered anything particularly useful but had plenty to say about the boy. Harry had decided to take a direct approach and try asking Ed some questions.

Finding Ed was more difficult than he had realized however. While he was in the library, there were so many nooks and crannies to be in that it would take a few hours to search them all. As he was about to start a search he heard a loud thud and a quiet curse to the right. Walking in that direction took him past the front desk and into a small, brightly lit corner. Ed was sitting at a table, surrounded by books (Harry wondered if he had finally met a male Hermione) and papers. The stacks of books were taller than Harry, and he could see pieces of paper sticking out of every one. Harry cleared his throat.

Ed jumped and looked up, eyes wide. "Oh Harry. It's just you."

Harry was curious as to why Ed would be relieved that it was just him, but shrugged it off. He would probably hear about it later. "What are you researching anyway?"

Ed's face took on a troubled look. "I'm trying to find a way home. I have obligations back there."

Harry's curiosity raised it head and perked its ears. "Really? Like what?"

"Nothing that concerns you."

Harry's shoulders sagged a bit before he resumed his questioning. "How is the research going anyway? I think even Hermione is impressed at the rate you're going."

Ed shrugged his shoulders before answering. "Well there is nothing overly complicated in most of these books except for the ones covering magical theory. The biggest problem so far is that most of these books are handwritten and have very fancy script," he said with some disdain. "Have you wizards never heard of the printing press? I'm surprised half of you wizards haven't gone blind trying to read this."

Harry was amused at Ed's complaint. He had had the same problem when he first came to Hogwarts. Most of the books in the library were handwritten, making it difficult for muggleborns to read anything from the library. Only recently had wizards started to print books. "It's something you get used to. Though I gotta say I wish they would republish some of these books using a printing press. Would certainly make the reading go easier."

Ed scowled furiously. "And these damn quills and inkpots. You wizards need to modernize. Get pens dammit. And regular paper. Parchment is just old fashioned, not to mention expensive. It makes me wonder how wizards get anything done if they still don't have modern writing utensils and normal paper. You'd think it hurts to move forward out of the medieval ages of writing or something," Ed ranted.

Harry snorted as he tried to hold in his laughter. He knew the pains that Ed was going through. Quills and parchment were hard to adjust to after using pens and pencils for the first eleven years of his life. But you adjusted or were left behind. Though Harry did wonder why wizards didn't use pens and paper. It was certainly easier and much more efficient. "You could try asking for some muggle pens and paper I suppose. I don't see why they would refuse you."

"Wizards are too tradition bound. No wonder half of this stuff I'm reading is pure nonsense," Ed grumbled.

"Hey Ed, I was wondering, won't your family be worried that you've disappeared?" Harry questioned.

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Ed tensed and looked up at Harry sharply. "I don't have a family except for my brother." Ed replied tersely.

Harry seemed to sense Ed's mood and backed away from the subject. "Right. Well...er...I guess I'll be going then. See you later, Ed." Harry stood and made his way out of the library.

Ed sighed and slowly relaxed his shoulders. Having Harry ask about his family brought his worry straight to the front of his mind. He could only imagine what Al was going through.

Shuffling through the parchment in front of him to find a clean piece, Ed could only think about how much he missed Al.

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Col. Roy Mustang was angry. Edward Elric, aka the FullMetal Alchemist, had gone missing. After a week of searching non-stop they had found no clues to where he had gone or even how he had disappeared. Alphonse's story of how he had just seemed to fade out seemed to be impossible.

If Mustang didn't know better he would think that FullMetal had just disappeared to make his life more miserable than it already was. But Alphonse was still here and was miserable. Mustang knew that FullMetal would never willingly put his brother in any pain, physical or emotional.

Stifling a sigh, Mustang tried to focus on the paperwork in front of him. It wasn't working. He could feel a headache coming on. The others in his command were working themselves to exhaustion trying to find out how the missing alchemist had disappeared and where to. Mustang wished that Hughes was still alive. He had had a knack for finding out information.

"FullMetal, where the hell are you?"

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Harry had gone back to the Tower to try and get some of his homework done. There was a particularly nasty Potions essay that he had write. Snape had seemed to be more malicious ever since the arrival of Ed. Not mention that he still had another foot and a half to write on his essay about another Goblin War in 1657.

Hermione was sitting beside the fireplace, writing. Ron was nowhere to be seen. "Hey Hermione, where's Ron?"

She looked up at Harry in surprise. "Harry! Ron's off with Seamus and Dean playing a game of Quidditch against some Ravenclaws, I think."

"Oh."

"Where have you been anyway? Ron was going to invite you but couldn't find you."

"I was in the library talking to Ed. I found out something interesting."

Hermione's face immediately lit up with interest. "What is it, Harry?"

"He's apparently an orphan and he has a brother."

Hermione's face took on a look of sympathy for the boy. "Oh, poor Ed. I wonder how they died."

Harry shrugged. "I didn't ask and he didn't tell. It seemed to be a touchy subject. He tensed up as soon as I asked if his family would be worried. I didn't ask anything further."

Hermione nodded. "Maybe it was a recent loss. Might explain why he doesn't want to talk about it."

Harry shrugged again. He didn't think Ed would ever be willing to talk about anything that involved Ed himself. He had proven himself to be an intensely private person and that didn't seem to be changing anytime soon.

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Ed wearily closed the book he had been reading and rubbed his eyes. They felt tired and strained. Just thinking about reading was enough to make his eyes throb. His automail felt heavier than usual when he stood and it seemed impossible to make his way all the way up to Gryffindor Tower. Thinking of all the stairs he had to climb only made him feel even more tired.

Ed left the library and wished he knew where the kitchens were so that he could get a late night snack. Researching had always made him hungry. Groaning he began the climb to the Tower. The armor lining the corridor made him think of Al. Ed sighed heavily and just hoped that he would be able to just see him again. Ed had never liked being separated from his brother for long.

When he finally made it to the portrait of the Fat Lady and gave the password, Ed felt like he weighed a few tons. In the common room apparently doing homework was Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Ed supposed that he shouldn't have been surprised. He should have known that they would have waited up for him. They acted more like babysitters than else.

"You're back later than usual, Ed. Didn't Madam Pince kick you out when she closed the library?" Hermione asked.

"No. She let me stay. Said as long as I was gone in the morning I could stay. If you don't mind, I think I'm going to go to bed. I'm exhausted."

With that, Ed went up to the dormitory and fell into bed. He was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

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"But colonel!"

"I am sorry Alphonse but I simply cannot spare the resources to search for him full time anymore. It has been two weeks and we have yet to find so much as a hint as to where your brother could be. I will still search for him, but my office must resume its normal duties as well."

Mustang felt like an ass as Al looked crestfallen. It still escaped him how a suit of armor could look crestfallen, but somehow Al managed it. Maybe after spending almost 4 years in a suit of armor you just learned how to express emotions through said armor. He hated to turn down Alphonse, but he couldn't keep looking for FullMetal full time. His superiors were getting annoyed with him, and he had work to do. FullMetal would just have to take a back seat to other duties.

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Al slowly walked back to the dorm room. He felt lost without his brother there. He was surprised that he was still allowed to even stay at the dorms still. He wasn't a member of the military like Ed, and with Ed missing they could kick him out. Al suspected that the colonel had something to do with it.

Despite his anger at the search for Ed having been slowed down, Al knew that the colonel was also concerned for his brother. He didn't like this any better than Al did but he had to follow orders. Al wondered what his brother was doing at the moment and if he was all right. Al hoped that Ed wasn't getting in trouble.

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The next morning when Ed awoke, he felt refreshed. For once he had slept soundly and he couldn't even remember dreaming. It felt like it had been years since he had that kind of sleep. Wondering what had brought it on Ed proceeded to get dressed. The other boys were still asleep. Four of five boys looked peaceful, but Harry's face was twisted up in fear. He was trembling and was muttering under his breath. Ed frowned as he saw the characteristics of a nightmare.

Ed debated whether he should wake Harry up. Ed wondered how often Harry had nightmares. This was the second time that he had seen Harry having one. Just as he reached the foot of the bed, Harry sat upright and gave a short scream.

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Sorry for the long wait and the short chapter. Hopefully the appearance of Al and Roy makes up for a little of it.

Thanks to Monkey Mist Robo for betaing