Me is still not owning anything made into an acronym, and just incase you forgot, this story is manga-based to chapter 81, and book based through DH.
Chapter 12: You-Know-Who
At 12:45 pm, Ed put on his Amestrian clothes, with a few additions to hide the automail. Turning on his shower and switching the little doorknob sign to "Do Not Disturb", Ed walked out of The Cauldron and through the arch to Diagon Alley.
Ed walked guardedly down the street. He hadn't been inside WWW yet because it was new, and for fear of being recognized. Being memorable wasn't exactly his thing. But tonight, Ed shouldered through the door, and walked in.
It was a joke shop. There was candy, love potions, punching wands, fireworks, vanishing coins, and little stuffed animals. Anything and everything that could possibly be used to pull a magical prank was here plus more. Ed spied a map of Hogwarts, and grabbed it. It didn't show any secret passageways, but it had all the floors, classrooms, corridors, entrances to tunnels, descriptions of all of them, and what lay at ends of passages.
Walking up to the counter, Ed bought the map, pocketing it, and heading for the back. Avoiding the stall of dark magic suppressants, Ed walked into a corner stacked with cardboard boxes, and leaned against one labeled "Karate Master Gum". He stared at his watch, and gradually his vision grew blurry, and eventually dozed off, suddenly awoken by the beeping of a nearby alarm.
Ed cracked open his eyes, and seeing a group of people make their way conspicuously to the back of the shop, Ed quickly transmuted the wall to stretch across him and the boxes, making the corner come in more. Transmuting eyeholes for himself, Ed stared at the group walking towards his hiding place.
He saw a young man with gray streaked brown hair and a prematurely lined face, enter with a woman with a rather round face, and dark red hair. Behind them was an Ishvalan looking man, with dark eyes instead of red; followed by a tall man with long greasy black hair, who resembled a large bat. Like the rest of the wizards, they wore long billowing robes. As the group blatantly searched the back of the shop, only the red haired girl made any attempt to try and seem like shoppers.
In fact, Ed noticed, that tall guy looks like he wants to get in and out of here as fast as he can, in any way he can.
It wasn't until the woman spoke that Ed began to feel relaxed.
"Maybe the owl didn't reach him."
"Tonks, I'm sure it got to him. He might just be late."
"No, once you meet Ed you know that he's the person you expect to always be prompt and ready, except in extreme cases."
Ed shook his head at his paranoia, and was about to take down the wall when he realized the greasy haired guy was standing right in front of him.
"I beg to differ, Tonks," said the man softly, putting venom into the last name, "Many first impressions can easily turn out wrong. I have seen far too many of these cases than to count. Only a few times has this been differed and that was because my expectations weren't very high to begin with."
Infuriated at the man's assumptions, Ed clapped his hands and returned the wall to its original size, exposing himself to the store. He marched around the tall man to stand directly in front of him, trying to stop his face from contorting in anger.
"Well, you seem to be full of it don't you? I've been here for a while, but when a group of strange people I don't recognize comes in obvious search of me, my first instinct would be to find until I can figure out their motives. Especially with all these signs of terror that I know nothing about," Ed finished viciously.
The man was simply smirking at him, eyebrows rising at his assault. Ed could see the lined man smile slightly, and Tonks burst into laugher.
"Now even you have to admit, Snape, that was good. Well done Ed, well done," laughed Tonks, changing her hair to her aqua Mohawk, face morphing into her normal one. The man lowered his eyebrows but continued smirking.
"It seems you have had experience in hiding, Elric. Perhaps you could explain that to us when we tell you all our secrets," the man said; coal black eyes hardening in an almost habit-like way.
Ed bristled at this, but was slightly disturbed by the satisfaction, and note of appraisal in his voice. Had he just been judged? Did he do well?
Just then, the man's stare caught his eyes, and they held eye contact for a short moment that dragged on for what seemed like ages. Ed could see calculation and doubt in the man's eyes, as carefully suppressed as were his own feeling of apprehension. In the moment, Ed felt as if something was pushing into his mind, images flitting across, but ones too heavily clouded for meaning. He concentrated on the formula for clapping his hands and transmuting a wall, blocking out the images with the transmutations. The moment passed, the man breaking contact with a shift of his eyes.
Turning to Tonks, Ed put on a face of mock confusion. "Oh Tonks, that note was terribly hard to decipher. It took me all of two minutes to figure it out! I was afraid I had the wrong place!" Ed said in sarcastic horror, then grinning. "Seriously, that was way too easy."
Tonks gave him a strange look. "Really? I didn't want you to go searching for some weird place, so I kept it relatively simple. We have this insane fear of our mail being searched."
"Like Mustang with phone lines."
"Sorry?"
"Oh, never mind," Ed, said quickly, remembering Breda's description of Roy answering Barry the Chopper on a military line. Just imagining Mustang calling Barry "Bunny" and harassing him about calling him at work, with Barry putting on a girlishly high voice, made him sick.
"Anyways, that stuff was like a 2 year old's puzzle compared to other crap back home."
"Like?" asked the lined guy.
"Oh, just simple things like getting alchemical research notes out of something encoded as a cookbook, writing formulas in the form of travelologies, figuring out what incomplete transmutation circles read. Easy stuff like that!" Ed replied happily, as if these things really were a piece of cake. Most of the adults were staring at him in utter shock.
"Um…okay. So. We're going to Tonks' apartment since Grimmald Place isn't ours, and I don't think it'd be very pleasant for any of us to go there. Is that alright?" inquired the dark skinned man.
Ed nodded, and noted the horribly sad expression that appeared on the lined man's face, and the look of concern that came over Tonks when she saw it. Seeing Ed looking over at her, she gestured for him to stand over by her. Gripping his shoulder, she tensed, and Ed felt a sensation akin to being sucked through a one-inch diameter pipe while doing a triple flip in midair.
They landed in Tonks' apartment. To Ed's surprise he could see two new doors leading to bedrooms, a bookcase with a goblet of some liquid on it, several ingredients surrounding it, and a few bottles of drinks. The dark man's eyebrows rose, and he muttered aside to the lined man, "Someone desperately needs a drink huh." The other man nodded, and replied, "First day of full moon's tonight. Just hasn't come out of the clouds quite yet. Fitting, seeing as we'll be here a while."
Tonks conjured about four more chairs, and everyone sat down.
"Everyone, this is Edward Elric. He's the Hogwarts transfer student, and the person that might be able to help us." Ed nodded at the group.
"Ed, this is Remus Lupin." Remus held out his hand, and Ed took it.
"Nice meeting you Ed. Tonks talks about you enough.
Ed grinned. "Thanks. She's mentioned you as well." Tonks cleared her throat.
"Moving on, Ed this is Kingsley Shacklebolt," the dark man smiled and nodded to Ed, "And this is Severus Snape." Tonks finished. Severus nodded at him, but otherwise made no other move or gesture to him.
Ed looked aroung him, and saw that they were the only one's present.
"What, no Order member wannabe's? What about that Harry guy, he seemed pretty important?" Ed smirked, smug at the absense of the Golden Trio.
Severus smiled wryly. "Potter and his friends expressed their, ah, wishes to attend, but we of the Order decided against involving mere children."
"But you're involving me," Ed said. It was a statement, though the implied question hung in the air.
"Yes, we're involving you. But you are different than Potter and his friends. You seem to actually have some experience outside of one encounter with a Dark wizard every year. You're different," Severus ended, his contempt for Harry clearly showing.
Dismissing this, Ed asked the question he'd been wanting to know the answer to for AGES.
"Who is You-Know-Who?"
The adults exchanged glances. Severus sighed, and after a moment of recollection he began, slowly at first while organizing his more darkened memories, then gaining speed.
"The Dark Lord came into power about 20 years ago. At first he was simply obsessive about eliminating Mudbloods – witches and wizards born from Muggles with no related magic users. But then as a resistance grew against him, he simply grew to want power, his ambition growing until he would kill anything and everything in his way. The Dark Lord was very powerful. To be executed by him personally was in itself an honor, for it mean't he cared about you enough to make sure nothing went astray. He reached the peak of his terror about 15 years ago." Severus stopped to let his words sink in.
Ed nodded for him to continue, concluding they were about on the same level of evil as "Father".
"Things were so bad that people stopped using his name, instead referring to the Dark Lord as You-Know-Who, or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. You never knew if you were safe, next, who would be the next to die, who would be saved, or who you could trust.
"A few years before this peak of terror, Dumbledore founded the Order of the Phoenix. It was an organization that stood against you know who, the only non-corrupt force standing in his way. After it was formed, You-Know-Who started weakening. His numbers were the ones being killed, and people had a slight bit more hope. But unknowingly, they also strengthened him. The Dark Lord now had a challenge, and a goal in his mind. He gave his own followers the name his gang had used at Hogwarts, the Death Eaters. They were trained harder than the previous, and then the numbers of the Order began to drop. The Death Eaters started targeting places that would cause purposeful chaos, or help thwart the resistance, instead of simply going on killing sprees. It looked like there would never be an end to his reign.
"But then, the Dark Lord found out something. Something that made him go to a small house in Godric's Hollow. Something that ultimately became his downfall."
Severus stopped to catch his breath for he had been talking for a long time. There were more than hints of regret in his voice, and Ed could tell that he was also trying to collect himself slightly.
"Going into the house, he killed the Order members inside, and then went to kill their son. Something went wrong in that murder. Instead of killing the boy, the Dark Lord himself was destroyed, not dead, but not alive either. The son survived, now bearing a scar as a result of the curse."
Severus paused for sinking in-ness. As he did Ed had a few thoughts.
"Who was the son? And if the Dark Lord was dead then why are people worried about him? And what's his real name anyways?" He asked, thinking out loud.
Snape's eyes narrowed at something unseen.
"The son is Harry Potter. His parents were killed, his mother, Lily, dying to save him. That is why he survived. The name of the Dark Lord is Voldemort." Severus said bitterly, the name almost spat out. Leaving him to revel in his worsening mood, Remus continued.
"Until two years ago, Voldemort was gone. Not dead. We know that now. But gone. By a series of things none of us quite understand, two years ago he got Harry to come to a graveyard with a fellow student. A Death Eater performed a ritual that, using Harry's blood, made him a new body, and gave him even more power. The other student was killed.
"Last year, the wizarding world refused to believe that Voldemort had returned. But when the Minister saw Voldemort torturing Harry inside the Ministry of Magic, and found the innocent man they had blamed all Death Eater related incidents on killed, they finally admitted it. So now the world is scared again. That is the story of You-Know-Who, Ed. At least that's all we can tell you, because to tell you the full story would be to bring both Dumbledore and Harry here to explain things." Remus ended.
There was a long silence. One thing Ed had found slightly disturbing was that when Severus told the story, he went very in depth on the side of the Death Eaters, but mentioned hardly anything about the Order. Remus on the other hand had done basically the opposite, focusing on things the "good" side had done. He wondered what Severus's story was. It was sure to be like everyone-else-he-knew's past. Dark and full of tragedy.
It was also weird that the guy he had become casual friends with was a hero here, and had survived so much crap.
But then, if I told them the story of my life, they'd be pretty impressed too, considering all the shit I've been through in the last two years is more than Harry's had in his life.
Tonks was the first to come out of their separate thinking stupors.
"So Ed, now that we've basically told you the story of many lives, why don't you answer a few questions?"
"Ah, quick question before we start. How old was Harry when the whole destroying Voldemort thing happened?" Ed asked, raising his eyebrow at the winces of the older wizards. They're scared of a name? That's sad. Envy beat me half to death, his true form is a huge soul covered monster, and he started the Ishval war, but I don't wince every time I hear his name.
"He was one year old," replied Tonks.
Ed burst out laughing.
"Seriously? You mean, this guy, that killed hundreds of people, who everyone is so scared of that they flinch when they hear his name, was killed by a baby? That's hilarious!"
The adults stared at him, their incredulous looks conbining confusion, cold glares, and looking like they wanted to hit themselves upside the head.
I mean come on, Envy's a psycho shape shifting paml-tree whose beaten me half to death, and his true form is a freakish corpse covered monster, but I can still say his name
Ed shook his head, to rid himself of the last chuckles, then took a breath.
"Sorry about that, but from my perspective –one whose nation has a long history of violence- you guys seem like you're overreacting. But that's probably just because I'm relatively used to war," Ed ended sadly, smiling wistfully into space.
Tonks was the first to emerge from the adults' mixture of shock, reverie, and interpretation.
"So Ed, we've told you everything we can, so do you mind answering some questions in return."
"Sure," replied Ed, "Equivalent Exchange." Kingsley gave Tonks a look, and Severus proceeded to take a bottle out of his robes as Kingsley spoke.
"This is Veritaserum. A truth potion. We put three drops into your mouth, and you'll tell us everything we feel like knowing about you, with heavy elaborations. Normally, we'd give this to you, and then interrogate you, but some of us," Kingsley shot a look at Tonks before continuing, "think this unnecessary. So instead you shall be receiving one drop of a less powerful version. So you can keep some things to yourself, but you won't be able to flat-out lie. Is that alright?"
Ed knew he would be risking staying here if it wasn't so he nodded. Opening his mouth, Severus dripped in exactly one drop of a second potion. They waited a second, Ed becoming simultaneously annoyed and complacent. After a few moments Severus leaned forward.
"Now, what is your name?"
Ed rolled his eyes. "Edward Elric."
"What are the names of your parents?"
"Trisha Elric who's dead, and that bastard Von Hohenheim," Ed said, feeling a need to tell them little details about everything. However a part of his mind was fighting the potion, telling him that they didn't need to know about them.
"Where do you come from?"
"A country called Amestris." The rebel in his mind was telling him not to mention Resembool, or anything else. Right now it resembled General Armstrong strangling air.
"What other family do you have?"
"A brother," Ed said stiffly, already decided upon not mentioning Winry or Izumi unless asked, his will squashing the urges the potion was giving him to go into more detail.
"What is a state alchemist, and what is the Fullmetal Alchemist?"
This question sent many images to his head all at once. Scar destroying his automail, receiving his watch from Mustang, the people of Youswell kicking him out of Halling's Inn, pointing a spear at the Führer, listening to Riza tell him about Ishval, being called a "dog of the military", and ending with Kimbley telling him to "carve a bloody crest into Briggs".
The urge to elaborate was definitely winning.
"A state alchemist is an alchemist that is under the command of the military. They are ones recognized for their special achievements or skill, and have to obey whatever orders given to them in exchange for classified knowledge and research funding. Because the motto of alchemists is supposed to be 'Alchemists works for the people' people call state alchemists the 'Dogs of the Military' because they get information withheld from regular citizens. They say we've "sold our souls" to the State. When each State Alchemist has been certified as one they are given a special name. Mine is The Full Metal Alchemist. I'm the youngest state alchemist in history, since I became certified as a State Alchemist at the age of twelve, and am still the youngest alive today at age 16. I have a rank equivalent to a major in the army, but have no real power other than funding and the fact that if I join the military I am automatically promoted upwards from Major. I can be ordered to kill, and am required to obey, and the State Alchemists were used in the annihilation campaign of Ishval."
Ed stopped. He hadn't been going to say that much, but since it was all meaningless military crap, it didn't matter. The General in his head had defeated the potion, for he had said nothing that would be of actual value to an attack, and he could have said much more.
As an afterthought Ed added, "Also, they only accept you if you are an Amestrian. No foreigners."
This was not quite legally true, but in Ed's cynical mind, he knew that the homunculi would only allow Amestrians to be a part of their human WMDs.
Turning away from his truth-logged thoughts, he saw the wizards staring at him. Ed waited for a minute and finally said, "I can feel this wearing off, so if you have more questions to ask me, you might want to save your bewilderment at my country's government for when you discuss what I've just told you."
Crap, Ed thought, I wasn't going to be that outspoken in my impatience! Or tell them I knew they would go to talk! Damn potion…
Even as Ed was cursing the chemical beginning to wear off in his mind, the wizards were trying to process all of what they just heard. Remus recovered first, mind rushing as he tried to remember what they were going to ask afterwards. He randomly asked the first thing that came to his mind.
"Why does your brother wear that armor?"
Ed froze in shock. The potion in his head was telling him to explain everything, but the rest of his mind was fighting hard.
Don't tell them! Then they can use that against you too. Too many people are already using that to manipulate you! Don't tell them!
Then another voice popped into Ed's head. It was silky smooth, and soft.
You can tell them Edward. It's all right. Tell them everything.
Why? How can I trust them? I can't. Not yet. They'll try to get involved. It'll be bad.
But you can Edward. No one will use it against you. They could even help you.
No…they will…I know it… His voice was fading, the other growing stronger.
Think about your brother Edward. Don't you want to help him? They can. So tell them. Tell them. Tell them. Tell them.
The wizards watched Ed freeze in shock and stayed frozen for a while. His eyes were closed, and contrary to Kingsley's suggestions, Severus could not break into Ed's mind.
Also, Severus thought to himself, I've tested the boundaries of his mind when we made eye contact. They're unusually strong. Far stronger than any other student's has been. I can usually always tell when one is lying, but this time I couldn't. Strange. He probably has much to hide.
Tonks stood in front of Ed, watching his inner turmoil. She could tell he was resisting the potion. Glancing up at Severus, she knew it would be impossible for him to tell even a single lie.
Snape was just too good of a potion maker, thought Remus and Kingsley at the same time. Finally Ed's eyes snapped open. He said,
"My brother has a disease. It is highly contagious and spreads through skin contact, but no other way at all. So I transmuted the armor to fit his body and added in a type of substance that would slowly, over time, begin to counter-act the disease. So he has to wear that armor everywhere. Anything else?"
The wizards were astounded. First the state alchemists and now this.
No wonder he tried to resist the truth potion, they all thought simultaneously. Kingsley stood up, and held out his hand to Ed.
"Well, it seems we have nothing left to question you about. You leave for Hogwarts this coming Monday, and since it's Friday, you should get prepared."
Ed shook the hand offered to him. Severus also stood to leave.
"I'll see you in 3 days time Elric. Enjoy the rest of your summer."
Ed was put back my Snape's abruptness and held out his own hand.
"Um, that's nice, but I can't imagine when. Call me Ed though. It's easier."
Snape glared at the offered hand like it would burn him, and after a slight shake, strode out the door.
"I'll see you in 3 days Edward."
The flat emptied pretty quickly. Eventually, only Remus, Tonks, and Ed were still sitting in Tonks' living room. Remus rose to his feet, rocking slightly to steady himself. He looked out the window. The sky was dark, but the sky was cloudy. Before the moon had a chance to come out, Remus beckoned to Ed, who walked over to the potion which Remus was standing next to.
"Ed, this potion is called Wolfsbane. It makes werewolves harmless after their transformation, and also gives them control over their own mind. Do you follow me?"
Ed nodded, slightly confused. "I get it, but why are you telling me this?"
Remus looked out the window, and then at a second watch on his right hand. It had dozens of moons around the outside, and the single hand looked like a claw. The hand was pointed exactly a quarter of a millimeter away from the watch's full moon, though not quite on it. The hand was flashing slightly.
Remus looked up, grabbing the potion, and looked deep into Ed's eyes before downing it in one swig.
Ed was caught off guard.
"Why'd you drink that Remus? It's not like you need it," Ed paused a moment. "Do you?"
Remus gestured out the window, and backed away from Ed and Tonks, handing Tonks his cloak, shoes, and socks. He then looked at the ceiling.
"Yes Ed I needed it. I'm a werewolf."
Remus waited, anticipating the sharp sting of rejection, a shocked look, a bolting figure, or more spiteful words. Ed's eyes widened, but nothing else. Remus braced himself in preparation, remembering Ron's words when he had tried to heal his leg, "Get away from me werewolf!"
But no sound came. Ed blinked, and then relaxed.
"Okay, sure. Why not? Besides you took that potion so Que Cera Cera. Anyways, if I were to be judgmental and stupid about you, I'd need to be like that about Al, and Ling, and Mei Chan, and Martel, and Izumi, and Mustang, and Hawkeye, and both Armstrongs, and basically everyone I've ever known. So I can't freak just because you turn into a wolf a few nights each month," Ed finished, realizing his speech had gone on longer than he'd wanted.
Remus felt tears sting his eyes, and he blinked them away. He was the 6th person to receive him so –well Pettigrew didn't exactly count, so really the 5th- and it touched him. Impulsively, he walked over to Ed and gave him a brief on armed embrace.
Tonks was temporarily highly jealous of Ed, but then remembered Remus' straightness.
Backing away again, Remus looked towards the moon and felt the transformation begin. The familiar feeling of a strange out-of-body lucidness coupled with the normal blankness of mind and feral thoughts sweeping over his brain. He felt himself grow taller, and fur cover his flesh. He re-experienced the pain and elation of the bones growing, and rearranging to form his tail, and of his limbs becoming those of a wolf.
When the sensation of having his face pulled through a thin tube after falling asleep occurred, he knew he was completely transformed. The face always turned last, and so Remus looked up. Ed looked fascinated.
Ed had watched Remus' transformation with curiosity, but was now totally engaged by the sight of it. There was both a beauty and an order to it, but also something terrifying and wild. He waved at Remus, and got both a small nod and a tail wag in return. Tonks pulled Ed's shoulder softly, and led him out of the room, explaining the Remus like to be left in peace during the full moons.
"But then why did he want me to see that?" Ed demanded.
"Because he wanted you to trust him," Tonks stated simply, pushing him towards a fire. She threw some powder into it, and gestured to Ed, knowing that he'd experimented previously with Floo powder. Ed turned around before stepping into the flames.
"What about Remus?"
"I'll take care of him. He'll be fine. Now, you go to Hogwarts in five days, correct?"
Ed nodded. It was the 27th of August, and the first day was the 1st of September.
"So this is basically what's going to happen. The Hogwarts Express leaves at 11 o'clock AM, so we'll be coming to get you at 9 AM sharp. If you aren't ready, we're waiting 10 minutes, and if you aren't done by then, we're leaving you. Got that?" Tonks finished sharply. Ed raised his eyebrows.
"Wow Tonks, I haven't seen you this professional ever. How long did you need to practice that speech for before it pleased Moody?" he smirked.
Tonks grinned. "A few hours. We won't actually leave you. Instead we'll just go up and annoy the hell out of you until you're packed."
"Hey, um, who is this 'we'? You obviously, but who else?" Ed said, slightly confused.
"Remus and me. At least if he feels up to it, he'll be there. Remus is always rather ill during the full moon, at least when he's a human," Tonks said wistfully, almost forgetting Ed was there. Pulling herself back into reality, "So yeah, that's the plan. See you in five days."
Ed waved, and with a cry of "The Leaky Cauldron!" he stepped into the fire, wondering if he really deserved being worthy of Remus' trust after he had just lied about the biggest thing in his life.
Thank you, PrincessVictoriaAnnMacbeth for your idea of Ed laughing at the Order's fear of Voldemort. That in itself made this chapter worth writing, even if it was waaay too long and boring, and plot-less (is it so obvious that I hate my writing?)
Okay, so about the whole Diagon Alley battle thing, some people found some plotholes in it, so I say this:
The Ministry didn't go after them, because in Diagon Alley under aged magic allowed for the testing of products (like buying wands, testing the quality of potion ingredients, etc), so the Trace didn't register Harry and Malfoy's spells.
Yeah, that's my excuse.
Even more exposition! I promise it will end next chapter! Yes I know this story has utterly no point yet, but it will next chapter!! (why not just skip this chapter then?) shut up…
Preview of next chapter:
Ed stepped onto the Hogwarts Express…
…and all the fangirls screamed as he froze at the door looking back over his shoulder in a sexy dramatic pose.