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A/n- sorry that took so long people, but I'm inescapably sure that this chapter will make up for the previous short one and the length of time it took to finish this one. So, without further ado, enjoy.
Chapter 27- Homecoming
Edward returned to the dorm, contemplating his next move. It was simple enough, in theory, however Ed knew that theory could go horribly wrong. Look what happened with the Philosopher's Stone, for instance; Dumbledore was right—he'd been lucky.
But he wasn't about to linger on that. No, there were more important things to be done. For one, Ed had to figure out how they would get to the Ministry of Magic. 'Perhaps this'll be another perfect chance to mix alchemy and magic,' he thought, relishing the idea. By the time he climbed through the portal hole, he had a plan.
"Ed!" Alphonse greeted as his brother stepped into the common room.
He jumped up from the couch he was seated on and hurried over, stopping a little short of a meter in front of Ed. He had been happy to see his brother at first, but now he seemed annoyed.
"So, are you going to tell me what happened?" he asked.
The words seemed foreign coming from his lips; it wasn't in his nature to be so demanding. Ed was clearly taken aback from the way his eyes widened.
"I—of course," he stuttered, not able to rid himself of his surprise; Al was definitely becoming more self-confident. Ed could only hope it wouldn't go to his head as it had his.
He received the expected reactions as he explained; surprise, wonder, and apprehension all rolled into one. For the first time since their reunion, Ed could see his brother actually agreed with his course of action. As he finished his debriefing, Alphonse nodded thoughtfully.
"It's the lesser of two evils," he commented, referring to the plan.
There was nothing left to say; the five spent the rest of the day preparing to depart. This consisted of constructing yet another circle, only this time it incorporated the magic runes involved with Disapparating as well as the equations for transportation. The biggest difference in this scenario, though, was the fact they actually had time to research the transmutation circle; there was a 65 chance of success. Although the percentage was better than Edward had expected, he still wasn't comfortable placing their fate in a number.
It was quiet now as they stood around the circle, hearts heavy for the fact that only three would actually be going. It had been decided earlier and agreed upon reluctantly: Ron and Hermione were to stay behind. Ed didn't want to wear down the Philosopher's Stone more than necessary and he knew he needed Harry's help fighting the Dark Lord because of the Prophecy.
Ron and Hermione had insisted on going as well, only to be turned down; there needed to be enough power in the Stone for all of them to return home. Even with Harry, Al, Hoenheim and him, the equivalence to pass the Gate was five lives, theoretically, if Harry intended on being able to return home.
Foreboding hung in the air as they waited for the Professor to arrive. He did so in a few minutes, stepping through the door to the Room of Requirement and causing a domino effect on its occupants.
Faces dropped and eyes wandered to the array on the floor. Silence issued forth as Hoenheim spoke up, clearing his throat first, awkwardly.
"Are we ready?" he asked.
The words were too much for Hermione; she burst out in tears and pulled Harry close, wishing him luck. The boy-who-lived gulped, then hugged her back, promising to return. Hermione turned to the Elrics now, wiping the tears from her cheeks.
"Don't get in too much trouble," she joked, but the irony of her humor brought on another wave of tears.
She drew the brothers into a hug as well, rasping her goodbyes. Ed and Al muttered theirs back, blushing from the awkwardness of the gesture.
As she did this, Harry turned to Ron with hesitancy, unsure of what to say. Ron held out his hand so he shook it, halfway through pulling his best friend into a tight hug. Both pulled away a moment later, clapping each other on the back, embarrassed by their outward display of emotion.
Ed moved to Ron next, his feelings already turned upside down from all the drama.
"I guess this is goodbye," the alchemist stated, shaking his friend's hand.
"Yeah," Ron replied, "Look after yourself, mate."
Ed stepped back, breaking the connection lethargically as he realized there was no one else to give his condolences to. Hermione thanked the Professor, with Ron hastily doing the same after an elbow in the ribs from the witch next to him as she hissed, "Be polite," during the transaction.
Lastly, Alphonse turned to Ron, who was rubbing his ribs, shyness in his voice as he said goodbye.
"It was nice meeting you," he said, shaking Ron's hand.
"You too," Ron agreed, "Watch after your brother for me."
The younger Elric nodded, a slight smile and a certain vibrant twinkle in his eyes as he caught the jibe at Edward's recklessness. Ed scoffed and shook his head, dismissing the comment in good humor.
"We should get started," he said then, becoming serious.
The four took up their positions by the circle's edge, kneeling down before it. They placed their hands on the etched lines and poured the energy into its center, calling forth both alchemy and magic. The air sizzled with electricity and the lump in Edward's throat rose higher. 'Will it work' he wondered briefly, before he felt an overwhelming wave of energy consume him.
Now there was merely air where the five had been seconds ago, as a flash of blue light enveloped them. They disintegrated into billions of tiny particles, which were then sucked into the center of the circle in a tornado of energy.
When Edward awoke next, he was surrounded by wizards and witches who all had their wands pointing, quite rudely actually, in his and his companions' faces. They stared at the intruders with suspicion enough to make them spontaneously combust with it; obviously, they weren't welcome. And if this wasn't enough trouble, Ed felt increasingly nauseous. For a moment he ignored their guards and checked everyone over.
"Is everyone all right?" he asked anxiously, swallowing the urge to lose his dinner all over the floor.
"Bloody wonderful," Harry grumbled, holding his stomach; apparently Ed wasn't the only one feeling sick.
"Fine, Brother," Al replied, wondering if there was a greenish tint to his face.
"I take it we're not trustworthy enough," Hoenheim stated, looking at a wand not two inches from his nose, "Pardon the intrusion, gentlemen, but if you will give us a moment, we can explain why we are here."
"What is going on here!?" came an outraged voice, "We're in the middle of a crisis and you're having a bloody tea party! What is so bloody interesti—!?!"
The man who was yelling stopped dead in his tracks as the intruders came into view and his mouth dropped open in surprise.
"H-Harry!?" Mr. Weasley stuttered, pushing past the circle of Aurors surrounding his son's friend, "Why are you here? You haven't been—kidnapped, have you!?"
"No, these are friends," Harry assured him hastily as Arthur pulled out his wand, "See, I've got my wand right here. I could roast these guys if I wanted to," he supplied to convince everyone.
"Harry Potter?" the witches and wizards around them gossiped to each other, "Is it really!? Potter is here!?"
"We need your help," Ed spoke up, gaining Mr. Weasley's attention.
"This is about the Dark Lord, isn't it?" Arthur perceived gravely, "We just got an owl from Dumbledore that You-Know-Who is threatening another world to get to you, Harry," he explained, "The entire Ministry's been in an uproar since then—everyone's on edge and no one knows whether to believe it or not. Well, what is this about? Why are you here!? Who are you people!?!"
"We need to get to the Veil," Harry told the increasingly nervous man, "quickly."
"Well, then I suppose we'd best get going," Mr. Weasley suggested, waving them to follow, "Hurry now; this way," he directed.
The four scrambled to their feet and proceeded to leave the Aurors behind, who weren't sure whether to trust the intruders or chase after them. A few decided on the later a couple of seconds later and rushed after the five, wands in hand.
"Halt!" one of the more concerned ones yelled, "Arthur Weasley, you could lose your job over this!!"
"I'm sure the destruction of a world is more bloody important!!" Mr. Weasley shot back, just as Ed whispered, "Weasley," under his breath, recognizing the resemblance to his friend.
They ran past the work places of many clueless employees, but luckily no one got in their way, except the Minister of Magic himself. Ed blew right over him without any feelings of remorse.
"What is the meaning of this!?!" the outraged wizard erupted, as he picked himself up off the floor.
'Equivalent exchange, dumbass,' Edward thought as he flashed the man a smirk, taking two seconds to clap his hands and trap the Minister in a cage he made from the ground beneath him, just to be sure he wouldn't cause any trouble for them.
"Right then; the Veil is just through here," Mr. Weasley instructed, stopping in front of a plain, black door—the one Harry knew led to the room with the dozens of doors just like it, and eventually to the Brain Room that harbored the Veil.
"I'll keep everyone away as long as I can," Mr. Weasley continued, "The sequence for the doors is the same every time someone walks in. All you have to do is remember which ones you opened Harry, and it'll save a lot of time."
The boy-who-lived blinked, speechless from the outrageous tip he just received. 'Remember the sequence!?' he thought incredulously, 'Is he insane!? I was barely thinking straight the first time I went through there!!!' Nonetheless, he nodded and opened the door, leading the others through it into the room he'd been in just last year.
"Well, Harry," Ed spoke up once the doors in the room stopped spinning, "Can you remember which door it was?"
Harry shook his head in defeat after a moment of sweeping the room helplessly with wide and pleading eyes. Ed's face dropped to a thoughtful frown; he knew they had precious minutes before Mr. Weasley would be overwhelmed by the Aurors.
"Can you remember how you felt the last time you were here?" he asked next, a solution coming to him.
"How I felt!?" Harry repeated, appalled by the question, "We're being chased by Aurors and you—how is that going to solve anyth—!?!"
"He's going to scry it, obviously," Alphonse broke in hastily, "Now can you remember or not!?"
"Of course—I was…worried…scared…confused…and I felt like everything was up to me, even though I had everyone's help," Harry answered, getting to the point.
"Alright, that should be easy enough," Edward concluded, taking out his wand, "I've felt the same way before a few times," he added.
He concentrated, bringing up the feelings that had flooded his mind when Winry was kidnapped, when Al had ran away, and when he had found out the Fuehrer was a homunculus. He mixed this with the thought of Harry in this very room; it only took a short amount of time for a wispy cloud to appear of the event.
It didn't take long for them to figure out which doors to open; there were only two of them anyway. Two minutes later and they found themselves in the room filled with shelves of jarred brains.
The Veil stood in the back of the room, swaying with an invisible wind. Various incoherent whispers reached Edward's ears and he glanced toward Harry. The wizard's face was pale and a sickly fear resided in his eyes as they caught his. Neither had to say anything to let the other know they heard the whispers too. Al was the only one who dared to say anything.
"I wonder what they're saying," he whispered, his face drained of color as he shuddered and continued, "I think I knew at one point," he said mysteriously.
"You mean, when your body was…" Ed trailed off in the midst of his inquiry and swallowed nervously.
"I'm not sure," Alphonse replied, "But they seem familiar…"
"Let's just get this over with," Hoenheim suggested, placing a consoling hand on his younger son's shoulder.
"Right," Ed answered, his voice seeming hollow.
He took the Stone from his pocket and held it in his open hand, staring at it for a moment.
"Okay, I think it'd be best if we all held hands," he said finally, "and not let go for anything until we're on the other side."
They arranged themselves in a compact circle, Al holding the hand that occupied the Philosopher's Stone. He squeezed it tightly, gazing into his brother's eyes for reassurance. Ed smiled to calm him, but the emotion remained frozen on his lips.
Without a word, the Fullmetal Alchemist moved toward the Veil, holding the hands of his brother and father in a death grip. He didn't want to think of what would happen if they were to separate in the Gate, given his theory actually worked.
'Well,' he thought before they plunged into the darkness, 'At least we'll die together if it comes to that.'
A/n- remember chapter 3 with Fudge? Well, the equivalent exchange remark came from that, if y'all don't recall. I surprised myself in this ch though. I reread the ch in book five that focused on the Veil's description and where it was, and suddenly, POOF! I was writing some s about Al and the whispers seeming familiar. I was like, woah—where the hell did THAT come from!? ;) hope you enjoyed. And if you did, let me know by REPLYING!! Come on people, I wanna break 100 reviews on this one!!!