HI THERE. Since I've been getting some confused reviews about this, I just thought I ought to tell everyone that chapter one was like a prologue. The next few chapters are going to be about what led up to Ed and Al going to Hogwarts.
It all started with a train.
There was nothing particularly unique about said train; normal wooden seats, windows on the sides, a big black steam engine powering the thing…
In short, it was 100% normal. It just happened to be the mode of transportation that our two favorite people were riding in when fate saw fit to dump a whole new set of trouble smack in their laps.
"!"
A strange cry of terror filled the air. Pushing his fairly large window open, Edward Elric craned his head out, gloved hands resting on the sill, trying to see what in the world was happening.
He saw nothing. Except for the yowling gray tabby-cat hurtling towards his face. Ed didn't even have the chance to move before it landed and buried its claws in the skin on his scalp and proceeded to maul his face with its back legs.
"yeaaaaaagh! What the hell stupid cat I never did anything to you getofffffff –"
"Don't hurt it brother, it's just scared-"
"It's hurting ME, Al! AGH my eyes-" Wham!
"Brother!"
"What the hell Al! Why'd ya hit me I didn't even try to hurt-AAAAGGGGGHHHHH!"
"You were thinking about it!"
"Just help me get it off!" With a mighty heave Ed managed to rip the cat off of his face. Unfortunately the feline ended up flying out of the window.
"AH!" Hands out stretched, Al tried to catch the creature before it landed on the unforgiving hard packed dirt next to the tracks. Unfortunately, thanks to his weight and strength, his lunge ended up taking his brother, himself, and a large chunk of the wall from the passenger car on a quick trip to land hard on the dirt.
Edward groaned from his place face-down on the ground and started to sit up. As he rubbed his poor damaged head, the train continued moving and left the brothers stranded on the side of the track in the middle of endless fields of farm land.
There was a moment of stunned silence as the two watched the train chug out of sight. A growl of frustration filled the air and Ed flipped himself up off the ground, eyes flashing with rage. His gaze centered on the one responsible for their troubles and he pounced. He held the cat up by the scruff of its neck, a furious scowl on his face.
"YOU. We're stranded in the middle of nowhere. And it's all your FAULT!" He poked it in the face with his automail hand. The cat's eyes narrowed and it hissed before twisting and scratching furiously at the arm holding it hostage in an attempt to make him let go. "OW! You Stupid cat!" He let go, clutching his flesh arm, his red sleeve torn to ribbons. The cat raced off, jumping over a white wooden fence and leaping into a field of grain. "Ahaha! Not so fast!" Ed raced after it, bounding through the field, eyes lit with fury. "I'm gonna KILL YOU!"
"NO! Brother!" Al cried out as hurried after them.
The tabby dodged Ed's attempts to grab it and led the two boys all the way to the other side of the field before it darted into a dilapidated old barn. Ed, Al running behind, managed to make it through the nearly caved-in doorway in time to see the cat morph into an older woman in a prim-and-proper old-fashioned green dress buttoned up to the chin. Her shoulders were covered with some kind of velvet cloak and balancing on her head was a large fancy looking hat with a red feather sticking out of it. The woman held a large golden pendant embossed with some kind of bird in one hand and had just tapped it with an odd looking perfectly smooth stick she held in her other hand.
"Envy!" All logic left Ed's mind when he saw the transformation. With a scream of rage Ed tackled the woman. Her eyes widened and she yelped in surprise as they toppled backwards on the rotting old straw that covered the floor of the barn.
She tried to point the stick at Ed but he managed to hold both of her hands immobile before she could do anything. Al tackled the two of them to keep her down, both his arm and Ed's hand touching the clunky golden pendant she had a death grip on.
"NO!" the woman cried.
Suddenly everything was swirling around him. The two boys felt a nauseating tug around their navels and the world seemed to have decided it was a good time to forget about gravity and all those other silly natural laws that govern the universe when suddenly- SLAM! The three were on the ground once more.
Al looked around in shock. They appeared to be in some kind of office. Paintings lined the walls and all sorts of shiny knick-knacks filled the shelves. Large bookcases and fragile looking glass cases were populated by quite a few old tomes and bottles, along with what appeared to be a crystal ball. A large bird the color of flames sat upon a perch near the center of the room, and, most notably, in the very center of the room was a large desk with an ancient looking old man sitting at it.
His pure white beard was easily over a foot in length and was draped on the desk. A pointy hat of blue and purple fabric sewn in a spiral with much sequins and sparkle sat upon his head. Large purple sleeves, also sequined, with blue ducks swimming around the edges had pooled around his elbows from where he sat with his chin resting on his interwoven fingers. At the moment, he sat in his high-backed fancy looking wooden chair with both eyebrows raised, openly staring at the spectacle that had landed in the middle of his office.
In the blink of an eye, Ed clapped his hands, slapping one on his automail arm and creating a deadly looking blade which was pointed at the woman who was still trapped beneath them before she could even take a breath. "What did you do? Where the hell are we!" He bellowed.
The woman's eyes widened in fear and shock. "What in the world is wrong with you young man! Release me immediately!" Her commanding voice surprised the two. She sounded like one who was used to being obeyed and allotted a large measure of respect. Actually, the command in her voice made her sound a bit like…Sensei… Ed gulped.
The old man at the table had tensed when Ed had produced a blade, and now with a smooth movement befitting a man far younger he rose and pointed what appeared to be another stick at the figures in the center of his office. Al was thoroughly confused.
"Immobilus corpus!" the man shouted. Suddenly neither Ed nor Al could move. "Wingardium leviosa!" And now they were floating. Great.
Though frozen in place, the two brothers were certainly not giving up. Minds were working furiously, trying to figure out just what was happening; You could almost see the smoke coming from their ears.
"Now, Minerva, what on earth is going on?" the old man calmly walked over to the woman, robes rustling as they dragged across the stone floor and onto the lush carpet. He reached out a hand and helped her up, carefully ducking his head so as not to let his pointed hat hit the two figures hovering frosen above them.
"Oh, Albus, it was simply awful. I have never been treated so rudely by a child in my life!"
Despite the charms cast upon him, you could see Ed's eye twitch.
Straightening her dress with quite a bit of righteous indignation, the woman continued. "The portkey you gave me malfunctioned! I ended up about 40 feet in the air above a train in the middle of the countryside!" With a huff the woman glared up at the two brothers.
"I shifted to my animagus form in the hopes of attracting less attention when I landed and I ended up running into these too. Actually, I, ah, ended up landing on the blond one's head. And then he threw me out of the window of a moving train!"
The old man raised his bushy eyebrows and chuckled. "Well, It's a good thing cats always land on their feet, isn't it Minerva?"
"Oh for heaven's sake Albus." The woman crossed her arms. "The one in the Armor was kind enough to try to help, but merely ended up knocking all of us out of the train. I tried to escape and port-key back here, but the blond one seemed to blame me for their fall and gave chase. I re-activated the port-key when I got to the first place I could change back safely, but these two saw me and I ended up bringing them along when they attacked me."
"Hmm, Very curious. My port-keys don't usually malfunction…In fact, I can't recall even one ever having a problem." He stroked his beard. "If I may, could I see the port-key, Minerva?"
"Of course, Albus. And, It worked quite fine when I reactivated it for the return trip." She said, handing the large golden pendant she'd been holding to him.
"Indeed." The old man pulled out his…uh…Stick, once again, and, muttering, pointed it at the pendant. After a few moments, he seemed satisfied and stopped. A warm smile graced his features as he looked up at Ed and Al.
"Well, isn't that interesting. It appears that the last person to use this particular pendant as a port-key was a very good friend of mine, Nickolas Flamel." Ed was quite unnerved as the old man grinned at them, a manipulative twinkle in his eye that reminded him far too much of Mustang.
"Occasionally, When a wizard uses a port-key, especially a wizard with very strong magic, Some of their magical signature stays within the enchanted object. In very, very rare instances this can cause the port-key to malfunction and seek out the signature that used it last." The old man's eyes lost a bit of the twinkle and his smile faded a bit.
"Unfortunately, my dear friend has already passed away. Sometimes, this can cause the port-key to seek out a signature similar to the one that now no longer exists. That shouldn't have even had the chance to happen, for he was the last great Alchemist of this world…Or so I thought." The excited twinkle was suddenly back full-force.
"Now, you two wouldn't happen to know anything about Alchemy, would you?"
Ooooo-KAY. Important A/N time.
THIS IS IMPORTANT. NO magic for Ed and AL. NONE. They can still do alchemy, but NO MAGIC.
This is in Manga world/FMA brotherhood for them.
Reason the port-key thingy only happened now: This is the first time it's been used since Flamel's death. Duh. Before that, it was just sitting in Dumbledore's desk, rotting away~ at least until he rummaged around in there for something to charm. XD
Now, I'm not saying Ed and Al are the best alchemists of their world. Maybe they are, maybe they're not. Let's just say it's because they are the closest to Flamel in 'Magical' signature. Even though they can't do magic. ALL WILL BE EXPLAINED. Later. Hopefully.
Minerva did not apparate because it is impossible to do so on Hogwarts grounds.
Such a fast update for me~ wow! Eh. Don't expect this to happen often.