DISCLAIMER: I OWN NEITHER HARRY POTTER NOR FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST!

Chapter Forty

Harry pushed the next door open.

"This is it!" Harry cried.

He knew it at once by the beautiful, dancing, diamond-sparkling light. As Harry's and everyone else's eyes became more accustomed to the brilliant glare, he saw clocks gleaming from every surface, large and small, grandfather and carriage, hanging in spaces between the bookcases or standing on desks ranging the length of the room, so that a busy, relentless ticking filled the place like thousands of miniscule, marching footsteps. The source of the dancing, diamond-bright light was a towering crystal bell jar that stood at the far end of the room.

"This way!" Harry instructed.

Harry's heart was pumping frantically now that he knew they were on the right track. He led the way forward down the narrow space between the lines of the desks, heading, as he had done in his dream, for the source of the light, the crystal bell jar quite as tall as he was that stood on a desk and appeared to be full of a billowing, glittering wind.

"Oh, look!" Ginny breathed, as they drew nearer, pointing at the very heart of the bell jar.

Drifting along in the sparkling current inside was a tiny, jewel-bright egg. As it rose in the jar, it cracked open and a hummingbird emerged, which was carried to the very top of the jar, but as it fell on the draft, its feathers became bedraggled and damp again, and by the time it had been borne back to the bottom of the jar it had been enclosed once more in its egg.

"Keep going!" Ed snapped. "We don't have time to stop!"

"Harry dawdled enough by that old arch!" Ginny retorted.

"That doesn't matter!" Ed replied, impatiently shoving Ginny forward. "Just move, damn it!"

Ginny glared at him and then went on.

"This is it," Harry repeated, his heart pumping hard and fast. "It's through here -"

He glanced around at the group. They all had their wands out and looked suddenly serious and anxious. He looked back at the door and pushed. It swung open. They were there, they had found the place: high as a church and full of nothing but towering shelves covered in small, dusty, glass orbs. They glimmered dully in the light issuing from more candle brackets set at intervals along the shelves. Like those in the circular room behind them, their flames were burning blue. The room was very cold. Harry edged forward and peered down one of the shadowy aisles between two rows of shelves. He could not hear anything nor see the slightest sign of movement.

"Didn't you say row ninety-seven?" Al asked.

"Yeah, I did," Harry answered.

They started running towards the right.

"You know what this reminds me of, Al?" Ed asked.

"What?" Al asked.

"That place in Liore," Ed replied. "You know, that phony religion that Corn guy made up."

"You mean, Father Cornello," Al corrected.

"You mean 'Phony Father'," Ed remarked.

"Who are you talking about?" Ron asked.

"Sorry, Ron, strictly classified," Ed answered, grinning.

They reached ninety-seven and went down to the end of the said row and saw that…

"No one's here but us, Harry," Winry suddenly said.

"He has to be here!" Harry insisted.

"Well, he's not, Harry!" Winry snapped.

"But I saw him!" Harry insisted. "Voldemort was -!"

Harry went to look in the other aisles. Ed looked at the dusty orbs and saw something that caught his eye.

"Harry!" Ed called out. "There's something that might interest you!"

Harry scowled and went back to the group. He saw Ed turn to look at him while pointing at an orb. Harry went down to where Ed and the group were.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Look," Ed replied.

Harry looked at the small glass sphere that glowed with a dull inner light that Ed was pointing to.

"My name?" Harry asked blankly.

"Yup," Ed answered.

Harry stepped forward. Not as tall as Ed, he had to crane his neck to read the yellowish label affixed to the shelf right beneath the dusty glass ball. In spidery writing was written a date some sixteen years previously, and below that:

S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D

Dark Lord

And (?) Harry Potter

Harry stared at it.

"What is it?" Ron asked, sounding unnerved. "What's your name doing down here? No one else is here, right?"

"No, no one else," Ed replied.

"Harry, I don't think you should touch it," Hermione warned, as Harry stretched out his hand.

"If it has his name on it, then he has every right to be curious," Winry reasoned.

Hermione glared at Winry.

"She's got a point, you know, Hermione," Ron told Hermione.

Hermione glared at Ron.

"Don't, Harry," Neville said suddenly.

"It's got my name on," Harry said.

He closed his fingers around the dusty ball's surface and brought it off the shelf. Nothing happened.

"Wow, how dramatic," Ed remarked.

"Edward," Winry scowled.

"Very good, Potter," a drawling voice congratulated. "Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."

"Oh, shit," Ed muttered under his breath. "I knew this would happen."

Al nodded in agreement.

Black shapes were emerging out of thin air all around them, blocking the group's way left and right; eyes glinted through slits in hoods, a dozen lit wand tips were pointing directly at their hearts. Ginny and Winry let out gasps of horror.

"To me, Potter," Lucius Malfoy repeated, his hand held out, palm up.

Harry's insides plummeted sickeningly. They were trapped and outnumbered.

"To me," Lucius repeated again.

"We heard you the first time," Ed remarked.

Lucius glanced at Ed.

"Where's Sirius?" Harry demanded.

Lucius looked back at Harry. Several of the Death Eaters laughed. A harsh female voice from the midst of the shadowy figures to Harry's left said triumphantly, "The Dark Lord always knows!"

"Always," Lucius echoed softly. "Now, give me the prophecy, Potter."

"I want to know where Sirius is!" Harry demanded again.

"I want to know where Sirius is!" the woman mimicked.

She and her fellow Death Eaters had closed in so that they were mere feet away from Harry and the others, the light from their wands dazzling Harry's eyes.

"You've got him," Harry accused. "He's here. I know he is."

"The little baby woke up fwightened and fort what it dweamed was twoo," the woman mocked.

"Don't do anything," Harry muttered.

"I know that!" Ed hissed. "You think I'm an idiot?!"

The woman who had mocked Harry let out a raucous scream of laughter.

"You hear him?" the woman laughed. "You hear him? Giving instructions to the other children as though he thinks of fighting us!"

"I'm not a child!" Ed and Winry both protested.

Lucius smirked under his hood.

"Of course you're not," Lucius drawled. "You, Elric, are a very important asset to the Amestrian Military, and you, Rockbell, are a famous auto-mail mechanic from Resembool, Amestris."

Winry glared at him. Lucius looked at Harry.

"Anyway, Bellatrix, you don't know Harry Potter as I do," Lucius continued. "He has a great weakness for heroics; the Dark Lord understands this about him. Now give me the prophecy, Potter."

"I know Sirius is here," Harry insisted. "I know you've got him!"

The Death Eaters laughed.

"Harry, it's time to shut up!" Ed snapped.

"It's time you learned the difference between life and dreams, Potter," Lucius said. "Now give me the prophecy, or we start using wands."

"Go on, then," Harry replied, raising his own wand to chest height.

As he did so, the eight wands of Ed, Al, Winry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and Luna rose on either side of him.

"Hand over the prophecy and no one need get hurt," Lucius said coolly.

"Yeah, like that'll happen!" Ed remarked. "As soon as you get it, you'll knock us all off!"

Bellatrix tried to Summon the orb from Harry, but Harry blocked the Summoning charm.

"Oh, he knows how to play, little bitty baby Potter," said Bellatrix. "Very well, then – "

"I TOLD YOU, NO!" Lucius roared. "If you smash it – !"

Harry's mind was racing. The Death Eaters wanted the glass sphere. He had no interest in it. He just wanted to get them all out of this alive, make sure that none of his friends paid a terrible price for his stupidity.

'Damn, I should've listened to Ed and Al and Winry,' thought Harry.

Bellatrix stepped forward, away from her fellows, and pulled off her hood and mask. Azkaban had hollowed Bellatrix Lestrange's face, making it gaunt and skull-like, but it was alive with a feverish, fanatical glow.

"You need more persuasion?" asked Bellatrix. "Very well – take the smallest one," she ordered the Death Eaters beside her. "Let him watch while we torture the little girl. I'll do it."

Harry felt the others close in around Ginny. Harry stepped sideways so that he was right in front of her, the prophecy held up to his chest.

"You'll have to smash this if you want to attack any of us," Harry told Bellatrix. "I don't think your boss will be too pleased if you come back without it, will he?"

Bellatrix did not move.

"I think they're afraid of Baldy-butt," Ed remarked.

"How DARE you speak – !" started Bellatrix, angrily, raising her wand at Ed.

"Bellatrix, no!" said Lucius. "He and his brother are important! They are not to be harmed!"

"What their Fuhrer doesn't know won't hurt him!" Bellatrix shrieked.

"He will know, Bellatrix," Lucius warned. "Remember the warning. Remember what happened earlier."

"Hey, Harry," Ed whispered, as Lucius and Bellatrix bickered about the Fuhrer.

"Yeah?" Harry whispered back.

"Keep them talking," Ed advised. "Learn all what you can, and then we'll all smash the shelves and scram. All right?"

Harry was silent, then…

"All right," Harry agreed. "Tell the others."

Ed nodded.

"So, what kind of prophecy are we talking about anyway?" asked Harry.

"What kind of prophecy?" repeated Bellatrix, still angry. "You jest, Harry Potter."

"Nope, not jesting," said Harry. "How come Voldemort wants it?"

Several of the Death Eaters let out low hisses.

"You dare speak his name?" Bellatrix whispered.

"Yeah," Harry answered. "Yeah, I've got no problem saying Vol -"

"Shut your mouth!" Bellatrix shrieked. "You dare speak his name with your unworthy lips, you dare besmirch it with your half-blood tongue, you dare -"

"Voldemort is half-blood as well," Al spoke up, glaring at Bellatrix. "Has he been telling you that he's not? His mother was a witch, but his dad was a Muggle."

"STUPEF – !" started Bellatrix.

"NO!" yelled Lucius, as he blocked Bellatrix's spell.

Instead of going to Harry, her spell hit a shelf a foot to the left of Harry and several of the glass orbs there shattered. The prophecies were too fragmented to be understood.

"DO NOT ATTACK!" yelled Lucius. "WE NEED THE PROPHECY! WAIT UNTIL WE'VE GOT THE PROPHECY!"

"You haven't told me what's so special about this prophecy I'm supposed to be handing over," said Harry.

"Do not play games with us, Potter," said Lucius.

"I'm not playing games," said Harry.

"Dumbledore never told you that the reason you bear that scar was hidden in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries?" asked Malfoy.

"I – what?" asked Harry. "What about my scar?"

"Can this be?" asked Lucius, sounding maliciously delighted.

"What?" Harry asked. "Can what be?"

"Dumbledore never told you?" asked Lucius. "Well, this explains why you didn't come earlier, Potter, the Dark Lord wondered why you didn't come running when he showed you the place where it was hidden in your dreams. He thought natural curiosity would make you want to hear the exact wording."

"Did he?" asked Harry. "So he wanted me to come and get it, did he? Why?"

"Why?" asked Lucius. "Because the only people who are permitted to retrieve a prophecy from the Department of Mysteries, Potter, are those about whom it was made, as the Dark Lord discovered when he attempted to use others to steal it for him."

"And why did he want to steal a prophecy about me?" asked Harry.

"About both of you, Potter, about both of you," reminded Lucius. "Haven't you ever wondered why the Dark Lord tried to kill you as a baby?"

"Who needs to wonder?" asked Ed. "Voldemort is a crazy bastard!"

"Watch your mouth, boy," threatened Lucius, pointing his wand at Ed.

"You don't scare me, Mal-fart Senior," Ed retorted. "You aren't supposed to hurt -"

"Someone made a prophecy about Voldemort and me?" asked Harry, quietly. "And he's made me come and get it for him? Why couldn't he come and get it himself?"

"Get it himself?" shrieked Bellatrix, laughing.

"He wouldn't get it himself because he would be immediately noticed and that's not what he wants right now," Winry answered. "He's a coward."

"So, he's got you doing his dirty work for him, has he?" asked Harry. "Like he tried to get Sturgis to steal it – and Bode?"

"Very good, Potter, very good...," said Lucius. "But the Dark Lord knows you are not unintell–"

"NOW!" Ed announced.

Eight different voices around him bellowed "REDUCTO!" Eight curses flew in eight different directions and the shelves opposite them exploded as they hit.

"RUN!" Ed yelled.

As the shelves swayed, more glass spheres began to pour from above. Harry pulled Hermione by her arm and dragged her forward. The Death Eaters were yelling and crying of pain. Harry found the way ahead clear and saw Ron, Ginny, and Luna sprint past him, their arms over their heads. Harry heard Hermione urging Neville on while Ed, Winry, and Al ran as well. The door through which they had come was ajar straight ahead; Harry could see the glittering light of the bell jar. He pelted through it, the prophecy still clutched tight and safe in his hand, waited for the others to hurtle over the threshold before slamming the door behind them –

"Colloportus!" gasped Hermione.

The door sealed itself with an odd squelching noise.

"Where – where are the others?" asked Harry, gasping for breath.

Ron, Luna, and Ginny were nowhere to be seen.

"They've gone the wrong way," said Ed.

"Of course," Winry said underneath her breath.

"Listen!" said Neville.

Footsteps and shouts echoed from behind the door they had just sealed.

"Leave Nott, leave him, I say, the Dark Lord will not care for Nott's injuries as much as losing that prophecy," Lucius roared. "Jugson, come back here, we need to organize! We'll split into pairs and search, and don't forget, be gentle with Potter until we've got the prophecy, you can kill the others if necessary – Bellatrix, Rodolphus, you take the left, Crabbe, Rabastan, go right – Jugson, Dolohove, the door straight ahead – Macnair and Avery, through here – Rookwood, over there – Mulciber, come with me!"

"What do we do?" Hermione asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" asked Ed. "We don't let them find us. We need to get away from this door."

They ran as quietly as they could, past the shimmering bell jar where the tiny egg was hatching and un-hatching, toward the exit into the circular hallway at the far end of the room.

"Edward, keep quiet!" hissed Hermione.

"I can't help it!" Ed hissed back. "You try having a metal leg!"

"Please," Winry scowled. "It's not that loud."

They were almost there when they heard something large and heavy collide with the door Hermione had charmed shut.

"Stand aside!" said a rough voice. "Alohamora!"

As the door flew open, Harry, Hermione, Ed, Al, Winry, and Neville dived under the desks.

"They might've run straight through to the hall," said the rough voice.

"Check under the desks," said another.

"STUPEFY!" yelled Harry.

A few moments later, after Stunning one Death Eater and having the other's head into a baby's, Harry, Hermione, Ed, Al, Winry, and Neville ran to the other end of the room where the black room was. They were halfway toward it when Harry saw through the open door two more Death Eaters running across the black room towards them. Harry turned left and burst into a small, dark, cluttered office with Hermione, Ed, Al, Winry, and Neville behind him. Before Hermione could lock the door had burst open again and the two Death Eaters had come hurtling inside.

Both yelled, "IMPEDIMENTA!"

They were all knocked backward off their feet. Neville was thrown over the desk and disappeared from view, Hermione smashed into a book case, and Harry slammed into the stone wall behind them, tiny lights bursting in front of their eyes. Ed and Al, however, threw up a wall with Alchemy, protecting themselves and Winry. The wall was broken down, though, with the jinx.

"WE'VE GOT HIM!" yelled the Death Eater nearest Harry. "IN AN OFFICE OFF – "

"Silencio!" cried Hermione, silencing the man's voice.

"Petrificus Totalus!" shouted Harry, as the second Death Eater raised his wand.

His arms and legs snapped together and fell forward, face down onto the rug at Harry's feet, stiff as a board and unable to move at all.

"Well done, Ha-!" started Hermione.

The Death Eater Hermione just struck dumb made a sudden slashing movement with his wand from which flew a streak of what looked like purple flame. It passed right across Hermione's chest: she gave a tiny "oh!" as though of surprise and then crumpled onto the floor where she lay motionless.

"HERMIONE!" said Harry.

Harry went to Hermione as Neville crawled rapidly toward her from under the desk, his wand held up in front of him. Ed, Al, and Winry went to Hermione as well. The Death Eater broke Neville's wand in two and broke Neville's nose. The Death Eater ripped off his mask and was pointing his wand directly at Harry. It was Antonin Dolohov, the wizard who killed Mrs. Weasley's brothers.

Dolohov grinned and pointed to the prophecy, to himself, and then to Hermione. His message was clear: Give me the prophecy, or you get the same as her...

"Like you won't kill us all the moment I hand it over anyway!" said Harry. "Ed, no!"

Ed whipped out his wand and was about to curse Dolohov until a bright green light hit him in the chest.

"EDWARD!" Winry and Al shouted.

Ed flew backward and hit a wall and slid down, crumpling onto the ground. Harry stunned Dolohov and the baby-headed Death Eater. Neville checked Hermione's pulse as Harry and Al crouched down by Ed while Winry held his lifeless body in her arms.

"Is he -?" Harry asked.

"Don't say it!" Winry interrupted.

"Hermione's alibe," Neville announced, going over to Al, Winry, and Harry. "I'm sorry, Winry…Albonse. He was -"

Winry shook her head, not wanting to believe that Ed was killed.