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Chapter Text

He dialed with a shaking hand, biting his lip against the pain. That woman had done a number on his shoulder with those freaky fingers of hers.

His adrenaline was already at heart-attack-inducing levels when it spiked again.

The streetlight just zapped out.

“Damnit, Roy, answer the phone!” He pleaded.

“I’m going to have to ask you to put the phone down, sir.”

Startled yet again, Hughes whipped around, shocked to see Sergeant Ro-

Wait.

That’s not Maria Ross.

When he pointed out the discrepancy, he watched in growing horror as the being in front of him swiped their hand over their cheek, somehow moving her mole, to become an exact replica of Ross.

Hughes was having a really hard time keeping down his panic now, and the second and third nearby streetlights going out wasn’t helping.

Nothing prepared him for the horror of seeing his wife’s face on that monster when he whipped around, knife barely glinting in his tight grip.

He froze.

He was going to die. He knew it.

What if that thing became him? What if it got close to Gracia, to Elicia?

‘Oh, God, please no.’

Just as that terrifying thought shattered his world, the creature with his wife’s face grinned a sickening grin that had no place on Gracia’s face. It moved to pull the trigger...

...and was blown backwards by a flash of red light.

Clearly, the blood loss was starting to get to him.

“What is it this time, Hughes?”

The voice came from the receiver still in his slack grip.

“R... Roy?” He mumbled.

“Hughes? What’s going on? Why aren’t you calling from a secure line?”

Hughes glanced at the phone, somehow still in his hand.

‘Huh. Guess that blast wasn’t Roy.’

With a great effort, Maes pulled his mind back to his present predicament. The abomination was getting up.

“Roy, it’s a transmutation circle, the whole damn country. It’s been set up from the star- ngh!”

He was interrupted by the bullet that wedged itself deep in his shoulder, the one the first woman had already sliced. He glanced up to see the creature approaching, having recovered from the blast and grown incredibly angry, her more-than-likely-stolen firearm aimed at him again.

“Hughes! Where are you?!”

Maes could hear the panic in Roy’s voice, but he couldn’t bring himself to feel the same. Belatedly, he realized his arm holding the phone had dropped. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a burst of flames.

“Roy?”

Another bang and another pain, this time in his hip. With a cry, Maes fell, hitting the wall of the phone booth on his way down.

“HUGHES!!”

Maes opened his eyes, briefly wondering when he had closed them. He needed to answer Roy before it was too late.

“Office... East... Park... Phone...”

“Hang on, Maes, I’m on my way.”

The man listened to the beep of the dial tone as he tried getting his thoughts back together. He lifted his head up to see more flashes of light like before, but not all of them red. His brow furrowed.

‘If that blast wasn’t Roy, who is that?’

Before he could determine the identity of his savior, a searing pain erupted in his side. Looking down, he watched as the long, black fingers slid out from his stomach.

“Hurgh!”

He coughed, the wet, body-shaking variety, tasting iron on his tongue.

‘Damnit, Roy. If you try to come, you’ll get yourself killed. Wish I could have said goodbye to my girls first.’

Then the world turned black.

*****

Roy wasted no time.

“Lieutenant, Hughes needs us!”

The woman, having burst into her superior’s office at his earlier worried yelling, displayed her guns always on her, holding out a hand, waiting for her superior.

The Colonel himself tore open a drawer, snatching a pair of his gloves and his wand, before taking his subordinate’s offered hand and apparating to the area Hughes described. 

*****

When Dumbledore knocked on the door of Number 4 Privet Drive, he was livid. The very air about him crackled.

Why was he there only four years after dropping off the Boy Who Lived? Because of the report from Arabella of course.

He had asked the kind, elderly squib to spy a little on the Dursleys, just to keep an eye on Harry, and she agreed. Once she moved into the neighborhood, it hadn’t taken too long before Petunia had managed to scare off another babysitter, and when she did, Mrs. Figg was ready to fill that spot.

Imagine her horror upon finding evidence of abuse on the scrawny, underfed, bruised, black-haired savior of the wizarding world.

She had sent an owl to Dumbledore immediately, and the man managed to arrive minutes before the Dursleys were scheduled to return. Dumbledore had taken one look at the small, quiet child and rage boiled in his veins.

He had a few quiet words with Arabella, before thundering over to the Dursleys, who had just arrived home.

*****

Harry wasn’t sure what was going on.

The nice cat lady across the street was watching him because it was Dudley’s birthday, but she seemed to be afraid of him. He knew he scared people, like the Dursleys, and when people got scared, they got violent, so he tried to be smaller, never uttering a peep. It didn’t seem to make her feel better, as she kept glancing out the window, much like his aunt.

Then the old man came.

Harry immediately didn’t like him. He was okay with the Dursleys because he knew exactly how far they would take the abuse. He was okay with Mrs. Figg because she had cats, and no one with pets could be mean, and she wasn’t that scary anyway.

He was not okay with this new man.

He radiated anger and power and scared the little boy senseless.

And now he was being told to go with the man. What was he supposed to do?

The young boy glanced at the bag in the man’s hand and let out the first noise he had uttered since arriving at the cat lady’s house.

He let out a quiet sob.

Because there, in the bag the man held hostage, was his blanket, his little, blue blanket with his name stitched into a corner. His aunt told him it was the blanket they had found him on the porch in, and she refused to wash it or even touch it. She almost seemed scared of his blanket.

Now this strange man had his blanket. He’d never get it back; he’s sure of that. The only reason the Dursleys let him keep it was because they were afraid of it.

With reluctance, the boy took the offered hand, vowing to get his blanket back at all costs, before the hand gave a slight tug, and the boy was sucked through a straw.

When he could breathe again, the boy fell to the ground, his stomach hurting.

“Are you alright, Harry?” the man asked him.

Harry nodded, standing up. Aunt Petunia was never happy if he couldn’t get up. He didn’t want this man to be unhappy with him. He was older than Aunt Petunia, but he was much scarier.

Nodding, the man led him further into the room they had landed in. Now that his stomach had settled, the curious boy looked around, noting all the odd trinkets and books on the shelves. Fearful of being reprimanded for looking, he quickly glanced at the man who had somehow brought him to this new place, and his fears were confirmed when he saw the man was frowning at him. Hoping to avoid a beating by the new man, Harry quickly looked at the floor, trying desperately not to cry.

*****

Dumbledore had no clue what to do.

Yes, he was a headmaster of a school for children, and yes, most people said he was very good with kids.

However, he’s not entirely positive he’s even laid eyes on a child below the age of seven in the past decade. He was a little out of practice where smaller children were concerned. He needed to find another relative of the boy. He glanced down frowning in thought at the small child. Perhaps sensing he was being observed in his gazing, the boy glanced up at him before quickly turning to stare at the floor.

Merlin, this was going to be difficult.

He glanced down at the bag in his hands, all the boy’s meager possessions fitting nicely in a small canvas bag.

Dumbledore felt like cursing something, or rather, someone, namely the Dursley’s.

He pulled out the blanket and motioned for Harry to follow him. Noticing how the boy glanced back and forth between him and the blanket with worry, he realized the boy was afraid he would do something to his comfort item. Upon reaching the bedroom, he placed the blanket on the bed, the bag on the floor and turned to Harry, conjuring a small table with parchment and muggle crayons.

The boy gasped, staring between the conjured items and the man questioningly.

Dumbledore smiled, answering the questioning look with a simple answer of, “Magic,” before leaving the boy to his own devices while he found family to take the boy.

*****

Harry stared in fascination at the new table and coloring utensils the man had magicked into being. He sidestepped the table, skirting around it until he reached the bed. Snagging his blanket, the boy found a nice corner, and simply sat there, holding his blanket, waiting for the man to come back.

*****

‘Ah ha! Iolanthe Peverell had a squib sister!’

Dumbledore was faithfully perusing the Potter family line, despite his hesitation to allow Harry to grow up in the wizarding world, as the Evans family line had dried up, ending only in Petunia. He refused to count her as an option any longer. He thought he had a decent lead with the Fleamont line, but the last Fleamont he could find had died of an illness along with her husband, leaving her son, Alphard Fleamont, to be lost in the muggle social services, and thus, difficult to find.

Now, however, he had a lead with the Peverell line, having gone back further, and was researching the branch of the family from Iolanthe’s sister. To his delight, he found one last living relative.

‘Now, let’s go find Mr. Hughes.’

*****

When Dumbledore began approaching his target’s office, he started flicking out the lights with his Deluminator. The plan was to intercept the man on his way home from his office, introduce him to Harry away from prying eyes, then hopefully leave Harry with much better caretakers.

The plan started falling apart when he noticed the man he was looking for being held at gunpoint in a phone booth.

When his attacker changed their appearance in a flash of red light, Dumbledore knew he needed to act now. He could hear a little of what was being said, and it was made obvious the man would have difficulty defending himself now. Setting down the Boy Who Lived and nudging Harry behind his robes, he pulled out his wand, firing a stunning spell at the attacker. Unfortunately, the attacker was back and firing that muggle weapon before the wizard could get to him, as Harry was starting to panic. He was worried the boy might run away while he was distracted. Quickly, he called Fawkes to him. He whispered a quiet spell at the boy, asking Fawkes to take the sleeping boy somewhere safe.

Now assured of Harry’s safety, the wizard began attacking the shape-shifter in earnest, careful of the wounded soldier nearby.

*****

“Hughes!”

To Roy’s horror, red liquid was trickling down his chin. Internal bleeding was difficult to fix quickly.

With a roar, flames exploded around the attacker, burning her to a crisp. Quickly, wand in his left hand, he ran to Hughes’ side, dropping to the ground in front of his comrade, followed quickly by his loyal lieutenant.

”Vulnera Sanentur!” the Colonel gasped, seeing the state of Hughes’ side and shoulder, quickly closing the wounds as best as he could. His healing magic was better with burns, for obvious reasons, but at least Maes’ life was no longer in danger.

At least that was what he thought until something speared him in the side.

Recovering from his shock, he followed the long, thin blade to see its origins were the fingers of the lady he had burnt to death.

‘Wh-what?’

He snapped his fingers again and again, even as he continued his and Maes’ rudimentary first aid, while Hawkeye moved to help fight off the other assailant.

It was with extreme difficulty, but eventually, they managed to kill their adversaries. Exhausted and so very done with the day, Roy’s patience was having a tea party with his sanity somewhere on Mars.

“Who are you, and why are you here?” Roy asked, his wand trained on Dumbledore in his left hand, his right hand raised to snap.

Dumbledore ignored him until he was sure the hulk of dissolving flesh on the receiving end of his wand would not recover. Looking up, the man raised his wand loosely in the universal sign of, ‘I’m not going to attack you so please do the same.’

“My name is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, and I’m here with an offer for Mr. Hughes, but that can wait for later. Is everyone alright?” His bright eyes flitted about between them.

“What kind of offer?” Roy asked, deftly stepping between the newcomer and his best friend, only stumbling slightly. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Hawkeye tending to Hughes’ injuries.

He wasn’t expecting a phoenix to fly down gracefully, dropping a sleeping child in the stranger’s arms before alighting on his shoulder. He couldn’t help but stare.

“Sir, I suggest we take this elsewhere. Both you and the Lieutenant Colonel require medical attention.”

Roy glanced behind him to see Hawkeye holding up a clearly unconscious Hughes. Movement in front of him caused him to whip back around faster than advisable in his state. As the world spun a bit, his balance left to join his patience and sanity for their tea party on Mars. Leaning on the side of the phone booth to keep from falling, his wand fell from his shaking fingers. A hand on his side in pain, he realized the spur-of-the-moment, hasty first-aid he had performed for himself did not help as much as his adrenaline-filled body had led him to believe. His side was still bleeding profusely.

“Lieutenant, I…”

Roy never got to tell her he was about to pass out, because he was interrupted by the blackness that swallowed his vision and thoughts.

Chapter Text

“…find his remaining… can’t be the only… get here?”

Hughes slowly awoke to the soft, soothing tones of his best friend next to his bed.

‘Wait, bed? I thought I was outside.’

The man tried to pry his eyes open, but nothing happened. He tried to listen in to the conversation, but blackness fell around him again.

*****

Roy sighed. This was becoming a capital T Terrible day.

“Although Voldemort never came to Amestris, we still know of him and understand your concern. The only thing that saved our country from his influence, I believe, was the fact that we had been at war during his rising. We didn’t stay very up-to-date on world news during that time. However, it is dangerous around us, as you have seen, and no one is sure when Hughes will wake up again, if he ever will. I’m sure we can arrange for someone around here to take the boy in, away from that criminal’s influence, but you can’t just-“

“Roy.”

The man in question turned to Gracia. She had been here since he had called her from the hospital last night. A friend of hers had taken Elicia and Harry while she stayed by her husband’s side, discussing Harry’s case with Dumbledore. Roy couldn’t believe the man! He was trying to pawn off a child on Hughes who could barely manage to make ends meet for his own family.

Hughes, who was now in a coma caused by him. If only he was better at healing magic.

Gracia smiled at him, and Roy had to wonder at the strength of the woman. Despite his knack at schooling his expression to his advantage, he certainly couldn’t smile at this situation. The woman turned back to Dumbledore.

“Of course, we’ll take him in. He certainly can’t go back to those relatives of his,” she turned back to Roy, “Roy, dear, would you stay with Maes while Mr. Dumbledore and I talk for a bit? I need to make sure I know what I’m getting us into.”

With that, the woman walked the strange old wizard out of the room and down the hall. Roy sat in the chair she vacated by his friend’s bed.

“Hughes, you better not add pictures of your new son to your usual arsenal.”

Silence was his response.

“Goddamnit, Hughes.”

Roy watched the breath fog up on the mask around his nose and mouth.

“Please wake up, Maes.”

*****

Harry was very confused. The scary man was gone, he had his own room, the nice lady was his new mom, and he had a little sister?

It was a long day.

He glanced warily around his new room. It was simple, just a bed and dresser, but it had a window, and that alone was more than Harry had ever had before. He didn’t realize until the nice lady told him to put his blanket on his bed that the bed was for him.

He couldn’t help it. He started crying.

“Oh, Harry, dear, don’t cry. What’s the matter?”

Harry sniffled, trying to stifle his silent sobs.

“’s nice.” He mumbled.

“Oh, darling!” she cried, scooping him into a hug, not noticing him flinch, “I don’t know what it was like for you at your old home, but I promise, I will try to make this home a good one for you,” she let him go to look him in the eye, “And I don’t expect you to warm up to us immediately, but I’d like it if someday you could think of yourself as a part of this family,” she winked conspiratorially at him, “You can even call me ‘mama’ if you like.”

Harry didn’t know what to say, so he said nothing.

*****

Gracia had taken Harry shopping to get him clothes and other necessities. She would never tire of saying it; she was very grateful to Dumbledore for allotting her a small amount to financially support Harry. The man had offered, and had she known how much he considered to be “small” she would have turned him down. At first, she thought he forgot a decimal somewhere. He reassured her that the funds were for Harry from his birth parents, and that they were to use it to help Harry feel at home. He hinted that the funds were to be used for Maes’ hospital bills as well when he asked that Harry get a father as soon as possible.

“After all, every young boy needs a father in his life. I’m sure his parents would agree.”

‘God bless Dumbledore.’

*****

Roy and the Elric brothers still stopped by every once in a while, and while she had explained to the boys the sudden appearance of Harry Hughes, omitting the wizarding parts for now as she didn’t want to endanger Harry, she was happy to see the young, black-haired boy enthralled by the two, rather than terrified like she had worried. Just like her daughter had, he quickly accepted the two teens as older brothers of sorts.

She also had to chuckle as he quickly made it apparent that he was Elicia’s older brother. The friends from her birthday party thought that they were home free with her husband missing, but the quiet boy soon made it obvious that he was not going to let them try anything either.

She was a little sad that he called Elicia “little sister” but hadn’t yet called her “mom”, but she was willing to wait. She was good at waiting. After all, six months later and she was still waiting for her husband to wake.

*****

Gracia was so nervous. She had been planning for Harry’s birthday party for weeks, calling up his new friends from the park, as well as the friends he shared with Elicia, buying presents without him knowing, and of course, baking the cake the day before.

She jumped when she heard the pitter-pattering of feet tapping down the stairs. She quickly turned out the lights, ducking down, motioning for Elicia to do the same. The little imp had gotten Harry to play hide-and-seek, and the two girls had pulled out his little cake and presents while he ran to hide.

“Heehee! Harry’s gonna be so s’prised mama!”

Gracia suppressed her own giggles, her finger to her lips, “Shh! He’s coming!”

Harry rounded the corner, bounding into the dining room.

“Happy Birthday!” the two girls shouted, flicking on the light.

Harry promptly screamed, jumping a meter into the air.

Despite the initial scare, Harry was really touched. No one had ever celebrated his birthday before, after all.

*****

As she lay awake that night, unable to sleep knowing her husband couldn’t wake, Gracia listened to the clatter of rain on the window. She pushed herself out of bed to go and wander into the kitchen, thinking of making some tea, or hot cocoa. She had just placed the kettle over the stove when a particularly loud clap of thunder made her jump. Shaking it off, she continued her preparations. She didn’t expect a small body to collide with her legs a few moments later.

“Why, Harry, dear, what are you doing out of bed?” she asked the boy clinging to her legs.

She didn’t receive an answer, but he flinched at the next clap of thunder, burying his face further into her side. Soothing the boy’s fears, she picked him up and held him while she finished making her cocoa. She poured a mug for both her and Harry, handing the boy his as she sat him down at the table.

“Thanks, mama.” came the mumbled reply.

She almost dropped her mug. Carefully, she schooled her expression, continuing to talk to him to keep his mind off the raging storm outside. He had never called her “mama” before, and she didn’t want her reaction to it to scare him off from doing it again. It had taken about a year, but he had finally called her “mama”. She just hoped it stuck when the storm was over.

Chapter Text

Harry peered through the special lenses given to him, looking at the darkness that was the sky. It scared him a little to see the sun covered like that, but Gracia and Elicia both thought it was neat. Setting his fears aside, he had to admit, it was pretty neat.

Until it wasn’t.

He could see a big, black shadow, creeping across the city. In fear, he backed away from the window, tugging on Mrs. Hughes’ dress to pull her back from the danger, but she didn’t understand. She tried to reassure him, telling him it was only the moon, but it wasn’t the eclipse he was afraid of.

Before he could try to explain, she started dying.

She coughed, falling to the floor, Elicia still in her arms. His new sister cried out, gargling something unintelligible before going terrifyingly still. Gracia coughed a few more times, calling her daughter’s name, calling his name, before she went still as well.

Harry stared in horror, a scream caught in his own throat as he started coughing. He could feel, something was wrong, so wrong, the world was turning red. He could hear a woman scream from somewhere, but it wasn’t Gracia’s voice. His body went cold as he hit the floor, the last thing he saw being the two dead bodies on the floor next to him.

Harry found himself in a tangled mess of souls, screams and horror filling the space. He struggled with the other souls, writhing in the agony of being ripped from his body and cramped in a small space with every single other person in the country. Dimly, he was aware of something holding him, but how could it? He had no body.

Looking down somehow in his bodyless form, he saw, or rather sensed, a broken, slimy something tangled with his own soul. With a desperate cry of renewed horror and terror, he broke away from the nightmare, getting tossed away into the swirl of agonized souls.

*****

The monitors in every room blared the incessant beep of a flatline, but no nurses or doctors ran to the rescue. In room 423, a black-haired soldier lay on his bed, glasses on the night table, no one around to hear his monitor scream for him.

*****

Harry’s eyes snapped open as he coughed. He wasn’t sure how, but he was back to laying on the floor in the living room. Coughing, he pulled himself to his feet, running to his new mother and sister.

“Mom! Elicia! Are you okay?!”

They were all coughing, trying to get air back in their lungs, but they were alive. Gracia pulled them both into a hug, holding her children, thanking the Elric brothers who she was sure had saved them. 

*****

He awoke suddenly, his memory a little blurry on the past who-knows-how-long. He vaguely recalled screams, pain, and unimaginable sorrow, but he had no clue what that was. Glancing around, coughing at the breathing mask, he saw he was in the hospital, a nurse on the floor by his bed, coughing up a lung.

“H-hey...” he croaked, his voice shot from lack of use, “Are you alright, miss?”

The nurse jumped, startled, staring at him with wide, frightened eyes, a smile slowly taking over her features, washing away the shadows that had been there since she had come back to her body.

“He’s awake!”

*****

Ed was desperate. He knew that.

But to use other lives to get Al back?

He was standing in front of his Gate, facing off against Truth again, but he wasn’t expecting a horde of Xerxesian souls to stand between him and the devil.

“Please, young Hohenheim. We had no choice in our enslavement. Allow us to choose how we are used.”

He really couldn’t argue because Truth had already taken the deal, tossing him and his brother from his domain.

“Thank you!” He called, tears thickening his voice as the Gate slammed shut behind him. 

*****

“Your father’s awake!”

Harry was a little nervous. His new dad was awake from his coma, which was great and all, but Harry had never actually met the man.

What if his new dad didn’t like him? What if he was as bad as Uncle Vernon? What if he beat him? What if he beat Elicia?

Harry wanted to puke.

Sensing his nerves, Gracia squeezed his hand, gently pulling him towards the room. He could hear the boisterous sound of Big Brother Ed’s laugh. That was a good sign.

When they reached the door, Elicia sprang forward to tackle her father in a hug, but Harry hid behind Gracia’s skirt.

“Oof! Easy, Princess, Daddy’s still a little sore.”

“Sorry, Daddy. I just missed you! I’m SOOO happy you’re awake! Now you can meet Big Brover!”

Maes paused his fawning over his daughter, glancing up to Gracia.

“That’s right! I’ve got myself a son now, don’t I? Ed here was just telling me about the lad. I could hear a little bit while I was out, but it’s a little muddled. Where is he? Did he not come with you?”

Gracia answered her husband by stepping aside to reveal Harry behind her skirts, the boy ducking back behind her. His curious green eyes poked back around the fabric, handfuls of the dark blue cotton gripped tight in his little fists like a lifeline.

“You must be Harry then! Come on up, son. Can’t be a family hug without you now, can it?” Maes questioned, Elicia tucked tight in one atrophied arm, the other open and offered for the young boy to come to.

Slowly, Harry ventured out into the open, sidling up to the bed. In a swift motion, Ed snagged the child, plopping him on the bed next to Maes. Harry let out a terrified little squeak that was drowned in the man’s shirt as he pulled his two children close to his chest, showing surprising strength for a man moving for the first time in a year.

“I’m so glad to see my children! You missed Daddy, didn’t you!” He gushed, Elicia squealing with contagious giggles as Harry slowly joined in, his nerves ebbing away in the tide of affection he was being shown.

Calming down a bit so the kids could breathe, he settled back into the sheets, Gracia standing by his side, Ed grinning like the madman he was at the foot of the bed.

“You didn’t come home early, Daddy. You promised you’d try.”

Hughes’ heart broke into a thousand little pieces when he saw his daughter’s pout. Those pieces tried to fit back together when a grin wormed its way into her frown.

“You’ll just have to be extra nice to Big Brover and me to make up for it! Mommy said Big Brover didn’t get enough love before, so we gots to give him lots!” the little girl cried, flinging herself at Harry as he caught her in a hug, giggles bouncing between the two children.

Maes felt a sad smile creep onto his face at his daughter’s antics. He knew a little about the boy, but only what he had gleaned from Ed so far and what he could piece together from what he remembered. Apparently, the boy was an orphan that had been abused by his relatives, and as he was the next living relative, he had been asked to take the boy.

Naturally his lovely wife had said yes for him.

He was trying not to think about the added expenses another child would generate on top of his likely outlandish hospital bill from being in a coma for a year. He could see the telltale signs of expensive magical treatment.

“Of course, we’ll love him lots! He’s your big brother and our son after all!”

He was pretty sure that the watery-eyed smile on the boy was worth it. He had only met the boy minutes ago, but he had already wormed his way into the man’s heart. 

Chapter Text

Harry was on cloud nine. His new dad was great, Ed had a real arm, although it’s a little skinny, and Ed even says that Big Brother Al can take off the armor now! 

Harry is glad for that, because the armor always kind of scared him a little. He knew Al was nice, but it just felt wrong somehow. 

When Big Brother Ed led him and his sister into Al’s hospital room though, he wasn’t expecting Al to be skinnier than he was when he left the Dursleys. 

So, he said so. 

“You’re skinnier than I was, Big Brother!” he shouted, startled. 

Elicia’s face scrunched up in thought. “He’s taller and older though.” she piped up, sagely. 

Ed didn’t even care that they were talking about height. He had his brother back! He had never been happier. 

“What if Big Brother Al is actually shorter than Big Brother Ed? Does that make him Bigger Brother Ed?” Harry wondered. People didn’t typically use honorifics in Britain, and they still eluded him. 

“No way,” Elicia answered, quick to set her brother straight, “Big Brother Ed is too short for that.”

It was only Al’s insistence that stopped Ed from hexing the children into next week. 

*****

“So, what are you going to do now, Brother?”

Ed had taken the children back to Gracia, and she had taken them home for the day. Now Ed and Al were talking in Al’s room, as Ed was trying desperately to avoid his own hospital room. If he wasn’t in his room, then he wasn’t a patient, and they couldn’t make him drink his milk. At least, in his mind. 

He wasn’t too banged up, but they still wanted him in the hospital. His only consolation was that pretty much everyone else was in the hospital too, even the colonel. 

He still hadn’t visited the man. He wasn’t sure what to say to the man who had become a father/older brother to him. Without a stone, he couldn’t heal his eyes, and that just made Ed want to cry. 

He wouldn’t be able to see it, but Ed didn’t want to cry in front of Mustang. 

“I dunno, Al. Research some theories maybe. Travel a bit. Something fun and exciting.” Ed grinned, incapable of holding a sour mood for long with Al back. 

Al smiled back, “Will you stay with the state?”

Ed’s grin dropped. He still hadn’t talked with Mustang, and he wasn’t sure if he could just leave the man, after all they had been through. He was more than a commanding officer to him; he was like an older brother, the father figure that was so painfully absent in his life.

“You know, Ed,” Al said, interrupting his thoughts, “You can still visit everybody, even without a silver pocket watch.”

Ed chuckled. Somehow, Al just always knew what he was thinking. Elric Brother Telepathy at its finest. 

“I know, Al, but,” he paused, chewing his lip. He wasn’t sure how to explain it, but he thought Al would understand, if no one else would. “I want to help him get to the top. I know I didn’t take away his sight, and I know he can still do all kinds of crazy shit, even without his eyes, but I still feel responsible. It was dad’s blood in Father, which makes Father my responsibility. That bastard was the one who took away his sight, and I’m the one who failed to stop him. If I could have protected Hawkeye, then he wouldn’t’ve ... wouldn’t’ve done that.” Ed finished quietly, glancing away. 

Al showed just how much strength he still had when he shoved Ed off the bed onto the floor. 

“Al!” Ed whined in a heap. 

“I let you talk, now it’s my turn!” The normally quiet Alphonse was on a roll, angry. If people thought Ed was scary when he was mad, they had clearly never seen Al worked up. “You say you feel responsible because it was dad’s blood in Father, but that just makes it my responsibility and dad’s responsibility too. Do you blame me for the colonel’s sight being taken?!”

Ed numbly shook his head. 

“Right, and, Father stole dad’s blood, so it wouldn’t be our responsibility, it would be Father’s. Secondly, who are you to protect Hawkeye?! She’s scary! She doesn’t need you to protect her when she has the colonel anyway. You’ve seen those two. If ever there was a match better than Winry and automail, it’s those two. Would you really usurp Mustang’s role as her protector?”

Ed shook his head quickly, eyes wide in fear. He had learned the hard way not to get between the two. 

“Good, and lastly,” Ed whimpered. Al wasn’t done yet. “Lastly, you can want to help someone just because you want to help them. You don’t have to make up excuses about what you owe them. You don’t need to guilt trip yourself. Remember, social interaction isn’t governed by the laws of equivalent exchange, Brother.”

Ed heaved a deep breath and sighed. As usual when he got mad, Al was completely right. 

“Now, I’m worn out from yelling at you, so go visit Mustang. He’ll be sad that you visited everyone but him.”

Ed nodded, leaving his brother to rest, heading to Mustang’s room. When he got to the door, he was half expecting to hear the whole office crew on the other side, but it was quiet. 

He knocked. 

*****

Roy was having a great day, all things considered. Hawkeye had agreed to move in with him to help him around the house. He couldn’t really do much on his own yet. He couldn’t wait. 

He was startled out of his musings when a knock sounded at the door. 

“Come in.” He ordered in his authoritative colonel voice. 

He listened intently. He had noticed that his hearing had increased dramatically to make up for his lack of sight. Slowly but surely, he was getting better at distinguishing what was going on around him based on sound alone. 

He’d know those uneven footsteps anywhere. 

“Fullmetal.” He greeted, nodding in the direction of the sound of shuffling feet. The shuffling paused. 

“How’d you know it was me?”

Roy smirked. “I could sense the trouble in the air that seems to follow you everywhere. Now, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

He waited while Ed shuffled around a bit more, closing the door behind himself with a faint click. The uneven footsteps shuffled the few meters to his bed, a slight thump indicating he had fallen into the chair he knew was there. 

“So, how you been?”

Ed cringed at the awkward floundering he was doing with social interaction. ‘Thanks Al. I blame you.’

Roy chuckled. “Well, all things considered, I haven’t been too bad. I hear Hughes is awake.”

Ed was relieved to see a genuine smile on his CO’s face. He had learned pretty quickly which smiles were real from the man. Ed may be terrible at conversing, but he was pretty good at reading people. 

“Yeah, he finally got to meet Harry. Poor kid was so nervous.” Ed chuckled at the memory. 

Roy sighed. He had gotten fond of the child, and he seemed to hold Roy on a pedestal. Apparently, the boy had heard early on that Roy was the one to save Hughes when they met, and his hero worship had only grown worse. Every time Roy visited the Hughes’ when Gracia invited him to dinner, he spent a little time showing the boy his flame alchemy, a handful of spells, even a little about firearms. Everything interested the curious little boy, and Roy was eager to show him everything. He realized with a certain amount of self-depreciation that he loved kids, even though they usually didn’t like him much.

The boy was smart though, Roy recognized that immediately. He would probably end up a bit of a prodigy, just as Roy himself was. 

He remembered the first time Harry had called him “Uncle Roy”. It had been at the boy’s small birthday party with the Elrics and a few of his friends. Roy had given him a dragon coloring book whose pictures stilled only while you were coloring and colored pencils with lead that never broke. Of course, he had to gift them when the other guests weren’t around, so the non-magicals didn’t freak. The boy had looked at the magical items in wonder before Roy heard a breathless little thank you from the boy. Quickly getting over his awe, Harry had jumped up and squealed, tackling the man in a hug. 

“Thank you, Uncle Roy!”

He still had the first picture the boy colored on his fridge. 

He sternly blinked back the tears that wouldn’t cloud his vision when he realized he’d never see that picture again. He’d never see Harry’s face light up in awe at his fire alchemy. He’d never see-

“I know it hurts but keep remembering.”

Roy jumped, having forgotten Ed was in the room. He could feel his gaze, the telltale hairs on the back of his neck standing more rigidly at attention than Ed ever did for him. To his horror, a wayward tear slid down his cheek. 

Furiously wiping it away, he listened to the boy sitting next to him. 

“You need to remember it all now, when you can still remember colors and what things look like. Not just the good things, but the bad things too. Remember what everything looked like. Don’t forget it.”

Roy swallowed heavily. “What makes you say that?” he asked, his voice gruff with emotion. 

He could hear the emotion in Ed’s voice when he answered, “Because I’ve lost things too.”

Roy nodded, unsure if Ed was still watching him or not as he let the tears flow. 

If he was honest with himself, he wasn’t okay, but Roy was used to pretending to be okay until he was, so that’s what he was doing. Continuing to command his team from his hospital bed. He was glad of the news of the Ishvalan restoration effort. 

He was even more glad of the news of a way to get Havoc’s legs back. 

Chapter Text

Harry sat atop Ed’s shoulders, bouncing along for the ride. Ed had been discharged from the hospital yesterday, and at Hughes’ request, had brought Harry to see him so he could get to know his new son. When Hughes was forced by his overprotective nurse to rest, the two decided to head to Roy’s room. Harry hadn’t gotten to see his uncle after the incident after all.

The bright, red light coming from his uncle’s room scared Harry something fierce. It reminded him of the time when he wasn’t Harry anymore, just a floating thought. 

Ed set him down, running into Roy’s room. Harry peeked around the corner to see a man standing over his uncle, the bright light coming from his hand. He whimpered when he heard the groans of pain. The flashes of light died down, and his uncle sat up, blinking hard. 

“Well?” The stranger asked him, “Anything?”

Roy nodded. He could see light and vague, blurry shapes, but no color or clarity. He knew this was all he would get. It wasn’t much, but it was better than the impenetrable darkness before. Plus, Havoc got the use of his legs back, and that was more than he could have ever hoped to gain on his own. He still felt responsible since it was the humunculus he thought he had killed during the attack on Hughes that had paralyzed him. He got it right the third time.

“Was that a Philosopher’s Stone?”

Roy jumped at the voice, not sure how to explain himself to Ed. Would he think he was being selfish? Was he being selfish?

Someone must have nodded because the dark shape by what he assumed to be the door moved closer. 

“Roy, can you see me?”

He decided to ignore the use of his first name as well as the emotion in the voice, “I can see light and vague shapes, but no color or clarity.” he answered. 

There were collective sighs around the room as the hopeful mood plummeted.

“It’s much more than I had before, so I thank you, Dr. Marcoh.”

An awkward silence stretched for a moment before a small voice that Roy was terrified would lose itself to tears broke the silence. 

“U-Uncle Roy? What... what’s wrong with your eyes?”

His breath caught in his throat at his nephew’s question. Did no one tell the boy?

“... Well, Harry... You see... The thing is...”

He was blinking furiously now, trying to hold back tears, instinctively trying to clear his vision to see the small, dark blob coming closer. 

“Don’t cry, Uncle Roy!” The boy cried, clambering up on his bed. “Your eyes aren’t working, right? It’s okay! I’ll be your eyes!” The boy declared through tears. 

He wrapped his little arms around Roy’s neck and cried into his shoulder. Roy found himself breaking a second time, listening to the boy’s sobs. Why had no one told him? Warned him? He closed his eyes, trying to hold the tears at bay. He needed to be strong for Harry. The boy needed to see that he was okay. 

“Harry, I...” he broke off when color erupted across his vision. 

Gold sparks were everywhere, radiating from the boy in his arms, warmth bubbling up, dancing with the light. 

Harry squeezed harder, still crying, apparently unaware of the evident display of generous magic. 

Roy watched, watched, fascinated as colors, red, blue, green, flooded his vision. When the golden light died down, and the warmth from the boy in his arms faded, Roy blinked around. The shapes were still fuzzy, but there was color and defined shapes. He could see the gold of Ed’s hair, the red of his coat, the blue of his men’s uniforms. Laughing, he pulled Harry back to see his face, but froze, horrified. 

This close, he could see Harry’s bright green eyes. 

His bright, green, unfocused eyes. 

“Nonono, Harry, can you see me?” He asked quickly, his voice more panicked than it had ever been in front of his men.

To his relief, Harry nodded. 

“You’re fuzzy, but you’re right there!” Harry declared happily, his finger jammed dramatically on Roy’s nose. The boy gasped. “Uncle Roy! You’re looking at me! You can see me!”

Roy laughed in relief, hugging the miraculous little boy. 

*****

The way that Roy described it, Harry had used accidental magic with his strong emotions, and somehow used his own sight to fix Roy’s. Both of them were nearsighted now and required thick glasses, but they could still see. 

Ed was impressed. He knew he and his brother were prodigies for using magic, or alchemy, the scientific application of magical theory, at a very young age, but accidental magic of that magnitude at only seven years old?

Ed couldn’t wait to see what Harry would do. He may even give Ed a run for his money...

Nah. 

No one could beat besting Father before they turned 18, right?

Chapter Text

Over the next four years, Harry became much more comfortable in his new family. 

He beat up the punks trying to get too comfortable with his sister, taking on a few bullies even. Brother Ed taught him a little alchemy, Uncle Roy taught him a little magic, his mom helped him learn how to bake, and the boy loved it. 

Most importantly, his dad was his dad. 

He couldn’t imagine better parents. 

His uncle Roy had become Führer the year before, and he still wasn’t quite used to all the guards. From what Roy had said, he had turned the dictatorship into a diplomacy. He didn’t really understand politics, but everyone has happy about it, so he figured it was a good thing. 

They had a big party about it at least. 

Uncle Roy even got days off now. Harry appreciated the time he got to spend with his uncle. He was showing him more and more the difference between full magic and the scientific application of magic that non-magicals knew of called alchemy. The magical population of Amestris had managed to find themselves a nice niche in society by developing alchemy and living under the law of equivalent exchange in the public eye. Magic itself followed those laws, but the magical properties of the wand was used as equivalence for spells, as well as the magical energy of the wizard or witch casting the spell, but most non-magicals were afraid of the power of magic, as it tended to be a little unstable in inexperienced hands. People are always afraid of the unknown.

Ed and Al had travelled a bit, Ed retaining his license, but mostly sticking to research rather than physical missions, although he did do those occasionally. Al ended up getting his certification as well, staying in Xing as ambassador with Mei for a while, but he ended up bringing her back after he married her. Harry was very happy to visit Xing to be the ring bearer. 

He got to do it again for Big Brother Ed and Winry shortly after. 

Now that Uncle Roy had successfully abolished the fraternizing laws, whatever those were, Harry would get to do it again for Uncle Roy and Auntie Riza. Harry loved Riza, but she could be kind of scary when he misbehaved. 

Al had jokingly asked him if he was going to be next to get a girl, and Harry vehemently told him NO. He hadn’t even turned eleven yet, for crying out loud!

On Harry’s eleventh birthday, Uncle Roy, Auntie Riza, and all the Elrics came to visit. Harry showed his brother Ed how he could make little horse statues with his alchemy, and Ed got a kick out of showing the horses to Mustang, playing on the pun of his name. 

Before everyone left for the night, Roy had one last gift for Harry. His eyes blew open wide at the sight of the broom. 

Roy had to hide it away from the pile of presents to keep it a surprise. The size and shape of the package gave it away very quickly. 

“A Nimbus Two Thousand?!” The boy gasped. “Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyou!” Harry launched himself at Roy, practice and sharp reflexes being the only thing that saved the man from getting flattened by the rapidly growing boy. 

Roy chuckled, “You’re quite welcome, Little Bunny.”

Harry scowled at the nickname Ed had given him, a play on what Roy had called him once, shortening his name to “Hare”. Ed had teased him relentlessly, and he didn’t appreciate Roy joining in. 

“Sir.”

Harry’s scowl turned to laughter as Roy paled at Riza’s reprimanding tone. 

“Just be careful with it, darling,” his mom warned. “I don’t want you out there flying it without Roy or one of your brothers out there with you.” She wanted someone with him who could catch him if he fell.

Harry nodded, inspecting the beautiful craftsmanship under his fingers. Ed and Al had joined him to marvel over the broom, both promised a turn in exchange for watching him while he rode. While they were busy, Roy turned to the two parents in the room.

“Any owls?” he asked.

Maes shook his head, “They’re supposed to come on the eleventh birthday, right?”

Roy nodded. Whether it was Hogwarts or any other school, you got your acceptance letter on your eleventh birthday. What could be keeping that owl?

“I’m not sure about the Elrics, but I got a letter from Durmstrang on my eleventh. Never went. Traveled a bit and spent a year at Castelobruxo with their exchange program, but most of my education came from Hawkeye.”

Maes nodded, understanding the relationship between his friend and his fiancé’s father. Before he could respond, a loud bang came from the door. Everyone jumped, conversations abruptly halted as everyone turned to the door. A few more bangs sounded, reminiscent of knocking, but it was loud enough to be a battering ram.

Maes stood, followed by Roy and Ed, both of whom had pulled out their wands. It was raining outside, so Roy forwent his ignition gloves.

Cautiously, the three approached the door, the children hiding behind the women and Alphonse.

“Anybody there?” a heavily accented voice asked through the door.

Everyone jumped. Maes pulled the door open to show a giant of a man in the doorway.

He was huge, larger than even the Strong-Arm Alchemist, dark and bushy hair and beard hiding most of his face, but his black eyes twinkled in the midst of the tangled hair.

“Eep!” Elicia squealed, hiding back behind her mother’s skirts.

The giant turned at the sound, as Hawkeye and Al both moved to shield Gracia and her daughter. Unfortunately, Harry had been hiding behind Al, and when the man moved, he was left exposed.

“’Arry! There ye are, lad! You look jus’ like yer dad!”

Every adult in the room stiffened. Harry was frozen stiff. This man knew his name, and he was terrified. Could this man be the homunculus called Sloth? Ed had told him the creature was big.

“What do you want with my son?” Maes asked, his voice clipped, and his eyes narrowed.

The large man turned back to the three blocking the door, noticing the wands.

“Oh, there’s no need for that,” he stated. He dug into the many pockets in his large coat, muttering to himself, “Know I got it here someplace…” The men in the entryway stared flummoxed as the large man pulled a strange assortment of things from his pockets looking for the elusive whatever-it-was he was looking for. “Ha!” the man pulled out a large, parchment envelope with glistening green ink and a red wax seal. “This here’s for Harry. Dumbledore wanted me to deliver it for him. Said he didn’t want him to decide on any other school, an’ I agreed with him. ‘S not right a Potter shouldn’ go ta Hogwarts.”

The tension in the room ebbed but didn’t disappear at Dumbledore’s name. Those who knew the man merely shook their heads. The man sure did love his theatrics.

‘Are we sure these guys aren’t related to Armstrong?’

“Come in, Mr…”

The man huffed, “Oh, there’s no need for the ‘Mr.’. Me name’s Hagrid.”

Maes nodded, sharing a look with Roy and Ed. The two gave a slight nod, tucking away their wands, but Roy pulled out his gloves, and Ed’s sharp eyes never left the stranger.

Gracia had taken Harry, Elicia, and the other ladies, sans Hawkeye, and disappeared to the kitchen. She came back alone to offer tea to their impromptu guest as the men all settled around the room. Graciously taking the offered refreshment in his hands the size of garbage bin lids, the newcomer settled himself down gingerly onto the couch. Glancing around, the man realized that Harry had left.

“Where’d Harry go?” he asked, peering around, “He’s still gotta read his letter.”

Maes cleared his throat, drawing Hagrid’s attention.

“Let’s talk first. What was this about Dumbledore? Did something happen?”

Hagrid laughed, a large, booming sound of joy, smacking his knee with his free hand. The observers were surprised that the large man hadn’t broken anything yet, or even spilled the tea.

“Oh no, Mr. Hughes. It’s jus’ Harry’s acceptance letter. Dumbledore wanted me ta come personally, ya see. Af’er the problems with the last bunch, he wanted ta be certain Harry got his letter.” Hagrid explained, nodding sagely.

The soldiers in the room relaxed at that. The man wasn’t a threat. Even after five years, Roy was still jumpy about the safety of the Hughes family. Harry had been kidnapped because of him before after all.

“Gracia, dear,” Maes said, turning to his wife, “Go ahead and bring Harry and the rest in, so he can read his letter.”

The woman nodded, smiling. While she left to fetch the others, Roy decided to step in and introduce them.

“Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist and Fürher of Amestris.” He stated, offering his hand to shake.

“Ah,” the man said, taking the offered hand, “Rubeus Hagrid, keeper o’ the keys and grounds at Hogwarts.”

Roy nodded, “This is my second-in-command and fiancé, General Riza Hawkeye, and Brigadier General Alphonse Elric, the Lifearmour Alchemist and Ambassador to Xing, and his older brother, General Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist,” he paused in his introductions, gauging the man’s reaction. At Ed’s name, the man had seemed interested, but he showed nothing but polite curiosity at the other names, “And I suppose you already know of Brigadier General Maes Hughes, Head of Investigations and Harry’s father. Gracia, earlier, is his wife and Harry’s mother.”

Hagrid turned to the man with something like sorrow and gratitude on his face. “I heard from Dumbledore that you had taken in Harry af’er what happened with his relatives. I knew his parents when they was kids, see, an’ I know they appreciate all you’ve done for the lad.”

No one in the room missed the way Hagrid was speaking like Harry was not a permanent member of the Hughes family. It made everyone a little tense when the others walked in.

“There ya are, Harry! I got a letter for ya!” Hagrid declared, waving the letter in the air.

The boy bounded forward, snatching the letter. “Mom said it was a letter from a wizard school! I got a letter from a wizard school!” he laughed, showing the letter to his sisters Elicia and Winry, “Lookit! It even says, ‘Second Floor West Bedroom’ on the front!”

Everyone laughed at the boy’s antics.

“Open it, Harry!” Elicia squealed.

He tore open the letter, pulling out the many pages of parchment inside. He began to read aloud.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

               Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress

“Congrats, Little Bunny,” Ed said, grinning, when Harry looked up.

“I got a letter for you as well, Mr. Elric,” Hagrid informed him, handing the letter to the man.

Curious, assuming it wasn’t an acceptance letter, Ed took the offered envelope, sliding it open and scanning the contents. With a huff, he passed it to the equally curious Fürher.

“Don’t expect me to follow along after the old man just because he offers a library. I have responsibilities here, you know.”

Hagrid seemed disappointed, Roy and Maes realizing why as they read the letter, the latter hovering over his friend’s shoulder to see,

Dear Mr. Elric,

It has come to my attention that you are an expert in the field of alchemy. Several of my students and their parents have requested that we offer the discipline here at Hogwarts, in the hopes of accomplishing peace with muggles, as you have done in Amestris.

As such, it is with great pleasure and hope that I humbly ask you would grace our halls with your knowledge. Regarding whether you are willing to join our lovely faculty, please send your response with Hagrid. The position will, of course, offer compensation, and we can discuss the parameters of the arrangement at a later date.

Hogwarts boasts many things, least of which is the largest magical library in the world. As a member of our esteemed faculty, you would have unlimited access to its depths.

Yours Sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore,

Hogwarts Headmaster

“You’re going.”

Ed spun around to stare at his superior, shocked. Roy gave an imperceptible shake of his head, warning Ed to not argue here. Despite all his talk, Ed trusted the man with his life, so he stayed quiet.

“Ed’s going where?” Al asked, glancing in Winry’s direction.

“Dumbledore wants me to teach at his school.”

Harry gasped, “So you’ll be my teacher? That’s great!”

Winry’s face fell. “Ed, you’re leaving?”

Ed turned to his superior in distress.

Roy grimaced. “We can discuss Winry accompanying you with the Headmaster, but this is an opportunity you will not miss.”

“What about my research?” Ed asked, eyes narrowed, “I run the entirety of this country’s state research. Are you really willing to put all of that on hold for a year?”

Roy’s grimace became a smirk. “You don’t honestly believe you are the only one capable of handling the labs, do you?”

“Other than Al,” he answered, “I don’t trust anyone with my research. Not even you, Colonel.”

Roy rolled his eyes at the nickname. When in the presence of Elicia, who was still watching the proceedings with wide eyes, Ed had taken to calling him Colonel instead of Bastard. He supposed he should thank the girl for staying. Instead, he turned to the Xing Ambassador.

“What do you say, Al? Want to take a break from travelling for a bit?”

Al looked up from Ed’s letter he had stolen to read, a sheepish look on his face.

“Actually, I was planning on asking you tonight if you could reassign me for a bit.”

Roy raised an eyebrow in question and the young man fidgeted, glancing at his young wife by his side before taking a breath, turning back to the group.

Before he could explain, Hawkeye interjected, “Congratulations, Lifearmour.”

Gracia gasped, looking to Mei for confirmation. The Xingese princess merely smiled in response. Mrs. Hughes squealed, much like her daughter always did, congratulating them as well.

“Wait, Al, what’s going on?” Ed asked, confusion evident on his face.

Al grinned, glancing at a smitten, grinning Mei again. That was the moment Roy and Maes caught on.

“No way, Al! Seriously?!” Maes yelled.

Roy nodded, “I suppose this is perfect timing then. I’m sure we can work something out with the Headmaster so that Ed and Harry can be here when the time comes.”

Ed and the kids still hadn’t figured it out, so Al explained.

“Well, Ed… kids… Mei and I are going to be parents.”

There was a beat of silence.

“WHAAAAAAAT?!?!” Ed shrieked, “Wha-wha-what!? Since WHEN?!”

Everyone laughed watching Ed flounder, his face the color of his signature coat. While the Elrics began discussing their growing family, Roy turned to Hagrid.

“Let Dumbledore know Ed would be delighted to join your staff for the year. I look forward to speaking with him.”

Hagrid looked confused, “Why would Dumbledore be talking with you?”

“Ed is under my command,” he explained, “Thus, everything Ed does must be sanctioned by me.”

Hagrid nodded, the noise of celebration filling the room. He would have to explain this to Dumbledore.

Chapter Text

“But what about Al and Mei? I can’t leave now! What about Winry? You’re asking a lot, Führer Bastard.” Ed growled, his stance defensive. The two men were discussing Ed’s possible assignment in Mustang’s fancy, new Führer office, but Ed wasn’t having any of it. “I’m not even a real State Alchemist! I haven’t had an evaluation since before Father, and you know I don’t do much field work anymore.”

Roy sighed. Why couldn’t Ed see how beneficial this deal was? “Fullmetal, have you-”

The door to Roy’s office slammed open, interrupting his sentence.

“Hiya, Roy-boy!”

He dropped his head in his hands. He was already dealing with Ed, he couldn’t take Hughes on top of that.

“Oh, sorry Ed. Didn’t know you were here.” the investigator chuckled, rubbing the back of his head in shame.

“Yes, you did, sir. I told you the Führer was in a meeting with the Fullmetal alchemist, but you barged in anyway.” Hawkeye revealed in her Professional Voice™.

Roy glared at Maes through his fingers.

“Haha! You’ve sure got yourself a spunky one!” Hughes commented.

“Thank you, sir.” Riza said, turning to exit, “Please do not distract him long. The Führer has a lot of paperwork to finish.” The door shut with a snap, and every man in the room swallowed in fear at the threat in her voice.

“She’s still got you whipped.” Ed snarked.

Roy raised an eyebrow.

“Come now, Ed. I think you should reevaluate your relationship with Winry before you criticize me.”

Ed scowled.

“Now, now, you two,” Hughes interjected, “No need to be at each other’s throats. I assume you’re discussing Ed’s assignment?”

Roy nodded. “Ed doesn’t want to leave.”

The young man’s scowl deepened as he hurled it towards his superior, but the Führer was unaffected.

“Ed,” Hughes started, the serious glint in his eye forcing the other two to listen, “Please take the assignment and watch over my boy.”

Roy glanced at Ed. The man was shaking. Suddenly, he yelled.

“AAAHH! WHAT THE HELL!? THERE’S NO WAY I CAN GET OUT OF IT NOW!” he fumed, gripping his hair hard enough to loosen the strands. Glaring at his CO, he growled, “You better have a way for Winry to come too, Colonel Bastard.”

With those parting words, Ed stormed from the room. Hughes chuckled.

“Colonel and Bastard? He must be serious. You got a plan, Roy?”

“Actually, I do,” Roy answered, “I also have something for you.”

The Führer ignored Hughes’ raised eyebrows and began digging through the piles of paperwork on his desk, mumbling to himself.

With a crisp knock, Hawkeye entered, a file in hand.

“Are you looking for these, sir?” she asked, holding them aloft.

Roy sighed. “You’re too good at your job, you know that?” he quipped, taking the offered file while Hughes watched, curious.

“Yes, sir. I do.”

Hughes chuckled. “Remind me who the Führer is again?”

“Don’t make me regret this gift, Hughes.” Roy grouched.

Intrigued, Hughes took the file, flipping it open to glance through it. Unbidden tears threatened to make their presence known when he realized what he was looking at.

“Roy, how did you…?” Hughes asked, his voice strained by emotions.

“Called in a few favors in the British government. They sent over the paperwork. Turns out, Harry has a godfather, but the man is serving a life sentence in Azkaban, so there weren’t any problems. All it needs is your and Gracia’s signatures.”

Hughes nodded, too touched to get words out anymore.

“Go get it signed. I want it processed before Dumbledore arrives at 15:00.”

“Thank you, Roy.” He managed to choke out.

Roy smiled one of his rare, genuine smiles.

“You're welcome, Maes.”

Still not quite back from cloud nine, Maes left to get his wife’s signature so that Harry could be officially adopted into the Hughes family.

*****

A few hours later, Edward, Alphonse, Hughes, and Mustang were all back in the Führer’s office, awaiting Dumbledore’s arrival.

“So, it’s totally official, and they can’t do anything to change it?” Ed asked.

“Not legally, anyway,” Roy answered.

“Congratulations, Mr. Hughes,” Al interjected, “I’m sure the whole family is relieved.”

Maes nodded. “Gracia and I really didn’t like the way Hagrid was talking about Harry last night. We know his birth parents loved him, but they aren’t here to care for him. At the very least, I would like assurance that my son will not be taken away.” The others in the room nodded in agreement.

A few moments later, the fireplace in the office flared with green flames, and an old man stepped into the room. Ed’s nose scrunched in distaste at the man’s fashion sense. He wore bright purple robes with stars all over them, and a pointed wizard’s hat of the same style. He wouldn’t have looked out of place trick-or-treating.

“Good afternoon. It’s a pleasure to get to actually meet you, Mr. Edward Elric. My name is Albus Dumbledore.” He held out his hand in greeting.

Ed’s eyebrow twitched as Alphonse stuttered out an explanation while denying the hand offered him.

“I’m actually his brother, Alphonse. You want my brother, Edward,” he explained.

Dumbledore glanced over. “Ah! My apologies. I simply assumed the first man with golden hair I saw would be the man I wanted. Who knew two of the famous Elric brothers would be here to meet me?” Dumbledore expertly smoothed over, though not to Ed’s satisfaction.

Glancing around the room, the old wizard spotted Hughes.

“Ah! Lieutenant Colonel Hughes! We have not yet had the pleasure of meeting, I’m afraid. Terrible circumstances. Good to see you awake and healthy. I trust Harry has settled in well?” Dumbledore rambled, shaking Hughes’ hand.

“He’s a Brigadier General. Do your homework.” Ed growled. He really didn’t like this wizard.

“A promotion? How fortunate for you!” The man congratulated, “Though I suppose, Führer Mustang, your promotion carried you a little further.”

Roy nodded in that curt, businesslike way that so annoyed Ed.

“Indeed, Headmaster. As such, I am Edward’s only commanding officer. He is the sole director of our state research thus, we cannot part with him so easily.”

Dumbledore nodded, prepared to argue his case.

“He will have access to the largest magical library in the world, as well as other resources, if he so desires.”

“Oh no,” Roy interrupted, “He will be going. He simply has a few… conditions.”

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. Conditions usually involved pay.

“You will be well compensated, I assure you.”

“That’s not it either, gramps,” Ed bit out, “Five conditions: my wife goes with me, Harry and I will be visiting home when my brother becomes a dad, I keep an eye on Harry, I teach my class as I like without interference, and I will kick students out of my class if I do not find them suited to alchemy.”

Dumbledore nodded, “I’m sure that can all be arranged.” He was glad it wasn’t some outlandish request, like paid holidays, or higher wages. He didn’t like that someone other than him would be watching Harry, but he figured he could work around that. The classes could always be influenced once they got to the castle.

“I’m glad to hear that, Headmaster. Winry is a lovely young lady, and I would hate to see them separated so soon after they were married.”

Ed flushed, but merely nodded his approval.

“Al can take my place in the labs then. Al, Roy or I can take Harry shopping for his supplies before we leave. I’ll need to get supplies of my own as well, and Winry will need to pack. She’s going to have so many wrenches…” Ed petered off, mumbling out his plans to get them ready for the school year.

“Now that that is settled, why don’t we discuss his employment contract, and what the employment of a General ranked State Alchemist entails?” Roy offered.

Eyebrows raised again, Dumbledore nodded.

‘Let the negotiations begin, Bastard.’

Chapter Text

“That should cover everything,” Roy announced, to the relief of all present, “Now we should discuss Harry.”

Dumbledore glanced up over his spectacles. “What about the boy?” he asked.

Roy frowned. “It has come to our attention, that we had neglected some paperwork-” Ed snorted, “-so we wanted to inform you, that Harry Potter Hughes has been officially adopted by the Hughes family, according to the laws of both the British and Amestrian governments.”

Dumbledore froze. This was not supposed to happen. He had put certain people in certain places in the British government to avoid this.

“As such, Hughes should be given access to a few things as Harry’s legal guardian. His legal records, his key to Gringotts, and any other matters of his, as he has that right.” Roy concluded.

Dumbledore straightened, his gaze steely, rather than twinkling. If they thought he was going to allow this, they were sorely mistaken.

“Now Roy,” he began.

“I don’t believe we are on a first name basis, Headmaster.” Roy interjected.

Ed tried very hard to keep his laughter under wraps.

Dumbledore frowned. “Führer Mustang, I cannot allow this. Harry was never placed up for adoption.”

“Ah,” Mustang replied, “That is where you are wrong. As Harry’s parents are both dead, and his godfather is in no position to assume guardianship, Harry was legally free for adoption. Hughes had every legal right to adopt Harry, so he did.”

Dumbledore’s eyes narrowed. He knew there was a loophole somewhere. There always was. He would find it and use it to get Harry back under his control. He needed Harry where he could keep an eye on him. He knew Voldemort would be back, and only he could keep Harry safe from his former pupil.

“Very well,” he sighed, “As long as it was done legally.”

“Of course,” Hughes responded.

“Then I will take my leave. Hagrid will be back in a month to take Harry and Professor Elric to Hogwarts.” Dumbledore said, itching to find out how this snake had managed to sneak Harry away from him.

“Don’t bother,” Ed shot back, “I can get Harry and Winry there myself.”

With a curt nod, the elderly wizard excused himself, flooing back to Hogwarts.

“You’re such the adoption is airtight?” Alphonse asked, worried.

“Don’t worry,” Roy reassured them, “Not even Dumbledore can do anything.”

*****

Maes found himself, a few days later, visiting the Elrics’ home. Ed had offered to take the family to London via Floo, and in an effort to save time, he took the man up on his offer. Harry and Elicia were beside themselves with anticipation, and Hughes would be lying if he said he wasn’t excited as well. His grandmother had told him about the magic her grandmother did, so he wasn’t too surprised when he witnessed Roy’s self-mending gloves in action. In fact, he was rather happy, because if Roy was a wizard, it would explain a lot.

He had met the young man during the Ishvalan war, and he was honestly impressed. Roy was capable enough that no man under his command ever became a casualty. Other alchemists in the war, such as Kimbly, often caught their own men within their attacks, but Roy never did. Curious to figure out how he did it, Hughes had watched his movements closely. To his surprise, Roy never let his men move forward until after he had burned the place to the ground. His men were always behind him, sometimes only there for show. When he congratulated Roy on his unconventional success, Roy became defensive and wary. This only served to make Hughes more curious, so he got closer. It wasn’t until he and Roy were good friends that Hughes saw it.

*****

He and Major Mustang trudged back to camp. Most of the men trailing behind them were jovial, as they, once again, didn’t lose a single man on a raid. Hughes glanced askance at his companion, seeing the physical and emotional exhaustion in his stormy eyes.

When they made it back to camp, Hughes silently followed his new friend as their men milled about, setting up watch and sleeping shifts without guidance. Hughes nodded in approval of the training Roy had ingrained in his men.

Pulling the flap open, Roy entered his tent, and Hughes ducked in after him. For a solid minute, Hughes watched Roy stand in the middle of his tent, his eyes distant, replaying the events of the night before. After a few moments, Roy seemed to shake himself out of his stupor, glaring down at his gloves. With an angry gesture, he ripped the right one from his hand, literally, the misshapen cloth falling to the dirt floor.

“Roy.”

The man jumped, turning to snap with his left, still gloved hand, as Hughes grabbed his hands to stop him tearing his greatest weapons to pieces. Hughes’ catlike reflexes kicked in when Roy’s finger met his thumb. His hand struck, grasping Roy’s own.

“ROY.”

Roy froze, realizing what he was about to do.

‘What’s wrong with me?!’

“You back, man?” Hughes asked his voice still soft, loosening his grip on Roy’s hands.

The alchemist nodded glumly, pulling his hands free from Hughes’ gentle grip.

“I’m fine.”

Hughes couldn’t stop his chuckle if he tried.

“If that’s not the biggest lie I’ve ever heard, I’ll eat Gracia’s hat,” he chortled, an encouraging smile on his face.

Roy scowled, but the energy that usually accompanied his expressions was missing.

“Go clean yourself up, Roy. We’re going to celebrate,” Hughes said, bending to pick up the ruined glove on the floor.

Roy looked hurt when Hughes stood back up, and Hughes could think of eighteen different reasons why that expression should never be on his best friend’s face.

“You want to celebrate the deaths I caused last night?”

“Of course not!” Hughes assured, shocked that Roy would think that, “It was your birthday a few days ago, but we haven’t had the chance to celebrate yet.”

Roy blinked. “Oh.”

Because how else do you respond to that?

Hughes gestured to the trunk that held Roy’s possessions. “Get comfy. The men will be fine on their own for a bit, and you already radioed your report to the main base.”

Roy nodded numbly, moving to obey like a small child, and boy did Hughes hate that analogy.

Tucking Roy’s glove into his pocket, intending to stitch it back together later, Hughes grabbed the bottles that Madame Christmas had sent Roy the week prior. Hughes had to thank the woman. She had sent the good stuff right on time.

Hours later, Roy had downed a full two bottles and was nursing his third. Maes watched him stare unseeingly at his bottle with a calculating look. Roy would usually start spilling what was bothering him around a bottle and a half ago, so whatever it was must be more than the typical guilt that accompanies a successful soldier.

Taking a sip from his own bottle, Maes asked, “So, Roy, what’s botherin’ ya?”

Roy tipped the bottle back for a moment. Coming up for air, he finally answered, mumbling, “I da know whatta do.”

Maes frowned. That answer wasn’t very helpful.

“Do ‘bout what?”

“If I’m gonna be Furer, I hafta do stuff tha’s not righ’, but I wanna be Furer ta stop tha bad stuff,” Roy mumbled forlornly, staring at the amber liquid in his bottle as if it held the answers he sought. “Unforgivables only work if you want them to.”

Hughes frowned. ‘“Gonna be Furer”? He wants to be Führer? To “stop tha bad stuff”? He’s serious about this. He really wants to fix this country. But what does he mean unforgivables?’

“Alright, Roy. Who would you rather did this ‘bad stuff’? You,” His glasses glinted in the lantern light, “Or that pretty little blonde you were talking to the other day?”

Roy’s eyes got comically wide, and Hughes had to fight to keep the grin off his face.

“No way in hell am I putting Riza in danger.”

The absence of slurring in his speech was not lost on Maes.

“Then if you want to protect her, do what you must.”

Roy glared at Maes.

“You always make it seem so simple.”

Hughes chuckled, “It is,” before snagging the bottle and setting it aside. With the ease of practice, Maes pulled Roy to his feet and led him to his bunk, making sure his feet were covered. It got awfully cold in the desert at night. Hearing the soft snores that meant Roy was out like a light, Maes exited Roy’s tent, heading to his own. Settling on his bed, he pulled out the needle and thread Gracia had given him before he left.

He missed her so much.

Finally getting the thread through the needle, he pulled out the pieces of the glove from his pocket.

The pieces that were stitching themselves together.

“I’m not even that surprised,” he mumbled.

Fascinated, he watched the glove slowly mend itself.

‘I’ve never heard of alchemy that works without an alchemist guiding it. Is he guiding it from a distance? He couldn’t be, not with how drunk he was. Could it… could it be magic? Is he a wizard, like my great great grandmother?’

Determined, Hughes scooped up the glove and stomped out of his tent.

Chapter Text

After days of questioning and needling, Roy had finally admitted to having magic and using protective spells on his men without their knowledge. He even spiked their water with a lucky potion, Felix feels-ies or something. Hughes shook his head, pulling himself back to reality from his reminiscing just in time for Winry to answer the door.

“Mr. Hughes! Gracia! Good to see you again,” She greeted.

“What about me?” Elicia asked, a trace of a pout on her nine-year-old face.

“Of course, I’m always glad to see my little sister!” the blonde agreed happily.

The family filed into the house, joining Edward in the living room. The alchemist had six different bags in front of him that he was muttering to, waving his wand between them.

“Whatcha doin’ Big Brother?” Elicia asked, bounding up to the man.

“Extension charm.” Came the distracted reply.

“Let him work, dear,” Gracia warned as her daughter went to ask another question.

Harry watched intently as Ed worked, noting the way he moved his wand. He knew Ed didn’t need to say the words to cast a spell, so he figured the muttering was just him talking to himself, and the real magic was the movement.

“That should do it,” Ed said, standing and taking the small knapsacks from the floor, “One for each of us. They’ve all got an Undetectable Extension charm, a few protection spells, and I added a little boost that’ll help you get what you need out without having to climb in to get it yourself. I always use Accio when I need something from my trunk, but you all can’t do that, so just say what you need into the bag, and it’ll pop out for you.”

“That’s very nice of you, Edward. Thank you,” Gracia said, “Now, Elicia, Harry, it’ll hold a lot, but don’t put too much in it, or else it will get too heavy,” she warned, but Ed waved her concerns aside.

“Don’t worry about that, Mrs. Hughes. That spell is strong enough to hold General Headquarters without adding a single gram.”

“Wow,” Harry breathed, looking at the small red knapsack in his hands in awe.

Winry grabbed her own Undetectabley Extended toolbox and stepped up to the fireplace.

“Where was it the wizard said again?” she asked, grabbing a handful of floo powder.

“Diagon Alley. It’s where you went for that screwdriver with the changing bit.”

“Ah!”

With a determined step, the half-blood witch marched into the green flames, shouting, “Diagon Alley!” through the soot. Each person followed until it was just Ed and Harry left.

“I’m not sure how much you know about wizarding culture in Britain, but based on Dummydore, it’s a load of phooey. Don’t let them get to you.”

Harry nodded at the warning, stepping up himself to take the floo. When he said the words, it felt like he was being flushed down a warm, green toilet, before the spinning abruptly stopped, and he found himself falling into his dad’s waiting arms.

“Good thing your father came through before us, or we all would have had a nasty spill.” Gracia noted.

“Good thing I came first, so that you could fall for me all over again.” Maes crooned, pulling his wife close.

“Gross.”

Harry looked away to see Ed emerge from the fireplace in the alley wall just in time to see his parents acting all mushy. From the look on his face, Harry figured Ed agreed with him.

“Alright, let’s- “

“Blimey, is that Harry Potter?!”

Ed was cut off from his suggestion by the sudden crowd they found themselves in. Harry was suddenly shaking hands with three different people at once, while four more were trying to introduce themselves, and Harry had no clue what was going on. Without warning, a hand grabbed the back of his collar and hoisted him back.

“THE FAMILY’S TRYING TO ENJOY A SIMPLE SHOPPING TRIP!” Ed bellowed, tossing Harry to the boy’s father behind him. The whole crowd took a collective step back from the angry alchemist as he fumed, “The boy’s just here for his schoolbooks. Keep mobbing him like that, and we’ll have an international incident on our hands. You crazy lot nearly stampeded his poor mother and sister!”

The crowd murmured, wondering if they got the wrong kid. After all, Harry Potter was an orphan with no siblings. With the crowd quickly dispersing, not wanting to face the wrath of a foreigner over a fake Harry Potter, the alley was soon clear enough for the group to breathe properly.

“Everyone okay?” Ed growled, still angry.

“I believe so,” Maes answered, releasing his wife and son from his arms, “Thank you, Ed.”

The man nodded gruffly, checking over Winry while she did the same for him.

“What was that about?” Elicia asked.

Maes and Gracia looked at each other. They didn’t expect Harry to be so popular because of what happened when he was a baby. Just how powerful was this Voldemort guy? Even Ed didn’t get mobbed back home, and he saved everyone from Father.

“Well, sweetie, Harry’s birth parents were killed by a very bad man,” Maes explained, looking to Harry in case he was crossing any lines, but the boy seemed more focused on hiding behind him than on what was being said. He had tried to prepare the boy for a small level of stardom at school. He didn’t expect grown wizards to worship the kid like that.

“And that very bad man tried to kill Harry when he was just a baby,” Maes’ heart reached out to his children when Elicia pulled Harry close while he explained, “But somehow, the bad man couldn’t kill Harry, and he ran away scared. Now, a lot of wizards here who were very afraid of the bad man think that Harry is a hero who defeated the bad man.”

“You know I’m nine already, Daddy,” Elicia complained with a pout, “I don’t believe in the Boogieman.”

Maes smiled at her innocence.

“But if the bad guy tries to come for Harry again, you can beat him up and put him in jail, right?”

Pulling his two children close, he tried to comfort them, reassure them, his wife at his side. He was eternally grateful to Ed for keeping the bustling crowd of Diagon Alley away from their little family display. They didn’t need another stampede in the streets.

“Alright, now who wants to go shopping?” Maes asked, straightening. The children cheered, all somberness from before banished by their smiles.

“Off to Gringots, then!” Ed ordered, leading the charge, “It’ll be a fun trip for the kids!”

Chapter Text

Maes watched as Harry and Elicia walked through the busy streets. His practiced eye caught the way they stuck very close together. When a child on a toy broom nearly ran into Elicia, Harry grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the way, yelling at the retreating child to watch where they flew. Maes definitely noticed that Harry didn’t drop Elicia’s hand. Maybe he shouldn’t have talked about Voldemort. He knew Harry was excited to go to Hogwarts, but Harry needed to know how dangerous it was. Harry also knew that Elicia couldn’t come with him. That probably explained why they were both being extra clingy with each other. His children would miss each other.

Harry and Elicia stared up at the white building in front of them.

“Thief beware… What does that even mean?” Elicia wondered.

“It means you’d be stupid to try and rob their bank,” Harry chuckled, “Although most banks want you to think that.”

Elicia and Harry giggled as they walked through the doors, but the sight of the creatures running the place had Elicia walking even closer to Harry, and Harry walking a little closer to their dad.

“Daddy, what are they?” Elicia whispered.

“Goblins,” Ed answered for him, “They aren’t the prettiest of magical creatures, but they make darn good bankers. Super stingy. I’ve used a few decent design ideas from them though. I like their style.”

Harry gulped. If Ed liked their style, they had to be scary. Ed marched up to one of the open tellers, dropping a large gold key on the desk.

“Hohenheim vault. This group’s heading to the Potter vault. Hughes, you got his key?”

The goblin at the desk inspected the key Ed had unceremoniously deposited on his desk with a critical eye. “Looks to be in order. That vault has seen more visitors in the past half a decade than it has seen in the past century.”

Ed laughed. “Yeah, the old man never really needed to be around these parts. Don’t think he was too keen on the wizards here, to be honest, not that I blame him.”

The goblin teller grinned, and Elicia hid behind Harry. “I can wholeheartedly agree.”

“Here it is,” Maes announced, holding a little gold key triumphantly in his hand after digging through a few pockets.

The goblin snatched it, scrutinizing it between glances at Hughes as if he highly doubted the man was legitimate. Finally, he nodded, handing the key back.

“That seems to be in order. Griphook will take you to your vaults.”

“This way please,” Griphook squeaked, and the difference between the teller’s gravelly growl and Griphook’s nasally squeak was enough to have Harry fighting giggles. His time playing poker with Ed and Al paid off, finally, because his polite smile never split into a grin. He didn’t think it was enough of a pay off to justify all the times he lost to Al as a kid, but he wasn’t going to complain. The guy had an unbeatable poker face with his armor on.

He was so busy trying not to laugh, he almost missed the familiar face.

“Harry!”

He jumped at the booming voice, and Maes placed a protective arm around his shoulder.

“Hagrid,” Maes replied as the man walked up to them from the door he had emerged from.

Hagrid stopped, seeming to just notice the rest of the family.

“Mr. Hughes!”

To everyone’s horror, Hagrid started getting teary-eyed.

“Mr. Hughes, Dumbledore told me what yeh did fer Harry, and I just wanted yeh to know that it’s such a relief that he won’t be goin’ to them nasty muggle relatives o’ his. I know Lily an’ James would have been right pleased to have yeh take in their son, but adopting him would mean so much more. I knew ‘em meself, see, and they was real good folks, and it just means so much that yeh would adopt Harry. I know yeh didn’t know ‘em, but they’d be mighty grateful to yeh. I know I am.”

Everyone was shocked a little by the giant’s emotional speech, but Maes recovered relatively quickly. It seemed that Hagrid may turn out to be an ally, rather than an enemy.

“We couldn’t imagine ever giving Harry up, so the thought that it wasn’t official was a little frightening. We appreciate how much you care for him,” Maes glanced at Ed from the corner of his eye, gauging Ed’s reaction to Hagrid’s speech, “And I hope you can be a good friend to him at Hogwarts.”

Hagrid nodded, drying his eyes, “O’ course, sir.”

After a tearful goodbye, Hagrid left, leaving the group to continue on their way to their vaults. Harry was a little confused by the exchange. His dad had told him that there was a bunch of extra paperwork he had to fill out for Harry’s school because it involved two governments and he had to have proof of guardianship. A little surprised, Harry has asked what proof of guardianship was. It wasn’t until he got his answer that he remembered the Hughes were not his biological family.

They had made him feel like he belonged. He had vague memories of a time when he wasn’t with the Hughes, but he had been so young that he didn’t really remember much detail. He just knew that he hated it. Was that when he was with his birth parents? He wasn’t sure. The hairy wizard said his birth parents were good people, so maybe that was when he was with the relatives Hagrid mentioned?

Harry was pulled from his musings when Griphook led them through a door in the back of the lobby. The main room was big and elegant, but the room their Goblin guide led them to looked more like a mine shaft, complete with a cart and everything!

“Woah! Harry, lookit! Lookit!”

Harry grinned at his sister. Why was he worrying about his birth parents? He had a perfectly good family right here in front of him, and just because he was going away to school didn’t mean he didn’t belong with them anymore.

“This is so cool!”

Maes smiled at his children’s enthusiasm. He glanced sideways at Gracia. He hoped this ride wouldn’t be too jostling.

“Come on, slowpokes!” Ed called from his spot in the cart.

Once they had all piled in, Griphook grinned in a way that made Maes a little nervous.

“First stop, the Potter vault,” he squeaked, before pulling a lever.

Maes was going to lose his lunch.

Chapter Text

Harry has never seen so much gold in his life.

They had made it down the rickety track to his vault, but only Ed and the goblin seemed unaffected by the crazy ride. Harry had to shake stars out of his eyes. Then he had to shake them out again when Griphook opened his vault.

“Harry! You’re rich!” Elicia shouted.

Harry and his sister started at each other in shock. Then they stared back into the vault. Then they stared at each other again.

“Just think how many toys you could buy with this, big brother.” Elicia whispered in awe.

Gracia finally seemed to find her voice.

“I don’t think so. This is from Harry’s birth parents. He is not going to spend it all as soon as he gets it.”

Both Gracia and Maes were in shock. Dumbledore had told them that Harry’s parents had left him money, but neither had realized just how much.

“Well, come on then,” Ed snapped, “It’s not here to gawk at.”

Harry jumped, scrambling to pull out his bag.

“What are these? They don’t look like cens.” Gracia asked, holding up a silver coin from one of the piles.

“Those are sickles,” Winry explained, “There are 16 sickles in a galleon, and 27 knuts in a sickle. There’s about 250 cens in a knut.”

Harry tried to do the math to figure up how much money he had in his vault in cens, but it made his brain hurt. There were just too many coins.

“That should do it,” Ed said, handing Harry a stack of each type of coin, “Now let’s get going. You can’t tell down here, but we’re burning daylight.”

The group quickly climbed back into the cart, no one eager to anger the blonde alchemist. With a pull of the lever, their cart was off again, heading deeper and deeper. Harry tried to keep his eyes open to see down the tunnels they whizzed past. He was pretty sure he saw a plume of fire down one tunnel, and his mind jumped to his uncle Roy, but there was no way he was down here. Where could that fire have come from?

Harry got his answer when they finally stopped. Lit by torches, the end of the hall was blocked by no less than three dragons!

“You all stay here. Betty’s still not even used to me yet,” Ed ordered before following Griphook down the tunnel.

When they reached the end of the hall, Harry and Elicia were peeking over the edge of the cart.

“He’ll be okay, right, Daddy?” Elicia asked, a slight tremor in her voice.

“Don’t worry,” Winry assured her, “Ed’s vault is just really high profile since it used to be his dad’s. High profile vaults usually have a dragon or something guarding the entrance, but they’re trained to let the owner of the vault through.”

The kids both breathed sighs of relief.

“Ed must be even richer than you, big brother. You don’t have a dragon.”

Harry was perfectly okay with that. He wanted nothing to do with a dragon. He had seen his uncle Roy in action only once before, but that once was enough. He wasn’t looking forward to seeing what a literal dragon did with their firepower.

After a few more minutes of waiting, Ed and the goblin came back, and they started the journey back to the surface. It seemed that somehow, in the short time they were there, Ed had formed a friendship of sorts with the squeaky-voiced banker. When they made it to the lobby again, Harry overheard them exchanging contact information.

Having been underground for so long, the sun was painfully bright when they left. It took a few moments of blinking and squinting before Harry could see properly again.

“Where to first, little bunny?”

Harry pulled out his list from his acceptance letter.

“A wand I guess?”

“Ollivander’s it is.”

The shop Ed led them to was probably the oldest shop on the block. Although the gold letters were peeling off, Harry could just barely still make out ‘Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.’ on the rickety sign above the door. Harry glanced at his mom before following Ed into the shop. She seemed just as skeptical of the place as he was. The outside was dirty and looked like the only thing holding it up were the buildings next to it.

The inside was far nicer. Sure, it was a little dark and dusty, but he could feel the magic in the air. The back of his neck tingled from it.

“Can you feel that? There’s magic in here!” Harry whispered to Elicia. It was so quiet and solemn in the little shop that Harry was afraid to speak any louder.

Ed stomped up to the counter and tapped the bell sitting on it. To everyone’s surprise, an old man popped his head up from behind the counter. The women gasped, Harry jumped, and Ed yelped.

“Good afternoon,” said the old man. His voice was deep and gravely, but still had a softer quality to it. His hair wisped about his head like a persistent fog cloud, and his eyes were pale moons shining in the dark of the shop. “Ah yes. Yes, yes. I thought I’d be seeing you soon. Harry Potter.”

“It’s Hughes,” Ed growled, “His name is Harry Hughes.”

Harry nodded. Sure, the paperwork wasn’t all squared away until recently, but he had always gone by Harry Hughes. It was weird that everyone called him Harry Potter. He supposed he’d have to get used to it though.

The man seemed to suddenly realize there were more people in his shop than just Harry.

“Ah. My apologies.” The man, Ollivander, didn’t seem sorry at all, merely curious. “I don’t believe we’ve met. Are you a customer of Gregorovitch?” he asked, his pale eyes staring Ed up and down.

Ed nodded, pulling out his wand. “Thunderbird feather core in a Redwood casing, 13 ½ inches, unyielding. Best wand I could ever wish for.”

Ollivander took the offered wand. “Yes, yes, I don’t usually use Thunderbird feathers, but I know Gregorovitch likes to dabble in lots of different cores.”

Ed nodded again, his ire starting to show. “Yeah, that’s why I figured he should come here instead of Greg’s. Wands can be super picky about tradition, so I didn’t want all of Greg’s to explode on poor Harry here like they did for me.”

“Yes, yes, wands can be a little temperamental if they don’t like someone.” Ollivander moved around the counter towards Harry, pulling a tape measure out of his pocket. “Stick out your wand arm.”

Harry stuck out his right arm. Elicia giggled. He stuck out his tongue at her.

“Go on, hold it up straight… good.” Ollivander started measuring the length of his arm, the distance between his arm and the floor, the width of his shoulders, all the while he started explaining, “Every Ollivander wand uses either a Phoenix tail feather, unicorn tail hair, or dragon heartstrings as the magical core of the wand. Your mother’s core was unicorn hair, but your father favored a Phoenix tail feather. Well, I say your father favored it, m’boy, but it’s really the wand that chooses the wizard.”

At this point, Harry wasn’t paying much attention. He and Elicia were busy staring at the tape measure. Mr. Ollivander had wandered into the back of his shop, pulling thin, dusty boxes from the rows upon rows of floor-to-ceiling shelves, seemingly at random. The tape measure, however, was still measuring different parts of Harry’s anatomy.

Harry had never seen something with a mind of its own before. With an annoyed grunt, Ed waved it away.

Mr. Ollivander came back with a pile of wand boxes in his arms. Setting them on the counter, he opened the top one and handed the wand to Harry. Harry stood there, holding the wand, feeling completely stupid. What was he supposed to do? Was this his new wand? Then what were the other wands for? Did the old man think they were getting wands for everyone there?

“Well, give it a wave!”

His cheeks turning red, Harry dutifully brought the wand swishing through the air. A vase in the corner exploded.

“I’m so sor-!”

“Try this one.”

Harry blinked, then waved the new wand.

“Nope, definitely not.”

After about four wands, Ed said, “Winry, if you want to take the ladies to go shopping, feel free. This is going to take forever. I’m going to go to the chemist and get the supplies I’ll need for this year.”

After another two wands, Winry took his advice. Now, it was just Harry and his dad left in the shop.

By the time the stack of tried wands had reached Harry’s waist, Ollivander was practically giddy with excitement. Harry didn’t know what was so exciting, because he felt no closer to getting his own wand. He just felt stupid waving sticks in the air that just got snatched right back. Finally, after what seemed like forever, because Ed wasn’t wrong, Ollivander stopped stuffing wands in his hands.

“I wonder…”

On that cryptic note, the wandmaker disappeared into the shelves again, to emerge with two more wands.

“Try this one.”

When Harry grabbed the offered wand, he knew something was different. While the other wands were just sticks, this one was warm in his hands, almost too hot. When Harry tried waving this one, flames burst from the end of the wand, catching a sleeve of Ollivander’s robe on fire.

“Good! Good!” he cried as he put his sleeve out.

“Is this my wand then?” Harry asked, looking down at it.

“Goodness no. We’ve found your core, but now we need your wood. I should have thought of this before. Try this.”

Harry took the offered wand, handing over the last. This one felt right. The wood was gently warm, and a tingle went up his arm when he held it. With dramatic flair he picked up from Ed, he sliced through the air with the wand, and golden sparks shot from his wand, dancing through the air.

This was definitely his wand.

“Curious. Very curious.”

“What’s curious?”

Harry jumped. His dad had been so quiet, he had almost forgotten he was there.

“Most wands choose wizards whose mothers had similar cores, but Harry’s core is from the exact same Phoenix as his father’s. I had heard rumors that some wand core donators stayed in the family, the same unicorn provided the hair for the sons of the Monkstanley family for generations for instance, but I have never seen it happen in person until today. I didn’t have the pleasure of providing his grandfather’s wand, so I can’t say for certain that they shared a core.”

Harry looked down at the wand in his hand.

“So, my birth father’s wand had a tail feather from the same Phoenix as this one?”

Ollivander nodded.

“I have only sold two other wands with tail feathers from that Phoenix. One of them chose a foreigner, the other… was the wand that gave you that scar.”

Chapter Text

Harry wasn’t sure how to respond to that statement, so he didn’t. On autopilot, he pulled out the eight galleons to pay for his new wand, handed them over, and then led his father out the door.

Maes had thanked the wandmaker and followed Harry down the street. When they had walked a few shops down, Maes stopped his son.

“Harry, are you alright?”

Harry turned to face him, blinking back angry tears.

“No, dad, I’m not alright.” Harry pulled his new wand out of his pocket and glared at it. “The person who killed my birth parents has the brother to my wand. They choose the wizard, right? That’s what the guy said.” A tear managed to escape, and Harry furiously wiped it away. “And I didn’t think that everyone would know. Everyone knows about me, dad. Everyone that sees me recognizes me, they whisper, they point. They did that back home a little because Uncle Roy and Ed and Al are all really famous, but it's so much worse here. I feel like I’m under a glass, and there’s no way out!”

Maes bent down to pull his son into a hug.

“If it’s too much, you can always go to another school.”

Harry sniffed. “But my birth parents went to Hogwarts.”

His voice got quiet and Maes had to strain to hear the next part, mumbled into his shoulder.

“I know I should be sad that they’re gone, but if they weren’t gone, then I never would have met you and mom and Elicia and Ed and Al and Winry and Mei and Roy and Riza and everybody…. Does that make me a bad person that I’m a little glad my birth parents are gone?”

Maes’ heart broke.

“No, no, no, Harry… Harry, look at me… look at me, Harry.”

Harry slowly emerged from Maes’ shoulder, sniffing and wiping away tears that refused to stop.

“I need you to understand something, Harry. No matter what you think, it’s not that you are happy they are gone, you are happy you had an opportunity to get the family you have now. There is a difference. If you hadn’t come to us, you would have stayed with those relatives of yours. Do you remember? You were very young. If you were with them, do think you would still be happy they were gone?”

A brief memory of someone screaming “freak!” flashed through his mind. Harry mutely shook his head.

“Exactly. So, you are not happy they are gone, you are happy we are here. Big difference, bud, okay?”

Harry nodded, a small smile flickering across his features.

“Now, as for everyone staring, you have three options: option one, grin and bare it and show them all that you are no different than they, option two, you go to a different school further away, or option three, you skip magic all together and learn alchemy or just the regular schooling we mortals get.”

Maes ruffled his hair, and Harry giggled at the face his dad pulled.

“I’ll take option one, for now. If the first year is terrible, then after I’ll switch to a different school. That way Ed can still teach.”

Maes laughed as he stood up. “He could always teach without you there. The only reason that whirlwind is teaching, is so he has access to the library.”

Harry giggled. His dad had a point.

The two of them managed to find the rest of their party in the bookstore, Flourish and Blotts. The girls had been searching for the books on Harry’s shopping list. It was no surprise that Ed happened to be in the bookstore too. Ed had finished his shopping for his class, so of course the bookworm had migrated to the bookshop, nestled between the shelves with a book open in his lap.

“We’ve got all Harry’s books,” Winry told them, “So let’s leave the alchemy freak to do his thing, and we can go get the rest.”

“What’s next on the list?” Maes asked his wife.

“Harry dear, wait to show us everything until we get home, okay? Just leave it in your bag,” said Gracia as she pulled out the list of supplies from her purse.

Harry forlornly dropped his wand back in his bag as Elicia pouted. After a short discussion, it was decided that the Hughes would go to get Harry’s robes while Winry went to get a few things of her own. Since the group had gotten most of the shopping done while Harry had been finding his wand, there wasn’t too much left to get. Ed was perfectly content to stay surrounded by books, so the groups split up.

As Maes held the door to Madam Malkin’s open, his family filed in. He was about to follow them when he heard a familiar voice.

“Mister Hughes!”

He turned to see Hagrid down the street a bit, shuffling through the crowd in an effort to reach him. Gracia nodded at his questioning look, so he left her to get robes for Harry while he spoke with the giant of a man.

Harry was none the wiser, because the moment the shop lady saw him, he had been whisked to the second floor.

“Hogwarts, dear? Got another lad being fitted too.” Said the witch as she pulled Harry behind her.

“How did you-?” Harry gasped, slightly winded from the dash up the stairs.

“Everyone comes to Madame Malkin’s for their Hogwarts robes! Young thing like you, this time of year, here? Only one thing it could be! Now, up on the stool, dearie.”

Harry nodded dumbly, stepping onto the stool. He glanced to his left and saw another boy about his age getting fitted for long black robes. He was slim, with the lightest blond hair Harry had ever seen slicked back so he nearly looked bald. Harry wanted to mess up his hair so badly. It was like when Elicia had her hair in curls, he just wanted to mess them up. The boy’s calculating eyes were traveling from Harry’s toes up to his unruly hair, and Harry stared stoically back. The boy’s eyes were icy blue, almost grey, and he seemed mildly surprised to be caught staring. His pale cheeks pinked a bit before he quickly turned, looking resolutely forward while the witch attending him pinned his robes where they fit. Turning away from the stranger, Harry was relieved to see his mother poke her head into the room.

“Sorry, mom. I got whisked away.” Harry grinned sheepishly, moving to gesture towards the shopkeeper before he was interrupted by black cloth being thrown over him.

His mother giggled, shaking her head. “That’s alright, dear. We’ll wait for you downstairs.”

With that, she slipped back downstairs to wait with Elicia.

“You’re not from around here.”

Harry peeked at the blonde to his left through a hole in the fabric covering him. “That’s not a question. What gave me away?” Harry asked, grinning.

“Your accent, for starters. Where are you from?”

Harry could hear the curiosity in the kid’s voice. Maybe the guy wasn’t as snooty as he thought.

“Amestris. What about you?”

“You move again, and I’m going to stick you.”

“Yes ma’am… Amestris, huh? I’ve visited once, with my father. My family are all English purebloods, of course. I’m Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. Being from a backwards place like Amestris, you may not have heard of my family though.”

“Backwards?!”

“Dearie, don’t move while I’m working on you. You’ll find a pin in your hide.”

“Sorry.” Harry quickly turned back to face the front, glaring. “What do you mean by backwards?”

A haughty chuckle came from the boy. “My father said you actually associate with muggles, living with them and working with them. How much more backwards can you get?”

Harry frowned. “By ‘muggles’, you mean non-magicals? How is living with them backwards?”

“They don’t have magic. They’re inferior.” Draco scoffed, as if Harry was silly not to know this.

“I’d think living in a society that hides away from the world and still thinks itself superior, talking poorly of other members of its species would be backwards. We’re people, not apes, after all. We don’t fling dung on each other. That would be backwards.”

Harry felt the hands working on his robe go still. The room was deathly silent. Maybe he had taken it too far. Uncle Roy always told him the best way to deal with guys like Draco was to ignore the insults and move on.

“Well… you obviously don’t know what you’re talking about.” Draco spluttered after a solid 30 seconds of silence. The witches glanced at each other then continued their work.

“Of course. It’s not like I live there or anything.” Harry heard his voice say. Stupid mouth! Why wouldn't it listen?

Harry could practically hear the steam coming off Draco’s head.

“You’re finished.”

Draco’s voice was so feminine, Harry did a double-take. Then he realized the one who said that was the witch tailoring Draco’s robes, not Draco.

“Funny, I could have said the same to him.”

With that snide remark, Draco stomped out of the room and down the stairs.

Chapter Text

Once Harry was done, he hopped off the stool, thanked the witch, and bolted down the stairs.

“Harry, dear, what’s the rush?” Gracia asked him when he came barreling into the waiting area.

“Oh, nothing, mom. Just awkward.”

Gracia giggled, watching her children dash outside to find their father. She paid for Harry’s robes and packed them into the bag Ed gave her. Following her children outside, she found them both cooing over a snowy owl in a cage Hagrid was holding.

“Happy Birthday, Harry! I was gonna wait and give her to yeh when yeh got to Hogwarts, but since I saw yeh here today anyway…”

Harry turned to his mother, and she already knew she was a goner when he turned on the puppy eyes.

“Please can I keep her? Please, please, please? Uncle Roy said that some wizards use owls to send letters. I can use her to write to you! Please, please, please, please, please, please-.”

“Okay! Okay, enough.”

Gracia giggled while her children celebrated. She caught her husband’s eyes, and he shrugged helplessly.

“You’re going to be the one taking care of her. I hope you know that.” Gracia said sternly. She had to at least act like it was a close call.

Harry grinned. “Of course! I’ll feed her, and clean her cage, and play with her, and oh thank you!”

Gracia was glad he would have a pet to take to Hogwarts, so he wouldn’t be so alone. She had been planning on getting him a kitten, since a cat was listed on his letter, but she supposed an owl would be more practical.

“Whatcha got there?” Ed asked as he rejoined the group.

“Ed, ma boy! Hagrid here just gifted my son an owl for his birthday!”

Ed raised an eyebrow. “An owl? I’ll stick with my falcon, much faster and doesn’t attract the attention an owl does. That reminds me though. I should get Al a gift. He’s going to be a dad soon. How about a kitten to go with his four other strays? It’ll give him something to practice on.”

“I’m sure he got plenty of practice raising you.” Maes quipped.

Ed scowled.

At the end of the day, Ed went home with the tiniest little kitten. He was the runt of the litter, but Ed took a liking to the little orange furball immediately. Maes was a little surprised. When Ed was a kid, he always seemed to hate animals, even though they loved him. He supposed the injured and abandoned falcon chick Ed found on a trip to Resembool two years ago was plenty of proof that Ed’s heart had softened to little critters, if it was ever truly hard to begin with.

“Are you sure you’re going to give him to Al? He seems to like you, and I think the feeling’s mutual.” Maes asked grinning.

Ed looked at the fluffball asleep in his arms. “Don’t put the idea in my head.”

When they had finished all the shopping, they hopped back into the fireplace to floo back home. Winry set up a spot in their bedroom for the kitten, and the Hughes family headed home. Harry was excited to show everyone his new wand.

After dinner and show and tell with all the purchases of the day, Harry went to his room to check on his new owl and put away his new books and things. He decided to go ahead and pack his cauldron and scales and the other things he wouldn’t need until he got to Hogwarts. Ed said that he wasn’t allowed to do any magic in Britain outside of Hogwarts until he came of age, but there was no such law in Amestris, so Harry kept his books and his wand unpacked. He would have left his cauldron unpacked to practice some potions, but he didn’t have any ingredients, so he figured he could just study the books instead. With Ed as a role model, Harry had gained a decent respect for books. Knowing this, Winry had picked out a few tomes that weren’t on the reading list, but that she thought he would like. She got him Hogwarts: A History, Modern Witches and Wizards, and Wizarding Cultures of the World.

Excited to learn about this new, foreign place, Harry snagged the first book on the shelf and settled onto his bed to read.

“Let’s see what we have here… A History of Magic,” mused Harry, flipping the cover open.

A couple hours later, Maes went to make sure Harry was getting ready for bed, while Gracia did the same for Elicia. He would miss this, their family all getting ready to sleep together. He was really going to miss Harry. When Maes got to his son’s door, he paused when he heard his voice on the other side.

“… watched her only son be killed. That had to be hard. It was after that that she founded the abbey, to care for the poor and orphans. She had a secret corridor in the abbey where she would hide the orphans of witches and wizards who were caught by non-magicals, muggles they call them, and executed. She was so hardcore!”

Confused, Maes knocked on the door, opening it when Harry answered.

“Who are you talking to?” Maes asked, a bemused smile on his face. He didn’t think they had gotten him anything that talked today. He didn’t like the idea of something without a brain having a mind of its own. British wizards were just too flashy.

“Hedwig!” replied Harry, gesturing to the snowy owl as if she were the finale of a magic show, “That’s what I decided to call her. Saint Hedwig of Silesia was a famous witch from the Middle Ages that saved a bunch of orphans after their parents were killed for being magical.” Harry paused, his enthusiasm fading a bit. “Reading about her made me think of you and mom, taking me under your wing and making me belong. Maybe it’s weird, but now, whenever I say her name, I’ll think of you guys.”

Harry had gotten quieter as he spoke, until Maes was straining to hear him by the end of his short explanation. It took a lot of control, but Maes was determined not to start sobbing on his son’s floor because of how touched he was. He refused to be emotionally distraught in front of his son!

“… oh Harry! My little magical muffin is all grown up and leaving the nest!” Bawled Maes, flinging himself onto the bed to tackle his son in a hug.

At least he wasn’t on the floor.

“Daaad,” laughed Harry, “You’re squishing me!”

Wiping his eyes, Maes sat up, resting a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “I’m really going to miss you, son.”

“I’m going to miss you too, dad.”

The following three weeks were full of fun. Since Harry was leaving, his dad took several days holiday. Uncle Roy spent a whole weekend teaching Harry how to ride his new broom without falling off, and Ed played one-on-one Quidditch with him. He had read about the sport in Hogwarts: A History, since the four different houses each had teams. He really enjoyed playing. Al quizzed him on the first few chapters of his schoolbooks, so Harry felt ready for the challenge of new subjects. He even helped him try out a couple spells. Not wanting to leave anyone out, he spent a lot of time at the park with his old school friends. Most of the children of military officers in Central went to the same school, so his friends had all heard through the grapevine that Harry was leaving. Harry also visited his dad’s office to say goodbye to all his dad’s subordinates that had watched him grow up.

Harry was also pleased to note that Ed still hadn’t given Al the kitten. When he visited Al to talk over his schoolbooks, Al told him that the four cats he and Mei already had didn’t take too kindly to the tiny fluff, so Ed decided to keep him. Harry wasn’t surprised. Al’s furry little monsters were never what one could call “nice”, since they were all strays that Al had adopted, and Ed had already taken a liking to the kitten. More than likely, Ed and Winry would end up taking the kitten to Hogwarts with them.

A week before the start of the term, Harry received an owl, delivering his ticket to platform nine and three-quarters.

“Hey dad,” Harry asked over his breakfast the morning it was delivered, “Is there such a thing as a partial train platform?”

His family stared at him in confusion.

“How can there be a partial platform, brother?” Elicia asked, buttering her toast, “That’s just ridiculous.”

“But that’s what it says on my ticket. Platform nine and three-quarters.” Replied Harry.

“Let me see,” Maes said, reaching for the slip of paper. He adjusted his glasses and read it, a slight frown on his face. “British wizards are bonkers. I’ll have to ask Ed what this means. He probably got a similar ticket.”

Chapter Text

“Yeah, I got the same ticket. King’s Cross Station, platform nine and three-quarters. Must be a British thing.”

The Hughes family was once again gathered at the Elric home, waiting to walk through the fireplace to Magical Britain. It was the day of their departure, and Harry was starting to get nervous. He was excited to learn magic, and he was excited to try something new, but there was a lot of anxiety involved in leaving. He was really going to miss his family and friends.

“Alright. You all know the drill by now. This time, we’re going to the Leaky Cauldron.” Ed announced, passing around the floo powder. “Since Winry and I aren’t coming back, Colonel Havoc said he would meet us at the station to take you home, since Roy and Al have that important meeting today, and he's the only other wizard in the office that I know personally.”

When Harry stepped out of the fireplace on the other side, he found himself in what looked like a shady bar from the movies. There were round, dirty tables, dim lighting, and the occasional patron in a corner. At least Harry wasn’t going to get mobbed this time, since it wasn’t as crowded as Diagon Alley. Once the whole family had made it through, they headed out to non-magical London.

Crowded on the London underground, Harry was very grateful that Ed had shrunk all their luggage to fit within his own handheld trunk. His kitten was tucked into a pocket of his long coat, likely fast asleep next to his bottle. Since the kitten was so young, he still drank from a bottle and had regular feedings. Harry had sent Hedwig to Hogwarts beforehand so he wouldn’t have to travel with her. When they made it to King’s Cross, Ed stood staring at the space between platforms nine and ten, flummoxed.

“Well gang, they appear to have neglected to build our platform.” Said Maes.

“So, it’s not a British thing, but a British wizard thing.” Ed griped. “I should have known.”

“Now what do we do?” Elicia asked. She was having a bad day. Her brother was leaving, she was awoken early, and there were too many people jostling them around that morning.

“I’ll go speak to a guard.” Offered Winry.

“I’ll go ask at that ticket booth.” Said Gracia.

“I’ll stand here useless.” Stated Harry.

Maes chuckled, “Don’t worry, son. We’ll figure it out. We got here super early just in case anyway.”

While the adults tied to figure out where they were supposed to go, Harry and Elicia sat on a bench and watched the bustling people of London as they passed by.

“Look at that lady’s hat! It looks like a great big bird on top!” Elicia whispered to Harry.

“Haha, I think that’s a vulture! The boy with her looks about my age. Maybe he’s going to school too.” Harry whispered back.

The two children watched as the older woman and the young boy got closer to their bench. They were only a few feet away when Harry heard the boy say, “But Gran, muggles wouldn’t know that Trevor is a pet! I should keep him with me, so he won’t get lost!” The boy then scooped up something from a box sitting atop the pile of luggage on the cart the woman was pushing.

Muggles? Harry knew that word. That was what British wizards called non-magicals.

And the thing the boy had picked up was a toad.

Weren’t toads one of the pets that students were allowed to bring to Hogwarts?

“Dad!” Said Harry, dashing up to his father, Elicia in tow, “I think that lady and that boy over there are magic. They were talking about non-magicals, and the boy has a toad.”

Maes glanced in the direction Harry had pointed, and he had to agree. A stuffed vulture was certainly something one could expect from a British witch. With a nod to Harry, Maes followed the pair.

“Excuse me, miss?” Called Maes, as politely as he could.

To his immense relief, the woman stopped and turned, waiting for Maes to catch up with her.

“Hello, Miss. I couldn’t help but overhear you, so I must ask, are you heading to platform nine and three-quarters?” Asked Maes, hoping against hope that their deductions were correct.

The woman sniffed disdainfully. “Of course, I am. How else am I to send my grandson to school?”

Momentarily thrown by her demeanor, Maes quickly rushed to explain, “Oh, what a relief! You see, we’re not from around here, and it’s Harry’s first year, and we weren’t entirely sure where-.”

“By Merlin!” The witch exclaimed, her eyes searching Harry’s face, “Not Harry Potter?!” When her eyes landed on the faint scar on Harry’s forehead, they nearly popped out of her head. “Why, it is! My Neville will be in your year. Say hello, Neville.”

The boy next to her shuffled his feet, looking shyly at the ground. “Er, hello.” Neville said softly, quickly glancing at Harry through his bangs that had fallen to cover his face, before he quickly looked down again. The boy juggled the toad in his hands until he had a hand free and held it out for Harry to shake.

Harry barely knew this kid, but he already liked him.

“Hiya, Neville! I’m Harry, Harry Hughes.” Harry glanced at the imposing woman that had just called him Harry Potter. “But I guess everyone knows me better as a Potter, huh? This will get awfully confusing.”

The boy grinned back, and Harry had to hold back his victorious fist bump.

“I’m Elicia, Harry’s younger sister, since apparently he’s not going to introduce me.” She stuck her hand out daintily for Neville to take.

Rather than shaking her hand, as Harry had expected, Neville took her fingers gently and lifted them to his lips to lay a kiss gingerly on her knuckles. Harry had never seen a kid his age act so much like his Uncle Roy at a party. Even the snooty generals’ kids at school never had that much flair. Was his family super important or something? Was that why his grandmother was taking him to the train instead of his parents?

Harry made a decision then and there to befriend Neville at all costs. If Harry wanted to keep people from idolizing him, having a friend whose family was more impressive was a good way to fade into the background. Harry wanted people to know him because he was Harry Hughes not Harry The-Boy-Who-Lived Potter.

He had read about himself in Modern Witches and Wizards, and he really didn’t like it.

Harry also knew what it was like to have important people in your family. His Uncle Roy was Führer. His dad was a top military official. Harry knew what it felt like to live in the spotlight, under a microscope. Every time he visited his father’s office, half the people at headquarters would stare at him. Usually, Harry had his dad, or mom, or Ed, or Al with him, but if Neville was the same way, he would need a real friend at school, just like Harry did. Harry was determined to be that friend, no matter what.

Elicia blushed at the attention, but luckily, Maes didn’t see the exchange, as he was busy calling their whole group over, now that he knew they had a way to the train.

“If you don’t mind, Neville, could you show us where the platform is? We’ve never been here before.” Harry explained, before his dad caught on to what just happened, and his new friend got the Protective Dad^TM treatment.

“Of course, we can, dear!” The woman said, “Right this way!”

By this point, the whole group had joined them, so they set off, following the woman as she introduced herself, going on and on about what good friends the Potters and the Longbottoms were, and how she hoped Harry could be a good friend to Neville. Harry assumed that Longbottom was Neville’s family name.

“Alright, here we are. Neville, you go ahead with Harry. Be sure not to lose that toad!”

The group from Amestris all stared at Mrs. Longbottom, bewildered. They were standing in front of a wall dividing platform nine on the left, and platform ten on the right. Where were they supposed to go, through the wall?

“You’re supposed to walk through the wall.” Neville supplied, seeing their confusion evident on their faces.

Ed dragged a hand down his face. “Of course, we are…”

“Come on, Harry, let’s go! Better to run a bit if you’re nervous.” Neville encouraged, tucking his toad in his pocket before grabbing the trolley holding his luggage.

Harry took a deep, steadying breath, a quick look at his family, and a moment to say a quick prayer before he fell in line beside Neville. They both started walking towards the wall, but when Neville sped up a bit, Harry did too, until they were sprinting towards the wall. Right before impact, Harry closed his eyes, bracing himself, only to nearly trip when he didn’t collide with anything.

Neville laughed beside him. “I do that every year since Gran likes to watch the train leave and gossip with everyone, but it’s still a little nerve wracking.”

Harry laughed off the nerves as well, following Neville as he stepped aside. They watched as the rest of the group came through the wall at differing speeds, Ed nearly careened into a passerby when he flew through the wall.

“Crazy British wizards and their damn dramatics.” Harry heard Ed mutter under his breath.

“Admit it, big brother,” Harry laughed, “You’re just as dramatic.”

Ed scowled in reply.

Once the whole family was on the platform, Ed informed them all that they had about twenty minutes before the train left. After promising Neville that they could sit together on the train, Harry followed his family to a relatively vacant space near the back of the train to say their goodbyes.

“I promise I’ll send Hedwig with a letter as soon as I can. I’ll make sure Ed sends Mercury with a report to Uncle Roy too.”

Maes laughed as Harry hugged his mother goodbye. He spent a while hugging Elicia before she finally let him go.

"There you lot are. Helluva time finding the platform. You weren't wrong, Ed, these British wizards are weird."

Everyone turned to see Havoc standing by Ed, an arm over his shoulder.

"Glad you found it," Ed laughed, "We had to ask a lady with a stuffed vulture on her hat."

Havoc nodded. "Yup. Family of redheads helped me on." He turned to clap Harry on the back. "You ready for an adventure? Sounds like you'll find one here."

While Havoc and Harry said their goodbyes, Elicia gave Ed and Winry long hugs goodbye as well, trying to keep her tears in check.

Maes had no such luck with his own waterworks. He sobbed openly into the hug Harry gave him.

“Remember to write every day! And eat your vegetables. And brush your teeth before bed. And never forget that we love you so so so much, no matter what.”

Harry could just barely understand his father’s babble through the tears, but he didn’t trust himself to speak. If he did, he was sure to start crying too. He needed to show his dad that he was capable of taking care of himself. He didn’t want his dad crying over him leaving.

“Time to go, little bunny.” Said Ed, when the call to board was sounded.

“I love you too, dad.” Harry whispered, wiping away the stray tear before he let go, stepping back to give them all a wave goodbye.

“Harry, come on!” Ed yelled over the sound of the whistle.

Winry was watching out a window as Harry raced down the platform to Ed. The alchemist picked up Harry and tossed him onto the train as it started moving. With a practiced ease, Ed swung himself onto the train as it began to gain speed. He steadied Harry as he leaned out to see his family one last time.

Elicia was running to keep up with the train, shouting, “I love you, big brother! I love you!” Over the sound of the wheels and the engine.

“I love you too!” Harry shouted back, waving like his life depended on it.

Just as he saw her smile, she was lost to the crowd whizzing by as the train sped out of the station.

“Alright, in you get.” Ed ordered, pulling Harry into the train, “Winry and Neville got a compartment while your dad had a meltdown. Let’s go.”

Harry nodded, following obediently. Now that he was on the train, it was hitting him just how much he was going to miss his family. He was really glad Ed and Winry were coming too. If he had to face this new world alone, he’s not sure he’d make it.

“Don’t worry, Harry,” said Ed as he led him to their compartment, “You’ll be back home before you know it.”

Harry sighed. He sure hoped so.

Chapter Text

When they made it to the compartment, Harry noticed an unfamiliar girl sitting across from Winry. They were chatting like old friends. She had long, dark, frizzy hair, and braces. Her eyes were a deep chestnut, and she had just a few dainty freckles.

“Hello there! I’m Hermione Granger.” She introduced herself. She seemed to have a fairly bubbly personality. Harry could see why Winry seemed to be getting along with her. They seemed rather similar at first glance.

“I’m Harry, Harry Hughes.” Replied Harry as he sat between her and Neville, “This is my brother Ed.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Hermione,” said Ed as he settled next to Winry.

“Are you two…?” Asked Hermione, pointing between Ed and Winry.

Winry giggled, flashing her wedding band on her left hand. Hermione squealed. Harry was confused.

“I knew it! You two are so cute together!” Hermione giggled.

‘Great. Girl talk.’

Ed looked at the two boys and said, “I’m going to read. No way am I getting caught up in their girl talk.”

Harry turned to Neville.

“So, your gran, huh?” Harry started, grasping at straws to start a conversation. “What was with the bird on her hat?”

Neville chuckled. “She always wears that old thing when we go to the station. She likes to come and gossip with the other grandparents seeing their grandchildren off to Hogwarts. She brought me with her every year.”

While the girls gabbed, the boys chatted, getting to know one another. Apparently, Neville had been afraid he didn’t have magic for the longest time, until someone had dropped him out a window and he bounced!

“That’s crazy! My first accidental magic was when I was eight. My uncle Roy had lost his sight after the Battle of the Promised Day, and somehow, I used my own sight to fix his. We both have really strong glasses now, but it was still pretty cool.”

“Wow!” Neville exclaimed in awe.

“I don’t remember it very well, or how I did it. This was three years ago, after all. I just remember crying a bunch and there were suddenly gold sparkles everywhere and my vision got fuzzy. Another time, about a year ago, I turned up on the roof. No clue how I got there, but it saved my life.”

“Really? How come?”

“Oh, I had been kidnapped by terrorists that were still loyal to the old regime. They didn’t like what my uncle was doing with the government, so they tried holding me hostage until my uncle gave in to their demands. He had to explain away my teleporting as an alchemy trick.”

Neville’s eyes were wide as dinner plates. “That’s so cool. You must be really brave.”

Ed laughed from his spot across from Harry. Harry glared at him in warning, but to no avail. Ed’s eyes hadn’t left his book.  

“The little bunny was a sobbing mess when I got him down. He wouldn’t let go of my hand for about an hour.”

Harry glared all the harder. “I almost died. I don’t do that every day like you used to. I seem to recall the story of how you had to have your butt saved from the Unnamed Ishvalan when he killed a bunch of state alchemists. The way uncle Roy tells it, you were a sobbing mess too, and you were older than I was!”

Ed dropped both the pretense of reading and his book to yell back, “Well Colonel Flame-brain was useless anyway since it was raining that day!”

“And both of you were saved by Hawkeye.” Winry reminded him.

Ed grumbled as he picked his book back up and disappeared behind it.

“That’s still really brave of you.” Hermione said after a short pause of silence. “The most I could do was moving stuff without touching it. Every once and a while, I’d go to reach for something, and it would jump into my hand. I even got a book to come to me from my bookshelf across the room! I thought I was Matilda or something until I got my owl.”

“Are you muggle-born?” Neville asked curiously.

“What does that mean?” Harry asked.

“It means that neither of your parents had magic, and yes. My parents are dentists.” Hermione answered proudly.

“That’s so cool!” Harry replied. “I thought I would be the odd one out with non-magical parents.”

Neville’s nose scrunched up in thought. “But, you’re Harry Potter. Both of your parents had magic.”

“Yeah, but I’m a Hughes now. None of the Hughes family have magic.” Answered Harry.

“Wait, you’re Harry Potter?” Hermione gasped, “I’ve read all about how you defeated You-Know-Who! This is amazing! I never thought I’d meet someone I read about so soon!”

“I’m just a regular kid,” Harry said defensively, “Well, a regular wizard kid. I don’t even remember it.”

“You’re still the only person to ever survive the killing curse.” Neville supplied. “That’s pretty cool.”

Harry shrugged. “I guess, but I was just a baby. I’d rather people knew my name for stuff I actually did, not just because I survived. Ed isn’t a general just because he survived the Promised Day.”

Ed shrugged at the looks he received. “I think everyone who was there that day got promoted a few ranks. Not because we survived, but because we won through our own effort. You can’t rely on shortcuts in life.”

“Exactly!” Harry exclaimed.

“Do you really have a scar from it?” Hermione asked innocently.

Harry rolled his eyes as he lifted his long, dark bangs to reveal the faint lighting-shaped scar on his forehead. She really was rather nosy.

Harry dropped his bangs just as the compartment door slid open.

Three boys entered, and Harry recognized the one in the middle immediately. He was the pale, snooty boy in Madame Malkin’s robe shop in Diagon Alley.

“Hello, Draco,” Harry greeted, before anyone else could get a word in, “I’d say it’s a pleasure to see you again, but my parents raised me to never lie. Who are your friends?”

Ed peeked out curiously from the top of his book.

Draco raised one blonde eyebrow. “Crabbe, Goyle, meet Mr. Amestris.” Draco’s eyes swept the occupants of the compartment. “And it seems he brought the circus with him.”

“Ignore him, Ed,” said Harry offhandedly, running a hand through his untamable hair nonchalantly, knowing his hair was a right mess after he had shown Hermione his scar, “We met in passing in Madame Malkin’s and he called Amestris backwards. He’s just being a prick because I pointed out the faults in his logic.”

Draco’s eyes were locked on Harry’s forehead.

“You’re Harry Potter, aren’t you?” Draco seemed almost in awe.

“You’re rather rude, aren’t you?” Hermione asked from her spot by the window.

Draco eyed her with a sneer. “Who are you?”

“Hermione Granger.”

“That’s not a wizarding name.”

“No, my parents are muggles.”

Draco’s eyes landed on Neville.

“And the Longbottom squib!” Draco laughed. He turned back to Harry. “You’ll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don’t want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there.”

He held out a hand for Harry to shake, but Harry didn’t take it. He threw an arm over Neville’s shoulder and grinned.

“Sorry, Malfoy, but I think I’ve got that handled. I’ve already made friends with these two. You’re welcome to join us, of course, if you don’t mind being a little backwards.” Harry answered, grin still fixed in place as he patted the seat next to him.

Draco didn’t go red, but his cheeks took on a slightly pink tinge.

“I’d be careful if I were you, Potter. Hang around riffraff like Longbottom and the mudblood, and it’ll rub off on you. Your parents didn’t know what was good for them either. That’s how you ended up in a defective dump like Amestris.”

Before anyone could even blink, blue lightning crackled to life, and the floor warped and reached up to wrap around Draco’s legs. His two friends, Crabbe and Goyle, both ran away screaming, but Draco was stuck fast, trapped by the floorboards.

“What the bloody hell?!” cried Draco.

“I suggest,” Ed growled as he stood to his full height, glad that he could tower over the eleven-year-old, “That you apologize for those words.”

“Let me go!”

“After… you apologize.”

Harry shuddered. He knew that voice. That was the Ed-is-pissed-run-for-your-life voice.

“Just do it, Draco! Which is more important to you, your pride or your feet?!” Harry whispered.

Something in Harry’s voice or expression must have reached Draco because he shrunk in on himself.

“I… I apologize for my rudeness. My words were… harsh and… and unnecessary.” Draco uttered, head bowed.

A clap rang out loud and clear, and the floor released him, straightening out to lay flat again. Draco stumbled, but Harry caught him before he fell.

“I suggest you take a long, hard look at your behavior, young man. Even I wasn’t that bad at your age, and I was the poster child for bad behavior.” Ed reprimanded. “You will also be starting the school year with detention.”

Draco stood stunned, gaping up at the golden-eyed deity whose wrath he had earned.

“My brother’s a teacher, did I mention?” Harry whispered to Draco.

Draco whimpered. He will deny it to his dying day, but he whimpered. He could already feel his father’s disappointment. Not even at the school yet and already in trouble.

“Ed, sit down,” Winry ordered, dragging her husband back to his seat. “Let’s start over. Hi, I’m Winry Elric, and this is my husband, Edward Elric. He’s teaching alchemy this year. This is Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, and my little brother, Harry Hughes. They’re all starting their first year at Hogwarts.”

Draco looked from Winry to Harry to Harry’s forehead now covered by his black hair and back. “Hughes?”

Ed was busy grumbling in the corner, so Harry took the opportunity to explain. “Harry Potter Hughes. I was adopted.”

“Trevor’s missing!” Neville interjected, frantically searching his pockets for the missing toad.

The whole compartment began searching for the toad, under seats, in the luggage rack, anywhere they could think of.

“The door’s been open for a while, Neville…” Hermione pointed out.

“Trevor!” Neville wailed.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find him.” Winry reassured him as she headed into the corridor to search for the toad. “Harry, Draco, you two search that way. Hermione, you come with me this way. Ed, stay with Neville in case Trevor comes back.”

Dutifully, Harry and Draco set off in their assigned direction, searching for the elusive Trevor.

“Sorry about Ed,” Harry offered, “But in his defense, you were kind of a prick.”

Draco rolled his eyes. “Yeah, thanks for the warning. You couldn’t have told me he was a professor?”

Harry shrugged, then popped his head into an open compartment, asking if anyone had seen a toad.

“Would it have made any difference if I had?” Harry asked when he caught up with Draco.

“I wouldn’t have gotten in trouble if I knew.” Draco grumbled.

Harry shot him a look. “If you knew you would get in trouble for it if someone with authority had heard, then maybe you shouldn’t say it in the first place. If you wanted to be friends, all you had to do was ask. You didn’t have to insult everyone else.”

Draco stared at Harry as he passed, poking his head into another compartment. It couldn’t be that simple, could it?

“Hey Pot- er, Hughes?” Draco asked after they had passed a few more compartments, asking if anyone had seen a toad.

“Yeah Draco?”

“Can we start over?”

Harry stopped and turned to Draco. The boy’s cheeks held a faint pink color, and it took him a moment before he was able to meet Harry’s eye.

He was serious.

An infectious smile blossomed across Harry’s face. “Hi, I’m Harry Hughes. You probably know me as Potter, but since I was little, I’ve gone by Hughes, so I prefer that. You can just call me Harry though. What’s your name?” Harry asked as he offered Draco a hand to shake.

Draco blinked. “Uh…” He shook himself a bit. He wasn’t expecting him to take it so literally, but he can work with that. “I’m Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He replied, taking the offered hand.

“Sorry you still have detention though. I can try to talk Ed out of it, but no promises.” Said Harry as they moved further down the train.

Draco groaned. “My father will have a cow when he finds out.”

“So, don’t tell him.” Harry suggested.

Draco looked at Harry, shocked. “Wouldn’t the school tell him? I thought they sent owls.”

Harry grinned. “Ed doesn’t know that. He’s never gone to school. I’m surprised he even knew detention was a thing.”

Draco turned away to continue looking for the missing amphibian. “Yeah right. I’m still toast.”

Harry was determined though, and when Harry set his mind on something, he got it.

“With what toaster? Just you wait. I’ll show you my magic.”

Chapter Text

They eventually found the toad, shortly before they reached the end of the train. He had hidden himself under a seat in a compartment, and the occupants had found him when he started croaking. When they got back to Harry’s compartment, Ed and Neville were surrounded by sweets.

“I see you got something from the trolley we passed.” Harry mused as he handed the slimy escape artist to a grateful Neville.

“British sweets are weird.” Ed supplied. “I’m saving a few chocolate frogs to send to Mustang.”

“Chocolate frogs?” Harry asked as he eyed the box in Ed’s hands.

The blonde grinned devilishly. “They’re made of chocolate, but they jump.”

Harry sighed as he sat on the bench beside Neville, patting the seat on his other side for Draco to join them. “Why must you always antagonize him?”

“It’s my job.” Ed replied, eyeing a box of “every flavor” jellybeans with skepticism.

“Careful with those,” Draco warned as he took the offered seat, “When they say every flavor, they mean every flavor.”

“Really?” Harry asked, snagging a box of his own.

The two boys peered into the box at the unassuming little candies.

“Let’s all try one!” Draco suggested, pulling a red colored bean from the box. “First to spit one out loses.”

“You’re on!” Harry grinned, fishing out a dark purple.

“This is not going to end well.” Neville groaned as he took a white colored bean from the box.

Ed chuckled. “You’re all going down!” He vowed, as he pulled a green colored bean from his own box, determined to try and put the kids at ease after the initial disaster. He was glad that Harry seemed to have won over the pale boy. Harry had always been like Ed that way, making friends wherever he went.

“Three, two,” Draco started counting down for them to toss the beans in their mouths, but before he reached “One!” the compartment door slid open to reveal the girls.

“Wow.” Winry said, surveying the scene. “I’m guessing Ed got all this?”

The three boys nodded.

“Traitors.” Ed muttered.

“We’re all trying one of the jellybeans, and the first to spit one out loses. You want in?” asked Harry, brandishing the box of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans.

Winry sighed, before fishing a burgundy one from the box and plopping down next to Ed.

“I’ll pass,” Hermione said, settling into the seat by the window next to Winry, since Draco took her previous seat. “Braces.”

“Alright,” Harry said, “Again!”

“Three, two, one!”

“Ugh!”

“I think it’s strawberry.”

“This is eggplant. Gross.”

“Definitely soap. I told you this wouldn’t end well.”

“I think it’s grass…”

“It tastes like red velvet cake.”

“We all ate them. Nobody spit theirs out.” Harry grumbled.

“Next round!” Draco declared, retrieving a bright yellow bean. “This time, you don’t get to pick your own bean!” with a devilish grin, he handed the bean to Harry on his right.

Harry pulled out a forest green bean and handed it to Neville on his right. Neville grabbed a burnt orange one and passed it to Winry across the aisle, afraid of accidentally giving a gross flavor to the professor. With a wicked gleam in her eyes, Winry picked a white bean and presented it to Ed, sitting on her left. Hesitantly, Ed accepted the bean.

“Neville got soap. It’s probably soap…”

Ed pulled a pastel pink one from his own box and passed it to Draco on the other end of the compartment, glaring untrustingly at his white bean the whole time.

“Three, two, one!”

“BLEGH!”

Immediately, Ed’s bean hit the floor.

“IT WAS MILK!” The man wailed, gagging.

After the bean fiasco, they each opened a chocolate frog to see which witch or wizard card they would get.

“I haven’t been collecting them long. I’ve only got maybe 15 cards.” Neville explained. “I keep getting Morgana.”

“I stopped collecting them ages ago. You can have my old cards if you want. I’ve got about seventy.” Draco offered. “Unless Harry wants them.”

Harry shook his head. “I’m already collecting the Famous Alchemist cards. I’m not collecting wizard ones until I get the Gold Alchemist. He’s hard to find though.”

“You’re telling me.” Ed mumbled.

“He’s a legend, like the guy that invented alchemy or something.” Harry explained as he unwrapped his chocolate frog and picked up the card.

He recognized the man shown on the card, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember where he had seen him. Looking underneath the picture, he saw the name Albus Dumbledore.

“So, this is Dumbledore!”

“What about the idiot?” Ed asked.

Draco snickered, but Neville looked aghast.

“Ed, he’s the headmaster. You’re a professor. Maybe don’t talk bad about him in front of the students?” Winry suggested.

Ed scoffed. “I badmouthed Mustang to his subordinates in his own office, and I respect Mustang. What makes you think I’ll talk any better about the nutter?”

Winry shook her head in sympathy for the wizard she had yet to meet.

Harry flipped the card over to see a short summary of the man.

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

Currently Headmaster of Hogwarts

Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon’s blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicholas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.

 

“Huh,” Harry mused, “Dumbledore is famous for his alchemy?”

“What?”

Harry passed the card to Ed. He scanned the card, chuckled, and passed it back.

“There are actually fourteen uses for dragon’s blood, and Flamel is a one trick pony. His research is all focused on the Philosopher’s Stone, but he never created a real one.”

Draco raised one sculpted eyebrow. “If that’s the case, how is the man alive? I’ve met him, once. He looks as old as he says he is.”

“He was a... friend of Father’s, back in the day. He didn’t make a stone. He just has one.”

No matter how much the kids needled him for the rest of the ride, Ed never explained.

“So, what house do you think you’ll be in?” Hermione asked. “I read all about them in Hogwarts: A History, and I hope I get to be in either Gryffindor or Ravenclaw.”

“Why?” Draco scoffed. “Ravenclaws are know-it-alls and Gryffindors are a bunch of arrogant pricks. Slytherin is the best house. My family have been Slytherin for generations.”

“I don’t care which house I’m in,” Neville mumbled, “I just want to get in one. My Gran wants me to get in Gryffindor though.”

“What’s so great about Gryffindor?” Harry asked.

“Nothing.”

“Honestly, Draco. Gryffindors are known for their bravery and chivalry. They are always just.”

“Always right, you mean,” Draco said as he rolled his eyes. “I’ve never met a Gryffindor who wasn’t a bully. They think they’re right all the time. The only way to deal with them is to show them you’re superior.”

“You could always just talk it out.” Ed suggested.

Winry gave him a look. “And how many times did you ‘just talk it out’.”

“I’m trying to be a decent role model here.” Ed grumbled.

“With all the times you destroyed your arm along with whole city blocks?”

Ed turned the same color as his signature coat.

“I never destroyed it on purpose!”

Winry’s look said just how much she believed that.

“You destroyed your arm?” Hermione asked nervously.

Ed rolled up his trouser leg in response. The Brits in the compartment all gasped, having never seen automail before.

“It’s called automail. I made this model myself. He used to have a right arm as well, but he got his real one back… it’s a really long story.” Explained Winry.

“How does it work?” Hermione asked.

“I didn’t even notice.” Neville whispered in awe.

“It runs off bioelectricity that the nervous system provides. Each nerve is grafted to the port, and connected to the limb, so he can operate it like a flesh and bone limb. The surgery to attach it is very painful and difficult, so it isn’t the right choice for everybody, but for a lot of folks, automail can give them their life back, like it did for Ed.”

“How did you lose the limb in the first place?” Draco asked. “Most injuries can be healed with magic, unless you get hit with the Dark Arts. Were you in a fight?”

Ed shrugged. “Something like that.”

Draco and Neville were both looking at him in awe. It was starting to make Harry uncomfortable. He knew his big brother didn’t like talking about it, so Harry wasn’t actually sure how Ed had lost his arm and leg, he just knew that Ed had gotten a real arm when Al finally took the armor off after the Promised Day. There was a lot about it that Harry didn't know. He knew that he lost the limbs when he was younger than Harry was now, and Harry didn’t like the idea that he lost them in a fight with a Dark wizard. He hoped it wasn’t as bad as that.

As Ed rolled his trouser leg back down, a little noise came from his coat.

“What was that?” Neville asked nervously.

“It sounded like the noise our house elf made when he smashed his hand in the door last week.”

“Oh no!” Ed yelled, “I forgot the kitten was in my pocket! I hope I didn’t hurt him!”

Ed and Winry both fussed over the little fluffball as Ed pulled him out. He was so tiny he fit snuggly inside the palm of his hand. He looked a little ruffled from being curled up sleeping in Ed’s pocket, but awake and chipper and unhurt from the experience. He gave a squeaky little mewl.

“He’s so cute!” Hermione gushed.

“What’s his name?” Draco asked.

“Doesn’t have one yet,” replied Ed, “The clerk at the pet shop called him Crookshanks, because he’s a little bow-legged, but we don’t really like that name. Winry thinks it’s mean, and I think it’s lame. She won’t let me name him Killer though.”

Neville glanced at the Chocolate Frog card in his hand. “How about Kilgharrah? The card says Merlin had a Hungarian Horntail named Kilgharrah.”

The kitten mewled again, squirming in Ed’s hand.

“I think he likes it!” Draco laughed.

“Kilgharrah it is!” Ed proclaimed, holding the kitten aloft like a trophy he had just won.

“Careful!” Winry warned, moving to snag the kitten to safety. “You’ll drop him!”

After a quick feeding, Ed set him down on the floor of the compartment, and they all watched, cooing over the little fluff stumbling around on stubby little legs that he hadn’t quite mastered how to use yet. They let the newly named kitten explore the compartment while they continued chatting until they got close to their destination. Ed noticed the train was slowing, so they all decided to change into their school robes. The boys changed in the compartment while Hermione left for the bathroom and Winry waited in the corridor. Draco already had his robes on, but Neville and Harry still needed to change. Ed also changed out of his travelling outfit into his military uniform.

Harry had only seen him wear the full ensemble a few times before, but he had been promoted to general since Harry had last seen it, so there were a few changes. His epaulets now had three stars on the gold stripe, instead of the two Harry had seen before, and the left lapel on his blue overcoat had a few new medals on it, but Harry hadn’t the foggiest what any of them were for.

They all finished changing and got back to their seats just in time for a voice to echo through the train: “We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes’ time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately.”

Ed pulled Harry’s luggage out of his Undetectably Extended suitcase with a quick flick of his wand and stowed Harry’s luggage on the rack above him. It would be a right pain for Harry later if his luggage was stuck with Ed, because Ed wasn’t planning on letting anyone else touch his case. The year previous, after the kidnapping incident, was the only time Ed let Harry inside the suitcase.

It was a very special suitcase.

When Harry asked him about it, Ed just said that a fellow researcher he had met during his travels had a suitcase like that, and Ed liked the idea, so he made his own. There was a ladder down to the floor of the small room used as the central hub of the luggage. The walls were covered in floor to ceiling shelves, all cluttered with an assortment of things. Different doors led to different rooms that Ed added on when he needed them. One was reinforced for Ed’s more risky magic and alchemy experiments, one locked room held Ed’s vast personal library, complete with all his notes and the decoded notes of other alchemists, like Marcoh’s. Another room served as a workshop for Winry, a large open space had a small meadow with a few trees for Ed’s pet Falcon, Mercury, and another room had all the creature comforts of a small apartment. Since they were going to be staying at Hogwarts for a year, Winry had packed up their whole house and moved them into the suitcase’s depths.

“Be right back,” Ed muttered, as he scooped up the kitten and disappeared into the case, to the amazement of Harry’s three new friends. A few moments later, Ed climbed back out without Kilgharrah. “I left him in the bedroom closet in that old hat box of yours with his new blanket. I think he was asleep before I even set him down. Poor little tike was tuckered out.”

“I want a trunk like that.” Said Draco with awe.

“That’s amazing!” Hermione exclaimed. “How did you do that?”

Ed picked up his case, flipped the latch shut, and flashed her a grin and a conspiratorial wink.

“Magic.”

Chapter Text

When the train had finally stopped, they all followed the throng out to the tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air.

“Where are we supposed to go?” Neville asked.

“Not sure,” Ed answered, looking around, “It’s my first time here too, ya know.”

A lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Ed heard a familiar voice: “Firs’ years! Firs’ years over here!”

“That’s where you go then.”

Ed watched as the four children threaded their way through the crowd to meet the giant of a man. Before he could figure out where he and Winry were supposed to go, a hand tapped his shoulder.

“Professor Elric, I presume?”

Ed turned to see the speaker was a man roughly a decade older with thin, greasy, black hair and a rather prominent hooked nose.

“That’s me.” Ed answered, offering a hand to shake.

The man took the offered hand with a faint smile.

“Severus Snape. I am the Potions Master at this school. Allow me to escort you to the start-of-term-banquet.”

“Lead the way!” Ed grinned.

“You may leave your luggage on the train.”

“I’d rather keep it with me.”

“Suit yourself.”

Ed and Winry followed the Potions Master as he led them from the platform.

“This is my wife, Winry, by the way.”

“A pleasure.”

“Potions, huh? Beautiful subject. So much like alchemy.”

Snape turned to look at Ed.

“You think so? I would have assumed transfiguration would be closer to your craft.”

Ed shook his head. “Nah, transfiguration changes a thing into something completely different. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. Potion making requires skill, planning, the right ingredients in the right amounts with the right method of combining them, just as alchemy does. There’s no silly wand-waving in either craft.”

“I see.” Snape replied with a raised eyebrow.

The potions master led them down the road ahead of the students. Ed looked around at the little village they appeared to be in. It reminded him of Resembool, at least until he read the shop signs. “Hog’s Head” and “Zonko’s Joke Shop” were not things he had seen in Amestris.

The skeleton horses were also not things he had seen in Amestris.

Ed stared at the midnight blue beings hitched to the carriages lining the street. They much resembled horses, but there was something reptilian about them too. They had wings folded by their flanks, and their heads were like a lizard. Ed’s first instinct was an alchemical chimera, but the lack of flesh on the beasts told him they should, by all rights, be dead already. The white, pupil-less eyes were a little unnerving, especially when the ones strapped to their carriage had their eyes focused on him.

Snape opened the door of their carriage and helped Winry in.

“What are they?” Ed asked, hesitating to step into the carriage.

Snape and Winry both looked at him.

“They’re probably self-propelled.” Winry explained.

“They’re called thestrals. The only tame herd in existence.” Snape turned back to the carriages. “Only those that have seen, and comprehended death can see thestrals.”

Ed was abnormally quiet for the rest of the trip to the castle.

Meanwhile, Harry and his new friends were led down a dark path with the rest of the other first year students.

“Yeh’ll get yer firs’ sight o’ Hogwarts in a sec,” Hagrid called over his shoulder, the lantern he was holding casting his face in sharp shadows, “jus’ round this bend here.”

The dark narrow path opened up suddenly to the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop the highest mountain on the other side of the lake, was a mighty castle, its position, reflective windows, and massive turrets and towers making it look like a crouching beast, waiting to swallow them all up. Harry gulped, turning his eyes back to the lake shore, where several boats were tied to a wide pier. Harry stopped short.

‘Ed can’t ride in a boat!’ Harry thought desperately, ‘If the boat turns over, his automail leg will drag him to the bottom!’

Harry turned to warn Ed, but the man was nowhere in sight.

“You didn’t notice?” Draco asked, a pale eyebrow raised, “The professor and his wife didn’t follow us down here.”

“Who? Oh, right, Ed’s a professor.”

“No more’n four to a boat!” Hagrid called, climbing into a boat of his own.

Harry followed his three new friends as they made a beeline for the nearest boat. He was glad he had made three friends already. He didn’t want to be in a boat by himself, or worse, with someone he didn’t know.

“You first, Harry.” Hermione ordered. Clearly, she didn’t quite trust Draco not to rudely shake the boat as she got in, nor did she trust accident-prone Neville not to accidentally rock the boat.

“It must be weird calling your brother ‘Professor’.” Neville observed as Harry gingerly lifted a leg to step into the nearest boat.

“A-A bit, yeah… but it’s fine, it’s fine.” Harry tried to grin back at Neville, but it came out as more of a grimace, and his eyes never left where his foot was planted on the seat of the boat.

“All right, there Harry?” Draco asked.

“Shove it, blondie.” Harry growled, as he put more of his weight into the boat, and it rocked.

With a cry, Harry leaned backwards, overcorrecting his balance with a foot still in the boat, and flopped through the air, his butt hitting the hard wood of the pier with a loud thump.

Three cries of “Harry!” followed shortly after.

Harry groaned, quickly getting to his feet with three pairs of hands helping him.

“What’s wrong, Harry?” Hermione asked.

“He doesn’t like the boats, obviously.” Draco rolled his eyes.

“Almost everyone else is in their boats already.” Neville mumbled nervously.

“Sorry,” Harry gasped, trying to get his heart rate back to normal after it shot through the roof with his tumble, “I’m not a fan of boats, and I don’t know how to swim.”

“Hermione, you first. Neville, help me hold the boat steady.” Draco dropped to his knees to grab the boat from the low pier. “The more people are in it, the lower it will sit in the water, and the less it will tip.”

Hermione decided not to argue with his science, since Harry seemed strangely comforted by it. With the thought “for Harry” in her head, Hermione quickly jumped into the boat. With Hermione and Draco’s help, Neville managed to hop in as well, tucking Trevor in his pocket.

“Your turn.”

Harry frantically glanced from Draco’s outstretched hand, to the two already in the boat, to the other students mostly all in their own boats, and back to Draco’s. With a gulp, he took the offered hand and stepped into the boat.

It was a lot easier with two people helping keep him stable in the boat, and a hand to hold that was still firmly on land. After a little wobbling, Harry finally managed to sit in his seat. Draco followed quickly, and none too soon, because with a short command from Hagrid, the boats moved off the pier.

Harry swallowed his startled cry before it jumped out of his throat. He wished he wasn’t such a coward over a little water, but he couldn’t get that memory out of his head.

Chapter Text

Little Harry was so excited. His big brothers were coming on a picnic with them! It had been a really long time since they had come to visit, so Harry and Elicia had teamed up to get them to agree to go on a picnic to celebrate Harry’s sixth birthday.

It had been a couple months since he slipped up and called the nice lady “mama” like Elicia did. He had only called her “mama” in his head, never out loud before, but she hadn’t seemed to mind it, and Elicia had seemed really happy when he called her “mama” in front of her, so he decided to just keep doing it. He knew she wasn’t his real mom, but she acted like it, and it was nice to pretend.

“Mama! Big brothers Ed and Al are here!” Harry cried, seeing the two walking up the path. He had planted himself in the front window so he would be the first to spot them, while his mom and sister got the picnic basket packed.

“Wonderful, we just finished.” Gracia answered.

“Let’s go, Harry!” Elicia giggled, grabbing his hand and dragging him out the door.

“Heya, squirt! You got taller since I saw you last!” Ed exclaimed.

“You haven’t visited in forever!” Elicia pouted, “Of course, he got taller.”

The group left for the lake outside the city. It was a hot day, so after the picnic, the kids all decided to splash around the shore of the lake, while Gracia stayed at the picnic spot. Ed transmuted a bucket, and they made a sandcastle on the little beach. Harry had so much fun. He even had fun when Ed filled the bucket with water and chased him.

“Come on, squirt! Birthday splash!”

Harry had eventually gotten splashed, but it was still fun. Ed had found a fallen log, so he transmuted them a little canoe. Al decided to stay on the shore with Elicia, so Ed and Harry splashed the little boat away from the shore. They didn’t even make it very far before Harry managed to fall out, leaning over the edge to paddle with his hands.

Suddenly, Harry was upside down, and it was wet and cold, and he couldn’t breathe.

Luckily, Ed jumped in to save him, but Ed’s heavy, metal automail made swimming impossible, and Ed wasn’t tall enough to stand on the muddy bottom and breach the surface of the water at the same time. They somehow made it back to shore with the help of a kind stranger who had been fishing nearby, but both Harry and Ed were fully soaked and miserable. Harry hadn’t been in a boat since.

“Heads down!”

Hagrid’s shout pulled Harry from his childhood memory just in time for Harry to duck before their little boat passed through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening underneath the cliff Hogwarts rested on. They were carried down a dark tunnel, which Harry guessed was taking them directly underneath the castle. Eventually, they came to a stop by a little underground harbor, and Harry quickly clambered out of the boat onto the pebbly shore.

His hands were sore and shaking from how tight he had gripped the sides of the boat, and his breathing wasn’t quite right. It was too fast and jagged. He needed to calm down. He was panicking. He wasn’t even in the boat now! Why was he panicking?

“Harry!”

He opened his eyes (When did he close them?) and saw Neville’s face was inches from his. Harry jerked backwards, gasping. He couldn’t get enough air in his lungs.

“Harry, your feet are on solid ground. You’re not in the water. You’re okay.” Neville sounded surprisingly calm, considering how nervous he always was. “Breathe in… and out. In… and out… much better.”

Harry sighed, running a shaky hand through his messy hair.

“Thanks, Neville. I’m… I’m okay.”

“You’re surprisingly calm for such a squirrel.” Draco commented, while helping Hermione out of the boat.

“Uh,” Neville replied eloquently, “I just did what the nurse did last time I had a panic attack.”

Harry wasn’t sure what it was, but there seemed to be a hidden meaning in there somewhere, because Draco’s eyes widened, and he looked vaguely horrified.

“Right… sorry, I didn’t mean to-.”

“No harm done,” Neville interrupted him with a tentative smile before turning back to Harry, “Alright now, Harry?”

Harry nodded, stuffing his still softly shaking hands into his pockets.

“Oy, you lot! Does this toad belong to one o’ yeh’s?” asked Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.

“Trevor!” Neville cried in horror, all semblance of calm gone upon realizing how close he got to losing his pet again.

Once Trevor was safely tucked in his pocket again, the students all followed Hagrid’s lamp, wandering up a passageway in the rock. While Neville struggled to get the toad back in his robes, Harry chanced a glance at Draco and saw him pouting.

Well, Harry would call it pouting, but Draco would probably call it frowning.

“Hey,” Harry whispered, nudging him, “Sorry for earlier.”

Draco’s eyes widened as he looked at Harry.

“I was kinda freaking out over the boat and took it out on you, snapping and calling you ‘blondie’, even though you were super nice, and I wanted to apologize, because you’re my friend, and I don’t want you to be mad at me.” Harry said in a rush, panicking a little and hoping no one else was listening.

It was embarrassing enough to say, he didn’t want everyone else to hear it too. He knew it had to be said though. His mom had drilled that into his head at a young age. ‘If you know you did something mean, you should apologize, even if they don’t realize it yet. It can only make a relationship stronger, you know, and it will make everyone happier in the long run.’

Draco huffed and looked away as his face took on a tinge of pink. “Merlin’s beard, you don’t have to apologize.”

Harry grinned, his confidence and optimism back in full force. “But you were pouting about it, weren’t you?” Harry leaned into Draco’s space, “Were you all sad because I was mean to you?” he asked in an obnoxiously pouty voice.

“Shove off.” Draco grumbled, pushing Harry away halfheartedly and trying to hide his grin.

Harry laughed, backing off and giving him his space back. His mom was right, owning up to your wrongs and apologizing does make everyone happier.