Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or Harry Potter.

Whatever it Takes

A Fullmetal Alchemist 2003/Harry Potter Crossover

By Lanx Borealis

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Chapter One: Do or Die

Laboratory 5 was the exact lead Edward had been yearning for.

For four years, four long and lonely years, he had clawed at any scrap of information about the Philosopher's Stone. After turning in illegible report after illegible report to Mustang for his failures, he finally caught onto something real.

Something tangible. It hung at his fingertips, a breadth of a hair away. If he twitched his fingers, they would touch greatness. Godhood. His goal.

His resolve.

If he twitched his fingers, they would press against the massive transmutation circle below him. Everything he had worked for, everything he had promised, would come to fruition.

And yet, he hesitated. Whether this hesitation emerged from whatever humanity he could claim he still retained or paralyzing excitement, Edward didn't know.

"Do it, boy!" That mad, insane voice from the homunculus known as Envy rang in his ears, rattled his insides. "Hurry up!"

Edward tore his gaze away from the oh so beautiful and perfect circle up toward the group of prisoners.

They stood huddled inside, pressing against one another tightly, as if numbers alone could save them. The stench of unadulterated fright choked him. It filled his lungs, his belly, and his soul.

"I thought you wanted to see your brother again. Isn't that what you want, Fullmetal pipsqueak?"

Edward's head jerked at that, and he shot Envy a pointed and heated glare. He kept his lips pressed into a tight line, however. He didn't deign the monster towering above him a response.

He still hesitated, his hands hovering above the circle. They shook slightly. Edward then dully realized he couldn't even feel the pains of his previous battle anymore.

The sounds of the shuffling prisoners overpowered Envy's horrible voice. He rose his eyes yet again to the prisoners.

Edward's dull gaze focused on one, the only one standing calm in the pool of fear. Narrowed icy eyes regarded him coolly. No terror emitted from him. Despite his mangy, black hair hanging in his face, Edward could still see his expression.

If you're going to do it kid, do it. Don't just crouch there, with a threat in the palm of your hand. Do, or die.

And that was it, wasn't it? Either he did what he had swore to himself he would do-no matter what-or he'd die.

And he, Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, didn't do dying.

Edward slapped his palms down.

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Alphonse Elric yawned into his hand. With the sun streaming in from the bare window above him, bathing him in soothing yellow light, he found himself succumbing to the warmth of sleep.

He blinked his amber-colored eyes awake, forcing his gaze back down to his summer studies. Despite how interesting the properties of belladonna was in the art of potion making, Al found himself really not caring about it at that exact moment.

He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. Between the ruckus of the orphanage and the nosiness of the muggles he lived with, Al never had time to complete his homework.

And now, with the perfect opportunity, he was falling asleep right on his parchment!

Rather than continue writing his essay on the deeper and more complicated usage of common materials, Al instead found himself absently doodling little circles around the edges of his parchment. Without much thought, he added a second, smaller circle. He fit a small rhombus inside the smaller circle and overlaid all three shapes with a square.

The old image brought a sad smile to Al's lips. He sighed to himself. Four years ago, in a different place and a different time, such a little circle would have had power.

Now, all it was, was a ink circle. Still, Al pressed his thumbs against the tiny circle. He stared for a long moment at the stark black ink, willing for the crackles of alchemy to emerge from the catalyst.

Of course, absolutely nothing happened. From outside, a girl screeched. She screamed at someone for pushing her into mud during play.

Groaning to himself, Al finally admitted to himself he would get nothing done in the state he just put himself in, and pushed his essay away. Instead, he stood to glance out the window. Rather than staring down at the younger children caught up in their games, his sight roamed the skies.

However, besides fat pigeons, no other birds stretched across the yawning blue. A little disappointment dampened him, but Al reminded himself that Germany was quite a flight away from England, and that he had sent his owl out merely a few days ago.

Because for his next school year, Alphonse Elric wasn't going to Durmstrang. No, instead he'd be traveling across the sea, all the way to Hogwarts.

At least, if he got accepted, that is.

With a flutter of doubt in his heart, Al stood up. After tucking all his studies away neatly beneath the faux bottom of his dresser, he returned to sitting beneath the sun at his desk.

With only the firmament watching him, Al doodled transmutation circle after transmutation circle until his head found the cradle of his arms.

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A poignant tap at the window awoke Al.

He groaned as he sat up, his thin shoulders stiff. He blinked down at the drool that had leaked onto his desk. With a small blush, he wiped his mouth before wiping the table.

Another tap broke Al from his grogginess. Stretching his arms high over his head, he peered up at the graying barn owl sitting on the windowsill outside. It's pale yellow eyes glowed like twin moons in the darkening night.

The sight of the owl gave Al all the energy he needed to wake up fully. With a gasp of surprise, Al shot to his feet. After fiddling with the lock on the window, Al finally pushed it up high enough with a grunt for the owl to hop inside.

"Sorry!" Al apologized to the fluffed bird. "I wasn't expecting you back so soon…."

The owl peered up at Al with an ethereal, yet bored gaze. With a flap of its wings, which sent the cup holding Al's writing utensils crashing to the floor, it proffered its letter to the young boy.

Al's eyes shone with excitement, and in that moment he forgot about his pencils and pens rolling around on the floor as he accepted the letter.

"T- thank you!" Al squeaked.

Without awaiting an answer from him, the owl squirmed back through the window, and took flight. It disappeared among the gathering shadows and gloom in the sky.

Too full of energy to even think about sitting down, Al flipped the thick letter with his name printed on it over. The envelope was sealed shut with a massive purple coat-of-arms displaying a badger, a lion, a snake, and an eagle.

Even if the letter didn't say it was from Hogwarts, Al would've known by the seal alone. Fetching his letter opener from where it had fallen among his pens and pencils, Al made quick work getting it open.

For the first time, a little trepidation crept into his veins. His hands shook, but he didn't allow his doubts to voice any of their thoughts as he began reading:

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. Elric,

We are pleased to inform you that, after reviewing your accomplishments at Durmstrang, have approved your transfer request to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment for a fourth year.

We will provide you transportation to England a week before the start of the semester. Please have yourself ready before then.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress

Al's cheeks hurt with the force of his grin. He read the letter three more times, a huge bubble of enthusiasm in his throat. He softly cheered to himself, not wanting any of the other children interrupting his moment.

Tucking the first letter back into the envelope, Al peered down at the list of his required supplies.

UNIFORM

Fourth-year students will require:

1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4. One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4 by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Intermediate Transfiguration by Faye Chalks

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

Ancient Runes Made Easy by Laurenzoo

Rune Dictionary by Laurenzoo & Acacia Crabapple

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales

Students may also bring, if they desire, an owl OR a cat OR a toad.

Besides the robes and a couple of the textbooks, Al already had everything he could possibly need. Without a thought, he slipped his hand under his desk, where he kept his wand hidden.

Along with his two letters, a golden ticket to a platform numbered 9¾ and an official note that would allow him to use the school's Gringotts bank for his supplies was also included. Making sure everything he had pulled out to read over went back into the envelope, Al tucked it away along with his other wizarding supplies at the bottom of his wardrobe.

After picking up everything that had fallen to the floor, Al sat back down at his desk.

In a week's time, a representative from Hogwarts would come to fetch him and take him across the ocean to England. And in two weeks time, he would be starting a new semester at a new school.

Al wouldn't lie to himself; he supposed he would miss a few of his professors from Durmstrang and perhaps even a couple of his peers. But Al knew Hogwarts was the destination his future was guiding him too. There, he would regain what he had lost.

With that precious thought calming him, Al took his leave downstairs for dinner.

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Next Chapter: A Sin Forgiven by Sin

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Hullo, I'm going to try and keep my A/Ns as short as possible for this story! I wasn't really planning on writing another FMA/HP crossover... or well, a new multichaptered fanfiction in general! But I got some Ideas and Started Thinking and you know how bad Thinking can be. I ended up scribbling stuff down... and now I have an entire outline for this fic, a general direction, and a general ending already planned out. As you do. Now I just got to write the damn thing.

If I am being honest, this entire fic is super self-indulgent on my part. It's also a writing exercise that I am doing.

See, thing is, I tend to be an overwriter, which means I tend to overwrite scenes and make them a lot longer than they have to be. Case in point is my contemporary novel I am trying to write. In The Industry, contemporary novels are usually around 350 pages long... sometimes 400. Now, while writing the first draft of my novel, the first 13 chapters (out of (now) 39...) turned out to be over 150 pages long, which is almost half the word count of a typical contemporary. Of course, word count shouldn't matter... except if you're a debut author in The Industry it kinda does. Word count is important in the sense of "is what you're writing important? Does every word have some sort of meaning to the story?" And I can write an entire essay on word count, and I am not going to. My point is, I tend to overwrite. Badly. It's a bad habit. I have a lot of bad writing habits. This story is going to be me trying to break these habits!

Which means: Short chapters (Like, less than 3,000 words long), less dialogue tags, less wordy sentences, and a slightly modified style to try and retain my usual flowery-ness I have. (and keep myself out of purple prose... I don't want to fall into that hellhole!) among other things! I am trying to improve my writing and break it into the bare bones of what it is.

Another reason why I decided to write this is, of course, that sweet sweet sense of Validation only strangers on the internet can give you. I like sharing my writing with people and like people telling me they like what I got and want more. I'm selfish like that, what can I say?

Anyways, last thing I wanna point out, this fic is, again, self-indulgent. I didn't even know this crossover... uh... fandom? Yeah, this counts as a fandom, was still on-going and since it is, I read some other works again, reread some stuff I loved, and got more ideas so yeah. I don't care if this fic isn't original. I don't think any fanfic author needs to prove themselves to be "original" to post what they post. If someone wants to write the most trope-filled crossover in all existence... then who cares. Fanfic is free. Don't like what's around? Write what you wanna read yourself.

Sorry for the soapbox, since poking around this fandom again, I've seen some discussions that just make me go, hmm not cool, and I am protective of other fic authors (for the most part...) what can I say?

Anyways, this is (probably) going to be the longest A/N of this dumb fic. If you have any questions or concerns, you can shoot me a PM if you want... I'll... try and answer it in a timely manner. No promises I am bad at PMing people, jsyk.

Thank y'all for suffering through this lengthy A/N! And thank you for reading this short, first chapter! I already have some chapters typed up, so I will try and post a chapter every time I get two new chapters written up. That way, I can stay a couple chapters ahead of what's posted just in case.

Comments and favorites are greatly appreciated. And although I will never hold fics hostage for either... they do make me wanna write more. Just sayin'!