"Harry! Harry! Wake up!" a voice called, as his body was being rocked back and forth gently. Blinking away the sleep from his eyes, his eye sight slowly went back to normal and the young wizard looked up to see his two friends leaning over him; red hair and freckles; that was Ron and bushy brown hair; that was Hermione. "Get up and get ready, we're about to leave for school," Hermione told him quietly, her voice hushed so as not to disturb the sleeping members of the Order of the Phoenix. Though all three doubted that anyone was still sleeping with the Weasely twins around.
Only an hour later, the trio was packed and waiting at the door with their trunks sitting at their feet. Bird cages, cat cages, broom sticks and random bags of candy, all gathered at their feet waiting patiently or impatiently in the case of the animals, to go.
It was then that a large black dog, that had once struck fear into their hearts trotted and towards them and sat at Harry's side, tongue lolling out in happiness. That is until, a scattered looking wizard with brown hair, made his way over to them, "Sirius! You can not come!"
The dog became a man again in the blink of the eye, but no one seemed startled by the change. "I want to see my godson off to school!" he exclaimed in annoyance.
"I know you do, but Dumbledore said that you had to remain here and you know exactly why!" the man argued back. As much as he did not want to, Harry nodded in agreement concerned for his godfather, and Sirius let out a defeated sigh.
"Good, you're finally here Full Metal," a tall mysterious man said. He had short black hair that fell in the front of his face and a smirk on his lips. Black eyes like charcoal, and a bright blue uniform with the rank of Colonel displayed visibly. The boy he was talking to, Full Metal, stood in front of him angrily. Blond hair fell around his face and was pulled back in a short braid, while his gold eyes fumed at the man in front of him.
"Perhaps if you hadn't sent Major Armstrong after us, we wouldn't have run from him and been back earlier!" the blond shot back, anger clearly in his voice. The large suit of armor behind the boy nodded agreement.
"That doesn't matter, as long as you didn't unpack, Ed," the man explained. "The two of us have a mission that I'm sorry to tell you can not bring Al along, not yet at least."
"Mustang! Why not!" the short boy asked slamming his hand against the desk in front of him.
Mustang, or Colonel Roy Mustang, as those with respect knew him, only shook his head, "You'll see. Gather your things and meet me back here in an hour. We will leave then, shrimp." Roy's trademark smirk was back on, as the 'shrimp' was held back from killing him and dragged out of the room yelling.
Riza Hawkeye stepped out of the corner and looked at her commanding officer curiously, "Why didn't you tell him, sir?"
"If I had told him, he would have refused to come," the Colonel responded without pause.
The Great Hall was filled with laughing and giggling students all arranged in four long tables. Every student wore long black robes, with their houses color paraded proudly on clothing and on the tables themselves. Large empty gold platters sat on the tables, waiting for the food to come and the students to devour it. First, however, the headmaster stood from the teacher's table and moved to give his annual speech. Every student looked forward the to the speech, it generally made no sense at all, ignoring the usual warnings that the care taker, Filch, had him announce.
The students fell silent as the Professor began to speak, "Welcome students! This year we have two new exchanges, staying with us. Much as you did last year, be kind to them, and take them in as your own. Now if you will help me in welcoming the Professor of our new Alchemy class, Colonel Mustang, and his promising student, Edward Elric."
That was their cue. Roy stepped forward and out of the shadows, coming level with the teacher's table before he stopped. Ed fell into step behind him. The younger alchemist managed to keep his face emotionless as he moved forward, despite the urge he had to pound his Colonel into the ground. He still had no idea what they were doing at this strange school, he had only been given the basics before they left. And he did not want to be wearing the stupid military uniform. He got out of it every other day of the year, why not did he have to wear it for an entire year? The Colonel had so happily informed the headmaster that this was their standard uniform and they would wear them the entire year. Now, he had to match the one man he didn't want to for the entire year!
"Explain to me again why we have to wear our uniforms everyday. I would much rather be in those stupid looking robes," Ed whispered out of the side of his mouth in his native tongue. He did not care that the entire school was watching them and examining them while they waited for the rest of the explanation.
"Because runt, this is the only way to make sure that we both have our gloves on at all times. That way no one will see your automail, and I will always be prepared in case of an emergency," the Colonel responded quietly. A small smirk passed his lips as he saw Ed's eye twitch in annoyance as he fought to contain his anger at the comment.
Dumbledore continued, not noticing the small conversation the two held, in truth, he could not understand them, "These two come from the Military Academy in Amestris, both specialize in the alchemy branch. For all students interested in learning alchemy, there will be sign ups in the morning, but first, perhaps the two could give us a demonstration?"
In unison the pair turned and saluted the headmaster before turning to each other, evil grins on their faces. Ed would once again be able to get the Colonel back for not explaining anything to him. Roy would get to attempt to light the pipsqueak on fire again! Nothing could be better! Unless they had to clean everything up on their own again…
Shaking the idea out of their heads they moved into position. Roy raised his arm and snapped his fingers, sending a sphere of flame at the short alchemist. Prepared for this, the blond alchemist dropped and rolled. He came to a stop, squatting on the ground. Quickly clapping his hands he pressed them to the ground and a spike shot out of the ground underneath the Colonel's feet. The man jumped back barely in time and growled, "Full Metal!" as he raised his hand to show the boy with more fire.
"Thank you, gentlemen, that was most interesting and informative," Dumbledore interrupted stopping both alchemist in their tracks before they could kill each other. "Mr. Elric, you may pick a house to join for the year. You will then room with said house and join their classes," the headmaster added gesturing to the four long tables filled with students.
Ed stood staring at the tables unsure of how to choose. He knew nothing of the tables or houses, he was lucky he even knew the name of the school he was at! Mustang had told him nothing! "Table to the right with red and gold," Roy informed the boy quickly in their native tongue.
"Yes, sir. Colonel Bastard, sir!" the blond boy responded a smirk on his face as he mock saluted and walked to his new table. All of the eyes in the room followed him and the 'dreamy' Colonel as they moved to their separate tables. Ed quickly sat down in the only empty spot, between two identical looking red haired boys. They gave him identical grins before turning back to watch the headmaster as he once again introduced a new teacher, "Students, one more to go and then dinner! Let me introduce Professor Umbridge, who will be our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
The woman stood and before the headmaster could continue started a long speech that made the students groan. Some students just stopped paying attention halfway through it, others, who wanted to make a good first impression, zoned out but pretended to listen. Roy made no pretense of paying attention, it was a long and boring speech and he could hardly sit through the ones at headquarters let alone one on something he did not care about. Instead he spent the time, devising ways he could amuse himself. There was always Ed to torture, send flames at the boy, but that would be too obvious. He could, of course, always set the woman on fire, but that would get them thrown out and ruin the mission. He finally decided it was best to just light the woman's napkin on fire, put it out and the light it again. When he was done, the napkin looked normal enough, at least until someone tried to use it. It would crumble and make a worse mess on the person.
Ed sat in his seat, politely sniggering at the woman's speech, unable to not pay attention. Yet, he had his eyes trained on the Colonel, watching with interest and a little joy at the trap the man was setting.
Finally the woman finished speaking and sat. Dumbledore stood up again and motioned for the food to appear without a word. He was like everyone else extremely hungry.
Much to the surprise of the two alchemists the food appeared out of no where on the dishes in front of them. Both were not expecting this and looked ready to attack the food where it lay, until they had calm hands lain on their arms. "It's just dinner, squirt," one of the boys next to Ed said.
"Nothing to worry about," the other informed him.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SMALLER THAN A PEA?" Ed shouted rounding on the first of the boys.
Roy laughed from his spot at the teacher's table, Ed was back to normal, or as normal as he would ever be. Though the laugh stopped short, when he heard Professor Umbridge addressing the headmaster, "You did not inform the ministry that you were starting a new class here or that you had an exchange student and teacher coming! This will have to be looked over and they may have to be sent home."
Roy stood, drawing everyone's attention, "Full Metal! We leave now!" Stopped short in his rant, he looked up at the Colonel curiously, but nodded and moved toward him. "Our military will hear of the way that this has gone, and I am sure that they will not be very happy. This was arranged to help our countries get on better footing, but it looks as if you do not want that!" Roy stated calmly, his face stern as he spoke to the woman. She only stared at him blankly, as he was still speaking in his native tongue.
With a small sigh, Ed spoke up, his English slightly shaky. He quickly translated the Colonel's words and moved to stand next to his commanding officer. It was the first time that anyone had heard them speak, loud enough to make out the words or even in English. The entire hall was silent as they waited for the woman's response.
"Colonel Mustang, please accept my apology, I was unaware of the circumstances and only looked to make everything right with the Ministry!" she managed to say through her shock at what had happened.
"It was a misunderstanding, then," Mustang replied in English this time. "Return to your seat, Ed," he said before moving back to his own. Every girl in the room had their eyes glued on the Colonel; his voice was dreamy and wonderful, exactly as they imagined it.
Ed returned to his seat quietly, wondering exactly what this mission was about. If it was just to help with politics, he was going to kill Mustang. He could have been out searching for the Philosopher's Stone!
A/N: Hope that everyone liked this. I know my friends got a few good laughs before they tried to murder me for starting a crossover. I'll hopefully have the second chapter up tomorrow, as I'll have nothing to do during study first period. Review and let me know what you think!