One

"Hurry!" Severus hissed. "We haven't much time." He grabbed Lily's elbow, pulling her out of the nursery, baby Harry wrapped tightly in her arms. Already, the pair could hear the pops of apparition outside the wards, and the steady hammering of strong magic, trying to break through. The golems had been put into place, ready to activate as soon as Riddle's magic touched them, starting a chain of events that would change the face of the wizarding world. Severus' love for Lily transcended his jealousy, and he hurriedly pulled her out of the cottage through the back door, dragging her across the uneven ground. They could hear the intense battle in front of the cottage; James, Remus and Sirius trying to delay the inevitable for as long as they could. At first, the men didn't want to listen as Snape outlined the headmaster's plans and ideas for their Harry. With pensieve evidence, however, the truth was irrefutable. Harry was meant to be a sacrifice for the Greater Good. After all, what was the life of one infant, compared to the thousands of wizards who would be saved by the sacrifice?

They sprinted away through the chilly October night, the fog swirling around their legs as they hurried into the dense forest surrounding the small town of Godric's Hollow. Rushing through the trees and underbrush, they finally came to rest in a small clearing, deep enough in the forest to prevent anyone from seeing the magic the Potions Master had put into place there.

The circle was filled with swirling power, the runes carved into the frost-hardened earth glowing as they waited for the right magic to activate them. Kissing Lily passionately, he gently nudged her into the center of the circle before he raised his wand, incanting the spell that would take his beloved to safety. "Permoveo tergum per vicis quod locus!" A wall of light rose up from the circle, surrounding woman and child, and, just before she was whisked away to parts unknown, she heard a heartrending shout: "I love you, Lily. Do not forget me…"

Her landing in a strange country was rough and jarring, and she nearly dropped her child trying to regain her balance. She stood in the middle of a sprawling field, gently rising and dipping in hills and vales as she turned to take in all she could see. Far in the distance, she could make out a house, with what looked like some sort of sign, and, heaving a huge sigh, she stumbled toward it, squinting in the glaring sunlight. It took several moments, and Harry began to squirm and mutter fitfully in his mother's tight grasp, but she finally reached the building, looking at it with no small amount of amazement.

The sign above it said Rockbell Automail, and a sign on the dirt road, shaped like an arrow and pointing away from the shop, said Resembool. Lily rolled her eyes and looked down into the emerald orbs staring up at her from the blankets swaddling him. "Where did Severus send us? Why here?" she mumbled, jumping in panic when the door to the shop opened suddenly. In the doorway stood a man and woman, both very blonde and beautiful in a classical way. The woman appeared to be pregnant, though not very far along. "May we help you?" the woman asked, her voice clear and bell-like. Lily looked at her for a moment, and the fear must have been apparent in her eyes, for the man held out his hand, his smile gentle and kind.

"Please come in," his deep voice said, his hand gesturing. "We won't harm you." Stumbling slightly, she made her way slowly up the wooden stairs until she was standing on the small porch. As the woman reached out to her, she flinched away, her emerald eyes widening with fright.

"You look like you've had a rough time of it," the woman said gently. "Please come in and let us take a look at you." Pulling in a deep breath and gathering her flagging courage in her hands, Lillian Charlene Evans-Potter stepped through the threshold and into a new world.

"Why do you have to go?" Trisha Elric Hohenheim asked in the quiet darkness. "The boys love you so much. You can't just leave them." She paused for a moment before continuing. "And what about me? I need you here. Please don't go." Van reached up, cupping his wife's face gently in his hands and looking deeply into emerald eyes.

"I must," he murmured, brushing a tender kiss to her lips. "There are strange things afoot. The alchemy of the land feels off, somehow, and I need to discover why. If my sons are to become renowned alchemists in their own right, I need to find and fix whatever is wrong with our science." The woman once known as Lily Potter heaved a sigh full of sadness and regret.

"I understand," she murmured softly. "The least you can do is see the boys before you go. They'll be so angry if you leave without saying 'goodbye'." Whatever Hohenheim was about to say died on his lips as a soft sound came from his right. Slowly, he turned his head, eyes widening at the three pair of eyes staring up at him. Simon Hohenheim, the oldest, narrowed his emerald eyes as he watched his father walk toward them. Van knelt on the floor, wrapping the three boys in his arms and murmuring his goodbyes into their ears. Tears shimmered on the edges of golden and spring green eyes, and the two youngest clutched at their father desperately. Simon bowed his head for a moment, eyes closed, before he looked back up and into his father's pained orbs. Nodding, he stepped back and out of his father's embrace, watching as the man stood and turned away. The four-year-old boy crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the man's departing back. His brothers, two-year-old Edward and one-year-old Alphonse, stood on either side of the oldest boy, gripping his shirt tightly in balled up fists, tears falling, as they watched their father walk out the door.

"Where's dada going?" he asked roughly, turning his glare onto his mother. She heaved a quiet sigh, cursing the man in her head as she turned to her sons.

"Your father has some important alchemy business to see to," she said, smiling at her sons. Simon glared harder while Ed and Al let go of his shirt and toddled forward, arms raised to their mother. She knelt down, sitting on her legs as she pulled the two smallest boys into her arms. Looking into Ed's golden eyes, then Al's pale green eyes, she smiled at them before hugging them tightly to her. Simon stood his ground in the middle of the hall, still glaring at his mother. She looked to him and saw the fear and uncertainty hiding behind the belligerence, and smiled, beckoning him to her. Grudgingly, he came forward, cuddling into his mother's side as she swept him into her group hug. She put her mouth next to his ear, whispering for only him to hear. "You are the man of the house. I need you to be strong for your brothers. Always."

Twelve-year-old Simon burst through the doors to the house first, his smile wide as he held up the fish he had caught for dinner. Ed tumbled in after, his own smile broad at the fish in his hands, while Al brought up the rear, the pout on his face monstrous. The boys ran up to their mother, each chiming their excitement to her, or, in Al's case, bemoaning the unfairness of it all. They were careful in their exuberance; their mother had been ill for some time, having just gotten out of bed after several days of coughing and weakness. Granny Rockbell had looked after the woman to the best of her ability, silently cursing her son and daughter-in-law for dying. She had no real skill with the ways of illness, having been trained as a surgeon, and was unsure how to treat the ailing woman. Trisha laughed and smiled at all of them, taking the fish from Ed and Simon, and patting Al consolingly on the head before she took the food to the sink to clean. She turned and smiled widely at Simon, his raven locks riotous around his tanned face, and winked at him.

"Did you happen to have a little help with your catch, Simon?" she asked, smirking. The raven blushed profusely, and both Al and Ed glared at the boy.

"You cheated?" Ed screeched, his hands fisted on his hips. "You used your magic?" Simon ducked his head sheepishly, a small grin on his face. Trisha had started training Simon in the use of wandless magic when the child had turned five. He was a prodigy; able to cast the simple spells by the time he was six, and at ten had advanced quickly into fifth-year spells. She worked tirelessly with him, training him in the protective spells so that, should the day come that he return to his own world and time, he would not be unarmed. His brothers thought it was amazing; just another form of alchemy, and they begged to be taught the magics as well. Both Ed and Al had inherited their gift of alchemy from their father, and had gained a bit of magic from their mother. They were able to do simple spells, but couldn't hold a candle to Simon.

"Now, Edward," Trisha said soothingly, running her hands through the boy's pale locks, "it's not really cheating. Just like using alchemy to complete your chores isn't cheating." The blond flushed scarlet at being caught out, and Simon's emerald eyes narrowed suspiciously on his younger brother.

"Is that why I always ended up doing twice as much as you?" he asked menacingly. "You were using alchemy to make my chores harder?" Before Simon could advance on his younger brother, a gasp rang out through the room, and three pairs of eyes widened on their mother as they watched her clutch at her chest before collapsing in a graceless heap to the floor.

"MOM!" Al shrieked, rushing to his mother's side. Blood spilled slowly from between her parted lips, and her breaths were shallow and rasping. Ed felt her forehead, yanking his hand back with a hiss at the burning heat boiling from her skin. Simon knelt on her other side, her hand gripped tightly in his and tears spilling from his eyes. Al hurried from the house, sprinting all the way to Pinako's, hoping against hope that she would be able to save their mom. By the time Al had returned with help, Simon and Ed had moved their mother to her bedroom, where shuddering, rasping gasps could be heard. Pinako bustled into the room, shooing the boys away from the bed as she bent to the dying woman. A weak cough rattled Trisha's chest, and the old woman jerked back as a small spattering of blood flew from bluing lips. "Please take care of my boys," she rasped with her last breath. As the boys watched, helpless, Pinako gently folded the woman's hands on her chest and pulled the sheet over her face.

"I will," she whispered as scalding tears fell.

Six months after the funeral, Ed and Al had returned to the homestead. Simon threw himself at his brothers, happy to see them once again. The training that the pair had received from Izumi Curtis had gone well, and both boys were highly skilled alchemists. Simon continued to practice his magic, and he had found his mother's wand, hidden amongst her things. He couldn't use it himself, but he was comforted by the familiar touch of her magic, and had slept with it until his brothers' return. Simon had also found documents and birth records detailing who he had been before they came to Resembool. A letter, written to Simon from his mother, had him crying helplessly for days.

My dearest firstborn son,

If you're reading this, chances are I've passed on. I am sorry. If you've found your birth certificate, then you know that Van Hohenheim isn't your father, and my name isn't Trisha Elric. Where we came from, there is an evil man who wanted to kill you when you were a baby. A very dear, wonderful man by the name of Severus Snape saved us. He was my very best friend, and loved me deeply. He felt it was the only way to save the both of us. He helped me to come up with the name, taken from the letters of my true name, as a way to encourage me to think about a new life. Back there, you would have had no life. You would have been hunted and persecuted. Here, you can make a life for yourself. Take care of your brothers and be happy.

I love you, Harry James Potter.

"We can do it," Ed said quietly, showing the information to his brothers. "I've looked all through dad's notes, and I've found the information on human transmutation. With all of the ingredients, we will be able to bring mom back." Simon looked into determined golden eyes, cautious.

"Are you sure that we can do it? Should we do it?" he asked carefully, not wishing to anger his brother. Ed rolled his eyes.

"I just want mom back." He looked over at Simon and Al. "Don't you?" Looking at each other, the other two boys finally nodded.

"If you're sure you know what you're doing," Al said hesitantly, his eyes wary.

"When do you want to do this?" Simon asked, determined to do what he could to make his brothers happy.

"Saturday," Ed answered. "We'll have all of the ingredients by then, and it will give me time to make sure the transmutation circle is right."

Saturday dawned cold and overcast, the clouds pregnant with rain and the distant thunder marking the time. If asked, the boys would have said that the weather matched their moods of gravid watchfulness. The hours slowly ticked by as Edward carefully drew the transmutation circle on the floor in his dad's office, the only room big enough to perform the transmutation. He drew and scrubbed at the circle, desperate to make sure there were no mistakes, before standing back. He stared at it for a time, seeing the array in his mind and focusing on making sure the symbols weren't smudged or blurred. Finally satisfied, he called his brothers into the room and positioned them. Around the circle, each boy solemnly placed all of the ingredients present in the human body, in weights that would be identical to those contained in their mom's physical form. Ed called out each ingredient as it was placed.

"Water, 35 liters. Carbon, 20 kilos. Ammonia, 4 liters. Lime, 1.5 kilos. Phosphorous, 800 grams. Salt, 250 grams. Saltpeter, 100 grams. Sulfur, 80 grams. Flourine, 7.5 grams. Iron, 5 grams. Silicon, 3 grams, and trace amounts of several other materials." He hesitated for a moment, before he pulled out a sharp knife. "For the soul, our blood. The blood of her sons." He nicked the index finger of his brothers before cutting his own, and all three boys dripped their precious life's blood into the mound of chemicals and base metals.

Each boy knelt outside the outer edge of the transmutation circle. Though Simon could not perform the alchemy, he was there to help should his brothers need it. Carefully, Al and Ed placed both palms on the circle, activating it as they concentrated, watching as the ingredients swirled together in the center. Simon set his magic loose from his core, allowing it to swirl within the alchemic reaction. Almost instantly, Simon felt something off about the power that was cycling through the room, and he rose to interrupt the transmutation, but he was too late. He fell to the floor, screaming and writhing, listening as his brothers also cried out in pain. Eyes wide with shock, he watched as his arms slowly dissolved to the shoulder, the pain unbearable. Looking over at his brothers with tear-filled eyes, he was stunned to see that Ed's left leg had disappeared to the top of the thigh, and Al's entire body was fading away. He dived toward his youngest brother, reaching out arms he no longer had to stop the boy disappearing, as Ed screamed, his own hands reaching vainly for his baby brother.

"Al!" Ed screamed, reaching…reaching. "AL!" Simon struggled to his knees and crawled over to his brother, trying to hold him, and cursing under his breath as he forgot, once again, that he no longer had arms. Blood dripped and ran from the mangled stumps, but Simon ignored the pain and gore, trying to help his brother. A gurgling moan came from the other side of the transmutation circle, and emerald and gold eyes swiveled slowly toward the sound, small cries escaping the boys at the inhuman thing that lay on the floor, its eyes wide and crazed as it gurgled "Edward…"

"My fault," Ed whimpered, closing his eyes in horror. "All my fault." Simon gently kicked his brother, nudging him to get his attention.

"We can get Al back," he said vehemently, voice full of pain and fear. "If we put a blood seal in one of the suits of armor, we can use my magic and your alchemy to anchor his soul to it." Hesitantly, making a conscious effort not to look at the dead thing in the corner, they crawled and wriggled over to the fallen armor, Ed dipping his fingers in his own blood to draw the seal on the inside of the neck. At Simon's insistence, to bind them all together more firmly, Ed used his older brother's blood to draw the transmutation circles on his own flesh, activating them as Simon leaned on Ed's shoulder and whispered an ancient spell he'd found in one of his mother's books. "Addo animus ut vita." The boys were wrenched from their places in the real, and found themselves lying prostrate before a giant wooden door. A sinister voice whispered from the blinding whiteness, scaring them both.

"Why are you here?"

"Give him back!" Ed gasped tearfully. "He's our brother. Give him back!"

"And what will you give us in return for him?"

"Anything," Simon answered, cuddling into his younger brother's side fearfully. "Take anything."

"Very well," the voice said. The boys were wrenched through the Gate, hurtling at inhuman speeds as what looked like centuries of knowledge and experience flew past them. Ed's right arm disappeared up to the shoulder, the blond's eyes wide with terror, and it was the last thing Simon would ever see as the Gate took his sight as payment for Alphonse's soul. The boys thumped down on the floor, moaning and bleeding. Neither reacted as the seven foot tall suit of armor suddenly sat up, the tinny sound of Al's voice echoing within the broad chest.

"Brothers? Brothers?"

Pinako Rockbell was not a happy woman. Not at all. She and Winry, her granddaughter, had seen the commotion at the Hohenheim residence through the storm, and had rushed to the house, dreading what they would find. Pinako had taken care of Simon as much as she could while Al and Ed were away, and she had grown to love the quiet, introspective child. Winry's rambunctious nature was tempered by Simon, and they spent a great deal of time studying together. He had even shown the little blonde some of his magic, and Pinako was awed at the unusual power the child had.

When they arrived at the Hohenheim house, they were dismayed and horrified at what they had found. Simon was laying on the floor, curled around Edward. Both of Simon's arms were gone, and his eyes appeared to be caked with blood. Ed's right arm and left leg was missing, and blood was smeared all over the room, indicating a massive struggle had taken place. The most shocking thing, however, was the seven foot tall animated armor with Al's voice. Stuttering badly, the armor, who they had no choice but to believe was Al, explained all that the boys had been up to, and Pinako was enraged at their stupidity. Pity would come later, but for now, she had Al carry Ed while she and Winry took Simon back to their home, where they spent a very long time recovering.

A/N: Permoveo tergum per vicis quod locus is Latin for move back through time and place. Addo animus ut vita is bring soul to life in Latin.