Alchemy: Magic vs. Science

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D/C: I own nothing.

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First Name: Informal

Last Name: Formal (Or used to annoy to annoy others...)

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"English and Edward's accented voice."

"Amestrian, foreign languages, or to add emphasis."

Written notes or to add extra emphasize

'Thoughts.'

"Two-Way Radio."

-.-

"I will give you that, Alchemy does have a mystical force behind it. Alchemy is an art of manipulating and altering matter by using natural energy. This act is known as "Transmutation". There is a sequence that comes along with that, comprehension, deconstruction, and reconstruction."

"I understand that, Mr. Elric. However..." A sixth year, a Ravenclaw by the name of Wallace Cross, said in an opinionated voice, he read out of a familiar looking book. "Alchemy is a branch of magic and an ancient science concerned with the study of four basic elements, as well as the study of the transmutation of substances, thus it is intimately connected with potion-making, transformation magic, and chemistry...."

Edward leaned against his desk, arms crossed over his chest and his expression showed he wanted nothing more than to hear what was being said to him. What was being said to him was nothing new to him, the Golden Blonde had read it in one of the many books back in that bookstore in Diagon Alley. Thinking back, the book the brat has is one of the books that were in the 'hell no' pile. The book was geared towards far too much in the magical sense of Alchemy. He wasn't going to deny that Alchemy has some sort of mystical force behind it. However, to fully understand Alchemy, you must understand the science behind it. If you do not understand the smaller details, then everything will blow up in your face. Severally.

How did Wallace get into his class again?

Oh, right, he did well in the chemistry problems, everything else... not so much.

'Do I kick him out? Nah, that will be too easy.' Edward pushed away from his desk, he walked over towards the Ravenclaw who was nose deep into his book and reading aloud from it. The Alchemy Teacher reached over and yanked the book out of the sixth year's hands. "Look... Alchemy with the way I was taught is like this..."

-.-

A first-year Hufflepuff scurried along the main floor of the school to head over to the Great Hall. It was almost lunchtime and he wanted to get there before the rush. He slowed down his pace when he got closer to the Alchemy classroom, the last thing he needed is the Alchemy teacher to chew him out for making too much noise.

The Hufflepuff heard rumors that the Alchemy Teacher will snap at the smallest of things. From people mentioning anything about milk, heights, and will...very random things. Right, when it felt like the first year was home free, the doors of the Alchemy classroom burst open and a sixth year Ravenclaw stormed with a look of complete humiliation and anger.

"Class is not over yet!"

"I do not care! I quit this wretched class!"

"Ah.... did I hurt your ego?"

"Ugh!"

The first year Hufflepuff stood there completely terrified at what was happening in front of him. Terrified went to petrified when he saw Mr. Elric stuck his head out of the classroom. Mr. Elric turned his line of sight towards him and raised an eyebrow at him. "Cedric Diggory, right?"

Cedric nodded slowly, not trusting his voice at that moment.

"Could you do me a favor?"

Another slow nod.

"Could you go look for Professor Flitwick, tell him I need to talk to him."

"Yes, sir..."

-.-

"You want all of them? All of them?"

"Look... I know a lot of people do not understand me due to the accent... I need every book you have here that is even remotely liked to Alchemy. All of it, if the books are checked out then check them back in."

Madam Irma Pince gave the Alchemy Teacher a look of complete befuddlement. Why in the world would he want with all those books? It is understandable if he wanted to borrow one here and there but all of them? It didn't help that the young man that was standing in front of her had explained how there is a huge possibility that the information the books are untrue. Complete blasphemy. And... The mere thought of it just made her blood curl. "I will have all the books ready by the end of the day."

"Good. Good."

-.-

Inside a small London café, sitting in the back of the shop a group of 'college' friends and their loyal canine companion, sat around enjoying a nice of hot cup tea or coffee. To anyone from the outside, it appeared that the group was catching up from a long break from seeing each other. Talking about the weather, their hobbies, family or anything that was relevant to the topic. That was what it appeared on the outside, in the inside...

"So...How are we going to do this?" Jean asked over his cup of hot cup of coffee.

"We could always make a ruckus..." Vato stated as he munched on a muffin. "We don't have Edward's owl to help us or the kid himself."

"How about w-" Alex attempted to say but was shot down when everyone gave him a look to remain quiet. The sparkles around him dulled greatly and even his mustache dropped to match his mood.

"Ideas are needed, but not to put us in jail for disturbing the peace and public nudity." Roy laughed when a group of individuals entered the café. His eyes were deadpan that did not match his laughing smile. If anything, they showed how much he wanted to cringe at what Alex is thinking.

"...That could be the only way..." Riza stated, she took a small bite out of a lemon scone. "Get their attention, however, ensure we keep it at a bare minimum. Allow that bare minimum to whisper and allow them to come to us..."

Alex quickly cried tears of joy at the fact his plan was taken into consideration. Although by the looks of it, the plan is going to be downgraded massively. There goes making a statue...

"What exactly should we do?" Kain gulped down nervously, it was going to be one cold day in hell since...Riza... is going along with Alex idea.

"Well... They do magic, might as well do a magic show..." Vato stated with a shrug, he lifted up his own cup of coffee up towards his lips. His eyes wondered over towards Roy to see a familiar sparkle in his eyes. The same type of sparkle that only happened when he came up with a plan that involved chaos, chaos, and more chaos. "I was kidding..."

"What a glorious idea!"

"I was kidding!"

"I like that idea."

"It could work."

"Let's give it a go."

"Sounds like fun."

"...I was being sarcastic..."

-.-

Alarms went off in a certain area in the Ministry of Magic people scurried around in a panic. People whispered of muggle performers doing actual magic and the rumors flew around the building.

"What...? What IS that?"

"Is this magic? What are they doing?"

"WHATDEPARTMENTDOESTHISGOTO?"

-.-

Laughter filled the area, people of all ages watched on with wonder in their eyes. No one wondered this magic is done. Flames licked their faces as the main performer snapped his fingers and flames erupted from his fingertips. The flickering fire got close to the spectators, but never touched them. All the crowd could feel was the heat. It was entertaining to see, and many could only watch in awe. Certain individuals pushed their way into the crowd, completely unaware that they were being watched themselves.

"The man isn't using magic."

"Then explain what he is doing."

"Muggle magic?"

"This isn't Muggle Magic..."

"Then what is it?"

The Flame performer snapped his fingers one last time, causing a loud bang to reverberate throughout the area and a lightning-quick burst of flame to momentarily blind all in attendance. Once everyone regained their eyesight, it was then everyone took note the performer had mysteriously vanished.

An Auror stood, flabbergasted, staring at the spot where the small group had just been.

"He... they... what... WHAT?" he stuttered, confused beyond reason. He looked around to his fellow Aurors. They were all just as confused as he. One of them finally shook himself free of the trance, though a bit late, and muttered a Point Me spell, drawing the rest of the small group back to reality. They were led to a newly built wall.

"Is it working?"

"It's a simple Point Me spell. Of course, it's working!"

"But it says...."

"I KNOW what it SAYS! But they aren't right in front of us, are they? And they're not Magic, so they should be close. You two," he said, pointing to his fastest comrades, "go around to the other side of this wall, see what's there. You two spread out. They've GOT to be close..."

-.-

Behind the newly constructed wall, Alex Louis Armstrong and Roy Mustang grinned silently, listening to the Auror's conversation while they waited for Riza to choose the best route for them from her vantage point. They were, after all, a well-functioning military group, left alone, unsupervised and bored in a new country, only told to "get the official's attention". To hell if Roy wasn't going to enjoy this game.

-.-

"And which of those elements that you listed is a gas?" Edward quizzed a student from his Monday class.

"That would be th-"

The door slammed open, interrupting the student's answer and drawing an irritated sigh from Edward.

"Edward Elric?" A Ministry official asked desperately, staring a hole into Edwards's head. Edward ignored him and signaled to the young Ravenclaw to continue.

"Colonel Elric!"

Edward growled but otherwise continued to ignore him.

"And what are the properties of that element.... Rachel?" He called on another student, turning his back to the official.

As Edward attempted to keep his class going for the last ten minutes, the Ministry man continued trying to gain his attention. Finally, Edward snapped.

"COLONEL ELRI-"

"VHAT?! I HAFFE TEN MINUTES LEFT IN ZIS CLASS! TEN MINUDES! TEN MINUDES IN VHICH ZEZE STUTENTS COULD PE FINISHING ZEIR LEZON, LEARNING UZEFUL DINGS INSTEAD OF MY NAME AND RANK! NOV YOU GET TO VAIT VITH ZEM—ZILENTLY!- UNDIL I ZAY DAT CLASS IS FINISHED!"

"But sir!"

"ZIT! DOVN! UNLESS YOU CAN LIST THE BERIODIC TABLE ELEMENTS LIKE MY STUDENTS CAN, SHUT UP!"

The stunned man sat down, speechless, in the back of the classroom for the next ten minutes, trying to ignore the snickering from the students that "Mr. Elric ROCKS."

-.-

Edward silently fumed as he followed the Ministry Official up towards Dumbledore's office. The class had just ended, and lunch had just begun for everyone else but himself. He might as well see what the crazy government officials want with him. Seeing as they only brought one guy to bring him in, it would either be a small issue, or they assumed that they only need one idiot to force him to do whatever they want him to do.

The former Alchemist inwardly snorted at that last thought, they will be sorely mistaken. Even if he can use alchemy, Edward has other skills to pull through whatever gets thrown his way. Especially dealing with Idiot Number 1, the idiot is maintaining his space away from him and would only occasionally glance back to ensure of his own safety.

The only time the Ministry Official spoke was when he said the password to Dumbledore's office. The Gargoyle moved away to reveal the spiral staircase to them and they both walked through to get into the office. The moment that they both passed through the entrance, it closed behind, tension filled the air and it wasn't coming off Edward this time around.

"Vat is it dat you vant vith me?" Edward asked the Ministry Official, inwardly he grinned at how the man flinched away from him. "Vill?"

"Earlier this day, several individuals arrived in London and uh..." The older man took out a piece of parchment and started to read from it. "A male with unkempt black hair, dark eyes, and is wearing a three-piece muggle suit, performing some sort of fire magic in front of a group of muggles."

"Vat the hell does this supposed to mean to me?" Edward bluntly asked, inwardly when he heard the description of the individual, he couldn't help but be reminded of someone from back home. Someone that should remain there and not be here in this country. His mood soured at the thought of that, it didn't help that once officially entered Dumbledore's office to see the old man pacing sitting behind his desk. Hogwarts' headmaster ran his hand through a red feathered bird's feathers while the creature cooed at the affection. "Old man, do you know vat is happening? This is not part of any deal we had and goes along with them knowing about my rank."

"My apologies, Mr.-pardon me, Colonel Elric-"

"Just Mr. Elric will suffice."

"When we had the complication with helping gather your belongings in Xing, I had to reveal your information to the Ministry of Magic. They rather took it into stride at the fact you are a Military Officer, a high-ranking officer, especially now..." Dumbledore trailed off at a familiar looking contract on his desk. Edward mind went back momentarily before he groaned inwardly. Before officially signing the contracting to work at the school, he had created a resume and he only briefly mentioned his military career. Of course.

"We would like you to help us with this..."

"Is that an order?"

"I have orders to bring you back to Muggle London to help us..."

Edward raised an eyebrow at the man in front of him, any emotion of uneasiness and freight gone. Dare he say, the guy had the gall to act like he had an upper hand when he reached towards his person. To reach for his wand perhaps, not like that's going to help him. The Golden Blonde mentally calculated how fast the wizard could take out his wand and the amount of time he could grab hold of the coat rack that was next to him to use as a weapon. As tempting as it sounds to beat the guy into a bloody pulp, there is an animal in the room and would not want such a creature to see such a sight.

Dumbledore had a similar train of thought when he quickly stood up and clapped his hands together to dissipate the tension in his office. "Would you help us at our time of need, Mr. Elric? Perhaps this person is doing alchemy?"

Edward snorted, he leaned toward the coat rack just in case he would need it and gave the Ministry official a deadpan expression. "I'll help... Not because you lot are threatening me; I am curious what has all of you on edge...I want to shake hands with the main cause for the disturbance for causing you guys to ask a simple muggle for help."

"Why you little..."

Bang!

Silence...

"...In my defense.... He wanted to use dat stick against me..."

"...Is he alive?"

"Let me check..."

Poke. Poke. Poke. Groan.

"Yes."

-.-

"They are running around the area, Sir."

"Are they close to finding us?"

"Not even close."

"Keep in informed of their movements."

"Yes, sir."

Mustang clicked a button on a two-way radio, he grinned at the device in his hand. Fuery had come upon an electronics store before their big plan had begun. One of the main items he got was a couple of two-way radios, something that is far more useful to the radios they have back at Amestris. "Everything is in the clear, those idiots are several blocks away from us. Havoc has them in his sights."

Armstrong response is a pose that was in no doubt passed down the Armstrong Family for several generations. The Alchemist were in a different alleyway and are hiding behind a seemingly wrongly placed stone wall. Nothing in suspicious at all... Unless you are a local and know for fact this wall should not be there at all.

"Should we put on another sho-" Mustang went on to say but was interrupted when Havoc's voice came out of the two-way radio.

"We have a problem."

"What's the problem, Havoc?"

"I just spotted Colonel Elric."

"... Come again?"

"Colonel Elric is with the idiots."

Mustang and Armstrong glanced at each other with blank expressions. For the former, this wasn't part of the game plan, Elric chess piece was not supposed to come into play until much later. Even if the brat could no longer do alchemy, he could recognize Armstrong's work and the game had just barely started.

Mustang pulled out his two-way radio and promptly pressed a button. "Where are they right now? What is their current locat-"

"OI! COLONEL BASTARD!"

To be continued...

R/R.