AN/ Hello again. Thank you for your patience over the wait. Here's the next one, a little Mustang, Hawkeye and Ed fun before things get too serious. I'll put in a few notes at the bottom of the chapter as well, so without further ado, here we go.

Disclaimer: No, Harry Potter isn't mine, neither is full metal alchemist, or any of the other brilliant pieces of work lining my bookshelves. (sigh)

AN/ Oh, there is a line in this chapter that I have to thank Lady Banshee 999, in a review for chapter 7. I couldn't get it out of my head and it fit in here so well. Heh heh.

Ch 14: Enter Hawkeye

Early the next morning, Ed managed to catch hold of the Headmaster just as he was leaving and informed him of what was going on. The old wizard was happy to transport him to the train station to collect the lieutenant and then deliver the two of them to the ministry as he had business with the minister that day.

Waiting on the platform beside Dumbledore, Ed was suddenly conscious of the odd picture the two of them made. Neither of them had changed into more 'normal' clothes and they were attracting quiet a lot of attention from the civilians on the platform. Trying to ignore the questioning looks thrown their way, he turned to his companion and cleared his throat.

"Sir, I was wondering if I could ask you something." It wasn't often that he was so respectful of his elders, but the old wizard had an odd air about him that just seemed to create automatic deference from others.

At Dumbledore's silently raised eyebrow, Ed collected his thoughts, "There have been accusations and rumours flying around amongst the student body," he began carefully, "As far as I can tell, there is something very serious brewing but I have a rather limited knowledge of what is going on. I would like to get hold of some of the other members of 'the order' as Harry called them. The more information I can get hold of the better, and it would also help the Colonel on his end if he knew something of what you are doing."

Dumbledore nodded gravely, before turning his attention on the approaching train.

"I can arrange for you to meet with some of our other operatives, I'll organise for them to contact you. All I ask is that you keep your meetings discrete. You are right in thinking that there is something going on. We have been able to sense it for months now, but the enemy is covering his tracks well." An uncharacteristic frown shadowed his features for a moment before clearing again, "Keep a report on anything you hear spoken of amongst the students that you believe may be of importance." He smiled brightly and the twinkle was back in his blue eyes, "If there is one thing I know about my students is that if there is an interesting piece of news, they will tend to sniff it out. Oh, here we go."

As he finished speaking a train pulled into the platform in front of where they were standing.

It didn't take them long to spot Hawkeye once the passengers started to disembark. Her precise royal blue uniform and immaculate blond hair stood out a mile. Catching sight of them, she did a rather comical double take and Ed sighed, knowing he was going to get it big time for his school uniform.

Threading her way through the crowd, she stopped in front of him and greeted him with a rather formal, "Sir." there was, however, a trace of amusement in her eyes as she studied his attire carefully.

Before she could say anything, however, Dumbledore stepped forward and bowed his head slightly, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I am afraid that we are on a rather tight schedule at the moment, if the two of you would just come with me, we shall be on our way."

They had decided that subjecting Hawkeye to apparating would be a little too much for the woman so soon after arriving, so Dumbledore had arranged for one of the ministry's cars to pick them up at the station and to transport them to the ministry's main headquarters.

It took about fifteen minutes to reach their destination and the whole time, Hawkeye continued to throw suspicious looks Dumbledore's way. Not that Ed could blame her. They'd had enough trouble lately with odd strangers and the Hogwarts Headmaster definitely came under the heading of strange.

"Don't be too concerned Lieutenant, there are a lot of odd things going on around here, but the Colonel will be able to give you some idea of what to expect." He muttered aside to her, and she turned her serious eyes on him to give him a slight nod of acknowledgement.

She would hold her judgement for now, he guessed.

The street they were taken to was not one he would have expected a government building to be housed in, and Ed's confusion grew as they pulled up in front of an old red telephone box. He turned quizzical eyes on Dumbledore then exchanged a rather resigned shrug with Hawkeye. He had rather gotten used to the odd things that happened around these people by now.

Dumbledore ushered them into the box, it was rather a tight squeeze with the three of them, then picked up the receiver and dialled.

A rather cool female voice sounded out from thin air, "Welcome to the ministry of magic. Please state your name and business."

Dumbledore looked a little bored with the whole business as far as Ed could tell, and he sighed. 'Great, here we go with official nonsense again.'

"Albus Dumbledore here to see Rufus Scrimgeour as well as Major Elric and Lieutenant Hawkeye to see Colonel Mustang."

"Thank you." The woman answered dispassionately, "Visitors please take the badge and pin it to the front of your robes."

There was a rattle and three silver badges slid out of the coin return containing their names and stating the appointments that each of them had.

Dumbledore handed one to each of them and the woman's voice spoke again, "All visitors are to submit to a search and are to register their wands at the security desk located at the end of the Atrium."

The floor of the phone box shuddered slightly and Ed watched nervously as the pavement seemed to rise up past the windows until darkness closed over their heads.

After about a minute golden light filtered up from below them and he had to blink to adjust his eyes as they came to a stop, "The ministry wishes you a pleasant day." The woman's voice said as they stepped off the lift.

They were standing at one end of a very long and splendid hallway. The floor was of heavily polished, dark wood and the peacock blue ceiling was inlaid with gleaming golden symbols that kept moving and changing, causing Ed to look away in unease after a while with a slight shudder.

The hall wasn't lined with doors as one would expect but with fireplaces and every few seconds witches and wizards would appear out of them, looking frazzled and hurried.

Ed glanced at the newly arrived woman beside him, trying to judge her reaction. As he had expected, she took in everything around her without even blinking, her serious, watchful expression never wavering.

In the centre of the hall was the large golden fountain made up of huge statues of a tall wizard, a witch, a centaur, a goblin and some other odd looking creature that Ed assumed was a house elf, that Harry had described to him. All in all he was rather surprised at the spotless splendour of the place. From what Harry had told him, this place had been fairly heavily damaged a few months before, not that anyone would be able to tell now.

Dumbledore led them to the end of the hall where a huge set of golden gates stood with two very alert looking guards, looking menacingly out at anything that stepped up to them.

The guard on the right nodded gravely at them as they approached, "Professor Dumbledore sir." he saluted respectfully, the other guard nodded sharply, keeping his eyes on the rest of the room.

"My apologies sir, but we must ask you and your guests to step aside for a moment as we conduct a search."

Dumbledore sighed lightly then turned to them, "I'm afraid we'll have to follow security procedures, things are a little tense at the moment."

Ed felt like sighing as well but he could see acceptance on Hawkeye's face, not that that surprised him, she was military after all. 'Well, so am I.' he thought wearily.

Stepping off to one side, the guard pulled out a long thin rod and ran it over each of them. As he scanned Hawkeye it twittered at him and he frowned slightly, "I'm sorry ma'am, but could you please remove whatever it is you have beneath your jacket."

Hawkeye's eyes narrowed and Ed had to hold himself back from stepping away from her, instead he reached out to lay a steadying hand on her arm. Catching her eye, he shook his head sharply and she frowned slightly before drawing out her pistol and holding it out to the guard.

The man studied it curiously for a moment and Ed had the feeling he had only the slightest idea of what it actually was.

After noting down a few points in the note book he pulled from his pocket he lost interest in the weapon and turned the Dumbledore asking for his wand.

As the guard performed some odd measurements Hawkeye put her weapon away, "I thought he was going to confiscate it." she muttered to Ed and he shrugged, as confused she was.

"To tell you the truth, so did I." he whispered back, "But I don't think they consider a gun much of a threat. But then again, some of the stuff I have read these wizards are capable of, your pistol is a little thing in comparison."

The guard turned to the two of them and held out his hand, "Wands please."

Both officers stared blankly at him and Dumbledore stepped in hastily, "These two are visiting consultants, neither of them carry a wand."

The guard eyed them curiously as he let them through, but there wasn't any other trouble. That was until they entered another hall that seemed to be lined with offices. As soon as they walked through the door, they walked into chaos.

There was around a half a dozen wizards crouched behind desks, wands drawn and there was paper everywhere. There were also scorch marks. And a good deal of smoke. Ed groaned.

In the middle of the room stood a rather frazzled looking wizard, a look of fear of his face as he cowered in front of a blue garbed figure who held out a hand over the man's head, his gloved fingers set to snap.

Ed bit his lip, not sure if he really wanted to face the Colonel in this mood, Hawkeye on the other hand didn't hesitate. There was sharp crack and the floor beside the Colonel's foot grew a scorched hole where her bullet had hit and the man froze.

If the situation hadn't been so tense, Ed would have laughed himself silly at the shiver of horrified recognition that made its way up Mustangs spine and his raised hand went ridged.

"Sir, drop the hand and step away from the bureaucrat." Ed had to snicker at her calm order. Mustang was their superior but there wasn't a one of them that would go against her when she had her gun pointed at their head. The Colonel was no exception. He hesitated a moment then dropped his hand and swivelled to face them. The look of resigned annoyance on his face transformed to an expression of rather evil glee as he caught sight of Ed and the younger alchemist groaned loudly, he knew what was coming.

Hawkeye's gun mysteriously disappeared and she came to attention beside him, giving a sharp salute, "Sir, Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye reporting for duty, as requested."
Ed came to attention beside her but didn't salute, after all he figured, what was the point? He wasn't in uniform and he still didn't like the look in the man's eyes.

"I'll leave you two to it then." Dumbledore told him softly, slipping back out through the door they had just come through.

Glancing around at the chaos of the room around them, Mustangs expression turned a little uncomfortable, "If you two would follow me." He told them abruptly.

Ed saw looks of relief on the faces of the wizards who crawled out from under their desks and one or two of them threw the Colonel rather fearful looks as they scuttled back to their jobs.

The man he had been about to torch simply collapsed to his knees in the centre of the room and shuddered.

The room that he led them to was about the quarter of the size of his office back home but Ed saw one thing that had him smirking, one thing that confirmed without a doubt that this was Mustang's office. There, on his desk was a neat stack of paperwork and scattered over the rest of the surface were more sheets of paper is various stages of origami construction.

Ed shot a look at Hawkeye and had to bite back hard on a laugh at the expression that flitted across her face. Her face went blank and her eyebrow twitched at the sight but it seemed as though Mustang saw the storm brewing as well because he broke in before she could say anything. And what he broke in with guaranteed that everyone's attention was turned away from his rather sloppy office habits.

"So Fullmetal, what did they threaten you with to get you dressed in that getup? Or is it just the way they dress up midgets around here?"

Ed glared at him, his face twitching. Flexing his metal hand he growled, "You're not really in the position to jab at me sir. Or if you have forgotten, you had the personnel out there cowering under their desks. And don't call me a midget." That last was grated out between clenched teeth.

Mustang smirked and Ed held back from hitting the man, knowing that this was just how the Colonel was letting off steam in a less destructive manner then torching the building. But really, did he have to take it out on him?

"Well, Fullmetal, do you have a report for me, or have you messed up again and are here to ask me to send you home?"

Ed growled at him, letting off a little steam of his own, "Tell me sir. What would you consider messing up in this situation? I seem to recall reading in a magazine about a certain individual working within the ministry who summons fire without a wand. The same person who seems to have developed the habit of torching desks."

Mustangs face actually twitched for a moment and Ed gave back the full force of his own smirk, 'Come on old man, you can do better then this.' Ed thought, he found himself almost laughing, he didn't realise how tense he had been getting lately and the familiar act of arguing with the Colonel had him feeling much better.

It seemed to have the same effect on Mustang as well for a grin spread across his face and he sat back in his chair, waving them into seats of their own.

"So tell me Ed, truthfully, anything to report."

Ed blinked in surprise at him calling him by his first name but chose not to mention it. Taking a seat of his own he lent on his knees and scratched at his head, "Not much in particular at the moment, just that I have managed to make friends with the students that I was told to keep an eye on. Not only that but Dumbledore has given them permission to pass on information to me of everything that they have been doing and he is also going to arrange a meeting for me with members of what they are calling The Order of the Phoenix."

Mustang sat forward with an intense look on his face and Ed nodded at the question in his eyes.

"Yes sir, you were right. The undercover group is run by Dumbledore and he has told me that I can have access to the personnel that he has working with."

Mustang nodded with satisfaction, "Very good, Fullmetal. Well done, keep up contact with the student group, they will make a good information base and meet with those members. I want information of what is going on."

This time Ed did salute, this was a military operation, as much as he didn't like it, and as long as the man wasn't pissing him off, then he was willing to play the obedient subordinate. To a certain extent.

Turning to Hawkeye, who had been very silent since she arrived, Ed shifted nervously at the smirk that spread across his face. This did not bode too well, one way or the other.

"Tell me, Lieutenant. Are you aware of the dress code here?"

Knowing full well what he was referring to, the woman casually reached into her jacket and withdrew her trusty 'accessory'. Fingering the polished metal of the gun she eyed her commander.

"Sir, as far as I have observed the dress code here either consists of a mishmash of totally mismatched, out of fashion casual wear or ridiculous looking robes and pointed hats. If you are suggesting that I am required to wear a mini skirt while I am here, I would respectfully suggest that you wear one first."

Mustang suddenly seemed reluctant to press the issue and actually looked rather relieved when there came a knock at his door.

Ed answered it to find a twitchy little wizard who informed him that the lady's luggage had been brought over from the train station.

Thanking the man, Ed stepped back to allow the luggage to march its way into the office, seemingly all by itself. Completely ignoring this new display of magic, he closed the door again and took his seat once more.

Hawkeye on the other hand went through the stack of boxes, that Mustang eyed wearily Ed noted, and came up with a narrow leather case, one he thought he recognised.

"Sir, I was asked by Miss Winry to give this to you. She told me that if you managed to damage yourself after leaving this behind I was to hit you in the head with it."

She handed the case over to him and he realised with a wince that it was the repair kit Winry had given him before he left. He had clean forgotten to take it with him. Not that he'd had much choice in the matter, as he recalled.

Reaching into another bag she pulled out a rather thick envelope, "And I was asked by your brother to give you this." She handed over the letter and Ed felt his heart jump. He had missed Al's presence over the past month, more then he had thought he would and he actually couldn't wait to get back to his dorm room at the school so he could read what his brother wrote.

Seeming to sense his agitation, Mustang actually gave him a small smile, "Just one more thing before you are dismissed Fullmetal. Have you anything to report on the other part of your mission?"

Ed clutched the letter in his hand, after all the other half of his mission was the reason he was here in the first place and it had everything to do with the only blood family he had left. "Nothing specific sir." he answered gravely, "But I have free access to any material in the library and in the archives. I have only just begun searching but there has to be something here. I just know it."

Mustang leant his elbows on his knees and laced his hands, resting his nose on his knuckles, "Very good Ed. Keep me informed on anything you learn." For once his voice was free of scorn and the look on his face was serious, the haunted look that sometimes flashed in his eyes shimmering for a moment.

Ed nodded gravely and rose to his feet, "If I may be dismissed sir? I have to get back. I had two free periods this morning but I have to return for my afternoon classes."

Mustang dropped his hands and his characteristic smirk was back in place, but Ed let it pass, seeing behind the expression this time to the concern beneath, "You are dismissed Fullmetal. Study hard."

Once again ignoring the mocking tone, Ed turned to leave but burst out laughing as he caught sight of what was in one of those big boxes that Hawkeye had brought with her. Just as he had expected, she had boxed up all of the Colonels paperwork and brought it with her.

Feeling much better then he had in weeks, Ed made his way back to the entrance hall.

He was just wondering how he was supposed to make his way back to school when a dreary voice called out behind him, "Wotcha, Edward."

Turning around he found the most curious looking witch coming towards him. She wasn't overly tall, he noted, and she seemed rather down in the dumps. Not that he couldn't say that about many of the people he had met lately, but she actually seemed to be wilting slightly.

"Do I know you?" he asked cautiously and the woman gave him a slight smile.

"Not at all kiddo. Dumbledore sent me to meet you. Said you'd need a lift back to the school and seeing as I am the order rep that is on guard duty at the moment, I got the job. The names Tonks."

She held out her hand and Ed took it, ignoring the quizzical look on her face at the feel of the hard metal beneath his glove.

"So, how are we getting back then?" he asked her, not really knowing what to make of her. He had heard of her of course but from Harry's descriptions it looked as though something was hitting her hard.

Tonks waved a hand at his question, "I'll apparate us there of course. Have ta' drop us outside the gate I'm afraid. Security won't let us appear within the grounds, but I'm sure you can make your own way from there."

Without further discussion she took hold of Ed's arm and everything vanished with a faint pop to be replaced by the huge gates of Hogwarts.

"Dumbledore told me we were supposed to organise some time to talk to you and that we were to use you as a contact within the school." Tonks told him gravely as she let go of his arm, "I'll send a message to you once I have organised a few things. In the mean time," she glanced up and her face twisted a little sourly, "Here is someone to let you in."

Ed followed her gaze and actually rolled his eyes at Snapes rather sinister form sweeping down the path towards them. The man couldn't seem to do anything without looking halfway creepy, it seemed to be some sort of instinct to mess with students minds as far as Ed could tell.

Tonks gave him a slight nod and left him before the Professor reached them and Ed prepared for the verbal match that was likely to emerge.

He had made no secret that he didn't like the man but unlike with Harry, whom Ed knew hated this particular teacher even more then he did, Snape seemed not to know how to react to him. He sneered and insulted him as he did with any other student but there was always an underlying current of unease whenever they had a confrontation. One the man didn't seem to enjoy very much.

"Well, well. If it isn't the clever exchange student." Snape sneered as he opened the gates with a flick of his wand, "What where you doing outside school grounds, Elric. Even you should know that it is forbidden for students to leave unescorted."

Ed merely sighed in annoyance, "Give it a rest Professor Spaz. I thought you would have figured out by now that the school rules don't exactly apply to me. If you have a problem with that I suggest you take it up with Dumbledore. Otherwise, keep out of my face."

Leaving the nearly exploding professor standing at the gate, Ed marched his way up to the castle. He wasn't really in the mood to deal with Snape at present, so he simply ignored the man, although he nearly laughed at the swearing that broke out behind him. He had actually made the man loose his slimy composure.

Biting back a grin, Ed hummed to himself as he walked into the entrance hall and turned up the stairs that would lead him to the common room. He had about an hour left until his next class and he was determined to read his brothers letter before then.

He managed to reach the dorms without meeting anyone, so it was with great relief that he sat on the edge of his bed and slit open the letter, laying his repair kit carefully on the covers beside him.

Dear Brother.

I'm hoping that the Lieutenant will be able to deliver this to you, she said she would try. How is everything going there, have you found any important information yet? More importantly, has anyone turned you into a toad?

Ed shook his head, a faint smile playing on his lips, 'Ha ha, Al very funny.'

Just kidding. I managed to gain access to some of the books form the main library, Chesqua lent them to me, so I have been doing some study of my own.

Also, there hasn't been any sign of the other homunculi lately, so there is no reason for you to worry.

Oh, by the way, Winry asked if there was anything you would like for her to send you. She said that the repair kit should be enough but if you manage to ruin all her careful work she would make sure you had a permanent, wrench shaped, dent in your forehead once she got hold of you.

Ed sighed in amusement, nice one, she wasn't even there and she had managed to threaten him twice in little over an hour. Now that took talent.

Anyway, I just thought I'd send you a short letter to make sure you were alright and to tell you not to get into too much trouble without me there to help you out, okay?

Bring yourself back in one piece.

Your little brother,

Alphonse Elric

Ed sighed as he carefully folded the letter and slipped it onto his night stand. He really wished Al could have come with him on this one. They could have laughed together at some of the stupid things Ed had come across since he had been here. He really would have enjoyed that little incident at the ministry as well. With that in mind, He took out a sheet of parchment and a quill and set about writing a return letter. If he couldn't laugh with Al by his side, at least he could still let his brother know everything, maybe they could laugh about it later, once he went home.

………………………

(AN/ Yay for torturing Snape, Heh heh heh.)

AN/ Thought I'd put in a few notes in response to a couple reviews, by the way thank you again to everyone, glad to know that you are enjoying this as much as I am.

First off I would like to say a very big thank you to TheBetanWerecat, your review really made my day. I put a lot of effort into keeping as much of the characters intact as possible. Otherwise, what is the point of using them in the first place? As to my writing, I have written quiet a few of my own works but as I haven't much of an idea of what to do with them in regards to publishing etc, I thought I would give this a go. At least I can get feed back on my work this way.
I hope I continue to entertain, at least. Thank you again for your review, it was much appreciated.

A few random remarks: Don't worry, I'm not planning on having Ed forget about everyone back home. On the contrary, it is going to be on his mind more and more as things progress.

Oh and I must apologise, I didn't realise I had the anonymous review thingy disabled. As I said this is my first fic, so I'm still learning all the little do-hickies on the page.

To everyone else, big big thank you as well. The feed back I get is very inspiring.

There are a few names that have been with me from the start and I'm glad you're sticking through this.

Ok, enough from me. The next chapter shouldn't be too long, it is mostly done already.

See ya.