Chapter 2

Rubeus Hagrid wouldn't normally consider himself a busy man but the last week or so had unloaded a great abundance of jobs and errands onto his rather large shoulders. He was rushing around the streets, knocking muggles this way and that. He had to collect two students who were unable to make their way to both Diagon Ally and Hogwarts itself. He was late to collecting the first of the two – the famous Mr. Harry Potter.

He couldn't help but pity the boy and the life he lived. He lived with some of the worst muggles Hagrid had ever had the displeasure of associating himself with, and yet there he was. About to make their acquaintance once again. He knew not a thing about their son either, merely his name and the fact that he was as pure of a muggle as his dearest parents. He suspected he would see something of a pig of a boy and see poor Harry – whom he had not seen since early in the boy's infancy – neglected in comparison. The rocking of the boat that was much too small for him was relaxing and also stimulating to his mind.

The hut that sat upon the jutting slab of rock that protruded from the violent, grey waves was small and run down. It appeared dreadfully unfit for human inhabitation, the door looked as though it were going to fall straight off its hinges should the biting and continue to bet at it as viciously as it was for very much longer. The windows opened and closed with clearly audible slams, coordinated with the sound of the waves beating against the rough rock foundation of the building. The wood that formed the structure itself appeared as though it were rotting and the walls were visibly slimy.

It didn't sit right in his mind that, of all the places in the world, the pretentious muggles that had custody over harry would choose this as a temporary residence, regardless of circumstance. Confused, he departed from his boat – which was docked by then – and waded through the water that had accumulated on the rock. He very much doubted that any amount of pounding on the door could draw the attention of one as thick-skulled as the Dursleys, especially over the incessant racket the weather caused outside.

Instead, he made the choice to open the door. However, the old hinges gave way with the extent of force he applied. The door came off in his hands and he just walked into what was now an empty space. There were three rather unattractive people standing ahead of him, another whom he couldn't see tucked into the corner. "Ya gonna need ta fix a'." He informed them before turning to the only boy he could see, with a hint of confusion that he did not allow to show in his demeanour. "Well, 'arry. I've not senn ya in a while, bu' youre a bi' further long I'd a expected, especially roun' the mi'le."

"I-I'm not Harry." A very confused, very scared Dudley Dursley stared up at the giant of a man that stood ahead of him, wording how he could possibly confuse him and his wildly different cousin.

"I'm harry." The boy from the corner called out with an amount of confidence that surprised himself. He wondered how he must appear to this giant, short and scrawny with round, previously broken glasses dwarfing his face and messy hair. He knew he perpetually looked as though he were drowning in an excess of fabric, the clothes that Dudley no longer wore were the only ones he possessed, despite them being a great many sizes too big.

"Of course, ya are!" Hagrid looked at him happily, though that emotion diminished greatly as he heard about the boy's lack of knowledge on the topic of magic, his heritage and the world he was entitled to. In anger, he had lashed out at the son of the monstrosities, sending a curse at him after they disrespected Dumbledore, the man he respected most in the entirety of the wold. The fat pig screeched and squealed as Hagrid brought him loser to a literal pig. A curly pig tail appeared from the boy's trousers and Hagrid took the fuss as a cue to leave with the young wizard he had been sent to collect.

"Hagrid, where are we going?"

"I go' another boy a pick up, then I can take ye both to Diagon Alley."

"Where are we picking him up from?"

"We've go' a bi' of a trip a make, I'm 'fraid. He lives in Amestris."

"Is there no wizarding school in Amestris?" Harry looked up at him with wide eyes from behind the thick lenses of wonky glasses that magnified their appearance.

"There ain' much of a wizar'in' communi'y over in Amestris as far as I'm aware lad."

"Ah. So, what's his name?"

"Edward, Edward Elric."

The small wooden boat drifted slowly away from the little residence that stood solitary in the middle of the ocean. It dipped and bobbed over the crests of a series of foaming waves, drawing closer to land as the sun rose higher into the sky and the grapefruit moon descended beyond the horizon. Harry Potter could think of only one thing – he was free, if only temporarily, from the grasp of his horrible guardians. He didn't even think he could doubt the strange events occurring around him.

Hagrid's hand drifted to the lump in his pocket, the key Dumbledore had given him, and he drew the map from another. It was a train map but it looked like very little more than a series of squiggles drawn haphazardly onto a piece of hastily folded paper that was creased from where it had been shoved into his pocket roughly.

There was very little that he could decipher on the map – he was unsure whether that was him on the map itself – but what he could decipher with distinct clarity was the boldly printed label annotating station in the very centre of the nearly perfectly round country. It said Central station. He knew full well that that was his next destination.