/an/apparently it's supposed to be raining at this point in the actual book but yk, rain is for people who care about pathetic fallacy and all that nonsense, I'm not about that life also I'm lazy af. fun fact, many times throughout this chapter I had a strong urge for Ed to yell yeet. if hp was set in 2018 you know I'd do it. on the other hand I realised every 80s song is available in hp and I Will make use of this at some point I promise you :) (My phone likes to completely remove word spaces, and any formatting in general and yes I hear yall saying use Google docs but for now please ignore that, I will edit this on my computer at some point and fix that. any other mistakes: yell at me)

King's Cross station was alive with movement the next morning. The daily load of thousands of commuters heaved through the station as if the crowd was a single mass that could break and reform at will. Not unlike Pride's shadows, Ed thought absentmindedly as he mingled among them, a bright red blip within the normal flow.

His destination was the elusive "Platform 9 3/4", which, when he first heard of it, had seemed a rather odd name. If what little Tom had told Ed about the platform was any indication, then he was going to have to employ the use of every ounce of imagination he had to find it because apparently, it was common wizard practice to disguise anything and everything to do with magic. Stupidly, Ed hadn't pushed the man for details, not wanting to further any lingering suspicions Tom may have had regarding his familiarity with magic.

However now Ed was seeing the error in his actions; Tom had completely refrained from telling him exactly how he would find the platform and from where he was stood, right between platforms nine and ten, it certainly didn't seem to even exist.

Baffled, Ed took a moment to gaze at the spot where Platform 9 3/4 should technically have been. Of course, wizards, Ed was learning, were not confined by such things as logic and reason and the physically possible. He grumbled under his breath before turning on his heel and speeding off to explore the rest of the train station.

King's Cross station itself was exceedingly beautiful Ed soon realised. It outshone even the large one in Central by far, with its sleek, globed glass roof which sprouted from the smooth grey floor in a way that almost looked organic. It was quite unusual.

Due to his early arrival, which Ed was now thankful for, he took his time exploring the vast building in search of the hidden platform. He skirted around the entirety of the lower floor from shop to shop, keeping an eye out for anyone he might suspect to also be travelling to Hogwarts whilst simultaneously managing to obtain a newspaper and a large cup of coffee. He was just paying for said coffee with the last dregs of his muggle money when he caught sight of a tell-tale swish of a cloak and a trunk that was far too large to be practical. Bingo.

Swiftly, Ed scooped up his own travelling case and began a leisurely pursuit of the young wizard, who was visibly much younger than Ed and apparently didn't know the meaning of the word "discreet". His billowing cloak, paired with a bright yellow scarf made the boy stand out even more than Ed as he jogged through the station. He seemed to be making a beeline for platforms 9 and 10.

A triumphant remark died in Ed's throat as he pursued the boy, momentarily forgetting that it was Scar and not Al accompanying him.

As the boy neared the edge of the platforms, Ed made sure to keep him in plain sight, in fact, he was close enough now that if the boy stopped abruptly, it would be impossible for Ed to avoid a collision.

This was why, when the boy suddenly vanished from right in front of Ed, there was little he could do to stop himself face planting directly into the wall that had materialised in his place. Instinctively, Ed's eyes scrunched closed as he braced for the inevitable impact... which never came.

Slowly, Ed opened one eye, with the second flying open barely a second later.

"Wha-?" Ed gasped. Suddenly, he was no longer on the shiny, modern platform in King's Cross station, but was instead surrounded by wizards and billowing smoke. And there, not ten metres from where he stood, was a great train brandishing the name "The Hogwarts Express" in sleek golden lettering.

The Hogwarts Express was magnificent. At least, that was what Ed thought as he gazed up at the red beast, mystified. Truly, it was something else, with powerful engines, a great, looming chimney and a crimson body that somehow shone brightly, even through the thick layers of accumulated soot and grease.

The machine itself was not unlike those that ran back in Amestris and Ed couldn't help as nostalgia hit him, thinking back to one of his first assignments from Mustang. It had been two years ago, at least and although that particular mission had gone well enough, it had entailed a bit too much high-speed train hopping for Ed's liking. He shuddered to remember how he had almost fallen from the roof as the train hit a sudden turn in the tracks.

Warily, Ed eyed the steam engine before him.

"Fingers crossed I won't have to climb this thing today," he mumbled to Scar who was once again nestled inside his hood.

A piercing whistle suddenly sounded over the platform. At the noise, the crowd inside the station immediately swelled, transforming the previously calm wizard families into a frenzied herd, all heading towards the train. Ed found himself getting swept away by the sheer force of the people moving past him and he allowed himself to get dragged along for the ride.

As soon as he was close enough, Ed reached out and grabbed one of the handrails on the body of the train and hauled himself inside with a fair amount of effort. There was no way he was waiting till he got to the very back of the train to get inside, he could tell from the sheer volume of the crowd that it was going to be a tight squeeze.

Sure enough, once inside Ed found it no less difficult to fight his way through the onslaught of children and in the end, he resorted to diving into the very first available compartment he came across. Unfortunately, this one had already been claimed, if the large suitcases stacked in the luggage racks were anything to go by.

Not one to be put off by the prospect of intruding, Ed decided that this cabin was as good as any and swiftly plonked himself down in the seat next to the window.

For a handful of moments, everything was peaceful and Ed allowed himself to sink a little into the stiff cushions as the muted sound of a shrill whistle sounded somewhere outside, signalling the train's departure. In the hallway, the commotion seemed to be calming too, with voices become quieter the further the train pulled away from the platform.

Gingerly, Scar clambered her way down into Ed's lap. She seemed rather ruffled after the pandemonium that was the rush to get onto the Hogwarts Express and let Ed know by kneading her claws gently into his knee. Ed was just about to shove her off when the door to the compartment was thrown open and a trio of similarly ruffled looking teens made their way inside. They seemed to be deep in discussion, so it took a moment before one of them realised that Ed was there.

"We'll find out soon enough-" The girl cut herself off upon seeing Ed in the corner if the cabin. "Oh...Um, hello?" Very suddenly, the cheerful atmosphere between the three dissolved into tension in a way that could only be achieved through the sudden arrival of a stranger. It seemed that "getting to know his peers" may be something easier said than done.

Ed mentally went through his current options. On one hand, he could easily save himself the bother of interacting with these teenagers who, other than the girl, were actually acting outwardly hostile towards him for some reason, glaring from where they were stood behind her. Indeed, minimal interaction would be ideal…If this was a one-time meeting. However, Ed realised that he may have to see these people many times; school had an uncanny knack for placing together those who would much rather not be placed together.

And so, Ed came to the decision that the path of least resistance would be the best to follow.

Mentally steeling himself, he threw a tight-lipped smile towards the girl who, of the three, looked the least openly annoyed at his presence.

"Hey, I hope you don't mind me stealing your...train carriage, most of the others were full."

"Oh?" The girl frowned slightly, visibly relaxing. "That's fine, we just weren't expecting anyone to be here." She looked between the two boys beside her, a silent conversation playing out.

Ed nodded, watching the teens as they shuffled into the seats opposite him. They weren't subtle in their attempts to sit as far from him as possible but if they wanted to give him space, Ed wasn't complaining and he took the opportunity to swing his feet up onto the seats next to him so that he could rest against the window.

Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that there wasn't quite enough room for all three on the single bench and after some silent arguing which Ed watched in the corner of his vision, the girl, seemingly against her will, sat down with a huff next to his feet.

For a few minutes, the cabin was fairly silent. Ed pointedly ignored the looks the two boys were giving him, burying his nose in one of the many textbooks he had to memorise before arriving at Hogwarts. He was fairly certain that all of his required material was fairly basic, having been directed towards the books for the first years, however that didn't mean it wasn't tricky for him to wrap his head around.

He had already read over two thirds of the book the previous night, finding himself sucked in by the challenge of learning something completely alien. Just like when he was first learning alchemy, it had quickly became apparent that magic had many strict rules and guidelines which he had to be completely aware of before he actually attempted the magic.

Many of the consequences of dodgy magic didn't seem quite as extreme as the sudden death promised to lazy alchemists, however Ed wasn't going to take any chances. After all, you have to learn the rules before you can break them.

His eyes were just scanning over the last page of the book when he heard a soft gasp from the girl. He flicked his eyes up to see what had happened and found hers to be staring straight at him. She looked so shocked that Ed instantly felt nervous, his heart plummeting at the thought that she had seen his metal arm, or recognised him, even though he knew that was impossible.

She didn't break eye contact for at least three seconds. This was more than enough time for Ed's fragile patience to snap.

"What?" he growled. His harsh tone drew the two boy's attention away from their hushed conversation in the corner. All at once the tension was back.

"Oh, sorry." The girl apologised hastily, as if she hadn't even noticed herself staring. "I just noticed.., well y-,never mind… It's just that I don't think I've ever seen you at Hogwarts before, but you look too old to be a first year."

Nice save, Ed thought to himself.

"Uh-huh, I just transferred." he decided against pushing for an explanation from her. "I have never been to Hogwarts before."

"Oh? That explains why we didn't recognise you. I never knew Hogwarts took transfer students." She offered a small smile. Before Ed could respond her gaze shifted over to the book in his hands.

"You still have to study this even though you're not a first year?" She shuffled closer to peer at the page he was on.

Ed nodded and closed the book with a snap. "Yes. I haven't had any formal magic training before. I know some of the basics but Dumbledore wants to evaluate how much I know before placing me in a group. So for now, I suppose I am technically a first year. "

At this the girl perked up considerably, almost looking excited as she glanced over at her two friends.

"Well, you're in luck because Ron, Harry and I are all in our fourth year." She gestured to each of the boys respectively. "If you need any help, we'd be happy to lend a hand."

"We would?" came the disgruntled voice of the ginger boy Ed now knew to be Ron.

The girl turned to him with a sharp glare. "Yes, of course we would Ron. Come to think of it, I distinctly remember someone needing help to cram the entire second year charms course the night before the exam."

"Hermione," Harry took over the argument as Ron sank into his seat, arms crossed and pouting. "Do we really have time to be teaching a thirteen year old charms, especially after…you know?"

Ed's eyebrow twitched. "Hey!" he shrieked. "I am sixteen you scrawny wizard kid and I could kick your ass! Call me short again, I dare you!" Suddenly he was standing and Harry was looking utterly bewildered.

"Woah! What? I didn't call you short! What are you talking about?"

"You implied it."

"You were reading a first year's textbook! Of course I thought you were young."

Ed didn't have much of a rebuttal for that, realising he had once again succumbed to his violent temper, so instead he narrowed his eyes at Harry, keeping eye contact with his for an awkwardly long time before sitting back down heavily.

"Bloody hell."

The rest of the journey was blissfully uneventful. Ed managed to somewhat make amends for his outburst, striking up a conversation with Hermione about some of the second year potions and giving Harry change when he was one coin short of a "Pumpkin Pasty", which he vehemently reassured Ed that he would pay back later.

Ron however remained in a fiercely bad mood the entire train ride. Ed figured it had something to do with Hermione's scolding. The sulking didn't bother Ed too badly, but he still felt at least partly responsible. He knew all too well that a bruised ego was hard to bounce back from, especially when it comes from a... close friend.

Numerous other students visited the train carriage over the course of the journey, each starting conversations about some sort of "world cup" event which had recently happened. For the most part, Ed tuned out of the conversations unless he was addressed directly, often by either Harry of Hermione asking his opinion on something he had absolutely no clue about. Luckily he was able to believably bullshit most of his responses.

"Definitely rooting for Ireland."

"Read all of the papers as soon as they came out."

"It was super close. I couldn't believe it."

"I still don't understand how they lost."

The conversation however, quickly became much more intricate and passionate. There was no way Ed could have kept up the lies for much longer before he said something completely idiotic so Ed subtly followed Hermione's lead when she removed herself from the conversation in favour of learning a spell from her own spell book. He watched as she practiced the movements of a summoning charm, which he recognised may come in very handy later on so he made a mental note to ask her about it in the future.

Of course, trouble always seemed to follow Ed wherever he went and it wasn't long before Trouble soon came by the carriage under the guise of a young blond boy whose name was apparently Malfoy. Ed immediately disliked him. The very way he conducted himself was far too reminiscent of Pride, his arrogance and self-assurance shining through every word he spoke as he began harassing Ron the moment he appeared.

Despite only having known Ron and the others for no more than three hours, Ed felt a strange sense of protectiveness over them. Perhaps it was just his survival instinct kicking in, making him latch onto the first somewhat friendly faces in an unfamiliar territory, but very early on in scene Malfoy was making, he physically had to stop himself walking up to him and throwing him out of the window.

Ed reminded himself that he was probably older than the kid, as if that morally justified the fact that he wasn't stepping in to help Ron, whose god-awful robes were now clutched in the bony hands of Malfoy who was cackling. It was only when the brat started making fun of Ron's family that Ed finally had enough.

He had seen the momentary flash on Ron's face before he was seething again. Malfoy had hit something that pushed Ron further than just irritation and anger. It was definitely time for him to leave.

"Hey dipshit!" Ed called. The train carriage fell silent.

Slowly, Malfoy looked over to where Ed was sitting calmly in the corner.

"What did you just call me?" He snarled.

"I don't do repeats. Listen better next time buttercup."

"Who the hell are you?"

"That doesn't really matter, kid." Ed stood up and made his way over to Malfoy, neither of them breaking eye contact. Ed ground his teeth when he arrived just in front of the teen; he stood at least an inch shorter although they were both wearing platforms.

Aware he had an audience, Ed turned up the drama, pulling down his glove more securely over his left hand and flexing it into a tight fist just below Malfoy's chin.

"What does matter," he said slowly, "is that you are acting like a little bitch, so I think it's time you run along and go cry in the toilet or something." As he was talking, Ed noticed the two boys that had entered with Malfoy were coming closer, one either side of Ed, ready to step in physically when the blond told them to.

Ed was surprised when Malfoy didn't respond for a moment. He continued to look at Ed with an expression akin to disgust until seeming to reach some kind of epiphany in the dramatic, internal monologue he was no doubt having. A smirk tugged the corners of his lips as he looked over at Harry.

"What's this Potter?" he cooed. "Got yourself a new bodyguard to fight your battles for you? Was Granger just not cutting it anymore?"

"Shut it Malfoy!" Ron called from somewhere behind.

"Bodyguard?" Ed asked incredulously. No response came from Malfoy, whose gaze was still locked on Harry. He attempted to walk past Ed, apparently intending to knock him back as he flourished past, knocking shoulders, but Ed placed a hand on his chest. Malfoy came to an abrupt halt.

"I don't think so buddy, you're staying in the doorway."

"Take your hand off me shrimp."

Red.

Dangerously calm. Ed pressed harder against Malfoy. "What did you just say to me?"

Somewhere in the background Ron could be heard despairing. "Oh no."

"Now who's not listening? Shrimp." Malfoy rebutted.

Ed chuckled. "Oh, I heard you alright, I was just making sure in case I was mistaken."

"Mistaken about what?" Malfoy pushed back.

"About this."

Ed suddenly released the pressure he was putting on Malfoy's chest, making him stumble forward. At the same time he brought round his other arm and caught the teen in a headlock. Predictably, Malfoy's two friends rushed forward immediately at the sight. Ed, still holding Malfoy's head, stepped backwards then spun, bodily throwing him through the door where he dramatically slumped to the floor.

"That was for calling me short you slimy bastard!"

In the reflection of the window in front of him Ed suddenly saw the largest of the two friends lunge at his back. A moment later he was also in the air, flying through the doorway to land heavily on his butt.

By this point, Ron was in stitches, wheezing at the back of the carriage as Ed rounded on the last of Malfoy's minions who was fumbling with his pockets. A quick swipe at his shins brought the boy down and before he could scramble back up, Ed picked him up by the back of his trousers and shirt collar and sent him headfirst out of the carriage too.

As Ed walked over to the sliding door, Malfoy was in the process of getting up from the floor. He was looking at Ed with a mixture of hatred, anger and just a little bit of fear.

"You won't get away with this." He sputtered out. "My father will hear about this and then you'll be nothing!"

"Hmmm. Sure, kid. Have fun with that." Ed replied as he began to slide the door shut.

"I mean it!"

"Bye-bye Malfoy!"

Click. Just to be petty Ed flicked the lock on the door closed and he turned away from the still-fuming Malfoy in the hallway.

"Where the hell did you learn that?" Ron squawked as soon as Ed was facing them again. Each of the occupants of the carriage were looking at Ed with varying levels of shock, bewilderment and exhasperation.

"Back home." Ed wandered back to his seat. "I had a great teacher. She was brilliant but…strict." Ed held back the shudder that always followed any mention of Izumi.

Gradually, everybody returned to their seats. Outside, a few large droplets of rain hit the window as the train accelerated towards a dark patch of sky.

And then they were all laughing. A chain reaction, starting with Ron and ending with Hermione had them all snickering and grinning like cats.

"That was brilliant!"

"Did you see Crabbe's face?"

"I can't believe you sent Malfoy flying!"

"This might one-up Hermione's punch!"

"My father will hear about this!"

They were all still smirking as they changed into their uniforms and the train slowly shuddered to a halt.

It was completely dark outside. Ed realised that the train journey had somehow taken the majority of the day, despite only feeling like a few hours. A rumble of thunder greeted the four of them as they stepped out, into the storm which had only increased in intensity since the first few rain drops.

Ed quickly pulled up his hood, allowing Scar to perch at the crook of his neck. He could hear her claws digging into the metal of his shoulder in an attempt to hold on against the fierce wind and was suddenly glad she had chosen his right side. Her body heat, whilst fairly little also helped to ease the crick in his automail joint that was slowly building due to the moisture.

Ed would count himself lucky if he was able to sleep at all this night. It was unlikely. He and the rain were not exactly a great match.

A few meters away, Ed could see Harry and the others talking to someone. He could hear the man's booming voice even through the torrential wind and rain and quickly made his way over to the group. He arrived just in time to catch Hermione say something about crossing a lake.

Ed decided not to ask until they were safely away, inside the carriages on the furthest side of the platform.

"The lake?" Hermione answered when he brought it up. "Yes, Hogwarts has this tradition that all of the first years arrive at the school by boat. They arrive at a different entrance so that they are kept separate from the older students."

"Ah. Whoops." Ed chuckled.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked.

"I think I was meant to take the lake route. My letter said that I was to "arrive with the first years" which I assume also meant arriving by boat." Ed grinned.

"You really missed out on a good one there mate." Ron piped up. "Really, what could be better than a peaceful boat ride through torrential rain with a bunch of kids?"

"Yeah," Ed replied, leaning back in his seat and placing his hands behind his head. "What a shame I missed that experience."

/an/ writing the Malfoy scene was actually a lot of fun and now I have a personal mission: how many deadly sin traits can I give Malfoy? He's still a bit of a piece of shit during the Goblet of fire so I ain't gonna hold back. Also I'm sorry for my massive hiatus again. I was once again a bit stuck with this story because what is plot amirite. sorry this is a bit short but soooon Ed shall enter the mythical castle and shit may hit the fan in a few chapters. also I'm sorry that I used the "Ed meets the main trio on the train" trope/cliché but this fic is completely self indulgent and it seemed like a pretty logical place for them to meet.

Thanks for reading my wonderful dudes :)