Ed had moved in quite well to the Hogwarts environment. The dormitory on the top of Gryffindor tower had grown a bit in order to accommodate another four-poster. At the foot of this bed there was a red trunk with gold locks with the initials E.E. and below F.M. Most of the other sixth years asked about it, but Harry knew because of the Marauder's Map.

Classes didn't seem too difficult for Ed, much to the disappointment of Hermione. She seemed quite excited that he was doing well, but Harry suspected she had wanted the opportunity to tutor Edward to get to know him better. Not that she didn't seem to try. Harry and Ed seemed to hit it off well, thus he was always around his friends. The only problem was, he was worse than Hermione when it came to books. He always had his nose in a book.

This skill came in handy about two weeks into Edward's stay. Transfiguration had hit an all time low for Harry in the time before Edward's arrival. He had problems with wordless magic, and it was a requirement in most of his classes. Transfiguration was just the hardest because changing things into other things was difficult to begin with. He had passed the classroom often on his way to other classes, and every time he had glanced in. There was a complicated circle drawn on the chalkboard which had filled Harry with dread. He hoped it was perhaps for the seventh years, but when he walked into class that day, he had been out of luck.

"Now today we are going to study the use of circles in our magic. What I want you to do is draw this circle on your parchment. Draw it and leave it out before you. I will be giving you a pile of material, and your task is to transfigure it into something valuable. I will call you up by name in five minutes." The scratching of quills was the only noise, other than Edward standing up and going to McGonagall. "Yes, Mr. Elric?"

"Can I have the materials now?"

"Have you copied down the circle?"

"No, professor."

"Then go back to your seat and do as you were asked."

"I don't need it." This got stares from the entire class, including McGonagall.

"Even I need to use the circle to perform this type of magic."

"It's not magic, its alchemy. The circle on the board, it's a transmutation circle." Edward began. He retrieved a piece of chalk. "A bad one at that. The array is too complicated for simply changing something with a high carbon content into something valuable." He began to draw a circle on the floor, very precisely and quickly, using couple of squares and a triangle in the middle of the circle. It looked far less complicated than the one on the board. Once Edward was done, he offered his hand for the bottle of material. McGonagall gave it to him without a word. Ed dumped it on the ground in the middle of the circle and placed his hands on the edge. With a flash of light the pile of powder turned into a diamond. People stared.

"That's impressive, Mr. Elric, but you said you could do that without a circle."

"It's true. I can." Ed moved aside, away from circle. Clapping his hands, he slammed them into the ground. More blue light flashed around him, and he soon was standing next to a statue mimicking many of the gargoyles on the side of the castle.

"How did you do that?!" Ron blurted out into the silence of amazement. Ed grinned.

"Simple. By using the stone of the floor I reworked the setting of the elements in order to create a less dense stone. Using that stone, I was able to expand the material slightly in order to shape it into what you see here. I cannot do this without base materials, but simple conversion is not too hard. If I had a cart of charcoal, I could make a pile of gold. With a little bit of grass I could transmute bread. Everything is made out of the same set of elements, which there are only a little over a hundred of. Many are quite rare, so it doesn't take much to make many things. But there are laws. Laws you have to follow. Like this diamond. This is as large as I could make it. I can't create more of the element; I can only use what I have. Equivalent exchange. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost."

After class, which Edward was released early from, many people looked him up and asked for help about this concept. The alchemist refused them for the most part, saying that he could not teach them how to do alchemy without a circle. They would have to learn using them. Ron, Harry, and Hermione found him in a secluded corner of the common room drawing circles on pieces of parchment.

"Can we sit down?" Harry asked. Ed nodded and moved papers off of the nearest chairs. Hermione picked some of them up.

"Are these transmutation circles?"

"Yes. There are a wide variety of them. This one here," Ed pulled out a paper that had what looked like a lizard and a small flame at opposite ends of the circle. "This is used to finely control the amount of oxygen in the air. This one here on the other hand." He pulled out a horribly complicated one. "This one is used to create chimeras. The alchemic chimera is different from your magical chimera, but the concept is the same. Combining animals in order to create something stronger, more intelligent, and possibly able to speak the human language,"

"That's incredible! How could you do that?" Hermione asked. Ed froze, his eyes distant.

"You…. You use humans in the transmutation. I saw one once… a human combined with a dog," Ed's voice was forced, like it was a wound that never healed. Hermione looked like she regretted asking at all. Ron missed the whole emotional exchange.

"This alchemy, it makes it seem like you can create anything. Why don't you alchemists create money all the time?" Ron asked.

"It's against the law. That kind of alchemy is strictly regulated by the state. My state license could have been revoked for that."

"What else is against the law? What other rules are there?" Now something seemed to snap in Ed.

"What else? What else is against alchemic law? Human transmutation. Alchemy on a human is strictly taboo, because it cannot be done. That is the most forbidden part; bringing a human back to life," With that Ed grabbed his papers and stalked off. The trio looked at one another.

"What did I say?" Harry asked innocently. The others shook their heads.

--

In order to help Edward calm down from whatever Harry had done to anger him, Harry offered to teach Edward how to fly. This seemed to cheer the alchemist up. After all, what teenage boy didn't want to fly fifty feet off the ground or go a high speed anywhere? Okay, so perhaps Neville didn't, but most every other boy would have killed in order to do so. After asking Ron if he could use his broomstick, Harry and Edward went down to the pitch in order to practice.

Ed seemed to be just as much of a natural flyer as Harry was. The broom had leapt to his hand on the first order, and Harry had not needed to explain how to direct the flight to the alchemist. Sooner than Harry expected Ed and he were racing around the pitch, trying to see who could outmaneuver the other. Harry tried not to say anything about it, but Edward was the perfect build for a seeker, light and small. Harry wanted to see what he could do in a Quidditch game.

That's why, during the weekend, Harry spent some time teaching Edward how to play with the Gryffindor team. Ed slipped into the position of a Beater better than anyone might have imagined. His aim was insanely good, and the strength he could put behind every smack was almost unnatural. Harry suspected it was a bit unnatural, because the arm Edward used was the one Harry had seen covered in the armor. The practice went well, and Harry now knew that he actually had a reserve player thanks to Ed.

The problems began when the Slytherin team showed up, lead by Malfoy. The green cloaks took to the air and began knocking the Gryffindors around a little bit before Harry had a chance to confront the team's captain.

"Hey, this is our pitch," Harry snapped. Draco flew up to snarl at Harry.

"We got a signed note that this is now our pitch," The blonde growled. Harry noticed how ill he seemed. Malfoy had bags under his eyes and he looked thin and paler than usual.

"Again?" Ginny Weasley moaned. "Don't you people have anything better to do then to run to Professor Snape for every little thing?"

"That is none of your concern, baby weasel," Draco drawled.

"Sure it is mini-fang."

"What's going on? I just got an elbow in the face from this goon," Ed practically dragged Crabbe sideways through the air, his golden eyes flashing.

"You'll release him if you know what's good for you, half pint," Draco's nose soon felt the effects of a beater bat to the face. A fist nearly followed it, if it were not for the Gryffindor team leaping in to stop him.

"Who are you callin' a half pint that can't even control his own broom because he is too light for it to feel!?"

--

AN: Yeah, this chapter took a little bit to post, but it is because I have a beta reader for it now! Hazzah! Thank you so much Danni Lea. Please read, review and enjoy.