Disclaimer: NO OWN, NO JOKE.

He put on a brave smiling face, refusing to believe what he was seeing. He grasped on her hand tighter, refusing to let her.

What she was saying was nonsense. She couldn't leave, he didn't want her to. Was she going to leave them all alone? She was being silly, there was no way that his mother, the most beautiful and most caring person he had ever met was gonna die. She, who always treated them kinder than anyone else, who always did her best to keep the family going. No, there was not a chance that was really going to die, right?

"Edward, would you be a sweetheart and transmute something for your mother, a ring of flowers will be nice." He tightened his grip, as he felt her grip on their hands slowly begin to slacken. Her brown eyes, suddenly began to glaze over, as death's embrace began to envelope her.

"You see… your father use to always make them for me." And with that, she let go.

His hands were on the ground, as he sat on his knees, waiting for the alchemy to finish what he had created.

Everything went wrong as the golden transmutation light turned a dark purple color. His golden eyes widened as he saw that the long awaited transmutation was not working.

He blinked and found himself in a pure white room, the only thing visible was a sort of door that was presented in front of him. He looked behind himself and saw the outline of a person, grinning right at him.

Information suddenly rushed into his head, bringing memories of the past and new things he had not even thought about before. He felt like his brain was on fire, unable to fully comprehend the entire amount of information that clogged his brain.

He opened his eyes again as he saw a terrible sight…one that he would never in his life forget…or let itself be forgotten.

"BROTHER!" He looked in front of him and saw his younger brother being dragged away by hundreds of little black hands. He was desperate, he couldn't lose his brother.

"AL!" He screamed, reaching out in hopes of grabbing his brother, but he felt something crawling on his leg. The same ones that were dragging away Alphonse were now crawling on his leg, almost as if eating it away. As it began to disappear he felt the pain as the stump of a leg began to bleed profusely, with no signs of stopping.

He tried his best to get Al back but the little things had now taken away most of his body and only the hand remained before disappearing too.

"AL!" He yelled. No, it couldn't be possible. He did not just lose his little brother. He reached forward but fell on his stomach as the stump refused to support him.

He had to get his brother back. No matter the price, he could not lose the only person that mattered to him.

A sound brought him out of his shock as it sounded like an animal being chocked.

The figure of a hand came up in the air, the rest of the body hidden from sight because of the smoke. Ed looked at it, his mom…

The tiny desperate smile left his lips as he saw the true figure of the thing in front of him. That was not his mom…

He screamed.

Whether it was that his mind was suddenly becoming clearer or that he was going insane, he dragged himself and his bloody leg over to the opposite side of the room, to where a suit of armor was proudly standing. Using the blood of his leg, he drew a blood seal, even though he had no idea how. This would be the first time he had ever done anything like that, but he had no choice. There was no way in hell he was gonna give up. He did not care of the price, he had to get Alphonse back even if it cost him his life.

He felt his arms being taken away slowly and painfully but he did not care. As the armor breathed to life, he lost the ability to comprehend anything.

The alchemist stood in front of the deranged alchemist, and the chimera nest to him, staring at him blankly.

It moved as it cocked its head to the side.

"Bwig Bwother?"

Nina…

The psychotic butcher walked over to him, a crazed look on his face. He raised his large butcher knife and embedded it on his shoulder as the sick bastard told him his fantastic tales about how he saw alchemist killing in cold blood. The helplessness rising inside of him as he saw no way to escape the murderer.

Realizing that no one but his brother and himself were going to protect each other. Sacrificing himself to the military so that he could one day get their bodies back. He was an alchemist…but he couldn't even help a little girl. The horrible truth that some alchemists were indeed cold murderers and that alchemy wasn't always used to help the people…

The Fullmetal Alchemist gasped as he looked like a man that just saw death in the eye and returned. His chest rising up and down he tried to find out were he was. The room was a bigger room that his at the Leaky Cauldron but it had the form of an office, books behind the desk and many bright looking instruments decorated the walls and furniture.

His short uneven breathing slowly turned to normal but no fast enough. Everything that he had just seen…everything was now clearly in his head, reopening old wounds and pains. He felt a tear go down his cheek as he remembered every one of the parts of the memory he had just see…his mother…Nina…

"Are you awake, Mister Elric?" Asked a voice as Dumbledore walked into the room wearing a fancy red cloak, his beard trailing on behind him.

"Yea-Yeah. I-I am." Edward shivered. Everything felt cold to the touch. "What happened?"

Dumbledore looked solemnly at the ground. "I apologize, it was my fault. When we arrived, it was at Hogwarts entrance. This year, because of Sirius Black, dementors were stationed at every entrance and exit of this school. I did not realize that when we would arrive, they would feast on you. I apologize." He said, his blue eyes looking down.

"Here, take some chocolate. It helps." The old man said, handing him a rather large piece of chocolate, but he did not eat but stared at him.

Edward's eyebrow's furrowed in confusion. "What are dementors?"

Dumbledore's eyes narrowed coldly.

"Dementors are among the foulest magical creatures to ever cross this Earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them... Get too near a Dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you. If it can, the Dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself...soul-less and evil. You will be left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life." He explained.

Edward just heard the explanation without interrupting. Maybe this mission wouldn't be as easy as he originally though. He was incredibly shaken by those things. Dementors.

He took a bite of the chocolate and was surprised when he began feeling warmth inside. But it also helped in realizing that he had not eaten in a while, and that he had no idea what time it was.

"What time is it?" He asked.

"Well, the start of the term ceremony is about to begin in a few minutes. You've been out since the morning. We need to get a few things done so do you have any questions so far?"

"I have a few questions about the houses. Am I gonna be sorted to one of those house things?" Asked the alchemist.

"You are to be sorted, yes. Although your mission entitles you to protect Harry Potter, that is only if Sirius Black decides to go after him. In the mean time you are to learn and study the materials taught, like any normal student would. Mister Mustang asked that you are to report anything that involves the stone."

He stopped before continuing.

"About the stone, please refrain from asking about it to professors or students to avoid raising suspicion. We had a problem with it two years ago and would rather avoid a similar problem. I doubt you will find anything about the stone in the library but the Restriction Section is off limits. But who know, perhaps you will find something where others could not. If you have a question about something particularly strange, you may receive permission from myself, but ask no other teacher otherwise. I apologize for the secrecy but in the condition the school, it is necessary."

"So why is Sirius Black so feared? He's just a murderer or does is it something else?"

"No. Sirius Black killed 13 people with a single curse and no sign of remorse. He was sent to Azkaban, a wizards prison in which dementors guard the prisoners. Usually Azkaban will drain a wizard of his powers and leave them isolated, rendering them insane. But he managed to escape, a feat no other has done. And since Azkaban is located in a small island, chances of escape are none. People are afraid that he will come back to murder, in the name of the Dark Lord Voldemort."

The more the alchemist learned the more questions he had.

"And Voldemort is…?"

"Voldemort is one of the greatest Dark Wizard to have ever been taught at Hogwarts. He had a deep hatred towards Muggles for unknown reasons and had great fame in killing them. Soon he had organized a group called Death Eaters. Wizards who began to kill Muggles for fun. But that group soon grew into an army, and throughout the whole country, they wreaked havoc against all Muggles. A war came out of that single man and after while there seemed to be no end to it. Sirius Black was suspected of being his right hand man throughout the whole war. But after a long time of killing and making disasters, he vanished. Later on, Sirius Black murdered a block full of people. The only other wizard who was there was killed by the curse, Peter Pettigrew. Being a foreigner I doubt that you could comprehend the terror that Voldemort and his Death Eaters inspired." He finished, a morose tone clearly in his tone.

Hmm. That guy does sound like bad news, he thought as he finished the chocolate that was given to him. He felt better but his mind was still in a slight turmoil, knowing that there was a small chance that he would forget what he had seen soon. As he thought about how the Death Eaters killed the Muggles simply because they wanted to or because they were different made him think about the Ishbal Rebellion for some reason, he didn't even know much about it.

It was not until he heard a:

"Headmaster, the ceremony is about to commence. The First Years are going to be sorted." Did he look up.

An older looking woman with green robes and a pointed hat came in the room. Her face showed impatience and was so strict that she resembled Lt. Hawkeye in the manner. Her eyes looked at him and said:

"You are the new student Edward Elric, yes?"

"Yes, ma'am." He stumbled, out of respect and fear of what the woman was like. He would usually be confident when meeting a new person and showed them no hesitance but he felt weird, acting like his 11 year old self when he had just entered the military, and so far there was no reason why to speak informally to the woman. On the contrary, her stature demanded respect and fear, if it was a good thing or not he did not ponder it.

"Mister Edward, would you please follow Professor McGonagall to her office. She will call you out to the ceremony when you are ready to be sorted.

"Yes."

The woman walked out of the room briskly with the alchemist behind her. Edward gaped at the moving pictures and remembered that he had read about moving portraits that had retain a part of the personality that the person who was painted on. How it was done was still a mystery and he had no plans to remain clueless in the school.

Another thing that impressed him was the size of the school. Just seeing the long and large hallways gave him an idea of what the actual size of the castle was. He was very amazed by how much magic the school used. There were magical items everywhere and they all worked effortlessly wherever they were placed. But out of all the things that were in the castle that amazed him were the stair. They moved in different positions and levels every little while. He glanced at the teacher, but she just waited impatiently as she waited for the right stairs to take them to where they were supposed to go. When it did come, he stepped on it cautiously before walking quickly to the other side. It was amazing, but how was it possible?

He did not have time to dwell on it as they entered the woman's office. He felt strange. These people were used to all this magic and all these shortcuts to life that he had no idea how to respond to them. In his mind wizards were somewhat lazy, preferring to do everything by magic as a shortcut rather than to do it themselves. If anyone asked him he would rather do it by hand, just like he'd never used alchemy for every aspect of his life, just the things that were out of his reach.

"So Edward Elric, how do you feel about our school so far?" Professor McGonagall asked as she sat down in her desk. Not unlike the old man, her office was warm with a raging fireplace in the side of the room.

"Uhm. It's okay I guess. Just not what I'm used to." He answered honestly. She gave him a piercing gaze, in which he immediately sat straight in his chair.

"Not what you're used to? Well, you might as well get used to it, the year is long and the classes are no walk in the park. Do you understand?"

"Yes Professor. I understand."

She stared at him for a long moment before her strict face suddenly getting warmer. A smiled touched her lips before continuing.

"Anyhow, I understand that the headmaster would like to place you in Third Year. Have you read the all the books on the subjects from the first year and second year?"

"Yes, I have."

"Did you understand the basics of each subject?"

"Yes."

"I hope so because in Third Year, things are more advanced. If you do not perform well, I will drop you another year." The woman said before a knock on the door interrupted their conversation.

"Excuse Professor McGonagall, we were sent to see you." Came a familiar voice. Ed looked at the door way and there stood Hermione and a dark-haired boy wearing glasses.

"Oh yes. Potter I heard you were ill in the train. Is that right?" McGonagall asked the boy with the glasses. Ed looked at him with a piercing eye, immediately deducing that that was Harry Potter, the kid he was supposed to protect from Black. He didn't look all that great, considering he had pale skin. The boy turned red in shame and he suppressed a chuckle.

Suddenly the door opened again and another woman came in.

"Madam Pomfrey."

She began talking about all the trouble that the Potter boy, while inspecting him before McGonagall interrupted her.

"It was a Dementor Poppy."

Disapproval crossed the woman's face before she continued on about how bringing dementors to a school was about the worst possible thing that could happen.

"Perhaps he should spend a night at the hospital wing?"

"I'm FINE!" was the sudden outburst that Harry decided to do.

"Have you at least eaten chocolate?" said McGonagall sharply.

"Yes, Professor Lupin gave me some in the train." He said grudgingly, in a low voice. Is green eyes looked up to him in curiosity. Ed just sat, looking disinterested in what had happened even though he had already deduced the fact that he had fainted in the train by his irritation, embarrassment, pale skin and the worry of the teacher. So he wasn't the only who had fainted, was he?

"Potter, Elric. Kindly wait outside while I talk to Miss Granger."

They did as they were told, and Ed greeted Hermione on his way out. She was confused over what he was doing in the office but since he was a new kid it made sense that he would have to speak to a teacher before it all started.

Ed waited in the hallway against the wall, one leg bent on the wall while the other supported. The Potter kid leaned against the wall but on the other side of the door. Neither looked at each other for at least a couple of minutes until Ed was as conversational as ever.

"So…Dementors huh?" His voice rang in the hallways, but it was too low to decipher any type of echo. The boy looked at him and then at the ground, hiding his eyes from view.

"Don't like them either?" He asked.

"Not a chance. I hate those things." Ed answered.

"At least you didn't faint…" Potter mumbled quietly, keeping his eyes glued to the carpet beneath them.

Ed didn't answer, just stood waiting for the teacher to come out and then sort him out or something.

In a few minutes, Hermione and McGonagall came out of the room, and addressed them.

"Potter, Granger, go to the ceremony. Elric, follow me." She said as they began walking through another hallway and stopped in front of the a large door, which beyond you could hear a booming voice. The old man's voice.

"And now, before we begin eating our scrumptious meal, allow me to welcome Mister Edward Elric, a new student at Hogwarts this year. He shall join the third years and I hope we can make him feel welcome here. Mr. Elric, please join us." He stepped uncertainly in through the door and found himself in a huge hall. It was bigger than the cafeteria at Central for sure. The roof of the place was perhaps one of the most curious things he had seen at Hogwarts. It looked high and never-ending, and it looked like the actual sky outside, a little bit cloudy but incredibly realistic. Under it were four large tables, each having a multitude of people, for what he guessed were the houses that he had heard so much about. Empty plates could be seen and everyone looked up to see him.

Whispers filled the entire hall in less than a second and excited giggling and whispering could be heard. Ed rolled his eyes as McGonagall directed him to a chair in the middle of the side of the hall where all the older people were sitting. He sat in it with an impassive face and looked at anywhere but the looks he was getting.

"I shall now place the Sorting Hat. Please do not panic." She said as he felt a light weight on his head. It would have been fine, despite the fact that the hat was moving as it took a good look at him. It took all of Edward's retrain to no beat it out of it's head and clap his hand.

"What a nice mind you got here. Strong unlike so many whom I have been chosen to place in out school's houses." A voice said. It took a moment for Ed to realize that the hat was talking to him inside his head.

"Who the hell gave you permission to get inside my head. Get the hell out before I transmute something that will leave you permanently damaged." He threatened.

"Ooh. A brave one. I can see your personality as clear as water yet I cannot see what drives you. Perhaps if you let me…"

"Back off. There's no way in hell I'm about to let some creepy ass freak get even deeper into my head. Just do what you're supposed to be doing and hurry up too!"

"Mmm. I see you're cunning, and brighter than many. Brave, loyal, selfless, caring, protective. Bad-tempered, aggressive, troubling, resourceful, and so many other I cannot list. Could you be Hufflepuff? Or maybe a Ravenclaw, bright and intelligent? Perhaps a Gryffindor, brave and loyal? Or you could be an ambitious cunning Slytherin? All these yet I cannot choose one."

Edward just rolled his eyes angrily. He had no comment.

"Hufflepuff does not fully suit you. Ravenclaw could do very good with a prodigy like you. You have the most potential for Slytherin and Gryffindor but where shall I put you?"

With a great bellow the hat yelled out "SLYTH-" Before it was rudely interrupted by the alchemist.

"Hell no! That place sounds like its full of conceited jerks. I don't want to be there!" He though angrily at the hat. The hat raised a nonexistent eyebrow at the boy before smirking.

"Fine then. You belong in GRYFFINDOR!" It yelled.

The Gryffindor table erupted into cheers as the Slytherin girls glare venomously at them.

Dumbledore rose from his tall chair and said:

"Mr. Elric, please join the Gryffindor and take part of our wonderful feast."

Ed did as he was told and walked down the long aisle between the four tables. These was a large amount of tension in the room as everyone's eyes fell on him, but he just simply shrugged them off and sat himself in the Gryffindor table. Dumbledore clapped his hands and immediately all the plates filled themselves with hundreds of varieties of different food, something that Ed considered his personal heaven.

At first all he thought about was how the old man had done that but as the aroma of the turkey and ham registered in his nose, his mouth began to water. He was faced with a tough decision, his need to know what had happened, or his want to eat as much as his stomach could hold. As his hand grabbed the fork, he decided to leave his scientist mind till later.

Hermione stood from where she was sitting and walked over and joined him, behind her two other people followed.

"Hello Edward, may I join?" His golden eyes looked up and nodded, his mouth too full to answer.

"These are my friends, Ron Weasley"-She gestured at the redheaded boy at her left whom he recognized from the Leaky Cauldron, "And this is Harry Potter." She pointed at the boy in her left who gave a weak 'hello' under his breath.

"Hey mate," greeted Ron, a grin on his face.

Ed forced himself to swallow the hot food and introduced himself.

"Edward Elric, nice to meet you." He said, shaking Ron's and Harry's hand, the latter a fast one.

"You don't look like a Third Year, I though you were a First year when I say you come in." Ron commented.

Can't…kill…Don't…Attract…Attention…Can't…Kill…

The trio just looked nervously as the smaller boy's steak was sadistically taken apart by a spoon, while the new student's eye twitched.

"So, where do you come from anyway?" Asked Hermione conversationally.

"Small country, out East," Ed lied easily.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters that have been at Hogwarts before?" inquired Hermione.

"I have a brother but he's younger than me." He answered between bites of his food.

"Why is your hair long? I mean I have an older brother who does the same thing but in a ponytail, but why so long?" Ron asked as he looked at the braid behind Ed's head. Ed just shrugged.

"Kept it long. Never got around to cutting it. Liked it. That's about it." The alchemist answered nonchalantly.

"So-"

"-You're-"

"-The-"

"-New-"

"-Kid-."

The golden haired boy looked up to see two more people joining in on their conversation. He recognized them immediately. They were the pair of twins that he had seen in the Leaky Cauldron only a few days ago. Having red hair and freckles, he deduced that they were related to Ron.

"These are my older brothers, Fred and George," Ron said as he introduced the pair, with not so much as looking up from his plate of chicken wings.

"Please to make your acquaintance," They grinned as they shook hands.

"Ron, Harry." Called out a new voice, one with authority.

Ed looked behind him to find yet another redhead towering over them. But this time, it was a strict one with the sound of a slightly big ego. It was the one whom the twins had pranked during dinner at the hotel-like place.

As soon as he had gotten the three boys attention, he continued to speak.

"Professor McGonagall just informed me that Mr. Elric shall reside in your room from now on. Do me a favor and escort him to his room after dinner." Before he left, his chest puffed out. It took all his willpower to not make faces at the leaving freckled teenager.

"Sorry about the uptight attitude from my brother-" Ron began before being interrupted by one of the twins.

"-Uptight? He's acting like a roach crawled up his arse and died."

"Fred!"

"Hermione, I believe we've known each for quite some time now. You may call me George."

"Jeez, Hermione, hurt my feelings much. I wouldn't say such barbaric things about my favorite brother-"

"I thought I was your favorite-"

"You are Georgie! But Perce is my second to favorite-"

"I thought I was your second favorite-"

"Ginny? When the heck did you get here?"

A short red-headed girl sat herself beside her brothers, a frown on her face. Ed couldn't help but grin at the family exchange.

"Don't change the subject George! Am I your second-favorite or what?"

"You are! But-"

"Didn't you say Charlie was always going to be your left-hand man?" Ron threw in, his voice a little bitter at being interrupted.

"Actually, Charlie is my left-hand man. Bill is Georgie's."

Ginny, looked at the new arrival and extended her hand to Edward. "Hullo, my name's Ginny." Edward took it and shook. "These-" she continued, her hands gesturing at the three other red-heads, "are my brother. The twins are Fred and George, and the tall one is Ron. The prat that just left is Percy. He was made Head Boy this, in-charge and all that. Don't mind him too much. He's as spineless as the twins."

One of the twins put his hand on his mouth. "Ginny! You offend me so. Putting me in the same category as Percy, disgraceful!"

The other twin nodded, giving the small girl a disapproving mock-glare. "Really Ginny, you should consider people's feelings more."

Usually, seeing so much family interaction would fill Edward with heartache, but although the heartache was there, couldn't help but be amused by the siblings. They all had their own charming personality. The twins were on the top of the list of people he didn't want to destroy.

Harry, sitting across from him, shook out a laugh. His glasses slid down his nose, obscuring his eyes but it was easy to see the amused look he sent the family.

"I missed Hogwarts." He said, with a smile.

"What? Relatives not accommodating enough. Would you like us to break a window?"

"Because we could break a window, just for you. Just because you're my favorite Hogwarts buddy." Fred (or George) said, slightly flinching at the "I thought I was your favorite Hogwarts buddy!" coming from somewhere in the table.

"No thanks, this summer just been one big rush. All I want right now is my bed, to be honest." Harry laughed, giving thankful looks at the twins. There was inside story there, Edward knew.

Ron looked slightly appalled at his friend. "You mean we bought all that candy to celebrate our return so you can sleep?"

"Candy?"

"When was this Ronald? And why weren't we informed of this return celebration."

"You weren't invited cause you don't share a dorm with us. Don't act like you don't have a return party with Angel-"

"And that, my brother, is a story for another day." George (or Fred) said, his hand covering Ron's mouth, but the smirk was obvious on the younger brother's face.

"Angelina?" Ginny said, a broad grin on her face as well. Hermione also looked slightly intrigued.

"George, do you hear someone calling our name?"

"Why Fred, you are right, I believe I do. Must be Nick, heard he gets lonely during the summer and longs to hear the magical properties of our voices. Goodbye friends, and dimwitted siblings. We shall return!"

"Just not today!"

And with that, the twins left.

Ginny rolled her eyes before returning to Edward.

"Sorry you had to listen to all that. But trust me, this is not gonna be the last time you're going to hear about them. They may be fifth-years, but it's really hard to ignore everything they do. If you're lucky, you might manage to catch some of their prototypes at work."

Edward couldn't help but be intrigued. "Prototypes?"

Ron took over. "They have this insane idea of opening a joke shop after Hogwarts, so they create all the stuff they're planning on using. Most of the stuff is quite brilliant, probably the only class they pass with a solid grade being Charms and Transfiguration. Don't let them fool you into eating any of their candies." Harry let out a snort, grinning a bit.

Edward let out a broad smirk. "I'll keep that in mind." That being said, he returned to his stacked plate.

"You've received a magnificent Gryffindor welcome, why don't you tell us something about yourself?" Ginny offered. "Can't get something for nothing, you know?"

Edward lifted his head from his food to give a small smile. He liked this girl.

"Well, I-um- like food?" He said, hoping to put off as much personal information. Hermione rolled her eyes, saying something along the lines of 'boys.'

Ginny gave him an unimpressed look. "Ha ha. Nice try. How about something more informative?" Although her tone was slightly sarcastic, he could tell by the look on her face that she wanted to know more about the new Gryffindor. Ron, Hermione and Harry also edged into the conversation, trying to be as casual as possible but still completely interested.

Edward let out a small sigh before thinking about it.

"I was homeschooled, along with my brother. His name is Alphonse. He likes cats. He also likes food."

His face darkened somewhat, but he choked his cough down.

"Why isn't your brother here?" Hermione asked innocently.

"Couldn't make it. He's kind of sick." Edward looked away from the group, concentrating back on his food. The group knew better than to cross the line with personal questions.

"Hey, just a question. Was the Sorting Hat about to sort you in Slytherin?" Ron asked cautiously, trying not to put his foot in his mouth, but he was somewhat curious. Harry also looked at the teen, and Ron could see his eyes begging for the question to be answered. But Ron knew why, so it didn't bother him in the slightest.

"Yeah, it almost did. It was going to place me in Ravenclaw too. It said something about Gryffindor and Slytherin and I kinda asked it to put me in Gryffindor last minute." He said, giving them a bashful grin. Hermione looked slightly proud at that but Ron couldn't leave it alone.

"Not that I'm complaining or anything but if you're new here, why'd you choose Gryffindor?" In Ron's point-of-view, there were too many things wrong with almost being placed in Slytherin. He wanted to know the type of person that he would share a dorm with. Biased, he did not ever think the same for Harry, they had too much history to doubt his best mate.

Edward laughed. "Actually, Hermione was the one that told me about the type of assholes that are in that House, and let me tell you something: the only reason I haven't been arrested for fighting assholes like that is cause my little brother always stops me. I wasn't about to place myself in a place where I would get expelled just because my brother isn't there to keep me from knocking a few heads."

Ron barked out a laugh, his face screwed in laughter. Ginny joined her brother in on the laughter, giving him an approving look. Hermione looked appalled but amused all the same. Harry gave the blond a smirk at his antics, green eyes shining brightly.

Ed managed to grin a bit before returning to his food. In the corner in mind, he could tell that Harry was going to be an easy person to look after. He didn't seem too bad, more reserved than the family before him but more easy-going than Hermione.

He gave her a wink before wolfing down the rest of his food.

"You should be careful, Ed. Wouldn't want to choke on a bone." Hermione told him, breaking away from a side conversation with Harry. The kid was tense and no doubt he wanted to talk to his friends, but his presence kept them from doing so.

Ed looked up and grinned cheerfully, "Sorry. No breakfast and I haven't had anything to eat. Whoa, I'm stuffed. This food is pretty damn good." He commented, rubbing his stomach. Ron eyed him warily as he stood from his seat and stretched sleepily. He yawned happily, the only way when he had eaten awesome amounts of food. The only downside was that his brother wasn't there. If he had his body, he would have enjoyed every plate of dessert that he had eaten.

"You know, we should get going. Tomorrow we have class and we have to get ready." Hermione murmured as she stood from her seat. All the teachers had already left to their respectful places and the hall was half empty.

"Alright. We'll show you to our room, yeah Ed?" Ron said merrily as they began walking down the large hall.

Letting himself be walked to the room proved to be eventful as they were almost out of the hall.

A pale skinned kid and what seemed to be two gorillas behind him stopped the entrance way. They stared at the group with arrogant smirks that Edward wished he could beat out of their face. In response the group went on the defense.

"What do you want Malfoy?" said Harry as he went in the front, glaring at the middle boy with the platinum blond hair, his hands swiftly going to his robes, where his wand rested.

"Might want to sleep with a light on, just in case those big ol' dementors come and scare you. You don't want to faint again, would you Potter? But some people can't help it." He sneered at the green eyed boy.

Edward kept a straight face. Judging from the green and silver ties, the arrogant attitude and the pompous air about them. Slytherins.

Ron, being the best friend, came to Harry's aid as he stepped up to Malfoy.

"Bug off Malfoy. We just ate. We don't want to throw it back up so soon."

The boy sent a glare his way before it was replaced by that stupid smirk.

"I thought your father had won money during the summer. Must've heard wrong. Your family is probably still as poor as ever. Bet your filthy mother doesn't even have anything to cook for you back home, does she? No wonder you look so anxious to be back. Hogwarts must be the only place where you could get free food."

For a moment, Edward saw red. He could feel his temper falling and the itching in his arms to break a couple of faces. Next to him, he could see Ron shaking in anger, his teeth grinding.

Hermione placed a hand on Ron's shoulders and mouthed, "It's not worth it."

The blond and his posse smirked at the red-head's lack of response and gave a small sneer to Hermione before walking away, all high and mighty.

Edward grinned, his canines flashing before he nonchalantly placed his leg in front of the platinum blond, and effectively knocking the boy onto the ground. His fault for having his nose so high in the air he couldn't see the obvious foot in the way.

Malfoy let out a shriek, his gray eyes widened, his face covered in blood. He shakily brought himself to his feet, pointing and accusing finger at the alchemist.

"You tripped me." He said, his voice shaking, both in anger and disbelief.

Edward let his mouth fall into a confused 'o', pointing a finger to himself. "Me?" He asked innocently. Before he couldn't help it and let a broad smirk cover his face.

Harry and Ron just looked on, surprised at the turn of events, but it wasn't long before they started sniggering, along with the other Gryffindors.

Humiliated and angry, Malfoy let out a nasal "Crabbe. Goyle."

An overweight, gorilla-looking boy walked up to, cracking his knuckles threatningly before throwing a punch, fully intended to hit Edward in his face.

With a large grin, he swiftly avoided the punch, elbowing the kid in the head and kneeing him in the crotch. He just heard a pained gasp before the Slytherin collapsed on the ground. The other kid looked at his uncertainly, before blindly charging himself at Ed.

Using the momentum from the charge, Edward swiftly tripped the kid, delivering a punch in the gut. Both Slytherin laid on the ground, their faces confused and more-than-likely, still trying to process what just happened.

Malfoy looked at the two boys on the floor, feeling outraged and a little scared. He threw a glare at Edward, not too threatning looking considering the bloody nose and the nasal voice.

"You just made yourself a powerful enemy today Elric."

Edward looked around curiously before returning his glance at the standing Slytherin. "Who?"

With a snarl, Draco called over the two boys and swiftly left the scene, his two monkey-drones following behind him.

Edward allowed himself a satisfied smirk before walking back to Hermione, Harry and Ron, who looked at him with something close to awe, or disapproving-but-they-deserved-it-but-you-still-shouldn't-have-done-it-but-I'm-somewhat-glad-you-did look Hermione was giving him.

All before Ron patted him on the back. "Holy hell mate. You took down Crabbe and Goyle, and without your wand. You are officially celebrating with us tonight!" He exclaimed, and, along with Harry, walked themselves over to the common room. The alchemist could slightly hear the cheers coming from behind him, no doubt the Gryffindor spectators of his little fight (even if it was mostly one-sided).

Edward looked around, the cushions and seats and chairs and tables and everything was warm and the only thing he wanted to do was sleep and Ron wanted to celebrate and he could now see Harry's dilemma.

Hermione excused herself briefly, asking them all nicely to please not cause anymore ruckus (there goes Dumbledore's request) and left up a staircase that Harry informed him, were the girl dorms.

Swiftly going up a staircase, Ron talking animatedly next to him, Edward wondered if this was what it was like being around people his own age. Al always told him he had to socialize.

Briefly introducing himself to Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan and Neville Longbottom, the alchemist took a long look at the wonderfully comfortable-looking bed and noticed his robes had been laid on, now decorated with Gryffindor colors, and his trunk there. On the pillow of his bed, Owlly was sitting, its eyes closed, skillfully balancing in one leg as it slept.

Shaking the bed, the bird opened its large amber eyes and took him into its sight. Giving a happy chirp, it nibbled on his braid after settling on his shoulders. He looked around and saw Harry giving attention to his owl. It was larger than Owlly, with bright white feathers and a smug look around her as Harry treated her with leftover food.

Suddenly remembering about the food he'd snuck into his robes (he has a fast metabolism dammit), he gave a piece of leftover cake to the bird. Eating it at an amazing speed, it gave a happy foot before directing its attention to the window. Narrowly opening the window, he set Owlly down, before it found its way outside and flew into the cold crisp air.

He gave it a worried from before Harry spoke behind him.

"The owls have a special place in the castle. Don't worry about him too much. Hedwig comes and goes. They're smart animals, owls.

Nodding his appreciation at Harry, he threw himself on the bed, reveling in the soft, warm bed before a pillow struck him on his head.

"No sleeping, we're gonna celebrate." Ron exclaimed. "Get the bloody hell up. Seamus, got the firecrackers? Good. Harry, the sweets? Excellent. Neville? Smashing. Good thinking Dean."

After that, the majority of the comforters ended up on the floor, along with the pillows, and all the boys were in their sleeping clothes (Edward having snuck to the bathroom to chance, lest answer many questions having to do with the automail), and sitting around a lot of suspicious-looking candy, drinks, foods and firecrackers.

Ron, being unusually loud in contrast to how he was when they met, bellowed:

"Today, we celebrate out third year into Hogwarts, the defeat of Malfoy at the hands of our new roommate: Edward Elric! We shall introduce him to the magical world: Gryffidor style. Now Edward, would you like a candy?" With the shit-eating grin Ron was giving him, he knew better than to refuse.

And that was his first pleasantly traumatizing experience that night, effectively making him forget about the horrible, horrible memories.

Author's Note: This was probably the best rewritten chapter I have written so far. Way more interaction between the guys, and by the way, all those who were bothered by Weasley dramatics: Those are staying :D. More Ron action cause he suddenly became on of my favorite characters cause he doesn't mind saying random shit.

About Ginny and the twins, I like them. And I don't care if Ginny was traumatized as hell about the year before, just think of this being YOLO to her and deciding that being shy was just a waste of time. :D Get me? And the twins speak for themselves. :D

Let me know what you think, and please review! Especially the original readers. Tell me what you liked and didn't like. Please :D