Harry had a rather interesting schedule for the first week. Upon learning how severely underweight he was from years of neglect, Edward and Alphonse tag teamed against him and had him learning how to throw a proper punch.

Hermione, the Raven in the Lion's den, had found a rival in Ed. It was quite funny really. While she could answer any question correctly, only Edward would go out of his way to explain why it worked. Thanks to him Gryffindor was up by fifty points before the first week was out. The teachers were quite impressed with him.

And Hermione was furious. While she could be seen in the library most times of the day when class was not in session, Edward would only take out what interested him or anything that would get his homework done faster.

He was the golden boy of the teachers, yet he never once acted like a teacher's pet. The irony was that Harry was supposed to be the golden boy of Gryffindor. Edward had taken over his position without even a fuss.

And from what the rumors were saying, it was quite possible that Harry would be adopted by Granny Pinako by Christmas. Which would make Edward and Alphonse his brothers.

Edward walked with Harry to Hagrid's little hut near the forest. It was rather small for someone his size, but when Edward went in, he could tell that where it lacked in size it made up in comfort. The whole house seemed to feel like Hagrid. He grinned when he saw Fang, who was trying to lick Harry to death. Edward scratched the hound on the ears, which made his back leg go nuts.

Harry and Edward spent the entire afternoon talking to Hagrid. Hagrid seemed a bit upset that Edward had made a fool of Snape on his first day.

"Yer know Snape is threatening to hang yer by yer ankles if he catches ye."

"He can try," smirked Ed.

Edward sat down and read his newest book from the library. Then something caught his eye. It was a small word, but it was the word itself that had his interest.

Alchemist.

The book went on to describe about Nicholas Flamel, a noted alchemist who was still alive...and was currently over six hundred years old. A glint appeared in Edward's eyes. It might be worth his time to write the man.

Ed looked up from his book and saw Harry still struggling on his homework.

"Hey Harry, how would you like to make a deal?"

Harry looked at him with suspicion. He had learned very quickly that dealing with Ed was like dealing with the Weasly twins. You had best count your fingers afterword.

"Nothing too major. Just want to borrow your owl."

"And in exchange?"

"I help you with your homework."

"Deal. Want me to call her?"

Ed shook his head.

"Need to write a letter first. What are you working on now?"

Harry made a face.

"Potions and Transfiguration."

Ed walked over to his surrogate brother and looked at what he was doing. He gave Harry the pages he needed, and corrected his grammar. Hermione watched him with disapproval clear on her face.

"You shouldn't help him."

Ed gave her a look.

"I may be giving him the pages he needs, but I am not doing all the work for him. Besides, the less time he spends looking up the right answers, the more time he has to use it constructively, like practicing what he has learned."

Hermione pursed her lips, as if she thought the whole idea was foolish. Ed shrugged. She would have to learn that not everyone enjoyed reading books all day.

Nicholas Flamel looked up when he heard the hoot. A beautiful snow white owl landed gracefully on his table. In her claws was a letter, obviously written by a student of sorts.

As he opened the letter and waved the owl off to the plate of bacon, his eyes slowly widened.

An eleven year old with a clear grasp of alchemy was writing him. What was more was the child happened to be the son of a prominent alchemist by the name of Hohenheim. Someone who had been missing for the past seven years.

Clearly the boy took after his father, because his wording was clear and precise. He even included a proper circle drawn free hand.

Nicholas began to chuckle. It might be worth his time to go to England and meet the boy. And he could use that time to clear up something that had bothered him after a rather disturbing letter from Gringotts. The fake stone he had left for Albus to use had been removed.

It was a simple red water mixture with a few stabilizing factors. His personal stone which he used was still in his house. Unlike Hohenhiem, his last apprentice, he didn't think humans were the proper ingredient to create a stable stone.

He began to pen his letter, and much to his amusement, the owl waiting for him patiently. She delicately took the letter before flying off.

"What was that about love?" asked Perenelle.

"The son of Hohenhiem has sent us a letter dear. It seems that he has taken up where his father has left off. Look at the splendid circle he drew!"

"Very well done for a free hand drawing."

"Let's just hope that he doesn't make the same mistake his father did."

Edward looked up when he spotted Hedwig. He read the free flowing script on the paper and made a face. Why did everyone go on and on about his dad? He didn't even like the guy.

Still, he did start his next letter to the ancient alchemist before bed. Harry didn't mind that Edward used his owl. He didn't have anyone he wanted to write to, and Hedwig seemed to enjoy the exercise.

Time seemed to fly, and the only time they bothered to look up anymore was when Edward had sent a letter. He let Harry read the response and his own before he sent them.

The only real excitement the boys had was the flying lesson. And the resulting aftermath...

Harry winced as Hermione took off too soon and ending up breaking her right wrist. She wouldn't be able to do any homework for a few days at least.

Edward winced as well. If Hermione couldn't do any homework, she would be unbearable. She shrieked enough when Ed assisted the other lions with theirs.

Harry and Ed waited impatiently for the teacher to return. Alas, Draco decided to annoy Ron, and it didn't take long for the Slytherin to fly above the rather irritating red head.

Harry wobbly flew up to Draco and told him to knock it off.

Instead Draco took out something he had picked up in the hallway which Harry immediately recognized. It was something Neville's gran had sent him that morning.

Draco didn't even bother to think, he just threw it as hard as he could. Harry didn't pause to think either. He flew as fast as he could to catch the glass ball.

Edward cursed, and took off after him. Even though Harry managed to catch the ball, he had difficultly maintaining his grip with one hand. He spotted Ed and tossed it. Ed caught it expertly and grinned.

They tossed the ball back and forth to each other, Harry managing to catch it better than he could toss.

By the time they landed the other students were cheering. Ron just sulked.

McGonagall went up to them with a scowl.

Ed and Harry winced.

(As it turned out, she wasn't going to give them detention. Harry became the new Seeker, and Edward became the reserve Keeper. Wood got taken out of the game so often it wasn't funny.)

Ed looked skeptically at his broom. It was one of the spares that the school had. It was falling apart at the seams.

Ed had been bored, so he convinced Harry to practice with him. Harry would attempt to get the ball past Ed and Ed would help him catch it.

It was only a week before the first match. And Ed still hadn't managed to get a broom. He couldn't afford one. Harry offered to lend him the money, but Ed was as stubborn as a mule. He didn't want charity, no matter how well meaning it was. Alphonse had soothed Harry's hurt feelings about the matter at least.

Three days before Halloween, Ed got a surprise. It was a long package with an odd shape on one end. It was being carried by three owls, and they could barely get through the dorm window.

Once Harry relieved them of their package, they flew off.

Ed read the note and his eyes widened in shock. The package was from Flamel.

"Dear Edward,

I heard about your difficulty in acquiring a proper broom, and I hope you don't think of this as charity.

Just don't be surprised to see me at your first game. I fully expect to talk to you in person, so don't try to weasel out of it. I will be in the Gryffindor stands with my wife. You should be able to recognize me easily, since I will be the only person wearing what you would call normal clothing like blue jeans.

Nicholas."

Edward grinned.

"I suppose this is a bribe for me to talk to him," said Edward.

Harry stared at the beautiful mahogany handle. It was in a script he didn't recognize, and certainly looked expensive.

Edward on the other hand, recognized the writing off the bat. He had a thing for ancient and foreign writing. The broom model was written in ancient Greek.

"So this is a Hermes three hundred. Wonder how much this cost him," said Ed.

"You can read that?"

"It's Greek. And I happen to like languages, so sue me."

"Can you speak it too?" asked Harry amused.

"Not a word. I can only read most of it, not speak it. Believe me I have tried, and I always have such a bad accent no one understands me."

Harry snickered. At least now Ed wouldn't complain that his broom sucked.

Ed kept looking for a certain bushy haired know it all. While he didn't agree with her views of what he called 'homework help', he did like her company. At least she knew enough about science to keep him happy.

Instead she was suspiciously absent. And that, in his mind, didn't bode well.

"So tell me again why there is an enormous amount of candy on the table?" said Ed.

Harry shook his head amused.

"Muggle custom. On Halloween they take their children for treats. It's called Trick or treating."

"And?"

"Well if you don't get any candy or treats, then you are allowed to play a trick on the people."

"I still don't get what this all has to do with candy and pranks."

"I don't either, but it has something to do with the veil between life and death being thin. Apparently spirits are supposed to have an easier time coming through, so ghouls and the like play tricks. People started handing out treats to convince them to go away. Muggles must have picked up on that and started the trick or treating custom," said Harry.

"Ah... It still makes no sense. Has anyone seen Hermione? Maybe she can explain it to me," said Ed.

"Not since Charms," said Dean.

"What happened?" asked Ed. He had seen Ron's guilty look.

"He insulted Hermione after Charms. Said she had no friends. According to Parvati, she's been in the bathroom all afternoon, crying her eyes out," said Seamus.

Ed scowled at the red head. Ron had gotten on his nerves since that day on the train. It seemed the boy thought it his right to be Harry's best friend, when anyone with a pair of eyes could see that Harry preferred Edward's company. Ed at least, never paid a lick of attention to his scar, and always gave him some proper back up.

Ron, on the other hand, always stared at the scar with something akin to jealousy. He never helped Harry out in any way or form, and instead blamed Edward for his poor grades. Edward shunned the boy who never paid attention when Ed handed out the page numbers for the other first years. His little tip sheet had resulted in a jump in the grades.

McGonagall hadn't liked it, but when Ed explained his reasoning she didn't remove it. She turned her attention to more pressing matters, like what the twins were up to.

(Unknown to Edward, the Ravenclaws had heard of his system, and the Upperclassmen took time out of their day to help the younger students by doing the same thing. It resulted in less time spent on homework and more time in practicing or reading more informative books. They had declared Edward an honorary Ravenclaw because of it.)

Suddenly Quirrell, the one teacher Ed never listened to, burst into the great hall. He seemed flustered.

"Troll! In the dungeon! There's a troll in the dungeon! Thought you ought to know..." he promptly fainted.

Ed rolled his eyes. He loathed theatrics like that. It was very obvious to him that either the man had something to do with the troll, or he had wanted the students in a frenzy to cover something up. Either way, there wasn't any real call for him to break into the hall and cause such a fuss.

Harry looked frantic.

"Hermione! She doesn't know about the troll!"

Ed said something then that had Percy looking at him sharply, and the twins grinning in glee.

"Well F**k."

Instead of running off to rescue her, he went up to McGonagall instead.

"Professor, Hermione Granger is in the second floor bathroom without any knowledge of the troll. Shouldn't someone be sent up there to retrieve her before it leaves the dungeons?" said Edward calmly.

"What? Why isn't she in the great hall?" she exclaimed.

"Ronald Weasly made a crass remark about her having no friends, and it upset her. According to Patil, she's been in there all afternoon."

McGonagall scowled. There was no call for such a remark.

"I will retrieve miss Granger. Thank you for informing me, Mr. Elric. Twenty points to Gryffindor for calm thinking."

Ed grinned, and dragged Harry with him.

"McGonagall knows about Hermione. She'll take care of it."

Harry reluctantly followed Ed. Ten minutes in the tower and Hermione came in, shell shocked. Apparently McGonagall had only just found her before the troll arrived. It was currently destroying the girl's bathroom while the teachers were trying to figure out what to do with it.

Hermione walked up to Edward and thanked him.

"Hermione, next time some idiot (he looks at Ron pointedly, who was too busy eating to see the look) says you don't have friends, send them to me. I consider you to be a friend, even if you are a bit uptight."

What happened next was the funniest thing Harry had seen in a long time. Hermione tackled Edward in a hug. The look on the blond's face was utterly hilarious.

Ed ended up being teased about it for a month.

Edward watched from the ground as Harry tried to find the little gold ball that would end the silly game. He had already spotted Nicholas Flamel, because he was the only person in any of the stands that was not wearing a robe of sorts.

He still hated wearing the things. They restricted his movement.

Wood made a spectacular play and sent the red ball to Angelina. Flint, the leader of the opposing team, snatched the bat from his beater's hands and sent the bludger right at Wood. The boy fell to the ground hard. Ed winced.

Hooch called a time out while Wood was taken from the field. Edward knew it was his turn.

He kicked off the ground as hard as he could. He was at the goals in less than five seconds.

It seemed the Hermes brooms were faster than even a Nimbus. He grinned evilly.

The Slytherins seemed to think he was easy prey, because they kept sending the bludgers to him. Unfortunately for them, Edward had expected as much.

And had double checked the rules four times. There was nothing in the rules about the Keeper using a bat. They mostly focused on the quaffle and never the bludger. Ed on the other hand, had no qualms about using the Beater's bat to aim the black balls at the Slytherin team. When he saw Harry having trouble, he took careful aim.

No one expected the bludger to be sent into the Slytherin stands, or for it to hit Quirrell. Harry's broom quit acting up, and the game resumed.

Hooch of course had to issue a penalty shot. But Harry caught the Snitch long before the chasers had any chance to use it. He did feel sorry for Harry, because he seriously doubted that the Snitch tasted good. And Harry had nearly choked on it!

Flint, once the game was called, had tried to cry foul over Edward's use of the bat he had on him. So Ed pointed out in the rules that there was nothing against it, with a shit eating grin. Hooch of course double checked that herself, and announced that there was no actual rule against it, so long as Edward didn't actually use the bat itself on other players.

Nicholas approached the blond Keeper, with a grin. He had thought the trick brilliant. Edward spotted him and grinned.

"So you're Nicholas. I thought you would look older," smirked Ed. The other players were busy carrying Harry off to the showers. Alphonse came down from the stands, grinning.

"I thought you would be taller. So we're even," replied Nicholas grinning.

"I loathe milk," was all Ed would say on the matter.

Perenelle approached as well. It didn't take long for the four of them to start talking about alchemy and schooling. Nicholas and Perenelle thought the trip well worth the money they spent. Not only did Nicholas secure two new apprentices once they graduated Hogwarts, but he also learned that Edward and Alphonse were nothing like their father. Which was a relief really.

Hohenhiem was too focused on immortality to worry about morality. His sons on the other hand, appeared to be more concerned about their family than living forever.