Hey guys! Sorry for not updating in a while, I was kinda busy with school (by busy I mean doing tons of school projects alone because my partners are idiots) I apologize if anyone seems out of character and/or if something in this chapter seems highly unlikely to happen. Thank you to all who have reviewed and most of all, thank you to my beta, DragonWriter357! Without you, this story would have probably been craptastic.

Unlike most of the Fullmetal Alchemist's experiences on trains, is time he was actually comfortable. However, like nearly all of his train experiences, he was tense. Ready to fight if needed. He'd gotten used to it over time- having to be ready for nearly everything. After all, who knew what could happen? Some lunatic could barge in with his stick and threaten to take over the train. They could get in an accident. Maybe Father had somehow survived and had come into this world. Hell, he could be coming for Ed right this second and try to hijack the train.

Edward had to be prepared. Ready to protect these people that he had become so fond of (the word friend didn't seem quite right as of now, but they were somewhere in that area) from that God-like wannabe.

Of course, this was the irrational part of Ed's mind. The part that could never be at ease- not truly, anyway. There was always some absurd 'what if' lurking around in his head. But the sensible part of him knew that Father was dead. Truly dead.

It was more of a gut feeling, really, but he'd learned to trust his instincts over the years. As for the rest of the nonsense scenarios he made up in his head, he knew that there was an extremely small chance of any of that ever happening. He'd been assured, over and over again by the trio, that Hogwarts was safe.

"...Sorting Hat give you a choice?" Harry asked. He raised his eyebrows at the blonde boy, who had a thoughtful, contemplative look on his face as he gazed out at the scenery from the train window. "Ed?" He said. Edward blinked, then looked back at him.

"Hm?" He asked. "Sorry, I was just...thinking." He mumbled. Hermione nodded understandingly. "What were you saying?" He asked.

"Did the Sorting Hat give you a choice?" Harry repeated. Ed nodded.

"Mhm." He said. "It- he- she - whatever it is - let me pick, although it said that I'd do real well in Ravenclaw." Hermione nodded.

"Oh, Ravenclaw?" She said. "The Sorting Hat must have seen a great amount of intelligence, then. Bright, witty people are usually in Ravenclaw." Ron gave a small grunt as he crumpled a candy wrapper in his hand.

"I'm shocked that you're not in Ravenclaw, 'Mione." Ron mumbled. Hermione huffed.

"I was supposed to be in Ravenclaw," She said. "But, like Ed, I chose Gryffindor instead." Harry's eyes widened at this new information. Hermione had, like him, requested to be in Gryffindor? Sure, he knew Hermione was very intelligent, and he'd had his suspicions about Hermione originally being meant for Gryffindor, but now that it was confirmed it felt so...strange.

"Holy shit!" Ed muttered, not too quietly, earning a "Language!" from Hermione. He was examining a card that Ron gave him. It had a picture of some old geezer (he looked vaguely familiar. The name at the bottom of the card read 'Dumbledore'.) He watched in childlike curiosity and fascination as he waved and walked out of sight. "What is this?" He flipped the card over, then examined the rest of it. Ron raised an eyebrow.

"Well, you can't expect him to just sit there all day, like in muggle photos!" He said. "In pictures from the wizarding world, the people can move." Ed frowned, not really satisfied with this explanation. There must be some kind of method- some kind of science involved. Although he was proved to that magic was, in fact, real, he still refused to believe that it was actually...magic. All his life, everything had a scientific explanation. From the birth of a new life, to the bodily functions, and even to the way most of their inventions worked.

"Well, how does it work?" He asked, looking at Hermione. She seemed like the brightest of the three, after all. "I mean there has to be a scientific explanation. Perhaps-"

"Magic." Ron replied, cutting the blonde off. Ed frowned. Again, he wasn't the biggest fan of this magic. Still a little skeptical, too, despite all that he'd witnessed.

"Well, I know that, but there has to be something else behind it, right?" He murmured. "After all, magic disrupts the law of Equivalent Exchange, so surely-" He was more like mumbling to himself now, so quiet that not Hermione nor the other pair could really hear him. Harry wasn't sure, but he could've sworn he heard Ed slip into another language.

After about a half an hour of talking and trying to convince that magic was just...magic. No 'Equivalent Exchange' was involved in it. Harry was sure he'd never heard that phrase before, but he decided that it most likely, judging from its' name, meant that if you want something, then you have to give something else up that was equivalent to the thing you wanted.

Hermione frowned. "Equivalent Exchange?" She said, and Ed nodded.

"Yeah," He said, a grim hint in his voice. "Where I'm from, it applies to certain military men, and even a small portion of the common people. Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain something, something of equal value must be lost." He'd experienced this firsthand. His arm for his brother's soul. His house for him to be able to keep moving forward. His happiness and normality for a chance to bring back the dead. Hermione eyed him suspiciously.

"Where you're from, huh?" She mumbled. It was in that moment that Ed realized his mistake, and silently cursed himself for his stupidity. He was supposed to not have memory of where he's from. He was screwed.

"It's kinda stuffy in here," He said, praying that the subject change would make the trio forget his fatal mistake. He reached over and opened the window little under halfway, and the compartment slowly but surely became cooler. "I heard that we had to wear robes. Is that true?" He asked. The wind whipped Ed's bangs around, which didn't really seem to bother him, as long as they forgot what they were discussing earlier. Unfortunately, Hermione wasn't fazed by the distraction.

"I thought that you didn't remember-" The compartment door slid open, saving Ed from a long explanation. He silently exhaled, more than a little relieved. He looked at the compartment door to see who'd saved him.

A rather smug, haughty looking boy around Ed's age with sleek, white blonde hair and cool grey eyes was at the door. He was accompanied by two big boys that towered over Ed.

Small, beady, dull dark eyes, with brown hair. Short, chubby, with a flat nose, thick neck, and dark brown eyes. The blonde was in the front, the chubby one to his left, and the big one on the right. Harry, Hermione, and Ron gave seething glares to the mystery trio.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Harry spat maliciously. The blonde one (Malfoy, apparently) smirked.

"I heard there was a new kid entering the 5th year," He said, his gaze switching from Harry to Ed. He examined him carefully, as if deciding whether or not he was worthy enough to acknowledge. Ed looked at him back, a bit of a glare in his gaze.

"So, you're the new one?" He said. Ed nodded curtly, lips pursed. Already, he could tell he was gonna hate this guy. People like him- people who think that they're so superior to others- got on Ed's nerves.

"I see. Say, when we get to Hogwarts, after the feast-" The word 'feast' had gotten the blonde spitfire's attention "-why don't me, Crabbe, and Goyle, show you around? We could even becomes friends if you're sorted into Slytherin-"

"No." Ed interrupted, irritably, earning shocked looks from Malfoy and the trio.

"Excuse me?" Malfoy said after a stunned silence. Ed rolled his eyes.

"What, are you hard of hearing?" He snipped. "I declined your dumbass offer. Besides, I've been sorted into Gryffindor." Malfoy's nostrils flared.

"How dare you!" He seethed. "When my father-"

"Listen, Blondie," He said, "I couldn't care less about your family, alright? I'm not afraid of your father, whoever the hell he may be, and I would never sink so low as to form a friendship with some snotty, spoiled, arrogant brat like you. I think I'll stay with the people who aren't like you at all. So screw off." He didn't know why, but he felt so irritated all of the sudden, making him snappish. After all, he couldn't afford to dawdle around with Blondie here and his two goons. He had a mission, and that was to get back. Truth did say it was possible, after all, and he'd heard from Hermione that Hogwarts had a huge library, which he would use to his advantage.

The big one huffed. "We don't want a filthy Gryffindor, anyways," He sneered.

"Yeah, Goyle's right," the other said (His name must've been Crabbe), lamely. Hermione glared up at Draco.

"There. You've got your answer from Ed. Leave. Now." Malfoy smirked.

"How cute- a filthy mudblood thinks she can tell me what to do..." Ron growled and shot up, his hand gripping his wand. His eyes screamed murder.

"What'd you say about her, you bloody snob?" The redhead snarled, much to nobody's surprise. It was obvious to everyone- except for Hermione, of course- that Ron fancied her. Ed watched the scene before him. Malfoy turned towards him.

"What're you staring at," He sneered, a superior gleam in his eye. The tone he used towards Ed made it sound like he was speaking to a lowly peasant. "Shorty?"

Ed twitched. It wouldn't be so bad to throw this guy out of the train right? He swallowed his rage, along with a lengthy rant he wanted to scream out (which was very hard for the golden-eyed blonde) and stood up, cracking his knuckles. He grabbed Malfoy's collar and pulled him close, despite his panicked cry of, "G-Get off of me!"

"Listen closely, you little shit," He said in a low, threatening voice. Malfoy's grey eyes went wide in fear, and his two goons drew their wands, but Ed didn't pay attention."Being an asshole doesn't make you look cool, it just makes you look like a dick. You may think that you're all high and mighty, but you're not, so quit acting like a king. We told you to leave once already, and frankly, I don't think you want me to tell you to leave once more. Is that clear?" The grey-eyed boy nodded frantically. "Good. Don't make me. Now get outta here." He roughly shoved Malfoy away, who fell and scrambled out of the compartment door. It's not really the outburst I usually have, he thought, but it'll do. After all, seeing the pure terror in Malfoy's eyes felt much more effective than his other method.

Crabbe looked slightly outraged. He was glaring at Ed like he'd just taken his favorite toy away, and Ed glared right back. Suddenly, quicker than Ed thought he could move, he drew his wand.

"Furnunculus!" He cried. A bright ball of light shot out of the wand. The trio gasped. Ed recognized it as a 4th year spell that would cover the victim in boils. Son of a bitch, he thought.

"Ed!" Hermione cried as she stood up. She drew her wand.

The compartment was rather small and narrow, so the only thing he could do was duck. Just in time, too. Had he been 2 seconds later, the spell would've hit him in the face. He turned around, wondering if the curse would rebound if it hit a wall. Turns out that didn't matter, because he was standing right in front of the window and the spell simply soared out of the compartment. Ron and Harry stood up, their wands drawn and pointed at the two.

"Bloody hell," Ron grumbled. "You haven't even set foot into the school and you're already in a fight..." Ed glanced back at them, then rolled his shoulders.

"It's fine, guys," He said before shooting them a rather cocky grin. "I can handle it. I don't want you getting in trouble."

"So you're going to go against two people with wands?" Harry said skeptically. "That doesn't sound promising." Ed grinned evilly.

"Surprising people seems to be my talent." He mused. "I'll be fine." Harry didn't really believe it but reluctantly sat down. He kept his wand out just in case things got out of hand. Ed turned his gaze back to the two. He was surprised that they didn't attack when he was talking to the trio.

"So," He said. "You two seem like idiots. But I don't think you're idiotic enough to actually go against me and expect to win. But I suppose it's because you don't know me, and I don't think you really want to experience your loss. I suggest you leave before things get rough." Crabbe smirked and looked at Goyle, who smirked in return and raised his wand. Ed shrugged. "Alright, don't say I didn't warn ya." He sighed.

He leaped towards Goyle and punched him in the nose. With his automail fist. Goyle looked mildly shocked as he put his hands up to cover his bleeding nose.

"Listen, guys," He sighed. "Before it gets any uglier than it already is, you'd better leave. Last chance." Ed waited for a moment before turning around to face Crabbe, whose wand was raised. "Lo-"

The blonde turned around swiftly, dropped to the floor in a crouch, extended his left leg, and kicked Crabbe's feat our from under him, resulting in the fat 5th year falling to the floor with a surprised cry. Ed got up quickly, grabbing Crabbe's wand as he did so, and kicked Goyle, who was, yet again, about to cast another spell on him, in the chest, sending him flying to the hallway wall. There was a grunt behind him, and he turned around to find a meaty fist flying his way. He ducked and punched Crabbe in the stomach (he was afraid that his automail fist might do a little too much damage, so he did it with his left hand instead) then grabbed his arm and flipped him over his shoulder.

The compartment was mostly quiet, with the exception of the pained groans of Goyle and Crabbe. The fight had taken them half inside and half out of the compressed room. Ed looked down at the wand he held in his hand, contemplating whether or not he should throw it out the window, but finally decided against it. He didn't want to get charged for a new wand, after all.

He let out a small huff as he put the wand in Crabbe's pocket and hoisted him up, despite his pained moan. "Damn, what'd this guy eat?" He mumbled as he practically threw him out of the compartment. He moved on to Goyle.

"Ow..." He groaned. Ed snorted softly.

"Oh, be quiet and suck it up, Donkey Kong." He shoved him out of the compartment, not really caring if they were just going to lay out in the middle of the hall. He closed the compartment door and dusted off his shoulders, then sat back down. He grinned devilishly.

"So, tell me about this feast..."