Friendship

Disclaimer: I do not own HP or FMA

The following day, Edward tried his hardest to have a cheerier mood, and act more friendly towards the other students. They began to catch on though, and started to think there was something seriously wrong with him. Apparently a one day mood shift, especially after the traumatic event that just happened, was strange. He didn't care though, because once people started to get used to his more chipper attitude, they gave him less attention. It was cruel, but he thought that by making friends, especially with the trio, he could gain more information about magic that might not be in library books.

"Can I sit here today?" Ed asked to Harry Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table. They seemed to have a lot of things that they were hiding as well, so at least the gradual opening up to some secrets wouldn't be one sided. Equivalent exchange, Ed supposed.

"Sure! You seem rather happy today, did you score well on a test or something?" Hermione asked.

"Life doesn't revolve around tests Hermione," Ron commented.

"Actually," Ed interrupted, "I just decided that it would be rather gloomy to spent my time here by myself all the time. Although I've always had my head stuck in a book, you three are always being kind to me." He tried to pull off his most convincing smile, which unfortunately made him look more stupid than nice. He'd have to work on that. He couldn't grab their attention by just fixing all of their belongings with alchemy like he did in Amestris, as they could obviously do that on their own. Although he was hell-bent on his journey home, Ed couldn't help but think about how friends might be actually be nice to have around, not just for info. The only people his age that he talked were his brother and Winry, and they were both pretty strange cases.

Despite his awkward attempt at a smile, the trio smiled back in unison, obviously trying to keep Ed's spirits up. They were extremely worried about his mental state after the boggart incident, especially Hermione.

"We were thinking about going to see Hagrid later today, do you want to come with us?" asked Harry.

"Um… sorry for asking this but who's Hagrid again?" Ed knew the name sounded familiar but couldn't put a face to it.

"He's the really big guy that has a big beard and lots of hair. You can't miss him!" Harry laughed.

Ed instantly knew who they were talking about now. Hagrid was the one who spotted him when he appeared at Hogwarts and carried him to the hospital wing. He had spotted him at the staff table a few times, but had never actually talked to him. Ed supposed he should be thankful to the man for finding him when he did, but he also didn't want him blabbing about what happened.

"Yeah, sure." Ed agreed hesitantly.

They made their way out of the castle down the grounds, and Ed realized why Hagrid had spotted him so quickly. There was a hut a few feet down from where he appeared, so he could have been seen through the window. He did want to ask the man a few questions about what he saw, so Ed would have a better idea of what actually happened, since he was only semiconscious. He couldn't ask around the trio though, so he'd have to make up an excuse to stay a little later.

Ron knocked on the door, and they could all hear a slight grunt come from inside, as well as a few crashes that sounded like pots and pans falling. Ed didn't really want to know how such a big man fit inside such a small hut comfortably, but he supposed that magic could change a lot.

As the door opened, a huge dog bounded out of it and landed right on top of Ed. It reminded him of Alexander, Nina's dog, and he got a small pang of grief.

"CAN SOMEONE GET THIS STUPID DOG OFF OF ME?!" he cried out, feeling completely crushed by the huge animal.

"C'mon Fang, don't hurt our new guest!" Hagrid grunted as he lifted the black dog off of Edward. He was instantly reminded of the state the small boy was in when he helped him, and couldn't help but to sigh. It was a strange occurrence after all, and it isn't everyday that you see a strange bleeding boy appear out of thin air and try to start crawling through the grass.

"Crazy animals… always think I'm a chew toy or something…" Ed muttered to himself while rubbing his neck and walking into the hut. It was small for sure, but looked more spacious on the inside than it did on the outside.

"So what brings all of you here? I havn' seen ya since school started!" Hagrid said as he tried to make room for his three guests.

"We all just wanted to say hello, for exactly that reason. We also wanted to introduce you to our new friend, Edward Elric!" said a proud Hermione.

"Oh, I know Ed from the beginnin' of the year, when…" Hagrid stopped abruptly when he saw Ed shaking his head and motioning for him to be quiet. "I know him from when Dumbledore introduced us, that's all." he softly finished. Hagrid had a knack for always saying too much at the wrong time, so he wasn't surprised when Ed told him to stop.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all shot each other puzzled looks, but decided to stay silent for the moment. After a long chat with Hagrid about the various happenings at the school and a few mentions of some dude named "Voldemort," it started to get dark outside, so they all agreed to go back to the castle. Hagrid gave them all very inedible looking rock cakes, and shoed them outside so they didn't get in trouble for being out after dark.

"You guys go on, I have a few things I need to ask Hagrid about my term here." Ed told them.

"Okay Ed, just hurry back soon so you don't get in trouble." a worried Hermione replied.

Once they left, Ed sat back down, and eyed the giant up and down. He was roughly near the size of Al's armor, which was saying something.

"Yeh wanna talk about the day I found you, don't ya?" Hagrid sighed as Ed nodded.

"What exactly happened? Can you tell me what you saw, since I wasn't exactly aware of what was going on?"

"It suddenly became very windy outside," Hagrid stated, "and a huge black swirl appeared right above the ground. With everything I've seen, I can't say I've ever seen somethin' that spooky. You just fell from the hole, and I could've sworn I saw a buncha little black hands drop you there. Then, as you know, I saw you tryin' to gettup, so I dashed outside to help ya."

'So I was definitely intentionally dropped from the portal… there must be some reasoning behind it. Maybe Ling and Envy ended up in the same place as me… or they just made it back safely. I'm sure there would be news spread if that giant green monster appeared out of nowhere.'

"Now that you've heard what I saw, how'd that happen to ya anyways? It didn' look like any apparition or portkey." Hagrid questioned.

Ed supposed the man had a right to know what happened, since he witnessed it after all.

"I was taken through a portal from another world I guess you could say," Ed said fairly casually as Hagrid gasped in shock. "It's a long story, but I got myself in a situation where I was trapped somewhere, and I tried to use the Gate of Truth to get me back. Unfortunately as you saw, it backfired, and I ended up here." he finished.

"Blimey, a portal? I've never heard of anythin' like it in the wizarding world. I hope you find your way back home Edward, that seems like a situation I wouldn't put even my worst enemies in."

Since that encounter with Hagrid, Ed still knew next to nothing about what to do, but he strangely had more hope. He believed that as terrible as Envy was, he might be his only chance to a way back to Amestris. If Ed could use the souls of Xerxes as payment again, he would have another chance at going through the portal, plus he would rid the wizarding world of a homunculus they knew nothing about how to defeat.

While sitting in his boring History of Magic lesson, Ed also began to think about the man that Harry was talking about to Hagrid. As he remembered correctly, his name was "Voldemort," and he was on the large to take over the world or something. He didn't sound like anyone that Ed hasn't defeated before, so he wondered why everyone was making such a big deal out of it. He decided that he should ask about him.

Later that night, Ed and the others were in the squishy armchairs by the common room fireplace, and were just finishing up their homework.

"Who's Voldemort?" Ed abruptly stated, breaking the silence. Ron seemed to flinch at the name, and Harry and Hermione looked completely shocked that someone didn't know about the evil wizard.

"Voldemort is the worst wizard you could ever imagine," Harry replied after a small silence. "16 years ago, he was at large and caused a huge war to happen between his group, the Death Eaters, and the other wizards. He killed my parents, and tried to kill me too, but the curse backfired, that's why I have this scar on my forehead. It hit him instead, and he disappeared until just two years ago, presumably dead. He managed to come back, and tried to attack me again. His goal was and still is to exterminate anyone that isn't purely magic by blood." Harry finished acting like this was the millionth time he'd told that story.

"Oh… I'm sorry for your loss. Thanks for telling me." Ed solemnly stated. It seemed like he had more in common with this boy than he thought.

A/N: Once again, thank you for all the positive reviews and all the follows/favorites! Sorry about the kinda boring filler chapter, but a lot of info needed to be discussed. The speed will pick up again from here, and i'll try to post longer chapters. There should be a couple more coming this weekend! ;)