Ah, thanks again for the comments! XD I'll try to make my chapters longer for you guys...I'm leaving some things out so don't state the obvious, okay? It's for the plot of the story. Shh.
FMA belongs to Arakawa Hiromu and Square Enix, and Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Ed sneered as he crawled under the long table the teachers dined on, spotting Snape's goblet, filled with a substance similar to wine, but smelling like beets. Taking a careful look around the Great Hall, he quickly took the cup and brought it to the ground. He gingerly opened the flask and poured a drop of the draught onto the decorated cup. The pale green dissolved into the blood-red drink and disappeared.

Ed sniffed it again. Ugh. Hopefully Snape wouldn't take a whiff of it before he drank it. Placing the goblet back to its original position, he closed the flask quickly and slipped it into his robes for safekeeping.

Crawling back to his seat and shaking off the dust on his cloak, he gave a thumbs up to Harry, who winked in return. Ron, who was watching, grinned.

The teachers arrived one at a time, glad to be having a break. They each sat down at the table and started chatting idly, mostly about their students. Ed wasn't interested until he heard his name. He sat up and edged a bit closer to the conversation.

"That Elric... he's a new student, right? But he's already shown remarkable skills as a wizard..."

"It seems that he's the only one to top Hermione Granger in any subject..." McGonagall glanced at the group of 16-year-olds- a blond one, a raven-haired one, and a red-haired one.

"It also seems he has topped Ms. Granger in the group too..."

The other teachers looked in her direction, then at the Gryffindor table, Ed pretending not to notice. He wasn't sure whether or not he was favored by the staff. It would work to his advantage if he was, though...

Kuso, he cursed. He had just put a potion in Snape's drink! How he hated authority... He had a bit of flexibility in the military, when the taisa either gave up, didn't care, or burned him to a crisp, if he was lucky. But at least he was forgiven for whatever he had done there...

He stared as Snape made his way past the Gryffindor, marking off points for fooling around. He sneered at Harry. Ed shook his head. He deserved it. That was final.

Severus Snape sat down in the only unoccupied seat at the table, wondering why that Granger girl wasn't with the group. He decided it wasn't his business and shrugged slightly as the food suddenly appeared.

Ed leaned forward as the moment of truth came. He was kind of hating himself for doing this, but Harry and Ron would be disappointed if he chickened out. He sighed.

Snape sighed. He wasn't as hungry as he had expected. He leaned over as he grabbed his goblet and boredly brought it to his lips.

Hold on.

Was there a drop of green on the table? Snape frowned as he bent over to inspect the stain. He sniffed it. A nearly impossible deeper frown as he determined it to be Sleep Drought. His eyes automatically swept past the students, who were unaware he was doing so. He stopped at Potter.

Thought so.

Harry and Ron leaned back, confused. They had just witnessed Snape hesitating when he was about to drink, sniffing the table, and then with suspicious eyes, looking around.

"He found out," Harry muttered weakly.

"It seems that way," Ron responded faintly.

"There is a god," Ed sighed. But the other two didn't hear.

Now for the consequences, he thought.

The three made it to the Gryffindor common room, Harry and Ron slumping back on two identical plushy sofas, while Ed sat on an uncomfortable-looking wooden chair. Ed didn't like sitting on soft sofas. They made him 'sink' in, making him look smaller than he usually was.

"That old git!" Ron threw a book into the burning fireplace.

"How could he have figured out?" Harry stood up, pacing across the room.

Ed looked at the crackling flames for a while, then he remembered something. He slowly reached into his robes and pulled up a dripping flask.

Harry and Ron groaned in unison. Great. The stupid flask wouldn't close right. It had dripped onto the table when Ed had hastily slipped the goblet back.

The portrait of the Fat Lady swung open as most of the Gryffindor students entered, returning from dinner.

"Oi, you three! There you are," Seamus said, addressing the trio that was already there before the rest of the Gryffindors.

"Snape wants you in his office. Something about you three being in big trouble?"

The three cursed in unison as they left, the Fat Lady exclaiming, "Oh dear, mind your language!"

Hermione entered, softly sobbing as she watched her book crumble in the fire.

"I'm sorry..."

The three knew what they had gotten into when they saw Snape's thin smile and snake-like eyes.

"Come in, come in. After all, you might not ever return here again."

Ed grinned nervously. Dumbledore stepped out of the shadows, his stern face looking straight at him.

"Now, I'm sure we can make a reasonable punishment..." His half-moon spectacles glimmering.

"Perhaps...two weeks of detention?"

"T-two weeks?!" Snape and the gang all exclaimed, each of the four knocking something over.

"But Headmaster! Surely you don't think nearly poisoning a teacher would be worth a measly two weeks of detention!"

"Now, now, Severus, be calm. I know we can forgive Mr. Elric because he is not accustomed to this world. Besides, you're still alive and awake, aren't you?"

Harry blinked. This world? He meant the wizarding world, right?

Ed opened his mouth and, finding nothing to fit his gratitude, he stupidly closed it again.

"Mr. Elric."

"Eh? I mean, what, Professor?"

"You have forgotten to speak with Professor McGonagall."

"Ah, I'm sorry..." Ed replied sheepishly, only then remembering the letter that was sent to him by owl at Central. He bent his right arm back to scratch his head. He had completely forgotten the mission, being preoccupied with homework.

Harry blinked as he spotted a glimmer on Ed's right arm.

What was that? Am I hallucinating?

He shook his head, perplexed at the conversation between Ed and the headmaster. Why DID he wear those white gloves? Ed was not what he was thought to be. But why hadn't he noticed those gloves before?

"You may go. Mr. Elric, you must go to your Head of House. Don't forget this time."

Ed nodded as he hurried off down the hallway, Ron and Harry returning to their dormitories.

"Eh, Professor?" Ed asked as he poked his head past the threshold.

"Yes Mr. Elric?" Ed jumped as Minerva McGonagall stood patiently behind him. He turned around quickly.

"Ah, I was wondering...what did you want me for?"

"Well, it's too late now, but I wanted to give you lessons in case you were a bit behind on your studies. It seems you are doing remarkably well, actually." She gathered a few pieces of parchment as she looked over at the small blond.

"We must discuss your plans in the future."

Ed gulped as she read the parchments.

"With your knowledge, you could be anything you like, in terms of occupation. We have jobs like Auror, Accountant, Teacher-"

"I'd like to be an Alchemist."

"An Alchemist? No one ever...well...that's one of the toughest and rarest jobs that actually succeed. Most Alchemists seek to create the Philosopher's Stone, and I don't see why you should-"

"This might be an odd question to you, but... Does creating the Philosopher's Stone involve human sacrifice?" Ed gulped again.

Professor McGonagall looked up from her documents.

"Why...no, I don't believe so."

Ed grinned.

"Then I'll be an Alchemist."

"Y-yes..."

Chuckling, he ran down the hall and reached the Gryffindor dormitories. He was about to go to bed when a hand suddenly grabbed his arm.

"What the- let go!"

Harry let go, staring at Ed's right arm. He wasn't hallucinating this time!

"You're still awake?" Ed looked at Harry. "You okay?"

Suddenly, Harry grasped his arm again and pulled his sleeve up.

Metal! He had a metal arm?

He gasped as Ed hastily pushed it back down again, cursing.

"I guess you know my secret." Ed pulled up his pant sleeve, revealing a metal leg as well. Harry, who thought he had seen everything, realized he knew nothing about Ed.

"Look, Ed. Tell me everything. What's with your arm and leg? Why did you come here?"

Weary golden eyes that have seen so much sorrow looked up at firey emerald green eyes that were hungry for answers.

A sigh.

"Sit down. I'll tell you."

Yeah. This story is just getting too long there. Is this chapter long enough? I'll see whether or not I want to even finish this story, depending on the reviews and the condition. So please review if you want to read more XD