Quest of Truth and the Order of the Phoenix: Chapter 4 – Train & Entrance
Preparation for School….
It was ever a wonder that Edward Elric constantly found himself to be bored. The mundane tasks in life were never things he wanted to do, and today was no exception. While everyone else was rushing to pack their trunks for Hogwarts, Ed was simply sitting down in the kitchen twirling his Bonsai grown wand between his hands, wondering how anything so beautiful could bring a curse. Yuki decided to land on Ed's head at that very moment, one of the few things about his pet phoenix he despised so much, it loved his head, and better still, ripping his hairs out when it flew off. Ed glared at the wall, willing Yuki to feel his discomfort, sadly however, the grand phoenix was completely oblivious.
There was a great clamour and the sound of trunks falling down the stairs before Mrs. Weasley could be heard cursing Fred and George for their happy-go-lucky use of magic. Mrs. Weasley was also rushing Hermione, Harry, Ron and Ginny along before they all turned to see Ed in the kitchen, glaring at them all. Glaring while having a phoenix on top of his head probably didn't have the most desired affect as Ed was fast learning. The twins burst out laughing before they could think about it, forgetting Yuki's wrath for jokes upon his master. "Is it just me or is that look kind of….." George got no further when Yuki swooped, not just any swoop either, Yuki had a direct aim, George's wand. "Hey, Ed, you're stupid bird took my wand." Ed just sat there snickering as Fred and George began a grand chase of the phoenix that seemed to know just where to go, shooting up the chimney of the unlit fireplace in the kitchen.
Fred just laughed when he realised what the phoenix had done before pointing is wand at the hearth and hissing "Incendio". Everyone heard the phoenix caw in disgust, and before anyone had even realised, Ed simply waved his wand at the fire and it went out as if it had been doused in water. Everyone stared at him. "You can manage non-verbal spells?" Hermione asked baffled.
"What, you can't?" Ed chuckled, "I've spent my whole life buried in books discovering secrets that I shouldn't be able to. This –" Ed waved his wand making flowers appear for emphasis "- is nothing." Yuki landed on Ed's metal shoulder this time rather then his favourite perch in Ed's hair.
A short while later….
Everyone was standing between Platform's 9 and 10 waiting for the perfect lull in muggle traffic so they could pass through the wall leading to platform 9 ¾ undetected. When the coast was clear they moved as a group. Ed was less affected than most people on their first trip through the barrier to Hogwarts and this somewhat worried Molly, but she was not allowed to express these concerns as Ed was now the responsibility of the Order and he was examining the hidden platform awestruck.
All of them waved their goodbyes to Molly, and Harry to Sirius who had tagged along in his dog form. Then they all boarded the train, neglecting Ed who had to invent a bathroom on the platform in order to change into school robes, which he hated the site of anyway. He felt no ambition towards changing on a train, which looked about as comfortable as the ones from Risembool to Central. As Ed strolled through the train, he noticed many people walking about, not the least of which was a platinum blonde haired boy who was about one and a half times Ed's own height. The boy smirked at him and mumbled something about being a first year, to which Ed's nostrils flared. He had every intention of going up to that arrogant prick and giving him a fist in the face, but Hermione had caught him before he could irreparably make an enemy of Malfoy.
"No," She whispered, "Hitting him will cause both you and Dumbledore more problems then its worth, trust me."
"Then what do you expect me to the next time the bastard refers to my height directly or otherwise?" Ed grumbled.
"Ignore it?" Hermione answered hesitantly, forgetting the height complex which had been aptly displayed throughout their holidays.
"Fine," Ed moved off to find a lone compartment where he would be left alone. Of course this was the Hogwarts Express he was on and lone compartments never stayed lone for long. Soon enough, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, and some other idiot calling himself Sinagain was it, were seated in Ed's compartment, so he attempted to sleep.
Ed awoke to hear the train still going and decidedly kept his eyes shut in order to avoid drawing attention to himself. "Do you think he's a werewolf with those golden eyes?" Seamus asked.
"Don't be ridiculous," Ginny mumbled, "He must just be from a family where genetics run a little differently."
A tick appeared on Ed's forehead at the mention of genetics, it was obvious to anyone that knew Hohenhime and Ed that Ed was Hohenhime's son, and Ed hated it. No matter how much Al had tried to get him to forgive their father, Ed still despised him for what he'd done when they were young.
As the train pulled into the station at Hogsmeade, Edward finally decided to announce that he was awake to his fellow passengers. They all jumped as the short blonde jumped up from his seat, grabbed a small messenger bag and moved off the train. The gobstruck Griffindor's continued wondering where Ed had hidden his trunk and pet until they themselves realised they were running behind on the train and most of the others had moved on ahead of them.
Outside at the threstal pulled carriages, Ed was admiring the beautiful creatures when Ginny, Neville and Seamus decided to ask him what he was starring at. Ed's blunt response was "Obviously something you can't see," The students progressed in their carriages to the castle and Edward had no choice but to admire the beauty of one of the oldest buildings he'd seen in this strange land, at least getting back towards the good times in Amestris where he understood what was going on.
Great Hall - Hogwarts Castle...
"Fantastic," Ron crowed as it was announced to the Gryfindor table that Harry had been appointed the captain of the quidditch team and that tryouts would be held soon. Harry, Ron and Hermione were all eager to see whether Dumbledore would be sorting Ed at all, or if he would be simply choosing a house for Ed without the hats standard student judgment. They were all surprised when the doors to the hall opened and Dumbledore was followed by Ed, McGonagall and the Sorting hat. The trio marched to the front of the hall where Professor Dumbledore took his place at the podium.
"Greetings, and welcome to all of you, back for a wonderful year I'm sure." Dumbledore began, "This year, before you are to meet the first years, I have an announcement to make. We have this year, taken in for the first time in Hogwart's history, a student who was not invited when he was younger, because his powers have only just been realised. I present to you all, Edward Elric."
Edward glowered at the students when the clapping began, making it slowly drown out in the silence that filled the hall. He wouldn't have it, there was to be no applause of him no matter what happened.
"It will be no surprise to any of you," Dumbledore continued, "That we will proceed with sorting Mr. Elric as with every other student that has every walked through these doors." Dumbledore motioned for McGonagall to bring out the stool and sorting hat. Ed was sat down and the hat placed on his head, he glared at it.
"You're an interesting one aren't you? Wit beyond measure, good for Ravenclaw. Courage and Bravery, a Gryfindor attribute for sure. Cunning and Slyness only for Slytherin of course. You share all the traits for all the houses, given that Hufflepuff embodies all three. A decision is impossible to make like this."
"Would you stop reading my mind you stupid attached soul and just decide already!" Ed grumbled.
"Angry aren't we." The Hat chuckled, "You think of this as Alchemy don't you? Me talking I mean. So did so many others who were alchemists and came through. They are all wrong."
"Hurry up!" Ed warned, "If you don't, I'll use my wand and shred you to pieces!"
"Ah, the malice is deep, indeed, there is only one place for a temperament like that my dear boy SLYTHERIN!"
Ed left the chair, marching to the end of the Slytherin table and taking a seat. Whispers filled the hall, but very little time was given before the doors were thrust open and the entire first year marched into the hall. In the mean time, Draco Malfoy and his cronies looked toward the short blond, wondering what made that hat pick Slytherin, he looked like a pansy Gryfindor. When Ed noticed Malfoy staring, he glared back, harsh as with Mustang when he was in a really pissy mood. Isn't that the same bastard that I was gonna smash on the train? Ed thought, closing his eyes and trying to relax, until a hand came down on his shoulder. Before anyone could even blink, the owner of said hand was on the floor, with a broken nose no doubt from the way he was holding it. "If you EVER touch me again, it'll be much worse then that." Ed growled before sitting back down as if nothing had happened. Apparently Dumbledore had warned the teachers about Ed's somewhat instantaneous explosions and had been oblivious to what had just happened to Malfoy, only the toad faced woman who he had not noticed earlier seemed slightly disturbed by his display of force.
The sorting of the first year's continued as the irate blond continued sitting at his table, wishing for it all to be over so he could at least sleep. Automail hadn't exactly done wonders for his health in recent times and it had been awfully draining. "There is a time for speech," Dumbledore's voice echoed about the room, "However, this is not it. Tuck in!" Ed jumped as food appeared on the tables as if by magic, minus the fact everything about this place was magical, Ed had forgotten.
Ed surprised the Slytherin's by practically engulfing the food as it appeared, his appetite couldn't be matched by any. Malfoy meanwhile, had been carried off to the hospital wing to visit Madam Pomfrey and have his nose repaired. As plates continued to stack high in the great hall however, Dumbledore's speech had begun. It was all the boring mumbo jumbo until Ed heard a "Hhhem!" from one of the staff. Dumbledore pointedly ignored it, so did Ed. "Hhhem!" again. A tick appeared above Ed's forehead, he hated this arrogant woman enough without her even speaking, did she have to try and make it worse? Apparently she did, because then she took Dumbledore's position and began ranting about how she was the new ministry appointed co-DADA teacher and then Ed's thoughts trailed off somewhere, probably into glaring at anyone he felt was so much as staring at him.
Finally, the toad faced bitch or whatever she was called decided it would be appropriate to finish, this left Dumbledore to proceed with the sorting, which bored Ed so much, he fell asleep on his plate. Oh was this ever going to bite him in the ass. "What the fuck!" Ed yelled as he woke up to a round of applause and found his face in what appeared to be a bowl of soup. The toad faced woman stood up and advanced on Ed, "Detention Mr. ...?"
"Toadface." Ed answered blatantly.
"I'm in no mood for games Mr…?" Umbridge glared.
"Are you dumb you bitch?" Ed grumbled, the food on his face doing nothing for his temper, "You would've heard my name had you payed any attention to Professor Dumbledore's speech, alas, I guess you really are that stupid."
After his brief confrontation with Umbridge, Ed simply stood up and walked from the great hall, an already foul mood was no doubt about to be made worse by the fact he was lost while in search of the Slytherin common room and would probably need someone's help to find his way, something Ed was completely against doing. He ended up running into Professor McGonagall anyway, and she was only too happy to oblige in safely delivering him to the common room, albeit it followed my reprimand for his treatment of Professor Umbridge and her expectation that he would show up at the assigned detention tomorrow.
Ed simply kept on walking into the common room, finding his way to the dorms, and then finding his assigned bed. Normally, he'd just lay there and put up with the mess on his face, but he reasoned that the showers might be busier in the morning so he decided he would resolve that issue now, afterall, he was very self-conscious about his automail and the affect it had on peoples opinion of him. Ed moved into the showers, turning one on and finding the optimal temperature before he carefully checked around to make sure no one was there to see him undress. Ed proceeded into the shower, letting the warm water wash the grime of food off his face and proceeded to lather his hair with shampoo before covering his whole body in it, and washing it all off.
Ed exited the shower cubicle and dried himself, searching for the set of clean clothes he'd brought with him. Then he saw him, Draco Malfoy, standing right in front of him, looking at a completely naked Ed. (A/N: No fangirls, I'm truly sorry, I don't mind reading yaoi stories, but me writing one is just not high on my list, yet, I might do it if it will excite you all who knows, lets just remember I'm male though.) Draco stuttered, "Y-y-o-o-u FREAK!" He yelled, gesturing at Ed's metal limbs before bolting from the room and leaving Ed to wallow in self pity over his mechanical limbs. Ed just knew he was never going to live this down while he was at this school and he might as well get over it quickly. He got dressed and proceeded back into the dorm where all the boys were now awake, he was pounced upon by an army as soon as he entered with Malfoy directing that they rip his shirt off. Rather then letting them get away with it, Ed simply swayed backwards, before throwing a punch in Malfoy's direction with his right arm, causing a formerly broken nose to be broken again. Ed growled as the rest of them made way for him to proceed through to his bed, one tried to grab him by the shoulder, the right one, Ed was so far infuriated that he simply swung his left leg back, hitting the unfortunate youth in the crotch. Ed listened cheerfully to the sounds of pain issuing from those who were stupid enough to stand up to him.
Ed wandered over to his bed, burying his dirty clothes in a section of his trunk to be washed later when he found his way to the lake for a little bit of experimenting with the different waters here. Then Ed modified the curtains with Alchemy, making sure nothing behind them could even be seen, before pulling them shut and tying them up to make sure no one would try pulling them open.
Rehashed due to the popular belief of readers, and my own belief which says my brain was fried last night when I finished the writing of this chapter. This should make everyone happier, and here is the rest of the notes from last nights chapter:
By the way, I have I think something like 20 reviews to respond to, so please don't mind if I'm a little slow getting back to you. I finished this up in lunch time at school today after all.
A/N: HI GUYS! It's been so long since I've properly updated and I apologise for not getting this out much, much sooner. I swear I will get this in order, my final exams for high school are over in approximately 7-8 weeks and that will help so much.
Unfortunately, there are simply too many of you who now review, favourite, or alert this story to list, but suffice to say, the following statistics were invented by you guys and I appreciate your dedication to reading my story and all your kind words:
Reviews: 83 (In 4 chapters roughly, awesome. I love you guys)
Hits: 8,767 (Well over double last time)
Favourites: 72 (I love you guys so much as well!)
Alerts: 135 (WOAH! You guys are all awesome, seriously!)
Of course if I have time to be writing all this no doubt you all have time to give me a quick review? Anything, I can take criticism. I assure you I will personally respond to all reviews that are sent. I'll try and tally a list of the new people the story gains to alert, favourite and review each week. Something tells me that'll be nigh on impossible.
And of course, there won't be any yaoi in this story, I promise you. It was only brought about by listening to one of my friends who is an absolute fan girl of it, I'll write a separate story for it if anyone really wants, and it'll be a DGM/FMA cross over, I can do that much better than yaoi in HP/FMA I think.
With that said I'm out. REVIEW!