DISCLAIMER: I OWN NEITHER HARRY POTTER NOR FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST!
Chapter Five
When Ed, Al, Winry, and Mrs. Weasley returned to Grimmauld Place, it was around six o'clock that evening. After Al packed his trunk, he, Ed, and Winry went down to the basement. Al was also holding his new cat, Pegasus, as they did so.
"Oh, it's adorable!" Tonks said once she saw Pegasus.
"His name is Pegasus," Al said, brightly. "The lady at the Magical Menagerie said that he's been there for a while."
Pegasus was a white Persian with blue eyes.
"He looks like Crookshanks," Hermione commented. "They could be brothers."
"Maybe," Al said.
As the congratulatory party commenced, Al let Pegasus down to explore the house so he could get things to eat. Halfway through the party, Professor McGonagall came with the three-legged stool and a worn out looking hat. Everyone stopped what they were doing as McGonagall told everyone to be quiet so she could sort Al.
"But the Sorting is usually done at the school," Mrs. Weasley said.
"Yes, Molly, I know," said McGonagall, "but this time, Professor Dumbledore has chosen to have Alphonse Sorted here. Come here, Alphonse."
Ed pat Al on the back and gave him a reassuring smile. Al gulped and went to the center of the basement, aware of the stares following him. He sat down on the stool and looked at McGonagall.
"It will take only a moment, Alphonse," McGonagall said.
Al nodded. McGonagall put the hat onto Al's head.
"Ah, another Elric," the Sorting Hat said into Al's ear.
"You can talk?" Al asked, eliciting laughter from the crowd watching, making Al blush in embarrassment.
"Yes, I can talk," the Sorting Hat said. "Don't be embarrassed. You've got plenty of curiosity and bravery. You also have smarts and cunning. Very much like your brother excluding the attitude problem. A couple of secrets as well… Hmmm…. Where to put you? You would do well in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff."
"I want to be in Gryffindor with Brother," Al told the hat.
Fred and George could be heard making fake retching noises.
"Are you sure?" the hat asked. "You would be great in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff."
"Yes,, I want to be in Gryffindor with Ed," Al answered.
"Very well…," the hat replied. "I will put you in…GRYFFINDOR!"
Al gasped happily as McGonagall took the hat off. The crowd clapped in congratulations as Al went to Ed and Winry. Ed ruffled Al's hair.
"Stop it!" Al said.
Ed laughed. Throughout the rest of the party, Al received many pats on the back and words of congratulations. The next morning, Ed was woken up by Al shaking him awake.
"I don't want milk!" Ed complained.
"I didn't say for you to drink milk," Al chuckled. "It's time to get up."
Ed groaned as he sat up in bed. He looked to see that Al was already dressed. Pegasus was already in his cat carrier.
"What time is it?" Ed asked.
"I'm not sure, but we're going to miss the train if you don't get dressed and ready, Brother," Al said.
"All right," Ed sighed.
Then Ed got out of bed and got dressed. It was during that time that Ed could hear Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Black screaming over each other.
"Wow, that's a racket," Ed said, re-braiding his hair.
Ed winced as Mrs. Weasley barked for them to get down to the main floor so they could leave. It took about twenty minutes for them all to get to King's Cross Station. Once inside the station, they lingered casually beside the barrier between platforms nine and ten until the coast was clear, then each of them leaned against it in turn and fell easily through onto platform nine and three quarters, where the Hogwarts Express stood belching sooty steam over a platform packed with departing students and their families.
After all the farewells, the Weasley twins, Ron, Ginny, Harry, Hermione, Ed, Al, and Winry got onto the train before it left. As the train left the platform, Sirius the dog ran along the platform as if he were chasing the train. When the train went around the corner, Sirius was gone.
"He shouldn't have come with us," Hermione said in a worried voice.
"Ah, don't be so hard on 'im," Ed said, waving a hand. "He needed to get a little fresh air."
"Well," Fred said, clapping his hands together, "can't stand around chatting all day, we've got business to discuss with Lee. See you later."
Then he and George disappeared down the corridor to the right. The train was gathering still more speed, so that the houses outside the window flashed past and they swayed where they stood.
"While you talk, I'm gonna find a compartment," Ed said. "See ya."
Then he, Al, and Winry went to find their own compartment, but had to end up sharing with a girl with straggly, waist-length, dirty-blonde hair, very pale eyebrows, and protuberant eyes that gave her a permanently surprised look.
"Do you mind if we sit with you?" Al asked.
"I don't mind," the girl, Luna Lovegood, said. "Go right ahead."
"Thank you," Al said.
A few moments later, Harry, Ginny, and Neville came in with their things. Al bolted up from his seat and helped Ginny put her trunk onto the luggage rack as Ed had helped Winry before.
"Thank you, Alphonse," Ginny said.
"You're welcome," Al said, blushing.
Ed grinned as Al sat back next to him.
"What?" Al asked.
"Nothing," Ed lied. "Nothing at all."
"Have a good summer, Luna?" Ginny asked Luna.
"Yes," Luna answered dreamily, not taking her eyes off Harry. "Yes, it was quite enjoyable, you know. You're Harry Potter."
"I know I am," Harry said.
Neville chuckled as Ed shook with suppressed laughter. Winry nudged Ed with her elbow. Luna looked at Neville and Al.
"And I don't know who you two are," Luna said.
"I'm Alphonse Elric, Ed's brother," Al said.
"And I'm nobody," Neville said hurriedly.
"No, you're not," Ginny said sharply. "Neville Longbottom - Luna Lovegood. Luna's in my year, but in Ravenclaw."
"'Wit beyond measure is man's great treasure,'" Luna sang.
She raised her upside-down magazine high enough to hide her face and fell silent. The train ride was silent except for the purring of Pegasus until…
"Guess what I got for my birthday!" Neville said.
"Another Remembrall?" Harry asked.
"No," Neville said. "I could do with one though -"
"What's a Remembrall?" Al asked.
Ginny told him what it was.
"Oh," Al said. "Brother needs one."
"Hey!" Ed said. "That's not funny!"
Al chuckled.
"Look at this," Neville said.
Neville dug the hand that was not keeping a firm grip on Trevor the toad into his school bag and a little bit of rummaging pulled out what appeared to be a small gray cactus in a pot, except that it was covered with what looked like boils rather than spines.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Ed exclaimed.
"Mimbulus mimbletonia," Neville said proudly.
Ed, Al, and Winry all had matching looks of disgust .
"It's really, really rare," Neville beamed. "I don't know if there's one in the greenhouse at Hogwarts, even. I can't wait to show it to Professor Sprout. My great-uncle Algie got it for me in Assyria. I'm going to see if I can breed from it."
"Great," Ed remarked. "Sounds fun."
Neville missed the sarcasm and smiled at Ed.
"Does it - er - do anything?" Harry asked, receiving glares from Ed and Winry.
"Loads of stuff!" Neville said proudly. "It's got an amazing defensive mechanism - hold Trevor for me…"
He dumped the toad into Harry's lap and took a quill from his schoolbag. Luna Lovegood's popping eyes appeared over the top of her upside down magazine again, watching what Neville was doing. Neville held his plant up to his eyes, chose a spot, and gave the plant a sharp prod with the tip of his quill.
Liquid squirted from every boil on the plant, thick, stinking, dark green jets of it; they hit the ceiling, the windows, and spattered Luna Lovegood's magazine. Ginny only got some in her hair since she covered her face as did Ed, Al, and Winry, but Neville and Harry received the face full. It smelled like…
"It smells like shit!" Ed complained.
"S-sorry!" Neville gasped. "I haven't tried that before…didn't realize it would be quite so… Don't worry, though, Stinksap's not poisonous," Neville added as Harry spit some onto the floor.
At that precise moment the door of their compartment slid open.
"Oh…hello, Harry," said a nervous voice. "Um…bad time?"
As Harry wiped his glasses clean, Ed, Al, Winry, Ginny, Neville, and Luna turned to see that it was Cho Chang in the doorway. Al lightly blushed.
"Oh…hi," Harry said blankly.
"Um…," Cho said. "Well…just thought I'd say hello…'bye then."
Cho closed the door, rather pink in the face, and left. Harry slumped back in his seat and groaned.
"Don't worry, Harry, I'm sure you'll have another chance with her," Ed snickered.
"Edward!" Winry scolded.
Ginny vanished the goop as Neville apologized again.
"Don't apologize, Neville," Winry said kindly. "You didn't know that that would happen."
Neville nodded. An hour later, Ron and Hermione returned from the prefects cabin with their trunks and pets in tow. They put their pets and trunks up and sat down.
"I'm starving," Ron said, taking a Chocolate Frog from Harry and biting its head off after ripping off its wrapping.
"Well, there are two fifth-year prefects from each House," Hermione said, looking thoroughly disgruntled as she took her seat. "Boy and girl from each."
"And Mal-fart's the one from Slytherin, isn't he?" Ed said.
"Yup," Ron said, confirming Harry's worst fear.
"Not surprised," Ed muttered.
"And that complete cow Pansy Parkinson," Hermione ranted viciously. "How she got to be a prefect when she's thicker than a concussed troll…"
"Geez, Hermione, don't be so calm," Ed remarked.
Hermione shot Ed a glare.
"Who's Hufflepuff?" Harry asked.
"Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott," Ron answered thickly.
"There's this thing called swallowing before you talk," Winry said.
Ron's ears turned red with embarrassment.
"And Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil for Ravenclaw," Hermione continued.
"You went to the ball with Padma Patil," Luna said, looking at Ron over her magazine, The Quibbler.
Ron swallowed his mouthful of Frog.
"Yeah, I know I did," Ron said, mildly surprised.
"She didn't enjoy it very much," Luna informed Ron. "She doesn't think you treated her very well, because you didn't dance with her. I don't think I'd have minded. I don't like dancing very much."
"You shouldn't go to any dances, then," Ed said.
"Brother!" Al scolded.
"I suppose you're right," Luna said.
She retreated back behind The Quibbler again. Ron checked his watch.
"We're supposed to patrol the corridors every so often," Ron said, "and we can give out punishments if people are misbehaving. I can't wait to get Crabbe and Goyle for something…"
"You're not supposed to abuse your position, Ron!" Hermione snapped.
As Ron and Hermione argued, Ed rolled his eyes.
"Hey, let me look at that," Ed said to Luna.
"All right," Luna said, giving Ed the magazine as Ron told a joke.
Everyone but Ed, Al, and Winry laughed. Ed rolled his eyes, Winry scowled, and Al smiled sheepishly since he hadn't properly met Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. Ed looked at the cover of The Quibbler. The cover had a bad cartoon of Cornelius Fudge. One of his hands was clenched around a bag of gold and the other was throttling a goblin. The cartoon was captioned: HOW FAR WILL FUDGE GO TO GAIN GRINGOTTS?
Beneath this were listed the titles of other articles inside the magazine:
CORRUPTION IN THE QUIDDITCH LEAGUE:
How the Tornados Are Taking Control
SECRETS OF THE ANCIENT RUNES REVEALED
SIRIUS BLACK: Villain or Victim?
As Ed flipped through the magazine, he came across the Sirius article and furrowed his brows in skepticism as he read it and then laughed out loud as he read the article about Cornelius Fudge.
"Give me a break," Ed snickered.
"Let me see it," Harry said.
Ed gave the magazine to Harry. Harry looked through the magazine as well and read the same articles as Ed.
"Anything good in there?" Ron asked as Harry closed the magazine.
"Only if you like fantasy stories!" Ed laughed.
"Edward's right," Hermione said. "That's all it's good for. Everyone knows that The Quibbler is rubbish."
"Excuse me," Luna said, her voice losing its dreamy quality. "My father's the editor."
Ed laughed again as Luna snatched the magazine from Harry. Just then the compartment door opened.