Ed soon learned that "magical beasts" were not the only thing to be wary of. Neville produced a cactus-looking plant that was a gift from his great-uncle, one that puked manure streams all over the compartment when provoked with a quill. Ed got blasted full in the face with the stuff, and had nearly gotten its chemical makeup puzzled out enough to deconstruct when Ginny said, "Scourify".
He had his nose wrinkled in disgust, half-convinced he could still smell the stuff, when the food cart rolled by. Harry offered to buy him something, and Ed hesitated.
"I'll owe you too much, Harry." Ed shook his head.
"Nonsense. This is what friends are for." Harry insisted. "Besides, I want to congratulate you."
"Vwhat's dhat supposed to mean?"
Harry just smiled, and turned to the cart..uh..witch, Ed supposed... to order up a bunch of candies. Ed was far too disgusted to again attempt the "Every Flavor Jelly Bean" just yet, but snorted in amusement when Harry handed him the package, along with a few of what he called "chocolate frogs".
"Ron told me you actually got through one package without puking." Harry smiled."That's an accomplishment, as far as I'm concerned. 'Ear wax' did it for me. Yuck!"
Ed shuddered and made a face at the thought.
"Milk's bad 'nuff." Ed said. "Naaaz-teeee."
He placed the jelly beans into his vest pocket and unwrapped a chocolate frog, then was surprised that there was a card at the bottom of the package with a moving picture. He tilted his head as he looked at a pair sparkling blue eyes behind moon-shaped glasses that sat upon a broken nose.
"Who'd you get?" Neville said softly.
"uh..Dumbledore. I tink." Ed said, blinking.
"Already have ten of those. Harry?"
"Paracelsus. Again."
Ed looked at Harry a moment.
"Can I see dhat vone?"
Harry shrugged and handed it over. Ed looked intently at the moving picture. The face was.. all wrong. Cheekbones too low. Chin too weak. Hair, a curly black. Only the eyes were the same. A bright, intense, untarnished gold. The date born said 1492. There was no death date. Full name: Auroleus Phillipus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim. He swallowed, grimmaced slightly, then handed the card back. Harry raised his eyebrows.
"Still no used to moving pickures." Ed said in explanation, and shrugged. Harry nodded, but he kept his green eyes glued to Ed's gold until Ed leaned back into the corner. Ed finished up his chocolate frog in about two bites, idly looking down ever so often at the card in the wrapper with Dumbledore's twinkling eyes.
"So..you're Muggle born?" Neville asked brightly.
Ed looked at Nelville and took a breath.
"You..might say that." Harry said with a smile before he could answer the boy. Ed shot Harry a dirty look, and exhaled through his nose.
"Vhat? I ..." Ed said impatiently.
Harry mouthed "Later". Ed wrinkled his nose. He then divided off the remainder of his chocolate frogs to Neville and Ginny, and..Luna. (He was careful not to meet her eyes.) He smirked at their happy faces, and soon, lulled from long habit, Ed looked out the window and watched the scenery pass by. Hermione and Ron came in within an hour, and he nodded to them in greeting. He listened as they explained their new duties as 'Prefects'. The whole thing just seemed so--childish. He leaned his face into his right palm to cover the smirk, and feigned that he was about to doze off.
"Anything good in there?" Ron said.
"Of course not..The Quibber's rubbish..everyone knows that.." Hermione said
Ed was glad he had his eyes closed when Luna lost her temper.
"Excuse me? My father's the editor!" Luna said.
'..she..her voice.. so Winry-like when she's angry...' Ed thought.
The compartment door slid open with a bang, and Ed cracked his eyes open in annoyance.
"What?" Harry said aggressively, head turned to a pointy faced boy with white-blond hair, flanked by two of what Ed classified in his brain as 'goons'.
"Manners, Potter. Or I'll have to give you a detention." Ed raised a single eyebrow, and rolled his eyes. "You see, I, unlike you.."
"...Are annoying me." Ed said loudly.
The pointy faced boy shifted his attention. Ed also saw Harry turn back in his direction, eye wide in surprise.
"Well, well. A new face..." The boy drawled. "..can't say I approve of the company you're...."
"Dhey are vay better company dhan being near certain vones vho have power-of-god-complex." Ed said in a low growl, interrupting the drawl from the boy. The boy narrowed his gray eyes. Ed leveled his golden gaze, not even bothering to scowl; The boy blinked within moments. "In fact, I am thinking vhatever you are having to say is not vorth me hearing." Ed added, and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Who ARE you, anyway?"
"Vhat vill you give me if I choose to tell you, boy-child?"
"What? Boy child..?" The pointy faced boy scowled. "Potter..Tell me who this lit.."
"No way." Harry interrupted, shook his head.
"Nelville..?"
"Leave Nelville out of it, Malfoy." Hermione said, voice sounding exasperated. "His name is Edward Elric, he's new this year."
"I didn't ask you, Mudblood." Ed narrowed his eyes at the venom in the word. Golden eyes steady, he stood up. Harry held an arm out and blocked him. Ed noted the boy towered over him by at least a foot. The 2 goons a half foot over that.
'No problem.' Ed thought.
"You are..." Ed said quietly, raising a single eyebrow.
"Draco. Draco Malfoy. Pref.."
"Prefect for de Slidhering house." Ed said, his upper lip curling back in disgust and pointedly glancing at the towering goons standing behind Draco. "Not impressed." Ed folded his arms.
"Well. Watch yourself, Potter. I'll be dogging your footsteps in case.."
"Shut it." Ed snapped. "Get out." Hermione said, and stood.
Draco Malfoy snickered, and backed out of the compartment. Hermione slammed the door behind him with bang! Ed looked at Hermione and then to Harry. Both of their faces looked deeply worried to him, and he frowned, and sat back down.
"Too bad you don't speak Amestrian, my friend." Ed said softly, in Amestrian. " ..then you'd be able to tell me what about Sirius you are so worried over."
Hermione and Harry both looked at him, recognising only one word of what he said, he supposed.
"What language is that..?" Luna said dreamily. "German..? or..French?"
Ed carefully arranged his face and looked to Luna. " Is..like to German, and French. And few odhers. It is being Amestrian."
"Amestrian." Luna said in her dreamy voice, as if chewing on the word. "I believe I have never heard of such a language."
"Big vworld." Ed said, and looked out the window. "Is..language dhat very few speak..."
:::
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