Edward
Ed could tell that Al was excited about Hogwarts.

In his letter, he wrote about how fascinating everything sounded at the school and how he couldn't wait to visit one day. He also seemed far too intrigued with the "cute" little owl that delivered the letter. Ed wasn't surprised about this- Alphonse was always a sucker for cuddly animals. And his snow white owl, Crystal, fit the description of what Alphonse would likely hide in his armor in an attempt to smuggle the poor thing with him. Al also kept him updated on everyone and everything. Winry and Pinako were still doing great with business. Alphonse reported that Winry still kept her wrench at the ready in case Ed dared to damage her precious automail. Team Mustang were doing well, though Ed could couldn't care less about Colonel Bastard.

And, of course, Alphonse himself was doing alright. Unfortunately, there was no progress in finding anything out about the stone or the Homunculi. Both for Alphonse and Edward.

Edward snarled and slammed the book down on the table. "What the hell is all this bullshit?!" He ground out through grit teeth, anger and frustration coming off of him in great waves. Luckily, both to the elder Elric and the public, he was currently in his room. Books were in stacks all around his dark oak desk, papers and even more books covering the desktop. Ed was honestly offended by the absolute bullshit that was written before him.

"The Philosopher's Stone holds power beyond imagination. It is said that the Stone can cure any illness, turn any metal into gold, or even bring the dead back to life. However, it is heat-sensitive and will most likely be destroyed or melt in a fire.' What drug was this guy on?!" Ed growled before slamming the book closed. It was likely that the contents weren't as accurate as Ed hoped anyways.

The Elric was easily angered that morning, more so than the rest, most likely because he pulled an all-nighter in an attempt to find something of use. Ed didn't get a lot of sleep as it is, with the occasional nightmare and overall restlessness. It wasn't very healthy for him, but he had a habit of disobeying the rules of health sometimes.

He checked his watch and sighed, running a hand through his golden hair before standing, the sound of his chair scraping against the floor harsh and loud. He looked down at his disheveled clothes. It was his usual attire, the same outfit he wore nearly every day. He didn't find a reason to change.

His stomach growled loudly and Ed made his way to the Great Hall. Once there, he didn't hesitate to plop himself down in a chair and dig in. "Goodness, Edward! You've got bags a mile wide! Didn't you get any sleep last night?" The herbology teacher- Ms. Sprout, if Edward recalled correctly- gasped. Ed, mind muddled with sudden exhaustion, shrugged.

"Yeah...all 25 hours..." He mumbled as he bit into his 3rd slice of toast. Ms. Sprout wasn't convinced.

"Lord, Poppy, look at this! The poor boy looks as if he didn't get a second's worth of shut-eye!" Ms. Sprout told the nurse. Poppy frowned and looked Edward up and down.

"Dear God, Ed. You alright?" She asked.

"Peachy." He replied, mouth full. His head throbbed and ached and he felt as if he weighed nothing, as if he were floating. And not in the good way. It was more of the about-to-collapse way. Of course, Ed wasn't actually going to collapse- he's pulled several all-nighters before and felt the same way he did now. His stomach churned and he took that as his cue to stop eating the usually appetizing breakfast.

"Oh, dear. You look absolutely terrible, Mr. Elric." Umbridge chirped in with her aggravating, fake sweet voice that Ed hated so much. Her outfit that day was just as obnoxious as her previous ones. She wore a feathery hat and dress with a light cardigan, all of it colored hot pink. Ed had never hated the color pink so much until now. Looking at Umbridge hurt his eyes. Even if she wore decent clothing, Ed wouldn't want to look upon her in fear of going blind. "You're not fit to teach the students today!"

"Just watch me." Ed replied shortly, already fed up with the woman's bullshit. Sometimes he just wanted to transmute a wall around her so that he didn't have to hear her stupid, sickly sweet voice spouting nonsense. But she wasn't completely wrong- the Elric wouldn't be in the best shape for teaching today.

What Ed couldn't figure out was why he felt so similar to shit after a single all-nighter. He did it all the time and, yeah, he felt tired for the rest of the day until he took a short nap, but he never felt this shitty. Perhaps it was because he was in a new environment far, far away from his country, or maybe it was travel sickness. Yeah, that was it.

"Why, if you ask me-"

"Nobody asked you to open your damn mouth." Ed snapped. "So shut the hell up. All because you have trouble standing, either because of your crippling age or weight, doesn't mean that I'm not fit to teach a class all because I lost just a couple hours of sleep." Umbridge's mouth was open and ready to catch flies as she stared at the Elric. The table had gone quiet at Ed's small outburst. Then, slowly, red began to flush into Umbridge's face as she opened and closed her mouth like a fish, trying to find the right words to say without losing her sickly-sweet image.

"M-Mr. Elric! I'll have you reported to-"

"Save it." Ed interrupted as he stood from the table, glancing down at the plate that still held a large abundance of eggs, bacon, toast, and sausage. "You've made me lose my appetite."

"Draco Malfoy, if you don't shut the fuck up right now, you'll be seeing stars for the rest of the month." Edward snapped, giving the fellow blonde a piercing glare. Malfoy paled then nodded. "Okay. Great. Class dismissed." Rustles filled the room as students packed up to leave to lunch, a quiet chatter adding to the noise of the room. Malfoy was one of the first ones out- Ed saw the blonde practically ran out of the room. One by one, the students filed out the door until there was one left.

Hermione Granger.

The young girl looked nervous, standing with her bag clutched in her arms tightly and staring at the blonde professor, who was currently furiously erasing the chalk from the blackboard. "Yes, Ms. Granger?" Ed said. Hermione jumped a bit at the professor's sudden words.

"A-Ah...I- I believe I've figured out the meaning of the riddle...may I...?" The Granger trailed off and Ed turned and fell back in his chair with an exhausted sigh, rubbing his temples. Unfortunately for him, Malfoy was even more troublesome than usual. He was surprised he hasn't punched the kid in the face yet. With his automail fist.

"Go ahead." Ed sighed, peeking at her through his blonde bangs. "I'm listening." Hermione shifted her weight to her other foot. She was never one to be nervous when answering a question. She's always been so confident since she usually had the correct answer for nearly all of her classes. But alchemy, however, was a different story.
She'd gone to the library to research more about the subject to get a better understanding of the class, but was instead further confused. Some of the information in the books contradicted what Edward told the class. Multiple books also had different information, telling the reader different things than what the previous book had said. But they all had one thing in common- magic wasn't something that had to be used for alchemy.

According to all the books she's read, anybody, muggle or not, could become an alchemist as long. One book said that the person can only perform alchemy if they had a 'Gate'. However, the 'Gate' was never mentioned again, both in that book and others Hermione had read. It was a bit strange, but she figured that Edward will explain it later on in the lesson.

"I-It's like the food web." Hermione said. "One is all, all is one. Everything is connected and everything is necessary to each other." She bit her lip and waited for the professor's reply. After a moment, he sighed and Hermione's heart dropped.

"You got it, Granger." He said. "Congratulations. You're the first." Hermione blinked in surprise, then grinned happily.

"I-I am?!" She whispered, though she wasn't too surprised. Everyone else had been complaining about the nonsense of the question and lazing around, after all. Ed nodded.

"Yeah, yeah. Is that all?" He said. Hermione nodded her head enthusiastically.

"Yes, professor! Thank you so much for the hint, by the way. It was really helpful." Ed nodded and stretched his arms before sighing heavily and grabbing a rather large book from his desk drawer.

"Glad to hear." He said. Hermione nodded and left, but before she left she cast a look over her shoulder at the professor. Her eyes wandered to the book he was reading and she paused.

The book was about the philosopher's stone.

Hermione left the room, thoughts swirling through her head as she walked down the hall. Professor Quirrel was after the Philosopher's stone in an attempt to achieve major power. But wasn't it destroyed?

For a moment, a terrible though crossed the young girl's mind.
What if the professor was only teaching at Hogwarts because he was searching for the stone? What if it was only so he can get huge bundles of power?
Edward Elric didn't seem like a bad man, but Hermione knew that looks can deceive. She was suspicious of the professor, but she wasn't going to do anything rash, heavens no. Hermione had something called 'common sense' and she liked to use it often.

Hermione decided that she'd keep an eye on the professor for a while and try to piece together what is goal is and what he wants with the Philosopher's stone. For all she knew, Ed could be a maniac craving absolute power, and the stone was the perfect source.

Even so, that didn't stop her from finding the professor to be slightly dreamy.