Edward Elric

It was a rainy day, there was a flash of what seemed like lightning followed by a loud noise not dissimilar to thunder, this of course was expected seeing that it was a rainy day, however at precisely the same time as said flash of lightning and thunder something very unexpected happened, a rather young(and short) child appeared, seemingly out of nowhere in the middle of the street, like magic.

It's been three years since Edward passed through the gate and arrived in this world. While he was technically 19 years old, it seemed that passing through the gate reduced him to a mere 8 year old. Half the age he had been on the other side. Within a few hours of his dramatic arrival 3 years ago Ed was found by the ever efficient London police force and given his age and apparent inability to explain where or who his parents are, he was promptly put into an orphanage. Within a few weeks it was apparent that Edward was no ordinary 8 year old child, for one thing his vocabulary would make sailors blush and another was his sheer strength, but even to someone who has not heard him speak or seen him lift a rock that weighed at least 50 pounds, just looking into his golden eyes which seemed to reflect maturity beyond his years and a deep seated sadness was enough. When he first arrived he would rarely speak to anyone and when he did each word was punctuated with something rather foul. Over time though he started opening up to people and while he still did not seem to get along with any of the other children at the orphanage it did seem like he was able to somehow command their respect.

"So you are telling Edward has been accepted to this school of yours?", "Yes." Replied Dumbledore. "And no matter what I say about him you will still accept him?", "…Yes" replied Dumbledore, albeit not with as much confidence as before, for he remembered a very similar conversation he had with another matron, at a different orphanage, in a different time. "Well you see Ed is not the same as other kids.". "What do you mean not the same?". "You are sure that he's got a place right?", Dumbledore reassured her while steadily wondering if he should turn back now for the greater good. Of course when he caught himself thinking along the lines of Grindelwald he resolved to go through with accepting this Edward Elric in his school and making sure that he would not follow in the footsteps of one Tom Riddle.

"So what can you tell me about Edward." Asked Dumbledore, hoping that what he hears from here will not be a repeat of what he heard from the other woman over 50 years ago. "Well for starters he does not like to be called Edward, prefers to go by Ed." This was good Dumbledore thought, Ed was a fairly common name and it seemed this boy did not have a god complex like Tom did. So with a bit more confidence Dumbledore proceeded to ask his next question. "Why do you say that Ed is different from other children?". "Well, strange things always happen around him, for instance last week on a trip to a local beach, we found 2 of our kids in a deep hole after hours of searching, while these kids never blamed Ed from the way they acted around him after the incident it was clear that he was responsible. I don't understand why they are protecting him." said the matron with an angry look in her eyes. "..and of course Ed admits to nothing." She added as an afterthought. Dumbledore upon hearing this almost decided to turn back and forget ever coming to this orphanage, for he knew exactly why the other children did not tell on Edward it was the same reason why people even now feared speaking the name Voldemort, fear. The only thing that kept him here now was curiosity and the fact that he vowed to keep this boy from the dark arts. With that in mind he requested the matron for an audience with Edward Elric.

Ed was not having the best of days, ever since that incident last week where he transmuted 2 bullies into a hole on the beach the staff have been hounding him. Earlier today he was faced with questions regarding the books he was reading, they seemed to think it was weird that an 11 year old would read books like discreet mathematics and advanced particle physics. They seemed to think that he was getting bad ideas from these books. Ignorant fools. As all these thoughts were going through his head there was a knock on the door. Ed grunted a come in but never looked up from his notebook.

The first thing Dumbledore noticed about Ed was his eyes that seemed to radiate anger, sadness and a maturity beyond his age. This he reasoned could be good or bad. "My name is Albus Dumbledore." He stated watching the boy closely to gauge his reactions. Slowly Ed looked up from his book and asked "What do you want with me?". It seemed like the boy wanted to get straight to the point. "I am the headmaster of a private academy and am here to offer you an invitation to come and study with us.", after saying this Dumbledore conferred with the matron and requested her to allow him to speak with Ed in private. She reluctantly agreed to do so and with one last uneasy glance at Ed, she left.

While this exchange was going on between the matron and this Dumbledore person, Ed's mind was whizzing. He was sure this person was not from any private academy, it seemed highly unlikely that knowledge of his intellect has reached anyone in this world as he made sure not to draw attention to himself. This means that there is no chance that the headmaster of a private academy would personally come to offer Ed a position at his school. So looking at the situation logically this Dumbledore was from some kind of a psychiatric or juvenile facility obviously hired by the orphanage in an attempt to get Ed to confess about last week's incident. So smiling Ed replied "I don't want to go to any private academy.", clearly putting his emphasis on the sarcasm even using his fingers to put quotes around the private academy part. To his surprise Dumbledore only smiled and looked at him with what seemed like recognition, as if he has already had this conversation before. "You think I'm from some psychiatric facility." Dumbledore stated. Shocking Edward further, this was clearly not someone from a psychiatric facility would say, so who was this old coot. Almost like he was reading Ed's mind he stated "like I said before I am the headmaster of a private academy, what I didn't say before was that we are a school of witchcraft and wizardry that goes by the name Hogwarts." Ed was yet again shocked by the words coming out of this Dumbledore's mouth, witchcraft and wizardry? Magic? Ed was a scientist and he would not believe in anything unless there is conclusive proof of its existence. So he did what any respectable scientist in the face of something new and unknown would do, he asked Dumbledore to "Prove it."

"Does this mean you are accepting your place at Hogwarts?".

"Not until I have seen conclusive proof of this magic"

Dumbledore sighed pulled his wand out and with a lazy flick set Ed's desk books and all, on fire. Before he could even react Ed had punched Dumbledore in the face and from the sound of the crack it seemed like his nose was yet again broken.
"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? THREE YEARS OF RESEARCH ALL UP IN FLAMES YOU CRAZY OLD MAN." Ed continued to scream, it took him over 5 minutes to realize that his desk was in fact completely undamaged.