Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Elric,

While this is not usually done, we ask of your assistance in guarding a student. We are in a dire situation, and he is the only hope for us to prevail. You would be guarding Harry Potter, if you so choose to accept. We have already received a confirmation from another creature we have asked for help along with relieving extra security from the Ministry, but I beg of you to accept as well.

If you do choose to accept, we are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You will find enclosed all the necessary books and equipment needed for a third year, the year Mr. Potter is in. I'm sure you'll have no trouble being placed ahead.

The term begins on 1 September. We await your reply to our proposal.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Well, this was odd. He hadn't had contact with the wizards in such a long time, much less than be asked for help by one. They must be desperate if they sent an owl asking for him to protect a kid, considering his kind brought death. The other creature brought in must not be any better than him though, if they were willing to plea for help from him. The offer sounded interesting though, so he decided to accept.

He placed his head on top of his neck, drastically decreasing the amount of billowing black material that left his neck. One hand was placed where his head and neck met, the other keeping his head upright by holding his hair; he focused on his magic on changing his clothing into resembling a human's attire more, and creating a special shirt with a collar able to keep his head from falling off while he wasn't holding it. He only did this when he saw the kids, and he wanted to see them off tonight.

He made his way to the human village, silently sneaking into the houses of the human children he had befriended over the years. One was a little boy named Alphonse, who looked quite a bit like him and called him Brother, and the other was a girl named Winry who was a year older than Al and actually made automail for him. He'd been born with deformities, a first for his kind, but luckily had his horse to get around with and it's not like his disabilities affected his work. When little Winry was eleven, she finally realized he was missing an arm and a leg, she worked with her grandmother to make him automail. He was going to miss the two.

"Brother? Why are we out so late?"

"Did you break your automail again?" Asked Winry, bringing out a wrench she always seemed to keep with her. "You stupid faerie."

He was about to nod no, but remembered what he came for: to say goodbye. These kids were worth the one conversation he was allowed a year.

"No, I didn't break it you stupid automail otaku." They both gasped at this. Not at the rude remark that was layered with endearment, but for the fact that he had actually spoke.

"Brother?" Said Al, tears beginning to pool in his eyes. They both knew something was going to happen, something important enough for Edward to actually talk to them.

"I'm leaving."

"Y-you're leaving?" It was Winry who spoke this time, tears now streaming down her face as well.

"Yeah, I am. Some people need my help and I'd be a shitty person if I didn't help when I could. Besides, it's in your best interest for me to leave."

"B-but Brother-"

"Nothing ever good comes from hanging around my kind. I'm selfish though, so I'll be back someday."

With that, he used some of his magic to put the two teenagers to sleep. Picking them up, one in each arm, he laid them in their houses. He left a little metal horse with a headless rider for them to remember him by. And with that he left.

He went back outside, and hopped onto horse, forming his carriage so that he could reply.

Hogwarts Staff,

I will accept your plea for help, but next time please give me a quicker notice next time. I do not appreciate being called on three days before I'm supposed to be boarding the train to your magic school.

You must be rather desperate to want help from someone like me. I most likely will not kill anyone while I'm there, but I cannot make any promises. After all, I don't know whose name I will call until the time comes. I advise keeping a strict curfew with the kids, I don't need to sleep and tend to wander at night. Wouldn't want any of them to go blind in one eye or have a bucket of blood thrown at them.

I do have a few requests though. One, I will be exempt from the dress code. I have to take special precautions around mortals when it comes to blending in, and I'm sorry to say I don't trust anyone with my head or limbs. Two, I will need something besides a pen and paper to communicate with. We are allowed to speak with mortals only once a year without calling their name, and I believe there is a potion that will allow me to talk. The third and final request being that I need my own space. I don't mind sharing with the other creature, but I'm sure you would prefer students not knowing a faerie of my kind is guarding them.

I'll be staying at your wizarding pub in England, the Leaky Cauldron I believe, for the time being. While I have some things already covered, I still need a few supplies from the list.

Sincerely,

Edward Elric

He took off his head, he had almost forgotten that he was still wearing it, and allowed the billowing inky darkness to finally be free. With a clap of his hand, it covered the letter and disappeared in a flash of blue light.

After sending the letter he made his carriage disappear, hopping onto his horse's back. Travel was much quicker this way if he actually had a destination in mind, rather than just searching for names.

The supply list from the letter mentioned pets, so when he arrived at the pub (it was in fact called the Leaky Cauldron) at few hours after setting off from Ireland he placed his his head back on and turned his horse into a cat. A rather large cat that would most likely get him unnecessary attention, but he didn't want to give his horse up and both a toad or an owl were unappealing to him. So a large black cat the size of a tiger it was. He made sure no one was watching him first though.

When he walked into the pub, he got a weird look from the owner. He could understand though, it wasn't every day you saw something like this, especially early in the morning.

'I'll need a room for two nights when I get back,' he wrote. With that, he walked to the back of the shop to enter Diagon Alley. Luckily it was still pretty early, so no one noticed the odd pair.

"You'll need a name while we're here. I can't just keep calling you horse, or in this case cat. How about… Ouroboros? Yeah, let's do Ouroboros," he thought to the newly named "cat".

He walked on past shops, set on going to one place: the wizarding bank, Gringotts. He'd gotten an account when the bank had first opened and figured it'd be best to withdraw from his account now to pay for his rooms and have his money ready for supply shopping tomorrow.

The withdrawal went smoothly and he was able to successfully purchase a room for two nights, even though he wasn't able to speak. That problem was quickly solved though.

"This arrived for you while you were gone."

Ed nodded in reply and went to his room to open it, Ouroboros following behind him. He set the small package down on the bed, placing his head on a pillow, before going to open it. Inside was a letter, along with three vials of a dark red liquid.

Dead Mr. Elric,

Thank you for cooperating with us on such short notice. I apologize for not being able to send our request sooner, but it is a little hard to track down a myth, even with magic.

Your requests seem reasonable, so they will be granted. Enclosed is the potion you were talking about. You are instructed to take one vial a day for the time being until you reach Hogwarts, there you shall receive more. We have decided that you will in fact room with the other creature that we have deployed as a student. All staff members have also been informed of our extra security measures this year, so feel free to talk to anyone if you need something.

We will have a professor teaching at the school this year pick both you and the other creature up on the morning of 1 September to take you to the train. Please be prepared by then.

Thank you once again. Best of luck and have a good school year.

Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

He poured the potion down his throat, knowing it would affect his head as well. Than, he began to get to work.

The rest of the day and all of the night was spent crafting his wand. He had to reconstruct his whip for the purpose, considering that no normal wand was powerful enough to contain his abilities and he probably couldn't get away with carrying a human spine. The bone was easy enough to shape and ended up being fourteen inches, it took a few hours though and in the end it still resembled a spine, but only if you knew what an actual spine looked like.

The core was the tricky part though. He couldn't use a part of himself, but there were no creatures around besides Ouroboros that could channel his magic. So in the end, he had to use his cat. The process was long and painful for both of them, considering that Ed had to pull a heartstring from the spirit bound to him, but Ed got it done as quickly as he could. By the time they finished, Ed needed to go back to Diagon Alley for the rest of supplies.

Half the day was spent shopping, and the other half was spent on practicing wizard's magic. He hadn't performed it in years and was very out of practice. He didn't want to mess up and perform his regular magic in class. He was real lucky though that he already knew all of what they were teaching.

At around five in the morning, he finally nailed the practicals. He packed all the necessary things into a large black trunk lined with silver...he was sad to admit he was afraid of gold, so it had to be silver. After was done packing, he used some of the wizard magic to keep his head in place better. He put his red cloak on, pulled out a few books he'd bought, and began to read as he waited.

It was around ten when they came. He'd just finished the last of the books he'd brought out and was putting it away when there was a knock on the door.

When he opened it, one of the men gave a shocked gasp, the older dirty looking one. "I didn't know Albus was bringing another werewolf to Hogwarts. He just told me I was picking up two creatures."

"He's not a werewolf, he's a Dullahan." The other spoke.

"A Dullahan?"

"Yeah, I'm a faerie," he snapped back, completely ignoring what the question actually meant. "Got a problem with it Mr. Werewolf? Now siren, please be more careful disclosing my species. No, wait you're not a full siren, they smell different. Banshee-siren hybrid?"

"You got a sharp nose there little one. Not many people notice the little details."

"Who the hell are you calling short?!" The blonde exploded.

"You."

"Fucking bastard!"

The older guy and Ouroboros stepped in, trying to break the two up before they actually started to fight.

"Well, I'm Remus. Nice to meet you two."

"Roy Mustang," said the bastard. He was a beautiful bastard, but a bastard nonetheless.

"Edward Elric. My horse- sorry cat- is Ouroboros."

"Well, due to the fact that Ouroboros is a…rather large cat, I think it'd be best for me to just apparate us to the station. Please grab onto myself and your items."

Ed hated this form of travel, always made his head feel funny and his body sick. He did so anyways though, making sure to touch both his trunk and Ouroboros while grabbing onto Lupin. After using that dreadful spell, and trying not to throw up, they boarded the train. Luckily the three found an empty compartment relatively easy, so they settled there before anyone else could take it in the remaining time to board. Lupin promptly sat down and fell asleep, leaving the two creatures together.

'This is going to be a long year,' thought Ed.