Removing a wall to the ceiling / roof
I called an engineer and paid for his evaluation of the wall. It's not load bearing. Realized that I left out some basics about the house.

This house is built on a raised foundation with cripple walls attaching the floor joists to the foundation. The metal post is attached to the fireplace foundation (which is independent of the houses foundation). There is no foundation (just 3 feet of empty air) underneath the wall I want to remove. The header is just oddly sized.

The header does not connect to the beam.

From a sheer wall perspective he was not too concerned, given that the total amount of wall I want to remove is pretty minimal compared to the rest of the house.