Prisoner of Azkaban

Chapter Five

Class Lists

Amestris

Fuhrer's Mansion

Yuery was excited when he woke to find Hedwig accompanied by two other owls sitting on the end of his bed, letter in her beak. She had been missing since yesterday morning and he had hoped she had just gone off to collect mail, which apparently, she had.

As soon as she realized he was awake Hedwig hopped forward and dropped the letter in his lap with a chirp. Then the other two dropped their letters, the brown barn owl flew back out of the window while the older looking owl went back to the end of the bed and fell over. "Oh shit." Yuery's eyes widened as he crawled down to the end of the bed to check on the bird. He appeared to have fallen asleep but was breathing.

"Mom's going to be mad with you. You can't use that word." Maes said from the lower bunk.

"Mom's not going to know unless you tell her." Yuery stuck his head over the side to look at his little brother.

"Mom knows everything." Maes shrugged, "I think Dad tells her. I won't tell though, because if I did then you would tell her I stayed up late reading again."

"That's blackmail!" Yuery whined as he sat back up and flopped back onto his pillow.

"That's negotiation." Will said from his own bunk across the room.

"You're both naughty." Tad sat up and looked around. "Mommy will be mad."

"Whatever. I'm going to read my mail, get dressed before Yeye comes to collect us." Yuery waved the others away and began opening his letters. Will sighed heavily as he climbed down from his bunk to help Tad find something to wear while Maes slipped into the closet to find his own clothes.

Yuery read Hermione's letter, brought by Hedwig, first. Then Neville's, before reading Ron's. Afterward, he climbed down to get dressed as well, leaving the owl to rest at the end of his bed. "Make sure to leave the window cracker so he can get back out when he's ready to leave." Yuery calls out to the others as he enters the closet.

"What did your friends say?" Will asked as he finished buttoning his shirt.

"Ron and Hermione are both transferring to Xerxes this year. McGonagall came and talked to Hermione's parents last week and convinced them. Neville's grandmother hasn't decided yet, but he might come too." Yuery called from the closet.

"Why are they all coming here? That seems weird." Maes frowned.

"Because some seriously bead guy broke out of jail and their parents are worried about them being safe at the school." Yuery shrugged as he came out of the closet buttoning his own shirt. "Ron said he overheard his mom and dad talking about it. They probably talked Hermione's parents into it the same way."

"They could be sending them so they can get a chance to spy on everyone." Will said. Yuery frowned and Will shrugged. "Dad sent you so they could spy, he can go both ways."

"Probably, though I don't care, it's great that they get to come." Yuery said as Yeye walked into the room.

"Who gets to go where?" Yeye asked as he walked toward the window to close it before he noticed the extra owl.

"Ron and Hermione are transferring to Xerxes for this term." Yuery said. "Are the girls ready?"

"Yes, they are." Yeye held out his hand for the letters which Yuery was offering him. "Let's have breakfast before we worry about international politics all right boys? I am glad your friends will be joining you, Yu."

Xerxes Academy

Headmaster's Cottage

"The updated request list has been approved." Mei said casually as they ate breakfast. "We have three Hogwarts transfers."

"All from Yuery's 'House', yes." Al nodded as he offered his son a piece of toast. "Brother and Dad highly suspect they are being sent to ensure an adult can spy on Yuery."

"So, we are allowing this then?" Mei frowned.

"Yes. One, the children in his house are currently considered to be endangered thanks to the escape of the prisoner who Remus spoke to us about. Two, they allowed us to spy on them, perhaps if they spy on us, they will finally see a better method of running their school. Three, Brother asked that I allow it so Yuery's friends could be nearby." Al replied calmly.

"Edward feels the situation is safe then." Mei asked.

"Remus and Severus assured me that allowing these limited students to attend would not compromise the protection spells. I did have to inform the Weasleys that there would be no pets allowed, however. They wanted to have the child bring his pet, but Edward informed me that Yuery believed there was something strange about the creature." Al nodded.

"We really do not allow pets at any rate. SO, just one of the Weasley children was confirmed then? It was my understanding that they have several school aged children."

"One so far, apparently the mother is still debating whether to send the youngest child. The elder ones elected to remain at Hogwarts from what the father said in his letters." Al sighed. "We are going to need to higher more teachers soon with the way the class list is expanding. Can you handle the rest of registration if I begin interviews?"

"Of course, Sovann can help me." Mei smiled at their son who was ignoring the in favor of playing with his partly eaten toast. "You can ask Severus perhaps, he is no longer teaching for Hogwarts, so he may be available."

"He may be, that is if Brother can spare him. They have been working on something together for some time." Alphonse agreed as he began clearing the table. "I'll call them both after breakfast is cleared up. Here I'll take him." Alphonse then took Sovann to get the boy ready for the day.

Amestris

Snape's House

Draco received letter from Hermione and Ron over breakfast informing him they would not be attending Hogwarts this term. Though he hadn't told either of them he would be going to Xerxes, or that he had attended it previously, they did both know that he was not returning to Hogwarts himself.

He was then excited to learn they would be coming to Xerxes, he liked both of them. Ron was surprising to him when he realized that he considered him a friend after their rocky start. Now though, he was glad to include Ron in his small list of people he liked, Hermione reminded him of several of his friends here in Xerxes. He was looking forward to introducing them all.

He did frown when he was reading Ron's letter and it mentioned that a big part of the reason his mother agreed was because a murder had escaped and was expected to attempt to enter Hogwarts in search of Harry Potter. "Sev, do you know anything about Sirius Black?" Draco asked as he looked up from his letter.

"Why do you ask?" Severus asked as he looked up from the newspaper.

"Ron mentioned him, his mother has decided to send him to Xerxes because of this Sirius Black and they are worried he will try to get into Hogwarts." Draco said as he held out the letter.

"I'm sure his mother wanted him safely away." Severus said with a frown, "The school she has chosen is not a coincidence I assume the headmaster suggested the school. Weasley became friends rather easily with Yuery after all."

"Ron wouldn't spy on anyone…I don't think." Draco frowned.

"I'm sure he wouldn't, however, he would write home and tell them he had made friends. Moreover, his parents could and would, come to the school to visit him, rightly so, it would not take much to have them look into things while they were visiting." Severus mused quietly. "I doubt Ron knows anything about this form of planning, but I have sat in enough meetings over the years. His parents are only partly aware of the situation, I'm sure. Did they mention the younger one or the older ones?"

"He said his mom was still debating sending his sister, and the brothers requested to stay at Hogwarts. Since Black would be targeting second years their father agreed reluctantly." Ron said looking back down at his letter.

"Black isn't a threat to the children. Though I wouldn't be sure he isn't to the staff." Severus sighed. "I do wish he had shown more patience, we have been working on his defense and this will ruin our chances." Severus folded his paper as Narcissa came back into the kitchen. "I must hurry I am meant to be in the Fuhrer's office this morning."

After Severus left, Draco turned to his mother, "Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger wrote to say they will be attending Xerxes this year."

"That's wonderful, I know you enjoyed their company last year. Do ask them not to mention you to anyone back home though. We do not want word getting back to Lucius where we have gone." His mother replied with a smile. "Now what had Severus bothered do you know?"

"They are coming partly because their parents are worried about Sirius Black, but Sev said Black wouldn't be a threat to the children." Draco shrugged.

"Yes, years ago Black was arrested as an ally to You Know Who, which was odd as I had never seen him come to any of the meetings your father hosted. I did not ask questions however, because I know I never saw them all and your father was already so angry at that time. I couldn't say anything to anyone either, because that would mean admitting your father was involved along with several members of my own family there was no way that I would have convinced them that I was not involved myself." Narcissa sighed. "I had not yet realized how dangerous your father was to us yet then either and I admit I still loved him at that time and believed that he loved me."

"It's alright Mother. You said yourself you had to protect me." Draco said as he hugged his mother to comfort her.

"I am still guilty with my silence. I would not be surprised to find others did blame me and would gladly take the blame provided it did not harm you." She said as she hugged him.

Hogwarts

Headmaster's Office

Dumbledore was pleased to learn that the children he had selected had all been accepted into Xerxes Academy. He was considering sending a teacher or two along as well, but after losing Severus Snape, Remus Lupin, and Arabella Figg to Elric's camp he was reluctant to send anyone else. As it stood, it was entirely possible he would lose the Weasleys should they spend much time with the Elrics.

He should not be surprised, after all, now that he knew who Elric truly was, it made more sense why the man had campaigned against him for so long. Yes, it made perfect sense now. The man had issue with him and had simply taken advantage of the situation to gain his revenge. Nick had always been very persuasive it made sense that his son was as well.

He may have even felt the need to apologize to Elric, had the man not decided to meddle where he didn't belong. Had he kept his grudge to just Dumbledore, Albus would have been sympathetic. Now that he seemed to have sets his sights on destroying the entire wizarding world by keeping the child hidden though, Albus could not allow his own guilt to be lenient on Edward Elric. Knowing his motivation, it made it even more clear that Dumbledore needed to find a way to stop him.