Prisoner of Azkaban
Chapter Eighteen
Central Tour
Fuhrer's Mansion
Central
Amestris
The thing that all of the guests noticed right away last year when they met Armstrong was that he was big. He was nearly as big as Hagrid, though he also at the time seemed far more reserved. This is why it was surprising to all of them, but not at all to the Elric children or Draco, when the man greeted them all warmly the next morning.
As was a common sight for the Amestrians of the group, Trisha, Tad, and Sarah immediately began climbing the large man. Elizabeth and Izumi were content to cling to the legs of his smaller companion as Yuery and Draco excitedly greeted the men in return. Maes and William were with the English children of the group, trying to talk them into coming forward to talk to the men as well, as Winry chatted with Armstrong (who seemed not to notice the children on his back aside from adjusting Trisha before she could slip off his shoulder.)
Edward then came into the entry hall, much to the visible relief of his family. The children had not seen him at all last night, though Ron had assured the others that since his own father was a government worker, he knew that sometimes Dads came home late. "Good morning, everyone. Sorry I missed you at breakfast. Armstrong, Breda, I need a word before you go, but I want to visit with the children a moment first. I'm sure you are all anxious to get started on your adventure." Edward said with a big smile.
"Daddy, do you have to go back to work?" Trisha asked then, climbing down the giant's back to dive into her father's arms.
"Not right now. I'm sorry I was so late yesterday; we had an emergency." Edward replied as he hugged his daughter. He hated missing their meals or bedtime, as rare as it was. The longest he had been away from them was last year when he was with Yuery for several weeks.
"Good Morning Mr., Elric." Hermione said politely, followed by Neville, Ron and Ginny.
"I trust everyone is behaving then?" Edward asked as he set Trisha down, only for Tad to dive at him instead. He caught his youngest brother easily, ignoring the laughter of the other adults. "Yuery, have you all finished your homework?"
"We worked it together last night Dad so we would have the rest of the weekend free. Can we visit the Armstrong Mansion? Heymans said it was up to you."
"Actually, I need to talk to them for a moment, then we can discuss it. Here Tad, stay with Winry." Edward said as Armstrong set down Sarah and Breda extracted himself from the other girls to follow Edward into the office.
Winry smiled at the children, "Don't worry, he'll explain in a moment I'm sure, he just wants to give them their orders first…and make sure they are comfortable with such a large group or if they'll need help. He's likely to end up coming with you all actually, unless he needs to go back in."
After less than five minutes the men returned, Edward now with a serious expression and the other two back to the way Armstrong looked when he was at Hogwarts. "Alright kids, little ones, you are staying here today. Everyone else, we are going out into a very busy city most of you are completely unfamiliar with, that means ground rules. No one wanders off. No one ignores Armstrong, Breda, or myself. If one of us say it's time to go, it's time to go no questions asked."
"What happened Dad?" William asked seriously.
"Yesterday we had a breech at the border. It appeared to be an animal, though a few of the guards felt there was reason to believe it may have been a chimera or something similar. Now it happened during the day, which rules out werewolves, wrong time of the moon too actually. That leaves some other options that are unpleasant as well." Edward frowned before pinching the bridge of his nose. "Now unless it somehow jumped on a train and was missed there is next to no chance it has made it all the way to Central yet, but we are assuming for the sake of safety that is indeed where it is headed, and for the sake of caution we will be operating as if it is here somewhere and a threat."
"Sir, you should call Severus. He was speaking with Professor Lupin yesterday, and he said when we arrived home there was vital information that needed to be passed on." Draco frowned.
"Thank you Draco, Severus and Remus both came by the office yesterday evening. It appears that the dog in question may be an Animagus, it may also be a chimera as previously mentioned, but the wizards are leaning toward Animagus we will be looking into it further. Of course, as all of you know, you have been shown pictures of Sirius Black, if he managed to get here undetected and you see him or are approached by him, immediately bring it to the attention of one of the adults."
"I thought there were no more rogue chimeras. That's what they said in class." Maes asked. "Well, they did say none in Amestris and Xing, they didn't say if there were any in Creta, but Creta never allowed them to begin with, did they?"
"Neither did we Maes, but they happened anyway. It is forbidden, that doesn't mean bad people stop." Armstrong replied before their father could.
The conversation ended there while Winry took the smaller children back upstairs and the men lead the children out of the mansion. Edward had arranged additional guards as well who were waiting outside, one for each child. As everyone was getting organized, Roy arrived with his own guard, deciding to join them at the last minute. Soon enough the party was off, walking away from Central command, the children surrounded by adults completely, with Roy and Edward walking next to them.
"Well, this isn't the tour I imagined when I invited you, but it should still be fun." Yuery said, annoyed that their plans had been changed but not surprised after the late night his father and grandfather had endured. He and William had decided last night to make the best of it, when they realized there was a problem. Aside from increased security (and neither of them believed they would have gotten out of security altogether, as Yuery had explained to the others earlier in the week) nothing much had changed in the plans his Dad helped them make except the possible visit to the library he had been planning.
Just outside of West City
Railyard
Sirius had managed to make it through the city undetected, stopping only to steal some food from a vendor and swipe a nearby newspaper. He had made it to the outskirts then and hidden in the shade of a boxcar before transforming back into himself to eat and read the paper. He ate the sandwich first, before opening the paper. He cast the translation spell, before reading the article featuring a woman he had seen with Harry in earlier photographs.
According to the article the woman, Winry Rockbelle-Elric apparently, was to be invited to Drachma to speak to some official there about something called automail. She had delayed the trip earlier in the year, citing a family emergency. The article mentioned her three eldest children, Yuery, William, and Maes were attending Xerxes alongside the leader of Drachma's daughter.
Though Sirius didn't understand or care about most of the article, it had given him valuable information. Harry was attending the school still then, and his name had indeed been changed. Now, Sirius assumed, he went by Yuery…or possibly William, both boys were about the same size, so it was impossible for him to decide which was the older boy. They had not included anything else about Harry.
Sirius was considering laying down for a while, when he heard someone moving around outside of the boxcar. He stiffened slightly as a shadow appeared in the doorway. "Come out, we know you're in there." Said a man's voice from just outside the car. Not the shadow then, so there were at least two people out there and they knew someone was inside.
He transformed back into the dog quickly. He would be able to slip past them easier in this form, and hopefully they would assume he was just a stray and not try to catch him. He didn't much like the idea of having to escape from the pound. Again. He would rather deal with the pound than jail, though. As soon as he creeped out, intent on running, the man in front of the door yelled.
It didn't make sense, really, that anyone could see him as dark as it was in here with the color of his fur. He hadn't thought he had made any noise either, but they must have heard him then. He rushed the door and reared up on his hind legs to push the man out of the way before jumping to the ground. There were four of them altogether and there was something strange he could sense about them.
"Get him!" said the darkest of the group, so Sirius ducked away and weaved under the boxcars to escape. He ran as fast as he could, convinced that somehow at least one of them was keeping pace with him. He was nearly panicked by the time he managed to feel they were no longer following him. Who were they, and how had they kept up so long?
Central
Amestris
Market Center
They arrived at the market easily and were joined by Severus Snape once they arrived. He smiled briefly at Draco in particular before blending in with the other adults and allowing the children to explore. Draco immediately led them over to his favorite stall, which sold pastries.
"Good morning Mrs. Hughes," Draco politely smiled, "Elisha, Ana."
"Good morning," Mrs. Hughes replied to Draco before looking at the adults. "Oh Edward, I didn't expect to see you today. How are you all?"
"The usual." Edward said calmly, while handing her a slip of paper that offered a brief explanation of what was happening. Edward refused to leave her in the dark, she was too important to both him and Winry. "Would the girls like to join us for lunch at the Armstrong mansion?" The girls joined them quickly, as everyone was handed a small slice of cake from Mrs. Hughes, before Armstrong began shuffling them all away from the other carts.
"We don't need you all filling up on pastries and wasting your pocket change on trinkets." Armstrong said with a smile.
"Also, it is harder to see who is coming in such a crowded area." Yuery replied as William nodded. "We know your tricks by now."
"Alright boys, if you're going to sass the guards, then maybe we should all just head back home." Edward grinned.
Armstrong and Breda both laughed at this even as Hermione and Ron looked stricken at the idea of the missed tour. Elicia saw their expressions and assured them that Edward was joking, he after all, was much worse about guards when he was younger. The adults all laughed harder at this, while Hermione still looked a bit stressed, she and Ron both relaxed.
Another guard approached as everyone settled back down and handed a telegram to Edward. He frowned at the message before showing Severus. "Alright, Alex, I think we should head out toward the estate before we manage to tire them out." Edward said with false cheer, making his sons stiffen in concern. Ron, Hermione, and Neville frowned in concern at their reactions while Ginny tried to quietly question Draco and Elicia. Ana seemed excited as she tugged at Breda, asking as they walked if she could visit the flower gardens.
Albania
Unknown Location
Forest
Pettigrew made his way deeper into the forest. Somewhere near here, he had learned from overheard conversations, was where Quirrell had come across the Dark Lord. Therefore, it stood to reason that somewhere around here was where his Master had returned when he had been defeated by those awful strangers.
Pettigrew intended to find the man and help him return to power, then he wouldn't have to worry about his former friends hunting him down anymore. It was a brilliant plan, the only hang up was he wasn't entirely certain exactly where to find him. Though, the longer he was in this forest, the stronger his Mark tingled, so he assumed he was heading in the right direction.
He had just decided to give up for the day and find somewhere to rest, when something moved inside the hollow of a tree. He wasn't proud of the screech he let out when he saw the smoky movement sliding from the tree, but calmed quickly when he heard the Dark Lord's voice just above a whisper. "So, you come to me for protection when I am but a shadow."
"I seek you out with the knowledge gleaned from the one who aided you before me. I, unlike him, came upon you willingly and with full knowledge of what mast be done." Pettigrew said in response. One had to try their best not to show weakness in these situations. One wrong move could result in death instead of protection.
"Do you truly? Well then, we will go. Come there is much to be done and I require your aide to regain my strength." Voldemort hissed in response. Pettigrew gathered the shadowy creature into his arms, more smoke than solid, and wrapped it in his cloak to avoid dropping it or touching it directly.
He had no idea how he was to help the Dark Lord regain his power, but he was sure the other man already had a plan. He had to have thought of a way to restore himself, after all no one would condemn themselves to a half life as he was currently existing. Slowly, he made his way back out of the forest.