The Order of the Pheonix
Chapter Four
Amestris
Fuhrer's Mansion
Edward's Office
Remus was surprised and happy to be included in the meeting, more so after he learned it was at the mansion instead of the office. Mei, Alphonse, and Chen had all assured him he was still welcome among Amestrians, but he had had his doubts. Even Severus had assured him that Roy and Edward were disappointed but understanding. To be allowed so close to Yuery, even if the child was not in the meeting, finally convinced him he was indeed still welcome.
Though, he had been the one to bring the others here, so perhaps it was for convenience after all. "Stop. I can practically hear you fretting from here." Chen said with a squeeze to his hand. "If you weren't invited, Severus would have come to get us all."
"Sirius Black has agreed to subject himself to your truth potion when we question him regarding Albus Dumbledore." Edward began as he walked into the room before Remus could respond to Chen. "We would prefer, for his comfort and yours, that you Remus administer the potion though it will be Severus and the Fuhrer actually questioning him."
"You won't be asking the questions?" Remus questioned.
"No, my father will be handling it himself. You may stay for the interview and Chen has agreed to monitor the questioning to ensure that nothing is amiss for the Royal Family's additional questions. Ling sent a list." Edward said as he waved the file around. "Severus went to fetch the potion from his stores, and we will head over soon. I myself will be staying here to mind the children. Alphonse and Mei… are you staying here or going over to the prison?"
"I want to go, if I may, but you should stay here in case there's any trouble." Alphonse said to his wife who nodded in agreement.
"What kind of questions will you ask? Will it impact his trial?" Remus worried.
"We intend to ask about his association with Dumbledore and he only need to be concerned if he lied before regarding it which would add additional charges. Otherwise, it will have no impact." Edward assured as Severus walked into the room along with Roy.
"We may have another issue as well; I just received an owl to let me know one of our witnesses is being called back to England. Apparently, McGonagall is being appointed the Headmistress of Hogwarts." Roy said as he sat down behind Ed's desk. "We need to finish this matter as soon as possible so she can leave."
"Please, leave my file alone Dad, your organization skills suck." Ed said with an eyeroll, before returning his attention to the others. "Alright, you said this stuff wears off in like three hours so we should be able to resume the trial tomorrow morning without issue. I want this matter closed quickly as well, the sooner we finish the trial, the quicker we can keep him further away from my son."
"I thought you refused to return him to England?" Remus frowned.
"We do. He'll be serving his sentence, whatever it is, at Briggs." Edward shrugged. "General Armstrong will keep him busy and contained. "
"You haven't convicted him yet, and have already decided his sentence?" Remus questioned.
"Not his sentence, the location of his containment." Roy said calmly, suppressing a sigh. "We cannot allow certain high-risk prisoners to remain within easy reach. The council determined Black to be such a prisoner. He is, unfortunately, a likely target for both those who would wish him harm and those who would use his disappearance to further their own agendas. It better to make them at least work for their plans."
"So, you do not fear him trying to escape again?" Remus asked, internally cringing at his own question but wanting to gauge their reactions.
"He is currently powerless and will remain so until his sentence is complete. Escape risk is minimal on his own." Roy said with a frown. "Dumbledore cannot enter our borders, even as far up as Briggs. He could, however, send someone else. There are also several small factions that we are still weeding out who stand by the old regime's belief that magic should be eliminated. Then there is the matter of those who are related to the recently fallen soldiers. It is better then to place him out of the way as I said."
"It's for his protection, more than anything else." Edward added before Remus could argue further. "You will be allowed to visit him; you cannot act to aide him in escape yourself so we have no reason to prevent visits."
"Ah, the vow." Remus said after a confused moment. Severus agreed as he walked into the office with the potion in hand. "Severus, thank you for providing the serum."
"I do not believe he is foolish enough to wittingly aide Dumbledore, however, I would not put it passed Dumbledore to have found a way to use him anyway." Severus said as the Amestrians all nodded, and Remus frowned.
Once, he would not have believed Dumbledore capable of such things, but then he learned the lengths he had been willing to go to ensure a prophesy was fulfilled. How many more lives would be ruined before he saw reason?
Xerxes Academy
Chen's Cottage
Albus wasn't entirely sure why he had returned, surely by now they had secured the area and if any of the Fuhrer's children had been available, they would be gone by now. He stared at the hovel anyway as he tried to think of a plan. He had heard enough over the last few weeks to know the basics of the political climate. Perhaps, though he would be unable to snatch Harry, or one of the Elric children to trade for Harry, if he were to take a high ranking child, he could force the exchange anyway.
Surely, they would have no choice but to give into him if he were to use such leverage, though he loathed to sink to these levels they weren't leaving him a lot of options. Time was running out, the boy had to fulfil his destiny to save the world from Voldemort. Albus shook his head. Had Elric not been so petty he would have seen the parallels between his own story and the boy's. From what Albus had gathered, Elric had been around Harry's age when he helped win their war.
According to the rumors which were quickly becoming legend, he had even defeated a powerful being at that age that may have been nearly dangerous as Voldemort. Yet, he allowed his jealousy and dislike of Albus to compromise Harry's destiny. Clearly, he would otherwise understand the child was required.
Albus watched the children in the distance as he considered his options. He wished to avoid taking one of the princes of Xing, if only in remembrance of Nick and his love of their Family. He never completely understood the details, but he knew from Nick's stories that the Xing Royal Family had been his friends for centuries. That left the princess of Drachma. Anya, if he remembered correctly.
He assumed she had returned with the rest of her people, and he also assumed that she must be well liked. High Ranking children often were for if for no other reason then to at least gain political favor. He watched the children to determine the most likely of the girls then crept closer to confirm his suspicions. There were four different girls in question, all well dressed and carrying themselves with the air of grace found among nobles. All but one also constantly surrounded by other children. The final girl, a thin tall girl with light eyes and hair, seemed less popular but was accompanied by one he recognized as high ranking from Xing among the small handful with her.
He listened to the conversations of the various children, before deciding she must be the one after all, despite his earlier dismissal as the least likely of the four. He followed her back toward the gardens even as all, but the Prince left them behind. He realized quickly that they were heading in the direction of Port Key transport, and he needed to move quickly.
Without a second thought, he stunned the boy quickly, before binding him in ropes and grabbing the girl. It caused more of a commotion than he would have liked, as several adults ran in their direction just before he made himself visible and apparated away. Good, in a way. Now Elric and the others would expect to hear from him.
The girl continued to struggle against him as they set back down in the forest he had been camping in the last few weeks near his tent. He would have to tie her up as well if she couldn't be reasonable. He loathed the idea of keeping her bound the entire time, not wanting to this be any scarier for her than necessary. "Quiet Princess. As soon as my demands are met you will be freed with no harm to you, I promise. I do not wish to hurt you or anyone else, I just need the Amestrians to return Harry Potter, this is a hostage exchange. They left me no choice."
"You're Dumbledore! They warned us about you. Yuery described you perfectly." The girl said with a huff. "My father will not help you; you know."
"He will fi he wants you back. He will tell Elric that he has no choice but to hand over the one they call Yuery Elric, or they will not get you back." Dumbledore said, he didn't want to frighten the child, but she was still being stubborn, he needed her to speak to her father so he knew Dumbledore wasn't bluffing.
"I'm impressed. From what I had heard I wasn't certain you even bothered to remember Yuery's real name with your obsession with him being Harry Potter." Anya rolled her eyes. Truthfully, she was frightened. Not as much as when she had first been taken because from what Yuery had said this man was single minded in his quest so she really was nothing more than a pawn…though she also knew that may very well increase the danger she was in in some ways because he would not consider her important beyond the exchange.
"His real name IS Harry Potter. Yuery Elric is a false name given to him when he was kidnapped. Kidnapping children is unforgivable, a crime against the natural order of things and those who do such things deserve the greatest punishments." Dumbledore ranted, completely ignoring that he himself had just kidnapped a child a short time ago.
The girl, intelligently, did not point it out either. She did wonder however how exactly taking her, the heir of Drachma, was meant to compel the Fuhrer of Amestris to give over his own heir. This man was clearly unhinged. She did hope someone came for her soon too, because she hated being held hostage. It was always annoying, and they almost always forgot to feed her or give her water. Sometimes they even forgot to give her a coat or blanket either though that hopefully wouldn't be a problem this far south.
England
Malfoy Manor
The plan had been laid out clearly, it was apparent the biggest issue was obtaining the blood. After all, Potter was out of reach. He had been since the people who raised him whisked him away at the end of his first year, and Black's actions a few weeks ago had made everything worse.
Still, if Lucius wanted to remain in his Lord's favor and wanted aide in retrieving his own child, he was going to have to come up with a viable option that Voldemort would agree to as well. The biggest problem were the holes in the prophesy. Presumably, Voldemort knew the whole thing, or at least most of it. Severus Snape would as well, but he did not want that man involved. Snape was the one who took his son after all and was clearly a traitor to the cause.
"Sir." Lucius said in a moment of inspiration. "No one really knows the Boy's importance, aside from us. However, the other boy. Perhaps we could use him instead. You would then only need to concern yourself with tracking and eliminating one threat instead of two."
"Neither child is a true threat! I am far more powerful than either of them." Voldemort rasped loudly, Lucius quick to agree, even as Voldemort considered the suggestion. It was possible to use the other one, not only would his blood work to fulfil the requirement, but seeing a friend who was meant to be as untouchable as him destroyed would break the Potter boy and make him easier to manipulate. Those interfering nits who helped spare the boy last time would be powerless once he was in full power again instead of a substandard host. Yes, the plan could work. He watched Malfoy and Pettigrew squirm a bit longer before he agreed to move forward with grabbing the other boy as an acceptable alternative.
Amestris
Alchemist Prison Block
Sirius was relieved it was Remus who brought in the potion, followed by the Fuhrer himself, to question Sirius. Along with another man who looked similar to Elric, but different at the same time. Taller, and broader than the one who had been in the trial earlier, but with matching hair and eyes.
"Good afternoon Mr. Black. I am Alphonse Elric, Headmaster of the Xerxes Academy and son of Fuhrer Mustang. I have been brought in to observe these proceedings. Do you or your council have any objections?" the man, Alphonse, said.
Flitwick and the other one both murmured their acceptance and Sirius nodded silently. He hoped they would allow him to speak freely, then this whole mess would be cleared up quickly. "I thought Edward Elric would be here as well?" Flitwick asked as his only concern.
"He had another matter brought to his attention moments ago and had to take care of it personally." Alphonse said calmly. "Are you ready sir?"
"It's okay Sirius. Veritaserum is not long lasting as you know and they only want to ask you about now, not anything from before." Remus offered with a small smile. Sirius nodded and drank the potion as Severus Snape and a younger woman walked into the room as well. Remus saw his confusion and explained "This is Princess Chen, she has some questions as well, sent by the Emperor."
"How quickly does this take affect?" Roy asked, he was anxious to get back to the search for Dumbledore. They had received word, via a private rushing to them, on the way over that Dumbledore had snatched someone from Xerxes. Edward had rushed off to take the call and Roy knew Alphonse wanted to head back to his school as soon as he could to check on the rest of the students.
"Now." Severus said as he took a step forward. "Sirius Black. What animal form do you take?"
"A large black dog." Sirius said, with no attempt to resist the question.
"How did you break past the border spells?"
"I felt the resistance and tried several areas. I wanted to get through to protect Harry. From what I have overheard since then, I assume because that was my reason for entering it let me in."
"What aide did you give Albus Dumbledore in entering the border?" Severus asked, not commenting on Black's last answer.
"None. He should not be here; he is a threat to Harry. Please, Remus, please keep Harry safe if they won't see reason and keep me here." Sirius said, agitated at the clear threat to his godson. He relaxed again once Remus nodded in agreement.
"Sirius Black, I wish to ask you three questions if you have the time." The woman said calmly as she stepped forward now. He nodded so she began with, "How did Dumbledore get through the barrier?"
"I assume he chose a weaker point and used some sort of spell or trick. I cannot imagine that he came with good intentions however."
"What trouble do you intend to cause once you reach your goals?" Chen continued after a nod.
"I intend to bring Harry home with me where he belongs, and then do everything in my power to keep him safe." Sirius said sharply.
"Finally, what is your association with Voldemort?" Chen asked. It had not been one of Ling's questions but Remus' who had agreed to remain silent for this part even if it was tearing him apart to remain silent.
"As soon as I find that monster, I will kill him. He ruined the lives of so many, and he is still ruining things strangely since most everyone believes him dead."