The Order of the Pheonix
Chapter Six
Undisclosed Location in clearing
The child was growing increasingly more annoying as the hours passed. Dumbledore was frustrated with the entire situation at this point, when she refused to simply be quiet and sleep. Instead, she was humming to herself. Humming! As if she wasn't the least bit concerned that her father effectively left her to her fate by refusing to turn over Potter.
He intended to call again in the morning, but the longer he considered the situation the more he wondered if there were other options as well. Perhaps, he thought near the bottom of the second bottle, just after the insufferable child had finally fallen asleep, he could go to the local papers. He could tell the reporters things that would get the leaders in trouble with the general public, making it far more likely they would give into him to keep him quiet.
He would reveal Harry's kidnapping, of course. As well as the Tsar's refusal to rescue his own daughter. Then there was the matter of the school. Which was lead by the siblings of the leadership of both Amestris and Xing, yet they saw fit to employ a werewolf. Surely that news would alarm parents, who would want their child exposed to a werewolf? Who could trust fairness to the student body when clearly nepotism would play a role for the nieces and nephews of the Heads of the school.
Evident in the fact that this child was still in his care, was that clearly Amestris and possibly Xing, held more power than the countries around them. This too could be used as leverage. If anyone found out that the leaders of these countries would allow a child o to remain in the care of a stranger rather than hand over the child that was rightfully his to take. After all, Harry was meant to be at Hogwarts right now.
He decided as he finished the bottle and crawled into his own cot that tomorrow he would try to reason with the Tsar again and should that fail, he would in fact go to the papers. At peace with the new plan, he finally allowed himself to sleep, failing to notice that the girl was still awake on the other side of the tent.
Anya waited an additional thirty minutes before easing her way out of the cot he had provided when he pulled out the tent from his tiny bag. She slipped her shoes back on and silently cursed the lighter weight of the uniform's fabric as opposed to most of her clothing. It was going to be chilly outside this late. Anya gave the crazy old man was last glimpse before leaving the tent.
When had left, he had traveled east out of the clearing, he had returned from the same direction. He had been gone a total of thirty-eight minutes by her calculations. It would have taken him roughly ten minutes to make the phone call, as he had to wait to connect with her father. Since he had clearly spent at least a few minutes shopping afterward, the closest town should be about six to eight minutes away, due east.
She picked up a large branch that had fallen just outside the clearing before she began following a faint trail left by Dumbledore's trips into town. She used the stick as a guide to safely avoid any possible rocks or holes to avoid twisting an ankle or worse. It was late afternoon now, the sun would be gone before long, she hoped to reach town before it was fully dark. Anya had timed it earlier with the small clock in the tent, the song she had hummed had taken exactly two minutes from beginning to end, so she should find the town after four rounds. If not, she would backtrack and try again.
Amestris
Interview with Sirius Black
Alphonse and Chen were surprised when Edward and Roy suddenly walked into the meeting. Severus and Remus were alarmed, the expression on both men's faces spoke of dire situations. Edward began without prompting as he glared at the prisoner. "Anya of Drachma has been taken by Albus Dumbledore from Xerxes. He has called a few minutes ago to demand an exchange. I want to know what THIS man knew about it."
"Who is Anya?" Sirius asked with a frown. She sounded important, and the others in the room had all tensed when her name was mentioned.
"The first daughter of the Tsar. Where did he take her?" Edward demanded.
"I do not know, as I told the others I have not spoken to the man in years. He isn't to be trusted, he betrayed us all." Sirius said with a shake of his head.
"Well, he just kidnapped a twelve-year-old girl, so I hope for your sake you are telling the truth." Edward snarled.
"He is, the potion hasn't worn off yet, he cannot lie." Remus said shakily. Anya was one of his best students. She was also a kind and intelligent child. Child being the word stuck with him at the moment. She was just a child; she must be so frightened.
"I can track him, smell him and hunt him down. "Sirius said suddenly. "Let me go after him, I will get the girl back quickly and tear him apart."
"No." Roy said before anyone else could process what Sirius had just demanded. "No, we do not use prisoners to track kidnappers, we have a team who is more than capable of finding him and the child. We want to know what you knew about it."
Sirius huffed in frustration. He could easily find Dumbledore and this missing child, but they didn't trust him. He understood, somewhat, after all he had tried to take Harry from them. As far as they were concerned, what he did and what Dumbledore was doing was the same. It wasn't, of course, but they thought it was Remus' expression that told him that even his former friend felt that way about it. "What does he want with this girl anyway?"
"He is under the foolish impression that Viktor would attempt to force me to hand over my son in exchange for his daughter. This will not be something anyone considers of course, Ling has people looking for that bastard now, they had it narrowed down before he pulled this shit." Edward growled out, pacing the small room in agitation. "I'm going to help look for her, Severus, Remus do either of you think you would be of use?"
"I believe I should remain here until the potion has run it's course, then I will join you." Severus said. Remus remained silent, still convinced he should avoid offering his help and remind them they were unhappy with his response before.
"Darius is coming as well." Edward offered; Alphonse stepped forward as well, but Edward shook his head. "I need you to stay here Al, to help watch over the children because this could still be a ruse."
"I am without a Gate; I should go, and you stay if you truly believe it to be a trick Brother." Alphonse said calmly even as the others flinched at the reminder.
"What's a gate got to do with anything?" Sirius wondered as they all left, leaving him to his quiet lawyer and Chen Li.
"A Gate is how one accesses their alchemic abilities, ass a Core allows wizards access." Chen explained. "Edward explained it all to me long ago when I asked him to teach me alchemy and he refused. I apparently lack the ability. You really know nothing of this kidnapping?"
"No, I would never help Dumbledore get a hold of a child. He is not to be trusted, ever." Sirius wished he could pace himself, but he was told to stay seated while others were in his cell. They had already done something to bind his powers, he didn't want to give them any reason to do more to him. He didn't think they had Dementors in Amestris, certainly not here in the city, but he couldn't swear to it they didn't have anything similar.
Undisclosed Location, near village
Anya could now see the edges of the town through the trees as she rushed ahead gratefully. She may not be from here but surely, they would be willing to help her, at least allow her to call her father and ask for help if nothing else.
She came to the first small house, but no one seemed to be home when she knocked on the door. So, she decided to go straight to the heart of the village, instead of knocking around and possibly being found by Dumbledore before finding another adult. This time of day, she realized, most adults were not in their homes but there should be people to help her if she went to the shops.
She walked down the biggest street she could find and soon came to the shopping area where she spotted a hotel, a grocery, and a schoolhouse right away. She decided to start at the grocer as the closest. She went into the small store, and directly to the counter.
"May I please use your phone to call my father? I was taken from my school by a man who I do not know." She said to the older man behind the counter.
"I don't have a phone in here child, one moment and I will walk you over to the constable's office." The man said as he looked around behind her before waving at a teenage boy who was stocking shelves of what appeared to be soup. When the boy came over the man asked him to watch the store for a few minutes before leading Anya back outside.
A few buildings later appeared to open into a commons area, they cut across the lawns while avoiding the flowerbed as the man ignored the sidewalk and pathways. He noticed her frown and said, "It'll take longer to follow the path, it's fine no one will care."
A few minutes later they reached the next street as he pointed to the building they were heading toward when she heard a loud popping noise she had heard before around school. Someone had just appeared near them, she shivered slightly at the idea it was Dumbledore. The shopkeeper was quick to take her hand as he leads them inside the building even as he muttered about the damage, they would likely cause to the flower garden.
Dumbledore watched on slightly swaying feet as the girl was taken inside away from him. He knew better than to try to take her while she was so completely surrounded. Her father seemed unwilling for the hostage trade conversation one of them now he had no leverage at all, perhaps another tactic then could persuade the situation.
Anya was able to contact her Dad right away, who was relieved to hear from her and assured her their were already people on their way to collect her. He ordered someone to contact Edward and Long and update them as he stayed on the phone with his daughter.
Dumbledore decided to take his leave then, having already gathered everything he needed back into his bag, he apparated first back to Xerxes, then closer to the outer Xing border where they still had the shielding spells active. He tried for a while to find a way to break free before he once again returned to Xerxes then to the closest newspaper. He would inform these people that their leaders were not to be trusted, they were allowing things like unsupervised classes and visits this close to the moon.
Fuhrer's Mansion
Dad and Yeye would not be home tonight, possibly not for a few days, not with Dumbledore out there. Yuery decided to write to his friends to let them know everything that was happening, they could then tell their parents and maybe, even if Dumbledore somehow managed to return to England they would keep him far away from anything important. He didn't have long before dinner, and he would still much rather be out there helping his Dad and Yeye, but he knew that was not a conversation he would win.
Alphonse and Mei were still staying with them to help Mom and Nainai keep track of everyone. This was a nice way to say they were worried that someone could still try to hurt Yuery. He was worried about it too, of course, but he also wished they would let him help. It wasn't going to happen if his Dad could avoid it.
He understood somewhat, his Dad and his Yeye had both been very young when they started fighting and they wanted Yuery and his siblings to not have to go through things like that. He knew that both of them had bad dreams about stuff that had happened back then, and so did Mom and Nainai. He still wanted to be allowed to help and was annoyed they wanted to treat him like he was a baby.
He was going to try to convince his Dad to let him help again at least help search the Black House when his Dad got back. How dangerous could it be? Apparently, there were a bunch of wards around it, and he would be surrounded by his Dad and Severus at least, so he would be perfectly safe… he also hoped they may let him see his friends briefly while there but even if that was deemed too great a risk he wanted to help. Yeye had said he knew Yuery would have to be involved so hopefully that meant he would side with Yuery and convince Dad.