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Chapter Text

     Sirius was looking over the same meager file, hoping for a small distraction from the somber day that was today. Halloween. He, his husband, and Severus had already gone to their friends graves. For the first few months after Lily and James' deaths, Remus and Severus had mourned the loss of their dear friends together. Then, after the trials that Dumbledore had pushed so hard for were over- Sirius moved back in with his husband and mourned them.

     He spent most work days he got pouring over the case files trying to catch the four Merlin damned assassins. The stupid ministry of arseholes had added him to case, because he was the top auror, hoping to find the assassins quicker. Mace, Dagger, Staff, and Storm. No clues to their identities except inconsistent or inconsequential information like their favorite color or how tall they are (which the answers to changed every time they were given). 

     Sirius banged his head on the desk, and got up. If he spent one more second looking at those files, he swore to Merlin that he would burn them. Which would not help the case. His husband was stuck teaching his muggle study classes for one more hour, and Severus was stuck in potions for at least another three hours so Sirius wouldn't be able to even see his friend or his husband anytime that was soon enough for him.

     Sirius walked around the living quarters he shared with Remus. It was nice that Dumbledore allowed the spouses of teachers to live with said teachers during the school year (even if this school tended to hire absolutely shite quality DADA teachers). Some schools didn't even allow that courtesy. Stupid muggle customs. 

     Sirius picked up the "skin safe" markers he kept on the top of the dresser that was just a little bit shorter than him. It was a habit he had picked up a little bit after Azkaban when he was still struggling to cope with the loss of his friends. His mind healer and him went over quite a few coping mechanisms back then. None of them had really stuck except for the markers. 

     The whole point of the markers was to just draw on his non-dominant hand. It was a grounding activity and he could draw as many times as he wanted. He never lost the drawings, and he never had to waste any paper. It was an activity that kept him entertained and sane throughout the day without anyone to talk to unless he deliberately went out of his way to go outside and talk to someone. No thanks!

     After about 30 minutes of doodling, he had covered his entire left arm top to bottom in various sizes of swirls and misshapen circles. He really didn't want to Doodle anymore than that, so he put the markers away, back on the top of the dresser. He sighed, looking around the room for something to do. Then his eyes landed on it. A small file, nothing in it but two small pieces of parchment. The only clue as to where the hell his godson had went.

     No-one had seen or heard from Harry Potter in 11 years. He hadn't come to Hogwarts when he was supposed to. Which nobody was surprised by, because all of the letters they had sent were returned unopened.

     Sirius picked up the file and opened it, like he had done countless times before, and was still met with the same two documents from some ministry hag about how Harry Potter was sent off by the ministry to live with his Aunt and Uncle. Of course, when this came out they had paid a visit to those horrid people.

      All they had to show for it, was a ministry approved document that said they had sold the child to the ministry when he was barely two years old. They had gotten the money, and whoever was faking ministry documents got the child. A child who was supposed to be under his own and his husband's guardianship, as it said in the will. 

     Since the document from the Dursleys was brought to light there was now an entire team of aurors dedicated to keeping the fact that Harry Potter, the savior of The Wizarding World, was sold by some muggles- in the dark. That team was working on raiding a new location they had gotten from an anonymous tip that had checked out. Sadly, he was not on the list of lucky bastards who would be able to go.

     He heard the door open and checked the time. Thank Merlin!! He was going to go bonkers if he didn't see his husband in the next 10 seconds. He ran to the living room, and greeted Remus with a big smile and an even bigger hug. "I missed you too Padfoot." His beautiful husband replied hugging him back. 

     "Oh thank Merlin Moony. I thought I was going to lose my mind. If I have to stare at one more God forsaken paper, I'm gonna drown it." His husband smirked at his antics. "Padfoot, you and I both know veryp well from experience that papers cannot drown." Remus said giving him a knowing look. "That was one time!" He said, ears turning red.

     "Mmm... No. I seem to remember there being nine and a half different occasions where you learned that paper cannot drown." Remus said while sitting down on the sofa. "Whatever!" Sirius said with a huff. He plopped down on the sofa next to Remus, and promptly draped himself over his husband's lap. "Wow. Charming." Remus said with his eyebrows raised. Sirius swatted at his arm, although it lacked any real strength.

     A heavy pounding on the door sounded throughout the room. Sirius jumped and looked at his husband who seemed the same amount of displeased at the sudden noise. Remus motioned to the door. Sirius rolled his eyes and muttered a quiet, 'I'll get it' and made to get up. Then the screaming started. 

     "SIRIUS ORION BLACK, IF YOU DON'T OPEN THIS FUCKING DOOR I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!!" He didn't recognize the voice, and from the look on Remus' face, he didn't either. It was at times like these when Sirius was glad the halls were soundproof. He jumped up Remus hot on his heels, and raced to the door swinging it open both with their wands out and in their hands. He was met with a person he didn't recognize, drenched in blood, and carrying another person.

     "They're dead... *huff* all of them... *huff*. Couldn't leave him... *Heavy breathing* didn't deserve... *More huffing* please help him!" The person said very much out of breath. "Who are you?" He said while his husband let the complete and literally bloody stranger into their living quarters. "I'm Neo, he/him, you can arrest me later or whatever. *Huff* I don't care. Please don't let anything *cough* anything bad happen to him."

     Sirius' face scrunched up. "Why would I arrest you?" He asked clearing off the table so they could lay the unconscious and bloody person down. Neo took a deep breath. "Neo is my real name. Don't know his, you know me. I'm one of the people *coughing* one of the ones you're looking for. Dagger." Sirius nearly dropped the plate he was moving to the counter. 

     "Please, I won't evade arrest if you just help him. I'll turn myself in. I promise." Neo said while draping the person in his arms on the table. "I don't really know how they did it to him this time. Fucking sick-minded bastards." Since Sirius was still near the counter trying to process why the hell an assassin was in his house, Remus sprung into action. "Can you tell me what happened so I can see if I can help, or if we'll need professional help?" Neo froze. 

     "If you bring in any doctors or medical personnel this castle will go up in flames, and it won't be my doing." Neo glanced at the person on the table before motioning to them as well. "That's Storm. He doesn't know his real name, I don't know his real name, the others didn't either. He's been an assassin longer than any of us have. Around 11 years I think. It isn't his fault though. He was raised there. They didn't give him or us any other choice!" Neo said gradually getting louder and climbing in pitch as if trying to bargain with the two adults in the room. 

     "Who didn't?" Sirius asked after coming out of his stupor. "The... the ministry people. Or at least I know they used to work there. The one who ran it used to be pretty high up on the ladder. She was arrested by one of the ministry blokes who raided the building. Dolores Umbridge." He paused before turning to look back at Remus. "Are you going to take a look at him or not?!" Remus raised his eyebrows, but made his way to the table nonetheless. 

     Sirius finally got a good look at the assassin on the table. Storm on the table was covered head to toe in some sort of black, tight armor that was broken in some places. But the thing that caught his eye, was the arch in Storm's back. It was like they were laying on a small rock that was in the middle of his back. Neo rolled the person onto their stomach, and that's when he saw them. Adolescent Hungarian Horntail wings stuck on to this person's back with a lot of blood surrounding the area where the wings and the person's skin met. 

     "Those arseholes have done experiments before, but never something like this. They've done so many at this point that we don't really know what part of which animal he is anymore. That's what made him such a good assassin. But he's a kid. He didn't deserve this." He spoke the last two sentences as if they physically pained him to do so. Wait... Kid?... The person on their kitchen table was a child assassin. Sirius' eyes widened as he put the pieces of the puzzle together. 

     "How old are you and where's the other two?" Sirius asked. Neo nodded solemnly before answering. "I was taken when I was 14. So I think I'm around 16 now." That made sense, Dagger only started showing up in the assassin group this past year. But Merlin that's a young age to be killing people. "Leto was 43 and Leah was 35. They're both dead. Leto was Mace and they cut off zir head as punishment for failing an important mission two weeks ago. I think it was supposed to be some sort of warning or example for the rest of us though. Leah was Staff. She hung herself 3 days ago. Storm was the one who found her in her cell. He just kind of held her body and stared at a wall for a few hours."

    Oh how Sirius' heart was breaking for these kids. Although he was a little bit confused on why or how this kid was telling him so much. "I didn't really think he was going to die, but I don't know how to heal him, and he's the only one I have left. Plus, there was a lot of blood. So I'm not going to take any chances with this shite." Sirius looked at the child in front of him. Because that's who this was. A child. Life would have been so much easier if this group of assassins was the stone-hearted group of death eaters that they had all thought they were. This was a lot more complicated, if the apparent 16-year-old in front of him was to be trusted.

     Remus sighed in relief, and both Sirius and Neo looked over at the kitchen table. "There's no internal bleeding or excessive damage. There were quite a few lacerations, contusions, and a trace of infection. But nothing too serious. I fixed what I could, but from what I can tell, his magical core has somehow latched onto the magic in the wings. There's no way they will be able to be detached without some sort of extreme surgery from someone who has been practicing a long time. Even then it could still do some serious harm to his magical core." Neo's shoulders sagged and he let out a heavy exhale. 

     "Thanks. I knew it wasn't really bad. I think I just panicked? Maybe, I don't know. You guys were the only people I could think of at the moment so I came here." Tears rolled down the 16-year-old's face. "Do you think you could take off his mask or would that be a little bit too dangerous?" Remus asked. Instead of replying, Neo walked over and dragged his thumb from the middle of Storm's forehead down to the tip of his nose with a flicking motion.

    The armor melted into Storm's skin to reveal a child who looked around 10 years old with tattoos that looked scarily similar to the weapons that he used to kill, and dressed in blood soaked clothing that looked way too much like an old muggle hospital gown to be comfortable or suitable clothing. That's when he realized what Neo was wearing. He had on shirt that was clearly too big and ripped beyond repair, pants that were rolled up a few times with way too many holes to be stylish, and a piece of cloth tied in and around the belt loops- making some sort of a makeshift belt. All of it was stained red and covered in dirt. 

    Remus seemed to notice this as well because he walked out of the room, only to come back with two bundles of clothing in his arms. He said one bundle on one of the chairs surrounding the kitchen table, and gave the other to Neo- showing him where the bathroom was so he could change into clothing that was actual clothing and not whatever rags he had on currently. 

     While Neo was in the bathroom, Remus made his way over to his husband. His eyes were watering. "I don't think he's lying. If he is, he's a damn good one. If he isn't, what do we do?" Sirius pulled his husband into a hug and kissed his cheek. His husband had always been a few inches taller than him, and at perfect kissing height. "I don't know, but we'll figure it out together." He murmured into his husband's hair. 

    Soon the child came out, the clothing was very much too big, but it wasn't bloody, dirty, or ripped. Whatever, he'll take it. "When is he going to wake up?" Neo asked looking at Remus for some sort of reassurance. "Probably within the next day or two, because I had to put him in a short magic-induced healing coma. He will be okay, I promise." Remus was beginning to thank every deity he could think of for his medical degree in practical healing. Best magical degree choice ever. 

    "So, are you going to arrest me or something?" Ah yes, the million-galleon question. "Eventually I'm going to have to. But it's also my job as an auror to make sure that people are safe. You are included in that. And so is he." He pointed at storm. "You said they took you both right?" Neo's eyes filled with tears again. "Yeah. They took him when he was around two, he's 13 now." 13?! The boy looked 10. 

    "Would you be willing to say that under the influence of veritaserum?" Neo looked him dead in the eye. "Absolutely. I'll do anything. Just please don't let my brother go to Azkaban!" The kid was pleading with him now. "I'll do my best." He didn't know why he was promising this to a child. But he found he didn't care why. Something in his gut told him to do it, so he did it. Remus was nodding along to the promise, giving it reinforcement. The child looked relieved.

    Then, an owl came in through the kitchen window and landed on the chair closest to Sirius. It held a ministry sealed envelope in its beak. He took the envelope and gave the owl a few pats before it raced back out the window. The letter was addressed to him, from the team who was running the raid. He opened it up. 

     The letter was about how the raid went and new facts they had found out from the people they had captured and their surrounding area. Apparently they had gathered enough information to withdraw the warrant they had for the four assassins arrests, pronounced the oldest two dead, and were now treating it as a missing personnel/kidnapping case for the other two. All of the people they had interrogated told similar stories of how they were somehow blackmailed or bribed to be in on the project. The stories that were told all aligned with what Neo had said so far. Sirius let out a breath of relief. 

    "Kid you're not going to Azkaban, and neither is your brother. Just got word from the ministry that the raid was successful. The people they captured just confirmed your story. They're treating it like a kidnapped case now. I'm going to send word to them that you are here and currently getting medical treatment. Is that okay with you?" Neo's knees buckled as he sobbed while nodding, he ended up thanking both him and his husband about 6 or 7 hundred times.

     ________AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH________

     After putting an alerting spell on Storm, to wake up either himself and Remus when the kid woke up, they contacted the house elves to prepare a room for Neo and Storm. Once both kids were safe and sound on their respective beds of the bunk bed, Sirius went to his desk to finally write to the ministry of the events that occurred. The letter ended up being three sheets of parchment long. Merlin's saggy balls tonight was weird. 

     Once the letter was written and the owl was sent, he went over to where Remus was sitting on the couch and draped himself over his husband like he had done previously. They both had a silent agreement that neither of them would be able to go to sleep that night, so Remus kept on reading his book and played with his husband's hair. Sirius couldn't think of a moment where he was more grateful for his husband than then.

Chapter Text

     Neo woke up in an unfamiliar place. The walls were decorated with red and gold. The bed, an actual bed, was soft and had maroon and white bed sheets. Two adults raced into the room, oh yeah. These were the wizard police that he had done a background check on and came to. Oh thank God. He really didn't want this whole thing to have been a dream only for him to wake up in some weird experimentation room. One or two experiments with enough for an entire three lifetimes. 

     Neo got out of bed and immediately checked the bottom bunk. His sibling was not yet awake. But that was okay, Storm hadn't slept or eaten anything in the past week. And some awful shit has happened. Best to keep the child asleep while they can. Mr. Black made a beckoning motion for Neo to follow him into the kitchen. "How you holding up?" Mr. Black said. "I don't know, I woke up and forgot where I was. But that was stupid, obviously I'm not in the labs anymore. Whatever." Mr. Lupin looked like he wanted to say something, but kept his mouth shut.

     Then, a thought occurred to him. "What's going to happen to us?" He asked. "Please tell me you're not sending us back to those people! I seriously did not escape all those magical personnel just to go back there." The adults looked absolutely horrified at the notion. "Of course not! You are never going back there. Never ever not in a million years!" Neo's face scrunched in confusion. "Then where are we going?" There was a long pause and the adults shared a glance. 

     Mr. Black spoke first. "Would you be opposed to staying with us? We doubt, if you are put into the foster care system, that you will be able to stay with your brother. And I don't think people will treat former assassins very kindly. So, if you wouldn't mind it, you could stay with us. Although you would probably be enrolled in Hogwarts." Neo mulled over the information. It wouldn't be a horrible idea. He hadn't been to a magical school since, well it had been a long time. He seriously doubted that Storm had ever been taught wand magic with a wand of their own, so it could be a good opportunity for them. The only problem would be convincing Storm of this.

     "You guys haven't given me any reason to oppose this idea, but Storm? Bollocks- I don't think they're at a place where they can trust adults. Maybe just you guys? Cuz' you guys helped and I vouched for you? I don't know, maybe. My answer for you guys, is yes. We'd love to stay with you. As long as you are okay with dealing with the baggage that comes along with this shite show." Neo did jazz hands as an alarm rang out, before realizing he couldn't put his hands down. Neo was aware, but not able to move. And, from the looks of it, the adults weren't able to move. 

     Time. Bloody hell! Storm was awake, and likely panicking. Neo heard whimpers coming from the bedroom with the bunk beds. Neo almost forgot how much pain Storm was usually in after an experiment. Almost. Storm was taught not to cry. Because of this, Neo had only seen them cry once. In the entire two years that they had known each other, only once. 

     The day before they had made their grand escape, Storm had freshly come out of the experimentation room. Every time Storm moved, they screamed, actually it came out as more of a strangled gasp because their mouth was sewn shut but whatever. Neo didn't know how many pain receptors were in someone's back, but there must have been a lot. Storm was a quiet kid, they didn't make noise unless they were told to. The worst part was, one of the scientists had taken Storm's necklace. The necklace was given to them by Leto, Leah, and Neo. 

   Leto had made the necklace out of different rocks or metals ze found on missions, and gave them the necklace so that everyone was aware of what pronouns to use. Storm is gender fluid, so the necklace would change color almost daily. Each one of the assassins, including Neo himself, put their own special enchantment on it. One to keep it from breaking from Leah, another to keep the colors from fading from Leto, and a simple charm that made it smell like strawberries. Storm had never had strawberries, but they really liked the smell. 

     It wasn't the agony that caused the kid to cry, but Neo was sure that was a contributing factor. No, the kid screamed and sobbed for hours as the necklace was ripped from their neck and taken from them, or at least tried to. The only gift they had ever received, gone and broken. Two of the people who helped make the necklace and gave it to them, gone and broken. And now, both Storm and Neo were too. Gone and broken 

     Storm stumbled out of the bedroom, wings dragging behind them. Their eyes were red rimmed, one of them had that bright green that seemed to shock people in it, and in the other was a more lime green color (with a scar that sliced through the eye in a lightning pattern) that if it was used in the intention it was given, could kill. But for now, storm just couldn't see any color or anything not super close out of that eye. Eyes just didn't come in those shades of green, and even though their hair was matted and tangled in knots so thick that you couldn't even put it in a ponytail, it was still a raven black with a streak of white in the very front draped over his lime green eye and very long. Their hair came down to the middle of their back, although Neo was almost positive their hair was longer. Tears were streaking down their maimed face as they slinked over to Neo, looking for any familiarity or comfort.

     This is how a person could tell that this child, was in fact a child. Storm had immediately panicked, just like Neo had done. But this time, there was no other people racing into the room. Storm had Frozen time too quickly for that. The only reason Neo was still aware of his surroundings, it was because of the stupid experiments. He hadn't been through many, but he could now communicate with merfolk and magical personnel/creatures that didn't speak a human language. A useful skill but one they had to change his brain for. At the same time they gave him the ability to heal his own body easily.

     And it hurt. It hurt a lot. Neo remembered screaming for hours until his throat was so raw that the other assassins had to forcibly close his mouth to get him to stop making himself cough up blood. That's when he learned that screaming meant nothing in that hell. If the captors wanted anything, they would get it. Whether it was someone's head on a platter, or toast with preserves, they would get it. 

     Storm tentatively tapped Neo's shoulder, effectively releasing him from the time pause. Neo immediately wrapped his arms around his little sibling, carefully avoiding the new wings. It took Storm a second, but they eventually hugged Neo back. Their voice was rough, rougher than it usually was after an experiment, and they sounded like 60 year old chain-smoker. "We... Safe... Hurts... Where... Now?" They talked so quickly and quietly Neo almost didn't hear anything at all. 

     "Hey, hey... Everything's going to be alright, I'm safe and you are safe. These are adults that are different, they're the ones I told you about." Neo motions towards the adults before turning back to his sibling. "Can you turn time back on? You're straining your magic, and we can't have that." Neo said, trying to keep the anxiety from his voice. Storm was compliant with the request, and turned off the magic making their eyes glow. The adults turned to look at the child in Neo's grasp, they weren't as shocked as Neo thought they would be. Did they have magic that didn't belong too?

      Mr. Lupin knelt so he was on Storm's level of height. "Hello." Storm looked at the man briefly before burying their head back in Neo's shirt. Mr. Lupin chuckled a little. "My name is Remus and my husband over there is Sirius. How are you feeling?" Storm was shaking and just squeezed Neo harder instead of responding. Neo looked at the scared child. "It's okay... You can talk to him, these ones won't sew your mouth shut." Storm looked skeptical at that, and Neo didn't blame them one bit. 

     It was then that he noticed the threads were still poking out on either side of his lips. He had almost forgotten how the threads had to be crudely cut in order to get Storm to cough up the blood from their lungs while they went on the run. Fun times, he thought as he bent down to pick the strong threads from the outside of his kid sibling's mouth. And if he burned the threads in his palm with a hatred not yet known to man, then that was nobodies business.

      "I promise. I wouldn't lie to you, and you know that." Neo tapped the tip of Storm's nose, and smiled- making sure Storm had a clear view of his expression. Storm did their best to copy the shape of Neo's mouth, but their version of a smile looked crooked and far too forced. Much better than it was a year ago. Storm wanted to learn how to smile a while back, and asked Neo teach them. Neo was taken aback a little. The other two assassins had lived there much longer than him, but then again that made sense. The other two were adults, Leto being in zir early '40s and Leah being in her mid thirties. He was a teenager. Of course Storm would take to him quickly compared to the other two. 

     Neo hadn't known what to do, so he had just told Storm to mimic his face. Every 7 or so days when they had time off they would spend an hour just smiling at each other, or trying to. It was a start, considering they had never seen anyone smile until they were sent out into the field at the ripe old age of five and strongly discouraged from utilizing his face muscles in that specific way from then on as well. "I'm not kidding! I bet they would even let you have real breakfast with real strawberries!" Storm's eyes widened. "R-really?" They said with a weird sort of awe that Neo would never get used to. "Yeah! And, I bet it would actually taste like something!" Neo new this would get storm excited. All the food given in that horrible place was literally flavorless. Maybe pavement flavored. The elders in the room looked baffled by the entire exchange. 

     "A good something?" Storm asked. This time Mr. Lupin answered for Neo. "Absolutely! Do you have something in mind?" Storm's surprise radiated off of their face. "Me?" Mr. Lupin nodded. "Anything you want, and we can make it for you!" Storm looked confused when they turned their eyes to Neo for confirmation. Neo nodded and smiled. Storm did their best to copy. 

     "Forgot the name..." Mr. Lupin smiled as encouragement. "Maybe you could just describe it?" Storm thought for a second. "Round'n sweet?" Neo went through every food he had ever encountered that was round and sweet. There were so many... Neo decided he needed more information. "Keep going. There's quite a bit of round and sweet foods out there, so they might need more info." Neo said, ruffling Storm's hair. Storm nodded with a determined expression on their face.

     They cleared their throat. "It was *cough* fluffy... And umm light brown? Something 'bout syrup?" Oh shite, Neo was pretty sure he knew what the food was. "Pancakes maybe?" Storm lit up. "Uh-huh that's the thing! Can we maybe do that? I can help if you'd like!" Mr. Lupin looked at Neo, as if searching for what to do or say next. Neo simply nodded. He was fairly confident that Storm's skill with potions would easily translate to the kitchen. "Only if you really want to. If that's the case, then I'd be happy to teach you how to make pancakes." Mr. Lupin beamed. 

     Mr. Lupin and storm started getting out the necessary ingredients. Mr. Black tapped him on the shoulder. You don't have to use our last names as a formality or anything you can just call me Sirius and him Remus. I promise." Mr. Black, no Sirius held his pinky finger out. "Thank you but what are you doing?" Mr. Bl- Sirius grinned like a wolf. "This is called a pinky promise. In this household, it is the most high and honored promises ever." Neo rolled his eyes, but took part in the pinky promise nonetheless. Horrific trauma or not, it was nice being silly once in awhile.

Chapter Text

     Neo didn't realize how much he had missed breakfast until he put some of the fluffy pancakes, that had fresh strawberries and chocolate chips baked into them, into his mouth. Tears were running down his face as he shoveled as much as he possibly could into his body, slightly hoping to become one with the pancakes. Sirius told him to slow down and that the pancakes wouldn't suddenly grow legs and run away while handing him a napkin for the tears.

     Neo, did not believe him, but took the napkin all the same. Once Neo was on his second plate of food, he realized storm hadn't eaten anything. Did they not like pancakes? Oh, wait... "Hey, Storm?" Storm looked up and Neo could see tears forming in their eyes. "You can eat! They won't punish you here. And the food tastes amazing, you guys did an amazing job!" He said, trying to sound as honest as he could.

      Storm just stared at Neo and then glanced sheepishly at the silverware. All at once he understood, it had escaped his mind that they probably didn't know how to use utensils, other than killing people with them. All of the food at that hellhole was white, flavorless, and looked like concrete- but most importantly, it was meant to be eaten with your hands.

      "You might want to start by picking up your fork which is the pronged one and the butter knife." Storm glanced at the fork and knife next to their plate, and then picked them up looking to Neo to make sure that they were the right ones. Neo nodded, making sure his own movements were very obvious, and showed storm how to use the fork and knife appropriately. 

     Storm mimicked his movements, carefully cutting part of a pancake with "One of the dullest knives I've ever seen." Neo had explained that that "dull knife" wasn't supposed to be super sharp and it wasn't supposed to cut much other than butter. Storm did not look happy at that idea, but cut the pancakes either way. He showed them how to bring fork up to their mouth to actually eat the pancake while making sure that they chewed the food as well.

     Their entire being lit up as soon as the fluffy dessert for breakfast entered their mouth. They immediately looked up at Neo's face to get the nod of approval. Once the approval was given, Storm followed Neo's suit by shoveling as much as they possibly could into their face as if it was going to up and disappear. Knowing storm, it probably has in the past. Which was kind of a depressing thought to think about this early in the morning. Whatever it's fine. The two adults were talking to each other about rumors in the ministry and just generally making idle chatter in the background. It was oddly domestic.

      Neo had missed it. His parents were murdered in front of him when they took him to the system. The only reason they had taken him was because of his family's special magic, and he was the only one born with it in two generations. So there was absolutely no going back at this point. This was his new abode where he would be safe and go to school. Oh man... School. That was something he didn't even realize he missed. He had been in America for schooling way back when he was a kid learning how to wave around a super powered stick. He didn't even have a wand now. Would the school provide a new one?

     Then it hit him. He was in a school. Right now. He broken into said school last night. He broken into Hogwarts last night. Would they even accept someone like that? Like him? Oh God, what about Storm? Storm had never been to a school. Oh no, what if someone somehow knew them? What if the teachers decide they don't want assassins in their classes? So many questions flooded into his head. He needed a distraction.

     "Storm, pronouns?" Storm looked up from his plate, there was a small piece of pancake on the corner of his mouth. Neo tapped the corresponding corner of his own mouth. Storm quickly wiped the corner of his mouth with a napkin before responding. "She/her? I'm not sure yet." Her(?) voice sounded much better than it did the previous night. A little scratchy, yes, but still better than coughing up blood.

     Neo turned to Sirius. "You worked on our case. So you should have access to any and all evidence, right?" Sirius cocked an eyebrow. "Yes, but my access is limited. Is there something you need from there?" Neo bit his lip a little before answering. "Kinda... It's a necklace. It should be a long, sliverish chain and they stole it from us, I want to get it back." Neo said, knowing that Storm would freak out he said she needed anything.

     "I can floo Kingsley right now if you want." Neo panicked. "NO... I mean you don't have to do it right now... You can finish your food first if you want... We don't want to be an inconvenience or anything..." His voice got quieter as he spoke. "Well, I am done. So you don't have to worry about inconveniencing me. But I do want you to know that neither of you-" Sirius looked at the assassins in front of him. "-Will ever be inconvenient or a burden to either of us. Ask any and all questions you want to ask, and we will do our best to answer. If you have any needs, wants, or preferences - do not hesitate to tell us, okay? We want to help you guys in the best way we can." Sirius said, sincerity oozing from the every pore in his body.

     Both of the assassins' eyes were watering again as he nodded his head. Sirius smiled before leaving to make the floo call. "Do either of you two have a favorite color?" Remus asked, drawing both of the children's attention. Neo knew the answer to this one. "Pink and red, any shade." Neo said proudly. Storm just shrunk further into her seat. "I think it's blue? Blue and black? Why?" Everything that came out of Storm's mouth and sounded like a question even though most of it was a statement.

     "All righty, I was thinking that we could go to a robe shop to get you two proper clothes. I asked you two what your favorite colors were so I could get an idea of what you two might like to wear. At some point, since it's the weekend, we should also probably get you two wands and other school necessities, so we can try and make the integration into school a harmless one." That made sense. And plus, neither his nor his sister's clothes fit quite right. "Okay, that sounds all right. What about you Storm? You doing okay?" Storm nodded.

     "We won't owe you anything, right?" Storm asked, voice shaking. "Absolutely not! It's a guardians job to provide their child with necessities. Necessities include: nutrition, clothing, and shelter. Once the papers are finalized, we will become your foster parents. Therefore, it will be our job to provide you with the necessities and more. You will never be denied food or drink in this house, unless it's illegal and or dangerous." Remus said, leaving no room for argument. 

     Foster parent? Oh yeah, they had asked if they wanted to stay there. That had completely taken the back seat in his mind once storm had woken up. Oh crap! Storm! Neo turned to look at his sister, who looked thoroughly confused. "You okay? What do you need?" Neo asked. Storm glanced up at him, her confusion glistened in her eyes. "What is a 'Foster parent'?" Remus answered before Neo could, which is probably a good thing considering the American Foster system is shit- and Neo wouldn't have the slightest idea on how to describe the British one.

     Remus explained it kindly and thoroughly answering Storm's questions as they came. As the child and the adult conversed, Neo started to see storm sitting up a bit straighter and talking with a lot more confidence and a lot more often. It was strange but beautiful to see and hear, like a weird magical creature you had never heard of before. It was refreshing.

     "Kingsley says he will see what he can find. Which is a good thing, because he was a Hufflepuff. So, he's bound to find it sooner or later! Now I heard something to do with shopping earlier? Can I come?" Sirius said, bearing a grin that could cut glass. "Of course you can. But we're only getting ice cream afterwards." Sirius deflated as his husband told him no. 

     "But there's a good reason for us to have ice cream before shopping and after." Sirius grinned. "And what might that be? Remus asked, one eyebrow raised. "Well, I don't think these kids have had ice cream in a while." Sirius looked at Neo who nodded. It was true, although, he didn't think storm had ever had ice cream and he hadn't had it in 2 years. That's a pretty long while. Remus raised his hands in defeat.

      "I guess I can't argue that. We can go to the ice cream shop first and, if they are still up to it afterwards, we can have ice cream after the visit too." Remus said, more mumbling than actual words. "Oh thank you Moony you won't regret it." Sirius exclaimed, as Remus scrunched up his face. "I can absolutely imagine that I will, but thank you for your reassurance." Neo was starting to remember why he had loved Saturdays so much, before everything.

     ________AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH________

      Another thing he was remembering, was that places like Diagon Alley were usually stuffed full of people. Something he was beginning to realize Storm didn't like. Something that he used to like. Now it made him feel perceived, as if he was completing a mission under a giant microscope. He didn't like the feeling of so many people being able to see where he was. And he didn't think Storm did either. 

     His observation was proven true within the following 2 minutes when Storm paused time and then tapped her other three companions. "WOW! Bloody hell this is brilliant! Is this how you evaded capture for so long?" Sirius marveled, as his husband looked like he wanted to smack him over the top of his head for asking such a question. However, whatever response from Storm, who's wings were folded underneath a large coat, Remus had been expecting, was apparently not the reaction he got.

     Storm's excitement was palpable as she did her best to smile. Her eyes (the source of the time magic) had been the only part of her, aside from her hair, that she truly treasured. One of the only things that she had ever asked for was just for them to tell her how they made her pale green eye. When they told her, she had memorized the entire recipe. For what reason? Neo will never know, but it was kind of impressive to watch her recount the entire thing from memory for two very concerned adults.

    "They used a mixture of a lot of different things to give me my eyes. They used 5 grams of sand from the eyes of the Sphinx statue in Egypt. That ingredient in particular was really interesting because they had to take sandstone from the eyes and grind it up into sand. They also used 4 1/2 grams of crushed stone from the veil in the ministry, along with 2 oz of Phoenix tears, 7 oz of unicorn blood, half of a medium sized beazor that was crushed and then powdered, and a single child basilisk eye." Storm took a breath before continuing. 

     "They mixed the dry ingredients in first and then added the Phoenix tears. They had to stir that mixture very thoroughly before adding the unicorn blood or else the unicorn blood would have eaten right through the veil powder. When you mix the unicorn blood in with the other ingredients, the other ingredients completely nullify all of the curse properties in the blood." She paused for a second, making sure the other two were following. Neo was pretty sure that the adults in question were becoming more and more horrified as they followed.

      She only continued when Remus motioned for her to continue. "Lastly, you have the basilisk eye. The only thing you have to do with that is place it in a small bowl where it can be completely submerged in the mixture that was created prior. You let that marinate for about a week, before gouging out whichever eye you want to replace. So technically, this eye-" She pointed to the pale green eye in her right eye socket. "Is a basilisk eye. Once you gouge out the eye that is being replaced, you have to immediately coat the socket with a phoenix tear, alcohol, and salt paste, and quickly transplant the marinated basilisk eye into the empty socket."

     Sirius looked properly dumbfounded at the mear idea of such a thing. Remus looked completely unfazed, or would have, if not for his eyes holding a special kind of anger that was not yet known to man. "Should we head to the shops? It's not like we're in any sort of rush or anything, but I think we probably should start working on shopping." Neo said. He knew both of the righteously angered humans in front of him would certainly appreciate the topic change.