Pancakes and shopping. Oh look, it comes with trauma too! Neat!
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.
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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.