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The old man was sitting back in his chair when the phone rang. He let it ring, once, twice, three times. Finally he picked up.
"Took you too long Albus," came a scratchy feminine voice from over the line.
"Good to hear you too Mrs. Black," Dumbledore sighed.
"I don't have time for pleasantries Albus, where is my son?"
"Have you lost track of him? Do you need me to call the aurors?"
"No!" Walburga shrieked before composing herself. "No, that will not be necessary. I simply need to know if you have him. Sirius."
"I do not. Walburga, what's going on, where is he?"
"That's all I need. Thank you Albus."
The phone beeped and she was gone.
Albus put his head in his hand and dialed her number again.
It rang.
No answer.
He got up from his chair and paced the room. The sun that hit his face from the large window just made his wrinkles more pronounced.
Turning around, he picked up the phone again.
Before he could dial, it rang.
"Dumbledore, it's Severus, Regulus Black is at the dinner party. He has the mark."
"I thought he might be," Albus responded, not showing any emotion.
"What do you mean?" Snape asked, slightly panicked, "how did you know?"
"Nevermind that Severus, does the boy look normal?"
"No," the younger answered after a pause, "he's not... present. His eyes are glazed and he's standing behind Orion silently."
"He's drugged," Albus murmured. "Thank you Severus, stay in place."
"Yes sir."
He hung up.
~
A smell of fresh waffles filled the air of the cozy half living room - half dining room. Seven people were seated in various places near enough to the table to get food, but only two of them were actually in chairs.
The two kids sitting on the counter were laughing hysterically at something no one else got, and the only one there that could be considered a reasonable adult was stuffing his face with waffles.
"These waffles are fantastic, Turco," said reasonable adult complemented the cook.
"Thanks Mr. Stark," the blonde girl responded, flipping another waffle onto her plate.
"Káno what are you guys laughing about, it's been, like, ten minutes," the tallest of the kids asked, from her chair, signing the words so Ezhno could more easily understand.
Káno let out another wheeze and grabbed Ezhnos arm. Ezhno himself was shaking with giggles. "Ezh-Ezhno said that-" and she burst into giggles again.
Nelyo sighed. "Never mind."
Curvo jumped up from his place on the floor to grab another waffle, but before he could the phone rang aggressively.
He dived for it and got to it just seconds before Moryo. The blond boy pressed the speaker button and everyone fell - mostly - silent. The only sound was Ezhno and Káno's muffled giggles.
There was a quiet pause as they waited for the caller to speak
"Hello?" a shaky voice came over the phone.
"Hello! How can we kidnap you today?" Curvo greeted it.
"Curvo shush," Nelyo -the oldest- told him, taking the phone, "hi, there! Are you ok?"
"Uh," the boy on the other side paused, "not really?"
The giggles had quieted down by now, and everyone was leaning in.
"Ok, are you safe?" Nelyo questioned.
"Not really," he repeated.
Nelyo drew in a breath. "Is there someone there with you?"
"No. Well, no one dangerous. I'm at a payphone. A red one."
"Okay, can you tell me where you are?"
"I don't know, the colors are weird."
"Okay, what country?"
"France. I think."
"Can you stay on the call?"
"I don't have a quarter," he said, and then hung up.
Nelyo held the phone up for another few seconds. No one spoke.
Tyelko broke the silence. "So... who do we know in France?"
"Is it our France?" Moryo questioned.
"I'll trace the call," Curvo said, moving up the stairs to get his computer.
"Do you get calls like that often?" Tony asked.
"Kind of," Nelyo answered, "we post our number as an emergency line in certain places, just charmed so only people who need us will call."
"So that kid needed you?"
"Likely," Káno chimed in, "we'll see if we have any contacts in his France and get him here as soon as possible."
"Do we getta' ride the train again?" Ezhno asked excitedly.
"Yeah can we?" Káno turned to Nelyo.
"Maybe, let's wait for Curvo to find the France."
Right on queue Curvo appeared at the top of the stairs. He lifted his laptop above his head and turned it to his sisters. "It's the magic one!"
"Oh yay, I love the magic one," Káno cheered.
"And we don't have any contacts there because Newt is in America and Minnie's in Russia apparently." Curvo informed them, checking his screen.
"To the train!" Káno shouted, hopping from the counter to Ezhno's shoulders. "Forth noble steed!" she shouted and signed in front of his face.
Ezhno almost dropped her as he saluted and ran forward, only pausing while going under the door to avoid banging Káno's head. Tyelko wiped syrup off her hands and grabbed Tony, heading towards the train. Curvo shut his laptop as he and Nelyo followed.
~
Eventually the train reached its destination and the seven of them piled off. It was very early morning in the city, and the light from Curvo's laptop lit up his face.
"I think the call came from this way," he informed the group.
"Do you think he's still there?" Ezhno questioned.
"I think he was drugged or something, there's a good chance he's still in the phone booth. Or that's what I hope," Káno commented.
"I don't hope that," Nelyo muttered, "I hope he's fine."
Káno made a non-communicative noise of vague agreement.
As they approached the phone booth they could, in fact, see a slumped figure inside. Moryo stepped up to the door and creaked it open. The phone booth was old and slightly rusty, and just as cold inside as the temperature outside was, so the Keepers were immediately concerned about the boy inside.
"He's so young," Káno murmured, stepping closer.
"He looks your age?" Tony asked, confused.
Káno said something indistinguishable. Moryo tapped his shoulder. There was no response.
"We should take him back to the train, Ezhno?" Nelyo turned to the strongest member of their group.
"What?" Ezhno smiled confusedly. "S' too dark for me to read your lips," he explained.
Káno signed what Nelyo had said. Ezhno nodded and picked up the boy onto his back. The boy's hair was a bit longer than his chin, and it blended into his too-fancy-to-be-using-a-phone-booth black silk suit. Moryo checked the booth for any belongings, but it looked like all the boy had was the clothes on his back. Or, Ezhno's back now.
Their little group headed back down the sidewalk to the alley where the train had 'parked.'
They filed back inside with their new guest to lay him down on the traincar's neon orange couch.
"We really need to redecorate this train car," Nelyo complained as Ezhno dropped the boy on the couch.
Curvo cackled and whispered something to Ezhno. He probably deserved the slap.
Káno and Moryo sat over in the corner vibing with their instruments while Nelyo, Tyelko, and Tony checked on the boy's fever and got him blankets, ice, and water for when he woke up. He was mostly fine, except for some bruises and light scratches that they quickly cleaned and put bandaids on.
~
About halfway back to Falconwood the boy started waking up. He didn't seem to be aware of his surroundings. Káno and Nelyo sat on either side of him holding a thermometer and a cup of water respectively. The boy sat up quickly and looked around, looking like a scared animal.
"Hi there," Káno started gently, "you're safe now, okay?"
The boy calmed down slightly but still seemed on edge.
"I'm Nelyo, and this is Káno," Nelyo introduced them. "Can you tell me your name?"
The boy opened his mouth as if to answer, but no sound came out. Káno offered him the water and he took it all down quickly. The Keeper got up slowly and walked to the other side of the car to get more.
"I-" the boy's voice was raspy and he seemed disoriented. "M' names Sirius, Sirius B-, uh just Sirius."
"Nice to meet you Just Sirius." Nelyo grinned at him.
Káno returned with the water and Sirius sipped on this one more slowly.
The younger Keeper stepped back on her heel and popped something colorful into her mouth. "Can you tell us what happened?"
"Yeah of course, kids I just met." Sirius laughed humorlessly. "My parents drugged me and my brother to have us join their magic cult. Oh! that's right! I'm a bloody wizard! with magic! I could kill you!" He paused, taking in a breath. "So now you think I'm crazy and are gonna leave me on the side of the road. Great."
"Nope," Káno said lightly, jumping onto the couch next to him again. "We're only gonna do that if you genuinely want it, otherwise, we're taking you back to our house until you have somewhere safe to go, and we'll do our best to get your brother out too."
"Oh." Sirius considered it. He was surprised to see no pity in the Keepers, just understanding. "I really don't think you can get him out. Like I said, it's a murder cult, they'd kill you."
"A lot of people have tried!" Moryo said cheerfully, entering the car again from the one next to it.
"Yeah, Pa- Sirius," Káno agreed, "zero offense to your family, but I doubt they could kill us, we'll go back for your brother as soon as we can."
"Alright," Sirius replied. He still didn't believe in them, but maybe.
"Where are we going again?"
"Our house," Nelyo explained, "it's a safe house for whoever needs one, and you need one. We have a few other guests, but things are pretty quiet right now."
"We're happy to have you, Sirius."