So the two Blacks got up and went to the Ministry. They were soon in the office with the same man reading behind the counter. Sirius cleared his throat and the man looked up. "I have a quick question for you, Mr. Winifred," he said, after reading the nameplate on the counter.
"Oh, Hello, Mr. Black and friend, sorry, I never got your name," Jacob smiled as he put down his book.
"It's Mr. Black too, but you may call me Hydrus," the time traveler answered, trying to keep the man at ease; when they had left last time it was on a bitter note, but the clerk seemed to have gotten over that.
"Good to meet you, Hydrus. You can call me Jacob. You too, Mr. Black, or should that be Lord Black?" the man said as he shook hands with both men.
"First names all around, call me Sirius. I don't go by Lord Black unless I have to, and this is not one of those times," the dogman said. "Back to my question— do you like working here?"
"It's an easy enough job, so, yes, I do like it. It's not what I had hoped for when I took the position, but every little bit helps, as they say," Jacob said a bit sadly. When he was hired he truly did want to help the children, he did the best he could by suggesting they were placed in orphanages he knew were good, but there was little else he could do.
Most of the Pure-bloods wouldn't even go through this department. They just abandoned the poor souls on the streets or killed them by trying to scare the magic out of them. Though magicals treasured their children, squibs weren't considered as such, to most Pure-bloods they were abominations and a black mark on the family. It was usually the Half-bloods that came through deeply concerned for the child, but not wanting them to grow up around magic they didn't have. Plus, knowing there was little work for squibs here. They were doing what they felt was the best for their children.
"I was hoping you'd say that. I have an offer for you. We're trying to open an orphanage in the Muggle world for the squibs. Give them a better shot at making it in their new environment, and we're hoping you can help us," Sirius said sincerely. He was hopeful that the man wasn't too greedy and truly wanted to help and judging by his words he did.
"How can I help?" the eager clerk asked, though he hoped it wouldn't be too much work or against the law. He really did like his cushy job.
"We just need the names of all the children sent to the non-magical world for the last five years," Hydrus explained. "We can make it worth your while," he added at seeing the reluctance.
"Really," Jacob exclaimed. He had heard of people taking bribes, but his department was so unworthy he never thought someone would offer him one. Not that he was a greedy man, but he did have a family to feed. "Well, it's not breaking any laws that I know of, but I could be fired if certain people found out."
"Let's say 200 galleons for those names and we leave you the address of our orphanage for future children," Sirius offered, as it was expected of him. "And we vow never to reveal our source." Hydrus nodded in agreement at that.
"400," was the rebuttal.
And they quibbled for a few minutes until it was settled on 325 galleons. Jacob, upon receiving the money and the vows, went to the archive and called the names they wanted. The whole transaction took less than ten minutes.
"What're you going to do about the abandoned ones?" the clerk asked after he handed over a copy of the names.
"We're already working with the non-magical social services to see if they can send them our way, once we're up and running," Hydrus answered as he thumbed through the files.
The non-magical case workers were thrilled to help, though they questioned why they would only take the children who had been abandoned between the ages of eight and seventeen and not runaways. They had given a sob story about the same happening to members of their family, which was true, and wanting to prevent the poor children living on the streets. It worked. They knew that there might actually be non-magicals coming their way. They'd do their best to pay squib families to foster them and not tell them about the magical world.
"Oh, well, that's good then," Jacob said happily. They all shook hands and the two Blacks left the office satisfied, though they did feel bad for those that would die under their family's attempt to make accidental magic happen, but they had no way of finding them. The child would either do magic or be dead or severely injured. Maybe some donations to St. Mungo's would be needed for names of those that survived the attempts. They could then bribe the families into letting them take the children.
Sirius still went to his daily sessions and was doing much better. He had cut back on his game time and spent more time with the family. Remus settled into being a shop owner, and had hired a few Muggle-born and squibs to help run it, making sure they knew they were working with a werewolf and were okay with that.
Hydrus introduced more things to his shop, like computers; again, mostly Muggle-raised purchased them. He also sold VCR's and Disney cartoons; those should appease the magicals since they were full of magic and morals. It might just jump start some rational thinking or maybe even get some magical artist to do their own. There were a few magical raised that bought them; Mr. Weasley splurged some of his new income on a telly and VCR along with two movies (Cinderella and the Sword and the Stone). Hydrus figured he'd be back for more soon. All in all it was a good start.
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