Chapter 13 Moving Along

The next morning Hydrus went through his usual routines and got up with Harry and made breakfast. This time making a full English breakfast with egg, sausage, bacon, beans and toast. Coffee was brewing, and the kettle was on. Harry was happily playing with a toy waiting for his meal. As usual, the smell of cooking meat brought the other two men stumbling down.

"So, Sirius," Hydrus asked as he served the bacon, "are you going to move your mother soon? I'd like to get that necklace as soon as possible."

"Yeah, I'll write a letter today."

With that they went back to talking about happier things, like teaching Harry his colors and trying to get the tot to watch the educational cartoons. Harry was content in letting the adults talk around him while he tore up his toast and shook his sippy cup so his juice would make the bits into a soggy mess.

The meal done and Harry cleaned; they all met in the living room to discuss plans for the day. Then Sirius went to his session, he'd be back in a few hours.

"Harry," Hydrus asked getting the tot's attention, "what color is this?" He held up a red block.

"'lue," Harry answered quite proudly.

"Red," his uncle corrected.

"'lue," the toddler insisted.

That went back and forth for about two minutes until Harry tired of the game and waddled away. Hydrus sighed. For all his education he had, he still didn't understand children. He had read the baby books before he came back, and knew Harry was a bit ahead of some toddlers. Not a genius by any means, but further along than normal. But, all said and done, he was still just a baby and a puzzle to the time traveler.

"Hey, Remus, I'm going to my lab and work on that toy and probably make your Wolfsbane," the immortal said as he got up off the floor. "Watch Harry for me, okay?"

"I can do that," the werewolf said as he put his reader away. The full moon was coming up in a week, and it will be nice to not lose his mind.

The study had been set up for putting together gizmos and potions, with two long tables on either side of the room, plenty of ventilation and spells on the walls to prevent damage from things that could go awry. Since Hydrus had his pocketspace there was little need for cabinets. That might change when the other two men joined him, unless they figured out how it was done. They had looked over the memory and Remus tried to recreate the spell, but so far no luck.

He spent two hours brewing the potion and another hour on this toy. He missed lunch and wandered to the kitchen to make a sandwich. When he got there he let out a groan at the mess. Tippy must still be reading, because the place was covered in food. You would think a food fight had happened, but he knew it was just because Sirius made lunch. It was one of the main reasons Hydrus insisted on cooking.

"Tippy," he called.

"Master Hydrus is wanting Tippy?" Hydrus had long ago given up on making house elves call him by his first name only.

"Can you help me clean this up?" he asked, indicating the food covered counters and floor.

Tippy looked around the room and made an 'Oh' sound. Then she got a contrite look on her face. "Tippy is sorry she is not doing her job," she said sadly as her ears dipped and her eyes watered. "Yous can be taking Tippy's pay."

"No, it's not your fault; you're only doing what I asked. We can clean this up together." He put a hand on her shoulder to show he wasn't mad, making the elf perk back up. For all that she was a free elf; she still thrived on approval of her master, uh, boss.

"Tippy can do," she said with a firm nod. And the two cleaned the kitchen wondering how tomato sauce got on the ceiling when it looked like macaroni and cheese was made.

"So how is the research going?" Hydrus asked when they were done as he pulled out makings for a pulled meat sandwich.

"Tippy is learning lots and lots. She is thinking she can start on the garden in two days, if it is not being snowing," the enthusiastic elf said as she bounced on the balls of her bare spindly feet. "Tippy is having great plans for the backyard, making it a wonderful place for Little Master to play in safely."

"That's great, Tippy, just show me your plans and let me know if you need help, okay? I don't want you doing anything you don't think you can handle." He knew house elves would work themselves sick if not told not to.

"Tippy can do," she said, and then popped away.

Finishing his lunch Hydrus went to the living room where he was sure everyone was. He settled on the sofa and watched as Remus and Sirius tried to get Harry to say their names correctly. It was amusing.

"Sirius, did you write your letter?" he asked gaining the man's attention.

"Yup, I told her she had two days to vacate Grimmauld Place and move to the cottage in France, because I know she'll hate that, or find a place on her own. Whichever she chooses she has to take that damn house elf with her," Sirius said with a beaming smile. He really loved poking at his mother.

"Hmmm, Kreacher might take that necklace with them. Besides, didn't I tell you how useful he was after I took up residence there?" he chastised gently. Kreacher was a good elf, but Hydrus was having a hard time convincing Sirius of this.

"Oh, I didn't think of that, I forgot how much Kreacher treasured that necklace. Hmmm, I'd better write her back and tell her to leave him there and turn his ownership over to me," the dogman said with a grimace. There was a lot of bad blood between him and that elf, but if Hydrus was right, then that would be overcome.

"Would you, please? Think of it as making your mother angrier," the immortal said with a malicious gleam in his eyes. He hated that woman as much as Sirius did. Mostly for what she did to his cousin.

"Yeah, I'll go and send that out now." And with that he left the room.

"Did you get your toy done?" Remus asked.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about it when I saw the state of the kitchen."

"Sorry about that, Sirius really wanted to cook. Then Harry got fussy and would not go down for his nap. So I guess I forgot," the embarrassed man said. He was never letting Sirius cook unsupervised again.

"Next time call Tippy; it's what I pay her for," he said, shaking his head at that oversight.

"Your house elf is free?" the astonished man asked.

"Yeah, didn't I tell you?"

"No, you did not."

Hydrus waved it away and said it was a story for another time. He called the toy, sat on the floor and rolled it to Harry. The toy was shaped like a ball and right now it was white. Seeing the bright light the toddler squealed and grabbed it. When his little hands rested on the ball, it turned red and said, "Red," slowly and clearly. In a female voice that Hydrus hoped Harry would relate to better.

Harry answered, "ruh-ed."

The ball said, "Correct." And turned blue, causing the toddler to giggle and clap his hands.

It was a stroke of genius that had him make it respond to baby talk, as well as to the voices of adults. Hydrus was thankful it worked. This should keep the tot busy for a while, since every time he said the correct word the color would change and it would start again. If the correct word wasn't said, the ball would repeat three time and then change color. Right now there were only three easy colors on the toy, red, blue, green. Hydrus would add more when Harry got these down.

Sirius came back into the room and the four males played with the new toy, passing it around and saying the colors. That lasted for about a half an hour and, Harry went back to his blocks and the three men did what they usually did until it was time for dinner. They ate some of the pulled beef that Hydrus had for lunch, Harry had baby food. The rest of the night was relaxing and nothing heavy was discussed.

The next two days went much the same. There wasn't much to do with winter setting in. On the evening of the second day Sirius called Kreacher. The other two men were seated, letting Sirius deal with Kreacher, until it was time to cleanse the horcrux. Harry was in his room with Tippy.

The old house elf popped in and bowed to Sirius. "Blood Traitor Master is calling Kreacher. Mistress is so upset that the great house of Black has fallen to the Blood Traitor. She is telling Kreacher he must be answering to Master's calls. Poor Mistress will be lost without Kreacher," the elf rambled on. This was not a happy elf; this elf looked like it was one step away from the grave. His pillowcase was dirty and torn, the usual gangly features were skeletal, and his huge eyes were tired and droopy.

"Shut it, Kreacher. Has my dear old mum departed from Grimmauld Place?" Sirius asked, ignoring the ramblings as best he could, though the thought of his mum without a house elf made him happy.

"Mistress has left the house," Kreacher answered, bowing once again.

"Kreacher, I know that Regulus left a necklace in your care. I know you're supposed to destroy it. I want you to bring it to me, so it can be cleansed," Sirius ordered, trying to be gentle, remembering what Hydrus told him. His daily potions helped.

The old elf looked at his new master in complete shock, and then his eyes started welling with tears. "Master will destroy the Dark item? Kreacher had tried, but nothing Kreacher had done worked."

"I'll take the Darkness out of it and then you can have the necklace when we're done," Sirius said kindly, seeing how distraught the elf was. He was still feeling guilty about his brother's death; it was one of the many things he and his therapist were working through. "Go and get it," he ordered.

Kreacher popped away and was back in minutes. He handed the cursed necklace to Sirius and backed away. Sirius handed it to Hydrus.

"This one is going to be a bit trickier," he said as he called the ceramic bowl, acid and a piece of junk. "One of the reasons is I have to open it. Then it is going to show you some of your fears, it will talk to you and try and get you to wear it. Sirius, are you sure you want to be here?" he asked when he had everything set up.

"Remus is strong enough to hold me back," the dogman said with a firm nod, going to the other side of the room with the werewolf.

Hydrus nodded and turned back to the necklace. He opened it with parseltongue the curse started.

"You are never going to succeed. The boy will die. He will be all alone before he dies, and it will be entirely your fault. You should have never tried to interfere with Fate," the unnerving disembodied voice said, making the time traveler shiver at hearing his fears out loud. "They will turn on you, just like everyone else did. They think you are mad. Killing was easy wasn't it? You will fall to the Dark."

Trying his best to ignore the voice, Hydrus quickly said the spell to move the soul piece, once again using the bowl and acid. The voice went from mocking to screaming as the bit of soul died. It was done. He closed the necklace, walked over to Sirius and handed it to the man. "It's up to you, do you want to keep it or give it to Kreacher?"

The Black Lord looked at the piece of jewelry and gave it serious thought; it was the last link to his brother and a valuable historical piece. However, Kreacher had worked himself sick (judging from his gaunt looks and now overly thankful eyes) trying to finish Regulus's last order. "I gave my word," he answered and handed to the old house elf.

"Kreacher never thought he would see his Master Regulus's final order done. Kreacher tried and tried and failed his master. Master Sirius is a wonderful master to give poor Kreacher this treasure," the distraught elf wailed as he clung to the piece of jewelry.

"Kreacher, I want you to go back to Grimmauld Place and remove any Dark item. Take them to the vault," Sirius ordered, not wanting to listen to the elf wail.

"Yes, Master," the elf said and popped out.

"Now all we need is the cup," Hydrus said as he flopped on the sofa. "When do you think you can get that, Sirius?"

"Now that Bella is dead, I can get it anytime. Since her husband is in prison, I can get a lawyer to seize the vault." He waved it away. He too plopped into his recliner, glad that that was over with.

"I also need you to go to the Ministry. See if you can start getting allies. We really need to start doing something positive. I know with Malfoy out of the way, Fudge will need someone to line his pockets. That's if we let him be Minister, with enough pull and bribes we should be able to get someone better. Amelia Bones comes to mind. I have all that Death Eater gold just waiting to grease some palms," the immortal said, thinking it was time they stopped laying about the house.

"I want to help if I can," Remus said. He too was tired of just sitting about. He didn't have a job at the moment and would be hard-pressed to get one.

"Mostly everything is calm at the moment, this Ministry at least is trying to help the public recover and since the first war wasn't as bad as the second one, it's easier. The death of the Death Eaters went a long way in boosting the public morale. All the other followers have had trials and only Karkaroff and Snape are walking free," Hydrus said as he mentally went over the current news reports.

"Right now Muggle-born and -raised are doing okay, they have good jobs and aren't grossly discriminated against. That didn't start happening until Malfoy started throwing his money around. So we only have to keep an eye on what laws are being passed. If the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures goes the way it did last time, then there will be laws they'll be trying to pass through that we want to prevent," he explained, now going over the future history in his head. "Mostly restrictions on werewolves, Sirius can use the money and his proxy as Harry's magical guardian to help stop those. With both seats on the Wizengamot he should have the pull to get more allies."

Sirius groaned at the reminder, he had forgotten that being a Lord meant dealing with those old fogies on the Wizengamot, but he couldn't fault Hydrus's logic.

"Yes, but what can I do to help?" the werewolf questioned, bringing the immortal man's attention back to the present.

"Well, I'd like to be seen more in the Alley. Get a few more of mine and George's inventions in the shop. Get my lawyer to anonymously add some of the profits to the Weasley vault. So, Harry needs an adult to watch him. Tippy is great, but she is a house elf, Harry needs a human to interact with. Maybe take him to daycare and volunteer there?" Hydrus suggested.

When the twins were old enough he was going to send them an unsigned note telling them if they kept their grades up he'd support whatever they wanted to do in the future. He just had to figure out how to do it without coming off as stalkerish; maybe he'd use the Marauders' names.

"I was hoping for something that came with pay. You cannot support me forever." Remus leaned forward and looked the time traveler in the face to show he was dead serious.

"That was a short term suggestion. Once we get you driving, you can open a bookstore or something and Harry can go to daycare fulltime," Hydrus protested. He had forgotten how touchy the man was about charity. "Maybe you can look into hiring squibs and Muggle-borns that didn't make it in the magical world, it wouldn't be much, but every little bit helps. Call Marius and ask if there is help for the squibs, maybe there is an underground network that we don't know about." That was something he never found out about in the future, he had been too busy with the Muggle-borns. "We can donate money or supplies if there is.

"That and you can have a back room for magicals and once Frostwell starts selling the book-readers, have them on display back there," he continued rapidly. Many new plans and ideas were running through his mind. "You'd have to get with him to work that out. As a matter of fact, write him a letter and give him the idea. He's a wonderful inventor and should have some up and going quickly. Then when you get established in the non-magical world, have some of your Muggle-born work a shop in Diagon Alley." He'd have to see if he could get those readers up and running in the non-magical world sooner than they had in the future. That was going to be problematic.

"We all have brilliant minds, yes, you too, Padfoot," Hydrus said at the scoff, continuing to go over his new plans. "We can do so much to help the magical world move forward without stepping on their values and traditions. The possibilities are endless. We just have to put our minds to it and sitting around this house isn't going to do that," the immortal said then pulled a pensieve out of his pocketspace. "I want to show you guys some of the more horrible things that I saw happen to the Muggle-borns, during and after the second war. It's one thing to hear about it, another to see."

So they spent an hour going over the Muggle-born trial Hydrus had witnessed, with Dolores in her glory, and the views of the beggars in Diagon Alley and what Hydrus had to do after to get them out. The other two men were speechless after that. They had been so wrapped up in Harry, their grief and other issues that they had forgotten about the horrible future that Hydrus had explained to them. Now, though, they had a purpose and could see those ideas working. That is not to say the war they just went through wasn't bad, it was, it's just that You Know Who was mostly trying to get allies and it was Pure-bloods and those that fought him that died the most.

"This'll be great," barked Sirius, when he got to thinking about the time traveler's plans for the Ministry. "Undermine them from the inside and not too quickly. With the announcement in the paper about my Lordship, I'd be expected to be seen trying to get allies, though most will think I'd go to the Darker element. Won't they be shocked when I'm seen buttering up everyone?"

"The second you see Umbridge you let me know, and I'll take care of her," Hydrus said forcefully he had no idea where that woman was in this timeline. "Don't start. I already said I'd try not to kill her. Besides, you just saw what she did, do you want her to do it again, because with the right backing she will." He glared at them when they took on wary looks and then sighed and changed the subject. "Sirius you need to be seen with pictures of Harry. Start telling stories about how he is just like any other baby. This might play down the whole Boy Who Lived thing. Take them, show them off and brag about him like anyone would their son. Tell anyone who asks that you are in touch with his family. If Dumbledore asks you can tell him the truth and that he's under the Fidelius. I can't be seen having anything to do with Harry, so it will be up to you to put rumors about him to rest."

"Yeah, I can do that," Sirius said, still worried about the Headmaster's ability to read minds. His Occlumency wasn't quite where he wanted it, but he was working on it daily, since it helped with his PTSD. "What if he asks how the Dursleys are doing?"

"You can lie and say they are doing fine. Well, that wouldn't be much of a lie, for all we know they are," the immortal replied. He'd have to hire an investigator to see if he could find them. Not that he wanted anything to do with his old family, but if the magicals got close to them, he'd need to warn them again. Hopefully they were smart and moved out of Britain, though he doubted it. On the other hand, if Dumbledore believe them to be under the charm he might just let it be.

The three men spent the rest of the night going over some of those ideas and refining them. Sirius was actually excited to be doing something, as much as he loved gaming it was boring to play all the time, plus, new games wouldn't be coming for years. Now, though, he could work on what they had been fighting for, and he wouldn't even have to get his hands dirty, much. The wonderful thing about it was he didn't need to use his own money.

First they needed the cup, so Sirius went to the bank the next day with a few goblin made artifacts, not waiting to go through the lawyer, and came back with it. The same ritual was performed and the cup cleansed.

Hydrus called upon the vengeful spirits to see if there was any sign of Voldemort. To their great displeasure he was still around, though very weakened. They didn't know if it was because he made a new horcrux or if it was because that bit of soul needed to be reborn to die. The Master of Death left the spirits to haunt and spy for him. He would figure it out and do his best to keep Harry out of it. Maybe he could get one of the guys to kill him and go talk to Death, yeah, that'll be easy.

Hydrus gave Remus startup money for the book store. Remus demanded that they get to a non-magical lawyer and get a loan agreement signed before he did anything else. The immortal agreed readily.

The full moon came and went without fanfare. Hydrus and Harry went to a moderate hotel for the night and the cellar was found to be adequate. They would still leave the house until Moony got over his fear, but all in all it was satisfactory. Remus was now a fulltime resident.

The weeks went by in a flurry of paperwork, phone calls, letters, storefront buying, casing out large abandoned mansions, driving lessons, therapy sessions, contracts and setting up Harry for daycare. That last one was delicate, because they wouldn't give an address. The center finally settled with the P.O. Box that Hydrus set up and phone numbers, with the help of a small Confundus Charm.

At first Harry didn't want to go, too much had changed in his young life, but he was soon playing with the other kids and happy at the center. They all hoped he didn't start his accidental magic early, usually that manifested around the age of four. That is when they planned on homeschooling him and setting up play dates with magical children. They needed to get further established in the magical world before they approached parents.

The phone calls to Marius were stilted until they made him realize that they were only trying to help. The man was bitter, there was no doubt about that, he didn't trust wizards, even knowing the story behind Hydrus's future. It took more calls and a few vows to make him see that they were on the up and up. It was Marius's suggestion that got Sirius and Hydrus to open an orphanage for the squib children, hence the need for a mansion.

One day after a call with Marius Hydrus set Sirius down and they planned.

"Well, we've got a site setup and are just waiting for the mansion to be overhauled. Now, what we need is employees and to go to the Department of Family Services and see if we can get the records of the squibs that went through there for the last five years," Hydrus said from his place on the sofa. It had been a long two weeks and there was more that needed to be done, mostly getting workers that knew about the magical world for the orphanage and bookstore. Marius was helping, although there wasn't an underground movement, per se, the man did have some contacts.

"It's about time we use some of that dirty money you have stashed away," his cousin agreed. He too was exhausted, but keeping busy had actually helped a lot. He didn't have time to dwell on his feelings, though his therapist told him that he needed to open up to them on occasion so they didn't get bottled up and blow up in his face later. With a child in the house that would be a bad thing. So he used his journal and Occlumency sessions, in the privacy of his room, for those emotional outbursts.

Looking at his watch and seeing it was only one in the afternoon the immortal said, "Let's go see what that money can buy."

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.