Remus was very interested in their population research project. He hadn't thought of the decline in population in the stark terms the crew from Neville's party gave it. He accompanied Hermione, Harry, and Ginny to the Hall of Records where they met Luna and Neville. Ginny's brothers would read the synopsis on her return. A bit of a lie in was a good thing for a young man on a summer day. Or for a "lazy git" as Harry put it.
Hermione organized the research. She had them copy out the names of those born with magic in a given month of a target year, 1950, and then compare those names against the death records. At first all they knew for sure was that being a pre-Hogwarts magical child was a pretty dangerous occupation. Many died between birth and entering Hogwarts. They studied the birth records, containing the names of the parents and checked the blood status of the parents once Hermione noticed an absence of purebloods dying. It was quickly obvious that if a child was born of non magical parents the child's odds of attaining school age were not good. In almost every case the cause of death was some form of violence. It seemed Riddle was an amateur. Hermione took all their notes, and told them she would prepare a report. They adjourned to Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. No one felt hungry. They looked into the distance at a century of organized child murders. The problem was so horrifying that it was hard to think about.
Hermione was finally able to start. "Well we have to find the unpures that are yet to enter school and are still alive and figure out a way to protect them. We have to warn them. What can we do?" The rest of the group was sluggish with shock. Harry was the first to stir. "Portkeys to a safe spot. Form a group of the parents for mutual aid and support. Train them to protect their children, train the families in evasion and escape. Infiltrate the Ministry to see who gets reports of births. Cover as many targets as we can and hope to catch a killer. Question the killer to see who they are and how they are organized. I need to talk to Dobby. Get elves in muggleborn and mixed blood houses as guards and protectors." He was silent a moment. "This is bad. This is worse than Riddle. We need to be very careful, whoever is behind this is smart and very very sneaky. I am scared to talk about it out here. We need a lot of advice and help on this."
Hermione thought a minute. "I am going to write the ICW, I want to know if other countries are experiencing this kind of population drop or if the magical population is relatively static against the muggle population, I can cover it as an extra credit report." Harry and Remus nodded, it was a good point. Just how far did this go? Harry shivered and forced down bile.
Harry spoke up finally "Well while we are all here, lets go get extra wands. I want a back up wand available if I get disarmed. If you don't have the galleons, thats fine I will pay, and you can pay me back when you can." So the group trouped off to Olivanders to do a bit of shopping. It took a while but everyone had a wand they could use now, in fact Neville had two, as he had been using his fathers which was not a good match for him. They all got auror grade wand holsters for both their wands, enchanted to repel summoning and to release the wand on mental command of the owner and only the owner. The Weasleys were very difficult to talk into accepting the gift until Harry promised to take the cost out in trade for military grade pranks.
The group flooed back to Grimmauld Place after their shopping and fact finding missions.
Remus sat thinking. To go undercover and try to suss out the organization killing the children would take time and a great deal of care. They already knew the targets and how to protect them. Ideally in the process of protecting the children the organization could be brought to battle and destroyed or driven into uselessness. It would be possible to comb the records for all the children to the age of eleven of mixed or muggle blood who were still alive but it would take a long time. They had enough to prove skulduggery.
Remus spoke up "Isn't this information already at Hogwarts? Doesn't Hogwarts maintain a list of upcoming students?" Hermione nodded her best logical nod. Remus stepped to the floo putting in a call for Minerva McGonagall. He talked with her briefly saying that he had come across something he would like to show her in an hour or so, would she be available? She agreed to be in floo range.
Harry and Hermione got busy with quill and parchment boiling down the facts retrieved from the Hall of Records. When Harry and Hermione had the report in something like order, they copied it and handed it to Remus, who put it through to McGonagall. He asked her to read it and get back to them when she had.
Dobby brought in snacks and Harry took him aside. "Dobby my friend I need to talk to you. I need to know how we can get a lot of elves? Do you know how to find elves that want work?" "Master Harry does not know where elves come from?" Harry blushed. "I assumed a boy elf and a girl elf fall in love and have little elves?" Dobby looked at Harry with pity. "No Master Harry Potter sir. That is not the way of it. When a Master commands his elves, they breed. When the little elves are born the Master selects the strongest and kills any others unless he can sell them or has need. Dobby thought Harry Potter knew these things?" "No Dobby I had no idea. I would have been trying to do something if I had known." Dobby shrugged "What can be done? It is the way of it."
Harry rounded on him, furious, his magic roiling like an storm around him "Here is the way of it in our house Dobby. If you or Winky decide you would like children you go ahead and have them. I think you like one another but that is not my business. It is your business and Miss Winky's business. I want you both to have as many children as you would like, and I swear to protect them and you. Please get me as many elves as you can Dobby. Buy them from other houses. We will be sending the elves to the houses of little witches and wizards whose parents are muggle. The elves are to protect the houses and especially the families. Can you start on that please? Can you get word to all elves that none of their children need to die? House Black and House Potter will buy them so long as we can. If the price gets too high, we will steal them. But no more die."
Dobby peered at Harry as if he had never seen him. "Aye Master Harry Potter sir. Dobby will tell the elves. Will you be keeping Dobby and Winky sir?" "Always, and all your children till they are grown and ready for lives of their own." "May Dobby go talk to Winky now sir?" "Yes Dobby and give her my love." They both made sketchy nervous bows to one another. Dobby popped away to Hermione's house. Harry hoped to be invited to an elven wedding soon.
Harry rejoined the group and started brainstorming safe places for those under attack. The floo flared and a very disturbed Minerva McGonagall stepped through the report clutched in her hand. "Tell me about this." Her voice crackled with outrage. It was Hermione of course who answered the teacher. It was always Hermione answering the teacher. Harry hid a small smile.
Hermione gave an outline of the discussion at the party and Mrs. Longbottom's revelation of decline of the magical population over the course of the twentieth century. Hermione told her about the selection of a target month and how they had noticed the deaths almost being exclusively children of muggles or mixed marriages and due to violence. McGonagall made the point that magical children did suffer from risks that muggles didn't, that accidental magic could be deadly. She didn't dispute their conclusion though. She asked what they planned to do with the information. They asked for a copy of the Hogwarts records with the addresses of prospective students and she assured them they could have those records provided she and the Headmaster approved each action concerning the members of the list. The records were linked to the Ministry by some clever clerical charm and were self updating. Then McGonagall joined in on the discussion of next steps and long term goals. She did warn them of a firestorm if they went public and advised caution.
Harry and Remus made a quick trip to Gringotts for information about Potter lands. He asked to speak to someone familiar with the Potter estate. Remus and he were led to a private room and seated with tea. Quite quickly a goblin came in and introduced himself as Flashpint. He took the chair behind the desk.
"Hello sir, I am Harry Potter and I have a question about properties that may be in the Potter estate. I need a large area that can be well protected. Does the estate have such a property?" "When you say large Mr. Potter?" "I mean an area that can house several hundred people in temporary fashion and total security." "A building that size sir?" "No it could be an open field with a lot of tents, that would be fine." "Yes in that case there are many Potter lands that could be used to accommodate a large collection of tents. The land could be warded and put under very strong defensive charms. At present you do not have a property so warded." Harry nodded. "Thank you, please give me a list of three properties that are not particularly productive, are well drained, and in a good climate. I will select one and see to the warding. Do you require to know which I select?" "No sir it is your affair, and your guardians." "I will get his permission. Do you require him to inform you that I have his permission?" "No sir, Mr. Lupin is here, Mr. Lupin is empowered to act in his stead." Harry nodded. "May I also have a list of Potter buildings if there are any? I would like to see them." The goblin handed Harry a list of three locations and another list with eight coordinates and names. "I will have the caretakers open the floo connections for you and your guardians Mr. Potter." Harry stood and bowed. "Please add Miss Hermione Jean Granger to the floo permissions. Thank you for your time. May your gold always flow." The goblin nodded a bit bemused.
"Harry why did you not have Gringotts do the security on the land?" "I am not sure where they are in this mess. I figured I can hire Bill Weasley and whoever he recommends and ask the Headmaster and that should be about as good as it will get don't you think?" Remus grinned. "James had an excellent head for business although he never saw it that way."
Harry handed Remus the list of properties and asked him if he knew of any of them. Remus recognized the coordinates for the house in Godric's Hollow. He also knew the coordinates of James parents house, which he said was quite large and very pretty in the Scottish Highlands. He didn't know the other locations or names.
Harry and Remus stopped by the Ministry to pick up some forms Harry needed then Remus took Harry to the three farm properties that Gringotts had provided. One was especially nice, a large flat space atop rolling hills with a forest nearby. There were no buildings visible from the property. They agreed it was the best location by far.