Author's Note: Thank you for all the reviews and comments. I have gone back and fixed the issue of Supreme Mugwump in chapters 13 and 14. Here's the next chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter world or any of J.K Rowling's characters.
Chapter 16
Sunday Night, at The Burrow
Arthur Weasley had just finished helping his wife Molly get his kids to bed for the night, which isn't easy when there's 5 of them at home all under the age of 10. Once they are all finally settled for the night, Arthur goes to the living room to have a cup of tea with his wife and talk to her about the job offer he received earlier today.
"Molly, have you been keeping up with what's been happening at the Wizengamont, or been reading the Daily Prophet?" Arthur asks once they're both settled into their favourite armchairs.
"I was able to skim the paper this morning, but that was before Fred and George decided it would be fun to unravel every single ball of my yarn throughout the living room. All I was able to see was that Lord Greengrass is the new Chief Warlock, why is that?" Molly replied, while sipping her tea.
"Albus has been arrested and found guilty on several charges, he is currently imprisoned with the goblins and has been stripped of his titles and magic, because of this, I received an owl at work this morning offering me a new job." Arthur replies.
"Did you get a higher paying job at the ministry? I know you love your work, but we cannot support 7 children on your current salary."
"Higher paying, yes, at the ministry, no. The owl was from the Board of Governors of Hogwarts, offering me the position of intern Headmaster. The position is only for the rest of this year, but they are hopeful that there will be a job opening for me on the staff permanently for the next school year." Arthur replies.
"What about Minerva, wouldn't she become the new headmistress, since she was the deputy?" Molly asks.
"She has taken the rest of the school year off due to adopting Harry Potter, she needs time to adjust to becoming a single mom, and he needs the stability." Arthur says.
"I think you should take the job offer honey; it will help all of us in the long run. I will manage the boys and Ginny while you're working." Molly says.
"Are you sure? The twins alone are a handful, you've said so yourself." Arthur says.
"I have an idea for that. You said that Minerva's off for the rest of the year, correct?"
"That's correct Molly."
"Why don't I contact Minerva and see if there's a way we could open a daycare centre? I've heard Pandora Lovegood talk about them, she's seen them in the muggle world all over the place." Molly begins to explain, seeing the mildly confused look on her husband's face, she continues, "A daycare centre is a place where parents can drop off their young children for a place to play and make friends, while their parents go to work for the day."
"That sounds like a good idea, but where would you host this daycare?" Arthur asks. While liking this idea immensely, the issue is finding a place to host it and how to get the word out.
"I'll invite Minerva and Harry over tomorrow and see if we can fine tune the idea, meanwhile, you should send notice to the ministry that you quit, effective immediately and get packed to go see your other kids at school tomorrow." With that, Arthur takes a quill and a piece of parchment to write his letter of resignation. Once the letter is dry, he ties it to their owl's leg and sends it to the ministry, then went upstairs to pack his bags. As sad as he was to leave his job, he knew that no one took his department seriously and that he was a laughingstock to everyone else in the ministry. Knowing that, he went upstairs to pack, ready to begin the next chapter of his life.
Monday Morning, Hogwarts
It's breakfast time at Hogwarts, and the students are wondering who will take over as headmaster now that Albus is taking orders from goblins. Once the students are almost done their breakfast, Andromeda stands up to get the students' attention. "Thank you everyone for your attention, now, as you are all aware, Professor Dumbledore is no longer headmaster of this school, I am pleased to announce your new headmaster for the year. Everyone, please give a warm round of applause to Arthur Weasley, Headmaster of Hogwarts." When the students heard this, they cheered loudly, glad to have a headmaster that wasn't over 100 years old and liked outlandish robes.
"Thank you, students, I am honoured to be back in these halls as a professor. Now, I have a few announcements before you head off to class, First, I have asked the gargoyle that guards the headmaster's office to stand to the side unless a meeting is going on, if you have any issues you need or want to talk to me about, my office will be open. Secondly, umm, oh, yes, sorry, lost my train of thought for a minute," the students chuckle at that statement, "Secondly, I am planning on talking to the teachers to see when we can hire more staff, so we can decrease the class sizes, giving all of you more time with your teachers while helping reduce their workload. Now, that's everything for now, now off to class." With that, the students hear Professor Weasley's dismissal, and they gather their things to head off to their classes for the day, wondering what else they will change at Hogwarts.
The same day at the Burrow
"Welcome Minerva, and young Harry, please come in, I just made a pot of tea. Harry, would you like to play with Ron and Ginny? They're in the living room with some blocks, and I'll send some cookies in for everyone in a bit." Molly asks once they've taken off their coats and boots.
"Mama, can I go pway? I be good, pwomise." Harry asks while bouncing on his feet.
"Yes Harry, you can go play, I'll come get you when its time to leave OK?"
"Ok, bye mama." With that, Harry runs towards the living room as fast as his little legs can carry him. Once Harry's playing with Ron and Ginny, Minerva and Molly head to the kitchen for a cup of tea and chat.
"Thank you for inviting me Molly, I'll admit its nice to get out of the house occasionally. Tell me, where's Arthur, I thought he had today off work?" Minerva asks.
"He actually quit at the ministry, today's his first day as headmaster at Hogwarts."
"That's wonderful! I'm glad they offered him the job, it does pay better than the ministry, plus he gets holidays off to spend with the kids."
"Indeed, now the reason I asked you to come is because I need a bit of help with an idea of mine." Molly says
"What idea would this be, and why would you need my help?" Minerva asks, her curiosity piqued at the request.
"I would like to open a daycare centre." Molly states.
"That would be wonderful, where do I come in?" Minerva asks
"I need help finding a location, getting the word out, and possibly some other people to help with the day-to-day operations." Molly explains.
"That's a tall order Molly, not only do you need a location, but you also need 1 adult for every 10 kids at the daycare, snacks for all the children, toys, sleep mats, books, and know any known allergies." Minerva explains, "But just because it's a tall order, doesn't mean its impossible. I will contact Gringotts and see if there's any spaces in places like Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley large enough available to rent, while you can start making some flyers advertising the daycare, may I suggest getting your children to help decorate them? If you give them a small task here and there, they are less likely to destroy the household."
"It's a start, what about helpers?" Molly asks, not realizing how much work it would be to start up a daycare.
"Maybe ask some parents about helping, if it helps, I will also talk to the goblins about setting up a vault for the daycare so you can turn it into a small business. I will be glad to help you get everything up and running until I have to return to Hogwarts next year." Minerva says.
"Thank you so much Minerva. Fred! George! How many times do I have to tell you not to throw mud at Percy?!" Molly shrieks when she looks out the window and sees Percy covered head to toe in mud, courtesy of the twins.
"Never mom, last week we pushed him in the pond, and you said we couldn't push him in anymore, so we decided to bring the pond to him." Fred and George reply.
"Could you two do something else besides terrorize your brother? Read a book to Ron and Ginny?" Molly asks.
"NO, that's no fun mom." Fred says.
"Well, if you don't read them a book or go play nicely with them, no cookies for you two." Molly says.
"Ok, we will play with them, send the cookies soon, we're starving." George says while running to catch up to his twin.
"I swear I will have grey hair before those two start Hogwarts, a word of advice Minerva, if you ever have kids, make sure they aren't born on April 1st. I swear Loki personally blessed them when they were born." Molly sighs.
"Harry is more than enough for now, and if I ever meet someone else, he will have to be extraordinary for me to even consider marriage." Minerva says. "Anyways, I need to meet with the goblins this afternoon, would it be too much to ask you to babysit Harry for a while? I'll pay you for your trouble."
"Of course, I can watch him, and don't worry about paying me, it's not an issue." Molly says.
Knowing how stubborn Molly is, Minerva decides not to push Molly on payment, just decides to ask the goblins to transfer some money over to the Weasley vault. Deciding not to bug Harry since he's playing so well, Minerva gets her coat and boots and quietly slips out to see Rockgrinder about some things.
At Gringotts
"Minerva, thank you for coming. We had an interesting discussion with Albus yesterday, we learned what objects Tom Riddle turned into some of his horcruxes, and we also found out that Albus didn't kill Grindelwald, but instead disarmed him and sent him to prison for life." Rockgrinder says once Minerva has settled into his office.
"Merlin, why didn't he kill Grindelwald? Or do I want to know the answer?" Minerva asks.
"He made a blood bond with Gellert in his youth, which basically means that as long as one of them is alive, they will both live. This is the only reason Albus is still alive despite having no magic in his system. Also, Gellert and Albus were and still are lovers." Rockgrinder explains.
"At least this way you can keep interrogating Albus, and once you get all the information you need from him, we can kill Grindelwald and Albus, getting rid of two of the three evil Lords out there." Minerva says.
"Yes, that is what we figured as well, also; I was asked by Axegut to give this to you." With that, Rockgrinder hands Minerva the invisibility cloak.
"Where did you find this? I know it belonged to James, but how did it come into your possession?"
"Albus had it. He stole it from Godric's Hollow the night they died, hoping to reunite the Deathly Hallows, he had the Elder Wand due to winning its allegiance by disarming his lover at the end of World War 2."
"What about the third hallow that is said to exist? The Resurrection Stone?"
"Albus will not be able to get his hand on that stone, it is currently in the Lord Peverell ring, which is lost at the moment, but the ring will present itself to the rightful heir when it feels their magic call for it. Because of this, we have already started testing several muggleborns to find out their heritage." Rockgrinder explains, glad that the old goat will never be able to become the fabled Master of Death.
"Stealing from a child! Is there anything Albus didn't do? It seems to me he has broken almost every law in the lawbook!" Minerva exclaims, "Thank you for returning this Rockgrinder, I will give it to Harry when he's old enough. Now, you said Albus was able to identify some of the horcruxes Riddle made? What are they?"
"Salazaar Slytherin's locket, Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem, and Helga Hufflepuffs Cup. Albus said that Tom was obsessed with the Founders and believes himself to be the Heir of Slytherin."
"Riddle was probably looking for anything to connect him to a living family member, as you told me, his mother died shortly after giving birth and his father abandoned him before he was even born." Minerva says, not liking where this was going.
"I agree Minerva, now the issue is Albus doesn't know where Tom hid his horcruxes, but I believe I know of a way to track them down. Elanor finally had a bit of free time and went through Mr. Lupin's memory of the cleansing ritual we did on young Hendrick. When she dissected the memory, she was able to get a copy of Riddle's magical signature, which we then copied onto this map of the UK. With this method, we will hopefully be able to get a rough estimate of where each Horcrux is." Rockgrinder explains. "If we find the Founder's Artifacts, we will do a similar cleansing ritual on them that we did on your son so we can return the artifacts to their rightful place in Hogwarts."
"Thank you, Rockgrinder. Hopefully we can get rid of all of them before Riddle finds a way to get his body back, also, maybe question some of the Death Eaters on trial this weekend. If they were high enough on the food chain, Riddle may have entrusted some of them to guard his more obscure Horcruxes, because we are still missing three of the six." Minerva says, "Oh, I almost forgot, I would like to start a new vault under the name Wixen Daycare Centre. Molly Weasley had an idea to start a daycare centre for young witches and wizards and this vault will act as a start up fund for it."
"That sounds like a wonderful idea, how much would you like in this vault?" Rockgrinder asks.
"Start with 100,000 galleons, and also, do you know any available spaces in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade for rent?" Minerva asks.
"I will start looking for spaces and owl you when I find something out. Is there anything else you need today?" Rockgrinder asks.
"Yes, I need you to discreetly transfer 20 galleons into the Weasley vault. I asked Molly to babysit and I don't think its fair to ask for her to care for a child she just met without some sort of thanks."
"It shall be done. Have a good day Minerva and may your vaults overflow." Rockgrinder says, dismissing Minerva for the day.
"Thank you again Rockgrinder, may your enemies choke on their own blood." Minerva says, and shortly after, leaves for the Burrow to pick up her son and relax at home for the rest of the day.
End Authors Notes: Thank you again for everyone's comments and reviews. I can't believe this story already has over 100 followers and I'm glad everyone's enjoying the story so far.