"Harry, are you telling me that you have discovered the secret to curing Lycanthropy?" Albus asked, surprised at the revelation.
Albus and Minerva had returned to Phoenix Nest just before Harry returned from his conversation with Remus and Tonks. After a long day of putting together a new Ministry, Albus was exhausted both physically and mentally. When you add that to him still recovering after getting the stuffing beat out of him by Lucius and Bellatrix, Albus was lucky to be conscious. It was something that his girlfriend reminded him of constantly.
"Only for people who join the House of Black, and even then they have to be married into the family for the family to work. However, I plan on giving St. Mungo's copies of the information in the Black Family Tome. Hopefully they will be able to take this research and maybe a way to reverse the process of Lycanthropy."
"Why St. Mungo's Harry? They have not exactly been the best place for medical research. There are other hospitals in America and on the continent that are better research institutions." Albus said with a said tone.
"Oh, I would worry about that anymore Albus. After Ginny and I left the Ministry, we went to St. Mungo's and saw how bad things actually were there. Do you know that some of the potions they have been administering are out of date by at least a year? Anyway, after a small discussion between Mackrack Ginny, and me, we have decided that it is time for those who are able to; begin to help rebuild our world. We are starting with modestly at first with a few endowments and charitable foundations with some of our family fortune.
"The St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Catastrophes Endowment will provide the hospital with enough money not only provide the best possible care for its patients, but also to upgrade and expand its treatment and research centers in order to become the best hospital for magical maladies in the world.
"They have already begun to start working on a way to return Alastor Moody to prime fighting shape. This includes a new leg, magical eye that looks normal, and also the removal of most of his scars. By the time they are done with him, Old Mad-Eye is going to be back in the fighting shape he was in when he just got out of Hogwarts as a wee young lad.
"What these procedures will do is give Alastor, and many others, back what he lost while working to protect the people of England without ever getting any compensation. As the Lord Protector of the Realm, I feel that this government has done nothing to help people like Alastor and so I am fixing it. The fact that he will be able to train a whole new generation of Aurors is just a bonus as far as I am concerned."
By now, everyone in the room was listening to this conversation, no one was more surprised then Moody himself. "Potter, there is no need to go thru the trouble of getting my leg fixed and everything. I knew what I was getting myself into when I joined the Ministry and the Order, there are—"
"That is where you are wrong Moody." Ginny responded to the aged Auror. "One of the files that Minister Bones gave us was the original contract that created the Auror Corp. It said 'Any Auror that was wounded or became sick in the course of their service to the Ministry would be compensated by either a monetary settlement, or by treatment paid by the Ministry.'
"So, you're stuck with it. And besides, I think Amelia wants you to become Commandant of the Auror Training Academy. That means you better be in tip top fighting shape if you are going to scare the hell out of the new recruits. Plus Harry and I want you to train Order Members that go out on assignment."
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Moody was shocked. They were giving him his life back, it was the one thing that he always hoped for, but never really thought would happen. He knew the Ministry was corrupt; Fudge had been an asshole for many years while climbing the ladders of political success. His normal routine was to take as much money as he could from whomever he could get it from while ignoring his job as much as he possibly could without getting caught. Scrimgeour was not a politician, he was a warrior who had gotten a hint of power and became corrupted by it.
The corruption of the Ministry was the kind of shit that pissed Moody off to no end. He had sworn an oath to protect the people of England from all ill forces, both foreign and domestic. Everyone always fought hard against outside forces; however the problem was that many people didn't bother to defend against their own neighbors. Because of the laziness of people, the same domestic forces that Moody was charged to protect against had been in power since Grindelwald's downfall. It was because of the corruption that Moody decided to join Albus and the Order of the Phoenix originally; that and the fact the Albus' little sister and Alastor were married.
Alastor lost Ariana and their two children in the closing days of the war with Grindelwald. Alastor had gone with Albus on what turned out to be the final battle of the war. Shortly after they left, Ariana, who didn't like living in Dumbledore Manor, moved the children to her and Alastor's cottage outside of Devon.
A week later, after Alastor returned home with the conquering hero, Alastor found his butchered wife and children. They had been tortured and raped repeatedly over the course of many hours before they had their entrails removed and were left to die. After burying his family, Alastor made it his quest in life to find and kill those who had taken his family. Albus had decided not to get involved in this blood feud which isolated the two men for almost a decade.
While Alastor did not like some of the decisions Albus had made in the past, the blood feud between himself and who he later learned was Abraxas Malfoy, he did agree with Albus' overall goal. And since Potter had taken over command of the Order, Moody had felt something he hadn't felt in a long time, hope.
The fact that Harry was also in a position of power over the Ministry and had already started the process of cleaning the place up by appointing Amelia Bones as the new Minister not only made Moody happier then he had been in a very long time. Add to the fact that Harry was repealing of many of the laws that favored the old pureblood families, Moody had to be impressed with the boy. Moody had known James and Lily very well thanks to their time in the Order and also with James being an Auror; he knew that Harry's parents, like many other people, were deeply impressed with the young man abilities, not including Harry's fighting skills which were better than anyone else Alastor had ever seen.
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Unable to speak at the moment, Moody nodded his head and then made his way over to the Potters. Once there, he patted Harry's shoulder and kissed Ginny's cheek. "Thank you lassie, and you too laddie. You gave this old man something to live for besides seeing old Voldemort dead."
"Don't worry old man. We want you to enjoy retirement, eventually. But remember this, before you retire; you need to train your eventual successors." Harry said laughing at Moody's face. It was a well known fact that hardly anyone met Mad-Eye's standards. The only people close to meeting his standards in the last twenty years were James Potter, Sirius Black, Frank and Alice Longbottom, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Remus Lupin, who couldn't become an Auror because of the werewolf laws, and his self appointed protégée Nymphadora Tonks.
While this was playing out, Albus was silently weeping in a far corner of the room, away from everyone. The one thing that Nicholas Flamel had taught him when he was younger was to make sure that Albus always took care of his people. No matter what he did, Albus could never give the Order Members the medical care they often required. No matter what Albus did, whether thru Hogwarts, favors, contacts, blackmail, and even quite a bit of gold from his personal vaults, he had always been hard pressed to get everyone who was injured the proper medical care.
The only reason why the Order members were able to be treated as well as they had been was because of Poppy Pomfrey and Hogwarts. Poppy, who spent most of World War II as a field medic, was able to do many things that most fully trained mediwitches would never even attempt, let alone a matron of a hospital wing at a school for children.
Albus was brought out of his silent musings by Ginny's voice "St. Mungo's isn't the only place that will be benefiting from our benevolence." Ginny continued on, looking squarely at the Headmaster. "As the Lord and Lady of Hogwarts, we felt that it is our duty to make sure the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry is the best school in the world for magical children. To make sure that this happens, we have restarted the long defunct Hogwarts Foundation and Endowment."
At everyone's bewildered looks Harry took over the conversation, "You see when Godric and Helga died, they were the last of the founders, the made sure that the school would not run out of money by investing a good deal of their family funds in a fund that was managed by Gringotts. This fund would supplement the money taken in by the tuition of students, giving them a better future. Slytherin's second son started a separate fund for needy students. This is the fund that remains in tact to this very day.
"While I do not have all the answers yet, Griphook is doing a complete audit on the Hogwarts Accounts as we speak, I do know that the control of the endowment was given to the Board of Governors approximately 300 hundred years ago. Since that time, the fund has been plundered. As a matter of fact, 123 years ago, the board tried to sell of Hogsmeade Village to pay some of the teachers' salaries.
"Part of the new endowment is the revenue made from owning Hogsmeade Village, and some of it will be coming from other locations. As time goes on, I am sure that many people will be bequeathing money to the Endowment and Foundation."
Ginny spoke up to allow Harry to take a long swig of pumpkin juice "The goals of the Hogwarts Foundation are to guarantee that every student of Hogwarts has the opportunities to succeed in their endeavors after graduation. This means the foundation will provide extra classes if needed, tutoring, special lectures, etc."
Harry picked up the explanation again, his eyes growing dark for a moment "However the biggest thing that the Foundation will do is serve as a link between the Muggleborn and Halfblood students, their muggle families, and the Ministry of Magic. Some of the things the foundation will do are help assist with Ministry paperwork, like applications for a floo connection, portkey travel, etc.
"And of course the foundation will also make sure that all students are doing well at home. We do not want any child abused while at home, whether they live with family, friends, or orphanages, or at Hogwarts.
"Also, Albus, I believe that as the Headmaster, you have been forced to do without many things because you had no secondary network to get things for classes. Whether or not it is a dragon for Hagrid to show off in Care of Magical Creatures, Aurors to lecture about Defense Against the Dark Arts, Wards and Charms Masters to discuss different charms, and many other possibilities.
"With the Foundation, you and your staff will have other resources at your disposal for the betterment of the school including a full battalion of Goblin and Dwarven Engineers who will help repair any issues with the castle herself. You will also have, for the first time I am sure, honest accounting and status of the school's finances. I doubt that in the time you have been Headmaster, let alone a teacher, you have ever had the real numbers in front of you or the complete authority to make any changes in curriculum that you feel are necessary. I mean why in the hell we really need divination when true Seers are born, not made.
"Of course my wife and I have no desire to see you attempt to handle all of this by yourself. Ginny and I want to sit down with you and your staff and figure what we want to do and how we are going to do it. This will include developing new classes and possibly changing some of the ancient rules and regulations that have governed the school for many centuries that we feel are no longer needed.
The other Foundation we are creating is the Marauder's Foundation. This Foundation will assist anyone who has suffered at the hands of Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. This foundation is going to be funded by Gringotts and the vaults seized that belonged to convicted Death Eaters. Also, Mackrack and the goblins have agreed to match, knut for knut, whatever we pour in the foundations and endowments."
Albus was shocked, not only did Harry and Ginny refund the Hogwarts Endowments and a new endowment for St. Mungo's, but they were also going to help those who had suffered at the hands of Tom Riddle and his followers. Then they announced that the Goblins were matching their investments into the foundations and endowments, knut for knut, Albus was just floored.
After regaining his voice, Albus smiled "I look forward to working with you towards our mutual goals Harry; and you too Ginny. Now, I understand that Hermione and Ron are in Paris tonight, I assume this was your doing?"