Harry Potter Morgendorffer FF Part Six
Daria is the creation of Glenn Eichler and is the property of MTV Viacom. Harry Potter is the creation of JK Rowling and is the property of JK Rowling and Warner Brothers, as are its characters and situations. I don't own them, and neither expect nor deserve financial compensation for this story. I am writing for my own amusement and for ego gratification.
What if Minerva McGonagall had been able to persuade Professor McGonagall to place baby Harry Potter with different blood relatives instead of with Petunia Dursley and her husband: the Morgendorffers from MTV's Daria?
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There was a different receptionist at the front desk when she came in the following day. The receptionist did not take it well when Helen stated her business. She looked suspiciously at Helen and said "We don't customarily place witch or wizard babies with non-magical families."
Helen's eyes narrowed as she looked back at the receptionist. Who the H*** are you to tell me who I can adopt, she thought.
She continued to glare at the receptionist. "He's a blood relative," she said. "He's an orphan. His other relatives are either dead or totally unsuitable."
"I'm also an attorney," she added.
The receptionist then decided that discretion was the better part of valor. This wandless no-maj had not only entered the building on her own, but was also a lawyer. Maybe it was time to reduce her exposure.
"Adoptions are overseen on the sixth floor," she said. "There's a waiting area on the fifth floor. Thank you for stopping by the MACUSA offices for Texas and the South Central Region and have a nice day," finishing with a saccharine smile.
Helen found the elevator again without difficulty. She looked at the being operating the elevator car and said "Sixth floor, please."
The secretary on the sixth floor was friendlier than the woman downstairs. She recognized her from the day before and greeted her with a smile and a nod.
"You're here to see about the legal aspects of an adoption, aren't you?"
"Yes," said Helen.
"And your name, please?" said the secretary.
"Helen Barksdale Morgendorffer," said Helen.
The secretary looked at her schedule and saw Helen's name written there. "Ah, there you are, and right on time."
"Well, can I see Mrs. Powter, then?" asked Helen.
"I'm sorry, but Mrs. Powter's meeting seems to be running over, and she'll be delayed before she can see you. If you care wait here until she can see you, there's a waiting area on the seventh floor.
The seventh-floor waiting area was already occupied by a diminutive being about the height of a tall pre-schooler. This was no pre-schooler, though. He was a male, and clearly an adult, with an impressive mouthful of sharp teeth and long, sharp claws instead of fingernails. Helen's curiosity got the better of her and she stared at him for some time.
"It's rude to stare at people," said the little guy..
"My apologies," said Helen, "I never saw anybody like you before."
"Are you a no-maj?" asked the little guy.
"I'm not a witch, if that's what you mean," said Helen.
"You're a no-maj," said the little guy.
"And if I'm a no-maj," said Helen, "what are you?"
"I'm a goblin," he said.
"So what is your business here?" asked the goblin.
"I'm trying to adopt a war orphan from the British Isles," said Helen.
Bloodworth looked at the tall, auburn-haired human female. He'd come here to thread his way through MACUSA's local bureaucracy. He hated doing it himself; what he needed was a lawyer. Wizarding lawyers were far and few between. Few were the wizards who attended the illogical, often contradictory studies that constituted a magical education and then turned around and studied law. Those few who did were arrogant, often condescending, and charged vast fortunes for their fees and services. Worst of the worst were the ones from Louisiana. The Muggles there didn't use Common Law like the rest of the continental US and Canada, but law derived from the Napoleonic Codes. They knew they had a skill set that was not only scarce in the Muggle world, but even scarcer in the Magical World as well. The ideal hire was a no-maj lawyer, one who knew about the magical world, but hadn't been brought up in the magical world.
The no-maj woman sat down on her couch and opened her briefcase. She must have opened it the wrong way because it flipped over to the side and her papers slipped out. Bloodworth noted in passing that the papers seemed to be legal documents, but what caught his attention was her copy of the Wall Street Journal. It was Monday's, which had an article he'd been reading and badly wanted to finish.
Maybe this No Maj would lend him her copy. "Carpe diem!" he'd heard some humans say.
"Excuse me," he said. "Are you reading your Wall Street Journal?"
"No," said Helen. "It's Monday's and I'm probably not going to get around to it."
"I'd like to see it," said the goblin. "The paper boy messed up his delivery and I wasn't able to read through it."
Helen was about to ask him why he didn't go to a news stand or a public library and buy another copy when something made her stop. She looked at him again and thought for a moment. He was probably a magical creature. A guy his size probably would have trouble not attracting attention, even in a city as laid-back as Austin, Texas.
The thought made her frown. This was something like Virginia in the bad old days of segregation.
She took her Wall Street Journal out of her briefcase and handed it to him.
"Certainly," she said.
"Thank you," said the Goblin.
Helen forced herself to go back to work reading her briefs while the Goblin read the Wall Street Journal.
Helen was reviewing a brief on a civil suit concerning real estate holdings when a limited partnership had gone belly-up when she was interrupted by a woman saying "Mrs. Morgendorffer?"
"Yes?" said Helen, putting down her brief.
"My name is Tabitha Powter, I'm a case worker with the MACUSA's Bureau of Health and Child Welfare."
"Let's go back to my office," said Tabitha.
Helen followed Mrs. Powter to her office. Mrs. Powter closed the door behind her. "Take a seat and let's get to business," she said.
"This may sound extraordinary, but I was approached by a woman named Minerva McGonagall and a Della Braden about adopting a boy named Harry Potter," said Helen.
"The boy you are trying to adopt is Harry Potter?" Mrs. Powter incredulously. "THE Harry Potter?"
"Ms. McGonagall and Ms. Braden tell me that Harry Potter is my great-nephew."
"That is an—extraordinary—claim," said Mrs. Powter.
"I think so, too," said Helen, "I want to believe it but I want more proof."
"Ms. McGonagall and Ms. Braden claim that Harry Potter is my great nephew through an older sister my father engendered when he was working for the US State Department back in 1939. I have become convinced that their story is not only plausible but likely true," said Helen.
Mrs. Powter's face took on a look of concern. Mrs. Morgendorffer seemed to be an intelligent woman. But sometimes even the sharpest minds can be cheated by scammers.
"Can you give me more information about this boy?" asked Helen.
"Harry Potter is a national hero back in the UK," said Mrs. Powter. "He's not only the only boy to survive a killing curse, but in doing so, he defeated one of the most evil wizards of this century."
"And what was this wizard's name?" asked Helen.
Helen watched Mrs. Powter become uncomfortable.
"Lord Volde-," she started. She paused and became even more uncomfortable.
"Lord Voldem…" She paused again and became even more uncomfortable. It was clear that Mrs. Powter did not want to say the evil wizard's name.
And the son-of-a-gun is dead, thought Helen. He must have been a terror while he was still alive.
"Does his name end with "mort"?" said Helen.
Mrs. Powter gave a quick, nervous nod.
"Thank you for the confirmation," said Helen. "I won't ask you to speak it again." So that part is real, she told herself. She'd gained some corroboration for McGonagall's story. She hoped the rest of it was true.
She wondered about how she'd go about establishing kinship. She'd like to be certain that Baby Harry was indeed her nephew. Blood work was only so reliable. Medicine was making rapid progress with DNA tests, but they were expensive and time-consuming.
"I'd like to resolve the paternity issue," said Helen.
"We can quickly resolve this with a blood test," said Mrs. Powter.
"How do we go about doing that?" asked Helen. "Do we go to a clinic or a medical lab or can we take care of it here?"
"Actually we go to a bank," said Mrs. Powter.
"A bank?" Helen said incredulously.
"A bank," said Mrs. Powter. "Much of the international wizarding community's financial sector is run by goblins. They own the principal wizarding banks here in Texas."
"As surprising as it may sound, they administer blood tests to establish ownership and legal claims, such as paternity and to verify identities."
"Could we do it now?" said Helen.
"Normally I'd say that we wait, but yes, let's see if we could do it now," said Mrs. Powter.