Reconnecting
Barty and Endymion appeared in front of the gates of a large manor. They had arranged to meet this morning to travel to the home of a friend that Barty had made since he had left Hogwarts, or at least that was what Barty had told Endymion. Endymion didn't mind meeting the man, as Barty had told him that he was influential and well-connected and liked to get to know the new heads of their families. It had come as a small shock for Endymion to get notified by the Ministry of Magic that his father had died in an incident at Azkaban, as well as his uncle and aunt, leaving him as the only member of the Lestrange family. Well, outside of his wife and future child.
He still needed to officially accept the position, as he had been busy after leaving Hogwarts for the last time as a student. He had arranged for an appointment at Gringotts in three days, therefore that would be the time when he took on the head of house ring that had been kept safe in the family vault for him. Barty would do the same, though he had a few more families to take up the head of house position, as he had got several from his wife's side. His appointment was in five days and Sirius Black would accompany him, helping out as one of those titles was for the Black family.
Surprisingly Barty and Sirius got along great, united in their desire to see Jasmine safe and happy. As Sirius was the closest thing Jasmine had to a father figure, Barty considered him his father-in-law. Having both suffered under the behaviour and decisions of Barty Crouch senior created a bond between the two men as well. And outside of the desire to distance himself as much as possible from anything connected to the dark arts, Sirius didn't mind wizarding traditions. He considered several of them useful and didn't want to turn their world into a reflection of the muggle world either.
This morning Sirius would help Jazzy with some decorations at Potter's Keep that she wanted to do in the new nursery. He had offered to help as well, but Jazzy told him that she wanted to surprise him. Well, if it made her happy, he would give her the opportunity to decorate the nursery to her liking. After all, he knew that she wasn't the kind of witch that would like tacky decorations. And the general décor was already done. They had decided on that part together. The nursery was painted with a sky motive of blue sky with white clouds on the ceiling and the upper third of the walls. The lower two thirds showed different landscapes, like a forest, a flower field and a lake. Of course, the paintings were magical, and some typical inhabitants of the places would appear from time to time, like birds crossing the sky, deer peeking out from behind the trees or bees flying from flower to flower.
At night, a few stars would glow at the ceiling, to give the baby a bit of light. Jazzy had told him that she would like to not have the baby sleep in the dark when it could wake up and be scared. A little light really helped in that case. It was an easy spell to cast for him. And he liked the idea a lot.
When Barty rang the bell, it only took a minute for the gates to swing open and let them inside.
"This is an impressive estate," commented Endymion.
"It is. The owner inherited it from some cousin that died without heirs two years ago. When he inspected the property there was a lot of work to do, as the previous owner didn't have the money to maintain the manor and gardens properly. But now everything was repaired, restored and modernised and he moved in here," explained Barty.
"I'm really curious to meet him," nodded Endymion.
They walked along the pebbled path that was framed by beautiful flower beds. Currently the roses bloomed which let them enjoy the wonderful smell. It didn't take long for them to reach the manor itself. A house elf waited for them.
"Good morning young sirs. I will take you to my master's salon. He told me to expect you," stated the elf that wore a butler's livre.
"Thank you," nodded Barty, while Endymion was quite surprised that the elf spoke proper English.
He would ask about that later, but he had never seen an elf that didn't mess up the language. The elf showed them the way along carpeted floors, with different kinds of pictures on the walls. Most were landscapes of one type or the other. There weren't any portraits that they could see. When they reached a large oaken door, the elf knocked before pushing the door open.
"Please enter, young sirs. Tea will be ready in a minute," the elf informed them and popped away.
Barty and Endymion went through the door and found a comfortable salon with black leather and dark oaken furniture contrasting beige carpets and a large window that showed a large balcony and the gardens on the other side.
"Welcome Messrs Crouch and Lestrange," greeted a cultivated voice from the left side of the room, where a large sideboard with some drinks was located.
They turned towards the man, which triggered the locked-up memories of Endymion. He grabbed his head and staggered in his walk. Barty was quick to catch his friend and help him sit down on one of the armchairs.
"Easy Endymion, it will take a little while for your memories to be resorted," he told him.
"I apologise for the pain the release of the memory block caused you, Endymion," said Voldemort, who was now clearly visible for both young men, "But it is time that you remember everything."
Endymion needed five minutes of sitting in the armchair with his eyes closed until he could open them again. When he did, he found a steaming cup of tea in front of him on the table.
"My Lord," he said, recognising the man.
"Yes. How is your head?" Voldemort asked.
"Better, but still hurting," answered Endymion.
"I suggest you drink the tea. I asked Murphy to add some pain relief potion into your cup when he brought the tea. I expected something like this," said Voldemort.
Endymion carefully took the cup and sipped some tea with potion and soon felt the relief from the pain.
"Thank you, this is a lot better," sighed Endymion.
"You're welcome."
"I guess you arranged the meeting to unsuspiciously return my memories to me," guessed Endymion, "As I know that Mione won't like at all that I willingly helped bring you back, should she find out about it."
"Partially," confirmed Voldemort, "I also asked Barty to bring you here because there is something you need to be made aware of, which couldn't be put into a letter. And as you played a huge role in my successful rebirth, you deserve a lot of boons from me, Endymion. I am working on a few final touches for the takeover of the country. I can't promise that we will be ready by the end of the year, but next summer it will definitely be time to change our world. I won't risk overlooking something important that would thwart us. I'd rather take a bit more time to have everything work out perfectly than fail because an unexpected event took place and stopped our victory."
"That is reasonable, my Lord," agreed Endymion, "What role should Barty and I play in that plan?"
"You have already started down the path I wanted you to, even without me being able to instruct you. I need eyes and ears inside Hogwarts, as Dumbledore is one huge roadblock that needs to be eliminated before we can take over fully. I also want to make the younger generations of witches and wizards realise that the old idiot isn't all that he's made out to be and that his influence at Hogwarts makes our country stagnate and stunted. From what Barty could tell me, you wouldn't enjoy being a teacher, if he assessed your interests correctly?"
"That's true. I don't have the patience to work with idiots. And many students at Hogwarts are idiots. Or lazy. I would go crazy with that. I enjoy working with equals or those that take their studies seriously. Who love learning new things. Then I don't mind passing on my knowledge about things, but I don't have the right temper for a teacher," confirmed Endymion.
"I see. Well, I can still use that while you remain at Hogwarts for your apprenticeship with Professors Babbling and Vector. You can present yourself as a good example what a wizard should strive to do. Always improving himself and working towards an ambitious goal. Seeing how you invest time and effort into your studies while at the same time being there for your wife and child will impress many of the students at Hogwarts. Perhaps some others will use that example to better themselves. Barty as you know will also apprentice under one of the Professors, but he will also set up some clubs to cover the lack of a proper Defence teacher," stated Voldemort.
"I guess that the goal is to undermine the way Dumbledore runs the school," mentioned Endymion.
"Indeed. It needs to happen gradually. The old man built up too strong a reputation that single blows would ever suffice to topple him. But many consecutive small and middle level ones will get the job done," nodded Voldemort.
Both Barty and Endymion nodded about that. They could manage that part while also doing their apprenticeships.
"I want to make it clear that for the time of your apprenticeships, neither of you will be involved in any of our large-scale operations. I decided this also because you will be busy and tired enough from the studying combined with having to take care of a baby each. Especially as your wives still have to pass their fifth-year classes, which isn't easy on its own, but with the additional time needed to properly care for a baby, it will become several levels harder. They will lean on you during that time and I want you to do well at that job," declared Voldemort.
"Thank you, that helps indeed," accepted Endymion gratefully.
He wanted to be a good father. He wanted to be present for his child's important events, like learning to crawl, learning to speak, walking for the first time and so on. He had missed his father while growing up. Amycus had done right by him and cared for him, but it simply wasn't the same. In that regard he understood Jasmine very well. She was in a similar position to him, even if he had had a lot more luck with his chosen guardian than her. But a guardian could rarely replace a good parent.
Barty nodded along. He planned to be the opposite kind of father compared to his own father. He loved his wife and unborn child and would not fail to let both of them know it. He would be there and place his family first and his career second. As long as he had a good job to start with, he didn't mind waiting for opportunities to rise in prestige until he was older and his children were ready to go to Hogwarts themselves. Then it was early enough to look for pursuing higher positions.
"As we have covered that point, I will continue with the second point for which I had Barty bring you here, Endymion. You will have read in the paper and have been informed by the ministry that there was a fire at Azkaban that cost the prisoners on that floor their lives," stated Voldemort.
"Yes, I got a letter informing me about the deaths of my father, uncle and aunt," nodded Endymion.
"That letter was only partially right," revealed Voldemort.
Both Endymion and Barty looked surprised at that. Barty hadn't known about the plot so far.
"What did happen then my Lord?" asked Endymion.
Voldemort explained to the two young men how Peter had sneaked into the prison and enabled the outbreak of the four followers that Voldemort wanted back and had a use for. The ones that weren't disturbed in their minds even before they went to Azkaban.
"Brianna, Augustus, Eugene and Rabastan are recovering at this estate," revealed Voldemort, "And I would like to show you the way to the suite I gave to your father until he can look after himself again. It will probably be three months until he has regained his strength, but he will make a full recovery."
"I, I don't know what to say. My father is really still alive?" asked Endymion shocked but also happy.
"Indeed. Come, I will take you to him and then I will take Barty to discuss a few things with him to give you and your father time for a private reunion," confirmed Voldemort.
"Thank you, my Lord. This means a great deal to me," stated Endymion.
Voldemort nodded and smiled at the young man. He stood from his armchair and led the way to the suite Rabastan used.
Rabastan looked at the door, sitting in the armchair that had become his favourite place in the suite. It was placed with sight of the balcony and thus he could see the currently blooming gardens. The roses were beautiful and when he had the windows open, he could smell their wonderful scent as well. He asked the one that had knocked inside and put the book he had read onto the table with a bookmark placed where he had stopped reading.
The visitors that entered were a surprise for him though. He recognised the Dark Lord of course, but the other two were quite young, perhaps seventeen or eighteen if he guessed correctly. Then he recognised the blond man.
"Barty?" he asked shocked.
"Rab, it's good to see you again," replied Barty nodding, smiling at his old friend.
They had got along well back before they were sent to Azkaban. Both weren't extremists but wanted to see change in their world happen. And both wanted a happy family as one of their top goals. Rabastan had got it when he married his wife Cassandra with whom he had been together since their sixth year at Hogwarts. When she told him that she was pregnant, his world had been nearly perfect.
"I think you will have a lot to talk about with Endymion," he continued.
"Endymion, my son?" asked Rabastan surprised, happy and hopeful.
"Yes, father," nodded Endymion and walked over to his father, recognising that he was still too weak to make the way over to him.
It was the right thing to do, as Rabastan immediately stood from his armchair to meet him and hug him fiercely.
"I'm so sorry, Endy. I never wanted to leave you alone, but I couldn't risk going against Bellatrix and Rod. I was afraid that your aunt would have cursed both of us if I didn't comply. And while I can deal with some exposure to the cruciatus curse, you would have been killed considering the mood Bellatrix was in at the time," apologised Rabastan.
"I, I didn't know she was that bad," replied Endymion shocked, not having expected that reason.
"Bellatrix was insane, I guess from inbreeding in the Black family. She was a loose killing curse if she got in the mood. But to protect the Black and Lestrange names, it wasn't widely known. Both families invested quite a lot of money to hide her excesses. I'm not sad that they are dead now," admitted Rabastan.
Voldemort and Barty left father and son alone to reconnect with each other. They had a lot of news to exchange.
Voldemort and Barty returned to the salon where they had been before. They were served more tea and biscuits and then talked again.
"It's a surprise that the outbreak from Azkaban was such a success. I would have suspected that the Ministry would at least check if the prisoners really all died," commented Barty.
"I'm not. That institution is corrupt, inefficient and lazy to the core," snorted Voldemort, "Ripe for the picking. If not for a few pillars that need to be taken down before we act, it would be done already. Under Fudge the whole institution lost even more of the little competence that could be found before my loss of my body."
"Sadly, I can see that. Even if it should be standard procedure to at least check with the inheritance department if the death was confirmed," stated Barty.
"As they all dislike the goblins, such a formality would be considered unimportant. And if you would remember, this falls under the purview of the Senior Undersecretary of the Minister of Magic. While other departments will pass on the information, which in this case the DMLE will have done after they inspected the scene, the current holder of the position is Dolores Umbridge. That woman is a nasty piece of work and hates everything creature related. You can bet that she would never contact goblins to confirm a death that is clear in her opinion," pointed Voldemort out.
"I see, it certainly played into our hands," understood Barty.
"It did. And the DMLE can't track portals, as they don't know the magic used for them. Additionally, the tags with the runes on them were burned with everything else there and they consisted of special paper. But still normal paper that burns when it is caught up in fire. Meaning, no traces left to investigate," explained Voldemort.
"Yes. What I wondered about, why did you decide to kill all the ones imprisoned there after you got out the ones that actually have worth for our current movement? I mean, some went to Azkaban refusing to deny being your followers," Barty wanted to know.
Voldemort sighed. This was a loaded question.
"It's basically to not have our movement tainted by their activities again," he admitted, "while they may have been loyal, they weren't loyal to me. They were loyal to the crazy monster that I became after a ritual went wrong and I didn't notice. They only wanted power and the freedom to kill indiscriminately. They were sociopaths, psychopaths and being at Azkaban over a decade would have worsened that predisposition even more. I want true change in this country. Fairness for those born of magical blood. I want progress and growth of prosperity for a wide majority of our people, not just a chosen few. I want our people to grow in numbers and magical power. Having idiots like Bellatrix and Rodolphus around would make that impossible."
Barty nodded.
"I mean, how often did they kill whole families during attacks we performed? I remember one incident clearly. To achieve our goals, it would have been enough to kill Alexander Charleroi. Him being head of the DMLE at the time and a damn good one in his position posed an obstacle in conquering the Ministry. And sadly, he couldn't be convinced to join our cause. I had given orders to kill the man to get rid of the obstacle, but the team going there had Bellatrix and Rodolphus in it. They tortured his wife before they killed her and their four children. The oldest of them was just nine, Barty. Nine years old and they cut the boy down without any mercy and reason. It was one example that the Ministry used to 'prove' that we were terrorists," Voldemort told Barty.
That was certainly true. The attack against the Charleroi family that lived in Hogsmeade had started the bloody phase of the war and made numerous former supporters turn away from their movement. Nobody would support an organisation that murdered innocent children like that.
"Other incidents followed. I didn't realise it the more time passed. I can't pinpoint when I lost my mind. But if I want to have a chance to not have the majority of people turn against us automatically, I need to get rid of those that would repeat the mistakes of the past without any sense. I ensured that their deaths were painless, but our world is better off without them. And a quick and painless death is much better than being tormented by dementors day in and day out for over a decade," stated Voldemort.
"Yes," Barty shuddered at the memories of his one year there coming back to him.
"The ones we got out aren't extremists and extremely valuable for our true cause. They will get the best medical support that I can offer them and when they are ready, they will get missions again. While I may have lost manpower, I gained more reliability among my followers," admitted Voldemort, "And if you will look into the number of deaths, well, there were only six. Out of the three dozen followers that were sent to Azkaban after I lost my body, only ten were still alive after my return. Six too insane to be allowed back into society where they would kill again without sense and discrimination."
Barty was glad to have his lord back to full sanity. He was relieved that he had managed to think quickly back last summer when he was freed by Peter and Voldemort from the captivity that his father had created for him. This man opposite of him was the genius that wanted a good vision he had for their country realised without murdering and torturing innocents.
"By the way, did the healers tell you and Jasmine what gender your baby would have?" asked Voldemort, wanting to change the subject.
"Yes, we will have a little boy, same for Endymion and Hermione actually. That is great in my opinion, as both boys will have a playmate growing up. With their mothers being best friends, it was going to happen anyway, but I am relieved that nobody will simply expect for Endymion and me to set up some stupid betrothal contract, just based on that, had one child been a boy and one a girl," answered Barty.
"Yes, some would have done that," agreed Voldemort, "Congratulations. I'm happy for both of you that you will directly have an heir for your families. Have you already decided names?"
"No, Jazzy and I have about six names we like but we haven't fully decided which one we would use. The one thing we have agreed upon is that we wouldn't name our sons after any of our parents. At least not for their first names. Middle names are an option. People would just compare them to their grandparents and that wouldn't be what we want. While we both have positive feelings towards our mothers and she for her father, my father would never be considered for that. And we don't want to burden any child with the name of a hero like James and Lily Potter who gave their lives for their daughter, who then, according to public belief, killed the Dark Lord Voldemort, thanks to the power their sacrifice gave her," explained Barty.
"Understandable. What about godparents?" asked Voldemort.
"We have agreed that, due to Jazzy and Hermione not being of age yet, Endymion and I would become the godfather of the other's child. Janice Spencer will be godmother of Endymion's child while Nymphadora Tonks will be godmother of our child. She is a distant cousin of Jazzy on the Black side of the family and they immediately got along when they met during the Easter break. Sirius introduced us to the Tonks family, Andromeda Tonks is his first cousin and Nymphadora her daughter," said Barty.
"I know that purebloods give their children stupid names at times, but Nymphadora?" asked Voldemort baffled.
"She hates the name and demands to be called Tonks instead of her first name. Though we agreed that it wouldn't be appropriate for family, thus we use the shortened form Dora," replied Barty.
"I see. Seemingly some insanity of the Blacks also hit Andromeda. Honestly, a child shouldn't have a name it would certainly hate," Voldemort shook his head, sympathising with the young woman, having also hated his name, especially after he found out that his father had abandoned him and his mother. To share the name of such a lousy person grated on him and made him take up the chosen name Voldemort.
Now that his sanity was back, he could understand that his father hadn't wanted anything to do with his mother, she had basically drugged and raped him after all, but to also turn against his child was low. The least he could have done was taking the child in and raise it or let him be adopted by a decent family. That was simply the right thing to do. Especially after the woman that hurt him had died giving birth to the child.
"By the way, I wanted your opinion on a project I have thought about that would be long-term. As far as I know there are too many children born into muggle families that aren't accepted by them for different reasons. While I won't be able to get a law passed that declares that all magical children have to be raised by magical families, simply because too many bleeding hearts would believe that it was wrong to separate children from their parents, even if they would be much better off in the magical world, I will manage to do this for those that are mistreated by the muggles.
"The question would be where to place the children. Too many magicals have prejudices against those coming from the muggle world, some justified, some not. And many that would be willing to take in children don't have the financial means to support and raise them. Or they would brainwash them with Dumbledore's propaganda," pointed Voldemort out.
Barty pondered the situation. He knew it was an important matter and needed to be done the right way.
"It would need a series of laws that grant magical children certain rights that they can claim even without the support of their guardian, legal or magical doesn't matter here. It would also require a powerful department at the ministry that would fight for their rights when they are too young to really voice their concerns and needs. And those people would need to swear an oath to act in the best interest of the children, taking their wishes into account wherever possible. It could after all be that the guardians or parents brainwashed the child to believe that what was done to it was right and all others are wrong. And they need to follow neutral guidelines and be independent from other departments or people. I mean, too many would listen to idiots like Dumbledore who claims that any family should stay together, no matter how bad things are there. Sirius and Regulus come to mind, as does Severus.
"These people need to be powerful and well-trained. Only then they would be capable of protecting the children, should it be necessary to take them away from their families and they react violently. So far, too few consider the rights of children as important enough to act against the parents, even if it is important to get the child to a better place to live. If we consider where to place the children, I believe we could manage by setting up some kind of qualification that witches and wizards could gain if they wanted to take the children in. The Ministry could offer a monthly stipend for each child to enable even less wealthy families to raise them right.
"For those that can't be placed that way, I believe the best place to raise them would be Hogwarts. It has strong wards and the children would be safe. There is also a lot of space to play when they aren't studying. As those children will normally be too young to attend normal classes, we should arrange for some pre-Hogwarts education. Jazzy told me how she went to muggle primary school and how that was the norm for muggle children. It gives a good, generalised education on which higher education at Hogwarts can build up. Next to that it frees the mothers, who most often are the ones taking care of the children at home until they go to school, normally that starts when they are five years old, if they don't get sent to playgroups that have different names and methods, to work again," explained Barty, remembering what Jazzy had told him how she grew up in the muggle world.
"Hm, that wasn't as expansive when I was a child, but the general idea of a standardized pre-Hogwarts education for all magical children has a lot of advantages to it. I will see about that. We would have to look into ways how to finance something like what you suggested, but it could work the way we need it to. Support for families with children in general would also give incentive to have more children. Hopefully in the good families that we want to expand their numbers. But any magical child from a compatible and distantly related couple would help our world already. Perhaps something depending on the age of the child. Next to a school support system to give more families the chance to have their children educated at a high level. Too many fall through the cracks right now," pondered Voldemort.
"Honestly, my Lord, Hogwarts finances would do a lot better if somebody capable of managing gold was in charge of that," scoffed Barty, "I may have hated my father, but he did ensure that I got educated in all matters that a future head of house would need, including financial management. It would already be a lot better if the school worked more efficiently with the resources they have presently. Currently they waste opportunities and spend money on useless things. Or they don't cultivate things that could help with saving money in other places. The method they use is: We have this much money, we need these things, the money covers it, it works."
Barty was honestly aghast how badly Dumbledore managed the finances.
"With some different organisation many parts of the project could be realised with the current means already. The school has a lot of unused space, it would be simple to turn some of the unused parts into fields for corn and potatoes for example. I know from history books that during the time of the founders the school was self-sufficient. Meaning, the infrastructure for it should still be there in some way. Perhaps not fully, but I believe that three quarters of all supplies could be generated at the school itself at minimum. The school has lots of house elves and it's always the place where homeless elves turn to when the situation comes up. It would only need general permission for them to marry and have elflings to ensure a steady population to manage even more work.
"And house elves can do any job they are taught. They could do the work at farms around the school easily, to have every kind of food the students need available. And if we let Jazzy have a go at the kitchen organisation, we would save at least half of the money that is currently used for meals," declared Barty.
"Your wife is good at kitchen tasks?" wondered Voldemort.
"She was forced to do all kinds of chores by her relatives and cooking all kinds of meals was part of that since she was five," growled Barty, "Due to the family always eating huge amounts, her uncle and cousin are absurdly obese from that kind of diet, she learned how to cook enough for each meal to get a small army full. We talked one evening about that and she mentioned that while the food at the school was good, it could be more varied and at the same time they could save about half of the money going into it."
"Hm, it would be worthwhile to let her work out a plan for a month as an example. I mean, we will reform the school within the next five years, it will be one of the first projects after we eliminate Dumbledore. What kind of changes did she suggest to you?" Voldemort was curious.
"Well, you know how the typical breakfast at Hogwarts looks like. Eggs, bacon, toast, toppings, tomatoes, and so on, typical English breakfast on most days. She pointed out that it was quite wasteful and could be optimised, not to mention become healthier. Her suggestion was to let the elves bake fresh bread each evening to have it ready to be served the next morning. Currently, when there is bread, it is bought from suppliers. She asked Dobby about that, who had worked at Hogwarts long enough to know these things.
"If the school held more chickens, they could have all the eggs needed for free during the school year, and sell the surplus during the school breaks, thus she would expand the stables and let the chickens that were present breed like they want. The male chicks could be raised until they were old enough to be slaughtered for their meat if they weren't chosen as further breeders. She suggested to serve different types of food with eggs, possibly switching from day to day, to have more options like boiled eggs, omelettes, scrambled eggs, eggs sunny side up and so on," listed Barty.
"Then have simple porridge served as one option, next to oatmeal that can be combined with a few cheap options that children normally like eating, like apples, berries, nuts and things like that. All again could be grown at Hogwarts if there were proper farms. Things like typical warm English breakfast could be reserved for the weekends, to save on costs for meat. Winky also told me that the house elves know how to produce cheese, curd and yoghurt for example, thus these dairy products would be easy to get. And one cow can give between five to ten litres of milk per day easily. If we calculate that each student drinks about at most half a litre per day, we can easily cover that with a herd of about thirty to forty cows. If we kept fifty, the surplus could be turned into different things that are also needed like cheese for example.
"And with magic, the output per cow can be optimised, the calves can then either be used for breeding and milk production in case of the cows and the bulls, if not chosen to breed, can supply the meat for meals when they are old enough. Efficient and cheap in the long run.
"For lunch Jazzy suggests meals that would be filling and dirt cheap. Like potatoes au gratin in different variations, scalloped noodles, potatoes with spinach and scrambled eggs, soups for starters to fill the stomachs up, in best case served with bread again, to not need as much for the main course. Remainders can be served again for dinner. Things with large pieces of meat can be saved for twice a week. Fish could also be bred in the Black Lake, thus also add a cheap option for the menu. She believes that we could convince the merpeople to go along with it, or even have them do the work and supply the school with fish for small returns.
"Most students don't care what is served, as long as it tastes great. She told me that her aunt taught her this method, as she knew that the household money wouldn't last the whole month if she didn't. Normally, I have to add, it would have been enough for at least ten people, but with the amounts the male Dursleys ate, it was no wonder that she had to be creative in how to get by with the money her husband gave her each month. One example Jazzy mentioned was making pancakes for lunch served with jam when she had to wait for the next transfer of money to the household account," explained Barty.
"Hm, sounds logical to me. I will have to look into that when we have taken over the Ministry and Hogwarts. But if your wife were inclined to work in this area, it might be some task we could entrust to her to keep her busy. Only after she has finished school of course. But as you plan to become a teacher there and I want you to make a career at Hogwarts to back up Severus once we have him back on board, it might even be easy," pondered Voldemort.
"I believe Jazzy would have fun with something like that, as long as we don't have to live at the school all the time. She loves Potter's Keep and wants to raise our children there. But I believe that it wouldn't matter for all teachers to live at the school outside of the summer breaks. Thanks to the floo it is easily possible to treat being a teacher like any other kind of job," pointed Barty out.
"I hadn't considered that, but you are right. Teachers should have the same opportunities to enjoy normal things in life as other witches and wizards. Forcing them to live at Hogwarts wouldn't be right except they choose to do it. Hm, another thing to include into my school reform project," commented Voldemort.
Barty let Voldemort write a few things down that he wanted to investigate more later. He knew that there were too many things to all keep them in mind. Even for a genius like Voldemort.
"One other thing I have been pondering is a different type of separation of the students. Currently with the house system, they are mixed in groups of sometimes extreme educational differences. Smart students are held back by lazy or stupid ones, as the teachers have to consider everybody in class. I want to start the system with a test of magical power and level of knowledge in theory. That way, the smart and powerful students could be in one class and go at a higher pace then the stupid ones," informed Voldemort Barty.
"It would need to be possible for the students to switch from one level to another to have it accepted. Critics would otherwise point out that it is a huge program to disadvantage children from less advantaged families," pointed Barty out, "Some would claim that we are not fair to all children and deny them educational opportunities."
"I had already considered that part. As I said, that would be the starting point. I plan to have the students take two tests during the first term, one at the end of October and one in the middle of January. In these tests a student can prove that he is ready for the next higher level. I want seven of them to split the years along easily understandable lines. I believe that a points system would work best here. Each point on the magical core index would give five points for the system. That is an acknowledged and proven scale that determines the magical strength of the witch or wizard. St. Mungo's also uses it to determine which potion will work on a patient.
"The next part would be answering questions about material that was taught previously, either in lower years or during the previous months of the term. If there are twenty questions per subject, each correct answer would give the student five points. Next would be demonstrating spells or potions that were taught, again five points per success. It would be easy to understand how to gain points. Then we split the students apart depending on how many points they earned. The ones reaching the top line will be level one, the next line level two and so on. With each test a student can earn the right to be placed in a higher level but can also be dropped to the next lower one. It would be impossible to skip a level though, that would need time to happen. Simply because I don't want a bad day to cost a student too much. It is a fair system that all those with some sense will accept," explained Voldemort.
Barty thought about the proposal. It sounded like a good idea. Too many times weaker students held classes back.
"If we add a support system for students that come from less academically inclined families, it would most probably work well. Then we could say that we were offering all students the same chances to make the most out of their education," he commented.
"Yes, a good point. Severus' system in Slytherin would serve to achieve that. I plan to expand it onto the whole school anyway. It is a great system that promotes scholastic success and is already adjusted for the different age groups. The first and second years are encouraged to develop good study attitudes and to understand the basics in depth while still leaving them enough free time to play. Third and fourth years get a more challenging workload but still get enough free time to relax and enjoy some hobbies and the company of their friends. Fifth to seventh years are prepared more intensively for their exams, as they decide their future career options.
"And next to the scholastic part, the physical growth of the children is also taken care of, meaning that every child has the chance to achieve its full potential. If we combine that with the seven-level system I worked out, we could bring Hogwarts to the top among the schools of magic in the world. And that is necessary to establish our country as a leader among others. Something that we lost more and more over the idiocy and incompetency of the Ministry and Dumbledore during the last three decades," stated Voldemort.
Barty nodded; he knew it was the truth.
"How far is the production of the potion pills?" he asked, knowing how the Ministry was meant to be taken over.
"We have about half of the amount stocked that I estimate to need. The main problem at the beginning was getting used to the method and then consistently producing outstanding potions to be turned into the pills. But practice makes perfect and by now ninety percent of the potions have that level of quality. I am actually storing the remainder to be sold to apothecaries or St. Mungo's once we are done with the plan. No sense in wasting good potions. They would work without a problem, but they aren't perfect like they need to be," shrugged Voldemort.
"That makes sense. They would have use for good potions. And we need to be on good terms with St. Mungo's once we have taken the Ministry," commented Barty.
Voldemort nodded and summoned a few papers from his desk. He held them out to Barty.
"This is a proposal for modernisation of the hospital," revealed Voldemort, "It's something I thought about when I was too agitated to go to sleep, thus I wrote down a few ideas. Right now, while the healers do good jobs, they don't get to do much research into better and stronger healing methods. And it is ridiculous that we have our main hospital in the middle of London among the muggles. That was a good idea when the hospital was founded centuries ago, but these days few people come in through the muggle-side entrance. They use the floo, portkeys or apparate."
"I remember that my mother always took me by floo," agreed Barty.
His father had never bothered with regular and emergency appointments at St. Mungo's for his son. He had been too busy with his career. It had annoyed and hurt Barty when he was younger.
"I thought about a relocation of the hospital or at least parts of it to another place. As you know, I plan to found a new magical shopping district in a by muggles uninhabited part of Wales. Having a branch of St. Mungo's there would be easily achieved. Hogsmeade might work, but it lacks the type of building that is suited best for it. With a new location, we could build the hospital to meet these requirements," explained Voldemort.
"A good idea, my Lord," nodded Barty, "That one could have more modern equipment and a better set-up, including ways to reach the floors in different ways than taking the stairs. Honestly, a lift isn't that difficult to install into a building, but patients still need to walk up several flights of stairs to get to the department they need. It would be so much better if there were standing portals to a set point on each floor."
Voldemort took one of the pages and wrote that down.
"A good idea, Barty, I will have that implemented. I hadn't thought of portals being used so far, but it is certainly the best and fastest way to go. Hm, maybe I can also teach some of my followers how to create portals and set up a system that can become the general public transport for witches and wizards. I mean, the floo is horribly uncomfortable to travel by and calling other places while kneeling on the hard ground, cushioning charms or not is irrelevant, causes pain in the body over long periods of time. Well, perhaps Endymion's wife can continue her family's research and experiments. Her father was working on alternative options for floo calling after all," stated Voldemort.
"She would most likely have fun doing that," commented Barty.
"Well, something for the future. But it isn't urgent anyway. It will be something to put on the large list of useful projects that aren't deciding to be realised before we win against the Ministry.
"Another thing, as Jasmine and Hermione will give birth sometime at the beginning of September, will you wait with returning to Hogwarts until the babies are born and about a month old?" asked Voldemort.
"That's the plan. While Dumbledore was against that and offered to let them be born at Hogwarts, Jazzy vehemently refused. She wants our son to be born at Potter's Keep, his future home, or in case of complications St. Mungo's," answered Barty.
He remembered fondly how Jazzy had told Dumbledore off for the stupid and impertinent idea. The old man had quickly retreated when Jazzy's magic started causing small explosions in his office. Oh, how amazing it was to have a wife that was prone to explosions as long as they weren't directed at him. And Dobby was worth his weight in gold, as the little elf always knew what his mistress wanted or needed and got it for her. Barty also got the distinct feeling that Fawkes had laughed at Dumbledore for his failure to convince Jazzy.
"As it should be," nodded Voldemort, knowing that it was tradition for magical families to have their children born in one of those two places, "I guess she will allow one healer or midwife to be keyed into the wards then."
"That is already arranged. Andromeda Tonks is a healer and works for St. Mungo's. As she's family and we get along well with the Tonks, it was easy to decide to do things that way," stated Barty.
Voldemort nodded. It made sense to entrust such an important event to a family member that would be perfectly capable of assisting the mother during the birth.
"Not to mention that Winky, Dobby and Sirius are preparing for any and I mean any possible complication that might come up, even the most unlikely ones. And here I thought I as the father would be the most nervous for the birth," commented Barty, "But between them all, I don't have anything I can think of that might go wrong and for which we won't have a solution."
Voldemort laughed at the image on Barty's face. He could imagine how it had to be with two overprotective house elves and Jazzy's godfather buzzing around before the baby was born. It was somewhat disappointing that he couldn't see it himself, but that wouldn't be a good idea at all. He was better off in the shadows until the plan could unfold. But he certainly enjoyed the stories that Barty could share and he was sure that once Narcissa was further in her pregnancy that part would be entertaining as well, as Lucius had shared stories from her pregnancy with Draco. And now that he was himself again, he could enjoy them and laugh about funny parts.