Sirius waved it off as a given and went on. "I got a letter from Grandfather, he expressed that he was proud of me for pulling the family back together, and once more making the name of Black something to be reckoned with." He beamed at that, it wasn't often his grandfather would state he was pleased.
"That's great, Sirius," the older man said happily.
"Uncle Hydrus, look," Harry said proudly, bringing the spelling bee game that his Uncle Hydrus had given him for his birthday. On the screen it showed that the four and a half year old (a very important age to a toddler) correctly spelled the word 'home'.
"That's great, Prongslet," Hydrus said, hoisting the youngster on his lap. "Now let's see what the next word is." And the two played with the game for about ten minutes, when Harry decided it was time to do something else and squirmed down. After the child left, Hydrus looked at his watch and said, "I have to go to the orphanage. I told them I'd look over some of their books today. You guys okay with watching Harry?"
"We're fine," Sirius said as he set up the gaming console to play Mortal Kombat with Remus. He was bound and determined that he was going to beat the werewolf one day.
"Tippy," Hydrus called.
"Master Hydrus is wanting Tippy?" the little elf squeaked when she popped into the room.
"Yeah, I have to leave and I don't know when I'll be back, so can you make lunch today? We don't want Sirius in the kitchen again," he asked, ignoring the 'Oi'.
"Tippy can do," she said firmly, glaring at the man who kept destroying her kitchen.
Padfoot looked sheepish, but defended himself. "I was only trying to help. You have so much work to do around the house and the garden that I didn't want to bother you."
"Yet, yous is making more work for Tippy with your messes," the elf said, putting her hands on her hips and stomping her spindly foot.
"Sorry, I do try and clean them."
"Yous does try," she conceded with a nod of her large head. "However, Tippy is being banning yous from the kitchens," she said, finally laying down the law. It had been amusing at first to watch the man attempt cooking and cleaning, but after a while it got irritating when he didn't get any better.
"Alright, Tippy, you win, I'll never cook a meal again, unless I learn how to first."
The others were watching with varying degrees of amusement. Tippy nodded her head again and popped away.
"Well, now that that's settled, I'm off," Hydrus said with a slight chuckle, and Disapparated out. He reappeared in one of the bedrooms designated for magicals to Apparate in. It was one that was high up, near the small owlery, so as to not startle the kids. He made his way down to the offices, happily watching the playing children run down the halls, and found the Matron's office. He knocked on the door and was bid to enter.
The office itself was nothing special. A square room in light beige color. A large desk piled with folders and some family photos, with a filing cabinet behind it. There were two semi-comfortable chairs in front of the desk and bookcases with law and psychology books in them to the sides. There were documents and official papers framed on the walls. It was very businesslike.
Ms. Morgan Cartwright was an older woman with steel grey hair that she kept in a loose, sloppy, bun. She was a bit on the dumpy side, but you could see that she was a beauty in her youth. She wasn't as stern as McGonagall, but she was firm with the children. She was a non-magical who had been married to a Muggle-born that died of Dragon Pox a few years back. They had three children, who were now grown and gone, so far no grandkids, which is why she applied for this position where she could live around children.
"Ah, Mr. Black, how good to see you," the Matron said brightly. It was her never-ending smile that got Hydrus to hire her in the first place, well that and she was wickedly good with kids. She had run a daycare before Hydrus snatched her up.
"Ms. Cartwright, lovely to see you as well," the immortal said as he took a seat. "How are things going? You said you needed me to go over some of the books?"
"As well as can be expected, I guess," she answered with a sigh. "There are some things that need to be updated, like the plumbing and the insulation. But we have the funds for that, but I wanted your opinion. We've gathered twenty squib children and fostered out most of the non-magicals. We do have one child we're looking into bringing in, but he is young. He would need more attention."
"Why bring him in at all?" Hydrus leaned forward, giving the woman his full attention.
....
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