Having skimmed through the report, Hermione had a different question for their financial advisor. "Why do so few of these kids get adopted? Eight out of ten of them remain in the orphanage until they're of age. What are their prospects when they leave, do they get proper schooling?"
The concern these two were showing was everything Barchoke had come to expect of this couple. "Most of the orphans are abandoned on the orphanage doorstep as babes. With no knowledge of who their parents were, it's impossible to tell their blood status. In a society where this fact determines your worth, orphans in these particular circumstances are treated almost as badly as if they were squibs."
As Hermione glanced at Harry, he answered her question out loud. "While an orphan, the entire country knows who my parents were - and my blood status. Amelia, could we have a moment of your time, please?"
The fact that a goblin was sitting next to Harry at the table, drinking something his elf provided, had caught everyone's attention. Harry didn't have to raise his voice when calling for Amelia, all other conversation had already stopped. As Harry explained the situation, Dobby appeared with a chair for her to sit. This was the cue for everyone else to move their chairs over and discover just what was going on. As Harry claimed he wanted to do more for these children, rather than just throw money at them to maintain the status quo, Amelia's expression told him immediately that he wasn't going to like what she had to say.
"Harry, you've stumbled across the dark underbelly of our society. Any changes to the status of these children would see the person proposing those changes hauled up before the Wizengamot."
Hermione couldn't hold back. "What the hell for? I don't see that same Wizengamot rushing to help these children, whose only crime would seem to be being born."
"Miss Granger, as a member of that body, you have no idea how close that last statement you made is to the truth." Augusta then attempted to explain what was going on here.
"There will certainly be members sitting in the Wizengamot who will have offspring of their family in that orphanage - illegitimate offspring to be sure but of their family blood. They never want those blood ties acknowledged and try to sweep the entire situation under the carpet - which is why the Ministry will never officially take over the orphanage. Gringotts carrying out an inheritance ritual on some of these children could prove embarrassing for a few of our sitting members. Those rituals, and any claims that result from them, must be completed before the child reaches seventeen. That law has stood for almost a century, as has the one that states these rituals cannot be carried out on anyone underage without parental consent."
Realising at once what was going on here, Hermione couldn't contain her anger as she spoke. "It's a catch twenty-two situation. They can't discover their parentage without this ritual, but need parental consent to undergo the ritual in the first place. After seventeen, it doesn't matter what the ritual tells them, they have no legal right to pursue anything through the courts. These kids are deliberately kept barefoot and ignorant, on the very edge of society, to hide possible indiscretions from sons and daughters of powerful families. Harry, you know we have to help them?"
While proud of her daughter's sentiments, Emma had a question that she knew the people here would be able to answer. "While I'm in no way advocating this as an option, why do these mothers not opt for a termination when they realise the trouble they are in? I can't believe leaving the baby you just gave birth to on an orphanage doorstep would be any less traumatic than taking action to stop things reaching that stage."
With the silence that question produced, Emma understood she'd said something wrong. Her answer eventually came from Poppy. "While I understand where Emma's coming from with this, she doesn't know things are different for a witch. Should a witch try to terminate a magical baby, that baby will fight back and could seriously damage its mother's magic - if not outright killing her. We have morning after potions but that's really about the extent of it. When a witch is pregnant, it's far safer for mother and child to see things through to their natural conclusion."
While this was news to Harry, he felt they had veered off from the original topic. "Is the opinion here that we can't help these kids? If it is, then what's the point of all we're setting up here? These are the very kids we should be targeting, the very reason the Potter Institute was conceived and is now being built - to help magical kids who won't get a break in Britain."
"I'm sorry, Harry, but sometimes you just have to admit you can't save them all…" You could have heard a pin drop at Sirius' statement.
Harry was getting ready to verbally challenge his godfather's opinion when he spotted the glint in Sirius' eyes. He'd been reading through the report that Hermione had sat on the table and smiled at Harry in a way that didn't even attempt to hide he was up to something. Sirius didn't keep them waiting for long.
.....
Want to read ahead by more than 60 chapters. Then join my p@treon Right Now.
Link: p*atreon.com/BookReaderBoy (Remove the *)
Also Free members get 2 advanced chapters for Free as well.