Custodarium by Tina48

Chapter 23

The morning mail arrived as usual on Wednesday the 31st of January 1945, leaving Tom with an impatiently anticipated letter in his hands. Naturally, he hadn't procrastinated on the correspondence with the Minister, sending him his elegantly phrased wishes of a happy New Year together with a proposition regarding the details of the Custodarium-Ministry cooperation.

He'd consulted the matter with Aaron Morgenstern (now a Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Law Division junior employee) at the party – the magical laws of child custody were rather simplistic: in short, custody could be passed between parents, godparents or immediate relatives freely, the authorities only interfered in the event of disputes. If a child's legal guardian died or proved unfit to raise it, their custody would fall upon the next eligible candidate. If no eligible candidate was available, the case was to be "handled individually". There were laws to protect an orphaned child's inheritance, not as much the child itself. Until they started Hogwarts, the Ministry had no way of checking up on the children.

In his letter to Minister Spencer-Moon, Tom proposed a system of child protection with the Custodarium staff as the executive power. They would check up on every "known" (source of that knowledge left unspecified) magical child's wellbeing at least once a year. If they detected unsuitable conditions, they would report to the Ministry of Magic and apply for a custody transfer. If the Ministry came upon an uncared-for magical or Squib child, it could temporarily or permanently leave it in Custodarium's care.

Additionally, any minor ought to have the right to seek refuge at Custodarium of their own volition, regardless of their family status. In such events, Tom requested for a new sort of protective custody to be established, so that the staff could legally handle the child until the situation resolved itself in their jurisdiction.

The demands were daring, but he'd phrased them carefully and explained the reasoning behind each of them to make them difficult to dispute. There was also one strong argument in their favour – the bill would shed positive light on the Ministry without it costing them a Knut.

Despite knowing that, Tom still felt a touch nervous as he opened the envelope – this was direct correspondence with the Minister of Magic, after all, and a crucial point to his plans.

Dear Mr. Riddle,

thank you for your letter, your initiative is most meritorious. I have considered your propositions and found no reason to demur. I shall present a bill to the Wizengamot as soon as possible in high hopes of it coming into force before your facility starts operation in June.

I am looking forward to our future cooperation.

Yours sincerely,

Leonard Spencer-Moon

Minister of Magic

That wasn't too bad, Tom thought in satisfaction.

"-serious?"

"No way!"

"-a shame... so handsome."

He glanced up from the letter to see a group of fifth year Ravenclaw girls look away in a hurry. Alarmingly, they weren't the only ones staring – there was an ominous hum of murmurs, mostly in female voices, throughout the Great Hall, heads turning in his direction.

Walburga Black, a pretentious classmate who used to have a very annoying crush on Tom in third year but washed her hands off him after the incident with Malfoy, gasped loudly and hastily passed a magazine to Christopher Nott and his friends on the farther, blood-purist side of the Slytherin table. They seemed awfully pleased about something, laughing and whispering to each other conspiratorially. Finally, they stood up and made for the door, pausing by the spot where Harry and Tom had been sitting. The Hall grew almost completely silent in anticipation.