Hogwarts, School Board Meeting Room - April 24, 1996
James was both extremely nervous and exhausted. Hadrian had been extremely clingy ever since Sev had had to leave, not that he had a problem with it. It just meant that he spent almost all of his time with his son in his arms. The only time he was able to put Hadrian down was when Sirius or Remus had taken him.
Every night Hadrian was in his bed and they would mirror call Sev. As soon as the calls would end Hadrian would once again dissolve into tears. They had tried skipping a night in the hopes that it might help Hadrian see that Sev didn't need to be their all the time and work on his separation issues.
Hadrian had almost had a full blown panic attack as he cried the most heartbreaking tears. That night James had ended up sharing his bed with Hadrian, Sirius, Remus, and Severus on an open mirror call the entire night. It was clear that Hadrian was having severe separation anxiety from his abandonment fears.
This morning when James had said that he was going to leave Hadrian had once again melted down. When James had finally managed to Floo to the bank, before continuing on to the school, Hadrian had been sobbing into Sirius's chest. James had felt his heart break at the sight.
Now he was preparing to enter the school board meeting. If things went the way that they wanted, by the end of the meeting he would have gotten to upset the headmaster and be one step closer to saving his husband from the old goats web.
Once they were all sitting at the table, Dumbledore had of course been late, they went around the table doing introductions. Each family was represented by a member of their family. Representing the dark faction was Avery, Gibbon, Montague, and Yaxley. The neutral faction was Bletchley, Ollivander, Shacklebolt, Kingsley's uncle, and Travers. For the light it was Blishwick, Fawley, Tonks, Sirius's cousin Andromeda, and the Weasley's, represented by Molly herself.
Like they had with the Wizengamot meeting, the first thing they did was go over the minutes of the last meeting. From what James heard it sounded like they hadn't managed to do a single thing, except have Molly stroke Dumbledore's clearly massive ego.
Then James got the joy of listening to Molly and Andromeda go on about how they needed to make sure there weren't any books in the library that could tempt the innocent little children to the dark side. Looking at the others all of them were clearly trying to stop themselves from rolling their eyes, even Blishwick and Fawley clearly thought they were being stupid.
Eventually it came time to make motions. James made sure that he was the first to speak.
"As I am sure that you all know by now, a new department has been formed by the ministry to ensure the safety of the children, the Department of Child Welfare, the DCW. To this purpose I propose that we have a team of healers and mind healers come in from St.Mongo's to conduct a mandatory health scan. I also propose that we make these health scans mandatory at the beginning of every new school year."
"Lord Peverell." Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling. "I know that you didn't attend this school but we have a healer on staff. She deals with all the children's issues. I am sure that she is more than capable of checking the children."
"It is not my intent to be contrary Headmaster, but I must disagree. You do not have a fully qualified healer. You have a midi-witch. And although there is no denying that Madam Pomfrey is skilled at what she does, it is not enough. As I stated at the Wizengamot, most victims of child abuse hide their abuse, many are also taught to mistrust authority figures. That is why I suggested the inclusion of mind healers. There is also the fact that she heals injuries as they come in, not older injuries. I guess she doesn't check for those. It is my belief that one midi-witch is not nearly enough for a school, but I will address that later. At the Wizengamot I mentioned the tragic story of Emily Winters. That was not some historical case. If Emily had survived she would currently be studying for her NEWTs with the other Ravenclaws. I never want to have to find another story like her's. If my proposal for the medical scans by the healers and mind healers are approved then the Peverell family is willing to cover the cost for this year."
"And the Shacklebolt family will assist in covering the cost." Kingsley's uncle added and James gave him a nod of thanks. "I second Lord Peverell Gryffindor's motion, for both the medical scans now, and to have the scans made mandatory for the beginning of each school year."
"And just what will we do if any children are found to be being abused. I know that you offered to fund an orphanage of sorts Lord Peverell, but what will we do until it opens." Albus was getting frustrated with this man. Just who did he think he was, making Poppy look negligent.
"Happily, Lord Dumbledore, I have been speaking with Cecilia and Edward, you'll remember them as the co-heads of the DCW. The Sea Cliff Home, as the orphanage has been named, will be fully staffed and open by the end of the school year. Any student that can not safely be returned home will be sent there. Any reports of abuse are to be sent directly to the DCW, by order of Minister Fudge. So I see no issues." James couldn't stop a smirk from forming on his lips.
"You are actually suggesting that we basically kidnap these children from their loving families." Molly all but screeched.
"No Mrs. Weasley." James said in a calm voice. "I am suggesting that we remove children from abusive homes. Not all children are welcome or safe in their own home. No child should have to be sent to a place where their hurt, no matter what their so called parents might want."
Molly's only response to that was to huff. After that a vote was called and it wasn't even close. Both of James's proposals went through without any trouble. Not even Dumbledore or Molly was willing to vote against them.
"Now, next issue I wished to discuss. The other day I was going through Diagon Alley and I saw a few young teenagers at Florean Fortescue'sIce Cream Parlour. It didn't make sense because they were clearly school aged. When I asked them why they weren't at school they laughed at my naivety. They had no problem telling me that their parents worked in Knockturn Alley, so there was no way that they could afford to attend Hogwarts, even if they had been invited. I was hoping that one of you would be willing to explain to me just why it is that children are being denied an education simply because of where their parents work?" James was both hoping and dreading that Molly would be the one to answer. He would love to watch her make a bigoted fool of herself, but her voice was like nails on a chalkboard. The woman clearly didn't have an inside voice.
It was indeed Molly that answered. What followed was a 10 minute diatribe agains the evils of dark magic. By the end only Dumbledore and Andromeda Tonks were looking at her with anything like agreement. It was clear all the others thought she was just as crazy as James did.
"So you think that because their parents happen to work in a certain place, the children are evil and don't deserve an education. Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't those beliefs almost the same as that Lord Voldemort guy," almost everyone in the room flinched, "just going in the opposite direction. He didn't support the rights of the muggleborn, and you don't support the rights of those born with a dark core. I don't know if you are aware of this Mrs. Weasley, but you can not control either of those things. You can not pick your parents any more than you can decide the leaning of your core." James enjoyed watching Molly's mouth drop open in surprise when he compared her to Voldemort. She then went red with anger, the only thing that stopped her from screaming at him was Dumbledore interrupting.
"I'm sure he doesn't mean that in the way it came out Molly dear." James just raised an eyebrow. "You yourself were homeschooled were you not?"
"Yes, I was. The difference is that my parents chose to keep me home because we did a lot of traveling. At least I was offered a chance at a traditional education. These children were denied even that choice because of who their parents are. I feel that that sort of bigotry has no place in this institution. I am putting forward a motion to offer all magical children admittance in to Hogwarts so long as they have the power levels for it."
It was Lord Yaxley that spoke up this time. "Although I agree that children should not be discriminated against due to the colour of their cores there is no way that we can afford to educate all of them. The school is barely making a profit as it is. Maybe we could use some of the scholarships that go to the other students to offer the children of Knockturn a chance."
James knew that Yaxley had been a strong supporter of Voldemort's. This was not the kind of man that he was ever going to agree with. "Lord Yaxley, this is a school, not a business. If you want to serve on a board that makes a profit I would suggest you go and work at a business. In my books, a school should never turn a profit. I am not suggesting that we reallocate the scholarship funds. I am suggesting that we offer more scholarships."
"Though I agree that a school is not meant to turn a profit there is no way we could offer even more scholarships. We are offering the maximum number of scholarships that we can afford. Not to mention that there isn't enough room. As you yourself just stated Madam Pomfrey is overworked as it is, and so are all the teachers." Gerbot Ollivander, the brother of the wand maker Garrick Ollivander, said.
James gave him a satisfied smile, he couldn't have asked for a better set up. "That was something that interested me. Why is it that the school is so big if it can only educate a few hundred students? I looked into it and fount that the school isn't even functioning at half capacity. I looked at the historical records and found a rather staggering drop in attendance about 150 years ago. Ever since then the school has been struggling financially.
Given that it was clearly a financial issue I went to the goblins. They told me a most interesting story. It would seem that all four of the founders set up vaults to be used to continue funding the school long after they passed. During the time of the founders the ministry was just being founded, and there were more than one or two tyrants that tried to subjugate the people. Because of this the founders were extremely cautious about who they trusted with their gold. They could not guarantee that they would always be able to trust the government, or the headmaster of the school they built, so they trusted the goblins.
They made an ironclad contract about how the goblins would deal with the school. The headmaster and staff would only retain access to the founders vaults so long as they followed the guidelines. About 150 years ago the goblins caught the headmaster of the time attempting to control the students by only hiring his friends and political allies. This was against the rules so the goblins cut off his access to the vaults. To regain access to the vaults all we have to do is prove that we're following the original guidelines. It's actually not that hard, all we need to do is prove everyone we have hired is the best person for the job.
Once we have proven that the staff deserves their positions the vaults will be open to us. So long as we can continue to follow the guidelines we will be able to hire a lot more staff. As I said earlier Madam Pomfrey is clearly overworked and doesn't have the credentials needed to properly treat all the students. This would allow us to hire more healers.
The Helena Vault, started by Helga Hufflepuff and Rowena Ravenclaw, was intended to ensure that school was always appropriately staffed. The Slyrick Vault, started by Salazar Slytherin and Godrick Gryffindor, was intended to ensure that any student that needed a scholarship would have one.
I have looked at the vaults. Given the current amounts there is enough in the vaults to fully fund the school for the next 300 years minimum."
"Are you telling me that there is money just sitting in a vault and the goblins never thought to mention it to us. We could be doing so much with that money." Dumbledore demanded. This could work for him. Now that he didn't have as much access to the Potter money he was going to need to find a new way to fund his side projects.
"It isn't the goblins job to tell you." James supplied. "I guess that the former headmaster that lost access to those vaults just never bothered to tell his successor that they existed. As for what can be done with the money, as I said there are limits."
"What sort of limits. They have no right to deny the school it's money." Molly was incensed. Albus was a great wizard, and goblins were filth. They were probably stealing the money for themselves with their grubby little fingers.
"Actually they do. As I said, the Slyrick vault funds scholarships. Each student must present themselves at the bank and verify that they will be attending Hogwarts by signing a binding contract. This is to ensure that no one is padding the numbers or attempting to defraud the school by saying there are more students then there actually are. The Helena vault is for staffing the school. There are actually tighter regulations on this vault. The regulations stipulate what the salary is for each position, don't worry it has been adjusted to meet current standards of living. All positions must be made available to the public, this can be done by advertising the positions in print, like the Daily Profit, or on the WWN. The applicants will have to submit a written application. And the person hired must be able to show that they are the best for the job and are competent."
"That doesn't seem so hard." Kensington Shacklebolt said in his calm baritone voice. "We just need to make sure that those that we hire are the best for the job, which we should be doing anyway."
The meeting wrapped up quickly after that. James was feeling particularly smug that his ideas had been agreed to, no problem. He knew that Albus was probably throwing a fit on the inside. He had always made sure that the only people that worked at the school were those he believed to be loyal to him. Now he would have to publicly offer jobs, and hire the most qualified person. It those rules had been in place for the past few years they would probably have had a completely different staff. He had also canceled classes due to their not being money for them, now there was money so he was going to need to make up a new excuse.
There was also the kids from the poorer dark families. Albus had always made sure that the only kids that received scholarships were those from light families or muggleborns with light cores. This meant that a majority of the school was light oriented. Now it was going to be balanced out.
Once the meeting was officially ended James went to talk to Kingsley's uncle while Dumbledore went to regroup with Molly and Andromeda.
"Albus what are we going to do?" Andromeda demanded. "That man is ruining everything."
"Honestly, just who does he think he is? How dare he compare me to he-who-must-not-be-named. We need to get him off the board." Molly was beyond furious.
"Calm down, both of you. I'm working on it. The problem is that he represents two founders. That's not something I can overcome. I will just have to find a way to sway him to our way of thinking." Albus said in an attempt to calm them, but even he wasn't calmed bye it. He had known that this man would be trouble.
Over with Kensington Shaklebolt, James was having a much more pleasant conversation. Kingsley had mentioned to his uncle that he had met him so they were discussing it. James only told him that he had met his nephew when he went to a meeting with Amelia.
After a little while he caught Dumbledore out of the corner of his eye. It was obvious that he was trying to eavesdrop on the conversation. James decided it was time to drop the bait.
"I agree, Kensington. We do need to improve the school. Look at me. I've been working as a curse breaker for almost 10 years and a single mistake from a newbie that hadn't learned enough has put me out of action for months. I have another month and a half of medical leave left but it looks like I might be sidelined even longer. My team and I were planning on excavating a temple of one of the oldest potions masters but we're still missing a team member. Due to the specialized nature of the temple the goblins insist that we need a human potions master, since the goblins do potions differently then we do. But since there are so few qualified potions masters available it could take us years to find someone."
"Can't you just hire someone from an apothecary?" Kensington asked.
"If only it was that easy. The goblins insist that we can only use a full potions master with at least 5 years of work with potions. And it would seem that all of them are busy. The only potions masters that we have found that are available in the UK are Horace Slughorn, who I believe used to work here, but he would never leave the UK so he hasn't even been approached. And the other man, Toby Zear, has only had his mastery for 2 years. But, thats enough about my problems, I should probably get going."
"I should head out as well, my wife will be waiting. It was a pleasure meeting you Sebastian."
"You as well Kensington."
James smiled as he walked towards the exit. He had successfully planted the bait, now he just had to see if the old man would get involved.
Entering the hall heading towards the main hall to leave James stopped as he heard none other than Albus Dumbledore call his name.
"Sebastian, my boy. I was hoping I could discuss those vaults with you up in my office."
"Certainly Headmaster."
Walking towards the headmasters office James couldn't believe his luck. They had expected Dumbledore to try and arrange a meeting with him, but they had never considered it would be this soon.
Severus was on his way up to the great hall for dinner, and to see if he could catch any gossip when he heard something he hadn't expected. According to the gossip the headmaster was on his way up to his office with the Gryffindor lord himself. Sev almost smirked when he heard some of the silly little girls start running wild with fantasies about his husband.
Severus quickly returned to his office to grab the report he had made up for the headmaster. Dumbledore had cornered him this morning asking for an update on Bill's progress in his private lessons. The report that he had written was mostly just what he knew about the boys performance in his classes. Bill was good at following instructions and solving problems so he was actually doing well in his class. It actually wouldn't surprise him if Bill managed an O on his OWL.
Once he had the report he went as quickly as he could, without drawing attention to himself, up to the headmasters office. Getting there, he took a moment to calm himself before he knocked and entered.
"Albus I have that report you... Oh, my apologies headmaster. I didn't realize you had a guest."
"Oh it is no problem my boy. Do come in. Sebastian and I were just about to sit down for a cup of tea, why don't you join us? Lemon drop?" Albus offered before quickly introducing them.
James couldn't stop himself from checking Sev out, gods he was sexy. Severus was much better at hiding his attraction and only showed board disinterest. On the inside he was almost panting. The goblins had keyed him, Sirius and Remus into James's glamour so that even though he was taller, they could still see James's face and colouring.
"Certainly headmaster. Before I forget, here is the report on Mr. Weasley's progress in his extra lessons." As Sev leaned forward and placed the report on the desk he could feel James's eyes on his ass. He couldn't even bring himself to get upset with his blatant action because all he wanted to do was to take him on the headmasters desk.
As Severus placed the report on his desk he knew exactly what he needed to do. He needed information, and who better to gather it than a spy. yes, that would be perfect. The man needed a potions master, and it was clear he was attracted to Severus. People were always more willing to share information if they thought that they would get sex.
He didn't think that Severus went that way but it really didn't matter. Sacrifices were needed for the greater good after all. Severus would just have to do what needed to be done. Once he managed to get close enough to this new lord he would slip him a love potion focused on Lily. If he could get Lily, although they would need to change her identity, married to this man he would no longer have need of James Potter. Yes, that was a good plan.
"I do believe that I have just come up with the perfect idea." Both James and Severus tensed slightly as Dumbledore said this and they saw the twinkle in his eyes. "Severus you have been complaining for a while now that the students are too much work to allow you time to do your own brewing. Sebastian, your team is in need of a potions master. What if Severus went to work with you for a while? It would be perfect."
Severus actually gaped at the man. This was way to easy. There was no way that Dumbledore would be this easy to fool.
James saw his chance and wasn't about to let it pass him by. "That would be perfect. What do you think Potions Master Snape?"
When Albus gave him an encouraging nod Severus turned to James. "If you think I would be of assistance to your team I would be willing to join."
Tea was quickly finished after that. James gave the same overview of the vaults that he had given in the board meeting before getting up to leave. Just before he left he told Severus that he would recommend him to the goblins and then gave Albus the letter he had written to Hadrian, the letter was just a basic hello and information about his heirship as they didn't want Dumbledore to decide to visit him.
If the goblins chose to hire him he would receive an official offer of employment by mid May, and a contract by the middle of June. If Severus still wanted to work with him then all he had to do was sign the contract and they would be set.
After that, Albus allowed him to floo directly to the bank from his office.
Severus got up and was about to leave when Albus called him back.
"Severus, my boy."
"Yes headmaster?"
"I need you to do something for me."
"Of course headmaster. What is it you want me to do?"
"I need you to get close to Sebastian. You need to do whatever it takes to get him to trust and confide in you. Once you get the job offer, come to me and we will sort it out. I know your current contract isn't up for renegotiations for a few years but I can easily put it on hold for as long as you need. I will also make the arrangements with your parole officer so there is no need for you to get involved with him. But I am going to need you to promise me you will do whatever it takes. It is already clear that the man has a weakness for you, I need you to exploit that, no matter what it takes."
Severus clenched his teeth for a moment. This man had just basically ordered him to whore himself out for information and it infuriated him. There was also the lie about the parole officer again. "Yes headmaster, I will do my best."
With that Severus left. As he was going down the stairs he ran into Minerva on her way up. Not trusting himself to speak he settled for a nod of greeting before going back to his room. Albus and Minerva would probably be busy for the next hour so he didn't have to pretend everything was normal. He knew that the Potter elves would be happy to serve him his dinner in his room.
Minerva didn't even bother to knock this time. "Albus, is everything ok? What happened at the meeting? Was it as bad as we thought? Why was Severus here?"
Albus sighed deeply. He was both disappointed in the out come of the meeting but he was also excited by what he had arranged.
"We were right Minerva. That man will be trouble. Like he did at the Wizengamot meeting, he shows expert skill at working others to his point of view. Today he managed to convince the board to implement mandatory physicals, any child from what he claims as a bad home will be sent to the orphanage that he has already got up and running, forced us to start issuing invitations to the children of the darker areas like Knockturn, and possibly beneficially to us, showed me a way that we can hire more staff. We could use the extra staff, but it is going to be more difficult to ensure that they are our people. The goblins have to sign off on the new employees, and they are more likely to listen to him then us."
"So what can we do? We need to stop him, or at least slow him down. He has only been working publicly for a month and he has already caused so much damage. We need to make sure that our world is fixed. We can't have more students with dark cores, it might start to convince the others that they are just like them. We need to keep the dark and light separated. The dark needs to be stamped out, not educated. We just don't know enough about this man to control him. Maybe we could try potions, we've always gotten decent responses to that."
"It will be ok Minerva. It would seem that Lord Peverell has taken a liking to our dear Severus. His curse breaking team is stuck here because they don't have a potions master. I have graciously offered Severus's services. I don't like having to give up to much control of him, he's to dangerous, but it will at least get that man out of the country for a bit. Then Severus can get all the information on him we need and return here."
"Are you sure we can trust Severus to do a job like this. He isn't exactly the easiest person to deal with. The chances of them becoming friends are very slim."
"Oh my dear Minerva. Sebastian doesn't seem to be looking for a friend, he is looking for a bed partner."
"I didn't know that Severus liked men."
"It doesn't really matter. He will do his duty for the greater good. I have made sure he knows what he must do, and he will do it. As for trust, well... He still thinks that he is on parole, plus I have control of his finances. Once he gets the job offer I will inform the goblins of what needs to be in the contract. After he's finished his time with those disgusting creatures, which I doubt will take too long, I will just reactivate his teaching contract and we will have him back under our control. No, my biggest problem now is finding a teacher to temporarily replace him."
They spent the next little while going over different people that they could hire for the few months that Severus would be away.
Peverell Manor
After leaving the school, James stopped by Ragnock's office to let him know that Dumbledore had fallen into their trap and that they were going to need to send an offer of employment and the contract earlier than expected.
While he was meeting with Ragnock Cora stopped by. She had brought with her 4 bracelets. She and Ragnock explained that they were used by goblin parents when they have to work and leave their youngling at home. They showed him how you could push a small amount of magic into them.
That magic held the persons signature so that the child would still be able to feel them. It wasn't a substitute for having a parent around but the goblins had found that it helped to ease the separation anxiety that comes when the parents would first have to return back to work. Cora explained that given his mage sight, Hadrian was probably magically sensitive. That would mean that his magic would recognize that a member of his family was missing. He probably wasn't even fully conscious of why he was so upset. They were willing to allow James to rent them for 100 galleons a month.
James had jumped at the opportunity. This might just be able to help Hadrian. He used one of the mailboxes that Ragnock had in his office to send a letter and one of the bracelets to Sev. Sev must have been back in his room already because the bracelet had been returned bearing his magical signature less than a minute later.
After that he went home.
Stepping out of the floo James was almost bowled over by the small form of his son. Picking him up he spun them in circles. Hadrian gave a watery giggle.
Looking down he could see Hadrian's cheeks were tear stained and his eyes were bloodshot. He wondered if Hadrian had been crying since he left.
"What's the matter my little one?"
"I was scared you wouldn't come back. Papa went to where the old man is, and now he can't come home. What if he trapped you like he did papa. then it would just be me and Remy and Siri. They would both try and save you and get trapped too. Then I would be all alone again and have to go back to Private Drive."
Hadrian knew that he shouldn't cry so much. He didn't want his daddy's and uncles to think he was a baby and change their minds about him living with them. But he was just so scared, all the time. He knew the white haired man was evil, he didn't want to lose his family again.
James looked over at Remus and Sirius who had come in the floo room with Hadrian. They shared a sad look. They had known that Hadrian had been upset. They had just thought that it was because he had missed Sev. They hadn't realized it was because he was imagining about losing them all and having to go back to the Dursley's. It made complete sense to them now why Hadrian was so sad all the time. He was imagining losing them.
"You don't need to worry about that little one. We will never leave you. Yes, papa might not be here in the house with us right now, but we're working on that. We are actually a lot closer now then we were this morning." James said cheerily.
"Are we really?" Remus asked as he led them out to the veranda. "So Dumbledore now knows that you are looking for a potions master."
"Better than that. He actually asked me to his office. Sev made sure to stop by. Albus actually suggested then and there that Sev join our team. I told him that he would have a job offer by May and a contract by the middle of June. If things keep going our way at this pace, Sev will be joining us by the time summer begins."
James, Sirius, and Remus spent the next half hour going over everything that had happened at he board meeting, and the meeting with Dumbledore after. Hadrian was content to just rest in his daddy's lap during this time.
A half sandwich had appeared on the table with a small glass of milk just before the adults finished talking. After James had explained about the type of diet Hadrian was going to need to the elves, the elves had taken to ensuring that Hadrian received small amounts of food at least once every hour. They knew that his stomach couldn't handle large amounts yet so it was normally only half a sandwich or other small treats.
Hadrian had gotten used to small amounts of food appearing around him so he just settled back to eat. After he finished eating James started to rub his back and soon enough, Hadrian had drifted off into a light doze.
Noticing that his son was fast asleep James pulled out the bracelets he had gotten at the bank. After explaining them to Sirius and Remus, they both pushed a little of their magic into them, and James wrapped all four bracelets around his sons wrist.
The bracelets were fairly simple. They were a relatively thin band of leather with a round bauble on them. The bauble held their magic and glowed with it. Each was different, but they each represented their family.
As soon as the bracelets were on Hadrian gave a little contented sigh. Shifting slightly, he wrapped his right hand around the bracelets on his left wrist. It was clear that that little bit of Sev's magic was already helping to calm Hadrian's system.
James knew that he was going to have to mirror call Sev so he passed Hadrian off to Remy. Remus just settled back into his seat, cuddling the small boy that was the centre of their world, and grabbed one of his books to read.
James went to his and Sev's room and warded it to make sure he wouldn't be interrupted by Hadrian. He needed to discuss things with Sev but didn't want to risk getting Hadrian's hopes up in case things fell through and they weren't able to get Sev back in the time they currently thought it would take.
"Severus Snape." James said to the mirror as he pushed a little magic into it to make the call.
"James, I was wondering when you would call."
James looked at Sev's face, it was clear he was angry. "What did that old fool do to get you upset love?"
"Oh, nothing. He just informed me after you left that I was to do whatever it took to get you to trust me. He basically told me to whore myself to you to gain information. That absolute..."
"Bastard."
"Yes, that's the word I was looking for. So on a better note. It looks like he is willing to let me go. He said that they would just reactivate my teaching contract once I was done at the bank so we're gonna need to make sure the contract the bank sends nullifies it."
"That should be easy enough."
"So. Did the bracelets help Hadrian?"
"Yes. I put them on while he was napping. As soon as they were on his body completely relaxed. It seemed to help him better than anything we've tried so far."
"Poor little guy. He must be so confused with everything going on."
James and Sev talked for another little while before they ended the call. They both knew that they would be talking again soon, Hadrian always made sure that they talked before he would go to sleep.
When he left his room he found Remus still sitting in his chair reading, but Hadrian wasn't there. Looking past Remus, though, he could clearly see Hadrian and Sirius, in his Padfoot form, playing in the yard. James smiled. This was the first time Hadrian had felt relaxed enough to play since Sev had left. The bracelets were clearly helping.
He ended up joining Remus in reading. They were all brushing up on their skills. It had been decided that they were going to take their jobs as curse breakers seriously. They weren't just going to use them as cover.