Work Text:
Unexpected news arrived at the Barrow, arriving by Muggle mail. This, in turn, was quite the surprise, given how well Wizards cut themselves off from Muggles. Yet, some level of connections remained, such as keeping in touch with Squib family members, even though many Wizards didn’t know what to do with that particular lot in their families.
Or at least, that was how Arthur and Molly thought the letter came to them, that some Squib family member led to them being the only family with six orphans all the way in the United States had, and—
In the end, despite everything, despite how hard things already were, it wasn ’t like either of them was going to turn any stay away, and thus, they set about figuring out how to make it work while letting the children know what was going on.
Ron, of course, “But we’ve got to share what we have enough already. That’s not bloody fair.”
“Ron,” Molly said, having read the details of—
She ’d heard something along the lines of Muggle factories, imagining Muggle workhouse conditions thanks to some of the things she heard when babysitting for the Black family. She found herself thinking of such horrid conditions, of—
She didn ’t know how things would work out, and neither did Arthur, but they decided they would make things work.
“And not bloody doing anything magical around them because you had to take Muggles in,” Ron said. “It’s bloody not fair.”
“At least we still have mum and dad,” Charlie said. Percy stared, then nodded his head after snapping out of it.
—later—
It took quite a bit of paperwork, yet unexpectedly, the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts stepped in, as the children in question might, by chance, be magical. Thus, further complicating the orphans' situation, there was already word that the children might end up separated in the American foster system.
It turned out—
Molly hated thinking of it; the insurance and payout from the factory left the children well taken care of when it came to money, not something she thought anyone would want to hear, thinking Fabian and Gideon ’s deaths were far easier to stomach given she’d never received a penny from their deaths, that she also knew they died a heroes death, instead of working double shifts at the factory to make ends meet.
“Imagine you having to work two jobs,” Molly said. “And if need be…”
She did have the skills, but Uncle Ignatius—
He stepped in, the lawyer that he was, and handled the financial situation. He took advantage of the fact that he could make the Muggle money go farther once converted to wizarding money and other things he didn ’t quite understand, with part of her hoping that her Aunt Lucrettia and he hadn’t pitched in.
“But if they did,” Arthur said. “You know they have no children of their own, and I think they’d love the chance to take in next of kin.”
“Wish they’d taken in…” She started saying, but then shook her head, not wishing to think of a death-not-to-be-named that she felt was far worse than even the Herdman’s mother’s death.
And it was an Auror who decided to help the children navigate the flight system, although—
Somehow, word got to them, and it was a rumor that the Herdman children might be banned.
And there they were, the Herdman children, six of them.
“So,” Molly said.
“I’m Imogene, the oldest girl said, hair as red as fire and definitely a sign the Herdman children were an offshoot of the Weasley family, dears that they were—
Or so Molly thought; yet she also noticed—one of the children, the one who looked like the eldest, lacked such a trait, his hair instead of a brown hue. She made a note in her head not to ask, yet she ’d likely figure it out later.
“This is Ralph,” she said, then nodded to the other kids. “And this is Leroy, Claude, Ollie, and Gladys. She’s the youngest.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Arthur said.
“Sure it is,” Imogene said, as if she felt all adults lied. But it seemed that the other children also lied.
“Well. It seems there is more to worry about than just money,” Molly thought. “But I think we can do it, right? They just need some love and encouragement.”