Ravens and Asphodels | Harry Potter Marauders Era (Regulus Black x OFC)

Summer'78

18 July 1978

The orphanage officially opened its doors on July 18th, 1978. On day one, the Abbott's, Diana, Remus, and Eileen were volunteers. The orphanage had been established in an old family manor that had been repossessed by the ministry decades ago from some pureblood family that no longer existed because they ran out of cousins to marry.

The woman who was appointed to run the orphanage was a woman named Marie Friendway, whose appearance was the definition of grandmotherly. Marie was grateful for the extra volunteer hands as the orphanage was expecting nine children between the ages of one and nine to arrive later in the day.

The children were all children whose magical parents had died. Unfortunately, due to the increasing violence in the magical world caused by the Death Eaters, many of these children were recently orphaned. The orphanage would be home to the nine children and provide housing to several of the twelve staff members.

Mary, Eileen, and Paul were asked to help with the cooks while Barbra and Charles were asked to ensure the home's wards were secure.

Remus and Diana were both sent to help Marie with whatever she needed.

The children arrived at noon. The first to arrive was three-year-old Melissa Matthews. Melissa was a small, shy girl with strawberry hair in pigtails. She was clung to a young boy named Reece Keri, who, for a three-year-old, looked ready to take on the world for Melissa. Reece had his dark eyes narrowed critically at Diana, Remus, and Marie. The last of their group was three-year-old Cynthia Bennett, who seemed to be the most receptive of the three. Cynthia immediately went over to Remus and grabbed his much larger hand in her smaller one, and began talking to him about herself, especially how her new facial scars were like Remus's. Remus let himself be led over to one of the coaches, slightly bemused.

Diana decided to begin talking to Reece and Melissa softly. Eventually, Melissa came out from behind Reece. Once Melissa relaxed, Reece also relaxed, and the two spoke to Diana about how their day was going so far and tentatively mentioned they were excited to see their rooms.

The next batch of children to arrive were siblings Phoebe and Kian Moss. Kian was two, making him the older pair as Phoebe had just turned one last month. It was easy to identify the two as siblings as they both shared the same olive skin, long straight black hair, and brown eyes. The siblings weren't as shy as Melissa and Reece, but they also weren't like Cynthia. Diana spent the rest of the day with Phoebe on her lap after the little one warmed up to her.

The final group to arrive were the older kids. There was nine-year-old Mary Armstrong, eight-year-old Laura Cox, and seven-year-olds Jamie Hudson and Daniel Barton. The older kids mostly kept to themselves, warily observing the adults and their new surroundings. But sometimes Jamie or Mary would come over to help one of the smaller children with something. Marie later explained after Dina mentioned their behavior that both Jamie and Mary had lost siblings in the attack that orphaned them.

The group had lunch, and the children were introduced to the other volunteers and the staff who would be working with them. After lunch, some staff members and the older volunteers took the children to explore the rest of the home. Remus and Diana followed Marie into her office after the more senior women asked to speak with them.