My Money Never Runs Out

Anton had a feeling that Sirius was about to run away—not because of Barty Crouch Jr. inside him, nor because he had become a monster.

The house at 12 Grimmauld Place wasn't as quiet as usual. Along with the portrait of Sirius's mother shrieking and cursing like mad, there was also an old House-elf with a sour, bitter face: Kreacher.

The short Kreacher stooped over, muttering in his bullfrog-hoarse voice from the corner. "Betrayed his bloodline! Utterly shameful, utterly shameful! The mistress must be terribly disappointed!"

He clamped his hands over his huge, bat-like ears, trying not to hear the chaotic cries of babies and the soothing voices of women coming from upstairs.

"Padfoot..." Lupin hesitated. "I don't think you should keep them all living upstairs. It's torture for both the adults and the children."

Sirius was silent for a long while, then sighed. "I know, I know..."

He was at his wits' end, too. If these young women had all been helping that madwoman from the Potter family torment him in the Laboratory, that would be one thing.

But these people were just poor. Some had agreed to have children for Karina Potter to pay their family's medical expenses, while others had been driven to desperation and hoped to earn enough to live on by joining the experiment. They were all pitiful people, at heart.

He understood that, but he still had no idea what to do.

Eighteen of them!

Eighteen women and twenty children!

Merlin's buttery underpants! This was the most absurd thing Sirius had ever encountered in his life!

He had no idea what to do.

"Maybe you could buy the building across the street!" Anton said, pointing out the window at a large building opposite them.

It was clearly bigger than the other buildings on the