Nestled on the corner of Up Street and Brumble Lane in South Bartnburg is the St Mungo’s Home for Inconvenient Children, at once both an orphanage and a boarding school for those aged three to eighteen. The original house was built in Edinburg in 1702, but with the expansion of Hogsmeade, the Home’s patrons decided it would be best to move the children away from muggle eyes. Watching over her charges is Aunt Lydia, a devotee of the Church of Magical Jesus and, as far as anyone is aware, not actually an aunt to any children living. Children come to the home in one of two ways:

— Most commonly, middle class youths are sent by whatever relations they’re left to after the death of one or more parents. Their families pay for this privilege, naturally. Occasionally, children with both parents living will be sent there as well, either because they’re actually obnoxious or because their parents consider them to be.

— Less often, working class orphans are taken in, their care paid for by the Home’s patrons.

All children are schooled in reading, writing, and arithmetic in the mornings; afternoons are spent learning valuable household work for the “sponsored” (poor) children and appropriate topics such as music, art, French, and history for their more affluent counterparts. All the children dine together to instill good manners and a sense of charity. Sundays after breakfast, the children are engaged in Bible study until lunch, bar the one Sunday each month when church is held in Hogsmeade.

The house is laid out in wings: in the entryway, one will turn either left or right, or go up the stairs in the same directions. Dead ahead is the stairs down to the kitchen, laundry, and storerooms. If one turns left on the ground floor, they will find two classrooms (one for boys, one for girls), a parlour, a small library, and a formal sitting room. To the right on the same floor lie the dining room, another parlour, and Aunt Lydia’s quarters. Up the first flight of stairs lie the girls’ rooms (to the left) and the boys’ rooms (to the right), which sleep two to a bedchamber. Two rooms are also available for important guests, though the Home seldom has any. Finally, the third floor boasts the rooms of the household staff, and a dormitory for sponsored children of each sex.

Like most children, those at the Home leave for Hogwarts when the time is right. Sponsored children have their first three years covered by the Home. Afterwards, they may stay through their OWLs only if a full scholarship is obtained. Those who do not get a scholarship will be matched with appropriate work, often in the household of one of the Home’s patrons.

The residents of the house include:

Minerva Nightly
Justice Rookwood
Clementine Rookwood
Faye Rookwood
Apollo Cartwright

The employees of the house include:

— “Aunt Lydia” herself
— Mrs. MacDougal, the cook
— xx, the kitchen maid
— xx and xx, the housemaids
— xx, the house elf
— Miss xx and Miss xx, teachers (live elsewhere)
— Mr. xx, a tutor (lives elsewhere)
— xx, the gardener