Hallows Not Horcruxes

This is an AU about what would have happened if Dobby had lived. Will Harry make different choices about his mission? The characters belong to Rowling, not me. Spoilers for DH.

Chapter 1

Bellatrix Lestrange was desperate. Harry Potter was escaping and she had summoned the Dark Lord! She flung her silver knife at Harry, hoping to wound or distract him enough to stop him from Disapperating.

A drop of the blood she had drawn from the Mudblood's throat had trickled down to the knife's handle. Her fingers slipped, and the knife flew a half-inch too far to the left and embedded itself in the far wall. Harry Potter, the traitorous house-elf, and the goblin disappeared. Bellatrix screamed in frustration and fear.

----

Harry, Dobby, and Griphook hit the ground hard, and Harry fell to his knees. He could smell salt in the air, and he could just make out a cottage in the dark distance. He lowered the whimpering goblin to the ground and turned to Dobby, who was standing a few feet away.

"Dobby, is this the right place? Are we at Shell Cottage?" Harry asked.

"Yes, Harry Potter," said Dobby happily. "Harry Potter is safe here."

Harry breathed out a huge sigh of relief. "Thank you, Dobby. Without you... it would have been curtains for us. How did you find us? Did Dumbledore send you?"

"Yes, Harry Potter," said Dobby.

"But how? Was it his portrait? Or is he alive?" Harry asked in astonishment.

"Aberforth Dumbledore sends Dobby. He has other half of Harry Potter's magic mirror," Dobby said.

"That explains the bright blue eye I saw," Harry thought.

Bill and Fleur, Luna and Dean, came out to meet them.

"This goblin is wounded," said Harry. "We need help to get him inside."

"I'll take him," said Dean.

"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked.

"She'll be all right," said Bill. "Ron's taken her inside already."

Luna leaned down and hugged Dobby. "Thank you for rescuing us from that cellar. You're so good and brave."

"Dobby would do anything for Harry Potter," said Dobby.

They all went into the cottage. Harry saw Hermione lying on a couch, twitching from the aftershock of the Cruciatus curses she had suffered. Ron knelt beside her, holding her hand. Fleur went to get Skele-Gro for Griphook. Bill rushed off to get the Weasleys out of the Burrow, since they would no longer be safe there.

Harry went outside and paced around the yard. They had barely escaped again and this time it was all his fault. If he hadn't stupidly blurted out that name, after Ron had warned him not to, Hermione wouldn't have been tortured and nearly fed to a werewolf.

Enough bumbling around! It was time for action. But what was it to be? The Hallows, or the Horcruxes? Harry still leaned toward the Hallows. Dumbledore had written that Hallows sign in Hermione's book as a clue. They weren't his main mission, but they were tools, just like the Gryffindor sword that Dumbledore had given him. Wouldn't an unbeatable wand make his mission easier, and make it easier to protect his friends?

"Dobby should go back to Hogwarts before Dobby is missed," said the house-elf, who had come outside without Harry noticing.

"Dobby, wait a few more minutes, please," said Harry. "There's someone I need to talk to, and then I may need your help."

"Dobby stays if Harry Potter wishes," said Dobby. "Who is Harry Potter talking to?"

"Mr. Ollivander," said Harry.