What The Chapter Two

Harry discovered that House Elves ate the same food as wizards, other than not liking anything too sweet. "So much for Treacle tart," lamented Harry. After finishing a house elf-sized English breakfast, Harry/Dobby made his way to the hospital wing to check in on his younger self. The House Elves' ability to travel unnoticed came in handy as he made his way through the halls in the early morning hours. Dobby had been quiet ever since Harry had yelled at him to 'shut up!'. He was feeling quite guilty about it, but was enjoying the silence, which made him feel even more so. Harry entered the hospital wing and saw a familiar figure sleeping in a bed at the end of the room, "his" bed. He remembered the numerous occasions, past and future alike, that he wound up in that particular bed. There were other beds around the ward occupied by the several, petrified victims of the Basilisk. Harry knew that the Mandrake restorative draught would be ready later that day, so he wasn't too concerned. He approached his younger self, 'Boy this is going to take some getting used to…', and noticed the scar on his doppelgänger's head had healed more than he could ever remember. He set a silencing ward over the bed and called out quietly, "Hogwarts…"

The female voice spoke in his head, "Yes my son?"

"You said that a piece of dark magic was destroyed in the huge magical discharge. Was it from the scar on my younger body?"

"Indeed it was. It had the same feeling as the Diadem of Ravenclaw that is in my hidden room of need, the same as the diary Tom Riddle created in his sixth year; your younger self recently destroyed this. It was also the same as the Defense professor in your first year. Your younger body had a lesser feeling of this strange and abhorrent magic, until the incident which caused what you see before you."

"So the Horcrux is gone?"

"Yes, your younger body is free from the parasite that was attached to the scar."

"That's a relief. I had no idea how to get it removed without dying again. I wanted to avoid that if possible and now I can, or my younger self can. We will have to watch the Headmaster though. He knew the scar was a Horcrux and still expects me to die."

"I will keep you informed regarding his movements. We will have to find a way to let the Headmaster know at some point."

"You're right, but not now."

"Indeed. Someone is approaching the hospital wing, you should hide."

Harry took down the silencing ward and hid in the shadows. A moment later, Ron made his way to the younger Harry's bed not noticing the Elf. Harry heard him say, "Thanks for saving my sister mate." Ron then moved to Hermione's bed and said something that Harry couldn't hear. The last stop that Ron made before he left was to his sister's bed. Harry didn't even notice that Ginny was in the hospital when he entered. He couldn't remember if she ever got any treatment for her ordeal in the previous time and decided to see what he could do for her. He knew that his feelings for her had changed in the last year, or five years from now, 'Damn time travel.' Anyway, he would help her out if he could. She was a friend even if he was no longer in love with her.

Harry watched as Ron left the hospital wing, and made his way to the seventh floor and the Room of Requirement, or as Hogwarts called it, the hidden room of need. He paced in front of the blank section of wall three times, and a door appeared. Opening it, Harry found a smaller copy of the Gryffindor dorm he had grown so fond of, the size of the room permitting only one bed instead of five. He slipped between the familiar sheets, and was asleep in moments.

It was ten hours later when he awoke. He didn't know how, but he knew that exactly ten hours had passed.

"Its bes a part of House Elf magic that wes know wheres and whens wes is." Dobby said in his head.

"Dobby!"

"Yes Master Harry?"

"So you're still with me?"

"Yes Master Harry."

"Can you stop calling me master?"

"Yes Master Harry."

"Urrrgh!"

"Sorry Mas…Harry Potter sir."

"Try just Harry."

"Yes Harry Potter sir."

Harry just gave up at this point, realizing that it was a losing battle. "Dobby?"

"Yes Harry Potter sir."

"What should I do?"

"Dobby is nots knowin', Harry Potter sir."

Harry called out, "Hogwarts!"

"Yes my son?" said the female voice in his head.

"First, why do you keep calling me your son?"

"I feel it is the right thing to call you."

"Why?"

"I am not sure, it simply feels like the right thing to do."

"You feel?"

"I do not believe the word means the same to you as it does to me, but yes, I feel."

"Oh, alright. Do you have a name then? Or do you want to be called Hogwarts? I don't think I could call you Mother."

"I don't have a name, but if you like it, you can call me…Sophia."

"Why Sophia?"

"It just…feels right."

"Sure. Well Sophia, what do you think I should do?"

"Only you know what you need to do."

"Thanks for that." Harry said sarcastically. He heard a chuckle in his head. "Great now the castle is making fun of me."

Sophia spoke again, "Why don't you tell me all that you remember happening to you in the last few years before you arrived up in the past?"

"That's a good idea. It should help me plan my next move. First, this summer, Sirius Black escapes Azkaban. Most people thought he was a murderer and was after me, but he was really after Wormtail. WORMTAIL! He's in my dorm room right now! I have to go capture him right away!" Harry turned to go and then stopped. "But if I capture him right now, then Sirius won't see his picture in the paper and escape. Maybe if I take Peter to the Auror's they will give Sirius a trial? Then again, maybe not. I don't think they will believe a House Elf, and even if they do there is no guarantee that they will free Sirius. More than likely Fudge will sweep it under the rug. Dumbledore was no help the last time either. Maybe with Peter in hand…? But then I would have to explain myself and I'm not ready to do that yet. Oh damn, why is this so hard?" Harry kept rambling for a few more minutes before he came to a decision." OK, I'll leave Peter alone for now. Hopefully time hasn't changed too much and the Weasley's will still win the draw and get their pictures in the paper. I'll wait until my younger self meets up with them in Diagon Alley and capture him then. This means that I will have to let what happened at the Dursley's happen again too. After my younger self leaves though…"Harry said aloud for Sophia to hear.

"And what of Sirius Black?"

"If everything goes as it did last time, I'll know where he will be on the night I leave the Dursley's. Otherwise I will have to wait until he gets to Hogwarts…you …here."

"Why not just meet him when he escapes?"

"I'm not sure when he does and I have no idea where Azkaban even is."

"I can tell you where it is. In fact, you should know."

"Dobby's old bad master has beens to Azkaban to visit sisters-in-laws before. Dobby knows wheres it bes, so Master Harry knows wheres it bes."

Harry concentrated and he did indeed have a memory of the location of the wizarding prison. "OK, so I do know where it is. I'm still going to wait and see if things play out as they did before."

"And your next step?" asked Sophia.

"I have to see if I can get into the Chamber of Secrets and collect some Basilisk venom. If not, I will have to steal Gryffindor's sword from the Headmaster's office. They are the only ways I know to destroy a Horcrux, other than Feindfire."

"I know of another way." Said Sophia.

"Really? How!?"

"There is a ritual to create a Horcrux, and there is a ritual to destroy one. I can teach it to you, but it requires a wizards magic to perform. I do not believe that you as a House Elf will be able to perform the ritual. This might be a good time to bring the Headmaster in on this."

"No, not yet. I know that he is a good man, but he loses sight of the small things too easily. There are also things that I have to do that he wouldn't approve of. I'm not saying that we won't inform him, but not right now. After I get to Sirius, and he recovers a bit, I will ask him to perform the ritual. He'll need a wand though."

"There are many wands in my hidden room of need."

"That should make thing easier. I wonder what else is in there that could prove useful?"

"There are many broken and damaged items, but many can be repaired. There are also many unclaimed and lost items that are considered valuable. All of the lost Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts have found their way to the school's general fund. But whenever the Headmaster or the Board of Governors do not properly maintain my halls, I sometime have the House Elves repair the broken items and sell them in Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley. They use the funds to then provide whatever is required. We can do this for your needs too."

"That should be really helpful. I don't want to involve my younger self if I can help it, and I don't know how I was going to pay for certain things I might need. I want to avoid Gringotts for now, but I will have to deal with them eventually. There is a Horcrux in one of their vaults."

"That will prove most difficult to acquire."

"It was."

"What did you do the previous time?"

"Well we, Hermione, Ron and I, broke in with the help of a Goblin. He got us to the vault then betrayed us. We managed to escape on the back of a Dragon and came here. It was the same day as the last battle."

"Harry Potter is the most brave, most noble, bestest wizard in the whole worlds." Said Dobby in an overly excited voice in his head.

"I had a lot of help."

Sophia responded, "I'm sure you did. I do not believe that you will be able to repeat this feat."

"Probably not. The only reason the Goblin helped us was because Voldemort had already taken over the Ministry and was interfering with Gringotts. Plus we had to bribe him with Gryffindor's sword."

"Yet he still betrayed you?"

"He ran off with the sword before we could complete what we had to do, abandoning us as other Goblins showed up to attack us. He did get us to the vault though."

"I have never dealt with Goblins before, not one has walked my halls."

"Old bad master hates Goblins. He always made Dobby punish himself when hes gets back from Gringy's"

"I'm sorry to hear that Dobby. If I ever get a body and you get yours back, I promise to never make you punish yourself again."

"Master Harry Potter is the Bestest Ever! Dobby doesn't deserve such a good and caring Master."

"Easy Dobby, calm down."

"Yes Harry Potter sir."

"Well, I guess I should check if I can get in the chamber now." Harry pictured himself in Moaning Myrtles bathroom, and a moment later he was there. He approached the sinks that hid the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets and tried to open it. "Open." He said. It came out as English so he concentrated on the image of a snake and said "Open." English. He tried again. Several minutes later he gave up and accepted the fact that he was no longer a Parselmouth. 'I wonder if my younger self can still speak to snakes now that the Horcrux is gone?'

"Dobby is nots be knowin' Harry Potter sir."

"I wasn't asking… never mind. Dobby, you don't have to answer any of my questions unless I ask you directly. Sometime I like to think about things and I don't need an answer. If you weren't in my…your head it wouldn't be a problem. Can you do that?"

'Dobby wills try Harry Potter sir."

"That's all that I ask." Harry then pictured himself outside the main door within the Chamber itself, and a moment later he could see the many carved snakes surrounding the ancient entrance to Salazar's most treasured secret. Just to be sure, he tried to open it again with Parseltounge. Like the sink, it didn't budge. Looking around the antechamber, he felt his House Elf instincts kick in, compelling him to clean up all the scattered bones and fallen debris around the Chamber. He fought the instinct but knew that it would bother him until he cleaned everything up. He made a promise to himself, and Dobby, that he would come back later and clean. Now was the moment of truth. It was time to see if the main chamber was protected from House Elves, or if he could get in. He thought of where he saw Ginny Weasley lying, looking lifeless and cold. After a shudder at the bad memory, he found himself in the exact spot. He immediately saw the body of the dead Basilisk and Dobby screamed in his head. "Quiet Dobby." The elf quieted and Harry made his way to the corpse. "So I can still get into the chamber, that's good. Hopefully if Hogwarts, Sophia, can get the ritual to work I might not have to destroy the founders' objects. It would be nice to display them in the school after old Voldie kicks the bucket." Aloud Harry shouted, "Sophia!" Nothing happened so he tried again, "Sophia! Hogwarts?" Again nothing happened. Harry once again pictured himself in the Hogwarts kitchens and was there. He called out again, "Sophia."

"Yes my son?"

"Why didn't you answer me when I was in the chamber?"

"I could not hear your call. You have to be under the castles wards for me to communicate with you and apparently thanks to Siad Slytherin, the Chamber of Secrets does not fall under my wards."

"How is it that I can communicate with you at all? Why don't you talk to the Headmaster or someone else? Couldn't you have stopped many of the things that went wrong?" asked Harry

Sophia responded, "Because of their bond, I can communicate to all House Elves under my wards, as a House Elf, you are included in that. I have tried to prevent much of what has happened over the years but I was thwarted. Several hundred years ago I communicated directly to the Headmaster's; I was a little voice in the back of their heads that let them know what was going on within my borders. This had worked for several years after I gained sentience, and the Headmasters listened, even if they just thought that it was the wards warning them. Then, one year, a Headmaster started to act in an… inappropriate manner with young students, young male students. He also let other students and teachers take advantage of the younger ones, so I was practically shouting in his ears. He ignored me and kept doing what he wanted, but he grew annoyed at my insistence, and transferred the control of the wards to a device in the Headmaster's office, instead of being connected to them himself. From then on, I tried to stop what I could, and used the House Elves to try and stop the worst of it. The Headmaster then ordered the Elves to ignore my voice, and not interfere with the students. It was several years before the Elves started to listen to me again when a future Headmaster ordered them to pay attention to the needs of the castle. The Elves still were under orders to not help any of the students so they couldn't do much. No Headmaster has reattached themselves to the wards so I cannot communicate with them."

"That's awful. Who was the Headmaster?"

"Phineas Nigelus Black."

"Figures. He always seemed like a creep to me."

"You have no idea how twisted he actually was. He was quietly let go when his actions were discovered by the parents of a pureblood student."

"Damn blood supremacy. I bet nobody would have done anything if it was a muggle born."

"You are correct. He was caught several times before, but nothing ever happened until a pureblood was involved."

"Bastard. I'm going to destroy his portrait the next time I'm at Grimmauld place. I should anyway so Dumbledore doesn't know that Sirius and I are going to be there."

"If you destroy the portrait, it will alert the Headmaster that there is someone at Grimmauld Place. Since you are a House Elf, you could just remove it from the wall and place it in an unused room. If the portrait is no longer attached to a wall, it can't travel to other portraits in the house. It will still be able to travel to its other portrait here."

"Really? That seems surprisingly easy. Do you have any control of the portraits in the castle?"

"I can see anything that the portraits do, but I have no control over them. They are not tied into my wards even if they are hanging on my walls."

"Oh, OK. So you can see what goes on in the Headmaster's office? What else can you do?"

"Yes I can. I also control all entrances and exits, I know where everyone and everything is within my halls and grounds, and can control the severity of the wards when they are activated. I cannot activate them on my own though."

"Well what if you had a body? Could the wards be tied to you, would that give you control?"

"I've asked that question several times over the centuries; there have even been experiments to create a body along with the means to connect me to it, until Headmaster Black removed me from direct communication."

"By whom? Did any of them work?"

"The first attempt was in 1185 by an ancestor of Riddle named Darius Slytherin and his twin brother Damascus. All of the attempts were unsuccessful but several branches of magic were discovered. The Sorting Hat is an example of one of the attempts. It was enchanted by the original founders, but was not able to speak until one of their ancestors started their experiments. Many of the suits of armor around my halls are other failed experiments. Did you ever wonder why some speak and some do not?"

"I never really thought about it. How close did the experiments come to getting you a body? Could they be used to help me and Dobby?"

"Dobby likes that Master Harry is with Dobby." Said the elf.

"I know that Dobby, but I would like to have my own body, not borrow yours. You deserve a life of your own."

"Sadly, none of the experiments worked for me, but I don't know if they would or would not do anything for your situation. The most successful attempt resulted in the creation of Peeves. Before he was a poltergeist, he was a regular ghost. I do not know what was done to make him corporeal, but do you want to spend the rest of your time as a poltergeist?"

"No way, especially if it makes me as crazy as Peeves. I'll have to find another way... wait, is it possible to create a body by conjuring one?"

"And trade your magic for a body? It was the one reason the Slytherin brothers stopped their original experiment. The eldest twin brother, Damascus was turned into a Squib. It was kept a secret, but he never regained his magic and the conjured body only lasted two days."

"That's terrible. Ok, so no conjured bodies. Did anything else come close?"

"Nothing that will help in your situation."

"Too bad… I wonder where I am right now?"

"You are standing in my kitchens."

"I mean my younger self. These terms are going to drive me crazy."

"Your younger self is still in the hospital wing. I have overheard Madame Pomfrey say that he will stay there for one more day. He will be released with all the other patients after they have been given the Mandrake restorative draught. Soon they all will wake, and they will be kept for observation overnight."

"That's good to hear. Tell me about the ritual. I know that I can't perform it but I still want to learn. I will have to teach it to Sirius after all."

"As you wish my son. Please go the hidden room of need and I will provide you the information, along with an old secret one of my mother's children made me keep."

"How can you tell me it if you were sworn to secrecy?"

"The same feeling that has me calling you son also lets me feel that telling you will not violate my oath. I do not know how else to explain it."

"That's weird, but anything that will help is most appreciated."