Author's Note: And here is the first chapter. For some reason it just comes to me much easier than the other one =)
Warning: will contain slash, though there most definitely WON'T be any mpreg; will surely have a healthy dose of Dumbledore bashing and some Molly, Ron and Ginny bashing.
Summary: Begins during summer after Harry's third year and contains spoilers for years 4 and 5, disregards books 6 and 7. Dark, but not evil, powerful, political Harry; adopted Hermione; extremely jealous Ron; self-confident Neville; fake prophecy, sane Voldemort, manipulative Dumbledore, nice Petunia;
Pairings: Draco/Hermione; Blaise/Neville; Charlie/Tonks; Bill/Fleur...
["blah" - normal speech;
'blah' - thoughts;
::blah:: - mental communication;
~blah~ - parseltongue;
{blah} - letters, howlers and so on;]
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER IN ANY SHAPE OR FORM! ... though I would certainly like to =)
(previously on the 'HP and the Grey side of Magic')
"When should I begin?" - he asked, seeing no reason to postpone the inevitable.
"As soon as possible." - replied his aunt - "I will unlock the cupboard and you can put your trunk there, just make sure Vernon doesn't see it. I'll say I needed the space and threw it out. I am also pretty sure there should be some things that belonged to Lily at the attic."
With that she left her nephew alone and went to try and talk some sense into her son.
(On with the Story)
Chapter One.
Secrets at the Attic (Part 1).
[=Privet Drive, 4. Later that day=]
Harry entered the attic and promptly sneezed.
"Okay, there really is a lot of dust here..." - he muttered and pulled his over-sized T-shirt over his nose. Then he made his way to the window and pushed it open. He was about to begin dusting, when Dobby the house-elf made his appearance with a soft crack:
"Dobby be bringing a letter from Harry Potter's Grangy, Harry Potter, sir!" - exclaimed the over-excited creature.
Harry stood there, staring dumbly at the elf and then he smiled widely:
"Thank you, Dobby. Could you, perhaps, help me clean the attic?"
The elf nodded:
"Dobby glad to help the great Harry Potter! What does Harry Potter sir needs to get done?"
'Well, this will make things so much easier...' - thought Harry excitedly... and then recalled the letters he got last time Dobby used magic at Privet Drive:
"As you can see, I need the attic cleaned. But can this be done without the Ministry sending me owls about the underage use of magic?"
The elf answered promptly:
"Of course, Harry Potter, sir! But it be easier if Dobby was bonded to Harry Potter sir!"
Harry frowned at this. His first thought was to dismiss the idea and then it occurred to him, that he had no reason to decline, especially he didn't really know anything about house-elves and the reasons for them having to be bonded:
"Dobby, don't you like being free?" - he asked carefully.
The creature frowned slightly and gazed hopefully at Harry:
"Dobby likes being free more than serving the nasty master, but Dobby like being Harry Potter's elf more than being free."
Harry sighed at the reply. On one hand he liked Dobby and it would be handy having an elf, on the other he wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do, so he tried again:
"What does being bound to a wizard mean to a house-elf, Dobby? Is it necessary?"
Dobby nodded eagerly:
"Oh, yes. Without a Master house-elves die, Harry Potter sir. The stronger our Master, the more magic elves can use."
Harry stared at the small being for a few moments then spoke:
"Okay then, Dobby. I will accept you as my elf."
When he spoke, both he and Dobby were enveloped in a soft blue light for a moment and when it died out, the elf was wearing pants and a shirt instead of the pillow-case Harry was used to seeing him in.
"Oh, thank you, master Harry!" - gushed Dobby, smiling from ear to ear.
Potter watched amusedly as Dobby skipped around the attic, making clouds of dust go into the air.
"Dobby, would you clear out the dust, please?" - he asked.
This made the elf practically freeze mid-step and look at the cloud around him. With a look of righteous indignation, he snapped his fingers and it vanished, taking the rest of the dust with it. Harry gave him an appreciative nod and dropped the t-shirt from his nose. Now that the dust was gone, he was able to take a look at the things that were stashed at the attic.
"Wow..." - he muttered, as he realized just how many things there were there. It was quite likely that the Dursleys never threw anything away.
'Now that Dobby became my house-elf, it should be much easier to live here. At least starving to death doesn't seem likely...' - thought the boy gleefully.
About an hour later the young Potter was admiring the work Dobby had done. The wooden floor was covered by a soft dark green carpet, while the walls remained wooden, but were magically polished. Dobby even changed the color of the wood. Some of the broken things were repaired, while the rest of the rubbish Harry put into large bags and brought them downstairs.
Just as Petunia told him, there were quite a lot of Lily's things there. They included his mother's two school trunks, one that apparently belonged to his father and another unnamed one, some magical portraits were also there, tapestries, journals and a large bowl with some vials with silver liquid in them. This was identified by Dobby as a Pensieve, a tool to view memories. This was truly a big discovery and the most interesting thing they've found thus far. The repaired wardrobe was placed next to a nice looking table that now stood next to the large window. There was also a computer on the table. It had once belonged to Dudley, of course, but when his whale of a cousin was given a new one, this one was put into the attic, since it was in working order. All in all it was a huge improvement over the room he had before. What's more, Dobby managed to create a door that would only be visible to Harry, one that led outside. Of course since it was practically the third store, they had to make a rope-ladder as well. Harry didn't exactly like it, since it wasn't very stable, but an invisible staircase would be totally impractical, as it would still be possible for someone to bump into it. This way he had his personal way out of the house and he liked it a lot.
Some time later he heard his aunt's shout of "Dinner's ready!" and went downstairs. It was a shock to him that Petunia didn't simply order him to make dinner, as Vernon usually did, but than again, he would not refuse dinner simply because it was unusual.
Dinner was certainly an interesting event. Mainly because of Dudley's whining about how he wanted thirds and aunt Petunia telling him that if he continued eating that much he would have trouble fitting through the doors. Personally Harry thought that the little whale already had trouble of that sort, but wisely kept his mouth shut, not wanting to provoke his aunt, especially since she was being decent to him. That evening he also found out that his aunt was actually a very good cook, though it was not as strange as the woman giving him seconds.
Some time later a rather upset Dudley went back to his room to continue watching TV and it was then that Petunia finally got her chance to satisfy her curiosity:
"So then, how's the cleaning going?"
Harry paused for a moment and wondered if it was good idea to tell her about Dobby, and since Petunia already knew about magic figured telling her wouldn't cause a lot of harm:
"Oh I'm done already, though my house-elf, Dobby, was a great help."
This of course made Petunia ask just what a house-elf was and so Harry gave the woman a short explanation and was surprised that she reacted quite calmly to a magical creature in the house.
Author's Note: End of chapter one. Rather uneventful, I know, but the next one should be more interesting and hopefully longer, as I plan to go over the trunks and the various secrets and items Harry and Dobby found in the trunks that were gathering dust at the attic.
Poll One: I've been thinking about the James & Lily's wills. Would it be weird if Harry found a copy of them in one of the trunks?:
1. yes, no reason for things like that to be in a school trunk;
2. no, maybe Lily didn't trust Dumbledore and wanted to make sure his son knew just what exactly he inherited;
3. other answer (if so, please include reasoning for it to be one way or another.)
And most important part: Don't forget to REVIEW! =)
