A/N: Thank you for your reviews, favoriting and following… I am sorry in advance for any mistakes I make. Anyone willing to be my beta, please PM me. Enjoy the chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Chapter: 3
(I am not going to make this a watching the movie fic or RTB fic. Just know that they have just finished watching the events on the projector. It is based on the book. I don't really like the changes made in the movie, although there was not much difference in the first four and that is all they are going to know. )
The four of them had just finished watching the events that happened in Harry's life till that moment and James, Lily and Sirius were extremely angry with a few people. They wanted to march out right then and give them the deserved tongue-lashing, but Harry convinced them to wait for a little longer.
Harry had asked Dobby to pop him to the Diggorys' home where Harry proceeded to tell the older couple all that had happened since that morning. When they refused to believe him, he gave them his memory and then had Dobby take them back to the Room of Requirement. They had sat with Cedric until he woke up. The reunion was sweet with a lot of tears and hugs. The Diggorys thanked Harry before they went home.
It was nearly noon and Dumbledore had sent Sirius a message through Fawkes that there was to be an Order of the Phoenix meeting at the Headmaster's office at one p.m. Harry had asked Dobby to bring Ron and Hermione so that he could explain to them before they crashed the Order meeting. Once Harry had explained to his friends and introduced them to his parents, Hermione started berating Harry about not being careful and informing Dumbledore about it and about having house elves and bonding to Dobby.
"Ms. Granger, what do you know about house-elves?" James asked the young witch.
"The wizarding world uses them as slaves. They are beings with feelings as well. They should be free. They need to have sick leaves and salaries and such…." Hermione opened her mouth to continue ranting but stopped when James held up his hand.
"I admire your passion about this Ms. Granger, but you are going about this the wrong way. Have you actually talked to the elves about why they are bound to a family and why Winky was so distraught over being sacked rather than force your opinion on them?" James asked.
"I do not force my opinion on them. They don't know what they want. They think they want to be slaves for their whole life. That is why I was trying to tell them that they had to be free." Hermione said outraged.
"You are wrong, Ms. Granger. You would have realized that if you had actually talked to the elves. Did you know that an elf and a master bond is almost similar to a familiar bond? The only difference is that the house elves cannot live for long once they are freed. The bond actually benefits both the master and the elf. The elf never falls sick because the master's magic protects them. They feel happy working because to them that is a method of repaying the masters for keeping them healthy and alive. We would pay money to the Healers when we are treated for any sickness. They enjoy working because that is what they are made for. You make Dobby as an example, but did you know why Dobby was happy to be free from Lucius Malfoy? It was because for Dobby, dying was a better option than being bonded to an abusive master. There are a few Dark families who abuse the elves, but not all the families who have elves abuse them. The elves at Hogwarts pushed you out of the kitchen because they thought you were trying to get them killed by freeing them." James said making Hermione go pale.
"I understand how you might feel, Ms. Granger, because I am also a muggleborn. But this is not the muggle world. This is the Wizarding World. The traditions, the customs, everything is different here. If you go to a different country, you follow their customs, you don't try to change them. The Wizarding World is similar to another country. You have to adapt. You have to research why something is as it is, before you try to change it." Lily said making the younger witch nod as she understood the point the Potters were trying to make.
"There is something else we need to talk to you about. We thank you from the bottom of our heart for staying by Harry's side for the past four years, but remember you are his friend. Not a supervisor. When Harry told the happenings of the past day, you berated him about going to Dobby instead of Dumbledore. True, we might have been imposters, but Harry did not come alone. Did you know that Lucius Malfoy had tried to cast the killing curse at Harry and it was Dobby who protected Harry? Dobby showed Harry that he was willing to protect Harry even before he was free despite the harm he himself might come to, although his methods were not orthodox. But Dumbledore only ever came after the danger was over. If you were in such a situation, could you tell me who you would actually ask to protect you?" Lily asked, although her words were somewhat harsh, her voice was gentle.
"Dobby." Hermione said hesitatingly after thinking it over.
"You have to trust Harry to make his own decisions. He is not a child, especially after the past few days, no matter how much we wish it was otherwise." James said as Hermione nodded and muttered an apology to Harry.
"Mr. Weasley, we would like to thank you for being there for Harry as well." James said turning to a silent Ron.
"Please call me Ron. Your welcome but I wasn't always sticking by Harry, especially earlier this year." Ron said his ears burning red.
"Nonsense. You came back to him. You bravely told Sirius that he had to kill you before he got to Harry when you thought he was a mass murderer. That loyalty is something that is hard to come by. All friends have fights. Harry forgave you. Nothing more to it." Lily said with a gentle smile while Ron nodded while his face was still flushed.
"Shall we go crash the Order meeting?" Sirius asked enthusiastically making James and Lily smirk while the teen-agers looked at the adults uncertainly.
The adults cast the disillusionment charm on themselves so that the other students would not see them, and made their way to Dumbledore's office.
Harry gave the password "ice mice" to the gargoyle guarding the headmaster's office and went up the stairs. He knocked the door and waited to be called in. When he heard the headmaster call "come in" he entered with the others and closed the door when he saw many people some he knew and some he did not know present. Sirius dropped the disillusionment charm.
Professor Moody immediately pointed his wand to the invisible adults behind Harry.
"Mad-Eye, they are who they say they are. I've checked, so you can put your wand down. Albus, there are some people I would like to re-introduce you to. But before that, I think Harry has a story to tell." Sirius said.
Harry looked a little nervous but took a deep breath when he felt his mother's hand on his shoulder silently supporting him.
"Does everyone here know about the Ancient Families and the fact that when the Manor of the Family is put under lockdown, it can only be reopened by the Lord of the Family? And that the House-elves bound to that Family are put to sleep? Or that a house-elf bond cannot be duplicated?" Harry asked. He saw Dumbledore pale slightly when he mentioned the Ancient Families, but most of them nodded as they were purebloods.
"I did not know any of this until yesterday morning. I was in the owlery when a house-elf popped in and told me that he was Tinker and that he was the Potter Family house-elf. He also told me about the Manor being under lock down and that a house-elf bond could not be replicated. I did indeed find a bond connecting Tinker and me. He gave me a letter and the people who wrote the letter mentioned that they would like to meet me and that they would give their oath that they are who they say they are. I was initially angry that someone would play such a cruel trick, but then I went down to the kitchens to find Dobby. He confirmed the facts that Tinker told were indeed true. So last night I made my mind up to meet the people but to have Dobby with me for protection." Harry said.
"Harry, that was very irresponsible. You should have come to me as soon as you received the letter, not Dobby." Dumbledore said frowning slightly.
Many of them present snorted at the thought of a house-elf protecting a wizard, a few even voiced it.
"Well, I knew Dobby would never lie to me Professor. I also knew he would protect me if needed. Many of you are skeptical. Well, guess what? Dobby threw Lucius Malfoy, his previous master into a wall when the man was about to cast the Killing Curse at me at the end of my second year. So yes, I know and trust Dobby to protect me!" Harry said angrily making the sceptics squirm.
"As I was telling, I agreed to meet them and had Dobby there with me. He immobilized them as soon as they arrived and had them swear an oath about their identity as well as not to harm me. They did and since the oath was on magic and life, they were alive and produced their patronus to show they still had magic. I had Sirius brought in and he confirmed after he asked a few questions himself." Harry said.
"Who are they, Harry?" Remus asked curiously.
"That would be us." James and Lily said dropping the disillusionment charms.
There was a stunned silence for a moment before everyone erupted in shouts about imposters. Sirius let out a bang from his wand making all of them fall silent.
"As we have already mentioned, they swore an oath that they are indeed James and Lily Potter. Besides, no one other than the Lord of the house will be able to wear the Lord's ring. So no, they are not imposters. We do not know what happened, but Cedric Diggory is alive as well. He is with his parents. The muggle caretaker that Harry saw come out of Voldemort's wand is also alive and is in Potter Manor currently." Sirius said.
After a few minutes of silence, Remus stood up and approached them and pulled Lily and James into a hug, tears running down his cheek. That broke everyone from their shock and everyone was trying to get to Lily and James. Dumbledore, Harry saw had gone pale.
A/N: So how was it? Like it? No? Most probably, the next chapter would be the last. Review please !
