Unlikely Mentor
Chapter 4
Disclaimer: This work of fan-fiction is not intended for personal profit. All characters utilized herein which are not creations of myself belong to J. K. Rowling.
The next morning, Harry woke up to the delicious smells of bacon, eggs and toast, along with an ample pot of tea and a mug, plus cream and sugar on the side, all on a tray on his desk in his bedroom. A beaming Dobby said quietly, "Dobby got a watering can and has watered the gardens just as you has asked."
Harry couldn't figure out how to get Dobby to water the entire lawn without having to teach him how to use the water hose, but it wouldn't have mattered, since the hosepipe restrictions had come down the day after Uncle Vernon had insisted that Harry water the entire lawn, which now explained the older man's urgency in ordering Harry to get it done that instant. But Dobby knew how to water plants ("Dobby once watered former Master Lucius's trees and gardens, sir.") using an ordinary watering can, so Dobby was able to at least complete that task for Harry.
"Dobby has brought breakfast for you, Harry Potter sir. And before you asks, the Hogwarts house-elves is happy to make it for you. Some of the professors is staying at Hogwarts while the students is gone, so we has to make meals," said the house-elf earnestly.
Harry poured himself some tea and dug into the richly buttered toast. After a bite and a sip of the tea, he said, "Thanks for the breakfast and doing the chores; I appreciate it. But what about the rest?"
Dobby said a bit dejectedly, "Dobby thinks the tasks Harry Potter has asked of Dobby is too simple. All Dobby had to do was snap his fingers and all the dust is gone from the couches and tables and all the other things in Harry Potter's house. He didn't even need to shine the wooden tables or clean the windows."
Harry tried his hardest not to burst out laughing at Dobby's pronouncement. Apparently, Harry had cleaned the glass windows so well, Dobby couldn't improve on it. And Aunt Petunia telling Harry after last night's supper to shine up the wooden tables had, he guessed correctly, been make-work; she must have done it herself the previous week.
When he could trust himself to speak normally again, Harry said, "Don't worry about that, Dobby. I'll figure out what you need to do every day. In fact, don't do anything until you check with me first – just in case, you know. Do you mind coming here every day?"
Dobby shook his head. "Not at all! Why would Dobby think it a chore to speak to the great Harry Potter?!"
Harry, by now working on the bacon, just nodded and made a noncommittal noise.
"Does Harry want Dobby to take letters to Harry's friends now?"
Harry checked the working clock in his room and said, "Hmm. Six-thirty. Why don't you wait a while first? I'll get my letters started in the meantime."
Hedwig hooted from her cage in the corner; Harry had left it open so she could enter and leave as she saw fit. "Sorry, Hedwig. I promise, you'll get to do owl post eventually. I'm just preparing the back channels with Dobby."
Dobby tilted his head. "Dobby wonders what you means."
Harry scratched his head and drank some of his tea. "I'm not totally sure myself, but people say 'back channel' when they mean they need a secret way to talk to someone; that's my best guess."
"Ah! Dobby understands. Dobby used to do this for former Master Lucius when he wished to send secret messages!"
"Yeah, so anyway, I'll write letters for Ron, Hermione and Sirius. Dumbledore too, I need to thank him for the book. Just be careful about Hermione's letter; she lives in a Muggle area like this one; you can't be seen when you deliver the letter into her postbox or mail slot. You know what I'm talking about?"
"Dobby thinks he understands." Dobby stood up straight and declared, "Dobby will not set off the Trace at Miss Grangey's place!"
Harry squinted. "The Trace?"
Dobby looked somewhat abashed. "You remembers when Dobby caused a Hover Charm here? Dobby is very sorry about that, too."
Harry nodded. He knew, in retrospect, it had been Dobby's extremely clumsy way of trying to protect him, but it had still gotten him in loads of trouble with Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia.
"Dobby purposely made it seem like a wizarding spell so it would set off your Trace. House-elves has their own magic, but Dobby does not know how to explain why the Trace doesn't see it. You is ought to ask an adult wizard about it." Dobby peered at the breakfast tray. "Is your food not good, Harry Potter sir? You has only eaten some of the eggs."
Harry realised with a start he needed to finish his breakfast. "Gimme a sec, Dobby." He wolfed down the remainder of his breakfast and poured himself a fresh hot cup of tea, then added the cream and sugar. He took a sip and felt the comfortable warmth suffuse within him as he relaxed in his chair.
"Anyway, okay. I'll ask someone. Meantime, can you take the tray away? I need to get started writing my letters. Do I just call your name when I want you back?" inquired Harry.
Dobby nodded and flicked his fingers at the breakfast tray; it smoothly lifted, teapot, plate, cutlery and all, then hovered near Dobby. "Dobby will need to get the cup from you later, sir."
"Okay. See you later!"
Dobby and the tray popped away, and Harry grabbed up a pen and looseleaf paper (he didn't feel like buggering around with parchment, and he figured Ron could use the amusement, as would Mr Weasley) and began composing his letters. After he finished them, he called Dobby back, sent the letters off, then launched into his "Mental Defences" text.
He found it surprisingly engrossing, and it explained the techniques of centering oneself ("clearing the mind is not, as some people assume, trying to blank it of all thought; instead, it is achieving a state where one is aware of one's own thoughts as well as any foreign influences, usually via Legilimency."), and how to begin developing a sense for mental invasion.
/\/\/\/\
"BOY!"
Uncle Vernon's voice fairly rattled the house to the rafters. Harry rolled his eyes, realising it was only a matter of time before Uncle Vernon insisted on finding something new to complain about. At least, he thought, he had managed to just get to the part where the book began explaining how to construct mental "barriers" against attack, and it was past nine in the morning on a Saturday.
He closed the book, and went downstairs. Uncle Vernon, at the front door, was peering at Harry suspiciously. Finally he seemed to decide that whatever Harry had done, it hadn't involved any funny business. He barked, "The hosepipe restrictions don't forbid a car wash. You are to wash my car until it shines, you hear me? And no funny ideas about trying to drive it!"
"I can't drive anyway," Harry grumbled.
Uncle Vernon's mustache seemed to bristle menacingly as his lips twitched. "For all I know you freaks probably can just wave your whatsits and make the car run automatically!" For good measure, his face took on a rather remarkable resemblance to the color of a brick wall.
Harry didn't bother responding. He just looked outside and said, "Can I go now?"
"Fine. Get it done; you know where everything is."
Before long, Harry was standing in the summer sun, leaning over the roof of Uncle Vernon's fancy car as he tried to reach into the middle to soap up every corner of it. That, thought Harry, wasn't the worst part, though; it was cleaning the wheels and tyres because he had to kneel on the pavement and that hurt his knees a bit. That said, the repetitive work lulled Harry's mind into a kind of free-associating state, and with a sudden start of realisation, he understood how clearing his mind worked! He noticed he didn't feel quite as much, either, and he wondered if other wizards or witches who practiced Occlumency found they tended to be guarded in their emotions.
While Little Whinging wasn't a bustling metropolis, it also wasn't a dead-quiet small town either. There were cars running up and down the road every now and then, and the occasional babble of conversation could be heard here and there. At some point during his work on the car, Harry heard something that sounded like a hissed, "…that dung!" from somewhere about thirty feet away. He looked around for the source of the sound, but didn't see anyone looking like they'd just stepped in anything nasty. He did see a black-haired woman down the road looking a bit anxious, but that was about it as far as pedestrians out and about at the time.
Harry shrugged and continued on with the car wash, garnering Uncle Vernon's grudgingly grunted approval when he finished, upon which Aunt Petunia came up, scowled at him and seemed to be trying to decide something. After a few moments, she gracelessly said, "No chores. Dudders does his own laundry now and I won't have your freakiness over mine or Vernon's."
Harry, nonplussed, began going upstairs as his aunt and uncle went off to watch television. Letting him off the laundry was one of those things the Dursleys seemed to be of two minds about. On the one hand, it was another thankless task they could foist off on Harry. But on the other hand, it was a source of potential embarrassment all around. When he was younger, he mostly did the laundry, but as he got older, the Dursleys tended to find reasons why he didn't need to do it anymore.
Harry, not exactly a complete dunce in the matter of what happened as boys entered their teens, figured he knew why Dudley was doing his own laundry, then promptly and violently shuddered. He decided he needed a distraction, and quickly. He raced up the rest of the stairs and re-entered his bedroom. Upon reopening the Mental Defences text, he proceeded to follow the recommended exercises and tried to assess how good his mind would be in repelling an attack. He had to admit to himself, unless he knew someone with "Legilimency" (which sounded a lot like mind-reading) he wasn't going to have a good idea of what he was and wasn't capable of.
He hoped Dobby would be back soon with some letters. He would need to make arrangements so it appeared that he was using Hedwig to send perfectly ordinary messages, while sending the real ones via house-elf.
Author Notes: Hope y'all like it - and yes, still looking for a beta. :)
