Disappointment Chapter Ten
Sirius sat in the den, waiting for Harry to approach him with his talk. He didn't want to push him so he backed off from rushing Harry and let him set him own pace. He just hoped for a favorable conclusion. He knew he did wrong, not taking care of Harry before he did his revenge thing. He knew what Albus would try if Sirius had let him, which he did, playing right into his hand. Sirius wished he had Remus back then with him to set him straight. So many things that went down that day, that he wished didn't happen, and he here sits now, waiting for the fallout, or redemption of Harry's.
The first thing Harry wanted to do, was finish his summer projects, to get them out of the way. It took about three hours, but now he had the rest of the summer to himself. He had things he had to examine in his mind that were bothering him. Ginny and Neville was the second thing he needed to examine. Hermione and Luna were the next things he needed to check. But first, he needed to square things up with Sirius. He wanted to begin the family values thing. The Chamber had brought Remus and Harry close and now he wanted the same thing for Sirius. He put his project in his trunk and took a deep breath and went downstairs for dinner and a talk.
He went to the den where he knew Sirius was sitting and joined him to ask if he was ready to eat. They met Remus in the dining room, where Kreacher had set the table and placed the meal on the table. It would be his last one here, then he would return to Black Manor and serve the Malfoys. Kreacher didn't mind this new home, but he was accustomed to the Manor.
Sirius had Kreacher sit with them for the meal, which surprised him, but accepted. He waited until all had been served before he took the food and made his meal. The meal was quiet and the food was excellent. Kreacher had never been thanked before about a meal, but he was thanked by the three sitting there with him. He bowed to them all and then cleared the table and did his cleanup. He then returned to the three and bid his farewell and returned to his normal home. He was surprised to see Dobby there as well. He didn't say anything and went on to the kitchen, where he found Missy Cissa sitting there ready to talk to him.
"Hello Kreacher. I didn't know for sure you would come here or not. That is why you see Dobby here. I knew we would need a house elf to maintain the manor. Since you are here, we can send Dobby back to Malfoy Manor."
Kreacher saw Dobby's head drop and made a plea for him. "Missy Cissa, if I may speak?"
"Of course you can Kreacher."
"Well, you see, Master Sirius let me return because it is my home. But by doing that, I have left him in another Manor with no help for him. Do you think it may be possible for Dobby to go serve Master Sirius?"
"I don't know Kreacher, if the wrong people should find out, it could cause a lot of problems. Let me talk to Dobby alone for a minute, and Kreacher left the two sitting there.
Dobby spoke the first words and they were, "Please let me go Missy Cissa. I do not wish to return to that gloomy home that will be even more gloomy with you and Master Draco gone."
Narcissa smiled at the elf and then answered, "OK, but you have to promise me something Dobby. You have to give Sirius a headache once a week. That was what Kreacher was good at."
Dobby frowned when she said this, "Is this just for Master Sirius, or the whole household?"
"Just Sirius, Dobby. Why?"
"Perhaps Master Draco can answer better than I can, but Master Harry scares me."
"So you want to go, but Harry Potter scares you. Why would you want to go to a place that scares you?"
"Because Master Harry doesn't scare me as much as Malfoy Manor does. Especially when the others are there. They be mean to Dobby."
"How do you know Harry Potter scares you? Have you been with him?"
Dobby knew he was in trouble now, because of his big mouth. "Dobby might have seen Harry Potter somewhere. No, Dobby cannot lie to his mistress. Dobby went to Harry Potter to warn him to leave Hogwarts or he would die. Dobby tried to scare him away, but Harry Potter scared Dobby instead. I could not even escape his grasp on me. My magic was useless against him. Dobby has never seen power like this before, not anywhere. But, to be honest, Harry Potter could have hurt me very bad, but he didn't. I feel it may turn out OK if I were to go there and help with the household. Dobby will do this, if it was what my Mistress wants."
"It would probably be for the best as Kreacher will be the housekeeper here and would only take offense to you being here. If they should treat you badly though, Dobby, you come back here to me. I will find something for you to do."
Dobby bowed down to his mistress then felt for the Sirius Black connection with Black Manor and traveled to the spot he found. He landed right in the middle of a talk between Harry, Remus and Sirius.
Dobby almost passed out when he heard Harry say, "Dobby? What are you doing here? You better not try anything else on me. I will not put up with it."
Dobby stepped back away from Harry and then said, "Dobby is sorry for what he did, Master Harry Potter sir. He should never have approached you like he did. Dobby would have punished himself except that you forbid me to do so. Now Dobby is here to serve the Black household as his house elf. If he will take me?"
Sirius was curious about what he just heard, "What did you mean you were sorry for what you did to Harry, Dobby? Did you try to hurt him?"
"No sir, Master Sirius, Dobby did not hurt him, only tried to scare him, but Master Harry Potter scared Dobby instead."
Sirius looked to Harry and saw him nod his head in agreement with Dobby. "So, now you wish to be my House Elf, even though Harry scares you, Is that it?" Dobby just nodded his head.
Sirius looked to Harry for a sign as to his wishes. Harry just shrugged his shoulders, as if to say, 'Not my choice to make.' Sirius turned back to Dobby and studied him for a moment before he answered. "OK Dobby, you can stay, but if you cause any problems, out you go. Do you understand me?"
"Yes Master Sirius sir. Has you eaten yet? If not then Dobby can cook something for you all?"
"No, we're fine right now Dobby, but six PM is our supper time." and Dobby moved to the kitchen to learn where everything was.
Sirius and Harry got back to their talk, "Harry, I want to thank you for listening to my stupidity. I never wished to leave you with those bastard Dursleys. How Lily could put up with her sister, I will never know. I read some of the letters she received from Petunia, and if she hadn't stopped me, they would have paid for their hurtful words."
"But why was it so important for you to go after him so soon? What was it you wished to do?"
"Harry, I wish I could answer that, but truthfully, I don't know. I wanted to ask him why he turned on us. I wanted to ask him if he knew what he was doing? Then I wanted to wring his fat little neck. My mind was blind with rage at what happened to my best friends. If Remus had been there, he would have calmed me down enough to see what I would be doing to you, but he wasn't. There was no rationality to my thinking, just my finding the rat bastard that helped kill my family."
"But you confessed to being the cause they died when the Aurors found you. Why did you do that?" Remus cried out.
"Because, in a way, I was. I brought it up to them and though Lily argued my selection, I got James to agree and it turned out to be the cause of their deaths."
"You have to understand that even though you changed keepers, you couldn't have known of Wormtails hidden ties, Sirius. Your suggestion was a sound one, but you chose the wrong person for the job. You said that Remus was gone all the time, so wasn't he the sound choice to be the Keeper. He couldn't have betrayed you if he wasn't there, and you did say that Wormtail was gone quite often, yet he didn't have a logical excuse. His mother might have been sick like he said, but did she need 24 hour care? If so, then shouldn't St. Mungos have been notified of her illness?"
"Why should we have doubted him, he never showed us any sign of being a Death Eater."
"Now that I think about it, Pads, he did. Even in the hottest weather, he always wore long sleeve shirts. I never took notice of it, until now that we are arguing about him. We would all be wearing short sleeve shirts, yet he alone wore long sleeves. Even when he sweated so bad, his shirt was drenched from sweat he never took his shirt off. Instead he just went home with the excuse he needed to change clothes."
"OK Remus, I see what you mean. It's kind of late to be worrying about it now, since we know what he is. Anyway, Harry, I'm sorry for what happened back then and I know we can never get back what we lost. What I would like to do is make up for that time we lost and be the person I was meant to be and that is your godfather. I won't even try to be a replacement for your father because I know that is impossible, but I would like to be the one to guide you through life from now on. What we say we start with a trip to Diagon Alley in the morning and we can check out your family vault and see what we can find hidden in it. You won't be able to take any money out, but I think you can get some of your family artifacts to bring home with you. Next year on your birthday it will be a different story. You will be fourteen and have full rights to your family vault."
"I already knew all this Sirius. I have been to Gringotts and they told me all this and gave me a letter from my parents. That was how I knew about you. But I would like to see the contents of my vault and see if there is something there I would like to read, examine or hang on the walls. So, what do we do to end the evening. I don't want to go to bed just yet, or I will be up too early. How about you both tell me about mum and dad?"
There were so many stories, they had to save most for another time. Two hours and only three stories. Sirius was a story teller. However, everything he said was confirmed by Remus. They had only got as far as Halloween of their first year. Harry called it a night and made his way to bed. Sirius and Remus stayed up a bit longer and talked about Harry finally accepting Sirius as his godfather. Now he had to stay in Harry's good graces and asked Remus to help him with that by stopping him when it looked like he was going to say something stupid.
Harry was up first the next morning and waited for Sirius and Remus to get up and go to breakfast. Harry didn't feel like cooking on his first morning back and then wait for the cleanup. However, when he got to the kitchen he met someone he forgot about, Dobby was about finished cooking breakfast.
"Good morning Dobby."
"Good morning Harry Potter, sir. Is you ready for breakfast? It is almost ready."
"I'm ready to eat and then go to Gringotts and visit my vault. What have you got planned for the morning?"
"Clean up after breakfast and then clean up the house. I will keep busy, Harry Potter, sir."
"That's not what I meant, Dobby. How would you like to go with us to Diagon Alley?"
"You are asking Dobby if he would lie to go with you, sir?"
"Yes, if you want to go. If not, then you don't have to."
"No, Dobby would like to go if you really meant it Harry Potter, sir."
"OK, then you will be joining us for our visit. I may need you to to help out with my belongings, if they get too much for the rest of us. You don't mind, do you?"
"Not at all, Sir. Dobby would be happy to help. Now, please take a seat and I will bring you a plate. The rest will be there for your uncles."
"You're going to join us for breakfast, aren't you?"
"If you wish me to, Dobby will join you."
"Very good, and I think I hear the others moving around up there."
Remus was down first and took a seat next to Dobby, leaving the seat next to Harry for Sirius. Sirius then made it down there and took the seat next to Harry and filled his plate and the four ate the meal together and when done, Dobby cleaned up while the others got ready for the trip. Remus and Sirius thought bringing Dobby was a good idea just in case Harry took more than they could carry.
Gringotts had a heavier traffic flow and was quite crowded when the four got there. They had to wait for a free teller and it was during this time that Dobby saw his past master leave the back of the bank. He tried hiding behind Harry to avoid being seen, but it was too late and Lucius went right to the group and called out Dobby's name, "Dobby, why are you with Black and Potter? Why aren't you home with Narcissa and Draco?"
"They told Dobby he wasn't needed anymore and Master Black took Dobby in. I is in his care now. You have no control over Dobby."
"If you are not with Narcissa anymore, then you are my property and you will return to Malfoy Manor at once."
Sirius stepped forward and between Dobby and Sirius, "You are wrong Malfoy, Dobby is now my property because Cissa took Kreacher and exchanged him with Dobby, so he is my house elf. He is no ones property. If you wish to contest this, then go right ahead, but be advised I have the law on my side."
"Where are my wife and son? I need to find out if what you say is true or not."
"Sorry, but I can't help you there. I haven't any idea where they may be. Now, if you will excuse us, our teller is calling us over." and they left Lucius standing there fuming over what just happened. He saw Dobby keep looking back at him as if not trusting him. Lucius wasn't about to try anything in public. He was still recuperating from what it cost him to stay out of jail with the search for black and dark objects. The Diary nearly got him tossed in Azkaban. The other objects he couldn't get rid of cost him a quarter of his wealth. He left the bank with retaliation on his mind.
Harry asked the teller to allow him and his family to enter the Potter vault. Harry was told he could not take any valuables out of the vault which included money, jewels and art, other than family portraits. Harry agreed to this and they all left to visit the Potter Family vault. Once inside, Harry looked at the mountain of gold, silver and bronze coins, the cases of jewelry and the large library sitting there. There were closets filled with clothing, shoes and hair pieces. There was art work separated by family and collected works. Harry also saw a desk along the wall to the right as they entered and he went right to it and searched it for letters, legal documents and pictures. The desk was filled with them, as well as ledgers, logs and personal diaries of his mother and father. He loaded all of these in a box and had Dobby send them home. Griphook had watched to make sure everything Harry took was legal for him to have. Harry then went to the portraits and with Sirius' help figured out which were of his family and he sent those home through Dobby's magic.
They continued to look around the room, with Harry paying more attention to the books. Remus found the trunks his friends used for school and looked through these for anything that would help Harry to get to know his parents better. Sirius didn't center on anything in particular and just wnadered around looking. Dobby stayed right by Griphook so he could show him what Harry was sending home.
They were there for over two hours looking through everything sending home what they thought might be interesting or helpful. Harry had found so many books, he thought he might just well send the entire collection home and make a library out of the spare room on the first floor to go along with the true library also on the first floor. If Hermione ever saw the two rooms, they would lose her for however long she was there, which could be weeks. However, if she ever visited his house, it would be the first two rooms he showed her because she would be very disagreeable otherwise.
Dobby sent the items Harry chose to what he thought would be the appropriate rooms and would straighten them out according to Harry's wishes when they were home. He was still waiting along side Griphook when he heard Sirius call Griphook to the display case with the jewelry. Dobby remained where he was in case something was said he didn't need to know about. He saw Griphook shake his head no to something Sirius said, then he looked to Sirius like he said something that did make some sense and put his hand to his head and closed his eyes. He then looked back to Sirius and told him something and Sirius agreed. They did not move from their spot and Sirius continued to look at each case for other treasures.
Harry finished looking at the portraits and joined Sirius to see if he was ready. Sirius told him, "Not yet Harry, I have to hear about something before we leave. I think it is important for us all." and he continued looking through out the case. He remembered some of the pieces Lily wore and how much they sparkled while she wore them, and in the case they looked sort of bland. That was Lily, always making things better than what they were. Clothes, jewelry, shoes and even people she was with. James didn't know how lucky he really was. Poor Severus should have treated her better and he would have her by his side. She never said to James, but she did to Remus, who told Sirius just recently, that if Severus hadn't thrown that fit and called her what he did, she would have said yes to him if he had asked her in seventh year.
Sirius was brought back to the moment, when Ragnok entered the vault went to where him and Griphook stood. Sirius asked Harry to move away for moment so he could talk to Ragnok.
Ragnok began the talk, "So Mister Black, you feel that Harry needs his family ring, early. Why is that?"
"Sir, Harry is a most unusual person, and is far stronger than he thinks. I also feel this strength is going to get stronger as he learns, and the ring may help control his power. Right now he is like a child with his magic, as he learns more and more about how to control it. He doesn't even use a wand. Hasn't for as long as he knew about magic. I know you can do this as well, but you also know it's not that way for witches and wizards. They need a wand to stay focused."
"Do you think he will give me a demonstration of this power?"
"I'm sure he will. Harry! Come here please. Would you be kind enough to give Ragnok a sample of your magic, please?"
Before Sirius could say anything, Ragnok asked, "Please move this stack of coins to the empty corner of the vault."
Harry thought it was a good idea, to get it out of the way. He looked at the stack and then raised his hands over his head and weaved his fingers around, and the stack of coins, which was only about a few meters from the ceiling, began to rise and come very close to the ceiling and it moved across the room to the corner Ragnok asked about. Ragnok had an interesting look on his face, like he was impressed. He reached into the case where the ring was and asked Harry to join them. He had Harry reach out his hand, and when he did, he placed the ring on his finger, and the ring took a sample of Harry's blood. When it tested positive for Potter Blood, a golden glow surrounded Harry and many things began to happen. Harry felt something in his magic begin to settle in his mind. Before, Harry had to draw the magic from deep within, but now it was in his mind and ready instantly. Second thing he felt was about the family, and that was now, he knew he was the head ofter the ancient and noble house of Potter. He then felt not just a boost to his magical strength, but also his physical strength. His mind also began to expand with knowledge the ring gave him. He felt more sure of who he was and more acceptable of people he knew. He could recognize a lie when he was told one. He knew this because he saw where Sirius had been honest with Harry about his situation back when it all began. Another thing he saw was Dobby and his true feelings. Harry thought he was just an over energetic being, but the truth was Dobby was trying real hard to please the only person he could see as his master.
Harry shook his head to clear it so they could leave. Harry thanked Ragnok for his visit and the gift. He then looked to Remus and Sirius to see if they were ready to leave. He told Dobby he could leave, but Harry needed to speak with him later. Then the vault was cleared, closed and sealed.
When they returned to their home, Harry asked Dobby where everything went and when Dobby told him, he agreed to the placement and thanked him for his help. Dobby felt proud of his work and the praise Harry gave him.
Harry then asked Remus and Sirius to sit and talk with him. "Sirius, I know what the ring did for me, and I think you for the help, but what does it all mean?"
Sirius and Remus thought in it for a moment and then Sirius started it, "Harry, the Potter name has meant a lot to the magical world and when your father died, it left a huge hole in the Ministry, both in the Auror division and in the Wizengamut. Your father brought together over seventy percent of the members for the protection of it's people. With him no longer there, forty percent of those switched allegiance to Lucius Malfoy and Leonard Parkinson, both followers of Lord Voldemort. The Potters need to get back into the politics of the Ministry and bring those members back to sanity. It was a strong reason that Voldemort went after your parents, besides the prophecy that became known to the world. It was this prophecy that they used as a cover for as the deaths of your parents. The Death Eaters didn't want the Ministry to think it was because of the post James held in the Wizengamut."
"So what can I do about it? I'm not yet a teen age wizard, so I can't hold the post of a member of the Ministry."
"No, you can't, but you can use an adult to fill your position until you are of age, which is eighteen. I hold a post in the Wizengamut, but we could find another one you trust to hold yours. I was thinking of Remus, but something is stopping him from attending meetings. So, to make up for the loss of Remus, I was wondering if you would like to meet my cousin, Nymphadora Tonks and allow her to fill your post on the board?"
"How old is she, and can I trust her?"
"Harry, I would never do anything to hurt the trust you just gave me not too long ago. Tonks, which is the way she prefers to be called, is twenty and is funny, trustworthy, strong in her beliefs and very reliable. She is currently trying to get into the Auror division and is looking for something to do."
"If she took the position on the Wizengamut, what would that do to her chances of getting into the Aurors?"
"If she performs the way I expect her to perform, it will strengthen her chances of getting in. You see, Arthur Weasley is a member and he works in the Magical/Muggle relations division and is next in line for it's Directorship. I am a member and was a member of the Auror Division, as was your father. So you see, being a member of the Gamut and working in the Ministry are really beneficial as it shows how well you work with others."
Remus added, "It also builds character for the person wishing to work for the Ministry, as it allows your name to spread throughout the Ministry, hopefully in a positive manner. I don't know Nymphadora personally, but I do know her mum and dad, and they are great people. Like Sirius said, Nymphadora doesn't like to use her first name and I know this because Andromeda is something similar. She doesn't like to be called the older look alike sister to Bellatrix LaStrange. Or Bella could be her twin sister, they are so much alike. They are nothing alike, even in their looks. Andy is calmer, more patient and better dressed. Bella is maniacal, bitter and always dressed in black. Andy loves kids and Bella would rather cook and eat them. You want to know Andy, and you wished you never met Bella."
Harry asked Sirius to set up a meeting with Tonks so they could talk. He wished to meet her so he could judge for himself.
A/N: Sorry this took so long, but 2017 is turning out to be a ye4ar I wish to avoid going through. My brother who is not doing so well, took another blow when he was diagnosed with Parkinsons Desease. It's one thing after another with him.
Now, to add to my miseries, I was in an accident on January 31st which totaled the best car I ever owned. Now I have to take back a Jeep from my ex wife and use it to get around in.
To make a long story short, I've had to set up my brothers medical schedule as well as my own and also look for a new car to replace the one I lost. I may have tjhe Jeep longer than I want to. My brother can't get in it too easily.
As always, Ollie the Keeper.