Chapter 11: Noblesse Oblige
"As Nobles, we are privileged and blessed to be in such rare position. Therefore it is our obligation to seek the betterment of society by employing as much servants as we can. That is our Noblesse Oblige." –pg 432, "Nobilities and Royal Houses."
In the edge of the Dark Forest, Firenze the centaur walked about, trying to find an appropriate place to rest his tired haunches. It has been about a week since his last nest was trashed by Bane, and since the he had not found peace. His clan believed that by saving Harry Potter he had unsettled the balance of the world, and their words still haunts him in his nightly stroll.
'You broke our code, human lover.'
'The boy should've died.'
'If he had died, none of these horrible things would be happening.'
He silently took their accusations and beating, but Firenze knew better. He knew that with or without Harry Potter, Mars would still eclipse Jupiter and war would still come over their world. The Dark Lord that used to inhabit their forest would still rise up, and their homes would've been destroyed. Everyone knew this truth for the stars had foretold them, but Bane's hatred for humans has clouded their senses that they were blind to the truth that heavenly lights revealed to them.
Especially with Bane turning everyone against him, Firenze sensed that he was no longer welcomed. So he left. For about two years he found peace in the semi nomadic life of the woods, eating only what he needed and moving on to the next part of the woods. These past months however, things have changed.
Night after night Bane's cavalry kept coming after him, raining him with their hooves and hatred and leaving him to die. He didn't know what started their aggression, but all he knew was he is no longer safe there. Everyday the centaur is pushed further and further out of the forest, until on one starry night he walked out of the clearing of the forest and realized that he no longer belongs in the only place that he knew of.
One night Firenze was walking along the shores of Black Lake, his stomach growling and his body aching. Then, he noticed a change in the way the moon is reflected in the surface of the water. He frowned. On the sky, the stars tell of a ruined future filled with the fire of war and hatred, but on the reflection of the lake, they tell a different story.
"How curious." He said out loud, intrigued by the strange new phenomenon.
So he continued to follow the reflection like he would a line in a book, engrossed by the new future told by the Lake's surface. He immersed himself in this new discovery, his hooves taking him past a series of stone paths and onto a small island on the middle of the lake. Once he is on the island Firenze sensed that something is amiss. He looked back and the small little stone steps that brought him there disappeared.
"I wonder." He said, watching the last ripple disappear from the surface.
With no other way out, the centaur sat there reading the stars until the last of the heavenly lights fades into dawn. He found himself both thrilled and appalled by the future he divined. If the stars were again true to their words, then maybe the world might not end in a sea of fire and death. If the stars were true, then he might have a larger role in this world than he expected. If the stars were true, then this little island is right where he is supposed to be.
On the first day after the full moon incident, Harry set himself to work on dividing and preserving the basilisk carcass for future use. Steven had transported the basilisk onto an open field outside of the house. The field was enclosed by large dome of magical bubble, which allowed it to stay dry and relatively normal. Despite it being overgrown with weeds and messy (much like everything in the house are), the field was a magical marvel. If he stood on the edge of the dome and dip his hand into the water, he could feel the lake's current washing past his hand.
'I really should try swimming out there sometimes.' Harry thought, enthralled by the thought of exploring the lake's mysterious depth, but that is for another day. He sighed and ran back to the humongous carcass of the snake, rolling up his sleeves and readying himself for a messy afternoon.
Equipped with an old ancient book titled 'How To Prepare Magical Reptiles' open,he went to work, but found that the instructions are lacking in the more refined details. For example, the book tells him to use a small utility knife to skin snakes, which is only applicable to 5-7 meters long snakes. This particular basilisk is simply bigger than what the book suggested. So he took it upon himself to snatch a larger blade from inside the house and went to work.
As he was dragging a large oriental style weapon across the snake's tough skin, his demon butler came to drop off a pitcher of lemonade and nag him like he always does.
"Need some held my lord?" Steven asked dryly, not amused at the sight of his master covered in blood and doing manual labor. 'Lords do not let themselves be dirtied with animal blood.' He thought to himself, biting his tongue from nagging his master.
"Ah Stevens!" Harry looked down at him with a large fake smile, trying to hide the fact that the large weapon is now stuck inside the Basilisk's back. "Nah, I'm good. What are you still doing here? Didn't I tell you to do some housework?"
"Yes, but in my condition, there is only so much that I could do. For example, it's impossible for me to lift up that darned boulder covering the door, and I couldn't reah-"
"Yes. Okay. I get it. You need an extra set of hands." Harry waved his hands, annoyed at his butler's not so subtle hints. Since their visits to the Grindelwald family, Stevens has been nagging him to hire more servants for the manor. Sighing, Harry pulled out a little bag of coins and threw it at Steven's feet.
"Right then. Off you go." Harry said, turning back to try and wiggle the large blade out.
"What-" Steven was caught off guard by his master's flippant attitude. 'I don't thnk it's a good idea for me to leave you sir. You might need my help -"
" Nope I wont. I just want to be alone."
"But I-"
"Stevens," Harry leaned against the perpetually stuck blade, his hands resting on his hips sassily. "That's a command. Go and hire some footman, or valet, or whatever archaic positions that a manor like this needs."
Harry might sound very dismissive and rude, but the truth was he was worried about the demon. With the extent of his injuries, he couldn't bring upon himself to force Steven into manual labor when he still have a slight limp in his stride. If he could lessen's Steven's burden then he would do whatever is needed to do so. After all, Steven was the only person that he cherishes at this point.
Steven's eye glowed and the demon couldn't help himself but to obey. Left with no choice, Stevens walked reluctantly back inside the house. He wasn't hinting at the boy to hire more servants per say, he wanted Harry to be more involved in the manor's maintenance like a Lord should. The more attached Harry is to this place, the more attached the boy will be to him. After all, the stronger their bond is the stronger his djinn powers will become. Adding an extra person into the manor might get in the ways of his plans.
Harry sighed out loud and smiled at his handiwork. He spent about six hours outside and finally, the giant big snake's skin was off and rolled into a messy bundle. He cant wait to ship it off and have it cured for armor and clothing! His work is far from being perfect, but spending the day skinning a giant snake was oddly therapeutic, plus it gave him some much-needed peace and.
Harry leaned on the large bladed staff and smiled at the blood splattered instrument. Behind him, he noticed a sound of moving feet and hushed voices. 'Ah, the new servants are here!' he thought delightedly. He rushed inside the house to greet them, but as he opened the terrace's great big doors, we was faced with Stevens, and behind him was a line of small children screaming at him and his bloody weapon.
"Did you just…" They both started on the same time, each pointing to different things that the others had on their hands.
"DID YOU JUST KIDNAP A BUNCH OF CHILDREN TO MAKE THEM MY SERVANTS?"
"… did you just use Master Thadeus's Ceremonial Nagitana to dissect a basilisk?"
"Yeah. I found it in a glass case inside so I used it- BUT CHILDREN STEVENS?"
"… Sir, the Nagitana is in a glass case for a reason."
"… are you seriously more concerned about a piece of metal than the screaming children behind you?"
"Yes children are precious. There are future. Blah blah- there are millions of children out there, but there is ONLY ONE ANCIENT CERIMONIAL NAGITANA IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD."
"God. You and your blind love for this family," Harry stamped the weapon to the ground, making Stevens cringed visibly at the thought of devaluing the priceless artifacts. "Take them back. Take the children back to where they belong and erase their memories or I'm going to break this ceremonial nagibaba into two."
The genie gasped. "You wouldn't dare."
"Try me."
And so the children were sent safely into their respective homes, the memory of the large bloody snake butcher becoming nothing but a harmless dream to their innocent little minds. Sadly when Steven came back, he found that Master Thadeus's ceremonial Nagitana already dropped in value. After all, it's rather hard to get basilisk meat out of the decorative ribbons.
On the second day after the full moon incident, Stevens brought himself a group of creatures that he was sure his master would approve of; house elves. How could Harry find any fault in his logic? House elves have been the traditional wizarding servants for centuries, and even one of his former masters had assigned him the visage of a house elf. Besides, house elves are so intellectually inferior to him that they wont pose a threat between him and his master's relationship.
Happily, he leads a line of excited Hogwarts house elves to the backyard where his master is still engrossed in hacking the giant snake. Some of them chatting happily about working for the 'Great Harry Potter', and Stevens couldn't help but smile. He liked hearing other people praise his master like that, it made him feel important to be serving someone as celebrated as he is.
"My lord!" He greeted his master happily, his mood lifted after the house elves endless praises about his master. Harry was nowhere to be found. A series of odd contraption laid on the backyard, suspending large pieces of magical snake meat on the air, dripping their thick rich blood into a series of wonderfully decorated vases.
"Stevens!" Harry jumped out happily from behind a rather large piece of Basilisk meat. "Look at what I made! Neat isn't it? I suspended the levers and pulleys using these blueprints I found in the books! Apparently some guy in the renaissance era used to do a lot of basilisk hunting and he had rows and rows of these lined up to help hi- Why are you staring at me like that?"
"The vases…" Stevens pointed, his finger shaking. It took him all that he had inside to not scream at the boy. "Sir, we had a talk about using priceless artifacts as common household objects."
"What these ugly vases?" Harry asked tapping an upturn vase with his foot. "They're alright I guess, but I don't think they're as expensive as you make them out to be."
"They are! I mean, they are sir. I stole them myself under Master Romula's order during the great war. So I would appreciate it if you don't use it as a container for animal blood."
"And here I was thinking of you and your rusty spoons.." Harry grumbled,. "Forget it. Next time we slay a basilisk I would let the fucker bleed out to the ground."
As the grumpy boy was walking back into the house, he was stopped by a crowd of clamoring house elves, screaming at the 'Great Harry Potter Sir!' praising him for being the 'Liberator of Elves!' and telling him that 'Dobby told us of our greatness sir!' Hearing the conversations, it was evident that once again, his genie has procured his new 'servants' from inappropriate places. Harry sighed and turned to his Genie.
"Stevens," Harry sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Your job is to make my life easier, yes?"
"That's a rather simplistic way of seeing it, but yes, I suppose it is."
"So why does it seems like you purposely look for the worst possible candidates as possible?" Before the genie could answer, Harry already walked away, throwing his hand up in the air and groaning out loud.
"So does this mean I have to bring them back again sir?" He asked with a self-satisfied grin on his face. The secluded idyllic life the two have underwater may not last forever, but he's going to make damn sure that it last as long as it can. After all, his master belonged to him.
A/N: Just a quick update before I went out for the weekend.
Someone mentioned that there is a bit too much Remus bashing on the last chapter, and it's true. The relationship between Harry and Remus is going to dictate how Harry relate to everyone else from his past. (Edited for clarity, thanks anon Guest!) In addition to that Stevens's motive might not align with Harry's and it affects Harry's relationship with the people around him. After all, he is a genie who were told to live as a house elf as a punishment ^^ Thank you for pointing it out, I feel like I didn't present that idea well enough in the last chapter XD
Again, thank you for reading and leaving favs, reviews, and follows! It helps the story a lot and I enjoyed chatting to everyone about the story!
See you next chapter 3
