It was close to summer's end and the beginning of his second year that he finally encountered a house elf. The encounter would further give Harry reason to insure Hermione never thought to free them...or meet this one.
Dobby was adamant that Harry not go to Hogwarts. Which confused him quite a bit seeing as how he didn't go to Hogwarts. Another odd fact was that for some reason any owl mail he sent off never had a return reply, but e-mails did.
Apparently this Dobby had been confiscating his owl mail.
From what Harry could gather (with Archer's usual sarcastic input) this Dobby had been of the mistaken belief that Harry was a Hogwarts student. Probably because his masters had ranted about him and Hogwarts in the same sentence, unaware that Harry had chosen a school run by mundane-raised students.
In any event, Harry made sure to pass on that 'evil plots' were afoot in Hogwarts this year to Snape, considering he was a teacher there. The second he heard the house elf's name and the condition he was in, Snape immediately identified him as the Malfoy house elf, meaning Lucius was up to no good.
Which was when Harry offered a solution. If Lucius was trying to get rid of some dark artifact via the school, then Harry would be happy to take it to Avalon with him to see if they couldn't dispose of it safely. Or find out how it was made and counter it.
All in the name of education of course.
He would also pay Malfoy fairly for the 'price' of Dobby, if only to avoid any mistaken attempts by the house elf to 'protect' him. Let it never be said that for all his laid back attitude, Harry didn't think ahead.
When Lucius Malfoy woke up that morning, he never anticipated something this profitable showing up on his doorstep with a fellow Death Eater with them.
Severus had brought Harry Potter to his doorstep. He could only wonder what today would hold with that sort of omen.
Harry observed his surroundings with a critical eye, but volunteered no information. A very Slytherin tactic Lucius has used more than once to put his opponents on edge.
When he did spoke, it was with a calculated comment geared toward making Lucius show he had an actual brain.
"Are you using a specific breed of snake, or are you just using the snake theme in general?"
Lucius stared at him.
"They are family heirlooms."
"The questions stands, are you aware of what breed of snake you have around your house and indeed on anything you want to use to remind people you were a Slytherin at school, or did you just pick a generic snake theme?"
Lucius looked at his cane and admitted openly "I have no idea what breed it is."
"Did you know that there are different meanings to different snakes? For example the Ouroboros is often portrayed as a snake eating it's own tail to symbolize longevity and eternity respectively."
His estimation of the so called 'Light' aligned Potter went up considerably.
"There is also the fact that the Gorgon Medusa was also thought of as a goddess until Athena corrupted her out of jealousy and drove her mad, and in a show of power had Perseus steal her head to show people not to defy her," added Harry. He didn't add that he got that from Fate/Stay Night.
"So what brings you here Severus?" asked Lucius, changing the subject. His estimation of the Potter boy had gone up considerably.
"We know about the plan to dump one of the Dark Lord's old school things at Hogwarts. Harry, however, had a different idea that can't come back to bite you if the Ministry catches wind," explained Snape.
Lucius blinked.
"And who spoke of this plan?"
"The informant is unimportant. What is important is that I have a verified way of disposing of a few...less than pleasant...artifacts that the Ministry can't fault you for. Instead they might in fact praise you for your dedication to education, no matter the source."
"Explain."
"The school I attend has a program where once a year we get a few dark artifacts from the goblins or anonymous donations and the students, particularly those training to become curse breakers, get some real-life experience before they graduate, with the agreement that the one who breaks the curse or dark magic on the item in question gets to keep it. However the teacher, who is a high-level curse breaker on loan from Gringotts, has to verify the item is safe first. They stay locked up until the curse or curses are broken, and the Ministry has never bothered to remove them because it's done in the name of education," said Harry.
"And this school you attend is..."
"Fairly high up in the rankings according to current ICW standards, and is primarily for those who are half blooded or first generation. And everyone signs a waiver which clearly states that any damage from curses on the artifacts or items in question will not be the responsibility of the donor or the school."
This was looking better and better already. He could rid himself of a few questionable dark artifacts, including that useless book and get the Ministry off his case if they found out. Better yet, if anything happened to the mudbloods, then he wouldn't be held responsible! It was a win-win!
That was when Harry noticed a familiar face, who looked stuck between gobsmacked and horrified to see him at the house.
Dobby.
Lucius noted his interest.
"This is Dobby, a house elf."
"How interesting. Where exactly would one procure a 'house elf'?"
"There is a shop, but buying one can take months. Unless, of course, you had the right connections."
Which meant pure blooded, connected and rich.
Harry had a speculative expression on his face calculated to get Lucius' attention.
"Well how much would you sell Dobby for?"
"Dobby is rather useless. Just the other day he burnt my supper," said Lucius dismissively.
"I find cooking, particular potions rather therapeutic. However I cannot for the life of me keep my own room straight," said Harry.
"Well he is good at that. Ten galleons," said Lucius after a moment.
"Seven, with the agreement to do more business later and keep the possibility of forging a friendship with your son open," said Harry. He knew this was a very calculated move, considering how well connected the Malfoys were. Not to mention the fact Narcissa was his second cousin.
"Deal."
Dobby was beside himself with joy after that. He was free of his abusive master and now the house elf of the Great Harry Potter sir, who treated him like an equal!
Lucius came out later with a few artifacts that would have severe fines if the Ministry discovered them. He had originally planned to sell them to Borgin and Burkes, but this was this was far more profitable in more than just galleons. Even if he did have to get a new house elf.
Harry Potter was not what he expected.
The answer to what the book was came from the goblins, as certain alarms went off.
Apparently it was a soul fragment, a dangerous highly dark ritual that was banned by anyone with any sense.
Finding out it was Voldemort's soul that was fragmented spoke volumes, and started a search of the vaults belonging to all confirmed Death Eaters that were currently in Azkaban.
There was only one problem. They found another fragment, but they couldn't access it because the Head of the family had been thrown in without a trial. And without a trial stripping him of freedom and rights to Gringotts, they couldn't confiscate the piece.
Which led to this...
Harry shivered, but he had agreed to go to Azkaban in order to clear this mess up.
He didn't know what it was, but the entire island was freezing cold.
"I don't like this place. They put soul eaters in charge of guarding the island, and they don't mind eating innocents," said Archer.
Archer had kept quiet to avoid causing trouble in Diagon. It was an unspoken rule that they weren't to summon their avatars in places run by pure bloods, because they wouldn't understand.
However being around Dementors was more than enough reason for Harry to break that rule. No one liked the things.
"Come on. Let's find Black and get these papers signed so we can get out of here. Depending on how sane he is we might have to sit on a trial," said Harry, pulling his jacket closer.
Black was in the maximum security wing, and to the shock and relief of Harry, Archer's presence provided a repelling force against the creatures. Harry chalked it up to either Zelretch's meddling or the fact they didn't know what to make of him.
Black, as it turned out, was far more sane than his own cousin (and the entire reason they had come to Azkaban... the fragment was in her vault) though not entirely pleasant to be around because of lack of bathing options.
Once Harry made it clear he wasn't there to demand answers, but at the request of Gringotts for something Bellatrix had in her vault and that he needed the permission of the Family Head in order to remove and or destroy the artifact in question, Black signed the papers with the blood quill Harry had borrowed.
With that out of the way, Harry proceeded to drop bombshell after bombshell on Black.
He did agree to at least broach the subject about the lack of trial to the Law club in Avalon.
Odds were they'd enjoy shoving the fact that a noted Head of a once powerful Pure Blood family had been thrown away and no one thought twice about it.
He did like shoving the fact he had seen the full brunt of the so-called pranks on Snape and had been disgusted with his behavior. Odds were Snape would enjoy the look on Black's face when he found out.
Snape did enjoy the look on Black's face finding out his godson and pup called him an arrogant bully for the stunts he used to pull on Snape and that if the man wanted any sort of relationship with Harry he would have to either grow up or attend extensive therapy.
He was even more pleased upon learning that now that the Department of Mysterieswas aware of what the Dark Lord had done, they would catalogue what he had stored his soul in before trying to find the others and preferably throwing them into the Veil of Death. Apparently Voldemort wasn't the first Dark Lord to use soul pieces, and after having to deal with trying to rid themselves of the things they came up with the Veil.
Anything non-living would come out the other side of the veil, minus the fragment inside. However anything living (like an owl or unlucky wizard) would end up dead on contact. The Veil was much like a dementor in that it made no efforts to distinguish it's victims.
Harry took one look at the bookstore and then forcibly dragged Hermione away from it.
He didn't know who Gilderoy Lockhart was, but one look at his picture spoke volumes about his personality. He was a glory hound and man whore. Harry didn't need to deal with that crowd, if worse came to worse, he would just borrow the books from the older students.
At least until he heard about other alleys.
Odds were they would be cheaper than Diagon.
"I feel like we're back in King Arthur's time," muttered Archer from his wrist. Harry looked at it amused.
"Yeah, the pure bloods do tend to give off that feeling don't they?"
"And I'm guessing the reason why I'm not allowed out right now is because they would be upset and afraid."
"Most of them don't even know what electricity is or what a computer can do," agreed Harry.
"Sounds like the Magi, but at least they try to pay attention to the times," said Archer dryly.
There was a sudden beep, and Archer read aloud a text for him.
"Harry, we have a minor situation at the book store and it looks like we could use a mediator. Also, be sure to bring the calming draught because Hermione is apparently gaga over this Lockhart idiot. Amelia."
Harry sighed.
He waded through the massive crowd to where Hermione was, before he dutifully held her nose until her mouth had to open and dumped an entire vial of calming draught. While it was taking effect, Harry started to drag her out of the bookstore and far, far away from the Lockhart idiot when the worst thing happened.
Lockhart saw the scar and recognized him as a chance to bolster his fame.
Thinking quickly, Harry shoved Hermione towards her roommate and immediately elbowed Lockhart in the gut with his free arm. He was on instinct at that moment, as memories of his usual yearly book runs during his birthday or shortly after came to mind. Without thinking twice about it, he took the hard cover from the table and slammed it on the offending hand before kicking Lockhart back onto it.
All of this took place in a span of less than a minute.
Hermione, fully mellow now, sighed.
"Only an idiot tries to grab Harry during a book run, and only a fool would do so in the presence of hard cover books," she said shaking her head.
The crowd was silent, and Harry took a stance.
"Two years of Aikido," he said by way of explanation.
Harry had been a bit clumsy and all legs with adequate food and attention. Emma had signed him up for Aikido since it was the closest dojo and it had helped tremendously. So had dance classes.
Harry was actually a black belt, but he didn't advertise it if he could help it.
Lockhart, proving he didn't have many brain cells or he had bleached them out along with his teeth, shook off the sudden attack and announced he would be the new Defense teacher at Hogwarts...and that he was giving 'Young Harry' a complete set of his books free of charge.
Harry didn't want them, so he waited until they were clear of the door when he dumped them all in Hermione's arms.
"Consider this my apology for dumping that vial down your throat," said Harry.
"Apology accepted, and next time just hand it to me. I hate having my nose held like that just so you can dump calming drought into my throat."
"Fair enough. How about this...I'll pay for any pet you want in the store."
"Deal."
Hermione walked away with a brand new cat named Crookshanks. While it looked like something had smashed a frying pan in it's face, Harry kept his mouth shut as he had noticed the feline seemed especially intelligent.
Maybe it was a magical breed of cat?
"Got everything packed?" asked Dan.
"Yup. And if we didn't, Dobby could pop in to get it," said Harry cheerfully.
Dobby's subservient attitude grated on Hermione, who had somehow found a book on slavery back when it was still legal. Needless to say the book had made an impact on the then seven-year-old.
Which was why he urged her to try and change the laws first before she got in over her head trying to change centuries of servitude. It was less likely to get her killed.
If it meant Hermione inadvertently helped on the case of Sirius Black, then he was all for it.
Unseen by Harry, a pair of eyes watched him leave.
Draco Malfoy had been moderately impressed by Harry's tactics, even if he thought the muggle fighting was brutish. He had dispersed of the useless books on someone likely to read them, and even made sure to stay on the good side of the witch he had forced a potion on with a cat. She looked the bookish type.
It was almost a pity Potter wasn't at Hogwarts, but that could easily rectified by having his godfather drop hints about Potter neglecting his duties as the Heir of an Ancient and Noble family. The fact Potter was willing to help out Lucius Malfoy rid himself of several dark and unpleasant artifacts (all in the name of education, which the Ministry couldn't fault them for or complain about) without once trying to blackmail him spoke volumes about his allegiances.
He had none. And Potter was someone who it would pay to cultivate, if handled correctly.
"I hate summer homework," said Harry. He was doing a two-day all nighter to finish his summer homework. He had done the harder work and left all the easy stuff for the last minute, to Hermione's annoyance.
"You have only yourself to blame," said Archer smugly.
"Yeah, but I can do one thing to make studying go faster."
"What's that?"
"This," said Harry smugly, as he hit the 'mute' button on his bracelet. He could shut Archer up while he got his studying done and listen to his music through his headphones. Even if he materialized, he wouldn't be able to say anything.
With the snarky spirit shut up for the moment, and his music set to motivate, Harry got most of his homework finished with a day to spare.