Chapter 26: Dobby's Revelation

Mahaad bid the others good night as he and Harry had to stay up and finish some homework. Harry waved his fellow Gryffindor over to the empty chairs by the fire. The fire crackled merrily in the hearth, and Mahaad found his attention slipping as he gazed at it. He would rest only for a moment…

"Harry Potter sir!" a tiny squeaky voice said. Mahaad opened his eyes in time to see Harry jerk awake. Mahaad stared at what he presumed was a house-elf. The tiny creature had dozens of hats on his head all knitted by Hermione.

"What..? Dobby…?" Harry repeated rubbing the sleep from his eyes and adjusting his glasses.

Dobby beamed at Harry a look of adoration on his face as he swept forward into a low bow. Even though the elf hadn't addressed him, Mahaad opened his mouth to order him to rise, but stopped himself. "Have you been taking all the clothes Hermione leaves out?" Mahaad asked trying to understand the elf's odd wardrobe.

Dobby turned and looked at Mahaad, shuffling closer and cocking his head, causing Harry's owl to screech and fly to Harry.

"Who is you sir?" the elf asked.

"I am Mahaad," the magician replied.

"No, not all of the clothes is for Dobby. Dobby takes some for winky too Mahaad sir."

"Winky?" Mahaad repeated, leaning forward.

"She's a house-elf who got sacked by her former master. She works here at Hogwarts now. But she took her dismissal hard," Harry interjected.

Mahaad turned his head and gave Harry a curt nod.

Dobby's ears wilted. "Winky still drinks and doesn't like clothes sir. None of the other elves will clean Gryffindor Tower any ore so Dobby does it himself."

Mahaad frowned. "She doesn't like clothes?"

"If their master gives a house-elf clothes they get set free," harry explained.

Dobby then asked if Harry had any bad dreams, which Harry gave a vague answer to.

"Dobby wishes he could help Harry Potter!" The elf turned to Mahaad. "Harry Potter freed Dobby. Dobby's former masters—" the elf cut himself off and looked wildly around the room. He ran to the table and almost banged his head on it before Harry seized him by his tea cozy and yanked the elf back out of harm's way.

Mahaad shuddered. I'm glad my bond doesn't do that to me.

"There is something you can do for me Dobby!" Harry said quickly, his voice rising.

"I need to find a place where around 30 students can practice Defense Against in the Dark Arts without getting caught by teachers."

To Mahaad's surprise, Dobby grinned. "Dobby knows the perfect place sir!" He proceeded to tell them about the Come and go Room or the Room of Requirement.

Mahaad listened with rapt attention, his sprits lifting, as a thought occurred to him. We could store the mummies in there too! I could repair the damage to Seth's mummy undisturbed!

The next day the rain continued to pour. Mahaad was still shivering 10 minutes into Professor Sprout's Herbology lesson. After class, Angelica walked up to Harry and told him that Quidditch practice had been canceled for that night. Harry nodded gratefully, while Ron scowled out the window.

"But that means we can have our first meeting tonight!" Hermione said.

Yugi, Mahaad, Harry, Ron and Hermione spend most of the day tracking down everyone who had been at the meeting in the Hog's Head and informed them of the time and place of their first meeting.

Half an hour before the appointed time, they set off to find the Come and Go Room. Harry pulled a worn piece of parchment out of his pocket and tapped it with his wand. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

The page filled with an ink map of Hogwarts.

"What's that?" Yugi asked, eyeing the map curiously. Harry jumped, and tried to stuff the map in his robes.

"It's a map," Hermione said. She explained, as they headed to the 7th floor. Yugi nodded wearily at her explanation. Mahaad shared his worry. What did that mean about the Pharaoh, or Bakura for that matter?

They arrived at the patch of blank wall on the 7th floor and passed three times like Dobby had instructed them. A wooden door appeared materialized out of the wall. Ron grabbed the handle and pushed it open. Torches illuminated the room as they walked in. Mahaad scanned the room and was impressed.

The others fanned out around him, looking at various objects. There were shelves full of books along the far wall and Hermione examined them, running her fingers along the spines. There were dummies and cushions to practice on. Hermione pulled one of the tomes from the shelf and started reading. Neville entered the room, his mouth hanging open as he took everything in. "This is amazing," he said.

Mahaad greeted as he approached him. Mahaad waved him over to one of the practice dummies. "Hit it," Mahaad instructed. Neville looked at the Death Eater statue uncertainly. He timidly walked up to the dummy and kicked its shin. Even though Mahaad's expression didn't change, Yugi could tell he was a bit put out by his student's first attempt.

"Good targeting, Neville. How about you try it again with a bit more confidence?" Neville tried the strike again, a bit harder. Mahaad nodded and switched places with the younger Gryffindor and delivered a powerful strike to the abdomen causing the dummy to sway. Neville looked impressed. "You'll get the hang of it."

They worked on stances and basic footwork until the others started showing up. Once everyone else had arrived and taken a seat on a cushion, Harry cleared his throat.

He called the meeting to order and Hermione conducted their first item of business. They elected Harry as their official teacher and selected the name Dumbledore's Army to refer to themselves outside of the meetings.

Harry proposed that they work on disarming. Harry had them break up into pairs to practice. Ron and Hermione paired up, and Collin grabbed Yugi. Mahaad chose Neville, who looked relieved not to be picked last. Spells and wands started flying all around him, but Mahaad kept his attention on Neville.

"Expelliramus!" Neville cried, his face scrunched up from the effort. After 15 minutes of practice, Mahaad's wand flew out of his hand.

"I DID IT! I DID IT! Did you see that?! Neville shouted

"Yes! Good job Neville!" Mahaad praised.

After more practice, Harry called for a stop at 9:10, and everyone agreed to come back the following Wednesday.

Harry watched everyone leave in pairs or groups with the Map. Most of the other students headed back to their common rooms, but Yugi and Mahaad were headed for Professor Ishtar's office. Harry frowned at the anomaly but was too distracted by watching everyone else to explore it further.

Mahaad and Yugi waited in Professor Ishtar's office. Ishizu was off somewhere else. "It is weird being here without Ishizu," he commented. Yugi nodded, fiddling with the chain of the Millennium Puzzle. They waited until they were sure everyone else had left the Room of Requirement.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Yugi pointed his wand at the five coffins causing them to float in the air in front of him. Mahaad took point and they set off.

When they opened the room, they found an Egyptian style tomb, complete with an offering stela and false door. Mahaad nodded approvingly at his surroundings.

"We'll bring them food tomorrow," Yugi said, as he wiped his brow. Luckily for them, Filch didn't find them again, and they made it back to the common room.

Mahaad stared into the embers of the fire.

Tomorrow we can execrate Voldemort.

Author's Notes:

Sorry this chapter is a little short. Seriously, thank you all for reading/following/favoriting this story! It has over 20,000 views and 100 reviews!

Review Responses:

YumiStar: Yeah, Voldemort doesn't know who he is messing with!

Suzululu4moe: I'm glad you are curious. I'll explain more next chapter.

PrincessAmeria101: Good question. I'll address that next chapter.