Chapter 28: Plans are made
For disclaimer and author notes please see chapter 1. Reminder (see AN in chapter 21): responses to important questions will appear - where possible - in some subsequent chapter, worked into the text as dialog or thought. Thank you to all my reviewers, especially those who recognise their review comments addressed in the story!
1988-08-01 09:00 UTC, Kithurst Close
The next morning, by the time Sirius had come down to breakfast, Hobby was waiting for them. Harry had been down already and was almost done with his breakfast, and so too were Remus, Nick, and Penny.
Remus had called in a favour, yet again, from his team (grimacing all the while, because he was already in deep "time debt" to them), and stayed back; this discussion was by no means done and he didn't want to miss the rest. Nick and Penny had been given one of the spare rooms, but Sirius suspected they had quietly apparated home for the night and apparated back in the morning. Old people were just too set in their ways, so he couldn't fault them if they indeed had done that.
Sirius nodded to Hobby. "Did you even go back to the Malfoys' last night?", he asked.
Hobby looked sheepish again. Sirius sighed and sat down. "Let me eat first; I had enough shocks last night when you looked a bit like that, and it's too early for more". Saying which, he started lathering butter and jam on some toast that Kreacher had placed in front of him. He carefully folded an omelette into a semblance of a square, put that between two slices of toast (jam with omelettes? Uggh..., thought Hobby), and proceeded to demolish that and then a couple more such sandwiches.
Hobby sat down on the nearest chair, quite unlike any house elf. It was a testament to how much Sirius had internalised last night's discussion that he didn't even blink. Or perhaps he was more focused on what shocks Hobby would be giving him today.
Eventually Sirius finished eating. Harry had once again ensconced himself in Penny's lap, going to her even without being asked to - he had somehow figured out that this was a continuation of last night, anyway.
Sirius looked at Hobby in an "OK, start" kind of way. Hobby glanced briefly at Remus, then started.
"My original objective, when I came back, was to make sure none of the death-eaters had a chance to do any of the bad things they had done earlier. Note that I was specifically not setting out to take revenge for all their past sins - although it was very tempting to do so. I just wanted to make sure nothing more would happen.
That was one of the reasons I chose to become Dobby - the Malfoys were the lynchpin of the death-eaters, everyone looked up to them. Malfoy was also politically very savvy and connected - without him and his money, a lot more of them would have been in Azkaban in the days after Halloween 1981. So being able to spy on them was sufficient to forewarn me of pretty much everything that had happened in their world.
On that assumption, I spent the bulk of my time hanging around the Malfoys, making sure I would not miss anything of importance. I even followed him around when I thought he may be meeting some of his cronies. And I was feeling very good that, for the last two years, nothing much had happened. It felt like a victory of sorts, even though it was boring as hell".
"Because Dolohov proved that assumption wrong", said Sirius darkly. "You said yesterday - in a somewhat smug manner, I might add - that except for the Dolohov incident, you did pretty good. I didn't want to say anything at that time since it was already late, but that's a big 'except'".
Hobby hung his head in shame. His "saving people thing" had never gone away, and if possible had increased because, frankly, he was capable of much more, so his expectations from himself had correspondingly increased.
Sirius realised he may have slightly overdone it. "Look, Hobby, it's not your fault. We didn't even know about you, so we should have taken our own precautions - we didn't".
Hobby shook his head. "I appreciate you saying it's not my fault, but it IS my fault", he ended loudly. "Dolohov went off on his own because the Malfoys had gone tame - he pretty much told me that when I interrogated him. And the Malfoys went quiet because of me", he all but wailed.
"That's certainly one way to look at it", said Remus soothingly. "But I'm not sure you could have anticipated the knock-on effect of what you did."
"But that's just it. There were other indications I missed the significance of. Dobby used to be physically punished every day; none of that happened this time. Isn't that a big hint that things had changed, and shouldn't it have forced me to try and think of what else may have changed?". Hobby was clearly anguished.
Remus tried to comfort him again. "Even if you had realised it, you'd have to keep watch over most of them, which would be impossible. Any of the others could have done it, and may have done it too. If not now, at some later point in time. No... we should have warded the house, there's nothing else that could have prevented it. I'm glad that's sorted now, though I don't know what to do about the school".
Hobby brightened up a little. "Well, that won't be a problem now, since I have all the time in the world and can keep watch constantly", he said.
Nick grinned. He and Penny had been mostly silent, both now and the previous night, except to make Harry comfortable. Now he chipped in, "You'd better tell them what nearly happened to you a couple of months ago, first!"
Hobby looked at him for a second, getting a nod and a subtle head tilt towards Harry. So, not the whole thing then, at least not while Harry was there.
"Well, a couple of months ago, I was confronted by the Malfoys", he started.
"This was a couple of days after the incident with Dolohov. They started by saying they knew what I was. That scared me - the thought that they would know things that I had not - at the time - even told you, Sirius and Remus".
He paused to take a breath, and to visibly stifle a giggle.
"Turned out they thought I belonged to their hated 'Phantom'. I wondered what they would have done if I had turned into the Phantom right there!", he grinned.
"Anyway, they told me, if I was really their elf, to prove it by doing what I was ordered to do: punish myself in a most severe manner, and punish Nolly too. Which meant they had decided to reassert themselves in some way, possibly stung by Dolohov's independence or whatever. And this was their way of starting back down that path.
So that was that. Anyway, knowing that my surveillance of them was not bearing the fruit I had hoped it would - my incentive to hang around there was not that high".
"So what did you do?", asked Sirius.
"Well, my problem was what they would do to Nolly if I simply left or protected myself somehow. So I did the only thing I could do: I apparated out and came back into the next room as the Phantom, walking in behind them. They turned around and saw me, but their shock on seeing a wizard so casually apparate into their heavily warded home was enough to give me an advantage. I petrified both of them, and told them they would never lay a hand on 'my elf', or - if I had my way - even their own elf Nolly".
No one said a thing. Then Sirius spoke. "This was two months ago?", he asked in a hushed whisper.
"Yes".
"And what happened after that?"
Hobby glanced at Harry briefly. Clearly he didn't want to go into details. "They're incapacitated, but can be revived very easily".
"Draco?"
"He too. It's not painful, and it won't harm them in any permanent way".
So... draught of living death or something similar, thought Sirius and Remus.
"What about your friend Nolly?"
"I made them free Nolly first and bound him to Nick and Penny for now, though there isn't much work for him, as they already have a couple of other elves freed in similar situations in the past".
"How did you 'make them' free him?"
Hobby just stared at the ground for a few seconds, then looked up and shook his head. "That's not relevant".
Then he continued. "What I need right now is advice on how to go forward. I can't discuss all the possible options right now" - again a sidelong glance at Harry - "so you can call me when you are ready for that".
"Wait", said Sirius. He turned to Harry, and looked at him solemnly. Harry had caught most of Hobby's hints, and seemed to be resigned to the fact that he would be asked to leave the room - no one said he was stupid! So, without waiting for Sirius to say something, he said "May I go to Hermione's?"
Sirius and Remus beamed at him, said yes, and Harry scampered off, after giving Penny and Nick a quick hug.
They broke for some tea, and to lighten the atmosphere a bit before they dug in again. Penny took Sirius and Remus aside briefly and unobtrusively, and quickly said "one thing you both do not know is that the old Harry, and this Hobby, suffers from self-esteem issues. He blames himself for a lot more than he should. Keep that in mind when talking to him". They nodded, having had a taste of that today.
When they sat back down at the table, Hobby continued.
"I could simply have eliminated all the confirmed death-eaters and strong sympathisers. Veritaserum is easy to make" - a thankful glance at Nick - "so there would be no doubts. And I would not have to kill them either - just obliviate them back to a one-year old, including all knowledge of magic, then turn them loose in a non-English speaking part of the muggle world - say somewhere in the jungles of Africa perhaps. Or turn them into rats and keep them in some dungeon forever - rats are easy to feed and contain".
"What stopped you from doing that?", asked Sirius.
"What stopped me is plausible deniability for Harry. My identity is a potential problem. Should someone who knows the right spells, and has the right potions, capture me, the whole thing could boomerang on the one person I want to protect above all - because Harry Potter, is Harry Potter".
"But that's illogical - he's just a child", protested Remus.
"In my second year, when people found out I could speak to snakes, do you know how many people thought I was a 'seriously dark wizard'?" Hobby paused, and a brief smile lit his face, as that phrase recalled to his mind what the twins had done at that time. Seriously dark wizard coming through, make way, he reminisced.
"They were willing to believe I would kill muggleborns, despite my mother being one, and one of my two best friends being one. Wizards are not known for being logical. Add to that how impossible it is to survive the killing curse, and sometimes I can't even blame them!"
"So, we need to eliminate them, but in such a way that nothing touches Harry, or can ever touch him even remotely", said Sirius. "Well, I could simply announce that after the Dolohov incident, I am proactively taking steps to protect my godson from any other such people, and demand that everyone who has the dark mark be questioned".
"Amelia would agree with you in her heart, but she can't actually allow that", said Penny. "She can only do that with some probable cause or as a part of some investigation, and that only on specific individuals, not 'everyone who has the dark mark'".
Nick had an even more fundamental point. "Even if she allowed you to do that, Harry may still be targeted, since he is clearly the focus of your action. Indirect blame is not a lot better than direct blame, you know".
Sirius nodded. They'd have to think of something else, then he remembered something he had wanted to ask yesterday, but didn't want to in front of Harry.
"Hobby, how much of a hand did you have in some of the other deaths and disappearances?"
"Unprovoked? Only Bellatrix and Greyback. The others - the Lestrange brothers and Crouch junior - had already done something recently to deserve it. Even Macnair".
"That was you?", gasped Remus. He'd read about it of course, since he had been keeping up with the news.
Hobby nodded. He wasn't interested in going into details though. "And Rookwood was the Carrows, and one of them is dead and the other is in Azkaban".
"More of the famous Hobby charm and persuasion?", joked Remus.
"Oh no, the Carrows never met me. It was Flint senior who came to their house and incited them to kill Rookwood".
"Hmm, I wonder what reason he gave", mused Sirius, half to himself.
"I think they were led to believe that Rookwood's unspeakable oath took priority over his duty to their Lord", Hobby said blandly.
"And how would you know that?"
Hobby just smirked. Sirius and Remus were speechless; in any case, another exclamation of "what, that was you?" would be repetitive now.
There was a brief lull in the conversation, as the two marauders came to terms with what had happened already.
"What about Umbridge?", said Sirius suddenly.
"You said 'deaths and disappearances'", Hobby smirked again. "And we should get back to the topic - you can help me reminisce about all this later", he mock scolded them.
"Well, it would seem to me that the Rookwood type of trick is what you need. Make each of them fall to another of their own, while we stay completely behind the scenes."
"That's easy enough. But it's so boring to simply say it like that".
"Boring is good; keeps you alive", muttered Remus.
"Look, I need to decide what to do to the Malfoys first, then Avery and Mulciber. Regardless of what happens, I don't think I will be doing much to Crabbe and Goyle unless they suddenly become independent thinkers and do something to piss me off - those two have always been just muscle, and I'm not even sure if they knew what they were doing most of the time.
That leaves a few others but let's deal with them later. Malfoys first".
"How did you 'make them' free Nolly". Sirius came back to the question he had asked just before they had decided to send Harry out of the room.
"I dosed them with an imperius potion".
"I thought only Dumbledore and Snape knew how to brew that; in fact I seem to recall Snape claiming-" - he tailed off, looking at Hobby's smirk. Hobby winked at him, and asked "Who did Dumbledore learn it all from, Sirius?"
Sirius fell over laughing with joy. Death-eaters were serious business, but getting back at Snape had its own charm, and his godson from a past life (or a different life) had done that masterfully, of course with help from Nick and Penny. This was awesome!
Meanwhile, Harry was being grilled by Hermione, who wanted to know what had happened in the evening, because she knew Nick and Penny were coming, or at least should have been coming, and she knew Sirius was upset about the snake incident.
Harry narrated as much of what had transpired as he remembered. Some of the conversation had gone quite over his head, which always makes remembering something a lot more difficult. He got most of it, with a few exceptions; for example, he did not really know much about this Phantom or his significance, except that he was supposed to be Hobby's master, and then suddenly it turned out he wasn't, he and Hobby were the same person.
Hermione thought about what he had said. It seemed too incredible to believe, but then, she was apparently a witch, which was also incredible in some way, so who knew what the limits of credibility were in this world?
She and Harry pieced together a summary: Hobby was actually a wizard who had suffered a lot and had died and had then come back to life and back in time as an elf (or perhaps a half-elf, half-wizard) in order to help the wizard have a better deal in life.
When you put it like that, even someone of Crabbe's and Goyle's intelligence could have figured out who that wizard was, and Harry and Hermione realised this very quickly. Harry had been reasonably sure of it already; discussing it with Hermione merely confirmed it for him.
It was interesting that, having no pre-conceived notions of what an elf was, or what a wizard was, and so on, these two kids could accept that summary more readily than Sirius and Remus would have, if it had been presented to them without all the accompanying evidence!
For Hermione, something else was also clear. She did not know if Harry had also come to the same conclusion, and did not want to ask, but it was clear that she, herself, had played a big part in the elf-man's former life. What precisely that was, and how much of it would still happen, she did not know, but she knew - somehow - that she and Harry were destined to be far more than what the phrase "best friends" could ever convey. She already had some idea of Harry's apparent importance in this new world of hers, and she was sure she would be by his side, whatever that meant, for a good long time.
Sirius had recovered from his laughing fit, and he became serious again, deciding to ask another question that had been bugging him.
"Hobby, why did you turn some of them into rats? What's the rationale behind that?"
"Sirius, I think that is about the worst punishment - short of the kind of torture I put Dolohov through - that is possible for a pure blood bigot. Don't forget that the spell I used allows their human consciousness to exist inside the animal, but none of the physical abilities, and no magic either. They know they are essentially dead to the world, they have no way to communicate with anyone, they have a reasonable sense for time so they know as the weeks, months, and years, pass. They have their memories of their 'glorious' life before this. I also plan to bring them selected copies of the Prophet from time to time, to increase their pain - oh yes they can read.
This is as bad as it gets for anyone, short of having dementors around", he concluded.
"Hmm, I would have loved a spot of torture on those animals, like they did to so many during the last war, but I guess turning them into animals, while retaining their minds, is pretty good."
"It's like compound interest, Sirius - the pain increases in strength over time. I fully expect some of them to go mad within a few years, and completely forget who they were.
And the beauty of it is, if I am ever caught and forced to reveal what I have done, they are hostages. Only I can bring them back. Well, I, or Harry, or Voldemort I guess but those two don't know the password, and Voldemort especially would never be able to guess what the password is", he smirked.
"What is it?"
"It's an extremely insulting phrase; his ego would never let him think like me so his guesses won't be anywhere close enough to the actual password!"
They all had a good laugh. Sirius pouted a bit at not being told what the password was, but recognised that some secrets were best kept really close.
"OK, well, back to the matter at hand. I think you should continue to use that potion, and make him eliminate Avery and Mulciber. In the middle of the atrium in the Ministry of Magic. That should be a good start."
"What would be his reason? And under veritaserum it will come out that he is innocent anyway".
"Well, he will be in a bind. If he accepts veritaserum, he'll have made Amelia's dream come true - she's been waiting for a legitimate chance to do that for years now. If he doesn't, he has no real defense - with Snape and Dumbledore apparently the only ones who can brew that potion, he can't use that excuse. Oh wait, he can blame Dumbledore", Sirius cackled with glee.
Hobby did not like where this was heading. "At some point in the future, someone will remember that there is a third wizard - Nicholas Flamel - who could have done this also. What happens then? I don't want Nick to catch hell for my doings!"
"My dear boy", said Nick with an amused smile. "You said it yourself: wizards are illogical. It's 'out of sight, out of mind' with them, so first they'd have to remember that Penny and I exist. Then they'd have to catch me first - do you know most of them think we live in France? Then they'd have to give me something that actually works on me. I may have taught Dumbledore everything he knows, but I didn't teach him everything I know, however cliched a boast that is!"
Hobby stared at him. "Veritaserum won't work on you?"
"Not if I don't want it to", smirked Nick.
"What about flushing regimens and quarantines?"
"Don't worry about it", said Nick.
"Magical oaths?"
"Aah that would be an issue. I don't have any way to get around those, not without a lot of word-smithing, which often gets caught. But really, the ministry doesn't use those much - they always seem to rely on the truth potion, so don't worry about it!"
Hobby was somewhat appeased, but he still decided he would not overuse this. Only on Malfoy; the rest would go some other way.
"So, how and when? And what about Narcissa? She's the worst of them, it would seem - though I had no inkling of this from my past life", said Hobby.
Sirius, with a thoughtful expression on his face, held up a hand. He asked Nick and Penny a lot of questions about the imperius potion, and especially about interactions with other potions or spells.
Then he laid down the plan as he saw it. It was different from his impulsive idea to do something in the atrium of the ministry, and Remus was smiling broadly by the time his marauder friend had finished detailing it.
Omake
"Boring is good; keeps you alive", muttered Remus.
"Sure. But imagine this: someone sits down to write about us a decade or three later. Would they enjoy writing it? Would they have any readers if I'd simply gone out on the first day and just killed them all, and closed with a drumroll and a that's all, folks?"
Remus looked at him strangely, reflecting that he probably would never understand how a house-elf's mind worked.
Hobby shrugged. He had no idea what put that crazy thought into his head anyway, so he just moved on.
