Author's Note: This chapter's song is I'm Free by The Who off of their Tommy album.
May 30, 1993
Danielle was released from the Hospital wing the next morning. Lulu had stopped by with clean clothes, which Danielle gratefully dressed in. Danielle was thrilled to be able to leave so much more quickly than her last visit. Her leg was still sore, but Poppy promised it would improve in a day or two.
As Danielle strode across the Hogwarts, she realized she had no idea what Dumbledore had told or not told Harry about himself. She doubted he had told Harry about the prophecy, but she hoped he would. So Danielle decided to go straight to Dumbledores's office.
"Sugar Quills," she said to the gargoyle, which leapt aside so Danielle could enter. She rode the magical staircase up and knocked on the door.
"Come in," he called. Danielle came in, to find the man at his desk, writing something down. He looked up and smiled to see her.
"It's good to see you up and around again, Danielle" he told her.
"It's good to be upright again," she said as she sat across from the Headmaster. "Albus, did you speak to Harry after the Chamber of Secrets?"
"Actually, he's on his way to talk to me right now. Would you care to join us?" he asked.
"Of course," Danielle said.
"But Danielle, you must not interfere. I feel there are things Harry is not ready to know," Dumbledore said in a warning tone. Danielle frowned.
"And if he finds this all out later on, he's going to resent you for keeping these things from him. You know I'm right!"
"I will tell him, when he is ready!" Dumbledore said in a surprisingly testy tone of voice.
"When's that, when he's awaiting the arrival of his first grandchild?" Danielle snapped.
"Severus is such a bad influence on you," Dumbledore sighed. Danielle scowled, a very Severus like expression. She didn't think Severus was a bad influence at all. And besides, she felt she had changed him far more than he had changed her. But before she could say anything more, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," Dumbledore called, and Harry entered. He looked extremely nervous as he took a seat next to Danielle, who smiled encouragingly at him.
"I hope you don't mind, Professor Katz is sitting in with us, as she knows all about our little adventure yesterday," Dumbledore said politely.
"Not at all," Harry said and Danielle smiled encouragingly at him. "Professor, I was wondering…."
"About your ability to speak Parseltongue?" asked Dumbledore. Harry nodded. "My boy, you can speak to snakes because Voldemort can. If I am not mistaken, the night when he attacked you when you were a baby, he accidentally transferred some of his powers to you."
Danielle frowned. Dumbledore was again dancing around the fact that a piece of Voldemort's soul was living inside Harry, the last Horcrux. She knew he would not tell Harry all the things he needed to, but there was nothing she could do. She would not directly defy Dumbledore when it came to this, even though he was completely wrong in her opinion.
"His powers?" Harry gasped. "Then…then the Sorting Hat was right. I do belong in Slytherin."
"Oh Harry, the Sorting Hat often has a hard time deciding what house a person belongs in," Danielle told him in her most reassuring manner. "It almost put me in Gryffindor rather than Ravenclaw, and as Professor Snape frequently likes to tell me, it was probably mistaken in the end."
"The Hat considered me for both Ravenclaw and Slytherin," Dumbledore interjected. Harry's eyes widened at this. Dumbledore? In Slytherin? Impossible! "And do you know why the Sorting Hat finally placed you in Gryffindor?"
"Because I asked it to," Harry said in a miserable voice.
"Exactly, Harry! It is not our abilities that show what we truly are. It is our choices," Dumbledore told him. "And if you need further proof, look at this," he said as he handed Harry the Sword of Gryffindor. Having been cleansed of the blood and venom, Harry was now able to read the name of Godric Gryffindor etched upon the sword.
"Only a true Gryffindor could pull a sword like that out of a hat," Danielle said with a smile. Harry looked relieved, and laid the Sword back on Dumbledore's desk. He looked like he was about to say something more, when the door to Dumbledore's office flew open. In strode Lucius Malfoy, followed by a tiny, beaten down House Elf that Danielle knew must be Dobby.
"I was summoned here for what purpose, Headmaster?" Lucius snarled as he made his way to the desk. Dumbledore met his eyes with a steely gaze and tossed the Diary onto his desk. Lucius paled slightly, but kept his composure.
"An old diary that once belonged to your former master, Voldemort," Dumbledore said, causing Lucius to cringe involuntarily.
"And this has to do with me how?" he asked snidely.
"Professor Katz witnessed you placing this on Ginny Weasley's person in Flourish and Blotts last August. Luckily, she had the presence of mind to intercept this object and bring it to my attention. With the help of Mr. Potter here, we finally destroyed it yesterday. And today I invited you here to tell you that you are being formally removed from the school's Board of Governors," Dumbledore told him.
"You have no right to take such action," seethed Lucius. "All you have is the word of a Squib that it was I who placed the object on the child."
"The word of on my most trusted teachers, who may be a Squib, but it quite the talented gunslinger," Dumbledore said, the twinkle returning to his blue eyes as he complimented Danielle on her skill. Lucius turned on Harry.
"And what was your role in all this?" he spat.
"Harry was the one to destroy the Diary and helped kill the basilisk that lived in the Chamber of Secrets," Danielle told him pleasantly, as if she were discussing the weather.
"Let us hope that Mr. Potter will always be around to save the day," Lucius said drily.
"Don't worry. I will be," Harry told the older man, his green eyes surprisingly steely for such a young man. Danielle smiled, proud of Harry. Even if she limited his adventures a bit this year, he was still Harry, and he could be counted upon to save them all in the end.
At this, Lucius turned and kicked Dobby, sending the poor elf sprawling. The two left the audience, and Harry looked troubled. He then turned to Dumbledore and asked for the Diary, which Dumbledore happily gave him. Harry dashed from the room to free Dobby.
"Albus, a quick question. What have you done with the Ring?"
Dumbledore smiled and opened a drawer in his desk. He removed the Ring. It had been cracked precisely up the line on it that represented the Elder Wand. Danielle sighed with relief. They were now actually down three Horcruxes instead of the one they would have been in the books.
"And if you'll excuse me, Albus, but I want to see the look on Lucius' face when he realizes Harry has tricked him into freeing Dobby," she said rising from her chair. She ran out of the office, down the corridors, until she caught sight of Harry handing Lucius the Dairy in the Entrance Hall. As she expected, a disgusted Lucius tossed Harry's sock aside, which was caught by Dobby.
"Master has given Dobby clothes! Dobby is free!" the Elf shouted with glee.
And Lucius' face was everything Danielle hoped it would be. Contorted with rage, shock, and frustration. Of course, he did try to attack Harry, but Dobby finally rescued Harry properly without causing Harry any harm. The same could not be said for Lucius, who actually needed his fancy snake headed cane to help him limp out the door. Harry left after extracting a promise from Dobby to not attempt to save him. This was Danielle's cue.
"Hello, Dobby," she said as she knelt down next to him. He looked up her with a nervous expression on his face. "I'm Professor Katz, I teach Muggle Studies here at Hogwarts."
"Yes, my former Master spoke of you," he said softly.
"Oh, and what did he say?" Danielle asked, mildly surprised.
"Nothing you would want to hear. Terrible things, terrible…" He stopped and began beating his head against the floor, but Danielle knew what to expect and grabbed him, lifting him up so she was looking him in the eye.
"I'll put you down, but you have to promise to not hurt yourself. Okay?"
"Okay," Dobby said woozily. Danielle set him down gently.
"I hear that you no longer have a master, that you're now a free elf."
"Yes. A free elf," Dobby said, obviously liking the sound of that.
"Well, even though you're free, I am assuming you would like to work. Maybe for pay?" Danielle asked.
"Pay?" Dobby said as if he'd never heard the concept before. But he quickly adapted to this new state of affairs. "Yes, Dobby would like to get paid for his work."
"Then I would like to suggest that we return to the Headmaster's office and ask him for a position for you. I am sure he would be happy to hire you to work here with the other House Elves, but for pay," Danielle told him.
Dobby looked amazed by this, but nodded and they returned to Dumbledore's office. The Headmaster was happy to offer the House Elf a job. Originally, Dumbledore offered Dobby ten Galleons a week and weekends off, but Dobby bargained him down to a Galleon a week and one day a month off. Danielle couldn't help but hide her giggles behind her hand as the two of them drove a hard bargain. At last, she and Dumbledore watched a happy Dobby head down to the kitchens.
"I had better get going, I have exams to revise for the upcoming week," she told Dumbledore.
"Yes, since we prevented the attacks this year, I'm afraid we have to go through with exams as we normally would," he told her, his eyes sparkling with mirth.
"But please, we have to be more honest with Harry next year. This is going to get out of hand, and he is going to stop trusting you eventually if you don't show him some trust as well," Danielle said. Before Dumbledore could answer, she had slipped out the door.
As she walked to her office, Danielle couldn't help but laugh. Of course the Sorting Hat would consider the Headmaster for Slytherin. He certainly had the cunning and ambition to belong there. But like Harry, he probably made the choice to be a Gryffindor. She grinned, imagining what Severus would say if he knew that. But for Dumbledore's sake, she'd keep that fact to herself, or he'd never hear the end of it from his Potions Master.
AN: I'm Free is likely Dobby's personal theme song. I wouldn't be surprised if he blasted it in the kitchens and annoyed all the other Hogwarts House Elfs with it! A perfect song for this character, no? So there is one more Chamber of Secrets chapter left, before I start into The Prisoner of Azkaban. I am quite excited, as I have some interesting twists to POA, as well as some new ups and downs for our favorite protagonists, Danielle and Severus! Be prepared, the next chapter is a shocker! And please, review this one! It encourages more writing from me.