Chapter 2
Number 4 Privet Drive Little Whinging was a jail by another name. He may not have bars on his windows any more, though the scars remained in the mortar on the outside of the window of the spare bedroom from their dramatic removal last summer. But he was stuck here nonetheless, with an irate fat jailer and a sniffing disapproving aunt.
It had confused him the last year, why the Dursleys were so desperate to keep him, even though the hated him being around. They tried to stop the letters reaching him and then last year locked him in his room. Why not just kick him out? Was it that he was safe here? Or perhaps the reverse and they were safe with him here? Maybe their fear of the adults outweighed their dislike of him?
Maybe his aunt did actually have some care for him beneath all the cruel jealousy Harry had come to realise she held to this day. It hadn't been hard by the way she described his mother discovering she was a witch. That was unlikely.
It didn't actually matter, the end result was still the same. A jail of boredom and dismissal. One he intended to escape as soon as possible. It had only been a day and he was ready to go.
This summer Harry had mysteriously been allowed to take some objects from his trunk before it was locked away. Not his wand, the Dursleys weren't that dumb, but some items were better than none, especially because he could actually use them, unlike his wand.
He looked at his bed where his tools were arrayed. His invisibility cloak, nondescript enough to only raise a scoff and raised eyebrow from his uncle. Gringotts key, another seemingly useless item given muggles had moved well beyond vaults. A pouch with forty three galleons, twelve sickles and forty two knuts, he made sure to hide these from his uncle. An assortment of school books, mail order lists, quill, parchment and ink, he had reasoned that homework would keep him hidden and out of the way. Lastly but most crucially, food for Hedwig. It wasn't much but it was something.
Hedwig had also been allowed free reign as long as she did not leave the room, Uncle Vernon would never tolerate 'unnatural ruddy birds flying into this house'. So while the companionship was nice, she wasn't of much use. He truly needed someone who could come and go as they please, without alerting the Dursleys. So with a sigh the green eyed wizard sought the only help that came to mind.
"Dobby." Harry said into the empty space, and almost instantly regretted his decision. With a pop the excitable house elf appeared on his desk chair, big ears flapping and tumbled off it with a thump.
"Keep it down!" Harry heard his uncle bellow from the lounge room where he had parked himself again for the night. It was a disturbing dejavu to last summer.
"Harry Potter sir calls for Dobby!" Harry wasn't sure if it was a statement or a question. He reached down and picked the elf up, placing him back on the chair. "Mister Harry Potter sir is too kind, too kind."
"It's okay Dobby, we are friends, and as I have been told, friends pick each other up when they fall." Harry smiled at the little elf in his pillow sack, that would need to go. "Though it probably wasn't meant this literally."
"Harry Potter calls Dobby his, his friend?!" The elf's big eyes brimmed with tears as he looked up at him, hero worship just as strong as ever. "Harry Potter is a great wizard, a great wizard, to say so about an elf. How can Dobby be helping Harry Potter sir?"
Harry sat down across from the small creature, still unsure about his decision. Was this the right thing to do? Was he ready for this responsibility, the responsibility of another life? He had to be ready, it was now or never.
"Dobby, you are a free elf now."
"Oh yes, Dobby is a free elf!" The small humanoid nodded his head enthusiastically, his ears flapping back and forth. "All thanks to Harry Potter sir, Dobby's friend."
"Well I wondered, if perhaps you might like to come and work for me?" Harry cringed and weighted for the reaction that was bound to come. Any second the elf would be bouncing off the walls or something and uncle Vernon would come storming in. But it never came.
"The great Harry Potter wants...wants Dobby to be his elf?" The creature was shocked into a stunned silence. Looking at the young wizard with wide emotional eyes. Harry could not really help but compare it to a child. "Wants...Dobby to be Harry Potter's elf?"
"Yes Dobby, I hoped that you might agree, rather than just my friend, you might wish to be my family."
The waterworks started then, with a wail, the house elf started blubbering and blowing his nose on his pillow case, warbling incoherently. Harry did pick up some words such as "undeserving" and "truly great".
"Dobby, Dobby please, if you will agree we have to set some rules and the first is while we are here in this house you must not be seen and we are going to make my uncle barge in here!"
The small elf nodded furiously and cupped its hands to its mouth indicating it's silence.
"The second rule Dobby is that we are family now, no master or sir or any other titles between us. I'm just Harry from now on. Nobody in this family is above any one else. Is that understood?" Another nod with wide eyes. "You can talk Dobby."
"It's not proper though, Dobby would be a bad elf, a bad elf!" He seemed to be looking for a quiet way to punish himself for the suggestion that he be 'rude' to Harry. His eyes looked furtively about the room, probably for the lamp or draws again.
Harry smiled patiently and drew the small creature into a hug, which seemed to freeze him in place. Harry had not realised how truly spindly house elves were at that moment, and had to take the utmost care not to harm him.
"No Dobby, you are a very good elf." He put Dobby back on the chair and couldn't help but notice the thick tears welling up in his eyes. He blew his nose on his pillowcase shirt with a loud trumpet, that thing was definitely going. "And as a good elf we have more rules I am sure you will follow." More flapping of the ears. "No more punishing yourself to start with, if you keep my trust Dobby, then you can never do anything deserving of punishment, especially not physical punishments. It's not what families do, I think we both learned that from people we never chose to be our families. Never again Dobby, do you understand me?"
"Yes Harry Potter sir!" he squeaked with more ear flapping then clamped his hands quickly over his mouth, clearly appalled by breaking the first commandment of the Great and Powerful Potter.
"It's okay Dobby, it will take some time to adjust I know." He looked seriously at the elf, giving him a critical eye over his glasses, hopefully in a passable imitation of Professor McGonagall. "And the second rule means not punishing yourself for breaking the first rule. Just try your best."
"Dobby will Harry Potter s-Harry Potter!" Close enough.
"The last rule is I want you to have an allowance." Dobby had seemed to be getting progressively more red as the conversation carried on, now he seemed ready to faint.
"No Harry Potter! Dobby could not, Dobby must not!" He shook his head fiercely, denial etched on his face. "Harry Potter is a great wizard, a kind wizard! He has given...he has given Dobby a family! Dobby could not ask for more, will not ask for more!"
"Okay Dobby, okay, calm down. Listen please." He reached out and squeezed the elf's shoulder. "We are a family and nobody in the family is left out or does chores for free. Do wealthy pureblood families not give allowances to their members?" It was a gamble because Harry had no idea, but it seemed as good a guess as any. "Do parents not give children an allowance?" Dobby nodded along. "You need to have enough to look after your wants too Dobby, to live the life you want to live...and to buy new clothes when you want to. So how much might you like?"
The elf didn't look particularly convinced but looked down at his pillowcase, pinching it out to see it better. Then weirdly lifted up one of his feet, holding it in his hand and looking at it as if in deep thought. "Okay Harry Potter, Dobby will accept." He squinted his big eyes up at the boy wizard, in a strange child-like imitation of Harry's earlier look. "An allowances of one silvers a month."
"Okay Dobby, one galleon a month." The elf looked mortified.
"No! No Harry Potter, one goldie is too much, Dobby would not know what to do with it all! Dobby will take four silvers!"
"One galleon it is, and not a knut less. I have absolutely no doubt you will more then earn it Dobby." The elf slumped and seemed to mope but accepted the amount with a sad looking nod. "Great! Then it's time we get to work."
Dobby would be Harry's connection to the wizarding world while he was trapped at the Dursleys. He had decided that while his relatives were studiously ignoring him, he would use the seclusion and quiet of Privet Drive to do his own study and prepare what he needed to escape this place.
Before leaving Hogwarts Harry had asked around the third year Gryffindors what books they had for the year, including those for the electives. Using the Flourish and Blotts owl order list he identified the books he wanted to Dobby plus a few extra that he thought might be interesting. He decided not to pursue Divination or Muggle Studies next year, so he acquired the textbooks for Arithmancy, Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures. He had considered some books on Alchemy because of his experience in first year, but thought it was too close to potions that Harry decided it wasn't for him.
He purchased some extra tomes for runes, Enchanted Runes, magical creatures, Magical Fauna of the British Isles, and charms, Useful charms for the useless wizard, Harry hadn't been thrilled by the title of that book but it came well recommended. Finally he also decided to buy books on magical theory, wand making and the magical world in general, Making Magics Magical, The Art of Wand Making and Lore, Welcome to Wizarding: an introduction for muggles and the muddled.
The last book was of particular interest as Harry was tired of being surprised about everything and not knowing the ins and outs of the society he was meant to be a prominent member of. Everyone knew him but he knew nothing about anyone.
Unfortunately Dobby had said house elves are not allowed to take money from Gringotts, so it took almost all of his money to buy the books, but he felt it worth it, so he sent the elf off to buy them anyway. He would need to head to the bank first thing on escaping the Dursleys.
The question of escape was a more complicated one then he had originally considered. Dobby could easily fetch his possessions from under the stairs, though he had decided instead that it would be the litmus test for his preparedness to survive on his own. Ron had written to him to say the Weasleys were traveling to see one of his brothers in Egypt and he already knew that Hermione would be in France. So what he was really lacking was a long term destination, a roof over his head.
He could always stay at the Leaky Cauldron he supposed but that was not a good long term plan, and he did want to be away from Little Winging in the longest of terms.
The only thing that occurred to him was obviously that he had a reasonable amount of money, though not unlimited, with which to live on and that, though not the most enjoyable of thoughts, his parents had died rather suddenly and surely he had not inherited only money. That presented another problem though, he had no intention of living in the house where his parents were murdered. Regardless, he would need to visit Gringotts to have a better understanding of his inheritance. But first he had homework and reading to do.
When Harry woke up the next day it was to a bedroom much changed. The first thing he noticed was how spotless it was, not a speck of dust could be found. Hedwig's cage had been cleaned to a shine and the owl was fast asleep on her perch. It even looked like the walls had been scrubbed clean.
It was also immaculately tidy. His clothes were hung in the closet, everything in the desk was in its place and the boxes of Dudley's old possessions had mysteriously vanished. His books, both new and old, had replaced them in the corner on a makeshift bookshelf made of boxes and pieces of wood that he recognised from the garden shed. It was...nice, well almost nice, but definitely an improvement.
"Dobby?"
"Yes mister Harry Potter?" The house elf appeared once again on the unoccupied study chair.
"Did you do all this in one night?"
"Yes, did Dobby do wrong? The boxies in the corner did not seem like they were for wizards so Dobby put them in the roof." The elf was wringing his right ear, clearly worried for Harry's reaction.
"No Dobby, you did wonderfully."
"Dobby also has Harry Potter's breakfast ready if he should like it?" He asked, beaming at the praise.
"You bought the food with the money I gave you and didn't take from the Dursleys like we talked about?" An emphatic nod. "That would be brilliant Dobby thank you."
And so Harry and Dobby settled into a routine, Harry would spend most of the day and night holled up in is room completing his homework and undertaking to read ahead. Dobby would occasionally pester him to take a break and then more unfortunately his Aunt or Uncle would barge in and demand he undertake some menial chore.
The extra reading had largely focused on getting a head start on his class reading, hoping that once he arrived back at Hogwarts it would give him more free time for the practical elements he was denied in the summer.
He had also spent a good bit of time reading Welcome to Wizarding, as it had already proved both fascinating and useful. The book had discussed various British wizarding institutions, such as the Ministry and St Mungos, their services, history and how they could be accessed. It also gave some great information on wizarding customs that Harry was otherwise completely oblivious, such as traditional holidays like Yule Tide and the Summer Solstice celebrations and other traditions followed by older families, providing Harry with some interesting context for the origins of the pureblood conflicts, particularly Grindelwald. Most useful of all though for Harry was the chapter on magical transport. He already knew of the Floo Network and apparition, but he had not been familiar with portkeys and more immediately useful, the Night Bus.
The other interesting reading for Harry had been on his third year electives. The Care of Magical Creatures book had been fascinating, once he and Dobby had stopped it destroying the room and had worked out how to open it, and Harry had decided immediately to take the class.
Arithmancy had been the opposite, a confusing array of numerical schema that twisted his mind and hurt his eyes. This was something built for Hermione, theory for years until something practical was pursued sometime in six or seventh year.
Runes however, as a subject, was both his favourite and exactly what he needed. Half language and half enchanting the study of ancient runes would allow him to imbue objects with magical properties, sometimes indefinitely. It was meant to be an art as difficult as arithmancy seemed to be, however for Harry, he seemed to take to it instantly. So much so that he had sent Dobby back to Diagon Alley to also pick up an inscribing kit.
Much of the first few chapters of the book were focused on warnings and then theory, describing how if runes were drawn incorrectly, arrayed incorrectly causing an unbalance or conflict, or worst of all creating a loop, it could end in catastrophe. The book then went on to describe a series of essential basic runes and finally some basic projects to demonstrate the theory in practice.
From Harry's understanding most runic arrays had a number of basic features. First they required either or mixes the World, or heimr, or Contact, or taka, runes, which would power the runes through the wizard or on a constant use of the worlds ambient magic. This made sense to Harry, he had seen both types of objects, such as his invisibility cloak and broom only working when he commanded or used them, and really most of Hogwarts, which was always active.
It then required some form of control or conditional rune which would help direct the magic and how it would interact with the last part of the array, the command runes. There were all sorts of these giving the items their magical properties, along with a set of Container, or hafa, runes, which would accommodate a spell that was cast on it, making that spell permanent to the array. The way you arrange these runes and how they are then combined, looped or ordered would change the effect they have.
Advanced rune masters could make incredible effects through the simplest combinations, but also vast arrays that could change the very fabric of reality. This was obviously highly regulated. It also discussed various practices for inscribing runes, such as the use of enlarging charms to inscribe large arrays on a small area and conceal what was written, as well as arrays to assist in concealing runes with a passphrase. This way masters could then sell items without other wizards simply copying their creation.
The additional implication for Harry he had only realised on his second day. Wand magic for minors was forbidden, the use of magical objects however, was only illegal in front of muggles, and even then only when it was obviously magical. But that didn't apply for the Dursleys, who were already aware of magic. The only restriction was that he could not cast any spells to store in a rune, if he had a wand.
So after a few weeks in the sterile superficial world of Number 4 Privet Drive Harry decided it was time to go and that the challenge of retrieving his own items from his old bedroom would be accomplished with runes. All he needed was a thin enough piece of metal.
He had briefly considered stealing a knife or something else from the kitchen, but decided that may cause more issues than it was worth. Instead, waiting for his Aunt to leave the house for some card game or gossip session, he braved the dust of the attic for Dudley's old possessions.
"Dobby is sorry, Dobby didn't know that Harry Potter needed old boxes." The little elf was again wringing his ears.
"You can just call me Harry, Dobby, and it is perfectly fine, I didn't know either and it is better that they are up here." Harry pushed aside more old junk, toys, blankets, probably unread books. Nothing of use.
He moved on to the next one and then yelped as his finger was punctured.
"What the." A little pixie flew from the box, glaring and blowing a raspberry at the wizard. "Well that's not good."
Harry grabbed an empty box and clambered after the creature, which buzzed about the rafters, attempting to steer clear of Harry's grasping.
"Dobby we can't leave it here!" The house elf scrambled after the pink little monster and almost managed to grasp it before tripping on a discarded toy car. The pixie swooped down, making for a space in the wall, which really would start to cause problems.
In a last ditch effort Harry threw the box in his hands, the opening facing the pixie. His aim was pin point, quidditch had certainly come in handy, and with a squeak the mischievous creature hit the back of the box which then fell to the floor, trapping it. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. If a pixie had got out into the Dursley household he would never have heard the end of it.
"What was it doing here anyway?"
"Pixies are ticksie creatures. Creatures come to wizard houses cause they is knowing there is magic, theys can feel it. Pixie is coming here because Harry Potter is a great wizard!" Harry wasn't sure about that last bit but the rest of the explanation certainly made sense. He would have to take the pixie with him though.
"Dobby can you find something to keep it safe but out of our hair, we will take it with us when we go." Dobby nodded and disappeared, reappearing with a toolbox from the shed, uncle Vernon would never know it was missing. He emptied it out, dropping some screwdrivers, a hammer, drill heads, a thin ruler and an assortment of various nails, screws and other hardware fixtures. The little elf then with a deft catch he grabbed the pixie from the box, which had started moving around, and locked the creature into the new box. Harry picked up the six inch ruler and smiled, at least he got what he came for also.
It took him two more days to get the runes onto the ruler well enough that he was happy with them. He spent most of a day researching the runes and the best way to arrange them. Luckily the book had an example project quite similar to this, for a ball that would fit into any container, giving him a starting point.
He had cleaned the remaining paint off, to ensure that there was nothing that would confuse the array. Then he had spent hours scratching an outline to make sure he felt it was exactly right.
The rune carving tools Dobby had brought him had instantly made up for their cost, the remainder of his galleons. He had chosen the more expensive tools for the exact reason they had proven to be so effective. When applied to the ruler the end of the metal pen grew hot and sliced into the metal like butter.
It would have been easier to simply store an alohomora charm in the array using the most basic container rune. However as he could not use a wand he had used an array with a contact rune so it would only work when he was seeking to use it, then layered in first a shut rune, then the common inverse control rune and then the array was linked to another condition rune for fit and the command rune of be softened, mykjask.
Finally he added the basic concealing array around the set, completing his work.
The only challenge now was activating the runes. Normally this would require just tapping a wand to the runes, however he didn't have that luxury as his wand was safe and sound in his trunk.
Instead Harry picked up the ruler and focused into his hands, trying his best to recall the feeling of holding a wand, or doing accidental magic. He focused his mind on his hands and then imagined pushing an invisible force out into the ruler. It didn't work. Harry sighed in annoyance.
He tried tapping his finger on the ruler as though it was a wand. Nothing. Tried tapping it and saying incantations. Nothing.
He tried laying it down on the table and putting both his palms flat down over it, trying to move an invisible energy from around and within himself into the ruler. Still nothing. He tried that one for an hour, deep breathing exercises and all!
He even tried breathing hard on it, but no luck. It was frustrating, and increasingly felt like a waste of time, the temptation to call Dobby growing.
Then he tried slowly tracing his finger along the runes, wishing that they would just melt, burn him angrily, even bite him like the pixie hidden in his closet, do something. As he did so the rune beneath his finger lit up in a soft blue glow. In excitement, he continued, tracing each rune and as he did they lit up in turn, when he reached the concealing array he spoke the phrase he had chosen to use in his projects. "Fulgur."
Once the final rune was complete, the light and runes disappeared into the metal, leaving only a basic metal ruler on the desk. It had worked. Harry sighed in relief, happy both that he had been able to activate the runes, and that he still had fingers after doing so.
It is time to get out of this personal hell.
In the early hours of that morning Harry donned his invisibility cloak and exited Dudley's second bedroom, making sure to do it quickly enough that the creek was short and soft. He crept down the stairs, skipping the third, eighth and twelfth steps, the sounds of which he was all too familiar with.
There was a large padlock on the cupboard and Harry briefly wondered how Vernon and Petunia explained it to guests, did they think the Dursleys had some type of dungeon basement under the stairs?
Putting that thought out of his mind as quickly as he could Harry took out the ruler and held it to the lock. As he pushed it to the keyhole the ruler morphed, growing thin and bent to the shape of the opening. It fit in perfectly and with a twist the lock sprung open.
He quickly retrieved his trunk and broom from the cupboard and took out his wand, which he put in his back pocket. Dobby then appeared exactly as he had been instructed, ferrying Harry's books, Hedwig, who looked particularly put out, the toolbox with the pixie and the rest of Harry's few possessions.
"Good job Dobby. Let's get it all put away and get out of here. What do you say? Time for an adventure?" The elf smiled brightly but then frowned.
"Harry Potter is a great wizard but he must stay safe."
"A safe adventure then." Harry whispered with a grin and then turned to his owl. "Don't worry girl, you will be out of there in just a moment." Hedwig looked slightly mollified but still remained puffed up in indignation.
The two quickly put everything away in its place and Dobby jumped on the trunk which Harry wheeled behind him under the cloak. As they exited the door to Number 4 Privet Drive Little Whinging Harry took a deep breath. He was a free man, permanently if he could help it, this was the summer he would find a way to stay far away from Surrey, forever.
Without a look back they made their way down Privet Drive. There was nothing around except a large black dog that they passed on the other side of the road and once far enough away Harry took off the cloak and let out his owl.
"We are going to the Leaky Cauldron, see you in the morning." Harry said and with a hoot of acknowledgement she took flight into the night and Harry Potter raised his wand into the air.
Author's note
So I know this chapter is full of overdone clichés. Dobby coming on board, who would guess. More books? Yawn. I hope though I at least gave it some flavour and kept it interesting for you all!
The next chapter will be also beset by overdone events. Visit to Gringotts? You got it. Shopping? Definitely. But I hope that I can give a different flavour, have some small changes in concept and then we can push forward with the rest of the summer.
I hope you enjoyed.
