Sensing Magic
by Teddylonglong

Please refer to chapter 1 for my disclaimer and warnings. Thank you.

Harry sat at the sole table in the Great Hall between Regina on his right and Teddy and Neville on his left. Lucy gently licked Regina's hand in greeting, before she jumped into the playpen that had been placed onto the floor next to the table and carefully sat beside Felix, from where she showed Harry images of the dining table.

The headmaster seemed to be in a pleasant mood, before his eyes fell onto Teddy.

'He should slowly get used to having Teddy dine with us in the Great Hall,' Harry thought in annoyance. 'In a month's time, he's going to be a student here.'

Dumbledore tapped his wand against the table, and everyone expected the meal to pop up; however, nothing happened. He repeated the process without any success whatsoever.

"Barney!" When the head house-elf did not pop up within a minute, Dumbledore became seemingly impatient. "Twinkle!"

Within an instant, his personal house-elf appeared. "Yes, Master Professor Dumbledore. What can Twinkle do for you?"

When Lucy showed him a close up image of Twinkle, Harry noticed that the house-elf seemed to be distressed.

"What are the house-elves doing? We're waiting for dinner."

Twinkle wrung his hands, apparently pondering how to respond. "All the house-elves are gone."

"Gone?" Dumbledore cast the elf a look of pure disbelief.

Twinkle nodded. "Yes, Master Professor Dumbledore."

Suddenly, a female voice sounded through the Great Hall. A voice, which Harry immediately recognised, as he had heard it speak into his mind earlier. 'Hogwarts herself.'

"Who are you?" Dumbledore looked around in apparent confusion.

"I am Hogwarts. As all the house-elves are bonded to me, I decided to send them on a much needed holiday."

"A holiday?" Dumbledore's voice was laced with a combination of disbelief and anger.

"Yes."

"Where are they? Twinkle can you…"

"They are on the Isle of Elves and no, there is nothing that Twinkle can do about it. They will be back on August 20."

"Well, then I'm going to bond them to me, as soon as they'll be back."

"I am afraid that's not possible, headmaster."

"And why might that be?"

However, Hogwarts did not reply anymore.

"How are we going to get our dinner?" Dumbledore uttered, seemingly more to himself than to his colleagues.

Teddy rose from his chair, closely followed by Harry. "Everyone, please come back in one hour. By then, we will have prepared dinner."

An instant later, Lucy was at his side, and holding on to her paw, Harry popped them right into the elves' kitchen, glad when he sensed Teddy's and another elf's presence. 'Must be Twinkle,' he thought, before he asked Lucy to show him what ingredients they had, so that he could decide what to cook. He chose pumpkin soup, Shepherd's pie and chocolate pudding with cherries and ice-cream.

Together with Teddy, who had called his parents, and Twinkle, who had been joined by Minerva's elf, Malcolm, Harry made dinner for about twenty-five persons.

"Sorry, I don't know how to make it appear on the table in the Great Hall." He felt a little sheepish, after the elves had apparently accepted him as the 'Master of the kitchen' as Cicero jokingly called him.

"Don't worry about that. I can do it," Twinkle reassured him.

"We're going to teach you tomorrow, when we have a bit more time," Cicero added, causing Harry to inwardly groan.

"Oh right, this means that we're going to have to cook three meals a day for a fortnight," he realised. "Will you all help me again?"

He smiled in relief upon hearing a collective "Of course."

"Oh, by the way, I want all of you to have dinner together with us in the Great Hall."

Twinkle was the first to respond. "Harry, I appreciate what you're doing for the elves, but I cannot do such a thing, considering that I am bonded to the headmaster."

"Same here," Malcolm added.

'Minerva, I have asked the elves who helped me cook dinner to join us in the Great Hall and eat together with us. Would it be all right for you if Malcolm joined us?'

"Mistress Minerva is calling me." Malcolm popped away, causing Harry to grin.

Just a minute later, the house-elf was back. "Mistress Minerva allowed me to join everyone in the Great Hall." The elf's eyes were wide in apparent bewilderment. "Thank you for asking her, Harry."

HP

After dinner, Harry returned to the founders' quarters with only Lucy in tow to speak with Hogwarts. He tentatively entered what the founders pointed out to him as the parlour.

"Hogwarts? Can you hear me?"

"Harry, my child. Thank you for coming to visit. I suppose that my founders have told you that you're the heir of all four of them and as such my owner?" It was the soft voice of a gentle, old woman that talked to him, causing Harry to smile.

"Yes, they have told me and invited me into their rooms."

"This parlour here is the only room, where you can simply talk to me. Everywhere else within my walls, you have to either put your hand against my wall or use telepathy like you did earlier."

Harry nodded in understanding. "Thank you for supporting me in the matter of the elves earlier and not giving me away to the headmaster."

HP

During the following two weeks, everyone became used to the fact that Harry and the free elves prepared the meals, while Malcolm did the washing up afterwards. Twinkle helped by doing the laundry for everyone. It became also normal for the elves, free or not, to join everyone at the table in the Great Hall – much to the headmaster's annoyance.

When Draco came to visit a few days before Harry's birthday, he was surprised to say the least.

"You have house-elves sit at the table and dine together with you?" His voice was laced with bewilderment, causing Harry to inwardly chuckle.

"Why not?" he replied, innocently. "They're magical beings just like you and me, so why not?"

"Hmmm, because they're lower than us."

"Nonsense." Harry firmly shook his head.

"I don't think so either," Neville said in a soft voice. "Their magic is extremely strong.

'Let's try to make Draco believe us and not the pureblood doctrine that his father tries to teach him,' Harry thought to Neville, who returned a grin and an unobtrusive nod.

tbc tomorrow...

Thank you so very much for the kind reviews for the previous chapter. I appreciate it very much, and my muse really needs the feedback. Thank you.

I wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas!