Dumbledore's Dreams

This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy. No ships. Liberal bashing all around everyone but Harry. There will be eleven chapters with 90% of the story in the months of July and August 1996.

Author's Note: This story exploded on my computer screen on Thursday afternoon and demanded to be written over the weekend. I wanted to do something different with the goblins too.

SUMMARY:

With the stressful summer of 1996 nearing its end, Albus Dumbledore dreams about the golden egg that Harry Potter retrieved from the nest of the Hungarian Horntail in the first task. He cannot understand why he is dreaming about the egg. Worse, the headmaster cannot discover who inherited the Black family title (and wealth). The Dark Lord is hiding again, and Cornelius Fudge clings to his office as minister. Gringotts is not happy about some matters, and Dumbledore owes his 'bought' goblin a large number of galleons. But Harry Potter remains quiet with his relatives in Surry, isolated from all contact with magical Britain.

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Dumbledore Dreams about a Golden Egg

For more years than he can remember, Albus Dumbledore's occlumency allowed him to understand and control his dreams instantly. However, tonight, he found that he could not control his dream. He was aware that he was dreaming and that he was inside a glass box with the golden egg that Harry Potter retrieved in the First Task.

'That was exciting in the Tri-Wizard Tournament in November 1994. But this dream is strange. I told the elves to melt that egg down and put the gold into my vault at Gringotts,' the elderly wizard remembered as his dream vanished with a distinctive pop and his mind slipped back into a dreamless sleep.

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Dobby's Summer Job (14 -27 June 1996 at Hogwarts)

In the days after the return from the battle in the Department of Mysteries where his godfather died, Harry mourned but found he could rest at night. There were no interruptions by the Dark Nutjob through the infamous scar on his forehead. Finally, he noticed that Ron and Hermione didn't talk with him and avoided him in the Gryffindor common room.

Neville explained they were scared and still recovering from their injuries. Then Harry noticed that even Ginevra avoided him, and this was a big change from her usual starker behaviour. Again, he wrote off the change in the people around him as 'his fault' and went about the end of term lessons and studying books for his summer assignments.

One evening while he walked alone on the upper floors of the castle, he found the elf, Dobby, waving at him by the door to the Room of Requirement where they entered to visit and talk in private.

"Dobby thinks Mr Harry Potter is new Lord Black. He must just gets to Gringotts when he arrives in Londontown."

"What good will it do for me to be Lord Black?" asked Harry.

"Dobby needs summer job," the elf replied. "And it means that Draco Malfoy not get gold or votes in Wizen-ga-mottle. It means that Lord Black lives where he wants and use magic all he wants."

Harry spent two days thinking about Dobby's news and didn't share the information with anyone. Ron remained a bit confused after the attack by the brains in the DOM and Hermione was still sore and weak from her wound and magical healing. Harry helped her get between classes and to the library to read after class. But the golden trio seemed tarnished and brittle as the school year ended. Ginny stayed away from Harry still, but Luna and Neville treated him the same as ever.

While Harry mourned for his godfather, he paid little attention to the other students. While most of Harry's classmates read the accurate stories in the Daily Prophet, the students still listened to the stories told by Ginny and Ron that portrayed Harry as reckless and dangerous. The howler from Mrs Weasley directed at the Boy-Who-Lived cemented the idea that Harry was to be avoided into the minds of many students.

After the second morning of howlers, aggravated with his 'friends', and feeling more alone than ever, Harry skipped meals in the Great Hall and ate in the kitchen or in the Room of Requirement. Then he began remaining there for the entire night. When he woke in the quiet room one morning, Dobby popped into the room and shook his finger at Harry.

"Mr Harry Potters must let Dobby know when he spends the night away from Mouth of Endless Chewing. Last night, Dobby must take back all Mr Harry Potters galleons, broom, underwear, and books from a thief named Weasley."

This early in the morning, Harry wasn't certain he heard Dobby correctly and asked the elf to explain.

"Mouth of Endless Chewing learns sneaky sneak spell to open locks of trunks in the dorm when other boys out. He steals galleons and gifts from all boys. Dobby steals back and puts in your trunk, but Dobby can't put the stinging charm on trunks. Headmaster says to let 'thieves be thieves'.

"The headmaster said that?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Well, Mr Whiskers said that 'boys be boys', but Dobby and all elves know the headmaster likes thieves."

Thinking quietly for a minute, Harry asked, "Why do you think Headmaster Dumbledore likes thieves, Dobby?"

"Because Mr Whiskers steals lots of things from Mr Harry Potter."

"Really?"

Dobby nodded and led Harry out of the room. There in the hallway in front of the tapestry of the dancing trolls, Dobby instructed the young wizard, "Walk back and forth three times asking for a room with the things stolen from Mr Harry Potters."

As usual, a door appeared in the stone wall for Harry to open and step inside. Dobby followed and closed the door behind them so no one could disturb them. In the middle of the open space in the room, there was a large pile of items including books, tapestries, paintings, wands, furniture, and several trunks with their lids open revealing they are filled with golden coins.

"What is this?" asked Harry, the hurt and sadness evident in his voice. "How can he steal all this stuff from me?"

"Goblinses allow Headmaster to steal from your vaults because he is your Magical Guardians," Dobby explained.

Miffed Harry asked, "Where can I hide this stuff that he won't just take it back?"

"Elves at Hogwarts know Mr Whiskers is a thief and theys hide things from him."

"But they must obey him," warned Harry.

Dobby smiled and explained, "But elves learned from Mr Whiskers to reply with half answer or to ask silly questions instead of answers. Makes Mr Whiskers mad but he needs elves to keep Hogwarts running."

"Dobby, thanks for telling me this and showing me…but what do I do?" asked Harry. "Everyone but you has turned their back on me…even the teachers."

The elf looked scandalized and asked, "Didn't Mr Harry Potters teached the students to defend themselves? Now they turn against you? Dobby think they be a few ingredients short of a potion."

Harry sat on one trunk and pulled an expensive-looking cloak off the pile of treasures. Underneath the cloak was the golden egg from the first task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Picking up the golden egg, he frowned again and said, "Why did I forget about this egg? I almost died to retrieve it."

After a moment of searching his memories, the Boy-Who-Lived stood up and shouted, "That wanker! That bloody wanker! He obliviated me to not remember the egg. He said he needed it to pay for more of those hideous robes he wears."

His temper off the tether, Harry's mind began burning through several other obliviations from past years.

"He knew that basilisk was sliding around the halls of the castle! He knew Moody was a Death Eater using Polyjuice! He just kept obliviating me whenever I discovered something and told him about it!"

Sitting back down, Harry slid to the floor and explained, "Dumbledore obliviated me back at Christmas. Before he cast the spell he said, 'For the greater good, there must be sacrifices. For the greater good, you must die someday my boy.' He plans for me to die so that Tom Riddle can be killed."

Lowering his head into his hands, Harry began to cry. "We can hide this stuff, but it'll make no difference. He'll read my mind again, make me forget, and steal it all again."

Dobby stepped up and said, "Mr Harry Potters listen to Dobby. You do not look at Headmaster Twinkle Eyes. You do not speak to him in any room. If he tries to talk to you, you cover your eyes and cries about dogfather Sirius."

"Okay," replied Harry, conditioned to obey anyone with a stern voice, even a friendly house-elf.

"When you gets on Hoggiewartle Expressions to return to London, Dobby goes with you and makes relatives leaves you alone. We goes to Gringotts and gets you rings to be Lord Black. Then you be emancipatedness and free to use magic wands. We make more plans then."

"Dobby, how can you go with me outside of Hogwarts? I thought you had to be here to get magic," asked Harry.

The elf blushed and replied, "Dobby be making his worthless elf-self Mr Harry Potter's elf when you comes back from Departmentals of Mysterious. Dobby needs a summertime work job.

Watching the wizard closely, the house-elf waited until the wizard grabbed his arm and pulled him close to hug him. The wizard explained to the happy elf, "Thank you, Dobby. I would be lost without you. You're almost the only person I have ever wanted to hug."

Now Dobby summoned a trunk from the mess of items in the room and opened it. He threw out an enormous pile of armour and weapons from four centuries to add to the piles in the room. Then the elf used his magic to shrink the stolen items and pack them into the new trunk. Then Dobby snapped the trunk lid and said, "Now, it important that Mr Harry Potter shrinks trunk filled with things shrunk by elf. If Dobby shrinks the trunk, all shrinked things will go kaboom and blow-up Room of Requirements. Wizard shrink magic ignores elf shrink – two different types of magic."

"How do you know all this Dobby?" asked Harry as he practised the shrinking charm on several items in the room before shrinking the loaded trunk. Dobby placed the shrunken trunk into his tea towel and nodded while patting the tiny item.

Harry spent the last three days of the spring term in the library reading about charms used in the kitchen and the workshops of witches and wizards around Britain before falling asleep in a deserted section of the library. This choice of reading material surprised Dumbledore but he felt safe to ignore the boy for now. At night, Harry vanished underneath his cloak of invisibility and made his way to the Room of Requirement where he read several sets of laws regarding students who passed their OWLS.

At the leaving feast, Harry entered between a group of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws before taking a seat at the Gryffindor table. Neville Longbottom came in with the other fifth-year Gryffindor boys and made a point of sitting beside Harry and talking with him during the meal. They weren't through with pudding when Professor McGonagall stood and began to walk toward the table, but Harry sprinted out the door and returned to the Room of Requirement, ignoring the professor's calls.

Dobby popped in later and confirmed that Professor Kitty was angry because Harry Potter left before she could make him go to the headmaster's office.

"She take fifty points from Gryffindor and so Hufflepuff won the house cup. All Gryffindors are angry at Harry Potter until Mr Neville Plantboy explodes and yells that if they wants to be mad, they should yell at Professor Kitty who took fifty points. If she took five or ten points, Gryffindor still wins. But she took fifty points and let the Badgerses win."

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The next day, at Hogsmeade Station, Harry Potter found himself alone except for the comforting presence of Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. Before climbing onto the train, the Boy-Who-Lived took an extra minute to look back at Hogwarts from the station in the village.

'Will I return to Hogwarts in September?' he wondered.

Then he reviewed his plan for today and made certain everything was in place. Yesterday, Dobby popped down to Surry with a letter to slip through the mail slot at No.4 Privet Drive with news that Harry would use the trains to get to the house before evening. He also included a few 10-pound notes to pay for Vernon's trouble with not coming to the station. Dobby cast a subtle calming and forgetful charm on the muggle money to remove any resentments toward his Mr Harry Potter that day.

Once in London, Harry would put on the cloak of invisibility (with all of Dumbledore's charms removed courtesy of Dobby) and slip through the crowd. Once away from the platform, he would make his way to Gringotts and visit the account manager for the Black vaults. That had been a second letter delivered by Dobby to make the arrangement to meet with the goblin Dobby learned was named Ironstream.

Luna led the two boys inside and directed them to an empty compartment where she spent ten minutes casting protective spells and selective notice-me-not spells. With the door closed and locked tightly, she informed Neville where four Muzzle Pear seedlings were sprouting in his spare greenhouse.

"Really? Muzzle Pears are extremely rare, and I moved the plants out of that greenhouse two years ago." He seemed lost in thought and then added, "There must have been seeds left that took twenty-four months to germinate. Thanks, Luna!"

"You're welcome, Neville. And Harry…"

"Yes, Luna?"

She smiled as she said, "You have a busy summer ahead of you and there are many decisions you have to make. Don't worry about Hogwarts until the end of August. Whichever decision you make, it will be the right one for you."

"Thanks. That makes me feel better," Harry replied. He glanced around them and continued, "Since we're out of sight of everyone, let me teach two a great spell to shrink your trunk."

In short order, Harry taught both of them the spell to shrink their trunks and how to use their wands to tap the matchbox-sized trunk to return it to normal size.

"You are an excellent teacher, Harry," Neville said when he got the spell right on the second try. "I learned more from you in our secret defence classes than I ever learned in the regular class."

"Would you like to teach DADA at Hogwarts someday, Harry?" asked Luna.

Harry smirked and replied, "Maybe if there was almost anyone but Dumbledore as the headmaster."

They were pleasantly surprised by drinks and snacks appearing in their compartment though Luna simply stated, "Thank you, mysterious elf friend."

Draco Malfoy was unable to find Scarhead during the trip to London though he did torment Weasel for a time. Hermione remained within a compartment with other girls from Gryffindor and uncharacteristically kept quiet on her opinions while asking others about their families and Wizarding Britain.

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