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.
Okay, this chapter took on a life of its own – I think it is house elf magic or something. The Potter elves work with the children on how to 'rescue' them and then Harry learns about the Potter heirlooms the elves rescued from the headmaster's office during the fire.
Chapter 27 Fire Drills*(+++++)*
SCENE: What Are House Elves?Harry, Justin, and Neville whispered back and forth on the way to dinner but kept the idea of using house elves to escape the next troll a secret through the entire meal. Susan wondered what the three were whispering about but figured it was just some boy thing. None of the other boys noticed or would have cared if they had noticed.
Hermione Granger and Padma Patil noticed; consequently, the two young witches began their own whispered conversation that led to giggles and looks of interest from the other girls and the boys in Ravenclaw.
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In the library after dinner as the two groups of children began gathering information for an assignment in history class, Harry approached Susan with the idea of using elves to pop them to safety.
"House elves?" the girl declared in a loud voice that brought Madam Pence over to scold them both.
"Yes, ma'am," Susan and Harry responded as they promised to be quiet while around them the other 'puffs smirked but continued their homework.
At the table with the 'claws, Hermione turned to Padma and asked, "What are house elves?"
Only a minute later, a second loud eruption, this time from the 'claws, got both groups banned from the library for the rest of the evening. Neville checked out the book they needed to write the essay so the 'puffs and 'claws exited the library and moved to a nearby, deserted classroom.
"Okay, everyone," Harry said, taking over leadership for the moment.
Zach sighed with boredom and moved toward the door as he announced, "I'm going back to the dorm."
He looked at Hannah and said, "Abbot, make notes for me."
"Make notes yourself, Smith!" the girl replied. The boy quickly disappeared and the others exchanged glances.
"Honestly, I think one morning he'll order someone to shovel food into his mouth because he's too lazy to feed himself!" Hannah said, crossing her arms, determined not to follow Zach Smith's lead on anything.
With a determined look on her face, Hermione asked, "Harry, what are house elves?"
Grinning, Harry called for Apollo to appear in the room. The muggleborns had lots of questions and even the purebloods without large homes asked about the 'creature'.
"Apollo isn't a creature!" Harry insisted. "He's a magical person and he has feelings so don't talk about him like that!"
"Is he a slave?" Hermione asked. "Slavery is wrong!"
"Hold on, Granger," replied Justin. "Let's find out more before we apply the standards of our world to the house elves."
Harry wished Hedwig was there in the room, and with a 'pop', a second elf appeared in the room with the owl. Harry was pleased that he recognized this elf and remembered his name was Ares.
"How did they do that?" the muggleborn girl asked, pointing to the elf and owl.
"I wished Hedwig was here; she 'heard' me like a good familiar, so Ares popped her here to join us," Harry explained.
Hedwig flew around the room and set protections for the lecture to come. She settled on a table and hooted to Harry who translated, "Hermione, Hedwig wants you to ask Professor Binns for a history of house elves and the properties of the bond between the elf and the wizard in our next history class."
Hermione glanced at the owl who stared back, and the girl nodded her head in understanding. Hedwig proceeded to give Harry additional instructions and the boy obviously wanted to argue but knew not to in front of the other students.
"These house elves have agreed to help us if there's another troll or other danger while we're at Hogwarts," Harry explained as Apollo called the remaining Potter elves to appear. The boy-who-lived introduced each elf by name. Then he explained that the elves would come to the students and 'pop' them back to their dorm room in an instant.
"Does it hurt to be popped like that?" asked Sally Anne Perks.
"I don't know," Harry replied as Hedwig chortled. He translated the bird's answer with a smile, "Hedwig says that it tickled and she liked it."
Padma spoke up, "And your plan, Harry? The elves will pop us out of danger and back to our dorm rooms… what do we say to get them to come to us? Which student does which elf take?"
"We're going to do what's called 'fire drills'," Justin said. "We'll practice getting picked up by the elves and dropped onto the bed in our room."
Hermione and Susan both nodded with the notion of a 'fire drill' while Justin assured Hannah and Erie that there was no actual fire involved. Neville's endorsement of the plan brought the other purebloods into complete agreement.
Ernie's face was thoughtful. "So, elves can be trained to pop wizards around… How far can they travel?"
"I don't know. We'll have to experiment and find out," agreed Harry.
"With a professor! We have to have a professor to supervise any experiments!" insisted Hermione with Padma and Michael Corner nodding in agreement. "Someone could end up in pieces spread across England…"
The elves looked horrified at the notion they'd allow a wizard or with to be harmed but remained silent and determined to prove to this young witch that house elves took good care of their wizard or witch.
"Which professor do we ask?" asked Harry.
"Professor Moody!" Neville declared. "This is a defence tactic!"
"Well, tonight I want to practice!" Justin declared bravely. Everyone watched as Apollo popped Justin back to the dorm room and then returned with the boy.
"It does tickle, just like Miss Hedwig said!" he announced.
"Me next! Me next!" Susan said as Venus took her hand.
The girl popped away and then returned with a grin on her face. "It's great! We won't get caught by trolls now!"
For the next five minutes each child was popped to their dormitory room and then back to the deserted classroom. After the practice 'pops', Hedwig hooted and Harry translated her question, "Hedwig wants to know if the elves are tired. If this is using too much magic."
The children turned to the elves and Apollo explained, "We be's grown elf and have powerful, powerful Mr Master Harry Potter to fill us with magics. Potter elves can pop all night longs."
"Okay, none of the elves are tired but I am," replied Harry stretching, followed by a yawn. "Let's call it a night."
The elves quickly popped each of the children back to their dorm rooms though Zach Smith ran screaming from the room he shared with the other 'puff boys when his two roommates suddenly popped into the room.
"How did you do that?" he demanded to know when he'd calmed down and the prefects laughed at his complaint.
"Magic," replied Ernie.
*(+++++)*
SCENE: Potter Heirlooms and MemoriesBack in their dormitory room, Harry, Neville and Justin put away their school books and removed their outer robes. While Neville stepped into the ensuite to shower, Justin settled on his bed to write a letter to his parents.
Hedwig and Harry settled on her perch while Harry gathered his pyjamas and dressing gown – he would be second into the shower that night. Hedwig hooted quietly as she set up a silencing spell and then called for Harry's attention.
"Yes, Hedwig?" asked Harry. "Been an interesting day, hasn't it?"
The owl chortled and the boy placed his night clothes on the bed to give his familiar his full attention. She hooted and chortled for several minutes with a few motions of her wings.
"What heirlooms?" he asked as the owl explained. Then he motioned toward Justin on his bed and toward Neville who just emerged with his hair still damp.
"I want to know what they think," he insisted as the owl lifted her left wing and cancelled the silencing spell.
"Damn!" Justin cursed. "The owl can cast spells too!"
Neville snorted and put away his shower caddy. "Justin, we figured that out last week, remember?"
"Just didn't want to give away 'our' secrets," the muggleborn explained.
Hedwig ruffled her feathers and hooted, making Harry smile. "She is surprized but pleased that you are observant."
"Now, what's the new secret?" asked Justin.
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It took a full minute for Harry to collect himself and stammer, "Apparently, the headmaster collected… some of… took some of the Potter heirlooms from Godric's Hollow after… after they… they were killed that year."
Knowing it was hard for her boy to talk about the death of the Potters, Hedwig flew down and sat on his shoulder, preening his hair.
"I'm sorry, Harry," Justin said but the boy-who-lived shook his head and continued.
"When the fire broke out here in Hogwarts, the Potter elves came to help save the castle. They were working with the other elves but then 'felt' there were things hidden in the headmaster's office that belonged to the Potters… to my family."
"Didn't the fire spread to the headmaster's office?" asked Neville.
"Yes, and I think my elves took the fire there," Harry admitted. "After fighting the fire, Apollo and the other elves went into the headmaster's office and found the things that belonged to me. The phoenix was there and my elves asked her what to do, and Fawkes told them take the heirlooms and hide them until they could be returned to me. Then she told them to bring fire to the room so she could hide the fact that the heirlooms were gone."
Harry pointed toward his owl and continued, "Apollo told Hedwig that Fawkes rolled around in the fire, spread ashes everywhere, and made it look like these things were destroyed in the fire. Then Fawkes carried the fire on her wings into the headmaster's bedroom to burn his awful robes."
"What did the elves find that belonged to you?" asked Neville
"There were a lot of books, a pensive, and a cloak."
"Why would the headmaster take these things?" asked Justin.
Hedwig hooted and ruffled her feathers. Harry translated his familiar's words as, "He's a thief."
Again, Hedwig hooted and the Potter elves appeared loaded down with the items they had recovered. Harry and his two friends looked at the books first – there were titles on wards, potions, charms, and one especially large book with the title 'Dark and Light Arts for Defence', scattered among generic titles for household charms and the Potter family grimoire.
Neville said, "These are valuable, Harry. Send them to your guardian and ask her to put them into a secure trunk until you have time to read them. It'll be a couple years before we need them."
"Yeah, don't let Granger get hold of them," Justin quipped. "At least not until I get the chance to read them."
Hedwig hooted and Apollo stepped forward with a large ceramic dish with many runes around the outside.
"This be's a pensive, Mr. Master Harry Potter," the elf said. "It be's full of memories from Mr. Whiskers and many peoples he takes memories from."
"Ugh," Harry said. He glanced up at Hedwig who hooted many instructions and the boy nodded. "Hedwig says that the pensive needs to go to Felicity at Gringotts too."
Now Juno approached with a plainly wrapped package that she shyly handed to her young master. He smiled and thanked the elf before he untied the string, to find a shimmering, silver cloak.
"What is that, Harry?" asked Justin.
"It looks like a magic cloak that makes you invisible," Neville said. "I've heard about them but never seen one."
"Try it on Harry!" Justin suggested excitedly.
Whirling the cloak above his head and then down over his shoulders, every part of Harry disappeared except for this head. Then he flipped the hood up and his head disappeared as well.
"Potter, you've never looked better!" declared Neville as Justin snickered.
"Did it work?" asked Harry's voice.
"Yes, you're invisible!" Justin confirmed.
Hedwig landed on the floor beside Harry and hooted. Harry reappeared and dropped the cloak over the owl who disappeared. A minute later, Hedwig to reappeared atop Harry's bed with the cloak at her feet.
"You can fly with the cloak!" Harry confirmed. "When we need a spy, you'll be able to fly around without anyone seeing you!"
"Do you want to keep that cloak here?" asked Justin. "We can get into some…"
Hedwig hooted and ruffled her feathers while glaring at he the boy. Harry, Neville and Justin grinned seeing the owl's expression.
"Alight, alright, don't get your feathers all in a bunch," Justin said with a light tone to his voice. "I just thought we could have some fun."
"Do you speak owl now, Justin?" Neville asked.
"No, but I've seen that look on my Mum's face when she catches me planning some mischief. It's easy to translate Miss Hedwig's orders."
Harry sat down to write a long letter to Felicity about the books, pensive and the cloak. While he was writing and discussing each paragraph with Hedwig, Justin went ahead and took his shower and dressed for bed.
*(+++++)*
SCENE: Leverage and Deathly HollowsWhile Harry showered, Neville and Justin read the letter. When they were finished, Justin looked at Hedwig and made a suggestion.
"Miss Hedwig, if the pensive is full of memories from the headmaster and from other people, they might be valuable in the future. If the goblins can view them and catalogue the memories, it might give Harry 'leverage' someday."
"What's leverage?" asked Neville as the owl listened closely.
"Well, it's like having information about someone that they don't want you to have…"
"Oh, you mean blackmail!" Neville exclaimed. "We have that in the magical world."
Hedwig nodded and flew to Justin's shoulder where she preened Justin's hair and coo'ed in his ear for a minute.
"I think Miss Hedwig likes your idea," Neville said.
"What idea?" asked Harry returning from his turn in the shower. After explaining Justin's idea, the letter was expanded with the request for the goblins to view and catalogue the memories in the pensive.
"So, how do we get these things to Healer Grossman at Gringotts?" asked Justin. "We can't shrink them and put them into an envelope. That's a sixth-year spell."
"The elves can carry them to Gringotts," Neville said.
Harry nodded as he folded up the letter. Hedwig hooted at Apollo who snapped his fingers and gave Harry a list of the books by title, the make and model of the pensive, and the label 'Deathly Hollow' for the cloak.
"What is this?" asked Harry reading the list.
"Venus is bestest with quill and she mades list of all items we takes back from Mr. Whiskers," the elf explained.
"But what's a 'Deathly Hollow'?" Harry asked, pointing at the last item on the list.
"It's be one of three things that will make Mr. Master Harry Potters the master of death," Apollo explained. "It's be part of being Great Speaker."
Harry, Neville, and Justin were confused but Hedwig actually fainted. Fortunately Harry caught her before she hit the floor of the room from atop his bed. The little house elves chattered nervously as Harry fanned Hedwig to wake her from her faint.
"Apollo, can you take all these items to Gringotts tonight? Give them to my guardian! Her name is Felicity Grossman and she's a healer who lives in the bank," asked Harry as Hedwig recovered, shaking her head slowly.
"Yes, Mr Master Harry Potters, sir," Apollo said. "Venus and Apollo takes books. Neptune and Ares takes the cloak. And Mercury and Juno takes the pensive."
"Does it take all of you to carry them that far?"
"No, Mr Master Harry Potters, sir, but we's all needs to know Miss Healer Felicity Grossman's magic to go to her fastest."
"Okay," Harry said as he returned Hedwig to her perch where the owl drank some water and ate some treats.
The Potter elves took the letter and the heirlooms with them when they popped out. Justin helped Neville to his feet and Kandy appeared with a tray bearing three cups of hot chocolate in one hand and a dead mouse dangling in the other hand.
"Boys and owl has night-time snack and then sleeps. Enough excitement for one nights!" the little Hogwarts elf declared.
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This chapter wrote itself.