A note of clarification: During his visit in Gringotts, Harry also took an ancestry test. He had too many other thoughts in his mind to pay it much attention, but one of his ancestors is Slytherin, so that his Parseltongue ability didn't come from his scar and wasn't removed by healing it. This ancestry will be mentioned later in the story.

14 Second Year

With the reception feast over, Harry parted from his friends and went to the headmaster's office.

"How was your vacation?" Dumbledore asked as soon as Harry sat down.

"It was really fine, the best summer I ever had," Harry replied truthfully.

"Care to tell me about it?"

Harry told about his uncle's surprise, about making friends with a French girl and about being sent to spend the rest of the vacation with her. He conveniently skipped over mentioning that said girl was magical, visiting Gringotts with all that happened there and about the position he was holding since. While he still thought that Dumbledore cared for him in a way, he no longer trusted the old man, at least not fully.

Dumbledore listened attentively and then sighed. "You've hardly stayed at your aunt's house, I see."

Harry grimaced. "I've stayed there about four days, and even that was too long for them."

Dumbledore sighed again before explaining. "You see, Harry, your mother's sacrifice made that house the most secure place for you, as long as it is your home, until you reach maturity. You need to spend a few weeks there each year for that place to be considered your home. Staying there only four days may have damaged that protection beyond repair, and I have no safer place to offer. You are safe at Hogwarts, of course, and almost as safe with the Weasley, if you ever go visit them. Now I'm not sure what to do about those wards at your aunt's house."

Harry remembered the troll and Quirrell and found it hard to accept that Hogwarts was safe, but he didn't want to comment on that.

He had another comment, though. "You said that the protection can only hold as long as that place is my home, didn't you?"

Dumbledore nodded.

"Well, I've never felt at home there, never! I feel more at home here, and I felt the cabin at the camp was more of a home than my aunt's house. I even felt more at home at that French family's."

The headmaster didn't look happy at all. "I always hoped that your aunt would be able to raise you as her own." Harry snorted at that. "Still, even with her attitude, just living there protected you better than I could have protected you otherwise. It is of utmost importance to keep that protection for as long as you can. I'll go check it in a few days. Depending on what I find, I may ask you to stay there for some time even during the term. Maybe spend some weekends there..."

Harry shook his head. "My relatives wouldn't allow it. They were just too happy to get rid of me, especially since they could make it look like an act of charity. They will not accept me in the middle of the term."

Dumbledore seemed to not quite listen. "Well, it was just an idea. The wards may be beyond repair by now, in which case that would not work, or they may have stayed strong enough to not bother with them until Christmas. We shall only know after I check them."

Harry wasn't sure what was best. He didn't want to go back to the Dursleys. Even seeing them for a few days during the summer vacation was too much, yet they were his ticket to the summer camp. If he ceased living with them, they wouldn't send him to that camp and he wouldn't meet Elsa again. He knew he would do whatever was needed to assure meeting Elsa the next summer.

He still felt reluctant. "Fine, then. I'll try to help in keeping that place safe. Even though I don't like it, they are still my relatives."

Dumbledore brightened up. "That's the spirit! Now, I think your friends are waiting for you. I'll let you know what needs to be done."

Ron was probably snoring already in bed when Harry reached the dorms. Hermione was still waiting for him in the common room, looking worried. "It went well. I'll tell you in the morning," he said, noticing that they both were barely keeping their eyes open.

Hermione smiled at him and moved to her dorm.

They couldn't talk much before breakfast, since Harry woke up almost as late as Ron, making them hurry to the great hall. Soon after they sat down, the owls arrived with the morning mail, and Harry was surprised to get a letter.

"Who is it from?" Ron asked.

"That French girl from the summer camp." Harry tried to sound disinterested.

"The French are weird," was all Ron had to say of that. Harry quickly put the letter in his pocket. He still saw Hermione frown.

Harry read his letter later. Elsa was just babbling about the first day of school and saying she missed him already. It was safe enough to show Hermione, he thought.

"Why should she miss you?" Hermione asked.

Harry was sure that telling her about sharing a room would not go too well. Sharing a bed was unheard of. He still wanted to answer truthfully. "We became very close during the summer, spending practically all of it together. I have you here, and I have Ron, but she doesn't have very close friends at school, so it's natural for her to miss me."

Hermione still frowned but said nothing.

Harry made it a habit to show her each letter. It made Hermione more agreeable to this friendship, and he really wanted both girls to stay his friends. Hermione no longer frowned at these letters after a few weeks. She seemed to have gotten to know Elsa through them and accepted her as a friend. She even reminded Harry to answer, "and give her my regards as well." Ron never bothered.

\/\/\/

School went on as expected. Harry disliked the new DADA teacher from the first moment. Hermione, blinded by the teacher's good looks, needed two lessons to reach the same opinion, namely – that their teacher was a fraud who knew practically nothing, except for smiling nicely.

In case she needed another proof, Harry's incident at Quidditch, when Lockhart removed all the bones in his arm, sealed her opinion. Still, school life continued quite normally, and even the Halloween incident with Filch's cat didn't change much.

Dumbledore called Harry at the end of November. "I've checked the wards on Privet Drive. They are weakened but still salvageable. I suggest you spend the Christmas and New Year vacation there. That should be enough to bring them back to a level that would keep the place safe until you return for the summer vacation."

"My relatives will not be happy if I come for the holidays," Harry commented.

"I know. I spoke with them and made them understand that it was just as much for their own safety. Those wards keep away burglars and thieves just as well as they keep away death-eaters. They were quite unhappy about it, but they agreed to accept you and treat you well for the duration." Harry couldn't see it, but Dumbledore crossed his fingers under the desk and added 'I hope' in his mind.

Harry went home for the Christmas vacation. The train ride to London was pleasant, at least, despite Malfoy's unavoidable visit. He stayed with Hermione cuddled at his side, both reading the same book, and felt content. "You may call me if you need somebody to talk to," Hermione told him before they parted, giving him her home phone number.

Harry didn't like staying at the Dursley's any more than they liked him staying in their home. His aunt still made sure to give him proper meals and even a small piece of cake (Dudley took three large ones) at the festive dinner. Harry was assigned no chores and was only expected to stay unseen and unheard for most of the time, although he was grudgingly allowed to watch the Christmas special programs on the television.

Luckily, they also allowed Harry to use the telephone, and he spent some time talking with Hermione every day. Harry had previously told Elsa about the way his relatives reacted to owls, so she refrained from sending him letters while with his family. She did call him a few times on the phone, though. Harry enjoyed talking with her much better than exchanging letters.

Still, he only relaxed once he was back on the Hogwarts Express, sitting with Hermione at his side. "I'm glad Ron didn't join us," he told her.

"Why? Isn't he your best friend?"

Harry shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "I'm not sure anymore. You're my best friend, of that I'm sure."

"And Elsa?"

Harry looked surprised. "What about Elsa?"

"Isn't she more than just a friend to you?" Hermione pressed.

Harry gave it a thought. "I'm not sure. I feel very close to her, about the same as I feel to you, but not in the same way. I don't know what it means, though. I wouldn't like to give up any of you. Luckily, you're with me during school term and she's with me during the summer vacation, so I don't really need to choose."

Hermione was silent for a moment, looking pensive. "You know, Harry, after you let me read a few of her letters, I wrote Elsa some letters on my own. I think we can eventually become friends."

Harry wasn't sure what it meant for him. He just shrugged and changed the subject. "Do you have any idea about what happened at Halloween?"

"No. I have no appropriate books at home, but Elsa suggested some books I may find in the library. Maybe one of them will help. Can we now read that defence book you have? We can learn from it much more than from all the other books we had to buy this year."

Harry was quite content to spend the rest of the train ride cuddled with Hermione, as reading together a single book caused. He even used a wandless locking charm on the door, one he had learned during the summer and exercised at Privet Drive during the holidays, sparing them Malfoy's unwelcome visit. Hermione didn't seem to notice.

\/\/\/

Dobby didn't know what to do. Nothing he had tried seemed to work to keep Harry Potter away from Hogwarts, and now, that there was another chance to keep Harry Potter away, his master had ordered him to stay at the manor. Dobby could do nothing but obey a direct order. He was fuming inside, but he could do nothing to keep his hero from returning to school.

\/\/\/

Harry wasn't aware of the letters exchanged between the girls, but they helped Hermione find the probable cause of the petrifications much sooner than she would have managed on her own. It also made her understand why all the roosters in Hagrid's pen had been killed. She soon found a temporary protection strategy, though. The twins were easily persuaded to prepare some gadgets that could faithfully reproduce the rooster calls and she gave some to all her friends. Only Ginny refused to take one. "I'm a pure-blood, so I should be in no danger," she said, not sounding too convincing. Hermione didn't insist.

Eventually, it didn't help much. When checking for danger with a mirror, Hermione probably forgot to use the rooster call first and was petrified, yet Harry eventually found the note she was holding in her hand and managed to save the school from the monster and Ginny from certain death. What made Harry happiest, though, was Hermione's revival from petrification. She hugged him tightly and he hugged her back just as tight, not minding any catcalls from other students.

\/\/\/

This was Dobby's happiest day. Harry Potter not only saved the day, killing the monster and rescuing a girl, but he also tricked nasty master to set Dobby free. He wasn't sure if the Great Harry Potter knew that by helping a house-elf he was bonding it even tighter than by a ceremony, but he didn't mind. Dobby was now Harry Potter's elf, pretending to be free, as his master wanted. That was pure happiness.