13 September 1986—Lovegood House, Devon

"Any word from Skullpiercer?" Rita asked as she flooed into the empty Lovegood sitting room, Handbag End securely tucked into her side. It was three days after their eventful meeting at Gringotts, and Rita had decided to return to work early, her tail between her legs. She told her boss he was right, she was wrong, and he laughed and all was forgotten.

But obviously nothing had been forgotten even for a second. Before heading to the Prophet, Rita set up monitoring charms outside the Dursley's house and throughout Harry's school so they could continue to keep an eye on the boy. She even set up a medical monitor on the tree where she had spent the previous week so that, whenever Harry walked by, she could get a reading of his vitals to see if anything had changed. Luckily, so far, all was well—or as well as Harry could possibly be given the circumstances.

"Down here," Pandora's voice called from the basement. Rita hurried down to her friend's potions lab. Luna was on the floor playing with her stuffed kelpie, a gift from Rita after their long day at the bank. Pandora, meanwhile, was focused on chopping what looked like Scarab beetles as her cauldron bubbled beside her.

"Hello sweetie," Rita said, kneeling down to give her goddaughter a kiss before turning to Pandora. "Any word from Skullpiercer?"

"He says he needs a few more days."

"So nothing new, then." The day after their meeting, Skullpiercer had contacted them to say that they had come up with the beginnings of a plan, but that plan involved bringing in additional allies. As per their agreement, however, those potential allies needed Pandora's and Rita's approval before being given more detailed information.

So Skullpiercer was working on laying the groundwork for that approval, contacting them about other matters and subtly querying them about their attitude towards Dumbledore, the Order, and the Potters. The goblin had already vouched for Andromeda and Ted Tonks, who were Harry's next nearest living relatives, being related through both Harry's grandmother, Dorea Potter née Black, and Harry's godfather, Sirius Black, who was Andromeda's cousin. Given that Harry was not just the Potter heir but the Black heir as well, it made sense to involve the only remaining sane members of the Black family—albeit disowned. Plus, her husband Ted was a lawyer with extensive contacts within the Ministry.

"Actually, he was able to get in touch with Remus Lupin."

"Oh excellent. Here's hoping he's not still in Dumbledore's pocket." Remus was the closest friend to the Potter's who was not dead or in Azkaban, and although Rita and Pandora were several years ahead of him at Hogwarts, they both knew from Lily that he was a man of impeccable morals and compassion. Adding him to their merry band could only be a good thing—but Remus was always close with Dumbledore, so Skullpiercer promised to tread carefully.

"Dinner's going to be in about an hour. Do you want to take Luna up and read to her for a while? I need to finish this Skele-Gro for Molly. Apparently, George fell off his broom again."

"Of course. C'mon, asteri mu." Rita pulled Luna into her arms and headed upstairs. Do I need to remind her not to tell the Weasleys anything? Probably not, but still…

"I don't like Ronnie and Ginnie," Luna said, hugging Rita's shoulder tighter. "They made fun of me."

"Why?" Rita said, startled.

"My kelpie!" Luna said, waving her stuffed animal in her godmother's face. "They said kelpies were evil and I was evil for liking them. But they're soooo pretty. How can something pretty be evil?"

Rita laughed as she set Luna down on her bed. "I agree, sweetheart." She leaned in closer and said, in a whisper, "And I'm not a big fan of the Weasleys either—but that's our secret, okay?"

Luna giggled. "I love you, Aunt Rita!"

Rita sat beside Luna and hugged her. "Oh, I love you too, sweetheart. So much. Now, what do you want to read?"

"Hari is going to be okay, you know."

Luna's eyes started to glaze over, and Rita knew what that meant. "Are you sure, dear?"

Luna nodded. "The Potter elves will make sure of it—and Pipi."

Rita was stunned. Of course! I wonder if even the goblins had thought of that?

"Such a smart girl," Rita said, hugging her tighter.

"Harpies."

"Huh?" Rita pulled back and saw that Luna was back to her normal self, seeming unaware of what she just said.

"Can you read me a story about harpies?" she asked, jumping down from her lap, pulling a book from her shelf, and handing it to Rita. Arkady the Kind-Hearted Harpy by Andromache Yarkis. I remember this one! And it's in Greek!

"Fysiká." [Of course.]

Long after dinner and long after Luna had gone to bed, Rita sat with Pandora and Xeno nursing glasses of firewhiskey, bitching about Dumbledore, and devising worse and worse punishments for the Dursleys.

They had filled Xenophilius in on all that had been happening over the past week, and suffice it to say, his disgust at Harry's treatment was at least on par with theirs. Which is why, at one point, a very drunk Xeno blurted out, "We could always transfigure Luna's kelpie into a real miniature kelpie and set it loose in Vernon's pants."

Two of the three laughed, but then—Oh! I forgot about Luna's…

"Um, that reminds me…Luna told me something earlier."

"Hmm?" Pandora murmured.

"She said the Potter elves would make sure Harry was safe—and Pipi would help."

The Lovegoods eyes opened wide and their mouths opened even wider. They stared at Rita like she was a niffler spitting galleons into their pockets.

"Morgana's beard!" Xeno and Pandora cried at once.

Then Pandora called out "Pipi!"

The tiny elf appeared with a crack and exclaimed, "Mistress need Pipi?"

"Yes, two things dear," Pandora said, as calmly as she could. "First, can you get us all Pepper-up potions?"

Pipi vanished. Not two seconds later, she was back handing out the potions, pushing their inebriation aside and bringing them somewhat back to their normal selves.

"And second, mistress?"

"And second, tell us what you know about the Potter house elves."

"Mistress?"

"Do you know the Potter elves?"

"Mistress, yes. We's all knows the Potter elves. They were luckiest of elves. But, oh, so sad…"

"Sad?" Xeno asked. "Are they gone now?"

"Not gone—weak. We feel their magic going away. They hope for their mistress-master's return but feel her magic fading. If the magic fades any more, elves die. We cannot help, we not Potter elves. But we cry for them. We all cry."

"Wait," Rita said, "shouldn't the Potter Manor be in stasis? I thought it went into stasis when James's parents died and he and Lily moved to Godric's Hollow."

"Potter Manor in stasis, but stasis fading because Potter name fading."

"Are the Potter elves all in stasis with the manor?" Xeno asked.

"Not any more. As stasis fades elves wake up in pain," Pipi replied. "Gilly knows more."

"Who is Gilly?" Pandora asked.

"He be Gilly, mistress. Head elf for Potters."

"If I called for Gilly to come here, would he be able to?"

"No, mistress. He's too weak. But I could bring him."

"Yes, sweet Pipi, please do so."

Pipi left with a crack. Moments later, a larger crack sounded and Pipi reappeared, only this time holding an emaciated, pale elf—Gilly presumably.

"He be awake but cannot speak," Pipi told them.

"If the three of us channeled some of our magic into Gilly, would it help to strengthen him?" Rita asked her.

"It's…not done. Non-Potters don't give magic to Potter elves. But give me magic and I can fill him with it. That would save him. But the others?"

"How many Potter elves are there in total?"

"Seventeen."

"And are they all as weak as Gilly?"

Pipi shook her head, tears falling from her eyes. "No mistress. They worse."

The three humans looked at one another and made a silent agreement to care for these suffering creatures.

"If you are willing, Pipi, then we will help all of them," Xeno said for all three of them. "But first we need to help Gilly, and then we need to contact Skullpiercer and let him know about the elves—unless he knows about them already and didn't mention it for some reason."

The three humans came over to Pipi, laid their hands on her, and channeled some of their magic into her. A soft white glow surrounded Pipi. When the glow was at its brightest, Pipi closed her eyes and directed the glow down her arm and into the hand that was holding Gilly's hand. The glow then changed from white to lavender as it surrounded Gilly's body. This new glow then brightened for a few moments until it was absorbed into his skin.

Moments later, Gilly's eyes opened wide and looked at Pipi. "Pipi? Whah? What be happening? Why I in Lovegood house?"

Pandora took charge. "Gilly, I am Pandora Lovegood, a friend of your late mistress. I asked Pipi to bring you here because you were sick. She helped us use our magic to strengthen you. We care very much about your current master, Harry Potter. We are trying to rescue him from his horrible relatives—and we need your help, you and the other Potter elves. Can you help us?"

Hearing all this, all the kindness shown to the Potter family by these non-Potters was too much for Gilly. He tumbled out of Pipi's arms and began to sob. "Such good, kind Lovegoods and scary lady. I help you, but will you help other Potter elves too?"

"We intend to," Pandora said, bringing Gilly into a hug. "We will help all of you, but we cannot do it alone. We need the goblins. The goblins care about your master too, and we are working with them. Can you work with goblins?"

Gilly paused and looked at Pipi, who said, "We's can, but they's more powerful than us. They's might just laugh at us."

"Oh no," Rita said. "No one will laugh at you, not when we explain why we called for you."

Gilly considered this for a moment, and then smiled. "Then yes. We's will work with the green killers."

"Excellent. Then tomorrow I'll arrange for another meeting with Skullpiercer. Then we can finally see about getting poor Harry out of the Dursley's home."

"Young Hari?" Gilly said, frightened, clutching the tunic that covered his frame. "Oh no! Mistress-master Hari hurt. Must save her."

With a crack, Gilly disappeared.

"Did he say her?" Xeno asked, confused.

Before he could get a reply, Gilly reappear holding on tightly to an unconscious Harry Potter.

"Mistress-master needs help," Gilly cried, as Pipi raced to assist the other elf just as he collapsed in exhaustion.

The humans stood there dumbly for several seconds until Pandora took charge. "Oooookay, new plan. Xeno, take Harry downstairs and put him in the bed next to my lab. Rita, pull out all the healing potions you can find but don't give him any until I get there. Pipi, stay with Gilly. I'll contact Skullpiercer and get healers for both of them. Go!"

Without a word, Xeno pulled Harry into his arms and raced out of sight, Rita following closely behind.

Then Pandora pulled out her wand and cried, "Expecto Patronum!" A golden salmon emerged from her wand. "Skullpiercer, the package was delivered prematurely. We need a healer quickly. We also have many elves who will need assistance and two witches and a wizard who have no idea what to do next. Please advise."

Once the salmon was out of sight, Pandora looked down. Pipi was holding Gilly's sprawled form in her lap and crying.

"Don't worry, my dear," Pandora said, soothingly. "We'll take care of Harry and Gilly and all the other elves. Everything will be fine."

If only she believed her own words.