Chapter Four
The Kitchen

When Harry woke the sun was pouring across his bed. It must be at least noon. He thought. I'm surprised the Dursleys let me sleep this late. He got out of bed and grabbed his jeans. He might as well go face the punishment he'd be getting for sleeping in this late. His aunt always punished him for sleeping in. Harry had just finished putting on his jeans when he finally took a real look at the room he was in.

He froze. This wasn't his small bedroom at Number 4. His small bedroom didn't have large glass doors leading out to a balcony. His room didn't have a large wardrobe and standing mirror. He wouldn't have been sleeping in a large four poster bed complete with canopy and curtains in his room at Privet Drive. Now Harry remembered. He remembered the fight, the Portkey, and… this house. His house. The door opened and Lupin walked in.

"Ah, good. You're awake. I was just coming to wake you up." Harry nodded. "Why don't you finish getting dressed and come on downstairs. Dumbledore is here and he can answer your questions." Harry nodded again. Lupin turned and shut the door behind him. The sound of the door closing snapped Harry out of his stupor. He grabbed his T-shirt from where it lay on the bed and started moving towards the door. He had pulled one of his arms through when he ran out into the hallway after Lupin.

"Professor Lupin!" He called. "Wait up! I'm ready now." Lupin turned around from where he'd been about to go down the stairs. He smiled when he saw Harry struggling to close his door and get his shirt on at the same time. As Harry caught up with Lupin he mumbled a thanks and they walked downstairs together.

Harry looked around at the house as they walked. After walking down a staircase at the end of the hallway they'd walked down another hall back to thesame grand stairway he'd seen when he'd come in the house.That would make those the front doors he thought to himself, trying to learn his way around. Instead of going through to the sitting room where Harry last remembered being, however, Lupin led him around the base of the stairway and through a large door in the back of the entryway.

Harry now found himself in a large kitchen that had a wooden table in the center. Sitting around the table were Tonks, Mad-Eye, and Albus Dumbledore. They all smiled at him. Harry was just about to say hello when a small figure ran into, cutting him off.

"Harry Potter sir!" The figure cried. It hugged him around his knees.

"D-Dobby?" Harry asked. The small house elf looked up at him, tears shining in his eyes.

"Oh, yes sir! It is me,Harry Potter sir!" Dobby smiled at Harry and stepped back into a low bow. "And Winky is here too sir!" Harry followed Dobby's gaze and turned to look behind him. There stood the female house elf, Winky, in her same blue dress as he had seen her at Hogwarts. She was not smiling, but she seemed to have stopped her endless waterworks from the previous year.

"Hello Master Potter." She said softly with a small curtsey.

"Hi Winky." Harry responded, unsure as to why Dumbledore had brought the two house elves. "How are you feeling?" He continued cautiously. Last year this question had resulted in increasing the volumes of her wails to near deafening.

"I am well sir. Dobby helped me clean my dress and I have stopped drinking, sir." Dobby smiled at this, and jumped over to Harry, grabbing his hand.

"Come and eat Harry Potter! We is just serving breakfast to Master Dumbledore and the others!" Harry moved to the table and sat down next to Lupin. Harry dished himself up some bacon and eggs as everyone said their good mornings. Dumbledore turned to Harry.

"Well, Harry, I wanted to come and explain the necessity of moving you here. Obviously you will be unable to stay at your aunt's home now that Voldemort knows the location of it. We were able to modify the memory of all the Muggles who witnessed the fight and Mrs. Figg should be out of St. Mungos tomorrow at the latest." Harry nodded at this. He was glad no one was hurt.

"But, sir, I don't understand how they knew where I was." Harry said. Dumbledore frowned as he chose his words.

"No, Harry, neither do we. Your aunt's home was supposed to be protected from discovery from Voldemort through the protection we discussed at the end of term a few weeks ago. The protection works somewhat similarly as the Fidelius Charm, except there is no secret keeper. The house was supposed to be hidden from him and anyone else trying to find it without being told where it was. As I, and certain other members of the Order, were the only one who knew about the house's location, I can only assume that Voldemort has found some other way to trace you. It could have been possible, I suppose, while you were away from the house. Perhaps out for a walk?" Dumbledore finished uncertainly. Harry didn't like it when Dumbledore was outsmarted, it didn't seem possible at times.

"How long will I be staying here? Will I be moving to the Burrow or… Sirius' house later on?" He felt guilty about not wanting to be at Grimmauld Place, but he didn't know if he could live in a house that reminded him so much of the death he'd caused.

"No, Harry." Dumbledore replied. "You will be staying here until the start of term on September first." He paused. "Your friends may, however, be stopping by. I daresay I won't be able to keep them away all summer." The familiar twinkle was in his eyes now. "And you won't be completely alone here, I've asked Remus and Miss Tonks to stay here with you for some companionship as well as protection." Harry looked up at Lupin and smiled. It would be nice to have Lupin and Tonks around for the rest of the summer. "Dobby and Winky will also be staying." Dumbledore said. Harry looked up at him. He's giving me two house elves? "They have powerful protective magic that may be an additional benefit for the time being. If it is all right with you, I will just perform the necessary procedure for binding you together?" Harry nodded.

Dumbledore stood up and walked around the table to where Harry was. He beckoned to Dobby. The small elf came forward, tears shining in his eyes. Dumbledore touched his wand to Dobby's head, and then to Harry's, connecting them with a line of shimmering green light that glowed briefly and then faded away. He faced Harry.

"Harry Potter, do you promise to accept this elf, and not to abuse his services?" Harry nodded. "Yes." He said. Dumbledore turned to Dobby.

"Dobby, do you vow to serve Harry Potter and anyone in his family, and continue to serve that line even if Harry is no longer living? Do you vow to keep his secrets, and run his home?"

The tears were now streaking down Dobby's face as he bobbed his head and replied "Oh of course Mr. Dumbledore! It is my greatest dream to help Harry Potter!" Dumbledore nodded.

"Very well then, you are now bonded together and will serve each other until either elf or family name has died." Dumbledore then turned to Winky. She was walking forward before he had asked her to come over. He touched his wand to her head, and then linked it with Harry's like he had before. "Harry Potter, will you take this elf as well, and not abuse your power over her? Will you treat her with kindness and respect towards her station?" Harry nodded. Dumbledore turned to Winky.

"Winky, will you serve Harry Potter and his family? Will you keep their secrets, and continue serving that family as long as you live?" Winky lifted her head bravely and looked at Harry. "I will serve you Master Potter. I will serve you as long as I live." She smiled. "I is liking Master Potter. He was always kind to me, even when I was a … bad elf." Dumbledore stepped back.

"Well then, that's that order of business taken care of." He sat back down at the table. Harry was stunned. I have a house of my own, and two house elves. He could hardly believe that two days ago he was sitting around Privet Drive waiting, sullenly, for the end of summer. He looked back up as Dumbledore was talking again, this time to Lupin and Tonks. "I think having visitors around would do this place some good." He said looking around. "I'll send Molly by; she'd probably even help with the cleaning. I'm sure she'll bring along some of her children and their friends as well." He added, winking at Harry. "I'm afraid that I don't want any non-Order Members besides certain friends of Harry's coming by this house though. It wouldn't be good to let Voldemort know where to locate this house. It might be hard to find him another residence next time." He stood, and everyone at the table followed suit. "I'm afraid I must be going now though," he said, "… urgent order business you see." Harry thought he saw him eyeing the cobwebs and dust filling all the corners of the room. "Yes, I mustn't stay here too much longer." He winked at Harry again. Harry knew that Dumbledore was just getting around having to clean house. He smiled.

"Don't worry, Professor Dumbledore, we'll be fine cleaning up the house without you." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.

"Why, Harry. How could you even suggest such a thing?" Everyone around the table laughed. Mad-Eye was also moving towards the door now.

"I'll think I'll go with Dumbledore. Cleaning's not really my strong suit. And I really should get to work on some Order business." With that, everyone said goodbye and Dumbledore and Mad-Eye left.

There was silence for a moment before Lupin cleared his throat. "Well, if we've all finished eating I suppose we should get to work on cleaning up this place." Harry and Tonks groaned. Harry wasn't looking forward to the task of cleaning it up; the house hadn't been lived in for fifteen years – it was filthy.

"Maybe we should have a look around first? See what all is here? I mean, you've been here loads of times before and all, but Harry and I have never seen the place. And I think Harry should at least know the way around his own house!" She suggested, smiling at Harry. He was glad he wasn't the only one who wasn't looking forward to the scrub down of the house. As Tonks was notoriously clumsy, she was also quite unfond of household "everyday" sort of cleaning spells.

"Yeah, Lupin. Show us around!" Harry said, picking up Tonks' lead. Lupin looked at them both and smiled.

"Well I can see I've been overruled. But don't complain to me when you have to live in piles of dust and cobwebs." They all laughed.

"Master Potter sir?" a small voice came from behind Harry. He jumped, and looked around. It was Winky. "Master Potter?" She repeated.

"Oh… erm… you… uh… please just call me Harry." He said awkwardly. He didn't really know how to address the elf.

"If you say so, Master Harry." She said. "Master Harry, I will be needing to go and get some things you will be needing around the house." Harry looked at her confusedly. "Like food, Master Potter." She said. It even looked like she was almost laughing. "Food, and some cleaning things, and some material for clothing and curtains."

"Oh, I get it." Harry said. "Yeah, that's great. I guess there's not much food here after fifteen years?" She shook her head, again almost laughing. "Well, uh, you don't really need to ask my permission to leave to get stuff. I've not had a house elf before, you know, and I don't know how other people go about it, but I'm not going to have too many things you'll need to do." He shrugged his shoulders uncomfortably.

"I is asking you because I will be needing to use your Gringotts account for paying sir. House elves buy their Masters' things, and the store will take the money from your account."

"Oh, that's alright. As long as you don't spend millions of galleons, I should have enough money to cover it." Winky nodded.

"All right, sir, I will go then and get your things. Dobby will stay though, and help you with the cleaning." Dobby nodded excitedly from behind her.

"All right. Let's go exploring!" Tonks exclaimed from the doorway. Lupin smiled and led them out a side door into an adjoining room to begin their exploration of this house of Harry's family.