Harry Potter & The True Power

Chapter 6 : The First Step

Snape had returned to his manor. He knew Albus would probably be out till the morning recuperating. He had never seen the headmaster in such a bad shape. He was lucky that Belliatrix had not disputed the orders he gave her and peter. Luckier still, Lucious, Goyle, Crabbe and all the other senior death eaters were locked away in the Azkaban prison. Recent DOM fiasco had blown very badly in the face of minister fudge. He had his entire team spinning several stories to save his sorry ass. Interviews ranged from him saying that he was secretly preparing to fight you-know-who to the fiction that it was the members of unspeakables and aurors who had fought in the DOM. Potter was there just to mess up the things, resulting in the fleeing of you-know-who. It was lucky for the order that Luna was involved and her father had the entire story from her, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny. He was trying to contact Harry but Dumbledore had asked him to be left alone. In his place, he had given him his own version of the facts. Fudge had tried to get the quibbler to shut down. The matter was in the wizengamot right now. Because of this, fudge was acting with the utmost zeal. No deals with the death eaters. The man loved his own skin more than anyone else's.

Slowly he took out the parchment he had taken from the healer. "I think his name is Travis or something" he was new, recently recruited. He had worked at St. Mungo's but was recently fired for misappropriation of hospital equipments and potions. But he was good healer anyway. He looked at the vital stats: height 6'1", weight 93 kg, magical level: 328000-335000 units. Other stats regarding the dark lord was similar to one in stasis. He gasped at this. Even when he was weak, he was far stronger than the headmaster by far. He himself was thought to be extremely powerful, yet his magical level was 125000 units. If he remembered correctly, Dumbledore had recently been diagnosed of having nearly 250000 units, a recent advancement at best. He needed to speak with Albus. Having no intention of helping the dark lord back, he put the scroll in his safe, changed into nightclothes, had a nightcap and went to bed. He planned to see Albus in the morning.

Had Fawkes been human, he would certainly have felt like a commoner meeting the queen. Yet, he was not. Still, he felt giddy. Not many people had seen the king of phoenixes in the last 3 millennia. His exploits were legendary. Even more so since he had the ability to change into any living thing. From any animal to creature, including human, from thestral to phoenix. It was an honor. He bowed once again, waiting for his highness to speak.

"Don't fret, young one. Now tell me again what you know. I don't want to miss anything." So Fawkes retold the entire tale once again. For good measure, he also informed them that Dumbledore was now in the pensieve trying to make sense of the entire thing". Zarafin nodded slowly. After a few moments of contemplation, he said. "you know the young potter child." Fawkes nodded.

"Good. Then ask him to go out to an excursion if you will. With you. Bring him and all his things here". Everybody stood with their beaks agape. No human/wizard had ever come to this sacred land. No exceptions.

Xarobian moved as if to speak but flinched as the aura of pure magic around Zarafin exploded around everybody. He nodded his acquiesce and went back. Taken aback, still nodding his acceptance, Fawkes curtsied and flew away back to Hogwarts.

It was Seven in the morning now and the Burrow was full of hustle and bustle. Mrs. Weasley could be seen running around the kitchen like a woman possessed. Arthur was getting ready to read his morning news paper. Instead of the usual daily prophet coming in, now they also had subscribed to the quibbler. The burrow was looking a lot better now-a-days. There were new curtains; there were newer clothes for everybody. Not everything was new. But they were far better off. Part of the reason was that they only had to pay for two tuition fee to Hogwarts; the twins were doing well and were helping as well. Though molly didn't want to take any money from them, traditionally thinking that they should pay for everything. Fred & George were not the cleverest pranksters of their generation for nothing. Instead of paying for household expenses, they employed both Ginny and Ron to work part-time at their shop. It also helped them deal with their ordeal at the DOM. They also brought whatever was required in the house which needed replacing. Last but not the least, in an effort to clean his act, fudge had promoted Arthur with a three scale pay increase as he was the only person in his government who had openly stood against the dark lord. They were happy except for Percy. He still had not returned. In his zeal to ally with all the minister's actions last year, he had openly condemned Dumbledore and Harry last year without any written authorization from the ministry. Now, in the present scenario, fudge had clearly washed his hands off him. More than that, he had recently been shifted to the were-wolf liaison office. There was only one office worse than this, the Centaurs liaison office. It was in a remote region with no staff and more than that, no work. Both the species looked at each other with extreme distrust. Hence, Percy was reduced to an infinitesimal importance. Although molly had asked Arthur many times to initiate a dialogue with his son, he was yet to do so. Arthur was anything if not proud. His pride was his only asset besides his integrity for the last so many years. He had still not forgotten the pain Percy had caused them. He may at some time forgive him. Forgetting was not an option.

In a little while, Ginny entered with Hermione after her tail. "Hermione must be waking little gin-gin early" Arthur thought. His children were not early risers. Albus had asked Hermione to stay behind at burrows this year due to the fiasco at DOM. He looked up and saw the tussled hair waving from side to side encasing at beautiful smile. She came to him, kissing him on the cheek, muttering good morning. She was as good as half asleep. He smiled. He noticed his daughter was growing up. Fathers normally are the last to know, he mused.

"Good Morning Mr. Weasley" Hermione chirped happily. He smiled, nodding and said, "Arthur Hermione. How many times have I told you, I don't wish to become an old fuddy-duddy this early in my life". Both of them smiled. This had become like a morning ritual. As an after thought, he added. "Ginny, brush your teeth, will you? I don't want an entire new species to evolve in your mouth" Ginny blushed, nodded and ran back up to brush her teeth. Molly was smiling at the entire episode. She loved her family.

After a couple of minutes, as molly was busy calling for Ron to comedown, she had made his favorite pancakes with bacon and rye, the floo burst in green flames and everybody could see the familiar head of professor Dumbledore float in the green fire. Molly smiled and said "good morning Albus, why don't you join us? We are having breakfast." Albus nodded and then came out the fireplace. "good morning professor" both Ginny and Hermione chirped together. Both of them were wearing robes, so none of them had to run up blushing. Albus nodded and said "what are you people doing today?" Hermione looked curious where as Ginny was alarmed. Before anybody could say anything, she burst up, "is Harry ok? Everything is fine isn't it?' Dumbledore looked curiously at the youngest Weasley. Despite the fact that she had just woken up, she had immediately made all the conjectures correctly. Though she might have been wrong, he could have asked them the same thing for different reasons, he was impressed.

"Yes Miss Weasley," he said "Harry is fine. Though we have moved him to the head-quarters" both the elder Weasleys were alarmed at this news. There had been no such plan. They had fought Dumbledore asking him to let Harry stay with them due to his recent loss, and well everybody knew how great the Dursley's were. He had refused point blank. Leaving no scope for discussion. There was an order meeting tomorrow. He could not ask anything in front of the kids. They were too smart for their own good anyway. Secretly though, he was proud of them for being so. He looked directly at Dumbledore and made eye-contact. He let the thought that he wanted to speak to Dumbledore float in his peripheral mind. Expert legilimens that Dumbledore was anyway, it was as good as speaking it straight to his face. Dumbledore nodded, finishing his first strip of bacon.

"Excellent as always molly", he said. As an afterthought he added, "if you want, Arthur, why don't you send the kids to the HQ or talk to Harry there. I am sure he would be pleased to meet you. And then, with a pop, he disapparated.

"there is something wrong". The thought was screaming in all the minds except for molly, who was busy cooking.

"Dad, ca.." before she finished her sentence, Arthur nodded. "yes of course you can. All of you get ready. I will floo you guys there myself before going to the office. Both of them gulped there bite, nodded and started to run up the stairs. As they were running with there heads down, Hermione being at the front, she didn't see Ron who was ambling along after smelling the bacon and pancakes. He was a growing lad after all. He had quit thinking boy since about 10 days back. Hermione, though lots smaller than Ron was, was still running while Ron was lazing about. David meet goliath and down went goliath. A huge shriek was heard as Hermione fell atop Ron and was on all fours. Ginny, who had skidded to a stop just inches before could not help but laugh. Had she not seen how it had happened, she would have certainly seen that the position was, shall we say, very intimate.

Both of them were frozen. Ron's hair, face as well as Hermione's face was very nearly the same color at the moment. Totally red. To make the matter worse, the twins had just gotten out of the room, hearing the shriek, with wands in their hands. Seeing Hermione sprawled all over their younger brother, they started laughing and cheering on Ron. "Finally got the guts, hey Ron". Turning even redder, Ron huffed and puffed, said sorry to Hermione who by now had straightened up, and went down. He was going to hear about it for a long-long time.

Hermione on the other hand, turning redder still, ran to her shared bedroom with Ginny. Ginny followed her. This was going to be lots of fun. She herself was feeling very apprehensive about meeting Harry. Though she had told Ron that she was going out with dean, she still had hopes for Harry. First love or crush is not easy to forget. Especially if you admire the man, man, not a boy now, to death. Her own face started to turn a bit red. She didn't see Hermione looking at her. With her own secret smile.

In another 1 hour, everybody was ready to go.

Harry opened his eyes and for the first time in along long while, he woke up refreshed looking forward to the day. He remembered his discussion with his mom and thought he would better make an agenda for the day. He was figuring out what to do while taking care of his morning chores.

By the time he was ready, he had decided a pro-tem agenda. He was certain that Dumbledore would like to analyse his actions before committing any on his own. The best way would be to put him amongst people he knew and observe. Hence he was sure that somehow or the other he would at least get to see Ron and Hermione, maybe even Fred and George as well as Ginny. He would try to get everyone on a shopping spree to take their minds off the recent debacle. He would take it from there.

He jotted down the things to do

1. visit Gringotts. See all his vaults and get some money. Scratch that, get a lot of money and see if there was an option likethe muggle credit card.

2. enquire about the will his parents made and the emancipation status.

3. in the family vault, see what all things he would need. Also see if he could carry them out with him.

4. discuss with mom while in the vault regarding her opinions.

5. buy some clothes and lots and lots of books. He needed to train very hard. Buy a potion set as well.

6. improvise.

With all this in his mind. He closed his eyes, organized his mind (actually ask mom to do it) and left for the kitchen.

As he stepped down the stairs, he thought he saw a shadow very much like that of a house elf. At the very remembrance of kreacher, the black's treacherous house elf, his anger flared. He felt such an intense energy coming out from him that he felt dizzy and tired. He took hold of a stool nearby. He had nearly fainted. Luckily for him, there was no one around, at least no one that he could see. Luckily for him, moody was just outside, reconnoitering, and had seen the episode with his magical eye. A wild glint shone is his only remaining natural eye. He vowed to himself to make sure that kreacher would pay. As he took his next step, he saw professor McGonagall coming out of the side of the house. By the look on her face, it looked like as if she had been on a brisk walk. Mad-eye followed her into the house.

"Good Morning, professor McGonagall, Professor Moody", said amiably enough. Minerva nodded, trying to catch her breath. Mad eye on the other hand replied, "Morning lad. Though remember, technically, I never got around to teaching yuh guys, did I?" he said sarcastically. Harry would have almost bet that he was a slytherin.

Nodding, he said, "What happened to professor Dumbledore. He wasn't looking fine yesterday.

"A lot of things weren't fine yesterday, lad" Alastor replied before Minerva. Before Minerva could reply, they heard a distinct, although faint pop. They turned to see Albus accompanied with dobby, walking in the kitchen. Before anything could be said, dobby suddenly leapt and wrapped his small arms around Harry's legs crying. "I is very-very sorry master potter, sir. I knew you loved your siri very-very much." Again dobby let loose another round of tears. Harry felt uncomfortable. Whatever else may have been his history with dobby, his honesty and dedication to his welfare had never been a point of discussion. What construed his welfare was a separate issue altogether.

"Its okay, dobby. I am feeling much better. I know you will always be my friend" at hearing such words from Harry, the young elf decided that he would be young Mr. Potter's personal elf. As he was a free elf, he could decide on his own whom to take for a master. A master taken of its own violation rendered the elf very powerful. Hence it was seldom done. More than that, rarely would a free elf accept servitude again, except in very rare cases. It had happened, but the elves didn't want the wizards to know much of them.

"Master Potter, sir. Dobby is having a request."

"What is it I can do for you?" Harry very much wanted to get this episode over. He needed to be manipulated by Dumbledore so that he can do what is required.

Feeling rather than gearing a little exasperation in Harry's voice, he said "will you accept me as your personal elf". Everybody was astonished. Never had they seen an elf openly asking for a bond of personal elf. Normally the elves were bound to the house and lived its natural life with that family, unless of-course if they were given clothes. In that case most of the elves left to find new families. Mostly were never hired again. Then they disappear and were never found again. But to ask to be a personal elf was a bond above all others. It had to be given freely. Such a bond would extend or shorten the lifespan of the elf to that of its master. Its very magic was then invested in the master. Not knowing the difference nor understanding the meaning of such an offer, Harry's only thought was that it could do no harm.

"Are you sure dobby?" he asked. "I thought you liked your freedom"

"I like my freedom, master potter, sir. But I is knowing that you treat dobby with respect. That is all I wish for. Master Harry Potter is the greatest wizard alive"

"Okay, so how do we do it?"

"You just need to say that you accept dobby as your personal elf." Nodding, Harry looked over at the amazed guests. As he looked at professor, he saw genuine curiosity. Harry decided to go ahead and took Dobby's hand in his hand and said, "I, Harry Potter, hereby accept dobby to be my personal elf and friend" with that, a new wave of energy went through both of them and he felt a connection form between both of them Dobby's eyes went wide as he saw something but to his credit, didn't say anything. Harry was relieved.

Albus was truly amazed at what had happened. He had brought dobby here so that he could do the chores. He was pretty friendly with Harry as well. He wanted to observe Harry with dobby before getting his other friends. Even now, he was pretty sure that something monumental had happened yesterday. It peeved him no ends to not be able to find out whatever it was. He had even tried mild legelimens on Mr. Potter right now while was talking to dobby. He saw mental barriers there which were not present earlier. Harry might have practiced, he thought. He would ask later. But before he could increase his legelimens, the bond with dobby formed and he was thrown out with such a force that had he not been truly recuperated, he wasn't sure that he could have hidden the repulsion so well.

This was not a lucky day for Dumbledore. Before he could think of any further, there was a knock at the door. Mad Eye, because of his X-Ray eye, went to open the door. A few moments later, Snape strode in with a scroll clutched in his hands. He looked in pain and was extremely pale. The expressions on his face were a strange mixture of astonishment and confusion. His agitation could again be determined by the fact that he never even acknowledged Harry. He just put the scroll in the headmaster's hands and said, could you please get poppy. I think I just had another heart attack.

With that the much hated professor of potions, potions master Severus Snape, fell down and fainted promptly.