Chapter Eleven
Mickey
"Not much further, we'll be seeing it soon," Lupin called out to them as they trudged along the dirt road boarded by lush green trees and tall grasses. Harry's heart skipped a beat. After all those years of wondering, he would finally see his first home with his parents. Earlier, he and Ron, along with Lupin and Hermione, flooed to the local pub in Godric's Hollow—the nearest fireplace to the location of what used to be Potter Manor. After that, it was a good twenty minute walk to the site. They couldn't Apparate directly since they were not familiar with the area. Five minutes away from the pub, the street turned to an unpaved road that had obviously fallen to neglect. There were a few houses that lined the street but they were all abandoned.
"This used to be a thriving community," Lupin explained. "When Voldemort attacked your family, people got scared and moved away. I suppose nobody has been living in the vicinity since then."
Harry saw it from a far. In one area cleared of trees stood a ruin of what could have been a grand building long ago. Vines and bushes covered the broken stone walls and one could see bits and pieces of broken statues and windows. Harry couldn't imagine how he had managed to survive as a baby under that rubble.
"Hagrid said he found you trapped under a bed. Amazingly, when the house collapsed you were protected by the bed," Lupin answered, as if reading Harry's thoughts.
Harry approached the ruins and took in everything in his surroundings. He touched the cold, worn stone wall.
"Do you remember anything about this Harry?"
"No, I can't. I was too young then. But I do have pictures of my parents showing them here so I have an idea what it used to look like. Here..." He walked towards a piece of broken steps. "There was a staircase here that led to the second floor and over there used to be a fire place. I've got a picture with me and my parents standing next to a Christmas tree by the fire. It was beautiful."
"Harry, come over here. I found something!" Hermione called.
Harry and Ron ran to where she stood in the middle of the ruins. She was clearing one area of the ground of vines with her wand. Harry looked closely at the object that she stumbled upon. It looked like an iron shield with a coat of arms. It had an image of a man holding a pot in his hands.
Lupin came up from behind them. "It's the Potter's family crest. It used to hang over the front door. I thought that was destroyed. I must have missed it when I went back to salvage anything of value. Accio crest!"
The seal untangled itself from the vines and came to Lupin's hand. "It's still intact. Do you want to keep it Harry?"
"Yes, I'd love that very much." Harry took it and muttered a spell to clean it. The seal was already faded but he could see that it used to be red with the image of the potter in gold.
"Put it down for a minute, Harry. I need to show you something," said Lupin. Harry gently set the seal aside against a wall and followed Lupin. Hermione walked closely behind.
"It's been so long since I've been here. I'm afraid I've neglected them," Lupin said as he walked toward what Harry could tell was the back of the house.
"Neglected who, Professor?" Hermione asked.
"You'll see," the older wizard replied. He led them a little distance away from the ruins near a cluster of beech trees. Underneath were several stone mounds covered with grass and ivy. Lupin muttered a spell on one and it revealed a memorial marker. Harry approached it and read the engraving:
James Potter and Lily Evans Potter
Harry's eyes stung with tears.
"Alright there, Harry?"
"Yeah. Just never occurred to me they'd have a memorial marker."
Lupin and Hermione set off clearing other markers. Harry and Ron curiously went through the freshly cleared ones. They were surprised to find that they were all markers of members of the Potter family.
"Harry, I think all your relatives have markers here."
"I wish I could have met them," Harry replied. "I don't know anything much about my family and there's no one to tell me."
Harry closed their eyes for a minute and savored the slight breeze that ruffled their hair and cooled their skin. When he reopened them, everything seemed alive with green from the large beech trees to the tall grasses and vines that had conquered almost every inch of the ground that stretched onwards until it disappeared into a wooded area. Harry tried to imagine this as a backyard garden long ago. Not a garden with trim lawns and elegant flowers like the Dursleys, but one that grew a bit wild with interesting magical plants. The wood reminded him of the Forbidden Forest, and he thought of Hogwarts.oHoHo....
"It feels wonderful here, Ron. Everything feels so peaceful and homey."
"You're right, mate. The Burrow's a wonderful place but if I could choose to live anywhere, I think I'd like it here as well. Big open spaces for Quidditch, far from civilization and no muggles to bother with."
Harry was suddenly struck by an idea. "Why don't we then?"
"Don't we what?"
"Live here. We can have the house rebuilt and then we could move out of the Burrow and have a place of our own."
"That would be just wicked Harry! I've been dying to get out of the house. I mean it will be nice to have a bigger space for once. Hey, could Hermione come, too?"
"Yeah, sure. I know she's meaning to get a flat but maybe she'd like to stay with us. It will just be like at school."
Hermione and Lupin had just finished clearing up the markers. Lupin used several spells to conjure a blanket and grew back to original size the picnic basket that Mrs. Weasley prepared for them that Lupin shrunk earlier to fit in his pocket. They sat under the trees and began to eat their sandwiches and pumpkin juice while Harry and Ron told them their plans.
"I think it's a grand idea, Harry," Lupin said. "I'm sure James would have wanted you to live here. He told me once this was the Potter ancestral home, much like the Burrow is the Weasleys. It's only fitting you come back to it."
"I only wish I could have it rebuilt the same way as it was before," said Harry. "Professor, perhaps you could help make the plans from what you can remember."
"Well, it's been a long time, Harry," Lupin said a bit uncomfortably. "It's been years but I'll try to remember as much as I can to—" Lupin stopped suddenly and looked alarmed.
"What is it, Professor?" Hermione asked, but Lupin motioned her to be silent. He was looking at the line of trees at the edge of the wood. He had his wand out and his eyes were unblinking.
"I smell something. We're not alone."
Harry, Ron and Hermione instinctively got out their wands. But Lupin was already putting his wand on his side, but otherwise still had it ready at any moment.
"Don't make it too obvious," he whispered. "I don't want to frighten it."
Harry shuddered to think what it could be, but he and Ron lowered their wands to their sides so as not to attract attention.
Lupin moved forward, casually toward the cluster of trees. Harry followed his movements. He caught a shadow of something small scurrying along the thick bushes.
"Stupefy!" Lupin shouted.
There was tiny "ooof" and they heard something collapse to the ground. Lupin ran toward it and Harry, Ron and Hermione followed him. Harry was expecting to see a small animal, but he didn't expect...
"An elf?" Hermione gasped. Lying on the grass, stunned, was a small creature with big bat-like ears wearing what looked like a ragged quilt made out of sewed up potholders and a single torn doily for a cap. It was smaller and younger than what Harry had seen of other house elves he knew.
"It's Mickey!" Lupin smiled. "She must have been here for years."
"Mickey?" Harry asked. He had a mental image of the Disney mouse that he saw on TV when he was a little kid and noticed a certain similarity to the creature, though the cartoon was much more appealing.
"The Potter's house elf," Lupin declared and Hermione scowled at his choice of words.
"She's relatively young. I believe she was born just days after your parents married, Harry. Your mother even named her, strange name for an elf but James found it rather amusing. I thought she died with the rest of her family when Voldemort destroyed the house. But I've been here before several times to pay respects to Lily and James and I never saw her. I wonder what made her come out this time."
"It's Harry, Professor!" Hermione exclaimed. She shook her head at the confused looks her companions were giving her and proceeded to explain as if she was reciting from a book. "Elves have their own brand of magic linked to their nature as (she winced as if she was disgusted of saying the word) slaves. They can sense if any member of the family they serve is near and they standby to take orders. So it's possible, she sensed Harry's presence and came forward."
"I suppose you're right. But maybe we could know better if we waken her." Lupin enervated the knocked-out elf and it slowly blinked its eyes open. When she gained focus, she turned her gaze to Harry and Ron and she looked at them with a confused expression. For several minutes, she didn't say anything and appeared to be deliberating at what was before her.
"Master?" she spoke in tiny voice.
"You know me?" Harry asked.
The elf remained bewildered. "Yes, Mickey thinks so," she replied in the same frightened voice. She looked around at Lupin and Hermione and she cringed with their gaze.
"It's alright, Mickey, we're not going to hurt you," Hermione assured her.
Mickey only shrank even further.
"You recognize me as a Potter?" Harry asked gently.
The elf nodded. "Little Master Harry, but... but there's something different, different body but same Master Harry inside with someone else," she squeaked and she looked like she was surprised at herself for being so bold.
"I know," Harry smiled. He had an exciting idea. This house elf knew his parents, had lived with them, even for a short time. She would certainly remember what the old house looked like, probably even better than Lupin. She could be very useful. "Come on up," Harry offered his hand at her.
Mickey suddenly burst into tears and she used her doily cap to blow her nose.
"What now?" Harry asked instantly before he remembered that house elves considered it unusual and a great honor to be treated politely by wizards, which they considered superior.
"Oh, young Master is so kind," she managed to say. "Just like dear Mistress Lily. Oh, my poor Mistress!" She began sobbing again. Harry was a bit annoyed of the wretchedness of the creature but at the same time he was heartened at the mention of his mother. He imagined that his mother was very kind to house elves if Mickey regarded her with such praise. He wondered if his mother could have crotched the doily cap personally or made that potholder quilt she was wearing. That thought made him point his wand at the elf and mutter cleaning and repair charms. The elf shrieked and surprise but she looked like she would start bawling even harder when she saw that Harry had cleaned her up and patched a bit of her pitiful garment.
"Don't cry. That's an order," Harry said firmly.
"Harry!" Hermione reproved.
"What? You want her crying again?" Harry defended. He looked at the elf, which was fighting to obey his command. "And come with us, sit and eat—and I don't want to hear any show of gratefulness. You do eat sandwiches, do you?"
Mickey nodded as she tried to control her eyes from bursting with tears. She looked completely dazed when they sat back down on their blanket and Hermione handed her a sandwich. She nibbled it carefully as if afraid that her manner of eating would displease her companions.
After introductions were made, Harry asked Mickey to tell them everything that happened to her. Apparently she had been living in the cellar of the house for years, the only part of the house that wasn't completely ruined because it was below ground. She had grown her own little vegetable garden in the woods and survived on that alone without any company, waiting for the day her little Master Harry would come back.
"So all this time, you have just been waiting here?" Ron asked.
"Of course she has to wait," Hermione said angrily. "Elves have to obey their masters' last command. And if the masters go away, usually the last order is to keep to the house so the elves can't leave it unless they are given further instruction. So even if the family they serve die out they still have to wait there, even if the living conditions," she glanced at the remnants of the house and huffed crossly. "Are unfit for any creature to survive in."
"But what if there are new owners of the house?" Ron asked. "I mean like Sirius' properties. I'm, sure the Blacks kept a number of house elves in their other estates. Does that mean Harry and I are their masters now, since we inherited everything?"
Hermione shook her head. "No, you're not. The elves may be attached to the house but the new owners can't be their masters. There have been cases when the new owners don't want the elves in while the elves try keep to the house as ordered to them by their masters. Usually the elves end up being evicted from the house and they are made to wander around in the area for the rest of their lives if they have no other masters to serve. They can't even be freed. But I never realize that the Blacks have other elves. I wonder where they are now."
"I suppose they are still living in their assigned estates. Still waiting for any Black family member to come and give them orders," Lupin replied.
"But there are no more Blacks, not directly," said Hermione. "I suppose Tonks could qualify as the heir and Draco Malfoy. But Malfoy's disappeared, probably left the country. I don't think he'll be coming back if he knows what's good for him."
This morning Hermione had told them that the Daily Prophet reported that Draco Malfoy had been one of the few suspected Death Eaters still missing after the last battle. Recent intelligence reports figured he had fled the country to some far flung province in Eastern Europe. He didn't matter to Harry anymore as long as he never showed his face again.
"Well if any of those elves are anything like Kreacher, then they can't be much of an asset can they?" said Ron. He eyed Hermione suspiciously. "You're not thinking of asking Tonks to free them, are you?"
"Why not?" Hermione replied haughtily. "They're probably miserable, living in drab old houses—"
"With complete freedom from masters and mistresses who won't be able to persecute them anymore," Lupin interrupted. "As much as you have good intentions Hermione, I am sure the Black's elves are best left alone. They are capable of taking care of themselves and maintaining their respective households. In fact they could even make repairs and reconstruct old structures suited for them, just as I am sure Mickey here repaired part of the cellar to suit herself. If you free them, they will be forced out of their comfortable homes and would be left without any employment. That wouldn't help their condition, would it?"
"I...I suppose if you put it that way," Hermione said uncomfortably. "But certainly you will be freeing Mickey, Harry."
"Oh no!" the house elf suddenly squeaked. She knelt before Harry and Ron, frantically grasped at the end of their robe and sobbed. "Oh, please Master Harry, do not free Mickey! Mickey has no where to go if Master sends Mickey away! Mickey has waited for so long to see Master again. Mickey remembers that night when the bad wizard came. Mickey was ever so frightened that Mickey hid under the bed of little Master's room. When the bad wizard made the house fall, Mickey put young Master Harry under the bed to keep little Master safe. Mickey kept Master Harry company for hours until the nice giant came and took him away."
Harry gaped at the elf. So it was she who had saved him from being buried under the house. He was growing more and more grateful for the elf by the minute.
"Of course I won't send you away," Harry reassured her. "I want you to come and live here with me and my friends when I rebuild the house."
The elf's eyes brightened and she began kissing their shoes. "Mickey thanks Master. Oh, Mickey is so happy with such a wonderful Master!"
But Hermione was still looking daggers at him. It was Ron who spoke for him.
"What?" Ron asked. "It's not like Harry or I or you would mistreat her. We could use a house elf to help out at home, especially if we're all training as Aurors."
"That's not the point, Ron." Hermione argued. "It's still slavery. She should be given payment for her work. And what about her clothes? You want her to spend the rest of her life wearing those rags?"
"Mickey don't want no clothes, Miss. Mickey is only happy to serve good kind Master." She gave Hermione a reproachful look.
"See, Hermione. She likes the way things are. So leave it at that."
"That's because she doesn't know any better. Look at Dobby; he likes the perks of his job after he was freed."
"That's because Dobby's master was a bloody scum who worked him to death. It would be a relief to the poor creature that he could at least have day offs every now and then. But Mickey here hasn't had a job to do for seventeen years. She'll be dying to work for us."
Mickey nodded in agreement and smiled brightly at Ron.
"Look," Harry finally interrupted before the row escalated. "I'll free her, alright, on the condition she still works for me. I'll pay her wages, give her days off; I'll even provide a clothing allowance. Happy now, Hermione?"
Hermione nodded, but the house elf was looking panicky again.
"Mickey wants no allowance or day offs or paying. Mickey is an honorable elf and no honorable elf wants freeing or paying from good Master."
But her plea was in vain. Harry had already taken off a sock and presented it to her. She shrank from it and started crying.
"Go on, take it," Ron said impatiently. "You're not going anywhere anyway. You'll still be doing the same thing. And you'll still have to deal with her." He pointed at Hermione who scowled.
The elf finally took the sock and pressed it to her cheek as if it was something sacred.
"Well then, I'll give her two galleons a week for wages and another galleon for clothes. Then days off once a week," Harry said, looking at the elf, who looked horrified at being given so much.
"You'll get used to it," Hermione smiled at her, but Mickey only cringed away from her and hid behind Harry and Ron's robe.
"The question is will she get used to you?" Ron smirked. "Seems to me you're giving the house elves more grief than comfort and I thought you were on their side."
Hermione replied only with an annoyed "Hmmph" which relieved Harry very much. He turned to Lupin.
"I suppose I could start re-construction soon. Where exactly do wizards get construction services? I mean, I suppose there's a firm that does it. I know nothing of building houses."
"Neither do most wizards, Harry," Lupin smiled.
"Except maybe my dad," Ron said. "But you don't want him building this. I mean the Burrow's okay but you've seen it and it doesn't really look, you know... elegant."
Harry had to agree. The Burrow looked like several floors were added as extensions from all sides. It wasn't exactly aesthetically pleasing.
"Wizards don't build houses," Lupin said. "House elves do. Normally, an old wizarding family uses their own house elves or borrows from friends. I don't think Mickey here is enough. She's far too young to have learned much about building, we need older elves for that. But I think Tonks would be willing to lend some of the Black's elves in the construction. I could ask her to round up some living in the estates in Britain and send them off here."
"Do you think I could come with her and see them?" Hermione suddenly brightened. Ron and Harry both rolled their eyes and Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Well, I want to know how their conditions are."
Harry was amused to see that his former teacher was fighting not to roll his eyes in much the same fashion as he and Ron were doing. He turned slightly away from Hermione so she couldn't see his expression. "I suppose you could. Perhaps Harry and Ron would like to come too and see what they own. I'll see if Tonks is available tomorrow. The earlier we send the elves here to work, the better. If we manage everything right you might be able to move in after you take your Auror tests."
"But that would be next week, wouldn't it?" Harry asked, puzzled.
"Well it could be sooner, but you do want to give Mickey time to clean up first before we move in, right?" Ron replied and Harry suddenly realized that it took a lot less time to construct a house using magic than doing it the Muggle way.