Rita Skeeter was mildly surprised to wake up to the sight of seeing the Boy-Who-Lived whistling merrily to some odd tune with his back resting against a grand birch tree.
"How can you be so calm after what you told me?" she asked him indignantly.
"Well, Rita if you have seen what I have seen, then you learn to accept things and make the best out of a given situation. So I understand that you will be doing the expose on Lucius Malfoy, pureblood and upstanding member of the British Wizard Community?" Harry asked her with a smirk.
"Of course. How could I not?" she finished with a dangerous yet oddly determined glint in her eye.
Harry gave her a calculating look and then proceeded to get up from his sitting position and after dusting off the dust from his hands; he made a gesture to shake her hand.
"All the best then!" With a firm handshake, he sauntered walked off towards Number 4 Privet Drive without turning around.
The day finally arrived when Vernon was to make his business deal and Dobby his dramatic appearance in Harry's bedroom.
Counting down the minutes Harry softly cursed his bad luck and slowly climbed upstairs after the verbal bout with his Uncle about how he was supposed to be a good boy, pretend he did not exist and stay in his room all evening.
The moment he opened his door he was greeted with the sight of Dobby jumping up and down like there was no tomorrow on his rickety old bed. Without making a sound he silently closed the door and leaned against the cupboard.
"Hello Dobby," he said with a slight smile on his face.
To say Dobby was surprised would have been an understatement.
"HARRY POTTER KNOWS DOBBY?" he exclaimed with his eyes pooping out.
"How can that be? Dobby has never met Harry Potter before. Such a great wizard he is. But Dobby is not supposed to be here! Dobby must warn Harry Potter that he must not return to Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year. Evil is being plotted and DOBBY MUST WARN HARRY POTTER BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE," he said shrieking out the last part.
Before the little house elf could bang his hand on the dresser table about how he must not betray his masters, Harry quickly caught hold of him and gently placed him on the bed by his side.
With a soft sigh, Harry gathered his thoughts and wondered how he was going to get his thoughts across to the easily excitable house-elf.
"Listen Dobby, the powers-that-be have informed me all about the evil plot that you are warning me about. I know everything there is to know about who is going to do what at the end of the summer holidays and the consequences of that. But don't worry. I have a plan and already set it into motion. Everything will turn out to be all right. OK?"
Dobby by this time was looking at the wizard he had heard so much about from his fellow house-elves with wide wondrous eyes and without warning started bawling like a small child. "Harry Potter is a great wizard – that he is. Dobby trusts Harry Potter. But Dobby is sorry to have stolen Harry Potter's letters." He removed a huge bundle of letters from his back and apologized profusely about how he thought that if Harry Potter thought that his friends don't like him, he would choose not to go to Hogwarts.
Before he could start banging his head for the third time that evening, Harry caught hold of the dirty pillow case that covered his body and with a hard look in his face that softened when seeing the house elf's wide eyes, softly told him "Don't punish yourself Dobby. You have done nothing wrong. Although I am slightly angry with you, I won't hold it against you. Go back to hour home and wait for the events to unfold. I can promise you one thing. I may not be able to get you your freedom but I will help your kind and YOU for that matter, whenever you need me. So just give me my letters and leave with goodwill. Consider me indebted to you for your concern and your warning. HE will get his comeuppance soon."
Tears flowed gently down the little house-elf's eyes and with a serene expression he folded his hands across his chest and vanished into thin air.
Harry had written to Ron about staying with him at the Burrow. Ron whole-heartedly greeted the idea and managed to surrey him to his house with the help of his twin brothers and a flying Ford Angelica. Though Mrs. Weasley was none too pleased with her sons for taking out their father's enchanted car without permission she forgave them immediately when she saw Harry and with a bright expression proceeded to pamper him with food and other motherly gestures that Harry had missed out on for so long.
Finally the day arrived when they were to go to Diagon Alley and Rita Skeeter was to carry out her part of the deal.
Harry stepped into the grate and clearly shouted out 'DIAGON ALLEY', careful that he would not land up in Knockturn Alley, like he had last time.
After buying all their nitty-gritty's the Weasley's and Harry proceeded towards Flourish and Blott's where they met Hermione and after warm hugs went inside the bookstore. Mr. Weasley immediately struck a conversation with the Grangers about various muggle contraptions and how they were finding the wizarding world. Harry meanwhile had been spotted by Gilderoy Lockhart and was compelled to get his photo taken with the man.
No sooner had Lockhart's vice like grip released him and a swooning Mrs. Weasley offered to get his books autographed by him, he heard someone whose head he literally wanted to bash in.
"Bet you loved that, didn't you Potter," he snarled.
'Draco Malfoy. Oh Shit. Here goes nothing. Where are you Rita? You better not mess this up.'
When Ginny came to his rescue, Draco gave them all a look as if they were filth - "Oh look , Potter's got himself a girlfriend!"
"Now, Now Draco," a cane with a snake with its fangs protruding out made its way over the little squirt's shoulder and a older replica of Draco Malfoy made his appearance from behind him.
"Be polite! Ah. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Lucius Malfoy. You must be the Harry Potter."
"Your scar is a legend Mr. Potter," he said revealing it with his cane, "As was the wizard who gave it to you."
"Ms. Granger, I presume?" he said turning towards Hermione. "Of course, Draco has told me all about you."
"And red hair, hand me down clothes and tattered books. You must be the Weasley's!"
While Lucius Malfoy was busy removing the few books from Ginny's cauldron and then putting them back in with a new addition, he didn't notice a witch with huge glasses and a exquisite dragon hide purse coming closer towards him, along with another middle aged wizard with a huge camera in his hands.
It was only when the camera went off with a bright flash that Lucius Malfoy realized his actions had been caught on official Daily Prophet record.
"Hello, Mr. Malfoy. I am Rita Skeeter from the Daily Prophet. Might I have a look as to what you just now put into this unsuspecting little girl's cauldron? It seemed to me that it was a diary of some sort," she finished with a sweet smile on her face.
The expression on Lucius Malfoy's was very reminiscent of the one time in his childhood, when his most strict mother had caught him with his hand stuck in a cookie jar.
'Take that you piece of Thestral Dropping!' Harry thought with a innocent expression mirrored on his face.
Please Read and Review.
A/N: I really welcome any suggestions that you give me and will try to incorporate them as best as I can.
Thanks to all those who reviewed earlier…
OldNick: I got a new HD. Yayyy!
Night-Owl-123: Here it is.
Lucasfsf: I will try to set a decent pace to the story. It may race through the years, yeah, or it may become slightly slow where JKR has a major plot element which even I can't avoid. I don't want to entirely make this fic. into an AAU.
Jbfritez: I updated!
Thanks Shawn, possom2009 and saetan for your reviews
I wonder where my FAVORITE reviewer Solilel Luna is?