When he left History class, Harry walked to the Great Hall for supper. There were thirty minutes before supper began, but he didn't need to take his books back to the dorm – everything fits into his feather-light book bag. Arriving early, he took time to talk with Percy Weasley about charms, ask the Gryffindor chasers about quidditch practice, and pick out a good spot at the table. He pulled out his history book and read the information on the Swiss Dwarf Insurrection of 1770, which was much more interesting than the goblin rebellions. Neville came in and waved before sitting beside Harry. They practised proper etiquette for a moment and then fell into laughter before Professor Flitwick called for the feast to begin.
Harry heard someone mention how Dumbledore and McGonagall were missing this evening. He glanced toward the staff table but didn't think about it much. He was more interested in his upcoming experiments in the Room of Requirement with Dobby. When the meal was cleared, Harry left and walked around a couple of corners before making himself invisible.
Draco Malfoy cursed vehemently for a good minute when he realised that Potter had disappeared again. Severus Snape also cursed when his godson stomped back into the Great Hall and shook his head, indicating he'd lost Potter again.
'The boy is not capable! He's not that smart,' Snape insisted to himself. 'Potter is an imbecile!'
SCENE CHANGE SCENE
Outside the Room of Requirement, Harry found Dobby waiting, but rather than his usual self, the elf was squatting down, shivering with fear.
"Dobby! Are you okay?" Harry asked, bending over, picking Dobby up, and hugging the little elf. The elf didn't respond, and rather than press his friend for an answer, Harry walked back and forth, thinking he needed a room where Dobby could relax and recover.
A doorway appeared, and Harry hurried inside to find a room filled with socks, jumpers, and jumpers of every colour in the rainbow. He picked up a jumper and wrapped Dobby in the warm folds of the enormous sweater. The elf immediately relaxed into the wool. Another elf popped into the Room of Requirement with a dish of berries that he told Harry to feed to Dobby one at a time.
Dobby smelled the berries and opened his mouth for Harry to slip in one berry. After eating five berries, the elf woke up and grabbed the dish, stuffing the remaining berries into his mouth as fast as possible.
"Thanks, Mr Harry Potter; Dobby was weak and sick for a time. Hug, wool and berries make Dobby strong again."
"What happened, Dobby?"
The elf sighed and began his tale, "Dobby pop into space for elves in Gringotts. Elf ask Dobby business in bank?"
Harry waited as Dobby explained the conversation where he told the elf that he had brought gold for the goblins to examine. While they waited for a dwarf to enter the room, the elves spoke about many things, including the deviousness of wizards and goblins, how horrible the weather had been, and the outrageous price of elf berries sold by other elves."
"Then, Goblin hurry into room and say 'Where be gold?' Goblins be liking gold same as elves be liking berries. Dobby think that goblins eat gold and make golden eggs instead of night soils. Dobby think goblins make galleons in bottoms."
Harry snickered and wondered if the elf was being truthful or again making a tale to entertain his Mr Harry Potter. Dobby shook his head and continued, "Goblin take bag and smell the gold. Then the goblin looks at Dobby before reaching inside and pulling out one nugget that he puts into mouth and chews…and chews. Goblin gets excited eyes and begins dancing around the room. He shouts out some words that Dobby not know. Then more goblins run into room and they each take a gold rock and put it in their mouthses. Goblins chew and slobber and dance…Dobby scared because Goblins laugh and never ever heard that before. It be scary scared."
Harry smiled and asked, "Dobby, did they eat the gold? All of it?"
"No, Mr Harry Potters, they just slobbered over the gold and then puts it back to Dobby's paper bag. There's be slobber all over gold and bag and Dobby," sighed the elf.
"Did the goblins say anything? Or just dance and laugh?"
"When goblin stop laughing and dancing and laughing, big goblin say, 'Pure gold…purest gold be magic for goblins. We pay ten times weight in old gold for more this gold. But tell wizard who makes gold with magic to use small stones.' Dobby think goblins like gold not so strong as pure made with only magicals."
Harry hugged Dobby again, and the elf settled into the jumper, falling asleep, as another elf appeared and made a bed for Dobby. Harry placed his friend into the bed and then left the Room of Requirement for the night. He had no regrets about a lost night of experiments with cartouche paper. There were many long winter nights ahead of him where he and Dobby could experiment.
The next day, Harry and Dobby make some gold nuggets using the cartouche and words aimed at a pile of marble chips the Hogwarts elves collected from scraps thrown away from the wizards carving statues for the rich purebloods of Magical Britain. Gringotts provided a key to blind account, and by the end of the next week, Harry Potter had ten thousand galleons in that account.
Change the Scene
Unknown to anyone in Hogwarts except for the headmaster, on 5 February 1994, Albus Dumbledore received notification from the Department for International Cooperation that he (Magical Britain) had lost the bid to host the upcoming Triwizard Tournament. The continuous bad reports appearing in the international press regarding the headmaster's carelessness that resulted in the deaths of four students and the role played by the Minister for Magic himself meant that other schools were not interested in sending their students to spend a year at Hogwarts. On 5 February, Albus was notified that the courts with the ICW found the British Ministry, Hogwarts, Cornelius Fudge, and him – Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore – personally responsible for the deaths.
Within ten days, the ministry was forced to slash budgets, lay off employees with large salaries (Delores Umbridge), and cut other salaries (Cornelius Fudge). For two years, Hogwarts would receive no funds for new books, cleaning supplies, or new robes for the headmaster. Cornelius Fudge moved into rented rooms in Diagon Alley, and Albus Dumbledore was forced to sell a collection of spellbooks to pay off the judgements.
Desperate to raise funds, Dumbledore suddenly remembered the basilisk carcass in the Chamber of Secrets. The potential market worldwide for the skin, venom, sinews, flesh and fluids from the creature could generate up millions of galleons, and as 'headmaster' of the school where the beast was killed, he could benefit -uh- direct the disbursement of the wealth.
Glancing toward Fawkes, Dumbledore's eyes narrowed slightly as he considered how to word the request to be transported into the chamber. Fawkes warbled a bit as if she prepared to break out in song and ignored the headmaster, but when Albus cleared his throat, the phoenix flamed out, setting fire to papers on his desk and knocking everything off the shelves in his office. The silver puffing instruments that monitored the health, location and bindings on Harry Potter's magic flew through the air and vanished with Fawkes.
Change the Scene
Sitting in the Great Hall on Saturday afternoon for a study group from DADA–Lupin was an excellent professor. He had the seventh year NEWT students providing tutoring and mentoring for the younger years on Saturdays. Harry and the other students were surprised when the Phoenix flamed into the space near the ceiling, flew around and then landed on the table where Harry was seated. She walked down the table, singing lightly and making the fourth-year Hufflepuffs smile, the fifth year Ravenclaws laugh and begin making notes about how good feelings helped with spells, and finally came to the third year Gryffindors. She warbled encouragement to Hermione Granger to pace herself, Neville Longbottom to believe in himself, Ron Weasley to wash behind his ears, and then Harry Potter just a minute longer.
{Nod that you understand me, Heir Potter,} she sang, and Harry nodded. {Good. Pull out your paper and muggle pen, write a letter to Hannah Abbot's dad – his name is Samuel – and tell him you want him to sell the 24-meter Basilisk you killed last year underneath the castle. Have your lovely angel Hedwig leave with the letter in the next ten minutes. To prove the request comes from you and me, include in the letter that Fawkes reminds him of the night on the astronomy tower where I pushed him back from the edge when the wind threatened to throw him over the edge.}
Harry nodded, and Fawkes continued, {As soon as you leave this room, go to your study room and make a paper cartouche to shrink the giant snakey-snake down. Practice with words for magnification and shrink. Once you create this runic array inside a cartouche this afternoon, call your friend Dobby and have him take you to Salazar's secret cave. Use your cartouche on paper to shrink the snakey snake and put it into a box. Dobby will hide it until Samuel Abbot responds and you send Dobby to deliver the package.}
Fawkes flamed out but appeared on the next table to walk along and warble encouragement to every student in the study group. While several students watched but didn't ask questions, Harry wrote a letter with the requested information Fawkes suggested. Hedwig arrived just as he finished, and she took off with the note to Samuel Abbot before the study session ended. Outside the door, Harry told Neville he would study for the afternoon and hurried away, vanishing from all view once he went around a corner.
(Change Scene)
"Dobby," Harry called. He'd spent the entirety of Saturday afternoon and early evening getting the paper cartouche to 'shrink'. When he combined shrink and magnify on the cartouche, the item he tested shrank, and so did ten other things he had not intended to shrink. He had to make a 'magnify unshrink' to return the items to normal size. Then he wrote 'magnify shrink' in the next cartouche and succeeded.
"Yes, Mr Harry Potters?" asked the elf once he immediately appeared beside the young wizard.
"Can you take me down to the Chamber of Secrets?"
"Dobby, not know. Can Dobby see Harry Potter mind to find chambers of secrets?"
"Sure, Dobby. Look," Harry said as he felt something brush across his mind before the elf popped away for a long moment.
'That felt like the times Snape has been mad at me, or Dumbledore called me into his office to talk,' Harry thought to himself.
Dobby returned quickly, and Harry gathered his book bag, with paper already bearing the cartouche, biros and his shrunken broom. The house-elf popped Harry into the outer part of the chamber. Following his Mr Harry Potter into the main portion of the chamber, the house-elf passed out with fright after seeing the corpse of the basilisk.
"Dobby? Dobby, are you alright?" asked Harry, holding his friend like a small child.
The house-elf began crying, and it took a long minute for Dobby to collect himself. Harry waited patiently and explained that the basilisk was dead, and Fawkes helped him last year when he had to battle the creature.
"Mr Harry Potters be greatest wizard boy in world…in universes!" Dobby swore vehemently.
"Now, Dobby, I am going to shrink this basilisk corpse. In a few days, I'll need you to take it to a wizard so he can sell it."
Dobby looked disturbed at the notion of handling the basilisk until Harry asked, "Can you find a secure box? Something with a lid on it to store the carcass in until Mr Abbot's ready to receive it?"
"Dobby do," the elf said again as he popped out and back with a large box. He watched while Harry Potter used a piece of paper with runes on it to shrink the corpse to be about half a meter long. Then Dobby was surprised when Harry asked, "Dobby, come and see if you can unshrink the basilisk."
The elf touched the sheet of paper, and the corpse returned to its original size. The elf kept himself from fainting again because his wizard laughed and clapped.
That's great, Dobby! That's great!" Harry exclaimed. He took another sheet of paper with a cartouche and two words on it to shrink the carcass again.
"Can you levitate the carcass into the box?"
Dobby nodded without commenting – his nerves were still raw, and once the carcass was inside the box, Harry asked Dobby to hide it in the Room of Requirement until Mr Abbot was ready. After popping the box to the Room of Requirement, Dobby sat on the floor to rest and popped Harry Potter back into his study room.
"Are you alright, Dobby?"
"Dobby tired and nervously," the elf replied. "Big Snakey Snake make Dobby scared. Mr Harry Potters be great, great wizard to kill Big Snakey Snake."
"Do you need to rest?"
Dobby looked up and asked, "Can Mr Harry Potters hug Dobby? That gives Dobby magicals power."
"Sure, Dobby," Harry said without a second thought about helping the house-elf. Dobby instantly felt better and stood up.
"Dobby, ask Mr Harry Potter another favour."
"What'cha need, Dobby?"
"Can Dobby and his friends clean Mr Harry Potters Chamber of Secrets? It be very dirty and take elves many days to make clean cleaner cleanest."
"Will that make you and the elves happy?"
"Yes, Mr Harry Potter," Dobby replied sincerely.
"Then have at it…uh...go to it," Harry commanded, but Dobby stared, not sure what the wizard meant. Smiling, Harry said, "Dobby, please take your friends and clean the Chamber of Secrets. Repair the passageway and make it spotless."
Grinning, Dobby disappeared with a pop. Harry made his way along the castle's passageways toward the Gryffindor dormitory. It was just before curfew, and he slipped inside the porthole, waved to Neville and climbed the stairs to their dorm room. Once his outer cloak was removed, he found a tray with some milk and sandwiches waiting for his attention. He ate quickly, worried that Ron would appear and take all the food. The tray disappeared once he finished, and Harry made his way to bed.
'I'll shower in the morning,' he decided.
After closing his curtains, he heard the door open and Ron shouting, "Hey, I smell food. Who gots something to eat?"
CHANGE SCENES
A large brown owl flew into the Great Hall on a Tuesday morning and landed on the table in front of Harry. He quickly removed the letter, stuffed it into a concealed inside pocket in his robes, and then provided the owl with two pieces of bacon. The bird rose into the rafters to eat the treat and watched until no one noticed him. Launching silently into the space of the enchanted ceiling, the owl circled once around the Great Hall and then flew across the width of the hall, heading for the owl window. When it passed over the staff table, the owl deposited a large, messy amount of chaulk that splattered the Deputy Headmistress (hair and robes), the headmaster (hair, hat, beard and robes), and Severus Snape (hair, nose, robes).
Neville commented, "I thought there were wards or runes to prevent that from happening."
Hermione stared for a moment before pulling out Hogwarts a History to look up postal owls. The other students at the Gryffindor table whispered to each other but did not laugh as McGonagall was as quick as Snape to assign detention or take points from the Gryffindor students. Harry waited quietly and breathed a sigh of relief when no one seemed to remember that the owl that brought him a letter was the one that marked the staffing table.
When he was able to hide in his private study and read the letter, he shouted, "Yes!"
Samuel Abbot wrote he was happy to sell any basilisk parts that Harry Potter could provide in the letter. He was concerned about removing the carcass from the school and mentioned problems with 'Dumbledore' when working with the carcass.
Harry snickered and wrote a reply asking Mr Abbot to make arrangements to process the basilisk as huge as noted in the first letter.
'The elf bringing you this box will restore the basilisk to its full size with a charm that is not known to others – please don't ask about it. When you begin to make sales, I want my share put into a muggle bank. I think that Hannah mentioned your family often went into the 'real world'. Will you act as my 'adult' getting that account set up?'
Dobby was summoned and popped out of the castle with the box and both letters. The first letter, from Samuel Abbot, would lead the elf to Mr Abbot's warehouse. The second letter from Harry explained the size of the carcass, how Dobby would return it to proper size, and the request to help him with his share and hide it in the muggle world.
SCENERY CHANGE
Samuel Abbot stared at the giant carcass. It filled his warehouse and would generate millions of galleons in revenue with sales worldwide.
'By Merlin's beard and toe jam! There's never been a basilisk this large,' he thought. 'I need photos to record this and confidentiality agreements for all my employees. I'll protect Harry Potter for giving me this cash hippogriff and mafske certain his gold is safe from everyone.'
He smiled and thought, 'Maybe Hannah will smile when I tell her about Harry Potter and his elf secreting the basilisk…no, I can't tell Hannah. But I can ask Potter and his friends to write to Hannah.'
His smile grew into a grin – his muggle-born wife would help him get the bank accounts for Harry Potter – and maybe they'd make certain his guardians were on the 'up and up' as Hannah often said to mimick her mother.
'Lady Longbottom will help.'
BIG SCENE CHANGE