I don't own Harry Potter, but I own what I write; you should know the drill by now.

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Harry Potter: Thinking like a Thief.

Dobby and Winky, and a dozen of the house-elves that Harry had connected to over the last few months had one thing in common, besides their species and their pasts. They were all looking at Harry in disbelief. Finally, Dobby, taking advantage of Harry's rule that they speak to him like an equal which came with its own price, voiced a question that was likely on all of their minds.

"Is Great Master Harry Potter sir losing his brains?"

Harry lifted a brow at the cheek, but he had to admit the House Elves had a point even if he was becoming more certain that being far away from the Malfoys was doing Dobby the world of good, especially since the elf was now snarky. Harry had made it incredibly clear to the House Elves to grow of individuals. He didn't need nor want yes slaves like the Death Eaters, and the numerous purebloods out there. He wanted a team that was capable of adding their own views and opinions whenever he came up with a plan to commit theft. Under him the House Elves not only became stronger bonded with a wizard who was powerful but through him, they had the chance to grow.

Dobby and Winky were the first House Elves adopted by him and his policy, all the others were on their way, and while they at first were simply not used to their masters/owners asking for their opinions and their options, they were getting there.

Granted there was still a wide divide. But they were getting there.

"Maybe, but listen; I am out of options. If I could, I would just leave this stupid country to deal with the consequences of their own stupidity, but I know I can't. That thing took everything from me, including my parents. Don't get me wrong, I love being a criminal. Its freedom. It is liberating. But as long as that thing is alive, we're all at risk. I have a way to fight him, but I don't want to do it with the magical world still with its blinders on."

"But we might be dead if we goes too bad Dark Lord," one of the elves wailed.

Harry shook his head. "Not necessarily," he grinned while he hoped this plan worked. "You are capable of a form of magic unknown to most witches and wizards. You can appear invisibly through his wards and send him into the Ministry. Best of all, you can do it all without being noticed."

I hope, Harry added to himself hoping he was indeed right.

"Look, we're not going to do this right now," Harry pointed out to the elves, "and I will not order you endanger your lives without some kind of plan in mind. What we're going to do is this; I want you all to see if you can find the idiot who calls himself a Dark Lord, bring the knowledge to me. If he is in one of the Death Eater homes, one which we haven't burgled yet, then we can find a way of getting him after seeing his daily routines, and then you can send him to the Ministry, at a preset time. When he's gone, I can cast the spell which would destroy him."

He had it all worked out. With the house-elves help, Harry would keep track of Voldemort's activities. They had done it before. Three months after he had begun stealing from the Death Eaters, inflicting one blow after blow against them while doing the same against Fudge and Dumbledore, Harry had managed to get Dobby to spy on Voldemort. Harry wanted to see if the House Elves could do it, even back then he had wondered if there was a possibility of using the House Elves to get him into Voldemort's Headquarters, past whatever wards the Dark Lord had put up or what was originally there thanks to the unique magic they had and if he could inflict more damage.

It worked.

It was possible to use House Elves to get into Voldemort's Headquarters and he could use them to spy on the Dark Lord and the Death Eaters, and he was pleased that that experiment had worked out the way he'd hoped. But Harry hadn't liked using them like that, but he was satisfied that he had a way of getting close to Voldemort but he needed to be careful about how he went about it.

"I want you to keep an eye on Voldemort for the next few days, come back and report to me about his routines and then we can find the right moment to send him straight to Diagon Alley or somewhere like the Ministry of Magic," Harry went on.

"Why them?" One of the House Elves asked.

Harry was about to reply when Winky, displaying the same kind of growth as Dobby which was a far cry from the little elf who'd been frightened of her own shadow. "Because they's public places," Winky explained to the other elves before she turned over to face Harry, "Right, Master Harry?"

Harry smiled at the female House Elf, remembering how insecure she had been last year before he had secretly asked Dobby to bring her to him. She had just been fired by that idiot Barty Crouch and she was left in an awful state. Harry had been horrified by the way Crouch had treated Winky, who'd merely been obeying her orders, but like so many people at the time the Dark Mark had been fired into the sky at the Quidditch World Cup, everyone had assumed she was guilty simply because she'd been holding on to that wand.

It had completely escaped everybody's comprehension that House Elves could not wield wands.

The House Elves didn't need wands, either - they merely needed to click their fingers to make a spell work properly and that was all that they needed to do. But Crouch, too ashamed and furious with how his own House Elf had 'betrayed' him, had fired her without a second thought, but now he understood the former applicant for the position of the Minister of Magic's history far better to know about Crouch's Death Eater son, Harry could see where the man was coming from even if he was annoyed with how Crouch preferred to get rid of everything and anything that spoilt his own interests. "Yes, well done Winky, and you're right; they are public places and they will be packed, especially when he is sent in the middle of the midst. Right," Harry clapped his hands, pushing away his thoughts about Winky's past in favour of making up his plans, and he went through his options quickly, "so… we keep watch on him for a few days, see what he does and what his morning routine is like to find the right time to send him to a public place, either in the Ministry or in Diagon Alley."

"Are we going to burgles the nasty Dark Lord, Harry Potter sir?" Dobby asked.

"No. I want him in a relatively calm mood for the time being. Getting him annoyed by robbing him, or by stealing from the Death Eaters, is a bad idea. It would only make him angry, and we want him relatively calm so we can see what he does in the morning each day," Harry said, hoping that he was right.

The previous spying mission to Voldemort's Headquarters had hinted Voldemort was unstable, with unpredictable moods, but Harry hoped that if he and the House Elves had played their cards right they could easily find a decent time to send Voldemort somewhere public so then Harry could then destroy him.

Harry looked over the House Elves. "I want two volunteers for tomorrow," he said.

None of the House Elves moved. Harry hadn't given a command, so the House Elves didn't instantly accept the command as their bond commanded them. This was not a mission to be taken lightly. Voldemort was a dangerous wizard, and while the Elves knew their magic would help them evade detection, there was still an element of risk and they knew it. Like all witches and wizards, the House Elves feared Voldemort. The Dark Lord was responsible for the deaths of several magical families. Not counted by the Ministry, who didn't give a damn about the lives of the House Elves, were the House Elf casualties.

They were high.

Very high.

Harry had long since worked out Voldemort's plan to become the 'greatest sorcerer in the world,' as his younger self in the diary horcrux had put it, was essentially Voldemort's conquest of the world before he methodically wiped out everyone around him. There was no doubt in his mind that was what Voldemort planned to do if he gained a foothold. He had murdered several pureblood families, including children; what made anyone else think they weren't vulnerable? They were. People like Dumbledore were delusional to think the Death Eaters, who followed Voldemort could be redeemed, or they didn't know what they were doing, the public and the Ministry were foolish for letting this get as far as it had.

And if he conquered Britain, what then?

He would then conquer Europe, spreading his poison while his followers ate away and launched attack after attack against the various magical governments, who would hopefully be more willing to take a life compared to the British weaklings. From what he had learnt due to his own private studies, the whole of Europe had learnt from their mistakes following the Grindelwald war. Harry only hoped they had, the Death Eaters really did need to have a reality check unless he failed.

But when Voldemort was finished, it would not be over. No, Voldemort was not going to share his power with anyone.

He would have systematically wiped out every single man, woman, and child on the planet so then he would be completely safe from being vanquished.

It was the only logical answer. How could anyone defeat Voldemort if there was nobody around?

Voldemort wanted to be the greatest wizard in history, but what if he achieved that by killing all wizards and witches around the world? Then he would never have to face anybody strong enough to make him pay for what he'd done.

The only way for The Death Eaters was connected to Voldemort through the Dark Marks (Harry now wondered about that connection, he was now certain there was a lot more to it than people thought; he only hoped it would prove fatal towards the Death Eaters). Did Voldemort have a way of wiping his Death Eaters out when his followers had served their purpose?

Harry suspected he did.

He also suspected that Voldemort planned on using it to kill all of the Death Eaters at once. And when they were gone, and there were no muggles left on the planet, then Voldemort was going to be alone, on a dead planet. Harry had no intention of letting that happen. The disease that was Tom Marvolo Riddle had to end, this year. Dumbledore had made a stupid mistake by just standing back and letting Riddle rise to power, and the Wizarding World was just as guilty.

They had ignored all of the signs for years, shrugged their shoulders at the unexplained deaths, the mysteries, the strange disappearances. They hadn't cared about the crimes going on against the muggle world despite mitigating the worst of the magical involvement so the muggles did not discover the existence of the magical world. And when the war came, they just rolled over and let it happen. Their complacent attitude had led the British magical community staring wide-eyed at the snake faced freak of nature, and had the Order of the Phoenix stun everyone left and right, and they would have won the war had Lily Potter not made her sacrifice.

Harry did not doubt if he didn't do this then the British wizarding world would whine and bleat for a saviour to save them all, ignoring their own experience and abilities.

Harry had no intention of hurting his House Elves or putting them at risk; he had always felt a kinship to them over the years, and that was hardly likely to change anytime soon. He hoped and felt, by asking for volunteers instead of blithely ordering two House Elves to spy on Voldemort.

The good thing was, Dobby seemed to realise what he was hoping for. It wasn't too surprising, really since the House Elf had been bonded to him longer than the others.

He stepped forward hesitantly. "I's volunteering, Harry Potter, sir," Dobby said in a whisper, clearly knowing there was nothing to be enthusiastic about this kind of mission.

"Thank you, Dobby," Harry smiled solemnly down at the normally cheerful House Elf. He noticed the lack of enthusiasm, but he didn't blame Dobby; he had gone up against Voldemort himself and he knew how vicious the bastard was.

Winky, the second most senior elf didn't even try to volunteer. He didn't blame her. Winky was a sensitive House Elf, and Harry had no intention of ordering her to volunteer for this.

"Anyone else; I know it's dangerous, but if you're careful then you won't be seen," Harry added.

Another House Elf, Tilly stepped forward, shaking and frightened. Harry sighed and he knelt in front of the elf, eliciting a few gasps from the newer members. He didn't pay them much attention. They would learn in time about his quirks and his feelings towards House Elves in general.

"I know you're scared. I fought the Dark Lord myself a few times, and I was lucky to barely escape with my life. But you have a power I don't; you can come and go as you please, you can even poison him in your sleep if you had the means. But I need your help, Tilly. I know what Voldemort has planned," Harry held back the sigh when he saw the reaction to Voldemort's name; the sooner that stupid bastard's taboo was gone, the better, "he plans to destroy everything on Earth, including your own people, is that what you want? You House Elves are truly worth it, Tilly, you don't deserve to die. Help me. Would it not be good to stop him now, before he does any more?"

Tilly's resolve shifted from fearful for his life and he pulled himself up bravely.