Sensing Magic
by Teddylonglong

Please refer to chapter 1 for my disclaimer and warnings. Thank you.


"Harry!" Misty stared at him and Lucy in apparent surprise. "Is something wrong?"

Harry quickly told her about the founders' quarters, the spy chamber and the conversation between Dumbledore and Minerva. "What can we do to prevent Dumbledore from doing so? If the elves were bonded to him, they'd never have a chance to possibly be freed."

Misty quickly put the phials into the shelf she was just rearranging, before she motioned him to follow her. "Let's speak with Barney. As the head house-elf, he will know what to do."

Barney patiently listened, just like he had always done when Harry still had attended his class together with Nina and Tony.

"Thank you for immediately acting on this 'threat' as I'd like to call it. I understand that you wish to help the house-elves. Do you have any specific plan?"

Harry sighed. "Would it be possible to speak to all house-elves together? I can imagine to bind them to me for the time being and send them all to the Isle of Elves for a holiday until the beginning of the school year. Then, when they return, I'd call them together again and free them all. They will be allowed to work at Hogwarts as before, however, will be paid and receive their days off like any other employee."

Barney nodded in apparent understanding. "What if there are some who do not wish to be freed?"

"Are there any?"

Barney shook his head. "That I don't know. Are you ready to speak to them right away?"

"Misty, will you stay with me please? Teddy is keeping Neville company in the founders' quarters and can't join me here."

Misty nodded, reassuringly. "Of course. I will be with you."

HP

Ten minutes later, the Hogwarts house-elves had laid down their work and were assembled in the large dining room in the elves' quarters. Twinkle, the headmaster's personal elf, and Malcom, Minerva's personal elf, had not been invited, nor had the free elves. Together with Lucy, Harry stood in front of them between Barney and Misty.

"Do you want me to speak first?"

Harry cast Barney a grateful look. "Yes please."

Without mentioning anything about the headmaster, Barney explained about Harry being the owner of Hogwarts and wanting to renew the bond with the elves.

"You all know Harry. He is one of us and the only human allowed to stay on the Isle of Elves. On the Isle of Elves, Harry is known as the saviour of the elves, because he works for the freedom of elves. He has already seen to it that about a dozen elves were freed. I will now cast the spells to renew the bond and divert it from Hogwarts herself to Harry."

Suddenly, a soft voice penetrated Harry's mind. 'Harry, this is Hogwarts speaking. I believe that you're doing the right thing here, and I appreciate it very much. I don't believe that the headmaster has the elves' best interest in mind.'

'Hogwarts?' Harry thought back in disbelief.

'Yes dear. I won't keep you longer now. When you return to the founders' quarters, please go into the parlour. It is the only room, where we can freely communicate with each other without using telepathy.'

'All right, Hogwarts,' Harry replied, when he suddenly felt extremely happy. 'The bonding has been diverted,' he realised and smiled at the elves in front of him, who were looking at him in apparent expectation.

"Hello and thank you for bonding with me." He let out a deep sigh, wondering how to proceed. "I wish for all of you to take two weeks of holidays right away, which I want you to spend on the Isle of Elves. During these two weeks, please consider if you wish to work at Hogwarts as free elves or remain house-elves. If you decide on being free elves like, for example, Misty here, you will receive money for your work just like the other employees, and you will have two days off every month. Otherwise, there won't be any difference. You will work for me as long as you wish to do so. Please think about the matter. If you are uncertain, you could, for example, discuss the matter with the elder elves."

"We cans not simply goes to speak with the elders."

Lucy diverted her head to show Harry a small elf.

"What is your name please?"

"I is Licia."

"Licia, you can go to see Bandhu and tell him that I sent you. I will inform him that I am sending you all to the Isle of Elves right after this meeting."

Licia nodded, still seeming uncertain.

"If anyone does not have a place to go or any other problems with returning to the Isle of Elves, please come to see me during the next few hours. Otherwise, I expect you all to be gone for two weeks and to return on August 20."

"Master Harry!"

"Please just call me Harry. Who are you?"

"I am Nobi. Can we be freed right away?"

Harry smirked. "If that's what you wish, I can free you right away." Turning to Misty, he asked, "Misty, could you perhaps provide some jumpsuits with the Hogwarts crest on them?"

"Of course. I'll be back in a blink."

An instant later, Misty returned together with Cicero, carrying a bag with white jumpsuits. Pulling one out of the bag, she added the Hogwarts crest. "Like this?"

"That's brilliant. Thank you so much." Harry smiled and handed it to Nobi. "If you wish to have it in another colour, you may change it of course."

"Nobi would like dark green."

Only a handful of other elves came to be freed right away, among them Nina and Tony, Harry's friends.

HP

By the time Harry and Lucy returned to the founders' quarters, it was almost time for dinner.

'I wonder what Dumbledore is going to do, when dinner doesn't appear on the table,' Harry thought in anticipation. 'Oh well, we can simply eat at home. I haven't cooked ever since I came to live at Hogwarts, but it won't be a problem, especially as there should be enough ingredients to cook a meal in the elves' kitchen.'

"Sorry that it took me so long." He cast Neville and Teddy an apologetic look. "Let's head to dinner, and please don't tell anyone what you know."

"You look as if you had played a prank on someone."

"Ahh, Teddy, you know me too well. All right, in a certain sense, yes. You mustn't tell anyone, but I sent all house-elves to the Isle of Elves for two weeks."

Teddy and Neville stared at him, open-mouthed.

"That's a good prank indeed." Neville shook his head in apparent disbelief.

"Well, please don't give me away," Harry repeated, as they walked the short distance to the Great Hall.

"Of course not." Neville gave him a comforting nod.

"Why would we? We're going to enjoy the headmaster's reaction." Teddy grinned in apparent anticipation.

HP

Harry sat at the sole table in the Great Hall between Regina on his right and Teddy and Neville on his left. Lucy gently licked Regina's hand in greeting, before she jumped into the playpen that had been placed onto the floor next to the table and carefully sat beside Felix, from where she showed Harry images of the dining table.

The headmaster seemed to be in a pleasant mood, before his eyes fell onto Teddy.

'He should slowly get used to having Teddy dine with us in the Great Hall,' Harry thought in annoyance. 'In a month's time, he's going to be a student here.'

Dumbledore tapped his wand against the table, and everyone expected the meal to pop up; however, nothing happened. He repeated the process without any success whatsoever.

"Barney!" When the head house-elf did not pop up within a minute, Dumbledore became seemingly impatient. "Twinkle!"

Within an instant, his personal house-elf appeared. "Yes, Master Professor Dumbledore. What can Twinkle do for you?"

When Lucy showed him a close up image of Twinkle, Harry noticed that the house-elf seemed to be distressed.

"What are the house-elves doing? We're waiting for dinner."

Twinkle wrung his hands, apparently pondering how to respond. "All the house-elves are gone."

"Gone?" Dumbledore cast the elf a look of pure disbelief.

Twinkle nodded. "Yes, Master Professor Dumbledore."

Suddenly, a female voice sounded through the Great Hall. A voice, which Harry immediately recognised, as he had heard it speak into his mind earlier. 'Hogwarts herself.'

"Who are you?" Dumbledore looked around in apparent confusion.

"I am Hogwarts. As all the house-elves are bonded to me, I decided to send them on a much needed holiday."

"A holiday?" Dumbledore's voice was laced with a combination of disbelief and anger.

"Yes."

"Where are they? Twinkle can you…"

"They are on the Isle of Elves and no, there is nothing that Twinkle can do about it. They will be back on August 20."

"Well, then I'm going to bond them to me, as soon as they'll be back."

"I am afraid that's not possible, headmaster."

"And why might that be?"

However, Hogwarts did not reply anymore.

"How are we going to get our dinner?" Dumbledore uttered, seemingly more to himself than to his colleagues.

Teddy rose from his chair, closely followed by Harry. "Everyone, please come back in one hour. By then, we will have prepared dinner."

An instant later, Lucy was at his side, and holding on to her paw, Harry popped them right into the elves' kitchen, glad when he sensed Teddy's and another elf's presence. 'Must be Twinkle,' he thought, before he asked Lucy to show him what ingredients they had, so that he could decide what to cook. He chose pumpkin soup, Shepherd's pie and chocolate pudding with cherries and ice-cream.

Together with Teddy, who had called his parents, and Twinkle, who had been joined by Minerva's elf, Malcolm, Harry made dinner for about twenty-five persons.

"Sorry, I don't know how to make it appear on the table in the Great Hall." He felt a little sheepish, after the elves had apparently accepted him as the 'Master of the kitchen' as Cicero jokingly called him.

"Don't worry about that. I can do it," Twinkle reassured him.

"We're going to teach you tomorrow, when we have a bit more time," Cicero added, causing Harry to inwardly groan.

"Oh right, this means that we're going to have to cook three meals a day for a fortnight," he realised. "Will you all help me again?"

He smiled in relief upon hearing a collective "Of course."

"Oh, by the way, I want all of you to have dinner together with us in the Great Hall."

Twinkle was the first to respond. "Harry, I appreciate what you're doing for the elves, but I cannot do such a thing, considering that I am bonded to the headmaster."

"Same here," Malcolm added.

'Minerva, I have asked the elves who helped me cook dinner to join us in the Great Hall and eat together with us. Would it be all right for you if Malcolm joined us?'

"Mistress Minerva is calling me." Malcolm popped away, causing Harry to grin.

Just a minute later, the house-elf was back. "Mistress Minerva allowed me to join everyone in the Great Hall." The elf's eyes were wide in apparent bewilderment. "Thank you for asking her, Harry."

HP

After dinner, Harry returned to the founders' quarters with only Lucy in tow to speak with Hogwarts. He tentatively entered what the founders pointed out to him as the parlour.

"Hogwarts? Can you hear me?"

"Harry, my child. Thank you for coming to visit. I suppose that my founders have told you that you're the heir of all four of them and as such my owner?" It was the soft voice of a gentle, old woman that talked to him, causing Harry to smile.

"Yes, they have told me and invited me into their rooms."

"This parlour here is the only room, where you can simply talk to me. Everywhere else within my walls, you have to either put your hand against my wall or use telepathy like you did earlier."

Harry nodded in understanding. "Thank you for supporting me in the matter of the elves earlier and not giving me away to the headmaster."

HP

During the following two weeks, everyone became used to the fact that Harry and the free elves prepared the meals, while Malcolm did the washing up afterwards. Twinkle helped by doing the laundry for everyone. It became also normal for the elves, free or not, to join everyone at the table in the Great Hall – much to the headmaster's annoyance.

When Draco came to visit a few days before Harry's birthday, he was surprised to say the least.

"You have house-elves sit at the table and dine together with you?" His voice was laced with bewilderment, causing Harry to inwardly chuckle.

"Why not?" he replied, innocently. "They're magical beings just like you and me, so why not?"

"Hmmm, because they're lower than us."

"Nonsense." Harry firmly shook his head.

"I don't think so either," Neville said in a soft voice. "Their magic is extremely strong.

'Let's try to make Draco believe us and not the pureblood doctrine that his father tries to teach him,' Harry thought to Neville, who returned a grin and an unobtrusive nod.

HP

Harry's official birthday, August 18, dawned very hot and sunny. As his Hogwarts house-elves were still on the Isle of Elves, he got up very early and together with a very sleepy Lucy made his way into the elves' kitchen.

Misty, Cicero, Teddy, Lucky as well as Ana, Nihil, Twinkle and Malcolm were already waiting for him.

"Good morning, Master of the kitchens." Cicero smirked.

"And a very happy birthday to you," Misty added, carefully hugging him.

Harry tried his best to not flinch back. He still was not completely used to hugs, although Regina and Misty tried their best to slowly make him more comfortable to touches and light hugs.

"Happy Birthday," everyone else chorused.

"Thank you all so very much." Harry smiled at the elves, already pulling a few boxes of eggs out of the fridge. "Today, I wish to prepare breakfast and lunch at the same time, because I have some plans and might not be here at lunchtime. Misty, Cicero and Teddy will probably with me, too."

Everyone agreed, and Harry was extremely happy that by now, the elves had become used to the kitchen work and were able to efficiently support him, although they still insisted that he was the person responsible for the cooking.

By the time breakfast was supposed to begin in the Great Hall, the dishes were waiting for Harry to send them up to the Great Hall, and everything that would be used for lunch was stocked in the fridges.

HP

Immediately after breakfast, Harry, Teddy, Lucy, Regina, Severus, Felix, Lucky, Misty, Cicero, Neville and Draco travelled to Riddle Manor using a Portkey, which Severus had made earlier.

"Harry!"

Harry grinned broadly. While Lucy was still recovering from the Portkey travel and had not relayed any image yet, he recognised the voices and the magic of the Weasley twins."

"Hi Fred and George, you've really made yourselves rare this summer. Hogwarts was almost boring without the two of you there."

"Sorry mate…"

"… but we were quite busy…"

"… together with Marvolo here…"

"… Is it only a myth…"

"… or did Hogwarts really send all the house-elves away…"

"… for a holiday?"

Harry chuckled. "No, it's not a myth, although it wasn't exactly Hogwarts who sent them away."

"Ahhhh…"

"… oh well…"

"… that sounds like something…"

"… our Harry would do."

Harry was glad that he did not have to respond, as Marvolo chose that moment to approach him.

"Good morning, Harry, and happy birthday." Marvolo grinned, although Harry had the impression as if the smile did not really reach his eyes."

"Thank you," he replied in a small voice, wondering what might be wrong.

"Are you ready to undergo yet another ritual?" The older wizard cast him a calculating look.

Harry shrugged. "Today? I was wondering why you didn't have a ritual at the summer solstice."

Marvolo let out a deep sigh. "Sorry Harry, but at that time, we weren't ready yet. Mind you, it was not the twins' fault. Their potion was already done by then." He glanced at Severus. "I believe that your father assisted with that."

Severus lightly shook his head. "No, it was mostly the twins' work. I merely supervised them and may have given one or the other advice."

"But today is not one of the old holidays." Harry's statement was laced with doubt.

"Today is your eleventh birthday, enough of a special day to warrant for a ritual." Marvolo's voice was firm and convincing.

"Must Harry sit in the circle? Can I sit with him?"

Harry cast Teddy a grateful smile. 'It always feels uncomfortable sitting in the circle, especially if I'm just by myself,' he thought.

"No Teddy, Harry may only bring Lucy into the circle, although I'd prefer even for her to remain just outside."

'Oh well, Marvolo knows best,' Harry thought. "Lulu, it's all right. I'll be fine on my own, provided that you show me images."

=Don't I always do?=

Harry nodded. "Yes, Lulu, you're the best."

"Excuse me, sir, what kind of ritual is it?" Draco looked at Marvolo, wearing an expression of curiosity.

"It is a ritual, which involves Canola, the deity of magic, as well as a potion invented by Messrs. Weasley, and it is supposed to help Harry with his eyesight."

Harry let out a deep sigh. 'The elves already tried last year, and it didn't work,' he thought, however, forced himself to remain quiet.

"Harry, I am sorry, but I'll have to blindfold you. Lucy may, of course, relay the images to you. All right?"

Harry nodded, thinking, 'Even if not blindfolded, I wouldn't be able to see. I'm blind in case you haven't noticed.' Again, he knew better than to voice his thoughts.

HP

Ten minutes later, Harry was lying on his back in the middle of the circle, and with Lucy's help observed how Marvolo and the twins were worshipping Canola. They even involved his parents, Neville, Draco and Teddy, who were each standing around the circle holding a candle in their hands.

Misty and Cicero were looking after Felix and Lucky. Apparently, Lucky was whispering things to Felix, who could only retaliate with single vocals, which did not make any sense.

'Oh well, they're only four months old. How strange that the elves develop so much faster than humans,' Harry thought, before his mind slipped into a blissful unconsciousness.

HP

By the time Harry's mind returned to consciousness, he found himself lying on the sofa in the living room with Lucy and Felix cuddled against his stomach and his back. Everyone else was having tea chatting animatedly.

"What happened?"

"Harry!" Misty was the first to kneel in front of him. "Your eyes are a beautiful emerald green. I am so happy."

"My eyes?" Only then did he recall what had happened before. "The ritual." He quickly brought himself into a sitting position, careful to not wake Felix, while Lucy immediately jumped from the sofa and dashed to the garden door, where Teddy readily let her out into the garden.

"Yes." His father came to sit next to him and gently pulled Felix onto his lap. "Apparently, the ritual worked and restored your eyesight."

'I can still see everyone, although Lucy is out in the garden,' Harry thought in disbelief, only now able to process his father's words.

"Congratulations, son."

"Thank you." Tears leaked from beautiful, emerald eyes, as Harry turned to look at Marvolo and the twins. "Thank you for healing me, evil Dark Lord and twins from hell."

Marvolo smirked. "You're welcome, Boy who Lived and, as I head from Cicero, master of the kitchens."

Rolling his eyes at his friends, Harry felt happier than he could remember having felt ever before. 'I can see,' he thought with a combination of disbelief and happiness.