The morning began with a flurry of motion. She opened her eyes to a dark room; two large, yellow orbs staring back at her.
"Miss Hermy is being awake!" Squeaked a weirdly familiar voice. Hearing Lavender stir, she quickly cast a ward of silence around her corner of the dormitory. A house elf stood, crouched over her trunk.
Hermione looked closer at the elf, realizing that she did recognize the voice. "Dobby?" She gasped. She couldn't believe it. Hermione hadn't forgotten the courage of the little elf, who went back into the house of his abusive masters to save them.
Dobby looked at her in awe. "You is knowing Dobby? Master Harry Potter sir is being very great indeed, to tell Miss Hermy about Dobby!"
Hermione cursed herself. She hadn't met him until their fourth year originally, meaning she couldn't know what Dobby looked like yet.
"Madam Pop is sending Dobby to help with the packing," Dobby said solemnly. With a mental snort, Hermione realized that Madam Pop must be Poppy Pomfrey. If she had still been in the future, she would have had a riot telling Poppy about her new nickname. Hermione forced herself to focus on the little house elf standing in front of her instead of reminiscing about the past.
"Thank you very much, Dobby. I appreciate your help." She said sincerely. To her horror, she saw Dobby start tearing up.
He sniffled, wiping his overly long nose on his Hogwarts-crested pillowcase. "Miss Hermy is a great witch. No wonder Master Harry Potter sir likes Hermy!"
"Say, Dobby," She said consideringly. "Do you like working at Hogwarts?"
Dobby nodded. "Mister Dumbledore is a very great wizard. He is paying me four knuts a month."
Hermione nodded. "Do you like being paid more than working for someone?" She refused to consider it 'servitude.'
"It is good for Dobby," He said nervously, tugging at an ear. "But Dobby wishes he had a real family. Sometimes," Dobby leaned in towards her conspiratorially, "Dobby dreams of Harry Potter sir accepting Dobby as his Elf."
"Aren't you a Hogwarts elf?" Hermione asked, slightly confused.
"Dobby is working at Hoggywarts, Miss Hermy. But Dobby is not tied to it. I am a free elf."
Hermione smiled. While she hated to perpetuate the abuse of house elves in Wizarding society, she had developed quite far beyond S.P.E.W. She learned from Kreature that a house elf was tied to the family magics – that is, the head of the household (Walburga Black, for him) would actually have a magical connection, kind of like a tether, which the house elf could draw magic from.
That was why house elves could apparate despite anti-apparition wards, and they were able to perform honestly astonishing feats of magic. That Dobby was able to handle so much magic without a master was a testament to his own strength.
"Well," Hermione said slowly. "I'm no Harry Potter, but I am Harry Potter's friend. Would you like to work for me?" The possibilities of how much more she could accomplish with a house elf on her side were tremendous.
Dobby's ears perked up, and his eyes widened comically. "Miss Hermy wants Dobby to be her house elf?"
"I'd love to have you as a house elf, Dobby. I'd even pay you four sickles a month. That is, only if you want to."
Dobby threw his arms around Hermione's legs, and she felt even worse about manipulating him than she did Lavender and Pavarti.
"Yes Miss Hermy, I would love to be your house elf."
Wordlessly, she summoned the pillowcase off of her bed, crafting it into a respectable imitation of a toga. "Dobby, do you wish to be my house elf, tied to me and my family, keeper of my secrets, and servant to my will?" She winced at the words, but the union wouldn't work without it.
"I do," Dobby said proudly, and touched the pillowcase. A bang! shook the room, making Hermione very thankful for the silencing ward, and a string of golden magic threaded it's way from her wand onto Dobby, creating a golden aura around him briefly.
"Wow," said Hermione. She could feel the ghost of a magical bond, almost like a wizard's oath, pulling gently at her magical core. Dobby straightened, and all of a sudden looked much larger and more well-kept than he ever had before.
"Thank you, Mistress Hermione," Dobby said formally.
Hermione shook her head. "Oh, none of that, Dobby. I may have been the one to cast the spell, but we're bound to each other, not just you to me. Just Hermione will do. And I'll have to start teaching you how to read and speak proper English."
Dobby's eyes widened, but a spark had entered them that had been missing before. "Yes M- Hermione. Dobby understands."
"Alright Dobby, thank you. If you like, you can keep working with the Hogwarts elves. I'm afraid I won't have anything for you to do until I get home for the summer."
Dobby nodded, and with a snap! he was gone.
Exasperatedly, she realized he had not only dusted the entire room, he also packed all her things into her trunk. She shook her head, smiling fondly, and dispelled the silencing ward. Lavender and Pavarti would be waking up soon, and she wanted to get out of there before their frantic packing turned the normally reasonable space into a certifiable tornado.
She ended up wandering the halls, allowing her feet to control her steps more than her mind. With a jolt of recognition, she saw Snape appear at the end of the hallway. "Professor Snape." She said, as respectfully as she could.
"Miss Granger." He said silkily back. She had almost passed him, when he spoke again, "I dearly hope you have no further… incidents, like that of last week." It came out in a sneer, and she remembered how much he hated the Marauders (and Harry, by association).
"Thank you for protecting us, Professor Snape." She said softly. He had, after all, used himself as a human shield against Remus.
"I hardly wish for your thanks," he spit the word like a curse, "but for my obligation to every student of this school, I may have acted otherwise." He smirked, and only occlumency kept her blood from boiling. She met his eyes defiantly, and felt the familiar tingle of legilimancy poke at her shields. She could see his surprise, and she cursed mentally. Of all the idiotic things to do, she just had to stare down the best legilimens of the British Isles.
From Snape's reaction, he had successfully pierced through her first level of defenses and gotten a read on her surface thoughts. Bloody Hell, this keeps getting better and better. She thought, and tore her eyes away from Snape's. His expression was dangerously dark, and she took the opportunity to run away to the Great Hall.
Bloody buggering fuck, she thought to herself, barely noticing her surroundings. Before she realized there was a person turning the corner, she was running into them.
"Oh Merlin I'm so sorry," Hermione said quickly, "My fault-"
"Watch where you're going, Granger," an all-too-familiar voice snarled. Draco. She was hoping to be able to avoid the younger Draco for at least the rest of the summer, but luck didn't seem be on her side today.
Hermione picked herself up, brushing off her robes, before she held a hand out. "My apologies, Malfoy," she said smoothly.
Draco eyed the hand with an expression similar to one approaching an angry hippogriff. Slowly, he took the hand, and she hoisted him up.
"Have a good summer, Granger." He said stiffly, ending the most confusing series of events since she returned to the past.
The rest of the morning passed uneventfully, allowing Hermione a bit of alone time before saying goodbye to the old castle. Faster than she expected, they were climbing aboard the Hogwarts Express. Soon enough, the real work would begin.