Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever own Harry Potter. It is the property of JK Rowling and her associates. No monetary or material profit was gained from this story.

Inheritance of the Elves

Chapter Six:

What now?

"So, how are we going to get these hairs, exactly?" Ron mumbled as he munched on crisps. Hermione rolled her eyes in disgust as the mush rolled around in her mouth.

"Fred and George can't have Lee running the shop forever can they? They have another one opening in October! Someone will have to go and attend to all the preparations. Lee will most likely help at the store in London since it's all set, while one or both of the twins will be in Hogsmeade for the opening. They wouldn't trust anyone else with such an important task. We can get them then," she started logically and Ginny who was sitting beside her, nodded seriously.

"So we use a Point Me spell to find the one that came and label that hair. When the other one comes to visit, we get the hair and then we are done with that part of the plan," Ginny finished for her.

"Exactly, it's simple from there. Once they are sent to the Dark Lord we can deal with Harry. But it will have to wait until school starts; we can't get our hands on what we need here," Hermione added with a regretful sigh. She would have liked to put those sinful people to rights this instance, but she would have to wait until school started to make them pay for the crimes they had committed.

So, when they started back at Hogwarts, they would gather the potions ingredients and get the hairs on the first Hogsmeade visit when the shop opened. It was going to be their first opportunity.

Now they only had to figure out how to get the twins to the Dark Lord.

Harry hummed to himself as his tongue slowly crept out from his mouth as he was concentrating. As soon as he realized, he quickly pulled it back and snapped his mouth closed with a 'humph'. This had seemed so much easier when Nimbus was doing it. Mumbling to himself, Harry tried to bend his mind to his will and complete the puzzle.

"Having a bit of a time there, Harry?" asked George as he looked over his shoulder to the muggle puzzle on the kitchen table. All he had to do was put the numbers in the right spots, who hard could that be?

There were nine 3x3 boxes, the numbers one through nine went once in each column, row and box; never appearing more than once in each of the ways they could go. It looked so uncomplicated when Nimbus had done a similar one that morning. He had been done in only a few minutes, in fact.

"Why is he doing that, again?" wondered Fred aloud as rummaged through the cabinets, grinning at the two house elves when they huffed at all the people in the kitchen, which, in a normal household with elves, was a domain where they alone ruled.

"Nimbus said it was to strengthen his mind and patience for when he teaches mental wards and stuff," George from where he sat next to Harry, watching him struggle with amusement.

"Why aren't you two doing one of these, too? You were the ones that said you were going to learn everything that I did…Well what's possible for you to learn anyway," he amended as an after thought.

"Ah, but Harry-" started George as he slung his arm around his shoulders.

"Who would want to break into out minds?" finished Fred with an easy laid back smile. One that showed he had not a fear in the world right then. Harry stared for a moment before he smirked lightly.

"I don't know… A rival joke shop maybe?" He asked in innocent musing. The twins' eyes widened and they reached forward to grab another muggle puzzle. They had not though of possibly losing one of their precious formulas to a competitor.

They grabbed a quill and diligently went to work sorting out the numbers. Harry watched them for a moment; they looked so… tempting… with a look of sheer concentration on their faces. Each one looked like the world was at stake if they didn't learn. Fred was tracing his bottom lip with his tongue. His twin was twiddling with the bottom of his hair. Both had their eyes narrowed, looking intensely at the paper as they tried to place the numbers in the right spots. The Weasley red hair falling in their eyes. Bloody hell… Maybe he should tell them…He shook his head; they were his straight brothers, and that would be enough for now…

Fred looked up from his puzzle. The three of them had been at it for it seemed like hours, but had been no where near that long. George seemed to be nodding off, drooling on his unfinished paper. Harry was running his hand through his hair as he added the last two numbers to his puzzle. He loved the look on the elf's face when he looked up from his page: his eyes were shining behind those ridiculous glasses and he had a big grin on his face, the blue tattoos on his wrist seeming to catch the light when he brushed his hair out of the way. Harry was beautiful…

Fred shook his head; Harry had mates, he belonged to someone else even if he wouldn't tell them that he did. A quick peek over at the wall clock showed it was almost lunch, which would explain the moody House elves.

"Come on, guys. Let's leave them to cook; they won't stop glaring until we do," suggested Fred as he gently woke his twin before gathering the papers and quills, levitating the ink bottles behind him. George slowly woke and followed them out into the hallway and then into the den, before plopping down on the couch.

"What day is it?" he asked abruptly, looking from his twin to Harry.

"Let's see," Harry murmured before counting days in his head, "It is the 18th of August. I should have gotten my letter by now," he added absentmindedly.

Fred and George looked at each other. They had forgotten in all the domesticity; they couldn't stay here forever. Lee was running one of the shops and another would be opening in the beginning of October. And Harry had to go back to school eventually. Then what? Harry would be back in the Order's grasp, and they might be going to jail for kidnapping the Boy-who-lived.

"What is it guys?" asked Harry from the armchair, leaning forward in worry.

"Harry, school starts soon-"

"We have to get back to the shop-"

"And we are wanted criminals," they explained in turn.

Harry frowned slightly, "We can talk to Nimbus. He might be able to think of something that we haven't. Besides, your parents won't let you be put in Azkaban! That would defeat the point! Nimbus comes back in a few hours, we can ask him then."

They nodded uneasily. Harry was probably right. But they hadn't been following the news outside of their happy little bubble. Who knew what was going on out there? Harry might be right… But what if he was wrong?

When Nimbus had returned for the day, the trio sat him down and told him their concerns about the school year starting up again. He left the couch and began to pace across the front room, thinking out loud.

"I see what you are concerned about. The twins need to stay out of Azkaban. Harry's schooling starts soon. As well as them staying out of the whole mating business…" trailed Nimbus as he tried to work out an answer for his problem. There had to be one.

"Chaperones? That might work… Lets see I'll need to contact Queen Claith and get her on board with us so that if Dumbledore gets it in his head to track her down and ask, she will know about the plan. Oh, and we'll need some help, Kylan and Nuvain owe me so…." he mumbled to himself, long hair swaying as he rushed about, grabbing a quill and parchment for a letter.

Harry and the twins sat on the couch and watched as the elder elf rushed through three letters before sending them with Maka and Hedwig. All three waited patiently for Nimbus to explain what he had just done. It took him a few minutes to remember that there were other people in the room.

"Okay…. You going to tell us what just happened, or do we need to learn to read minds?" asked Fred, leaning back so that he kick his feet up onto the table and throw his arms around Harry and George's shoulders.

"We are going to use your status as an elf as a reason for the 'kidnapping'. No one but an elf can read the letters that are written in our language, not even translation charms will work, because no one thought about including magical creatures when the charm was invented.

"Hopefully Queen Claith will be on board will my plan; we are going to convince the world that you are close to the royal line, blood related, it would then be required for you to have a chaperone or two.

"We'll say that Fred and George were covering until Kylan and Nuvain came. They are two lower level guards to the royal family. They almost never work close to the Queen, so they have no harmful information.

"When a royal family member is concerned, Queen Claith has complete authority over what she has to tell the magical government. She can tell them as much or as little as she wants. If an elf of royal blood, no matter how diluted, is in danger she can have them taken into her care with no warning to the government. It's in the treaties." Nimbus explained.

Harry nodded in some understanding. It made sense in some kind of warped way. Most people wouldn't see that as the logical thing to have done. A lot of them would have sat down and calmly told Albus Dumbledore that they were an elf and all about the powers they may or may not have, and spilled their guts about the whole ordeal.

But, then again, they had never been on the man's bad side or had the whole world know about every possible romantic relationship plastered on the front page, the truth distorted beyond recognition.

Fred looked out of the corner of his eye to see his brother doing the same. Harry was going to have a lot of trouble with the media for the next couple months. And despite how overwhelmingly jealous of those mates who they had yet to meet, he and his twin would take care of Harry in their absence. It was what they would have wanted if the positions were reversed. Even if they didn't know.

Later that night, after dinner, two owls that looked almost the same in as the one that had arrived on Harry's birthday, landed on the window sill.

Nimbus smiled and jumped to read the letters aloud so that George and Fred knew what was happening.

"Dear Nimbus,

You know that we would love to help out. Our arses were dead meat when you found us, and if it hadn't been for you we wouldn't be around. You say that this Harry character is a nice kid and that he really needs help, so we're on our way. Where are you anyway? You can't have a lot of faith in us if you can't gives us a place to be, huh?

See you soon,

Nuvain and Kylan

"Dear Nimbus,

We have read and considered your letter with great interest. You say that Mr. Potter deserves Our help in this endeavor of yours. We, after much thought, have agreed to play the part in this design. We do believe that We shall have great fun pulling the wool over the British Ministry's eyes. Please, tell Harry that he need not worry. He is considered family and always will be.

Sincerely,

Queen Claith"

Harry looked on with shock. The queen of his people, an elf descended directly from the very woman who had searched and pled with others so that no elf need die of heart break, considered him family…. That was… woah.

"So, now what? If Dumbledore or any of his flaming flamingoes find us out in public he'll have Fred and George locked up and me with his most loyal followers who don't give a shit to what any other person but Dumbledore says faster than you can say quidditch!" exclaimed Harry with a wary look on his face. And the worst part was that it was true. It wasn't as if Albus was a bad man, with evil intentions. No, he was a man who thought he was doing what was best for the many instead of he few, but the sad part was that if he had to sacrifice three or four to save three or four thousand then so be it.

"We wait until Nuvain and Kylan get here; they have trained since they were very little to serve and protect the royal family. The power they have has been honed since birth; Harry you are one of the most powerful Elves of seen in a very long time, but your power is raw and intensely focused on your current emotion, they can do as much as you can, with much more control. They are like the Fremtid, a sub race of the Calem Ventus, they are the protectors of our face, the fighting force behind every battle.

"When they get here they will most likely have brought Kama with them. Between the four of us, we can protect the three of you. We can figure out the rest when they get here. Kama and Kylan have pretty good strategically set minds. Trust me Harry, I will not let anything happen to you. Or them." Nimbus finished. At that, tears welled in Harry's eyes. Fred and George frowned, not knowing what was causing their young friend's tears. But they trusted the elder elf with Harry's life and their own, so they didn't question the reason that Harry cried with relief, they just held him close and wiped away his tears.

A/N: Now this is MUCH better. I ended up adding the next chapter onto the end of this one. Two rather short transition chapters didn't make since when there could be one decent length one. How are the changes going over so far?