The Price of Love Rewrite
By: Elina Peverall;)
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; all credits go to the author J K Rowling. Thank you for giving me the inspiration to write this!
Jamie is the youngest son of the Potters, the Boy-Who-Lived. His older brother is Harry Potter, a boy who will do whatever it takes to protect his family. How far will Harry go to protect Jamie as the war continues across magical Britain? The prophecy is told once again and the truth is then revealed. (Rewrite of original The Price of Love)
AN: Hello! For some reason I had a hard time writing this chapter, sorry:( That's probably why it took longer to update. Expect a poorly written chapter:(
When Jamie finally reached the top of the stairs, he halted his movements. His left hand was hovering just over the doorknob of his room. Once again, he heard a loud thud that confirmed his suspicions and immediately cast his gaze to where he heard it.
It came from Harry's room.
It was only a few meters away as the door to his left at the end of the hallway. The door stood slightly ajar. It was the first time Jamie saw it wide open since Harry left.
Jamie could've sworn that room was closed when they left. So how in Merlin's beard is it opened now?
Cautiously, Jamie turned away from his room and approached the end of the hallway where Harry's lay. It was darker in this part of the house, a slight tapping sound getting louder as he approached, making it seem very ominous.
Entering, his gaze landed on the closed window. A snowy owl was impatiently knocking with its beak on the panel. It was Hedwig.
Instinctively, Jamie was about to reach for the window till a small figure jumped in front of him. It surprised Jamie, making him take a step back.
His eyes widened as he caught sight of the familiar and strange house elf. Harry's house elf he corrected. He stood up slowly looking at the slightly crazed elf, "Dobby?"
"Master Jamie Potter sir!" The little elf squealed in fear "Dobby did not mean to hurt you it was an accident, Dobby is very sorry, Master Jamie!"
Jamie raised an eyebrow as he slowly lowered his wand, watching the colourfully clothed elf shake in fear. Curious he looked around the room. Everything was still in place since the day Harry left. The bed's immaculate sheets were slightly ruffled due to Dobby who was currently standing on them and there was still a huge pile of books along the shelves above Harry's desk. Hedwig's perch stood right beside it, untouched with the exception of the bird's claw marks. The dim light that came from the window lit up the room somewhat, lighting up the room's pale green walls, which he remembered often teasing Harry with. The green colour that represented the snakes that rivalled their own Gryffindor colours was always a curious choice of his. The room often reminded him of their common room in Hogwarts, the Gryffindor common room due to its welcoming and homely feel, yet pale green with several Quidditch posters including the red flags of the Gryffindor team. Jamie often wondered why his brother would choose such a colour, even his friends wouldn't say why. Jamie knew Harry held no love for Slytherin, perhaps the colour green represented something else. Sighing, Jamie shook his head. He'd never know now what was truly going on in Harry's mind.
He looked back to towards the reason why he entered this room in the first place. If it weren't for that sound and his curiosity he would have never entered the room in the first place. Looking at Dobby, Jamie quickly came under the conclusion that it was the elf who made the sound but for whatever reason was beyond him. Said elf was frantically muttering to itself, slapping his face and shuffling his feet nervously.
"Dobby?" Jamie called. As expected, the elf didn't hear him. "Dobby?"
Before the elf could punish himself further Jamie quickly grabbed the creature's tiny wrist, preventing Dobby from harming himself. Merlin, what had the Malfoy's done to him?
"Dobby I forgive you, it's not your fault."
The elf stopped struggling for a moment and wiped a tear that trickled down his face with the sleeve of his tiny shirt, "But Dobby has hurt the Great Master Harry Potter sir's brother!"
Jamie inwardly grimaced, Harry had always found the title Dobby bestowed upon him amusing. It made sense after all for Dobby to think so highly of his brother. If it weren't for Harry, Dobby would have remained stuck with the Malfoy's, badly abused.
"You know what Dobby, just forget about it. I only came in here to check on what the loud thud was. What was that sound earlier and why are you in here? You don't normally come to this room."
Dobby squeaked startled. The elf looked like he was caught doing something unforgivable. Perhaps he was?
"It's nothing Master Jamie sir."
He looked at the elf more closely now, somethings didn't add up. "Are you sure Dobby?"
"Yes!" The elf squeaked.
"Alright," Jamie said. Merlin was he paranoid, it was best to leave the poor elf alone. If Harry was here, he'd accuse him of bullying the strange house elf.
If, Harry was here.
Jamie paused, he knew such a thing was imposable, not even magic could bring his brother back. Shaking his head, he decided to focus on something else. Looking up towards the window he saw his brother's familiar still waiting impatiently as she hooted, trying to gain his attention. She wanted to enter her master's room but was prevented by the closed window. A thought suddenly reached Jamie's mind, does Hedwig know what happened to her master already? Inwardly Jamie grimaced, that was a sad thought. For a moment he wondered if so, how was she coping with Harry's death?
Curious, Jamie slowly approached the window and began to open it. He heard the sound of Dobby jumping down from the bed, "Wait, Master Jamie! You mustn't open the window?"
Too late, Jamie had already opened it wide enough for the snowy owl to enter. But still, he turned around to gaze at the elf, "Why?"
Dobby didn't answer, instead of retreating to a corner in the room, filled with books and particularly dark due to the dim lighting. Jamie didn't pay much attention to it until Dobby ran towards it. Unexpectedly, instead of flying to her perch as Jamie would have thought, she flew straight towards Dobby, her talons pointed to attack.
"Shoo bird! You are not supposed to be here." Dobby yelled, at first he attempted to batt the bird away only for Hedwig to attack him viciously. The small skirmish between elf and owl convincing Jamie to interfere but was withheld by the next line of words that came out of the elf's mouth.
"You know you shouldn't be here! The Great Master Harry ordered us to keep it hidden and destroy it, not to let anyone touch it!"
That only caused Hedwig to hoot louder.
"Keep what hidden?" Jamie spoke up.
The two halted from their small battle. Dobby froze, allowing Hedwig to fly behind the elf and land on the pile of books that stood in the corner. When the house-elf did not answer, Jamie approached the two and attempted to look behind the elf.
"Dobby," he warned.
"It is nothing!"
"Are you sure?"
The elf continued to shake his head, stubbornly refusing to answer. Jamie sighed. Even Dobby was hiding something from him. During the war, everyone always hid something from him. Half-truths and lies; secrets that were not worth mentioning to the young Boy-Who-Lived even when said person's life was on the line. They all reasoned it was to protect him, he was sick of it. Wearily he looked at the house elf, "Dobby, please. I don't care if Harry himself ordered you not to tell anyone. No more secrets. Please just tell me. If it's concerning Harry I have to know. Please don't lie to me after everything I've been through."
The house elf's ears drooped, his big eyes teared up. Jamie remembered, Dobby taking the loss of his master deeply. The house elf cried for a whole day, punishing himself by starving for not being there to save his master. Looking back at the house elf, Jamie felt slightly guilty for bringing up Harry, for reminding the elf that he too was in mourning. For a moment, he thought about dropping it, to return to his rooms and pretend none of this ever happened. But those thoughts quickly disappeared when he saw Dobby shuffle to the side,
"Dobby understands Master Jamie. Dobby does not mean to hide secrets from Master Jamie, but the Great Master Harry has ordered him to keep it a secret. Dobby does not want to disobey the Great Master, especially when he – he is….."
Dobby couldn't continue and sobbed instead. Jamie approached the elf slowly and crouched down to hold his arm out for the elf. He remembered seeing Harry offer the elf a hug to prevent him from doing anything too drastic, the simple hug and a few convincing words that calmed him down. Repeating his brother's actions, Jamie did exactly that. Dobby leapt into his arms and he patted the elf's head in comfort. Merlin, this wasn't something you normally do with a house elf. You don't really comfort them, in fact, they often pop away somewhere else when they're upset, possibly seeking fellow elves for comfort.
For a few minutes, the house elf cried till he whimpered softly and wiped his tears on his tiny orange jumper that Harry bought for him. He then sniffled and looked back towards the corner of the room and whispered softly, "Dobby knows the Great Master Harry cares deeply for his brother. Dobby was ordered above all else to look after the Great Master's family, to protect and take care of them." Slowly, Dobby stood up then and backed away from Jamie and the pile of books. "But Dobby cannot tell you the Great Master's secret. Dobby wants to tell you but Dobby must follow the Great Master Harry's orders."
Jamie watched as Dobby started shaking, tears falling down his face as his ears drooped. Guilt crashed down on him as a pained expression appeared on his face at what he was planning to do. Looking at Dobby one more time he stood up,
"I'm sorry Dobby, I really am. But I can't handle any more secrets."
Jamie drew his wand at the confused elf. Said elf squeaked in surprise,
"Master Jamie?"
"Incarcerous," he whispered. Jamie hid his grimace with a cold mask. He ignored as the elf continued to beg to be freed to not approach the corner of the room to find out what Harry had been hiding. The spell overpowered the house elf. Dobby wasn't able to resist as he was ordered by Harry himself before his death not to harm him. He couldn't resist without causing any harm towards Jamie.
Dobby realized this and with a defeated expression could only watch as Jamie walked towards the pile of books at the corner of the room. When Jamie neared the stack of books, Hedwig who was seated on top of it hooted twice before taking off to her perch at the other end of the room. The snowy owl took to watching the scene unfold.
It was nothing remarkable at a first glance, but Jamie wasn't fooled. Dozens of books coated in dust were piled in three rows in the shadow of the room, well-hidden and easily ignored by many onlookers. Cautiously Jamie dismantled a pile and began reading the titles. They were textbooks, school books to be exact, nothing out of the ordinary. Jamie knew for a fact they must've been Harry's school textbooks. Nothing that was worth hiding. And yet, why would Harry order Dobby to hide whatever it was. Surely it wasn't just the textbooks?
Jamie opened one of them, Harry's seventh-year charms textbook to be exact. After skimming through several pages, the only thing Jamie noted out of the ordinary were several incomprehensible notes and unruly drawings littered across the side of the book's pages. Something that Jamie wasn't surprised to see. Apparently, Harry picked up on the habit of writing into his textbooks sometime towards his last year of Hogwarts. It was strange, but according to his mother not out of the ordinary. Jamie recalled his mother briefly mentioning a friend of hers had a similar habit as well.
Shaking his head, Jamie decided to dig further, going so far as to topple the other piles of books. He ignored Dobby's squeak in response to the loud thud as books fell onto the ground. Jamie knew that Dobby had not made an attempt to free himself with his own elf magic, instead, he was watching him silently. After setting aside several more textbooks and other insignificant books such as some about wards, pranking and magical Egypt which Jamie remembered Bill gifting him, he finally came across something different. At first, they were blurry, as if the title was smudged and the writing was in a different language. For a moment, Jamie studied the books carefully and took out his wand to see if there were any enchantments or spells on it.
The tip of his wand glowed briefly confirming his suspicions; he knew Harry wasn't stupid enough to hide something without putting an extra safety measure. Casting several finites on each book's the titles appeared in English and checking the inside of the books just in the case confirmed that the spell had worked. Jamie read them out loud his eyebrows rising in confusion,
"Magick Moste Evile, Secrets of the Dark Arts, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, Tales of Herpo the Foul ….."
Jamie trailed off, the list of books. They were thick tomes that appeared almost ancient. He was disturbed by the title of these books. Each one of them hinting the Dark Arts one way or another, from the branch itself to its history and its known wielders. Why would Harry have a collection of books on the Dark Arts? It just didn't make any sense.
Jamie sighed in frustration and shoved the books away from the corner of the room. There had to be more. Something wasn't right and he could sense it. Sure, books on the Dark Arts were worth hiding but shouldn't there be something else as well? Perhaps he was thinking too hard on this. He needed answers. Why did Harry leave? What was he hiding from them? What was he doing when he ran away?
Groaning in frustration, Jamie let out his frustrations by toppling another stack of books and kicked them away from the corner. Dobby once again squeaked and was about to beg one more time to be released from the binding spell which only made Jamie turn around on the spot to order the elf to keep quiet.
However as he turned around, he stepped on a loose floorboard by accident. Jamie heard a loud crack and felt his foot cave into the floor. Jamie gasped in surprise as he fell to the ground, lifting his foot away.
Even though his Master bound him Dobby still expressed his concern, "Master Jamie?"
"I'm fine," He managed to gasp. Looking back to where he once stood there was now a hole in its place, no longer was there a floorboard but a hole too dark for him to see clearly. Turning back to Dobby he demanded,
"What in Merlin's name was that?!"
The house elf didn't answer but gazed at the spot with deep sadness.
He decided to ask again, "Dobby?"
Silence. Dobby didn't bother answering, instead, he gazed at the hole, his eyes beginning to water.
Seeing this Jamie decided to investigate further, there must be something in there that would invoke such a reaction from the elf. Curiously, Jamie peered into the hole and put his right arm in, ready to grab whatever was held in the side. Reaching deep inside Jamie grasped a strange object and hauled it up.
It was light, too light for its size and material. What appeared to be a metal basin was held between Jamie's fingers. Holding onto the light object he sat back up and to his surprise, the basin slipped from his grasp and floated in the air.
"Great Master Harry called it a Pensieve."
Jamie furrowed his brows, "A pensieve?"
Dobby nodded as he was unable to wipe his tears away due to being immobile, "It has the Great Master's memories. Great Master Harry ordered Dobby to destroy it, but Dobby couldn't. Dobby didn't want to destroy Great Master's memories."
"Harry's memories," Jamie wondered aloud. A pensieve, didn't Dumbledore have one? Jamie vaguely recalled a time where he eavesdrops on an Order meeting with Harry and the Weasley twins. At the time, the Order was using the pensieve to review a memory. Said memory Jamie didn't know as the extendable ears didn't provide a feature to show what they were looking at behind the closed door. Sighing, Jamie shook his head. Now was not the time to be thinking about the past. At the moment the present was more important - especially when an idea came to him. Jamie turned around to face Dobby, "What kind of memories?"
Instead of answering his previous question the elf pleaded one last time, "Please Master Jamie. Dobby musn't tell you. Dobby does not want to disobey any more of Great Master Harry's orders. The Great Master wouldn't want this." Dobby then added, "He wouldn't want you to know.
Jamie walked over to the pensieve and stared at the swirling liquid for a moment. It had to be important, Jamie thought. - Something so important that he couldn't just keep it in his mind, but hidden in the very same pensieve that was in front of him. Jamie suspected they were the key to finding out what Harry's been hiding.
Jaime glanced briefly at the elf, "Well I'm sorry Dobby. I was never one to follow what my brother wanted."
"Master Jamie?!"
No longer was he listening. Jamie needed answers, and if it takes restraining the house-elf – he'd do it. All for the sake of finding out what truly happened to Harry.
Dobby cried, "No Master!"
But it was too late, Jamie entered the pensieve- no longer was Dobby restrained by the spell.