I was rather excited for this chapter, and it ended up coming out fairly close to what I'd imagined, which is - thankfully - slightly longer than the previous few chapters. A fair bit of dialogue though, but certainly a better mix than the last few.

Thanks to the few reviewers that have already given their opinions on this story!

And now, on with the chapter!


The world was spinning faster and faster, as a whirlwind of colours flew by. So many different shades of green, and even a few purples.

Harry barely managed to compose himself in time to step out when he saw the black grate appear. Not knowing he was supposed to brace and slightly bend his knees, Harry flew out of the floo, and ended up sprawled on the floor of a rather large, dusty living room.

Getting to his feet, and wiping his face of the dust, Harry looked around and saw a very unexpected sight.

Jack trussed up, like a fly caught in a spider's web, hanging upside down in the middle of the room, red-faced and shouting – but no sound was coming out of his mouth.

Harry made to step over to him, but was interrupted by a popping sound, which preceded the appearance of a small, grey looking creature, in a rather fancy looking outfit.

"Welcome back, Master Harry. We've been expecting you for many years now." The creature said, dipping into a formal bow.

"Err– Hi." Harry replied nervously, surprised by the suddenness of the action, and Jack's current predicament.

"Could you, umm– Let my friend down?" Harry asked, uncertainly. The creature instantly complied, snapping its fingers, which caused Jack to fall bodily to the floor, fortunately landing on his back, not his head.

Jack mouthed something likely rather vulgar, as he rolled to his feet.

Harry winced, before saying, "Oops. Maybe I should have worded that better. Why can't I hear you?"

A rather deep-sounding voice was heard from nearby, although Harry couldn't pinpoint where from. "He's been silenced by Fabby, young Harry. You'll need to ask Fabby to remove his magic from your friend."

Startled, Harry looked around the room, but couldn't see anyone else. With an uncertain look, he turned back to the newly-named Fabby, and asked him to 'unsilence' Jack.

"Of course, Master Harry." Fabby replied, and with a second snap of its fingers, Jack could suddenly be heard:

"Ow! Jesus! Mother f'er, that hurt!"

Ignoring the snickering Harry could hear from… Somewhere, he turned to Jack. "What is going on here?"

"Blasted elves." Jack said in lieu of a reply, eyeing Fabby with a dirty look, before getting to his feet.

"I came through the floo and failed to satisfactorily identify myself to Fabby – one of the elves that Ripclaw mentioned – so he tied me up, presumably because he thought I was breaking into Potter Manor."

"Oh yeah." Harry thought. "Ripclaw did say something about elves; Fabby, Dotty, and Timsy, I think?"

"So, Ripclaw is still knocking about then? Good for him, he did always serve House Potter well." The same voice again came. Harry thought he saw one of the portraits on the wall move but couldn't be sure.

Jack once again took up the lead in the conversation. "Ignoring the talking artwork for a moment, Harry, it's best if you call all the elves and get reacquainted," he said, ignoring the outraged noise that came from said painting.

Harry had managed to locate the talking painting and gasped audibly. He'd seen that face once before, in the Mirror of Erised. The man must have been a close relation.

Attempting to ignore him for a moment, he turned back to Jack, but once again looked uncertain.

"How exactly do I do that?" Harry asked, ignoring the now amused look on Jack's face.

"I forget you're new to this whole magic thing. Just call 'Dotty' and 'Timsy', and they'll come to you."

"Err–Okay." Harry cleared his throat, and then called out: "Dotty!", "Timsy!"

Twin pops echoed simultaneously around the room, as 3 elves were suddenly lined up in front of Harry.

"Master Harry!" Shouted the male of the two, while the female elf cried: "Master Harry has returned!"

The male elf that appeared, Timsy, was dressed in a somewhat similar way to Fabby, although Fabby looked far more formal in comparison. Timsy wore a pair of brown bottoms, and grey shirt.

The female elf, Dotty, looked far more like a maid, while the males looked like miniature butlers. Her dress was a striking shade of green, and she wore tiny black shoes.

"Can we sit down and discuss what to do next?" Harry asked. Jack nodded, taking a seat on one of the large, 4-seater sofas, while Harry picked the comfy looking armchair.

Harry looked rather confused as to why the elves had yet to move, and raised a questioning eyebrow at Fabby, who responded with, "We will stand, thank you, Master Harry," as well as a dip of his head.

Shrugging, Harry turned back to Jack, to cede the direction of the conversation over to him.

"It's your show now, kiddo. What do you want to do? Discuss the manor with the elves? Find out what you need to do now you're here? Talk to some of the portraits to learn about your family?"

Harry thought hard for a minute about what he wanted to do now. He wasn't used to being in control of his life, usually being where someone else told him to be. This level of control was different, and new, but he couldn't say he didn't like the idea of having a bit of control over his life, even something as small as this.

Turning to address the elves, he said, "I'm not sure if I've ever been here before, but it was only a year ago that I found out I was magical." A loud gasp came from two of the portraits on the wall above the fireplace.

Harry quickly turned to them and asked rather bluntly, "Okay, since you clearly want to talk, who are you?"

The female of the pair turned to face the portrait to her right, and said; "Oh Charlus, he doesn't even remember us."

Sighing, the male portrait replied, "So it seems. Young man, I'm not sure how much of your history you know, but I'm your paternal grandfather, Charlus Potter. This lovely witch next to me is your paternal grandmother, and my wife, Dorea Potter."

Slightly shocked, and unprepared for the fact he'd have such close relations available to speak to, Harry got to his feet and walked over to the pair and blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. "Do–Did… Did my parents make paintings of themselves?"

Charlus adopted a frown, while Dorea wore a rather sad look, which looked very out of place on the formidable witch formally of the Black family, in Jack's opinion.

"I'm afraid they did not. After all, nobody expects to die so young… Especially not James." Came the deep voice of Harry's grandfather.

"Portraits…" Jack's voice startled Harry out of his reverie, "They only retain a copy of the essence of the individual they're created from, not the real thing. I'm sorry Harry, but even if James or Lily created a magical painting of themselves, they wouldn't really be your parents, only magical mimicry."

"Your friend is right, Harry. But despite that, we are a copy of your grandparents, and can offer the same advice or thoughts as they themselves would." Dorea added.

"I understand, I think," Harry replied, sniffling slightly at he emotional rollercoaster he just experienced.

"So," Charlus started, with a rather suspicious look, "Who is your friend?"

Looking to Jack for confirmation, and receiving an immediate nod in return, Harry replied, "Jack is a time-traveller from the future with knowledge of my future. He's helping me out, and I'm helping him out."

With identical shocked looks, Dorea choked out, "I was under the impression time-travel mainly operated in a closed-loop, often in minor jumps of travel, mostly only a few hours at a time. How many years in the future are you from?"

Jack's response of "26 years", was not what the portraits expected, and their shocked looks didn't dissipate.

"Impossible." Charlus uttered, receiving a sharp look from his wife, who said, "Not impossible, dear. Just improbable."

Looking back at Jack, Dorea shot him a piercing look and said, "This isn't a closed-loop, so presumably your travel has caused a split in the original timeline, and we are now on a different path than we would have been."

"Yes, that was my guess as well. However, I'm looking to keep the timeline mostly intact, changing only minor things so I can control most events I have foreknowledge of."

"Playing with time is a dangerous thing, young man, I hope you're ready to accept the consequences when things fall outside of your expectations," Charlus warned.

Jack simply nodded in reply. He'd expected things to change, likely dramatically, now that the timeline had been altered.

"Even the fact that my interference has introduced Harry to Potter Manor at least 5 years earlier than he was supposed to, has changed events dramatically. But as I said before, I'll be attempting to keep the timeline as intact as I can."

"Young Harry wasn't supposed to come here until he was 17?" Replied an outraged Charlus. "He was supposed to be brought here a year ago, upon reaching his eleventh birthday, at the latest!"

Jack opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by Dorea. "No matter now, Harry is here and he's fine. We can't change what happened in another timeline, but we can change this one, and Jack has already done so. We are in your debt, young man."

But Jack waved their thanks off. "Harry is already helping me out with a place to stay and food to eat; helping him find his place in the world was the least I could do."

Harry put his hand up, directly in the middle of the trio's conversation. "I'm lost. I mean, I think I followed along, but I still feel lost."

"Okay, then let's make a plan of action, so we don't feel lost and out of control, sound good?"

"Okay, what do we need to do?" Harry asked.

"It's the 31st of July, so we've got a month before you go back to Hogwarts. In that time, I suggest we… Get your trunk from the Dursleys, go shopping in Diagon, go and see your friends, get me registered at the ministry, and make sure everything is good here before you go back to school. Although not necessarily in that order. Sound like a plan?" Jack asked, as he counted the items off on his fingers.

Harry nodded, "That sounds good to me. How do we get my stuff from the Dursleys?"

Jack eyed the elves out the corner of his eye. "I suspect the elves will be able to help. Although I believe elf travel requires them to have been someplace before they can travel there, perhaps one of them went with Lily when she visited her sister…"

"Master's friend would be incorrect. Elves can travel anywhere with our master's will and permission."

Jack opened his mouth to respond, then closed it again, as his face adopted a thinking look. "Yes… I suppose that makes sense. Dobby had never visited No. 4 Privet Drive before, after all."

At the same time as Harry questioned, "Who is Dobby?", a large gong chime echoed around the manor, as the room flashed red briefly.

Simultaneously, all 3 elves straightened, before popping away from the room in unison. Moments later, they reappeared, this time with a 4th elf floating unconsciously in-between them.

"Uhhh… What?" Harry and Jack said at the same time.

"Someone not keyed into the wards tried to gain entry, via apparition; specifically, elf apparition." Charlus offered, as he eyed the elf suspiciously.

"I suggest we wake him up, and see what he wants, Harry," Jack said, before turning to the trio of elves, "Can you three contain him?"

An almost offended silence was quickly broken by the rapid nodding from Dotty and Timsy, while Fabby snapped his fingers. Harry and Jack watched in amazement as thick-looking white chains appeared out of nowhere, wrapping around Dobby, anchoring him in place.

With another snap of Fabby's fingers, Dobby was awake, and struggling with all his might.

"Harry, tell Dobby to calm down. I have a feeling he just might listen to you."

Accepting Jack's words, Harry turned and repeated the command to Dobby. The struggling elf suddenly ceased his previous actions, causing everyone's eyebrows to raise in surprise.

"Ask him why he's here."

Harry did just that.

"Dobby has come here to meet you, Harry Potter – Such an honour, it is. Dobby has come to warn the great Harry Potter. Dobby couldn't find Harry Potter, and was worried, but then Dobby's name was called, and Dobby found Harry Potter."

"Okay Harry, this is a good teaching point. Based on what Dobby just said, can you understand why some of the older generation of magic users might be afraid to use Lord Voldemort's name?"

Harry looked thoughtful for a moment, before seeming to understand. "Because magic can somehow track people who say certain names?"

"Not just names, Harry. Powerful rituals can place what are called 'Taboos' on certain words. If I was part of the DMLE, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, I'd place a Taboo on certain words like Fiendfyre or the names or incantations of particularly dark pieces of magic. I wouldn't be surprised to find out the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes had a Taboo specifically aimed at non-magical people for words like magic, wand, or Hogwarts, etc."

"That's crazy," Harry responded, attempting to understand the ramifications of such magic.

"That's magic." Replied Jack, who turned to look at Dobby. "Now then, I know for a fact that Dobby here has been intercepting your post; letters from your friends, and possibly Gringotts – the latter of which is likely to be against some kind of magical law – so I suggest you order him to hand the letters over."

"Dobby, if you have any letters you've stolen from me, I want them back right now."

Dobby slowly reached into the rags he wore, and pulled out a stack of bulging letters, seemingly from nowhere – Although Jack knew it to be magic that had hidden them from plain sight.

"Dobby is sorry for taking the letters from Harry Potter. Dobby thought that it might make Harry Potter not want to go back to Hogwarts this year, if Harry Potter thought his friends had forgotten about him."

"Christ, this is surreal." Jack muttered. He watched a scene he'd read many times literally acted out in front of him.

Harry quickly snatched the stack of parchment out of the unresisting elf's hands.

"Now Dobby, why don't you tell the great Harry Potter why you don't want him to go back to Hogwarts this year." Jack said, looking highly amused at the almost disgusted look on Harry's face, at being called 'the great Harry Potter'.

Dobby nodded his head rapidly, his large ears flopping back and forth, and causing the chains to rattle. "There are dark and terrible things that are going to happen at Hogwarts this year. Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts."

Before Dobby could build up any steam, Jack intervened. "Harry will be going back to Hogwarts this year, and there's nothing you can do to convince him otherwise. This manor is well protected, and will protect Harry while he's not at Hogwarts, and there are many well-trained professors, including the Headmaster, to protect Harry while he is at Hogwarts. So, I suggest you go back to your master and act like you were never here, Dobby the House Elf."

Dobby's eyes were wide at Jack's words, but he still retorted with, "Dobby knows of the Hogwarts professors, and the great Albus Dumbledore, but there are powers at work that even those who protect Hogwarts would falter against…" Dobby trailed off, looking imploringly at Harry.

Jack was having none of it though, as he rolled his eyes and scoffed loudly. "I'm well aware of the plot against Hogwarts this coming year, Dobby, and rest assured Harry will be fine. Go back to your Master; Harry will be safe this coming year at Hogwarts, I assure you."

Jack really didn't want to tell Dobby anything about what he knew, because Lucius could force it out of him at any time, but it might be necessary to say something to get Dobby to leave. Granted, the Potter elves could force Dobby out – and probably keep him out – but that wouldn't stop Dobby coming after Harry during the school year, which was something Jack wanted to avoid, if possible.

"Dobby doesn't believe Harry Potter's friend. The great Harry Potter is too noble, too good to be sacrificed. He must be protected!" Dobby stood as tall as he could, despite being held by the might of all 3 Potter elves.

Jack sighed, knowing he'd have to say some things he'd rather not in order to reassure Dobby.

"Dobby, I know your master, Lucius Malfoy, has plans for this coming school year. I'm aware of them, and I'm taking steps to ensure Harry will remain safe during Hogwarts this year."

Shocked silence from both Harry and Dobby had Jack second-guessing his decision, but he was rewarded moments later by the slumped form of Dobby, who had relaxed in relief. "You truly know of what is to come? Harry Potter will be protected? Thank goodness."

"What? Malfoy? Draco's father?" Came the flurry of questions from Harry.

"Harry, stop and think. If Dobby's master is Lucius Malfoy – yes, Draco's father – think about why I'd rather not say anything in front of Dobby, based on what you know about house elves."

"Lucius could find out… Through Dobby…" Harry muttered, a large frown on his face.

"Dobby is taking steps in order to not be caught." Dobby offered, but Jack shook his head. "Sorry Dobby, we can't take the risk. But if we ever manage to free you from the Malfoy family, we could let you help Harry properly then."

Dobby looked forlorn, his ears drooping slightly, and Harry felt immensely sad for the poor elf. "Dobby understands he is a liability," Dobby said, before perking up. "Master Malfoy must not find out where Dobby has been. Dobby will cover his tracks thoroughly."

Jack smiled at Dobby. The first and only time he had cried while watching Harry Potter was when Dobby died during the end of the 'Deathly Hallows: Part 1', and he had a soft spot for the poor elf. However, right now they couldn't risk Lucius finding out about him and his future knowledge this early.

"Don't worry Dobby, I'm sure there will be an opportunity to help the great Harry Potter in the future. But for now, go back to what you were doing, and try not to cause Lucius to get suspicious."

"Dobby understands. Dobby will heed the advice of Harry Potter's friend-". "I'm Jack Starburn," Jack interjected. Dobby nodded. "Dobby will heed the advice of Harry Potter's Starburny." And suddenly, Dobby disappeared with a snap of his fingers, surprising the 3 elves who should have been containing him.

"Starburny… He called me fucking Starburny. Unbelievable." Jack quietly uttered, holding the bridge of his nose.

Harry simply laughed. "You know you're going to have to explain what's going on now, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure. First, order your damn elves to call me Jack, or Master Starburn; I refuse to be called Starburny." Jack said, getting another laugh out of Harry, who did as asked.

The elves nodded, and a few moments later, Timsy popped away after Harry reiterated his previous order to collect his magical trunk from the cupboard under the stairs at Privet Drive.

Mere seconds later, Timsy returned with a quiet pop, and brought with him Harry's school trunk.

"That was easy." Harry said, his eyes flicking back and forth from his trunk and Timsy.

"You'll find that magic makes a lot of things easy. House elves are quite intelligent; knowing how to get into places, and how to stay unnoticed. You didn't even need to order Timsy to stay unseen."

As Harry stayed quiet, deep in thought, Jack turned to look at the portraits of the former Lord and Lady of House Potter. "Charlus, Dorea, are there any pressing matters that need to be taken care of here at the manor?"

Charlus looked thoughtful. "Well, the wards need powering up and updating. Unfortunately, the wardstone needs a witch or wizard to remain powered and protect the manor, and it's been over a decade since it was last active."

"We've already got that sorted. Ripclaw offered, at a cost, Gringotts ward experts to come over next weekend to sort them out.

"I have a question about the wards, actually. Since they aren't powered up, how did they activate when Dobby appeared?" Jack asked, half expecting Dobby to appear again once his name was mentioned. But thankfully, he didn't.

Charlus glanced at Dorea, "Technically, the wards are still… working, for lack of a better term. But there's a difference between the passive wards that are working now, and the active wards that the manor would need if it came under attack."

"Ah okay, so passive wards like anti-apparition are active now?"

"Yes. I didn't want to use the word 'active', because it might be confusing when we're talking about active and passive wards. But essentially yes, the passive wards are active, the active wards aren't," Charlus said, before adding. "In addition, Harry won't be able to activate the active wards while the wardstone is offline. Honestly, I'm surprised the wardstone hasn't completely drained in the decade it hasn't had magic to syphon."

"Let's hope it lasts another week then." Jack commented, as he turned back to Harry, who had been listening to the conversation intently.

"Not to worry, we're likely safe here for another week without you being in control of the wards. Best to wait for the experts from Gringotts to guide us next weekend, rather than charging in ourselves and likely messing something up."

"Okay then. Now, what's up with Hogwarts? What's going to happen?" Harry asked, as he sat in the armchair, his hands fiddling with the string that Dobby had used to bind his letters together.

Jack sighed, as he wondered how much to tell Harry. How much to affect the timeline this early. He decided to settle with part of the information, but not the full story. Harry still needed to destroy the diary, but there were some things Jack could do to speed along the process.

"Lucius Malfoy intends to use a magical artefact to open the Chamber of Secrets, which is said to contain Salazar's 'beast'."

A shocked gasp came from Charlus and Dorea. "The Chamber was opened once before, back in 1942 and 43'. Remember, Dora'? That was right around the time I sold the rights of production for Sleekeazy's to Michael Macmillan."

"I thought it was Fleamont that created that potion? God, this is confusing."

"You invented Sleekeazy's?" Jack asked, curious about the tangent.

Charlus merely looked back at him in confusion. "No, my father, Fleamont Potter did. I merely sold the recipe and production rights to Michael, an old family ally. He and his business partner, Tyler Davis, manufacture the potion through Davis & Macmillans."

Jack's eyes grew wide. "Talk about information overload! Fleamont was actually Charlus' father. And what the heck is Davis & Macmillans? The old fella from yesterday mentioned them too. So much research to do…."

Harry quickly intervened, apparently not caring much for business talk. "Hello? Chamber of Secrets? Salazar Slytherin's beast? What is it?"

"We never actually found out. The Wizengamot was in uproar at the time, but it was mostly swept under the rug. The Minister at the time, Leonard Spencer-Moon, and Armando Dippet – who was the Hogwarts Headmaster back then – merely said that the perpetrator had been caught." Dorea chimed in.

Charlus spoke up, his expression dark. "Yes, we had other things to worry about back then, during Grindelwald's war."

"It's a Basilisk." Jack simply said, causing outraged sounds to come from the portraits.

"There's a bloody Basilisk at Hogwarts?!" Charlus thundered, while Dorea had her hand covering her mouth.

"What's a Basilisk?" Asked a confused Harry.

"The 4 sigils of the Hogwarts' houses are a Lion, a Badger, an Eagle, and a Snake. Now, with that in mind, what might Salazar's beast be?"

Rolling his eyes slightly, Harry asked, "So a Basilisk is a magical snake?"

"Yes. A magical snake that is around 1,000 years old, with the ability to kill by looking at you, and produces one of the most venomous toxins in the world. The Ministry class Basilisks as an 'XXXXX Creature'. In addition, she was enchanted via ritual during conception to only obey descendants of the Slytherin line. Scared yet?"

"O-okay. A little scared now. But we know what it is, so we can tell Professor Dumbledore, right?"

"Oh boy. Here we go." Jack thought.

"Okay, but then he's going to ask how you knew it was a basilisk. Then what?" Jack queried, genuinely curious how far Harry had thought ahead.

"Errr… I did some research and narrowed down the possibilities?"

Jack tilted his head back and forth. "Technically it's possible. Hermione was the one that found out, and told you, after all."

"Hermione found out? How?"

"By doing what you said; researching. Students – mostly muggleborns – were being attacked by something, and Hermione wanted to figure out what was behind the attacks."

"But can't we just stop Malfoy from using the artefact on the school?"

"Ah, no. The artefact doesn't work like that. It's a simple diary, that will take over the user's body and compel them to open the chamber."

"So, it's going to be a girl that opens the chamber, not Draco?" Harry asked. After all, not many boys had diaries.

"Yes. Now, think about Lucius Malfoy. The man is powerful; magically, politically, and economically. But while he doesn't really need more money, and this wouldn't exactly make him more powerful magically, so how could he use this event to his advantage politically?"

"He's the head of the Traditionalists, right? Maybe he wants to frame someone from the Progressives?"

"That's a good idea. Let's run with that. Hey, Charlus, let's say nothing has changed in the last 10 years. Who are the families within the Progressives?"

"Just the family seats, or the Order of Merlin seats as well?" Charlus asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"Hmmm. Throw in the Order of Merlin seats as well." Jack responded. It would be a good idea to learn who they were as well.

"Well, let's see… There's the Potters, naturally. Albus Dumbledore, obviously. Augusta Longbottom, Eustace Fawley, Caradoc Dearborn, Ignatius Prewett, Septimus Weasley, Michael Macmillan, Eugene Slughorn, Shamar Shacklebolt, Gervaise Ollivander, and Elphias Doge. Those are the family seats. Panju Patil, Michael Bell, and Travis McKinnon are the Order of Merlin holders."

Jack winced slightly at the last of the names. He knew for a fact the entire McKinnon family had been wiped out during the war, so it was unlikely all of those people were still alive.

"So, Harry. Out of those names, I wager you recognise about half of them. Neville, Ron, Ernie, Parvati, and Padma are all in your year. And Katie Bell is a year ahead of you, and a Chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. You obviously know the Headmaster, and Gervaise Ollivander is likely the father of the wandmaker, Garrick.

"With that in mind, who would you say is most susceptible to the magical artefact?"

Harry considered his answer for a moment. "Probably Parvati."

"Not Katie because she's older, right?"

"Yeah."

"So, by that logic, let's consider the students starting in the new year. A girl from one of those families would probably be more susceptible, yeah?"

"I suppose. But who is starting Hogwarts this year?

"Ginevra Molly Weasley."

Harry looked horrified. "Ron's little sister?"

"The animosity between your little gang, and Draco Malfoy is fairly well known. Now imagine if daddy Malfoy had to give Draco the artefact, in order for it to get into Hogwarts, with orders to Draco for it to fall into the hands of a 'light-sided' family. Who do you think Draco would pick?"

"That… That tosser! He'd pick Ron's sister!"

"Of course, it might not happen that way. Young Draco didn't exactly inherit the cunning of either of his parents. So, Lucius might happen upon an opportunity in say, Diagon Alley, to slip it into the pockets of one of his political opponents. But either way, you must keep an eye on Ginny this coming year."

"Can't I just tell Ron?"

"And what would you tell Ron? 'Hey Ron, I got some future knowledge, but I can't tell you how, but your sister is in danger!' You don't think he'd demand to know how his baby sister is in danger, and all the details involved? No, I suggest you let the plot play out. I have a couple of ideas about how you can deal with it."

"Like how?"

"Well, Ron's little sister was read a couple of very specific bedtime stories growing up. About 'Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived', if you know what I mean…"

Trying not to be too amused by Harry's horrified look, Jack clarified. "What I'm saying is, Ginny will likely be infatuated with you, and if you ask to see her diary, you can feign super-secret magical artefacts knowledge, and say something like, 'Wow Ginny, this is an incredibly dark artefact, disguised as a diary. Where did you get it? Would you mind if I took it to Headmaster Dumbledore?'"

The horrified expression left his face, but a rather reluctant one replaced it. "I suppose that could work, but I really don't want her to be obsessed with me."

"She's infatuated with the idea of the Boy-Who-Lived. Get to know her just like any other person, and that idea in her head will fade. Because the image that she's built up of you will never fit into reality."

"That's deep." Harry commented. Jack looked back at him incredulously. "Are you taking the piss outta me?"

Harry snorted. "Yeah, a little bit." He then yawned, and added, "I'm tired."

"Let's call it a night here then."

Aided by the Potter elves, whom had yet to move from their spots at the side of the room. Jack and Harry had belatedly realised Harry hadn't ordered them to go back to whatever it was they were doing before.

After asking what each of the elves were responsible for; Timsy was the 'outdoor' elf, responsible for shopping, maintaining the manor's grounds, etc. Dotty was the 'indoor' elf, responsible for cooking, cleaning, and maintaining the manor itself. Fabby was the Lord's personal elf, dealing with the Lord's – or in this case, the Heir's – requests and needs directly.

So, while Dotty and Timsy popped away to do their duties, Fabby directed Harry and Jack to the east wing of the manor, which held the Master bedroom, as well as the 'Castellan's' bedroom, which Fabby recommended Jack stay in.

So with a few variations of 'Goodnight' aimed at each other and the elves, Jack and Harry began to settle in for their first night at Potter Manor.