Chapter 7

It has now been four days since Harry Potter had disappeared from his relatives' house, and Dumbledore was no more closer to finding out where he was hidden then he was on the first day. It frustrated the man greatly that his plans had been completely foiled by a fourteen year old child. But what had angered him even more was that his trusted Potions master seemed to be involved, and so was that mangy dog, Sirius.

How those memory charms had been broken was beyond his knowledge, but he was starting to suspect that his phoenix must have had something to do with it. And now, it seemed as if Minerva was starting to ignore him. Well, he'd just have to do something about that situation.

Once he rectified that problem, he'd start to work on the situation with Severus and Black, and that boy. He had to think of a way to get them all back into the castle, so he could get his hands on Potter again, and somehow, make sure he became dependant on him once again.

He was startled from his scheming from a knock on his door. It was Minerva.

"Ah, Minerva. Please, come in. You're just the person I was hoping to see," the headmaster crooned. He had to find out what was going on with her, and if necessary...

"Good morning, Albus. I was wondering if you had finished looking over the candidates for the DADA position for the coming school year. We don't want the ministry to appoint someone in that position," Minerva admonished.

She knew that Albus had been gone from the school for the last couple of days, but she had no idea why, or where he'd been. She also noticed that Fawkes had been missing for the last four days.

"Albus, where is your phoenix? He's never been gone for this many days before." She carefully watched her old friend, noticing his slight twitch at the mention of Fawkes.

"Well, I'm sure he's off flying around, perhaps visiting his other phoenix friends. He's been gone before for several days, and he always comes back. I'm not too concerned, but I appreciate your concern about him. Now, what were you saying? Oh yes, the appointment of a new DADA professor. How about we ask the real Alastor Moody to teach, seeing as how he missed out last year?"

"I think that's an excellent suggestion, Albus. I'll ask him myself. I also wanted to ask you, did young Harry make it home all right? I know he was devastated after the events of the third task of the tournament, and you know that his relatives won't be very understanding of his emotional state. How about we go pay him a visit one day this week? I think he would appreciate it, and it would also allow us to observe what his home life is like. You can't tell me that you haven't noticed how thin that boy is after he returns from his time with those muggles."

She paused for a moment, sure that she actually saw the old man pale slightly when she mentioned Potter's name, but then it was gone. She filed that thought away for future reference.

"I will go check on young Harry myself. Thank you for suggesting that. Now, if there is nothing else, I really do have some business to attend to."

The headmaster's abrupt dismissal seemed strange to her, but Minerva decided that perhaps Dumbledore was just a bit tired; after all, it had been a very difficult school year. She quietly muttered her goodbye, and left the headmaster's office. She quickly walked to her own office, and sat down. She knew that she could talk to Remus about her concerns, but she hesitated. Did she really want to bother him with her ideas that something might be wrong with Dumbledore, and then have it proven that she was wrong?

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHHPHPHPHPHPHPH

Harry awoke from a nightmare that left him shaking intensely. He was dreaming about his uncle tying his hands over his head, and then wrapping a piece of wire around his neck so that he would choke to death. All the while, Vernon was laughing a deep, maniacal laugh; laughing, and laughing...but thankfully, just as dream Vernon slammed the door on a strangling Harry, he had awoken. His heart was beating painfully and quickly, while sweat shone on the boy's face. He lay still, drawing in great gulps of fresh air, finally realizing that he was not in that cupboard, but in his bed at Grimmauld Place.

It was at this moment that he felt the coolness of a wet washcloth being applied to his forehead. He jerked at first, still not quite sure what to expect, but when no fist knocked him senseless, he leaned into the caresses, his eyes still closed, but knowing that touch just the same.

"Bad dream, pup?" Sirius inquired, all the while bathing his godson's sweaty face with that cool wet cloth.

"Yea," came the soft reply. "I'm sorry. Did I wake you up? I really didn't mean to, honest!" Harry's frantic apologies tore at the very soul of Sirius, knowing what his godson had apparently endured at the hands of that abusive muggle, Dursley. He quickly pulled the shaking boy into his arms.

"Shhh...it's ok, Harry. You didn't wake me up. I was already up when I noticed you were having a bad dream. Just relax...that's it. Nothing bad will happen to you here, I promise you that."

Sirius held on to Harry, rubbing circles on his back, with one hand meshed into the boy's hair, hoping he was comforting the child. And apparently it was working. Harry's shaking finally stopped, and he began to return the embrace..

Sniffing, he spoke into his godfather's shoulder, "Thanks, Sirius. I'm sorry about losing it like that. I'm ok now."

Sirius laughed, a sound that Harry thought reminded him of a barking dog.

"It's ok, pup. I'm glad you're feeling better! How would you like to get out of this bed and take a shower, and then come eat breakfast with us in the kitchen?"

The boy's eyes lit up with relief at that simple statement.

"Thanks Sirius! I didn't realize it before, but I am hungry, and I bet I do need that shower!"

Harry sat up on the edge of the bed, and then stood up, but swayed briefly. His godfather put a hand on his shoulder to steady the boy, who looked up at him, gratefully. Then the two of them slowly made their way to the bathroom, where Harry found a complete change of muggle clothing, and a new wizard's robe, along with clean underwear and socks and new trainers! Harry closed his eyes for a second and quietly thanked whoever was listening for his godfather and the new clothes that weren't Dudley's cast-offs. He climbed into the bathtub and took one of the longest, hottest, and bubbliest baths that he had ever had.

After about an hour, Harry emerged smelling clean, but looking like a prune! He laughed at himself, noticing how wrinkled his hands were. He then heard a barking laugh outside the bathroom door, and opened it quickly. There was his godfather, sitting on the edge of his freshly made bed, staring at him!

"Aw, Sirius! Have you been out here the whole time, listening to me take a bath?" Harry inquired, his face flushing from embarrassment.

Sirius laughed again, and replied, "Well, to be honest, yes, but only for the last half hour. I came back up to make your bed and freshen the room, and I heard you in there having what sounded like a great time with the bubble maker, and I just sat down and waited, just in case you got tired and needed some help. So, how are you feeling now?"

Harry grinned and said, "I feel much better, now that I've had that bath! It helped relax my sore muscles and even made my back quit hurting. I'm really hungry now too, so can we go eat now?"

Sirius put his arm around his godson and together, they walked down the stairs to the kitchen, where Remus and Severus had laid out a virtual feast of food. Harry couldn't believe all the food that was on the table; it reminded him of how Hogwarts looked during the feasts. It was then he noticed someone else in the room.

"Harry Potter, sir! It's so good to see you up and moving around! Dobby has been so worried about you!" The elf had latched onto one of Harry's legs and didn't appear to be ready to let go any time soon.

Harry looked toward his godfather for some assistance, but was greeted with a smirk, so he looked over at Remus, who was doing his best to not outright dissolve into laughter, but losing the battle. Harry stole a glance over to Severus, who was hiding behind the Daily Prophet. Harry couldn't help but notice how the paper was shaking; obviously, Professor Snape was finding it difficult to contain his amusement too.

Harry finally knelt down so that he was eye level with his elf friend, and gave him a gentle hug. This action did get the desired result, as Dobby finally stood back, letting go of Harry's leg.

"I'm fine now Dobby. What are you doing here? I thought you were going to find some paying job to do now that you were free?"

Dobby's huge grin shrunk for a moment. "Dobby tried, Harry Potter, sir. I's tried so hard to find a paying job, but no one is wanting a freed house elf. Then, a couple of days ago, Dobby ran into Professor Snape in Diagon Alley, and he asked me to come with him to help Harry Potter, and heres I is."

Harry grinned at his friend's antics. The house elf was bouncing all around the kitchen, cleaning up the dirty pots and pans, picking up broken dishes that Kreacher had deliberately dropped, and sweeping cobwebs out of the corners of the room.

Harry smiled and grabbed hold of Dobby's hand as he made another swift pass, and once he got his attention, he knelt once more in front of him.

"Dobby, are you saying that Professor Snape is paying you to work here?"

"Oh no, Harry Potter sir. Your godfather is paying me! He's paying me 5 galleons a month, with 2 whole days off so that I can do whatever I wants to do! Sirius Black is a great wizard! Now, you'se must sit down and eat!"

Dobby pulled out a chair so that Harry could sit down at the table. It was laden down with many of the same breakfast dishes that he was used to seeing at Hogwarts, so he knew he would find extremely good food to fill his stomach with. He filled his plate with some scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, hash browns, a cheese danish, a huge glass of milk, and another glass of pumpkin juice. He had finished about half of his plate when he realized that he couldn't eat another bite. He looked down at his half filled plate and sighed deeply.

Sirius noticed how little his godson had eaten, but knew that it would be a while before Harry would be able to eat a full meal, due to his being starved at the Dursleys, and his not eating well after the third task last semester. He put his huge hand on Harry's small shoulder and squeezed it gently, letting him know that it was all right if he didn't eat the whole plate of food. Harry smiled in gratitude and drained his glass of milk, and drank about half his glass of pumpkin juice. He pushed back from the table and stood up, thanking Dobby for a great breakfast. Then he, Sirius and Severus walked back into the living room, just off from the kitchen and sat down in the huge armchairs.

Harry leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a moment, thinking about his friends, and wondering if anyone knew where he was, or what had happened to him. It was at that moment that Hedwig came flying into the room with a letter in her beak, and landed lightly in Harry's lap. He took the letter from his beloved owl, and scratched her head and smoothed the feathers on her back. Hedwig nipped at his fingers lovingly and flew off to go eat and get some sleep. Harry looked at the letter and saw who it was from; Hermione!

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPH

Hello everyone! I must apologize for the lateness of this new chapter! I've been so busy and lazy at the same time...no excuse, really, but at least I've been honest!!!! LOL Anyway, I hope you enjoy this new chapter, and I'll do my best to make the next come a lot faster than this one did!! And, a very special thank you to my friend in Christ, Jen, who helped me get the conversation with Dobby sounding just right!! Thanks a bunch!!!!!

I want to thank everyone who has reviewed this story so far! You guys are amazing and I really do appreciate it!!!! And for those who have read, but not reviewed, well, I'm glad that you read it, but how about that review??

Also, my writing partner has decided to hand the story over to me, as she is unable to continue on with me. (One of the other reasons I was late getting this one out.) Her farewell note is below. Take everyone and I'll see you next chapter!

hphphphphphphphphphphphphphphphphphphphpphphphphphphphphphphphph

Crystal Lupin's Author's Note: Hey guys, some of you may not realize I exist, since this is on Nita Potter's account, but I'm the co-writer of 'Quest for Freedom'. Or, more accurately, I was. Several months ago I went from an evening shift to an overnight shift, and because of that, Nita and I are very rarely on at the same time, and if we are, I'm about to head on to bed. I'm of very little use to the story because of that. Something you don't know is that the first two or three chapters were written, almost entirely, in instant messenger conversations! Sadly, we just can't do that any more. For that reason I'm quitting the writing business, and leaving it all to Nita! Oh, you'll see a few of my additions in here and there since I promised Nita I'd help her out with Snapes Sarcasm!

To all the readers (and especially the reviewers), you've been great! I'm going to miss working on this!

To Nita... You go girl! It's all yours!

And so, to quote MASH: Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen.