Disclaimer: IN this chapter we will be parting from what shadow, the original author, wrote. He has only one regret for this story and that he is unable to continue it. But we gladly accept the offer to continue such an inspired fan fic. Thank you all for the reviews. We won't always take a page from bob and alyx for our disclaimer. Sometimes it will be as normal as we can make it! Lol But we thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to use that type of entertainment for you our audience.
Blah Blah Blah ….the 1990's you know that J.K. Rowling ….blah blah blah …(aka she whom will not be named) owns Harry potter. Blah Blah Blah…. Other fan fic authors Blah Blah Blah…….. OOOOOh I feel like drac u la Blah I vont to suck your…..hehehehehe (some parts taken from chapter eighteen pages 336-341 HP COS)
Anyway enough with my silliness and on with the show!
Chapter 3
And so it begins.
"Understanding is a three edged sword; your side, their side, and the truth." Ambassador KOSH
May 1993
Harry grabbed the diary and dashed out of the office. He could hear Dobby's squeals of pain receding around the corner. Quickly wondering if this plan would work, Harry paused and took off one of his shoes, pulled off his slimy, filthy sock, and stuffed it into the diary.
Harry took a step and then froze, his body going rigid. A blinding light engulfed Harry's body, pulsed several times, and then receded into him. Harry Gasped in a ragged breath, as he collapsed to his hands and knees. He quickly sat back, and grasped his head trying to clear away the fog of disorientation that suddenly hit him. He struggled to his feat as he heard a squeal of pain.
"That hurt a lot more than I thought it would." Harry grunted as he rose. He smirked at the sound of his own voice. Looking around the corridor to get his bearings, he heard another squeal of pain and quickly snatched up the diary. He then proceeded to rush in the direction of the noise. The memory of the incident to come, rushing back to him. He turned the corner in time to see Lucius Malfoy drawing back his cane, as they reached a set of stairs, to strike Dobby once again.
"Malfoy!" Harry barked as he skidded to a halt at the pair. Lucius Turned on his heel, sneering at Harry. If looks could kill..Harry thought as he thrust the book at Lucius.
Lucius snatched the ruined diary from Harry, and shoved it into Dobby's hands without ever breaking eye contact with Harry. "You had best learn to show respect to your betters Potter, for someday you shall meet the same sticky end as your parents", he said menacingly. "They were meddlesome fools as well." He turned haughtily to go, "Come Dobby, I said COME!"
But Dobby was unmoving. He was holding up Harry's sock and looking at it as though it was a priceless treasure. "Master has given Dobby Clothes!!" said the elf, wonderment in his voice and a look of pure joy on his face.
"What's that?" Mr. Malfoy asked. He turned to look back at the elf. His eyes widened in Horror and rage flashed crossed his face as he took in the sight of Dobby holding the sock in one hand the diary forgotten by all, in his other. Lucius Lunged toward Harry, "You! You've cost me my servant boy!"
Dobby stepped in between the two wizards in a flash raising a hand. Mr. Malfoy was thrown to the Landing below with a loud thud.
"You shall not harm Harry Potter!" Dobby shouted.
Malfoy rose shakily to his feat looking up lividly at Harry and Dobby. He fingered the head of his cane and as Dobby saw this. He pointed his finger menacingly at Lucius Malfoy and yelled, "You shall go now!"
Lucius glared at them and hissed, "I will not forget this Potter!" as he swung his cloak around himself then turned and stalked away.
Dobby turned to Harry, wearing a face splitting grin. "Harry Potter has freed Dobby!" Harry smiled down at the elf and wobbled a moment. "Least I could do." Harry said as dobby grabbed him to try and steady him. Dobby led Harry to a near by bench and sat him down.
Harry smiled his famous sheepish smile, "Thanks Dobby, so what are you going to do now?"
"Dobby isn't sure Harry potter sir; Dobby is never being freed before." He said scratching his bald scalp and looking at the floor as if it held answers.
"I need some help on a special project and would be willing to hire you if you like." Harry added gently.
Dobby's orb-like eyes widen as he looked up to Harry. "Harry Potter would want to have Dobby as his house elf? Dobby would be honored Harry Potter Sir!"
Harry looked thoughtfully at Dobby and asked, "I thought you wanted to be free Dobby?"
Dobby responded practically bouncing, "Dobby would be asking for being paid if it were any other wizard than Harry Potter, but Dobby is being paid just by the honor of being Harry Potter sir's House Elf!"
"I need some one I can trust and I know that is you Dobby, as long as you NEVER try to save my life again." Harry said with a smile and a nod. "I do have some rules though."
Dobby nodded eagerly, as Harry began listing them. "Never call me master, you will take Sundays and holidays off always unless of course there is an emergency, you will be paid one Galleon a week, and you are never to punish yourself again. But if you feel you've done something worth punishing, come tell me and we'll talk about it. "
Dobby started to object, "That is too much generous Harry Potter sir Dobby would not be able to show himself to the other elves presence, they will be knowing and Dobby would be shunned. And if Dobby cannot punish himself for Master Harry Potter how shall Dobby be learning what is right and wrong in the Potter's house?"
"Ok Two galleons, I'll keep raising your pay if you keep arguing about it and talking to me about anything you feel you've done wrong is the real way to learn Dobby and please try not to call me master!" Harry said as Dobby opened his mouth to object again.
Dobby's mouth shut so quickly there was an audible snap then he gave Harry his trademark crushing hug and tears of joy began to flow.
Harry patted Dobby on the top of his head and said, "Your very welcome my friend. If you're up for it I've got something I need you to do for me. And then you and I will have a long talk about what's going on and why I need your help."
Dobby let go of Harry's leg vigorously nodding his head again and said, "Yes, Yes mat….er….mister Harry Potter Sir! Dobby is being very eargers to be starting work for ma…mister Harry Potter Sir! All Dobby is needing is for Harry Potter to be doing the ritual Sir" Dobby said practically hopping, as he spoke the last words he began to tremble.
Harry placed his hand on Dobby and spoke, "As the head of the Noble House of Potter offer this elf a place in my family."
Dobby's eyes widened as he spoke the proper response to the ritual as if on auto pilot, "Dobby be accepting The Lord of House Potter's offer of kinship."
Harry's Hand grew warm and began to glow then the glow encompassed them both and was gone in an instant. Dobby looked up at a smiling Harry with a confused look.
"Why did Harry potter offer Dobby a place in his family?" Dobby queried.
Harry reached out and placed his hand on Dobby's shoulder and said gently, "You my little friend are not just part of the Potter household. You are now truly part of the family you and I are all each other has for now. We orphans must stick together, now…" Harry snapped his fingers and a trunk the size of a bread box appeared he mumbled something and it opened. "The diary Dobby may I have it please. Thank you." Harry said as Dobby handed it to him.
Then he reached his hand in and closed his eyes, when he opened them he pulled out a roll of parchments and an envelope and said, "These are too be delivered right away please. I need them delivered personally into the hands of the addressed persons and Dobby please do so with the quiet and cunning I know you to poses! The scrolls of parchment go to Griphook in Gringgotts and the other goes to …"Harry said leaning closer to Dobby and then whispering.
"And come straight back to me please, we have much too do before we leave this castle for the summer. And only a few short weeks to do so. Plus we must do it in secret and not just in haste so be careful.
Dobby popped out of sight and Harry stood. "And now to go check on Hermione." Harry as he started toward the hospital wing.
~~~Some time earlier in another part of the castle~~~
Hermione Granger was used to changes in her life by now. She had gone from a shy, withdrawn book worm to a witch in a matter of moments upon reading her Hogwarts letter with her parents. She then learned that true friendship could come from the most unlikely of people. Shortly after entering Hogwarts she then learned that try as she might you could not learn about boys in any book no matter how hard you studied.
She had been lying in the hospital wing in a state similar to that of a dream for what seemed like months. With nothing but her thoughts of what Ron and Harry were truly up against. And that's where the thoughts of the boys came from. When it first happened all she could feel was fear. But strangely it was fear for Harry. Not herself, and not even Ron, just Harry. And after what seemed like forever in a state of panic and fear she realized she was stuck.
She had been petrified just like filches cat and Colin Creevy, she had stumbled upon the basilisk. But Hermione had been prepared with a small pocket mirror in one hand and the information that the boys needed tightly clenched in the other. Unfortunately before she could find Ron and Harry she had been caught in the gaze of those eyes. And now she floated in her subconscious just thinking. She had no books, no one to talk to and it might be quite a while before those mandrakes were ready.
So she thought, thought about Harry and the troll incident, Ron and the chess match and how they differed and how they were the same. Boys, she thought, no matter how many times you told them they always managed to find themselves in trouble. And ever since that darn troll so had she. But, she thought, without Harry life would just not be the same at Hogwarts. He and Ron had become as much a part of her life as her parents. And try as she might in this state of perpetual floating, she could not think of her life without them in it!
Ron, she thought of Ron on as a friend an aggravating and sometimes tiresome but good friend. Then there was Harry all she could think of now was, I have to help Harry. That saying had become her mantra here.
And then one day everything changed. Once again she was pulled to her body to the feeling of some one holding her hand. But this time it was different, the mental image of her 13 year old self began to shift and grow with the sensation of the hand. Memories she did not know came flooding into her mind, memories of herself. In other times, in other places she did not remember living. In her mind she realized she was no longer a girl but a woman. She had known triumph, she had known failure, and she had known the joy of love and the fulfillment of motherhood. She knew the sorrow of loss and now she new; unbearable pain, torture, and death. It was a crippling wave of emotions that swept over the like of which would have mentally unbalanced a weaker woman. And even though she could feel her body still at the stages of petrifaction and knew she was still 13 with one touch she becomes the mental equivalent of a 35 year old.
She wondered if this was her heaven, but then realized it was more like a hell. She could feel herself being touched and the vibrations of someone's voice rumbling near her. But she could not move, not even her eyelids. Then she remembered what her lamas teacher had taught her about panicking and the damage it can do to some one even if there not pregnant. So she tried to imagine herself sitting crossed legged in a room on a comfortable rug.
And it worked. For but a few second she was too excited, then she forced herself to remember her occullemency training. She began to breathe in her mind and as she did she calmed dramatically. She began to do an inventory of her memories, as if they were real tangible things. A teddy bear went to one side of her then a baby cradle to the other. As things began to pile up into two piles she noticed the difference in the ages of the once two Hermione's that had become one. She had two sets of memories it seemed. One for a 13 year old and another for a 35 year old. As she watched the things in the piles settle she came to this conclusion aloud.
I have some how traveled back in time. One part of her began to rationalize the impossibility of this, while another part of her pointed out that the evidence to each side of her suggested otherwise. The only other possible explanation was of a split personality and she discounted that immediately because she could feel the truth. She was one and whole, she only seemed to have more memories.
She was jolted out of her musings by the sensation of liquid coming down her throat. Instead of panicking she just let it happened, when she still felt the presence of that hand on hers. And all at once she began to feel the rest of her body and a warm tingling feeling came gently rushing over her. She felt a hand on her arm, yet the other hand had not left hers. Then she heard a matronly voice near to her arm say. "She should be waking shortly Mr. Potter; I believe it is safe for you to go down to the feast. I shall send her down within the hour."
Then Hermione heard a voice she recognized immediately that of 12 year old Harry Potter.
"If it's all the same Madame Pomfrey I'd like to wait and accompany her to the feast myself."
Hermione smiled; at least she tried to smile as she began fluttering her eye lids. And she was overjoyed to feel the sensation and see the ceiling of the infirmary. She moved her eyes and took in the sight of Harry sitting at her bedside. His disheveled Hair and warm smiling green eyes seemed to have a ghost of battle, but none the less she was ecstatic to see him.
She heard a faint pop and heard a squeaky voice say. "Harry potter Sir the Head Master Dumbledore asked me to be bringing you these changes of clothes so you could be Freshening up for the feast. I is also bringing some for miss Grangy."
Hermione got up the nerve to try and sit up on her own while the elf was speaking as she did Madame Pomfrey rushed over to helper her. As they were getting Hermione into her new sitting position Harry responded to the elf, "Thank you very much, would you mind telling Professor Dumbledore we will be down shortly, according to Madame Pomfrey." The elf nodded and popped out leaving Hermione and Harry alone again. Madame Pomfrey was administering her mandrake juice to the other occupants of the infirmary and working quickly so as to make it down to the feast herself.
Hermione looked at Harry and he looked back both unsure of what to say to the other. Neither knowing the other was their older selves. After an awkward silence the two decide to try and help Hermione up to try out her legs. Hermione held out her hand silently and like it was second nature Harry took it to help her up. She lost her footing at first step and Harry caught her, their noses inches from each others. Hermione giggled a nervous thanks and Harry mumbled a shy your welcome. But still they were quiet as Harry led her by the elbow up and down the row of beds. As if everything were quite normal Harry led Hermione to a screened in area where he sat her down and gave her the clothes the elf had brought for her. Harry left her behind the screen with a reassuring smile, and some how Hermione knew he would be back for her soon.
Harry reached the opposite end of the infirmary where a similar screen was set up and began to change his grime covered clothes. On the bed next to him was a basin of steaming water and a wash rag and he took full advantage of these feeling as though he were preparing for a first date rather than the feast to come. His jitters were worry over making a slip in front of everyone especially Hermione. Also he was deeply concerned about what Hermione's reaction would be, should she learn the truth under the wrong setting. In all honesty he wasn't sure how to tell her the truth without jeopardizing everything he had come back for, at least not yet! He would figure out a way, Harry thought determinedly as he finished buttoning up his clean robes.
He looked down at his twelve year old body and sighed deeply. As he started out from his partition his face was set with determination as he had one simple thought.
And so it begins.
Authors Note: Please review!!!
