Hello, everyone! Here's the newest chapter for the "Harry Potter: the Serpent Lord" story. Enjoy!

* Review response:
Thaumologist, Draconica's contract will be revealed at the time frame of the summer 1993. (summer between Harry's second and third years)
Dark Dragen, Hanzo of the Salamander, Loiosh311, harlequin320, Penny is wise, thank you, folks!
Highvalour, yes, Harry will be the third power in the war that would last... about 2 minutes. *Damn, I let out a major spoiler*
Victorules, read and see.
Still Not Dead Yet, very well. I, though, finally managed to contact my normal beta. If he isn't willing to continue, I'll PM you. Thanks for the offer, though.
obsessivegirl73, Luna... Don't know... I have no particular role for her in mind, but I'm sure I can think of something...

* Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" and its characters in any shape or form.

"human speech"
"wraith speech"
'human thoughts'
"spells / parseltongue"

This chapter was not beta-read. Yet.
Anyone interested in becoming my beta?

chapter 12: Dobby's visit

Harry lay on his not so comfortable bed that his relatives provided him with when they (reluctantly) gave him his own room. And the young wizard was deep in thoughts, trying to figure out what was wrong with him for something definitely was. For one, he remembered researching some kind of magical stone during the school year, that this stone – whatever it was – or at least its copy was at Hogwarts and was in danger, yet the green-eyed boy couldn't remember what exactly this stone was.

Another thing that bothered Harry were repeating nightmares he had at the beginning of the summer about him turning men into ashes by touching them with his hands. Even from those little he had read about how cognition functioned, he knew that such nightmares, especially repeating ones, didn't just spontaneously appear: they always had a reason, but once again the green-eyed wizard couldn't remember what could have caused these... Unless his subconscious ...or someone's magic, made him forget what exactly happened when he went to save Hermione from that Death Eater. That, and no one had him consoled after the event...

And then there was his headmaster Albus Dumbledore: the young Griffindor was sure that he didn't trust the ancient man one bit, and there ought to be a good reason for that, but after he was saved from the Death Eater, something happened that made him see the headmaster like the second coming of Merlin – even if the man saved his life, Harry was sure, he wouldn't see Dumbledore as someone he should blindly follow, like his mind told him to. There must be some mind magic involved there. So Harry decided that he should be really cautious around the man from now on.

Finally, there was the Dursley. Sometime near the suddenly felt like he needed to stay with them, even if as the scion of the Noble house Potter he had to have at least a couple of houses scattered around the British isles. It all seemed like someone had used a compulsion to have him return to Privet Drive. But Harry's logical side told him that he should stay there for sometime to make sure that whoever had made him come back to his relatives' house would be satisfied with the results of his magic – the green-eyed wizard didn't want to be turned into a mindless zombie, not at all – so he would have to play by someone's else rules for some time...

Turning onto his side, Harry looked at the book he was currently reading: a tome on human anatomy. Telling Dursley that he had to study a lot to be able to move out of their house as early as possible made them much more bearable – only a couple of chores for a day, and a lot of 'free time' to study. Completing his summer homework took only a couple of days, and the rest of those two weeks he had already spent at Privet Drive number four, Harry was catching up on his self-study of the medicine: he had almost abandoned it at the end of the previous school year with whatever was happening at Hogwarts.

Speaking of Hogwarts... There was another thing that was worrying the green-eyed wizard: he was yet to receive any letters from his friends, and those he had sent them were unanswered. He would have suspected that this had something to do with the mail wards around his relatives' house – why else he hadn't received any fan mail in the ten years he spent there – but Hedwig returned to her cage looking whipped a couple of times, so his mail, this time, was intercepted manually, and not very professionally at that. So, most likely, the one who did this and the one who played with his mind were two different people... Why couldn't his life be easy?

At least, getting to the mall to buy presents for his friends wasn't a big problem as he was spending his own money and all that his aunt had to do was to drive him there when she went there to buy some 'special' groceries, and then drive him back when they (she) was done...

"Boy! Get down here now!" Uncle Vernon yelled from the guest room, interrupting Harry's thoughts about finding someone at the Diagon Alley to lay a couple of enchantments on the presents to 'complete' them. Sighing, the young wizard rose from his bed and headed downstairs to see what his uncle needed...

As it turned out, Vernon had some of his clients over for a dinner, and wanted Harry to stay at his room for the whole time – why the man needed thirty minutes to 'explain' that to his nephew was beyond the comprehension of the green-eyed wizard.

When Harry finally returned to his room, though, he had to show a good deal of self-control not to shout as there was ...something sitting on his bed. As soon as he entered the room, the creature – it was about two feet tall, had greenish skin and really large eyes, and was dressed in an old and partially torn pillowcase – slipped off the bed onto the floor and bowed so low that its nose touched the thin carpet.

"Harry Potter! So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, sir... Such a honor!.." The creature, apparently named Dobby, said in a high-pitched voice. The green-eyed wizard, though, wasn't very happy to have such a guest at this time.

"Um... Who are you? And what are you doing in my room? And try to be quiet." The young Griffindor asked in a serious tone. Dobby made a step back and looked at him with his big big eyes.

"Of course... The great Harry Potter wouldn't know of Dobby... I is Dobby, the house elf, sir, just Dobby." The creature, now identified as a house elf, whose name was Dobby, made a pause, before continuing. "Dobby come to... to tell you, sir... It be difficult... Dobby don't know where to begin..." Harry sighed: getting any information out of this house elf will be very difficult...

"Sit." The young wizard said, gesturing towards the only chair in his room. The house elf's eyes grew even bigger than they already were – if that was even possible...

"Oh, no... Dobby can't. Dobby not allowed to sit on equal with wizards!" Good thing, Dobby at least remembered that he was not to be loud... "But great Harry Potter tells Dobby to sit and... So great Harry Potter, sir!" Still, the house elf sat.

"So, what did you come here to tell me?" Harry asked with a sigh. This elf was quickly thinning his patience. Dobby looked at him with his big eyes and opened his mouth, but then quickly shut it and tried to reach for a lamp and hit himself with it. Harry managed to stop him, though. "What are you doing?"

"Dobby almost said bad things about his family... Dobby has to punish himself for it." Mental. This house elf was bloody mental... But already understanding that speaking this Dobby out of doing it would hard if not impossible, the young wizard decided that it would be more productive to have the thing postpone self-harming until it left the house number four at Privet Drive in Surrey.

"You can punish yourself later." The green-eyed boy said, a bit too sharply, as Dobby now looked even more scared than he 'usually' was. "What 'your' family you are talking about, and you still haven't told me what you wanted to tell first." The house elf relaxed a bit.

"Dobby be talking about wizarding family he is serving. Dobby be serving them until he dies, sir." It was clear to Harry that the house elf wasn't treated well, but it was also quite clear that Dobby couldn't leave his 'family'. And since the elf managed to get past whatever wards that surrounded Dursley's house – Harry was sure that there were some – it looked like there was some kind of magical bond between a house elf and the family it served. Symbiosis of some kind, where 'masters' started abusing 'servants'? – the green-eyed wizard really hoped that it wasn't normal, that Dobby was just unlucky to be bound to a bad 'family'.

"Well..." Harry said with another sigh, after the house elf was quite for twenty seconds. "What did you want to tell me?" Dobby looked back at him.

"Dobby be coming to warn the great Harry Potter, sir." The young wizard merely raised his eyebrow at this: the elf didn't seem to be entirely sane, so there was a chance that it was something trivial. But there also was a chance that the warning would be a real one. Anyway, it would be better to listen to whatever this Dobby had to say... "Dobby be here to warn Harry Potter... warn that terrible things will happen at Hogwarts this year." Well... this at least sounded like something serious.

"What kind of terrible things? Someone else is planning to attack the school?" Harry asked. Dobby looked torn, like he wanted to tell, but something – an oath? - prevented him from doing so. "You can just nod if I was right." The house elf nodded after being still for several seconds. The green-eyed wizard sighed... "And what is going to attack Hogwarts?" This time there was an answer.

"Dobby not knowing what be attacking Hogwarts. But Dobby know something will." Damn. Oh well, at least he was now warned... "The great Harry Potter, sir, must promise Dobby not going to Hogwarts. Harry Potter is too important to face danger at Hogwarts." This made Harry think hard. House elves seemed to be quite strong as they could bypass wards, and, he was sure, could do housework with magic, so the chances were, this Dobby could do some nasty things to keep him 'safe', were he not to promise not returning to Hogwarts. On the other hand, were Harry to make the promise and follow it, he would be in some great problems...

'But he wants me to make a promise, not an oath...'Harry thought then. 'And thus I can promise and still go, as it won't be binding... Plus I'm asked to promise not to go, while students are taken to Hogwarts by train and then by either boats or carriages... So, technically, I won't be going to school, I'll ride there.' Forcing himself not to smirk, the green-eyed wizard spoke with a false resigned sigh: "Very well, I won't be going to Hogwarts." His 'guest' beamed at him.

"Dobby be so happy! Dobby be able to keep the great Harry Potter safe!" Then the house elf's mood darkened a bit as the creature became serious. "Dobby feels that he can give the great Harry Potter his letters back now." And he produced quite a thick wad of letters out of his pillowcase-like clothes.

"So that was you interfering with my mail." The green-eyed wizard said coldly.

"Harry Potter, sir, shouldn't be angry, Dobby did this for the best. Dobby hoped... Hoped that if Harry Potter thought that his friends had forgotten about him, Harry Potter wouldn't want to be returning to Hogwarts." The young Griffindor forced himself not to yell at the house elf, as it would, no doubt, bring Dursley's ire upon him.

"Give me the letters. ...Please." Dobby exploded into blabbering about how great Harry Potter was and how he was so kind to Dobby, but gave the letters to the young wizard. But as the house elf was passing the wag to Harry, Dobby's eyes landed onto the signature on one of the letters, and he, almost dropping the letters, did a step back, his eyes wide in horror.

"Dobby be punishing himself most severely... Dobby be interfering with his young mistress' letters... And the young mistress was always kind to Dobby..." Judging by the way the house elf expected to be treated, 'kind' most likely meant that this 'young mistress' – Draconica? Harry couldn't think of any other girl at Hogwarts coming from a dark family that would have a reason to send him a (friendly) letter – was just more forgiving and let Dobby have more freedom in how he was doing the things the house elves did. While Dobby kept telling how kind his young mistress was and how bad he was for intercepting her letters, Harry looked through the letters he got from the crazy house elf's possession: three of them were indeed from Draconica, another two were from Neville and five more from Hermione. The final seven were the letter he himself tried to send to his friends... Finally, the green-eyed wizard grew tired of listening to the house elf – thankfully he wasn't overly loud – and decided that it was time for the little thing to return 'home'.

"Um..." The young Griffindor said as politely as he could in his current mood. "Dobby, not that I don't enjoy your company, but shouldn't you be returning home now? What if your 'family' notice that you went somewhere on your own?" Dobby looked at the alarm clock Harry had next to his bed and his eyes widened in horror once again.

"The great Harry Potter sir is right. Dobby should be returning home. Dobby be going now..." And the crazy house elf disappeared from the room with a quiet 'pop'. Sitting down onto his bed, Harry browsed through the letters, before deciding that he would reply to all of them first thing tomorrow morning... And being not in the mood to continue reading, the young wizard decided to call it a day, and go to sleep early tonight.

~/ *** \~

Back at Hogwarts, one certain old man with too many titles was thinking of the ways to bring the magical Britain to the Light side, now that he was sure that he had his control over the 'Chosen One' and could guide him to bring the world to the Greater Good... Still, with the independent streak young Potter had shown, the ancient headmaster knew he had to be very subtle in his manipulations, lest Harry decided that he knew better how the things should be done.

Still, Albus Dumbledore thought, he should keep an eye on Neville too, as there still was a small chance that he made a mistake and the scion of house Longbottom was the real 'Chosen One', and Harry's protection against the wraith of lord Voldemort wasn't boy's own power of love, but the sacrifice of his mother... The old man sighed: why couldn't that wand choose either boy and make it clear, which one was the true savior of the wizarding world? Why everything had to be so difficult?

Sighing again, the ancient headmaster resumed plotting to change the wizarding world for the Greater Good, making sure that he always had a backup plan or two, in case his current judgment of which of the two boys was the 'Chosen One' was wrong...

Saving the world from the darkness was so difficult...

~/ *** \~

"Hello, Tom." Harry said as he entered the Leaky Cauldron one afternoon in the middle of July. "I'd like to rent a room till the end of summer." The bartender smiled and gave the green-eyed wizard a key to the room number seven – not that Harry cared about what his room's number was. Thanking the man, the young wizard headed to 'his' room.

Like the room next door he stayed at at the end of the previous summer, this one was about the same size as his room at Dursley's household, but had a much more comfortable furniture and looked much better, though pretty much sterile, like any good unoccupied hotel room should... After placing Hedwig's cage next to the window, so that she had her own place to rest when she would return there, Harry unpacked his own things, including his collection of books on medicine.

Looking at the titles, the young wizard noticed that he was almost done with the easier books he had and, unless he wanted to start reading on something like physiology of higher neural activity, he'd better get some new books. Magical ones, so that his knowledge wouldn't be too one sided. But as there was still enough reading material to last him until the school started, the green-eyed wizard decided to be lazy and postpone his visit to Flourish and Blotts until he got his list of school supplies for the second year. Still Harry had some business in the Diagon Alley...

Even with the pointers from Tom the bartender it took the young wizard some time to find the enchanter at Diagon Alley, as the man's workshop was rather small, didn't have any really noticeable signboards and was quite far away from the entrance to the Alley.

"Hello, anybody here?" Harry asked, when he entered the workshop and was greeted only by a jingle of small silver bells. Looking around, the green-eyed Griffindor couldn't see anything but various enchanted item and half-completed projects on the tables that stood in disarray around the room. "Anyone?" Harry asked louder, hoping that the owner of the shop was just too engrossed in his work and hadn't heard him the first time.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." An old and rasped voiced replied from behind what Harry thought was a solid wall. Several seconds later a well-hidden door behind the counter opened, and the owner of the shop emerged from it... The man, Emilio Fagonini, if the small signboard wasn't lying, looked like a classical mad scientist: shoulders-long untidy and a bit dirty gray hair, pale skin, big glasses with several different lenses and various carving instruments in pockets of dusty robe. "What brings you to my shop, young man?" Emilio asked, as he looked at his potential client through his goggles.

"I need self-refilling enchantment laid on these." Harry said, while handling four fountain pens of different designs to the shop owner, who studied them through various lenses of his glasses, before placing them on the counter. "And self-refilling and preservation enchantments on these ones." This time it was a modern ball pen with several spare cores of different colors. The enchanter studied those ones too, before making his verdict.

"Yes, yes, that can be done, young man, but enchanting objects isn't cheap, you know... For the quills, all four of them, I'll ask fifteen galleons from you, and another three for this curious muggle pen. Eighteen in total, with a third paid in advance... And a week of time to have everything done." While what the shop owner asked for laying enchantments was quite a lot, it was still less than these pens cost Harry to buy, so he agreed to pay without any fuss.

"Very well, I'll come here next Friday to collect them." The green-eyes wizard said, while handing the enchanter six galleons.

"I be sure to have everything done by then." Emilio replied, before heading back to his workplace.

That's all, folks!
The next chapter will be published in on Monday.
After that, though, there will be no update till the end of July as I will be at the army camp without access to PC or internet.

Leave me a review.