Phoenix Hawk, Chapter 15
Disclaimer: Do not own Harry Potter, or any recognizable Wizarding World person, item, or place. All belongs to JKR.
AN: This chapter comes to you raw and unedited. To that end, please note that anything that looks very off, or completely weird, feel free to leave me a review or PM about. Also note that politeness goes so very much further than anything else. My levels of chronic pain have meant that while I'm writing, I haven't got the tolerance for sitting long enough right now to edit. And 3 months is plenty long enough to leave people waiting to see what happened, hm? Onward.
Hermione woke, confused. The memories of the battle caught up to her, including when she'd been struck down.
She turned her head, opening her eyes to discover she was in some kind of airplane. It was a well appointed cabin, and from where she lay, she could make out pale leather and dark wood. She shifted, realizing she had been put in an actual bed that was soft and comfortable.
The rustling sheets woke Harry, ensconced in a reclining chair only inches from the bed. "Hey brave heart, how do you feel?" he asked quietly, stretching the knots from his back before sitting up, collapsing the chair back to standard. He leaned forward to check on her.
Hermione blinked at him, the tenderness in his voice, and open, concerned expression was a tiny shock after the acrimonious behavior of the last few days. She tried to sit up and Harry stopped her with a word. It froze her in place. The betrayal was clear in her eyes.
"Sorry, Hermione, I did that without thinking. You need to keep from going through too much extraneous movement for a few more hours yet. If you can promise not to move around, I'll cancel the spell, otherwise, I'll have to modify it," he explained, releasing the spell over her head.
"I would be angry for that, Harry, but you're working to keep me from making things worse," were the first words out of Hermione's mouth. "Yes, I can keep from moving around. I'd forgotten how oppressive the Petrification spell was," she sighed when the pressure lifted as Harry canceled the rest of the spell.
"Hermione, I want to apologize," Harry mumbled, eyes downcast to the plush carpet beneath his feet. "Our reunion didn't go well at all." He shook his head, privately bemused by the understatement of the week.
"Harry, look at me, please?" Hermione requested quietly.
Slowly, Harry lifted his face. As he took in the sight of his dearest friend, laying in his bed, injured, again, his heart leapt and rabbited. He wanted to hide, sure that his pent up feelings were exposed for all and sundry to see.
"I need to apologize too," she started to say. Harry flinched as though to interrupt. "No, you know I'm right. There was no reason to fight. I should have trusted that you knew what you were doing."
"So, we need to fix this between us?" Harry offered. Hermione nodded, a small smile on her face. "All right, shall we start with the last five years?" Harry wanted Hermione to talk about her life, especially the details of where she stood with the Weasleys.
They talked about their educations after Hogwarts. Hermione had gone on to University at Oxford, studied magic and ancient roots before going to America to the prestigious MIT&M*. Harry talked a little about his trip to Japan, where he learned more about magic than Hogwarts had ever taught him. One of the elves knocked on the cabin door to ask Harry about food about an hour later.
"Whatever's available, Ril, and soft food for Miss Granger. How are the others?" he requested.
"Elves are okays, Master Harrys," she squeaked, "the other peoples sleeping right nows."
"And you?" Harry asked, having gotten the report from Winky about elf injuries while Hermione was unconscious.
"Is okay, Master Harrys," the little elf affirmed with a nod that set her ears flapping.
"Good. If you get tired, take a nap. I know those injuries hurt," Harry didn't order her, but there was firmness in his voice that leaned heavily towards making his words have that effect. Ril nodded, bat like ears flapping even more against her bald head. She backed out of the room, and closed the door with a soft click.
Harry turned, expecting Hermione to be ready to harangue him about Elfin rights. Instead, she had a deeply thoughtful look on her face, eyes fixed on a spot on the ceiling.
"Hermione?" Harry ventured, ready for the potential explosion.
Hermione took a fortifying breath and turned her head to look at her friend of so many years.
"You're doing what you can, right?" she asked, voice small and shaky with nerves.
"Most, if not all of my elves are from abusive homes. There are a couple of families, but the children are required to only do a few hours of work a week," Harry explained quietly, head down again.
He had always had that posture, when trying to avoid confrontation that he felt responsible for. It was a hold over from his childhood, and not something Hermione ever thought would go away.
There was a small pop in the room, making Hermione flinch.
"Is came to help explains things, Harry," Winky said, confidence thrumming through the elf.
"Winky?" Hermione was stunned. The last she had heard of this elf, she had been depressed, and lamenting the loss of her first wizarding family.
"Yes Missy Granger, is Winky. Now listen to Winky," the elf stood on the foot of the bed, so the woman could see her, and explained about House Elves in general, and Harry's in particular.
House Elves were a special race of fae, servitors to the High Court. When Hogwarts had been a gleam in the Founders' eyes, a bargain had been made between humans and the fae. Certain of the House Elves would work for human families as servants and protectors. Being given possessions of their own meant freedom to return to the fairy barrows or to find a new family that might take them on. Of course, these pieces of history became lost, or corrupted, and then there are the cases of abuse.
"The High Court can do nothing, being stripped of most of its power," Harry allowed. Winky was unable to speak of the court outside of her bonded family. "They have tried, but mankind'sability to create technology, as well as destroy the natural world, makes it incredibly hard for them to interact in our world."
Winky agreed that the best they could hope for was freedom and kinder masters. Harry did what he could, but was only one person, and didn't need that many elves.
"No, Hermione, there's nothing to be done about convincing the various wizarding governments to change their laws about servants," Harry said, catching the signs of Hermione thinking about a new crusade.
She blew out the breath she'd held in preparation for a tirade. "Fine. Thank you for explaining this." Both Harry and Winky nodded, and there was another knock at the cabin door.
The door opened at Harry's "Come", and Dibby stepped through, floating a tray of food into the cabin behind him.
"Oh great!" Harry said, changing moods in mercurial fashion. He rubbed his hands together in excited anticipation. "Lunch!" He looked over at Hermione. "Shall we sit you up?" he asked.
She nodded fervently. Winky, still standing at the food of the bed, snapped her fingers and her magic gently brought Hermione upright and created some pillows behind her for a back rest.
"Oh!" Hermione saw the smallest elf she'd yet seen, its large ears and over sized head a pale peach color, the bulbous eyes were hazel. The tiny elf was actually dressed! That was a piece of the situation she hadn't noticed before. Winky wore a simple dress and pinafore in a baby blue and white, belted in white. The smaller elf was in a set of shorts paired with a plain jersey top in similar colors.
"Missy Granger, this is my child, named Dibby," Winky introduced the young elf, pride evident in her expression and words. Dibby bowed, the tray bobbling only a little as he did so, making the drinks slosh in their cups, but not spill.
Harry grinned at Dibby's efforts, and accepted the tray. "Thank you, Dibby," Harry told the little elf, making him squee in delight. Harry laughed, settling the tray in Hermione's lap and taking one of the plates and a glass back to his own seat.
"Thank you, Winky and Dibby," Hermione said as she looked over her tray of food. The elves silently bowed, and left the duo alone with their meal. There was a small bowl of applesauce alongside a plate of scrambled eggs and buttered toast. A glass of water sat beside a small bottle of ginger ale.
"Oh Harry!" Hermione suddenly realized, "Magic! On an aeroplane?" The question was valid. Most of the time, magical energies and Muggle electronics did not get along.
Harry smiled around his bite of shepherd's pie, answering after he'd swallowed. "The plane is shielded from the disruptive effect of magic," he said, a bit of a smirk taking over the smile.
"I hope you'll tell me how?" Hermione asked, remembering the last time she'd demanded information from him.
"I believe something can be arranged. Now, eat. We land in Edinburgh in four hours. My employers will need to talk with your team."
"Thank you Harry."
They finished their meals in silence.
AN: * - MIT&M is the magical version of MIT, which is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Magic. Credit for that belongs to Shadowrun First Edition RPG, 1992
House Elf history is completely made up.