Chapter 38

"There are Elves in here?" exclaimed Lily Evans as she looked at the three figures that appeared before her

"Does Mistress Lily want anything?" asked the oldest elf, looking at Lily Evans. The woman was shocked. She knew of course that the old wizard families had house elves but she never saw one when she lived with James.

"I have never seen any of you. What is going on?" she asked them.

"Mistress Lily and Master Harry returned to the Potter Manor, which was empty for quite a while, especially since the old Master Potter died shortly after young Master James died" Lily realized her mistaken assumptions. James never lived with her at the Potter Manor. Even before the two married, they were hiding from Voldemort. James's father was still alive at the time, and as a result James had never been Lord Potter.

"How many other elves live here?" se questioned the oldest elf

"Not many Miss, only two more. They are still working in the kitchen though and could not come and check the new arrivals.

"What's your name?" she asked the oldest elf

" I am Dob, the head of the Potter house elf house hold. More elves lived here before but recently, just before Master Charlus died, young Dobby was sold to some other family. The three elves then disappeared out of sight, leaving the guests standing with shock.

"Mrs. Potter, could you tell me what kind of creatures were these elves? I never heard about house elves before" spoke Hermione

"House elves are sentient being that were once enslaved by old pureblood wizard families and to this day many of them experience great hardships. Malfoys are one of worst offenders, I actually heard that they torture their elves."

"So house elves are like slaves in wizarding world?" asked the girl

"They are slaves. When I was your age I fought passionately against this enslavement but as you can see, my efforts did not produce any results" spoke the elder witch.

"I will help you fight for their freedom, no one deserves to be treated like that!" spoke Hermione quickly. Harry could see that her parents looked very proud.

The group entered the mansion and looked around, the building was huge, and it had many bedrooms, a rather large dining hall and a large library, which grabbed Hermione's attention.

"I think we should check this library to see which good books it has" spoke Lily as the group entered the library.

"That's a lot of books," spoke Harry as the group checked the large room.

Hermione was speechless. "Earth to Hermione?" asked Harry

"Harry, this, this is heaven," smiled the girl as she ran towards the closest bookshelf. Harry shook his head.

"I will leave you three in here. Please behave," spoke Lily Evans Potter, as she left the room.

"This is a large library indeed," agreed Harry, as he also was eager to check some of the books, especially Defense.

"Look, there is even a large circular empty space in the middle," spoke Ginny as she also observed the room.

Hermione already grabbed a thick book, and then jumped on an armchair. "Wanna practice some spells?" asked Ginny. Harry nodded.

The two Slytherin students arrived to the center of the room, and bowed to each other. They then went to the opposite sides of the circle, standing one hundred and eighty degrees from one another. The two students then pointed their wands at the their opponent. The two battled, sending red and yellow curses at each other.

One hour later, both duelists dropped on the ground. "Harry, Ginny, Hermione?" spoke Lily as she entered the room. The older Witch noticed that various books were lying on the floor.

"No dueling in the library. Accio wands," spoke Lily as she retrieved the three wands.

"Now, I want you three to clean this mess by hand, without using magic," spoke the woman as she then exited the room again.

Hermione glared at her friends. "I was reading an interesting book, but no, now I need to help you two," spoke the girl as she began sorting the fallen books.

"It will be fun," spoke Ginny

"Right," snarked Hermione as the three students began cleaning the mess.

As they cleaned, Harry stumbled upon a thick black and yellow book. He saw a picture of a dragon on it. He opened the book, and noticed the title of the book.

"Animagi, and how to become one," read the title of the book.

"Hermione, Ginny, I found a very interesting book," spoke Harry as he showed the large and heavy tome to his friends.

"Animagi? Wow, this would be exciting. What do you think Hermy?" asked Ginny

"Don't call me Hermy!" exclaimed Hermione

"Oh common, this was just a joke. I was just teasing you," smiled Ginny as Hermione shook her head.

"This is a dangerous book, we shouldn't even attempt to follow its guidelines," spoke the girl with caution.

"We have two living Marauders who could help us. Besides, my mother and you are the most brilliant witches of their respective generations, surely we could handle this book if my father and his friends managed to become Animagi," spoke Harry

The bookworm paused. "Fine, but we will explore the content of this book carefully. Slowly. We don't need any surprises," spoke the brown haired girl with caution

"You are no fun," spoke Ginny

"Fun? Ginny, this is dangerous magic," spoke Hermione but the other girl ignored her.

"What Animagus form do you think you will have, Harry?" asked Ginny

"I don't know, a deer perhaps? You will definitely turn into something like a fox," thought Harry

"Hey," spoke Ginny

"What? You are a ginger," grinned Harry as Hermione shook her heads. Her two friends could be complete idiots at times.

"Why would we even become Animagi?" asked Hermione

"Cause it's fun! Duh! We could also become the Marauders: Second Generation, and start a Prank War at Hogwarts," suggested Ginny as Hermione looked at her in horror.

"No! We are not starting a Prank War!"

"Hermione, we will just make our life at the castle more fun," spoke Harry

"Fun, I like fun, this library," began Hermione

"No, this library is not fun. Practicing magic, and pranking others is fun," disagreed Ginny

Hermione paused. "Since you brought this topic, we will have Hogsmeade trips that will start this year. We just need to sign the permission slips," spoke Hermione

"Easy for you to say, you have supporting parents," spoke Ginny with slight anger and sadness

"Hey," Harry put his hand on Ginny's shoulder, "You are family, and I am sure mum will sign the permission slip,"

The girl nodded.

An Elf appeared. "Master Harry, your mother, Mistress Lily told me to tell you that she wanted you three to attend dinner," spoke the Elf

"Thank you Dob," spoke Harry as the House Elf teleported away.

"I still cannot believe that slavery exists in the Wizarding World," spoke Hermione

"Well, I knew about House Elves, but not that we actually owned any. I agree, we need to deal with this problem," spoke Harry as Hermione nodded. The three teenagers finished cleaning, and then exited the library, arriving in the dinning room.

"I see you got my message," smiled Lily as the four people sat by the table. She then called the House Elves.

"Mistress Lily called us?" asked Dob

"Yes. From now on, I will pay you money weekly," spoke Lily

"Mistress?" asked a younger Elf

"Why is Mistress Lily mad at us? Did we do something wrong?" asked Dob.

Lily sighed; she hadn't considered that this would be such a problem. "No, I am not mad at you. I am just displeased about the treatment of House Elves. Believe me, I want you all to be happy, to be paid, to get vacation time," spoke Lily

"But House Elves don't need those things," spoke Dob

"Nonsense. I will pay you ten galleons per week. Each. You can all take Saturday and Sunday off. I only will ask you to work eight hours a day, and if I ever need you to help me in an emergency, I will pay you for your overtime," spoke Lily as chaos erupted in the room.

"Mistress Lily wants to get rid of us!" cried one of the House Elves. They all then began hitting their heads on the walls.

"Stop," spoke Lily as they all looked at her, "I am sorry, I thought you would want those things. How about we take it slow. I can pay you five galleons per week and give you one day off per week?" asked Lily as the Elves looked at her suspiciously.

"Mistress, we don't understand," spoke Dob

"I just want you to be happy. Please accept this offer," spoke Lily as the Elves looked at each other and briefly talked.

"We will take two galleons per month, and one day off per month, Mistress. Would that make you happy?" asked Dob.

Lily sighed, changing the Human Elven relations would be more difficult than she imagined. "Fine, this is good. I will increase your salaries and benefits later. You can go and enjoy the evening" spoke Lily as the Elves teleported away.

"They are completely brainwashed by the Pureblood culture," spoke Hermione

"I know. We will fight it. But for now, we need to discuss a more immediate issue," spoke Lily as she looked at the three students.

"Ginny, I know you had a rough time lately. I am sorry that our families came to such tension. I want you to know that I care about you, and I want you to be happy. Harry technically made you his ward, since he decided to protect you," spoke Lily

"Thank you for this. I am sorry for what happened, I just. I should have gone to Gryffindor, I," spoke Ginny

"Nonsense Ginny. You joined the house where you belonged. I am sorry it caused so many tensions in your family. But you still need a family. Would you like to be a part of my family?" asked Lily as Ginny smiled.

"Thank you," spoke the ginger haired girl as she approached the older woman and hugged her. After that she returned to her seat.

"We have difficult times ahead of us. I think that Voldemort is still hiding somewhere. He will return, I am sure of it. You three will need to double your effort in Defense against the Dark Arts Class. I will also work together closely with Merope and Remus in Hogwarts to make sure we don't face anything unexpected.

"Remus? Uncle Remus will be at Hogwarts this year?" asked Harry in surprise

"We are missing a Defense Professor, remember?" asked Hermione

Harry nodded. "And Merope will guide the young Slytherins. I am sure that we can still put many of them on the righteous path, even Draco Malfoy," spoke Lily

The group began their dinner; the House Elves brought any dishes. Hermione decided against many of them, since she did not like sugar. This amused Ginny.

"You know, I have an idea for the first major prank of the year," grinned Harry as he whispered something in Ginny's ear.

"Harry no,"

"But mum, this will be fun," spoke Harry, as he paused, "Mum, will you help us become Animagi?" asked Harry.

"Merlin Beard Harry, I had enough with four Marauders, and now two Weasleys. With Remus teaching Defense against the Dark Arts, and Sirius likely showing up occasionally in the castle, as well as you three becoming new Marauders, I, I think the school year will go crazy, real fast," spoke the woman

"Mum," spoke Harry

"Mrs Potter," spoke Hermione, "Harry will try to become an Animagus, with or without your control, but if you help us, it will be much safer for us to do so," spoke the girl.

The older woman sighed in defeat. "Fine, I give up. I will help you become Animagi, but you need to follow my instructions, and not do anything reckless. You will also work with Sirius and Remus to gain their knowledge on this difficult subject matter," spoke the Witch, as Harry and Ginny jumped form their seats in happiness. Lily just shook her head, knowing that she would regret this.

A/N: After four years, I am finally back! I have ideas for Harry and Hermione's Animagus forms, what about Ginny? Any suggestions?