I don't own Harry Potter. But that won't stop me from making an epic Fanfiction about it.
Chapter 4: A Painful Necessity
Harry kept a close eye on James as he, his mother, and Hokey made dinner for everyone. It was an uphill battle with Hokey just to let them stay in the kitchen let alone cook in it. 'She's still giving us the evil eye. And it's oddly intimidating.' He thought slightly amused.
Dinner was awkward as Henry and James talked to each other and ignored Lily and Harry. That was until her water broke and she went into labor. James was quick to call St. Mungo's and soon after that Miriam Strout had shown up with two other healers.
After several hours of rather painful sounding labor his little sister Elizabeth was born. However her name was no longer Elizabeth. Lily had decided to name her Emily instead. 'I wonder if I had anything to do with that. Pfft, of course I did. I guess this also means I have to call her Em instead of Liz'
Harry walked into the room and James was nowhere to be found. "Where did Ja- my father go? Shouldn't he be here?" The healer was hesitant to reply. "Your father said that he'd had a long day and went to go lie down. I'm not sure if he's seen them yet."
Harry said nothing as he walked towards his mother and baby sister. 'That sorry excuse of a man.' "Hey sweetie. Would you like to hold Emily?" she asked with a tinge of sadness and desperation in her voice.
Lily was very heartbroken that James had not been with her after Emily was born. She saw the look of indifference towards both her and the baby and had she the strength to do so Lily might have burst into tears right then and there.
She had hoped that Harry wouldn't be the same. An unfounded possibility but one she feared regardless. The thing that must be understood about Lily above all else is also her biggest flaw. She does not handle rejection well.
More accurately she cannot function without the approval or acceptance of others. This damaged psyche of hers is the result of her home life. A sister that ignored her with accusations of her being 'nothing more than a freak' and parents who tended to be more than non-committal to her and what she did.
Although she managed to make to this point in her life without any major incidents, she's met a few rough patches. One of the bumpier patches would be her friendship with Severus Prince. At that point in her life she had very few connections with other people. And among those the two most important ones were with James and Severus.
When James, unknown to Lily, purposely instigated the events leading Lily to end her friendship with Severus he also unwittingly became her only tether to reality. Luckily for Lily he gave her something to stave off any lingering uncertainties about her existence.
It is no exaggeration to say that Lily's children keep her from falling apart at the seams. Her small group of friends do provide some comfort to her, but ultimately it is Harry, Henry, and now Emily who keep her stable.
Harry, who was currently trying to hold Emily as least awkwardly as possible, had no idea of the extensive issues Lily had but did know that right then and there she needed someone to give her reassurances lest she, and by default Emily, feel even less wanted than James' nonchalance made her feel.
(A/N This was sad to put in but I love the depth her character gets from this. Comment how you feel.)
As Lily saw Harry holding Emily with such care and tenderness she felt whole again. And as if the weight of the world was lifted off of her shoulders she slipped slowly into unconsciousness with relief.
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Harry watched in horror as his mother had slowly drifted to sleep. 'W-what!? You can't just give me a baby to hold and then pass out! That's not something that should ever be done! I mean I have many skills but taking care of a baby is not one of them.'
After a few minutes of almost frantic pacing around the room the fog in his brain clears and an idea shines through. "Hokey." He whispers so as to not wake her up. A soft pop is heard and Hokey is in front of him.
"You know how to take care of babies, right?" 'Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes' but his hopes and prayers were for naught. "Hokey is sorry young master Harry. Hokey not knowing how to care for baby Emily"
'Nooooooo!' Another idea strikes him. "Do you happen to know of any house elves that can take care of babies and also need a master to work for?"
Harry was somewhat familiar with house elf politics. He knew that house elves being let go wasn't an uncommon thing. Usually they're too old to be of any use to most families and sometimes the families they worked for just don't feel the need to keep them.
Luckily for Harry Hokey more often than not comes through when it counts. "Hokey does! Hokey knows that Tizzy and Dobby is looking for families to take them in!" 'Dobby? I guess the Malfoy's haven't made him their house elf yet.' "Ask them if they would be willing to be my personal house elves. 'I have the feeling that I'm going to need all the help I can get.'
Tizzy and Dobby were brought to Godric's Hollow by Hokey in the hopes of a family taking one of them in. "Hokey has brought Dobby and Tizzy young master." 'Dobby looks no different than he did when I first saw him. And Tizzy… well it's always odd to see house elves have hair.'
"Hello Dobby. Hello Tizzy. You're here because I want one, or both, of you to be my personal house elf. Are either of you able to take care of a baby?" Tizzy was very excited that she may be a use to a family like the Potter's. But Dobby was understandably less excitable.
House elves are more than just servants for wizards. They are living beings. People. (A/N For future reference, people are not exclusively human. When I say people I may be talking about centaurs or humans, or even goblins. In this case it's house elves.) They have needs and desires like most living things do.
For example they need to be bonded to a witch or wizard, or their family, in order to survive. The magic that they have sustains the house elves, and allows them the use of their innate magic, is the magic each witch or wizard gives off.
However, they also want to be with a witch or wizard that treats them well. It is a sad fact that most house elves are looked upon as the dregs of the magical world because of their small size and stature as well as their very submissive behavior.
Yet the most surprising fact is that house elves are, in reality, very powerful in their own right. And even more surprising they are a magic based species. The magic they use is all the more powerful because their bonds with their owners strengthen their magical core.
House elves are never to be underestimated. This is however one lesson that Harry had, in his first life, been glad to learn while on the run.
When Dobby heard that the elf needed to know how to care for babies he was crestfallen. He had no experience with children and now he wouldn't be taken in. A great shame in his opinion. House elves with no witch or wizard to keep them was disgrace of a house elf even amongst their own. This mindset is instilled in generation after generation of house elf and still runs strong.
He was about to pop out when Harry called out to him "Dobby would you like to be my personal house elf? I have Tizzy because I want my little sister taken care of. But I want you to be my personal house elf."
Jumping up and down in joy Dobby excitably rambled "Great wizard talks to Dobby so kindly! Great wizard wants Dobby to be house elf. Dobby says yes. Dobby-" Harry interrupts his increasingly loud cheers "needs to keep his voice down so he doesn't wake my mother."
Dobby looked down sheepishly and said in a hushed voice "Dobby is sorry sir. Dobby is happy to be kept." After Dobby bound himself to harry as his personal house elf, Tizzy also bound herself to Harry.
'This time she'll be powerful and sensible if I have anything to say about it. No more of that arrogant attitude. That'll get her killed in the years to come.' That actually did get her killed. No less than a week after graduating.
"Now that everything is settled let's get to bed shall we. Hokey, stay here and keep an eye on my mum. Wake me if anything happens. Tizzy" the house elf listened with rapt attention. "Take care of Emily. Make sure nothing happens to her. If anything does-" he let the threat hang.
Sometimes house elves make mistakes, very rarely, but they happen nonetheless. He wasn't really threatening Tizzy so much as giving her incentive to not mess up. It was his baby sister after all.
"Yes Master Harry. Tizzy will take care of Master Harry's Emmy." Harry gently handed Emily to Tizzy who walked into the next room. "Dobby come with me. Goodnight Hokey." "Goodnight young master Harry."
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"My name is Harry Potter." He smiled "Would you like a seat Dobby?" It took all he had not to laugh when he saw the look on Dobby's face. "The great Harry Potter would offer Dobby a seat? He would treat Dobby like an equal? Master Harry Potter sir, Dobby cannot. Dobby is only a lowly house elf."
'Lowly house elf?' It seems like most house elves have the same opinion of themselves. How sad. There's no re- wait. What if that's what the voice meant? 'To promote of that which has been denied?' Equality, maybe?'
Harry was silent for a few moments before speaking. 'Might as well nip the butt.' "Dobby. You are my house elf now. There will be no inequality between us. You are alive and I am alive. You use magic and I use magic. The only difference between us is that I am human and you a house elf."
Dobby was frozen. Never had a wizard been so…he didn't know what to call it. Unable to process this he just stood there. 'Seems like I can't rush this. I guess these things take time.' "Don't worry about it for now Dobby. Let's just get some sleep." He closed his eyes and almost immediately opened them.
"Dobby. Makes sure my father stays asleep until tomorrow afternoon. Same with my brother." His eyes closed again and this time he fell asleep.
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Harry woke up to Hokey calling his name. "Young master Harry. Young master Harry!" His eyes opened to Hokey trying to shake him awake. "Mmmm…what is it Hokey?"
"Mistress Lily be calling for you. Master James is not waking up and Mistress Lily be feeling sad." Harry was now up and about. He felt bad to put his mother through this but she needed to be away from James. He was, as the muggles put it, a cancer to the Potter family.
Harry quickly ran down the stairs and straight to his mother. Before he entered the room, however, he waited for a second. He could hear her sobs echoing through the room. His heart went out to her but it was a necessary pain. James must no longer have any influence in either of their lives.
If his actions thus far have proven anything, it's that James Potter must be alienated as much as possible. Lily must be firmly on Harry's side and so must his sister if he has any hope of securing a better future for himself and those that are swept alongside him.
He knocked on the door and walked inside the room. 'This'll be tough.'
Lily noticed her son walk into the room and tried to hastily clean herself up. She gave him a rather weak smile that only made her look that much sadder. "Did you want to see me mum?"
"Sniff…I want to hold Emily but that elf won't let me. I-I don't even know why she's here!" 'Shit. She's starting to get angry.' "Tizzy." Pop "Give Emily to my mum. If she asks for Emily then you give Emily to her. Now go wait with Dobby in my room. I'll be up to speak with you later." "Yes Master."
From what sounded like everywhere at once "Harridan. James. Potter." 'Oh shit.' "Where did you get that house elf? Why did she call you Master? Who is Dobby? You had better answer me Harry James. Now."
Harry stood there in both fear and deep contemplation. Many thoughts and questions came to his mind. 'Wasn't she crying a second ago? Did she mention Dobby? Damn she's perceptive. What should I say? Would she kill me if I lied? Would they find me if I didn't?'
Met with Harry's guilty silence Lily was now going from mild eruption to catastrophic detonation and it was showing on her face. 'May she grant me a quick death.' He silently prayed.
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Somewhere in Ottery St. Catchpole.
A small girl with a dreamy expression on her face started giggling as she sat across from her mother. Her mother, who was tending to a potion, smiled towards the little girl as she stirred the blue liquid. 'I wonder what's so funny' However, her daughter's laughter had distracted her stirring. One clockwise turn was all it took.
The potion began to bubble violently and as she turned to add in another ingredient the cauldron exploded and the woman was sent flying. Her daughter had been far enough away so that she wasn't touched but she herself was not so lucky. "Mummy!"
The little girl ran to her mother. "Pandora!" Her father had appeared out of nowhere sprinting towards his wife. He turned her over and saw varying degrees of burns covering the front of her. The worst of it covered her stomach, the lower part of her chest, and her fore arms and hands.
After splashing bottle after bottle of burn salve on his wife he ran to his fireplace to floo St. Mungo's. Looking at her mother lying on the ground her dreamy expression returned and she smiled thankfully. Her mother was still alive. 'It was earlier than I expected but I'm glad I wasn't wrong. You have my thanks Harridan Potter. More than you'll ever know.'
"Luna! Come get your coat we're leaving." Luna turned to grab her coat. 'I wonder what else he'll change.'