-8-
Walking up the stairs to his bedroom, reading the Daily Prophet, Harry was pleased with the chaos he had unleashed on the magical world. According to the articles, Albus Dumbledore and his lackeys who had tampered with not only his memories, but those of muggles, and were accomplices to child abuse were now in the DMLE cells. The ICW, because of the crimes Dumbledore had committed with Grindelwald, had gotten involved and there was a lot of talk about Hogwarts being shut down for a while, to give the authorities the time to strip the castle down and investigate all of Dumbledore's crimes and their effects on the population of magical Britain, but nobody knew for sure if it happened.
But there was no shred of doubt in his head the school would be losing its current staff, and he felt nothing for them. Harry also found out the Weasleys had been arrested and were being questioned for their own crimes. Molly and Arthur, and Ron had been arrested for their own crimes, and the five elder Weasley boys were also being questioned to see if they were accomplices.
The adult Weasleys, Molly particularly, had entered an illegal marriage contract, signed by Dumbledore and herself when Ginny was only 3 months old.
3 months!
The whole idea was sick! But it was significant as it was line theft, and that was not only illegal but immoral and carried hefty punishments. Harry honestly hoped that Molly Weasley's punishment was what he'd suggested; losing one of her hands and her tongue should make the old bitch understand the depths of her mistake. If not then he would see to it, personally.
And then there was Hermione Granger; Harry had made sure the solicitors sent the family copies of the newspaper, with helpful hints pointing to the bits of the articles where their own daughter's name was prominent. On top of that, Hermione had to answer some extremely uncomfortable questions, and a group of Aurors had gone to her home and forcibly reclaimed the books Dumbledore had managed to pinch from the Potter family library with his limited access.
Harry had made sure to tell the solicitors to take a message to the Grangers, especially Hermione, and tell them not only had he known about the theft and the spying, but the fact he had actually considered if expending the effort to save her was worth it, and to say it was really no wonder she'd never had any friends since she was a backstabbing little bitch, and if he ever saw her again, she would regret betraying him. But what happened to her now, Harry really did not care.
Walking towards his bedroom, Harry paused when he heard a sound like squeaking bed springs, and a happy little yelping sound. Curious, he threw open the door, and he sighed in annoyance when he saw the House Elf wearing the filthy, ragged pillowcase. The elf turned.
"Harry Potter, such an honour it is!" The elf squealed.
Harry sighed. "Who are you?"
"Dobby, sir. Dobby the House Elf!"
Crap, he'd forgotten about Dobby. "Why are you here? Why the hell are you jumping on my bed?" Harry demanded.
Dobby stopped and looked aghast as if he hadn't considered his actions would be seen as offensive. "I am sorry, sir. But it is an honour."
"Why don't you sit down, and tell me why you're here?" Harry smiled at the elf.
"Sit down?" Dobby's lip wobbled and his voice rose pathetically. "Sit down?" He wailed and he began to cry.
"That's enough, Dobby," Harry unleashed some of his magic. Dobby choked when he felt it, and he stopped wailing, gazing up at Harry in awe.
"Dobby apologises, Harry Potter sir. Dobby has never been told to sit down by a wizard, like an equal," there was pure adoration on the elf's little face.
Harry sat down. "Why are you here, Dobby?" He asked bluntly.
"Dobby is here to warn Harry Potter. Harry Potter is not to go back to Hogwarts!" Dobby waved his hands desperately.
Of course, Harry knew precisely why the elf was even here, but he wanted to see what more he could change. "Why?"
"Great danger is coming to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
"What kind of danger, Dobby? It's going to take a lot more than the word of a hysterical House Elf to persuade me not to do something," Harry said. While he would listen to his own House Elves, he would need a better answer than vague warnings. He couldn't tell Dobby he knew a basilisk would be unleashed because of Lucius Malfoy's petty feud with the Weasleys, with everyone.
"Dobby does not know, sir," Dobby confessed. "But Dobby knows Hogwarts is too dangerous. That is why Dobby has come by himself; Harry Potter must not return to Hogwarts. Master would want Harry Potter to be at Hogwarts when the danger comes. Dobby must not let Harry Potter die!"
Harry wondered if the Malfoys had done something to Dobby, to their elves, in general, to make them speak like this. "Okay, look; it's just Harry, there's no need to call me by my full name all the time. Also, why is your master doing this, is it because Dumbledore is being forced from the school?"
"Yes, sir."
"And what have you planned to do to stop me from going to Hogwarts?" Harry couldn't help but ask.
Dobby looked shifty. "Dobby…," he began, but he stopped.
Harry became tired of this game. "Dobby, what were you planning to do?" He snapped.
Dobby froze. "Dobby…Dobby thought if Harry Potter felt his friends had abandoned him, he would not want to return to Hogwarts this term."
"It will take far more than a few missing letters to stop me going to a school, Dobby, and besides I'm not going back to Hogwarts this term," Harry decided to come clean to the House Elf.
Dobby froze and stared up at him in shock.
"I left Hogwarts a few weeks ago, with all of the trials Dumbledore and his lackeys are going through, and I never liked the educational standards of the school. So I'm leaving to a better school," Harry went on with his explanation. "Nobody will know what I'm planning, not until it's too late, so your master can do whatever he likes."
Harry did wonder how the House Elf took the last part of his statement, but he decided it didn't matter. From what he gathered from his observations, Harry had the impression Dobby knew the vaguest parts about Malfoy's insane plan, but if he knew about the basilisk or the fact Malfoy had unleashed Voldemort's Horcrux diary on the castle, he didn't know.
"Now, go, Dobby, and thanks for thinking of the best, but next time…try to think through your plans," Harry said.
Dobby stared up at him in surprise, but then he nodded in satisfaction. "Dobby thanks Harry Potter for deciding not to return to Hogwarts," he said before he clicked his fingers, and he vanished in a wisp of smoke.
Harry watched him go, his mind whirling as he considered the news. Merlin, what was Malfoy thinking? Oh, he knew. Malfoy was taking advantage of the chaos caused by Dumbledore's fall from grace, and he wanted to cause even more damage. Perhaps he planned on putting someone with like minded beliefs in charge of the castle. Harry knew if that happened, which was what he had wanted in the unaltered timeline, then Hogwarts would become a nightmare.
'And to think people like him feel Salazar Slytherin wanted this,' Harry thought, knowing from Slytherin's memories the Founder had merely wanted to take muggle-borns away from their parents to prevent them from being killed, and to stop the muggles from tracking the magical world down.
But sadly history had been perverted, rewritten so the truth was hidden.
Harry rubbed his chin, wondering what he should do. For months he had been wracked with indecision; the Chamber of Secrets was one of the most important years in the unaltered timeline; with the destruction of the Horcrux, the death of the basilisk, the revelation he was a parselmouth, and the way the Weasleys were given the prize money to go off on holiday to Egypt which meant Black would see that picture in the Daily Prophet with Pettigrew on it, Black would then escape and then Pettigrew would run for Voldemort, it was one of the most important sequence of events out of this whole mess.
But then he had changed his mind. Harry had decided to expose Dumbledore for all of his crimes and go off on his own and find his own way without manipulations holding him like a leash. Harry went back to the study and he took a seat, and he sighed as he closed his eyes and considered what possibilities there were.
It was tempting to just let the basilisk loose and see the magical world tear down the myths and legends of Hogwarts being a safe haven for magical learning. What was really tempting was the thought of everyone being thrown into a state of panic without someone like Dumbledore or himself there to protect everyone without anybody else using their common sense or brains to solve the problem.
In fact, he was leaning heavily on the idea. The British Magical community needed to learn how to live without a net. But at the same time, what would he do about the Horcrux? In his research, he had learnt curse breakers dealt with the things all the time. If they were drained of their magic, then the dark wizard who created them would die out, but since Voldemort had linked himself to the magic of his followers, they too should die. It would serve them right for everything they'd done.
-8-
After the encounter with Dobby, Harry made sure the House Elves stopped any more unauthorised elves from coming into Potter Manor before he continued with his preparations for his first real summer holiday. The work was done, and he had everything set.
"We'll be going on holiday soon," Harry smiled down at the House Elves.
"The Potter villa in the Caribbean is ready, Master Harry," Mixie said.
"Oh, good, I'm looking forwards to it, Mixie," Harry said.
"Ah, one of the villas," one of Harry's ancestors swooned. "They're amazing places."
"That they are," another voice agreed. "Hello, Harry."
Harry looked up and saw his mother and father, both were smiling at him. "Hello, Mum, and Dad," he greeted, unsure of how to relate to them. Ever since he had walked into Potter Manor, they had been over the moon…but he
-8-
From the moment Harry learnt the Room of Requirement was a time machine, and it could show other possibilities, he had wanted to see what could have been, but he'd too busy to see them. And so, on the night before he was due to Harry gave into his curiosity and he used the Time Watch when it was finished to show him the possibilities of what could have been in other realities.
The only problem was there were dozens of parallel universes for him to see.
-8-
Uagadou.
The place was as mysterious as they came. The school was built into a mountain, magic expanding into enormous caverns and held in place by enormous pillars, making the place resemble an enormous underground temple or ancient city. It had surprised the students of the school when Harry Peverell turned up, and they were even more shaken when they learnt Harry Peverell had once been Harry Potter.
For a whole year while he mastered the basics, Harry made some new friends. Uagadou had Quidditch, but they played it differently from Hogwarts. For a start, they had year teams, not House teams. The lower years relied on flying carpets, instead of broomsticks. But the upper years were advanced enough that they were able to fly without broomsticks or carpets, they channelled their wandless magic and used it to fly without any kind of support.
The Quidditch games took place in a vast cavern underground. And by vast, it was vast.
Harry made dozens of new friends. He made them slowly and cautiously while he went on with his work. To his delight, Harry's secret lessons in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts had paid off.