Harry was not enjoying his summer holiday, the moment he had returned to Privet Drive Vernon and Petunia had rounded on him.
"You've been practicing your freakishness behind our backs, haven't you, boy!" Vernon had growled "There'll be no more of that, you hear me? We're taking your books too, clearly you can't be trusted to read them without doing your freakishness in secret!"
Harry could not remember ever hating the Dursleys more, all of his Hogwarts belongings had been taken from him, all except his homework and when he finished it the work got whisked away to be locked up too, even his wand and two of his rings had been taken from him. Fortunately they could not seem to see his gauntlet ring at all and so it had escaped the Dursleys confiscation of his things.
Harry could have easily unlocked the cupboard, he had long ago learned how to get pick the lock even without his magic, however he did not want to aggravate the Dursleys any further, he feared Vernon might destroy his belongings if he was caught trying to free them. And to add insult to injury nobody had bothered to write to him the entire holiday.
He would have grown bored quickly but the Dursleys had almost tripled how much work they expected him to do and he simply did not have the time to grow bored. The day of his twelfth birthday had started like every other day that summer, except he had began feeling something magical nearby all afternoon, whenever he turned to get a close look it vanished instantly, all he knew was that the magical signature that they left behind was a sickly yellow.
When he finally finished with his work he was going to his room when he suddenly became aware that whatever had been stalking him all afternoon was now moving around within his room, he flexed his hand and felt his gauntlet spread from from its ring from to cover his hand and part of his forearm, the Philosopher's Stone glowed faintly on his palm as if happy to be back to its normal size.
Opening the door quickly he realised the yellow magical signature was a house elf, a house elf that was currently bouncing on his bed. The elf stopped the moment he noticed Harry "So long Dobby has been wanting to speak to great Harry Potter sir, so long! But great Harry Potter was always working and Dobby did not want to interrupt his workings Sir" Harry lowered his gauntleted hand slowly, starting to feel silly, he felt he should have noticed that the signature belonged to a house elf after he spent so long around the elves in Hogwarts.
"Why are you here, Dobby?" he asked tiredly, he knew trying to be polite to an elf would upset them and he was too exhausted to bother having an argument.
"Dobby has come to warn the great Harry Potter sir that he cannot return to Hogwarts!"
"Where should I go then?"
"Harry Potter sir?" Dobby asked confused
"Well I'm not staying here for the rest of my life, actually I think the Dursleys would literally kill me if I said I was going to stay here all year round."
"Dobby does not understand sir… Why would great Harry Potter not want to stay with his family?"
"They aren't my family" Harry said tiredly, he felt some magic take note of his words but had decided enough was enough and to cut his loses, the Dursleys would never appreciate him as family, especially now that he had committed the ultimate sin by deciding to learn magic "I may live under their roof and Petunia may share my mother's sister but they are no family of mine"
"Dobby thinks he may understands great Harry Potter, Dobby serves his family too but they don't see Dobby as family…" the elf's ears drooped sadly before he grabbed Harry's bedside lamp and started bashing himself over the head with it, Harry reached out with his magic and wretched it out of the elf's hands.
"I don't suppose you could tell me why I can't return to Hogwarts?"
"Great danger awaits great Harry Potter sir, a great evil has been awoken!"
"Is it Voldemort?"
"Say not the name sir! Say it not!"
"Sorry… fine, is this to do with he who must not be named?"
"Not… Not to do with he who must not be named, no sir" Dobby said this slowly, as if trying to give Harry a clue, whatever the clue was Harry wasn't getting it.
"One of his followers perhaps?"
"Dobby cannot say…" that must mean that somebody had specifically ordered Dobby not to talk of it
"Okay then… how about this… it would not be an insult to your family if you denied they are behind the attack but it would also not be an insult to not deny it either. Now, is your family in some way related to this danger?"
Dobby stood stock still, eyes wide, Harry breathed a sigh, finally he was getting somewhere. From downstairs he heard the doorbell ring and knew that the Dursleys diner guests had arrived.
"Well if it is not you-know-who directly, is something related to him?"
Dobby nodded frantically ears flapping
"Do you know if I have ever met your family?"
"The Family heir often be complaining about you, but stopped sometime into the school year, Family Lord once had complained about meeting the great Harry Potter" That did narrow it down significantly, it was a shame Dobby didn't know exactly when the heir stopped complaining about him, house elves had no sense of time like humans do, early in the school year could have been anywhere between the first day all the way to Easter.
"So… Something dangerous is going to happen at Hogwarts, you can neither confirm nor deny that your family is involved and I have met the Lord of your family at least once… the family heir complained about me but stopped early last year… could you tell me what house your family's heir is in Dobby?"
"The house of Salazar Slytherin like his mother and father before him" Dobby said proudly
"Is he… blond?" Harry asked slowly, Dobby nodded slowly looking at Harry anxiously "Okay… I think I've got it… but surely now that I know more about this danger I should be at Hogwarts to help stop it?"
"Great Harry Potter is so brave!" Dobby wailed, below Harry heard the conversation briefly pause before Vernon's voice boomed out "Must have left the television on upstairs, I'll go up and turn it off"
"Dobby you have to go, come back later if you wish, but you need to leave, now!" Harry said frantically as he heard his uncle begin to climb the stairs
"Promise Dobby you will not be returning to Hogwarts" Dobby said stubbornly
"I can't" Harry said desperately as he heard his uncle step onto the landing
"Then you be leaving Dobby no choice" Dobby said sadly and snapped his fingers and vanishing into thin air, inside his room every single object including his bed began levitating and floating around his room right as his door slammed open open
"Boy!" His uncle roared charging forward, Harry reacted instinctively and ducked under the man's swing and punched him in the jaw with his gauntleted hand. Normally, Harry would never have been strong enough for Vernon to even feel a punch from the boy but with his gauntlet and the strange power of the Philosopher's Stone his uncle was lifted off the ground and slammed into the floating wardrobe, Harry quickly ran out of the room and bounded down the stairs, past the frightened Masons and too his old cupboard, he willed the door to fly off its hinges with his magic and reached inside and quickly shoved everything into his school trunk.
Luckily it was almost entirely packed as he had never gotten the chance to unpack it, finally he retrieved his rings and wand, he put on the summoning ring and called forth his saber right as Vernon came barreling down the stairs, Harry activated his saber and pointed it at Vernon warningly "Stay back" Harry said in a low voice, not letting his fear show
"I'm not scared of a freak like you" Vernon said slowly, despite his words however he took a step back, away from Harry, suddenly Harry felt a fist collided with the back of his head and he realised that Dudley had gotten behind him, propelled forward Harry felt the saber stab Vernon and the man roared in pain.
Harry spun towards Dudley and pushed him back with his magic, enhanced by the gauntlet, he heard Vernon move and forced him back to the ground with magic, stepping over him he left the house for the last time and hurried out of Privet Drive, he knew he never wanted to return and wherever his home was, it was never in the house behind him.
He felt the wards that had surrounded the Dursleys for as long as he could remember break beyond repair and knew that for better or for worse, he had finally began to take his life into his own hands. Taking a moment to think things over, Harry knew his first step would be to change his appearance, even if he were not famous in the magical world it would be unusual for a twelve year old child to be walking around on his own, he considered trying to transfigure himself to look older but knew if he got it wrong the result could be disastrous.
"Dobby?" Harry called experimentally, almost immediately the house elf popped up in front of him
"Dobby is sorry great Harry Potter sir, Dobby did not know he was putting great Harry Potter in danger" Dobby sodded
"It's fine, just don't put me in danger again, please"
"Better lightly injured than dead… Dobby thinks" Dobby said quietly
"I would prefer to avoid both if I'm honest, now we can talk about how much pain you think is acceptable later, for now, regardless of this danger at Hogwarts in the future, I'm in big danger now. Would you be able to make me look older, say 19, and stop anyone from being able to find me?... Maybe change my hair too so I don't look like normal?"
"Dobby could sir!" Dobby said excitedly, he snapped his fingers and Harry felt Dobby's magic crawl over his body, it felt like a million insects had landed on him, when the feeling passed Harry had grown almost twice as tall as his old height. Another snap and Harry felt his hair grow out and lose its untidiness, reaching up to touch it he noted he now had curly hair and pulling it down to eye level revealed it was now a mousy brown colour.
"This is brilliant Dobby, how long will this last?"
Dobby seemed to blush at the praise "As long as great Harry Potter wishes it to last"
"Wow… Thank you Dobby, seriously… do you want to stay with me or do you have to go?"
"Dobby would like to stay and help the great Harry Potter… but Dobby is afraid that his masters may call for Dobby and punish him for being away from his duties for so long."
"They can't punish you if they can't get you can they?"
Dobby looked at Harry hopefully and Harry quickly formed a pair of shoes for the elf made of mithril, he gave them the ideologies of comfort, resizing, cushioning, weightlessness and soles of air, the same ideologies on his own shoes, he then added the idea that while Dobby was wearing them he would be unable to hear anything that Harry couldn't and that all magic must be approved by Harry before Dobby could receive or use it.
"Put these on Dobby, hopefully they will stop your masters being able to call you, it's only a temporary solution, but for now it should work fine" The moment Dobby put on the shoes Harry got asked if he wanted the Malfoy family magic to feed Dobby, Harry agreed instantly knowing that if Dobby did not get his family's magic he would eventually die.
"They good?" Harry asked, anxiously
"Yes great master Harry Potter sir! They is being the best shoes Dobby has ever had the pleasure of wearing!"
"Perhaps you should just call me Harry? At least while we are in the Muggle world, don't want to draw attention to ourselves do we?"
"Dobby… Dobby could… if… if that is what… Harry wishes"
"You might also want to make it so anyone looking at you thinks you're a human since Muggles aren't used to seeing house elves."
Dobby snapped his fingers and he slowly formed into a child just smaller than Harry's current height and he looked like he was now Harry's younger brother, even the elf's pillowcase had morphed into a smaller replica of Harry's own outfit.
Harry nodded and stuck out his wand hand out into the road and waited, hoping he had remembered how to summon the Knight Bus from back when Dumbledore had told him last Summer. Just as he was about to give up hope a large bright purple triple decker bus popped into being in front of them, he and Dobby boarded the bus and when asked Harry told the conductor they wanted to go to "Greater Hangleton please"
Alternate title: Harry the House Elf.
So far, the next three chapters are all during the summer, if anyone wants to guess what will happen feel free, I might even say if you guess correctly. The Summer between year 1 and 2 will introduce more of the "main" characters that, most likely, won't be killed off, possibly.
In case anyone is confused about how the Dursleys went from letting Harry go to Hogwarts to locking away all of his things, during the first summer they were terrified about what Harry might know, since then they had over 9 months to forget their fear and decide that Harry isn't as strong as they fear.
As next week is around Christmas I will either have the next chapter up before or after Christmas day depending on how I feel.