They took the Knight Bus to Godric's Hollow, before they left the alley Harry had taken the time to buy some resources from Diagon with his new found wealth, mostly he had bought books on history, practical magic and the government. One of the books he had bought that did not fit those categories was 'Occluding the mind: A mastery' he had long since finished reading the advanced study book he had been given for Christmas and had found he was moderately successful at the art.

At first it had been hard to focus his mind as he constantly had thoughts and ideas running through his mind, eventually after meditating almost every night since Christmas he had learned to clear his mind at will. After that it was a simple matter of ordering his mind and then placing shields, he had no idea how well they would hold back an attacker but he hoped they would be effective.

He had found that he could control his mind and shields like how he controlled his mithril, the more abstract he became the better they responded. Harry had also found that the more that he delved into occlumency, the easier it became to form his mithril. Now when he wanted to create mithril now he could block out rouge thoughts and focus solely on what he wanted, he hoped that who ever had given him the book would be proud.

Godric's Hollow looked fairly similar to Hangleton except smaller and cleaner, the Knight Bus dropped them off on the main road and as they walked deeper into the village Harry noticed a faint touch of magic in the air, it made sense as this was one of the larger magically populated villages in the UK.

It had come as a surprise when they had gotten close to the old war memorial and it had blurred into a statue of two people and a baby, Harry was amazed at the skill of the magic and absently looked at the faces of the statues only to freeze, he had only ever seen those faces a few times before and yet their faces would always be clear in his mind.

Here where his parents, the same parents he had seen in the mirror of Erised alongside Hermione, that meant the baby was himself, Harry. He did not know how long he stood there but he gradually became aware of an old woman standing nearby. He also noticed Dobby staring at the statue in wonder and remembered the elf saying even that amongst the house elves he was a legend, it made sense that his parents would be revered as legends too.

"Is this your first time here?" The woman said, voice strong and steady despite her frail appearance

"Yes?" Harry asked, slightly confused about why this old woman was approaching him and asking him such a weird question.

"Come with me, if you came to see the statue then you will want to see this too." she lead them to a run down house, Harry wondered what was so important about it when the woman placed her hand onto the gate and a small sign popped out of the ground

'On this spot, on the night of 31 October 1981, Lily and James Potter lost their lives.

Their son, Harry, remains the only wizard ever to have survived the Killing Curse.

This house, invisible to Muggles, has been left in its ruined state as a monument to the Potters and as a reminder of the violence that tore apart their family.'

Harry knelt before it, this was where his parents had died and he had never been told, why had nobody ever thought to tell him this… Around the sign were messages addressed to him, motivational and supportive, stating how much they were thankful to have him. Eventually after taking a moment to take it in Harry stood and drew his wand, he tapped the sign and willed it to write in dark green text 'May it never happen again'

If the woman disapproved of his vandalism she did not show it "Could you show me to the graveyard please?" Harry asked politely, using both his occlumency and the skills honed at the Dursleys in order to hide his emotions. The woman pointed down the street towards the church and a little stone wall beside it "Thank you, Ms?"

"Bagshot, Bathilda Bagshot" She said as she walked off in the opposite direction.

"I can't believe that was Bagshot, Hermione would have been so jealous…" Harry chuckled as he and Dobby walked to the graveyard

"Harry, Sir?" Dobby asked confused

"That woman is the author of a book called Hogwarts: A history, it was Hermione's favourite book, she would talk about it for ages."

"Who is this, Hermini?"

"Hermione Granger… she was my best friend last year but she died… Halloween seems to be an extremely unlucky time for me."

Dobby nodded and he said no more.

"Why is it you never really question me, Dobby? I've made mithril in front of you many times and you don't even bat an eye" Harry asked, he had been wondering for a while but had never gotten around to asking.

Dobby shrugged and just said "Nobody has ever asked for Dobby for his opinions, Dobby just told to work"

"I care for your opinions Dobby" The elf smiled at Harry but did not reply.

Harry had often found himself drawing parallels between himself and the elf, both had been forced to serve people who seemed to hate them despite depending on them for the work. Both had been treated badly just for being different and both had been taught not to ask questions or question their 'families', but where Harry had gotten books and then magic and learnt to find the answers to his own questions Dobby had gotten nothing.

The graveyard was full of names that Harry knew or recognised, most from school but there were a few names he recognised from the history books he had picked up, it was a shock to see the grave of Kendra and Ariana Dumbledore. He did not actually know who Kendra was but he could guess it was Dumbledore's mother, he did know of Ariana however, he had not known the Dumbledores had lived in Godric's Hollow.

It came as a slight surprise when he suddenly read his parents names on their grave, he knew they must have been buried here but it still came as a shock to see the undeniable truth before him, he sat down before the graves and spent several minutes reigning in his emotions.

Dobby gave him space to grieve and kept walking through the graves, Harry had told him what name to search for and Dobby wanted to help, it would have been easier for Dobby if he had ever been allowed to learn to read but despite this minor setback, he was trying his best.

Eventually after looking at every grave he returned to Harry's side, when he realised Dobby had returned Harry stood after a whispered goodbye towards the grave. He soon found the grave he had actually came to see, the grave of Ignotus Peverell. Above the name was exactly the same symbol that had been on Cadmus' grave, Harry still did not know what it meant or how it related to Dumbledore's own symbol but obviously it was linked to the items of death.

Ignotus had been born 12th July, 1214 and died 16th February, 1372, that would make him almost 157 years old Harry realised, he had died 77 years after Cadmus' death, if the story of the three brothers were to be believed, Ignotus' old age was due to the Cloak keeping him hidden from death.

As he read the grave Harry subconsciously stroked the cloak, he had rarely taken the Cloak off ever since he received it for Christmas, it seemed that along with resisting physical damage it also repelled dirt and grime, meaning that it did not need washing or upkeep, this meant that the Cloak still looked as clean as when he had first gotten it.

Harry paused and took a deep breath, ever since Halloween he had thought of nothing but ways to get Hermione back, he still hoped the Resurrection Stone would work as the story said, just like the Invisibility Cloak. However, he couldn't help but doubt his ability to actually find the Stone, if Dumbledore had been unable to find it in over a century then he had no chance in the few weeks left of summer, not without help at least.

"Dobby, have you ever seen anything like my Cloak before?"

"No master Harry, Dobby has never seen nothing like your cloak… Dobby… Dobby would remember seeing something so… wrong sir" Dobby seemed reluctant to talk about it and Harry couldn't think of a reason why Dobby would be so against the Cloak.

"What is wrong with my Cloak, Dobby?"

"It's… dark and cold… Good magic is supposed to give and create, Muggle cities be bad enough as they do not give or take, they just is. Master Harry's Cloak takes and destroys, it is bad magic and draws on the good magic in ways not being natural." Dobby said firmly, as he spoke Harry activated his mage sight and looked at the Cloak, he could not see what Dobby described and wondered if Dobby saw the world differently to himself, despite the differences in sight both he and Dobby seemed to agree that the Cloak was different.

Harry felt something appear nearby, it seemed Dobby had sensed it too as he had risen both his hands in front of him and a large, barely see through green shield materialised in front of him and Harry, Harry in turn had drawn his wand, activated his saber and equipped his gauntlet, it made for an impressive spectacle and despite neither having been trained in combat Harry felt like they could have beaten an average witch or wizard at the moment.

Fortunately they did not need to find out if it would have stopped an above average as rather than attack the mystery visitor waved his hand and summoned a ball of light which floated above him, lighting up the graveyard and all their faces. Harry recognised him immediately "Good evening Headmaster" Harry said sheepishly, feeling like he had been caught somewhere he shouldn't have been, despite the fact he had been doing nothing wrong.

Dumbledore only raised an eyebrow at the greeting and only then did Harry register that while he had been distracted by Dumbledore summoning the light wandlessly the headmaster had drawn his wand, although it was pointed towards the ground and not towards them.

"Good afternoon. It seems you have me at a disadvantage, I do not recognise you or your young friend"

"Dobby, can remove my disguise" Harry whispered to the elf, Dobby looked at him and snapped his fingers, Harry felt the elf's magic crawl over him again, the feeling was as unpleasant the second time as it had been the first. Now free of his disguised he was almost the same height as the still disguised Dobby, it seemed he had grown a fair bit while disguised.

If Dumbledore was surprised at seeing Harry he hid it perfectly "Good afternoon Harry, I was not aware you knew how to disguise yourself, I don't suppose you can prove you and your friend's identities?" he said pleasantly as if they where in Hogwarts discussing the weather, not a graveyard with wands drawn ready to attack each other if needed.

"Only Ignotus' Cloak, I assume it is unique same as Antioch's wand. Also my glove which you suggested is one of a kind" Harry said cautiously, holding up his gauntlet so that the Philosopher's Stone caught Dumbledore's light. Dumbledore nodded and held up his wand for Harry to see, using his mage sight he recognised the colour within the Wand as Dumbledore's own magic, Harry relaxed and turned to Dobby and told him "You can lower the shield Dobby, thank you"

Dumbledore walked over to them and noticed they were by Ignotus' grave "Ah, I should have known this would have drawn your attention, now Harry, if I may be so direct, who is your friend?" he asked kindly, smiling down at Dobby

"This is Dobby, he's a friend who kept me safe after I left the Dursley's"

"I don't think I've ever seen you at Hogwarts, Dobby"

"Me is not being a wizard, great Dumbledore sir"

"He's a house elf" Harry said when Dumbledore looked at him questioningly, seeking an explanation

"A house elf? I've never known a house elf be strong enough to hold a shield charm for any length of time, indeed I have known few wizards that can hold a nearly fully opaque shield for any length of time… of course I have never known a wizard capable of making mithril either so perhaps I should stop trying to apply logic to magic around you Harry? Come, follow me… unless you want more time with the grave?"

Harry shook his head and followed Dumbledore out of the graveyard to a small house, Harry would not have noticed it as the home of a man as great as Dumbledore if not for the giant wards protecting the home "Is this your, Professor?" Harry asked amazed at the sheer amount of protections

Dumbledore chuckled "This is where I live when Hogwarts is out for the summer… and it can also be yours should you wish it"

"What?"

"Let's sit down before I answer"

Dumbledore waved his hand towards the front door dismissively, the door unlocked itself and swung open, he turned and winked at Harry he lead Harry and Dobby inside and into a cozy looking sitting room. He indicated for Harry and Dobby towards the well worn sofa while he sat down in an armchair facing the fireplace which he turned so that it faced the sofa. Next to the fireplace was an intricate golden perch with a bowl just underneath, Harry assumed it belonged to Fawkes.

"Would you like anything to drink?" Dumbledore asked, summoning a glass and drink. Harry shook his head wanting to know what Dumbledore meant as soon as possible, Dumbledore took the time to pour himself a drink before beginning his talk.

"I guess this all begins the night your parents died, your mother placed a strong blood protection on you which made it impossible for Voldemort or anyone bearing his mark to harm you. Knowing that Voldemort still had supporters that would be looking for you I expanded that protection onto your only living blood relatives, those being your aunt and cousin. By expanding the protection they lost some of their power, meaning that now rather than stopping Voldemort or his supporters from harming you it now stops them from finding you, there are more ways to damage a child than just physical harm after all…

"I assumed that your aunt and uncle would have cared for you as their own, the nature of the wards meant that nobody with magic could check up on, if I had gone to your aunt's home uninvited or sent someone in my place the wards would have stopping them from entering or collapse allowing Voldemort's followers to find you. The wards also stopped all means of magical tracking, meaning that remotely checking on your through health and well being charms were also impossible."

Dumbledore drew a deep breath and gave Harry time to digest the information.

"The day after your placement at your aunt's home, loyalists to Voldemort attacked the homes of numerous families that resisted the dark lord in search of either yourself or the location of Voldemort. I saw this as proof that I had done the right thing in hiding you away, the years wore on and I never heard from Petunia aside from confirmation that she had taken you in. I did send an old friend to live in Privet Drive to observe you, a squib called Arabella Figg, perhaps you have seen or heard of her?" Harry shook his head, he had never heard of or seen her before, he would have remembered seeing a squib around Privet Drive after all.

"Well she was there to keep tabs on you, however even as a squib she could only get so close to the house without the wards reacting. She told me that you looked safe but quiet, perhaps slightly underfed and dressed in rags, it was then that I began to suspect I was mistaken in believing in the Dursleys. Still, I thought, better safe and unhappy than dead or kidnapped, this would have been just after your 9th birthday. During this time many death eaters had avoided Azkaban, that's the wizarding prison, by claiming they had been forced to join Voldemort or had been given lighter sentences and had been released from Azkaban.

"Some even came to me asking for your location so they could send thank you gifts… some may have been honest but I fear too many were trying to endanger you, as such I would not let your location be known no matter what. By the time your eleventh birthday rolled around things had settled down and we had received your confirmation letter saying you would be attending Hogwarts the following term."

Pausing to take another long sigh Dumbledore continued "I then decided I ought to visit you and to ensure you were prepared for the wizarding world, I was taking a risk even then as the wards could have collapsed if I had been rejected by either yourself or your aunt, however the situation was different enough that I risked it. Firstly you had opened contact with me of your own free will, as such I was able to convince the wards that I had been unintentionally invited. The second reason was that I thought at eleven you would be relatively safe, even if the wards had collapsed when compared with your one year self…

"Suffice it to say that my first impression of your aunt's home was… less than ideal. I realised then that they had never treated you as their own, at least there were no signs of physical abuse. I then got to meet you and I was surprised at how much of myself I saw in you, if you remember you took me to your room and showed me the mithril you had made, I was stunned that you had managed it, I grew hopeful that despite your childhood there was hope for the future."

Dumbledore took the time to drain his glass and continued, slightly hoarse at talking for so long "Finally after all the events of last year I admit I forget your issues with the Dursleys, after meeting you first at your aunt's house and later in Hogwarts I intended to remove you from that home, I hope you will forgive me for that. You never should have been sent back there and as your magical guardian it was my responsibility to ensure your safety and happiness. That leads me to my offer, since you have been investigating the graves of the Peverell's I was wondering if you would like to stay here for as long as you wish. I have a lot of work that will need doing so you may not see much of me but you and your friend are more than welcome."

Harry glanced at Dobby who shrugged, Dobby did not care where they stayed so long as he could keep Harry safe "We'd love to say" Harry said happily.

"Wonderful" Dumbledore exclaimed happily, Harry got the sense that he was genuinely glad and not just saying it to be polite. "Now Harry, would you mind telling me what happened to cause the wards around Privet Drive to fall?"

"Well it started when I found Dobby in my room…"

Harry told Dumbledore the full story all the way up to when they met each other in the graveyard, Dumbledore let him tell the story in full without interrupting.

"So Dobby was able to get through the wards without invitation? I must admit I never even considered that house elves would be able get in of their own free will, I suspect if he had been ordered to warn you he would not have been able to… "

"Dobby needed to warn Harry Potter! He must not go back to Hogwarts!" Dobby said sternly from his spot on the sofa.

Bemused Dumbledore asked "Why ever not, dear elf?"

"There is great danger! If Harry Potter goes back to Hogwarts he will be in grave danger!"

"Could you tell me what the danger is?" Dumbledore asked slowly, his eyes losing their twinkle and gaining a much harder gaze

Dobby shook his head so forcefully, his ears flapped from side to side "Dobby does not know what the danger is, Dobby only be hearing his bad masters saying they be planning something, something that will put Harry Potter in grave danger!"

"While I would feel happier knowing Harry was not in danger, Dobby, I would prefer he return to Hogwarts where the other teachers and I can look after him and attempt to stop this known danger, rather than he not go to Hogwarts and leave the remaining students under that same danger, he would also be under threat of numerous unknown dangers without anyone being to watch over him."

"Dobby would protect him sir!" Dobby said eagerly

"I do not doubt your willingness to protect Harry, but I feel that my teachers do more than just protect students, we show and teach them the wonders of magic and how to apply it to the world around them, we show students how to work alongside others and how to come up with their own answers to life's questions. If you could give some clue over what the danger is I could take steps to stop it."

"Dobby does not know" Dobby wailed, Harry felt quite awkward sitting there as two people he cared for talked about him.

"Dobby, you can't stop me from going to Hogwarts, but surely I would be safer facing a known threat rather than avoid one threat to encounter an unknown one" Harry said impatiently

"Unknown threats, Harry sir?"

"Voldemort's followers still remain at large and outside of Hogwarts they might try to get revenge on their master by attacking Harry" Dumbledore said

Dobby's ears quivered and he looked as if he was about to burst into tears "Harry Potter must be careful then. Dobby will try and find these unknown threats, then Harry can be safe outside Hogwarts!" Dobby then vanished, fading into nothingness from what Harry assumed was what an elf apperating looked like, he was curious about how the elf had managed to apparate out of the house as Harry had detected had many wards that specifically stopped magical forms of transportation in or out.

"That is a very powerful and very loyal elf you have there, Harry. I hope you understand what you did by freeing it?" Dumbledore said

"What do you mean? He was being tortured by his family!" Harry said defensively

"You misunderstand, I fully approve of you freeing him from an abusive family. However a little known detail from house elf history is that the elves that house elves originate from are the result of high elves… getting friendly with a fairy. Due to the mixed heritage a house elf's body is not capable of channeling magic like a high elf. Their magical power comes from the fae, which have their own natural, internal magical source much like a witch or wizard but get their main source of magic from any witch or wizard who has unwittingly made a deal with them.

"The house elf enslavement contract works on that principle, it is enough enough of a deal that it lets the house elf draw their magic from the family in return for working for the family. Now a high elf draws their magic from their surroundings which they can then direct, but it never truly passes through them or their bodies. The house elves also have this trait, you may have noticed the magic orbiting around Dobby? That is the fae magic drawing in magic with the high elf magic directing it. Due to their fae origins it has often been theorised that should a house elf become free they would become unstoppable and if I am correct you gave Dobby his own source of magic with your mithril?"

"Yes professor, I did…" Harry said slowly, realising he might have done considerable harm by helping Dobby

"Alas that boat has sailed and we can now only wait and see what comes of it. You should know that it is my opinion after talking with Dobby that he is devoted to you and would do anything you asked of him. I also do not believe that Dobby would do anything that requires him being stopped… Now tell me, what did you find out about the Peverell Brothers Harry?"

Shocked at the sudden change in conversation Harry took a moment to respond, "Well, the first thing I learned was that obviously in Little Hangleton Cadmus is considered something of a village hero for winning the battle there. His two brothers fought alongside him, I think that it is this battle that made the brothers either begin searching for or creating the items of death. I know that Cadmus lost his fiance during the battle and we know he wanted the Stone to bring back 'the woman he was to marry'. I believe Ignotus saw something in the battle that terrified him so much that he felt he needed to have a Cloak capable of hiding from even death itself, since the Cloak also acts as a sort of shield by blocking spells and resisting damage, I think Ignotus must either have gotten hurt, possibly fatally or narrowly missed being hit. Finally I assume Antioch fought someone and either lost or almost lost, making him desire an unbeatable wand. In total I found there was a battle where all three brothers suffered and made them desire the items of death."

"Amazing, my... friend and I never even found out about that battle when we had looked in our youth, where did you hear of it?"

"The library in Greater Hangleton"

"Incredible, it never occurred to us that Cadmus might have would be a well known person in Muggle history as well. You should also know that the term we, that is to say the believers of the 'items of death' call them the Deathly Hallows. Have you been to Diagon Alley to get your school supplies yet?"

"I went to Diagon before coming here but I didn't know the school lists had gone out yet"

"They were sent out last week, I'll have to ask Minerva to send me a copy of yours so that you can get your supplies."

"Oh, I also got to speak with the goblins, they said you still had my vault key sir"

"Did I not give it to your aunt when I came to visit?" When Harry shook his head Dumbledore drew his wand and stood up, he raised his wand until it was level with his eyes then slashed it straight down leaving behind a line in the air, Dumbledore then placed each hand inside the line and pried it apart.

From where Harry sat it looked as if he had just changed the shape of the drawing but when he moved around to Dumbledore's side he saw that within the shape a vault of some sort had become visible, it was as if he had cut into a wall and the vault was on the other side of the hole. Taking a look with his mage sight, Harry instinctively knew this was a rip in reality, each edge of the rip glowed with raw untamed magic and Harry suspected if the magic failed the rip would close, violently, regardless of whatever happened to be in the way.

"I call this a subspace locker, Harry. Vastly more useful and secure than a bottomless bag and it is impossible for anyone other than myself to access it, of course it is rather power intensive and dangerous, but that just adds to the thrill, don't you think?"

Dumbledore held out his hand towards the locker and a golden key flew out of the locker and into Dumbledore's hand which was then handed to Harry. Dumbledore then severed the connection between his wand and the rip and Harry watched as the rift slammed shut and winked out of existence, a small shock wave of magic erupted from where the rift had closed which washed over the entire room, "I love magic" Harry breathed in pleasure as he felt the magic wash over him pleasantly.

Here is an idea, in some stories fairies are meant to be either weak or hurt by metal, specifically iron, well mithril could look like shiny iron… perhaps a creature of pure magic like a fairy would be hurt by being touched by something else made purely from magic, such as mithril? Thought for food…

This is the longest chapter, almost 200 words longer than the second longest (generation) and it is almost entirely just Dumbledore talking! I am really sorry if the constant mention of Dumbledore breathing or drinking annoyed you but I couldn't think of another way to break up the lengthy explanations, I mean I could have shortened the explanations but in universe I don't think Harry would be satisfied with Dumbledore saying something like "House had wards, now they gone, stay with me?"