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Chapter 39

"Boss-Man Harry Potter sir is being an idiot." The high pitched voice broke Harry from his concentration. His runes engraving tool was finished and he was working on a business plan to let him make some money off it. Sure he had his drying doorway plates and he was ready to spend a good deal of his next summer break on production ready to sell them.

However, Professor Babbling had been right when she said that no rune smith worth their salt would trust Harry with their rune designs without him being so bound up in contracts it would make it all but impossible for him to create his own products in the future. He had taken her suggestion about licensing the equipment to heart and was trying to work out the best way to do that.

It was more complex than he had assumed. First, he needed to patent his engraver in the magical world, next he needed to work out was he going to have a workshop where anyone could come in and pay a fee to use one or was he going to rent out units, how was he going to protect them against damage, how much was he going to charge, was it worth building a larger air generator that can run multiple engravers for larger businesses, did he want to limit them to only smaller self run business to stop larger businesses from being able to sack half of their rune smiths? So many questions that needed answers.

He looked down next to him and seeing Dobby standing there said, "I'd like to see you do better some of these questions are an absolute pain in the ass."

"What is Boss-Man talking about?" Dobby said, sounding confused.

"The business plan I'm working on." Said Harry. "Wait, if that's not what you meant, what are you calling me an idiot over?" Now Harry was the one confused.

Now Dobby actually looked a little angry with Harry, which was not only odd but something Harry was actually quite proud of the little guy for. After the way he had been treated by the Malfoys it was a miracle that Dobby would ever let himself seem disrespectful to his 'master.' Though the fact that Harry paid him, didn't like his elves calling him master and had even gotten Dobby to switch to calling him boss. Also that Harry swore to them that if they ever wanted to leave he would happily free them. Those added together maybe let the little guy not see Harry in quite the same way as a master.

"Boss-Man is being an idiot because he is forgetting about house elves." Dobby even stamped his foot as he called Harry an idiot.

"I haven't forgotten about you Dobbs nor Sassy or Tipsy or Swayzey. Why would you think that?" Harry was confused again.

"Whats of Dabby? Whats of Debby, Dibby, and Dubby? Boss-Man is never calling them or even talking to them." That had Dobby stamp his foot again.

A creeping suspicion crept into Harry as he asked. "Who are those elves, Dobby?"

"They are the elves of House Malfoy. The house that the idiot Boss-Man is forgetting he is now Warlock of and with it comes the elves." Dobby put extra emphasis on the word idiot.

"Damn it!" Harry exclaimed, his suspension from a few seconds before confirmed. "Are they at least healthy?" He asked, considering Harry knew how the Malfoys had treated Dobby, he was a little worried to hear the answer.

"Dobby is healing them and telling all about how the great Harry Potter is the best boss a house elf could want but then you didn't even call them."

Harry was getting a little annoyed now. "And how can I have done that? There was no mention of any elves in the documents I had received. No one told me about them. You didn't even come and tell me their names, so if I had guessed there were elves and didn't assume they had just been freed or that the bond transferred to Draco I wouldn't have even known the names to summon them."

"Boss could have asked Dobby." The elf stood his ground.

"And you could have come and given me a heads up at any time. I have a lot on my plate, Dobby. School, Hermione, Fleur, the blood feud, Draco is constantly looking for a way to kill me and I'm apparently the only person in this whole bloody country who has the ability to stop Voldemort from possessing people. I don't have the time to play guessing games. If you think there is something I'm not doing when I should be or that I don't know something, just bloody tell me." Harry didn't shout or even raise his voice but there was some force behind his words.

Dobby now looked a little ashamed and Harry seeing that his point was made said. "Now what do I need to know about them? And what's with the names?"

"Nobody's accusing Malfoy family of having deep thinking. Names are simple and easy to remember. The Malfoy elves are physically healed, Dobby be making sure of that. But old masters not be being kind after Dobby escape."

Harry sighed. That was exactly what he was afraid of. He had no idea what to do. He didn't have anywhere near enough experience to be a therapist to abused elves. "Do they have enough work to keep them occupied?"

Dobby shook his head. "All Malfoy properties are either off limits to the elves because there is a business or family renting it or they are empty and already clean only needing to be dusted once a month. That and the gardens around the burnt out shell of Malfoy manor."

Harry sighed again. He had other plans for the land the Malfoy manor sat on and while he expected for it to include some nice greenery he seriously doubted that any of the current gardens would survive. But he didn't want to pull the work from the elves, they needed something to keep them occupied.

"Dobby can any of the Malfoys elves read and write?" Harry asked, having an idea.

Dobby nodded "Debby can. She was learning before she became a Malfoy elf because her old master had problems speaking so he taught her to read and write so he could write his orders down."

Harry smiled. "Excellent." Then he called "Debby." There was a soft pop a few moments later and suddenly stood next to Dobby was a very skinny elf who was wearing a very dirty towel as a type of wrap around dress.

"Master be calling Debby?" The elf curtseyed to him.

"Yes I have a question for you. Was there anything hidden at Malfoy manor or anywhere on the grounds that survived the fire?"

"Yes master lots." The little elf said.

"Is it all still there?" Harry asked

"No master. Some still be there but other things be gone." She was shaking now like she thought Harry was about to curse her for doing something wrong.

"Who took the stuff that's gone?" Harry asked curiously. He had sympathy for Debby but the only way she was going to learn that he wasn't going to act like the Malfoys was to see him not acting like the Malfoys.

"Late master Lucius is taking some things and selling them when old master Draco challenges the new master to a duel and gets him cut off from Gringotts." The elf said practically shaking now like she thought Harry was going to blame her for letting her old master steal Harry's things even though they weren't Harry's things at the time.

"Thank you Debby. Your answer is very helpful." Harry said, smiling at the poor elf. Harry should have thought Lucius would have moved around a few things between the time the manor was burned down and when he took the cowards way out after the duel.

"Debby." Harry said. "Dobby, said you can read and write. I was wondering if you think you and all the other Malfoy elves can go through the entire estate the Malfoy manor sat on and get me a full inventory of what's left. Every magical artifact, every animal that is owned, every coin, even any gold or silver melted candlesticks and the like. If it's magical or worth more than a galleon I want it on a list, can you and the others do that for me?"

Debby suddenly had a wide smile on her face. "Yes Master Potter we can be doing that."

"Okay that's brilliant. I don't need that list quickly so you can take your time and not rush okay? Dobby can you stay a few minutes please." When he said that he wanted Dobby to stay Debby popped away leaving the two of them. "Dobby, I want you and Sassy to arrange for the Malfoy elves to be better dressed. I know I can't give them clothes and I doubt I could get them to take money to go buy their own yet so I want the two of you to work on getting them to look presentable. You can dip into the Malfoy funds to pay for whatever you need for them okay?"

"Yes Mr Harry Boss-Man sir." Dobby smirked as he used one of the long names he knew Harry wasn't a fan of and popped away.

Harry leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh. He didn't need this right now. He pulled his watch from his pocket and let out a curse before he packed up his things quickly. Hermione and Daphne would be finishing their arithmancy class in five minutes and he was supposed to meet them at the door. He pulled out the marauders map next and did a check of hallways and made a point to check the location of people like Malfoy, no, Harry had to remember to call him Draco even in his head because Draco Parkinson wasn't a Malfoy anymore, still Harry had to check in case they were waiting around ready to start something. However apart from Crabbe and Goyle who were both in their common rooms, all students he was in a blood feud with were in classes.

Harry made his way down to the arithmancy class and leaned next to the door listening to what was going on inside. He couldn't follow any of what Professor Vector was talking about but then he didn't need to. He was listening for when she dismissed the class after all. He stood up straighter and turned to wait when he heard the professor telling the class she wanted three feet of parchment on the properties of something Harry had no clue about and a few minutes later everyone started coming out of the class.

One of the first out was Parkinson, Pansy not Draco. She gave Harry a glare filled with loathing when she saw him. Harry however just smiled at the girl. Harry didn't know it but his smile never reached his eyes and from her point of view he looked like he was plotting her murder. Which in all fairness he sort of was. Well there was a part of his mind that was mentally going through a list of curses in case she decided to put Harry in the position where he needed them. Then Harry said, "My congratulations on your recent nuptials Mrs Parkinson." This was the first time he and she had been in a position to talk since Harry learned of her marriage and as the Warlock of a house his congratulations was the minimum he could do without being rude.

A few more students shuffled past leaving the classroom. "Thank-you Warlock Potter." She obviously hated referring to him as Warlock Potter, manners dictated that she had to though. Well technically she should have also mentioned House Malfoy but Harry guessed there was no way he was ever going to acknowledge his position over the Malfoy House. It was rude but not bad enough to merit even a stern look.

"Potter, what are you doing talking to my wife!" Came a call from down the corridor.

Harry turned and saw Draco storming up the corridor looking like a peacock trying to imitate an angry dragon. He couldn't help but smirk. "It's called manners Parkinson. You should try them some time. You know before you completely embarrass your new wife by… you know, being you."

Draco looked like he wanted to go for his wand but Professor Vector had stepped out of her classroom to see what Draco was shouting about. "What's going on here?"

"Potter is harassing my wife." Draco immediately accused.

The arithmancy professor however was not Snape and wasn't going to take the former Malfoy at his word so turned to Harry and asked. "And your side of the story Mr Potter?"

"I'm here to escort Hermione and Daphne down to dinner like I usually do Professor. When Miss, err, Mrs Parkinson came out I offered her a simple congratulations on her marriage and as the very brief conversation, where no insult or threats were made, ended. Mr Parkinson here came storming up the corridor making a scene." Harry could now see Hermione and Daphne standing just behind the professor chaining their necks to see what was going on.

One of the other people from the class, a Ravenclaw named Su Li pitched in her two Knuts "It was as Potter said. He didn't sound like he meant the congratulations, but it was like he was saying what he was supposed to, not being sarcastic."

"Thank you Miss Li. Now with that settled that will be 10 points from Slytherin and Mr and Mrs Parkinson you should be on your way." She pointed back down the corridor towards the grand stairs. Her meaning was clear, and when the two Parkinsons started making their way down the corridor presumably off to the great hall for lunch, the professor followed. She was also probably looking for lunch but decided to use herself to be between the two groups.

Harry nodded his thanks to the Ravenclaw and waved her off, heading the opposite way of Draco and the professor. Harry turned to Hermione and gave her a quick chaste kiss as a greeting. "How was your lesson? He was looking at Hermione but the question was clearly aimed at both Hermione and Daphne.

Hermione was too busy frowning about what had just happened so Daphne answered first. "Full of numbers and formulas as always. Just what was going on with Draco?"

"You heard Su. She had the right of it. Draco was acting all possessive because I have manners." They were heading down to lunch now where they would meet up with Tracy and Neville coming in from herbology. As they walked Hardy told them about suddenly finding he had four new house elves all of whom would need extra care because they were Malfoy elves and he asked if they had any idea what to do with them all.

"Well it won't happen for a while but as Tracy and I are members of your house when we get our own place it wouldn't be uncommon for our Warlock, that is you, to assign an elf to look after us." Daphne informed him. "Also because you will have two wives there is every probability you will have four or more kids so a nanny elf would help a lot."

Harry saw Hermione give herself a slight nod at the idea of four kids. Harry knew from past conversations that Hermione thought two pregnancies each sounded about right. "However, keeping on topic I need something for them now. That inventory I have them doing isn't going to keep them occupied for long."

"You should ask them what they know about things such as where the death eaters are operating out of now." Hermione suggested. "I'm sure Madam Longbottom's team would love the opportunity for a revenge strike after what happened at the trial."

Daphne shook her head. "Won't work, house elves can't report on their old masters to their new ones."

"But it wouldn't be Lucius or any of the Malfoys they are reporting on. It would be other people who aren't protected like that right? Hermione asked.

"Wrong unfortunately. The only way they know where those things are is because Lucius was there. That makes it his secret and that means they can't speak of it." Daphne explained.

At this point they had arrived at the entrance hall and were distracted by meeting up with Neville and Tracy. The five found seats at the Hufflepuff table with Susan and Hannah and while they were tucking into bowls of chicken, bacon and mushroom stew with fresh baked bread and butter Harry caught the rest of them up on his issue. Hoping that one of them would have some idea of how he could best help them.

As they ate Harry also took the opportunity to glance over at the Slytherin table and Pansy and Draco were both spending time glaring at him. The two of them couldn't have been more obvious if they were wearing mundane hi-vis vests and holding up signs that read I'm Plotting Your Murder.

"How the hell did those two ever get into Slytherin? Aren't your lot supposed to be sneaky and crafty? They have worse poker faces than a kid with chocolate all over their mouth claiming they have no idea what happened to the last of the cake."

Daphne looked up and saw Draco and Pansy both still glaring at them. Then you could see it on her face as she processed Harry's words. At first an amused smile at Harry's comparison. Followed by a look of confusion that was then replaced by worry. "Harry, maybe I'm being paranoid but my father once told me there are two ways to be sneaky. The first is to find a way to make it so your opponent can't see you. The second way is to make sure they only see you. Do you understand?"

It took Harry a few moments to think through what Daphne had said. "The second way is a distraction. You're so busy looking at the distraction you miss the other person getting in position to stick a knife in your back."

Daphne nodded when he understood. "Exactly. They are being very open about hating you they are making themselves the chief suspects if anything happened to you. But if they are questioned well they blame you for what happened to their families and are understandably upset by it. 'But we didn't do anything to hurt him Auror and we will even take a magical vow to say that.'" Daphne mimicked Pansy's voice for the last bit.

"So the question is who is it that we actually need to watch out for?" Tracy followed her girlfriend's logic.

"Well it's probably someone influential. No way Draco or Pansy play distraction for just anybody." Daphne said.

"Not necessarily, it could be someone who is lower down working for someone like the Parkinson Warlock. The Warlock could order the two to play their part to give his cat's paw the opportunity." Harry added. He was quickly coming to see what the two Slytherin girls could see.

"And as the Parkinsons will work with any of the death eaters and between them there are a lot of people they could be helping there are a hell of a lot of people that could be waiting for Malfoy to cause a big enough distraction." Hermione who had been listening added.

"So what do we actually do? We already go nowhere alone and we have the bracelets to alert each other if something happens. So do we do anything different?" Luna asked as she broke the crusts off her bread and dropped them into her dinner where they would soften.

"We don't need to change anything for now." Harry decided. "We already knew that something was going to happen and prepared for it. If Daphne is right we know a little about their plan, but if we are honest, it's not specific enough for us to counter anything yet. Just be aware that Draco or Pansy might well try to bait one of us at some point and try not to rise to it."

There was a round of grumbled agreements at that. Nobody liked that the answer was basically 'wait and see' while living life like you're 'more paranoid than a long tailed cat at a rocking chair convention.' Sadly none of them could come up with a better plan

-ϟϟϟ-

Unfortunately the tension wasn't just between Harry's faction and those he had declared blood feud against. There were plenty of first generation students in the school and they had friends and because of Harry's blood feud they knew exactly which students saw them as an 'infestation that needs exterminating' as one blood purist student had been heard to say.

The second week after they had gotten back from Christmas was the first major incident. A first generation Hufflepuff was targeted for some rather standard verbal abuse by one of the death eater wannabes from Ravenclaw. From what Lavender told Hermione based on what she had learned off the rumour mill, the Hufflepuff to his credit had just ignored the taunting and just kept walking. Unfortunately the blood snob in blue didn't like being ignored and hit the first generation with a tripping jinx.

Now if there is one thing you don't do in Hogwarts it's attacking a Hufflepuff who is walking with a bunch of other Hufflepuffs. Especially when the Hufflepuff being attacked isn't doing anything. Even Hufflepuff loyalty won't protect someone if it's clearly their fault. However what an entire class of Hufflepuffs saw was an attack on one of their own who didn't deserve it.

They all drew their wands on the Ravenclaw. It was fairly harmless stuff by all accounts, all jinxs such as jelly legs or the tickling jinx. Nothing that would have caused that much trouble on their own. However the Ravenclaw from his point of view had seen maybe the equivalent of two Quidditch teams worth of people turn their wands on him. Being so outnumbered he started firing off curses. One of the Hufflepuffs was hit with a nasty bone breaking curse. The Hufflepuffs saw it as the person attacking them escalating to curses so of course they responded in kind.

The end result had been that Madam Pomfrey had a lot of work to do. Nobody had died or suffered any permanent injury though the hospital wing was a bit pressed for space for a couple of days.

Unfortunately that wasn't the end of the issues. A lot of the first generation students were saying they had learned their lesson. The lesson was that the blood purists could and would attack you for no reason, and only a fool would wait around to be cursed in the back. The end result was that it was practically war in the school corridors.

Ironically Harry, Hermione and their friends were pretty much left alone in all this. The first generation understood that while at Hogwarts because of the blood feud if Harry did anything it would be a one way trip to prison. It was the same on the other side; nobody wanted to risk attacking them because there were some in the D.M.L.E who would just love the excuse to arrest them.

It made Harry and Hermione's jobs as prefects particularly difficult. Because so many of the houses House Potter was feuding with were involved in the fighting and it was Harry's and Hermione's responsibility to get involved it meant they had to be very careful when it came to stepping in. More than one of the Slytherin blood purists had tried to get them arrested for breaching the neutral ground law. Luckily for them they acted well inside the responsibilities of a prefect. The law didn't consider giving someone detention or taking house points as an attack.

It was Ron who had really come in clutch for them. Apart from the after curfew patrols, Ron tended to stick to his old friends. It wasn't the same as it was back in first year, there was an awkwardness and distance now that would take years to heal and even then only if some serious work was put in. But having a grinning Ron reminded a few unity blood snobs that he wasn't under any neutral ground restrictions and he would just love the excuse to 'test out some of the things Fred and George had come up with' was enough to get most of them to calm down.

A/N

I got scammed on my latest energy drink shipment. as a result I am in desperate need of coments