Lucius Malfoy stared at the fire as his mind raced in thought as he took another sip of fire whiskey; for several hours now, he had been sitting in the same spot and staring at the roaring fire in his study's fireplace as he continued to pilfer the contents of his liquor cabinet.
The reason for his night of self-exposed exile was due to a certain raven-haired Metamorphmagus that was increasingly causing him a headache that refused to go away, no matter how many pain potions he took.
It wasn't bad enough that the little brat had somehow destroyed his master, the greatest wizard since Grindelwald, what was worse was that the boy seemed determined to fill Lucius' son and heir with dangerous ideas regarding the way the Wizarding world was supposed to work, and what was worse was that the little brat had somehow managed to ensnare Lucius' daughter and wife as well!
All year now, Lucius had forced down his bile as he watched his family fall for the boy's seemingly innocent act; Lucius had been forced to listen as his wife told him how Potter was taking to the lessons that she was giving him with gusto and was shaping up to be a proper gentleman.
When word had reached Lucius that his son Draco was spending time with the boy, Lucius had, at first, been pleased with his son, thinking it an excellent political move on his son's part to ingratiate himself with the future Lord of House Potter.
But soon word had reached Lucius that Harry was filling Draco's head with dangerous ideas that were unfit for a Pureblood like his son to dwell on; naturally, Lucius had immediately written to his son and ordered him to cease all contact with the Potter brat, but then Potter had saved Lucius' daughter from being dishonored and Lucius had been forced to allow his son to continue his relationship with Potter, for no other reason than family honor.
But when Draco had come home from Hogwarts for Christmas break and begun to ask questions about whether Purebloods were, in fact, better than others as he had grown up believing, Lucius knew that things had gone too far and ordered both Rhea and Draco to cease all further contact with the boy or else risk Lucius' wrath.
Much to Lucius' aggravation, Rhea began to openly defy him by not only continuing to associate with Potter but by also refusing to obey her father's wishes when he told her that he was planning on beginning talks about starting a marriage contract between Rhea and the heir to the powerful Rowle Family.
Lucius had expected his daughter to be happy that her father had found such a good match for her and had fully expected her to do her duty to house Malfoy and secure a powerful alliance that would see the Malfoy family into the next generation.
Instead, Rhea leveled such invectives on Lucius that it had left him momentarily stunned into silence,
"I will decide who I marry! Not you!" Rhea raged, "I am not a piece of meat to be sold as you see fit, father!"
Without another word, Rhea had stormed to her room, slamming her bedroom door behind her; Lucius had turned to his wife in shock, which had been made worse when he saw Narcissa smirking with barely concealed amusement.
His daughter's disobedience was the final straw, as far as Lucius was concerned, and Lucius began to think of some way to rid himself (and more importantly his family) of the constant problem that Harry Potter had become to not only Lucius' family but also to the entire system in which Lucius' world was built.
For weeks Lucius had wracked his brain, coming up with plan after plan, only to throw them away in disgust as each proved either reckless or asinine, and Lucius began to grow irritated at his inability to figure out how to dispose of an eleven-year-old child; were it not for the wards placed around the Weasley home, Lucius would have simply gathered some of his old allies and stormed the hovel, killing the blood-traitor family and leave their home burning as they left.
As the summer holiday began to end, Lucius began to worry that he would not find a way to get rid of the brat when the solution fell into his lap, almost literally; before his master had fallen, he had given Lucius a book that he said was very valuable to him and had the power to unlock the legendary Chamber of Secrets.
Naturally, Lucius had been honored when his master had given him so powerful an item to keep safe on his behalf, and even when his master had disappeared, Lucius still had refused to throw the book away as his wife had suggested, fearing the consequences if his master should return and discover the book gone.
But after ten long years, Lucius had finally decided that the risk was worth the reward and had begun planning his revenge against the Potter brat for daring to infect Lucius' family with his blood-traitor ideas.
If Lucius' idea managed to work, not only would the danger that Potter presented be gone for good, but also the reputation of Albus Dumbledore would be torn to shreds and the aged headmaster would be forced from Hogwarts in disgrace.
As an added bonus, the Weasley Patriarch would also find his reputation destroyed and would most likely lose his position at the Ministry, thus removing the annoying bill that he was attempting to get passed; the way Lucius saw it, it was as if he was killing three birds with one stone.
As Lucius gazed into the flames, a smile slowly began to spread across his face as he pictured the Potter boy destroyed once and for all as he should have been a decade ago when Lucius' master killed the boy's parents.
Taking another drink, Lucius smiled as he felt the whiskey burn its way down his throat; if all went according to plan, not only would Hogwarts be free of the filth that had polluted it for far too long, but also the threat of Harry Potter's influence on his family would be eliminated permanently.
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Harry sighed wearily, placing the end of his quill in his mouth as he paused his writing and stared down at his Transfiguration essay; the essay was the last piece of homework that Harry had and he was eager to finally be free to enjoy the remaining month of summer that he had before school started again, and yet despite his best efforts, Harry was still three inches short.
Throwing his quill down in annoyance, Harry wished Dora was here to help him as she always seemed able to find a way to milk a few more inches into his essays where Harry had given up; unfortunately, Dora had been accepted into the Auror program and was therefore unavailable to help Harry.
As Harry thought of his surrogate older sister, he felt a wave of sadness pass through him; Harry was proud of Dora, it was true, but at the same time he missed her company which had been less constant since the enormous workload that Dora was under seemed to keep her in a constant state of study and training.
A sudden knock had Harry turn around as his bedroom door opened and Jaya appeared,
"Master Harry, Mrs. Wheezy wanted me to tell you that it's being almost time to go,"
"Thank you, Jaya," Harry replied warmly, "I'll be right down."
With a nod, Jaya left, softly closing the door behind her as Harry turned back to his homework; for over a month now, Harry had been going to see a mind healer twice a week to help him overcome the trauma that had come from Professor Quirrell's death and the results were more than Harry could have hoped for.
The process had been slow at first, but before long Harry was made to see that Quirrell's death was not his fault; rather, Harry had begun to see that even though Harry had inadvertently caused Quirrell's death, it had been self-defense and once Harry had discovered that, the nightmares had finally begun to end.
Now, after a month of seeing the healers, Harry was finally beginning to look like himself again, instead of looking like a starving rat, Harry now looked as he had before the event with Quirrell had taken place, though Harry was still being taken to his sessions by his parents, who were taking no chances of Harry suffering a relapse.
With a final sigh of contempt for the essay in front of him, Harry slowly stood up and stretched before making his way out the door of his room and downstairs to join his family and attend his next session with the mind healers.
XXXX
Dobby wrung his hands anxiously as he thought of what he should do; Dobby had served the Malfoy his entire life, just like his parents had before him, and their parents before them, all the way back to Dobby's four times great-grandparents.
Dobby had always been told that it was not his place to question the orders of his masters, but Dobby was not like other house-elves; he didn't want to serve the Malfoys, who were always cruel to him and making him hurt himself for the simplest of reasons.
Other house elves would think Dobby to be a freak of nature for his wish to be his own master, but Dobby cared not at all; for to him, the other house elves were the freaks for happily serving those who treated them like vermin, those like the Malfoy's, for example.
When Dobby heard that his master was planning on using a dark artifact given to him by the Dark Lord to try and harm Harry Potter, as well as the other muggle-borns at Hogwarts, Dobby knew that he had to do something; yet, the idea of going against his master terrified the poor elf, which was why he was currently in his cupboard wringing his hands in indecision as to what to do.
If poor Dobby was caught, he would be brutally punished, perhaps even beheaded as was the case with other house-elves that had dared to defy their masters in the past; but at the same time, Dobby knew that he had to do something to save Harry Potter, for it was Harry Potter who had saved the Wizarding World and every creature of magic owed a debt to the Boy-Who-Lived for vanquishing the evil Dark Wizard that would have made slaves of them all.
Quickly strengthening his resolve, Dobby let out a breath that he didn't realize he had been holding before snapping his fingers and disappearing with a loud "Crack," determined to do something that he had never done before, and something that would have made Dobby's poor parents very disappointed in him: defy his master.
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Luna smiled happily as she watched the Weasleys (and more importantly, Harry) zip around above her head; Harry's birthday had been a few days ago and Sirius, in a supreme act of altruism, had not only bought his godson a new broom but had decided to buy all the other Weasley children new brooms as well, much to their astonishment and delight.
Luna smiled as she saw Harry give a whoop of delight as he performed a barrel roll, followed up by an impressive dive; Harry had been very morose lately and she had been worried about him these past few weeks since his return from Hogwarts, though thankfully his visits with the mind healer had helped a great deal in returning the smiling boy that Luna cared so much for.
Harry had been Luna's first friend, he was the first one to not make fun of how she dressed or how she believed in what others called "Made up creatures," and was always willing to listen to her talk. All these things combined made Luna very fond of Harry, but the thing that had made her certain that Harry was her best friend had happened a few years ago when Harry had saved her mother's life.
The Weasleys had come over to Luna's house for the day while their parents had gone out to celebrate their anniversary, and were playing a game of hide and seek; Harry had chosen to hide in Luna's mother's lab, thinking that no one would look for him there.
It was due to this that Harry witnessed Luna's mother accidentally mix up a new spell that she was testing and had managed to tackle the Lovegood matriarch to the ground as the spell caused her wand to explode; both Luna's mother and Harry had suffered severe burns and the lab had been turned into a smoking ruin, but thankfully neither Harry nor her mother had suffered worse than that. Had Harry not intervened, Luna was sure that her mother would have died and Luna had sobbed into Harry's shirt as she tearfully thanked him for saving her mother; afterward, Luna's mother made the decision to end her experiments as she saw them as too dangerous to continue and the idea of leaving her daughter behind too heartbreaking to think on.
To everyone's surprise, the Unspeakables of the Department of Mysteries had paid the Lovegoods a visit not long after the accident and offered Luna's mother a job because of her potential as a spell caster; Luna's mother had almost turned them down but had taken the job after Luna had made an impassioned speech on how her mother should not abandon her love of creating new magic, especially now that she would be able to do it in a much safer environment.
As Luna watched Harry do another barrel roll, followed up with a three-sixty spin, Luna laughed gently; she would be starting Hogwarts this year, which meant that she wouldn't have to suffer another year without her friend, and even better, she would finally learn how to be a great witch like her mother.
"Children!" Molly suddenly called from behind Luna, making the poor girl jump slightly, "It's time to come down! Lunch is ready!"
"Coming Mum!" Ginny called back as she and the other Weasley's began to descend toward the ground; once they were all on the ground, Luna raced forward and gave Harry a hug, which he quickly returned before they all made their way into the house to enjoy their lunch.
XXXX
Harry smiled happily as he entered his room, his new Nimbus 2001 tucked under his arm; he could hardly believe it when Sirius had gifted it to him for his birthday a few days ago; Ron had immediately asked if he could have Harry's old broom, but then Sirius had said that Ron wouldn't need it and before Ron could ask why not, Sirius had presented all the Weasleys with new brooms, causing Harry's godfather to be tackled in a group hug as all the Weasley's sobbed their thanks before rushing out to try out their new brooms.
Harry's happiness quickly turned to shock as he noticed that his room wasn't empty; sitting on his bed was a tiny house-elf wearing a very dirty tea cozy and staring at Harry in what could only be assumed was awe.
"Um….hello," Harry said as he slowly closed his bedroom door,
"Harry Potter…" the small elf said softly, "Such an honor it is!"
"Um….sorry to correct you, but my name is Harry Weasley, not Potter."
The house-elf cocked its head slightly at that and it stared at Harry for a moment as though thinking,
"No matter what name you be going by, you are the hero Harry Potter who triumphed against evil!"
Harry blushed at that before gently setting his broom down against the wall and turning back to the diminutive elf,
"Um, thank you, I guess. Not to be rude, but who are you?"
"Dobby, sir," the elf replied, "Dobby, the house elf."
"Okay Dobby, may I ask what you're doing here?"
"Yes sir," Dobby replied as he slowly lowered himself off of the bed, "Dobby had to come, to warn Harry Potter!"
"Weasley…" Harry said with a sigh, before the elf's words registered, "Warn me? About what?"
"There is a plot! A plot to make most evil and dangerous things happen at Hogwarts! That is why Harry Potter cannot return to Hogwarts this year!"
"What things?!" Harry demanded, "Who's plotting them?!"
Instantly Dobby's face turned beet red, and his mouth worked wordlessly for a moment before he finally managed to speak again,
"Dobby…...can't…...say!"
A second later, Dobby ran to the closet that Harry and Ron shared and began beating his head against the door as Harry watched, horrified.
"Stop! What are you doing?!"
The elf banged his head against the closet door one final time before turning back to Harry, rubbing his head as he stared at Harry with crossed eyes.
A second later, Jaya appeared on the bed behind Dobby with a loud "Crack," with a soapy frying pan held in her little hands; before Harry could say anything, Jaya had raised the frying pan over her head and brought it down on Dobby's head with a loud "Gong" that echoed throughout the room and caused Dobby to crumple to the floor.
"Bad elf!" Jaya cried angrily, "What you doing to Jaya's master?!"
"Jaya, stop!" Harry cried in horror as he rushed to Dobby's side to make sure he was okay; after a few minutes of prodding, Dobby's eyes slowly opened, and he rose to a sitting position as he rubbed his head with a wince.
"Are you okay, Dobby?" Harry asked as he helped the small elf to his feet,
"Yes, Dobby is alright, Harry Potter," Dobby answered as he looked over at Jaya who was holding the frying pan as though she wanted to use it again, "Dobby has suffered worse punishments at home."
"Why were you doing that?" Harry asked in shock as the elf wobbled slightly,
"Dobby had to punish himself," the elf answered, "He almost gave away his master's secrets."
"And your master is alright with you hurting yourself like that?" Harry asked in horror; though he legally owned Jaya, he viewed her more as a friend than a servant and the thought of forcing her to harm herself made Harry feel almost sick.
"Oh yes!" Dobby answered sadly, "Sometimes they remind Dobby of extra punishments that he has forgotten to give himself."
Jaya looked at Dobby with sympathy for a moment, and lowered the frying pan a little bit, though she still kept a firm grasp on it in case she needed to use it again.
"That's horrible!" Harry exclaimed, "Why would you stay with such people!? Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Harry Potter wants to help Dobby?" The elf asked before bursting into tears and sobbing, much to Harry and Jaya's confusion.
"Dobby has heard of your greatness, Harry Potter! But Dobby never thought that Harry Potter would ask poor Dobby if he could help him!"
"Whatever greatness you've heard about me is nonsense!" Harry retorted wearily as Jaya smiled indulgently at her master's expression; he had grown up listening to how most of the Wizarding world viewed him as some sort of second coming of Merlin, and to be honest, Harry found it tedious after all these years.
"And so humble as well!" Dobby cried as tears slid down his face,
"Master Harry is the best master any elf could ask for!" Jaya chirped happily, "He is a great wizard and friend to all elves!"
"Right…." Harry said awkwardly, "Well, is there a way to help you? It isn't right for someone to be able to punish you like that for no reason."
Dobby shook his head sadly at that and wiped his face with his tea cozy before answering in a mournful voice,
"Dobby can only be freed if his master presents Dobby with clothes, so Dobby's master is careful to never give Dobby even a sock, for fear that Dobby will be free. And even though Dobby will have to punish himself most grievously for defying his master, he knew he had to come! To warn Harry Potter!"
"Who's your master? What's he planning to do?"
Before Dobby could answer, Harry's door burst open and Ron ran in with an excited look on his face,
"Harry! Come on, we're going to play Quidditch! Everyone's waiting for…."
Ron stopped short as he saw Dobby, and his mouth dropped open in surprise before he regained control of himself,
"Blimey, did you inherit a new house-elf?" Ron asked, turning to Harry.
"Certainly not!" Jaya retorted as she glared at Ron, "Jaya is the only elf that master Harry needs and if he chooses to get another, Jaya will certainly not allow her master to be shamed by such a dirty creature!"
Harry couldn't help but smirk at Jaya's words; Jaya prided herself on always being clean and tidy so as to not "Shame Harry," as she called it; as such, the little elf's tea cozy was always pristine and Jaya would take a bath once a day after she was done with her work.
"Well then, whose is it?" Ron asked as Dobby continued to rub his head,
"No idea," Harry replied, "That's what I'm trying to figure out. His name is Dobby, and he says that his master is plotting to harm me when I return to Hogwarts."
"What?" Ron said in shock before turning back to Dobby, "Who's your master? What's he plotting?"
Dobby simply shook his head quickly before turning back to Harry,
"Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts! He is too great to lose!"
"Dobby, I have to go back," Harry said gently, "And Headmaster Dumbledore would never allow anything bad to happen at his school."
"The headmaster is a great wizard," Dobby replied reverently, "But even he cannot stop what is to come! If Harry Potter will not promise Dobby not to go back, then Dobby must stop Harry Potter from going back, for his own good!"
Without another word, Dobby snapped his fingers and disappeared with a loud "Crack," that left both boys stunned as they turned to each other,
"Why is it always me?" Harry asked as he shook his head in annoyance,
"Beats me, mate," Ron replied with a grin, "Reckon we should tell Mum and dad?"
"Definitely, especially if Dobby is planning on doing something to stop me from going back."
"Dobby is being a bad elf!" Jaya seethed, "If he tries to hurt Jaya's master, Jaya will beat him again!" Harry and Ron laughed as Jaya hefted the frying pan menacingly and tried to look intimidating, though failing miserably.
"Come on, let's go tell mum and dad what happened," Harry said quickly, "Then we can go play some Quidditch before dinner,"
"Sounds like a good idea," Ron replied as the two quickly made their way downstairs, Jaya following not far behind.