55 Chapter 53 - What is he Doing?

***** Regular Chapter Release ***** A/N: last chapter was a bonus for last week still. Here's the regular chapter for Sunday. Can't have our MC missing for too long ahaha. *****

"Do you mean Prof. Khan?"

Dobby nodded his agreement, recognizing the name. Although he called Khan 'blue and Yellow boy', his name had been upgraded to 'lightning boy' after Dobby's viewing of Khan's pensieve memory, and once more to 'Prof lightning', when Khan had been named a student professor.

"Do you know where he is Dobby?!?" Harry immediately seized Dobby by his shoulders, asking him with a bit of urgency. He was rather worried about his good friend's disappearance and potential mental state.

"Yes Dobby knows." He nodded his big head excitedly. "But Dobby cannot bring Harry Potter, sir, to Professor Lightning. Teek and Zeke are very protective of his beasties."

Dobby knew that other than himself, who had accidentally stumbled into the come-and-go room when it had been configured for Khan's specific room when he had just started work that summer, only Zeke and Teek were allowed into the Vivariums.

It was also the main reason why the other elves were quite jealous of Dobby. He was not a proper house-elf, wanting pay, yet he was the one who got special treatment from Prof. Khan to feed his beasties.

'It wasn't fair!' They would constantly complain to each other behind closed doors.

"Please Dobby!" Harry begged his good friend. "He's been missing for a few days now, and I need to pass on some important information for him."

Harry had yet to pass on Khan's scores or the next set of clues for the 2nd task, and was using that as an excuse to find Khan.

Dobby seemed torn, pulling on his ears in distress. He really did want to help Harry Potter, but he couldn't betray Teek, Zeke and Prof. lightning.

"Dobby will ask Teek if it is alright…." Dobby popped away with a snap of his fingers, reappearing a few moments later, with a loud *POP*, accompanied by an elderly looking house-elf.

"Teek sir… this is the great Harry Potter sir and his friend Hermione, miss." Dobby introduced the newly identified Teek to Harry and Hermione. "They are friends with Prof. Lightning and would like to seez him."

"Even Dobby was not supposed to enter The Great Khan's come-and-go room." Teek stated unhappily. He already knew what Dobby was up to, with him previously asking if Winky could accompany him to see all the beasties. Apparently Winky was feeling quite depressed at her recent dismissal, and had taken up drinking. And Dobby had wanted to use the 'come-and-go' to hopefully treat her, help her rest and detoxify the alcohol, and hopefully help her feel better by interacting with all of the Great Khan's beasties.

Although Teek felt sorry for the poor female house-elf, his father Deek had previously instructed him that no one, other than those The Great Lord Khan approved of, may access his come-and-go room.

Deek was quite protective previously, and would not allow anyone, who did not learn from the Great Khan personally, to learn of the specific configuration for his come-and-go room.

"Teek is sorry Dobby, but Father Deek tol-" Teek started to explain before getting interrupted by Hermione.

"I'm sorry… did you say your father is Deek?" Hermione clarified excitedly. "As in Jordan's best house-elf friend and companion?"

Hermione of course recognized Deek's name, Khan having told her about his 4th best friend, multiple times, the most recent one being when he convinced her about abandoning her SPEW campaign.

Teek stared at her with wide eyes, appearing quite surprised at Hermione's knowledge of his now deceased father.

"You know of Teek's father, miss?"

"Yes of course! Jordan has told me about many of his various adventures alongside Deek, saving many different kinds of magical beasts!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly. "He even introduced a few of his Battle Beast partners to us, like Silverwing and Stella."

Harry nodded along beside Hermione, hoping to convince this new elderly house-elf. In comparison to Dobby, this House-elf appeared much more professional.

Teek meanwhile, was quite surprised that bushy-haired witch, not only knew of Deek his father, but also apparently knew and had met some of The Great Khan's beasties, even identifying a few of them by name.

"Teek is pleased to meet The Great Khan's friends." He stated with a small smile, bowing at the 2 best friends.

"Nice to meet you too, Teek!" Harry greeted the diminutive fellow with respect, as he seemed to be quite elderly, and of a senior position amongst the house-elves at Hogwarts. "I don't suppose you would be able to allow us to meet with Jordan?"

"This....is probably not possible." Teek replied hesitantly.

Although he had not been directly instructed by the Great Khan to not allow anyone access to his 'come-and-go' Room while he was currently upset, he had also been instructed by his Father not allow anyone inside without The Great Khan's explicit permission.

However, these 2 students appeared to be The Great Khan's friends, with their knowledge of some of his secrets.

Not to mention Teek was quite worried about The Great Khan. He had been quite upset recently, staying locked in his Vivarium, only venturing outside a few times to accomplish some tasks, before returning a couple of hours later.

He had been very antisocial, even with Teek himself, only speaking with him to ask for food.

What should he do?

Conflicting ideals were confusing the poor Teek. Although his father Deek was a full Hogwarts house-elf, both Teek and his son Zeke, were more Khan's RoR personal house-elves, than they were Hogwarts House-elves.

Raised by Deek to care for all the Magical Animals, they became more loyal to Khan and his Magical beasts than to Hogwarts, treating them as their masters, and truly only listening to his orders.

Similar to Winky who had grown up serving the Crouch family since she was a baby elf, her mother and grandmother also serving the Crouch family, Deek and Zeke's current identities were intwined with Khan's RoR and caring for his Magical beasts.

If they were to lose their jobs, or given clothes by Khan, perhaps they too would end up like Winky; emotionally devastated, and probably taking up drinking as well.

As a result, poor Teek was conflicted; Did he uphold his father's dying wishes, and refuse to let these 2 students into the vivariums? Or should be do what he thinks is best for his Master, and let his friends into his Room?

Maybe his friends could cheer him up after all?

Still, it wouldn't do with him simply letting people into the Great Khan's come-and-go room, without any kind of contingency. And without asking The Great Khan, who was currently upset and antisocial, Teek did not want to assume anything, lest the Great Khan get even more upset.

He took his job as caretaker of Khan's Room, very seriously, as it was passed down to him from his father.

"Teek is very sorry Hermione, miss." Teek apologized. "But father Deek has said that unless you know the configuration for The Great Khan's 'come-and-go room' or his vivariums, you cannot enter. Teek cannot go against his father's wishes."

He bowed once again before snapping his finger and popping out of the room.

"Wait! But we need to….." Harry started to say, but faded off as soon as he noticed Teek had departed. "Damn it, he's gone!"

"Dobby…. What did Teek mean, when he said "configuration for the 'come-and-go' room?"" Hermione clarified, wanting to learn more about where Khan was possibly located. "And how could there possibly be vivariums here at Hogwarts? The space would have to be enormous and it would be very hard to hide something like that, even with magic."

She was familiar with vivariums of course, muggles having them for researching various ecosystems. But those were quite large in size, and often designated as private nature reserves. How could one be 'configured', let alone hidden, within Hogwarts?

With these mysteries piling up, she was growing quite curious as to her friend's location.

And Just because the house-elves couldn't take them, didn't mean that they couldn't find where he was hiding in their own.

"The 'come-and-go' room is very mysterious, miss. It turns into anything miss may need. Mostly people stumbles across it when they needs it miss, but often they never finds it again." Dobby explained. "They do not know it is always there waiting to be called into service."

As Dobby explained the details, the Bell rang indicating it was approaching curfew, and as a result, both Hermione and Harry began to prepare to take their leave while listening to Dobby. The other house-elves began surrounding them as a result, offering them snacks and treats to take back upstairs to their dorm.

After the subsequent explanation from Dobby about The 'Come-and-go' Room and how Dobby was now helping with caring for Jordan's Beast friends, they bid each other farewell before Hermione and Harry continued on their way, back to the Gryffindor dorms.

"It turns into anything I need? People stumble across it when they need it, but never find it again?" Hermione mumbled to herself, walking in autopilot, as she thought about Dobby's explanation. This mystery was growing deeper as far as Hermione was concerned.

"And according to context.... somehow Jordan was able to find this room multiple times, and change it to house vivariums for his Beasts?"

"But didn't we already check the map for his name?" Harry followed up.

While they had previously checked the Marauders Map a few days ago, when he had initially went missing, they unfortunately could not find Khan's name, as it appeared to be missing from the map.

Thus they had assumed him to be off Hogwarts grounds, since the map showed them even the hidden passages around the school.

Now however, they had learned from Dobby and Teek, that was Khan still in Hogwarts!

So now the question became, why didn't Khan, or the 'come-and-go' room appear on the Marauders Map?

Reaching the Fat Lady, and saying the password, they both climbed into their dorm, Hermione immediately asking Harry to see his Marauder's Map, their curiosity at this mystery getting the best of them.

Running up to his dorm to grab it, he quickly hurried back down, activating it once he had finally arrived.

"I solemnly swear, that I am up to no good."

The map, activated displaying the entire castle and its occupants.

Harry and Hermione quickly got to work, scanning the map, keeping theirs eyes open for both Khan's name, as well as the 'come-and-go' room.

This this new information, they were hopeful to at least find the elusive 'come-and-go' room, since they previously could not find Khan's name.

"Maybe its similar to how Portraits can move through to their other portraits, to move to another part of a castle." Hermione thought out loud, thinking of the insane knight that protected the Gryffindor Common room last year when Sirius had attacked the Fat Lady's portrait. "Maybe the room moves locations, and Jordan some how figured out a way to track it down?"

Pouring all over the map, they paid very close attention to the various classrooms, hallways, and towers, eagerly looking for this mysterious room.

But as time passed, and it grew closer to midnight, they were not any closer to finding Khan, or the Room, neither of them appearing on the map at all.

They were just about to give up, their eyes getting increasingly heavier with tiredness, when suddenly, Harry noticed a small red flash blink quickly on the map, before disappearing, out of the corner of his eye.

His quidditch seeker reflexes kicking in, Harry immediately noticed where the Flash had occurred, and began searching the map in that general location.

It was a good thing he had noticed it, as after only a few moments of searching, he had finally found Khan!

"Hermione! I found him!" Harry excitedly exclaimed, earning him a quick "SHHHH" from Hermione, before she eagerly looked where Harry was pointing.

The name "Lord Jordan Khan" had finally appeared on the marauder's map, as it looked as though they had finally caught him venturing outside of this 'come-and-go' room.

Watching the map, they saw that his name had shown up in the Defense Against the Dark Arts Tower, where coincidentally, both his teachable classes, Defense and Charms were located. Perhaps he was visiting Flitwick his Mentor?

That would make sense with him skipping his various teaching classes this week after all.

But the longer they watched him, the more confused they grew.

Firstly, Khan did not go to Flitwick, or the Charms classroom.

No.... he appeared to be making a bee-line straight for the Defense Classroom, and Moo-Crouch?

Harry and Hermione looked up from the map at the same time, making eye contact and ensuring that they were not the only ones who was shocked.

Even though everyone in the school knew that Khan was apprenticing to both Moody and Flitwick, Harry and Hermione knew that Khan was much closer to Flitwick, than he was with Moody.

In fact, outside of class, he rarely interacted with his other mentor, choosing to spend most of his time with his Ravenclaw head of house.

So why was Khan heading to Moody now, instead of Flitwick?

And why was a ministry judge in the Defense classroom office, meeting with Professor Moody so late at night?

Just What are they doing?