6 Chapter 2 - Back in time, Great Master Harry Potter Sir! Part 2.

By the end of his speech, Dobby sat up a little taller, he excitedly nodded, "Yessir, Master Harry Potter sir. Dobby will bes the best sneaky-sneakiest elf ever! Dobby will ruin lives of everyone of Master Harry Potter sirs enemies," ending with an evil cackle while rubbing his tiny hands together, his eyes giving away a no small amount of malicious intent.

Part of Harry felt disturbed, but a good part of Harry cackled with a sense of unholy glee. 'This must be how the Dork Wanker feels when he plots his evil harebrained schemes. I find myself satisfied with your attitude Dobby.'

Harry cleared his throat and stood up. He walked back to his previous position and sat down. He inquired, "Do you agree to those rules Dobby?"

He enthusiastically replied, "Yes Master Harry Potter sir."

"Good, now how do I bind you to be my house-elf?"

"It bes easy sir, just put your hand on to my head sir and tells yous be wanting to bind Dobby."

Harry walked in front of Dobby and placed his hand on Dobby's head. Guided by ambient magic around him, he closed his eyes and proclaimed, "I, Harry James Potter, wish to bind Dobby the Elf as my servant and my right hand. If you accept, you are to carry out my will and represent me to the best of your ability. Do you Dobby accept this binding?"

Emerald magic with hints of gold and red swirled around the pair. The magic was neither overbearing nor suffocating to Dobby, unlike the usual binding magic that house-elves feel during this process. No, this magic was warm, considerate, and accepting. To Dobby, this confirmed and solidified the greatness of his to-be master and friend. Nodding furiously, he replied, "I is Dobby, I bes accepting to bes Great Master Harry Potter sir's elf."

"So, it is said. So, mote be it."

The emerald magic coalesced into a ball of magic above them and slowly flickered out of existence. Harry smiled at the exuberant elf who is currently shedding tears of joy and jumping about with not a small amount of fervor. Then he remembered that he forgot to address one issue; the way Dobby refers to him.

"Uhm Dobby?" Dobby turned to look towards his new master. Clearing his throat, he requested, "Can you please just call me Harry? I don't think you need to refer to me as master or any other titles really."

Dobby placed his hand on his hips and tutted in a tone befitting a parent berating an errant child, "Tsk, tsk. Great and Wonderful Master Harry Potter sir is being daft sir. If Dobby does not recognize his master's greatness who will? The Great and Powerful Master Harry Potter sir should sit down, shut up, and accept Dobby's praise like a good master, yes he must," finishing his statement with a sanctimonious nod, bearing close resemblance to a certain legendary entity.

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose, while looking at the smug expression of the elf. 'Of course, I should have included a clause forbidding him from calling me anything other than Harry. With him being able to refuse anything he wants, he had to refuse the one thing that irritated me. The nerve of the little bugger!'

Harry sighed and took out a bunch of parchment from his trunk and asked while pointing at the pile, "Can you charm them to be unreadable to anyone but me? Also, while you are at it make them impervious to damage. I want to write down my thoughts so I can order them better."

Dobby nodded and with a snap of his fingers, an emerald sheen covered the parchment briefly and faded away a few seconds later. Dobby looked up at his new master nervously and asked, "Can Dobby ask Great Master Harry Potter sir a favor sir?"

Stifling the urge to correct the elf by biting the inside of his cheek, he gave a brief nod. Dobby requested, "Can Dobby have a copy of the rules you made sir? Dobby wants to remember the greatest moment of his life sir."

With a gentle smile, he handed Dobby the parchment where he wrote down the rules. Another snap and a burst of emerald magic later, Dobby excitedly held on to his copy of the rules. Dobby then inquired, "Is there anything else, Great Master Harry Potter sir?"

"No, I will let you know if I need anything and can you please stop calling me that?"

Dobby gave him an impish smile and answered, "Great and Most Intelligent Master Harry Potter sir, Dobby must humbly deny your great orders sir. By my leave, Great and Noble Master Harry Potter sir," and with that, the cheeky elf disappeared with a snap, crack, and a pop.

Harry shook his head at his new personal elf. His vocabulary has increased significantly after our bonding. 'That is an interesting change. I should ask Dobby what else is different with him later.'

After giving a glance at the spot Dobby was stood a few moments ago, he gathered his newly charmed writing supplies and walked down to the common room. The common room was mostly empty. He still had an hour or so before anyone from his year wake up, especially since all schoolwide exams except for OWLS and NEWTS are cancelled. Only a few OWL and NEWT students who were studious were up and about studying.

He sat at a desk in a corner of the common room. He then started writing some objectives he should accomplish over the short term to make his life easier. He looked at his work with a sense of satisfaction. Hermione you are not the only one who loves to make plans now, he mused with a hint of pride at his work.

Objectives for One Harry James Potter

Dodging the machinations of sanctimonious old men and megalomaniacs with psychopathic tendencies

1. Get around the Underage Magic laws and practice magic during the summer. Find ways to counter the Trace.

2. Switch from Divination to Arithmancy and Runes.

3. Find the Room of Requirement through Dobby, acquire the Vanishing Cabinet at Hogwarts and the one at Borgin and Burkes. Fix the broken cabinet. Use it as a tool to travel outside if needed.

4. Gringotts – find out if Dobby can make withdrawals for him; have Gringotts setup monthly account statements; procure a law wizard or witch to help with any legalities; sell the basilisk remains.

5. Have better correspondence with Hermione (through muggle means maybe or even visit) during the summer. Become better friends with Neville and Luna. Encourage Ron to do better. Convince Neville to get his own wand. Ask someone about the Knight Bus. As Death said, enjoy life.

6. Find ways of ensuring Dursleys do not interfere with his life; threaten them with magic and then coax them with magical help from Dobby. Objective Number One might help with this

7. Hone Magic. All core wand subjects, selected electives, potions herbology, mind magics (both occlumency and leglimency), healing magic, enchanting, curse breaking, battle magics. Find books related to the topics.

8. Get better physically. Get a checkup from a private healer. Do not use Madam Pomphrey or St. Mungo's. Setup physical regimen, go to a nearby gym in Privet Drive, learn how to fight. Eat better, have Dobby prepare meals during the summer.

9. Find any tracking charms in his person or any of his belongings, ask Dobby if he can find any before leaving for the summer.

10. Foster better relationships with students of all houses where possible and foster better relationships with professors where possible. Influence wins where brute force fails.

11. Leave horcruxes to the summer after 3rd year except for the Diadem, finish it before leaving school this year. Need ways to deal with the ring at the Gaunt shack. Also need access to Number 12 Grimmauld place, easier with Sirius's help.

The last objective made him ponder about Sirius's fate. Harry could capture the rat and try handing him over to the DMLE and prove his godfather's innocence. However, that would only work assuming that the Ministry for Magic is not the convoluted web of politics that it is right now. Corrupt officials such as Fudge and his ilk can potentially harm his godfather's life without anyone being none the wiser. After all, many Ministry officials fallen under the influence of the Malfoy gold.

While he has heard rumors of impartiality from Madame Bones, he does not have enough evidence to trust her at this moment. Neither does he have any assurances that she can protect him until the day he gets a trial. Come to think of it, he is not even sure Sirius would even receive a trial under this administration.

If he recalled what his godfather mentioned about the Malfoys during Christmas in his fifth year, they seem to think that they have the first claim to the sizeable Black fortune. Lucius Malfoy is not a man above using nefarious means to ensure he acquires what he sets his sights on. If he hands Pettigrew now, it is likely to warrant a death sentence to his godfather. The best course of action is to not do anything major for Sirius right now. Sirius will escape from Azkaban soon regardless of whether Harry does anything major.

What Harry can do is to help hide Sirius in a secure location, and he knows exactly who can help him in that endeavor. Capturing the rat must be done after Sirius is secured. Preparations will have to be made. Harry took a separate parchment and wrote his thoughts about Sirius.

Harry gathered his supplies and headed back to his dorm. Harry deposited his parchments to his school bag. He remembered fondly how he took notes for Hermione while she was in the hospital, knowing how irate she would be for being absent for all those lessons. Knowing that she will be released today, he packed the notes into the bag. It is then when a thought hit him like a battering ram. Wait Ginny snuck into my room and took Tom's diary quite easily. He whispered, "Dobby."

"What can Dobby do for Great Master Harry Potter sir?"

"Dobby can you ward my trunk so that only you and I can access it. Also put a trace on all my items so that you can track them if they suddenly disappear," and with a snap and an emerald glow, his problem was solved right then and there.

Harry thanked Dobby as he left. Satisfied with the security of his belongings, he grabbed a pair of school robes and changed into them, now fully prepared to go down for breakfast in the Great Hall. He reached out to his wand to pocket it into his jeans. However, when he touched his wand, the connection felt more complete than it had ever been. 'Something to think about later.'

He grabbed his book bag and went down to the common room. He decided he should wait for his dormmates. He sat down in the red armchair in front of the fireplace and silently pondered about his old life and the opportunity he has now. As he was caught in his ponderings, he spotted Neville making his way down to the common room.

"Good morning Neville."

Neville looked around to see Harry Potter sitting in the big red armchair by the fireplace. His eyebrows rose when he noticed Harry Potter had no glasses on him. Without the glasses, his emerald orbs stood out more. They look like they could see through my soul. Neville headed over to a seat next to Harry and sat down.

"Morning, where are your glasses Harry?"

"Ahh, I don't seem to need them anymore. I got up last night and when I woke up, I had perfect vision. I was thinking of asking Madame Pomphrey to check my eyes to see if there were any issues when I head down to visit Hermione before breakfast," Harry responded.

He thought of an explanation for his sight while he was sitting in front of the fireplace. Something that might keep Dumbledore off his back. After all, there are not many living human beings who can say they have both phoenix tears and basilisk venom in their system.

"Sounds like a good idea, do you mind if I come with you? I have not paid her a visit in over a week."

Wait, Neville visited her while she was petrified? I did not know that. If I remember right, the only person who continued to visit her two weeks after the attack was me.

"That is fine by me, I will be heading out to the Hospital Wing when the other three finally get out of bed. By the way, I did not know you visited her once a week. Not even Ron went to the Hospital Wing after the second week. I thought I was the only one."

"No, I try to visit her once a week. She has helped me with my homework far too many times than I can count. She even found a few reference materials for my Herbology work with Professor Sprout. It would not be right for me to not pay her a visit. I do know that you and I were the only ones visiting frequently. You went almost every day," Neville smiled as he explained.

Not even Ron showed that much commitment during the time she was in the Hospital. All the people who genuinely cared for her wellbeing in the Gryffindor Tower are sitting right here. That is a sad thought.

"By the way, thank you Neville for helping Professor Sprout with the Mandrakes," he said sincerely when he recalled a conversation with Neville in his second year.

Neville blushed at the praise. He stammered, "I-I o-only did what was right. I wanted to help the petrified kids, even though I am almost a squib," he gave a small depreciating laugh to himself.

Harry frowned, "First off Neville, you are no squib. You are a great wizard," seeing the look of disbelief in Neville's visage, Harry pointed out, "Dumbledore talked to me during the Yule break. You remember when people thought I was the Heir of Slytherin. He pointed out that it is about the choices that people make. I would like to think that you made a great choice in helping people when you could have just stood aside. Making a choice is itself is not that hard, but making the right choice is difficult. Right action over what is easy. That is what makes a great wizard Neville."

Neville stared at him wide-eyed. Much like Harry, he has never really received much positive reinforcement. Harry knew he cannot outright say that Neville is a powerful wizardly magically right now, even though Harry perfectly knew what Neville was capable of. Harry must build Neville's confidence about himself before Harry can get Neville to believe he is a magically powerful wizard.

Come to think of it, we are very similar in many aspects. After a moment of silence, Harry asked, "Neville, can I ask you a question?" Neville nodded and tilted his head slightly. Harry inquired, "Do you know anything about my family? I heard your family is kind of well known, so I was wondering if you knew anything about mine?"

Neville's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. He knew that there was something off about Harry's behavior, but to not know about his family means someone has been trying hard to keep him ignorant. 'I must right a letter to Gran sometime today.' Neville replied, "I know the Potter and Longbottom families have been good associates for a few centuries now. Your parents and mine fought in the war against you-know-who together and my mother is your godmother."

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