Chapter 80

"You still owe Hermione an apology."

Harry shook his head, he was not going to apologize for being angry about being kept prisoner in this game; in his mind that would be the same as admitting that he belonged in this world and that was something he refused to believe. He had to hold onto the hope that there would come a day when he could break free and find the others; he needed them in his life or there was no point in living as far as he was concerned. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, he climbed up onto his feet and promptly staggered sideways as he was hit with a fresh wave of pain and dizziness. The only thing that kept Harry from crashing back to the ground was Hermione; the witch had jumped up onto her feet to grab hold of his robes to keep him from falling.

"Thanks," Harry murmured as he pulled free of her hands once he steadied himself before he opened his Menu to grab the healing potion only to pause as he considered his options.

He only had a couple of potions left and he still had the rest of the year to get through plus another four years (unless by some miracle he found a way out sooner) and the injury really wasn't that serious. So, if he didn't want to waste a potion on such a trivial injury, his choices were limited; he could drag the two third years back to the Chamber and the three of them could get out in the morning (earning detentions and point losses if they were caught), he could risk all of them getting hurt trying to fly or run out in his current condition, or he could reveal his ability to Teleport and take all three of them back to his dorm room.

"The Chamber it is," Harry decided as he figured a detention and a few lost points were worth avoiding further injury or revealing his ability to Teleport; something that he really didn't want the NPC adults of this world to know he could do, least they found some way of blocking said ability.

"What?"

"We'll have to stay in the Chamber of Secrets for tonight because I'm in no condition to get us out tonight. Dobby can get us something to eat since we will be missing supper and he can bring the two of you a change of clean clothes in the morning."

"Who is Dobby?"

"He's the House Elf that I tricked Malfoy into selling me last year," Harry replied as he slowly led his two peers towards the inner Chamber. "I originally planned to free him after that but the little bugger stubbornly refused to tell me how to free him after I saved him from his former family."

"You enslaved him?" Hermione cried indignantly.

"No, I did not," Harry retorted in a clipped tone; offended that she'd even suggest that he'd do to another what his relatives had basically done to him.

"House elves depend on the magic of a witch or wizard to survive, Hermione," Neville quickly explained before she could continue ranting (the other teen had heard the tone Harry had used and knew how vocal Hermione could be during one of her rants). "If they are not bound to a family or a magical building, then they will eventually die a slow, agonizing death of starvation because they can't take the magic they need from the air or the earth like the other magical creatures do. In exchange for the magic they receive, the house elves perform chores (like cooking and cleaning)."

"Why do they have to be forced to work for the person or family they are bonded to? Why not just allow them to take the magic?"

"Hermione, what would you do if you found a tick attached to your arm, drinking your blood?" Harry asked as he stopped right outside the large round door that led into the Chamber of Secrets and glanced at the brown haired witch.

"I'd kill it."

"Why? It's just taking a little blood from you. They need that blood to survive just as much as you do."

"But ticks are parasites and they carry diseases."

"Yet it is alright to force House Elves to become parasites by taking away their work? I spent the last week barely getting any sleep at all because Dobby kept changing the bedding on my bed and washing the clothes I was wearing five and six times a night after I went to bed. Do you know why he was doing that? It was because he was angry at me for not giving him enough work. The other Elves in the castle insulted him because I wasn't allowing him to be a proper House Elf since I hadn't been giving him any work. He wasn't happy and he made certain I knew it. I shudder to think of what he'd have come up with next if I hadn't confronted him about the matter on Friday night."

"A house elf is never happy unless it has plenty of work to keep it occupied," Neville added solemnly. "Taking away a house elf's work would be like locking you out of every single library and book store in the world for the rest of your life."

Harry actually snickered at the look of pure horror on Hermione's face over the thought of never being allowed to enter another library or book store again for the rest of her life. He felt a lance of pain pierce his heart a moment later as the way Hermione and Neville interacted together (as a pair of siblings that loved to tease each other every chance they got) briefly reminded him of Lisbeth and Klein. Turning away from the pair and the pain they stirred, Harry opened the door and stepped into the Chamber of Secrets.

Twenty minutes later, the three of them were being served a small feast by an excited Dobby (who was thrilled to have two extra people to feed). After their meal, they would be returned to their dorm rooms by the elf when the eager-to-please creature learned they couldn't get back to the Gryffindor Tower on their own.

Far above the Chamber of Secrets, a lone second year that had been locked outside of her common room without her wand and shoes just before supper was served stumbled across a room filled to the brim with discarded items where she would find a tarnished diadem that was tainted with more than just age.