Chapter - 47 : The Freedom Exchange part - 2

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"Yes you are," Harry agreed. "We," he indicated himself and Sirius, "don't want to change that. We'd pay you to work for us and – and you could wear clothes and have days off and everything."

"Dobby is staying free?" The elf glanced between the two wizards suspiciously.

Sirius nodded. "Yes, absolutely."

"Dobby wants three galleons a week and one day off a month," Dobby said firmly, though he looked as if he expected his terms to be refused.

"All right, deal," Sirius said, then took a deep breath and held out his hand to be shaken.

Harry stared at the older man, knowing that most wizards would never dream of making such a gesture to a House-elf and frankly surprised it had even occurred to Sirius to do so. He guessed Sirius' behaviour was due to Harry's fond tales of the free elf and was touched that Sirius was so ready to welcome any friend of Harry's.

Dobby's huge eyes grew even wider. He carefully reached out one spindly arm, and the wizard and house elf shook hands. "Dobby will be working very hard for Mr Black and Mr Orion, sir," the elf said earnestly.

"I'm sure you will," Sirius said.

Dobby was as good as his word; Grimmauld Place was soon in better condition than Harry had ever seen it. The high ceilings were swept clear of cobwebs and every room in the house was given a thorough scrubbing. The wooden floors were polished until they gleamed and the tarnished silver door handles began to glint in the flickering candlelight from the now sparkling chandeliers.

Gradually the house began to feel more like a home and less like a decrepit mausoleum. With the grandeur that had faded over the years returning and the shadows being chased out. Sirius declared more than once that Harry's idea of hiring Dobby was pure genius and Harry himself was amazed by how well it all worked out, considering that - as was too often the case - he hadn't stopped to properly think his plan through.

As Harry got to know the elf better his first impressions were only strengthened; this Dobby was very different from the one he'd known before. It was hard not to notice that Dobby was very suspicious of all wizards - more so than Harry had ever imagined he could be. The elf seemed happy to work and worked hard, but defended his independence fiercely, and wasn't at all hesitant in making his dislike for the Malfoys known. Harry had expected him to be as excitable as his counterpart, but Dobby never burst into tears when treated with courtesy, nor bashed his head against the walls or shut his fingers in the oven. Occasionally he seemed to get the urge to punish himself, but only clenched his jaw and stubbornly suppressed the impulse.

When Harry actually thought about it he realised these differences probably stemmed from his own counterpart's death. The elf had worshipped Harry Potter; the Boy Who Lived had given him hope and the strength to disobey his master. With him dead, Dobby had no doubt lost some of his cheerful demeanour while his hatred of the Malfoys only increased.

Despite being taken aback at first by all the changes, Harry was pleased to have the small elf around. Grimmauld Place had seemed rather lonely with only Harry, Sirius and a resentful Kreacher in the house. The fact that Dobby was a very good cook was another point in his favour. Having a delicious breakfast waiting for him made it much easier for Harry to drag himself out of bed every morning to attend his training in Pureblood etiquette.

The lessons took place in the Nursery (or School Room, as Draco insisted it was called) in Black Manor. The walls were decorated in cheerful blue wallpaper and covered in portraits of the more scholarly members of the Black Family, who spent their time offering unwanted advice and criticising the students' work. Books such as 'Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy' and 'Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century' filled several bookshelves, and a beautifully painted globe of the wizarding world stood in one corner.

Despite the academic surroundings, Harry found it very hard to concentrate on what his great-great-aunt Cassiopeia tried to teach her six students. He hadn't had any formal lessons in years, making it difficult for him to settle back into the routine of school. Nevertheless he made an effort to learn, especially after realising with some embarrassment that in many areas he was much less well-informed than his young classmates. The class covered topics from wizarding geography and the structure of the Ministry of Magic, which Harry had only the vaguest notions of, to penmanship and basic Magical Theory. Almost none of it had been mentioned in Harry's classes at Hogwarts and while he had picked some things up through living in the wizarding world (and half-listening to Hermione's lectures), he still had a lot to learn.

"All right, everyone, settle down!" Cassiopeia called her students to attention one morning. "Today each of you will be formulating a Numerology Chart. Can anyone tell me what that is?"

There was an awkward silence as they all stared down at their desks or out of the window in hopes of not having to answer. Finally Vincent Crabbe spoke up from where he was sitting beside Ernie.

"It's a way of using the arithmantic properties of something to find out more about it," Crabbe said.

"Exactly!" said Cassiopeia, looking pleased with his answer.

It had taken Harry a while to get used to the fact that Crabbe – while rather dense about most things – was actually very talented at Arithmancy. It had come as a shock the first time the boy had answered a question correctly, something Harry had previously considered to be close to impossible.

Cassiopeia elaborated. "More advanced charts can also be used to predict future events, but that's for at least NEWT level students so you don't need to know how those calculations just yet. For now you'll be using the basic Arithmancy equations I taught you before to work out your Heart, Soul, and Character number."

"Why bother?" Draco's expression made it clear he considered such work beneath him.

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