Chapter 2 - Temporary Measures

Chapter-2 

I took a deep breath, and called out, "I, Harry Potter, the last Potter of House of Potter, call for any House Potter elves that are out there." It was actually really cringy to say out loud. I was very relieved that no one was listening. I stood there for a while, but when there was no sign of a house elf, I let out a sigh. Still, I had one more back-up plan. "I, Harry Potter, call for any free house-elf that wants a bond."

Immediately, as I completed the last word, multiple CRACK! sounded in the air, and before me stood almost two dozen house-elves. They were really short, hardly 3-feet tall, with spindly limbs, over-sized head, large tennis ball sized eyes, with no eye-brows. They had long pointed nose and bat like ears, and were dressed in the iconic pillow cases with holes for heads and limbs. The ones in front of me were in various states of health. Though some looked healthy enough, albeit a bit thin, most of them were very frail looking, wobbling on their feet, sporting a very pale green skin, and bruises and cuts covered their body. I must admit, seeing house-elf for the first time, I was totally going fan-boy inside, but I controlled myself, this was much more important. 

A female elf, who seemed a bit older than the others, and they're spokesperson by the looks of it, came forward, bowed and asked, "Is the great Harry Potter sir be asking for free elves?" I took a step forward and asked kindly. "What is your name?". The elf had a hopeful look in her eyes as she answered, "I be Tinky, sir." I smiled as I extended a hand toward her. "I am looking for house-elves to work for me. Would you like to work for me, Tinky?" Tinky's eyes got teary as she smiled widely as she took his hand. "Tinky would be honoured to serve the Great Harry Potter sir."

She took my hand in hers, as I said, "I, Harry Potter, accept Tinky as my personal elf." There was a flash of light from our hands, which actually surprised with for a second, and I felt a tug in somewhere in myself, but I couldn't point out where exactly. It felt like something was swirling, before it settled down. 'It must have been my magic, and my bond with Tinky.' As bond settled, Tinky started to look healthier. Colour returned to her skin, she stood much straighter and her injuries also started to heal visibly. "Thank you Master, Tinky is honoured to serve such a powerful Master." Tinky said as she bowed, tears pooling in her eyes.

I just smiled at her and turned my attention towards the others who were looking at me with hopeful eyes. "I need a lot more house elves. Would you all like to bond with me?" And just like that, I became the proud Master of another 22 elves.

"Alright everyone, now that you are serving me, and as extension House Potter, there are some rules you have to follow" I said to them, and all the elves listened to me attentively." First of all, you will not punish yourself if you made a mistake, you will always come to me, and we will discuss what happened. Second, you have to keep everything you see and hear as secrets of mine, and of House Potter, and you won't tell them to anyone without my express permission. And third, you will not tell anyone that you are my elves, for now. Any questions?" I watched as all of them shook their heads. I nodded as said, "Alright then, your first order is to look for more free house elves and convince them to join me. I will meet you here tomorrow at midnight. You can go now. Tinky, please stay behind."

In the wizarding world, house-elves are magical creatures known for their loyalty and service to wizarding families. However, they often live in subjugation, bound to serve their masters without wages or basic rights. Despite their magical abilities and complete loyalty towards their masters and families, house-elves are treated as mere servants or even below, and often abused, and their plight is a poignant reflection of social inequality. However, I saw the potential that they had. They had a magic unknown to the wizard kind, could teleport anywhere they wanted. No wizard made wards could stop them, supposedly.

Instead of abusing them as slaves, I would treat them kindness, and knew that I could secure their unending loyalty for myself just by that. They would even kill themselves for me, not that I had any plans to let that happen to them. Anyways, I would still treat them with kindness. My parents raised with me with good etiquettes. It wasn't in my nature to be harmful or rude to others.


I watched as all of them bowed to me once more and then popped out of there to follow their orders. Although I felt queasy bounding them to myself for servitude, I had no other choice. I needed their help. I consoled myself that I would at least treat them much better. "How may I serve Master Harry Potter sir?" asked Tinky. "Tinky, first of all call me only Master Harry or sir. And second, tell me, can you tell me what kind of wards are over a house?" I asked as I looked at her. "Yes, Master Harry, we elves can be telling what protection wizards be putting on their homes." Tinky answered, her ears flapping around as nodded eagerly. "Good. Now, do you know where I am living right now?", Tinky nodded after a moment, "Very good Tinky, now make it so that muggles cannot see us, and take us where I am living right now." Tinky just snapped her fingers and then extended her hand towards me. Harry took her hand and Tinky popped us out of there.

House elf travel is awesome, I decided as Tinky popped us in front of 4, Privet Drive. There was no hooking sensation behind the naval which was described as the sensation felt during the portkey travel, neither the feeling of being squeezed through a thin tube. It felt more like a fun roller coaster ride with no uncomfortable feeling.

"Tinky, before you use any of your magic, tell me, can wizards track your magic if they put up any magic detection wards?" I asked, as paranoia crept up due to reading fan-fictions. I didn't have any concern regarding the Ministry, they could chalk it up to accidental magic, but I wasn't sure about Dumbledore. "No, Master Harry, no wizard ward can detect our magic. Only house elves can do it." Tinky said, as she assuaged my fear. I smiled at her as I let out a sigh. "Good, now check the wards on this house, please, and tell me what kind are there."

Tinky nodded and turned towards the house with determined expression, and started waving her arms and fingers in intricate patterns and kept at it for a few minutes. She then turned towards me and reported, "Master, this house be having wards for magic detection, basic house protection wards against fire and thieves, anti-portkey and anti-apparition wards, and also a ward connected to you to tell about your condition." By the end of it, I was sure that my face sported a deep frown as I thought about it. He then asked, "Tinky, are you sure there are no other wards, especially a blood-based ward, or even its remnants?" Tinky shook her head as she said, "No Master, there be no other wards."

I went deep in thought as I went over the implication of this. 'There are no blood wards here or even remnants of it, so it means there were no blood wards to begin with. Then Dumbledore had no reasonable excuse to leave Harry here, knowing that the Dursley's are despicable people. It seems that Dumbledore is not as good as he portrayed to be in the books. Considering the other things that happen over the seven years at Hogwarts; it seems that it was all planned. Every significant event in all the books which always seemed fishy might just have been orchestrated. And considering the ward that tells about my condition, it seems Dumbledore always knew about the conditions that Harry had to live in. I just might need to deal with a dark Dumbledore. I need to check my vaults for any non-approved transactions and any illegal marriage contracts. And I will need to check myself for blocks and potions, especially with origins in alchemy. It seems the idea of "Greater Good" plan of Dumbledore from his youth never died with Ariana.'

After a few minutes, as a scowl found its place on my face. "Well, this confirms what I always suspected. Dumbledore is a secret Dark Lord, or at least doesn't have good intention towards me. All of his actions over the years were already suspicious. Well, I can deal with him later. For now, we have some more work to do. Tinky, can you change the last ward in such a way that it doesn't tell about any further change in my condition to whomever made that ward?" I looked towards Tinky, who seemed to be deep in thought for a while, before she turned towards me and nodded, "Yes Master, Tinky can be doing it."

I nodded at her and said, "Good. Do it Tinky, also, if possible, try to remove the magic detection ward if it can be done without detection." Tinky nodded and turned towards the house and waved her hands and fingers, which were glowing with a green hue, in some hard to follow intricate patterns and stopped after a few minutes. "It be done, Master Harry." I smiled at her and patted her shoulder. "Good work Tinky, let's go inside. Remember to keep quiet."

I quietly lead Tinky in the house, but didn't go towards the cupboard, but on the smallest bedroom on the second floor. The room was, as expected filled with junk that used to belong to Dudley, broken toys littered the whole room, the desk and chair by the window seemed to be on the edge of falling apart, and the small lumpy bed was weighed down by even more junk. The only things that were untouched were academic books that Dudley never read in a small shelf. 

I turned to Tinky and said, "Tinky please clean this room. Remove all the junk, or better yet, put all this junk in bedroom of the animals that I have to call relatives occupy. See if you can repair the furniture and bed." Tinky just nodded with a look of adoration on her face for the opportunity to clean such a dirty room. She snapped her fingers once and all the junk collected itself in the centre of the room. Another snap and all of it disappeared. She waved her hands in intricate pattern and the room suddenly expanded to four times its original size. She snapped her fingers twice and desk and chair and bed got repaired. The desk became polished mahogany with a high-backed comfy chair. The bed itself became a single large four poster bed with a comfortable looking mattress. Tinky waved her hands once last time and whole peeling wallpaper was replaced by a deep maroon paint, and the window's size increased and was covered with windows.

I stared at the changes with a dumbfounded look before my face broke into a wide smile as I turned towards Tinky to give her a hug. "This is brilliant Tinky. You are the best." Tinky herself was speechless at the expression of gratitude as big fat tears started to leak from her tennis ball sized eyes. "Master thanks Tinky? Master is really a great wizard. Tinky does not deserve such praise." Tinky said tearfully. I put a hand on her shoulder, smiled and said, "Tinky, you now work for me now, and in House Potter, servants are not just servants, but part of the family. You are also now the part of family." Tinky nodded with a teary smile.

"Tinky, it's getting late now, so I'm going to sleep now. Wake me up in the morning at 7, and when you make breakfast in morning, make sure not to cook anything non-vegetarian. I don't eat any kind of meat, not even eggs. Also lock all the doors and windows so my relatives can't get out of the house. Also put protective wards on my door so they can't come barging in." Tinky nodded and she snapped her fingers several times. "Have a good night, Master Harry." Tinky said as she popped out of room. I opened the windows to let the cool summer breeze in and then plopped down on bed. Because of all the revelations in the past hour or two and this weak body, I was fast asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.

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