Harry hadn't moved a muscle on the outside. But on the inside, his mind was working at speeds beyond imagination. Over a dozen different hypotheses formed in his mind, all just as likely as the other, but none were confirmed. He needed more data…more information.
And he knew just how to get it.
"ID Create" he whispered under his breath and disappeared from that isolated bench on the park and into the ID. He quickly pulled out his invisibility cloak and covered himself before he walked a bit to the side and activated his mage sight.
"ID Escape" he muttered, and the red-skied dimension shattered. With his mage sight turned on, he could easily see the invisible elf looking around the bench trying to see what had happened to Harry and where he had disappeared to.
Moving quickly before the house-elf gave up on his search, Harry snuck up behind him, intending to grab him and drop into an empty ID to ask him some questions. He used his Unicorn Boost to move as fast as he could and grabbed the elf, who let out a startled squeak. But before he could even get the command for ID creation out of his mouth, a small window popped up.
Warning! You are being forcefully apparated!
And that was all he saw before the world around him spun, and with one of the most powerful bouts of pain than he had ever felt, rivaling even Quirrell's Cruciatus, Harry was twisted away from the park, the sheer pressure around him draining his lungs of air and knocking him unconscious.
Now, elf apparition was as much a form of defense as it was a medium of travel. If some unseen predator would catch hold of the elf, the elf would simply apparate with the predator, causing an immense amount of pain to it. While the pain could be prevented if the elf wished so, Dobby was in full instinct mode, and caused Harry a world of hurt.
It was a few minutes before Harry's eyes reopened and refocused, after which he took stock of his surroundings.
He was, in what appeared to be, something like his own childhood cupboard, only smaller. A red towel hung from a hook on one of the walls, and a small shabby sleeping rug lay on the floor to one side. The only light came from a small candle. A strange looking creature with flappy ears, which Harry realized was Dobby the house elf, was fussing over a small cut that Harry had somehow gotten on his hand.
The large-eyed elf caught sight of Harry looking at him and promptly devolved into a blubbering mess.
"Oh! Harry Potter! So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, sir…Such an honor it is…Dobby is sorry for any pain Dobby may have caused to sir. Dobby was startled and-"
"Quite alright Dobby. No worries," Harry assured the rambling elf, trying to calm him, "Although I would like those letters you've been stealing back." Harry said, stuffing the invisibility cloak into his pocket and pulling himself up to rest himself against the wall. It really had been a painful ride.
The elf looked totally thrown off. "Har-Harry Potter knows about Dobby…what Dobby has been doing?"
"I know enough. But I'd like to hear why you did it" he said vaguely, knowing that his observe only showed the very basic amount of information. He needed to get Dobby to talk.
"Harry Potter mustn't be angry with Dobby. Dobby has them here, sir," said the elf, hesitating, as he pulled a thick wad of envelopes from the inside of the tattered pillowcase he was wearing and handed them to Harry.
Dobby blinked anxiously up at Harry. "Dobby hoped…if Harry Potter thought his friends had forgotten him…Harry Potter might not want to go back to school, sir…"
"Why would you want that Dobby? Is there any reason for it?" Harry asked, suppressing the urge to vehemently deny Dobby's wish.
"Oh, yes, sir," said Dobby earnestly. "Dobby should tell you, sir…it is difficult, sir…Dobby wonders where to begin…"
"The beginning is a good place. Or we could start with who is your master?" said Harry, trying to coax him into spilling.
"It is difficult sir…Dobby cannot violate any direct orders from master…and master has ordered Dobby to not tell anybody who he belongs to. Legends of Harry Potter sir's wit has traveled far among house elves sir. Dobby is sure it would be no trouble to sir, but Harry Potter sir must guess correctly." he said, his expression desperate.
'Alright then' Harry thought, going through all he knew about house elves, 'House-elves only come with big houses and manors. Which means it could only be one of the Sacred Twenty Eight families. It would make sense for the richer ones to have elves. So that means that the Notts and Malfoys are the most viable choices.'
"Do you work for the Malfoys?" Harry asked, naming his first choice, hoping his luck stats would kick in.
"YES!" Dobby let out a loud exclaim before his face scrunched up. Suddenly he ran over to the candle and started burning his fingers in the flame.
"Don't - what are you doing?" Harry hissed, springing up and pulling Dobby back.
"Dobby had to punish himself, sir," said the elf, who had gone slightly cross-eyed. "Dobby gave away his family's identity. Dobby will have to shut his ears in the oven door for this."
Harry stared.
The books didn't mention this. It said that elves were bonded to their house and would serve whoever that owned it, but there was nothing about making an elf punish itself. With a slight gasp of horror, Harry realized that the red towel that hung in the hook was actually not red in color, but stained through with blood.
"There is a plot, Harry Potter." Dobby started talking again, his voice trembling as he tended to his burnt hands. "A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year," he whispered, suddenly trembling all over. "Dobby has heard of bits and pieces of it for months, sir. Harry Potter must not put himself in peril. He is too important, sir!"
"What terrible things?" asked Harry at once.
Dobby made a choking noise and then banged his head frantically against the wall.
"All right!" cried Harry, grabbing the elf's arm to stop him. "You can't tell me. I understand. But why are you warning me?" A sudden, unpleasant thought struck him. "Hang on…this hasn't got anything to do with Voldemort, has it?
Dobby clapped his hands over his bat ears and moaned, "Ah, speak not the name, sir! Speak not the name!"
"Sorry," said Harry quickly. "But does it have to do with him?"
"Dobby does not know sir. But Dobby knows that it will be the cause of mortal danger at Hogwarts for those not like master."
"Not like master?" Harry asked, "You mean not pureblood?"
Dobby nodded, pulling on his ears. There was a moment's silence as Dobby struggled to not bang himself against the wall and Harry used Gamer's Mind to sort through all that he had just found out. An odd sort of calm anger overtook his mind, as his Gamer's Mind quickly dismissed that it was a random chance that Malfoy had decided to target Hogwarts right after he'd pegged Harry as a potential dark lord.
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Dobby nodded, pulling on his ears. There was a moment's silence as Dobby struggled to not bang himself against the wall and Harry used Gamer's Mind to sort through all that he had just found out. An odd sort of calm anger overtook his mind, as his Gamer's Mind quickly dismissed that it was a random chance that Malfoy had decided to target Hogwarts right after he'd pegged Harry as a potential dark lord.
Malfoy was either trying to eliminate all those he thought were a bad influence on a new dark lord…or…or he was testing him. Much like Dumbledore had tested him last year to see if he was a hero, Malfoy was testing him to see if he was a dark wizard.
Having reached that conclusion, he knew one thing. He wouldn't be calmly following the steps through the test this time. He would break the living shit out of it.
"Are we at the Malfoy Manor now?" he asked the elf
Dobby nodded, "Harry Potter sir is in Dobby's cupboard now. Poor Dobby couldn't even get something for Harry Potter sir to drink for fear of master!"
"That's alright Dobby. Is there anybody home now?"
"Mistress and Young master have gone for holidays sir. Master is in his office now." Dobby answered after a small pause clearly wondering where this was going.
"I need to find out more about what is happening Dobby. And then, we will see if the threat is bad enough that I won't go to Hogwarts. I need you lead me to Lucius's office. Nothing more and nothing less. Can you do that to me without punishing yourself?" Harry asked, pleading the elf to say yes.
"Does Harry Potter promise to consider not going to Hogwarts School?"
"I will consider it."
Hesitatingly, Dobby gave a single nod, and beckoning for Harry to follow, opened the door to the cupboard and walked off. Harry followed right behind.
They ducked under many paintings and hid from many armors before reached the door of the office.
Harry told Dobby to stay back, and then took a deep breath.
Lucius Malfoy was a creature of words. Harry could not get him to spill using subtle manipulations and words. The only way to get to Lucius Malfoy was to get him hard and fast when he would have his guard down. What he was going to do wasn't going to be nice. But if Lucius Malfoy had done something bad enough to warrant a house elf going against his master and risking his own life to warn one of the victims, it was sure as all hell warranted.
He knocked on the door.
"Come in" came the silky voice of the senior Malfoy and the door's lock clicked open.
Harry opened the door and walked in, not wasting any time before activating Hydromancy and slowing the blood flow in Lucius's veins down to a crawl. Unlike the time at the New Year's Ball however, he wasn't holding back.
"I will ask this once Lucius." he calmly asked "What is your plan for Hogwarts this year? What have you done and how can it be stopped?"
"I have no idea what you are talking about," the blonde said in between heaves, falling off of his chair from a dizzy head due to low blood pressure. "And I swear I will call the Aurors and have you thrown into Azkaban if you don't st-"
"I suggest you answer before I get too impatient and stop your heart in your chest Lucius. I am not feeling particularly patient today." said Harry activating bloodlust and taking his blood control from the lowest blood flow levels to extremely high levels, making Lucius's blood pressure and heart rate skyrocket abnormally. Lucius's calm bearings flew out of the window as he started hyperventilating and sweating bullets.
Harry was making his very own body was working against him.
"I DON"T KNOW! I don't know! Every time I do anything that could possibly get me into bad waters with the law I perform a dark memory spell on myself. Nothing can bring back the memory unless a specific set of trigger events happen. Even if I did do anything in Hogwarts then I'm of no use to you" Lucius rambled out, Harry's magic making him lose all of his famous poise and cool.
"Why?" Harry asked. "Why mess with your own mind?"
"The aurors have always been suspicious of me, ever since I got acquitted of my crimes. If one of them ever decided to play vigilante and force-fed me truth serum then I would be a gone case. This way there is quite literally no way they can convict me of anything, since convicting a memory-less criminal is legal grey area."
Harry started trying to think of ways he could counteract the memory spell. If this would have been obliviate, then he could have countered it. But an unknown dark spell…that was beyond him. Suddenly, a loud yell pulled him out of his musings.
"YOU!"
Lucius had caught sight of his elf, who was standing behind Harry, "YOU LET HIM IN! YOU BETRAYED YOUR FAMILY!"
Dobby looked stricken.
"Eyes on me Lucius." Harry said warningly, "And talk. Or I will put an end to you now."
But Lucius was having none of it. With a mad rage in his eyes, he yelled, "KILL YOURSELF! KILL YOURSELF, YOU FILTHY BETRAYER!"
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