Stormseeker: Borrowed Destiny

"Lexen, I am concerned about the amount of time you are spending with Professor Quirrell," Dumbledore tells me in his office.

"Is that what you called me here for?" I ask.

"You have gotten many detentions with him this year," Dumbledore says. "Has he been doing anything to you?"

"I'm keeping my eyes open," I reply. "I'm not going to let myself get tricked into participating in some midnight ritual to sacrifice me to resurrect the Dark Lord."

"Alright, Lexen," Dumbledore says. "You know who you're dealing with. He is a dangerous man, and highly charismatic. Do not listen to anything he says."

"Yeah," I say. "I know." I've ultimately decided that I am pretty upset about being killed in that manner. Not so much about the ritual itself, but about being lied to. I don't like being deceived.

"You should be concerned about the amount of interest that Dumbledore has displayed in you," Quirrell tells me in his office.

"Why?" I ask.

"Do you really believe that everything Dumbledore touches is good and right?" Quirrell says. "There is a lot of ill he has done in the name of the greater good, you know."

"I don't believe that he's as good as people generally think he is," I say, shrugging. "I believe he's the sort of person who would place a magical child with abusive Muggles just because he insists that it's the 'right' thing to do."

Quirrell's lips thin and he looks at me appraisingly for several long moments before finally saying, "Yes. Yes, he would."

Christmas is approaching, which means it's time to owl-order candy for many of my friends. And a book for Hermione, of course. I'm glad that she's still around to celebrate Christmas. That she'll be able to see her family again, and that her parents won't have to spend this holiday mourning their lost daughter.

"Harry," Draco says. "Going to come stay at Malfoy Manor for the holiday?"

"Where else am I going to go?" I say with a smirk.

"I don't know," Draco says. "Heading back across the pond? Staying at Hogwarts? Visiting the Weasleys?" He sneers at that last.

I laugh aloud. "Good joke," I say. "I wouldn't mind seeing Malfoy Manor." I never actually saw it much in my last life, after all. Only a little bit of it when I went to buy Dobby from them. Now if I can just avoid thinking about poisonous murder while visiting.

As if that's going to happen. I find myself dwelling on it more and more as the start of Christmas break approaches. By the time I board the train with Draco, I can't shake the images from my mind. I fear that all this will do is give my overactive imagination actual solid images to haunt me with. Maybe Malfoy Manor will be nothing at all like I imagined it, and actually serve to dispel the images instead. I can only hope.

"Welcome to Malfoy Manor, Harry Potter," Lucius greets me with a faint smile.

"Greetings, Lucius Malfoy," I say, giving him a small bow.

"I'll admit that I'm a bit surprised that you decided to come, after what happened last summer," Lucius says.

I give a faint shrug. "I'll deal with it."

It's a little awkward, meeting them again after the aforementioned incident. While Draco also knows the truth of the matter, he has stubbornly pretended not to at school for the most part, which is just as well, really. He acts normal and rarely mentions it. But here I am at the heart of the incident, and I don't know how I'm going to react.

I wander into the dining area. It's a nice place, tastefully decorated with a rich mahogany table, silver candlesticks, a broad window overlooking the garden. Was this where it happened? Where the tormented house-elves stood by and watched as their masters died rather than lift a finger to their aid?

Suddenly, Rispy appears in the room. I jump in startlement. Of all the people I expected to see here today, he was not high on the list. He's well-dressed in elf-sized garb, and bears a long knife strapped to his belt.

"Rispy!" I exclaim. "What are you doing here?"

"Am I unwelcome in this house, Harry Potter?" Rispy asks.

"I don't know, this isn't even my house," I reply.

"Harry?" Draco says, striding into the room and raising an eyebrow at the strange house-elf. "Huh. There's a sight you don't see every day. A house-elf wearing clothes."

"I am not a house-elf!" Rispy snaps. In an instant, he has his knife out and pointed at Draco.

"Rispy!" I cry. "It's impolite to threaten someone in their own home. I'm sure he meant no offense."

"Gah!" Draco says. "Harry, you know this crazy thing?"

"And I recognize this house now..." Rispy says. "You brought me here to force me to breed with one of your slaves for you!"

"Huh?" Draco says, blinking, and then his eyes widen as it dawns on him. "Oh, you're that elf..."

"Yes, I'm that elf," Rispy spits, raising the knife.

Draco reaches for his wand, but I'm quicker with my own. "Petrificus Totalus," I cast, and Draco's limbs snap together. "Rispy, please put away the knife. These people are my allies, and they have promised to treat their house-elves better--"

"That's not good enough," Rispy says fervently. "It's still slavery! A happy slave is still a slave!"

"Rispy, please calm down," I say gently. "I'm not overly fond of the situation myself, but I acknowledge that I, alone, cannot hope to end the slavery of elves in Britain with the resources I currently have available, not yet."

"I know that," Rispy says. "I'm not concerned about the abstract, freeing slaves, not just yet anyway. This is for revenge for what was done to me!"

Much as I'd like to point out that they did much worse to him in another life, in which I didn't save him as quickly, I neither care to blow my cover nor believe that that would actually help the matter. "Do not harm Draco," I say coldly.

Rispy turns to glare at me. "I know you saved me and all, to which I am very grateful, but if you stand in my way, I will be forced to fight you."

"What's going on here?" Lucius demands, stepping into the room.

"I will kill you!" Rispy cries, charging at Lucius.

"Flipendo!" I snap off. The spell catches Rispy by surprise, knocking him into the far wall. "Finite Incantatem!" I cast at Draco.

"What was the point in that?" Draco says, drawing his wand.

"Expelliarmus!" I cast at Rispy as he tries to get up again. He's knocked off his feet and the knife flies out of his hand and embeds itself into the wall.

Lucius has his wand out and pointed at Rispy. "Desist at once, elf," he warns.

"You bloody wizards are all the same," Rispy snarls. "You hate anything you can't control. Well, guess what? You are never going to control me again!"

Rispy waves his hand, knocking the three of us off our feet. With inhuman speed, he leaps on top of Lucius. I scramble for my feet and reach for my wand. Rispy's knife is in his hand again, and it's covered in blood now. He's moving for Draco. Damn it all.

"Petrificus To-- agh!" Rispy is upon me before I can even get the spell off, crossing the room in the blink of an eye. Each of our weapons are knocked out of our hands again.

"No more!" Rispy screams, beating against me with his fists. "No more injustice! No more slavery! No more! No more! No more!" He's stronger than I would have given him credit for, too.

"Rispy!" I cry. "Stop! Rispy, stop! Please, stop! Stop it!"

"No! Die!" Rispy yells. "Die! Die! Die! Die, die, die!"

"Flipendo!" casts Draco, sending Rispy tumbling off of me.

"I've had just about enough of this!" Rispy yells. "Both of you just die already!"

Rispy grabs the knife and, in one swift movement, leaps up and slashes across my throat. I stumble and try to gasp, but only manage to gurgle as I fall face-first against the floor. I stare at the nice plush carpet, rapidly being stained red as my lifeblood pours out of my neck.

As the darkness takes me, I start to think that perhaps I'm not solely to blame for murdering the Malfoys in that other life. A certain violent, bloodthirsty elf should hold responsibility in equal measure for it.

I wake in the Gryffindor dormitory, exhausted. What an absolutely splendid day. Now, how in the Abyss am I to prevent the bloody rampage of a crazy elf? I sigh and rub my eyes. This was not how I anticipated starting off my holiday.

Still feeling half-dead, I make it through breakfast and head for the train, catching Draco on the way. "Draco," I murmur. "I'm going to take a nap on the train. Then I need to talk to you, alone. Alright?"

"Alright," Draco replies, frowning a little.

Once on the train, I curl up in our compartment and am asleep in moments, before the train even starts to move. A little ironic that, this time around, I trust Draco enough to sleep in front of him, but not Ron. By the time I wake, the sun is high in the sky, and the England countryside is rolling by.

Draco is munching on Cauldron Cakes across from me. "Merlin, you're finally awake?" Draco says. "What did you do, get no sleep last night? Want one?"

"Sure," I say, taking one and starting to munch on it, and then making sure my privacy spells are up. "Draco, I got killed tonight."

"Huh?" Draco says.

"That's why I was so tired," I explain. "We're going to have to be very, very careful to avoid this one."

"What do you mean?" Draco says.

I sigh. "There's an elf that's going to show up after we arrive at Malfoy Manor. Do not under any circumstances refer to him as a 'house-elf' or say anything that might antagonize him."

"Wait," Draco says. "You were killed by a house-elf?"

"No," I say. "He's not a house-elf, he's a free elf. Which means he has no restrictions about harming us, and so he will kill us if he gets angry."

Draco stares at me for several moments as I pin him with a serious expression. "Alright, alright," he says. "I'll be nice to the crazy, bloodthirsty elf."

"We'll need to tell your parents that as well," I say. "He didn't go berserk until Lucius showed up..."

"How dangerous could he possibly be?" Draco says. "He's just an elf."

"He killed Lucius, he killed me, and he was probably about to kill you next," I say. "But I was too busy bleeding to death out of my throat to notice what happened after that."

Draco blanches a bit. "I see. Alright, so he's dangerous. Why don't we just have Father get the drop on him and kill him?"

"I'd really rather not have to do that unless absolutely necessary," I say. "He's not a bad person or anything, but he's very... fervent. Vengeful. Zealous. I'd much rather have him as an ally than an enemy."

"I still think this is a terrible idea," Draco says. "And why is this particular elf free, anyway?"

"I got him freed," I say. "He was born free, though. And none too happy about having been forcefully enslaved."

Draco frowns faintly. "Oh, Merlin, you don't mean that elf, do you?"

"Yes, Draco," I reply with a smirk. "That elf."

"What a piece of work!" Draco says. "He couldn't do anything but swear at us, but he taught our elves some nasty words in the process." He looks at me strangely. "Why in the world did you go and free him?"

"He was a good friend in another life," I murmur. "And... I hadn't yet realized just how much things can change. I mean, Ron Weasley was my best mate in that life, too. And you've seen how that turned out this time."

Draco snorts in amusement. "You were seriously friends with that slimy weasel?"

"Heh. Yeah," I say. "Anyway, I'd like to try to keep Rispy calm and get on good terms with him. But if that fails, well, survival is of primary importance, even if it means having to kill him."

"Wait a minute," Draco says. "This wasn't the elf you murdered my parents over, was it?"

I stare intently at the window, not willing to look him in the face. "Yes, yes it was."

"Was it his idea to kill them, or yours?" Draco asks.

"It was his idea," I say. "He demanded vengeance, and threatened my life if I didn't help him. I gave him the poison, and told him it was salad dressing."

"That was all?" Draco says.

I nod, still not looking at him.

"I wouldn't say you murdered them, then," Draco says quietly.

"No, I totally did murder them," I say.

"You acted under duress," Draco says. "You only did it to save yourself."

"But Luna saw black grackles around me afterward," I say.

"Huh?" Draco says.

"Luna Lovegood," I explain. "She... she can see things most people can't. Grackles are invisible creatures that are attracted to those who have killed another person. Black ones, specifically, to people who have committed murder."

"Alright, you were making sense right up until you mentioned Luna Lovegood," Draco says with a smirk. "Isn't she the daughter of the bloke that runs that nonsense rag, The Quibbler?"

"I believe that's her, yes," I say.

"And you listened to her?" Draco says incredulously.

"Hey, she's the only person who realized I was a time traveler right off the bat, just from looking at me," I say. "She says some things that sound weird sometimes, but there's got to be something to it."

"If you say so." Draco looks at me, sighs and rolls his eyes. "Look, you can keep feeling guilty about it if you really want to, but I'm not going to hold it against you. I wouldn't even if I were that Draco."

"Don't say things like that," I say. "You don't know that. You can't know that. And I don't intend to get into a situation where I might find out, either."

"Alright, alright," Draco says. "We're almost there. Let's clean up and get ready to go."

Shortly, we're back at Malfoy Manor. Along the way, I advised Lucius to stay out of the dining area for a bit and leave Rispy to me. I'll take care of the belligerant elf myself.

Sure enough, after I stand around in the dining room for about ten minutes, Rispy appears before me. He's not murderous yet. Just calm and content at the moment. Let's see if I can keep him that way.

"Hello, Rispy," I greet him cheerfully. "How've you been doing?"

"Greetings, Harry Potter," Rispy says, giving a small bow toward me. "I am well, thank you."

"What brings you back to England?" I ask.

Rispy shrugs. "Well, I went home for a while, but I got bored pretty quick and decided to head out again. There's still a whole world out there to see, wrongs to right, injustices to stop..."

"I see," I say, giving him a faint smile.

"But I decided to stop in and see you again first," Rispy says. "I still don't know why you helped me, but maybe not all wizards are bad."

"I'm glad for that," I say. "I would hate to see innocents wind up dying all because of a misunderstanding."

Rispy frowns a little. "I'm still not happy with the state of affairs regarding elven slavery, however. That's one reason why I came to you. You have more experience with the world of wizards than I do. What would be the best way to go about ending the enslavement of my people?"

"I'm glad you came to me," I say, grabbing a nearby chair and plopping down into it with a sigh. "Please, have a seat."

Rispy nods, and sits down in another chair. It looks massive around him, and his feet don't touch the floor.

"For starters," I say. "Please don't take a life unless it's absolutely necessary. There are plenty of otherwise good people who grew up not knowing any better. And if you kill them, they're never going to learn differently, either."

"But, they're slavers," Rispy says. "How good can they really be if they support this kind of industry?"

"They've been told for generations that this is the way things are," I explain. "Even the best of them tend to believe that house-elves are very useful and just try to compassionately give them good working conditions."

"That's horrible!" Rispy says. "How can people think like that?"

"Well, just think," I say. "If you grew up with every authority figure in your life always telling you that humans are inferior, elves are superior, and that's just the way things are, what would you think?"

Rispy frowns a little. "But... I did. Inferior, and weak, and evil, and... I think I see what you mean. It's difficult for me to think of humans as different from what I grew up believing."

"Exactly," I say.

Just then, Dobby appears in the room. "Dinner is ready," he says. "Will it just be you tonight?"

Rispy turns to cast me a sharp glare. "Harry Potter, you keep slaves yourself?"

"No, no," I say. "This isn't even my house."

"You associate yourself with slavers?" Rispy says coldly.

Dobby steps in between Rispy and me. "You no talk bad of Dobby's family," Dobby says. "They treat us very good! No punishments in months! Wonderful!"

"They enslave you and then punish you when you don't do their bidding?" Rispy says.

"No!" Dobby snaps. "They not bad! They Dobby's family!"

"And you have just been told all your life that this is right and correct," Rispy points out.

"That is, indeed, the other side of it not being easy to change the slave industry," I say, sighing. "There have been generations of house-elves who know nothing more than to be happy with their servitude. Before this can end, both sides need to change, and change doesn't come easily or quickly."

Rispy stares at me for a long moment before slumping over and sighing. "I see," he murmurs. "You're right. You're right, of course. I didn't really think about it that way."

"I've been trying to work on softening up the wizards, but it only goes so far," I say. "I've done what I can, but I wouldn't have even been able to get as far as I have if it weren't for the help of Lucius Malfoy."

Dobby beams, and Rispy looks up with a frown. "Is that whose house this is? I thought I recognized it... Ah, yes, I remember Dobby now." His frowns deepens. "But it wasn't so very long ago that they 'borrowed' me and forced me to breed with one of their elves..."

"Yes, well," I say. "I've had a talk with them since then. Dobby can attest to the change. They won't be mistreating house-elves anymore, and have helped in convincing other wizards to treat them better as well."

Dobby nods enthusiastically. "Things much better now!" Dobby says. "Dobby is happy!"

"I see," Rispy says, sighing. "Well, I still don't really like this, but I suppose you have to start somewhere."

"So, I'd say, the best way to stop elven slavery is to work from the inside," I say. "Work with the elves, help them to change their views, and I'll do the same from the other side with the wizards. Perhaps you could start with Hogwarts. I spend most of the year there, myself. That place must have a lot of elves, and Dumbledore is a reasonable man."

Rispy nods thoughtfully. "That sounds like a good idea," he says. "I think I'll do that, then."

I consider inviting him to stay for dinner, but then reason that it's a bad idea. The Malfoys might still set him off in some way, and I doubt they'd be willing to eat dinner with their house-elves, either. "I wish you well with that," I tell him instead. "We both have our work cut out for us."

"Farewell, Harry Potter," Rispy says. "I shall see you at Hogwarts." He gives a short bow, and then vanishes.

I breathe a sigh of relief. "Dobby," I say. "You can tell the Malfoys that our 'guest' is gone and we can eat dinner now."

Dobby disappears as well. I don't bother moving. I curl up in the chair and bury my face in my trembling hands. I did a good job of hiding my tension in front of Rispy. Now, I don't care anymore. The Malfoys have already seen the worst of me. It doesn't matter.

"Harry?" Draco says, entering the room, followed by his parents. "What happened?"

"Crisis averted," I say, letting out a deep breath.

"Care to explain what exactly that was all about?" Lucius says, coming over to take a seat at the table as the elves start bringing in food to lay out.

"That was the elf I told you about before," I say. "And he probably would have gotten violent if Dobby hadn't been able to convince him that you were treating your elves better. But thankfully, we were able to resolve the situation without bloodshed."

"I see," Lucius says. "Was he really that dangerous?"

"He would have killed you," I say. "He would have killed all of us."

"If he's that dangerous, shouldn't he be put down?" Lucius wonders.

"There's no need for that," I say, looking down at the food that's been placed before me and hardly seeing it. Those Cauldron Cakes seem like ages ago, but I can hardly stomach the thought of food right now. "I was able to reason with him and steer him toward a less bloody course. I believe he will be an ally now."

"That seems an awful lot of trouble to go to for one elf," Lucius says.

"He's not just one elf," I say. "He's a valuable friend that I would kill for."

"I see," Lucius says. "As you say. Well, if that's the case, it seems as though you need all the help you can get."

"That's one way to put it," I say.

"Do remember that we'll support you in any way we can," Lucius says.

I absently poke at a bit of steak with my fork and chew on it. "You think I'm going to be the next Dark Lord, don't you."

"It would seem a reasonable assumption," Lucius says.

"I have no interest in ruling the world," I say, spearing another bit of meat a little more violently than I'd intended. "You can do that if you want to, though."

Lucius looks at me strangely. "Why would you not wish that?"

"Because I'd much rather have power without responsibility," I say, smirking. "To be able to do whatever I want, but not be expected to do anything."

"Ah," Lucius says. "I can see the appeal in that. Still, you're the sort who is liable to shake things up, and it would seem to be to be far preferable to be on your side rather than against you. I don't know what all you intend to change along the way."

"I intend to gain power and to survive," I reply. "Beyond that, all else is negotiable."

"I would have expected someone in your circumstances to go out of their way to try to improve their friends' situations," Lucius says.

"I don't even have the same friends," I say. "And I'd like to take credit for saving Hermione, but the event that would have killed her didn't even show up this time. I've already changed too much, and I can't always accurately predict what might happen from here on out. So, I'll just have to see what happens for the moment."

"If I might ask, why are you wasting your time with going to school when you've already been through it all before?" Lucius asks.

It occurs to me just why he's been so helpful. I didn't tell him just how far into the future I came from. He believes me to have been already a powerful adult wizard that traveled back in time. I doubt he would react well if he found out now, however. I carefully mask my expression.

"It would look strange if Harry Potter didn't attend Hogwarts," I say. "And it's a good place to start building alliances. The homework is easy, so I've got plenty of time for extracurricular studies. It's hard to hide that I'm above their level, however. Do you have any idea how hard it is to intentionally fail to cast a Hover Charm once you already know how?"

"I see," Lucius says, nodding in agreement. "That's true."

"It's fun watching him intentionally lose points for Gryffindor, though," Draco says. "I still think you should have been in Slytherin, though."

"Maybe next time," I say, shrugging.

"How much more time travel do you intend to do?" Lucius asks.

"Until I get it right," I say firmly.