Harry Potter and the House Divided

Chapter Nine: Post and Prevarication

Harry awoke surprisingly well rested the following morning. He was glad that he had suffered no pain in his scar overnight and surprised that he could sleep so well in a place whose memories were far from comforting to him.

The first thing he heard after climbing out of bed was Phineas Nigellus' cold voice:

"Well, Potter, awake at last. How does it feel to be alive in my great great grandson's home while he's dead?" the portrait demanded.

Harry, whose mood was utterly shattered by this comment spun and glared at the portrait.

"Just shut up!" he cried, determined not to break down in front of Sirius' hateful ancestor. "It wasn't my fault that he's dead, and I don't need you or anyone else trying to tell me that, it was as hard as it was for me to understand that it wasn't."

"Well, Potter, I can see that you need some work on your sentence structure. Too bad that Dumbledore's forgotten the importance of proper communication and the value of her majesty's english as well. No matter, I'll tell him that you're awake as I'm sure that he'll want to see you, even if I don't understand what reason he might have after your display this spring."

Cheer dispensed for the day, the aged man disappeared from his frame before Harry could say anything in self Defence.

Harry, thoroughly depressed by this conversation, nearly chose not to go downstairs for breakfast but politeness forced him to answer when he heard a gentle knock on the door.

"Yeah," he said listlessly, searching through his trunk for something to wear.

"You awake in there, Harry?" Tonks' voice came through the door.

"Yeah, I'm up," Harry grumbled.

"Good," Tonks replied. "We've got a schedule change in hand and need to talk it through with you."

"Right," Harry said, wishing that he could just sit on his bed for a bit. He'd gotten over most of his need to sulk earlier in the summer but having Phineas Nigellus remind him of Sirius' death so directly was a strain on his fragile emotional control.

Minutes later, Harry was in the kitchen. Before he could sit down, a small tornado struck him with such force that he nearly fell over.

"Good morning, Harry Potter sir", cried Dobby. "It is so good to see Harry Potter! Dobby is pleased to serve Harry Potter for the rest of his summer, and wants to tell him that Winky is also here to help Harry Potter if Harry Potter needs anything. Harry Potter must simply ask and either Dobby or Winky will help Harry Potter in any way that Dobby and Winky can."

"Hello Dobby," Harry said, embarrassed as always by the little elf's overwhelming enthusiasm. "How are you this morning, and why are you here rather than at Hogwarts?"

"Dobby is wonderful, Harry Potter Sir," Dobby squealed, tears of joy pouring down his face. "Dobby is wonderful because Harry Potter is a great wizard and took time to ask how Dobby is," Dobby said, voice growing louder as he spoke.

"Dobby is with Harry Potter because Headmaster Dumbledore asks Dobby to come and help Harry Potter with everything that Harry Potter needs until Harry Potter is at Hogwarts. Headmaster Dumbledore says that Dobby is to carry messages for Harry Potter if Harry Potter needs to talk with any of Harry Potter's weezies or anyone else that Harry Potter needs to get messages to. Dobby is honoured that Dobby is asked to do anything for Harry Potter Sir, and so Dobby tells Headmaster Dumbledore that Dobby will help Harry Potter and Headmaster Dumbledore however Dobby can."

"Right," Harry said, trying to work out what Dobby had told him. All that he could figure out before Dobby continued his wild monologue was that Dobby would replace Fawkes as his personal secure message service.

"Dobby and Winky will also care for headquarters of the people fighting against 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' and Dobby's old family. Dobby is very glad to help fight with good wizards. Dobby promised Miss Nymphadora Tonksy that Dobby will clean nasty house and destroy bad things that bad wizards have left here. Winky is good at destroying bad wizard things and so Winky comes to help."

"Right," Harry said, overwhelmed. "Thanks for helping out around here," he said lamely, not quite sure what else to say for the moment.

He immediately realized that he had made a mistake when Dobby burst into tears.

"Dobby, what did I say?" he asked, mystified as usual by Dobby's odd behaviour.

"Dobby is complimented beyond knowing that Harry Potter would thank Dobby for Dobby's help with anything. Dobby would do anything for Harry Potter because Harry Potter is a great and honourable wizard who should never have to thank Dobby for anything that Dobby does to help Harry Potter!"

"Well, Harry, seems like you've got quite a fan there," Bill Weasley said with a laugh as he hurried into the room, only stopping for a moment to circumvent the mass of Harry and Dobby that still stood near the door.

"Uh, well," Harry said, embarrassed that he had a witness for this latest sign of Dobby's unending devotion to him.

"I freed him from Lucius Malfoy at the end of second year and, well...," he said, not sure how to continue.

"I understand," Bill laughed. "I'd be like that if you freed me from the Malfoys."

Harry laughed too, because after all some things were just too true for words.

"What can Dobby get Harry Potter and his teacher Wheezy for breakfast?" Dobby asked, releasing Harry and rushing toward the pantry.

Harry, who had almost told Dobby that whatever he had on hand would be fine before realizing just how this kind of vague instruction might be interpreted, decided that toast, bacon and sausage would be great. Bill asked for the same along with some hot coffee.

"And what does Harry Potter want to drink, sir?" Dobby asked.

"Uh, how about some orange juice and maybe a little butterbeer?"

"Butterbeer for breakfast?" Tonks asked, tripping over Dobby as she entered the kitchen.

"Well, I've already had a chat with Phineas Nigellus and could really use a pick-me-up," Harry said with a small laugh.

Tonks nodded, face tight with an emotion that looked a lot like disgust to Harry.

"In that case, butterbeer all-round," she said, face settling into a frown, an expression that Harry realized he'd never seen on it before.

Dobby began banging his head against the bottom of the great black oven that dominated one side of the kitchen.

"Stop that," Harry cried, jumping up to try to stop the little elf from giving himself a concussion.

"Dobby didn't remember to get butterbeer before coming to Miss Tonksy's home because Winky still drinks too much."

"Well, can you get more now?" Tonks asked.

"Dobby will get butterbeer if Miss Tonksy wants him to, but Miss Tonksy and Harry Potter Sir's other teachers must not let Winky get any."

"No problem," Tonks said with a laugh. "The last thing that I'd want is a drunken house elf smashing some of old aunt Esther's stuff. It's dangerous enough without adding anything like that to the mess."

"Oh, thank you!" Dobby said, grabbing Tonks around the knees, sending both of them to the floor with a mighty crash as he did so.

"Oh hell," Tonks cried.

"Uh, Dobby, I think that it would be best if you find other ways of thanking Tonks. She's kind of clumsy and well, you see what happened", Harry said through laughter at the expression on Tonks' face.

"Harry Potter Sir is right" Dobby cried. "Dobby will help Miss Tonksy," the little elf proclaimed while helping Tonks to her feet with a snap of his fingers.

"That's better," Tonks said before sitting down at the table. Obviously, though she had tried to help with meals last summer, Tonks knew not to get in between a house elf and it's cooking.

Now that things had settled down, Tonks glanced at Harry and waved him toward a seat at the table where a huge rack of toast and large platter of bacon and sausages sat steaming.

"Harry, Fleur's a bit sick this morning and since Bill and I have to be at work we're going to leave you to get settled in today. I'm hoping that Fleur'll feel better tomorrow as they still want her in at Gringotts until she finishes her current project. Dobby'll take care of anything that either of you need today and I think that I'll be back 'round six unless Fudge feels like a particularly long speech or well, something happens. Professor Dumbledore sent an owl and Remus is supposed to get back day after tomorrow," Tonks said, while marching through an impressive stack of toast heavily slathered wit pumpkin paste.

"I've got a long day so don't worry about having to see me today either," Bill said. "If Fleur needs anything, send Dobby over to the bank and he'll be able to find me there. I'm not usually in a place where fire calls can get to me and house elves are smart enough to stay out of trouble if I'm in a high security area."

"Right," Harry said, thinking about all the things that he needed to do today. Most important was getting some notes written to his friends, many of whom he'd not contacted all summer and all of whom he needed to thank for the birthday presents that they'd sent him.

"The house is safe so far as we know, since Kreacher did himself in and didn't tell Aunts Narcissa and Bellatrix about the Order. If you have any trouble with your scar or whatever, tell Dobby to get Professor Dumbledore.

He may be by later this week but probably not since he's neck deep with stuff for the order and Hogwarts. He said that he's sorry that you'll probably miss a couple of lessons with him and asked me to tell you since he was afraid that you'd be torched with him if he didn't tell you why you wouldn't see him."

"OK," Harry said brusquely. "I'll probably try to write everyone back from my birthday and read a bit more of some of the books that you sent. Thanks for them, by the way," he said to Tonks, a little embarrassed that he'd not thanked her for them earlier.

"No problem," Tonks said. "Just don't tell anyone, not even Hermione, where you got those spells if you use them in your Defence group this year. It's illegal for people outside of the department to have access to them though you can be sure that all of 'You-Know-Who's' people know most of them."

Harry nodded, unhappy that this would be yet another secret that he'd have to keep from his friends.

After a moment's thought, he decided that he would keep the spells to himself since he could get in trouble for knowing them and even more for teaching them. Though the ministry's possible responses made him nervous, Hermione's reaction, whether fascinated or horrified, on being taught illegal magic was really more than he wanted to think about this early in the morning.

"Well," Tonks said after cramming in her sixth piece of toast, "I'd better get off to see what Kingsley and Madame Bones want me to get up to today."

"Right," Bill concurred, rising and grabbing his cloak. "I'm off to the bank. Have fun with those letters. Ron'll be glad to hear from you."

"See you," Harry said as the two most colourful members of the Order of the Phoenix left him to his own devices something that he suddenly realized had never happened when he was out of school, whether at the Dursleys or with the Weasleys.

Thoughts about how nice it felt to know that people trusted him not to get into trouble carried him up the stairs. Growing up, hard and dangerous though it would be, suddenly didn't seem quite so bad.

*-*-*-

Three hours later, Harry had a healthy stack of parchments for Dobby to deliver. He didn't know whether he was permitted to talk about things relating to the order that he might see and hear. He did know that Mrs. Weasley would be angry if he said anything to Ron and Ginny about what was going on at No.12, Grimmauld Place so much as he wanted to, he didn't say anything to them about what he'd seen and heard so far.

It didn't escape his notice that he was being forced to keep exactly the same secrets that Ron and Hermione had been told to last summer. There were many reasons to look forward to getting back to Hogwarts but the opportunity to get around Mrs. Weasley's attitude was certainly one of the best in his opinion.

Before sending the notes off to his friends Harry decided to check at least some of them over to make sure that he'd said everything that he could without telling them too much. Neville and Luna had been easy since they still didn't know him well and it was easy enough to thank them for their gifts and help at the ministry in June. The others were far harder for him to write and he felt a lot better about their letters after having looked them over one more time.

Dear Ron

Thanks for the snitch, mate. My dad had one when he was at Hogwarts and it'll be great to have one to work with now that I'm back on the team.

I'm really glad that Fred and George are doing so well and it sounds like you're having fun working there. I don't know if I can come by to check out their shop or not before the end of the summer but if everyone here will let me out I'll definitely let you know. Hopefully we can buy our school stuff together.

I've got the O.W.L.s that I need to take everything I required for auror training. I'm really sorry that you can't but maybe we can work something out with McGonagall.

Hermione's going to protest Astronomy. I think that she's nutters for wanting to restudy for the test. If she asks I'm not retaking it but I'm sure that you can if you want.

Please tell your mum that I'm sorry that things happened the way they did with the Prophet, I'd never say something about Percy like that near a reporter if I knew that they were around. Fleur says that I'm going to have to be even more careful about what I say from now on and so did Hermione. They're probably right but its a royal pain in the arse watching everything I say. It'll be even worse at school so we'll have to figure out a way to talk about stuff without anyone else hearing. I'll ask Fred and George if they have any ideas but it would be great if you kept on them to make sure that they are thinking about ways to make something work.

I hope that you have loads of fun with the twins and it'll be great to see you either in Diagon Alley or on the train.

Harry

Harry, satisfied with his letter to Ron set it aside for Dobby to deliver later.

Dear Fred and George

You'll probably know where I am now so hopefully I'll see you next time you come 'round'. I didn't get the chance to tell you when you did it but you really made my week when you left school. Umbridge deserved a lot more than you gave her but it was bloody fantastic all the same. If you have any ideas that come off of that (the breakout broom?) you'd have at least one customer.

I'm really torched that I didn't get to come by to see your shop but hopefully I'll be able to come before the end of the summer. Dumbledore will know who my guardian is now and it would be really cool if you could work it so that I could come by before school starts. Thanks a lot for the product sampler, I think that maybe I'll give the inkpot to Hermione, she'll be really mad if she uses it for her notes but there are other things that it might help us with this year, if you know what I mean.

Speaking of which, I need a secure way to communicate with our friends at Hogwarts and outside this year and am hoping you'd be willing to help figure something out. My dad and the marauders had some enchanted mirrors that they talked on during detentions. Maybe something like that would work but whatever it is, I can't do anything here and neither can Hermione because she's with her parents this summer and they're muggles so she won't be able to get to any books or do any magic. If you have any ideas, let me know, I'm happy to pay for whatever you need to make something.

I'm really glad that you've been able to take Ron on this summer too. You know how he is about pocket money and it'll be great that he has some of his own this fall for trips into the village. If you need me to do anything to help with sales at school, just let me know it's the least I can do after you gave it to Umbridge.

One other thing that I need to ask you to do for me is to give the profits from the sale to your parents to help out with Percy. I know that he's been a total prat the last couple of years and I'm still pretty torched with him for telling Ron to bail on me, but it's not his fault that some nosey hag was listening in on my conversation with Fleur. We were at a muggle cafe and neither of us thought that there was any risk other than from muggles who didn't know what we were talking about. Anyway, Percy can probably use the money more than anyone else right now and maybe if it gets out that I gave it to him your mum and some of the others who have been after me about him will understand that I never meant for what I said to get into the Prophet.

Thanks again for the gifts, the laughs and the help with the Percy thing. I hope that I'll see you here or in Diagon Alley before the end of summer and wish you the best of luck with the wheezes.

Take care

Harry

He then turned to Ginny's letter since this would let Dobby deliver all of the Weasleys' notes and those to Neville and Luna while he figured out what to do about Hagrid and Hermione.

Dear Ginny

Thanks so much for the gloves. They're brilliant and since McGonagall's told me that I'm back on the team, I should be able to use them this year. She asked me to become captain but since Ron's much better than I am with strategy and knows a lot more about Quidditch, I asked her to see if he'd do it instead. Maybe you can tell your parents about your becoming prefect before he gets McGonagall's letter so that he doesn't feel like you're trying to show him up.

I think that it's great that you'll be a prefect and am really happy for you. I haven't told anyone and won't mention it until you tell me that they've heard about it from you.

I'm hoping to get to the twins' shop before school starts but don't know if I'll get to Diagon Alley this year. With Voldemort back I kind of think that they won't but hopefully I can convince Dumbledore or my new guardian to let me come. I'm not counting on it and don't know when you're helping out anyway. If you're there when I am, it'll be great to see you. If not, I'll find you on the train.

I hope that the rest of your summer is really great and thanks again for the gloves.

Harry

Hungry after writing his letters and unsure how to get lunch from the house elves, Harry decided to go down to the kitchen and see what he might be able to put together himself.

His plans to make his own lunch were dashed when he found Dobby waiting for him.

"Hello, Dobby," Harry said, repressing a sigh over the fact that he would not be allowed to have some peace to think about his letter to Hermione.

"Good afternoon, Harry Potter sir!" Dobby cried, nearly bouncing out of his green and purple socks. "What does Harry Potter want for lunch?"

"How about a sandwich and some pumpkin juice?"

"What kind of sandwich does Harry Potter wants?"

"Uh, grilled ham and cheese?" he said, not sure what Dobby had on hand.

"Very good, Harry Potter sir. Dobby will get Harry Potter his pumpkin juice now and needs ten minutes to cook Harry Potter's sandwich."

"Uh, OK," Harry said, not sure how he would fill ten minutes' conversation with the excitable little elf.

As it turned out, he didn't have to as Dobby went into a long and highly energetic monologue on what had been done to clean No.12, Grimmauld Place so far and what he and Winky had yet to do. Apparently, there was quite a lot for them to do and Dobby seemed sure that they would be very busy for most of the rest of the summer when "Harry Potter and the other good wizards don't need Dobby and Winky for...Whatever they need."

Harry sipped at his juice, occasionally nodding his head to show that he was paying attention. Dobby quickly finished preparing a truly enormous sandwich with four thick slices of ham and a great deal of some kind of cheese that Harry couldn't recognize by sight.

Knowing that Dobby would think that he hadn't liked the sandwich if he didn't eat most of it, Harry decided to try to eat as much as he could without getting sick.

"Does Harry Potter need anything else?"

"No, Dobby. Everything's great. I'll be working on letters this afternoon and if you can take them to everyone this evening that would be brilliant."

"Dobby will be very happy to take Harry Potter's letters to his wheezies and others in Dumbledore's Army."

"Thanks, Dobby," Harry said, glad that he wasn't going to have to listen to one of Dobby's fifteen minute diatribes on what a great wizard he was.

"Dobby would do anything to help Harry Potter with anything that Harry Potter needs! Because Harry Potter is a truly great wizard and Dobby owes Harry Potter for his freedom and his chance to work for such wonderful good wizards as Harry Potter and Professor Dumbledore", Dobby assured him before cracking away to whatever work he was doing with Winky.

Harry was surprised at how hungry he was and although he didn't finish Dobby's monster sandwich, he made far more progress with it than he expected to. After he stopped eating he simply sat for a while, looking around the kitchen at the things that had become familiar to him during the previous summer.

The great yet somehow dingy stove, the fireplace through which he had tried to contact Sirius and the table over which he'd shared far too few meals with his godfather. Seeing these things was still tremendously painful to him but he could now look at them without feeling that his heart would be ripped from his chest as he knew would have been the case had he returned to No.12, Grimmauld Place at the beginning of the summer. His growing skill with Occlumency and the reflex and concentration work that he was doing with Tonks were helping to keep his mind busy and give him a tiny sliver of the hope that Professor Dumbledore seemed to have for his ultimate success against Lord Voldemort.

Being in this house would not be easy but he could imagine surviving his time here. Hopefully, by the end of the summer Harry would know enough to allow him to survive his sixth year and then his teachers and Professor Dumbledore would give him more knowledge that he needed in order to be 'The-Boy-Who-Lived' once and for all.

One thing that Harry knew that he would have to talk with Professor Dumbledore about was the old man's seemingly dangerous trust in some of the people and well, Kreachers, that were allowed to get far too close to him. Much as it hurt him to admit it to himself, neither Hagrid nor Ron would be able to keep the prophecy to themselves. Ron was too temperamental and too likely to explode in a situation that could allow a servant of Voldemort to hear the thing that he must still want to know more than almost anything else in the world. Ron was the person on whom he could and would lean for diversion from the fate that was his but Harry knew with terrible certainty that Ron was not ready to shoulder the burden of keeping a secret for which Sirius had already died and that could kill others if it ever got out.

Hagrid drank too much and even when sober his ability to keep secrets was poor at best. Harry felt more than a little guilt in the knowledge that he had taken advantage of this fault more than once. If the lives of the people he cared about were to be protected, Harry knew that he must be sure that others could not do what he had done as a result of a drunken slip on the part of the kindly half giant.

The sad thought that his childhood had truly ended as he now had to make adult decisions that could impact his friendships in order to make sure that his friends continued to live was a great deal to think about.

He was not exactly sure how he'd gotten there but he soon found himself back at the desk in the room that he had claimed as his for the summer. Quill in hand, he started to write Hermione but knew that her letter had to come last. So, after scratching her name out, he turned to writing Hagrid.

Dear Hagrid (and Madame Maxime)

Thank you so much for the food. As always, things are a bit skimpy at the Dursleys though they were a lot better this summer. Having stuff in my room that my cousin would be envious of felt great even though I didn't tell him that I had it of course. Even if I'd wanted to, I didn't have much time to because I got a headache yesterday morning and Professor Dumbledore decided to have me go to the place where I was last summer. It's not been much of a summer with all that's going on but its nice to be back in the wizarding world.

I hope that things are going well and am looking forward to seeing at least one of you this year at school.

Thanks again for the food, I've got it with me here and really appreciate that you've been thinking of me.

See you back at school

Harry

Having nothing else that he could do but write to Hermione, Harry sat back, trying to figure out what he would say to a friend who had done more for him than anyone else and demanded more of him as well. Demands that he sometimes couldn't respond to because doing so opened his heart and mind to things that terrified him. Demands that forced him to remember the painful times before he got his letter from Hogwarts and the horrors that he was destined to deal with.

Dear Hermione

I'm really sorry that I've been so shirty with you this summer, but there has been a lot on my mind and Sirius is an awful lot of it. My O.W.L.s were good enough to get me into the classes that I need to qualify for auror training. I'm going to have to do a lot of special work this year and Professor Dumbledore's helping to set up my schedule. I don't know if I want to talk about the things that I've learned but its going to be a tough year I think.

You probably know that Ron didn't get the scores that he needs to be an auror even though he got a lot of O.W.L.s. I told him to talk with Professor McGonagall and ask her whether they can bend the rules. He really wants to be an auror and I hope that something can be worked out for him.

I'm in a new, Old Place and have some really cool people around to help out with some things that I need to learn for next year. Speaking of that, Professor Dumbledore wants me to keep the D.A. going. I hope that you'll be willing to stay in and help organize it because otherwise it'll be a right mess with me doing everything.

I never meant to be quoted by the Prophet. Fleur and I were just talking and didn't think that there was anyone nearby and I didn't see any beetles so I thought we were safe from her at least. However it happened, they got that tripe into the paper and now Percy's been fired and Mrs. Weasley is really mad with me. I'm trying to work things out but I think I know what it must have been like for you when she thought that you were playing with my emotions during fourth year.

I'm still not reading that bloody rag as I don't need to read all their stupid lies about me. Maybe I should, but I just can't bring myself to and Professor Dumbledore and my guardian haven't said that I have to so until he does I'm not going to.

Thanks so much for the book, it's the first wizarding novel that I've ever seen and it should be a good read. They're really keeping me busy here so I don't have a lot of time for light reading but I'll try to get a few pages in every night before going to bed.

I'm sorry that I've hurt you and want to make it up to you. If we can get together in Diagon Alley we'll talk, otherwise, please know that I'm busy, tired and generally fine.

I hope that we can see each other before school starts but if not, I'll see you on the train.

Harry

Knowing that he'd left too much unsaid but not sure how to say it without driving Hermione away forever, Harry sealed the last of his letters and put the scrolls on the desk for Dobby to take whenever he could.