Chapter 2
Harry had spent a restless night and a miserable morning brooding over that question.
Thinking in circles.
Actually, he had been thinking about it ever since Sirius died and he got smacked in the face with a useless prophecy. After he had regained himself a little and realised something had to change.
He hadn't found an answer so far.
It was when the front door fell shut after his aunt left the house without any acknowledgement, that something finally clicked. In the Dursley household he was nothing more than an unwanted object, locked away until it became useful. Until that time, he better be quiet and invisible. Or else.
Like a slave.
Like a house elf.
Harry sucked in a breath. "Dobby," he whispered.
There was one creature whose loyalty knew no bounds. Who wouldn't look to other people first before deciding to help Harry. Who wouldn't let themselves be sent away on the words of another when Harry needed him.
Harry groaned quietly while he sat up in his bed. He shuffled around until the bedsprings stopped poking him and shoved the thin cushion between himself and the headboard. He took a moment to breathe through the pain.
He didn't really know how he could call the house elf to him, but perhaps it was as simple as saying his name with intent.
"Dobby."
The quirky, little elf appeared immediately with a quieter pop. "The great Harry Potter has called for Dobby?" His bright and happy smile changed into a look of utter dismay when he clapped eyes on Harry.
Harry had to do something soon, before the elf gave him away. "Dobby, I need you." He didn't beat around the bush. Being too friendly might send the little guy into hysterics and Harry had no clue how to handle that. "I need you here, listening to me. Not popping away to get something or punish someone. But here, with me, right now. Are you willing?"
Dobby was looking close to tears while he wrung his ears harshly. Harry laid a hand on his. "Don't hurt yourself, please. It hurts me when you do that." He sighed with relief when the house elf removed his hands at once and started wringing his bright yellow t-shirt instead.
"Dobby is always willing, Harry Potter, sir! Dobby will stay and listen."
Harry patted the mattress in invitation and spent some time shushing the resultant wailing. "This is normal, Dobby. You're my friend and my equal, and friends sit down together. This is how it should be. Can you be a little quieter, though?"
Harry tilted his head and worried his lip while he kept an ear out for anyone trying to enter the house. "Are there any wizards or witches around, do you think?" He asked when Dobby had calmed down.
The house elf shook his head. "Dobby cannot sense them."
Harry sagged into his cushion. It must be Mundugus' watch, then. He seriously doubted Dumbledore hadn't posted a guard on him. It was mindboggling that the headmaster had chosen to put faith in a proven fickle man like Mundungus again, yet it wasn't entirely unexpected either.
Harry drew his thoughts away from Dumbledore's inexplicable arrogance or incompetence. He had better things to do. "I want to tell you everything, Dobby. I really need some advice. But I can't have you tell my secrets by accident, or worse: have someone hurt you to get them, so-"
Harry took a deep breath, but was interrupted by Dobby. "Dobby cannot tell anyone the great Harry Potter's secrets, sir!"
Harry blinked at Dobby. The little elf was busy wringing his vibrant t-shirt again.
"Like a bond?" He asked. Dobby nodded and stared miserably at his knees.
Harry chose his words carefully. He didn't want to accidentally reject his friend. "I'm not saying no to the bond, but-" Dobby's ears -which had been rising steadily- droped at once when he heard the 'but'.
"-but," Harry pressed, "I want a bond that you can break, if necessary. Not a master-servant bond, but one between equals. Friends."
Dobby's eyes had grown so big they were practically overtaking his face. "The great Harry Potter wants an Olde bond?" He whispered.
Harry took both of the little elf's hands in his. He opened his mouth to ask Dobby if he knew how to create such a bond between them, when the words were suddenly there.
"You are my friend, Dobby and I choose you as my family. With these words I declare you my equal, so we may walk through life together. With these words, I take you into my home, so we may give each other shelter. With these words I declare Dobby the house elf family. From this day onwards, may no one but the two of us deny us our bond. So mote it be."
It felt like being gently dunked into pure sunshine. Soft golden light illuminated Dobby's amazed face for a brief moment until it died away.
For the first time in his life, Harry knew he wasn't alone because there, in his magic, was a presence. Joyful and bouncy and so, so happy.
---
When Dobby finally came down off his euphoric high, he started murdering his t-shirt again. Harry watched on with bafflement at how the fabric sprang back into shape without strain or wrinkles whenever the elf stopped his wringing.
"You can tell me anything, Dobby, I won't be mad," he said.
Dobby stared up at Harry with large eyes and a hopeful expression. "Winky is not doing well, Harry Potter, sir."
Harry immediately perked up. "Yes, that would have been my next question. Do you think she would be interested in having an Olde bond with me? It won't be like she's used to," he trailed off.
He thought back to all of Hermione's rants about how the house elves were brainwashed into wanting their own enslavement. He didn't think it was quite so clear-cut, but he also knew what it was like to resign yourself to a hopeless situation. And how difficult it was to make choices for yourself once you got out. The Dursley's treatment of him might have been bad, but it was also familiar.
Maybe that was another reason why he'd been plodding along so obediently, following Dumbledore's unspoken directions.
"May Dobby collect Winky?"
Harry wanted to say yes immediately, but they hadn't gotten to any explanations yet. "Would you collect her, there and back again, without any detours? And will you make sure nobody can notice you when you are with me?"
"Yes, yes, yes, Harry Potter, sir! Dobby will do so at once!"
Dobby was gone and back before Harry had the time to react.
Winky didn't look well. Her tea towel was dirty and she was so drunk he wasn't even sure she'd noticed the difference in her surroundings. Harry looked at Dobby with a worried frown. "Is she sober enough to consent to a bond?"
Winky's eyes grew wide and she tugged at her hair with a feeble wail. "Winky is a bad elf. Winky doesn't deserve a bond!"
Harry grasped her hands because he didn't think she could take it if he expressed concern for her. Her eyes grew wider.
"Winky is not a bad elf. She was in the care of a bad wizard and that wizard failed her!" Harry's tone was soft but strong, and he tried to show her his conviction through his gaze. The little elf swayed while she closed her eyelids, but when she opened them she seemed more coherent.
Harry decided to continue. He couldn't see her hurting like that, and this was the kind of bond she could break herself. He didn't think just reciting the binding words would suffice, though. Not in the face of years -perhaps even decades- of mistreatment.
"I want to offer you an Olde bond. Are you willing?"
Winky was.
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