Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
More Important Than Any Broomstick - Chapter 20 - Slaves and Games
After only a few hours of sleep, Harry's group portkeyed near the Burrow, and then after bidding their goodbyes to the Weasleys, Sirius side-along apparated Hermione to Potter Manor, returning a minute later to take Harry.
When Harry arrived, he was greeted by Dobby, who immediately hugged Harry. "I is knowing Harry Potter is a great wizard for freeing Dobby and hiring him, but now Harry Potter is taking in Dobby's friend Winky."
At this moment Harry noticed Winky timidly standing in a corner, wearing a neat little skirt and blouse with a matching blue hat, which had holes in it for her large ears. "Hello Dobby," Harry said as Dobby released him. He then walked up to the other elf and squatted down before her. "Hello Winky."
"H-Hello Harry Potter sir. W-Winky is doing what Harry Potter is saying, coming to Potter Manor after Master Crouch, Master…" At this moment Winky started crying and Hermione, who'd been watching the exchange, squatted down next to Harry and hugged Winky.
"It's all right, Winky," she said, "It wasn't your fault."
"I is a bad elf. I is disgraced," Winky said, sobbing.
"You are not a bad elf, and Mr. Crouch is the disgrace," said Sirius. "If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals. Based off of how he treated you Winky, Barty Crouch is not a good man."
"I is not speaking ill of master," said Winky defensively.
"You don't have to speak ill of Mr. Crouch," said Harry. "Just agree to work for me."
Winky's eyes went wide as a smile came across her face. "You, you is still wanting to hire Winky?" she said hopefully.
"Of course I do," said Harry. "Dobby is getting one Galleon a week, with one day off per month. Is that acceptable for you?"
Winky lowered her head and began crying again. "Oh no, sir. Dobby may be wanting wages," she shot a glare at the other elf, whose ears lowered, "but Winky isn't accepting wages or days off."
"But you've got to," said Hermione, "It's only fair!"
"Then Winky is leaving. Winky is properly ashamed to take wages. Winky would rather die…"
"Fine," said Harry. "If that's how you feel about it, you can work here without wages." Hermione gave Harry a sharp glare. "But if you change your mind, you can come to me and ask for wages."
Winky smiled slightly. "I is accepting those terms, but I is not changing my mind about wages."
"Very well," said Harry. They then shook hands, sealing the magical agreement as their hands glowed for a second.
Hermione then stormed off toward the fireplace without saying a word. Harry called out, "Hermione," but it was too late. She'd already flooed away. Harry grabbed some floo powder, stepped into his fireplace, threw the powder down, and shouted, "Granger residence!" while Sirius watched silently.
When Harry arrived at Hermione's house, he distinctly heard an upstairs door slam. He looked around to see Adam and Marissa Granger looking at him with bewildered expressions on their faces. He took a deep breath. "Hello Adam, Marissa."
"Er, Hello Harry," said Adam. "What's wrong with Hermione? She said something about you owning slaves and stormed off."
"It was the only thing I could do, sir. At the world cup, we saw a house elf named Winky get sacked for no good reason, and we saw how heartbroken she was. I told Winky she could come to Potter Manor for a job. She showed up this morning and I offered her the same wages I pay Dobby, but Winky refused. She said she'd leave unless I let her work for nothing, and well, I agreed to let her, er, work for nothing. It was either that or let her live on the street. Hermione stormed off after that without saying a word, and flooed here." He then looked at Hermione's parents. "You don't think I should've sent Winky away, do you?"
"Well," said Mrs. Granger, "It's sometimes hard for us to understand the ways of the wizarding world, but we know you were only trying to help Winky. We're sure Hermione will realize that soon."
"Thanks. Can I go upstairs and talk to her?"
"Yes, Harry. I'm sure you heard her slam her door when you arrived," said Adam.
Harry then marched straight up the stairs to Hermione's room and knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" came Hermione's voice from the other side. It sounded to Harry like she was crying.
"It's me, Harry."
"Go away!"
"I'm not leaving until you talk to me," he said firmly.
"I have nothing to say to you, slave driver!" she shouted.
"Mine, will you at least let me explain?"
"Don't call me that!"
"Are you trying to end our relationship without even giving me a chance to explain myself? I thought it meant more to you, that I meant more to you, than that. I thought you loved me. I guess I was wrong."
"I do love you, but what you did was wrong, and I can't have a boyfriend who owns slaves!"
"Please open the door so I can talk to you properly, Hermione. I love you and I don't want to lose you."
"Fine!" she said as her door opened, revealing a red-faced girl with tears stains running down her cheeks, glaring at the boy she'd been snogging passionately just the day before.
He stepped in and tried to take her hands in his, but she pulled back. "Hermione," he said softly. "You heard what Winky said. I don't like having her work for nothing any more than you do, but if I didn't agree, she'd have run off, and who knows what would have become of her. I was only trying to be nice to her." When Hermione didn't say anything for a few seconds, Harry continued. "You're a lot more important to me than Winky. If you feel that strongly about it, I'll go home right now and give her clothes. Of course, she'll be even more heartbroken and probably kill herself, but if that's what you want…"
Hermione sighed, "I don't want Winky to kill herself. I just want her free! Slavery is wrong."
Harry spoke softly to his girlfriend. "I know slavery is wrong, but I don't see a choice if I want to help Winky. You heard me tell her that she can ask for wages any time she wants. It seems that for some reason most elves want to be slaves, so right now I think the best thing to do is to treat her with kindness and respect instead of the way they're usually treated. Maybe one day things will be different and Winky will be happy to get wages, but until then, at least she can be happy. I don't want to be her master, but that seems the only way to be her friend."
Hermione seemed to slowly calm down as Harry spoke. "I understand, Harry. Maybe we can find a way to work for house elf rights, but you're probably right about this being the only way to help Winky right now. I'm sorry I overreacted, Hero," she said with a small grin.
"Does that mean I can call you Mine?" he responded, looking deep into her brown eyes.
She smiled. "Yes Harry, you can call me yours."
-
A few minutes later, they both came walking hand-in-hand down the stairs. Mrs. Granger said with a slight smile, "You're holding hands. Does that mean you've settled your disagreement?"
"Yes, mum," said Hermione with her head hung down. "I overreacted to something."
"I see," said Marissa. "I'm just glad he followed you. I'd hate for you two to break up over a simple misunderstanding."
"So would I, Mum. I've already apologized to Harry, so can we please drop it. Harry and I have to get back to our training."
Adam chuckled, "Alright, we'll drop it. But when you're done, we'd like Harry to come over for lunch and stay until after supper. It's been a while since we've had him over."
"Alright," said Harry, smiling. "Thanks!"
"Oh, by the way, while you were gone, Professor Lupin went shopping with us in Diagon Alley. We picked up all your books and supplies, while Remus did the same for Harry.
"That was nice of him," said Harry. "I hope you had a good time."
"Yes we did," said Adam. "He told us that Hermione was right about you doing better in his class. He also said that you've both been doing really well in your training, and that he thinks you can already defend yourselves against most wizards twice your age." Harry and Hermione both blushed at this statement. "We just wanted to say we're proud of both of you, and to keep up the good work.
Both Harry and Hermione quietly said, "Thanks."
They flooed back to the manor to find Sirius and Remus both waiting for them. "So, Hermione, Harry, have you settled whatever the problem was?"
"Yes," said Harry. "It was just a misunderstanding. Can we have some breakfast before training? I'm starving!"
Winky immediately popped up to take their order. "What is Master Potter and Miss Granger wanting?"
"Winky," said Harry softly, "I'd like waffles covered in strawberries and whipped cream. By the way, would you mind calling me `Harry' instead of `Master?'"
"If-If mas-Harry is preferring not to acknowledge that he's Winky's master, then…"
"It's not that, Winky! I'm proud to have you here. I'm just not comfortable being called anybody's master."
"Very well, H-Harry," said Winky. "And what is Miss Granger wanting?"
"Oh, I'll take the same as Harry."
As soon as Winky left, Sirius handed Harry the Daily Prophet. "I thought you might want to take a look at this.
Harry read the article out loud for Hermione's benefit.
"Minister Fudge Foils Death Eater Attack at Quidditch World Cup" Hermione rolled her eyes at this statement. Harry continued.
"Last night, Death Eaters attacked at the celebrations following the Quidditch World Cup (for more on the actual game, see page 6). However, their leader, Lucius Malfoy, was apprehended almost immediately by Nymphadora Tonks, Auror and personal friend of Cornelius Fudge whom he'd warned earlier to be prepared for an attack. Her cousin, Sirius Black, whom Fudge had dropped all the charges that his predecessor had wrongfully placed on Black, sentencing him to Azkaban for life without a trial, apprehended another Death Eater involved in the attack. Minister Fudge commented on the attack, "I'd suspected Lucius Malfoy for quite some time, so I invited him to join me at the World Cup to lull him into a false sense of security, so that I could catch him in the act…"
Harry laughed, "Fudge is really laying it on thick, isn't he. He's the `Great Hero' who saved the day. Well, better him than me."
"I wonder how Tonks feels about having her first name in the paper," said Lupin.
"You seem to wonder a lot about Tonks, don't you Moony?" said Sirius, causing Remus to blush.
"I'm way too old for her. Besides, my furry little problem would make it too difficult."
-
After breakfast and another grueling three hours of training, Harry went to his personal shower connected to his bedroom so he could clean up while Hermione did the same in one of the spare bathrooms. He thought about how much he'd miss this bedroom when he went back to Hogwarts in less than a week. He also realized something else. He wasn't looking forward to Hogwarts the way he used to when he was living with the Dursleys. During his first year at the wizarding school, he'd come to think of Hogwarts as home, but now he didn't anymore. He still liked Hogwarts, but this manor was now his home, and he'd have to leave it for months. He realized that he'd, for the first time in his life, be homesick for someplace besides Hogwarts.
At the same time, Hermione was thinking of her mother's words, "I'd hate for you two to break up over a simple misunderstanding," as well as Ginny's words, "I won't come between you two, but if you ever break up, I will go after him." Hermione realized that she had very nearly handed Harry over to Ginny. If Harry hadn't followed her, Ginny would have found him heartbroken on the Hogwarts express, and immediately started comforting him. Hermione sighed as she realized that even if Ginny didn't go after Harry, there were tons of girls who would. Hermione resolved to not overreact anymore. If they have a disagreement, they'll talk it through. That didn't mean she'd let Harry get away with anything he wanted, but she would just make sure that she always gave him a chance to explain himself before she stormed off angrily. She would not risk losing Harry over stupidity.
She came downstairs to find Harry already waiting for her, playing something on his Gameboy. He looked up, pressed a button on his Gameboy, and said, "Hi, Hermione, you look nice."
She blushed, "I, er, transfigured my clothes to something I thought looked nicer."
"They do look nice," said Harry, "but then you always do."
She blushed more as she walked up and sat on Harry's lap, draping her arms around his neck. "I just wanted to thank you for coming after me when I stormed off this morning. I was very foolish and I could have lost you. I promise that I won't act like that again. I'll at least give you a chance to explain yourself before I storm off. I don't want to lose you over a stupid misunderstanding."
"Mine," said Harry, "You already apologized. How could I not have followed you? How would I live without you?"
"Th-There are plenty of other girls at Hogwarts that would be glad to help you try."
Harry looked at her like she was nutters. "That's rubbish. They're just curious about `The Boy Who Lived.' They don't really want to be my girlfriend. And I certainly don't want to be their boyfriend. I'm in love with you!"
Her cheeks went pink. "I'm in love with you, too, and I'm glad you feel the same, but it's not rubbish. I could name a girl who has told me in no uncertain terms that if we ever broke up, she'd love to take my place."
Harry smiled, "Well, then I guess that girl's gonna be disappointed."
-
A few minutes later, Harry and Hermione flooed back to the Granger residence to spend the afternoon there. "Good afternoon kids," said Mr. Granger when they stepped out of the fireplace. "How was your workout?"
"Exhausting," said Harry. "But somehow satisfying."
"I know what you mean," said Hermione. "It does feel good to finish a workout."
"Anyway," said Marissa Granger, "I'll bet you've worked up an appetite."
After a satisfying lunch, Harry watched an action movie with the Grangers, and then they all headed for the swimming pool where they had a game of water volleyball that was the teenagers against the adults. Hermione's mother made some comments on how Harry had filled out since they began working out that caused both Harry and Hermione to blush. After Harry and Hermione won easily, Adam jokingly said, "Are you two sure you weren't using some magic to win?"
Harry chuckled, "If we had, there'd be an owl flying here right now telling us we'd performed illegal magic. I remember when Dobby got me that warning for illegal magic he'd performed at my house. The Dursleys had a fit! That's when they locked me in my room for the summer."
"I still don't understand why Dumbledore would leave you with those people," said Marissa.
"He felt it was `for the greater good' to leave Harry with those monsters!" said Hermione. "He also felt it was `for the greater good' to leave Harry ignorant of and therefore untrained for his destiny. You'd be amazed at how much more magically powerful Harry has become now that he's started training!"
"You've gotten powerful yourself," Harry interjected, causing Hermione to blush.
"My point is that if he'd been trained properly his whole life and not held back by Dumbledore's plan, he'd already be unstoppable! I mean after just a month of training, he's already caught a d…never mind." She and Harry both put their heads down as Hermione covered her face with her hands.
"Caught what?" said a concerned Adam.
"A Death Eater," answered Harry, "Lucius Malfoy."
"Malfoy?" asked Mrs. Granger. "Is he related to that…"
"He's Draco's father," said Harry, "He's also the man that gave Ginny Weasley Riddle's diary, which possessed her. He's the reason Hermione and several other muggleborns were petrified in second year. Of course, he was hoping they'd be killed. Anyway, there was an attack at the world cup, and he tried to curse Hermione, and I, er…"
"Bravely defended me like the hero you are!" said Hermione proudly.
"Are you alright, honey," asked Marissa.
"Yes mum, I was wearing the protection charms Harry gave me, plus I put up my own shield. The curse didn't affect me, but the moment Malfoy tried to curse me, Harry petrified him! I guess that was fitting. Harry was amazing! Malfoy still doesn't really know what hit him. He thinks Tonks got him from behind. That's also what's in the paper."
"You could have done the same thing Hermione, and you know it," said Harry.
She smiled, "Possibly, but only because I've been training with you. They don't even teach that kind of magic in auror training."
"It's too bad no one but Sirius caught anybody else," said Harry.
"Sirius caught someone too?" said Adam, clearly interested. "Why don't you tell us exactly what happened?"
They started the story with Minister Fudge having Lucius Malfoy as his guest, and ended with the article in the newspaper, leaving nothing out (except for their snogging).
When they were finished, Mr. Granger said, "Wow. I didn't know how dangerous your world is. I don't suppose I could get you to leave it, so I'm glad you're training as best you can."
"It's usually not that dangerous, Adam, but when things like this happen, it's good to be prepared," said Harry. "Besides, terrorism happens in the muggle world at least as often as in the wizarding world."
"Unfortunately, I think you're right about that, Harry. I don't suppose there's anywhere you can go to avoid it," said Mrs. Granger with a worried expression on her face.
"Anyway, I'm sure you and Hermione want some time alone before dinner," said Adam. "Just keep your door open."
The young couple went up to Hermione's room to find her new school books stacked neatly on her desk near her laptop. She said, "I'll put these books on our network tomorrow at your house." Then her eyes brightened with an idea. "Did you bring your Gameboy?"
"Er, yeah," said Harry. "I put it in my pocket before we left, why?"
"Do you have your Mario Kart game?"
"Yes, that's what I was playing."
Hermione then opened a drawer in her desk and produced her own purple Game Boy Advance SP. I got my parents to buy me one last week, along with my copy of that game. I charmed my Game Boy at your house a few days ago, along with this." She then produced two ends of a cord for connecting the two Game Boys. "I charmed this to connect the two magically and wirelessly. We can play together from absolutely anywhere on the planet. Just plug this into yours and we'll be able to play against each other." She handed him one of the ends and plugged the other into her machine.
Harry pulled his system out of his pocket. As he was plugging the piece into his machine, he asked, "How come you didn't tell me about this until now?"
"I wanted to practice playing before I challenged you," she said with a smirk. At that moment, Harry knew he was in trouble.
-
After Hermione had humiliated Harry sufficiently, they went down to supper, and then Harry left, kissing Hermione goodbye. Harry then went upstairs and decided to start reading the books that he hadn't noticed in his room earlier. He knew he'd be in trouble with Hermione if he wasn't at least two weeks ahead on the homework before school started. He also decided that he'd spend some time practicing his game so that next time he wouldn't be beaten quite so badly as before. He decided to study for an hour, and then play, alternating every hour until he went to sleep.
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