Chapter 2 - Back in time, Great Master Harry Potter Sir! Part 1.

Harry opened his eyes. He looked around and found himself in the same four poster bed he had slept in Hogwarts for the past few years. He noticed that his vision was perfect without his glasses. Before he came back in time, his glasses only slightly improved his sight, there were still many blurry details. It was astounding how he was the best seeker at Hogwarts with such a handicap. Now, he can perceive details much clearer than before.

He recalled the last few memories before sleep took over him. Memories of his conversation with Death, his death at the hands of Riddle, the Battle of Hogwarts, the hunt for horcruxes. Memories so deeply entrenched in his psyche, he doubted that even the most powerful memory charms would be able to remove them. He looked down at his body, smaller than he was used to. 'So, I did really comeback in time.'

Tears slid down his cheek in remembrance of everything he went through. Death, betrayal, and conceit that were a constant in his life; now he has a chance to prevent all of that. Tears fell in remembrance for all who laid their lives down to fight for a better future, who placed their belief on him to end the tyrannical rein of Voldemort. Tears that fell because he felt that he failed them, let them down and tears that mourned the lives of ones who died.

But now he has an opportunity, one that could change the tides of history. An opportunity to prevent the dark blight from spreading across the Magical World. He must do better this time. He knew how to get rid of the monster. He had fought before when he was blindly led like a sheep led to slaughter. Now, he knew better.

He got up, and felt lighter despite the gargantuan responsibilities on his shoulders. He looked to his right and checked the time; it would be a couple of hours before any of his dormmates would be up and about. He went through his morning ablutions, changed out of his pajamas, and sat on the edge of the bed, his back facing his other dormmates. Time to confirm some suspicions. He whispered softly, "Dobby."

With a pop, the excitable young elf appeared in front of him. Harry tried to hold back the tears that threatened to fall again; instead, he hugged the now very shocked elf close to him. Dobby's already large eyes widened to comical proportions, almost threatening to fall off his face. Dobby was stunned, but he was happy.

To Dobby, Harry Potter's acknowledgement is the highest form of compliment he could ever receive. To him, there was no one greater, wiser, and more noble that the young Potter. What Dobby did not know, was that Harry Potter considers him amongst his greatest friends.

He risked his life and magic to save him when he was under the servitude of Lucius Malfoy, albeit his extreme methods. Dobby assisted Harry with nary a thought nor request for himself. His ultimate sacrifice still stung him, and now to see him in the flesh, it was overwhelming.

Harry took a moment to compose himself. I have been crying way too many times recently. With a shake of his head, he asked softly, "Dobby can you erect privacy wards around the two of us?"

Dobby nodded mutely and with a snap of his fingers, he erected the wards. Harry felt the magic around him thrum for a few moments, circling around him, Dobby, and his four-poster bed. He smiled at the still shellshocked elf. He indicated the elf to sit next to him on his bed and the elf slowly worked himself to follow Harry's direction.

Harry cleared his throat. "Sorry if I startled you."

he saw Dobby try to deny but Harry simply raised his hand to silence him and continued. "I just wanted to thank you for your help. I know you were high-handed at times, but you tried to help over the last year, even if that meant putting yourself at great risk."

Dobby looked at him awe, his tennis ball eyes glittering with tears. Dobby spoke shyly, very uncommon for the exuberant elf he is used to. "Yous no needs to bes thanking Dobby, Master Harry Potter sir. I is be doing what is right."

Harry recalled the words of the Headmaster after the Triwizard fiasco. Do what is right and not what is easy. Terrible shame that he did not follow through with what he preached. Still maintaining his smile, he said, "You did what was right and not what was easy Dobby, that makes you greater than many. You know, not many people have helped me before and after this Chamber of Secrets incident, I realized something that I have to do. I want to treasure those who treasure me. I want know if there is anything that I can do for you."

Dobby's eyes widened with hope. He knew that if he asked for what he wanted, Harry Potter being the great wizard that he is, he would grant him his wish. Dobby initially did want to be free, but it was to be free from the Malfoys. He wanted to choose his own master or mistress and serve them with all his heart. Then he heard that Former Bad Master and Still Horrible Wizard Malfoy wanted to open the Chamber of Secrets with the foul diary.

The foul diary felt dark, dark as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Dobby then pieced together that Harry Potter will be in danger. He took it upon himself to protect him. After observing him for a while, he decided he should try to be the house-elf of Harry Potter. Dobby looked down to his feet. While fidgeting nervously he asked, "Dobby wants to bes yous house-elf sir."

Harry looked at the elf who now seem to be looking for a hole on the floor to hide. Guess Death was right there. His eyebrows rose slightly and he gently probed, "I thought you wanted to be a free elf?"

"Dobby be wanting to be an elf that chose his master. Dobby thinks Harry Potter sir would be the best Master that Dobby can have. Dobby was willing to wait for Harry Potter sir to bes asking Dobby to be his elf. Also, house-elvsies cannot be free elvsies for long sir. Wes be needing wizarding magic for our magic. If free for long, we die sir."

"What would you have done while you waited for me?"

"Dobby would bes looking moneys for his work and bes workings for families being no ones elf. If Dobby cannot find work, Dobby be workings for Hoggy-warty sir."

He took such a risk in trying to wait for me. Harry mused. All right, time to lay some ground rules if he is to be my elf. Stroking his chin, pretending to be in deep thought, Harry began, "I would love to have you as an elf, but I want to make a few ground rules if you are to be my elf. Can you wait here till I write them down?"

Dobby nodded excitedly; the shy demeanor now gone completely. Now in place of the demure elf was the usual hyperactive and excited elf, and the only factor that held him seated is Harry's command. The overly excited elf looked like he ate one too many Honeydukes Sugar Quills and now was on a sugar high.

Harry chuckled to himself as he got up and reached for some writing supplies. Death did say that I should writing things down. 'Let's give this a shot.' Harry spent the next several minutes coming up with a few rules; all the while, Dobby kept looking over him for the slightest signs of whether Harry was done. Harry smirked at Dobby's enthusiasm.

Harry turned to face Dobby once he was done, who was trembling with anticipation. He held the parchment out in front of him and started, "All right Dobby, I am going to go through each rule one by one and after I read out a rule, you can raise any questions or concerns you have. Is that alright by you?"

Dobby nodded rapidly, and Harry read his first rule. "First Rule, if you want to refuse an order, free to do so. If you want to refuse a command because you are unwilling to carry out the command, please let me know and we will discuss together any alternatives. Remember Dobby, you are my friend first and your master second. If an order I give you is particularly dangerous or puts you in unnecessary danger, I want you to talk to me first and then we will decide together on an alternative. I always want you to remember that I value your life just as much as I do mine. Do you have any questions?"

Looking over at Dobby, Harry spotted the overawed countenance he bore. Dobby squeaked, "Ma-Master Harry Potter sir thinks Dobby is his friend sir?". Harry smiled and nodded at the house-elf. Dobby quickly crossed the distance between them with a leap and squealed with excitement while hugging the stuffing out of poor Harry. Harry laughed at the antics of the elf and waited till he calmed down.

'Maybe I should get Hermione to change her focus towards promoting elven rights instead of freedom this time around. Judging by how even the elf who sought freedom from his family wanted to seek another to serve, any efforts to secure their freedom is lost on this bunch.' Seeing such excitement from Dobby makes me wonder if there is a way that we can help these poor elves.

Harry drew himself out of his musings as Dobby drew away from him and looked abashed. Harry chuckled, "Do not be sorry for letting your emotions out Dobby, there was a time in my life where I would have been just as excited as you were for having a friend. I still wonder sometimes if it is true good to be true. Also, Hermione always says friends are supposed to give hugs to each other. I mean she is smarter than the two of us put together. At times I think she is more brilliant than all the professors put together."

Harry felt a brief pang in his chest, knowing that his best friend is currently petrified. They settled down and Dobby was ready for rule number two.

"Rule number two, you are not allowed to punish yourself directly or indirectly. Neither am I ever going to punish you for not being able to do something I told you. If you feel like you have made a mistake, error in judgement, or failed at accomplishing a task, you are to talk to me. We will discuss what we are going to do as a team, but never will I hurt you intentionally and neither should you try to hurt yourself intentionally. Nor should you listen to anyone who tells you to punish or hurt yourself, even if they said it is my order. Odds are, they are lying. As I said, you are my friend and I do not want to see my friend suffer. When friends make mistakes, they talk about what happened and move on. I do not expect you to lose sleep over split milk. Do you have any questions?"

Dobby shook his head. Harry moved on to the next rule. "Rule number three, you will get an allowance of 20 Galleons per month and up to eight days of time off per month."

Dobby looked to protest; he seemed insulted that he needed to be paid by his Harry Potter sir and don't even get him started on the time off clause. Harry held a firm expression at the elf and held up a hand to silence him.

Harry explained, "Dobby, I know that if I try to negotiate a salary or time off, you will just protest and ask for the smallest amount possible. So, I came up with a different way to go around this. I will let you decide how much you want to take out as a salary up to 20 Galleons per month.

"I will let you make your own decisions about taking time off. If you want to work instead of taking time off, that is on you. The same is true in the reverse. Although, if you do take some time off, let me know when and how many days you are taking off. If you ever need more time off or gold, talk to me and we will sort it out."

Dobby begrudgingly nodded and held his peace. Harry made sure to not ask if he had any questions. He felt a bit hypocritical since he took the liberty to make the decision for Dobby. However, he knew Dobby would try to worm his way out of this rule, thus he needed to be firm from the get-go.

He observed for any signs of protests from the elf and for the moment, Dobby seemed to accept the rule, albeit slightly reluctantly. Imagine trying to talk up most humans, magical or mundane, in salary negotiations. 'Or better, try negotiating unfavorably with a goblin, you would be out of gold before you can say Gringotts.' Harry chuckled inwardly at a mental image of Lucius Malfoy being ripped off by the goblins and carted off to the dragons. 'I can only dream.'

"All righty, moving on. Rule number four, if you have an opinion about anything, always feel free to let me know. I know that house-elves wield their magic differently than humans do so let me know if you can solve a problem or make things easier with your magic. By the way, this is not just for situations involving magic. For example, if you have an opinion that I should buy something, I will consider your opinion when I make my decision. Another example, let us say I am stuck working on a certain problem, and you know the solution or a hint to solving the said problem, feel free to inform me what you know. All I have to say to you is that you are always free to express your thoughts. Do you have any questions?"

By this point, poor Dobby is emotionally overloaded by this point, it took him a few seconds to respond with a nod. 'This really must be the most I have seen him speechless in the entire time I have known him.'

"Rule number five, you are not allowed to tell anyone that you are my elf, unless I tell you otherwise."

Dobby's ears dropped; a downtrodden expression written across his face. Harry kicked himself, house-elves can be quite sensitive about topic like this, he should have taken a more indirect approach when laying this rule. Harry walked in front Dobby, knelt, and took his bony hand. Harry looked him straight into his tennis ball eyes. Before Harry could say anything, Dobby quivered, "A-Are you a-a-shamed to bes Dobby's master sir?"

"No Dobby, in fact I am proud to be your master. More so your friend."

"Then why do sir be not wanting Dobby to bes telling anyone?"

Harry grinned, "Simple, I want you to be my secret weapon, my left-hand man. There are two reasons why I want your association with me kept a secret. As you know, Voldemort- "

Dobby let out a squeak at the name. Harry noted that response and decided that he will deal with that in another time, it would not do well to overwhelm him more so than he already has been. "- is still out there. The first person he would like to send to the afterlife is me. I know that you are capable enough to protect yourself, and I will not push away people just because that Dark Wanker wants to hurt me. No, you will be my secret weapon in aiding me end him.

Harry continued, "The other reason is actually in this castle, Dumbledore. I have enough reason to believe that he does not have my best interest at heart when making certain decisions. Therefore, the less he knows about you the better. He would think that the only help I have would be within the castle walls of Hogwarts. He would think that all my actions and influence will be limited to Hogwarts. While he is under that illusion, you would be the one gathering all the help I need and acting on my behalf outside the castle. You will be my left-hand elf, my hidden arm, and my greatest strength. Do you understand Dobby?"