"Yes, we owe Mr. Potter quite the debt of gratitude. It is through his actions that will allow us to safely continue our normal operations again." Dumbledore said, giving Harry a small smile. "I shudder to think what might have happened if Mr. Potter hadn't stepped in."
"Yes, let us hope that Mr. Potter is always there to save us." Lucius said, the sarcasm evident in his voice. Despite his incredible control, it seemed even he had a limit.
"I will." Harry said flatly, his eyes glaring up a Lucius. Their eyes met for a second, before Lucius turned away.
"I believe you will need to fill me in on some more of the details of this event, so that we can ensure nothing like it ever happens again." Lucius said, walking with Dumbledore up the steps of his office. The gargoyle closed the stone door he guarded, before resuming his position in front of it.
"The Great Harry Potter freed Dobby." Dobby the house elf said. In the heat of the moment, Harry had forgotten the elf was there."
"I don't know if I'm all that great, but yes. I freed you. I didn't think you liked working for Mr. Malfoy all that much since you tried to warn me about what he was doing." Harry said, kneeling down to be eye level with the elf. This act seemed to surprise the elf greatly.
"No sirs, Dobby did not at all. Misters Malfoy were very mean to Dobby. Forcing Dobby to punish himself over and over." Dobby said, his ears drooping with sadness.
"Well, you don't have to be with him anymore. You're a free elf. You can do what you want. There's some elves that work here at Hogwarts, maybe you can join them." Harry suggested. The books hadn't said much about free house elves, as they were a rare bunch. Elves tended to stick with families for their entire lives, and elven families would occasionally even spend generations with the same family. Freeing a house elf was usually seen as a sign of disrespect in the elven community, but exceptions always existed for those in abusive families, Dobby most certainly qualified for that.
"Dobby's be doing that. If the Great Harry Potter sir evers be needing Dobby, just call!" Dobby said, with a soft pop, the small elf disappeared from Harry's view.
Harry shook his head, he should really learn to stop being so surprised by the events that unfold around him, they seemed to become more and more fantastical as time goes on. Harry dismisses that thought though. If he wasn't surprised by them, they wouldn't be anywhere near as fun. Not that he'd call fighting a Basilisk fun, but freeing an abused house-elf? Getting a one up on Lucius Malfoy? That's fun.
Harry began moving down the corridors that would lead him to the Ravenclaw common room. Despite having apparently slept for three days following his adventures in the Chamber of Secrets, Harry is still very tired, he would sleep, catch up with his friends, and girlfriends, in the morning and attempt to return to normal for the final few weeks of classes. Or rather, whatever 'normal' was whenever Harry Potter was involved.
Harry sat for what would likely be the last time this school year in the Sphinx Club room. With classes having finished yesterday, today was the last full day inside the castle to give students time to pack and say their goodbyes before leaving for the summer. With him were his friends, all gathered together for the first time in what felt like months. Sure, they had all been in the room at various points throughout the year, all of them at once have even been in, but during those times attention was always divided. There was a Basilisk loose petrifying students, and would probably kill one eventually when their luck ran out. They never felt like the staff was doing enough to counteract these attacks, so they all felt it fell on them. Now though, they simply had the chance to relax and be kids.
"Harry?" Susan said, pulling Harry from his thoughts. She had her red hair pulled back into a braid which hung down her left shoulder. "I… hadn't had the chance to really thank you for saving me. Thank you, really. I was so scared, but you showed up and fought that Basilisk for me, it was really brave and heroic. Makes me feel all gooey inside." Susan said, a blush on her face.
Harry was of course blushing as well. He had gotten better at handling these kinds of situations as he had been with the girls, mostly through just tolerance as they all tried to make him blush and faint constantly. Padma and Daphne in particular seemed to strive for it, having competitions to see who could get the deepest blushes. Daphne was ahead supposedly, as she was significantly more devious than her Ravenclaw friend. Parvati had been coaching her sister in ways to beat her, but Daphne also had Tracey's devious mind to work with, so they mostly counteracted each other. Harry unfortunately found himself caught in the middle.
"You don't need to thank me Susan. I'm sure we all would have done it. I just felt like I had to. You're my friend, well, more than that you're my girlfriend, I couldn't just let that happen to you. Plus it's not like I did it alone. Even beyond you all doing the research that discovered that it was a Basilisk, and how it moved through the castle, Padma came with me to save you." Harry said, trying to brush off some of the praise. He wasn't a big fan of it, he really didn't feel like he did anything special.
-----+------
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/Vermeail
If you guys wanna check it out.