Chapter 9
Harry finally got to Gryffindor tower, and he gave the Fat Lady the password. She didn't open which brought him to his senses, he actually met her gaze at that point and she said to him in a clipped tone, "The password has changed young man, and may I just say, you brought shame to your house this night by cheating your way into the tournament. You have dragged Hogwarts' good name into the dirt!"
Harry sighed. The castle's love and support did not translate to the portraits. Good to know, he guessed.
"Could you at least announce me, then, so I can go to bed?"
"No," the Fat Lady replied without explanation. Harry sighed again.
"Fine, I'm headed to the library if anyone asks."
Harry really wanted to get some information on Magical vows and bonds. If he was bound by magic to compete he might as well get some information on what exactly that entailed. Ideally it would also tell him if that tendril of power that had attacked him was the binding, and if he was free because he defeated it. He made his way to the library, finding it open but Madam Pince absent. He looked through the book registry and found a few volumes which he grabbed. He sat down with the books to figure out what exactly he had gotten into, and as soon as he cracked open the first book, Hermione entered the library and walked to him.
"You can come back to the tower now."
"Why didn't the Fat Lady let me in? She seemed rather irate when I tried to get in to go to bed."
Hermione didn't answer him, she just turned on her heel and left. Harry had a feeling it was going to be a very long night, and the last few hours had already seemed to drag on for eternity. He just wanted to sleep!
Harry collected his books, signed them out, and made his way to the tower. Hermione hadn't waited for him but also hadn't given him the new password, so she waited for him holding the portrait open. Harry entered the common room just behind her, and she quickly walked up to and disappeared behind what looked like a battle line of Gryffindors who appeared to have been waiting for him. The seventh year prefect, a brown haired guy whose name Harry couldn't remember, walked forward and handed Harry a parchment. As Harry began reading the prefect returned to the line, and a voice from the back of the room called out, "Cheat!"
The prefect turned around and faced Harry again after he reached the safety of the battle line, Harry was still reading when the guy summed up the parchment pretty succinctly, "Harry James Potter, stand aware that the noble house of Godric Gryffindor, in line with our house rules and as supported by the Hogwarts charter, hereby places you under an official notice of censure. The censure is to not end until either one year has passed, or you stand before the collected student body and admit culpability for having cheated your way into the Triwizard Tournament," the prefect cleared his throat and continued, "You are hereby forbidden from spending time in the common room of our house. You may not make use of any house resources. You may not wear the sigil or colors of our house on your uniform. You have brought shame to our school and to our house, so we will be posting this notice outside the entrance to the Great Hall. We do not stand for this behavior"
Harry sighed, and looked at the group. At least Neville and his brothers weren't there. Harry glanced at the parchment in his hand, their signatures were absent as well, though Ron and Hermione's names were featured prominently. He passed his hand over his tie, wandlessly casting an illusion over his whole uniform, removing the gold and red. Then Harry moved his hand over the Gryffindor house symbol on his chest, wandlessly conjuring a patch in the same form in his hand and casting an illusion over the uniform, hiding it. His day kept getting worse, and he just kept getting angrier.
He held his hand out, and in a gesture that was unmistakable to everyone in the room, dropped the patch to the ground.
"That same charter you mentioned demands that the accused be allowed to speak for him or herself in defense of their actions, but I chose to go to the library when you refused me entry, so even if it's unfair, I guess I'll call that one in your favor. My defense would have been that I didn't do it. I have plenty of money and no need for fame, the only real thing I want is a normal year. Someone entered me against my will, and I personally believe I was entered with the intent of my injury or death.
But aside from my defense, let me make one thing clear to you all, when has Gryffindor ever truly been my house? Who among you all supported me when the whispers in the hall said one of your own was the heir of Slytherin? Who among you supported me or protected me or helped me in the slightest when those same whispers claimed that the most wanted man in Britain had come to Hogwarts for nothing less than my life? Who among any of you has ever looked at me as anything but the one identity that I hate most of all, the thrice damned boy-who-lived? No one whose name is on this," he said, brandishing the parchment.
"Hogwarts has, since my first moment here, been the closest thing I have ever had to a home but you all have proven to me again that I am unwelcome wherever I tread. Thanks for that I guess. I happily rid myself of your colors, and I hope you are prepared to deal with the consequences of your actions," at that he raised the parchment and wandlessly burned it to ashes with bright green flames.
He brought his wand forward and summoned his belongings. When his trunk arrived, he shrunk it and pocketed it, and turned without a sound and left the portrait open behind him. No one said a word. Anger covered some faces. Shame, others.
In a dark corner of the room, as far as they could get from the group of lions that had confronted Harry, the Twins and Neville sat with unhappy looks on their faces.
Harry had moved from anger back to apathy/resignation. This day needed to end. The only good thing about it had been the time spent with Luna. First I get entered into a fun new-age (by wizard standards anyway) version of the old fashion roman blood sports, then I get nailed by my own house, Harry thought. It had felt good to tell that room of professors and champions about his parent's anniversary though. Even if he said it in anger, saying it out loud had helped.
Lady Hogwarts had moved from sending him love and encouragement, to sending him directions to the enchanting labs. It was nice of her. Harry was dead on his feet. He had been sleeping there a lot anyway, maybe he could get the house elves to move him a bed there from storage. The cot he had was one he conjured, and it was a really nice one, certainly better than what he had back at cell block number 4, Privet Drive. But even with magic, a cot could only take you so far.
After entirely too much time, Harry made it to his place in the labs. The labs themselves were in the mostly abandoned east wing of the castle. No one had seriously studied enchanting for over a decade, so the whole wing had been converted mostly to storage. The upside to that was that there was plenty of space, so Harry had an entire workshop to himself. It was quiet and private, which suited him just fine, especially considering it was likely to be his room for the foreseeable future.
Harry entered his lab and shot off a colloportus without thinking. He shrugged off his robes and kicked off his trainers purely through muscle memory, and sat down on his cot. He had done almost all of the above without opening his eyes. Maybe he really had been spending too much time in here. He went to lay back on the cot, when he found that it seemed a little longer and wider than he remembered. It also seemed to be inhabited by something soft, warm, and possessing of an arm. His mind slowly added the observations he had made together, and found the resulting sum worth opening his eyes.
He turned and looked down to find that his cot was indeed longer and wider than he remembered. Also while it was in the same place and at the same height, the house elves (By Odin he loved those little guys. He was buying them all candy or something) had beaten him to the punch and moved a bed there. The warm, soft, and armed thing he had felt (he laughed at his own words there, a sure sign of his exhaustion) turned out to be Luna.
"Luna, I'm not complaining mind you, but why are you on a bed in my lab?"
"Would you believe me if I told you that it wasn't because the humdingers led me here?"
"Does that mean that you came here because you wanted to, or is this one of those tricky double negative moments where they did tell you to come here, but you want to know if I believed that they didn't but you did anyway?"
"Harry, lay down. You've had a long day. You're going to sleep, and I'm cuddling you."
"Okay Luna. I trust you."
Those were the last words spoken that night by either of them, though calling sounds mumbled into a pillow incoherently by a man who was a hair's breadth away from losing consciousness to magical exhaustion words may have been ennobling the process a little. Luna covered Harry with blankets, set an alarm charm for about half an hour before breakfast, and turned off the lights with a quick nox . True to her word, she lifted Harry's arm over her side and snuggled into his chest, careful to keep her hair from interfering with his breathing.
She felt content, then promptly felt guilty for feeling content. The Lady of the Castle had seen the signs before she had, Luna really did care for Harry. Her feelings for him had even advanced beyond the point where she saw him as a rescuer from the terrible witches of Ravenclaw and her own abject loneliness. The Lady had caught Luna's attention from her place on her bed in the Ravenclaw dorms, and directed her down to Harry's enchanting lab to wait for him.
The change in bed had been Luna's idea. The Lady had whispered the bare bones of the confrontation in Gryffindor tower to her, so she had a good idea of why Harry had needed her, beyond being involved against his will in the tournament. She knew that the elves were aware of what had happened to Harry, so she called to Dobby and asked for help, and as always Dobby was more than willing to assist his friends.
She snuggled a little deeper into Harry's arms. The boy was a very comfy bedmate. She would tell him about wizard's oaths tomorrow, and he would probably take a bit of vindictive joy in using that knowledge against the Gryffindors. The act of censure, once voted on and approved by the students of the house, could not be taken back. They would, unfortunately for them, learn of the error of their ways.
Harry woke the next morning at his usual ungodly hour. He found that he had absolutely no desire to move. Moving, and being awake, and interacting with people, and being a person, all sounded terrible. He wanted yesterday to go away. Harry knew thinking and feeling all of these things was really childish, but given all he had been party to in the last few years, he thought that perhaps a little childishness was in order. As much as he wished it weren't true, his claim to have seen and survived more than anyone else in the room the night before had been true. Sometimes Harry felt the old soldier in himself. He hated it. He should be happy. His concern should be Luna and other girls, not figuring out how to not get hurt in this year's death-challenge. Maybe he should lean on his father's tradition, maybe it was time to act a bit like the marauders.
As he lay in bed with a ray of light slowly crawling over him and the witch he held in his arms, (wait... what? How did she... no, you know what, he refused to bother with how or why. He was gonna go caveman on this one. Harry have cute girl in arms. Harry not move. Harry happy.) he began to put together a plan that would bring some proof of the fact that he was fourteen into the mix. He had literally asked for none of this, so why in the name of the All-Father should he deal with it? His house had rejected him, and he wasn't the chosen champion of his school, so the only reason to do anything was just for himself. So if what he wanted to do was flaunt how little he cared in front of the wizarding world, maybe he would do just that. Maybe he would start now, with the cute and quirky witch in his arms. Even if he was magically bound to compete, Harry thought, he wasn't magically bound to take anything seriously.
Harry squeezed Luna a little closer to his chest and went back to sleep. About an hour and a half later Luna's wand began buzzing, and the groggy pair of teens woke and began to actually move about.
For Harry, that meant rubbing his eyes and sitting up so he could look for his glasses. For Luna that meant grumbling about the hour and attempting to stop the warm thing that surrounded her from moving. It turned out she wasn't really a morning person.
Harry stood up and placed the blankets over Luna along with a light warming charm. She mumbled something that sounded sleepy and grateful as Harry took his trunk from his pocket and began considering if it was a bad idea or not to live in your own lab. On the one hand he would no longer feel bad about crashing in the lab when he worked late, it was in a relatively private location, and it was quiet. On the other, potions often give off noxious fumes, a single ill-timed explosion could mean losing every one of his worldly possessions, and he would likely never stop working or leave.
He looked back at the witch in the bed, his bed. Maybe he would still leave from time to time. He wasn't obligated to go to class anymore, which was excellent. He was so far ahead in most of his core classes that it wasn't funny. The switch to wandless magic had pulled him much closer to the magic inside himself, and it had brought a much greater understanding of how magic itself was guided by intent. With all this champion nonsense he could afford to focus on his bracer project, and get some hard core studying of arithmancy in, which he believed would prove invaluable later in life. If he played it right, he might even get Hogwarts to pay for his building a new and untraceable magic focus for himself.
He knew that McGonagall would still be willing to teach him further. She had personally seen to his innocence after all. He was as close to certain as he could be that Flitwick would also be willing to continue his extra lessons. Now that he had access to the restricted section, he believed he would be able to fill his time with self-study nicely. Maybe this damned tournament would work out for the best after all.
Harry held out a hand and cast a quick wandless tempus . It was 6:30 or so, he had half an hour until breakfast. Harry assumed that most people would be up and around right at the start of breakfast today. Not only because classes resumed, but because the masses probably wanted to catch the latest rumors and likely the fallout of his becoming the fourth champion.
Harry spent 15 of his 30 minutes conjuring, then enchanting a small shower. Harry was sure that there were rune clusters that could have had the work done in half the time, but in the absence of that knowledge he stuck with what he knew. The job he did wouldn't win awards, but it should last him a few days at least. In his work with his favorite transfiguration mistress he had yet to quite get the hang of a permanent conjuration. It was only a slight change in incantation, but it was the mental shift that threw him off. The notion of actual permanency escaped him, he kept thinking of everything going away when the sun finally decided to give up and die, and his inability to really contemplate forever was hampering him. She was having him read mundane scientific journal articles about the mathematical definition of infinity, which felt incredibly odd, given that he was in a school that taught magic, but he wrote it off. He was getting closer though, he could feel it.
He grabbed a quick shower in his hastily made bathroom, and when he had finished his morning ablutions, he figured it was time to wake the sleeping beauty in his bed. (It felt incredibly strange to even think that, he decided.) Before Harry could bring himself to shake Luna's shoulder and get her started on the day, he took a minute to try to figure out where he stood on the Luna issue.
She could be very airy, she usually gave off the appearance of being somewhere else, even though her body was right in front of you. She also had some of the same scars on her mind that he did. Losing parents and loved one's was tough, that as uniting experience was probably why Neville had gotten along with her so well in the beginning. Like Neville though, once Harry made it past the beginning where she just seemed odd, there was no shortage of things to appreciate about her. She really was cute. Her hair had this way of catching the light sometimes, and if it hit juuuuust right, it seemed to glow from within. She was as sturdy a friend as a guy could ask for, and she seemed to be able to be stern, fun, and accommodating in all the right places.
After less than a term Harry honestly felt closer to her than he did to either Ron or Hermione, and they had three years of history and potentially deadly experiences to fall back on. Harry thought she complimented his inability to just be normal and blend in nicely.
The problem was that Harry thought he had feelings for her. He wasn't sure if they were real, or strong, or what to do with them if he could even iron them out enough to understand them. He had buried it, but he have never quite killed the part of himself that would do anything just to be accepted and loved. The Dursleys had taught him how bad that was for him. So did he actually like her? Or was this just that desire to be loved coming back and making him reach out to someone that looked like she might care?
It caused nearly physical pain to Harry to even think about, but he might have to go to the library and see if there was anything helpful regarding this. He was incredibly ashamed at being so lost he needed books to help him figure out feelings. He sighed. The library wouldn't be helpful, he knew this was an emotive thing, a 'gut' thing, but what the hell did he know? When you're lost a crappy map is better than none, Harry decided, so he figured he could spend a few days seeing if he could tease some meaning from the gestalt of the Hogwarts library.
Harry shook her shoulder to wake her up. His impression of her not being a morning person was only enhanced when she made a number of uncomplimentary sounding grumbles (did she just imply his mother was an Australian snake-wallaby?), but he got her up after a minute of constant poking and nudging. He wasn't 100% on the protocol for getting a girl out of bed and to breakfast in the morning, but since his vague recollection of the night before had her waiting for him here, he figured this one was on her.
She got out of bed and after taking a moment to adjust her pyjamas (Harry felt that the white cloth patterned with rubber ducks worked for her) turned to him and gave a look of uncharacteristic seriousness.
"The Lady of the Castle whispered to me a bit last night, she let me know what the Gryffindors did," Harry couldn't hide a grimace. He still almost couldn't believe they had put him under censure without even talking to him or letting him speak. He wasn't close to anyone but Nev and the Twins these days, and he knew folks were angry about the whole quidditch thing, but even for the house that leaped without looking, this felt rash. His innocence didn't even bother him in this, it had never mattered before so he was used to it, but he had been right last night, they really had shown him he wasn't welcome anywhere.
Luna continued during his thoughts, "We're wizards.. err... witches. Magic-users. Whatever, the point is we have the power to find absolute truth in a situation. I saw the books you got last night. You don't have much time, but look up something called a wizards oath," Her face moved from serious to predatory, "And maybe think about making one during breakfast. I need clothes and books for the day, but I'll see you in the library?"
Harry nodded, he was about half a step behind her thought process so she was almost to the door before he stopped her and gave her his invisibility cloak for the walk back to Ravenclaw tower. As he handed it to her, she went up on her toes and gave his a kiss on his cheek that left him fully a step and a half further behind.
Harry managed to pull his head out of wherever it had been hiding, check the relevant passage that Luna mentioned and get to breakfast about twenty minutes after it started. When he got to the Great Hall he saw almost the entire population of Hogwarts in evidence. It had been a very dramatic night, after all, and how could the rumor mill function if they didn't get up early to make things up and spread them? Only a few representatives of the foreign schools were there. It was early yet, especially for the Bulgarians who were used to a different time zone.
Harry took his customary seat at the Ravenclaw table. They had gotten used to his presence, and his grades had made it at least moderately acceptable for him to be there. As far as many of the ravens had been concerned, he had normalized the stain on Ravenclaw honor known as Luna Lovegood, so in the past they had let his presence go unremarked. With his evident cheating the night before fresh in all of their minds though, there were a large number of unfriendly whispers and decidedly less friendly glances.
The Gryffindor table seemed strangely cowed though. Harry looked closely at a certain brown haired guy, and at a few others he vaguely recognized as being prefects. Formerly prefects that is. There was a distinct shortage of badges on Gryffindor uniforms, and Harry smiled to himself as he realized why. The house charter necessitated that all of the prefects who had approved of the censure bring it to their head of house as soon as possible, which would have been before breakfast. Given the fact that same head of house had used a ministry controlled substance on him the night before in an effort to find his innocence or lack thereof, Harry would have put money on that being a very unpleasant conversation. It was only going to get worse for them too, just as soon as Luna showed up.
Luna arrived to breakfast ten minutes after Harry had, and by that time she sat down at the table with the other students trimmed in blue and bronze, Harry had developed his own predatory expression.
Harry leaned toward her as she began the construction of one of her infamous breakfast creations (todays appeared to be a waffle, strawberry, and bacon sandwich), he whispered conspiratorially, "I was waiting for you, I'm going to go start the fireworks, okay?"
Luna gave an amused nod as she took her first bite into her unholy breakfast, Harry stood and began moving towards the staff table. Professor McGonagall seemed to be relieved as he was still wearing his robes trimmed in red and gold. Harry felt bad for her, it wouldn't look good when he dropped the illusion of the red and gold after his announcement, but he hope she would appreciate that this was for her wayward lions, and in no way reflected on her. Harry knew how much she loved her students, and how much she was afraid to love them after everything and everyone she lost in the first war. His lessons with her had given him a new perspective on her, and he liked what he saw. She was a woman truly worth respect. He really hoped she didn't take this personally.
Harry stopped between the massive tables that covered most of the great hall and the staff table, slowly turning to face the student body. Most everyone had seen the move, and had quieted down to hear what he had to say. Harry began by raising his wand in the air.
"Id est ut ego dico ," Harry intoned, his magic leaking into his voice, lending it power, "I, Harry James Potter swear on my life and swear on my magic that what I am about to say is true."
There was no aura flaring or anything like that which he had half expected, instead the air just felt pregnant with magic and possibility, like there should be sparks flashing around him.
"I had nothing to do with my entrance into the Triwizard tournament. I would prefer to not be involved with it in any way. I do not know how I was entered. I do not know who entered me. I believe that I was entered by someone whose intent is that I be killed or injured during the tournament. Ego solum locutus veri."
As Harry finished the incantation and felt distinctly not dead, he cast a basic lumos , to indicate he still had magic, then a finite on his robes, cancelling the illusion of the Gryffindor crest and the red and gold trim. He bowed to the room, shooting the Twins at the Gryffindor table a twinkling look as he walked back to his seat next to Luna. The moment his butt hit the bench, pandemonium broke out in the hall.
"Did I do good?" Harry whispered, leaning closer to her so as not to be overheard.
Her only response was to give him another peck on the cheek, this one messy and strawberry scented. Harry flushed immediately and lost his predatory smile for a goofy grin. His brain moved a few steps back like it had last time, but before doing so had the presence to cast a generously powered notice-me-not on the two of them and the table around them.
The pair took their time with breakfast, enjoying the island of peace granted to them by Harry's charm. When they had finished their small talk and collective breakfast, Luna took his hand and gave it a quick squeeze before heading off to her classes.
She wasn't sure why she was being this bold in her affections. She unknowingly had about as much experience in the romantic arena as Harry had, what she had in her corner however, was the advice of a millennia old sentient castle who had been witness to more relationships than anyone had any right to, and who wanted to connect these two who could sense her.
The Lady of the Castle as Luna called her, was telling her to make these small advances. She had no objections to the advice, and the Lady had never steered her wrong so far. Last night was the best sleep Luna had in years, after all. She'd keep following the advice for now and just hope that Harry was hearing some as well. Besides she had potions to attend, and the Nargles preferred Snape's dungeons to all other places in the castle. She needed to be sure she had her butter beer cork necklace, and she thought she may have left it on her nightstand...
Harry left the notice-me-not on himself and slipped out of the hall. He had a lot of research to do, and he was secretly glad to have some time without Luna for a bit. She was a huge distraction, and he didn't mind it a bit. He would never get any work done with her around, and he would do it with a smile. He passed a hand through his hair with a sigh. He would have to work this out sooner rather than later, he thought.
He headed towards the library and straight into the restricted section and went directly for the book he had scoped out earlier about elemental magic affinities in materials. If he wanted to strengthen his focus, he needed to find suitable elemental influences to match each point of the Chinese pentagrams he was carving into it.
His research into arithmancy had said the simplest form he could make to bring the forces together in harmony would be to superimpose three pentagrams over one another. As long as he carved and charged the three separately, they would remain distinct pentagrams, but the arithmetic power of three would bring them together to form a greater whole strength than the sum of the parts.
He spent the day hammering out what caused a material to have an elemental leaning and what constituted a magical influence. The elements used by the ancient Chinese mages: wood, metal, fire, earth, and water, all were elemental leanings that were relatively common. He even had access to sample of some of the materials for free right here at Hogwarts. The rest he planned on going to his goblin contacts for. He made a mental note to ask someone about the budget the champions got.
About Dinner time he finished his list and decided to not show up at the great hall, let the Gryffs sweat it out a bit. He made his way to the kitchens via the owlery to send off for an estimate from the goblins on how much acquiring all of his materials would run him. He still hadn't spent much time on the idea of using Tebo leather, or how he would cure it for use in a focus. He also used a non-descript brown owl from the school to shoot a scrap of parchment to Sirius telling him about being entered into the tournament. The old dog deserved to know.
He would bring Nev, Luna, and the Twins to his lab to let them all know where he would be for the next few days. He had a lot of basic research he had to do, and not showing his face in public would unnerve the Gryffindors more. He refused to take their behavior lightly, and they deserved to deal with uncertainty for a bit.
When he got to the kitchens, he saw a frenzy of activity. The food was already cooked, but as soon as any serving plate up in the hall went empty it had to be refilled from below. A number of elves noticed him, but he had been a much more frequent visitor than many they had in the past, so his presence was interesting but not that remarkable. He sought out the head elf, an ancient looking creature that went by the name Nifty, and asked for a minute of his time.
"What can Nifty do for one of our young masters?", the old elf said as he walked up to Harry, supplementing every other step with a comically small cane.
"Hello Nifty, I had a couple questions for you. First, I think that unless it would cause trouble for you all, I'd like to eat my meals down here with the elves for a while, and I'd like your permission to do that. Second, if you do permit me to be down here with you all during meal times, I'd like to know if there is any task I can help contribute to. I'd feel bad taking your hospitality down here and not giving anything back. Finally I want to know if there is any kind of treat or food or drink you all like. I had a terrible day yesterday, and when I finally went to go to sleep, I think one of your elves switched the cot I was using with a bed. It was amazingly kind of them to have done it after the day I had. It made me realize how much you all have done for me over the years, and I want to use my own money and resources to do something for you, if you'll have it."
Harry got it all out in a rant. His only real interaction with house elves had been with Dobby, who was accounted as being an oddball even among the race of supposed oddball creatures. He knew Dobby would freak at the offer of his helping, and at the offer of a gift, and he really hoped that Nifty would have a more even keel. The old elf seemed to be studying him as these thoughts ran through his head.
"Young master means well and is genuine. But young master does not know much of house elves, does he?"
"No sir," Harry replied. He knew that nominally this elf worked for him, but the elf also seemed old and wise enough to deserve the honorific.
"Nifty thought so. Let Nifty first say we would love to have you down here with us. The bearded master does not like students eating down here every day, but the castle speaks to old Nifty, and the castle says no trouble will come," Nifty cleared his throat and looked off into the distance while he continued, "Nifty knows young master meant no offense with his offer to help, but young master must know, to offer to help a house elf in work is deadly insult to the elf. It is usually a sign by the master that he does not think his elf can do the job correctly. Young master was not raised into magic, Nifty can tell, so young master had no way of knowing. Nifty takes no offense."
Harry's face had fallen at that revelation. Years and years of being the cook and cleaner had left him often feeling out of place during meal times here. He thought maybe he could contribute...
Nifty continued, "Nifty will talk to Nifty's elves, they will understand and feel no insult. Would young master be willing to wash dishes?," Harry nodded enthusiastically, "Then young master can come around after dinner and help after tomorrow. Nifty needs some time to tell elves. For young master's last request, Nifty is not sure what to answer. The elves in this castle have everything they need provided by Castle and by bearded master. We want nothing. But young master can give us all a great gift, it will take much from master for a day or so though."
Harry really appreciated the news that there was something he could give the elves. He really wanted to thank them. Maybe it was seeing Hermione's pitiful efforts with SPEW and her knitting, or just the bed last night, but he knew how much they did. He remembered practically being a house elf for most of his life. Harry felt some nerves if Nifty was this hesitant about the gift he could give, but he resolved to do whatever it was as long as it didn't kill or bankrupt him.
"Young master, house elves need magic to live. We use it, but we have none of our own. We do not have ties into it, we feel it and see it, but without bond to a family or a place like the castle we have no source of it. If you want to do something for us, add magic to our bond to the castle. It will strengthen all of us, and there is little we would appreciate more."
Harry nodded, it made sense, and it explained why it would leave him drained, "Can we do it later tonight?"
"Nifty needs some time to collect all of Nifty's elves. We will all come for you tonight when you are alone in your lab."
With all of his house elf problems solidly resolved, Harry left the kitchens and waited in the entrance hall under a light notice me not for his friends. As he waited in the hall, he noticed a large number of Hufflepuffs talking about him as they exited the hall. Harry was surprised by how many of them weren't frothing at the mouth with rage about him. Their loyalty to Cedric was assured. Harry honestly didn't expect his oath the day before to do anything to general public opinion. He had really only made it to hurt the Gryffindors. Maybe the school wouldn't be entirely hostile this year...
As Harry mused about the sheeple's tendency to love or hate him with no middle ground, he snagged his crowd from those leaving the hall, giving each a quick touch to key them into his ward and apply it to them as well. With everyone together, he wordlessly made his way towards the abandoned east wing. The Twins and Neville were content to just follow Harry and let an explanation slide while Luna simply stared around dreamily.
Harry showed them to his lab, and told them that he was gonna be there for a few days. The professors knew about his use of the lab, so they didn't need to worry about him. Harry also made sure to override any explanations on the behalf of the lions present. Harry knew these people, he didn't need any kind of assurance to know they had nothing to do with the censure. Hell, Harry thought, the Twins were more likely to have a party for him than be angry with him over the tournament.
Shortly after he sent his friends back to their respective common rooms, Nifty popped into his lab with what seemed like nearly one hundred fifty other elves. The room itself seemed to expand and size itself to the huge crowd of diminutive creatures. Harry suspected Lady Hogwarts had a hand in that, the warm glow he got in response spoke of approval for what he was doing. She loved her elves as much as she loved her students.
Nifty linked arms after a few words with Harry and the collected legion of house elves, with all of the elves linking arms and forming a massive network of touching hands and grasping elongated Elvin fingers. Harry put his hands on Nifty's shoulders and closed his eyes, for one glorious moment he felt what it was to be a house elf. He understood the joy of service to the castle, and he felt their gratitude. He opened the floodgates on his own power, and used his connection to magic to bring as much power as he could possibly manage through himself and into the connection between the castle and the elves.
The connection and flow of power lasted for just a moment, but Harry felt every ounce of power flow through him and into the elves. When he opened his eyes again, every elf in the room seemed visibly taller and just a little sturdier, as if they had each spent a few months lifting weights in the last few seconds. Harry quickly found the limit of the power he could lend them, and slowed and stopped the flow of power as he reached it. Before he could even think about collapsing into something soft and not moving for a long time, an elf moved him over to where his bed hid beneath a work bench.