Through A Looking Glass

DISCLAIMER: That part of this world and those characters you’ve seen before belong to their Creator: JKR. The rest is mine - although I cannot quit my day job as I make no $$$

A/N: Some may think that some stuff in this Chapter (and to some extent the three that follow) is either repetative or deviates from the plot. Repetative possibly. I have characters explaining some things from both a different point of view and to a very different audience. Thus, while the same it will be different and maybe even somewhat contradictory as such explanations can be in reality. But as umimportant as some of this stuff might seem, it has a point later on in the tale and is all part of building the world and soceity that is necessary for the tale. Hence, criticisms as above will be ignored. (Not that would matter as I’m currently finishing up Chapter 71. But as I so far down the road, I’m posting a few chapters over the next couple of days.)

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE: THROUGH A LOOKING GLASS

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 7 th 1993

The four girls had never seen the beneficial or even the amusing effects of magic. Their introduction to the wizarding world had shown them magic at its worst, used to ruin and harm. All four had been abducted through magic. They had been forced to engage in sexual acts and had been unable to offer any resistance because of magic. They had been punished with magic in ways more painful than any of them could have imagined. They were robbed of their families, their lives and time through magic. They had also benefited from magic. Magic had led the Aurors to where they were being held and had transported them from that living hell, although they had no memories of that being in stasis at the time. Their physical injuries had been healed and repaired with magic, although again they had no memory of that treatment. They had been treated with mind magics as well to help them cope and survive their ordeal and, it was hoped, one day thrive despite it. But while they may have been aware the Psychomagical Healers were doing something possibly magical, the spells did not seem to do anything. Had they thought about it, they might have realized that they were calmer, less depressed, less hysterical after those spells were used. But they had not thought about it too much.

The day before they had been discharged from St. Mungos. Miss Cissy, as they called her, and Healer Tonks had escorted them from the place. Aside from some of the “injuries” they saw in the waiting room they could not easily tell that the place was all that different from other hospitals. Well, there was that and the complete absence of anything technological. The two older witches brought them outside. It was their first harmless magical experience as they had to walk through what looked like a wall to leave. They found themselves on a side street in a city standing beside a tall building that looked like a rundown department store. There they met some others who introduced themselves. One was Mrs. Granger and another was Mrs. Black. Mrs. Granger was not a witch and Mrs. Black was, but her parents were not. Also joining them was Mrs. Greengrass, another witch and a girl a couple of years younger than they were named Anna who was Mrs. Black’s daughter and a young witch.

The ladies explained that Mrs. Black and her daughter lived in London, or the daughter had until she started boarding school. Mrs. Granger lived in Slough in Royal Berkshire just west of the London Metropolitan area. The other women lived elsewhere, too far away for an easy day trip to the city by car or other non-magical means. The group was taking them shopping as all four needed clothes among other things. What they were wearing were their hospital robes and gowns which had been “transfigured” into clothes. But they were told the spell was more or less temporary. It would last several days for certain, unless the clothes were laundered for some reason. They needed “real” clothes. What they were not told was why there were so many witches in the group. There were five adults plus a girl. The reason was just in case one of them thought of running off. But that had not happened.

They were not taken to Diagon Alley. Mrs. Granger said that while Diagon Alley was the best place for magical stuff, it was not much for clothes unless one wanted to dress like an old fashioned witch all the time. Everyone except Miss Cissy shopped for clothes in the “Muggle” world. There was no beating the selection. They spent hours in the shops in London which would have taxed the most accommodating males of the species, but with little real monetary concerns and an unseen House Elf to relieve them of the need to carry their packages, for the four girls and their escorts it was a thoroughly rewarding experience. They were tasked to provide the four girls with complete wardrobes, but that task did not include dressing them in the most expensive fashions nor did it include jewelry, aside from some relatively inexpensive and age appropriate accessories, so for that purpose their needs did not tax their allocated budget. Naturally the four girls were not told this.

With the shopping done and all but a handful of the shopping bags already taken away by the unseen House Elf, the girls and their escorts took the London Underground to a train station and there they boarded a train that headed west. It was not a long journey at all as they left the train at Windsor where they were taken to two cars in the nearby car park. One belonged to Mrs. Granger and the other to Mrs. Black. They then sat through the relatively short drive to the Granger home just to the north of Windor and Eton. Dinner was served almost the moment they arrived. The girls were not told that it had been the work of an unseen House Elf, but it had been for Cissy’s elf Pira had been busy all day long.

The Grangers owned a large home, larger than they truly needed actually. Still, it was small when one considered the number of guests who would be staying the night. Connie and her daughter left after dinner, but Cissy, Andi and Mrs. Greengrass were staying. Although the girls did not know nor were they told, this was to keep an eye on them. Not one of them had tried to run off during the day, but the women were concerned it might happen.

With dinner out of the way and it still being relatively early, the girls asked if they could watch television. The problem was that none of their shows were on that night and in the case of Mary Pierce and Jenny Stanley, both of whom had been missing the longest, one of their favorite shows had been Dr. Who which had been off the air now for four years. It was the wrong time of the year for repeats which was about the only way one could expect to see that show now. Still, they found something to watch on a channel that had not been around before any of the abductions. Andi and Connie were witches who were quite familiar with television as they both had such Muggle technology in their homes. About all Cissy could say was that she had heard of it. For her, the experience had been a revelation ending a day filled with such revelations. Shopping in the Muggle World had surprised her. She had never been subjected to the sheer amount of choices that the average Muggle experienced and it was almost overwhelming although Andi would say later it was almost like a Hogwarts student on their first visit to Honeydukes candy shop in Hogsmeade.

Much to the relief of the adults none of the girls tried to slip away during the night, not that they could have succeeded had they tried what with two witches and one House Elf at the residence. They were introduced to Pira the next morning at breakfast. All four of them awoke to find a set of their new clothes laid out for them to wear and two had asked about that and about where the rest of their new things were.

“Pira took care of it,” Cissy said at breakfast. “All of your things will be waiting for you at your new home.”

“And where is that?” Elizabeth asked.

“And who’s Pira?” Angela added.

Pira was called and appeared. Unlike the Malfoy elves and Kreature, she wore a proper dress even if it had once been something else.

“This is Pira,” Cissy said.

“Looks like Yoda,” Angela giggled.

“Nah,” Elizabeth disagreed. “Yoda’s not nearly as cute.”

“What’s a Yoda?” Cissy asked as did Mary.

“He’s the strange Jedi who taught Luke Skywalker about the Force,” Elizabeth said.

“I thought Obiwan did that,” Mary interrupted. “There wasn’t a Yoda in Star Wars.”

“He was in the Empire Strikes Back but he died,” Elizabeth said.

“The what?”

“The second Star Wars movie,” Angela said.

“I saw that one too,” Jenny added. “It came out the summer before last… or at least the summer before my last one.”

“Then there was the Return of the Jedi,” Angela said. “I was ten when it came out. I just loved the Ewoks.”

“There’re two more?” Mary asked. “What else have I missed?”

“One might say quite a bit,” Mrs. Granger said. “Since you went missing in 1978, we’ve had a woman Prime Minister in Britain. Prince Charles and Prince Andrew got married and had children. But Prince Andrew’s left his wife and it’s said that Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s marriage is not so good either. The Berlin Wall has fallen and Germany is reunited and the Soviet Union is no more.”

“What happened? Was there a war?”

“Not the one you think, I should suppose. In ‘82 Britain went to war with Argentina over some islands in the South Atlantic.”

“The Faulklands,” Jenny said. “I was kidnapped a week after the news came out that we had won.”

“Two years ago there was another war. This time it was with Iraq.”

“We won that one too,” Elizabeth said. “Well, it was a coalition of a lot of countries. Iraq took some small country and the rest of the world got mad about it and kicked them out. That was a few months before I was taken.”

“And the Russians?” Jenny asked. “They didn’t do anything?”

“Stayed out of both,” Mrs. Granger said. “I don’t understand what happened and I’m not totally sure anyone does. The Soviet Union just fell apart in a way. There was hardly any war or fighting at all, really. Well, not there anyway. Yugoslavia’s a mess right now. Romania was for a time. So yes, you missed a bit, assuming it interested you at all.”

The girls looked at Cissy.

“I’m as blind as you are,” she said. “Our world didn’t pay much attention to what went on in the rest of the world and I never gave it much thought. I’m learning that this may’ve been a mistake. Anyway, I don’t know what a Yoda is or this Star Wars you’re talking about or Prime Ministers, Princes and such. This, however, is Pira and she’s a House Elf. She’s been with me for as long as I can remember and I’m told practically since the day I was born…”

“You made her?” Angela asked. “Witches can do that?”

“Don’t be silly,” Cissy said primly and then apologized. “House Elves are a race of magical beings that have been around throughout our history. They live either in the very few places that have what we call high levels of ambient magic or with a magical family. Pira’s ancestors have been a part of my family for generations and seeing that elves live longer than we do, that means for quite a long time. They are our helpers. Pira’s taken care of me my entire life. She’s been my one constant friend and confidant and the best thing about elves are you can tell them anything and they won’t tell anyone.” Cissy then explained House Elves in depth.

“But doesn’t that make them slaves?” Jenny asked after the bonds and how the young were bonded and sometimes transferred to other families for money was explained.

“There are those in our society who act as if that’s the case, unfortunately,” Cissy replied. “The old families that have had elves for scores or more of generations generally do not act that way, nor do they mistreat their elves. There are, of course exceptions to this and newer lines, distaff lines might not be so respectful. Regretfully our laws do not protect the elves in such situations. My former husband ill treated his elves which is why Pira has no mate. I would’ve been expected to bond her into those elves. That would’ve given him the right to treat her as he wished, so I refused repeatedly. His reaction to that and other things… It is why I had that marriage ended. Any relationship can be abusive, but one should not blame the relationships of all for the abuses of a few.”

“But what happens to those elves?” Mary asked. “The ones with the bad witches and wizards?”

“If they have young, the young leave as soon as they’re old enough to no longer need their parents' bond to sustain them. That’s always a sign of trouble. My husband was never able to keep a young elf around at all. They all wished to bond with me, but I did not have enough work for them which, as you will recall, they also need to thrive, so they went away. I don’t know where. Their parents may, I don’t know.”

“And the older ones?” Mary asked. “They can’t leave, can they?”

“Not easily, but it happens,” Cissy replied. “An older elf in need of the magical bond can survive without it for a time, a couple of years or so. It is difficult for them. But if they find a new family or if they find a place with enough ambient magic, such as at the school I attended, then they’ll be okay. It takes a lot to drive an elf away from its family, but if it’s bad enough to them they will seek ways to break their bond and take their chances. One of my former husband’s elves did this just recently. He tricked my husband into letting him go, into breaking the bond and he left. I don’t know what became of him.”

“I do,” Andi said. “You’re talking about the elf named Dobby?”

Cissy nodded.

“Now there’s an odd one,” Mrs. Granger laughed.

“You’ve seen him?” Cissy asked and the four girls looked in anticipation.

“He’s the personal elf to Lord Potter,” Andi said, “and Head Elf of the combined Potter Estates which are quite extensive.”

“Really?”

“Why’s he odd?” Angela asked.

“As I understand it,” Mrs. Granger replied, “elves generally do not wear socks. He does and they never match. He’ll tell you that’s on purpose if you ask. He got free of his abusive wizard with a sock, a sock provided by Lord Potter so the mismatched socks are worn to honour that. Lord Potter has a lot of elves on his estates and Dobby is the only one that wears socks.”

“You will be living in… well, I won’t say our world,” Andi said after a moment’s pause. “It’s not really. Not as we know it. It’s new and not under the control of the old order, as it were. It is, however, magical.”

“But you barely notice,” Mrs. Granger said. “You almost have to think about it and would really have to if the elves weren’t so commonplace. But it is magical. True, from what my daughter’s told me, maybe not as much as some places. I’m pretty sure there’re no unicorns there. I haven’t seen any at any rate.”

“Unicorns are real?” Mary asked.

“Oh yes,” Andi said.

“Many creatures we believe to be myth are real, although very rare and even more rare considering they tend to be hidden by magic,” Mrs. Granger said. “My daughter’s seen pixies in one of her classes although she said that class was a joke and maybe the pixies were too, but they were real. She’s also seen unicorns at a distance in another of her classes which includes what we’d call nature walks. Unicorns are said to be shy and retiring and they don’t like boys or men for some reason. My daughter’s also seen a baby dragon up close. They’re not so nice, she says. Hippogriffs are real too. Her first class on magical creatures featured them. She says they’re impressive and kind of pretty although you wouldn’t want one mad at you.”

Cissy snorted.

“What was that about?” Elizabeth asked.

“I had a son who got one mad at him,” she said. “He was lucky it didn’t kill him. But, you either have to be thick or really foolish to get one mad at you if you know what sets them off. He was one or the other or both.”

“You had a son?” Jenny asked. “Is he dead?”

“Not that I’m aware,” Cissy replied. “My marriage was annulled recently. In our world that ends any relationship I had with my husband completely as if it had never happened in the first place and I’m returned to my former family or status as it were. My son was not invited to join me. Right now, his status is… well, it’s as if he were an orphan. Although you shouldn’t feel sorry for him. He’s his father’s son, although not as smart I should think and his father is among our worst sorts. That man’s lucky he’s only serving life in prison without parole for the things he’s done. Besides, my ‘former’ son has money enough to live a comfortable life unless he’s foolish with it.”

“So you lost your son as part of the divorce?” Jenny asked.

“It was an annulment and there is a difference,” Cissy retorted.

“As you learn about that world,” Mrs. Granger said, “you will find its society is very old fashioned. Well, not so much where you are going, but the society they came from. There was a time with the magical world was very progressive as compared to this one. But the shoe’s on the other foot now so to speak. Many of their laws and social conventions would’ve fit right in back in Victorian Britain and others would’ve been outdated even then. So in Cissy’s case, her son is the heir of the father and stays with that line when the marriage is over. I don’t know what would’ve happened if he had been a she…”

“That depends,” Cissy said.

“On what?” the girls asked.

“Marriage contracts. They still are used in our world certainly by some of the older families. If I had a daughter and there was a betrothal agreement and my marriage was annulled, the other family would decide whether they would honour the agreement or not. If they chose not to honour it, my daughter would be of no value to my former husband so she’d likely be with me. If they chose to honour it, then it would depend upon whether my family or his was the one that made it. If my family made it, the daughter would come with me. If his made it, she’d go with him. But he was a son and not a daughter so he’s part of that family and I’m with my former family.”

“We won’t be… ,” Mary began.

“No. You won’t be arranged into a marriage by your guardians. There are many reasons for this but the important one is that your principal guardian is opposed to such arrangements unless, of course, you’re both older and it is what you want as well. My parents, however, were not so progressive. In the end that was a good thing considering the man they married me to. My marriage was annulled because he violated the contract between our families and had we simply married without one there’d be no contract to violate. But I would never have had to suffer that at all if they were willing to let me choose my husband because I never would’ve married him were the choise mine to make in the first place. But none of you will need worry about that.”

“Then again,” Mrs. Granger mused, “for the near future at least there’s not much of a dating pool where you’re going.”

“I’m not sure I’m ready for that,” Elizabeth said. The others agreed.

“Which is a good thing seeing as the few boys about your age who live there are married.”

“Do you mean our age as in from when we were born or our age as in how old our bodies are?” Jenny asked.

“Your physical ages,” Mrs. Granger said.

“But how can a boy be married at that age?” Angela asked.

“Remember,” Mrs. Granger said, “Miss Cissy said that her world is behind us in many things?” When they nodded, she continued. “Well, that’s another thing. Our laws about when you can marry are recent as in within the last hundred years or so. Until 1929 or so in Scotland a girl could marry at 12 and a boy at 14. I think it was 16 with parental consent in England by then. Go back further, only a couple hundred years, and a young person could marry with their parents' permission if they were old enough to appreciate what was happening which was generally believed to be so long as they were at least seven.”

“You’re joking!” Mary exclaimed.

“No, I’m not. Although I might add it was not common. Typically it happened in political marriages between royals and such. I don’t think it was common outside of the extended Royal family. In fact, I’ve found no evidence of marriages that young at all aside from Kings and such. Regular people were older, but still could be younger than 16. Even then, seven wasn’t a floor but you needed special permission from Rome, I think. I read that one of the sons of Henry II was married before he was five and his bride wasn’t even old enough to walk. They did that as part of a peace treaty with France that lasted maybe a few months or a year or so - the peace that is. The marriage was another matter.”

“Our laws never allowed that,” Cissy huffed. “For well over a thousand years, you needed to be sixteen to marry without parental consent and you needed to have reached your ‘bonding age’ and have parental consent and show cause as to why you should marry if you were under sixteen. The main reason a boy or girl might’ve been married that young was the bride to be was pregnant with their child, but we’ve had effective magical birth control for over two centuries and all girls attending our schools are required to use it until they’ve completed their Fifth Year so that reasons pretty much a thing of the past.”

“Bonding age?” Elizabeth asked.

“For boys, that occurs once they’ve reached their thirteenth summer solstice,” Mrs. Granger said. “For girls, it’s after their sixth menstrual period and provided they’ve reached their thirteenth summer solstice.”

“So the boys here somehow got their… um… wives pregnant?” Jenny asked.

“No,” Mrs. Granger replied. “That was the more common reason way back when, but there were two others. Although very rare, sometimes a special, magical bond forms between a young man and young woman and it can begin to form as soon as the younger of them attains their bonding age. For witches and wizards, the bond is deemed a marriage by magic and they can formalize it anytime afterwards. My daughter is one of four witches who live at the Estates - where you’ll be living - all of whom are about your age and are all magically and legally married because they share such a bond with their husbands and there’s a fifth who now has such a bond and will probably legally marry her bondmate - as they’re called - over the Christmas Holidays. There’s another exception and that’s where there is a pre-existing betrothal agreement and the young wizard is legally emancipated for some reason and is therefore an adult under the law and some of the young ladies who’ll you’ll meet are married under that exception.”

“I’m sure you all will learn about a lot of exceptions to the wizarding world’s general marriage laws in the coming months,” Andi said, “but we should be getting you to where you’re going to be living going forward.”

“Is it far?” Angela asked.

“Um…”

“One of the more entertaining questions,” Mrs. Granger asked. “The simple answer is no, the entrance is just inside the front door or at least one of the entrances is.”

The four muggle girls then began their first “real” experiences with the magical world as not one of them wished to include their stay at Malfoy Manor as one of them. They were told to climb into a trunk, which confused all of them as they thought it might be some kind of muggle magician trick. Naturally, they were all surprised that the ladder led to a sizable room below. Then again, as Mary observed, it might just have been an odd design to the house they had been in by an eccentric owner. That was an opinion that died when the door from the room opened.

They stepped out into Potter House Terminal, although they could not have known that was what the space was called. It was clear to all four of them that the room they were in could not possibly be beneath the floor of the home they had been in before. The ceiling was far too high and there was no way that sunlight should be shining into what would have been a basement. It was explained to them that the trunk was a magical access to where they were now. When they asked where that was, they were told it was the Potter Estate which was part of the Estates but when they asked where that was they were told no one really knew for sure. What was certain was they were no longer in the rest of the world.

They were told that the Terminal contained many doors, most of which were portals. Some led to trunks like the one they had entered which were scattered around England and Scotland. Others led to various places within the Potter Estate and there was one door that led to what they were told was Longbottom Terminal which was more than twenty miles away from where they stood. One day soon there would also be a House Black Terminal, but that was not yet up and running. They left the building which reminded them of a strange train station without platforms or trains and exited onto the square in the Potter Elf village. Here they saw more elves like Pira who seemed to be going about their business. There were two cars parked before the terminal each with an elf driver. The cars reminded the girls of some kind of fancy car from a long time ago. They were split between the two cars with the three adults along with them. None of the girls noticed the third car parked across the square.

“I do hope they like it here,” Luna said. She was in the larger third car along with Harry, Hermione, Daphne, Hannah and Ginny.

“I still think some of us should’ve been there to welcome them,” Hermione commented.

“We were told it might not be a good idea yet,” Daphne observed.

“I know, but they must be out of sorts.”

“But you said it’s probably easier for a Muggle to adjust to this than for a magically raised witch to adjust to the modern Muggle world,” Ginny countered.

“You seemed to adjust pretty quick,” Harry said.

“Please! If Mum let Daddy have his way, the lot of us would be more Muggle than magical ‘bout a lot of things. Okay, maybe not considering Daddy’s still very confused 'bout a lot of Muggle things. But we did have a car before Ron wrecked it and we did do most of our shopping in Ottery St. Catchpole which is mostly Muggle.”

“I meant,” Hermione said changing the topic, “I meant that they must be a little overwhelmed is all. I mean… well, aside from each other they really don’t know anyone.”

“It was that way for most of us when we started school,” Daphne said. “I mean aside from Tracey I didn’t know anyone.”

“Susan was my only friend from before,” Hannah agreed. “I dare say you and Harry knew no one before that first train ride and it turned out okay.”

“But we hadn’t been… ,” Hermione started.

“You hadn’t,” Harry said. “But you also didn’t leave behind many friends you said. I’ll admit what happened to me was very different than what happened to them, but… Well, they may well see this place the way I saw Hogwarts; as an escape from that and as a new start.”

“Still, it will be different from what they knew before,” Hermione observed. “I mean it is really nice here and there’s lots to do if you’re interested, but some things are missing like television.”

“Never saw much of if to be honest,” Harry said. “But I get what you’re saying and that might be changing.”

“Oh?”

“Had a talk with my Dad the other day when we set the date for their arrival and I said something ‘bout that. He said it might not be an issue…”

“But there’s no electricity here,” Hermione began.

“We don’t need it,” Ginny observed. Hermione ignored her somewhat.

“And even if there was, the ambient magic here must be pretty high and electrical things wouldn’t work!”

“Electronic things won’t work well,” Harry said. “Electricity is still electricity. Ambient magic has no effect on it, but electronics are far more sensitive. Still, they can work…”

“Then why aren’t there any electronic things in magical homes,” Hermione countered.

“You mean aside from the fact they won’t work so why would we buy them?” Hannah asked.

“They work well enough in our home, the few such things we have at any rate,” Daphne said.

“Mum would have kittens if Daddy bought something like that,” Ginny mused. “She already has issues with the plugs and other Muggle junk he keeps in his shed. That and she’d probably worry about what it cost and whether it could survive Fred and George.”

“Anyway,” Harry said trying to regain control of the conversation, “I was asking about my parents' financial situation. I mean I know Dad had a trust like I did, but aside from that… well, I mean true we’re not really spending a lot of money… still, how was he going to pay for my sister? Hogwarts is expensive among other things.

“He told me he had it all sorted so I pressed him. He then told me he had more than just his trust to fall back upon. Right around the time he and my Mum got married he invested some of his trust money in a company his accounts manager suggested. It’s in the Americas and was said to be close to discovering a way to make electronics work in a magical environment. Of course, he was not in much of a position to keep an eye on that until recently. But when he had his meeting with his accounts manager back in August, he was told that investment had made him quite a bit of money. He didn’t say how much. But that’s not the point. That company did what it thought it could do and now sells all sorts of magically safe electronics. It even came up with a magical device that somehow uses ambient magic to power the things.”

“But Harry,” Ginny said, “I’m pretty sure they don’t sell them here.”

“I made the same point.”

“Probably some law against it,” Hermione grumbled. “After all, they’ve banned flying carpets and other imports.”

“I made a similar point. He said most of those bans are ‘protectionist.’ The Ministry doesn’t really have anything against flying carpets other than the fact that countries that have them don’t buy nearly as many brooms - and we’re the largest producer of magical brooms - and don’t have much use for a floo network and that’s a major revenue source for the Ministry. So the ban is to protect our businesses from competition and an important Ministry revenue source. Well, where’s the competition for electronics, I asked. He said they probably don’t know ‘bout them yet. Muggleborns do of course; electronics that is. But the families that live entirely in our world might not nor would they see much need for them. Dad thinks the reason they’re not sold here is no one sees them as being marketable. We don’t 'cause we don’t see people who would need such magically resistant devices as being the ones who’d buy them. The Americans don’t 'cause they don’t think we’re interested. But the devices do exist: televisions, video machines, stereos, all sorts. My Dad thinks we may be able to get some.”

“And even if we had power for them, what then?” Hermione asked. “Would we even get a signal? I mean what use are those things at all if you can’t pick up a signal?”

“Signal?” Ginny asked.

“Um… something like the wireless,” Hermione replied.

“Oh.”

“Dad said they have something for that,” Harry replied. “Something like a satellite dish. You set it up somewhere outside the area with too much magic and it sends a different signal to the devices inside the area. He says it works. He’s going to try it out over the Hols and if it does, we’d be able to get stuff like that here by mail order through Gringotts.”

“I doubt it’d work during time compression,” Hermione commented.

“It’s not like any of us are pining away for it,” Harry chuckled.

“Which means it would only be available when we’re in real time and in school!”

“He thinks there’s a work around. But even if there isn’t, there are some here who would appreciate it and don’t have school to worry about. Besides, it would make people like those girls feel a little more at home, don’t you think. Something tells me in time they won’t be truly alone here.”

Friday, November 12 th 1993

Mistress Umbridge had never been a kind mistress. Her two elves knew this but they were bonded to her and had no choice in their circumstances. Still, it takes a lot for an elf to seek a way out of their bonds and a foul tempered, rude and unappreciative witch was not reason enough to hope for an opportunity to sever the bond. But it had gotten far worse for the two elves recently.

Mistress Umbridge had never seen fit to give her two elves names and had seldom ever spoken to them. So long as they did their work, she had nothing to do with them at all and they were good elves which meant the work was done whether she ordered it or not. But Mistress Umbridge had been ill treated by the wizard she worked for and now she vented her anger and frustration on her elves. She did not care which one suffered her ire but every day one would and her methods were cruel and painful. The elves knew that had they been human, their Mistress could well face prison for what she now did to them and it hurt them not just because it was painful. It hurt them far more deeply than the magic she used against them could have hurt because they knew they had not done anything to earn such treatment from their Mistress.

“Elves!” Umbridge bellowed.

Elsewhere in the house, two elfin faces paled. They knew pain was a real possibility, but they had to obey. They popped to where their Mistress was calling. They bowed before her trying not to flinch. They both hoped she just had orders for them as she did not always call them to vent.

“I need these cleaned,” Umbridge growled and she tossed them some garments. The two elves caught the soiled laundry, bowed to the witch and popped away before she could think of anything else.

“We be free,” one said to the other when they arrived in a forest. They dropped the garments and waited.

Saturday, November 13 th 1993

Quidditch was still Quidditch and Hufflepuff was playing Ravenclaw. The day before had been Daphne’s fourteenth birthday in outside time and they had a party at the Manor skipping dinner in the Great Hall. All of the residents of the Estates were there aside from the four Muggle girls and their minders. There had been those who thought it might be a chance for them to meet their neighbors (to the extent that people who lived miles away by road or broom could be considered neighbors) but there were others who thought it better that the occasion was not ideal. After all it was Daphne’s birthday and those girls did not know her. Harry had bought Daphne’s “special” gift when they were in France the past summer. It was a necklace and she was genuinely pleased with it.

But that was the evening before and now they were back at school and Quidditch was Quidditch. That meant most of the students were excited about the upcoming match even though none of the residents of the Estates were playing. Hermione, perhaps, was the only one who would rather be doing something else. Her interest in the sport went no further than the fact that Harry and some of her friends played and she supported them (and worried about them). Since they were not playing today, she saw no real reason to go aside from the fact that they were going so, as usual, she was bringing a book. Harry, Ginny and the other members of the Gryffindor team were interested as this was a chance to size up their remaining competition for the season. Hannah and Susan were going to cheer for Hufflepuff and Padma was going to do likewise for Ravenclaw. Luna was not, however, because she thought the whole thing was rather silly and Harry was not involved. Daphne and Tracy liked the game but were indifferent about the teams.

Somewhere far away, however, another member of House Potter had his own tasks to attend to. Dobby was the Head Elf for the Potter Estate which entailed far more than cooking, cleaning and other work. Among his concerns were staffing and he knew that while there was a surplus of labor at the moment, there would not be a surplus over the long term. He knew that six more trunks were planned and would be incorporated into the Estates as a whole within the next two or three months. He knew that one of the buyers had no elves and none of the buyers had enough. Besides, months ago he had spread the word that House Potter and its allies needed elves and ever since elves had come.

Every Saturday since the beginning, since Dobby had purchased the first trunk for Harry, Dobby had been here. It was a forest. It was remote enough that there had been little risk that a human would stumble into this place. Here every Saturday Dobby waited although he never had to wait long for the word was out and Elves were punctual. Every Saturday one or more elves would arrive to be brought to the Estate and would then be assigned a position. At some point, now once a month in Outside time, Harry would formally accept them into the Estate and allow them to accept the bond to House Potter.

The elves that arrived were always young ones but not children by elf standards. They were “in between” as the elves would say. They were old enough to live apart from their parents and to begin to work but young enough they could survive without a magical bond to a witch or wizard. Most of the young elves that arrived came from households that did not have enough work to sustain them when they were older. There were a handful, however, who were coming from households all too reminiscent of House Malfoy: one which no unbonded elf would choose to join if they had the choice. Those from the families without work to sustain them came to avoid the possibility of being sent to a bad family.

Deep within this particular forest far from the hiking trails the Muggles had made for their own purposes there was a standing stone. That there was such an object was unremarkable as there were numerous sites with such things throughout the isles. Such stones were erected long ago by humans for reasons long forgotten. In all probability, this lonely stone had once been in an open place - a field or meadow or some such - but the trees had returned at some point and at some later point some Muggle chose not to cut the trees probably to encourage wild animals to live here so that the landowner might hunt them. The stone had stood the centuries forgotten.

But Dobby knew of it. He had found it in the weeks between his bonding with the Great Harry Potter and his Master coming to the new Estate. Actually, he had found it within a couple of days. He did not know how except if asked he would probably say it had been old elf magic for there could be no other explanation. He wanted a secret place where elves could be gathered to join the estate of his Great Harry Potter and his magic brought him to the forgotten standing stone in the forest. Perhaps there was another reason. Perhaps the stone had once been important to elves or to House Potter. But if there was another more interesting reason why Dobby’s magic had brought him to the stone in the forest Dobby was unaware of it. All that mattered was that it was a place that other elves could find with their magic and it was a place where curious humans were unlikely. So it was to this standing stone in the forest that the young elves came and waited for Dobby.

Dobby arrived near the stone at noon. It was not noon by a clock, but true noon when the sun had reached its highest point in the sky for that day and would then began its slow descent into night. Dobby could not see that it was noon for the day was overcast and a light rain was falling as it had been since before the sun rose. But Dobby did not need to see the sun to know when real local noon was. True noon was a magical time of the day, just as moon rise and set had magical significance, particularly for the full and new moons each month and the solstices and equinoxes had magical significance during the year. As an Elf, Dobby might not observe the stars and planets for greater cycles, but elves did understand the days and seasons for the days and seasons defined their working lives.

Every other time Dobby had arrived at the stone there had been at least one elf waiting for him but not since the first couple of weeks had there been more than three elves. Now there were scores of them. Moreover, this was the first time he had met elves here who were not in their in between age. Seventy-six elves awaited Dobby in the rain. Three were in their in between ages. Nineteen were still children by elf standards and the rest were beyond their normal bonding age. Something had changed but Dobby was not about to think about what that might have been. Dobby was not about to turn elves away, but he knew this would take longer than he had planned.

“ I am called Dobby,” he said in the speech of the elves. “ I am bonded to a great wizard known to many as Harry Potter.” Most elves knew this, although not every one of them. Most elves also understood their ancestral language, but not necessarily every one of them. “Dobby beings the name what Great Master Harry Potter Sir be callings Dobby,” he added in English.

“ Well, I hope you don’t think you’re something special,” a voice said.

Dobby recognized the voice. He had not heard it in some months and he looked into the crowd of faces and recognized the face and several others. “Papa?”

“Aye,” the older elf said.

“ We were so worried when you were cast out,” another voice added with a hint of tears.

“ Mama?”

“ It is,” “Papa” replied. “And we were worried.”

“ I couldn’t stay,” Dobby replied.

“ We know,” his mother replied for it was his mother. “We never understood why the wizard was so much harsher towards you…”

“ That wizard was hardly ‘kind’ to any elf,” Papa snorted. “It’s a wonder more of us didn’t scamper.”

“ Well, it’s not like we had anywhere to go,” another voice said. “Dobby was the only one brave enough to take the risk at being cast out. We were all so worried he’d come to an awful end unbonded and wasting away.”

Dobby had forgotten the female elf’s elf name. She had been bonded to House Malfoy under the name Mira and worked in the kitchens and on some secret matter for Master Lucius which she clearly did not like at all. Dobby had liked Mira. They were around the same age and had grown up together.

“ I don’t understand. How…?”

“ Former Master Malfoy got into trouble with their Ministry and the Goblins,” his father replied. “His wife left him and the marriage is ended. Only her personal elf Pira left with her. Former Master Malfoy lost all of his property and is now sitting in the wizard’s holding place where there can be no elves. There’s no Manor to clean, no meals to cook, no grounds to tend. We’re unemployed and our bond to that family has broken.”

“ There’s enough magic and work left for two,” Mira said. “ The boy still could support it. But he’s too young it’s said and even if not, he has not designated which two should remain to serve him so all were cast out when the magic faded.”

“ But not all here were Malfoy,” Dobby observed.

“ Umbridge,” a female elf Dobby had never seen before said. “The witch was never kind to us. We were once Mulciber elves, but our former Master transferred us to Umbridge. She was disgraced in her life recently and tortured us for her failings. We tricked her into giving us clothes.”

“ Lestrange, formerly Black,” another said. “We came to Lestrange when a daughter of House Black married into that… den of Garden Gnomes!” Elves did not like Garden Gnomes after all the creatures made a mess of formal gardens. Fortunately, Garden Gnomes did not care and Elves liked the extra work or there might have been real problems between the two. “ Lord Black ended the marriage and the Goblins seized the lands. We too found ourselves unemployed.” There were several other elves in similar circumstances. Had Dobby known, he would have realized that that aside from the House Umbridge and Lestrange elves, the others were all from wizards involved in Lucuis Malfoy’s illegal enterprises and had recently been cast into Azkaban and had their properties confiscated. What the Ministry failed to seize, the Goblins had as most owed money to the Goblins or had otherwise run afoul of some Goblin law or another such that imprisonment allowed the Goblins to collect under the old treaties.

“ What’s with all them fancy clothes… ,” a voice added.

“ I am Head Elf of the Potter Estates,” Dobby replied. “This is Potter Livery for such work.”

“ Real clothes?” another elf said in awe.

“ We have three seamstresses whose sole job is to make working and other attire for the Elves of the Estates,” Dobby replied. “They’re very busy.”

“ Estates?” a voice asked.

“ There are three,” Dobby replied. “Potter, Longbottom and Black. There will be a fourth soon: Weasley. As of today, there are a total of 2,984 working elves and 1,597 younglings between the three Estates not including yourselves.”

There were gasps at the numbers. Outside of Hogwarts, a couple of score of working elves was a large community. “ And there’s work? Your wizards can use more elves?” a voice asked.

“ We have plenty of work for more elves,” Dobby replied. “ And we will have a need for at least a thousand more in a few months.”

“ Must be a lot of witches and wizards,” Dobby’s father said.

“ Not many,” Dobby replied. “Potter estate has but nine, only two of whom are adults. Longbottom has eight with one adult and Black has eight with three adults. There’s much more when one counts the regular guests, but it is still not many.”

“ And yet they need so many elves?” another voice asked.

“ Need? No. They probably do not need what they currently employ, much less the younglings. But they can use and employ what they have and more. It’s not the humans that need the work but the land. Right now, there’s 600,000 acres and most of it’s farms, pastures and gardens and such. The livestock needs tending as well. Second harvest is in, but there’ll be a third before it is springtime there and the harvest needs to be preserved and processed so it can be sold or used and most is sold. Then there’s the houses and such and there’s always work to do there. The families plan to add another 240,000 acres to that in the next couple of months and more as needed in the future. There’s plenty of work for those who need it and the bond will hold with the families whether there’s but one elf or a thousand or more.”

“ And you’re in charge of it all?” his father asked.

“ Just the Potter Estates and there are others more experienced and knowledgeable who handle the details such as the crops and such. But I am in charge of many things and finding labor is one and for that I find for all the Estates.”

“ So we might not work with your family?” the elf he knew as Mira asked clearly disappointed with the prospect.

“ It’s possible,” Dobby said. “ Before today, I was bringing in only those who were in between and needed a family. It was never this many except when I first sent out word and then we did need that and more. But since then, one to three a week was all that I found waiting here at the stone. I can’t say what my wizard will do except that you will all be welcome to the Estates and there will be plenty of work for you. While there are more than one family, the Estates do not prevent their elves from being and meeting with elves from the other Estates. Even if you do not work for House Potter, you live at the Estates so nothing is said that would prevent you from seeing friends or family that live at the Estates even if they work for another wizard family.”

“ And younglings?” another asked.

“ The Estates existed in some form long before Master Harry Potter bonded with me. The Potter Estates belonged to his parents before him and his grandparents before that and the same is true of the Longbottom Estates. Black is new, but Black follows the old practice and the old practice is to place no restrictions on elf families and younglings. When enough younglings are in between, when there are more elves than work; the Estates acquire more land for the elves to work rather than send the elves off.”

“ Sounds like and elf paradise,” a voice said.

“ Any place with work and a bond is paradise after House Lestrange,” another commented critically.

“ True,” the first said, “but we’ve never heard of one.”

“ Not even that school of theirs,” another said, “ although I’ve heard they never have enough elves.”

“ That and it’s been an age since that place allowed matings,” a voice added. “And this new place, these Estates allow that and younglings and will have work for younglings when they’re old enough. That is what you’re telling us? We won’t have to send our in betweens away?”

“ The Houses do not require in betweens to stay on, but they do not send them away and none have left or so I’ve been told. None have been sent away since I’ve been there nor are there any plans to do so. Master Harry Potter’s orders are to gather all elves who wish to join us and so that is what I do here at the stone.”

“ And why are we waiting, then?” Dobby’s father asked.

Dobby could only shrug. “I need to bring you there one at a time. I can’t tell you where it is and you need me to do so to pass through the wards. So it will take some time. I’ve never brought in a family before, much less so many. I should think that parents and their younglings should go first. One parent is to go and then await the others, then the younglings, then the next parent and so on. I will try to be as quick as I can be seeing as the weather there is much nicer than here today.”

The elves arranged themselves and Dobby faced the first family. There were two parent elves and two younglings. He took the father’s hand and popped away from the stone, reappearing in the center of the square of the Elf Village. He did not explain where they were, only told the new elf to wait there until all the others had arrived meaning all the elves at the stone, not just his mate and younglings and so it began. One by one the elves at the standing stone were brought to the square in the village. For the elves who had already arrived, there was nothing to do but wait and look around. Many were nervous as the village had a look to it that suggested there may be Muggles about. Perhaps it was one of the cars or the new lorry that drove through. None of the new elves could know that such vehicles were now used by other elves to help with the work on the farms and bring the crops from the fields to the processing facilities in the village. They were nervous because they knew they were supposed to hide from Muggles and yet here they were clearly visible to any who passed by the square and told in effect they had to stay there rather than hide.

“ We’ve visible!” a panicked voice said once Dobby brought the last of the elves to the square. “The Muggles will know!”

“ The only Muggles who will see are those who know anyway,” Dobby said. “ Only Muggles whose families are part of the Estate can come here and as those Muggles have daughters who are witches, they know about magic. Only humans with the permission of Harry Potter can come here. Elves here do not hide for there is no need especially because this village is not for humans but for elves. This is where we live and this is where you will live.”

“ No cubby holes?” a voice asked.

“ Cottages for families,” Dobby replied. “ A large place for those without families and in betweens. No small places or cubby holes.”

“ This is a paradise,” the elf named Mira said.

A/N: As harsh or unfair as the laws in this story sound, they are based upon real ones. The disposition of children from a prior marraige is derived from old common law and laws that at the time of this story were still on the books in some central and south american countries. By derived I mean based upon, not directly used. So if the story is different, it’s different not wrong. After all, magical britain does not truly exist so who’s to say what their laws really are?