by DrT - Sahits

Hermione was a more vocal version of Moody, willing to wait and hear Harry out and demanding
that others do the same, but still very concerned for him. In fact, Remus and Hermione seemed the
most concerned, even more so than Sirius, who was confident that whatever had happened, Harry
would just have to be fine.
Ron was just plain confused.
Now of one unified mind, Harry decided to put off a visit to Grimmauld Place and study the
situation a bit more. Instead, he went outside of the Fidelius and managed to summon Dobby to
him. The elf was more than happy to come to work for Harry Potter. Dobby brought Winky, who
was thrilled to bond with a family again, as opposed to taking Harry's first offer of employment.
Harry took the elves to meet the two elderly Potter elves. He left Winky to get to know the two
elves and took Dobby aside. Dobby was eager to go back to Hogwarts to keep an eye on Harry's
interests. Harry made certain to tell Dobby what not to do, as he did not want the elf taking any
risks at all. Dobby would simply tell Dumbledore that he hoped that Harry would contact him and
would ask if he could stay and work without pay until Harry contacted him, or until September 1.
After dinner, Harry collected two Horcruxes, Slytherin's ring and Gryffindor's knife, which had
been turned into a Horcrux the night Harry's parents had been murdered. He quickly and safely
destroyed the soul fragments inside the Horcruxes, took another set of potions, and then went to
sleep early.
At first, Harry was slightly surprised the next morning when Hedwig showed up, despite all the
magic hiding him. Still, their bond was strong. A few quick checks showed that all the letters had
tracking charms on them, as did Hedwig, and two of the letters held portkeys. Hedwig's magical
ability to detect her owner had also been enhanced somehow, magic that Harry didn't know. He
therefore transferred the tracking charms to a bone left over from his steak the night before. When
Harry told Hedwig why he was doing these things, he saw that Hedwig had an idea what Harry was
talking about. She looked very offended that people had tried to use her to betray her owner. She
took off, and would deliver the bone to just outside of the Riddle House.
Harry then deactivated the two portkeys and read his letters.
Dumbledore's note, unsurprisingly, was meaningless platitudes, as it had been sent merely to draw
Harry to Hogwarts via the portkey spell which had been attached. Harry was surprised that the other
portkey was attached to Ginny's note. He decided not to read much into that, as Sirius and Remus
would have been leery of letting Dumbledore near their letters. Harry did wonder how Dumbledore
had gotten to Hedwig, as none of the transcription spells had noted Dumbledore being in the house.
Still, those were far from infallible, as many portions of the house were not covered.
Ginny's actual note was not very informative, basically merely hoping that he was not injured and
would come back to Grimmauld Place soon. Harry frowned when he read Mrs. Weasley and Ron's
letters, as they expressed the same sentiments, in the same order, as Ginny's, although with (mostly)
their own phrasing. Harry wondered if this and the portkey were all Dumbledore's doing, or if Mrs.
Weasley had a hand in it. Not to mention wondering about Ron and especially Ginny's motives. At
least Ron had expressed some genuine concern about Harry's welfare in his note, as opposed to
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