77Chapter 4
Harry awoke groaning. His headache had not receded on its own. When he opened his eyes, he saw Dobby holding the headache potion out for him. He downed it quickly and tried to order his mind. And then he remembered the mornings events.
"How long was I out, Dobby?" Harry croaked. "Six hours, Harry. Dobby was so worried. But Dobby prepared dinner. Come eat, Harry will be better after food."
Harry got up, the potion was kicking in already. Though it didn't completely vanish his headache, it allowed him to think. He ate in silence, his mind already sorting the next steps to take.
"Dobby, You have to keep me in line again. I cannot afford any distractions. I will study the rest of the week on these bindings in my head. Then on Monday I will open an account at a bank and claim my lottery winnings, if it worked, that is. Oh, and I will have to create an ID for my elder self to open the bank account. But back to the topic. I cannot afford to open the trunk or look into any other topic. You need to stop me if I drift and keep me on track. I trust you to keep me on the task, Dobby."
Dobby nodded solemnly. "Yes, Harry, Dobby will keep vigil."
Later that evening, when Harry was sure that the Dursleys were asleep, he crept out of his room. The house was quiet but for the snores coming from the master bedroom. Uncle Vernons wallet was always with the keys in the corridor. He silently searched the wallet for the ID, the whole time with one ear on the regular snores of the upstairs bedroom. When he eventually found it, the silence was broken by a thump on the entrance door. That had to be Dudley. He fumbled with the wallet, finally closed it and rushed upstairs again, grateful that he had taken off his shoes. When he was in his trunk again, his heart beating fast, he didn't know if he should curse himself for almost getting caught or be glad that Dudley always lingered at the door because he couldn't find his keys. Probably both. Oh well…
But now Harry was wide awake. He could as well get started. It took him more than an hour to transfigure a piece of parchment into the ID he needed. To put the data he had invented there was easy, the consistency of the material was the tricky part. But he managed after another dose of the headache potion. He entered a London address and a picture of his look from the morning and in the end was very satisfied with the outcome. And then he wondered why he didn't feel any guilt for cheating like this. For this definitely was cheating. He wouldn't even have come up with the idea a year ago. He shrugged mentally and went to sleep.
Harry spent the next days pouring over various books on bindings. Dobby couldn't tell anything more specific on the type of magic that was involved. He apparently could only sense the raw magical patterns and a vague binding to something or someone external. Harry had studied books on curses and hexes and even potions, but had yet no lead. And he couldn't try any countercurses or antidotes right away, because he wouldn't mess with his head more then was already done. He finally sat down to try the logical approach and started all over. First he had to find out, what magical bindings were so that he could narrow down in his search. This resulted in even more headache, but he had to admit, he learned a lot on the way.
Magical bindings was a whole area of its own. There were bonds, like marriage bonds, enslavement bonds, and many more, which linked two people together. Then there where magical bindings between persons and magical objects, like the Weasley family clock. And then finally bindings between two magical objects, like enchanted mirrors. Some practical uses involved even more then two persons or objects to link together. Then there were bindings in the sense of restrictions, which included oaths and circumstantial memory blocks. Oaths bound the magic user by his own word using his own magic. Circumstantial memory blocks are bindings that were invented for security reasons. The affected person would recall certain memories only under specified circumstances. Though he had learned a lot about binding and its uses, he had no solution by the end of the week. But he had a lead.
His problem couldn't be a bond, because all bonds were consensual. He couldn't say if he was under any memory spell, who could, after all tell if he was obliviated? But there seemed to be one consent. All non-consensual bindings were breakable with enough willpower and control of mind. And he had willpower, but mind control? So he had started on a book called " Magics of the mind. Keep your head to yourself!" He had spent hours on the meditative exercises in the book, but had yet to register any result.
Harry studied intensively the whole Sunday to prepare for the time enchantment. He studied the incantations and the wand movements over and over, ensuring that he got it right. Dobby had procured a large hourglass. Harry had vanished the sand in the glass and cleaned it over and over. But the hardest part to accomplish were the runic engravings that had to be put onto the crystals. The end result looked rather simple, the spell was anything but. He had practiced the engravement on various stones that Dobby had brought into the trunk.
Finally it was Monday and Harry went out to check if he really had won in the lottery on Saturday. He had taken the ageing potion again and went into the mall.
He didn't know how to go about the claim to have won, so he just looked in the first newspaper he found for the winning numbers. And he had won. He had to suppress an outburst of joy and turned around quickly to walk off his agitation. It had worked.
The day went by just how he had planned, he mused, when he sat by the fire in the evening. He was a lucky guy after all. With all the troubles he got into, he always got out rather lucky. Maybe his mothers protection consisted of a gigantic good look charm. He sipped the last of his butterbeer. About 600.000 pounds. Now he had to wait for the money and then send Dobby off to get the diamonds. After that he would really start off. Tomorrow he would compile a list of things to buy for the time in the trunk, he would indulge himself and Dobby. Better without him knowing of course. Dobby would just tell him about how house elves where not worthy after all. Sometimes he wondered if Dobby was in fact right. Maybe it was truly in his nature to serve. But that contradicted all laws of nature. Who knows how long they had been enslaved, house elves themselves probably couldn't remember. Every living thing got something for what it gave. What was it, that house elves got from serving wizards?
After the time problem was solved he would investigate the chest. The strange pull towards the chest was completely gone. It was probably generated by the luck-potion.
The next morning Harry awoke to movement on his bed. Dobby was jumping all over the room, including the bed. Harry closed his eyes and was just about to curse the idea of having Dobby around for such a long time when Dobby's words registered in his head. It was his birthday and Dobby was singing! He was in fact contemplating how to postpone the event to escape Dobby's rather shrill singing. He had forgotten. He had always waited for the letters and gifts from his friends and this year he had forgotten it altogether. He got up and looked at the two packages. The first one was filled with Honeydukes chocolate from Ron and Hermione, the second one was obviously from Dobby, containing a rather misfitting assortment of socks. The chocolate on the other hand, he didn't understand why Ron and Hermione bothered at all. Like he would eat chocolate, cheer up and they got their golden boy back. He smiled mirthlessly. They hadn't written anything consequential in the last weeks. He didn't know how he would deal with them when they met. They were like strangers to him even now, maybe not strangers but like kids who didn't grasp the cruelty of the real world. And to be honest, he didn't want to be the one introducing it to them. And Sirius was probably still busy with Dumbledore.
He had forgone any meditation but his headache was almost gone anyway with the help of the potion. Sometimes it flared up just like a dying flame. The idea that these flare-ups might be triggered by specific thoughts or objects had crossed his mind, but he had found no pattern. He was getting more and more scatterbrained, however. And his emotions where all over the place, he had sudden flares of elation, expectation, hurry, impatient anger or a sudden urge to laugh. One time he had shocked himself shitless by cackling maniacally. But the pressure to get into his timed exile was weighing on him, he had consequentially abandoned any other thoughts So he spent the day engrossed in various catalogues to list things he would buy for their time in isolation.
He had first worked through the magical construction catalogue. His selection included a potions lab, a large outdoor room with a lake inside and two working chambers for himself and Dobby. He decided that he didn't need a special duelling arena. He didn't want to get into fights after all, he wanted to get out of them. So he had decided that they both would get a room that they would use as a workshop for whatever they decided to do for their leisure. He had also bought a smaller outdoor room to use as a greenhouse. He would keep Dobby busy in the greenhouse. Then he had gone through all the catalogues and picked everything that peeked his interest rather carelessly. He had the money to do so that after all. And how in Merlin's name should he know what would interest him in a years time?
And after all, he had to decide what he wanted to do sometime in the future, because until now he had just decided what not to do. He grinned. That was a rather mature thought. And it didn't worsen his headache. The muggle appliances where a problem. He had a whole page of things he wanted to buy and no idea how he would manage to get everything into his trunk.
He was staring into the distance, trying to come up with a way to get the stuff into his trunk without notice, when Dobby popped up in front of him with a tray of food. He had forgotten his meal again and he hadn't cooked once in the kitchen, Merlin he didn't even try once. But now was not the time to argue. He was quite comfortable with it after all, and Dobby too.
Afterwards he went back to his desk to select things to buy. He felt like a five year old in a candy-store. And he wondered why he had never thought about shopping for himself before. The money he had in his vault was enough to buy almost everything an eleven year old wanted. Oh yes, now he remembered. The Dursleys would have taken everything away, Ron would have been green with jealousy and Hermione would have scolded him on childish behaviour. He was never that good in confronting people and standing up for things he wanted. He either didn't do them or didn't tell. Like right now. Oh, well. And he was bursting with this terrible hollow laughter again.
He concentrated on the catalogues again, took the next catalogue from the stack, it was from Flourish and Blotts. Then he looked from the catalogue to the bookshelves and back. The books were enough for a lifetime, so he stacked the catalogue on the other side, but halted when he saw the advertisement on the back. It advertised a bottomless backpack. It would be ideal for his coming muggle shopping.
"Dobby!"
"Yes, Harry?"
"Dobby look here, " and he showed him the advertisement. "Go to the bookshop and get me one of these backpacks, please. And ask the goblins for information on how to open a new vault. Don't tell them who I am, I will use another name for the new vault. Also ask them for bank transfers from a muggle bank. We will need to pay from the new vault from now on."
Dobby vanished and Harry was back to picking stuff from the catalogues.
It took another two days to get half his money transferred to a high security vault at Gringotts. The goblins didn't need a name in the end, Harry provided Dobby with a blood sample and the vault would be keyed to his blood and magic. Dobby was in and out of the trunk the whole time after that, getting everything that had been marked in the catalogues. Harry had gone to the mall and bought everything he thought could be useful.
Dobby was at the moment picking up stuff from a rented storage space in London. Harry had sent all the bigger purchases there. A computer with lots of programs and games, some weight training equipment and even a couch for his study. After that he would send Dobby to the botanist to get all sorts of plants for food and potions ingredients. That would keep Dobby busy and solved a part of the food problem. A problem that he identified only this morning. How the hell would he get food for his time in the trunk? He had first contemplated the idea of buying some cows to have fresh meat but in the end remembered that he had to butcher them himself and rejected the idea. He knew that he had gone completely overboard with his purchases, but who cared if he himself didn't? Great men are said to be crazy after all and the sorting hat had said he would be great in Slytherin. So now that he acknowledged his inner Slytherin, he could be great and maybe crazy. He had certainly cackled like a maniac that one time.
Harry kept busy. He had added the doors to the antechamber, which now looked rather odd. There was almost no wall left, because of all the added doors. He had a full stocked potions lab by now, theoretically, all the supplies were still packaged. The outdoor room looked like a clearing in the forest. There was a small lake and some trees on the borders. The first time he tried to reach the end of the room on one side he landed on the other side again. The ceiling was showing the sky but he didn't know how far up he could go. It would certainly be unpleasant if he arrived suddenly in the floor. He had to try that carefully on a later date. Or he would read the manual.
But now he didn't have the mind for these thoughts. His headache had receded again while he was unpacking and he was skipping from one task to another. But he didn't care at the moment. He had to sort out all the purchases and there wasn't much to think. The workshops for himself and Dobby looked like large storage cupboards at the moment. He put everything in there that didn't specifically fit somewhere else. Like all the painting utensils, the tailoring equipment and all the other boxes, some of which he couldn't even remember to have ordered. The greenhouse was another outdoor area. He just installed the door and left it like that.
When Dobby was finished in stocking the greenhouse that evening, Harry was sipping butterbeer at the fireplace. Now that he had all his purchases ordered in the rooms, he had no enthusiasm for any of them. He was simply exhausted. He had only one question left. Where to get the food? He didn't want to die from hunger and he didn't know if he could get out while the hourglass would be active. And the worst thing, he couldn't estimate how long it would last. It could be any timeframe. The book was very unspecific on that. It was a combination of the strength of the spell, the quality of the diamonds, the size of the hourglass and so on. Harry had calculated for roughly thousand days, but he could have as easily made several shorter ones. But now he was set. He just had to be careful. The description in the book wasn't that clear on the subject as well. The resulting timeframe was somewhat mystically described as "the time that magic grants you." It could be anything from three days to three years or even more. He had to study the book again, there had to be some failsafe mechanism. Otherwise he had just run off without thinking on another escapade.
"Foolish Gryffindor!" he said out loud, chuckling. He got up to get the book once again. After a short while he found it. There was a finite spell that you could cast on the hourglass. The whole enclosed area would be warded for the time being. So no going out. But the finest part was that the whole time pocket, for any time inside took only one day on the outside.
"Dobby!"
"Yes, Harry?"
"Your next and most important task, Dobby, is to organize enough food for thousand days."
"Dobby will get food and put all food in stasis, Harry." Answered Dobby.
"How long will you need for that? I wanted to activate the time-spell in the morning. Will you be ready by then?"
"Yes, Harry, Dobby will manage."
Harry got back to his armchair and Dobby vanished. He had quickly learnt that trying to have Dobby as an equal was rather exhausting. It just didn't work and he wasn't in the condition to fight over these matters. He just hoped that he wouldn't start to talk like Dobby, because he doubted that Dobbys speech patterns would change. Maybe it was better to stay without Dobby after all. No, everything he had planned included Dobby and he would just keep him busy.
Harry got up in the early hours of the next day. Dobby awaited him with breakfast in the kitchen and he wondered shortly, how Dobby could manage to get all the food in one night, but refrained from asking. It would result in Dobbys long speeches about the great Harry Potter and the duties of the house elf once again. And he had no patience for that now. Then he decided that some time for meditation was in order and tried his best to exercise like he had read in the book. He never managed to clear his mind completely, but achieved a relative calm in his head, so that he could go on with his work. After an hour he finally decided that he was calm enough and started the enchantment. Dobby had fixed the rune engraved diamonds on the outer corners of the trunk. All he had to do was start the chant and be careful to not make the timeframe to long. He could start over, after all.
In the antechamber he positioned the hourglass on the floor and started the chant. A watery light blue beam shot out of his wand and enclosed the hourglass in a pale light. In every repeat or the chant he could feel the hourglass drawing more magic from him, like a suction. Then a mist began to form in the upper part of the glass. It got thicker and thicker and finally looked like a silvery liquid clinging to the top of the glass. By the time deep blue beams shot out of the liquid, he was sweating profusely but he couldn't be distracted by looking for their targets. He held the chant for another moment and then lifted his wand in the closing pattern of the chant his knees buckling. The hourglass rose into the air until it stopped to float overhead. He didn't know how much time he had encapsulated, but it looked as it was supposed to. He sat back on the floor and grinned at Dobby. The feeling of elation was certainly reasonable this time, he started laughing again. When his laughter subsided, all his energy was seemingly spent and he felt rather exhausted. So he went to bed without further thought.
AN: Yes, I am back, next chapter coming soon.