ATOMIX; Chapter 08: The Mad Elves

Hello my dear Patron family, here's Chapter Eight of ATOMIX. I hope you like it!

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Author out!

“I am Talking.” 

‘I am Thinking’ 

Spells

ATOMIX

-Dev Sagittarius Black

~~Chapter 08: The Mad Elves~~

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As usual my brain stopped thinking the moment I was attacked. Yeah, good job brain, stop doing what you are meant to do when you are being attacked. I don’t know if it is another Potter thing or if I am just stupid like that? Neither of the options looked good anyway.

“KREACHER WILL KILL THE FILTHY HALF-BLOOD!!” 

“What the–” I grabbed the mad house-elf’s hand that was around my neck, choking the life out of me. Thanks to my superior strength — compared to an old house elf’s—I managed to pull his thin arms from around my neck and pushed him away. 

“What the fuck, Kreacher?!” I gasped and turned to glare at the senile little shit. “What’s wrong with you?!” 

“Half-blood bes destroying great Master Regulus’ room! Kreacher told filthy Potter boy he will be keepings a close eyes…” The old elf glared at me with such hatred that I couldn’t even fathom why he was being a bitch for one damn room when the whole house was in literal ruins! 

“See, I know you’re angry. You probably want to curse me as well.” Kreacher nodded and I sighed. Of course, you want to curse me, you little shit. “But I am your master’s godson. If something happens to me, he’ll be furious with you, and might even kill you.” 

“Kreacher hates master anyways, Kreacher’s only true masters were Great Master Regulus and Mistress Walburga.” The elf grouched, “Master Sirius be staining the Black family name. He bes idiot and invites filth into the Noble and Ancient House of the Blacks.” 

Walburga Black? That crazy painting of that old hag?! No wonder the elf was a deranged shithead if he worships her of all people.  Made me wonder if this ‘Great’ Master Regulus was even more crazy. 

“You could consider him whatever you want, but he is your master and he won’t be happy with you, that’s for sure. Also, doesn’t being Sirius’ godson grant me some sort of protection from crazy freaks like you?” 

I asked him, because I knew that he would try to kill me again in my sleep and I would like to enjoy my summer vacation for the first time. Also, weren’t death threats a thing for my usual school year routine? Why was I getting them early this time? 

“Kreacher’s duty only makes him respect filthy Black as master, no one else. Kreacher bes listening to half-blood only if he has strong Black blood and magic,” The elf’s glare slowly turned to a nasty smile, “Which the filthy half-blood doesn’t. Kreacher checked.” 

‘Damn. This would’ve been so much easier if only I had some sort of godson protection,’ I sighed. This meant that I would have to talk to Sirius so that he could handle this idiot. It would’ve also – wait! 

“Kreacher… exactly how did you check that I don’t have strong blood and magic?” I narrowed my eyes when the ancient thing started to pace around. Fortunately, due to Dobby’s attempts to save my life, I knew that he used to do this when he was nervous or caught saying something he shouldn’t. 

“Kreacher checked. Just checked. No funny—”

“Kreacher!” I shouted to get his attention, “What did you do to me? How did you check it?” 

The elf halted and glared at me again, “Kreacher poisoned the halfblood when he bes fainted yesterday, wanted to kill half-blood but nasty white witch saved him.” He smiled once more, “At least you bes weak due to the poison. Easy for Kreacher to kill yous now.” 

My eyes widened at that. This little old— I couldn’t even think properly because of the revelation. This ancient batshit crazy dumbhead little freak had poisoned me when I was unconscious?!

What the FUCK!?

“You poisoned me while I was unconscious?” I asked him, shocked. “And right now, I am weak because of that poison?” 

“Kreacher did,” The house-elf had the gall to look proud. “Half-blood be poisoning Great Master Regulus’ room, he be suffering same! A pity white witch Pomfy saved yous.”

I glared at the creature so hard at that admission. 

I wanted to strangle the little shit hard enough for him to remember never to mess with me again. Here was the one creature no one would suspect of if I died, and he had almost succeeded too. If Madam Pomfrey hadn’t been there then I would’ve probably been dead by now. 

“Why didn’t Sirius kick you out of the house for poisoning me?” 

Kreacher again gave that creepy smile that showcased his senility, “He not be knowings… no one be knowings, and soon, no one ever will…” 

A Dark Lord possessing a teacher in the first year, a Basilisk in the second one, many soul-sucking demonic creatures and a Werewolf in my third year, a whole lot of dangerous creatures, along with a resurrecting Dark Lord, last year… only to get a freaking house-elf as the villain in my fifth year, ending it before it even started.

I would’ve been laughing my ass off if I wasn’t so angry. A goddamn house-elf was threatening to kill me. Suddenly, Voldemort felt like a primary level mission that I once played on Dudley’s computer while Kreacher felt like the main boss. 

That game sucked, by the way.

At this moment, I could’ve shown this elf a bit of my power and made him realize that I was ‘healing’ the room again, but I didn’t want to show my power to anyone. I had yet to tell it to my closest people even so I was a bit hesitant to show it to a totally unknown house-elf who was hell bent on killing me. 

Also, the way he was threatening me, I didn’t think that my explanation would help me anyways. The little shit was low on IQ and would probably just ignore my explanation so that he could get to kill a filthy half-blood who ‘poisoned’ his great master’s room.

His words, not mine. 

I flicked my wand in hand and pointed it at the crazy thing. “You want to try your luck against an armed wizard, Kreacher? You know you can’t do shit against me when I am awake. That’s why you are always doing sneak attacks.” 

“Kreacher doesn’t have to fighting yous now, filthy half-blood.” The house-elf smirked. “Kreacher will be attackings you when yous bes sleeping. Unaware of what happenings.” 

“I will tell Sirius about you, he’ll order you to stay away from me.” I smirked back, why was I even having a word-battle with this crazy little shit in the first place? “After that, you won’t be able to do anything.” 

“Master Regulus always bes saying Kreacher is smart,” he shot back, “Kreacher always findings loopholes. Next time, Kreacher bes finding other ways through elf magic. Wizard magic beings different, only us house-elves be sensing elf magic.” 

And with that fairly good and threatening warning, the living fossil thing popped away. 

I released a deep breath and sighed against the hard part of the wall. Yeah, that was taxing, my current body wasn’t supporting me thanks to the poison that little shit gave me. So, it was actually a good thing that he left. 

But that didn’t solve my problem, did it? I could tell Sirius, yes. Then, he would ban the house-elf from coming anywhere close to me, but even I knew that if one needed to find a loophole in a rule, they just needed to think hard enough about it. 

I needed some sort of permanent solution against Kreacher, but what could I even do? It’s like he had said, elf magic is different, and only other house-elves could sense it, not wizards, which meant only another house-elf could protect me. 

And the only elves I knew about other than Kreacher were Dobby and Winky. One was another crazy guy who thought that maiming me seriously would save my life. It was possible that Kreacher might find a comrade in Dobby. 

Another was a drunkard elf who just sobbed and wallowed in self pity. Even though it was both of her masters that were the wrong ones and suffered what they should’ve. Poor thing, I didn’t know if she was sane enough either from all that butterbeer consumption. 

“What the hell…” I massaged my temples as I felt a headache forming. I wanted to sleep but I didn’t know if I could. It was possible that the damn house-elf was still here, waiting for me to sleep. 

Alright, first things first. I will talk to Sirius tomorrow but I needed sleep right now and there was no one other than Dobby who could help me. Then again, there were also a few more problems like the time, place and whether or not he would hear my call or not. 

But there was no problem in trying, right? What is the worst thing that could happen? Dobby might be asleep and won’t hear, right? I am sure I can handle that. 

“Dobby?” 

I waited… and waited … and waited… but Dobby didn’t come. 

Hmm… maybe I should stop imagining the ‘worst case’ scenarios beforehand. I shook my head and again looked at the red part of the wall. 

I had just unlocked another power. I was quite proud and happy, and I knew that I could revert the entire room to how it was before but for now I needed to move out of this room and go to sleep. 

I prayed to whatever deity that was looking over me that Kreacher doesn’t attack me tonight and I could get a solution to this elf issue from Sirius before the mad guy creates a problem for me. 

⁂

It was still quite early in the morning when I woke up, therefore I wasn’t surprised that there weren't that many people when I joined others in the kitchen. Just the selected few who had to get up for work — Mr and Mrs Weasley, Kingsley, Tonks and Sirius. 

Yet the shock on everyone’s face was immediately evident the moment I stepped inside. 

“Wotcher Harry.” Tonks was the first one to spot and greet me, “Boy, do you look underfed, we need you charming and handsome, not like the old mutt here.” 

We chuckled and easily ignored Sirius' indignant ‘HEY!’, but there was no denying it, Tonks was probably the one person who could effortlessly make someone feel lighter with her jokes and comments about wooing the other gender. 

“HARRY!” Mrs Weasley rushed towards me and gave me a hug, “Oh my, you poor boy, how’re you? When did you wake up? You should’ve called me or something, I would’ve brought breakfast to you.” 

I hugged her back and nodded to everyone else on the table to show that I was absolutely happy and not feeling tired from lack of energy, afraid of a mad house-elf and angry because I was being treated like a kid again. 

Boy, was it tiresome to smile even though all you wanted to was to leave the room. 

“Bah! I am sure Prongslet could handle himself well, he’s a grown man.” Sirius smirked as Mrs Weasley bristled but left me to get my plate ready before he came to stand near me with a coffee mug in his hand. 

“Alright there, Harry?” He asked me as I joined him on the table, “How are you feeling?” 

“I am good. Just a bit tired because of all the accidental magic and Dumbledore’s talk.” I shrugged, using the Headmaster’s accidental magic theory. “Oh, by the way, can we talk later? I need to ask you a few things.”

“Sure, what’s up?” 

“Not here,” I shook my head,  “Need a more private setting.” 

Sirius frowned at that. He chanced a look at all others who were on the table to see what they were doing — Mrs Weasley was making my plate, Tonks was sipping coffee and chatting with Kingsley, who was reading the newspaper, and Mr. Weasley was reading a document, probably from his workplace.

He flicked his wand out and muttered a spell. Strangely enough, I couldn’t see the spell or even a simple change in the area, yet, somehow, I knew that the spell was active around us in a small area. 

“The area is secured, you can speak freely now. We won’t be— Just a moment,” he added as Mrs Weasley came near us and placed a typical English breakfast which consisted of a fried egg, strips of fried bacon, a cup of baked beans, three slices of toast and slices of grilled tomato and broccoli. 

“And here’s a glass of orange juice to wash it all down, alright, sweetie?” She smiled at me as she placed the glass. “Don’t hesitate to ask for more, I want you to eat as much as you can, not as much as you want.” 

“I will, Mrs Weasley, thank you.” She messed my hair and then went off to make more of the absolutely delicious looking breakfast in front of me.

“Yeah, now that the mother hen is gone,” Sirius added and flicked his wand again, “Done. Now, tell me what you want to speak about, no one can listen to us.” 

“A couple of things actually,”  I began as I picked the toast, “First, is Kreacher able to find loopholes in your orders?” 

“He tries to, yeah.” Sirius nodded, “But most of the time it's for pitiful reasons so I don’t bother questioning him. Why? What did he do now?” 

I sighed, knowing Sirius he would probably go on to kick the demented house-elf out of the family and I didn’t want that. Yes, I wanted to hurt the little shit, but he was too old and probably mad thanks to the previous Blacks. Therefore, kicking him out would probably kill him.

“Do not panic or shout or leave before you hear everything from me,” I told the man and for some reason I don’t think that helped as Sirius became more agitated and anxious. “Promise me, Sirius.”

“What did he do?!” 

“Promise me first or I am leaving this right now,” I pressed further. In the end, he nodded, agreeing to the promise. 

“Madam Pomfrey, was she here yesterday?”

“She was,” Sirius nodded, “She also wanted to check out once you returned to us, I will call her after breakfast.” 

“Good, I need to thank her because she saved my life.”

At his confused expression, I added, “Kreacher thought that I somehow poisoned his master Regulus’ room and therefore decided to poison me yesterday. It’s only through Madam Pomfrey’s quick diagnosis and skills that I am safe.” 

The reaction that came was predictable and I immediately held his hand to stop him from jumping out of his chair and running to kick the house-elf. “Padfoot, you promised to leave when you’ve listened to everything.”

“That little shit has crossed lines now! Hurting me is one thing because I am used to his idiotic tendencies but going after you? That’s not acceptable at all.” Sirius glared and I just looked at him till he calmed down a bit.

“What did you do? And how do you know that he poisoned you in the first place?” 

“I woke up at three yesterday, he tried to kill me then and I managed to get him to admit this. I am not bothered about that, I just feel weak and I am sure that this breakfast will take care of that.”

“What’s bothering you then?” Sirius asked once more and I explained to him all about the threat, the elf magic and that only other house-elves could sense it. 

“That… that little piece of bull crap!” Sirius growled and clenched his fists. I looked at others around the table and saw them looking at us. They can’t hear us, yeah but to see a grown man glare angrily at his coffee mug was quite a nice giveaway that the discussion wasn’t good. 

“Calm down, Sirius. I have already thought of a plan for this but I’ll need your help for it.”

“What do I have to do?”

⁂

I sighed in relief when I entered the bathroom and turned the shower on. Cold water from the shower hit my nerve endings that were below my skin. I felt as if a boost of fresh morning energy had been pumped in my system. 

 The plan had been hit, we had left the building — in secret, obviously — and had summoned Dobby. The house-elf told me that he had heard me the first time as well but due to Fidelius, he had been unable to answer the call. 

The guy had then gone to summon Winky and both bonded with Sirius, the presumptive head of House Black and the current Black of the Blacks. The bond had opened the doors of Grimmauld Place to Dobby as well as Winky, and now they were working in my room. Happily cleaning it as my personal house-elves, who were ‘gifted’ to me by my, in Sirius’ words, ‘fun, loving, handsome and the bestest Godfather ever’.

Yeah, talk about being a narcissist. Also, Sirius is dumb, but since no one ever told him that, I decided to not be the first one.

Dobby’s main task was to prevent Kreacher from harming me, something that the hyperactive house-elf took diligently because the moment he entered my new room, he snapped multiple times at the corners and under the bed to remove something called an ‘elf's trace’. 

Apparently, it was something that elf magic leaves behind and since a house elf is usually asked to do its work without being seen, the trace is almost always accumulated in hiding areas like the corners and under the bed. 

Now that the house-elf issue had been taken care of, I finally came to my primary problem at hand — The Zone, the Rotting House and the Blood Ceiling. 

I had linked the Zone to the Pillar of Ropes, so, according to me, both were the same thing. I didn’t know whether I was right or wrong, but for now, that was one less thing I had to think about. Good for my brain as it generally didn’t like complex matters anyway. 

Stupid thing, I know.

Now, out of all these, the weirdest was the problem regarding the House. Not because it looked scary or anything, no. I was taught Potions by Severus Snape of all people, and had even seen Ron sleeping, a simple rotten house wasn’t going to scare me. 

Ha! Take that Snape… and yeah, sorry, Ron, your snores are more scary than blood. 

Back to the issue, the problem was that the House somewhat felt familiar, like I had been there before. I just couldn't put where I had seen that house, but for some reason I felt like I had not only been in the House but also that it meant something really significant. 

I turned the water off and picked the soap to lather my body. My mind was still stuck on what had happened when I had been in that rotten house. 

Two things that stood out were the Blood Ceiling and the Restored Garden. 

From outside, the Garden had looked as if there couldn’t be a place more desolated than that one. But from inside the House, the place looked as if it had been watered and weeded daily. Those larkspur-looking flowers seemed especially bright as well. 

And even after all the things, my mind just refused to tell me where I had seen this house or exactly why it was there in the first place. I was troubled and the only person who usually helped me solve a mystery was Hermione, the girl who I had yet to meet as I had come straight to my room after solving the house-elf issue. 

I decided to tell her a bit about my nightmare and all that. Plus, I also needed to know how to think clearly because for some reason my mind insisted that I already knew who that house belonged to and why it was there in the first place. 

The only other way to know more about the House was to visit it once again, something that I didn’t want to do after my recent near death experience. Also, I was afraid that this room might change too and this time, I wouldn’t be able to blame my anger and accidental magic like I had done last time.

Another way to know more would be to go to the Headmaster, but I didn’t want to go to him. He had a habit of digging into things when he should have stopped after some time. Therefore, the only option for me right now was Hermione.

“And then I have to explain to her exactly why we now had two new house-elves who were working for us as paid members of House Black.” I shrugged to myself. Well, it wasn’t like all the house-elves were mistreated, and Hermione was an intelligent girl, she’ll understand. 

I really hope she does or that would be another thing I would have to deal with. 

Honestly, I kind of missed my previous summer now. It was definitely a lot better than all of the shit I am currently dealing with. 

By the time I finished my shower and went out, Dobby and Winky had completely cleaned the room. My clothes were out on the bed and both of them stood there, waiting for me. Talk about dedication…

“Hey guys, nice work. I am quite impressed.” The effect was almost instantaneous. Dobby started jumping with happiness, shouting my name, while poor Winky broke down sobbing, she hadn’t been able to work for a family last year and then had to learn that both of her masters were dead. 

“Alright-alright, calm down, you two. No crying, Winky, and Dobby, did you find a place to live like I had asked you to?” I asked them as I picked the blue pair of jeans and started to push my right leg through it. 

“Dobby did, Harry Potter sir,” one of the most insane house-elf squeaked, “We bees living in the attic. Kreacher be sleepings there too. Easy for Dobby to be keepings eyes on grouchy one.” 

Grouchy one. Yeah, that suits that ancient little shit. 

“Alright then, make sure it’s clean and habitable, take as many pillows, sheets and mattresses as you two need and don’t forget to eat healthy.” I smiled at them and had to stop Winky from crying once more. Damnit, I felt as if I was a house-elf nanny now. 

“We will, Master Harry sir,” Winky responded as she sniffed. “Master Sirius also givings Dobby and Winky permission to be findings enter-tain-ment… enta-tain-men… fun because, according to Master, ‘There beings nothings to do in this dumpyard of a building’. Though, he bes wrong because I  seeings lots and lots of work to do!” She added the last bit cheerfully. 

I blinked when I noted that she was actually cheering that she had so much work to do. What a weird species, to think that someone would love to work this much. 

After I wore my fresh clothes, I went to look at the body length mirror that was placed and saw that for some reason, the clothes were fitting me rather nicely. 

“Master Harry sir should be buyings new clothes that fit him,” Winky added, apparently she had noticed me checking myself. “Winky be shrinking the clothes, but magic be never standing against permanent stitching. Master’s clothes also being old and shabby.” 

‘Hmm… she is kinda right actually,’ I thought as I looked at my V-neck red T-shirt and faded blue jeans. They were — like all my clothes — Dudley’s old hand-me-downs.

This also made me realize that I was wearing my dead cousin’s clothes and all of my clothes were something that he wore at some point of time in his relatively short life. For some reason, I didn’t like that. 

“I will buy something for myself soon, Winky,” I told her, “Till that time, can you please shrink my other clothes as well so that they could fit me better?” 

The female house-elf nodded and re-opened my trunk, pulling my clothes out as she started to shrink them. 

Just as I was about to begin my daily battle against my hair, I remembered something. My new abilities, I could change the color, right? I had changed the color of a whole room, I could definitely change my T-shirt’s color. 

There was just one problem with that though.

“Dobby, Winky, did Sirius tell you two when he’s going to introduce you to the rest of the house?” 

“Master Black said he be doings that after breakfast, Harry Potter sir,” Dobby answered me. 

“I think that it’s about time, and it would be better if it happened at the breakfast table, almost the entire house is there right now, so it would be easier to introduce you to right now than later.” 

Dobby thought for some time but Winky understood what I meant. Or at least I hope she did because she immediately held Dobby’s hand and popped away, leaving me all alone in the room. 

I immediately removed my red T-shirt and placed it on the bed. It was time to try out my new powers. 

I closed my eyes and searched for the link that pushed me into the Zone. These days, it was far easier to get hold of the link. It didn’t take me more than a minute to get in the Zone and receive the familiar feeling of being connected to everything around me on a base level. 

This feeling, everytime I entered the Zone, I felt as if I was the matter that made my surroundings. It should frighten me, yes, but, for some reason, I knew that the matter around me was the same yet different at the same time, and only I can manipulate it, just me… 

I touched the T-shirt and tried to change its color from red to forest green. That was the first color which came to my mind. I pushed my thought on the particles in the t-shirt and smiled when I felt that the T-shirt was actually changing. 

The particles which made the T-shirt started to shift. Their color faded from red to white, and then almost immediately a new color started to come. I could feel the change happen below my fingertips that caressed the cloth. 

In fact, I decided to repair the T-shirt as well. Removing the creases as well as painting the slightly splotched areas forest green. I tried my level best to turn the T-shirt into a new one but it was resisting the change. 

It wasn’t as easy as the wall, which either meant that the smaller the object the more it resisted, or that there was something inside the T-shirt that was resisting the change. Last I checked, my T-shir was nothing but a hand-me-down from my lovely cousin who’s size would shame a healthy buffalo. 

So, the T-shirt didn’t have anything on its own, but then that would mean the resistance was from an outside force. ‘What could the force be?’ I thought as I gave finishing touches to the T-shirt and broke my connection with the Zone.

When I next opened my eyes, I couldn’t keep the smile off of my face. 

The once old and shabby looking red T-shirt that had been given to me by Dudley during the summer holidays before third year and would’ve fitted me when I was about to graduate Hogwarts, was now a perfectly fitting forest green one which looked as good as new. 

“Wicked…” I grinned like a loon as I put it on and went to check my reflection in the mirror. 

It was when I reached the mirror that I noticed something that was off about me. It wasn’t something that I would’ve thought about if I hadn’t noticed the result of my color experiment with the T-shirt. 

My fingertips… they weren’t normal human ones. No, they were of the same color and the same texture as my new cotton T-shirt — Forest green. 

Looking at my green coloured cloth-skin hands, there was only one thought in my mind, ‘Was the experiment a success… or a failure?’

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Ending Note: There you have it fellas, chapter Eight of 'ATOMIX', hope you liked it.

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