The Boy Who Disappeared

by computerneek

Chapter 18: Estate

Emma Granger looked out the window as her husband brought the car to a stop.

At the… empty fields and foreboding forests, as far as the eye could see.

“Are you sure this is the spot?”

Dan, who was comparing the pin on the GPS with the scenery around them, shrugged. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not seeing anything here either.”

Hermione looked at them, then looked out the window. “Huh. I wonder if it’s like the Leaky Cauldron, because I can see it just fine. Maybe… oh, two hundred feet ahead, on the right. It doesn’t look like the gate was made for cars, though.”

Dan looked at her, put the GPS down, and put the car in park where they were; he had pulled off to the side of the road before he’d stopped. “Very well,” he stated. “Shall we wait for you, or…?”

“No, come with me, please,” Hermione answered him promptly- and, Emma noticed, nervously.

“Something worrying?” Emma asked, looking back at Hermione.

Hermoine pointed out the window, at something Emma couldn’t see. “The iron arch over the gate already says ‘Granger’ on it.” She lowered her arm. “Then, the McKinnons died over ten years ago, but it looks like someone’s been taking care of it.”

Dan nodded slowly. “In other words, someone’s here. Well, I don’t know how far we’ll be able to follow, but we’ll come with you as far as we can.” He looked out the windows. “You’re sure this is the spot?”

Hermione nodded. “Yep.”

He unbuckled his seatbelt. “Might as well get started then, eh?” He stepped out of the car.

Emma was next- and Hermione climbed out right after she did.

Finally, she looked up and down the road, then down at her daughter. “Alright, Hermione. Lead the way.”

Hermione took a deep breath, and led.

Before long, they were standing a couple hundred feet in front of the car, facing a large, open field.

Hermione looked up at them.

Emma placed her hand comfortingly on Hermione’s shoulder; Dan did the same for the other one.

“Lead the way,” he informed her.

“Alright.” Hermione took a deep breath, and stepped forward- then seemed to… shimmer in the air for a second. As she did so, she shuddered noticeably.

“Something wrong?” Emma asked- mere moments before the meadow in front of them shimmered as well, then seemed to split in two, making way for a massive, walled estate. True to Hermione’s earlier statement, the wrought iron archway above the gate proclaimed it to be the Grangers’ estate, rather than the McKinnons’.

“Weird, tickly-tingly feeling,” Hermione answered.

Dan looked around at the place. “Wow. It’s a nice place.” He stepped forwards to peer through the gate.

Then, at exactly the moment the gates inexplicably started opening themselves, Hermione let out a gasp.

“What is it?” Emma asked.

“I…” Hermione took a deep breath. “That… That was the wards. The… The magic protecting the place, has… Has recognized me as its new master.”

Emma hugged her gently. “Are you okay?”

Hermione stared into her eyes for a few seconds, before closing her eyes and taking a few deep, calming breaths. Finally, she opened her eyes, and spoke, far more coherently. “Yes, I think. I’m probably just overthinking it.” She looked up at the building. “No, make that definitely. These wards were designed to protect the master of the house, which is me, my spouse and descendants…” She smiled amusedly when Dan let out a small snort of laughter. “And any ‘authorized guests’, which would be how it sees you… from intruders. And since they don’t exactly form a physical barrier…” She shrugged. “Presumably, if we find such an intruder inside the building, we’re not completely defenseless.”

“Nevermind your impossible strength,” Emma reminded her.

Hermione blushed. “And that.”

Dan tilted his head. “So what happens when someone enters to knock on the front door?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Presumably, they’re classified as ‘random visitors’ or the like until I make some kind of determination, or they do something that would clearly define them as ‘intruders’.”

Dan patted her on the shoulder. “Then we’ve got nothing to fear, don’t we?”

She smiled. “Only the moving pictures.”

“The… moving pictures,” Emma stated.

She nodded. “Yeah. Wizarding photographs move… and I’ve heard some of them can talk, too.”

“That’s got to be interesting,” Dan mused.

“Anyways,” Hermione said, starting suddenly towards the house. “We might as well look, find out who’s been tending to the lawn, eh?”

No sooner had she said that then, with the suddenness of a cannon blast and a crack like a whip, a small… creature, of some sort, appeared not three feet in front of Hermione.

Hermione screamed in fright, jumping back- and clear over Dan’s head in the process. By some miracle, she landed on her feet.

Emma looked at the creature that had appeared. It was humanoid… and seemed to be wearing a pillowcase with holes ripped in it for its head and arms.

The creature flinched.

Dan looked at it for a second, then turned to Hermione. “Are you okay?” he asked.

Hermione, eyes wide and breathing deeply, spoke haltingly. “What. Was. That!?”

Dan stepped aside, so she could see the creature again; as he did so, he also looked uneasily back at the creature.

“Archie is sorry!” the creature proclaimed fearfully, bowing deeply. “Archie did not mean to scare the Mistress! Archie is very, very sorry!”

Hermione stared at him for a couple of seconds, then spoke. “Who are you?” It came out as more of a demand than a question- but considering what had just happened, Emma really wasn’t surprised.

“Archie is the family servant,” he answered promptly, rising to look up at her. “Archie wanted to welcome the Mistress to her new Manor.”

“Family servant?” Dan asked. “I wasn’t aware we had one.”

He looked at Dan uneasily for a second, but Hermione spoke first.

“Wait a minute. You’re- You’re a house-elf, right?”

He turned right back to her, bowing again. “Yes, Archie is a house-elf. Archie is very sorry for scaring the Mistress!”

“My name is Hermione.” She took a deep breath. “So… Correct me if I’m wrong, but when I inherited the estate, I inherited the family… house-elf to go with it?”

He bowed a third time. “Yes, Mistress.”

She looked up at her parents. “So I guess we didn’t have one, but do now.” Then she looked back at Archie. “Why are you wearing a pillowcase?”

Archie blinked at her, momentarily confused. “Archie is wearing this because it is a house-elf’s garb,” he answered. “It is the mark of a house-elf.”

“Why not clothes?”

He teared up almost at once. “Does the Mistress not be wanting Archie?” he half-cried.

She blinked. “My name is Hermione. And what do you mean? I assume you’ve been taking care of the manor for the last ten years or so, right?”

He nodded vigorously. “Archie has maintained the manor alone for almost eleven years,” he informed her. “Does the Mistress find Archie’s work inadequate?”

She scowled. “My name is Hermione. And no, this lawn looks amazing.” She glanced around, as if to double-check, before looking back at him. “So… is there a reason you can’t wear clothes…?”

He shivered noticeably. “If- If the Mistress gives Ar-!”

“My name is Hermione,” she interrupted. “Please, stop calling me ‘the mistress’.”

He bowed. “Archie is very sorry, M-Mistress H-Herm-Mion-Ne!” He seemed to have a lot of trouble getting her name out, and stumbled over it quite a bit more than anything else.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Whatever. You were saying?”

“If- If Mistress Hermi-!” He froze up for a second, looking absolutely terrified.

Hermione spoke flatly. “You know, I’m not afraid of pronouns either. So, what happens if I give you… what?”

He took a very deep breath. “If… If Mi- If y-you- gives Archie clothing… Archie will be- will be freed.” He averted his eyes sadly.

Hermione stared at him for a couple of seconds. “Well of course I want you to be free,” she told him. “You work for me because you want to, not because you have to, you hear? And if you don’t want to, don’t.”

He turned slowly to stare at her. “... Archie… does not understand?”

Hermione sighed, putting one hand to her forehead and shaking her head, before looking up at him again. “I’m not like other nobles,” she told him, almost pleadingly. “Any master- or mistress- worth their weight in gold must take proper care of their servants, such that the servants in question stay because they want to stay, rather than because they have to.” She stepped up to him, and crouched down to be on his level- even put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s not that I don’t want you- it’s that I want you to be free to stay.”

Archie just stared at her for several seconds.

“... Archie never knew such goodness was possible,” he finally muttered.

Hermione smiled. “Then Archie never met a muggle before, did he?”

He blinked, alarmed. “A muggle-! But the magic-!”

She chuckled. “Oh, I’m not talking about me, I’m talking about my parents. I’m a muggleborn.”

He stared at her, looked up at her parents, and then back at her. “... Archie never knew.”

---

Mr. Weasley parked the car on the side of the road, next to the massive, wrought iron gates blocking the path into the manor. “Is this it?”

Fred turned the muggle map around again. Unfortunately, the Gryffindor Manor was not on the Floo Network, and only had a muggle address. “Should be,” he muttered. It didn’t exactly help that the nearest point by which he’d been able to confirm their location on the map had been nearly six miles ago, according to the ‘oh-dammit-er’, as Mr. Weasley pronounced it (he had been forced to forbid the twins from talking about it), behind the steering wheel.

Ariel looked up at the archway over the gate. Forged into the arch was the name ‘Gryffindor’. “Looks like it,” she stated.

Molly popped the door open and stepped out. “Alright then.”

The rest of the family practically piled out after her, save only Mr. Weasley, who was a lot more sedate than the exodus behind him. It had been a four hour car ride, thanks mostly to the confusing muggle maps- and how they’d had to stop not once but three times to buy additional maps to cover roads they didn’t have on the maps they had already. It hadn’t exactly helped that they’d also had to ask for instructions twice- once when they set out, since they had no idea where it was, and the second time because they’d taken a wrong turn and been unable to figure out where they were.

Ariel ran right up to the gate while the others were still stretching their sore joints.

“Wait!” Mr. Weasley called towards her. “The wards-!”

Ariel stopped at the gate and looked back at him, as the gates behind her emitted a distinct clunk and started opening themselves. “The wards…? Oh, they won’t bother us.”

“What makes you say that?”

Ginny walked calmly across the property line to join Ariel at the gate, and shuddered slightly. “Because the wards have already recognized us as their new masters,” she informed him, awed.

“Mistresses,” George corrected.

Ariel rolled her eyes. “Masters, mistresses, whatever. C’mon, I wonder if there’s a ghoul in the attic?”

Molly looked around the grounds as she followed her daughters through the gate. “It’s well-kept,” she muttered. “There might be someone living here.”

Ariel looked back at her, then looked around. “True. Where’s the gardener?”

With a crack like a whip, a house-elf appeared about six feet in front of her, wearing a neat little suit and tie. “That would be Thiobald, Mistress,” he greeted, bowing deeply. “Thiobald is the Gryffindor Family House-Elf, at your service.”

Ginny simply stared.

Ariel blinked. “... So we inherited a house-elf with the mansion?”

Thiobald nodded silently.

“Oh.” Then she looked back at her mother. “You said you’ve always wanted a house-elf, right?”

Molly’s jaw articulated up and down, at a loss for words.

“Thiobald will gladly help out at the Burrow as well,” he smiled.

“But the clothes,” Ginny muttered.

Thiobald looked at her nervously. “Does the Mistress find Thiobald’s attire insufficient?”

She shook her head quickly. “No, no, it’s fine. But… isn’t a house-elf freed when you give them clothes…?”

“The gift of clothing only frees a house-elf that wants to be free,” Thiobald answered calmly. “Any house-elf can reject freedom when it is offered.”

“... Oh.”

“Wouldn’t that suit,” Fred began.

“Get messed up when you’re working?” George finished.

Thiobald nodded. “Thiobald doesn’t wear his suit for most of his duties,” he answered, “but Thiobald thought it appropriate to greet his new Mistresses.”

Author's Note:

Why did Archie originally only flinch at Hermione's scream, then get suddenly fearful? Because he hadn't realized who his new master was just yet...

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Comments

[Melody Song]

Ooh, interesting

Seems like SPEW might start earlier...

[Josiador]

10649590
Except this time it might be more focused on giving house elves rights and education than giving house elves unemployment.

[Melody Song]

10649630
True, since she's actually living with one

[Arago]

10649639
Thiobald would help correct the behavior of current house elves, as he was raised with the customs that were implemented when the founders of Hogwarts were alive.

[Greenhorn]

These are some interesting developments. I always wonder whether the Hogwarts Founders' estates still exist or not.

10649590
Well, she now has a head start to draft the policy before school.

[Teraunce]

Interesting.

[harts fire]

ok color me impressed with this story. granted 1 or 2 of the early chapter code be filled in a bit more but all in all this is a really good story and i will be watching for updates.