Harry Potter / Highschool DxD : A deal with the devil

Dragging the little house elf behind him, Lucius walked out of the room and the sneer on the man's face made Thomas disgusted. He wrenched open the door and as the elf came hurrying up to him, Lucius kicked him right through it. Both Thomas and Dumbledore heard the house-elf squealing with pain all the way along the corridor. Suddenly a thought came to him, one which if God wills it, would gain him a house elf.

"Professor Dumbledore," he said hurriedly. "Would anyone come after my head if I strike 'a deal' with Mr. Malfoy?"

"It is dangerous?" Dumbledore asked calmly, and as soon as he saw Thomas shaking his head he smiled at the boy. "Well then, you have to hurry. The feast, remember…"

Thomas smiled in response before quickly grabbing his own sock and dashing out of the office. He could still hear Dobby's squeals of pain receding around the corner. Truth be told, he can't just throw the sock at Lucius and hope for the best… if only he had the diary…

Opening his eyes wide open, Thomas reached down in his satchel and pulled out the fake copy of the diary with a mischievous smirk on his face, he hid the sock in such a way that Lucius would only find the sock when he had the fake diary in hand.

Luckily for him, it didn't take him long to catch up with Lucius and Dobby at the top of the stairs.

"Mr. Malfoy, I've got something for you, something that I believe you forgot to take."

Thomas said as he held out the fake diary to Lucius, who looked at it surprised but at the same time suspicious of the boy's intent. Though, not even a second later he snatched it from Thomas's hand and opened it, hoping to see the familiar writing. Instead, he saw a blank page with a small sock tucked inside. He pulled out the sock and stared at it in disbelief.

"What is this?" he demanded, his voice rising in anger. "What have you done, you little brat?"

He threw the sock and the diary back at Thomas, who dodged them easily, and because of where he stood, the sock flew towards Dobby, who managed to catch the sock in mid-air and clutch it to his chest.

"Master has given Dobby a sock," Dobby said in a trembling voice, tears flowing down his dirty rags. "Master has presented Dobby with clothes. Dobby is free."

Lucius looked at Dobby in horror, realizing what had happened. He had unwittingly freed his house-elf with a simple gesture and that because of a filthy mudblood, one that had more than once attacked his reputation.

"You tricked me," he hissed. "You filthy mudblood, you tricked me into freeing my slave."

Lucius raised his wand and pointed it at Thomas, who braced himself for the worst or so it seems to the middle-aged man. But before he could utter a curse, he was stopped by a powerful voice.

"Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore said sternly, appearing at the top of the stairs, and looking down at the man who was thrice the boy's age. "I must ask you to lower your wand."

Lucius lowered his wand reluctantly, but his eyes still burned with hatred. 

"You've lost me my servant, boy," he spat at Thomas. "But you've made a grave mistake. Dobby, come here."

Dobby shook his head, his ears flapping. He backed away from Lucius and stood behind Thomas, peeking from behind the boy.

"No!" he said defiantly. "Dobby is a free elf now. Dobby has no master. Dobby is loyal to Thomas Grayson."

Trying not to get angry at the house elf for his defiance, Lucius glared down at the diary only to realize that it was a plain normal one, with nothing magical about it, making him glare at Thomas, who smiled smugly.

"Did you really think I would give you the real diary, Mr. Malfoy?" he asked. "Did you really think I would let you use it to harm anyone else?" Thomas paused for a second letting Malfoy digest the news. "After all, sir, the real one had been destroyed by me."

The moment he said that Lucius glared at him like he was a dead man, well a dead boy in this case.

"You'll regret this, boy," Lucius mutters as he leaves in a hurry, leaving Thomas, Dobby, and Dumbledore alone.

Once Lucius disappeared, Dumbledore walked down the stairs, stopping in front of the boy who managed to anger one of the most influential wizards.

"What are you planning to do with your new friend?"

"I … I don't know professor. I want to take Dobby home and have him help my parents, but…"

"You fear that Lucius might use him against you."

"My thoughts exactly professor. Since I can't take Dobby with me, would it be possible to have him work for the school? I reckon no one will say anything if one more house elf was to help around the school."

Hearing Thomas's request, Dumbledore smiled warmly at the boy, proving his thoughts on the boy's character and that despite his fears Thomas was anything but the same as Riddle.

"I think that is a very generous and noble offer, Thomas. I'm sure Dobby would be delighted to work for Hogwarts, where he can work without fear of punishment. Dobby, what do you say?"

"Dobby would love to work for Hogwarts, sir," he nodded eagerly. "Dobby would be honored to serve Thomas Grayson and his friends. Dobby is very happy to be a free elf."

Dumbledore smiled and clapped his hands.

"Excellent. Then it is settled. Dobby, you are now a member of the Hogwarts staff. You will join the other house-elves in the kitchens and help them with their duties. And of course, you will be paid for your work, as is your right."

You know what they say about magical feasts, and while Thomas had been to several Hogwarts feasts, but never one quite like this. Everybody was in their pajamas, and the celebration lasted all night. And while he did enjoy talking and joking with his housemates, he didn't know whether the best bit was Hermione and Daphne came running toward him, both jumping on him and screaming "You solved it! You solved it!" 

Or when Michael, Tracey, Adam, James, Harry, and Ron run towards him happy to see their friend, or Hagrid turning up at half past three, cuffing the boys so hard on the shoulders that they were knocked into their plates of trifle. Not to forget that Dumbledore had given him five hundred points for Ravenclaw securing the House Cup for the second year running, or Professor McGonagall standing up to tell them all that the exams had been canceled because of events from the past few months.

All in all, it had been a delightful feast one was everyone was happy that the monster was no more and that Lockhart was no longer their professor.

The rest of the final term passed in a haze of blazing sunshine. Hogwarts was back to normal with only a few, small differences. Defense Against the Dark Arts classes were canceled, not that anyone had learned anything from the class this past year, Lucius Malfoy had been sacked as a school governor which in turn made it possible so that Draco was no longer strutting around the school as though he owned the place. On the contrary, he looked resentful and sulky, and above all scared every time he saw Thomas, hiding or running away at the slightest sight of him. On the other hand, Ginny Weasley was perfectly happy again.

However, neither of those was what made Thomas stay awake for nights in a row. One evening, while Thomas was in the library, browsing through some books about the wars Hogwarts wizards and witches had joined, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around his eyes stopped on Daphne standing behind him, holding a stack of books in her arms, smiling when she saw his surprised look.

"Hi, Tom. Do you mind if I join you?"

Thomas nodded and gestured to the empty seat next to him. He moved some of his books aside to make room for her. Daphne sat down and placed her books on the table.

"Tom, I wanted to talk to you about something." She stopped for a moment as her cheeks reddened slightly. "I wanted to thank you for what you did for me and our friends. You saved everyone, Tom."

Thomas felt a blush creeping up his cheeks as he shook his head, not wanting to fear his friend praising him like that.

"No, Daphne. I'm not a hero. I just did what I had to do. Anyone would have done the same."

Daphne shook her head too, looking like she was about to lash out at him for arguing with her.

"No, Tom. Not anyone would have done what you did. You risked your life. You faced a monster that could kill you with a single look. You destroyed a dark artifact that belonged to the evilest wizard of all time. You did something amazing. Something brave and noble and good."

She reached out and took his hand in hers, squeezing it gently as she continued with a smile on her face, one that made Thomas stare at her, shocked by just how drawn he was to it.

"Thank you, Tom. Thank you for being my friend."

"You're welcome, Daphne. Besides, I should be the one saying: Thank you for being my friend."

They stayed like that for a moment, holding hands and smiling at each other. Then Daphne's smile faded.

"But Thomas, I also wanted to scold you for what you did."

Thomas raised his eyebrows when he heard her, not realizing that he was about to hear an earful.

"Scold me? For what?"

"For risking your life, Tom. For being so reckless and foolish and stubborn. For not telling anyone where you were going or what you were doing. For not asking for help backup or support. For putting yourself in danger, Thomas."

She let go of his hand and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was about you when everyone told us what you have done, Tom? How scared I was when I heard that you had gone into the Chamber of Secrets alone? How relieved I was when I saw you alive and well! How angry I was when I learned that you had almost died?"

For a second Thomas thought that Daphne might continue berating him, but instead, she hugged him tightly.

"Don't ever do that again, Thomas. Don't ever make me worry like that again."

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