Can't Have It Both Ways

Chapter 3

Harry had the strangest feeling he was being watched so he slowly opened his eyes to see another pair the size of tennis balls staring back at him from a distance of about six inches. "Harry Potter sir should not be sleeping on top of the bed with all his clothes on!"

Harry dived off the bed in fright, "Dobby, what the hell are you doing here?"

Dobby appeared confused, "Dobby is here to wake Harry Potter sir, it is morning."

Harry had regained his composure, he didn't want to upset the little guy. "I understand that bit Dobby, but why are you here and not in Hogwarts?"

"Oh Dobby spoke with master Barchoke to see if he needed an elf to look after Harry Potter's new home, Dobby now works here!"

The delight in Dobby's expression stopped Harry saying any more, the little elf had his clothes all laid out for the day and there was a bathroom/shower en suite so the still sleepy wizard headed in that direction.

Twenty minutes later saw a showered and freshly dressed Harry heading out his room to explore their new accommodation, he heard voices coming from downstairs and set off in that direction to find Luna and Hermione sitting chatting.

"Morning you two, did everyone sleep well?" Harry wasn't sure what the protocol was for greeting your girlfriend in the morning but leaned down to kiss her cheek, Hermione turned her head to give him a quick peck on the lips and both of them were happy with that.

"Luna's already started working on the article for the Quibbler, I was telling her the paper came highly recommended by Barchoke."

"Yes, apparently it appeals to their sense of humour. 'A lot of funny nonsense surrounding nuggets of truth' was how Barchoke put it. He advised us to contact you as the Prophet is just a ministry mouthpiece."

Luna was blushing, "Dad will be upset his cover is blown but printing this was going to raise our profile anyway, our worry has always been that publications openly criticising the ministry have a habit of changing ownership. Hiding the truth amongst articles that we had a lot of fun making up gave the ministry deniability as we were treated as a joke publication. We have accumulated quite a large circulation of loyal, discerning readers who can filter the truth from the manure."

Harry put his hand on the young girl's shoulder. "Speaking of filtering out the manure, anytime you want to talk about your stay in Ravenclaw we would be more than willing to listen. Both Hermione and I have first-hand experience of being bullied and your outburst when you thought we were cruelly teasing told us this was something you were used to. I would have helped you Luna whether you had newspaper connections or not and hope we can find some time for the three of us just to sit and chat. I've always room for more friends."

Luna felt as if her heart would burst. "Thanks Harry, Dobby is going to bring me breakfast here as I want to get this to dad today. Would you both like to join me?"

"We would love to but I think it's important for us to appear in the great hall for breakfast, we need to find out the reaction to what happened last night. I also want to see what happened to Ron, I'm mad at him but hope he's alright, he's a jealous git with a bad temper but I wouldn't like to see him maimed for life. How about you ask Dobby to prepare us lunch and we'll all have here?"

A beaming Luna nodded in agreement as Harry and Hermione headed towards the castle.

-oOoOo-

A furious Severus Snape had been trying to gain access to the castle since first light with no luck, but now had an idea as he headed back to Hogsmead where he'd spent the night. Faced with the prospects of Hagrid's hut or the three broomsticks, Madam Rosmerta's charms had easily won against the half-giant's snores and that slobbering dog of his.