Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 118 117. Afu's Loyalty and Rita's Big News

Alfred is an extremely special house-elf.

He is special in that he was born into a slave-like environment. His blood, instinct and everything around him tell him that he should be loyal to his master and provide the best service to his master, even at the cost of his own life - but Ah Fu resisted this instinct.

In other words, he possessed an extremely rare ability to think independently that most house-elves did not have, the ability to think beyond his own identity.

He longed for a different life, not something ordinary and lowly like a house-elf, but to be equal to wizards - he should get his own salary after working hard.

That's it.

But even so, Alfu's thoughts have become the source of his rejection by his peers. In the circle of house-elves in wizard aristocratic families, he is the most unpopular one.

This is exactly why Harry suddenly asked Alfu this question.

Because Ah Fu is...too free.

Even when he was in the Malfoy family and was bound by the master-servant contract, Alfred would rather punish himself afterwards than protect Harry - even if Harry had clearly refused this protection, he would continue to persevere and do what he believed was right.

He is determined and decisive in his actions. Even though he has signed an employment contract with Harry, Harry has never felt that the contract will bind Alfu in any way.

"Master Harry is doubting Alfu!!" Far smarter than many people thought, Alfu widened his eyes and screamed, "Alfu has disappointed Master Harry! Bad Alfu! Bad Alfu!!"

While shouting like this, Alfu kept banging his head against the corner of the cabinet next to him, so hard that Harry had to lift him up by force and order him not to hurt himself before he finally stopped this exaggerated behavior.

"This is not suspicion, Alfu." Putting Alfu, who had barely calmed down, back on the ground, Harry patiently explained, "This world is big, and everyone has their own ideas. It's normal for two people to have different opinions - but even if two people go in different directions, it doesn't mean that they are all bad people. Do you understand?"

Ah Fu still has a lot to learn in his life.

"Different opinions?" Alfu repeated with his eyes wide open. He was thinking seriously about Harry's words.

"Yes," Harry nodded and continued, "You are the butler I hired, Alfu, you are not my slave - that is to say, you can always choose a job you like according to your own wishes, this is your right."

"Afu likes to stay with Master Harry," Afu said without hesitation, "This is the job Afu likes."

"Thank you," Harry smiled helplessly, "but like I said, the Harry Potter you knew in the past was just an illusion, and now you have seen the real me. If you have any ideas, you can just -"

"Master Harry is Harry Potter!" Alfu interrupted Harry for the first time and said firmly: "He is not only a hero who protects the wizarding world! He is also a hero who gives Alfu freedom! Whether in the past, present or future, Alfu believes in Master Harry!! "

"——and Master Harry is different, isn't he?" Alfred suddenly showed a sly smile on his face that Harry could hardly believe would appear on his face, "When Alfred was still Dobby, Alfred wanted to protect Master Harry——Alfred disobeyed Lucius's order and sneaked into the place where he could not go."

Ah Fu suddenly laughed happily.

"As soon as Alfu entered, he saw Master Harry teaching Lucius a lesson! Master Harry doesn't need Alfu's protection at all!" Alfu became more and more excited as he spoke, gesticulating with joy: "Master Harry even rescued Alfu from the evil Malfoy family and gave Alfu the most precious freedom! Oh my God! He is such a kind man!"

"So that's what you think." Harry suddenly understood.

No wonder Alfred always acted as if he didn't know what was going on between him and the Malfoy family.

"Yes! That's what Ah Fu thinks!" Ah Fu said seriously, "So please don't say such things again, Master Harry! No matter what Master Harry does, he must have his own reasons! Ah Fu believes in Master Harry!"

Shaking his head, since Alfu said so, Harry had nothing more to say.

So each family was busy raising elves for two or three days. Harry put all the things left by his parents and those he used as a child into the basement, and some memorable things were sent to the collection room.

There was nothing that Harry couldn't find a use for, because when he encountered some unknown item unique to an old family, Harry would seek wisdom from his father... or if that didn't work, his grandfather.

This is the shaman.

In short, when everything calmed down, the renovation and tidying up of the entire Potter's house was finally completed. Even the weeds in the garden and the goblins that stayed here were all cleared away.

Although the garden looks a little empty now, this is only temporary. Once Harry figures out how to decorate the garden, it will become beautiful again.

And now, Harry is entertaining a guest in his home.

Still wearing the same exaggerated attire as when the two first met, and as if she wanted to inlay jewels on her fingernails, Rita Skeeter sat in front of Harry again with her quill that could scribble at will.

"Thank you very much for coming, Ms. Rita - can I call you that?" After putting a cup of black tea in front of the reporter, Harry was still as introverted as the last time the two met.

"Of course, Harry, you can call me that," Rita Skeeter said as she carefully looked around the interior of the Potter's house. "It looks like you've taken back the Potter family's inheritance."

"Yes, all this depends on your help, Miss Rita," Harry said seriously, he looked very nervous at the moment.

With a very stiff and unfamiliar movement, Harry took out a small bag from his pocket, and then placed it in front of Rita even more nervously - Rita could even see the sweat on the boy's palms because of nervousness when he took his hand back.

"What is this?" Rita raised her eyebrows and asked in confusion.

But in fact she knew what it was, a bag of coins. When it fell on the table, the sound of metal colliding was obviously Galleons, and there were quite a lot of them.

It was so unfamiliar, really too unfamiliar - but considering that this was a young child, Rita no longer worried about such a small matter, and instead became happier.

"It's to thank you, Miss Rita." Harry showed an innocent smile. "I heard from the Ministry of Magic employee who delivered the title deed that, thanks to the report you wrote, Miss Rita, the Ministry of Magic finally paid attention to my request and returned the title deed to me in such a short time. To be honest, I thought there was no hope because there was no news after two or three days."

"Uh, well... you have to know, Harry." Rita's smile froze for a moment before returning to normal. She smirked and said, "The Daily Prophet is the largest newspaper in the British wizarding world. Everything published on it needs to go through a certain [review] to ensure its authenticity."

Harry was pretty sure Rita had pronounced the word "censorship" with obvious emphasis between her teeth.

And in fact, it was true - when Rita Skeeter thought about how she felt when she wrote a masterpiece that was originally scheduled for the front page of the next day due to her burst of inspiration, but was told by the editor in the early morning that it could not be published, she wanted to bite Fudge's head off on the spot.

"Let's not talk about this, Harry." Rita took a long breath and wanted to change the subject. "You moved in much faster than I thought... To be honest, I have also visited the old Potter house. It looked completely different then than it does now."

Rita's expression became a little doubtful. "Oh, because Principal Dumbledore helped me," Harry said very naturally, "He helped me renovate this old house and hired a house elf from the school to help me clean it up."

Before he finished speaking, Harry saw the quill that Rita had placed on the table moving quickly on the parchment again - he had no desire to even take a look, as Harry knew that this automatic quill would not produce anything good.

It's nothing more than saying something bad about Dumbledore. It would be a waste of my brain capacity to look at it again.

"I see." After hearing Harry's explanation, Rita relaxed again.

It makes sense... Dumbledore did these things for his golden boy to win his heart... well, it makes too much sense.

"Anyway, please accept the money, Miss Rita." Harry smiled shyly. "I think even my parents wouldn't be happy if I didn't thank the people who helped me."

"...Okay, Harry, I think you're right." Shrugging, Rita actually had no intention of refusing. She picked up the purse, weighed it, and stuffed it into her crocodile leather bag with satisfaction. "So, what is your request?"

What actually attracted Rita was not Harry's gratitude. Harry did not say this in the letter. Instead, he said that he had encountered another problem that he could not solve. To be honest, Rita quite liked the problems that Harry proposed that he could not solve himself.

For example, this time, it was about the savior of the British wizarding world twelve years ago, the Boy Who Lived. As a result, the Daily Prophet that day was almost sold out, and many copies had to be printed temporarily to meet the needs of British wizards.

Not only was the popularity unprecedentedly high, but on the day that Fudge was bombarded with owl droppings, Rita also received many letters of thanks, which highly praised her courage in reporting Harry's plight and encouraged her to keep up the good work.

When Rita saw those letters, she knew that she had retained her title as the number one reporter in the British wizarding world, and even solidified her image as a reporter who dared to tell the truth.

So much so that when Rita heard Harry say that he had a request, she not only did not feel bored, but was filled with an eagerness to try - it would be better to say that Rita urgently hoped that Harry could encounter more difficulties or injustices, so that she would have an endless supply of news to write.

Just as she had concluded before, Harry Potter was an inexhaustible treasure.

The most important thing is that in this process, he can actually earn extra income... Now Dumbledore's golden boy is really a golden boy.

In Rita Skeeter's eyes, it was her right to take the money - and everything she did was for the boy's good.

I gained fame and fortune, and this poor boy also became more famous. Isn't that good?

Many people want it but don’t have it yet.

With an eager heart, Rita stared at Harry, the quill in her hand itching to move.

And Harry did not disappoint Rita's expectations.

"I want to sue the Ministry of Magic, Miss Rita." Taking out a piece of parchment from his pocket, Harry opened his mouth and said something that made Rita so excited that she trembled all over.

"Sue the Ministry of Magic? Are you serious?!" Having lost her initial composure, Rita even felt a stutter when she spoke.

"Of course!" Harry's voice gradually became louder, and he looked extremely angry. "I simply cannot tolerate this kind of injustice! Miss Rita, you should read this letter first to see if the Ministry of Magic is talking nonsense!"

"Unjustly accused? What did the Ministry of Magic say?" Rita's curiosity was aroused. She quickly opened the folded parchment and took a quick glance at its contents.

"Is this... a warning letter to underage wizards for performing magic outside of school?" Rita raised her eyebrows. "If I remember correctly, you should have just entered the first grade. How dare you - no, Apparition?"

"Has the Ministry of Magic gone crazy?! Apparition, haha, are they serious?!" Rita held up the parchment with an incredible look on her face, and then put it close to her face. She repeatedly confirmed the authenticity of the handwriting, wondering if she had seen it wrong.

However, no matter how Rita confirmed it, the writing in her eyes never changed - that meant everything was correct.

But it’s not right.

For anyone living in the wizarding world, this letter is hilarious - a first-year wizard, Apparating, haha.

This is a joke that seems very stupid and unfunny even if it is said in a joking tone, but when it happens to the Ministry of Magic, its funniness increases several times in an instant.

"Really? Miss Rita! You've also noticed something's wrong!" Harry's face looked red with anger. He even stood up from his chair and shouted, "I don't even know what kind of magic this is! Just like you said, I'm just a first-year wizard! Why would the Ministry of Magic send me such a letter?!"

"Yes, yes, you are right, Harry." Rita was even more excited than Harry himself. She grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him back to the table. She said enthusiastically, "Sit down. I want to hear you tell me about this matter in detail, from the very beginning. It doesn't matter even if it starts from what happened after you got up, but it must be detailed."

Just like a female leopard that has discovered its prey, Rita Skeeter's eyes flashed with bloodthirsty light, and her instinct had awakened - the killing instinct!
"I have a feeling, Harry." Rita was shaking with excitement at this moment, "We will make a big news that will shock the wizarding world!!"

"Well, actually I just want the Ministry of Magic to withdraw this warning." Harry seemed to have calmed down a little now. He grabbed his hair and said, "After all, what the letter says is quite serious. I don't know if I will cast spells outside of school by accident in the future. But if I really do that by accident, I will lose an opportunity compared to others... Well, this is unfair, isn't it?"

"I don't want to be expelled from Hogwarts, well, I don't want to have my wand broken and never be able to use magic again, that would be better than killing me."

Harry looked like a child who simply didn't want to bear the consequences of a mistake he had not made, and all he cared about was being expelled from school.

But it doesn't matter, Rita will help him take care of it.

"Don't be afraid, child." Rita comforted Harry in an unprecedented gentle tone - to be honest, she even felt that she had never been so gentle when comforting her crying nephew before.

"I can assure you that the 'big shots' in the Ministry of Magic will definitely withdraw this letter and the accusations against you." Rita clenched her quill, "Your wand will not be broken, and you will not be expelled from Hogwarts - no one wants to be expelled from Hogwarts, right? The premise is that you tell me everything that happened that day in detail."

"You're hurting me, ma'am."

Following Harry's words, Rita withdrew her hand as if she had been electrocuted. Because she was too excited, she left several obvious nail marks on the back of Harry's hand, which were faintly white.

"I'm sorry, I'm just a little too angry for you... yes, angry."

"Uh, okay." Harry scratched his head and began to recount what happened that day. "It happened when I was still living at number 4, Privet Drive. It's been about two weeks."

"…That day, I just wanted to go to the park closest to my aunt's house to play. As a result, when I was passing through an alley, suddenly, a black owl threw this letter into my hand…"

(End of this chapter)