Elves' Child
by Teddylonglong

All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
Completely AU, partly OOC.

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Unbeknownst to Professors McGonagall, Dumbledore and Hagrid, four large eyes were watching their every move as they said goodbye to Baby Harry in front of the Dursleys' door.

"Albus, are you sure you want to leave the child here? Wouldn't it be better to raise him at Hogwarts? His relatives are the worst kind of Muggles I've ever seen, and I remember well what Lily told me about her sister. She hated the magical world even as a teenager. How will she be able and willing to raise Harry?" Professor McGonagall protested, eyeing the small boy in obvious concern.

Unfortunately, the Headmaster was not inclined to listen to his deputy and left the one-year old on the Dursleys' doorstep.

"We can't leave the baby here," Cicero whispered to Malcolm, as soon as the professors had left, "let's take him with us."

"Are you sure, Cicero? Will we be able to keep him safe?"

"Yes. You heard their conversation. Apart from that, he will be cold. It's already November, and he is only wrapped in a thin blanket."

Suddenly, Harry stirred and let out a series of small sneezes, followed by a small wail.

"Oh right," Cicero said firmly, "he is already getting ill."

"Okay. I'm sure the others will help us," Malcolm finally agreed and gently scooped Harry into his arms.

Ten seconds later, Privet Drive was back to being as normal as it could be.

HP

The two elves popped straight into the elves' quarters at Hogwarts, gently placing little Harry on a sofa. Instantly, they were surrounded by all the house-elves that were not just busy cleaning the castle or doing the washing for the Hogwarts students and teachers.

"You broughts him here?" Barney, the Head house-elf, queried. "Are you sure not to be acting against your masters' wishes?"

"Barney," Cicero sneered. "Don't tell me you expected anything else. It was not by chance that you asked us, the only elves, who are not bond to the headmaster, to go and observe what happened."

Barney chuckled. Cicero was bond to Severus Snape, Malcolm was Minerva McGonagall's personal house-elf, and Misty was bond to Poppy Pomfrey. "Exactly, and seeing that none of us cans acts against Master Albus' wishes, I needs all three of yous, Cicero, Malcolm and Misty, to become the child's guardians."

"All right," Malcolm spoke up, shyly, turning his eyes to Misty, who was just leaning over the child.

"He caught a slight cold, and he has a bad head injury," Misty informed them. Apart from being Madam Pomfrey's personal house-elf she was the healer of the elves and possessed her own, strong healing magic. "I will take him with me into my room for the night." As the elves' healer, Misty had her own room that was connected to a small infirmary, where she used to treat the sick elves.

"Very well, Misty," Barney agreed and decided, "If you allows me to interfere, Misty should be responsible for raising the child and for his health, Malcolm for his education and Cicero for his safety within and outside of Hogwarts."

Everyone agreed, and the elves went to bed to get some sleep, before many of them would have to get up on time to light the fireplaces in the common rooms and the teachers' quarters as well as prepare breakfast for everyone.

HP

When Harry woke up in the morning, he did not feel well. He didn't know why, but he felt sore and cold, and it was difficult to breathe. 'Mummy,' he remembered as a small sneeze escaped from his hurting face, making him feel even more uncomfortable, 'Mummy will make me all better.' He scrambled up into a standing position, holding on to the rails of his cot. "Mummy!" he shouted, noticing irritably that it sounded strangely. "Mummy!" he tried again and began to cry, hoping to make his mummy hurry to his side.

"Oh my, you sound very hoarse, sweetie," a soft voice suddenly penetrated his foggy mind, and he saw a strange creature standing in front of his cot.

Harry's first reaction was to cry even more, but he found out that it hurt, and the strange creature gently scooped him up, speaking to him in a very gentle voice.

"Good morning, Harry. I am Misty. Your mummy cannot be here now, but I will make you feel better. Okay?"

"Kay," Harry whispered, eyeing Misty anxiously.

Misty quickly checked on the child, frowning because his condition was worse than she had assumed during the night. He had a respiratory infection accompanied by a fever. "Oh sweetie, you're ill. You must feel horrible."

"Ye," Harry replied, tugging his ear, while Misty waved her hand over his body.

"I'm going to keep you in bed today," Misty decided and gently pressed two fingers against his forehead, letting a huge amount of healing magic flow into his body, noticing from the corner of her eyes that the child seemingly relaxed. "Is that a little better?" she asked softly.

"Ye, fanku," Harry whispered, unconsciously leaning against the elf's cool touch.

"That's good. Now go to sleep for a few hours; I'll come and check on you every now and then," Misty told Harry, as she laid him down on a cot in the infirmary room, where three elves were suffering from the flu.

"Nooo," Harry wailed, missing the elf's body contact and feeling too miserable to be comfortable on his own. "Up," he demanded weakly, raising both arms to the nice elf.

Afraid that he would make himself so upset that his fever could go up again, Misty picked him up, sighing. She carried him around for a while, causing Harry to fall in a blissful sleep. However, as soon as Misty put him down on the cot, Harry immediately woke up and began to cry. Knowing that her other patients needed her as well and that Poppy would certainly call for her soon, Misty gave up after the fifth attempt and conjured a baby sling, in which she wrapped Harry against her own body to carry him around, while she was working.

'Feels good,' Harry noticed and drifted off to sleep instantly, imagining that it was his mummy who carried him.

HP

Misty carried him around most of the day. Whenever she turned invisible, Harry would automatically become invisible due to the body contact, and if Poppy called for her, she merely turned Harry invisible, which was also possible through the body contact.

"Misty, are you all right? You're moving as if you were in pain," Poppy asked her once, causing the small elf to straighten up immediately.

"Oh no, I'm sorry. I must have moved my back strangely, it hurts a bit, but I'm fine," Misty hurried to assure the mediwitch.

When Harry felt better the following morning, Misty took him to the playroom and introduced him to the elf children. "This is Harry, and he is one of us. Please be kind and play with him," she instructed the kids, who immediately pulled Harry off to the slide, where they had just been playing.

Harry looked around in amazement. Never before had he seen so many children at once, although they looked all like Misty and not like his Mummy and all the other people he had known so far. 'But they're nice,' he thought and happily played with the others, until Misty came by to collect him later on.

Harry soon became friends with the other children and loved playing with them. He also loved Misty and very slowly became used to the fact that she was always there for him instead of his Mummy.

It was shortly after Harry's third birthday that all the elf children of his age were assembled in a different room, and Harry curiously looked around. No one had told him to come, but realising that all of his closest friends had been asked to gather here, he had, of course, followed them.

An adult elf stepped into their middle. "Good morning, I am Twinkle, and I'm going to teach you elves' knowledge. You're already three years old, and it's time for you to learn about Hogwarts and its magic. Next year, you will learn how to communicate with the castle and how to move around without being noticed by the wizards."

The children listened in awe, knowing that Twinkle was the headmaster's personal house-elf. "Harry," Twinkle suddenly addressed him, "do you want to take this class? You don't have to attend if you don't want to."

"I want," Harry replied sadly. He didn't like being singled out just because he looked differently, a fact that he had only found out by chance when Misty had taken him with her into Poppy's private quarters one day. She had a huge mirror in her bedroom, and, looking into the mirror, Harry had realised that he did not look like his family, the elves, but like the wizards and witches who lived in the main part of the castle.

"Very well then, you may. I'll inform your guardians," Twinkle said gently, causing a huge smile to appear on the small boy's face.

Harry enjoyed his classes immensely. They had much fun learning about the castle's magic. In the morning, Twinkle used to give them explanations about certain aspects of magic that were easy to understand for the three-year-olds, and in the afternoon, he used a so-called 'Roundkey' to pop the whole group of them together to a place within the castle, where they could observe what they had learned in the morning. Afterwards, he took them out onto the grounds, where they could entertain themselves or watch the students play Quidditch, invisible to the humans of course.

Their group held ten elf children apart from Harry, and Harry was good friends with everyone, although he had two best friends among the group, Nina and Tony. Tony even managed to get the bed right next to him in the huge elves' boys' dormitory, where all the elf children from three years onwards slept.

The elf children had no classes on the weekends and during the school holidays, and Misty, Cicero and Malcolm used these times to take Harry with them and let him observe them work, instructing the boy to remain invisible at all times.

One day, however, Misty helped Poppy prepare her potions shelf for the upcoming school year. Harry, who had just become four, eagerly wanted to help his favourite elf, who was like a mummy for him. He carefully took the phials out of a box and placed them onto the far end of the shelf, where Poppy would not notice the phials appear on the shelf like by themselves. Suddenly however, he became distracted by Poppy's and Misty's conversation and dropped a phial that fell onto the near-by table and broke, causing a lime green liquid to spread all over his arms and legs.

The horrified cry Harry let out in panic alerted Poppy to his presence. "Misty, did you bring another elf? Someone just dropped a phial. Please tell him or her to make himself or herself visible, so we can make sure that the potion didn't hit him or possibly got into his blood stream through cuts induced by small pieces of glass."

Misty let out a small groan, seeing that Harry had not only been hit by the potion that would not have done any harm to his skin, but that he had suffered several cuts by small pieces of glass, so the liquid had been able to penetrate into his blood.

"Mistress Poppy, can you promise not to tell anyone?" she queried and, seeing Poppy nod, ordered Harry to make himself visible.

Harry threw Misty a terrified look. Ever since he could remember, he had been told to stay invisible in front of the humans at any cost. However, he was very sore and frightened and automatically followed his guardian's order, allowing Mistress Poppy to see him.

Poppy let out a huge gasp seeing a human child in front of her and not a small elf as expected, but she instantly turned into healer's mode, as she took in his injuries, waving her wand over the child without asking any questions. Misty waved her hand as well and unobtrusively spelled a huge amount of healing magic into the boy's system, causing Harry to sigh in relief as the pain receded some. "Thank you, Mummy," he whispered, causing Misty to smile and Poppy to cast them a curious look.

"Misty, I'm at a loss," Poppy finally spoke up. "That was the Grindylow potion, which is only safe for outer use and not for drinking let alone applying straight to the bloodstream. I don't know how far-reaching the consequences can be. Could you perhaps pop to St. Mungo's and enquire about the matter? You're faster than me, and I don't think we should lose any more time."

"Yes, of course, Mistress Poppy. However, we need to keep Harry out of sight. No one must see him," Misty replied excitedly. "Is it all right if he makes him invisible again?"

"No, I want to be able to see him. I'll take him into my private quarters," Poppy decided and gently scooped Harry onto her arms, causing Misty to sigh in relief.

"It's all right, sweetie, you're safe with Mistress Poppy."

"Ye," Harry replied miserably, nestling deep into Poppy's robes.

Poppy tried in vain to make Harry lie on the bed in her guest room; the child only cuddled closer to her and wouldn't allow her to put him down.

'Harry?' Poppy mused, noticing the boy's skin getting hot as he obviously developed a fever. 'He can't be Harry Potter now, can he? And why is he living with the elves? The child called Misty 'Mummy.' This is very strange,' she thought as she gently wiped the boy's face, only by chance noticing a faint scar on his forehead. Due to Misty's efforts, it was hardly visible; however, as Poppy was closely examining the boy's skin for possible green spots due to the Grindylow pox, the faint remaining of the former scar did not go unnoticed by her sharp eyes. Deciding to keep the matter to herself and ask Misty about it later on, she gave her house-elf an expecting look as she popped into the room. For now, the child's health had the highest priority.

Misty eyed Harry in concern, before she began to explain. "They are not one hundred percent sure, but they assume that he might be very susceptible to the Grindylow pox. It's a very dangerous potion if applied internally, and we won't be able to completely remove it from his body. They suspect that he might get the pox in a light form, which means the pox will only spread over his mouth and throat but not on his skin, whenever he is tired, sick, or his condition is otherwise aggravated, but that's all they could tell me."

Poppy let out a long sigh. "That's exactly what I was afraid of," she slowly confirmed. "Misty, you must keep a close eye on the child."

"I will," Misty promised. "I'm not only a healer's house-elf and the healer of the elves, but Harry is like a son to me. I raised him since he was a year old," she said soothingly.

"Misty," Poppy asked softly, "would you please explain why Harry Potter, who is supposed to live with his aunt, is growing up at Hogwarts as your son?"

Misty quickly explained how they had rescued Harry when he was a baby, noticing that Poppy's features softened immensely as she was listening.

"You did a very good job raising Harry so far, and I trust you'll be fully able to keep him safe and healthy," Poppy said finally, gently stroking the child's flushed cheeks. "However, now that I know of your secret, I'd feel much better if you let me check on him from time to time."

"I will, Mistress Poppy. I think it might be good for the child to get in direct contact with a human being from time to time. Normally, he attends the elf children's classes though. I only take him with me on the weekends and during the holidays."

"The weekend is fine, Misty, and if you ever need help, please contact me," Poppy promised in a soft voice.

"Thank you so much, Mistress Poppy," Misty said gratefully, bowing deeply, before she pulled the mediwitch into a conversation concerning the potions she intended to give Harry. Finally, the two healers decided to leave Harry in Poppy's quarters for the moment in order to quarantine him and keep the elves safe from the Grindylow pox.

During the next few days, Harry felt very lousy. However, Poppy and Misty tried their best to make him feel better, and Poppy finally allowed him out of bed just in time for the beginning of the new school year.

HP

As much as Harry had enjoyed spending the summer holidays playing with his friends and watching his guardians, especially Misty, doing their tasks, he was very happy when classes began again. It was too much fun to learn together with his friends, and their teacher, Twinkle, was very funny and always tried to make their classes interesting.

The four-year-olds learned how to communicate with the castle by pressing their ears against certain spots on the walls that were charmed to remain unnoticed by the humans with the exception of the headmaster. Harry giggled joyfully, when he asked the castle to play ball with him, and the wall in the room they used for their practice grew thicker and thinner in order to kick the bright red ball, which he had received for his birthday, back to him.

"Very well done, Harry," Twinkle commended him and instructed his classmates to follow his example.

However, one day, Twinkle began to teach them how to pop themselves through the castle. Harry knew exactly how it was supposed to work, but he just could not manage to pop himself. Some of his friends succeeded in popping themselves through the room, but Harry tried and tried and still found himself on the same place. Feeling tired and disappointed, he sat down on the floor and sadly watched the others pop from one end of the room to the other.

"Is awight, Hawwy," Nina suddenly said, pulling him into a hug.

"Harry wills be able to pops as well," Toby agreed, sitting next to his two friends.

"Already tired?" Twinkle asked, causing the three children to jump onto their feet and resume practising in the blink of an eye. "Harry, don't worry, you'll be able to do this as well as the others, and it doesn't matter if it takes a few days. Only try as long as you're not tired," Twinkle told Harry in a soft voice, remembering what Misty had told him about the child's condition, and Harry gave the kind elf a grateful look.

Harry tried a few times more, but by the time he managed to move two metres forward, he all of a sudden felt absolutely exhausted. 'I managed to pop,' he thought happily as he tiredly curled up on the floor, suddenly feeling very unwell.

"Harry, are you feeling all right?" Twinkle's concerned voice penetrated his ears, causing him to through the teacher a bleary look.

"No. Want my Mummy," he mumbled miserably, unconsciously leaning in the cold touch when Twinkle leaned over to feel his forehead.

Harry had to spend a day in the infirmary of the elves' quarters with small green pustules spreading all over his mouth and throat, making his throat very sore. "These pustules are the Grindylow pox, but you're still lucky this time," Misty informed him softly. "If it gets really bad, the pox spread all over your skin as well, and it'll take at least three days of bed rest. From now on, you have to be more careful not to overtire yourself."

"I'll try," Harry promised sincerely, unaware of the fact that his four-year-old mind was not even able to notice when his body was beginning to get tired.

However, the adult elves knew, and from that time onwards, they always kept a close eye on the small human boy, causing Harry to feel very annoyed by his guardians' and teachers' over protectiveness. Since Twinkle only allowed him a certain number of tries each time to make sure he would not overexert himself, it took him quite a time, before he managed to safely pop himself all over the castle. Fortunately, he was not the only one. Some of the elf children had problems as well, since it was difficult, especially as they had to remain invisible when they popped. Harry felt very grateful towards his guardians, who had taught him to make himself visible over a year ago, so he was already proficient at that and could concentrate on popping.

HP

From the new school year onwards, Twinkle taught the now five-year-old children about elves' history and how to care for the students and teachers in the castle. The children also had a few practical hours a week, during which they followed adult elves through the castle to become accustomed with their work, just like Harry had already been doing during the weekends and holidays for two years.

On the first day of the Christmas holidays, when all the elves' children including Harry busied themselves making Christmas presents for their guardians and their teachers, Cicero suddenly approached Harry.

"Harry, Misty is sick, and she wants you to come and see her," Cicero told Harry, who gave his guardian a frightened look.

"Misty is sick?" he asked horrified. "What's wrong? Is it bad?"

"No," Cicero replied gently. "She has the flu, but I asked Master Severus for a potion, and I'm sure she'll be right as rain by tomorrow. Don't worry, Harry."

"Okay," Harry sighed in relief and quietly entered Misty's room.

"Harry, don't come so near to me. I don't want to get you ill as well; I merely wanted to ask you to pop yourself to Mistress Poppy. You know that she always wants to check on you on the weekend, and she'll wonder where we are. So please tell her that I can't pop today because I am sick."

"Of course I'll tell her," Harry said worriedly. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"No, thank you, sweetie," Misty croaked.

Harry quickly popped himself into the bathroom and returned to Misty's side with a wet towel. He carefully bathed her flushed face, noticing that she was burning up. "Get well soon, I love you, Mummy," he mumbled as he lightly pressed a kiss to her hot forehead like Misty had done to him often before.

"I love you too, my son," Misty replied sleepily and once more told him to go and better keep away from her.

Knowing that he still hadn't managed to pop himself completely soundlessly, Harry didn't pop himself straight into the hospital wing, but concentrated on the hall in front of the hospital wing when he popped. Unfortunately, Peeves was playing in exactly that corridor with a self-refilling water pistol, and although he could not see Harry, he heard him pop in and began to shoot into his direction, until Harry was soaking wet and cold and couldn't manage to keep himself invisible anymore.

"Hah! A little boy!" Peeves screeched, causing Harry to panic.

tbc...