I hoped I had impressed the importance of occlumency on the two of them and that they would be able to pick up the skill quickly.

I was not in a good mood as of late. My most important asset was foreknowledge of the future but it was slipping out of my grasp too quickly. I, of course, knew that I would slowly change the future but I wanted it to be on my terms as far as possible.

The Chamber of Secrets business was causing more trouble than it was worth and I wanted it to end quickly. Going down to the chamber and killing the basilisk was one way but I still had some preparations to do before that.

Obviously, the diary was a more important objective. I didn’t want a teenage Riddle running around creating mayhem, which is what would happen if the horcrux completely possessed Ginny.

Now it was time to use the services of Dobby. I called out aloud, “Dobby!”

“Great Darius sir has called for Dobby?”

“Yes Dobby. I want you to steal me something from the Gryffindor tower. Can you do that?”

“Dobby can do that. Hogwarts House-elveses is not being supposed to steal from students but Dobby can do. What does Darius sir want?”

“Dobby, I want you to steal the diary that Lucius Malfoy gave Ginny Weasley. She should be having it somewhere in her room. Use your innate elf magic to hide yourself and don’t get caught.”

“Great Darius sir, it is very dangerous. That is evil, powerful object. It will harm you.”

“I know about its power Dobby. Currently, I know more about its origins than anyone else and will be extra careful in handling it.”

“Alright great Darius sir! Dobby will get diary for you. Dobby will be sneaky-sneaky”

“Thanks Dobby! Get it to me only when I am completely alone. I don’t want to reveal that I have the diary to anyone. And I have already thought up my plan of freeing you. I should be able to do so in a couple of days.”

“Thank you! Thank you, great Darius sir! Dobby will be going now.”

Classes went by one after the other but Darius wasn’t able to pay any attention today. He wondered if Dobby will be pull it off.

The other thing Darius had to do was to make his way down to the chamber itself; though he was at a loss as to how he would do it without the ability of Parseltongue. He was also not a hundred percent sure whether he will be able to draw the sword of Godric Gryffindor. Dobby could get him the sorting hat of course, but there was the requirement of being a true Gryffindor. Somebody like him, who had the qualities of all the houses in nearly equal measure may or may not qualify for that.

That night, when Darius was in in his four-poster bed with the hangings drawn, Dobby appeared at the foot of the bed with the diary in his hand.

Yes!! He was almost dancing a jig within his mind. His occlumency training helped him control his emotions so he didn’t whoop in joy but he was very happy nonetheless. The loyal elf managed to do it. He got the diary for me!! With this my plans would move ahead. Darius took the diary from him and told the elf to meet him tomorrow at the edge of the lake. Dobby nodded happily and disappeared again.

Darius went to sleep with a wide grin that night.

The next day, Darius brought out the diary from under the pillow to write in it. That is when his hand screeched to a halt. This was not part of the plan. What was he doing?

He quickly took the diary and put it inside a chest of drawers inside my expanded trunk. His plan involved getting a hold of the diary since the first year but to simply desire to start writing was too bizarre. Especially considering he knew the true nature of the object.

He quickly uncovered another suspicious occurrence. Ginny was a daughter of a pure-blood family. There was no way she would trust an object which was obviously dark in nature. Of course, later down the line, when she had been charmed by Riddle, was a different matter but why didn’t she tell someone in the beginning.

These suspicions coupled with the reaction Darius had just now pointed to just one thing. There was an extremely powerful compulsion charm, probably anchored with the dark arts, cast on the diary. That would ensure whosoever got the diary would at least start writing in the diary instead of just tossing it away.

It was an excellent trap. Most people would be ensnared before they realised what was happening. In fact, despite knowing about it’s true nature, Darius was almost taken in by the charm. Already having a plan regarding the diary and the divergence from the aforementioned likely shook him out of the effects of the spell. His advanced occlumency abilities probably helped further.

But this did throw a wrench in Darius’ plans to learn further; it had been his intention from the start to get the diary for the sole purpose of learning from Riddle’s memory. Though he might be a decent magician with above average magical power and skills, there were too many people with the power to easily defeat him for his liking.

Hogwarts may have once been a premier school of magic but Darius felt, no, knew that was no longer the case. Two wizarding wars had thrown the country into a tizzy. Magical Britain’s population was at a low; the Ministry was supremely corrupt and absolutely useless; education had been curbed and so much more.

The Ministry, in its panic in the aftermath of two dark lords in the gap of less than five decades, had massively reduced the knowledge taught at educational institutions in its attempt to stop the rise of a third one. The standards of OWLs exams about 50 years ago was on par with the NEWTs level today. Not to mention the higher levels. He wanted, no, needed to learn more. And who better than the most recent Dark lord in the nation.

Those plans blew up in his face though. No way was he going anywhere near the diary if it could ensnare him that easily despite his abilities. He deeply regretted it, but the only choice now was to destroy the object. He needed to get down to chamber to get the basilisk venom.

The next few days passed uneventfully but he was continually racking his brain as to how he could enter the chamber.

He could flat out explain everything to Harry and ask him to open the passage. But that would lead to awkward questions as to the source of his information. Also, Harry was not at all proficient in Occlumency yet and thus Darius ran a risk of his secrets getting plucked out of Harry’s head.

Another alternative was obliviating Harry after the task was complete but this idea left a bitter taste in his mouth. He didn’t want to do that to his own friend. Also, unless memory charms were massively overpowered like the case of Lockhart’s backfire, the memories may gradually return. And he didn’t want to risk that.

Darius’ plan with Dobby had come along well and the elf was extremely excited about it, He had handed a letter to Dobby with strict instructions on what to do.

Later that day, at the Malfoy Manor, an elf popped into existence. Dobby took the letter handed to him by Darius and following his instructions, placed the letter on the front porch of the manor.

After a while, Dobby returned and took the letter to Lucius Malfoy, who was examining some documents in his study.

“Master, a letter has arrived with your name on it.”

“So, what are you standing around for, you imbecile? Give me the letter.”

Dobby quietly placed the letter on the table and backed away. Lucius opened the sealed letter after going over with it with some detection charms and started reading. As he read, his face became paler by the second before he finally finished.

He growled at Dobby, “Where did you get this letter?”

“Dobby gets it from the front porch. It was lying there.”

“Get out of my sight.”

Dobby gave a barely visible grin before vanishing. The plan had worked out perfectly. Darius had asked Dobby to leave the letter on the porch and then bring it to Lucius for a reason. He knew there was a good chance that Lucus would ask for the source of the letter. Dobby, being his bonded house elf would have to answer truthfully. But Darius pulled a leaf from Kreacher’s book and told Dobby to lie by omission. He merely replied to Lucius as to where he had picked up the letter from and not the true source of the letter. There was no way the plan would work if Lucius knew the true sender of the letter was a mere student at Hogwarts.

Lucius sat in his opulent chair as he mulled over the contents of the letter.

Lucius Malfoy

It has come to my attention that an object belonging to a previous student from 50 years ago has come to Hogwarts. Your role in its appearance in the hands of a first-year student has been noted and being further looked up. Entities of a more officious nature may soon be called upon. The only interval to do away with the issue would be till tomorrow. I urge you to take the opportunity while you still can. Holder of said object is likely to be at the school gates tomorrow morning. And very malleable with a simple offering of gold.

A well wisher

Lucius obviously understood that this was about the diary. He had had no clue as to the true nature of the object as Voldemort had never deigned to explain it to him. The only thing he knew was that it was a dark object that could have caused a great deal of trouble to the Weasley family. He was also pretty sure that it was somehow connected to the opening of the Chamber of Secrets and the revelation that he had a part to play in that would cause him no small troubles. No, he had to get a hold of the diary before any further investigation. And gold; gold was the foundation of the reputation built up by the Malfoy family. They had no dearth of it. Now, the only thing to do was to find out who this well-wisher was. Maybe Snape?

The next morning Dobby was standing a little way inside the castle gates. He was under a glamour that made him appear like a middle-aged guy with a tired look and normal clothing. He was supposed to come across as a guy at a dead-end job with no particular financial backing. Only a few minutes later, Lucius Malfoy walked up to him. He was dressed as usual in immaculate robes and holding his polished stick in hand.

“Mr Malfoy, what a pleasure to meet you here.”

Dobby, as instructed by Darius, made an anticipating look that made him look like a greedy fellow. The plan was to seemingly hoodwink the Malfoy of his gold but really to gain freedom for Dobby from his abusive master.

Malfoy surreptitiously struck up a conversation with the man and found out that he was waiting here for the arrival of Madam Amelia Bones, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. A strict but fair woman who could not be influenced by Malfoy gold in the least. He had to take the diary now.

“What is that you are carrying in your hand?”

“I am sorry, Mr Malfoy but I’m not supposed to tell anyone that. But I’m sure a fine upstanding member of society such as yourself could find something that interests me in exchange for a closer look at the object.”

Malfoy had to try hard not to grin at that. Things were going just the way he hoped. His well-wisher was right on the mark with the man’s description. Things just became a lot easier.

He quietly handed over an endless pouch with a hundred galleons and took up a closer look at the diary. It certainly looked a lot like the diary he slipped into the Weasley girl’s books but there was something different about it. It took a minute before he could put his finger on it. It didn’t have the customary aura of danger and coldness that most dark objects did and seemed more like a regular object, though somehow magical in nature.

That is when Dobby spoke up, “Could you hand me that please. That is the copy made for some examination purposes. I gave you the wrong one by accident. Here is the original one.”

He held up a different diary, identical in looks up to Malfoy. Malfoy felt relieved. Merlin be thanked that he didn’t abscond with the copy. And that explains the different feeling as well. And the gullible fool even handed him the original. Now, he just had to get the other one and escape after wiping the man’s memory.

Malfoy exchanged diaries and looked down at the diary he held. Surprisingly, this one was near identical to the first one in its magical aura. There was still none of the customary feel of dark objects. He lifted his head to speak up when he noticed. There was no one around. The man he had just been talking to had just disappeared. He turned around to look at the gate and saw the man disapparate from just beyond the school boundaries. He had been tricked.

Dobby arrived next to Darius who was standing near the lake with a small pop. And immediately hugged him around his knees.

“Thank you! Thank you so much, Darius sir! Youse have saved me. Dobby being your elf now?”

“It was no problem Dobby. And you have helped me a lot as well. But are you sure you want to bond to me?”

“Yes sir. Dobby is not bad elf. Dobby wants to have family to serve. But Dobby likes feedom to choose. And Dobby chooses great sir Darius.”

“Thanks for the trust Dobby. And yes, I would be very happy to have you as my house-elf. So, can we do this bonding now? I have never seen a house-elf's bonding before.”

“Thank you, sir. Dobby be bonding now.”

Dobby took up Darius’ hand and held up his knuckles to his forehead and closed his hands. Their was a slight hum in the surroundings and Darius could feel magic itself forming a bond for them. And it was done. It took mere moments but Darius had gained a loyal confidant for life.

Darius had never planned to let Lucius get ahold of the diary again. Instead he had given Dobby two conjured diaries to trick the Malfoy. And the first diary held a concealed glove within it. When Malfoy returned the first diary, he had, in essence, handed his house-elf a glove, a piece of clothing. This released the elf from his bonds. Then, in accordance with the plans, Dobby apparated to just outside the Hogwarts gates. After letting Malfoy set his sight upon him, he again apparated away to Darius. Thus, leaving the impression that he was a wizard, who obviously needed to be outside the school wards to disapparate. This way, Lucius will never have the idea that it was his elf all along and no idea as to the person pulling the strings from the back.

And now, Dobby was Darius’ elf!!