Chapter Text
Draco Malfoy had never before entered a kitchen. At home, he needed only to call for one of the house elves, and they would get him whatever he wanted. Unfortunately, this wasn’t home. Worse, one of the prefects had noticed his absence at dinner, and his options were to either march himself down to the not-so-secret kitchens or be frog-marched there by an annoyed prefect. It didn’t matter that he was working on creating what could possibly be the single most important contract since the founders decided to build a school together. It also didn’t matter that because of the importance of said contract, he was not hungry in the slightest. Nope. He would eat something whether he wished to or not. And so, without any hesitation whatsoever and without feeling the slightest bit ridiculous, Draco Malfoy tickled a very ticklish pear and slipped into the elves’ domain.
It was...rather quiet. The prefect had described the kitchens as being a chaotic place where one was likely to be swarmed by overly helpful elves. Instead, Draco was met by...no one. It was as if the elves weren’t even aware of the presence of the Malfoy heir. Stunned by this event, Draco crept further into the kitchens, eyes wide and looking for any signs of life. Were the elves asleep? Did house elves even need sleep? Draco did not know. The shrill whistle of a tea kettle startled him. Peeking around the corner, Draco saw someone remove a large kettle, but it wasn’t an elf.
“Potter?!?!”
Calmly, Harry Potter continued to pour tea into tiny cups.
“Hi Draco. What’re you doing here?”
“I, um...one of Slytherin’s prefects noticed I skipped dinner and told me to grab a bite in the kitchens. You?”
What followed was a rather convoluted discussion between two boys who, though both had grown up in wealthy, privileged households, could not be further apart in life experiences.
“So the majority of the elves have some sort of bizarre ailment, and you’re here instead of Madame Pomfrey because…?”
“Because Madame Pomfrey’s expertise is in wizarding problems. Elves have a completely different set of needs in order to be healthy, and I know about them and how to treat issues because some of my best friends growing up were the house-elves bound to my family. I was around enough and interested enough to learn.”
This began a huge paradigm shift for Draco who had been raised to never give a second’s thought to the well-being of the servants bound to his family. He wondered if such shifts in thinking were normal for those who regularly interacting with the boy in front of him. First werewolves stop being monsters. Now he’s changing my view on house-elves. What’s next? Goblins?
On further inquiry, Draco discovered that Harry had become aware of the problem a few hours earlier and, in a pinch, had worked alongside the few healthy elves (who were all apparently younger than himself and less vulnerable to the illness for reasons unknown) to complete dinner. He had sent the elflings to bed just prior to Draco’s coming and was going to straighten up the kitchens and continue preparations for the cure before going to bed himself. Some elves not affiliated with Hogwarts would cook the rest of the meals needed until Hogwarts’ population was up and running again.
In a move completely unprecedented by generations of Malfoys before him, Draco asked how he could help. Having no experience with cleaning magic, Draco found himself mostly scrubbing dishes by hand while Harry focused on the potion. Once Harry reached a good place to pause, he used his magic to help speed the cleaning process along...without using his wand.
“Is wandless magic really that easy for you?” Draco asked. He remembered the events of Halloween vividly of course, but somehow seeing Harry casually use magic when emotions weren’t high made it seem more real.
“It’s actually easier than using a wand for me,” Harry admitted. Draco was the first wizarding child that he had told. “Professor Flitwick has to give me private lessons on wand magic.”
“Do you think you could show me some?”
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By the time the boys retired for the night, Draco was levitating spoons and forks into drawers, and the foundation had been made for a fierce friendship.
Every night that week, the two boys would meet in the kitchens - working together in preparation of the coming day. Draco got Harry’s input on the contract project; Harry learned a bit about what normal children did each day. Once the potion was complete, they teamed up to care for the sick elves. It was then that two of the elflings (who had up to that point been nervous around Draco) ran up to give the boys a hug in thanks. The elflings ended up falling asleep in the boys’ laps while they discussed Quidditch. Draco would never be the same again.
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The house-elves of Hogwarts would never forget the week when a couple of students took it upon themselves to care about their well-being. Jelly had been the one who went to The Marked One for help. She had only learned of his presence a few weeks prior. She had watched, unobserved and entranced, when Harry Potter spoke in defense of a fellow student. Seventy-three minutes into the debate, his magic flared and a previously hidden mark came to the fore in front of her eyes. Eschetar! A symbol representing trustworthiness and equality - never before seen on a Tall-One. When the adult elves became ill, Jelly remembered that event and went to the eleven-year-old desperately hoping for help.
Assistance from Harry Potter was not a complete surprise. . There had to be a reason Gellion had marked him with Eschetar after all. The Malfoy heir, on the other hand...Tall-Ones from that family had a certain... reputation . Even within the walls of Hogwarts where the heir would be limited to cruel words, elflings knew to avoid him if at all possible. But he didn’t live up to his reputation, or rather he shredded it by way of working alongside Friend Harry. Seeing him help Friend Harry with the parents caused Jelly and her sister Deli to push past the fear into trust. Neither Harry nor Draco let them down.