The silence in the room was deafening. All eyes were on Dobby. "You mean to tell us Harry is in danger at Hogwarts so he should not go back for the year?" Fred questioned shocked. "But Dumbledore the greatest headmaster of all times is at Hogwarts." "Yeah", Ron agreed. "No one is going to attack Harry whilst he is there." "Dobby is being serious. Dobby does not wish to see Mister Harry Potter hurt and it is yous responsibility to make sure he does not go to Hogwarts this year." The older Weasley's exchanged looks and then Mrs. Weasley spoke, "Dear I think it would be best to call the Headmaster here so we can make a decision. After all we can not decide on our own." Mr. Weasley nodded and headed off to the floo. Harry and Ron were discussing the events of the evening in whispers and the twins had their heads joint no doubt planning some mischief. Mr. Weasley returned to inform them the headmaster would be with them shortly.
All occupants of the room sat in silence with only Dobby standing after a rather large and tearful outburst when asked to sit with them. He was not used to kindness from wizards and these were great people. Well that said a lot for his master whoever he was.
Harry was replaying the events of the evening in his head. He had been sent to his room after doing the garden and eating his supper of cheese and stale bread. The Durslys were having a dinner party with some drill dealer. Uncle Vernon was trying to get a large order of drills so that he could finally be promoted. They had not wanted to have Harry present as they liked to pretend he didn't exist. The few people that did know him were told that he was mentally afflicted.
Well anyway he had been in his room and then Dobby had appeared from thin air and all but demanded he promise never to return to school. Harry had been totally shocked by such a demand and said he could not do that. They had had a long debate with Dobby attacking himself with any lift-able object he could get his hands on. Uncle Vernon had come up and shouted at Harry to keep the noise down. Harry had then asked Dobby to side along apparate him to the Weasley household. He felt that was the only way they were going to be able to resolve the issue. Dobby had then had to explain everything to the Weasleys with Fred, George and Ron present. Ginny had run to her room the moment Harry had appeared. Now all they could do was wait for Dumbledore to appear.
What seemed like an eternity later but was in fact 30 minutes the floo sounded and Dumbledore came out. "Ah headmaster how fortunate you could come. We have a bit of a dilemma regarding Mr. Potter," was the greeting Dumbledore received from Mrs. Weasley. The headmaster motioned for her to carry on. "I think it would be best if Dobby here explained," she said motioning at the elf. At the mention of his name Dobby bowed to Dumbledore. "It is being a pleasure to meet you sir." "The pleasure is mutual Dobby. Now why don't you tell me what the problem is?" questioned the aged headmaster.
Dobby again began his tale of the 'terrible happenings' that will be taking place this year and it not being safe for Harry to be there. Dumbledore tried many times to question Dobby of the events that will be taking place but he was unable to tell them anything. In the end Dumbledore promised to let Harry have a year out just to stop Dobby having a heart attack.
"Molly, Arthur I will have to play on your hospitality a little longer. I will have to call a few members of the school to speak to. Arrangements need to be made," the headmaster informed them. "Sure Albus. I will just put dinner on. How many more should I cater for?" queried Molly. "3 including me. I will just use your floo," and with that the headmaster headed off to the fire place. Molly and Arthur headed towards the kitchen. The children left the adults down stairs and went up. Ron was nervous as he gave Harry a tour around the burrow. "It's not much but its home," Ron said embarrassedly. "It's wonderful," said Harry. Ron grinned happily.
Downstairs the Hogwarts professors were sat around the dinner table whilst the Weasleys were still in the kitchen. The members of staff turned out to be the transfiguration and potions professors. Dumbledore had just finished telling the professors the conversation he had had with Dobby. "Albus how can we allow a student to miss a year of education. What reason will we give for it? And where is he supposed to stay in that time?" Minerva asked. "I know we face many problems Minerva but I fear if we took him to Hogwarts now then he will loose his magic. We cannot afford that," the headmaster answered somberly.
He looked up at Snape. "Severus putting aside your personal feelings about the boy what do you make of the situation?" "Headmaster you know very well I have no personal feelings. It is all a show. Now as for this situation we have to be careful. This whole thing could be a death eater ploy. If Harry does not go to Hogwarts he will be out of the safety of the castle. We could be putting him in grave danger. However as you said if we take him back he may well loose his magic." "The first thing we have to do is arrange a safe house for him then we will have to draw up a Study Rota and come up with a good excuse for his absence because it will be noticed," Minerva said in a crisp tone.
The headmaster and Severus nodded thoughtfully. "We shall discuss these ideas shortly but first we must eat as Molly has prepared a meal for us all," the headmaster informed his professors. Upon seeing Severus rise Dumbledore instructed him to remain seated. "You too are invited to stay Severus." "Though my behavior may be an act I have no desire to spend more time than necessary with teenage brats. Call me when you are done," the potions master said sharply. "Don't be so ridiculous Severus you too were a teenage brat once. Now sit down," demanded Minerva. Seeing her nostrils turning white with anger Severus seated himself scowling. Provoking her would only make matters worse but he was not going to sit here and be friendly.
In his tantrum he hadn't noticed that Molly had come in and laid the table. The feast in front of him rivaled the one at Hogwarts. He was impressed that she had made it all by herself. The children were called and Severus sat up straight and put his sneer firmly in place. "Er ... Hi professors," Harry greeted them rather awkwardly. "Potter, how are you doing?" Minerva asked. Snape just sneered. Dinner was rather quite. The children felt uncomfortable talking with the potions professor at the table and to be honest said professor preferred the silence so that he wasn't forced to make polite conversation with the dunderheads.