For two young boys, the past twelve months seemed to be both a blur and difficult to believe. They had discovered they were wizards, attended a wizarding school, fought a troll, sent a dragon to Romania and confronted the most powerful dark wizard the world had ever seen for the second time and lived to tell the tale.
Yet strangely enough, they were stuck in a painfully ordinary house, with a room barely big enough for one of them, let alone both of them, especially considering the size of John, the larger of the twins. To top it all off, they were stuck in a house with contained a family who consistently forgot their birthday and their twelfth birthday was not an exception. Their magical cousin who attended their school, Hogwarts did remember, but in the Dursley household, it was little consolation.
Life was monotonous. The three magical youngsters couldn't mention what they really were, for fear of what John donned "supreme muggle retribution" which involved little more than a grounding. Still though, grounding would have made their uninteresting summer lives that much more soul crushingly boring.
The things that they found interesting, their flying broomsticks, potion brewing cauldrons, spellbooks and wands were all locked away in the cupboard under the stairs, which incidentally used to be Harry's bedroom.
To make matters worse, they hadn't received letters from their friends, Ron and Hermione all summer.
On the morning of their twelfth birthday, their uncle Vernon had no birthday wishes, instead he had a berating ready. Harry and John kept owls, a normal custom for wizards due to owls being the most useful type of pet as they would carry mail. The owls were however, still animals. They made noise.
"If you can't control those bloody pigeons, they'll have to go." said Uncle Vernon, whose little patience was wearing thinner than ever.
"They just get bored. If we could let them out for just an hour, maybe two-" Harry started.
"So you can send messages to your freaky little friends? Don't be absurd." Uncle Vernon retorted.
"They're birds! What do you expect, keeping them in cages?" John pointed out. He was always defiant and questioned authority, but the past year at Hogwarts had given him a great deal more confidence, which was saying a lot, considering his attitude to begin with. Not to mention the fact that for a twelve year old, about to enter his second year of Hogwarts (year eight or seventh grade), he was quite large. He wasn't as strong as a grown man, but he was strong enough to not be threatened by his uncle or muggle cousin Dudley at all.
"I expect you to keep control over your ruddy pets." said Uncle Vernon.
"We can do that but only if we're allowed to do what it takes to do so you dipshit." said John.
"You don't get to speak to me like that! Not under my roof!" Uncle Vernon replied, his voice raised.
"You don't get to tell me how to look after my owl. Achilles is just going to get noisier if you keep acting like an ignorant buffoon!" John retorted, unimpressed by his Uncle's attempt to show authority. Having dealt with the likes of Severus Snape, the very strict and intimidating potions master of Hogwarts, his Uncle really wasn't anything to worry over.
"Dad, John's right. They'll listen to John and Harry, but they still do have minds of their own." tried Delilah, Uncle Vernon's magical daughter.
She was somewhat ostracized from her biological family due to her magic, but she still retained hope that they still cared for her. Right now though, they weren't exactly showing it.
"You stay out of this. They aren't getting out of those cages, and that's final!" Uncle Vernon roared, hoping the increased volume would stamp out his authority properly.
"Then don't blame us or the owls if they wake you up. It's your fault." said John, simply.
"I want more bacon mum." said Dudley, saving his father from losing an argument to a twelve year old, though he didn't know it himself.
"There's more in the frying pan sweetums." said Aunt Petunia, hoping to completely avoid the owl argument again.
"You forgot the magic word." said Harry, who immediately realized that he'd made a mistake.
"I meant please! I didn't-" he tried.
"YOU DARE? YOU DARE MENTION YOUR ABNORMALITY IN MY HOUSE? THREATEN DUDLEY? I WILL NOT TOLERATE ANY MENTIONS OF YOUR FREAKISH NATURE!" he yelled, swelling up like a bullfrog.
"Alright... alright. Wow." said Harry.
"Now, as you all know, today is a very important day." said Uncle Vernon. John and Harry looked up. Surely not...
"I might be making the biggest deal of my career today." he added.
Of course he'd be talking about that damn dinner party. Some rich contractor and his wife were coming over for dinner, and Uncle Vernon was hoping to get an extremely large order of drills.
"Let's run through our plan for the evening once more. Dudley, what will you be doing?" Uncle Vernon asked.
"I'll wait to answer the door." said Dudley.
"Excellent. Petunia?" Uncle Vernon continued.
"I'll be in the lounge, waiting to welcome them graciously to our home!" said Aunt Petunia. At this point, John had left the room to burst out laughing. Harry and Delilah were considering joining him.
"And you lot?" Uncle Vernon asked nastily.
"We'll be upstairs, making no noise, pretending that we don't exist." said Harry dully.
"Excellent. I'll then pour some drinks, and at eight fifteen-" Uncle Vernon said, letting his sentence hang.
"I'll announce dinner." said Aunt Petunia.
"And I'll offer to lead them to the table." said Dudley.
"My perfect little gentleman!" said Aunt Petunia. John could still be heard rolling on the floor with laughter in the hallway.
"And you?" Uncle Vernon asked.
"We'll be upstairs, making no noise, pretending that we don't exist." said Delilah, sounding very bored.
"Good. Now whilst they're here, we should think of some compliments to pay them, just to make them that much more inclined. Any ideas?" Uncle Vernon asked.
"Vernon tells me you're an absolute master on the golf pitch Mr. Mason. Do tell me where you got your coat Mrs. Mason?" said Aunt Petunia.
"Perfect. Dudley?" Uncle Vernon asked.
"We were told to write an essay at school about our hero. I wrote about you Mr. Mason." said Dudley.
Aunt Petunia lost any semblance of self control and hugged her son, going on about him being a wonderful gentleman and how much the Masons would love him.
John couldn't handle it any more and his laughter seemed to double in volume.
Harry and Delilah were in a similar state and had to duck under the table to hide their own laughter.
"And you?" Uncle Vernon asked.
"We'll be upstairs, making no noise, pretending we don't exist." said Harry, once he'd recovered.
"Too right you will. If all goes well, we'll wake up tomorrow morning, ready to shop for a holiday home, maybe Majorca or maybe Auckland..." said Uncle Vernon.
"Yeah, sounds great. Save me some of whatever you're smoking that's making you think he'll like you by the way!" said John, upon re-entering the room.
Despite Uncle Vernon's very serious mood, Harry and Delilah burst out laughing.
"You keep your mouth shut! Now and especially when the Masons arrive! I don't need you here making me look like a fool!" Said Uncle Vernon.
"Yeah I know, you do a brilliant job of that on your own!" said John, causing Harry and Delilah to laugh harder.
"OUT! UPSTAIRS NOW!" Uncle Vernon roared.
John smirked as he did so. He loved getting on his Uncle's nerves, despite how easy it was.
The rest of the day was spent largely going through the same monotony. Harry was trimming the hedges and John was mowing the lawn, whilst Delilah was helping her mother in the kitchen, albeit in silence. Aunt Petunia was far from happy with Lily's powers, and clearly she was even more furious about her daughter having them.
Delilah, however, didn't understand this dynamic whatsoever and had to ask. She hadn't done anything wrong, and yet for three years, she'd been treated with indifference by her family.
She decided not to open her mouth and outright bemoan it yet - she knew that as of now, she wouldn't be taken seriously. Maybe when she returned after the coming school year, but certainly not now.
Contrary to what one might believe upon observing her interactions with her parents, she did still love them.
However, for now, she and her cousins were working on something they didn't even care about, in order for other people to enjoy the results, before heading off into Harry and John's bedroom for the entire night, where they would have to simply shut up while the rest of the household sucks up to a couple of relative strangers.
Yes, all in all the summer could have gone better thus far, but at least they weren't stuck in the cupboard under the stairs or the garden shed or something similar.
Delilah did have a thought though. While her dad would obviously avoid telling the Masons about Harry or John, she didn't have any idea how he was hiding the fact that he had two children rather than one.
She went to Harry and John with her confusion.
"They probably met after they figured out you're a witch. By the sounds of things, they probably first met while we were at Hogwarts, so they just... I dunno, 'forgot' to say anything about you and just gushed on about Dinky Duddidums instead." John said, causing Delilah to laugh for a moment.
"That sounds about right. Shall we head upstairs? I think we could just play chess or something while dad acts like a suck up for five hours." said Delilah.
"Yeah, let's go. I don't want to hear your dad make that stupid Japanese golfer joke again." said Harry, before the three of them headed up the stairs.
Harry was planning on taking a seat on his bed while Delilah and John sorted out the chessboard or maybe shuffled a deck of cards. One could imagine his surprise when he found someone sitting on it already. However, this wasn't just anyone. It was an odd little creature with massive green eyes the size of a tennis ball, a long, pointy nose, enormous bat-like ears and wearing some sort of pillowcase.
The youngsters didn't know it yet, but this was their first encounter with a house elf.
Harry wanted to ask what it was, but decided that he'd sound rude by asking that.
"Who are you?" he asked instead.
"Harry Potter! I am Dobby sir! Dobby the house elf!" replied Dobby. His voice was extremely squeaky; one could tell that it wasn't a human, but he was still clearly speaking English. Hearing this was a weird sensation to say the least.
"Err... hello Dobby, I'm Harry's brother John, this is our cousin Delilah." said John.
Dobby bowed to them all.
"Dobby is very pleased to meet you sir and Madam!" he said.
"Umm hi. I don't want to be rude or anything, but this isn't a great time for us to be talking to house elves." said Delilah.
"Oh, of course miss, Dobby can understand. It's just.. It is difficult. Dobby is wondering where to begin." said Dobby, referring to why he was there.
"Alright, just take a seat and we can talk." Harry offered, kindly.
To their collective shock, Dobby responded to the offer of a seat by crying. Loudly.
"Dobby! Please don't cry! I didn't mean to offend you or anything!" Harry tried desperately.
"Offend Dobby? Dobby has heard about Harry Potter's bravery, but never his kindness! Never has Dobby been asked to sit down by a wizard...like an equal!" Dobby explained, tearfully.
"You can't have met many wizards who happen to be decent human beings as well then, have you?" John asked.
"No, I haven't. That was an awful thing to say..." said Dobby, before doing something even noisier. He started banging his head against Harry's chest of drawers.
"Dobby! What are you doing? Please just stop!" Harry tried, desperately.
It was too late. Uncle Vernon could be heard stomping up the stairs.
"Dobby, I'm really sorry about this. You'll have to shut up though." John said, before picking Dobby up and stuffing him in the closet.
"What. Are. You. Doing?!" Uncle Vernon asked, trying to keep his voice down, but still showing how angry he was.
"Sorry." Delilah said, lamely, without an explanation.
"One more sound, and you'll wish you'll have never been born. All three of you." Uncle Vernon said, menacingly before heading back down the stairs.
John dragged Dobby out of the closet.
"Dobby, what the hell was that?" John asked.
"Dobby had to punish himself sir. Dobby almost spoke ill of his family." Dobby explained.
"Family?" Delilah asked. She didn't like where this was going.
"The wizard family Dobby is bound to serve until they free him. They has to offer Dobby some clothes for Dobby to be free." said Dobby.
"They sound like a bunch of assholes, whoever they are. Just... don't punish yourself if they're not around, OK?" John asked, feeling genuine concern for the poor creature in front of him.
"Only Dobby's masters can give him commands I'm afraid, sir." said Dobby. John, Delilah and Harry exchanged uncomfortable looks. The family Dobby served seemed more interested in abusing him than giving him work to do.
"So... what are you doing here?" John asked, changing the subject.
"Ah yes! This is most important! Dobby has come to warn you! You must not return to Hogwarts this year!" said Dobby.
"What? Why?" Harry asked.
"There is a plot! A plot to make most terrible things happen! It is not safe at Hogwarts any more!" said Dobby.
"Who's responsible? We can write to the ministry! We can tell Professor Dumbledore too!" Delilah said.
"Can't... say! Can't... say!" Dobby said, clearly very distressed.
"OK, so you can't say, fine. But we're going back to Hogwarts! You saw the kind of people we have to put up with here!" said Harry, referring to Uncle Vernon's berating of them.
"But you are safe here!" said Dobby.
"We can't stay here! Hogwarts is our real home and there are too many people there we care about over there, friends of ours; if there's a plot to make terrible things happen, we've got to keep them safe!" said Harry.
"Friends who don't even write to you?" Dobby challenged.
"Well I... Wait a minute. How did you know I haven't been getting letters?" Harry asked, shrewdly.
"Harry Potter must understand that Dobby felt terrible about this. He had to hit himself with a hammer for this." said Dobby, pulling out what was clearly all Owl-sent letters addressed to number 4, Privet Drive.
"Give us those letters. Now." said John, sternly. Harry noted that he almost sounded like a father telling off his son. Probably because he was keeping in mind that Dobby was treated like dirt and didn't need any further harsh treatment.
"Only if you promise not to go back to school!" said Dobby.
"Like we said, we will be going back. That's that." said Delilah.
"Give us those letters!" Harry said, getting angry.
"No!" Dobby yelled, before rushing down the stairs.
Harry realized with a shock that Dobby was about to threaten them by pissing off Uncle Vernon. Now was not the night for that to be taken lightly. The three twelve year olds rushed down the stairs after Dobby, but it was too late. He was already levitating a pudding that Aunt Petunia had worked on for over an hour.
"Dobby, please!" Harry tried, desperately.
"Harry Potter knows what he must do for Dobby to stop!" Dobby replied.
"I can't!" Harry replied, realizing how screwed he was at this point.
To their horror, and despite Harry's subtle attempts to stop it, Dobby smashed the pudding... straight over Mrs. Mason's head.
Unsurprisingly, they were grounded. However, more surprisingly, Uncle Vernon literally put bars on the windows. One set on Harry and John's window, and another on Delilah's. It was sheer absurdity, but Uncle Vernon was on the warpath.
Harry, John and Delilah were at this point, convinced that they simply weren't going back to Hogwarts.
Worse still, the three of them had received official warnings from the ministry regarding the use of under-aged magic, despite the fact that Dobby was the one who used the levitation charm.
They were in trouble with the government, and had seemingly lost the chance to return to Hogwarts.
What a stinking shit pile of a birthday John bitterly thought to himself the day after.
However, things would take a dramatic upturn that night. After they had fallen asleep, they woke up at roughly one in the morning, hearing some kind of engine. Harry looked outside the window to see a familiar face, one that belonged to arguably his favourite person in the world apart from his brother and cousin. Ronald Weasley. But he was sat down. At a first floor level. In a flying car.
John looked on and saw Fred and George there too.
"Hey Harry, John!" said Ron.
"What the..." John started.
"We're rescuing you you dolt!" said George.
"OK... but the Dursleys can't hear a thing! Apart from Delilah of course. But in case you've not noticed, there are bars on the window?" John pointed out.
"You've forgotten who I've got with me." said Ron, grinning. On cue, Fred tied a winch and hook to the bars, and revved the engine until the bars were torn clean off the wall, very loudly. Harry listened out for the Dursleys, but thankfully, they weren't woken up.
"We've got to get our school stuff, it's locked in the cupboard under the stairs!" John whispered.
"Ah, well we've learned a neat little muggle trick!" said George, pulling a paperclip out of his pocket.
"We're going to pick the lock." said Fred.
"Awesome, I'll go get Delilah." said John.
Moments later, Fred and George returned with their school equipment, and John returned with Delilah.
"You weren't joking..." she remarked, looking shocked.
"Hey Delilah." said Ron, grinning broadly at her.
"Hi Ron..." said Delilah, still unable to get over her shock.
"Come on, let's get in the car. We'll have to squeeze in, it's only a five-seater." said John.
They climbed into the car, but unfortunately, they heard loud hoots from behind them. They'd forgotten Hedwig and Achilles!
"Those ruddy owls!" They heard Uncle Vernon yell.
Somehow, Uncle Vernon had managed to arrive in their room quick enough to catch them putting Hedwig and Achilles into the car.
"THEY'RE GETTING AWAY!" he roared, but thankfully, his attempts to grab them were in vain, and the car had already flown off.
"See you next summer!" Harry yelled at them, laughing as they went.
"Preferably not though!" John added.
The six of them began to chat animatedly, but eventually Ron had to ask what the deal was with the lack of responses.
They explained to him about Dobby intercepting their letters and his appearance at the house.
"That's pretty dodgy. But then again, house elves tend to belong to really rich families as well. Plus, this sounds like it could be a joke as well. Can you think of anyone who wouldn't want you back at school and would want to trick you into not returning?" asked George.
"Draco Malfoy." said Ron and John simultaneously.
"Lucius Malfoy's kid? Yeah, makes sense. If half the stuff Dad's said about Lucius Malfoy is true, and if any of what Ron's said about mini-Malfoy is true, then he'd be the type to do that." said Fred.
"And I can definitely imagine him being the kind of rich kid who has a servant who he clearly treats like dirt." said Delilah, remembering how pitiful Dobby looked.
"Yeah, I mean most richer wizards have started treating house elves better since You Know Who vanished, but I reckon the Malfoys would stick to the old ways. Namely treating house elves like shit, beating them and making them feel subordinate all the time." said George.
"Plus, we already know how he treats people he thinks are inferior to him." said Ron, grumpily thinking about the way the Malfoy family treated his own family.
"Oh well, we know he's just jealous that Harry's clearly a better Quidditch player!" said John, remembering the look on Malfoy's face when he first saw Harry on his top of the line Nimbus 2000 racing broom.
The rest of the journey was characterized by more light-hearted conversation about the Weasley's summer, how Hermione was doing based off the letters she'd sent Ron's way, what to expect at the Weasley household, known as the burrow, and a few other everyday things (for wizards) such as Quidditch, the rumors that Nimbus would be releasing a new model some time soon, and general talk about who had the best team in the buildup to the world cup in two years' time.
They did finally arrive at Ron's home in Ottery St. Catchpole, a small mixed wizard and muggle town in Devon.
Ron was the first to speak.
"Well, here we are."