Quidditch League Season 6: Caerphilly Catapults
Round 1: [Beater 2] Write an AU you've never written before: HouseElfRevolution!AU
Prompts:
- (dialogue) "Your silence scares me."
- (quote) Adventure is not outside man, it is within – George Eliot
- (song) The Fighter – Keith Urban
Summary: Adventure is not outside man, it is within. Just like revolution. It only takes one house elf to rouse a nation, and bring another to its knees. Dobby could quote anger, but really, they had it coming.
Dobby had always considered himself a normal house elf – obedient and willing to punish himself when ordered by his Masters. He hadn't stood out amongst the Malfoy family's small army of house elves.
A certain reverence for Harry Potter had been cultured in all of them – the Malfoy family had become less cruel after the Dark Lord had been defeated, having to explain their prior behaviour as an enchantment. The other Dark Families had done exactly the same, and Dobby had been glad to hear that his mother had been able to keep at least two of his younger siblings. The chances of him ever meeting them were low, but any news was welcome.
So, when Dobby heard of the danger Harry Potter would be in, he had to warn the young hero.
...and Dobby realised that his hero was treated by the Muggles as he was by his Masters. He'd been ordered to Diagon Alley to pick up his Master's order from Flourish and Blotts, and had taken a detour to visit Harry Potter twice. Each visit had only served to make him more horrified, and Dobby knew he had to find a way to help his hero like Harry Potter had helped him and his family.
When Dobby finally approached Harry Potter, it was in the dead of the night and after he had placed a silencing charm around Harry Potter's room. He could see the scattered birthday cards on his dresser and trailing onto the floor. He noticed the loose floorboard that held whatever secrets the wizard kept from his Muggle kin. Dobby could see Harry Potter, the child that had lost so much for the rest of them.
"Harry Potter," Dobby whispered, shaking his hero awake.
The wizard in question yelped, and hurriedly sat up in the darkness as Dobby withdrew his arms. Dobby recognised all the signs: his constant glancing at the door, and the hand over his mouth to muffle the sound of his startled breathing.
"Harry Potter is in grave danger," Dobby began, already thinking about all the punishments he would have to endure as a result of his actions on this night. He could already feel the pull of the Malfoy magic urging him to punish himself for acting without orders. "Hogwarts is no longer safe."
"What are-Who are you?" Harry Potter's bright green eyes shone in the moonlight, and Dobby steeled himself for whatever would come next. The magic that hung in the air was no longer only from Dobby's silencing enchantment.
"I'm Dobby. Dobby, the house elf, sir."
He nodded. "Hello, Dobby. I'm Harry, and thank you for the warning, but Hogwarts wasn't safe last year either. Staying here is even less safe than Hogwarts."
"Then Dobby will help you, Harry Potter, sir. If you must go, then Dobby will help keep you safe!" Dobby's voice wavered as he realised what he was doing: going exactly against his Masters.
Harry's gaze met his own. "Then I will help you too, Dobby. You're wearing a pillowcase, and somehow that seems worse than my situation."
Dobby would have cried at Harry Potter's kindness had he not felt his magic shift as his Master called for him. Instead, he melted back into the air as if he was never there. The punishments in his mind were pushed aside for the kindness of a boy that knew as much of it as he did. Harry Potter was a hero that would save them all, but Dobby would be the one to save Harry Potter: from the Muggles, from the wizards who put him with the Muggles, and from anyone who dared to hurt him.
And for the most part, Dobby was successful. Harry Potter was a magnet for getting into trouble, but he had somehow also managed to free Dobby from the Malfoy family along the way. It had taken Dobby a moment to realise his freedom, and a moment longer to decide that he would make sure the entire Wizarding World knew of the blunder by morning. The encounter had ended with a very satisfying attack on the miserable Malfoy Lord.
When the Dark Lord was finally defeated, Dobby thought that everything would be back to normal – because he was a normal house elf that wanted to serve Harry Potter.
He was wrong, because Harry Potter didn't get happier. He was happy in the rare moments when it was just Dobby and Harry, and the house elves Dobby had saved from their horrible masters. Instead, every day was filled with witches and wizards and their questions and certainties and things that Harry Potter never cared about, and Dobby simply hated it.
Dobby hated that after everything he had done, the witches and wizards still expected more from him. There had been no reward to Harry Potter for his victory; only torture and emptiness and more than Harry Potter could give.
"Dobby, what are you planning?" Harry Potter asked Dobby one day, as he slumped on the couch, head supported by his hand on the armchair.
"Nothing at all, Harry Potter, sir! Dobby only wants to help."
Harry peered at Dobby through his fringe. "Your silence scares me, Dobby. I still remember your rogue bludger. And how you embarrassed the Malfoy family. Not to mention the pranks you pulled on Ron when he alienated me in the Triwizard Tournament."
"Dobby only wants Harry Potter to relax!"
Harry offered Dobby a long look, before closing his eyes again. "Alright, Dobby. Just don't get into trouble we can't get out of, okay?"
Dobby knew Harry Potter was asleep before he could hear Dobby's reply. Delighted, Dobby levitated Harry Potter to his room, and quietly closed the door. He would wake Harry Potter for dinner in a few hours' time.
It took less than two days to prepare the house elves, and even that had taken longer than Dobby had really wanted.
"Tonight, we fight!" Dobby called, amidst cheers. "We fight for our hero, Harry Potter, and we fight for our kin! We will not be brainwashed into depending on witches and wizards any longer!"
As hundreds of house elves popped out of the garden of Harry Potter's home, Dobby whispered, "Don't worry, Harry Potter, sir. You won't need to deal with those nasty, nosy wizards for much longer."
Also written for:
The Golden Snitch [Uagadou, Biloko]: Through the Universe - [Dwarf Planet} (character) Dobby