Thank you for the response! You won't believe it, but the proof is right there!
xXTheDragonRiderXx – Percy's not coming right now. But don't worry; you'll see him in an unexpected turn. Or rather you'll read about him in an unexpected turn.
Weird'sMyName – Yes, yes, yes! No, it's not a memory. I know it's confusing, but it'll sound better when you read it.
RedRangerBelt – Yes. Ofcourse. You'll see. Glad you're still faithful!
KyrianaeNarii – Thank you!
SheldonC – You'll come to know soon…
Enjoy! Another twist here!
Disclaimer – All recognized characters belong to JKR. I own nothing except this plot.
Words – 2353
…
Harry jumped up so fast that the room nearly spun. There was a tiny being with green tennis ball eyes sitting on his shelf.
"Don't be alarmed, sir. I is causing no trouble!" It squeaked. It was about as tall as Harry's knees. It's grey skin was dull and the floppy ears flapped whenever it moved. It had thin hands and legs and was wearing what Harry thought was a pillow case.
"Are you a house elf?" Harry asked dubiously.
The elf nodded vigorously and jumped down. From the ground floor, Harry could hear Aunt Petunia greeting in the guests.
"I is Dobby the House Elf!" He said proudly. Harry nodded. Bolt leapt out of Harry's shoulder and landed softly next to Dobby who stared at her with wide eyes.
She gave him a sniff and then jumped onto the bed.
"Well, not to be rude or anything, it isn't a really great time to have house elves in my room." Harry said trying not to be too impolite. He felt bad when Dobby's ears fell flat against his head.
"Dobby will not take much time, sir."
"Okay, just make it quick." Harry said sitting down on the bed. He had actually wanted to close his eyes for some time. He gestured to the other end of the bed and said, "Why don't you sit down?"
To his shock, Dobby started crying.
"No! Dobby, I'm sorry. Don't sit down! I didn't mean to offend you or anything! Please, could you keep it down?"
"Offend?!" Dobby looked dumbfounded at that. Harry wasn't sure what to do now.
"Never has Dobby been asked to sit down by wizard! Like an equal…"
"Oh! Well, you must have not met many decent wizards then." Harry said hoping that this would cheer him up.
"No, Dobby hasn't." The elf said and stood there for a second before launching himself on the shelf, banging his head against it.
Harry grabbed him by the pillow cover and yanked him away.
"Dobby!"
The elf looked a little regretful as though he desperately wanted to injure himself.
Harry dropped the elf on his chair and said, "Please don't do that."
The elf shivered and said, "I'm sorry, sir. Dobby will try not do that again."
"Ok. And don't call me 'sir'. Just Harry, would be fine."
Dobby stared at him as though he were from another planet.
"Just Harry, sir, Dobby has come to –"
"No, don't call me sir." The wizard specified and Bolt let out a low bark.
But Dobby didn't listen to him, "Sir, Dobby is here to pass the message that terrible things are brewing at Hogwarts!"
The room was quiet and then Bolt started growling. Dobby jumped back onto Harry's table.
"Is Snape making a poison for me?" Harry asked lightly.
"Just Harry, sir, must understand! There is plot! A wicked one! Just Harry must tread carefully!" Dobby said desperately.
Harry contemplated that. Malfoy had said dangers were starting. Was this it?
"What plot?"
Dobby cringed. His entire frame trembled and his breathing became gasps.
"Okay! Okay! I Understand! You can't! Say! Anything!" Harry hissed in tone with each of Dobby's gasps. The elf's body convulsed and he leapt to grab Harry's bedside lamp. Harry snatched the lamp away and grabbed the elf, again.
"Dobby!"
"Sir! You must understand!" Dobby gasped. He hung limply from Harry's grip.
"Deep breaths." Harry said and they took slow seconds to calm down.
"Danger is actually one of my closest companions, Dobby. So, I suppose this will be an extended continuum of my life."
"Ain't that the truth?" Harry's reflection piped up from the mirror, strangely using an American accent. Harry ignored him.
"But Just Harry, sir, this is different. There is dark magic afoot. Dobby can say no more. If Dobby's senior masters knew he was here…"
The elf shivered. But Harry caught something from it.
"Wait a second, you said, you were passing on the warning, right? Who told you to?"
Dobby started to shiver again and Harry immediately said, "Okay, don't say it!"
He sighed. This was a bit too much. "Could you give me a clue, at the least?"
Dobby grimaced at that, "I is very sorry, Just Harry, but Dobby is here to tell sir to be careful."
"I am careful, very careful. I think thrice before thinking what to do and I am rather okay in a pressured situation."
"Yeah, but in a normal situation, you're mad." The reflection commented and Harry glared at it, "Shut up!"
Dobby looked frightened at that, "Sir?"
Harry shook his head. Bolt was rolling on the bed laughing.
Suddenly, a blast rocketed the entire house from below. Harry jumped up to his feet and ran downstairs with Bolt and Dobby at his heels.
The kitchen sink was on fire.
There were screams coming from Aunt Petunia and another woman who were in the Dining room. Harry ran past them and took out the Fire Extinguisher from underneath the kitchen island. He prayed this worked. It had been there for so long, it was as good as a show piece, not kept for show. He twisted the cap of and it came away with a crack into his hands as though it was china. Pointing the spout at the fire which was inching close to the gas stove, Harry pressed the nozzle and let the white combination of suffocating smoke onto the fire.
Within seconds, the fire died down. Harry let out a sigh and dropped the extinguisher to pick up the black remains of a radio from the sink. He looked directly at Dudley, who shrunk back, and said in a dry voice, "You put a malfunctioning radio in the sink? I didn't expect that even from you, Dudley."
He threw it into the dustbin and was about to leave when a bald man in a pudgy black suit got up and grinned at him.
"Oh, wonderful! You actually saved us! What's your name, child?"
Harry couldn't remember when he had ever had a polite human voice speak to him in the house before.
"Harry." He mumbled. He got a glare from Uncle Vernon and said, "Well, I'm tired, so I better get back to bed."
Harry was about to leave before the woman spoke up, "I don't understand, why aren't you eating along with us?"
She gave a look at Aunt Petunia who stammered, "Oh, h…he's just tired and so we let him sleep in. Isn't that right, Harry?"
"Yes, it is, Aunt Petunia. You see, I was rather busy the entire morning and afternoon, and was dead on my feet. So I excused myself. We don't mean it as a rude gesture…"
Uncle Vernon gave a brittle smile and said, "Of course not, our nephew was dead tired and I couldn't force him to attend a business dinner now, could I?"
The atmosphere relaxed and Harry shared a look with Bolt. To his surprise, Dobby wasn't there.
"Oh, that your pet? Very sweet." Mrs. Guest said appreciatively. The Dursleys stared at Bolt with wide eyes. Harry had conveniently forgotten to tell them about his familiar.
"Not a pet, madam. She's my companion. Has been for a year. She's very close to me." Harry said politely and his reflection in the fridge gave a snort at that.
The woman knelt down and started making weird cooing noises at Bolt.
"Come here, little one. I have a nice biscuit with you name on it!"
Bolt shot a 'What the Merlin?' look at Harry.
'Go with it', Harry suggested.
'No way!'
'Fine, go back up.'
Bolt turned and ran away. The woman looked stunned.
"She's a little shy." Harry explained.
"Oh."
Suddenly, something smacked against the window, so hard, everyone jumped and Harry braced himself for an attack, as he crouched.
Instead, he saw wings flapping waywardly outside the window. Running over to open it, a brown barn owl flew inside and sat on his shoulder, extending its talons out for Harry to take a letter attached.
The lady screamed. She tumbled back into her husband who slipped and fell on the table. The plate that held Aunt Petunia's master piece of a pudding fell on the two of them, splattering everyone else while Harry ducked behind the island counter.
He peeked out to see the chaos and threw his uncle and aunt some towels from the counter and ran upstairs.
"How have you been, Errol?" Harry asked as Dudley let out a wail from below. The owl hooted softly and Harry sat on the bed to read the letter from Ron. Errol actually belonged to Ron's family and it was clear that he was growing rather 'batty' as George Weasely had put it.
Errol flew over to Hedwig's cage and sat outside staring at her. She gave a huff, ruffled her feathers and turned her back on him.
Harry sighed at that. He looked down at the letter.
Dear Harry,
I know I already sent a letter in the morning and this one would really push Errol's limits, but this is important.
My parents say it's okay if you can come over tomorrow. I mean, Dumbledore did say that you were allowed to take DJ and get out of the Dursleys' house in August. I know you would want to leave the minute your birthday's over, so tomorrow morning, you can pick up DJ and bring him straight here and then do whatever you wanted to.
Mum doesn't want to you go to Diagon Alley alone with DJ, so I told her I'll send this to you.
Don't let the Dursleys get you down!
Ron.
Harry leaned back and rested his head on his pillow. He really wanted to spend some time alone with DJ. But he knew Mrs. Weasely's intentions were best at heart. Besides, DJ and Ginevra were going to be in the same year, so he supposed it was good for them to be close.
He immediately wrote a short reply approving the idea. He decided to leave in the morning. Harry looked over to the table and saw Errol sound asleep. Hedwig was gave him a disapproving look.
"Let him rest, girl. Come here."
She flew gracefully to him and stretched out her leg.
"Send it to Ron. And you can stay there. I'll be heading over there in the morning, okay?"
She nipped his ear and took of fluidly into the night.
Harry stared at her till she was out of sight. He stroked Errol's feathers and looked out at the darkening skies. He blinked.
He saw a small light coloured shape flying in his direction. It looked like a bird. Was it Hedwig?
'No. It's not her. But it's an owl, alright.' Bolt said.
Harry frowned and took a step back when the small sandal wood coloured owl landed expertly at his window. It held out it's talon for him to take a letter tied to the bird.
May be it was the school's form for the new year's books?
Bolt jumped on the table and sniffed at the letter. She growled. The owl jumped behind Errol.
"What?" Harry asked aloud.
'It smells too sweet.' She said. 'Too beautiful.'
Harry sniffed the envelope. He could get the smell of orchids. "Some perfume." He agreed.
'It's not perfume.' Bolt said.
Harry shot her a curious look and read the letter.
Dear Harry J. Potter,
My name is Rosalie McCarty. I may not be familiar to you, but I am related to Daniel from afar. It has been a few days since my family and I have moved to Scotland and I was immediately compelled to write the letter.
Your parents have known me as a very close family friend and I am sure you will find me in multiple photos.
I may be able to meet you and Daniel (to whom I have already written to) within a few months. But this is your choice if you do wish to see me. I can guess that the two of you are not happy with my absence.
Please reply soon, we are on the same page.
Mrs. McCarty.
'How much do you want to bet that her family paid for Melody Potter's larynx operation?' Bolt asked sarcastically.
"She's not related to me by blood. So she's on DJ's maternal side." Harry whispered and took out the Family Book.
"Seems strange that DJ didn't write anything about her." Harry reflection said casually, leaning against the mirror's surface.
"May be he got her letter after he replied to me?" Harry muttered.
"Or maybe he didn't want you to know?"
"Shut up."
"There it is again."
Harry ignored him and started from DJ's page, backwards. He went through Melody's parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, cousins once, twice and thrice removed… nothing mentioned Rosalie McCarty.
"I have an idea." His reflection said. "Every Potter save for us and DJ is dead. Search for living relatives from the female line."
Harry gave him a glare.
"Merlin, I'm just trying to help…" his reflection sat down.
Harry flipped the pages to start again. He must have missed a track.
'Maybe she's older than Dumbledore.' Bolt suggested. Harry frowned at that and started going further and further back.
Then he found her.
Bolt's ears went up straight and Harry stared at her page shocked.
Rosalie Lillian McCarty born Rosalie Lillian Hale graduated with honours in the Healer streak and was offered a position at St. Mungo's …
.
.
.
… she was 18 when she had disappeared a week before her wedding in 1933. She later came back through the Cullen family as a member and met her husband in 1935.
'Okay…she's not older than Dumbledore.' Bolt murmured.
Harry hardly heard his familiar. Rosalie's photo was smiling at him. She looked 18 in it and had probably stayed that way since 1933. She had a face any woman would die for. Her perfect angular cheek and bone structure looked more of a lure than simply beauty. Her irises were gold. No…they were more of topaz. Like a jewel. But what really caught Harry was the photo frame which was not gold or even black.
It was red.
…
Cliffie? Yup! Stay tuned for more!
Cabba
