Harry and Selena managed not to shout out, but it was a close thing. The little creature sitting on Harry's bed had large, bat like ears and bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls. They knew instantly that this was what had been watching them out of the garden hedge that morning.
As they stared at each other, Harry and Selena heard Dudley's voice from the hall.
"May I take your coats, Mr. and Mrs. Mason?"
The creature slipped off the bed and bowed so low that the end of its long, thin nose touched the carpet. The twins noted that it was wearing what looked like an old pillowcase, with rips for arm and leg holes.
"Er – hello," said Harry nervously.
"Harry Potter, Selena Potter!" said the creature in a high-pitched voice they were sure would carrying down the stairs. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet you… Such an honour it is…"
"Th-thank you," said Selena, as she and Harry edged along the wall and sank onto Selena's bed, next to the desk, where Hedwig and Elvis slept in their large cages. "Who are you?"
"Dobby, miss. Just Dobby. Dobby the house-elf," said the creature.
"Oh – really?" said Harry, looking to Selena for support.
Selena turned to Dobby. "Look – not to be rude or anything, but this isn't a great time or place for us to have a house-elf in our bedroom."
Aunt Petunia's high, false laugh sounded from the living room. The elf hung his head.
"What Selena means is that – is there a particular reason you're here?" Harry asked.
"Oh, yes, sir," said Dobby earnestly. "Dobby has come to tell you, sir… it is difficult, sir… Dobby wonders where to begin…"
"Why don't you sit down," said Harry politely, pointing to his bed.
To their horror, the elf burst into tears – very noisy tears.
"S-sit down!" he wailed. "Never…never ever…"
Selena bit her nails, looking back at the door, thinking she heard the voices downstairs falter.
Harry was trying to get Dobby to stop crying.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, "I didn't mean to offend you or anything."
"Offend Dobby!" choked the elf. "Dobby has never been asked to sit down by a wizard – like an equal –"
Selena was trying to say "Shh!" and look comforting at the same time, ushered Dobby back onto Harry's bed where he sat hiccoughing, looking like a large and very ugly doll, where Selena kindly dabbed his eyes with a handkerchief. At last he managed to control himself, and sat with his great eyes fixed on Harry and Selena in an expression of watery adoration.
"You can't have met many decent wizards then," said Selena, trying to cheer him up.
Dobby shook his head. Then, without warning, he leapt up and started banging his furiously on the window, shouting, "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"
Selena gave a strangled yelp and yanked Dobby away from the window and back onto the bed. "Don't – what are you doing?" she hissed. Hedwig and Elvis had woken up with particularly loud screeches and were beating their wings wildly against the bars of their cages. Harry rushed over to hush them up.
"Dobby had to punish himself, miss," said the elf, who had gone slightly cross eyed.
Selena shook her head. "No, you didn't, Dobby. You didn't have to punish yourself."
"Oh but Dobby did, miss, Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, miss…"
"Your family?" the twins asked.
"The wizard family Dobby serves… Dobby's is a house-elf – bound to serve one house and one family forever…"
Selena frowned. "That's not a family, that's slavery."
"Do they know you're here?" asked Harry curiously.
Dobby shuddered. "Oh, no, sir, no… Dobby will have to punish himself most grievously for coming to see you, sir, miss. Dobby will have to shut his ears in the oven door for this. If they ever knew, sir –"
"But won't they notice if you shut your ears in the oven door?"
"Dobby doubts it, sir. Dobby is always having to punish himself for something, sir. They let Dobby get on with it, sir. Sometimes they remind me do extra punishments…"
Selena was horrified and she felt sorry for Dobby. "Why don't you leave? Escape?"
"A house-elf must be set free, miss. And the family will never set Dobby free… Dobby will serve the family until he dies, miss…"
Harry and Selena stared. "And we thought we had it bad staying here for another four weeks," Harry said. "This makes the Dursleys sound almost human."
"Is there anything we can do to help you?" asked Selena.
Almost at once, Selena wished she hadn't spoken. Dobby dissolved again into wails of gratitude.
"Please," Selena whispered frantically, "please be quiet. If the Dursleys hear anything, if they know you're here –"
"Selena Potter asks if she can help Dobby… Dobby had heard of your greatness, miss, just as Harry Potter's greatness, but of your goodness, Dobby never knew…"
Harry, who were feeling distinctly hot in the face, said, "Whatever you've heard about our greatness is a load of rubbish. We're not even top of our year at Hogwarts; that's Hermione, she –"
But he stopped quickly, because thinking about Hermione was painful.
"Harry Potter and Selena Potter are humble and modest," said Dobby reverently, his orb-like eyes aglow. "Harry Potter and Selena Potter speak not of their triumph over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."
"Voldemort?" said the twins.
Dobby clapped his hands over his bat ears and moaned, "Ah, speak not the name, sir, miss! Speak not the name!"
"Sorry," said Harry quickly. "We know lots of people don't like it. Our friend Ron –"
He stopped again. Thinking about Ron was painful, too.
Dobby leaned toward the twins, his eyes wide as headlights.
"Dobby heard tell," he said hoarsely, "that Harry Potter and Selena Potter met the Dark Lord for a second time just weeks ago… that Harry Potter and Selena Potter escaped yet again."
The twins nodded and Dobby's eyes suddenly shone with tears.
"Ah, sir, miss," he gasped, dabbing his face with the corner of the grubby pillowcase he was wearing. "Harry Potter is brave and bold, and Selena Potter is kind and loyal! They have braved so many dangers already! But Dobby has come to protect Harry Potter and Selena Potter, to warn them, even if he does have to shut his ears in the over door later… Harry Potter and Selena Potter must not go back to Hogwarts."
There was a silence broken only by the chink of knives and forks from downstairs and the distant rumble of Uncle Vernon's voice.
"W-what?" Harry and Selena stammered. "But we've got to go back – term starts on September first. It's all that's keeping us going. You don't know what it's like here. We don't belong here. We belong in your world – at Hogwarts."
"No, no, no," squeaked Dobby, shaking his head so hard his ears flapped. "Harry Potter and Selena Potter must stay where they are safe. They are too great, too good, to lose. If Harry Potter and Selena Potter go back to Hogwarts, they will be in mortal danger."
"Danger?" said Selena her eyes wide.
"Why?" said Harry in surprise.
"There is a plot, Harry Potter and Selena Potter. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year," whispered Dobby, suddenly trembling all over. "Dobby has known it for months, sir, miss. Harry Potter and Selena Potter must not put themselves in peril. They are too important, sir, miss!"
"What terrible things?" asked Selena at once.
"Who's plotting them?" said Harry.
Dobby made a funny choking noise and then banged his head frantically against the wall.
"Dobby – don't!" Selena hissed as she swooped him up in her arms and pulled him back.
"We get it Dobby," cried Harry, "You can't tell us. We understand. But why are you warning us?" A sudden, unpleasant thought struck them both in the stomach.
"Wait – this hasn't got anything to do with Vol – sorry – with You-Know-Who, has it?" Selena asked.
Slowly, Dobby shook his head.
"Not – not He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, miss."
But Dobby's eyes were wide and he seemed to be trying to give Harry and Selena a hint. Harry, however, was completely lost.
"He hasn't got a brother, has he?"
Dobby shook his head, his eyes wider than ever.
"Well then, I can't think who else would have a chance of making horrible things happen at Hogwarts," said Harry, turning to Selena. "what do you think Selena?"
Selena shrugged. "I mean, there's Dumbledore, for one thing – you know who Dumbledore is, don't you?"
Dobby bowed his head.
"Albus Dumbledore is the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever had. Dobby knows it, miss. Dobby has heard Dumbledore's powers rival those of He-Who-Not-Be-Named at the height of his strength. But, miss" – Dobby's voice dropped to an urgent whisper – "there are powers Dumbledore doesn't… powers no decent wizard or witch…"
And before Selena could stop him, Dobby bounded off the bed, seized the lamp from the top of the drawers, and started beating himself around the head with ear-splitting yelps.
A sudden silence fell downstairs. Two seconds later Harry and Selena, hearts thudding madly, heard Uncle Vernon coming into the hall, calling, "Dudley must have left his television on again, the little tyke!"
"Quick! In the closet!" hissed Harry, stuffing Dobby in, shutting the door. Harry and Selena flung themselves onto their beds and Selena picked up a random book and flipped it open, just as the door handle turned.
"What – the – devil – are – you – two – doing?" said Uncle Vernon through gritted teeth. "You two, have just ruined the punch line of my Japanese golfer joke… One more sound and you'll wish you two'd never been born!"
He stomped flat footed from the room.
Shaking, Harry let Dobby out of the closet while Selena set the book on her bed, before walking over to Harry and Dobby.
"See what it's like here?" she said. "See why we've got to go back to Hogwarts? It's the only place we've got – well, I think we've got friends."
"Friends who don't even write to Harry Potter and Selena Potter?" said Dobby slyly.
"Well I expect they've just been – wait a minute," said Harry, frowning.
Selena frowned too. "How do you know our friends haven't been writing to us?"
Dobby shuffled his feet.
"Harry Potter and Selena Potter mustn't be angry with Dobby. Dobby did it for the best –"
"Have you been stopping our letters?"
"Dobby has them here, miss," said the elf. Stepping nimbly out of the twins reach, he pulled a thick wad of envelopes from the inside of the pillowcase he was wearing. Harry and Selena could make out Hermione's neat writing, Ron's untidy scrawl, a few letters from Adeline, Odessa, Vanessa, Evan and Asha, Hagrid's messy scribble and Selena could faintly recognise the Draco's fancy handwriting.
Dobby blinked anxiously up at Harry and Selena.
"Harry Potter and Selena Potter mustn't be angry… Dobby hoped… if Harry Potter and Selena Potter thought their friends had forgotten them… Harry Potter and Selena Potter might not want to go back to school, sir, miss…"
"You little –" Selena hissed, ready to grab at the elf, but Harry held her back.
Dobby jumped out of reach.
"The Potter Twins shall have them, sir, miss, if they give Dobby their word that they will not return to Hogwarts. Ah, sir, miss, this is a danger you two must not face! Say you won't go back, sir, miss!"
"No," said Harry angrily.
"We can't, Hogwarts is our home!" Selena growled.
"Give us those – now!" they snarled.
"NO!" Dobby shouted, stuffing the letters back in the pillowcase.
Before the twins could move and before Selena could use telekinesis, Dobby had darted to the bedroom door, pulled it open, and sprinted down the stairs.
Mouths dry, stomachs lurching, Harry and Selena sprang after him, trying not to make a sound. Harry jumped the last six steps, landing catlike on the hall carpet, while Selena slid down the banister, looking around for Dobby. From the dining room they heard Uncle Vernon saying, "…tell Petunia that very funny story about those American plumbers, Mr. Mason. She's been dying to hear…" Harry and Selena ran up the hall into the kitchen and felt their stomachs disappear.
Aunt Petunia's masterpiece of a pudding, the mountain of cream and sugared violets, was floating up near the ceiling. On top of a cupboard in the corner crouched Dobby.
"No," croaked Harry.
"Please… they'll kill us…" Selena whimpered, eyes fixed on the pudding, ready to catch it before it fell.
"Harry Potter and Selena Potter must say they're not going back to school –"
"Dobby… please…"
"Say it, sir, miss…"
"We can't –"
Dobby gave them a tragic look.
"Then Dobby must do it, sir, miss, for Harry Potter and Selena Potter's own good."
There was a crack of a whip, Dobby vanished and the pudding dropped. Selena let out a gasp and caught the pudding seconds before it landing on the floor. She hurried over and took the pudding in her hands. There was noise from the dining room and Selena and Harry's hearts shrank. It turned out that Selena's gasp must've been louder than she had intended. In seconds, Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, Dudley and the Masons burst into the kitchen to find the twins, rigid with shock, Selena holding the violet pudding.
Mr. Mason was the first to talk. He turned to Uncle Vernon. "Who in earth are these two?"
Uncle Vernon had gone red to purple to green in the face faster than a set of traffic lights. "Just our niece and nephew," he brushed over, giving the twins looks of pure hatred.
"You never mentioned you had a niece or nephew," Mr Mason said.
"What happened in here?" Aunt Petunia cried, noticing the pudding in Selena's hands.
Selena decided to gloss things over with a white lie. "We were coming down for a drink of water, then I saw the pudding fall, I just managed to save it." she explained, setting the pudding on the counter.
Harry stared at Selena, marvelling at how calm she was sounded, nodded his head, playing along.
Mrs. Mason turned to Uncle Vernon. "Have they been upstairs this whole evening?"
Uncle Vernon stammered. "T-they're both mentally disturbed, so we kept them upstairs…" he lied.
Selena shot her uncle a look of malice.
"They don't look mentally disturbed to me?" Mr. Mason said, not noticing the fire in Selena's eyes.
Selena shuffled her feet. "We're very sorry to bother you're evening, Mr and Mrs Mason."
Mr. Mason cleared his throat. "Quite alright, Miss…"
"Potter, Selena Potter sir…"
"And I'm Harry," said Harry, thought it probably sounded more like a strangled cough than a sentence.
"Well then… Harry and Selena, it's quite alright. Neither of you did anything wrong."
"I think it's time these two went to bed," Uncle Vernon said, walking over and placing a hand on the twin's shoulders. Harry and Selena flinched at the pressure on their shoulders but did their best to hide it.
"Nonsense, surely they can stay for another minute." said Mrs. Mason.
"B-But they…" Uncle Vernon stammered, his face now the colour of old porridge.
"I insist, they seem like delightful children." Mrs. Mason said.
Selena and Harry looked at each other, mixed emotions, wondering if they were dreaming or not.
"Yes…" Aunt Petunia said through pursed lips. "delightfulindeed…"
The evening went on as planned, the twins had to politely decline to join them for pudding as the looks on their Aunt and Uncle's faces were terrifying, but they agreed to join them after dinner. 20 minutes later, the twins found themselves in the living room, awkwardly sitting on the couch as their Aunt and Uncle glared at them.
Selena had just finished singing I Dreamed a Dreamfrom the musical Les Miserableand Mrs. Mason was in tears ("How did you learn to sing so beautifully?") and Mr. Mason was staring at the twelve-year-old girl in stunned surprise.
Harry and Selena finally looked at each other and smiled, thinking they had saved the evening and their skins.
Uncle Vernon might still have been able to make his deal, were it not for the owl.
Aunt Petunia was just passing around a box of mints when a huge barn owl swooped through the dining room window, dropped a letter on the coffee table, and swooped out again. Mrs. Mason screamed like a banshee and ran from the house in terror. Mr. Mason stayed just long enough to tell the Dursleys that his wife was mortally afraid of birds of all shapes and sizes and left without signing the document.
The twins stood in the living room, clutching the sofa for support, as Uncle Vernon advanced on him, a demonic glint in his tiny eyes.
"Read it!" he hissed evilly, brandishing the letter the owl had delivered. "Go on – read it!"
Harry took it. It did not contain birthday greetings.
Dear Mr and Miss Potter,
We received intelligence that a Hover Charm was used at your place of residence this evening at twelve minutes past nine.
As you know, underage wizards and witches are not permitted to perform spells outside school, and further spellwork on your part may lead to expulsion from said school (Decree of the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Magic, 1875, Paragraph C).
We would also like you to remember that any magical activity that risks notice by members of the non-magical community (Muggles) is a serious offense under section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy.
Enjoy your holidays!
Yours sincerely,
Malfalda Hopkirk
IMPROPER USE OF MAGIC OFFICE
Ministry of Magic
The twins looked up from the letter and gulped.
"You didn't tell us you weren't allowed to use magic outside school," said Uncle Vernon, a mad gleam dancing in his eyes. "Forgot to mention it… Slipped your minds, I daresay…"
He was bearing down on the twins like a great bulldog, all his teeth bared. "Well, I've got news for you two… I'm locking you both up… You're never going back to that school… never… and if you try and magic yourselves out – they'll expel you!"
And laughing like a maniac, he dragged Harry and Selena back upstairs.
Uncle Vernon was as bad as his word, possibly worse. The following morning, he paid a man to fit bars on Harry and Selena's window. He himself fitted a cat-flap in the bedroom door, so that small amounts of food could be pushed inside three times a day. They let the twins out to use the bathroom morning and evening. Otherwise, they were locked in their room around the clock.
Selena was heartbroken. All her positive words about returning to Hogwarts when summer ended had been chewed up, stomped on, thrown out the window and flushed down the loo. The first night, she lay awake in her bed, sobbing softly and agonisingly into her pillow. She sat up and held the necklace Draco had given her in her cupped hands. This only made her cry harder. She was never going to see him again. Never hear his voice. Never feel the softness of his lips against her knuckles. She prayed that he would figure out that something had happened to her and he would send Snape or Dumbledore to come get her or come here himself.
Three days later, the Dursleys were showing no sign of relenting, and the twins couldn't see any way out of their situation. They lay on their beds watching the sun sinking behind the bars on the window and wondered miserably what was going to happen to them.
What was the good of magicking himself out of their room if Hogwarts would expel them for doing it? Yet life in Privet Drive had reached an all-time low. Now that the Dursleys knew they weren't going to wake up as fruit bats, they had lost their only weapon. Selena didn't have the strength to unlock the door using telekinesis. Dobby might have saved them from horrible happenings at Hogwarts, but the way things were going, they'd probably starve to death anyway.
The cat flap rattled and Aunt Petunias hand appeared, pushing two bowls of canned soup into the room. The twins, whose insides were aching with hunger, jumped off their beds and seized a bowl each. The soup was stone-cold, but they drank half of the soup in one gulp. Then they crossed the room to Hedwig's cage and tipped the soggy vegetables at the bottom of the bowl into their empty food trays. Hedwig ruffled her feathers and gave Harry a look of deep disgust. Elvis gave Selena a sort of owl frown. "It's no good turning your beaks up at it, it's all we've got." said Harry grimly.
Selena sighed, sticking her fingers through the bars of the cage, stroking Elvis's feathers. "I'm sorry boy, but what else do we have?"
Harry put their empty bowls back on the floor next to the cat flap and he and Selena lay down on their beds, somehow hungrier than they had been before the soup.
"Harry?" Selena murmured.
"Hmm…"
"Suppose we're still alive in four weeks, do you think Dumbledore'll notice that we're not at Hogwarts? Maybe he'll send Hagrid to come get us, it's not like Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia can stand up to Hagrid, I mean… look what happened last time."
"I hope so Selena, I hope so indeed," said Harry. What they would give for the Hogwarts gamekeeper Hagrid to come knocking on the door. Last year, before they found out that they were magical, Hagrid had shown up himself to deliver their acceptance letters in person. Hagrid also terrified the Dursleys and gave Dudley a pig's tail when he lost his temper after Uncle Vernon had insulted Dumbledore. Would he be able to make the Dursleys let them go a second time?
The room was growing dark. Exhausted, stomachs rumbling, minds spinning over the same unanswerable questions, Harry and Selena fell into an uneasy sleep.
It wasn't clear to them how long they had been sleeping when they suddenly heard the sound of rattling at the bars. "Stop it," Harry muttered as the rattling continued.
"Leave us alone… cut it out… we're trying to sleep…" Selena murmured.
They then opened their eyes. Moonlight was shining through the bars on the window. And someone was goggling at them through the bars: a freckle-faced, red haired, long nosed someone.
Ron Weasley was outside Harry and Selena's window.