Author's Note: Most of Dobby's visit is taken from Chamber of Secrets. My muse, (namely my sister), is the one who suggested what you will find out about Eric and insisted I included it. Since it was a good idea, I did, and hope all the readers of this fic like it. This fic is dedicated to my second reviewer for this fic, Lady Alianne.
The two weeks at the Kent home passed rather quickly. Eric got Fred and George back for their prank by putting itching powder in their pajamas. The twins, ignoring what Mrs. Kent had said about not wanting a prank war, retaliated by making Eric's tongue grow four feet long before shrinking it back. Eric then made the twins' robes flash all the colors of the rainbow, and the prank war began. It ended four pranks later, when Mrs. Kent realized what was going on and put a stop to it by threatening to send them home.
On Sunday, Mrs. Kent and Sophie went to church in the village, and Hermione, Alexis, Ginny, Luna, and Neville went with them. Eric, Ron, and Daphne weren't interested, and Mrs. Kent refused to let the twins come, afraid that they might try to cause mayhem during the service. Alexis listened attentively as the vicar talked about some of the miracles Jesus Christ had performed, and thought that a witch or wizard could feed five thousand people from five small loaves and two fishes or turn water into wine. However, raising people from the dead was not something a witch or wizard could accomplish.
The vicar continued on about how Jesus had come to save people from their sins and that His miracles proved that He was the Son of God. Alexis was uncertain about all this. Historically, Jesus had existed and was a real person, and Alexis knew that. However, she wasn't quite ready to believe that He was the Christ and the Son of God. In fact, she wasn't quite sure she believed in the existance of God, either. After all, if He did exist, why did He allow her to be brought up with horrible relatives that abused her? On the other hand, it could be argued that He had brought Mrs. Channing into her life, to make up for what her relatives did.
All this ended up giving Alexis a headache, and she decided to ponder over all this religion stuff at a later time. For now, she believed that some Higher Power had created the universe and everything in it and would leave it at that. Whether that Higher Power was God, she would decide later. She suppressed a sigh, and glanced at Mrs. Kent, who was focusing all her attention on the vicar and appeared to believe everything he said. It looked as if she was a Christian.
After the church service, they returned to the Kent home and had lunch, which had been prepared the day before. Apparently Mrs. Kent followed the Bible on Sunday being the day of rest and the house-elves had the day off.
When lunch was over, Fred and George went off to do their own things and the others went to the nursery. "Sophie, do you have any aunts and uncles?" asked Hermione. "I've been meaning to ask you before, but forgot."
"Yes, I do," replied Sophie. "My mother has a brother, but he didn't like the fact that Mum was a witch and moved to Canada and would have nothing to do with her. My father had two sisters. Aunt Cordelia was ten years older than Dad. She was a very sweet and wonderful person, and I loved her greatly. But Aunt Cordy died when I was seven during her work as an Auror. My other aunt was named Delilah and was two years older than Dad. She got Sorted into Slytherin like him, but unlike him, didn't turn out decent. She fell in with the wrong crowd, swallowed everything they said about purebloods being the best, and got disowned by my grandparents for it. She said she was willing to join You-Know-Who, tried to get her parents and siblings to join with her, and when they refused, called them fools, and left, saying she was going to marry into the Carrow s or Malfoys or a similiar family. I have no idea what happened to her after that, other than that she died in 1981."
"My mother's name was Delilah," said Eric slowly. "My grandparents didn't tell me her maiden name, though. All I know is her first name's Delilah, she came from a respectable pureblood family, and was disowned by them for siding with You-Know-Who."
Sophie jumped up, rummaged through her toy chest, and pulled out a thick tome from the very bottom. "This is a copy of the Prewett family tree. The Kent family tree book is in the library. Anyway, I found this in a box of my grandmother's old things, and hid it so she wouldn't blot out Aunt Delilah's name like she did in the Kent family book. That's how I found about her. I saw the blotted out part and asked Grandmother about it."
She flipped through it and stopped at a page toward the back. "Here is is!" She pointed, and the others crowded around to look. Written in blue ink was the name Delilah Emmeline Kent. Below the name was the date of birth, May 29, 1955, and underneath that was the date of death, September 2, 1981. Next to the name were two gold links connecting it to the name Amycus Carrow, showing that she had married him. Eric gasped. "Does this mean I'm your cousin, Sophie?" he demanded.
"It's very probable," answered Sophie. "But we're not one hundred percent certain. Whenever a daughter of the family has children, the children and who they married appear in the family book, but then it goes no further. They don't record any births for them. If your name were written here, then we'd know for certain. And it's no use looking in the Kent family book, since Aunt Delilah's name got blotted out. Once a name is blotted out, nothing more appears connected to that person."
"There is a spell that allows you to see if you're related," said Daphne. "You could tell your grandmother what you and Eric found out, Sophie, and have her do the spell to see if Eric's related to you."
Sophie's eyes lit up. "Great idea! Thanks, Daphne." She grabbed Eric's hand and dragged him downstairs. The others followed them out of curiousity.
Mrs. Kent raised a brow when Sophie and Eric explained things. "So Eric could be my grandson? I don't find it likely, though I suppose it is possible. And I wouldn't mind having you for a grandson, Eric. Fine, I'll do the spell." She turned to the others and explained the spell. "A gold glow means a parent-child relationship. Silver is a sibling relation and gray a half-sibling. Blue is an uncle or aunt and niece or nephew relation. Red is grandparent-grandchild. A violet glow is a first-cousin relation, and the shade would determine if it was once-removed or something. Green would mean second-cousinship, orange means third, and yellow fourth. Fifth cousinship or more is a brown glow. A very pale color would mean cousin by marriage. If the glow is black or white, it means no blood relation, or there is one, but it's very tiny and trivial. Like if two families intermarried ten generations ago or something similiar."
Mrs. Kent then performed the spell and a scarlet glow surrounded her and Eric. It looked as if they were grandmother and grandson. Then she did the spell on him and Sophie, and a deep purple glow appeared around them. They were first cousins, and the deep color meant that there was no once-removed or whatever involved. Next, the spell was done on Eric and Ron, and a bright green glow appeared around them, showing that they were second cousins.
"Well, well, it looks as if you are related, Eric. I'm your grandmother, you're first cousins to Sophie, and second cousins to the Weasleys. Well, the younger ones, anyway. Molly would be your first cousin once-removed. I expected a brown or white glow, because all pureblood families are related and a Kent must have married a Carrow in the distant past. But I certainly wasn't expecting this. Anyway, this means you won't be calling me Mrs. Kent anymore, Eric. You'll call me Grandmother like Sophie does." Then because the others were curious, Mrs. Kent performed the spell several times on them all.
Ron and Ginny glowed a bright silver. Alexis glowed brown with Neville, Daphne, and Ginny, and white with Sophie, Luna, and Eric, meaning that their families had been closely related in the far distant past. With Hermione, Alexis glowed black, and Hermione glowed black with everyone except Sophie. There, the two glowed white, and they surmised that in the far distant past one of Hermione's ancestors and one of Sophie's mother's ancestors had married. Ron and Ginny glowed a light yellow with Neville, tan with Luna, and white with Daphne.
Fred and George were later told about it, and they were very suprised to find out that Eric was their second cousin. In the meantime, Mrs. Kent took Eric aside several times to talk to him so she could get to know her grandson better. Sophie was absolutely delighted that he was her cousin, though she remarked jokingly, "It's a pity that you're my first cousin now, because that means we can't ever fall in love and get married. If you were my fifth cousin, then we could." Eric had turned crimson, even though he knew it was a joke.
Mrs. Kent wrote to the Carrows, informing them that she had discovered that Eric was her grandson, and that she insisted on his visiting every summer and that he be given a choice of spending Christmas with her or with them. Since grandparents had certain rights in the wizarding world, Eric's paternal grandparents grudgingly agreed, to his delight.
On Friday, Neville's grandmother arrived to take tea with Mrs. Kent. While Mrs. Longbottom was there, she invited Neville's friends, including his new ones (Ginny, Luna, and Daphne), to spend a week at her house. While they were there, they would celebrate Neville's and Alexis's birthdays, as both were at the end of July. Alexis and Sophie accepted right away, while the others wrote to their parents and guardians for permission. The Weasleys, Grangers, Greengrasses, Carrows, and Mr. Lovegood gave their permission.
When Sunday came again, Alexis accompanied Mrs. Kent and Sophie to church. She listened as the vicar talked about how Adam and Eve had eaten from the Tree of Knowledge, causing God to cast them from the Garden of Eden. He continued that because of Adam and Eve, humans had sinned, and went on how only Jesus could cleanse you of the sins. By the time the service was over, Alexis began debating whether or not she wanted to become a Christian.
During lunch, she was rather silent, thinking over what the vicar had said. Was Jesus really the Christ and had been sent by God to die for everyone's sins? Did God really create the universe in six days and rest on the seventh? Was everything else in the Bible true, like David fighting Goliath and Moses leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt? In a historical sense, Jesus's apostles, like Simon Peter and Paul had existed, but did they really perform miracles in Christ's name?
By the time Barry brought in dessert, Alexis had a headache again from all the questions she was debating over. Basically, it all boiled down to faith and logic. She couldn't exactly go back into time to see if Jesus and his apostoles really did perform miracles or if Eve had been tricked by the serpent into eating from the Tree of Knowledge. If she believed that all of it was true, then it was a matter of Faith. Alexis looked at Hermione, then at Luna. Hermione was a logical person, and would believe in things if there was proof. Luna, on the other hand, was not a logical person, and took things on faith. That was why many people considered her to be an oddball.
Alexis sighed, knowing that she between the two extremes. She picked at her apple pie, wondering what she should do. Mrs. Kent interrupted her thoughts. "Alexis, you're not eating your pie. Is something the matter? Or are you too full to eat any more?"
Alexis looked up. "Mrs. Kent, is everything the Bible says true? Should I become a Christian?"
Mrs. Kent looked suprised, but answered, "Yes, the Bible is true. All Christians believe it. As to your becoming a Christian, I think you should. It would do you good. However, the decision rests with you. Nobody can force you to accept Jesus into your heart and ask Him to cleanse you of your sins. That is why God gave humans free will."
"Thank you, Mrs. Kent," replied Alexis. She finished her slice of pie and decided to think over things before she could figure out if she wanted to become a Christian or not.
A game of chess with Ron an hour later drove all other thoughts from her head and she didn't dwell on the issue of religion for the rest of her stay. On Monday afternoon, Alexis was in her room, reading, when there was suddenly a loud pop. She looked up, expecting to see Tribby, but instead it was a house-elf she had never seen before, wearing a ragged and dirty pillowcase.
"Er, hello," said Alexis, staring at him. This elf apparently belonged to a wizarding family that didn't treat him very nicely.
"Alexis Potter!" said the house elf. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, miss ... Such an honor it is ..."
"It may be an honor, but I really don't know what your name is," she responded. "So could you please tell me?"
"Dobby, miss. Just Dobby. Dobby the house-elf," replied the creature.
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Dobby," said Alexis pleasantly. "Please sit down. Why are you here?"
To her horror, Dobby burst into tears - very noisy tears. "S-sit down!" he wailed. "Never ... never ever ..." It was even more apparent that Dobby had never been treated nicely before, and Alexis felt a brief flare of anger. Why couldn't all house-elves be treated the way Mrs. Kent and Sophie treated their elves?
"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I didn't mean to offend you or anything. I was just being polite."
"Offend Dobby!" choked the elf. "Dobby has never been asked to sit down by a wizard - like an equal -"
"Well, it's about time you were treated like an equal," said Alexis, patting Dobby and ushering him to sit on the bed. She wondered if one of her friends would hear Dobby and come to investigate. "I suppose you've never met many decent witches and wizards?"
Dobby shook his head. Then, without warning, he leapt up and started banging his head furiously on the window, shouting, "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"
"Don't - what are you doing?" Alexis hissed, springing up and pulling Dobby back onto the bed.
"Dobby had to punish himself, miss," said the elf, which had gone slightly cross-eyes. "Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, sir ..."
Alexis remembered what Mrs. Kent and Sophie had told her about house elves. "Well, could you not do that here, please? You can punish yourself when you return home, Dobby. And the punishment could be an extra chore. Does your family know you're here?"
Dobby shuddered. "Oh no, miss, no ... Dobby will have to punish himself most grievously for coming to see you, miss. Dobby will have to shut his ears in the oven door for this. If they ever knew, miss -"
"But won't they notice if you shut your ears in the oven door?"
"Dobby doubts it, miss. Dobby is always having to punish himself for something, miss. They lets Dobby get on with it, miss. Sometimes they reminds me to do extra punishments ..."
Alexis felt another flare of anger and had half a mind to find out who Dobby's family was so she could hex them and give them a piece of her mind. Another part of her wanted to find some way to set Dobby free so he could find a decent family to work for. "I wish I could help you, Dobby. Like set you free or something. So why -?"
Alexis broke off as Dobby dissolved again into wails of gratitude. "Alexis Potter asks if she can help Dobby ... Dobby has heard of your greatness, miss, but of your goodness, Dobby never knew ..."
"Whatever you've heard about my greatness is a load of rubbish. Now, why are you here seeing me, Dobby?"
"Alexis Potter is humble and modest," said Dobby reverently, his orb-like eyes aglow. "Alexis Potter speaks not of her triumph over He Who Must Not Be Named."
"Voldermort?" asked Alexis.
Dobby clapped his hands over is bat ears and moaned, "Ah, speak not the name, miss! Speak not the name!"
"Sorry," said Alexis quickly.
Dobby leaned towards Alexis, his eyes wide as headlamps.
"Dobby heard tell," he said hoarsely, "that Alexis Potter met the Dark lord for a second time, just weeks ago ... that Alexis Potter escaped yet again."
Alexis nodded and Dobby's eyes suddenly shone with tears.
"Ah, miss," he gasped, dabbing his face with a corner of the grubby pillowcase he was wearing. "Alexis Potter is valiant and bold! She has braved so many dangers already! But Dobby has come to protect Alexis Potter, to warn her, even if he does have to shut his ears in the oven door later ... Alexis Potter must not go back to Hogwarts."
"What!?!" she demanded. "But I've got to go back - term starts on September the first. I don't belong in the Muggle world. I belong in your world - at Hogwarts. I have no intention of spending the school term with my horrid relatives."
"No, no, no," squeaked Dobby, shaking his head so hard his ears flapped. "Alexis Potter must stay where she is safe. She is too great, too good, to lose. If Alexis Potter goes back to Hogwarts, she will be in mortal danger."
"Why?" said Alexis in surprise.
"There is a plot, Alexis 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, miss. Alexis Potter must not put herself in peril. She is too important, miss!"
"What terrible things?" asked Alexis at once. "Who's plotting them?"
Dobby made a funny choking noise and then banged his head madly against the wall.
"All right!" cried Alexis, grabbing the elf's arm to stop him. "You can't say, I understand. But why are you warning me?" A sudden, unpleasant thought struck her. "Hang on - this hasn't got anything to do with Vol - sorry - with You Know Who, has it? You could just shake or nod," she added hastily, as Dobby's head tilted worryingly close to the wall again.
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 Alexis a hint. Alexis, however, was completely at sea.
"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 Alexis. "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 Must 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 ... power no decent wizard ..."
And before Alexis could stop him, Dobby bounded off the bed, seized the table lamp and started beating himself around the head with ear-splitting yelps. She reached out to grab the lamp away when the door opened and Mrs. Kent and Sophie came in. "What is all this noise?" demanded Mrs. Kent, looking annoyed. Then she spotted Dobby. "And what is a house-elf doing here, since it doesn't look like he's visiting Barry, Tribby, or Kitty?"
Dobby looked frightened and disappeared with a loud pop, dropping a small bundle of letters to the ground as he did so. Sophie picked up the letters, glanced at the one on top, and exclaimed, "Hey, that's Ron's handwriting!" She looked through the rest of the letters, then handed them to Alexis and said, "Well, it looks like we know what happened to your mail."
"You mean Dobby was the one intercepting all my letters?" demanded Alexis angrily. She sorted through the mail, seeing that all her friends plus Hagrid had written to her at least once. She removed the letters that she had written and handed them back to Sophie. "Could you hand them out, Sophie? And explain what happened? I need to write to Hagrid and explain why I haven't answered his letter earlier."
When Alexis had finished the letter to Hagrid and sent it via Sophie's owl, Athena (namely because she uncertain if Dobby had stopped intercepting Hedwig or not), Mrs. Kent summoned her. "I've questioned my house-elves about Dobby. Kitty knows him very well, as they're good friends. She happened to mention the guests here, which is why Dobby knew you were here. Kitty also told me that Dobby is a good elf, and that the family he works for is the Malfoy family."
"The Malfoys?" asked Alexis. "No wonder Dobby was dressed like that and behaved the way he did. I wonder if Draco Malfoy sent Dobby to me as a prank, telling me not to return to Hogwarts. Then that would mean Dobby wasn't really warning me."
"Warning you?" demanded Mrs. Kent. "Tell me everything that Dobby told you, Alexis."
"Well, Dobby first said it was an honor to meet me and talked about how great and kind I was. Then he told me not to return to Hogwarts because I would be in grave danger. He apparently had known for several months about a plot to make terrible things happen at Hogwarts and risked punishment to come and warn me about it. He said it didn't involve Voldemort." Unlike Alexis's friends, Mrs. Kent did not flinch at the name.
"I see," she said, one brow raised. "Prehaps this isn't a joke played on you. The Malfoys are on the Dark Side, and I strongly believe that Lucius Malfoy is a Death Eater. He got off by claiming that Voldemort had bewitched him and donating a great deal of gold to the Ministry. I wouldn't put it past him to plot something terrible. Dobby could very well have heard about the plot, and because he thinks highly of you, decided to come and warn you about it despite the risks involved."
"Oh. It does make sense. And Mrs. Kent, why aren't you afraid to say Voldemort's name like most witches and wizards?"
"I'm a Christian, dear. I know that God is greater than any evil person or demon here on earth, so I have no reason to be afraid."
"Okay. So what do I do now? I prefer being at Hogwarts. But it there's a plot to make terrible things happen there ..."
"Just be careful, Alexis. And talk to Professors Dumbledore or McGonagall if you notice anything unusual. I don't want anything to happen to you, dear."
"All right, Mrs. Kent." Alexis turned to leave, but was called back.
She turned around and Mrs. Kent continued, "You don't have to call me Mrs. Kent anymore. You may call me Grandmother like Sophie and Eric do. You don't have any grandparents of your own, after all, and I would love to be your grandmother-figure."
Alexis nodded slowly, realizing that Mrs. Kent saw her as a surrogate granddaughter. "I'll do my best, Mrs., I mean Grandmother." Mrs. Kent smiled and allowed Alexis to leave.
On Wednesday afternoon, after lunch, Fred and George went home, while the others Flooed over to the Longbottom house. It was smaller than the Kent house on the outside, but on the inside it had almost as many rooms. Mrs. Longbottom, a stern witch of seventy, greeted everyone, introduced them to the house-elf Clary, who would see to their needs, and then showed them to their rooms. After they were all settled in, Neville showed his friends around the house and grounds. His favourite place was the greenhouse.
At six they had dinner. Mrs. Longbottom asked many questions throughout the meal, and by the end of dessert, appeared to strongly approve of Neville's friends (besides Sophie, whom she already approved of). After, the nine of them went upstairs to talk and play games. At nine-thirty, Clary appeared, saying that Mrs. Longbottom wanted them to go to bed. Alexis went to her room, read one of her books for an hour, and then went to sleep.
Next chapter: Neville's and Alexis's birthdays, and Alexis, Sophie, and Neville visiting the Weasleys. (Eric and Daphne won't come because their families won't let them visit 'blood-traitors' and Hermione can't because her parents are taking her on a holiday for two weeks.) Alexis will spend the rest of the summer at the Weasleys, while Sophie and Neville will only stay two weeks.
