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Draco in an unexpected situation
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(In a deep, rolling voice) "Last time on Draco in an Unexpected Situation:"
Dobby was still chattering away mysteriously about "training" and "fighting", when Draco was contemplating his belongings, when Dobby paused. This grabbed Draco's attention immediately. Dobby looked straight at Draco-
"but Master Malfoy, I know you are meant for great things." Dobby said with full seriousness. "You will do great things for the Wizarding world, and for the Elven world"
Chapter 3) Conflict
Draco stood there, slightly stunned by the words expressed by the elf, but mostly saying in his head 'this elf is barking mad'.
Dobby finished putting the touches to the outside of the little cottage. From empty ground with sprinkles of grass and weeds, to a cottage nestled carefully under the trees within half an hour. Draco marvelled at the speed of putting up the construction.
Dobby sat Draco down on the floor of the forest. He told Draco very little, except that Draco could not leave for a while. He would not be found, and there was no way of escape, and he would be there with Dobby alone for a while. Dobby did not want to overtax Draco too much, as he knew that Draco would not understand what was going on just yet. He would tell him more a little later.
Dobby led Draco inside the cottage, and let Draco have a little walk around. It was empty with hard wooden walls, perfectly rectangular rooms with nothing in them expect for doors adjoining them, with the rooms varying in size in the one storey building, although Draco imagined from the roof it must look like a strange "M" shape, if someone could see it from above as there were so many trees surrounding the cottage, that it must look just like any other small clearing in the forest. Perhaps it was even invisible if you viewed it from the top?
By the time Draco had walked around the 6 tiny rooms, they had changed slightly. Dobby had moved the furniture in that had been sitting outside, and added a few bits of his own to it.
All of Draco's belongings were in the room that came off of what was now like a living room. It was a living room in that it had a soft looking greenish-brown dragon-hide sofa, a large bookcase that was bare and looked forlorn with nothing on it, and a soft, cream coloured rug on the hard, wooden floor.
Draco's 'room' as he supposed it was, looked cramped with all of his belongings in it. The room was far smaller than those he was used to, and no where near as pleasing to the eye. His few clothes that Dobby had taken from Malfoy Manor, filled the small cupboard used as a wardrobe, his stuffed dragon covered most of the single bed (right now the dragon sat there, preening its wings gently) crafted out of some cheap-looking wood, with a single sheet on it, although it was thicker and softer than he was used to- a "doovay" he thought it was called. His duvet was really only a 10 tog, but Draco, not having known about duvet thickness thought it was thick.
Leading from the living room also, was a bathroom that had a shower in it, a toilet and a sink. This looked incredibly basic and Draco did not think he would feel clean from using those facilities.
There was also another bedroom leading from the living room, which Dobby did not care to explain, but had a single human sized bed in it, with a wardrobe, and a little more length to the room than Draco had, although it was thinner.
There was also a small kitchen area, with a chilled cupboard, a large dry cupboard, and one that was so cold it was icy inside. There was also a small stove, with a plain black cauldron over it. Dobby had filled the magical cupboards with various foods, both from the magical world and from the muggle world. Draco did not know which was which in most cases, as he was not used to seeing raw ingredients in cupboards. He would normally only go to the kitchen in his parents' manor if he wanted to cut through the back way to get to the greenhouses behind the manor, which wasn't very often. On those occasions, he barely noticed the facilities of the kitchen. He had a feeling that for whatever reason he was here with Dobby, it wouldn't be for Dobby to get him food and drink and bring it to him all of the time, so he would possibly have go get used to coming here occasionally.
The final room adjoined the kitchen, and was fairly small, with a very low to the ground house elf sized bed in the corner, a rough looking brown mat on the floor next to the bed, and a tiny bedside table with 3 drawers in it. Sitting on top of this was a photo frame with a dark looking picture on it. Draco didn't look though, as he barely stood at the open door for a second before realising it was a room for Dobby, and he closed the door quietly, and watched Dobby for a few minutes, who was levitating plates and cutlery into the kitchen cabinets.
Once Dobby had finished this, he spoke gently to Draco.
"Master Malfoy- This is where you will stay for the next 10 months."
"But… why?" Draco replied extremely unsure of himself. He did not understand what was going on, or why he should have to stay here.
"You ises important to the war effort young Malfoy. You will learn more as time passes- but now, letses say that you has the potential to be powerful, and Dobby will help you meet the fullesty of your potential."
Despite his confusing grammatical use, Dobby was clear and sounded like he knew a secret that Draco should know. Draco didn't like this feeling. He had never known that House Elves could hide secrets.
"Can Dobby call you 'Draco'?"
"Oh… of course" Draco responded confusedly.
"Draco- this area is not in Britain. There ises no ministry monitoring this island. You can perform any magic in this area that I allow you to."
Draco gained a little confidence at hearing Dobby asserting authority over his actions "And why do you have to tell me what magic I can do?" he said flicking his wand into his hand.
Dobby didn't respond. He didn't need to, as with a click of his fingers, Draco's wand was back in its sheath inside Draco's sleeve.
"Because I control everything on this island. Everything down to the wind around you, was created with my magic"
A light breeze was starting to increase in speed around Draco. It was starting to make his robes flap around. Shortly his hair would come loose from the Mrs. Mastix Super hair gel that was slopped over his head.
A shocked look on Draco's face changed the wind. It dulled down to a gentle breeze again, which was a pleasant feeling. Draco's face relaxed and he knew not to mess with Dobby in this place.
By the end of the night, Dobby was showing Draco basic house elf magic. He showed him how to levitate items without the use of a wand, channelling the magic in the air into the body, and out through a focal point- in this case, the movement of the index finger on his right hand. Draco even tried to replicate this, but before the wooden spoon even rose a centimetre, Draco gained a headache that would have him clutching his head and not opening his eyes for a whole hour. Undoubtedly, the spoon made a small thud as it touched the hard wooden tabletop as Draco screamed in pain. Dobby cooked a simple meal of tinned tomatoes and tuna, with pasta. Even though he was used to much grander meals, it didn't taste bad, and Draco got the impression that tomatoes and tuna were made to be eaten together.
Over the next few days, Draco learned a lot from Dobby. The simple charms he started to get to grasps with, were complimented by advanced transfigurations, which Dobby allowed Draco to use his wand for. Dobby had showed Draco how to use plaster boarding and plastering charms. Dobby undid the work 6 times before he was satisfied that Draco could do it right, but within a week, Draco's room had flat walls as opposed to the wooden slats that covered the rest of the small cottage. Draco was then allowed to try and use paint charms that Dobby taught him. By the end of two weeks, the cottage looked more like a modest flat from the inside. All of the walls were flat, mostly with eggshell white paint on. The bathroom and Draco's rooms were the exception. The bathroom had been tiled (Draco was completely baffled by the time it was complete, because Dobby had dismantled whole walls 10 times after Draco's attempts before giving up and doing it himself in dark blue and white tiles). Draco was allowed to do his room in whichever colours he wished. As expected, green and silver were the main colours. The carpet and lower walls were a Slytherin green, the upper walls were left a cream colour, and he had striped silver and green curtains, and bedspread. If he said so himself, it didn't look half bad.
Dobby also taught Draco how to cook some basic meals, both by hand and using magic (his inner magic wasn't strong enough to work with fire, so Draco was allowed his wand for this too and was told the traditional spells that wizards and witches used).
After perhaps 2 weeks of learning to look after himself, Dobby threw a sword at the ground right in front of Draco's feet.
"Pick it up Draco. Hold it with the hilt pointing upwards, and get a feel for it."
Draco hesitated but did as he was told. So began his sword fighting lessons. He didn't like fighting Dobby because Dobby was so small, but he did not let it stop him. He battled on but slowly, with Draco leaning forward to try to knock the sword out of the Elf's hand. Dobby blocked Draco, and occasionally swiped in the areas that Draco was lagging. Dobby knew that Draco would pick this up quickly. He would be fighting like a pro in no time.
Later that night, Draco lay in his small bedroom with his stuffed dragon sitting on his sheet over his feet. The stuffed dragon lifted its head, let out a small fluffy yawn, and curled up again on Draco's feet. He felt so conflicted. He had always been taught that House elves were little more than the lowest slaves.
He had always been under the impression that they were there to serve, and not to think, not to speak, and to do exactly as required. Draco didn't realise before tonight just how intelligent and resourceful Elves were. Draco startled himself that he thought "Elves" and not house-elves. He had picked this up from Dobby obviously, but hadn't realised what it meant. House-Elves were elves who belonged to a house. Dobby wasn't a house-elf anymore. He was a free Elf. Possibly a Tutor-Elf now, after all he taught Draco how to take care of himself, how to decorate, a bit of how to use Elf magic, and had started to teach him sword-fighting.
"I wonder is in store for me over the next nine and a half months" Draco wondered out loud to himself.
"Good night Draco" a laughing elf called from just outside the door "you shall find out tomorrow!"
/hp/hp/hp/hp/hp/hp
A/N: I will update in about 2 weeks, not tomorrow for those unsure
I hope you are enjoying this story. We will be seeing more of Draco and Dobby, more of Goyle (so don't worry BrokenForEternity), some of Lucius and some mystery guests
I really appreciate the reviews. They motivate me to keep writing, so please read & review.
Next chapter: Therapy