Harry had just sat down in the library the next morning when a house-elf appeared in front of him. He jumped in surprise.
"We found Dobby. He's in the kitchens, waiting for you," said the elf.
Harry was surprised. The elves had said they would try to contact Dobby but he had not realised they would be so quick. He quickly followed the elf to the kitchens. The other elves had formed a circle around Dobby, who looked very nervous.
"Harry Potter is wanting to speak to Dobby?" asked Dobby.
"That's right. What have you heard about the plans to open the Chamber of Secrets?"
"Dobby cannot say," said the elf miserably with a frightened glance at the house-elves around him. He looked cornered and Harry was worried he would vanish at any moment.
He wondered what he could ask without upsetting Dobby. Then he remembered that, despite Dobby's tiny height, he was not speaking to a small child. Rather than coaxing the information out of Dobby, he could try to convince Dobby to help him. So he told Dobby what he had discovered. He left out the exact location of the Chamber of Secrets and the method of opening it, in case Dobby was actually spying for the Malfoys. But he described what a basilisk was with emphasis on its large fangs and deadly eyes and he talked about Myrtle's death and his fear that more students would die like she did.
He finished by saying, "Please help us, Dobby. I'm so scared that the basilisk will be released soon and kill a lot of students. Basilisks are really hard to kill. The only hope we have of stopping it is to make sure the chamber is not opened. And you're the only one who can help us find out who will do that."
"Harry Potter is wanting to protect students. Harry Potter is a great wizard! Dobby is wanting to help. But nobody is opening the Chamber of Secrets. Master is having a diary. He is telling mistress about it. And this diary is causing the chamber to open if a Hogwarts student is using it."
Harry paused. Despite everything he had learned about magic, he didn't understand how a diary could do that. The other elves seemed equally confused.
"We need to see this diary. Dobby, can you bring it to us?"
Dobby shook his head quickly. "Dobby cannot take master's things. Witches and wizards are forbidding all house elves from taking their things."
"People could die because of it! There must be some way."
Dobby hesitated. "Dobby cannot give the diary to Harry Potter. But if Harry Potter is taking the diary then Dobby is not stopping him."
"Oh. So where is it?"
"In the master's study."
"Wait, it's in the Malfoy's house? I can't go in there! A family that rich must have really good security. And they'd probably put some awful curse on me if they caught me."
Dobby shook his head. "Dobby is taking Harry Potter into the manor so wards are not stopping Harry Potter."
"Alright. But I could still be discovered inside."
Dobby shook his head again. "The family is in Italy. They is not coming back this week."
Harry thought about it for a moment. "That sounds okay then. Can you take me there now?"
There was a cry of protest from several of the Hogwarts house-elves. "Harry Potter is not going into dark wizard's home. Harry Potter is too young!"
"But I'll be fine! Nobody will be there except Dobby and he can show me where to go!"
There was some more arguing but gradually the elves resigned themselves to Harry's stubbornness and started giving advice. They warned him that there would be portraits watching but he reminded them that he would be wearing his invisibility cloak. He assured him that he would not touch anything except the diary and that he would not go anywhere else in the manor house for any reason. At their insistence, he and Dobby planned exactly what they would do.
"Harry Potter is ready?" Dobby asked finally.
Harry felt a shiver go down his spine. He had heard so many horrible things about the Malfoys and the idea of being in their house with a house-elf he barely knew was disturbing. But, he reminded himself, it was necessary.
"Yeah, I'm ready," he said. Dobby held out a tiny hand to Harry and he bent down and took it.
He felt a horrible squeezing sensation and immediately wondered if something had gone wrong. Perhaps Dobby was killing him. But then he felt the ground beneath his feet and fell to his knees on an unfamiliar carpet. For a moment, he couldn't see anything but, as his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he saw that he was in a large room lined with bookshelves. There were windows but they were covered by thick, dark curtains. Dobby was already busy dusting the bookshelves with magic. A large portrait depicted some pompous looking wizard in elaborate, old-fashioned robes who was watching Dobby with an air of dignified boredom. So far, their plan was working.
Harry tiptoed over to where Dobby was standing and looked for the box containing the diary, which Dobby was supposed to lead him to. Sure enough, there was a small ornately carved wooden box on the sixth shelf.
What Dobby had not mentioned was that it was higher than he could reach. Sometimes he really hated being short for his age. He could easily have levitated it down to him but there was no way the portrait would fail to notice that, even in a dark room. So, being careful not to trip on the bottom of his cloak, Harry stepped onto the edge of the bottom shelf and slowly climbed up the shelves until he was finally able to reach the lid of the box.
He glanced down. Dobby was gone. It did not take long to magically clean a room so Dobby had to move elsewhere to avoid making the portraits suspicious. They had expected to have the diary within a few seconds but luckily had a back-up plan that Dobby would continue cleaning rooms in a certain direction until Harry found him. It was unnerving to be alone.
He tried to open the box but felt a sharp pain in his hand, as if the lid had burned him. He gasped and nearly fell of the bookshelf. The sensation faded quickly but he remained frozen in fear. The portrait was looking around with a frown, having obviously heard him gasp. He did not dare open the box while it was so alert. Plus he was afraid of touching the box again.
After a few minutes, he tentatively poked the lid with one finger. There was no pain. So he eased the lid open a little, reached inside it and pulled the diary out, quickly hiding it under his cloak. He grinned for a moment before remembering that he was alone in the Malfoy's house. The rest of the house was equally sinister looking and his search for Dobby seemed to take forever. But eventually he found the elf and soon he was sitting on the floor of the Hogwart's kitchn, surrounded by familiar house elves who seemed very happy and surprised to see him alive. Overall, Harry thought, that had been ridiculously easy.
