Chapter 6: Back in the Cage

Hedwig was so relieved that on the day they were to leave, for her young master seemed to have recovered from his ordeal. She was forced back into her cage as they got back, but at the moment she didn't care. She was so glad to see Harry face-to-face and alive that she felt that she could put up with anything for now. He smiled at her in a tired way as they got back onto the train; and he told her that they would be back at that house for only two months before they would be able to come back.

Hedwig wasn't too sure she liked that. To go back to that house with those horrible people? But he also said that they might go visit Ron soon though. Oh, she hoped so… she wasn't sure if she could stand being in that house with those ugly people again for two months.

As if sensing what she thinking, Ron spoke up just as they were getting off the train, "You must come and stay this summer, both of you — I'll send you an owl."

She hooted in agreement as Harry thanked him. As they walked back through the wall, she overheard some of the kids call out things like:

"Bye, Harry!"

"See you, Potter!"

She tilted her head. Now what happened? Just a week ago they wanted nothing to do with him, but here they were saying goodbye?

Just then Ron leaned in and whispered to him, a grin on his face, "Still famous."

"Not where I'm going, I promise you," said Harry, his own smile a little forced at those words. For a minute she wondered what he was talking about, at least until she remembered the three pigs back at that house. Oh, she really hoped that they wouldn't be stuck there for too long.

The trio walked on together until she noticed a little red-headed girl standing there with her mother. For a moment, she looked familiar and Hedwig tried to think back. Just then, she cried out in an excited voice, "There he is, Mom, there he is, look!"

It was then she realized that it was that same little girl that she had seen on that day a long time ago. Hedwig could see that she hadn't changed a bit as she continued cooing to her mother in an thrilled way.

"Be quiet, Ginny, and it's rude to point," her mother scolded gently as she smiled at them.

"Busy year?" she asked as they came forward.

"Very," said Harry. As the two talked, Hedwig shook her feathery head as she privately thought, 'You don't know the half of it.'

They talked for only a short time before she heard another familiar voice say rudely, "Ready, are you?"

Oh, great. She looked up to see that the walrus of a man was coming towards them, looking as ugly and as mean as always. She narrowed her eyes as he came up and started snapping at Harry to hurry. She let out a call of annoyance at him as Harry said his final goodbyes to Ron and Hermione before he followed him.

Hedwig's head twisted around so that she could look at the group of people, silently hoping that they would get them away from these people as soon as possible.

*A Month Later*

During the school year, Hedwig had heard of the great Harry Potter. However the boy, who currently owned her, wasn't like the powerful warrior that everyone had been led to believe he was. Instead of the great hero, she saw instead an under-nourished and unloved young boy who clearly needed her as much as she needed him.

She remembered how he smiled when he said goodbye to his two friends… that was one of the last times she saw a smile on the boy's face for quite some time after they were told to go "home" for the summer. This place was certainly no home for any decent human or owl. Those despicable people he called his family treated him terribly and she tried to offer him as much comfort as she could as he lay up at night, staring up at the ceiling from nightmares.

She remembered that as soon as they got back to the house, the ugly man had taken all of Harry's things and locked them underneath a small door under the stairs, telling him that he wouldn't be allowed to have them back all summer.

She hooted furiously at him and he added with a snarl that he was just lucky that he wasn't putting her down there with the rest of the junk.

"What are you doing with that bird? You want the neighbors to believe we are mad?" he shouted pushing him to make him crash against the door. "Is this what keep you in touch with those… things?"

She shrieked at him, warning him to keep his fat hands off Harry, who glared back up at him—but didn't say a word.

"Well, I'm going to fix that," he said as he dragged Harry and her up the stairs and threw them into the room when she came to live with Harry.

"No more nonsense, no more animals, no more stupidities," said Vernon, putting a big lock on the front of her cage, "I'm going to lock that! I don't want to hear any word from that stupid world you came from! Not a word! Nothing!"

"You can't make me," Harry warned, and for some reason, the man seemed nervous as if he thought that Harry would do something, but he stood his ground.

"I don't care, you stay here. I don't know how you convinced me to let you go to that madhouse in the first place but that shall not happen again," he adverted slamming the door before leaving Harry sitting on his bed in deep helplessness.

She hooted softly at him and he smiled, gently moving her to the table next to his bed. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "But as soon as we get the invite from Ron, we'll leave, ok?"

Hedwig calmed down slightly, hoping that they get the letter early tomorrow morning.

And that has been their lives since that day. She had been trapped inside her cage, while Harry was wandering around the house. Harry spent most of the time in his room with her, only leaving for a couple hours every day such as to eat or go outside. She hated it here. At least last summer she was able to fly…

"WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU?" thundered a voice downstairs early one morning. She glanced down to the floorboards as she heard more shouting. "ABOUT SAYING THE 'M' WORD IN OUR HOUSE? HOW DARE YOU THREATEN DUDLEY?!"

She then heard a crashing sound like something slamming a hammer on the table. She shook her head. This wasn't anything new. She heard that fat man yelling at Harry all the time… usually for no reason.

She looked to the window at the clear, blue and let out a hoot of longing. She just shut her eyes trying hard not to think about it and to dream of the soft wind underneath a night sky filled with stars. But she wasn't asleep for too long for she heard more shouting, this time, from outside.

"MUUUUUUM!" howled the fat man's son. "MUUUUM! He's doing you know what!"

Now what? She kept glancing angrily down below at the floor, wishing that they could all just shut up. If she had to be trapped in this cage for another month or so… she didn't want to hear those three talk.

She closed her eyes again and forced herself to sleep.

But all-too-soon she was once again awoken by a loud banging sound, but this time it sounded like it was right next to her. She woke up with a screech, beating her wings wildly against the bars of her cage.

Harry was there, quickly trying to get her to calm down before he turned his head to look behind him. She stopped and stared at what was there. Sitting there was a creature just like the ones that had let her out of her cage from the train when they arrived at the school. But this one was dirty, beat-up… and now slightly cross-eyed… not like the ones she saw before at all.

"Dobby had to punish himself, sir," the little creature said, "Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, sir…"

"Your family?" Harry repeated, now sitting down across from, who she assumed was Dobby.

"The wizard family Dobby serves, sir…" he went on. "Dobby is a house-elf — bound to serve one house and one family forever…"

So they're called house-elves? Strange creatures.

"Do they know you're here?" asked Harry curiously.

Dobby shuddered and Hedwig would guess no.

"Oh, no, sir, no… Dobby will have to punish himself most grievously for coming to see you, sir. 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 lets Dobby get on with it, sir. Sometimes they reminds me to do extra punishments…"

Now that the shock was wearing off, Hedwig couldn't help but feel bad for him. She tilted her head, wondering just what was happening here.

"But why don't you leave? Escape?" Harry asked, his tone full of bewilderment. Hedwig was just wondering that herself when Dobby went on.

"A house-elf must be set free, sir. And the family will never set Dobby free… Dobby will serve the family until he dies, sir…"

Harry leaned back in his seat. "And I thought I had it bad staying here for another four weeks," he said.

'It is bad, Harry,' Hedwig thought grimly.

"This makes the Dursleys sound almost human. Can't anyone help you? Can't I?"

That was what she loved best about her human boy. He truly was selfless, he hardly ever thinks of himself even when he really should.

But then Dobby started howling again in tears.

"Please," Harry whispered frantically, looking to the door anxiously, and she knew that he was worried about getting into trouble. "please be quiet. If the Dursleys hear anything, if they know you're here —"

Then they'd take it all out on him. She was now also wishing that Dobby would shut up.

"Harry Potter asks if he can help Dobby… Dobby has heard of your greatness, sir, but of your goodness, Dobby never knew…"

Harry, who was now turning a bright red color then snapped back at him, "Whatever you've heard about my greatness is a load of rubbish. I'm not even top of my year at Hogwarts; that's Hermione, she —"

He then stopped and her eyes saddened. He's been doing that a lot lately whenever he thinks of his friends. They said that they'd write, but so far, he hasn't gotten any word from them. Just what was going on out there? She was furious with his friends as they hadn't sent Harry a single letter. She had to watch as he grew more and more withdrawn believing himself unlovable just as his despicable relatives had been telling him. How she longed to be able to tell him this wasn't true.

She listened in to their conversation… but what Dobby said here almost made her fall to the floor of her cage.

"Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts."

What? Can't go back? You mean that the two of them would be stuck here forever? Just the idea of staying here for another month made her want to bang her head against the bars. The idea that she would be able to fly free again once they went back was the only thing that she had to keep her sane. Harry then voiced exactly what she was thinking.

"W-what?" Harry stammered. "But I've got to go back — term starts on September first. It's all that's keeping me going. You don't know what it's like here. I don't belong here. I belong in your world — at Hogwarts."

"No, no, no," squeaked Dobby, shaking his head so hard his ears flapped. "Harry Potter must stay where he is safe. He is too great, too good, to lose. If Harry Potter goes back to Hogwarts, he will be in mortal danger."

That made her stop. She remembered the terrible pain that she had been in that night when Harry almost died. Was she willing to risk something like that again?

"Why?" said Harry, going almost as white as she was.

"There is a plot, Harry Potter. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year," whispered Dobby, suddenly trembling all over in fear. "Dobby has known it for months, sir. Harry Potter must not put himself in peril. He is too important, sir!"

"What terrible things?" said Harry at once and Hedwig leaned in to listen, wondering what was going on here. "Who's plotting them?"

To her astonishment though, the elf started to bang his head against the wall again.

"All right!" cried Harry, grabbing the elf's arm to stop him. "You can't tell me. I understand. But why are you warning me?" He suddenly fell silent and he croaked out, "Hang on — this hasn't got anything to do with Vol — sorry — with You-Know-Who, has it? You could just shake or nod."

Slowly, Dobby shook his head.

"Not — not He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, sir —"

"He hasn't got a brother, has he?"

When Dobby shook his head again Harry said, "Well then, I can't think who else would have a chance of making horrible things happen at Hogwarts. I mean, there's Dumbledore, for one thing — you know who Dumbledore is, don't you?"

The old man again? She still couldn't see what was so special about him.

As they continued talking, Dobby was punishing himself again. But what scared her was when the footsteps and the voice of the fat man coming upstairs. She stayed quiet as Harry shoved Dobby into the closet.

Then he came through the door. "What — the —devil — are — you — doing? You've just ruined the punch line of my Japanese golfer joke… One more sound and you'll wish you'd never been born, boy!"

Feeling scared that the fat man would make good on his promise, she glared at Dobby as Harry let him out.

"See what it's like here?" he hissed. "See why I've got to go back to Hogwarts? It's the only place I've got — well, I think I've got friends."

"Friends who don't even write to Harry Potter?" said Dobby cautiously. Hedwig's eyes widened even wider. How did he know about that?

"I expect they've just been — wait a minute," said Harry, frowning but then he stopped as he looked down at him suspiciously. "How do you know my friends haven't been writing to me?"

"Harry Potter mustn't be angry with Dobby," the elf said at once. "Dobby did it for the best —"

"Have you been stopping my letters?"

Hedwig couldn't believe this. So the reason they were still stuck in this house was because of him?! Oh, if she could get out of this cage, she would be attacking him right now. And just like that, Dobby pulled out a thick stack of envelopes.

"Harry Potter mustn't be angry… Dobby hoped… if Harry Potter thought his friends had forgotten him… Harry Potter might not want to go back to school, sir…"

Mustn't be angry?! How can they not be furious with what he was doing? Harry seemed to lose it as he lunged for the letters, but Dobby jumped out of the way and cried out, "Harry Potter will have them, sir, if he gives Dobby his word that he will not return to Hogwarts. Ah, sir, this is a danger you must not face! Say you won't go back, sir!"

"No," said Harry angrily. "Give me my friends' letters!"

She clicked her beak approvingly as she watched Harry chase him out of the room. She waited—expecting him back right away…

But she waited and waited… she heard a scream downstairs after a short time but then it all fell silent… it was to silent… like a grave and she shuddered, now having a bad feeling about this.

It was about another hour when she saw him again, but when she did, he was being dragged by the dangerous, ugly man who threw the boy into the room before he slammed the door shut behind him… Hedwig then heard a loud 'click' as Harry forced himself up to his knees and looked at the door.

And when she saw the scared, miserable look on his face, it was then that Hedwig knew that Harry was in a locked cage just like her…

(Sorry for the wait, hope you enjoyed this chapter though!)