Harry and the Pirates
Chapter 25
The Midday Express
Harry came snapping awake. It was the night before he was to leave for Hogwarts, and there was something in the bed with him…something that didn't belong. He grabbed for his wand. "Lumos!" he hissed, hoping not to awaken Dudley. His cousin had a hard time falling asleep sometimes, and really wasn't fond of being awakened unnecessarily.
He let out a startled gasp. Perched on the bed was a weird creature; no more than three feet high, draped in a ratty towel, with a wizened face and big bulging eyes. Roanapur instincts kicked in, and Harry pointed his wand, snapping: "Dudley! We've got intruders!"
Dudley catapulted out of his sheet-and-blanket cocoon, his wand in his hand. "What in Buddha's name is that?" he gasped.
The creature cringed to see two wands pointed toward it. "Oh, kind masters, forgive poor Dobby! Dobby is only here to tell you that the great Harry Potter must not go to Hogwarts! There is great danger!"
"First off, what in the world are you?" Harry snarled, reaching for his glasses with his free hand. "Second, how in the world did you get in here?"
"Dobby is a house-elf, and house-elves can go where they need to," the creature answered. Harry's eyes went wide, and he knew Dudley's had, too. They had heard mention of house-elves many times, but this was the first one they'd seen up close.
" Very well. Whose house-elf are you, and why are you here?" Dudley asked. He had managed to snag his pistol from the nightstand where it usually rested, and while he wasn't pointing it, it was ready to go into action.
Dobby began to weep. "Oh, this is so difficult! House-elves keep their masters' secrets, but Dobby must warn Harry Potter not to go to Hogwarts! There is great danger there this year, and it is aimed at Harry Potter!"
Harry gave Dobby a sardonic grin. "Look, Dobby, I do appreciate the warning, but I come from a dangerous place. You ought to see Roanapur sometime. Gunfights in the streets are the least of it!" He shivered, remembering the murderous maid Roberta and how she'd remorselessly chased him and his friends through the streets, after casually blowing up the Yellowflag bar and winning a gunfight with the local Colombian cartel representatives.
"Yeah, he and I can both take care of ourselves. What sort of danger are you talking about?" At this question from Dudley, Dobby began twisting his long, floppy ears, before jumping off the bed and beginning to bang his head against the wall. "Stop that! Stop that right now!"
"Oh, Dudley Dursley is a great wizard!" sobbed Dobby. "To care about the welfare of a lowly house-elf! We house-elves must punish ourselves if we displease a wizard or witch, especially our master or mistress!"
Harry got off the bed and knelt by Dobby's side. "You came here to warn us about danger. Why did you come, if your master will be angry?"
Dobby looked at Harry and Dudley with his huge eyes. "Oh, Harry Potter doesn't know how things were before he banished You-Know-Who! Those days were very dark! House-elves were routinely threatened with death! Of course, Dobby is still threatened with death daily, but things are better for elves in general, and it's all down to the great Harry Potter!"
Harry felt like tearing his hair. "But can you tell me what sort of danger is at Hogwarts?"
"No! Dobby has said too much already! Dobby will have to iron his ears just for coming here!" And with a pop, the elf disappeared. Harry and Dudley looked at each other. Then Dudley sighed.
"It's four o'clock. I won't be able to get back to sleep, not after this. What d'you say to a spot of tea apiece? We're all packed up and ready to go tomorrow."
"Sounds good." The boys were both British, and that meant that they felt that a cup or two of tea would make anything better. Soon they were sitting on their beds, trying to make sense of their visitor.
"Maybe he's just barmy," Dudley offered. "I mean, you banished that bad wizard again last year. How can he be up to fresh shenanigans?"
"I don't know, Dudley," Harry said, sipping thoughtfully at his tea. "I'd feel better if Hermione was here. She's read a lot more than we have, and she'd likely know more about house-elves than we do."
"Maybe we can ask her tomorrow." Dudley emptied his teacup and got up to refill it. "In the meantime, how about watching a video? We won't be able to again till Christmas hols." Harry was willing enough, and soon they were laughing at a comedy video, the visit all but forgotten.
OOO
The next day, they got to Kings Cross station in plenty of time. Balalaika and Petunia had both drilled it into them that "early is on time and on time is late," and they were soon standing on Platform 9 ¾, looking around. Harry saw when the Weasleys arrived, and waved to show them where he and Dudley were.
Ron, Fred, George and Percy all came over, and Harry noticed with amusement how their little sister tagged after them, shy but determined not to be left out. She had Luna Lovegood in tow, and the blonde witch came right up to Harry and Dudley fearlessly. "Hello, Harry Potter and Dudley Dursley. It's very nice to see you again. Daddy thinks the world of you and your friends, you know. He was afraid he'd lost me."
"Nobody'd want to lose you, Luna," Dudley said, smiling down at the small blonde. She cocked her head to one side and gave him a long, appraising stare, solemn as an owl. Dudley was clearly amused, turning slightly to give her a good look.
"I think Luna's found something she likes," one of the twins commented.
"Better watch out, Dudley! She may look harmless, but she has a whim of steel. If she decides she wants you, that'll be that!" the other twin chuckled.
Ron and Percy whirled on the twins, their eyes blazing. But before they could say anything, Ginny swiftly kicked both twins in the shins, hard. "You lay off Luna! I still remember all the times you pranked her! You try that again and I'll owl Mum so fast you won't know what hit you!" The twins paled slightly.
Luna moved closer to Dudley, and he put his arm around her protectively. Luna snuggled up, looking at Dudley with big round eyes that brimmed with trust. Harry noticed, and smiled to himself. His big cousin was touchy about bullies. Luna was in safe hands.
Once they were aboard the train, Harry and his friends claimed a compartment, and hauled Ginny and Luna in with them. "Keep you two safe from the ruckus out there," Ron explained.
"They run up and down, hooting and hollering, and acting very childishly," Hermione sniffed, and everybody else grinned. That remark was vintage Hermione!
"They're children, Hermione. Just like us." Luna looked steadily at Hermione, and much to Harry's amusement, Hermione blushed slightly. "Did you forget that?"
Seeing Hermione reminded Harry of what had happened the night before. "Hermione, what do you know about house-elves?"
Hermione gave Harry a strange look. "They're mentioned in some of my books, but none of them have gone into much detail. Why do you ask?"
"Dudley and I were visited by one last night. He tried to tell me not to go to Hogwarts. He wouldn't say why. Just that there was danger waiting."
"That's really rum," Ron said, raising one ginger eyebrow. "House-elves are generally found in large wizard houses. Mum'd love to have one to help with housework, but we're not nearly posh enough to have one."
"Do you think it might have been sent on purpose, or do you think it came on its own?" Hermione looked thoughtful.
"Difficult to say. For the most part, house-elves have to do as their owners say." At the word "owner," Hermione's eyes went hard.
"Owners? Are you saying they're slaves?"
"They're bound to a wizarding family, usually. If they're dismissed, they often pine away." Hermione looked horrified. "They do all sorts of work around the house, and have their own kind of magic."
"Well, I know what I'll be doing when I get to school!" Hermione gave them all a very determined look. "There's got to be something about house-elves in the library!" Ron, Dudley, and Harry all shared a look. That was absolutely classic Hermione.
About midway into the journey, the door to their compartment opened, and there stood Draco Malfoy, grinning nastily. Beside him, Crabbe and Goyle loomed. "Oh, there you are. I'm not too surprised that you took up with Loony, here. But everybody in Slytherin knows you've got poor taste. Must be that bad Muggle blood coming through."
"You're talking smack about my parents again, Draco?" Dudley's voice dripped icicles, and his wand was in his hand. "I thought we had this conversation last year. Guess hanging around with that criminal must have made you forget!"
Harry and Hermione also drew their wands. "And that goes for my mother, and her family, Draco," purred Harry, smiling his most ominous smile…the one he'd learned from watching Balalaika intimidating people while staying perfectly polite and never raising her voice. "You've been getting kind of big for your britches!"
Hermione's eyes gleamed dangerously. "There's three of us, and three of you. I'd just as soon things stayed peaceful, but if you want to dance, we do know the steps. Think your two goons are up to the challenge?"
"What do you mean, three?" Ron snarled. He glared at Draco, his wand hand twitching with eagerness. "Luna's a friend of my sister's. That means that if you insult her, you insult all of us! Not to mention, I count six wands in this compartment, and you've only got three! I'd be careful, Draco. One of these days, that alligator mouth of yours will run up a bill your canary arse can't cover! So mind your step!"
Draco clearly hadn't expected the ferocity of their response, and took a step back. "Just you wait! You'll regret calling my dad a criminal!"
"Oh?" Ron's voice was all honeyed innocence…like a valentine wrapped around an ice pick. "You expect us to believe for one second that your father was 'under the Imperius?'" He snorted theatrically. "Tell that to the Hufflepuffs…we Slytherins won't believe it!"
"What legitimate business would he have at Borgin and Burke's, Draco?" Hermione hissed the question, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "That place is full of all sorts of Dark Arts paraphrenalia!"
"Like-?" Distracted for a minute, Ron turned to Hermione. "What did you see there, Hermione? And how would you recognize it?"
"There was a Hand of Glory. If you put a candle into it, it only gives light to whoever's holding it. That's Dark Arts right there; human body parts other than things like hair or fingernail clippings are only used for Dark spells. And the Hand of Glory's made from the hand of an executed murderer!"
"Damn, I wish I'd have known! I can think of dozens of uses for something like that!" Harry grinned. "And wouldn't something like that be useful back home, Dudley?"
His cousin nodded eagerly. "Bags we buy it if it's still there over the hols!"
"Harry James Potter! What use would you have for such an awful thing?" shrieked Hermione, before she visibly remembered. "Oh…yeah. Roanapur." She blushed.
"What sort of town do you come from, Potter?" Draco asked, his eyes wide. "From what you've said, it's some sort of criminals' haven!" He sneered. "And you dare to call my father a criminal?"
"Oh, Roanapur's perfectly nice," Harry said blandly. "Most of the time."
"In any case, Draco, I think it's been made clear that you're not welcome here. You're rude, ill-bred, and the Platonic ideal of obnoxiousness. Go somewhere else where we don't have to look at you. We'll have to put up with you at school, but for now, we want you gone!" And with that, Ron slammed the compartment door in Draco's surprised face.
Luna, who'd watched the whole exchange with wide eyes, finally spoke up. "Thank you. I know some people think I'm a bit strange, but it was very nice of you to stick up for me." She snuggled a little closer to Dudley, who put his arm around her, then blushed to see Hermione and Ginny's knowing expressions. Even so, he didn't take his arm away.
END