The Knight's Bus whirled around and came to a stop in front of a muggle house in a muggle neighborhood. The Boy-Who-Lived was an important wizard in Stan Turnpike's mind and when the boy mumbled something about 'Healer Andromeda Tonks', the conductor knew the witch's address and went there first.
Leaving the bus for a moment, Stan helped the young wizard down the steps and then up the short walkway to the house. When the door opened, a witch in a severe cut of healer robes stared at Stan and a young man who appeared ready to faint. The healer didn't hesitate to step outside and take the teenager in hand.
"Thanks, Mrs. Tonks. I knew you'd take care of 'im."
The witch asked, "Stan, who is this?"
"He's Harry Potter and needs your help. Somebody welted his backside something fierce. I gotta go," Stan said as he hurried back to his bus and disappeared.
Shuffling Harry inside the house, Andromeda levitated the young man off his feet, so it was as if he was on a bed, talked to him softly, and placed him under a sleeping spell. The boy was weak from blood loss and possibly in shock. She hurried to push his form into her small surgery where she rolled him over on his stomach, pulled on muggle surgery gloves, and used spells to cut away his pants and underpants but preserve them as evidence before she began cleaning away the blood. In the beginning, she used sterilized muggle cloths and pure, boiled water.
After four minutes, the healer paused one moment, removed her gloves, and used her wand to send a Patronus to her husband. "Come home. Camera. Photos soonest."
As she put on new gloves, she nodded, knowing she'd made the correct choice – rather than make the photos herself, her attorney husband needed to make the photos of the injuries someone inflicted on the Boy-Who-Lived.
"The Wizengamot didn't believe me about Sirius while I was under oath yesterday. I won't take the chance again with this…whatever this is."
The floo whooshed in the lounge and Ted walked in with his camera ready. When he saw the boy's backside, he swore, "Merlin and Mary!"
The attorney's muggle upbringing allowed him to mix curses in interesting ways. Without asking any questions, he set to work and photographed the buttocks of the kid who'd been abused by someone.
"How long ago did this happen?" he asked between snaps of the camera.
"I don't know anything yet but wanted to get photos made before I began treatment. All I've done is clean him up."
"I'm done. I'll go develop these while you work." At the door, he turned back and asked, "Who is this boy?"
"Harry Potter," she replied without waiting for his response. Then Andromeda set to work with her wand casting spells to close the welts, prompt new skin to grow and the swelling to ease. The damaged nerves would take some time to heal but once the welts were dealt with, Andromeda threw a sheet over the boy's midsection, and she rolled Harry onto his side.
"I need help!" Andromeda called out. However, rather than Ted, an elf appeared. The tiny creature cried and pulled his ears.
"Mr. Harry Potters gots beat again and Dobby didn't stop it! Dobby bad-elf to not help his friend. Missy Hedwig Snowy Owl better friend than Dobby elf."
Raised as a pureblood witch in a household with elves around her at all times, Andromeda stated firmly, "Elf, help me heal Mr. Potter. Levitate him so his buttocks don't touch the table while I get a blood replenishing potion into him. You can cry later."
"Yes, Mrs. Healer Tonks," the elf replied immediately as he waved his hands to levitate his friend above the table.
With the first potion safely swallowed, Andromeda ordered the elf, "Hold him still."
She pulled a calming potion from her stores and also got it down Harry's throat. Then she rotated Harry back onto his stomach and motioned for the elf to lower him to the table. The elf snapped his fingers, and the tabletop became soft as a bed.
Removing the cover once again, Andromeda used her wand to summon a cream and used a spell to spread it thickly over the welts without rubbing the torn flesh. The cream numbed the pain and speeded healing. Then she covered the boy with a clean sheet and turned to the elf just as Ted returned to the room.
The middle-aged attorney said, "The photos will be ready in about ten minutes. What do you know?"
"I think this little fellow is a friend of Mr. Potter and he can tell us a great deal of what we need to know."
Ted knelt on one knee and began asking the elf a series of simple questions. Andromeda realized her husband had assumed the perfect posture when speaking and not threatening an elf.
"What is your name?"
"I is Dobby Elf, and I be's free elf," the fellow said forcefully.
"Do you belong to Harry Potter?"
"No, Harry Potter sets Dobby free from evil Malfoy, but Dobby hopes to be parts of family of greatest wizard someday."
Ted nodded and asked, "I think Harry is a great wizard too, Dobby. But tell me, do you know how Harry Potter came to be injured today?"
"Yes, Mr. Husband of Healer Tonks."
"Do you know who did this"?
"Yes, Dobby knows," the elf replied with a grimace on his face that promised pain to someone.
Ted asked, "Does Harry know you were around him?"
Revealing his secret, Dobby shook his head and said, "Dobby thinks he can only help Mr. Harry Potter get away from Death Eaters, not his family or friends."
"Where did this happen?"
"At Red Weasels' shack. Howler cast nasty welts at Mr. Harry Potters because he wants to read Daily Prophets about his Dogfather trial but Howler Molly yelled 'No! No!'" the elf explained.
Once he began his story, the words hurried out in flood. "When Mr. Harry Potters not hand over paper, Howler throws three welt hexes at…she hurt Mr. Harry Potters. Dobby wants to throw Howler Molly from tiptop of Hogwarts castle without a broom or a wand."
"Well, don't do that Dobby. I think Mr. Potter needs you as his friend for a long time to come," Ted said, and Andromeda watched her husband repeat the answers as he interpreted them.
"Dobby, you said that Harry Potter was at the home of Arthur and Molly Weasley. They live in Ottery Saint Catchpole, don't they?"
"Yes, Mr. Husband of Healer Tonks."
"Harry was reading the Daily Prophet articles about his dogfather's trial and Mrs. Weasley objected?"
"Yes, she demands the paper."
"Was it her newspaper?"
"No, it be Mr. Harry Potter's copy that Missy Hedwig Snowy Owl brought him in the morning early."
"Did Mrs. Weasley have a copy of the paper?"
"Dobby does not know but on Sundays, Mrs. Weasley burned Mr. Harry Potter's copy of the Daily Prophet. Mr. Nose in Harry Potter's Business White Bearded Whiskers Goat Lover tells Mrs. Howler Weasel to keep all news away from Mr. Harry Potters."
"Who is that?" asked Ted.
Andromeda replied, "Dumbledore."
"Why was Harry staying at the Weasley home?"
The elf explained, "My Mr. Harry Potters visits Weasels to go watch wizards chase magic balls around in sky. Wizards ride on brooms and Mr. Harry Potters enjoys but Dobby thinks they all be crazy."
Ted asked, "Dobby, can you collect all of Harry's belongings?"
"Dobby already dids," the elf replied pulling the trunk from inside his shirt. "Mr. Harry Potters got a special pouch on his belt that holds most precious belongings."
Andromeda said, "Thank goodness I didn't banish his pants."
"Youse can't banish it," the elf said shaking his head. "The Black family magic be too strong to be banished."
"The Black family? How did Harry Potter have something from the Black family?"
Dobby actually rolled his eyes, an affectation he'd adopted from Harry Potter, and explained, "Harry Potters be Heir Potter and Heir Black. Sirius Black be Harry Potter's Dogfather. Harry Potter be grand-grandson of Arcturus Black, last Lord Black before Sirius Black maybe be Lord Blacks."
"Then how did Harry end up with the Weasleys?"
"First, Harry Potters spent summer with muggle relatives who starve him and let Baby Whale beat on him. Then he comes to Weasels for the stupid flying game."
Andromeda voiced her agreement about the stupid flying game, though Ted scowled and continued asking, "Why didn't Harry go to the trial for his godfather – Dogfather?"
The elf frowned and explained, "Mr. White Bearded Whiskers tells Mr. and Mrs. Weasel that Harry Potters must stay at their house and not allowed to go to trials or anywhere until gets on Hoggiewarts Train. My Harry Potter wanted to go to the trials but Mr. Scared of Howler Weasel and Mrs. Howler Weasel says that Mr. White Bearded Whiskers says no."
Listening to the elf's speech patterns gave Andromeda a headache but Ted appeared to be handling the conversation. He got the elf to tell him the names of every person in the house at the time of the assault and was pleased to learn that a muggle-born witch had witnessed the incident.
"You know that no one in the ministry will believe some muggle-born against a pureblood," Andromeda said.
"No, but the muggle government will, and if I have to get them involved, No.10 will be grateful for all the ammunition I give them."
"Ted, the prime minister isn't going to let anyone prosecute Molly Weasel."
"Molly Weasley, my dear. Always name your opponent properly. And some acquaintances may be more interested in the big fish with the long beard."
"He be White Bearded Whiskers– not fish," Dobby reminded the couple while Harry slept on the table.
"What do we do now?" asked Andromeda.
Ted rose from his place on the floor and said, "Well, how long will Harry be unconscious?"
"It depends on how long he needs to sleep," the healer explained.
The elf spoke up, "Mr. Harry Potters never sleep long. He wake and asks lots of questions if you lets him. He won't want to make troubles."
Ted said, "He could stay here until the first of September. It's not many days."
"Unfortunately, Dora will come around to check on us for Dumbledore. She always wants to know about my patients and your cases," Andromeda said. "I swear the man has her under a compulsion she can't shake."
"Dobby will hide Mr. Harry Potters."
"No, I need to check Harry's wounds each day," Andromeda said. "And Saint Mungo's is not an option."
"How about Gringotts? They're angry at the Wizengamot and trying to destroy Magical Britain through the economy this time," Ted suggested. "The goblins are mad at the government, not individual wizards."
Turning to the elf, the attorney asked, "Dobby, can you find the Potter account manager at Gringotts?"
The elf nodded but then shook his head, frowned, and said, "Bad PigsMouth is paid by Big Nose to steal and rob."
Andromeda smiled suddenly and said, "How about Ironstream, the Vault Manager for the Black Family? He's mad at the wizards in the Wizengamot, Dumbledore, and the rest of them. He'll protect Harry."
"And since Harry has blood from the Black family, maybe he can help with – what was the goblin's name, Dobby?"
The elf rolled his eyes and said, "I'se call him PigsMouth but goblins call him Sowsbreath."
Taking up his quill (a muggle pen that looked like a quill), Ted Tonks wrote a letter to Ironstream. In the twenty years that Ted had practiced law on both sides of the magic mirror, he'd helped Gringotts with several wills, and contested estates. He also assisted the goblins in finding new suppliers of meats, vegetables, and metals when the wizards proved untrustworthy. His voice carried some weight in the caverns underneath London so long as he didn't abuse that privilege.
While Ted and Dobby spoke about the letter, there was pecking at the window of Andromeda's surgery. A large snowy owl sat on the seal, demanding entry. Reluctantly, the witch opened the window, and the owl flew in while Dobby conjured a stand right beside the table. Hedwig dropped the wand and the bloody hair she'd been clutching before landing beside her boy and beginning to churl and whirl sounds to help him rest. The elf retrieved both the wand and the hair that he placed into separate plastic bags. The wand he handed to Ted but the bloody piece of Mrs. Weasley's scalp and hair, he stuck inside his shirt. Andromeda noticed the placement but didn't say anything before leaving the room. The healer returned with two dishes she placed into holders on the stand where Hedwig could drink water and eat the treats.
Taking the letter, Dobby said, "Dobby goes to Goblin Ironside."
End SCENE