Next morning, as Ron lay awake in his bed, he felt vaguely guilty that he had not questioned Dobby further. For example, why was he helping Harry overcome his nightmares? Did Harry ask him to sleep with him? Ron mentally shook his head. That was just ridiculous. And why did Dobby seem so…guilty? Was he lying? Was he really there to help Harry? Ron remembered Dobby banging his head into the post and winced at the memory. Some rules instilled in him back when he was a bound servant stayed with him, and perhaps, so did his loyalty to…Malfoy? After all, he had sounded just like him when he'd answered Ron, and his stammered responses were extremely questionable. Could it be that Malfoy had used Dobby to do something unspeakably evil to Harry because he knew that Dobby was Harry's friend?
And had Ron just let Dobby off the hook even though he knew something else was going on?
"Argh!" Ron scrunched up his eyes and covered his face with his hands, pressing the back of his head hard into the pillow. He was such an idiot.
Deftly doing up the top button of his pyjamas (which had somehow come undone), he rolled out of bed and headed for Harry's. The curtains were still closed, and a moan from his left confirmed that the other Griffindor boys were just waking up.
Ron yanked open the curtains and stared at Harry, sleeping peacefully on his side with a smile on his face and a lovely pink flush to his cheeks. Dobby was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey Ron," muttered Dean from behind. Ron didn't turn around, just kept staring hard at his best friend.
Dean stood next to him. "Huh, Harry looks dead to the world," he commented, scratching his arm. Seamus came over and stood on the other side of Ron, his light green pyjamas standing out against the red bed sheets.
"He looks so peaceful," he murmured. "Let's wake him up!" He cackled and a wicked smile spread on his face. Before Ron or Dean could stop him, Seamus launched himself at the sleeping boy and sprawled himself over the bed, yelling, "WAAAKE UP HARRY!"
Harry took in a deep, shuddering breath and gasped out, "Dobby!" Then he opened his eyes to find Seamus gazing intently at him three inches away from his face.
"Huh," the Irish boy said frowning, "out of all the names I thought you'd scream out in your sleep, I never thought it'd be a house-elf."
Dean bit his lip to stop himself from laughing, and went back to his bed to change. Ron shook his head, smiling. Harry blushed.
"Uh, Seamus? Could you get off me please?" he asked politely. Seamus obliged and stepped down from the bed. As he went back to his bed, Harry reached over and picked up his glasses from the bedside table. Putting them on, he realised Ron was standing there with his arms folded, his expression a cross between confusion and amusement.
"Hey Ron," Harry greeted, hopping out of bed. "What's up?"
"Other than this rather odd relationship you seem to have with Dobby?" Ron said softly, trying not to grin.
Harry frowned. "Dobby? Huh? What do you mean?"
"Well, perhaps you don't regard it as a 'relationship', although you did share a bed…" Ron nearly laughed at Harry's shocked expression but continued, "or was it just a one-night stand?"
"WHAT?!" the raven-haired boy exclaimed, his eyes wide. "RON!" He smacked his best friend hard on the arm and Ron burst into laughter. Seamus came running up, his checkered shirt only half buttoned.
"What? What?" he said cheerfully. "What did I miss?"
"You didn't miss a thing," Harry said dryly. "After all, you are the center of the universe, so nothing important could have happened without you being a part of it."
Far from being insulted, Seamus grinned. "Oh yeah, of course! How could I forget?!" And he flounced off. Ron shook his head, smiling.
"That guy did not need any more ego boosting Harry," he said. Harry chuckled.
"Yeah I know. Now what's this about Dobby?" he said incredulously, folding his arms.
"Hey, Harry, Ron." Neville's voice wafted over to the two boys. "Are you coming for breakfast?"
"In a minute," Harry said dismissively without turning around. He heard Seamus tell Neville to leave them alone: "Let them 'bond' in peace Nev…Harry and Ron can't jump each other with us in the room, can they?" Harry rolled his eyes as Ron yelled out, "We heard that!"
Coming up...Chapter 4- #Malfoy & Harry, Sittin' in a Tree…#