Harry awoke the next morning to two very large saucer shaped eyes peering back at him. He sat upright knocking Dobby onto the floor with a soft thud.
"Don't scare me like that Dobby. You'll give me a heart attack one of these days I swear."
Dobby grinned and pulled himself off the floor in one quick jump.
"Dobby is sorry sir, Dobby forgets that some folks aren't used to having house elves around."
Harry slipped on his glasses and looked around the room. It was different somehow, and yet, he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. The curtains were drawn and sunlight streamed across the floor. It was opened halfway and a gentle breeze was blowing through it. But the window seemed 3 times its normal size. There was a trunk sitting next to his closet that surely must have been Dobby's. The room felt bigger somehow. He looked at the distance to his desk and closet and realized that the room was bigger. In the other corner was a comfy couch that looked like it would have seated about 10 people. It had a throw lain across one end of it that looked like it would stretch the whole couch. There was a lamp beside it as well as coffee table and today's copy of the Daily Profit. He looked down at his bed and realized that it too was different. It was a king sized bed with the largest most comfiest down comforter and two king sized down pillows. Even his pajamas were different. They weren't Dudley's cast offs, but instead were Griffindor colored silk with the letters HP embroidered on them.
"Dobby! Did you make this room bigger? What have you done to my room, to my clothes? You'll have to put it back this instant. Uncle Vernon will go mental if he sees this room like this! Change it back right now!"
"Harry potter is not to trouble himself with this. Those muggles won't really see the room this big. Dobby has charmed it so that all they will see is the room in its former state.
Harry was dumbstruck. He couldn't believe his eyes. It was a miracle. Dobby had made this cast off room of Dudley's into a hotel suite fit for royalty. It was almost livable he thought. Well except for the fact that it was in the Dursely's house that is.
"Dobby, I don't know what to say. You did all this for me? You shouldn't have."
"It was nothing Harry Potter, nothing at all. After what you did for me, I can never repay you." Dobby gave him a crooked smile.
"Would Harry Potter like his breakfast now?"
Harry made to get out of bed when Dobby stopped him. "No need sir. I'll just be a second with your meal."
Dobby walked over to his trunk, opened it and pulled out a large tray, which he then walked over to Harry and sat on his lap. Two legs on either end of the tray swung down on the bed on either side of his lap. Dobby reached up and took off the cover.
Harry couldn't believe it. On his lap was every possible thing you could image. There were eggs and sausage, and hash browns and oatmeal and toast as well as a large glass of pumpkin juice and a fruit platter. It was just like being at Hogwart's! The aroma coming of his plate was outstanding. Harry felt his stomach rumble. He remembered how little he had been eating lately and couldn't believe that he was actually hungry. He devoured a large portion of the plate and sat contented for a few minutes enjoying the last mouthful of pumpkin juice.
"Dobby, that was incredible. I wouldn't have believed that I would ever regain my hunger back. I can't tell you how much I appreciate this."
"There is no need to thank me sir, Dobby was happy to do it", beamed Dobby
"I'll be back in a minute Dobby, I have to go use the loo". Harry sat the tray to one side and made to get up. He was a little shaky this morning for obvious reasons.
He was about to reach for the door handle to the hall when Dobby said "No need to go out there, Dobby has fixed up Harry's closet sir." Dobby reached for the door handle to Harry's closet and pulled it open to reveal a room about 30 by 30 meters wide. At one end of the room was a closed off area for what Harry presumed was the toilet. Next to that was a shower stall large enough to fit someone of Hagrids's stature. Beside that was a large vanity carrying all sorts of shampoos and shaving toiletries that one could ever want. To Harry's right was a large piece of exercise equipment and accessories. To his left was a walk in closet carrying all of Harry's clothes and robes all hung and neatly pressed. However, the piece de résistance was a tub located squarely in the middle of the room. And not just any tub. It was quite similar to the one he had once used in the prefects bathroom when trying to discover the secret to the golden egg for the Triwizard Tournament. The one he was doing laps in when Moaning Myrtle barged in on him. The tub had several faucets at either end of it for what he could imagine were soaps, bubble bath and water.
Harry's jaw hung open. He turned to Dobby who was just standing by grinning from ear to ear.
"On second thought Dobby, I think I will have a bath as well". Harry too was grinning.
Harry grabbed a thick towel from the stand next to the bath and shut the door.
Harry thought he had died and gone to heaven. He was drying himself off after what seemed like hours in the bath. His skin was all wrinkly and prune-like. There is nothing like a good soak in the tub to make all your troubles melt away. Well at least temporarily anyways.
He pulled on a set of clean clothes that Dobby had laid out for him. When he looked into the floor length mirror, he was shocked at the person that stood before him. It was as if he had just opened his eyes for the first time. His face was gaunt with his bones appearing ever so slightly from his pale skin. There were purple smudges underneath his eyes from too many sleepless nights of tossing and turning. Dudley's cast offs although always on the large size, made him look like he was wearing a potato sack. He had been wasting away to nothing and hadn't even realized it. Harry combed his hair and left the bathroom.
Dobby had cleared the dishes away from Harry's morning meal. The bed had been made and Harry's pyjamas were laid on his pillow. Harry was thinking about what Hermione would think if she saw all this.
"Harry how could you! And to think that you are a member of S.P.E.W.! You should be ashamed of yourself!
Harry blushed and thought to himself that he really should pay Dobby for his services while he was taking care of him. It was only fair after all.
"Dobby, I feel like I need to get some fresh air. Would you like to come with me?"
"No thank you Harry Potter, Dobby has some business to attend to. But you go ahead. I will have lunch ready when you come back. Besides, Muggles must not see Dobby. It's the Law."
Harry left the room and headed downstairs. Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Dudley were sitting at the kitchen table.
"Breakfast is on the table." Aunt Petunia blurted out.
"I'm …"
"I know, I know, toast and milk". Aunt petunia snorted.
"Actually, I was going to say that I was a bit hungry this morning." Harry said.
Aunt Petunia looked stunned as she dished him up a plate of food and sat it before him. Something was different this morning but she could not put her finger on it.
" Well are you going to tell us what happened to you boy?" asked Uncle Vernon. That headmaster of yours sent us a ruddy owl before you came home and told us that you had suffered a nasty shock and that we shouldn't upset you in any way." Uncle Vernon looked relieved to get this off his chest.
He had been home for a month now and was wondering why they had treated him with kid gloves.
"I'd rather not discuss it." If they were the last people on this earth, there was no way Harry would tell the Dursely's what he had gone through this past year. Besides, they wouldn't want to hear it anyways.
"Well I can see you've turned a corner in your recovery in it so I expect everything to return to normal. I see you have risen from the dead," said Uncle Vernon. "You can help clean up after breakfast and then leave the house for a change. You look sickly and need some sun. People will think you are being abused by your appearance."
Harry nodded his agreement and didn't say another word.
After breakfast, he did the dishes. Aunt Petunia was making impatient noises and Harry took this as a cue to leave. He grabbed a bottle of water and headed out the door.