Harry looked at Dobby.

"What have you done, Dobby?"

The little creature smiled widely, completely oblivious to Harry's concern and Jack's annoyance.

"Dobby has brought Jack O'Neill to Harry Potter."

"You weren't supposed to bring him here, Dobby," Harry said, sitting down on his bed and running his hand through his messy dark hair. "You were just supposed to see if he'd gotten my-"

"Wait a minute," Jack interrupted. "What is this thing? And what are you talking about?"

"This is Dobby, Jack," Harry said, making a long overdue introduction. "He's a house elf."

"A free house elf," Dobby added.

"Free, huh?" Jack wasn't sure exactly what that meant, but the little thing – elf, he amended – beamed.

"Harry Potter freed Dobby from his master's house."

Jack looked over at the boy, who nodded.

"It's a long story, Jack." He turned back to Dobby. "I asked you to just give him a message, Dobby. Why did-"

"Harry Potter said Jack O'Neill was the person he wanted to see the most," Dobby answered, interrupting. "So Dobby has brought Jack O'Neill to Harry Potter."

Jack wasn't sure what to think about the revelation that he was the person Harry wanted most to see, and Harry himself flushed a little at that, avoiding O'Neill's gaze.

"You shouldn't have brought him here, Dobby, you-"

"How did you find me?" Jack asked, curiously.

"My friend Hermoine. She's Muggle born and quite clever. Her and Dobby-"

"Hermoine Granger told Dobby where to find Jack O'Neill and how to lure him away from his friends."

"You were watching me?"

That could be a problem – especially since they'd been with Sirius all day. If this… house elf… knew that Sirius was alive and well and not dead, then the secret was out and they might as well let Harry in on it, because it didn't-

"You were with your friends," the house elf said. "I had to separate you from them. Harry Potter did not mention wanting to see your friends."

So maybe the house elf didn't even know what Sirius looked like…? Or maybe didn't recognize him? Obviously if he had, he would have grabbed Sirius too, right? Maybe they caught a break…

"I'm sorry, Jack," Harry said. "He wasn't supposed to kidnap you."

"I brought him to you," Dobby said. "Harry Potter said that Jack O'Neill was the person he-"

"You already said that," Jack interrupted, scowling. He turned to Harry, fairly certain why the boy wanted to see him. "How are you doing?"

Harry dropped his eyes from Jack's gaze, looking down at his hands.

"Sirius is dead, Jack…"

There was an awful loss in his voice, and self-loathing that O'Neill didn't understand. He went over and sat down on the bed beside Harry, who still didn't look at him.

"It's my fault, too…" Harry told him, his voice breaking, now. "I thought he was in danger, so against everyone's advice I went rushing to save him. And took my friends with me. Only he wasn't there. He was safe and sound. The only people that were there were the Deatheaters and they caught me and my friends, and then the Order came to rescue us and there was an awful battle, and… and… Sirius was…"

He trailed off, unable to speak around the lump in his throat.

Awkwardly, Jack put his arm around Harry's shoulder, and the boy leaned against him, taking comfort from being held. Comfort he'd probably never had, Jack decided, if his uncle's behavior was any sign of how things were at this house. His grip tightened.

"It's all my fault, Jack." Harry told him, his face buried in Jack's shirt. "I led him into the trap that killed him."

"It's not your fault, Harry," Jack said. He was tempted to just tell the boy that Sirius wasn't dead – just to save him the heartbreak. He couldn't, but he was tempted. Let the wizards figure out a different way to find leverage. A way that didn't keep Harry in the dark. But Jack was well aware that sometimes what he wanted wasn't what had to happen, and instead of saying anything, he simply held Harry close for a few moments, while Dobby watched with mournful eyes.

"I sent you a message," Harry said, finally, pulling away from Jack and looking a little embarrassed. "Hedwig-"

"I got it yesterday."

"Oh." He took his glasses off, studiously avoiding Jack's gaze while he cleaned them and then put them back on. "I wasn't sure if Hedwig would be able to find you…"

"She found me, and I replied. Dumbledore said he'd talk to-"

"You spoke with Dumbledore?"

Now Harry looked slightly guilty, and jack wondered why.

"Yeah."

"I haven't seen him," Harry said, looking a little disappointed. "I'm sure he's busy and all, but I did think that he'd at least…" he trailed off, shrugging.

Jack frowned, wondering why Dumbledore hadn't been to see Harry and at least see how he was doing. He started to ask, but decided that Harry wouldn't know, and it wouldn't be a kindness to rub that lack of concern in deeper.

"He probably has his reasons…" Jack said, awkwardly. He didn't know if there were reasons or not – unless Dumbledore was a lousy liar and didn't want to risk Harry figuring out the truth about Sirius.

"Yeah."

Harry looked down at Dobby.

"You need to take Jack back-"

A flashing red and yellow light outside the bedroom window suddenly caught his eye – his and Jack's – and cut Harry's order short. He went over to the window, joined only a moment later by Jack and Dobby. Somewhere down on the ground – not more than a couple of blocks away, someone was shooting off a wand – in a pattern. It looked like there was more than just one person, too, because the colors seemed to coming from more than one source.

"Fireworks?" Jack asked, curiously.

"Those aren't fireworks, Jack…" Harry said, reaching for his wand. "Someone's in trouble. Let's go."

The boy had long since figured out a way to get from his window to the ground without needing to go through the house – presumably to avoid waking his uncle – and he jumped easily into the tree beside the house, and then shimmied down the trunk, landing in some bushes.

Jack hesitated. He didn't see anyone – just some lights – and it certainly didn't seem to be-

"We must help Harry Potter!" Dobby told him, grabbing his pant leg once more. There was another loud crack, and an instant later, Jack found himself on the ground, standing beside the bushes that Harry was extracting himself from.

"Harry, wait…"

The boy wasn't listening, though. He took off at a run, his eyes on the lights.