Dobby's Warning
"Dobby?" Draco looked baffled. "That's the name of our old house-elf."
"Yep." Harry flashed him a wicked grin.
"I suppose you know something about why my husband decided to fire the elf?" Narcissa asked with a raised eyebrow. Harry chuckled.
"He didn't have much choice. We'll probably read all about it."
"How can he not have had much choice?" Andromeda wondered. "You have to give a house-elf clothes to fire them."
"You'll see," Harry grinned wickedly.
Harry figured that the creature on the bed was what had been watching him from the hedge.
"Why would a house-elf spend all day watching you?" Andromeda wanted to know.
"Why would our house-elf be at your house, Potter?" Draco demanded.
"He was attempting to be helpful and failing miserably," Harry told him.
He could hear Dudley downstairs while the creature, wearing an old pillowcase, bowed to him.
"Why is it dressed like that?" Neville wondered tentatively. "I mean, all of our elves take pride in keeping their uniform well maintained."
"Dobby always was a weird one," Draco said dismissively.
"Or maybe he just didn't feel any pride in working for your father," Harry countered unhappily. Draco blinked in surprise.
"House-elves love serving, Mr. Potter," Narcissa pointed out, a little sharply. "And they always take great pride in their work."
"Not when you abuse them! Dobby might be weird, and his methods leave much to be desired, but he didn't deserve to be treated the way your family treated him. Nobody deserves that."
"House-elves aren't people," Draco scoffed.
"They don't need to be humans to deserve basic rights!" Hermione scowled angrily.
"Right, let us continue reading, we're not even a full page in. You can discuss house-elf rights later," Kingsley cut off the argument.
Harry greeted it and the creature stated it was an honour to meet him. Harry decided to ask who it is rather than what it is. Dobby introduced himself and Harry pointed out it wasn't a great time for him to have a house-elf in his room.
"Given where you are, no time is a good time for a strange house-elf to visit," Remus pointed out.
"So, the house-elf of a Death Eater could get through the wards and straight into the boy's room?" Moody grunted, glaring at Dumbledore. "The boy could have been kidnapped and nobody would have been any the wiser."
"Voldemort frequently underestimates those he deems 'less'. I am confident the idea of using a house-elf to capture Harry would not occur to him."
"The same way you were confident the Dursley's would care for Harry because they are family?" Sirius spat the last word in disgust.
Harry asked why Dobby was there. Dobby said he wondered where to begin and Harry told him to sit down.
"You asked him to have a seat? But why?" Draco looked bewildered by the very idea.
"It's called manners. I know you wouldn't understand the concept," Fred smirked.
The elf burst into tears.
"Oh, not good," Neville murmured. He knew how high-pitched elf voices could be and Harry was supposed to be being quiet.
"If that elf gets you in trouble…" Sirius growled.
"Er…" Harry winced, unable to really defend Dobby. The house-elf obviously had good intentions, but the feelings of loneliness from that summer, along with the punishment that followed, made it hard to be too favourable. His godfather's scowl deepened.
He cried and Harry thought he heard the voices downstairs falter, so he apologized, saying he didn't mean to offend. Dobby told him he had never been asked to sit down like an equal.
"Not once?" Hermione asked in horror.
"Why would we ask one to sit down? They are servants. They come to us, we give them their orders and they leave. We're hardly going to sit and chat to one," Draco sneered.
"Servant implies they are paid. They are slaves! It's disgusting," Hermione shot back angrily.
"They don't need to be paid," Neville told her with a slight frown. "House-elves have no need of money really. Instead, they get to bond with their master's magic which helps keep their own in balance."
"But Dobby was thrilled to be free," Harry said with a frown.
"Well, it has been said he's a weird one," Sirius said, shooting a glance at Narcissa, "but in most cases house-elves are fanatically loyal regardless of their situation." He thought grimly of Kreature and shuddered. "Despite the desire to obey, they can work their way around their master's instructions if they really want to," he added with a scowl. Kreature had loved finding ways around his instructions when he was younger.
"Again, this is a discussion for later," Andromeda spoke up.
Harry shushed him while also attempting to look comforting.
"Can we see that expression?" George asked with a wicked grin. Harry shot him a look, but it certainly wasn't the one he asked for. The twins both cracked up.
He ushered Dobby to the bed where he looked like a large, ugly doll.
Several people snorted in amusement at the description.
He looked at Harry with watery adoration.
"That is strange. I mean, this whole thing is strange, but house-elves usually have a similar leaning to their master's, but Dobby's views on Mr. Potter certainly don't align with Lucius Malfoy's," Amelia commented.
"Well, it sounds like Harry is the only person to ever be nice to him," Emmeline pointed out.
"But even before that, he said it was an honour to meet Harry," Kingsley reminded her.
Harry stated he couldn't have met many decent wizards and Dobby shook his head.
"How dare he!" Draco seethed. Many of the purebloods whistled in surprise.
"Wow, he really must be unhappy. Not many elves would ever insult their masters," Bill said. Hermione pursed her lips, desperate to point out just how awful the whole concept was, and how wrong it was that everyone seemed to just accept the situation. But she caught sight of Andromeda's face and decided to bring it up later instead.
Dobby got up and banged his head against the window repeatedly, calling himself 'bad Dobby'.
"Why would he do that?" Hermione demanded.
"He spoke ill of his masters," Neville stated simply.
"So, he has to hurt himself?" She scowled. Neville nodded, cowering a little away from her fury.
Harry pulled him back to the bed, but Hedwig had woken up with a loud screech, wings beating against her cage.
"Ooh, I hope the Dursleys didn't hear that," Charlie muttered. "They're already angry enough about Hedwig making noises.
"They might be able to pass it off as a bird outside," Luna suggested.
Dobby explained he had to punish himself for almost speaking ill of his family. Harry was confused so Dobby explained about house-elves serving wizards. Harry wondered if they knew he was there.
"Certainly not," Narcissa stated.
Dobby said no and that he will have to punish himself by shutting his ears in the oven door. Harry asked if they would notice, and Dobby told him he always has to punish himself for something. Sometimes they even remind him to do extra punishments.
"WHAT?" Hermione yelled angrily, glaring at Draco. He instinctively recoiled, recalling her punching him not that long ago.
"Er…you know, he messed up a lot?" He replied so nervously it came out as a question.
"Really? And you didn't enjoy giving him tasks he was always going to mess up?" Ron asked, raising an eyebrow. Draco flushed.
"I'm very certain it wasn't just him," Harry pointed out dryly. "He was probably trying to impress his father." Draco's face turned even redder.
Harry wondered why he didn't escape, and Dobby told him he will serve the family until he dies.
"Or until Harry does something about it," Hermione said, shooting Harry an approving smile.
Harry stated it made the Dursleys seem almost human.
"So, his owners deliberately telling him to punish himself all the time only makes the Dursleys seem almost human?" Remus said with a raised eyebrow. Harry shrugged.
He asked if he could help.
"You are a good kid," Tonks smiled at him.
"Why hasn't anyone done anything about the treatment of house-elves?" Hermione wanted to know.
"It's up to the master to punish them as they see fit." Ron shrugged.
"That doesn't make it ok for him to be forced to shut his ears in the oven!" Hermione scolded.
"You do have a point, Hermione, but there is nothing we can do about it right now," Emmeline told her gently.
Dobby dissolved again into wails of gratitude.
"He needs to be quiet, or the Dursleys will hear him," Remus muttered anxiously.
Harry begged him to be quiet and Dobby said he had heard of his greatness, but he never knew of his goodness.
Harry turned red as several people nodded in agreement.
Harry denied it, saying he wasn't even top of his year, that was Hermione but found thinking about her painful.
"You don't have to be top of your year to be great," Bill told him.
"And you are a good kid. Not many people would ask if you could help," Kingsley agreed.
Dobby called him humble and modest, stating he doesn't talk about his triumph. Harry called him Voldemort and Dobby moaned for him not to speak the name.
A few people chuckled.
"You really should know by now that people hate it when you say his name," Ron stated. Harry shrugged and grinned.
"Habit."
Harry apologised, saying he knew people didn't like it, such as his friend Ron, but thinking of Ron was painful too.
Ron grimaced.
"Not your fault, mate," Harry said, nudging him gently.
Dobby stated that he had heard Harry faced He-Who-Must-Not-be-Named for a second time week previously, escaping again.
"Don't remind me," Sirius groaned, hugging Harry.
"I believe I heard something about a second encounter at the end of this year," Remus pointed out grimly.
"Unfortunately," Minerva confirmed, looking slightly haunted.
When Harry nodded, Dobby called him valiant and bold. He said he had to protect Harry even if he had to shut his ears in the oven door. Harry must not go back to Hogwarts.
"What?" Several adults who didn't know what happened exclaimed in shock.
"It would have been a lot worse if Harry hadn't come to Hogwarts," Minerva murmured to herself. Once again, he had saved the school when adults hadn't been able to do anything.
Harry protested, saying he had to go back as he didn't belong at the Dursleys. Dobby told him he would be in mortal danger if he did so.
"Mortal danger?" Sirius yelped.
"Well, if Voldemort somehow got into the school again, then mortal danger is kind of to be expected," Remus pointed out, though he looked no happier about this.
"I'm going to hate this book just as much as the first one, aren't I?" Sirius groaned.
Harry asked why.
"Why do you sound surprised? How many times did you almost die in your first year?" Tonks asked.
"I thought all of that had been dealt with when Voldemort fled," Harry said.
Dobby told him there is a plot to make terrible things happen at the school which Dobby has known for months and Harry Potter is too important to put himself in peril.
"How does the house-elf know that?" Amelia wondered.
"I assume Lucius Malfoy knows something," Kingsley stated.
"He knew?" Arthur queried in a cold voice. Harry realised that the Weasleys didn't know Lucius Malfoy was behind the whole thing. They knew Voldemort had something to do with it, but they hadn't known for certain exactly who put the diary in Ginny's cauldron.
"He almost killed our little girl!" Molly shrieked. Everyone turned to the Weasleys.
"Lucius knew what?" Andromeda wondered. As Nymphadora had left Hogwarts, she no longer heard much about what went on at the school.
"Everything," Ginny said, voice muffled by Molly's shoulder.
"My husband was indeed behind the events of that year," Narcissa admitted with a slight grimace on her face. All the Weasleys went bright red in the face.
It took several minutes to calm them all down again.
"He planned it for months?" Arthur asked in a hard voice once he was finally calm enough to speak. Narcissa looked away. She'd been furious with Lucius for this stunt. When she'd heard that Ginny Weasley had been attacked, her heart had almost stopped. Yes, the Weasleys were considered blood traitors, but she was still a pureblood. That meant that whatever he had done would make exceptions to only attacking mudbloods and she wasn't looking forward to finding out the truth of what had happened. Lucius had only told her that it was an artifact of the Dark Lord's that he'd used.
"What exactly did Lucius do?" Amelia asked immediately.
"The book will say," Arthur told her, but his face had the angriest expression anyone had ever seen on him.
Harry immediately asked who was plotting and what terrible things. Dobby began banging his head against the wall.
"What did he say now?" Hermione wondered anxiously.
"Dobby probably can't say," Neville told her.
Harry wondered why Dobby was warning him before asking if it had anything to do with You-Know-Who. Dobby slowly shook his head, saying not He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
"What?" Molly frowned in confusion. Dumbledore had said it was him.
"It was Dobby's version of a clue," Harry sighed. "Which made about as much sense as his attempts to stop me getting to Hogwarts."
"He actually tried to stop you getting to school?" Remus asked, eyebrows raised. Harry nodded. All of the teachers fixed Harry and Ron with stern looks.
He was clearly trying to give Harry a hint, but he had no idea. He asked if he had a brother.
Everyone shuddered at the idea of a second You-Know-Who.
Dobby shook his head. Harry stated that he couldn't think of anyone else who had a chance of making horrible things happen as there is Dumbledore.
"I think he is one who has a good chance of making horrible things happen," Sirius growled, not having forgiven him for Harry's first year.
"He didn't make them happen. He just…didn't stop them," Remus said quietly. Sirius scowled at him.
"Not that that's any better, but he is the one who brought the Philosopher's Stone to Hogwarts to use as bait. He made that happen," Andromeda stated.
He asked if Dobby knew who Dumbledore was.
"Of course he knows who Dumbledore is," Draco scoffed.
"I didn't want to assume. I hate it when people assume I know things that have never been explained to me." Harry had to refrain from glaring at Snape. The man had explained things quite well in their earlier lesson, even if was the first time ever.
Dobby called Dumbledore the greatest headmaster of Hogwarts and that Dobby has heard his powers rival those of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at the height of his strength.
Several people nodded in agreement. They might not like Dumbledore's actions in the last book, but there was no denying his power.
Dobby added that there were powers no decent wizard, before he stopped himself and started beating himself with the desk lamp, yelling loudly.
"I assume he's talking about his family," Arthur said with a dark look on his face once more.
There was silence downstairs before Vernon stated Dudley must have left his tv on. Harry stuffed Dobby in the closet and flung himself on the bed just in time.
They all heaved a slight sigh of relief that Harry had gotten Dobby out of sight in time. They dreaded to think what Vernon would have done if he found a magical creature in his nephew's room.
"I'm sure the Mason's will believe that excuse," Ted told the room reassuringly.
"Only once though. If Dobby doesn't keep quiet, it will be an issue," Pomona noted.
Vernon asked what he was doing, his face horribly close to Harry's.
"Get away from him," Sirius growled.
"It's already happened," Harry reminded him.
He continued that Harry had just ruined the punchline of his Japanese golfer joke.
"I'm fairly certain the Masons should be grateful for that," Ted muttered.
Vernon stated that if he made one more sound, he'd wish he'd never been born.
"Oh, he's the one who is going to wish that," Sirius snarled.
"How can Dobby seriously think it's better for Harry to stay there?" Charlie wondered.
"He might have a point. I'm not sure which would be worse. Staying there, or Hogwarts that year," Ron muttered.
"Staying at the Dursleys," Harry stated immediately. Everyone who knew what had happened that year looked horrified that he considered his relatives worse than that.
Vernon left and Harry let Dobby out of the closet. He said that is why he has to go back as it's the only place he has friends. Dobby points out those friends don't even write to him.
"And how exactly would he know that?" Ted wondered.
"If he was the one stopping the mail," Bill said.
"There's no way a house-elf could stop a wizard's mail. Especially when he's already defying his masters to be there," Sirius scoffed.
"House-elves are a lot more powerful than people think," Bill told him evenly.
"But to stop someone's mail?" Kingsley frowned. "It's quite worrisome."
"I don't think many house-elves would ever dare to interfere with a wizard's mail," Neville spoke up tentatively. "Dobby is pretty strange by house-elf standards."
"He's pretty strange by any standards," Ron muttered.
Harry asked how Dobby knew about his friends. Dobby said Harry mustn't be angry with him as he did it for the best. Harry cut him off, asking if he had been stopping his letters to which he agreed.
"Wow," Tonks whistled in surprise.
Stepping out of reach, he pulled out a wad of letters from Ron, Hermione and Hagrid. Dobby said he mustn't be angry as he hoped that if Harry thought his friends had forgotten him, he wouldn't want to go back.
"What kind of rubbish logic is that?" Fred wondered.
"Did he not see how Harry is treated in that place? Who wouldn't want to escape, friends or not?" George agreed.
"What kind of rubbish logic is it, that Dobby tries to stop Harry going to school instead of telling Dumbledore what he knows," Sirius wanted to know.
"I don't think logic has played much of a part in any of this," Minerva said with pursed lips.
Harry made a grab for the letters but missed. Dobby said he could have them back if he gave his word not to return.
"Don't do that. If you give your word, it could be binding," Bill warned.
"How?" Hermione wondered.
"How can a house-elf steal Harry's letters? They have their own brand of magic that wizards don't understand."
"I didn't give my word," Harry assured them.
Harry refused and demanded his letters. Dobby stated he was left with no choice and darted out of the bedroom, heading downstairs.
"Oh no," Remus groaned.
"This is not going to be good," Emmeline said anxiously.
Harry sprang after him, trying not to make a sound. He jumped the last six steps and landed on the carpet, catlike, looking for Dobby.
"Wicked," Fred called with a grin. "Nice moves there."
He heard his uncle in the dining toom and made his way to the kitchen. Petunia's pudding was floating near the ceiling. On top of a cupboard, crouched Dobby.
"That was a house-elf?" Arthur blinked in surprise.
"Yes," Harry scowled.
"Great. Now you're going to get in trouble for underage magic," Remus groaned.
"I'm more worried about the Dursleys. One warning won't affect much," Kingsley told him.
Harry begged him not to and Dobby told him Harry had to swear not to go back to school. When Harry wouldn't, Dobby said he must for his own good.
"His aunt swung a frying pan at his head for pretending to use magic! This is most definitely not for his own good!" Sirius yelled in frustration. "I'm going to kill that elf."
"No. He didn't know it would be that bad," Harry said quietly. "He was trying to help."
"He used magic in a muggle household, got you in trouble for underage magic, got you in trouble with your relatives, all without his master's permission. None of that is helpful," George pointed out.
"I think being owned by the Malfoys is punishment enough," Hermione said with a glare in Draco's direction. He scowled at her.
The pudding fell to the floor with a heart stopping crash and Dobby vanished. Vernon came running in and found Harry covered in pudding.
"Did you at least get to eat any?" Fred wondered.
"Yeah. I was the only one who did," Harry grinned.
It looked like Vernon was going to gloss the whole thing over, telling the Masons Harry was his disturbed nephew. He shooed them into the dining room and gave Harry a mop, threatening to flay him within an inch of his life once they left.
"He didn't?" Remus asked, looking a little sick.
"No," Harry stated. The flat tone in which he said that gave nobody any reassurance about his eventual punishment.
Petunia got ice cream for dessert while Harry started cleaning. But then the owl arrived. It swooped through the dining room and dropped a letter on Mrs Mason's head before leaving.
"If she had read that letter, there would be a lot of explaining to do," Ted pointed out.
"To add to the owl delivering a letter, which is hardly usual for muggles," Hermione added.
"Ironic. The letter about underage magic causes more issues than using underage magic," Charlie said dryly.
"I'm pretty sure that stupid letter got me in more trouble than Dobby," Harry muttered bitterly.
Mrs Mason screamed like a banshee and ran out screaming about lunatics. Mr. Mason informed them his wife was mortally afraid of birds, asking if it was their idea of a joke.
"Like they'd know how to play a prank like that," Fred scoffed.
Vernon advanced on him, demanding he read the letter aloud. Harry took it. It didn't contain birthday greetings.
A few people chuckled, despite the situation.
He read the letter, which signed off by wishing him a happy holidays.
"Not likely," Charlie muttered.
"Oh crap," Tonks groaned.
"Nymphadora!" Andromeda scolded.
"Don't call me, Nymphadora! The Dursleys have just heard from Harry's own mouth that he isn't allowed to use magic during summer." Everyone else now groaned as well.
"That's really not good," Charlie said.
Vernon pointed out Harry didn't tell them he wasn't allowed to use magic. He stated Harry was never going back to school and if he tried to magic himself out, they will expel him.
"I'm going to kill him," Sirius growled furiously.
"Not without me," Remus muttered.
"If Harry didn't turn up to school, someone would come and investigate," Minerva stated, glaring at the book.
"Assuming I survived that long," Harry said under his breath. If the Weasleys hadn't broken him out, he had genuinely been afraid he might have starved before the 1st of September.
The Ministry officials all exchanged looks. It was horrible to hear how Harry had received a letter for something he hadn't done which had not only almost broken the statue of secrecy itself, gotten him into more trouble, it had then lost him his only advantage against abusive relatives.
He dragged Harry upstairs. The following morning, he had bars fitted to Harry's window.
Molly gasped in horror. "You mean, it was actually true."
"Of course," Fred stated indignantly. "We wouldn't lie about something like that."
"You told mum about the bars? How did you find out?" Charlie asked interestedly.
"We…er…we took dad's car to rescue him," Fred admitted.
"Broke him out and took him back to the Burrow," George added.
"I begged them to," Ron spoke up suddenly. "Harry hadn't been returning my letters and I was really worried about him."
"You're a good friend, but perhaps telling your parents about your concerns rather than your brothers may have been a better idea," Kingsley told him gently.
"I did!" Ron protested.
"We had decided to go and fetch Harry ourselves if he hadn't replied to Ron by that Friday. He turned up Tuesday morning," Arthur explained.
"You didn't tell us you were going to get Harry soon," Ron pointed out.
"Yeah. We wouldn't have gone if you were going to go," George agreed. Molly raised an eyebrow at her twin sons.
"You both would have taken any excuse to go out in that car," she pointed out. They both shot her innocent looks that nobody bought.
Vernon fitted a cat-flap in the bedroom door to push food in three times a day. Harry was only let out to use the bathroom once in the morning and once in the evening. He was locked in at all other times.
"That's actual imprisonment," Hermione gasped.
"At least there was more room to move around than the cupboard," Harry pointed out.
"So not the point," Sirius told him sternly. Knowing he couldn't do anything about it, he hugged his godson tightly.
Amelia scribbled some more notes on her parchment about Harry's living conditions.
Three days passed and Harry wondered what was going to happen to him. There was no point magicking himself out only to get expelled.
"They wouldn't expel you. You would have to attend a hearing where you would be able to explain the situation," Amelia assured him. Harry nodded.
"So, why does it say that on the letter?"
"To encourage children not to use accidental magic," Kingsley said dryly.
Harry pondered how Dobby had saved him from horrible happenings at Hogwarts, but he'd probably starve to death anyway.
Everyone scowled angrily at the book. They were getting sick of being so outraged every other sentence.
Sirius signalled to Remus who went out to the kitchen area and quickly returned with a plateful of food for Harry. Harry was going to protest but knew it would do no good. Instead, he simply nibbled at a few crisps.
The cat flap rattled. Petunia pushed in a bowl of canned soup. Harry grabbed it, downing half in one gulp. It was stone cold.
"For goodness' sake! Stone cold?" Molly exclaimed in disgust.
"Those animals," Narcissa sniffed.
He gave the vegetables to Hedwig who gave him a look of disgust.
"That's so sweet." Luna beamed at Harry.
"It is very kind of you, but owls can go a lot longer without eating than humans can," Charlie told him.
"Yeah, you need the food more," Molly agreed.
Harry told her it was no good turning her beak up as it was all they had. He put the empty bowl by the flap, feeling hungrier than before.
Everyone felt sympathy for the young man.
He wondered if he was still alive in four weeks, what would happen if he didn't turn up at school. He wasn't sure if they would be able to make the Dursleys let him go.
"Of course we would," Minerva told him firmly.
"I thought it was up to the guardians whether someone goes to Hogwarts?" Neville wondered.
"Normally it is, but if someone was sent to inquire as to why he hadn't come back to school, and saw his current situation, he would be removed from their care immediately," Kingsley informed him.
Harry fell asleep. He had a strange dream about being on show in a zoo with people goggling at him through the bars. Dobby called out that he was safe and the Dursleys laughed.
"I hate how accurate that dream kind of is," Hermione muttered. Ron nodded in agreement.
Harry tried to tell them to stop as he was trying to sleep. He woke and saw that a red haired someone was goggling at him through the bars on his window. It was Ron.
"How were you outside his window? Isn't Harry's room upstairs?" Ted wondered.
"You'll find out in a moment," Fred grinned.
"That's the end of the chapter," Moody stated.
"Pass it here," Kingsley sighed.