Yet Another Snape Meets the Dursleys Story: by rabbit
Disclaimer: I'm just playing with other people's toys!
Chapter 18: The Morning
Summary: "Some kinds of help are the kind of help that helping's all about..."
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Something was pushing against Harry's arm. He pulled away from it and flipped onto his stomach to get more sleep.
"Is Harry Potter awake now?" The squeaky voice could only belong to one person and Harry made himself not groan too loudly. Couldn't Dobby bother Ron or Neville for a change and let Harry sleep a little longer?
"Come back later, Dobby," he mumbled into his pillow. "I'm tired."
"Dobby will let Harry Potter sleep. Professor Snape will know what to do about the man under the stairs."
Man under the stairs? S nape? SNAPE!
Harry sat up, forcing his eyes open and looking for the blurry shape that was Dobby frantically. "No, no, don't bother him!" Snape was cranky enough in the usual way; heaven only knew what he'd be like if he was wakened from a dormant state. Harry'd seen a television show about bears once, and he didn't want to take chances.
The blur came closer and put Harry's glasses into his hand. They didn't help much. Dobby usual assortment of garish odd clothing had been augmented by the discovery of sequins sometime in the past month and a half, and he glittered in the morning light. He smiled at Harry cheerfully, his long ears semaphoring wildly with pleasure.. "Dobby has come to help Harry Potter, sir, with the Dursleys and Professor Snape. Professor McGonagall says that no one will miss Dobby or go looking for him, so Dobby is the best choice for the moment. Dobby came right away, and has found Harry Potter, sir, Professor Snape, and three Dursleys. Two are sleeping, but the man under the stairs..." Dobby paused, waiting for something, and after a moment Harry realized it was a name.
"Uncle Vernon," he prompted, wondering how on earth Snape had gotten Uncle Vernon to fit in the cupboard.
"Uncle Vernon Dursley is banging on the door and saying he must get out and go to the lavatory." Dobby bounced with excitement. "Will Harry Potter sir come downstairs, or should Dobby open the door?"
"I'd best come," Harry said.. He could just imagine Uncle Vernon's reaction to the sight of a house elf. "You'll frighten him." On second thought...Uncle Vernon's going to be furious about being in the cupboard all night. And with Snape unconscious, he'll want to take it out on me. Frightening him might not be a bad idea after all. Harry glanced over to see if Snape had moved at all. He hadn't. "No... no, Dobby, you open the door for Uncle Vernon, let him use the lavatory ... but not the phone or anything... and then, then..." If I put him in with Aunt Petunia they'll be able to plan things. 'Then put him back in the cupboard and lock it again for now. Until I think of someplace better."
"Yes, Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby vanished with one of his whipcracks of magic and Harry heard a shout of terror from downstairs. He grinned, imagining the look on Uncle Vernon's face. Dobby was startling enough even when you were sort of used to magic.
Harry stood up, meaning to go and use the loo himself, and dizziness hit him like a slap on the back of the head. He sat back down again. "I'm getting very tired of this," he grumbled, before calling to the chair and using it to go to where he needed to go. He felt better afterwards, and on the way back to bed he looked over to Professor Snape.
Do dormant people need to pee? Harry hoped not. One of Dudley's books had a chapter about bears, but Harry wasn't sure if it would mention things like whether or not bears could hold it all winter. And Dudley's books were in the guest room with Dudley, which meant waking Dudley up. And Dudley would want to pee, all right. And then he'd want breakfast.
"I want breakfast," Harry said. Maybe some food would make the dizziness go away. And if he weren't dizzy, then Harry could figure out what to do about the Dursleys breakfasts. And about the Dursleys. I can't leave Uncle Vernon under the stairs until Professor Snape wakes up.
Aunt Petunia was all right locked in Harry's room – he could put some food through the door flap for her. But he'd have to find a way to feed his uncle and his cousin without letting them loose. It was a good thing that today was Sunday, though. He wouldn't have to decide what to do about Uncle Vernon's job until tomorrow morning.
It made Harry's head hurt just to think about it. Last summer he couldn't have thought of anything better than having the Dursleys locked up and permission to use magic too. This summer... It's just more responsibility. Something else to mess up and get someone killed. Dudley, probably. He rubbed at his forehead with the heel of his hand, wondering if the pain were from his scar or just from not feeling well.
Dobby came back into the room and started opening drawers, climbing up the bottom drawers to see in the one's nearer the top of the bureau.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked, grateful for the distraction.
"Dobby is finding Uncle Vernon Dursley clean trousers, Harry Potter sir" said Dobby, jumping down and going over to look in the wardrobe. "Uncle Vernon Dursley was very surprised to see Dobby, sir."
Harry snorted, caught between laughter and dismay. "He's still locked up, right, Dobby? I mean, he can't come up here?"
Dobby nodded vigorously. "Uncle Vernon Dursley is locked in the lavatory, and Dobby has made the window too small for him to fit through. Dobby is knowing many ways to keep punished people from escaping." The tennis ball eyes suddenly looked worried and his ears twitched nervously. "But Harry Potter is not punishing Uncle Vernon Dursley in a bad way, is he? Harry Potter is a good wizard. Harry Potter would not flog Uncle Vernon Dursley or use the bone breakers."
I really don't want to know what happens at the Malfoy's house, Harry thought, shuddering. "No, no, Dobby. Nothing like that. It was Professor Snape's idea to put Uncle Vernon in the cupboard, and as long as he gets a chance to eat and use the bathroom when he needs to, I think he'll be all right. I mean... I used to sleep in that cupboard myself."
Dobby's relief was as extravagant as his worry had been. He beamed at Harry and bounced over to hug Harry's legs where they dangled over the edge of the bed. "Good Harry Potter, wise Harry Potter, kind Harry Potter..."
"Hungry Harry Potter," Harry interrupted the flow of praise quickly, before Dobby could get any more momentum. "I'd like some breakfast, Dobby."
Dobby practically did a backflip. "Dobby will bring Harry Potter sir breakfast!"
"And make some for the Dursleys too!" Harry shouted after Dobby's back as the house elf scrambled out the door, Uncle Vernon's trousers flapping behind him. That would solve one problem. Harry wasn't sure he could stay on his feet long enough to cook anything, although the dizziness was fading now.
He got up, determined to practice walking before he forgot how, and went over check on Professor Snape. The man still looked dead – but the feather that Harry found to check his breathing with still fluttered intermittently. Harry sighed and dared to touch Snape's cheek and forehead. "You're still awfully cold," he told the sleeper. "I hope that's not wrong."
Carefully, Harry eased Snape's wand out from under the pillow. It still felt funny, and Harry wished he could just go and get his own wand from his trunk, but he wasn't sure if it were safe to try it. Still, the Dursleys couldn't know that it wasn't his own wand, could they? And as long as he looked like he could do magic, he probably wouldn't actually have to do very much of it.
"Maybe if I just turned them all into toads until Snape wakes up..." Except that he wasn't sure that he could manage it. – Transfiguring people was Seventh year stuff – and even if he did, he wasn't sure it would last very long.
And they'd probably change back while I was trying to sleep. Or wander off and get squished by a car.
"I'm too hungry to think properly," Harry told himself. "I can't do anything about any of the Dursleys until I've had some breakfast."
He could have some cereal while Dobby cooked. Well, he could if he'd thought of it in time to ask Dobby to bring it up. He went over to sit on the bed again, and rubbed at his grumbling stomach.
Wait. He could do magic. Harry smiled and took out Snape's wand. "Accio Frosted Corn Flakes!"
There was a sudden, horrible crash of glass downstairs. A moment later the carton of cereal turned the corner of the door from the hallway and thudded into Harry's free hand. There were glass bits sticking out of it. One of the larger ones clearly had the pattern of the glass from the kitchen door.
Harry swallowed, hard, and put Snape's wand down, very gently, on the nightstand. "Oh, help."