Chapter Summary: Neville, Alex, and Beth celebrate their birthdays, Hermione comes to visit for three weeks, and they get a warning.
On the 30th of July was Neville's birthday, and his grandmother allowed him to have a small party with his friends in attendance. As Herbology was his favorite subject and passion, his friends had all gotten gifts related to it. Beth and Alex gave him a pot of various herbs, Ron gave him a small box with several packets of seeds, Ginny a journal to keep track of his plants and their growth, Hermione sent a book on plants that grew on or next to lakes and other bodies of water, Luna a cutting of a Dirigible Plum bush, and David a seedling of a Flutterby bush. Neville immediately planted the seeds and plants in the family greenhouse with the help of his friends, noted it down in the new journal, and as one of the seed packets was of a plant that grew near ponds, looked it up in the book.
On the first of August, Hermione came to visit for the next three weeks. After she got settled in the small guest room, Beth and Alex introduced her to Ginny, Luna, and David. Having been warned about Luna's quirks ahead of time, Hermione simply took the younger girl's odd comments in stride.
Ron and Neville had come over for the afternoon also, so the eight of them went up to the tree house, Beth and David wandlessly levitating two trays of drinks and snacks to the table. Seeing Hermione's shocked look, David explained, "The Roma use wandless magic more than most wizards, since we either couldn't afford to buy wands or they were just polished sticks in the past. One of the adults will teach you some, since they've done so with our other Gajo friends. Don't worry about using magic outside of school, since the Ministry of Magic can't tell when you're in a wizarding home. They'll just assume that an adult witch or wizard is doing the magic, so it's up to our parents or guardians to enforce the rule."
"Of course, we can't use magic outside of learning wandless magic or for something like this," said Beth. "We can't exactly climb up to the tree house and carry a tray of food and drinks at the same time. If any of the adults caught us doing magic outside of that, we'd be punished in some way."
The eight of them settled around the table and Alex and Ginny poured ice cold lemonade for everyone.
"It's great that you're here, Hermione," said Alex. "And the timing is perfect, since you said you wanted to learn more about Romany culture. Every year our family goes camping in our vardos for a week so that we get to experience what traveling around was like for the Roma. This year we're leaving the day after Beth's and my birthdays. The Weasleys and Luna came with us last year, and they're coming again this year, and Mrs. Longbottom said that Neville can join us this year too."
"That's wonderful!" exclaimed Hermione with enthusiasm. "Mum and Dad took me camping before once, but I would love to do it the way that Gypsies, I mean Roma did. It'll be-"
A loud popping noise interrupted her and they all turned to see what had caused the sound. To their utter surprise, it was a house-elf, and not one of the two house-elves that Neville's family employed.
"What in the name of Merlin is a house-elf doing in our tree house?" demanded David.
The house-elf, dressed in a dirty and rather worn pillowcase, bowed low and said, "Such an honor it is to meet the ones that stopped He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named over a month ago."
Alex blinked in surprise, but said kindly, "Hello. What is your name?"
"Dobby, sir," replied the elf. "Dobby the house-elf. Is you being Alexander Romanov?"
"Yes, Dobby," answered Alex. "But you can call me Alex. This is my sister Beth, our cousin David, and our friends Hermione, Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Luna. Why are you here, Dobby?"
Dobby twisted the hem of his pillowcase nervously. "Dobby is warning you! There is dark deeds being plotted for Hogwarts! It is not safe for you to return!"
"Not return?" asked Hermione blankly. "But we have to, if we want to get a good magical education!"
"And me, Luna, and David are going to start Hogwarts!" protested Ginny. "We can't skip our first year!"
Dobby twisted his ears and continued, "It is not being safe at Hogwarts! You are all in danger! Dobby is hearing things, and the plot is being to hurt Alex and Beth Romanov and their friends!" A horrified look came to his face. "Dobby should not have said that! Bad Dobby!" He looked around and then picked up a book and began hitting himself on the head with it.
Beth immediately jumped up and stopped him. Putting the book back in the bookcase, she said calmly, "If you're going to punish yourself, Dobby, then please don't do it in front of us. And please don't punish yourself by hurting yourself. You could do some extra chores instead."
"That's what my family's house-elves do," added Neville, who looked shocked at Dobby's behavior.
"You don't work for a very nice family, do you Dobby?' asked Luna, a slight frown on her face.
Dobby shook his head, then his eyes widened and he started hitting his head against one of the cushions on the sofa. Though a cushion wouldn't hurt him any, Beth removed it and said gently, "Dobby, could you please stop? You can punish yourself for whatever you did wrong later."
Dobby straightened and squeaked, "Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, miss."
Beth turned away and from the pained look in her eyes, Alex knew that despite her outward calm, inside she was furious at Dobby's treatment and felt deeply sorry for him. "You shouldn't be treated so awfully like that, Dobby," said Alex. "If only you worked for someone nicer, or worked at Hogwarts. The book I read about the Founders said that Helga Hufflepuff made Hogwarts a haven for house-elves."
"Dobby must serve the Malfoy family faithfully unless Dobby is set free," responded Dobby firmly.
The eight of them exchanged looks upon hearing that, though they really weren't surprised. Considering how rude and annoying Draco Malfoy was, it was no wonder he and his parents were mean to elves. "Er, thank you for your warning, Dobby," said Ron awkwardly. "But we have to return to Hogwarts. Don't worry, we'll be careful and do our best to avoid any dark plots. Okay?"
"And we'll tell our parents and have them warn Professor Dumbledore," added David.
"Dobby supposes that will do," said the elf. "Dobby is leaving now. Good-bye, sirs and misses." With that, he bowed and then disappeared with a loud pop.
There was a moment of silence as Beth sat down again. Hermione was first to break it. "It's just awful about how Dobby was acting, punishing himself like that. And having to work for the Malfoys! How do you free a house-elf? And what plot could the Malfoys be planning if Dobby felt the need to warn us?"
"I don't know, and to free a house-elf they have to given an item of clothing," answered Neville. "Even something like a hat or sock will do. Oh, and it has to be a member of the family that they work for that gives the clothes. The clothing has to be directly handed too, since my family's house-elves can do the laundry without being set free. I'm sure some elves, like Dobby, will want freedom, but most won't."
"Why not?" asked Hermione. "It's basically slavery, what the house-elves have to go through!"
"House-elves are different from humans," replied Beth patiently. "They love to work, and giving them clothes would be the same as sacking them in disgrace. Those that are treated horribly, like Dobby, probably wouldn't mind, but once they're free, they'd just find someone much nicer to work for."
"Oh. I didn't realize. So Hogwarts has house-elves working there? Why don't we see them?"
"They're in the kitchens most of the time and do the cleaning and whatnot after everyone's in bed," responded Alex. "Supposedly not seeing them do their work is a mark of a good house-elf."
David made a face. "There should be a law on decent treatment for elves. Well, there's a plot that the Malfoys are involved in, or Dobby wouldn't know about it, and so we'll have to be on our guard."
"We'd better let the rest of the family know," said Beth. "And ask Ivan to tell Professor Snape when they're spending their weekly afternoon together and pass on the message to Dumbledore."
At dinner that night, Beth, Alex, and David told the rest of the family about Dobby's visit and the warning he had given. Grandmum Lise looked visibly disturbed. "Why are things suddenly happening now? After Voldemort's defeat, nothing out-of-the-ordinary happened at Hogwarts for ten years. Then suddenly Voldemort's after the Philosopher's Stone, and now there's a plot from the Malfoys, and might involve Voldemort somehow, since I'm sure Lucius Malfoy was lying about not being a Death Eater."
Sirius, who was currently staying at the apothecary until the Black family home was put in order, commented, "If it weren't for the fact that Alex's true identity wasn't common knowledge, I'd wonder if all this had something to do with him. Have you gotten any visions about this, Maria?"
Aunt Maria shook her head. "The only visions I've gotten recently were who the new Defence teacher is going to be and that it's going to rain tomorrow, Sirius. Nothing el-"
Ana dropped her fork and stiffened, cutting her sister off. Everyone turned to look at Ana, who intoned in a dreamy, ethereal voice not unlike Luna's, "The last known descendant of Salazar Slytherin shall attempt to enter Hogwarts. Slytherin's monster will be unleashed, causing great danger at the school. Students will be attacked, but the monster can be slain and the evil stopped."
Sirius, who had never seen Ana, or anyone else for that matter, give a prophecy, and Hermione, who was uncertain about the subject of Divination ever since Professor McGonagall had said that it was a very imprecise branch of magic, were quite shocked by the display. Everyone else was shocked too, but by the contents of the prophecy.
Ana recovered and seeing everyone staring at her and her fork on the ground, asked, "I take it I made another prophecy?" Stephan nodded and she continued, "That is rather odd, since I make one prophecy a year at best, and have never made one four months after the last one." Seeing inquiring looks from those that didn't know about the previous prophecy, she explained, "I made one four months ago that said that the Dark Lord will attempt something- the prophecy didn't state what it was- and fail, and following that, one of his servants would be revealed. I dismissed it until Voldemort tried to get the Philosopher's Stone, and then two weeks later Peter Pettigrew got found out. Well, what did my new prophecy say?"
Uncle Tobias told her. When she heard, her pace paled. "Salazar Slytherin was rumored to have built a secret chamber in Hogwarts that he concealed from the other Founders and then hidden some dangerous creature in it that only he and others of his lineage could control. Based on my prophecy, it could mean that the rumor is true."
"Perhaps this prophecy won't come true," said Aunt Sarah, but she didn't sound like she believed it. "In any case, Professor Dumbledore will have to be warned. Ivan, could you tell your godfather about all this and ask him to pass on the news to the headmaster?"
"Okay, Mamen," replied Ivan. Dinner resumed, but all anyone could think about was Dobby's warning and the prophecy that Ana had made.
It rained the next morning, as Aunt Maria had predicted, so the Gryffindor Quintet stayed inside and took turns reading out loud from the newest book in the Redwall series, Mariel of Redwall. Luna, Ginny, and David spent their time with Jonas, who was currently not happy about being the youngest one and forced to wait another year until he could go to Hogwarts. He kept wishing that he had been three months earlier, which would put him before the cutoff date, even though his parents had pointed out that he might not be alive if that had happened, since even with magic, babies born three months premature had a low chance of survival. He had simply retorted that they could have conceived him three months earlier, at which point his mother had snapped that God planned things in His own time and banned him from having dessert for talking back. It didn't help matters that he had nobody to wait with him, since his closest friends were all starting Hogwarts this year.
The next day was the birthday party. The 'twins' had been given new outfits by their parents, and the two put them on. Beth had on white top with scarlet and gold embroidery done in the Romany style and a scarlet skirt with gold bangles and embroidery. Her hair was tied back with a gold and scarlet scarf, and she wore gold hoop earrings and bangle bracelets that Granny Ilsa gave her. Alex wore a white shirt with green embroidery that matched his eyes, a green sash, and emerald green trousers with silver embroidery. He also had on a silver bracelet with spelled runes for protection engraved on it and a silver headband set with (fake) emeralds from Grandmum Lise.
There was a Quidditch match, with Alex and Beth as the captains of each team. Since Cedric wasn't there like last year, Beth took the position of Seeker for her team and picked Hermione to take her place of Chaser. Otherwise, the teams were identical to one from last year. Needless to say, Alex's team won, for Beth wasn't quite a good a Seeker as her brother, and Hermione wasn't exactly a very good Chaser. After that, they decided to have Alex, Beth, and their cousins play against everyone else. Since Ginny was the only one on the other team that was good enough to play Seeker, she took that role. However, that meant all three of their Chasers (Luna, Hermione, and Neville) were passable at best, since Ginny and Beth were the ones that were truly brilliant at it.
In the end, Alex and Beth's team won, but that was only because Alex's broom was faster that Ginny's, enabling him to catch the Snitch first. After the second match, Sirius said, "You're just as brilliant on a broom as your father was, Alex. Though he was a Chaser rather than a Seeker, even if he did like playing with a Snitch off the Quidditch pitch."
"Well, it's not like he could play around with a Quaffle, Sirius," responded Alex. "He'd look stupid doing so. And using the Snitch would help him with his reflexes."
There was cake, ice cream, and some triangular pastries stuffed with jam that Aunt Sarah normally made for the Jewish holiday of Purim, but had contributed to the party since she knew how much Beth and Alex liked them. Following the food was presents. The largest one was a Nimbus Two Thousand and One for each of them, which their aunts and uncles had gotten together to buy, since it was a rather expensive broom. Their cousins had gotten them various Muggle books, and their grandfathers gave them Defence books. Sirius gave them each a broomstick servicing kit. Hermione gave Beth a lovely stationery set and Alex an art set, since he sometimes liked to sketch, though he wasn't as good at art or as passonate about as his dormmate Dean Thomas was. Neville gave them both some books on potion brewing, and Ron gave them each a book on Quidditch. Ginny gave them each a journal like the one she'd given Neville, except theirs was for Potions. Fred and George gave them some prank items, Percy a book each on Transfiguration, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley some sweets, and Remus gave them each a book on wandless magic. Professor Snape, who had been invited, dropped by for a few minutes, giving Beth and Alex each a well-stocked Potions kit, told them that he had passed on Dobby's warning and the prophecy to Dumbledore, and then left.
In the evening, everyone packed up some ckithes and other necessary items for the camping trip that was starting tomorrow, and then went to bed.