Dobby's Friend

DISCLAIMER! This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy. Looking forward to the next movie!

When he is freed by Harry Potter, Dobby becomes the house elf of the boy-who-lived. With permission and assistance from the grateful Hogwarts house elves, the determined Dobby takes steps to ensure his wizard is safe and able to recover from years of neglect by every adult in his life. And the adults have to pay the price for abuse and neglect.

CHAPTER 02: 25 June Dursleys Fate

That next morning, the Dursleys were involved in a car wreck. They were travelling from their son's school, Smelting Young Men's Preparatory School, back to their home in Little Whiting. The early retrieval from school for their son was because Dudley had been expelled – permanently this time.

"Doesn't matter that we were friends, Vernon," the headmaster roared. "Your boy beat a fellow student so severely, he put the kid in hospital! The lawyers are certain the parents will sue the school and you! And they'll win! Dudley stole the kid's money and then beat him almost to death."

Petunia sighed and looked out the window, ignoring her whining son, petulant sister-in-law, and grumbling husband. Something caught her eye – a strange creature appeared alongside the highway for just a moment before Vernon slammed on the brakes, Marge and Dudley cursed, and Petunia screamed in the moment before impact with a lorry carrying petrol. The conflagration left nothing of the Dursley car or their bodies for the authorities. CCTV footage from a nearby shop allowed police to catch the license plate on the car, trace the name and begin searching for any surviving members of the family.

The local constables contacted Dudley's school and learned the boy had been expelled and picked up by his father, mother, and aunt only an hour before the terrible accident.

Lost in her bottle of gin, Arabella Figg paid no attention to any of the gossip. She'd just received her yearly stipend from Dumbledore to pay her to watch the boy-who-lived. She would crawl into her bottles, feed her cats, and ignore everything around her.

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24 June Harry's Summer

The dejected young wizard slowly made his way from the headmaster's office back to the Gryffindor Tower. Despite Harry's tears and pleas, Dumbledore brushed away each of Harry's arguments not to return to Surrey and the prison that was No.4 Privet Drive.

"They are your family, Harry," Dumbledore insisted. "And they love you very much."

"They don't love me! They think I'm a freak because I can do magic," Harry insisted.

"Now, now, my boy, you're exaggerating," the headmaster said. "I remember my parents disciplining me when I was too rambunctious. Back then, Hogwarts encouraged corporal punishment…and I put a stop to that in 1948."

Observing his dorm mates, Harry realized that some of them dreaded returning home as well – Neville spoke about his greenhouses without mentioning his grandmother or other relatives, and Ron moaned about chores his mother and father would make him do every day that summer.

The boy complained, "And they'll baby Ginny now for the whole summer. She won't have to do anything but sit there and sigh to get Mum to hand her biscuits and pie."

Hermione spoke about a busy schedule of sites in France and Italy her parents intended to visit for the entire month of July. "We used to go on holiday in August but now my parents like to leave the same day I get home from Hogwarts."

Harry thought the Grangers were smart – they'd disappear with their daughter that same day so that wizards looking for her couldn't find her. He decided, 'If they knew about her being petrified, they'd go on holiday and never return. I wish someone would take me and run away. Even if they killed me, at least I'd not starve again.'

He decided against writing a letter to the Grangers – Hedwig might be intercepted between Hogwarts and London. The headmaster would be ticked off if he read a letter revealing the secrets of this year at 'his' school.

'I have to find spells to make the Dursleys leave me alone…next year, I won't play chess with Ron or skip homework,' Harry resolved. He headed for the library to find some books on something called wandless magic – magic that the ministry wouldn't trace.

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24-30 June Elf Magic

Each day in the library, at least one additional book appeared at the table where Harry sat and read about the theories of magic and the application of wandless magic. These books were written in a non-sensical voice that reminded Harry of the way the house elves talked. The books never remained on the table when Harry closed the cover and his notes appeared to be invisible to the other students.

Twice Dobby appeared while Harry made his way back to the dorm and pulled Mr Harry Potters into unused classrooms to practice the strange spells. After the second night, Harry could summon hot chocolate and biscuits from the kitchens with a snap of his fingers, the magic could wash, dry and fold a pile of dirty clothes instantly, and a dishpan of dirty dishes were washed and stacked properly just as fast.

"Nows, when you gets home, youse can snap fingers to help with house elf chores, Mr Harry Potters," Dobby said. "Remembers, magic be about intents. Youse can learn to snap and make grasses cut and roses bloom with some hard thinking."

The most important spells that Dobby taught Harry were the elven spell to be invisible (a strong notice-me-not that made the magic user invisible to every eye until the user wanted to reappear), and the elven transportation spell the elves called 'popping' that let them leap great or short distances.

"Mr Harry Potters must know where he's be going – be there at least once befores and then he's can snap fingers and goes back."

The young wizard was disconcerted by the loud pop that included the spell, but the elf explained, "Magic be alls about intentionals. If Mr Harry Potters not want pop, there be no pops. If he wants the muggles sonicals boom, he can blast every ears drum of wizard and witch in destination."

"Dobby, that's great! Thank you!"

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24-30 June Basilisk Venom

The last days of the school year passed quietly without anyone being petrified or disappearing, so Harry tolerated his two ever-present friends and spent every minute in the library – skipping potions and history class. He ignored points and detentions completely and Snape hunted the boy in the hallways but never found him to drag him to detention.

The students blamed the terrible potions mishap for the dungeon bat's ever-worsening temper as all the seventh-year potion students were drafted to help brew potions after they completed their NEWTS. There were several explosions in the dungeons that left four Slytherin and Ravenclaw students in the infirmary. Rumours of one death spread from Hufflepuff to Gryffindor but Professor Flitwick revealed that one seventh-year student, Marcus Flint, had been transferred to Saint Mungo's Hospital to deal with a mangled arm.

There was a lot of talk about the magic to regrow a limb on a wizard or witch and Harry heard the older students talking about the missing ingredient – the venom of a basilisk. Percy Weasley spoke about the incredible expense to obtain even the smallest amounts of the potent poison. In the common room, Weasley explained, "I read that Saint Mungo's could regrow Flint's whole arm if they had just five millilitres of the poison. Isn't magic amazing to take a poison and transform it into a potion to regrow a missing limb."

When he was alone in the hallway leading toward the library and away from all portraits, Harry called for Dobby and asked him about going to the Chamber of Secrets to retrieve the tiniest bit of venom to help the boy – Marcus Flint. The elf frowned and argued about not helping the rough Slytherin bully, but Harry countered with the argument, "If someone helps him without demanding payment, he'll learn that there are good people. Maybe it will start him thinking."

"Has you been eating any of the lemony drops in Lemon Whisker's office, Mr Harry Potters?" the elf demanded to know.

After blinking several times and thinking, Harry grinned and replied, "No. I just think it's something that I should do…if you'll help me."

"What's Dobby to do?"

"Go with me in the Chamber of Secrets and harvest some of the venom. I'll send it to Marcus via a school owl…just don't tell Hedwig."

Dobby followed his Mr Harry Potters to the chamber underneath the school, suggested they ask for stairs, and helped to harvest a tiny portion of the venom present in the basilisk.

Seeing the size of the monster that his wizard had killed, the elf's resolve to help the young man strengthened. An idea presented itself to Dobby and he made certain to harvest almost three times the amount collected.

"Why so much Dobby? Percy said they only needed five millilitres."

"But Potions-healers will run testables on the poisoned venoms before using potions for Mean Flints new hand," the elf explained.

"That's something Professor Snarly never taught us," Harry said and let the subject drop.

When the venom was collected in clear glass flask with a stopper in the top, the elf asked, "Mr Harry Potter, will you let Dobby make delivery to Saint Mungo's? I can get there quick with elfs's magic and they not know who sent the venom."

"Sure, Dobby so long as it doesn't make you miss any of your work or make you tired."

"And Mr Harry Potters use elf pop to leave the Chambers of Most Secrets. Use pops to return and avoid stairs that go from here to moon."

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