Chapter Two – Dobby's Warning

Harry covered Haiden's mouth just in time to smother his brother's scream, hoping and praying that Haiden's muffled scream hadn't been loud enough for the Dursley's and their dinner guests to hear. The twins took in the creature that was sitting on Haiden's bed. It had large, bat-like ears and bulging snot yellow eyes the size of tennis balls. Harry knew instantly that this was what had been watching him and his brother from the wardrobe earlier that day.

All three of them looked at each other in a heavy silence (Harry's hand still covering Haiden's mouth). The twins tensed up when they heard Dudley's voice from the hall. "May I take your coats, Mr. and Mrs. Mason?" Harry let go of Haiden's mouth as they watched the creature slip off of the bed and bowed so low that the end of its long, thin nose touched the carpet.

Harry noticed that the creature was wearing what looked like an old pillowcase (from the look of the pillowcase it had once been very nice as it seemed to be made of a nice quality cloth) with rips for arms and leg holes. The creature looked very familiar to Harry, like he had seen it in passing or something.

"Um – hello." Haiden said awkwardly after a long moment of silence that no one seemed to want to brake.

"Haiden Potter!" The creature said in a high-pitched voice that Harry was sure would carry down the stairs. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, sir… Such an honor it is…"

"Er – thank you?" Haiden said glancing at Harry for help. Harry only shrugged his shoulders; this drew the creatures attention from Haiden to Harry.

"Harry Potter!" The creature squeaked (sounding almost fearful). "Dobby has heard much about you sir!" This shocked Harry. Someone had been speaking about him to or around this creature. And whatever the person had said had terrified the creature, either that or the person who had done the talking had terrified the creature.

"What are you? Who are you?" Haiden asked pulling the creature's attention away from Harry and back to his brother.

"Dobby, sir. Just Dobby. Dobby the house-elf." The creature said. So, this creature was a house-elf. Harry must have seen the creature around the school. That would be why it seemed so familiar. With that mystery solved, Harry grew bored and crawled onto his cot, catching Loki (who had pounced from the desk aimed at the house-elf) in mid-air as he did so.

"Oh – really –" Haiden asked shifting awkwardly on his feet. "Er – I don't want to be rude or anything, but this isn't a great tom for me – us – to have a house-elf in my – our – bedroom." Harry turned his head away from his brother, hiding the fact that he had just rolled his eyes. Aunt Petunia's high, false laugh sounded from the living room. The house-elf hung his head.

"Not that we're not pleased to meet you," Harry said turning back to look at the house-elf, "but is there any particular reason you're here?"

"Oh, yes, sir." Dobby said earnestly. "Dobby has come to tell Haiden Potter, sir… it is difficult, sir… Dobby wonders where to begin…"

"Sit down." Haiden said politely, pointing at the bed. To both of the twins horror, the house-elf burst into tears – very noisy tears.

"S-sit down!" The house-elf wailed. "Never… never ever…" Harry was positive that he heard the voices downstairs falter.

"Dobby! Stop!" Harry ordered and instantly the house-elf stopped wailing and Harry let out a sigh of relief.

"I didn't mean to offend you or anything–" Haiden said but was quickly cut off by the house-elf.

"Offend Dobby!" It choked out. "Dobby has never been asked to sit down by a wizard – like an equal–" Harry nearly bit his tongue off trying not to laugh at his brother who was trying to say 'Shh!' and look comforting at the same time as he ushered Dobby back onto the bed where the house-elf sat hiccupping, looking like a large and very ugly doll. At least the house-elf had managed to control himself and sit with his great eyes fixed on Haiden with an expression of watery adoration. A dark thought flew through Harry's mind: He wanted to let loose Loki (who was trying to get out of his arms to attack Dobby) and just sit back and watch the chaos.

"You can't have met many decent wizards." Haiden said obviously trying to cheer up the house-elf. Dobby shook his head.

Then, without warning, the house-elf leapt up and started banging his head furiously on the window, shouting: "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"

"Don't!" Harry cried out, knowing that everyone downstairs could hear the house-elf. "What are you doing?" He hissed as he struggled to pull Dobby away from the window, and Loki wasn't helping. Once Harry managed to pull Dobby from the window, he tossed the house-elf back onto the bed before turning to glare at his brother. "Thanks for the help!" He hissed over the screeching of Hedwig (who had been woken up by Dobby) and the sound of her beating wings against the bars of her cage. "Shut up!" Harry growled at her, and the owl cowered away.

"Dobby had to punish himself, sirs." The house-elf said, also cowering away from Harry. "Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, sirs…"

"Your family?" The twins asked as one. If Dobby had a family, then it was very unlikely that Harry had seen this house-elf in Hogwarts. Then where had he seen Dobby? The only wizard house he had ever been to was–

"The wizard family Dobby serves, sirs… Dobby's a house-elf – bound to serve one house and one family forever…"

"Who is your family?" Harry asked at the same time Haiden asked: "Do they know you're here?"

"Oh, no, sir, no… Dobby will have to punish himself grievously for coming to see you sir. Dobby will have to shut his ears in the oven door for this. If they ever knew, sir." Dobby said looking up at Haiden and Harry felt as if the house-elf had forgotten Harry was even there. Harry's anger rose and he glared at his brother, even house-elves forgot about him when his brother was around.

"But won't they notice if you shut your ears in the oven door?" Haiden asked and before Dobby could answer Harry shuffled himself so that he could squeeze in between Haiden and Dobby, glaring at the house-elf.

"You serve the Malfoy family, do you not?" Harry demanded and the house-elf squeaked in fear and began to shake, Harry's anger rose. Why was this house-elf acting as if Draco and his family were abusive monsters? Harry had been to the Malfoy Mansion and had seen how they had treated their house-elves. The Malfoy's never yelled at (or even hit their house-elves), they only asked for their house-elves to work hard and do their best. Of course, the house-elves were punished if they didn't do their work.

"Why don't you just leave? Escape?" Haiden asked.

"A house-elf must be set free, sir. And the family will never set Dobby free… Dobby serves the family until he dies, sir…" The twins stared at him, each with a different look. Haiden had a shocked look while Harry had an annoyed look.

"And I thought we had it bad staying here for another four weeks." Haiden muttered and Harry shook his head. Dobby was purposefully making the Malfoys look bad. "This makes the Dursleys sound almost human." Harry bit back a groan and fell back on his cot, making sure to tighten his hold on Loki. "Can't anyone help you? Can't I?" That sent Dobby back into loud sobs.

"Dobby, shut up! If the Dursley's hear anything, if they know you're here–"

"Haiden Potter asks if he can help Dobby." Dobby cried cutting off Harry. "Dobby has heard of your greatness, sir, but of your goodness, Dobby never knew…" Harry sighed rolling his eyes as he let his head drop back on the cot. He was fed up with this elf, if he only wanted Haiden's attention, then let the house-elf have only his brother's attention. After all, Harry was only here to be a shield.

"Whatever you've heard about my greatness is a load of rubbish. I'm not even the top of my year at Hogwarts; that's Hermi–" Harry cut Haiden off with a loud cough.

"I'm actually the top of our year." Harry corrected irritably. He may just be a shield, but he was a smart shield!

"Haiden Potter is humble and modest." Dobby said reverently his orb-like eyes aglow. "Haiden Potter speaks not of his triumph over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named"

"Voldemort?" Harry asked before sighing in annoyance as Dobby clapped his hands over his bat ears and moaned: "Ah, speak not his name, sir! Speak not the name!"

"Sorry." Harry muttered quickly just to get the house-elf to stop. Harry tilted his head to look at Doddy who was leaning toward Haiden (who looked uncomfortable) with his eyes wide as headlights.

"Dobby heard tell," Dobby said hoarsely, "that Haiden Potter met the Dark Lord for a second time just weeks ago… Haiden Potter escaped yet again." Haiden nodded and Dobby's eyes suddenly shone with tears. Harry sighed in annoyance and held Loki (who was giving him an annoyed look) in the air above him. He had been there too, both times in fact! And did anyone give a damn that Harry had also survived two encounters with Voldemort just like Haiden? No! All anyone saw him as was a shield for his brother. "Ah, sir." Dobby gasped, dabbing his face with the corner of the pillowcase he was wearing. "Haiden Potter is valiant and bold!"

'Or stupid and foolish.' A voice (that sounded suspiciously like Draco) in the back of Harry's mind whispered harshly.

"He has braved so many dangers already!" The house-elf continued. "But Dobby has come to protect Haiden Potter, to warn him, even if he does have to shut his ears in the oven door… Haiden Potter must not go back to Hogwarts."

"What!" The Twins all but yelled with Harry sitting up so fast that the room spun around for a second allowing Loki to jump from his arms. If Harry was needed here to keep the Blood wards strong, and Haiden never left then that meant that Harry would be stuck here as well. The silence that fell over them was only broken by the clink of knives and forks from downstairs and the distant rumble of Uncle Vernon's voice.

"But I've got to go back – term starts on September 1st. It's all that's keeping me going." Haiden said and hurt filled Harry. "You don't know what it's like here. I don't belong here. I belong in your world – at Hogwarts."

"No, no, no." Dobby squeaked, shaking his head so hard his ears flapped. "Haiden Potter must stay where he is safe. He is too great, too good to lose." Harry rolled his eyes and flopped back on his cot with his arms crossed while glaring at the ceiling. "If Haiden Potter goes back to Hogwarts, he will be in mortal danger."

"Why?" Haiden asked in surprise.

"There is a plot, Haiden Potter. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year." Dobby whispered trembling. "Dobby had known for months, sir. Haiden Potter must not put himself in peril. He is too important, sir!"

"What terrible things?" Haiden asked. "What are the Malfoys plotting?" Dobby made a funny choking noise and then began to bang his head frantically against the wall. Harry shot from his cot and grabbed the house-elf. "All right!" Haiden cried out, barely catching Loki in time to stop him from attacking the house-elf. Loki growled angrily at Haiden before biting him (causing Haiden to drop him) and hide somewhere to try again. "You can't tell me." Haiden hissed out holding his now bleeding hand to his chest. "I understand. But why are you warning me? Hang on – this hasn't got anything to do with You-Know-Who, has it? You could just shake or nod your head." Slowly, Dobby shook his head.

"No-not He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, sir–" Dobby said but his eyes were wide, and he seemed to be trying to give Haiden a hint, but both twins were completely lost.

"He hasn't got a brother, has he?" Haiden asked as Harry let Dobby go in order to catch Loki, though he was very tempted to just throw the cat at the house-elf. Loki gave a low, angry mewl as Harry began to pet him, trying to calm him.

"Well, then, I can't think of who else would have a chance of making horrible things happen at Hogwarts, nor do I see any way the Malfoys could do anything too terrible." Haiden said scratching the back of his head. "I mean, there's Dumbledore, for one thing – you know who Dumbledore is, don't you?" Dobby bowed his head.

"Albus Dumbledore is the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever had. Dobby knows it, sir. Dobby had heard Dumbledore's powers rival those of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at the highest of his strength. But sir –" the house-elves voice dropped to an urgent whisper "– there are powers Dumbledore doesn't… powers no decent wizard…" Before either of the twins could stop the house-elf, Dobby bounded off the bed, seized the desk lamp, and started beating himself around the head with earsplitting yelps.

As Haiden grabbed Dobby and Harry grabbed the desk lamp, a sudden silence fell downstairs. Two seconds later Harry (who's heart was thudding wildly) heard Uncle Vernon coming into the hall, calling: "Dudley must have left his television on again, the little tyke!"

"Quick, stuff him in the wardrobe!" Harry hissed ripping the desk lamp from the house-elf's hands as Haiden lifted Dobby and placed him in the wardrobe just as the door handle turned.

"What – the – devil – are – you – doing?" Uncle Vernon hissed through gritted teeth; his face horribly close to Haiden's (who was the closest to the door). "You've just ruined the punch line of my Japanese golfer joke… One more sound and you'll wish you'd never been born!" He stomped flat-footed from the room. Shaking, Haiden let Dobby out of the wardrobe.

"See what it's like here?" He said. "See why I've got to go back to Hogwarts? It's the only place I've got – well, I think I've got friends."

"Friends who don't even write to Haiden Potter?" Dobby said slyly causing Harry to look at him in shock.

"I expect they've just been–" Haiden started.

"Hold on." Harry cut him off, scooting to the edge of his cot. "How did you know our friends haven't been writing to us?" Was this house-elf the reason he wasn't receiving any letters? Dobby shuffled his feet refusing to look into Haiden (or even Harry's) eyes.

"Haiden Potter mustn't be angry with Dobby. Dobby did it for the best–" Dobby didn't get to finish as Harry shot off his cot, Dobby flinched away in fear.

"Have you been stopping our letters, Dobby?" Harry growled out, his eyes flashing in anger and Dobby squeaked in fear.

"Dobby has them here, sir." The house-elf said stepping away from Harry as he pulled a thick wad of envelopes from the inside of the pillowcase he was wearing. Harry could make out Draco's neat and elegant handwriting mixed alongside Hermione's, Ron's and the Weasley Twins handwriting. It looked to Harry that the house-elf hadn't known which letters had been for Haiden and which ones had been for Harry, so he just took any letter addressed with 'Potter'. Dobby blinked anxiously between Harry and Haiden.

"Haiden Potter mustn't be angry… Dobby hoped… if Haiden Potter thought his friends had forgotten him… Haiden Potter might not want to go back to school, sir…" Both Harry and Haiden made a grab for the letters, but Dobby jumped out of their reach. "Haiden Potter will have them, sir, if he gives Dobby his word that he will not return to Hogwarts. Ah, sir, this is a danger you must not face! Say you won't go back, sir!"

"No!" Haiden cried angrily as him and Harry tried to grab the letters again, only to have Dobby jump away from them once more. "Give me my letters!"

"Then Haiden Potter leaves Dobby no choice." The house-elf said sadly. Harry dove at Dobby just as the house-elf darted to the bedroom door (causing Harry to dive over him) and opened the door before sprinting down the stairs. Harry saw red. With a growl, Harry flung himself off Haiden's bed (that he had landed on) and chased after the house-elf.

Had Harry been in a calmer state of mind, he would have been worried how quick he'd been to anger like this. However, after everything Harry had gone through, after everything he had overheard, Harry could understand why he was so quick to anger. It wasn't just because the house-elf had taken his letter, it was because the house-elf had done it to stop Haiden from going to Hogwarts in an attempt to save Haiden. Had the house-elf cared if Harry went back? No! Why? Because no one cared about what happened to Harry! No one cared that Harry also faced Voldemort twice and survived! No one cared if Harry got hurt! Harry could just disappear right now, and no one would care! Oh wait, that wasn't true. Dumbledore would care, but that would only be because Harry was Haiden's shield and if Harry disappeared then who would be there to keep the Blood wards working.

Harry (with Haiden close behind him) jumped the last six steps, landing catlike on the hall carpet and looked around for Dobby. Harry heard Uncle Vernon saying "…tell Petunia that very funny story about those American plumbers, Mr. Mason. She's been dying to hear…" from the dining room. Harry ran up the hall to the kitchen where he came sliding to a stop, causing Haiden to slam into him. His anger disappeared in a cold flash as his stomach dropped. Aunt Petunia's masterpiece of a pudding (the mountain of cream and sugared violets) was floating up near the ceiling. On top of the cupboard in the corner crouched Dobby.

"No." Haiden croaked out hoarsely. "Please… they'll kill me…"

"Us. They'll kill us." Harry whispered to him harshly.

"Haiden Potter must say he's not going back to school –"

"Dobby… please…" Haiden begged as Harry looked around to figure out how to either stop the pudding from doing whatever it was that Dobby was planning to do with it or stop Dobby.

"Then Dobby must do it, sir, for Haiden Potter's own good." Dobby snapped his finger and Harry launched himself forward. But he had been too far, and the pudding fell to the floor with a heart-stopping crash. Cream splattered the windows and walls as the dish shattered, covering Harry who was frozen in his spot, hands out to try and catch it. With a loud whip-like crack Dobby vanished.

There were screams from the dining room seconds before Uncle Vernon burst into the kitchen to find the twins, rigid with shock. At first it looked as though Uncle Vernon would manage to gloss the whole thing over. ("Just our nephews – very disturbed, meeting strangers upsets them, so we kept them upstairs.) He shooed the shocked Masons back into the dining room, promised the twins (especially Harry who was the only twin covered in the pudding) that he would flay them to within of their lives when the Masons had left, and handed Harry a mop and Haiden the broom. Aunt Petunia dug out some ice cream out of a freezer and Harry (still shaking) started to help Haiden scrub the kitchen clean.

Uncle Vernon might still have been able to make his deal – if it hadn't been for the owl.

Aunt Petunia was just passing around a box of after dinner mints when a huge barn owl swooped through the dining room window, dropped a letter on Mrs. Mason's head, and swooped out again. Mrs. Mason screamed like a banshee and ran from the house shouting about lunatics, and had Harry not been so afraid of his life, he would have laughed. Mr. Mason stayed just long enough to tell the Dursleys that his wife was mortally afraid of birds of all shapes and sizes, and to ask whether this was their idea of a joke.

Harry stood in the kitchen with his brother (clutching the mop for support) as Uncle Vernon advanced on him, a demonic glint in his tiny eyes.

"Read it!" He hissed evilly, brandishing the letter the owl had delivered. "Go on – read it." Haiden took the letter, Harry read over his shoulder. It did not contain a birthday greeting.

Dear Mr. Haiden and Harry Potter,

We have received intelligence that a Hover Charm was used at your place of residence this evening at twelve minutes past nine.

As you know, underage wizards are not permitted to perform spells outside school, and further spellwork on your part may lead to expulsion from said school (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C).

We would also ask you to remember that any magical activity that risks notice by members of the non-magical community (Muggles) is a serious offense under section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlock's Statute of Secrecy.

Enjoy your holidays!

Yours sincerely,

Mafalda Hopkirk
Improper Use of Magic Office
Ministry of Magic

The twins looked up from the letter as one, glanced at each other before looking back at their uncle. "You didn't tell us you weren't allowed to use magic outside of school." Uncle Vernon said, a mad gleam dancing in his eyes. "Forgot to mention it… Slipped your minds, I daresay…" He was bearing down on them like a great bulldog, all his teeth bared. "Well, I've got news for the two of you… I'm locking you up… you're never going back to that school… never… and if you try and magic yourselves out – they'll expel you!" And, laughing like a maniac, their uncle grabbed the two of them by the back of the neck and drug them back upstairs.