The only reason why they hadn't shouted out in alarm at the unexpected visitor was so that Hermione's parents weren't alerted to the creature's presence. They barely understood the situation themselves so there was no telling how confused a pair of Muggles would be, even ones who knew the wizarding world existed. To Harry, the creature was one of the strangest things he had ever laid his eyes upon, which was saying something. Its bat-like ears and tennis ball eyes made it look, in as polite a way as possible, rather ugly. The sack that it was wearing in place of its clothes thankfully hid most of its wrinkly body but, even still, Harry doubted that Hermione appreciated it jumping around on her bed.

As if it had heard his concerns, the creature took one final leap and ended up on the floor, causing quite a large noise that they hoped would be ignored by the two adults downstairs. It bowed so deeply that its pointy nose scratched the wooden floor.

"Harry Potter!" it exclaimed in an awfully high pitched voice, so loud that Hermione immediately closed the bedroom door to stop the noise travelling downstairs. "So long has Dobby wanted to see you, sir! Dobby knows that this is a great honour!"

Matthew threw his arms up, gently knocking Hermione with his shoulder. "They're never interested in us, are they? It's like we're invisible."

"Would you want it to be interested in you?" Hermione whispered back, finding the reverence the House Elf was showing extremely awkward.

Harry shot them a look before turning his attention back onto the besotted creature. It seemed that he was the one it wanted to speak to so he was left to do the talking, not that his friends were willing to help out a great deal. "Thank you?" He was stuttering slightly, only because he was so confused. The two people next to him seemed to have recognised at least the sort of creature this was, leaving him as the last one to know things as usual. "Um...you know my name...but I haven't had the chance to get yours…"

"Oh, Harry Potter wants to know my name!" the creature wailed, practically on the point of tears. The three of them watched its behaviour with wide eyes. Matthew was holding back laughter. "Dobby, sir. Just Dobby. Dobby the house elf."

"House...elf?" Harry stared at Dobby for a second before realising that he obviously hadn't seen it as a question. He glanced back at Hermione and Matthew for an explanation, the latter doing the talking.

"House elves are magical beings," he said. "Which is pretty obvious from the look of...Dobby. They're basically...servants...for wizards." He turned his nose up at that. "Most old families have at least one. The richer ones pride themselves on having an entire staff. No wonder wizards have grown to be so lazy when they've become dependent on these creatures for every menial task."

"I couldn't believe what I was reading when I first discovered them," Hermione added with a deep scowl. "Matthew was being polite by calling them servants. They don't get paid so the only applicable term is slave ."

Harry was understandably shocked by their comments and with how vitriolic they'd sounded. How could such a wonderful world, full of magic and amazing creations, have slaves be such a fundamental part of its society? It wasn't the sort of moral crisis that he'd been expecting to have on his birthday.

"Dobby...does that mean that you come from an old wizarding family too?"

Almost instantly, the house elf's eyes somehow inflated to make them even larger and they welled up with tears. Then without warning, Dobby sprung back up, moving to the window to bang his head on it.

"Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!" the creature cried, repeating the statement with every whack of his head. "Masters will be so unhappy with Dobby!"

Alarmed by the quick turn of events, the three of them scrambled to get a hold of him, who was proving to be heavier than expected. It took a bit of effort to drag him away without hurting him further. Their intervention seemed to have calmed him down temporarily.

"He's insane!" Matthew declared, prompting Hermione to roll her eyes at him.

"Why did you do that, Dobby?" Harry risked asking, hoping not to set him off again. "You could have smashed the window!"

"Dobby has betrayed his...masters...by being here." He edged over to bang his head again but Harry was there to quickly stop him. "Dobby must punish himself for that. If they knew that I was here…" He was close to crying again.

"Who are your masters? What family is it?"

Dobby grew fearful. "Dobby must not say! They will be extremely displeased. Even saying this much is very very bad!"

"Okay, okay," Harry quickly butted in. "If they're that bad, then why don't you leave?"

"It's not that simple," Hermione answered. "House elves are magically bound to the families they serve for the entirety of their lives. The only way out of that is being set free, as if they don't have any agency for themselves! It's barbaric."

"Could you not ask to be set free then?" Harry suggested. It seemed perfectly rational to him but then maybe he was being too naive.

"They would never agree to that!" Dobby shivered at the thought before he clasped a wrinkly hand over his mouth. "Dobby speaks ill of them again! Dobby is a bad house elf!" He started pulling on his ears, twisting them painfully.

"Could I not help?" Harry hoped that, by talking, it would distract the creature long enough to stop him from torturing himself but his question only served to start elf tears running once more.

"Harry Potter wishes to help Dobby!" The words were croaked through horrendous cries. They all winced at the sound. "Dobby has heard of your greatness but not of your goodness !"

Harry was distinctly red in the face, mainly because of Matthew's gleeful smile at what was happening. "Whatever you've heard about my greatness, it's not true. I'm not even top of our year at Hogwarts! That's Hermione! She's certainly greater than I am."

The girl in question hit him on the arm. "You're not allowed to insult yourself on your birthday. But...thank you." Hermione gave him a shy smile.

"Unbelievable," Matthew muttered. "First the elf is devoted to Harry. And now you've only got eyes for him. What's the point of me being here? Or are we all going to set up an 'I love Harry Potter Fan Club'?"

"We could make badges," she replied with a cheeky grin, goading Matthew.

"Harry Potter is humble and modest," Dobby pressed on, evidently still ignoring the other two people in the room. "Harry Potter does not even mention his gallant triumph over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

"Voldemort?" Harry surmised without thinking.

"Yeah, because there's more than one person going around with that title," Matthew chimed in sarcastically.

Harry didn't even have the time to argue with him as Dobby was grasping his ears again, folding them so as to not hear anything. "You must not speak the name! The name is bad!"

Harry was so used to being around probably the two people, barring maybe Dumbledore, who were comfortable with saying that word that he tended to forget the sort of violent reactions it often created. "Sorry. Most wizards I talk to don't like saying it and yet I still keep doing it."

"Because you're rational," Hermione reminded him gently. "Not to say that you're not being rational, Dobby!" Her quick amendment was joined by a wince of apology. Though banging your head on the window and damaging your ears wasn't the most sane behaviour.

"Dobby has heard that Harry Potter met the Dark Lord for a second time only a few weeks ago and he managed to escape yet again!"

"Dear me, I knew the rumour mill at Hogwarts is bad but the fact that it's even reached the house elf community is a joke!" Matthew wasn't taking this too seriously but perhaps that was because it wasn't his bed that the creature was messing up.

"So it is true then?" Dobby looked at Harry even more reverently as the boy nodded his head awkwardly, not knowing what to say. "Harry Potter is brave and courageous! He does not need protecting and yet that is precisely why Dobby is here! To help the brilliant Harry Potter." They were listening intently now, the atmosphere in the room instantly changing. Even Matthew's blase attitude had turned serious. "Dobby has a warning for Harry Potter and his friends. They must not go back to Hogwarts!"

It took them a few seconds to even process what he'd said since it sounded so nonsensical. "What?" Harry stammered, blinking in disbelief. "Of course I'm going back. I have to! That's where my life is! I'm not spending the entire year with the Dursleys! I wouldn't survive that!"

"No, no, no! Harry Potter must stay away. He is too great to be put at risk. It is safe here. Safe is good. If Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts, he will be placing himself in grave danger! You all will be."

"What sort of danger are we talking about?" Suddenly, Matthew didn't seem like a kid anymore. There was an air about him, something that had shifted.

"There is a plot. A plot to make the most terrible things happen at your precious school." Dobby was trembling all over. "Harry Potter must stay away from this for his own safety."

"Do you know what terrible things?" Hermione questioned. "Who's plotting them?"

Dobby wringed his hands again and was edging closer to the wall. "Dobby is not at liberty to say."

Matthew rolled his eyes, now tired with these games. "Why would you tell us then? If you know that Hogwarts is at risk, then why not tell someone who can actually do something about it? Dumbledore has to know about this if it's real."

"Dobby cannot say anymore to anyone else. He has already said far too much!" He slammed his hand against Hermione's desk so forcefully that the drawers shook. It was only her quick reactions that stopped a few books from falling off.

"I'm sorry, Dobby," Harry said earnestly. "But no matter what plot you think is happening, it isn't going to stop me from going to Hogwarts. I'm not abandoning the only friends I have."

"Which is why Dobby tells them too! Dobby knows just how much Dobby cares for his friends, especially after they found a way to talk over the teelifon. "

Harry was momentarily confused. "Hold on...telephone? How did you know that Matthew called me? How did you know that he needed to call me? Unless…"

"Harry Potter must not be upset with Dobby. Dobby was doing it solely with Harry Potter's best interests at heart."

"Did you stop their letters from getting to me? Did you intercept the ones I sent to them?" Harry was seething. He'd felt so alone, so isolated, those first couple of weeks of Summer. He'd been blaming himself, questioning if he'd done something wrong to upset them, and now it turned out that none of it had been his fault.

Dobby's ears drooped considerably. He pulled a thick wad of envelopes from his 'outfit', placing them in Harry's outstretched hands. He could instantly recognise Hermione's neat lettering, Matthew's looping handwriting, even Hagrid's scruffy writing. He'd forgotten about Hagrid, which made him feel even worse.

"Dobby hoped...that if Harry Potter thought...that his friends had forgotten about him...then it would be easier for him to...stay away from Hogwarts. But Dobby quickly learned his lesson! Now that you are together, Dobby realises that it is better for Harry Potter if all three of you stay away from Hogwarts."

"You had no right to interfere in my personal life! No matter how good your intentions were."

"Please promise that you will not return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You are happy here. Dobby has seen how happy you are."

"Have you been watching me? Watching us?" Harry shook his head. That wasn't the important thing at the moment. "If you know me at all, which you claim to do, then you'll realise that I can't…"

"We won't go back," Matthew interjected, preventing Harry from finishing his sentence as he stepped forward, closer to the house elf, taking charge of the situation. "If this threat is as bad as you make out, then it's only sensible that we stay away. We promise."

Harry and Hermione were giving him incredulous looks. "But…" Harry started to say only for Matthew to shake his head discreetly.

"Oh, this is wonderful news!" Dobby exclaimed. "Dobby has been worrying about this for months but he feels so happy right now! He has saved Harry Potter from the grave danger. His greatness shall carry on!"

"Alright, alright. Now, get going," Matthew said to the creature. "We'll have to write to the headmaster to tell him of our decision and I'd rather we do that in private. Otherwise we might change our minds." He gave Dobby a pointed look and the house elf shook his head vigorously.

"Certainly! Dobby can do that! Dobby is so, so happy!" And then, with a click of his spindly fingers, he vanished with an audible crack. Matthew let out a sigh of relief and sunk onto the bed, perching on the edge.

"I thought he'd never leave," he moaned good naturedly. When the other two didn't respond, he looked up, finding them staring at him with wide eyes. He frowned. "What?"

"We're not going back?" Harry exclaimed in exasperation. "Whose idea was that?"

"You had no right to make that decision without discussing it with us first!" Hermione concurred.

"I don't want to stay with the Dursleys for the rest of the year. I don't want to lose this part of me." A horrifying thought took hold in Harry's mind. "Will they take our magic away if we don't go back? They can't have kids running around with magic without knowing how to use it."

"All of the work I've put into revising and studying every subject...all the work we've all put in. And you've thrown that away. Well, I don't agree and I certainly won't be informing Professor Dumbledore of any such decision."

The frown hadn't left Matthew's face as he watched them launch into their tirade. "What are you going on about? Of course we're going back to Hogwarts! As if that was even up for debate."

Harry placed a palm on his forehead. His birthday wasn't supposed to be this stressful. "I'm way beyond confused right now. You said to Dobby…"

"I know what I said. And I lied . The only way to get rid of him was to tell him what he wanted to hear. And that was us agreeing with him."

"You...lied to him?"

"You made it look very easy," Hermione pointed out, wondering how often he used that skill. She was now going through all of their interactions, trying to find any hints of him lying then.

"What can I say?" Matthew responded. "I'm good in a tight spot. He'd already admitted to tampering with your mail. Let me tell you, to mess with a post owl takes a lot more effort than you'd first expect. So there was no telling what he'd try to do if we refused to stay away from school. I wasn't risking that."

"So you don't think there's a plot like he said?" Harry asked him.

Matthew shrugged. "There's no way of knowing until the plot actually begins. But what would a house elf gain from telling us about an imaginary plot? Would someone gain anything from us not being at Hogwarts anymore?"

"We're at the top of our year," Hermione reminded them. "Perhaps someone wants to get rid of an academic rival."

"I bet Malfoy's behind this," Harry grumbled. "I bet he hates the fact that Hermione and you are better than him at everything. And he's never hidden his hatred for me."

"You think Malfoy is behind everything," Matthew said with a smirk. "I doubt he's clever enough to think of this scheme? Sending a house elf to scare us? It's going to a lot of effort with no guarantee of it working. Which is evident since it didn't convince us in the slightest."

"So...you think that Dobby was actually telling the truth?" Harry's head was swimming. It was certainly a rollercoaster ride trying to keep up with the ebb and flow of the conversation.

"He did seem really concerned about it," Hermione mentioned. "And it looked as if it pained him just to get the information out." She was sure there was a small crack in her window that hadn't been there five minutes ago.

"Are house elves good actors?" Now Harry was thinking about a stage production performed solely by the small creatures. He really needed a lie down.

"Hermione's got a good point," Matthew said, standing up and pacing. "It pained him to say most of the details, as if he was forbidden. And the only reason why that would be the case…"

"...was if it's his masters that are behind the plot," Hermione finished for him, her eyes alight with this new possibility."

"So, if we find out who they are, we've got a better chance of discovering whether this plot is real. And here I was thinking that our second year was never going to be as interesting as our first."

"Should we have listened to his warning?" Harry proposed in a quiet voice. The more he thought about, the more a cold dread washed over him. "I mean, we dismissed it immediately. But if he was so concerned, then surely we should be as well."

Matthew understood where he was coming from. They were kids after all. Any imaginary threat could prove to be nightmare fuel with their overactive imagination. "Even if there is a plot, we'll deal with it. You took down Voldemort just a few weeks ago, for goodness sake! I don't think he explicitly said that any of us would be targeted by this, just that it was happening at Hogwarts. So, if we keep our heads down for a change, we should be alright."

"I wonder how long that will last," Hermione shot at them with a roll of her. She just huffed at their indignant looks. "Come on! You're always getting yourself into trouble." She pointed at Harry. "You, with your righteous anger whenever Malfoy says or does anything." Her finger turned to Matthew. "You, with your mouth that never stays shut, even when it really should. There's more chance of Professor Snape coming to the first class of the year in a dress than the both of you staying clear of danger. In fact, I think that you actively search for it."

Matthew seemed to be enjoying her little lecture. "You're one third of this trio. You went through that trapdoor past Fluffy just as much as we did. You've got to admit it...you're a rule breaker now. A rebel. A miscreant. I'm sorry to say that we've influenced you beyond repair."

"If you carry on," she said in a warning tone as she took an ominous step closer towards him. "There will be a plot at Hogwarts. And it'll involve me trying to take you down. Or worse."

Matthew just smiled, that grin he alway saved for her. She refused to back down. "I'd like to see you try that."

"You might get your wish." Satisfied that he'd acknowledged the challenge, she focused her attention back on the matter at hand. "We should tell the headmaster about this. If there's a threat to the pupils, it's his duty to deal with that. And heaven forbid if something awful were to happen and we didn't do our bit to stop it."

"Yes, yes. But that letter can wait till tomorrow. It's Harry's birthday after all! Or are you forgetting that? I'm sure your parents are wondering what we're doing. We were only supposed to be getting Harry's presents! And anyway, we're forgetting the most important thing." Matthew paused as the other two leaned in, waiting for what he had to say. "This...is Hermione's bedroom! We've found our way into the forbidden lair." He started moving around, taking the surroundings in, getting dangerously close to her drawers.

Hermione let out a noise that was close to a growl. "Out! Out! You've lost the privilege. Come on!"

"But I didn't even do anything!" Harry complained as she began pushing them out the door.

"No, you didn't. But if you want your present, you'll do as I say."

"And what's the incentive for me to listen to you?" Matthew asked, although he was still allowing himself to be shoved too.

"I won't drop the birthday cake all over your head. Is that incentive enough for you?"

"Yes, ma'am!" He leaned in closer to Harry. "She's quite scary when she wants to be, isn't she?"

"I heard that!" Hermione snapped, prompting Matthew to wince. "You should know by now that I'm scary all the time."

They raced down the stairs because they wanted to, the boys told themselves, and definitely not because they were terrified of their friend. For what it was worth, Hermione looked like the definition of innocence when she appeared in the kitchen, carrying a neatly wrapped gift. She was evidently an excellent actor but, when she excelled at everything she put her mind to, it didn't exactly come as a surprise. Katherine and Peter were still at the table, though their plates were now empty. They looked rather bemused by their late return, Hermione's dad trying his best to hide a frown at being made to wait.

"What have you been up to up there?" Katherine asked. "Was it something to do with magic?" They shared a nervous glance. It was certainly one way of putting what had transpired in the bedroom. Her eyes lit up at the prospect like a child being told about the latest toy. "Oh, we've never got to see you do anything relating to this new world of yours. Why don't you show us just a little bit to tide us over?"

Matthew appeared perfectly willing to do exactly that, going as far as producing a wand out of thin air. But a tight grip on his arm from Hermione forced him to put it away, much to the disappointment of her parents. Matthew looked just as disgruntled; he was never one to miss an opportunity to show off.

"You know we can't do that," Hermione told them, the tone in her voice suggesting that she'd reminded them of this frequently. "I wish we could. I really do. I'd love to show you how I can levitate things or turn objects into living creatures, just with a flick of my wrist. But the rules stipulate that it's forbidden. I find it just as frustrating as you do, trust me."

"It's just...you leave us for so many months and then, when you come back, we aren't allowed to see any evidence of that life." Peter sighed heavily. They were rehashing old arguments. "It's easy for us to think that a part of you is being hidden away from us, our own daughter. Soon, the person you actually are will be a person we no longer know."

Hermione hesitated. This wasn't a conversation they needed to be having in front of guests. Although those guests could prove useful. She gestured to Harry and Matthew, placing herself in between them. "These two are all the evidence you need to know about my life at Hogwarts. They...are my life." Which was a scary thing to admit, especially at her tender age. She was worried that her parents would think she was being naive, that she couldn't possibly say something so definitive being so young. But her mum and dad knew who she was, at least who she had been, and how she had always stuck to her principles. What she said was what she thought. It didn't make it any easier to hear that their daughter had formed such strong bonds with people they didn't know. Especially for Peter, who was extremely perturbed to be hearing his daughter say that about some boys. It was his worst nightmare. During all of this, the two boys were standing there, their faces growing awkwarder by the second. Harry was perfectly willing for the ground to eat him up and had contemplated hiding under Matthew's coat.

"That's very nicely put," Katherine said with an unreadable smile. "And that gives us even more reason to get to know you two much better. I'm afraid we're not giving the best of impressions right now so let's put this to one side. It is Harry's birthday after all!"

It was as if Hermione had completely forgotten about that small detail and she was snapped back to reality by her mum's words. Realising that she was still holding her present, she shoved it into Harry's hands, now nervous as she contemplated whether he'd enjoy it. She'd obviously given him something at Christmas but that had only been chocolate, the sort of gift you got someone after knowing them for only a few months. She watched with bated breath as he slowly unwrapped it, as if he were taking much longer than necessary just to annoy her. Harry smiled down at the object in his hands.

"It's a planner," Hermione explained instantly, fearful that he wouldn't understand her reasoning behind it. "So that you can stay on top of your work even when I'm not there to bug you. Although, I'll still obviously be doing that." She pointed a finger at the cover. "There's this little shop on the high street that makes these personalised gifts. That's us three." Indeed it was. There was a drawing of the trio, all smiling, as they stood by a recognisable red train. "The first time we met I suppose. Don't worry, the woman who made it has no idea about what that train actually is!"

"It's perfect," Harry said gratefully. He didn't know how to act. Was he supposed to hug her? Probably not when her parents were watching. So he smiled at her for the time being, knowing that anything else could come at a later point. The realisation that someone had gone to so much effort just for him was amazing, a warm sensation going through his body.

Katherine slid over a surprisingly large package, something Harry hadn't been expecting. "We obviously haven't known you very long so we didn't know what to get you. With the amount of advice Hermione gave us, this is basically from her too."

"You didn't have to…" Harry tried to protest but she put a hand up to stop him, simply pushing the present closer to him. Reluctantly, he tentatively and carefully undid the neatly wrapped paper. A realisation struck Hermione as she watched him, something she hadn't cared to think about. Harry wasn't used to doing this, getting presents and opening them, which explained why he was going so slowly. He was savouring it, a fact that made her heart ache painfully. She vowed that she would give him plenty more moments like this in the future.

The Grangers had given Harry a cushion, a deep maroon in colour with a golden 'H' embroidered in the middle. It seemed that Hermione had mentioned how he didn't have many personal belongings, especially in the category of home decor. Whatever furnishings he had, they had been passed onto him reluctantly by the Dursleys, being handed an old duvet set for his new room at Privet Drive. And, with the pillow being the colours of Gryffindor (Harry had no doubt that his friend had been behind that too), he could already picture it on his bed in the dorm room. He thanked them both profusely.

Then Matthew was rifling through his large coat, finding the right pocket he'd stowed everything in. Harry couldn't believe that any sort of present could be hidden in there, putting it down to magic. He wondered whether Matthew had bought the piece of clothing or made it himself. He wouldn't have been too blown away by the latter. He was given a new book by his friend that had no business fitting inside any normal pocket. The book looked incredibly old and concerned the rarest of potions that students weren't strictly allowed to know. Matthew told him that he could use this to impress Snape, or at the very least annoy him with his impossible knowledge. Hermione also mentioned that she'd like to look at it too, though Matthew had voiced his concerns that she would just hide it from them both to avoid any unnecessary mischief.

"Now, this is from Hagrid. He was a blubbering wreck when I mentioned that I was seeing you. It seems that he sent you letters just like we did and, when you didn't respond, he thought that you were still annoyed at him after...the way our year ended." Matthew finished his comment cryptically since he didn't know whether Hermione had told her parents about everything that had happened at Hogwarts. "You'll have some explaining to do when you next see him."

"You saw Hagrid?" Harry asked.

"I bumped into him. It wasn't planned or anything. It was rather fortuitous though because he really wanted you to have this."

It was a photo album and, as Harry turned the first page, he was sure that he had stopped breathing. The first page had a magical photo of his parents, moving and cuddling one another as they looked straight at him. Harry felt rather embarrassed that he was close to tears in front of Hermione's parents but that didn't stop them falling down his cheek. Every page had a different photo on but he stopped himself from going too far into the book. He wanted to save each photo; the longer he dragged out, the longer he could believe that he was still getting to see them, his mum and dad.

Hermione watched him with sad eyes and, feeling that the atmosphere had grown to be too sombre for a birthday party, she stood up, forcing a smile on her face. "What about some cake? It's not a birthday if there's no cake!" Her parents could tell what she was doing. Even Matthew cottoned on and they all stood up, wandering to the kitchen. Harry continued to stare at the album before deciding to focus on what his friends had done for him. He could appreciate his presents later. Right now, he had people wanting to be with him and he was never going to turn that down. And, as he went to join them and celebrate his own birthday, it was almost as if he'd forgotten all about the warning Dobby had given them.