Chapter 7

Unhappy Holidays

Sat in his bedroom and staring out at the colours cast by the setting sun, Harry stewed in a growing sense of insecurity and loneliness. His birthday was fast approaching, and he had not heard from his friends since they had left Hogwarts for their summer holidays. A part of Harry didn't blame them. Could they fear him because of Quirrell, and how he would have died if he kept trying to grab Harry? Could they think him dangerous because of all the times they had been at risk in their first year?

Harry wanted to speak to Sirius about it, but giving a voice to his fears felt intimidating, especially if it turned out to be true. He wasn't even seeing his muggle friends, wary of harming them. Instead of enjoying the temperamental sunshine he spent a lot of time in his bedroom, petting Hedwig and thinking about how to become Lily. He kept telling Sirius he was working on his schoolwork, but he knew Sirius was not buying it.

As he took a sip of the ice-cold pineapple juice that he had next to him, he sighed. He needed to speak to Ron, try and assure him that he was not dangerous. He came off the window ledge, turning to go get his quill. Harry froze; there was someone – or something – standing quietly on his bed.

"Who are you?" Harry demanded, looking at the intruder. His hand instinctively flexed to grab his wand, but it was on the opposite side of the bedroom. Damn it!

"Harry Potter, Sir, my name is Dobby," the small creature said, bulging yellow eyes staring at Harry in awe. "It's an honour, sir, to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," Harry slowly replied, unsure of what was happening. "Er… do you want to sit down?"

"Dobby has heard of Harry Potter being kind, but Dobby has never been asked if he wants to sit down. Dobby's masters…" Dobby began before he forcefully cut himself off. He dashed to the chest of drawers and began to bang his head against it. "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"

"Dobby, what are you doing?" Harry cried in alarm, rushing to pull Dobby away.

"Dobby almost spoke ill of his masters; Dobby must punish himself!" Dobby explained, wringing his hands with distress.

"You punish yourself for having an opinion? Can't you find new masters and run away?"

"No sir, Dobby is a house elf, sir, and Dobby must stay with masters unless Dobby dies or is presented clothes by a master," Dobby said sadly, his eyes wandering towards the chest of drawers again.

"Please don't hurt yourself, Dobby," Harry begged. "Come sit down. Why are you here? Did your master's send you?"

"No, Harry Potter, sir, Dobby is here on his own, and Dobby will need to punish himself harshly later, but… Harry Potter must not return to Hogwarts!" Dobby exclaimed dramatically. He had this expression across his face which made him look almost constipated, and he hopped awkwardly from one foot to the next, hands twisting together in frantic energy.

"What? Dobby, I must go back. I'm a Wizard. I belong there. My friends are there," Harry frowned at the house elf, confused.

"Friends who don't write to Harry Potter?" Dobby pointed out.

"I expect they're busy… wait, how did you know they haven't been writing to me?" Harry demanded. Dobby purposely avoided Harry's gaze, guilt written all over him. "Have you been stopping my letters?"

"Dobby did it for Harry Potter's own good, sir, to stop him from going to Hogwarts! Dobby hears things that means Hogwarts will be dangerous this year," Dobby confessed, pulling out a bundle of letters from his dirty rags. Harry could see Ron's handwriting, Hermione's and even Hagrid's. Part of Harry wanted to launch at Dobby and grab them but the stronger relief at not having been forgotten won out, and he sank into his bed with a weight lifted from his shoulders.

"Dobby, what kind of dangers are there?" Harry asked kindly, patting the bed next to him. "Please, talk to me."

"Harry Potter is not angry, sir?" Dobby questioned, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Dobby, you were trying to help me without being seen. I'm not angry, I'm grateful but I would like my letters," Harry said. Dobby nodded and handed the bundle over to Harry, who accepted them. "Dobby, what's going to be happening at Hogwarts this year?"

"Something bad, Harry Potter, sir, but Dobby can't say what, other than He Who Must Not Be Named is involved," Dobby's voice dropped with anxiety. "Dobby will have to punish himself for saying that much."

"You don't need to hurt yourself for wanting to help me, Dobby," Harry insisted. Dobby burst into tears. "Listen. Now that you've warned me, I can be careful, can't I? I can't just not to go Hogwarts."

"Please sir, please don't go back," Dobby pleaded in a chocked-up tone. In the brief moment of silence between the two they heard Sirius coming up the stairs. Dobby's watery eyes widened before he disappeared with a loud crack. There was a knock on Harry's bedroom door and Sirius opened it.

"Harry? Who were you talking to?" Sirius asked, frowning as he looked around the room.

"I was speaking… to a house elf," Harry said, before explaining the situation.

"That might explain why Molly, Ron, Fred and George are in the lounge, wondering why you haven't answered any of their letters," Sirius told him. "I didn't think they had a house elf, though…"

"Wait, they're here?" Harry interrupted, excitement lacing his voice.

"And worried about you," Sirius replied. "Let's go and see them, shall we?" Harry nodded and ran downstairs, grinning as he saw Ron and the twins. Molly approached him and hugged him.

"Hello, Harry dear, it's so nice to see you again."

"Thank you for the Christmas presents Mrs. Weasley, they were wonderful," Harry said.

Molly blushed as she pulled away. "Oh, not at all dear. You were kind enough to keep Ron company when he and the twins were at school for Christmas, and Ron can't stop telling us how wonderful a friend you've been."

"Why haven't you been writing back, mate? We've all tried writing, but we didn't get a response," Ron complained.

Harry began to explain about his conversation with Dobby.

"But why would a house elf warn you? I've never heard of one who can go anywhere without their master's permission," Fred commented.

"He did try punishing himself," Harry added. "I think he wanted to explain more about whatever might be happening at Hogwarts, but he couldn't."

"Could it have been someone's idea of a prank?" George asked. "Someone not wanting you to be at school?"

"Like who?"

"Malfoy. Smarmy little git, his family are rich enough to have a house elf… and he hates how we won the house cup, thanks to stopping you-know-who," Ron suggested.

"That's another thing, why not say you-know-who, and say He Who Must Not Be Named? I thought everyone used the former," Harry asked.

"Most do, only a few don't," Sirius answered. "You and I, and Dumbledore, are among the few who still use his actual name."

"Maybe you should come and stay at ours, Sirius? This Dobby won't be able to find you there, right?" Molly suggested.

"Oh, I don't want to be a bother, Molly," Sirius said.

Molly laughed softly. "Nonsense. You're never a bother, you're family,"

Sirius looked at Harry. "What do you think? There's a few weeks left of the holidays, and we can all go to Diagon Alley to get your school stuff together."

"Sounds good to me," Harry agreed, with a smile.

"Alright. Well, let's have tea now, and then we can sort out Harry's stuff," Sirius said. "It might be worth telling Dumbledore and Minerva what's happened as well."

"I can show everyone around," Harry offered. As Molly and Sirius went to the kitchen, Harry began the house tour with the garden.

"Are there muggles nearby?" Fred asked, seeing the massive garden. "This would be perfect for quidditch."

"Uncle Sirius has recently put some sort of invisibility spell around the garden whenever I want to practise flying. If we don't go too high, we should be fine."

"Not bad for a muggle area," Ron commented, looking back at Harry's home. "I've never seen a muggle house before."

"It's not a bad place to live. Okay, so we don't have moving staircases or talking paintings, but it's home," Harry said, leading them back into the house. He showed them the living room, his bedroom and the games room which had his Super Nintendo set up in it. All three the Weasleys were fascinated by it.

"That's wicked," Ron exclaimed, as Harry showed him his favourite game, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

"So, I have to save the princess, using a sword, a bow and arrow, and some of what the muggles think is magic?" George asked, trying it out. George proved to be a good player.

"Might have to try and get one of these ourselves. I never knew the muggles could come up with some fun games," Fred commented, watching his twin from over his shoulder.

Harry chuckled. "Muggles aren't all bad, and their tv shows are fun. Uncle Sirius really likes one show called Star Trek; it's a muggle science fiction show set on a spaceship in the future."

"Who knew muggles had such an imagination?" Ron asked, as Fred started playing on the Super Nintendo.

Laughing, Harry left them to pack his trunk.


An hour had passed without the four of them realising it, until they were called down for dinner by Sirius and Molly. After letting the hearty meal settle for a bit, the group got ready to leave.

"Remind me to thank Arthur for reconnecting the fireplace to the floo network," Sirius noted as they stood in the front room.

"The… floo network?" Harry repeated, confused.

Sirius smiled. "One way wizards travel is by floo powder. You step into the fireplace and say where you want to go as you throw the powder onto the fire. It then takes you via, like apparating, but much more controlled," Sirius explained.

"You have to speak clearly though, or you could get lost," Molly added. "Ron, you show him."

Ron obliged, taking a small handful of powder from a jar that Molly produced, and stepped into the fireplace. "The Burrow," Ron stated, throwing the powder down. A flash of green fire flared up, and engulfed Ron, who was then gone.

"Your turn, dear," Molly said.

Harry took the powder and stepped into the fireplace, taking a short breath. "The Burrow," Harry stated clearly, dropping the powder onto the floor. He felt disoriented as one moment, he was standing in the fireplace at his home, and the next he was facing Ron, who helped him out of the fireplace.

"What do you think?" Ron asked, grinning.

"I… feel a bit dizzy," Harry replied.

Ron nodded. "I felt the same when I first went by floo powder," Ron said, as Fred appeared with Harry's trunk. Moments later, George appeared with Hedwig, followed swiftly by Molly and Sirius.

"Welcome to our home Harry. It's not much, but you and Sirius are both welcome to stay for as long as you want," Molly said. Harry looked around, his eyes widening. It wasn't exactly a huge home, not compared to his and Sirius, but everything was magical. He could see into the kitchen, where plates and dishes were washing themselves, a hoover was cleaning the front room without anyone using it, and several pictures were in a heated debate.

"It's… incredible!" Harry gasped, looking at it. "Uncle Sirius, why can't we use magic to clean the house?"

"I never was much one for domestic spells. Molly was always the best at that," Sirius replied. Molly laughed softly, as did Harry.

"Hermione said she'll be visiting. We told her we were going to find out why you weren't replying to her letters either," Ron stated.

"Awesome," Harry said, grinning as he looked around. He saw out of the window, where the Weasley owl, Errol, was catching mice, along with Percy's owl, Hermes. "Can I let Hedwig out for some exercise?"

"Yes, off course you can, dear," Molly said. Harry opened Hedwig's cage, who hooted happily before flying outside to join Hermes and Errol.

"I'll sleep down here, Molly. It's quite comfortable here," Sirius said.

"No need, we recently added an extension to the house for when you and Harry visited," Molly explained. "Ron said Harry might come and visit, so Arthur and I managed to add a little extra to the house. Albus helped us out."

"That's so kind of you, thank you Mrs. Weasley," Harry said.

Molly smiled. "Not at all dear. We were thinking it was time to expand a bit anyway. Even with the older boys gone it's rather cramped here." She held back a yawn as she showed them the room. "The bathroom is all yours. Feel free to shower and then I think it's time for bed, yes?"

When the two were alone, Harry looked out the window at the rather lopsided house. It did not look like it should be able to balance! "How?" Harry started to ask, but Sirius spoke up.

"Magic! As for this room, it's done using an Undetectable Extension Charm. It takes a great deal of skill to make a permanent one for housing, but the Weasley's and Dumbledore are very skilled," Sirius explained. "You okay sharing a room with me?"

"I don't mind Uncle Sirius. It's just like when we went camping," Harry said before being taken by a yawn.

Sirius grinned. "Well, settle down and let's get some sleep. We can plan what we're going to do in the morning. I'll speak with Arthur before breakfast and see if we can get hold of Professor Dumbledore, to figure out what's going with this Dobby house elf," Sirius said, as he conjured up a curtain between the beds so each could have their privacy.

"Sounds good Uncle Sirius," Harry said as he got changed and climbed into bed. Feeling happier than he had felt in weeks, Harry's dreams were thankfully the nicest they had been since school ended. Recently he had been having something akin to nightmares, where he could still hear Voldemort's voice telling him that his desire to be Lily was wrong. He knew no one would understand, and yet, he wanted it so much. He soon fell asleep, and all his worries washed away in the darkness.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHORS: Sorry for taking so long with this update. Life has been hectic, for Mystic Dodo and myself. Now we're starting to settle down a bit, we should be able to post a bit more frequently. Hope you are liking the story, and as always, comments, reviews and questions are always welcome!