(replaces chapter 2 of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)
Harry managed not to shout out, but it was a close thing. The little creature on the bed had large, bat-like ears and bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls. Harry knew instantly that this was what had been watching him out of the garden hedge that morning.
As they stared at each other, Harry heard Ben and Mr. Williams getting into an argument.
"And why would I do that?" Ben's voice stated.
The creature slipped off the bed and bowed so low that the end of its long, thin nose touched the carpet. Harry noticed that it was wearing what looked like an old pillowcase, with rips for arm- and leg-holes.
"Er - hello," said Harry nervously.
"Harry Potter!" said the creature in a high-pitched voice Harry suspected would carry down the stairs. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, sir … Such an honor it is … "
"Th-thank you," said Harry, edging along the wall and sinking into the desk chair, next to Hedwig, who was asleep on her large cage. He wanted to ask, "What are you?" but thought it would sound too rude, so instead he said, "Who are you?"
"Dobby, sir. Just Dobby. Dobby the house-elf," said the creature.
"Oh — really?" said Harry. "Er — I don't want to be rude or anything, but — this isn't a great time for me to have a house-elf in my bedroom."
Mr. Williams voice indistinctly sounded from the kitchen. The elf hung his head.
"Not that I'm not pleased to meet you," said Harry quickly, "but, er, is there any particular reason you're here?"
"Oh, yes, sir," said Dobby earnestly. "Dobby has come to tell you, sir … it is difficult, sir … Dobby wonders where to begin … "
"Sit down," said Harry politely, pointing at the bed.
To his horror, the elf burst into tears.
"S-sit down!" he wailed. "Never … never ever … "
Harry thought he heard the voices downstairs falter.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, "I didn't mean to offend you or anything - "
"Offend Dobby!" choked the elf. "Dobby has never been asked to sit down by a wizard - like an equal - "
Harry, trying to say "Shh!" and look comforting at the same time, ushered Dobby back onto the bed where he sat hiccoughing, looking like a large and very ugly doll. At last he managed to control himself, and sat with his great eyes fixed on Harry in an expression of watery adoration.
"You can't have met many decent wizards," said Harry, trying to cheer him up.
Dobby shook his head. Then, without warning, he leapt up and started banging his head furiously on the window, shouting, "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"
"Don't - what are you doing?" Harry hissed, springing up and pulling Dobby back onto the bed - Hedwig had woken up with a particularly loud screech and had taken flight off of the top of her cage.
"Dobby had to punish himself, sir," said the elf, who had gone slightly cross-eyed. "Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, sir … "
"Your family?"
"The wizard family Dobby serves, sir … Dobby is a house-elf - bound to serve one house and one family forever … "
"Do they know you're here?" asked Harry curiously.
Dobby shuddered.
"Oh, no, sir, no … Dobby will have to punish himself most 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 - "
"But won't they notice if you shut your ears in the oven door?"
"Dobby doubts it, sir. Dobby is always having to punish himself for something, sir. They lets Dobby get on with it, sir. Sometimes they reminds me to do extra punishments … "
"But why don't you leave? Escape?"
"A house-elf must be set free, sir. And the family will never set Dobby free … Dobby will serve the family until he dies, sir … " Harry stared.
"And I thought I had it bad while I was at my relative's house," he said. "This makes the Dursleys sound almost human. Can't anyone help you? Can't I?"
Dobby dissolved again into wails of gratitude.
"Harry Potter asks if he can help Dobby … Dobby has heard of your greatness, sir, but of your goodness, Dobby never knew … "
Harry, who was feeling distinctly hot in the face, said, "Whatever you've heard about my greatness is a load of rubbish. I'm not even top of my year at Hogwarts; that's Hermione, she's brilliant. Although, Ben's very close to the top spot."
"Harry Potter is humble and modest," said Dobby reverently, his orb-like eyes aglow. "Harry Potter speaks not of his triumph over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named - "
"Voldemort?" said Harry.
Dobby clapped his hands over his bat ears and moaned, "Ah, speak not the name, sir! Speak not the name!"
"Sorry," said Harry quickly. "I know lots of people don't like it. My friend Ron has the same problem with me saying it."
Dobby leaned toward Harry, his eyes wide as headlights.
"Dobby heard tell," he said hoarsely, "that Harry Potter met the Dark Lord for a second time just weeks ago … that Harry Potter escaped yet again."
Harry nodded and Dobby's eyes suddenly shone with tears.
"Ah, sir," he gasped, dabbing his face with a corner of the grubby pillowcase he was wearing.
"Harry Potter is valiant and bold! He has braved so many dangers already! But Dobby has come to protect Harry Potter, to warn him, even if he does have to shut his ears in the oven door later … Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts."
There was a silence broken only by the faint sounds of an argument drifting up from downstairs.
"W-what?" Harry stammered. "But I've got to go back - term starts on September first. It's all that's keeping me going. You don't know what it's like here. I don't belong here. I belong in your world - at Hogwarts."
"No, no, no," squeaked Dobby, shaking his head so hard his ears flapped. "Harry Potter must stay where he is safe. He is too great, too good, to lose. If Harry Potter goes back to Hogwarts, he will be in mortal danger."
"Why?" said Harry in surprise.
"There is a plot, Harry Potter. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year," whispered Dobby, suddenly trembling all over. "Dobby has known it for months, sir. Harry Potter must not put himself in peril. He is too important, sir!"
"What terrible things?" said Harry at once. "Who's plotting them?"
Dobby made a funny choking noise and then banged his head frantically against the wall.
"All right!" cried Harry, grabbing the elf's arm to stop him. "You can't tell me. I understand. But why are you warning me?" A sudden, unpleasant thought struck him. "Hang on - this hasn't got anything to do with Vol - sorry - with You-Know-Who, has it? You could just shake or nod," he added hastily as Dobby's head tilted worryingly close to the wall again.
Slowly, Dobby shook his head.
"Not - not He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, sir -"
But Dobby's eyes were wide and he seemed to be trying to give Harry a hint. Harry, however, was completely lost.
"He hasn't got a brother, has he?"
Dobby shook his head, his eyes wider than ever.
"Well then, I can't think who else would have a chance of making horrible things happen at Hogwarts," said Harry. "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 has heard Dumbledore's powers rival those of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at the height of his strength. But, sir" - Dobby's voice dropped to an urgent whisper - "there are powers Dumbledore doesn't … powers no decent wizard … "
And before Harry could stop him, Dobby bounded off the bed, seized the desk lamp, and started beating himself around the head with earsplitting yelps.
A sudden silence fell downstairs. Two seconds later Harry heard Ben calling to his mother. "No, it's fine, I'll check to see if he's alright. If he's not, I'll yell down to you."
As Harry turned towards the door, it opened to reveal Ben looking slightly panicked, eyes widening as he spotted Dobby, frozen in the middle of his act of self punishment.
Ben turned out the door and yelled, "He's fine! Just ran into something he wasn't expecting to. I'll stay with him to see if he's still alright."
Mrs. Williams' voiced drifted upstairs stating her affirmation of the situation.
Ben turned back to the occupants of the room with a raised eyebrow. "Could somebody explain the situation to me, please?"
Harry gestured to Dobby. "Dobby the house-elf came to warn me of a terrible danger is coming to Hogwarts. He's trying to convince me not to go back."
Ben frowned in thought. "It's less safe for you not to have an education and Hogwarts is generally acknowledge to be one of the premiere magical schools in the world. Plus, how'd anyone be able to convince his friends not to take him back to it?"
"Friends who stopped writing to Harry Potter?" said Dobby slyly.
"I know there's something preventing - wait a minute," said Harry, frowning. "How do you know my friends mail's not getting to me?"
Dobby shuffled his feet.
"Harry Potter mustn't be angry with Dobby. Dobby did it for the best - "
"Have you been stopping my letters?"
"Dobby has them here, sir," said the elf. Stepping nimbly out of Harry's reach, he pulled a wad of envelopes from the inside of the pillowcase he was wearing. Harry could make out Hermione's neat writing, Ron's untidy scrawl, and even a scribble that looked as though it was from the Hogwarts gamekeeper, Hagrid.
Dobby blinked anxiously up at Harry.
"Harry Potter mustn't be angry … Dobby hoped … if Harry Potter thought his friends had forgotten him … Harry Potter might not want to go back to school, sir - eek!"
Unnoticed by Dobby, Ben had pulled his wand out and cast a spell that caused the letters to fly out of his hands. Ben deftly caught them, putting them into his pocket.
"You'll get them later, Harry," Ben said, still looking at Dobby, who was staring in wide-eyed shock at Ben.
"Won't you get in trouble?" Harry asked.
Ben shook his head. "Even if there were proper charms on my wand to alert a Ministry, they wouldn't be able to tell who did the spell here. It could have been my mother, after all."
Dobby's eyes went even wider, if that was possible. "Dobby didn't know Harry Potter lived in a magic household!"
"I don't," Harry said. "I'm just visiting for part of the holiday."
With this revelation, Dobby disappeared with a loud crack. Ben waited for a moment, then handed Harry his letters.
"Here you go. I hope you've had a happy birthday."
Harry nodded while staring at his letters.
AN: Wow, I didn't expect to be this far. I expected to be in a different place in the story. I managed to beat my writer's block and have some chapters to be refined later.
On a more personal note, I was thinking of starting a [redacted due to guidelines (sounds like an eeveelution)] account. If I did set this up, I would include previews of the next chapter of a fic a few days before it release, allowing discussion about what I'm trying to accomplish after this story, and editing from a person who likes stories with proper grammar. I will not be upset or not post stories anymore if I don't have a quota filled, this would be a way to easy my finances while providing you with more content. I'm not trying to profit off of other peoples work, just trying to help people enjoy life in a small way.
Uploaded Jan. 24th, 2020