Dobby's Warning
Chapter two- Dobby's Warning
Harry managed to cover Haiden's mouth just before he could scream, muffling it as Harry hoped and prayed that it hadn't been loud enough for the Dursley's and their dinner guests to hear. Harry 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, with 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 it's long, thin nose touched the carpet. Harry noticed that it was wearing what looked like and 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 arm and leg holes. The creature looked somewhat 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 who only shrugged his shoulders. This movement seemed to draw the creature's attention from Haiden to Harry.
“Harry Potter!” The creature squeaked almost sounding fearful. “Dobby has heard much about you sir!” This shocked Harry, someone had been speaking about him to or around this creature. Whatever the person had said had terrified the creature, either that, or the person talking about him terrified the creature.
“What are you? Who are you?” Haiden asked pulling the creature's attention away from Harry and back on him.
“Dobby, sir. Just Dobby. Dobby the house-elf.” The creature said. That caught Harry's attention, the creature was a house elf, so Harry must have seen him around the school and that was why he looked familiar. With that mystery solved, Harry allowed himself to crawl 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 time for me- us- to have a house-elf my- our- bedroom.” Harry turned his head away from his brother, hiding the fact that he had just rolled his eyes, as Aunt Petunia's high, false laugh sounded from the living room. The elf hung his head.
“Not that we're not pleased to meet you,” Harry said turning back to look at the 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 wonder where to begin...”
“Sit down.” Haiden said politely, pointing at the bed. To both the twins' horror, the elf burst into tears- very noisy tears.
“S-sit down!” The elf wailed. “Never... never ever...” Harry was sure that he heard the voices downstairs falter.
“Dobby! Stop!” Harry ordered and instantly the elf stopped wailing and Harry let out a sigh of relief.
“I didn't mean to offend you or anything-” Haiden said quickly being cut off by the house elf.
“Offend Dobby!” He choked out. “Dobby has never been asked to sit down by a wizard- like an equal-” Harry nearly bit his lip 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 elf sat hiccoughing, looking, looking like a large and very ugly doll. At least the elf had managed to control himself, and sat with his great eyes fixed on Haiden in an expression of watery adoration. A dark thought entered 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.
“You can't have met many decent wizards.” Haiden said obviously trying to cheer the elf 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!” Harry cried knowing that the people downstairs could hear the elf. “What are you doing?” He hissed as he struggled to pull Dobby away from the window, and Loki surely wasn't helping. Once Harry had managed to pull Dobby from the window, he tossed him back onto the bed and glared at Haiden. “Thanks for the help!” He hissed over the screeching of Hedwig- who had been woken up by Dobby- and the sound of her beating her wings against the bars of her cage. “Shut up!” Harry growled at her and the owl seemed to cower away.
“Dobby had to punish himself, sirs.” The elf said, seeming to also be cowering away from Harry. “Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, sirs...”
“Your family?” The twins asked at once. If Dobby had a family then it was unlikely Harry had seen him in Hogwarts. Then if that was true, where had he seen Dobby? The only wizard house he had 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 Haiden asked, “Do they know you're here?”
“Oh, no, sir, no... Dobby with have to punish himself grievously for coming to see your sir. Dobby will have to shut his ears in the oven door for this. If they ever knew, sir.” Dobby said looking at Haiden, almost like he had forgotten Harry was even there. Harry glared at his brother, even house-elves forgot about him when his brother 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 the elf, glaring at the elf.
“You serve the Malfoy family, do you not?” Harry demanded and the elf squeaked in fear and began to shake which mad Harry mad. Why was this elf acting as if the Draco and his family were abusive monsters, he had been to the Malfoy Mansion and had seen how they had treated their elves. The Malfoy's never yelled at, or hit their elves, they only asked for the elves to work hard and do their best, the elves that did not do this were, of course, punished.
“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 serve the family until he dies, sir...” The twins stared, each with different looks. Haiden had a shocked look and 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 Malfoy's 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 onto the cot, he was fed up with this elf, if he only wanted Haiden's attention, then let him have it. After all, Harry was only needed to as a shield.
“Whatever you've heard about my greatness is a load of rubbish. I'm not even top of my hear at Hogwarts; that's Hermi-” Harry cut Haiden off with a loud cough.
“I'm actually the top of our year.” Harry said 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, sire! Speak not the name!”
“Sorry.” Harry said quickly just trying to get the elf to stop. Harry tilted his head to look at Dobby who was leaning toward Haiden, who looked uncomfortably, with his eyes wide as headlights.
“Dobby hear tell,” he said hoarsely, “that Haiden Potter met the Dark Lord for a second time just weeks ago... that 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 was anyone giving a damn that he also survived two encounters with Voldemort just like Haiden? Nope! All people see him as is was his brother's shield. “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 in the back of Harry's mind, that sounded suspiciously like Draco, whispered harshly.
“He had braved so many dangers already!” The 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!” Both twins all but yelled, Harry sitting up so fast that the room spun around for a second, Loki jumping from his arms. If Harry was needed here to keep the Haiden safe, then that means if Haiden never left, he would be stuck here too. There was a silence broken only by the chink 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 first. It's all that's keeping me going.” Haiden said and Harry glared at him. “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, suddenly trembling all over. “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 Malfoy plotting?” Dobby made a funny choking noise and then banged his head frantically against the wall. Harry shot from his cot and grabbed the elf. “All right!” Haiden cried barely catching Loki in time to stop him from attacking the house-elf. Loki growled at him before biting him, causing Haiden to drop him, and hid some where to try again. “You can't tell me.” Haiden hissed out holding his slightly 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.” Slowly, Dobby shook his head.
“Not-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. However, 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 half tempted to just throw the cat at him. Loki gave a low, angry mewl and Harry began to pet 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 doing 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 has heard Dumbledore's powers rival those of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at the height of his strength. But, sir-” the elf's voice dropped to an urgent whisper “-there are powers Dumbledore doesn't... powers no decent wizard...” Before the twins could stop him, 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, heart thudding madly, 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 elf's hand 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. “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 closet.
“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 with a shocked look.
“I expect they've just been-” Haiden started.
“Hold on.” Harry cut him off, scooting to the edge of his cot, “How do 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 Harry or Haiden's eyes.
“Haiden Potter mustn't be angry with Dobby. Dobby did it for the best-” Harry shot from the cot and
“Have you been stopping our letters, Dobby?” Harry growled out, eyes flashing in anger causing Dobby to squeak in fear.
“Dobby has them here, sir.” The 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 near handwriting mixed along side Hermione's, Ron's and the Weasely Twins handwriting. It looked to Harry that the elf hadn't know which letters was for Haiden and which ones had been for Harry and just took them all. 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 said angrily as him and Harry tried to grab the letters again, only to have Dobby jump away from them once again. “Give me my friends' letters!”
“Then Haiden Potter leaves Dobby no choice.” The elf said sadly. Harry dove at Dobby just as the elf darted to the bedroom door, causing Harry to dive over him, he pulled it open, and sprinted down the stairs. Harry gave an annoyed growl, pushed off Haiden's bed that he had landed on and chased after him.
It shocked Harry how mad he was, but then again he knew way. It wasn't just because the elf had taken his letters, but also because he did it to stop Haiden from going to Hogwarts in an attempt to save Haiden. But did he care if Harry went back? Nope. Why? Because no one cared about what happened to Harry! No one cared that he also faced Voldemort twice and survived! No one cared if he got hurt! He could just disappear right now and no one would care! No wait, that wasn't true. Dumbledore would care. But that was only because he was Haiden's shield! Harry knew he was taking his frustration at everything out on Dobby. But he didn't care.
Harry, with Haiden close behind him, jumped the last six steps, landing catlike on the hall carpet, looking around for Dobby. From the dinning room the twins heard Uncle Vernon saying “...tell Petunia that very funny story about those American plumbers, Mr. Mason. She's been dying to hear...” Harry ran up the hall into the kitchen, he slid to a stop, causing Haiden to slam into him, and felt his stomach disappear. Aunt Petunia's masterpiece of a pudding, the mountain of cream and sugared violets, was floating up near the ceiling. On top of a cupboard in the corner crouched Dobby.
“No.” Harry heard Haiden croak. “Please... they'll kill me...”
“Us, they'll kill us.” Harry whispered 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 Dobby was planning to do or stop Dobby.
“Then Dobby must do it, sir, for Haiden Potter's own good.” Dobby snapped his fingers and the twins watched in horror as the pudding fell to the floor with a heart-stopping crash. Cream splattered the windows and walls as the dish shattered. With a crack like a whip, Dobby vanished.
There were screams from the dinning room and Uncle Vernon burst into the kitchen to find the twins, rigid with shock, covered from head to foot in Aunt Petunia's pudding. 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 dinning room, promised the twins he would flay them to within an inch of their lives when the Masons had left, and handed them both a mop. Aunt Petunia dug some ice cream out of a freezer and Harry, still shaking, started helping 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 dinning 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 and Harry read it over his shoulder. It did not contain birthday greeting.
Dear Mr. Potter and Mr. 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 preform spells outside of school, and further spell work 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 Warlocks' 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 and gulped. “You didn't tell us you weren't allowed to use magic outside of school.” Uncle Vernon said, a mad gleam dancing I 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 go news for you, boys... 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, he dragged the twins back upstairs.