Dobby's Warning
“Chapter 2: Dobby’s Warning”
When Draco read the chapter title aloud, Narcissa and Snape did their best to not look surprised at the name that was spoken. What would Narcissa’s insane house-elf be doing in Harry’s muggle home?
Harry managed not… eyes the size of tennis balls.
“Ew,” Hermione said, crinkling her nose at the description of the creature.
“It’s a house-elf,” James concluded, confusion crossing his face, “what would a house-elf be doing there?”
“Going by the chapter title, I would say he’s giving a warning.”
James glared at the younger Black, Sirius’ brother thought he was so funny.
Harry knew instantly… so instead he said, who are you?
Lily beamed at her son, proud that his manners upholded even with creatures such as house-elves.
Dobby, sir… great time for me to have a house-elf in my bedroom.
Sirius snorted, that was an understatement.
Aunt Petunia’s high… Sit down, said Harry politely, pointing at the bed.
Frank winced, “This surely won’t go well.”
To his horror… I didn’t mean to offend you or anything--
James laughed, patting Harry’s head lightly, “You’re so cute.”
Harry was confused as to what exactly was happening, but he brushed it off as something that was common wizarding knowledge that he didn’t know. He did, however, know that James was teasing him, so for lack of a better response, he stuck his tongue out.
Offend Dobby!... like an equal--
Hermione gasped, “That’s horrible!”
Lily nodded in agreement, “A lot of house elves aren’t treated the best by their owners.”
“Owners? But that-” Hermione spluttered, “That’s slavery!”
Frank shook his head, “House elves want to do it Hermione. Yes, a lot of them should be treated better than they are, but they don’t want to do anything else.”
“Just because they think they want to do it doesn’t mean that it’s right! They’ve been conditioned to believe-”
“There’s always at least one muggleborn that does this when they find out,” Sirius interrupted with a groan.
“That’s because we’re not blinded by-”
“Hermione, stop.” James cut her off sharply. “Don’t talk about what you do not understand. I’m no blood supremacist, but behavior like this is the main root of muggleborn hate. You guys just waltz into the Wizarding World and try to change anything you don’t like without stopping to understand why it is the way it is. The Wizarding World goes back centuries, we have traditions, and you can’t come into it and try to change it to make yourself more comfortable.”
“Not to mention the house-elf debacle goes far deeper than tradition,” Remus continued, “House-elf magic is tied to their owners, without a familial bond they would die.”
Hermione gaped.
“Muggleborns have always been coddled in the Wizarding World, some people doing everything they can to make them comfortable,” Narcissa said, giving a pointed look to Dumbledore. “Why should we change our ways for people that are new to our society? Yule is a prime example.”
“Narcissa, Christmas is-”
“-Not our holiday,” Narcissa said sharply, cutting off Dumbledore. “Yule is the traditional celebration. It is a day where we observe the Winter Solstice and celebrate the returning of light. It has been celebrated for centuries, but it is slowly dying out, Christmas taking its place instead.”
“But isn’t that a Pagan holiday?” Dudley asked in confusion.
“And what exactly is Paganism usually associated with?” Remus asked, already knowing the answer.
A dawning look of realization crossed Dudley’s face, “Witchcraft.”
Remus nodded, “A lot of muggle ideology has roots in wizarding tradition. However, when we separated ourselves from society, the facts got warped and turned into something that is far different from the original source.”
“You sound like a teacher, Remy.”
“Shut up, Sirius.”
“Professor Lupin,” James coughed.
“I will be doing more research on all this,” Hermione announced, looking thoughtful.
Many rolled their eyes at her declaration, as if they had expected any less.
Harry, trying to say… started banging his head furiously on the window, shouting, Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!
James grimaced, Dobby must be from a fairly abusive family it seems.
Don’t… had to punish himself, sir.
“His family must be terrible,” Alice said sympathetically.
Draco’s eye twitched at the slight to his family, but managed to refrain from commenting.
Regulus and Moody were staring at the faces of the Malfoys and Snape, to gauge their reaction. They had already worked out who the elf belonged to, having not fallen for Draco’s attempt at distracting the group as they passed a note around.
Your family?... Dobby will have to shut his ears in the oven door for this.
Inwardly, Narcissa was seething a little. She would never say that she was friendly with house elves, but she didn’t punish them like she knew her husband did. She did her best to reign in Lucius’ cruelty to their elves, but Dobby in particular was a bit harder to deal with. Dobby wasn’t like the average elf, he didn’t follow the usual “don’t be seen, don’t be heard” mantra that the rest of his kind did, and Lucius hated him in particular for it.
If they ever knew… Sometimes they reminds me to do extra punishments
“They sound like the Dursleys,” Harry mumbled to himself.
James, having heard what his son had mumbled, had to remind himself that he wasn’t particularly fond of Azkaban.
But why don’t you… makes the Dursleys sound almost human.
“Don’t-” Snape growled, “Don’t you ever make excuses for those people. Comparing your abusers to other abusers doesn’t make what they did okay.”
Most of the people in the room were confused by how passionately Snape was talking about abuse, it seemed the subject really struck a chord with the man.
“I’m more concerned with the fact that he’s able to relate to this house elf,” Narcissa added, “How much did I miss in the first book?”
“I suggest you read it over break or when we end for the night,” Arthur said, making conversation with the Malfoy matriarch for the first time since her arrival.
Can’t anyone help you? Can’t I?
“Such a sweet boy,” Molly cooed, making Harry blush and hide his face in his father’s arm.
Almost at once… Thinking about Ron was painful, too.
Harry ignored the sympathetic looks he was receiving.
Dobby leaned toward… met the Dark Lord for a second time just weeks ago
Narcissa blinked in surprise, it seems she did miss a lot from the first book.
That Harry Potter escaped… Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts.
“What?”
“No. I have to go, even if I didn’t have any friends there, it is still better than being with the Dursleys.”
Ron glared at Harry, “You do have friends. Get it through that thick skull of yours.”
There was a… I belong in your world -- at Hogwarts.
“It’s your world too, Harry,” Lily reminded him gently.
No, no, no… he will be in mortal danger.
“Again?” Lily almost screeched, “What could possibly be happening this time?”
“He’s in mortal danger at his relatives house as well,” Regulus muttered.
Why? Said Harry… then banged his head frantically against the wall.
“He can’t say,” Frank sighed.
All right! Cried Harry… Slowly, Dobby shook his head.
A sigh of relief flooded the room, everyone happy that Voldemort wouldn’t be in Hogwarts again this year.
Not -- not He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, sir… Harry however, was completely lost.
As was the rest of the room, no one understanding what the crazy little elf was trying to hint at.
He hasn’t got a brother, has he?
Sirius let out a strangled bark of laughter, “No. Thank Merlin, for that.”
Dobby shook his head…started beating himself around the head with earsplitting yelps.
“So that’s what the sound was,” Dudley commented to himself.
A sudden silence… ruined the punch line of my Japanese golfer joke
“Good, It’s racist anyways,” Dudley said rolling his eyes.
One more sound and you’ll wish you’d never been born, boy!
“Too late.”
Sirius, Lily, James, and Remus all whipped their heads around to look at Harry through narrowed eyes.
“It was a joke, jesus!”
“Didn’t sound like one to me,” Sirius shot back.
He stomped flat-footed from… who don’t even write to Harry Potter? Said Dobby slyly.
“He’s been stopping your letters!” Hermione accused.
I expect they’ve… was from the Hogwarts gamekeeper, Hagrid.
“I told you that you needn’t worry, Harry,” Lily said comfortingly.
“I’m sorry for not believing in you two,” Harry said, looking to both Ron and Hermione.
“It’s okay Harry. I understand,” Hermione smiled back.
Dobby blinked… might not want to go back to school, sir
Remus shook his head in exasperation, “He really should have learned more about Harry before devising his plot. One look into Harry’s home life and he would have known that nothing would stop Harry from going back to Hogwarts.”
Harry wasn’t listening… leaves Dobby no choice, said the elf sadly.
“What is he going to do?”
Before Harry could… crack like a whip, Dobby vanished.
James’s mouth hung open in shock, “I can’t believe he did that.”
“Uncle Vernon is going to kill me,” Harry moaned.
Dudley tried not to flinch at this cousins words, remembering all too clearly how close his father had come to killing Harry that night. He only hoped that the beating wasn’t mentioned, he didn’t want to relive that again.
There were screams… Uncle Vernon advanced on him, demonic glint in his eyes.
Harry flinched harshly and curled into himself, knowing what must be coming next. He has seen that look in his uncle’s eyes many times before, and nothing good ever came from it.
James threw an arm around Harry, trying not to react when Harry flinched slightly when the contact was made. If he ever met the Dursleys, he would kill them.
Read it! He hissed…place of residence this evening at twelve minutes past nine.
“But he didn’t do it!” Ginny complained.
Amelia frowned, “Unfortunately the magic that detects underage sorcery is location based. Since there was magic performed around Harry, the detection thought that Harry did it.”
As you know… you didn’t tell us you weren’t allowed to use magic out of school
“Oh no,” Lily moaned.
Said Uncle Vernon… they’ll expel you!
“As if,” George scoffed. “If Harry Potter didn’t show up to school, everyone would go looking for him.”
And laughing like a maniac… small amounts of food could be pushed inside three times a day.
“Bars on the window? A catflap to deliver food? They’re treating him like a prisoner,” Bill said angrily.
They let Harry out to… he’d probably starve to death anyway.
“That much is probably true,” Snape agreed, exhaling through flared nostrils angrily.
The cat-flap rattled… soggy vegetables at the bottom of the bowl into her empty food tray.
“They’re giving you so little food that you very well may starve, and you still share the food with your owl?” Neville asked in shock.
Harry shrugged, “It’s not Hedwig’s fault.”
Lily turned to Harry with narrowed eyes, “It’s not your either.”
She ruffled her feathers… Ron Weasley was outside Harry’s window.
“I’m where?”
“Harry, isn’t your room on the second floor?” Bill asked.
“Yeah.”
“How in the hell is Ron outside your window?”
“Well that’s the end of the chapter, who’s reading?” Draco announced, getting up and placing the book on the center table.
“Can- Can I read next?”
Hearing no arguments, Dudley got up and grabbed the book.
“Chapter 3: The Burrow”