Previous Chapter: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003542001

Tags: @Bellatrisblack @MeowTasticCat @ShadowDragonfireWolffang

Chapter Two: Dobby's Warning

Harry managed not to shout out, he didn’t want to alarm anyone until he was certain he was in danger. The little creature on the bed was a house-elf, he had large bat-like ears and bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls. They stared in shocked silence at each other for a moment.

The house-elf slipped off the bed and bowed so low that the end of its thin nose touched the carpet. Harry noticed it was wearing what looked like an old pillowcase, with rips for arm and leg holes.

‘Er-hello,’ said Harry, a bit cautious.

‘Harry Potter!’ said the house-elf, in a high-pitched voice Harry was sure would be heard by Remus or Canini who where on this floor. ‘So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, sir...Such an honour it is...’

‘Th-thank you,’ said Harry, edging along the wall and standing next to his trunk, next to Hedwig, who was asleep in her large cage. He wanted to know why the house-elf was here, but at the moment all that came out of his lips was, ‘Who are you?’

‘Dobby, sir. Just Dobby. Dobby the house-elf,’ said Dobby.

‘Oh-really?’ said Harry. ‘Er-I don’t want to be rude or anything, but why are you in my room?’

The elf hung his head.

‘Not that I’m not pleased to meet you,’ said Harry quickly, ‘but its really late, so is there any particular reason you’re here?’

‘Oh, yes, sir...it is difficult, sir...Dobby wonders where to begin...’

‘Sit down,’ said Harry politely, pointing at the bed. To his surprise, the elf burst into tears.

‘S-sit down!’ he wailed. ‘Never...never ever...’

‘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-‘

After Dobby collected himself he got back onto the bed, where he sat hiccoughing, looking like a large and very ugly doll. 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.

From his own room Harry heard Remus call out, ‘You alright Harry?!’

‘Yes, um, just looking for something. I’m good!’

Hedwig had woken up with a particularly loud screech and was beating her wings wildly against the bars of her cage. Harry let the door open in hopes that might calm her down.

‘Dobby had to punish himself, sir,’ said the elf, who had gone slightly cross-eyed. ‘Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, sir...’

‘The house you serve?’

‘Yes, the wizard family Dobby serves, sir.’

‘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 everything, sir. They lets Dobby get on with it, sir. Sometimes they reminds me to do extra punishments...’

Harry was horrified. He knew house-elf’s where servants and to serve a family for life unless freed by there family presenting them clothes, but poor Dobby sounded more like an abused slave then a helpful servant. Harry reached into his pocket and took out a chocolate frog box Nymphadora had given him and held it out to Dobby.

‘I’m sorry, you must be hungry, do you like chocolate?’

‘Chocolate, Harry Potter is gifting Dobby food. Dobby has heard about your greatness, sir, but of your goodness, Dobby never knew-’ Dobby took the box, opened it, and ate the tasty treat inside.

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 in the top five percent in my year at Hogwarts, that’s Theo, he’s-‘

But he stopped quickly, because thinking about his friends was painful, especially Theodore who he knew despite no letters was having a far worse summer than Harry.

‘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.’

‘I was a baby, I don’t really remember it.’

‘Dobby is not talking about eleven years ago.’ Dobby leaned towards Harry, his eyes wide as headlamps, ‘Dobby heard tell, 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 warm 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 the breeze on the window and Hedwig trying to get comfortable again in her cage.

‘W-what?’ Harry stammered. ‘But I’ve got to go back-term starts on September the first. I miss my friends, I miss learning more and more about our world, I miss playing quidditch.’

‘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 mortar 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 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, didn’t have many more ideas.

‘Is it a follower of his, a deatheater?’

Dobby didn’t confirm this, but Harry knew he must be right as Dobby started once again hitting his head against the wall and Harry had to stop him before anyone heard.

‘Well even if a follower has plans I doubt they could actually make 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.

‘With Dumbledore at Hogwarts I am safe, I’m safe to return to my favourite lessons, and safe to reunite with my friends.’

‘Friends who don’t even write to Harry Potter?’ said Dobby slyly.

‘They have, something has just been snatching-hang on,’ said Harry, frowning. ‘How do you know my friends haven’t been writing 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 thick wad of envelopes from the inside of the pillowcase he was wearing. Harry could make out today birthday wishes, his own letters, and what looked like letters from Terence, Allison, and Tracey, although suspiciously no Theodore.

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...’

‘Even if someone wishes to hurt me, it’s all the more reason to go to Hogwarts as it’s safer there than at the Dursley’s.

‘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 Harry’s desk lamp, and started beating himself around the head with earsplitting yelps.

Before Harry could react, Remus came barging in. ‘Harry, are you ok?’

Harry pointed at Dobby. ‘I am, but this house-elf is the thing that’s been stealing my letters.’

Remus drew his wand.

‘Dobby was not supposed to be seen by anyone other than Harry Potter, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.’

With a snap of his finger and a loud popping sound Dobby had apparated, but not before Remus managed to point his wand and chant, ‘Accio letters.’

Dobby was gone, and Harry’s stolen letters resides in Remus’ hand, but Harry had a feeling it’d be a while before he could read them.

‘Why was there a house-elf stealing your letters and was in your room, and why didn’t you call out saying so?’

‘He didn’t seem threatening and I didn’t want to alarm him. He kept trying to warm me though. He couldn’t tell me his master but he implied that a follower of You-Know-Who was going to try and hurt me at hogwarts.’

‘Harry, that is very serious, are you alright?’

‘I am, and just like I told him, there is no place safer than Hogwarts, right?’

Remus looked really nervous, and shaken. It took him a moment before he finally spoke. ‘Yes, no place safer than Hogwarts.’

He told Harry it was far time he went to sleep, but as soon as the door closed Harry sat down and started going through the letters. He separated them into letter he had sent, and letters from his friends and family. He put his families aside as he knew there was nothing earth shattering inside that he couldn’t read later, and instead started opening his friends letters.

Allison wrote four letters so far, one each week since Hogwarts. They talked about her boredom at home, how her father was trying to get her to study books she didn’t like, and how much she missed school. She also wrote how she was for once trying to increase her bond with her mom and seemed to be getting along ok with her.

There were only two letters from Terence, one talking all about a Quidditch match between his local team and the Montrose Magpies, the second letter asking if Harry would like to train with him sometime.

Tracey by far wrote the most, talking all about what here and her family had been up to so far. She sounded very happy in most of them, but in a more recent letter she mentioned how she wasn’t getting any responses from Theodore which she sounded concerned about but chucked it up to him being busy.

In both Allison and Tracey’s most recent letters they sounded really confused and concerned as to why Harry wasn’t responding. Harry organized all the letters he had sent into piles of who they were meant for and tied them together with string, and on each stack attached a new letter that explained what had been happening as well as responding to the contents in there letters. He could only hope they would think he was honest and hadn’t been ghosting them on purpose. He tapped on Hedwigs cage.

‘These aren’t to heavy, are they?’

Hedwig seemed to make a positive hoot and picked up the bundles with her claws and took off.

Unbelievably exhausted, Harry finally got into his pyjamas and tucked himself into bed. He tried to relax knowing that the letter problem was finally solved, but instead he couldn’t get Dobby’s warning out of his head. When he finally fell asleep, he dreamt about the snake on the Slytherin crest chasing him around the dark stone common room.