The Other Black Book 2

Chapter 2 - Dobby's Warning

Aurora glanced outside during dinner that evening and a large barn owl swooped into the Dursley's dining room. That didn't look good.

The next day, Aurora saw a man fitting bars on Harry's window. To most on Privet Drive, who had no knowledge of Harry, it would look interesting, but to Aurora, who knew of her friend and where his room was, was silently horrified. That night, she found some paper and scribbled a note to Harry: What happened?

She gave it to Cooper, now very glad that Cooper was a small little owl, and told him to go to Harry.

Aurora watched from her window as Harry managed to open the window the tiniest creak and Cooper flew in. Not long after Cooper returned.

Uncle Vernon.

Not the answer Aurora was looking for.

Clearly. But why? What happened? I saw a large owl around dinner time. It wasn't a Hogwarts letter right?

Cooper took a lot longer to come back the next time.

Harry had written what would seem to most a bit of a fantastical tale. A creature, who called himself Dobby the house-elf, had been there to warn Harry to not go to Hogwarts. He'd been keeping Harry's letters, and as Harry refused to promise to not return to Hogwarts, Dobby had dropped Mrs. Dursley (Aunt Petunia as Harry wrote)'s pudding on top of Harry. The Ministry of Magic had sent an owl almost immediately -- that was the barn owl Aurora had seen -- telling him off for using magic outside of school. Harry had been told to read it out loud. Now Mr. Dursley (Uncle Vernon) had locked Harry up in his bedroom, and he couldn't get out without magic.

Aurora sent Cooper back with a note saying,

Wow. Sorry, I didn't know what else to say, but I wanted you to know that I'd gotten it.

Cooper came back with a note saying simply, Goodnight, Aura.

Aurora, however, didn't yet. She went downstairs and gathered a few of the vegetables and things that they kept for Cooper. Cooper was allowed to fly out in search of his own meat -- Olivia hadn't wanted any dead rodents in her house. That was where she drew the line. Now Aurora laid some veggies down in Cooper's cage, and told him, "I have one more job for you to do. It's a long one, but I promise you, you can rest, okay?"

Cooper hooted. Aurora hoped it meant yes.

Cooper nibbled at a bit of veggie Aurora put in his cage.

Aurora scribbled a note to Ron, saying only that Harry wasn't getting his letters, and not choosing to not respond, and the Dursleys have him and Hedwig locked up in his room so he can't get out.

She added her own concerns, wondering how long they'd be able to keep him, and what would happen if he stayed locked up for the next four weeks -- it wasn't unheard of, unfortunately.

Cooper returned the next night with a letter from Ron.

Ooh, that makes much more sense. Thanks for saying something. Don't worry about that. Fred and George have an idea.

That was only cause for more worry. Aurora had no idea what they would do, so she sat and waited. Nothing came on the third day of Harry's punishment. Then that night, Aurora was awoken to a noise across the street. She looked out her window.

A turquoise car was parked in mid air just outside of Harry's window. The car is in the way to actually see in, but she could certainly hear everything as she opened her window. She wasn't sure what exactly woke her up, but after a moment of near-silence, Hedwig screeched. Aurora winced.

If she could hear that screech, she could only imagine how angry Mr. Dursley would be. The car seemed to lean sideways, then a roar shook the air: "Petunia! He's getting away! HE'S GETTING AWAY!"

"Put your foot down, Fred!" yelled a voice that sounded remarkably like Ron's and the flying car shot suddenly toward the moon.

As the car drove off, Aurora looked back towards Harry's room. Mr. Dursley, Mrs. Dursley, and Dudley were all hanging, dumbstruck, out of Harry's window.

"What on earth is going on out there?" Olivia asked as she entered Aurora's room. She too stared out the window as the Dursleys tried to act as though nothing just happened: they shut their window and walked away.

"I think the Weasleys just rescued Harry."

"What?"