𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐒 ↳ 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗝𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗣𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗫 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿

SECOND YEAR: Dobby the House Elf

The H/C girl sighed, looking despondently out the window.

"This is maddening." She muttered to herself.

A knock on her door snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Y/N." Lizzie"s head poked in. "Mum"s calling you."

"What for?" Y/N angrily asked.

Lizzie shrugged. "Dunno, but she"s mad, so come on."

Y/N groaned, walking out the room.

"Yes?" she asked, irritated, when she reached.

"Sit, girl." Mrs. Smith coolly said.

Y/N obeyed.

"Now, our neighbours know nothing of your, er, abnormality." She began nervously. "And Mrs. Fisher has a garden party today. So we"re locking you in your room, is that clear?"

She warily eyed Y/N"s wand.

"Yeah." Y/N sneered. "Yeah, you go ahead, lock me in."

She turned around and ran up the stairs to her room.

She crossed to her bedroom on tiptoe, slipped inside, closed the door, and turned to collapse on her bed.
The trouble was, there was already someone sitting on it.

Y/N 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.

As they stared at each other, Y/N heard Lizzie"s voice from the hall.

"I WANT TO HAVE CHICKEN, MUM, YOU ALWAYS COOK THIS!"

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

"Er — hello," said Y/N nervously.

"Y/N L/N!" said the creature in a high-pitched voice Y/N was sure would carry down the stairs. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, miss . . . Such an honor it is. . . ."

"Th-thank you," said Y/N, edging along the wall and sinking into her desk chair, next to O/N, who was asleep in her large cage.

She wanted to ask, "What are you?" but thought it would sound too rude, so instead she said, "Who are you?"

"Dobby, miss. Just Dobby. Dobby the house-elf," said the creature.
"Oh — really?" said Y/N. "Er- I don"t know much about..."

The elf hung his head.

"Not that I"m not pleased to meet you," said Y/N quickly, "but, er, is there any particular reason you"re here?"

"Oh, yes, miss," said Dobby earnestly. "Dobby has come to tell you, miss . . . it is difficult, miss . . . Dobby wonders where to begin. . . ."

"Sit down," said Y/N politely, pointing at the bed.

To her horror, the elf burst into tears — very noisy tears.

"S-sit down!" he wailed. "Never . . . never ever . . ."

"I"m sorry," she muttered, "I didn"t mean to offend you or any-

thing —"

"Offend Dobby!" choked the elf. "Dobby has never been asked to sit down by a wizard — like an equal —"

Y/N 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 Y/N in an expression of watery adoration.

"You can"t have met many decent wizards," said Y/N, 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-" Y/N began. "What"s wrong?"

O/N had woken up with a particularly loud screech and was beating her wings wildly against the bars of her cage.

"Dobby had to punish himself, miss," said the elf, who had gone s lightly cross-eyed. "Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, miss. . . ."

"Your family?"

"The wizard family Dobby serves, miss. . . . Dobby is a house elf — bound to serve one house and one family forever. . . ."

"Do they know you"re here?" asked Y/N curiously.

Dobby shuddered.

"Oh, no, miss, no . . . Dobby will have to punish himself most grievously for coming to see you, miss. Dobby will have to shut his ears in the oven door for this. If they ever knew, miss —"

"But won"t they notice if you shut your ears in the oven door?"

"Dobby doubts it miss. Dobby is always having to punish himself for something, miss. They lets Dobby get on with it, miss. Sometimes they reminds me to do extra punishments. . . ."

"But why don"t you leave? Escape?"

"A house-elf must be set free, miss. And the family will never set Dobby free . . . Dobby will serve the family until he dies, miss. . . ."
Y/N stared.

"Can I help you?" Y/N kindly asked.

Dobby dissolved again into wails of gratitude.

"Y/N L/N asks if she can help Dobby . . . Dobby has heard of your greatness, miss, but of your goodness, Dobby never knew. . . ."

Y/N, 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 —"

But she stopped quickly, because thinking about Hermione was painful.

"Y/N L/N is humble and modest," said Dobby reverently, his orb-like eyes aglow. "Y/N L/N speaks not of her triumph over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named —"

"Voldemort?" said Y/N.

Dobby clapped his hands over his bat ears and moaned, "Ah, speak not the name, miss! Speak not the name!"

"Sorry," said Y/N quickly. "I know lots of people don"t like it. My friend Ron —"

She stopped again. Thinking about Ron was painful, too.

Dobby leaned toward Y/N, his eyes wide as headlights.

"Dobby heard tell," he said hoarsely, "that Y/N L/N met the Dark Lord for a second time, just weeks ago . . . that she escaped yet again. "
Y/N nodded and Dobby"s eyes suddenly shone with tears.

"I didn"t do it alone," she spoke, "Harry helped-"

She stopped dead. Thinking about Harry was a bit too painful.

"Ah, miss," 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 and Y/N L/N, to warn them, even if he does have to shut his ears in the oven door later. . . . Harry Potter and Y/N L/N must not go back to Hogwarts. "

"W-what?" Y/N 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. "Y/N L/N must stay where she is safe. She is too great, too good, to lose. If Harry Potter and Y/N L/N go back to Hogwarts, they will be in mortal danger."

"Why?" said Y/N in surprise.
"There is a plot, Y/N L/N. 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 and Y/N L/N must not put themselves in peril. They is too important, sir!"

"What terrible things?" said Y/N at once. "Who"s plotting them?"

Dobby made a funny choking noise and then banged his head frantically against the wall.

"All right!" cried Y/N, 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 her. "Hang on — this hasn"t got anything to do with Vol — sorry — with You-Know-Who, has it? You could just shake or nod," she 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 Y/N a hint. Y/N, 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 Y/N. "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 Y/N could stop him, Dobby bounded off the bed, seized Y/N"s desk lamp, and started beating himself around the head with ear-splitting yelps.

A sudden silence fell downstairs. Two seconds later Y/N, heart thudding madly, heard Mrs Smith coming into the hall, calling, "GIRL!"

"Quick! In the closet!" hissed Y/N, stuffing Dobby in, shutting the door, and flinging herself onto the bed just as the door handle turned.
"What — the — devil — are — you — doing?" she asked.

"Homework." Y/N replied.

"No- what"s all that banging?"

"I"m practicing a... Noise-creator jinx." She said nervously.

"Hmph." Mrs Smith snorted. "Well, you"re doing it properly alright. Listen here girl, you break anything in this room, you live with it, alright?"

She stomped flat-footed from the room.

Shaking, Y/N let Dobby out of the closet.

"See what it"s like here?" she 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 Y/N L/N?" said Dobby slyly.

"I expect they"ve just been — wait a minute," said Y/N, frowning. "How do you know my friends haven"t been writing to me?"

Dobby shuffled his feet.

"Y/N L/N mustn"t be angry with Dobby. Dobby did it for the best —"

"Have you been stopping my letters?"

"Dobby has them here, miss," said the elf. Stepping nimbly out of Y/N"s reach, he pulled a thick wad of envelopes from the inside of the pillowcase he was wearing. Y/N 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 Y/N.

"Y/N L/N mustn"t be angry. . . . Dobby hoped . . . if Y/N L/N thought her friends had forgotten her . . . Y/N L/N might not want to go back to school, miss. . . ."

Y/N wasn"t listening. She made a grab for the letters, but Dobby jumped out of reach.

"Y/N L/N will have them, miss, if she gives Dobby her word that she will not return to Hogwarts. Ah, miss, this is a danger you must not face! Say you won"t go back, miss!"

"No," said Y/N angrily. "Give me my friends" letters!"

"Then Y/N L/N leaves Dobby no choice," said the elf sadly.

Before Y/N could move, Dobby had darted to the bedroom door, pulled it open, and sprinted down the stairs.

Mouth dry, stomach lurching, Y/N sprang after him, trying not to make a sound. She jumped the last six steps, landing catlike on the hall carpet, looking around for Dobby. From the dining room she heard Mrs Smith saying, "Ruddy girl and her magic- one more talk of riffraff and I"ll have her!"

Y/N ran up the hall into the kitchen and felt her stomach disappear.
Dobby made a sad face.

"No," croaked Y/N. "Please . . . they"ll kill me. . . ."

"Y/N L/N must say she"s not going back to school —"

"Dobby . . . please . . ."

"Say it, miss —"

"I can"t —"

Dobby gave her a tragic look.

"Then Dobby must do it, sir, for Y/N L/N"s own good."

He made a mad dash towards the dining room.

"NO!" Y/N screamed, darting after him.

To an onlooker, it might have looked like a very odd cat-mouse chase.

"Hahaha!" Dobby cackled maniacally, throwing a boot at the window.

"GIRL!" Mrs Smith roared.

With a crack like a whip, Dobby vanished.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" Mrs Smith screamed. "THAT"S IT, YOU ARE NOT RETURNING TO THAT RUDDY SCHOOL-"

"I"d... I could hex you." Y/N croaked.

Mrs Smith warily eyed her wand again.

With a deafening hoot, an owl had zoomed into the room.

"I WILL NOT HAVE RUDDY OWLS IN MY KITCHEN!" Mrs Smith screamed.

Y/N ignored and her and seized the parchment it was carrying.

Y/N L/N,

The Dining Room,

24 Baker Street,
London

Miss L/N,

As you know, underage wizards are not permitted to perform spells outside 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

"Well." Mrs Smith smiled nastily when Y/N had finished reading it. "Seems you can"t use your hocus pocus on me after all."

Y/N had forgotten how to breathe.

If she stayed, she wouldn"t go to Hogwarts.

If she did magic and escaped, she wouldn"t go to Hogwarts.
"Room, girl. Now." Mrs Smith ordered.

Y/N trudged upstairs.

"Well, O/N. Guess we"re done for." She muttered.

She looked at her desk miserably.

Upon seeing a piece of parchment, an idea struck her.

She looked at O/N and put two and two together.

"O/N." she breathed. "O/N! Mummy loves you!"

She seized a quill and piece of parchment before beginning to write,

Dear Ron,

A/N: how is it? The chapter? And no, that"s it for Y/N"s letter, there is no typing problem lmao