The Girl Who Saw Tomorrow II » Harry Potter

2.61 | High as a Kite

Crack.

Margaret drew her wand; Hermione let out a little shriek; Ron spilled ink all over his freshly completed essay, and Harry yelped, "Dobby!"

"Dobby has come to give Harry Potter the regular report Harry Potter asked on Draco Malfoy, sir!" squeaks Dobby happily.

"What is this?" asks Hermione, still looking shocked by these sudden appearances. "What's going on, Harry?"

Harry hesitated before answering, because he had not told Hermione or Margaret about setting Dobby to tail Malfoy; house-elves were always such a touchy subject with Hermione and he had a feeling that Margaret would not approve.

From the blank stare Margaret was regarding Harry with, he knew he was right.

"Listen," he says to her, "let's just hear him out, okay?"

Wordlessly, Margaret turned to Dobby, looking at him expectantly.

"Dobby has not slept for a week, Harry Potter!" says Dobby proudly, swaying where he stood.

Hermione looked indignant. "You haven't slept, Dobby? But surely, Harry, you didn't tell him not to-"

"No, of course I didn't," says Harry quickly. "Dobby, you can sleep, all right? But have you found out anything?" he asks quickly, before Hermione could intervene again.

"Draco Malfoy is a bad boy!" squeaks Dobby angrily. "A bad boy who - who-"

He shuddered from the top of his tea cozy to the toes of his socks and then ran at the fire, as though about to dive into it; Harry, to whom this was not entirely unexpected, caught him around the middle and held him fast. For a few seconds Dobby struggled, then went limp.

"Thank you, Harry Potter," he pants. "Dobby still finds it difficult to speak ill of his old masters..."

Harry released him; Dobby straightened his tea cozy and turned back to all of them.

"Harry Potter, sir," squeaks Dobby, his great orblike eyes shining in the firelight, "the Malfoy boy is breaking no rules that Dobby can discover, but he is still keen to avoid detection. He has been making regular visits to the seventh floor with a variety of other students, who keep watch for him while he enters-"

"The Room of Requirement," Harry finishes dully, with a sideways look at Margaret to find her staring absently into the fire as though the topic had lost her interest. He shifted to the edge of his seat, hoping to get something more important than just this. "Dobby, have you managed to get in to have a look at what Malfoy's doing?"

"No, Harry Potter, that is impossible," says Dobby, shaking his head, his ears flapping.

"No, it's not," says Harry at once. "Malfoy got into our headquarters there last year, so I'll be able to get in and spy on him, no problem."

"But I don't think you will, Harry," says Hermione slowly. "Malfoy already knew exactly how we were using the room, didn't he, because that stupid Marietta had blabbed. He needed the room to become the headquarters of the D.A., so it did. But you don't know what the room becomes when Malfoy goes in there, so you don't know what to ask it to transform into."

"There'll be a way around that," says Harry dismissively. "You've done brilliantly, Dobby. You'd better go and get some sleep too."

"Thank you, Harry Potter, sir!" squeaks Dobby happily, and he vanished with a crack.

Harry turned to Margaret at once. "Listen, I know that he's being threatened by You-Know-Who to do something and I know you told me to stay out of it but-"