snake in the lions den|| WTM

ten

It is a quiet summer evening in Surrey. Ada is in her bedroom looking at the picture book that Hagrid gave her at the end of her first year at Hogwarts; she looks at the picture of her as a baby with his parents, then turns the page to look at a picture of Ada with her closest friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger; she then hears her owl Hedwig chirping and hooting in her cage.

"I can't let you out, Hedwig. I'm not allowed to use magic outside of school." Hedwig nibbles at her lock, squawking loudly "Besides, if Uncle Vernon--" Ada sighs at she is cut off by Vernon shouting angrily from downstairs "Ada Potter!"

Ada glances downstairs then looks at Hedwig before closing her book and going downstairs "Now you've done it."

In the kitchen, Petunia is working on a cake as Ada enters.

Ada enters the living room, where Uncle Vernon is getting Dudley dressed up. "I'm warning you. If you can't control that bloody bird, it'll have to go."

"But she's bored. If I could only let her out for... an hour or two."

Vernon chuckles "So you can send secret messages to your freaky little friends?"

"But I haven't had any messages from any of my friends. Not one. All summer."

"You didn't send her any letters?" Remus askes confused. He thought that Ron and Hermione would at least send one. "No, we did. I don't know what happened." Hermione says.

"Someone took the letters but it's all good now." Ada tells them.

"Who would want to be friends with you?" Dudley sneers and bumps Ada harshly.

"I should think you'd be a little more grateful. We've raised you since you a were a baby, given you the food off our table, even let you have Dudley's second bedroom, purely out of the goodness of our hearts."

"They barely raised me, gave me scraps and I slept in a spider infested cupboard for 10 years. I don't think anything they did was out of the goodness of their hearts." Ada huffs glaring at the screen.

Petunia looks to Dudley who is reaching for the cake on the table. "Not now, bumpkins. It's for when the Masons arrive."

"Which should be any minute." Vernon motions for his family to come into the living room "Now, let's go over our schedule once again, shall we? Petunia, when the Masons arrive, you will be...?"

"In the lounge, waiting to welcome them graciously to our home."

"Good. And, Dudley, you will be...?"

"I'll be waiting to open the door."

"Excellent." the three of them turn to Ada with scornful looks "And you...?" Ada looks to the three with a sarcastic smile "I'll be in my bedroom, making no noise and pretending that I don't exist."

"Too right you will. With any luck, this could well be the day I make the biggest deal of my career, and you will not mess it up." Ada just rolls her eyes and walks upstairs as the doorbell rings."Mr. and Mrs. Mason! Do come in!"

Ada hears someone laughing madly in her room. She opens the door to find, a house elf named Dobby bouncing on her bed.

"Is that Dobby?" Narcissa askes confused, why was her house elf in Ada's house.

"Ada Potter! Such an honor it is!" Dobby's squeaky voice rang out. Ada closes the door and looks to the elf in confusion "Who are you?"

"Dobby miss, Dobby the house elf."