The Truth | Draco Malfoy

Chapter 2: Secret Visit

The scene opened to show Harry's bedroom. Harry entered, he turned and stopped dead: a tiny creature with bat-like ears and bulging green eyes was jumping on his bed as if it were a trampoline. This was Dobby.

"Harry Potter! Such an honour it is!" Dobby said in his squeaky voice.

"Oh Dobby." Zoe whispered, tears in her eyes, remembering his death.

"I miss him too, my queen." Draco said, kissing the side of her head.

"What... Who are you?" Harry asked.

"Dobby, sir. Dobby the house elf." He answered.

"I see. Not to be rude or anything, but this isn't a great time for me to have a house-elf in my bedroom." Harry said, he didn't want to get into trouble with the Dursleys.

"Oh, yes, sir, Dobby understands. It's just that, Dobby has come to tell you... it is difficult, sir... Dobby wonders where to begin."

"Why don't you sit down?" Harry offered.

"Ooo, shouldn't have done that." Sirius hissed.

Dobby's eyes widen. "S-s-sit down?" He stuttered. Suddenly Dobby burst into tears. Loud tears. Harry panicked.

"Shhhh! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you or anything..." Harry apologised, trying to stop him from crying.

"Offend Dobby! Dobby has heard of your greatness, sir, but never has he been asked to sit down by a wizard, like an equal..." Dobby told him.

"You can't have met many decent wizards then." Harry said. Dobby shook his head, then without warning, leap off the bed and started to bang his head furiously on the floor.

"Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!" Dobby said, banging his head on the floor.

***

The scene changed to the living room. Uncle Vernon poured champagne for Mr and Mrs Mason. As Dobby's head banging sounds from above, all eyes shifted to the ceiling. Uncle Vernon chuckled nervously.

"Don't mind that. It's just the... cat." Uncle Vernon lied.

"Cat? What cat?" Dudley asked, not realising that his own father was lying.

"Oh, he is so dumb." Remus said, shaking his head in his hands.

"Our cat, tiger." Uncle Vernon lied, again.

***

Back in Harry's room, Dobby got back on his feet, wobbling, eyes spinning dizzily. Harry regarded him with a mixture of concern... and wariness.

"Of course, he would be dizzy, he was smacking his head hard." Sirius said.

"Are you... all right?" He asked.

"Dobby had to punish himself, sir. Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, sir." Dobby answered.

"We've been trying to change that. Before Dobby came to us, he was with this awful family who was treating him like a slave. When I found him, I freed him and had him bound to our family. We treated him with love but it was hard to stop him from hurting him." Zoe said.

"House elves shouldn't be forced to serve a house! They should be free!" Hermione yelled.

"Why must you scream?" Zoe asked. "We're right here!" She yelled back.

"If you 'free' a house elf from their families then you're essentially killing them." Lucius said.

"What are you talking about? That's not true, it's not in any of the Hogwarts books I've read." Hermione rolled her eyes.