Amelia Potter and the Chamber of Secrets PART 1

9

'Sit down,' said Harry politely, pointing at the bed.

To his horror, the elf burst into tears – very noisy tears.

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

Harry thought he heard the voices downstairs falter.

'I'm sorry,' he whispered, 'I didn't mean to offend you or anything.'

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

Harry, trying to say 'Shh!' and look comforting at the same time, ushered Dobby back onto the bed where he sat hiccoughing, looking like a large and very ugly doll. At last he managed to con- trol himself, and sat with his great eyes fixed on Harry in an expression of watery adoration.

'You can't have met many decent wizards,' said Harry, 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, 'BadDobby! Bad Dobby!'

'Don't – what are you doing?' Harry hissed, springing up and pulling Dobby back onto the bed. Hedwig 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, sir,' said the elf, who had gone slightly cross-eyed. 'Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, sir ...'

'Your family?'

'The wizard family Dobby serves, sir ... Dobby is a house-elf – bound to serve one house and one family for ever ...'

'Do they know you're here?' asked Harry curiously.
Dobby shuddered.
'Oh no, sir, no ... Dobby will have to punish himself most grievously for coming to see you, sir. Dobby will have to shut his ears in the oven door for this. If they ever knew, sir –'

'But won't they notice if you shut your ears in the oven door?'

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

'But why don't you leave? Escape?'

'A house-elf must be set free, sir. And the family will never set Dobby free ... Dobby will serve the family until he dies, sir ...'

Harry stared.