Amelia Potter and the Chamber of Secrets PART 1

22

and gnomes all over the garden. House-elves come with big old manors and castles and places like that, you wouldn't catch one in our house ...'

Harry was silent. Judging by the fact that Draco Malfoy usually had the best of everything, his family was rolling in wizard gold; he could just see Malfoy strutting around a large manor house. Sending the family servant to stop Harry going back to Hogwarts also sounded exactly like the sort of thing Malfoy would do. Had Harry been stupid to take Dobby seriously?

'I'm glad we came to get you, anyway,' said Ron. 'I was getting really worried when you didn't answer any of my letters. I thought it was Errol's fault at first –'

'Who's Errol?'

'Our owl. He's ancient. It wouldn't be the first time he'd col- lapsed on a delivery. So then I tried to borrow Hermes –'

'Who?'

'The owl Mum and Dad bought Percy when he was made a pre- fect,' said Fred from the front.

'But Percy wouldn't lend him to me,' said Ron. 'Said he needed him.'

'Percy's been acting very oddly this summer,' said George, frowning. 'And he has been sending a lot of letters and spending a load of time shut up in his room ... I mean, there's only so many times you can polish a prefect badge ... You're driving too far west, Fred,' he added, pointing at a compass on the dashboard. Fred twiddled the steering wheel.

'So, does your dad know you've got the car?' said Harry, guess- ing the answer.

'Er, no,' said Ron, 'he had to work tonight. Hopefully we'll be able to get it back in the garage without Mum noticing we flew it.'

'What does your dad do at the Ministry of Magic, anyway?'

'He works in the most boring department,' said Ron. 'The Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office.'

'The what?'

'It's all to do with bewitching things that are Muggle-made, you know, in case they end up back in a Muggle shop or house. Like, last year, some old witch died and her tea set was sold to an antiques shop. This Muggle woman bought it, took it home and tried to serve her friends tea in it. It was a nightmare – Dad was working overtime for weeks.'