Amelia Potter and the Chamber of Secrets PART 1

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has improved for my kind since you triumphed over He Who Must Not Be Named. Harry Potter survived, and the Dark Lord's power was broken, and it was a new dawn, sir, and Harry Potter shone like a beacon of hope for those of us who thought the dark days would never end, sir ... And now, at Hogwarts, terrible things are to happen, are perhaps happening already, and Dobby cannot let Harry Potter stay here now that history is to repeat itself, now that the Chamber of Secrets is open once more –'

Dobby froze, horror-struck, then grabbed Harry's water jug from his bedside table and cracked it over his own head, toppling out of sight. A second later, he crawled back onto the bed, cross- eyed, muttering, 'Bad Dobby, very bad Dobby ...'

'So there is a Chamber of Secrets?' Harry whispered. And – did you say it's been opened before? Tell me, Dobby!'

He seized the elf's bony wrist as Dobby's hand inched towards the water jug. 'But I'm not Muggle-born – how can I be in danger from the Chamber?'

'Ah, sir, ask no more, ask no more of poor Dobby,' stammered the elf, his eyes huge in the dark. 'Dark deeds are planned in this place, but Harry Potter must not be here when they happen. Go home, Harry Potter. Go home. Harry Potter must not meddle in this, sir, 'tis too dangerous –'

'Who is it, Dobby?' Harry said, keeping a firm hold on Dobby's wrist to stop him hitting himself with the water jug again. 'Who's opened it? Who opened it last time?'

'Dobby can't, sir, Dobby can't, Dobby mustn't tell!' squealed the elf. 'Go home, Harry Potter, go home!'

'I'm not going anywhere!' said Harry fiercely. 'One of my best friends is Muggle-born, she'll be first in line if the Chamber really has been opened –'

'Harry Potter risks his own life for his friends!' moaned Dobby, in a kind of miserable ecstasy. 'So noble! So valiant! But he must save himself, he must, Harry Potter must not –'

Dobby suddenly froze, his bat ears quivering. Harry heard it, too. There were footsteps coming down the passageway outside.

'Dobby must go!' breathed the elf, terrified; there was a loud crack, and Harry's fist was suddenly clenched on thin air. He slumped back into bed, his eyes on the dark doorway to the hos- pital wing as the footsteps drew nearer.

Next moment, Dumbledore was backing into the dormitory,