Melancholy || Harry Potter's twin brother

2: chapter two

"Aunt Petunia said you were back, I didn't tell her anything by the way." Sirius awoke to Harry barging into their room, talking loudly and switching on the light. "What?"

Dobby stopped jumping and stared wide-eyed at Harry. "You have a visitor." Sirius explained to his brother, it suddenly occurred to him that was Harry might not have seen a house elf before.

"Thanks Siri..." Harry still seemed confused, he glanced at his brother before looking back at Dobby.

"Happy birthday Harry." Sirius replied, waving a hand lazily at the parcel on the bedside cabinet, he had placed it there earlier. Harry looked incredibly touched.

"Thanks Siri." He said to his brother, a small smile on his lips. He opened the package to find a book on Quidditch tips and manoeuvres. He grinned at his brother before turning to Dobby. "Er...Hello?"

"Harry Potter!" Dobby shrieked like an over-excited fangirl with no sleep. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, sir... such an honour it is..." Harry glanced at Sirius, who shrugged. It wasn't like he knew why Dobby was there, no one told him anything.

"Th-thank you." Harry nodded, sitting in the desk chair beside Sirius' bed and the cages of their owls, Hedwig and Spark. "Who are you exactly?"

"Dobby, sir, Dobby the house elf." The creature replied.

"Oh... really?" Said Harry, Sirius kicked him in the leg. Their parents wouldn't want him not to be polite.

"He means nice to meet you." Sirius inputted.

"Yeah, I don't want to be rude or anything, but this isn't a great time for a house elf to be in my bedroom." Harry said, unsure of how the creature would react. Aunt Petunia's horse-like laugh sounded from the living room. "I am pleased to meet you, but is there any reason you're here?"

"Oh yes sir." Dobby replied earnestly, Sirius looked up from the book he had begun reading with interest. " Dobby has come to tell you sir... It is difficult, Dobby wonders where to begin."

"Why don't you sit down?" Harry suggested, pointing to the bed. Dobby burst into very noisy tears.

"S-sit down!" He wailed, "Never... Never..." Sirius passed the house elf a tissue. Dobby shot him a thankful look and wiped his eyes, despite more tears falling from them.

Harry stared at the elf as he tried to figure out what to do. "I'm sorry." He finally whispered. "I didn't mean to offend you."

"Offend Dobby!" The elf shrieked. "Dobby has never been asked to sit down by a wizard- like an equal!" Harry desperately tried to calm the creature down, and managed at last, the elf sat on the bed, tears still in his eyes.

"You can't have met many decent wizards then." Harry said, Sirius winced, this would not end well. Dobby shook his head and then grabbed the lamp and began to hit himself furiously on the head with it. Sirius turned the power off so the house elf didn't electrocuted himself.

"Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!" He shteiked, as he hit himself.

"What are you doing?: Harry hissed desperately as he wrestled the lamp away from the elf and pulled him back onto the bed.

"Dobby had to punish himself sir." Explained the housemef whom looked slightly cross-eyed. "Dobby almost spoke ill of his family sir."

"Your family?" Harry asked, Sirius looked up again, curious as to where Dobby had come from and whom had sent him.

"The wizard family Dobby serves sir." The creature informed them.

"And do they know you're here?" Harry asked.

"Oh no sir, Dobby will have to punish himself for this." The elf replied solemnly, Sirius sighed, he wished Dobby would tell them who sent him and why, but he didn't want to make Dobby feel obliged to tell them, if he didn't want to.

"So why are you here?" Sirius questioned, wanting to get more to the point with the conversation.

"Harry potter must not go back to Hogwarts school." Dobby told them grandly.

"But Hogwarts is my home!" Harry argued at once.

"Harry potter is in danger!" Dobby informed them.

"But I have friends there, I can't stay here!" Harry argued back.

"Friends who don't even write to Harry Potter?" Dobby asked craftily, reminded Sirius strongly of Draco, although he had no idea as to why that was.

"Well I expect that they're..." Harry trailed off as he realised what Dobby had just said. "Hang on, how do you know my friendshaven't been writing to me?"

"Harry potter must not be angry. Dobby thought that if Harry potter thought that his friends had forgotten him, then he might not want to go back to Hogwarts." Dobby replied earnestly, bringing a pile of letters out from his pillowcase.

"Dobby, give them to me." Harry ordered. Dobby shook his head.

"Harry potter must promise not to go back to Hogwarts!" The elf replied.

"I can't! Hogwarts is my home!" Harry complained, lunging for the letters the elf had. Despite all of his seeker training, he missed, and Dobby darted out of the door. Harry followed hot on his heels.

Sirius stayed behind to contemplate who the elf was and how he had all his information about the two. He also wondered why trouble and strange happenings seemed to follow his brother like a bad smell. Whilst contemplating, he wondered what would have happened if he had gone with Aro, Jane and Ollie.

He was about to go and see what trouble Harry and Dobby had caused downstairs when he heard the front door slam and Vernon shouting. So he decided he had better not go and investigate. He would get punished with his brother any way, he always did, but it never mattered because they had each other. Even if Harry had done something and Sirius hadn't, they still got punished together. By staying upstairs, Sirius hoped that he would at least save them from getting a greater punishment as he wasn't involved.

Upon hearing the screech of an owl, Sirius' stomach flipped, that couldn't be good. He had a bad feeling about what was to come, but he just didn't know how bad things were going to get.