adored by him | *under editing*

second year × 23

Harry's eyes fluttered open at the feeling of someone sponging his sweaty brow. However, he bolted upright in confusion at the house-elf standing over him. "Dobby?"

"Hello!" The elf squeaked with a beam.

Harry blinked to make sure he wasn't dreaming. "What're you doing here?"

Dobby's face turned grave and he began to ramble. "Harry Potter came back to school. Dobby warned him. Harry Potter should have listened to Dobby. Harry Potter should have gone back home when he missed the train!"

Harry furrowed his eyebrows before his mind clicked with realisation. "It was you." He concluded, angrily shoving the sponge away. "You closed the barrier and stopped it from letting Ron and me through."

"Indeed yes, sir." Dobby sighed. "Dobby hid and watched for Harry Potter and then sealed the gateway."

"You almost got us expelled!" Harry whisper-yelled, the anger practically radiating off his skin.

"At least you would be away from here! Harry Potter must go home!" The elf whisper-yelled back with just as much anger. "Dobby thought that his Bludger would be enough to see--"

"Your Bludger?" Harry repeated incredulously. "You made that Bludger chase after me?"

"Dobby feels most aggrieved. Dobby even had to iron his hands, sir." Dobby stuck out his poorly bandaged hands and wiggled his fingers slightly.

Pity surged through the boy but his anger immediately washed it away. "You better clear off before my bones come back, Dobby, or I might just strangle you."

He smiled weakly and dropped his head. "Dobby is used to death threats, sir. Dobby gets them five times a day at home."

Another pang of pity hit Harry as he sighed. "I don't suppose you could tell me why you're trying to kill me?"

Dobby's head snapped up, his eyes wide. "Not kill you, sir! Never kill you. Dobby remembers how it was before Harry Potter triumphed over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. We house-elves were treated like vermin, sir. Of course, Dobby is still treated like vermin..." He trailed off and honked his nose into his dirty and worn pillowcase.

"Why do you wear that thing, Dobby?" Harry sighed.

"This?" He croaked, grasping the end of it. " 'Tis a mark of Dobby's enslavement, sir. Dobby can only be freed if his master presents him with clothes. The family is careful not to pass so much as a sock to Dobby, therefore freeing him from their house forever." Dobby shrugged weakly before his bat-like ears quivered, as though detecting something. Then, Harry heard it too; footsteps.

Dobby was whispering frantically now. "Terrible things are about to happen at Hogwarts! Harry Potter must go home before history repeats itself!"

"Repeat itself?" Harry was befuddled. "This has happened before?" Dobby squealed before seizing the bottle of Skele-Grow and bashing himself on the head with it. "Dobby stop!" Harry snapped, grabbing the bottle. "Tell me, when did this happen before? Who's doing it now?"

"Dobby cannot say, sir." He shook his head vigorously. "Dobby only wants Harry Potter to be safe."

"No. Dobby, tell me!" But, with a snap of his spindly fingers, Dobby was gone. Harry groaned as shadows flickered outside the curtains which encircled his bed. Rapidly, he slumped back into the covers, feigning sleep.

"What's happened?" Madam Pomfrey gasped as a small figure was placed on a nearby hospital bed.

"There's been another attack." Professor McGonagall spoke solemnly. Harry's heart dropped as the teacher's inspected the figure. "Perhaps he managed to take a picture of his attacker?" Hope flew through Harry's veins but at the sound of a faint crackle and the hissing of steam, he deflated. Then his head whirled with thoughts; who had a camera? His heart plummeted even further.