"Who would like to read now?" asked Professor Flitwick to the group of people.

"Guess I will again, sir." said Bill when he saw no one raising their hands.

Bill took the book and opened to the chapter they were going to start on.

"Dobby's Warning." said Bill to the group.

"Dobby?" said Draco quietly. "Who's he warning?"

"You know him?" asked Blaise quietly.

"Yeah, I do." whispered Draco.

"Wait, wasn't that the name of that house-elf from Dumbledore's office?" asked Sirius, who didn't hear what Draco had said.

"Yeah." said Harry, thinking deeply. "Dumbledore, sir?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, Harry?" said Dumbledore.

"What ever happened to…?" said Harry carefully.

"He's back down in the kitchens." said Dumbledore with a smile.

Harry managed not to shout out, but it was a close thing.

"If I had yelled, I'm pretty sure that they would have heard me downstairs." said Harry with a smile.

The little creature on the bed had large, bat-like ears and bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls.

"That's where the eyes from the hedge came from!" said Tonks excitedly.

Harry knew instantly that this was what had been watching him out of the garden hedge that morning.

"See! Harry knew it too!" said Tonks excitedly.

As they stared at each other, Harry heard Dudley's voice from the hall.

"May I take your coats, Mr. and Mrs. Mason?"

"Just as rehearsed." said Hannah rolling her eyes.

The creature slipped off the bed and bowed so low that the end of its long, nose touched the carpet. Harry noticed that it was wearing what looked like an old pillowcase, with rips for arm- and leg-holes.

"Why is it wearing that?" asked Lavender crinkling her nose in disgust.

"It's the mark of a house-elf's enslavement. While a house-elf is enslaved to a family, it isn't doesn't wear regular clothes. They feel that they shouldn't be allowed to. They attach themselves to a family,( or when they reach adulthood), after about a month or two, they find a sheet, or something, with their master's scent on it and wear it. The scent serves as a constant reminder that they belong to someone." said Harry whipping out his little black book and flipping to a certain page.

"They don't even wash it really, if it is washed, then it loses the master's scent. Some people have an assortment of different things for their house-elf wears, different pillowcases and other things. Each thing has their scent, that way, they look presentable if the house-elf is seen." said Harry, still looking at his little book passively.

"If a family has a house-elf, the family only has one chore to do about the house, and that's laundry." said Harry with a smirk.

"Why does the family have to do their own laundry?" asked Colin. "My mum hates doing that."

"If you give a house-elf an article of clothing, it could even be a single, solitary sock," said Harry with a smile, enjoying his little inside joke. "That means that the house-elf is free and must leave your house, and never to return. House-elves don't like that one bit."

"Why not? If it means that they get their freedom?" asked Justin, Hermione looked over to Harry quickly.

"House-elves don't need to eat or drink, hell, they don't even sleep really, unless they are very ill. The thing that gives them sustenance, and gives them energy, is the comfort they give to others." said Harry with a fleeting look over to Hermione, who looked shocked.

"Imagine you eating a large plate of, well, bacon, eggs, sausages and other things in the morning." said Dumbledore interjecting. "That gives you energy that lasts till you eat lunch. The same energy you get from breakfast is the exact same energy they get from let's say, picking up the dormitories and/or making dinner. If you take that away, by giving them clothes, then you are basically starving them to death. If they don't have a family to care for, then they slowly fade away to nothing."

"But most families don't have house-elves and want them, why don't the house-elves find those families?" asked Charlie looking over to his mother quickly.

"Not many people want a house-elf that had been dismissed. They have the misconception that the house-elf had done something seriously wrong. Which doesn't happen, they are mostly dismissed out of misplaced anger, or the house-elf didn't overcome a personal fear they had. Or if the owner was attempting to be kind and let them go." said Harry looking over to Hermione, his tone was gentle, but Hermione only looked at him in horror.

"There are only about twenty-two hundred house-elves left in this world due to the stupidity of wizard's and witches." said Dumbledore thinking deeply.

Hermione looked down in shame, as did a majority of the others in the Great Hall.

"Great thing about Hogwarts and other magical schools is that they take in the dismissed house-elves with open arms. They welcome them gratefully, 'cause if they didn't then they would have to hire wizards, or witches to clean up after all the students." said Harry with a smile.

"And what is wrong with that!" said Hermione indignantly.

Harry sighed, shook his head and looked over to her. "If they had to pay for people to clean up after the students and cook for them, than that would take away from the school's fund for Muggleborns and orphaned wizarding children. When you first came here, you and a bunch of others, there was a fund for you all to get books, wands, and such like that. You didn't need to pay for anything, that money is there for you to use, at least the first year."

"Hogwarts has more than enough money!" said Draco indignantly.

"And that is because we employs house-elves, if we didn't then the school wouldn't be able to support itself. If the house-elves didn't have schools to go to when they get dismissed for no reason, they would disappear. So it's a mutualism." said Dumbledore with a smile.

"What the hell is a mootcha-whatever?" asked Fred wonderingly.

"A mutualism is a relationship between two living things, in which both things get something out of the partnership. Like the bees and flowers, flowers can't reproduce until they get pollinated by another flower. Bees need the nectar for food. While the bee gets the nectar, pollen is attached to the bee and the bee goes to another flower, after that, a seed forms, and that's how flowers reproduce." said Harry. "Sorry if I stated the obvious." he added with a smile up to Professor Sprout.

"Trust me, Mr. Potter, any extra knowledge is greatly appreciated." said Professor Sprout with a beaming smile.

"Er—hello," said Harry nervously.

"Some of the students here could also use some knowledge in manners from you as well." Professor Sprout added with a giggle.

"Harry Potter!" said the creature in a high-pitched voice Harry was sure would carry down the stairs. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, sir…Such an honor it is…"

"Indeed it is." said Dumbledore quietly.

"Th-thank you," said Harry, edging along the wall and sinking into his desk chair,

"Was finding someone in your room so shocking that you needed to sit down?" asked Dr. Clark.

"I had a very long day, and I didn't really know what to do in this situation." said Harry shaking his head.

next to Hedwig, who was asleep in her large cage.

"Normally, she has a fit when someone is in the room with me." said Harry with a smile. "But she was so bored and tired; she didn't give much of a damn."

He wanted to ask, "What are you?" but thought it would sound too rude, so instead he said, "Who are you?"

"Good choice." said McGonagall approvingly.

"Dobby, sir. Just Dobby. Dobby the house-elf," said the creature.

"And you managed to find out what he was at the same time." said Sirius. Dr. Clark was still trying to wrap his mind around the concept of house-elves; his head was starting to hurt. He'd have to have a chat with Remus about them later.

"So there was a house-elf in that house." said Madam Bones looking up to Fudge.

"D-D-Doesn't mean that the elf used the Hover Charm." said Fudge nervously.

"Oh—really?" said Harry. "Er—I don't want to sound rude or anything, but—this isn't a great time for me to have a house-elf in my bedroom."

"It really wasn't, if Uncle Vernon had heard him and found Dobby there, I don't think it would have gone very well." said Harry, mostly to himself.

Growls cascaded through the Great Hall.

Aunt Petunia's high, false laugh sounded from the living room. The elf hung his head.

"I wouldn't be hanging my head, I'd be covering my ears." said Michael whispering to Terry.

"I don't think that the elf was hanging his head because of the laughter, mate." said Terry with a smirk.

"Not that I'm not pleased to meet you," said Harry quickly, "but, er, is there any particular reason you're here?"

"I would like to know that too." said Draco wonderingly.

"Why are you so concerned about that elf?" asked Blaise. "When Potter was talking about house-elves you were cringing all over the place."

"I'll tell you later." mouthed Draco.

"Oh yes, sir," said Dobby earnestly. "Dobby has come to tell you, sir…it is difficult, sir…Dobby wonders where to begin…."

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

"You're wonderful, Harry." cooed the fourth year Gryffindor.

"Who is that? She keeps looking over here." asked Sirius to Remus.

"That's Romilda Vane. I remember her from my teaching here. She was always sort of…clingy." said Remus.

"Just what you need, a bloody stalker." whispered Sirius to Harry. "Don't talk with her; they tend to get a bit, whacked out."

"He knows all about 'stalker girls'." said Remus with a smirk.

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

"Oh dang, I hope they don't hear you downstairs." said Remus worriedly.

"S-sit down!" he wailed. "Never…never ever…"

"He's never been asked to sit down before?" asked Ginny.

"Apparently not, at least, not in a polite way." said Dumbledore.

Harry thought he heard the voices downstairs falter.

"Oh no. this isn't good." moaned Mr. Weasely.

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

"You didn't offend him, they are just very sensitive for some reason." said Fred rolling his eyes.

"Offend Dobby!" choked the elf. "Dobby has never been asked to sit down by a wizard—like anequal—"

"They are just as good!" shrieked Hermione. "They are no less of people than we are!"

"That's not the kind of equality he was talking about, Hermione, though I didn't know it at the time. When a house-elf talks about 'equality' he's talking about friendship and camaraderie. There aren't many wizards at all that will sit down and listen to a house-elf, let alone have a civil conversation." said Harry over to Hermione.

"But still…" said Hermione angrily.

"But nothing, Hermione, it's great what you are trying to do, I respect that. There isn't a person with a soul that doesn't respect that. But you have to realize something. Humans and house-elves don't always have the same point of view of things. The same thing can be said about the centaurs, giants, mer-people, goblins, and other magical entities. We can't think that we all have the same points of view on things. We can think that we are doing what is best for them, what we view as right and just, in their eyes, we are just destroying everything they hold dear."

Tempest and Firenze both nodded and marveled at the wisdom coming from such a young child.

"I just didn't want them working so hard!" said Hermione irritably.

"Did you even sit down and ask a house-elf about their history or their feelings? That's where I got all my information." said Harry with a smile. "Them working hard is the same way as Ron gorging out on food. They love it; they can't get enough of it. You can ask them, the next time you go down in the kitchens, Hermione. Let's let Bill continue and you can chalk that up to another thing you and I have to have a discussion on when this is done."

Harry, trying to say "Shh!" and look comforting at the same time,

"I hope I did, he looked pretty upset." said Harry with a concerned look.

ushered Dobby back onto the bed where he sat hiccoughing,

"It's not a word, but that describes what he was doing." said Harry with a slight smile.

looking like a large and very ugly doll.

"You make one more comment on how that's not nice, I'm never making those triple chocolate chip cookies you love so much, again." said Harry, not looking at Remus, whose mouth was opened, prepared to tell Harry off, quickly snapped shut.

At last he managed to control himself, and sat with his great eyes fixed on Harry in an expression of watery adoration.

"….Peter used to look at us like that." said Remus tensely.

"You can't have met many decent wizards," said Harry, trying to cheer him up.

"That was the completely wrong thing to say." said Snape shaking his head. He was well aware of whose house-elf he was.

Dobby shook his head. Then, without warning, he leapt up and started banging his head furiously on the window, shouting, "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"

"Is there something wrong with that house-elf? Why is he doing that?" asked Dean quickly.

"You'll find out." said Harry simply.

"Don't—what are you doing?" Harry hissed, springing up and pulling Dobby back onto the bed—

"I was sure that Uncle Vernon had heard that." said Harry quietly.

Hedwig had woken up with a particular loud screech and was beating her wings wildly against the bars of her cage.

"Even more noise for Uncle Vernon to hear." said Sirius worriedly.

"Dobby had to punish himself, sir," said the elf, who had gone slightly cross-eyed.

"Just about got a fractured skull there." said Madam Pomfrey bitterly. She hated any sort of harm to any creature, be it human or non.

"Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, sir…"

"So if he bad mouths his family, he's got to smack himself?" asked Dean. "My mom would really like that ability stuck on me when I take the mickey out of my cousins."

"Your family?"

"The wizard family Dobby serves, sir….Dobby is a house-elf—bound to serve one house and one family forever…."

"So, it's sort of obvious that he doesn't like his family that he serves…wow…he must have a miserable life." said Bill thoughtfully.

Draco shifted uneasily again.

"Do they know you're here?" asked Harry curiously.

Dobby shuddered.

"Definitely not." said Ernie.

"Oh, no, sir, no…Dobby will have to punish himself most grievously for coming to see you, sir.

"Poor Dobby!" said Padma with saddened look on her face.

Dobby will have to shut his ears in the oven door for this.

"Hell! That's got to hurt." said Seamus holding his ears.

If they ever knew, sir—"

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

"I would kinda notice someone slamming their ears in the oven." said Fred nodding.

"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 punishment…."

"I'm going to curse the family that has ownership over that poor little elf!" muttered Mrs. Weasely threateningly.

Draco shifted even more uneasily. He was remembering Mrs. Weasely's howler and he hoped that she would never find out that Dobby belonged to his family.

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

"He can't, not until his family sets him free. Or unless he passes away." said Remus sadly.

"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.

"And I thought I had it bad staying here for another four weeks," he said.

"Now you think a house-elf has a worse life than you?" said Sirius in shock.

"Well, my opinion at the time was that they really did. I didn't have to slam my ears in an oven when I didn't do something, or went were I wasn't supposed to be." said Harry honestly.

"This makes the Dursleys sound almost human.

"I like how you said 'almost'." smirked Dr. Clark.

Can't anyone help you? Can't I?"

"Oh, Harry! You're so noble!" cooed Romilda.

Harry looked over at her and stared, then at Ginny who was looking at him in a confused way.

"I don't know what she's on about." mouthed Harry.

"I know what it is, I recognize the symptoms." she mouthed back with a smile.

Almost at once, Harry wished he hadn't spoken. Dobby dissolved again into wails of gratitude.

"The day I need to be absolutely silent, I get a noisy house-guest." said Harry with a smile.

"Please," Harry whispered frantically, "please be quiet. If the Dursleys hear anything, if they know you're here—"

"What would have happened?" said Sirius quickly.

Harry ignored him, much to his and some other people's dismay.

"Harry, I think we need to have a chat later, about what has been going on in the Dursleys' house." said Dr. Clark solemnly. "No holding back."

Harry looked down, "Yes, sir."

"Harry asks if he can help Dobby…Dobby has heard of your greatness, sir, but of your goodness, Dobby never knew…."

"No surprise." said Snape quietly, giving Draco a knowing looking.

Harry, who was feeling distinctly hot in the face,

"Aww! Harrykins is blushing!" cooed Fred and George.

said "Whatever you've heard about my greatness is a load of rubbish. I'm not even top of my year at Hogwarts; that's Hermione, she—"

"On paper, maybe." said Hermione with a fake pout.

But he stopped quickly, because thinking about Hermione was painful.

Hermione's pout went away quickly and she looked over to him in anguish.

"Harry Potter is humble and modest,"

"He is actually." said Remus smiling over at the young man.

said Dobby reverently, his orb-like eyes aglow. "Harry Potter speaks not of his triumph over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named—"

"Voldemort?" said Harry.

Dobby clapped his hands over his bat ears and moaned, "Ah, speak not the name, sir! Speak not the name!"

"Sorry," said Harry quickly. "I know lots of people don't like it. My friend Ron—"

"Yeah, I hate it when you say it too." said Ron.

He stopped again. Thinking about Ron was painful, too.

Ron scratched his head and looked over to Harry sadly.

Dobby leaned toward Harry, his eyes wide as headlights.

"Dobby heard tell," he said hoarsely, "that Harry Potter met the Dark Lord for second time, just weeks ago…that Harry Potter escaped yet again."

"Yeah, but he won't talk about it." said Ron with a chuckle.

Harry nodded and Dobby's eyes suddenly shone with tears.

"Ah, sir." he gasped, dabbing his face with a corner of the grubby pillowcase he was wearing. "Harry Potter is valiant and bold! He has braved so many dangers already!

"Makes me sound like a knight from King Arthur's time." said Harry with a blush.

But Dobby has come to protect Harry Potter, to warn him, even if he does have to shut his ears in the oven door later….Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts."

"Huh? Why the hell not?" asked Sirius worriedly.

There was a silence broken only by the chink of knives and forks from downstairs and the distant rumble of Uncle Vernon's voice.

"At least they ignored the noise he was making." said Dr. Clark with a sigh.

"W-what?" Harry stammered. "But I've got to go back—term starts on September first. It's all that's keeping me going.

Bill froze after he read those words, then he and the rest of the school turned slowly towards him and stared.

"What did you mean by that, Harry?" asked Kingsley.

Harry refused to speak, but shifted in the bowl uncomfortably. Sirius moaned loudly and held him tightly. "You ever feel like that again, you let me know, I don't want you to…" he couldn't finish it.

"I won't I promise I won't." said Harry whispering in Sirius' ear.

You don't know what it's like here. I don't belong here. I belong in your world—at Hogwarts."

"No, no, no," squeaked Dobby, shaking his head so hard his ears flapped. "Harry Potter must stay where he is safe.

"I'm sorry Harry, but he's as dumb as a box of cauldron cakes. You are not safe there in any sense of the word." said Remus irritated.

He is too great, too good to lose. If Harry Potter goes back to Hogwarts, he will be in mortal danger."

"Apparently, if he had stayed at Privet Drive much longer, He might not of been around much longer he won't have to worry about the mortal danger at Hogwarts." said Sirius still holding onto Harry. He was greatly relieved to hear Harry promise that he wasn't going to hurt himself, but it didn't stop him from worrying.

"Why?" said Harry in surprise.

"There is a plot, Harry Potter. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year," whispered Dobby, suddenly trembling all over.

"Nothing different than any other year." said Ron with a smirk.

"Dobby has known it for months, sir. Harry Potter must not put himself in peril. He is too important, sir!"

Zacharias scoffed. "He's nothing special."

He had to duck down quickly to avoid flying objects that came from the Gryffindor table, but mostly they were enchanted over by Sirius and thrown by Dr., Clark.

"Listen, brat, we don't know who the hell you are, but you'd better take care not to push your luck with us." said Sirius and Dr. Clark together.

Zacharias sneered over to them and rolled his eyes. Sirius and Dr. Clark wanted to hurl more things at him, but were stopped by Remus and Harry.

"He's not worth the time. Let it go." they said simply.

"What terrible things?" said Harry at once. "Who's plotting them?"

"He might not be able to, especially if it's his master plotting them." said Moody.

Dobby made a funny choking noise and then banged his head frantically against the wall.

"That means that it is Dobby's master." Moody growled.

"All right!" cried Harry, grabbing the elf's arm to stop him. "You can't tell me. I understand. But why are you warning me?" A sudden, unpleasant thought struck him. "Hang on—this hasn't got anything to do with Vol—sorry—with You-Know-Who, has it?

"That's an unpleasant thought to you?" said Fred staring at him.

Harry merely shrugged.

You could shake or nod," he added hastily as Dobby's head tilted worryingly close to the wall again.

Slowly, Dobby shook his head.

"Not—not He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, sir—"

"So it's not Voldemort, then who the heck is it?" said Bill looking up from the book.

But Dobby's eyes were wide and he seemed to be trying to give Harry a hint. Harry, however, was completely lost.

"You aren't the only one." said Charlie.

"He hasn't got a brother, has he?"

"That would be frightening, wonder if they would have a resemblance?" said George with a snigger.

"George!" shouted Mrs. Weasely fearfully.

"What?" asked Fred innocently.

"Mum, he's not here to hear what we're saying, he won't know if I insult him or not." said George.

"That reminds me, remember in the last book, when you bounced snowballs off Quirrell's turban?" said Harry with a smirk.

"Yeah, what about it?" asked George.

"Oh, man…George!" said Fred grabbing his twin's arm. "Remember what was under that turban?"

George thought quickly than paled, he turned to Fred; both of their mouths were slackened.

"We smacked You-Know-Who with snowballs…in the face." they whispered together. Then they turned to Dumbledore and Harry.

"Save us…." they said in hushed voices.

"You two better write a will quick." said Lee, trying not to laugh.

"It's not funny!" screeched Mrs. Weasely.

Dobby shook his head, his eyes wider than ever.

"Well then, I can't think who else would have a chance of making horrible things happen at Hogwarts," said Harry.

"Voldemort was the only one with the stupidity to try and do something at Hogwarts with Dumbledore there." said Harry with a smirk.

"I mean, there's Dumbledore, for one thing—you know who Dumbledore is, don't you?"

"There isn't a creature that speaks that doesn't know who Dumbledore is." said Firenze.

Dobby bowed his head.

"Albus Dumbledore is the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever had, Dobby knows it, sir. Dobby has heard Dumbledore's powers rival those of Her-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at the height of his strength. But, sir" –Dobby's voice dropped to an urgent whisper—"there are powers Dumbledore doesn't …powers no decent wizard…"

And before Harry could stop him, Dobby bounded off the bed, seized Harry's desk lamp, and started beating himself around the head with earsplitting yelps.

"Dobby is going to get you killed." said Dr. Clark.

Harry looked up in the air and whistled innocently.

"What are you whistling for?" asked Bill.

"First Quidditch game of the year." he said plainly.

A sudden silence fell downstairs. Two seconds later Harry, heart thudding madly, heard Uncle Vernon coming into the hall, calling, "Dudley must have left his television on again, the little tyke!"

"Oh, no! Harry! Run!" shouted Seamus.

"Quick! In the closet!" hissed Harry, stuffing Dobby in, shutting the door, and flinging himself onto the bed just as the door handle turned.

"You don't run, but you do stuff Dobby somewhere safe and you lay on the bed like nothing is going on? Do you welcome pain?" asked Dean.

"No, it's just I know that there was nowhere to go." said Harry.

"What—the—devil—are—you—doing?" said Uncle Vernon through gritted teeth, his face horribly close to Harry's.

"He had better not hurt you." snarled Sirius.

"You've just ruined the punch line of my Japanese golfer joke….

"Those kind of jokes are the worst jokes on the planet." said Fred, George, Lee and Professor Flitwick together.

One more sound and you'll wish you'd never been born, boy!"

"Madam Bones, I'm begging you, let me at them, three minutes is all I'm asking." said Sirius and Remus pleadingly.

He stomped flat-footed from the room.

"The Masons are going to wonder what is going on upstairs, if he keeps stomping around." said Luna dreamily.

Shaking, Harry let Dobby out of the closet.

"See what it's like here?" he said. "See why I've got to go back to Hogwarts? It's the only place I've got—well, I think I've got friends."

"You do Harry!" said Hermione almost in tears.

"Friends who don't even write to Harry Potter?" said Dobby slyly.

"Hey! How did he know?" asked Anthony Goldstein.

"I expect they've just been—wait a minute," said Harry, frowning. "How do you know my friends haven't been writing to me?"

"That's what I want to know!" said Anthony.

Dobby shuffled his feet.

"Harry Potter mustn't be angry with Dobby. Dobby did it for the best—"

"Have you been stopping my letters?"

"Why that little…" said Sirius angrily.

"Dobby has them here, sir," said the elf. Stepping nimbly out of Harry's reach, he pulled a thick wad of envelopes from the inside of the pillowcase he was wearing. Harry could make out Hermione's neat writing, Ron's untidy scrawl, and even a scribble that looked as though it was from the Hogwarts game-keeper, Hagrid.

"I wasn' too sure if yeh got the letter." said Hagrid. "I'm sorry tha' I didn' check on yeh."

Dobby blinked anxiously up at Harry.

"Harry Potter mustn't be angry….Dobby hoped…if Harry Potter thought his friends had forgotten him…Harry Potter might not want to go back to school, sir…."

"It would take more than that to keep me from Hogwarts." said Harry defiantly.

Harry wasn't listening. He made a grab for the letters, but Dobby jumped out of reach.

"Harry Potter will have them, sir, if he gives Dobby his word that he will not return to Hogwarts. Ah, sir, this is a danger you must not face! Say you won't go back, sir!"

"No," said Harry angrily. "Give me my friends' letters!"

"Just tell him yes, than go anyway!" said Tonks anxiously.

"I couldn't." said Harry looking over to her.

"Why the bloody hell not?" said Tonks angrily.

"He was asking for my word. I would have had to promise not to go. I couldn't give him that." said Harry quietly.

"Then Harry Potter leaves Dobby no choice," said the elf sadly.

Before Harry could move, Dobby had darted to the bedroom door, pulled it open, and sprinted down the stairs.

Mouth dry, stomach lurching, Harry sprang after him, trying not to make a sound. He jumped the last six steps, landing catlike on the hall carpet,

"What do they mean 'cat like'?" asked George.

Harry sighed and took out his wand and conjured a staircase with exactly twelve steps on it, with a landing above. Harry climbed the stairs and crossed the landing.

"I did this." he said simply.

He ran over the landing ran down the stairs and jumped the last six steps. He landed on his hands and brought his feet down after himself.

"Wow…that's cool!" whistled Fred and George.

"How the hell did you get so agile, with all the beatings your uncle did?" asked Colin in wonder.

"Lots of practice." said Harry.

"Why would you practice stuff like that?" asked Colin.

Harry only smiled.

looking around for Dobby. From the dining room he heard Uncle Vernon saying, "…tell Petunia that very funny story about those American plumbers, Mr. Mason. She's been dying to hear…"

Harry ran up the hall into the kitchen and felt his stomach disappear.

"You don't have much of a stomach to start with." said Sirius tickling his godson's stomach. Harry, laughingly, fell victim to his godfathers tickling and could find no means of escape.

Aunt Petunia's masterpiece of a pudding,

"Her paid-for masterpiece." said Hermione rolling her eyes.

the mountain of cream and sugared violets, was floating up near the ceiling.

"Did it just say floating?" said Madam Bones cautiously.

On top of a cupboard in the corner crouched Dobby.

"No," croaked Harry. "Please…they'll kill me…."

Harry Potter must say he's not going back to school—"

"Dobby….please…"

"Harry's begging? He never begs!" said Fred looking horrorstruck at Bill.

"Say it, sir—"

"I can't—"

"Quit being noble and lie to him!" screeched Tonks.

Dobby gave him a tragic look.

"Then Dobby must do it, sir, for Harry Potter's own good."

"Ever since then, every time someone said 'for your own good.' I don't believe them, especially after what happened next." said Harry with a frown. Dumbledore and Mrs. Weasley both looked apologetically over to him.

The pudding fell to the floor with a heart-stopping crash. Cream splattered the windows and walls as the dish shattered. With a crack like a whip, Dobby vanished.

Fudge stared at the book in shock. Harry was telling the truth? Umbridge only rolled her eyes and groaned, but with her mouth gagged, no one else heard her.

"So it was a house-elf. Mr. Potter I would like to offer an apology, for holding you accountable for the Hover charm in your house. I don't really see how we could have mixed up the aura signatures. I wonder who was working that night." said Madam Bones thoughtfully.

"You'll find out who and what happened afterwards." said Harry sadly.

There were screams from the dining room and Uncle Vernon burst into the kitchen to find Harry, rigid with shock, covered from head to foot in Aunt Petunia's pudding.

"Oh, shit." said Draco.

"You aren't kidding." said Blaise.

At first, it looked as though Uncle Vernon would manage to gloss the whole thing over. ("Just our nephew—very disturbed—meeting strangers upsets him, so we kept him upstairs….")

"What did the Masons say about that?" asked Hermione.

"Before Uncle Vernon took them back to the other room, Mrs. Mason wiped my face with her handkerchief. She was actually a nice lady. Mr. Mason even asked what I liked to do. It was kinda hard to play along with what Uncle Vernon described me as. I had to say I liked…finger-painting." said Harry with a smirk.

"You actually did like painting with your fingers…when you were a year old, and that was with mashed peas and banana mush." said Remus laughing hard.

He shooed the shocked Masons back into the dining room, promised Harry he would flay him to within an inch of his life when the Masons had left,

"I'm gonna…." said Sirius threateningly. Remus' fists were clenched and Dr. Clark growled menacingly.

The rest of the school were quietly discussing what they would love to do if they had five minutes alone with them.

and handed him a mop. Aunt Petunia dug some ice cream out of the freezer and Harry, still shaking,

"Your Uncle terrifies you that bad?" asked Dennis anxiously.

Harry only looked down at his knees. "He used to, yeah." he said finally.

started scrubbing the kitchen clean.

"Didn't the Masons wonder why you were cleaning?" said Hermione.

"Uncle Vernon said that my therapist told them to teach me not to make messes." said Harry shaking his head.

Uncle Vernon might still have been able to make his deal—if it hadn't been for the owl.

"What owl?" asked Colin. "Did Hedwig get out?"

"Nope." said Harry simply.

Aunt Petunia was just passing around a box of after-dinner mints when a large bar owl swooped through the dining room window, dropped a letter on Mrs. Mason head, and swooped out again.

The Ministry officials stared in amazement. A letter from the wizarding world came and landed right in front of a whole living room full of muggles. Fudge smacked his forehead.

Mrs. Mason screamed like a banshee and ran from the house shouting about lunatics. Mr. Mason stayed just long enough to tell the Dursleys that his wife was mortally afraid of birds of all shapes and sizes, and to ask whether this was their idea of a joke.

"That's one sick joke." said Fred shaking his head.

Harry stood in the kitchen, clutching the mop for support,

"I didn't expect a letter to show up then and there, and I wasn't all together sure what Uncle Vernon was going to do." said Harry weakly.

as Uncle Vernon advanced on him, a demonic glint in his tiny eyes.

"Sounds like the same glint in his eyes that was in the first scroll." said Sirius weakly.

"Read it!" he hissed evilly, brandishing the letter the owl had delivered. "Go on—read it!"

Harry took it. It did not contain birthday greetings.

Dear Mr. Potter,

We have received intelligence that a Hover Charm was used at your place of residence this evening at twelve minutes past nine.

As you know, underage wizards are not permitted to perform spells outside school, and further spellwork on your part may lead to expulsion from said school (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C)

We would also ask you to remember that any magical activity that risks notice by members of the non-magical community (Muggles) is a serious offense under section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy

Enjoy your holidays!

Yours sincerely,

Mafalda Hopkirk

Improper Use of Magic Office

Ministry of Magic.

"That explains it. Mafalda never looks at the monitoring instruments." said Madam Bones angrily. "She just sends the letters, doesn't matter if it's life threatening or a magical creature near you."

Harry looked up from the letter and gulped.

"You didn't tell us you weren't allowed to use magic outside school," said Uncle Vernon, a mad gleam dancing in his eyes. "Forgot to mention it….Slipped your mind, I daresay…."

"You…He'd better not touch you." said Sirius quietly, a storm of thunderous fury raging in his eyes.

He was bearing down on Harry like a great bull-dog, all his teeth bared. "Well, I've got news for you, boy….I'm locking you up….You're never going back to that school…never…and if you try and magic yourself out—they'll expel you!"

And laughing like a maniac, he dragged Harry back upstairs.

Little balls of light appeared out of the book and circled around.

"NO! I he didn't….!" shouted Sirius.

But it was too late.

They found themselves in the Dursleys living room, they saw the tail-lights of the Mason's car lit casted a red glow on the windows. Then they saw Vernon taking ahold of twelve year old Harry's wrist and dragging him upstairs. Laughing as if some demon had taken ahold of him. Sirius looked to the present day Harry worriedly, but Harry only clutched at his arm and rubbed it absently.

Like the Recollection Scrolls, the scene shifted and they found Harry, slightly bloodied but mostly bruised, gasping for air. Uncle Vernon was still in the room, looking down on the unfortunate boy, laughing.

"You're never going to that freak place again, boy! You better get comfortable, you're going to be here a long time." he said, giving Harry one last kick to the stomach and then slamming the door.

The Watchers looked over to Harry, who was being almost squeezed to death by Remus, Sirius and Dr. Clark. Then they noticed Hedwig fluttering and clicking her beak angrily at the door. By the looks of it, she wanted to rip open the cage and attack the man who had hurt her master.

Twelve year old Harry remained on the floor and grasping at the covers of the bed. He slowly reached under the bed and pulled out a small box.

"Never thought I would need these so soon." he said pulling out a crystal phial. He dipped his finger in the phial and gently rubbed it on the open sores on his face and on the bruises. He poured the rest of the potion down his throat. He felt the area where his ribs were and a little while later, he released an enormous sigh of relief.

"This beats snapping my bones back into place." said Harry with a smile up to Hedwig.

Harry lifted himself slowly onto the bed and groaned as he laid down.

"Yeah, Dobby, I'm really safe here." he said sarcastically as sleep claimed his pain racked body. "Wish I could get away from here."

The balls of light left each person and were brought back to the Great Hall. People shifted uneasily and dried their eyes quickly.

"I hate those things." whimpered Remus, burying his face in Harry's hair.

Madam Bones looked at Harry in horror. "Oh, Mr. Potter, I'm so sorry. We will be making restitution to you, believe me." she wiped a tear away from eyes. "I-I'm sorry."

Bill coughed nervously, he was unsure if he should continue.

"Please, Mr. Weasely," said Dumbledore quietly, knowing what was on the young man's mind. "The sooner Harry gets away from them, the better."

"I agree." said Sirius darkly.

Uncle Vernon was as bad as his word. The following morning, he paid a man to fit bars on Harry's windows.

Mrs. Weasely paled even further and stared at Harry.

"What excuse did he give the man to put the bars on your window?" asked Hermione, she was seething with anger more than Harry had ever seen her.

"He told the man that I had seizures and fell through the window." said Harry rolling his eyes.

He himself fitted a cat-flap in the bedroom door, so that small amounts of food could be pushed inside three times a day. They let Harry out to use the bathroom morning and evening. Otherwise, he was locked in his room around the clock.

"THOSE MONSTERS!" screeched Mrs. Weasely and McGonagall.

Dumbledore had a hand to throat and the other to his mouth. He had once again taken the same shade of white that his beard was.

Three days later, the Dursleys were showing no sign of relenting, and Harry couldn't see any way out of his situation.

"Really?" asked Lionus, his jaw clenched but his voice soft.

"Not without getting smacked around even more." said Harry.

"I am amazed you couldn't find a way out." said Lionus.

"The last confrontation sort of knocked the fight out of me." said Harry quietly.

Dumbledore paled even further and gulped loudly. What had he done?

He lay on his bed watching the sun sinking behind the bars on the window and wondered miserably what was going to happen to him.

What was the good of magicking himself out of his room if Hogwarts would expel him for doing it? Yet life at Privet Drive had reached an all-time low.

"That's the understatement of the year." said Fred snarling.

Now that the Dursleys knew they weren't going to wake up as fruit bats, he had lost his only weapon. Dobby might have saved Harry from horrible happenings at Hogwarts, but the way things were going, he'd probably starve to death anyway.

Lavender and Parvati held each other tightly.

The cat-flap rattled and Aunt Petunia's hand appeared, pushing a bowl of canned soup into the room. Harry, whose inside were aching with hunger, jumped off his bed and seized it. The soup was stone-cold, but he drank half of it in one gulp.

Madam Pomfrey's lip trembled and blew her nose quickly. Harry took the opportunity to summon the bowls of candied chestnuts from down in the kitchen.

"Snacks anyone?" he said as he magicked the chestnuts into smaller bowls and levitated each small bowl to a person. He himself took a larger bowl and placed it on his lap, well within reaching distance of the three men and passing distance of Dumbledore.

"What are those?" asked Remus weakly, he was still reeling from the Scattered Shot.

"Candied chestnuts." he said popping one of the small nuts in his mouth. No one else reached for the small chestnuts, they just looked at the ground, seething with anger towards the Dursleys.

Bill looked over to Harry with a curious expression, and then continued on.

Then he crossed the room to Hedwig's cage and tipped the soggy vegetables at the bottom of the bowl into her empty food tray. She ruffled her feathers and gave him a look of deep disgust.

"It's no good turning your beak up at it—that's all we've got," said Harry grimly.

"You're starving death, you only have one bowl of soup to eat, and you give half of it to Hedwig?" said Dumbledore, looking at Harry with higher reverence.

He put the empty bowl back on the floor next to the cat-flap and lay back down on the bed, somehow even hungrier than he had been before the soup.

"My cores were taking most of the nutrients from the food, before my body could even utilize it." said Harry. "Speaking of which, how come the Ministry thought I could use magic outside of school? I was told by Madam Pomfrey the end of first year that I couldn't even summon sparks out of my wand. Surely she sent a notice or something?"

"Mafalda must not have looked your file then either, it would have had it in big bold letters if you were suffering from magic fatigue." said Madam Bones bitterly.

Supposing he was still alive in another four weeks, what would have happen if he didn't turn up at Hogwarts? Would someone be sent to see why he hadn't come back?

"Most assuredly, Potter." drawled Snape.

Would they be able to make the Dursleys let him go?"

"I, personally, would have come and persuaded them to let you go." said Dumbledore with a furious growl in his voice.

The room was growing dark. Exhausted, stomach rumbling, mind spinning over the same unanswerable questions, Harry fell into an uneasy sleep.

"You'd better get some food in your stomach in the next few hours." said Madam Pomfrey, getting more and more worried by the minute.

He dreamed that he was on show in a zoo, with a card reading UNDERAGE WIZARD attached to his cage. People goggled through the bars at him as he lay, starving and weak, on a bed of straw. He saw Dobby's face in the crowd and shouted out, asking for help, but Dobby called, "Harry Potter is safe there, sir!" and vanished. Then the Dursleys appeared and Dudley rattled the bars of the cage, laughing at him.

Bill held the book at arm's length and looked slowly over to Harry.

"I've had some whacked out dreams before," said Bill slowly, " but this one…" he whistled.

"Stop it," Harry muttered as the rattling pounded in his sore head. "Leave me alone…cut it out…I'm trying to sleep…"

He opened his eyes. Moonlight was shining through the bars on the window. And someone wasgoggling through the bars at him: a freckle-faced, red-haired, long-nosed someone.

Ron Weasely was outside Harry's window.

"Ron came to save you?" said Sirius stunned.

"And Fred and George." said Harry with a smile.

Sirius looked over to the three Weasely children.

"I could kiss you!" he said smiling broadly.

"Please don't." said Ron, Fred and George leaning back with their tongues sticking out.