"Dobby remembers how it was when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was at the height of his powers, sir! We house-elves were treated like vermin! Of course, Dobby is still treated like that, sir," he admitted, drying his face on the pillowcase. "But mostly, sir, life 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. "Tell me, Dobby!"
He seized the elf's bony wrist as Dobby's hand inched toward the water jug. "But I'm not muggleborn. 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 from 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 muggleborn. 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..."
There were footsteps coming down the corridor 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 hospital wing as the footsteps drew nearer.
The doors opened and Madam Pomfrey came in. "Mister Potter?" she asked. "I heard voices in here. Who were you talking to?" "A deranged, lunatic house elf," said Harry.
With a sigh, Madam Pomfrey disappeared into her office and came back with a potion. "Here; drink this. It's a short term Dreamless Sleep Potion that should keep you asleep until morning. How's the arm feel?"
"Like I've got large splinters digging into my arm," said Harry. "I've come to know the feeling quite well now. I remember it from my stay in Saint Mungo's."
"Yes. Well, drink up," she said. "That'll take care of the pain."
The next morning, Harry woke with his right arm feeling stiff but healed. He sat up quickly to try and move it around a bit.
Madam Pomfrey, from her desk, noticed the movement and came over. She was carrying a tray loaded with a decent breakfast.
"Everything is now fine, Mister Potter," she said, placing the tray on a hospital bed table and wheeling it over to him. "As soon as you've eaten your breakfast you may get up and get dressed."
Harry belted down as much of the breakfast as he could. He was eager to get out of there and find Daphne and his other friends.
He had just finished getting dressed when Daphne came hurrying in through the double doors out to the corridor, followed by the others.
"Oh, thank Merlin!" said Daphne, coming up to him and enveloping him in a huge hug. "We came by before breakfast but Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let us stay. So, we've just come from breakfasting in the Great Hall."
"That's alright, Daphne," he said, soothingly. "You need to eat. I'm just sorry I didn't wake up while you were here. Then, I may have been able to join you for breakfast in the Great Hall."
"Don't be silly," she scolded him. "You had a serious break in your arm. It needed time to be mended and healed."
"So, what shall we do?" he asked, instead of pushing the issue.
"Homework?" asked Hermione.
Harry groaned and said, "You've a one track mind, girl. But I doubt I'll be able to do much. While the bone in my arm might be repaired and mostly healed, it's still a little stiff."
"I'll help," she said. Smiling, Harry said, "I'll just do what I usually do. I'll write it in my head and wait until I can transcribe it onto parchment."
"But I can help with research," she said.
"That you can," he replied, smiling. "And I'll appreciate the help."
The Seven left the infirmary with a frozen Colin Creevey laying on one of the beds hidden by another of the movable screens. They didn't even realise he was there.
In the Room Harry sat the others down and began to tell them about the visit he had from the house elf named Dobby.
"Dobby," muttered Tracey, before she suddenly looked up at Daphne. "Dobby. Don't the Malfoys have a house elf named Dobby?"
"Yes; yes, they do," said Daphne, also remembering. "They treat him appallingly." "Tthat was the house elf I met," said Harry. "He said he gets, as you put it, appallingly treated by his family. And he's always punishing himself."
"That sounds like the Malfoys, alright," spat Tracey.
Nodding, Harry continued with his tale of his late night early morning visitor, and what he said. He finished with telling them about Madam Pomfrey unknowingly scaring him off and he having to take a shortened Dreamless Sleep Potion.
"So," said Hermione. "Dobby was the one who visited you on the night of your birthday at Greengrass Estate; he was the one who jiggered with the portal at Kings Cross; and he was the one who mucked about with the charms on the bludger. I see what you mean by him trying to kill you to save your life." "But we now know who is responsible for what's been happening - Malfoy," said Susan.
"We know 'who', we suspect 'what', but we don't know 'how'," said Harry. "Besides, Malfoy senior wasn't born until about a decade after the Chamber was opened last time. He must have information on how to open it from Riddle."
"Do you think it's Malfoy?" asked Hermione. "I mean junior, not senior. We could use Polyjuice Potion to take the place of his two bullyboys and lead him to answering questions."
"The ferret?" asked Tracey, with a little laugh. "No. If he really knew, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from bragging about it."
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