Dobby, the Bad Elf
"Bad Dobby elf, bad Dobby elf, bad Dobby elf."
Lia repeated it over and over, having even come out of her invisibility just to hit the new house-elf who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere with her wooden spoon.
Ton. Ton. Ton.
Dobby couldn't even get back to his feet before receiving another direct hit to the head.
"Ouch! Ouch! Dobby apologizes!" Dobby tried to shout, but Lia seemed to have marked him as an enemy and didn't appear to be listening while she raised her ladle again.
The four boys remained completely frozen.
None of them understood what the hell was happening right now.
As owners of the house, Harry and Percy no longer understood anything. Ron seemed even less able to understand, though he could recognize that both creatures were house-elves, since he had heard his mother say many times that she wished she had one to help with the household chores.
The new visitor was fairly similar to Lia, or at least they shared some similar features.
Small creatures barely over a meter tall, with large bat-like ears and enormous green eyes the size of tennis balls.
Though the difference between them was that the little elf girl looked fairly well cared for, clean, and wore a small dress that seemed to have been made from curtain fabric, but carefully sewn, forming what looked like a tiny maid's apron.
The other, on the contrary, was in a rather starved state, almost malnourished, and wore what looked like an old dirty pillowcase with holes cut into it for his arms and head.
That was why the boys were afraid that Lia, the house elf of their home, might accidentally break the elf who had appeared out of nowhere thanks to her brutal beating.
"Lia will give you a beating! Lia will teach you manners! Lia will protect the young masters!"
Lia shouted while Tyson was the one who reacted in time and grabbed her, afraid she might hurt the other poor elf who was only squealing in pain without defending himself.
"What's going on?" Ron asked, completely lost, finally recovering from the fright he had gotten when he turned around and found Dobby right in his face.
"Good question," Harry replied, not knowing how to properly explain it, even though this was his house.
"I'd like to know too," Percy added, though he kept staring at Dobby as if trying to remember where he had seen him before.
"I think they're fighting," Tyson said while seeming to struggle a little to keep Lia away from Dobby, since she was still waving the wooden spoon threateningly through the air.
Everyone looked at him.
"Thanks, Tyson," Percy replied, unable to hold back his sarcasm because, after all, it was Tyson.
Thanks to Tyson pulling Lia away, Dobby finally managed to get back to his feet.
Only to receive another spoon strike because he had stood up too close to Lia.
"OW!"
The elf fell to the floor again while clutching his head.
Tyson reacted immediately and stepped back a few paces.
"No fighting!" he said with a frown.
Lia finally stopped at Tyson's command and said in her tiny voice full of anger,
"Dobby wanted to hurt the young masters!"
She still held the spoon like a weapon, ready to protect her young masters from danger.
"No, Dobby didn't. Dobby would never dare," Dobby said as he immediately got up from the floor. "Dobby wants to protect the young masters. That is all Dobby wants. Especially, especially Mister Harry Potter."
Dobby defended himself with a serious tone in his squeaky voice.
Harry, who had simply been a spectator until now, frowned for a moment.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
Before Dobby could answer the question, several footsteps approached the front entrance.
The guards who had remained outside had surely heard the commotion and were coming to make sure everything was alright.
Fortunately, Percy reacted faster than everyone else.
He moved toward the door, since they were still standing in the entrance hall and hadn't gotten very far.
He opened the door just a few centimeters and smiled.
"Ah, sorry if we alarmed you. Um... Harry was practicing a new spell and hit the portrait of Grandfather Fleamont and Grandmother Euphemia, and now he's getting scolded by them," Percy said, quickly coming up with an excuse.
The knights on the other side looked at him with obvious distrust.
"Are you sure? Don't you want us to come in and—?" the knight tried to enter to make sure everything was alright, but Percy interrupted him.
"No! We're completely fine. You can take a break. Nothing could be more normal than what's happening in our home right now," Percy said with a smile.
The knights stared at Percy's smile in silence for a few moments before slowly nodding, still suspicious.
But Percy closed the door right in their faces.
When he turned back around, Harry was looking at him like he was an idiot.
"What?" Percy asked.
"You're really bad at lying. They're probably going to call someone to come check what we're doing now, so we need to be quick," Harry said with a sigh, as though fooling the knights was easy.
Then he turned his gaze back to Dobby, who with his large striking eyes was still staring at Harry as if he were looking at someone all-powerful.
The moment he saw Harry looking at him, the elf threw himself onto the floor and knelt in a bow so deep that his long, sharp nose touched the ground.
"Harry Potter," the creature said in his high-pitched voice. "Dobby has wanted to meet you for a very long time, sir. It is a great honor."
Harry, seeing the house-elf's exaggerated reaction, let out a sigh.
Remembering his brother's dumb joke about how he was truly popular in England while Percy was popular in America.
"Thank you, but can you tell me about what you said about protecting me?" Harry asked, not wanting to waste much time.
"Yes, sir," Dobby replied as he stood up. "Dobby came to tell you, sir. It is complicated, sir. Dobby does not know how to begin explaining, sir," Dobby said honestly.
"Then we'd better sit down first," Harry said, gesturing toward the living room so they could finally move out of the entrance hall.
But to everyone's dismay, the elf suddenly began crying loudly.
Which made Percy, who had just gotten rid of the guards outside, widen his eyes when he heard them approaching again, surely coming back to make sure everything was alright.
"S-sit down?" Dobby whimpered. "Never in my life has anyone..."
Hearing the footsteps approaching again, Harry quickly interrupted the noisy elf, making gestures for him to lower his voice.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. But please lower your voice," Harry told him while gesturing for him to move farther away from the door, where the knights might hear him.
"Of course. Dobby obeys Mister Harry Potter," said Dobby.
Though his voice was far from quieter.
Fortunately, the elf followed Harry's gestures and moved toward the living room, straight to the sofas.
Meanwhile, Lia, who seemed calmer now, was finally released by Tyson. She followed Dobby while still holding her wooden spoon and watching him closely, ready to attack at any moment.
Fortunately, when the knights approached and heard nothing, they seemed not to knock on the door again. Which made Percy and Harry let out a sigh, leaving only Ron, who had no idea how to react to this situation, standing there with a dumb look on his face. And Tyson, who followed the two elves, prepared to separate them if they started fighting again.
Though it was more of a one-sided beating from Lia.
"Happy to be back, huh? As always, you're the popular one on this side," Percy said in an amused tone, seeing the kind of problems being Harry Potter brought his brother in England.
Harry only gave him a slightly annoyed look and walked straight into the living room.
Where Dobby had sat down on one of the sofas, barely resting against it, while Lia watched him with a rather displeased and rejecting expression. But since Dobby had permission from her young master, she didn't stop him from sitting.
Harry didn't comment much about the overprotective Lia, who seemed to be guarding her territory as the house elf of the home.
"So, I imagine you have masters, right, Dobby? What family do you belong to? Do they know you're here?" Harry couldn't help but ask, trying to gather some information.
Dobby shuddered at those questions.
"No, sir. No. Dobby will have to punish himself very severely for coming to see you without orders, sir. Dobby cannot say who his masters are, sir," the elf immediately added.
Only earning even more disapproval from Lia, who even seemed about ready to shout, though she restrained herself quite a bit because of Harry and Percy's presence and only muttered under her breath.
"Dobby is a bad elf. Very bad."
Understanding the mentality of house-elves toward those they served, it was fairly understandable why Lia acted that way.
For her, doing something outside her master's orders was practically a sacrilege.
Harry and Percy knew well about the situation of house-elves, who were bound to serve a wizarding family until death unless they were freed.
Of course, not many of them actually wanted freedom.
Once they had talked about that with Lia, and she had been willing to cry for hours just imagining such a thing.
Ever since then, they tried not to touch the subject too much.
But judging by Dobby's condition, perhaps he didn't completely share the same ideas as Lia.
"If you need it, I'll try to help you," Harry said, unable to stop himself.
But the moment he said it, he regretted it.
Because Dobby immediately dissolved into grateful sobbing again.
"This isn't moving forward very much," Percy couldn't help but say in a tired tone.
"Yeah, that's how house-elves are. I don't think Mom would want one. We already have enough noise with Fred and George," Ron added as well, looking at the noisy house-elf who was now a sea of tears and snot.
Meanwhile Tyson wiped a tear from his eye, feeling that Dobby was so sad.
"Dobby knew of your greatness, sir, but Dobby was not aware of your kindness," said Dobby, causing Harry to blush a little despite himself, especially because Percy seemed amused watching him after hearing those words.
"Please, just tell me what you came here to say. If the knights outside discover you, they might classify you as an enemy, since it seems someone is interfering with our ability to..." Before Harry could finish speaking, he stared at Dobby as if connecting something. "...get to Hogwarts," Harry finished.
"Right," Percy suddenly said, also putting on a serious expression as he looked at Dobby. "You were following us when we were at King's Cross. I saw you," he said. "And the other day when we went shopping, Lia was beating you in the backyard too," he added.
Hearing this, Harry turned his attention back to Dobby and then toward Lia, who still seemed extremely guarded around the elf.
"Lia discovered Dobby stealing the young masters' letters. Lia couldn't get them back. Dobby took them. That's why Dobby is a bad elf," she explained while threatening Dobby with her spoon, making the elf shrink back slightly in fear.
But that also caused a large bundle of envelopes to fall from inside his clothing.
"Oh, that's the letter I sent you last time and you never answered," said Ron, recognizing the last envelope, which happened to have his signature on it.
"No, no. Dobby didn't want to steal them. Dobby thought that if he received no news from his friends, he would believe they didn't like him anymore. Dobby did it to protect Harry Potter. To warn him, even if Dobby must smash his ears in the oven door, that Harry Potter and those dear to him must not return to Hogwarts this year. Harry Potter must stay where his safety is not endangered. If Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts, he will be in mortal danger."
Hearing that, both Harry and Percy frowned, their expressions turning completely serious.
"Why?" Harry asked.
"There is a conspiracy, Harry Potter. A conspiracy to make the most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year."
Even Lia, who had been glaring threateningly at Dobby moments before, widened her eyes in surprise and looked at her young masters with fear that something might happen to them.
But before Harry could continue asking questions, the fireplace, which had been silent until now, suddenly burst into green flames, startling and frightening everyone present a little.