Chapter 43: Chapter-43: Dobby, the house elf.
"My name is Dobby, sir." The elf said, "I.. I.. Have come to warn you, Mr. Neville Longbottom sir… I have come to warn you" the elf bellowed. The elf seemed to be shedding tears for some reason, Neville then picked up his handkerchief from the nightstand and gave it to the poor guy.
"Thank you, sir. But Dobby won't need it," The elf then wiped his nose and eyes from the pillowcase he was wearing. Then the elf looked a him with a warm smile, "Neville Longbottom," said the creature in a high-pitched voice. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, sir . . . Such an honor it is. . . ."
"Th-thank you," Neville said, sitting up straight on his bed. Neville had seen many wizards and witches come to him to shake his hand, he even had some goblins come to greet him. But never in his life, he had met a house elf who was his fan.
"Dobby, if you dont mind… can you please tell me more about the warning that you were here to give me?"
"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 Neville politely, pointing at the bed. To his horror, the elf burst into tears, very noisy tears.
"S-sit down!" the elf wailed. "Never . . . never ever . . ." Neville was a little bit worried about the elf being a little bit too noisy, so he quickly whispered, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you or anything…"
"Offend Dobby!" choked the elf. "Dobby has never been asked to sit down by a wizard… like an equal…"
"You must have not met any decent wizards," said Neville, trying to cheer him up. "My Grandma always tells me that people who can't even treat a house elf with respect, are not very trustworthy people."
Dobby shook his head. Then, without warning, he leaped up and started banging his head furiously with the potion bottle on his nightstand, shouting, "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"
"Don't… what are you doing?" Neville hissed, springing up and pulling Dobby back onto the bed.
"Dobby had to punish himself, sir," said the elf, who had gone slightly cross-eyed. "Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, sir. . . ."
"Family.." Neville said, "Which family do you serve?"
As if in excruciating pain, Dobby spoke, "Cannot. Tell.. You sir." Neville then waved his hand, "Dont worry about it. I dont want to know. You said that you came here to warn me right? What are you here to warn me about?"
"Neville Longbottom is valiant and bold just like in the stories! He has braved so many dangers already! But Dobby has come to protect him, to warn him, even if he does have to shut his ears in the oven door later. . . . Neville Longbottom must leave and never come back to Hogwarts."
"W-what?" Neville stammered "But why?"
"Neville Longbottom must stay where he is safe. He is too great, too good, to lose. If Neville Longbottom dont leave Hogwarts, he will be in mortal danger."
"Why?" said Neville in surprise
"There is a plot, Neville Longbottom. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year," whispered Dobby, suddenly trembling all over. "Dobby has known it for months, sir. And it has already started. That cat was just the beginning. Things will only get worse from here."
"Wait!" he said, "You have known it for months? Who is behind it?"
As if in excruciating pain, "I Can't Tell You, sir."
Neville then shook his head, "Dobby you have to tell me. Students of the school are in mortal danger,"
"Neville Longbottom can't save them. Sir, should save himself. It is Dobby's fault, dobby should have come to meet Neville Longbottom before. If he had come before, Neville Longbottom sir would have gone home after he missed his train,"
"Wait a minute," Neville said, "How do you know that?" It was then his lip trembled with suspicion, "It was you!" he said slowly. "You stopped the barrier from letting us through!"
"Indeed yes, sir," said Dobby, nodding his head vigorously, ears flapping. "Dobby hid and watched for Neville Longbottom and sealed the gateway and Dobby had to iron his hands afterward" He showed Neville ten long, bandaged fingers "...but Dobby didn't care, sir, for he thought Neville Longbottom was safe, and never did Dobby dream that Neville Longbottom would get to school another way!"
Dobby was rocking backward and forward, shaking his head, "Dobby was so shocked when he heard Neville Longbottom was back at Hogwarts, he let his master's dinner burn! Such a flogging Dobby never had, sir. . . ."
Neville slumped back onto his pillows. "You nearly got Ron, Harry, and me expelled," he said fiercely. "You'd better get lost, Dobby, or I might strangle you."
Dobby smiled weakly. "Dobby is used to death threats, sir. Dobby gets them five times a day at home." He blew his nose on a corner of the filthy pillowcase he wore.
Dobby mopped his bulging eyes and said suddenly, "Neville Longbottom must go home! Dobby thought pixies would be enough to make —"
"Your pixies?" said Neville, anger rising once more. "What do you mean, your pixies? You made those little runts attack me? They almost killed me!"
"Not kill you, sir, never kill you!" said Dobby, shocked. "Dobby wants to save Neville Longbottom's life! The poison of pixies is not deadly at all. Dobby just wanted to grievously injure Neville Longbottom! Dobby only wanted Neville Longbottom hurt enough to be sent home!"
"Oh, is that all?" said Neville angrily. "I don't suppose you are going to tell me why you wanted me sent home in pieces?"
"Ah, if Neville Longbottom only knew!" Dobby groaned, more tears dripping onto his ragged pillowcase. "If he knew what he means to us, to the lowly, the enslaved, we dregs of the magical world! Dobby remembers how it was when He-Who-Must-Not-BeNamed was at the height of his powers, sir! We house elves were treated like vermin, sir! 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 HeWho-Must-Not-Be-Named. Neville Longbottom survived, and the Dark Lord's power was broken, and it was a new dawn, sir, and Neville Longbottom 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 Neville Longbottom stay here now that history is to repeat itself, now that the Chamber of Secrets is open once more —"
Dobby froze, horrorstruck, then grabbed a water jug from his bedside table and cracked it over his 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?" Neville whispered. "And… did you say it's been opened before? Tell me, Dobby!"
He seized the elf's bony wrist as Dobby's hand inched toward the water jug. "But I'm not Muggle-born… 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 Neville Longbottom must not be here when they happen…. go home, Neville Longbottom, go home. Neville Longbottom must not meddle in this, sir, it is too dangerous…"
"Who is it, Dobby?" Neville 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, Neville Longbottom, go home!"
"I'm not going anywhere!" said Neville fiercely. "One of my best friends is Muggle-born; she'll be first in line if the Chamber really has been opened —"
"Neville Longbottom 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, Neville Longbottom must not —"
Dobby suddenly froze, his bat ears quivering. Neville heard it, too. There were footsteps coming down the passageway outside. Dobby must go!" breathed the elf, terrified. There was a loud crack, and Neville'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.
Next moment, Dumbledore was backing into the dormitory, wearing a long woolly dressing gown and a nightcap. He was carrying one end of what looked like a statue. Professor McGonagall appeared a second later, carrying its feet. Together, they heaved it onto a bed.
"Get Madam Pomfrey," whispered Dumbledore, and Professor McGonagall hurried past the end of his bed out of sight. Neville lay quite still, pretending to be asleep. He heard urgent voices, and then Professor McGonagall swept back into view, closely followed by Madam Pomfrey, who was pulling a cardigan on over her nightdress. He heard a sharp intake of breath.
"What happened?" Madam Pomfrey whispered to Dumbledore, bending over the statue on the bed.
"Another attack," said Dumbledore. "Minerva found him on the stairs."
"There was a bunch of grapes next to him," said Professor McGonagall. "We think he was trying to sneak up here to visit Longbottom."
Neville's stomach gave a horrible lurch. Slowly and carefully, he raised himself a few inches so he could look at the statue on the bed. A ray of moonlight lay across its staring face. It was Colin Creevey. His eyes were wide and his hands were stuck up in front of him, holding his camera.
"Petrified?" whispered Madam Pomfrey.
"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "But I shudder to think . . . If Albus hadn't been on the way downstairs for hot chocolate… who knows what might have…"
The three of them stared down at Colin. Then Dumbledore leaned forward and wrenched the camera out of Colin's rigid grip. "You don't think he managed to get a picture of his attacker?" said Professor McGonagall eagerly.
Dumbledore didn't answer. He opened the back of the camera. "Good gracious!" said Madam Pomfrey. A jet of steam had hissed out of the camera. Neville, three beds away, caught the acrid smell of burnt plastic.
"Melted," said Madam Pomfrey wonderingly. "All melted . . ."
"What does this mean, Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked urgently.
"It means," said Dumbledore, "that the Chamber of Secrets is indeed open again." Madam Pomfrey clapped a hand to her mouth. Professor McGonagall stared at Dumbledore.
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