Returning from the trip to the bank, the green-eyed boy was not allowed to rest. Just as he was falling asleep, he got the feeling that someone was busy in the room and rustling while doing it. Sharply opening his eyes, in the twilight he saw the tiny figure of an unfamiliar elf, dressed in some rags, and not in a clean towel, as was proper for a decent house-elf.
Hey! Who are you and what are you doing in my room? – the boy said in a loud whisper, turning on the electricity.
Under the bright light of the lamp, what he saw made the boy laugh. In the middle of the room, with bent knees, a skinny creature was trembling, with a dirty pillowcase on its bony little shoulders and hands wrapped in rags. Seeing that it had been noticed, the creature fell to its knees and began beating its large hairless head against the floor, not stopping its squealing:
The Great Harry Potter noticed a worthless house-elf! I am unworthy of the great wizard's gaze ...
Stop! – Harry barked. – Stop screaming, you'll wake everyone in the house, - seeing tears in the creature's huge eyes, the boy felt ashamed that he had shouted at him and continued in a calm tone. – Who are you, elf, whose are you?
Harry Potter, sir! I am a worthless house-elf Dobby, and I came to the Great Harry Potter to warn him not to visit Hogwarts this year, because his life will be threatened there! - the creature squeaked, trying to whisper.
The snoring from the adults' bedroom died down.
Whose are you? – the boy asked again, looking over the elf's pitiful little body.
I cannot say, Dobby is a bad house-elf, but he will not betray his masters. He must punish himself when he returns home. Dobby has already punished himself, - he sobbed,
showing his hands bandaged in rags. Streams of tears ran down the elf's cheeks.
Fine, I won't go, now go home and don't come back here anymore – the boy enunciated in a strict voice and, smiling happily, with a sense of duty fulfilled, Dobby disappeared from the room with a loud crack.
Dinky, - Harry called his elf – track where this Dobby moved to.
Yes, sir, - Dinky answered and evaporated after his fellow elf with a quieter crack.
Some time later, the faithful house-elf returned. Harry, waiting for news, could not close his eyes from curiosity.
Master Potter, it was a house-elf from Malfoy Manor, but he came together with Mistress Narcissa as part of her dowry. The poor elf's old attachments to the Black family – Mistress Narcissa's old house – were not cleaned out, and because of that he is incorrectly bound to the new family, does not obey the head of the elves. In the community of Malfoy Manor house-elves, Dobby is known for his foolishness and unstable character. Such deviations have been observed in him before – spreading family secrets. Until now he has more than once been caught reporting to the last, oldest living representatives of the Black family.
Black, - Harry said thoughtfully. – Wasn't one of Father's friends with that surname? What was his name, Regulus? Procyon? Wait, wait – his name was Sirius! And what did you do next?
I contacted the head elf and informed him of Dobby's night outing. It would be good if you wrote a letter personally to Mr. Lucius Malfoy, to briefly inform him of this problem. The elf must be urgently destroyed, because he is a danger both to the Malfoys and to you, sir. I fear that Dobby's madness cannot be treated and that matters will not end with only this visit.
Fine, Dinky, tomorrow morning, when I've had some sleep, I'll write to Draco Malfoy's father. What a night this has turned out to be, huh? – Harry Potter said, already falling asleep.
The exhausting two days of the weekend, during which Harry, together with the Dursley family, moved all over the world by means of portkeys, visiting all his real estate, finally ended. Petunia returned from the trip around the world the most satisfied. A suitcase with silk clothes, a smaller suitcase with cosmetics, and a small, but the most precious to the young woman, box with jewelry, marched together with their proud mistress into the bedroom on the second floor.
Aunt, - the nephew's ringing voice followed her – don't put the things into the wardrobes, no later than in two or three days we are departing to the island.
All right, Harry, - the very cheerful Petunia answered briskly. - I'll hide the little box in the safe, dress up, and we'll go celebrate your taking possession of the real estate.
" Nai-na-nai-naaaa ..." - she hummed later while taking a shower.
Her men, not so demanding, but also dressed up appropriately to match the queen of the Dursleys, waited for her downstairs, in the living room, drinking orange juice.
Petunia appeared twenty minutes later in full parade – silk, little shoes, and at least two kilograms of yellow metal combined with a handful of sapphires. Looking at her stunned gentlemen, her eyes shone brighter than the jewels.
Harry celebrated his Birthday in the company of his relatives in the evening, on July 30th, when, after a hearty dinner in an inexpensive, but offering unrealistically delicious food, little restaurant in the center of Little Whinging, he was presented with the first gifts in their life together. Accepting with a heavy heart and eyes wet with tears the clothes, shoes, and school things packed in colorful paper, Harry finally felt himself among his own.
At night, immediately after he lay down in his new comfortable bed to sleep, through the open window came motley owls with gifts from friends – insignificant things, but it was not the cost that was important to the birthday boy, but the attention of his classmates. Among others, first of all by their worthlessness, stood out the presents brought by the little owl of the Weasley family – Errol. Because of the excessive weight of the large pile of parcels, she had overexerted herself and curled up into a little ball of feathers in the corner of the room, looking dead.
A rolled poster of Ronald's favorite team, the Chudley Cannons, with battered corners never did evoke gratitude in Harry, and the new rooster feather from his sister – Giacomina, or whatever her name was, on the label to it only "G." was written, looked crumpled and clogged with something. The boy wrinkled his nose in disgust and did not even look at the box with pastries from the mother of the redheads. The twins also made their mark with a box of their own homemade pranks. Staring at the Weasley parcel, Harry had a clear suspicion that this large family had special designs on the Boy-Who-Lived – the most famous boy in the Wizarding world – and diligently, by all means, tried to caress and lure him to themselves.
Remembering the two times when he had to meet the matriarch of the red-haired family, Harry shuddered with dislike and went cold with fear. Being somewhere near her, in her company, seemed to him a real punishment.
There was a strangeness with the gifts from Ronald's relatives and, after thinking for some time, Harry understood what it consisted of – the Weasleys were practically strange outsiders to him. Such attention from strangers alarmed him on a subconscious level and created a persistent feeling of deliberate affectation. Therefore Harry activated his recently acquired ability of aura-sight, switching to which became easier and easier, sometimes he even used this ability automatically.
And he saw the reason for his anxiety. A foul, poisonous green light enveloped all the things brought by Errol. Without thinking for even a second, frightened by this glow, Harry, without touching this heap of junk, just as they were in the box, so they remained in it - destroyed them with the Incendio spell.
Hermione's gift was an interesting and useful book on household magic, inside which there was a long letter on ordinary Muggle paper.
Dear Harry,
First of all, I congratulate you on your Birthday. I hope you are not too angry with me and that my gift does not seem unnecessary and intentional to you. My parents also congratulate you and invite you to stay with us for a week in August, at any time convenient for you. If, because of the invitation, you have problems with your relatives, I apologize in advance and assure you that Mum will call them on the telephone and discuss the details of your arrival with them.
Harry, I received a thunderous scolding from Mum and Dad for my stubbornness in trying to get from you all the details that happened to you during the saving of the PS. When you pushed me away after my insistence on telling everything, I was very offended, but, first of all, I was frightened that you do not trust me and no longer want to be friends with me. Having written a letter to my parents, explaining to them what had happened, they strictly reprimanded me and pointed out all the mistakes in my attitude toward you and Ron and the other classmates. Immediately after arriving home, they ordered me to tell them about almost every day of my stay at school.
Then it became frightening. Mum and Dad, interrupting each other, pointed out my mistakes, the main one of which was my know-it-all arrogance and worship before the authority of people alien to me. They also pointed out what my problem is – that I do not distinguish between respect and blind trust.
I promise you that next year you will no longer see that stubborn Hermione, who goes everywhere after you and Ron and saws at your brains, insisting that you do what I consider important for you. I also promise that I will no longer blindly trust anyone except myself, my parents, and you and Ron.
By the way, an invitation letter came from Ron to stay with him until the end of the holidays. I will tell you in secret that I do not want to go to his house, the Burrow, but Mum was the first to open the parcel and now insists that it would not be bad, together with you, after your departure from us, to visit a friend in his magical family.
I am waiting for your telephone call.
With love, Hermione.
Hm. The girl admitted her mistakes and promised no longer to stick her nose into other people's affairs, because well-brought-up girls do not behave that way and because her parents had ordered her to. Not the best in light of the past school year, but Hermione is stubborn and pursues her goals like ..., simply pursues her goals to the end.
Harry snorted to himself and thought about this new strangeness – Ron's letter and the sudden desire of the friend's mother to send them to the Burrow, although Hermione herself was not tempted to stay there and now was very frightened by the pressure from her mum.
After thinking a little more about Mrs. Granger's strange behavior, Harry sent his house-elf, Dinky, to her, to look with an elven gaze at what had happened there.
A few minutes later the house-elf returned and told him that charms of friendship and obedience had been placed on the parchment of Ronald's letter, which affected the first person who opened the letter, and that happened by chance to be Hermione's mum. Dinky reported that he had removed the spell, cleaned up the traces, and burned the letter.
You handled it perfectly, Dinky! Thank you, - Harry praised the little creature, shuddering as he imagined what would have happened to the girl if she had been the first to read the Weasley invitation.
"Terrible people! – Harry thought. – They stop at nothing when they want something! And use all means, acceptable and unacceptable, to get their way. But what do they want?"
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