Tell you what," Heri continued. "I'll send a letter to the Headmaster and warn him that something bad's going to happen. I'll tell him that I've been told that I could be killed if I go back and that I've been advised to stay away. This way, the school can be made more secure and hopefully whatever trouble that'll happen can be stopped at once. Does that sound alright to you, Dobby?" Dobby bowed his head. "Albus Dumbledore is being the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever had. Dobby knows it, Miss. Dobby has heard Dumbledore's powers rival those of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at the height of his strength. But, Miss," — Dobby's voice dropped to an urgent whisper — "there are powers Dumbledore doesn't . . . powers no decent wizard . . ." He seemed on the verge of doing himself harm and Heri caught a hold of him before he could disturb her relatives. "I see you're very bothered by this," she said. "But I can't in good conscience hang around with the muggles while the school is in danger. People need to be warned at the very least." Dobby did not look convinced. "I won't make it far in the world without an education, Dobby," Heri pointed out. "Not going back to school just isn't an option. How about . . . how about this? You seem to know a good deal about what's going on even though you can't tell me about it. Since you seem to be the clever sort that gets around without being caught, maybe you can be my bodyguard while I'm at school. You won't have to be around all the time, of course, I wouldn't want you to get in trouble with your family, but if it makes you feel better, you can watch out for me." Dobby was thrilled. He immediately let Heri know how he thought about her suggestion by pelting her with words of thanks. "Heri Potter, Miss, is the greatest witch in the world!" He squealed. "Miss is being good enough to listen to what Dobby has to say!" "Of course I'll listen to you. You've come to help me out, haven't you? It would be poor manners to not take you seriously." Heri walked over to her desk and pulled out a bit of paper to write on. "I'll write Professor Dumbledore right now so you won't have to worry about that anymore. I dare say Hedwig would love to have a letter to carry out. I don't do much letter-writing you see, don't get much mail either. Hedwig must get terribly bored as my mail owl." While Heri wasn't looking, Dobby froze up and looked dreadfully guilty. When she noticed the cheery creature's odd silence, Heri looked up with her letter still in her hand. "What's wrong?" she asked, giving the house-elf a once-over. Dobby fidgeted. "Heri Potter mustn't be angry with Dobby. Dobby did it for the best —" Heri didn't like the sound of that one bit. "Dobby, what have you done?" Her tone was flat and uncompromising. Dobby blinked anxiously up at her. "Heri Potter, Miss, mustn't be angry . . . Dobby hoped . . . if Miss thought her friends had forgotten her . . . Heri Potter might not want to go back to school, Miss . . ." "Have you been taking my mail?" Heri was appalled. Gods! Had her friends from school been writing her then? They must be terribly cross at her for not replying. "Dobby has them here, Miss," said the elf. He pulled a thick wad of envelopes from the inside of the pillowcase he was wearing. Heri could make out Hannah's neat writing on the top of the pile, Ernie's hasty scrawl, and more of the like. It looked like anyone she had ever been friendly with at school had written to her. She even saw a scribble that looked as though it was from Hagrid. If the Dursleys hadn't told her to make sure their dinner guests didn't know she existed, she would be shouting. "Dobby . . ." Heri hissed. Her eyes narrowed in irritation. "It's one thing to try to keep me from school. It's something else completely to steal my mail. It's a criminal offence among the muggles!" Dobby tugged at his ears in contrition. "Dobby is sorry, Miss! Dobby didn't know what else to do!" Heri sighed huffily. "Oh, just give them here." She stuck out her opened hand wherein Dobby placed the bundled stack. She placed the stack on her desk and gave it a bothered glare. "I'll be up all night writing replies!" The house-elf babbled out words of apology but Heri merely waved them off. "Just don't do something like this again," she told him. Dobby nodded enthusiastically in response. Ron Weasley wasn't sure what he had been expecting when he was told they were going to pick up Heri Potter and bring her home with them. The plan was insane and they were definitely going to get caught, no way was their Mum going to miss them not being in the house at the same time Dad's car went missing. Still, Fred and George invited him along when he had caught them sneaking out of the house and he wasn't about to turn down the chance of seeing pretty Heri Potter again, especially up close. The neighbourhood they arrived in looked nothing like what Ron had imagined the place where Heri would live would look like. He had been expecting bigger and cooler. Not that the houses weren't tidy and organized, but it just didn't feel like a place where a hero would live. "Which house was it, again?" Ron heard George say from the driver's seat. Fred scanned the area. He replied, "Number 4." George had the invisibility on so Dad's turquoise muggle vehicle was slowly gliding at roof-level down the street as the boys peered out at the numbers written on the houses. Odd numbers on one side and evens on the other, and they had just passed Number 2 and 3 so — "There it is!" Ron exclaimed, jabbing his finger on the glass at the house in question.
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