Chapter 90: A Simple Greeting
"I think we need to talk, Potter."
Tamara looked at the mud covered saviour in front of her. He was grinning foolishly and trying to lean closer. With visible disgust, she pressed one finger against his shoulder and stopped him.
"But before that, go change your clothes. You look as though you rolled through a swamp."
She glanced at his hands.
"And wash those."
Harry froze, then looked down at his filthy old T shirt and dirt smeared fingers. His face flushed red all the way to his ears.
"Oh! Sorry! I... I was just too excited."
He wiped his hands helplessly on his trousers, which only made the situation worse.
"I'll go now. Upstairs. My room is upstairs."
"Lead the way."
Tamara's reply was curt.
She did not want to remain on the ground floor for even another second.
Petunia was shrinking back by the kitchen door, staring at her with the terrified expression of someone watching a ticking bomb. Vernon, meanwhile, was still gasping for breath, but his tiny, beadlike eyes were already filling with the urge to throw her out.
With Harry leading the way, Tamara stepped onto the thick carpeted stairs and went up to the second floor.
"It's here... it's a bit messy. Hope you don't mind."
Harry pushed open a small door with peeling paint, looking embarrassed.
Tamara walked in.
It was indeed messy.
More precisely, it was shabby.
There was a creaking iron bed, a battered wardrobe, and a chaotic heap of books and old clothes scattered across the floor. In a birdcage in the corner, the snowy owl Hedwig slept with her head tucked under her wing.
The air smelled of stale dust and owl feathers.
Tamara examined the room critically, her gaze sweeping over the rickety bed and the clutter piled in the corners.
Even though her own room at the orphanage was not much better, that did not stop the double standard Dark Lord from casting a look of contempt at the saviour.
After all, in her view, suffering was tempering for the strong. But this submissive, cowardly manner was the original sin of the weak.
"The famous Harry Potter..."
She turned around, the corners of her mouth lifting into a mocking curve.
"To think you are this obedient in front of Muggles. Like a trained little pet."
She looked him up and down.
"It seems you quite enjoy being ordered around like a servant."
Harry scratched his messy hair awkwardly.
"Er... actually, it's not that bad. At least it's much better than the cupboard downstairs..."
He was about to head to the wardrobe and find clean clothes.
However, the moment he turned around, he suddenly cried out.
"Ah!"
Harry jumped back a large step and nearly crashed into Tamara.
"What is that?"
Tamara nimbly stepped aside, avoiding him. Her brow furrowed as she followed Harry's gaze to the bed.
Sitting on the messy bed was a little monster.
It had two huge batlike ears and bulging green eyes as large as tennis balls. It wore a ragged pillowcase that looked fit for the rubbish bin, the unmistakable symbol of a House elf's servitude.
At that moment, the little monster was staring at the two people who had suddenly barged in, its huge eyes full of panic.
"A House elf?"
Tamara narrowed her eyes, her voice turning cold at once.
As a former master, she was all too familiar with creatures like this.
They were the slaves of wizarding families. Lowly, obedient, and extremely... noisy.
"Harry Potter!"
The elf suddenly shrieked, its voice so piercing it sounded like fingernails scraping across a blackboard. It instantly stabbed into Tamara's ears.
"Dobby has always wanted to meet you, sir! Dobby has waited so long!"
"Dobby?" Harry looked bewildered. "Who are you? What are you doing on my bed?"
"Dobby is a House elf, sir!"
Dobby hopped down from the bed, his tattered pillowcase swaying around him.
"Dobby has come to tell you... it is a very difficult matter... Dobby does not know where to begin..."
"Then shut up."
Tamara cut in coldly.
She could already feel a headache coming on.
The little creature's voice was far too sharp, and its high pitched, servile tone stirred a physical revulsion in her.
Only then did Dobby seem to notice that someone else was in the room.
He turned his head, and his tennis ball eyes landed on Tamara.
Then he recoiled as if he had been struck by lightning.
Although Tamara was only a young girl now, creatures like House elves possessed near bestial instincts when it came to magical auras.
He could feel it.
Inside this girl was a dark presence that made his soul tremble.
"Bad... bad witch..."
Dobby muttered, taking a step back.
But he quickly remembered his mission.
"No! Dobby must say it!"
Dobby suddenly grew agitated. He turned back to Harry and raised his voice again, even shriller than before.
"Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts! There is danger there! A great plot!"
"What plot?" Harry asked.
"Dobby cannot say! Dobby cannot betray his master!"
Dobby suddenly shrieked and did something shocking.
He threw himself at the desk lamp on the bedside table and began smashing his head against its metal base.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby! Dobby nearly said it!"
The dull impacts were accompanied by Dobby's heart rending cries of self punishment. The lamp rattled under the blows, and the entire room echoed with the noise.
"Stop! Stop it!"
Harry was horrified. He tried to pull Dobby away, but the elf possessed surprising strength and continued to punish himself.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Dobby must punish himself! Dobby must seal his mouth!"
Ordinarily, such a ridiculous scene might have earned nothing more than a sneer from Tamara.
But now, in the stifling afternoon heat, after a miserable journey and being forced to complete a damned social task, this noise was challenging the very limit of the Dark Lord's patience.
Tamara closed her eyes.
She could clearly feel the veins at her temples throbbing. A flame of killing intent burned wildly in her chest.
Too loud.
Her fingers had already found the wand in her sleeve.
To execute a magical creature like this, her current level of wandless magic would not be enough.
Although House elves were lowly, they possessed a naturally high resistance to magic.
To break through that defence instantly and kill one, she would have to rely on the amplification of a wand.
[Warning! Extremely dangerous killing intent detected!]
[This is a Muggle neighbourhood! If you cast magic at full power here, the Ministry of Magic will surround this place within three seconds!]
[Please remain calm, host! Calm down!]
The system's warning was like a bucket of cold water, dousing part of Tamara's fury.
Yes.
She could not kill it.
Against a House elf with high magical resistance, once she cast at full power with her wand, the violent magical fluctuation would be impossible to hide.
On the monitoring net of the Ministry, it would shine like a signal flare.
Besides, this elf clearly had a master. Killing it would bring endless trouble, and all she would gain was a moment of vented anger.
But...
"Bang! Bang! Dobby is not allowed to say!"
The damned banging continued.
Tamara opened her eyes.
Her pupils, normally black as ink, had turned a terrifying blood red.
She stepped forward and stopped directly in front of the hysterical Dobby.
Then she leaned down, pressed her wand against Dobby's temple, and spoke in a voice so soft it was more sinister than thousand year old ice.
"If you make one more sound..."
Her voice was not loud, but it struck through the noise like an invisible chilling curse, drilling straight into Dobby's huge ears.
Dobby froze mid impact.
He turned his head in terror.
He saw the terrifying young girl staring at him.
There was no expression on her face, but a suffocating malice radiated from her like something physical, as if countless invisible vipers had coiled around his neck.
"I will pull every bone out of your body..."
Tamara extended one pale finger and lightly tapped Dobby's shrivelled chest.
"And make them into a necklace."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Then I will skin you and use your hide to make a lampshade for this desk lamp."
She asked softly, "Do you understand?"
This was not merely a threat.
It was a genuine thought from the depths of her heart.
House elves had a sharp natural sense for magic.
In Dobby's perception, the young girl before him disappeared. In her place stood an indescribably evil and terrifying shadow, one that had once ruled the entire wizarding world.
An existence ten thousand times more frightening than his master, Lucius Malfoy.
Dobby let out a terrified hiccup, his eyes nearly bulging from their sockets.
His whole body went stiff, as if he had been struck by Petrificus Totalus. He did not dare move even an inch.
The room fell silent.
Even Hedwig did not dare poke her head out from under her wing.
Harry stared, mouth hanging open, looking first at Dobby, who seemed to have been paused, and then at Tamara.
He swallowed hard.
Although Tamara's words just now had sounded wicked to the core, he had to admit the effect was remarkable.
"Good."
Tamara withdrew her finger and wiped nonexistent dust onto Harry's bedsheets in disgust.
"Now, if you still want to breathe in this room..."
Her voice turned colder.
"Take your quiet self to that corner."
Dobby scrambled down from the lamp, trembling.
He did not even dare walk properly. Instead, like a ball that knew it had done wrong, he silently rolled to the farthest corner of the room, clutched his head in both hands, and curled up into a ball, not even daring to breathe too loudly.
The world was finally quiet.
[Ding! Mission settlement: Maintain Peace and Quiet.]
[You successfully stopped noise pollution that might have triggered a neighbourhood dispute, though you used extremely terrifying dark pressure to do so.]
[Reward: Wisdom +1.]
[Current Wisdom: 33.]
[Unlocked passive skill: Fear of the House Elf.]
[Effect: All House elves will feel instinctive fear in your presence. This greatly increases the success rate of your commands while reducing their will to resist. Note: Effect is halved against free elves.]
Listening to the notification in her mind, Tamara's mood improved slightly.
Fear of the House Elf?
That was actually a decent passive ability.
After all, if she were to take over the Malfoy family or other pure blood households in the future, controlling these servants would be essential.
"All right, Potter."
Tamara turned and looked at the still dazed Harry, her tone returning to its usual arrogance and coldness.
"Since I have confirmed that you are still alive and have not been flushed down a sewer..."
She lifted her chin slightly.
"Then my mission... I mean, my small and unnecessary act of kindness, is over."
She did not even bother to ask about the so called great plot Dobby had mentioned.
It was undoubtedly some scheme by that fool Lucius.
If there really was danger, all the better.
It would be ideal if it frightened the saviour into dropping out, or if he died along the way. She would wake up laughing from her dreams.
"I'm leaving."
Tamara turned to go, not wanting to remain there for even another second.
"Wait! Tamara!"
Harry finally snapped out of it and hurried after her.
"You're just leaving? Won't you have a cup of tea? Or... can we talk?"
"Talk to you about what?"
Tamara stopped and glanced back at him, her eyes full of mockery.
"How to be a servant to Muggles? Or how to keep a neurotic pet?"
She pointed at Dobby, who was still shivering in the corner.
"Stop dreaming, Potter."
"If you are truly that bored, write more letters to your idiot friends. Or study how to make that noisy elf shut up forever."
With that, she walked out of the room without looking back.
Harry remained where he was, watching that cool black figure leave.
Although he had been scolded, warmth surged in his chest.
He murmured to himself, the corners of his mouth lifting despite everything.
"Her tongue is sharp, but she really did come to see me."
His smile grew softer.
"Maybe she's just... a good person with a strange way of showing concern."
In the shadowed corner, Dobby quietly lifted his head, his huge eyes filled with fear and confusion.
That terrifying girl... why would Harry Potter think she was a good person?
Dobby did not understand.
Dobby felt the world of humans was far too complicated.
Perhaps it would be better to go back to banging his head.
"Bang."
But he only dared to hit it very lightly, afraid that the terrifying girl might really come back and pull out his bones.
.....
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