"Take your things upstairs Harry, we'll get everything ready for movie night. You wanted to watch Star Wars, right?" Ted asked.
"Yes, I read it was really good, I'm excited to see it." Harry said, picking up the small box of items he had received for his birthday.
"Oh, you'll love it! It's the best!" Nymphadora said, as she plonked herself down on one of the loveseats in the living room.
Harry made his way up the stairs and to his room, where he set the box of gifts on his desk. Getting out the books he'd received, he stepped over to his bookshelf and began placing them in. As he turned around to pick up another item from the box, he saw a small creature holding it. Harry yelped in surprise. The creature yelped as well, dropping the box. It landed back on the table with a soft thud, and thankfully nothing inside was damaged by the short fall.
The creature Harry saw was between two and three feet tall, with large bulging eyes and pointed ears that toed the line between floppy and stiff. It was humanoid, and it wore a tea towel wrapped around its body as though it were a toga.
"You're a house elf? Aren't you?" Harry asked, recognizing the creature from one of Daphne's Chocolate frog cards. Urban Creatures, the set had been named.
"I's is Dobby the house elf yes. You's be Harry Potter." Dobby said, looking at Harry with large eyes.
"I am Harry, what are you doing here Dobby?" Harry asked, his pulse beginning to slow. He didn't know much about House Elves, but Daphne had mentioned her family had some to help around the house, so it likely wasn't dangerous. Hopefully.
"Dobby is here to tell Harry Potter to not be going to Hoggy warts. It be's dangerous." Dobby said, smoothing out his tea towel toga.
"Why is going to Hogwarts dangerous?" Harry asked, confused. While his first year wasn't the pinnacle of safety, he imagined in the grand scheme of things it must be an outlier.
"Dobby cannot be saying. But Harry Potter must not be going to Hoggy warts!" Dobby insisted, his tone becoming simultaneously resolute and frightened.
"Well, if Hogwarts is dangerous, why don't you tell someone like Headmaster Dumbledore? Or the aurors?" Harry asked.
"They's would not listen to a house elf. But Harry Potter might. Dobby must save Harry Potter, as Harry Potter saved us all." Dobby said.
"Dobby, if Hogwarts is dangerous, I have to go. I have to keep all of my friends safe." Harry said, looking into the box at his dueling armor.
"Harry Potter be being very braves, but cannot go!" Dobby said.
A knock was heard at Harry's door. "Harry? What's taking so long? You not coming down for the movie?" Nymphadora's voice came through the door.
"Ooh! Darn it. Harry Potter be listening to Dobby. No goings to Hogwarts." And with that, the small creature simply popped out of existence, as the door opened.
"Harry? What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost." Nymphadora said, walking over to Harry.
"There was a house elf here, he said his name was Dobby, and he said it was dangerous for me to go back to Hogwarts." Harry said, looking at Nymphadora. "Any idea why?"
"I've got no clue. Hogwarts is about as safe a place as you can get though. Can't imagine it being dangerous, you know, providing you listen to your teachers and don't go running off when there's a troll in the castle." Nymphadora said in a joking manner.
"Yeah, I figure last year was kind of an outlier, surely something like that couldn't happen again, right?" Harry chuckled. That'd be outrageous, like he's a character in a book series or something.
"Right, now lets go tell mum, then we can watch the movie." Nymphadora said, dragging her little brother down the stairs.
Andromeda agreed that the house elf being here was odd, but couldn't understand why he would be there. The group collectively shrugged at the encounter, and put on the movie.
Harry very much enjoyed the movie, and was ecstatic to hear that there were two more, as well as a holiday special. Harry's dreams that night were filled with thoughts of flying starfighters and fighting dark lords. A far cry of his life of flying brooms and fighting dark lords.
Harry walked out of the Leaky Cauldron excitedly. He, Hermione, Susan and Hannah were picking up their school supplies today, and Harry was thrilled to get to spend the day with some of his friends again. With them were Andromeda, Nymphadora, and Hannah's mother. Ted was currently at work at St. Mungos, Amelia was busy with her job as the head of the DMLE, and Hermione's parents found Diagon Alley overwhelming. Padma and Parvati were doing their shopping in Delhi's magical quarter, while the remaining four Sphinx club members would be doing their shopping the following day. Wrangling eight children through the busy shops of Diagon Alley was not something the adults felt was necessary, so the groups had simply been split down house lines, as little as those meant to the members of the Sphinx Society
"Okay kids, we need to pick up your supplies for this year, Hermione you have the list right? What's on it?" Andromeda said, after doing a quick headcount to make sure all of the kids were present.
"Well, we have our texts for this year, Defense has a totally new suite of books we have to pick up, all by the same author. Charms and Transfiguration both need The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2. Every other class is using the same text as last year it appears. A new set of potion vials and flasks is likely needed, Snape is meticulous about that, but the school didn't include it on the required list. We'll also need new school robes, I've outgrown mine by a bit, and I know Susan has as well. Beyond that, we'll need to pick up some more ink, quills, and parchment, but that appears to be everything." Hermione said, looking over the list of required items.
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