Chapter Text
Vortigern ruled in Britain and during his rule in Britain he was under pressure, from fear of the Picts and the Irish (Scots), and of a Roman invasion, and, not least, from dread of Ambrosius, elder brother to Uther Pendragon who had been hidden in France with his brother since they were babies. In His fear he commanded a fortress to be build to protect himself from his enemies. He started to build but every night the walls collapsed with no explanation. In desperation he called his wise men and druids to figure out the problem. None of the could, until one claimed a solution; seek a boy with no father, born of the fairies. He would be able to solve the High-King's problem.
Vortigern's men searched far and wide and discovered such a boy at what was soon to become Caer-Fyrddin (Carmarthen). His name was Myrddin Emrys, or "Merlin" for short. Merlin revealed that at night the mountain shook so that all buildings collapsed, because beneath it were buried two fighting dragons. Merlin claimed 'One white representing the Saxons and one red representing the British', and the white one was winning! After a great struggle the red dragon would rise triumphant, sending the white dragon back into it's slumber. Merlin was young and Merlin was wrong.
In France a seer awoke from her trance with a gasp, her scribe shakily handed her the parchment on which her newest prophecy was now recorded. Her eyes skimmed the pages and a deep sadness crept into her ageless face,
“So the efforts of the Malfoy family to bring a magical King to the land of the Angles will fail.”
“It appears so my Lady, Uther the red dragon shall rule the Land of Magic until the white dragon has strength once again. What shall happen to the child of Lord Ambrosias and the heir of the Malfoy's?”
The seers eyes glowed white for a second at the question,
“The true heir to the Kingdom of Magic will be forgotten until it is time to rise again. It will be in dark times when the need for a leader is great. Ahh, the future is too far ahead to see clearly. Inform Lord Malfoy of what will come to pass and give him hope that one day his dreams might flourish into reality.
…............................................................................................................................................................
Harry Potter stood by the stove as he watched his Uncle and Cousin devour the full English breakfast in front of them with pig like grace. His Aunt had settled on a piece of toast and was nibbling on it watching her two perfect men get a healthy meal inside them so they did not fade away. Harry with the ease of practice ignored his complaining stomach that ached for food, He would not give these people the satisfaction of seeing him weak even if he had not really eaten for two days. He mentally went through the home work he had yet to do in his head again, ready to do it as soon as he was able to sneak into his old cupboard and get it. His uncle had tried to shove him in there when he had gotten home but Harry was now too big so after some temper tantrums from Dudley Harry had gotten the spare room. His mind drifted from his charms home work as his thoughts took a darker turn, Draco had not communicated to him like he had promised.
Harry scowled mentally and tuned back in to the people sitting at the table as he heard the tone in his Uncles voice change. It was something about having important clients coming over for dinner again and he tuned out again already knowing the routine off by heart and the correct responses to his Uncles commands and threats. Some how the family already knew about the restriction on under aged wizards not using magic but they were still weary of him, so besides the usual taunts and doubling his chores they had not yet raised a fist against him or broken anything yet, something that Harry was grateful for besides the spare room, but Harry just knew it would not last.
They finally finished breakfast and Harry started on the dishes before starting to clean the rest of the house and garden with Aunt Petunia following him around criticizing all his mistakes even if there weren't any and making him do several of the same jobs over again. It was half past seven in the evening when at last, exhausted, he heard Aunt Petunia calling him.
“Get in here! And walk on the newspaper!”
Harry moved gladly into the shade of the gleaming kitchen. On top of the fridge stood tonight’s
pudding: a huge mound of whipped cream and sugared violets. A loin of roast pork was sizzling
in the oven.
“Eat quickly! The Masons will be here soon!”
Aunt Petunia, pointing to two slices of bread and a lump of cheese on the kitchen table. She was already wearing a salmon-pink cocktail dress. Harry washed his hands and bolted down his pitiful supper. The moment he had finished, Aunt Petunia whisked away his plate.
“Upstairs! Hurry!”
As he passed the door by the living room, Harry caught a glimpse of Uncle Vernon and Dudley in
bow ties and dinner jackets. He had only just reached the upstairs landing when the door bell
rang and Uncle Vernon’s furious face appeared at the foot of the stairs.
“Remember, boy — one sound —”
Harry crossed to his bedroom on tiptoe slipped inside, closed the door, and turned to collapse on
his bed. The trouble was, there was already someone sitting on it. If he had not visited the Malfoy's he would have yelled in shock.
“Why is there a house elf on my bed?”
The little creature slipped off the bed and bowed lowly to the boy,
“I is Dobby sir, I is a Malfoy house elf come with message from Master Draco sir.”
Down stairs he could hear the guests arriving but he paid no attention to them. Some thing in his chest lifted at the little beings words. He had not been forgotten by his only friend. He sank down in the one arms chair by his desk feeling suddenly light headed and Whisper feeling His humans mood slunk on to his lap in the form of a cat and started purring. The house elf shifted nervously fingering the bottom of his pillow case.
“Not that I’m not pleased to meet you, but er.... what was the message Draco wanted to send me?”
“Oh, yes, sir, Dobby has come to tell you, sir… it is difficult, sir… Dobby wonders where to begin…”
The house elf's fidgeting grew worse and it made Harry wish the elf would calm down or he'd never get the message,
“Sit down and tell me the message calmly.”
To his horror, the elf burst into tears — very noisy tears.
“S-sit down!” he wailed. “Never… never ever… been asked to sit down before......by a wizard!!!”
Harry thought he heard the voices downstairs falter. He cringed at the noise Dobby was making. He had to shut him up and fast or there would be hell to pay. He wondered why the heck Draco had sent this thing to him. It was more trouble than it was worth.
“Dobby be quiet there are muggles in the house and if they see you we will both be in trouble and I'll get a beating. Please be quiet.”
Whisper snarled flashing it's fangs at the little being, shocking the other into silence.
“Now Dobby, why did Draco send you?”
Dobby opened and closed his mouth a couple of times,
“Master Harry is not to get angry. Is not Master Draco's fault. But bad Minister Wizards keep coming to the house looking for illegal dark things. Master Draco says that he is wanting Master Harry to come and stay but might cause problem. Bad wizards not sent by Minister but by Warlock of Wizards, sir. They keeps on asking question about you. Stupid Wizards won't find anything though, hidden too well for stupid wizards to find.”
Dobby suddenly shook his head. Then, without warning, he leapt up and started banging his head furiously on the window sill,
“Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!”
Harry hissed in fear at the noise, springing up and pulling Dobby back onto the bed.
“Don’t make so much noise they'll hear you— what are you doing?”
“Dobby had to punish himself, sir. Dobby almost spoke of the secrets of his family. A house elf must never speak of family secrets, sir…”
There was a silence broken only by the chink of knives and forks from downstairs and the distant
rumble of Uncle Vernon’s voice.
“Look Dobby. Tell Draco not to worry and I'll see him when term starts. Tell him I understand.”
Dobby's eyes filled with tears again and he began to wail again,
“Master Harry is such a good friend to Master Draco. Such an understanding wizard, Master Draco is so lucky to have met you.”
A sudden silence fell downstairs. Two seconds later Harry, heart thudding madly, heard Uncle
Vernon coming into the hall, calling,
“Dudley must have left his television on again, the little tyke!”
Harry and Dobby froze before Harry grabbed the elf's scruff and stuffed Dobby into the closet, shutting the door, and flinging himself onto the bed just as the door handle turned.
“What — the —devil— are — you — doing? You’ve just ruined the punch line of my Japanese golfer joke… One more sound and you’ll wish you’d never been born, boy! One more bang, One one sign of your existence and I'll make sure you can not speak or wave your stick ever again, under stood!!!!”
He stomped flat-footed from the room. Shaking, Harry let Dobby out of the closet.
“Now look what happened, I will never hear the end of it. Please, Dobby just leave before things get worse.”
Dobby ears drooped and he shook his head sadly,
“Master Draco said I is to serve you. A Lord is needing a house elf, sir. Dobby is a hard working house elf. He is happy to do anything Master Harry wants. Dobby is going to show Master Harry by punishing stupid muggles for threatening him.”
“Dobby, No!!”
Before Harry could move, Dobby had darted to the bedroom door, pulled it open, and sprinted
down the stairs. Mouth dry, stomach lurching, Harry sprang after him, trying not to make a sound. He jumped the last six steps, landing catlike on the hall carpet, looking around for Dobby. From the dining room he heard Uncle Vernon saying,
“…tell Petunia that very funny story about those American plumbers, Mr. Mason. She’s been dying to hear…”
Harry ran up the hall into the kitchen and felt his stomach disappear. Aunt Petunia’s masterpiece of a pudding, the mountain of cream and sugared violets, was floating up near the ceiling. On top of a cupboard in the corner crouched Dobby.
“No,” croaked Harry. “Please… they’ll kill me…”
“Bad muggles threatening a friend of Master Draco. They is needing punished.”
The pudding fell to the floor with a heart-stopping crash. Cream splattered the windows and
walls as the dish shattered. With a crack like a whip, Dobby vanished.