𓏲 . THE BOY WHO LIVED . .៹♡
                                                        CHAPTER FIFTEEN
                          ─── DOBBY'S WARNING & GREAT ESCAPE

The summer of 1991 seemed to be slow and boring for Charlus Potter. Throughout July, he and his brother missed their best friends, Ron Weasley, Alistair Black, and Hermione Granger. They, however, didn't seem to be missing them at all. None of them had written to them all summer. Charlus was even more bummed that Hermione hadn't at least sent her anything.

And they couldn't write them letters either, because Uncle Vernon had locked Hedwig and Phoenix in their cages to prevent them from sending messages to anyone in the wizarding world.

The only good thing about it was that they hadn't told their relatives that they couldn't use magic outside of Hogwarts. They knew it was only their terror that either of them might turn them all into dung beetles that stopped them from locking them in the cupboard under the stairs.

Besides, Uncle Vernon had installed a connecting door between Charlus and Harry's room in the house. This door was the only way to get back and forth between the two rooms without having to enter the hallway first. The idea behind this was that Harry and Charlus could communicate with each other and visit each other without disturbing the rest of the family or having to walk through the house unnecessarily.

One evening, when Charlus was in his room with Harry, both of them sat at his desk, which was in front of the double-sized window, and looked through the photo album that Hagrid had given them at the end of their first year.

As the oldest Potter turned the first page, they saw the moving photo of themselves when they were babies and their parents. They really wished they knew them. Switching to the next page, they saw the next moving photo. It showed themselves, Ron, Hermione and Alistair laughing at something Hagrid said when he took the photo.

They smiled at it as they looked at their best friends. But they lost it when they heard noise coming from their left. They looked over at Phoenix, who was whimpering and gnawing at his cage because he wanted to be let out. Charlus had been on the point of unlocking the cage by magic, but it wasn't worth the risk.

"Charlus can't let you out, Phoenix, just as I can't let Hedwig out. We're not allowed to use magic outside of school. Besides, if Uncle Vernon..." Harry started to say, but he didn't get to finish as their uncle shouted from downstairs, "CHARLUS AND HARRY POTTER!" "Now you've done it." Charlus said to his owl as he closed the photo album before the two of them got up and made their way downstairs.

They went down the stairs and opened the door that led them into the combined kitchen-, dinning- and living room. "He's in there. " their aunt told them, and gestured with her head towards the living room while she decorated an amazing looking cake. "Vernon."

They shared a look of disgust before they walked around the corner and saw their uncle putting a suit on Dudley while he was now also glared at Harry and Charlus. "I'm warning you both," he began to say threateningly while he was tying up the bow-tie for Dudley. "If you both don't control these bloody birds, they will have to go. "

Charlus tried, yet again, to explain. "But they are bored." he told him with an undeniable tone of exasperation. "They are used to flying around outside. If we could only let them out for an hour or two."

"Bah-ha, what?" Vernon snarled at them while he pushed Dudley in front of the mirror. "So you both can send secret messages to your freak little friends? No,boys." "But we haven't had any messages from any of our friends. Not one... all summer." Harry argued back.

"Who wants to be friends with you two?" Dudley mocked them , and glared at the twins as his father finished with his suit. He was about to give Harry a hard nudge with his shoulder, but Charlus stepped protectively in front of his brother and glared at his cousin. " I'm warning you, Dudley." he said in a dangerously calm tone before he decided to say something that could scare Dudley. "If you ever try to hurt my brother again, I'll make sure you regret it. "

With fear in his eyes, their cousin gave them one last sneering look and moved around the twins to walk to his mother in the kitchen, while Vernon faced the twins. "I should think you two'd be a little more grateful." he said while he came closer to the two boys, looking deeply offended. "We've raised you since you were babies, given you the food off our table, even let you have Dudley's second bedroom and the second guest room, purely out of the goodness of our hearts."

At this, Petunia hesitated and exchanged a glance with Vernon before she saw Dudley hold out a finger for the cake. "Not now, Bobkins." she said and slapped Dudley's hand away from the cake. "It's for when Masons arrive."

Petunia was talking about the stupid dinner party tonight. One of the richest employers in town was coming with his wife to meet Vernon and Petunia, and their only child, Dudley, to potentially buy an order from Vernon.

"Which should be any minute." Vernon exclaimed and raised his hands up. He then nodded at his wife and and son to come to the living room, which they did. "Now, let's go over our schedule once again, shall we? Petunia, when the Masons arrive, you will be--?"

"In the lounge. " she answered with a smile as she moved her arms as elegantly as she could to show the room. "Waiting to welcome them graciously into our home." "Good, good. And Dudley,you will be--?" "I'll be waiting to open the door." he said in a polite voice that sounded anything but genuine, and put on a foul, simpering smile that reminded Charlus briefly of Draco Malfoy.

"Excellent, Dudley." Vernon said to him with a proud smile, but it dropped as he glared at Charlus and Harry. He began to walk slowly towards the boys with Petunia and Dudley at his side. "And you both?" he asked grimly.

"We'll be in one of our bedrooms..." Harry began to answer in a toneless voice. "...making absolutely no noise..." Charlus added. "...and pretending that we don't exist." they finished the sentence at the same time. They had been with the family long enough to know how it worked. When they had visitors, they were locked in one of the two rooms and had to be very quiet and were only allowed out again when the guests had gone.

"Too right you will." Vernon said forcefully. "With any luck, this could be the day that I make the biggest deal of my career, and you both will not mess it up."

The Dursleys continued to glare at the twins, who looked back before they made their way to Harry's room. They had only just reached the upstairs landing when the door bell rang and Dudley's voice from the hall.

"May I take your coats, Mr. and Mrs. Mason?"

Harry and Charlus crossed to the bedroom on tiptoe , slipped inside, closed the door, and turned around to see a small creature jumping up and down on Harry's bed. It had large, bat like ears , a pinocchio-like nose and bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls.

The creature stopped jumping around on the bed and bowed its head down when it saw the two of them. Charlus noticed that it was wearing what looked like an old pillowcase, with little holes for its arms and legs.

"Er - hello." Harry said nervously while Charlus sighed. "Charlus and Harry Potter!" The creature greeted them in a high-pitched voice that Charlus was sure would carry down the stairs. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, sirs... Such an honor it is..."

"Th-thank you." Harry stuttered and glanced over at his brother, who shrugged and wanted to ask, "What are you?" but thought it would sound too rude, so instead he said, "Who are you?" "Dobby, sir. Dobby the house-elf." the creature replied politely as if everything was completely and utterly normal.

"I don't want to be rude or anything," Charlus told him. "But it's just - this isn't the best time to have a house-elf in the room of my brother." "Yes, sir. Dobby understand." Dobby said eagerly. "It's just that Dobby has come to tell you... It is difficult, sirs. Dobby wonders where to begin."

"Well,why don't you sit down." Harry suggested and pointed to the desk chair for the small creature to take a seat. But to the twin's horror, the elf slinked off the bed like a stuffed animal before it burst into tears-very noisy tears. Charlus's eyes widened and he grabbed a pillow to cover the elf's cries - but it only got worse from there. "S-sit down!" Dobby wailed. "Never...ever...ever..."

Charlus groaned and wanted to take the pillow to the loudly moaning elf, but Harry took it from his hands and placed it on his side of the bed. "I'm sorry." Harry apologized quickly. "I didn't mean to offend you or anything-"

"Offend Dobby?" the elf he repeated, not quite believing his ears, and began to sob aloud. "Dobby has heard of the Potter twins' greatness, sirs, but never has he been asked to sit down by a wizard- like an equal-"

Harry, trying to say "Shh!" and look comforting at the same time, ushered Dobby back onto the bed where he sat hiccoughing, looking like a large and very ugly doll. At last he managed to control himself, and sat with his great eyes fixed on Harry and Charlus in an expression of watery adoration.

"You can't have met many decent wizards." Harry joked to cheer him up. "No, I haven't." Dobby replied with a smile. The smile faded shortly afterwards and turned into a horrified expression. "That was an awful thing to say." it moaned, and before Charlus could say anything, the elf leapt up, rushed to the cabinet on the wall, put his hands on it, and suddenly started smashing his head furiously against it. "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!" it shouted with every hit it gives itsself.

Harry tried to pull Dobby of the cabinet . "Shh, Dobby, please." he begged the creature. Charlus, on the other hand, was watching the scene before him with a grimace. "Bad Dobby!" It wailed. "Bad Dobby!"

"Oh Merlin." Charlus said under his breath as the elf continued to smash his head against the cabinet. "Dobby, please be quiet." Harry told the elf, but when he still continued, he decided to pull him away from the cabinet. Dobby stopped, but rubbed his head as he was now feeling a little dizzy.

"Dobby had to punish himself, sirs." the elf explained to both of them morosely while it walked to the chair, and pushed it closer to the two boys before it jumped onto it. "Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, sirs..." "Your family?" Charlus asked curiously , as he moved to the bed from his brother. Harry followed suit, sitting next to him.

"The wizard family Dobby serves, sirs. Dobby is bound to serve one family forever. If they ever knew Dobby was here..." he explained to them and suddenly shook like a leaf. Charlus thought the elf was going to start crying again. But he continued to speak soberly, "But Dobby had to come. Dobby has to protect Charlus and Harry Potter. To warn them. Charlus and Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year."

What was he talking about? The twins burrowed their eyes and glanced at each other before they looked back at Dobby. "There is a plot, a plot to make most terrible things happen." "What terrible thing?" Charlus asked him. "Who's plotting them?"

"Can't say." Dobby muttered as he started grimacing and gritting his teeth. "All right!" Harry whispered loudly and raised his hands a little to calm the elf down. "I understand,you can't tell us. "

"Don't make me talk. I--" Dobby said, and before Harry or Charlus could stop him, the elf leapt up, grabbed Harry's bedside lamp and started to hit his head with it as punishment. "Dobby." Harry said. "Dobby, put the lamp down."

"Not again." Charlus sighed and got up from the bed to try and snatch the lamp out of Dobby's hands. "Give me that damn lamp." he demanded of the elf, who put up more of a fight than expected as a sudden silence fell downstairs. Two seconds later, Charlus and Harry heard footsteps approaching the room.

"Dobby, stop it." Charlus said and finally managed to snatch the lamp from the elf before he put it down. Then he grabbed the fabric of his clothes and went to the small closet next to the room door. "Get in there and keep quiet." he hissed at him as he shoved Dobby into it before closed the door just in time for their uncle to enter.

"What-the-devil-are-you-doing?" Uncle Vernon asked them through gritted teeth, his face horribly close to Charlus and Harry's. "We were just--" Harry began to say, while Charlus noticed the closet door opening slightly before he pressed his hand against it to close it again. "You just ruined the punch line of my Japanese golfer joke." their uncle exlaimed as the door opened slightly, which he also noticed.

"Sorry." Harry replied, and this time he pressed his hand against the door to close it. Vernon then lifted his index finger up. "One more sound and you'll wish you'd never been born, boys." he threatened as the door opened once more. "And fix this door."

"Yes, sir." The twins said at the same time, as Charlus again had to close the door. And with that, he gave them both another look before he quickly left the room and slammed the door behind him.

Harry waited a few seconds before he pushed open the closet door. "See why we've got to go back?" he asked Dobby, who got out of the closet. "We don't belong here. We belong in your world, at Hogwarts. It's the only place we've got friends." "Friends who don't even write to Charlus and Harry Potter?" the elf asked them with a slight smile.

"Well, I expect they've been..." "Wait a minute." Charlus interrupted his brother as he realized how Dobby could know that. They hadn't mentioned anything in front of him. "How do you know our friends haven't been writing to us?" he asked him suspiciously.

Charlus crossed his arms and stared down at the elf with one eyebrow raised. By the nervous look on Dobby's face, he was quite proud of his impression. "Charlus and Harry Potter mustn't be angry with Dobby." he explained to them as he backed away a little before he pulled out a thick wad of envelopes from the inside of the pillowcase he was wearing. "Dobby hoped if Charlus and Harry Potter thought their friends had forgotten him, Charlus and Harry Potter might not want to go back to school, sirs."

"Give us those. Now." Charlus said, his voice shaking with anger. "No!" Dobby said,and before either of them could move, he put the letters back inside his pillowcase before he darted to the bedroom door, pulled it open, and sprinted down the stairs.

Charlus and Harry exchanged a horrified look before rushed after him, pushing each other slightly as they tumbled to the stairs. They jumped the last six steps, landing catlike on the hall carpet, looking around for Dobby.

Charlus and Harry ran up the hall and Charlus felt his stomach disappear. Aunt Petunia's masterpiece of a cake sat up on the kitchen counter. Dobby stood at the door to the kitchen with a mischievous grin.

"Dobby, get back here!" Charlus demanded angrily, but Dobby shook his head before he snapped his fingers. This normally simple and harmless action caused the cake to start floating in the air. "Dobby... please...no..." Harry pleaded.

"Charlus and Harry Potter must say they're not going back to Hogwarts." Dobby whispered to them. It was clear that Dobby was determined to keep the boys away from the school. "We can't." Charlus told him. "Hogwarts is our home."

Dobby gave them a tragic look. "Then Dobby must do it, sirs, for Charlus and Harry Potter's own good." he said before he snapped his fingers once again. This caused the cake to float slowly towards the living room.

Charlus stormed forward, pushing Dobby out of the way, and entered the living room, where he saw Uncle Vernon talking to the Masons, currently oblivious to the cake situation, while Harry stayed behind.

Charlus hastily raised his arms in a desperate attempt to catch the cake, which was now floating directly over Mrs. Mason's head. To make matters worse, his aunt, uncle and cousin had now noticed the floating cake.

But before anyone could do anything and Charlus could get his hands on the cake, Dobby snapped his fingers again, and in the next moment the inevitable had happened. The cake fell and landed with a dull crash directly on Mrs. Mason's head. The colorful cake icing scattered in all directions, completely covering her hair, her face and her expensive clothes.

"Hi." Charlus joked with a small grin,his arms still raised. Harry looked at him in horror. Surely, surely he'd get a nasty bruise for that comment.

"I'm so sorry." Vernon stammered, trying to salvage the situation somehow as he conjured up fake tears of remorse. "It's my nephew. He's very disturbed. Meeting strangers upsets him. That's why I kept him upstairs with his brother."

Charlus then turned quickly to Dobby. The little house-elf smiled contentedly, as if he was proud of his work. But when he saw the look on Charlus' face, the smile quickly disappeared. The boy glared at him angrily.

"The next time I see you, I will strangle you." Charlus whispered to Dobby in a threatening voice. The house-elf took a startled step back and snapped his fingers again, which caused him to disappear into thin air.

A while later, the Masons, shocked and rattled, ran out of the house, Petunia and Vernon following behind them. "We have ice cream..." Petunia tried to say, but the Masons quickly got into their car and drove off as a large tawny barn owl swooped down and dropped a letter at Vernon's feet before swooped out of sight again. He picked up the letter before he turned and ran back into the house, with Petunia following him.

Vernon stormed into the living room, a crazed, monstrous look in his eyes. "Read it!" he hissed evilly, brandishing the letter the owl had delivered. "Go on-read it!"

Charlus took it. It did not contain birthday greetings.

Dear Mr. C. Potter and Mr. H. Potter,

We have received intelligence that a Hover Charm was used at your place of residence this evening at twelve minutes past nine.

As you know, underage wizards are not permitted to perform spells outside school, and further spellwork on your part may lead to expulsion from said school (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C).

We would also ask you to remember that any magical activity that risks notice by members of the non magical community (Muggles) is a serious offense under section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy.

Enjoy your holidays!
Yours sincerely, Mafalda Hopkirk
IMPROPER USE OF MAGIC OFFICE
Ministry of Magic

Harry sighed and shook his head while Charlus gulped. Of course they'd presume it was them.

"You both didn't tell us you weren't allowed to use magic outside school." Vernon said, a mad gleam dancing in his eyes while he looked between the two. "Forgot to mention it... Slipped your minds, I dare say..."

                                                   ────────⊹⊱🐍⊰⊹────────

The next day, their uncle stood on a ladder and drilled metal bars on the windows of Charlus and Harry's rooms while Aunt Petunia and Dudley watched from the floor. He drilled the final screws in to make sure the bars were in place and glared at the boys, who were inside the rooms and glared back at him. "You'll never go to that school again." he announced to them darkly, all his teeth bared. "You'll never see those crazy friends of yours again. NEVER!"

Finally, the man climbed down the ladder and Charlus could barely contain his anger. He turned around angrily and kicked his trunk with all of his strength, which made a muffled noise. "Bloody Dobby!" he muttered.

The house-elf might have saved Charlus and Harry from horrible happenings at Hogwarts, but, now they were stuck in there rooms, locked up like animals in a cage. The prospect of never seeing Ron, Alistair and Hermione again choked his throat. Sighing heavily, he dropped onto his bed and stared at the ceiling.

On the same night, sleep had been restless for Charlus. He had so much on his mind that it was almost impossible for him to fall asleep. The look of irritation when he had finally fallen asleep, only to be woken in the middle of the night by Harry, was unimaginable.

Charlus groaned as his eyes focused on his brother, "You better have a damn good reason for waking me up now." Harry laughed slightly before pointed towards the window. "Look.

The light brown-haired boy quickly got out of bed and walked to the window with Harry following him. As they looked through the window, they saw something flying through the sky, and as soon as it approached his window, they breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. It was a blue car that was filled with their closest friends.

Harry pushed the window up so they could talk through the bars. "Alistair? Ron? Fred? George?" he asked them in surprise. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Rescuing you two, of course!" Ron shouted in response, as matter of factly. Alistair nodded in agreement before he turned to the twins and smirked. "Now, come on, pack your things and we'll get you out of here!" he whispered to them. Charlus nodded his head in understanding, "All right. Let's hurry, Harry."

And with that, they turned to pack their stuff into their trunks. While they did so, Ron attached a rope to the bars on the window to the back of the car. Alistair in the car signaled to Fred, who drove away from the window. A loud bang was heard as the bars broke from the window.

"Well," Alistair said as he looked at the giant hole now in the wall, "There's no way that didn't wake your aunt and uncle. Come on,Charlus Harry! Hurry up!"

As Charlus and Harry passed their trunks and Hedwig and Phoenix's cage to the boys in the car, they heard the rattling of the keys from their Uncle Vernon on the other side of the door. With the sound, they were urged to move even faster.

Once all their things were safely secured in the car, George opened the backseat door and let Harry in. Then it was time for Charlus to get into the car. Alistair grabbed Charlus's arm to help him into it.

All that could be heard was the roar of the car engine and Vernon's loud screaming. Charlus was almost in the car before his uncle had grabbed ahold of his foot to try and pull him back inside. "Come here!"

"Let go of me!" Charlus shouted and tried to pull his foot free, but Vernon continued to tug at it. "No, boy!" the man said to him. "You, your brother and those bloody birds aren't going anywhere." "Get off of him!" Harry shouted.

"Ron, I need backup!" Alistair said, as he himself was almost dangling out of the car. Ron reached over and took the other arm of Charlus. Together they managed to yank him in the car with all of their strength, until Vernon finally let go of him as he nearly fell out the window.

With the six young wizard boys all in the car, Charlus slammed the door shut, rolled down the window and wave goodbye to his aunt, uncle and cousin. He gave them a little smirk before he shouted, "See you next summer! Miss you already!"

The boys all could only laugh about it. "By the way, Charlus,Harry, happy birthday." Alistair congratulated his two best friends, who smiled at him as the blue car flew off into the night sky with 4 Privet Drive disappearing as they moved further and further away.

The drive would probably take until the next morning, and so they used the time to catch up with their friends.

With this great escape, they were able to go to Hogwarts and see all their friends again.

━━ AUTHORS NOTE

And here we go! Chapter one of The Chamber of Secrets!

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Until next time, much love to you all!