When Harry arrived at Douglas's house, he was greeted by an unusually enthusiastic Dobby, who bustled about carrying his luggage and pouring him tea.
The attention made Harry squirm—he'd never had anyone, let alone a magical creature, wait on him like this before.
It got even stranger when Dobby pulled out one of Harry's old socks, clutching it to his chest as he burst into grateful tears.
"Thank you so much, Harry Potter! Dobby is a free house-elf now, and he's even found a well-paying job…"
Harry was utterly flustered, but Douglas stepped in with a few soothing words, and Dobby's emotions gradually settled.
To celebrate their reunion—and Harry's birthday—Dobby cooked every dish he'd learned in recent days, laying out a veritable feast for Harry and Douglas. With great ceremony, he insisted that the cost of the meal be deducted from his wages.
"This is my treat!" he declared earnestly.
Throughout the meal, Harry ate slowly. Partly because there was simply too much food, and partly because he was trying to stall until nightfall—hoping to get back to the Dursleys in time to cram some Defence Against the Dark Arts homework.
But after an hour, Douglas had Dobby clear away the dishes and turned to Harry.
"Harry, make yourself at home. You're free to play with the computer and the games—after you finish your homework, of course."
Harry nodded eagerly.
"Of course, absolutely. Professor—Uncle, I'm working on my Transfiguration homework, but there are a few bits I don't get. Could you help me?"
Without waiting for a reply, he rummaged through his trunk for the assignment, then added,
"By the way, since Aunt Marge was coming, I sent my owl, Hedwig, off with Ron's owl, Errol, to deliver some letters. Would it be okay if Hedwig stays here for a while? I promise she's very well-behaved."
Douglas smiled.
"Of course. I'm sure Dobby will take excellent care of her.
Now, how's your Defence Against the Dark Arts homework coming along? Summer's more than halfway over—you must have done some by now. Show me what you've got…"
Harry froze. For a split second, he considered claiming he'd left the homework at the Dursleys'. But in the end, he abandoned the idea of lying to Douglas. Blushing, he admitted,
"I… I haven't started yet…"
At that moment, Dobby popped out of the kitchen to offer comfort.
"It's all right! Dobby hasn't done today's homework either…"
Harry stared at Dobby, blinking hard. Was he really hearing this from a house-elf?
He couldn't help but wonder if his so-called uncle had hired a house-elf not as a servant, but as a student to tutor at home. Maybe this whole "family reunion" was just a clever ruse to get another pupil…
Douglas said calmly,
"Well, if neither of you has done your homework, what are you waiting for? Get to it!
Wangcai! Don't touch that…"
Harry jumped at the sudden shout. He glanced down and spotted a small, black-furred creature with a long snout creeping along the wall toward his trunk.
At the sound of Douglas's voice, the animal froze, gazing up at the trunk with big, pleading eyes.
Intrigued by the creature's obvious intelligence, Harry guessed it had to be a magical beast.
"Professor—Uncle, is it hungry?"
Dobby's eyes lit up. He pulled out a shiny Galleon and handed it to the creature, beaming.
"That's a Niffler—he's the boss's pet! His favorite thing is Dobby's Galleons… Dobby loves sharing them with him. He's my friend!"
Douglas could only shake his head. Ever since he'd started paying Dobby, the house-elf had made a habit of giving the Niffler a Galleon every morning. Now, the first thing Wangcai did each day was find Dobby, stand there looking adorable, and wait for his daily coin.
Douglas hadn't stopped it—after all, having a friend to share with was helping Dobby recover from his years of servitude.
Besides, every week, Douglas would fish a few coins out of Wangcai's pouch to buy Dobby new clothes, treating it as a gift from the Niffler.
But now, seeing Harry digging out his own money pouch and pulling out a Galleon in curiosity…
Before Harry could even crouch down, Wangcai leapt onto his shoulder, snatched the coin, and waved it triumphantly at Douglas—as if to say, "Look! This one's mine!"
Harry burst out laughing at the Niffler's antics.
Douglas rolled his eyes.
Soon, Harry and Dobby settled obediently at the little desks Douglas had set up, and began working on their assignments.
But Harry couldn't stop talking as he wrote:
"The Dursleys never let me do my homework—I had to write my assignments under the covers every night…"
"And Dobby, I'm sorry I haven't eaten your cake yet. I'll eat it tonight when I get back…"
Maybe it was because he'd barely spoken to anyone for over a month, but Harry was unusually chatty.
Dobby chimed in with a gasp or an exclamation after nearly every sentence.
It got so noisy that even Wangcai, who'd curled up in his treasure bowl, crawled out to tug on Douglas's sleeve and point at the two chatterboxes.
"Harry, you need to finish at least one Defence Against the Dark Arts essay tonight. Watch the time.
Dobby, you need to finish your reading reflection today, too. There's new material tomorrow.
Honestly, with such a tight schedule, you two still have time to gossip?"
It wasn't until midnight that Harry finally managed to finish his first Defence Against the Dark Arts essay. He thought to himself that this might be the most memorable birthday he'd ever had—he'd discovered he had an uncle, who turned out to be his professor, and who had rescued him from the Dursleys' for a day…
He stretched, glancing over to see Douglas still hunched over his desk, scribbling away.
"Uncle, I've finished my first Defence Against the Dark Arts essay. Would you take a look?"
He took the chance to peek at what Douglas was writing—all sorts of symbols he couldn't recognize.
Douglas put down his pen and took Harry's essay.
Harry asked quietly,
"Do you know who the next Defence Against the Dark Arts professor will be? Do you know them?"
Douglas gave a cold little laugh, not even looking up.
"Of course I know. Don't worry—I'll be sure to tell them to pay extra attention to you…"
Harry looked like he'd rather disappear, but didn't dare protest. He was terrified that if he said anything more, Douglas would arrange for the new professor to give him extra assignments—like copying out the textbook by hand…
He could only sit there quietly, watching Douglas mark his work.
"In a bit, Dobby will come back and Apparate you straight home to the Dursleys."
Harry asked in a low voice,
"What's Apparition? Is that the magic Dobby uses to pop in and out?"
Douglas didn't answer directly.
"You really ought to read more, Harry. On the bookshelf, third shelf from the bottom, fifth book from the left—everything you want to know is in there."
Harry was already used to the embarrassment. Honestly, he'd never experienced being so closely supervised to do homework during the holidays.
He pulled out the book—A Brief Discussion of Apparition—and started reading seriously.
Apparition is restricted to witches and wizards aged seventeen and above…
Harry muttered,
"Seventeen, huh? No wonder I didn't know. Maybe only Hermione would bother reading about magic for older students…"
Before long, Dobby emerged from the storeroom. "Boss…"
Douglas nodded and told Harry to wait a moment, then followed Dobby inside.
Soon, Douglas came out, shaking his head in disappointment, while Dobby quickly returned a dog to its original spot.
He'd been researching house-elf magic lately, especially Apparition. Finally, he'd tried using new runic arrays to set up a fresh Anti-Apparition Charm in the house.
Unlike the usual Anti-Apparition Charm, his version not only blocked house-elf Apparition, but also allowed him to set who could and couldn't Apparate within the magical array.
At the moment, only Douglas and Dobby could Apparate anywhere in the house.
The success of his runic magic array gave Douglas hope for combining the magic of both worlds.
🔥 Want to read the next 20 chapters RIGHT NOW?
💎 Patreon members get instant access!
⚡ Limited-time offer currently running...
👉 [Join on - patreon.com/GoldenLong]