Unedited
Chapter Thirty Three - "SERVED! WITH A SIDE OF SALAD!"
"Don't you want to know how Ginny got hold of that diary, Mr Malfoy?" says Harry.
Lucius Malfoy rounds on him.
"How should I know how the stupid little girl got hold of it?" he says.
"Because you gave it to her," I say. "In Flourish and Blotts. You picked up her old Transfiguration book, and slipped the diary inside it, didn't you?"
I see Mr Malfoy's white hands clench and unclench.
"Prove it," he hisses.
"Oh, no one will be able to do that," says Dumbledore, smiling at me. "Not now Riddle had vanished from the book. On the other hand, I would advise you, Lucius, not to go giving out any more of Lord Voldemort's old school things. If any more of them find their way into innocent hands, I think Arthur Weasley, for one, will make sure they are traced back to you ..."
Lucius Malfoy stands for a moment, and I distinctly see his right hand twitch as though he's longing to reach for his wand. Instead, he turns to his house-elf.
"We're going, Dobby!"
He wrenches open the door, and as the elf comes hurrying up to him, he kicks him right through it. I can hear Dobby squealing with pain all the way along the corridor. I stand for a moment, thinking hard. Then it comes to me.
"Professor Dumbledore," I say hurriedly, "can u give that diary back to Mr Malfoy, please?"
"Certainly, Emily," says Dumbledore calmly. "But hurry. The feast, remember."
I grab the diary and dash out of the office, Harry close behind. I can hear Dobby's squeals of pain receding around the corner. Quickly, I take off one of my shoes, pull off my sock with has lemons on, and stuff the diary into it. Then I run down the dark corridor.
We catch up with them at the top of the stairs.
"Mr Malfoy," I gasp, skidding to a halt, "we've got something for you."
And I force the sock into Lucius Malfoy's hand.
"What the -?"
Malfoy rips the sock off the diary, throws it aside, then looks furiously from the ruined book to me.
"You've turned into blood traitor scum," he sneers at me. "I regret ever letting your family into my home."
"The feeling's mutual," I sneer back.
He turns to go.
"Come, Dobby. I said, Come!"
But Dobby doesn't move. He's holding my sock and looking at it as though it's a priceless treasure.
I mean, it is pretty cool.
"Master has given Dobby a sock," says the elf in wonderment. "Master gave it to Dobby!"
"What's that?" spits Mr Malfoy. "What did you say?"
"Dobby has got a sock," says Dobby in disbelief. "Master threw it, and Dobby caught it, and Dobby - Dobby is free."
Citrus to the rescue!
Lucius Malfoy stands frozen, staring at the elf. Then he lunges at me.
"You've lost me my servant, girl!"
But Dobby shouts, "You shall not harm Emily Swift!"
There's a loud bang, and Mr Malfoy is thrown backwards. He crashes down the stairs, three at a time, landing in a crumpled heap on the landing below. He gets up, his face livid, and pulls out his wand, but Dobby raises a long, threatening finger.
"You shall go now," he says fiercely, pointing down at Mr Malfoy. You shall not touch Emily Swift or Harry Potter. You shall go now."
Lucius Malfoy has no choice. With a last, incensed stare at the three of us, he swings his cloak around him and hurries out of sight.
"SERVED!" I yell, "WITH A SIDE OF SALAD!"
"Emily and Harry freed Dobby!" says the elf shrilly, gazing up at us, moonlight from the nearest window reflects in his orb-like eyes. "You set Dobby free!"
"Least we could do, Dobby," I say, grinning. "Just promise never to try and save our lives again."
The elf's ugly brown face splits suddenly into a wide, toothy smile.
"I've just got one question, Dobby," says Harry, as Dobby pulls on my sock with shaking hands. "You told me all this had nothing to do with He Who Must Not Be Names, remember? Well -"
"It was a clue, sir," says Dobby, his eyes widening, as though this is obvious. "Dobby was giving you a clue. The Dark Lord, before he changed his name, could be freely named, you see?"
"Right," says Harry weakly. "Well, I'd better go. There a feast, and our friends should be awake by now ..."
Dobby throws his arms around Harry's middle and hugs him. Then he hugs me.
"Harry Potter is greater by far than Dobby knew!" he sobs. "Farewell, Emily Swift, Harry Potter!"
And with a final loud crack, Dobby disappears.
*
I've been to several Hogwarts feast, but never one quite like this. Everybody is in their pyjamas, and the celebrations last all night. I don't know whether the best bit is Hermione running towards us, screaming, "You solved it! You solved it!" or my epic hug with Elinor and Maya (We banged our heads together. -_-) or Justin hurrying over from the Hufflepuff table to wring to my hand and apologise endlessly to Harry and I for suspecting us, or Hagrid turning up at half past three, cuffing Harry, Ron and I so hard on the shoulders that we're knocked into our plates of trifle, or mine, Harry and Ron's six hundred points securing Gryffindor the House Cup for the second year running, or Professor McGonagall standing up to tell us all that the exams have been cancelled as a school treat ("Oh, no!" says Hermione), or Dumbledore announcing that, unfortunately, Professor Lockhart would be unable to return next year, owing to the fact that he needs to go away and get his memory back. Quite a few of the teacher join in the cheering that greets this news.
"Shame," says Ron, helping himself to a jam doughnut. "He was starting to grow on me."
*
The rest of the summer term passes in a haze of blazing sunshine, with it my birthday. Hogwarts is back to normal, with only a few, small differences: Defence Against the Dark Arts classes are cancelled ("but we've had plenty of practise at that anyway," Ron tells a disgruntled Hermione) and Lucius Malfoy has been sacked as a school governor. Draco is no longer strutting around the school as though he owns the place. On the contrary, he looks resentful and sulky. On the other hand, Ginny Weasley is perfectly happy again.
Too soon, it's time for the journey home on the Hogwarts Express. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Ginny, Maya, Elinor and I get a compartment to ourselves. We make the most of the last few hours in which we're allowed to do magic before the holidays. We play Exploding Snap, set off the very last of Fred and George's Filibuster Fireworks, and practise disarming each other by magic.
I'm sorting out my bag when I find my diary. "Hey," I say, and everyone looks up. "My diary! I forgot about this. I only did like three entries."
"What're your gonna do with it?" Maya asks.
"Well, I've kind of gone off diaries," I laugh and throw it out the window.
We're almost at King's across when I remember something.
"Ginny - what did you see Percy doing, that he didn't want you to tell anyone?"
"Oh, that," says Ginny, giggling. "Well, Percy's got a girlfriend."
Fred drops a stack of books on George's head.
"What?"
"It's that Ravenclaw Prefect, Penelope Clearwater," says Ginny. "That's who he was writing to all last summer. He's been meeting her all over the school in secret. I walked in on them kissing in an empty classroom one day. He was so upset when she was - you know - attacked. You won't tease him, will you?" she adds anxiously.
"Wouldn't dream of it," says Fred, who's looking as if his birthday has come early.
"Defiantly not," says George, sniggering.
"I told you he had a girlfriend," I say smugly. "You both owe me a galleon."
Grumbling, they hand two over to me.
"All's fair in love and war, and in this cause it's a little bit of both!"
The Hogwarts Express slows and finally stops.
Harry pulls out his quip and some parchment and turns to us.
"This is called a telephone number," he tells Ron, scribbling five times, tearing the parchment in five and handing it to us. "I tell your dad how to use a telephone last summer, he'll know. Call me at the Dursley's, okay? I can't stand another two months with only Dudley to talk to ..."
"Your aunt and uncle will be proud, though, won't they?" says Hermione, as we get off the train. "When they hear what you did this year?"
"Proud?" says Harry. "Are you mad? All those times I could've died, and I didn't manage it? They'll be furious ..."
Harry, Elinor and Hermione say goodbye and walk back through the gateway to the Muggle world.
"I'll see you when we go back to Hogwarts," says Maya, hugging me tightly.
She's going to Australia for the whole summer. Bitch is leaving me!
Ron, George, Fred and Ginny say goodbye too and hurry over to their parents, leaving me standing awkwardly searching for my mum or dad.
I don't see them, how odd.
I pull my trunk with me as I sit on a bench to wait.
Ten minutes later, they're still not here, and I'm beginning to get a weird feeling in my stomach like something is wrong.
"Emily?" says a voice and I jump.
Mr Weasley is standing next to me, smiling kindly. "Are you okay?"
"Um, yeah, just waiting for my parents, I think they might have forgotten."
Awkward.
"Well, I can take u back via floo powder if you want."
"Yeah, sure," I smile weakly, getting to my feet. I wait patiently as Mr Weasley tells his family what he's doing and when he comes back, he takes my trunk and we walk over to the fireplace, taking some floo powder from the side as we do.
"Do you want to go first?" he asks and I nod.
I step into the fireplace, throw the powder in and say "7 Crown Street."
I disappear in a whirl of flames and smoke and I'm suddenly in my fireplace at home. But something is very wrong.
Stepping out, I look at the mess the kitchen is in and gulp. Behind me Mr Weasley appears. He quickly takes out his wand and pulls me behind him. We walk slowly forward and enter the living room.
It's in even worse shape than the kitchen. The sofa has been flipped, the TV is shattered and all the CD's have been blown to bits. And on the floor in pools of blood ...
"Mum," I whisper, "Dad." I break away from Mr Weasley's hold and fall to the floor next to them. "Mummy, please wake up. Daddy, don't leave me."
I begin to sob, unaware of Mr Weasley's spells and the flurry of people arriving. I only realise that I'm not alone, when someone pulls me to my feet.
"NO!" I scream, pulling against them. "LET ME GO! LET ME GO! MUM! DAD!"
"Shhhh," I regnise Professor McGonagall's soft voice, "you can't do anything for them now."
Sobbing harder, I stop fighting and collapse, McGonagall holding me up, watching the healers take my parents away.
"Are they dead?" I ask quietly, hiccuping.
"I don't know," she says, rubbing my back.
I don't know. All I know is that my life is never going to be the same again.
---
DUN DUN DUN
So that's the end of the second book! The third book A Hogwarts Legend: Changing Paths is up now so go along and read that!