"It's you!" Harry burst through the doorway, his right fist clenched, glaring at Snape with pure fury.
Snape avoided Harry's eyes, fixing his gaze on the boy's left hand instead. A mocking smirk curled at the corner of his mouth. "The famous Potter," he drawled coldly, "even your vaunted broom-handling skills couldn't save that fragile little body of yours?"
Harry's face burned red. He gritted his teeth and spat, "I beat Slytherin!"
Vizette glanced at Harry's hands and noticed the oddity: his left arm, including the hand, hung limp and boneless, swaying like a rubber hose.
"Professor Lockhart did this," Harry protested hotly.
"Ah, of course," Snape sneered, malice gleaming in his eyes. "I completely understand. The great Snape adores this—shifting blame onto others. Should I summon the entire Hogwarts student body to sing a dirge for your lost bone?"
"I beat Slytherin!" Harry repeated, his voice rising.
Snape's lip curled. "Then can you beat Ravenclaw?"
Harry's mouth fell open, but no words came out.
Vizette pressed his lips together and turned his attention to the black bubble hovering nearby.
Suddenly, Dobby's voice echoed from inside it. "Harry Potter! Run! You'll be killed!"
"Dobby?" Harry exclaimed, stunned. "Who's going to kill me? Snape?"
Snape arched an eyebrow. "Disrespecting a professor—five points from Gryffindor."
"I seem to be late," Dumbledore said mildly, materializing in the doorway. He glanced at Harry. "This house-elf, Dobby, appears to know you well."
"We're not friends at all!" Harry snapped, shaking his head furiously. "If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have that Ministry warning!"
From the bubble, Dobby's voice quavered with sorrow. "Dobby only wants to save Harry Potter—the great savior. Why are you still at school?"
Dobby had warned Harry Potter so many times. Why ignore Dobby's pleas? Why not go home after missing the train?
"So it was you!" Harry's eyes widened in outrage. "Because of you, I had to spend the afternoon with Snape!"
Dobby kept rambling. "This is the last resort... Why must we go to these lengths? Dobby had to burn his own fingers..."
Snape's eyebrows shot up, his voice a venomous hiss. "Disrespecting the professor again—Gryffindor loses another—"
"Ahem!" Dumbledore cleared his throat sharply, cutting him off. "Harry, ask Dobby why he's done this. Would someone really commit a crime at Hogwarts?"
Harry swallowed his anger and nodded. "Dobby, tell me—why?"
"Harry Potter must know..." Dobby's voice broke into sobs, mournful and strained. "A terrible thing has happened... History repeats... The Chamber of Secrets has been opened..."
A sharp clattering sound cut through, muffling his words. "Dobby can't say these things! Bad Dobby! Very bad Dobby!"
The noise seemed to soften Harry's tone. "Who's trying to hurt me? Malfoy?"
"Dobby... Malfoy?" Snape interjected sharply. "Vizette, show me this house-elf's face."
Vizette nodded, flicking his wand to shrink the bubble just enough to reveal Dobby's head.
The elf was bound in ropes, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth—likely from slamming his chin against his chest.
"He's Lucius Malfoy's house-elf," Snape said with a frown. "I've seen him before. But he shouldn't... I'll fetch Draco."
With that, Snape swept out of the headmaster's office, his black robes billowing behind him.
...
"It was Malfoy trying to get me!" Harry gasped later, piecing it together. "The Rogue Bludger that attacked me—wasn't that your doing too? You wanted Malfoy to win!"
"Harry Potter... stop asking poor Dobby!" the elf groaned. "I can't say... or I must punish myself..."
Before he could finish, he jerked his head back, smashing his chin into his chest again
Vizette's wand flicked once more, weaving fresh ropes around Dobby's head and tying it securely to his body. The elf ended up trussed like a mummy, his wild struggling finally ceasing. He stared at Vizette with wide, terrified eyes.
"Terrible... so terrifying! Exactly the same... completely identical..." Dobby's voice trailed off as he slumped into unconsciousness.
"He thinks Vizette is scary?" Harry muttered, incredulous, like he'd heard the world's most absurd joke. "Has Malfoy brainwashed him or something?"
Dumbledore waved a hand dismissively. "He's an unusual house-elf, that's all—with an unusually strong will."
While Snape was still gone, Vizette experimented a bit. "Headmaster, should we try Veritaserum? Even with my skills, I doubt it'll break through easily."
House-elves' loyalty to their masters often blunted the potion's effects on magical creatures.
"A last resort," Dumbledore murmured. "If standard Veritaserum fails, Severus can brew a specialized batch."
Vizette nodded. "We'd need to tweak the dosage of the silent bird feathers... and let it mature for a month. That's quite a wait."
Harry, catching their exchange, blinked in confusion. "What are you two talking about? Truth serum?"
"A potion," Vizette said with a smile. "It's complicated—borrow Moste Potente Potions if you're curious. Page 234."
"Powerful Potions!" Harry yelped, instinctively stepping back.
"Have a seat," Dumbledore said, conjuring a chair. "Soon, I'll take you to Madam Pomfrey."
Harry nodded and perched on the stool. "Thanks..."
"Headmaster," Vizette continued, "I could try extracting his memories. Dobby mentioned the Chamber of Secrets—he knows something. The Memory Extraction spell might bypass his master's orders."
Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully. "Magical creatures' minds are chaotic. It won't be straightforward."
"I'll find a fulcrum," Vizette replied, grinning. "It's good practice for breaking a Memory Charm later, right?"
…
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