bookbashuk Chapter 41 The Robbery of the Letter and the House-Elf
Chapter 41 The Robbery of the Letter and the House-Elf
Picking up where we left off, Harry saw the dwarf snatch the letter from the owl and realized that the lack of a reply for several days was due to the scoundrel's machinations.
A surge of malevolent energy welled up inside Harry, his very being filled with a foul, stagnant smoke. He slowly approached, tossed aside his Invisibility Cloak, drew his sword, and slashed, cursing, "You bastard! Take this!"
The dwarf panicked when he saw Harry, snapped his fingers, vanished in an instant, and reappeared a few steps away.
Harry was shocked when his sword missed its mark: This strange fellow was quite skilled, possessing such a ability to shift the universe, could it be the ability to teleport?
"Oh! Harry Potter has found me!" the dwarf cried out, tugging at his long ears and banging his head against the wall. "Dobby the Dumb! Dobby the Stupid! Mr. Harry Potter has caught me!"
This dwarf monster was only concerned with punishing himself; when he started crashing, he became ferocious, lost all passion, and reckless. Like a drumbeat, his head slammed against a stone wall; like being struck by lightning, he slapped his own face with his fingers; like sieves, his body trembled uncontrollably.
The dwarf monster mutilated itself ruthlessly, but Harry ignored it, thinking it was just a ruse. He rushed forward and swung his knife to strike again.
"You scoundrel! Grandpa isn't some kind of benevolent bodhisattva who eats vegetarian food and chants Buddhist prayers!"
"If you obediently return my letter, I'll grant you a proper burial!"
The blade, carried by the night wind, slashed down, but the dwarf snapped his fingers and reappeared several meters away, crying out pitifully, "Sir, Dobby didn't mean to steal your letter; he just wanted you to forget those wizard friends—it's the only way to protect you!"
Upon hearing this, Harry thought to himself: This guy is really strange. He intercepted my letter, but he's talking about protecting my life.
Unfortunately, this little bird is incredibly slippery. I'll just let it chatter for now and wait for an opening before chopping off its head.
With that thought, Harry stood with his knife in hand, saying, "You scoundrel, tell me your name."
"Oh! Sir, my name is Dobby, Dobby the house-elf."
Dobby had a pair of strange, bulging eyes, and tears rolled down his face like broken beads, washing away the wrinkles and leaving the greasy rag soaked with a salty, fishy smell.
"Dobby has long heard of your greatness, sir. But I only know of your kindness today... and I stole your letter! Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"
Just moments before, he had been praising Harry's benevolence, but in the blink of an eye, he seemed to have gone mad, destroying himself and bleeding profusely, oblivious to pain.
His shouting was annoying Harry, who yelled, "Shut up!"
This loud shout silenced Dobby, who dared not move again, his voice choked back.
Harry said, "You were just trying to protect my life, so where did that danger come from?"
"Ah! Sir, you're willing to believe me!" Dobby was overjoyed, but then exclaimed in horror, "A great event will happen at Hogwarts this year, and no one will be able to escape that disaster. It will be very dangerous for you to go to the school, sir."
"You must sever all ties with the magical world."
Harry thought to himself, "How can Hogwarts be so full of trouble? This guy is probably just trying to fool me."
He questioned, "If Hogwarts is truly in trouble, how would you know?"
Dobby opened his mouth, then knelt down and pounded his head on the ground, shouting, "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby! You need to be punished!"
"Almost betrayed his master! You idiot Dobby! You moron Dobby!"
Seeing this fellow coming to make noise again, Harry brandished his knife to silence him.
Dobby, showing great respect for Harry the Savior, quickly fell silent, his bulging eyes glancing at him every now and then.
Harry, sensing his suspicion, pondered for a moment and asked, "Who are you working for? And what is your master's name?"
"No! Dobby can't tell you, sir! Dobby can't be a bad house-elf!" Dobby looked terrified and tried to bang his head on the ground, but he was afraid of Harry's anger.
"But, sir, I am not here to protect you under anyone's orders. You are the savior, so great and merciful... Dobby is determined to protect you from danger..."
Harry listened to his rambling for a while, but like Dumbledore, he only spouted some incomprehensible and nonsensical nonsense, which angered Scarface so much that he lost his temper and stopped talking.
"Unadobi, hand over my letter and take another beating from me, and I'll let this matter go."
"No problem!" Dobby's strange eyes lit up. "Then, sir, aren't you going to Hogwarts?"
Harry sneered, "I'm going anyway! Even if Voldemort sets up a mountain of knives and a sea of fire, I'll charge in and out seven times!"
"No! Why won't you listen to Dobby's advice, sir!" Dobby shook his head in alarm. "If you don't agree, sir, Dobby can't deliver the letter—"
Before he could finish speaking, Harry thrust the knife at him.
This is like a thief who snatches a letter and then pretends to be righteous. How could Harry tolerate this? He just wanted to chop off the bastard's head.
"Sir, please, you really can't go back to Hogwarts!"
Dobby snapped his fingers and vanished, dodging the blade.
Harry, however, had already planned ahead. Suddenly, he drew his wand and cast a lightning spell at the nearby target.
As soon as Dobi's figure appeared, the curse struck him. A flash of lightning appeared, and after a few screams, he fainted.
At this opportune moment, Harry swung his knife, about to strike, when Dobby suddenly opened his eyes and cried out, "No! Master is calling Dobby!"
Having said that, he snapped his fingers and flashed to the roof beam in the alley.
"Dobby will never let Mr. [Sir] be put in danger! I will continue to protect him in my own way!"
Another snap of the fingers, and he vanished without a trace.
Dobby fled, and Snow White regained her senses. After looking around for a moment, she flew to Harry's shoulder and curled up.
Although the curse had left Dobby charred and battered, Harry's anger still simmered.
After he had finished getting ready, he wrapped the dagger in an invisibility cloak and returned to Privet Road with Bai Xuegu.
It was now a quarter past midnight when Harry pushed open the door and saw the house brightly lit, with the Dursleys all sitting on the sofa.
Upon seeing Harry, Vernon grinned maliciously and tossed a letter at him.
"Hey kid, how was it going out partying in the middle of the night? Did you have so much fun that you forgot you can't use your lame tricks here?"
"You didn't tell us we couldn't use magic off-campus," Vernon said maliciously. "Forgot to mention it...did you forget about it, I guess..."
"Hey, kid, I'm going to lock you up, and you'll never be able to go back to that school. If you try to escape using magic—they'll expel you!"
After Vernon finished speaking, he felt a sense of great joy and satisfaction. Penny and her son Dudley looked at him with admiration and echoed his sentiments.
Harry was already in a bad mood, and these guys were just trying to rub salt in his wounds.
Scarface lifted his invisibility cloak, and with a sharp clang, he drew his monk's knife and roared, "You bunch of bastards, want to test the sharpness of my monk's knife!"
There is a way to teach magic spells, which can slash more deeply than charred flesh; a messenger owl delivers a letter, using a magic wand in secret, which violates the law. Desley, seeing the letter, is arrogant and wants to lock up the scarred man; beneath the invisibility cloak, a sword is drawn, to teach him a lesson in impermanence. To find out what happens next, stay tuned for the next installment.