1: a warning from an unlikely source

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"By the way, happy birthday, Harry."

"Thanks, Percy." Harry smiled. "It's too bad that we won't be able to do anything for either of our birthdays this year, unlike last year."

"Yeah, pity." The two boys had gotten taller over the summer. Harry was still just a bit shorter than Percy and their voices had both deepened just a small bit. They still looked much the same as they did while they were still in school, with their matching wild black hair and similar mannerisms. Harry was slightly paler than Percy and his eyes were a bit more green, Percy's eyes being more blue, resembling the sea. Harry still had his circular glasses and lightning bolt shaped scar in the middle of his forehead. Because everything was almost the same, going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry seemed almost like a dream to Percy. But he was reminded that it was, in fact, real whenever his gaze happened to land on the one dresser in the room.

On the dresser were two cages, one slightly larger than the other. The larger one contained Percy's owlgriffin, a magical animal that had the body of a small snow leopard and the head and wings of a snowy owl. The owlgriffin, which had started as a regular owl when he was first bought, was named Kasper. Harry's snowy owl, Hedwig, was in the other cage. She had been making quite a fuss all afternoon, much to the displeasure of Harry's aunt and uncle, Petunia and Vernon Dursley. As soon as Percy and Harry had gotten back from school, the Dursleys had taken all of their things and locked them away in Harry's old bedroom, the cupboard under the stairs. Vernon had also taken the time to find locks to put on the animals' cages, not letting them get out and fly around. Hence the reason why Hedwig was making so displeased and making so much noise. Kasper seemed to not mind it as much - he always spent more of his time sleeping.

The boys talked for a bit more, stopping when Hedwig let out a particularly loud hoot. They went quiet, knowing exactly what was going to happen next. As predicted, they heard the stomping footsteps of Uncle Vernon come up the stairs. The Dursley family had all been in the living room for a while, getting ready for a visit from some higher-ups from Vernon's drill company.

The bedroom door banged open and the man poked his head in, furious. "If I hear one more thing from those bloody birds, they'll have to go."

Harry stood up to defend them. "If they could just go outside for a little while-"

Harry was interrupted. "Absolutely not! I won't be having your bloody bird and whatever that thing is," he gestured vaguely at Kasper, who hooted in protest, "sending little messages to those freaky friends of yours! The Masons will be here in forty-five minutes and I want those birds quiet!" With that, he turned and slammed the bedroom door shut behind him.

Percy rolled his eyes. "That man, I swear..."

"Hedwig, come on, I'm sorry. You can't go outside, yes, I know that he's awful," Harry was trying to console his bird. He eventually quieted her down and sat on his bed with a sigh. The two boys didn't speak; there was nothing to speak about. Percy was reading one of the books he had stolen from the shelves downstairs and Harry was once again looking through the small red book of pictures that the groundskeeper at Hogwarts had given him at the end of the year.

Sometime later, around thirty or forty minutes, Percy heard Vernon shout for them from downstairs. They got up and made their way down, trying not to be too noisy. Aunt Petunia was in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on the cake she had made for the Masons' visit and Uncle Vernon was adjusting his son's tie, the neckpiece squeezing his neck.

"Right," Vernon said. "Let's go over it one more time. Dudley, when the Masons arrive, you will be-"

"In the entryway, waiting to take their coats and umbrellas," the Dursleys' son said proudly.

He nodded at his son proudly. "Right you are. And, Petunia-"

"In the lounge." The thin woman opened her arms as if to the invisible Mr. and Mrs. Mason. "Waiting to welcome them graciously into our home."

Vernon turned to Percy and Harry, no longer smiling at his family. "And you two will be," he growled.

At the same time, they said, "We'll be up in our bedroom, making no noise and pretending we don't exist."

Vernon nodded shortly and the sound of a car pulling into the driveway filtered through the half-open windows. "Now, go." They raced upstairs, both trying to get away as fast as possible and be the first one back to their room. Harry won; he had blocked Percy in the landing. Percy followed Harry through their door and closed it behind him. Then he stopped short at the sight of what was inside of their bedroom.

There was a small creature standing on Harry's bed. It was about two feet tall with pale wrinkly skin and great big bat like ears. When it turned around, Percy saw that its eyes were a grassy green color the size of tennis balls. It was wearing what looked like a dirty pillowcase instead of clothes.

"Harry Potter," it said in awe. Its voice was high and squeaky. Then it turned to Percy and its eyes widened with fear. "P-Perseus Jackson." It turned back to Harry, avoiding eye contact with Percy. "I can't tell you what an honor it is to meet you, sir."

"It's Percy."

"Er, not to be rude or anything," Harry said, "but what exactly are you?"

"Oh, Dobby is a house elf, sir."

Percy spoke up. "And what exactly is a house elf doing in our bedroom?"

Dobby flinched. "Dobby has come to warn Harry Potter, sir, oh most noblest sir of the house of Jackson, Dobby has come to warn Harry Potter to not go back to school!"

Taken aback, Percy said, "Well, er, why don't you sit down, or something."

Dobby's eyes widened, this time with amazement. "Never, have I ever, sir, been asked to sit down by a wizard, let alone a wizard of your line." Dobby seemed to choke. "Like an equal..." The elf burst into noisy tears that the Dursleys surely heard from downstairs.

They hurriedly calmed him down, shushing him as much as possible. Harry laughed half-heartedly. "Well, you can't have met many decent wizards, then."

Dobby shook his head, blowing his beaked nose on his pillowcase. "No, I haven't." Then he seemed to realize what he had said. He leaped up, his small body evading Percy and Harry easily, and started banging his head on their dresser, saying, "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"

Harry managed to pry him away from the dresser before any of the Dursleys came to investigate. "Dobby, stop! What's wrong with you?"

"Dobby apologizes, sir. Dobby mustn't speak ill of his family, you see. He had to punish himself."

Percy was appalled. "What kind of people do you live with!" Dobby just looked at him nervously. "And why do you keep looking at me as if I'm going to hit you? What was it you said earlier about Harry not going back to school?"

"Oh, yes. The Jackson family is one of the longest pureblooded lines, sir, related very closely to the others. Dobby just thought..." Dobby trailed off, looking wary. "Dobby just thought that Perseus Jackson would be like the others, m-mean and cruel!" Luckily, the elf continued before he could try and punish himself. "But Dobby has come to warn Harry Potter, sir, that he must not go back to school! Evil things are happening at Hogwarts this year, and Harry Potter must not be in any danger!"

Harry furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean I can't go back to school? It's where I belong - it's where we belong." He gestured to himself and Percy, who nodded in agreement. "We have to go back, Dobby. Hogwarts is our home. I have friends there and-"

"Friends that don't even write to Harry Potter?"

Harry stopped moving and Percy raised his eyebrows from where he was by the door. "Hang on," Harry said. "How do you know that I haven't been getting any letters?"

"Yeah, Dobby. How do you know our friends haven't been writing to us?"

Dobby sheepishly ducked his head and reached behind his back. He pulled out a rather large stack of letters after a moment, making Percy wonder where in Merlin's name he had been keeping all of those letters. "Dobby only wanted to keep Harry Potter safe," the house elf said, "Dobby thought that if Harry Potter thought that he had no friends, he might not want to go back to school, sir."

"Well, you thought wrong. Give me the letters, Dobby." Harry reached for the letters, but Dobby was too quick. The elf slipped past Harry and shoved Percy out of the way, surprisingly strong given his small stature. Percy, followed by Harry, ran after the elf, following him down the stairs and past the front door to the entrance of the kitchen. Dobby was standing behind the kitchen counter, safe from the two boys' grasp. "Dobby, get back here!" Harry whispered. Dobby shook his head, his large ears flapping about wildly, and snapped his fingers.

The pudding that Petunia had been preparing for the Masons started levitating, at first not moving, but then slowly making its way over to the group in the living room. "Dobby, stop! No!" Percy said quietly. Harry pushed past his brother and went after the pudding, his arms outstretched. "Harry, no!" But it was too late. Dobby had snapped his fingers again and the pudding fell right on top of Mrs. Mason's head. Then Dobby snapped his fingers again and disappeared.

"-our nephew," Uncle Vernon was saying, distressed, "He's very disturbed. He and his brother don't like strangers so we kept them upstairs..." The Masons were having none of it. Getting up and ranting about stupid bloody kids, they stomped past Percy and left, slamming the door behind them. Their car was heard rolling out of the driveway a second later. Percy stepped out into the kitchen to join Harry, who was staring at the remains of the pudding in shock. Vernon turned to them, his face bright red. "What the blazes do you think you're doing! That would have been the deal of the year, it would've, and you two just had to go and mess everything up-"

He was interrupted by a huge barn owl slamming into the living room window, a letter clutched in its beak. Aunt Petunia screamed. Percy hurriedly went to go let it in and took the letter. Before he could open and read it, however, Uncle Vernon stormed over and ripped it out of his hand. The man opened it furiously, muttering about pigeons and disrespect all the while reading it. But slowly he went quiet and looked up, an evil look in his eye. "It says here that you two aren't allowed to do magic. It says that one of you performed a spell, and the next offense will be getting you expelled!" Gleefully, he shoved the letter at them and let them read it, Harry looking over Percy's shoulder.

Dear Mister Potter and Mister Jackson,

At seven-thirty-seven this evening it was brought to the Ministry's attention that one of you performed a levitation charm in front of several muggles. It is unclear who exactly performed the charm, but the offense will be going on both of your permanent records. As this is your first offense, no disciplinary actions will be needed. If, however, another violation of the Statute of Secrecy and Underage Magic is made, you will be expelled from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Have a good evening,

Mathalda Hopkirk

Improper Use of Magic Office

Ministry of Magic

When Percy looked up from the letter, Harry having already finished, Uncle Vernon was grinning madly. "You never said anything about not being allowed to do magic outside of that freaky school of yours...must have slipped your mind..."

****

Sorry for not updating sooner, I have been quite busy with makeup homework and just school in general. But now it's break and I will be able to update later this week - I'm going to California for a few days and I won't be bringing my laptop with me.

I hope you enjoyed the first official chapter in the second book of the Percy Jackson and Harry Potter series, and please comment any grammar or spelling mistakes you may have found while reading.

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