Chapter 116. Flourish and Blotts and Dobby
As a traditional wandmaker, Ollivander had always believed this:
It is the wand that chooses the wizard, not the wizard who chooses the wand.
This naturally applied to Devil's Snare as well.
Three wands had chosen the same master—or rather, the same Devil's Snare.
On second thought, when the wands themselves were made from the Devil's Snare's own body, such a choice seemed perfectly reasonable.
In the end, Ollivander sold all three wands to Adrian Wesson.
After obtaining its three favoured wands, the Devil's Snare slid down from Adrian, passed through the suitcase portal he always carried, and returned to the plantation.
It could not wait to cast spells with wands that truly belonged to it.
For a while, spells of different colours whizzed everywhere across the plantation.
Adrian, meanwhile, walked towards Flourish and Blotts at the other end of Diagon Alley—Harry should already have bought what he wanted.
At the same time, inside Flourish and Blotts—
Harry had left the complete Broomstick Servicing Kit he'd just bought with a shop assistant, and was now casually flipping through books by a shelf in the corner.
"Gadding with Ghouls, Wanderings with Werewolves…" Harry murmured the titles, opening each in turn, and found that they were all by the same person.
They told thrilling tales of an adventurer named Gilderoy Lockhart.
On the cover, a blond man with gleaming white teeth grinned rather foolishly, but the stories were indeed gripping—Harry was reading with great relish.
Just as he turned to an exciting chapter of Voyages with Vampires, a high, thin voice suddenly sounded at his feet: "Harry Potter!"
Harry's hand jerked; the book snapped shut.
He looked down. A hideous little creature was gazing up at him, tennis-ball eyes shining eagerly.
The creature was very short, shorter than Harry, with a ragged bit of cloth hanging off him—looked like a pillowcase?
Harry froze for a moment and recognised what the creature was—a House-elf.
He had seen similar beings in the Hogwarts kitchens.
Harry asked carefully, "Who are you?"
"Dobby! Sir, Dobby the House-elf," Dobby said excitedly. "Dobby has important things to tell you, sir!"
"Welcome—" the clerk's voice floated over from the door.
Dobby darted his gaze left and right, those huge ears trembling with his movements.
It would be awful if someone saw them!
He tugged at the hem of Harry's robes and pulled him behind the bookcase.
Harry felt rather baffled.
Once he was sure no one nearby was paying them any mind, Dobby lowered his voice and said to Harry, "Harry Potter, sir, must be careful! Terrible things will happen at Hogwarts this year! Dobby has come to warn you, honoured Harry Potter."
"Just call me Harry," Harry said with a frown.
"Ah!" Dobby's face crumpled as if he might cry. "Harry Potter lets Dobby call his name—Dobby is so happy. No one has ever treated Dobby this way…"
In truth, Harry knew about House-elves, and he knew that ordinary House-elves usually had a master.
Yet the way this Dobby was acting toward him did seem a bit too strange.
"Who is your master, Dobby?" Harry asked.
Dobby's eyes suddenly bulged; terror twisted his face. "Dobby cannot say his master's name. Dobby should not have come here. Dobby has spoken ill of his master!"
As he spoke, he began to slam his head hard against the shelving. "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"
The bookcase began to shake violently.
"Stop!" Harry grabbed Dobby at once.
Smack!
It sounded like a book hitting the floor.
However, when Harry looked down, there was nothing there.
"What's going on here?"
A shop assistant came over, brow furrowed, eyeing Harry and the wobbling shelf with suspicion.
Harry glanced to where Dobby had just been—at some point, Dobby had vanished.
"Nothing," Harry said quickly, shaking his head. "I heard something drop from the very top of the shelves just now."
"Drop?"
The assistant swept a glance over the floor, then said dubiously, "There doesn't seem to be anything here."
Suddenly, he seemed to remember something and began groping around on the floor.
After a moment, his eyes lit up.
Harry stared in astonishment as the assistant lifted his hand and held it mid-air, as though he'd grabbed something invisible.
"It's The Invisible Book of Invisibility!" he said to Harry in delight. "We've been searching for these invisible books for ages! Thank you for your help, sir!"
"Er…" Harry scratched the back of his head. "You're welcome."
The assistant fetched a long ladder and climbed up to feel around the top of the bookcase.
Soon enough, he came down, satisfied.
"We paid a fortune to order these," he said, "but after the first day, we've never been able to find them."
Harry fell silent for a while. He really didn't know what to say—who would even read books you couldn't see?
Just then the assistant noticed the Voyages with Vampires in Harry's hand.
"Ah, Lockhart," he said with a friendly smile. "Since you helped us track down those troublesome invisible books, take Voyages with Vampires as a thank-you. And by the way, next month Mr Gilderoy Lockhart himself will be here for a signing."
Lockhart, eh? Harry's interest pricked up a little.
After the assistant left with an armful of "air," Harry glanced to one side.
Dobby's form became visible again right beside him.
"Harry Potter must be careful!" Dobby blurted. "Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts—it is dangerous there…"
"What are you on about!" Harry said, perplexed.
"Harry Potter must stay where it is safe," Dobby muttered on, ignoring him. "Harry Potter is so great, so kind—if he goes to Hogwarts he will surely be in danger."
"What danger could there possibly… be…"
Harry's voice grew weaker.
Well…
Last term had been rather dangerous, hadn't it?
At that moment, a familiar voice came from the doorway: "Harry?"
It was his teacher!
Harry hurried out and found Adrian standing at the door, looking around.
He ran over at once, confusion still lingering on his face.
"Professor," he said, "I just met a very strange House-elf."
"A House-elf?" Adrian glanced around despite himself. "House-elves don't usually appear in bookshops."
Harry took Adrian by the hand and brought him to where Dobby had just been.
"Dobby?" Harry called softly.
But the wrinkled House-elf did not appear.
"Looks like he's gone," Adrian said, shrugging at Harry.
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