That evening, when Harry returned to his room, he was surprised to find an uninvited guest – an unknown house-elf. Harry didn't need to look twice to know that this house-elf wasn't a Potter owned one. It wore a filthy old pillowcase and seemed beaten and underfed. Harry already knew that his house-elves wore uniforms with the house crest prominently displayed and were well fed. Of course, nobody was allowed to beat any of them. Twinkle would have informed him if any such thing happened to one of his house-elves.
"Er – hello," said Harry nervously.
"Harry Potter!" said the house-elf in a high-pitched voice. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, sir… Such an honour it is…"
"Thank you," said Harry. "Not that I'm not pleased to meet you, but, is there any particular reason you're here?"
Harry found it very difficult to speak with Dobby, who was worshipping him yet was afraid of his abusive masters. Dobby also talked somewhat funny. Harry wasn't sure if it was something specific to this house-elf, or just the conditions Dobby was living in. After a few minutes of difficult discussion, he finally made Dobby tell him why he was there.
Dobby leaned toward Harry, his eyes wide as headlights.
"Dobby has come to protect Harry Potter, to warn him, even if he does have to shut his ears in the oven door later… Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts."
"W-what?" Harry stammered. "But I've got to go back – term starts on September first. I can't stay here. I must go to Hogwarts."
"No, no, no," squeaked Dobby, shaking his head so hard his ears flapped. "Harry Potter must stay where he is safe. He is too great, too good, to lose. If Harry Potter goes back to Hogwarts, he will be in mortal danger."
"Why?" said Harry in surprise.
"There is a plot, Harry Potter. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year," whispered Dobby, suddenly trembling all over. "Dobby has known it for months, sir. Harry Potter must not put himself in peril. He is too important, sir!"
"What terrible things?" said Harry at once. "Who's plotting them?" Dobby made a funny choking noise and then banged his head frantically against the wall.
"Harry Potter must gives Dobby his word that he will not return to Hogwarts. Ah, sir, this is a danger you must not face! Say you won't go back, sir!"
Harry had to think quickly. "I can ask my own house-elves to protect me. In case of danger, they can immediately whisk me to safety, so I'm told."
Dobby didn't look satisfied. He gave Harry's words a long consideration and then nodded reluctantly. "Dobby can agree to that, and Dobby will do his best to come and protect Harry Potter at Hogwarts whenever he can. Goodbye, Harry Potter!"
With a muted "crack," Dobby vanished. Harry breathed in relief for a minute or two and then called, "Twinkle!"
The older House-elf appeared silently and bowed slightly. "What can Twinkle do for you, Harry?"
"I've just had a weird visit," Harry started. After telling the whole conversation with as many details as he could remember, he added, "Do you know this Dobby?"
Twinkle gave it a moment of thought. "I think he's the younger Malfoy house-elf. I'll send Badger to talk with him and find out everything. It may take a few days, though, as it can only be done when Dobby is alone."
"That's alright. Whatever the danger is, I don't think it will strike immediately. We probably have at least a day or two after the start of term before we need the information. Can you assign two house elves to guard me at school?"
Twinkle nodded. "You already have four house-elf guards. Luckily, they didn't need to intervene until now."
"I want Hermione to be also guarded," Harry added.
"She is, just the same as you. We must protect our future Lady Potter, you know."
Harry blushed at the implication. "Thank you, Twinkle. I'm waiting for you to report on what danger Dobby thinks we're in."
Twinkle bowed and vanished.
\/\/\/
He didn't keep Dobby's visit secret. Aunt Petunia was quite worried when hearing of it. Learning that Harry had a four-house-elf security escort lessened her worries somewhat. "You should be extra careful this year," she told Harry.
"I will. I also asked my house-elves to try and find some more about this danger, so we may possibly remove it before it affects anybody."
"That's good, but you should still be very careful," she insisted.
That night, when Hermione joined him, he told her everything with utmost details. Despite initially worrying, she calmed down when he finished telling. "So, your house elves are guarding both of us?" she wanted to make sure.
"Well, that's what Twinkle told me. I don't think I noticed any while at school."
Hermione shuddered lightly. "I sometimes had a feeling of being watched, although I saw nobody. Maybe I was really watched then."
They discussed it a bit more and then Hermione changed the subject. "Aren't you curious to see Potter Manor?" she asked him.
Harry shrugged. "I am, somewhat, but it's really not that important. With all we had to occupy us, I didn't even think of that."
"Well, we have a few more days of vacation. You could spend one on visiting there," she suggested.
"You'll come with me, won't you?"
"It's your manor, Harry, not mine," she reminded him.
"In a few years, it will be yours. I think you should come along."
She wasn't sure what she felt about his words, but they felt really good. "But how can we go there? You don't even have an address!"
"I'm sure Twinkle can take us there. I'd like to find the address, so my Aunt can also come. She wouldn't like to fade there, I'm sure, nor to be taken there by a house elf."
"You won't know anything for sure until you go there," she insisted.
"Well, we'll ask Twinkle to take us there tomorrow. Goodnight, dear."
She cuddled closer, letting his arms wrap around her waist, whispering, "Goodnight." A moment later they were both asleep.
As usual, they woke up early and joined Dave for the morning exercises. Harry then faded back to shower and have breakfast. This time, he faded back to Hermione's room as soon as he was done. She was already waiting for him with a wide smile. "I'm ready. Are you?"
"Of course," he said, and then called "Twinkle!"
The house elf materialized almost immediately. "Master needs something?" he asked.
"Can you take us to visit Potter Manor?"
Twinkle smiled widely. "Sure! We were wondering why you haven't visited yet. Here, hold my hands."
A blink of an eye later, they found themselves in the entry hall of Potter Manor. Quite a few house elves were popping in and standing in a long row in front of them. The teens looked puzzled, but Twinkle seemed to look proud. He scanned the elves and then turned to the children. "These are the house elves who serve in the Potter estate in Britain. You have a few more on the continent. I'll have to apologize to them for not calling them here on such a short notice."
He then led them along the line, presenting each house elf by name, main task and additional responsibilities. Harry was getting the impression that the Manor, the fields and groves around it and some adjacent businesses, were all working in perfect order due to these house elves. In a way, they were like employees of a large farming business, only they were doing much more than normal human employees, mainly due to Magic, and were not being paid, yet all their needs were covered by their employers. In a different way, it seemed more like a family business, where people are not being specifically paid, but are actually both owners and employees. He thought this analogy fit.
"I'm really glad to get to know you," he addressed them all after shaking hands with each of them. "Without you, I'm sure that the manor and the rest would have decayed and become derelict. I think of you as part of the family. You may not be biologically related to the Potter line, but you're related magically. I hope you take good care of yourselves and don't hesitate to come to me with any problem I may help to solve."
They all cheered at his words. A moment later, Twinkle waves his hand, dismissing them back to their assigned tasks. He then turned to Harry. "Let me show you the manor. What interests you most?"
He glanced at Hermione and smiled. "I think we should visit the library last, so we can spend more time there. I'd like to start by seeing the house-elf accommodation, if you don't mind."
It took them almost two hours to just have a quick look at all the rooms and a quick tour outside. Hermione was happy to see that the house elves had very nice apartments, suitable for their needs. Both were astounded by the richly decorated main halls of the manor, as well as the master bedroom, the family bedrooms and even the guest bedrooms, of which they had a few tens. The view outside was also magnificent, with various fields and groves being harvested, as well as the formal gardens closer to the building.
As expected, they ended their tour at the library. Hermione was fascinated by its size and by the variety of subjects in it. Unlike the Hogwarts library, about half its size was devoted to muggle books, both fiction and non-fiction, including subjects such as History, Math, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, along with several full editions of the Old and New Testament, some language books and even some about the British (Muggle) social structure.
Harry had a question, though. "Twinkle, I still don't understand how I could summon any book that I wanted since I was only seven. Can you explain?"
Twinkle considered the question for a moment before answering. "There are two parts to this. First, every book that is put in this library is charmed so it can be easily summoned by any member of the family. Second, your librarian," and Harry remembered the old, bent house elf who had that title as his main task, "used to be very attentive to you, when you were much younger, and tried to present you with whichever book seemed most appropriate for the occasion. He dropped this after you reached ten, as by then you were summoning the books directly."
Harry nodded in understanding. "Thank him on my behalf. He really made a significant difference when I was seven, when he presented me with the book about controlling my core. In a way, it almost saved my life."
He then had another question. "Can I bring my aunt here? I'd like to show her this place."
Twinkle gave it a much longer consideration before answering. "There's no Muggle way to come here. No road reaches the estate and its location is unplottable. Only one who is family or invited by a family member can even find the place. You can come here on your own, using 'fading' - as you call it, now that you know the place or you may ask one of the elves to bring somebody here, but no Muggle vehicle can even come close. I'm sorry."
"Can Hermione come and go by herself?"
Twinkle smiled. "Of course, she can. This is her home as much as yours, even if not officially yet."
Hermione blushed hearing this. Was their bond advancing quicker after spending the summer together? She couldn't tell, and they were both closer to each other than any other couple she'd seen. Reluctantly, she thought that even her parents weren't as close, although she and Harry had not yet added the physical aspect of their bond. She wondered when and how that would happen, yet she felt no urgency about it.
They spent the rest of the day in the library with no interruption, except when a house elf brought them some sandwiches and drinks for lunch. After a quick survey, to get a feeling of the way the library was organized and what went where, Hermione decided to see if she could find anything about their bond. She found more books than in the Longbottom library, but they were almost as disappointing. The little additional information found there was no longer new to them, due to their own bond advancing.
Harry also looked for some books about his Lord position and what it meant. He was more successful in finding relevant material, but essentially, it was also useless, as most of it was irrelevant until he reached adulthood.
They faded back to Hermione's room only a few minutes before her parents returned home. "I don't think I'll tell them most of it," Hermione said. "I'll only mention it's a nice house surrounded by a garden, in the middle of an agricultural area. I don't want them to think differently about you due to your possessions."
Harry wasn't sure it mattered. They had already seen the jewels he'd given her. A mansion would seem irrelevant in comparison. He was more troubled about having to tell his aunt that she couldn't visit there without using magical transportation.
He didn't need to worry. Aunt Petunia actually expected it. "I think Lily mentioned how much she liked me and my parents to visit, but said it wasn't possible."