Something moving in circles on her tummy woke her up. Opening her eyes the girl in the bed looked around the room she was in. She and Papa had gone to Diagon Alley under Glamour a few weeks before and bought her new furniture. It was white with silver and blue linings. The room itself was coloured light blue and white and was situated at the east of the house, so that the morning sun shone directly in the room. Yawning widely, the girl sat up in the bed and picked up the grey Zenko kitten she had gotten last year. A hoot from a snowy owl made her smile and stand up to go to pet the owl as well. Looking around her room she sighed. She was happy and never wanted to leave this place. It was her home. Hers and Papa’s. She smiled when she realized what day it was and quickly put the kitten on the floor while she rummaged through the wardrobe, only to pull a summer dress on her lithe body. The dress was silver with spaghetti straps and fell to her knees in soft waves. She had gotten it from Papa the day they went to Diagon Alley. She couldn’t thank him more, but he just waved his hand and said it was a reward for being the best student in the year. She grinned proudly at that and hugged the dress to her chest. Running to the adjoining bathroom she took care of her morning business and after brushing her hair, put it in two neat pigtails, tied with two silver ribbons. It was a very special day today and she wanted to look her best.

Do you know what day it was?

It was her birthday, the thirty-first of July and she was twelve that day. She was never as excited about her birthday as she was today, for she would have her family to celebrate it with! She grinned at the thought and hurried out of the bathroom to her room again and stopped in her steps. There, on her bed was a house-elf. It wasn’t one of the Hogwarts house-elves for she knew all of them already. It had to be someone else’s. The house-elf bowed to her so low that she was scared that it would break its back as he greeted her.

“Miss Arielle Potter, it is a great honour to meet you at last.”

The girl simply smiled and sat down opposite the house-elf. She patted the bed in an invitation to sit down and got quite a big shock when the house-elf started to bawl over it.

“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” she asked it softly as she went on to pat him on the back. The house-elf simply cried harder and started to hiccough.

“No one has ever invited Dobby to sit.”

So, the house-elf’s name was Dobby, she smiled to herself as she pulled the trembling body in her lap as she tried to shush him gently. She always had a soft spot for animals and creatures, whatever the race and species. She would probably fell in love with Norbert, Hagrid’s pet dragon if she saw it too.

“Shh,” she soothed him as she rubbed its back and when the sobbing stopped, she pulled a handkerchief out of her nightstand and dried the tears from Dobby’s big eyes that were blinking at her. When the tears were dry, she smiled at the creature sitting in her lap and asked him gently,

“Now, why are you here Dobby? Do you have something to tell me?”

Dobby’s ears suddenly dropped as he tried to explain why he had come through the stuttering. Arielle thanked her lucky gods that she was submitted to the stuttering of professor Quirrell last term and knew what the house-elf said.

“D-Dobby h-has come t-to warn M-Miss A-Arielle Potter. Miss A-Arielle Potter must not got back to Hogwarts this year!”

She was left gaping. What was that supposed to mean? She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down as she watched as Dobby scrambled down from her lap and started to hit his head on one of the bed stands. With a roll of her eyes, she quickly snatched the poor creature before it hurt itself even more and hugged it once more.

“Don’t do that,” she said gently, “You’ll only hurt yourself.”

She thought about what Dobby told her mere moments ago and asked him quietly,

“Why shouldn’t I go back to Hogwarts? Is something wrong?”

Dobby sniffled before he looked at her again with his impossibly big eyes. What he told her then shook her to the core.

“There are dark plottings for this year at Hogwarts, Miss. Miss Arielle Potter is in danger if she goes there.”

She bit her lip as she tried to think of an answer, but the house-elf beat her to it.

“Dobby begs of Miss Arielle Potter not to go to Hogwarts! Dobby does not want to see Miss Arielle Potter in danger!”

She sighed and looked up, only to see her Papa standing in the doorway, watching the creature in a mix of a shock and anger. She hugged the creature closer to her, as if trying to protect it, and asked,

“What should we do?”

Professor Snape moved then and closed the distance between Arielle and him. Sitting down next to her and the creature in her lap, he opened his mouth to respond, when Dobby looked up and shrieked as he put himself between Arielle and the professor.

“Get away from Miss Arielle Potter! You is a bad wizard! You is a friend of my Master!”

Arielle’s eyes widened as she almost felt the magic tingle as the creature threw a shield over them. She opened her mouth wide and stared at it, while professor Snape scowled and retreated a few steps with his hands up to show that he wasn’t armed. Arielle tugged Dobby back on her lap and made him look in her eyes.

“Dobby, professor Snape won’t hurt me. He’s been taking care of me since last summer. And he didn’t hurt me once in all that time. He’s not a bad wizard.”

Dobby was still hissing at the professor, but started to calm down as he listened to Arielle’s story. She had continued on telling him all that had happened between her and the professor. Finally, the shield dissipated and the house-elf moved from the girl’s lap to look miserably down at his feet. Only a hand on his shoulder prevented it from going to smash his head in the bed posts again. Then he sighed and said,

“Dobby will ask professor Snape, sir, to protect Miss Arielle Potter with everything he has. Dobby wants a Wizard’s Oath.”

Professor Snape sighed at this as well and sat back down on the bed as he looked the house-elf in the eyes and said in a quiet, but determined voice,

“You have my Oath.”

Dobby smiled at him with his toothy smile and disappeared with a flick of his fingers. Arielle and professor Snape were left alone.