Unlucky Dobby

"What a bumper haul, Kano."

The Weasleys happily left with their share of the commission, already planning what treats to buy the children when they got home.

Kano looked worriedly at the huge pile of property deeds and the thick stack of Gringotts receipts.

His original intention had not been to make money, but to drain the pure-blood families of their liquid funds and easily convertible assets.

After all, in relatively peaceful times, money was what gave these pure-blood families the capital to stir up trouble.

If they were all short on cash over the next few years, they would behave themselves a great deal more. Even if Voldemort returned someday, raising an army of Death Eaters would still require money.

Empty promises alone could not solve the practical problem of feeding people and horses, while property deeds could not be directly exchanged for food or used to reward subordinates. Kano had intended to use this method to cut off Voldemort's potential foreign dark wizard reinforcements.

But the results now seemed a little too good. Kano had briefly looked through them just now, and the deeds even included some families' herb plantations and magical ore mines.

Those were all high-quality industries that could continuously feed money into a family's coffers. Kano was now worried that some families might be driven into a corner by having nothing left and wholeheartedly follow Voldemort into rebellion.

He could not exactly give everything back to them, could he? Forget it. He would keep an eye on those families and observe them more closely in the future.

Deeply aware that he had underestimated wizards' desire for descendants, Kano handed all the assets to Kreacher for safekeeping. At least until Voldemort was thoroughly dead, those property deeds should not see the light of day again.

After wrapping up this potentially far-reaching operation, Kano quietly began planning for the coming school year.

The Chamber of Secrets? Kano had no intention of letting all that happen. On the larger scale, a Basilisk was not some harmless pet. If something went wrong, the students could very well suffer heavy casualties.

On the smaller scale, Ginny was the one being controlled by the diary. The girl was quite adorable, and she was practically related to Kano. He was not about to watch her fall into that pit.

There was nothing wrong with admiring Harry. I can play matchmaker for you two. Harry was young and rich, and marrying him meant she would not have to deal with any mother-in-law drama. What a wonderful future husband.

No, no. That was far too immoral.

Kano straightened his thoughts and forced his mind back on track, leaving Harry, who had come to Kano's home to take refuge, staring at him in confusion.

"Kano, what are you thinking about? Why aren't you saying anything?" Harry asked, setting down the dumbbell in his hand.

"Heh, nothing. What did you just say?" Kano hurriedly covered it up.

"I was saying, why haven't Hermione and Ron written to me at all this holiday? If I couldn't come here to catch my breath, I'd start wondering whether Hogwarts had all been a dream."

Kano frowned, seeming to remember something, and called Kreacher over.

"Have any owls come to deliver letters to Harry recently?"

"Yes, young master." Kreacher remained as respectful as ever. "And all of their letters were delivered."

"But I never got any. Could Uncle Vernon have hidden them again?" Harry asked doubtfully.

"Impossible. Owls only deliver letters directly into the hands of those with magic," Kreacher denied. "Yesterday alone, I saw two owls deliver letters to you."

"Say no more. I know what's going on." Kano curled his lip.

He remembered now that Dobby had been causing trouble behind the scenes this time. Dobby knew that his master Lucius was going to cause trouble at Hogwarts this year, and he wanted to keep Harry from getting hurt by preventing him from attending school.

Dobby was the one who had cut off his communications, but Kano had not thought of it at the time.

"Someone must have intercepted your letters. Kreacher."

"Yes, young master. At your command."

"Keep watch over the next couple of days and catch whoever's intercepting the letters," Kano ordered.

"Do you want him alive, young master?" Kreacher asked seriously.

Kano was left rolling his eyes. He truly had no idea what filthy work the Black Family had made Kreacher do in the past.

"Of course I want him alive. On the condition that you keep yourself safe, bring him back as intact as possible."

That night, Harry suddenly heard shouting and the sounds of fighting from the window. But they stopped very quickly, and Harry went back to sleep in confusion.

Early the next morning, when Kano came downstairs to do his morning exercises, he saw Dobby—beaten so badly he barely looked like a house-elf anymore—tied up tightly in the living room. Kreacher was placing breakfast on the table.

"Good morning, young master." Kreacher bowed. "I have found the letter thief and conducted a preliminary interrogation, but he has said nothing."

"You tortured him?"

"It was necessary. The Black Family has a very good book on the subject. Unfortunately, young master, you wanted him kept intact, so many methods could not be used," Kreacher reported regretfully.

Kano slapped his forehead hard. On the surface, he was correcting Kreacher, but in truth, he was fighting against the Black Family's values, twisted by generations of rot.

"Dobby, right?"

The house-elf, bruised and swollen with blood streaking his face, froze. Then he frantically began slamming his head against the floor.

"Bad Dobby, bad Dobby! Dobby exposed himself! Harry Potter is going to be in danger!"

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Kano had no choice but to hit him with a Full Body-Bind Curse. "I know you won't tell me anything. Listen carefully: in a little while, I'll call Harry over to my house. You can talk to him face-to-face."

Once Kano had finished his morning exercises and eaten breakfast, Harry indeed came over again.

"Go see that house-elf. He intercepted all your letters." Kano took his teacup and left the living room to get some fresh air, leaving the space to this atypical elf and Harry.

Dobby had completely messed things up despite his good intentions. According to the original course of events, he would seal off the magical barrier at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters this year, and even enchant a Bludger to knock Harry off his broom.

What kind of madness was that? With the slightest mistake, Harry would not even need to face the Basilisk. His head would be smashed open, and he would end up lying safely in a graveyard.

He would let the two of them talk it out themselves. Kano considered himself an ordinary person; he simply could not connect with Dobby's way of thinking.

Just then, a strange screech of brakes came from the sky. An old Ford stopped perilously in front of Kano's house, then its doors opened by themselves.

One of the twins—George or Fred, uh, Kano couldn't tell which—sat in the driver's seat, while Ron and the other twin poked their heads out of the rear windows. Ron called blankly, "Kano, where's your house?"

"Right here, Ron."

Kano hurried over to open the gate. This time, the flying old Ford obediently drove in, leaving deep tire tracks across the lawn Kreacher had carefully tended.

Kano seemed to glimpse Kreacher through the window, gritting his teeth as he scrubbed the dishes.

"Hey, Harry hasn't replied to any of our letters, so we came here to check on him." The twins draped their arms around Kano's shoulders from either side. "Nice place you've got here. At least there aren't any gnomes in the garden."

Harry saw them too and ran out of the house excitedly.

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