"Please hold on tight to Dobby, or even Dobby won't know where you might get flung."
Lorne froze for a moment. It suddenly occurred to him that Dobby could bring others along when he Apparated.
But the conditions were extremely demanding. For one thing, the caster had to concentrate fully on picturing the destination; for another, anyone being carried had to hold tightly to the caster to avoid being thrown off.
Lorne actually wanted to let go, but he was also a little curious about why Harry was so desperate to summon him.
In that moment of hesitation, a violent tearing sensation assailed him from all sides, as though he had been tossed into a washing machine full of gravel.
Lorne swore that if using Apparition himself was this painful, he would never learn the spell.
In the blink of an eye, Lorne appeared in Harry's home.
Harry sat nervously on his bed. After Dobby left, he had even figured out on his own to spread his first-year textbooks open on the desk as a show of respect for a teacher's home visit.
Forced into making a home visit, Lorne surveyed Harry's room. A wooden desk, a wooden bed, a wooden cabinet, and a battered chair-even spotlessly clean, they still looked rather shabby.
"Director Lorne, you really came?"
Lorne didn't think Dobby would spare his dignity, so he made no attempt to hide it and said bluntly, "Your house-elf grabbed my arm and brought me here."
Harry scratched his head. "Sorry, Director, but he isn't my house-elf."
Lorne nodded. Of course he knew. He even knew more than Harry did about where Dobby came from.
Touching the iron bars nailed across the outside of the window, Lorne asked in puzzlement, "They locked you up? Didn't you give them money for your living expenses?"
"I did..." Harry said hesitantly. "But one day I accidentally used a little spell, and after Uncle Vernon saw the warning letter the Ministry of Magic sent, they locked me up."
Lorne walked over to Hedwig's cage. The poor little thing's feathers had lost some of their sheen, and a few vegetable leaves lay in her food dish.
Harry added sheepishly, "They only let me use the toilet twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. They bring in three bowls of cold soup at set times every day. I saved those vegetables from my own food."
Once again, Lorne saw Harry's predicament firsthand. The casually spoken words "going hungry" might mean a hunger like ten thousand ants gnawing at his heart every night before he went to sleep.
Harry was still trying to explain himself. "I didn't mean to have Dobby bring you here..."
"It's all right, Harry," Lorne said solemnly. "You've already done remarkably well. You grew up in an unhappy environment, yet not only did you avoid going astray, you developed a sensitive nature. I'm very glad you knew to ask me for help."
Harry smiled back.
He loved listening to Director Lorne speak. He always managed to say just the right thing beautifully without seeming to try. Talking to someone with high emotional intelligence was so comfortable. Hogwarts couldn't afford to lose Director Lorne.
Dobby gaped. Hadn't Lorne been unwilling to come just now?
"As you can see, Director, I'm trapped in this room. Vernon and Dobby both want to stop me from going to Hogwarts."
Dobby still remembered Harry's promise. "Harry Potter said he wouldn't go to Hogwarts if Dobby brought Lorne Miles here."
Harry looked to Lorne for help.
Lorne said, "A promise should certainly be kept. But the problem now is that even if Harry agrees not to go to Hogwarts, I still have to take him there."
Harry finally felt reassured. He looked earnestly at Dobby. "I promise I won't go to Hogwarts, Dobby, but there's nothing I can do. The teachers are going to drag me there."
Hearing the sudden additions of "the teachers" and "drag me there" to Harry's account, Lorne couldn't help twitching his eyebrows.
Dobby cried shrilly, "No! Harry Potter will be in danger at Hogwarts!"
"What danger, exactly?" Harry challenged.
Lorne did know. Lucius had planted a diary from Voldemort's youth at Hogwarts, and the events that followed would involve the Chamber of Secrets, the heir, and so on.
But so what?
That hardly counted as danger to Lorne. Besides, with Dumbledore's protection, nothing would happen to Harry either.
Dobby hesitated. He had barely said, "A very bad person," before he immediately clamped his mouth shut and began banging his head against the cabinet.
"Dobby! Dobby!" Harry repeatedly tried to stop him. "Stop banging your head! Doesn't it hurt? Besides, that's my only cabinet."
Lorne couldn't stand the noise either. He put his hand in front of the cabinet. "If you think Hogwarts is dangerous, you should go to Hogwarts to protect Harry. If you can't go, tell someone capable to keep a closer eye on him, rather than keeping him confined."
"No one can protect Harry Potter! This plot involves You-Know-Who!"
Dobby thought that would frighten the two of them, but to his surprise, Lorne and Harry exchanged a look and snorted in unison.
Harry declared shamelessly, "I'm not afraid of anyone. Even if I have to die, I'll use my knowledge and die fighting, rather than starve to death in an old room boarded shut."
At the word "knowledge," Lorne finally noticed the books lying open on Harry's desk.
"Good, studying even during the holidays." Lorne walked over for a look, then said in exasperation, "Don't tell me you're still reviewing your first-year textbooks, Harry."
Harry lowered his eyes and remained silent.
"All right, Harry is going to Hogwarts in the end. I know you mean well." Seeing Dobby about to object again, Lorne hurriedly cut him off. "Besides, you're a house-elf, yet you've let Harry go hungry. That's absurd."
Dobby stammered, "I'm not Harry's house-elf, and dressed like this, I can't cook in Harry's kitchen..."
Lorne went to the window and examined the iron bars nailed across it. He could use a Levitation Charm to drive something into them and knock them loose, but if the object wasn't hard enough, it might shatter and injure him.
Leaving traces of magic might also cause trouble for Harry. Whatever else could be said of the Ministry of Magic, it certainly knew how to get in the way.
Seeing the thin screws in the moonlight, with only two fasteners on each iron bar, Lorne shook his head. Confinement on this level could only hold a child like Harry.
He tossed Harry's books onto the bed, sprang onto the desk, and adjusted his stance to put his strength behind the blow. Under Harry and Dobby's bewildered gazes, he kicked the middle iron bar loose.
Lorne still had strength to spare. "When Dumbledore first came to see me, he came in through the window. If he hadn't been without a reindeer to ride, I'd have thought he was there to make up for ten years of Christmas presents I'd missed."
As he spoke, Lorne kicked off two more iron bars, leaving enough room for him to squeeze through.
"Now," Lorne panted, looking back at Harry and Dobby, "who wants to go out for a late-night snack?"