Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J. K. Rowling [252]
“They are sort of nice, aren’t they?” she said, looking at it fondly.
The door of the Room of Requirement opened and then closed again; Harry looked around to see who had entered, but there did not seem to be anybody there. It was a few moments before he realized that the people close to the door had fallen silent. Next thing he knew, something was tugging at his robes somewhere near the knee. He looked down and saw, to his very great astonishment, Dobby the house-elf peering up at him from beneath his usual eight hats.
“Hi, Dobby!” he said. “What are you — what’s wrong?”
For the elf’s eyes were wide with terror and he was shaking. The members of the D.A. closest to Harry had fallen silent now: Everybody in the room was watching Dobby. The few Patronuses people had managed to conjure faded away into silver mist, leaving the room looking much darker than before.
“Harry Potter, sir …” squeaked the elf, trembling from head to foot, “Harry Potter, sir … Dobby has come to warn you … but the house-elves have been warned not to tell …”
He ran headfirst at the wall: Harry, who had some experience of Dobby’s habits of self-punishment, made to seize him, but Dobby merely bounced off the stone, cushioned by his eight hats. Hermione and a few of the other girls let out squeaks of fear and sympathy.
“What’s happened, Dobby?” Harry asked, grabbing the elf’s tiny arm and holding him away from anything with which he might seek to hurt himself.
“Harry Potter … she … she …”
Dobby hit himself hard on the nose with his free fist: Harry seized that too.
“Who’s ‘she,’ Dobby?”
But he thought he knew — surely only one “she” could induce such fear in Dobby? The elf looked up at him, slightly cross-eyed, and mouthed wordlessly.
“Umbridge?” asked Harry, horrified.
Dobby nodded, then tried to bang his head off Harry’s knees; Harry held him at bay.
“What about her? Dobby — she hasn’t found out about this — about us — about the D.A.?”
He read the answer in the elf’s stricken face. His hands held fast by Harry, the elf tried to kick himself and fell to the floor.
“Is she coming?” Harry asked quietly.
Dobby let out a howl, and began beating his bare feet hard on the floor. “Yes, Harry Potter, yes!”
Harry straightened up and looked around at the motionless, terrified people gazing at the thrashing elf.
“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?” Harry bellowed. “RUN!”
They all pelted toward the exit at once, forming a scrum at the door, then people burst through; Harry could hear them sprinting along the corridors and hoped they had the sense not to try and make it all the way to their dormitories. It was only ten to nine, if they just took refuge in the library or the Owlery, which were both nearer —
“Harry, come on!” shrieked Hermione from the center of the knot of people now fighting to get out.
He scooped up Dobby, who was still attempting to do himself serious injury, and ran with the elf in his arms to join the back of the queue.
“Dobby — this is an order — get back down to the kitchen with the other elves, and if she asks you whether you warned me, lie and say no!” said Harry. “And I forbid you to hurt yourself!” he added, dropping the elf as he made it over the threshold at last and slamming the door behind him.
“Thank you, Harry Potter!” squeaked Dobby, and he streaked off. Harry glanced left and right, the others were all moving so fast that he caught only glimpses of flying heels at either end of the corridor before they vanished. He started to run right; there was a boys’ bathroom up ahead, he could pretend he’d been in there all the time if he could just reach it —
“AAARGH!”
Something caught him around the ankles and he fell spectacularly, skidding along on his front for six feet before coming to a halt. Someone behind him was laughing. He rolled over onto his back and saw Malfoy concealed in a niche beneath an ugly dragon-shaped vase.
“Trip Jinx, Potter!” he said. “Hey, Professor — PROFESSOR! I’ve got one!”
Umbridge came bustling around the far corner, breathless but wearing a delighted smile.