A House Homecoming for All

Dobby was bothered living in such close quarters with the one who first impregnated him - well, not to say that Flitwick had done it on purpose really, after all, the Dark Lord could be very persuasive and the debauched house elf sometimes even felt a pang of guilt whilst he observed the fellow midget under the power of imperio. However, after that wretched girl and her even dafter friend had unearthed his carefully lain plans - to abandon the cretin in the woods so that the house elves might have some prospect of retaining their freedom once more - all was for nought.

Dobby too was suckered into Voldemort\'s dissertation of how Slytherin was the one to enslave his race in the first place, so it would only be a logical assumption for another dark wizard to release them; Dark Lords also had a penchant for casuistry and changing their minds at any given moment, which strangely went unaddressed.

Of course, Dobby couldn\'t have it look like he\'d changed HIS mind, and so, Miss Slytherin had to endure the consequences of meddling, even though she had the best intentions for Dobby in the end. Appealing to her in the hospital bed after her fight with Tiera probably hadn\'t been the best choice to make, especially since the girl had a developed sense of humility; but Dobby just wanted the truth to get out and for someone, even if it had meant putting their own life at stake, to know just why he was betraying Hogwarts.

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Andrew sought out Dumbledore as soon as he could walk without falling into Draco\'s arms (which he really didn\'t mind too much anyway), an invitation ever implicitly offerred every time he caught him to which Andrew could only offer a mild blush in response. However, when he passed Fawkes\' pedestal warily, he couldn\'t help but have the feeling that Dumbledore already knew that his most innocently loyal, despondent house representative was dead.

\"Sir?\" Dumbledore\'s back was turned to his window, overlooking the enchanted lake where the Giant Squid appeared to be attempting some majestic synchronization routine with all of its tenticles. He swiveled around and clasped his hands on the desk in front of him with a disturbingly penetrating \"crack\" whilst Andrew smiled sheepishly.

\"Have you anything you wish to tell me, Andrew?\" the old man queried, a glaze of idleness lurking in the back of his retina, translating through to sporadic twitches as if following some uncensored form around the ceiling. Andrew checked behind him automatically for good measure, but quickly shook of the old coot\'s idyosyncracies.

Sighing heavily and sitting down as lightly as he could as to not disturb the man\'s psychosis, Andrew decided to get right to the point, \"Sir, Tiera is dead. She killed herself two nights ago.\"

To this, Andrew\'s eyes grew tired in their efforts to remain open and the weight of his tears fell havily onto his muggle slacks. Dumbledore didn\'t make a sound until Andrew looked back up. To his utter bewilderment, the geriatric was grinning broadly.

\"You mean that Miss Slytherin is dead?!\" he shouted gleefully to Andrew\'s determined scowl.

\"No, Professor. I mean that Tiera, Miss Hufflepuff, was working side by side with the Dark Lord from the time she arrived here and then committed suicide at the meeting Jessica and Cait attended where they were going to kill the baby! Cait and the child are both in the infermary right now, see for yourself!\" Andrew had stood up halfway through and was now panting and turning a bright crimson - this was too much to absorb!

Dumbledore\'s face fell as he placed it in his hands upon his desk filled with nonsensical mediums he probably had no inkling how to use anyway, but merely made him look worldly and intelligent.

\"I see, my boy... you may go now...\" he murmured, but Andrew wouldn\'t budge without some concessions being made.

\"Don\'t you think you owe Jess an apology for the way you\'ve treated her this whole time? She\'s not evil - for the last time, she\'s as evil as I am and a hell of a lot braver than Cait! You know, Cait may\'ve rescued me and the baby, but Jess saved the world from being devastated by a power-hungry Christian who wanted to re-enact the crucifixion and nativity scene in one go!\"

Dumbledore would not relent, however, as he was sleeping throughout Andrew\'s admonishment. Andrew sighed and made his way back to the infermary where Cait was still chatting with Pomfry about the future of the child; he only hoped Jess did make it back in time for school.

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\"Well, I\'d better pop by the manor first, you know, to see what I can repair with the most expediency,\" Lucius drawled and prepared to apparate when Jess caught him by the wrist.

\"Don\'t you think you ought to say hello to your son first?\" Lucius gave her a haughty glare and snatched his appendage from her roughly.

\"I don\'t see why, he\'s perfectly capably of returning as he-\"

\"Lucius! The boy\'s been through hell these last few days and you won\'t even check up on him first thing!\" Jessica snarled, smacking him hard against the cheek; both Snape and Cait looked on enraptured, recalling how often they felt the urge to do just that several times during their little reparte.

\"God, woman - if you weren\'t more affluent than I was...\" Lucius rubbed his face wearily and gripped his cane threateningly only to have it wrenched from his grasp.

\"What do you think your\'e doing!\" He boomed and leapt upon Jessica, who in turn chucked the cane at Snape who threw it to Cait, who then threw it back to Snape who hurled it in the Squid\'s lake - Lucius\' efforts had been terminally useless in this impromptu game of piggy-in-the-middle and collapsed onto his knees, shouting, \"Stella!\"

Jessica cocked a brow and placed a hand on her hip, \"You named your cane Stella?\" Lucius clawed his way back up to the earth and grabbed Jess by the upper arm.

\"Fine, we\'ll see my God forsaken son, THEN go back to the manor-\"

\"Lucius, I\'ll get your cane ba-\"

\"No, Jessica, you were right. Draco deserves some minute deliverence since times and corresponding duties have been so challenging as of late,\" Lucius grounded out between clenched teeth, Snape stalking purposefully behind them along with a wide-eyed Cait asking if she was alright.

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\"I don\'t think we\'ll ever be able to raise our daughter normally, love,\" Flitwick shudderred as the one thing he\'d always wanted was really a family he could embrace as the charms he taught. Dobby mimicked sympathy for a few moments, before trotting off in the gereral direction of the kitchen, propounding the excuse of obligatory lunch preparation.

Looking mindfully at the ground relatively close to his face, he heard the faint sound of arguing a few coridors down. It sounded as if a party had just returned and Dobby\'s heart flew to his mouth - what would Jessica think of him after what he\'d done to her in Hagrid\'s Hut? After the way she persecuted Flitwick\'s unwittingly diabolical acts, he could only imagine what sort of chastising accompanied by austere punishment he\'d recieve. Hiding behind a pillar with irrespective grace, he watched as his old master led Jess by the arm, followed by an abusive Snape threatening to hex him if he didn\'t let her go. The one who\'d found him lurked behind, frantically trying to pry their bodies apart fruitlessly and all at once, the hoard stopped. Dobby\'s breath hitched as Malfoy adapted into canine personification and scented the air warily.

\"He\'s here, I\'d recognise that stench anywhere...\" Jessica stroked the place where Lucius\' fingers had pressed so insistently.

\"Why could you just have told us you were tracking Dobby for heaven\'s sake - honestly, your communication skills are most questionable at times, Lucius,\" Jessica said a jabbed him in the arm.

To this Lucius merely scoffed and resumed his task of lofty superiority with a vengance. Sighing heavily, Jessica decided it was best to ask Dobby to come out nicely, as it would be a long, arduous time before anyone could coerce the Malfoy to leave the wretch in peace until Dumbledore finally did his job and sent him into exile.

\"Dobby, we won\'t hurt you if you come out, I promise. We\'ve disarmed Mr. Malfoy,\" Lucius shot her a withering glare and towered over her menacingly until Snape\'s want poked him poignantly in the ribs with a papable smirk from behind.

\"Dobby is still scared about what Miss Slytherin might do - Dobby is sorry, please miss!\" the sqeaky voice yelped from somewhere in the room, the high, ornately gothic ceilings not helping by their prided resonance and Cait rolled her eyes abjectly.

\"Dobby, I promise I won\'t let any of them hurt you -\" Snape broke into chortles at this and if Lucius hadn\'t had a wand to his back, he wouldn\'t joined in as well. Jessica scowled at Cait at the insinuation that she\'d take her revenge on the obviously disjointed elf without warning.

\"Dobby is thinking...\" they heard softly until all at once, the little sprite appeared out of thin air as was his custom when entangled in a situation he\'d more than prefer not to be in.

\"Ah, there you are. Right, by now, someone should\'ve come to fetch you, but as you can see, Mr. Malfoy is being dealt with accordingly and is serving his penance for his negligence,\" Snape drawled from behind the blonde who was becoming more agitated from being held in place without leave to strangle and maim.

Cait shuffled angrily to the front of the group and stared sheepishly at them all once faced with three very tempted Slytherins. Fiddling with her robes, she shook out her wand at last and ushered Dobby toward her.

\"Here, Dobby, you see? Stand in front of me when we walk to the headmaster\'s office, that way, it\'s INSURANCE,\" Cait spat, her annoying American accent hanging around the room like a tawdy drapery completely out of place, and ica\ica\'s lip practically curled.

\"Cait, you realise that although Dobby has lived in fear for the past little while, he has been protected and has taken the utmost advantage of his situation for as long as we\'ve been here. Don\'t you think he deserves to sweat just a little in our presence?\" Jessica asked nicely, her eyes betraying her in a perfect impersonation of Lucius at work.

\"No.\"

And with that at only three coridors away from some fructification, Snape removed his continual poking from Lucius\' back and linked arms with Jessica through the miasma of febrile uncertainty.

A/N: This is the second to last chapter in my story and I hope to get more reviews - the story itself does overpower the smut content, but the number of characters also had to contribute to that reality for which I am proud of. Remus will finally get his piece of Putan Pie at last as well as Big D\'s most notable handservant. More surprises to come... I\'m a pretty sick puppy sometimes.