What's he up to?

[fiondavhar]

No: HPFGUIDX 94868

Kneasy wrote:

snip

 there is something in CoS that bears  thinking about - and it 
> isn't small (except physically) and that concerns Dobby. 

snip
 
> What I want to concentrate on is not what they are or how they are 
> treated but what Dobby actually  *does*. There could be a very big 
clue 
> lurking in there somewhere.
> 
> Dobby himself tells Harry that House Elves are bound "...to  serve 
one 
> house, one family." They're not  interested in strangers, only in  
> serving the Family they are attached to. Yet Dobby adds that he has 
> "...come to protect Harry Potter, to warn him..." And once again 
Harry 
> misses the chance to ask some pointed questions.
> 
> So why is Dobby so very concerned about an apparent stranger? Note 
that 
> he is not at all concerned about any of Harry's friends or 
colleagues 
> and certainly not with Ginny, who is the front line victim for 
Malfoy's 
> little ploy with the diary. The rebirth of Tom Riddle is of supreme 
> indifference to him, it is only the involvement of, and the 
possible 
> dangers to Harry that matters.
> 
> So  what's going on?
> 
> Well, there are two possible scenarios that could explain Dobby's 
> actions. The  first, one that I put forward last year, is that 
Harry 
> *is* a member of the family that  Dobby serves. Just as Kreacher 
> escapes  to Bella by  deliberately(?) misconstruing an instruction 
from 
> Sirius, so Dobby does the same; seeking out another family member 
who 
> holds views sympathetic to his own and giving them the low-down on 
what 
> those  horrible people back at the ranch are up to.


Bonny writes:

I find that an interesting theory, and not improbable. There are a 
few things that point in that direction. For starters, in CoS, when 
Harry asks Dobby if there is anything he can do to help him out, 
Dobby never answers.

Harry says
"..Can't anyone help you? Can't I?'"

and Dobby responds
"Harry Potter asks if he can help Dobby... Dobby has heard of your 
greatness sir, but of your goodness, Dobby never knew."

CoS, pg 17

Dobby deliberatley skirts the issue. He doesn't say that Harry can't 
free him because he is not a member of the family, as he would likely 
have said if it were so. A house-elf is probably bound by their magic 
to be unable to ask their family to be freed, so this would make 
sense. Later on, when he speaks to Harry in the hospital wing, Dobby 
says that he can only be freed if his masters (PLURAL!) provide him 
with clothes.

Dobby would be able to come and warn Harry about the things that were 
going to happen at Hogwarts if he had not been given a direct order 
not to. In OotP Kreacher can tell Narcissa things, just not things 
the he had been forbiddin from repeating. There are certain things 
that Dobby won't tell Harry, because he HAS been forbiddin, but he 
comes very close, which would explain why he had to beat himslef. 

Another reason that he might have to beat himself is because he is 
doing things against the will of Harry, *one of the family* 
(speculation, of course). After he sealed the barrier at platform 9 
3/4, Dobby said he had to iron his hands - but if he were acting on 
Malfoys orders he would not have had to do that. He did, however, 
know that he was acting against Harry's will...  

Another thing that could indicate that Harry is by blood a member of 
the family Dobby served is that in the later books, when Dumbledore 
is his master, Dobby acts more as though Harry is his master. He 
steals from Snape, repeats Moody and McGonagalls conversation, and 
comes freely to Harry in order to help him. Also, in OotP, when Dobby 
defys a direct order by going to warn Harry that Umbridge has found 
him out, Harry gives Dobby a direct order to get back to the kitchen 
and to lie if asked if he warned them, and Dobby obeys without 
question.

Of course, none of this necessarily means that Harry is of that 
family, but neither does it say that he isn't.

Kneasy:
> 
> The fact that the Potter name, though pureblood, does not appear on 
the 
> Black tapestry gives this theory a small boost. 

Bonny:

I agree, considering that all the decent members of the family are 
blown off of the tapestry - they wouldn't appear then, would they?

Kneasy:

JKR has  been 
> suspiciously reticent  about the antecedents of James Potter, 
although 
> in her most recent web-cast she did allow that James's parents were 
not 
> of great importance. The actual name doesn't seem to fit into the 
> mainstream of pureblood  families either; it seems mundane among 
the 
> Diggles and Dumbledores, but not so much so among the Blacks and 
> Averys. A change of name to demonstrate a renunciation of family 
values 
> is just possible but not likely.
> 
> Then there is the whole brou-ha-ha of Dobby's manumission. This has 
> been argued loud and long. Malfoy obviously did not intend for 
Dobby to 
> be freed; can ties  be broken when there is no intention? 

Bonny:

It seems to me most likely that there has to be deliberate intention, 
otherwise elves would be being freed left right and centre. When 
Hermione leaves all those hats around in OotP, Dobby says that the 
elves find it insulting, and that is why they stop - not because they 
are afraid of being freed.

Snipped the rest 

Bonny