"Okay, now that the book is done, time for you to answer the question you promised to answer. How did Dobby bind himself to Harry? And how does Harry not realize it?" Hermione said, adding the last question because of the fact that she'd had the feeling that the Harry in the book didn't know about the bond.
"Okay. Now, this is just what I've been told by Tippy when I asked. While a wizard can choose to break a bond, it is a house elf you more often than not ensures the bond," Cedric said. "And only the owner of the elf can break the bond – you can give a strange elf clothing all you want, but if you're not the direct owner, all you would be doing is insulting and annoying them. And, of course, once a bond is formed, then it lives on even if the one the elf originally bonded to dies; elves can be inherited, so long as the person inheriting them has a single drop of blood from the family who owned them, even if he elf is unwilling. Once a bond is formed, unless freed by it's owner, that bond will remain forever.
"Also, an elf owner can get them clothing as a gift – I think it has to do with the emotion the clothes are given on, along with how the elf takes it. I mean, Lucius tossed the sock aside, not meaning at all to give it to Dobby, but he caught it and took it to mean breaking the bond, which broke it. And him bonding straight to Harry is because he desired to be Harry's elf. If you knew how to tell if an elf bonds to you or not, you would have realized it with his fierce devotion and protection of you. While house elves are powerful in their own right, they will gain a significant boost in power, something that can be seen when protecting their master more than anything."
"House elves also need a bond to survive," Luna said, taking up where Cedric left off. "A house elf without a bond will feel significant pain from the lack of it, so much so that they will do anything to numb themselves, usually drinking themselves to death. Most house elves who are given clothes consider it a disgrace, and often succumb to that type of fate, because they feel so ashamed for having been abandoned that they don't feel worthy of bonding with another family, or no other family will take them."
"I have heard, though, that most who can't bond to another family go to Hogwarts," Cedric said. "Tippy told me that Hogwarts is a place for them to live if no one else will take them in, and deny them a chance to bond, for most elves, unlike Dobby, don't do anything underhanded like he did. Then again, Dobby does seem to be a weirdo among them."
"He's not so much a weirdo as he is hero obsessed, and okay with having 'freedom'," Hermione said.
"That would make him weird to other house elves," Cedric said. "In fact, they might consider him as an improper house elf."
"That's just...strange," Hermione said. Harry nodded in agreement, sighing as he turned his thoughts away from the house elf business to think about what happened in the book. He tuned out the continuing conversation between Hermione and Cedric as he thought about what he would have faced had he not gotten these books – as it was, chances were, he still might have to face it, since there was a very small part of him – one that was growing bigger, though – that couldn't stand the thought of leaving the basilisk there, where the chance of it harming someone were possible.
Yet, at the same time, the majority of him was afraid. He really didn't want to go against the basilisk – just reading about doing it had terrified him. Going against it in real life would
He shook his head of these thoughts, though he knew that they would most likely haunt his mind for a while longer.
"So," he started, seeing that the conversation between Hermione and Cedric had wound down. "What do you think we should do now?" He hoped they didn't want to discuss the book – he wasn't really in the mood for it, as reading about his almost death hadn't really warmed him up all that much; plus, anything they could really discuss had already been so at this point – the only thing left to discuss was what they were going to do with the information provided in the books, and, in all honesty, he didn't want to do that until they had all of the information – it was better to read all of the books before making any premature plans, so that they didn't have to repeatedly change them.
"Well," Hermione said, glancing at the clock, "it's not too late. We could –" She stopped speaking as another note fluttered down from the ceiling. Cedric grabbed it, and Hermione looked over his shoulder, curious to know who wrote it.
"What does it say?" Luna asked. Cedric cleared his throat and read it out.
Don't start the next book until tomorrow. Instead, take the rest of tonight off and go do work on writing down you're thoughts and observations from the first book. If you finish the first book, then do it for the second one. I don't want think it would be a good idea for you to start reading the next book quite yet – I doubt you would really want to put it down once you started it. Please make sure, though, that you do go to bed at a reasonable time.
"Who wrote it?" Harry asked.
"I think whoever T. C. H. is," Hermione said. "It's not my writing, and it doesn't look like you're writing."
"I suppose that whoever that is, is right," Harry said. "We would probably not want to put down the book for anything – we barely put them down for food as it is. We'd forget about sleep if we started it tonight."
Cedric and Luna nodded, seeing the truth in his words, and they all stood up, the boys saying good night to the girls as they separated for the night, taking T. C. H.'s advice, and rereading the books – they now saw that, in addition to the copy of the first book, they all had the second one now as well, aptly called Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; none of them had noticed the slight glow of the book as it copied itself.
They worked for quite awhile, taking heed not to get too into the task, knowing that T. C. H. didn't mean for them to get involved in this task instead of the other one. Hermione and Luna sat in the living room like area, working mostly in silence, only speaking when one of them noticed something they hadn't when first reading the book, or asking for a second opinion on a suspicion one might have, finally stopping after an hour had passed since they started.
The two said good night to each other, putting their books and notebooks down before heading to their rooms, and getting into bed, both falling asleep rather quickly, eager for the next to day to come, where they would be able to find out what the next book held.
Like with the girls, Cedric and Harry also worked in the living room like area of their dorm, speaking only when an opinion was wanted, or something that had been missed the first time around was noticed. Unlike the girls, they ended up working a bit longer, closer to another half hour before the first yawn passed through Harry's mouth, symbolizing his tiredness.
He said good night to Cedric, who also decided to turn in, and they went to bed, both wondering what the next book would bring. However, while Cedric was eager to know, Harry only had feelings of unexplained dread about it. He supposed that the fact that he'd ended up running into Voldemort in both of the years they'd already read about had to do with it, but there was something else, something deeper, that said it wasn't Voldemort that he was dreading.
Harry shook off the feeling as he curled up in his bed, instead choosing to focus on something else – like what Hagrid had said about Hogwarts being the safest place on Earth. He couldn't help but snort as he thought about what they'd already read – three first years getting through traps supposed to stop fully grown adults and three second years being able to figure out what was in a Slytherin's elusive chamber, as well as finding said elusive chamber. If Hogwarts was having those problems now, Harry couldn't help but wonder how in the world Hogwarts had managed to stand until Ron, Hermione, and himself arrived.
Unless, there was something more to it was the last thought that went through his mind before he succumbed to sleep.