In her eyes, Megan was as ordinary as a girl could be. On the outside, anyway. She had long reddish brown hair, large green eyes and a very lightly tanned skin from the hot summer sun. But on the inside, she was not so ordinary at all. You see, she was a witch. Oh, not the evil kind you see in some children's books, with pointy hats and warts that turned people into frogs or bats. No, she was a pretty young witch who had only just found out a year earlier who she truly was. She had, in fact attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And in almost twelve years since she'd been born, it had been the best year of her life. Although, if she was honest, she wasn't sure that was actually quite true. She was positive that in the first months of her life, when she had been with her parents, she had been happy. That her parents had loved her. But she would never know such a happiness again. Because her parents were dead, murdered by the feared wizard Lord Voldemort, who had then tried to kill Megan. But somehow, when her parents had both been killed, she, Megan, had survived with nothing but a scar, while Voldemort had been reduced to close to nothing. He had nearly gotten the better of her at the end of her first school year, just months before, however, for they had battled ferociously for the Philosopher's stone, a magical entity which granted eternal life. But she hadn't been alone. Her best friends Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Harry Nelson had helped greatly. But now, she was back at the Dursleys. And though they didn't force her to lock up her things in the cupboard under the stairs, where she had formerly slept, they hardly talked to her. Not that that made a huge difference from before she went to Hogwarts, of course. She lived with her non-magical Muggle aunt and uncle, and her cousin Nathalie. They hated anything out of the ordinary, and had never approved of Megan's being a witch. In fact for most of her youth, they had stopped at nothing to try and shove the magic out of her. To no avail, of course. So they had eventually had to condone themselves with forbidding her to mention magic or anything they considered abnormal under any circumstances. So it was good that she had her books to study, not only because she found them very interesting, but also she had plenty of homework to do. One thing was more upsetting than putting up with the Dursleyes or hiding pretty everything about who she truly was. Megan hadn't mentioned this out loud of course, but she had not yet received a single letter from her friends. And the holidays had already started three weeks ago. And the upsetting part was that she didn't understand why. It had been three long weeks, with no one to talk to, and of course, she hadn't thought of giving her friends her phone number, or they could have called her. And all she had done all day each day since she'd come back was do chores. Clean the house, do the shopping, get Nathalie's dry cleaning... and she had never had a single "thank you" or "please". And Nathalie's birthday had been as fun as the other years. Which was not much. Megan had spent all day tending to Nathalie and her friends and their every desire. The amount of presents Nathalie had received had been even more indecent that the year before. It was another long, hot day that morning. Megan was lying on her bed, with her window open, her chin pressed on her hand, listening to her favourite songs, when a high pitched shout pulled her out of her reverie.

"Megan! Downstairs, now!"

Megan sighed.

Here we go again... she said to herself haplessly.

"Coming...!" she called back.

"Well hurry it up, then!" Came Petunia's voice. "The Masons arrive at seven!"

Megan, who had been looking through the photo album Hagrid had given her for then hundredth time (she never got tired of watching her parents or the pictures of her friends), sighed again.

"C'mon, Mira. Her Ladyship awaits."

Mira, her faithful dog that she had found nearly two years ago in the street, let out a bark, got to her feet and trotted towards her. Megan swung her legs over her bed and got up before going downstairs, graceful as ever even in a simple tank top, denim shorts and sandals. She glanced at herself in the mirror. There was a definite change in her eyes. Something more mature about them. Although, when you thought about it, facing death in the eye had to change you. And Megan's whole life had taken such a drastic turn in the last year... from hated and put down, she had become admired, and had gained a new confidence in herself. She was no longer the girl who could be pushed around. She only did what the Dursleys ordered because arguing was just going to make everyone waste time and energy. And also, even if she would never admit it, being busy helped her not think about how much she missed Hogwarts, and her friends. As Megan came down, she was tugging at her pony tail to tighten it. Nathalie was in her room trying on one of the twelve new dresses she had received for her birthday, along with a huge make-up box, three new designer hand bags, perfumes, expensive jewellery, five pairs of shoes and a silver watch. Megan pushed the kitchen door open. Vernon was probably still at work, and Petunia was in the kitchen, cleaning, her apron around her waist and a scarf over her short curly black hair. She spotted Megan.

"Ah, there you are." she said. "Go outside and prune the garden. And don't come in until I tell you that you can. Is that clear?"

"Yes, aunt Petunia..."

It would give her a little peace, Megan thought. She liked being among the flowers, and Nathlaie had been complaining all week how it was too hot outside for her to stand it, meaning sher'd most likely stay inside. So, she spent the next few hours in the garden. Later, Nathalie came out with a cold glass of lemonade, her huge sunglasses and designer shorts and top.

So much for peace... Megan sighed to herself.

"I know what day it is." Nathalie said.

Megan, who was amongst the roses, looked up.

"Good for you, then." she said warily. "What day's that, then?"

Nathlaie took a long drink before answering.

"It's your biirthday." Nathalie said. "How come you got no cards?"

Megan only just in time held back the "how do you know" and went for:

"What makes you say that?"

"Oh, come off it. I'm not an idiot, you know. You've been miserable all day. No one is miserable on their birthday unless no one remembered it."

"And that has nothing to do with the fact I do nothing but chores all day?" Megan said.

Nathalie ignored her.

"Don't you have any friends at your school?"

"Well, that's really not your concern, is it, since you spent years making sure I had none anywhere else."

Nathalie made a sniffy noise and stalked off in her high heels.

Megan watched her before returning to the roses, heaving a sigh. It was true. She was twelve today. But Nathalie, as much as she hated to admit it, had a point. Why hadn't she had any cards? Or even a letter? She was used to the Dursleys not showing any interest in her, but her friends? It didn't sound like them to just plain forget her. They had gotten very close in the time she'd been at Hogwarts. She had only few true friends, but they were ones she knew would stay with her for a long time. There was Hermione, the brightest girl she'd ever met, who also lived in the Muggle world with her parents. Then there was Ron, youngest boy of a large family, all red headed, kind-hearted but poor, and his best friend (and now Megan's), Harry Nelson, was a cheery boy with black hair, glasses and was in quit e a few ways very similar to Ron. Slightly hotheaded, but a good friend when it came down to it. They had faced three headed dogs, the Forbidden Forrest... And then there was Cedric, whom Megan had had a crush on pretty much since she'd met him. He was three yeas older, in Hufflepuff and hadn't taken part in that much of the action, but he was undoubtedly a part of their group. He had been very supportive and friendly. But he hadn't shown any sign of life, either, which was odd, considering they'd all promised to write... And Ron still hadn't invited her to stay, when he'd promised to, and even if for some reason he couldn't, he would have let her know... Had they really forgotten her? No, she couldn't believe that, not after all they'd been through...

But that's just it, said a sly voice in her ear. Maybe because of all that danger you put them in last year, they prefer to stay well away?

No, that wasn't true. She'd told them plenty of times they could walk away, and they hadn't. And even if they had wanted to do that, why promise to write and then not do it...? She sighed and looked up at the sky, as if hoping to see an owl. It was silly, because she knew they usually slept in the day time. But nothing in almost a month was strange... She wanted to send them an owl, but part of the reason she could have her things in her room was that she had agreed to not send any letters with Hedwig. So she didn't. She sighed and went back to the roses. She had just finished watering them and was wiping her forehead when Petunia's voice reached her ears.

"Come on! Inside, I want you out of the way."

Uncle Vernon was expecting important guests for dinner and hoped to get a large order of drills from them.

"Coming..." she said tiredly

She stepped inside and out of the heat gratefully while Petunia peered outside.

"Good work with the garden," she said grudgingly. "Now hurry and eat. Then-"

"I know, in my room."

"Good."

Petunia thrust her plate onto the table. Megan, hungry after all that gardening, ate quickly and headed up. She liked the quiet of her room. And the Dursleys hardly ever went in or even near her room. Megan sometimes thought they were afraid of what she was doing in there, or that her being a witch would somehow rub off on her. She glanced inside at the large picture of the Gryffindor team she had pinned to her wall. All were waving, including herself. Fred and George were carrying her on their shoulders. She remembered they'd taken that picture after their first training. She had had the time of her life. She gathered some clean clothes and went to the bathroom to have a shower and change. Once she was done, she dried her hair and was just finished when Nathalie came rattling at the door.

"Hurry up! I need to get ready for dinner!"

Megan rolled her eyes. She's only been in there a half hour, while Nathalie was usually there for at least an hour.

"I'll be out in a second."

She pulled on her change of clothes, dropped the dirty ones into the laudry basket, and opened the door. Ignoring Nathalie's "finally!", she walked up the hall to her room. But as she opened the door, she froze. It was her room all right. But there was now someone else in it.

"What the...!"

Sitting on her swivel chair, playfully spinning it around, was a small creature with pale skin, huge brown eyes and long pointed ears. It had very thin and long hands and feet. Once he saw her, he grinned, stopped spinning and hopped off the chair.

"Hello, Megan Potter! A great honour it is to meet you, miss!"

Its pointy ears reminded Megan of goblins, but this looked very different, she noticed as she slipped inside and hurriedly shut the door. She thought "what are you" was a bit rude, so instead, she asked:

"Who are you?"

The creature bowed.

"Dobby, miss. Dobby the house-elf."

He was about half her size, his large round eyes staring up at her, and wore a dirty pillow case. He had large bat-like ears but was grinning at Megan. Just then, the doorbell rang, telling Megan that Vernon's guests had arrived. Megan buried her face in her hand. Of all the nights for this to happen...!

"Sorry, er... Dobby, was it?" Megan said. "But now is reallynot the time for me to be having magical visits..."

"Oh, but it is of the utmost importance, miss!" Dobby said earnestly.

Megan bit her lip. Vernon would have a fit... but if really was important...

"Okay, then. Just hold on a minute. And please, whatever you do, not a sound."

She creaked the door open to hear what was going on. She could hear Petunia's high forced laugh echo up the stairs.

"That's so interesting, Mrs Mason. Do please go on!"

Megan sighed of relief and closed the door again.

Good, they haven't noticed anything. Megan thought. Hopefully, I can get Dobby out undetected and they'll never know...

Then, she turned to Dobby and sat down on the bed.

"Okay. What's so important, then?"

He shuffled his feet uncomfortably.

"It is difficult, miss... Dobby doesn't know where to begin."

"Why don't you sit down?"

Dobby's eyes widened.

"S... Sit down, miss?"

"Well... er... yes... I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to offend you or anything..."

"Offend... offend D obby? Never..."

Megan was slightly unsettled by this little creature. Though, she, like her friend Hermione, hadn't grown up among wizards and wasn't familiar with the customs of magical creatures.

"Dobby knew of your greatness, Miss... but never has a wizard treated Dobby like an equal..."

"You can't have met many decent ones, then," Megan said with a smile.

She had meant it as a joke. But it didn't quite have the desired effect.

"N-Ah! Bad Dobby, bad, bad Dobby, shame on you!"

And with that, to Megan's horror, he flung himself forwards and started banging her bedside lamp against his head, squeaking in pain each time.

"Dobby!"

Megan leapt to her feet and tried to prise it off him.

"Dobby! Dobby, don't! Stop!" she whispered frantically.

Megan quickly yanked it out of his hands and pulled him away when he tried to take it again. Then, she quickly went to door and listened. No sign of movement coming upstairs. She closed her eyes and sighed with relief.

"Dobby, you can't go hitting yourself like that! They'll kill me!'"

Dobby looked horrified.

"Oh, no, Dobby doesn't want that!"

Megan sighed.

"No, I don't mean it like that... it's an expression. A figure of speech, you see? Although with the Dursleys, I've come to expect pretty much everything. What in the world were you doing that for?"

The elf rubbed his head.

"Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, he had to punish himself, miss."

"Your family?"

"The family Dobby serves, miss."

"Did they send you?"

Dobby shook his head vigorously.

"Ooh, no, miss, never. They would be very angry at Dobby if they knew."

Whoever his masters were, Megan had a feeling they didn't like her very much. She wondered for a moment who it could be. But something else caught her attention.

"But why d'you have to punish yourself?"

"If one does wrong, must one not pay the price?" Dobby asked innocently.

The reasoning was sound, Megan supposed... but it still seemed rather barbaric in her opinion.

"So why would you come here if you know it's wrong?"

"Because Dobby had to see Megan Potter as soon as possible. Even if he is to punish himself."

This really felt wrong.

"Can't you run away? Leave?"

"Oh, Dobby can't Miss, not unless he is set free."

"How would you do that?"

"Dobby has to be set free by being presented with clothes by his master, miss. Because house elves have nothing of their own. It is symbolic, you see?"

"I think so." Megan said.

This house elf business sounded rather a lot like slavery to Megan... but then, even in those days, some slaves were treated worse than others while some were treated fairly. Clearly, Dobby had landed in such a family. "Okay then...Go on, what did you want to tell me?"

Dobby looked very seriously up at her.

"Dobby came to warn Miss Potter."

Megan frowned, perplexed.

"Warn me? About what?"

"Dobby is here to warn Megan Potter to not go to Hogwarts this year."

************************************

What is Dobby talking about? Why mustn't Megan go back to the one place she feels at home at? And why aren't here friends making any contact?

What is Dobby's warning? How will Megan keep him a secret from the Masons, and the Dursleys?Let's find out now with the next chapter of the sequel of Megan Potter - a Saga of the Heart!