How did Dobby get the letters???

[brand]

I hope I don't need a spoiler, but since the book and movie have both been
out for quite some time, I fgure I'm safe.

My question is, how does Dobby stop and get Harry's letter the summer before
his second year?
How would he know when an owl was going to Harry's house?
I could almost see stopping Hermione's letters. She would have more than
likely used muggle mail, and Dobby could have spelled it. But owls from Ron?
How could he have stopped an owl coming from Ron's house?
And would Dobby have stopped a Hogwarts owl had Harry stayed at the
Dursley's?

[Craig McMartin]

Post by brand
I hope I don't need a spoiler, but since the book and movie have both been
out for quite some time, I fgure I'm safe.
My question is, how does Dobby stop and get Harry's letter the summer before
his second year?
How would he know when an owl was going to Harry's house?
I could almost see stopping Hermione's letters. She would have more than
likely used muggle mail, and Dobby could have spelled it. But owls from Ron?
How could he have stopped an owl coming from Ron's house?
And would Dobby have stopped a Hogwarts owl had Harry stayed at the
Dursley's?

Plot device Mr Frodo, plot device :p

[brand]

Post by brand

Post by brand
I hope I don't need a spoiler, but since the book and movie have both been
out for quite some time, I fgure I'm safe.
My question is, how does Dobby stop and get Harry's letter the summer

before

Post by brand
his second year?
How would he know when an owl was going to Harry's house?
I could almost see stopping Hermione's letters. She would have more than
likely used muggle mail, and Dobby could have spelled it. But owls from

Ron?

Post by brand
How could he have stopped an owl coming from Ron's house?
And would Dobby have stopped a Hogwarts owl had Harry stayed at the
Dursley's?

Plot device Mr Frodo, plot device :p

I know it's a plot device, but about half the questions asked here are plot
device questions.

[Richard Eney]

Post by brand

Post by Craig McMartin

Post by brand
My question is, how does Dobby stop and get Harry's letter the summer
before his second year?
How would he know when an owl was going to Harry's house?
I could almost see stopping Hermione's letters. She would have more than
likely used muggle mail, and Dobby could have spelled it. But owls from
Ron? How could he have stopped an owl coming from Ron's house?
And would Dobby have stopped a Hogwarts owl had Harry stayed at the
Dursley's?

Plot device Mr Frodo, plot device :p

I know it's a plot device, but about half the questions asked here are plot
device questions.

It is by examining such questions that we determine whether something
does seem to be a plot device arbitrarily put in or whether there is a
story-internal explanation that is valid.

It's possible that Dobby would have tried to interfere with a Hogwarts
owl, but it is not certain that he would have succeeded. Ron's family
owl, Errol, is shown to be elderly and nearly decrepit; long trips exhaust
him. It would be relatively easy for Dobby to get a letter away from
Errol.

Hedwig is a strong, healthy owl but she was injured when attacked by an
eagle owl that was probably trying to get the message she was carrying.
Dobby may or may not have used the Malfoy family's eagle owl to get
Harry's letters away from Errol. We weren't told why Errol was so easily
tired; perhaps he was still recovering.

The Weasleys' treatment of Errol in general is... interesting to look at
in comparison with the Blacks' treatment of Kreacher, for instance.

=Tamar

[s***@somedomain.com]

The explanation I came to was that house elves have their own brand of magic
and it would be presumable that house elves have some sort of way of collecting
mail for their masters when their masters are unavailable or do not wish to receive
it directly from the owl. Maybe Dobby used this power to collect Harry's mail and
punished himself afterwards. Other than that I agree, plot device.

-Booma

[Weird Beard]

Post by brand
I hope I don't need a spoiler, but since the book and movie have both
been out for quite some time, I fgure I'm safe.
My question is, how does Dobby stop and get Harry's letter the summer
before his second year?

Magic.

[Elizabeth Martinez]

Post by brand
I hope I don't need a spoiler, but since the book and movie have both been
out for quite some time, I fgure I'm safe.
My question is, how does Dobby stop and get Harry's letter the summer before
his second year?
How would he know when an owl was going to Harry's house?
I could almost see stopping Hermione's letters. She would have more than
likely used muggle mail, and Dobby could have spelled it. But owls from Ron?
How could he have stopped an owl coming from Ron's house?
And would Dobby have stopped a Hogwarts owl had Harry stayed at the
Dursley's?

We see mail intercepted all the time in OotP. Why would it be strange
here for Dobby to intercept mail addressed to Harry? Dobby has been
watching Harry, and trying to bring down his spirits by making it seem
his friends have forgotten him, so he wouldn't want to go back to
school. When that didn't work, Dobby decided to speak to Harry
directly.

[t***@gmail.com]

Post by Elizabeth Martinez

Post by brand
I hope I don't need a spoiler, but since the book and movie have both been
out for quite some time, I fgure I'm safe.
My question is, how does Dobby stop and get Harry's letter the summer before
his second year?
How would he know when an owl was going to Harry's house?
I could almost see stopping Hermione's letters. She would have more than
likely used muggle mail, and Dobby could have spelled it. But owls from Ron?
How could he have stopped an owl coming from Ron's house?
And would Dobby have stopped a Hogwarts owl had Harry stayed at the
Dursley's?

We see mail intercepted all the time in OotP. Why would it be strange
here for Dobby to intercept mail addressed to Harry? Dobby has been
watching Harry, and trying to bring down his spirits by making it seem
his friends have forgotten him, so he wouldn't want to go back to
school. When that didn't work, Dobby decided to speak to Harry
directly.

I am imagining Dobby having to camp just outside Harry's home 24/7, waiting for owls to arrive bearing letters. How would he do that, without neglecting his duties to the Malfoys?