Hogwarts Homecoming

Dobby looked at Harry again, and now, Harry finally cleared his mind. He put his wand back into his pocket and nodded to Dobby,

"Take us to see it, Dobby--"

So Dobby immediately grabbed Harry's hand and led them past the four long wooden tables and toward the innermost part of the kitchen.

"I finally figured out why those foods suddenly appeared when I eat every day, right?"

Ron looked at the long wooden table that was exactly the same as the tables in the four houses in the auditorium above, and muttered quietly.

There are currently at least a hundred elves in this kitchen. When the three of them passed by, these elves stopped what they were doing. One of them was wearing a tea towel with the Hogwarts crest printed on it. They were all smiling, bowing, and curtsying, and they looked very respectful, but so many little creatures showed such expressions to you at the same time, which still made people feel a little scared.

The three of them deliberately avoided the sight of these elves, and Harry asked quietly,

"Are all the school elves here, Dobby?"

"That's not all, sir!"

Dobby said cheerfully,

"There is still a lot of busy work in the castle - washing the dirty clothes of the little wizards and professors, cleaning the classrooms used during the day, boiling water, cleaning and unblocking the bathroom. In short, we have endless work, sir!"

Hermione snorted dissatisfiedly, feeling that Dobby's happy expression when he said this was very eye-catching.

Dobby stopped in front of the great fireplace they had first seen, and showed them only,

"Twinkle, look, sir!"

"Oh, my God!"

Hermione exclaimed and covered her mouth for a moment. Tears shone in her pure brown pupils, and Harry and Ron also widened their eyes when they saw Winky.

Winky sat on a stool by the fire. Unlike Dobby, it doesn't have so many weird outfits. Instead, it wears a neat little skirt and short top, and a matching blue hat with two holes on it. Its two big ears were exposed, but although it was neatly dressed, its top was soaked in stains, and even a part of its skirt was burnt.

Of course Hermione and the others didn't care about Sparkling's dirty clothes, but the scars on her body.

Except for his face, almost all parts of Shining's body that were exposed to the air had serious scars. They were not whip wounds, but burns. After these untreated burns heal naturally, the shiny skin appears distorted and charred, which looks very scary!

"What the hell-"

Hermione gasped sharply, her fists clenching her lips but trembling.

"What the hell did you do, Winky?"

Unlike Dobby, Winky didn't show any excitement after seeing his 'old acquaintance'. He simply threw away the firewood he was about to add to the stove, covered his face and cried loudly, without answering Harry's question at all.

"I think it's Professor Blaine--"

Among the three people, Ron, who had lived in the magical world since childhood, was the one who regarded the situation of house elves as normal. However, after seeing the burns on Winky's body, his voice became muffled.

"That night, it fainted in the top box and failed to escape Professor Blaine's magic. Therefore, the Ministry of Magic failed to treat it after interrogating it -"

"You are right, sir--"

Dobby looked at Winky sadly,

"It was a very serious injury. When Dobby went to visit Winky, it was already dying. St. Mungo's would not treat a house elf. Dobby had to go to the forest to find herbs for two months. For a long time, Twinkle has been unable to move--"

Dobby's voice became louder,

“The vitality of house elves is very tenacious, and Winky finally survived!

Then, Dobby took Winky to find work. House elves had to work in order to have food, but where was there enough work for the two elves? Dobby searched for a long time but couldn't find it. Then one day, Dobby found that many wizards had gathered in a venue in Diagon Alley, so Dobby wanted to go in to find something to eat! "

When he said this, Dobby's eyes sparkled,

"Dobby found that these wizards were watching the Triwizard Tournament. Dobby saw Hogwarts Castle from a strange screen. Then Dobby and Winky came to see Professor Dumbledore. Sir, Dumbledore The professor accepted us all!”

Dobby had a bright smile on his face, and tears of joy filled his eyes.

"Professor Dumbledore is not only willing to hire Dobby and Winky, he is also willing to pay Dobby a salary. Sir, Dobby will get one galleons a week and one day off every month!"

Okay, now Harry and the others finally know why Dobby and Winky appear in Hogwarts.

Harry was very happy to see Dobby unexpectedly in the Hogwarts kitchen, but seeing Winky lying on the floor crying made Harry's heart heavy.

"Someone has to take responsibility for your injuries, Winky!"

Hermione's clenched fists still didn't loosen, and she shouted angrily.

"That's easy to say -" Ron glanced at Hermione and said rationally, "Who are you going to put in charge, Hermione, Professor Blaine, Barty Crouch or the entire Ministry of Magic?"

This is indeed a real problem. Hermione will not naively think that Barty Crouch and the Ministry of Magic will be willing to pay for Winky's injuries. As for Professor Blaine, he is easy to talk to. The key is, is this incident actually to blame? To him, the situation on the Quidditch field at that time was very critical. Professor Brain was focused on preventing the black witch from committing crimes, and it was impossible to take care of an elf at the same time.

"Don't bother, Miss Granger -" Facing Hermione, Dobby was still a little cautious, "Winky doesn't want an apology or compensation, it just wants to go back to Mr. Crouch -"

Winky suddenly erupted, howling loudly and banging her fists on the floor, looking absolutely heartbroken.

"Back to Crouch?!"

Anger shot out from Hermione's eyes, "Why do you want to come back to him, Winky, you served him, but he fired you even though he knew you were wronged, and he didn't treat you when he saw you were seriously injured. He is not qualified at all—"

"You are not allowed to insult my master, my lady!"

Winky's cry disappeared as if the pause button was pressed, and it started, but two huge brown eyes stared at Hermione fiercely, and her wet face suddenly became angry,

"You are not allowed to insult my Mr. Crouch, miss! Mr. Crouch is a good wizard. Mr. Crouch did the right thing by firing Bad Winky!"

"But-" Hermione was dazed and wanted to argue, but Ron stopped her.

"Oh, come on, Hermione, just give up. This is what these creatures are like. They are absolutely obedient to wizards, take all the blame on themselves, and never tire of it. You can't change them-"

"That's not the case -" Harry said suddenly, twitching his chin at Dobby, "We have an exception in front of us, don't we?"

Harry knelt down so that he could talk to Dobby better, and he said with a smile,

"Dobby once tried to resist Lucius Malfoy's evil orders, didn't he?"

"Dobby's old master was unwilling to listen to them!" A look of fear passed through Dobby's huge eyes, "They are very bad wizards!"

It was obvious that it was difficult for Dobby to say this. He stood still for a moment, trembling all over, and was frightened by his bold behavior. Suddenly, he rushed towards the nearest table. Hermione was already very familiar with this scene. With quick eyes and quick hands, she grabbed the clothes and pulled it back.

"You are right to resist, Dobby!" Hermione said with firm eyes, "Without you, Lucius Malfoy's despicable behavior would have killed many people!"

"Oh, thank you, Miss Granger, thank you!"

Dobby said breathlessly, rubbing his forehead with his hand.

"Oh, right!"

Hermione was undoubtedly surprised that Dobby could restrain his instinct of self-punishment. She blinked and suddenly shouted,

"You just told us that you are paid here, right?"

"Yes, Miss Granger, Dobby is paid!"

When this was mentioned, Dobby became happy again.

"Dobby still has holidays. Professor Dumbledore is a great wizard. He is willing to give Dobby more holidays and wages, but Dobby bargains with him. Dobby likes freedom, miss, but he doesn't want too much yet. Free, he prefers to work!”

"This is it!"

As Harry and Ron watched in confusion, Hermione shouted excitedly,

"Dom, come to me!"