Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 301 Dobby and Winky

Being stared at by Cedric, Harry had an urge to run away. The current situation was too embarrassing.

"If I had known he was here, I wouldn't have come!"

Harry thought about it, but forced a smile and said to Cedric:

"Hello, Cedric."

"Hello, did you miss lunch too?" Cedric replied and then looked at Mike again and said, "Come and sit down, we can eat together."

Mike calmly pulled out a chair and sat next to Cedric, but Harry and the others still did not move.

Seeing this, Mike spread his hands and said:

"Come on, everyone sit down. Harry, Cedric is not such a petty person. He won't think that you stole his warrior spot."

Harry seemed to be moved when he heard that. He put his hand on another chair and tried to pull it away, but his eyes still glanced at Cedric from time to time.

"Who said I'm not angry! They let a little wizard like Harry become a warrior, but let me sit on the bench!" Harry's hands froze, and Ron and Hermione behind him glared at Cedric.

But Cedric didn't take it to heart at all and continued:

"But after watching the first event, I no longer think so. Becoming a warrior is not a good thing for you. It is too dangerous, Harry. It is obvious that someone wants to kill you. You must always be careful."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief and pulled out a chair and sat down.

But Ron behind him obviously didn't understand what Cedric meant, and said with a red face:
"Can I take that as a threat, Diggory?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Hermione next to him poked Ron with her elbow.

"Hey! Ron, don't be so stupid, we can all hear that Cedric didn't mean that."

"You know this again? Ah? Miss Know-it-all!" Ron continued to insist, "Answer me, Cedric."

Harry's body, which had originally relaxed, tensed up again. It seemed to him that a fight might be inevitable. He didn't know what was wrong with Ron recently.

However, to his surprise, Cedric did not talk to Ron. He just glanced at him with contempt and said to Mike:
"Is this person your friend?"

"Yes, but he recently hit puberty, so he was a little too eager to show off his masculinity in front of someone."

Cedric glanced at Hermione and understood instantly.

At this time, Hermione also realized the meaning of Mike's words, her face turned red, and she subconsciously moved away from Ron.

Ron was so angry at this time, but fortunately he still had his reason and did not rush towards Cedric, but turned around and left.

"Well, the unwelcome person is finally gone." Cedric picked up the chicken leg and started eating again, "I can finally eat some more."

Hearing this, Harry instinctively wanted to refute, but in the end he didn't say anything.

Ron's recent state was indeed a little strange, even when he spoke to him, his tone was sarcastic.

To be honest, he also had a lot of opinions about Ron.

"You can resist the urge to do anything in this situation." Mike tore off a drumstick from the whole chicken in front of Cedric and said, "It seems that the sequelae of the last transformation accident have disappeared."

"It's better, but it's not gone away yet," Cedric said. "Like right now I want to beat the crap out of you."

Mike: “?”

Seeing Mike's confused look, Cedric smiled.

"It's not because you just ate my chicken drumstick. It's because you stole my qualification as a warrior. Tell me, how are you going to compensate me? If I'm not satisfied with your compensation, I will really beat you up."

"You can't beat me." Mike joked, and when he saw Cedric starting to take out his wand, he said seriously, "Okay, okay. What do you want? As long as it's not too much, I can give it to you. You are my friend after all."

"Well, you're smart." Cedric put down his wand and said, "I won't make it difficult for you. Just help me prepare a ring, an engagement ring."

"Engagement? Who are you going to be with?"

"Who else could it be? Of course it's Qiu Zhang. As you know, I'm about to graduate, and I plan to propose to Qiu Zhang at the graduation ceremony."

Mike smacked his lips in astonishment and said:
"I have a feeling you won't succeed. Qiu Zhang is from China. According to their customs, her parents won't agree to her getting married so early."

"That's why I said it was an engagement! I'm not planning on marrying her right now. I have to at least wait until she's an adult!"

"Well, I wish you good luck. I'll take care of the ring. I'll use the most precious materials to make it. I'll find someone to enchant it. It doesn't need any powerful spells. It just needs to produce a strong sound and light effect when worn, such as a layer of shiny light on the wearer. I think this will greatly increase your chances of success in proposing. After all, girls, like dragons, like shiny things."

Cedric stared at Mike with his mouth open.

Merlin, he really just wanted to ask Mike to make an ordinary ring, but he didn't expect Mike to have such a big imagination.

But this seems to be a good idea.

At least Mike was right about one thing, girls all like shiny things. Didn’t you see that the girl named Hermione next to you has sparkling eyes?

If I really had such a ring, my chances of proposing would probably increase significantly.

Although he was already very happy in his heart, Cedric remained calm on the surface and said, "Well, I'm fine with it. You decide."

Cedric is a duplicity guy. Mike smiled and shook his head.

But neither of them noticed at this moment that when Cedric talked about proposing to Cedric, Harry's face next to him suddenly turned pale.

But then Harry lowered his head, hiding his gaffe well.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the tea is here!"

A somewhat old voice came over, and Mike and others turned around and saw that the old house-elf was holding a large wooden tray with four cups of black tea on the tray.

"Oh! Thank you, but only three cups are enough. One of our companions left early because of something."

"Damn it! We must have been poor hosts. This is all our fault!"

The old elf panicked when he heard this. Mike said:
"Don't blame yourself. This has nothing to do with you. Your hospitality is excellent. Put down the tea and leave. By the way, the two elves named Robbie and Winky should be here with you, right? Please call them over." Mike turned around and drank his tea. However, the old elf did not leave as he expected. Instead, after hesitating for a long time, he said to Mike:

"Why did Mr. Townley look for them?"

"Any questions?" Mike asked.

"No problem! But if you need us to serve you dinner, maybe we should change two elves. With all due respect, Winky and Dobby are not good people!"

Mike smiled and replied, "Don't worry, I just want to ask them something."

Having said that, the old elf had no other reason to refute Mike, so he could only retreat. Soon he came over with two house-elves.

"Mr. Harry Potter! You actually came to see me again! I am really... woooo... I am so touched! The respected Mr. Harry Potter actually came here again to visit a humble house-elf like me!"

Dobby, who was wearing a teapot warmer filled with colorful badges on his head and two socks of different sizes on his feet, hugged Harry's legs and began to cry bitterly.

The old house-elf was so angry that he almost died. Dobby's behavior seemed extremely rude to him.

And behind him, there was a house-elf wearing a little skirt.

That should be the female house-elf named Winky. Mike noticed her the moment she appeared, but she seemed to be in a very bad condition. Not only did she look haggard, but her eyes were also red, and it was obvious that she had just cried.

"Oh! My God, Dobby! You don't have to be like this, get up quickly, let me introduce you to a new friend." Mike hurriedly pulled Dobby off his trouser legs and said, "This is Mike, Mike Townley. He really wants to make friends with you."

"Harry Potter's friends are my friends! Hello! Mr. Townley! My name is Dobby, nice to meet you!"

"I'm very happy to meet you, too." Although Mike was talking to Dobby, he was always watching Winky with the corner of his eyes. "I heard about your and Winky's experiences from Harry before, and I sympathize with you very much. So if I can, I think I might be able to give you a job. What I mean is, you can become my house-elves, just like you were before."

Mike's last words were actually spoken to Shanshan, and he also noticed that after he said this, Shanshan's big ears twitched noticeably.

"No! This is absolutely not allowed!"

screamed the old house-elf.

"What's wrong? Why haven't you left yet? Aren't you guys busy now?"

"Winky and Dobby are not good house-elves! You must not take them in, or you will regret it later!"

Shanshan, who was standing by, burst into tears.

"That's right, Dobby is a bad elf, and he even wants a salary." Dobby said with his head held high, "But Dobby doesn't regret it! Because Dobby is now a free house-elf!"

The old elf couldn't stand it anymore. He pulled his ears desperately as if he heard the most unpleasant sound in the world.

Hermione smiled and touched Dobby's smooth forehead, saying:
"You're right! Dobby! You are free, and no one can enslave you anymore! Mike, if you want to hire Dobby, you must pay him! And don't try to fool him about the amount, I will be his lawyer throughout the whole process!"

Dobby raised his head and looked at Hermione, tears of emotion welling up in his eyes.

"These are minor issues. I'm glad I have a special employee like Dobby." Mike laughed, "You can come with me now if you want!"

"Contract! You have to sign a contract with Dobby!"

Mike nodded at the excited Hermione, then turned his gaze to Winky who was still crying beside him.

"What about you, Winky? Are you willing to be my house elf?" Mike said, "Don't worry, I won't pay you, and there are countless jobs for you to do. You won't even have time to sleep for a long time in the future."

"Really? Really?" Winky's ears stood up again, looking very happy, but she immediately started to bang her forehead against the floor, "No! No! Winky is a bad elf driven out by the previous owner! Winky doesn't deserve a new owner, Winky should die!"

"Okay, Winky, stop what you're doing if you still want to be my house-elf!"

Shanshan stopped immediately, came tremblingly closer to Mike, and looked at Mike with hopeful eyes.

Mike smiled, snapped his fingers and said, "From today on, you are the house-elf of the Townley family! I will make arrangements for the school, you just need to follow me later!"

"Thank you! Thank you! Master!"

Winky's condition improved all of a sudden. House-elves like her who were driven out by their masters would be labeled as inferior goods, and generally no one would be willing to take them in, so she was really happy now.

But at this moment, Hermione suddenly yelled at Winky:
"No! You can't just agree to that! You deserve better than Dobby! I can..."

"Shut up! You bad woman! Don't try to teach Winky bad things!" Winky interrupted angrily, "Winky is not Dobby, the shameless bad elf! Winky has a new master now!"

After saying that, she looked at Dobby with disdain, then stood beside Mike, holding her head high with a look of pride on her face.

Hermione was furious. She stood there pointing at Winky but couldn't say a word.

At this time, Cedric had finished his late lunch, and Mike had just achieved his goal for today. The four of them left the kitchen with the two elves, Dobby and Winky.

On the way back to the common room, Hermione realized that Winky would not listen to her, so she changed her strategy and started with Mike.

Mike, who was really annoyed by her, could only perfunctorily say:
"Don't worry, Hermione. I will treat Winky and Dobby well. As for Winky's treatment, you don't have to worry too much. Her mentality hasn't changed yet. Just let her spend some time with Dobby. You should also understand that any intelligent life will instinctively pursue better treatment."

'Except for house-elves.'

Mike added inwardly.

As soon as these words were spoken, Winky exploded. She screamed in denial and said that she would never become like Dobby.

After hearing this, Hermione said nothing more and followed Harry back to Gryffindor.

Mike shook his head as he watched them leave. To be honest, Hermione really looked like those extreme animal protectors now.

He could have also tried to talk Hermione back into her normal thinking.

But why bother?
We are not children anymore and have different ideas. If Mike forces Hermione to accept his ideas, then what is the difference between him and those extreme animal protectors?

What's more, Mike himself had no confidence that he could convince Hermione.

It would be bad if his bad mouthing skills failed and instead affected his relationship with Hermione.

(End of this chapter)