The Return to Hogwarts

"It's Dobby, sir, it's Dobby!"

When Harry called out its name, Dobby immediately perked up again. No longer afraid of the wand in Harry's hand, it rushed forward and rammed into Harry's stomach, hugging him tightly, very tightly.

"Dobby had been waiting and waiting to see Hiri Pott, sir, and now Hiri Pott has come to see him in person, sir!"

Dobby released his grip, took a few steps back, and looked at Harry with a big smile, his tennis ball-sized green eyes filled with tears of joy.

Ron and Hermione exchanged glances, then looked at Harry together.

Harry never dreamed he would see Dobby in the Hogwarts kitchen. He had even chatted with Crouch's house-elf named Sparkle on the night of the Quidditch final, and Harry thought Dobby was always a homeless person!

"But--"

Harry was still in shock, and although his ribs were aching from Dobby's grip, he couldn't wait to ask.

"But how did you get here?"

"Dobby's here to work at Hogwarts, sir!" Dobby squealed excitedly. "Professor Dumbledore has given Dobby and Gilgamesh jobs, sir!"

"Sparkling?"

Hermione immediately perked up. She had a deep impression of the house-elf who had been kicked out by Crouch for a false charge. In fact, it was Gilgamesh's painful experience that ignited Hermione's desire to fight for the rights of house-elves.

Hermione looked up at the elves who had stopped what they were doing and were now respectfully watching the three of them, searching among them for glitter.

Where is it?

Dobby clearly recognized the woman standing with Hiri Pott as one of the Triwizard Tournament warriors, a powerful figure capable of handling a fire dragon. He turned sideways, pointed to the other end of the kitchen, and said in a respectful tone...

“It’s over there, Miss Granger. Dobby can show you to it if you’d like!”

Chapter 650

2023-12-16

Dobby looked at Harry again, and this time, Harry finally cleared his mind. He put his wand back in his pocket, nodded to Dobby, and

“Take us to see it, Dobby--”

Dobby immediately grabbed Harry's hand and led them through four long wooden tables to the far end of the kitchen.

"Now you finally understand how those foods suddenly appear when we eat every day, right?"

Ron looked at the long wooden table, which was exactly the same as the tables of the four houses in the Great Hall, and muttered something under his breath.

There were at least a hundred elves in the kitchen. When the three of them passed by, the elves stopped what they were doing. Wearing tea towels with Hogwarts emblems, they all smiled, bowed, and curtsied, appearing very respectful. But it was still a little creepy to see so many little creatures showing you such expressions at the same time.

The three of them deliberately avoided the elves' gaze. Harry asked in a low voice,

"Are all the school fairies here, Dobby?"

"That's not all, sir!"

Dobby said excitedly,

“There’s so much to do in the castle—washing the young wizards’ and professors’ dirty clothes, cleaning the classrooms used during the day, boiling water, cleaning and unclogging the washrooms. In short, we have endless work to do, sir!”

Hermione snorted in dissatisfaction, finding Dobby's happy expression when he said those words extremely irritating.

Dobby stopped in front of the large fireplace they had first seen, and only showed it to them.

"Sparkling, look, sir!"

"Oh my god!"

Hermione gasped and covered her mouth, tears welling in her pure brown eyes. Harry and Ron also stared wide-eyed when they saw Brilliant.

Sparkle sat on a stool by the fire. Unlike Dobby, it didn't have many strange clothes. Instead, it wore a neat little dress and a short top, with a matching blue hat on its head. Two holes were cut out of the hat so that its two big ears could be exposed. However, although it was dressed neatly, its top was soaked with dirt, and there was a scorched part on its dress.

Hermione and the others weren't concerned about Sparkle's dirty clothes; they were more interested in the wounds on its body.

Aside from her face, almost every exposed part of Sparkle's body was covered in severe burns, not from whipping, but from being burned. These untreated burns, after healing naturally, left Sparkle's skin twisted and charred, making her look utterly terrifying!

"What exactly is going on—"

Hermione was breathing heavily, her fists clenched, and her lips trembled.

"What exactly did you do, Sparkle?"

Unlike Dobby, Sparkle showed no excitement upon seeing the 'old acquaintance'. It immediately dropped the firewood it was about to add to the stove, covered its face, and burst into tears, refusing to answer Harry's questions.

"I think it's Professor Blaine—"

Of the three, Ron, who had grown up in the magical world, was the one most accustomed to the plight of house-elves. However, upon seeing the burns on glitter's body, his voice became muffled.

"That night, it collapsed in the penthouse box and couldn't escape Professor Blaine's magic, so the Ministry of Magic couldn't treat it after interrogating it—"

"You're right, sir—"

Dobby looked sadly at Sparkle.

"It was a very serious injury. When Dobby went to visit Sparkle, it was already on the verge of death. St. Mungo's wouldn't treat a house-elf, so Dobby had to go into the forest to find herbs. For two months, Sparkle was unable to move—"

Dobby's voice rose in pitch.

"House-elves are incredibly resilient, and Sparky eventually came back to life!"

Then Dobby took Sparkle to find work. House-elves need to work to get food, but where could they find enough work for two elves? Dobby searched for a long time but couldn't find anything. Then one day, Dobby discovered that many wizards had gathered in a place in Diagon Alley, so Dobby decided to go in and find food!

Dobby's eyes sparkled as he said this.

"Dobby discovered that these wizards were watching the Triwizard Tournament. From a strange screen, Dobby saw Hogwarts Castle, and then Dobby and Blink went to Professor Dumbledore. Sir, Professor Dumbledore accepted us!"

Dobby's face broke into a radiant smile, and tears of joy welled up in its eyes.

"Professor Dumbledore is not only willing to hire Dobby and Gilgamesh, he's also willing to pay Dobby a wage, sir. Dobby will receive one Galleon a week and one day off a month!"

Okay, now Harry and the others finally know why Dobby and Gilgamesh are at Hogwarts.

Harry was overjoyed to unexpectedly see Dobby in the Hogwarts kitchen, but the sight of Brilliant lying on the floor sobbing weighed heavily on his heart.

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

Hermione's clenched fists remained tight as she shouted angrily.

“That’s easy for you to say—” Ron glanced at Hermione and said rationally, “Who do you plan to put in charge, Hermione, Professor Blaine, Barty Crouch, or the entire Ministry of Magic?”

This is indeed a real problem. Hermione wouldn't naively believe that Barty Crouch and the Ministry of Magic would be willing to pay for Blink's injury. As for Professor Blaine, he's easy to talk to, but the key point is that this matter isn't actually his fault. The situation on the Quidditch pitch was extremely critical at the time, and Professor Blaine was focused on stopping the dark witch from committing her crime. He couldn't possibly take care of a house-elf.

“Please don’t trouble yourself, Miss Granger—” Dobby was still somewhat reserved in front of Hermione, “Blink doesn’t want an apology or compensation, it just… just wants to be back with Mr. Crouch—”

Suddenly, Flash erupted, howling loudly and pounding its fists on the floor, looking utterly heartbroken.

"Back to Crouch's side?!"

Anger blazed in Hermione's eyes. "Why go back to him, Sparkle? You served him, but he fired you even though he knew you were innocent. He watched you get seriously injured but didn't treat you. He's not a good enough person at all—"

"You are not allowed to insult my mistress, Miss!"

Sparkle's crying stopped as if paused, and it sat up, its two huge brown eyes glaring fiercely at Hermione, its wet face suddenly contorted with rage.

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

“But—” Hermione started to argue, bewildered, but Ron stopped her.

"Oh, come on, Hermione, just give up. That's just how these creatures are. They're absolutely obedient to wizards, take all the blame, and they seem to enjoy it. You can't change them—"

“That’s not it—” Harry suddenly said, gesturing with his chin toward Dobby, “There’s an exception in front of us, isn’t there?”

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

"Didn't Dobby once try to defy Lucius Malfoy's evil orders?"

"Dobby's former masters were people Dobby refused to listen to!" A hint of fear flashed across Dobby's enormous eyes. "They were... very bad wizards!"

It was clear that saying this was difficult for Dobby. He stood frozen for a moment, trembling, terrified by his own audacity. Suddenly, he lunged at the nearest table. Hermione was very familiar with this scene; she reacted quickly, grabbing his clothes and pulling him back.

“Your resistance is right, Dobby!” Hermione said firmly. “Without you, Lucius Malfoy’s despicable actions would have killed many people!”

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

Dobby rubbed his forehead, panting as he spoke.

"Oh, right!"

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

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

"Yes, Miss Granger, Dobby gets paid!"

Dobby became happy again when this was mentioned.

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

"This is it!"

Under the puzzled gazes of Harry and Ron, Hermione exclaimed excitedly.

"Dum, come to me!"

Chapter 651 Death

2023-12-17