The Return to Hogwarts

The other elves in the kitchen had been gathered around them, ready to serve them at any time. But as soon as they started talking and mentioned words like 'wages, holidays, freedom, rebellion,' the elves all scurried to the side, as if Harry and his friends were discussing something very rude.

Hermione put the elves aside for the moment, grabbed Dobby's thin arm, and shouted,

"Dum, come to me!"

boom!

After a slight popping sound, another house-elf appeared beside Hermione; it was none other than Hermione's Doom.

Doom was still wearing the pullover that Hermione had given him, made from fabric torn from her robe. Compared to two weeks ago, when the first competition ended, Doom was much stronger; it was hard to imagine that a newborn house-elf could grow so big in just two or three months.

"Oh, what's going on, Hermione?" Harry exclaimed in surprise as soon as he saw Dom appear. "What happened to its ears?"

One of Dom's ears drooped down, and the soft down on it had completely disappeared, leaving his skin a burnt black.

"--It wants to punish itself for helping in the championship project."

Hermione said sadly,

"Dum stuck his head into Hagrid's furnace, but luckily Tooth was spotted in time."

Upon hearing the reason, even Harry couldn't help but sigh. These house-elves were more difficult to deal with than any magical creature he had ever encountered.

"--Honorable Mistress Granger"

Dom had never been to the Hogwarts kitchen before, and the surroundings made it slightly bewildered. When it found itself surrounded by its kind, all looking at it with curious eyes, it fearfully called out Hermione's name and involuntarily shrank back against Hermione's legs.

"A baby elf!"

House-elves obviously have their own way of distinguishing the age of their companions. Although Harry and Ron thought Dom and Dobby were about the same age, Dobby recognized at a glance that Dom was actually only a few months old.

"Dobby hasn't seen such a small elf baby in a long time, Miss Granger. Is it your house-elf?"

Looking at the hand that was still clenched around his arm, Dobby asked, both pleased and puzzled, "Dobby, is there anything I can do for you?"

Harry and Ron exchanged glances, already guessing what Hermione was planning to do. Sure enough, Hermione grabbed Doom's arm with her other hand and said to him very seriously,

“This is Dobby, Dom. Starting tomorrow, you can stay in Hagrid's at night, but during the day I want you to follow Dobby and learn from him—”

Dom looked at Dobby, blinking his eyes, seemingly bewildered by Hermione's command.

"House-elves can do many household chores without needing to study, Miss Granger—"

Hermione's earnest words touched Dobby, but at the same time, they also left him very confused.

“We are born to do housework, Miss Granger. Your house-elf looks very healthy. What can Dobby teach it?”

"Oh, that's it--"

Hermione frowned, trying to make her words easier to understand.

"I hope you can teach Dom to pursue freedom, and that house-elves, while working, also have the right to enjoy wages and holidays!"

The room was completely silent; no one or any house-elves made a sound.

Dom's skin visibly turned pink, and judging from the light emanating from its enormous eyes, this was clearly not due to fear, but rather fear. This was a perfectly normal reaction, and Dobby didn't agree as Hermione had expected, instead showing a troubled expression.

"Oh dear, this is a disaster--"

Ron sighed and whispered in Harry's ear, and Harry nodded involuntarily.

Dom looked at Dobby, instinctively wanting to get away from him, but Hermione's command rendered him immobile. So, he could only look at Hermione pitifully one moment and stare at Dobby in terror the next.

Dobby understood immediately upon seeing Dom's reaction.

"That's probably --"

Dobby was in a great dilemma; he racked his brains trying to find a tactful way to put it.

Dobby also tried to persuade Gilgamesh to ask Professor Dumbledore for his wages and vacation time.

Back by the fireplace, sobbing, Sparkle became angry again.

"Shiny is a house-elf who was kicked out of the house, but Shiny isn't at the point where she needs to be paid yet!"

Flashy said in a shrill, piercing voice.

"Glass hasn't fallen to that level yet; Gilgamesh is ashamed of his freedom!"

“You see, miss—”

Dobby pointed at Sparkle, then looked sadly at the little elves who were further away from them and said,

"Aside from work, they don't want to talk to me about anything else. Excuse me, miss, but your house-elf probably doesn't want to either—"

"Doom loves to work, great Master Granger, but Dom doesn't want wages or holidays, Dom is an obedient little elf—"

Tommy's eyes filled with tears as she looked at Hermione and pleaded softly.

But Hermione seemed to have made up her mind. She kept her reluctance to herself, her rosy lips pressed tightly together, and she showed her determination to Tom and Dobby with her eyes.

Hermione.

Harry looked a little helpless. He also believed that the treatment of house-elves needed to be improved, but her approach was clearly flawed. Just as he was about to persuade Hermione to take it slow, one of the house-elves who was far away from them suddenly stepped forward and, under their astonished gazes, timidly walked towards them.

“You…you can’t do this, Miss Granger—”

The house-elf approached Hermione, and judging from its trembling appearance, it had clearly mustered a great deal of courage to question Hermione's words.

"You are."

Identifying house-elves is no easy task for wizards, and it took Hermione a moment to realize it before she exclaimed in delight.

"Rika! I remember now, you're Rikka!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly as she brought Dom to the house-elf.

"Do you remember, Dom? It's your mother, Reja. Do you remember it?"

To Hermione's disappointment, Dom was extremely indifferent to Rega's appearance. It merely nodded when Hermione asked it, and then looked at Dobby with fearful eyes, as if Dobby was covered in filth.

“You mustn’t let Dom near Dobby, Miss Granger—”

A strange emotion was supporting Ragnarok, giving it the courage to express its opposition to Hermione.

"Doom is an obedient house-elf, and Doom is willing to do anything for you, Miss Granger, but you can't let Dobby teach it that house-elves don't get paid or have holidays—"

Just hearing those two words made Ruijia tremble violently, but it still insisted on finishing its sentence.

"Everything a house-elves owns belongs to their owner."

The situation reached a stalemate. Dom kept shaking his head slightly, unwilling to approach Dobby. Meanwhile, one of Hermione's goals for coming to the kitchen that evening—Dom's mother, Ragnarok—surprisingly stepped forward to help Dom try and persuade Hermione to retract her decision. This greatly troubled Hermione; her clever mind couldn't handle this complex situation, and her lack of life experience prevented her from realizing what Ragnarok's intervention signified.

boom!

Just then, a loud bang suddenly came from the center of the kitchen; it was the sound of the house-elves teleporting.

The silent group instinctively looked over and discovered that a little sprite had teleported back to the kitchen and landed directly on one of the four long tables in the middle of the kitchen.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared at the little house-elf, and before they knew it, their expressions had subtly changed.

Boom--

The little sprite that landed on the table seemed to be drunk. It staggered a few steps and then collapsed onto the table with a thud.

Silence and stillness

"What happened to it?"

Harry's brow furrowed involuntarily; the way the elves around the long table were staring at the little elf sent a chill down his spine.

"It's dead, sir—"

Dobby gasped for breath and said in a sharp voice.

Chapter 652 The Terrifying Ritual

2023-12-18

"Dead?"

Harry asked, bewildered.

"But why?"

Actually, there was no need for further answers; they could figure it out themselves. The house-elf lying on the table looked quite old. Its skin was covered with layers upon layers of wrinkles, far more pronounced than Sirius's Kreacher, and the length of its white downy fur was the most exaggerated that Harry had ever seen among house-elves.

"Shouldn't we—"

Hermione had also forgotten about having Dom and Dobby study; her voice was light and airy, and one could imagine that she was also a little flustered by this unexpected situation.

"Should we call Professor Blaine over?"

In her moment of desperation, Hermione's first thought was of Professor Blaine, after all, she had once saved Rega and Doom together with him.

However, Harry and Ron were unsure how to handle the situation, and they hesitated about who should take responsibility for the death of their house-elf.

But then, something surprising happened.

Rika, Dobby, and Dom, who were standing around them, and even Shiny, who had been brooding over being kicked out, all stopped crying and slowly got up to walk towards the little elf. The little elves who were busy in the kitchen also put down what they were doing and rushed to the little elf's side.

Without anyone directing them, the sprites displayed remarkable order, surrounding the table and gazing with reverence at the sprite whose life force had left its body.

"Oh, they are—"

The atmosphere was heavy. Ron said in a low voice,

"They must be commemorating it. I'm surprised; I thought they wouldn't care about such things!"