It was now after Dinner Time, Lucifer couldn't believe Hermione got him to spend so long down in the Kitchens with the reluctant looking House Elves.
Hermione could have sworn, noticing some of them just literally cried into bloody tears when Lucifer just talked with some...
They hurried up to Gryffindor Tower and made it just in time to stop Harry and Ron from going in.
"Harry!" Hermione said, panting as she ran up to him. "Harry, you've - you've got to come and see - what Lucifer and I found!" She grabbed him by the arm and started pulling, but he was a bit reluctant to follow.
"What's the matter, Hermione?" He asked her.
"It's better if we show you, come on!" She urged and he relented, following them both, with Ron behind him.
"Hermione, where are we going?" He asked, just as they got down to the Marble Staircase.
"You'll see, better if you see it with your own eyes," she said quickly and excitedly.
Hermione dragged Harry to the broad stone corridor that was brightly lit with Torches, and decorated with cheerful paintings of nothing but food, "Hermione... hang on, are we-"
"Just wait until we are inside!" She said rather loudly, and tickled the huge green pear with her forefinger.
It began to squirm, chuckled, and then turned into a large green door handle.
She opened the door and she practically forced Harry inside, even though he willingly walked in.
"Harry Potter, sir! Harry Potter !" Came the voice of Dobby as he full-on sprinted to their location. Dobby tackled Harry in his midriff, knocking the air right out of him by the looks of it, and hugged him uncomfortably tight.
"D-Dobby?" Harry gasped out.
"It is Dobby, sir, it is!" Dobby's voice was muffled as his face was buried into Harry's stomach, "Dobby has been hoping and hoping to see Harry Potter, sir, and Harry Potter has come to see him, sir!"
Dobby let go and stepped back a few paces, beaming up at Harry, his enormous, green, tennis-ball-shaped eyes brimming with tears of happiness.
"Dobby, what're you doing here?" Harry asked in amazement.
"Dobby has come to work at Hogwarts, sir!" Dobby squealed excitedly, "Professor Dumbledore gave Dobby and Winky jobs, sir!"
"Winky? She's here too?"
"Yes, sir, yes!" Dobby said and seized Harry's hand and pulled, leading him elsewhere in the Kitchen.
The other three followed Harry and Dobby, and they found Winky to be in the same place she was before they left, sitting on a stool by the brick fireplace, "Winky, sir!"
"Hello, Winky," Harry said politely, but she suddenly burst into tears.
"Oh dear... not again..." Hermione said as it had happened back when they talked to Winky a little while ago.
"Would Harry Potter like a cup of tea?" Dobby asked loudly over Winky's wailing.
"Er - yeah, okay," Harry said.
In an instant, Six House Elves came trotting up behind them, bearing a large silver tray laden with a teapot, cups for the 3 of them, a milk jug, and a large plate of cookies.
"Good service!" Ron said in an impressed voice, but Hermione scowled at him.
The House Elves all looked delighted at being able to please, bowed low, and retreated back to what they had previously been doing.
It was a girl Elf who even dared up to strike up a conversation with Lucifer, with a plate full of milk jug, candies and cookies, "T-Tipsy, my L-Lord."
"...Ah, yes thank you. Would you like to leave Hogwarts and come to serve under m---'
"Lucifer, we are not here to recruit them for your bar!"
"W-what a grand honour, it is Sir!'
"How long have you been here, Dobby?" Harry asked as Dobby poured and handed out tea.
"Only a week, Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby said happily, "Dobby came to see Professor Dumbledore, sir. You see, sir, it is very difficult for a House-Elf who has been dismissed to get a new position, sir, very difficult indeed-" Winky howled even louder with her sobs, "-especially when Dobby is asking for pay now, sir!"
"Good for you, Dobby," Hermione said, beaming at him, but the other House Elves who had been listening in on their conversation all turned away immediately, as though Dobby had just insulted them all greatly.
"Thank you, Miss!" Dobby grinned toothily at her, "But most Wizards doesn't want a House-Elf who wants paying, miss. 'That's not the point of a House-Elf,' they says, and they slammed the door in Dobby's face! Dobby likes work, but he wants to wear clothes and he wants to be paid, Harry Potter... Dobby likes being free!"
The other House-Elves around them now started edging away from Dobby like he had the plague.
Lucifer kept whispering to the one he caught to agree on his deal.
Winky, however, remained where she was, though there was a definite increase in the volume of her crying.
"And then, Harry Potter, Dobby goes to visit Winky, and finds out Winky has been freed too, sir!" Dobby said delightedly.
Winky flung herself forward off the stool, beating her hands, curled into tiny fists, upon the flagged stone floor, positively screaming with misery.
"Silencio," Lucifer said after pulling his wand out and aiming it at Winky, "Sorry, I couldn't handle the crying and screaming anymore."
Hermione wasn't sure how to feel.
She was glad the loud screeching sound was gone, but the use of a spell on a House-Elf just because she was being annoying, which Hermione would not argue against, didn't sit right with her.
She watched on as Winky continued hitting her fists against the floor, knowing that nothing she did would help the poor little Elf.
"And then Dobby had the idea, Harry Potter, sir! 'Why doesn't Dobby and Winky find work together?" Dobby says. 'Where is there enough work for two House-Elves?' Says Winky. And Dobby thinks, and it comes to him, sir! Hogwarts ! So Dobby and Winky came to see Professor Dumbledore, sir, and Professor Dumbledore took us on!" Dobby explained in as normal a tone Dobby can have with Winky's wailing silenced. Dobby beamed brightly and tears then welled up in his eyes again.
"And Professor Dumbledore says he will pay Dobby, sir, if Dobby wants paying! So Dobby is a free elf, sir, and Dobby gets a Galleon a week and one day off a month!"
"Really? Good for you, Dobby!" Hermione beamed happily at the little Elf.
It wasn't much, she thought, but it was definitely on the right path for House-Elves.
"I will pay you 10 Galleons a week, Tipsy....."
???
"Thank you, Miss!" Dobby beamed up at her.
"And do you know how much he's paying Winky?" Hermione asked him.
"Winky did not take pay, Miss, she says she will not sink so low as to accept pay," Dobby explained.
"What I want to know..." Lucifer said, getting their attention, including the attention of many terrified Elves nearby, "do House-Elves know that they once used to be a Proud and Free Warrior Clan Species having individuals like Glorfindel, Elrond, Galadriel, Legolas?"
"Used to be Free, sir?" Dobby asked, wondering if it was true.
Dobby seemed to understand that House-Elves were enslaved, but he seemed to not know that that wasn't always the case.
"About Eighteen Hundred years ago, House-Elves were free, before Wizardkind waged war on them and enslaved them," he said and Dobby gasped.
To his surprise, some Elves around them stopped what they were doing to listen.
They might have rejected Dobby for his love of being free and wanting pay, but they may have been like him and not known about it, "Over centuries, House-Elves were beaten by Witches and Wizards, until all they knew was to Obey their Masters every command. More laws were added over time until it has become what it is now. Elf kind was once free," he said to the Kitchen as a whole.
"I just thought you should know."
He was met with silence for a solid minute, before the previous sound of House-Elves working was heard again.
"Lucifer Morningstar, sir?" Dobby got his attention, "Winky looks as though she has something to say, sir."
He looked and sure enough, Winky had stopped wailing and wanted to speak.
He removed the Silencing Charm from her and her panting was heard before she spoke, "House-Elves is supposed to care for and obey their Masters! Winky can't imagine how bad Mr. Crouch is without Winky there!"
"Really?" Hermione asked, "Because he looked like he was getting on just fine without you."
"You is seeing my Master? You is seeing him here at Hogwarts?" Winky asked breathlessly, her tear-stained face looking pitiful.
"Yes, he and Mr. Bagman are judges in the Triwizard Tournament," Hermione said to Winky.
"Mr. Bagman comes too?" Winky squealed, and to all four of their surprise, she had a suddenly angry look on her face.
"Mr. Bagman is a bad Wizard! A very bad Wizard! My Master is not liking him very much, oh no, not all!"
"Bagman - bad?" Harry asked, dumbfounded.
"Oh, yes!" Winky nodded her head furiously, "My Master is telling Winky things, but - Winky is not revealing her Masters secrets! Winky is a Good Elf!" She then dissolved back into her crying.
Not being able to get another sensible word out of Winky, they left her to her crying while they finished their Tea and Dobby chatted happily with Harry about his life as a free elf and his plans for his wages.
"Dobby is saving up to buy a sweater next, Harry Potter, sir!"
"Tell you what, Dobby," Ron said, and it seemed like he had taken a liking to the Elf.
"I'll give you the one my Mum knits me this Christmas, I always get one from her. You don't mind Maroon, do you?"
"Dobby is not minding colors, sir! Dobby is a humble Elf!" Dobby said happily.
"We might have to shrink it a bit to fit you, but it'll go well with your Tea Cozy," Ron said.
They all four then prepared to take their leave, and as they did, many surrounding Elves pressed upon them, offering snacks to take back upstairs, with most but one avoiding Lucifer's sight.
Hermione refused politely, but had to say so, many times.
Harry and Ron loaded their pockets with cream cakes and pies, however.
"Thanks a lot!" Harry said to the Elves, who had all clustered around the door to say good night, "see you, Dobby!"
"Harry Potter... Can Dobby come and see you sometimes, sir?" Dobby asked tentatively.
"Course you can," Harry said, and Dobby beamed with happiness.
"You know what?" Ron got their attention once the four had left the Kitchens behind and were climbing the steps into the Entrance Hall again.
"All these years I've been really impressed with Fred and George, nicking food from the kitchens - well, it's not exactly difficult, is it? They can't wait to give it away!"
"I think this is the best thing that could happen for Dobby, honestly," Hermione said, "maybe if the other House-Elves see that Dobby is free and getting paid, they'll consider it as well? Plus what Lucifer said, it seemed to get some of the Elves at least thinking about it."
"Let's just hope they don't look too closely at Winky," Harry said.
"She'll come around," Hermione said, but she was doubtful, "Once the shock's worn off, and she's gotten used to Hogwarts, she'll see how much better off she is without that Crouch man."
"She seems to love him," Ron said seconds before biting into one of the cream cakes.
Hermione stared at him disgustedly as he ate.
"Doesn't think much of Bagman, though, does she?" Harry mentioned, "Wonder what Crouch says at home about him?"
"Probably says he's not a very good Head of Department," Hermione huffed, "and let's face it... he's got a point, hasn't he?"
"I'd still rather work for him than old Crouch," Ron said, "At least Bagman's got a sense of humor."
"Ah, yes, such a sense of Humor he has. That aloof moron probably thought it was real funny watching that Peruvian Vipertooth almost kill Fleur, or that Hungarian Horntail raging free as it flew after Harry," Lucifer said spitefully.
"Er - well-" Ron was at a loss for words.
"Exactly. Whatever you think of Crouch, at least he knows when to draw a line and not cross it," Lucifer said as they made it back to the Tower.
He bid Hermione goodnight and went upstairs with Harry and Ron, going to his own quarters after boys were fast asleep.
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