There was still one day left before the new school term started, but Michael had already packed his trunk for Hogwarts. He was eager to return to school, see the Headmaster, and ask about the progress of Wade's rescue.
Over the past days, he had been writing several letters every day, but never received the replies he hoped for, and his owl had gotten so exhausted it pecked at his hand hard several times.
At the Weasleys', they hardly knew any real news. Mr. Weasley left early and returned late, and was rarely seen. Mrs. Weasley, when asked, would always say, "You're just children," or "This isn't something you should be involved in."
Even the streaming mirror in the living room had been enchanted by Mrs. Weasley so that no one could open it. If Harry hadn't had a small mirror that still allowed them to catch a glimpse of the outside world, Michael felt he would have gone insane.
To be fair, Mrs. Weasley was incredibly warm and caring, and she looked after them even more attentively than her own children. But her way of treating them like fragile babies made Michael feel suffocated.
Harry, on the other hand, thought this was just what a mother was like. He behaved obediently under Mrs. Weasley's supervision — at least on the surface. Of course, he would still secretly break the rules behind her back.
Michael's own parents, however, had always been deeply in love and rather laissez-faire in raising their son. He was used to managing himself and didn't like being micromanaged.
After dinner, Harry and the Weasley children quickly helped clear the table and then excused themselves to their bedrooms, supposedly to do homework, but really just to huddle around the streaming mirror to catch any news they could about the outside world.
Unusually, Michael didn't join them. He said, "You guys go ahead. I want to take a walk nearby."
Harry was a little surprised but, remembering how Michael had been in low spirits recently, figured he really did need some fresh air and didn't insist.
The group noisily headed upstairs. Percy glanced at them suspiciously, not understanding why his younger brothers suddenly seemed so eager to study.
But he was planning to write a letter to Penelope tonight, so he didn't think much of it and quickly retreated to his own room.
Ever since Ron had moved back to his own bedroom, Percy felt like he could finally breathe properly again, and the cramped room he had once resented now felt like a precious sanctuary.
As long as these pranksters don't bother me, I couldn't care less about what mischief they are up to.
Sigh... I just hope Ginny won't get dragged into it...
...
When Michael was about to head out, cloaked and ready, Mrs. Weasley pulled him back.
Several minutes later, bundled in a thick scarf, gloves, with a warming fire bottle tucked in his pocket, and boots enchanted against water and dampness, he was finally allowed out the door.
Holding the bottle with the magical fire, Michael stepped into the snow. On the hillside, he was the only moving figure. Smoke was rising from the chimneys in the village at the foot of the hill, and a few figures could be seen walking along the roads.
Michael walked slowly along the edge of the woods.
He didn't want to look into the Streaming mirror today, because it only occasionally showed short clips of the Alliance's activities, constantly emphasizing how evil Muggles were and claiming that the Alliance weren't attacking at random but were protecting the wizarding world— but there was never any sign of Wade.
The Ministry of Magic did send people to search the attacked areas, but mostly just to cover up the Alliance's tracks, without finding any trace of them.
The boy was extremely frustrated but didn't know what else he could do. He wandered aimlessly for a while, and as he walked around a large tree, he suddenly sensed something wrong.
Michael whipped around — and saw, standing under a tree not far away, a very strangely dressed house-elf. The tiny deer hat on its head looked absurdly out of place with its shabby appearance.
Michael almost cried out, but as he stumbled back in alarm, the house-elf gave him a deep bow, which made Michael hesitate to run away.
"You… whose house-elf are you?" Michael cautiously gripped his wand and asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Dobby, sir. Dobby is a free house-elf," Dobby said, clutching his hat and summoning his courage.
"Dobby?" Michael relaxed a little and said, "I've heard of you… After you left the Malfoys, didn't you find a new master?"
He noticed the word "free," which was very rarely associated with house-elves.
"No, sir. No one wants to hire a house-elf who asks for wages,"
Dobby said, "But that's not important right now. Dobby finally found Mr. Corner, because Dobby knows Mr. Corner is Mr. Grey's best friend. Dobby wants to ask — where can Dobby find Mr. Grey?"
"Good question." Michael gave a bitter smile and said, "I'd like to know the answer to that too."
The house-elf tilted his head, unsurprised, and sighed, "Dobby understands. Dobby will go ask someone else."
As he was about to Apparate away, Michael suddenly called out, "Wait!"
Dobby froze and looked up at him.
Michael felt like something had just clicked in his mind. He paced back and forth in the snow and flattened almost the entire patch of ground, then suddenly turned to Dobby with a faint glow in his eyes .
"Even though I don't know where Wade is, I can give you a few directions to search."
As he spoke, Michael quickly organized his thoughts.
"The ones who kidnapped Wade must be Grindelwald's people. They need Wade's help to cut off the SMC signal and broadcast their own videos to the wizarding world."
"But the Alliance would find it hard to trust a student Dumbledore values so highly. To force Wade to cooperate — maybe even to join them — they might resort to very despicable tactics, like kidnapping his parents to blackmail him into agreeing."
"So first, you can go to Wade's parents' house and check if there's anyone lurking around, secretly watching them!"
Michael raised one finger, then a second.
"Second, the Alliance's base is likely somewhere very cold and sparsely populated."
"Did you see the videos they filmed? Even though their faces weren't shown, those wizards were always bundled up in thick clothing.
They were tall and had slender builds, suggesting they're probably from cold regions. And a place that can host hundreds of wizards in secret wouldn't have many Muggles nearby."
"Third, there were at least two to three hundred wizards shown in the video. With so many people, what do they do when they're not attacking Muggles? They need food and water, they need to rest, they need people to help wash clothes and clean rooms."
Michael looked at Dobby and asked, "So do you understand? The place where they're gathering must need a lot of house-elves — maybe even more than Hogwarts has!"
"And you, Dobby, you're a house-elf looking for work. You could find out where a large number of house-elves have recently gathered — that's much easier than investigating the wizards themselves!"
The more Michael spoke, the more ideas kept rushing into his mind. He continued, "Also, a lot of the wizards in the video were injured, so they must need a huge amount of healing potions!"
"Even if they can brew the potions themselves, what about the ingredients?"
"Healing potions need unicorn tail hair, wormwood, and dittany. Blood-replenishing potions need unicorn horns and mandrake roots."
"Dittany must be used within a year, and mandrakes can't be stored for long either... Tracking down who has recently bought large amounts of these potion ingredients might reveal their whereabouts!"
"Ah… t-tracking them?" Dobby's eyes were practically swirling. He shook his head vigorously, clenched his fists, and cheered himself on, "Dobby... Dobby will do his best to find out!"
Michael laughed at the sight.
"No... You probably can't manage that part. I'll write to Professor Dumbledore about it — they've probably thought of it already, but just in case."
"Dobby, you just need to focus on investigating from the first three directions I mentioned!"
Dobby secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said excitedly, "I understand!"
Since leaving Hogwarts, he had been wandering aimlessly, unsure if his efforts were making any difference at all. This was the first time he clearly knew what he needed to do.
Michael, meanwhile, couldn't wait to rush back and write his letter. He gave Dobby the address for the Grey family, then hurried back toward the Weasley house.
There was a sharp "pop" on the snowy hillside — and Dobby disappeared.
...
The town still had a few Christmas decorations hanging up, but the weather had grown colder and colder. As soon as night fell, there were barely any people on the streets.
Dobby, holding the piece of paper, made his way along the road and searched carefully.
"Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen... This should be the place, right?"
He peeked inside through the gaps in the fence and, under the light, saw someone passing by the window. Before he could get a clearer look, a small figure suddenly appeared right in front of him.
Dobby had no time to react before he was grabbed sharply by the neck and slammed against the wall with a loud thud.
He stared in terror with his eyes wide open and saw an old house-elf, who looked almost fossilized, standing before him. The elf's fingers were as thin and gnarled as twigs, clutching his neck tightly.
"Hmph, look what Kreacher caught — a nasty little brat, spying on the master here!"
The old house-elf muttered in a low, grumbling voice, "What evil schemes is he plotting? Kreacher will bring him to the master. The worthless heir will hollow out his brain and dig out all his bad thoughts…"
"W-wait... wait..."
Dobby struggled desperately to pry his fingers off but couldn't. In a panic, he suddenly grabbed his hat, flipped up the edge, and pulled out a small greeting card to show him.
[To dear Dobby:
Merry Christmas!
Your friend, Wade Grey]
Kreacher glanced at it, and the familiar handwriting caused his fingers to loosen slightly. The ferocious glint in his eyes also shifted.
"…This strange wild brat is a friend of Wade Grey?"
He asked quietly.
"Dobby… Dobby is a friend of Wade Grey," Dobby said, coughing, "Dobby wants to find the missing Wade Grey, so he came here to see if there were any suspicious people around."
Kreacher released him but said gruffly, "The most suspicious one here is you!"
Dobby looked fearfully at the powerful house-elf and timidly asked, "Dobby… doesn't know who you are…"
"Kreacher, house-elf of the Black family, servant of the great and pure Black lineage for generations!"
Kreacher declared proudly, shooting a contemptuous glance at Dobby's ragged clothes.
— Not even a crest-embroidered pillowcase. Clearly cast out.
In truth, Kreacher himself had once worn only a filthy rag. But now, he was dressed in a neat little suit, with the Black family crest pinned to his chest.
Though house-elves couldn't accept clothing from their masters without being freed, receiving a set of clothes as a gift from someone else was perfectly acceptable.
This outfit had been a gift from Wade earlier. Kreacher had found the Black family crest himself, digging it out from the attic.
Sirius actually hated seeing that crest flashing around every day, but he had tacitly allowed Kreacher to keep it on.
Hearing this, Dobby looked at Kreacher with a mix of envy and sympathy, and nervously clutched the tattered clothes he wore. Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly heard the sound of a door opening inside.
Both house-elves immediately fell silent and quickly hid.
Through the fence and the snow-covered bushes, Dobby saw a middle-aged Muggle man in pajamas with a coat draped over his shoulders step out of the house. He was carrying a very bright lantern, which illuminated most of the yard.
"What's wrong, Fredy?" a woman's voice called from inside the house.
"I thought I heard something..." the Muggle man turned his head back and replied, "Maybe it was just a squirrel foraging."
"I see... Well, I'll head back to the bedroom then. Don't work too late. Sigh... I wonder if Wade will come home before school starts."
The light in the upstairs bedroom flashed on and then off again. The Muggle man at the door already had cheeks reddened from the cold but still didn't go back inside.
He carried the lantern and circled around the yard twice. He even checked the rooftop and walls, and bent down to inspect the bushes. After thoroughly searching, he reluctantly prepared to return inside.
Hidden by the bushes outside the wall, Dobby let out a sigh of relief.
At that moment, a sparrow hopped through the dead branches and fallen leaves, seemingly mistaking Dobby's outstretched finger for food, and suddenly pecked at it.
Dobby recoiled in pain, causing the nearby bushes to shake noisily and knocking some snow loose.
The Muggle man quickly turned around and took two hurried steps toward the noise while calling out, "Wade? Is that you?"
The lantern illuminated a pair of tennis ball-sized eyes hiding in the bush. Fred gasped sharply, almost fainting on the spot.
He stumbled back a few steps, clutched his chest and fought the urge to either run away screaming or collapse. His hand trembled as he raised the lantern slightly forward and asked, "W-what... what are you?"
Unlike most house-elves, even when he lived at the Malfoy's, Dobby had never hidden himself all day.
Now, seeing that he had been discovered, and recalling the proper manners expected when visiting a friend's home, Dobby gathered his courage and, to Kreacher's astonished gaze, stepped out.
"Good evening, sir," Dobby said, removing his little deer hat and placing it over his chest. "Dobby is a house-elf, a friend of Wade Grey, and has come to search for Wade Grey."
To prove his words, he once again took out the small greeting card.
Staring at the strange little creature, Fred froze.
Then he noticed that despite Dobby's bizarre appearance, his frighteningly large eyes were clear and sincere. Aside from the little hat, his clothes were ragged, and he was even barefoot.
Fred was silent for a moment before finally saying, "Wade's not home. But... since you're his friend, come on in!"
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⭐Harry Potter: Becoming a Study God (HP:BSG)- +235 Chapters
⭐MCU: Druid's Adventures (MCUDA)(⭐COMPLETE⭐) - Total Chapter 460
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