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"Dobby, this is Hermione," Harry said by way of introduction. "She's my - er - friend."
"Harry Potter is a great wizard, miss," Dobby said to her, blinking oddly from lack of sleep. "Such an honor it is to be his elf."
"And you're not concerned you'll be his slave?" she pressed as Harry signed his name.
"Oh, no, miss, no!" Dobby's bat-like ears whipped back and forth as he shook his head, though he had to grab hold of the table to steady himself afterwards. "Dobby's always been that, miss, but now Dobby gets to serve Harry Potter's family, so Dobby can see him whenever he wants!"
"But wouldn't you rather be free?"
Dobby hugged himself and seemed to cringe at the very thought.
"Dobby would rather be free-," the little elf said as Harry stopped short of pulling his wand to finish the form. "Better free than go back to his family, miss. They - they are bad evil dark wizards!"
The house-elf's eyes popped and his hands flew to his mouth as if to stuff the words back inside. The next instant he cried, "Bad Dobby!" and darted to the table. Harry had been watching for something like this and managed to get his hand between Dobby's head and the table.
"Not 'bad Dobby,'" Harry said as he scooted the elf's head further away. "The Malfoys are 'bad evil dark wizards.' It's not bad to say so, and you shouldn't punish yourself either way," he told the elf.
He glanced over at Hermione before continuing.
"If you want to be free, I'll free you. You don't have to go back to the Malfoys."
Once again the groggy elf shook his head.
"Oh, no sir!" Dobby said. "Better free than there, but better to serve Harry Potter than to be free!" the elf said with a grin.
Harry really didn't know how to respond to that. What do you say to someone who'd rather be your slave than be free, thank you? He looked over to Hermione, wondering what she thought of this. She seemed lost in thought so he poked her knee, drawing her attention. His question must've been written on his face because after a moment she shrugged with a troubled look on her face. For once she didn't seem to know what the right answer was either. Given everything that'd happened, it was probably the best he could hope for.
Not knowing anything else he could do, Harry put his wand to the form and felt the pulse of magic sealing Dobby's fate. He wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not.
"Congratulations," Lichfield said as he swirled the Blood Quill in a glass of water Harry hadn't seen him conjure. "You now have the most expensive house-elf in the history of Gringotts."
Harry looked down at the form he just signed, back to where the total amount to be transferred was, it didn't seem that much.
"That's ten times more than my shoes cost," he said disbelievingly. It seemed like such a small amount to pay for a person. He didn't know if the Malfoys didn't really value Dobby at all or if they were price gouging him. Dobby, on the other hand, took this in a completely different way.
"Dobby's worth more than shoes?" the little elf said, his bulbous eyes growing to the size of saucers.
"Dobby's worth more than ten pairs of shoes," Harry agreed as Barchoke stamped the form and it disappeared in a puff of smoke.
He wondered vaguely where it went and whether it was now that secretary's job to deal with. Harry turned back to see Dobby's smile had returned and he figured that he might as well go all the way.
"And I'm glad for every knut I paid because to me you're worth twice that much," he said with a smile.
Harry couldn't help but chuckle as Dobby's jaw dropped and threatened to go through the floor as the little elf stood in awe of what he said.
"Master Harry is so good to Dobby!" the elf cried as he ran up to hug his leg.
Harry glanced over to Hermione to see what she thought because there really couldn't be any doubt that Dobby truly looked happy with what'd happened. She sat studying the elf with her brow furrowed, no doubt wondering how anyone could genuinely want to be enslaved.
While his first thought on getting Dobby had been to find out more about this plot by the Malfoys, with those big circles under his eyes Harry knew his first responsibility was to look after his elf; there'd be time to question Dobby later.
"Alright Dobby," Harry said as he peeled the little elf off his leg. "I've got something very important for you to do for me."
"Anything, Master Harry," the tired elf smiled.
"First, you're family now," Harry said. "That means no calling me 'master.' You called me Harry before so you can call me Harry now. Think you can do that?"
"Oh!" Dobby squeaked, his hands flying to his mouth. "Yes, Harry Potter, sir. Dobby will call Harry Potter Harry Potter now, Harry Potter, sir."
"Good," Harry smiled. "Now second, no punishing yourself. If you think you've done something wrong, just apologize; it'll be fine."
"No punishing Dobby," Dobby said with a nod, as if unsure he'd be able to carry through with that one, something Harry had doubts on himself.
"And third, can you find the Burrow from here?" Harry asked curiously.
"Oh, yes sir," Dobby said. "Dobby can find it if Ma-ister Harry Potter needs him to."
"Good," Harry smiled. "I've got a room there; you should be able to find Hedwig there too. You can use my pillowcase to replace that one if you want, just don't put that one on the pillow. We can burn it together later."
Dobby looked ecstatic.
"I also need you to get a lot of sleep, so you can use my bed until I get back," Harry said firmly.
If Harry had thought Dobby's eyes had gotten big before, this time they grew to the size of dinner plates.
"Mister Harry Potter wants Dobby to sleep in Harry Potter's bed?" Dobby asked, probably never believing in a million years he'd have the opportunity to sleep in a real bed, much less his.
"Harry Potter does want Dobby to sleep in Harry Potter's bed," Harry said with his best Hermione-like stern look on his face. "Can you do that for him?" he asked before deciding that he really needed to stop talking in the third person before he got stuck that way.
"Dobby can do it, sir," Dobby said eagerly. "Does Harry Potter want Dobby to go now?"
"Yes, Dobby, you can go now," he replied.
Practically vibrating with energy, Dobby disappeared with a pop!
"Well, there's that issue taken care of," Barchoke said as the others sat in silence and he moved what had to be Dobby's file off to one side.
Harry poked Hermione's knee to get her to look at him again. She still seemed uncertain, but she gave him a grin, so he guessed he was still okay on that front.
"You know," Lichfield said to Barchoke, "this might a good thing to present to the Wizengamot when it comes to pursuing Harry's independence."
"The fact he has a house-elf to do everything for him?" the Overseer asked.
"The fact that by obtaining a house-elf of his own he's choosing to embrace a traditional side of wizarding life," the old litigator painted the mental picture for Barchoke.