The Troubles of Dobby the House Elf

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"Mr. Malfoy, then you understand all the issues now," Ethan said to Lucius Malfoy with a smile.

"That's right; fortunately, the matter of the Chamber of Secrets has been resolved very well, and no one was hurt. I think the Hogwarts Board of Directors members will be quite satisfied with the result," Lucius Malfoy replied genially.

Professor McGonagall looked at the two suspiciously. Lucius Malfoy, who was aggressive at first, talked with Ethan for a while and became so easygoing after talking with Ethan.

"Since the matter has been investigated, I think I should go too," said Lucius Malfoy.

Then he turned to his house elf and said, "Let's go Dobby!"

Lucius Malfoy opened the door, Dobby hurried over, and Lucius Malfoy kicked him out.

Professor McGonagall frowned when he saw him treating Dobby so rudely, but she couldn't interfere in this matter; after all, Dobby was the "personal property" of the Malfoy family.

All three in the principal's office heard Dobby's screams of pain coming down the hallway.

Harry stood there, thinking hard for a moment, then had an idea.

"Professor Ethan," said Harry hastily, "excuse me, may I borrow this diary?"

Of course, Ethan knew that Harry wanted to save Dobby, so he agreed without hesitation.

"Of course, Harry." Ethan put the diary in Harry's hand.

Harry grabbed the diary and rushed out of the office. He heard Dobby's pained screams round the corner, farther and farther.

Harry quickly removed a shoe, ripped off a sticky, smelly sock, and shoved his diary in, wondering if the plan would work.

Then he ran down the dark corridor.

Ethan smiled as he looked at Harry, who was leaving; presumably, Dobby would be free after a while.

"Professor Ethan, can you tell me what you and Mr. Malfoy discussed?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"It's nothing. We just exchanged the details of the backroom incident. It is obvious that Mr. Malfoy is a reasonable person," Ethan replied.

Professor McGonagall looked at Ethan suspiciously, and she could feel that Ethan must have been hiding something.

But Ethan was reluctant to say it, and she couldn't over-examine it; Ethan was also her colleague.

Professor McGonagall wanted to say something, but a sudden loud noise in the corridor interrupted her.

Just when Professor McGonagall wanted to go out of the headmaster's office worriedly to see what was going on, Harry led Dobby happily into the headmaster's office.

"Harry Potter has freed Dobby!" Dobby exclaimed in a piercing shriek as soon as he saw Ethan.

"Harry Potter set Dobby free!" Dobby continued, widening his round eyes, "Harry Potter is the greatest man in the world!"

"Congratulations, Dobby. You are now a free elf and can do whatever you want!" Ethan congratulated Dobby sincerely.

Dobby's ugly reddish-brown face suddenly burst into a bright smile, full of teeth, and he jumped twice as if planning to do something.

Soon, the confusion appeared on his face again, and his newfound freedom was so sudden that he didn't know what to do for a while.

Dobby stood cramped and squeezed his hand; he didn't know what to do.

Harry was a little dumbfounded when he saw the current situation. He was still immersed in the joy of letting Dobby back to freedom, but he didn't expect to encounter such a problem in the blink of an eye.

"I can give you an opinion, Dobby," Ethan said. "Go to Hermione, and Hermione must have a way to accommodate you properly."

"If you need help, you can come to me or Professor McGonagall," Ethan said, and Professor McGonagall nodded, saying he would help.

Harry also remembered Hermione's House Elf Rights Promotion Association now, and it was obvious that Hermione was finally useful.

Thinking of this, Harry bid farewell to Ethan and Professor McGonagall in high spirits and rushed outside with Dobby.

"Dobby, congratulations on your freedom!" Hermione exclaimed in surprise after hearing Harry's introduction to the whole process of freeing Dobby.

"Thank you, Miss Granger." Dobby's big nose was shaking with excitement.

"But the problem now is that Dobby doesn't know where to go!" Harry took the opportunity to express the problem he was facing now.

After listening to Harry describe the current situation, Hermione also became surprised. She didn't expect to finally wait for Dobby's freedom, but now she had encountered such a problem.

"Maybe we can ask Professor McGonagall if Dobby can be put into Hogwarts?" Ron, who had been silent all the time, suddenly reminded him.

Hermione's eyes lit up, "Yeah, let's go and ask!" Hermione cried.

Hermione thought Ron had come up with a good idea: He could not only place Dobby but also see Him whenever he wanted.

More importantly, Dobby can spread "advanced" ideas to other house-elves in his dealings with other house-elves.

"Dobby is a free elf; he can receive his salary and regular holidays!" Hermione said excitedly.

When Dobby heard the salary and vacation, his body froze like someone had cast a petrification spell on him.

Harry looked at Dobby worriedly, fearing that he would be as hysterical as Pippi.

"Wages one by one vacation one by one," Dobby said these words tremblingly as if something terrible had happened.

"Dobby is a house elf - an elf can't have one and one!" Dobby was pale and squeezed out the words word by word.

"Dobby! You're not like them! You're free!" Hermione warned loudly.

"Yeah! Dobby is a free elf!" Hermione's words seemed to give Dobby an inexplicable courage, making him puff out his bony chest.

"Dobby thinks that one-to-one can ask for a copper nut a year!" Dobby mustered up his courage and made his most daring request.

After speaking, he seemed taken aback by his greed, gasping for breath and almost fainting.

Harry had no choice but to lower his waist and support Dobby's shoulders, preventing Dobby from passing out.

"A copper nut?" Hermione said in surprise.

"A copper nut can't buy anything! Dobby!" Hermione's eyes widened. Even her two large front teeth were bared nervously.

"Dobby, you have to have more legitimate needs!" Hermione advised aside.

"You need at least 50 galleons a month!" Hermione thought for a while and set a reasonable salary price for Dobby.

"Fifty gold galleons?" Dobby jumped up as if burned.

"This is terrifying! Miss Granger! Please don't say such things!" Dobby begged Hermione, trembling all over.

"Dobby, you don't have to be ashamed of this! You deserve it!" Hermione was still trying to persuade Dobby.

It's a pity that Dobby has been completely frightened by Hermione's fifty Galleons proposal, and he is trembling and unwilling to listen to Hermione's words,

He didn't even have time to say goodbye to Harry. Snapping his fingers, he fled in a puff of smoke.