Chapter 20: The Hogwarts Kitchen
At one o'clock in the morning, Draco Malfoy, dressed in light gray pajamas, appeared in the Hogwarts kitchen, stunned.
In front of him, more than a hundred house-elves in Hogwarts uniforms turned their heads, smiled, bowed, and curtsied.
It was a disaster. A respectable Malfoy would never appear in public in his pajamas, not even in front of house-elves.
This happened two hours ago.
It was one evening after Easter. He had just finished his long and boring essay on the history of magic about the automatic stirring cauldron and was about to go to bed when, with a "bang", a strangely dressed little monster suddenly appeared in front of him.
Draco hardly recognized Dobby.
Its clothes looked like they were arbitrarily put together by the most irresponsible child, whether it was the teapot coziness on its head or the bunch of bright badges flashing on it; whether it was the horseshoe-patterned tie or the shorts on its lower body... not to mention the two mismatched socks, they all seemed out of tune with the surrounding environment.
"Dobby found it!" it screamed, holding a thin black book in its hands.
"Really? Give it to me now." Draco stood up with a start and immediately gave up making any negative comments about Dobby's clothes.
Dobby handed the book to Draco respectfully and considerately opened the book to its proper place.
The description of the Horcruxes was just a few lines, but that was enough. This was exactly the part of the knowledge Draco lacked.
"If one wishes to create a Horcrux, the caster can use the spell 'Soul Binding' to seal the soul fragment in the container that holds the soul..."
Soul Imprisonment... Draco tapped his fingers on the table, thinking silently.
"Duplicate it." He suddenly waved his wand and copied the book. Then, he handed the copy of the book, which was so black that the cover could not be seen, back to Dobby.
"Well done, Dobby. Put this copy back where it came from." Seeing Dobby's eyes welling up with tears because of the praise, Draco wisely changed the subject, "Where did you find this book?"
But as soon as he finished speaking, he saw Dobby banging his head against the wall.
"Dobby is a bad elf! Dobby has betrayed his master's trust!" The elf kept screaming, as if he had done something unforgivable.
"Dobby, I command you to stop! Explain everything," Draco ordered immediately. Fortunately, he had the foresight to cast a Silencing Charm over the entire room when Dobby arrived.
Otherwise, such a loud noise would have been discovered by the people in the next dormitory.
Dobby finally stopped his self-torturing behavior and panted weakly, "Thank you, little master! Dobby searched the entire study! Dobby couldn't find it!"
It blinked its round eyes, which were the size of tennis balls, and looked pitiful. "So Dobby searched and searched, and finally he found it in that house—that evil house!"
Draco watched the elf regain his composure and jump for joy. He couldn't help but ask, "Which room is that?"
"Oh! Little master! That's the master's secret room, the one hidden under the living room! There are a lot of evil black magic in it!" Dobby screamed.
Then, it shuddered and rushed towards Draco's wardrobe again, intending to destroy the wardrobe with its head.
"Stop! Dobby, I order you not to punish yourself without my consent! Why are you punishing yourself?" Draco held his forehead in annoyance and called Dobby, who kept bowing to him in gratitude, to come over.
"The master won't allow us to enter casually. It's a secret. There are many dark magic items hidden in it." Dobby shrank back, as if he had suffered a great fright. "But the noble young master wants Dobby to look for the book, and he will keep looking for it until he finds it."
"Dobby, you did a great job." Draco made up his mind to go and see that room during the summer vacation.
He knew that room; it was the forbidden artefacts room at Malfoy Manor.
In his previous life, he was already fifteen or sixteen years old when he actually went in to check it out. At that time, it was almost empty and there was nothing special inside.
But when he was young, what was placed inside was a mystery he never paid attention to.
That was why he had never thought of this room, because in his memory, it had never been anything special.
Moreover, it was later transformed by the Dark Lord into a cell for holding prisoners, becoming a dirty, horrible, and unbearable symbol of terror. He was even reluctant to go in unless it was necessary.
I don't want to recall it anymore.
At this moment, Draco couldn't help but feel curious about this room. He decided to go to the room and see if there was anything strange about it after summer vacation.
At this moment, Dobby was still standing there trembling, his face pale.
Draco looked at its pitiful appearance with an unfathomable expression, and reassessed its value.
Unexpectedly, Dobby could actually find the knowledge about Horcruxes - he had originally given up much hope.
This little elf was somewhat useful. Although it was annoyingly noisy, it did get things done; its abilities were greater than he had expected.
"Do you like chocolate frogs? Look, they're right on the table. Sit down and have one." He asked it kindly.
Dobby hesitated for a moment, looked at Draco secretly, and seeing that he didn't seem to be joking, he decided to follow the instructions of his young master.
It quickly picked up a piece of chocolate from the corner, opened the package, and ate it with trembling hands.
"Ready?" Draco asked.
"Dobby—Dobby feels much better," he said tremblingly. His expression was no longer so grim, and his mood had gradually calmed down. He was looking at the picture taken out of the Chocolate Frog with his big eyes curiously.
"Who's up there?" Draco asked.
"Cornelius Agrippa," Dobby said with a wink.
"Not bad. I heard this picture is very rare and very popular among wizards." Draco said, "You can keep it and collect it."
Hearing this, the elf seemed happy. It couldn't let go and looked at the first Chocolate Frog picture in its life over and over again, as if forgetting the unpleasantness just now.
Draco studied the expression on Dobby's face and said to him, "Father told me that you are now my personal house-elf. From now on, you only need to obey my orders. My requirements will be higher than those of others, so you don't need to punish yourself for such things."
Dobby nodded happily and bowed, his large ears drooping down to the carpet.
Draco had long known that Dobby was an unusual house-elf, even an outlier among house-elves.
As far as I can remember, after Dobby left the Malfoy family, he went to many manors to apply for jobs and asked for salary.
He heard this from the gossip-loving Pansy Parkinson.
Who among those conservative old-school pure-blood wizards would accept such a rebellious house-elf?
But Dobby is not completely useless.
It has the ability to read and can find books on Horcrux knowledge.
It can Apparate, and can even appear out of thin air in the "unapparateable" Hogwarts castle.
It has wisdom that is not inferior to that of wizards. In its previous life, it rescued Harry and the others right under their noses.
The most terrifying thing is that it did all this without even using a wand, which means that its magic power may be stronger than that of many adult wizards, and it can be very useful at critical moments.
To some extent, Dobby's abilities were worth the salary. If he could bribe Dobby with that little money, he would give it a try. It would be better than letting him betray the Malfoy family and reveal secrets at will.
He said carefully, "Dobby, you are a useful elf. If you need, I can pay you." As soon as he finished speaking, Draco saw the undisguised surprise flash in Dobby's eyes.
So, he continued, "Ten Galleons a week, how about that?"
"No!" Dobby's eyes suddenly changed from surprise to horror, as if these gold coins were a flood and a beast. "My young master, there are too many! This will ruin Dobby!"
"Okay, how about five Galleons a week?" he asked.
"It's still too much! Little master, Dobby hasn't fallen to that level! Dobby can spend several months on one Galleon!" the elf screamed.
"One Galleon a week, no less. Also, weekends off," Draco said impatiently.
Dobby jumped up and down in anger, pulling at his ears. "My little master gave Dobby too much money! Dobby likes freedom, but not too much freedom! Dobby prefers work!"
"Dobby, stop!" Draco said helplessly.
How could there be such a bizarre house-elf? The salary was too high, which was incomprehensible.
"Then tell me, what do you want to do?"
Dobby wiggled his slender fingers nervously, peering at him. "Dobby wants one Galleon a month, and one day off a month."
Draco raised an eyebrow. "I have no objection. We can use the vacation time cumulatively. For example, take seven consecutive days and go find a seaside vacation."
As expected, Dobby shuddered at the mention of vacation. Draco quickly added, "If you don't want to take a vacation, you can also accumulate it and convert it into salary."
"Also, if you complete the tasks assigned to you, I will give you an extra bonus or vacation." He waved his wand, and ten Galleons appeared on the table next to Dobby.
"Here's your reward for a job well done," Draco said.
Dobby looked at the gold Galleon beside him in disbelief, his lips trembling as he sobbed, "Great little master... no one has ever treated Dobby like this..."
Good.
Now Dobby probably won't be clamoring for freedom every day, Draco thought absentmindedly.
"Okay, okay, take it. By the way, Dobby, why can you Apparate into Hogwarts?" Draco suddenly remembered this and found it a little unbelievable.
"Hogwarts, A History" clearly states that wizards cannot Apparate or Disapparate within the Hogwarts school grounds.
"Dobby doesn't know." Dobby tried to stop crying, shaking his head, and his big pointed ears swayed with it.
"Dobby can always come to Hogwarts. Dobby has come to visit his friends before." It suddenly covered its mouth with its little hands, as if it had said something wrong.
"Your friends? You actually have friends?" Draco asked with interest. "Are they also house-elves?"
Dobby blinked and nodded in fear.
"At Hogwarts?"
"Of course." Dobby breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Draco showed no signs of anger. "They are all in the kitchen, preparing food for the school. They serve Hogwarts. There are hundreds of them."
"You have to take me there," Draco said, showing great interest in Dobby's monologue for the first time. "I've always been curious about where the kitchen at Hogwarts is."
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Dobby suddenly rush up and grab his arm.
He felt himself being squeezed so hard that his eyes, nose, and eardrums were pushed back into the depths of his head...
In his previous life, Draco was already familiar with spells like the "Apparition" spell, but he had never been the biggest fan of the "Apparition" spell as a way of traveling.
"Here we are, little master," Dobby said cheerfully.
"Oh, Dobby," he said, fighting back the nausea brought on by the Phantom Entourage, "I didn't ask you to bring me here now."
Two house-elves had considerately placed an armchair behind him, and a table had floated in front of him.
Several other house-elves arrived with a large silver tray, on which was placed a cup of steaming cocoa, a large teapot, milk, and a large plate of assorted cakes and biscuits.
"No, no, no," Draco said hurriedly when Dobby was about to touch him again, "I can't stand Apparition a second time now."
He plopped down in the comfortable velvet armchair and took a sip of his hot cocoa.
"Ah, that smells great. Thank you," said Draco.
The elves looked very happy. They bowed and saluted and retreated.
"Never mind, let's rest here for a while." Draco sipped his hot cocoa slowly, glancing at the house-elves who were watching him from all directions. They were immaculately dressed in tea towels emblazoned with the Hogwarts crest.
"Wait a minute—" Draco said.
A house-elf stopped in his tracks, curtsied, and looked at him timidly.
"How am I supposed to find my way here?" Draco asked.
She was a female house-elf, and her voice was a little clearer and brighter than Dobby's.
"Sir, you need to go down one floor below the Great Hall. In the corridor you will find a painting of a huge silver bowl filled with fruit. Just scratch the big green pear and the door will open, sir, and you can come here."
"Thank you, Wendy." Dobby said happily. It seemed that this Wendy was the friend he was talking about.
"Why have I never seen you?" Draco asked Wendy.
"We don't usually appear in front of wizards, sir. When we go to clean the dormitories and common rooms, we are invisible." Wendy said respectfully.
"Can you Apparate at Hogwarts?" he asked again.
"Yes, sir, most anti-Apparition spells are ineffective against us," Wendy said respectfully.
This is really something new!
Merlin, it seems he has accidentally discovered a big loophole in Hogwarts Castle.
If the Death Eaters knew the capabilities of the house-elves, Hogwarts Castle would probably be as easy to penetrate as a sieve - he wouldn't have had to work so hard to study the Vanishing Cabinet in his previous life.
However, how many wizards would care about the abilities of a lowly house-elf?
Most pure-blood wizards regard them as menial servants and would never imagine that they have abilities beyond household chores.
Draco nodded to the house-elf, indicating that he had no further questions. The elf tactfully saluted him again and withdrew.
With the aroma of hot cocoa, his already sleepy brain started working again, and he thought again about the "soul confinement" spell and Quirrell's current condition.
The Dark Lord was probably just possessing someone, and I'm afraid he didn't imprison himself on the back of Quirrell's head?
Otherwise, how could he escape so easily in his previous life?
"Dobby, from now on, you have to keep an eye on Quirrell. If he does anything unusual, you have to report to me. Be careful, keep a safe distance, and don't let him find you." He instructed Dobby.
Dobby puffed out his chest and nodded, seeming proud to be put to use.
With a "pop", the elf disappeared on the spot.
"Wait—" Draco stood up and reached out to call Dobby, but it was too late.
Dobby reacted too quickly.
Forget it, I'd better walk back to the dormitory, he thought absentmindedly.
Draco hadn't really wanted to Apparate again. He finished his last sip of hot cocoa with satisfaction, feeling much better.
Under Wendy's enthusiastic guidance, he walked excitedly through a large room with a high ceiling - as big as the auditorium above.
He looked around curiously and found that there were four long, empty wooden tables in the room - exactly the same as the tables of the four houses in the Great Hall - many copper pots and basins were piled against the walls, and there was a large brick fireplace.
Perhaps, the food that suddenly appeared in the Great Hall every day was first placed on the long table in the room downstairs, and then sent upstairs by teleportation spell, Draco thought thoughtfully.
When he was about to open the door and walk out, many elves gathered around him and handed him a pile of packaged cream cakes, cookies and pies.
Draco thanked them reservedly and said goodbye to them quietly, which made the house elves so happy that they burst into tears and kept bowing and saluting to him.
If an elective course could be offered in the Hogwarts kitchen, Crabbe and Goyle would definitely be the first to rush over to sign up, right? Draco thought drowsily as he chewed a chocolate muffin.
For them, this place - with endless food - is probably their paradise.
Who would have thought that stealing food from the kitchen would be such a big deal, but it turned out to be so easy?
You didn't even have to say anything, the house-elf handed it to you so enthusiastically!
He munched another muffin and crept stealthily down the brightly lit corridor, up the stairs that led to the entrance hall, and then quietly slipped down the other side of the stairs, returning to the dark corridor where the Slytherin common room was.