Title: Freedom's A Tricky Thing
Author: Hesta's Journal
Word Count: 1350
Type of Story: Oneshot (don't I always write oneshots?)
Summary: Scorpius gets more melodrama than he bargained for when he frees the family house-elf.
Author's Note: Written for SilverOwlMalfoy's One Line Prompt 4 Competition. The challenge was to start a story that began with the line 'I knew what I'd done as soon as the door closed'. The first images that came flashing to my mind (I usually get some kind of image that prompts a story of mine to be written) were of heartbreak and angst. Then I thought, why don't I try writing something a bit lighter than that? Go against my first idea and try something else. And here's the result. I've only ever written in first person about three times before (I hate writing in first person, for some strange reason) but I did enjoy writing this :). It's probably the most free 'fic that I've ever written, meaning that I just wrote without thinking about whether it was good or not and instead just enjoyed it (as a result it may not have been as good as it could have been...).
Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own. H. A. R. R. Y. P. O. T. T. E. R.
I knew what I'd done as soon as the door closed. I'd unleashed a whirlwind of trouble. Well, actually, I knew I'd done that before the door closed, but it was when she slammed the door shut behind me - uncharacteristically harshly - that the truth of what I'd done sunk in. Well, Rose had always said I wasn't the brightest soul.
Fists pounded against the door energetically and I winced as the high-pitched wails turned into equally high-pitched screams. The sound of hands hitting wood faded after several seconds and total quiet reigned on the other side of the door. I glanced back at the door in puzzlement, worry taking over. What if she had gone and done something stupid? Lolly had never been sane at her best, so I shuddered to think what she'd be like now.
As if in answer to my unspoken question, a loud pop sound in front of me and a red-eyed, distraught-looking house-elf materialised. In her left hand she was limply clutching a small green glove.
"Master has ruined Lolly's life! Forever! Lolly's life is not worth living anymore!" she screamed at me, not wasting any time in letting her thoughts be known. She looked as though she would very much like to hit me. Instead, she settled for waving the green glove furiously in my direction.
"Lolly, it was for your own good. Trust me. A lot of house-elves are free nowadays," I said in what I hoped was a placating voice.
Apparently, Lolly and I have very different ideas on what a 'placating' voice is. "Lolly does not want to be free! LOLLY LIKES IT HERE!"
"You can stay here, you know. It's not the end of the world. I mean, all that'll be different is that you actually get paid for your -"
"-LOLLY DOES NOT WANT TO BE FREE!" she howled, and in a show of her strength she ripped the green glove apart. The sound of the material tearing was all but inaudible as my former house-elf went on rampage around the room, stamping her feet. Dad had warned me that Lolly was a difficult house-elf if she didn't get her way, but I'd never really had a problem until now. Now I was beginning to understand why he avoided Lolly like the plague.
"Lolly! LOLLY! Listen! Please! You still work for us, okay? Freedom isn't so bad, you know. Not once you get used to it. I mean, did anybody ever tell you about how Harry Potter freed Dobby the House-Elf? Dobby loved freedom - he could drink heaps of Butterbeers and earn galleons and wear nice socks and everything. You want that, right, Lolly?" I said enticingly, and she paused for a moment to stare at me with huge brown eyes. I eyed her cautiously, wondering whether she'd decided that I was right, or whether she had simply paused to think up a new rant.
"Why did Master do this to Lolly?" her voice seethed outrage and distress.
"I-" well, to be honest, Rose had convinced me to set her free. Rose was very pro-house-elf rights, like her mother had been before her. When Rose had first met Lolly at my house and realised Lolly wasn't free, she'd almost had a fit. Not that I was going to tell Lolly Rose had talked me round to the idea of a free house-elf - Lolly might Apparate off and try to attack Rose. "I guess I just thought you'd like to be free. I mean, I wouldn't like to be not free."
And, as suddenly as that, the anger on her face disappeared to be replaced by blankness. "Master thought he was doing Lolly a service?"
"Um, yeah. I guess."
Her lower lip wobbled slightly and she lifted a hand to wipe at her eyes. "Lolly thanks Master, but Lolly does not want to be free. Lolly has no purpose now."
Her small face crumpled with this realisation and she began to wail that ear-splitting wail of hers. I was struck with the extraordinary urge to hit my head against the wall. "Lolly, you do realise that you were technically already free - Mum and Dad let you do pretty much what you wanted, right? I mean... you organised everything in the kitchen and house and even my timetable before I left for Hogwarts."
"Master Malfoy gave me permission to," Lolly said defensively, her eyes still sparkling wetly. She rubbed her thin hands together as though to warm them. "And Mistress Malfoy agreed with him. It's different."
"Yes, but if you look at it this way...," I grasped desperately at the chance to turn this into a happy event, "... I give you permission to get paid for your work and to do whatever you like. Within reason. I mean, I don't give you permission to go attacking my girlfriend or anything."
Lolly looked confused. "Why would Lolly attack Master's girlfriend?"
"I - no reason. What I'm trying to say is that I give you permission to do stuff without... um... my permission."
"... so Lolly is allowed to do what she wants?" her face was calm now, and I was beginning to wonder if maybe she had only gone all drama-queen on me to manipulate me into doing something.
"Yes," I sighed exasperatedly, running my hand through my hair. How many times would I have to repeat myself?
She got this crafty look in her eyes and I bit my lip. Lolly hadn't been raised in a household of Slytherin masters and mistresses for nothing, and when she got that look in her eyes it was never good news. "Anything that Lolly wants? If Lolly wanted to go out for the day or work for another family, Lolly could?"
Well, that seemed unthreatening. "Yes, if you really want to. But you're very welcome to stay here."
A silence as my house-elf mulled over whatever was going on in that devious little mind of hers. Honestly, she could have won an award for her ability to twist everybody around her little finger whilst wearing an innocent and subservient mask.
The grandfather clock in the room sounded out the seconds as time ticked by, Lolly standing there looking thoughtful. Then the craftiness in her gaze increased and I could see a smile form on her face, only to be instantly suppressed and replaced with a quivering lip.
"Lolly would like to become un-free," and that was the reason for the crafty look.
"NO!" I was pretty sure that I was about to storming and stamping around the room like she had done. "Lolly! You can't do that! You're free!"
"Master said Lolly is free to do what she wants. Lolly wants to not be free."
"I..." well, I couldn't really argue against that kind of logic, could I? I'd been the one who told her she could do whatever she wanted.
"Lolly will stay un-free," she said firmly and bent down to pick up the torn green glove. She looked at it for a few seconds thoughtfully before handing it to me. "Now, what would Master like for lunch?"
xXxXx
"So," Rose rested her head on my shoulder, fiddling with a strand of her curly brown hair, "how'd it go today?"
"How did what go?"
She glared at me out of the corner of her eye, too lazy to turn her head to give me a full-glare. "Freeing Lolly."
"Oh... well... yeah... it went okay."
"Really? Did you free her? What did she do?"
I hesitated, searching for words that wouldn't incriminate me. "Well... she... was a bit surprised at first. But she came round to the idea and she and I both learned that Lolly is very good at getting her way."
Rose beamed at me, satisfied. "That's good to hear. It's nice to know that you helped to make somebody's life better."
"Yeah, it's a very nice feeling," I agreed idly, the image of Lolly's smug face as she cooked my lunch imprinted clearly in my mind.