Friends
"That means clothes!"
Winky woke up with a start, mumbling, "Please, Master! No clothes, no clothes!"
She blinked the sleep away, and as soon as her head cleared, her eyes filled up. She had no masters now. Old Master Barty was dead, and young Master Barty… Winky shuddered and broke down completely as she remembered what they had done to her young Master.
She wiped her eyes with the material of her skirt, not caring how dirty or burnt it was. She opened the door to the closet she had been sleeping in and blinked when the bright light hit her eyes. The fuzziness of alcohol that had kept the nightmares away was completely gone, and she shuddered when those horrible, horrible images filled her head..
"More butterbeer," she told herself.
She dragged herself to her stack of butterbeers, wanting the blissful feeling of nothingness back inside her head. She was inches away from her gateway to escape from the terrible reality — the only thing that helped lock the memories away — when someone snapped their fingers.
Winky growled and turned sharply, glaring at the elf who had vanished her lovely butterbeers. "Dobby!" she shrieked.
"Winky is not drinking butterbeer today," said Dobby, shaking a finger in her face.
"Winky wants Butterbeer," she said. "Winky needs Butterbeer. Like Master Crouch needed Winky. Masters Crouches is g-gone." She started sobbing, forgetting that Dobby was still there. "Winky is a bad elf. B-Bad Winky! Bad Winky!" Her hands closed around the handle of a pan, and she picked it up to punish herself, but Dobby gripped her arm mid-strike and snatched the pan.
"Winky is not be punishing herself," he firmly stated. "Winky be working for Hogwarts, so Winky must not be drinking butterbeer. Or hitting Winky. Winky be cooking." He looked at her. "And Crouches is horrible men."
Winky's eyes widened and she shrugged his hand off. "Master Crouch is being the best Master. Master Crouch is being a good Master." She glared at him, then burst into tears. "Master Crouch is being good. Winky being bad. Bad elf, bad elf!"
Dobby stared at her with wide eyes, standing there awkwardly as she sobbed. Winky brushed her tears off and look at him in the eye. "Master Crouches is good."
"Barty Crouch tries to hurt the great Harry Potter Sir," Dobby said, his voice high pitched. "Barty Crouch is very bad man. He is be killing his father Crouch."
Winky let out a wail. "LIES! LIES! Young master Barty Crouch is not doing bad things. He is being a good boy."
Dobby gawked at her, an incredulous look in his eyes. "Winky's Master Barty runs away from Winky, and old master frees Winky. Crouches is not good!"
Winky almost punched him in the face for insulting her masters. "Winky is being bad because she let young Master Barty run away. Crouches is good. Crouches is gone!" Another wail escaped her lips.
"But—" Dobby stopped when Winky plopped on the ground and curled herself into a small ball, sobbing hard.
"Crouches be good," he said in a low voice, and Winky looked up in shock. Dobby wringed his ears. "Winky's young Master Crouch is doing bad things because his Master says, because he is being a g-good man," he said, pulling at his ears. "He is h-hurting Master Harry on his Master's orders, just like Dobby is doing when Dobby is trying to save Harry Potter Sir."
Winky stared at him, shocked. Dobby continued. "Winky is being good. Winky's old Masters is good." He picked up the pan he had snatched away from Winky and was about to hit himself when Winky stopped him, tears in her eyes.
"Dobby is not a bad elf," she cried. Winky knew Dobby considered Harry Potter his master, and it must have been hard to say her old master was good. But he swallowed his pride and did it anyways, for her. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Wringing her hands, she said, "Young Master Barty did some bad things. They is not being Winky's Masters now." She put her arm around Dobby's shoulder. "Dobby is a good friend."
"No more butterbeer now?" Dobby asked, a hopeful look in his eyes.
Winky frowned. "Just one," she said. Before Dobby could reply, she added, "We is Hogwarts elves. We is cooking for the Leaving Feast for the great Harry Potter Sir!"
Dobby grinned and nodded, and Winky smiled for the first time in months.
Word Count: 752
Prompts used:
From Psychology Class
• Write about somebody sacrificing a bit of their pride to solve a conflict.
From Yule In Skammdegi
• Write about House Elves.
From Writing Club
• Winky
From Chocolate Frog Card Club
• (Gold) Hungarian Horntail — Write about a story set during Harry's fourth year.