Winky sat curled up in her corner cradling a bottle of butter beer sobbing and sometimes uttering a soft word or phrase of self pity. The other elfs had covered her with a blanket to try to hide some of the shame her crying, drunk, clothes wearing self brought to their fine kitchens.
Winky couldn't understand. She couldn't understand all this trouble, all these bad things, all her bad things, all her Masters' bad things. She wanted to believe she had done right until the moment she was clothed, but even that was enough to send ones self into a life time of shame. Then she would have to look at all the wrong her Masters had done with her help. A boy was dead and both her Master and her Mistress were dead... and the Dark Lord alive. She hurt so much, even with the butter beer she hurt.
The butter beer. It was her life now. Her comfort. She hated herself for relying on something like this. She hated herself period. She hated what she had done, she hated what her Masters had done, then she hated herself for thinking bad about her Masters. She hated thinking about it, she hated not being able to think of anything else. When she drank enough she would pass out, then she couldn't think about it...until she started to dream about it.
Then there was Dobby. Winky was Dobby's friend. That was burned into his mind. Dobby takes care of people that he cares about. That was also burned into his mind, so he was going to take care of her. Even if she didn't want him to and she didn't. She had made that very clear with her last temper tantrum. Yes, she had them, they never lasted long, but she had them.
"No!" She screamed and thrashed around under her blanket, "No! Dobby! No! Leave me be! No! Winky wants to be left be!"
"Please Winky! Dobby only wants to help yous!" he said as he tried to fight her out of her corner for a bath.
"Winky doesn't want Dobby's help! Winky doesn't want help from no ones! MOSTEST SPEICALY DOBBY!" Just as she finished her eyes began to droop and fell to her shaky knees and then to the floor. She was to tired too continue. Her temper tantrums never lasted long.
That's how it normally went. She would try to put up a fight, pass out, and Dobby would do what he was trying to do as she slept. He would bath her and wash her clothes and hide the bottle she would be currently working on.
He knew Winky was hurting. He wanted so much to help her, to talk to her, make her feel better. He just didn't know how. She was to drunk to talk properly, to drunk to even think properly. Dobby imagined her up and moving, helping the other house elfs, talking to them even smiling. It warmed his little elf heart to think about her happy, but broke it to wake up from these fantasys to see her crumpled, blanket clad figure slumped in the corner.
Once Dobby had Winky clean and dressed he moved her to the elfs sleeping rooms. He laid her down on her bed and pulled the blankets over her. What was he going to do with her? If only he knew how to help her. Dobby would never be able to live with himself if he allowed her to carry on this way. It was all just so sad.
He knew she had been trough a lot, but so had he. The difference was Dobby could see. Dobby could see that his masters were bad. He could see they were doing bad things that could hurt many people. He could see past house elf laws and to how the world really was. The world was full of bad Witches and Wizards. A lot of them have house elfs and their house elfs couldn't see what was good or bad, only their master's wishes. Winky was one of them. She was confused and hurt and drunk.
Dobby thought real hard about how he was going to help Winky. She needed to help out in the kitchens, but she couldn't until she could take care of herself. She couldn't do that until she stoped drinking and she wouldn't stop drinking until she could feel good with out it. He had no idea how to do that. Maybe he should listen to the other house elfs. Maybe she was hopeless. No! He wouldn't believe that. He wouldn't believe those who couldn't see.
"Dobby promises," he whispered to her, "Dobby promises to help Winky. Dobby swears on his freedom." His freedom. The thing he loved most in the world, and he would help Winky and teach her to love her freedom too.
.