Winky walked into the kitchen with a quiet sense of determination. She looked around at the spotless pots and pans, polished and poised for another jubilant Hogwarts feast. But today wasn't a feast. Though the kitchen looked untouched, Winky knew the truth. Hogwarts was in shambles. Winky walked slowly toward the fireplace and sat in a small stool. She remembered that this used to be her place of choice to sit, as she would cry for hours and hours on end.
When Barty Crouch dismissed her, she felt a gaping hole in her chest that she never thought would be filled again. Serving the Crouch family was her purpose in life. Winky was a good house elf. Winky never talked back, or dawdled and Winky kept every secret. Shivering, Winky remembered the last secret she had kept for the Crouches. She had remembered when Master Crouch had brought home is son and swore Winky to secrecy over his presence. Misses had insisted that the young master be freed and Winky knew the only way to make Master Crouch smile again was to follow her late Misses dying instructions. Young Master seemed to be a good boy. He ate his soup and made her laugh thought Winky wistfully. But alas, young Master wasn't all nice at all. Winky clutched her soiled Hogwarts toga as she fought back tears thinking about late Master Crouch and what his son and done to him. Of course it wasn't little Barty who was the problem. It was Voldemort.
Voldemort and his Death Eaters had turned her sweet little Barty into a patricidal monster, Voldemort and his Death Eaters had ruined Hogwarts and Voldemort and his Death Eaters had killed Dobby. Thinking of Dobby reminded Winky of what she had come down to the kitchens to do. She feebly went over to the corner behind the stove and started gingerly poking floorboards.
Winky had always feared Dobby. Dobby wasn't a normal house elf. After Harry Potter had freed him, Dobby changed. He wanted things. Things that all house elves wanted but didn't dare ask for. Things that had been beaten out of house elf dreams for centuries. When Winky first met Dobby, she couldn't stand talking to him. He spoke of representation and choices and most shockingly of all, wages. Winky had always admired Dobby as one admires a beautiful cobra. She had appreciated his strength and values, but feared what would happen if she tried to pet the deadly creature.
Finally after much searching, Winky found it. There was a loose floorboard in the kitchen that Dobby had told her about one day. She remembered the day fondly. She had been sitting on her stool next to the fireplace, drinking her third bottle of butterbeer when she had accidentally spilt the butter beer all over her blouse. All of the other house elves had looked at Winky in disdain for allowing herself to become such a sloppy representation of the Hogwarts house elf community, but not Dobby. Dobby had quietly walked over to Winky, held out his hand and said, "Let Dobby help Winky please." When she didn't respond, Dobby had returned with several pieces of fabric. "This here is an old Quidditch shirt that Roger Davies threw away, and here is a sweater with one arm hole that Neville tried to charm the sleeve of. Oh and here are Mr. Wheezy's old dress robes he gave me", said Dobby while fluffing out the musty frills enticingly. Winky ignored him though and proceeded to drink her fourth bottle of butterbeer, ignoring the damp stains in her blouse.
"Okay Winky," sighed Dobby, the disappointment in his tone obvious. "If you change your mind, I have a secret floorboard with my whole stash right behind the stove." Winky stifled sobs as she opened the floorboards and saw that Dobby's stash was still there, undisturbed and waiting for its owner.
"Winky can do this." Winky spoke aloud, "Winky is a good elf."
Feeling revitalized by her quick pep talk, Winky began carefully taking out the clothing from the loose floorboard. Inside the floorboard were a wide assortment of different clothing items. Sweaters, shorts, skirts, dresses, blouses, scarfs and jackets. But the most popular clothing item was socks. Winky's mouth gaped when she pushed back the frilly dress robes and saw a mountain of socks. Polka dot socks, striped socks, animal print socks, neon socks, Quidditch socks, knee high socks and much more sat in the mountain of socks. Finding a sock covered in golden snitches, Winky gingerly picked it up and placed it over her right foot. Then, she picked up a plain black sock and placed it on the left foot. She then grabbed as many socks as her feeble arms could manage and walked into what remained of the Great Hall.
Once she arrived, she saw Kreacher and the other House Elves sulking at where the Hufflepuff table used to be. It was an odd sight to see House Elves being inactive. But Winky supposed that even House Elves needed time to grieve. When Winky reached the other elves she pushed her way into the middle of their grouping.
"Attention, Winky has something to say. Winky would like to take a moment to remember Dobby. Dobby was a good elf. Dobby died a free elf. "
At the mention of Dobby, Winky saw several tears well up in various eyes of House Elves. "All Dobby wanted was for all of us to be free and for us to be able to choose where we want to work." Winky was trying very hard to remain composed but was fighting tears with every word she stammered. "Dobby was very proud of his collection, and he would have wanted us to have them."
The other House Elves looked tentatively at the mountain of socks, unsure of what to do. Winky then took a large gulp of air and in the most confident voice she could muster shouted,
"I am Winky, and I am a free elf. I work at Hogwarts because I choose to."
After she spoke there was a long silence amongst the elves. No one moved, unsure of what to do. But then after an excruciatingly long silence, Kreacher stepped forward picked the two smelliest socks he could find and placed them on his feet as well.
"I am Kreacher, and I am a free elf. I serve my Master Harry Potter, because I choose to help the greatest wizard in the world."
Then, other house elves came forward, until the mountain of socks were depleted. Most of the elves said they wanted to stay and work for Hogwarts, but some confessions were surprises. One house elf said that he after he freed himself he wanted to search for his secret lover, the Hogwarts boggart, and move to America. Another said he wanted to go off and attend WADA, the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts and become the first professional house elf actor in the Wizarding Community.
Once all the elves had freed themselves, they ironically went back to the kitchens in an effort to make food for the survivors. Once Winky was left alone, she gave one last wistful look to the sky and with a single tear falling from her cheek whispered, "Dobby you are a good elf," before following her peers back down into the kitchen.H