Winky's Day Out

Tuesday 15th July 1991

It was a lovely sunny day and Winky had just finished making the young master's lunch, when her master's voice came echoing down the stairs into the kitchen. "Win-ky!"

Within moments the little house elf had magicked herself, and her ward, into the library and was waiting silently by the door until her master had finished reading the paper. Winky watched the pictures of the Ministry officials and their sullen faces as she risked a glimpse of the day's headline:"Harry Potter; return to the wizarding world".

"Ah…there you are Winky! Well, what are you waiting for? I'll take over now," and with that Mr Crouch removed the bond that tethered Winky to his son and instead placed it upon himself.

"Sir?" said Winky, thoroughly confused.

"Didn't I tell you? You're going to join the Malfoy's staff for the day. Lucius Malfoy is holding a dinner party for several members of foreign ministries and so he asked if he could borrow a few house-elves, as it seems most of his aren't up to the ask. Of course with something as import as that I couldn't just leave him in the dragon's pit, and so I'm lending you to him. For today, Lucius Malfoy is your master, not I. Do you understand?"

"Yes, master. I mean… yes, Mr Crouch, sir."

"Alright, now off you go."

Winky was rather looking forward to the day ahead, though she couldn't help feeling sorry for Mr Malfoy's other servants. She knew they must feel terrible in the knowledge that they had let their master down. What would they do if…if Mr Malfoy gave them clothes? Winky shuddered. That was an awful thing to think about. No self-respecting house-elf would ever think like that. Winky was just so glad to have such a nice master. Mr Crouch made sure that Winky always had lots of work to do, was never idle, never had any money and would never, ever consider giving her clothes. Yes, he really was the best master she could ever ask for.

Winky had just reached the kitchens of the Malfoy mansion when she ran into a rather un-coordinated, scatter-brained, and attractive, young house-elf.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Winky, realising as she said it that it was in fact a complete lie. "I've only just arrived and I was looking for the head house-elf. You wouldn't happen to know where I could find him, would you?"

"You just did! My name's Dobby. You must have come from Mr Crouch?"

"That's right," replied Winky, going bright red from ears tips to toes as she tried, unsuccessfully, to ignore the thoughts rushing through her head of her and Dobby, free from masters and chores and all things house-elves cherish, playing house in a world without wizards.

"Well, you know what to do? Cook, clean, sweep, the regular stuff. Can you handle that?" Winky just nodded, not trusting herself to speak. "In that case then I'll leave you to it. Good luck…Winky."

Winky was amazed. She'd always lived in busy places but none of them compared to the Malfoy mansion that day. There were house-elves everywhere. In the kitchens cooking and in the gardens tending flowerbeds and trimming shrubs, even in the morning room being beaten up by the young master Malfoy and his thuggish friends. Winky had never seen so many house-elves all in one place and yet her mind wouldn't concentrate. It kept wondering back to that wonderful moment we she had arrived, when she had met Dobby. She knew it was unlikely that she would ever speak to him again and yet she knew that from then on out she would do anything for him, maybe even ignore her master's orders, if that were even possible. But, alas, the day slowly drew to a close. The visiting witches and wizard left, the Malfoys retired to their beds and the house-elves were left to clear away the mess. When all the work was done Winky decided it was time she went home, afterall her master would need her in the morning. And so, wishing desperately that she'd had the chance to say goodbye to Dobby, she magicked herself back to the kitchens of the Crouches house and started to prepare the house ready for the next day.

Dobby had rounded the corner in time to see Winky disappear. He wished he'd gotten there sooner, he'd been looking forward to seeing her again. Never mind though, he didn't know why but he had a feeling he would see her again, especially with Harry Potter being back in town.