1995
Winky sat morosely on her stool in the corner of the kitchens, slouched and staring at the floor, oblivious to the other House Elves bustling around her in an effort to complete their work. Winky hardly seemed conscious of anything anymore, all she ever did was drink Butterbeer and wail about the loss of her previous masters.
Dobby frowned as he watched her, hating how defeated she looked. He wished there was something he could do for her. He tilted his head to the side, ears flapping madly, and a smile spread across his face. Maybe there was something he could do for Winky after all…
"Dobby, where is you taking Winky? Winky does not want to go anywhere, Winky wants to go back to the kitchens with the other House Elves!" She clutched a bottle of Firewhiskey close, as though it were her only friend.
"Dobby is going to show Winky something very special, Dobby is hoping it might help Winky like it helped Dobby before Harry Potter freed him." Dobby grabbed her hand and with a click of his fingers and an unmistakable 'pop' they disappeared from one corridor and into another.
The walls were lined with a familiar tapestry, and Winky frowned. "Why is we going to the Room of Requirement? Winky is not sick." "Sick" is the word they used to refer to her more unmanageable fits of intoxication, when Dobby would take Winky into the Room until she was recovered enough to be around the other House Elves.
"Winky must wait and see," was all Dobby said, purposefully striding back and forth in order to summon the entrance.
It materialised quickly, and Dobby pulled Winky through with him into a cold and sparsely decorated space the Room's chosen form. "Winky does not understand."
Dobby pointed to an ornately carved Mirror the stood proudly in the centre of the room. "Dobby is wanting Winky to look into the Mirror. She will see what she wants most in the world, and then Dobby is hoping Winky will be able to move on."
Winky looked dumbfounded. "Winky thinks Dobby is lying. Dobby is being cruel to Winky, just like all the other House Elves!" But she walked forward anyway, compelled by a curiosity she had never before expressed.
"Winky sees nothing, this Mirror is a trick, Dobby is playing a nasty joke - " She broke off suddenly, dropping the bottle of Butterbeer in shock. It fell to the floor and shattered with a loud smash, and its liquid contents spilled over the floor, though neither of them paid it any heed for the moment.
Winky was staring into the Mirror, transfixed, her eyes filled with tears and her chin quivered with sobs she could barely contain. "M-master? Winky is sorry! Please, mater, Winky wants to come back, Winky will be a good House Elf, a loyal servant."
Of course, the image in the Mirror could give her no response, and Winky covered her face with her hands and sobbed helplessly. "This is too much for Winky. Winky just wants to go home, to her master, Winky does not want to be at Hogwarts."
Silently, so as not to disturb his friend, Dobby waved one hand and the mess of the Firewhiskey disappeared. "Is Winky okay?" He asked timidly, feeling that he might have made things even worse. "Dobby only wanted to help Winky, for her to see that she must say goodbye to her old master. Winky belongs at Hogwarts now, like Dobby."
"No! Winky does not – no!" She shakes her head violently back and forth, her ears flopping comically along with it. "This Mirror hurts Winky, it does not help. This Mirror is a lie and Winky never wants to – l-leave her m-master." This time she threw herself to the floor and curled up into a pathetic ball, crying into her hands and taking no notice of Dobby.
Dobby decided to wait for Winky to stop crying, and then he intended to guide her back to the kitchens and never bring her anywhere near the Mirror of Erised again, but Winky took far longer to compose herself than Dobby had anticipated. Several times he tried to talk to her and suggest that they make their way out of the room. His attempts were met with nothing except renewed sobbing; either Winky genuinely did not hear him, or she just didn't care about what he said.
He was eventually forced to physically lift her from the ground, a feat that was made all the more difficult by her lack of co-operation. He managed to pull her into a sitting position, grunting with the effort, before he conceded that he would have to use magic.
Winky anticipated this, and when Dobby clicked his fingers to transport them back to the kitchens, he was surprised to find that he had rematerialized alone, Winky remained in front of the Mirror.
Dobby sighed regretfully. This called for desperate measures. Summoning as many bottles of Butterbeer as he could carry, he returned to the Room of Requirement. Winky lay in the same position, albeit a little closer to the Mirror. As Dobby watched, she crawled even closer on her hands and knees, reaching out one hand to touch the glass.
"Dobby has something for Winky," the elf said, presenting the bottles of Butterbeer to her. One of her hands shot out and seized a bottle, which she opened with slightly shaking hands and eagerly raised to her lips. The drink disappeared into her mouth almost quicker than she could swallow it, and Dobby shook his head sadly, lamenting the mess his friend had become.
Soon enough the bottle was empty, and Dobby handed over the next, feeling slightly guilty about his deceit. "Dobby is sorry, Winky," he said after some time.
All Dobby heard in response was a loud snore. Winky had fallen asleep curled up in front of the Mirror of Erised, empty bottles of Butterbeer littering the ground around her. Her breathing was deep and even, and she looked peaceful, something Dobby only ever saw when she was asleep.
He placed a hand on her shoulder and transported them both back to the kitchens, determined that Winky would never look into the Mirror again. If she did, she would never leave.
Written for:
The Fan fiction terms category competition – review
As Strong As We Are United (Version II)