Comfort In Friends
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter names, characters and locations belong to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing that you recognize.
Written for Amber's Weekly Drabble competition, week 2
Difficulty level: medium / Write a story with friendship and hurt/comfort as the genres. Must use any two of the following prompts: tangles, Hogwarts kitchens, photo album, "You need to rest.", cake
A/N: For all my friends who've helped me through my grief.
It had been months since the passing of Bartemius Crouch senior, and yet his former servant still sat alone in the Hogwarts kitchens, sniffling and blowing her nose as she flipped through the pages of an old photo album.
The other house elves weren't sure where she got it. They had seen her going into the students' rooms at night, her sodden clothes, wet with a combination of butterbeer and tears, torn and trailing on the floor behind her. She nicked newspapers from rubbish bins, stealing clippings and using them to fill her photo album. Then she quietly disappeared into the shadows.
This was how Dobby found her one evening, sitting in her nest of blankets with the photo album in her lap. She had made herself a bed in one of the kitchen cupboards, trying to recreate her home when she lived with Bartemius Crouch.
Dobby hesitated, opening the cupboard door and peering inside. " Excuse me," he said softly. "Can Dobby be coming in, please?"
Wordlessly she nodded, blowing her nose then tossing the used tissue onto the floor.
He moved to sit beside her, carefully stepping over mounds of tissues and empty bottles. "Dobby thinks you is cleaning everywhere but here," he commented. But if he had hoped for a response, he got none.
He sank into the mound of blankets, tilting his head and gazing at the pictures in the photo album.
There were articles from The Daily Prophet, telling the tale of how Crouch's body had been located in the woods outside the castle. Other pages, seemingly torn from the papers, showed Mr. Crouch being interviewed before the start of the tournament. There was even a picture of Mr. Crouch welcoming Percy Weasley to the Ministry of Magic.
"S-sometimes... I is certain I is seeing his expression change," said Winky. She lifted a hand, tapping one of the pictures in the photo album. "Does it not look that way to you?" she asked imploringly, her ears drooping. "The master is looking so sad, like he is knowing that I misses him."
Dobby watched the moving pictures in silence, not knowing what to say to his grieving friend. He then reached over and held her hand, lightly patting it as he spoke.
"Everything dies. Some day, Dobby and Winky will be gone, too. But you was being good house elf, serving Mr. Crouch like a good house elf should. You was making him happy. Dobby is sure of it."
His words, although comforting in their own way, brought fresh tears to her eyes. She slumped against his chest, and Dobby rubbed her back, holding her as she wept for the loss of her former master.