::Interlude::

An interlude- without which ironically the story didn't feel as continuous. ^w^ Enjoy the short stuff and please read the A/N

Summary- Author- "How is it working under a baby necromancer, miss Mippy?"

A day in a house-elf's life:

Mippy adored her Master, she had adored him ever since the first time she had seen him.

Master had been very dull and silent then.

-exhausted from his sickness- the old master and mistress had said so.

The master had given her no troubles. He would rise for meals and ablutions, blinking past her -never saying anything.

The old master and mistress always looked so sadly at their son. They would sit by his bedside, coax him into opening his mouth and feed him from vials.

The young master never said anything.

He never did anything.

He would wake up when he needed to and then close his eyes.

Mippy had not long been by them, but she looked at the miserable family, looked at the blank-eyed child, and clasped her hands together in desperate hope.

The old master and mistress didn't stay much at home. Every once and then they would come back bright-eyed and rush to their son.

Mippy would stand quietly in the corner as they chanted spells and sometimes brought other people with them.

Each time it happened, their shoulders would bend deeper.

Then one day-

The old master and mistress took away the young master and made her promise that she would look after him properly.

Just like she had been doing. Her mistress had taught her.

The young master woke up.

But the old master and mistress were not by his side anymore. They never returned.

The young master did not ask after them either. It made the little house elf feel something in her chest. She would have thought about it more, had she had any more time to spare.

Because all the time her young master didn't spend in bed because of his sickness- he left it running around and getting more sick!

He never listened to her when she asked him to mind his health and drink his potions.

He brought in all sorts of things that Mippy couldn't think what to do with!

She remembered how obedient her young master had been before and sometimes would have terrible... terrible thoughts.

She would slap her cheeks in punishment whenever those horrible things came to her mind. Mippy didn't dare do more because her young master had strictly denied her any sort of self-punishment.

It was all very confusing for her.

Anyway- those thoughts never lasted for long, not when she remembered those blank- white pupils on her master.

Still!

Mippy had never been so helpless on her job before and so overworked.

Her master would tell her not to work so hard-

Then why must he make everything so difficult for her?!

He went and roamed without taking her with him- and came back all shaking, pale-eyed.

He brought back strange animals and asked her to care for them!

He asked for strange foods that she had never heard of!

Mippy would flail around- because … because… she didn't know what to do with this.

Her old master and mistress had made her position clear.

To keep her young master neat and tidy.

To wake him up at certain times and feed him potions.

The only thing he was to eat was warm, simple rice porridge with the ingredients that Mistress had shown her in the kitchen.

What was she to do when he asked for something more?!

Mippy had been a proper house-elf before, not to be seen, not to be heard unless called.

But her master would only hum if reminded to eat or drink water.

He would stagger if he stayed bent for a long time.

Since the day he woke up, he never stopped running.

Mippy had spent a long time waiting in the corners, waiting for his call.

For him to command.

He never did.

When he did ask for something- she was useless in it.

But this was not it either.

He would go to that place, and come back all terrible- stinking of something that made her flinch away,

She didn't understand why she felt terrified every time her master left for that place.

(Sometimes it reminded her of the time of her birth- sometimes it reminded her of when her brother died at her mothers' feet.)

And he always came back happy. Terrible and happy.

But that place had taken away the old master and mistress –the young master...

She had wrung her hands and tugged her master's hands.

But he never listened.

He would run around- always looking, always searching for something.

But he never looked for the old master and mistress.

Her master wouldn't even go to their room-.

He never went anywhere except for his own and the main hall.

The rest of the rooms were left to dust.

Mippy felt terrible as the Manor was getting more and more uncared.

He brought cauldrons and tried strange things.

It never ended well.

Sometimes it simply smoked

Sometimes it eroded the floor.

One time all of them had been knocked out- even the goats at the back.

Mippy had been very, very distressed about it.

His master had missed one day's worth of potions!

Her master promised to be more careful.

But the only thing he did was keep her away whenever he wanted to do those strange things.

Then one day, Master said he would get her more help.

Mippy had been ecstatic.

And guilty.

She indeed was not enough to do everything.

But her master brought back her brothers- from that terrible place.

And they had stunk… reeked of terrible things...

reminded her of things she didn't want to know…

didn't want to see

Her master had only patted her head and told them all to get along.

Mippy- the humble and polite- had never been so vexed with her master.

But she endured.

She no longer hid in the corners.

She no longer waited for her master to come to his senses.

She was not at all polite as she dragged her master to proper meals and feeding his potions.

She had been afraid of how improper she was acting- but her young master never rejected her, never punished her. He didn't even as she had destroyed his precious papers.

And then her master said he was going away.

He said he was going to school to study-but Mippy knew, it was a lie.

Her master didn't need them at all. The books that had been brought for the school had all been stuffed away.

The only books that made her master happy had come in a post- carried by eight owls- it had been a bug package.

Her master had unwrapped it so carefully.

He had warned very strictly her not to touch them.

She wouldn't have- they had all felt soaked in that same wrongness.

So she knew master didn't care at all for that school

But he would be leaving all the same.

She was worried about the him-her young master who had made her yell once- or twice because he was so troublesome sometimes.

Mippy was worried if the master would eat properly.

If he would remember his potions.

If he would remember to rest and rest well.

Master said he was leaving, but he was not preparing himself either.

Instead, he would pour himself in his books or his strange explosions.

He would sit in the room and look over parchment and mumble.

He would look away to that place where her brethren were buried.

She kept thinking as she folded the softest and warmest clothes for her master.

She didn't know much of this place- but she knew there were many of her sisters and brothers in there.

.

.

And what she had kept ignoring for so long came back to her.

She was not a good elf for her master was she?

She had only known to feed him warm food and the potions- as her old master and mistress had instructed.

But after the young master had woken up, he had needed more.

He had asked her- but she had been helpless. She had begged for punishment, but Master had only turned away.

That.. had hurt more than the punishments would have.

He had brought those two of her- brothers,

She remembered they had not flinched away from the young master. They- they had been very good really.

They had cleaned the house properly and hadn't damaged anything.

They had taken care of the animals and had not been afraid of their hoofs and horns.

They had not made her master to make his food.

She had been afraid of them…

But at the same time a terrible, heavy thing had sat on her chest.

Only now she understood it.

The sweater in her hand was getting wetter.

Ohh—

She had damaged her young master's sweater now too.

Mippy was good for nothing.

Her nose was getting choked and the sweater was ruined now.

But…

Her young master had even cajoled and coaxed those other elves. He had been very sad to bury them.

She hadn't had a hug like that!

She was getting greedy- when she couldn't be as good to deserve her young master as the other elves.

No wonder he was leaving.

An ugly sound broke out of her in that empty room.

It felt very cold just then-

Before it got warmer.

A small hand patted her head softly.

"You silly thing."

A/N-

Omake:
Harry- My little elf is so cute. You are getting upset because you will miss me, aren't you? *pat pat
Mippy- No. That's not it, master!
Harry- So... you won't miss me?
Mippy- ... QAQ (I disappointed master again!)

Thank you to every one who followed me and favorited! Don't forget the reviews, darlings!
This my dears is the interlude and barring an asteroid striking the earth, the chapter 10 will be uploaded in the weekend. Would have been in the week itself- but I am a tiny bit sick and I will be running to and fro because stupid social obligations- gah.
There will be occasional interludes in the story- when I put some Death& Harry interactions (No spoilers)- that is a nibble for you to look forward to!
So! We will see each other again. soon.