Chapter Thirteen - More Revelations and Reunions
A week later there was another expedition to Hogsmeade. Winky was in her red dress, and Dobby was wearing his maroon shorts and shirt, clashing violently with his lime-green hat. Tippy was in the now-shrunken shirt MacNair had thrown at him, and Dobby's old soccer shorts. Tippy had never even had so much as the occasional bronze knut Winky's old master gave her, so the single gold galleon in his pocket seemed like an immense fortune.
Dobby and Winky were also feeling slightly more affluent with their increased wages, but thrift and economy were also characteristics of house elves, just as was their desire to work constantly. Tippy was as excited and amazed as Winky had been the first time she visited Hogsmeade. Like her, Tippy had seldom been out in public except on an occasional errand for his master.
Their first stop was at Gladrags, where Tippy spent a portion of his gold galleon on two shirts. Dobby and Winky together bought him another pair of shorts and several balls of brightly-colored yarn ('wool' if you're a Brit).
"Dobby will show Tippy how to make socks," he said as they stepped out of the shop.
Dobby was by now an expert Hogsmeade tour guide, and the three elves chattered happily as they walked up and down its colorful streets. They were nearing The Three Broomsticks when a very high-pitched voice called down to them.
"Dobby!" Nobby squealed from an upstairs window. "Come to the kitchen door right away!"
"We's free elves," he squeaked back indignantly, "we isn't having to use the back door!"
"Dobby! Just be quiet and do as Nobby asks!" his sister snapped back as she banged the window shut.
"What is wrong?" Winky asked.
"Dobby has no idea," he answered, leading the way to the kitchen door of the Three Broomsticks. He pushed the door open and stepped inside, where they found Nobby positively hopping in excitement.
She stopped abruptly when she saw Tippy. "Tippy!" she squeaked. "What is you doing here?"
"Dobby and Winky helped set Tippy free from his masters," he explained.
"Nobby is very glad to hear that," she answered. "The MacNairs is bad, dark wizards!"
"So is the Malfoys and the Malheurs," Tippy said.
The kitchen contained a big black cast iron cook stove, a huge sink, many shelves and cupboards, a gigantic ice box, and cooking utensils of every description. Dobby hardly got a chance to see much of the room, because once she recovered from the surprise of seeing Tippy, Nobby grabbed Dobby's hand and dragged him to a corner where an older house elf sat on a stool, wearing an immaculate blue pillowcase. None of the Hogwarts elves knew him, but his green eyes were somehow familiar.
"Dobby," said Nobby in a very thin squeak, "this is Binky. He is our father!"
Everyone stood silently, too stunned to speak. Binky stood up, smiled at Dobby, and uttered a chirping sound similar to the one Dobby had once used to comfort Winky.
Dobby's tennis-ball sized green eyes filled with tears as he threw his arms around Binky, squealing "Papa! Papa!"
"I has been hoping to see you before Master leaves Hogsmeade," Binky said to Dobby once everyone had quieted down. "Until two days ago Binky did not even know he has a son and a daughter!"
Nobby moved several stools into place so everyone could sit down, then grabbed a tray of food and hurried out of the kitchen.
"Nobby will be back as soon as she can," she squeaked over her shoulder.
Dobby introduced Winky and Tippy to his father, whose sharp eyes did not miss the expression on Winky's face as she looked at Dobby. Neither did he miss the way that Nobby and Tippy had looked at each other in their surprise.
Nobby bustled back in and pulled two meat pies out of the oven, which she put her tray. "The kettle is hot," she said. "'Tis alright for you to use the tea things on that counter." Then she hurried out of the kitchen again.
Winky and Tippy made tea as Dobby talked quietly with his father. Shortly, they were handing around cups and plates.
"Where has you been all this time, and how is you knowing our mama?" Dobby asked his father.
Binky looked very sad before he spoke. "Binky's master is Frederick Hightower. Master was once very good friends with the Malfoys, and he visited them often. Binky always is going with him, and there he meets a very pretty little elf named Winny. Binky's heart is lost the first moment he is seeing her. He is always feeling sad for her, because the Malfoys is treating her badly, even though she works very hard and is a wonderful cook. Once Winny is forgetting to refill the dining room salt shakers, and Mistress Malfoy slaps Winny so hard she goes flying across the room. Still, Binky and Winny gets to spend a little time together during every visit, and every time he leaves, Binky is looking forward to the next."
"One day, Master Hightower is announcing he is planning to get married. Binky is very happy for him, and his new mistress is very beautiful and very kind. But she is muggle-born, and from then on, the Malfoys and Binky's master is no longer speaking to each other. There is no more visits, though Binky misses Winny very much."
"Some time later Binky hears from another elf who is visiting the Hightowers with her mistress that Winny is expecting a baby, and Binky knows that only he could be the father. Binky's master is by then become an Auror, and wants nothing to do with the Malfoys, but he gives Binky permission to visit Winny and see his baby. When Binky stops at a house near the Malfoys, the elfs there says that Winny is died in childbirth. They says that the Malfoys refused to get even an elf midwife to attend her, but no one tells Binky that Winny's baby is alive. He is thinking they is both dead, and has no idea there is more than one baby. He goes at night to Malfoy Manor to see if he can visit Winny's grave."
"Binky searches the entire estate and finds nothing. Finally, he sits down to rest in the garden. When the moon comes out of the clouds he finally sees. They hasn't buried Winny at all. They has thrown her body into the compost heap!"
At this point tears welled up in Binky's big green eyes, but he dried them and continued. "Binky finds a shovel and digs a grave in a corner of the garden what he knew Winny liked best. He carefully wraps Winny's body in an expensive and very fine tablecloth he is finding still on the clothesline. He fills in the grave and finally covers it with leaves and grass clippings so no one is knowing it is there. Binky knows he is a bad elf for to think so about humans, but from then on he HATES the Malfoys!"
When Binky stopped talking, all the elves were crying. Sounding very much like a truck horn, Dobby blew his nose on a bright orange handkerchief. Winky held his hand tightly, her big brown eyes full of sorrow and concern.
"Dobby hates the Malfoys too!" he squealed loudly. No one, not even Winky, dared reproach him for his words.
"So does Nobby," his sister said matter-of-factly as she came into the kitchen with a tray of dirty dishes in each hand, and a third tray balanced carefully on her head. Winky and Tippy both jumped up to help her carry the trays to the sink.
"But Dobby must be happy we is found our papa after all these years," she continued.
"Oh yes, Dobby is very happy about that!"
Winky returned to where Dobby and Binky were sitting, leaving Tippy and Nobby talking together in very faint squeaks near the sink.
Binky spoke again. "Binky is heard a little about how Dobby came to be free, but he is wanting to know more."
Quickly, Dobby repeated the story of how Harry Potter had tricked Lucius Malfoy into freeing him, and how later Winky was unwillingly freed. Finally he explained about the trip he and Winky had just made, and their successful scheme to get Tippy freed from Walden MacNair.
Binky chuckled so hard his ears flapped when he heard about how Dobby had sent Lucius Malfoy tumbling down the stairs not once, but three times. There was just a hint of something -- perhaps pride, in his expression as he looked at his son and daughter.
"I think you's going to become the first elf aurors," he said.
"Dobby doubts that, Papa, but please tell us why you is here."
Binky answered "Binky's master is a good friend of Professor Dumbledore's, and he is come here at Professor Dumbledore's request."
"Dobby is thinking 'tis having to do with the Dark Lord's return."
Binky looked at Dobby with a slightly stern expression. "Dobby knows Binky cannot reveal his master's secrets," he said.
"Yes, Dobby knows," he squeaked back, "but any time there is news of the Dark Lord, there is danger to Harry Potter, and Dobby must learn all he can!"
There was a bank of small bells high on the kitchen wall, each with a room number beneath it. Just then, number four rang.
"That is Binky's master ringing for him. Binky must help him get ready to go to dinner at Hogwarts tonight."
Binky hugged his son and daughter, then scrambled up the back stairs.
Tippy had continued to help Nobby wash dishes, and now Winky's curiosity was aroused.
"Does you know each other already?" she asked them.
"Oh yes, Nobby answered. Nobby and Tippy is knowing each other for many years. Their families used to visit each other lots."
"I is wondering just HOW well they is knowing each other," Winky thought silently.
Madame Rosmerta had levitated several more trays stacked high with dirty dishes and glasses into the kitchen, and without even thinking, Dobby and Winky pitched in to help with the washing up. They finished just as it was about time to return to Hogwarts, but before they could go, Binky trotted back downstairs with a big smile on his face.
"Master is given Binky permission to go to Hogwarts this evening if you is wanting him to come," he said.
"Of course we is wanting Papa to come!" Dobby squeaked back.
A few minutes later, they were all on the path back towards Hogwarts. When they arrived, Winky hurried to the hospital wing, while Dobby, Tippy, and Binky approached the large painting that disguised the Hogwarts kitchen door.
Once they entered the kitchen, dinner preparations were already under way. Many elves scurried about with all manner of utensils and food in their hands, while others stood on specially-constructed steps that allowed them to watch pots and pans on top of the AGAs. A few of them glanced curiously at Binky, but they didn't stop to speak to him.
Suddenly an elf's voice squeaked loudly "Binky! Toby is so happy to see you! We's been expecting you and your master!"
Toby hurried up and shook Binky's hand.
"You is knowing my papa?" Dobby asked Toby.
"Papa?" Toby asked. "Binky is Dobby's papa?"
"Yes," Dobby responded, "but Dobby did not know this until today!"
As it turned out, Toby and Binky knew each other very well. Frederick Hightower was something of an oddity; he had been a Slytherin when he was at Hogwarts, but his relationship with families like the Malfoys came to an abrupt halt during Voldemort's reign of terror. Hightower became a hard-working auror, and nearly lost his life on several occasions.
Furthermore, Hightower said that if any of his own children were sorted into Slytherin at Hogwarts, he would immediately bring them home and send them to a magic school in America which had no internal houses at all. Not surprisingly, Hightower's two children ended up in Ravenclaw, which had been their mother's house. They had both left Hogwarts some years ago.
Most of this information was somehow exchanged between the elves over the next couple hours as dinner was prepared and served. Eventually, their frenzied activity tapered off, and most of them gathered in the elves' hall for their own dinner. Nobby joined them there, having been given permission to join her brother and father after dinner at The Three Broomsticks.
She, her brother, father, Winky, Tippy and Toby sat slightly apart from most of the other elves, who were somewhat in awe of them all.
"Toby," Binky said, "when is you going to tell at least Dobby and Winky your secret?"
Toby looked extremely nervous, his Senior Elf demeanor slipping slightly for once. "What is you talking about?" he asked.
"You knows what I am talking about," Binky persisted. "You cannot keep hiding it forever, though the other elves isn't having to know."
The Senior Elf sat without speaking for a few moments, a range of expressions passing across his face. Finally he took a deep breath and spoke in a near-whisper.
"Toby.... Toby is a free elf," he said.
"You is?" Dobby asked incredulously.
"Yes," Toby answered. As he spoke, he carefully pulled up the hem of his tea towel slightly, showing that he was wearing shorts under it. "Please keep Toby's secret for him."
"How can this be?" Winky asked.
Toby continued "Toby is Professor Dumbledore's personal elf, and has been at Hogwarts as long as long as he has. Toby's family is served the Dumbledore family for generations, and we is all free, because the Dumbledores will have only free elves working for them!"
"You's all stayed with the Dumbledore family?" Tippy asked.
"Of course," Toby said. "Professor Dumbledore is the greatest and kindest wizard in the world! Toby would never leave him!"
"Why is you wearing shorts under your tea towel?" Dobby asked curiously.
"Dobby," Toby said, "you of all elves is ought to know the answer to that question!"
"Dobby is sorry, but he does NOT know."
"Free elves MUST wear real clothing, even if it is covered up," Toby told him.
At this point they had to quickly change the subject, as several other elves were coming closer. Toby chose this point to give Binky a tour of the Hogwarts elf quarters and kitchen. Toby was favorably impressed by the heroism award on the wall as well as Dumbledore's improvements to make life easier for the elves.
Before long it was time to go, and the just-reunited elf family exchanged hugs at the kitchen door.
"Please let Binky know when there is any news," he said as he looked rather pointedly at Dobby and Nobby. 'tis alright to send messages to Binky at his master's house."
A moment later he and Nobby were on their way back to The Three Broomsticks.
"What news is you expecting, Papa?" Nobby asked.
Binky didn't speak, but just gave his daughter a very "knowing" look.
