Author's Notice: All the HP characters, of course, still belong to the brilliant J.K. Rowling. The Slytherelves and the little Ashwinder were inspired by other people, who know that they were an inspiration!
A word about the naming of House Elves. They have great pleasure in giving nicknames to each other, which are based on real or assumed characteristics. You often do not know if the name is a nickname or the original name given at the naming ceremony (1 month after birth).
As we shall see in this and other chapters, Winky's parents loved unusual names, and often picked names from visitors to the Crouches household or by listening to their conversation, which was often in a foreign language.
When Winky woke up, the kitchen was gleaming as usual, but lay in deepest silence. No long ear or long finger was seen, since the Elves had moved to the dorms to prepare them for bedtime while everyone was at the Tournament. Those Elves higher up the hierarchy were tidying the professors living quarters. Tops, head of the House Elves, and Una, manageress of the kitchen and provisions, were responsible for the comfort of Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall.
With a sore head and blurred vision, Winky sat up slowly, straightening her crumpled ears in the process. She looked around the empty kitchen, and tears welled up in her eyes again. "Where hash it all gone wrong?" she sniffed, wiping ash from her long ears. "How on earth did I ends up here?" she asked herself in a butterbeer haze. Winky felt so alone, so lost in this large deserted kitchen. She started to sob loudly, thinking "Nothing against Hogwarts, 'tis a good place, but all I wants is to go back home. Home…"
Scratching her ears, Winky was searching for answers, but the answer that came to her was the one that she knew only too well. "It is your fault! All your fault!" Of course, she was too blame. She had failed as a House Elf. Completely failed. UTTERLY FAILED! Winky sobbed louder. "What would Mum say if she could sees me now," she thought, "her daughter's a failure, shamed, so shaaaamed!"
And suddenly, the picture of Speedy appeared in front of her eyes. Small, friendly, determined Speedy, the most efficient House Elf in her district. If a price had been given for the best House Elf in England, Speedy would have won it year after year. No surprise there, since she came from a long line of excellent House Elves, if you disregarded her father, the mysterious maverick Italian Elf, Lux. Speedy's mother, Winnie, had been well-known for her cakes and pastries, and wizard families in the neighbourhood had often asked the Crouches if Winnie could bake the cakes for their birthdays and weddings. Naturally, Speedy and Tom had instilled in her nine children a sense of duty and family pride, and this had borne fruit. All of them were House Elf success stories, even 'Loony,' second youngest and 'wild child' of Speedy's brood, who was now a respectable house-keeper for a retired couple in Donegal. The career of the youngest, Winky, apple of Speedy's old age, had been exceptional, well, until that fateful night when she had been given clothes. "The shame! The shaaaame!" Winky moaned loudly, and tears splashed onto her dirty skirt. Standing up, she staggered to the fireplace wall to get herself another bottle. Drinking its contents in one go, she gave an enormous hiccough. "Ahhhhhhh. That felt better!" This shame was easier born with butterbeer, because your brain worked slower and the accusing inner voice did not shout quite as loudly.
Winky sank to the floor again, because the kitchen started to spin. She buried her face in her skirt, shaking with grief, her long ears brushing the floor. Her dismissal had been such a shock to the family! Her oldest brother Solomon, head of the clan since Speedy's death, had written to her, making it clear that he broke off all contact with her. "And who would blame him," Winky thought, "after all, he is Head Elf in the Ministry for Magic, and his wife, Acuta, is its chef. Of course, they could not be associated with a dismissed Elf!" The hardest part, however, was that they prohibited her from visiting her four-year-old niece, Buttons, who was her favourite Elfling in the world. That nearly broke her elfish heart. She was shaking more, tears flowing uncontrollably.
Her sister Rua had also written to her, saying that she did not want to break off the contact, but that she had to send secret owls, since her husband, Justus, did not approve of being friendly to a disgraced Elf. The other siblings had not even bothered writing, with one exception, and that was Loony. She had written a very encouraging letter, telling her that it was not her fault. "You know what the Crouches are like," she had insisted, but that was typical of her, since she had never got on well with her Masters family. She had been the one child in the family that had often been whipped by Mr Crouch for her impertinence. When she left with the O'Dohertys for Ireland, she had been, in her own words, "the happiest Elf ever." "Strange that she wrote to me at all," thought Winky, "she had not written in 10 years, because she believed that I was such a whimp. Why now?"
She slowly lifted her head. Oh, it was spinning badly. She tried to wipe the tears from her face, but in the process smeared ash all over it, and some got in her eyes. Angrily, she flung herself onto the ground, and hammered her tiny fists on the floor. "Why, oh, why had she not realized that Barts had got stronger again? Why had she persuaded Master Crouch to allow Barts to go to the Quidditch World Cup? She had meant so well, but she had made a mistake. A big mistake!"
From the age of ten, Winky had been assigned to Barty jnr., who was then thirteen. That had been very unusual, since customary, Elves only started major jobs from the age of fourteen. However, the two had literally grown up together, and Winky had been Barty's playmate, because he was a very timid child and had few friends. Winky had made him laugh, bossed him about, and mollycoddled him. She was his 'older sister', and missed him terribly when he went to Hogwarts. So whenever he came home on vacation, she spoilt him and was ready to indulge him. Master Crouch was not happy with that, but Leni Crouch insisted that Winky became Barty's personal Elf when he was thirteen, since she felt increasingly weak. So Winky took over his care. And the fun they had! It was Barts and Winks, Winks and Barts—the inseparable twins! He showed her some magic he learnt at school, and she covered up for him since he was not allowed to use magic in the holidays. He told her about the lessons, his new friends, Slytherin House, the teachers, the Quidditch cup… and he seemed so happy there. But then he changed…
Suddenly, Winky heard a noise. Her drooping ears perked up. Somebody was running towards the kitchen very fast. "Oh no!" she prayed, "don't let it be Nasty or Ugly, please not one of those two!" She looked frantically for a place to hide, not wanting to disapparate in case it was Dobby or Sparkly. She jumped into the fireplace, and waited. An angry ashwinder scuttled out of the fire, hissing as he slithered through the kitchen.
Nasty and Ugly were the heads of the Slytherin Elves. This was a group of 10 Elves that had a darker side to them, but managed always to look respectable. Usually, Elves were not assigned to any House, but Slytherin was the exception. Slytherin students often taunted the House Elves if they got hold of them. It was a Slytherin sport to scare the Elves, and especially first years who needed to prove themselves, terrorized the Elves. Most House Elves hated to go there. The only Elves that could deal with those students became known as Slytherelves. Respected by the Slytherin students, but avoided by the other Elves, they organised their own life, and only came into the kitchen to take as much food as they wanted. They were also very adept in lightening the green fires of Slytherin commons—other Elves were too innocent to do that.
Theodore and Sebastian were their undisputed leaders. Because of their callous attitude, they were quickly dubbed Nasty and Ugly by their fellow House Elves. They were indeed extremely nasty, but definitely not ugly. Nasty was actually a bit of a looker amongst the male Elves, and his ears were nearly as long as Len's. Incredibly vain, rumours had it that he tried to lengthen them using magic, but had not succeeded. The tallest amongst the House Elves, he had beautiful elfish features, which, however, were cold and hard. He had the 'Macho' effect on the Hogwarts Elf girls, and had broken many a heart with his cruelty. It was whispered that he had an ear around* one of the Ministry Elves, but nobody knew for sure, and nobody was going to ask. Winky was often wishing that he was brushing** Acuta, and had to punish herself for thinking those nasty thoughts about her brother's wife, and thinking an expression that no respectable Elf would even dare to think!
Nasty was cold, arrogant and cynical, priding himself for his intelligence. He liked to humiliate the other Elves as much as he could with his biting irony and superiour behaviour.
Ugly was also a very good-looking Elf. Smaller than Nasty, he was a bit on the plump side, loving this food nearly as much as playing nasty tricks on the other Elves. His ears were short and round, and very prettily curved. They made you want to stroke them, but you wouldn't dare. His eyes were of the deepest black, and not as cold as Nasty's steel-blue eyes. He had an air of friendliness and innocence around him, which betrayed the ruthlessness that was lying underneath.
Both had organised the Slytherelves so well, that not even Dumbledore knew what was going on. They did all kinds of favours for the Slytherin students. No questions were asked, as long as enough knuts crossed the Slytherelves palm. Nasty and Ugly took a commission, because all services were controlled by them. They never did any menial work. On the outside, both were deferential towards Tops, the staff, and Dumbledore, but Nasty and Ugly were their own masters. Sparkly was convinced that Nasty was after Top's job, and Winky could only agree. If this would ever happen, it would be the end of the peaceful life for the Hogwarts House Elves. But maybe, he was after a job in the Ministry...
Recently, Ugly had stolen Dobby's teacosy and sorely wexed him for weeks. He only got it back, after Tops was on the way to Dumbledore to complain. Winky dreaded them. Ugly had more than once sneaked up behind her, pulling her ears, and calling her 'Boozy!' Nasty just looked at her and said coldly 'pathetic little drunk.' "As if," thought Winky, "I am just a bit depressed."
The footsteps came closer and the kitchen door was flung open with a loud bang...
* to have an ear around: House Elf expression for 'going
with somebody'
** brushing someone: very rude expression that no respectable House Elf would
use, meaning, well ...
© winkyteatowel