This story was also written for the All About You Challenge, for the astrological sign Taurus, which came with the prompts: stubborn, loyal, persistent, dependable and possessive.

Dobby: Free Elf

The Headmaster sat at his desk, his arms folded in front of him, as he cast his sparkling blue eyes over the pair stood across from him. They had refused the offered seats; Dumbledore wondered if the two were even tall enough to reach them, anyway. The elves had said they preferred to stand, and so now they stood while Dumbledore waited for them to speak.

"Dobby and Winky come here as free elves," Dobby said, nodding enthusiastically as he did so. Winky cringed at the word 'free', as if to hear it hurt.

"I can see that," Dumbledore smiled. "That is a wonderful sock."

"Thank you, very much, Sir Dumbledore! Dobby is very proud of it!" he replied, causing Winky to flinch away from her friend.

"And what is it the two of you want, as free elves?" Dumbledore asked.

"Dobby and Winky cane to ask Professor Dumbledore for jobs, Sir," Dobby explained. Winky stared at the floor, and remained silent. It seemed she wasn't as enthused by the prospect, and didn't want to ask for this for herself.

"Well, that sounds very reasonable," Dumbledore commented. "There's certainly a lot of work to be done around Hogwarts."

His blue eyes twinkled as Dobby's widened, hope and anticipation mixing so brightly in his expression. Even Winky looked up at this, hopeful that there was still a use for her somewhere.

"I could offer you twenty galleons a week for your fine service," Dumbledore suggested with a smile.

"Oh, no, Professor Dumbledore, Sir! What would Dobby do with all that? No, sir, Dobby and Winky don't want all that much!" Dobby protested, waving his hands in front of him whilst bowing so low his nose brushed the floor. It seemed he still held on to what he knew, and did not want to cause undue offence.

"Well then, how much would you prefer?" Dumbledore asked.

Dobby looked at Winky, but she only shook her head. She wanted nothing.

"Five galleons, Sir. Dobby thinks five galleons would be more moneys than he knows what to do with! But Dobby could buy birthday presents for Mister Harry and his friends!" Dobby announced, and the wide, toothy grin on his face gave away his utter excitement.

Dumbledore could see that Winky didn't think her situation had improved, but he had hope that she would find her home at Hogwarts.

It would not be long before Dumbledore's hope would prove ill-founded. Dobby found that while he and Winky were accepted easily enough by the other House Elves, they were treated somewhat differently, as if the other Elves thought that Dobby and Winky pictured themselves on a pedestal. That was not what Winky had wanted. Dobby knew her very well, and he knew she didn't even want the money, or the clothes. She certainly didn't want to be different.

She did her job, but Dobby knew that something was wrong. Her once glowing pride no longer seemed to exist. She talked to the others, but Dobby couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her smile or heard her laughter. It was as if she felt worthless. Dobby watched her with a deep sadness. He didn't know how to tell Winky his thoughts on the matter. He didn't know how to tell her that she could be both proud and free.

Whenever he tried to talk to her, which was quite often, he soon saw how she changed the subject or ignored him when he spoke of freedom and wages. She wouldn't admit it to herself, like she was trying to ignore it. No, it was like she was trying to forget. Dobby wasn't sure what she wanted to forget the most - the fact that she was free or the fact that she cared.

Dobby watched her as she turned to Butterbeer to drown her woes. He knew it wasn't the drink of choice for many humans, but Elves were small with little tolerance for things. He watched how little it took to render Winky a different Elf.

"It's the best Winky can hope for in her current… situation!" she had slurred one evening as Dobby called her out on her behaviour. At least she only drank in the evenings, Dobby conceded. While he saw her rubbing at her temples and acting sluggish in the mornings, she was still able to carry out her work in the kitchens, so he didn't think it could be that bad.

And for the first few weeks, it stayed that way. Dobby, dependable as he was, sat with her in the evenings as she drank herself into a stupor, a caring anxiety clouding his mind, but he didn't worry too much. Not until he noticed that the single pint she was used to having wasn't affecting her the way it used to. He didn't worry too much until she began drinking more. She more or less gave up on food over the coming weeks, and she began to avoid Dobby's eye and the pitying looks she would find there. Dobby thought she had given up on life, and now only sought to survive. Soon, he found her drinking Butterbeer before breakfast, and it wasn't long before she gave up on breakfast entirely in favour of the drink.

Dobby knew a lot of things, some of which he wasn't supposed to know, but what he didn't know was how to help his friend. He did what he could, of course, loyal as he was. He took responsibility for unlit, dirty fireplaces and finding excuses for unwashed sheets, but he knew he needed a solution. He tried to reason with her, to explain, but Winky no longer even reacted. Completely at a loose end, and stubborn in his belief that he could help her, Dobby found himself stood in Dumbledore's office once more.

"What brings you here, Master Dobby?" the headmaster asked from his seat behind the desk.

"It's Winky, Professor Dumbledore, Sir," Dobby began, his soulful eyes wide in sadness. He resisted the urge to bang his head against the desk, knowing what he was about to do could be betraying a friend. "She's not happy, Sir. Winky doesn't like being a free Elf, and Dobby doesn't know what to do!"

The headmaster sighed. "Happiness is a choice, Dobby. She must choose to be content here," Dumbledore reasoned.

"But Winky hasn't, Sir! Winky gets worse and worse! She…" Before Dobby finished his sentence, he leant forward with a great force and crashed his forehead into the desk - just once, he was learning. "Please forgive Dobby! Winky drinks Butterbeer, Sir! She drinks more and more and Dobby is worried for her!"

"Ah," Dumbledore said. "Dobby, would you be ever so kind as to bring Winky here to see me?"

"Will Winky lose her job, Sir?" Dobby asked, nervous.

"Oh, I don't think that would be what's best for her, do you?" Dumbledore asked.

Dobby shook his head, rather violently, and stood to leave.

When Dobby found Winky, she was swaying slightly where she stood as she polished a trophy. He knew she would not come easily, and he would have to be persistent.

"Winky, Professor Dumbledore wants to see you," he told her.

"Winky is polishing this trophy," she said, not even looking up at him.

"Please come with Dobby, Winky, Dumbledore has very important things to say!" Dobby argued.

"Why does Dumbledore want to see Winky?" Winky asked, suspicious.

"I don't know what he wants to say," Dobby conceded, then regretted his words as Winky's face clouded in horror.

"Dumbledore wants to get rid of Winky. Winky isn't even wanted at Hogwarts!" Winky began, imagining the only fate she thought worse than what she now endured.

"No, Dumbledore promised that Winky would not leave, he wants something else," Dobby reassured her. "And Dobby would not let Winky leave alone! Dobby would go with Winky, Dobby would stay with his friend."

As Dobby pulled Winky into an awkward hug, she smiled a lit and relented. He Apparated them to Dumbledore's office together.

"Ah, you're here," Dumbledore said cheerfully as they arrived. "Dobby, if you wouldn't mind just stepping outside for a moment."

Dobby froze, suddenly not wanting to leave. His affection for her, which bordered on to possessiveness, left him feeling vulnerable without her. His life had revolved around her for so long, he didn't want to leave. But he trusted Dumbledore, and so warily he stepped outside.

And he waited. He didn't think he'd ever waited so long in his life, pacing up and down the stairs, listening at the door for a hint of what was coming. When the handle finally turned and Winky stepped out, he was by her side in an instant.

"Dobby, Winky won't be helping you in the Greenhouses tomorrow, Winky has a special job to do!" she said, and smiled at him.

Dobby felt his heart melt. There was his old friend, on her way back to him.

"And what is this special job?" he asked her.

"Filing!" she replied. "It's really important and Dumbledore trusts me! I've never done filing before!"

As Winky rattled on about why it was so important, Dobby knew that she had just taken the first steps on the road to recovery. She felt needed once more, and soon, she would feel proud again. Dobby didn't know how he would ever thank Professor Dumbledore.