That Butterbeer

W is for Winky

Winky the House-elf let her socked feet clap against the stone cold floors loudly as she ran around to the Hogwarts kitchen.

It was December 6th and all the House-elves were to have a meeting about the Secret House-elves- where they would all draw names out of a pillowcase and then proceed to give that House-elf a present for Christmas.

Winky had thought of it herself, which she was extremely proud of.

Once she made it to her destination – which was a small corridor that was bare of residents – Winky tapped on the wall next to her. Slowly, the concealed wooden door moved to the side loudly and Winky squeezed her way through as quickly as possible. She pounded the small gold knob on the wall next to her, causing the door to close behind her.

When Winky was sure the door was closed, she fought her way to the front of the bustle that the House-elves were making and then stood up at the front of the room, on top of the table – which they had respectfully thought to put a cloth over. They didn't want the table to be dirty for the midnight guests they sometimes received.

"S'cuse me?" Winky squeaked.

A few people in the front of the crowd closed their mouths, but most of the House-elves continued speaking.

"S'cuse me?" Winky said again, a little bit more loudly. She fingered her knitted sweater nervously. It was a hard job for her to do – being the head House-elf. She hadn't always been the head after Dobby, though. Originally, it had been Tonny, but he soon grew tired and quit. And then Winky had decided it was time to stop mourning the tragedy that had happened so many years ago. It was time to take that final step and become a good Kitchen worker. She needed to make friends too – which she succeeded at.

Winky's reconciliation went as follows: she first began to cut down on butterbeer – mostly because she focused on housework much more than anything else. She then proceeded to start talking to others more instead of crying. The next few steps were just laying off butterbeer for good and slowly understanding that having clothes was a good thing. She was happy to be free.

Winky only wished that Dobby knew how happy she was now. It was all thanks to him, really. All her time here, she knew that Dobby had really cared for her and tried hard to make her happy, and she had never repaid him – never let him know that she was thankful.

But then again, at the time, she wasn't very thankful and she had just wanted him to leave her alone, but now she was thankful. Once he got the idea into her head that she shouldn't really be happy by what her master had done, she slowly came to terms with the idea and accepted it.

"S'cuse me?" Winky said, practically yelling now. Remembering Dobby and how strong he was always gave her strength.

Finally, the crowd quieted and she gave a shy smile, casting her large brown eyes at the floor. "I thinks we should start the Secret House-elf project. Who has the sack?"

"Me!" A House-elf said. He climbed up the chair slowly, snapping his fingers to make the sack fly up next to Winky.

"One elf c'mon up at a time and pick'sa name. Work until ev'ryone has a name," Winky slurred.

Then the process began – one elf would come up, pick a name, then go off to work to make some food for the dinner tonight.

Winky worked too. She hustled and bustled, never paying any mind to the pillowcase on the table. She did have friends within all these elves, but she doubted she'd pull their names. Besides, she didn't really want to buy a present for an elf she didn't know well.

"Hey, Winky!" A voice called.

Winky turned around and searched for the voice that called her. Winky's dark brown eyes fell on Osma, her best friend.

Osma held out the pillowcase. "One name left."

Winky sighed in defeat and reached her hand into the bag, but she couldn't find it. Therefore, she set down the crate full of carrots in her arms and stuffed her head into the sack, finally finding the slip of paper. Once she had it in her hand and had her head out of the sack, she unravelled the paper and read the name.

"Dobby," it said.

Winky looked up at her best friend. "What should I do?"

"I tink he'd like t'know Winky fixed t'butterbeer problem," Osma said with a sweet smile. "And that Winky loves all he done for Winky."

Winky frowned and nodded, giving a small wave to her friend. She stuffed the paper in her pocket, and picked up the crate of carrots in the idea of starting back work again.

Instead, she found herself nervous and distracted. She set down the crate once again and turned to a room meant for storing all the food. Once she was in there, Winky paced all around the shelves, wondering what she would give Dobby and how she would give it to him.

Then the idea came to her. It was when she had seen a crate full of butterbeer. Slowly, she pulled a glass out and stared at it – almost feeling as if she should rip off the cap and chug down the butterbeer.

Instead, she ran back out into the kitchen and then proceeded to turn and climb the stairs up to the sleeping chambers. She crawled to her bed and pulled out a small box full of possessions. With paper and pen now in hand, she scrawled a quick "Thank you, Dobby" being reminded of how great some of the students at Hogwarts were as they had taught many House-elves to read and write.

Winky carefully placed the butterbeer glass into the box, along with the note, and stood up to walk towards the stairs and resume her work. Instead, she found herself stop at the top of the stairs and turn back towards the box. She would feel distracted all month until she gave that present to Dobby. Winky gave a small sigh and walked back to the box, opening it, and staring at the present.

There was only one thing to do – give it to him now.

Winky picked up her present and snapped her fingers – apparating to Dobby's grave.


A/N: Well, that was a good chapter. It was cool to go into Winky's perspective – especially since it is such a rare occurrence to see.

Anyway, I only had one major insecurity about this chapter. I felt weird about how I made the House-elves talk. I did not feel like it was right, but I tried my hardest to switch back between grammatically correct English, and the way the House-elves speak. Did it work?

Please review!