Written for Hogwarts House Challenges: The Kitchen Challenge
W.C. 368
Dobby's First Leave
Dobby was cleaning Dumbledore's study one day when he heard the old headmaster talking to himself, thinking of his quests, and the places he had visited. He got to know that the headmaster missed south-Indian food a lot.
Being a fan of the headmaster, he decided he would make a south-Indian food for the headmaster on the old man's birthday. Somehow he managed to get his hands on the recipe of a dish called dhokla, and hid it in his small trunk where he stored his treasured sock Harry Potter had given to him.
On the day, he set to work. Just as he had finished preparing the batter and putting it in casts and onto the stove, the gathering crowd near the far end of his table caught his attention. Jumping on his table, he walked over to the place to see what was happening—and what he saw caused his chest to tighten.
There stood Winky, drunk as usual, kissing Gipper. Gipper was the elf who headed the group who prepared food for the Slytherin table, and no one liked him. Dobby, of course, had asked for a position in the Gryffindor group, and had dragged Winky with him. He couldn't deny that he had developed a soft corner for the girl-elf during this time—he had spent many a free hours thinking of the day when his and Winky's elf-lings would grow up, and eventually start working at Hogwarts.
Now, all his dreams had shattered. As a huge drop of tear fell out of his large eyes, the long noses of the people all around him flinched. He turned to see what had caused the burnt smell, only to see smoke coming out of the vessel he had put on the stove.
He rushed back to his place with quivering steps and doused the fire on the stove. He wished he had never gone to see what Winky had been doing; he now had no spirits to make the weird, spongy, yellow dhokla.
Hadn't the headmaster said he was free to take leaves?
Dobby made a decision right then. For the first time in his time at Hogwarts, Dobby, the house elf, took a leave.
