When Lucius Malfoy arrived at Hogwarts for his meeting, he looked very annoyed. "Why did you want to see me at Hogwarts at once, Dumbledore?" he demanded, the note containing the request for a meeting crushed in one hand and apparently not noticing (or ignoring) the four students in the room. Dobby the house-elf, a polishing rag in one hand, was crouched at his feet, apparently having been in the middle of polishing of Mr. Malfoy's shoes when he left for Hogwarts.

When Beth and Alex saw Dobby, the two exchanged looks, for the elf looked even more miserable then when they had first met him, with dirty bandages wrapped around parts of his body and his pillowcase looking dirtier and more worn than before. Something had to be done about his situation, especially as he had more-or-less disobeyed his owners by warning them about a plot at Hogwarts. While Professor Dumbledore answered Mr. Malfoy, Leah leaned over and hissed, "Are house-elves supposed to look like that? The ones I've seen at Hogwarts aren't like that at all."

Beth shook her head and whispered back, "The Malfoys are rather abusive to Dobby."

Leah frowned and Adam glared at Mr. Malfoy. Alex moved to stand behind Beth and removed his left shoe and sock. He then put his shoe back on and balled up the sock in his hand. She looked at the sock, then at him. A look of comprehension appeared on her face and she grabbed the destroyed diary on Dumbledore's desk. Alex discreetly shoved the sock inside the diary and they turned to face Mr. Malfoy, who was now glaring at the four preteens.

"So you claim I somehow slipped that diary among the schoolbooks of that Mud-Muggleborn girl," he spat. "How would I have done that?"

"You knocked me over and caused me to spill my books when you were fighting with Mr. Black," Leah retorted. "You could have easily dropped the diary among the books then, or added it to them when you fell over yourself. And my father was a wizard!"

"Fine, you're a halfblood then. Not that it's much better. And can you even prove that I planted the diary among your things?"

Professor Dumbledore cut in, "Oh, no one can do that, as the diary has been destroyed. On the other hand, I would advise you, Lucius, not to go around giving out any more of Lord Voldemort's old school things. Mr. and Miss Rosenberg's father was an Auror, and he still has co-workers in the Auror Department that remember him well and would be willing to help his children, including the aunt and uncle of Mr. and Miss Romanov here. If any more of those items find their way into innocent hands, I think several Aurors will make sure they are traced back to you."

Lucius Malfoy stood for a moment, and his right hand twitched as though he was longing to reach for his wand. Alex stepped forward and handed him the diary. "Here. Since you originally had possession of this, you can have it back, Mr. Malfoy. Nobody wants such an evil object, I mean formerly evil object, around a great school like Hogwarts. You can do whatever you want with it."

Mr. Malfoy glared at him and opened his mouth to reply, but then glanced at Professor Dumbledore and settled for snarling, "You're idiots, all of you. Dobby!" Dobby looked up from his shoe polishing as Mr. Malfoy thrust the diary at him. "Here, dispose of this trash when we get home. We're leaving."

He turned to go, but Beth cut in, "Excuse me for a minute please, but there's something else. Dobby, would you please open the diary?"

Dobby did so and gazed in wonder at the brown sock stuck in the middle of the book. He dropped diary and polishing rag to the floor to hold the sock, and in a voice of complete amazement, said, "Master has give a sock. Master gave it to Dobby."

"What's that?" spat Mr. Malfoy, glaring down at his house-elf. "What did you say?"

"Got a sock," said Dobby in disbelief. "Master gave diary to Dobby to get rid of, and the sock was in it."

Mr. Malfoy stood frozen, staring at the elf, then lunged for Alex and Beth, snarling, "You two have lost me my servant!"

Professor Dumbledore immediately raised his wand to stop him, but before any spell could be cast, Dobby shouted, "You shall not harm Alex and Beth Romanov!" and cast some elven magic. There was a loud bang, and Mr. Malfoy was thrown backwards and hit the door, rather hard.

Professor Dumbledore, an expression that was a cross between anger at Mr. Malfoy's attempt to attack Alex and Beth and amusement at what Dobby had done, moved to stand by the door. "That is enough, Lucius. I will not have you go around attacking my students, especially not in my office, much less anywhere else on Hogwarts and her grounds. With the way you have been treating Dobby, I don't think you deserve having servants, and losing one may teach you to be nicer to house-elves in the future. Now, I suggest you leave, or I will allow Dobby to further use magic on you."

Dobby raised a long, threatening finger. Mr. Malfoy got to his feet, face livid, and after one last, incensed stare at everyone in the room, wrenched open the door and strode out. Once he was gone, Professor Dumbledore said with a chuckle, "That was very well-done, Mr. and Miss Romanov, freeing Dobby. Twenty points to the each of you, in addition to the rest of the points that I will award for your help yesterday. Dobby, do you have any plans now that you are free?"

Dobby looked uncertain. "Dobby does not know. Dobby is maybe thinking of working for someone else. Someone nicer. And maybe Dobby can get paying for his work."

"Ooh, you could come work our family!" exclaimed Beth. "Would you like that, Dobby? Our parents and relatives are really nice and won't treat you the way the Malfoys did. And if you want to be paid, you can."

At this moment, Granny Ilsa and Ana came in. "What is going on?" the latter asked. "We ran into Lucius Malfoy on the way here and he snarled something about how my children lost him his servant and that he was going to make us pay for it one day."

"Er, we may have tricked him into freeing Dobby, Mum," Alex replied.

"Dobby? You mean the house-elf that gave you and your friends that warning? How did you do that?"

Beth and Alex explained. "Serves him right," Granny Ilsa said. "There really should be laws mandating decent treatment for house-elves. Dobby, since you're now free, would you like to work for us? I could use some help in my potions store sometimes, and the rest of the family can find work for you to do also. Like helping make dinner and keeping our homes tidy." She then glanced at Beth and Alex and said, "That doesn't mean you can get out of cleaning your rooms. Dobby will only be cleaning the bathrooms and main rooms like the kitchen and living rooms. No, Dobby, you really aren't to clean their rooms or the rooms of the other children in the family. We want them to be responsible for that, since we don't want spoiled brats."

"Dobby is understanding," he said. Then hesitantly, he asked, "Can Dobby be getting paid for his work?"

"Of course," said Granny Ilsa. "The whole clan, well, the adults anyway, will contribute to it. Let's see, I think we can do fifteen Galleons a week plus your room and board. That'd be three Galleons per couple. And you can have Sundays off as well, Dobby."

"Oh no, Dobby is not wanting so much!" he protested, eyes wide. "Dobby is liking work better. And Dobby does not need Sundays off."

"Fine then," said Ana. "Would five Galleons a week be better? That would be one Galleon from each family in our clan. And you can have one day off a month instead of Sundays off. Those were the standard wages of a Muggle servant from the Victorian and Edwardian eras." Actually, that wasn't completely accurate, for while servants usually did get a day off monthly, they did not get twenty-five pounds a week, which was what five Galleons came out to, approximately. Well, the twenty-five pounds would have equaled more like a few pounds in the money of that era, but only upper servants like a housekeeper or valet would be paid that much weekly. A servant much lower in the hierarchy, like a scullery maid, would have only been paid a few shillings a week.

"Dobby is fine with that," Dobby said, bowing.

"Good." Ana asked Professor Dumbledore for parchment, quill, and ink, and quickly drew up a short contract stating that Dobby was to get room and board, five Galleons a week, and one day off a month in return for working for the Romanov and Petrov clan. Dobby signed it, followed by Ana's and Granny Ilsa's signatures, and then Professor Dumbledore signed it as a witness.

"We have to go down to the Chamber of Secrets and see to the disposal of the basilisk's remains," said Granny Ilsa. "Dobby, could you please remain here until we're done? Then we can take you with us so we can tell the rest of the clan about your employment with us and get you a better outfit to wear than the one you've got on now."

"Dobby will do so, Mistress," he said, bowing again.

"Miss Ilsa will do instead of Mistress," she said. "We'll discuss what you'll call each member of the family later."

Professor Snape arrived at this juncture and the group, minus Dobby, headed for Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Alex opened the Chamber of Secrets so the adults could go down and harvest the basilisk. Then the four preteens left to tell their respective friends what had happened, along with gathering Vera, Ivan, and Cara to notify them about Dobby's new job with the Romanov-Petrov clan.