The notice in the entrance hall made a noticeable impact on the school – it informed the entire student population that the tournament is no longer just something they talked about, but it is really going to happen soon.
In the late minutes of Friday night and the approaching Saturday morning, Felix woke up from his bed in his pyjamas and pushed open the door of his office.
The hallway is dark, with little light to be seen. With the help of the hazy moonlight, several short figures standing on top of each other, forming crooked, eerie shadows – they are the castle’s house-elves.
“Do you need some help?” Felix asked, approaching them silently, less than two feet from them.
“Ah-”
A suppressed scream stifled out of their throats, three house elves who were stacked on top of each other, looked like they were about to fall over, and Felix quickly reached out to support them. It was an odd scene –
That topmost house-elf greeted him respectfully, with various cleaning tools in hand: “Hello, Mr. Hap!”
“Good day to you, too, Cloudbur.” Felix replied.
The middle house-elf covered the bottom elf’s mouth to keep him from shouting, while trying to salute, Cloudbur hurriedly patted his head and jumped down from the top, the middle elf followed suit, and finally, the three of them saluted together.
“I heard some movement … what are you guys doing – are you cleaning up the portraits?”
Felix looked at the rags and brushes in Cloudbur’s hands, and a large bottle piled up in the corner, the writing on it shining in the darkness, it was “Mrs Skower’s All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover”.
“And the armour in the castle … sir! We’re going to clean them up and make our guests enjoy Hogwarts! Mr. Hap!” Cloudbur said.
“Well,” Felix nodded, and asked curiously, “I didn’t see you carrying lamps, so how are you guys working in the dark?”
“We’re used to it, sir!” The elf called Cloudbur replied, full of pride, “We have good eyesight, and we can see with a little light.”
“Is that so?” Felix did not know, the description of the house-elf in the books didn’t mention these things. “But it’s will be more convenient if you use magic lamps, I remember that the school purchased a large number of …”
“Yes, the kitchen switched to the latest, very, very big magic lamp, even bigger than Cloudbur!” Cloudbur opened his slender hand as hard as he could to describe the lamp in the kitchen, “The other guys are interested, and Dobby–”
The elf next to him touched Cloudbur with his arm, then Cloudbur opened his mouth and did not speak.
“What’s wrong? Dobby is also considered my employee, is there anything that I don’t know?” Felix asked, Dobby would come over at the beginning of each month to report to him about the company’s progress.
The elf in the middle said respectfully, “No, sir. Dobby he … is very nice, and gave us some palm-sized small magic lamps, very convenient …”
Felix smiled and said, “Surely that’s not what you wanted to say, we can chat about it.”
“Sir, Kaka is not a talkative elf, ten years ago the master died, the master has no descendants, so he offered Kaka to Hogwarts in his will … Kaka has always served the master’s family …” The elf called “Kaka” replied with a deep bow.
Felix listened quietly, he knew there must be a back story.
“Kaka is proud to serve his master’s family and Hogwarts … to the best of his ability, but, but …” Kaka’s eyes widened. “Dobby! He is spreading dangerous ideas, some less firm-willed already got little interested, this is not a good sign, he will bring doom to the entire community of elves …”
“What did he do?” Felix asked.
Kaka bowed his head, but Cloudbur interjected: ” Dobby didn’t do anything, he just introduced his new life, he …” the elf stammered: “He put himself on an equal footing with the wizard, saying that he met someone today … will meet someone tomorrow, the key thing is, he has some elves working under him, all under his charge …”
“What’s wrong with that? It was I who ordered him to do it.”
“Sir, Mr. Hap!” The elf named Kaka said, “That is not a grace, it is rather a beginning of bad luck, he holds the power that does not belong to him, and this power continues to expand …”
Felix gave Cloudbur a look because the tacit understanding cultivated by frequent trips to the kitchen for snacks made Cloudbur understand, so he dragged Kaka away, saying pointedly, “We’ll go first, sir, there’s work to be done! It must be done in time before dawn!”
Felix returned to his office and remained seated for a moment before a knock sounded at the door and Cloudbur peeked through the gap.
“Please sit down, Cloudbur.”
“Oh, thank you, Mr. Hap!” Cloudbur said excitedly, as he sat down on the edge of the sofa close to him.
A cup of tea with a tea tray flew towards him, and even though the same scene had happened more than once, he acted uncomfortable as the teacup and tray made a clattering sound.
Felix smiled and said, “You know, Cloudbur, I need a neutral perspective, and you’re the perfect person for it.”
“Yes, sir,” replied Cloudbur, thinking hard for a moment before he said respectfully, “Kaka and Dobby, they are very different … Kaka is an old-fashioned elf who has only served his master in the past, but That wizard had no children or heirs, and in his will, he donated all his possessions to Hogwarts, and that’s how Kaka got here… he’s always proud of who he was.”
Felix nodded.
“Kaka is traditional, even among the hundred or so house-elves in the kitchen, he’s considered one of the old-fashioned bunch, while Dobby is just the opposite, some of his views … are new …”
“Is it about the salary or his freedom?”
Cloudbur’s body shook a little, as he said tremblingly, “Both, sir, both … He once said bad things about his former master, not really bad things, it all really happened … but Kaka thought he is disloyal, and they quarrelled a lot …”
Felix nodded slightly, “And then what?”
“After that … Dobby didn’t mention much about the past, he liked the present, every time he came over, he would bring some gifts, some elf took them, but Kaka insisted not to! Like him, there are quite a few elves, all older …”
” Dobby introduced the life outside, about his job, work things, he also said he found some wild, wandering elves, to provide them with work, they are also like him, are free.”
When mentioning freedom, Cloudbur shivered hard.
Felix smiled: “I did ask him to find some elves, and he accomplished the task well.”
Cloudbur looked at him carefully and asked cautiously, “Sir, what do you think?”
“Me?” Felix smiled, “Go with the flow, you always need some time to observe while dealing with something new, maybe it will make you uncomfortable, but in a few decades, it will probably become a central force of the ‘Future World’ company.”
Cloudbur looked at him a little confused.
Felix said, “Do you know Ilvermorny? Its founder, Isolt Sayre, formed a deep friendship with a Pukwudgie called William, and to this day there are still many Pukwudgies working at the school, isn’t that a bit like the house-elves at Hogwarts? The difference is that the Isolt Sayre family and William’s Pukwudgie family had a more of an equal relationship, and there is even a protection agreement in place – the Pukwudgie will protect the students and vice versa.”
“Mind you, this is quite a rare thing; Pukwudgie are not very fond of humans; on the contrary, they enjoy playing tricks on people and are extremely capable of being hunting alone and pranking… This is a history that is enjoyed by many.”
“When the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was weak, it was William and his Pukwudgie family who protected the students at the school, and now, hundreds of years later, the situation is reversed, and it is Ilvermorny who is protecting this Pukwudgie family from outside disturbances … and the Pukwudgie of Ilvermorny, despite their complaints, and insisting that they are merely fulfilling an ancient pact, but they are still frequenting the school in secret …”
…
The next day, the students woke up surprised to find the castle brand new, the portraits scrubbed clean, and the armours looked shiny, as Ron focused on these novel changes, he inadvertently stepped into a trap in the grand staircase and got one leg stuck in a crack.
The armour next to him huffed and puffed as it mocked him, and Ron punched it, resulting in the armour spitting out a few blue bubbles.
“Yuck!” Ron said, “The smell of detergent!”
In the afternoon, Hermione went to the library again, and as a last resort, Harry and Ron pulled in Neville for a dungeon adventure in classroom seven, with a young Felix Hap in tow the entire time.
When Harry questioned how there could be a tavern in the dungeon, a group of Aurors suddenly rushed in and started fighting with the dark wizards in the tavern, while the three of them fled all the way to the underground.
“This is the black market in disguise, and the coded message on the door is evidence of that.” Felix Hap’s memory said as he followed.
They fled to a secret room which is filled with violent golden snitches, which pounced on them without them having to catch them, each one of them being enchanted with an Incendio and it specifically targeting their exposed skin.
The three braced themselves using the shield charm and moved step by step out of the room, grimacing from the heat. The only consolation was that Felix Hap’s memory had taught them the “humanoid shield charm” …
In the evening, all the selected students were called to the Deputy Headmistress’s office, where Professor McGonagall spent two hours giving them training about manners. Harry could still hear Ron’s sleepy words as he lay on his bed –
“Damn golden snitches, stay away from me …”
The following Sunday morning, the students ate breakfast and wandered around the castle as if sleepwalking, until a special bell rang, and they hurriedly assembled at the entrance hall beside the castle great hall from all directions –
“Line up! As per your HOUSE …” shouted Filch at the top of his voice, wearing a musty suit, as he suddenly grabbed a young wizard and said viciously, “You! Where is your school uniform!”
The young wizard, became a little hysterical with fear, as he ran away screaming.
The students formed a long line according to their grades and were led out of the castle by their respective head boys and girls, then everyone excitedly surveyed the empty field.
” There they are!”
A sharp-eyed student called out. The students and professors squinted as the air suddenly burned violently and a cluster of bright flames appeared, drawing out slender tongues of flame to form a flower with four petals, each one branded with a magical creature.
“Ahem! Is there anyone over there?” A voice came from the flames.
“Agilbert,” Dumbledore, who is standing in the front row, said gently, “the school has temporarily released the restrictions, you can come over.”
“That’s good … I am afraid of arriving in the wrong place …,” the voice trailed off.
The students stared, and after a while, a hand suddenly poked out, carrying a box, soon revealing a round, somewhat naive face, wearing a robe that mixed with blue and cranberry, with a golden knot tied intricately on his chest.
Startled at the sight of the black mass of Hogwarts students and professors, he scratched his head, “Uh, hi guys, my name is Byers.”
————
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