Hermione's head snapped up with a look of horrified comprehension. "We forgot about her!"
With a nod, Harry replied, "We did."
"Pardon?" asked Daphne looking up. "Who's Winky?"
"Crouch's ex-house elf," replied Hermione. "He gave her clothes at the World Cup because she was unable to keep Crouch Junior from running off. It wasn't her fault, though. It was Crouch's fault and he blamed her."
"Dobby!" she called.
With a pop Dobby appeared. "Yes, Miss Grangy?"
Ignoring his name for her, she asked him, "Can you bring Winky here, please? I know you've been looking after her."
With a little look of fear, Dobby popped away. And, a few moments later, he was back. With him he brought Winky; looking dishevelled, drunk, sad and weepy.
"Winky is a bad elf," the little female elf sobbed. "Why does Dobby's Miss Grangy want to talk to a bad elf?"
"Because you are not a bad elf, Winky," explained Hermione. "Your old Master Crouch gave you orders you could not meet, even with your elf magic. He was the one at fault, and he blamed you for it. He was being very unfair. Even the other wizards there, told him so."
"Master still gave Winky clothes!" the elf sniffled. "Winky is not wanted by a family now."
"Rubbish!" Hermione shot back. "I have a family and I want you."
With a look for a hope, the little elf looked back at Hermione and plaintively asked, "Y-You do?"
Dobby was looking very excited. He said to her, "Miss Grangy is family with the Great Harry Potter Sir and Miss Daffy!"
Winky looked at Dobby with awe before looking at Harry, who smiled and nodded, and at Daphne, who also smiled back; before she once more turned her eyes to Hermione.
"You want Winky?" she asked again.
With a bit of frustrated sigh, Hermione said, "Yes. However, you have to accept the same pay as Dobby, accept the same conditions of employment, and no more drinking butterbeer."
"Winky can do that," replied the little elf, slowly nodding her head in wonder.
"Good," Hermione firmly stated. "Now, come and show me how you can bond with me."
A quick house elf bonding ceremony later, and Hermione owned her very own house elf.
Harry started giggling behind his hand, trying not to laugh.
As Dobby took Winky away, again, to explain the conditions of employment, and help her choose a uniform, Hermione scowled at Harry. "What?" she snapped.
"There goes Spew!" he laughed.
Hermione glared at him for a little while before she took on an aloof air and harrumphed at him, "Well, I know better now; don't I?"
Harry laughed while Daphne smiled. After a few seconds, Hermione decided he'd laughed enough and threw a wadded ball of parchment at him. "Hush, you!" she mock-growled.
He eventually calmed down and the three returned to their homework.
With plenty of time before the commencement of dinner, the three checked their rooms to make sure they had everything sufficiently packed for a quick move to a different apartment. Of course, the house elves would have taken care of everything, but Harry and Daphne were making that little bit of an effort for Hermione's peace of mind. Then headed down to the Great Hall.
As Ron and Ginny Weasley were still in the school and sitting at the Gryffindor table, the three bondmates went and sat at the Slytherin table as everyone began to settle down. Of course, the school gossip-vine had been in full swing all day. It was even more noticeable as the entire Ravenclaw table sat in sad silence, not even looking around.
As they were sitting down together, Tracey was sitting opposite with Horace and Blaise. She lean forward towards Daphne and asked, "Rumour has it something big is going to happen tonight. It has something to do with you three, doesn't it?"
"Yes," Daphne replied. "There're a couple of big things, actually. And I'm sorry I wasn't able to give you a heads-up about it before now."
Frowning and clearly a little worried, Tracey asked, "What's going on? The 'Claws look like all their Christmases have been cancelled."
"For a start, we're being re-sorted," Daphne replied, a little worried about her friend's reaction. "These two..." indicating Harry and Hermione, "... need to get out of the Lion's Den because of what happened with the two youngest Weasleys. And, because they're being re-sorted, so am I."
Tracey appeared to think about that for a little while as Blaise asked, "Any idea into which House you'll go? Or, is that what's got the 'Claws so down?"
"Ravenclaw, Mister Smarty Pants," Harry spoke up, grinning at Blaise. "We've decided to ask the Hat to place the three of us into Ravenclaw. And what has the 'Claws down, as you put it, has nothing to do with that. That's something else."
"We'll miss you in the Snake Pit," said Tracey, a little sadly to Daphne. "And, I'll miss our late night talks."
"You'll still be able to have them, occasionally," Harry said, trying to soothe her. "Hermione and I don't mind if you spend the occasional night in our apartment with us. I'm sure we can sort something out."
Tracey smirked at Harry and asked, "Trying to get me in bed with you, Mister Potter?"
Harry just gently laughed back and said, "Definitely not, Miss Davis. We'll be speaking with Professor Flitwick about a larger apartment."
"We're asking for one with four bedrooms," explained Daphne. "We're using the excuse that, because a three-way soul bond is such a big and unusual thing, we'd like our families to stay with us for the occasional night, here and there, so they can also become comfortable with our new relationship."
"Clever," said Horace.
They were interrupted from chatting further when the Headmaster stood up and moved to his lectern.
Though he had almost total silence descend on the hall during the time he stood and moved to the lectern, he still said, "Quiet down, please."
.
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