Dobby was fully dressed now in some of Hermione’s Dad’s clothes. They were a little oversized on him, but Dobby had begun sobbing when her Dad had handed them over, much to parent's discomfort. Hermione explained to her parents about the whole thing with elves and clothes and managed to calm Dobby down. By that time, her Dad had finished assembling the sandwiches with cold cuts.

Everyone received their sandwiches and sat down at the table to eat. Dobby looked quite confused as he took little nibbles of the sandwich while looking around as if unsure if he was doing something wrong. Seeing the rest of their big bites, he seemed to relax a little and scarfed it down. His stomach rumbled and Dad silently put another sandwich on the elf’s plate.

Dobby managed to finish three sandwiches by the time the rest of them were done. Hermione was surprised it wasn’t more considering the elf had almost doubled in height during his transformation.

Mom collected all the plates and put them in the sink. Dobby offered to help, but Mom refused firmly and the elf sat back down at her tone. Mom came back and sat down.

Dad sighed as he glanced between Hermione and Dobby. “Alright out with it. Tell us the whole story.”

Hermione explained the whole plan and what had happened. She took out the pepper spray and handed it back to her mom, who received it silently. After some hesitation Mom put it back in her purse without saying anything.

Dad was rubbing his temples. “Hermione Granger. Do you realize how crazy this sounds? You just admitted to ambushing a member of the wizarding government and pepper spraying him. What are we supposed to do if these wizarding police start asking us questions?”

“But… but… what was I supposed to do?” Hermione replied, “Ask him nicely? He’s a bigot slave owner! I should have pepper sprayed him more if anything after what they did to Dobby!”

Dad struggled for words before eventually groaning. Dobby sat silently, eyes darting between them.

Mom glanced over to him, “Denton Granger. Our daughter did a very good thing…”

She turned to her. “We are both very proud of you, Hermione. Even if we would have liked you to tell us, you did the right thing in freeing your friend Dobby here. Your father is just worried you didn’t fully think about the consequences. That’s what he’s trying to say. Right, Denton?”

Dad groaned again but replied, “Jean… Well, your mother’s right, Hermione. I’m not saying what you did was wrong. I’m sure Dobby is more than happy you saved him. But, I don’t want you to put yourself or us at risk without thinking through things. What if this man comes after you for this?”

Dobby spoke up and interrupted Hermione’s reply, “Dobby will protect you! Ms. Granger saved me, and the least I can do is to protect her and her family! Dobby can feel his magic is much more powerful than before. He can also make it so you can call for him at any time.”

Dobby held out his hand to Hermione.

“If Ms. Granger shakes my hand, then Dobby can make it so he hears it when she calls his name. And for her parents too if they want to. If they are ever in danger Dobby will come and defend them!”

Hermione eyed Dobby’s outstretched hand. “Dobby, this isn’t going to cause a tornado and destroy everything again, will it?”

Dobby retracted his hand for a second and tilted his head before shaking it and sticking his hand back out. “Dobby doesn’t think so. Dobby feels like it is a minor change.”

Hermione took his hand and after a few shooting pains, Dobby let go. “There, try it. Dobby feels that it has worked,” Dobby said.

“Dobby,” Hermione said. Her magic twinged slightly as she said it and Dobby’s face twitched a little.

“Good! It has worked. Now, for your parents, Ms. Granger.”

Dobby turned to her parents and stuck out his hand.

Dad stared down at the hand dubiously. “Is this safe for non wizards? We don’t have magic, you know…”

Dobby shook his head, “No need, no need. Dobby’s magic will take care of everything.”

Mom reached her hand forward, “Jean…” Dad warned, but Mom ignored him and took Dobby’s hand. They both tensed before Mom let go. She stared at her hand in confusion.

“Did it work?" She said, "Dobby? Oh my, that does feel different.”

Dobby twitched slightly, showing it had worked for Hermione’s parents as well. Dobby stuck his hand out to Dad next. He stared down at the hand and made no move to grab it.

“Denton, Just do it already!” Mom said, shaking Dad’s shoulder.

“Fine, fine. I guess you already leapt right into it…”

He grabbed Dobby’s hand and they both tensed and it was over.

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Dobby clapped his hands, “Great! Just call Dobby’s name and he will be there to protect you! He won’t let Lucius Malfoy touch a hair on your heads!”

Dad let out a sigh of relief. “Well, at least there’s that. Thank you for that Dobby. Sorry about before, I didn’t mean to say that she shouldn’t have freed you…”

Dobby vigorously shook his head. “No! Dobby agrees. Ms. Granger did the plan over Dobby’s protests as well. She is a very brave witch, maybe too brave. Dobby didn’t want to put her in any danger… but it worked and now Dobby is free. Dobby will do his best to make sure none of you get into trouble because of him.”

“So, what are your plans now, Dobby?” Dad said, “Now that you are free?”

Dobby put a hand to his chin. “Dobby is not sure… He no longer looks like a house elf, but he isn’t a wizard either…”

“Transfiguration accident!” Hermione blurted out and everyone blinked and stared at her.

“Er, I mean I read some history about some advanced transfiguration spells. Sometimes things go wrong and some of the animal parts stay on when they turn back into people. You can just say you had that happen to you. You look human enough that you could get away with using that to explain your non-human parts.”

Dobby touched his big bald fox ears. “Dobby isn’t sure… What about a wand? Every wizard has a wand…”

“Yeah, that’s a hard one. Could you just pretend?” Hermione said, “Make a fake one somehow?”

Dobby jolted up. “Ms. Granger is right! It could work, Dobby could pretend to be a wizard. He doesn’t need a real wand to do magic, he can just have it as a prop. Hmmm. But how will Dobby find one, Mundungus? No, Lucius said he would sell information. He will betray Dobby before he is ready. Hmmm…”

Dobby began muttering to himself for a long while as Hermione and her parents sat there watching him. Eventually Dobby seemed to come to a decision and stood up. He met each of their gazes one by one, lingering on meeting Hermione’s gaze for over twenty seconds. “Thank you Hermione for saving Dobby. If you need anything, just ask and Dobby will do his best to help you.”

He turned to her parents, “And thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Granger. You did not treat Dobby like he was lesser. The sandwiches were tasty too. I will go now. Remember just to call Dobby’s name if you are in danger or ever need anything. Goodbye for now!”

Dobby snapped his fingers and disappeared with a crack of displaced air. Off to build his new life. Hermione felt a warm feeling in her chest and after talking a bit with her parents practically skipped back to her room.

She thought her homework would be much easier now.

— — —

Albus tapped his fingers on his desk. Arthur Weasley had had an amazing stroke of luck in catching Lucius Malfoy directly in the act. A little of Albus’ pressure had caused the papers to lay into the man’s weakness, especially after the man walked free despite all the evidence to his guilt.

The only thing that bothered Albus about the situation was the anonymous tip. Arthur Weasley had handed him the note and despite Albus’ investigations it was like no magic was used on the thing at all. Had whoever was behind this slipped it onto the man’s kitchen table without using any magic at all to do so? The idea was ridiculous. It wasn’t delivered by owl either…

Albus knew he should celebrate his good fortune and let the matter go. But it set him ill at ease that there was an unknown player making moves without his knowledge. They were helpful in this case, but who knew what they might do in the future?

He shook his head and turned back to his letters. Best to make most of this opportunity now. This was Albus’ big chance to even the scales politically between him and Lucius Malfoy after the damage Albus’ reputation had taken during the disastrous last year. Harry Potter still remaining in his magical coma to this day was not helping matters in the least either.

Luckily there had only been a single assassination attempt on the boy in all this time. The dark faction had dealt with them and left their bodies strewn across Diagon Alley as a message before Albus could act himself. It seems some of the larger pureblood families still held out hope that the boy would be able to heal the lingering effects of the cruciatus curse after he recovered. And having made their stance clear, the rest of the vultures had slunk back into the shadows and there had been no attacks since.

Albus shook his head again. He had to focus on the current moment. He had a lot to do and a lot of favors to call in. Perhaps it would be enough to claw back some influence that he could use to do good and guide the wizarding world back onto the right path. Britain must be prepared for Voldemort’s eventual return.

— — —

Lucius crumpled the newspaper in his hand and flung it away. What was he paying those buffoons for? How dare they attack him after how many of their pockets he had lined! He had escaped the situation without being officially charged but the light faction was pouncing on Lucius’ weakness with wild abandon lamenting the corruption that he was allowed free despite the evidence against him.

Corruption? What about the Auror’s dismissive attitude towards his claims of being attacked? How was that not corrupt? How was it even possible that there weren’t any clues? Everyone left a magical signature when they cast magic, and there apparently was nothing at the scene. Lucius knew that someone had paid off the Aurors on scene to scrub any evidence before the investigators arrived. He had done the same many times.

He was dismissed as a madman, a liar flailing for a defense as he attempted to get down to the truth. The whole crowd in Knockturn Alley had stood there, watching and laughing at Lucius’ humiliation, and the Aurors couldn’t convince even one of them to talk? Ridiculous.

Lucius felt the flames of his anger flare hotter. “Dobby… Gah!”

Lucius flipped the table to the side at being reminded of what had been stolen from him. There was a large crash as the silverware went flying. Narcissa had been forced to set the table by herself. His wife was doing servants work!

He began stomping on the plates until they were tiny fragments of ceramic under his boots and his anger had cooled. He turned as there was a sound at the door. His son Draco was standing there looking at the scene with wide eyes.

“Off to your room Draco.” Lucius said in a husky voice, “Dinner is not for another fifteen minutes.”

Draco retreated, “Yes, Father,” He squeaked before running off.

Lucius snorted in derision. No matter how Lucius tried to toughen him up, the boy still remained a coward at heart.

Taking a deep breath and running his hand through his hair, Lucius took out his wand and began cleaning up the mess, resetting the table with his spells. It wouldn’t do to ruin Narcissa’s hard work.

After he was done he sat back in his chair at the head of the table. If the ministry wouldn’t find the culprit, then he would. He still kept in touch with a few of the nastier contacts he had made during his time as a death eater. They would find his attacker and make them understand why no one attacked Lucius Malfoy and got away with it.