When we appeared in my living room, Harry and Hermione seemed a little surprised, and I could tell they were very curious about house-elves. As they looked around the house, I said to Grey,
"Please, Grey, go and take care of the elf I mentioned earlier. Try to calm her down first, as she's going to be very upset. If you think it's not appropriate for me to see her right now, offer her a place to stay. When she's feeling better, tell her I want to see her and talk to her. I'd like to know what happened, and if she's willing, I can arrange for her to return to serve a family."
Then I said to Rose,
"Rose, please prepare some rooms for my guests. Run the bathrooms, as I'd like to have a relaxing bath right now." Then
I turned to Harry and Hermione and asked,
"Are you hungry? Would you like to eat something, or would you prefer to sleep?
" "I think I could eat something."
"Yes... I don't think I can sleep right now after what happened."
"Very well, Rose, make sure something light is prepared. We'll be eating in the small dining room. Also, please make sure my guests' clothes are washed and dried while they're bathing... I'm sorry, Harry, you'll have to wait for your clothes to dry since I don't have any men's clothes I can lend you, but don't worry, you'll be provided with a dressing gown for the time being. And Hermione, I hope you don't mind wearing my clothes for a while."
They both told me they had no problem with the arrangements, and I noticed Harry's ears turning red. I showed them around the house while we waited for the baths to be ready. After the three of us had bathed, we went down to the dining room. Harry looked a little nervous just being in his bathrobe, and I couldn't help but make him blush, which made Hermione giggle at our interactions.
After dinner I finished giving them the tour of the house and while we were doing that the conversation came up about house-elves. It all started when they asked me about the way they were dressed and their behavior, which led me to explain to them about the magical bonds that elves need to continue living and how being freed affected them, and that if an elf was freed and did not find someone with whom to form a new bond, it could die after a few years.
This made Harry worry about Dobby, and he told me how the elf was acting, what he had done for him, and that the elf wanted to be free and seemed to be doing well, just like when he was still bonded with the Malfoy family. I explained to Harry that, based on his description of Dobby's behavior, it was likely that his previous bond wasn't very stable. I explained that this happened when the people with whom elves initially bonded had a deficient power or had more than one active bond at a time, which made the last bonds formed unstable, thus affecting the elf's mental health. I told them how my family had developed a different way of bonding where, no matter how many elves joined us, their health wouldn't be affected even if there were no more members of my family alive to maintain the bond, and that the bond would remain active until they decided to join others.
That led me to tell them about the Hogwarts house-elves and how many there were. As Harry began to worry about Dobby's health, I told him I could offer the elf the chance to bond with him, but that he had to think it through carefully, since once the bond was formed, the elf would be part of his family and would be capable of doing anything for Harry, even risking his life.
To try and lighten the mood, which had become a bit serious, I told them about the first time I had met the house-elves and how difficult it was to convince them to wear uniforms instead of the pillowcases they had worn before. I also told them about some of the things I had done when I was younger and how I always ended up being caught by my mother and punished in what I called the Dragon's Cave.
We laughed at some of my anecdotes, and they also told me about their adventures at Hogwarts over the last three years. Although I knew about it from the movies, it was much more interesting to hear it from them.
When Harry told me about the basilisk, I mentioned that he hadn't thought about selling the basilisk's body materials and that he could even make a protective suit from its skin. Harry said he didn't know how he could get the basilisk's body out or even process its materials, so I told him about my storage bracelet, which he could use to retrieve it if he wanted. As for the basilisk, I told him that the goblins could take care of that and even help him sell it, guaranteeing him a good profit. He just needed to talk to the goblin in charge of his family account.
Seeing that he seemed confused, I explained that there's always a goblin in charge of the vaults of families who opened one at the bank, and that to find out who that goblin was, he had to take a lineage test and request a meeting with the goblin in charge of his family's vault. I told him that this was how I was able to recover my family's belongings, and I even mentioned that there was a house on an island near Bermuda and that if they were interested, I could invite them for the next summer vacation.
The following day, after breakfast, Grey told me that Winky was calmer and willing to talk to me, so I asked him to take her to the living room.
Both Harry and Hermione were curious about what had happened to Winky, so I told them they could come with me to talk to her if they wanted. When we entered the living room, Winky was already there next to Grey, looking nervous.
Winky overheard the witch saying she wanted to speak with her and that Winky might meet a family willing to take in a fallen elf.
The three of us sat down across from Winky, and I answered her question.
"Hello, Winky," I said, "before I tell you about that family, I'd like to know what happened last night. Why were you found with that wand?"
Winky began to tell us that she had gone to look after a place for her former master and that when the incident occurred, she had been searching for him, but someone hit her and knocked her unconscious. When she woke up, she had the wand in her hand and was surrounded by Auror wizards. Then her master gave her an article of clothing to free her.
Winky was very nervous and anxious as she told us what had happened, and when she finished, she asked me...
"Winky has already told the young witches and wizards. Now you can tell Winky which family is willing to take in a fallen elf."
"Before I tell you about that family, I'd like to ask about your preferences. Would you be happy with a solitary wizard, or would you prefer someone with more family members?"
"Winky would prefer a family with several members, but if they're willing to take Winky in, he wouldn't mind if he's a solitary wizard."
"Would you mind if the wizard's family were Muggles, or would you prefer a pure-blood family?"
"Winky doesn't care about the family's blood status.
Yesterday, I noticed that both Harry and Hermione were interested in elves when I explained about them, so I turned to Hermione and whispered in her ear, asking if she was interested in forming a bond with Winky. Hermione seemed surprised by my question, and after thinking about it, she nodded, stood up, and said..."
"Hi Winky, I'm Hermione Granger. I'm a Muggle-born witch. There are three of us in my family. If you're willing, I'd like to form a bond between us. If you're okay with that, I have one condition."
Winky nodded at Hermione's words and seemed willing to bond with her, but when she heard there was a condition, she became nervous again and asked what it was. When Hermione told her she had to wear nicer clothes, she glanced at Grey and saw how he was dressed. Her eyes widened in understanding, and she accepted Hermione's condition. Then they formed the bond. Since I wasn't sure how to do it, Grey guided Hermione every step of the way until the bond was successfully formed.
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