Harry Potter and the Candy Factory

When the revelry ends, only the loneliness after the noise remains. In the blink of an eye, the guests who were happily gathered together had already left.

Even the always energetic little elves, after a series of foolish games, finally felt tired. So, after saying goodbye to Charlie, they contentedly teleported back to their rooms in twos and threes.

Charlie casually grabbed a bag of gingerbread from Aberforth and took it back to his office.

Once the office was closed again, he finally dropped the perfect facade he had maintained for so long, lazily unbuttoned his collar, smoothed back his falling hair, and finally slumped into his seat with practiced ease. He crossed his legs and ate the already cold gingerbread in his hand without any regard for his image.

He glanced at the clock on his wall, the hands of which were conspicuously pointing to half-past twelve, signifying that Christmas was completely over and a new day had begun.

After staring at it for a moment, he listlessly withdrew his gaze and continued to savor the taste released when the gingerbread was crushed in his mouth, while suppressing his fatigue and sleepiness, patiently waiting for Lucius's "Christmas gift" to arrive.

Time passed bit by bit. In the blink of an eye, the minute hand on the clock face had moved more than halfway around, and Charlie had already finished all the gingerbread in his hand.

Just as Charlie sat up again from his seat, frowning and looking towards the door, wondering if Lucius Malfoy was playing an April Fool's joke on him, a familiar knock on the door made him perk up again.

"Russell—what's the matter so late?"

Charlie raised his eyebrows slightly, and as he spoke, he skillfully buttoned up his collar, sat upright in his seat again, and resumed his usual public demeanor.

"Good evening, Master Charlie."

Russell's voice sounded from outside the door.

"I just received a report from the security guard on duty tonight that they caught a very strange house-elf who was lurking outside the factory gate. Suspecting there was a problem, they caught him."

"A very strange house-elf???"

As soon as he said this, Charlie was stunned for a moment, and then quickly came back to his senses and hurriedly asked, "What's so strange about him?"

"Um… Actually, Russell just got the news and hasn't had time to see it yet. He just heard the security guard who caught him say…"

Outside the door, even Russell seemed to be encountering such a thing for the first time, and was momentarily at a loss for words. After scratching his head and trying to organize his words, he barely managed to say:

"That little elf is wearing a wizard's cloak, but under the cloak, he's wearing a pillowcase. He's also carrying a big, broken box, and he's all dirty. After being caught, he doesn't say anything, he just keeps shouting… shouting that Dobby is a free elf now! Dobby wants Mr. Black, hurry up and bring Dobby Mr. Black…' things like that, and his attitude is extremely bad. After being restrained and brought into the factory, he's even as slippery as an eel, and he's tried to escape from the security guard's hands several times."

Speaking of this, Russell pinched the bridge of his nose rather helplessly. After a second of pause, he continued:

"If it weren't for the special restrictions in the factory against elf teleportation, I'm afraid he really would have run away."

"… … … …" After patiently listening to Russell's words, Charlie's expression couldn't help but become strange.

He pursed his lips and felt a burst of inexplicable feeling. Helpless, after shaking his head, Charlie still stood up from his seat and waved his hand to make the coat that was originally hanging on the hanger float into the air and fly back onto his body.

"Okay… okay… let's go take a look, what exactly is going on with this strange little elf."

With a bit of teasing humor, Charlie was no longer sleepy at this time. After lazily stretching, he opened the door of the office and walked unhurriedly with Russell towards the place where Dobby was being held.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

"Let go of Dobby!!

Dobby is a free elf!!"

In the security department, even though his body was firmly bound, Dobby was still shouting loudly with all his might, and from time to time he even had the strength to squirm a few times, trying to break free from the shackles of the ropes.

Perhaps because they had never encountered such a thing before, or perhaps Dobby's voice was really too loud, all the elves responsible for security woke up for a while.

Even Dulu, as the supervisor, who was nearly two hundred years old, supported himself with a cane and sat down in his seat, drooping his eyelids, looking at the scrawny little elf who was yelling in front of him without any joy or sorrow, waiting for Mr. Charlie Black's arrival.

"Could this be a conspiracy of those pure-blood nobles??"

"Does this guy bite?"

"Poor thing, it's obvious that those hateful nobles have tortured his brain…"

… … … … … …

Just as a group of elves were talking to each other, as if they were sizing up some new species, the door of the security department opened, and then Charlie and Russell walked in.

Seeing Charlie, Dobby's voice, which was still yelling, suddenly stopped, and his eyes lit up. He instantly seemed to have found a backer and eagerly called out:

"Mr. Charlie! Mr. Charlie! It's me, Dobby! Dobby once saw you in the Malfoy's mansion, do you remember?"

Looking at Dobby in front of him, who was almost tied up, but still very energetic, Charlie couldn't help but support his forehead and nodded with a wry smile:

"Yes, I remember you, Dobby. At that time, you were hiding in the closet. I think this should be the first time we two have met, right?"

"Yes, yes! Just as Mr. Charlie said!" Dobby was even happier listening to Charlie's words, nodding repeatedly, almost shaking his head out of the phantom.

"So, what exactly is going on? I heard my subordinates report to me that you were lurking suspiciously outside the factory gate, and you didn't answer anything when asked?"

Dobby's body, which was originally struggling hard, stopped. After thinking for a moment, a trace of embarrassment appeared on his face.

… … … … … …

It turned out that because he didn't know that Charlie's candy factory had special restrictions against elves, Dobby, who was carrying Lucius's gift, didn't take the fireplace route, but instead planned to teleport directly into the factory.

The ending was naturally predictable. He was forcibly stopped outside the factory gate. It also happened that the elves were all reveling, and even the elves on duty were not there. Helpless, he had to wander around the door like a headless fly until the returning security guard discovered him, and only then did he successfully enter the factory.

As for why he didn't answer the questions, it was purely because he had firmly remembered Lucius's instructions to him when he left, to say "Dobby is a free elf" several times…

Read \\Harry Potter: Charlie's Candy Factory\\ and remember the domain name \\ \\.