"Harry, happy Easter," Sean said.
He handed over something that looked like a mirror. Harry took it carefully.
"What is this?" he asked.
"A magic hand mirror. You can treat it like a telephone," Sean said slowly. He lifted his head and glanced ahead; Harry suddenly realized Lucius was already getting far away.
"Thanks, Sean. I'll get you something back," Harry said, memorizing Sean's words, then bolting forward.
He gripped the diary and heard Dobby's pained cries echo around the corner, fading into the distance.
Half doubting whether his plan would work, he yanked off one shoe as he ran, peeled off a sticky, foul sock, and stuffed the diary inside it.
Then he sprinted down the dark corridor.
Just as the two of them were about to go down the stairs, he caught up.
"Mr. Malfoy," he panted, stumbling to a stop, "I've got something for you."
He shoved the stinking sock into Lucius Malfoy's hand.
"What is—" Malfoy began, ripping the sock off the diary and flinging it aside. He glared at the ruined diary, then at Harry.
"Harry Potter, one day you'll meet the same end as your parents," he said softly. "They were meddling fools."
Harry didn't respond—his mind flashed to another meddling wizard.
Quiet. Reserved. The one who'd resolved every danger Hogwarts had faced.
Lucius turned to leave.
"Come on, Dobby. Did you hear me—move!"
But Dobby didn't budge. He held up Harry's grimy sock, staring at it as if it were priceless.
"Master has given Dobby a sock," the house-elf said in astonishment. "Master has given Dobby a sock."
"What?" Malfoy snapped. "What did you say?"
"Dobby has a sock," Dobby said, still unable to believe it. "Master threw it, and Dobby caught it, and Dobby—Dobby is free."
Lucius Malfoy stood frozen, staring at the house-elf. Then he lunged at Harry.
"You've cost me my servant, boy!"
With a loud bang, Malfoy was flung backward.
He stumbled, tumbling down the stairs, and collapsed in a heap on the landing below.
He fought his way to his feet, face livid, yanking out his wand—but Dobby raised one long, threatening finger.
"You may go," Dobby hissed down at Lucius. "And you will never lay a hand on Harry Potter again. You may go now."
Lucius Malfoy had no choice.
He shot them one last furious look, wrapped his cloak around himself, and stormed off.
"Harry Potter has freed Dobby!" the elf shrieked, tilting his head up at Harry as moonlight poured in from the nearest window and lit his bulging eyes. "Harry Potter has given Dobby freedom!"
"I didn't really do much, Dobby—most of this was Sean's doing," Harry grinned. "But you have to promise me: stop trying to 'protect' me."
Dobby's ugly reddish-brown face split into a radiant smile, teeth showing.
He threw his arms around Harry's waist and hugged him tightly for a moment.
"Harry Potter is even greater than Dobby knew!" he sobbed. "Goodbye, Harry Potter!"
He made one last loud choking sound—and vanished.
Harry stared at the spot where he'd disappeared, thinking that house-elf magic seemed even stronger than wizard magic.
They came and went at Hogwarts like shadows, as if anti–Apparition wards didn't apply to them at all.
He turned toward the corner. Sean was already there, directing books to fly out with a flick of his finger.
Is Sean a house-elf too? Harry thought wildly.
"No—wait… Sean?!" he blurted.
Sean had already gotten what he wanted: Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy. With another gesture, he sent the book into the Wizard's Book—vanishing from Harry's sight.
"Harry?" Sean asked softly.
"Wh-what—where's your wand?" Harry's mind had turned to mush.
"A wizard's magic doesn't come from a wand, Harry," Sean said—and walked away.
To most wizards, house-elf magic seems stronger than the magic of many witches and wizards.
They don't need wands, and they can move freely even inside Hogwarts.
But in Sean's eyes, that was a misconception.
House-elves aren't "stronger." It's simply that wandless magic is inherently more destructive—and far easier to lose control of.
Still, one thing was true: house-elves, and even goblin-kind, could come and go in Hogwarts—or even in Voldemort's cave—without trouble.
Voldemort looked down on their magic. Hogwarts, on the other hand, allowed it for one simple reason:
Convenience.
House-elves handle all of the school's food. They help haul students' luggage off the train. They clean rooms.
Without Apparition, all of that would be horribly inconvenient.
When Hufflepuff found house-elves a place to live and let them do the castle's work, Ravenclaw left Hogwarts a "loophole."
And even after more than a thousand years, no reckless wizard had ever exploited it.
More importantly, Sean also knew that this "loophole" could be sealed.
Mr. Owl could do it.
But after centuries of observation, Mr. Owl proudly believed Hogwarts should have house-elves that could come and go as they pleased.
"Will," Sean called.
"Yes, honored Mr. Green," Will answered, emerging from the darkness.
"Did you find it?" Sean asked.
"I did not fail you, sir," Will said, chest puffed out. He lifted his short arm, and a coffin-shaped box appeared.
It looked enormous—deep black beneath the night light.
Inside lay a wizard remembered only by a house-elf.
When he chose to resist, he hadn't had a single real ally at his side.
Regulus Black.
A wizard who existed almost only in Kreacher's memories—in a final letter, scattered fragments of rumor, and a photograph forever frozen in the Black family home.
"You did well, Will," Sean said quietly.
"For your will, I'd spill my brains and blood!" Will declared.
~~~
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