FINITE | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire [4]

𝘅𝘅𝘅𝘃𝗶 | 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗹𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁

'Harry!' Hermione panted as she skidded to a halt before them. 'Harry-- come quick-- the most amazing thing's happened--'

  She seized Harry's arm and began to drag him back down the corridor.

  'Hermione?' Gwen said, but Hermione wasn't listening, she was so busy trying to pull Harry away, that Gwen and Ron barely had a chance to share a surprised look before they hurried after them.

  'Oh, don't mind me!' the Fat Lady called after them. 'Don't apologise for bothering me! I'll just hang here, wide open, until you get back, shall I?'

  'Yeah, thanks!' Ron shouted over his shoulder.

  'Hermione, where are we going?' Harry kept asking, but Hermione wouldn't answer his questions. She led them down through the entrance hall and down a staircase which Gwen had seen the Hufflepuffs go down countless times before. Gwen herself had never been down there. Hermione directed them down a flight of stone steps and into a long corridor, brightly lit with torches and decorated with cheerful paintings that were mostly of food.

  'Oh, hang on...' Harry said slowly as they got halfway down the corridor. He nudged Gwen and Ron, pointing to a painting just behind Hermione that depicted a gigantic silver fruit bowl.

  'Oh, Hermione, really?' Gwen said. 'I'm not barging in there and trying to raise a rebellion from the house elves.'

  'You're trying to rope us into that spew stuff again!' said Ron, catching on.

  'No, no, I'm not!' she said hastily. 'It's not spew, Ron--'

  'Changed the name?' Ron countered. 'What is it now, the House Elf Liberation Front? I'm not going in there and trying to get them wages and--'

  'I'm not asking you to!' Hermione said impatiently. 'I came down here just now, to talk to them all, and I found-- oh, come on, Harry, I wanted to show you!'

  She spun round and stretched out her forefinger, raised it to the fruit bowl painting and tickled the huge green pear. It began to squirm, chuckling, and suddenly turned into a large green door handle. Hermione seized it, pulled the door open, and pushed Harry inside.

  As Gwen entered, she thought she had entered the Great Hall. It was exactly the same, except for the glittering brass pots and pans heaped around the stone walls, and a great brick fireplace stood behind where the teachers' table would be. It would have taken her by more surprise, had a squealing, excited house elf not run directly into Harry, tackling him in a bone breaking hug.

  'D-Dobby?' Harry gasped.

  'It is Dobby, sir, it is!' squealed the elf. 'Dobby has been hoping and hoping to see Harry Potter, sir, and Harry Potter has come to see him, sir!'

  Gwen thought she might cry of happiness at the elation on the elf's face as he stepped back, beaming up at Harry with his enormous green eyes. Then, Gwen was overtaken by surprise at the strange assortment of clothes that Dobby was wearing; he was wearing a tea cosy for a hat, on which he had pinned a number of bright badges, a tie patterned with horseshoes over a bare chest, a pair of Muggle football shorts and odd socks, one black and one bright pink with orange spots.