Chapter 434
Old Clothes and New Clothes
Chapter 434 Old Clothes and New Clothes
Dobby breathed a sigh of relief after successfully entering the Gray's house. At the same time, he felt Kreacher's burning gaze from behind him, and his scalp tingled.
- Kreacher must be thinking that house elves shouldn't behave like humans. But he is not a servant now, he is a free Dobby.
Dobby told himself this in his heart, calmed down a little, and looked up to ask:
"Mr. Gray, have you seen any strange people recently? Those guys may have threatened Mr. Wade to cooperate by kidnapping you... Please recall carefully, which will be very helpful for us to find Mr. Wade's whereabouts."
Duobi thought about these words for a long time and revised them repeatedly before deciding on the wording. Now he blurted them out in one go, his heart pounding with nervousness.
Friends... and friends' parents...
It was the first time that he was treated as a "friend" by a wizard's family! Every second was of epoch-making significance to Dobby.
The nervous house-elf didn't notice that after he finished speaking, Ferdinand, who was pouring tea, trembled and spilled the scalding tea.
Dobby, who had been wandering, didn't know that the wizards had actually concealed the news of their son's disappearance from the Grey couple. They only sent a letter in the name of Wade, saying that he had accepted a friend's invitation and would stay at a classmate's house during the holiday.
Because this kind of thing happened frequently before, the Grays did not suspect anything at first. It was not until Ferdinand discovered that Wade did not return home on Christmas Eve and had not contacted them during this period that they vaguely guessed the truth.
He tried to talk to Dumbledore or Moody who lived next door, but he couldn't contact the headmaster or professors of Hogwarts. Moody just told them not to go out recently, especially not to go to Diagon Alley.
The wizard with the magic eye came and went in a hurry and had a bad temper. Ferdinand never found a chance to sit down and talk with him.
In fact, Moody lived next door during this period to secretly protect the Grays, but he pretended that he was not at home. Even though he knew that Ferdinand had been looking for him, he always avoided him.
Because Moody didn't think Muggles could help, and he had no intention of discussing Wade's rescue plan with the Greys.
Although the two families had a good relationship, Moody was overwhelmed when he thought about the tears and questions he might face after telling the truth. He was not good at comforting people, nor could he lie and say, "It's okay, we will definitely bring Wade back safely."
The retired Auror was actually very pessimistic.
He knew how difficult it was to deal with the wizarding party led by Grindelwald, and did not think that they could successfully bring Wade Grey back intact. He was even mentally prepared to use the Forgetfulness Spell to completely keep the Greys away from the wizarding world.
After Sirius sent Kreacher to protect him, Moody chose to spend more time on the Order of the Phoenix's operations. Although he had no hope, he still participated in the rescue plan with all his heart.
It was also because the suspicious Moody was not at home that Dobby was not driven away as soon as he showed up.
Dobby, who came in dazed, was the only contact that Ferdinand had with the magical world during this period.
He took a deep breath, wiped the water stains on the kitchen counter, and used this time to calm himself down.
Ferdinand placed the tea on the table in front of Dobby and watched the elf take it with trepidation, looking as if he was about to faint with excitement. He recalled the various characteristics of house-elves in his mind and considered what he was going to say.
"How is Vader doing? As a parent, I'm really worried after not seeing him for so long. Can you tell me about the progress of your rescue?"
Ferdinand asked instead of answering, looking at Dobby earnestly.
Dobby panicked for a moment, because his investigation during this period had made no progress at all. The biggest gain he had made was what the Hogwarts house-elf overheard and what Michael analyzed with him.
The house-elf, who had not learned how to lie, blurted out all the information he had under Ferdinand's guidance.
"I see... Grindelwald... and the Witch Party... Vader is in their hands, but no one knows the whereabouts of those people..."
Ferdinand clenched his hands tightly, trying to suppress the unconscious trembling of his body. After a while, he said, "Recently, I can see videos related to them on the streaming mirror every day. So, those attacks are happening? Are the contents of the videos real?"
"Yes." Dobby nodded honestly.
In an instant, Ferdinand's hands and feet became cold and his whole body was trembling.
Dobby looked at him uneasily, wondering if he had said too much.
Ferdinand slowly stood up, holding onto the table, and said, "Please follow me, Mr. Dobie."
Dobby quickly stood up and said at the same time: "Dobby! Please... just call me Dobby!"
He followed Ferdinand into the study quietly, watched the man pull up a huge curtain, and then opened his eyes wide in surprise.
The originally entire white wall was now covered with newspaper clippings and photos, with various crisscrossing lines and circles drawn in red and green strokes, like a huge traffic route map, which was dazzling at first glance.
Ferdinand said calmly, "I saw that some dark wizards have been attacking Muggle dignitaries frequently recently, exposing those dignitaries' involvement in illegal activities such as human trafficking and human experiments. So I paid someone to collect newspapers from European and American countries in recent years and made a detailed data analysis."
Dobby didn't understand. He looked at Ferdinand blankly, wondering if he could ask him to explain it in more detail.
Ferdinand could easily see what he was thinking from those unusually large green eyes.
The man smiled helplessly and said, "To put it simply, it is to collect information about those dignitaries who have been exposed, see what banquets and business activities they have attended, what public statements they have made, and find out the commonalities and the past interactions of these people."
Dobby still didn't quite understand, but he nodded seriously and decided to write it all down.
It’s okay if he doesn’t understand, but he can go find other smart people to help explain it... like Michael.
Ferdinand looked up at the colorful clippings on the wall, and picked out the one with the highest probability from the numerous complicated pieces of information.
He picked up a pen and circled a person in one of the color photos.
"The famous billionaire, John Adler, has connections with most of the people approached by the dark wizards, and there were rumors in the early years that he was involved in some..."
Ferdinand turned around and saw Dobby's childlike eyes, so he mumbled the rest of his words.
"…some unspeakable transactions. So this person is very likely to be involved in those illegal activities and become the target of the witch party. By keeping an eye on him, it is possible to discover the whereabouts of those dark wizards."
Dobby nodded seriously and asked quietly, "Can I have this photo?"
"Of course." Ferdinand pulled out another folder from the bookshelf and said, "This contains all the information about John Adler. Take it. Maybe you can use it."
Dobby nodded seriously, put the photo into the folder, and hugged the document that took so much effort. "Ferdie? Who are you talking to?"
Fiona rubbed her eyes and opened the door of the study. She saw Dobby standing in the middle of the room. Ferdinand's expression changed and he hurriedly came forward. Just as he was about to explain, he heard a scream.
"what--"
Fiona screamed, but it was not out of fear, but full of surprise.
"Elf!" she cried.
"Yes." Dobby took off his hat and saluted: "House-elf Dobby greets you, Lady Grey."
"Wow! He's so polite!" Fiona said in surprise, holding her face. Then she noticed Dobby's tattered clothes and said hurriedly, "Wait a minute, Dobby!"
The hostess ran away along the stairs. Ferdinand calmed his pounding heart, lowered the curtain, and told Dobby, "Don't tell her about Wade. Fiona knows nothing."
"Understood, sir!" Infected by his concern, Dobby also said in a low voice.
Not long after the two left the study, Fiona appeared again with a bag in her hand. She handed it to Dobby enthusiastically and said:
"It's cold to wear this in winter, right? This is the clothes that Wade wore when he was a child. He only wore it once or twice. I just took a look and it should be about the same size as your current size. Go and try it on."
Dobby held the bag and said helplessly: "I... Your Excellency's Madam... I'm not cold..."
"Okay, okay, I understand!" Fiona sat on the sofa, resting her chin on her hand, and said with a smile: "Go change!"
"Obeying orders" is almost engraved in the genes of house-elfs. Even though the person in front of him was not his master, Dobby subconsciously prepared to pull off the rags on his body.
"Ahem!" Ferdinand suddenly coughed loudly twice, then looked at Dobby seriously, stretched out his hand and gestured, "The changing room is over there."
"Oh well……"
Dobby carried the bag into the dressing room, and after closing the door, he looked at the light above his head and thought, "What am I doing? Why did I come in?"
But now that things had come to this, there was no way he could just drop the bag and run out, so he hesitated for a while and finally changed into Wade's old clothes.
This was a little boy's winter outfit, and Fiona had carefully stuffed a pair of socks and shoes into it.
The clothes were a little too big for Dobby, so he rolled up his sleeves twice and looked at the strange house-elf in the mirror. Dobby tried very hard to resist the urge to throw himself on the ground and burst into tears.
He didn't expect that his wish to wear decent clothes would be fulfilled so soon.
Dobby walked out of the dressing room with tears in his eyes. Fiona clapped her hands and said happily, "See, I knew this dress was cute, but you're too thin. You need to gain some weight to look good."
Dobby lowered his head and sniffed, then said in a hoarse voice, "Thank you, Mrs. Grey... I never expected to receive such nice clothes."
"It's just an old set of clothes, you're so polite!" Fiona said with a smile.
Before leaving, Ferdinand looked at Dobby and said in a deep voice: "That matter...I'll leave it to you, Dobby."
Dobby nodded seriously and said, "Dobby understands!"
He raised his hand and snapped his fingers, then disappeared from the spot with a "pop".
Ferdinand wiped his face, looked at his wife, and smiled, "Dobby is Wade's friend. He sent us a message on behalf of Wade... Wade... will not be back before school starts. He will leave directly from the Black family tomorrow."
Fiona sighed: "What a worrying child... I hope he can take care of himself."
"Don't worry." Ferdinand put his arm around her shoulders and said, "Weid has always been very sensible. He knows that you are so worried about him, and he will definitely... definitely not do anything rash."
Fiona lowered her head and leaned on her husband's shoulder. After a long while, she said "hmm" softly.
……
"John Adler?"
A rhetorical question came from the mirror, and the large ring-shaped lens only reflected a deep blue eye.
This ancient two-way mirror is not as convenient as the communication pea, and is much more expensive than the communication pea and the friend book, but it has one advantage - even if the mirror is broken, each fragment can still connect to the other side of the two-way mirror.
The werewolf Donovan looked directly into the eyes in the mirror and whispered, "Yes... This is John Adler's estate, and we are all called together. The higher-ups seem to be certain that the Witch Party will attack this place, and they have prepared a dragnet to deal with them."
Donovan was a Muggle who was intentionally bitten by a werewolf. During his first transformation, he lost his mind and unconsciously killed his parents.
Later, when he was being chased by the police, he had to join the organization in order to save his life. He originally thought that it was just a big family of werewolves who huddled together for warmth, but later he found out that his tragedy was caused by this organization, and they were even creating more children like him.
Donovan lived in a daze until he was in his thirties. He hated the organization with a vengeance but did not have the courage to resist.
It was not until he was caught by Wade during an operation and handed over to Dumbledore that he saw the hope of destroying the organization and even offered to be Dumbledore's spy.
But at that time, Donovan had already been identified as a traitor by the organization, and he would undoubtedly be executed if he went back directly.
So he was temporarily imprisoned, and later "accidentally" rescued a vampire named Granwhite who was captured by Dumbledore. The two testified against each other, and after a careful investigation, he was able to return to the organization.
Even so, Donovan found that he was not truly trusted. Important tasks were no longer assigned to him. The so-called companions were always testing him openly or covertly. The organization also sent precious wizards to check him several times with some weird spells.
Donovan accepted all the scrutiny with an open mind, because he was not controlled by any magic, the betrayal was his own decision, and this idea was hidden in the deepest part of his memory by Dumbledore, and the wizards of the organization were not able to dig it out.
Moreover, Donovan and Dumbledore had already agreed that he was not needed to deliver fragmentary information at ordinary times, and he would only be used at extremely critical moments.
Donovan felt that the time had come.
(End of this chapter)