Chapter 448
Gift
Chapter 448 Gift
In order to settle Mabel, Wade returned home much later than expected. When he opened the door, he saw the Grays in pajamas, sitting on the sofa in the living room waiting for him.
Hearing the sound of the door, they both turned around and saw him come in, both smiled with relief.
"Dad, Mom, I'm back."
Wade walked forward and hugged each of them one by one.
"Yeah." Ferdinand patted his son's shoulder, as if he had never worried about it, and said calmly: "I'm glad you're back."
Fiona yawned, rubbed her eyes and said, "There's hot water in the bathtub. Take a bath and go to bed. Don't read any more books tonight. You should have a good rest!"
"Okay, you guys should go to bed early too." Wade said with a smile.
……
After washing up, Wade poured himself a glass of water and walked towards the bedroom while drinking it. When he held the door handle, his movements paused slightly.
There seems to be someone in the room...
It was a very subtle feeling, as if the magic was telling him that there was other people's magic across the door.
Wardrobe space and other important alchemical items were placed in the bedroom, but even when Vader took a bath at home, he kept his wand with him.
He gently placed the cup of water on the ground, held the wand in one hand and pressed the door handle with the other hand. He pushed the door open with a little force and quickly hid behind the wall on one side.
"squeak--"
The door slid open gently, and an unexpected guest stood in the middle of the room, his tennis ball-sized eyes gleaming with anticipation, his ears trembling slightly, and his fingers nervously pinching the corner of his clothes.
"More than?"
Wade was stunned for a moment, then he put down his wand and said with a smile: "I've heard from my parents. I heard that you were also helping to find me before - thank you, Dobby. Don't stand, please sit down."
"Mr. Grey..." Dobby did not sit down. The elf looked up at him and said with a trembling voice: "Dobby... Dobby wants to ask you a favor."
"What's the matter?" Wade half-knelt down, looked at him and said, "You are my friend, just tell me what's going on."
Dobby took a deep breath and mustered up the courage to say, "Mr. Grey, can you hire Dobby? Dobby can do a lot of things... Dobby can bake bread, clean, and tidy up the garden. Dobby can also raise peacocks..."
Vader was stunned for a moment, then smiled warmly.
"Of course I welcome you to be a member of our family, Dobby. But I should be in school all the time, and you need to stay with my parents. Is that acceptable to you?"
"Of course, Dobby likes Mr. and Mrs. Grey very much..."
Dobby's face first lit up brightly, then he hesitated and grabbed his clothes, and asked nervously: "But Dobby is a house-elf exiled by his master, sir... sir, will you mind?"
"I like your soul that yearns for freedom, because I am the same." Wade said seriously: "But I also have a few requests, I hope you can agree to them."
Dobby swallowed and said nervously, "Okay...Okay. Dobby will definitely agree...What is the request?"
"First of all," Wade raised a finger and said, "if you accidentally make a mistake - such as burning the rice, don't punish yourself! The most important thing when a mistake occurs is to correct it, not to bang your head against the wall - can you do that?"
Dobby's big eyes were instantly filled with tears. He looked at Wade's serious expression, wondering what he felt. After a long silence, he nodded vigorously: "Yeah!"
"Very good." Wade continued, "Second, since you are an elf I hired, your respect is my respect, and your dignity is my dignity. The Gray family will continue to reserve the right to give you clothes. This is neither humiliation nor exile, but care and respect between family members. Can you accept it?"
Dobby stood there in a daze, staring at Vader without blinking, biting his lip, and nodded slowly.
"Then third," Vader said with a smile: "Dobby, my friend, even if you accept employment, your body and soul are still free."
"If you think someone in your family has made a wrong decision or made you feel uncomfortable, you can express your opinion. If one day you want to leave, you can leave, but you must say goodbye properly, okay?"
Dobby shook his head vigorously and cried softly, "Dobby won't leave! Dobby loves Weed Grey and the Grey family! Dobby won't just abandon his family and leave!"
"Well, welcome to our family, Dobby."
Vader held out his hand, and Dobby looked at his hand with tears in his eyes, then slowly took it.
The moment his hands folded, the house-elf could no longer hold back and finally burst into tears.
The moment he opened his mouth, Wade quickly cast a hushing spell on the door to prevent his parents downstairs from being woken up.
"sorry sir."
Dobby sobbed and said, "Never... never has anyone treated a house-elf like this... he doesn't have to punish himself, and he can still... wear clothes... and no one wants Dobby because he was expelled... Dobby, Dobby didn't mean to cry... Dobby is too happy..."
Wade touched the house-elf's head and did not stop him from venting his emotions. Instead, he silently handed him a tissue and patiently waited for Dobby to finish crying. He also drafted a magic contract.
After a long time, Dobby finally controlled himself while hiccuping. He wiped his tears and nose while whispering apologies over and over again.
"Don't be sorry about it. I know the Malfoys were very cruel to you in the past."
Wade shook his head, pushed the parchment in his hand forward, and said, "Take a look at this contract. If you have no objection, sign your name."
"Good, good."
Dobby took the parchment carefully, and had made up his mind that he would sign the contract no matter what the conditions were. However, he was still shocked when he actually saw the contents.
Not only were the three agreements that Wade had just mentioned written in it, but it also included the salary he would receive in the future - ten Galleons a week, with weekends off, which could be increased at the discretion of the government in the future.
Dobby shuddered and almost threw the contract away.
"No... it's too much... Dobby doesn't need so much money, nor does he need so much freedom... Dobby likes freedom, but not too much freedom..."
The elf said in panic, as if Vader had offered him very terrible conditions.
"Silly Dobby." Wade rubbed his head and said helplessly: "If you don't know how to spend money, then save it first. One day it will come in handy."
"The same goes for rest days. If you like to work, you can still work on your rest days, but you must retain the right to rest freely."
Seeing that Dobby was still trying to argue, Wade stopped him with one sentence: "Don't bargain with me, Dobby. The salary I offer you is too low. If it gets out, I will be very embarrassed - others will think I am too stingy, like a stingy Grandet."
Dobby didn't know what Grandet was, but he shut his mouth anyway and looked at Wade with gratitude and fear. Finally, under his encouraging gaze, he signed his name on the contract.
"That's right."
Satisfied, Wade made two copies of the contract, one for Dobby and the other for himself.
Dobby held the parchment as if it were some precious treasure, not knowing where to put it.
"Come with me."
Videll took his hand, walked out of the room, and said softly, "You will live in the small bedroom from now on. When you wake up tomorrow morning, I will formally introduce you to my parents." "Yes, sir."
Dobby answered dazedly. His brain was like paste at that moment. There were too many shocks and he couldn't think. He could only accept what Vader said.
……
The small bedroom is the guest room of the Wade family. It is furnished with simple beds and furniture. It is relatively clean because the puppet cleans it regularly.
Dobby touched the soft bed and the green plaid sheets, then touched the pillow filled with goose down, pressed it gently twice, and then looked at the desk and cabinet next to it.
He knew that this would be his room from now on, but he still couldn't believe that he had such good luck.
Dobby wanted to lie down on the bed and experience the happiness of "sleeping in his own bed", but when he saw the clean sheets and then looked at his dirty feet, he shrank back and retracted his hands and feet.
Thinking of the location of the bathroom that Vader had just pointed out, Dobby nodded to himself and went to take a serious shower.
After taking a shower, the clothes I had worn for several days looked too dirty and had a bad smell.
Dobby washed the clothes again, and after he finished washing, he snapped his fingers, and the wet clothes immediately became dry again.
After putting on his clothes, the elf looked back at the water stains in the corners, and without hesitation, he picked up the rag next to him and started cleaning.
After cleaning the bathroom, Dobby found himself too excited to go to sleep.
So he swept the floors and stairs again, polished the banisters until they sparkled, rearranged the books that were cluttered on the shelves, wiped the windows, wiped the tables and cupboards, and re-lit the fire.
After finishing all these, it was almost dawn. Dobby ran to the kitchen to prepare breakfast, but was greeted by three pairs of resentful eyes.
The three little puppets sat side by side beside the pool, crossed their arms, looked at Dobby, and then whispered -
"Weird guy."
"Here comes someone to steal your job!"
"Does he want us to be expelled?"
Dobby: “…”
An unexpected competitor appears!
……
Wade arranged a room for Dobby and then returned to his bedroom. He saw the water cup on the floor by the door, shook his head, and with a flick of his hand, the water cup fell into his hand.
Wade put the cup on the desk, lay down on the bed, and let out a long sigh.
Originally, Wade had planned to open the Christmas presents to see what the surprise Dumbledore had mentioned was, but now, the long day was finally over and he was so tired that he just wanted to sleep.
A dreamless night.
Wade didn't wake up from his sleep until the sunlight shone on his eyelids. He lay in bed for a few more minutes before turning over and getting up.
When he finished packing and went downstairs, he heard a low whisper coming from the kitchen -
"When making blueberry muffins, you have to pay attention to the ratio of sour cream to flour. Wade likes them a little crispier. Also, don't use too much agave syrup..." said Fiona.
"Dobby remembers."
"Did Dobby make this bacon and egg?" Ferdinand said in surprise, "What a great cook!"
"Yes, Dobby loves to cook!"
"Coco helped too!" the little puppet said loudly.
"Yes, Coco helped a lot, as did Ali and Reina," Dobby said quickly.
"I know, everyone is great!" Fiona said with a smile.
"How about grilled mushrooms and fried fish cakes?" Ferdinand suggested, "Now that there's a new member in the family, we should celebrate it."
"Okay! I'll squeeze another glass of orange juice!" Fiona agreed happily.
"Oh, Ali got flour on his nose!" Lena shouted happily.
I don't know what they did, but everyone laughed out loud.
Vader leaned against the stair railing, smelling the aroma of baking muffins coming from the kitchen and smiled silently.
Suddenly, the shadow of something outside the window moved. Wade turned his head and saw Kreacher standing outside the window. He bowed deeply and then disappeared.
Now that Dobby has become the elf of the Grey family, the safety of the Greys can be left to Dobby. Kreacher has to return to the Black family to take care of the old house and take care of his worrying master.
……
Needless to say, there was a lively celebratory dinner, and the Grays welcomed the new member without any hindrance.
In the afternoon, Wade finally found time to sort out his Christmas gifts, which were enough to fill half the house.
Books, toys, clothes, candies, etc. were placed in different categories, and special gifts were also selected by Wade.
Professor Murray gave him a stone with an inscription on it, and there was also a note in the package:
[The Ouagadou Magic School in Africa notifies admitted students through dream messengers, who leave them a stone with an inscription. This was left by a child who gave up on admission, and you may be interested.]
Wade played with the stone for a while, but couldn't figure out anything mysterious, so he put it aside for the time being.
The gift Dumbledore gave him was a book called "Advanced Spells Decoded", which mentioned many ways to defend against advanced dark magic and was considered an advanced version of the Defense Against the Dark Arts course.
The puppets of Wowelet's alchemical notes had been handed over to him. To Wade's surprise, Grindelwald later sent him a gift as well.
This was a very old, hand-bound book. Wade flipped through it roughly and found many stories about gods and demons recorded on the stained, ancient parchment.
For example, the God of Death and his three brothers, the Sphinx, the God of Thunder and Lightning, Medusa, the Three Goddesses of Fate, etc.
It seems that Grindelwald has studied these myths very carefully and has been searching for various legends and artifacts left by gods and demons in the world.
Finally, Vader saw the surprise that Dumbledore had mentioned.
A very small package containing only a handwritten letter, or rather - an invitation.
From Nick Lemay.
(End of this chapter)