#448 - Gift

To settle Mabel in properly, Wade arrived home much later than expected. As he pushed open the door, he saw Mr. and Mrs. Grey sitting in the living room sofa in their pajamas, waiting for him.

Hearing the sound of the door, they both turned around. Seeing him enter, they both revealed relieved smiles.

"Dad, Mom, I'm back."

Wade stepped forward and hugged them both.

"Mm," Ferdinand patted his son's shoulder, as if he hadn't worried at all, and said calmly, "It's good that you're back."

Fiona yawned, rubbed her eyes, and said, "There's hot water in the tub. Take a bath and go to sleep. Don't read tonight, you need to rest properly!"

"Okay, you guys rest early too," Wade said with a smile.

......

After washing up, Wade poured himself a glass of water and walked towards the bedroom, taking a slight pause as he grasped the doorknob.

There… seemed to be someone in the room…

It was a very subtle feeling, as if magic was telling him that someone else's magic existed behind the door.

The closet space and other important alchemy items were all in the bedroom, but even when taking a bath at home, Wade kept his wand with him.

He gently placed the water glass on the floor, held his wand in one hand, pressed down on the doorknob with the other, and pushed the door open with a slight force, quickly dodging behind the wall on one side.

"Squeak—"

The door gently slid open, and an unexpected guest stood in the center of the room, tennis ball-sized eyes shimmering with anticipation, ears twitching slightly, fingers nervously pinching the corner of his clothes.

"Dobby?"

Wade was stunned for a moment, then put down his wand and smiled, "I've heard my parents talk about it. I heard you were helping to find me earlier—thank you, Dobby. Don't just stand there, please sit down."

"M-Mr. Grey…" Dobby didn't sit down. The house-elf looked up at him, his voice trembling slightly, "Dobby… Dobby wants to ask you for something."

"What is it?" Wade squatted down, looking at him, and said, "You're my friend, feel free to say anything."

Dobby took a deep breath and mustered his courage to say, "Can Mr. Grey hire Dobby? Dobby can do many things… Dobby can bake bread, clean, tidy the garden, and Dobby can also raise peacocks…"

Wade was stunned, then revealed a warm smile.

"Of course, I welcome you to become a member of our family, Dobby. But I should be at school most of the time. You'll need to stay with my parents, can you accept that?"

"Of course, Dobby likes Mr. Grey and Mrs. Grey very much…"

Dobby's face first burst into a bright light, then he hesitated and clutched his clothes, asking anxiously, "But Dobby is a house-elf banished by his master, sir… would sir… mind?"

"I really like your yearning for freedom, because I'm the same," Wade said seriously, "But I also have a few requests that I hope you can agree to."

Dobby swallowed, nervously saying, "Y-yes… yes. Dobby will definitely agree… What are the requests?"

"First," Wade held up one finger and said, "If you accidentally make a mistake—like burning the food, for example—you're not allowed to punish yourself! The most important thing when an error occurs is to correct it, not to bang your head against the wall—can you do that?"

Dobby's big eyes instantly filled with tears. He looked at Wade's solemn expression, not knowing what to feel. After a long silence, he nodded vigorously, "Mm!"

"Very good," Wade continued, "Second, since you are my hired house-elf, then your dignity is my dignity. The Grey family will continue to retain the right to give you clothes. This is not humiliation or banishment, but care and respect between family members, can you accept it?"

Dobby stood there dumbfounded, staring at Wade without blinking, biting his lip, and slowly nodded.

"Then third," Wade said with a smile, "Dobby, my friend, even if you accept the employment, your body and soul are still free."

"If you think someone in the family has made a wrong decision, or makes you feel uncomfortable, you can express your own opinion; if one day you want to leave, you can also leave, but you must say goodbye properly, can you?"

Dobby shook his head vigorously, crying softly, "Dobby won't leave! Dobby likes Wade Grey, likes the Grey family! Dobby won't abandon his family and leave!"

"Then, welcome to our family, Dobby."

Wade reached out his hand. Dobby looked at his hand with teary eyes, and then slowly grasped it.

At the moment their hands clasped, the house-elf couldn't hold back any longer and finally burst into tears.

The instant he opened his mouth, Wade threw a Silencing Charm at the door with quick eyes and hands, lest his parents downstairs be awakened.

"I'm sorry, sir."

Dobby said while sobbing, "Never… never has anyone treated a house-elf like this… No need to punish himself, and… and can wear clothes… and no one wants Dobby, because he was fired… Dobby, Dobby didn't mean to cry… Dobby is too happy…"

Wade touched the house-elf's head, not stopping him from venting his emotions, but silently handed him a tissue, patiently waiting for Dobby to finish crying, and drafted a magical contract in the meantime.

Dobby shivered, almost throwing the contract away.

"No… too much… Dobby doesn't need so much money, and doesn't need so much freedom… Dobby likes freedom, but doesn't like too much freedom…"

The house-elf said in fear, as if Wade had offered him very terrible conditions.

"Silly Dobby," Wade rubbed his head, saying 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 rest days, but you must retain the right to rest freely."

Seeing that Dobby still wanted to argue, Wade dispelled his thoughts with one sentence: "Don't haggle with me, Dobby. If the salary I give you is too low, I'll lose face—others will think I'm too stingy, like a miserly Scrooge."

Dobby didn't know what a Scrooge was, but he still closed his mouth, looking at Wade gratefully and fearfully, and finally signed his name on the contract under his encouraging gaze.

"That's right."

Wade satisfactorily made two copies of the contract, one for Dobby and the other for himself.

Dobby held the parchment, as if holding a precious treasure, not knowing where to put it.

"Come with me."

Wade took his hand, walked out of the room, and said softly, "From now on, you'll live in the small bedroom. I'll formally introduce you to my parents when I get up tomorrow morning."

"Yes, sir."

Dobby answered in a daze. His brain was like paste at this time. There were too many shocks, he couldn't think, and could only do whatever Wade said.

......

The small bedroom was the Grey family's guest room, furnished with simple beds and furniture. Because small magical puppets cleaned it regularly, it was considered clean.

Dobby touched the soft bed and the green plaid patterned sheets, and also touched the goose feather-filled pillow, gently pressed it 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 could have such good luck.

Dobby wanted to lie 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 his hands and feet.

Thinking of the location of the bathroom that Wade had just pointed out, Dobby nodded to himself, and then went to take a serious bath.

After taking a bath, the clothes he had worn for several days looked too dirty, and there was a stench.

Dobby washed the clothes clean again. After washing, he snapped his fingers, and the wet clothes immediately became dry again.

Putting on his clothes, the house-elf looked back at the water stains in the corners, and without hesitation, picked up the rag next to him and started cleaning.

After cleaning the bathroom, Dobby found that he was too excited to go to sleep at all.

So he cleaned the floor and stairs again, wiped the railings until they shone, tidied up the messy books on the bookshelf, wiped the glass, and wiped the tables and cabinets, and relit the fire.

After finishing all this, it was almost dawn. Dobby ran to the kitchen to prepare breakfast, but was greeted by three resentful pairs of eyes.

Three small magical puppets sat side by side next to the sink, arms crossed, looking at Dobby, and then whispering—

"Strange guy."

"Someone who came to steal our job!"

"Does he want us to be fired?"

Dobby: "…"

Unexpected competitors appeared!

......

Wade arranged a room for Dobby, and then returned to his bedroom. He saw the water glass on the floor by the door, shook his head, and with a wave of his hand, the water glass landed in his hand.

Wade put the glass on the desk, lay on the bed, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Originally, Wade planned to unpack his Christmas gifts and see what the surprise Dumbledore mentioned was, but at this time, this long day had finally come to an end, and he was so tired that he just wanted to sleep.

He slept dreamlessly through the night.

It wasn't until the sunlight shone on his eyelids that Wade woke up from his sleep. He lay in bed for a few more minutes before getting up.

When he finished packing and went downstairs, he heard whispers coming from the kitchen—

"Blueberry muffins should pay attention to the ratio of sour cream to flour. Wade likes them a little crispier, and there shouldn't be too much agave syrup…" Fiona said.

"Dobby remembers."

"Did Dobby also make this bacon and fried egg?" Ferdinand said in surprise, "The cooking is really good!"

"Yes, Dobby likes to cook!"

"Coco helped too!" the little magical 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 adding some grilled mushrooms and fried fish cakes?" Ferdinand suggested, "Since a new member has been added to the family, we should celebrate."

"Okay! I'll squeeze a fresh orange juice!" Fiona happily agreed.

"Oh dear, Ali got flour on his nose!" Reina shouted happily.

They must have done something, because everyone laughed.

Wade leaned on the staircase railing, smelling the aroma of baked muffins coming from the kitchen, and smiled silently.

Suddenly, the shadow of something outside the window flickered. Wade turned his gaze and saw Kreacher standing outside the window, bowing deeply, and then disappearing.

Now that Dobby had become the Grey family's elf, the safety of Mr. and Mrs. Grey could be entrusted to Dobby. Kreacher had to return to the Black family, manage the old house, and take care of his worrying master.

......

The lively celebration feast goes without saying. Mr. and Mrs. Grey accepted the arrival of the new member without any obstacles.

In the afternoon, Wade finally took the time to sort out his Christmas gifts, which were enough to fill half a room.

Books, toys, clothes, candies, etc. were put away in categories, and special gifts were also selected by Wade.

Professor Morey gave him a stone engraved with an inscription, and there was a note in the package:

[The African Uagadou School of Magic notifies students of admission through dream messengers, and the dream messengers will leave them a stone engraved with an inscription. This is one left by a child who gave up admission, maybe you will be interested.]

Wade played with the stone for a while, but didn't see any mystery, so he put it down for the time being.

Dumbledore's gift to him was a 'Advanced Spell Decryption', which mentioned many ways to resist advanced dark magic, which can be regarded as an advanced version of the Defense Against the Dark Arts course.

Wovillet's alchemical notes had already been given to him by the magical puppets. To Wade's surprise, Grindelwald later sent him a supplementary gift.

This was a very old, hand-bound book. Wade skimmed through it, and the stained, ancient parchment recorded many stories about gods and demons.

Such as Death and the Three Brothers, Sphinx, God of Thunder, Medusa, the Three Fates, etc.

It seemed that Grindelwald had studied these myths very carefully, and had been pursuing various legends and objects left by gods and demons in the world.

Finally, Wade finally saw the surprise Dumbledore mentioned.

A very small package, containing only a handwritten letter, or rather—an invitation.

From Nicolas Flamel.