Chapter 334: A Wedding (1)
It was almost seven o'clock. Students were coming in and out of the auditorium where a sumptuous dinner was served, chatting and laughing with their companions. The trio once again left the auditorium and walked towards the basement under the leadership of Dobby.
"It seems like the Halloween in the second grade." In the darkness ahead, the only light was the flickering fluorescent light in his hand. Ron turned his head to look at the ginger-yellow warm light getting farther and farther behind him, muttering to himself. After taking two more steps, he suddenly shouted, "No! This is the same as the Deathday party before! Is there really a wedding, Dobby?"
The scene of large pieces of rotten meat attracting insects under the dim blue light appeared in front of him. Ron hurriedly asked again, "Is it a normal wedding? Is it a wedding with edible food? I mean, at least there is no rotten food, right?"
"The house elves won't serve you rotten food!" Dobby shouted, looking at Harry subconsciously, "And I will definitely serve the best to Harry Potter!"
"Thank you," said Harry. He smiled with a forced expression. He had a lot of troubles recently. Cynthia ignored them again. After two letters, Sirius unilaterally informed them that he would come to Hogsmeade on Saturday. It was foreseeable that the situation would become chaotic.
In comparison, the third event of the competition was not that important. He couldn't spare the time to think about it anyway.
"Why don't you introduce us to the house-elves getting married today?" Hermione stroked her hair. She saw the liberation of the house-elves as a cause this school year and asked eagerly, "You only said it was your good friend Quasi's wedding, but you didn't tell us anything else. Do your house-elves also need a ceremony like a wedding to get married? Do they change clothes at the wedding? But changing clothes means freedom, doesn't it..."
Hermione asked a lot of questions in a row, just like Ron, and even the shrillest house-elf couldn't get a word in. When she finally finished asking questions, Dobby started to answer questions. "This is also my first time attending a house-elf wedding. I don't know if they will change clothes." Because there were too many questions, Dobby spoke about whatever came to his mind and completely reversed the order of answering. "I don't know what they will wear, because house-elves only need to tell their masters and give their companions some snacks at most."
"What's the difference between this and slave breeding..." Hermione was angry again. She muttered in a low voice, and at the same time, she was curious. "But from what you said, this is the first time. It feels good."
"Kwashi is a very good house-elf! She is Dobby's good friend!" Dobby said bouncing, "and others said that today's bride Nayla is also a lovely house-elf!"
"You are all lovely house-elves." Hermione said, with pity and sadness in her voice. She always felt that house-elves deserved more.
As they were talking, they arrived at the door of the empty classroom in the basement where the wedding was held. Hermione was still indignant, Harry was still wandering, and Ron was now certain that this was the venue for the last Deathday party.
"Don't do it--" He couldn't help wailing, thinking that such a gloomy and terrifying place would not look good no matter how he cleaned it up last time. But when the door was pushed open, the fragrant flower scent and the holy white light immediately told him that this was not the case.
The shabby and dirty long table that I saw last time is completely gone, replaced by rows of neatly arranged square desks. Once covered with white lace cloths and beautiful tableware, the ordinary shabby desks look upscale. Each table is carefully decorated with swaying lilies, and even the napkins are folded into the shape of a swan, which shows how much care is put into it.
"Wow——" Even Dobby exclaimed.
"Oh my God, this is actually a wedding!" Ron, who had been negative all along, shouted, and was a little uncomfortable at the same time. Ron was a child who was used to the wizarding world and the usefulness of house-elves. In his opinion, house-elves deserved to be thanked, but a proper wedding was not a word that was connected with them.
"Of course it's a wedding! Dobby has said that many times!" Hermione turned her head and yelled at Ron in a low voice, thinking that Ron's fuss was an insult.
Ron was stunned by the shouting. He looked at Hermione and seemed to want to retort, but when he saw the fluffy curly hair that was always jumping around Quidditch star Krum, he pursed his lips and refused to speak. At this time, Harry beside him finally returned to real reality for a short time, "Where are the other guests?" He looked at the venue where only elves were moving around, and asked Quasi with his head down.
"Hey! We are the guests!" a house-elf nearby shouted, "This is a house-elf occasion. Quasi and Nella are not your elves. It's strange that you can come!"
"Oh! Dobby! It's fine if you just get paid, but why did you bring Wool Girl with you?"
"Is she going to hide her socks here again today? I won't dare to clear the table!!"
"And more! Dobby! Winky! Winky has started drinking again! The wedding hasn't started yet! Hurry over!"
The sound just now attracted the attention of the other elves, and as soon as they looked over, they immediately focused their attention on Hermione, who had been trying to give them woolen fabrics during Christmas. Then they started talking at once, and the sharp screams enveloped the trio. Hermione blushed, Ron and Harry covered their ears in pain, and when they looked in Dobby's direction for help, they found that he had run to grab beer from Winky.
"Alright, alright!" Bennett, the house-elf who had questioned Harry at the beginning and who was very close to Nayla, shouted, "Quasi and Nayla said they wanted more blessings, so we can bring our favorite wizard friends over. Dobby brought them, so let them sit over there! Don't bother them!"
The piercing sounds finally stopped, and the trio followed a small path cleared by the most numerous house-elves they had ever seen in their lives, and quickly walked to the front table and sat in a row.
"Letting us sit in the front row," Hermione sighed. She even hoped that the house-elves would drive her into a corner at this moment. "It shows that they still respect us."
"They should respect us, we are students of Hogwarts." Ron rubbed his ears and muttered.
"Didn't the elf just now shout 'Kwasi and Nayla are not your elves'?" Harry, who was sitting down, picked out this sentence, "I'm not sure about Nayla, but Della told me about Kwasi. Kwasi is the elf of Hogwarts."
"Elves who aren't from Hogwarts shouldn't be getting married here," said Hermione, biting her lip. "I think both Quasi and Nella were once house-elves at Hogwarts."
"Once? Do you know how shameful this word is to house-elves?" Ron, the only one among the three who actually understood the mentality of house-elves, stressed, "Changing masters is like asking for their lives. I don't think three Dobbies can appear at the same time."
"They are now employed by me," a cold voice interrupted the trio's conversation. Della sat opposite them under the surprised gazes of the three. "They have received two salary increases. The current salary is 100 Galleons a month."
"Two in total?" Ron asked in amazement at the figure that was almost as much as his father's salary.
"Per person, per month," Della said briefly.
"Every?!" Ron covered his heart.
"Don't be so surprised, Weasley," another voice interrupted. Maggie, wearing a silver mask, sat next to Della as the trio's eyes widened even more. "Maybe Mr. Weasley will get a promotion and a raise this year."
Once Voldemort came back, there were big changes. It was inevitable that Weasley, who had always been inclined towards Muggles and Dumbledore, would be seen in the Ministry of Magic.
Ron stared at Maggie, and moved his hand from his heart to his mouth. Harry looked at Maggie with trembling breathing, and Hermione subconsciously moved her eyes to observe Della's reaction.
"This is a wedding," Della looked at Harry, "We can talk about it later if there is anything."
"Yes, a house-elf wedding," Hermione's eyes passed over Maggie's silver mask and looked at Harry, "We have to talk about it later."
"Don't act like I did something wrong. I was formally invited by today's bride and groom," Maggie said bluntly, "You weren't on the direct guest list. Were you brought here by other elves?"
"You can talk about it later." Della turned her head to Maggie, but her eyes did not look over. She lowered her eyes and looked as if she was avoiding the question. After she finished speaking, she turned her head back.
"Okay." Maggie tilted her head slightly to the other side and responded emotionlessly without looking over.
Harry looked at the two of them, and his complex emotions were temporarily dispersed, because he suddenly had a sense of déjà vu as if he saw Hermione and Ron having a quarrel.
This is odd, he thought, and said to Della without hesitation, "Where's Malfoy?"
As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Harry was stunned. He didn't understand why he had to bring up Draco at this time. After thinking hard, he barely came up with an answer.
Even though Draco and Della are a couple, compared with Della and Maggie, Draco always seems like the superfluous one, especially in today's atmosphere.