Harry Potter and the Candy Factory

“Dab… … Right?”

At the entrance of Hogwarts, Hagrid looked at the little elf in front of him carrying a huge backpack, and couldn't help but nervously rub his big hands.

After hesitating for a moment, he asked

Before coming over, Dumbledore had given Hagrid special instructions in his office, so he understood that this guest he was picking up was almost a completely different group from the house-elves he had encountered at Hogwarts…

Whether in terms of cognition or nature, there was a world of difference.

So Hagrid, who had never had similar contact with house-elves, couldn't help but feel a little nervous at this time, fearing that he would speak without thinking and accidentally insult Dab in some unnoticed place.

Therefore, he had to concentrate his attention and carefully consider each sentence before speaking, trying not to cause any unnecessary misunderstandings.

“Correct.”

However, to his surprise, the little guy in front of him didn't seem as difficult to deal with as he had imagined.

After hearing Hagrid's words, he nodded happily, raised his head, and gave him a bright smile.

“Hello, my name is Dab… … What should I call you?”

Dab politely asked back, while friendly taking the lead to reach out his hand, also wanting to leave a good impression on the other party.

“Uh… … Hagrid! Just call me Hagrid.”

Seeing Dab's actions, Hagrid was first stunned for a moment, but then quickly reacted, hurriedly half-kneeling, while bending down, reluctantly stretched out his big hands, and carefully held the other's small hand.

It felt like holding an extremely fragile rag doll, as if the other's hand could be torn off directly with just a little carelessness.

My thumb is almost half as thick as its arm… … Hagrid thought inexplicably.

“Thank you, Hagrid, it's nice to meet you.”

Obviously, Dab was not as fragile as Hagrid thought.

After his hand was clasped together with Hagrid's, he solemnly shook his arm.

Seeing that the other party's attitude was so friendly, Hagrid finally secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

After the two released their hands, his gaze once again turned to the big bag on Dab's back.

“Come, let me help you take it… … Dab.”

Hagrid showed a smile that he thought was very kind, and said softly.

Although it wasn't very obvious on his rough face, it still allowed the careful Dab to feel the kindness that the other party was trying his best to exude.

“Thank you.”

So he didn't refuse, nodded, and then took off the huge backpack behind him and handed it to the other party.

The backpack, which was originally astonishingly large for Dab, became just right in Hagrid's hands.

He directly lifted it up with a sudden lift, feeling the extraordinary weight of the backpack, Hagrid couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and asked in some surprise

“What did you pack inside?”

“I didn't pack it… … My mother insisted that I bring it.”

With the backpack removed, Dab felt much more relaxed, rubbing his sore shoulders while casually responding.

“It's nothing more than some alchemy items for self-preservation.”

Saying that, Dab pulled up his pants, without any pretense or inferiority, and generously showed Hagrid his broken leg, and indicated

“Before, because of some… … unpleasant little things, this consequence was caused.

So my mother has always been worried about my safety.

In order to reassure her, I can only carry all the things in this backpack with me.”

“… … Wow oh”

Hagrid's raised eyebrows rose even more.

Listening to Dab's words, he didn't know what to say for a while… … After all, even though he had been living alone in a hut next to the Forbidden Forest, he still had the most basic common sense.

He had never seen anyone use a backpack as a unit of measurement for alchemy items.

“This… … is very expensive, right?”

“Don't know.” Dab frankly spread out his hands and shook his head.

“I never used money before leaving Hogwarts… … Dad and Mom would always prepare the things they thought I needed for me early on.”

“So that's how it is… … ”

Hagrid listened to Dab's words, thoughtfully nodded, and then, suddenly realized that he should quickly take Dab to the headmaster's office.

Dumbledore was waiting for them at this moment.

So without further ado, carrying the backpack, Hagrid stepped aside, presenting a complete path in front of Dab.

“Let's go in first, Dab.

Here, I, on behalf of myself and Headmaster Dumbledore, welcome your arrival.”

Looking at the huge ancient castle building that was formally presented in front of him, Dab's eyes couldn't help but shine.

He took a deep breath, nodded and didn't speak.

Instead, he came to the gate and strode out the first step towards Hogwarts with his head held high and his chest out.

“Hey, by the way, Hagrid.”

Along the way, the conversation between the two hadn't stopped, but instead, there was an increasingly familiar feeling.

Dab seemed to have thought of something and suddenly called out Hagrid's name.

“What?” Hagrid lowered his head, glanced at the new friend who was only up to his calf, and his tone was no longer as restrained as it was at the beginning, and he naturally responded

“You must be a very amazing guy.”

“Huh? Why do you say that?”

Caught off guard by this sudden praise, he scratched his head and asked in confusion

“Because you are so tall—I have never seen a guy taller than you, even Mr. Black is not as burly as you. →”

Dab explained as a matter of course

“When I was young, my parents always hoped that I could grow taller and stronger.

But unfortunately, I only reached this point… … So I think, you who can be so burly must be an amazing guy.”

“Thank you for your compliment, Dab.

But in fact, I'm just a Hogwarts key keeper and gamekeeper.”

Hagrid lowered his head a little embarrassed and looked at his figure.

Then, as if remembering something, his eyelids couldn't help but droop down, and he continued

“Moreover, in fact, a physique like mine is not very popular in the wizarding world.

Because they can tell at a glance that I am a giant hybrid… … ”

“Maybe they are jealous of you?”

“Wha, what?!… … Why would you think that?”

Hagrid widened his eyes for a moment, listening in disbelief to the other party's shocking statement.

“People will always be jealous of things that are superior to them.”

Dab's eyes looked around, passing over the walls, corridors, and every painting of Hogwarts, but the words in his mouth didn't stop, and he continued to mutter

In addition to jealousy, in order to give their distorted psychology a reasonable explanation and make themselves feel more at ease, they would cleverly transform it into a new kind of discrimination… and then form a consensus among the rest of the people to exclude those who are better than them.

Hagrid opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything. After a long silence, he replied,

“I never thought of it that way.”

“Dub…” He called the other party's name again.

“What's wrong?” Dub tilted his head, drawing his attention back to Hagrid.

“I bet we can be very good friends!” Hagrid said.

“That's great! Thank you for being my first friend at Hogwarts, Hagrid!”

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

In the headmaster's office, Dumbledore watched the two people, one large and one small, walk in, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

“Hello, Dub.”

He greeted Dub with a smile, and said gently,

“I guess Hagrid has already expressed my welcome to you for me.”

“Yes, Headmaster Dumbledore!”

Having arrived in the headmaster's office, Dub undoubtedly became much more serious. He nodded with a straight posture in front of the desk, and replied earnestly,

“I also represent Mr. Black to send you his blessings!”

After speaking, he turned his head and whispered to Hagrid,

“Hagrid, my bag—please help me open the zipper on the second layer. Inside is something Mr. Black asked me to bring to Headmaster Dumbledore.”

Listening to Dub's words, Hagrid quickly nodded, opened the zipper on the backpack, and reached in with his big hands. Soon, he took out a bulging package wrapped in parchment.

“Is this the candy Charlie said he wanted to send me back then?”

Taking the parchment package from Hagrid's hand, Dumbledore curiously looked at it back and forth, then put it on the table and ignored it, instead refocusing his attention on Dub.

“Thank you for bringing it over for Charlie. If I relied on his little fat owl to deliver it in person, I probably wouldn't know how long I would have to wait.”

“It's all part of my job, Headmaster Dumbledore!”

Dub gave Dumbledore a big, bright smile.

“We have arranged a dormitory for you. Fortunately, there are still some vacancies in the dormitories originally prepared for the professors. You can live there—the professors at Hogwarts are all friendly people. And your neighbor is Professor Severus Snape. Although he doesn't seem approachable, he was a playmate with Charlie when he was in school, so if you encounter any problems in life, you can also seek his help nearby.”

After speaking, Dumbledore paused for a few seconds, giving the other party time to react, and then continued to ask,

“What do you think, Dub?”

However, to Dumbledore's surprise, Dub didn't nod in agreement, but frowned slightly and fell into thought.

After thinking for a while, he asked cautiously,

“Headmaster Dumbledore, please allow me to ask, is it true that I heard that there are also a group of little elves living in Hogwarts?”

Hearing this, Hagrid behind him couldn't help but feel a little worried, and couldn't help but raise his head to look at Dumbledore.

But Dumbledore didn't think about hiding anything, nodded, and admitted frankly,

“Yes, Hogwarts has taken in a group of house elves a long time ago. And let them live here.”

Dub got the answer, and a look of understanding appeared on his face.

Then he continued to ask,

“If that's the case, I would like to know, is it possible for me to live with them too?”

Dub took a step forward, a few traces of sincerity and curiosity flashing in his big eyes.

“As fellow elves, I would like to get to know them… put aside prejudices, put aside biases, take a look, understand their world, understand the environment they live in, and understand their thoughts. I believe I can get along well with them—what do you think?”

Dub's words made Dumbledore fall into a moment of silence.

His eyebrows drooped down, and after thinking for a while, he slowly shook his head.

“I'm very sorry… Dub. Although Charlie asked me to take care of you a little before you came, I can't agree with this idea.”

Dumbledore continued to explain,

“Because house elves are an important part of this place. They are responsible for the meals and hygiene of the entire Hogwarts students… Compared to before, there are now much fewer house elves in Hogwarts, do you know why?”

Dumbledore raised his eyes meaningfully, looked at Dub, and continued, his voice still gentle.

“More than ten years ago, Charlie said almost the same thing to me in this headmaster's office as you did… That time I agreed to him, and as a result, he took away nearly a third of the house elves in the entire Hogwarts. As a result, even now, Hogwarts' manpower is still very tight…”

Hearing this, Dub had no choice but to nod, scratching his head embarrassedly, and said nothing else, which was considered to agree with Dumbledore's original idea of letting him live in the faculty dormitory.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Soon after, Hagrid led Dub out of the headmaster's office and walked towards the residence where he would be living for a long time in the future.

As he walked, he babbled softly to Dub,

“You can come to me if you have anything, or I can come to you. Anyway, I have to come over every day to feed my baby Fluffy. I can bake some rock cakes and bring them to you by the way…”

“The professors are all very good. To be able to become a Hogwarts professor, they are all excellent people who have been carefully selected, so you can rest assured. If you don't understand anything, humbly ask for advice, and they will definitely help you.”

“Actually, the house elves living in Hogwarts are very happy…”

… … …

“Okay, this is where you're going to live.”

Finally, after chatting all the way, the two arrived at the door of the dormitory where Dub was going to live.

That's right, it happened to be the room that Charlie had stayed in when he came back to attend the entrance ceremony before. Now it was assigned to Dub again, which, in a sense, could be regarded as a kind of fate.

“You rest first, I won't disturb you.”

With a “peng!” sound, the huge backpack was placed in the room.

Hagrid stood at the door, waved to Dub, and then left.