Chapter 191: Arc 5: Chapter 34: Dobby’s Interview

In the next morning, Merlin wakes up at 5:55 am from his meditation.

He first takes a bath, then he sits by the window in his sleeping robe as he looks at the awakening city, enjoying a peaceful breakfast in the meantime.

Though he was on vacation, Merlin had no particular place he wanted to go to.

If not for the invitation to partake in the Weasleys' family gathering, he'd rather be lazy and snooze in his house in New York for a week before heading for a trip around Wisconsin.

But since he's here in London, Merlin plans on using this time to purchase some needed supplies from Diagon Alley.

It was a very long shopping list, and he would need a few days and enough luck to collect all that he needs.

As the clock on the wall reaches 7 am, Merlin's room door is knocked on.

"Come in."

Merlin leans against his chair and shouts to the door.

Then, following the mana waves belonging to Apparition, a house-elf wearing shabby clothes appears before Merlin in a disguised manner.

That was Dobby.

Merlin had met it once before and even conducted surgery on it.

Speaking of which, this elf sure was lucky, Merlin could recall making 3 lethal mistakes during his surgery on Dobby, but the elf still stubbornly withstood the threat of death.

Dobby was nervous, it had received a letter from the kind-hearted Mr. Harry yesterday, and it knew that the person in front of it, Mr. Merlin who had saved its life, will most probably become its new boss.

But Mr. Merlin was not an easygoing employer and needed to interview Dobby. This was Dobby's first interview, and they even went to the muggle's library to read for this special occasion.

And now, Dobby was trying its best to straighten itself and look capable.

Unfortunately, its appearance is destined to make its attempts at seriousness look silly.

Creatures like house-elves are born short, even shorter than the goblins in the Gringott's Wizarding Bank.

They had an odd appearance, they were as ugly as goblins and had bat-like ears and long noses. Most importantly, they generally all looked thin but had big eyes, so from a glance, Dobby's salient eyes and green pupils looked quite frightening.

It had no hair on its head and was wrinkly. 

From first impressions, this was not a creature people would like at first glance.

In fact, this ugly-looking creature has quite the awkward position in the wizarding world, they'd been serving wizards as servants since the birth of the wizarding civilization.

Supposedly, this comes from a rescue operation initiated by the wizards to the house-elves, and the rescued house-elves volunteered to become the wizards' servants to pay back their deed, added with their natural talent at sensing magic, house-elves became an important part of the thousand-year-long wizarding heritage.

In this current era, most house-elves have treated being a servant as natural over the years, and most of them have never thought of changing their current position.

They view loyalty as their life's greatest work, and in some ancient families, when the house-elves are too old for work, they would have their masters chop off their heads to serve as a collection.

Such cruel behavior was even seen as a distorted kind of 'honor' by the house-elves.

Though, there would be all types of birds in a forest this big, after thousands of years of oppression, someone oughta know how to resist.

In fact, Dobby was the unique one amongst house elves, as Harry said that it could differentiate right from wrong.

Dobby never liked its ex-master from the Malfoys, because they were a group of crazed Death-Eaters; it tried to follow the rules set by its peers, all while feeling embarrassed for serving evil, he tried to resist and he acted upon it.

It went against its master's wishes on multiple occasions to help Harry Potter and eventually earned freedom with Harry's help.

This was a unique lifeform, Merlin looks at the uneasy house-elf before him, and he's already known about Dobby's story from Harry and Ron.

 

If what was standing in front of him was a human, then Merlin would take this person under his wing, for he needs such an employee who knows right from wrong, knows how to fight back, and disguise himself.

But the problem was that Dobby was not human.

"Dobby, I trust that Harry has told you what I told him to tell you?"

Merlin in his sleeping robe crosses his legs and says to the nervous house elf in front of him:

"I don't need you to serve me as I do not need a servant. I live in the muggle world, and the concept of slavery in our world has gone extinct for thousands of years now, I don't need you to be my servant either."

"Yes, Mr. Merlin."

Dobby replies in a sharp tone:

"Harry told Dobby that Mr. Merlin needs Dobby to join your department and become a...err, magic consultant."

As it spoke, Dobby says nervously:

"To be truthful, Dobby does not think itself as worthy to become a magic consultant, Dobby is just a petty and low house-elf, and does not know many wizard secrets."

"But at least you know more than muggles."

Merlin waves his finger and says:

"You're about to join a department formed by muggles, and your knowledge and magic can be of great help there. Most importantly, I need an assistant who's specialized in using Apparition to support my subordinates when necessary."

"Yes, Dobby's Apparition is not bad, this is a gift born to all house-elves."

The house-elf nods vigorously, it had a habit when speaking, and that is it won't speak of itself as 'I', instead, it calls itself using its name; this is probably the habit that house-elves took up after becoming slaves.

Because in the master's eyes, a slave is not an equal lifeform, it was just an intelligent creature who could speak, and did not qualify to use the term 'I'.

"Not bad?"

Merlin contemplates this term, he looks at Dobby and says:

"You're far too humble, Dobby. At least I've never seen a wizard who can transport 5 people with him in one go from England to North America...your capabilities in Apparition are on par with those grand wizards, and this much is exceptional."

Merlin's compliment made Dobby less nervous and let out a smile.

"Next question, Dobby. Aside from Apparition, can you use other spells?"

Merlin asks.

Dobby then nods:

"Dobby can use basic spells, the Malfoy couple does not avoid Dobby when they teach their son magic, and Dobby remembered most of those spells. Malfoy was foolish, he took a few days to grasp magic Dobby could cast with a few tries."

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"Use Expelliarmus on me then."

Merlin takes out his wand Lola and puts it in his hand.

Dobby was apprehensive as it says softly:

"No, no! Mr. Merlin saved Dobby's life, Dobby is in an interview, and cannot use magic on Mr. Merlin. That's no right."

"This is part of the interview too, Dobby."

Merlin says to the house-elf before him:

"I need you to become a member of my department, but my department doesn't need burdens. Before you join us officially, Dobby, I need to make sure that you can qualify for the string of tasks I'll be giving you in the future...this is important since I can't send someone who can't fight into danger."

"A...alright then."

Dobby extends its slender finger, and as Merlin watched, the house elf does not chant and simply snaps its fingers; a faint mana wave appears, and the wand in Merlin's hand begins to shudder and try to jump away from Merlin's grasp.

But then, Merlin grasps his fingers and withstands Dobby's Expelliarmus.

This made Dobby disappointed, its big ears were down as it believed that it had failed its interview.

But that was not the case.

"Very good, Dobby! You've proven your abilities, your Expelliarmus is as skillful as your Apparition."

Merlin was very satisfied with the house elf's performance.

He needs Dobby to take on the important task of saving agents' lives in times of danger. Amongst them, Expelliarmus and Apparition were two very important magic, and Dobby could cast spells without the need to chant, which fully proves the house elf's magic potential; given enough time, it could become a magic consultant that can rival official wizards.

And it had a big advantage.

Muggles, as in normal people, are unable to see house-elves. They're essentially part of Fantastic Beasts.

If this was the case, then that would mean that Dobby would have the best cover when it's out on field missions.

The interview was pretty much over by now.

Dobby's overall performance made Merlin very satisfied, perhaps its way of thinking and behaving was still lacking, but it was alright, as Merlin had enough time to turn them around.

"This...sign here."

Merlin gives Dobby a contract he had prepared last night, the latter takes it with both hands.

This house-elf may be more rebellious than its peers, but it has also inherited the standard high manners house-elves generally have. Though it looks ugly and seems silly, upon closer inspection, Dobby acted in a very elegant manner.

Even when it snapped its fingers just now, the rhythmic waving of its arm, it all would seem very elegant on a human.

Dobby looks at the contract Merlin gave it, this was its first time seeing a contract related to itself.

Dobby's eyes widen even more after seeing the wages listed on the last page, it looks at the dollars converted into Gold Galleons, and looks up at Merlin in a daze.

It says:

"It's too much, this is too much. Mr. Merlin, Dobby in Hogwarts..."

"I know about your experience in Hogwarts."

Merlin waves his hand and tells Dobby:

"But that was in the wizarding world, and now you're an employee of the muggle world. In our world, we have a thing called minimal salary. I can't lower your salary anymore otherwise it would constitute as a crime...you can understand this as the lowest salary you can get in theory, so you don't have to worry about it."

"Err."

Dobby blinks its eyes and says:

"Mr. Merlin, Dobby doesn't know much about the muggle world, but are you all so generous?"

"I don't know about other people."

Merlin shrugs:

"But SHIELD does have good benefits, how about it? Dobby, will you sign?"

"Mmm."

Dobby nods and tells Merlin:

"Dobby has nowhere else to go, and the kind-hearted Mr. Potter took in Kreacher, and it is Dobby's friend. Dobby doesn't want to trouble others, so if Mr. Merlin thinks that Dobby can help, then Dobby will do their best to help."

As it finishes, it gently waves its slender finger, then a pretty and neat signature is written on the signature area of the contract.

"Very good."

Merlin takes the contract, stands up, and tells Dobby:

"Then starting from now to 5 years in the future, Dobby, you will serve as the official consultant of SDOLD; you may not understand what our department does, so I'll list an example for you to know: we are the Ministry of Magical Affairs of the muggle world."

As he spoke, Merlin looks at the shabby clothes Dobby was wearing and says while frowning:

"You'll have to undergo 6 months of training before you can join us officially, and before you start learning in the academy, I'll give you two extra missions."

"Mmm-mmm."

Dobby nods rigorously, it looks up at Merlin and says:

"Please give the word, master, err, I mean, Mr. Merlin."

"Call me sir!"

Merlin says so, he curls his finger and his wallet then flies out from the pocket on his coat and into his hand. Merlin takes out a few dollar bills and hands them to Dobby, saying:

"This is your allowance for clothes and weapons, I need you to head over to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and get yourself a tailored suit. I've already given Madam Malkins the heads up, the clothes for our departments will all be done by her in the future. Also, I need you to head over to Master Ollivander's wand shop to get yourself a suitable wand."

"How can a good agent not have a weapon?"

 

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