April 18, 1888 - Upper Levels of Hogwarts

It had been a long and trying day. Emmeline was exhausted and, quite simply, not in the mood. So when she saw some youngest students teasing a house elf, something seemed to snap. Well, as much as something could snap within the sweet girl.

"That's enough!" she shouted at the children, freezing them in place. She was actually quite surprised she'd managed to muster enough force to her voice to cause such a reaction in the students. Their wide eyes were turned on her as she folded her arms across her chest and focused what she hoped was a good glare. Luckily it seemed to be enough as the bowed their heads in shame. "You shouldn't be so cruel to those who see to it we have a clean castle to live in and food in our bellies," she chastised, "Now apologize and be on your way, curfew is coming."

Once the apologies had been made and the younger students had fled, Emmeline sighed as she looked to the poor house elf and offered a hand to help it up. "I'm quite sorry you were treated that way," she said with a small smile, "Some seem to take what they have for granted and don't care for any but themselves." It was awful really but unfortunately would probably never change.

Woopy

  

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#LovelyLadySet

Woopy had been having a rather eventful week thus far and as the day went on, it was becoming increasingly more obvious that it wasn't going to get any better.

The House Elf had gone on a dusting mission and had made his way to the upper levels of Hogwarts without much of an issue. That was, at least, until a group of students seemed to pick up that there was an invisible Elf nearby and promptly took to using the Revelio Charm on him before tormenting him with various 'funny' hexes, jinxes and charms. Of course, there was nothing funny about students shooting jets of water at him or otherwise.

And as much as he'd wanted to; Woopy couldn't retaliate. He enjoyed his job, even on days like this.

A few moments after the torture started, a loud and domineering voice came from down the hall causing the students to freeze. Woopy watched on and turned himself invisible though stayed put. He wasn't going to leave the hall in the mess it was in; he'd just sooner wait until the troublemakers were gone.

Woopy made himself visible again once he saw them looking for him to apologise and awkwardly watched the floor. He wasn't used to this.

Even she was apologising to him! He didn't know whether she was making fun if him or not but, irrespective, it was a nice sort of strange relief.

"Woopy is okay. Woopy should have not been silly and let them see where he was!" He exclaimed, scratching at his arm and mumbling to himself, "Silly Woopy! Always making things harder for people and himself! Silly, stupid Woopy!"

  

Emmeline watched the poor thing with nothing but concern. She really didn't like to see others, human or not, being picked on in such a manner. But hearing him blame himself for being treated in such a way really broke her heart. No one deserved to feel that way.

She tentatively reached out a gentle hand to still his own from scratching at his arms the way he was. "It isn't your fault, Woopy," she said calmly, smiling at him as reassuringly as she could, "No one deserves to be treated that way and I'm quite sure you did nothing to garner their attentions in such a way."

She stooped some as she pulled her hand away so that she was closer to his level, hoping it would help to calm the poor thing. "Is there anything I can do to help you?" she asked, hoping it wouldn't offend him but to show him that she did care and was being sincere in her concern for him.

  

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#LovelyLadySet

The witch holding out her hand threw the House Elf for a moment and he instinctively moved away. Why was she being so kind and reassuring!? Of course it was his fault! He was meant to be invisible and if he had been, those students wouldn't have acted the way they did! And when one does something wrong, one must be punished.

The next moment, the girl was almost at his level and Woopy lowered his arms with an almost confused stare. What was going on? This entire situation had gone from normalcy to outright absurd in a matter of moments!

Woopy shook his head and took a step back, "Woopy need no help! You trying to trick Woopy. All of you are same!" He huffed before turning around to walk away.

As he took a few steps forward, however, he could feel her eyes watching him and it caused him to stop in his tracks and turn back to the witch.

"Why you being kind to Woopy? You a strange witch."

  

Emmeline didn't move away from her position even as the house elf pulled away from her and accused her of trying to trick him. She couldn't help but to frown slightly, more from disappointment than actual anger. It was really quite sad that he had such a poor view of wizards. Of course there were plenty that were awful but not every wizard was that way. And if she were the betting type, she certainly bet there were more good than bad. Or at least she'd like to hope so.

"Because everyone deserves a little kindness in life," she answered with a smile, "And if being nice to others makes me strange, I'll gladly take the claim."

  

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#LovelyLadySet

The words of the witch confused Woopy. He stood in place and listened to her words. She was okay with being called strange? And she wanted to be nice to him?

Most Wizarding people didn't share those views - especially those that were within the walls of Hogwarts. To most, Woopy was just a servant and nothing more. A lot of the time, people took to outright calling him a thing. But he didn't mind; a lot of the time, he was invisible.

"What you want then? Woopy here to serve." The house elf shrugged. He really didn't know what else to say; she was being exceptionally nice and it made him slightly uncomfortable.

  

Emmeline nodded but continued to smile. She understood he had a job to do, understood he was there simply to serve. She wouldn't interfere with that but just because he had a job to do didn't mean he had to hate life in the process. He also didn't have to deal with rude and bratty little children.

"There's nothing I want," she said simply but never stopped smiling in the process, "Unless you care to be my friend? Would that be alright, Woopy?" It was a simply enough question. One she almost anticipated him to turn down. Regardless, it was a question she wanted to ask.

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#LovelyLadySet

A friend!? Woopy visibly scowled at the notion that a witch would be his friend. The elf had friends, of course. They were other elves; not his masters and to make matters worse, her soft smile was starting to concern him a little, too, and he couldn't help but shift uncomfortably in the spot he was stood.

What was she playing at? Woopy didn't really know how to respond to her question and so he reacted in the only way he could.

He let out a loud 'ha' and slapped his thigh, "Woopy mean not disrespect you, miss, but friend!?" He started to laugh, "Woopy serve you not befriend you! Haha!"

  

Emmeline couldn't help but to laugh lightly at the house elf's response. She didn't see why they couldn't be friends though. It wasn't as if she was his actual master. She was just a student there. The Headmaster was truly his master after all, wasn't he?

"But I'm not really your master," she said simply, "I'm just a student here. I don't own the school so I don't imagine I really have any authority over you, do I?"

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#LovelyLadySet

Two things crossed Woopy's mind at her laugh and words.

One. She was laughing. This witch. This strange looking, brown hair owning, red robe wearing witch was laughing at him. At him explaining his purpose.

Oh, if he could - oh if he could - Woopy would have jinxed her. No. He would have hexed her. No, in fact, Woopy knew what he would have done. He would have transfigured her into a sponge. Then who'd be the one laughing? Not her. She'd be a sponge. Woopy knew sponges couldn't laugh.

The second thought was her insinuation that he thought she was his master. His disdain for this assumption was as clear as the sun hurt his eyes.

"You is really stupid." Woopy said as he walked past her. He was no longer uncomfortable and more just irritated.

"Woopy said he serve you not that you his master," He huffed, "You ears not work? You not his master, you is annoying."

Woopy continued to move beyond where she was stood before stopping and turning on the balls of his feet, "And stop be so nice to Woopy. It weird!"

  

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Emmeline stared back at Woopy with a look that could only be described as shock. He'd just called her stupid. He was rather rude, really, but she was not one to give up. Not ever. Instead, she laughed again lightly and shook her head. As he walked past her, she moved to stand up herself.

"Well then, Woopy, at your insistence I will leave you be," she said as she smoothed out her robes to a more presentable state. She didn't leave right away though and looked at him with a smile. "But I shan't give up that easily," she said before she moved to walk away, "We'll be friends eventually." And then she went so far as to give him a little wink before she left.

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#LovelyLadySet

Finally, he thought. The words that left the girls lips wisped round his ears like a gentle breeze during a hot summers day. They were refreshing and more than welcome. And then her next words came and washed over him like the rush of heat you got when the breeze moved past you and you were left sitting in the heat with no hope of escape.

He let out a loud and exaggerated sigh and shrugged, “Whyyyyy?” He moaned. He didn’t like the thought of befriending witches. Elves were much better company but, alas, it seemed he had no choice.

“Try be Woopy friend and Woopy will…” He paused. What would he do? He pondered for a moment as she winked at him and as he felt the moment to insult her one last time slowly slip away, the perfect comeback came to mind.

It was so perfect, in fact, that Woopy had trouble holding in his smile and containing himself. He practically belted it at her when she was walking away.

“Woopy will clean your stuff not as good!”

And with that, he turned invisible and went on his way.

Ha, got ‘em.

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[FIN]