Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Chapter 21 Summary.
The House Elf Liberation Front
Chapter 21 of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, titled ‘The House Elf Liberation Front’ deals with a letter to Sirius, a meeting with Rita Skeeter, and a conversation with Dobby.
The First Clue
After the first task, the trio heads to the Owlery to send a letter to Sirius. On the way, Harry gets Ron up to speed on everything, including Karkaroff being a Death Eater. Ron helps boost Harry’s morale by praising him, but Harry feels he is only doing it to make up for everything that happened between them. However, he does not care.
Harry attaches his letter to Pigwidegon, who then flies off into the darkness. Ron suggests they head to the common room, where the twins are probably throwing Harry a surprise party.
Sure enough, the common room is full of joy and food. Harry helps himself to some food, and Lee picks up his golden egg to see. He asks Harry to open it so everyone can see what is inside. Harry obliges, but the egg is empty. Instead, a loud screeching noise comes out of it and engulfs the entire room. Harry slams it shut, and everyone is left wondering what such a horrible noise could mean.
As people bounce ideas off each other, Fred offers Hermione a jam tart. She asks if they got everything from the kitchens, and Fred agrees.
Innocently, she asks how the twins get inside the kitchens, and Fred tells her, before realizing what she might want to visit the elves for. He warns her not to offer them salaries, since it will probably upset them.
Rita Skeeter Strikes Again
As December comes, so does winter. Hagrid takes good care of Madam Maxime’s horses and provides them with a steady supply of their preferred single malt whiskey. It is a pain for the students though, since the fumes from the trough are enough to make the entire Care of Magical Creatures class lightheaded. The fact that they are still tending to the now six-feet long Skrewts does not help.
Hagrid wonders if the Skrewts hibernate, and instructs the class to try and put them to sleep. The creatures do not appreciate being forced into Hagrid’s pillow-lined boxes, and decide to rampage around the grounds instead.
As students try to contain the chaos, Rita Skeeter appears on the spot, leaning on Hagrid’s garden fence. She introduces herself to Hagrid and inquires about the Skrewts. She asks him where he got the creatures from, but Hagrid does not have an answer.
To distract her, Hermione pulls her attention towards Harry. Rita asks him if he likes the class, and Harry agrees. She then proceeds to schedule an interview with Hagrid at the Three Broomsticks, and Hagrid accepts. Harry wants to warn Hagrid against it but does not get an opportunity. The bell rings, and he is forced to leave with Ron and Hermione.
Divination and Dobby
That afternoon, Harry and Ron thoroughly enjoy double Divination. Now that he and Ron are friends again, the lessons have gone back to being funny. They snigger throughout the lesson, which irritates Trelawney.
After the class, Ron and Harry head to dinner, but Hermione doesn’t show up. She isn’t in the library either, and it is only when they go back to the common room do they find her.
She excitedly drags them into the Entrance Hall and turns left at the bottom of the staircase. It leads them into a stone corridor with portraits of food, which makes Harry realize what she is up to. Ron asks if it is about S.P.E.W again, but it isn’t, and all Hermione wants is to show them something.
She seizes Harry by the arm and tickles the photo of a huge pear inside a fruit bowl. The pear chuckles and turns into a door handle, which she pulls to reveal a room as big as the Great Hall.
Harry enters the place and realizes it is a kitchen. A moment later, a squealing elf hurtles towards him and hits him in the midriff. The elf hugs him hard, and it takes a second for Harry to realize that it is Dobby. He is dressed in a weird mix of muggle clothes, but he looks better than what he did back when he worked for the Malfoys.
Dobby explains that Dumbledore offered him and Winky jobs. He takes Harry to see Winky, who is sitting near a fire, dressed in a cute little skirt and blouse. Harry greets her, but she bursts into tears. Dobby offers Harry a cup of tea, which he accepts. Instantly, the trio gets served with a tray filled with tea and biscuits. Harry sips on his tea and talks to Dobby.
A Conversation with the Elves
The elf tells him that once he was fired by the Malfoys, he traveled the country for two years looking for work. However, he wanted to be paid now, which made it nearly impossible for any family to want him.”
During this time he went to visit Winky, and found that she had been freed too. Dobby wondered where they could find work for two house elves, and the only thing that came to mind was Hogwarts. Here, Dumbledore was glad to offer Dobby ten Galleons a week, but Dobby didn’t want much and settled for one Galleon per week.
Hermione asks Winky if she is getting paid as well, but she gets offended at the very idea. When Hermione reminds her how horrible Crouch used to treat her, Winky screams at her to not badmouth him. Dobby explains that house elves cannot speak bad about their masters as part of their enslavement. Even though she is not bound to Crouch anymore, Winky is having trouble adjusting to her freedom.
Harry asks Dobby if he can speak his mind about the Malfoys now, but Dobby can only say that they are bad dark wizards. Out of habit, Dobby regrets his statement and starts banging his head on the nearest table, until Harry pulls him off. Winky scrutinizes Dobby for talking badly about his ex-master, and begins to cry once again. She is worried about how Crouch must be doing without her, but Hermione assures her he is fine.
Winky jumps up when she hears that Crouch has been visiting Hogwarts, and calls Bagman a bad wizard when she learns he comes along with Crouch. Why he is a bad wizard, however, she cannot say.
The trio prepares to leave, and the elves bombard them with snacks. Hermione refuses, but Harry and Ron fill up their pockets. Dobby asks if he can visit Harry sometime, and Harry agrees.
The chapter ends as the trio makes its way back from the kitchens. They are curious about the new piece of information that has just surfaced, and wonder what Crouch thinks about Bagman.
