The naive House-elf never doubted Adam's words and let him take Dobby away with ease. Adam then openly used an Illusion Card to bring Dobby to the Room of Requirement.
"Wake up~"
He tapped the oak barrel with the Wand of Darkness. Dobby poked his head out, his eyes lighting up.
It had woken up on the way, but the Lock Card had kept it trapped inside the barrel. Now that it could come out, did that mean—?!
Yet the next moment, Dobby remained where it was.
"Don't bother trying. The seal's range has merely expanded from the oak barrel to this room."
After thinking for a few seconds, Dobby crawled out of the barrel and gave Adam a trembling bow.
"Honored sir, may Dobby ask why you wanted to see him?"
"That diary is in my hands now."
Adam looked at Dobby and got straight to the point, taking out the diary with only four pages left. At the sight of it, Dobby's bulb-like eyes widened even further.
"So you no longer need to protect Harry Potter."
Adam's feelings were a little complicated as he said this, since Dobby's protection had only produced the opposite effect so far.
"Oh, heavens! Harry Potter has been saved!"
Dobby jumped up and down excitedly, then suddenly began crying out.
"Dobby does not need to disobey his master anymore! Bad Dobby! Dobby is an unworthy House-elf!"
As it spoke, Dobby slammed its head violently against the floor.
Adam froze. Only then did he remember that Dobby's eventual freedom had actually come about through a rather accidental chain of events. Under the current circumstances, Old Malfoy probably would not come to Hogwarts... In other words, Dobby would have to keep working for the Malfoy family for nothing.
But it did not seem like much