Early in the morning, the bedroom was still pitch-black. Half-asleep, Wade suddenly felt someone watching him.
In the dormitory where he was alone, that чужой gaze felt especially conspicuous.
Wade groggily opened his eyes and suddenly saw a row of enormous, glittering eyes in the darkness, like little lanterns floating in midair.
Thud!
His heart convulsed violently. Wade jerked upright and instinctively grabbed his Wand, pointing it ahead. "Who's there?!"
"Mr. Gray is awake." A House-elf's shrill voice rang out. "Zoe knew Mr. Gray would return to the castle today. Zoe has been waiting."
Slender fingers snapped in the air, and the oil lamps in the dormitory immediately lit up—
Three House-elves stood side by side in the middle of the room. Completely unaware of how frightening it was to appear like that in the middle of the night, they watched Wade with warm smiles.
Wade felt as though his pounding heart had nearly slammed his ribs sore. He took a deep breath. His icy fingers gradually warmed, though his scalp still tingled as if jolted by electricity.
"Zoe, Hobby, Phil." Wade tried to keep his voice calm. "It's been a long time—you suddenly showed up in the middle of the night because...?"
The elves bowed deeply, their large ears swaying as they happily said:
"It was like this—at Christmas, Phil received another gift from Wade Grey—"
"But Wade Grey must have noticed—he did not receive Hobby's gift—"
"It was not that there was no gift, but that Zoe had prepared something better—"
"Phil wanted to give Wade Grey the gift he truly wanted. But what did Wade Grey want? Phil thought and thought—"
"While cleaning Ravenclaw Tower, Hobby overheard the first-years talking, and then Hobby finally understood—"
The three House-elves wore delighted smiles and said in unison, "Wade Grey