Zhang Xiao looked with mixed feelings at the seven dejected house-elves standing before him.
A ring of Hogwarts house-elves had gathered around them to watch, pointing at the seven outsiders.
There was actually a hint of pride in their voices and expressions.
The outsiders' scrawny bodies and unhealthy complexions showed how poorly they lived. Half of them did not even have anything decent to wear.
They had simply wrapped themselves in what looked like discarded clothing and unwanted scraps of cloth.
"You're saying Dobby wrote to you a few days ago?"
The oldest-looking house-elf nodded miserably, cast Zhang Xiao a frightened glance, and stammered in a small voice:
"Honored sir, y-yes.
"We're just unwanted elves who lost our masters, or grew up out in the world.
"Dobby usually looked after us. He brought us food the masters had thrown away. Before he left, he wrote asking us to help him with something. We felt we ought to repay him, so we came."
These house-elves were remarkably honest. Zhang Xiao found that they answered whatever he asked, holding absolutely nothing back.
The elf handed over what looked like a scrap torn from a discarded piece of parchment. Zhang Xiao took it and saw there were no words on it. That made sense; most house-elves could neither read nor write.
There was only a large sun and some very crude figures made of circles and lines.
They looked like stick figures, with a horizontal line beneath them. Were these supposed to be wizards riding broomsticks? And what did the sun mean?
Besides those, there was also-
The house-elves could understand a drawing this abstract?
"Honored wizard, sir, the sun represents Hogwarts. It's the place every house-elf dreams of! It represents hope!"
Having explained, the elf living in the wild looked enviously around