After muttering to herself, the little girl saw that Herman still had not answered and said irritably, "Hurry up and tell me what you want. Just so we're clear, children aren't allowed to drink!"
Looking at the little girl before him, Herman felt sure he had seen her in the movies, but he could not remember where. Since he could not remember, he simply stopped troubling himself over it and said, "I'd like to book a room."
"A room? Do we still have any vacancies?" The little girl looked equally puzzled, clearly unfamiliar with that part of the business.
But she soon seemed to remember something. She hurried to the end of the bar, went around behind it, then hopped onto a bar stool like an agile little monkey and began looking through the register. "Let me see. Room 304 is still empty. It's one Galleon a night, breakfast included. How many days will you be staying?"
"Hang on, let me check the dates." Herman thought for a moment. School started on September first, and it was July twenty-third now. Thirty-seven days would be just right.
"Thirty-seven days. Until term starts at Hogwarts."
"Term starts? You're a new student this year too? So am I," the little girl asked casually upon hearing his words.
"Yes. My name's Herman Horace. What's yours?"
"Hannah Abbott. Come on, I'll take you to your room."
With that, Hannah nimbly jumped off the stool, tossed her apron aside, and set off running toward the pub stairs with Herman.
Only then did Herman react, hurrying after her as he thought, So she's not some ordinary minor character. She's got quite a background. This is Hogwarts' very own hereditary prince.
Just then, a regular in the distance finished his drink and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Little Abbott, another bottle of Butterbeer!"
"Go ask old Tom!" Hannah called back without turning her head.
Herman could not help laughing at the sight. This little girl really was interesting. He kept following the skipping Hannah upstairs.
As they climbed the stairs, Herman increasingly felt as though he had walked into a shady medieval inn. The corridor was dark and damp, as though it concealed countless unknown secrets. Strange sounds occasionally drifted through doors that offered no soundproofing whatsoever, as though some bizarre ritual were taking place.
Herman could not help considering that he still had quite a bit of money tucked inside his clothes. Perhaps he should simply find a hotel in London instead. Surely anything would be better than this sinister place.
Before Herman could make up his mind, Hannah had already led him to the door of room 304. She pulled a large bronze-colored key from her sleeve and inserted it into the lock. With a series of creaks, the battered wooden door slowly opened.
An instant later, a choking cloud of dust hit them in the face. "Cough, cough."
Hannah, who was in front, choked and coughed several times in succession. Once she finally stopped coughing, she looked apologetically at Herman, who was waiting behind her to move in. "Sorry. Things have probably been so busy lately that Kerry forgot to clean the room. Just wait a moment."
Looking at the dust-covered room, which seemed to have been sealed away for ages, Herman felt even more strongly that he would be better off staying at a Muggle hotel.
Though it would cost a little more, he did not have many Galleons left, either. Until he exchanged more money, it would be best to spend them sparingly.
But before he could speak, Hannah had already shouted at the top of her lungs, "Kerry, come clean the room!"
As Hannah's shout ended, a house-elf appeared a short distance from them with a pop, still holding a frying pan with a fish frying in it.
The house-elf had barely found his footing before he hurried over to Hannah with the frying pan and said respectfully, "Little mistress, what are your orders?"
"Clean this room first, then bring this guest clean toiletries."
Hannah gave her instructions in an orderly manner. Upon hearing the orders, the house-elf gently waved his free hand toward the room. All the dust instantly gathered into a little whirlwind, flew straight out of the room, and obediently settled into the rubbish bin around the corner.
Next, the sheets and pillows on the bed began changing themselves, as though controlled by invisible hands.
The cupboard seemed to receive instructions too. Its doors opened, and brand-new supplies flew out.
The tables, chairs, and stools swayed from side to side as they moved themselves into suitable positions. After just a dozen or so seconds, the entire room looked as good as new. Even the windows opened automatically, and a fierce gust of wind swept through, thoroughly airing out the room.
In an instant, apart from the slightly outdated furnishings, the room had somehow taken on the overall atmosphere of a retro-themed hotel.
Herman immediately changed his mind at the sight. He would stay here. Just then, Hannah added, "There's a bell by the bed. If you need anything, ring it and have Kerry take care of it. But Kerry's quite busy, so sometimes my grandfather Tom might come instead."
After speaking to Herman, Hannah could not help grumbling again. "If only we had a few more house-elves. They could help with all the work in the pub too."
At Hannah's words, Kerry went deathly pale and began sobbing. "I'm sorry, little mistress. It's all because Kerry is too stupid, too slow, too useless." As he spoke, he actually made to throw away the frying pan in his hand and bang his head against the wall.
Hannah hurriedly shouted to stop him. "Stop! Go straight back to the kitchen and work!" Upon hearing the order, Kerry vanished like a gust of wind while charging toward the wall, narrowly avoiding crashing into it.
Hannah sighed helplessly. "No wonder Mum and Dad don't want house-elves. Having them do things is exhausting. Say one wrong word and they try to hurt themselves. But there aren't any more in the family anyway. Kerry's our family's last house-elf. We mustn't get any more after this."
Herman did not share Hannah's lofty awareness. After hearing her words, he asked tentatively, "Um, in that case, there's no need to wait until later. Would you sell this house-elf now?"
Unfortunately, Herman did not end up getting a house-elf of his own.
Leaving aside whether the price was within Herman's means, even if he could afford it, the kindhearted Hannah would absolutely refuse to sell.
After all, under ordinary circumstances, when their master passed away, house-elves could peacefully accept their next master. House-elves without masters would search desperately for new ones.
However, house-elves whose masters deliberately sold them would fall into deep self-doubt, constantly wondering whether some failing on their part had caused their masters to abandon them. In such cases, they would most likely choose to atone with their deaths.
Of course, there were exceptions to everything, but Hannah and her family really did not want to take that risk. They could only choose a gradual transition and wait for the family's house-elf to pass away naturally.
Yet clearly, even the long-lived old Tom probably would not outlive Kerry the house-elf.