Written for Caesar's Palace Shipping Week with prompt pets.

After Winky had been dismissed by her master, Dobby invited her to work with him at Hogwarts. He had thought that a new employer, especially one as kind as Dumbledore, would be exactly what Winky needed. Instead, she divided her free time between drinking and crying.

At first, Dobby had tried to reassure his fellow house-elf. He had offered her a pair of his socks, explained to her why he thought she was better off without the Crouches, and tried to help her find an alternative to butterbeer. But when these things seemed to do nothing but make Winky feel worse, Dobby tried a new approach.

After nearly a month of the same series of events, Dobby finally changed his tune. One day, just after the house-elves had finished cooking dinner, Dobby asked, "Winky?"

"Dobby? What is Dobby wanting?"

"Dobby is wanting Winky to explain to him why Winky is thinking that the Crouches is so great." said Dobby.

"Winky is ashamed that she is being freed," Winky replied. "Winky tells you that already."

"Is that having to do with Winky's master himself?" asked Dobby.

"Of course it is, Dobby. Winky is a bad and disgraced house-elf, so her master is sacking her. Mr. Crouch is not needing a bad house-elf." All of this talk about Winky's recent exit from servitude was making her miserable.

"Dobby asks Winky to think about it," Dobby positioned himself so that he was looking into Winky's enormous brown eyes. "How many happy memories is Winky having with her master?"

Winky allowed herself to search through her memories. She remembered being a much younger house-elf and having to allow her master's son to pull on her ears, even though it hurt. She remembered her mistress, back when she was alive, fawning over her son for breathing but never giving Winky a second thought. Winky relayed her memories to Dobby.

"You sees now?" Dobby finally came up with a way of explaining this to Winky. "The Crouches is treating Winky like this and the Malfoys is treating Dobby like this…"

"That is how a master is treating his house-elf, Dobby." said Winky. "We may not be liking it, but we is just having to accept it."

"We is not having to accept it, Winky! Winky and Dobby are alike in that their masters treats them like pets…"

"Like pets?"

"A house-elf is not being a pet, but sometimes masters do not remember this. They treats us like animals, but they is forcing us to stay in their home and be disregarded this way. You is not having to accept this life, Winky. You is allowed to be free, and you is allowed to enjoy being free!"

Perhaps it was Dobby's words, or perhaps it was the confident manner in which he said them, but a few other house-elves seemed to be listening in on what he had to say. One or two even appeared to be seriously contemplating what he had said.

"The point is," Dobby said. "a house-elf is being treated badly by many masters, Winky. But Winky is not there anymore, and Winky deserves better than that. All house-elves deserves better than that."

"Is Dobby sure?" asked Winky.

Somehow, Winky knew the other elf's reply before he gave it.

"Dobby is sure."

In honor of Dobby, reviews is always appreciated.