Dobby's history

[Florence]

No: HPFGUIDX 21564

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., vayabe at y... wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Allison" <nosillaps13 at y...> wrote:
> > Florence wrote:
> > > I just had a wild idea that perhaps Dobby (or his father/mother) 
> > had 
> > > previously belonged to the Potters and was relocated to the 
> Malfoys 
> > > after the Godrics Hollow massacre.
> > > 
> > > James Potter was from an old wizarding family and might have 
> owned 
> > a 
> > > house elf?  Could this explain why Dobby is such a fan of Harry?
> > 
> > 
> > Maybe, but I doubt it.  Dobby says he is a fan of Harry's because 
> > Harry's defeat of V. changed the way house-elves were treated, 
> Dobby 
> > himself being the exception.  
> > 
> > And in the 4th book, doesn't Winky say her mother and her 
> grandmother 
> > both served the Crouches?  I think house-elves probably get one 
> > family (or school or business, like Hogwarts) and that family 
> serves 
> > it until they're released or fired.
> > 
> > Allison
> 
>   Which raises the question of who Winky's father was and, for that 
> matter, the one of how house elves reproduce seing as there rarely 
> seems to be more than one elf per household. Do their masters get 
> them to breed or do they only have one parent ?
>   As for Dobby once being the Potter's elf, I like the idea but 
> wouldn't the shame of surviving his familly drive even an 
> unconventional elf to suicide ? Besides, hell, high water and 
> Dumbledore combined wouldn't have kept him from Harry for so long in 
> that case.
>  
> Alice

Yes, You're probably right.  It all depends if the House elf 
relocation department can actually break the old bond and bind an elf 
to its new family.  It would explain where Dobby got his values from 
though don't you think?

As far as house elf reproduction goes, I think it happens in the usual 
way (you do have male/female elves after all).  I guess the elf 
children get relocated to new families when they're old enough and 
traditionally the family owning the mother would keep the oldest 
female (maybe the oldest Male goes to the fathers family).  I suspect 
that they either don't have large families or they don't get the 
chance to breed very often, otherwise house elves would be much more 
plentiful, cheap and Mrs Weasley could have one.


Florence