"Dead?"

Harry asked, blankly,

"But why?"

In fact, they don't need to answer Dobby, they can figure it out themselves. The house-elf that had fallen on the table looked very old, its skin covered in layers of folds much worse than Sirius's Kreacher, and the length of its white fur was the most exaggerated Harry had ever seen.

"Shouldn't we—"

Hermione would have forgotten about what Tim and Dobby had learned, and her voice was fluttering, and as you can imagine, she was a little overwhelmed in the face of this sudden situation,

"Are you calling Professor Brian?"

The first person that came to Hermione's mind in the confusion was Professor Bryan, after all, she had worked with Professor Brian to save Riga and Winter.

However, both Harry and Ron were a little unsure of what to do with the current situation, and they wondered who was to blame for the death of the house-elf.

But then, something surprising happened.

Rega beside them, Dobby and Winter, and even Twinkle, who had been immersed in being swept away, stopped crying at this time, and slowly got up and walked towards the elf, and the busy elves in the kitchen also put down their work and rushed to the elf's side.

There was no one to command, but the elves showed a high degree of order, and they gathered around the table, staring with respectful eyes at the elf whose breath of life had left its shell.

"Oh, they're—"

The atmosphere was solemn, and Ron whispered,

"I'm surprised that they're supposed to be paying homage to it, I didn't think they would care about it!"

"That certainly illustrates—" the light in Hermione's brown eyes hardened, "they're no different from us, and they grieve the loss of their companions."

Hermione was about to say something, but then the house-elves started singing.

Like the lamentation that appeared at the funeral of a wizard when he died, the house-elves hummed a melody full of sadness, and the melody was melodious and ancient, not at all like the music that was practiced in the wizarding and Muggle worlds today.

"It's their tradition, isn't it?"

Ron said in amazement,

"You see, Dobby and Twinkle can sing, even Dom. It's probably the same as house-elves who are born to work. ”

Hermione glanced at Ron and motioned for him to shut up.

Truth be told, it's a fantastic scene. The people in the castle could not have imagined that while they were sleeping, a large house-elf funeral was going on in the kitchen of Hogwarts. Harry remembered that in his second year, Nick, who was almost headless, invited the three of them to his 500th birthday, and it was a terrible experience.

After about two minutes, the lamentation stopped, and the house-elf bowed to the dead elf.

"This is the highest etiquette for house-elves, sir, miss--"

The solemn atmosphere dissipated a little, and Dobby, who was standing in front of them, turned his head and whispered to them,

"Only those house-elves who have served the wizards diligently all their lives can receive this honor after their death--"

Dobby looked a little sad, its lips pursed but it didn't speak, and Harry knew very well that Dobby was probably grieving for himself, and that an elf like it with wages and holidays was a shame in the eyes of his companions, and certainly not a diligent one.

Hermione expressed her displeasure with Dobby's statement.

"What are you going to do next?" Ron gave Hermione a cautious look and whispered, "You're not going to bury it in the kitchen, are you?" ”

If the house-elves really do. Ron shuddered violently, he couldn't imagine that the delicious meal he enjoyed every day was made in the graveyard of the house-elves.

"Oh, no, sir—" Dobby shook his head, "house-elves don't bury their dead kind like wizards, we're ordinary, oh, they're coming—"

The two house-elves closest to the long table lifted the deceased fellow off-the-table table, and then, with great tacit understanding, the elves stepped back to make way for the elves, and Harry quickly retreated to the edge of the stove, trying not to disturb the elves' ritual.

As the three Harry watched, the elves carried the corpse to the large fireplace where they had just spoken.

"Oh-"

Hermione frowned,

"Isn't it rude to use a fireplace if you use cremation, you should bring it to the grounds above, and then inform the people in the castle. Professor Dumbledore, Professor Bryan or Professor McGonagall, they are the Headmaster and Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts, they should have at least one. Yes! ”

Hermione let out a frightened scream before she finished speaking, and the two boys, Ron was so frightened by the next scene that he almost jumped onto the fireplace, and Harry even took out his wand and aimed it at the two elves, his face turned blue with anger!

Harry had thought that the two elves would send their deceased fellows to the fireplace to burn them, which was unacceptable enough to burn garbage, but unexpectedly, one of the two elves suddenly snapped his fingers!

A silver light flashed over the corpse that was red in the light of the fire, and gurgling. Boom!

The head of an old, lifeless house-elf fell to the ground, gurgling and rolling several times before landing at Winter's feet. And the headless body, as the three Harry had expected, was thrown into the fireplace.

"What are you doing?" Harry screamed angrily, "Why did you take its head!" ”

Harry pointed his wand at the hand-held elf, ready to ask for an explanation, but Dobby tugged at Harry's robe.

"Sir!" Dobby gestured to Harry in silence and winked at him, "This is also the tradition of house-elves, sir, only house-elves who work diligently and do their duty for wizards can be honored after death." ”

Harry's face flushed all at once, this habit was ridiculously overdone!

Maybe it was a coincidence, Riga and Tum were standing together, Wintermu seemed to be frightened by the head at his feet, it stared at the head in a daze, its eyes kept flashing, and strangely, Riga was looking at Tum with encouraging eyes.

Without being taught, Tim slowly bent down and picked up the head, which was still bleeding out.

"What are you doing, Tonm!" Hermione exclaimed, "Throw that head away. I mean, put it down! ”

To Hermione's astonishment, for the first time since she was born, Tim resisted her orders, staring at her holding the head with respect in her eyes.

"I'll show you the way--"

Rriga whispered, then, with a warring glance at its fellow species, and pushed them away from Winter.

"It's also an honor, Miss Granger, it's hard for a newborn elf to resist that honor, Miss Granger--"

(End of chapter)