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Mibney was a good house elf. She tidied her masters home, kept away the vermin, tormented his enemies, and always prepared tea in his preferred manner. Two sugars and a spoon full of honey, then cooled so he wouldn’t scald his tongue. Her master had even recognized her efforts and had given her a 'House Elf of the Year (2004)’ award in the form of a badge last Christmas.
Really she liked to think she went above and beyond, well as much as she could with a master who lived in an apartment and insisted on paying her a wage. Ridiculous really, what would she do with the stacks of galleons that he gave her? She had already procured an array of assorted earrings and hats that was far more substantial than any of her friends. But she humored him and stowed the rest away. Her master was a strange one, but he was kind, so she took to using her galleons to ease his way in life a bit. Replacing his old Auror boots after having to mend them for the twelfth time being one of them. Another was the purchasing and planting of a dark wizard thingy in the home of one the Aurors that had made her master cry once. Mibney wouldn’t regret it either because her master had looked so relieved to not have to deal with the pesky man again. Dull stuff really.
But the day SHE came, everything changed. It was like Mibney had a new lease on life. She had thought her young master had plans on turning old and decrepit all alone until he brought her home. Though she was a strange one, with the wildest hair and the most ragged wardrobe she had ever seen, and the storm outside had soaked her to the bone, Mibney wasn't sure of her at first. But if she was the one who could make her young master blush and stutter like a school boy again, who was she to argue? So she made sure warm towels were presented by her hopeless master, her shoes were dried and patched up, as well as her coat cleaned. Mibney couldn’t be held responsible for the discovery and disappearance of a particular sugar free mint wrapper from one of the coat pockets and the copy that was made of the girl's to do list.
Master Draco was useless with girls it seemed because he let her leave without so much as a hint of his interest towards her. It was after the third such visit that Mibney began to intervene. He was her master, and it was her duty to ensure he was cared for in all things, even in love.
At first Mibney kept her intervention small. She began to purchase the sweets the bushy haired girl (who she knew finally learned was named Hermione) preferred and slid a few of them into his Auror robes every morning, and kept a dish of them in his study where she would come in from the floo. She would make sure that her master’s to do list would have a few matched items with the girl’s, and found success when they would return for a short visit for tea that would stretch late into the evening. She would ensure that his clothes were always the kind that flattered and brought out his grey eyes, even if he snarled about preferring to wear all black (Mibney disagreed, Miss Hermione always looked at him a little longer when he wore his blue robes). After these small changes she had never seen her master more cheerful! It was all going according to plan…until it wasn’t.
Mibney was a patient elf, but after three months of only tea, shared sugar free mints, and discussions of dusty old books once or twice a week she decided more action was necessary. After all her master was absolutely beside himself with his feelings, the torn up attempts of poems he threw into the fire were proof of it. She had to give him credit though, he could at least recognize how terrible they were and saved her the trouble of intercepting them on his behalf.
Regardless, Mibney was not an elf of words, poems, or books. She was a house elf of action and she was aiming to be 'House Elf of the Year’ again, even if her master never knew of her efforts.
Mibney decided some reconnaissance was necessary to ensure her eventual victory. Gaining entry to Miss Hermione's home was easy enough, but the tricky bit was gaining the trust and cooperation of her strangely grumpy yet intelligent orange fur ball. His formal title was "Earnest Antoine Theowald Blickley the III ", but he permitted Mibney to call him his cat title of ‘Sir Crookshanks' once peace had been brokered. It was an expensive deal that required Mibney to concoct cat treats formed of some rather rare ingredients but it was worth it in the end as Sir Crookshanks was a wellspring of information. Miss Hermione had a fondness for an ugly mustard yellow color, had a terrible habit of working incredibly late hours, stored her diary in the third drawer of her desk, had two sworn enemies at work, and preferred sugar free treats at desert. Most importantly Mibney discovered that Miss Hermione was most passionate about books. Ridiculous things those, but it was a good sign. Her master was the same, and would spend hours upon hours staring at and playing with the things.
So she made sure that a book from Master Draco’s study would “accidentally” find its way into the pile that Miss Hermione would tuck back into her ugly little bag. Miss Hermione would then need to visit again to return the book and the visit would last for hours.
But still her master wouldn’t make his move.
It was almost enough to make her mad, but she liked a challenge. She was 'House Elf of the Year (2004)' after all and she would do what was necessary. Mibney converted her room (a closet off the spare bedroom) into her base of operations, taking notes, marking her map, and meeting with her co-conspirators (the ginger cat and a few of the house elfs that knew Miss Hermione personally). She planned, she interviewed other house elfs, she investigated, she watched. Mibney found out everything she could about Miss Hermione, her passion for creatures both benign and malicious, her fondness for two other boys that thankfully did not view her romantically (otherwise Mibney would need to take drastic action), as well as many other things. Most importantly she confirmed that the young woman did indeed return the feelings of her master.
It was a work of genius placing the grindylow in her Master’s bathtub, Miss Hermione loved the things and had been trying to pass laws regarding them for months. As expected Master Draco called for her immediately upon discovering the creature and it resulted in a late night conversation which led to them both falling asleep on the couch. Now Mibney could not be blamed for making sure that they awoke cuddled up to one another and sharing the same mustard yellow blanket. It was practically a reward for all of her hard work grappling the grindylow and getting it there in the first place. However, Mibney’s victory was short lived as both of them blushed like idiots and no love confessions were made before Miss Hermione disappeared in the floo.
Ridiculous.
When it seemed her Master was finally putting himself out there, or was trying to at least, Mibney’s role changed from instigating to intercepting. He had good intentions, he really did, but he was absolutely useless as a man. He wrote down Miss Hermione's birthday, dates of her expected wizegmont trials, and all manner of things and then promptly lost the little notepad he kept it on. Master Draco had lost it while wrestling a vampire in some dark woods somewhere and of course Mibney had to recover it. Missing an important date this early in the game would be disastrous. It was gruesome work really, dealing with vampires and dark wizards, but they never thought to look down long enough to see what was responsible for tripping and maiming them. It was the work of an entire afternoon to get it back and put the dates onto the more secure calendar on his desk, but it took a week to get the smell of vampire out of her nose. They always smelled so dusty and it made her sneeze. Her master had even inquired if she had a cold and if she would need a few days off which she refused of course. He was the best Master she could dream of serving and it was enough to renew her energy towards earning a ‘House Elf of the Year (2005)’ badge.
For a while it seemed her work was meant to be much less exciting. Ensuring he bought her roses (her favorite) instead of lilies for her birthday. Making sure he knew how Miss Hermione preferred her most recently acquired tea blend (courtesy of Crookshanks). Preventing him from owling her obscene and explicit love letters that he wrote after he and his friends were bottles deep in fire whiskey. It was all rather dull compared to working through a den of vampires, but love was a slow thing and Mibney was patient.
Mostly.
Did the floo happen to break during one Miss. Hermione’s visits? Yes.
Did the one good poem he wrote escape the fire and end up where she could find it? Yes.
Did Miss. Hermione happen to “trip” and “fall” into Master Draco? Yes.
Had Mibney slipped a bit of firewhiskey into her master’s drink to give him the confidence to finally confess? Most definitely.
Her master was good and kind, and he was finally becoming a wizard worth his salt. He finally had a date with Miss Hermione, which he wrote onto his calendar himself.
It was all worth it, for a year after she first received it, Mibney was awarded a ‘House Elf of the Year (2005)’ badge from both her Master Draco and Mistress Hermione on Christmas.