Dobby stepped smoothly into the Gray house and breathed a sigh of relief, though he could feel Kreacher's intense gaze burning into his back, making his scalp tingle.
——Kreacher must be thinking that a House-Elf shouldn't behave like a human. But now, he's no longer a servant; he is the free Dobby.
That's what Dobby told himself, calming down a bit, and asked, looking up:
"Mr. Gray, have you seen any strange people recently? Those folks might use kidnapping you to force Mr. Riddle to cooperate... Please think back carefully, it will help us locate Mr. Riddle."
Dobby had thought over this statement the entire way, revising it repeatedly before deciding on the wording, and he blurted it out all at once, his little heart pounding with nervousness.
Friends... and friends' parents...
It was the first time he was being entertained as a "friend" by a wizard's family! Every second of this was historic for Dobby.
The nervous House-Elf didn't notice that after he finished speaking, Ferdinand, who was pouring tea, trembled and spilled the scorching tea.
Constantly wandering, Dobby had no idea that the wizards were actually keeping the Grays in the dark about their son's disappearance. They sent a letter in Vid's name saying that he was staying with a schoolmate during the holiday.
As such things had often happened before, the Grays did not initially suspect anything. It wasn't until Ferdinand found out Vid hadn't returned home for Christmas Eve, and still hadn't contacted them during this time, that he began to suspect the truth.
He tried to talk to Dumbledore or Moody, who lived next door, but he couldn't reach the headmaster or the professors of Hogwarts, and Moody merely warned them not to go out, especially not to Diagon Alley.
The wizard with the Magic Eye came and went quickly, his temper wasn't great, so Ferdinand never found a chance to sit down and talk with him.
In fact, during this time, Moody was staying next door, secretly protecting the Grays, but he pretended not to be home, avoiding Ferdinand while knowing that he wanted to talk.
Moody didn't think Muggles could help much, nor did he intend to discuss Vid's rescue plan with the Grays.
Although the two families had a good relationship, the thought of the tears and questions he might face afterward gave Moody a headache. He was not good at comforting people and couldn't bring himself to lie that "it's alright, we will definitely bring Vid back safe and sound."
The retired Auror was actually quite pessimistic.
He knew how difficult it was to deal with the Witch Pure Party led by Grindelwald and didn't believe they could bring Vid Gray back intact. He was even prepared to use a Forgetfulness Spell to make the Grays completely forget about the Magic World.
After Sirius sent Kreacher to protect them, Moody chose to spend more time on the Order of Phoenix's operations, participating earnestly in the rescue plan, even though he didn't hold out much hope.
Also because Moody, ever suspicious, wasn't home, Dobby hadn't been immediately driven away upon arriving.
Absent-mindedly running in, Dobby was the only link to the Magic World that Ferdinand had come into contact with during this time.
He took a deep breath, wiped the water stains off the countertop, and used this time to calm down his emotions.
Ferdinand placed the red tea on the table in front of Dobby, watching the House-Elf grab it nervously and excitedly as if about to faint. He recalled various characteristics of House-Elves in his mind, deliberating on what to say.
"What's Vid's situation? As parents, not seeing him for such a long time is truly worrying. Can you tell me about the progress of your rescue?"
Ferdinand asked instead of answered, looking at Dobby with earnest eyes.
Dobby panicked for a moment because his investigation had made no progress; his greatest findings were the information overheard by Hogwarts' House-Elf and Michael's analysis.
Hardly knowing how to lie, the House-Elf blurted out all the information he had gathered, muddled by Ferdinand's prompting.
"I see... Grindelwald... and the Witch Pure Party... Vid is in their hands, but nobody knows their whereabouts..."
Ferdinand clasped his hands tightly, restraining the unconscious trembling of his body, only speaking after a while: "Recently, I've been seeing videos related to them on the Flow Mirror every day. So, those attacks are happening? The footage is real?"
"Yes," Dobby nodded honestly.
For a moment, Ferdinand felt cold all over, a shiver running through his body.
Dobby watched him uneasily, worried that he might have said too much.
Ferdinand held onto the table, slowly stood up, and said, "Please come with me, Mr. Dobby."
Dobby quickly stood up, saying, "Dobby! Please... just call me Dobby!"
He quietly followed Ferdinand into the study, watching as the man pulled up a huge curtain and then opened his eyes wide in surprise.
The once entirely white wall was now covered with clippings and photos, red and green lines and circles overlapping like a huge transit map, which is dizzying at a first glance.
Ferdinand said calmly, "I noticed recently that some Dark Wizards have been frequently attacking Muggle dignitaries, exposing those dignitaries as having been involved in human trafficking, human experimentation, and other illegal activities, so I spent money hiring people to collect newspapers from Europe and America over the years and conducted a detailed data analysis."