The character of
Dobby is a very important one in the
Harry Potter series, especially in the fourth and currently most recent book
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Dobby is a house-elf, which means that he is in the service of a wizarding family and must obey their orders. A
house-elf can only gain
freedom when his/her
master gives him/her a piece of
clothing; while in bondage, they wear such things as a
tea-towel or
pillowcase for clothes, and may only wear real clothes when freed.
In his first appearance, in
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Dobby attempts to save
Harry from a threat to his life, but ends up repeatedly getting him in trouble instead. Until the end of the book, when
Harry manages to trick
Dobby's master into giving Dobby his freedom, Dobby is the house-elf of the Malfoys (
Draco Malfoy is Harry's worst enemy and his father
Lucius used to be a follower of the ultimate evil,
Lord Voldemort).
In book four, Dobby is employed by the
headmaster of
Harry's school
Hogwarts,
Albus Dumbledore in the kitchen, and is no longer a
slave bound to his master. He feels deeply indebted to
Harry for giving him his freedom and does everything he can to help Harry and his friends
Ron and
Hermione.
This become especially important when
Harry has to find a way to
breathe underwater for over an hour as part of the challenge of the
Goblet of Fire. In this second challenge of the
Triward Tournament, a person who is
near and dear to each competing
witch or
wizard is being held captive by
merpeople in the lake on
Hogwarts grounds, and the object is to rescue them. After all of Harry and his friends' exhaustive
research to find out
how to survive underwater in time to find and save whoever it may be, it is Dobby who finally finds the answer. Dobby obtains the necessary
magical plant on the
morning of the challenge and finds Harry, who had fallen asleep in the
library looking for the
solution, just in time for the start of the challenge.
After
Harry's success (he saves both
Ron and a fellow competitor's sister), he thanks
Dobby by buying him several pairs of
socks, which have become his favourite article of clothing since gaining his
freedom.