Dobby is the house elf in the series of books, Harry Potter. Perhaps Pseudo's write-up gives some insight on how to predict what Dobby was doing for Harry in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (This word being slang for good, J.K. Rowling being knowledgable enough to give hints by this form). You would have at first thought Dobby to be evil, preventing Harry from getting to school, calling the Dementors on him at his Quidditch games, in general, being a huge pain in the ass for him.

He was owned by the Malfoy family but after Lucius Malfoy gave him a sock in The Chamber of Secrets, Dobby was free again. Later in Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, Dobby is seen working at Hogwart's in the kitchen.

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.

Dob"by (?), n. (Weaving)

An apparatus resembling a Jacquard for weaving small figures (usually about 12 - 16 threads, seldom more than 36 - 40 threads).

 

© Webster 1913

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