NOTE: This story was originally published in Wizarding World Short Stories for and only for the Deathly Hallows Challenge 

Snobby the House Elf called himself Snobby the Great because he truly believed he was great. He was the greatest great to ever be. He spoke about himself in the first person, rarely showed up for work at the Malfoy Manor and more than anything, loved to eat chocolate. Snobby had grown up in the Manor with his brother, Dobby, who was always telling him to just be himself and fight for freedom. Snobby took his brother's words to heart, so when Dobby died, he vowed to avenge his brother's death. For a year Snobby tried to move on with his life without a brother until one day, while searching the house of the great Harry Potter with fellow house elf Zakrey, he found something of interest.

"It's the cloak of invisibility!" Snobby jumped up and down excitedly while showing Zakrey. He put the cloak over his head and suddenly disappeared. Zakrey shrieked in fright.

"Where did Snobby go?" Zakrey trembled. "Where is Snobby? Zakrey cannot find him and Zakrey is scared."

"Here I am, Zakrey," Snobby announced, the cloak flying into the air as he threw it. Zakrey heaved a huge sigh of relief.

"Zakrey does not like that cloak. That cloak is trouble and Zakrey thinks that Snobby should put it back where it goes." Snobby rolled his eyes and mimicked Zakrey causing him to frown.

"Oh c'mon Zakrey, it'll be fun. A nice change of pace for you," he added causing Zakrey to frown even harder, although he did nod in agreement. So, Snobby put the cloak in a little pouch on his side (it was expanded by use of elf magic) and dragged Zakrey out the door.

"Where do you two think you're going? You said you were staying and I don't want Malfoy angry with me for loosing his elf!"

"Aw shut it Potter. I have places to go, people to see, in other words, I have important things to do unlike SOME people I could choose to mention." Harry Potter leaped in front of the door to block Snobby from leaving, but Snobby cast a house elf spell that sent Harry Potter's wand flying into the air the same way a disarming charm would. Snobby then grabbed Zakrey again and continued to race away.

"Where is Snobby taking Zakrey?" he screeched. Snobby was running so quickly it was hard to get a word out.

"We need to find some information because I think I remember hearing someone say something about this cloak and some other objects, but I can't be sure." He then decided to mimic an even squeakier than his normal voice "Hermione" voice and say, "when in doubt go to the library." He then disapparated, pulling Zakrey along with him.

They reappeared inside the Hogwarts library directly on top of the head of Hermione Granger who screamed immediately at the sight of them and then continued to hop back and forth on her feet as though she was in dire need of a trip to the bathroom. "What are you doing here?" she asked the two elves. Her voice was stern but a little higher than usual making it less effective. Snobby rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"One could ask you the same Miss Hermione Granger. What exactly are you doing here in the library at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?"

"Well," Hermione started, "I was up doing some reading in the Gryffindor common room when I came across this footnote that blond, Slytherin boys have a higher tendency of falling in love with green apples while brunettes prefer the yellow ones and gingers prefer your normal apple and I started wondering how this could possibly be because there are the least yellow apples but the most brunettes in the world and the small percent of gingers couldn't possibly need all the red apples there are so many varieties so I came to the library to see if this were true and so far—"

"Ok thats absolutely lovely Miss Hermione Granger," Snobby interrupted calmly, "however, SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME DOESN'T ACTUALLY GIVE A DAMN ABOUT SOMETHING AS INFERIOR AS STUPID SLYTHERIN BOYS CRUSHING ON APPLES, FOR DOBBY'S SAKE!" He shouted the last bit so loudly that poor Zakrey had to cover his ears and Madam Pince, the librarian, picked Snobby up by the ears and marched him out of the library while telling him to "shut it." Hermione rolled her eyes and while holding the shaking elf's hand walked out of the library to meet Snobby once more.

"Are you ready to be civil now, Snobby?" She asked. The still fuming elf took a deep breath and his entire body calmed. He nodded his head to show he had calmed down. "Ok. What are two elves like you doing in the library at Hogwarts?" Snobby opened his mouth to speak, but Hermione then asked specifically to hear from Zakrey.

"Well Mistress Hermione Granger," he started, accompanied by a deep bow, "Snobby was with Zakrey at the house of Harry Potter. Then, Snobby found this cloak—"

"Zakrey, SHUT IT!" Snobby screamed at the top of his voice. "You're going to give us away!" Hermione raised her eyebrows in curiosity. "What I meant to say was: what was that story about the cloak and the two other objects?"

"The Deathly Hallows, you mean?" Hermione asked, quickly falling into her famous encyclopedia mode. "There are three objects to make one the master of death. One is Harry's elder wand, the most powerful wand in the world. The current owner has to have defeated the previous owner in some way and besides, the wand is currently residing under the bridge at Hogwarts. To be the true owner, though, you'd need to beat Harry in some way." Snobby raised his eyebrows at that. "The second is the resurrection stone which is in the Forbidden Forest. It brings back anyone from the dead world, but not fully. The last is Harry's invisibility cloak. I trust you know already what that does. Oh, Snobby, you may find this extremely interesting, but I found out that apparently because house elves have special magic if one has two of the three hallows they will be led to the third one through some sort of magic that I don't quite understand yet."

"Thank you for that information. Let's get going Zakrey," and they disapparate once more, this time reappearing on the bridge.

"Snobby?" Zakrey asks tentatively. Snobby looks at his friend and waits for him to continue. "Zakrey is too scared so Zakrey thinks he will be returning home now. Good luck, Snobby." Before Snobby can say anything, his best friend is gone and he is left on his own.

Snobby took the invisibility cloak out and tied it to himself like a parachute. Once he is satisfied with his safety, he leaped off the bridge and into the valley below. A small ravine ran through it and as Snobby is fell through the air he found a good, dry place to land and positioned himself for landing. When he hit the ground it was a little harder than expected, so he made a tumble into the ravine. Luckily for Snobby it was a calm day in the ravine so he was able to swim to the edge and climb out quickly. As he climbed up onto a rock structure he grabbed onto a stick. As he threw the stick over his shoulder he realized it was in fact not a stick, but the wand he had been searching for. He leaped back down, grabbed the wand, and screamed, "I FOUND THE ELDER WAND. I AM SNOBBY, MASTER OF DEATH! Well...almost," his proclamation died down as he realized there was no one to hear him. He apparated again up to the Forbidden Forest.

"This had better work," Snobby grumbled to himself as he put on the cloak and held out the wand. Suddenly, Snobby felt a pull, a magical pull inside his brain. He couldn't explain why, but he decided to walk in a certain direction, deep into the dark forest. His legs moved without him having any control over them as he screamed in protest. Suddenly he stopped moving as the cloak and wand both lit up. Suddenly struck with realization Snobby drops to the forest floor and starts digging. He threw average rocks, sticks, and leaves everywhere until finally succeeding in finding what he was looking for: the Resurrection Stone. Snobby closed his eyes and turned the stone over thrice in his hand while wishing hard.

"Snobby?" An echo of a voice that once was fills the elf's ears. He opens his eyes and sees...

"Dobby?"

"Yes Snobby, it is in fact Dobby. Can Dobby ask what Dobby is doing here? Dobby is dead."

"No Dobby, you are not dead. You are back here in the living world with me," Snobby almost pleaded. "Please."

"No. Dobby is dead. Dobby knows this is true because Dobby is Dobby and Dobby died."

"No..."Snobby sobs.

"Dobby regrets leaving Dobby's brother and best friend, Snobby, but Dobby had to leave for the noble cause of Harry Potter. Dobby is very sorry, but Dobby must go now. Please release Dobby back to the land of the dead."

"Dobby. No I won't. Dobby I love you!" As Snobby screamed and the tears cascaded down his face, the echo of Dobby smiled and a single tear rolled down his cheek.

"Have some chocolate, Snobby. Then please do what is right. Dobby loved you very much. Very much Dobby did." Snobby seized up every muscle in his body and squeezed his eyes shut. With much effort he dropped the stone back into the dirt and ran out of the Forbidden Forest. As he was leaving, he could have sworn he heard his brother say, "I love you," and "thank you," but he knew it was just a figment of his imagination for Dobby didn't speak like that.

Once he got to the end of the woods he ran to the bridge and hurled the elder wand as far as he could. Immediately after, he apparated to the Potter house, returned the cloak, and ran sobbing into Zakrey's arms. Zakrey asked Snobby if he had become "The Master of Death," to which Snobby responded, "no elf as selfish as I deserves that title," and continued to cry for many hours until Harry Potter came to see what was the matter, held Snobby in his arms, and cried with him over the loss of a great brother, elf, friend...and eat chocolate.