"What were you doing?" Harry asked curiously, trying to imagine how he could possibly have gotten so dirty so quickly.
"Dobby's cleaning the floo, sir!" Dobby's white teeth seemed to shine as he smiled.
"By climbing up it?" he asked with a grin of his own.
"Of course," Hermione said, and for a second Harry thought she was answering his question. "House-elves can hear their name."
She then turned to a spot near Dobby and called for an elf of her own; Mipsy appeared with another pop! drawing a surprised look from the other elf.
"Good morning, Miss Knee," the chipper little elf said with a smile. "And you know Hairy Pots-sir!" Mipsy cried when she caught sight of him; she looked like she was about to explode with happiness.
The little elf then looked incredibly shy; whether it was from seeing the new people in the shop she didn't know or what might be the first other elf she'd ever seen was hard to tell. Harry didn't know what the etiquette was for something like this but Hermione was willing to take a stab at it.
"Mipsy, this is Dobby, he works for Harry now," she explained to the elves who seemed preoccupied with looking elsewhere and only getting in the odd glance at each other with little smiles. "Dobby, this is Mipsy, she works for Mister Lichfield-"
"-And Miss Knee!" Mipsy added happily.
Harry caught a glimpse of a torn look on Hermione's face that said she wasn't too sure what to think of this new development, though she hid it quickly under one of polite general concern.
"Um - hello," Dobby said with a little wave, even though the two elves were no more than two feet apart. He must've caught sight of just how dirty he was from wiggling his fingers on a nearly black hand. Dobby quickly hid the hand behind his back and looked down embarrassedly, only then to see the rest of what he was wearing.
While Dobby seemed on the verge of panic, Mipsy was chuckling silently behind her hand. With a gesture from her all the soot and grime on Dobby disappeared, leaving him with a recently-scrubbed look like he had gone through the wash. At the look on Dobby's face she couldn't help but giggle and Harry almost joined her. Now he knew why so many people liked to poke fun at two people who might become a couple, they were adorable.
Madam Malkin tapped his shoulder to get his attention.
"You know," she said with a pair of climbing eyebrows and growing smile, "I'm sure I can whip up a matching pair of his-and-hers pillowcases if you're interes-"
"I think that should be up to them," Harry said quickly. He might've bought him but the last thing he was going to do was dictate everything Dobby was going to do from here on out. He deserved to make that choice himself.
"Could you take these to my room for me, Dobby?" Harry asked him as he passed over his new bags of clothes. "And return these to Mrs. Weasley for me?" he said, adding the wadded up clothes he had come in. "After that I need all my old clothes brought here and given to Madam Malkin."
"Yes, sir, Harry Potter, sir. Dobby can do that." Dobby disappeared quickly, perhaps to prove he was a proper house-elf after all.
"You are still willing to take them, aren't you?" Harry asked the woman in question.
"Of course not," Madam Malkin said primly. "I'll make her do it," she said, nodding to Marjorie. "I'll just credit what I get from it as a down payment on the next thing you two buy."
Harry thought that was nice of her - until Hermione had sent off Mipsy to do the same and he realized what she'd done. Madam Malkin had successfully made them have to come back for more robes if they ever wanted to use that bit of money, and then she'd try to continue the cycle. Still, it wasn't like he knew anywhere else to get clothes from, so it was a small price to pay to help others.
Mipsy returned first. Hermione probably had her clothes already set to one side or neatly folded in her trunk from last year; Harry didn't even know where his was, strewn all across the Burrow probably. When both had finally come and gone it was their humans' turn to take their leave.
The day had become slightly overcast, enough to shade their eyes but not enough to threaten rain. Harry nudged Hermione as they set off down the alley, taking her hand as he knocked her a little off balance. She gave him a surprised look at the sudden attack, until she realized what else he'd done, then she rolled her eyes a bit and gained a small smile; she did bump him back though.
"Did you want to visit your furry friend from yesterday," he asked, nodding to the Magical Menagerie.
"I'd like to but… ," Hermione had a slightly disappointed look on her face before she brightened. "There is something I'd like to buy though," she said cryptically, as if she'd actually completed the thought. Shrugging off his… girlfriend's?… peculiarity, they angled their way over.