Winky: The Crouch House Elf
Poor little Winky. The moon-eyed house elf wanted none other in life but to please her master, Bartemius Crouch, Sr. Like her mother and grandmother before her, Winky was a loyal servant, dedicated to serving the undeserving Crouches. It was her task to guard the favorite son, Bartemius Crouch, Jr. "Favorite" here is a term used loosely. Barty's daddy hated the boy (a nasty little Voldemort-lover, even as a teen). At nineteen, Barty turned to crime and ended up in Azkaban Prison. (Years later, much to Winky's horror, he would even murder his own father.) Barty escaped from Azkaban, but was forced into hiding--aided by the Cloak of Invisibility and The Imperious Curse, though not by his own choice.
It was a hard life. The soft-hearted Winky saw that he was properly rewarded for good behavior. Alas, this indirectly led to her own downfall. She coaxed her master to let his son attend the Quidditch World Cup of 1994 (yes, the one disrupted by Death-Eater riots). Winky thought her elf magic could keep Barty at her side, but no! Barty, that cunning devil, used Winky's fear of heights to give her the slip, steal Harry Potter's wand, and cast a Dark Mark to summon Voldemort. Winky was blamed by the Ministry of Magic, for she--not her conveniently invisible ward--was caught with the stolen wand, thus breaking Clause Three of the ancient Code of Wand Use; as if a lowly elf could cast a dark mark! Nevertheless, her master "freed" her. Well, to Winky, it felt more like a sacking. She fell into a depression. Not even her elf friend, Dobby, could pull her out of it, though he got her a job in the Hogwarts kitchen. There, she worked half-heartedly, but mostly drank. Ah, butterbeer, that sweet drowner of sorrows! In spite of her addiction, she bravely joined other house elves, under Kreacher, to fight the Death Eaters (Battle of Hogwarts, 1998). Afterwards, she stayed at Hogwarts. She worked, yes; but her heart just wasn't in it. Winky never got over her life's losses.
(Originally, I put this on Azkaban Escapees, a Facebook group.)
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