This morning, Mum looked up from the sink where she was using her good shampoo to scrub the results of a nosebleed out of Boy #2's sheets, to ask Boy #1 to clear away his cereal bowl. The house-elf was not working today, she said.
Boy #1 complied, muttering, before handing her a sweatshirt.
Since it was not Mum's sweatshirt, she handed it back.
Ha-ha! said Boy #1. I'm free! You gave me clothing.
Mum and Dobby were confused, until they realised: Boy #1 thought she meant HE was the house-elf!
Oh, how Mum and Dobby laughed. Dobby, perhaps, laughed harder than Mum. He was not the house-elf, either.