Dobby

Dobby belongs to a family that treats his service as furniture. He knows more than he is allowed to say, so he warns by injuring. The second book is his introduction: loyalty without permission, and a master who is not worth it.

A freed elf is rare enough that the books have to show the sock. Canon fact: house-elves are bound, and a gift of clothes can break a particular binding. The wider injustice is the encyclopedia’s subject, not a punchline.

He keeps choosing Harry’s side, and the last books do not keep him safe for it. That is as much later note as this page will spend.