Oh, yes, I was still trying to figure out the key to the house-elves" allegiance. I had taken to scattering bits of clothing around, hoping that would be sufficient to free them, but it didn't seem to be working. I kept that up partly from curiosity---was it merely that I hadn't used enough?---and partly to maintain my "sweet little do-gooder" image with my two puppets. While what would be absolutely ideal would be a way to switch the allegiance of selected house-elves to me without their prior owners" knowledge, merely being able to free them when doing so will cause the most confusion to the other side would be a wonderful weapon.