"Perhaps not quite ordinary," he confesses, both being mildly immodest and thinking about his place between worlds and the people on either side who had opinions about it. "But when one has a skill one values, it must be embraced."
Severus clears his throat loudly before Holmes has quite completed his last sentence. "Never," he murmurs, sotto voice, as Winky stares anxiously at Holmes's outstretched hand, "tell a house elf that you're at their service. They either go all disapproving or have hysterics."