Concerning Elves, Bigotry and Humility
Author's Notes: We all act on the information we have. Sometimes, we don't know enough to make good decisions.
This is an expanded chapter of a story I am still working on. I prefer to finish a story before publishing, so I don't need to go back and correct the continuity errors in chapters which are already out there in fanfic space – I feel that is unfair to the readers.
Disclaimer: I do not have any claim to ownership of the characters in the Harry Potter universe, which are owned by JK Rowling and her associates. I get no recompense, monetary or otherwise for this story, other than satisfying my curiosity about what happens 'off screen', as it were, and imagining 'what if'. If I did own any thing related to the Potterverse, I wouldn't have to still work for a living.
Timeframe : Post-DH, except for the epilogue which I have ignored.
Warning: Sexual goings-on
As a consequence of the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry Potter and his friends found that they were the owners, or rather keepers, of a number of house elves. Most of these came as property by right of conquest in battle, but some were considered, under the wizarding laws, as part of the property confiscated from the Death Eater families in reparations for the damages and harm they had done.
As most of the Death Eaters had pledged their lives and their wealth to Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter received numerous properties, including the bound house elves who came with the properties. During the year that Harry would later refer to as the 'Year of Travel', he consulted with the elves at each property, and came up with a rough organization, where the elves at each location would keep up the maintenance, until Harry could figure out what to do with all the properties he had inherited and those he had acquired by conquest. He had each elf report in weekly to Bruce, the principal elf at the Potter Manor. Each month, he would have a meeting with all the elves, and try to deal with issues which came up.
Hermione and Ron each gained possession of three elves, one of which came with the stipend attached to the Order of Merlin, while two others had been owned by Death Eaters which had not been pledged to Voldemort. This fact mortified Hermione, but as she was studying for entrance exams, while travelling with Harry and attending funerals and ceremonies, having some assistance was handy – she planned to free them once she got around to it, which she hoped to be in the fall once she started university.
As she had killed Bellatrix Lestrange in a one-on-one fight, Molly Weasley found herself to be the someone less-than-proud 'owner' of the three house elves had still been owned by the Lestrange family. During the summer after the Battle, and Fred's funeral (among many others), having the helpful extra hands allowed Molly to continue functioning on days when she just wanted to put her head down and cry her life away. The elves' personalities were not poisoned the way Kreacher's was at Grimmauld Place (largely as the LeStranges had been imprisoned for so long that their elves dealings with other elves had brought them back to a more normal temperment), and they soon fit into the Weasley household
One Saturday afternoon in October, the fall after the battle, Harry was sitting in his living room at the Manor, when he heard Hermione's voice coming from the fireplace, which was filled with the green flames of a floo call. His friend's voice had a panicked shrieking character that Harry had only heard a couple times when Hermione was in serious distress. He answered that he was there, and she cried out "Harry, do not free your elves!" As this was a drastic change from what she had been saying for several years, he asked her why. She asked if she could come over and explain, to which he agreed. An instant later Hermione lunged out of the fireplace into his arms, sobbing so hard that she was having trouble breathing and standing.
As he held her up, she looked at him with a terrified look in her eyes, and said again, "Harry, do not under any circumstances free an elf!"
He asked what happened to cause her to change her opinion so much.
She looked him in the eyes, and asked "Harry, have you watched an elf commit suicide? Because I just did!"
Harry almost dropped the young witch onto the floor, but recovered enough to move them both over to the couch where he had been sitting. He sat her down and called for one of his elves to get her a glass of water. Hermione shook her head and asked "Brandy, please, as well. For medicinal purposes." Harry had never seen Hermione drink liquor, and knew that whatever had happened had been a life-changing event for her, and not a good one.
He asked quietly, "'Mione, what happened? Should I call Ron to get over here?" He figured this sounded like something that her boyfriend needed to be present to hear.
Hermione shook her head vigorously. "Not yet. Not until after I tell you the whole story. I don't think Ron would want to hear the whole thing."
This puzzled Harry even more. The trio had been through battles together and had been on the run in fear for their lives. What could be so awful that Ron shouldn't hear it? He agreed that he would listen, and then call Ron (who had a game at the moment and was probably incommunicado anyway).
He asked her, "What's wrong with freeing elves? I freed Dobby."
Hermione shook her head, "No you didn't!"
Harry looked at her "I clearly remember Dobby saying he was free, and when we spoke to him about being free, he agreed with us. I am confused."
The woman nodded, "He meant he was free of the Malfoys. Not free free! I remember you told me that you had put one of your socks in Voldemort's diary, and then Malfoy senior gave the book to Dobby. Right?" Harry nodded.
"What that accomplished was that ownership of Dobby passed from Malfoy to you! Dobby was bound to you personally; that's why he was delighted with any task you gave him, even the one that almost killed him. It pleased you to pay him for his service, so he was pleased to accept the money, as it served your need to feel that he was not a slave. When an elf is given clothing by his or her master that belongs to another person, that transfers ownership. It is only when the owner gives clothing that belongs to herself that the elf is freed from all bondage."
Harry was puzzled. "The elves at my castle wear Black Clan livery. Isn't that a personal item? Wouldn't that free them?"
The young witch shook her head. "Livery is considered to be part of the castle's property. It is not a personal item of yours."
Harry asked, "Okay, but what is wrong with being free?"
Hermione looked at him with sad eyes. "An elf that is completely free is an outcast to all other elves. You remember when we learned about the Japanese feudal system with the samurai class? Elves work on a similar system. Within elf society, and yes there is elf society, an elf who is dismissed from service is considered to be unfit for any service. An elf's life is service. To be dismissed is to be told that they are less than an elf and this, just like with a dismissed samurai, is a shame too much to live with! They are disgraced, they will never be accepted by other elves. So they commit suicide. I just saw it."
Harry asked "Okay, Hermione, tell me what happened. Don't leave anything out. And why don't you want Ron here.
His bushy-haired friend took a long pull on her glass of brandy, and began. "I'm not sure I am ready for Ron to hear some of it. And I am not entirely sure I am ready to tell him some of it."
Hermione grimaced and said, "For one thing, I'm still pretty embarrassed by some of what happened, and some of it is not what a boyfriend would want to hear." Harry's eyebrows rose at the possible implications of this revelation, but then she continued "And I am completely, thoroughly ashamed of what happened, and why. Harry, at the end of the day, you're my best friend, and can see things more clearly without the 'boy-girl' aspect confusing the issues, and you have more elves. We discussed freeing all of the elves, yours, mine and Ron's, although Ron wasn't as keen."
"Anyway, a few days ago I decided that it was time to start freeing my elves, the ones I got through the battle awards, et cetera, et cetera. I decided to free Mikey first, he was the male elf, who had been a body servant, rather than a domestic. I was quite uncomfortable getting out of the shower and having this male elf help me dress. Somehow, having female elves around when I am undressed was not as disconcerting. It's amazing how I can get out a shower nude, but the second a male sees me, I am naked."
Harry smiled and raised his eyebrows again. Hermione smiled slightly through her tears, and said "You wish, Potter! Not going to happen. Anyway..."
"If you remember, last Thursday was kind of warm, and I was wearing a shirt and pleated skirt, and sandals without stockings or socks. I had been studying, and was taking a break when I thought, 'No time like the present'."
"I called Mikey over to present him with a piece of clothing, and then realized I didn't have anything with me. As he had seen me naked, I figured 'What the hell?', so I reached under my skirt and took off my knickers."
"Remember, I said that he was a 'body servant'? I guess I didn't realize what that really meant. He looked at me in a bit of shock, and asked 'Mistress, is this what you really want?' I misunderstood and said yes."
"He gestured, I guess casting an arousal spell (elf magic, I assumed), and I was on my back on the couch with his head up under my skirt. I was really aroused, and he was licking and fingering me, sort of 'serving the body'! My god, that elf had an agile tongue! I came to orgasm again and again and again. I finally fainted with exhaustion. I came back to consciousness naked in the shower, with Mikey levitating me and with the shower on to wash off the sweat. While I was suspended there, he started licking and fingering again, and again I came and came and came, and again passed out."
Hermione was hanging her head and blushing bright red as she continued. Harry was rather shocked by the story, but could understand why she didn't want to tell Ron just yet.
Hermione continued blushing and telling her story. "When I woke up, I was naked on my bed. Mikey proceeded to penetrate me, and screw me, continuing to cast arousal spells. Again, I came and came, until I finally yelled 'Stop!'"
"I guess I wasn't thinking clearly, because instead of asking what he was doing, I got up, picked up my knickers and handed them to him. He looked up at me stunned, and started crying, saying 'Mistress, I asked you if this is what you wanted. That's what my last mistress wanted when she took down her pants!"
Harry asked quietly, "Who was his last mistress?" Hermione, through her tears, said "Umbridge. No wonder the bitch had such a smug satisfied look on her face all the time."
"Anyhow, Mikey was crying. He pleaded 'Please mistress! I will be a good elf! I didn't mean to displease you! Please don't dismiss me. Don't throw me out and set me free! I will never pleasure you again! Please tell me what you want me to do and what you want me not to do. I will be a better elf! Please don't make me free! Please!"
"I said that I planned to free all my elves. Marthe and Janie (my other two) started crying and sobbing loudly. All three begged me not to set them free. I said I was going to set them free because it was good to be free."
"Mikey cried 'Not for an elf!' He looked at my panties in his hand, and fell to his knees crying. He cried, 'You freed me. I cannot be an elf anymore. I cannot live if I am not an elf'. And with that, he held up his hands and changed them into knives. He took one, and stuck it in his abdomen, slicing himself open from chest to crotch. As he did this, he took the other, and cut his own head off."
"I stood there for a moment, and then threw up all over myself and the little corpse, over and over until I was completely empty, and still continued to retch. Finally, Janie and Marthe picked me up, cleaned me off and put me into bed, holding my head and giving me sips of water as I cried and cried."
"Finally, I was sufficiently calm to ask them to explain. They told me that it was an unbearable shame for an elf to be freed. It was too much to live with, as they were now an outcast from all other elves. Their lives were effectively over, so they kill themselves."
"Apparently, if you demand that an elf do something they are not capable of doing, they will happily die trying, sort of dying in the line of duty. But if you demand one of your bound elves to do something which is despicable and beyond what they consider morally acceptable, they cannot disobey, so they will kill themselves instead. Remember all those elf heads at Grimmauld Place? Those were elves who had been ordered by old Lady Black to do something that even they could not tolerate, so they committed suicide, cutting off their heads. The demented old hag had the heads mounted as trophies, showing how she had 'bested' the 'lesser beings'"
"Harry, I made an elf kill himself because I thought I knew what was best for them. I was so sure of myself, so full of myself, that I did not even ask how the elves felt about things. Me, the compulsive researcher, didn't ever bother to ask or find out!"
"Harry, I had the same arrogance, the same 'so-sure-of-herself'ness, the same bigotry towards other creatures that we have been fighting for the last few years."
"I'm no better than the Death Eaters! I'm not sure I can live with that knowledge. The only thing I can do is tell everyone I know the story so they do not make the same mistake." She thought of what she was going to tell Ron, and smiled slightly through her sobbing, "Well, maybe not all of the story.
Harry held her while she cried for the next five hours. He knew he needed Hermione to be able to, if not forgive herself, at least come to terms with the terrible mistake, and he knew it would take time. He knew that, in her eyes, being stupid was unforgivable, and hurting someone who was essentially innocent was also unforgivable.
He reached down and took off his socks, and handed them to her. She looked at them and asked "Are you freeing me? Are you sending me away?" and burst out crying again. He kissed the top of her head, and said "No, Hermione, I would never, I will never send you away. Give these to your two elves. You know I will not mistreat them, and you won't have the constant reminder."
Hermione shook her head. "If I am going to deal with this, if I am going to learn to live with myself, I can't hide from it. I have to face it. I can do this, or at least I can try. I owe it to Janie and Marthe to tell them I am sorry, that I did not understand that my ways are not the same as their ways, and that I made a terrible, terrible mistake. I have to beg their forgiveness. I have to pull out my Gryffindor courage, and live with my shame."
She then smiled slightly and said, "By the way, your socks stink."