My posting schedule is so out of whack so I'm just going to say it's twice a week but those days may change depending on work. We're now in a National Lockdown, so I have more time to write which is good because I'm starting to catch-up with my pre-written chapters. We're around halfway through now, and things are about to get exciting. This is a shorter chapter, but one that needed to take place to download some information for you all. I've padded it out with some fluff to make it more fun! I've also started using Grammarly, so hopefully, that will pick up more of the mistakes as I don't have a beta.
Hermione finally gets a chance to quiz Charles the House-elf and is surprised by the amount of information he gives her.
Hermione spent the majority of her morning talking to Charles the house-elf and by the time she'd left the infirmary just before lunchtime, she had a vague idea of where the elves had come from and a good idea of the next steps she'd have to take to work out who was responsible for their miserable state. She was so desperate to start the hunt for the culprit that she almost apparated straight to the Ministry, but she had made plans to see Ron at the Burrow. Remembering her words that he was more important to her than work, she thanked the house-elf for his time before leaving Hogwarts and heading straight to the Weasley family house.
Hermione apparated directly into the boundaries of the Burrow as soon as she got to the end of the long drive that led away from Hogwarts. The game of Quidditch looked to be still in full flow so she turned her back on it and headed straight up to the house, calling a greeting to Molly and Arthur as she stepped through the kitchen door.
"Oh, Hermione love…" Molly stood up from where she had been sat reading the Saturday papers with her husband and made a beeline for the young witch. "Ronald told us about Crookshanks… come here, sweetheart!"
Hermione allowed Molly to wrap her arms around her and pulled her into a motherly hug. She felt extremely guilty; with all the excitement of speaking to Charles and all the distractions Ron had given her over the past 24 hours, she'd all but forgotten about the death of her familiar yesterday. She wiped away the tear that escaped her eye.
"Thank you, Molly. He was such a good cat, really loyal…" She stepped back and gave the matriarch a brave smile.
"Everyone's still out in the field. Why don't you go and make yourself comfortable and I'll bring you a cup of tea and some cake?"
Hermione smiled in thanks and wandered out to the field, transfiguring herself a comfortable camp chair and a blanket out of thin air. Molly baked to comfort her family and she always seemed to know how to make Hermione feel better. She sipped at her tea as she watched the Weasleys play. She was never able to tell who was winning during these pick-up games, but she could hear their laughs and gentle teasing echo across the valley. It looked like a handful of their school friends had joined them; she could spot Seamus, Dean and Angelina up in the air with them.
During a seemingly quiet point in the game, Ron spotted her and stopped protecting his makeshift goal to wave at her. Hermione waved back, laughing as Ginny took the opportunity to score a goal against him. He scowled and turned back to his sister, chasing her around as he called her a cheat. But he was no match for Ginny's speed, especially considering she was on a professional broom while he still flew on one of the family antiques from the broom shed. Their laughter was contagious and sometimes, Hermione wished she enjoyed flying so that she could join in. For now though, she was content to watch and let their infectious fun cheer her up.
Eventually, a noise sounded across the valley and the game was over; although Hermione would not be able to tell you who had won. The group bantered and chased each other back up to the Burrow and the majority of them headed straight into the kitchen for lunch. Molly was always happy to put on a spread for the family and their group of friends and really, they were doing her a favour. She had struggled with how quiet the house had been since the war; with all of her children moving out of the nest, getting married and starting their own families. She preferred it when the house was busy and full of noise.
Hermione got up from her chair as Ron got closer. She spotted his big dopey grin and couldn't help but grin too.
"Hey you…" She wrapped her arms around him as soon as he got to her and pressed a kiss against his lips.
Ron returned her kiss eagerly, forgetting they were still among their friends. He laughed as he pulled away. "You miss me?"
"Terribly…" She kissed him again, but it was brief as they were interrupted by the sound of Ginny clearing her throat.
"If you two can stop being gross, Harry won't come in for lunch until he's heard about the house-elf and I'm hungry but also I'm far too nosey to wait to hear the update from him..."
Hermione rubbed her nose against Ron's and let go of him, transfiguring a chair for each of her friends before settling back in hers. Once they were ready, she pulled her notebook out of her pocket.
"So Charles gave me a lot more information than I was expecting…" She flipped to the right page. "He said he and the other elves lived together in a ramshackle old cottage in Long Buckby, although he wasn't able to give me an address. Betsy looked it up for me in the library; it's a small village just outside of Northampton. He thinks there are still 19 other elves living there, so that brings the total up to 25 – which is the exact number I'm missing from my register. He thinks their owner was a squib as he relied on the elves for their magic, but he was unable to give me a name. He just referred to him as Master…"
Ron scoffed. "That's just like house-elves to call someone who abuses them as Master…"
"Well quite…" Hermione continued after giving Ron a brief smile. "Charles said they lived in squalor and it didn't matter how hard they tried to clean the cottage; they could never get it cleaned. There was years of dirt and grime. They lived all on top of each other and were forced to mate regularly. Every so often, their Master would sell their babies to purebloods who hadn't inherited an elf. Some of them died at his hands when he got carried away with punishing them. It was Charles' idea to try and escape.
"He had lived at a lovely house where he had been treated well, but his master and mistress had died without leaving an heir so he was effectively homeless. He remembers just being taken away one day by the Master, who only had three elves at the time. Apparently, as a young elf, he had visited Hogwarts and he had been impressed with Dumbledore's compassion towards him. When I told him Dumbledore had died, he was quite inconsolable…
"He was comforted by the fact that Hogwarts had been making improvements to the way elves were treated and that he was automatically given refuge without any questions. I told him about the sanctuary I was hoping to set up for them in the grounds of the castle so that they could recover in peace and that I would help them to find work once they were ready.
"Once he'd checked that Hogwarts was safe, he used his telepathy to tell the rest of them it was okay to come. Betsy said she'd heard that the old magic elves possessed the ability to use telepathy, so of course she's excited to find out more about it. He was really worried when only 5 of the 24 followed him to Hogwarts. So I promised him that I would do everything within my power to help save the rest of them…"
Hermione sat back with a huge breath, checking over her notes to make sure she hadn't missed anything. All three of her friends were watching her with open mouths.
"And you discovered all of this in the three hours we've been apart?!" Ron folded his arms across his body, looking incredulous.
"Yep… and although I couldn't get a name for Charles' Master, I bet there aren't very many squibs living in Long Buckby."
Ron looked excited. "I reckon Robards will let us continue to help you. There's a squib register so it should be easy enough to track him down. Maybe we could even go with you when you visit him…"
Harry laughed at Ron's eagerness. He was so keen to finish his training and just get on with being a proper Auror, despite the fact they still have over a year left on the course. "Alright Ron, slow down a bit. Hermione, can you make us a copy of the notes and then we can meet for lunch Monday and put together a plan to approach Robards…."
Hermione laughed as Ron pouted at his best friend. She pulled out her wand and made two copies of her notes, passing one to each of the boys. Harry took his copy and headed back into the house with Ginny, moaning now that he was the hungry one. Ron watched as Hermione vanished their chairs with a flick of her wand, a huge grin on his face.
"What?" She gave Ron an amused look, wandering over to him.
"You're just… bloody brilliant…" He pulled her close to him as soon as she was close enough and stole a kiss. He looped his arms loosely around her waist under her robes, one of his hands finding a way under her jumper to stroke her back softly.
"You've worked so hard to get Charles to trust you and then you manage to get all this information from him. It's practically the whole investigation in one go. You're only at the start of your career too 'Mione. You're going to be bloody unstoppable…"
Hermione leaned back in his arms, smiling fondly. "Well, we still have a long way to go. It would be good though if Robards will let you and Harry work with me because it would be plain weird doing it without out. Plus if we can get the elves rescued by Christmas, I can finish my register in time for my deadline!"
"I'm so proud of you…" Ron carried on stealing kisses from her.
"Well, I couldn't do it without your support…" She returned every kiss between her words, a smile on her face.
Suddenly, Ginny appeared at the door to the kitchen; her arms folded across her chest and her eyebrows raised at them. "Oy you two – seriously, have you been glued together with a sticking charm or something?! Mum said to come in and grab some lunch before all the food is gone and it starts raining! You can snog later, in the privacy of your own homes, where you're not putting any of the rest of us off our food!"
Ron scowled but untangled his arms from around Hermione. He kissed her cheek as he placed his arm around her shoulder, rubbing it softly. "Now, no more talk of work. We're going to eat lunch then spend the rest of the afternoon at the pub. It's time you relaxed a little…"