Standard Disclaimer: No, I don't own anything of the Harry Potter empire. Nope, nada. No money is being made here, which is solely due to sleepless nights and a disgruntled muse who has a penchant for excessive caffein. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, is entirely unlikely and is unintentional if it does happen.

Timeframe: Hogwarts immediately after the Battle, with some slight time alterations of events during the battle. AU afterwards.

Warning: The aftermath of a battle is never pretty.

Chapter 4: On The Nature of Bonds

Goldhand looked at the committee standing with him, and began. "We are here to inform you all, that due to your exploits in the recent battle, and by Right of Conquest, you all have come into the possession of some significant properties as well as the control of a number of bonded humans and elves." With this, he passed a piece of parchment to each of the humans who had been invited (or summoned) to the meeting. "These documents detail the properties which you now own outright, or control, through your Rights of Conquest."

Hermione Granger looked at her parchment and shook her head, shouting "But elves are slaves. You said that human slavery was abolished, but elves are still enslaved! I refuse to accept this!"

Goldhand looked the rest of his committee and shook his head. Steelblade looked with disgust at the young witch. Even though he had taken the military career path rather than the financial one since he was young, he had completed the mandatory courses on property management, as that had bearings on tactics and strategy.

Goldhand smiled ruefully. "Miss Granger, you seem to misunderstand. I will provide some examples which may help."

"Your parents are married, are they not?"

Hermione looked the goblin, outraged. "Of course they are."

"And you are their natural child, not adopted or a foundling?"

She nodded "Yes, but what difference does that make?"

Goldhand smiled and said "Please bear with me. They are professional healers; I believe they are called dentists. Do they have a company, and does that company have staff? Are the staff under contract and are paid for their work?"

Hermione nodded, looking a bit more puzzled.

"And do you have friends?"

The young witch nodded.

"And if you do not see them for summertime, say over the summer months when Hogwarts is not in session, is this a problem? This is also a kind of bond, but not one as strong as that between spouses, or parents and children, nor of those under contract."

Hermione nodded as she agreed with this explanation.

"Have you mated with any of your friends yet?"

The young woman shook her head in shock and denial at this question, while her face turned a very bright red. She briefly glanced towards Ron, who was also blushing.

The Account Manager continued after smiling at her reaction. "If you had, that would strengthen the bond from a basic friendship type to something between friendship and family. You see, each of these examples is a type of bond. Your parents' marriage is a bond, their care and upbring of you is a bond, although I will admit that any parent of a two-year old child often feels it is a form of slavery. Their business is a bond, and the contracts with their staff is a form of bond. Different bonds are of different strengths and qualities."

"The bond that the elf Dobby had with Harry Potter was sort of a mixed friend and familial bond. Harry declared Dobby was his friend and part of his family, and their bond formed."

Hermione scowled. "But when we were fleeing from the Malfoy house while being attacked by Bellatrix Lestrange, Dobby shouted that he was a free elf, not that he was bonded to Harry!"

At this, Niffle smiled. "Ah yes. As I understand, in that situation there was really no time for a detailed explanation, but now would be a good time. Madame Lestrange was raised in the Black family, in a household where the elves were abused and required to obey every little whim that the humans of the House had. She expected instant obedience from any elf she encountered. The Malfoy house was similar, with the added issue that Mr. Malfoy had ordered his elves to obey any order from any of his 'house guests', which was wise on his part given that one of his so-called guests was the Dark Lord. In the midst of your escape, Dobby was firmly declaring that he was forever free from those obligations and expectations, having been freed from the bonds to the House of Malfoy. By the nature of his bond with Harry Potter, Dobby was completely free to act on his own as he saw fit."

Hermione shook her head, and declared "But other house-elves are enslaved. They are made to wear ragged clothes and be abused. That's why I was trying to free them."

Niffle shook his head. "That was an entirely futile effort. You could not free any elf."

Hermione shook her head, disbelieving this statement. "Of course I could. I knitted them hats and provided clothes for them. I was going to free them, just like Harry freed Dobby! He gave him clothes. A sock!"

Goldhand smirked. "But Harry did not free Dobby. He could never have freed Dobby."

Kingsley Shacklebolt smiled. "Legally, Mr. Potter would have been termed 'an accessory before the fact', not the perpetrator."

Harry's eyes widened as he grasped what Niffle, Goldhand and Shacklebolt were saying, and smiling, he nodded to the goblin. "I did not give Dobby my sock."

Hermione gasped as she looked at him as if he had just told her a huge lie.

"I gave my sock, inside the book, to Mr. Malfoy. He gave the book with the sock to Dobby. I told you that Dobby stated clearly 'Master has given Dobby clothes'. I did not free Dobby, Mr. Malfoy did."

The group nodded as they clued into this statement.

Niffle smiled and said "Very good Mr. Potter. Only one who is in control of the bond could free the bonded elf. Miss Granger, the Hogwarts house-elves are bonded to Hogwarts, not to you. You had no control or rights over the Hogwarts elves, and so you could never have freed them from their bonds. What do you know of the bonds the elves have with Hogwarts?"

She looked puzzled, so he continued.

"Have you actually ever seen or met any of the elves on the Hogwarts staff? They have livery uniforms with the Hogwarts logos, not the rags and pillowcases of the other ones you have met. I believe that you have only met three elves, all of whom were bonded to abusive families. You may have seen elves in the kitchens, but they were wearing aprons over their uniforms. They wear their uniforms proudly."

"Consider the kind of emotionally abusive upbringing that the Malfoys inflicted on their son. They treated their elves even worse. Most families do not treat their elves anything like that way."

She answered, "Well, I know they are enslaved. That was all I needed to know. And what about these bonded humans you talk about? Are they like indentured servants?"

Niffle chuckled at this and answered. "Miss Granger, there was an American writer who said 'It's not what we don't know that gets us in real trouble, it's what we know for certain that just ain't so'. The elves at Hogwarts are well cared for and provided for. They had funds available for anything they care for, salaries, paid holidays, and it is the nature of house-elves to serve. You could say that they are under long-term generous contracts, and many generations of elves have served at Hogwarts. How much have you actually talked to elves, actually spoken and not just lectured to them, to see how they feel about their lot in life?" "

"As I understand it, the only elf you have ever really conversed with was Dobby, whose family had been bonded to the House of Malfoy for several hundred years, and the last few generations have abused that relationship badly. You assumed that this was how all elves were treated, which is understandable, except that you were known to ask questions and question the answers. Unfortunately, this did not cross over to your understanding of elves."

"To be blunt, you seldom saw the elves of Hogwarts, because they have avoided you due to your futile attempts to eject them from their contented lives. They consider you arrogant and stupid. To us elves, someone who does not have information is called ignorant, while one who refuses to find out the facts or refuses to use the information is considered stupid. Ignorance can be cured, but stupidity is often permanent."

Hermione's face looked like she had just been slapped. She was obsessively proud of being smart, and the fact that the elves thought she was stupid was intolerable.

"If you are going to work with the elves you now command, you need to get to know them and respect them. Those that I might call 'your' elves have honourably looked after the properties you now own for many years. By right of conquest, you now own five large estates, three townhouses in expensive parts of large cities and a number of smaller dwellings. The estates have numerous tenants and a lot of agricultural produce which pays for the rent and taxes and a comfortable lifestyle, as well as covering the expenses of your urban possessions. How do you think you are going to manage all of this without your staff of humans and elves?"

"Gringotts has account managers who have worked on these properties for many years, and would be happy to help you understand what you now possess. I would strongly suggest that you do nothing rash until you have at least had a conversation with them."

Hermione grimaced. "So you are saying that because of my right-of-conquest as you call it, these properties now own me, not the other way around."

Goldhand shook his head. "Only if you let them. The staffs of your properties have been managing quite well on their own for many years, with the assistance of Gringotts of course. The, shall I call them, 'previous owners', cared very little about their holdings except for what they allowed them to contribute to the Dark Lord's coffers. As that situation has been altered markedly by you and your friends, that will free up substantial resources for yourself, or to support any charities you choose, which will most certainly be of greater credibility and worthiness than the ones previously supported. By treaty, Gringotts could not interfere in Wizarding affairs directly, but we have our own opinions on the state of things."

"Miss Granger, because of your current state of mind, and your new property holdings, which are by no means insignificant, it is in the interests of Gringotts to offer you lessons in basic property management. We of the Goblin Nation find it offensive for anyone to make blunders concerning property, due to lack of adequate background information."

Hermione's face brightened at the thought of lessons on a new topic, which was sadly (and intentionally) neglected in the syllabus offered by Hogwarts. She would soon discover that lessons on many useful skills such as management of wealth were restricted to the wizarding aristocracy. The fact that she was now the 'master' of such property which had been owned by some of the upper-class twits was sure to annoy some of the old families. At least, those who had survived the battle and its aftermath.

She turned to Niffle, and asked, "Would it be possible for me to meet with you and the elves of the various properties I now have? I think this would be a way to get past my previous assumptions. And my arrogance."

The Elf Chief nodded. "I believe that would be a wise move. We will arrange it, at your convenience."

She did not mention that this would also be a way to salvage her own self-respect on the issue.

Goldhand then turned to Molly Weasley and said "And now Mrs. Weasley. By right of conquest, you now own the property which used to belong to Bellatrix Lestrange. This includes a large estate in Cornwall, with 40 servants, both human and elf."

Molly was shaking her head and muttering "No! No! NO!" getting louder as she started shaking all over.

The goblins were puzzled by this. They knew that the Weasleys were not a rich family and the new property were very valuable. Goldhand asked "Are you refusing this property? It is yours by right."

Molly shook her head again. "Elves are evil!"

This obviously offended Niffle, who asked "Why do you say that? Elves want only to serve those they are bonded with."

Molly grimaced. "That old elf at Gr..., Gri.., Gr..., at Headquaters tried to prevent me from using the kitchen. He tried to prevent me from cleaning the house. I won't have elves like that in my house. I tell you, it's my house and I won't have it!"

Harry Potter thought about what Arthur had said, and saw what he had meant. The previous years at Grimmauld Place (and he was quietly relieved that the Fidelius seemed to still be operating as he now owned it) he had thought her overbearing, the way she had bossed Sirius around and taken over, even though it was his own ancestral house. He had thought her too overprotective, demanding that her children not be part of the Order because they were 'too young' and should not be involved in the war in any way. The fact that they were involved because the war was coming to them personally hadn't changed her obsession. He suspected that to Molly, her children would never be old enough.

Now he could see that Arthur was right and that Molly was mentally very fragile, and desperate to have some sort of normality. Having lost her two idolised older brothers in the first phase of the Voldemort War (or Blood War as it would come to be called) and then having six sons and a daughter during the war had made her terribly insecure about their safety.

After some fast thinking, he looked to Goldhand and said "I understand that I seem to be coming into quite a bit of wealth." The Goblin nodded.

"Well, I know elves love to work and to clean and cook and so on, but I don't think I can be messy enough to give them a lot to do, and I gather there are a number of houses or mansions that now belong to me too."

"Would it be possible to set up something like the way wealthy muggles have made their stately homes into tourist destinations? I also suspect that this war has made a lot of kids into destitute orphans. Being an orphan myself, I find that unacceptable. I would like to turn some of the places into homes for them."

Shacklebolt said firmly "Given their previous owners, I strongly suggest that the Aurors should go through them first to make sure there are no inappropriate items left in them."

Harry smiled. "I don't know. The Madame Tussauds' museum in London has a chamber of horrors which is extremely popular. Might even be a popular attraction."

Turning to Mrs. Weasley, he said "Mrs. Weasley, if I could borrow, or rent, or buy the house you won in battle, would that work for you? You might want to keep it, perhaps as a dowry for Ginny, or a summer place once all your kids have children. Of course, any time you needed help degnoming your garden or picking the apples that are too high up in your orchard, and the boys and Ginny are at school or working, or even if Ron gets his life's dream of being the Keeper for the Cannons, the elves would be available, but they would not be in your way all the time."

The group of officials were all nodding at this possible solution to a delicate problem. Molly looked like she was seriously considering this option as well.

Harry looked that the several pieces of parchment in his hand and scratched his head. "Now, just what the hell am I going to do with eighty elves?"

A/N: From my chemistry classes, some five decades ago, there were a number of kinds of chemical bonds mentioned to us:

In an ionic bond (e.g., table salt), one atom takes an electron from another atom, ending up with two charged ends,

In a covalent bond, electrons are equally shared between atoms, and

In a hydrogen bond, adjacent molecules are attracted and lightly bonded to other molecules through their exposed ionic ends. This is the kind of bond seen in DNA, where the base pair molecules are connected to another base pair molecule at one end and to the sugar backbone of the super-molecule at the other. The base pairs maintain their own existence while being part of the whole.

You may see similarities.