Here is the next chapter. I hope you like it. Please read and review thanks love Hermione xxx
Hermione landed with a thump in an office she'd never seen before. The office itself was rather cosy. It had a couch in it and a soft armchair behind the desk she was currently sitting in front of. "Miss Granger we need to talk!" said the elf stepping around to look at her. Hermione was stunned she had been taken by a house elf. What was this about? She loved them so much didn't they know that? Were they truly that stupid? Surely not.
"I am Ivy the head house elf of Hogwarts. I think you need to know what we do here and understand it so I will tell you. I have perfect English because I have never been abused. For elves that have been abused their English will be terrible. It is just the way things are within the race of house elves as a whole. Currently Hogwarts has two hundred people in it which we must make food for three times a day. We make roughly six hundred foods per day enough to feed everyone. Without us they would not survive. If we were gone the students and staff alike would surely starve!" she snapped as Hermione looked too stunned to speak for now.
"Not every elf is a cook of course. Argus Filch for example is too busy being angry that he cannot clean properly. He is a very bad and bitter man. We serve first the school and secondly headmaster Dumbledore. Unless he asks us to do something differently we do it the same way. We do not like Headmaster Dumbledore as he abuses some of us when we cannot do what he asks of us which does happen from time to time. We are not miracle workers! We can only do so much!" she snapped as Hermione reeled.
"What happens does he refuse to pay you that week or something?" Hermione asked seriously.
"What the hell!? We are not bad elves! We would never accept financial payment. We live off of the ambient magic of school without which we would die. It is this magic which is our payment for our work whilst we work at the school during term times at least. You are not in the good books with us! You left clothing around Gryffindor tower which was small and designed just for us and set twenty elves free. Thankfully they were able to re-bond to the school before they died!" she shouted as Hermione cried loudly.
"But I don't like slavery! I just can't condone it! I am so sorry about that though I would never genuinely hurt anyone. Please you must believe me. I just didn't want you to be trapped slaves. I care so much about your welfare. When I leave school I want to get better rights for you. I saw the way Lucius Malfoy treated his elf in second year and I didn't like it at all. He was so disgusting to him. I love elves!" she pleaded as Ivy rolled her eyes.
"We are not slaves and our race is born to work. If we don't work we also die. Lucius Malfoy is a very bad man and he will go to hell later on of that I am sure. You say you love elves but you do not understand us at all. Today you will not return to classes. You will learn about elves first hand. Maybe if we make you a slave you will see why it is wrong to assume we are slaves! You have done nothing but complain about us all day" she said clicking her fingers as Hermione's robes disappeared only to be replaced with a Roman style toga which was slightly see through and embarrassing. Her underwear and bra had been taken from her too and left inside the office. Ivy walked out and Hermione felt magically compelled to follow her. They stopped in the kitchens in which all the elves there stopped at looked at her in abject horror. Some even screamed and a few fainted.
"Don't you kill us!" one of them shouted as Hermione burst into tears. They were terrified of her and this wouldn't do.
"Please don't be afraid. I thought you were slaves and didn't want to kill you. I would never do that!" she said as Ivy turned to face them all.
"MISS GRANGER IS BEING PUNISHED FOR HER BAD THOUGHTS! GET BACK TO WORK NOW! You clean these dishes quickly. Lunch will be happening soon and they need to be ready for the students and staff. Magic is not allowed either. You think you are better than us so put your money where your mouth is and get to it!" she snapped in ire as Hermione who now looked terrified herself settled in to wash the dishes at the sink. The elves watched her annoyed that she seemed to actually find the task kind of peaceful. This was meant to be a punishment and it clearly wasn't working as she seemed to be enjoying it. Ivy approached and with a snap of her fingers Hermione's clothing was no longer see through and she had her bra and knickers back on.
"You will have to go and clean out the come and go room. It is full of junk. Clear it out without magic. You must stay there until I come and get you. Don't try to read anything you find there as the books will not open for you. This is a punishment not a celebration. Now move it!" she snapped as Hermione was handed some cleaner and a cloths and went to where she had been directed to go and gasped at the sheer number of items in this room. She'd never finish this in a day. In fact they had known that but it would be so boring for her that she would think twice before she spoke ill of them again. Missing out on both dinner and lunch Hermione was exhausted and famished when they came to get her.
"Did you learn your lesson?!" Ivy asked seriously as Hermione looked at her tiredly.
"Yes I did. You are not slaves and you do good work for us. I will make sure to help you out in the future. I am sorry I judged you all based on what Lucius Malfoy had done to his elf. Please don't stop cleaning Gryffindor tower again as everyone was so stressed last year about it. I still don't understand why no one here can ever do anything for themselves though that's not good. Why don't all families have elves if you're that good? The Weasley's have no elf" she said sounding both sad and angry too. She had hated so much that they'd refused to clean it and the tower had been an unbearable mess for the last few weeks of school before the summer. Hermione had only missed Herbology and Caring for Magical creatures today. She had lost twenty points for Gryffindor for it but had learned a lot in her lesson too. Everyone had just assumed she'd been feeling ill anyway and that this was why she'd not turned up.
"The Weasley family make us all sad because they refuse to have an elf. They stand out in society because they will not take an elf like their ancestors did. We are hopeful that some of the Weasley children will take a personal elf. We thrive when we have someone to personally care for!" she responded happily.
"Do all the elves here have personal people they work for here in school?" Hermione asked suddenly very curious about it.
"Some people do in fact have personal elves that bond with school while it's in session and are still free to help their true masters whenever they need it. A lot of us though are sad because when school is out of session we get sick without so many people to care for. Without personal masters or mistresses we all suffer greatly with our health although I could not tell you why as I have never known why. Take Libby for example. She works for your friend Harry Potter and his husband" she said as said elf appeared beside Ivy looking curiously around the room. Was she needed for something? Is that why she was being mentioned?
"Libby does Harry treat you nicely?" Hermione asked her very seriously.
"Oh yes indeed miss. He saved my life. I am very lucky to have such a kind and caring master!" she responded jumping for joy.
"Well at least he treats you well. I'd hate to see him treat an elf badly. What do I need to do to get an elf if I want one and can they do whatever I ask?" she asked Ivy who looked weirdly at her.
"I cannot imagine that an elf would wish to serve you as you scared us all so much last year. It would depend on what you needed the elf for. We all have unique skills" she responded calmly.
"Is there not an elf who can do everything? That's a bit disappointing. It has been made quite clear by you and others many times that I don't understand elves because I don't have one and although I hate being wrong I am wrong this one time. I mean even I can't be perfect each time. Will an elf bond with me?" she asked very seriously as Ivy jumped.
"This is the first time today you have said something smart. You are wrong and yes I am sure an elf will bond with you. We all work for the school and our masters or mistresses while we are here but a lot of us only work here because we don't have masters and the ambient magic of the school keeps us alive. Those elves answer to Headmaster Dumbledore and the rest of us do not. Many elves are actually sad because they don't have a personal mistress and they don't like it! With a personal mistress their lives would be infinitely stronger" she said as Hermione smiled to herself. Having an elf would be handy if she wished to change rights for them. They went back to the kitchens where an elf Tilly was selected for her and was apprehensive but happy to have a mistress.
"Ok Tilly thank you. You must know I love reading books above almost anything else in the world and I will mainly ask you to retrieve books and things for me. If I ask you for something from the restricted section can you get it for me?" she asked her new elf.
"No mistress I cannot as it would be noticed and you would get in trouble however I can copy the books for you and take those copies out for you!" she said as Hermione smiled.
"Ok thank you Tilly. Now you can get back to work but please don't stress yourself too much ok? Would anyone like to bond with Ronald Weasley? He really needs an elf he just doesn't know it yet. He's a mess and does need it. I need him to look his best always because well he's very dreamy!" she said with a sigh. Ron was in the common room doing some homework when an elf popped in frightening him.
"Merlins beard you scared me. Are you ok?" he asked the blushing elf confused as to what it was doing there at all.
"Your friend Hermione said you need a personal elf because you're a mess. She got one herself now and Tilly is very happy. Tilly is teaching her why house elves are important in society. I am Zippy would you like to bond with me? Please say yes most elves here are very sick and sad because they don't have personal mistresses" she asked him as others looked over at her and indeed him in shock. By the end of the evening everyone in Gryffindor had a personal house elf and loads of the elves were very happy about it. Their health had started to seriously decline just relying on the schools ambient magic and so now they had a constant stream of powerful magic to get energy from was wonderful. The school as a whole felt better. More muggleborns in other houses had been approached by nervous elves and once they understood they weren't slaves had accepted them. Dumbledore sat in his office wondering why the school suddenly felt better. He'd done nothing to her and yet she felt better. Actually because the burden of so many elves had been removed from the ambient magic of the school she had a free moment to repair her wards as the founders had originally instructed her to. From now on no one bad could get into their school and Albus Dumbledore would have to like it and lump it.
Hermione had inadvertently helped out many of the elves but didn't even realise it. She would not be happy to learn of the outcome of her actions the next day as it wasn't her intention to have everyone with an elf just those whom she believed truly needed it. She was very happy though that Tilly could help her out and who knows she might not even ask her to do anything bad to anyone yet. Some people in the school did deserve it but she wouldn't be acting unless they did first. In the forbidden forest there was a huge blast of light and violent shake as everything bad from the forest including the Acromantulas all died over the newly reformed wards which were always designed to keep everything harmful away from the students. Everyone had felt the trembles and seen the bright lights rushing to every available window to look outside and see. When the light eventually cleared away the forbidden forest no longer looked black in colour. It now looked like an actual healthy forest in which kids could go when they had no classes something it had been originally invented for. Dumbledore hated this but only because Hagrid would probably end up crying over the loss of all the dangerous animals he didn't realise could actually harm others then himself. It was a necessary evil though. His main focus anyhow was on Harry and figuring out how to get him back in line.