The train back to London was buzzing with gossip and fervor. Getting let out early had never happened before in the history of Hogwarts that anyone was aware of, and no one had any idea how to react. Rumors were flying wildly, and Hermione found each one more amusing than the last.
"The House Elves' bond with the school didn't break," she declared, shaking her head. "Everyone in Hogwarts would have been able to feel it, if that happened."
"I heard that they've been possessed by a Dark wizard trying to poison Dumbledore," Daphne announced. "Death Eaters are using the Imperius Curse on the House Elves to get to him, and Dumbledore had to send them all away to keep everyone safe while cursebreakers come and help the elves."
"Daphne. Don't be ridiculous – I heard that one from Sally-Anne," Blaise said, laughing. "Lavender Brown made that up. There's no evidence of that in the slightest."
"Well, I heard that the House Elves' magic is starting to fail," Tracey announced. "The weirdness started on Sunday, which was some kind of magical holiday—"
"Ostara," Theo corrected.
"—and their magic started getting faulty," Tracey continued, ignoring Theo. "They do so much around the castle that having everyone there without them working in the background was pretty much impossible."
"I mean, that's not wrong," Draco pointed out. "They can't keep the school functioning without the House Elves. Not without hiring dozens of cooks and laundresses."
"Do you think they'll have to?" Daphne's eyes went wide. "Can you imagine? Who would they get? Squibs?"
"No idea," Draco drawled. "Probably. Maybe Filch has family they could use."
"What do you think happened, Hermione?" Blaise asked, looking at her sideways.
"Me?" Hermione said, raising her eyebrows.
"Yes, you," Blaise said, smirking.
"What makes you think I have any idea?" Hermione asked lightly. "I haven't been running around gossiping with the Gryffindor girls."
Blaise looked taken aback for a moment, then annoyed, and Tracey hastily cut in.
"You made friends with one of the elves, though, didn't you?" she prodded. "And you were at the Kitchens Sunday morning – you told us, when you came back to the dorm just after dawn."
"Did you?" Theo said, interested. He looked at Hermione directly now, more curious. "So what's going on, Granger? Tell us."
Hermione rolled her eyes, but Theo kept prodding.
"If you know, you should share it, Granger," he said. "The truth isn't going to hurt anything, is it?"
"Come on, Hermione," Draco pleaded. "I want to know what's going on."
"Fine," Hermione said, giving in. She saw a flash of irritation cross Blaise's face that she'd conceded to Draco but not to him, but she ignored him, turning to look at Theo. "What do you know about Ostara?"
Theo looked surprised.
"It's a magical holiday," he said slowly. "It's a celebration of spring and the potential for new life."
Hermione nodded. "The House Elves still celebrate magical holidays. Usually quietly, when they can get away with it – Dumbledore doesn't like the Old Ways – but they did a big healing ritual together off campus on Sunday, and I think Dumbledore found out."
"Did they really?" Daphne's eyes were wide. "And Dumbledore didn't like it?"
"The House Elves wouldn't have told him," Hermione said. "I imagine Dumbledore would have found out that a large House Elf contingent left Hogwarts grounds on Sunday, and he would have been furious about it, as well as furious with them for not telling him where they went."
"I mean, that makes sense," Tracey said. "Aren't they not supposed to leave the grounds?"
Hermione bit her lip.
"That's where it gets complicated," she admitted. "The House Elves' bond is with Hogwarts, not the Headmaster. They usually defer to the Headmaster, as a matter of order and respect, but it appears that Dumbledore has pushed them too far."
"They've gone on strike," Blaise gasped, amusement and horror slowly dawning on him. He started laughing. "Oh my stars, Hermione, you taught them about going on strike."
"So?" Hermione flushed, defensive. "They have every right to unionize their labor. If their contract wasn't with Dumbledore and he was making demands, it makes perfect sense to go on strike—"
Blaise was laughing hard now, incredulous.
"The House Elves are on strike," he said. "Brilliant. Brilliant."
"Why does that mean they had to leave?" Daphne asked, frowning.
"Part of the House Elves' bond with the school is them providing their labor in exchange for housing," Hermione said, glancing at Blaise, who was still laughing uproariously. "If they're not providing their labor to the school, strictly speaking, their bond dictates they shouldn't stay there."
"So they're actually gone?" Draco said, shocked. "There were dozens of them. Dozens of dozens. Where would they all go?"
"Can you imagine?" Tracey said, snickering. "Dozens of House Elves trying to check into the Leaky Cauldron? Or hiding out in caves?"
"Where did they go, Granger?" Theo asked. Hermione's eyes flew to his, and Theo's held a glint of certainty. "You knew everything else about this whole situation. Where do you think they've gone?"
While she wasn't certain, Hermione did have an inkling of an idea – an idea of a place that would be all-too-happy to temporarily welcome guests rebelling against wizard-kind, especially guests that had easy access to wandless magic who could help them for the entire duration of their strike…
And it had been the House Elves' Hogwarts pillowcases, not their sky-blue ones, that were left behind on the ground.
"I think they've gone to spend some time with their family," Hermione said delicately. "Tolly the Head Elf is probably going back and forth as the group representative, but I imagine the others are rather enjoying their sudden break."
Apparently, the parents had been informed somehow – King's Cross was cluttered with harried parents and older siblings, people who suddenly had to leave work to pick up their children. Hermione lingered behind on the train, not envying the crush of very stressed adults that hurried their kids along.
She watched through a window as Harry went with Ron and met with Mrs. Weasley, who gave Harry a hug. Dumbledore was unwilling to let him spend the break at a muggle house with Sirius Black on the run, Harry had told her, but the Headmaster had acquiesced to letting him stay at the Weasleys' for a fortnight.
Draco's father loomed on the platform, commanding Draco to follow him with his trunk as they moved away from the group to Apparate away. Hermione wondered to herself about the power necessary for that – most people seemed to be using the Floos at the far side of the platform to take their trunks through. Apparating with people was hard enough; she wondered at the skill needed to keep a trunk with magical things together too.
Blaise gave Sally-Anne Perks a hug goodbye on the platform, saying something with a glint in his eye that made her laugh before he left with his mother, who gave him an approving nod. He was looking around on the platform as he left (was he looking for her?), but Hermione stayed hidden in the train, watching as the platform gradually cleared out.
"If you said something…"
Hermione whirled around to see Tracey, who was looking at her pointedly.
"If I said what?" Hermione challenged.
"Nothing." Tracey shrugged. "I'm just saying… you know, if you had a problem with Sally-Anne…"
"I'm sure she's a perfectly lovely girl who Blaise enjoys spending time with," Hermione said primly. "I don't know what he sees in her, but he's entitled to date as he pleases."
"A perfectly lovely set of breasts, maybe," Tracey said, sniggering. "I think all they do is flirt and snog."
"If all he wanted was breasts, he could have gone out with Millie," Hermione said, scowling.
"He wishes," Millie scoffed, coming up from behind. She peered out the window. "Is my Dad gone yet?"
"Not yet," Tracey said. She glanced sideways at Hermione. "You know, you could meet Sally-Anne."
"I guess," Hermione said grudgingly. "I mean, I don't even know when he sees her. He must just vanish off to see her without me noticing from time to time—"
"Well, that's just it, isn't it?" Tracey pointed out. "She comes second. If Blaise can spend time with you, he does. It's only when you're off with the Ravenclaws or the Gryffindors that he goes to see her."
Hermione blinked.
"Is that what he does?" she asked, and Tracey rolled her eyes.
"You are an idiot," she announced. "Yes, that's what he does, Hermione. Did you forget how he keeps asking to swear you fealty? Over and over and over again?"
Hermione bit her lip. "I mean, no, but—"
"Blaise wants to be your right-hand man," Tracey told her.
"Left-hand man," Millie corrected, snickering.
"He wants to be the one you turn to for advice or help with anything," Tracey continued. "He prioritizes that first, and everything else accordingly."
"I mean, I do," Hermione objected. "He is the one I turn to for help, really."
"Yeah, but he wants you to turn to him for anything," Millie said, snorting. "Hence, Sally-Anne."
Tracey looked at Millie. "Sally-Anne?"
"Well, he has to learn and get good first, doesn't he?" Millie sniggered. "Otherwise, Hermione won't turn to him."
Tracey started snickering along with Millie.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Hermione said primly. "If Blaise wants me to turn to him for dating advice, him dating a flighty Gryffindor certainly isn't a way to inspire confidence."
Tracey and Millie moved from snickering to outright laughing, and Hermione grew annoyed.
"Oh, get over yourselves," she said. "Blaise can date whomever he damn well pleases. I don't care in the least."
"Of course not," Millie said, snickering. "Why would you care?"
"Clearly zero damns given," Tracey added, laughing. "Absolutely none."
Hermione rolled her eyes. She flicked her wand at her trunks, which moved to levitate behind her. The platform was deserted enough now for her to get away with it, hopefully.
"Have a happy Easter," she told them both pointedly as she left the train. "Bye."
The other two girls only waved as she left, still laughing behind her back, but Hermione was determined to leave them behind.
With three trunks, there was no way to safely get through the Floo network, so Hermione had to travel home another way. She managed to find a luggage trolley, and once her trunks were secure, she went to the illusion wall, walking through it smoothly out onto the muggle side of the platform.
Immediately, the noise and hustle and bustle changed. It was much busier, but a less obtrusive busy – everyone was keeping to themselves as they hurried to their trains, largely oblivious and apathetic to those around them.
Hermione smiled to herself. It was kind of nice, to disappear.
She wheeled her trolley over to a large poster of the nearby subway schedule and bus stops. There was no way her parents would have received an unexpected owl at their dental practice, she figured, so it'd be up to her to get herself home. She scanned the poster, eyes searching for the information she needed, and someone moved up next to her, looming.
"Shame it's not still Sunday, isn't it?" a voice drawled from next to her, and Hermione felt shivers go down her spine. "You could have just jumped the lines."
Hermione slowly turned to her right, looking up at the figure who had joined her, who was smirking at her with a glint in their silver gaze.
The woman wore a burnt orange robe open like it was a duster, and she had on jeans and a black sleeveless shirt, both dusty and stained. Her dark hair was tied back haphazardly. Her eyebrow was raised, her smirk similar to one Hermione saw regularly, and she was familiar enough to Hermione to recognize.
"Sylvia?" Hermione said, surprised. "Sylvia Lestrange? What are you doing here?"
"Oh, nothing," Sylvia said, leaning back against the bus schedule lazily. "What about you?"
"I'm… finding a way home…" Hermione said slowly. She looked at Sylvia suspiciously. "What did you say about Sunday?"
Sylvia's eyes glinted.
"Just that it's a shame this all happened after Ostara, isn't it?" she said. "If it were still the equinox, you could have just jumped a line to get home."
Hermione felt a chill.
"What are you talking about?" she asked.
"Don't play dumb with me, Granger," Sylvia said, her voice lowering. "I know you're learning to jump the ley lines."
Hermione held very still.
"I don't know where you would have heard such a thing," she said carefully. "But if that were true—"
Sylvia rolled her eyes and yawned.
"—then you should also know it's not illegal," Hermione continued. "There's nothing wrong with it or against the law."
"Of course not," Sylvia agreed, and Hermione relaxed slightly. "Why would the Ministry think to outlaw something nobody does anymore, since attempting it got people stolen away?"
Hermione flinched.
"It doesn't—on some days—" she protested.
"Oh, I know," Sylvia cut her off, eyes glowing. "That's why I said it's a shame it wasn't still Sunday."
Hermione held her breath, looking up at Sylvia.
"What do you want with me?" she asked, and Sylvia laughed.
"Very direct for a Slytherin, aren't you?" she mused. "Could have fit into Gryffindor."
"Not with my ambition," Hermione fired back, and Sylvia laughed.
"Yes, well," she mused. "There is that."
The two looked at each other, locked in a battle of gazes. Hermione didn't know what Sylvia could see in hers besides defiance, but Hermione was determined not to blink first.
"Excuse me? If you're not going to use the schedule—"
An impatient muggle woman bodily shoved her way through, breaking their connection, and Hermione fell back and moved out of the way, apologizing to the woman who was now muttering rude things under her breath.
Sylvia wandered back over to stand next to Hermione.
"What do I want from you…" the older girl murmured. "What I want, Hermione is for you to know that I know things about you that others do not know."
"I think that's fairly apparent now," Hermione said, managing to keep her voice from shaking.
Sylvia's eyes lit up.
"Perhaps it is," she said. "But what else do I know?"
Her lips twisted into an odd sort of smile, before she smirked.
"Your parents are waiting out front, by the way," she told her. "They did get an owl, apparently. You'd best be on your way."
"They did?" Hermione's jaw dropped. "Oh, Merlin, and I've kept them waiting for ages—!"
She hurried out of the station with her luggage trolley, Sylvia laughing behind her.
"Have a good holiday!" Sylvia called after her. "Don't forget about me!"
Hermione shuddered. She rather wished she could.