Hogwarts Express
I've kept this chapter fairly short in order to get it up sooner, hopefully the next one will come along quite quickly too. Please let me know how you think it's going and, as ever, I own nothing from Harry Potter.
The next week passed in a blur. The events of the quidditch World Cup and everything that happened afterwards – Winky the house elf, the dark mark, Mrs Weasley sobbing – were going around in Hermione's head. She had asked Bill Weasley about house elves, hoping that the eldest brother would have something more interesting to say than Ron's less than helpful contribution. Unfortunately, as the Weasleys had never owned house elves, Bill couldn't be much help. "Well they are supposed to really love working, and they see it as an honour to serve a wizarding family."
"But surely that must be because they are brainwashed! If they don't know anything else then how can they make an educated decision?"
"I don't know, Hermione," Bill spread his hands in a helpless gesture. "I really don't know much about it, but there must be something that wizards do for elves in return." With that Bill left Hermione to it, not much more informed than she had been before she'd asked him and frustrated by the lack of information on house elves.
Otherwise, the house was quiet, worried. Mr Weasley and Percy were at the ministry for almost all hours, the tension could be felt all over the Burrow but no more so than in Mrs Weasleys terse shoulders as she bustled around her chores.
Instead of the whole household going to Diagon Alley, Mrs Weasley went alone. Hermione had received her letter before she had arrived at the Weasleys, so she had already been shopping with her mother to buy a formal dress as stipulated in the instructions for this year. They had had a lot of fun, in one of their rare opportunities to do something together, and had chosen a floaty blue dress that Hermione had reassured her mum she would be able to alter if she grew too much before she had the chance to wear it. She did pull Mrs Weasley aside to ask her to pick up a bottle of Sleakeazys hair spray though, along with the standard magical books and supplies. As they'd gone to so much trouble buying a dress she figured she could probably spare the time to sort her hair out too.
The morning they were due to return to Hogwarts, Hermione was awake before Mrs Weasley's wake up call again. This time she was still thinking about the unfair treatment of the house elves. She needed more information, and she needed to make other muggleborns aware of the slavery in their midst. She had found out, when questioning the various family members, that there were house elves at Hogwarts! How somewhere like Hogwarts could justify the use of unpaid labour was almost unbelievable to her, she thought she may be able to get a protest group together if she tried.
She was still thinking about who to talk to first as she wandered down the stairs to breakfast, packed trunk bumping along behind her. Mr Weasley nearly flattened her as he rushed past, calling a hurried goodbye. She looked quizzically at the boys as she entered the kitchen, Ron mouthed 'ministry' back to her. Nodding in understanding, she sat down and helped herself to breakfast, passing some to Ginny as the younger girl sat down beside her.
It was definitely one of the most stressful journeys to King's Cross that Hermione could remember. They had all walked to the local village to catch taxis – probably at a horrendous cost, particularly given the presence of Pigwidgeon and Crookshanks – that they somehow managed to shove six trunks into, and settled in for the long journey from the West Country to London.
After a quick goodbye to Mrs Weasley, Bill and Charlie (who were dropping some tantalising hints regarding an event at Hogwarts) the students boarded the Hogwarts Express. Harry, Hermione and Ron found themselves in an unoccupied compartment and settled in for the journey.
Before long Hermione excused herself from the boys, who were occupied playing exploding snap anyway, and travelled down the train. She came across a compartment with the rest of the Gryffindors from her year and went in to say hello. After the usual greetings, she asked them all about house elves and house elf rights.
Almost immediately Seamus switched off, muttering that they didn't have enough money for one and instead drew Parvati into a discussion about her summer. Dean at least listen while Hermione explained her view on house elves to him, but as she was finishing she heard Lavender snort next to her.
"I'm sorry Hermione, but house elves live what they do! And if they didn't do their jobs, witches would have to!" Lavender looked horrified by the thought, whereas Dean just shrugged at Hermione and joined in the conversation with Seamus. Hermione looked to Neville as her last resort.
"I've never really thought about it that much…but they are usually very happy. Can it be so very wrong?"
Hermione felt like screaming. She stomped out the compartment and walked off down the train in search of more inspiration. Ernie MacMillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley from Hufflepuff passed her, greeting her as they went by. She stopped suddenly and called back after them. "Justin, as a fellow muggleborn have you ever come across house elves?"
She went on to tell him about the brain washing of house elves and how they were enslaved by wizards. As she had nearly finished, and before she even was able to ask Justin to help her with her plan to fight for elf freedom (and she was sure he would, Hufflepuffs were known to be bleeding hearts) she was interrupted by Ernie snorting. This was an unusual sound from the normally pompous boy, so she stopped mid rant to look at him.
"I'm sorry Hermione," Ernie began, in his stately way of speaking. "But house elves garner great satisfaction from working for witches and wizards. To tell them they are brain washed and therefore unable to judge for themselves is treating them in the same manner you are insinuating that all wizarding families currently do. Now, if you'll excuse me." Ernie slipped into a compartment, and with a slightly apologetic glance Justin followed him sliding the door shut behind him.
Hermione kicked the wall outside the closed compartment door, frustrated that she couldn't find anyone else who shared her view or even understood it. She leant forwards until her forehead touched the wall and stood there for a moment, her arms straight down by her sides in a picture of dejection. She was just making her mind up to go back to the compartment she had been sharing with Harry and Ron and was mulling over another approach – possibly some sort of society? - when a voice from behind interrupted her thoughts.
"Are you ok there Granger?"
She turned slowly, head still resting against the wall and trying not to show how embarrassed she was at being interrupted in her frustrated pose. Cedric Diggory stood watching her, one eyebrow raised in an inquisitive look. She accepted she wouldn't be able to cover this up with any kind of elegance so she just rolled with it.
"Cedric, you're a pure blood aren't you?"
"Um…yes?" Cedric suddenly looked very apprehensive, watching her warily.
"Can you explain house elves to me?" Seeing his confused expression, Hermione elaborated. "I don't understand how everyone is so blasé about something that is essentially brain washed slavery."
Cedric suddenly understood. He hesitated for a moment, before beckoning to an empty carriage just along the corridor. Hermione followed him in, sitting opposite him while the prefect steepled his fingers and thought about how to approach the question.
"I think sometimes there is a lot of information that is just assumed knowledge by wizarding families that muggleborns just don't know," he started, raising a hand when he saw Hermione about to argue the point. "Not the kind of knowledge you can find in books but knowledge handed down through families for generations. When muggleborns come to Hogwarts they are taught about different types of magic but not really magical society, not that the muggle course is much better at teaching about muggle society either." Hermione couldn't disagree with him, most of her knowledge of magical society came from the Weasleys, who were a kind of renegade and did not follow many of the traditions.
Cedric had paused for a moment to think about how to get his point across. "House elves would seem like slaves but they are paid, just not in money. When a house elf bonds to a magical family, the magic of that family strengthens the magic of the elf, and their lifespan is usually elongated. That and they do genuinely love to serve, particularly if there are children in the family."
"But what about those that are abused?" Some of what Cedric had told her helped her to understand the overwhelming reaction from her school peers, but given what she had been told she just couldn't understand why they were treated as less worthy than humans.
Hermione's question caused a dark look to cross Cedric's features. "I'd love to say that no one would abuse their house elves, but I know that is naïve. Some people have also forgotten how much house elves have done for us, and they treat them as though they are just servants which is worse in some ways because it isn't done deliberately, it is ignorant."
Hermione was thinking. "So trying to free house elves deprives them of their magic… but there are no regulations for the treatment of them? And what about the elves at Hogwarts?"
"I don't think there are any regulations, although maybe there should be. I'd have to ask dad. As to the Hogwarts elves, they probably bind to the magic of the castle itself."
"Thank you Cedric, I appreciate you trying to explain to me." Hermione was already thinking hard about how to try to encourage better treatment of house elves, running ideas through her mind so quickly that she didn't notice Cedric muttering "Anytime Granger," before leaving the compartment. If she hadn't been so engrossed in her thoughts she would have noticed the thoughtful expression cross the Hufflepuff's face as he regarded the younger girl through the small window, before moving off to continue on his prefect's rounds.