Concerning Elves, Bigotry and Humility
Disclaimer: I have not claim to characters or scenes from the Harry Potter series, which belongs to JK Rowling and associates. I get nothing from this except the enjoyment of imagining and writing the story. If I did own any of the Potterverse, I could stop having to work for a living.
Time frame – Post–DH except for the epilogue which I am ignoring, for reasons that should become obvious.
A/N: The plot bunnies ganged up on me and insisted that I write an extended version of this chapter. I had not intended to do so, as the story arc did not require it. However, they were very insistent, so there is an alternate version, which is published separately. The bruises on my shins, from the group of bunnies kicking me, are healing nicely, thank you.
As a consequence of the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry Potter and his friends found that they were the owners, or rather keepers, of a number of house elves. Most of these came as property by right of conquest in battle, but some were considered, under the wizarding laws, as part of the property confiscated from the Death Eater families in reparations for the damages and harm they had done.
As most of the Death Eaters had pledged their lives and their wealth to Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter received numerous properties, including the bound house elves who came with the properties. During the year that Harry would later refer to as the 'Year of Travel', he consulted with the elves at each property, and came up with a rough organization, where the elves at each location would keep up the maintenance, until Harry could figure out what to do with all the properties he had inherited and those he had acquired by conquest. He had each elf report in weekly to Bruce, the principal elf at the Potter Manor. Each month, he would have a meeting with all forty-five of the elves, and try to deal with issues which came up.
Hermione and Ron each gained possession of three elves, one of which came with the stipend attached to the Order of Merlin, while two others had been owned by Death Eaters which had not been pledged to Voldemort. This fact mortified Hermione, but as she was studying for entrance exams, while travelling with Harry and attending funerals and ceremonies, having some assistance was handy – she planned to free them once she got around to it, which she hoped to be in the fall once she started university.
As she had killed Bellatrix Lestrange in a one-on-one fight, Molly Weasley found herself to be the someone less-than-proud 'owner' of the three house elves that had still been owned by the Lestrange family. During the summer after the Battle, and Fred's funeral (among many others), having the helpful extra hands allowed Molly to continue functioning on days when she just wanted to put her head down and cry her life away. The elves' personalities were not poisoned the way Kreacher's was at Grimmauld Place (largely as the LeStranges had been imprisoned for so long that their elves dealings with other elves had brought them back to a more normal temperment), and they soon fit into the Weasley household
One Saturday afternoon in October, the fall after the battle, Harry was sitting in his living room at the Manor, when he heard Hermione's voice coming from the fireplace, which was filled with the green flames of a floo call. His friend's voice had a panicked shrieking character that Harry had only heard a couple times when Hermione was in serious distress.
He answered that he was there, and she cried out "Harry, do not free your elves!" As this was a drastic change from what she had been saying for several years, he asked her why. She asked if she could come over and explain, to which he agreed. An instant later Hermione lunged out of the fireplace into his arms, sobbing so hard that she was having trouble breathing and standing.
As he held her up, she looked at him with a terrified look in her eyes, and said again, "Harry, do not under any circumstances free an elf!"
He asked what happened to cause her to change her opinion so much.
She looked him in the eyes, and asked "Harry, have you ever watched an elf commit suicide? Because I just did!"
In his surprise, Harry almost dropped the young witch onto the floor, but recovered enough to move them both over to the couch where he had been sitting. He sat her down and called for one of his elves to get her a glass of water. Hermione shook her head and asked "Brandy, please. For 'medicinal purposes'." Harry had never seen Hermione drink any liquor stronger than butterbeer, and knew that whatever had happened had been a life-changing experience for her, and not a good one.
He asked quietly, "'Mione, what happened? Should I call Ron to get over here?" He figured this sounded like something that her boyfriend needed to be present to hear.
Hermione shook her head vigorously. "Not yet. Not until after I tell you the whole story. I don't think Ron would want to hear the whole thing."
This puzzled Harry even more. The trio had been through battles together and had been on the run in fear for their lives. What could be so awful that Ron shouldn't hear it? He agreed that he would listen, and then call Ron (who had a game on at the moment and was probably incommunicado anyway).
He asked her, "What's wrong with freeing elves? I freed Dobby."
Hermione shook her head, "No you didn't! Not really."
Harry looked at her "I clearly remember Dobby saying he was free, and when we spoke to him about being free, he agreed with us. I am confused."
The woman nodded, "He meant he was free of the Malfoys. Not free free! I remember you told me that you had put one of your socks in Voldemort's diary, and then Malfoy senior gave the book to Dobby. Right?" Harry nodded.
"What that accomplished was that ownership of Dobby passed from Malfoy to you! Dobby was bound to you personally; that's why he was delighted with any task you gave him, even the one that almost killed him. It pleased you to pay him for his service, so he was pleased to accept the money, as it served your need to feel that he was not a slave. When an elf is given clothing by his or her master that belongs to another person, that transfers ownership. It is only when the owner gives clothing that either belongs to herself, or is not owned by anyone personally (such as in a shop), that the elf is freed from all bondage."
Harry was puzzled. "The elves at my castle wear Black Clan livery. Isn't that a personal item? Wouldn't that free them?"
The young witch shook her head. "Livery is considered to be part of the castle's property. It is not a personal item of yours."
Harry asked, "Okay, but what is wrong with being free?"
Hermione looked at him with sad eyes. "An elf that is completely free is an outcast to all other elves. You remember when we learned about the Japanese feudal system with the samurai class? Elves work on a similar system. Within elf society, and yes there is elf society, an elf who is dismissed from service is considered to be unfit for any service. An elf's life is service. To be dismissed is to be told that they are less than an elf and this, just like with a dismissed samurai, is a shame too much to live with! They are disgraced, they will never be accepted by other elves. So they commit suicide. I just saw it."
Harry asked "Okay, Hermione, tell me what happened. Don't leave anything out. And why don't you want Ron here.
His bushy-haired friend took a long pull on her glass of brandy, and began. "I'm not sure I am ready for Ron to hear some of it. And I am not entirely sure I am ready to tell him some of it."
Hermione grimaced and said, "For one thing, I'm still pretty embarrassed by some of what happened, and some of it is not what a boyfriend would want to hear." Harry's eyebrows rose at the implications of this revelation, but then she continued "And I am completely, thoroughly ashamed of what happened, and why. Harry, at the end of the day, you're my best friend, and can see things more clearly without the 'boy-girl' aspect confusing the issues, and you have more elves. We discussed freeing all of the elves, yours, mine and Ron's, although Ron wasn't as keen – he likes having the servants to clean up after him."
"Anyway, a few days ago I decided that it was time to start freeing my elves, the ones I got through the battle awards, et cetera, et cetera. I decided to free Mikey first, he was the male elf, who had been a body servant, rather than a domestic. I was quite uncomfortable getting out of the shower and having this male elf help me dress, or watching me undress before the shower. Somehow, having female elves around when I am undressed was not as disconcerting. It's amazing how I can get out a shower nude, but the second a male sees me, I am naked."
Harry smiled a wicked smile and raised his eyebrows. Hermione smiled slightly through her tears, and said "You wish! Not going to happen. Anyway..."
"If you remember, last Thursday was kind of warm, and I was wearing a shirt and pleated skirt, and sandals without stockings or socks. I had been studying, and was taking a break when I thought, 'No time like the present'."
"I called Mikey over to present him with a piece of clothing, and then realized I didn't have anything with me. As he had seen me naked, I figured 'What the hell?', so I reached under my skirt, pulled down my knickers and handed them to him."
"He looked up at me stunned, and started crying. He pleaded 'Please mistress, no! I will be a good elf! I didn't mean to displease you! Please don't dismiss me. Don't throw me out and set me free! Please tell me what you want me to do and what you want me not to do. I will be a better elf! Please don't make me free! Please!"
"I said that I planned to free all my elves. Marthe and Janie (my other two) started crying and sobbing loudly. All three begged me not to set them free. I said I was going to set them free because it was good to be free."
"Mikey cried 'Not for an elf!' He looked at my panties in his hand, and fell to his knees crying. He wiped his tears away with my pants, and screamed, 'You freed me. I cannot be an elf anymore. I cannot live if I am not an elf'. And with that, he dropped my knickers on the floor, held up his hands and changed them into knives. He took one, and stuck it in his abdomen, slicing himself open from chest to crotch. As he did this, he took the other, and cut his own head off."
"I stood there for a moment, and then threw up all over myself and the little corpse, over and over until I was completely empty, and still continued to retch. Finally, Janie and Marthe picked me up, cleaned me off and put me into bed, holding my head and giving me sips of water as I cried and cried."
"Finally, I was sufficiently calm to ask them to explain. They told me that it was an unbearable shame for an elf to be freed. It was too much to live with, as they were now an outcast from all other elves. Their lives were effectively over, so they kill themselves."
"Apparently, if you demand that an elf do something they are not capable of doing, they will happily die trying, sort of dying honourably in the line of duty. But if you demand one of your bound elves to do something which is despicable and beyond what they consider morally acceptable, they cannot disobey, so they will kill themselves instead. Remember all those elf heads at Grimmauld Place? Those were elves who had been ordered by old Lady Black to do something that even they could not tolerate, so they committed suicide, cutting off their heads. The demented old hag had the heads mounted as trophies, showing how she had 'bested' the 'lesser beings'"
"Harry, I just made an elf kill himself because I thought I knew what was best for them. I was so sure of myself, so full of myself, that I did not even ask how the elves felt about things. Me, the compulsive researcher, didn't ever bother to ask or find out!"
"Harry, I had the same arrogance, the same 'so-sure-of-herself'ness, the same bigotry towards other creatures that we have been fighting for years."
"I'm no better than the Death Eaters! I'm not sure I can live with that knowledge. The only thing I can do is tell everyone I know the story so they do not make the same mistake." She thought of what she was going to tell Ron, and smiled slightly through her sobbing, "Well, maybe not all of the story.
Harry held her while she cried for the next five hours. He knew he needed Hermione to be able to, if not forgive herself, at least come to terms with the terrible mistake, and he knew it would take time. He knew that, in her eyes, being stupid was unforgivable, and hurting someone who was essentially innocent was also unforgivable.
He reached down and took off his socks, and handed them to her. She looked at them and asked "Are you sending me away? Are you freeing me?" and burst out crying again. He kissed the top of her head, and said "No, Hermione, I would never, I will never send you away. Give these to your two elves. You know I will not mistreat them, and you won't have the constant reminder."
Hermione shook her head. "If I am going to deal with this, if I am going to learn to live with myself, I can't hide from it. I have to face it. I can do this, or at least I can try. I owe it to Janie and Marthe to tell them I am sorry, that I did not understand that my ways are not the same as their ways, and that I made a terrible, terrible mistake. I have to beg their forgiveness. I have to pull out my Gryffindor courage, and live with my shame."
Harry hugged her, and said "That's my Hermione!"
She cuddled up into his hug, then smiled slightly and said, "By the way, your socks stink."
Two days after what became known to Harry and his circle as 'The Elf Incident', Harry and Hermione met with Minerva McGonagall and Horace Meadows, the head of the Agricola School.
Harry started the meeting by saying "I assume that no introductions are required, as you two know each other."
As the two looked at Harry, puzzled and shaking their heads, Harry smiled a prankish smile and did the honours. "No? Well, then. Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, I would very much like you to meet Horace Meadows, Principal of the Agricola School of Magical Arts. Mr Meadows, Professor McGonagall."
The two shook hands, and turned to Harry for an explanation for this unusual meeting.
Harry smiled and said, "I am sorry to have to spring this surprise onto you both, but I believe I have just demonstrated what I see as a serious weakness in our society. Our society is so fragmented due to the class structure that the heads of the two finest schools for the magically gifted in the UK don't even know each other."
Minerva looked at Harry in shock. She had heard rumours that there was a school for some of the wizards and witches who didn't attend Hogwarts, but to hear Harry speak of it on the same terms as Hogwarts was akin to dancing on her grave.
Harry looked at his former Head of House with a contrite look on his face. He said "Professor, I mean no disrespect for Hogwarts, as I have and always will love the school. It was my first true home. But I am part of a larger world now, and I find that the ignorance of what else is out there is, I think, a severe impediment to the improvement of our society. I believe that ignorance is the root of bigotry and hatred. My relatives were ignorant of the magical world, and wanted, in their narrow-mindedness, to keep it that way. If they could have done so, they would have exterminated all magical people, just as Voldemort and his Death Eaters were keen to exterminate all who did not share their narrow-mined view. In muggle societies around the world, this same scenario has played out over and over and over. I believe that education is the way to combat this."
"I have been given the rare privilege, and perhaps, responsibility, to do something about it. My godfather's will told me to take his fortune and do some good in the world, and I mean to be true to his wishes."
"Now, I have some ideas which I would like you both to hear. There is an old saying that 'Exhilaration is the feeling you get between the time you have a brilliant idea, and others point out the obvious flaws in it'. I would very much appreciate you two esteemed educators taking a listen, and pointing out the flaws, and if possible ways to make it a better plan, or really plans."
"First, I would like to tell you a short story. There was once a young pure-blood witch named Merope Gaunt. She was a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin, a fact that her father thought of paramount importance. Like many pure-bloods, he believed that the fact of his descent proved that he was better than everyone else on earth, and entitled him to great respect and fortune. In reality, he had neither, as he was a nasty brutish man who abused his daughter, at least emotionally, if not physically. She was treated as his personal servant, and was not allowed to stray too far from the house, much less attend school. When it came time for her to go to Hogwarts, he refused to let her go, because her leaving would lose him his unpaid servant, he would lose control over the one person or thing that was under his thumb, and because there was no spare money for the tuition."
"Merope fell into an infatuation for a rich muggle named Tom Riddle, who was the local squire's son. By way of a love potion, Merope gained his affection, and she became pregnant. She thought that this would guarantee Riddle's love, and ceased administering her potions, at which point he abandoned her. After further abuse from her father, as much for consorting with a muggle as for getting pregnant by him (and so limiting her usefulness to him as a potential bargaining chip in pure-blood societal politics), she ran off to London, where she gave birth of a boy. She died in childbirth after naming the boy 'Tom Marvolo Riddle', after her father and his."
The boy, who was destined to become a powerful wizard, grew up in a muggle orphanage. He grew up mean, and abused the other children when he found he could make them do things through his powers. Professor Dumbledore sought the boy out when it came time for him to enter Hogwarts (as a descendant of Slytherin, his name was at the top of the list that year). As he learned more magic, he became more and more powerful, but his personality was already fixed. He revelled in control and power, and took to the Dark Arts. After graduation, he altered the letters of his name, and called himself 'Lord Voldemort'. We know what followed from that." Harry tapped the remnants of the lightning-shaped scar still clearly visible on his forehead
Harry turned to Minerva and said "I believe you knew Tom when you were in school." She nodded, "Aye. A thoroughly nasty piece of work, he, from the time he was a firstie. I was two years ahead of him, and when I was a prefect, he was one of the primary sources of trouble in the school."
Harry nodded. "Due to the kind administrations of Voldemort and his Death Eaters, I and many others became orphans. Both magical and muggle. He liked to kill, and gave his followers free rein to do the same.
He said, "My first plan, such as it is to this point, is to set a residential school or group of schools for magical orphans, plus a team of roving teachers for those whose family conditions allow or require them to be taught at home. I intend to take some of the money I have inherited, and provide support for those who need it, including the salaries of the teachers, and tuition fees where needed. I would also support a roving cadre of aurors to check for child abuse, such as she suffered."
"I would like to call the school the 'Merope Gaunt Memorial School', because I think if she had been given better support, and allowed an education without digging into her family's limited finances, a lot of grief could have been prevented. In a way, I have come to see her as Voldemort's first victim, and the bigotry and hatred he came to embody was a direct result of both her father's treatment of her, and his own father's rejection of her whom he saw as an unschooled and largely unwashed peasant. The social and blood bigotry came from both sides of his heritage."
"My idea, further, it that attendance at Hogwarts or Agricola should not be restricted by family ties, social level or class boundaries, but by ability, temperment, and interests. I also think that by both schools working together, we will reduce the narrow-mindedness which is so prevalent, and maybe even improve the quality of our educational system through the sharing of ideas and practices. For example, I am sure that Madame Sprout's expertise in Herbology would be of great help to the farming practices at Agricola, and their methods of crop production would increase the yield of her potion ingredients, thus benefiting both schools and our society in general."
"Anyhow, that's my plan. What do you think?"
The two elders looked at each other, and nodded. Both saw the potential benefits of Harry's plan, but also saw that they had several hundred years of separation to overcome to make it work. Casting some surreptitious glances that the younger man beside them, they also recognised that this was something that was going to happen, with them or without them. Harry had defeated Voldemort in battles on the physical field of blood and dirt, and they could see that he would not be satisfied until he had defeated his ideas and doctrine in the minds of their world as well.
They had a lot of work to do.
The two school heads were then surprised when Harry continued. They had thought the business of the day was done.
Harry smiled and said, "I am also going to invest in, or set up, all-inclusive tropical holiday camps for magical people. These will be available for all magical, humans, elves, goblins and any others. They will not be restricted to just those who attended Hogwarts, or Agricola, or skipped out on school altogether. They will be places where all magical can meet and interact on an equal non-discriminatory basis. Anyone who wants to bring their purist beliefs will find their welcome a bit colder. Actually, I might suggest putting a charm on the places so that certain topics become less interesting to talk about. There is a muggle saying that you should not discuss wither religion or politics, if you want to have a quiet evening. Something like that."
"I also think that we could arrange some sort of financial support for those whose situations are a bit stretched. I need to figure out some way of doing this so it doesn't appear to be charity or demeaning to those who would need it. The camps would have free floo connections as part of the package. Perhaps we could come up with some on-the-job training courses which could qualify for educational subsidies from the Ministry, or something like that – underwater welding using gillyweed, or something. Kind of like the work-study programs at Agricola, only if someone takes a course, their family gets to come along for a holiday.
"I have a couple spots picked out tentatively in Australia, Brazil, and French Polynesia, with some other alternatives as well. We could offer language courses in Portuguese, French, Polynesian, and Australian (which, trust me, is not English from what I've heard), towards jobs in the travel agency businesses. We might have courses in tropical Herbology, fish and wildlife, and so on."
Minerva and Horace both looked at Harry and asked, "Why did you choose the locations you mentioned? There are holiday camps all over the world in all sorts of places."
Harry smiled. "I am planning to honour my godfather's directions again in doing some social good, and also have a little fun with his name. All the locations I mentioned are located at sixteen degrees forty-two minutes fifty eight seconds south latitude, directly under the star Sirius. I think he would like that. Now because of my inheritances, I know I have property in all of these places, which I could convert into the camps."
Minerva asked "Nothing in Africa? We have a lot of wizarding folks with their family roots in Africa. Might be nice."
Harry nodded, "Not yet, but a very good idea. Thanks. I haven't made it through the all the list of stuff I inherited, so I will have to check, or else I can invest in some places. I have heard the coast of Kenya near Mombasa is beautiful, and the word 'Zanzibar' just has an exotic sound I like."
"However, so far, I'm just trying to get some ideas on whether the concept would be a good one or not. I want a place where magical people can get together and relax on an equal footing, without class or social distinctions as much as possible. Now, that may be the first hard part."
"The second hard part for a lot of our people is that I want this to be open to muggles too. We need to get over this anti-muggle prejudice. We have a lot to offer them, and they hve a lot to offer us."
Harry's visitors were shocked by this statement.
Professor McGonagall asked sharply "What about the International Statute for Magical Secrecy? This was put in place as much for their protection as ours. I know you slept through most of Professor Binns' History of Magic classes, but many times in the past, magical people have not been treated very well by non-magical communities"
Harry nodded. "Yeah, that might be a problem. Also, I can see someone in the upper mucky-mucks getting upset by having to 'hang around' with undesirables. But that's kind of my point – we need to get over these prejudices, from both sides."
"I've put a bit of thought into that. There are a couple muggle amusement parks in America that call themselves 'The Magic Kingdom'. Muggles are used to seeing so-called 'special effects' in their moving picture and stage shows. Muggle 'magicians' rely on special effects to distract their audiences from what they are really doing. I think with a little bit of diversion, some disillusion charms, and okay, outright lying, we should be able to convince most of them that it is just trickery. Those who see through it all, we can check for magical abilities, and perhaps get to welcome them as long-lost cousins."
"Now, until very recently, I have not had much experience with holidays and having fun – having what's effectively an unspecified death sentence hanging over your head tends to get in the way of enjoying life. I am going to need to ask for your help and experience in telling me what kinds of things you have seen, or would like to see in a holiday camp that you would want to attend."
Minerva sighed and said, "You know, one of the few things I regret about being a teacher is the lack of opportunity to take winter holidays. Over the Christmas break, we are generally so busy preparing for the next term that we just can't get away. By summer, the best places are overrun with people – a secluded island sounds very nice."
Horace nodded. "I love my work, but there are trade-offs. A nice winter holiday would be pleasant. Harry, what do you think about having some courses lasting a couple weeks or more, say in aquaculture or botany? I am sure we could get a number of students interested in fish-farming, and of course they would need 'staff supervision'."
Minerva was thinking that it had been too many years since she had gotten her bikinis out of her dresser drawers. She laughed in response to Horace's suggestion. "Maybe you could offer, shall I say, a staff discount for old teachers. Yes?"
Harry smiled. "I have, perhaps, a better idea. How would you two like becoming, in additional to your other professional responsibilities, technical advisors to me on both projects. For the schools, you could hire staff to do most of the work, and just oversee the process, hopefully not added too badly to your already heavy workloads. I have a lot of elves who are clamouring for something meaningful to do – they claim I don't make enough work for them all, and they are getting upset not doing stuff. I am told 'It's not the Elf Way!'"
"Also, you would be asked to check out the facilities at the various camps, such as the pools, the dining rooms, the spas, the tropical beaches, and whatever else you see the 'need' to examine. I would want you to treat the facilities in ways the normal tourist would do, in order to truly evaluate the service and attractions. This of course would require lying in the sun, eating and drinking, and whatever other activities you deem appropriate."
Both teachers chuckled at the description of their new 'jobs', and both agreed to the tasks.