As they walked in, Harry was standing by his desk talking to Proudfoot and Savage, "We need a better solution to this. We're pulling one or two of these a month now."

"I know," Savage said.

"One of two of what?" Ron asked.

"People using ancient wild elf hunting permits to haul in creatures that are technically elves but clearly not house elves?" Harry said.

"What's the point?" Ron asked. "It's not like you can turn an Erkling into a house elf."

Hermione handed Harry his lunch.

"Our suspicion is they're trying to cross breed," Proudfoot said.

"That's not going to work," Hermione said. "House elves don't reproduce unless they want to."

"I didn't say it was a good plan," Proudfoot said.

"Still," Savage said. "The ancient permits are the problem." He turned to Hermione. "Can you work on language for the Wizengamot as to why they need to pull all of those permits as soon as possible."

"Of course, but a carte blanche removal of ancient contracts is going to be a hard sell."

"I don't mean all of them just the ones to do with elves? That where the real mess is right now."

"Yes," Hermione said, "but ultimately, I think they need to look at all of the ancient contracts. I mean, do we really want a contract written in 1310 to last forever? It's not the same world it used to be, but letting these contracts float around allows a certain group of people to feel like they're entitled to do whatever they want."

"You're not wrong," Proudfoot said, "but one disaster at a time, okay?"

Hermione sighed. "Of course. I think I'll do it at home though. It's easier to work in my study there."

Savage nodded. "I'm surprised you can even turn around in that office of yours. I'm working on getting you space over here, but you'd think the wizards in charge of building modification were Muggles."

"It's no hurry. I'm fine at home. You know where to find me."

"On that note," Ron said, "I should get back to the shop."

"I'll walk you out," Hermione said.

Harry held up the bag lunch. "Thanks for this."

"You're welcome. See you later."

Ron and Hermione walked to the main hall where she kissed him goodbye before he stepped into a fireplace to take the Floo back to the shop. She watched as he swirled away in a burst of green flame. Sighing, she headed for the Ministry library.

Hermione loved the cavernous space filled with rows and rows of bookshelves. It dwarfed the library at Hogwarts and there was no restricted section for Ministry employees. She could read anything she wanted. Unfortunately, there was no time to browse for fun. Like everyone else moving through shelves, she had work to do. The information desk near the entrance was comically high. Several witches and wizards worked the desk. Hermione found an open space and rang one of the brass bells placed within reach around the desk.

An older wizard with a long salt and pepper beard leaned over the desk. "May I help you?"

"Yes." She explained what she was looking for. She expected to be bringing home scrolls which were so much more annoying to deal with than books.

The wizard stroked his long beard and smiled at her. "Ah, yes," he said. "Good news. The ancient law scrolls were copied into books in the fifteen-hundreds, so you won't have to do all that rolling and unrolling."

"Fantastic," Hermione said.

xXx

A couple of hours later she Apparated home. She dropped her bag on the desk in the study and looked at Purdy who'd appeared shortly after her.

"If we can convince the Wizengamot to cancel the ancient contracts, that could be a huge leap forward in elf rights."

"Yes, Miss."

"I just need to figure out what to say."

Purdy snapped her fingers and a cup of tea appeared. She handed it to Hermione.

"Thank you," Hermione said and took a sip. She set down the cup and began pulling several large tomes out of her bag.

Purdy's ears drooped.

"Ancient contract law. I have to know how it was structured before I can try to break it."

Purdy snapped her fingers again and a plate of shortbread biscuits appeared. She set the plate next to the teacup and disappeared.

Hermione sighed, opened a book, and picked up a biscuit. "Too right."

xXx

When Ron arrived home that evening, Hermione was still in the study reading. "What's all this?"

Hermione looked up bleary-eyed. "Ancient contract law."

Ron pulled a face. "That sounds gruesome."

Hermione marked her place with a ribbon and closed the book. "I wish I could tell you that it wasn't, but 'gruesome' is a fairly accurate description." She shook her head. "The things we did to the other magical races. It's awful."

Ron sat across from her. "Let me guess. You want to fix it."

"Of course, but…" She shook her head again. "I wouldn't know where to begin and some of it's impossible because we've destroyed whole species. It really is gruesome. It's like the best and worst of human nature all codified."

Ron rubbed his jaw. "Fixing the worst of human nature sounds like a big ask."

Hermione let out a soft snort and smiled at him. "True."

"So, probably best to just sort out the elves for now, yeah?"

"This is too big to take to anything but the full Wizengamot, so I have a few months to form a strategy."

He smiled at her. "You've done more in less time."

She smiled back. "I had a lot of help for that."

"I reckon you'll have a lot of help this time too. I know I'm in and I suspect Harry will be too and all the other Aurors for that matter. This problem isn't going away unless we make it go away."

Hermione nodded. "Thank you. I was hoping you'd say that."

"Of course. We're a team. Do you think we could get Purdy to make us a team dinner?"

Purdy appeared on the desk at the mention of her name.

"Do you feel like making dinner?" Hermione asked. "We can get take out if you're too tired."

"No, Miss. Dinner will only take a minute." Purdy disappeared.

"I don't know what I would do without her," Hermione said. "Honestly, I should go work for the Auror department helping with legal issues, and she should be in charge of House Elf Relocation."

"I don't think—"

Hermione shook her head. "I know, I know. I'm just saying she handles so much of that, really all I do is show up with the stamp."

"You have a real way with the stamp though." He winked at her. "Very sexy. Seriously, I could watch you cancel House Elf contracts all day."

Hermione laughed. "You're a very strange man."

"So what does it say about you that you married me?"

Hermione shook her head. "Nothing good, I'm sure."

"And yet, here we are."

"Indeed, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

"Me either." Purdy called them to dinner. "Except at the table," Ron corrected.

Hermione's stomach growled as she stood. "Me too."

He took her hand and kissed the back of it as they walked to the kitchen. Hermione leaned her head against his shoulder, happy he was home.