The first day's classes were a mixed bag. The Bubotubers in Herbology were repulsive, while the Blast-Ended Skrewts in Hagrid's class were vicious. In the afternoon, Trelawney managed to annoy without the aid of magical flora or fauna, by revisiting her perennial theme of predicting Harry's demise.

Ginny had advised Ron and Harry to cast a Silencing Charm if Trelawney ever started speaking in a strange voice, as it could mean she was delivering a prophecy, and nothing good could come of that. As the class wore on, Harry felt a growing urge to cast the charm just on general principle, prophecy or no.

The day had one bright spot, at least for Hermione. While Ron and Harry sat in Divination, Hermione had Arithmancy–and only Arithmancy, this year–and was much happier for it. She brought her mechanical calculator along to class to show Professor Vector.

Vector had heard of such devices, though they'd never caught on in the wizarding world, which was always slow to adopt Muggle innovations. Even in the Muggle world, the devices had only been state-of-the-art for a brief period in history. The electronic technology which replaced them didn't function around magic, and was thus of even less interest to magic users.

Vector found the calculator intriguing enough to agree to spend time helping Hermione put the device to good use in the study of Arithmancy.

The next day, History of Magic was dull as ever, and in Potions, Snape was as cheerful as ever–which is to say, not at all.

When Hermione brought her completed potion to his desk, she noticed he had a tray of leaves sitting there, and remarked, "Oh, Mandrake leaves. I remember the roots were needed for the Restorative Draught used to treat petrification, but I don't think I've read of many potions that use the leaves."

"We're certainly not using them in today's lesson," he snarled, shoving the tray in a drawer, which he slammed shut. "Cease your prattling, and focus on your assignment."

"I've finished my assignment, sir. It's right here." She held up a stoppered vial.

"That doesn't entitle you to pry into matters which don't concern you. Hand in your potion and get out."

"He should have told her to leave," Ron joked to Harry. "Get it? Because of the leaves?"

"Weasley!" snapped Snape.

"Uh-oh," muttered Ron.

~*~

Fred, George and Lee Jordan had their first Defense lesson before Harry and his friends had theirs, and gave the new teacher glowing reviews.

"Great, another competent Defense teacher," said Ginny. "Probably dangerous then."

"Remus and Sirius think we can trust him," Harry replied.

Hermione said, "I'm still not sure I believe in the curse, but at least we know it's possible to get around it by signing a one-year limited contract. It worked for Professor Lupin, at least."

"Sort of," Ron said. "He transformed out on the grounds. It would have been tough for him to stick around after word got out, even if he'd wanted to. And things could have gone a lot worse that night."

"I guess we'll see," Ginny said.

The fourth year Gryffindors had their own first lesson with Moody on Thursday afternoon. Harry and his friends were somewhat reassured when he announced he'd only agreed to teach for one year. They soon had a new set of worries though, when Moody went on to say he would be using that year to teach them about Dark Curses, two years earlier than the Ministry considered appropriate. The whole class looked around at each other, checking their classmates for signs of nervousness, while trying not to show their own.

Moody told them, "Hogwarts has rules against dueling in the corridors. Some of you think those rules don't apply to you. Cast one of the Unforgivable Curses though, and you'll get more than a detention. Casting any of them on another person will get you a life sentence in Azkaban. Nasty place, Azkaban. Trust me when I say you don't ever want to find out for yourself."

With no further warning, he began demonstrating the three curses on spiders.

At the end of the lecture, the students walked out feeling chilled by what they had seen, but none worse than Neville. He'd been so visibly shaken by seeing the Cruciatus in action, Hermione had called out for Moody to stop.

Hermione, Ron and Harry gathered around Neville outside the classroom to check on him. Harry tried to ignore the curious stares from the rest of his classmates as they passed. He'd gotten the same stares during the lesson, when Moody singled him out as the only known survivor of the Killing Curse.

Moody appeared at the door, and asked Neville to come to his office for a cup of tea.

"Would it be alright if I joined you, Professor?" Hermione asked.

"What for?" Moody demanded. "This doesn't concern you, Granger."

"Actually," Neville said, "I think I'd like her to come, if that's alright, sir."

"Fine. Come on then, both of you," he said, before turning back into his classroom.

As Harry and Ron set off down the corridor, Ron asked, "What was that about?"

"What?" Harry asked.

"Do those two, you know… fancy each other now?"

"Neville and Moody? Seems unlikely. Bit of an age gap."

"Hilarious. You know I meant Neville and Hermione."

"Maybe she doesn't want to leave him alone with Moody until we know how the curse is going to play out this year."

"I thought she didn't believe in it."

Harry shrugged. "Just being a good friend then, I guess."

"Or a nosy one."

"Both can be true. Why, do you fancy her now?"

Ron snorted. "Hardly."

"If you say so. You could do worse."

"Yeah, assuming I wanted even more lectures and arguments in my life. Though if it weren't for that, I reckon she's fit enough to fancy. Especially when she leans over to pick up a book, and–"

"Whoa. Let's not go there."

"Go where?"

"I'll make you a deal. You don't talk about Hermione like that, and I won't talk about Ginny like that."

Ron made a face. "Right. Deal."

~*~

Neville looked steadier when he and Hermione arrived at dinner.

"Alright, Neville?" Ron asked.

"Sure," Neville said as he sat down.

"What did Moody want?"

"Ron!" Hermione admonished. "That's personal."

"You got to hear it. Couldn't have been that personal."

"It's okay," Neville said. "He told me about stuff my parents did during the war. They actually stood up to You-Know-Who himself a few times. I already knew that from my Gran, but Moody was there to see it in person one time."

"Wow," Ron said.

"Yeah. I'm proud of them, but it's a lot to live up to, you know?"

"I know the feeling," Harry said.

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

"Don't be. I'm saying I get it. They're supposed to be just your parents, but it's like there's a part of them which belongs to everybody."

"And that's the part everyone expects you to live up to."

"Yeah."

Neville rose from the table. "Excuse me, everyone. I'm not feeling very hungry. I'm going to head back to the Tower."

"Do you want someone to walk back with you?" Hermione asked.

"No, thanks. You should get something to eat. And thanks for earlier."

"Of course."

After Neville walked away, Harry asked, "Was Moody alright?"

"In what way?"

"I don't know… like not creepy or evil?"

Hermione hesitated before answering. "I suppose, although… No, never mind."

Ginny said, "You can't actually believe we're going to let that pass. Let's hear the evil part."

"It wasn't anything evil, but it seemed like he was leaving things out of the stories he told Neville. He was vague on details."

Ron said, "According to dad, he's sort of paranoid. Could be he doesn't want to give away too much about what spells he likes to use in a fight, stuff like that."

"Sirius and Remus said pretty much the same thing about him," Harry put in.

"Though it could just be the way adults talk about the war," Ginny said. "Mum has always been like that, when talking about our uncles who fought. You can tell she's leaving out parts she doesn't want us to hear."

"I'm sure that's it," Hermione said.

"For now, I guess we keep an eye out for any signs of evil," Harry said.

"No pun intended," Ron quipped, drawing groans from the group.

~*~

Alongside Hermione's regular schoolwork, her side research in Arithmancy, and her Occlumency practice, she continued to work on the problem of house-elves.

After finding a scandalous lack of information on the castle's own elves in Hogwarts: A History, she proceeded to the library. The books there weren't any more helpful, as they all treated the practice as perfectly natural. As a result, when she took Fred and George up on their offer to introduce her to the Hogwarts elves, she was not as prepared with background knowledge as she would have liked.

She returned to the common room afterwards in a dispirited state.

"They won't listen," she said in frustration, as she sat down with her friends.

"Er, who won't?" Neville asked.

Ron sighed. "Great. Here we go."

"The house-elves!" Hermione said. "I explained how they shouldn't have to be magically bound to a place to work there, and that they deserve to get paid and have holidays. They acted like I was insulting them."

"So…" Ron summarized, "you told them everything they've ever believed was all wrong, and that didn't bring them around right away? Huh. Go figure."

Hermione shot him a glare. She started to speak, but stopped herself. Starting again, she said, "No. You're right. This conditioning has been going on for a long time, and it will take time to break through it."

"Are you still on about that head-soaking thing?"

"The term is brainwashing," she corrected.

"Right, right. By the way, you desperately long for the chance to write all my essays."

"Stop trying to use it on me!"

Ron snickered.

Harry said, "I thought you agreed to listen to what they want, rather than telling them what you want them to want."

"I did listen. They kept insisting they're happy just to have work to do." She threw up her hands. "What sort of negotiating position is that to start from? By the way, Winky wasn't there. Dobby either. I'm worried. Aren't you?"

"I haven't thought about it much," he admitted. "Dobby can take care of himself. You should have seen him take down Lucius Malfoy like it was nothing." He smiled at the memory. "I'm sure Winky will be fine too."

"If they're so good at taking care of themselves, all the more reason they should be free. It's not like they're getting anything back from the people they serve."

"That isn't true," Neville said. He shrunk back when she whirled on him.

"What isn't?" she demanded.

"The part about not getting anything back. The part about being able to take care of themselves is true. They don't need money. I mean, what would they spend it on? They don't care about any of that. They do value the relationship though, at least with a family who properly appreciates them."

"Neville, your family doesn't have elves, do you?"

"We do, actually. Well, one. Tilpy. She's been with my family forever."

Hermione frowned. "When you get old enough, you're going to set her free, right?"

Neville gave her a look like she'd suggested he kick a puppy. "Why would I do something so cruel? I just said she's like part of the family."

"No, you said she's been with your family forever. How long was Dobby with the Malfoys?"

Neville stiffened. "You can't seriously be comparing my family to the Malfoys."

"No, of course not. But slavery is slavery," Hermione insisted.

"They're not slaves. They're house-elves. They don't see themselves as slaves, if their opinion means anything to you."

"Because they've been convinced not to!"

"By who?"

"It's by whom. And by everyone who keeps elves!"

Neville stared at her. "How do you know what everyone does?"

"I know it's the only explanation that makes sense!"

"From a human perspective, maybe."

"What difference does that make?"

"Maybe that's something you should find out."

Having said that, Neville rose from his seat and headed for the stairs to the dorm rooms.

Hermione looked after him in confusion. "Why did he get up and leave like that?"

"I don't blame him," Ron told her. "Going after family is out of order."

"I didn't. We were just having a discussion."

Harry said, "It probably stung more coming from you, after you acted like his friend the other day with Moody."

"I am his friend. Being friends doesn't mean you never disagree."

"No, but it should mean you know when to stop."

Hermione chewed on her lip. "Should I go after him?"

"Not if you're going to just keep repeating the same arguments," Ginny advised.

"If I could just get people to understand…"

"Everyone already understands that people wouldn't be happy living like elves. But elves aren't people."

"They're sentient beings."

"Is that a Muggle term? We just call them 'Beings', and most types wouldn't want us to treat them like humans. Some would get offended if you did. Bill tried to explain this to you, about goblins."

"The goblins aren't magically bound to us. And even if some elves don't want to break those bonds, the ones who do are denied the choice. That choice belongs solely to their human master. Outside of Hogwarts, at least."

"Then work on getting them all more of a choice. My dad is always working on some new law or other. You could try to get one passed that requires people to bring their elves to the Ministry once a year or whatever, and if any ask for freedom, their master would have to grant it. Getting it passed wouldn't be easy. You'd have people like the Malfoys screaming like it's the end of the world. You know, now that I say it, I think I'm starting to come around to the idea."

Hermione considered. "A law like that would be a good start, but I don't know if it will be enough. From what your dad told us, Winky was miserable when Crouch freed her, despite how poorly he treated her. And the second Kreacher got free, he decided to go work for the Malfoys, in spite of how awful they are. I wish Sirius had handled that differently."

Harry said, "I would hate living with the Malfoys, but Draco seems to like it. Never stops going on about it. Same thing with Dobby versus Kreacher. Anyway, Sirius gave Kreacher the choice to do what he wanted, and that still isn't good enough for you."

"Sirius freed Kreacher because he didn't want him around. It wasn't some great humanitarian gesture for Kreacher's sake."

Harry stood up. "Sirius and Kreacher both got what they wanted. You want the elves to be free, but only so long as they do what you want. Of course I would help any elf who actually wanted to be free. In case you haven't been keeping score, you and I are zero-to-one on number of elves freed. Same goes for you versus Sirius, for that matter."

With that, he turned and headed for the stairs, just as Neville had. Ron got up and followed him, shooting an annoyed look at Hermione.

Hermione shook her head. "I can see how people who grew up with elves might fail to see it as a problem, but I expected better from Harry. He grew up in the Muggle world."

With a sigh, Ginny stood up. "I'm going to head up to bed too."

"What's wrong?"

"You've already gone after Neville's family, and the person Harry sees as his strongest link to his parents. Let's quit now, before you get too deep into going after my family too. The Weasleys all grew up in the wizarding world, you know. I guess that means I'm not capable of telling right from wrong, so my opinions aren't going to be much use to you anyway."

"I didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings. But when something's wrong, you have to speak up, even if it's uncomfortable."

"Is it possible that people like Neville who grew up with elves might know what's best for them better than you do?"

"Of course it's possible. That doesn't make it true."

"Look, why don't you talk to Professor Burbage? I have no idea what her take might be on all this, but you've said you like the way she can see both magical and Muggle views on things."

"Good idea. I'll do that."

"I think you need to spend more time listening to the elves, too. Even to the parts that sound strange to you. Last year, I couldn't understand why you were all so upset about Buckbeak. But when I saw the Hippogriffs for myself, I got it. When you look one in the eye, you don't need Legilimency to see there's more going on in there than with ordinary animals. I needed to spend time around them to appreciate them for what they are. That doesn't mean they're just like people though."

"I'm glad you got the chance to experience that, but house-elves aren't animals, ordinary or otherwise."

"No, but they're not just like us, either. They don't want the same things."

"How can we know, if we don't give them a proper chance to find out?"

"We aren't going to settle this tonight. Good night, Hermione."

"Good night."

Hermione sat by herself, mulling over the conversation. Crookshanks appeared and hopped up in her lap, butting his head against her chin.

She wrapped her arms around him. "Hello, Crookie. I'm just going to sit here and pet you in silence for a while, so you don't get offended and storm off as well."

His only response was to begin purring.