The Day of the Draw at Hogwarts

"Tom, why do you think that is?" Hermione thought for a few minutes and came to a vague conclusion. But she wasn't so confident now, and she needed Tom's confirmation.

"My dear, the reason is very simple. It is either impossible or impossible. Does Dumbledore have the power to release all house elves? Of course he does, but can he release them? Of course not."

"Because after they were freed, no one would wash clothes, cook, or clean up for the students at Hogwarts?" Hermione's voice was choked again. Because she realized that she seemed to have been enjoying the slave's worship with peace of mind.

While she was sleeping peacefully at night, the house elf was washing the clothes she had soiled during the day, adding a handful of firewood to the fireplace in her bedroom, and sweeping the hallways spotlessly. While she was enjoying those delicacies, countless house elves were hungry in the dark kitchen, providing her with various dishes. Only after she was full and drunk could she take a few bites of leftovers...

Thinking of this, Hermione felt as if someone had pinched her throat, and she couldn't breathe in pain.

"Of course not, Professor Dumbledore could choose to hire them - if that's feasible."

Hermione felt a little better because Tom said that she had little to do with the house elves being enslaved.

"In fact, I admit that the wizard's behavior towards the house elves is slavery, but it is unreliable to terminate the master-servant relationship rashly and give the elves freedom."

"Why?" Hermione was a little curious.

"Because house elves don't want to be free. They really need a master. This is something that is imprinted in their souls."

Seeing that Hermione was deep in thought, Tom said helplessly: "A lot of times, you have to act based on reality. Once upon a time, there was an emperor. He felt that the slaves in the powerful family were really pitiful, so he hoped that the powerful people could release the slaves in the family. ——Do you think his order has the same effect as yours?"

Abolition of slavery? Hermione suddenly became interested. The emperor's thoughts really appealed to her. In her opinion, this emperor has done a great thing, and he will definitely create a great dynasty!

"what's next?"

"The emperor's prestige is extremely high, so many powerful men have released their slaves. But what can those slaves who have no survival skills other than serving people do if they are freed? Many of them are hungry. To die on the streets, more people choose to sell themselves again.”

Hermione:!

This was an unfolding that she had never imagined.

"But house elves are very powerful..."

"This does not prevent them from selling themselves to other wizarding families."

"So, do you understand?" Tom tapped Hermione's white forehead with his index finger, "Don't rush things, otherwise you will really do bad things with good intentions, just like the emperor I told you, he also He issued many ridiculous orders that eventually tore his country apart."

Listening to Tom's preaching, Hermione pouted and said: If you don't want to listen, you are just chanting.

But after a while, she still looked at Tom nervously, wanting to get some useful advice from him.

"In fact, Professor Dumbledore has been aware of this problem for a long time, and he has been improving the relationship between house elves and wizards." Tom didn't lie. Dumbledore must have been aware of the twisted relationship between house elves and wizards.

As a kind person, he did not want to see a group of beings with intelligence no less than human beings being enslaved like this, but he also understood the difficulties and risks of reform.

If they don't get it right, the house elves will do more harm than Grindelwald.

Therefore, he did not rashly free all the house elves, but provided them with the best treatment within his ability.

The house elves at Hogwarts have no clothes, but the tea towels they wear are the closest thing to clothing, and they are much better than the pathetic pieces of cloth that other house elves have. Here, although the house elves do not have holidays, during summer vacation and Christmas, students will return to their homes, and the house elves will also get a substantial vacation - their workload will be greatly reduced, and they only need to repair the castle. Routine maintenance is enough.

Even during normal school days, house elves still have a chance to rest. Because the Hogwarts school doesn't want them to be discovered by the little wizards. Therefore, during the day when the little wizards often go out for activities, the house elves have to stay in the kitchen on standby. During this time, they have no other work except preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner. When the night is quiet, they come out to clean the castle. This means they are not available around the clock.

It can be said that Hogwarts puts the school's house elves in a more relaxed state through reasonable application of rules, which is almost the best solution in the wizarding world at present.

After listening to Tom talk about Dumbledore's countermeasures, Hermione felt surprised that "it turns out this can be done."

"We can promote legislation in the future and protect the basic rights of house elves through the legal provisions of the Ministry of Magic." What Tom did not say was that he believed that the problem of house elves will be solved naturally in the next few decades, because By the time he and Hermione grew up, it was unknown how many wizarding families in the wizarding world had house elves.

At that time, the number of house elves in wizarding families in the entire wizarding world combined was probably less than the number of house elves in the kitchens of Hogwarts.

This is directly related to the decline of pure-blood families. The wizarding families currently known to have house elves are: the Black family, the Crouch family, and the Malfoy family.

Of these three families, only the Malfoy family has direct heirs.

Kreacher of the Black family is old and may not survive Sirius. The Crouch family's Winky is young, but the Crouch family has no heirs. She will probably join Hogwarts after the old Crouch dies. In other words, it is likely that only the Malfoy family will have house elves in the future.

Considering the Malfoy family's three-generation fertility rate, it is likely that this problem will disappear on its own in the future.

So in fact, as long as the house elves in Hogwarts are taken care of, it won't be a big problem.

"If there is legal protection, maybe the relationship between Sirius and Kreacher can be eased, right?" Hermione said optimistically.

Eventually the topic returned to Sirius and Kreacher, the master and servant pair.

"Sirius is still kind, but if he were to be more ruthless, he would probably just let Kreacher accompany his ancestors to serve the old master." Tom sighed with emotion. If he was a villain, how could he let Kreacher be like this? A servant who knows too much lives?

Seeing Tom's serious look, Hermione was stunned for a moment, and she asked cautiously: "Then if you were Sirius, would you kill Kreacher?"

Her heartbeat suddenly accelerated. She was looking forward to getting the answer from Tom, but she was afraid of getting the answer she didn't want to hear.

She is afraid that the boy she likes has changed.

After asking the question, she regretted it a little. She was even thinking: Tom, even if you lie to me...

"Personally, I would choose to kill Kreacher." Tom weighed the pros and cons, and he thought it was unwise to leave such a hidden danger.

The light in Hermione's eyes gradually went out, and she heard the answer she least expected to hear. She understood Tom, and he did have his reasons for doing so, but...

"But I will definitely discuss it with you. If you don't agree, I will find another way. There is always a way."

Tom's next words caught Hermione's attention. She didn't expect it to unfold like this.

"Will you discuss it with me?"

"Of course, house elves should be considered the joint property of husband and wife. You must listen to your partner's opinion on how to deal with the property." Tom said seriously.

Hermione:? !

Two wisps of flying clouds quickly climbed up Hermione's cheeks. She didn't expect Tom to suddenly say such words! Her mind was a little fragmented, and she didn't even correct Tom's idea of ​​treating Kreacher as property.

"I, I,, we -" She was almost speechless, not knowing what to say, "Don't say such strange things suddenly, we just, we just..."

"Just what?" Tom looked into Hermione's eyes, and then the lovely girl looked away.

"You have a beautiful idea. If you want to marry me, you still need to work hard - I have to observe you carefully!" Hermione said hard, but her heart was beating extremely fast inside.

marry? She gets hot just thinking about the word. This seems like a very far away thing, but it doesn't seem that far away. When the two of them grow up, can they put this matter on the agenda?

Marriage is a lifelong matter, and spending a lifetime with Tom...hehe. When Hermione thought of this, she seemed to be filled with a sweet feeling of happiness.

She suppressed her thoughts and forced the topic back.

"Then what will you do if I'm not here?"

"I'll make a decision when you come back."

"Then what if I can't come back - if, I mean if, you treat me as dead." Hermione chased after him, trying to get an answer from Tom.

Tom touched Hermione's head but did not reply to Hermione.

"We're here." He took Hermione's arm, and the two walked out of the subway station arm in arm like an ordinary young couple, and came to the Leaky Cauldron.

The Leaky Cauldron is still the same, but here, Tom and Hermione meet an acquaintance: Ludo Bagman.

At this time, he was surrounded by several goblins. It can be seen that the Director of the Ministry of Magic does not look very good.

"Yodele?" Ludo was surprised when he saw Tom. Then he broke away from the goblins with vigorous movements and came to Tom's side.

"If I remember correctly, Hogwarts isn't on vacation yet, right?" He said quickly as if he had grasped a life-saving straw: "This can't be done. Playing truant is not a good boy. Let me take you two with me. Go back to school!”

As he spoke, he grabbed Tom's arm, like a dean who went to the woods to arrest people at night.

Tom, who was suddenly attacked, looked confused, and Hermione explained quickly: "Mr. Bagman, it's not what you think. We asked Principal Dumbledore for leave..."

Bagman shook his head and firmly stated that he would send these two "powerless" children back to school. This is his duty, and if he fails to fulfill it, his conscience will be stricken.

Ludo Bagman became so serious and responsible not because of his sudden conscience, but because of the group of goblins behind him.

He has met his creditor!

Bagman was also unlucky. He thought that his debts would be eliminated due to the arrest of Gringotts' top executives. However, in order to obtain leniency in prison and regain his freedom as soon as possible, the goblin executive decisively vomited a lot of wealth, including Including this debt.

It sold the debt to a Ministry of Magic official at a price that was almost free. This official was well-known and had a certain status. He was the current Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement of the Ministry of Magic, Piers Schink. Nice.

In front of him, Ludo Bagman really is nothing, and isn't it a matter of course to pay back debts? So, under his instruction, the goblins restarted the pursuit of Bagman's debt. Now Bagman is in trouble.

In order to avoid debts, he didn't even dare to go home, so he could only hide in the Leaky Cauldron. But even so, they were eventually blocked by goblins, and then the scene that Tom saw happened. At this time, the goblins were planning to take Bagman to Gringotts and squeeze out the last of his savings.

Of course Bagman didn't want to.

His savings can't fill the debt hole. If he chooses to pay back the money, he will go bankrupt, but if he becomes an old man, he can live a comfortable life. So do you still have to think about how to choose? Bagman, of course, chose to let go of the debt.

Bagman, who saw Tom, planned to use this as an excuse to run to Hogwarts and get rid of the goblins, but unexpectedly Tom and Hermione didn't want to cooperate.

Seeing that the goblins seemed to be about to react, Bagman became anxious. He shook Tom's arm, winked at the two of them wildly, and asked them in an almost pleading tone to go back to Hogwarts with him.

Faced with Bagman's request, Tom of course...

Refused!

Please, no house is allowed to bet on dogs!

Why should he give Bagman a hand? Is it because he is good at gambling?

So he stood there pretending to be dumbfounded until Bagman was controlled by the goblins who had regained their consciousness again.

At this point in time, the goblins did not dare to offend the wizard, so when they saw Bagman and Tom "talking", they did not dare to interrupt rashly.

But after seeing that Tom had no interest in Bagman, they immediately changed their faces.

"Dear sir and madam, I'm really sorry to bother you. We're leaving now." The leader of the goblins bowed respectfully to Tom, then waved and surrounded Bagman and left the Leaky Cauldron.

Amid Bagman's desperate cry, this strange combination disappeared into the backyard of the pub, and Tom and Hermione returned to Hogwarts from the Leaky Cauldron.

————

Four thousand words combined into one chapter. Good night~

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