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Chapter 556: Effort Is Not in Vain
Chapter 556: Effort Is Not in Vain
Seeing Wade successfully divert Hermione's attention, everyone else relaxed and smiled at him, except for Michael and Padma, who frowned thoughtfully.
Theo whispered to Leon, "After the investigation, Hermione will realize that the house-elves at Hogwarts are the happiest little creatures. They don’t want to leave at all."
Leon nodded and added, "If we want to make a change, we should look at old wizarding families like the Malfoys. Their treatment is truly cruel."
"Most families don’t do that. My grandfather’s house had a house-elf, and we treated him like family."
Theo said, "And sometimes house-elves punish themselves, and their owners have to command them to stop self-harming."
Leon nodded again.
Although his family didn’t have a house-elf, Leon knew from the Black family’s story that some wizards truly cared for their house-elves. Regulus Black would rather die himself than harm Kreacher.
While Hermione was busy with her questionnaire, Padma and Michael sidled up to Wade’s desk.
Michael pretended to be discussing a problem, holding up a book and whispering, "Am I imagining things, Wade? Do you really consider freeing the house-elves?"
"If you’ve studied Muggle history, you’d know—slave consciousness and resistance have lasted for thousands of years, from Spartacus leading a slave revolt to the modern abolition movement. It’s only natural to think that way."
Wade said casually.
Padma also whispered, "So you actually support Hermione? You just think her methods are wrong?"
She glanced at Michael, and they exchanged a meaningful look.
Although... although Padma was reluctant to give up the life of being served by house-elves, if Wade also thought Hermione was right... it meant they were wrong... right?
Friendship made them feel they could endure the inconvenience and support their friend’s ideals.
But Wade sighed and shook his head.
He said, "If I really supported Hermione, I would tell her that the truly effective approach isn’t giving house-elves clothes or a questionnaire—because we all know Hermione won’t get the answers she wants."
"What do you think should be done?" Michael pressed.
This time, Wade didn’t answer, just smiled helplessly.
How to awaken slave consciousness and make them realize their exploitation has been successfully done countless times in history.
The house-elves at Hogwarts aren’t good candidates for liberation because they live comfortably. The students and teachers don’t beat or abuse them, and they don’t suffer from hunger.
They are content and don’t want change.
House-elves like Dobby, who live in dire conditions, are the best targets for Hermione’s efforts.
To change their minds, they need to be guided to awaken, educated about right and wrong, and made to realize their rights are being violated and their dignity trampled. They need to understand that their existence and reproduction are controlled by wizards, and that this life is extremely miserable and unfair.
They need to share their pain with others, support each other, and find the emotional and motivational support to change within a similar group.
They need to start with small choices, like dressing and eating, gradually improving their lives. Then, when these choices are taken away, it will spark the courage and desire to fight for their rights.
They need some to have the chance to live in a truly safe environment, to experience love, respect, equality, and justice, and to realize how painful their past lives were, awakening their self-awareness as intelligent beings.
But this change is bound to be slow and painful, and it will inevitably come with war and sacrifice. When house-elves truly awaken, disaster will come to wizards.
And individuals with clear, rational thinking, who understand not to spread hate, are rare. Awakened house-elves might hate all humanoids and ally with centaurs, werewolves, giants, and goblins to take revenge on humans.
Even though Wade doesn’t approve of slavery, he can’t light the fire of war in the magical world himself.
...
In the following days, Hermione no longer harassed Wade and the others with her “S.P.E.W.” She only enlisted a few strong Gryffindors to help her with the questionnaire and statistics.
Several times, Wade saw Neville, Harry, Ron, and Hermione emerge from the kitchen entrance, exhausted and carrying thick piles of parchment.
Hermione revised her questions several times to get better answers, but her mood grew increasingly gloomy, and she didn’t want to discuss it with anyone.
The house-elves’ answers were always the same:
"Ami isn’t tired; Ami loves working! Ami is happy!"
"Bad house-elves make mistakes! Good house-elves shouldn’t make mistakes and should punish themselves if they do! That’s right!"
"Oh, don’t mention Dobby. Dobby is a fallen house-elf, a disgrace to house-elves! He should be ashamed of himself!"
"Without the master’s permission, house-elves shouldn’t have children! But Becky’s great-great-great-great-grandfather once served the great Godric Gryffindor!"
"That idea is too scary! House-elves don’t need freedom; Hogwarts is our home! Lola... Lola loves this place! Lola will never leave!"
Only a few house-elves, feeling very ashamed and as if they were doing something wrong, secretly expressed a desire for payment.
But it wasn’t for themselves.
"Zoe... Zoe wants to buy a gift..." the house-elf twisted the corner of her tea towel, uneasy, "Zoe can only give Wade things she finds outside, but a crystal ball from the store would be a better gift..."
Another house-elf said, "If there were wages, I’d like to buy Bubotuber pus. Madam Pomfrey always complains about not having enough..."
"I told you, they like being slaves, and Hermione just won’t believe it", Ron complained. "Now, when we go to the kitchen, the house-elves treat us like villains!"
Hermione was also frustrated but tried not to show it. She held up the data she had compiled and said to Wade:
"My work is meaningful. Perhaps we should start with something small, like securing a fund for the school’s house-elves..."
"Why not give it a try?" Wade encouraged her.
After dinner one day, Hermione mustered the courage to write to Dumbledore. The next day, she was delighted to find that the money had already been allocated.
Hogwarts would provide 10 Galleons monthly to the kitchen, allowing the house-elves to buy what they needed. Of course, most house-elves were so self-disciplined that they didn’t even look at the money.
"The house-elves at Hogwarts are very satisfied with their lives, but there are many house-elves outside who suffer."
Encouraged by her first success, Hermione said excitedly, "My next goal is to find a way to reduce or ban the abuse of house-elves."
"But first, you need the power to make laws and enforce them", Wade said, dampening her enthusiasm. "In fact, the Ministry of Magic has set standards for house-elves, but they’ve never been enforced."
"Are there such laws?" Hermione asked, surprised.
Wade nodded. "There are."
Hermione wasn’t the first wizard to feel sympathy for house-elves.
Hearing this, Hermione rushed to the library to borrow books on the relevant laws.
Wade admired her initiative and then wrote down the plan for the next Spells Study Circle meeting.
Time flew by, and the next week, the schools participating in the Tournament would arrive at Hogwarts.
(End of Chapter)
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