"Afters will be served when Master and his friends is being done with the main meal," the elf said stubbornly with a small stomp of his foot. When he had heard the cat professor and the hospital witch say that his master had been eating garbage for the last week, he was horrified. Now he was going to do whatever it took to make sure the teen ate right. He may be a free elf, but he wanted his master to be healthy.
"It is alright, Dobby," Luna said airily as she cut her meat. "I can wait."
"Good," he said with a firm nod in her direction, and then popped away.
"I've been meaning to ask, what is Dobby?" Harry asked between bites, which he took quickly. He was starving, and he didn't remember ever having such a nice meal. The stuff from the Leaky Cauldron's rubbish tip was good, but it was always cold and bland. This was hot and spiced just right. He was going to eat as much as he could. Though, he would stop when he felt full.
"He's a house elf," Hermione stated with a great deal of contempt in her voice, which startled Harry because he didn't think she was the type to discriminate. She saw his confused look and sighed. "I'm not angry with them; I am disgusted that they're slaves . I even started an organization to free them. It is called Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. You're the treasurer," she said happily, jumping up and down in her seat.
"Spew? You called your organization Spew?" Harry laughed, while he watched her chest bounce.
"It is not spew, it is S.P.E.W," she snapped, slamming her flatware on the table.
"You can call it that all you want, but others are going to call it Spew," our hero stated firmly, glaring at her.
"Not all the elves are slaves," came the dreamy voice from the blonde Ravenclaw.
"How can you say that?" Hermione spat angrily, turning her irate gaze to Luna. "They are bought and paid for, therefore they are slaves," she added with finality.
"Yes, I do concede the point that most are purchased. However, you are under the impression that the ones here are Hogwarts were such. They are as free as Dobby. The only reason they shun the poor elf is because they don't know he's already bonded, and he let the Headmaster pay him for his time since his master doesn't need him at the moment. They need to work and keep busy or they go insane. Hermione, they are quite happy the way things are," Luna stated, narrowing her eyes at the know-it-all. Being raised in the Wizarding World, Luna had a better idea on how things were, and she didn't like when someone who was not raised here came and told her she was wrong. Though, it made her sound like the bigoted Purebloods, in this they had a point. She didn't know Hermione, but she could see the girl was a bit closedminded.
"Prove it."
"Oh, Poppy," the little blonde called cheerily into the air.
"What can Poppy be doing for Missy Luna?" an old female elf came from nowhere and asked. This one was dressed in a pillowcase with the Hogwarts crest on it.
"Poppy, please tell Hermione that you are not a slave," she said, waving her hand in the other girl's direction.
"Poppy is not being a slave," the elf gasped, looking completely affronted that anyone would suggest that she was. "Yous is being another one I see. Poppy is telling Missy we is not being slaves," Poppy said with a small stamp of her foot.
"But, you were bought, and you don't get paid, or medical, or vacations. You're being brainwashed into thinking you like this lifestyle," the bushy-haired girl said kindly, as if talking to a mental patient.
"You is being thinking that we is being human. We is not," the elf answered as if that was all the answer needed.
"What does that matter?" Hermione stated as if it was inconsequential.
"Will yous be going into the forest and telling the horsy people that they must be living in houses and wearing clothes? Will yous be going into the lake and telling the fishy people they must be living on land?" Poppy asked, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow.
"Of course not, that's not the same at all," the Gryffindor female harrumphed.
"Poppy is not liking being told she is a stupid critter. Poppy is telling Missy she is putting her point-of-views on Poppy. Poppy thinks Missy would not like being told she should be workings hard and not learning in the schools. We are happy as we is. Why should Missy comes and tells us were are wrong," the kitchen elf stated firmly.
"But…"
"Hermione," Harry interrupted as he looked at all the elves listening in, "they all look happy and healthy to me."
"But they are slaves," she protested again.
"Poppy is not being a slave. Poppy is being bonded to the Headmaster and works like she is supposed to be doing," the female elf stated, stomping her foot again in frustration. "We was not 'bought', we all lost our masters, and was invited here. Or we is being born here after the great Lady Hufflepuff is bringing our forefathers to the castle to works," she explained slowly.
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