Together [HP]

Hermione chuckled and walked in.

Upon entering, Hermione saw a large room with high ceilings, and the kitchen was as large as the auditorium above. There were many gleaming copper pots and pans piled up against the surrounding stone walls, and there was a brick wall at the other end of the room. There is a large fireplace made of wood, and four long wooden tables are placed in the center, which are exactly the same as the tables of the four colleges in the auditorium above.At this time, there are some freshly baked whole chickens, cranberry sauce, grilled sausages, etc. on it.Dozens of elves, wrapped in a tea towel with the Hogwarts crest, shuttled non-stop between the four tables and the back room. They put the dishes from the back room on the table, Then the dishes on the table are sent to the corresponding table above through the ceiling.

"That's what they wear?" Hermione said in surprise, her voice was a little loud, and those elves who were smiling, bowing, and curtseying at them all stopped what they were doing, feeling a little unhappy looked up at them.

"Can anyone bring me a cup of tea? Would it be better to have something to eat?" Jacqueline looked at them with a smile and asked, and took a piece of pie from what looked to be a Ravenclaw table.Immediately six house-elves came hurrying after her, carrying a large silver tray with a teapot, two cups, a jug of milk, biscuits, and a large plate of cumin wings.

"Aha." Jacqueline took the tray and happily thanked the elves. They all looked happy, bowed low, and retreated, "They all remember what I like to eat." She reached out and grabbed a chicken wing and was about to put it in her mouth. Hermione frowned at her, and Jacqueline put down the chicken wing in embarrassment, and licked her fingers with a little sauce, "Follow me behind , "Jacqueline walked past the long wooden table with the tray, and walked into the kitchen inside, which was full of elves, at least more than 100 of them.They laughed, bowed and curtseyed as Jacqueline led Hermione past them.But Hermione had a pained look on her face.

"The last time I was here, I found a good candidate to help you break into the inside of the elf." Jacqueline stopped in front of the brick fireplace and put the tray on an empty table, next to the table. A drunk-looking pixie sits on a stool, and another one stands beside her.

"This is Dobby!" said Jacqueline. "If you remember, it was the elf who tried to help Harry when we were in second year."

The standing elf looked up with surprise in his big green eyes like ping pong balls. He had a pencil-like nose, a pair of bat-like ears, and long fingers and hands. Feet, and wearing very weird clothes.On his head was a teapot warmer with a lot of colorful badges pinned to it; a tie with a horseshoe pattern hung on his bare chest, what looked like children's football shorts, and two Only unpaired socks.One of them, Hermione saw, was supposed to be the black sock Harry had pulled off his foot to trick Mr. Malfoy into throwing it to Dobby, thus setting Dobby free.Another sock has pink and orange stripes all over it.

"Hello, Miss Graham, Miss Granger." Dobby bowed to them, and Jacqueline nodded to him, signaling Hermione to sit down. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"I came here specially to see you." Jacqueline said, and the elves around her immediately cried out excitedly, "I am very grateful for the extra meals you have given me in the past three years."

"This is what we should do, Miss Graham." The elves around her said one after another, and Hermione gave her a dissatisfied look.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked Dobby.

"Dobby works at Hogwarts, Miss Granger." Dobby puffed out his little chest proudly, "Professor Dumbledore gave Dobby and Winky a job, miss!"

"Winky is here too?" said Hermione. "How is she?"

"She's not good, miss." Dobby said, looking at the elf next to him. Hermione looked over, she was also wearing clothes, but she didn't just wear clothes casually like Dobby, she was wearing A neat little skirt and blouse, and a matching blue hat with two holes cut out to reveal her large ears.However, Dobby's strange combination of clothes was kept immaculate, and Winky obviously didn't care about his own clothes.Her jacket was spattered with soup, and her skirt was burnt in one spot.

"Hello, Winky," said Hermione.

Winky's lips trembled, and then she burst into tears, tears rolling from her big brown eyes and onto her chest, just like they did at the Quidditch World Cup.

"Oh my God," said Hermione, "Winky, stop crying, please."

"Winky is always crying," Dobby looked at Winky with some concern, "since she was released by Crouch."

"But you didn't do anything wrong, he was so cruel to you!" said Hermione kindly, but upon hearing this, Winky put her hands over the holes in her hat and squashed her ears, So that she could not hear, and then she screamed: "Don't you insult my master, miss! Don't you insult my Mr. Crouch! Mr. Crouch is a good wizard, miss! Mr. Crouch fired Bad Winky, he did it right!"

"But..." Hermione wanted to say something more, but Jacqueline cut her off.

"Dobby, tell us, how much did Professor Dumbledore pay you?"

"Dobby gets a Galleon a week and a day off every month. Miss! Dobby is a free elf now!" Dobby shrieked, to the delight of the house-elves in the kitchen. Watching them, listening to them, hearing this, they all looked away, moved away quietly, and avoided Dobby as if he was carrying some kind of infectious disease.

But Hermione said excitedly, over Winky's cries, "That's not much, Dobby!"

"Professor Dumbledore was going to give Dobby ten Galleons a week, with weekends off," Dobby said, shuddering suddenly, as if so much wealth and leisure time were terrible, "but Dobby told him Bargain, miss. Dobby likes freedom, miss, but he doesn't want too much freedom, he prefers work!"

After hearing this, Winky wailed even more, her nose, which looked like a squashed tomato, dripped snot on her chest, and she didn't want to stop it.Hermione quickly squatted beside her, trying to comfort her, but no matter what Hermione said, it didn't work.

"It's like this," Jacqueline ignored Hermione and Winky, she even ignored Winky on purpose, she motioned the elves around to come around, "As I said, I am grateful every time I come to the kitchen , the food you provided me, so, in return, I would like to give each of you, a small gift."

"That's what we're supposed to do," they all screamed at once, "we don't want presents, we're not like Dobby!"

"That's right, that's right." Jacqueline calmed them down easily, "Provide enough food for the school during meal times, help me clean the room, wash my robe, these are what you should do. But at other times It's not your job to provide food for me who sneaked in, in fact, I'm very grateful that you didn't tell the principal, or any of the teachers, that it would get me expelled."

Hermione squatted next to Winky and raised her head in disbelief. She couldn't believe how Jacqueline could tell a lie so naturally.

The house-elves gathered around her, looking at each other, until at last a tall looking elf stood up. "We won't tell the Headmaster," he said sharply, "We, we , we won't tell, Miss Graham."

"So that's why I want to thank you," Jacqueline said loudly, "So I want to give you every little gift, if you can tell me what you want."

"We want nothing, Miss Graham!" said the tall elf. "We have everything, miss! We don't want pay like Dobby!"

"This is not a reward." Jacqueline waved her hand and said decisively, "This is a gift, understand? In order to thank you for everything you have done for me, if you don't accept it, how can I believe that my little secret is in your hands?" Is this safe? I think maybe I won’t dare to come here in the future.”

"We will definitely protect your secret, Miss Graham!" The elves seemed anxious, "We won't tell others. We can't ask for gifts from Miss."

"But if you don't accept my gift, how can I believe it?"

Those elves frowned. They gathered together and discussed in a low voice. Jacqueline took the tea that Dobby handed her, and picked up her chicken wings contentedly, ignoring Hermione's angry expression , enjoying her dinner.

"What are you doing?" Hermione whispered, sitting next to her. "You're making them feel guilty."

"You said you let me do the talking." Jacqueline lowered her voice and stared at her, "Do you really want to have an effect?"

"Then how will Miss Graham believe us?" Ten minutes later, the tall elf came out and asked cautiously.

"Then tell me what kind of gift you want." Jacqueline blinked her eyes, looked at him very sincerely, and compared her hands between them, "This is a little secret between me and you, as long as Between us."

"But..." The tall elf looked a bit embarrassed, "We, we don't know what we want."

"Then you can think about it," Jacqueline looked a little relieved, "for example, a small necklace pendant?" She said, and some cute female elves exclaimed, "Is there anyone Like those little shiny glass bottles? Or..."

"I like flowers, Miss Graham." A thin female elf said cautiously, shrinking back as soon as she finished speaking, feeling ashamed of herself.

"Of course there is no problem. What kind of flowers do you like? Roses? Jasmine? Or what?" Jacqueline seemed to suddenly regain her energy. Hermione sat beside her, and she felt that this was called watching a circus performance.

"I like those paper flowers, miss, I don't like them withering," whispered the elf, leaning out from behind her companion.

"Okay, no problem, anything else?"

Some elves were encouraged and began to talk, glass bottles, worn-out boots, odd-shaped wood, stones, shells, every elf has their own little things they want.Jacqueline sat on the stool and nodded frequently, but from the time she stared at the door leading to the four tables in front of her, Hermione doubted whether she had listened.

"But this is really too much." After they finished speaking, Jacqueline said with some embarrassment. Hearing what she said, the little elf who was a little excited immediately collapsed. Hermione wanted to talk, but Jacqueline Lin grabbed her hand under the table, her face immediately flushed, and Jacqueline snapped her fingers as if she had a flash of inspiration, "I have a good idea, I can go talk to Principal Dumbledore Discuss, let him give each of you a Galleon, plus a day's rest, you can go buy some things you like, how about it? How about this alternative plan?"

"But what's the difference between that and Dobby?" asked one elf, and the others began to nod, and they screamed again, "We don't want wages, we don't want rest."

"It's not wages, it's not rest, it's just because I don't know what to buy you as a gift, so I decided to just give you money and let you buy it yourself. Think about your lovely stones, shells?" Jacqueline Looking into the eyes of the little elves, they looked over one by one, and their original firm eyes were shaken, "Of course, if you want, you can ask Dobby where he bought his little things. The place must be very familiar."

Many elves looked at Dobby secretly, and he nodded shyly.

"Then it's decided!" Jacqueline snapped her fingers and pulled Hermione to stand up. "It's time for us to go back. Can you give me some food so I can take it back?"

The elves scattered all of a sudden, and then they quickly reunited, handing over all kinds of delicacies and snacks. Hermione refused to take them, but Jacqueline took them all and sent them to Hermione's There are many stuffed in the pocket.

"Thank you so much," Jacqueline said to them, and they crowded the two of them to the door to say goodnight.

"I don't want these." Hermione emptied her pockets as they started walking up the stairs, "and I don't like it when you lie to them."

"In front of them from now on, you have to accept these." Jacqueline took the snack from Hermione's hand and stuffed it into her mouth, "Even if you don't like it, and you have to come down several times a month, Let them give you some refreshments."

"What good is this for SPEW! It will only make the elves' work harder! They should see Dobby more and see how happy he is!" Hermione said a little madly.

"It will make the elves like you more," Jacqueline replied calmly. "When you get their likes, it will be easier for them to be kidnapped by you. It's like if you were there today and said They don't necessarily believe you when you say that. As for Dobby, don't you see it? They haven't fully accepted Dobby yet, they will think that everything Dobby has is bad, it's not good , and if Dobby becomes their friend, there is a chance to change their minds. Just like if I am not your friend today and I bring you to the kitchen, maybe you will think that I want to kill you for the same reason! "

"But why did you lie to them? What's the difference between your so-called gifts and what Dobby got? They should really want to get rid of their slave status, just like Dobby."

"Do you think they consider themselves slaves now?" Jacqueline asked, "No, they just think they are working according to the rules, as if we live according to the law. Yes, yes, I can Tell them clearly that I am providing them with wages and vacations, but do you think they would want to have these two things that they dislike? Do you like things that others impose on you? They will do everything possible to shirk, They, unlike Dobby, don't know what it's like to be free."

"That's because they don't know their rights, and we should tell them what they can have." Hermione showed no sign of weakness.

"Then do you think they will want it? Granger! You should give them what they want, not what you think they want!"

"Are you saying I want to do these things because of my own selfishness?" Hermione frowned, panting.

"No," Jacqueline shook her head, "I'm telling you, you need the support of the elves, you need to give them a sweetener first, you need to tell them that with these wages, these vacations can get some What?"

"And you think that's what you do." Hermione asked slightly sarcastically, "Go down there and say these things, and make them feel like they owe you something, that's what you've been thinking for a week plan?"

"That's right." Jacqueline nodded, "When they use the 'gift' I give them to get what they want, they will slowly fall in love with this feeling. Of course, we can't give more Giving 'gifts' once a month than wages and vacations will make them suspicious, they're not stupid. We should slow down, maybe once every three or four months, and when they fall in love with this When they feel, when they see what Dobby has, they don’t need you to persuade them, to encourage them, they will discuss with Professor Dumbledore what they should have.”

"But it will take a long time." Hermione frowned unwillingly, "What if they never fall in love with this feeling like you said? And it will make them feel guilty, they will think they don't deserve it, see Dobby, Dumbledore wanted to give him ten Galleons, but he refused! And this salary doesn't even reach the minimum wage in the wizarding world!"

"When they have this idea, you need to tell them that this is what they deserve! Hermione, the process of each creature's independence is slow, look at goblins, centaurs, they How long did it take to achieve independence? You can hope for some time in your life that elves have a place in the Department of the Regulatory Control of Fantastic Beasts, but you can't really expect that to happen, it might happen, but probably in Your next generation, her next generation, and the next generation after."

"Then what should I do now?" Hermione said a little discouraged, "Just follow your example and deceive them every once in a while?"

"You have to talk to Professor Dumbledore now. I don't really want to use my pocket money to give gifts to the elves, and if they want to take a vacation, they need Dumbledore's consent and regulation. If they Take the holidays at the same time, and the whole of Hogwarts will be ruined. You can do this, can't you. Of course, don't forget to develop your members, but it is not them who are important but their parents."

"You're not cunning, you're simply insidious and cunning!" Hermione yelled angrily, walking up the stairs alone.

"It means I'm a real Slytherin, which is a compliment for a Slytherin, Miss Granger!" Jacqueline smiled happily, "You are a genius, Jacqueline."