The masochistic nature of elves

This was a great result to say the least and after a good ten minutes, I felt incredibly hungry, like my cells were desperately crying out for energy. I could also hear Hermione's stomach growl as it was next to my head. I smiled gently before sitting up and getting off of the couch.

"Come on, I'm hungry, lets got eat something in the kitchen," I said extending out a hand. Hermione smiled helplessly as her stomach continued to growl and took hold of my outstretched hand and used it to pull herself up. We walked towards the kitchen through the empty corridors of the castle. It seemed to be just after dinner time, so we were still allowed to roam the castle.

We soon made it to a corner of the school where students would usually ignore, this was where the kitchen was located. Behind a pair of rusty and worn outdoors, a cacophony of noise could be heard. Walking in we saw house elves running around doing their own thing, jumping around, cooking, and so on. They were small, frail and look malnourished. They had grey skin, big pitiful eyes, and large disproportionate heads compared to the rest of their bodies.

As soon as we appeared all the busy elves stopped suddenly and looked towards us in sync. It was freaky, like we walked into a beehive.

"Hello, me and my friend were hungry, and we were wondering if you could cook something?" I asked warmly and respectfully. The elves were quiet for a couple of seconds before they broke out into cheers and ushered us in to take a seat at the only table there. They prepared anything we wanted and as soon as it was served, we ate like we were starved for a week.

What would have filled me up before wasn't even classified as an appetiser now, it was like my body was absorbing the energy from the food as fast as I swallowed it. Something similar was happening to Hermione as we continued to eat for an hour before finally being full. The elves were over the moon since they could cook for someone for so long and seeing us eat so happily made them even happier.

Hermione however had a frown on her face as she observed the elves walking around doing their own thing. I knew what she was thinking, she was still good-natured and strived for equality and all that justice shit.

"You're probably thinking that it's unfair how the elves are treated right?" I said with a smile. Hermione turned her head sharply and looked at me in total surprise.

"H-How did you know?" she asked in puzzlement.

"Because I know your personality," I said as I flicked her forehead.

"You're thinking that it is unfair, that the treatment is close if not the same as slavery, right?" I asked while looking at her. She nodded seriously.

"Right, they don't get paid, no holidays, and they have to work constantly, what type of life is that?" she asked indignantly.

"You might see it as unfair from your perspective because you were brought up in a human environment, where social norms frown upon such acts. Elves are different, they work off magic, that's their source of energy, they need it to survive, or they will go crazy and soon after die. They will work for someone who can provide magic to them since they can't gather it themselves," I explained.

Hermione looked at me before turning to look at the elves who were scurrying around busily as always. She had a pensive look as she thought over my words.

"They work for wizards and witches because we can provide them with the sustenance to live. They seem to like working a lot which made it that much more appealing to the wizarding community to form a pact with the little fellows. You can't use muggle common sense in the magical world Hermione," I said with a shrug.

"But can't they be treated better?" She asked, still refusing to accept the facts.

I sighed, "they are treated the way they want to be treated Hermione, elves punish themselves as a form of motivation. By treating them better you are depriving them of their motivation and will therefore hurt themselves. I don't know why they do this, but it works out for both parties and therefore should be left as is. But I do agree with you on one point, some house-elves are mistreated to extreme measures, and they should have more rights and laws to stop them from being abused."

Hermione looked up at me with a smile and nodded. "I understand what you mean, we can't change their nature, maybe it was an evolutionary change, either way, they want to work, and magic is their reward which is totally fine if they are happy with that, and I do think that elves deserve better treatment to stop them from being abused," she said seriously.

We continued to talk as we waved goodbye to the elves who seemed to be saddened at our departure. "I can say one thing though, I'm happy that elves are the way they are and have such a limitation," I said. Hermione turned her head sharply and looked at me with an infuriated gaze.

"Relax let me explain before you go on a rampage. Imagine if elves didn't have this weakness and were able to apparate wherever they wanted, use magic wherever and whenever they wanted. Our magic can't stop them, no one is able to apparate into the castle no matter who they are, but elves can, they can't be stopped. Imagine what a war between us would look like, we would most likely lose a lot of people," I said seriously.

Hermione shuddered at my explanation and the more she thought about it the paler she got.

"Relax, I'm happy with you wanting to expand their rights, I back you 100% but I'm just giving you the whole picture, so you aren't ignorant of the facts," I said as I patted her shoulder gently. She nodded at my words and became determined again. It's good to have a goal, after all, I need to have someone run the ministry of magic in my stead, I thought with a knowing smile.

[You're choosing her?!] Drak said with a surprised tone.

I shrugged, 'why not Drak, she is smart, capable and most importantly she is a good person who has me backing her. No one can push her around, plus, I can't be fucked being a minister of magic, that's not my cup of tea,' I said in my mind.

[Well, the last part was a given, but it still comes as a surprise that you chose her so early on, I thought you would take longer to decide,] he said truthfully.

'Nah, Hermione has all the qualities of a minister of magic, it will be a great fit. Plus, with me going on a rampage against the pure families, it will just be a headache to deal with,'

[But you do know she is a muggle-born, many will be against it Tom,] he said.

'what do you think my goal is Drak? It's obviously to stop all the muggle-born hate, and Hermione will have me to support her. With my show of strength against the radical purist families, no one will ever think about going against her. The era of pure-blood superiority will end by my hand, Hermione will be the best choice to spearhead the new generation of thought.' I said adamantly.