E.W.R.F
The following day, Mrs. Weasley put off the cleaning for the next break they’d be back for and ushered the lot to Diagon Alley for their back-to-school shopping. Hermione decided to stay behind as she’d already done her shopping a few days prior. The twins were the last to enter the floor network; they turned to face Hermione, who had her face buried in a textbook on the kitchen table, with another book opened in front of her, her quill and ink sat readily. George scoffed at the view.
“Look at this, Gred, it’s not even the start of term.” He smirked bashfully at her.
Hermione peered over her book to see what they were doing.
“They don’t call her the brightest witch of our age for nothing, Forge.”
“Aye”
“Don’t you two have somewhere to be.” She arched her eyebrow at them.
“Chasing us already, are you. ”the latter replied.
“Yes.” She replied honestly.
Fred looked at the book on the table curiously. “Say… what are you working on?” he inquired thoughtfully. Now, George leaned in curiously as well. Seeing as the twins weren’t going to budge, she let out a puff of annoyance.
“If you must know, I’m working on a campaign for Elvish Welfare Rights and Freedom.” she sat straighter on her chair. “E.W.R.F,” she said proudly.
Their faces crunched up in confusion. “The what?” they replied.
“Forming a legal framework to ensure house elves are treated with dignity and given the option of freedom,” she explained, her voice tightening in frustration. “They deserve basic rights. No forced servitude, no abuse, fair treatment, protections under Wizarding law—”
George raised an eyebrow. “Hermione, I hate to break it to you, but most house-elves don’t want freedom.”
“That’s because they’ve been conditioned to believe they shouldn’t have it!” Hermione shot back, exasperated. “It’s a centuries-old system of oppression, and just because they’ve accepted it doesn’t make it right.”
Fred whistled. “She’s going full-on revolution, George. Next, she’ll be storming the Ministry in a house-elf-led rebellion.”
“Armed with enchanted socks, no doubt,” George added with a smirk.
Hermione groaned. “You two are impossible!”
Fred nudged one of her books with a finger. “Look, Hermione, we love a good cause—really, we do. But how do you plan to convince wizards or house-elves to go along with this?”
“I’m actually going to start at Hogwarts first” Hermione sat up straighter. “Education. Advocacy. If I can show wizards that house elves are being exploited and teach elves that they deserve more, I can create real change.”
The twins exchanged a look.
“You’re serious about this,” George said, this time without teasing.
Hermione met his gaze firmly. “Completely.”
“What brought this on?” Fred made a motion with his hands that pointed to everything on the table and herself.
Hermione sighed, staring down at the parchment in front of her. “It started in third year, when I found out Hogwarts even had house-elves. I couldn’t believe it—hundreds of them, working all hours of the day, cleaning up after us, cooking our food… and none of us ever even thought about it.”
She glanced up at them, expecting more teasing, but for once, the twins were quiet.
“And then I met Winky at the Quidditch World Cup,” she continued, her voice tight. “She was sobbing—completely devastated—because her master had fired her. And the worst part? She wasn’t upset because she’d been treated unfairly—she was upset because she still thought she belonged to him. It was like watching someone beg to stay in a prison cell.”
Fred and George exchanged another look.
“But what really changed things for me,” Hermione went on, “was Dobby.”
She hesitated, then spoke softer. “You know how he was. He wanted to be free, but he had nothing—no home, no steady work, barely any money, and still, he refused to go back to being a slave. Because he knew he deserved better. And I kept thinking… what if all house-elves had the chance to see that? What if they weren’t just told, over and over, that they had to serve?”
George scratched the back of his head. “Alright, we see your point, but Hermione… most house-elves like being house-elves.”
Hermione’s eyes flashed. “No, they think they do because that’s all they’ve ever known. That’s the problem! Imagine if someone told you from birth that your only purpose was to work, and if you ever dreamed of anything else, you were wrong and selfish for wanting more. Wouldn’t you believe it, too?”
Fred let out a low whistle. “Blimey.”
Hermione looked down at her hands. “It’s not just about elves. It’s about… how we treat anyone we think is beneath us. Wizards have been doing this for centuries—first with elves, then goblins, then centaurs. And don’t even get me started on blood status. It’s all connected—this idea that some people are just born to be in control, and others should accept their place.”
There was a long silence.
Fred and George weren’t laughing anymore.
Finally, George cleared his throat. “So, what exactly are you planning to do about it?”
Hermione straightened a determined glint in her eye. “Start small. Raise awareness. Campaign for laws to change. Show elves there’s another way. It’s not going to be easy, but if no one ever starts, then nothing ever changes.”
Fred grinned. “Well, then. You ever need someone to spread your message in, say, a highly disruptive, impossible-to-ignore manner…”
George smirked. “We are rather good at that sort of thing.”
Hermione blinked. “Wait… are you actually saying you’ll help?”
Fred clapped a hand on her shoulder. “Hermione, you should know by now—if there’s one thing we love, it’s shaking up the system.”
George grinned. “And it sounds like you’re planning a revolution.”
Hermione couldn’t help but smile. “Maybe I am.”
George grinned. “Imagine it: leaflets enchanted to follow people around, refusing to be ignored. Badges that flash ‘Freedom for Elves!’ in glowing letters and in E.W.R.F. Actually, no, that’s an awful name. You need to work on that, Hermione. Maybe even a prank or two for the more stubborn bigots—purely in the name of justice, of course.”
Hermione hesitated, then smiled despite herself. “That… actually might not be a bad idea- and you‘re right about the name. I’ll work on that.”
Fred clapped his hands together. “Brilliant! Welcome to Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes; we can’t wait to work with you, Miss Granger.” They gave her a dramatic bow.
“Don’t you two have somewhere to be now?” she laughed.
George raised his hands in surrender. “Alright, alright… say, if you see Sirius, tell him he’s on garden duty the next time.”
“Bloody menace hid from mum and avoided cleaning the whole day. we’ll surely get him next time.” Fred grinned cheekily as he glanced around the room
“I know you can hear us, Sirius, can’t hide forever.” George paced the room checking crooks and crannies of where he thought a canine might hide.
“We’ll tell mum.” They teased as they looked around, hoping he’d come out of his hiding hole.
Hermione shook her head as she went back to her research and plotting.
They let out a sigh of defeat as they approached the fireplace, grabbing a handful of floor powder.
“Better next time, Gred.” George threw the powder into the floo and disappeared into the green flames.
Fred approached the fireplace and turned around to face Hermione again. “Don’t spend the whole day in the Library, Hermione; loads of dark stuff in there don’t want you getting sucked into the wrong book.” he joked as he gave her a sassy wink and disappeared in the green flames after his brother.
She rolled her eyes at him and abruptly closed her book as soon as Fred was gone and scrambled to the library. As soon as she approached the door, Sirius appeared out of nowhere, standing between her and the door.
“Not a good idea Kitten books from this room are out of bounds until Remus can sort through them.” He gave her an apologetic look.
“Could I just have a look at the spines? I promise I won’t grab a book off the shelves,” she pleaded, hoping to persuade Sirius to allow her to let her in.
“Nice try, Kitten. Molly gave me an earful the last time and warned me you’d try to get back in there.” he gave her a cheeky grin as he placed his hands on her shoulder to turn her around.
Hermione grunted as Sirius led her away from the library door. “Nice to see you out of hiding.”
“They’re never going to let me go easy, are they?” Hermione realized he was referencing the twins.
“Oh, heard them, did you.”
“Hard not to; they were the only ones yelling. Although it’s nice to have voices in these hunted walls of my ancestry home. My poor mother would have turned us out in a heartbeat.”
“Now, what’s for breakfast?” he led them back into the kitchen. Hermione decided that the next hols she’d have to take advantage of the Black Family library whether it’s cleared out or not. Kreacher whipped up another generous serving of bacon and eggs and kept it warm on the table before he left with a pop.
***
“In less than 24 hours, Hogwarts will become home to two Wizarding schools. Now, I want heads of house to keep their students in line. The roster is being passed around as we speak for rounds. There’ll be two teachers per night, every night, and we’ll be paired with professors from the visiting schools.”
The rest of the staff seemed pleased with the arrangement; well… all but one particular staff member noticed his name being paired off with Durmstrang Headmaster every week until the term ends. He grimaced at the idea of him and Kakaroff taking a stroll in the castle. He’d have to devise a plan to avoid him if he can. He scoffed at the roster as he passed it on to Panoma.
McGonagall shuffled over to him smoothly; Severus noticed and diverted his attention to the wall ahead of him, hoping Dumbledore would wrap up the meeting so he could finish his brewing for the hospital wing.
“Kakaroff shouldn’t be that bad, Severus, cheer up. Maybe you’ll get to make a new friend this term.”
“Yes, and we’ll braid each other’s hair by the third week.” he sneered distasteful.
She smiled at the absurd thought. “I’d never thought you’d resort to braiding, nor was I referring to Kakaroff.”
“I was hinting for a female companion for the Yule Ball.” her eyes glimmered at him.
Severus rolled his eyes at her, thinking about the ball this early in the term; how ridiculous.
“And no, it’s not ridiculous to think about it this early in the term, Severus; I see Bathsheda eyeing you for a while now.” She arched her famous Professor brow at him as she peered over her glasses.
He scoffed, and just in time, Dumbledore dismissed the meeting. He took off without a word, his black robes billowing behind him.
McGonagall sighed as she stopped by Professor Babbling, the Ancient Runes Professor. “I tried to put in a good word for you, Bath for the Ball; he seemed unmoved from his firm pillar of grump.” She gave her an apologetic smile and headed out the door of the staff room.
***
“Does everyone have everything packed?” Mrs. Weasley’s voice boomed from the bedroom hallway.
“Trunks by the door, quickly! We don’t have time to spare.” She knocked from bedroom to bedroom, knocking on every door, making sure everyone heard her. The twins were first to drag their trunks out by the door, followed by Ginny. Harry followed swiftly with Hegwig in his cage, flapping his wings, trunk in his other hand. Ginny turned around sharply and collided with him, knocking him back, and Hegwig screeched at the jerking motion.
“Harry!” exclaimed Ginny. “So sorry I wasn’t aware you were behind me.” her face flushed in embarrassment. She didn’t realize it, but her hands were firmly gripping his elbows as if she were afraid he was actually going to fall.
“Are you alright?” she asked concerningly as she scanned him and the items he had brought with him.”
“Not a scratch,” Harry replied with a smile as he lifted Hegwigs cage slightly to show her they were both fine. His cheeks tinged pink at the exchange.
“Right.” Ginny released a breath of relief and noticed her hands were still on him; she quickly withdrew the contact and sidestepped to her right to allow Harry to walk past her. “S-sorry again,” she stuttered as she bolted without a backward glance at him.
“Uh-” Harry started to form a sentence but quickly diminished it. She is quick, I’ll give her that, he thought absentmindedly as he made his way to the kitchen where he knew Ron would be.
***
Hermione packed the last of her school books in her trunk before snapping it shut. She sat on her bed and reached for her journal under her pillow; she flicked through the pages one more time before putting it in her book bag. She stopped at her last entry, The Blue Whisps. She hadn’t had time to talk to Kreacher again as he was preoccupied with duties to the Black Family Ancestral home, which included cooking and cleaning. She had a feeling that not all is as what it seems at face value with the disappearances of the Young Black heir. There had not been enough information for her to go on about Regulus Black apart from memory recollection of those who knew him; in this case, she turned to a new page in her journal and created an entry for Regulus Arcturus Black and listed people she thought who might know him.
“Hermione! We’ll be late,” Ron’s muffled voice rang through the hallway
She closed her book and stashed it in her book bag. She took one good last look around her room in case she forgot anything, then closed the door behind her. “Coming!” she replied.
***
Mr. Weasley took charge of getting everyone’s trunks to the station while everyone followed Mrs. Weasley through the floo. Sirius was ordered not to leave Grimmauld under any circumstances, as he is still a fugitive of the law. He was not happy with the order; he wanted to see Harry off at the platform and be the godfather he was supposed to be for him. But alas, that was not going to happen, not this time anyway. He sulked behind with Kreacher in his ancestral home.
“last call for Hogwarts! ALL ABOARD!” announced the train conductor. Hermione can be seen pushing a group of Hufflepuffs out of the way to board the train with Crookshank’s carrier in one hand and her book bag in the other, her hair wild with untamed curls, her maroon cardigan flapping behind her as her Gryffindor scarf that was wrapped around her neck came loosely amidst the pursuit. As she boarded the train, she dashed to an empty carriage to save it for her and her friends. Crookshanks rattled her cage with her paw, demanding to be let out, and Hermione Obliged.
“Don’t go causing trouble, okay? I need you back before we get off the platform for Hogwarts.
Crookshanks purred as if to say I’ll be back in time. He flicked his tail at her and walked away to explore.
Harry followed as he walked by the feline familiar. “He’s not gonna get lost, is he?” his brows furrowed in worried.
“He’s clever than Ron-”
“HEY! I’ll have you know I’m clever on my own,” Harry smirked bashfully at her.
“Oh, I have no doubt Ronald.” She turned to Harry to finish her sentence, “He’ll know when to come back.” with that, she took her seat by the window.
Ronald rolled his eyes at her and sat beside Harry. “Did you know Victor Krum will be at Hogwarts for the Trizzard tournament? I wonder if he’ll put his name in the cup. No doubt he will; he’s the youngest seeker ever to play in the World Cup.”
“I like how you excluded all of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons in your sentence, Ron.” Hermione shook her head in disappointment.
“Obviously, they’ll be there,” he rolled his eyes at her, “but there’s only one quidditch star that will be present, and I, for one, would like to get an autograph from.”
“Well, I, for one, would like to have a normal term for once.” Harry shifted in his seat to get comfortable. “I’d rather not deal with werewolves, dementors, basilisks, and most importantly, Malfoys.” He sighed as he opened up his packet of pumpkin pasties.
“You’re forgetting the spiders, mate, an entire colony in the forest, friends of Hagrids,” Ron added in a ‘duh’ tone. Their carriage filled with laughter at the memory of Hagrid’s beastly friends in the forbidden forest that, one of which has six legs and takes the form of Ronalds boggart in their second year.
Hermione looked out the window of the scenery passing by as she took in Harry’s words of wanting it to be a normal term. Will it ever be normal? She wondered, then a realization hit her: her eyes widened slightly as she glanced at him, looking content trading cards of famous witches and wizards. As long as Harry is in Hogwarts, no term will be normal, no one will be safe unless Dumbledore is present to protect him and the rest of the school. But then she’s finding it harder that Dumbledore did anything to protect Harry for the first three years at Hogwarts; when has he ever come to his aid? he usually appears at the end of events to check on him, and it’s usually at the hospital wing. Her brows furrowed together in deep thinking. She took out her journal and turned to Dumbledore’s page to jot her thoughts down.
Why haven’t I questioned his whereabouts before? she thought to herself. Why the disappearances, the setup for the philosopher’s stone, was my time turner usage planned? she wrote. Her thoughts came to a halt when a loud commotion rattled down the vestibule.
“What was that?” Harry quickly got on his feet to check, followed by Ron behind him.
“Is that Fred & George?” Ron asked in a disbelieving tone,
“If you find another pair of lookalike redheads in Hogwarts, do let me know, Ron,” Harry retorted sarcastically.
Ron paid no mind to his cheek. “What on earth are they doing!” he bolted past Harry to get a better look.
Hermione quickly stored her book away in her bag before joining her friends out the door to find out what was happening.