Chapter 4
Hermione, who had enjoyed two peaceful weeks full of reading, was sitting in an armchair by the fireplace with the third book of the series Vincent and Gregory had gifted her and although it wasn’t what she would normally have chosen for herself, she really enjoyed it and she had learned quite a lot about Magical Creatures, as the main character was a Magizoologist.
When the entrance to the common room opened, she looked up. She had been looking forward to seeing the others again, but it wasn’t them yet. Instead, Marcus Flint and his friends came in. She went back to reading until she realised that someone was standing right next to her.
She looked up again and looked right into Flint’s face. “This is my armchair,” he stated.
Hermione made a show of looking around before lifting her head again to look Flint in the eyes. “I don’t see your name on it.”
The older boy’s face became almost as red as Ron Weasley’s when he was mad. “You filthy little mud …”
“Flint.” Both Hermione and Flint looked to the entrance where Draco and his friends and some other Slytherins, who had come back with the train, stood. Vince and Greg looked livid, the others just stood there, staring coldly at their older housemate. Flint went still. “You know,” Draco continued in a bored drawl as he slowly walked towards them. “I really was looking forward to a relaxed evening. But now, thanks to you, I’ll have to write to my father to inform him what an absolute arse you are, so he can go to Mr Barney tomorrow. You know, the Head of the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, your father’s boss. Mr Barney is very eager to please my father, so we’ll see what he will do when he hears that my father doesn’t like yours.”
Flint went pale. “Malfoy, listen …”
“Piss off.”
He did indeed vanish into his dorm and Draco turned to Hermione. “Ok, Granger?”
She nooded with a small smile. “I’m fine. Thanks. But you really don’t have to bother your father with that.”
“I do. Malfoys don’t make empty threats. He’d be disappointed in me, if I didn’t write to him after I told Flint that I would. Don’t worry, Flint’s father is just as much an arse as he is. No need to feel bad.”
Hermione couldn’t help but grin. “If you say so.”
“I do.” He grinned back.
She greeted the others and Daphne even hugged her as she thanked them again for their gifts.
They all went into the dormitory the boys shared. The luggage had already been brought there and everyone sat down on one of the beds while Draco wrote a quick letter before casually calling out for “Tripsy!”
Immediately, a little creatures with huge ears and big, round eyes, which Hermione could only guess was a house elf, appeared with a loud popping noise. The creature was beaming up at Draco before she spoke in a high voice. “What can Tipsy do for Master Draco?”
“Please bring this letter to the Owlery and … do you have any cakes in the kitchen?”
Tipsy nodded eagerly. “Yes! Tipsy has lots and lots of cakes to welcome back students!”
“Can you bring some here?”
“Yes, Tipsy is happy to.” She grabbed the letter and disappeared again.
“I guess Malfoys also don’t go the Owlery themselves and call house elves instead,” Blaise said dryly.
“You have a house elf here?” Hermione asked curiously. She had already guessed that the Malfoys had house elves, but she hadn’t thought they could be brought to Hogwarts.
Draco shook his head. “No, Tipsy is not ours. She’s the sister of one of ours and Bimsy told me to call her, if I needed something before I went to Hogwarts. She was probably worried I’d starve here otherwise.”
Theo snorted.
Draco looked at Hermione with a grin. “What are you thinking, Granger? I can hear it from here.”
“Then you should already know what I’m thinking, if you can hear it,” she countered.
“I hear it, I just don’t understand it.”
“Story of your life, mate.” Again, Theo. Draco glared at him playfully. Then he looked back at Hermione, obviously waiting for an answer.
She sighed. “It just seems … cruel to own intelligent magical beings and order them around.” This had bothered her ever since the moment she had read about them.
Several plates full of different kinds of cake appeared in the room while Draco looked at her thoughtfully. She could see that he had first wanted to deny it, but he actually took the time to consider his answer. “I guess there are wizards and witches who treat them cruelly. I’d bet my inheritance that Flint’s father is one of them.”
“I’m sure Lucius will have a thing or two to say about that,” Vincent chimed in before grabbing a muffin.
Draco rolled his eyes. “I need better friends. Anyway, there are people who abuse house elves and that’s cruel, I agree. But did Tipsy seem unhappy to you?” Reluctantly, Hermione shook her head. “See, the magic of house elves is bound or rather connected to the magic of the family, or in case of Hogwarts the place, they serve. They love what they do. Their magic thrive on it. And I know in Hogwarts they’re treated well. Our house elves are treated well. Bimsy has been born to our family and has served my grandfather already. He was awful, to his elves as well as his family from what I heard. Thankfully he’s no longer with us and everyone is happy about it, including the elves. This magical connection is why it is so awful for them, if they are being let go. They feel disconnected and lost for the rest of their lives.”
“He sounds awfully smart, but he’s probably just reciting a book he found in the library,” Theo said between two bites.
“Bullshit, he’s smart like that,” Greg argued, his mouth full of cake.
Draco grinned smugly. “Both can be true.”
“But shouldn’t there be stricter laws to force everyone to treat their house elves well?” Hermione wasn’t quite ready to let the topic go.
“Yes. I mean, theoretically.” He shrugged. “But they would be hard to enforce. House elves would be too afraid to report mistreatment out of fear to be sent away, I think.”
Hermione nodded thoughtfully. That made sense. But there had to be a solution to this problem, but she couldn’t see it quite yet.
Daphne grinned at her. “You could get a job in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures at the Ministry and fight for their rights after Hogwarts.”
“You know, I may just do that.”
“Good plan, but for now we have cake.” Draco grabbed a piece of chocolate cake.
Three days later Flint approached them again and stood before Hermione, who was sitting in the common room with Draco, Daphne and Blaise, writing an essay for Charms. “I’m sorry.” His voice was flat, as was his expression.
“You are?” She asked sceptically and not very impressed.
“Yes.”
“The sincerity brings tears to my eyes,” Blaise commented, with perfectly dry eyes.
The older boy glared at Blaise. “I’m sincere and I’m sorry.”
“Right. Noted.” Hermione turned her attention back to her essay.
Flint looked over to Draco. “Are you going to write to your father that I said that?”
The Malfoy heir laughed mockingly. “Does your father think he’ll get his job back, if you apologize?”
No answer, which said everything they needed to know.
Draco smirked. “No. But remember your lesson.”
The next Quidditch game was Slytherin against Hufflepuff and for the first time, Hermione came along, all clad in green and silver. Since it was still pretty cold outside Tracy had even lent her a hat in Slytherin colours, since Pansy had declared that it was unacceptable that she wore a yellow hat in a game against Hufflepuff and one that was mainly red was unacceptable under any circumstances.
She hadn’t thought she’d be interested, but it was actually fun. They got snacks (thanks to Tipsy) and cheered for their team. Flint got hit by a blutcher, which was a bonus that didn’t stop them from winning.
On their way back, they met none other than Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley. Potter didn’t seem interested in engaging, but Weasley just couldn’t help himself. Draco often mentioned that the Weasleys had more children than they were able to raise properly and she guessed he was right.
“Hey Granger, still hanging out with the snakes? Haven’t they gotten bored of you yet?” Hermione rolled her eyes. Creativity wasn’t his strengths. She actually had yet to find one.
“Fuck off, Weasel.” Greg stepped forward.
“Mr Goyle, 5 points from Slytherin for foul language.” They all turned to the headmaster, who smiled indulgently at them.
Hermione felt her temper rising, but addressed the old man in a controlled voice. “Mr Weasley started it, Sir.”
“I am aware.” Not aware enough to take points from Gryffindor, though, it seemed. “Miss Granger, if Mr Weasley is the reason you declined my offer, I will be happy to talk to the boy. I’m sure he’ll see reason.
Hermione was sure Ronald Weasley wouldn’t see reason if it slapped him in the face, but she wisely didn’t share that thought. “I declined your offer because I wasn’t interested. Ronald Weasley has very little to do with that.” She kept her voice polite but firm.
Then, without another word, she turned away and continued to walk towards the castle.
“What was that about?” Draco asked when they were a good way away from both Dumbledore and the Potter-Weasley duo.
Hermione looked around before answering. “Dumbledore asked me to come to his office during the holidays and offered me to switch houses.”
“Switch houses?” Vince sounded shocked. “Like, leave Slytherin?”
“Yes. He wanted me to become a Gryffindor. Of course I said no. But he thought because of my blood status I don’t belong into Slytherin.”
“The Grand Master of Equality has spoken,” Theo declared sarcastically. They all laughed, except for Vince.
“You know we don’t think that, right?”
Hermione smiled at the larger boy and put a hand on his arm. “I know that now.”
“But why does he care what house you’re in?”
She looked from Vince to Draco. “I don’t know. Professor Snape thought that he may want the house points I make for Gryffindor.”
Pansy laughed. “That actually sounds like him.”
Draco, however, didn’t laugh and when he spoke next, he kept his voice low. “Look, Severus is probably right, but if I were you, I’d avoid him as much as I could. He’s not the great hero everyone believes him to be.”
That was all he was willing to say on the matter.
~tbc~