[HPforGrownups] Re: Free Elves Unite

[Amanda]

No: HPFGUIDX 37163

Marinafrants said

> Hmm.  That raises another question for me: if house-elves don't get
> paid, then how come only rich people have them?  Are they
> purchased?  If so, then where, and from whom?  People who own house-
> elves don't seem to show much interest in selling them -- if they
> want to get rid of an elf, they just sack him or her.  So if you win
> a bunch of galleons in the lottery and decide to get an elf for your
> home, where would you pick one up?

Well, according to my theory, rich people and old families "own" house-elves
because rich people and old families own the manors and castles and such. If
you're rich, I imagine you can buy a manor or castle with an elf attached.

I think there is some requirement for a location to be appropriate for a
house-elf, and finding appropriate locations for the elves is what the
Relocation Office does. It's not Re-Employment Office; it's Re-*Location.*
It's the Burrow, not the Weasleys, that would keep a house-elf from being
there.

I think that the terminology of "owning" an elf is a verbal shorthand, not a
literal term. Rich people acquire elves by acquiring the large old manors
and castles and such that the house-elves are bound to. By owning their
location, you enter into a bond with the elf. It isn't you in particular,
it's that you own their place.

I think Winky may be as odd as Dobby; she seems genuinely devoted to the
people as people in their own right, which is why she can't process that
she's not bound to them anymore. I think perhaps house-elves as a rule are
less extreme in their attachment to the people, and tend to consider them
more as their charges, to be served in their role as owners of the
house-elf's place.

--Amanda