OOP--On the matter of house elves

[Gregory Lynn]

No: HPFGUIDX 64056

"Kreacher chose to betray Sirius. "--Darrin

Anyone else come to the conclusion after reading OOP that this whole house elf enslavement thing is a bunch of malarkey?  Meaning that they aren't really enslaved at all but that they choose to serve families the way they do?

Dobby has specific orders not to tell Harry that Umbridge is coming to break up the DA and while he doesn't come out and say that Umbridge is coming, he makes it perfectly clear that she is.  Had Dobby been encumbered by some sort of magical prohibition from disobeying his master he wouldn't have been able to because he knew he was doing wrong as evidenced by the fact that he tried to punish himself during the whole incident.

Also note that Dobby gets clothes and doesn't leave.

And that all the other house elves refuse to work in Gryffindor Tower.  There's got to be someone in charge of cleaning the castle and I don't for a minute think that they're okay with the fact that they only have one elf to handle the whole tower.  All the other house elves are disobeying instructions to clean the tower.

And as Darrin said, Kreacher clearly made a conscious decision to betray Sirius.  Moreover, he out and out ignores instructions given by Tonk who is a member of the family and should be obeyed.

Boy is Hermione going to be pissed when she finds out.
___________
Gregory Lynn


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