[HPforGrownups] House Elves and Clothes

[Colin Gregory Palmer]

No: HPFGUIDX 65202

On Fri, 2003-06-27 at 18:42, Rachael wrote:

> House Elves can only be freed by getting clothes from their master
> (s), so what about laundry?  I was under the impression that Elves 
> did the laundry at Hogwarts and that Dobby, since he was able to iron 
> his hands without anyone noticing anything funny, did the Malfoys' 
> laundry, ironing, etc.  If a wizard hands a stack of dirty clothes to 
> an Elf, does he have to precede that action with a statement of, "I'm 
> not freeing you, I'm giving you work."?  Obviously to free the elf, 
> nothing has to be said along with the clothes or Dobby would not be 
> free.  Any suggestions other than I need to stop obsessing over Harry 
> Potter so much that I wonder about trivial things like this?
> 
> Rachael
> Bratty
> 
Their Master has to freely give the clothing to the elf.   'Do my
laundry' is not the same as 'have this sock'.