Hermionie and house elves

[laura]

No: HPFGUIDX 83138

"she pulled out two misshapen woolly objects, placed them carefuly on 
a table then covered them with a few screwed-up bits of parchment and 
a broken quill and stood back to admire the effect...
'They're hats for the house - elves'...
                           OOP p230

Hermione is pretty obsessed with obtaining rights for the house-
elves, but something struck me as I was re-reading OOP last night.  
Does Hermione have the right to give the Hogwarts house - elves 
clothes? Surely Dumbledore is their master? 

In GOF:
"'Can't house-elves speak their minds about their master, then?' 
Harry asked
'Oh, no, sir, no,' said Dobby, looking suddenly serious. 'Tis part of 
the house-elvs enslavement, sir.  We keeps their secrets and our 
silence, sir, we upholds the family's honour and we never speaks ill 
of them - though Professor Dumbledore told Dobby he does not insist 
on this'"...

Dobby certainly considers Dumbledore to be his master, so it can be 
extrapolated that the other elves feel similarly.  
The question is, can house -elves be freed by anyone giving them 
clothes? IMO no - otherwise Harry could just have given Dobby a sock 
at any random time in COS to free him. 
Another question -  do the house - elves at Hogwarst consider the 
students to be their masters? I would say no, otherwise they would 
have been mentioned in the passage above.
Thus, I would say that it would be only Dumbledore ( or at least one 
of the teachers) who could free a house - elf.  So why does Hermione 
think that she can free them?
I think that it is arrogant of Hermione to assume that she is the 
master of any house - elf, and has the right to assume such power 
over any sentient being.  Although she is really the only character 
to be seen standing up for the elves, she is, in her own way, almost 
as bad as Lucius Malfoy, who thinks that Dobby has no mind of his own.