Hermione's House Elf Hats: Question

[entropymail]

No: HPFGUIDX 80687

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, CareALotsClouds at a... wrote:
> In a message dated 12/09/03 20:29:38 GMT Daylight Time, 
> darkmatter30 at y... writes:
> 
> 
> > She is simply 
> > wasting her time due to her dogmatic beliefs that these slaves should 
> > be free, happy to be free, and that the simple gift of clothes is 
> > sufficient.
<snip>

So, the general consensus is that Hernione is doing her best with the
situation, but is just unaware that the clothes must be given by the
house-elves' master? How can this be? 

Wouldn't our studious Hermione, after all we know about her, have
researched the topic for days upon days, until there was nothing more
to research? Surely, even a cursory questioning would have told her
that the house-elves can't be freed by the students handing out
clothes (after all, don't the house-elves pick up after the students
in their dorm rooms every day?). At the very least, Harry must have
told her the story of how he tricked Lucius Malfoy into freeing Dobby!

What's going on?

:: Entropy ::