Naked house elves/questions

[imamommy at sbcglobal.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 120162


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <steve51445 at a...> wrote:
> 
> >Jeanette:
> >  Where do house elves get their clothes?  If no one can give a 
> >house elf clothes I guess they must make their own. Are their 
> >families allowed to give them the cloth?  Do they have to scavenge 
> >discarded rags?
> 
>  Steve here:
> 	I've always thought that the elves scrounged their clothes 
from
> scraps, maybe passed down from generation to generation. After all, 
a badly
> clothed house elf is still better than a naked one.
> 	Dobby's masters were the Malfoy family, Winky's were the 
Crouches,
> and Kreacher's master was Sirius. Who is the master of the Hogwarts 
house
> elves? I figured that either the staff or maybe the MOM 'owned' the 
elves,
> but not the students. If the students don't 'own' the elves then 
Hermione
> couldn't set any elves free no matter how hard she tried. Maybe 
that's why
> none of the teachers seem to be trying to stop her from setting 
them free.
> Of course the elves find clothes shameful, and stop cleaning 
Gryffindor
> tower after finding the hats and socks, but would those clothes 
really have
> set them free?
> 
> Steve
> Who wants to thank Jeanette for putting the image of a naked Dobby 
in my
> head.
>
imamommy:

Thank goodness, something to put a smile on our faces!

In Goblet of Fire, Scholastic Edition,on p.376, it states:
"At least a hundred little elves were standing around the kitchen , 
beaming, bowing, and curtseying as Dobby led Harry past them.  They 
were all wearing the same uniform: a tea towel stamped with the 
Hogwarts crest, and tied, as Winky's had been, like a toga."

So it seems to me that "clothes" means clothes; actual articles of 
clothing.  It would appear that an employer/master can provide non-
clothing, such as a towel, pillowsheet, etc. to wear.

I would guess that the state of Dobby's pillowsheet was due to the 
Malfoy's cruelty/neglect; the Hogwarts tea towels a mark of being 
well cared for.

Another house elf question:  who do the Hogwarts house elves serve, 
directly?  DD? Whomever happens to be headmaster?  All occupants of 
the castle at any given time?

Perhaps the headmaster, since, IIRC, Dobby talks about DD telling him 
to call him a "barmy old codger" and when he warns Harry that 
Umbridge is coming he feels the need to punish himself.

imamommy