The Potters' grave and non-domestic elves

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 89362

> > Peter: 
> > I regret that I cannot give you the exact point of that quote 
> > but in GoF or (more probably) OotP, Draco tells his mates that his 
> > mother now had to do all the housework by herself. So I assumed there 
> > aren't any more elves in the Malfoy Manson. <snip>
>
> 
> bboy_mn:
> 
> I would very much like to see that quote, because I don't remember it
> from any of the books. Of course, I don't have the greatest memory,
> but none the less, I still have my doubts.
> 
> If Dobby was the only Malfoy Elf, why wouldn't Malfoys just go down to
> the House-Elf Relocation Office (it's really, I didn't make it up) and
> get a new house-elf?
> 
> Certainly, someone as rich and powerful as Lucius wouldn't have a
> problem getting a new elf. Personally, although I can't back it up
> with data from the book, I suspect they had more than one elf. 
<snip>

Carol:
I don't remember the quote about Narcissa doing housework (I can't
imagine her actually doing so), but Draco does say in PoA that Lupin
"dresses like our old house-elf" (141). Since Dobby no longer works
for the Malfoys, Draco might mean "our former house-elf" (i.e., they
no longer have a house-elf) or he might mean that they now have an
elderly house-elf who isn't Dobby. At any rate, it appears that they
have, at most, only one house-elf at that point. Maybe they don't want
a house-elf who hasn't served the Malfoys or the Blacks for centuries.
Possibly they'll end up with Kreacher, though clearly it isn't
Kreacher who's being refered to here; he's still at 12 Grimauld Place.

Carol, who isn't too worried about poor Narcissa getting rough hands
from doing housework. She has a wand, after all.