Freedom for House-Elves (Was: Kreacher the Plot Device Elf)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 161909

Sarah wrote:
<snip>
> Here's what I think is the simplest way to wrap up the SPEW storyline.
>  In year 7, set it up so that there's a headmaster the elves really
> don't like.  He/she has to be worse than Umbridge, at least from the
> elves' point of view.  If they really get enough, they'll be ready to
> take all those hats and scarves (which had too much time devoted to
> them to not really be anything other than filler/comic relief).  Then
> they can do anything they want, like fight in a war for example.
> Their heroics on the battleground could be more of a catalyst for
> social change than anything Hermione could do singlehandedly.

Carol responds:
I don't think that the hats and scarves are still lying around for the
taking (Dobby has them all), and there were never enough to free all
the house-elves, anyway. Nor do I think, based on the ending of HBP,
that Hermione will be in Hogwarts in Book 7 to knit and distribute
more hats and scarves. It seems clear that both she and Ron will
remain with Harry. 

I think and hope that McGonagall, surely the most qualified person
even in the eyes of the now-chastened Ministry, will be promoted from
interim headmistress to permanent headmistress. She, of course, would
be kind to the house-elves (unless she has a sadistic streak we
haven't seen--sternness is not sadism). I do think that the
house-elves will play a small but important role in Book 7 (JKR has
already written at least one scene involving them), but I think they
would fight for Hogwarts out of loyalty to their home, the dead
headmaster, and the current headmistress. The last thing on their
minds, IMO, will be freedom. They like their jobs and, if Dobby is to
be trusted as a source of information, they recall terrible times, if
not for themselves then for their relatives, when Voldemort was
powerful. So, yes, they'll probably fight, and we'll see what they're
capable of (either Harry will be there or JKR will change the pov),
but I doubt that they'll be free at the time. Loyalty is the defining
characteristic of house-elves, and I'm sure it will be their
motivation in opposing Voldemort.

I think and hope that SPEW is as dead as a doornail, but someone,
perhaps Hermione, will speak up for their right to be treated fairly
and by timeframe of the Epilogue, the Fountain of Magical Brethren
will cease to be a lie. Either that or it will be rebuilt (reforged?),
with the magical beings depicted as equals.

Carol, who still thinks that house-elves were born to serve and like
it that way as long as they're treated justly and fairly