Hogwarts Laundry

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 163508

zanooda wrote:
> 
> I think that, to be freed, an elf needs to recieve clothes from his 
> master's hands, not just pick them up from somewhere (the floor? a 
> hamper?). They seem to be allowed to handle clothes. Remember, in
CoS one of the twins says their mother wishes they had a house-elf "to
do ironing"? In GoF Fake!Moody summons Dobby to the staffroom "to 
> collect some robes for cleaning".
> 
> What's more, at Hogwarts most of the laundry must come from the 
> students, and *their* clothes cannot free the elves, because the 
> students are not masters to the elves. That's why I believe 
> Hermione's hats and socks were just big waste of time and wool. Even 
> if the elves took the hats, they wouldn't get free, IMO.
> 
> As for whoever is considered the Hogwarts elves master (the 
> headmaster and maybe the teachers?), well, he/they just have to be 
> careful not to pass any of their clothing directly to any elves and 
> they'll be fine. Always put your clothes away in the hamper! :-) <snip>

Carol responds:
I agree that this explanation is both simplest and most likely.
Someone does laundry at Hogwarts and that someone (or "someones," if
that's a word) is certainly not the students or the teachers. It has
to be the house-elves, who clean the common room when it doesn't have
Hermione hats in it. (Dobby does it when the other elves won't.) If
simply touching a student's or a teacher's clothes freed a house-elf,
all the house-elves would be Dobbys, free but working at Hogwarts by
choice. And Dobby would have been free from the Malfoys long before. I
think that the elf's master (or mistress) has to hand him (or her)
clothes. Normally, they would do so with the intent of firing or
freeing the elf. Picking up clothes lying on the floor or sent down
the laundry chute wouldn't free the elf even if they belonged to the
master/mistress of the house (or the headmaster in the case of
Hogwarts). Dumbledore doesn't wash all those star-spangled robes he
wears. Or his much-loved socks.

Carol, wondering why Orion Black, a pureblood, owned trousers, a
Muggle garment per the MoM officials at the TWT