God for Harry, England, and a Sandwich

[slytherin_jenn]

No: HPFGUIDX 178892

> a_svirn:
> But that would mean that Hermione is a craven traitor, because she
> wouldn't even *discuss* exploiting these possibilities. She did not
> stop or tried to stop, or think of trying to stop elves'
> self-punishment. Next time Kreacher does something to warrant it (in
> his opinion) he would inflict it upon himself enthusiastically. Harry,
> if he happens to be nearby, will stop it, of course, but then he would
> have stopped it anyway. Even is he still loathed him he would stop it.
> But that won't change anything for Kreacher, because this is exactly
> the pattern that has been going on for generations. What did Hermione
> do to stop it? When did she indicate that she might do anything to
> stop once she has sorted out more pressing matters?

Celoneth:
Its not clear that she could have done anything about the elves
self-punishment. We see elf magic tied to following the orders of the
elf's master - which is why Kreacher could apparate out of a cave with
anti-apparition charms. The self-punishment could be the negative side
of elf magic. It might be a natural characteristic of their magic or
something that's been ingrained over thousands of years by wizards and
very difficult if not impossible to change. 

There were more pressing matters for Hermione - in DH she was being
pursued by DEs because she was muggleborn and friends with Harry -
realistically how much activism for elf rights could she do? Should
she have forgone fighting a mortal threat in order to work on
achieving rights for a group that's in no immediate danger, is
generally happy with being servants and is very reluctant to change
their behaviour? 

Before that, there's no indication that she decided that elf rights
weren't worth pursuing - she saw that her efforts in OotP failed, a
reasonable person would probably work on finding another strategy.
Also, she's a teenager - she's got her own interests (helping Harry,
being good at school, Ron, etc.) that affect her much more personally
that elf rights. But having your own interests doesn't mean you can't
be devoted to a cause. Maybe she figured that she wasn't going to get
anything accomplished while she was in school. I believe that in one
of the post-DH interviews JKR said that Hermione went to work in the
magical creatures department at the MoM - canon or not, it would be
very IC for her to do something like that - and be in a position where
she actually could change laws to better the elves situation. 

I don't like the house-elf story in the books - it does seem to make
sentient beings that are happy with slavery - something that is
extremely repugnant in real life. But as far as it exists, the
characters have to deal with it. Harry deals with it by being a nice
master to Kreacher, because as far as canon goes, there's nothing else
he can do. We don't know how Hermione deals with it post-DH. I don't
see any indications that she gave up her cause - she suspended it for
a while because of the other things going on but there's nothing to
indicate that she doesn't want rights for elves or to improve their
situation - and that's something she can't do while she's at Hogwarts
or when she's on the run from Voldemort - though what would actually
benefit house-elves is unclear given the setup of the house-elf story.
Celoneth