Landmark Legislation Passed After Decades Due To Hermione Granger's S.P.E.W., Nasty Mess Upsetting Many!

          The creation of the now widely known organization, S.P.E.W. (Society for the Protection of Elfish Welfare), is decades old and started with two of the most well-known wizards, and a witch, of the modern age. The group was started by Hermione Granger-Weasley, a former high-ranking official in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, in 1994. It was then that she witnessed what she considered highly unfair treatment towards a house elf named Winky, after the infamous events of the 422nd Quidditch World Cup. She has officially recounted the tale several times of what happened after the match between Bulgaria and Ireland, the latter winning the World Cup that year. Mrs. Granger-Weasley states that the house elf was falsely accused by her master, the late Bartemius Crouch Sr., of stealing a wand and using it to summon the dark mark. It was cast over the sky during the Death Eater riots that ensued in the camp grounds after the matches completion. She was then set free against her will due to Mr. Crouch not wanting to be associated in any negative way with Lord Voldemort or the Death Eaters. The house elf vehemently denied the accusations, and was later proven right after Bartemius Crouch Jr. was discovered to be the one responsible. The house elf never quite recovered until several years, and MANY butter beers, later. Winky was then brought into the employ of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry by then headmaster, Albus Dumbledore (1881-1997). She even participated in aiding those who fought during the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998, led by none other than the former house elf of the well-known Voldemort supporting 'Black' family, Kreacher. The house elf Kreacher unfortunately passed away not long ago in September of 2017 at the ripe old elf age of 666 years. Winky herself continues to work at the famed school to this day and has gained control of her butter beer habit, but has been known to occasionally indulge during the holidays and loudly remind the other house elfs in the kitchens how much she misses serving her old family masters.

          Shortly after Mrs. Granger-Weasley witnessed this treatment of Winky, she began her fourth year at Hogwarts. It was then that she discovered that the school itself employed house elfs to work in the kitchens, clean the castle, and tend to the fires. This greatly upset her and led her to form an organization she originally wanted to call, "Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status", but as this would not fit on the badges she had, she changed it to the name of S.P.E.W. we currently know today. Once the group was started, she named her best friend, as well as her future husband, as secretary and treasurer, respectively. Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley were the first two members of the group, though not as active or passionate about the issue as Hermione was. Membership into the group cost two sickles and got you a badge with the S.P.E.W. logo emblazoned on it, all funds going towards a planned leaflet campaign to promote awareness. It was rather slow going in the beginning of her efforts to raise support for her ultimate goal of freeing the house elfs, as most witches and wizards found it highly insulting to them, the house elfs included. When she began to fail at raising the necessary gold for her campaign, Mrs. Granger-Weasley took to knitting as a rather sneaky way to attempt to free the house elfs that she believed wanted nothing more than the ability to escape their masters. She knit several hats, socks, and scarves over the year and would hide them underneath garbage and in any location she thought an elf might accidentally pick it up and be "gratefully" set free. Because of these actions on her part, and the great insult the house elfs took it as, they would no longer go near Gryffindor tower and refused to clean the common rooms.

          Due to some digging on my part, and the luck of being fortunate enough to know Harry Potter personally, I did discover an interesting little tidbit of information about Hermione's hat and scarf knitting and the issue it caused amongst the house elfs. As I mentioned previously, all the hats and scarves Mrs. Granger-Weasley was leaving all over Gryffindor Tower led the regular house elfs to refuse to clean it in fear of being set free. Yet, Hermione regularly awoke in the mornings to discover her handmade items missing and falsely believed that she had succeeded in setting some happy elfs free. But unbeknownst to her, someone knew the truth about what was actually happening and didn't have the heart to tell her. What was actually happening to all the disappearing hats, socks, and scarves wasn't discovered until 1995 during everyone's fifth year at Hogwarts. Harry's late snowy owl, Hedwig, had been injured earlier in the year during the horrifying reign of Dolores Jane  Umbridge as Hogwarts High Inquisitor, and later the Headmistress. She was determined to discover some sort of wrong-doing on behalf of Harry Potter, as well as Albus Dumbledore himself, in order to further the Ministry's attempts to discredit their claims that the Dark Lord had indeed returned at that time. She failed in these attempts, and these days Ms. Umbridge is serving out a life sentence in Azkaban prison, for her horrendous crimes against muggle-born witches and wizards during the time Lord Voldemort had control of the Ministry. She was sentenced shortly after the Second Wizarding War ended and Lord Voldemort fell at the hands of Mr. Potter himself.

          As I said previously, Harry's owl had been injured and left in the hands of the Care of Magical Creatures professor at the time, Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank, who was substituting for Rubeus Hagrid. Late one evening, as Harry slept alone in an armchair of the Gryffindor common room, he was awoken by one of the most well known house elfs of the modern world. This house elf had volunteered to return Hedwig to Mr. Potter after being nursed back to health, and did so with her perched atop an over two foot high stack of several knit hats on his head. I speak, of course, about the immensely proud free elf, Dobby (???? - 1998). Harry Potter himself helped Dobby attain his freedom from the family that he served a few years prior after tricking his abusive master, Lucius Malfoy, into giving the elf a sock hidden in a book. After Dobby returned Hedwig, Harry realized that it had been the already free elf who was cleaning and taking all the clothes Hermione had been leaving all around the tower. Dobby confirmed with Harry that he indeed was the only one willing to clean Gryffindor tower anymore, as the other house elfs found all the hidden knit clothes very insulting. He did not have the heart to tell Hermione at the time that it had been Dobby taking all her hats, scarves, and socks she'd made over the past year. She was much happier believing she had been setting free countless elfs that were now leading happy lives. Though, he did eventually inform her of this later on in their friendship after she had stated she planned to use those house elfs as an example for the legislation she was writing at the time.

          Needless to say, Hermione's early attempts at being an activist and pushing for a change in house elf treatment was a failure. She only managed to get a few of her friends and schoolmates to pay the two sickle fee, most of them only doing so in hopes of getting her to stop pestering them. After the fiasco with Dolores Umbridge, Hermione somewhat backed off from her more immediate efforts and began to focus more on her schooling and the impending threat of Lord Voldemort. After the Second Wizarding War ended, Mrs. Granger-Weasley returned to Hogwarts to finish her education and obtain her NEWT's. It was her connections and work with The Order of the Phoenix that allowed her the chance to gain employment at the Ministry of Magic, being recently revamped and managed under newly appointed Minister for Magic, and former Order member, Kingsley Shacklebolt.

          It was her first position in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures that she realized she was in a much better position to resume her work with S.P.E.W., and started advocating for the rights of house elfs again. She began raising awareness to their living and work conditions and trying to get witches and wizards everywhere to realize how unfair it was for us to subjugate them and take them for granted. Mrs. Granger-Weasley often compared the plight of house elfs to that of the muggle-era of African American slavery and how much better it made their world once they were freed from unjust and forced servitude. This caused many heated debates among advocates of house elf enslavement and those who feel they should be given a choice to serve, as opposed to being forced to serve. Many pure-blood families argued that it gives the house elfs a purpose and they want to serve their masters honorably, many of them being thoroughly frightened at the prospect of being free. They even went so far as to point out the continuing issues of segregation and racism that runs rampant in the muggle world, even to this day, within the African American community. Hermione often shot back with the same arguments, making the point that the house elfs only fear freedom because it has been so long since they’ve known it and merely need someone to show them how much better their lives could be as free elfs who have a choice in where they work and how they're compensated for it. She often cited Dobby as an example of a free house elf who was happy to be so, and used his freedom to his advantage. We've all heard the stories from Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione, about their quest to end Lord Voldemort's reign of terror and how they never could have accomplished this without the aid of that free elf, Dobby. He came to their aid on several occasions, saving their lives in the process; something he never could have done had he been under the control of a family. Not only did Dobby risk his life for those he called his friends, but he also managed to find gainful employment at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry working in the kitchens, being paid to do so and allowed days off. This fact only works to solidify Mrs. Granger-Weasley's argument that a free elf can still be a very dedicated, loyal, and helpful house elf, only with the dignity of personal choice that we as witches and wizards take for granted. I personally agree with her and am very excited for the changes to come under her newly passed legislation.

          Hermione is no longer working in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, but was instead promoted to  her current position as the Deputy Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. She is currently working directly with Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, on a quest to eradicate many of the laws that have long stood in the wizard world which favor the "pure-blood" families. It's easy to see already that the Ministry has been revamped and changed for the betterment of all wizard-kind, but those who fight for our rights are still working hard to make it even better. Mrs. Granger-Weasley's legislation, recently passed by a somewhat narrow margin due to the hesitancy of many in the Wizengamot, was written and submitted by her years ago during her stint in her previous department, the "D.R.C.M.C.". Due to the exhaustive revamping occurring all over the many Ministry of Magic departments, it took several years for her proposal to work its way up the chain and into the chamber for a vote. The changes from the new laws, being implemented on a rolling basis, will not take effect until March 1st of 2018, which means there is a lot of work to be done in a short period of time. Listed below are some of the more argued points of the new legislation:

Ø  Article 1: The biggest, and perhaps most controversial change, is the article that henceforth prevents any new house elfs from being enslaved to a master. It also stipulates that any house elfs currently in servitude to a master must undergo a thorough exam to determine if the house elf is in a suitable and safe environment. If it is determined that the house elf is in danger and/or being forced, threatened, or coerced into saying they are happy where they are, the Magical Office of Law, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and any accompanying Aurors, can forcibly remove the house elf from the home. Each house elf interviewed and deemed safely employed must also be offered the opportunity to willingly leave their current masters if all else is in order and a forced removal is not deemed required.

Ø  Article 2: The next section, and perhaps the largest and most difficult to implement, involves the enormous coordinated effort needed to reverse, break, and/or alter all charms, enchantments, spells, curses, or jinxes used to enslave the house elfs and tie them to their masters. Due to the fact that not all house elfs originate from the same market, and the fact that some families perform further enchantments, it’s hard to identify or know what specific methods of enchantments and charms have been used. Because of this, the Ministry and the Department of International Magical Cooperation have issued notices throughout the wizarding world (see page 12A, Classified Section, for the ad) seeking help from anyone with the necessary experience in the fields of anti-jinx, spell reversal, dis-enchantment, curse breaking, and even potion antidotes. Gringotts Wizarding Bank has loaned out one of their head curse breakers, William "Bill" Weasley (brother-in-law to Mrs. Granger-Weasley), to head the committee for this effort.

Ø  Article 3: Once an elf is free of the magical bonds that tie it to a family, whether by choice or forced/optional removal, there is the matter of their rights and choices moving forth. The new legislation states that, since they are classified as beings (any creature that has sufficient intelligence to understand and bear responsibility for the laws of the magical community), house elfs will therefore be afforded the same rights as other non-human beings, with some variations. What this means in short is that after these new laws go into effect, house elfs will be able to voluntarily offer their services to a family for a wage to be agreed upon between the elf and whomever they choose to work for. The law also stipulates that, in order to protect the house elfs from those who may try to abuse the new system and force the elf to still work for free, it will be against the law for a family to pay the elf any less than 6 galleons per week for their services. It also states that the family must provide adequate lodgings for the elf, being a domicile/room no smaller than 6 feet by 8 feet. They must also be allowed a minimum of one day off per week, unless the elf chooses to work on that day, in which case they must be paid at least 8 galleons for that weeks work or an extra 2 galleons more than whatever wage had previously been agreed upon. Also, any house elfs who've chosen to stay magically tied to whichever family they'd been working for when the new laws take effect, and that family and working environment deemed safe, will henceforth be referred to as "legacy bonds". Since this is a unique situation, and an elf who chooses to do this well most likely refuse payment anyway, there are no requirements for compensation. But the laws regarding a required room size do still apply, and Mrs. Granger-Weasley has also suggested that some sort of special reward or gift be given to legacy bonded elfs regularly as some form of fair reimbursement for their services, but not legally required.

Ø  Article 4: This section sets forth the fines and punishments put in place for anyone who breaks or disobeys the laws of this legislation. The fines and punishments differ depending on which rules are broken, how they were broken, and how many previous offenses they've made to the law. Regarding the laws of Article 1 and the unlawful enslavement or mistreatment of an elf who still has a magical "legacy bond", the fines and punishment are as follows. Since this article is the main point, it carries some of the heaviest punishments. A first offense will carry a 500 galleon fine and 30 days in Azkaban. A second offense will carry a 1500 galleon fine and 6 months in Azkaban. A third offense will carry a 5000 galleon fine and a minimum of 5 years in Azkaban. Any further offenses after that will be an immediate life sentence in Azkaban and the Ministry will take possession of the offenders entire estate, including anything they have in vault at Gringotts. Fines and punishment for Article 2 are somewhat negligible due to the fact it involves breaking the charms and enchantments used to enslave the elfs, but there is a stipulation that anyone believed to have knowledge of their own house elfs enchantments, and refuse to disclose the necessary information needed to break them, will be fined 500 galleons and sent to Azkaban until they decide to assist in the removal, or up to 1 year, whichever comes first. For Article 3, anyone found to be paying their house elf less than minimum wage or not providing adequate housing and time off, or generally mistreating their elf, will be fined 150 galleons for a first offense. A second offense will be subject to a 300 galleon fine and removal of their house elf for a period of 1 month. A third offense will be a 500 galleon fine and permanent removal of their house elf and being banned from hiring any future ones to replace them.

Ø  Article 5: This section deals with the formation of a new department within the Ministry of Magic to assist the house elfs, as well as the witches and wizards who employ them, or wish to employ them. The new office will be called the, "Department for House Elf Employment, Relocation, Rights & Support". It will be a subdivision of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and have separate offices for employment, general rights, relocating newly free or jobless elfs, and support for house elfs who need to find work, have lost a job, or are being mistreated at their current job. This edition of the Weekly Quibbler also contains ads in our classified section looking for people to fill the newly created positions at the Ministry.

          There are several more extensive and detailed points to this new legislation not covered here. I've merely given a simple rundown of the larger points that the general wizard populace have been discussing. For any witches and wizards interested in reading the new legislation in its 135 page entirety can send an owl, along with 12 sickles, to:

Amelia Ogden

The House Elf Liberation Bill

Ministry of Magic

Public Information Services Office

          As I mentioned before, this new bill has caused quite the stir in the wizarding world. Many people are very upset about what this may mean for the way of life that we've all known for so long. Even many of the house elfs themselves have become uncharacteristically vocal about these new laws and quite fearful of what it will mean for them to be set free or never even know a master. But there are also many in the community who are absolutely thrilled, myself and my colleague included, that these oppressed and vastly underappreciated beings are finally getting recognized and being given the chance to lead a life of their own design, instead of forced into servitude and squalor.

          I had a chance to discuss this issue with one of the Healers at St. Mungo's Hospital, Ingot Thaddeus Freemont, who specializes in unique cases of head maladies and psychology in human and non-human species and its effects on the overall magical homeostasis. I asked Mr. Freemont what his thoughts were on this new bill and the effects it was having on the house elf populace and the relatively widespread fear and anger it's causing. I wanted to know whether or not they'd ever be able to cope and come to terms with this new way of life, or if not, be forced to go back to how it had always been…

          "In my job, I've witnessed several species, human and otherwise, bring themselves to the brink of complete destruction over the silly and trivial, all the way up to reasons any sane person would consider justifiable. The one thing I almost always found in common among them, their reaction to whatever event that causes the disruption was directly correlated to and guided by their habits, rituals, and long-held beliefs. One summer, back in 1983, I was researching a large group of Grindylows that nested near the shore of Silver Crest Lake outside Britain. Near there was a very steep cliff running the edge of the bank. It had been raining heavily for three days straight and it caused the earth and rocks on this cliff face to become unstable and a large mudslide littered with heavy stones came tumbling down right onto where the Grindylows congregated. I watched as almost three quarters of the population of that herd perished before the rest finally started to leave and save their own lives. It was tragic and fascinating all at the same time. I also witnessed a similar incident, though this one was more out of honor than widespread ignorance, with a long standing colony of merpeople in a hidden loch near Scotland in fall of 1989. We had caught wind from a muggle scientist about an underground vein of molten rock that ran directly under the center of their colony and had grown unstable. A colleague and I attempted to warn them as best we could, since neither of us spoke fluent mermish, but it became clear they all refused to leave because of the long standing pride and belonging they felt to that location. It didn’t matter to them that we had all but guaranteed their homes and lives would be destroyed soon, they were willing to stay there as a community and go down with their heritage. After the vein erupted, only a dozen or so merpeople had survived the destruction and, amazingly, immediately began to start rebuilding whatever they could salvage, despite just losing their entire community and countless lives. It helped me to understand the need of many species to retain a sense of tradition, respect, honor, and normalcy to feel connected to their roots and everything they've been taught their whole lives to believe their purpose is. I don't think this is much different than what's happening here with the house elfs, just on a potentially less catastrophic scale."

          I asked the eccentric healer to elaborate on what he meant by this, and he began by pointing out that house elfs harbor a vastly different point of view in terms of what is normal. "As the old saying goes, what is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly, my dear boy!", he chuckled loudly. He talked about how for thousands of years, house elfs have been born and bred into servitude to their witch and wizard masters. While this obviously seems horrid to us as humans used to our own personal freedoms and choices, for a house elf, this is normal. Obviously, there are exceptions to this rule, just as there are for every species, our own especially. The prime example of this being Lord Voldemort himself. While the majority of the wizarding world were perfectly content with how things were, the Dark Lord was of the belief that wizards should rule over the muggles, the pure-bloods at the head of the hierarchy. He sought to take over, trampling muggle borns underfoot and desiring to use the muggles as servants, much as we have with house elfs for centuries. Because this is the way it has been for as long as anyone can remember, we as wizards were okay using the elfs as servants and justifying this by believing they weren't happy unless they served a master. This fact might have been absolutely true, that they were happy to serve, only because this is what they've been taught since birth and believed that this was their purpose in life. To further prove the point he was trying to make, Dr. Freemont told me of a small experiment he ran on that same group of Grindylows that met their deaths on Silver Crest Lake, at the end of which made me realize it was actually his fault they all perished. I chose not to bring this point up after, though the shameful look in his eyes told me it wasn't necessary…

          "I was studying this group of Grindylows in Silver Crest Lake that I had found holed up in this small underwater cave that was much too cramped for the size of their herd. I saw it as an opportunity to kill two hippogriffs with one spell. I could attempt to help them by moving them to more suitable ground, as well as test a lingering theory I'd had about being able to alter the habits of a species through subtle manipulation. I'd found this lovely, sunny spot near the shore that had a mass of tall seaweed that would provide cover from predators and a lovely cove of hundreds of natural pockets in the nearby rocky cliff face for them to sleep in safely. I began by identifying their herds leader and observing him to try and find a way to lure him. I found that he was quite fond of a certain type of small trout and was pleased to discover they existed in abundance in my newly selected location for them. I accio'd several from the lake and used an old charm to control the fish, and over the course of three days, I managed to repeatedly lure the head Grindylow over to the new spot. Each time I did so, I noticed that more and more of the others in the group began to follow him over. After 2 weeks time, the entire herd had migrated over to the new spot and completely abandoned their old home, other than a few stubborn ones who preferred their old cave. I was thrilled beyond measure! I had proven my theory right and given them a marvelous and abundant new home!"

          Dr. Freemont's excitement over the reminiscence of the story quickly faded, I can only assume because he remembered what eventually happened to them. But he went on to say his point was that he believed this same theory could indeed hold true for the house elfs as well. He suggested that if someone could find an authority figure for the elfs, someone they trusted and could look up to, and could show them that their lives could benefit from this freedom, this new bill could indeed succeed and vastly decrease the current upheaval in the magical community. Of course, this would do nothing for those witches and wizards who see the elfs as nothing more than lower life forms who deserve nothing but  a life of servitude. But try as we might, there will always be those among us who wish to subjugate others for their own benefit.

          This is the type of mentality that Hermione Granger-Weasley has spent her entire life trying to fight against. She believes very strongly in this new bill, and it has only proved to increase her resolve in fighting for those less fortunate. To fight against the evil and injustice in the wizarding world that, until recently, had run rampant. This is her reasoning behind her surprising move into the Department for Magical Law Enforcement, where she is now Deputy Head. She has been working tirelessly alongside Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt to continue to revamp the Ministry itself and create a stronger and more fair world for us all. She may get quite overzealous at times, but she always has our best interests at heart. I will always put my faith in her causes and her judgment. I am proud to be able to call her a friend.

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          We would love to hear from all of you, as well. What are your thoughts about this new legislation? How do you think it will affect you and the wizarding world as a whole? Was this the right time for something like this to occur? Should Hermione Granger-Weasley campaign for Minister for Magic? (I say, yes!) Send us an owl to our offices here at The Weekly Quibbler in Diagon Alley, and we may run your letters in the Opinions section of our next edition!

COMING SOON! Our in-depth interview with the one and only, Molly Weasley! Our fascinating look into the woman behind the amazing books and line of pre-charmed products, available exclusively at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and soon to be a regular contributor to The Weekly Quibbler with her own article about how to turn a house into a well-running home.

- Tyler B. Messer