Chapter 377 Promotion of House-elves’ Rights and Interests
The Quidditch World Cup should have been a major event in the wizarding world, and the Irish team's celebrations and carnivals should have just begun, but everything came to an abrupt end because of a parade of suspected Death Eaters.
The venue was a mess, with burned tents everywhere and people screaming in panic. Apart from two or three kittens, the Ministry of Magic did not capture any important figures from the Death Eater parade, although everyone knew who might be in that group.
The Dark Mark reappeared in the skies over Britain after more than ten years. Not only did the Ministry of Magic and the general public feel fear, but even the Death Eaters participating in the parade felt panic. They ran away as soon as the Dark Mark appeared. , ran faster than anyone else.
The Ministry of Magic also failed to catch the person who cast the Dark Mark, but they found the person who took the blame. No, it was probably the house elf who took the blame. Ada didn't know what kind of punishment Winky would receive, but a piece of "clothes" was probably indispensable.
Barty Crouch, the former Director of the Legal Enforcement Department of the Ministry of Magic who once killed relatives, left a very bad impression on Ada.
To Ada there was no difference between Cornelius Fudge and Barty Crouch. Fudge is a politician whose mind is full of political struggles, and Crouch is a paranoid radical. No matter which one of them sits in the position of Minister of Magic, it will be a disaster.
The incident of hand-operated flowers at the World Cup venue was "properly" resolved, and the "bad guys" got the punishment they deserved, but Ada felt a chill to her bones. She always felt that the Dark Mark was just the beginning, everything was far from over, and this time it would probably be even darker.
On the way back to the tent, everyone was depressed because of what had just happened. It would be difficult for anyone to be happy after being washed by twenty coma spells.
Hermione had the biggest reaction among the group. The kind-hearted girl was furious because of the misfortune of the house elf Winky.
"How could they treat her like that!" Hermione said angrily, "Mr. Diggory kept calling her a 'goblin'... and Mr. Crouch! He knew it was not her, but he wanted to expel her. ! He doesn’t care how scared or sad she is – he doesn’t regard her as a human being at all!”
"Ahem, she's not human in the first place." Ron replied in a hesitant manner, and then he took over from Barty Crouch to bear Hermione's fire.
Sometimes Ada wonders, did Ron eat his emotional intelligence while he was doing the cooking? Among the entire Weasley family, the two people with the lowest emotional intelligence are Percy and Ron. Ada guessed that their emotional intelligence should be negative.
Mr. Weasley and Lupine agreed with Hermione. They felt that the wizarding world was indeed unfair to house elves and exploited them too much. However, the issue of house elves' rights was a joke, and the house elves themselves didn't care. .
"Mr. Weasley, I don't understand! House elves obviously have feelings and can live like humans, but Mr. Diggory and Mr. Crouch... why do they still do... so disgusting... "Hermione couldn't go on. She paused for a while before continuing, "Don't they have any sympathy?"
"Kind girl, let me tell you why." Sirius took over the conversation and said, "Because house elves were conquered by wizards, and the concept they have been instilled in them for generations is to serve their masters and not to disobey their masters. Order. Now, servility is already flowing in their blood and cannot be changed."
Hermione, who grew up in Muggle society and was born in a happy family, found it difficult to understand this idea. She continued to retort: "But shouldn't we improve their conditions? Let them no longer be so lowly, at least not let them be subjected to Such treatment today!”
Hermione's stubbornness grew, and for a while no one could convince her. After returning to the tent, Hermione had a few arguments with Percy about this, because Percy didn't think there was anything wrong with Crouch's way of treating Winky, and that's what people in the wizarding world did.
"Does what everyone thinks is right be the right thing?" Hermione loudly refuted Percy, "We used to think that bathing was a very dangerous thing and would make people sick, but what happened?"
Hermione was talking about the most famous dark history of Europa, which is that no one takes a bath. People in the Middle Ages believed that bathing would swell the pores and make people sick. In order to avoid getting sick, people simply stopped taking baths.
From the princes, nobles and churches to the common people, everyone does not take a bath. Now it sounds like men silently weeping while women cry, but that was what people did at that time, and they were even more proud of not taking a shower.
It is precisely because of the emergence of this situation that perfume has become so popular.
"Hermione, it's good to have compassion, but don't use your compassion indiscriminately." Ada said sitting in the corner.
This sentence, which seemed to be an accusation, made Hermione stop her dash. If she continued to say this, the "House Elves Welfare Promotion Association" would be born tonight.
"Ada, don't house elves deserve sympathy?" Hermione asked. She couldn't understand Ada's thoughts. Obviously everyone entered the magical world from the Muggle world, why could Ada tolerate such exploitation and oppression? Turn a blind eye.
"It's worthy of sympathy, but not worthy of sympathy." Ada's answer was ambiguous. She continued, "There were once people who were as whimsical as you and wanted to enhance the status of house elves and give them more rights, but you know that house elves What did the elf say?"
Ada did not wait for Hermione to answer her question, but said to herself: "Let me tell you, the house elves think that this person wants to give them welfare, wants to give them freedom, and wants to liberate them. , is the biggest bad guy in the world! He is a complete madman!"
"How could this be? He was helping them!" Hermione said, "But, but Dobby..."
"Dobby is just an example. Apart from Dobby, have you ever seen any house elf yearning for freedom?" Ada continued, "If I give my house elf a 'clothes', then Agnes will wear it at night. If she cuts off her own head, she will feel that she is a heinous and evil elf."
Sirius Black suddenly interrupted and asked with interest: "I always thought that only the house elves of the Black family had this hobby. So it turns out that the Rosier family also has this hobby?"
"No, Sirius." Ada said helplessly, "I'm just giving an example, a metaphor."
Hermione reorganized her words and tried to struggle for the last time. She said: "It's because of the concepts that the wizards instilled in them that made them like this. If you can...if you can get rid of the servility in them..."
"Stop making trouble, Hermione, you can't do this, and no one can do it." Ada said with a smile, "God helps those who help themselves. Only they can do it, and only they can save themselves."
Ada sympathizes with the plight of the house elves, but she won't go out of her way to help them because they don't deserve it. If Ada did this, she would only be viewed as a scourge by the house elves, rather than someone who could lead them out of the darkness.
Even without a wand, house elves can still cast spells, and their magic is even better than that of many wizards. They have always been able to resist and have the ability to resist, but they have never thought about resisting.
They regard help from the outside as a scourge, and the house elves themselves do not choose to resist. In this way, they can only continue to be the wizard's slaves, beaten or scolded, bound by their masters, giving everything they have, and even their lives.
Just like Winky tonight, it was obviously not her who cast the Dark Mark, but she was thrown out like a chamber pot by her master, Barty Crouch, and became a scapegoat.
The only ones who can help the house elves are themselves. Only when they awaken themselves and choose to fight can they get rid of their current status and breathe freely.
