A day at Hogwarts

When Grindelwald began to chew on "The Social Contract", Charles frowned, thinking that one day he would actually teach a house elf a lesson, and also teach him how to do business.

The purchasing business was booming at the beginning, but the students had limited money in their pockets. Within a few days, the turnover was cut in half twice, and it was about to be a third time.

Dobby is a house elf of the Malfoy family. He has no concept of "running out of money" in his mind. When Charles came to take inventory that night, he saw him banging his head against the wall. After asking, he found out what he thought was the recent decrease in income. own fault.

After Dobby finally understood that not all wizards were as rich as the Malfoy family, Charles suddenly thought of a question.

"Dobby," he asked, "are there any house elves who have lost their master and are homeless?"

Charles thought, although there is a house-elf resettlement office on the same level as the Centaur Liaison Office below the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, but I heard that there is not much work there, and it is probably just a pretense of fishing all day long, so It is not within their jurisdiction whether there are wizards who abandon house elves like they abandoned cats and dogs, or which wizard family has died and all the house elves are still alive.

Dobby was like a British wizard who heard Voldemort's name. He hugged his shoulders and shivered in his chair, and asked tremblingly: "Boss, what do you ask those dirty, depraved, and uncultured thieves and robbers to do?"

Charles heard that there were indeed some, probably quite a lot.

He thought thoughtfully and asked: "Can you find a few people who are actually not bad to help you work? I am your boss. If you work, I will give you money. You will be their boss, and you will pay them to help you work." Their money.”

"After you pay me back, I will no longer be your boss. You can be your own boss and support yourself, and those house elves will also support themselves."

"At that time, you are no longer house elves, but free elves."

Dobby's eyes, which were bigger than tennis balls, were full of question marks, and his bat-wing-like ears were wagging, as if he understood, but also didn't seem to understand.

Charles also had to go to the Room of Requirement to practice his spells. After counting today's sales, he left, leaving Dobby to think about today's problems.

Dobby didn't sleep well all night. In the first half of the night, he was thinking that he would be free soon. In the second half of the night, he was thinking about whether he could really support himself after he was free.

The next morning at the island villa, Dobby yawned while making breakfast.

Grindelwald asked in surprise: "House elves actually yawn while working?"

Dobby's hand shook. This was an extremely serious problem. Just as he was about to apologize, Jack said, "Dobby, don't worry about that idiot. He is just a gardener, just like you."

Grindelwald gritted his teeth and said to Jack: "Although I can't beat you, you can't insult me ​​like this!"

Jack said calmly: "Have you paid for your meal here?"

"We are all part-time workers, no one should look down on the other."

The corner of Grindelwald's mouth twitched. He really didn't have money to pay for the meal, and the wand he was using now was bought by him from an old friend in France.

But he still said: "Didn't I help you open the Gringotts vault? Isn't that enough for me to eat here?"

Jack said: "The promised reward is a magic wand."

Grindelwald suddenly realized that he seemed to have no legal means of making money and a living, and he could recruit Dumbledore by any means he could.

He looked out the window at the sea and wondered, shouldn't he catch fish in exchange for food?

Jack ignored Grindelwald and asked Dobby curiously: "Are you encountering any problems?"

Dobby repeated what Charles had said to him last night.

Grindelwald listened and just sneered.

After hearing this, Jack was not sure what Charles was thinking. Did he just want to make money, or did he want to do other things.

So he dealt with it and said: "If you have a problem and can't figure it out, just read a book and see what the book says."

Dobby left after making breakfast. Grindelwald ate a slightly burnt omelette and said to Jack: "What Charles is going to do is dangerous."

Jack was noncommittal and cut off the burnt part of the fried sausage with a table knife before eating it.

Grindelwald continued: "You should have heard of the cyclic rebellion of the goblins. They will rebel every hundred years or so."

"There has been no goblin rebellion in Britain for more than two hundred years. I'm afraid the next rebellion is not far away."

"I'm worried that if Dobby continues to develop like this, house elves will become like goblins."

Jack said calmly: "The goblins in England haven't rebelled for almost a hundred years."

Grindelwald paused for a moment and immediately understood what he meant. It was he who put down the goblin rebellion a hundred years ago.

After all, he was someone who had experienced big storms, so Grindelwald was not too surprised.

"Have you ever used a pressure cooker?" Jack suddenly asked a seemingly irrelevant question.

The pressure cooker is a product that is only a few years away from the "Law of Secrecy". It is also used by wizards, so Grindelwald naturally understands it.

Jack continued: "The pressure cooker must release the pressure properly, otherwise it will explode."

Grindelwald felt that he understood what he meant, nodded and said: "You are right, killing a batch every once in a while can solve the problem."

"Goblins are more powerful now than they were fifty years ago. Gringotts has seized the economic lifeline of wizards and has harmed the interests of wizards. It must change."

"Elves are not humans. Just let them build things. Wizards should keep their money."

As he spoke, his whole temperament changed, as if he had returned to that all-powerful era.

By the time he finished speaking, Jack had already finished his breakfast and stood up and said to him, "Remember to wash the dishes later."

Grindelwald couldn't stop thinking about it. He didn't read a book that day, but sat on the sofa and kept thinking.

In the afternoon, he came to the Muggle villa next door and saw that Jack had just finished making a phone call.

Before Grindelwald could speak, Jack said: "I have an old friend who is coming over in a while. Go buy some hens and raise them in a circle outside. Buy corn and feed them back. You can also feed them some vegetables." , it’s best if you can catch the bugs and come back.”

Grindelwald said depressedly: "It's so troublesome. I can't just buy it after the guests come."

Jack shook his head and said, "You don't understand this. Chickens fed with feed are not delicious, but chickens fed with corn, vegetables and worms are delicious."

Grindelwald asked curiously: "Who is here that you want to receive him so grandly?"

Jack replied: "A friend I met during my previous travels asked him to deal with the Inferi. He finally found time."