Archaeologists at Hogwarts

In the library.

"What does instinct include?"

"Didn't the professor say it in class? First of all, you have to throw away other distracting thoughts and let only one thought remain in your mind - it sounds similar to the Patronus Charm, but this thought may not necessarily make you happy, but

Is it the kind of thing that you would think of subconsciously? You can’t resist, even if you know that the result may be very bad.”

"Does that mean it also has to be something you like? At least it has to be an area of ​​interest?"

"Your idea is very good, I decided to add it to my paper."

"I have to write it down, too. But I don't seem to be particularly interested in it. Apart from making money, but I can't make any money. Could it be that I have to rely on Fred and George? They won't help me."

"Mine is actually easier. There must be flying involved."

"Then you are going to make a lot of money. When you develop a new type of broomstick, be sure to notify me in advance and I will be your tester."

"It doesn't have to be a broomstick, maybe some magic spell will be invented that allows wizards to fly freely - what do you think, Hermione? Is there such a magic now?"

Harry raised his head and looked at Hermione sitting opposite, and Ron also looked over curiously.

Hermione was staring at her blank parchment with a thoughtful expression on her face, seemingly not hearing what Harry was asking her.

Harry waved his palm in front of Hermione's eyes: "What are you thinking about? You're actually distracted?"

Hermione suddenly came back to her senses. She narrowed her eyes slightly, looking a bit like Professor Hemmer.

"I'm wondering, does this instinct also apply to house elves? Could this be the key to liberating them? Is Professor Hemmer indirectly reminding me that I should do this. No, I have to go to the kitchen.

Come on, do you want to come together?"

Harry looked at his parchment, which was only one-third full of content at most - this was the assignment given to them by Professor Heimer, who required them to write a paper as detailed as possible on instinct, and the length was

No less than nine inches.

"I haven't seen Dobby for a long time," Harry said.

Ron asked expectantly: "Will there be snacks when we go? It would be better if there is honey cake."

Harry stood up and packed his things and said: "I now know what your instinct is - the first thing you think about before you die is definitely a good meal.

Instead of holding a lot of gold."

Hermione nodded in disgust: "Perhaps even your magic circle creation was wrong. It shouldn't be a sweater, but a pan."

"Frying pan?" Ron muttered dissatisfiedly: "That sounds much cooler than a sweater."

——

Hermione led the two people along the marble stairs into the foyer below. Harry turned his head and looked curiously. He and Ron had never been here before.

After arriving in a wide stone corridor, Hermione found a painting and followed the marble stairs into the foyer below.

Hermione's movements were very skillful. She stretched out her index finger and gently scratched the big green pear. The pear squirmed, chuckled, and suddenly turned into a big green doorknob. Hermione grabbed it

He opened the door, pushed Harry's back hard, and pushed him in...

"So this is it."

Before Harry could finish his words, he suddenly heard a loud cheer, and the house elves in the kitchen rushed towards them as if they had seen some treasure.

Among them, Dobby, who rushed over first, was the most conspicuous.

"careful!"

Harry turned sharply and circled Dobby like he was catching a golden snitch, thus avoiding the tragic ending of being held until he couldn't breathe.

"Harry Potter." Dobby said excitedly. He let go of his hand, took a few steps back, and looked up at Harry with a smile on his face, his green eyes the size of tennis balls filled with tears of joy.

: "You are finally willing to come to the kitchen to see me, sir."

This made Harry feel a little guilty. He had never thought of coming to the kitchen on his own initiative. The last time they met, Dobby secretly brought him gillyweed.

Ron looked at the group of house elves milling around them. He looked at Hermione with strange eyes and said, "I never thought you would be so popular. Sure enough, you are becoming more and more like a dark devil.

Even the brainwashing was so successful."

"This is not called brainwashing." Hermione snorted and said, "I'm just telling them tactfully what they should do and what they don't need to do. I can feel that this method is definitely the right one. At the beginning, Hai

Professor Mo’s reminder is not wrong—are you right, Twinkle?”

Winky was Mr. Crouch's former house elf. She had been drinking to drown her sorrows after being kicked out, until Hermione ordered the other house elves to do the same. As a result, in less than an hour, Winky

She stopped drinking because of guilt. She didn't want to delay other people's meals. This was more uncomfortable than anything else.

"Of course, Ms. Granger." Twinkle bowed respectfully. She seemed to have completely changed: "Would you like a cup of black tea, ma'am?"

Hermione glared at Ron who was looking forward to it. She turned to Winky and smiled: "No need for today, I have something I need to talk to you about."

Ron stared at Hermione thoughtfully: "Does she want to put the reward mechanism behind and wait until we have a conversation before letting these elves serve her? Why do I always feel a little weird? What do you think?

, Harry?”

Harry also stared at Hermione's back with some fear. He thought about it carefully, then waved to Dobby and asked him to walk to the corner with him. Ron also followed curiously.

"How have you been lately?" Harry asked hesitantly, "Has Hermione asked anything else from you recently?"

"Excellent, sir." Dobby said happily: "Miss Granger often comes to see us. She tells us a lot of interesting stories, and occasionally gives us homework to let us carefully ponder the meaning in the story.

Meaning. At the beginning, she asked us to use only three sentences. Only those elves with outstanding performances will be valued more by her - now it's Dobby. I have to say at least ten sentences to express my feelings.

OK."

Harry and Ron looked at each other in horror.

"Did I hear correctly?"

"There are actually people who are grateful for the extra homework. Hermione seems to be more terrifying than the Dark Devil."…

Next, Harry asked Dobby what stories Hermione had told them.

"That's a lot."

Dobby excitedly talked about the stories that Hermione had made up. The protagonists in them were all house elves, but their experiences were a bit bizarre - there were house elves who were freed according to their master's last wish;

An elf who is experimenting with dangerous black magic and chooses to report it in order to prevent his master from getting hurt.

The most exaggerated of these is a story about a house elf who asked a house elf to be buried with him after his master died.

But after the master died, the house elf did not follow the master's request, but embarked on a journey to resurrect the master - because the master did not explain a detailed enough method of death - what is meant by cutting with an axe?

Neck? How big of an ax should I use? What if the owner's beloved treasure is soiled?

"What Dobby will hand in soon is this assignment. Dobby feels that he has already figured it out - for the master who is about to die, he must ask the master's orders clearly. But of course Dobby does not have to face this problem

Yes, because Dobby is free."

Ron's face wrinkled up when he heard this. He looked at Harry and asked doubtfully: "If Hermione's lesson is as successful as Dobby's, then all house elves in the future will be masters."

Can we be free?"

"It can't be considered complete freedom." Harry said with great confusion: "After all, the master's order still restrains the house elf, but there is something wrong with the way it is executed."

The two of them found Hermione with uneasy thoughts. They found that Hermione was constantly asking questions to Winky, showing great concern.

"Twinkle really didn't touch the wine!" Twinkle looked pitifully slandered, and shouted with her big eyes like light bulbs: "Even if I see those bottles now, Twinkle will think it's a sin!"

"I didn't mean to accuse you wrongly." Hermione said angrily: "I just hope that you can continue to do it before Mr. Crouch changes his mind, don't you think? It would be better if you could learn more skills.

Well, Mr. Crouch is currently working in Azkaban, and the prisoners there are very dangerous prisoners. Do you want to cause trouble to Mr. Crouch?"

Shining's eyes became even wider.

"I don't want to, not at all." She said excitedly: "Madam, you are right, Shining needs to learn more skills - but how to do it?"

In the eyes of Harry and Ron, Hermione seemed to have turned into a strange demon, even with vaguely horns growing out of her head.

She whispered seducingly: "It's better than this. You first think carefully about the magic that you will subconsciously think of, and it doesn't matter even if you know that it will become worse after failure. By the way, it must be something you like."

That’s all.”

Twinkle fell into deep thought.

"Hey, why are you pulling me?"

Harry and Ron hurriedly pulled Hermione to another corner of the kitchen and ordered not to let other house elves come over.

"What did you just say?" Harry looked at her with wide eyes: "When did Mr. Crouch say he was going to take Winky back?"...

"He never said that." Hermione patted her sleeves flat slowly, and then said with some dissatisfaction: "Why can't you even think about this kind of thing? You have to give Winky some hope. This is called kindness.

Lies, didn’t you see that she was already thinking hard? Do you know how much progress this is? Let the elf think independently, and it took me a lot of effort to come up with this plan.”

"What about homework?" Ron said from the side: "Have you even learned this skill from Professor Heimer?"

"I can only learn some superficial things." Hermione said regretfully: "Except for Dobby, and Winky, who was kicked out not long ago, the other elves have not been able to understand the profound meaning of those stories - but what do you think?

How about I also publish a book? It's called "The Tales of Granger," which was inspired by "The Tales of Beedle the Bard."

"Maybe one day I will have the opportunity to hold a book signing."

Seeing Hermione gradually falling into beautiful thoughts, the despair in Harry and Ron's hearts became even stronger.

"You're crazy." Ron said, "You're completely obsessed."

"No, I don't." Hermione replied angrily: "And I feel that after the lesson on instinct, I have gradually grasped the key - house elves must also have instinct. As long as we find out this, we can make them

They have taken a step closer to liberation - a step that will definitely be unprecedented."

"Then what?" Harry asked in panic: "Have you ever thought about what they will become after they are free? Will they start an elf war like goblins?"

"I will try to avoid this outcome." Hermione said calmly, obviously having already considered this.

"Besides, do you think Professor Heimer wouldn't think of this? I will ask him for help when the time comes, and I believe he will be able to understand me, instead of being as cold-blooded as you guys."

Ron had speechlessness written all over his face.

Harry whispered: "Don't say that. I'm a mixed race too."

Ron turned his head and stared at him: "What? Now I have become the most evil person? Okay, you two, I'll see how you end up then - Professor Heimer is never soft on students who make mistakes, you two

Just wait to be detained until graduation."

This didn't scare Hermione at all.

She then taught the elves a good lesson in front of Harry and Ron, and this time the content of the story was related to two evil wizards, making both Harry and Ron think that Hermione was doing it on purpose.

Scare them.

Finally, Hermione left with satisfaction after assigning them another homework. Dobby was still the elf who had to express the most thoughts, which earned him a lot of admiring looks.

The kitchen became quiet again.

Dobby looked around, and he disappeared from the kitchen with a bang, while the other elves continued busy with their work as if they hadn't seen this scene.

Office of Ancient Magic.

"Dear Professor Heimer."

Dobby bowed to Toby who was sitting behind the desk, and then said: "All the elves have been checked, and there are no traces of intruders in the castle."

Haierbo is really not that easy to find.

"I understand." Toby nodded calmly and said, "Go back and remember not to tell anyone about this."

"Yes, sir." Dobby left the office after bowing again, and then suddenly appeared in the kitchen.

This time, uu reading? All the elves were watching Dobby silently.

"The great Professor Heimer said he knew."

Dobby said loudly: "Then he didn't allow any of us to talk about it. Did everyone hear that clearly?"

"Only in this way can we [help] wizards better."

Much earlier than Hermione, Toby understood better what the instinct of a house elf is - it does not have to be the master, the real key point is to help wizards.

But how exactly we can help is something worth considering.

Under Dobby's gaze, all the elves turned around at the same time, and together they bowed deeply in the direction of the Ancient Magic Office.

They chanted in unison -

"For Professor Hemmer, for Hogwarts, and for the wizarding world."

"For the Wizards Liberation Front."