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pauraque_bkGoF 21: The House-Elf Liberation Front
-I thought we were the House-Elves' Front of Judea?
-No, no, we're the Judean House-Elves' Front!
We've already been through the lesson about appearances being deceiving three times, in the first three books, and it's frankly tiresome to go through it again with Moody in basically the same format, but with an even more outrageously convoluted scheme than Quirrell's, Lockhart's, or Peter's respective deceptions.
Dean draws Cedric with his head on fire because he got burnt by the dragon, presumably -- though it is interesting that Harry is tied for first place with Krum at this point, yet Cedric is the one singled out as the enemy.
So then we move on to more Skrewt-play (squick!).
Possibly evidence that Krum likes to sit in the library reading (which is what I thought), in addition to liking to watch Hermione.
And then they make their way down to the kitchens. Oh yes, it's time to catch up with everyone's favorite, the house-elf plotline. Probably the only points of interest here are the exposition about elves being unable to divulge their family's secrets (important for Kreacher), and the red herring (or is it?) about Bagman being a Dark wizard.
The elves react to Dobby as though he's proudly announced he's started whoring himself. They're also described as treating him like he might be "contagious" (and Hermione adds later that she hopes his attitude is). It's hard to accept Hermione's view as meritorious when we only have one elf -- one who's been terribly abused by his masters -- wanting to be free. He's crazy by elf standards; I wonder if the others actually pity him, concluding that the Malfoys' mistreatment cracked his mind.
As for Winky, she dodged a bullet. If she hadn't been dismissed that night, she'd have faced several months of living with zombie!Crouch, Voldemort, Peter, and Nagini. Fun fun fun. (Of course, this probably means Peter had to do all the cooking and cleaning, à la HBP 2.)
Although Winky is the one protesting that she's a proper elf -- refusing a salary -- she speaks less submissively than Dobby (whose every other word is 'sir' or 'miss').
It strikes me that we never meet any "normal" elves on an individual basis. Dobby's crazy (albeit apparently happy), Winky's a depressive drunk (though that's later), Kreacher's a crazy perv (humping Mr Black's trousers, was it?)... We see the "normal" Hogwarts elves as a group, bowing and scraping and looking away from Dobby and Winky with distaste. Is their situation acceptable because their master is Good? Have the three elves we know been corrupted by exposure to Dark wizards?
Oh, I don't know. I can't make heads or tails of this storyline, I swear.
Previous GoF posts are saved in memories here.
-I thought we were the House-Elves' Front of Judea?
-No, no, we're the Judean House-Elves' Front!
[Ron:] '...I'll tell you one thing, though, Harry, if it was Karkaroff who put your name in the goblet, he's going to be feeling really stupid now, isn't he? Didn't work, did it? You only got a scratch!' (317)The thing about this is that you can't really make anything out of the good guys not being able to figure out what the real plot against Harry is, because it's so utterly mad. They got as far as knowing that a DE is trying to kill Harry, but how could they ever know he was doing it by trying to help him win and then killing him?
We've already been through the lesson about appearances being deceiving three times, in the first three books, and it's frankly tiresome to go through it again with Moody in basically the same format, but with an even more outrageously convoluted scheme than Quirrell's, Lockhart's, or Peter's respective deceptions.
[...]Dean Thomas, who was very good at drawing, had put up some impressive new banners, most of which depicted Harry zooming around the Horntail's head on his Firebolt, though a couple showed Cedric with his head on fire. (318)In PS/SS Dean is also "good at drawing", and in PoA he's "good with a quill". I do love it when Dean is used as a window on wizarding art in fic, but it would be even nicer if JKR would think to do something with him.
Dean draws Cedric with his head on fire because he got burnt by the dragon, presumably -- though it is interesting that Harry is tied for first place with Krum at this point, yet Cedric is the one singled out as the enemy.
'He's supposed to work out the clue on his own,' Hermione said swiftly. 'It's in the Tournament rules...'Really? I must have missed that rule.
'I was supposed to work out how to get past the dragon on my own, too,' Harry muttered, so only Hermione could hear him, and she grinned rather guiltily. (319)
So then we move on to more Skrewt-play (squick!).
'Well, well, well ... this does look like fun.'She's not really in the school, though, she's outdoors -- obeying the letter of Dumbledore's law. I won't quote it because it's a long sequence, but she plies Hagrid with compliments and persuades him to grant her an interview. Clearly continuing to needle Dumbledore by singling out a staff member who's been in trouble before. She barely acknowledges Harry.
Rita Skeeter was leaning on Hagrid's garden fence, looking in at the mayhem. She was wearing a thick magenta cloak with a furry purple collar today, and her crocodile-skin handbag was over her arm.
[...]
'Thought Dumbledore said you weren' allowed inside the school any more?' said Hagrid, frowning slightly[...] (322)
But Hermione wasn't at dinner, and nor was she in the library when they went to look for her afterwards. The only person in there was Viktor Krum. Ron hovered behind the bookshelves for a while, watching Krum, debating in whispers with Harry whether he should ask for an autograph -- but then Ron realised that six or seven girls were lurking in the next row of books, debating exactly the same thing, and he lost his enthusiasm for the idea. (325)*dies* I don't make this shit up.
Possibly evidence that Krum likes to sit in the library reading (which is what I thought), in addition to liking to watch Hermione.
And then they make their way down to the kitchens. Oh yes, it's time to catch up with everyone's favorite, the house-elf plotline. Probably the only points of interest here are the exposition about elves being unable to divulge their family's secrets (important for Kreacher), and the red herring (or is it?) about Bagman being a Dark wizard.
'Dobby has travelled the country for two whole years, sir, trying to find work!' Dobby squeaked. 'But Dobby hasn't found work, sir, because Dobby wants paying now!'Gah. I'm not sorry this storyline's apparently been cut from the movie. I got a headache just typing it out.
The house-elves all around the kitchen, who had been listening and watching with interest, all looked away at these words, as though Dobby had said something rude and embarrassing.
[...]
'And then, Harry Potter, Dobby goes to visit Winky, and finds out Winky has been freed, too, sir!' said Dobby delightedly.
At this, Winky flung herself forwards off her stool, and lay, face down, on the flagged stone floor, beating her tiny fists upon it and positively screaming with misery. (329-330)
The elves react to Dobby as though he's proudly announced he's started whoring himself. They're also described as treating him like he might be "contagious" (and Hermione adds later that she hopes his attitude is). It's hard to accept Hermione's view as meritorious when we only have one elf -- one who's been terribly abused by his masters -- wanting to be free. He's crazy by elf standards; I wonder if the others actually pity him, concluding that the Malfoys' mistreatment cracked his mind.
As for Winky, she dodged a bullet. If she hadn't been dismissed that night, she'd have faced several months of living with zombie!Crouch, Voldemort, Peter, and Nagini. Fun fun fun. (Of course, this probably means Peter had to do all the cooking and cleaning, à la HBP 2.)
'And Professor Dumbledore says he will pay Dobby, sir, if Dobby wants paying! And so Dobby is a free elf, sir, and Dobby gets a Galleon a week and one day off a month!'As usual, Dumbledore takes in the outcasts and tolerates their eccentricities (perhaps tolerates them too much?). He didn't offer, though; Dobby came to him.
'That's not very much!' Hermione shouted indignantly from the floor, over Winky's continued screaming and fist-beating.
'Professor Dumbledore offered Dobby ten Galleons a week and weekends off,' said Dobby, suddenly giving a little shiver, as though the prospect of so much leisure and riches was frightening, 'but Dobby beat him down, miss ... Dobby likes freedom, miss, but he isn't wanting too much, miss, he likes work better.' (331)
'Mr Bagman comes too?' squeaked Winky, and to Harry's great surprise (and Ron and Hermione's too, by the looks on their faces), she looked angry again. 'Mr Bagman is a bad wizard! A very bad wizard! My master isn't liking him, oh no, not at all!'Just as we saw in the QWC chapters, Winky stammers when she withholds important information. In her opinion (or Crouch Sr's opinion -- same thing), Bagman is a DE.
'Bagman -- bad?' said Harry.
'Oh yes,' Winky said, nodding her head furiously. 'My master is telling Winky some things! But Winky is not saying ... Winky -- Winky keeps her master's secrets...' (333)
Although Winky is the one protesting that she's a proper elf -- refusing a salary -- she speaks less submissively than Dobby (whose every other word is 'sir' or 'miss').
It strikes me that we never meet any "normal" elves on an individual basis. Dobby's crazy (albeit apparently happy), Winky's a depressive drunk (though that's later), Kreacher's a crazy perv (humping Mr Black's trousers, was it?)... We see the "normal" Hogwarts elves as a group, bowing and scraping and looking away from Dobby and Winky with distaste. Is their situation acceptable because their master is Good? Have the three elves we know been corrupted by exposure to Dark wizards?
Oh, I don't know. I can't make heads or tails of this storyline, I swear.
Previous GoF posts are saved in memories here.
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Date: 2005-10-16 03:59 am (UTC)-No, no, we're the Judean House-Elves' Front!
You're leaving the door open for Dobby Mpreg now. *scared*
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Date: 2005-10-16 04:04 am (UTC)"I know that," Hermione replied in exasperation. "But he has the right to bear children if he wants to!"
Dobby nodded vigourously.
The other elves quietly moved further away.
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Date: 2005-10-16 04:10 am (UTC)(Foreshadowing, your guide to quality goofy comments)
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Date: 2005-10-16 06:47 am (UTC)"Francais va maison? What is zis?"
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Date: 2005-10-16 05:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-17 11:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-19 05:17 am (UTC)Oh God. You realise you've just put ...
Date: 2005-10-22 11:12 pm (UTC);D
- Clara
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Date: 2005-10-16 04:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-16 04:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-16 05:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-16 05:39 pm (UTC)'Your father...was a bully.'
'Mother! You were raped?'
'Well...at first.'
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Date: 2005-10-19 05:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-16 08:39 pm (UTC)*diez again at your icon*
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Date: 2005-10-16 04:38 am (UTC)It's not wrong that they want to clean house and take care of certain humans. They like doing it, they don't want to be paid, for whatever reason that's part of their nature. Good for them, I wish I had one.
It's not fair to tell them that they are wrong and should want something else because that's imposing ones own culture on something that HOLY COW is not even *human* so god alone knows how it thinks.
It's also consistant with the "muggle" tale of Brownies and such.
Now, where I think the problem comes in is in a two-fold manner.
The Wizards seem to take House Elves for granted and, playing off of that, they treat them in a manner that IMHO no sentient life form should be treated, and that's considered *acceptable* by other Wizards and House Elves.
IMHO, something went wrong here.
I mean if you treated a brownie the way the Malfoys treated Dobby at the *very* least you'd have knot in your hair every morning. Most likely people would end up dead.
Also yous ee the Hogwarts House elves doing what they want, but Kreacher *must* serve Harry.
He does not *want* to serve Harry, but is being magically forced to act agaisnt his own wishes and desires.
There is a problem there.
I mean I keep referencing Brownies because that seems to be the myth JKR is playing off of, and you can't *make* a brownies (or any other Fair Folk) do anything! They either want to help or they won't (and got forbid they be pissed at you).
Somewhere along the line, the House Elves ability to choose what they want has been subverted and I think that is a problem because Kreachers behavior and Dobby's behavior strikes me as artficial in someways. It goes beyond what you see the Hogwarts House elves doing, beyond the elv's own choice to a type of magical coarcion and I don't see that as beigna natural part of any creatures make up.
Now, I find it interesting that Hermione can not see this.
It makes me wonder if she is even aware of muggle takes on House Elves.
I kinda think she's not. She does not strike me as someone who would have had much interest in myths. She seems like a facts only type girl and so she may honestly have no knowledge of brownies or leprachans or any other fairy, goblin, or what not who occasioanlly serves humans because it feels like it. I wonder if perhaps these "muggle myths" reference an actual living species and how it interacted with humans in a more natural form that has since then, somehow, been subverted and enslaved by Wizards.
So umm yes, my thoughts on SPEW.
Or to put it more succinctly, Hermione nots to shut up and go read a Brain Froud book before she digs herself into an even deeper hole.
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Date: 2005-10-16 06:48 am (UTC)I wonder if it wasn't Dark wizardry that turned the elf population into slaves at some point in history. It seems unlikely that their behavior would be something that existed naturally, and wizards clearly have a long history of not getting along or not tolerating the other species that inhabit the magical world. Perhaps the goblin wars were related; Dark wizards attempted to enslave or put some kind of lasting control on goblins, and the goblins fought back.
The trouble with JKR (and therefore Harry) not really digging history has meant that we miss out on a lot of potentially important information (someone oughta point out, though, that Dumbledore's exposition on Voldemort's ancestry and early life is history, too, just told in a much more interesting fashion than Binns' class). This is where I almost wish we had some Tolkien-esque appendices and volumes. Well, this is one place where I wish that. The others are in reference to the Founders, the Grindelwald war, and the dealings with Muggle politicians.
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Date: 2005-10-16 04:41 am (UTC)Just for the record, "skrewt-play" sounds disturbingly close to "scat-play", which is not at all cool, particularly when bracketed with references to Hagrid and Rita Skeeter.
I love fanboy!Ron!
Much as I hate the house-elf subplot, I suppose it has indeed come time to talk about it. You're totally right about Winky having escaped - that hadn't occurred to me. I'm wondering about JKR's point, too - is she trying to make fun of activists in general? Poking fun at activists who don't check on what the victims of whatever atrocitry the guilty parties are perpetrating actually want? Just using the entire subplot to make Hermione appear less intelligent and/or more annoying? It is quite strange. Another good point about the way Winky speaks, though. Less respect - why? Because Crouch somehow doesn't approve of Harry for some reason? I don't know either.
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Date: 2005-10-16 04:49 am (UTC)I mean seriously I couldn't even treat my pet rats like that!
If I ahd a wall dedicated to pet rat heads, I'd be considered disturbed at the very least, you know.
Soit is a problem, but then Hermione is jsut loony tunes and not helping.
. . . I have this pegged as somethign that won't be resolved in the 7th book.
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Date: 2005-10-16 05:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-16 06:44 am (UTC)I was more optimistic about it pre-HBP, as with some other unresolved plot threads. Not because I didn't like HBP (though I didn't), but because it left JKR with only so much time to wrap up everything she plans to. I do think Kreacher will play a role in Book 7, but is there really going to be time for a satisfying resolution to the issue of house-elf enslavement (or "enslavement")? If not, why bring it up and spend so much time on it in previous books? And if so, why wasn't there more set-up for it in OotP and HBP?
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Date: 2005-10-16 07:36 am (UTC)Of course, this is also with a great deal of projection on my part - HBP looked similar to the way my writing looks when it's half-there and I don't care anymore. I know where I want it to go, but actually taking it there? Too much trouble. It's not happening. People have their own imaginations - I'll just give them the outline, and they can fill in the blanks.
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Date: 2005-10-16 03:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-16 06:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-16 06:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-16 07:04 am (UTC)Is that part of Dumbledore's hubris, maybe? That he's too preoccupied to get involved in such causes?
Granted, we are given Mr. Weasley as someone who backs Hermione's cause, and Percy as someone who opposes it, and we're supposed to take from that that one side is utterly right and the other utterly wrong.
It's certainly indicative of Hermione's self-righteousness, I think, to have created SPEW and to get so indignant about Winky's mistreatment. She always has a "holier-than-thou" attitude when she gets an idea in her head, and she operates as though she's the only person who could possibly be right. I also find it very hard to believe that she didn't know about house-elves prior to PoA. The only way JKR gets around that is by making it so that the *fact* of house-elves isn't in a book.
Anyway, like I said, I find the entire thing tiring. She doesn't need a societal ill worse than the hatred, torture, and killing of Muggles and Muggle-borns. The only reason I see for it is to further the idea that the problem goes much deeper, and since the only point of any of this is Harry killing Voldemort (and not on a crusade to change people's minds about a plethora of things, such as werewolves and house-elves), it's just filler.
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Date: 2005-10-16 03:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-16 04:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-16 05:30 pm (UTC)Not to mention that post-HBP, her hero owns his very own slave.
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Date: 2005-10-17 03:07 pm (UTC)I mean, you mentioned that JKR tries to convince us that the wrongdoing is in their enslavement in general, but I would argue that she places the emphasis on the relationship between master and servant; I mean, Hermione obviously is all about the enslavement, but we are told that her entire attitude is wrong, both by the text and by JKR herself. The most (possibly only) significant moments of her entire house-elf arc when she has been given authorial approval were her attempts to be kind to Kreacher and to warn Sirius to do the same.
Maybe the issue is supposed to be examined between master and servant on an individual level, rather than as a collective whole. I mean, as a plot aiming to fix this flaw of the entire wizarding culture, it has been pretty unproductive and continues to remain so; the wizards refuse to see anything wrong with the idea of slavery, and the elves refuse to see anything wrong with the idea of their being slaves. We're one book from the end of the series and nothing has changed. The Hogwarts house-elves still react to clothing as though it's the plague. There's not going to be any glorious ride to freedom, not one that the elves as a group would undertake willingly. I think the point being driven home here is that slavery is just a part of the wizarding culture.
But when we meet the starring elves in this plotline, I can't believe it's a coincidence that all three of them have been mistreated in some way by their owners, and that two of the three have (or would) gladly choose freedom...or at least, choose one owner over another. People claim that Dobby is the odd house-elf out, and in a way he is, in that he wants payment for his services and stuff. But you can't expect me to believe that if Harry handed Kreacher a sock or a hat, Kreacher wouldn't jump at the chance to take it; and in fact did jump at the chance to ditch Sirius in OotP. He's proud of and was loyal to the family he once served, but not proud of his most recent owners. He would rather serve the Blacks, or the current Malfoys, but to me this isn't any different than Dobby's choosing Dumbledore or Harry over the Malfoys.
Winky is possibly the one who would classify as the odd one out, as she was mortified at having been let go by her last official owner, whom (as opposed to Kreacher and Dobby) she was very fond of, and definitely wouldn't have chosen freedom had she been given that choice. But in a way, she too is seen as a disgrace by the other Hogwarts house-elves, not for having been given clothes, but for not being a proper slave to Hogwarts...for not being as loyal to the school/Dumbledore as they are.
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Date: 2005-10-16 08:01 am (UTC)Isn't Ludo Bagman big and blonde?
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Date: 2005-10-16 09:20 am (UTC)I don't know why anyone bothers writing smut!
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Date: 2005-10-16 03:10 pm (UTC)Yes, I was for some reason thinking about this in HBP when they're reasonably saying that Draco's two failed attempts to kill Dumbledore don't have much of a chance of working. Compared to Voldemort's own plans Draco's are quite straightforward. Sure he used an intermediary to get the necklace to Dumbledore, but at least it wasn't a fire-breathing dragon.
Dean draws Cedric with his head on fire because he got burnt by the dragon, presumably -- though it is interesting that Harry is tied for first place with Krum at this point, yet Cedric is the one singled out as the enemy.
I wonder if this is because of the larger theme, introduced in the next book, about the school sticking together.
The elves react to Dobby as though he's proudly announced he's started whoring himself. They're also described as treating him like he might be "contagious" (and Hermione adds later that she hopes his attitude is). It's hard to accept Hermione's view as meritorious when we only have one elf -- one who's been terribly abused by his masters -- wanting to be free. He's crazy by elf standards; I wonder if the others actually pity him, concluding that the Malfoys' mistreatment cracked his mind.
This may seem like a dumb question, but did the Malfoys mistreat him that badly? I can't remember if we know any details. Obviously it's the Malfoys so they can't be that respectful, but the Blacks behead their house elves and Kreacher thinks they're great. In HBP he wishes he was working for Draco instead of Harry. Granted Kreacher doesn't actually know Draco so maybe he'd change his mind if he was working for the Malfoys, but given what we see of the Blacks I don't know that that's true.
I also love the way Hermione isn't even satisfied with the freedom Dobby won for *himself*. When he proudly tells her he's getting paid she feels she still has to jump in and defend him because of course he's being ripped off.
Although Winky is the one protesting that she's a proper elf -- refusing a salary -- she speaks less submissively than Dobby (whose every other word is 'sir' or 'miss').
This is something I always find a little...uncomfortable about the house elf storyline. Kreacher and Winky seem like recognizeable types of servant characters. They are proud of their position, can even be conceited, considering their masters' positions a reflection of their own. They also find ways of acting on their own desires without apology (even if they have twisted their orders to get there) and speak to non-house elves as equals or lower than themselves. They seem more human.
It's Dobby who's more like the negative stereotype. Like, the others clearly revere their masters as masters because they buy into the class system or whatever, and like their own place in it. Dobby seems somehow more fawning and embarassing. He's like Hermione's dream house elf in the way he's forever grateful to Harry for getting him freedom and seems to see him as some kind of a saint. It's a sort of weird idea that suggests that if you free all the slaves they'll be even better slaves because they'll reveal themselves slaves of love or something.
And of course, this storyline takes on another interesting wrinkle when Harry actually winds up *owning* a house elf he not only doesn't free, but seeks out to help him instead of Dobby.
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Date: 2005-10-16 05:37 pm (UTC)I thought that it was standard. Or at least, in Voldie's time - because then the house elves were 'treated like vermin'? (I'm actually quoting the movie here, if I go back and check the books for Dobby passages; I may attempt suicide.) Presumably not just by the baddies.
But yes, Dobby seemed almost like the Good Elf, much like Krum is the Good Durmstrang student or whatever - there's really no reason why they don't share the mindset of those surrounding them, except to provide an example for the reader.
Iirc, JKR even mentioned in an interview about how Dobby's only knowledge of Harry was from the Malfoys (and that this is basically the story everyone knows - no inside scoop on prophecies or whatever) but then why does he immediately view Harry as a hero?
He could have interacted with other elves, I suppose - I think
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Date: 2005-10-16 05:47 pm (UTC)Which leaves us with the somewhat hilarious idea that Dobby listened to Daco complain about Perfect Potter and that's what convinced him Harry was great.
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Date: 2005-10-16 04:08 pm (UTC)In a way I feel sorrier for how JKR treated Dean in HBP than I do for Lavender. Dean was always pretty cool, an artist and taller than Ron (not that that makes him wonderful, but it does make him unusual), and he liked Lupin and believed in Harry even when his (Dean's) best friend didn't. Then in HBP he's just the inspiration for Harry's jealousy.
Of course, in the movies Dean just stands around smiling and saying his one line per film.
Ron hovered behind the bookshelves for a while, watching Krum, debating in whispers with Harry whether he should ask for an autograph -- but then Ron realised that six or seven girls were lurking in the next row of books, debating exactly the same thing, and he lost his enthusiasm for the idea. (325)
*dies* I don't make this shit up.
Nope, it's all canon. The "debating" makes me wonder what side is Harry on. "No, Ron, boys don't like it when you chase after them. The boy should make the first move. Um."
Possibly evidence that Krum likes to sit in the library reading (which is what I thought), in addition to liking to watch Hermione.
Maybe that's why he likes her, because they both like the library.
Oh yes, it's time to catch up with everyone's favorite, the house-elf plotline.
I honestly can't care. Let's move on to the next two chapters and tons o' shipping!!! (Sorry.)
(Of course, this probably means Peter had to do all the cooking and cleaning, à la HBP 2.)
But like a house-elf he enjoys serving others. OK, maybe not.
Kreacher's a crazy perv (humping Mr Black's trousers, was it?)...
Snogging, but bad enough.
Oh, I don't know. I can't make heads or tails of this storyline, I swear.
No pun intended?
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Date: 2005-10-16 05:56 pm (UTC)The head on fire thing cracks me up in light of OotP and all the earnest shock that rivals at a sporting match could sink as low as to *gasp* sing a song (has JKR ever been to a football match?!) - it's so unsporting! - but banners depicting the death of your opponent are fine and dandy.
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Date: 2005-10-17 06:36 am (UTC)But the Slytherins did the bad evil song, while the Gryffindors did the death-depicting banner.
So it's okay.
Duh.
I'm always so glad that when JK spouts, via the Sorting Hat, advice of House unity, she supports it by making the other Houses have stereotypical characteristics and, in the case of Slytherins, lack of motivation for their evil deeds.
... bitter? Me?
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Date: 2005-10-17 11:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-19 01:12 pm (UTC)Hermione's attempts with the house elves do remind me of a fairly recent incident, I think in Iowa. One group (ALF, PETA, or something between the two) "rescued" a bunch of mice or rats and was caught on video (either their own or security cameras) -- you can see them handly them badly and pouring the animals into long skinny boxes, putting lots of them in the same boxes, never mind that they were actually *smaller* than what the university standards require rats be kept in. Since you pointed out the similarity, it sounds a lot like Hermione's OotP attempts to randomly free house elves deliberately against their will.
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Date: 2005-10-18 02:21 pm (UTC)