The house-elves in the world of Harry Potter are a race conquered by wizards in ancient wars, and they are divided into the category of magical creatures, born to be trained in servility, and must serve their masters for generations.

They are responsible for all the household chores and are bound by their masters, and they cannot disobey their master's orders at will, and if they disobey, they must punish themselves.

For house-elves, their highest right is to obey their master's orders, and they must work hard all their lives, without pay, without holidays, proud of their labor, and ashamed of being free to wander around.

Under such training, house-elves regard lifelong service to their masters as the greatest honor, just like Kreacher in the plot.

His dream was to have his master's head cut off and hang it side by side with his ancestor's head on the wall as a decoration, just like his ancestors, when he was too old to do anything.

House-elves are managed in the United Kingdom by the Department of Magical Beasts Control and Control of the Ministry of Magic.

The Ministry of Magic does not allow house-elves to be idle, believing that house-elves can cause more harm than many other magical beasts.

Although house-elves have been arranged this way for centuries, wizards have not let their guard down.

After all, house-elves have complete intelligence and can also learn magic, and many house-elves are even more talented than wizards.

This treatment of house-elves would seem inhumane to some people, but Locke could understand it, because house-elves really have the potential to upset the entire wizarding world.

However, in Locke's opinion, the wizards of this world are too rigid in their treatment of house-elves, and they waste a lot of resources.

is obviously a magical social animal with great potential, but in the end, he can only do the work of an ordinary servant for the rest of his life.

According to the current model, even if the house-elves are not paid, the corresponding cost of domesticating and managing them has skyrocketed, and the benefits of the work they do are limited.

Of course, these are still the thoughts in Locke's mind, and at this moment he must adopt a house-elf according to the rules and pay an expensive deposit.

A house-elf is a security deposit of five thousand Galleons, no wonder many wizards find it expensive.

For the vast majority of wizards, adopting a house-elf is not cost-effective, it is more to highlight the identity, and only a few wizards can afford to use the dogs, which is more like some kind of luxury.

Locke is actually a big dog, and when he came to the Ministry of Magic, he was led by the staff to the magical beast management control room on the fourth basement floor.

This is the second largest department of the Ministry of Magic, and the largest department is the Law Enforcement Division, and the so-called Aurors belong to this department.

The wizards established the Ministry of Magic to maintain the stability of the wizarding world, and the main work at present is to suppress the dark wizards and prevent the unrest of magical creatures.

A few days ago, Locke had already filled out the form for adopting house-elves, saying that he would adopt two house-elves and also paid a deposit of 10,000 Galleons.

The employees of the Ministry of Magic were very polite to Locke, after all, in the wizarding world, most wizards who can adopt house-elves are either rich or expensive.

This time, he signed a contract to bring back the two house-elves, which is considered to have the ownership of the two house-elves, Vir and Isaac.

After signing the contract, the staff also gave Locke a book full of prohibitions, the first of which was that house-elves were forbidden to touch wands, and there were a bunch of various taboos underneath.

Locke knew that this was to prevent house-elves from revolting, which led Locke to discover that the world's contract magic against house-elves lacked coercive effect.

Otherwise, where do you need so many precautions, a direct soul contract, the effect is much more practical than writing down a bunch of forbidden matters.

So after going back, Locke directly drew up an extremely strict soul contract, and after letting Will and Isaac sign it, he was ready to arrange for them to learn attack magic.

Hearing Locke ask if they would attack magic, the two house-elves' bulging green eyes suddenly flashed with panic, and their voices trembled and said, "Master, elves will never make a move on their master." ”

"I know, and once you break the soul contract just now, or even just have this thought, then you will be punished by the contract."

Locke waved his hand: "I asked you to learn attack magic so that you can do things for me, and you can only use it with my permission, do you understand?" ”

Anyway, Locke used some roundabout means to get the two house-elves to start learning attack magic.

Next, through observation, Locke found that the house-elves were indeed magical creatures, and their talent in magic was better than that of many so-called pure-blood wizards.

Even without contact with wands, house-elves can quickly master various types of magic, so it's no wonder that the Ministry of Magic is strict against house-elves.

Locke didn't start with wands for the house-elves, or nice clothes for them to improve their treatment, but tried to make a 'merit point' for them.

To put it simply, it is 'work points', working for Locke, the master, you can get the corresponding merit, and the merit brought by the general daily work will be issued on a weekly basis, and if you complete any special tasks, there will also be additional merit points.

These merit points can be exchanged for rewards from their masters, such as food that is more delicious than the usual meal, fancy clothes, or magic rings.

Different rewards require different merit points.

Of course, if things are done wrong, the corresponding merit points will also be deducted, or the punishment will be arranged by Locke, the master, and self-harm or something is resolutely prohibited.

Because the house-elf is the property of the owner, and after self-harm, he has to be treated by Locke Galleon, which is to bring losses to the owner privately, so it must be eliminated.

Accustomed to being a capitalist in the American drama world, Locke still prefers this way of driving labor rather than being like a slave owner.

In Locke's opinion, the slave owner's system is too inhuman, and intelligent creatures like house-elves, even if they have been enslaved for hundreds of years, once something goes wrong with their minds, it can bring extremely serious consequences.

In fact, in the past few hundred years, there has never been a shortage of examples of house-elves having problems, and there is no relevant description in the plot, but Locke has seen many cases in the taboo manual issued to him by the Ministry of Magic.

The capital can replace the slave owners, to put it bluntly, it is not cheaper, more efficient, and more practical.

What's more, there is also a soul contract that has been signed as a guarantee, so Locke can rest assured that the house-elves can learn the magic with attack methods.

However, as far as these house-elves that Locke has come into contact with now, they are too servile, as long as you behave a little gentlely, then they will treat you with their hearts.

After hearing that merit points could be exchanged for rewards, Vir and Isaac burst into several times more enthusiasm when they completed the work arranged by Locke.

(End of chapter)