Hermione looked at the newborn house-elf at her feet, then at Professor Blaine, unable to say a word in astonishment. In the quiet and dark classroom, only the faint pleading of elves and the howling of the night breeze outside the window.

"But, what should I do with it, Professor Blaine?"

Hermione twitched her foot, but the elf, for fear of being abandoned by her, hugged her feet tightly,

"I can't take care of it, Professor, I have to go to class."

Hermione said without tears.

"Oh, you don't have to take care of it, Hermione-"

Looking at Hermione, who didn't know what to do at all, the corner of Professor Bryan's mouth twitched,

"The vitality of the house-elf is very tenacious, don't look at this little guy just born, it has a way to take care of itself, and besides, it has the complete bloodline magic of the elf, so--"

Professor Bryan thought for a moment before saying,

"You just have to give it orders-"

"Give the order"

Hermione repeated dumbfoundedly, and the elf at her feet glowed with joy when they heard the word 'command', and it finally let go of Hermione's shoelaces, and stood up straight, its little head raised, and its clear eyes, which took up almost a third of its face, were wide.

"Master Granger, command. Serve! ”

"It knows my name!" Hermione said in surprise.

"Of course it knows your name, and when you give the clothes to this little one, a mysterious pact was concluded between you, and it is your duty to give this little one a name."

Professor Bryan took a few steps back, leaving Hermione alone to face the newborn elf.

Hermione instinctively refused, it wasn't her obligation to name the little one, it was her mother's, but Hermione's lips tightened at the thought of leaving Dirigar without a second tear. The way the house-elves were passed down to her imagination, and these little creatures were even more pitiful than she had imagined, and they were even more severely enslaved by the earth.

"Well, name, let me think—"

Hermione gasped as she stared at the elves who seemed to have been born to express humility like wizards, orange pupils glittering with anger,

"Donmu--"

After pondering for a few seconds, Hermione suddenly said,

"If you don't mind, you're going to call this--"

Amosta raised an eyebrow.

Dongmu – The pronunciation of 'freedom' in the ancient runi language.

"Winter--——"

The elf imitated the word incoherently, and its waist bent deeper, but the excitement of the little creature could still be felt from the two big ears that were propped up.

"The great, kind Master Granger has given the name, Winter---, Master!"

Tum tilted his little head, daring to stare only at Hermione's knees,

"What can Tonmu serve the great Granger Mistress, Dom will always belong to the great Granger master!"

"Don't say that!"

Hermione exclaimed angrily and fiercely,

"I'm not your master, Tom, I. I'm just giving you a piece of clothing, helping you come up with a name, that's all you don't belong to anyone, get it, you're free, you can do whatever you want, of course, if you want to go to your mom, no problem, I'll help you find it! ”

However, Hermione's fierce reaction was indeed met with even more fierce feedback from Winter, and the little creature who couldn't even pronounce words clearly suddenly threw himself at Hermione's feet, and the tears that flowed from his big clear eyes wet Hermione's trouser legs.

"Oh, don't cry, Winter, I-"

"Master Granger gave the order!"

Winter, who was still crying a lot, immediately jumped up and stared at Hermione excitedly.

Hermione opened her mouth and looked blankly at Professor Blaine.

"It's the destiny of house-elves to serve wizards, and that's ingrained-" Amosta's face was calm, and he saw that Hermione wanted to retort, so he continued, "It's not as simple as you seem, this slavery is hidden deep in the soul of the house-elves, passed down through the bloodline to the next generation."

"But that's no reason for us to ignore the injustices they have suffered!"

Hermione said stubbornly with a stalk,

"I can't believe that wizards treat them like this, they are independent beings, they should work for themselves, they should be on vacation, they should be paid. They, oh, Hogwarts actually put a house-elf who was about to give birth to a baby to do the heavy chores! ”

Hermione glared angrily at Professor Blaine,

"The school should pay them, Professor Brian, and they should also enjoy all kinds of holidays, which is their right!"

Looking at the fried-haired little witch, Professor Bryan looked a little helpless,

"From the bottom of my heart, I think what you say makes sense, Miss Granger, but for practical reasons, it's not as simple as you think, first of all. Well, if you want to fight for the house-elves, first of all, you have to convince them to accept it, right? ”

Hermione's brow furrowed, and she thought about it seriously.

"I have to go back, Miss Granger—"

Amosta was relieved to let Hermione shut down, rubbing his stomach and muttering,

"I missed two meals today, I have to find myself something to eat--"

"Wait, Professor Blaine--"

Hermione looked up, her tone flustered again,

"But Donm, the elf, what is it going to do, I. I can't find a place I mean, I have to go to school professors-"

"Ahh

Amosta stopped, a student followed a house-elf behind his ass all day long, and shouted 'master, service' all day long, this is indeed a bit unseemly, after thinking about it, Amosta groaned and said,

"If you don't want it to follow you, I suggest you let him go to the kitchen and work with the other house-elves, where he has a lot of companions, and I'm sure he'll have a good time there."

"Work? Tim was born less than half an hour ago, Professor Brian! ”

Looking at the little witch who had made up her mind to think of herself as a cruel exploiter, Amosta shrugged,

"That's the case. You can just put it in the dormitory, and the school rules don't say that students are not allowed to adopt house-elves, do they? ”

With that, Amosta left the classroom, leaving behind a frenzied little witch and a house-elf who 'had her eyes all over her'.

"Where's Hermione?"

As the night wore on, Harry and Ron were lying on a table in the common room near the fireplace doing their homework, and it took them two hours to finish the astrological chart that Professor Trelawney had laid out for the next month, and then Ron had nothing to do, but Harry pulled out another piece of fresh parchment, sucking on a quill and thinking about his gym papers.

The dueling paper was unprecedented at Hogwarts, there was no precedent to draw on, and Harry had to do it himself, but Harry felt that he still had some talent in dueling and didn't need the help of others, and after listening to Professor Bryan's theory, he did have a little feeling.

After pondering for a moment, Harry began to write, and Ron's eyes wandered around, he scanned the large common room, and suddenly asked,

"I haven't seen her all night, even in the library, Mrs. Pince should be a man--"

Harry was surprised that Ron remembered the librarian's name, as it took him a few seconds to remember who Mrs. Pince was, even though they met every day at dinner.

"I don't know—"

Harry said casually, he thought Hermione was just reading a book and forgetting the time, nothing to worry about, and this was not the first time.

Ron glanced at Harry a few times, he knew that Harry was writing his gym papers, and that Neville was doing it at the end of the common room, and that one night, Neville had bitten the hair of his quill bald and hadn't finished it.

At this moment, the portrait of the fat lady suddenly opened, and Ron immediately looked over there, and sure enough, it was Hermione who had returned from the library, Ron raised his eyebrows, ready to say hello to Hermione, but his hand was just halfway up, and it froze in the air, and the center of his eyebrows were also closed.

"Oh, what's wrong with her?"

Hermione looked unusual, the hem of her robe was rotten and a large piece was rotten, and the schoolbag she usually carried behind her was now in her arms, Hermione looked like she had just stolen something, and her eyebrows looked very panicked.

Harry glanced at him casually, and then, his eyes froze, clearly realizing that something was wrong with Hermione.

Walking into the common room, Hermione spotted Harry and Ron in front of the fireplace, and she walked towards the two boys, pretending that nothing had happened, but in a daze, Neville also noticed that Hermione was hiding something.

"What's going on?"

Sweating profusely, Hermione had just sat down when Ron asked impatiently, staring at the bag that Hermione was holding in his arms with a look of suspicion

"Don't you tell us you're stealing?"

Hermione glared at Ron fiercely, this guy didn't know that she went to Professor Bryan for him tonight, and then, he came back in big trouble for himself.

"I need help!"

Hermione looked around as a thief, then took a deep breath and said.

(End of chapter)