At Hogwarts, the castle's keeper, Mr. Pringer, has always been unlikable.

Even in the castle, there are many terrible rumors about him.

But I have to say for him that Mr. Pringer never really physically punished a student, especially in such a cruel way.

Even a student like Neville, who had been sentenced to confinement for serious violations of school rules, was just doing odd jobs with chains.

And now, Mr. Pringer's hideous tactics almost startled Neville and Hermione.

"Smack!" another hard whip.

The house-elf who had been drawn let out a wail.

House-elves are strange creatures that look skinny, small, with bat-sized ears, bulging eyes the size of tennis balls, and a long, flat nose...... At the same time, they can speak and look a lot like short humans......

"Ah...... Yes...... Ah......" With whip after whip, the house-elf let out one scream after another.

"Tell me...... Who ordered you to strike!" Mr. Pringer roared.

There was no reply, and all the house-elves looked sympathetically at their beaten companions, but no one spoke.

"Damn!" said Mr. Pringle, as if he had become a little angry, and drew the whip in his hand with all his might.

......

"No ......," Hermione's eyes filled with tears.

Luckily, Matthew grabbed her in time, otherwise she might have gotten emotional and rushed in to try to stop Mr. Pringer.

Even Neville Longbottom, who came from a pure-blood family, was very surprised by the scene in front of him.

Mr. Pringer gasped for breath, and after a short rest, he continued his interrogation, still with the same brutal methods.

Neville and Hermione couldn't bear to look at each other anymore.

Matthew pulled them and motioned for them to look no further.

"Matthew, this is cruel...... Hermione whispered, holding back tears, "they're slaves...... Those house-elves ......"

Matthew didn't speak, but gestured to a small iron door on the other side.

Then he took his two friends and quietly left the door of the room where Mr. Pringer was, for Matthew feared that it would be too bad if they were to lose control of their emotions and be discovered by Mr. Pringer!

Then he walked to the other small iron door. The small iron gate was low enough to fit almost a full-grown house-elf through, and for a twelve- or thirteen-year-old wizard like Matthew, it was necessary to bend down to get through.

As soon as I broke into the room, a pungent stench suddenly came.

All three of them hurriedly covered their noses.

Then, the scene in front of them shocked them incomparably.

If you guess correctly, this small room should be the "lounge" of more than 100 house-elves.

Dense small beds appeared in front of them...... A room about the size of their common room had nearly a hundred beds, and the range of activities of each house-elf was probably only the size of a "slap......

Not only that, but the sheets and bedding were so tattered that they looked like they had been used for decades. A lot of the cotton in the bedding has all been gone...... It's hard to imagine that these thin things have to accompany those little ones through the winter.

It was very cold in the room, there was no fireplace and nothing else to keep warm...... It's only November. It's hard to imagine what they would do if it was a really cold winter.

At one of the beds, they found a small iron basin.

The iron basin contained something similar to swill...... In a sense, it can be called "food......

Hermione bent down and approached the pot...... Then, as if she was about to throw up......

For any wizard, these things are impossible to swallow.

"Slave labor......" Hermione's breathing became very heavy, and she had a hard time saying it.

"House-elves are cooking for Hogwarts after all, so they can at least steal something to eat while they're cooking......" Neville said with some self-deception.

But he must have known that it was impossible, and that stealing was completely impossible for house-elves.

Matthew patted Hermione lightly on the shoulder, "Let's go!"

They've been in this kitchen for too long......

It was obviously not safe, especially since Mr. Pringer was right next door to them, whipping the poor house-elves hard.

......

The three of them crept out of the kitchen again.

Luckily, they weren't discovered by Mr. Pringer...... Although they don't know it, entering the kitchen is not a violation of school rules!

However, compared to the excited expressions on their faces when they first entered the kitchen, the three of them now all looked extremely heavy.

Including Matthew Wakefield...... Although he had long expected that the house-elves in this world were living an inhuman life...... But when he saw their living environment and living conditions, he couldn't help but be shocked.

The three of them walked silently through the bright and wide stone corridor.

When they appeared by the auditorium again—

"I can't believe it......," Hermione finally stopped her silence and said with a little crying, "they do that to those poor little ones...... They cooked for us, carried our luggage, cleaned the house...... But I still have to live that hellish life......"

"Wake up, Hermione......" Neville said with some "rationality," "they're just house-elves...... They're not wizards......"

"If you're not a wizard, can you do whatever you want?" Hermione suddenly became angry, "Treat them like this...... Even if it's for pets, shouldn't it...... What's more, house-elves help us much more than pets......"

"They don't necessarily like a comfortable life...... "You don't know about house-elves, they actually like hard work and hard work...... If you give them a comfortable environment, they will actually be very uneasy......"

"Are you an idiot, Neville?" Hermione said in a sudden exasperation, "and it's just a gesture...... For wizards...... Improve the working environment of the house-elves...... Improve their lives......"

"Hermione......" Neville shrugged his shoulders and looked at Matthew pleadingly, "Matthew, you can persuade her too......"

Hermione wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and suddenly said, "So...... They will do the same to Muggles in the future...... Really?"