Legal texts

Copyright disclaimers are legally ineffective. J K Rowling created some wonderful characters, and I am simply borrowing them for my own amusement.

Thanks to red_day_dawning, il_grifone and teamfireyleader for being lovely betas.

Hermione’s heart raced at reading Professor Snape’s name unexpectedly. She found her eyes filling and chided herself, not for the first time: ‘You can’t tear up every time you come across his name. It’s been five years. And some day someone will notice.’ She swallowed hard and turned to the Headmistress.

Professor McGonagall was gathering up an armful of scrolls: probably marked essays that she was about to return to her NEWT-level Transfiguration class. Nowadays, she only took the advanced students, leaving the younger groups to her assistant. ‘Would you like to stay here for a while longer, Miss Granger?’

Hermione hastily pushed together her notes and rose from her seat. ‘No, thank you. I think I’ll go and consult the law section in the library. But I’ve discovered something rather unexpected that I’d like to discuss with you later, if I may?’

‘Of course, dear. I have classes until lunch, and immediately after lunch I plan to speak to Dilly about your research. Perhaps you could come back here at one-thirty?’

‘Thank you. I will.’ She stuffed her belongings into her bag and preceded the Headmistress down the spiral staircase before parting from her and heading in the direction of the library.

She immediately regretted trying to traverse the corridors at class changeover time: she was no longer used to the hubbub or the need to anticipate the movements of an opposing stream of bodies who were looking at each other, or in their bags, or at the floor, but never where they were going.

She reached the relative tranquillity of the library with a sigh of relief. Madam Pince was nowhere to be seen, but Hermione was familiar of old with the library’s limited stock of books on house-elf matters and made her way to the correct shelf. She dumped her bag on the nearest table and pulled out two legal texts. During her SPEW days, Hermione had been more concerned with the elves’ nearly nonexistent employment rights; now, she scanned the chapter headings for the legal process of transferring ownership.

Both books, as it turned out, had nearly identical coverage of the process, which was simple. The head of a family (or someone holding his power of attorney) or the head of an establishment such as Hogwarts (or his legally appointed deputy) could sign an elf over to another person or institution without notice and without the elf’s prior consent. The necessary form of words was given.

The following few paragraphs considered various circumstances that might arise to complicate the matter, such as what might happen if the signed-over elf was pregnant (the elfling reverted to the previous owner, once born) or if the new owner did not wish to keep the elf (tough). There were footnotes listing legal cases over a remarkable number of centuries.

So, for the transfer to have been legal, it must have been performed by Professor Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall. Presumably Winky would have been transferred into new ownership once Professor Snape had died, but would this have been recorded in the Hogwarts Elf Register? She had belonged to the Headmaster, not the school. Hermione decided to discuss this with Professor McGonagall after lunch and settled to making detailed notes.

At lunch, Hermione sat next to Hagrid, who informed her that the snow was now nearly a metre thick, and he didn’t think that she should try to visit the house-elf cemetery until he had dug out the paths and cleared the tombstones.

‘That’ll not be until tomorrow at least, after I’ve cleared the courtyards and the path to the greenhouses. Care of Magical Creatures practicals are off for the time being, along with first-year flying lessons. It may be soft to fall into, but Madam Pomfrey doesn’t want them standing in the snow while they listen to Madam Hooch.’

Hermione laughed. ‘I saw a few brave souls flying low over the snow in the front courtyard on my way past: they seemed to be trying to lean over and write in it.’

‘Sounds as if I’d better get to work clearing up before the Headmistress reads what they wrote then. It can only’ve been sixth and seventh years: they’re the only ones have free periods in the mornings.’

Hermione determined to glance out of one of the windows that overlooked the front court on her way up to the Headmistress’s office before Hagrid could remove the evidence.

When Hermione arrived in Professor McGonagall’s office, she was still chuckling slightly. The snow had read ‘GRYFF 300 SLYTH 0’ in honour of a recent and memorable match.

‘I have good news, dear. Once I explained what you were doing, Dilly appeared to be quite interested in talking to you. In fact she seems to be planning a dissertation on the exploits of the Hogwarts house-elves down the ages – you might want to use a dictation charm. I suggested you meet after dinner tonight: will that be convenient?’

‘Yes, that would be brilliant. Thank you for arranging it, Professor.’

‘Oh, do call me Minerva, dear. I expect we’ll be seeing you quite often from now on.’

‘I’d be honoured,’ Hermione replied. ‘Did you have to make excuses for my youth and foolishness?’

Professor McGonagall smiled. ‘I simply reminded her that you were an English Muggle-born who had not encountered a house-elf until she was twelve years old. I think that Dilly still regards herself as a Frenchwoman and holds the English to be rather eccentric, especially English Muggles.’

‘Perhaps I could speak to her in French, then. I’m fairly fluent because my parents have a holiday home near Gers.’

‘Why not? Now, I believe you had found something of interest in the Register?’

Hermione showed her the entry. ‘Were you aware that Winky had been transferred to Professor Snape?’

‘Good heavens. No, I was not. That is Albus’s handwriting.’

‘I wonder why he did it?’ mused Hermione.

‘Oh, I can understand why he might have wanted to transfer an elf to Severus’s sole service, though I would not, myself, have selected Winky. Severus needed someone who could help him when he came back injured or distressed without sharing his secrets with the whole body of Hogwarts elves. Especially as Hogwarts has acquired a number of elves from Death-Eater households over the years.’

‘I understand that,’ Hermione said. ‘Harry was far from sure of Kreacher, for instance. But Winky had belonged to the Crouches: why would Professor Dumbledore trust her?’

‘It was probably easier to trust her if she was bound to an individual family, rather than to Hogwarts as a whole, actually. And Severus had no relatives to whom she would also have owed allegiance.’

‘I wonder who inherited her, if Professor Snape had no relatives? The Register would show if she’d come back to Hogwarts.’

‘In fact, the Register should show her current ownership regardless. The personal elves of staff members are included if they live in the castle: Tabby, for instance, is a McGonagall elf who came to Hogwarts when I became a professor. I myself recorded her marriage in the Register. And Severus was still Headmaster when he died.’

Hermione and Professor McGonagall both stared in puzzlement into the crackling fire.