The Cupboard Series 2: Hermione's Book Nook

Chapter 21

As Harry, Hermione and Neville rounded a corridor on the fourth floor later that day, they came upon a sight that froze two of them in their tracks.

This particular corridor that lead to the Transfiguration classroom was lined with nearly a dozen suits of armour. Normally, they, along with the hundreds of others dotted throughout the castle, were a dull silver, their armour long since past its prime.

Filch, whose job it was to keep the castle clean, was forever disparaging the effects of having hundreds of children constantly befouling his castle. One of Filch's favourite tasks when students were assigned to him for detention was to have them cleaning the castle by hand. Indeed, more than once since they'd been at Hogwarts, the three Gryffindors had heard their fellow students bemoaning having had to polish the suits of armour.

But never had they looked like this. Harry doubted that the armour had ever looked this good even when it had been brand new. Now, almost every suit along this particular corridor shone with a brilliance that was almost blinding. Shields and weapons gleamed, sparkles of light shone off of helmets and breastplates. And it wasn't just the armour that was looking cleaner either. Cobwebs and the dust of decades had been scoured away leaving the corridor looking like something that actually invited people to walk down it.

As amazing as that scene was though, it wasn't what brought Harry and Hermione up short. No, that honour was held by the three small creatures that stood at the far end of the hall. All had large, bat-like ears, huge protruding eyes and were identically dressed in a white toga the size of a bath towel.

As they watched, one of the three snapped her fingers causing years' worth of grime to instantly disappear from the last of the suits of armour. A soft gasp escaped Hermione and the three small creatures turned, their eyes widening before, with a soft pop, they disappeared.

"What ...what were they?" Hermione asked quietly, as though the creatures could hear her.

"House elves," Neville replied.

Harry nodded in agreement. "They looked just like Dobby, that weird house elf who started all of my troubles over the summer, except cleaner. And free of injuries."

"Where'd they come from?" Hermione asked.

Neville shrugged. "They're always around the castle. It's just that we don't see them. That's part of being a good elf."

"Are there many here?" Hermione asked, still staring at the spot where she'd last seen the elves.

"Hundreds, I reckon," Neville replied. "Hogwarts is supposed to have the largest number of house elves in Britain."

"Please tell me that they get paid for the work that they do?" Hermione pleaded.

Neville looked at her as though she'd just grown a second head.

"Of course they don't! You don't pay house elves and I'd say that they'd be insulted if you tried to pay them," Neville replied.

Seeing Hermione spluttering, Harry made a snap decision. "Straight after class, I'm sending a message to Mick. I think we should learn about House Elves this Sunday."

-oOoOo-

As Hermione put down the book that she'd been reading, Founding Fathers: The Life and Times of the Hogwarts Four, she looked around the table at her study group. The expressions around the table were almost as varied as the number of people who were there.

Some appeared shocked, others overwhelmed by the amount of information that she'd just read out. The Ravenclaws among the group primarily appeared contemplative, although one or two had their heads lowered over the notes that they'd been taking. And then there was Zacharias Smith who appeared to have fallen asleep.