Just Ellie ⌁ Draco Malfoy (ON HOLD)

9

Knitting was a lot harder than she had expected and now that Hermione, who had once done a rather terrible job at it, was much more advanced, Ellie couldn't help but shout in frustration and throw her knitted hat down by the fire. She had never been a fan of Hermione and seeing her do better than her was incredibly irritating and embarrassing.

"Ellie!" said Hermione, leaping off her armchair to pick up Ellie's horribly knitted hat from the ground. The Muggle-born threw it into her lap before taking a seat. "You need to be patient. Honestly, it's not that hard. All you need is patience and practice. Oh - are you knitting a stocking?"

"No - it - it's a hat. It's meant to be a hat," Ellie grumbled, flicking her knitted hat away, disinterested. "Couldn't we use magic to knit these?"

Hermione turned away, her eyebrows raised as her eyes stared hard at her knitted work. "No. No I don't think so. It's better this way, trust me."

Ellie smirked. "You don't know how."

"I didn't say that. It's just better this way. House-elves are already surrounded by enough magic as it is, the least you and I can do is knit without any. Don't you agree? It's honestly heart-breaking."

"If you say so," Ellie sighed carelessly, picking up what she could now see as a stocking. She frowned and prodded it with her wand. When her mind was not focused on the knitting, her hand couldn't keep itself from reaching up to the necklace from Nikolai.

Hermione saw this and said, "that looks nice."

"It does, doesn't it?"

"Although I don't think I need to ask who it's from. All the girls are talking about it. You and that Slytherin Nikolai apparently dating. Is it true? Please tell me that's just a promise ring. No - no - not like that, I don't like him like that, I don't like anybody like that actually . . . just you're quite young."

"It's just a gift," Ellie replied, and tucked the necklace under shirt. "Silas said something to me today. When we free all these House-elves, who will do all the cleaning and cooking? Filch can't clean everything on his own and if he was given the chance to cook for all the students he'd poison us all."

Hermione kept her chin high as she said, "I'm sure Dumbledore will have something figured out when all the House-elves are gone. It's unacceptable behavior to treat these creatures like slaves."

"Have you ever thought that maybe the House-elves don't want to be freed? You should really go and talk to them before freeing them; they might not be too happy about being freed. At my home I have servants that are Squibs and they certainly wouldn't like to be fired. They need their job and my home is their home. Freeing is firing."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Hermione exclaimed. "Of course they want to be freed! This is slave labour!"

Ellie looked hopelessly down at her failed knitted hat. She threw it on the arm of the chair beside Hermione. "I would've liked to learn knitting for the elves but I don't know anymore. I can't knit and freeing is firing. Sorry. I'm out."

Hermione said nothing as Ellie passed her and, when the redhead turned to look over her shoulder, she saw the back of the Muggle-borns slumped shoulders and bushy head staring down at her lap. Before she could allow the guilt to press into her, she spun around and dashed up to her dormitory.

Her bed was more than a welcoming sight and she automatically threw herself face down, burying it deep against her plump pillow. She thought about Nikolai and pictured the wedding in her mind, the way she wanted it to be and the way she knew it would actually turn out to be. His views about anyone other than himself were slightly expected, but Silas had helped her, so maybe she could help Nikolai.