Harry Potter The Kiss

Harry and Hermione eventually joined the queue for food, she wanted to drag him upstairs but Harry reminded his wife she was eating for four and couldn't skip meals.

Hermione retorted that he just wanted to sing in front of all their guests, this caused some nervous laughter from her husband.

Sirius approached and asked the question that everyone wanted the answer to. "How are you managing to free the elves?"

Harry gestured for everyone to sit; while they ate he explained what had been done.

"Tonight at midnight, a new law comes into force. Wizards who wish to employ elves must sign a contract with each individual elf they wish to retain. Should they not wish to sign, the elf goes free and the wizard is compensated with ten thousand galleons per elf."

The entire company was shocked at the sums of gold involved as Harry continued, "If an elf under contract is mistreated they can legally leave with no compensation paid as the wizard is deemed to have broken the contract."

"How the hell did you ever get this past the Wizengamot?" blurted Remus

Hermione gave a smile that looked more wolfish than Remus, "pure greed! Quite a few families have more than one elf. They could let the oldest go, collect the compensation, leaving the remaining elf to complete all the work. Just a pity everyone stopped reading the second gold was mentioned. They should really have read all of the proposal." Her smile was now positively terrifying.

Sirius now looked proud of his young marauders, "Ok pup, spill it!"

"You know we believe in choice so each elf has the choice to stay or go. If they decide to leave, the wizard has no veto but gets paid the compensation. Winky reckons between twenty and thirty want to stay where they are, the rest will become Potter elves." Said Harry

"How is that any different?" asked a bemused Neville

It was Winky who answered, "Neville, I have met both elves staying at your house and they are very happy but that is the minority. In some houses they are used for target practice. Potter elves are free! The spell that held us captive has been broken. It may take a generation or two before elves revert to their natural form but it has begun."

Dobby reiterated, "Elves don't need possessions but love to work. Stag Industries have set us free, supplied everything we could ever need and allowed us to choose the kind of work we like. This is the greatest day in our history."

Hermione explained, "These two are in charge of liaison with the elf community. Elves have the option of working at Hogwarts, the ministry, St Mungo's or any of the other projects we have running. Anyone abusing a Potter elf answers to us."

Winky looked at the young witch with adoration in her tear filled eyes before speaking, "the elves know they are free but want to be associated with house Potter as a mark of respect to the wonderful couple who made this possible. We wear our tunics with pride, not because someone forces us to."

Dobby was nodding in agreement with his intended, "we elves get to live our dream while Stag Industries receives the most dedicated group of workers in the world."

Harry placed an arm around each elf, "the minute building work is complete at Hogwarts, construction of the elvin village will begin. It will be built to their own design and even contain shops selling elvin goods. That potion they brewed for me was the best thing I've ever taken. Who knows what we could learn from our elvin and goblin friends."

The guests had started arriving and Ginny thought she was hallucinating. "What's Charlie doing here?" she asked.

"That's professor Weasley to you. He's the new care of magical creatures teacher at Hogwarts." Smirked Harry.

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