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"It's like this..." Qiu walked over and explained the situation to Hagrid.
On the other side, Kyle looked at Hermione, who looked confused, and continued:
"There's something else I must tell you, Hermione.
"You may not realise it, but your rush into the kitchen to ask the house-elf for his wages is in some ways the equivalent of a centaur rushing into a castle and demanding everyone take off their clothes.
"Such a request would be the greatest insult to them, bar none. Honestly, I'm surprised the house-elves didn't beat you out."
"Almost..." Hermione was silent for a moment, then murmured in an almost imperceptible voice: "When I was leaving, I saw a house-elf getting a spatula and firewood..."
"They are quite restrained. They waited until you were about to leave before they thought of taking action." Kyle shrugged and said, "Anyway, if a centaur came to persuade me not to wear clothes, he would definitely have to stay in the school hospital for a while."
"puff."
Cedric couldn't help laughing out loud... The centaurs advised everyone not to wear clothes. This scene was so interesting, it was funny just to think about it.
As a result, the next second, he was kicked hard by Qiu who came back.
"By the way, what about Dobby?"
At this moment, Hermione seemed to suddenly think of something and regained some confidence.
"Dobby, the house-elf who blocked the platform entrance in second year, causing Harry and Ron to miss the train, demanded that the wizard pay him for his work.
"This shows that the house-elves don't exactly like slave labor, they just haven't realized it yet."
"I don't deny it... but this is just an exception." Kyle said, "This situation also exists among wizards. Remember, during the Quidditch World Cup, there was a wizard who liked to let the healthy breeze blow on his butt."
Cedric laughed again.
He also remembered that the wizard was only wearing a not-so-long printed nightgown and was absolutely unwilling to change into pants.
"And speaking of Dobby..."
Kyle thought for a moment, "He was living very happily with Newt Scamander. He spent half of his 10 Galleons per week on various snacks for magical animals, and gave the other half to the Nifflers... and he did it all voluntarily. Sometimes when Newt stopped him, he would buy them secretly.
There was also one day off per week. Dobby also took galleons to go shopping, then changed into his own clothes and continued working. "
"For Dobby, what he needed was never those Galleons, but to be able to work more freely...to be rewarded for his hard work and to be able to say no to things he didn't like, that's all.
And except for the rewards, the rest of Hogwarts has already done that."
"Yeah," Cedric said, "If you go into the kitchen often, you'll see they're always happy. Sometimes I just go to get some cookies, and when I come out I find myself with enough snacks to last a week.
I have to say, they are sometimes too enthusiastic.”
Hermione was silent. Her face became paler and she bit her lips. She looked extremely depressed.
The centaur's idea had such a huge impact on her that she once doubted whether what she did was really wrong, but the obsession in her heart kept denying this idea.
Hermione felt confused and bewildered.
"Again, you're going in the wrong direction."
As if he had seen through her thoughts, Kyle looked in the direction where Firenze left and said, "What you should do most is to find a way to change the attitude of most people towards house-elves, rather than forcing them to pay wages.
I know a very old house-elf who always remembers and is grateful to his original owner for being so kind to him."
"You mean to say that I did nothing wrong?" Hermione looked up and said excitedly.
“If you don’t rush into the kitchen again and let them ask for their wages,” Kyle said with a smile, “if there is a next time, you will probably be the first one to be kicked out of the kitchen.”
"Then what should I do?" Hermione asked quickly, "How about handing out flyers, or writing a letter to the Daily Prophet."
"That's not my business." Kyle spread his hands. "After all, it's your decision, so you have to implement it. I have to hurry up and prepare for the second event of the competition. I'm very busy."
"If I no longer require payment for the house-elves, will you buy the badge?" Hermione seemed not to have given up.
"This..."
Kyle thought back to the badge that said "vomit" and reached out to touch his pocket, "What a coincidence, I was in a hurry when I came out today and didn't bring any money.
Let’s put it this way, next time, I will definitely buy it next time.”
Kanna next to him glanced at him.
She knew that Kyle's belongings were mostly kept in a suitcase, so how could he not have any money?
Of course, she wouldn't say these.
After a while, Hermione was ready to go back, but she no longer had the confidence she had when she came. She just lowered her head and walked forward silently, not knowing what she was thinking.
"Oh, right."
At this moment, Kyle suddenly stopped her and said, "Although I can't help you, I can give you a suggestion.
If you have time, you can go to the school library and read more books about house-elves to get a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of them.
"At least you should be familiar with their history and know their character, only then you can better persuade others.
"Instead of being like before, where all decisions were made based on... I think... I feel... This won't work."
……
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 535 Herbal Medicine Class, Returning the Object to Its Original Owner
Kyle didn't know whether his words were of any use to Hermione, but at least it seemed that she had listened to him.
"You did a good thing," said Hagrid. "Hermione wanted me to join before, but I refused.
"I didn't think she could have asked all the house-elves to ask for their wages, but she obviously didn't listen."
"Oh, Hagrid, I didn't notice that..." Kyle looked at his haggard face and the strong smell of alcohol on his body, and couldn't help but say, "How much did you drink?"
"Oh, no." Hagrid explained, "I didn't drink. I just accidentally knocked over the whiskey prepared for the Rune Horse."
"I hope so," Kyle said. "School is about to start. Don't forget that you are still a professor. You have to cheer up."
Who knew that after hearing Kyle say this, Hagrid became even more disappointed.
"I may not be able to become a professor... My parents won't agree, just like Lupin did. I just hope Dumbledore can keep my position as gamekeeper and not kick me out of Hogwarts."
"It seems like you didn't listen to what we said either." Kyle shook his head. "Wait one more day. After the Christmas holiday, there should be a new edition of the Daily Prophet. You can take a look then. There should be a surprise."
"I don't want to read it." Hagrid seemed a little agitated. "I'm sure the newspaper must still contain that woman's article accusing me. I really don't want to read those harsh words."
"Trust me, Hagrid, this time is different. There will be a surprise." Kyle patted Hagrid's arm, and then returned to the castle with Kanna and the others.
School starts tomorrow, and they need to return the books they borrowed for homework.
While in the library, Kyle also saw Hermione. She was sitting there with a pile of thick books on the table next to her.
On top were two thick tomes… A History of Goblins in the Middle Ages and House-Elves, Helpers or Foes?
This was a good thing, proving that Hermione had really listened.
Kyle didn't disturb her and left after returning the book.
the next day.
Perhaps it was because too many people stayed in school for Christmas. Although school had started, no one felt any difference and the auditorium was still as lively as usual.
The field was still covered with thick snow, but the greenhouse was as hot as in June. A dense layer of water droplets formed on the windows, which condensed into icicles when they fell.
"Everyone, put on your dragon leather gloves and concentrate. You must not relax in this class."
Professor Sprout said, pointing to a long flower pot on the middle table: "I believe you have seen the biting kale in your first year, but you didn't learn it at that time.
"I must remind you again that biting kale is a very dangerous plant. Quite dangerous."
As she spoke, she took out a thick wooden stick and gently tapped the flowerpot of the biting cabbage.
Under the gaze of everyone, the cabbage that had been biting quietly suddenly opened its big mouth full of sharp teeth and bit the stick into pieces like a biscuit.
Everyone subconsciously took a step back and pressed against the greenhouse wall.
For most people, this was the first time they intuitively felt the danger of Herbal Medicine.
Although I have learned about many poisonous plants before, such as nightshade and poisonous geranium, in terms of visual impact, none of them combined can compare to the biting cabbage in front of me.
Whenever they thought of the scene of the wooden stick being bitten to pieces, some of the timid people could not help but tremble in their hands and legs and were unwilling to get close.
"Don't worry, be bold." Professor Sprout said, "I specially picked the biting cabbage that is not fully mature. As long as you wear dragon leather gloves, you will be fine... and even if there is a special situation, Madam Pomfrey can solve the problem.
"Hurry up, everyone, get to the front. We need to change the soil for the biting kale today, and we can't stay that far away."
At Professor Sprout's urging, everyone moved forward cautiously.
"Look at Kyle, he's not afraid at all." At this time, Professor Sprout suddenly said, "Oh, that's it, one foot, this distance is just right, it can ensure safety and complete the soil replacement work. Very good, five points for Hufflepuff."
Everyone looked over immediately, but quickly looked away... As a warrior, this was nothing strange.
When everyone came to the table, Professor Sprout clapped his hands and began to demonstrate how to change the soil in the flowerpot without disturbing the biting kale.
The students read very carefully, afraid of missing any details.
Next came the actual operation, and it was the same as always, with four people in a group. Because this task was quite difficult, Professor Sprout also said that only four people were needed to complete the soil replacement work together.
Without a doubt, the group of Kyle, Connor, Mikel and Ryan was the first to finish, and it took them less than ten minutes.
"This is incredible." Professor Sprout walked over and looked at the smooth new soil in the flowerpot and the biting cabbage that was so quiet that it looked like it was asleep. He exclaimed in amazement: "You can do it perfectly the first time, and so quickly... Kyle, you really have the potential to become a magical botanist."
"Nothing, practice makes perfect..." Kyle said, but quickly changed his words, "Well, I mean, I just wrote down all the steps and followed them exactly."
"Of course, that's what I meant."
Professor Sprout smiled and said, "But this job requires more than just remembering the steps. You also need to be calm and steady, and you need to make sure the biting cabbage doesn't notice anything unusual during the whole process. This is very difficult."
"Maybe I'm lucky." Kyle said with a smile, "I just happened to meet a biting kale that reacts slowly."
Kanna turned her head to the side and covered her mouth with her hands to stop herself from laughing.
Kyle was not lucky at all. He had a large patch of kale in his box, almost several hundred of them. Wouldn't it be easy to just change the soil in them?
But Professor Sprout didn't know this, and as a reward, she gave Hufflepuff another ten points.
It seemed like a whole day had passed, and the bell for the end of get out of class finally rang. Everyone took off their scratched dragon leather gloves and rushed out of the greenhouse impatiently.
Kyle walked at the back, and while Professor Sprout was maintaining order, he secretly took out two seeds from his pocket and threw them into the flowerpot next to him.
Well...the seeds I took away in the first grade, although it has been a while, they have finally been returned to their original owner.
"I really hope we won't learn something so dangerous next time."