80 Conversation in the office

Read up to 15 chapters ahead on Patreon - patreon.com/Dark_sym

Bonus at 400 stones.

Bonus Tomorrow

-----

Hermione blushed, and Ron was still a little dizzy because of the influence of the Axii sign and was helped by Harry.

"Good job, Hermione; I always believed in you."

Hermione's ears were a bit red. Harry knew that Hermione would only do this when she was pleased.

On the other hand, Ron was still staring blankly at the front, and it seemed he had not been freed from the influence of the Axii sign.

Ethan beckoned Pippi to get a big cup of hot chocolate for Ron, who was still in a daze.

Hermione looked curiously at this grotesque house-elf, a creature she had never seen before.

Pippi walked towards Ron with a big cup of hot chocolate milk, but Ron was still sitting on the sofa without any indication to pick it up. Seeing this, Hermione hurried over, took the cup from Pippi, and handed it to Ron.

Perhaps it was the sweet smell of chocolate milk that stimulated Ron. Ron finally reacted while holding the hot chocolate milk. He picked up the cup and drank the whole cup of chocolate milk.

The chocolate milk finally brought Ron back to his senses. He looked around blankly, "What happened just now? Did I take a nap?" Ron licked the milk foam at the corner of his mouth and said suspiciously.

"It's nothing; it's just that my sign was successfully cast." Hermione's face was a little red.

"That's great, congratulations." Ron showed a silly smile.

This made Hermione even more embarrassed. To change the subject, she had to ask Ethan about Pippi.

"Professor Ethan, who is that... Mr. just now?"

"That's Pippi, the house elf. He often comes to take care of my diet." Ethan explained to Hermione with a smile.

Now Hermione was even more puzzled. "You mean he lives at Hogwarts? I've never seen him before."

"Good elves will try their best to downplay their existence and not appear in front of their masters, so it's normal for you not to see them," Ron interjected. He finally felt he had some knowledge that surpassed Hermione's, so he hurriedly took it. Come out and start showing off.

"Master?" Hermione's eyes widened when she heard the word. "What a Master! Are they enslaved?" Hermione opened her mouth in surprise and asked in confusion.

"Of course, it's always been like this. The house elves serve wizards. As far as I know, there are many in our school kitchen. They make the meals we eat every day." Ron sat down. On the sofa, he scratched his stomach nonchalantly.

"So the food we eat has always been the product of slave labor?" Hermione screamed; she couldn't imagine that there would still be enslaved people in this era, which completely subverted her worldview.

"Do they have wages? Do they have vacations?" Hermione asked eagerly.

"Of course not; I'm pretty sure they don't need these things," Ron said casually, which inadvertently touched Hermione's inverse scales.

"How can you be sure! You're not a house-elf!" Hermione yelled in a sharp voice.

Ron was taken aback by Hermione raising his hand quickly, "Okay, I was wrong, I was wrong."

Hermione completely ignored that it was in Ethan's office, biting her fingers and walking around the anxious office.

"This is very unreasonable! House elves are mistreated! They are all enslaved!" Hermione said to the three people in the office.

"Does Professor Dumbledore know about this?" Hermione asked with her last hope.

"I think he knows." Ethan's words shattered Hermione's final fantasy. "The relationship between house elves and wizards was like this long ago, and I don't think even Dumbledore could change it."

Hermione sat down on the chair in frustration; her eyes were a bit red, the house-elf incident had shocked her greatly, and the joy of complimenting from Ethan had long since disappeared.

This made Ron need clarification. Having lived in the wizarding world since childhood, he couldn't understand Hermione's emotions.

Silly Potter also needs to learn what it means. He doesn't understand why the three of them are here to inquire about Professor Ethan's publication in the newspaper, why they are now inexplicably turned to discussing the freedom of house elves.

"Don't be sad, Hermione. If you find something wrong, you can still correct it by your efforts. With your efforts, more and more people will agree with this point of view." Ethan comforted Hermione.

Hearing that, Hermione's eyes quickly lit up; in the final analysis, Hermione's low mood just now was the feeling of powerlessness caused by the sudden blow.

Now that Ethan had pointed out her struggle's goal, Hermione was excited.

He immediately began to conceive of specific ways to "rescue" house-elves.

Hermione, who was thinking about the future, suddenly felt someone poking her in the back, and when she turned around, she found that Harry was giving her a constant wink.

At first, Hermione was slightly puzzled, but she quickly realized she came here with "business."

Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "Professor Ethan, we read today's Daily Prophet, and it wrote a lot of... negative news about you."

"The reporter from the Daily Prophet is a very with words." Ethan frowned slightly; although she didn't say anything, Rita Skeeter still used the words skillfully and wholly misunderstood—the nature of things.

"Then what happened last night, Professor Ethan." Harry was so curious that he couldn't help asking.

"No big problem." Ethan curled his lips, "The dark wizard in Knockturn Alley tried to kidnap an Auror, and I had a little friction with them after I rescued that Auror. That's how it is."

Hermione shrank her head; from that photo, it didn't look like a slight friction.

Ron and Harry kept nodding when they heard it. Ron had already become a big fan of Professor Ethan. No matter how Ethan explained the matter, Ron would believe it.

Seeing that Ethan didn't intend to tell the truth, Hermione couldn't continue to ask, "Then, Professor Ethan, we will leave you alone now."

Hermione stood up and said goodbye politely to Ethan and brought Harry and Ron out of Ethan's office.

"Have you seen the pile of gold coins on Professor Ethan's desk? It's cool." Ron couldn't wait to sigh as soon as he left Ethan's office.

"Could it be that Professor Ethan and Snape went to rob Knockturn Alley yesterday?" Harry speculated with wide-open brains.

Hermione and Ron rolled their eyes almost simultaneously when they heard this: "God Harry, Professor Ethan is a professor at Hogwarts, there is no way he could do this!"

After they talked, Harry felt his guess was absurd and hurriedly stuck out his tongue.

"I probably already know where that money came from." Hermione put on a confident look.

"How come?" Harry and Ron looked at Hermione curiously.

"I've read in books that the venom of an Acromantula is precious. Professor Ethan killed a lot of Acromantulas in the forest. He must have sold the venom." Hermione analyzed plausibly.

There was an incomparable desire in Ron's eyes. There were many children in the Weasley family. As a child in the middle, his pocket money was never enough.

Now that he knew being a witcher was lucrative, Ron suddenly wanted to be one.