Catching Her Heart Pt. 1

Chapter 25

3 September 1992
Hermione,
That is really odd behaviour from a house-elf. From what I understand, they are bound to serve one family forever, and aren't supposed to work against them, or they have to be punished. It's not great, I know, but it is the way it is. I am glad that Harry and Ron are safe though, regardless.
As for your question about how much money the twins made, I think they did pretty well. They capped the bets per day to 107 people, so that regardless of the day the Howler came, only 107 students would get paid. They turned down Lee's 10 Galleon bet as well as my 5 Galleon one, returning it to us at the feast, putting the cap at 1 Galleon 19 Knuts, and ended up taking in 779 Galleons, 11 Sickles, and 9 Knuts, paying out 127 Galleons and 13 Knuts. I'm not sure, but I think they are setting aside their profits for more products for that store they want to open one day.

Oliver

Hermione sighed and shook her head. She couldn't fault them for wanting to make money and open their joke shop, but she didn't necessarily agree with the way they went about it. It wasn't like she could really do anything about it though... it had happened before school officially started, even if the payouts were after. News of the way the house elves were treated really riled her though.

She'd already been riled up, too. She'd just come back to the dorm before dinner and found Oliver's message waiting for her after their first Defence Against the Dark Arts class with Professor Lockhart. Sure, he was good-looking, she couldn't doubt that, and he was most likely skilled from all that she'd read in his books that she'd gotten in Diagon Alley, but teaching apparently wasn't one of his strong suits. She couldn't believe that he'd fled the room after releasing the Cornish pixies, 'leaving it to them to nip them back into their cages', he said.

When no one did anything, she'd immobilised them and then used Wingardium Leviosa to move them back into their cages, before letting poor Neville down from where they'd hoisted him up on the chandelier and destroyed the skeleton of the dragon. Of course, the professor never reappeared, so they left the classroom.

Sitting down on her bed, she pulled out a quill and parchment, and began to reply to Oliver's letter.

3 September 1992
Oliver,
That is horrible! Someone should do something about how they are treated.
On a different note though, have you ever heard of the spell, Peskipiksi Pesternomi? That was the spell Professor Lockhart used in class to round up the pixies he released, but it didn't seem to affect them. I've not heard of it myself, but I thought maybe he did it wrong on purpose to give us a chance to see if we could deal with them.
When I did, using Immobulus and Wingardium Leviosa, I thought he would be there to congratulate me for succeeding in getting them back in their cage, but he was gone, and didn't come back out of his office.
I also had to get Neville down from the chandelier because the pixies had hung him from it and then destroyed the dragon skeleton in the room. I'm not sure how they did it, but I retrieved a wand from one of them. I'm going to give it to Professor McGonagall because I'm not sure whose it is. I hope lessons go better. Professor Lockhart has done so much, from what I've read, it would be really nice to learn from him.
Hermione

She sent off the letter and went to dinner, dropping by Professor McGonagall's office to find that she'd already gone to the Great Hall and the door was locked. Not wanting to embarrass anyone for the loss of their wand, she tucked the unknown wand back into her bag and headed to the Great Hall.

She joined Harry and Ron for dinner, and tried to ignore them as they ranted about how awful they thought the DADA class had been. Pulling out a piece of parchment, ink and quill before she fixed her plate, she scribbled a note.

Professor McGonagall,

After our first DADA class with Professor Lockhart today, someone lost their wand. I found one of the escaped pixies with it — that was our lesson, we had to get the pixies back in their cage.

Anyway, I'm not sure whose it is, and thought maybe you could help. I can drop it by your office after dinner if that would be alright.
Hermione

She drew her wand and tapped the parchment after blowing on the ink to dry it, and it folded itself into a bird, flying off.

"Hey," Ron said in awe, the parchment drawing his attention. "Where'd you learn that?"

Hermione just made a face and shook her head, looking at Professor McGonagall at the High Table as the bird landed in front of her. She watched as the Professor blinked in surprise, but unfolded and read the note, before looking at her and giving a slight nod. Hermione smiled and turned to filling her plate. "If you must know," she said, finally addressing Ron's question. "Oliver helped me. We've been writing since the first year and he was using the spell."

"Oh," Ron said, and returned to his conversation with Harry. Hermione sighed and tried to tune them out as they continued to complain about Professor Lockhart.

After dinner, Hermione met with Professor McGonagall and turned over the lost wand. The Gryffindor head of house promised to get it back to whom it belonged and Hermione headed off to the dorm to work on her homework. There, she found a note from Oliver that was waiting for her.

3 September 1992
Hermione,
You would have to go up against over a thousand years of wizarding culture and history to help the house elves. I wish you luck if it's something you choose to do. My family only has three, and they are well treated. I have often tried to get them to call me by name, but they refuse.

Also, I have tried countless times to tell them that certain things aren't necessary for them to do, but again, I am met with their refusal. Ours are named for trees, with us being the Wood family. They are a male and two females so they are named Ash, Willow and Cherry.
As for Professor Lockhart, no, I've not heard of that spell; perhaps you are right, maybe he was testing you, but that doesn't explain why he left the classroom and didn't come back. I am sure that Professor McGonagall will find the owner of the wand and return it to them. I'm glad that you were able to handle the pixies and help Longbottom down even if you didn't get acknowledgement for it by the Professor, I'm sure that he appreciated being able to get down again.
It was also quick thinking to immobilise them and then move them into the cage like that. I don't know many who could think like you do under pressure. It's getting late, I'd better go and get my homework done, I'm sure you've got some too.

Goodnight.
Oliver