Hermione Granger and the Magic Blue Box

2 - The Goblin Rebellion

AN: I wrote this chapter a while ago now, and I must admit that I'm not really convinced by it, but the next three chapters all relate to it, so I hope it's OK. Also, so far I've written up to Chapter 9, so I'll probably be putting chapters up every few days (a week at the most) until I've caught up, and then it'll slow down. Quite possible a lot.

'Why do you want to come here?' asked the Doctor as the TARDIS stopped making a strange vrwoorrp, vrwoorrp, vrwoorrp noise. Hermione assumed that meant they'd landed. 'Nothing happened in 1612.'

'Nothing happened in the muggle world,' said Hermione.

'Muggle?'

'Non-wizard.'

'Oh.'

'For wizards, there was a goblin rebellion in 1612. The goblin population revolted against the way wizards and witches discriminated against their kind.'

'Goblin?'

'Humanoid creatures with long fingers and feet that stand at about four foot.'

'Right.'

'Anyway, we have to study the goblin rebellions at school, and I thought seeing them first hand would give me an edge. Also, the goblins were rebelling due to underrepresentation in the Wizengamot and because they were banned from having wands, and I thought maybe the house elves could learn something from their rebellion.'

The Doctor looked more than slightly puzzled at this stream of information. 'So...is that all fixed now?'

'No,' said Hermione. 'They're still underrepresented and they still don't have wands. In fact, there were more goblin rebellions in the 1800s, which also didn't fix anything. But the house elves could still learn a bit about standing up for themselves.'

Colin saw the look on the Doctor's face and jumped in. 'House elves are magical creatures wizards use as servants. Hermione wants to set them all free, but the thing is they like being servants. They don't want to be free.'

'That's because they don't know any better,' said Hermione crossly. She turned to the Doctor. 'House elves are pretty much slaves. They're not paid and they don't get holidays, and they beat themselves up when they do something wrong. It's awful, so I started an organisation called the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare which aims—'

'Spew,' said Colin, cutting in with a grin on his face. 'It's called Spew.'

'It's S-P-E-W,' said Hermione. 'Not Spew. Did you hear that from Ron? He's a member, he shouldn't be mocking it. He's always—'

'Look,' said the Doctor, opening the TARDIS doors. 'Goblin rebellion.'

'Oh, good,' said Hermione, walking over and looking out. The Doctor sidled over to Colin.

'Is she always like that?' he asked quietly.

'I'm not in her year,' said Colin, 'so I don't see her much, but yes. Yes she is.'

'Brilliant,' said the Doctor. 'Just brilliant.'

'Come on,' called Hermione. 'Let's go have a look around. Colin, you need to take lots of photos so that I can show the house elves.'

'You want to show the house elves pictures of goblins and wizards dying violent deaths?'

Hermione glared at him.

'Fine, fine,' said Colin. 'Don't worry. I'll take the pictures.'

Hermione nodded and looked back out the door. Colin and the Doctor joined her.

'Is that Hogwarts?' asked Colin, pointing.

The TARDIS was parked in a field near Hogsmeade. There were several columns of smoke rising from the little village, and every now and then there was the flash of a spell. Past Hogsmeade, there were a couple of towers that looked very familiar to the witch and wizard.