House-elf

A house-elf is a magical creature which is devoted and loyal to the one designated as their master. They serve wizards, and must do everything that they command.

Magic
"Fight, fight for my master, the defender of the house-elves! Fight for brave Regulus! Fight!"

- Kreacher leading the house-elves during the Battle of Hogwarts

House-elves have powerful magic, which allows them to perform tasks, such as Apparating, that wizards cannot. More than just a mere housekeeper, a house-elf is a ruthless protector of the master, and will attack threats with great fury and strength. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film), he protected Harry Potter by using his magic to throw Lucius Malfoy across the floor.

Loyalty
The house-elf is so intensely loyal to their master that they will not allow themselves to be set free unless the master presents them with clothes. To symbolize this, they usually wear makeshift clothes made with found objects such as pillowcases and rags. These clothes can become quite filthy, and yet the house-elf will not clean their clothes to further express they have no needs which are not specifically commanded to them by the master. House-elves will torture and maim themselves if they think it will please the master.

House-elves not only serve one specific master, but the whole family of the master and whoever the house-elf is ordered by the master to serve. When Sirius Black was killed in 1995, Harry Potter inherited the House of Black's servant Kreacher. At first they didn't even get along, because Kreacher considered his masters to be the House of Black. However, in due time Kreacher formed a fierce loyalty to Harry.

It should be noted, however, that there are elements of coercion in some house-elves' loyalty. Kreacher disliked Sirius Black even when he was his master, and helped to sabotage Sirius by assisting Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy, though this may have been easier for him since both witches had been born Blacks. Albus Dumbledore described Kreacher as "forced to do Sirius's bidding, because Sirius was the last of the family to which he was enslaved, but he felt no true loyalty to him". Kreacher also initially despised serving Harry, only coming to be willingly loyal to him after Harry showed him kindness and respect and pointed out that by cooperating with him and his friends, Kreacher would be honouring the dying actions of Regulus Black, the late master he was very fond of. Hermione Granger pointed out that Kreacher was accustomed to "bad, even brutal treatment" and that he was "loyal to people who are kind to him". The house-elves of the House of Black were, in old age, beheaded and their heads were sickeningly stuffed and mounted on the house walls. This was, no doubt, considered by the house-elves as the very highest honour.

While some house-elves are treated abysmally by their masters, some are genuinely loved and cared for. Some wizards treat their house-elves like adored pets or dolls, lavishing praise on them for doing their duties.

Mistreatment
"Kreacher is what he has been made by wizards, Harry. Yes, he is to be pitied. His existence has been as miserable as your friend Dobby's. He was forced to do Sirius's bidding, because Sirius was the last of the family to which he was enslaved, but he felt no true loyalty to him. And whatever Kreacher's faults, it must be admitted that Sirius did nothing to make Kreacher's lot easier."

- Albus Dumbledore on Kreacher

Kreacher had to sleep in a cupboard near a kettle, where he made himself a den and was giving no attention while Sirius Black was his master.

Because house-elves have no rights of their own and are looked on by society as mere servants, they are often made patsies for the crimes of wizards. For instance, the house-elf Hokey was framed for the murder of Hepzibah Smith. She had not the self-worth or pride to defend herself from the charge and simply acknowledged the possibility of mistakenly giving her master poison.

The house-elf Dobby was so mistreated and under appreciated by the Malfoy family that he independently sought out the aid and protection of Harry Potter in 1992. Dobby insisted his higher duty was to protect Harry Potter, even though Lucius Malfoy was the individual who perpetuated the danger at that time. When Dobby was freed, he ever after considered the service of Harry as his mission in life. In 1998, Dobby was slain by Bellatrix Lestrange in the act of protecting Harry's life.

Hogwarts Elves
A veritable legion of house-elves are enlisted by Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They work the kitchens, preparing feasts for the entire school. They also move trunks and baggage to and from rooms, clean dormitories, and presumably other areas of the castle as well. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,they became angry with Hermione Granger as she made attempts to free them. During the Battle of Hogwarts, the house-elves fought against the Death Eaters with Kreacher leading them. They defended their masters by using kitchen knives to stab at the attackers' ankles. .

S.P.E.W.
"You know, house-elves get a very raw deal! It’s slavery, that’s what it is! That Mr. Crouch made her go up to the top of the stadium, and she was terrified, and he's got her bewitched so she can't even run when they start trampling tents! Why doesn't anyone do something about it?"

- Hermione after the 1994 Quidditch World Cup

In 1994, Hermione Granger, in outrage for the inhumane treatment of house-elves, created the student organization S.P.E.W. - Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare - in an attempt to win rights for house-elves. She managed to get several students to join, paying a fee of two sickles, though they only did so to stop her from badgering them. These students included Neville Longbottom, Ron Weasley, and Harry Potter. Hermione even tried to trick house-elves into picking up little hats and socks she had knitted and left around the Gryffindor dormitory, so as to grant them freedom. The house-elves did not appreciate this gesture; on the contrary, they took it for insult and refused to clean the common room, with the exeption of Dobby.

Later in life, Hermione would advance the rights of house-elves in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures before transferring to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

Known House-elves
thumb|300px|right|Dobby is freed
 * Dobby — Dobby was a house-elf who served the Malfoy family. During Harry Potter's second year at Hogwarts, he tried to warn the boy of the plot to have the Chamber of Secrets reopened. The same year, Harry freed Dobby from the Malfoy's. Dobby then went on to work in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry kitchens. He went on to save the lives of Harry and his friends Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Dean Thomas, Mr. Ollivander, and Griphook from Death Eaters at Malfoy Manor, though was killed in the process. Dobby was a brave, loyal house-elf, willing to put himself in dangerous situations when he knew it to be the right thing to do. He was also very loyal to the few friends he had. He considered himself to be a good house-elf, though other house elves seemed to find his desires and proclamations of being a free house-elf to be shameful.
 * Winky — Winky is a female House-Elf, currently in the employment of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy and formerly the servant of the Crouch family until she was fried when she let Barty Crouch Jr out of her grasp.
 * Kreacher — Kreacher is an aged house-elf who served the House of Black with fanatical loyalty for most of his life, until he was left to Harry Potter upon the death of Sirius Black in 1996. He was particularly fond of "his mistress" Walburga Black, who died in 1985, but whose portrait still shrieks orders from the wall in the front hall of the Black house. After Mrs. Black's death, Kreacher let the home fall into disarray, doing little, if any, cleaning. He was also fiercely loyal to Regulus Black, for whom he fought in the Battle of Hogwarts along with many other house-elves.
 * Hokey — Servant of Hepzibah Smith. Hokey was accused of poisoning her mistress's cocoa. Hokey later remembered putting something into the cocoa that turned out not to be sugar, but a lethal poison. The Ministry of Magic put it off to an accident given the fact that Hokey was old and probably confused. However, it is very likely that Tom Marvolo Riddle poisoned Mrs. Smith (in order to steal Helga Hufflepuff's Cup and Salazar Slytherin's Locket) and then magically changed Hokey's memory, with a False Memory Charm, to make her look like the guilty party.
 * The house-elves who formerly worked for the House of Black - These elves worked on the House of Black before Kreacher, and were beheaded once they were too old to carry a tea tray.
 * Kreacher's mother — The mother of Kreacher served as the house-elf of the Black family sometime before her son. When she became too old to carry a tea tray, she was beheaded, and her head was mounted on a plaque and hung on the wall above the front hall stairs at Number 12, Grimmauld Place. It was once Kreacher's sincere wish to suffer the same fate as his mother.
 * The house-elves who work in Hogwarts — At least a hundred strong, they live at Hogwarts and work in the kitchens. They wear uniforms made of tea towels.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (film)

Notes and references
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