Chapter 1: Hats and Scarfs




Hermione tapped the feathery end of her quill against the polished wood of the desk as she put the last finishing touches on her letter to the Minister, discussing the benefits of S.P.E.W.

Something didn't seem right about it though. This was going to the Ministry after all. She finally spotted it... it was missing a bit of overly-polite hypocrisy, but she was rubbish at that. She racked her brains but came up with nothing that fit well. "Draco..."

The rustle of newspaper answered her, "Draco!"

"What Granger?" he drawled.

"Have a look at this for me please," she said extending the parchment.

He sighed as he got up from his blessed leather armchair and sauntered over to the writing desk, he grabbed the letter. "This had better not be about house elves."

As Hermione quickly snatched back the letter, Draco scoffed, "Seriously, Granger. Give it a rest, they don't want to be freed, they enjoy the cleaning and the cooking and the self-punishment." She glared at him with fierce intensity but it seemed to have no effect on him.

"How would you know? You've never taken the time to talk to any of them!" she snapped.

"'Course I have, " he said taking his seat again and reaching for the paper.

"You have?" she asked surprised.

"Granger, when the closest thing to company around is your parents and Pansy Parkinson and you're faking illness to stay in your room , one has to talk to someone," he said as a matter of fact, as he turned the page of the Daily Prophet.

She raised an eyebrow. "You talked to house elves...you?"

He folded down his paper so that he could look straight at her, "Well they weren't philosophical discussions about the meaning of life Granger. I just asked them what they would do if they didn't have any cooking and cleaning to do."

"And they said..." she prompted him.

"They said they sit around discussing cooking and cleaning," he said, smirking.

She rolled her eyes and walked over to sit in her red velvet armchair, "You're ridiculous, you are."

"Granger," he said in a tone that implied all jokes aside, "If you take away their work , they'll have nothing to live for. Look at it this way. I think the amount of reading you do is thoroughly unhealthy. But you're happy that way. Who am I to get in the way of your happiness," she glared and he quickly amended by adding, "lately."

"Besides," she continued, " those were your house-elves, they told you what they thought you wanted to hear."

He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose," Dobby!," he called out casually.

"What are you doing!" she shrieked.

"Putting an end to your madness woman," he said as Dobby popped in, apparating by the common room fire.

"Head Boy Malfoy called Dobby sir?," said the house-elf in his usual cheery manner. He had been one of the most excited to hear that Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy would be sharing a dorm this year as Head Girl and Boy, 'Miss Granger's goodness will spread like butter on toast it will,' he had commented.

"Yes, Dobby. Go ahead Granger, Dobby is a free elf , no ties to anyone , no need to please anyone with an answer. Go on ask," he pressed her.

"Errr...uhh... Dobby, tell me what do you do when you aren't cleaning up after anyone or cooking or doing any chores?" she asked in a sweet voice that she hoped didn't sound patronizing.

Dobby looked mildly confused by the question but answered none the less, "Dobby converses with his fellow house-elves when there are no chores to be done Miss."

Hermione shot a look at Draco and he nodded and gestured that she continue," And what is it you talk about Dobby?"

Dobby promptly set into a rant about how Winky had polished the silver right after Hasid had because Hasid had gone to the Dungeons to scrub the walls and had not told anyone she had polished the silver already.

Hermione bit her lip in a rather frustrated manner. "But Dobby , what if you weren't working? What if your masters kept everything tidy themselves and never asked you to do anything at all, what would you do with your free time?"

Dobby looked startled again and took longer to answer, "Dobby would...Dobby would ask his master's permission to be given to a family that need Dobby more. House-elves make excellent Christmas gifts Miss Granger!" he said excitedly.

Hermione nodded and turned towards the wall and Dobby turned to Draco, "Is that all Head Boy ,sir?"

Draco looked up from his paper once more, "Yes that's all Dobby you may leave."

As the House-Elf popped away Draco looked over to Hermione who had her head bent and was muttering something to herself, "See Granger? They're happy, now why would you go and-," but before he finished Hermione had zoomed past him and ran up to her bedroom. Draco shrugged and continued reading his much interupted article about next year's Quidditch World Cup.

~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~

 Hermione sat quietly in her room , contemplating her stupidity. Really , she thought she was solving a problem but there was no problem to solve. She was fixing what wasn't broken. Suddenly the usual pop of apparation startled her. "Miss Head Girl Granger miss, did what Dobby say upset Miss?"

"No Dobby, it wasn't you at all. I just...I realized I was being silly that's all."

"Oh but Miss wasn't being silly. Miss was just trying to help house-elves when house-elves are not needing help. Miss maybe wants to help people who need it."

Hermione turned her face curiously, "Who do you mean Dobby?"

"Oh many people Miss. Mr. Harry Potter and his Weezy are always needing help with their school work. And Head Boy Malfoy needs help being good. And there are other people that Miss is not knowing. Like the Lonely Tinys that live in Hogsmead."

"Who?" she asked staniding up.

"Squib children, they live in Hogsmead, Miss. But not where the students can see them oh no. They live far back where no one sees them, they hide there, Miss."

"Why?" she asked, aghast.

The elf shrugged, "Dobby is not knowing Miss. But Dobby is thinking that, maybe Miss can take all the hats and scarfs Miss has made to free the Hogwarts elves and take them to the Lonley Tinys so they will not be feeling cold."

Hermione was quite speechless. "Yes Dobby, that's an excellent idea."


~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~

The next morning Draco got ready for Hogsmead. He'd probabbly buy some sweets and get right back to the castle. He wasn't on the best of terms with his housemates at the time, execept Theo and Blaise. However, they had previous engagements, with eachother. This bothered Draco less then he would have thought, really it didn't bother him much at all as long as they didn't go all out in public displays of affection.

As he walked out of Honeyduke's he decided he didn't want to go back to the castle yet after all. He decided to roam around the lesser know parts of Hogsmead, away from the shops and the groups of laughing friends and the mushy couples.

Down one alley he suddenly heard giggles. But it wasn't the type of giggles a girl faked when she was chased by a handsome boy. It was true giggles, like a small child. Sure enough as he rounded the corner he saw a small boy and a slightly older girl on the steps of an old run down building. Their clothes looked old and dirty, except for their bright multi colored hats and scarfs.

"She was very nice wasn't she? And too young to come from the Ministry. Maybe she wasn't lying, maybe she really was a Hogwarts student," he heard the girl say.

The tiny boy nodded happily, "Yes she was and she said she'd come soon with jumpers. She went to find the rest, do you think Mathias will get upset?"

The girl thought for a minute, "No I don't think he will , he's not silly enough to refuse to get a new hat and scarf if he knows she's not from the Ministry." It seemed to Draco, that these chidren were having quite a smart conversation for being so young. He moved slightly and toppled over some old cans that had lain beside his foot. The children looked up quickly and the boy scurried behind the elder girl.

"What is it you want?" shouted the girl in quite a defensive manner.

"Nothing," he projected back, "just walking around."

"You from the Ministry?" she said holding the young boys hand. Ready to run, thought Draco.

"No, I'm from Hogwarts. It's Hogsmead day," he told her. The boy and her looked at each other puzzled for a minute.

"You looking for the girl?" she asked, less tense.

"What girl?" he asked curiously.

"The nice one with the big brown eyes!" piped up the small boy.

Granger? he thought, "Lots of hair?" he enquired.

"Yeah," responded the girl, "lots of brown hair, reminded me of a broom end."

Draco chuckled at that, sure he'd like to know what Granger was doing in this part of town, talking to street children. "Yes, I'm looking for her. Do you know where she is?"

Both kids shrugged, "Nope, she's around looking for the rest of us, she might find some, but if Mathias finds her snooping around he's going to want to have a word with her."

"Who's Mathias?"

The girl elbowed the boy before he could respond, "Look she went that way," she said pointing down the alley. "She turned left about ten minutes ago, she should be around there. She can't move to fast carring that big box of hers."

He nodded and began to walk that way, it occured to him that he was walking away from probably starving children with a bunch of candy in his sack, and that just wasn't on. "You guys hungry?" he asked.

The girl took the defensive again. "We're not going anywhere with you if that's what you mean."

"No need," he said, and tossed her a box of pumpkin pasties.

She caught it and inspected the seal, "Thanks," she said. He turned back and went the way she had pointed.

As soon as he turned left where the girl had indicated he heard the argument, "If you feel so responsible for all of them then why didn't you go and look for proper help? Hard as you may work you can't possibly make enough for eight."

"We manage," groweled out a male voice. "And the proper help as you say it would have us all shipped out to orphanages. Do you think we'd fair better there? We wouldn't even get sent to Magic orphanages, we'd get sent to Muggle ones. How would we ever get back? This is our only way of staying in the Wizarding World and you aren't going to come here with your scarfs and hats and ruin that!"

Draco heard Hermione gasp. "Put that away I can defend myself better than you may think," she said more quietly.

"You don't have a wand on you or else you wouldn't be carrying that box," the voice said triumphantly.

Draco quickly stepped into the small dead end, wand at the ready, "Silly isn't she. Good thing I always carry mine."

The boy was about their age. He looked worn out and tired. His hair was a shaggy mop of dirty blond. He didn't seem afraid, "Look I'm no criminal. I wasn't going to hurt her I just want her to leave," he put his small silver knife away and held his hands up, Draco lowered his wand but kept it by his side. "You heard him Granger, let's get back to the castle before you find yet another group of beings that you think need to be helped."

She glared at him but nodded, she was visibly shaken and very obviously trying to hide it. She didn't pick up her box though, "Give that to the rest at least. It's getting colder." The boy made no response and Hermione walked out of the alley with her head down.

No sooner where they fairly away from the scene, then she collapsed against an old building and began to sob. Draco, not being one to stay around for the watery part of any event, didn't really know what to do. "Look Granger, you're fine now," he said in an awkard comforting tone. "I don't think he was really going to hurt you..."

"It's not that!" she chocked out. "Draco they're orphan Squibs. They don't get to go to Hogwarts and they don't get to go to Wizarding orphanages. They get sent out into the muggle world, and this is all they can do about it. Hide in the streets, afraid and cold and hungry and always watching out for the ministry." She sobbed again. "The youngest one is six, Draco. Six! How was your life when you were six? Because mine was safe and happy and loving, and these kids don't get any of that!"


Draco was quite speechless. He agreed with her of course, but what could he say? She hadn't stopped crying. Was he suppposed to...touch her? He risked it and gave her a gentle pat on the back , but this seemed to have no effect on her at all. "Err, Granger, calm down. We can, errr, we can talk to Dumbledore! The old man will come up with something. Come Granger, lets get to the castle. You're about to go into shock and I don't think I can manage to take you all the way back.

She wiped her tears and nodded. She seemed to have taken some of what he had said in.

 They made it to their common room. Hermione hadn't said a word the whole way, and silently she made her way to her room.


~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~

She tried to clear her mind of all the disturbing thoughts raceing through. Right now, when she was nice and warm inside the castle, all seven of those children, and Mathias who was just her age, were out there. They were probably freezing. Suddenly there was a taping at her window, but it wasn't a mail owl, it was a...a pidgeon? She opened the window and the pidgeon dropped a small scroll onto her desk and fluttered off. She picked it up, the scroll was an old Honeydukes advertisment with some small crude writing on the back:

Hat and Scarf Girl,

 Sorry about before, didn't mean to scare you. The kids made me apologize to you, they say they really like the hats and scarfs. Look I know you mean well, but we're fine, really. And if you keep snooping around the Ministry might come checking. So thanks but stay in your castle. Oh and Nate and Pam want to thank the blonde bloke for the pumpkin pasties.

 Well...thanks,

Mathias and Co.