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Levin astutely grasped the word "we," indicating that Hermione had automatically classified them all as members.
Hermione looked at them with delight, waiting for their response.
But apart from Levin, everyone else reacted somewhat coldly.
“I don’t want to walk around the hallway wearing a badge that says ‘vomit’!” Zhang Qiu quickly refused. “That would be too stupid.”
“It’s SPEW!” Hermione said angrily. “I was going to name it the Movement to Stop Cruelty to Our Magical Creature Friends and Improve Their Legal Status—but that wasn’t quite right. So I used that as the title of our Society’s manifesto.”
"Why should we wear badges that say 'vomit' and do some pointless things?" Zhang Qiu said, somewhat displeased.
This has absolutely nothing to do with them.
Apart from Astoria, no one else in the family keeps house fairies.
Wages? Nothing at all.
Astoria was somewhat embarrassed, as her family was the one Hermione had described as treating house-elves like slaves.
The girl glanced at Levin cautiously, afraid that he would dislike her because of this.
Ginny tenderly held Astoria's hand, comforting her, "Don't worry, Hermione isn't targeting you. She started preparing for 'SPEW' two weeks ago, and I was involved the whole time. She did this because she saw the miserable situation of the house-elves at Hogwarts, it has nothing to do with you."
Hermione's statement confirmed Ginny's words:
"I simply can't believe that in a place like Hogwarts, there are over 100 house-elves who are not allowed to appear in any setting."
"Many students don't even know they exist until they graduate. How shameful that is, since everything they eat and use is the result of the house-elves' labor. All the cleaning work is done by the house-elves in silence."
Disappointment crossed her face. "Hogwarts should be a place for educating students, a model for the wizarding world. But they have disappointed me greatly."
Her tone became more enthusiastic again. "However, things are different now because we are going to change all of this. Wizards must change their behavior; they can no longer treat these magical creatures so cruelly. We urgently need to make appropriate improvements to the legal status of house-elves."
Hermione waved the badge in her hand, her tone filled with a sense of mission: "I've been researching this history in the library lately. House-elves have been slaves for centuries. I can't believe that no one has ever stood up for them."
Her face radiated passionate fervor: "Since no one is taking action, then we will. We will change the status of house-elves, and we will help them fight for their rights."
Levin felt that Hermione seemed overly concerned about the plight of house-elves.
But through psychic perception, he gradually began to understand the girl's deepest emotions.
Hermes was outraged by the inhumane treatment of the house-elves, but she also felt a deep sense of empathy for their plight.
As a wizard born into a Muggle family, Hermione has parents who are dentists, a respectable profession in Muggle society, which Hermione is very proud of.
But everything changed when she stepped into the magical world she had always dreamed of.
For wizards, discrimination based on bloodline is ubiquitous.
Especially since she is a Muggle wizard who is more outstanding than any pure-blood, many people are jealous and always use her family background to attack, discriminate against, and even insult her family, which is the thing she can't tolerate the most.
Despite Levin's protection, this discrimination did not completely disappear; it simply became more covert.
Hermione can still feel this injustice.
However, even so, she knew clearly that her situation was much better than that of house-elves.
That's why she wanted to fight for the rights of house-elves who were in even worse situations than she was.
Tragically, her companions never seemed to consider supporting her.
Zhang Qiu's biggest concern was that the badge was too ugly.
Astoria herself has house-elves in her home.
Aside from Levin Green, Luna doesn't seem to care about much else.
As for Ginny, she was indeed dedicated to her work, but Hermione knew very well that she was only doing what a friend should do.
Fortunately, Levin's attitude comforted her in time—he was always able to understand and tolerate her.
"I think you make a lot of sense,"
Levin's words were understated, but to Hermione they were like a gentle breeze.
"In fact, I also dislike the situation of house-elves. Their terrible interactions with wizards make wizards seem very savage."
He continued, “Ultimately, the treatment of house-elves will improve. The wizarding world doesn’t need slaves, and house-elves are not necessary for the wizarding world. Wizards have sufficient productivity, and magic is sufficient to meet most of their needs. This is far more legitimate and meaningful than slavery.”
No one present thought Levin was making empty promises, because he was the one most confident in saying so.
Gwen and Orianna are proof of this—they are the greatest evidence of magical productivity.
Seeing Levin's stance, the others present also changed their minds.
“Since Levin has said so, then I’ll take the ‘vomit’ one.” Zhang Qiu reluctantly took a badge, then added, “But you can’t keep issuing badges. The association name and badge you designed are too ugly. I don’t want to wear this badge out. I have to redesign it for you.”
Luna raised her head and said in a singing tone, "Count me in too."
“I…I will write to my parents and ask them to be nicer to ‘Jamie’,” Astoria said enthusiastically.
With her first group of supporters, Hermione was finally overjoyed.
Even if these supporters are only doing it because of Levin.
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Chapter 302 Become the Lich King, Hermione
After agreeing on all this, everyone left the tower and returned to the castle.
Hermione, however, was left alone by Levin.
“I’m glad you sympathize with house-elves and speak up for the vulnerable.” Levin finally began his belated shift and cold water, “But if I may be so bold, 'SP.EW.' alone cannot truly help house-elves.”
"Why is that?"
Hermione was a little confused. Since Levin had just supported her, why did he turn around and reject her suggestion?
Levin said calmly, "There are two hardest things in the world. The first is putting your thoughts into someone else's brain, and the second is putting someone else's money into your own pocket. And that's exactly what you want to do."
“I didn’t think that way,” Hermione retorted, feeling wronged. “I didn’t do these things for myself.”
“But other people won’t care about any of that.” Levin shook his head. “They’ll only know that in order to fight for the rights of house-elves, we need to give them money and holidays, which are all unnecessary expenses.”
Hermione muttered under her breath, "This isn't... an unnecessary expense."
She disagreed; this was clearly what the elves deserved, and it was the wizards exploiting their house-elves.
Levin ignored her complaints and continued, "For them, the expenses that didn't exist before and are now are all unnecessary. Whether you take the money or give it to the house-elves, it's the same to them. It's harder to touch their interests than to touch their souls."
Hermione pouted unhappily, but lacked the courage to continue arguing, which was the biggest difficulty in her mission.
To fight for the rights of house-elves, wizards would have to relinquish their privileges, which was no easy task. At least, the officials from the Ministry of Magic she had met certainly wouldn't listen to her.
"If Jaina supports it..." Hermione had another idea. Jaina wielded so much power in the Ministry of Magic; surely she could pull it off?
But Levin still shook his head.
"Even if Jaina supports your reform bill, and the bill is eventually implemented due to our growing influence in the wizarding world, many house-elves will die in 'accidents' the moment it is announced."
Levin's tone turned serious.
"Why?" Hermione blurted out.
"As the most loyal servants, house-elves know too many of their masters' secrets. And most of these secrets cannot be made public or leaked."
Levin said meaningfully.
Throughout history, no radical reform has ever occurred without bloodshed and sacrifice. We cannot simply and crudely push things forward directly; we must proceed step by step.
He looked at Hermione with warm eyes and said, "Compared to the situation of house-elves, what wizards should improve is the discrimination against bloodlines. Only by eliminating the soil of discrimination can wizards change themselves in their entire lives. Improving things from within oneself is also easier than improving things from house-elves."
Hermione paused, her eyes darting around as if her secret had been discovered, and Levin seemed to have figured it out.
She said stubbornly, “I will continue to try. Compared to the not-so-bad situation of other wizards, the inhumane treatment and terrible situation of house-elves has lasted for too long. For centuries, no one has been willing to help them, and I hope I can be the one to help them.”
Her concern for house-elves was certainly a projection of her own feelings, but it stemmed more from compassion than from selfishness. With the care and concern of her friends, she didn't feel that her situation was particularly difficult.
It was this feeling of having the capacity to support herself that made her sympathize with those facing even more tragic circumstances, and she hoped to do her part.
Levin shook his head: "You still don't understand what I mean. I just want to tell you that sometimes going straight to the point won't get you anywhere; you have to learn to go in circles."
"Didn't I just say that directly seeking the liberation of house-elves would be encroaching on the interests of some people, and forcibly pushing for such a thing is impossible to succeed? In this situation, we generally have two solutions—"
"First, we can compensate the victims for their losses with alternatives, such as replacing house-elves with golems. However, golems that can replace house-elves are too expensive, so relying on that alone is not realistic."
"The second point is to tie your goals to another group of people, making them feel that achieving this goal is in their interest, and then they will naturally help you suppress those who have already benefited."
“You mean… right, you just mentioned…” Hermione felt she had vaguely touched a threshold.
“That’s right, I’m referring to the racial discrimination among wizards.” Levin nodded with satisfaction; Hermione was indeed very perceptive.
"Whether it's discrimination against wizards based on their bloodline, mistreatment of house-elves, or discrimination against intelligent races such as centaurs and mermaids, they can all be placed under the same framework: 'equality'."
"Raising the banner of 'equality' means binding these issues together. When half-blood and Muggle wizards pursue their own equality, they will also pursue the equality of other intelligent races such as house-elves, centaurs, and mermaids—they will be natural supporters."
Hermione listened intently; Levin's words opened a new world for her.
In fact, this is why some left-wing political correctness, which seems outrageous, is still so popular.
However, they are using the principle of "the strong need to help the weak" as their banner.
Under normal circumstances, unless it is pure social Darwinism, most people agree that the strong should make appropriate concessions to the weak.
Whether it's a progressive tax system that increases with income, or giving up seats to the elderly, the infirm, the disabled, pregnant women, and passengers with young children,
Or various student loans, or even social welfare systems, all embody this principle.
However, once the "weak" are defined arbitrarily without any principles and this banner is used to bind them, everything will be turned upside down, and good things will turn into bad things.
In short, this is a top-notch political "mindset," and whether it is right or wrong, and how to use it, depends entirely on one's own mind.
But Levin didn't continue directly; instead, he changed the subject.
“Hermione, from my conflict with Professor Moody last time, you should be able to see that my words are taken seriously not only by ordinary students, but also by professors, headmasters, and even Ministry of Magic officials. This is because I have become able to flexibly use my personal authority and the power and influence of Jaina and the others behind me.”
Hermione nodded in agreement. Levin had turned Professor Moody into a toad, embarrassing him in front of everyone, yet he not only escaped punishment but also gained even more admiration and support from the young wizards.
“You can too,” Levin said in a deep voice.
"I?"
Hermione was somewhat confused. Although she had some cleverness, it was utterly insignificant in the wizarding world.
"You don't need to start from scratch. Look at our Erudite Society; the students there will definitely become pillars of the magical world. Besides me, you can be considered the main person in charge of the society. You can use your current position to influence these young wizards who will inevitably occupy a certain position in the magical world in the future. Once the atmosphere gradually takes shape..."
Then gradually implement these plans of yours.
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