Title: Harry the House-Elf Helper
Ship: Harry/Hermione
Name/Pen Name: moogle
Word Count: 1628
Theme #/Theme: The Wardrobe
Challenge count: 5/7 Finished
Content: PG
Spoilers: Books 1-5
Warnings: None
Summary: Hermione manages to get Harry to help her with S.P.E.W, but not in the way he expected.
Harry absently scribbled a few words on his parchment, his brain struggling to stay focused on the boring essay he was supposed to be writing for History of Magic. What was far more exciting was the fight going on outside the window between Ernie and Justin, though it seemed even that was beginning to lose its lustre as an irate McGonagall stomped towards them and effectively put an end to the Hufflepuff's bickering. Harry sighed and stared back at his parchment with a slightly dazed expression. He would take anything to give him something to do other than his homework. What, with Quidditch season being over, and Ron running off with Luna all the time, Harry was beginning to feel very bored. He wondered where Hermione had gone off to; she had been acting very secretive lately.
Harry glanced up as the portrait opened and almost let out a cry of relief when he saw Hermione walk in, a large beam on her face, her bushy, brown hair sticking up everywhere and her cheeks flushed. He could tell she had been running, and sat up a little straighter as he noticed a box in her hands. It seemed that Hermione had come to save him from his boredom; something he was very eager to have happen.
"Hermione," Harry began with a broad smile. "What’s that you've got there?"
Hermione grinned and placed the box on the table, her eyes lighting up with an excited glow. Harry suddenly felt uncomfortable, though he was not sure why, only that seeing that expression on her face was a sure danger-sign that he was about to be pushed into something he would rather not. Still, he was curious about what was in the box, so he held his tongue and waited for her reply.
"Well, you know how Ron complained about the badges for S.P.E.W?" Hermione said distractedly as she opened the box. Harry nodded, remembering full well how Ron had vehemently declared he would never wear one of her badges. Harry himself had not wanted to wear the badges, and luckily for him he had managed to escape the danger zone by skirting around the subject altogether; he was glad Hermione had never brought up the subject again, but it seemed she had gotten her fervour back. Now at least he knew why he had been feeling so uncomfortable before.
Hermione, completely oblivious to Harry's increasing worry, reached into the box and held up a T-shirt that Harry realised with dismay had a large picture of a house-elf's face on it. In fact, to be precise it was Dobby's face. Hermione turned the T-shirt around, and Harry noticed on the back were the large green letters of S.P.E.W.
"Now you don't have to wear the badges, and I'm sure more people will notice our cause more if we're wearing T-shirts!" Hermione exclaimed happily.
Harry picked up one of the T-shirts, examining it with a small frown. He didn't see fit to tell Hermione that Ron would not wear anything that had S.P.E.W on it period, and Harry had to admit that he would infinitely prefer the badges to this. Hopefully he would manage to be able to get away with not wearing it and also not upsetting her. He knew Hermione loved S.P.E.W, but he had never felt particularly enthusiastic about the idea. He remembered how disappointed she had been when he had not knitted house-elf hats with her, and he didn't want to let her down again, but this- he glanced at the T-shirt- this was just too much.
"Well, aren't you going to try it on?" Hermione asked with an expectant expression. Harry stared back at the shirt and couldn't help but scrunch up his face reluctantly. He would be more than a laughing stock if he wore this.
"You can't possibly expect me to wear that." Harry said with a pleading note in his voice. How could she think this T-shirt was fine to wear? It had Dobby's face on it for goodness sakes. It seemed, however, that Hermione did expect him to, as her face fell ludicrously at his words. Harry felt the annoying feelings of guilt creeping into his stomach and stared back at the shirt.
"Alright, I'll wear the T-shirt." Harry said in a resigned voice, feeling all of a sudden like he had just sent himself off to the gallows. Hermione instantly beamed and threw herself at him, nearly strangling him as she pulled him into a tight hug.
"Oh, I knew I could rely on you, Harry!"
"Yeah," Harry said in an empty voice. Hermione pulled herself away and picked up one of the shirts from the box.
"I'm going to put mine on. Just wait right there." Hermione said with a smile, and disappeared up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. Harry stared at the damning shirt in his hands, and reluctantly pulled off his robe to put on the T-shirt. He felt ridiculous, and refused to go anywhere near a mirror. When he had wanted to escape from his boredom, he did not have this in mind. He wondered how it was that Hermione always managed to make him do things he would normally never do?
Hermione came racing back down the stairs, now wearing an identical shirt to Harry's. She beamed at him, picking up the box of T-shirts, and Harry felt strangely less bothered about the fact that he was wearing a T-shirt that not only had a picture of Dobby's face on it but also large block letters proclaiming S.P.E.W on the back. Of course, how long that would last was a different matter.
"Well, let's go and see if anyone wants a T-shirt, shall we?" Hermione said enthusiastically and practically dragged Harry out of the common room and down the stairs, the box tucked under her arm. Harry noticed the people staring at him, some of them actually pointing and laughing, and he could feel his cheeks burning. Hermione was definitely going to owe him after this humiliating experience.
"What are you wearing, Potter?" A familiar voice said scathingly. Harry's stomach plummeted and he could feel the blush on his cheeks spreading all the way down his neck; trust Malfoy to find him now of all times. He turned his face to stare at the pale, pointed, Slytherin boy and inwardly sighed at the mocking expression on Malfoy's face.
"What does it look like Malfoy?" Hermione said in an angry voice. "We're helping the house-elves by wearing these shirts."
Malfoy sneered and turned his mocking gaze to Hermione. "Oh, I'm sorry Granger, I should have noticed that sooner, but it seemed more like you were having some kind of fashion crisis, though that really is nothing new."
"Come on, Hermione," Harry said in a low voice. "Let's just go." He really didn't want to listen to Malfoy mocking him or Hermione any longer; he was already mortified from having people seeing him walking around in the house-elf shirt, and Hermione was only going to make it worse. Plus, he didn't want her getting upset at finding out that no one wanted to help her with S.P.E.W. She really was dedicated to it, and he hated to see her disappointed.
"You're right, Harry," Hermione said haughtily. "He's not worth our time."
Harry nodded quickly and ushered Hermione away from the laughing students back up to the Gryffindor common room. He could hear her muttering under the breath, but he was only able to pick out the occasional "bigots" and "idiots". He waited for her to calm down, but before either of them could do anything, Ron burst into the room, a wide-eyed expression on his face. He literally gasped when he saw the T-shirts and fell into a peel of laughter.
"You can't be serious!" Ron exclaimed as he wiped his eyes. "I heard people talking about it, but I didn’t think they were actually telling the truth. Those T-shirts have got to be the most ugliest, ridiculous things I have seen yet!"
Harry chanced a glance at Hermione, noticing the way her eyes were sparkling a little too brightly. Her hands were clenched at her side, and he could see her lips quivering slightly. She had been so excited about the T-shirts and Harry knew she genuinely thought it would help. It was true that they were ridiculous, but this was Hermione's passion, and now everyone was just making fun of it.
"I don't see anything wrong with them." Harry said bluntly, surprising even himself. "If they'll help the house-elves, then why not?"
Ron's eyes widened even more, his eyebrows disappearing into his mop of red hair. "You actually support this crazy idea?" Ron asked incredulously. Harry shrugged. He had never really been against or for S.P.E.W, but he did know that Dobby loved being free, so maybe Hermione was right with this?
"Yeah, I do." Harry said firmly. Hermione flashed him a grateful smile, and Ron simply shook his head, walking back out of the portrait hole, muttering, "Nutters the lot of them."
"Thank you, Harry." Hermione said sincerely, leaning forward to give him a light kiss on the cheek. Harry felt his face heat up slightly, as Hermione pulled herself away, a warm smile on her lips. "I'm glad I have you to stand by me."
Harry nodded his head, his green eyes lighting up with something more than just friendship as he returned the smile. She had stood by him when no one else would, and he realised being able to do the same for her was not so bad after all, even if he did have to face wearing a ridiculous T-shirt.