A Chance of Freedom
Original Works
Written by Spaghelle
Edited by Kailen
“Go fetch the post!” a voice calls out from the parlor. A small figure scampers to the window in response, picking up the usual load in their small hands; advertisements, the newsletter, and… a strange piece of paper flutters out of the mistresses’ weekly magazine, landing on the polished floor right beneath the wooden stool. Clambering down, they pick it up with an air of precaution; scrawled on the torn parchment was a message written in blotchy, smeared ink.
On the same day, another house elf receives the same note; this time the message written on a piece of ripped magazine paper. In the town over, the next elf picks up the post with the words scratched onto the back of parcel wrapping paper. Up into the north, down into the south, from the east to the west coast, house elves all over the country were receiving these notes; on them was written:
“House elves and allies, one and all, the time has come! Come on down to support S.P.E.W; that is, the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. Travel on into Diagon Lane to rally before Grimlotts Bank on August 23 for equal rights! No one is free until all elves are free!”
In one London home, a timid-looking house elf clutches this very message between her small fingers. Her big eyes darted around the small scrap and grew even larger as she heard loud footsteps emerge from behind her. Her frail body began to tremor and shake as her master snatched the note from her hands and gazed over it; in an instant, he crushed the note in his clenched fist. The elf fell to her knees, begging for forgiveness-- the advertisement was thrown into the trash bin, and he turned back around to face her.
“Keely!” a man shouted from the bottom of the stairs. “Where did that thing go?” he muttered, turning away. Upstairs, in a small nook between the loose rafters and the ceiling, Keely the house elf clutched a scrap of newspaper in her fingers. An organization… an organization for house elves? She’d never heard anything like it! She wanted to jump up and celebrate, but the masters would hear it… and that wouldn’t be good at all, no it wouldn’t… they’d be angry, yes they would. Instead, Keely tucked the paper carefully into a dusty hole in the wall and hopped down, preparing for her household chores of the day.
As she carefully dusted the mantle above the fireplace, the scribbles on that piece of parchment came floating back to her mind. What were the chances that it would just… appear, tucked right into the daily mail? Keely would never be able to go… it was utter madness! The masters would never let her go free, not one day of her life. Her parents served them dutifully, and her grandparents, and probably every generation of house elves back hundreds of years! She was just being a bad elf, with bad thoughts, that’s all it was. But maybe--
“You there! Elf!” Master Smith called out. Spinning around, Keely spoke out in a timid voice:
“Yes master?”
“We’ll be going out soon, I expect your best behavior.” he snarled, turning away.
“Where to?” Keely squeaked out in a timid voice, instantly regretting her choice to speak out of turn. Master Smith spun around on his heel with a disgusted look on his squashy face:
“Speak when spoken to, elf. You’ll know when you’re meant to!”
With a swirl of his frivolous set of robes, he began to turn back to his business. However, quickly checking his pocket watch, his eyebrows raised slightly. “And follow me.”
Master Smith took long strides out into the foyer of the family manor, walls decorated with portraits of true-blooded members of the family; Keely obviously wasn’t meant to know this, but someone once said that the masters weren’t even true-bloods themselves… they were all just part-bloods, with some big notion of blood purity from the last century. Odd, they all were… why would it matter? Once again, that group, S.P.E.W, pushed itself back into her mind. What if...?
The next few hours were a complete blur, as clouds of fire dust filled up her lungs and Keely’s body was wrung through their strange wizarding travel halfway across the country; all the way to London! Along the way, the purpose was finally revealed to her: a celebration for the master’s graduation from Hogsworth! He was always particularly kind to Keely, so she was delighted to see the gorgeous event in store. The clearing that they arrived in was decorated with banners of silver and green webbing all across and floating candles of gold to illuminate the night sky, and tables of food and drink lined the edges of the party. Of course, Keely was simply there to serve her masters; there would be no celebration for her.
Across the clearing, Cadby the house elf twiddled his small fingers and scanned around the area. One sight caught his eye; another house elf! He’d certainly seen her before, somewhere; what was her name? Kylie? No… Callie? That had to be it, certainly. Off to speak to Callie, then!
Cadby strutted over to with none of the fright or timidness that a proper house elf should carry themselves with, but he simply didn’t care. Soon enough, he would be free, and his masters won’t have anything to say about it then!
“Hello there! Callie, is it?” he asked the shy-looking elf.
“Callie? No, no, no… my name is Keely.” she said very softly.
“Ah right! Keely. I’ve seen you around, you’re one of them eh?” Cadby then waggled his finger at her mistress.
“Yes-- well, no, not one of them, of course, no… but yes, I’m with them, but no… I’m not... well, a wizard, yes.“ she stuttered out, looking around with her large eyes.
Cadby simply nodded nonchalantly, whistling as he turned back around.
“So… you haven’t heard any of this, S.P.E.W nonsense, have you?” he burst out.
“What? No, uh, well, I did… just a little bit. You did as well?”
“Of course! House elves all over the nation have. Well, I think so. I hope so.”
Keely nodded, still gazing around to make sure no one was listening in. If her masters heard…
“You do know it’s in London, right? The headquarters?” Cadby pushed, leaning in closer and hushing his tone. “We could go there, you know. Get out of this.”
Keely shook her head furiously and began in an even quieter voice:
“You- we- are you mad? They’ll know, they always know, they’ll find us, they’ll--”
He put up his hands to calm her down. If anyone saw them acting this conspicuously, it would be the end of his plan for good.
“How will they find out, Keely? It’s dark, we’re close to London! They won’t find us. This is our chance to break free, a chance of freedom! You aren’t a servant, you’re an elf. We deserve more than this.”
Keely bit her lip and wrung her hands together with apprehension. After a long silence, she broke.
“I’ll go.”
And so they were off, and slipping out was the easiest part of the journey. The trees and brush were thick and amidst all of the food and drink and small talk, their masters couldn’t care to notice where their elves were at the given time. Keely and Cadby slid through the brush with ease and began to run through the forest, following the small glint of streetlights on the dark horizon. However, only minutes later, Keely’s keen ears picked up a faint yell coming from where they had just left:
“Cadby! Oh Merlin, where is that cursed elf?”
“Where has that stupid creature gone off to?!” called the familiar voice of her master.
She nudged Cadby to run faster, and they took off; soon, even the distant calls of their former lives were no longer heard. Keely’s heart was still racing a mile a minute at the thought of well, everything; what if they got caught? What if someone knew that they weren’t even free elves?! Something was going to go wrong, she just knew it.
As the two elves finally made their way well into the city and far from any wizarding sort, they crouched down in an alleyway to catch their breath.
“We did it!” Cadby cried out, breaking the tense silence.
“Well, we haven’t done anything just yet. Just broken the rules--”
Cadby interrupted her harshly: “There are no more rules! We’re going to get to S.P.E.W!”
Finally, it dawned on her. They wouldn’t find us, not in the middle of London, not when they reached Diagon Lane. They were… they were free. At last!
Dawn still remained hours away, so the elves decided to take their time and rest while the unmagicals were asleep. Finally, they rose up and made their way through the winding streets and buildings; somehow, Cadby knew his way, even though everything looked the same to Keely.
As they finally reached the Cauldron Inn, it all pieced together. Diagon Lane was silent at this time of night aside from the odd witch or wizard buying an oddity here or there, but their destination stood out like a sore thumb-- right as they turned the corner on the cobbled street, it was there.
The S.P.E.W headquarters, bustling with life as if it were midday on the busiest day of the year. Elves were carrying stacks of informational pamphlets and others were pushing carts of protest signs and markers; others were holding small wizard-like wands in their hands, posting up flyers around every corner. Shining banners were draped across the shining new storefront, proclaiming the movement for equal rights. Elves, just like Cadby and Keely, were going about their business… because they wanted to! Their first taste of freedom, at last. Cadby and Keely broke out into a sprint, as they could no longer wait.
