"You bought a cat?"
Hermione stared with some surprise at the cage that suddenly appeared in Zuo Si's hand, and the very weird and ugly Crookshanks in the cage.
"Well. I suddenly thought it would be good to have a cat. You know, I bought a house during the holidays and I just need a capable cat to catch mice."
After that, Zuo Si handed the cat cage to the house elf who was always following behind him and remained invisible.
North quickly appeared and walked closer in three steps and two steps to take the cage and hold it in his hands.
"This is... a house elf?" Hermione's eyes showed a hint of curiosity.
Because although she had read about this interesting magical creature in books, she had never seen it with her own eyes.
Zuo Si nodded slightly: "That's right. There happened to be two house elves in the house I bought. After some persuasion, they agreed to stay in the house and work for me. This one's name is North.
There is one named Calvi."
"Hello, North."
Hermione tried to say hello to the thin humanoid creature with big bat-like ears in front of her.
"Hello, Miss Granger. If you need anything, just ask me. I will be happy to help you."
North, who was wearing a black dress, bowed gracefully.
After all, Zuo Si would not allow his servant to wear only a dirty and worn pillowcase like Dobby of the Malfoy family. Instead, he customized a series of house-elf special clothes, shoes, socks and hats.
Because of their attire, the two house elves under him were occasionally mistaken for goblins from Gringotts by people with bad eyesight when they went out to do errands.
"Uh...thank you, I don't need it for the time being." Hermione declined politely.
"Well, I hope I can serve you next time."
North seemed a little disappointed when he didn't get a job or assignment, but he quickly picked up the cat carrier and disappeared with a snap of his fingers.
"Apparition?"
Looking at the house elf that suddenly disappeared from her eyes, Hermione immediately asked in an uncertain tone.
Zuo Si smiled and replied: "Yes, and no. The magical ability of house elves is innate, and the way of casting spells is also very different from that of wizards.
According to historical records, in ancient times, house elves once had a fierce war with wizards.
As a result, they were defeated and the entire group was almost wiped out, with only a handful of obedient slaves remaining.
After thousands of years of enslavement, transformation and artificial intervention, these descendants eventually became house elves in modern times.
These magical creatures have been slowly and completely domesticated over the long years. They are proud of the family work they are loyal to and are ashamed of their freedom and laziness."
"So they are slaves? Slaves living in modern society!"
Hermione's voice suddenly rose a lot, and her eyes revealed shock and disbelief.
"Yes. Even the kind of slave who is willing to castrate himself mentally.
Also, do you think there are no slaves in modern human society?
If you look at Africa, South America, and the poor and unstable countries and regions in Southeast Asia, you will find that slavery is still a common phenomenon.
A large part of this poverty, backwardness and instability are caused by hundreds of years of colonization, enslavement and plundering of the local areas by Europeans.
As an empire on which the sun never sets, Britain once had the largest number of colonies in the world, and the crimes committed by Britain are even more incalculable.
The stolen and looted precious cultural relics and treasures in the British Museum are the best proof.
But what is interesting is that most British people do not regard it as a shame, but as an honor. They still enjoy the dividends brought by colonial plunder with peace of mind and miss the prosperity of the empire on which the sun never sets.
And brilliant.
In comparison, the house elves in the wizarding world are nothing at all.
So the world is far from as beautiful as you imagined. It's just that Mr. and Mrs. Granger protected you before and didn't let you see these dark sides."
Zuo Si looked into the girl's eyes and revealed some cruel truths.
Instantly!
Hermione, who was angry about what happened to the house elves a second ago, suddenly fell into silence as if a bucket of cold water had been poured on her.
If it were someone else, they might refute it by substituting concepts, making quibbles, etc.
But she is not an ordinary student who only received an education that downplays colonial history, but a genius who loves reading and likes to get to the bottom of everything.
When she was in elementary school, Hermione secretly read some real historical works and understood how cruel and bloody the so-called "Era of Geographic Discovery" mentioned in the textbook was.
We also know how in the early days of the modern industrial revolution, child laborers and orphans in London were treated as consumables and worked day and night in factories until they were exhausted to death.
Compared with the Muggle world, wizards' oppression and enslavement of house elves is obviously much gentler.
What's more, house elves have long been completely domesticated and have no sense of freedom and resistance. Instead, they enjoy it.
Thinking of this, Hermione suddenly found that she was not as angry as before. She raised her head and said in a slightly helpless tone: "Okay, maybe you are right, I am too sensitive."
"No, this is not sensitivity, but a lack of experience and knowledge. But it doesn't matter. As time goes by and we grow older, we will slowly abandon our innocence and become more and more mature. Wait five to ten years before looking back.
If you look at yourself as a child, you might feel ridiculous for your thoughts at the time, just like you just heard Mrs. Granger describe her reaction when she was three or four years old."
As Zuo Si spoke, he reached out his hand to help the girl smooth her hair that was blown by the wind.
"Damn it! Just don't mention this, okay?"
Hermione's face turned slightly red, and she didn't know whether it was because she was still embarrassed about those fun childhood stories, or because she was a little shy due to the overly intimate movements between the two.
She didn't realize at all that her consciousness, cognition and thoughts had been unknowingly changed during her interactions and conversations with Zuo Si.
In particular, the speed of mental maturity is much faster than that of peers.
And this kind of maturity will cause her to think that when she looks at other students, they are very naive and have no common language at all. She will eventually become more cherished and dependent on her relationship with Zuo Si, and then be more influenced by the latter, even in
Ideologically assimilated to a certain extent.
There is no doubt that this is a practical application of modern psychology in interpersonal relationships.
Perhaps it won't have much effect on adults whose three views are almost fixed, but it is decisive for boys and girls aged twelve to fifteen who are in adolescence.
Because during this period called adolescence, hormones are secreted in large amounts, brain nerves are undergoing final pruning and remodeling, and the personality becomes rebellious, impulsive and unpredictable.
Many parents will be very worried about how to guide and educate during this period, and some parents may even have the illusion that their children have learned badly.
As everyone knows, all of this is a process that the human species must go through physiologically.
Likewise, this is also the best time to exert influence on a person and reshape his or her character.
A responsible teacher or parent can help them shape a correct outlook on life and values, and eventually become a "good person" or a "person useful to society" in the ordinary sense.
But if you meet someone with evil intentions, you may embark on a criminal path.
Of course, Zuo Si doesn't want to completely darken Hermione, he just wants to shape her values ​​closer to his own.
In this way, in the chatting, the girl quickly forgot about the house elves.
When the two of them arrived at the entrance of Flourishes and Blotts Bookstore, they happened to see a huge banner that read in English:
Gilderoy Lockhart
Signed autobiography for sale
"Magical Me"
Today 12:30-4:30 pm
"Gilderoy Lockhart? He seems to be our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this semester. I have read about him in Wizard Weekly. He should be a very powerful wizard, and I will buy a lot of books about him this semester.
Books." Hermione said, taking out the book list sent by the Hogwarts Owl.
However, it was different from the obvious admiration in the original work, because she had already seen Zuo Si's almost abnormal memory and the speed of learning and mastering magic spells in the first grade, so she only showed a little surprise.
After all, anyone who is not a fool knows that Gilderoy Lockhart's adventure stories are nothing compared to achievements such as inventing magic scrolls and creating the world's second magic stone.
"It seems that our Professor Lockhart is very popular with middle-aged and elderly women." Zuo Si raised the corner of his mouth and teased in a slightly playful tone.
Because at this moment, there is already a long queue in front of the bookstore, and most of them are witches of Mrs. Weasley's age.
An exhausted store clerk struggled to maintain order, but with little success.
No way!
When they heard that Gilderoy Lockhart was signing books and selling books in person, these witches were as excited as if they had been given blood.
To be continued...