Chapter 67: The Domesticated Little Elf (Please Keep Reading)

A few days later, Old Tom found a wizard named Kettle for Carn, who had just passed the N.E.W.T. examination in Potions. Kettle had graduated from Hufflepuff nearly three years ago and had yet to secure a suitable job.

Kettle was eager to make her way in the wizarding world, but her N.E.W.T. certificate in Potions wasn’t much use at the Ministry of Magic. Potion shops in Britain’s wizarding community had fixed partners and apprentices, making it difficult for Kettle to find appropriate employment.

If not for Old Tom contacting her, Kettle would have had to return home to inherit her father’s bakery, earning a living as a Muggle.

This was not uncommon in the wizarding world. Though Kettle could brew potions, without a potion shop vouching for her, no one would buy from her. Potions were a subtle and intricate discipline; a slight mistake could turn a harmless brew into deadly poison.

Thus, most people preferred to spend a bit more at St. Mungo’s Hospital or Slughorn’s Potion Shop, rather than buy potions from strangers.

It was the high salary Carn offered that tempted Kettle to accept the invitation. After all, Aurors earned only between 1,500 to 3,000 Galleons a year, while Kettle’s weekly income would reach 100 Galleons.

Though the work was only for a month, Carn had hinted to Kettle that if she performed well, he would hire her as a potion apprentice once he opened his own shop.

Carn’s wealth had already been demonstrated by his house-elves, which were a symbol of substantial fortune; those without property could never afford to keep house-elves.

Moreover, Carn had two. After a little thought, Kettle accepted Carn’s offer, and with the promise of an apprenticeship, she devoted herself entirely to teaching Hermione Granger, even drafting a Potions curriculum for her.

Besides recruiting Kettle, Carn’s other significant gain was acquiring two house-elves, Phil and Isaac, who became his personal property after signing a contract at the Ministry of Magic.

The Ministry also gave him a booklet outlining prohibitions for house-elves, the first of which was forbidding them from handling wands, among many other restrictions.

However, the Ministry could draft these rules as it pleased; Carn had no intention of obeying them. The house-elves’ servility was deeply ingrained—especially Phil and Isaac. Knowing they would never betray him, Carn naturally sought to increase their strength.

He permitted them to practice attack magic and use wands, for better protection of their master. The elves, of course, would not refuse Carn’s orders.

The Ministry found it difficult to monitor house-elves; even if it learned Carn was indulging his elves, the worst punishment would be a fine, or perhaps some legal sanction from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. They might even declare Carn a dark wizard, but they could not deprive him of ownership unless he died.

After Phil and Isaac moved into Carn’s home, they cleaned it meticulously. Phil excelled at cooking and cleaning, while Isaac sulked on the side, having lost out to Phil in the chores.

Once they became his servants, Carn issued several orders, one of which forbade them from self-harming without his permission.

The best remedy for mistakes was reflection, to increase value for the master, not self-mutilation that would force Carn to spend Galleons healing them—a double loss.

Carn instilled this principle in Phil and Isaac, and soon they accepted it as gospel.

One evening, after they had finished cleaning the entire building, Carn summoned them for questioning.

“Phil, Isaac, do you know any attack magic?”

The two house-elves’ protruding green eyes flashed with panic at the question, their hands trembling as they stammered, “Master, house-elves would never attack their master…”

“Phil, I need you to protect me, and when I’m not around, to protect my goddaughter Hermione Granger as well. You must possess a certain level of power, understood?”

Carn interrupted Phil, making his master’s safety the paramount concern.

Hearing this, Phil and Isaac ignored the rule against house-elves practicing attack magic, now focused solely on their master’s safety.

“Master, our magic is somewhat different from wizards’, but attack spells are much the same…”

After hearing their reply, Carn gleaned a bit about the house-elves’ abilities. Their magic and power differed from wizards’ due to their species, but house-elves were natural masters of magic; many spells they cast were superior even to pure-blood wizards’.

And that was without using wands. According to Phil and Isaac, they had never used wands since birth—no wandmaker crafted wands for elves, so they didn’t know how much a wand might enhance their abilities.

Carn then produced ten wands, letting Phil and Isaac each pick one to get accustomed to. If they found it useful, the wands would belong to them, but under strict instruction never to let a wizard see them using it; if seen, they were to erase the witness’s memory. This was Carn’s mandate.

Hermione now studied daily with Kettle. Besides Potions, Kettle could also teach her the spellwork from the first five years, so Carn increased Kettle’s pay by 50 Galleons a week to compensate for the extended teaching hours.

The house-elves moved into Carn’s new home in Diagon Alley; Isaac was stationed there, while Phil accompanied Carn back and forth.

With Phil and Isaac’s protection, both of Carn’s homes became extremely secure. The elves even added basic protective enchantments; anyone weaker than them in magic could never breach their spells.

...

“Dragon’s blood is so hard to acquire. It seems, aside from trading with powerful wizards, I’ll have to try my luck in Knockturn Alley…”

Carn had never gone to Knockturn Alley, fearing scams—the hearts of those dark wizards were colder than any capitalist. Carn, at worst, was after money; those dark wizards would take your money and your life.

But legitimate channels were too difficult—he couldn’t even buy dragon’s blood, let alone unicorn flesh or phoenix blood, which was nearly impossible for Carn.

Perhaps he could make a donation to Hogwarts? Carn recalled Hogwarts was always short on funds; Lucius Malfoy’s position as a governor was surely linked to his financial contributions.

After much deliberation, Carn decided to make a trip to Knockturn Alley, at least to collect some blood and genes of magical creatures.