Minister a Family Man

Up until 6 years ago, the Minister of Magic’s name was Cornelius Fudge. Today it is Arthur Weasley. During the time that Mr. Weasley has been Minister of Magic, there have been many important events that have helped to shape current wizarding society. Among these, the wizarding community came to realise You-know-who was out there, that he had truly risen again, and he was defeated in large part to the efforts of Minister Weasley and his small group of dedicated followers.

He has been a key figure in the defeat of Voldemort, teaching everyone to come to terms with what they were afraid of. And ever since his promotion from the Muggle Artefacts department, he has continued to strive to promote equality among witches and wizards of all blood types. But Minister Weasley would tell you that his greatest achievement is his family.

Arthur Weasley is a man that shines his way into everyone’s hearts: he’s a father to 7 children; Bill (A cursebreaker for Gringotts in Egypt), Charlie (Dragon tamer in Romania), Percy (Works for the ministry), Fred (Co-founder of Weasley Wizard Wheezes (WWW)), George (Co-founder of WWW), Ron (Best friend to Harry Potter, and owner of a Quality Quidditch shop) and Virginia (Who’s a mediwitch), all of whom went to Hogwarts, a loving husband to Molly Weasley, and is loved by many.

His youngest child, Virginia Weasley, has recently moved out, leaving their house quite empty. With the new work hours that come with such an important position, you could almost expect Mrs. Weasley to feel bad about her husband being the Minister of Magic. However, that isn’t so. “Yes, the fact that Arthur is the minister affects everyone in our family, but in a good way. He adores going to work, it’s like he finally found what he was meant to do. The children are very proud of their father, and support him. Our lives took a turn for the better, and even if I miss him at home, it’s not that big of a problem. When my husband is happy, so am I,” Mrs. Weasley says, smiling proudly.

So while Arthur Weasley remains a powerful and capable leader for all of Wizarding Britain, for a rather large clan of redheads, he's so much more.

That was the general outcry of 99 % of the students present during the 1994/95 school year during which a young witch called Hermione Granger brought SPEW (The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare) to life.

SPEW—although having been ridiculed relentlessly at its founding time—has been the spark that kindled the flame of the House Elves’ liberation, since it pointed out a few things the wizarding world had apparently ignored.

House Elves were not allowed to wear suitable clothing because giving them real clothes would have meant for their masters to lose control over them. Furthermore, in spite of the fact that they do not necessarily need to sleep, they find it refreshing and relaxing from time to time. However, many of their former masters were ignorant as to the needs of their servants. A House Elf asking for payment, rest or a day off was a scandal, a shame to their master, and was sacked almost immediately, with little hope to find a place to stay. Free House Elves were treated like pariahs by most parts of wizarding society.

While the greater part of the wizarding world would just ignore the conditions their little, hard-working servants were subject to, it took a certain hardly 14-year-old Muggle-born witch only a minute to realize that the Elves deserved much better. “I was appalled at the way Mr. Smith (name edited for content) treated his House Elf and I knew instantly that it was wrong and decided to do something about it,” Miss Granger said. “That’s what made me found SPEW.”

But not quite two years before the founding of this by now famous organization, Hogwarts had already been witness to a very well-known House Elf liberation: That of Dobby, Lucius Malfoy’s former House Elf—or rather slave, as Miss Granger would prefer to call his situation.
And since a free House Elf—and one who actually liked being free—couldn’t hope for finding a place to stay, Headmaster Dumbledore has been kind enough to offer Dobby shelter, after he had heard that the latter had been freed from slavery in the Malfoy household. This is another one of the numerous small pebbles that built the foundation for the final liberation of the House Elves.

Dobby is basically the one House Elf who was most influential, as he was the first House Elf ever to be paid for their services and get a free day every once in a while! He and many other House Elves are currently in Hogwarts service and reside in the lower parts of Howarts, near the kitchen and laundry, as the desire to work runs in their very blood. It is not unheard of for an Elf to skip their free day and put some extra effort into inventing especially tasty and creative new desserts.

Headmaster Dumbledore currently guarantees them a day off per week and pays them a wage of 5$ for their services, as some of the Elves aren’t quite used to having money of their own yet. “I would gladly pay them more,” Dumbledore pointed out. “I actually had to make up oodles of excuses ranging from especially untidy and sloppy students to extremely pernickety Professors to get them to accept those conditions.” SEE ELVES - pg. 4