S.P.E.W.

SPEW stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare , which was founded by Hermione in 1994. Having been deeply upset at the treatment and general prospects of House-Elves both in Hogwarts and the rest of the wizarding world, Hermione set up SPEW in order to champion their rights.

In particular, Hermione thought it cruel that House-Elves were neither paid nor given holidays for their work, and so she campaigned tirelessly for a change in their working conditions. She even brought a very reluctant Ron and Harry into the organisation with her, although nobody else joined despite her threats. Through various tactics such as badge making and petitioning, Hermione fought the cause with very little effect.

In fact the only upshot of her campaign was that she alienated and infuriated the elves themselves: she was busy knitting clothes to give them in order to set them free, whilst the elves enjoyed their work and found the attempts to deprive them of their status insulting. As a result, they refused to clean the Gryffindor common room any more, meaning that Dobby was the only one prepared to carry out this task. Already being free himself (and being almost unique amongst House-Elves in that this situation was alright with him) he took all the clothes himself, wore most of them (all at once) and passed some of the others on to Winky (who, also having been dismissed, could not sink any lower in her own estimation).

<-- Back To HP Encyclopedia -->