10 Dumbest Hermione Granger Moments
9. When She Knitted Hats For House-Elves – The Order Of The Phoenix
Hermione’s pursuit of justice for house-elves certainly came from the right place given that almost all of them weren’t even paid for the work they did.
The problem – as Ron pointed out – was that the Hogwarts house-elves were more than willing to offer their services to Dumbledore. Granted, some families treated their elves with contempt (such as the Malfoys), but those at Hogwarts had a much nicer life than most of their kind.
Moreover, when Hermione left out a number of hats for them to pick up, Dobby became the only house-elf who was willing to clean Gryffindor Tower. As such, her attempt to set them free was rather fruitless.
Had she been trying to set free those who were abused by their masters, her freshly-knitted hats might have been more worthwhile.