Hermione’s tiny Unseelie Court (as Andrealphus liked to call them) of imps, or her Army of Darkness (as Paimon preferred to call them) changed and grew as she took more house-elves in need under her wing. She also learnt how to safely send some willing volunteers "home" to the demonic realm – properly freed at last. Dobby was the first to volunteer – feeling the effects of being without a master, but wanting to remain free. Some who were sent there to live spoke of her in such reverent awe that they accidentally recruited imps eager to join her on earth. And so her followers grew in number, blending in with the Hogwarts house-elves who’d never betray Mistress Hermione, the saviour of the sick, old, and forsaken. While an increasing number of them wore a toga embroidered with the rune Hagalaz – H for Hermione, as well as being symbolic of dark, destructive feminine power and change – it went unnoticed. For the mark of a good house-elf was that they did their work unseen, after all. The rune was also similar enough to the Hogwarts initial on the crest to pass without notice.