Wondering about hiding... spoilers

[Andromeda]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "entropymail" 
<entropymail at y...> wrote:
> Dumbledore mentions to Draco that the Order has ways of hiding 
people
> from the DEs, intimating that they could "fake" his (Draco's) 
death in
> a way that he would never be found out.  
> 
> This got me to thinking. Dumbledore seems to be talking about this 
as
> if it is a tried-and-true method of hiding, and I wonder just who 
we
> know who may be in hiding already.  Of course, my first pick for a
> faked death would be Sirius -- Grimmauld Place was just not working
> out for him anymore.  But what about Regulus? He seems an awfully 
good
> candidate, and I could see him popping into Harry's life as a sort 
of
> Sirius-substitute. And perhaps Aberforth. We don't know much about 
him
> at all (yet!). 
> 
> In addition, this hiding business brings to mind the Quibbler 
article
> in which Doris Purkiss reveals that Sirius Black is actually Stubby
> Boardman, lead singer of the Hobgoblins. Just how closely does 
Regulus
> resemble his brother Sirius, anyway?
> 
> :: Entropy ::


me now:
I like this train of thought (about Regulus possibly being alive in 
hiding, and maybe Stubby, if he is RAB), but my problem with him (or 
Sirius) still being alive is that they discover that Kreacher has to 
obey Harry.  It seems if Regulus, last Black, were still alive that 
wouldn't be so.  ON the other hand, nobody seems to know exactly how 
that house elf slave bond works, since DD didn't (apparently) know 
if Kreacher truly was Harry's until they tested it.

 Since the bond is magical, does an elf have any magical sense of 
whether his master is still alive?  OR is it all written in some 
contract and if the master is declared or presumed dead, the elf 
must transfer loyalty to next of kin? 
BIt of a digression there, sorry.
Andromeda