Dobby Vs. Kreacher

[Lady Macbeth]

No: HPFGUIDX 74789

And no, this isn't referencing the Celebrity Deathmatch that my brothers
(and a fair number of other people) want to see.  ^_^;

I'm sitting here idling over various fic points and reading e-mails as they
come in and such, and this sudden thought occurs to me.

People like to get really pissed off at Kreacher because of how he behaves
toward Sirius, Harry and their friends, and how he stays loyal to his family
by trying to save all of the Black family things that Sirius and Molly are
trying to throw out.  He disappears from sight whenever someone actually
WANTS to find him, avoids being useful around the house, badmouths
houseguests and is an all-around "anti-house elf".

Now, on the other hand, while Dobby's Jar-Jar Binks impression gets
irritating after a while, people generally are ok with him.  He's worshipful
toward Harry, acts like wizards/witches who give him things, especially
clothes, are the greatest thing since sliced bread, etc.  He cleans the
Gryffindor Common Room by himself when Hermione insults the others by
leaving the hats around.  He helps Harry out with the Triwizard Task by
stealing the gillyweed from Snape's stores.  While he praises his freedom,
he is seemingly the "ideal house elf".

But is he?

In a lot of respects, I think Dobby and Kreacher are two sides of the same
coin, because they are loyal to two sides of the same coin.

Think about when Dobby was a servant to the Malfoys.  He jetted off when he
felt necessary to "warn" Harry of Malfoy's intentions.  Chances are he
wasn't getting much housework done when he was jumping on Harry's bed at
Privet Drive, or dumping a pudding on the Dursley's houseguests.  He made
every attempt at thwarting his family's plans, and even though he 'punished'
himself for it, he was always back to do it again later.  In the end, he
went along with Harry's ploy to get him a sock, and thus have his freedom -
definite loyalty to one's family there. </sarcasm>

And while some will argue, "Well yes, but Dobby had good reason, the
Malfoy's were evil and all, and Sirius and the others were good, so Kreacher
had no reason..." it still is a moot point.  The Hogwarts house elves seem
to take care of the Slytherin dungeons and the Slytherin table just fine,
despite how many "evil" kids are in that house.  They stopped cleaning the
Gryffindor Common Room because of Hermione's hats - if they had taken them,
they would have been freed, thus breaking the vow of loyalty to serve at
Hogwarts.  Certainly Dumbledore probably wouldn't have cared, he'd have put
them on the payroll for "nothing" so that they could stay, but THEY would
know.  The house elves themselves would know that they were free, and
chances are a lot of them would have ended up like Winky.

I think Dobby and Kreacher are BOTH "anti-house elves" - they just go about
it in different manners, because each is exhibiting their own preferences
and attitudes toward those around them, rather than being faithful,
un-biased servants.

-Lady Macbeth


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