Kreacher (was Re: Ch Disc: Ch 4 No. Twelve, Grimmauld Place)

[annemehr]

No: HPFGUIDX 83866

 
> Shirley wrote:
> <<Kreacher injured Buckbeak so that Sirius would have to tend to 
> Buckbeak's wounds, which would keep Sirius out of the way when Harry 
> floo-powdered into the kitchen fireplace to check on him (Sirius). 
><snip> And, I 
> think that Kreacher's hands are bandaged because he punished himself 
> after injuring Buckbeak...>>
> 
> Granny responds:
> I don't know.  I'd imagined a completely different scenario.  For
one thing, the time element is problematic in Shirley's scenario.  How
would Kreacher have known that Harry was going to appear in the fire
place?  Then, when Harry did appear, would he have had time to go up,
injure Buckbeak (a hippogriff isn't exactly a docile creature), iron
his hands,  then return to Harry?<

Annemehr:
The source for the information that Kreacher injured Buckbeak to keep
Sirius out of the way is Dumbledore during the end-of-OoP chat, ch.
37, take it for what you will:

"Kreacher injured Buckbeak the hippogriff yesterday, and at the moment
when you made your appearance in the fire, Sirius was upstairs trying
to tend to him." (p. 831 Scholastic ed.)

Another possible explanation for the bandaged hands is that Buckbeak
managed to do a little injuring on his own.  Shirley's version makes
more sense, though, as long as Kreacher felt constrained by "the
rules" not to harm any possession of his master's (does anyone think
Sirius would have actually ordered him not to harm Buckbeak?).

I don't think the timing is a problem at all.  I think it is quite a
safe assumption that Voldemort knew exactly when Harry had received
the image of Sirius being tortured.  Voldemort would then know that it
was time to set things in motion: have Kreacher injure Buckbeak, send
the DEs to the MoM to clear Harry's way, and whatever else may have
needed to be done.  It's also not unreasonable to think that Voldemort
had set up some way of signalling Kreacher whenever he needed to
communicate with him, now that Kreacher can sneak out of the house and
apparate to the Malfoys' or wherever.  I think Voldemort would indeed
prepare for the possibility of Harry trying to check on Sirius.  I
think the injury to Buckbeak would have been fairly serious in order
to keep Sirius occupied for a long time. 

Annemehr
who's dying to know what became of Buckbeak and Kreacher