Harry as Kreacher

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 101095

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "naamagatus" 
<naama_gat at h...> wrote:
> Just a small point here: when exactly did Kreacher serve 
Sirius,  fearfully or otherwise? He never did anything that he was 
supposed to  do - clean, cook, etc. All he did was skulk around, 
get in the way,  insult Sirius and his guests and generally make 
a complete nuisance  of himself. More than that, he did things 
against Sirius' wishes -  such as take away various items that 
Sirius wanted destroyed. <

======
"I asked what you were up to ," said Sirius coldly. "Every time you 
show up pretending to be cleaning, you sneak something off to 
your room so we can't throw it out."

"Kreacher would never move anything from its proper place in 
Master's house," said the elf, then muttered very fast, "Mistress 
would never forgive Kreacher if the tapestry was thrown out, 
seven centuries it's been in the family, Kreacher must save it, 
Kreacher will not let Master and the blood traitors and the brats 
destroy it--"


"I thought it might be that," said Sirius, casting a disdainful look 
at the opposite wall. ""She'll have put another permanent sticking 
charm on the back of it, I don't koubt, but if I can get rid of it I 
certainly will.  Now go away, Kreacher." 

   It seemed that Kreacher did not dare disobey a direct order; 
nevertheless, the look he gave Sirius was redolent of deepest 
loathing and he muttered all the way out of the room.

  "--comes back from Azkaban ordering Kreacher around, oh my 
poor Mistress, what would she say if she saw the house now, 
scum living in it, she swore he was no son of hers and he's 
back, they say he's a murderer, too--"
======
OOP ch 6

Sirius expected Kreacher to obey him, and it seems that 
Kreacher was unable to disobey directly -- or he would have to 
punish himself. I would call that service in fear.

 Kreacher could in fact take only things that Sirius wanted to 
discard--he couldn't  otherwise remove anything from its proper 
place in the house nor steal from Harry or the others, and he 
was forced to keep the secrets of the Order. He was also 
ordered not to leave the house, and could not do so until Sirius 
gave an order he could interpret as allowing him to leave. 

Kreacher could keep from cleaning the house and he could 
allow it to deteriorate but he could not deliberately trash anything 
that Sirius owned--unless he was willing to pay the price.  
Kreacher was forced to punish himself for injuring Buckbeak. 
Harry notes when he speaks to Kreacher in the fire, that the Elf's 
fingers had been injured "recently."

  In fact, Sirius refused to free Kreacher because it would mean 
the Elf would be free of the enchantments which forced him to 
obey  to the limited extent which he did --the irony is that 
Kreacher found a loophole in the orders and was able to do the 
very thing that Sirius kept him in slavery to prevent--provide 
valuable information to the enemy.

Pippin