Kreacher & The Prophecy (was Re: Kreacher)

[arrowsmithbt]

No: HPFGUIDX 91983

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "cubfanbudwoman" <susiequsie23 at s...> 
wrote:
> "I may be wrong, but I'm not uncertain."  Ahhhh, a noble creed,
> Kneasy.  I'm such an over-cautious,
> don't-want-to-offend-anyone-with-my-views kind of person that I could
> take a lesson or two from you in this. ;-)
> 
> I love the "Heathcliffe of Grimmauld Place" asignation; a very
> evocative picture that paints!  
> 
> So, Kneasy, since you like us Siriophiles to come out & play, I'll
> have to ask you to weigh in on this one.  Should Sirius have been more
> forward-thinking in regards to Kreacher?  Should he have known the
> danger of having him about and dismissed him, consequences to Kreacher
> be damned?  Was this more arrogance on Sirius' part, his rash belief
> that he could control Kreacher?  Or is Pippin right, that Sirius kept
> Kreacher out of a sense of obligation...displaying, perhaps, a bit of
> the NOBLE Black?


Don't want to offend anyone? Hells teeth! Why not? I always remember
my dear old dad saying "If you can induce a myocardial infarct, then you've
won the argument." Wise words.

OK. Sirius. First a question from me that may be difficult to answer accurately.
While you were reading OoP what was your reaction to Sirius' behaviour?
Not in retrospect mind, but while you were reading the relevant passages
for the first time.

Did you think "Oh, that's just Sirius and anyway he's reacting against the
family ethic." Or did you think "Silly sod. Pompous oaf. You'll regret that."?
After the event it's easy to see which was the correct analysis. Yes, he was 
being pompous, unthinking, arrogant. That, among other attributes is what
constitutes Sirius. The 100%, copper-bottomed, old-fashioned, genuine 
pure-blood article.

Having any obligation to the family House Elf would be an alien concept.
A House Elf is there *to do* and *to obey*. They don't have feelings; or
if they do, then they are very low on the list of priorities. He feels miffed
because although  his mother is dead Kreachur still abides by her sense
of rightness. Sirius is just an interloper - the disgrace of the family, and
for all the poses that Sirius strikes, he is still a Black. He expects to be
Master of the house and Kreachur is an uncomfortable reminder that  if
he really is on the side of his new friends, then he will never be the true
Master of 12 Grimmauld Place. 

What  Sirius should have done is irrelevent. JKR wrote him as he is, with
a personality that makes his actions ineluctable. He is of a piece. He is 
what he is.
JKR makes much of bloodlines and family throughout the series. Some 
may rise above their heritage - Sirius didn't, no matter how much he
wished to. In this he could be considered a tragic figure - like Heathcliffe.
But it doesn't stop him being true to his nature - like Heathcliffe.

In the final analysis Sirius has  lost just about everything - his family, his
good name, his freedom, his authority, his friends. No wonder he clings to
Harry like a drowning man. Harry gives him what little credibility he has
left among decent people. What effect would it have on him if he thought
that he might lose Harry's respect too? It'd be the traditional glass of whisky
and an AK in the library. "He must  have been cleaning his wand when it
went off." What an epitaph. 

But there's a better way. In the forefront of the battle. Mind you, it might 
have been friendly fire - sort of. 'Cos sure as eggs is eggs others know
Sirius better than he knows himself. He's a danger to the Order, to Harry
and to himself. "He'd have wanted it that way." A much better epitaph.

Kneasy