No sympathy for Kreacher

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 124489


Nora:
> 
> I always got the impression from the text that Sirius would have 
> *liked* to free Kreacher and thus be rid of him, but could not 
> because of security constraints.
> 
> "We can't set him free, he knows too much about the Order," 
said  Sirius curtly. (OotP, American ed., p. 110)
> 
> I haven't hunted it down the recurrences of that class of 
modifiers  in conjunction with Sirius, but that 'curtly' gives me the 
impression  that there was a discussion and argument had 
about such, and Sirius  lost to Dumbledore.<

Pippin:
Sirius never hesitates to invoke Dumbledore as the reason 
something can't be done. Why be secretive about it? I took the 
'curtly' as an admission that it was Sirius's fault that Kreacher 
learned so much in the first place.

"I warned Sirius when we adopted twelve Grimmauld Place as 
our headquarters that Kreacher must be treated with kindness 
and respect. I also told him that Kreacher could be dangerous to 
us. I do not think that Sirius took me very seriously, or that he 
ever saw Kreacher as a being with feelings as acute as a 
human's--" --Dumbledore, OOP ch 37.

I don't think Sirius had that conversation with Dumbledore or  
realized that Kreacher might be dangerous until after he'd 
carelessly allowed the House Elf to learn Order secrets.


> -Nora notes that fear and trust are mutually exclusive, as are 
fear  and genuine respect<

Pippin quotes: Fear the Lord, that your days may be long upon 
the earth. There is a kind of fear that is not mutually exclusive 
with trust or respect. I think Dumbledore is saying that if  Sirius 
had had more respect for Kreacher, he would not have 
discounted his intelligence or his will to do damage.

Pippin