Dumbledore's Hypocrisy/Sirius and Kreacher

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 129315



> > > Alla:
> > > 
> > >> Kreacher consciously 
> > > betrayed Sirius. I think Harry had an absolute right to hate 
him for 
> > > a while, but nope, Dumbledore goes on and on and on. :-)
> > >
> > 
> > a_svirn:
> > 
> > How did Kreacher "betray" Sirius, when he never was loyal to him 
in 
> > the first place and never even pretended to be?

Jim Ferer:
> 
> You certainly can argue Kreacher had a duty to Sirius, being the 
Black
> family house elf.  If I had an employee who did what Kreacher did,
> that employee betrayed me.  I know house-elves are slaves, not
> employees, but if you argue that justifies his betrayal, that's a
> different argument.



This is very right: he is no employee. And loyalty can only be 
freely given, therefore slaves have none. So if you had a slave 
you'd better not to expect anything of the sort. 

Besides I would argue that as a family elf, Kreacher discharged his 
duty to the House of Black admirably. From his perspective it was 
Sirius who had betrayed the family and forsaken his inheritance, 
after all. Moreover he made his views abundantly clear, so there can 
be no question of duplicity and betrayal. 

a_svirn