[HPforGrownups] Re: Freedom for House-Elves (Was: Kreacher the Plot Device Elf)

[Scarah]

No: HPFGUIDX 162074

a_svirn:
I, for one, do wholeheartedly agree with Dumbledore in this instance.
(Almost unprecedented for me, really). Kreacher didn't ask to be
owned. He most emphatically did not ask to be owned by Sirius. He
rebelled, and managed to destroy his oppressor. I say, good for him.
Bad for Harry, of course.

Sarah:
It's too late for Harry to free Kreacher and risk the alternative, and
by the time Harry showed up at Grimmauld Place it was too late for
Sirius to do the same.  But this does raise the question of why Sirius
wouldn't have freed him straight off, before he had so much
information about who was in the Order, etc.

Free elves can always go get a job at Hogwarts and get paid.

The only reasonable explanation is that Kreacher, if freed, would have
gone to one of the Black sisters, and been able to tell them something
or do something for them that was counter to the Order's wishes (even
prior to the house being made headquarters).  I wouldn't be at all
surprised if Dumbledore made Sirius hold on to Kreacher, the same way
he convinced Harry to.  Dumbledore may have neglected to advise Sirius
as to the optimal treatment of Kreacher, but forgetting stuff like
that isn't exactly completely outside of his characterization.  It's
also not unthinkable in terms of Dumbledore's characterization that he
did provide his hopes for Kreacher's treatment, and Sirius didn't
entirely listen.  Harry's surrogate parents and his possible surrogate
parent, both disregarding Dumbledore's suggestions about treatment of
their charges.

Sarah