Of Sorting and Snape

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 175770

> Magpie:
> It's still a house that was a Slytherin house and is now a 
> Gryffindor house. Kreacher is now Harry's loyal slave. Personally I 
> don't like it as a metaphor (for me the absence of the actual 
> Slytherins speaks far more loudly than how nice their property is),
> but even if I did it would still mostly show how much easier it is 
> to give some beads to a house elf and have him magically make a 
> nice house than more difficult dealings with Harry's antagonists 
> (the kind where Harry was actually wrong in some way).

Jen: Kreacher is bound to serve the House of Black, which happens to 
be owned at the moment by a Gryffindor.  Kreacher is loyal to Harry 
because he has to be by the enchantment, but he remains loyal to 
Regulus (and by extension, the Blacks) as well: "Fight for my Master, 
defender of house-elves!  Fight the Dark Lord, in the name of brave 
Regulus!"*  When I first read those sentences, I thought Kreacher was 
calling Regulus his Master because his chosen loyalty is to the 
Blacks.

It's analogous to Dobby being owned by the Malfoys yet willing to 
defy them in order to keep Harry safe and alive - choosing his 
primary loyalty even if punishment was the consequence.  Kreacher, 
whose still bound by the enchantment to Harry, has always been loyal 
to the Blacks and continues to be, the difference being that his 
master not only permits this loyalty but promotes it as well, by 
giving the fake locket to him & helping Kreacher carry out the last 
order from 'brave Regulus.'

I still think of the Black House as a Slytherin House and Kreacher as 
one who has a chosen loyalty to the Blacks and a forced loyalty to 
Harry, which just happens to be a more amenable term of service than 
it used to be.

Jen

*DH, chap.36, p. 734, Am. Ed.