[HPforGrownups] Can some one clear this up for me?

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 190467

On 5/29/2011 1:13 PM, santababy2009 at sbcglobal.net wrote:
> Does Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom share the same birthdays?
>
> I was told that Kreacher, the "Blacks" elf, realized his ways was
> wrong and becomes friends with the trio...I for one find this hard
> to believe and am wondering when and why does this?? Guess I have
> to reread Deathly Hallows! LOL

Bart:
A) I'll have to re-read it, but I believe Harry & Neville were born one 
day apart.

B) Kreacher didn't realize his ways were wrong. One thing that JKR tried 
to do was to make it that just because a being has human level 
intelligence does not mean that they have human psychology. House elf 
psychology includes a necessity to serve an alpha. Even Dobby, certainly 
neurotic and possibly insane, had a powerful need to serve; he just 
wanted to be paid and to choose who he served. One other thing they 
appear to require, however, is appreciation for their work, even if it 
was just pleasure or satisfaction on the part of their alpha. The most 
twisted elves we saw were Dobby, who was treated as if he could do 
nothing right, decided he wanted freedom to choose his own alpha, and, 
seeing how his previous alpha used money to get his way, decided he 
wanted to be paid. Winky, who was fired for trying to deal with 
conflicting commands the best she could, pretty much stopped trying to 
do anything. Kreacher's previous alphas loved him, appreciated him, and 
they hated Sirius. And, when becoming Sirius' house elf, Sirius did 
something almost as bad as showing lack of appreciation: he abandoned 
Kreacher (at least from Kreacher's point of view). All Kreacher had were 
the portraits, which were empty reminders of his lost beloved Reggie and 
Wallie.

Sirius made the mistake of treating Kreacher as a human servant, rather 
than as a house elf. He let his resentment of his brother and mother. He 
saw Kreacher's continuing loyalty to be an attack on him, and treated 
Kreacher with resentment as well, rather than trying to win Kreacher 
over. The trio, in recognizing Kreacher's affection for Reggie and, more 
importantly, that it was a two-way street, managed to win Kreacher over.

Bart