I feel like it isn't talked about nearly enough that Harry freed Kreacher.

And I'm realizing that's because no one else, literally no one I've talked to in this fandom in the last seventeen years, interpreted the scene that way. But when I first read DH, I picked up on it immediately.

Because Harry unequivocally does free Kreacher when he gives him Regulus' locket, and I think that's so important. I get why you might disagree, because they never actually state in the dialogue that Kreacher is free. It's all subtext. You might also say that jewelry is different from clothing, but I don't think we have enough examples to rule it out. (Lucius was tricked into freeing Dobby with a sock that wasn't even his. Far as I'm concerned, if you can wear it, then it counts.)

Harry freed Dobby without hesitation, and why wouldn't he? The sweet little guy was miserable, trapped in servitude to the evil Malfoys. But Kreacher? He was the racist little bastard that betrayed Sirius, Sirius, to the Death Eaters, and had a hand in his death. Of course Harry hated him. Even in OOTP, the point is made that Kreacher cannot be freed, even if Sirius would love to be rid of him, because he simply knows too much information, and they need to keep him bound in service so that he can't pass it on.

In this, we see that Harry's status as an ally to the House Elves is conditional. He wasn't even raised in the magical world like Ron, there's no reason for him to see Elf Slavery as okay, but he just accepts it as part of the magical world because the elves are "happy" and writes off Hermione's campaign as one of her many obsessions. Ron didn't take it seriously, so neither did Harry. He was happy to free Dobby, but to him Dobby was a special case.

Then comes the tale of Regulus. Harry is told all about a Death Eater who had a change of heart for no other reason than because he loved Kreacher, and Voldemort tortured Kreacher, leaving him for dead. Harry cannot fathom it - after all, this is Kreacher. The monster who betrayed Sirius. But Sirius mistreated Kreacher at every turn, something that Harry laughed off because Kreacher was so unpleasant - but it doesn't change the fact that Sirius was literally Kreacher's master, and he regularly abused him. It's not like it's Kreacher's fault that Sirius was abused himself, or that Sirius had to return to Grimmauld Place.

Seeing Kreacher utterly break down was uncomfortable for Harry, because it forced him to confront an uncomfortable truth that conflicted with the worldview he'd set up for himself about the Elves - and about Sirius. Even twenty years later, Kreacher is still attempting to self-harm after failing to follow Regulus' orders, and it's safe to assume Regulus didn't tell him to do that.

At this point, Hermione breaks down too, and she asks them - Harry and Ron - to see what she sees. "Oh don't you see how sick it is, how they've got to obey?" And for the first time, Harry sees it. On a grand scale, he sees it. It's raw, it's awkward, it's painful to confront. But Harry comes to realize that Hermione is right. (As in most things.) Slavery is not okay, no matter the context. The House Elves should be free. Not just the nice ones like Dobby, but even the nasty ones like Kreacher. Because he sees Kreacher trying to "punish himself" just as Dobby has done many times...and I think it hits Harry that no one deserves that.

So he takes a chance. Because freeing Kreacher is still a risk. It gives him back his autonomy. He knows all kinds of information. He knows that Regulus stole the Locket, and that Harry is hunting for it too. If Kreacher were to turn around and backstab the Golden Trio, if Voldemort learned what he knew, everything would be lost. And Kreacher could do that. But Harry chooses to believe that he won't. And he recognizes that even that risk is no excuse to keep a slave.

Cause here's the thing. Even if jewelry "doesn't count" (highly debatable imo) that doesn't mean Harry would know that. So far as he knows, he's giving Kreacher something to wear, and he has personal experience with what that means to Elves. The entire scene reads like Kreacher is being freed. Call it a headcanon if you must but I have believed this for years.

Yes, Kreacher stayed in Grimmauld Place. Of course he did. He loves it there, that's his home. Where is he going to go? And yes, he continues to serve Harry after this and even calls him "Master." Because that's what he knows. I'm not saying Harry broke the conditioning. That kind of thing would take years. If she'd been allowed to, Winky would have carried on serving The Crouches after her dismissal. But the important thing is, Harry gave Kreacher the locket. Whatever enchantment it was that bound Kreacher in service to Harry would have broken when Harry gave him the locket.

I know everyone loves to mock the moment at the end when Harry's first thought after defeating Voldemort is whether or not his slave will bring him a sandwich, but, guys. It's a throwaway line about a sandwich. Harry isn't going to order Kreacher to do it. At most he's going to ask. Kreacher is old, and pretty set in his ways. Deprogramming might not even be possible for him at this point. But everything we see of their relationship following Regulus' tale shows Harry respecting Kreacher as a friend, not a slave. He gave Kreacher his autonomy back by freeing him, and, when Kreacher made the choice to stay, Harry treated him with kindness.

This is actually blowing my mind because for so many years I just took this as a given but I realized I'd never seen anyone else talking about it and it turns out I'm in the minority for interpreting it this way? It just seemed so straightforward to me...

James, Albus, and Lily all singing along to pop songs in the kitchen while Kreacher cooks breakfast.

Teddy is there trying to help with breakfast, and Scorpius is there trying to comprehend the chaos around him, and Harry and Ron are coming down the stairs to have breakfast with their family.

"Reg?” And the thing is, Regulus would recognise that voice anywhere. It’s the first voice that had ever brought him comfort, the one that sang him to sleep when he was a child and he had woken from a nightmare, the one that foregrounded Regulus’ idea of safety. Sirius was here, and Regulus was alive, and he was safe and he didn’t know how but his brother was here and so everything would be alright.

He was alive, and wasn’t that strange?

_

I wrote a sequel to this fic! Read now on AO3! :))

I wish I could speak to the Black family member that decided KREACHER was a good name. Like I'm not mad I'm just curious on how you came to the conclusion and had centuries of people agree to it

Kreacher

"I know I will be long dead before you read this..."

„A man will die, but not his ideas“ except its Regulus Black and Hermione Granger about the slavery House Elves endure.

I’m so fucking piss off that they didn’t even named Narcissa.

Day 28: Written Apr 15, 2024

Part 17

CW: canonical treatment of house elves (sorta)

Kreacher tried to fight Regulus on who should give their blood to the warding. Regulus didn’t let him. It was his decision and he already felt terrible bringing Kreacher back to a place he almost died. When they were facing the lake with the little island of crystal that Kreacher had described to him, Regulus turned to him. 

“When we get the locket, take it straight back to Grimmauld Place. No matter the state I am in. Destroy it, Kreacher. That’s an order. 

Kreacher stood so stiffly the Regulus thought his spine might snap. He clearly wanted to sat something; to defy him. But he gave a short nod and stayed quiet.

“Thank you, Kreacher.” Whispered Regulus.

They took a dingy across the still water, sending unnatural ripples into the darkness. When the boat knocked into the island, Regulus stepped out followed closely by Kreacher. Their steps crushed and crunched crystals under their feet.

beginning | previous | next

Rambles and thoughts while writing under the cut:

So sometimes I have a lot of random thoughts while I'm writing these scenes but I don't want to make the posts super long so I'm gonna put them here.

It really bothers me how house elves are written in canon and even most fanfiction. I've read very few fics where the enslavement of house elves is seen as bad by characters. So in this story, I'm going to be changing some things about house elves, especially that they like being enslaved cuz that's just fucked up. No, Kreacher is not free. Yes, he has prejudiced ideas about blood purity seeing as he has been conditioned to from birth. Regulus treats him relatively well since I do not want to write a protagonist being happy to have a slave. (But no matter how well he treats house elves, he's still a slave owner) However, I don't think at this point Regulus would fully have a grasp on the ethics of house elf slavery and he probably doesn't have the power to free Kreacher anyway. In the future, he will regret some of his actions toward Kreacher and his opinions about house elves. Eventually, he would totally join SPEW.

All of this isn't a big part of the story but I will never write a fic that either supports or ignores slavery no matter how fictional it is.

(Usually my rambles won't be as heavy)

@zn0v1a

Drew some house elves to the page with post-Hogwarts Hermione. I really love them all. Kinda thought-provoking and charming. Sorry I couldn’t commit to Kreacher in solely a loincloth scrap

reading a fic from Regulus’ pov and tell me why I am now Kreacher’s #1 fan help

hi Blair :) I read your post on house elves and i wanted to infodump about my thoughts/headcanons on elves. It’s one of the most interesting parts of the wizarding world to me.

House elves do not actually like being enslaved. So many people jump to the conclusion that “oh house elves love being slaves, and Dobby and Hermione are supposed to be the weird ones.” I don’t think that’s true, for multiple reasons.

-You touched on this in your post but first reason is that house elves are brainwashed. One of the unforgivables gives a wizard the power to control someone. According to the wiki, it’s only illegal to use an unforgivable curse on humans. There’s also other ways of controlling someone in the wizarding world, such as amortentia (keep in mind that there’s a half elf in the fantastic beast series). Even if they aren’t magically brainwashed, house elves have been a part of the wizarding world for ages, and would be raised with the expectation that they would serve wizards.

Second reason is the wars. Dobby mentions that the first war was a dark time for house elves. Goblet of fire takes place before the second war begins. I know elves have magic but it doesn’t seem like they have any defensive magic. They’re small creatures that are easily harmed/forced to harm themselves. We’ve seen how death eaters such as Lucius Malfoy of the Blacks treat their own elves. How would they have fared underneath Voldemort’s regime? 

My belief is that elves tolerate captivity in exchange for safety and protection from wizards. Sure, wizards do abuse elves and the Black family specifically beheaded their elves when they got too old. However, without an employer, the elves risk being killed by random wizards or other creatures. This is why I brought up the wars because most death eaters would not hesitate to harm an elf.

This next one is more specific to the kitchen elves. I think they were mad at Hermione because she was condescending and because Hogwarts is the best job they could get. They’re surrounded by fellow elves. They’re not abused. Dobby at least gets paid, and it’s possible some of the other elves are too. Their refusal to touch the socks that Hermione leaves could also be because they don’t want to risk losing this job. I don’t think they would be kicked out for handling clothes, but the risk of homeless is not worth it.

After the second war, more protections were put in place for elves. The biggest is that their owners would face legal repercussions if they abused their elves. More job opportunities opened for elves besides domestic work. Hermione took a more subtle approach this time and worked on deprogramming the younger elves.

Infodumps are the best kind of dumps!

Yes, yes! They are brainwashed! Anytime a story features a group of slaves who are "just so happy" to be enslaved...like, that's not the story saying it's a good thing. You gotta read between the lines. Doctor Who did the same thing with The Ood, and just line with the House Elves, there was more to that story than initially presented. Anytime a slave is happy about their situation, one can assume it's because they are conditioned to feel that way. Especially if they say that they have "no right to feel unhappy when there's jobs to be done and masters to be served." Like, that line has stuck with me since my childhood, it is so fucking chilling. How do Ron and Harry hear something like that and not become immediately radicalized?

I have no idea what sort of magic binds the House Elves into slavery but it must be quite powerful because House Elf magic is otherwise depicted as stronger than human magic. They can bypass things like Anti-Disapparation Charms and everything. I never considered The Imperius Curse but I can't imagine it's that simple either, because the Elves are often "inherited" and seem to retain the conditioning even when they're between Masters. Dobby was free for a couple of years, and made much more progress in his deprogramming, but he still couldn't speak a word against the Malfoys. Fast forward three years later, he had overcome the trauma enough to return to the belly of the beast and confront his old masters, even fight them, for the sake of his friends. So I think the conditioning can be broken, just like in real life, but it would take time. It would take a healthy environment. It would take an elf who actually wants to be free, and with the world House Elves are raised in, most of them aren't going to want that.

I...completely forgot there was a Half-Elf in the Potterverse. I know who you mean, too. The sweet little woman who took care of Credence. (Or maybe it was Corvus? I'm still a little fuzzy on the details.) But either way, that....that is horrifying. That sends chills down my spine, to consider the implications of just how that happened. Because there's no fucking way that was a consenting relationship. House Elves do appear to have human level intelligence so it's theoretically possible...in the distant future when House Elf slavery has been abolished for generations. But, in the nineteenth century? It would never happen. That just gives me the creepy crawlies and I wonder how many monsters out there exploited their Elf's absolute obedience to do the unspeakable.

It seems like a House Elf can do almost anything but their highest law is their master's bidding. Kreacher was ordered to return home from the cave, so he did. It was that simple. On the other hand, he was also ordered to destroy The Horcrux, and he couldn't do that. But Horcruxes are a cut above "usual" magic, so that may just be a special case. All I know is, House Elves would have been miserable under Voldemort's rule. He framed Hokey for murder. He tortured Kreacher and left him to be ripped apart by Inferi. I know it's a general rule of thumb that everything would be worse with Voldemort in charge, but especially for minorities and the House Elves are a minority.

The idea that House Elves tolerate enslavement because it provides protection from being killed in the wild is an intriguing one. I don't think it would be the case anymore, by the time Harry was growing up. But I wouldn't be surprised if this was how they did it. If this was how Wizards successfully subjugated the Elf race. By creating a world where it was sport to hunt them and then offering them a "way out." This would have been centuries ago, most likely. Yet even now, Wizards fear the Elves, even if they would never say so. There's a reason why it's literally illegal for any non-human to carry or use a wand.

I think you're absolutely right about the Hogwarts' Elves. They are likely a reflection of the mindset of Elven culture in general, especially when we look at Winky, but it's also a fact that working at Hogwarts is the greatest job they could hope to have. I know I give Dumbledore a lot of shit, but he did good here. Keeping slaves is never okay, but most of the time, the slaves in question would choose freedom if that was an option for them. These slaves won't do that, so the best you can do for them is give them a job where they're treated well and get to be among their own kind. If the other Elves asked for their freedom, to be paid fair wages, I'm sure Dumbledore would do that. And I don't usually praise the man but he'd have no reason not to.

But the fact is, they'll never do that. Not without real change, the kind of change Hermione wants to bring. Yes, Dobby is paid, but even he turned down fair wages and terms because, as he put it, he liked being free but he also liked working. The other House Elves seem to be embarrassed, even ashamed, at the ways Dobby doesn't conform to the expected status quo. It's also probably at least in part because he was freed. I'm sure a number of these Elves were, but Dobby and Winky are the only confirmed elves at Hogwarts who were freed, and they're equally ashamed of Winky, as she is ashamed of herself.

As for handling clothes...honestly, this gets into woolly territory because the books never answer the question of laundry. Can House Elves handle laundry? I have to assume they can. With that in mind, being freed is probably a more ceremonial thing, where the Master explicitly presents the Elf with a piece of clothing. (On the other hand, we see that this can be done accidentally, so who the hell knows.) I just don't think picking up clothes without even realizing it would count. Also, not for nothing, but....Hermione cannot free the Hogwarts Elves. She is not their Master, she doesn't have that power. She also cannot free Kreacher, despite Ron warning her not to give him clothes. I'm not sure why all of the characters act as if this is something she can do, including Hermione herself, but it just muddies the waters even further, in terms of figuring out how this rule works.

I do like to imagine that Hermione took a more subtle approach to dealing with Elf Slavery as her original strategy clearly wasn't working. But I don't know. This is the same girl who lit Snape on fire. Who kidnapped Rita Skeeter. Who scarred Marietta Edgecombe. When Hermione gets passionate about something, she doesn't do things by halves. Still, we know she eventually became Minister of Magic (one of the only things from Cursed Child canon I will accept) so it's safe to say she set the wizarding world on the right path, even if she didn't manage to completely abolish House Elf enslavement in her lifetime.

arguing with a Snater who believes we should judge Snape like an irl supremacist (doesn’t matter he switched sides and saved lives) but we SHOULDN’T judge Sirius as a irl SLAVE MASTER because guess whose their fav 🤨

🙈 didn’t believe Sirius abused his SLAVE in the books:

“At which Sirius, ignoring Hermione’s protests, seized Kreacher by the back of his loincloth and threw him bodily from the room.”

🙉 didn’t believe me that WALBURGA was nice to Kreacher when Sirius wasn’t. It took me a while to find in the books. if someone else wants it:

“Harry, Kreacher doesn’t think like that,” said Hermione, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand. “He’s a slave; house-elves are used to bad, even brutal treatment; what Voldemort did to Kreacher wasn’t that far out of the common way. What do wizard wars mean to an elf like Kreacher? He’s loyal to people who are kind to him, and Mrs. Black must have been, and Regulus certainly was, so he served them willingly and parroted their beliefs.

they think Lucius mistreats Dobby but Sirius mistreating Kreacher doesn’t count. Typical Marauders fandom. Abuse is determined by the quality of the victim not the acts of abuse

@moonlightdancer26 tagging you bestie

What if...

•Sirius watches Percy Jackson and the Olympians and his favourite character is Annabeth?

•Harry plays Roblox and Snape plays Roblox too, And they both are dating in roblox without knowing their real identity?!?

•Dumbledore watches Hello Kitty and his favourite character is Cinnamonroll ?!?

• Mcgonagall is aromantic or asexual ?!?

•Dobby and Kreacher are dating ?!?

Yk I think it is a little bit unfair when people are like regulus didn't even care about killing people just about kreacher getting hurt and stuff. So like no, I don't think it was that his line was off abuse and not humans abuse. I think that everybody has breaking point and he was probably raised around a lot of people being hurt all the time and he probably had only one constant in his life being that elf and he probably thought that everything around him maybe just wouldn't touch him more and that since he had nobody he wouldn't have to feel the loss and then when kreacher was on danger he probably just snapped

At last at last at LAST I actually have a second head canon.

So…about that post-battle sandwich.

It was not a sandwich.

It was…a steak-and-kidney pie. Exactly like the one they did not eat after the Ministry mission went sideways and the Fidelius charm broke.

Kreacher apparates into the Gryffindor dorm where they are hiding from everything cause they’re wiped and it’s Too Much. He gives the three of them a stern, unloving look that fools no one, sets the pie down, nods once, and leaves.