Kreacher

Kreacher
Physical information
Species	House-elf
Gender	Male
Hair colour	White
Relationship information
Family members	Mother †
Affiliation
Occupation	Housekeeper of the Blacks
Loyalty	The Blacks (formerly) Harry Potter Hogwarts Death Eaters (indirectly)

"Kreacher is what he has been made by wizards, Harry. Yes, he is to be pitied. His existence has been as miserable as your friend Dobby's. He was forced to do Sirius's bidding, because Sirius was the last of the family to which he was enslaved, but he felt no true loyalty to him. And whatever Kreacher's faults, it must be admitted that Sirius did nothing to make Kreacher's lot easier."

— Albus Dumbledore on Kreacher

Kreacher is an aged house-elf who served the House of Black with fanatical loyalty for most of his life, until he was left to Harry Potter upon the death of Sirius Black in 1996. He was particularly fond of "his mistress" Walburga Black, who died in 1985, but whose portrait still shrieks orders from the wall in the front hall of the Black house. After Mrs. Black's death, Kreacher let the home fall into disarray, doing little, if any, cleaning. He was also fiercely loyal to Regulus Black, for whom he fought in the Battle of Hogwarts along with many other house-elves. He is described to have many folds of skin as well as white hairs in his ears, and he is supposed to have a deep "bullfrog" voice.

Quick Answers

Who was the 'mistress' Kreacher was particularly fond of in the Harry Potter series?

In the Harry Potter series, the 'mistress' Kreacher was particularly fond of was Walburga Black. She was a member of the House of Black, a family Kreacher served with fanatical loyalty. Even after her death in 1985, Kreacher continued to obey the orders from her portrait that hung in the Black house.

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What happened to Kreacher's cleaning habits after the death of Walburga Black?

After the death of his beloved mistress, Walburga Black, Kreacher, the house-elf from Harry Potter, let the Black family home fall into disarray. His cleaning habits significantly declined, and he was rarely seen tidying up. Instead, he developed a habit of stealing items that reminded him of his loyalty to the Black family. His solitude in the house may have also contributed to his eccentric behavior and perceived madness.

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How did Kreacher come to serve Harry Potter?

Kreacher started serving Harry Potter after the death of his previous master, Sirius Black. In his will, Sirius left everything he owned to Harry, including Kreacher. However, Harry initially wanted nothing to do with Kreacher, but he couldn't risk setting him free due to the sensitive information Kreacher had about the Order. As a result, Harry sent Kreacher to work in the Hogwarts' kitchens, thus beginning his service to Harry.

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What is the relationship between Dobby and Kreacher in the Harry Potter series?

In the Harry Potter series, Dobby and Kreacher, both house-elves, have a complex relationship. Initially, they have a bad relationship due to their differing opinions of Harry Potter. Kreacher, who initially dislikes Harry, gets into a brawl with Dobby after insulting Harry. Dobby, on the other hand, has a deep respect and love for Harry. Despite their differences, they eventually work together to spy on Draco Malfoy, showing that their relationship evolves over time.

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Did Kreacher ever lie to Harry Potter, and if so, what about?

Yes, Kreacher did lie to Harry Potter. This happened when Kreacher misled Harry into believing that Sirius Black was in danger at the Department of Mysteries. This lie led Harry to rush to the Department of Mysteries, which unfortunately resulted in Sirius Black's death.

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Biography

Serving Masters

Under Master Regulus Black

In 1979, when Lord Voldemort told Regulus Black that he needed a house-elf, Regulus volunteered Kreacher, saying it would be an honour to serve the Dark Lord. Voldemort took Kreacher to the Horcrux Cave and forced him to drink the potion in the basin so that Voldemort could place Salazar Slytherin's Locket in the basin. Voldemort then left, leaving Kreacher to drink from the lake and die at the hands of the Inferi. However, Voldemort did not remember (or did not realize) that house-elves have their own special type of magic and Kreacher was able to Disapparate from the cave when Regulus told him to come home.

Regulus later had Kreacher to take him back to the Horcrux Cave. Regulus drank the potion himself and ordered Kreacher to switch Slytherin's Locket with a fake locket and then go home and destroy the "real" locket, leaving Regulus to die in the cave. Regulus also ordered Kreacher to never tell his family what had happened to him. Kreacher left as ordered but was unable to destroy the locket, despite his many attempts. This inability to complete an order of his master may have drove him to insanity, explaining muttering and devotion to his mistress' painting.

Under the Order of the Phoenix

"I warned Sirius when we adopted twelve Grimmauld Place as our headquarters that Kreacher must be treated with kindness and respect. I also told him that Kreacher could be dangerous to us. I do not think that Sirius took me very seriously, or that he ever saw Kreacher as a being with feelings as acute as a human's."

— Albus Dumbledore after Sirius's death

Kreacher serving under the Order in 1995.

Kreacher was loyal only to pure-blood wizards in general, Walburga Black in particular. After her death, however, Sirius Black became Kreacher's master, despite having been considered a blood traitor. Kreacher was hostile to Sirius and to the entire Order of the Phoenix when they used 12 Grimmauld Place as their Headquarters, but was forced to serve Sirius. He was known to steal Black family heirlooms during the Order's cleaning efforts and hide them in his den in the kitchen cupboard. In turn, Sirius took the items and threw them away, and berated Kreacher in harsh and cruel words.

"Nasty brat, standing there as bold as brass. Harry Potter, the boy who stopped the Dark Lord. Friend of mudbloods and blood-traitors alike."

— Kreacher when he first met Harry Potter in 12 Grimmauld Place

Kreacher was considered somewhat of a liability by the Order of the Phoenix, who used the Blacks' house as headquarters; as a house-elf, Kreacher overheard things of a sensitive nature. He was forbidden, however, to speak of the most important things, but sometime in December 1995, when he witnessed Harry and the Weasley children arrive by Portkey after Arthur was attacked, Sirius told him to "get out". Taking that to mean literally leaving the house, he went to the Malfoy family, close relatives of the Blacks, and told Narcissa Malfoy née Black and Bellatrix Lestrange née Black several details that were not considered to be of any importance, which ultimately led to Sirius' demise. Narcissa and Bellatrix treated Kreacher kindly to get him to cooperate with them. Thus, when Harry Potter used the Floo-network to check with 12 Grimmauld Place in June asking if Sirius was there, Kreacher lied. This convinced Harry that his vision of Sirius being tortured in the Department of Mysteries was true, and led him and his friends to attempt to rescue him. This resulted in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries in which Sirius was killed by Bellatrix.

Under Master Harry Potter

Dumbledore: "Give him an order. If he has passed into your ownership, he will have to obey. If not, then we shall have to think of some other means of keeping him from his rightful mistress."

Kreacher: "Won't, won't, won't, WON'T!"

Harry: "KREACHER, SHUT UP!"

— Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore and Kreacher

Kreacher inside the House of Black.

Sirius left all his belongings, including Kreacher, to his godson. Harry, who had no desire to have anything to do with Kreacher, ordered him to work in the kitchens at Hogwarts with the other house-elves at Dumbledore's suggestion, where he and the other house-elves could keep a close watch on him. This eventually turned out to Harry's advantage, as Kreacher — along with Dobby, another house-elf working at Hogwarts — tailed Draco Malfoy for him when he suspected Malfoy to be up to no good. Kreacher disliked Harry, and only followed his orders because he had to. For Christmas in 1996, Kreacher gave Harry a box of maggots.

Harry: "I don’t understand you, Kreacher. Voldemort tried to kill you, Regulus died to bring Voldemort down, but you were still happy to betray Sirius to Voldemort? You were happy to go to Narcissa and Bellatrix, and pass information to Voldemort through them …"

Hermione: "Harry, Kreacher doesn’t think like that. 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... I’ve said all along that wizards would pay for how they treat house-elves. Well, Voldemort did … and so did Sirius."

— Harry and Hermione discussing Kreacher

Kreacher at Hogwarts.

In 1997, Harry made Kreacher tell him about Regulus Arcturus Black, who he had correctly deduced was the R.A.B. who took Salazar Slytherin's Locket from the Horcrux Cave. Kreacher told Harry, Ron, and Hermione the story of the two lockets and his inability to destroy the real one. He told Harry that Mundungus Fletcher stole the real locket and Harry rewarded him with Regulus's fake locket for tracking down Mundungus. Kreacher's joy at being given a Black family "heirloom" as his own drastically changed his opinion of Harry, whom he started to serve properly. He even started to treat Hermione, whom he had previously disdained as a "Mudblood", a bit better. Hermione turned out to be right about Kreacher; he was nice to those who treat him well.

"Fight, fight for my master, the defender of the house-elves! Fight the Dark Lord, in the name of brave Regulus! Fight!"

— Kreacher leading the house-elves during the Battle of Hogwarts

Kreacher led the house-elves of Hogwarts in battle against the Death Eaters during the attack on Hogwarts, for Harry Potter, defender of the house-elves, and for the sake of the memory of his long-dead master Regulus, reminding that, although he was a Death Eater, he ended fighting Lord Voldemort.

It is not specified whether he survived the Battle of Hogwarts, but Harry, who wanted to go to bed after the battle, wondered if Kreacher could bring him a sandwich, implying that he did in fact survive. It is unknown if he continued to work in the Hogwart's kitchens or entered the service of the Potter family.

Etymology

Kreacher's name is most likely derived from the word "creature." Reminiscent of the German "Kriecher" derived from "kriechen," meaning "to creep, crawl, cringe, grovel, tuckle, or fawn upon."

Behind the scenes

• Timothy Bateson voiced Kreacher in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
• On June 16th 2009, it was announced that Simon McBurney will dub the voice of Kreacher in the upcoming film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows replacing Timothy Bateson.

Appearances

An illustration of Kreacher from the Harry Potter books.

• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Parts I and II